Day 121 Saturday 6th of November 2010

Tawny Frogmouth and chick, That's its backside pointing towards the camera.



Tawny Frogmouth and chick. Hard to tell which way it is facing.



Another hot chick at Airlie Beach


Hello,

Today started with a lovely morning at Proserpine Tourist Park. Sunny with a dew on the ground. We goofed off on our computers for a while then packed at a leisurely pace not leaving until 1130. The only item of note was a very large cane toad resting inside our tarped bundle of things to be kept dry. It had crapped on the mats so yours truly spent some time rinsing them off and drying them in the sun.

We headed southwards, Susan at the wheel and soon arrived at Mackay. Mackay is obviously expanding rapidly with all manner of new industrial and retail precincts. We called into to Supercheapauto so I could purchase a 12 volt socket. I need to make a converter lead for the plug I replaced on the fridge yesterday.

The drive south from Mackay was uneventful and we were soon turning down the road to the freecamp at Carmila Beach. A suitable site was located on the foreshore and the tent soon erected. Our neighbours introduced themselves, Pat and Cecelia with three children. As we were setting up a bird poop landed on the canvas drawing our attention to a Tawny Frogmouth and chick in a nest in the tree above. We now have a rubber mat on the roof of the tent and hopefully they will be kind enough to pooh on that in lieu of the canvas.

The beach here is realtively narrow but with a wide tidal flat. The sea is currently around 300 metres away so it will be interesting to see where it is in the morning. I have no bait but it might be worth a try with a lure. Time will tell.

Susan prepared pasta and salad for tea and we ate in the tent as the bugs were starting to swarm.

The weather still looks good so fingers crossed. As we head south the climate is definately becoming cooler with the current temperature about right.

Cheers Simon

Day 120 Friday 5th November 2010

View from Shute Harbour


Apartments at Airlie Beach


View from the foreshore Airlie Beach


The lagoon, lifesaver busy chatting on mobile phone!


Snappy Shoes

Hi All,

Awoke this morning quite refreshed minus the dramas of the previous few nights. Simon neglected to mention in yesterdays blog my encounter with a small bug in the wee small hours of Thursday when the critter entered my left ear and made a racket at what seemed 100dB. Thankfully Simon has some ear drops left after his diving misadventure which promptly drowned the critter - a tip from Mothers Home Journal, although I think they recommended warm olive oil.

Last night we did need the sleeping bag cold is now 19 degrees! reminds me of the old joke when the bloke from Queensland to his southern guests proclaimed 15 degrees is cold - I agree!

This morning we decided to stay put for another day as there were blue skies above. A catch up with various family and friends on the net, skype and sms and then a drive to the Whitsundays and Airlie Beach.

We drove to Shute Harbour to check out the tour departures, then did some touristy stuff at Airlie Beach, comprising shopping purchases of a dress and pair of bathers for me and some cute "Snappy Shoes" for my granddaughter Abella (I had seen these at Cairns airport and sent an email off to the manafacturer). By chance they were in a shop on the strip.

We had lunch at Easy Cafe, Simon had lemon and pepper squid and I had fish, yumm to both. We then walked to the "lagoon" swimming area - man made, can't swim in the sea due to the stingers. We were amazed to see 3 life guards on duty - don't think the water is deeper that 1.8 metres and there are definitely no waves, not sure how often they need to practice their rescue skills.

I think I have mentioned before that Queensland is quite progressive in needs of people with disabilities, every where we have been ramps are installed to allow wheel chair access. Today we saw a swing for wheel chairs, another first.


Wheelchair swing

This is contrasted however by the asbestos houses in their hundreds in country towns, and no mention of precautions needed when renovating. Certainly a place of contrasts!

Home for beer o'clock and some further waterproofing of canvas and roof bag. Tea cooked in the camp kitchen under the watchful gaze of 3 large green tree frogs.

Tomorrow Mackay....

Cheers Susan

Day 119 Thursday 4th November 2010

Townsville


Ross River south of Townsville


The weather! east of Bowen

Hello from Proserpine where it is positively chilly.

The BOM site says it is 19 degrees. For the second time this week we will have to sleep under the thin sleeping bag!

Last night in Ingham we had copious quantities of rain bringing the total to 65 mm since it started yesterday. Needless to say the back yard where we camped was a bit swampy and the canvas damp. Everything was damp including the mood of the campers with good humor being very short on the ground. I know it is hard to believe that i could be grumpy but there you go.

We left around 11:00 after saying our goodbyes to Glen and Cynthia and stopped in at McCafe to divest our selves of another $9. We motored southwards under grey sullen skies which produced outbreaks of rain to Townsville which I found to be poorly laid out and with nothing that made me want to stop and get out. I may have felt different about the town on a sunny day and after a good nights sleep.

We continued on to Ayr pausing to have lunch and then headed to our selected free camp spot 20km before Bowen. Unfortunately there was nowhere really suitable to set up the camper so we pressed on to and through Bowen, another town that could use some decent signage.

Finally we arrived at Proserpine which is the nearest major town to Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays. We found a reasonable site at the Tourist Park and set up camp. Mercifully the clouds had lifted a bit and the rain had ceased. The ground here is pretty wet but looking at the sky tonight I am hopefull we will have a warm drying day tomorrow. That being the case we will stay here another night since we travelled further than intended today and cruise to Airlie Beach and see how the "poor" people live. Fingers crossed for the sun!

Cheers Simon

Day 118 Wednesday 3rd November 2011

Green tree frog in the rain (click to enlarge)

G'day,

Today started at about 230am, We retired reasonably early for us around 10:30 in warm conditions. At 2:30 rain started to tumble from the sky awakening the zombies who quickly zipped all the windows up and returned to bed only to be awakened by the far end of the tent dropping down. We sprung out of bed,lifted and relocked the poles only for the same thing to happen again. The third time we realised the reason was the large pool of water gathered on the roof. Strange this has never happened before probably because we have used the awning in other rainy periods and the awning ropes also tension the tent roof. Apart from a bit of water leaking through the door zip the tent remained quite dry in the deluge.

The weather dictated that we would not put the final touches to the windows. Instead we had a pretty easy day doing some prep and painting of the kitchen upstairs. I am sitting here typing the blog quite early since the paint hasn't dried and it is absolutely pissing down here. We only had 25mm this morning and after light rain all day I think we will get more in this downpour. Hopefully it will abate for packing tomorrow.

Our host is providing take away pizzas for tea tonight so an opportunity for a few beers as well.

Cheers for now

Simon


Green Frog

Cane Toad hunting in the kitchen

Day 117 Tuesday 2nd November 2010

Citrus trumpet best gadget for getting juice, trouble is they are so hard to find!


Susan putting the finishing touches on window 19

Hello Folks,

Another warm day in Ingham with no sign of the forecast rain but to be fair they said tomorrow. We had some discussion about packing the camper and spending the last 2 nights in the house. Actually I mentioned it and Susan declined preferring to spend the nights in our mosquito/cockroach and toad proof container. We hopped into the last of the painting and apart from a bit of touching up the windows are done. Mind you the louvre glass is still pretty dirty so the painting can't be seen in the best light.

After the bulk of the painting was done we went to town to the kitchenware shop as Susan continued her unsuccessful search for a citrus trumpet. Thence to Maccas for coffee and then 17km down the road to Forrest Beach where they are having the opening party for the stinger net on November 6th, only in North Queensland. Kids were leaving the water complaining about stings on their arms. As we drove back an ambulance was heading down the road hopefully only coincidence. Our host headed out so we had a late tea with Susan's culinary skills to the fore again.

So all in all a quiet day with not a lot of excitement. Excitement costs money!

cheers Simon

Day 116 Monday 1st November 2010

Glens house at Ingham

Hello All,

We let our host know today that we are leaving on Thursday morning so the pressure is on to get our windows finished mainly from the weather as it looks as if it is turning wet again with cloud building up. We have sanded and undercoated all of them so we should finish the topcoat tomorrow. Apparently the weather has been good in Cairns as well so it is not just an Ingham thing. Susan has been using Skype and it is working quite well so I have downloaded it as well. My ID is simon.harris12 and Susans is susan.ellis221. After our toils we had a quick shower and skipped down to McCafe. You can say what you like about Maccas but the coffee is good!

The picture above shows the house we are working on. It has had a chequered history. If you look closely you can see the Pajero and the camper out the back.
Tomorrow the plan is to finish work by 12 and go for a spin on the bikes in the afternoon.

It is interesting settling into a new house and getting to know people you have never met before. I can hear sounds of laughter from the lounge area as Susan, Glen and Cynthia watch a movie of Glen's called Swing Vote. I look down and see the ever present cane toads hopping round my feet gobbling bugs and recall a funny moment from yesterday or it might have been the day before. Glen, who is quite bald was saying something about hair and Cynthia out of the blue and quite deadpan said "Did you used to have hair?" . We collapsed in laughter! Oh well you had to be here to appreciate it. Time to finish my glass of sauvignon blanc and perhaps film a cane toad in action.

cheers Simon


Joumana Falls (File size 6.4Mb)

Day 115 Sunday 31st October 2010

We awoke a bit lacklustre this morning after a late night catching up on account keeping etc. I maintain a spreadsheet to track expenses, which as Simon reported a while ago also gives a reasonable prediction of when we will be destitute. After accommodation and fuel which are on equal par our expenses rank tours, groceries alcohol then lattes.

Emails checked confirmed our next HelpX stop as Hervey Bay, job involves yard work (5 acre block) planning a pergola, digging a duck pond, household chores, child minding and acting as an entertainer for childrens parties, the mind boggles..... Simon has volunteered me for the task.... hmmm.

We continued our window prep and painting with another 4 finished today only 12 to go this house has 23 windows and that is just the ground floor, as with many queenslander houses the windows are of the louvre type, just perfect to catch the breeze, unfortunately the breeze stops dead here at 7:00pm!

After lunch with our hosts we ventured to Joumana Falls, about 25kms south, the area is a national park and has several unpowered campsites, the march flies were firece and we both took up a step, swat gait for the 1km climb to the lookout.

There are rockpools for a dip, but not enough water to swim in, the water was clear and cool, and the rocks smooth and slippery. The falls were flowing steadily but obviously much reduced from the normal wet season flow.

On the way "home" we added 2 more lattes to our spreadsheet and waists.

Tea was chilli con carne cooked by Cynthia and the neighbours and their children joined us. Tea was followed by some guessing games and karaoke, then a horror movie, at this stage we proceeded to bed, as noises emanating from the street are possibly signalling the progression of halloween hopefuls.

Happy halloween all - apparently now observed in Oz!