R-SuTed

2009-05-01T20:11:00.000-07:00

Darwin Harbour
This is a historic Aussie location. The site of the Japanese attack in 1942. It was recently featured in the movie "Australia". A visit to the wharf on a balmy summer evening is very relaxing. Particularly after one of Darwin's hot and humid summer days. Chris and the family relax with a few nibbles.

The Customs Boat tied up along side the pier.

Paspaley are a well known pearl company with pearl farms throughout the North west of Australia. This is one of their mother ships tied up after a repaint.

The recently opened Entertainment Centre.

2009-05-01T19:39:00.000-07:00

Kakadu and Territory Wildlife

The gentle stuff first. Susan and I found the Ta Ta Lizard a charming little chap. When he runs and stops - he immediately lifts a front leg and waves it in the air for several seconds. Who knows why? but it is cute as Susan says.

His larger cousin on the other hand
is a lot more threatening. This fellow put the wind up me as I sat taking photos of him. I distinctly remember telling Tony DeGroot my fishing mate, " Tony, I'm getting bloody scared here!" his Territorian comment, "No he's alright mate!" My response to that was, "Well I'm very @#$^^ scared, get me out of here!" Moments after this shot was taken he took off into the water in front of the boat showering us both with mud.

I was much more comfortable with this pair.
As you can imagine, with Kakadu a wild life preserve, there is a wide diversity of bird and animal life.

There are many pairs of Jabiru and this is probably the reason the town was called Jabiru.

2009-05-01T19:03:00.000-07:00

My Mate Chris Suitor,
he's a big unit I'll tell you.

What a generous family the Suitors are. Susan and I met Chris and Jill at the end of the Darwin Airport back in 2007. We were waiting to see the jet fighters from the Australian and US land. After a bit of a chat Chris offered me a chance to fish in Kakadu if we ever got out to Jabiru where he is a Project engineer. Say no more, we packed the van a got out there as quickly as possible. Chris was as good as his word and we had a good day on the East Alligator, catching quite a few medium sized Barra. This shot is one of Chris at the Mine processing plant near Jabiru.

This is the ore crusher where the mined ore is reduced in size for further processing. Chris generously invited me to come up and stay with him in Jabiru so that I could do some fishing. He also arranged for me to fish with possibly the best Barra fisherman in Jabiru, Tony DeGroot. Who's the best fisherman in a town is always under some dispute but I add that many of the locals confirmed Tony's ability when they inquired as to who I was fishing with.

Sunsets are always a fascination. Here's a Territory sunset over the South Alligator flood plain. Too bad you weren't there with me.

As easter was approaching, Chris headed back to Darwin. He and Jill have a place in there so that Jill can follow her profession. From darwin we had a day trip down to the Daly River, another very well known fishing river. The evening before our arrival an Aboriginal man had been taken by a crocodile and they we searching for his body.

While this boat is not active in the seach, it gives an indication of the Daly river. We had a great day touring around with a picnic lunch. The Daly river is about 240 klms south of Darwin.

2009-05-01T18:24:00.000-07:00

Fishing in Kakadu April 2009

I recently spent a fortnight in the Northern Territory. A week of this was spent at Jabiru, the site of a Uranium mine. Jabiru is a lovely mining town and I was invited to stay there with a good friend Chris Suitor who is a Project Manager at the mine. My fishing mate was Tony DeGroot. He has the reputation of being one of the best fishermen in the area. I can vouch for that as well. "The runoff" as the wet season conclusion is called was disappointing due to the lack of heavy rainfall. The fishing was therefore not a spectacular as normal. But we did get a couple of nice fish as you can see.
The shot above is one of Tony as we head down the East Alligator river in Kakadu.

Tony was the first to score a decent fish. Here he is with a Barramundi which is close to a metre long. We release all fish caught. You are allowed to take a "Limit" but we prefer to let them go. Kakadu National Park is on one bank of the river while Arhnem Land is the other bank.

My best fish for the trip was this 80 cm Barra from the South Alligator.

A nice shot of the sunset over the East Alligator River as Tony brings us back home after a hard days fishing.

2009-05-01T07:24:00.000-07:00

Our Northern Ireland Cottage

Florence Court, a heritage listed estate. Susan's choice for northern island.
The Main Manor House of Florence Court. Our cottage was in the grounds of the estate.

A summer house in the garden.

2009-05-01T07:06:00.000-07:00

Our Southern Irish Cottage

Susan's selection for our southern Irish Stay. On the edge of Loch Ern on the river Shannon.
Toadstools?? or Mushrooms??
Castleconnell Fishing Tackle shop

Castle ruin by Loch Ern.

2009-05-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

Guided Fishing in Ireland

Anybody who knows me, know that I can talk. Well, our guide Marty O'leary could "run rings" around me on any occasions. He managed to keep us entertained all day. This was a day spent trolling the lake. Not hard work, but we were hoping for some big Pike, unfortunately only two fish. See below. If Marty is to be believed, he is very well known, but then so am I.
Tranquillity on the lake in the early morning.
Vic's Pike, released.

Ted's Brown Trout. Unfortunately kept to prove a point. 5 pound weighed not as big as the guide said it was.

2009-05-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

Vic fishes Lake Coniston.

Just a few shots of the old master. We spent an afternoon spinning for trout and Pike.

I think that's Robin Hood disappearing into Sherwood Forrest.

2009-05-01T06:08:00.000-07:00

The Lakes District, Lake Coniston.

For those who don't recall, Donald Campbell died on lake Coniston in his jet boat the Bluebird.
By this time Jo and Vic had caught us up. The cottage was very nice and a nice hike from Coniston, the Town. The weather was a little wet through this stay but we still enjoyed the location. The stop was again set up so that Vic and I could fish some of his old haunts.

This is one of the ferries on the lake. It is a very popular tourist area . Our residence is on the far shore just left of frame.
One of the most enjoyable characters we met on this trip was Jimmy Pollard. He offered Vic and I a fish on "His Waters" a two and a half mile stretch of private fishing water. This is me with Jimmy on a recce before Vic arrived. We caught fish here as well. Trout and Salmon. This is considered one of the better Salmon rivers on the Cumbrian Coast.

One of the main reasons for the visit to England was to Let the Briand Family catch up with relatives and friends. Vic and Jo are pictured with Jo's brother Kevin and Susan.

2009-05-01T04:48:00.000-07:00

Scotland August 2008

Susan and I visited the British Isles last year. We were there from the end of August until late October. The first week was spent in Scotland. This shot is the cottage we stayed in while near Aberfeldy and Pitlochry. Susan's parents Vic and Jo were to have been with us for the whole journey but Passport delays kept Vic and Jo until the middle of the second week.

Our plan was to do some salmon fishing while in Scotland, well I did and caught Salmon and Trout.

Susan speaks to the local butchers. One of these lads is a keen fisherman. I was giving him some lip about pies he had on sale and during the conversation he discovered that I was a fisherman. So he told me quietly about Glen Lyon and a good section of the river. It was about 30 mile away from where we were staying. Nobody on the river here. 5 pound a day for the licence not the normal 15 Quid. I can't describe the natural beauty of the glacial valley with sheep grazing up the slopes. Local shepherds would stand on the road and work their dogs by whistling. They didn't bother to go up the mountains, the dogs worked the sheep by whistle.

The following photo is one of those postcard shots that appear as you drive around. This is the pick of them though. This is a hotel at Pitlochory

It was with a heavy heart that I left Scotland. I would love to spend a couple of months there while the fishing was at it's prime. 17 trout and a Salmon on the first day. A salmon and 2 trout on the second day. Thats more fish than some fishermen see in a month. I must be part Scot, I did my fishing for 5 quid a day and had it all to myself. Lower sections of the river cost a lot more.

2007-11-20T03:34:00.000-08:00

2007-11-20T03:00:00.000-08:00

2007-09-01T23:55:00.001-07:00

Our caravan and Nissan 4WD are available to any overseas person who wants to do a house exchange during 2008. Susan and I want to go to England, Ireland and Scotland next year and are offering our van and Nissan 4WD as an exchange residence for a house and vehicle in these regions. We will take our van to any destination in Australia, set it up in a van park and pay the fees for the expected duration of the exchange, and leave the Nissan for transport. This is the outfit on the road in North Queensland.Lovebirds, Susan and Ted in the Boudoir.
Kitchen area
Ensuite
Here we are set up in Darwin during the wet season in 2007. We have a complete annex but have not needed to use it to date.

Now if you're Irish, English or Scot, what the hell is holding you up? Give us a ring and let's get it organised. You anywhere in Aus. for several months between May and September, us over there. You can do it!!!!

2007-09-01T23:28:00.000-07:00

It's been Fish, fish and more fishing since returning to Kununurra. My good fishing mate Francis Bright "did me again" on a trip up the Cambridge gulf. Get a load of this 86 cm. Barra he got on a trolled Gold Bomber. We caught 2 other baras, but they were throw away babies.

Here's a shot of my biggest fish for the day, a 5 kilo Queenfish. We kept him for neighbours who enjoy eating them as a curry.
My first Mulloway. This is a baby. They need to be 70 cms before you can keep them. This is a 58 cm or there abouts. Sent back home to Mum.
I estimate that we caught over 60 fish for the day but this is the catch brought home. 8 javelin fish (Grunter) Queenfish, Barra, Cod on lower left, Mangrove Jack and small Fingermark.
When day is done you head for home. This is the boat ramp at Wyndham as we got back. Oh well, some one has to be here I s'pose. Another day another fishing trip. This is a shot of Lindsay Nebel as we head home at Tanamar. This is 75 klms noth of Kununurra. This was less successful trip. We left at 6 am got home 9 pm. No keepers but caught a few 60 cm Mulloway (below the limit), sharks and catfish. I dropped a small barra on a lure but it was a quiet day. We had a great day in spite of the non cooperative table fish.

2007-08-21T17:12:00.000-07:00

Our final stay on the way back to Kununurra was at Home Valley Station Bush Camp. This is on the Pentecost River. ( El Questro Station is directly across the river.) We spent three nights here while I fished the river. No success here though. But, the scenery, have a look at this. The Cockburn Ranges were in full view from our campsite. (The shot below taken from the tent door.) Saltwater crocs sunning themselves on the muddy banks. A Dutch film crew were filming their reality show "Outback Luke".

This is one of three crocs on the bank this day. (250 metres from our camp site) Probably a 10 footer. Needles to say, both the sunrises and sunsets were spectacular. Below is a sunrise over the Cockburn Ranges. Wyndham is over the range to the left hand side about 50 klms away.

Finally, the Gibb River Road was not the Horror Stretch that we had envisaged, it was very good. More bitumen is being laid each year and the road is being upgraded each year. I'd guess that out of the 670 klms stretch 90 is now bitumen. It is not remote at any stage with dozens of vehicles passing you each day. Highest fuel cost $2.28 a litre.

2007-08-20T17:59:00.001-07:00

Lennard River Gorge, our first stop on the Gibb River Road. While not very accessible and a two klm walk it is worth the effort. The following is a shot of "Queen Victoria's Head" on the approach to the pass through the Napier Ranges. Look closely at the rock structure on the right, there she is, well named.

Bell's Gorge was pleasant. There is a 10 kilometre drive from the camp ground at Silent Grove and a one kilometre walk to get to the falls. I had a bit of a problem here when I slipped crossing the creek above the falls to get better photographs. While I was in no real danger, the 20 or 30 other visitors there at the time either had a good laugh or were concerned for my safety. My walking boots, removed to cross over were recovered from the pool in the background. Result-Damaged ego, soaked Ted.

2007-08-20T17:52:00.000-07:00

Dimond Gorge on Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary. This stay was very interesting. The Station is now owned by a Wildlife Trust and is destocking to allow the land to return to its natural state. It is a "Must see" destination for bird watchers. It has two beautiful gorges, Dimond Gorge pictured below and Sir John Gorge, as well as several good waterholes for swimming. While this gorge is not that accessible down river on foot, there are canoes for hire that allow you to escape down river for several kilometres. Cop this sunset. We stopped for this one on the way back from Sir john Gorge.
The Station also has plenty of the spectacular escarpment ranges as a back drop while driving around.
The restaurant is in a rustic style with pleasant meals and great company.

2007-08-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

Susan visited Mt Elizabeth station in 2003. She "WOOFED" there for two weeks (voluntary work for board and keep). During that period she went out with the mustering crew in their Bull catching vehicles. These are the trucks that bring them home after capture. Well it was reminiscing time for Susan who found the Bull catching jeep she had been in while the boys chased down some scrubbers. Dangerous stuff, but she did it.Mt Elizabeth station has good accommodation and a nice van park and we were welcomed by Pat and Peter Lacy who remembered Susan and her hijinks.
Susan and Pat Lacy

2007-08-20T17:38:00.000-07:00

Retouched aboriginal art on Mt Elizabeth station. Several years ago this primitive attempt at restoring art was carried out by a well meaning group. It certainly caused outrage and was stopped immediately. Mt Elizabeth has some exceptional art in the rocky regions of the property. Our plan was to visit Walcot Inlet from Mt Elizabeth. A drive of 143 klms to Bachsten Safari camp and then a further 75 k's to Walcot inlet. The 143 k's took 7.5 hours with several highly eroded drops off hills. we needed a couple of stops for refreshments.
On one stop we met up with Robin Bowering. Here we are at lunch. While the actual drive to Bachsten took 7.5 hrs, lunch with Robin added a further 1.5 hours due to his wonderful life story. He is English and a stage and screen actor. He's had good roles in Australian movies and television series. Keep an eye out for him in the credits at the end of shows.This is a shot of Dave and Janet Rhodes, caretakers and woderful hosts at Bachsten Camp. More of that later. It gives you an idea of the quality of the camp though. A welcome site after the tough drive.

2007-08-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

Bachsten Safari camp was to be our home for a week. We drove through a fire to get there and this threatened the camp for most of our stay. We didn't get to Walcot Inlet, 75 klms and 5 hours drive, due to the threat of fires. We left to go there but turned back after 32 k's. We would have been the only people there and without some knowledge of where the fires were we felt it was too dangerous. There was plenty to do at the camp. This Aboriginal art was directly behind the camp. It was some of the best we encountered on our trip. Bachsten Falls were a complete surprise. Susan hadn't heard of them and they are a smaller version of the Mitchell falls.
Sunsets with the fires about are special. We would take drinks and snacks up into the surrounding rocks at sunset and relax with Dave and Janet. Always on the lookout for the fires.
After the fires had cleared the track to the falls we made our way down to the plunge pool where i fished while Susan swam. Good Sooty Grunter here I'll tell you. I let 5 go, keeping these two for the table that night. Every body else enjoyed them, I gave them a miss. On arriving back at the camp we were confronted with another fire front and spent the next few hours back burning and on fire watch.

2007-08-20T01:38:00.000-07:00

Fire came at us on four fronts over a week. While Kimberley fires are described as "cool fires" the waiting was no fun. Pandanus just loves to burn but I was surprised by the speed fire races up some of our native species. Fire approaching the camp at night. This was a night we finished about 7:00 before retiring for dinner with David and Janet. A couple of Red's helped out while waiting for dinner to be prepared.
Here we are on fire watch as the fire encroaches from the north. A creek separated us from the fire but floaters were a danger. Standing in smoke for several hours helped clear the sinuses.
Guess who? shifting gear from one end of the camp to the other as the fire flares up in different locations. I'm a bloody Hero, believe me!.

2007-08-20T01:31:00.000-07:00

Here comes another fire!

A week of fires at the Bachsten Safari Camp were a worry for the caretakers. We stayed for the week and helped out and were pleased to celebrate the end of the daily vigil. Susan broke out the Drambuie and by the time this shot was taken, "We didn't care" any more. David and Janet Rhodes with Susan and I. As stated previously, they were wonderful hosts and we will see them again in Perth as we move back for a planned house sit and Susan's mothers 80th. birthday
Some of the more menacing fires that can race into the canopy within seconds.
Our bloody hero on a back burn mission. The owner had fire breaks around the camp, our main worry were the possibility of floaters setting fire to the long grass around the "Safari Huts"

2007-08-20T01:21:00.000-07:00

After leaving Bachsten we made a bee line for Kalumburu so I could get some real fishing done. The roads were badly corrugated but we got there unscathed. Several vehicles had problems each day, axles, steering etc. We were lucky. We stayed in the catholic Mission caravan park. We opted to stay in the town rather than go to the more scenic Ocean parks as I wanted to fish the King Edward River on foot. The photo below shows the Mission admin. office and the town centre. Kalumburu is an aboriginal settlement established in 1908 by the Benedictine monks.

Some wartime aircraft wrecks can be seen at the end of the airfield. They appear to me to be liberator bombers with USA insignia.

I'm just about to set off fishing with fellow travelers Guido and Carmelo. We were all staying at the Mission van park. Guido has a passion for Aboriginal rock art and is very well travelled and read on the subject. We had great times with both of these gentlemen and will definitely catch up with them again in the future. We caught fish in the gorge and ate at their Italian restaurant, "the camp kitchen", mmmmm very delicious Italian food.

Kalumburu is serviced by barge from Darwin every fortnight. It is a social event when it comes in to unload. We spent the day at Marra Garra beach just vegging out. Mind you we had a cement floor shack to make it easy for us.

Having lapsed in my devotions over the years, I tried to make up for it by doing "Good Works" at the Mission. Thank goodness it was winter as I helped out with roofing the new museum. Father Anscar the priest is well known for his museum talk (and antics). What a wonderful man he is. Due to retire after next year's centenary celebrations. His advertised one and a half hour tour lasts at least two hours and sometimes two and a half.
I spent some period of every day fishing the Malindjar Gorge and the tidal section of the King Edward River. Over the 16 days of fishing I caught over 26 metres of fish. Silly I know, but out of curiosity I kept a measure of size and species. Mostly Trevally and Queenfish. I dropped a 9+ kilo Queenie one day, tackle broke at my feet as I was about to retrieve my lure and let her go. (Sorry about the "Fishy talk" here but that's what I was there for.)

This shot shows the top end of Malindjar Gorge.

2007-08-20T01:13:00.000-07:00

Fishing the King Edward river by boat was a great experience. The Kalumburu Mission Financial Administrator Bogden took pity on me and offered a Saturday morning trip. Well, I certainly took the opportunity and bagged a 70 cm. barra to fill Susan's depleted larder. While Bogden and I were only out for the day another two groups were camping for the weekend. Here they are setting up camp and offered us a bacon and egg breakfast.
"Hello there, fat Caucasian, would you share breakfast with me?" This one was not frightened of us at all. Crocodiles aren't hard to find when fishing but some tourists hadn't seen one in 2 months of travel. Susan also did some volunteer work at the Mission store and cafe. Here she slaves over the stove, in between taking shots of me on the roof next door. We were not to wait until heaven for our reward, the staff at the mission invited us to dinner with them. A lovely 3 course meal with a selection of mains. By the way they aren't wine bottles on the table as Kalumburu is a dry community, it tasted very grapey to me though, and finding our way back to our tent in the dark was tricky. They were a lovely bunch, most of the workers are volunteers.
Surprise, surprise. "Lucky Lester, the living Legend". An old friend from Proserpine surprised Susan and I one morning as we walked through Kalumburu with a "Hey Pointa". We knew he was up here somewhere but by chance we met on the morning he was leaving. He stayed for two days and we fished the Malindjar gorge together. He nailed quite a few Queenies and Trevors, with video footage to prove it.

2007-08-20T00:19:00.000-07:00

The trip to the Mitchell Plateau was well worth the effort. While in Kalumburu the road had been graded otherwise I was determined to give it a miss. The reports were horrific, with vehicles being damaged daily.We were lucky, by diverting to Kalumburu for 16 days the grader had almost finished the road by the time we arrived back. While I had doubts about visiting the Mitchell falls, I can assure you they were well worth the effort. In fact I intend to get back again when they are in flood. (Helicopter or fixed wing though.)

Merten creek runs into the Mitchell river to form an outstanding set of 6 falls in close proximity to one another. Big Merten, pictured below, had little water running over it in spite of the recent rains, however there is a 30 metre single drop into a very narrow gorge. This shot shows the gorge as it travels only 500 metres to join the Mitchell directly below the Mitchell falls.
The Mitchell falls, impossible to give you a perspective of the size. There is a set of falls hidden on the left hand side in the second tier.
It wont be too many years before hand rails etc will be put in place restricting access. At the moment there are only arrows indicating the track to get there. Walk where you like at your own risk. By the way there is a 3 kilometre walk to the Mitchell falls with stops at Little Merten and Big Merten falls.
Do you reckon we're enjoying ourselves? After this we went swimming in the pool above the falls, the only place we felt safe from crocs. PS, there are another set of falls a short distance down river. I guess they'd be 3 to 5 klms away accessible only by bush walking.

2007-08-20T00:07:00.000-07:00

A Dutch production team was filming an outback reality show, "Outback Luke" on the Home Valley Station when we stayed for three days. You could understand why they chose this location when you see the Cockburn Ranges across the Pentecost River. The show will not been seen in Australia Outback Luke charms a prospective bride with a picnic out of the back of the bull catcher jeep here.
During a break in filming, the lovely Tina came by and called into say "hello". She thinks our Aussie Luke is a spunk. She was a nice young woman, contrary to my expectations.
Then what do you reckon happens? our Luke arrives to say G'day. I'm pleased to say he was a great guy,(A navigator on the Australian Ice Breaker "Aurora Australis") who was head hunted for the role. I'm learning not to prejudge people who take part in these shows if they are all as nice as these two.
PS. Susan's still in love with me, Texas Ted. PS, if you want to see some shots of the Cockburn Ranges, I had some in previous posts when I went out there fishing.

2007-07-10T06:54:00.000-07:00

Susan and I have stayed with friends at Derby. Sharon and Tony Gavranich have lived here for 30 years. Tony is a well known Kimberley Walker and leads a couple of groups walking the wilderness every year. Susan did a 10 day walk with Tony around 1993. Sharon is a Community Health Nurse and started at Derby many years ago as a Flight Nurse with the Royal Flying Doctor Service. We're having our evening meal on the Derby Wharf. Derby has some of the highest tides in Australia. Sunset on King Sound as seen from the Derby wharf. The tub boat on the right handles a mineral barge which loads zinc and lead.
While we were staying Tony took a group of 15 walkers on a 12 day walk. They were a mixed group with 3 women doing the walk. Here we see Tony about to board the vehicle taking them about 250 kilometres north to the Millie Windie track.
Ready to roll on their walking adventure, the group settle in to the bus. Several members have done a walk each year for up to 19 years. Tony often does wilderness walks on his own. Many of his photographs of the wilderness are stunning.

2007-07-09T23:52:00.000-07:00

How's this for a nice Barra caught on a fizzer lure? I caught him/her in the fresh water on the Fitzroy River. Beautiful river the Fitzroy. Bag Limit of only 1 fish "in possession at any time", that means catch one - eat one. Fish must be released over 800mm, (Queensland could learn a lesson here) smallest allowable "keeper" 550 mm. This is a 91 cm caught on video by Susan. He put up a great fight, very spectacular, but he was no match for the Old Master. I released him straight after the photo. I was blown away by a big one here 2 days before this. Very good action on the river just as the sun sets. Earlier in the day Susan and I went to the Yeeda River, about 55 klms north east of the Willare road house where we were camped in our swags. This is a saltwater Barra, (88 cms) caught on a Nilsmaster Invincible after I raised him on a Fizzer.
Susan and I having a picnic lunch at a barrage across the Fitzroy. 20 crocs were counted. Only 2 saltwater ones that we could see. You can bet there were a few more about. This barrage was built by private enterprise in the mid 60's to irrigate rice. Pests beat them but the station still takes irrigation water from here.
There are a lot more snags in the river than on show here, but the shot shows the general size of the river.

2007-07-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

Halls Creek provided an opportunity to catch up with my uncles and stay for two days. We had a good look around with plenty to see. We stayed at the "Old Township" which is 16 kilometres east of the current town. It was the site of the first gold strike in Western Australia. The country is very mineralised with many quartz reefs coming to the surface. The shot below is a tourist attraction called the "China Wall". The quartz comes up vertically for over 2 metres and is said to extend for a couple of kilometres. Susan is standing on the wall at the bottom. This gives some idea of the height of the wall. Palm Springs is a beautiful picnic area about 50 klms out from Hall's creek.
Saw Tooth Gorge is a further 5 klms away. The gorge is very short in length as the range is like the blade of a knife.
As Old Hall's Creek is a historical site, this mud brick building has been preserved from erosion by the construction of a shed over the site. This was the Post Office. If I remember correctly,the town dates back to around 1885. A further bout of rainfall later in the day did nothing to help open the various dirt highways. So we moved on to the Fitzroy crossing after parting company with my uncles group. We thoroughly enjoyed their company over the two days.

2007-07-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

You never tire of looking at Boab trees in the Kimberleys. They are plentiful throughout the region. This one was not far from the turn off to the Argyle Diamond mine. We left Kununurra during an unseasonal wet period. Instead of travelling to Derby via the Gibb River road we had to stay on the bitumen as all dirt roads were closed.

The Carr Boyd Ranges are visible from the road on the way to Hall's Creek. They are quite spectacular. These ranges are to the North of the Bungle Bungles. We did not get to see them due to the road closures. Maybe when we retrace our steps after returning to Kununurra.
This photo is out of sequence in the trip. It shows part of a long limestone range which extends from the north west to south east of the Kimberleys. The limestone was formed by an Devonian underwater reef 350 million years ago. This shot is taken adjacent to the Geikie Gorge. Geikie Gorge is the result of the Fitzroy river cutting through the reef. Lime stone produces very interesting formations as it weathers away. Quite distinct from sandstone.
One of the reasons for setting off during the wet weather was the possibility of catching up with two of my uncles who were coming across on the Tanami track. Although the Tanami was closed they managed to get through and we met their party at Hall's Creek. They had a pretty uneventful trip apart from below zero temperatures. They did strike some mild wet weather to make matters more miserable. My uncles are the two gentlemen second and third from the left hand side. Laurie and Pat Pointing. All of these men have an affinity with horses and cattle and do one of these trips each year. They left us to travel on to Wyndham and then to Victoria River Station for a few days.

2007-06-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

Francis Bright took me out through the Cambridge Gulf on a fishing and boat shake down with friends, Bluey and Curley. We went to the Thompson river about 54 klms toward the ocean. The following picture shows Curley about to release a Mulloway from their new custom built boat. It's first run apart from running in the motor. I caught this Queensland groper (protected species) about 4 kilograms. Released it straight after the photo. It was the only decent fish for the day. What do you think of my Mexican Look, Aareeeba - Aareeba!!!.
We came back to Wyndham as ther sun was setting, across a glassy sea. This is the approach to Wyndham.

Not a day goes by without a great sunset. Cop this one from the boat! Pity you couldn't be there!

2007-06-14T20:16:00.000-07:00

This is Francis Bright, a fishing mate who has taken me on many fishing trips. I first met him on my first trip in 2003. This is a nice barra he caught on one of our Keep river trips this time around. He's a live bait man as well as a keen lure fisherman. A good alrounder. Catches more than I do every time.
Me with a smaller one on the same trip.
Our camp at night. We lured at night, carefull not to give the crocs a chance though. We used surface lures at night over shallow water. That way you know where the lure is, but you must keep a constsnt look out for one another and the crocs. No near misses thank God.
There are plenty of these about in the Keep. This one's about 2.3 metres.

2007-06-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

What a colourful spectacle in the centre of Kununurra. This is part of Kelly's Knob on the fringe of town. You can see it easily from the centre of the town. Kununurra has an area called Hidden Valley slightly to the east of the town. The Mirima National Park is part of Hidden Valley. The following shots show it in the later evening with cloud cover unfortunately. Generally the colours in the first photo are the same for the whole system of mini gorges and spectacular shapes. It is very accessable. You could walk there from town if you were inclined. You can't help but see the area as you drive into Kununurra but be sure you visit it when you get over here.

2007-06-11T16:40:00.000-07:00

So you think travelling around Aus. is all fun eh?? Well we became "White Coolies" the other day. We worked for a few hours weeding a patch of experimental Sorghum. This work was at The Frank Wise Institute. Susan did the hard work, I did my usual supervision and got into the final photo.

Great pose this eh?

(Do you recognise the work shirt Jacqui?, they sure have stood the test of time.)

Brother were we happy the work was over by lunch time.

2007-06-07T17:12:00.000-07:00

The diversion dam at Kununurra. This is the dam that supplies the Ord River irrigation water to the channels. Note the moveable gates that allow for flood mitigation. The Ord Dam is a further 45 klms up river and fronts Lake Argyle. We were fortunate to have neighbours, John and Trish, take us up the river on a day trip. Below is a commercial tour operator who takes tourists up river to the Ord Dam.

Ord river scenery

John, Trish, Susan and I on a sandy beach having a picnic lunch. We are about 35 klms up river from Kununurra. We caught a few sootie grunter just to keep our skills honed. Susan came prepared to swim, but although there are not supposed to be crocs in this section of the river it looks much too threatening. Smart girl did not swim, much to my relief.

2007-06-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

Ted acts as a croc lure while Bill Webb cools off with a XXXX. on the Keep river.

Susan took this panorama of me in the middle of the Keep luring. Yes, that's me the tiny orange dot in the middle of the picture. It looks a lot worse than it was. This hole has 5 resident crocs though. Susan has titled the photo "Croc Bait on the Keep River"

This is Webby crossing the Keep not far below the Keep river National Park. At this point we have crossed back into the Territory. The border is about 15 or 20 kilometres to the south west. This sunset on the Keep is typical if there is cloud overhead.

2007-06-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

The Kimberley Moon Experience was a great success. 3000 people attended this year. It is an anual event. Corporate tickets $300 a head. Bleecher seats on the grass, (with the best view) $70 a head. Susan and Ted were in the cheap seats. The shot is a pana. showing the tables set in the corporate area and panning left to the stage. The stage is between the two teepees. Below is Marcia Hines, the feature artist for the event. She was brilliant and gave a 70 minute performance.

James Blundell was the compare for the evening. His wry humour adds a lot to the event. He is a real aussie with a touch of quiet sophistication. This event has been run for 4 years and James is the compare.

The show started at 4 pm with quality local artists. There was a real shift in tempo once the Darwin Army Band took the stage. Their solo performers took us through Blue's brackets, Big Band numbers and pop. After Marcia was finished we spent an hour Rockin' and Rollin' to a rock group (Peace, Love and all that Jazz) from Perth..

2007-06-07T15:21:00.000-07:00

My mate Bill Webb. We're relaxing in one of Bill's favourite spots. This overlooks the Ord River from his back door. The dead trees in the picture are Neem trees which have become a pest and are being eradicated. The rest of the view is very green.

This is a night shot of the setting moon. It shows the river from the same location as the previous one of Bill and I

A panoramic shot of Ord River rapids. I've caught a couple of Sootie Grunter in these locations. You still have to mindfull of Crocs. Susan has become our panorama specialist. Trying to capture more of the spectacle with panoramas.

2007-06-07T15:17:00.000-07:00

Not many people on the normal tourist route would get to see Cape Domett, 150 klms North West of Kununurra. The final 30 klms are just two wheel tracks across savanah grassland interspersed with salt pans. Very difficult to negotiate without local knowledge. This view shows "The Needles"across the inlet from the Cape.

An interesting feature of the trip was the unexpected appearance of a weathered Limestone range. This runs for about 20 klms towards the Cape. Limestone hills always have facinating shapes carved into them from the weather. I'm reliably informed that there are many caves and aboriginal paintings in the area.

This shot shows my mate Lindsay who took me on the trip just after arriving at the Cape. This trip took 4 hours to travel 140 klms. That included speeds of 90 klms on the good road. The only problem on the trip was the lack of fish. We came home with a few mud crabs though.

2007-06-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

Ivanhoe Crossing on the Ord. Believe me, it's shoulder to shoulder here of an evening or early morning with tourists chasing Barramundi.
Have a look at this. One of the many rock bars across the Ord river. No fish today, but who cares when it looks like this.More of the same rock bar. Plenty of Sooty grunter here as well.
A couple of kilometers down stream the river changes to large pools like this one.

2007-06-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

A trip to Wyndham via the "Old road" was a pleasant experience. The gravel road was in good condition and the change in landscape to savanah grass land was interesting.We're not sure what this remains is from but the beauty of the site was enough to prompt a photo. I think it is the remains of a telegraph linesman's house.

A couple of panoramas at the Five Rivers lookout, Wyndham.

Looking towards the mouth of the Ord River.

The Grotto, on the new Wyndham road.

2007-06-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

An early morning fishing trip to the Keep river in the Northern Territory with Bill Webb. At this point we have the sun rising and are about 80 klms north of Kununurra. (4 am start) Bill Webb takes a morning tea break. XXXX was on the menu so he took one " just to be sociable". Hell it's tough in the bush!
Bill gives me a few "Hot" fishing trips. Note who is the closest to the river. Had a few inquistive Barra chase a popper here. We tried about 5 spots during the day. We bought home 2 keeper barra at days end.
Bill took us to "Cave Springs" on the way home. The springs come from under the escarpment in the heavier scrub behind the Boab. There are hundreds of butterflies using the cave as a refuge and water source. (Home at 5 pm.)

2007-06-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

The Ord dam at the front of Lake Argyle. The Ord river gorge, below the dam wall. The plunge pool below the wall has a power generating plant in the outlet building.
This ser of rocks is typical of the surrounding country on the wat to the dam. This is taked in the late afternoon but shows the beautiful colours in the hills. This site has aboriginal art inside the cave behind me.

When the Ord is in flood this is the overflow creek. Spillway creek. There was still a very good flow in the creek at the time of our visit.

2007-05-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

We had real problems at the West Australian Border Quarantine Station. They recognised the Qld number plate and the possibility that I may be trying to smuggle a Cane Toad across the border. You have no idea how paranoid they are here! Well I was asked to "get the gear off " Poor Susan had to document the whole procedure. Here I am with the quarantine station in the background.
I had to get the shirt off first.
Then the "order to get the Daks off", I thought it would end there, I was clean, nothing to hide.
Finally the ultimate insult, they wouldn't take my word for it. Pants down before I got the "All Clear, no toads here!" Well poor Susan, can you imagine how embarrassed she would have been if another car would have come along at this point. Those border guys have a lot to answer for.

2007-05-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

How's this for a Boab?? Bill Webb, known to most of you and friend of mine took this photo. It is a great shot and I asked if I could use it on the blog and share it with you. Susan and I are staying in the van at the back of Bill's residence at The Frank Wise Institute in Kununurra. This is private property and we appreciate Bill's generosity. We're in the van overlooking the Ord river.
On a recent fishing trip to the Pentecost river I took this composite photo of the Cockburn Ranges. The Cockburn (pronounced Cohburn) are on El Questro station which is well known for it's upmarket lodge and the Emma Gorge. The photo shows Mesa type outcrops. There are many of these in the ranges which stretch around to Wyndham.
The trip to the Pentecost river (about 116 klms west of Kununurra along the Gibb River road) was an overnight fishing trip with friends. This is a photo near the campsite taken while I was having a break waiting for the tide to push back over the rapids below. Caught a good 84cm. Barra here as well. There are plenty of saltwater crocs about. I counted 5 in close proximity the night before. You need to be very wary lure fishing at night.
You all know I have a taste for the old "Bundy Rum". Well I thought I'd give the local brew a go. This is the distillery in Kununurra run by a local operator. I've tasted the brew but I'm still a queenslander who loves his "Big Bear"

2007-05-18T00:16:00.001-07:00

Dawn on The Victoria River at Timber creek, Policeman's Point lookout to be exact. Boy can that Ted Pointing fish, he's fantastic. I had a great time here, caught several good size fish. Some of the other visitors were spending all day on the Vic. River and comming home with nothing. I released several, the best being 93 cms. The two in these pictures are a lot smaller. My secret was hitting them in the dark, after sunrise they were much harder to catch.

We were luck to get a couple of good days for photograph before the Parks and Wildlife rangers started a burn off along the escarpment. Visibility closed to around 700 metres in places.

Sunsets are always spectacular if you can see the horizon, this one is over the Victoria river.

2007-05-09T06:49:00.000-07:00

The northern approach to the Victoria River crossing is overlooked by this beautiful escarpment bluff. This is typical of the escarpment on both sides of the Victoria river. You drive through about 20 kilometres of this scenery while you make your way down river towards Timber creek. We stayed for two days at the Victoria River crossing. I fished while at times and we both walked the escarpment at Joe's Creek. A photo of Susan decending a slope underneath the escarpment follows. Note the substantial overhang in the rocks above her. Susan is always keen to do the gorge walks or escarpment walks. The colour of this country is amazing. The changing shades of red and orange during the course of the day are spectacular. The fishing was good too, I nailed a couple of small Barra's.

We did the Victoria river cruise at Sunset. Three and a half hours for $70 each. Included nibblies at sunset. We travelled about 40 klms down river in a fast punt, stopping to view various wildlife species. The croc below didn't seem to be bothered by the boat. He sat at about 6 metres from the side of the boat while we photographed him. He's about 9 foot, or 2.7 metres. We sawseveral laying in wait for the kangaroos , who come down to the river in the evening. They ambush them form the shallow water.

2007-05-09T06:24:00.000-07:00

The Katherine river produces plenty of good Barra's if you get it at the right time after the floods. We were here a bit late, this one was caught only a few days before we arrived. I caught two small ones while at the van park. Just a short walk down the back into the river.

Katherine Gorge is one of the must do's on a trip through this area. While a river cruise through the gorge is available, Susan and I did a 14 klm. walk to get this second photo.

One of the hot fishing spots for the town folk is the Low Level bridge across the river. There is a weir at this spot and it produces good fish at the right time.

We attended the Country Muster over the May Day Weekend. Very enjoyable with some very good local talent. The imports were good as well.

2007-05-09T06:05:00.000-07:00

Edith falls 40 klms north of Katherine were a welcome stay for 3 days. These three photos show the main pools at the set of three falls. The first are the top set. The second photo shows both the top set and the main falls while the last photo shows the plunge pool below the final small set. The final photo is a panorama which gives a better view of the size of the pool. There is no swimming allowed in the pool in the second photo but the others allow swimming. We spent 3 hours in the top pool after a 1.7 klm hike to get there.

2007-05-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

This group of photos shows the glorious views in Kakadu. You will hear people say Kakadon't, don't be detered. Pictures do not do it justice. These shots show some of the scenery. From the top. A crowd gathered at the top of Ubirr Rock (a lookout) for the sunset at 6;30 pm. Then a small section of wetlands that extend to the coast 30 kilometres away. Part of the escarpment that runs for hundreds of kilometres. And finally a rock art gallery in the rocks at Ubirr rock. .

2007-05-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

Susan had her 53rd birthday in Darwin.

We celebrated it at Pee Wee's at the Point. This is a beautifully renovated recreational area for troops during the second world war. Many of the Sidney William's huts are still preserved here. Pee Wee's is situated at East Point which is the north eastern approach to the harbour. It was very heavily fortified during the war and many relics and sites are preserved in the area.

Susan is choosing her cocktail in this shot. It ended up being a Mango Dacquiri. The 18th fell close to a full moon and the full tide was lapping the rock cliffs in the front of the building.

After dark the light of Darwin can be seen across the bay.

2007-05-02T06:29:00.000-07:00

"Dissa" was broken into and some gear was stolen. This happened at the East Arm boat ramp, a part of the southern section of Darwin Harbour. This was the site of a WWll Catalina flying boat base during the second world war. In fact there are three plane wrecks in this section of the harbour. They were sunk at anchor in an air raid by the Japanese. The coordinates for them are given in some of the fishing books as the wrecks are good fishing spots

This is the exact location the vehicle was in when broken into via the passenger side front window. I had been away from the site for no more than 30 minutes fishing on foot when the break in occurred. I lost all of the fishing gear I was not carring with me. About $400 worth I estimate. Susan lost an overnight bag with around $500 worth of linen. I also lost all of my better fishing attire. I had just sorted it out that morning and had packed the older stuff to give to the Salvos.

This garage did the repairs to the vehicle. Apart from a new front window there was an additional $800 worth of body repairs. AAMI were excellent. The job was done quickly and a claim is being processed for the loss of property. The maximum payout for goods stolen is $500, so after having replacement goods valued we are hopeful of getting some payment.

You can't deter a good fisherman though. Susan drove me over to the East Arm a day or so later and this was the result. Apart from this one fish, I only have stories of others that got away. They were all good sized fish that got away, of course!!!!.

2007-05-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

Chris Suitor, took me on a fishing trip down the East Alligator River. Chris is a project manager for the Ranger mine just outside of Jabiru. Believe me the river is aptly named. We saw 10 or 12 for the day and several came right up behind the boat. We fished at "White Lady", an outlet for the huge wet lands that abut the river on both sides for 30 t0 40 kilomteres. A very prolific barra region. The wa et lands are very similar to the Goorganga Plains in Proserpine but at 12 or 20 times the scale. All of the swamp outlets produce barra during the run off.

I caught 12 fish, the largest seen in the photograph below. This fish is 70 cms, it was taken on a propeller lure just after dawn. The 2nd cast of the day. There were quite a few other boats in the river on the day and this proved to be very comforting .

Here are a brace of 4 that we kept. The smaller ones are 60 cm fish. I would have let them go as I thought they would be "Muddy" comming from the wetland swamps. I'm sure this will be the case when Chris tries to eat them. I saw about 3 fish over the metre caught in the East Alligator.

We ventured about 30 kilometres down river to the mouth of the Magela creek as the tide went out. Unfortunately the motor refused to start and we needed to be towed home. This took over two hours and certainly ruined the day for the guys in the tow boat and us. Chris had only just had the moter serviced in Darwin the weekend before the trip. Not a happy chappy, believe me. The hill in the background id an isolated section of the escarpment and they are very picturesque. The guy at the wheel is a fishing inspector from NSW, on holidays.

2007-03-16T20:00:00.000-07:00

So you want to see the Adelaide River, Eh? well this is it at the southern outskirt of town. There are four bridges at this location. The old highway bridge, which I'm standing on, the new Highway bridge in foreground, and the new railway bride which is hiding the original railway bridge.

The railway station, now a musuem, The Ghan doesn't stop here.

The Snake Creek WWll depot. These hill side bunkers (about 15 I think) were serviced by a railway complex and housed high explosives and munitions during the war. There are several dozen buildings etc. here but were well worth the look. This site is about 6 klms from Adelaide River township.

This is the mighty "Ghan" crossing the Adelaide river. I couldn't show the locomotive as they were using an old one due to the extensive repairs being done on the Ghan loco due to the major derailment a few weeks earlier. Onr of the road trains from Brock's creek had been hit by the train and a cataustrophic derailment had resulted.

2007-03-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

Aaron Armstrong takes us down the Brock's creek gold mine. Brock's creek is a further 56 kilometres south of Adelaide river. It is a mineral rich area with many workings and small ghost towns from the turn of the century. Here we are in full regalia after our induction.

Enterance to the mine is via this tunnel which is at the base of a previous open cut pit. We drove down the spiral shaft in a Toyota land cruiser. If I remember correctly, we decended 300 metres below this point and travelled 3 kilometres of spiralling shaft to get there..

Aaron and Susan inspect a gold ore sample off the floor. Although you could see "colour" in the sample it takes a fair bit of extraction to get payable dirt. It was fairly hot and certainly humid as large pumps kept the water at bay. Remember this is the wet season and seepage from above provides plenty of water below.

This a mobile unit fixing mesh to the ceiling to stop rockfalls. These units are multifunctional and can change operations to do other work as well. There were surprisingly few people at work inside the mine.

2007-03-16T19:35:00.000-07:00

Susan beside a large termite mound at Pell Mell.

Tolmer Falls in Litchfield national Park. Probably the most spectacular set in the park.
Florence Falls. What a beautiful spot. We spent about 3 hours oin the water here. Another of the Litchfield Park falls. The wet weather has put our proposed visit to Kakudu on hold for the moment.

Sunset from the front verandah at Pell Mell. The photo does not do justice to the spectacle,

2007-03-16T19:22:00.000-07:00

The War Cemetery at Adelaide River. This is a beautiful place maintained by the Australian War Graves Commission.

There are several resident Peacocks as well as hens in the cemetery.

Susan sits on the North verandah of the Pell Mell residence doing Sudoku. She's been addicted to it for several months now. Note the van parked at the front.

Inside the lounge and dining room of our section of the Pell Mell residence. We stayed in a modern addition to the original residence. Fully self contained.

2007-03-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

Enjoying Robin Falls south of Adelaide River. This creek is full of sooty grunter. Lucky for them I left the rod and lures at home otherwise they would have felt the full effect of my legendary fishing skills.

Wangi Falls in Litchfield National Park. We made several trips to the National Park. We had intended to spend christmas in a cabin at a private caravan park adjoining the National Park. We returned home after finding the cabin at the van park unsatisfactory. There are nunerous falls in the national park, all well worth the trip.

Machine gun emplacement on a hill top at Pell Airbase. There are several of these on the property we were sitting. The property name is Pell Mell. More photos of the property in other blogs below.

A Slit trench below the gun emplacement above. This was cover for the troops if straffed by Japanese aircraft.

2007-03-16T17:08:00.000-07:00

The property sits are not just fun stuff. Here I am working my butt off. Susan helps by taking photos and then quite unfairly calls me the "Pyro maniac".

The temp. was about 38 in the shade. It looks so bloody beautiful here though doesn't it?

Mowing the lawn on the northern side of the house.

Returning home after checking the water troughs and fences.

2007-03-16T17:01:00.000-07:00

Adelaide River. The sign reminds you of the role played by the town during the second world war. The Territory has done an excellent job in sign posting all of the significant WW 2 sites. There are a lot of airfields and army camps throughout the Territory and all have similar signs. Most have a history of the site and its role in defending the north. History lessons that I had as a school boy did not leave me with the knowledge that there were so many bombing raids on Darwin and surrounding towns and bases.

On our first day at Adelaide River this buffalo walked out onto the road about 100 metres away. He gradually made his way towards us as I was taking photos of him. At this point though it was "Into the bloody Nissan Susan and lets make tracks!" We saw others as time went on.

Susan Locks the gate at Pell Mell, the propertythat we sat for 5 weeks. She is actually standing on the old runway which runs beside the Stuart highway. This is 10 klms north of the Adelaide River township. The remains of workshops and various defence fortifications remain on the property.

This is the sign on the side of the highway telling of the role Pell airfield played during the war. It was built by the Americans and handed over to the Australians after they moved north. It was a substantial repair centre for damaged craft.

2006-12-12T05:12:00.000-08:00

Darwin is famous for its sunsets. Well these photos don't do them justice. Without a better camera or more skill, these are the best I can do. These shots are all taken around East Point on the northern side of the harbour. Many of Darwin's large gun emplacements were here during the war. There function was to protect the harbour from a sea attack. The preperations included a boom net that went about 8klms across the mouth of the harbour. (Remains of the installation are still visible at low tide) The air raid in 1942 nullified these installations. There are still many WW2 sites that have been preserved and sign posted for tourists. A war museum is situated on this point as well.

Susan andI have been walking 6 klms most mornings. We have one day off a week. East point has an excellent walking track along the beaches and low cliffs. We spent an hour doing our 6 klms one evening followed by some sunset photography. While Susan refreshed with a bottle of cool water, I cooled down with a Rum and Coke. I just love to use an old empty rum bottle as the drink mixer. I keep it in the car fridge just for that purpose. Susan is always horrified by my lack of good manners at these times. I was getting a reprimand for drinking from my rum bottle in public in this shot on East Point. Hells Bells we'd just finished 6klms at pace, a man deserves some latitude. I think the full moon in the background got to her.

2006-12-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

This is the border folks. We travelled another 830 klms after this early start.

Have you ever seen the Queensland and Territory Border? well this is it! At night there aint a lot to see. We took of from Camooweal at 3:00 am to beat the heat and wind. The border is very close to Camooweal, we got there about 3:20 am. Looking back, we said goodbye to Mighty Queensland. We were fortunate that the road trains were few and far between and we saw 3 roos for the night. Good rain the previous month made te country well grassed so the roos must have had plenty of feed else where..

There isn't a lot to see at the border in daylight either. Just a fence going North and South, no trees. The road from Mt Isa to the border is in excellent condition now. The last section to Camooweal was once regarded as a bit of a horror strip if you were towning a van. Now it is better than the Northern Territoy road.

Susan needed a sleep about half way across the Barkley Tableland. So did the other truckies at this stop at 6:30 am

2006-12-04T16:37:00.000-08:00

Ever Seen "The Isa" at Night, well here it is. Enjoyed our stay here. Delayed longer than expected with airconditioning repairs. Our visit to lake Moondara was a surprise to me. It was larger than I anticpated and certainly well used by the locals. Ski boats and fishing boats every where.

The following photo is the tourist centre "Outback at Isa" an excellent Museum and information centre. The Riversleigh Fossil field has a museum housed in the same facility. Our stay in the Isa was prolonged because of a airconditioning problem with the Nissan.

The airconditioner repairs led to a breakdown half way to Camooweal. The repairs had left some electrical cabling foul of the fan belt which shorted out the ignition. Luckily I've kept my RACQ membership up to date and the repair man came from Camooweal to get us going again. We had an enforced stop of about three and a half hours before we hit the road again. We "Hot wired" the Nissan and eventually had it repaired properly in Katherine.

2006-11-18T13:56:00.000-08:00

Kronosaurus Korner in Richmond has a brilliant display of Australian fossils. All are extremely old remains of the dinosaur age when most of Australia was covered by an inland sea. It's well worth the visit. This is an exceptionally good display.

Without giving too much away, (you need to go and spend your own shilling), this inside shot gives a good idea of what you will see.

This is Minmi, the most complete fossil discovered yet. It had the skin fossilised as well as the skeleton.

The reconstruction of Minmi was developed from these fossilised bones.

2006-11-15T23:42:00.000-08:00

Family history connections in Dinosaur Country, Richmond. Most people think I'm a dinosaur at times but I have a family connection that goes back to 1886 at least in this town. On top of that If you happen to wear your All Soul's T'shirt in town you get plenty of comment from all of the various old boys from various schools in the Towers. Here's one of the Good Old Boys. John Wharton and his wife Mary. All Soul's through and through, and the Mayor too boot. Hell I had the run of the town. Susan and I have spent 4 days here while I did some family history research. These people have been fantastic in ensuring I've been introduced to helpful people.

One of my grandmothers was born in Richmond. I believe at an outstation called Charcoal Creek on Richmond Downs station on 23 Dec. 1886. Well here it is today. Grant Lillyman, the grandfather of the North Queensland Cowboy player, knows this country like the back of his hand. He guided me to the spot and here we inspect the ruins of the outstation 120 years after my gran was born here.
My great gran who was the previous girls mother died at "The Northern Star Hotel" on this spot in 1889. This pub was on the coaching road to the west and a staging post for Cobb and Co. She died of dysentery after 5 days and was buried on the banks of the O'Connell Creek which joins the Flinders about 500 metres away. The pub that was here when the rail came through in 1907 was moved to the town of Maxwelton.

The whole time I was out in the bush I kept a sharp lookout for these blighters. While this one is in Hughenden, this was their playground as well.
The Muttaburrasaurus.

2006-11-15T23:27:00.000-08:00

Charters Towers at night is quite spectacular. The Commercial Bank in Mosman Street and Henry's (Lawson) Restaurant

City Hall with the Information centre beside it. All of these buildings are Heritage listed.

Gill street on a crowded Wednesday evening.

Ludwig Leichardt's campsite on the Burdekin. This site was covered when the height of the Charters Towers Weir was raised by 2.3m, but the campsite was only a couple of hundred metres away from the weir wall. I wasn't aware of it, could have been sleeping through that particular lesson though.

Leichardt must have blazed a tree and this is a replica.

2006-11-15T22:51:00.000-08:00

Back from the Tip and Weipa. While in Weipa, Dean my second son became ill and was flown out by air ambulance. This has been our main concern for several weeks. Glad to say he is on the mend after being under the care of a specialist in Townsville. Once back in Cairns though it gave Susan and I some time to catch up with my brother Warren and Nola and discuss their recent 8 week holiday which was a trip to Darwin in their caravan. We're comparing notes here in Shane's back yard in Cairns. Susan and I started our keep fit program of walking again in Cairns and spent quite a few days walking the Red Arrow climb on Edge Hill. Tough after a lay off.

We did not have long in Cairns as we needed to get to Townsville to support Dean who was in the early stages of diagnosis. Here he is with his motor bike. Anybody that knows my opinion of these things may find it a surprise to have it even on the Blog. Well it's his pride and joy and it shows him in his current state of health.

We had a couple of meals together. This was one of the best in terms of quality and venue. The Garden of Eating in South Townsville for Brunch. By this stage Dean was starting to relax after the specialist had given him fairly good news.
On the other hand, Susan and I were almost jumping out of our skins with energy. Believe that if you will! We had been in Townsville for 3 weeks and had walked the goat tracks on Castle Hill on all but three days. Some days the course was 7 klms long and took one and three quarter hours of walking and climbing. I know for sure now that I will bloody well need knee replacements. We are now on the road to Darwin

2006-10-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

How's this for some big fish. Susan is now a fully fledged lure caster. This 77 cm. Barra was taken by Susan on the northern side of the Mission River Bridge at Weipa. Unfortunately it was about 3 days after the Barra closure. This was the second Barra that afternoon for Susan. The other one was a baby one compared to this beauty.
It was so good I thought you should see it again. The fish was taken just on dusk on a Gold Bomber. Susan now claims that as "Her Bomber". I'm reduced to using all the second rate lures. By the way Susan has just reminded me that this was the biggest fish caught in Weipa. Up until this fish Susan was just counting how many she caught. When she caught more than I did on a particular day, That's what counted. All of a sudden it has gone to "Quality of Fish", talk about competitive.

Another brace of Golden Trevally. These were taken while trolling. Susan nailed the biggest again. We found a patch of Ribbon fish as well, so we brought home a few to give to Ross as bait.

Remember this shot? This was Susan's first big fish, a Northern Bluefin Tuna taken at Seisia. Well the trip to the Tip and house sit are coming to an end, sadly. We will depart Weipa on Saturday 7th October. We have had a ball and will return one day I'm sure.

2006-10-01T18:27:00.000-07:00

Our Weipa house sit. This is owned by Ross and Sandra Henderson. A typical Weipa home built by the mines many years ago. Ross and Sandra are particularly house proud with a very good lawn and yard. The home is a challenge to keep it in the same order that Sandra does, but we are happy to oblige. You'll see photos of the "Henderson Hounds" in one of these blogs. They are the main reason Ross and Sandra have offered the housesit.

We are fortunate that the family gave use full use of their Cairns Custom Craft boat. Ross encouraged us to use it regularly. We’ve been out in it 6 times to date. This was one of the beautiful calm mornings prior to a departure from Rocky Point boat ramp up the Mission River.

It hasn’t been difficult to see crocs up here. More difficult to get a good picture of one though! Here a young 2 metre croc allowed us to approach fairly close. The bigger crocs were much more timid, sliding into the river at a distance. You can see more crocs in the Proserpine River on a good day but there are plenty here.

At the end of the day the clean up has to be done

2006-10-01T16:48:00.000-07:00

Ted in his element at Weipa. The lack of fish didn't matter on an afternoon like this. Rocky Point boat ramp at sunset. High winds have been an inconvenience over the last three weeks. I've caught several Barras here just after dusk, they have come on for about 20 minutes each time.

Nice 40 cm. Jack at Kerr Point. Taken on a Popper at dawn. Kerr Point is the most "Fishiest" area I have had the good furtune to fish over the years. High winds have been a dampener over the three weeks here.

68 cm, Small, but Susan was hungry for a feed of fish. Taken on a Popper at last light. Caught two this evening. Note:- By this time I've lost all of my facial hair, I got tired of keeping it tidy.

The "Henderson Hounds", these were the main reason Ross and Sandra invited a house sit. Oska is the small one, Oakey the Jack Daniel.

2006-10-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

Susan has now nailed 6 small barras on lures. She was as surprised as the fish here. We're still waiting for her first legal barra though. The season in the gulf closes earlier than on the east coast. This season closed on September 30. I'm starting to "put up" with, "When are you going to catch one Ted? I've got four in the boat already". I'll explain the quality of fish to her soon, without breaking her heart.

Little Cudda in the Embley river.
Small estuary cod. Go girl. Susan has about 6 species of fish to her credit at the moment.
She has surprised me with her ability to cast lures with a fair degree of accuracy. I'll have to keep an eye over my shoulder soon. Well about three years, I reckon! I'm waiting for the first time she catches me with her back swing.

The Stone Crossing on the Wenlock River was the site of the first barra Susan caught without assistance. I walked away to fish and she nailed a small one at this spot. It's certainly a lovely spot.

2006-10-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

Susan now an accomplished lure fisherwoman.

Customs has a very obvious presence.
Lunch on the Embley River.

Crab heaven.
10 buck crabs in two pots. We threw one away, "just in case" it wasn't legal. Kept 9 how good was that?

2006-09-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

Fishing from the shore at Roonga point north of Seisia. I had four land based trips to the north of our camp. I fished the rocky points in the hope of picking up a barra. The water was very clear, which made luring a little tricky. The bottom was generally coral below the low water mark. The black lip oysters are the biggest I have seen and all of the large ones had been opened "picked" very recently. The tides can be very fast and unpredictable to those used to tide patterns on the east coast. On my excursions I caught 11 species of fish. Here is a sample of some of the bigger fish.
Tarpon in this photo. On this morning I was completely spooled by a big trevally. My 15 kg line with the drag locked up made little impression. I also nailed a small coral trout. While he was about 40 cms long, I didn't have the heart to kill him and like all other fish I let him go.
Wolf herring. I kept this fish because he had died by the time I got the trebles out of him. I took him Seisia to give to Daniel Finch to use as bait. Both Daniel and the other guide were disappointed because we cut him in three to fit into the small upright freezer. They wanted him whole to troll for mackrel. They use fish this size to get the bigger mackrel.
Queenfish. My favourite lure, the popper, suckered this nice queenie. I landed about 5 queenies and quite a few small trevally during these trips.
Barra. Not as many as I woud have thought. The country looked very good with shallow muddy bays adjoining the points. The mud is not the oozy type, it as a lot of sand with it.

2006-09-05T14:19:00.000-07:00

Daniel Finch ensured we got the whole treatment on the day he took us out fishing. Other activities included feeding sharks. here we see one of three that we fed tuna to over a period of about a half hour. It's difficult to get a good shot which shows the size but this shark is about 3 metres long.

The next stop was in the mouth of the Jardine river where we stopped for lunch. There were two small crocs up on the beach as we motored in, but they were both too small and shy to get a good photograph. In the mouth of the river there is a resident groper. Daniel has been feeding him fairly regularly and he comes over and sits under the boat and waits for a feed. Susan prepares to feed him with the frame of one of our tuna.
Again it is difficult to get a good photo. This shot gives you some idea of the size of this fish. I estimate he's about 120 to 140 kilos. That is huge by any standard. Susan did a great job of fighting him for the tuna, holding him near the surface as he rolled trying to get the frame of the tuna free.
So Daniel had set his goals of making sure Susan caught a good sized fish, shark feeding, croc spotting and feeding the groper. We had a wonderful day and headed for Seisia about 2:30. The old slow boat took about two hours to get home but we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Dan had a relaxing day as well.

2006-09-05T14:05:00.000-07:00

Fishing with Daniel Finch from Seisia. For those who do not know, Daniel is Susan's second son. Dan is a guide working for John Charlton in Seisia. Daniel motors in to pick us up at the Seisia boat ramp. The weather conditions were not the best, winds to about 15 knots were predicted and did eventuate later in the day. Dan decided that we would travel south to take advantage of the tide. He predicted good tuna schools to the west of Red Island.
Dan nailed the first tuna. He had dropped one very early in the piece but I managed to gaff this one one for him. We kept them to feed to the sharks later in the day.
Guess who got the biggest fish for the day. Bloody beginners luck. A Northern Bluefin Tuna. We didn't feed this baby to the sharks. Daniel filleted it and Susan has been eating it for days.

Not to be outdone, I managed two mackerel tuna. This one on my G.Loomis rod. Both fish about the same size 4 /5 kilos

2006-08-29T14:47:00.000-07:00

The group of falls on the Elliot river are spectacular by any standard. There are 7 sets I think. Although not huge drops they are all very pretty with crystal clear water. This is the first set on the way north, "Fruit Bat Falls" Both photo 1 and 2 are of Fruit Bat. The first is a photo merge of three photos. The seconfd is the same falls from a higher vantage point.

The next sets are only about 7 kilometes north. This is the top set of Twin falls on Canal creek which joins the Eliot river immediately below these falls.

Indian Head falls on the Eliotriver at the junction with Canal creek. The pools below these are quite deep and swimming is not recommended. The national parks and wildlife maintain a very good camp ground here. Toilets and tap water are provided throughout the grounds. We stayed here for 3 days

2006-08-29T14:31:00.000-07:00

The trip down part of the Old Telegragh Line was well worth it. There are still post standing in the scrub beside the track, although most have been bent over and stripped

2006-08-29T14:13:00.000-07:00

North of Cooktown are the Isabella Falls. As has generally been the case as we've travelled north, there was excellent flows in the rivers and creeks. This showed all these falls at their most spectacular.

Fishing the 7 mile waterhole on the Kennedy river in Lakefield National Park.

Crossing the Normanby river at Kalpowar on the way to see the vietnam vets at Pandanus Park.

The second battery instalation was faulty and caused us to change our plans to stay remote for up to two weeks. I'm checking out the problem in the main street of Coen. 5 other vehicles were lined up at the local mechanic's garage so we were forced to push on to weipa.

2006-08-29T02:53:00.000-07:00

The Gunshot crossing, one of the most feared on the Old Telegraph Line. The exit to the south, pictured here, rises almost vertically for about 2.5 metres. "Dissa" handled it with ease. Other wimps took the easy road, seen below. There are about 5 or 6 of these vertical walls that have been disbanded over the years. The picture here does not do them justice .

Here is another group taking the easy way. I was tempted to do this at first but "Machismo" took control and I did it the hard way. These is no control of the vehicle once you go past a certain point. The brakes are locked but you slide into the pit below.

Gunshot creek is a very small and very beautiful creek. I have been reliably informed that the various vertical walls are now being manufactured with mobile scoops to satidfy those that fancy a challenge. There is a bypass around most of these daunting crossings.

Here is one of the successfull travellers who is pictured dopping into the creek bed in the previous photo. The creek is in the front of the vehicle.

Another crew give it a go. While this guys wife walked the edge, he didn't bother to check it out, just got into the "Toyt" and dropped her in.

2006-08-29T02:29:00.000-07:00

Our over night camp at the "Tip", Pajinka or Cape York, what ever name you prefer. Susan and I had a romantic camp overnight at the Tip. We hauled our camping gear to the top, watched the sun set, had a splendid prepared dinner, camped the night and watched the sun rise the following morning. Well it certainly was romantic, but- The gear had to be carried iover rcks, uphill for about 700 metres. The sun set and dinner were great. The wind blew at 30 knots all night and it threatened to rain. The following morning sunrise was overcast and I dropped a good fish while fishing the next morning. But - we wouldn't have missed it for quids.

Susan watches the sun set. Two catamarans were anchored below for the night. They had sailed through York passage about an hour before sunset.

Like I said, I fished the Tip, but blew the only goos fish to hit my lure. It is a magnificent spot. The water was magic, very clear. The wind was a problem though.

A picture of our camp site . This shot looks south east along the Coral Sea coast. Let me tell you, single swags and high wind ensures a romantic night.

2006-08-25T03:49:00.000-07:00

Vietnam veterans at Pandanus Park, East of Kalpowar Station. Susan and I met a couple of vets at The Lion's Den near Cooktown, and so we decided to pay them a visit at Pandanus Park. This was the 40 th Anniversary of the battle of Long Tan and there were expected to be over 500 people visiting. This is the registration office. I checked to see if any Proserpine boys were there, or others I knew but could find no names at that time.

This shot shows the rememberance area where the service was held. There were men from all over Australia settled in campd along the river. Most had bought their wives. Susan was moved to find so many West Aussies who had made the journey.

Here is the camp of the two men we met at the Lion's Den. Both had served in Vietnam as regular servicemen and had remained in the services after their tours.
We had coffee and a chat before returning to our camp on the Kennedy River at the Hann crossing, about 40 klms away.

2006-08-25T03:43:00.000-07:00

Interesting groups we've met on the trip to the Tip. These bike riders are two of 120 BMW bike riders who were on their way to the tip and back in 7 days. We met them on the bypass road where they were visiting Elliot Falls. I'd almost run one of them off the road as he tried to pass me on a very corrogated section. These guys fly at over 90 klms /hour and come out of your dust. They had had three riders injured the day before, two broken collar bones and a cut achilles tendon. I caught up with the guy I nearly bushed and appologised for my indiscretion.

How about this gentleman? Running from Hobart to the Tip in aid of Camp Quality. He's 67 years of age, doing an average of 57 klms/day. Was due at Bamaga on 28th. August, was running several days ahead of schedule. He is a world record holder for his age. His record is for the total klms travelled in 54 hours. He gets about 1500 klms out of a pair of running shoes. His wife was the support driver in their two wheel drive van.
This is the group of 9G Chamberlain tractors that were at Weipa as we passed through. They had been featured in local television news so you probably have heard of them. While there were 30 tractors for most of the trip, 16 of them were at the camp ground resting for a few days before they pushed on up to the Cape. Others in the group had to return home due to work commitments. They are assembled here on the beach in front of the caravan park waiting for a helicopter to vidoe them for their web site. Most are from West Australia where the Chamberlain tractor was designed and manufactured. Two of the group were from NSW.

2006-08-08T05:46:00.000-07:00

Cooktown to Daintree scenes. The Daintree Ferry. Usually about 30 cars waiting on either side at any time of the day. The place abounds with "Loopies" like us.

Commemorative Monument to Captain James Cook's Landing in 1770. The cannon in the background was one sent to north Queenslandto help fend off invasion in 1902. I think the Russians were the baddies at the time.

Bulk Freighter only a few kilometres offshore just north of Cape Tribulation.

Spectacular scenes along quiet back roads through the jungle. This was basically the boundary between two dwellings hidden in the forest.

2006-08-08T05:23:00.000-07:00

The Cape Tribulation Trip. This is Dissa crossing one of six fords on the track. It's about standard for the depth of water. Norte the campers on the creek bank to the left of photo. The track is only about 34 kilometres from Wujal Wujal (On the Bloomfield river) to cape tribulation. This is the only "remote section" of the journey from Cooktown via the coast. Very steep climbs and descents but 2 wheel drives will pass easily enough in Dry conditions. This trip is about rainforests and clear streams. If you enjoy these aspects of travel we would thoroughly recommend this trip.
We spent three days on this trip. First nights camp near Thornton's Beach. Second night back at Bloomfield after spending half the day doing the sights around Cape Trib....

The Bloomfield Falls at Wujal Wujal were spectacular. A late finish to the wet season ensures a good volume of water. The pool below this is where I wanted to wet a line. There were schools of Jungle Perch, some over the kilo and a half, teasing me.

Everybody has heard of the Black Mountains on the approach to Cooktown. Here is a composite shot of the easterly one. This mountain is onloy a few kilometres from the Little Annan river bridge. Below the bridge is a spectacular Gorge. While it is not a huge gorge it is well worth the 400 metre walk to see some of it.

2006-08-08T04:56:00.000-07:00

Fishing around the north has been pretty slack. To be honest I haven't put my heart into it yet. I've had about four shy attempts to wet a line but either the weather or other pressing trips have kept it on the back burner.
This shot is one of me fishing at Archer Point, a light house located about 30 kilometeres south of Cooktown. It was reported to be very beautiful and believe me it lived up to it's reputation. The day we visited,we spent about 3 hours there with 30 to 40 knot winds. It is scenic without any village or settlement. This shot shows an old jetty I believe was used to load cattle onto freighters. Now abandoned. No fish here though, to bloody windy.

Lighthouse on Windy Hill in Cooktown. How Captain James Cook missed seeing it is beyond me, it stands out like the proverbial.
Cooktown is going ahead in leaps and bounds. Real estate has gone crazy. Typical house are now costing 370 - 450 thousand and buildings are going up every where. (Airlie Beach 1970 style)

Historic Lion's Den Hotel. Now does a great trade with the travellers who come up via the Cape Tribulation road. We spent 3 days on the Cape Trib road. No real problems for a two wheel vehicle as long as it is dry. Passed many of them on the trip. We visited a friend (Peter Kelly) near Cow bay, south of Cape Tribulation. Susan could have spent a month in the tropical rain forests between Daintree and Wujal Wujal. Photos of this in the previous blog .

Here Peter Kelly shows Susan his drilling rig. It's parked for repair at Thornton's Beach. The third highest mountain in Queensland, Thornton's Peak is in the back ground.

2006-07-29T05:11:00.000-07:00

Molly Pointing, my grandaughter. This young lady is growing up quite quickly now. 4 years old last March. She loves stories and both her mum Kylie and dad Shane are regular story readers. You'll see me as the stand in story reader below.

A couple of shots of her here

In the Nissan before going on a picnic.

With her mum Kylie on the picnic.

Ted does "Snow White" with Molly. She's like most women, a real "Ham"

2006-07-29T04:47:00.000-07:00

Had a great time in Cairns. Weather was great, fine for 90% of the time. Here are a few night shots of the city. We will soon be in Cooktown for a week. During this stop we will travel down the coast road to Cow Bay just north of the Daintree. We'll camp out of the Nissan on this overnighter. After the week in Cooktown it is "Up the cape" to the tip. We expect to take about three weeks to visit the top end which will include a stay in Sesia with Daniel, Susans son. He's a fishing guide there. More of that as it happens I'll keep you posted from Weipa after we get there in the second week of September.

Johno's Blues Bar. Great stuff happens here let me tell you. If you ever get a chance to get up here and you enjoy The Blues, get along and see this guy. There are always new acts passing through Johno's and some are very famous. The joint jumps 'till about 3 in the morning. We always enjoy a night out here.

The Pier as seen from the esplanade walkway. This shot is about a kilometre from the Pier. At the start of all the sidewalk dining on the strand. We did a three kilometre walk to the Casino and back. Couple of coffees on the way. We also spent a couple of evenings at The Court House. An old court house converted to a club and live music venue. Great swing band the Alley Cats, play here most Sunday afternoons from 5 till 11.

The Central Hotel, still jumping at midnight. I had a tough time getting a shot due to cars and traffic. Fluked one with very few pedestrians of cars.

2006-07-17T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is my oldest mate Doug Stephens and his wife Debbie playing at the "Christmas in July" Rock and Roll dance at Yungaburra. Doug invited us to the dance and we spent a great night Rocking. The following day we visited them at their property north west of Kuranda. Doug and I along with Gordon Crooks and five other Babinda boys were at All Souls School together in 1960. spent several days on the Tableland with Gordon and Doug remininsing about the good old days. It was great fun for me and Susan and I thoroughly enjoyed our time with both of the families.

Here is a scene of the Rockers in action at the hall. There were some great movers I can tell you. Susan gave me a break off the floor to get these shots. We had a pre dance dinner in the Eacham Hotel which is fairly famous for its size and timber construction, a real land mark on the tablelands. I can't go any where without running into some one I know, Tony Olsen from Proserpine was in the bar having a drink when we were sussing out the hotel a couple of days before the dance.

Here we with Gordon Crooks and his wife Jean. We stayed with them catching up on the intervening years while in Mareeba. The Mareeba rodeo was on over this weekend but we did not attend.

This is a photo of Skybury, The Australian Coffee Centre at Mareeba. This is reputed to be a two million dollar building. Our interest in visiting was the fact that Susan was a friend of the owners mother who lives in Augusta WA. Complicated isn't it? They are doing quite well for themselves. This is a coffee plantation west of Mareeba. Mareeba now produces 90% of the Australian coffee.

2006-07-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

Walsh's Pyramid, 922 metres, the challenge Susan set us on 11 July. We might have left our start up the mountain too late at 1:30 pm brimming with confidence after several weeks climbing the slopes of Castle Hill. Two and a half hours later Susan stood on the summit with Ted still some 80 metres below with bad cramps in both thighs. We finally got off the Pyramid at 5:50 very tired and pleased to have achieved our objective.

This shot shows the pair of us, showing signs of exhaustion, at the "Half way rock" on the return journey. The smoke in the left centre foreground is the Mulgrave mill at Gordonvale.
The weather at Babinda turned to showers after several beautifull days of winter sunshine. How's this for rain fall records. Garradunga is a few miles north of Innisfail. The old pub was severly damaged by the cyclone, having it's roof completely torn off.
We have visited quite a few waterfalls on our trip. This is the Fishery Falls just north of Bellenden Ker where Ted grew up. He had never visited them although they were no more than 13 kilomtres away from his home. This water is fairly cold and it certainly took the breath away. There was very little cyclone damage in this area.

2006-07-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

Murray Falls, were a surprise. Situated 20 kilometres north of Cardwell and 20 kilomtres off the Bruce Highway. Our overnight stay was a welcome rest stop. There was a beautifull swimming hole downstream from the falls. The sound of the falls during the night was very soothing. We were fortunate to travel through this area in fine weather. It had been several months since three consecutive fine days were experienced.

Bramston beach was an area that Ted grew up in. His parents owned a beach house here from 1959 until recently. This shot shows the full beach from "Pinchgut" creek in the south to the next headland, a distance of about 11 kilometres. Cyclone Larry had created havoc with the vegetation.

Fishery Falls. Susan cannot help herself if she sees a set of falls and these were no exception. This set are just off the Bruce Highway at Fishery Falls. While I had lived no more than 15 kilometres from them for half of my life it was my first visit. We had this site to ourselves for several hours prior to lunch.

The Golden Hole in the Russell River was another pleasant trip. Tropical waters are so clear as they come off Mount Bartle Frere, the highest Mountain in Queensland. The coastal flats north of Ingham have many large rivers and streams of crystal clear water. All waterways are at a good height at this time due to the prolonged wet season.

2006-07-06T07:11:00.000-07:00

Some cyclone Larry damage. This house is typical of many throughout the South Johnstone and Mourilyan district. Quite a few are uninhabited still with no roof covering. We were fortunate to pass through the area with fine weather. Photos cannot clearly show the absolute devastation of the rain forrest.

Damage at Paronella Park was very severe. Susan stands beside fallen logs that have been sawn to clear the walkways through the gardens.

This is one the aircraft hangars at the Innisfail airport.

The Mourilyan mill will not open for crushing this year. Note the chimney stack folded in two by the cyclone. The bent stack is in the dead centre of the photo. The sugar cane crops are very poor due to both the cyclone and the continued wet weather.

2006-07-06T07:02:00.000-07:00

Paronella Park. What a remarkable construction by one man, Jose Paronella. Well worth the visit. Even though cyclone Larry has caused extreme damage this added to the value of the tour. There are six and a half acres of gardens filled with many romantic settings and buildings to experience. All builings have a Spanish Castle architecture. The picture below shows the original refreshment rooms. There was a tennis court in the foreground and there is a long array of fountains still operating immediately to the front of the building.

This picnic area beside the swimming pool was serviced by the refreshment rooms in the previous photo. These rooms were abandoned after one of the massive floods forced a relocation at the top of the waterfall.

This suspension bridge is a recent construction connecting a parking area across Mena creek to the park entrance.

Jose Paronella, the original owner and builder of the park, built the "Grand Staircase" pictured at the start of his construction to carry building materials up from the creek

2006-06-25T07:05:00.000-07:00

Wallaman Falls lie 56 klms west of Ingham via Trebonne. The falls make a 268 metre single drop to reach the pool below. This is the largest single drop in Australia.
Our visit was during a showery period and we were surprised to see quite a few other visitors there on the morning of our arrival.

We decided to venture down the 1.7 kilometre track to the bottom in spite of the weather conditions.
The path down was well defined and again we were surprised to see at least 3 other groups during our trip. Most of the gorge is filled by tropical rain Forrest whish is dependent on the spray from the pool below. The last 200 metres of the descent was through a continuous mist created by an updraft from the falls hitting the pool below. As we had climbed Castle Hill several times we found the going fairly comfortable.

The photos show the terrain and the vegetation.

At the bottom still relatively dry. The worst was yet to come.
Our climb out was more of an adventure. We pushed up the trail without a stop arriving at the top in 32 minutes. Mind you, "Completely stuffed" is not a comment you are likely to hear from Susan too often.

2006-06-23T06:36:00.000-07:00

Undara Lodge Railway carriage accommodation. There are five types of accommodation. Hostel, permanent tents, Van park, Camping as we were, Railway carriages. The amentities were excellent. Other options for consideration were, pool, bushwalks, free entertainment at night. Diesel was $1.62 cents a litre.

Our campsite. Susan and I slept in our swags in the threeman tent in the middle of the shot. Night temperatures were about 10 degrees. The temperature was reinforced by high winds that blew consistently for the three days we were in the park.

2006-06-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

On the return trip from the Undara National Park, we came across a Variety Club fund raising walk. A lone rider was travelling from Inverel to Cooktown raising funds for disadvantaged children. This shot shows Susan chatting to the support driver waiting for his washing to dry before catching up with the rider who was several kilometres up the road.

In the evening we camped near the Burdekin river crossing close to "The Valley of Lagoons" station. Here you catch a glimpse of the majesty of the large Tea trees on the bank. Oh, I'm doing a spot of sooty grunter fishing as well. There was a fresh in the Burdekin which didn't help my lure fishing. (result 1 sooty) This location was to fill with many campers over the next few days as the school holidays were due to start.

Our campsite at "The Cricket Grounds" on the Burdekin river. The weather was quite cool and the following morning had a heavy mist, this shot was made with the mist still about.

The final leg of the trip home proved very interesting when we came upon Joan Rylah with her three horses. She and her husband are traversing the Bi-Centenial Trail (a horse and walking track) which starts in Cooktown and proceeds all the way to Victoria and then begins again in Tasmania. They expect to take a year to complete the trip. The cyclones and bad weather had disrupted their schedule and they were pushing fairly hard to make up time.

2006-06-23T06:06:00.000-07:00

The trip to Undara National Park to see the lava tubes was something we had wanted to do for some time. The trip up throught the Mount Fox range to the top of the Great Divide was torturous but beautiful.

The Mount Fox Pyroclastic Volcano was a surprise. I wasn't aware of its existence before coming to Ingham. We climbed it on a wet day on the way home. The track went straight up the side at 45 degrees. Our walks on Castle Hill stood us in good stead as we were at the top in 20 minutes. There are very few trees or shrubs on this cone so the view is excellent from the top.The weather was a little better as we passed it on the way out. Susan and I took the full day tour throught tha lava tubes anf surrounds. The guide was very good and the tour was very informative.

The lava tubes were spectacular. Private photos do not do them justice. An example below shows one of the short sections that we visited. This is a short section that has a collapsed roof at both ends. The various posters on site with the explanation of how they are formed, along with the guides explanations were very good. The guide here is explaining that there are 62 vocanos in this "Precinct", some were the very dangerous Pyroclastic (explosive) volcanos while others were the more stable Lava flow volcanos. The second typs, in particular Mt Undara, created the lava tubes.

We ventured into one lava tube that went 100 feet undeground and was still dropping awaysharply. This particular tube runs for 160 kilometres to the west. Three sets of tubes radiate from the Undara volcano. One set to the north others to the west and south.

The final photo shows our group having afternoon tea.

2006-06-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

Jourama Falls trip, Ingham. The falls turnoff is on the Bruce Highway about 23 kilometres south of Ingham. It is only a six kilometre trip foam the highway to the picnic area. This photo shows waterview creek crossing at the access to the National park and the Jourama Falls picnic area

Susan is crossing Waterview creek on the track up to the Jourama falls lookout. The look out is
1.2 kilometres from the camping area. The final stages of the climb to the lookout is quite steep but this creek crossing is very beautiful.

The falls have about three sections to them before they reach the rock pools at the bottom. Here is the view from the Lookout. Susan and I took a picnic lunch with us and enjoyed a lovely meal at the lookout.

There are several rock pools leading up to the bottom of the Falls.
I have traveled past this attraction for over 50 years and have often thought about having a look, this was my first visit. Well worth a look.

2006-06-14T07:09:00.000-07:00

Eastern View
Decending castle hill is not so difficult. You can at least take some time to enjoy the views a little more. The City centre is directly below this rock face. Magnetic island is in the background.

Southern view.
Follow the leader as Susan shows the way. As an Aries she cannot abide following me in either the ascent or decent. I'm sure both our phisical conditioning has improved as a result of these outings.

About halfway back to the vehicle. The rock sections were easier to walk on as the other sections of track had soil and decomposed granite which tended to roll underfoot.
Thank God that's over for now. This was a relatively short climb. A friend, Neville Quigley who was in training for walks in Kakudu, has been on the hill for several weeks carrying ever increasing loads. He invited us on a one trip on the hill lasting an hour and a half while he carried a 20 kilo pack.

2006-06-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

Climbing Castle Hill using "Goat tracks is fairly hard work. Susan and I climbed the hill 5 times using these tracks rather than the road. Here Susan is working up one of the rock sections in this one kilometre climb. Our physical condition has certainly improved.
The suburb of West Townsville is immediately below while Mt Stuart is on the horizon
Mt Stuart on the southern outskirts of Townsville is in the distance. This shot was taken from from the car park near the summit.
The very top of the hill. University students painted the image of "The Saint" on the cliff face immediately to the right of this photo. This was a uni prank with the first image of the Saint appeared in about 1963. It is now a Townsville land mark and is renewed by students when they think it's necessary.

2006-06-10T14:59:00.000-07:00

Townsville at night .
Here are some of the night shots we took of Townsville. I am trying to figure out how to use our camera to take night shots. While still very inexperienced, some turned out quite well.
The first photograph shows a section of the port.

Bulk carrier unloading ore.
"The Strand" The re-devloped waterfront. This area was completely overhauled several years ago. It is very attractive with many restaurants, coffee houses etc. There are two public swimming enclosures. The bright lkight in the picture show the location of one of the netted enclosures.
Castle Hill as seen from the Townsville Marina. The light in the sky is the evening star.