21st June to 28th June 2011

See NOTE at the bottom of this publishing.

21^st June 2011

Over a period of many days Barry has been assisting Mark to replace the clutch in Jeane’s car, which due its east/west engine configuration has been extremely awkward with little help from the manual.  However, the transaxle unit is now out and the clutch replaced, but they still have to refit the transaxle unit, drive shafts and exhaust system, etc. 

22^nd June 2011

The car had to go to Mackay to have the new dash board top fitted which meant we were stuck in Mackay for most of the day so we spent the time doing the Heritage Walk to see the old buildings of significance.

Some were quite interesting buildings from the architectural point of view whilst others only go a mention due to age, but it also took us through the attractive main street, and also out to the river side walk. 

We walked back from the river to Queens Park in order to be there for 10.00am for the opening of the Orchid Shed which proved to have a large number of orchids in bloom despite the time of year, plus the park was a pleasant setting. 

On arrival back in the centre of town we treated ourselves to a cuppa and then went to the visitors centre to find out about any more attractions within walking distance, but the only unhelpful suggestion was a taxi ride to the marina.  We don’t know which part of ‘within walking distance’ the woman didn’t understand, so we left and wandered through the main street again and had lunch at Hog’s Breathe Cafe which is something Merry has wanted to try for some time, despite the name.  It proved to be a very good meal with extremely tender meat and your choice of whatever you want with it. 

We then walked back to the river and along the walkway to the 3 tiered swimming pools which was not entirely open to the public yet as they are preparing it for the school holidays plus the temperature is down a bit; however, we were allowed to wander around for a look.  Entry to this pool complex is free as all rate payers contribute to the it although Barry is not in favour of that idea as he wouldn’t want to pay rates for something he would never use. The kids area is especially interesting with jets of water in all directions and huge suspended bucket that is slowly filled until it’s balance is upset enough to tip the contents out onto a roof top to make it splash out over anyone on the ground (not a direct hit with a heap of water that would flatten a child).  The top 2 tiered pools had an attractive water fall from one to the other and a lot of shade area was provided between the main pools and the kids section with the kids pool virtually completely covered with shade cloth. 

As we were leaving the pools we received the phone call to say the car was ready which was about 1.5 hours earlier than expected, so we collect the car and headed home with a brief stop off at a caravan parts shop to buy some LED replacement lights as we are gradually converting our lighting from halogen lights to LEDs.  This reduces the current draw from the battery when we are not connected to a power source, therefore prolonging the battery’s staying power before charging is necessary, plus it provides a whiter, brighter light. The 6 that we have installed so far use only slightly more current draw than one of the original halogen lights that we replaced.

23^rd June 2011

After relaxed morning, Mark and Barry had a monumental-all-afternoon struggle and finally managed to get the gearbox/transaxle unit back into Jeane’s car so now they can get on with the relatively easy part of refitting the exhaust system, sense wiring, battery mount and battery and a few other fiddly jobs.  All being well we might actually see the car on the road today.

24^th June 2011

The car is not on the road yet as Mark tried operating the clutch yesterday and didn’t achieve much, they bled the system to ensure no air had got in but that didn’t help so the master cylinder was removed and disassembled to find the internal return spring in 5 pieces.  Jeane could only have been days away from being stranded in the middle of nowhere, or a busy intersection, with no clutch at all. 

25^th June 2011

Mark attempted to buy both master and slave cylinders today but nowhere in Mackay has one so he had to order them, and they will not be here until Tuesday.  Until then the rest of the necessary rebuild will happen so that there is only the replacement of the cylinders left to do, subject to yet another disaster.

26^th June 2011

Merry and Jeane went into Sarina to the Sunday market and in the afternoon we were joined by the company of some of Jeane and Mark’s friends from Salonika Beach for a BBQ.

27^th June 2011

We drove out to Broken River again with a stop at Melba House in Marian that was lived in by Dame Nellie Melba for about a year when her husband was the manager of the local cane farm.  You are only allowed into thtree rooms, one room with photos and a few items that she once owned and the other rooms are the local visitor centre and a souvenir shop, so the visit only lasted about 10 minutes.  The next stop was at a sugar cane mill where we managed to sneak into the area where they unload the cane from the train with a rotary dumper that empties 2 cars at a time.  The cane drops onto a conveyor belt going into the factory on the other side of the road and probably straight into the crushers.  Apparently, they only have 16 hours from the time they harvest the cane to the time it is crushed before it starts to degrade.

This was followed by a roadside stop to film a cane train on its way to the mill, and then a stop by a creek for lunch. 

 After lunch we stopped at the small township of Finch Hatton for a look around the area and met a fellow that we met last week out at the gorge  who made the suggest that we drove round the Crediton Loop whilst out at Broken River as it is only a short distance out the other side of the river.  We did continue past Broken River and on to the Crediton Loop but it didn’t do a lot for us and were quite happy to return to the river. 

It was a bit early to go to the Platypus viewing area so we took off on a riverside loop walk with views of several cascades and through some very impressive rain forest.  This decision proved rather eventful as we met some people coming the other way who stopped to chat and recognized Barry who then acknowledged that the other guys face looked familiar and realized it was Frank and his wife Heather, who we shared a plane ride with over Lake Eyre 2 years ago, almost to the day.  We told them we were staying in Sarina and they told us they lived in Salonika Beach which made us comment that the people we were living with also had a place in Salonika Beach.  It turned out that they know Jeane and Mark and live across the road from Ankie who was at the BBQ on Sunday. 

They also knew that some people had stopped at Jeane and Marks Maloolah property to help with their clean up but they didn’t know it was us until we mentioned that we had stopped there for a week.  We then continued the walk in amazement at the coincidental meeting especially as we had been going to do this trip on Saturday but Barry had developed a slight knee problem, which happens from time to time since having keyhole surgery on it in Karratha.  We suspect the fly in/fly out surgeon (quack) left the key in and it turns occasionally. 
The other coincidence is the fact that we chose to do the loop walk in the clockwise direction.  If  we had gone the other way it would have meant following them at a considerable distance and would never have caught up to them, especially with the photo stops.

On returning to the car, we put on our jumpers as the temperature was dropping and went to the Platypus viewing platform and struck lucky immediately with platypus and an Azure kingfisher.  The platform gradually filled with other interested parties so having achieved our objective went to the car for a cuppa and returned later for a final platypus show by which time we had the platform almost to ourselves, and then headed home.

28th June 2011

Jeane's car is finally finished and on the road with a new clutch, master cylinder, slave cylinder and fresh hyraulic fluid.

NOTE:

We have just discovered that we can insert a 'Location' which is printed near the publishing date at the end of each publishing.  If you click on the location it will provide the Google Earth view of our location and in some case also offer photos (not ours) of the area.  It only took us 3 years to spot this nice addition.

10th to 17th June 2011

10^th June 2011

We packed up our lunch and headed into Mackay primarily for a visit to the Botanical gardens, but we also unsuccessfully tried to purchase a few items that we wanted.  Our search for these items took so long that we had our lunch in the park by the war memorials and then went on to the gardens. 

 As Botanical gardens go they left a lot to be desired with very few points of interest that begged for a photograph, but did give us and Foxy a 5km walk.



 One of the few highlights was some of the pathway in various area where one stretch of paving had an obvious aboriginal theme with embedded pebbles in the form of animals, and the other cement path had the imprint of branches from various flora that had been pressed into the surface when it was still slightly wet.  There is also a tribute to the South Sea Islanders who were brought in to cut cane in the early stages of the industry..

11^th June 2011

One of the main reasons for moving fairly rapidly (for us) from Melbourne to Queensland was to find some warm weather again after Tasmania and Melbourne but the cold seems to be following us.  We have had a few warm days and reasonable nights but it has now turned wet and cold again.

13^th June 2011

The weather is no longer wet but is still cold at night despite the warmish daytime temperature, around 21 degrees.

15^th June 2011

Barry and mark spent the day tearing Jeane’s car apart to replace the clutch, which is turning into a nightmare as it is quite old and doesn’t want to come apart.  It took 3 hour to get the exhaust pipe off and out of the way.

16^th June 2011

We drove out to Eungalla with a few distractions on the way. 

The first being a stop at the road side to watch some sugar cane harvesting in progress and also to watch the variety of birds hanging around hoping to grab a feast of mice/snakes, or whatever that emerges.



The second being a pub in the tiny township of Pinnacle to have a pepper/steak pie for lunch as they were highly recommended.

However, we have rated them as number 3 after Warburton and Ross.

The third distraction was a trip into Finch Hatton Gorge which included Areluen pool and the Wheel of Fire pool that took about three hours with the walking and photo stops. 

Areluen is a pleasant water hole fed by a small but attractive waterfall .  The trip to the Wheel of Fire involved an uphill walk along the side of the gorge following the water course mwith many cascades and included having to wade across it at one point.  If you happen to be young and agile it is possible to jump across rocks to achieve this crossing, but us not so young ones have to get our feet wet and wade across on the slippery rocks within the water.  This actually caught Barry out at one point and dumped him on his bum in the drink which didn’t initially impress him, and he gained no help from Merry who was too busy laughing.   The backpack camera case that Barry was carying stopped him actually landing on his back but was a concern as both cameras were in it for the crossing but the case is very water resistant apparently.  We were also pleased that the car feys didn't find their way out of his pocket.

The  Wheel of Fire exercise seemed to be a bit disappointing on arrival as it appears to be just a pool, but if you are prepared to venture along the cliff face at the edge of pool and risk another dumping in much deeper water, you can look around the corner of the cliff face to view the incoming waterfall at the left of the following pictureb but is still very difficult to gain a good view.



After a warming cuppa in the carpark we drove on to Eungella which involves a long steep uphill drive to the township and turned into the lookout which provides a view to the distant coast on a clear day.  At 4.00pm it wasn’t at all clear but still worth the look before driving on to Broken River with more lookouts on the way. 

We arrived at Broken River soon after 4.30pm and spent the next hour or so on the platypus viewing platform successfully watching platypus and turtles.  The only photo success was with video rather than still photos, so hopefully we can extract some stills from the video.

We left in time to descend from Eungella with a bit of daylight left for the steep twisty road. Meanwhile, Foxy spent the day with Jeane and Mark at their beach house in Salonika running on the beach with Patch and Zoë.

17^th June 2011

We visited the Sarina Sugar Cane Factory which claims to be the only working model sugar cane factory which we found to be a very disappointing visit.  It started with a DVD explaining all about the cane, the harvesting and the mill processing and then was taken outside to see some of the old equipment including the original inventions of one particular the farmer, attached to tractors to harvest the cane. 

These inventions were eventually sold to John Deer engineers who then developed them over the years to the current harvesters.  From there we entered the model factory where we were told what each piece of equipment did but only got to see one piece operate to crush some cane. All of the pieces of equipment had names, such as Derek the Dryer, to impress kids rather than adults and of the other equipment was started up, and even if it had been you watched it all from behind a barrier.  To see the whole process from beginning to end would take all day rather than the hour we were allocated, unless it is left running permanently.  With the aid of another DVD we were shown the different stages of the extracted fluid in small jars in the order that it would have passed through the various equipment.  This was followed by some rum based tasting and some sauces. So far a lot of Queensland has disappointed us which is rather surprising with the tourist trade being high on their agenda.   They could learn a lot from Tasmania. The cane mills burn all of the waste material after the cane is processed in there furnaces to produce electrical power for the mill and therefore self sufficient with some to supply the grid system for the six month processing period, and this mill in Sarina also produces ethanol from the molasses to add to petrol.

16th May to 6th June 2011

16^th May 2011

We took Foxy for a walk alongside the creek that passes through the parkland across the road from the caravan park.  This is a concrete pathway with several bridges over the creek to allow for varying length walks as the total length is quite long.  We met a cyclist who stopped to tell us that at the second bridge there were lots of blue wrens and red wren plus sun-baking lizards, however, by the time we arrived there the sun had hidden behind cloud so the lizards had gone, and we only briefly saw one so-called red wren.  We have never previously heard of red wrens and suspect it was a robin, and checking in our bird book didn’t help as there is a red backed wren.  The bird we saw was black with a very bright red breast like a robin but was about the size of a wren. We bailed out of the track at the next opportunity to head home via the housing estate as the clouds were quite threatening but at the end of the day it still hadn’t rained.

17^th May 2011

We left Foxy at home again in the late afternoon and took the bus into Brisbane to take some night time photos. 

We walked to the Botanical Gardens and out to the river facing the iconic steel Story Bridge to get the lit up photo, and then walked along towards the point to look across the river at the rock wall that we passed on the boat trip as it is also lit up.



This rock wall is used for rock climbing, abseiling and by emergency services for their rescue training.  We continued around the Botanical Gardens and rossed the river on the Goodwill Bridge which is a pedestrian/cycle bridge only and leads onto the South Bank.  It passes the Maritime Museum which currently houses the boat ‘Ella’s Pink Lady’ that Jessica Simpson sailed solo around the world, and then passes the restaurants/cafes and entertainment venues. 

The walk along the south bank meanders through pleasantly laid out gardens with great views of the city which at night are enhanced by the lights reflected in the river. 

It also passes the huge Ferris wheel (not the world’s biggest, but big enough) which we indulged for the benefit of our second childhood, and the night time views.  We crossed back over the river via the Victoria Bridge, with views to the Kurilpa Bridge, which delivers you back by the lit up Casino and into the mall where we had a coffee break before descending into the bus station and heading home.

22^nd May 2011

We drove up to Mooloolah Valley on the Sunshine Coast to pay a visit to Mark and Jeane who had come down from Mackay to clean up one of their properties in order to put it on the market.  We originally met them in Karratha as members of the four wheel drive club and they later accompanied us on our Canning Stock Route trip.  Mark was busy with his neighbour replacing the tiles in the kitchen so we only saw him for short spells during drink and lunch breaks but Jeanne gave us a tour of the very large house and garden. She then spent the day chatting with us, which considering the amount of work they have got to get through, may have been a nice rest for Jeane or maybe a lot of lost time but we did enjoy and appreciate her company, and will catch up with both of them when we reach Mackay and stay with them for a few weeks on their other property.

23^rd May 2011

Today’s weather report claimed to produce storms in the afternoon so we used the morning to drive to Mount Cool-tha to check out the Botanical gardens and the lookout which is much closer than the Mount Gravatt lookout. 

We went to the summit lookout first to take the mandatory photos and then decided to have lunch at the summit cafe which was an excellent meal.  As we ate we could see the storm approaching and it struck just as we finished our alfresco meal and made it to the car as the sky opened up.  We drove down to the Botanic gardens but the rain was not letting up enough to walk and the drive through was closed off so we drove around the circuit passed the TV towers and eventually found the car park for Slaughter Falls.  The rain had eased considerably but not completely but we still walk to the falls which was little more than a trickle of water despite the deluge we had just driven through.   We continued on to see several aborigine art sites along the trail which eventually brought us back to the falls track and back to the carpark.  This is the only time we have walked through the bush using umbrellas.   The rain had cleared by the time we arrived home.

24^th May 2011

We caught the bus outside the caravan park whilst Foxy stayed at home again, and went into Brisbane to see the South bank in daylight.  We got off the bus at the South bank station and walk to the riverside and started our trip with a coffee break near the Memorial Gardens and then went into the Maritime Museum. 

This was somewhat different to the Fremantle Maritime Museum but still good in its own way, with the highlight being the HMAS Diamantina which is the ship on which the Japanese surrendered from Nauru and Ocean islands in 1945. The other attraction as mentioned before,  is Jessica Simpson’s lone voyage yatch. 
We then walked through the gardens to the beach area of the South bank which is currently being rebuilt as the January floods wrecked a lot of this area. 

Continuing on we stopped for lunch at one of the many options available in the area and then moved on to the Nepalese Temple and the Ferris wheel.  We didn’t want to cross the river via the Victoria Bridge so caught the City Cat boat to part way along the river were we travelled a few days ago and then caught another City Cat back to the next stop after our start point which delivered us to the casino. 

We then caught a City Loop bus and did a lap round the city finishing by the War Memorial, from which we walked back to the Queen Street bus station and home.

We had some of the late afternoon left which we used to pack up some of the chairs, tables, etc ready to move northwards to the relatively close proximity of the Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo.

25^th May 2011

We finished the packing up and moved on to Seaview Caravan Park near Lansborough, so called because it is fairly high with a view to the coast, and about 6kms from the zoo.

26^th May 2011

We visited the zoo which was rather expensive even with our concession cards and food and drink is an expensive exercise as well but it is privately own and therefore has to be self supporting.  It is the most pleasant zoo to walk around and didn’t expect it to be a better day out than the Perth Zoo, but it is as a result of the layout and the entertainment provided. 

There is the usual display of animals and the usual feeding times to attract attention such as the public feeding the elephants by hand, but a great show is put on in the 9 million dollar Crocoseum which has crocodile feeding, free flight bird displays, snakes and elephants. 

Later in the day the Tigers are brought out to play with their keepers, both in and out of their pool, and is a great show. 

In most zoos you are lucky to glimpse any of the cat family as they laze around out of view most of the time but we got to see the tigers and also a cheetah being led by its keeper for a walk through the park. 

We were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time just after the tiger show as we had to walk past the red panda enclosure and one of the two decided to come down out its tree and wander around for us to see properly. 

We spent 7 hours at the zoo and saw everything they had although the turtles only showed us their heads.  At the moment they are not displaying their African animals as they are building a new display area for them which will open in September.  This zoo is an experience we can recommend if you happen to be in the area.

27^th May 2011

We visited Mark and Jeane again to help them clean up their property as Mark has to return to work soon and they still have a lot to do in the garden and house and we had held Jeane up a few days ago.  We cleared the two flower beds outside the back door of weeds ready for mulching with pine bark and then moved into the palm trees at the front of the property to remove the fallen and hanging fronds.  We then joined Jeane on the other side of the driveway to thin out the jungle in that area and then in the late afternoon moved to palm fronds from around the small dam which is currently covered with some small leaved stuff on the surface which gives the appearance of grass which Foxy thought she could walk on.  It didn’t work for her but she proved that she can swim, but she hates water so wasn’t impressed, and then had to suffer the indignity of being washed to warm her back up, as well as clean her.  The day was finished off with a barbecue in the evening before heading home again.

28^th May 2011

We returned to Mark and Jeane’s for another attack on the garden and have arranged to move the caravan to their property tomorrow for a couple of days to help them get everything finished, including getting rid of 2 monstrous piles of garden material.  We eliminated a huge amount of the garden material with a bonfire as there was no wind and threat of rain, and well clear of all other trees and house, which has greatly reduced the required number of trips to the tip.  We also built a pine log wall around a garden bed ready to fill with mulch, and happily Foxy didn’t go anywhere near the dam.  We didn’t stay for a barbecue as we wanted to dismantle our annex in order to stow it whilst it is dry as we will not be using it again until we reach Jeanne and Mark’s place in Mackay in about a week time.

29^th May 2011

We made move to Jeane and Marks and after setting up the van continued with the onslaught of the garden.  At the end of the day the two piles of garden refuse were eliminated including what was added throughout the day and 60% of the 2 beds at the rear of the house now have a brick edge around them.

30^th May 2011

It rained with thunder last night and the garden is once again turned into a virtual bog as the heavy clay soil doesn’t allow the water to drain away but the weather cleared by morning and allowed progress. The remaining brick edging round the rear bed has been completed, all beds mulched with bark chips and the path to shed topped up with blue metal chips.

31^st May 2011

Finalised the gravel pathways and loaded the trailer with the recyclable material and took it to the tip which included a visit to exchange a bud battery that was still inside its warranty, and Bunnings.  The trailer has been refilled with genuine rubbish ready for another trip to the tip and then Barry joined Mark on the roof to replace all of the screws in the house roof.  Barry is taking out the old screws whilst Mark puts the new ones in, which has sped the proceedings up quite significantly. The concrete path around the house under the eaves has been painted and the huge shed has been partially cleaned out, as has one of the three car garages.  

1^st June 2011

Mark and Barry took the general rubbish to the tip and then continued with some more replacement of the roofing screws.  After lunch they fitted some lattice fencing to the rear of the chicken run and then piped the third water tank into the existing two tank system. 

Meanwhile, Merry and Jeane cleaned out the chicken run whilst Foxy had the time of her life with so much room and so many places to explore, and although she has met the chickens and has decided to just treat them with respect, and prefers them cooked.

2^nd June 2011

Mark and Barry hung some new doors in the house and garage and then had a final attack on the roofing screws whilst the neighbour from the back block cut through some old tyres to put around the fruit trees. Barry then modified some of the water piping to various points and started to spread a cubic metre of sand over the lawn where the tractor and vehicles had chewed it up a bit, and also on the boggy patches where the heavy clay soil will not let the water soak away. Among other jobs, Mark fitted a new battery to the ride-on lawn mower ready for use tomorrow and for his father to use in the future until the property is sold.  Merry cleaned the caravan both inside and outside whilst Jeanne cleaned the garages out and the pool area.

3^rd June 2011

Barry finished spreading the sand and then mowed the extensive lawn asrea with the ride-on mower whilst Merry cleaned Mark’s father’s barbeque ready for him to collect on the weekend.  After lunch we packed up the van and headed towards Mackay and stopped overnight at a large, well used, free camp site just north of Gin Gin.  Menwhile Mark and Jeane will have left soon after us to go to some friends in Gympie for a couple of nights.  We will meet them in their Mackay home, which is actually in Sarina slightly south of Mackay, in a couple of day’s time. 

4^th June 2011

We continued our journey after a bit of a lazy start at about 9.00am and stopped off at our next free camp site at Waverley Creek, about 130 south of Mackay, so tomorrow will probably have an even later start as Mark and Jeane will not get home from Gympie until late afternoon although they don’t have to be home before we get there. 

5^th June 2011

The morning turned out to be quite interesting as a couple and teenage son in a converted bus came into spend the night but arrived in the dark so we didn’t see anything odd about it.  However, the bus was pulling a trailer carrying a Suzuki Jiminy for driving around in when settled in an established destination, but apparently this had partially fallen off the back of the trailer due to a failed turnbuckle and dragged the rear wheels along behind them with the hand brake on.  This had completely worn through both rear tyres.  We stopped and help them jack the back of the car up and get it back onto the trailer wand added some useful advice about securing it more effectively.  If one failed turnbuckle is sufficient to let the vehicle fall off then it isn’t exactly secure.  We continued our journey through what is obviously sugar cane country, although it is also a coal area, and arrived at Mark and Jeane’s at about 1.00pm and they arrived at about 5.30pm, so our camp was fully set up when they arrived.

6^th June 2011

We drove through to Mackay, but not as a tourist trip, it was to visit the Nissan agents to arrange for the top of our dashboard to be replaced with a new one as ours has blistered which it is not supposed to do.