Dusty Cape York

Well the caravan is stored and the cruiser is packed boy is some stuff crammed in there must buy some air bags for future trips the back is too low for my liking but rides OK So its off up the coast to Port Douglas bought a licorice ice cream and had a good look around the marina

 Port Douglas marina above below the view of the beach from the lookout nice eh!

On the Daintree ferry We took the Bloomfield track to Cooktown

 River crossing just a small one we cross about 8 or 9 rivers on the way to the development track as we left Cooktown we decided to travel down the battlecamp road both of these are 4wd only with some steep accents and river crossings they were easily done

The historic Lions Den hotel on the Bloomfield track just out of Cooktown 

Below is the river bed its wide when full would not like to cross it then

 Above and below the old Laura homestead on the Battlecamp road must have been tough living here then

Below captain cook in Cooktown and the bay with the tide out 

Cooktown is only good to pass through

Below stopped at Hahn roadhouse for the night Ossie the emu kept us company he wouldn't go away

Below is road train at Archer river road house

We have made it to Weipa in the campgrounds the roads have been a little challenging but generally OK 

Gave the car a wash at the car wash coming into town boy was it dirty I know it will get dirty again but a least we stay clean when we touch it here  We go on a mine tour this afternoon then tomorrow its off to the Morton telegraph station for the night and on to Eliot falls on the telegraph track for 2 nights hope everyone is well and will post more later 

PS a carton of VB here is $65 a carton just as well I don.t need any

Cairns

Cairns is great as usual although after the sunny arrival it rained only drizzle for 3 days sunny again now !!!!!!!!!!!!

 Curtain fig (strangler fig tree) in the Atherton table lands

 I think we will take notice of this sign although I usually ignore signs

 Below are shots of the rain forest from the tree top walk near paronella park

We were going to do the waterfall circuit but due to the road being closed and a heavy fog rolling in we headed back to the caravan taking the Gillies Highway This drops 800 metres in 19 kms and has 276 curves in the road in that 19kms makes you a bit dizzy by the time you get down especially in a fog
Well we get ready for the cape leave on Saturday the caravan stays here Have put two new tyres on the front of the cruiser just in case The rear were new leaving Perth we have to repack the cruiser and hope we survive with only the roof top tent we are well and truly used to all the comforts of the caravan just like being at home anyway we may be out of phone range for quite some time so if you do not hear from us its probably that
We should take 2/3 weeks to do the cape

 catch you all then

Some statistics for those that like them

Total distance travelled so far 7125kms

Total fuel used so far   1414 litres

Total cost fuel so far   $2115

15 fills of the tank

Worst price we have paid  $1.76 per litre   [Have seen $1.96 Nullabor roadhouse]

Best price paid $1.37

Best cost per kilometre 21 cents

Worst cost per milometre  33 cents

Average cost per kilometre  27 cents

Average fuel economy 18.16  l/100kms

Best fuel economy  14.32 l/100kms

Worst fuel economy  20.58 l/100kms

This info certainly helps when planning a big trip

PS

 The caravan park at Cairns also has mini golf basketball table tennis 24/7 movie room tv room courtesy bus to the city 3 times a day just a few I missed off the list last time oh and the amenities block has hair dryers on the wall not that I need them

catch you all later

boring boring boring!!!

Inland Queensland is boring the scenery never changes the roads are the worst we have been on including dirt and these are bitumen It is also bloody cold so we go into hyper drive and straight up to Cairns Much nicer here temperatures are a pleasant 27 degrees the caravan park we are in is unbelievable we have
Free Internet -children's water play ground 3 swimming pools the worlds largest bouncy pillow for adults too boccie tennis volley ball water aerobics outdoor theatre restaurant on site shop children's cars outdoor chess free book exchange all in a superb tropical setting  and more we haven't found yet

 Found this Bunyip in Mulgerie had a real cheap meal in the pub there $10 each great food too

 The above 4 pics are from Cania gorge we spent 2 nights there out of range of service nice spot

 Ouch crocodiles at last

The above are all from the caravan park great eh!!!!!!!!!!!

North to Alaska oops! Queensland

While in Dubbo got the pushbikes down and cycled to western  plains zoo spent the day riding around the zoo very relaxing

 

Went for a drive south of Dubbo came across a disused open cut gold mine quite impressive

Visited Parkes observatory that is a big dish they have there We then set off for Coonaburrabran and off into the Warrumbungle National park for a couple of days camping the wildlife here is amazing they are not afraid of humans at all full of kangaroos with joeys and birds While we were having lunch a couple of cheeky kookaburras swooped on our sandwiches in our hands we had to retreat to the caravan to finish lunch

Yes that is power you see there this campground has power and Hot!! showers tomorrow will bring a bit of hiking up the peaks you see there don't think we go up all the way though its 6-7 hrs to the top Will also pay a visit to the Siding spring observatory which comprises 13 telescopes including the largest optical telescope in Australia  It is sited on Mt Woorut above our campsite
Anyway I have found a bottle of Bourbon  wild turkey so catch you all next time I log on

We went for a walk up Fans horizon 1000 steps good view from the top

We also went up Mt Woorut to look at the telescope boy was it cold ice forms on the telescope dome on a night and falls off in the day did not stay long much too cold

After leaving Warumbungles we headed for Burrin junction for the night The attraction here is artesian bore hot springs a lot of caravans here parked in a gravel area some for months the therapeutic  value of bathing in the hot springs 37 degrees being the attraction we did not bother thinking it could not be healthy stayed the night and moved on to Lightening Ridge opals are mined here black opal in particular found in only a few places in the world however after Coober Pedi this place did not appeal to us
 So we carried on stopping for a night along the way we found the area around here to be mainly cotton farming and fairly boring so we decided to head towards the coast Toowoomba in this case

Boy what a horrible road the Warregoe hyw is terrible surface more trucks than I have ever seen glad to be off it Toowoomba in a really nice town very large and full of gardens

The Japanese gardens above were extremely well maintained

Went for a drive up to picnic point had a good view of Table mountain from there so decided to drive there for a look but Marion had the wrong shoes on so only walk half way up still a good view though

From there to Spring Bluff an award winning garden railway station in the Lockyer Valley

That's enough for now catch you all next

Into NSW

After 2 days at Port Augusta we were ready to leave on the last day we ran up to Quarn in the Stirling ranges did not know it was there after all the times we have been in port Augusta we will have to spend more time here on another trip as no time now

Travelled up through Petersburough not as nice as I remember it
As it is a railway town here is their mascot
He was the train drivers dog and when he died he hopped on any train he cared to and travelled all over the country
 All the rest stops on the barrier highway in S.A. are crap stopped just outside Broken Hill visited Siverton a ghost town where many movies were filmed including mad max
Sorry I am having problems up loading photos will try again later
any way Siverton looked good we then went down to the Silverton silver mine after a long unsealed road with the van in tow passing through two gates to open and close much to Marion's  distress

As soon as we passed the NSW border the road side stops improved 300% good on ya NSW
we moved on through many towns although the Barrier highway is not the most interesting of roads
we passed through the shire of Bogan For a few minutes I thought I was on the way to Rockingham
So we are in Dubbo the nights still dip below zero and the Bourbon bottle just emptied so I will try and up date with pictures later


Hopefully the photos will follow pls click on pics to enlarge