This year was a reality check with the camping area changes which are fine but the lack of a good wet season made the fishing challenging. We are pleased Trent and his family came there last year and they now understand what a unique place it is.
It is time for us to have alternative places to live in the winter perhaps with easier and more civilised conditions!
Newly retired Peter M and Lucy G had changed their plans from going west to 'let's go together east' and to where their friends Boe and Cheryl, 'winter'..so Groper Creek near Ayre was a destination to try, but before Groper Creek we needed to check out Alva Beach which is a similar area, Doug and Jean Hawke often spoke of this place as a nice destination after the Roper.
Mt Isa from the lookout, 80 years of mining in 'the Isa'
We saw some great country on the way, traveling across on the Flinders Highway from Mt Isa to Cloncurry, Julia Creek, Richmond, Hughenden, Pentland and Charters Towers and Townsville on the east coast.
Tuesday 2nd Sept... 121 km to Cloncurry, the head wind we previously battled was still persistent, a stroll around Cloncurry revealed a battling little town with 2 good supermarkets and many closed shops, evidence of drought country along the way. A coffee stop in the park and decision to travel a further 137 km to Julia Creek for lunch and an overnight stop...the wind knocks the fuel consumption around when towing.
There is a lovely 'free camp' area provided at Julia Creek, the council asks that you register if you stay there and are fully self contained. Mid afternoon we went to the local pool for a swim $1.60 admission fee, so nice to do some laps. We had been listening Tim Fischer on an ABC radio interview, about his posting at the Vatican and his life now..one of his quotes for his life now is 'to live long is to live slowly'...so that was what I was thinking as I 'slowly' did some laps, the 4 of us really enjoyed the dip and checking out the little town including the info centre. Blew all the good by eating an icecream!
shallow man made channel at Julia Creek Free camp
water point and tables and BBQ..chance for Lucy to wash the van
nice stop over in the wind...set some nets but no yabbies!
Richmond.. 149 km very strong wind, dry desolate country due to drought conditions, arrived in town by 11 am researched a free camp area but when we checked it out it was a deserted dust bowl ! No way so into the caravan park for a lay day.
FOR SALE: maybe a Laundromat? the iron colours caught my eye..rustic!
fossil rocks in the wall of the info centre
The info centre had a very good dinosaur interpretative display, we were not into it, we wandered the few shops and marvelled at the old shop facades, still there and empty and rotting.
adjoining the caravan park is a nice man made lake, bush tucker garden and shelters and walking track..the small towns are trying to keep tidy and interesting.
Thursday saw us wandering around Hughenden...larger small town and some nice sculptures and a dinosaur history/info....like the 'junkasaurus'
a fun town to walk about in
Pete and Luci,
Boutique shopping!!
Wandering the streets Luci was able to get a really nice 'pop-in' haircut at an unbelievable $20 and info as to where to camp before Charters Towers. I wandered into a second hand come stock food store and bought a huge bar of goats milk soap for $4, I think it will last 6 months and it is really nice! Feels quite luxurious!! So cruising Vinnies while Luci had her cut I found a nice green sheet which I ripped into strips and made a bowl..listed it on my 'made-it' site and it sold..in 24 hours..ahh have to try these things and keep amused.
sold this one
made an oblong one
used up some of the yarn stash on this one..
The 'hairdresser stop' before Charters Towers was nice and many people there, all interesting especially the 5 back packers sleeping in a station wagon..somehow! There was the hugest ever mango tree there too, but not ripe, there are mango trees everywhere all fruiting up..so yum.
We made a camp fire and ate tea around it..had not done that for ages ..so nice.
brilliant yellow tree at Prairie, a whistle stop town on the rail line.
We lunched at Pentland, a small town Mick and I had stayed in for a week with the Coyles when they were 'golding' in the area, not much had changed!
Friday, pre-election day @ Charters Towers. We queued up with other travellers to absentee vote, we guess we made a difference in INDI!!! Mick and I had been to CT on various other trips, it has some very lovely and historical buildings and had one of the first Stock exchanges in Australia, we did a takeaway lunch way up on the lookout.
When traveling we usually head to the lookouts to find our bearings and get an overview of an area.
A weekend in Townsville... we had passed thru here but not looked about much and on the Sunday there was a caravan show..so we turned into tourists.
Lipstick palms, beautifully coloured, in the 17 hectare Palmetum in Townsville
nice avenue of blue/silver fan palms
there was an area of bats...didn't breathe here..HENDRA VIRUS...outa there!
from Castle Hill lookout, down to the Strand area, Marina and Casino and loading wharf on the right. Magnetic Island in the background.
'saltwater immigrants' one of the sculptures along the Strand..pretty cool!
free water park on the Strand...
the bucket up high fills with water and spills, to the delight of the kids.
Sunday..Caravan and home show..we managed to purchase the awning shades we wanted and checked out some vans..there were some American imports there with very over the top features, probably not really suited to Aussie conditions!
We used the casino car park at the caravan Show, so we had to go into the casino, blow a few dollars and this was my lunch!
We got ourselves' unfazed lost' in Townsville looking here and there checking out new houses. We did some shopping in a huge mall and I had an overdue haircut.
Townsville is a diverse regional city with a Military base.
Ayre is the major town 88km south of Townsville.....sugar cane country
Alva Beach is 16 km NE from Ayre , Home Hill is about 10km south of Ayre and Groper Creek 15km to the east of Home Hill.
Alva beach is a very small holiday community, the caravan park is really nice with hibiscus hedges between large sites and a fabulous swimming pool, the ocean is a story see later! Best time to go is April to June, really nice young owners of 1 year. There are nice parklands in the village, we had a picnic lunch here on this day and a few weeks later on another visit.
and so onto Groper Creek, started off two weeks for us and Pete and Luci, ended up another week for us, so 3 weeks and 4 weeks in all for Pete and Luci..nice place..our sort of place, unique, friendly.
Boe and Cheryl our friends, friends were very nice and showed us the ropes..well some of them, if you look you will learn and the 4 of us are adventurous fishing persons so we soon learnt about tides and river routes, sandbars, fish varieties, net throwing, mud crabs. We ended up quite exhausted, there was always someone to talk to, something to do, places to go and as social as you wanted to make it. We met some very nice like minded persons there, invited to the 5 o'clock happy hours and to shared meals with the neighbours. The managers were friendly and it is somewhere we would like to go to each year...if we can get a site. We will need to secure a site by the beginning of March for August but later in the season like Sept is much quieter, so Alva Beach and Groper Creek could end up being an alternative winter home.
All the buildings are elevated in Groper Creek due to the Burdekin River flooding after huge rains
The two units are available for rental at $160 +/week similar to a site fee, but no toilet or shower, the amenities block is directly behind them and about 100 meters from our van site.
There is a very small population and a few houses, check out he substantial up ramps to clear flood water.
the back of the shacks and tanks..kinda quaint.
power supply is elevated...floods!
on Sunday there is a paper delivery
Boe and Cheryl, showing us the waterways on our first day out, they tell us the scum on the water is coral spawn...note the bolsters on their boat, smooths out the rough!
early morning start, 6am due to tides, often a rush at the boat ramp putting boats in.
Peter launching his boat
early morning, calm water, sunrise over Cape Upstart.
Shallow in part and cattle crossing, need to watch tidal levels in many areas, sometimes we had to pull/float our boats thru/across sandbars.
Weekend warriors and their skidoos, crab pots and eskie on the back, cover some water in a hurry.
very low tide here, at this level negotiating the sandbars is dodgey...we can watch this area from the camp and soon learnt about the water levels and tides. The hill in background is the 'Greece' location
one of the many very nice eating grunter, we ate many as we do not have much freezer storage space.
a cod, one of several we caught, kept some, released some.
a huge shovel nose shark, great fight but I won! released, good eating but too much fish for us and it deserved to live.
a nice flathead..the fish not Mick!
The boat behind was pulled up on a sand bar as we went out, said they were OK 3 hours later when we came back they were paddling, 3 large puffed people, so we towed them in, gave them our fish. It was their first day out in a big motored boat, they hit a sandbar and got sand in their motor..off to the service man the next day, who knew exactly where they had been, a common problem in this river.
Mick had a tussle with his shovel nose..smaller than mine!!
we hooked a few sting rays, this was a pretty one, take some getting in and caution when we do get them!
The bait of choice is prawns, a constant supply from the jetty
the new prawn net in action
perfect cast
not the targeted bait!!! Some of the prawns netted were eaters too.
Crab pots in the creek, often 5 crabs, only allowed to keep sized males and release the jennies.
the boys bait storing and crab delivery system
During the second weekend we met some local youths on the jetty who showed us how to crab with drop 'dilly' pots, when to catch them and told us to check every minute and a half when the tides run a certain way. Also showed us how to tie crabs..and so now crabs come on the scene! Nice kids.
Happy birthday to me, we had arranged to go out, but why go out when we can sit comfortably and smash crabs...no better meal can be had...
Puffer fish, very pretty, nice patterned, blows up and does weird things, poisonous and handled with care back into the water.
Flat head fillet and Grunter wings for a light lunch!
These are deserted shacks near Wunjunga, and area we fished often, we would say we are off to Greece!
Near Greece on a sand bar, Pete and Lucy pumping 'nippers' for bait.
Blue swimmer crabs!! I think that numbers about 20 different varieties of fish and crustations we had caught between us. Some fishers target barra, we wanted different fish.
yes.... we like the place
Sunday market produce from Ayre
A day trip around to see some of the local area. We checked out the 'Funny Dunny' free camp area near Wunjunga and also had a closer look at the shacks at 'Greece'. Luci went and checked this one out, it was fascinating..little tiles everywhere and a pully system off the verandah to hoist supplies up. access to this area would have been via the beach or boat.
I liked this one there is something about the colours of rusty iron....
from the lookout south of Home Hill...very fertile farming land but mostly sugar cane, we did see some capsicum and egg plant and chilli plots too
The Burdekin River bridge on the Bruce Highway between Ayre and Home Hill, great structure built in 1957 and longer than Sydney Harbour bridge. Curently not much water under it.
Pic from interpretative centre when there is water in the Burdekin river...Cane Mill beside river at Home Hill.
Small plots of cane are still burnt a day before harvest, currently harvest time now till December. Burning usually takes place in the evening so there is often plumes of smoke in the sky.
Very 'sooty' dusty harvest.
There is a network of rails and trains all over the area, a very busy time I imagine.
We went driving and found where the irrigation comes from for the cane farms, from a dammed up section of the Burdekin River.
These 'sooty flakes' are called 'Burdekin Snow'..it is everywhere from the cane fires
some rigs are quite amazing
and this is Boe and Cheryl's truck, the back door opens and the boat goes inside.
boys and their toys!
And so back to Alva Beach for a day out, Boe and Cheryl had not been there so we all met for a picnic lunch. We walked along the beach after lunch, then along the sandbars AND THEN I remembered this was my best chance to do a pay back. A few years ago Luci had given me a ducking in Butterfly Springs on the Survannah Way after we left the Roper...
just near a deeper channel in she went..me too ofcourse..our men on the beach ..ahhhh
with much laughing we tried some synchronised movements! I put in too much energy and ended up doing a somersault! Much to amusement of Mick and Pete..we wallowed for ages, so nice, yep Alva Beach we have to stay there too next year! Good beach fishing..the fellas sussed that out from some locals.
and so this put paid to any shopping we were gong to do on the way back to Groper Creek!
We stripped off in the park and wrapped ourselves in our sarongs, a great day out with good friends!
a parting 'takeaway' from Pete and Luci, they may catch up with us in a week or two, depending where we are and what they are up to...we are looking forward to seeing Kim and Linda in Byron soon!
We are currently having a 3 day rest and stop over in Bowen, at the Horseshoe Bay Resort.
We have been to this area several times before and like the small bays and beaches. It is a nice place to swim and snorkel on a small near shore reef..plan was to do this today but it is raining, clearing now so I will get there. In my 40's I snorkelled and dived, at 50 I snorkelled, at 58 I breast stroked out there on a rough day and had a quick look, now at 60b4!! I will snorkel out there, flippers on and hang onto the noodle!! We prebooked our site a week earlier and when we checked in we had the best site in a corner overlooking one of the beaches.
the aforementioned crabs, ginger, honey, soyed!..destroyed! Yummo!
view across Bowen bay
my early morning swim
North head island and Stone island
Bowen from interpretative centre on Flagstaff Hill
recycling
The Horseshoe Bay beach, the reef is at the end of the rocks
Mick having a fish off the rocks at sunset.
and this I have 'complained to Coles Express..we have a 76l fuel tank which still had about 10 l in it!!
our travel so far has a fuel bill of $5300.00, we have never travelled around Aust before, usually up and down!!
other than all our travel news, the family are all well. Amber had a 10th birthday this month, Hayden was 12 on 1st Oct and Kim had her 41st on the 30th Sept.
Kim and Linda went to a wedding in Malaysia a few weeks ago and Linda caught up with her mum, they did have a delayed departure due to Linda not having 6 months left on her passport, and our Kim looked stunning...xx
Mick remains fit and active, as long as he has a 'poppy nap' most days, he has enjoyed reading a Ned Kelly History by Graham Jones a Wang author, amazing facts and numbers about petitions signed and rallies/meetings protesting against his hanging.
Tomorrow the 3rd Oct, our 43rd wedding anniversary we leave Bowen and head south.
We have a few friends we will visit on the way down after Harvey bay/River Heads we will head to Kims..hopefully back in the north east by 7th Nov for Micks' brother Maxs' 80th in Myrtleford.
I continually check realestate..for as long as we are well and traveling happily I do not feel the need to have a house, but there is a block on the edge of Wang with a rural outlook, we had looked at it a few years ago and it is now back on the market..house designs are scrambling around in my head but we need to get the feel of the block before we commit...decisions!!
Rain has cleared, best put the cossie on and snorkel up..
see you when I'm lookin' at ya
Cheers Marg and my Mick x
