Week 4

Day 21

Wonga Beach -> Yungaburra <Map>

Distance 194kms Total 3821kms

Today was get-the-new-hot-water-system day, so we headed into Cairns and dropped the van off at the repair place.  They'd ordered the HWS last week and it had actually turned up on time!  This left us with a couple of hours to kill so we did what all bored seniors do - we went to a shopping centre.  As we mentioned earlier, Cairns was bustling with both local and foreign tourists who had arrived to watch the total solar eclipse.  A lot were camping and there were no 4WDs, campers or motorhomes available for rent anywhere in the area.  The shortages caused by an estimated extra 80,000 people was also visible in the supermarkets.

"Down, down, prices are down water has gone". The bottled water shelves in Coles in Cairns.  Only about 2 doz 500ml bottles left and still 2 days to the eclipse. Lots of Iced Tea, though.

Two hours (and lots of $$$ later) we picked up the caravan with its nice new HWS and headed for the cooler climes of the Atherton Tableland.

Leaving the humid coast behind, we climbed about 800m (2500') up the Gillies Hwy to our friends' place at Yungaburra.  The rest of the day was spent chatting and having dinner with a second group of friends who also live on the Tablelands.  A very pleasant evening thanks to Anna, Brian, Lyn and Ray!

Day 22

Yungaburra

Distance 0kms Total 3821kms

Brian gave us a tour of the surrounding highlights including Lake Eacham, the Curtain Fig and Tinaroo Lake/Dam.

Tinaroo Dam looking reasonably full.  This lake provides irrigation water to farmers on the Atherton Tableland and in the Mareeba/Dimbulah area.  The dam was built in the mid 1950s and the resultant lake is 75% of a SydHarb[*].  It dams the Barron River, produces hydro power and regulates the water flow downstream to the Barron Gorge Hydro Station between Kuranda and Cairns.

* SydHarb - the amount of water held in one Sydney Harbour, the standard Australian Dam measurement

Sue and Brian at the Curtain Fig.  This is what happens when a Strangler Fig totally overwhelms and then kills its host.  The aerial roots drop about 15m (50') to the ground.

How it all happened.

Day 23

Yungaburra -> Paronella Park <Map>

Distance 103kms Total 3924kms

Eclipse Day!

We were all up early and raced outside to find... lots of clouds.  :-(

Actually, we saw quite a bit of the eclipse until about 5 minutes before totality when...

... the lovely black cloud at bottom right moved in to totally block the view.  In the photo above, the sun is being blocked (eclipsed) by the moon intruding from the top left. About a minute later as the sun disappeared completely, we moved back inside and watched it live on TV.  :-))  Even though we didn't get to see Baily's Beads or the totality, we did experience the countryside going very dark, street lights coming on, the stars coming out and a couple of Stone-Curlews running around the yard like headless chooks.

For those into modern art, I have a terrific series of about 240 sequential photos automatically taken every 10 seconds during the eclipse by an intervalometer hooked up to my tripod-mounted camera. Because of the danger of looking directly into the sun, both with your eyes or a camera, they are heavily protected with neutral density filters.  They show a delightfully abstract black foreground against a black background with an occasional tantalising glimpse of a subtly backlit nearly-black cloud edge.  I'm thinking of sending them to Tate Modern as an art installation entitled "Weather Gods' Revenge".

We then said our goodbyes to Brian & Anna, but not before Anna had said "Are you going to see Paronella Park?".  I hadn't even thought of it as the last time anyone had mentioned it, it was in the '70s and in terms that were less than enthusiastic about a 'pile of derelict concrete buildings'.  As we didn't think Anna would send us anywhere that wasn't worthwhile, we decided to at least see what was there.

We turned up and decided to go in.  What I had thought of as a hour's or so stop on our way further south turned into a daytime tour, an overnight stop at a powered site adjacent to the grounds (included as part of the admission fee), and a night-time semi-Son-et-Lumiere tour.

Paronella Park is the result of one man's dream in the 1930s. In the words of their web site, "Everyone has a dream but not everyone’s dreams are fulfilled.  José Paronella’s dream was to build a castle.  He chose a special part of Australia and created Paronella Park.  On 5 Hectares beside Mena Creek Falls he built his castle, picnic area by the falls, tennis courts, bridges, a tunnel, and wrapped it up in an amazing range of 7,500 tropical plants and trees (now a lush rainforest!).  It opened to the public in 1935."

It is currently No.1 on the RACQ list of "Top 150 Things to do in Qld".

Anyone for Bromiliads?

Two itinerant tourists in front of the Mena Creek Falls.  The hydro turbine room is immediately above Sue's hat.  Initially installed in 1933 as the first private hydro plant in Qld, it was totally restored in 2009 and now provides all the park's power as well as being a net exporter of electricity to the Qld grid.

Falls by night.

The Lower Refreshment Rooms, complete with natural fountains (no pumps) and some Mozart from hidden speakers. 

Day 24

Paronella Park -> Townsville <Map>

Distance 263kms Total 4187kms

One of the benefits of camping in the rain forest is that there are a huge number of bugs and beetles who are attracted to your lights at night.  This beautiful iridescent green beetle was one of the better looking ones still hanging around the next morning.  I've always known them as Christmas Beetles ('cos they come out around Christmas?), but have no idea if that's correct.

Back on the Bruce Hwy (and more roadworks) and into Townsville for dinner and a catch up on family doings with Peter, followed by an early night.

Day 25

Townsville

Distance 50kms Total 4237kms

When we last visited Townsville three years ago, we visited the Maritime Museum. This time, we wanted to follow the 18th century theme (Cook in Cooktown, 1770) and see the remains of the HMS Pandora in the Museum of Tropical Queensland, a member of the Queensland Museum Campus Network.

On entering the museum, you encounter the like-sized bow section of the Pandora...

... laid out on a full-sized plan of the vessel woven into the carpet.

The full story of the Pandora is here, but basically the vessel was sent out by the Royal Navy in 1790 to search for the Bounty and the mutineers who had taken her. She was wrecked about 140kms east of Cape York on the outer Great Barrier Reef on the return voyage on the 29th August, 1791.  She had 14 mutineers on board at the time.  Of these, 4 died in the shipwreck along with 31 crew.  The remaining 89 crew and ten prisoners set sail west through Torres Strait in four open boats, arriving at Timor on the 16th of September.

In 1977, an RAAF Neptune maritime reconnaissance bomber spotted a magnetic anomaly on the reef which was subsequently explored by diver Ron Bell and underwater film-maker Ben Cropp.  This lead to the site being declared a protected marine site, and the Queensland Museum began excavating the wreck.  There have been nine seasons of exploration in the last 20 years of the 20th century, most of the recovered artefacts being on display at this museum.

The Pandora isn't the only thing in the museum, but it was certainly the subject of most of our visit. 

The museum is sited on the banks of Ross Creek (ahem...) near the Townsville CBD.

View from the museum balcony over Ross Creek.

Day 26

Townsville -> Carmila Beach <Map>

Distance 490kms Total 4727kms

On our way home.  The initial plan was to take three or four days to get home.  Roadworks on the highway were a never-ending source of delay, seemingly with one Stop/Go person only a matter of a kilometre or so from the last one.  We had no idea what Carmila Beach camp site would be like, but we thought that as it was about 8kms off the main road, it might at least be quiet.

It was certainly quiet.  The only noise being the wind and the waves (when the tide was in far enough to see/hear the sea).

Late afternoon at Carmila Beach from just behind our caravan.  The tide has gone out about 500m+!

Day 27

Carmila Beach -> Home <Map>

Distance 900kms Total 5627kms

There is a saying that a horse goes faster when he can smell the barn.  Although it might look like it from 900kms in one day, this wasn't really the case as the previous evening reports were coming in on the radio of a great deal of damage around Brisbane yesterday from severe thunderstorms, with more storms forecast for today.  Consequently we were on the road very early heading south.

No photos today, as the places we stopped for fuel and meals were not exactly photogenic.  However, as we got further south we ran into a few of today's forecast storms.  Fortunately they weren't very heavy and we kept clear of most of the nastiness until we were on the northern outskirts of Brisbane.  The lightning displays were just phenomenal!  Most of the rain finished before we crossed the Gateway Bridge and stayed that way until we were within about 1km of home, when (of course) it started raining again to welcome us home.  Fortunately we had no had any damage at home - just a few palm fronds and small branches down in the back yard and on the pool cover.

So... a great time was had by us both, and we really enjoyed catching up with family and friends in North Qld.

We hope you enjoyed our blog.  Stay tuned for the next trip!