24th Sept - 3rd Nov 2009 continued after a smaal glitch

From Townsville we took a drive to Wallaman Falls, the longest single drop falls in Australia, It was a 2 km hike down, very steep, but great at the bottom. Then the 2 km hike back up! We made it.

Brian looking pleased with himself at the end of the hike

Townsville from Castle Rock and a view of the water park on The Strand. Perth City Council should look at both Cairns and Townsville for ideas on how to develop the foreshore

We drove to Paluma, supposedly a quaint little village in the mountains. It didn't quite live up to its reputation, however we found two wonderful places.

Crystal Creek bridge was built during the depression. The picnic area and falls were very peaceful

We then drove on to Birthday Creek Falls where there is a short track through the rainforest to the bottom of the falls. Along the way we saw a Tooth Billed Bower Bird, a Red Bellied Black Snake, and then the best one was this beautiful Golden Bower Bird which is quite difficult to find. It was just near its bower. Brian got some really good shots.



A view of Birthday Creek Falls. It would be spectacular just after the wet - we will have to come back again.

We left Townsville to head inland again to Winton and Longreach. We really enjoy being in the outback. More soon ....

24 Sept - 3 Nov 2009

Our new grandson, Hayden Thomas Bizzill, arrived safely and well on 25.09.09. As you can see he is very handsome!

At Lake Tinaroo while Aaron and Tracee were welcoming Hayden into the world, we were hiking the Kauri Creek rainforest trail

We had to get our feet wet a few times at the creek crossings

Our next stop was Granite Gorge where the owner's dog, Milo, decided to adopt us

Helen waving for Brian to save her from ....



...... the whale!

From Granite Gorge to Cooktown where Captain Cook's Endeavour foundered on the reef and he careened and repaired the hole in the the vessel. Lots of Captain Cook history in this area



Cooktown from the lookout

From Cooktown we drove to Mossman/Wonga Beach.

Sunset over the Great Dividing Range at Mossman

Car ferry across the Daintree River

Wonga Beach council caravan park had a Fish-a-Q while we were there. $5 each for all the fresh fish and chips you could eat. A good fun night

We wanted to stay longer at Wonga but after three days were given our marching orders as someone had booked our space. So on to Port Douglas which is very lovely but just a little bit yuppy.


This is Four Mile Beach at Port Douglas which is a very nice wal

From Port Douglas we went to Cairns. They have done a wonderful development along the foreshore with this salt water lagoon, plus lots of nice picnic areas and green grass. This area is used a lot by locals, as well as the tourists.

The Duyfken was moored at Cairns marina

Whilst we were in Cairns we flew back to Perth for a very brief visit to see our new grandson as well as the rest of the family.

We took a ride on the skytrain from Cairns to Kuranda which was fun. There are two stations along the way where you can get out and wander around enjoying the view

From Cairns to Bramston Beach, only about 40 km south. A great campground right on the beach

Happy hour at Bramston Beach

Hi Cheryle! We will do it face to face soo

From Bramston Beach we went to Paronella Park, an amazing place developed by a Spaniard, Jose Paronella, back in the 1930s. It was like a modern day theme park with a waterfall, swimming pool, boating, tennis, roller skating, picnic areas and beautiful walks through the rainforest.

This view is called Kauri Avenue

Jose built two castles on the site, one with a grand ballroom the other as a refreshment kiosk. Fire and floods have destroyed much of the building,and the current owners are trying to preserve what is

Part of the main castle - the only part left

The grand staircase from the castle to the swimming area

The waterfall into the swimming/boating pool

Our next stop was Kurrimine Beach where we camped only metres from the water

You can't get much closer than this.

We were grateful no tsunami occured

We spent one day at Etty Bay to try to spot the rare and elusive Cassowary. We had given up hope and were driving home when this Cassowary walked across the road directly in front of us. The whole thing took about 10 seconds so we were very lucky to get this photo

1st - 23rd September 2009

From Katherine we drove south to the famous Daly Waters Pub where countless people told us we would have a wonderful time watching the chicken man show. Well, we arrived on 3 September and guess what? He finished on 31 August - three days too late! Anyway we had an enjoyable night being entertained by a couple of singer/guitarists.

Brian bought one of the pub's singlets - I call it his "yobbo" look

From Daly Waters we had our longest drive so far - 560 km to Barkly Homestead. The following day we crossed the border into Queensland after 5 months on the road

We freecamped at Camooweal Billabong which was beautiful and peaceful. This is a black kite.

The moon rise over the billabong was absolutely spectacular and Brian managed to get a pretty good picture of it (without a tripod)

From Camooweal we went to Mt Isa where we met up with our friends John and Gael from Bunbury - not previously planned, just a happy coincidence.


This is Moondarra Lake which is the water supply for Mt Isa town and mine - a huge expanse of water with good picnic, swimming and boating areas.

In the picnic area adjacent to the lake there were lots of peacocks and peahens, and we were lucky enough to photograph this peacock doing his thing.

We decided to tag along with John and Gael through Cloncurry, onto Normanton and Karumba. This photo is from the lookout at Cloncurry.

Cloncurry was the destination of the first commercial flight by Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service (QANTAS).

John and Brian, both being ex QANTAS guys stood proudly in front of the original hanger.

In Normanton there is an exact replica of the largest estraurine crocodile ever caught - and it was shot by a woman!

On the trip between Normanton and Karumba we saw hundreds of Brolgas. Prior to that Brian had been having difficulty getting a good shot of one as they were always too far away.

We arrived in Karumba about lunchtime, and Gael and Brian went fishing at 4.30 pm. Gael caught a fish with her first cast (not quite size) and then Brian caught this Black Jewfish measuring 68cm. By 8pm we were all having a great dinner of fresh fish - beautiful.

Karumba is right on the Gulf of Carpentaria, so the sunsets were quite spectacular. The only tavern in town is well situated right on the waterfront for photographers and drinkers alike.

After a few days in Karumba we stopped at a free camp at Gilbert River for the night - very dusty, but OK for one night.

We drove on to Mt Surprise where Brian and I stopped, while John and Gael went on as they had to get to Cairns to meet up with friends. We stayed at Bedrock Village and hired fossicking equipment and bought a fossicker's licence. We headed out the next morning to the O'Brien Creek gem fields where we had a bit of luck fossicking for topaz.

Brian quickly became addicted to the lure of the topaz and kept saying "This will be the last sieve"

This was our haul from the first day, and we did even better the following day!

From Mt Surprise we drove to Undara Volcanic National Park which is famous for its lava tubes which are the longest known in the world.

Brian from the top of Bluff Walk.

The following morning we took a four hour tour which took us to the top of Kalkani crater and then on to the lava tubes.

A collection of wallaby and dingo bones in one of the lava tubes

The entrance to one of the lava tubes

Looking towards the end of one of the tubes. You can only gain access to them because sections of the roof have collapsed.

From Undara we drove to Atherton, on the Atherton Tablelands, about 1 hour west of Cairns. It was amazing how quickly the scenery changed from the dry outback to the lush green rolling hills of the tablelands.

We visited an historic village in Herberton which was extremely well done.

In the tool shed there was a collection of old tools, but this one had Brian stumped - does anyone know what it is???

Some of the signage was interesting!

Brian wishes he had a tool shed like this.

We spent a day touring some of the many waterfalls in the district. This is Dinner falls

The ultimate photographer!

Curtain fig tree

Millaa Millaa falls

Zillie falls

Ellinjaa falls

That's all for now. We are currently at Lake Tinaroo anxiously awaiting news of the arrival of our new grandson who was due yesterday.