Bagged out at Bundaberg

Hello dear Blogsters, well the trip is nearly done and we are at Bundaberg. We travelled from Rubyvale to just out of Gladstone and felt lucky to have found a good little roadside camp spot. We set up camp and had a lovely fire going in no time - just as well as it showered all night. We packed up some slightly damp swags (dry on the inside fortunately) and headed off for Bundaberg.

We made good time and arrived at Bundaberg at lunch time. We drove out to Mon Repos and booked into the lovely little old caravan park here. This is the site of a major turtle rookery - but its not quite the right time of the year for them to be here yet.

We set up our tent on the sand-dune and have a wonderful view of the sea. Sam took the time to get in some more guitar practise on the beach!

On our first day here, Mum and I headed off to the hairdresser for a cut and colour before home. It was quite blissfull to be pampered for a while!

Today the weather forcast wasn't brilliant, so I took the younguns out for a day of fun. First we went bowling - what a hoot! I shall modestly claim to have won both games (age and experience showing).

We also played mini golf and then headed off to the cinema to watch "The Dark Knight" - the new batman film which opened today. Our general consensus was that the film was great and Heath Ledger absolutely brilliant as the joker - how sad that he isn't around to do more films!

Tomorrow we pack up and start heading for home!

Kerry and Angelle - here are your darlings just in case you have forgotten what they look like!

Tomorrow we turn for home - tonight we will have a last supper together and watch a film of our photos of the trip - should be fun. See you all at home soon!

The Sapphire Hunt

Hello dear blogsters, lots to tell about our adventures in Rubyvale - but first - in my last blog I mentioned that I made some scones on our last night of bush camping. Uncle John captured my great cooking style (sitting in the dirt).... and the results. So here are his pictures to prove that I am the queen of the camp scone! (Well I have to be the queen of SOMETHING). Anyway, here we are in Rubyvale.... looking for sapphires. That might sound a bit incongruous - except that rubies are actually just red sapphires. We have spent the last couple of nights in a lovely little caravan park. The birds here are amazing - there are heaps of apostle birds (like cartoon character birds with their odd, funny behaviour) and beautiful lorikeets. We had some cake for morning tea and the birds came to join us. The birds took a liking to Lachlan's hair - something about it resembling a birds nest I think!

Now, on to the sapphire hunt. We decided to start off by heading to one of the places where you can buy a bucket of "wash" and work through it looking for sapphires. The process involves getting a bucket of wash (which is a heap of dirt and rocks) and then putting it into seives. The seive then goes into a dooverlackie (which none of we geriatrics can remember the name of) and is dunked up and down to wash the dirt off.

After this, the wash is tipped upside down onto a mat for inspection. (This is the moment where I admit that Uncle John - who was my partner- was infinitely better at this than I was ..... I ended up with mud and water all over my face at one stage!) We each had a set of tweezers and looked through the wash for sapphires. With a good wash, most of the sapphires will be in the middle with the iron stone. Pretty much every bucket yielded sapphires. We had an absolutely wonderful time searching for sapphires - and all have come home with little bags of sapphires. Mum and Dad found a beauty and almost threw it out! Danni found a ripper and got it polished and drilled!

The younguns really enjoyed searching for sapphires and even found time for some fun at the silly sign. Dills!

Anyway, that's all for now folks. We are off to Rockhampton tomorrow. For those who know Bethanie - here is a picture of her and Ella Maguire..... she is having a ball in Slovakia.

As a final note, as I write this blog - we have been partaking of a red wine. I had noticed that my glass was emptying rather quickly.... until I looked up and noticed Mum is crissed as a picket. She has been drinking my bloody wine!!!!!! That's it ... its the 12 step program for Mum as soon as we get home... bloody soak!

On the road to the Sapphire Fields

Hello dear Blogsters - good golly the time is rolling along.... and so are we.

We got off to a good start, leaving Longreach nice and early yesterday morning. We were travelling well and making good time when we pulled into Ilfracombe - 28 km further up the road from Longreach. I pulled up as we entered the tiny township to have a look at the display of old tractors. Dad and John got out and were soon in heaven, checking out all of the old farm implements. Mum quite liked the old cars. The display of tractors went on, and on, and on - and included a couple of little cottages with some wonderful museum displays - including this old telephone exchange - and the fossilised bones of an ictheosaurus. Very interesting indeed!

After checking out the exhibits, we were quite exhausted so we called into the old Wellshot Hotel. It is a wonderful, interesting, old pub. The walls are covered in hats which have been "donated" by people drinking in the pub. There was also a display of all of the brands from the surrounding properties. There were $5 notes stuck to the ceiling - patrons stick a drawing pin through them and then wrap the note up with a couple of 20 cent pieces - then chuck the lot at the ceiling. The pub donates proceeds to the Royal Flying Doctor and the local historical society. Uncle John had a go.... we won't mention whether his note actually stuck or not! After all that effort - we all had to have a drink..... a beer before lunch - what on earth have we come to!!!!!

Anyway, we finally moved on from Ilfracombe and drove for a bit longer, before finding a lovely bit of bush to pull into for a roadside camp. We set up swags and vans and then organised a wonderful campfire. Uncle John was chief cook and rustled up a terrific roast lamb in the camp ovens. I finished the night off by making some camp oven scones - we certainly aren't doing it hard in the eating department!

We went to bed to the dulcet tones of a nearbye bull camel calling to his mates. We slept quite well - but awoke to find it had been a freezing night and there was frost on our swags! A hot breakfast cooked by the campfire soon fixed that!

We moved on and travelled through the lovely little towns of Jericho and Alpha before deciding to turn off to Sapphire and Rubyvale. We have stopped in a rustic little caravan park and will spend a couple of days fossicking for sapphires. More on this tomorrow!

Hi to all at home - not long till we are back now!

The Stockmans Hall of Fame

Hello dear Blogsters. Well by golly it was cold here last night and this morning. The clouds have gone but we are left with a wind that feels like it has come straight off the snow (we are not used to this winter type weather).

This morning Dad made bacon and eggs for us for breakfast - gee we suffer don't we!!!! It was a yummy and warming way to start the day. After breakfast, we headed on down the road to the Stockmans Hall of Fame. This wonderful venue has been open for 10 years and has just undergone a major revamp.

The building is split into 5 different areas, each focussing on a different part of Australia's history or outback lifestyle. The section on early explorers was really interesting with information about many of the major explorers and their journeys. Uncle John was particularly interested in the information about the explorer "John Stuart".

Another section gave information about early pioneering lifestyles - it was great to see some things that the "oldies" remembered either having or seeing. I remember seeing a set of bellows just like this out on our farm when I was a child.

I also remember the good old furphy water tank. Mum and Dad only sold the cast iron furphy tank end just before they moved to Dorrigo (they are quite valuable these days).

The Hall of Fame also had some fantastic artworks - including this beautiful detailed bust, carved from beech wood and this iconic statue of "the ringer" out the front.

After checking out the museum, we had a bite to eat and then went to watch the live show out in the yard. An old drover rode in with a small flock of sheep and some working dogs. He put on a show demonstrating how the dogs are trained and the work they do - they are amazing to watch!

He also did a very funny skit with his mule - which sat down and refused to budge no matter how he tried to get it to move.

The show was great value and really entertaining.

Finally, before we left the Hall of Fame, I went to the RM Williams shop and fulfilled a lifelong dream and got myself a pair of RM Williams boots! So to finish the blog for the day.... here's a picture of my wonderful new boots. Gorgeous aren't they!

And one last note.... just so Bethanie stops calling me a silly bloody oaf - she is in SLOVAKIA not SLOVENIA (heck they sound the same to me!)

Lolling around Longreach

Hello dear blogsters - time for an update on our doings in Longreach.

We arrived yesterday and were amazed at the queue of people waiting to get into the caravan park. We had been in the queue for a while when we cottoned on to the idea of ringing to book our site - which we did - and then waited happily knowing we had a spot when we got to the top of the line.

We settled in, set up camp and had a relatively early night.

This morning Dad, John and Sam headed out to the Qantas museum to check out the sights. They went on a couple of tours to check out the 747 and the restored 707. They reckoned it was pretty cool - and came back saying it was really worthwhile. Here are some of John's pictures.

Mum and I went and did the grocery shopping (how very exciting). We also enjoyed a cuppa at the bakery.

In the afternoon, Dad and John went out fishing. They didn't catch any fish (nothing new in that) but I think they enjoyed hanging out by the river anyway.

Mum and I went for a drive - we saw three brolgas walking down the street in town - how amazing is that!

We also loved the old Longreach Railway station - very old and very lovely.

The teenagers stayed back at the park and hung out. Just in case you have forgotten what they look like, here they are. In case you are wondering, Danni is wearing a liberal coating of cous cous - Lachlan says it was an act of friendship..... dumping a saucepan of cous cous onto her. There seems to be a worrying pattern developing here!

Well that's all for today folks. Tomorrow we are off to check out the Stockman's Hall Of Fame.

Old Fossils and Opal Miners

Hello dear blogsters,

What a wonderful, interesting place Winton is! After a quick look around yesterday, we decided to stay an extra day so that we could have a proper gander at the place.

We went to look at the main street and called into a little museum to have a look. The museum was really interesting - with heaps of dinosaur bones, opals and opal mining equipment and bits and pieces from years gone by.

We also had a look at "Arno's Wall" - a quite bizarre wall full of all sorts of odds and ends. Very odd indeed!

The main street of Winton is very beautiful and fairly typical of an "outback town".

This morning we were up at a reasonable time and headed down to the back of the pub to check out the opal sales. The miners were all in town with their opals hoping to sell them. These interesting men have a real passion for this beautiful stone and some of their finds were just magnificent. Mum and I picked up a couple of beautiful opal pieces for ourselves and as presents for some family members.

After this, we headed out on the road to Lark Quarry. The drive was just over 100km, much of it on dirt roads (lots of deep bulldust and corrugations). When we got out to the quarry, we had lunch and went for a walk. The views were lovely.

After lunch we went to look at the main reason for this trip. The Lark Quarry contains the footprints of a dinosaur stampeded which happened 95 million years ago. A big shed has been built over the site to protect it from erosion -but it just wonderful to see the real footprints of a herd of stampeding dinosaurs from so long ago. The stampede was caused by the arrival of a big carnivorous dinosaur - and its footprints are very obvious.

When the big dinosaur appeared, hundreds of small dinosaurs stampeded in an effort to get away. Their small footprints are clear in the rock.

We really enjoyed seeing this wonderful sight and would recomend it to anyone.

After a long drive back, we finally got home in time to enjoy some pizzas for dinner. Tomorrow we move on to Longreach.

Hi to everyone reading the blog - I really hope you are enjoying the tales of our travels. Hi to Bethanie in Slovenia and to Sheree who is in hospital in Coffs Harbour.

The Intrepid Adventurers Go Bush - Lawn Hill and Beyond

Hello dear Blogsters,

After several days in the middle of nowhere (which is a very nice place to be), we are back in civilisation (well at Winton anyway) and I can now do a little catch-up on our adventures.

On Sunday, John, Danni, Sam, Lachlan and I farewelled Mum and Dad and headed back up the Camoweal Road. Mum and Dad decided to have a few (romantic) days together without the mob and explore Mt Isa and Cloncurry.

We adventurers drove towards Camoweal for about 100 km and then turned off towards Lawn Hill. The road soon turned to a dirt road - but it wasn't too bad - a few corrugations and a lot of dust but no shocking holes. After a couple of hours we stopped off at the Riversleigh Station turnoff and topped up the fuel tank with the gerry can.

We continued on and enjoyed a couple of easy and scenic creek and river crossings. We stopped at the first and the younguns were just asking if there were any crocodiles here when Lachlan found something that quickly answered the question.

After carefully exploring the river, we continued on through the Riversleigh Station to the Riversleigh D site - a site famous for its wonderful fossils. We climbed out of the car and headed up to have a look (stopping off at the "flinstones" type toilet on the way). We saw some interesting fossils in the rocks, including this femur bone from a huge dinosaur bird. The view from the top of the rocks was pretty good too!

We continued on until we arrived at Adele Grove at about 4 in the afternoon. We pulled up and booked into the campground. What a little oasis this was! We were camped in a green, shady grove, beside a beautiful lily-filled river. We had a wonderful dinner and soon settled in for a good sleep.

The next morning we drove the 10 km out to Lawn Hill Gorge. Our first activity for the day was to hire some canoes and paddle up the gorge. This peaceful place was just magnificent and we really enjoyed our paddle. At the end of the gorge we found some lovely little waterfalls and we explored these before turning and heading back.

After handing back the canoes, we had some lunch and then decided to hike to the falls for a swim. Sam, Danni and I took a wrong turn and, whilst John and Lachlan enjoyed the "flat" hike, we ended up climbing the steep track to the top of the cliffs. It was just as well the view was worthwhile as it was a hot and hard climb.

We eventually found our way to the falls and joined Lachlan for a swim. It was great fun swimming under the falls and relaxing in the spa bath like pool at the base of the falls. We felt quite refreshed when we headed back to the car.

Sam cooked a wonderful (if slightly crispy) canneloni in the camp oven for our dinner. I took the opportunity for a walk along the river - very picturesque and peaceful indeed!

After dinner, Lachlan and Danni offered to do the dishes. Uncle John says he was a witness to how the "war" began and, according to him, Danni found a bit of mashed potato in the bottom of the pot and decided it would look very becoming smeared across Lachlan's face. Lachlan then decided that Danni would look equally loved with some dishwater on her head. From there the battle roared on. I am not certain exactly what happened, but I do believe that forensic examination of the participants heads would reveal traces of honey, dishwashing liquid and dirt. Not sure that there was a winner - other than John, Sam and I - we were greatly entertained by the whole debacle (Kerry I will show you the video footage when I get home... but doesn't Danni look just delightful!).

The next morning we cleaned up, packed up and headed off for Gregory Downs. The drive was about 100 km - on dirt roads again. We met up with a couple of road trains on the way - very wise to just pull right off the road and wait as they invariably covered us in red dust which took several minutes to clear.

We pulled into Gregory Downs and were lucky enough to get an amazing camp site right beside the water. The Gregory River was flowing clear and fast and the greenery formed a wonderful oasis in an otherwise dry and dusty landscape. Our swags were next to the river and John's van backed up to a pandanus bush.

We enjoyed a restful couple of nights and a day at Gregory Downs. I got into the campfire cooking (stew, meatballs and rice in crushed tomato and some light, fluffy scones). The younguns lazed around, did some homework and swam in the river. It was altogether a very pleasant couple of days.

We moved on from Gregory Downs and drove on to the Burke and Wills Roadhouse. This iconic roadhouse is located miles from anyway on the road to Normanton. We stopped off for a quick loo break and fuel fill and then drove on towards Julia Creek. I was thrilled to see my first brolgas on this road - and a little further on we saw not just a couple, but a huge flock. What majestic birds these are!

We drove on through Julia Creek and turned at Kynuna onto the Winton Road. As it was getting late, we pulled up for a roadside camp on the plains. The late afternoon light was golden and the views magnificent. We enjoyed a really beautiful sunset and watched as the plains changed colour. It was a very cool night - more than made up for by the show of a meteor shower which has just begun and will continue for the next month. We had a good night's sleep and then drove on to Winton, where we were reunited with Mum and Dad.

Hello to Bethanie and Ella - it sounds like you are having a ball! Hi to Sheree - I hope your leg is feeling better and you are getting some rest.