South Queensland

27th July - 10th August 13

We visited Camo & Lise in Biloela, a little country side town in inland QLD. Had some nice meals including a roast lamb, a treat for us having an oven cooked dinner! From there we drove south and stopped at Cania Gorge, which sadly was by far not as nice as all the gorges we had seen in northern WA and NT. We were able to spend some time with Jason and his family on their cattle farm in Monto, this is a typical Aussie farmer town. Their rooster however doesn't understand that he should only crow at sunrise, he thought 2am would be much more suitable while standing next to our tent... In the morning we enjoyed some farm fresh eggs with a difference - the shells were green!
In the Town of 1770 we were unlucky with the weather, it was pouring down, so we decided to head further the next day to Burrum Heads. We were surprised to see how badly the whole area was affected by the floods from January 13, at every river and creek there were fallen trees and driftwood, as well as broken bridges.
On our way to Rainbow Beach, we stopped in Maryborough, which looks like an old English style town, very nice!
In Noosa we were able to stay with Jon and Danielle who had moved from Canberra to the Sunshine Coast during our trip. We enjoyed the town and went to markets, did some walks along the beach and to Noosa National Park, and of course sipped some white wine for sunsets!
In the Glass House Mountains we "climbed" some Mt Ngungun before heading further inland to Wivenhoe Dam, where we had the most beautiful sunset for a long time!
Surfers Paradise was quite a shock - traffic jams, high rise buildings and millions of people... We decided to go to Movie World where we had fun on the rides, saw a stunt show and also met Bugs Bunny!

Whitsundays & Gem Fields - QLD

16th - 26th July 2013

Starting our final descent heading south, we left Townsville. Stopping in Bowen region before heading to Airlie Beach. There we had a sailing trip booked for 2 nights / days on a catamaran. Even though on the first day the weather wasn't up to scratch, we had a great time in the bow jacuzzi of the boat out of port. The following day the sun decided to spoil us and so we had a awesome day at Whitehaven Beach and a few local bays. After playing in the sand, we went snorkeling as well with Turtles, Nemo and other sea creatures (huge Trevally) . The boat had plenty of space, an amazing crew, yummy food and entertaining guests. Unfortunately the time went quickly, and after watching the sunset with whales in front of Hayman Is., it was time to head back to dry land.

A quick stopover at Dingo beach and Hideaway Bay, which gave us the time to overcome our wobbly sea legs, we headed toward Moranbah and Emerald. Once arrived in the gem fields, we went to Sappire and Rubyvale to find our fortune, which didn't end well. Only found a few small sapphires, but plenty of fun none the less.

North Queensland

7th June till 15th July 2013

Arriving in Mt Isa felt a little bit like "home", the first familiar place since Perth. We went on an underground mining tour, where we were able to see the old machinery that was used to blast, not very safe! Today's blasting can be felt everywhere in town at 8am and 8pm, it feels like a little earthquake, unbelievable!
Driving along the Barkly Highway, we got to Townsville. After many months in the outback, it took a bit time to get used to the busier east coast! We were welcomed by Judy and Paul, and enjoyed spending the weekend at their place.
Our trip took us north to Mission Beach, beautiful place where the rainforest meets the beach! In this area there is a lot of sugarcane, and after the red and dry centre, we couldn't get enough of looking at the lush green fields and farmland, as well as the rainforest and the white beaches. We enjoyed some relaxing days in Port Douglas, where we also went for a walk through Mossman Gorge.
To get to Cape Tribulation, we took the ferry-boat over the Daintree River, stopped at various lookouts and did another rainforest walk.
We drove the Bloomfield Track to Cooktown, which is a dirt track through the rainforest including steep in- & declines and several river crossings, but it was no problem for our Prado. We stopped at an aboriginal community to have a look at their art, saw the Bloomfield waterfall and of course couldn't miss out on a cold drink at the well known Lions Den Hotel.
From Cooktown, we headed inland to Mareeba which is known for coffee growing. At Granite Gorge we were able to feed the little rock wallabies, very cute!
We enjoyed the scenic drive to Chillagoe where we explored some caves. Out there, we were surprised how dry it was again, only about 300km from the coast which is so green!
At Lake Tinaroo we got a fantastic camp spot - high up on the hill overlooking the beautiful lake! We enjoyed another rainforest walk where we also saw two snakes and some hairy catterpillars.
That area is known for it's waterfalls, so we saw many and ended up being "waterfalled-out"! We took a tour through Paronella Park, an old castle before heading back to Mission Beach. At Etty Bay we finally saw some Cassowaries walking along the beach! We enjoyed a walk to the Wallaman Falls, the highest falls in QLD. That night, we stayed at Mungalla Station, a cattle farm run by indigenous, and had the whole paddock for ourselves.
On our way back to Townsville, we stopped in Paluma, where our car odometer turned to 200,000km! That weekend was the V8 car races in Townsville, so we decided to join the fun and saw a big crash at the Dunlop races!
As Silvan got some work, we once again flew back to Mt Isa to spend a week there. Feels like Mt Magnet, 3rd time there in 6 month!

Northern Territory - Red Centre

25th May till 7th June 2013

Leaving the heat and humidity behind, we headed south, direction Red Centre. Had a stop in Mataranka, which is known for its natural hot springs, amazing clear water and it was beautiful to go for a dip late afternoon when it started cooling down!
Anyone who has driven to Alice Springs and Uluru would know there's not much to see during the drive, so it meant several days of driving with few stops: Devils Pepples, the bigger brother Devils Marbles and Wycliffe Well, the UFO capital of Australia - unluckily we didn't get to see any...

Arriving in Alice Springs, we had a decent climate change - going from hot and humid to cold and overcast - 15c max and down to 3c at night, so back to sleeping bags, jackets and beanies!
In town, we went to centre of the Royal Flying Doctors. We were impressed to see how many planes are in the air all the time, how many people rely on this institution. The planes they use are Pilatus PC12, a Swiss plane! After this, we went to the School of the Air, which is a school that broadcasts lessons to kids living remotely, either cattle stations or remote communities. These kids attend classes nearly as normal with a teacher present in Alice and they log on online, we were able to watch a library as well as a PE (sports) lesson for 1st and 2nd graders. The students are up to 1200km apart and only get to see each other 2-3 times a year for a get together in Alice Springs.

We drove through the MacDonnell Ranges where we saw several gorges, but also lots of wildlife including camels, dingoes and large groups of brumbies. The two white brumbies had a reddish colour, all that red dust sticks to everything!

There had been a bush fire around Kings Canyon area 4 months ago, so the landscape was burnt, and the red sand was extremely visible with no spinifex to cover it anymore. We enjoyed the canyon rim walk with it's many lookouts!

At Kata Tjuta (Olgas) we did the Valley of the Winds walk, and it truly was a cold wind coming through the valleys! But it was a beautiful walk, even though the famous red colours didn't quite come out due to the grey clouds.

The following day we headed to Uluru (Ayers Rock), another overcast and windy day, so the climb up the big rock was closed, so we went for the 10km walk around it.

Mataranka

Devils Marbles

Wycliffe Well

MacDonnell Ranges

Kings Canyon

Kata Tjuta (Olgas)

Uluru (Ayers Rock)