Roma to Broken Head QLD

Hi all,

Well it has been a while since I have done anything on the blog so here is the latest up date.

Late September we arrived in Roma to visit with my cousin Glenn & Lynette out on the farm. What a great day we had with them. Touring round the western side of the property, so nice & green with lots of fat & happy looking cattle. Whilst in Roma we went to the cattle sale yards, which was most interesting to watch.

This guy was sorting the cattle as they came out off the weighing pens, he was riding up & down the lane.

On the road out to Glen's place we crossed the gas pipe line that is being put in. This view us both ways east & west.

Cattle on the green paddock

One of the many beautiful bottle trees @ Glen's

One of the many beautiful cows.

Heaps of wild life on the paddocks ducks (on the dams), 100's of kangaroos, pigs (didn't see any thank goodness)

This cute little ecidna was just taking a stroll but I found him.

From we went to Gympie via Dalby over the rough highway, in Gympie we had the truck serviced & went to the Sunshine Coast for a drive in the rain. Sig & Bianka joined us on Sunday. On Monday we went out to Rainbow Beach for a couple of days which was nice.

Rainbow Beach from the walk way that you can't go on as it is falling apart & dangerous. You can walk aroung the point to the rainbow sands in about 40mins but only when the tide is out & the sea calm. This is what happens when you drive round & the weather & seas are rough.

One patrol in the sand & one bongo (wizz bang) van. These silly people tried & this was the result. On Thursday the Patrol was gone.

Some friends resting after a hard day fishing

On Thursday we left Rainbow Beach & went to Esk for a few days. This is the railway station.

More Pelicans this one was gliding over the Sommerset Dam with many friends.

On Friday we went to see the water being let out of Wivenhoe Dam after 10 years of drought. This was a fantastic sight.

The power of the water can be seen from this photo. The police & security guards, parking attendants all over the place as the numbers of people going to see it was huge. On the Thursday when it started they had a traffic jam at the entrance to the viewing area.

So much rain. On Friday we were having dinner with Sig & Bianka & listening to the rain. when it came time to go home we go to the van & the awning was full of water, for some reason the gas struts did not let the water out, Ian went to touch the awning and you can see the result, bang it went & all the water came out as the struts broke.

This is the damaged rear strut, on Saturday morning Sig help Ian remove this section & tie up the awning so that was safe to travel. It is being replaced on the 1st November.

From Esk we went on our merry way to Coolangatta for 2 nights & a bit of shopping. Then onto Byron Bay, we ended staying at Broken Head in a park right on the beach for a few days.

We went driving as you do & went into Byron, toured the art studios and of course the Light House. Ian & I have now made it to the most eastly point on the main land. The light house is beautiful, white & the views stunning. Tours only on Tuesday & Thursday so we missed out on going inside this time.

The beach at Broken Head was great we walked it every day that we stayed, wild waves the first day but it calmed down, the surf didn't look much either.

So by for now, see you all soon on the next installment of trip.

Katherine to Roma

Hi All,

Well we arrived at Katherine for a few days, while we were there we visited the Edith Falls & went swimming in the pond. Edith Falls is very different to the ones at Litchfield, not as high but more beautiful. The swimming hole was cool & crystal clear, you could watch the fish swimming around your feet. It was quite a hot day when we went so the cool water was great.

A closer look at the falls

The swimming hole, looking away from the falls.

On another day we went back to Katherine Gorge for a walk on one of the walking tracks, the canoes where back in the gorge so the crocodiles must have been cleared out. It was another very hot day, as was the hole week.
After leaving Katherine we continued south to Mataranka for a relax in the thermal pool. The weather was hot & humid, the first night it rained which relived the air temp a bit. We had a drive to site of Elsey Homestead, the site of the story We of the Never Never was written about, not much there anymore just a plaque. On the drive in these 44's caught my attention, left over from the war.

The gate to the We of the Never Never graves, quite impressive, it was built by soldiers station in the Mataranka area in the war.

The graves of the Gunns,

Replica of the homestead built for the movie.

From Mataranka we continued south stopping overnight at Daly Waters Pub again then onto Tennant Creek for a couple of nights. From there we turned east, we stopped at Barkly Homestead for lunch & a walk around.

Later that day we stopped for the night at a free camp, this is the view looking east, the clouds were a storm that dropped lots of rain east of us, we could see the lighting after dark. We meet up with Sig & Bianka's friends Eroll & Lynne they had been working at Daly Waters.

We moved on to Mt Isa where we stayed for a bit over a week, we quite liked Mt Isa but the park was low on power, but really nice people in the park that have been working in the Isa. Mt Isa from the lookout above town.

This is Lake Moondarra which is the water supply & recreation area for Mt Isa.

From Mt Isa we turned south again & went Winton via Boulia, this is a very quite place. On the way down the Diamantina Developmental Road the grass was green, we saw some beautiful cattle by the road side, a pair of fantastic Eagles, a funny little lizard & a pale green snake. Lots of water by the road side but none on the road, we missed any road trains on the narrow road.

Views of the main street of Boulia.

From Boulia it was east on the Kennedy Developmental Road, which was narrow with no edges & water laying on the roadside. We saw lots of bird life & cattle again. These QLD. roads are just narrow tracks with a bit of black stuff on them. The road was like this from miles.

We stopped at Middleton for lunch & a look around the place, old pub, camels, small plane &

a chopper taking off for a bit of verity .

Winton has not changed since last year, the street scape is great. This is a water hole with birds by the side.

This is Amos wall, bits of stuff put in the brick wall.

After leaving Winton we drove through Longreach & stopped the night at Ilfracombe, then onto Barcaldine, for coffee stop, missing the rain so far. then to Blackall for a lunch stop on the banks of the Barcoo River, not likely to much water.

Last year this was just a little stream, you could camp on the banks, just mud now & heaps of water rushing along.

We stopped over night along the way where it rained so hard the Sat Dish could not penatrate the colds for the signal. We made it to Mitchell for more socking in the thermal hot pools.
This is the crossing near the park of the Maranoa River, Mitchell had big floods in March when the river broke it banks. Paintings on the bridge crossing the Maranoa at the bottom of the park.

A view of the Alan Turner Weir at Mitchell. Good camping near by.

Tis Marilyn socking in the hot pool 38 deg. We rode around on our bikes for a look around & looked at the town.

From Mitchell we headed for Roma for a visit we Glen & Lynette out on the farm. More of that in the next installment of our travels.