From South to North: Into the Tropics
After five days of fervently fanning flies and letting the fragrance of farmland soak into our sniffers, we bid adieu to Farmer Joel at the train station in “The Wang.” It was time to commence our next Ozcapade…to the far north…where we would join forces with Avis relocating a rental car from Cairns to Brisbane which would cost us AUD $1, or $.63/day. Yes, you read that correctly.
We got to the train station about 1.5 hours early, so we had plenty of time to sit down for our first flat white, which basically seems like a latte in Aussie language. The upside was, it cost a very reasonable $3.13 for two.
The downside? Five days out of our Melbourne housesit, we were already starved for some downtime with internet and they didn’t have it. A cafe without wifi? What? Have we time traveled to 1995? Anyhow, this would be an ongoing theme in the next week of overlanding, which is why our posts continued to arrive to our Facebook page further and further behind.
After, we hadn’t really gotten a chance to check out Wangaratta, so we did a quick stroll to check out its historic center, which included a beautiful stone church with a quite peculiar wooden tail attached to it.
After 3.5 hours on the train+bus back to Melbourne, where we mistakenly went all the way to the center, rather than getting off a stop early to head to the northwestern airport, we found ourselves in our second palace of Americana in a month…the Holiday Inn, Airport Edition, which we got for 26,000 IHG points.
It is here we’d be prepping for an ungodly wakeup of 2:30 a.m because JetStar considerately flew our plane out of the international terminal, rather than the domestic, meaning we had to arrive 3, and not 2 hours early. We’d already paid for our “mystery” roller bag, which we’d plucked as street candy off Melbourne’s thoroughfares, clocking in at 17 kilos.
However, they also snatched another $34 because evidently their baggage policy is 7 kilograms for BOTH carry-on bags, event though their website does not specify the weight of your “personal item.” Bloody buggers! We definitely weren’t thrilled, but considering the $195 tickets for two were “free” with our Venture X miles, we couldn’t complain too much. Well, we could have. But we were exhausted already.
What also significantly uplifted our mood, was the lounge was open at 3:30 a.m. even though the Priority Pass App said it didn’t open til 5:00. Of course, who wants to plate up at 3:30 unless you’ve been drinking?! Greg!!
After three hours, and only a few winks of catch-up sleep, we had soared across the country to a plushy and lushy land that looked a lot more like Indonesia than the dry and scrubby Australia we’d gotten to know in Victoria. But this land featured a sea of wind turbines rather than palm oil palms.
Welcome to Cairns (pronounced CANS because who needs R’s?) and home of the Great Barrier Reef. And, no, that would not be on the agenda for this visit.
Cairns is plopped firmly in the searing and steamy Australian tropics in the far north of Queensland state and has 175k people, 9% of who identify as aboriginal. Over the next 4.5 days, we’d be covering about 2000 km from Cairns to Brisbane, in the eastern central part of the country.
Our chariot would be a white intermediate SUV Renault, which unlike the Ute, fortunately was an automatic so Greg didn’t have to foot (pun intended) all the wrong-side-of-the road driving. We booked the car through Imoova which is a website where you can reserve rental cars in need of being relocated from one part of the country to the other, for $1/day, in addition to a $30 booking fee. We just shelled out for gas.
This amazing service is not only available in Australia, but in New Zealand, the US and parts of Europe and much of the time, you can also rent fully equipped camper vans. Unfortunately, the time allotted to do this wasn’t nearly as considerable, so we instead bought a tent, air mattress, and backpacker camp stove, which we’d be needing anyhow for our next jaunt into New Zealand. And yes…in case you’re keeping tabs, we just thrillingly revealed the contents of the mystery bag.
Of course, Greg and I rarely drive modern cars anymore, so the learning curve with the GPS and climate control pane took a few minutes. It’s a good thing we were functioning on a good eight hours of sleep, particularly with the slightly toasty temperatures!! 42 Celsius = 107.6 Fahrenheit, by the way. Yes, welcome to summer in northern Australia. Sounds just lovely for a camping expedition, eh?
Our first stop and only sightseeing excursion in Cairns would be to the supermarket to stock up for our road trip and check out the “Back to School sales”. Since Aldi was not going to be accessible until a couple days in, we found ourselves at Cole’s buying only items for an unrefrigerated meal plan and snacks over the next several days.
We were also greeted with a gaping hole where the knives should have been because apparently, instead of guns and Sudafed, minors like to play with kitchen knives in Queensland? So, rather than flag down an (18+ year old) employee, we opted to pick it up, along with our propane at the nearest Anaconda camp store.
Needless to say, with all this hold-up, it took us until 1:00 p.m. to get on the road and the dry peanut butter sandwiches I’d made in Melbourne the night before were only made edible thanks to the giant blackberries we jammed (pun intended) into them.
Day One Road Trip: Cairns >>>>Jourama Falls NP: 3.5 driving hours
At this time, we hit the thread we would traverse for the next five days until we arrived 2000km or ~20 hours away in the city the Aussies affectionally know as Brissie. This would be the A1 Bruce Highway…named after Harry Bruce, a 1930s Minister who played a significant role in its development.
Using iMoova was absolutely the best decision we could make for road tripping and getting budget wheels in this country and is available to anyone 25+ from anywhere, so long as you have a valid driver’s license from your country. There are multiple ways you can travel with iMoova…by car, camper van, truck or van, but no matter what you choose, flexibility is key, and choosing one with unlimited miles is beneficial for ample exploration opportunities.
After waiting for a bit with baited breath for a Melbourne to Sydney, or Melbourne to Brisbane option, we accepted the fact that this time of year, the majority of rentals were heading from north to south. So, despite it being low (=hot/rainy) season, we shot up to Cairns to head the opposite direction, booking with about two weeks to spare, a “last minute” travel style that doesn’t typically suit us too well.
The advantage of renting a car, over a camper van was length of time. The camper van rentals were for about 3 days, while our car was for a week. We initially planned to do the full 7, but a housesit came up in Brisbane that we couldn’t refuse so we arrived a couple days early. This ended up working well because the severe heat and lack of quality sleep were significantly catching up to us by night four. Plus, we’d rolled into Australia Day weekend…which is a time we quickly learned, we’d rather not be camping. Haha.
As we left Cairns (Cans), our Google Map loaded with pins, it was absolutely wild to witness the change in terrain, from scrubby and brown to lush and tropical after being in the south of the country for so long. Unfortunately that first day, because of our late departure and tropical position, we only had a few hours of wiggle room before the sun would plunge into the darkness by 7 p.m.
It didn’t take long to begin seeing signs to remind us that we were in a quite different part of Australia. This commenced with the helpful government road signs that alerted us of death opportunities, which would be an ongoing theme for the rest of our time in the country.
In the background, you can also see Walsh’s Pyramid, which really does resemble an overgrown, emeraldy version of its Egyptian equivalent. And, bonus! Instead of camels, you can ride a croc! No baksheesh required.
Australia even offers new age alternative ways to die. Like visiting a winery! Of course, most tropical wines we’ve tasted kinda of taste like death, so it’s possible there might be some word association with that?!
After a two hour drive, we made it to our first official stop, where we would discover the next sign alluding to something that could kill you…the cassowary bird.
Arriving to Clump Mountain National Park, where we got our first views of the dreamy Pacific Ocean. Just don’t wade your way into it, because…yep, that’ll kill you too. In fact, as soon as we stepped on the beach at Bingli Bay, there was a friendly notice regarding first aid for marine stings.
Lookie…but no touchy…Uh. These Aussie beaches are a bit of a tease already.
Okay, well if we can’t go swimming, let’s try a little tranquil bush walk in the jungle, shall we?! But alas, the moment we step onto the Bicton Hill trek, we see a sign that indicates, it’s not just the animals and wineries that will kill ya…the plants get in on the party too. This one refers to the Stinging Tree, an ironically heart-shaped leaf of malicious proportions. Kinda reminded us of the evil apple in the Garden of Eden.
Anyhow, the stems and fruit of the stinging tree are blanketed with tiny silica hairs that inject neurotoxins if you so much as brush over them. The sting is extremely painful, and symptoms will persist for several months. Even the ghosts of DEAD stinging trees will come back from the afterlife to get you. When disturbed, they release stinging hairs which can cause problems if merely inhaled.
Ah, well. You gotta die sometime. Let’s go on a hike! We lasted a solid 30 minutes until a low, guttural bird emission started freaking us out. Thinking it was a cassowary, and drenched with sweat anyhow, we did an about face and started scooting vigorously off the hill.
OOOO….pretty!!! DON’T TOUCH IT!!!! From here, we enveloped ourselves in the sanctuary of our blessed car’s A/C while we head down the coast a little further to find Mission Beach, where someone was nice enough to create what looked like a quite literal…rad crab shack.
Tide pooling north of Mission Beach. This seemed like a safe activity until we later learned that teeny tiny, and quite lethal octopi enjoy hanging out in pools like this. Mandy also slipped on a rock while doing this, (which didn’t have a warning label), when our baby, the iPhone, had its first opportunity to test its sea legs. It wouldn’t charge with a cord for a couple days, but fortunately seems to be healing. Eek!!
Arriving to Mission Beach, a white and powdery gem, ringed with postcard perfect palm trees. However, this beach was a bit different because it had a large cords darting into the water…
….which held the graceful confines of a dancing black net, allowing for a small, but (probably?) effective swimming area for anyone brave enough to trust the Australian government, or whoever is responsible for tending to such safety barriers. This is probably the same people who were responsible for the seemingly intentional “product placement” next to the sign?
In SE Asia, we dealt with loads of nasty plastic strewn upon the beaches. Here it was another form of nasty. Although we’re not sure if this particular oozing and pancaked pile was the boxed variety of jellyfish, it still didn’t look like anything we’d enjoy making mates with. Also, is this ONE jellyfish or a whole family that died and wanted to be buried together?!
The box jellyfish is in fact, one of the most venomous marine creatures in the world, found primarily off the coastal waters of northern Australia and southern Indonesia from October to May. It’s named for its boxed shaped bell, which can grow up to 12 inches (30 cm) across and has up to 15 tentacles per boxed corner. Yes, that means 60…all which can grow up to 10 feet (3 meters) in length. The venom attacks the heart, nervous system and skin cells causing extreme pain, paralysis and potentially, cardiac arrest. Death can occur within minutes if a large enough dose of venom makes it into your system, but ONLY 20-40 global deaths occur each year, which seems to be what any trained Aussie says to appease your fears (about all creatures.) HAHA.
Regardless, don’t come drunk to the beach. But, just in case you do…
Heading on after our brushes with death, the sky also became a bit menacing as we drove our last 1.5 hours to our campsite for the night, which was enclosed by two swiftly churning creeks and a giant sign that said, “DO NOT CROSS IF FLOODED.” It’s a fortunate thing the rain hadn’t started, but the fear of getting trapped in the campsite and the looming rainclouds were enough to make us lose a lot (more) sleep that night. This, as well as the general feeling of being molested by the sounds of the jungle while perspiring like a baked potato inside of an oven.
Our camp feast that night consisted of boxed Indian fare and naan bread, which we indulged in by shining our flashlight directly into our 10 Liter jug of water we’d purchased to make a lantern. After very little sleep, the next morning, we zipped open our protective barrier to reveal several cassowaries(?) out for their morning stroll near our tent. We learned later that these were in fact, not cassowaries, but bush turkeys. Regardless, we treated them as if they could kill us too. It’s probably safer that way Down Unda…
Day two: Cairns to Brisbane Road Trip: Jourama Falls NP >>>> Cape Hillsborough NP (5 hours, 40 minutes drive time)
The second day of our road trip we were relieved it was morning as we woke the baked potatoes arose from the not-so-aluminum folds of our cheapest-option-at-Anaconda-Camp-Store-two-person-tent. It would be a much longer day of driving and exploration as we continued to gallivant the coastal region of tropical Queensland.
No one was at our campsite at Jourama Falls, except the aforementioned non-cassowary birds, aka bush/brush/scrub turkeys, and a mozzie family trying to use us as the free buffet for their 500+ attendee wedding party. Fortunately, the Aussies do mosquito spray quite well and we were caked with chemical warfare.
The highlights of day two would include some really spectacular scenery and hikes, lunch under a vanilla sky, a ostentatiously substantial mango, and finishing the day at the best campsite of our excursion…parked right on the beach.
But, the day began with a steep but quick 3k trail that wasn’t too shabby either at Jourama Falls itself. Wow! Now, this is a way to wake up! And to have it all to ourselves made it even better.
And the destination wasn’t the only selling point because the trail itself had redeeming features, including more critters…likely an unwelcome uncle at the aforementioned wedding party.
Despite warning signs commencing day two’s “ways to die” chapter, we couldn’t resist a series of rock pools about half way down the trail to cleanse off the perspiration and bug repellant.
True to the sign, when we got in the water, the moss-smeared rocks were slick as snot, but stripping off our stickiness and lying in that refreshing water made it well worth it.
After our plunge, it was finally Mandy’s (first) turn to take the wheel on the “wrong” side of the road, which was quite easy once you figured out the art of the roundabouts.
Pulling over for lunch under a superbly vanilla sky.
Arriving to Bowen, where we decided to spend a bit of time gazing at the beautiful beaches along Horseshoe Bay Road, and the sun-starved Europeans clearly ignoring warning signs about getting in the water…
…while a couple of knowledgeable locals were suited up in full neoprene suits, which according to this sign are 75% effective. Uh….we personally wouldn’t rely on that statistic for a bottle of sunscreen, much less a potentially lethal, transparent sea monster. Even the little guys can be said to offer, “severe back ache, muscle cramps, sweating, nausea, vomiting and a dreadful feeling of anxiety and ill health 20-30 minutes after initial sting.”
Although the aquamarine water and all that dread sounded enticing, we instead meandered uphill on the “coastal lookout path,” which seemed a bit safer option (so long as you stomp your feet every few minutes to scare off any snakes).
WOW! So unbelievably gorgeous!! (Rotary Lookout)
The walk continued about 1k up to the site of a World War II Radar Lookout, which didn’t have any information or a lot of ruins left to it, other than this little rock tunnel…and some piping emerging from the rocks.
This giant $90k fiberglass mango, on the other hand, is one of Australia’s “big things,” which certainly has lots of info on it. It rivals any good Americana roadside kitsch, but has a fun story in that it was stolen in 2014 overnight. Yes, according to Atlas Obscura, “unnamed thieves appeared in the night and managed to load the massive oddity onto the back of a truck and disappear. Soon after the theft, the mango was found not too far from its original location, somewhat well hidden underneath branches and a tarp. Later, a fast food chicken chain revealed that it was a publicity stunt, and posted videos of the mango heist on YouTube.”
Arriving to the best campsite of our trip at Smalleys Beach Campground on the Cape Hillsborough peninsula which was well worth its cost of $9 USD. After battling to blow up our massive Aldi air mattress WITHIN the tent rather than the poor choice he’d made the previous night, Greg joined Mandy for a classy cup of wine out of our collapsible silicon vessel and dinner, which would be rice, beans and avo that night. Yes, that means avocado in Aussie.
But you couldn’t beat the beachfront dining, nor the beachfront stargazing. In fact, it gave us a great opportunity to try out a new app called “star walk” which tells you what you’re looking at by holding your phone up to the sky. We learned quickly that a flashy star near Venus was actually Neptune which was perhaps the biggest surprise.
That night we slept much more soundfully thanks to the lullaby of the ocean waves and the steady stream of sea breeze sliding through our tent, so we were ready to meet the morning. And the weird birdlife was ready to greet us as well, which included our most intimate encounter with a kookaburra so far.
Laugh! Kookaburra, laugh!! So, the old song goes….And when they do it, you can’t help but chuckle too because it’s loud and cackly just like a human who may or may not be three sheets to the wind.
Unsurprisingly, its primary purpose is not to entertain us, but for communication and to establish their territory. The most well-known species, has a call that starts with a series of chuckles and builds into an untamed, reverberating guffaw. It’s often heard at dawn and dusk, which is why it’s sometimes called the “bushman’s alarm clock” in Australia. Sure enough, it’s quite an amusing cacophony to arise to.
Unfortunately we didn’t see wallabies on the beach, which several people had mentioned in the reviews. But that’s ok, it was still the best beach campsite we’d ever had.
Day three: Cairns to Brisbane Road Trip: Cape Hillsborough NP >>>>Emu Park (4 hours, 22 minutes drive time)
After breakfast, like everyday, we began with a hike because before 8 a.m. was truly the only time of day we could even consider walking any length of time in the soaring 40+ degree tropical heat. We also dodged some crocodiles, broke down and sucked down a craft beer, and ended the day in a campsite we’d rather not be in, sleeping ‘neath the vivacious chatter of hundreds of flying foxes…aka colossal fruit bats.
Our first track (aka hike) of the day would be to Twin Beach Lookout, which was an invigorating climb through a plethora of lizards and crawlies ranging from minuscule to massive. But very well worth it for this view out to the sea and just south of the famous Whitsunday Islands.
The island you see in this photo is Wedge Island, which, during low tide, you can walk out to. If you do, however, make sure you understand tide tables and return before you get hike-wrecked, because that gorgeous water continues to be the biggest tease, and not exactly safe for swimming.
It was here we also met a curious new mate…what looked like a Magpie heading to a Halloween party. In fact, at least according to our “Seek” wildlife identification app, she was a “Masked Lapwing.” What a funny little bird.
The sparkling sheet of aquamarine at Cape Hillsborough. DON’T TOUCH IT!!! Greg being a rock jock, as per usual…more rocks to admire as we headed back to the highway.
As we skirted past the town of Clairview on the main highway, Mandy started squealing “OH MY GOD…look at that water!!!” And since Greg had to pee anyways, it seemed like an idyllic time to check out the curious terrain, teasing turquoise, and wind-blown arboreal lookers.
Naturally, the first thing we wanted to do was walk out on it, like the shadow of this solitary fool. Wait…zoom in…is that even real person or some sort of paranormal mutation? Firstly…we don’t remember seeing him when we took the photo. Secondly, the warning signs do suggest this may not be the best life choice.
But, despite the continuous threats of death, it really is pretty, eh?
Moving on, we continued down the two lane “Pacific Coast Highway,” which is far less maintained than the American version in many places. And as we drove, we continued to remind ourselves of the most critical safety notices.
Arriving to the city of Rockhampton felt like we’d entered a metropolis with its 12-story buildings.
At 3 p.m. it also felt like we’d rolled into the inner workings of a pizza oven. For you Americans, 47 degrees Celsius = 116.6 Fahrenheit. Needless to say, although the historic centre was quite charming, we didn’t really feel like going for a stroll, except straight into a craft brewery…the only one we’d entered during our five weeks in Australia. At a time like this, the cost didn’t matter….an $8 pint to share was simply a matter of life preservation.
After finishing a tantalizing threesome with that lager, we decided to head to Aldi to pick up a few groceries and some fresh vegetables to pop in our gourmet (Kraft) Mac & cheese Mandy had planned for the evening’s meal. When we got to the shopping center, Aldi was closed. Actually, not open yet at all, so we were forced to head inside for our fall-back plan of Cole’s. While inside the shopping centre, we encountered a very different side of Australia than we’d yet seen….including two armed police officers heading into the Kmart. It was here we began to feel a bit nostalgic for home.
Alas, we were far from our original home and only 30 minutes from our home for the night, which would be the friendly community of Emu Park.
It is here we’d experience our first…and only EVER…caravan park at Tasman Holiday Parks, which we paid nearly three times as much for ($24 USD) than our national park sites. According to the booking map, we would be oceanfront, which was not the case because this giant hedge was completely blocking the water, and any ounce of precious sea breeze.
We were also perched under a colony of hundreds of flying foxes, the endearing name for mega fruit bats, which were still dangling upended when we arrived at 5:30 pm, but would soon shoot out into the sky for an all-night binger. This evening liberation was super cool…until the next morning when they returned home at 4 a.m. totally maggoted* from all that fruit and nectar. (*Aussie slang=pissed=drunk)
Other things that didn’t speak to us about the campsite were the fact there were no picnic tables at the sites. Therefore, we had to truck our food over to the camp kitchen conveniently located near the arguing tweenagers over who was the queen, although the kitchen itself was definitely a welcome amenity for our $24. As was the first shower in three days, although it was cruelly timed to last only six minutes, which is not enough time when every orifice is caked in sweat, sunscreen, bug spray and god knows what else.
Shockingly, we were the only ones in a tent, and didn’t find ourselves using the laundry, dump station, grills, or mega chess board either. And, as soon as we sat down to our Kraft Broc & Cheese, this unwelcome miniature “Mopsus Mormon,” aka Green Jumping Spider, came a knocking for an invitation. Fortunately, we later learned, he wasn’t here to kill us, but only to spread the word that not all malicious-looking spiders are dangerous.
Day Four: Cairns to Brisbane Road Trip: Emu Park>>>>Cedar Grove Campground (Drive time: 6 hours, 10 minutes)
After two hours of attempting to sleep through the rambunctious shuffle of the Flying Fox colony returning from their all night drunken fruit binge, we packed up the tent at 6:00 and hit the longest driving day, which would officially remove us from the tropics, and drop us on the other side of the Tropic of Capricorn. We’d also get chased by an emu, do a short hike to spot some green sea turtles, learn some World War I history, and pay a visit to a couple of historic villages where we would check out the honeymoon suite, learn (more) reasons NOT to be a teacher, and cross paths with a quite creepy doll collection.
Our first, and only hike that day would take us to north down Scenic Highway 4 to yet another national park…Capricorn Coast National Park, to do the Bluff Point Scenic Walk, rating moderate for about 2.5km. It featured some more gorgeous views…and the opportunity to view sea turtles year-round from Turtle Point Lookout far above.
The sign instructed us to “look out for what is often described as ‘moving brown rocks with wings’ in the shallow waters near the shore. Algae covers the turtles’ green shells, making them appear brown.” We saw several in the few minutes we were standing there. From this hike, we also saw plenty of rocky outcrops, which are actually rumbling volcanoes. Also, we could see the Keppel Bay islands, which are peaks in an ancient landscape.
Heading south, we stopped again in Emu Park. Thankfully, there were no real emus….at least not today. This one was was enough to freak out Mandy who really isn’t a fan of abnormally large birds.
It was here we visited to the “Singing Ship,” which honours Captain James Cook’s exploration of the region in 1770. It supposedly “sings,” when the wind blows through its pipes, producing musical sounds similar to a ship’s, but we didn’t hear anything.
Ironic we happened to land here a couple days prior to “Australia Day,” which seems akin to the US holiday of “Columbus Day,” aka, the day the European colonisers took over. This holiday is highly controversial in Australia and called “Invasion Day” by many who contest it.
At top of the plaque lies a Time Capsule which should be opened in 2070, strangely 95, not 100 years after it was placed.
The view from the Singing Ship
In was near here we visited an Australia World War I visitor memorial and learned about Australia’s obligatory involvement, thanks to being part of the British Empire. Total deaths in that war (46,000) exceeded all of the other nation’s conflicts put together. The 64% casualty rate was proportionally amongst the highest recorded by any country during World War I.
Years later, in February 1942 during the Second World War, Darwin (a city in the Northern Territories) got bombed severely by the Japanese in the country’s biggest battle. Unfortunately, Great Britain did not respond with the same sort of fervour that Australia did twenty years prior, so ultimately Australia relied on the US for direct military support in the Pacific War. The Darwin attack was a key moment in shifting Australia’s defense reliance from Britain to the US; an alliance that remains today.
The metropolis of Emu Park.
Continuing southward bound, we headed down a remote road to cross the historic Tropic of Capricorn markers. Today these bear absolutely no indication that you’ve officially left the tropics, and are simply in a sorry state of disrepair. They are also sitting on the edge of a quite swampy and crocodile-infested land. Clearly they need better border control to keep those crocs on their side of the tropics wall.
We then took an extended break at Calliope River Historical Village, an open-air museum, which seemed well worth the $6 entrance fee for two tickets (AUD $10). It was only after paying, we realised that this fee also included a mug shot line-up of the area’s finest perpetrators and a large sign that said “Beware of Snakes!” “Enjoy your visit!” exclaimed the friendly older man who volunteered there as we stepped cautiously inside.
This village provided a look into the 19th and early 20th Century life in Central Queensland through artifacts of the early European settlement days, which included a train carriage, which unsurprisingly had seats far more roomy than the ones today.
It also featured the charming “The Clyde Hotel…” Hmmm…wonder how many credit card points for the honeymoon suite?!
As well as a still functioning bar. It also had multiple houses set-up with authentic decor and furnishings including this 1920 English Oak lounge suite.
A laundry room from the late 1800’s, which included a nice white woman in it with a black eye. Upon further examination, we realised that it was actually a freakishly placed moth.
Baby cribs from the same time period. Cozy.
And no museum collection from this era could be complete with a collection of creepy dolls, which included a world collection. See Bulgaria…
…and the quite comical local Aussie collection, which showcased Aussie animals, cork hats, and mini version of bushranger, Ned Kelly, who is the country’s now revered outlaw.
Quite the collection of women’s headwear. Imagine fighting a bush fire with that thing. “Uh…Hey…mate…we’re gonna need a couple more buckets of water!”
What middle-class life would get ya in 1800s. Hmmmm….not sure that’s quite pest-controlled.
Wow…not that guy looks like an Australian!!
A one-man police cell from Mount Larcom, opened in 1916.
Mandy takes some lessons at the Machine Creek School…
…including a long list of “Good Manners.” Can we have certain politicians take this class? Ah…they’re probably too busy making the rules for the teachers.
The bathroom (aka DUNNY) at the jail may have been nicer than this one near “a huntsmans’ cabin.”
Now those just look like toys…
MMM…..Grocery list for outback recipes:
- 1 Kangaroo Tail
- 1 kg of Mutton Neck
- 1 Duck
Moving on, we paused for lunch at a picnic area in Granite Creek which was also hosting a “Driver Reviver” truck…a brilliant volunteer effort to supply fatigued drivers with free coffee. We chatted with the lady running it for a bit and learned that the sad state of the highway…a major thoroughfare…was mostly because “all the Queensland funds were being directed to Brisbane.” Considering the road did improve drastically from Sunshine Coast southward, and all public transportation journeys cost a meagre AUD $.50, she may be onto something.
Next we stopped in the historic town of Childers, where another historic museum was located. It was closed, which suited us fine because we didn’t have much time to walk around anyhow. Instead, we walked around the historic centre and checked out the strange architecture and the dog treats named after Greg’s dad.
There was also an art gallery and memorial dedicated to 15 young backpackers who lost their lives in the 2000 Childers Palace Backpackers Hostel fire. The fire was deliberately lit by an arsonist and was one of Australia’s worst hostel tragedies. So sad.
The memorial features photographs and stories of the victims who were from various countries including Australia, the Netherlands, UK and South Korea.
We saved the best urban exploration for the last day of our roadie in the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious town of Maryborough. This charming and whimsical town sprinkled with quite well preserved heritage buildings, was one of Queensland’s earliest settlements and an important port in the 1800s. You might already guess, it’s also the birthplace of P.L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins, which has been obviously embraced by the tourism bureau, and it also flaunts the “Cistern Chapel,” which is indisputably the most enchanting place we’ve ever had a wee.
Other than learning about this senseless tragedy, Childers was a charming facade of storefronts, including the Old Pharmacy museum…also closed, but a fantastic and authentic display of how things used to work in a pharmacy. Wow…have times changed.
Even the crosswalk lights get in on the fun in Maryborough. Also, a life-sized bronze statue of Mary holding her escape route outside the Story Bank Museum.
The Woodstock house is believed to have been the childhood home of the author. The house itself is a historic Queenslander-style home, known for its classic colonial architecture and some believe the elements that elements of Travers’ early life, including her home and surroundings, may have influenced her writing, particularly the strict-yet-magical presence of Mary Poppins, who was inspired by her great-aunt. (Atlas Obscura).
Other fantasy worlds of Maryborough can be visited via their free public toilets, embedded on the edge of its town hall, called the Cistern Chapel. They incorporate a Victorian theme, touches of Maryborough’s colorful history, flowers, music, and elegant chandeliers.
Its development began in 2020, when local businesses donated to the Divine Dunnies Project…probably because they were bored off their arses during COVID. It opened in 2022 and has since attracted over 25,000 visitors. Seriously…plan to eat some Mexican or something so you can linger in this bathroom.
There is even a golden dunny. We know a president who would be jealous…
The outside of the town hall and the quite classy School of Arts building
We waited for the street pigs to break out in song and were a bit disappointed when they didn’t deliver.
There was also shockingly no musical interlude when crossing the street. If there ever was a moment for “Step in Time.”
Smile!!! Electricity is dangerous! (and FUN!)
Hey…look! It’s Mandy a few weeks ago! All aboard here for your “Jolly Holiday!!”
Rather than AUD $230, can we get the price of the original hotel room rather than our next AUD$14 campsite we’d really rather not go to?!
Walking toward the river, the buildings change… and it feels like you’ve time traveled back another 50 years.
And the riverwalk is even more enticing. In fact, we really wished we’d had the funds to stay the night and enjoy this town a bit longer.
But alas, it was time to go. But not before swinging by the “Haunted Doll Museum,” an oddity we hadn’t seen since the creepy Bob the Doll exhibit in the Florida Keys. Sadly, it was marked as permanently closed and there were lots of skeletons trying to escape.
Who needs Shell when you can have a Ned Kelly Bush Ranger themed petrol station?! He looks like an outlaw version of the he guy who freaked George McFly into asking out Lorraine.
Soon enough, we would pull into our final baking, breezeless campground at Cedar Grove to join the clusters of Australia flags, portable showers, and esky (coolers) as their owners kicked off Australia Day weekend, complete with (illegal) firecrackers. The whole evening made us quite happy our road trip was wrapping up. Apparently we weren’t the only ones…a bush turkey was so disturbed by his surroundings that he tried to commit suicide. Ugh. Needless to say, not our kind of rest after a long day of driving either. Sleep Quality=2/10.
Day Five: Cedar Grove Campground to Brisbane (Drive time: 2 hours, 6 minutes)
Our final morning was a bit of a cluster…after another quite sleepless night, followed by the joy of waking up to “PUNCTURE! PUNCTURE!!” flashing near our car’s speedometer. But at last, more than 2000k and 20 hours driving later, we arrived in Brisbane…just in time for the housesit we’d been waiting to begin.
In the end, we are definitely glad we took advantage of an imoova relocation opportunity for $1/day, but four days in the summer tropical heat of Queensland was enough even though we didn’t get the full benefit of the 7 days we were actually allotted.
Still, we got a taste of a part of Australia we hadn’t originally planned on for a sorta reasonable budget… the end cost being $523.08, which included the booking fee for the car ($35), petrol, tire repair, four campsites, all groceries, and all camping supplies including a tent, air mattress, fuel and stove, which we’ll also be using for our upcoming road trip (s?) in New Zealand.
So, yeah, after another miserable night of roasting in our skivvies and therefore feeling vulnerable amongst our obnoxious camp mates, we practically bolted awake to a blissfully now quiet campsite when the first kookaburra sounded the alarm at 5:15.
Although we had an overwhelming urge to slam every car door 50 times, rev our meager engine five times, and slap a couple honks on the horn for retaliation, we instead peacefully packed up to get outta Boganville as quickly as possible.
We fortunately found a nearby day use area so we could have a picnic table for breakie rather than eating couscous in the car as we’d done the previous evening.
After a quick and delicious muesli breakfast and some coffee, we decided to take a quick spin on the nearby Platypus Trail in hopes of spotting one of Oz’s cutest critters. The turtle was sorta cute but basically just a tease.
It was after we got in the car to continue onward to Brisbane and moments later, it started uttering one of those annoying god-awful dinging noises. We looked at one another to check each other’s seatbelt status as “PUNCTURE, PUNCTURE!!!” lit up the passenger forward tire. Fortunately, only 10 minutes from the tiny town of Amapoor, we puttered down the road til we arrived to its pavement.
Then, of course, with only a piddly general store in sight, Greg got to start his morning off splendidly while Mandy helpfully documented (for your benefit) and learned important life skills. Fortunately, we had left our campsite plenty early to get to Brisbane on time and we found a tire shop only 30 minutes further down the road who fit us in. We were in and out in just an hour and only out $40 for the patch.…
…and about $60 for our last tank of gas. That day was a good reminder why we really dislike cars….even more so since we started full-time travel. It’s so much more enjoyable being chauffeured around the world on buses, planes, boats and trains! Still…it’s a catch 22, because nothing quite beats the freedom of having your own wheels.
Speaking of our freedom, we had still had an hour to drop by the lookout at Glass House Mountain National Park to check out the group of wonky and obscure volcanic peaks, which are about an hour north of Brisbane, and significant both geologically and culturally.
The mountains are the remains of volcanic plugs that formed around 25 million years ago. The softer outer rock eroded over time, leaving behind the steep, rugged peaks seen today. The mountains also hold deep spiritual significance for the Gubbi Gubbi people, the Traditional Custodians of the land. They feature prominently in Dreamtime stories and are considered sacred sites. (Chat GPT)
Our original plan had been to do a nearby hike to hopefully capture its essence a bit more than the lookout, but thanks to the roadblock, it was thwarted.
We had new clients excitedly awaiting….
