Archive for May, 2012

Devils Marbles
Karlu Karlu

Day 21: Alice Springs

After 2 uneventful days; things are looking up again. Left Tennant Creek early morning and headed for Alice Springs. Not far south of Tennant Creek, came across the Devils Marbles (Karlu Karlu). There were all these gigantic granite boulders scattered across an rather large area. The boulders are balancing on top of each others making it quite a landscape.

The scenery started to change as Alice Springs was getting closer. There were more mountain ranges in sight. However, these mountains are all in ‘red’ and some are rather spectacular. They all made me more looking forward to Uluru and the Kings Canyon which I am going tomorrow for 2 nights.

Alice Springs is much bigger than I expected and full of people. First motel I went to was full then the second one just happened to have a rescheduled booking so I took it. I might stay here for couple more days on the way back from the ‘Rock’.

xox

John @ Alice Springs, NT

Images: Devils Marbles near Tennant Creek, NT
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Day 20: Goodbye Queensland, Hello Northern Territory

Have to admit that I didn’t realised some parts of Australia are so ‘flat’. It was a bit of a shock to the system after all the off-roading, mountain ranges in the last 2.5 weeks. To be honest, the drive in the last couple of days was pretty boring. The scenery didn’t really change much. But the most boring bit would had to be the Barkly Hwy after Camooweal. It was nearly 450km of ‘almost’ straight piece of road. It was like being on a treadmill without doing any running. I suppose I did expect this would be the case before the trip start so shouldn’t really ‘complaint’

Obviously I had heaps of time for my mind to wander about. A couple of things came to mind:

  • It amazes me that driving on a long road trip like this makes people a bit more connected. What I meant was that 8 out of 10 drivers from the on-coming traffic would respond to your waving gesture. They waved, I acknowledged or vice versa. Kind of like “better say hello because he or she probably is the last person I see for a while”. Try that in the city and see how many would wave back!
  • I swear that some animals are either suicidal or ‘plain’ stupid. They will just run, jump or fly right in front of your car. No wonder why I saw so many corpses on the road this trip. But then there are the smart ones like cattle and horses. They would ran back to the side of the road when your car is rumbling down the highway. So far, I have avoided hitting a few roo’s but did hit a few birds.
    One I hit today on the Barkly Hwy and later found it was stuck and hanging on the front bumper after I arrived in Tennant Creek. I felt really bad…. totally hate hitting animals …. it sucks!

After 5 long hours after leaving Queensland border, finally arrived Tennant Creek. Staying at a caravan park tonight for a good sleep then off to Alice tomorrow.

xox

John @ Tennant Creek, NT

Image: Border of Queensland and Northern Territory
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Wallaroo at Undara
Wild Life at Undara

Day 19: Undara to Karumba to Gregory

There were so much wildlife at Undara that couldn’t help myself taking some shots in the morning. Undara was a pleasant unplanned surprise.

Left Undara only knowing that I was heading West so I followed the Savannah Way pretty much all the way. Passed through a couple of towns and there were really not much there in that part of Queensland.  My goal was to get to as close to the border as possible then go south to get on the highway to N.T.

Normanton was where I was heading. Not a bad country town or should I say cowboy. There were many ‘Rodeo’ signs around town.

Karumba, another nice surprise. Nice town just on the Gulf of Carpentaria. First thing I noticed here was the forever changing clouds in the sky as I am a self-acclaimed ‘Cloud Chaser’. Then I found out this is where you can see the ‘Morning Glory’ phenomenon just before the wet season begins. For those of you don’t know what M.G. is; it is a cloud formation can only be seen on the Gulf of Carpentaria and Gulf of New Mexico. (Google it if you want to know more 🙂 ) …. It is rather ironic to think that I like clouds and my work is around cloud as well.

Anyway, spent a few hours there in Karumba and had a couple of sandwiches in the picnic area… fed the birds that were hanging around… It was time to move on.

Basically, just drove until I was tired then stop on the side somewhere overnight. And the little town I stopped and slept in was…. Gregory. It was the closest that I can get to Gregory for a while.

John @ Gregory, QLD

Images: Wildlife at Undara Experience
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Day 18 (Part 2): Undara Volcanic National Park

OK, this one just going to be a quick update…

The lava tubes are lot bigger than everyone thought and it is quite spectacular. It is listed as one of the 100 things to do before you die, so I leave it up to you. This place, Undara Experience, is nestled with all these old train carriages which they have converted into cabins, bar and eating area. It is a rather interesting idea. There are also plenty of visitors with their caravans; some are pretty ‘lush’.

Just had myself a rib-eye and a cold beer. Bit of luxury for the journey 🙂 Tonight’s entertainment, apparently there is going to be an open camp fire, trivia and singing along. Will be interesting and hopefully I can get some people shots which I haven’t done any this trip yet.

Image: Undara Lava Tube

 

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Day 18 (Part 1): Undara Volcanic National Park

So far, my favourite area is definitely the Atherton Tablelands region. IMHO, it is just breathtakingly beautiful. It is definitely an area that I would considered for our “retirement” one day. It was the only place so far in my journey that I would have stayed longer. However, I am keen to get to the centre so just have to come back with the family one day.

I am heading to Undara hoping to get on a tour to the longest continued lave tube in the world. On the way, stopped at Ravenshoe, the highest town in Queensland at 930m above sea level. There was this place called Windy Hill not long before Ravenshoe. I could understand where the name came about…. the wind was so strong that I could hardly held my camera steady. Windmills are the feature on the hills and there couldn’t be a better place for them.

Arrived at Undara shortly after midday and was glad that camping sites and tour are available. So booked myself in for the 3:30pm tour and a night of accommodation.

It is now 2:21pm and sitting here at the bar having a ‘Flat White’ and waiting for my tour; thought I would do a quick post. I will try to do a second post later on to tell you about the lave tube walk.

xox

John @ Undara Volcanic National Park, QLD

Image: Fruit Bat Falls at Cape York Peninsula
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Day 17: Atherton

Today was the least distance travelled since the beginning of this trip. Came to Atherton in the morning and I ‘like’ this town. It has a little city centre, neighbouring farms and mountains; and Cairns is only about 80km away. The town apparently won the ‘Tidiest Town in Queensland” back in 2004 (whatever that really means!)

Also, spent a couple of hours at the Herberton Historic Village today. It was a nice place to travel back in time.

My journey in Queensland is about to come to an end. Next, I will be travelling towards the ‘Red’ centre. There will probably be a few more stops before crossing the border. It looks like a lot of driving is coming again….

John @ Atherton, QLD

Today’s image: Atherton Countryside
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Day 16: Weipa

If you are into fishing or mining; then Weipa is for you. However, neither of these are my ‘thing’. So Weipa is not really that interesting of a town for me. But I have say that people here are really friendly though. I mean noticeably nicer.

I said I would stay for the another night but couldn’t spend all day there without being bored. So I headed off for another destination, Lockhart River. Unfortunately, the road was closed for maintenance. So no go again. Not having a lot of luck with my destinations at the peninsula.

Well, Lockhart River was the last place I really wanted to visit before nead back south. So guess  I have no choice but just do that.

About 750km later, I arrived back in Mareeba. Here I will stay for the night. It actually works out for me as there are few more places around here that I wouldn’t mind paying a visit.

John @ Mareeba, QLD

Today’s image: Jardin River Ferry
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Day 15: Reaching ‘The Tip’

The internet didn’t really work at Seisia Beach yesterday so I couldn’t blog. There wasn’t mich happened anyway. It was mostly driving from Coen to Bamaga. It was a long but pleasant drive. The road mostly unsealed but wasn’t too bad except probably 25% of it was quite rough, bumpy and muddy. The highlight definitely was the drive through Jardin River National Park. The soil was red and all the green trees made such contrast.

After over 5000km in 2 weeks, I have finally reached the tip of Australia. It certainly is a milestone of my trip. It was wet and very windy at the tip. It was very difficult keeping my hat on. The forecast for Cape York is not good for this whole week so I decided not to stay. However, I am glad that I came just after the wet season so I could have a sense of what it would be like in the wet season. I can tell you, I don’t think I want to be here during the wet season 🙂

So I have gone as far north as I could; it’s time to head back south. I decided to head over to Brumwell Junction and see how I feel. Once I got there, I had a much needed coffee and decided to get myself to Weipa. So here I am in Weipa after another lond day of driving. I think I will be staying here for a couple of nights to recover.

xox

John @ Weipa, QLD

Today’s image: The Tip
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Day 13: Cooktown to Coen

Left Cooktown this morning hoping to camp in Lakefiled National Park but found the road was closed after 15km into the park. Bummer… had to turn around and find another destination. The choice were either Musgrave Roadhouse or the town, Coen. I picked Coen.

It was a long drive (felt like it anyway). I must have driven on a straight stretch of road for more than 50km, thought it would never end. Arrived at Coen just after 3pm and I was exhausted.

The car got a serious workout today, some might even say torture. It was completely covered in red dust. Had to borrow a hose here at the homestead to hose it down. Then I found a small hole punctured on the back passenger door. It must have been hit by a rock on the way. Ouch!

I remember that I kept thinking how can anyone live out here. It’s hours to the next town. I have never been anywhere as remote as this. Then I am going to more places that are even more remote. “What have I got myself into?” WINK…

Nah, its all fun and a great experience. I am enjoying it greatly; just hope I can finish it in 3 months.

No pictures were taken today so will try tomorrow.

John @ Coen, QLD

Today’s image: Old Fishing Boat at Cardwell by the Sea
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Mick the Miner Statue at Cook’s Landing
James Cook Statue
Black Mountain

Day 12: Cooktown

I had more time today to explore Cooktown. It is a relatively small town made up by a handful of streets. You can easily walk around the town in half a day. It has a nice sea dock where locals and tourists fish. There’s also the Botanical Gardens and a couple of bays. I will try to go to the bays later at dusk to see if I can get some good shots.

There are few statues around the dock area. James Cook, Mick the Miner and even a Chinese sculpture. I guess Chinese must have a bit of history here as well. A retired lighthouse stands on top of Grassy Hill here. I read that it was built in England and it was shipped over and installed back in 1885. That’s one ‘old’ lighthouse.

Just 25km south of Cooktown, there is this strangest mountain range formed by black granite boulders, the Black Mountain National Park. You can clearly see this from Google maps using satellite view. It is a must see for anyone travelling this way.

It is a Saturday today, so a bit of crowd was around earlier in the day. There was a little street market, tourists were stopping over and having their lunch at cafes. It didn’t last very long before it all went quiet again except the local pubs. I suppose this is how small little fishing town like this works.

It’s been good spending a couple of days here. Tomorrow, I will be heading further north; not sure where I will be staying yet so stay tuned.

^_^

John @ Cooktown, QLD

Today’s images: 1. Mick the Miner Statue at Cook’s Landing; 2. James Cook Statue; 3. Black Mountain National Park
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