Today's been a pretty lazy day. Yesterday we packed up from the mouth of the Annan River and went into Cooktown. It was sooooo hot! someone said it had gotten up to 42oC. We caught 4 good sized mud crabs so that was good. We headed off about 4pm to find a camp site in the Daintree, we went the back road from Cooktown, very lovely drive but beware, at one point the road just got steeper and steeper, Dorothy couldn't climb any more, S tried to roll her back for another go, but that was too dangerous, black smoke started pouring from the bonnet as the clutch started to melt, somehow S managed to get her into low range and we got up that hill. Dorothy was not happy. We found a very nice camping spot in the middle of the forest.
Today we have just been chilln there is a wild mango tree, that has some ripe mangoes so we collected those and ate some, we ate 2 of the mud crabs for lunch, a water monitor came to visit and ate our scraps. We've also been eating some of the coconuts we found on the beach at Annan river, they are delicious. S likes them when that start to sprout and you get a kind of fairy floss inside, I like them better when they are brown but not yet sprouted. We'll probably head off towards cape tribulation tomorrow, we don't want to get to Cairns until I get my pay on Monday.
Out camp is located at 15o58'1.70" S 145o22'31.63" E elevation 168mtrs
The water in the creek is clear and safe to swim in, but there are no brim or cherabin only turtles and water monitors. There is some kind of fruit that may be edible, looks kind of like a avocado and tastes a bit like honey dew melon, will collect some and check out when I have reception.
Posted Today Sunday 13th January 2013
Camped 16o39'55.10" S 145o19'38.53"E
On Mulligans Hwy, Rifle Creek just outside of Mount Molloy
We set of early yesterday hoping to find another campsite in the park. Unfortunately we couldn't find one. The official camp site closes from 06/01 - 29/03 every year and there is nowhere you can get off the road far enough to have a bush camp. We found a couple of likely spots but the first had a sticky-nose neighbour who I'm sure would have reported unauthorised camping and the second was chokers with mozzies. So we headed across on the ferry and now we are just outside of Mt Molloy. There is a free 48hr camp here at Rifle Creek . S says it's a bad spot because he broke the shovel when he backed in, but I think it is quite a nice spot for a day or two. We have to stay here today as I don't get paid until tomorrow. There are showers, toilets and water in taps… luxury!!! There are signs warning that the water has not been treated but as we always drink creek water, I don't think that will be a problem for us. Last night we cooked up the last 2 mud-crabs they looked beautiful but they were empty :o( so we had them for entree and I mad some spag boll for dinner. Today we're just gonna chill got some pots in the creek so we might get some redclaw see what happens.
PS I've used up all of my downloads so I can't post any pix till after 15th I'll try & be more careful next month.
Posted Tuesday 15th January 2013
Today we are camped just outside of Townsville. Yesterday we drove across the great divide yet again, I've lost count how many times we've crossed it since we arrived at the coast. We found a tea plantation with an honesty box out the front so we bought 6 pkts of tea, later on we found an wild banana tree and got a whole pile of bananas. S also found some limes they are very small but smell nice. Last night we camped at Tully Gorge NP, we had the whole place to ourselves, it was lovely. This morning we went for a walk through the butterfly walk and saw a few butterflies. Yesterday we went down to the river, we both got stung by a paper wasps, gee those buggers hurt, luckily only for a minute till you can put some cold water on the bite. S got stung on the ear so his took a bit longer to settle down. On the way to our current camp we stopped at Frosty Mango for an ice-cream Yum! I had chocolate & he had dragonfruit. We had to stop at our current campsite because we were both very tired and needed a rest, it's not much chop, just a side of the road camp, there is a great adventure playground for the kids and an outdoor shower so you he to keep your cloths on, but as they say any port in a storm. Oh the surrounding trees contain heaps of bush tucker, it's a shame they don't have a sign for the plants, but we recognised some & picked some others to see if we can identify them later in our journey. Coordinates of the park 19o10'37.37"S 146o33'02.71"E Elevation 11m about 20k from N of Townsville.
Posted Thursday 17th January 2013
Well the camp from Tuesday wasn't that good after all, we couldn't run our genny because it's too loud and there were quite a few other campers around, the breeze died down as soon at the sun went down, so it was a very airless night, had heaps of trouble sleeping. Yesterday we were sent on a wild goose chase, of should I call it a wild rabbit chase? We dropped in at the gun shop in Townsville S had to get new sights for his gun, the bloke there tells a story of rabbits & deer galore on the Hervey Ranges, so hoping to get something in the pot we set off, needless to say about 150klms of dry dirt road later, no sign of even a rabbit hole let alone a rabbit. We limped into our current camp just short of Charters Towers. It's turned out to be a very nice camp, we are down by the river with a far bit of shade. There is another camp site up on the hill but now shade there. Haven't caught any fish (i think we'll have to go back home to catch one at this rate!) but we're taking it easy today, this part of the country is very boring with nothing but cows and grass so we'll head out tonight and try to do some hunting. Who know maybe we will find a rabbit.***
*** I didn't believe there were rabbits above the Tropic of Capricorn until the other week when I saw one on the Savannah Way (it could have been an escaped pet) I'll have to keep my mind open
On the 13th we dropped into Mount Molloy and I bought the worlds largest hamburger for his majesty's birthday it was huge, but he thought he could do better so on Wednesday he made the world's most delicious burger here is the recipe can you do better?
Makes 2
Ingredients
1tbsp olive oil
1 onion sliced
2 slices fresh pineapple
2 ripe mango cheeks
2 eggs
2 buffalo steaks ( can have cow if you prefer)
2 buttered wholemeal hamberger buns.
1 grated carrot
few slices tasty cheese
some Cos lettuce
1 tomato sliced
few slices of green capsicum
2 slices beetroot
sauce of your choice we had mango & basil chutney
Method
Spray table with areoguard to deter flies*. Heat oil in fry pan, add onions & cook till clear. Add pineapple to pan and fry gently. Prepare the raw ingredients (butter buns, slice cheese grate carrot etc) After about 5 mins turn pineapple slices and place onion onto the pineapple slices, add steaks to pan. Wash ginger ants off the steaks.** Cook steaks very briefly about 1.5 mins each side (you may want more time for cow) Remove steaks from heat and allow to stand. Add eggs to pan and fry gently, turn over 1/2 way (i think this is called over-easy) Assemble your hamburger and enjoy yum!
* omit this step if you're not in cow country.
** you may choose to skip this step.
Posted 18/01/2013
Today we are camped at Porcupine Gorge NP about 65kms N of Hughenden it's quite pretty here. This morning we walked down to the gorge which is about 1.2kms, the walk down is easy the walk back up much more challenging. Down the bottom is a creek running through the water is lovely and cool, I had packed sandwiches and intended on staying longer, but there was not much shade so after we'd had a dip and a drink we set off back upstairs. Last night on the way to the gorge we caught 2 rabbits, we are going out again tonight to see if we can catch anymore. Yesterday we decided to have an experiment and travel at night, we left about 4:30, it worked out very well, much cooler traveling in the evening, the sun is setting about 7pm so we still get to see a lot. Arrived at campsite not too tired, we will leave here again tomorrow at about 4pm. Bugger we've had the campsite all to ourselves for till now but some campers just arrived, will probably have to turn off genny :o(
Posted 23/01/2013
We've had a pretty tiring time of it the last couple of days. We left Porcupine Gorge last Thursday and headed for Mt Isa. The day was extremely hot, the wind was blowing a gale of very hot air. We stopped for lunch at Hughenden where there is a lake and a water park. The drive between Charters Towers and Cloncurry is very flat, the country as far as the eye can see has been cleared and there is no break for the hot wind. there was no suitable campsite** so we pushed on to Mt Isa. We stayed in the caravan park there. I was supposed to be 4 stars but the swimming pool was green, the camp kettle was broken the staff were quite rude, the grounds were untidy with leaves and sticks from the trees, and the laundry cost $6 per load! I won't be staying there again!
We left Mt Isa on Monday after I picked up the number plate for the trailer.. we have been driving around Queensland for nearly a month and have only been queried once on not having a number plate.
As it has still not rained we decided to try an alternate route to Cameron's corner. We scrapped the idea of going via Birdsville and started down towards Burke, we can head west from there. Monday was still very hot with a strong headwind as we headed down towards Winton. We stopped at the pup where Banjo Patterson first sung Waltzing Matilda and had a quick drink. We were directed by the barmaid to camp at the local water hole. It was the best camp available. Unfortunately the creek and trees have all been fenced off to protect them so we couldn't camp close to the creek. The wind blew hot all night so we decided to leave very early in the morning about 2am. We arrived at our current campsite about 10am yesterday. We have some shade! The wind is still blowing but is not quiet as strong or hot. We will spend a couple of days here. We're going into town (Longreach) tomorrow to check out the Qantas Museum. Oh great the bananas have ripened having a banana sanga for lunch :o)
**(There was a possible campsite at Julia River along the river, but we were hoping for a bit more shade)
Awesome hamburger happy birthday steve
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