Well we all managed to get
away about 09:30 Sunday 20^th travelling north to Waverly Creek Rest Area. With dinner prepared this morning in the Dream Pot we looked forward to getting to the Rest area to enjoy our two rolled chicken roasts and vegies.

Our first major stop was at Lake Awonga, Just south of Gladstone. Amenities were immaculate and there was a great playground for the kids to entertain themselves for a while. Waverly Creek Rest Area is a freebie camp area with toilet facilities and plenty of grassy patches to setup. The down side is that it’s close to the main road and the traffic is quite loud at night, so is the cattle for that matter. Monday morning we had brekkie and packed up camp ready to hit the road again by 07:40.

For lunch we found ourselves at Bowen, the beach front playground and amenities are excellent and kids had an absolute ball as we all had a well deserved stretch. After lunch we continued our journey to Balgal Beach and found the RV Park full. After buying some fish and Chips for dinner we journeyed down the road to another camp site but it was for tents only so we moved onto Rollingstone (North of Townsville) where the RV Park there was huge and clean.

Tuesday, up, packed, and fed we pointed the cars to Atherton but couldn’t get going until we fixed a couple of electrical issues, we had fridges not working, Air-con and radios shutoff, fortunately this was mainly fuse issues so we were away in no time. Heading through Tully we were reminded that Tully is known for its rainfall as the Grey clouds loomed around us and sure enough, Tully lived up to its reputation and gave us a drenching as we passed through. Our entertainment for this part of the trip was to see who could see a Croc warning sign before the others, this proved to be a draw as there are more than enough to go around.  By lunch time it was my turn to have electrical problems, my dual battery isolator decided to pack it in and our fridge was no longer a fridge, so joining the terminals it got to where we needed to go. The rain forest park through the Atherton Tableland’s were absolutely gorgeous and the Cassowary signs were a good indication we were in North Queensland, this was another chance for a bit of entertainment, “Who can see a Cassowary first” needless to say, it was pretty quiet for a while, at least until the kids realised we probably “won’t” see a Cassowary.  We were amazed to see ladder nets strung across the main road and signs informed us that these are for tree dwelling animals to cross at. The cloud cover was extremely low and was evident why the area is called “Misty Mountains.”

Travelling through Milaa Milaa, situated 42kms from Atherton, we observed another unique sign “Tree Kangaroos Cross Here” we didn’t see any unfortunately. The rainforest throughout the region is definitely a splendorous spot to spend time. We continued our journey to Yungaburra where we met up with friends of ours (Justin and Sonya) and spent the night, after 15 years of lost contact we had a lot to chat about before retiring for the night. The kids were excited about the opportunity to ride a quad bike for the first time the next morning with plenty of photo opportunities of them having a blast. It was hard saying goodbye the following morning even if the night consisted of continual rain. The fire places inside kept us warm and we all enjoyed a BBQ dinner on the front porch and the odd tale or too being told by us all of our experiences four wheel driving with Justin out doing us with a story of a final outcome of one burnt-out vehicle.

Back on the road our next stop will (should have been) be at Lake Fields National Park, due to delays in Mareeba from tracking electrical components, Food Supplies, banking needs. By the time we headed out of Mareeba we ended up stopping just outside Lakefield’s National Park at Lake Lands Caravan Park Lake Lands has reasonable rates and amenities are great with plenty of room to get changed and shower, this was a nice quiet area with very little passing traffic or any other noise for that matter. We met a couple of people here that were on their way back from the trip we are yet to do, their stories haven’t scared us off yet, we still want to get there. With all of us pretty well had it, we were in the sack at a reasonable hour ready and refreshed for our next leg into Lakefield’s National Park.

Through Lakefield’s NP we continued to Chilli Beach, we were reminded when we got there why you need to be in a place and setup by 15:30, The Park was full, we backtracked a little until we found a nice quiet spot amongst the rainforest surroundings and set up camp. Our Dream Pot was utilised again for a Malaysian Chicken Curry and rice dish before a very early night. The drive through Lakefield’s NP was long, windy and dusty, by the time we got to camp I had the sneezes, “oh no, not the flu!”

Sure enough, next morning it hit me, just before we packed up and heading to Weipa to find a Pharmacy, we sighted a very healthy and strong looking dingo at camp, we tried to get a photo but he was a little too quick for us. So once again we hit the long and dusty road to Weipa, this time we saw a little more wildlife, with sightings of an Eagle or two, Wallabies, plenty of cattle and other birds. We got into Weipa at a reasonable hour and setup the full camping equipment as we plan to stay for two nights here. We spent the first night chillaxin and having a Roast Lamb and vegies dinner. As we ate our dinner we were blessed with a beautiful sunset on the western shore, something you don’t usually see living on the East coast of Australia. With plans being made to do a spot of fishing in the morning we retired for the night and woke up at sunrise, Ken and I ventured out to try our luck on a spot of fishing, after a couple of hours we concluded that we aren’t much of fishermen with only a catfish for our efforts. We returned to camp for lunch prepared by our wives, at least their reliable for a feed (J)

Phone reception is a little hit and miss up here so not sure when our next post will be, keep checking in and don’t forget to enter the competitions on the Home page of “The Great Aussie Road Trip”