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Did you figure out where we went…

We stayed 4 nights here at Bradley Braeve Heart Retreat-24kms from Agnes Waters – a bush retreat with no cell phone coverage, but what a lovely spot. Not much bush, mainly gums. We were the only people here, apart from the 2 volunteer ladies.

This is a charitable trust, set up in memory of Bradley Wolf, who died at the age of 15 from multiple serosis? There is lodge accommodation-more like separate motel rooms, a large dining room with a log fire, fully equipped kitchen – with a full oven-Murray made bread and cooked a roast, while we camped here.

A powered site was $16.00 per nite for the 2 of us. There are no designated camping areas and you needed a long lead to reach the laundry to plug into for your power supply, which you would lose if someone was using the dryer.

Showers were very clean and there were 2 composting toilets. If the campground was full, the ablution area would not be sufficient. But for Murray and I – it was perfect. There is also one washing machine - $3 a load and clean rinsing water. Did you know that many of the commercial washing machines recycle the water-so you never get clean rinsing water-your clothes are rinsed in the washing water. That is why your clothes begin to go grey and smell. We often soak our clothes in a bucket and wash/rinse in water as we travel.

While staying at Braeve Heart we went for a drive and discovered the small town of Agnes Water and 1770. These towns are part of the 'Discovery Coast, Miriam Vale Shire. In 1770 Captain Cook anchored in Bustard Bay and came ashore at 1770. The Discovery Coast runs from Rules Beach in the south to Agnes Water-the most northern Queensland surf beach, on the Queensland coast.

The area claims to have over 280 sunshine days. Many people come here to explore the Great Barrier Reef-taking tours to Lady Musgrave Island-we didn't, as we don't believe in supporting commerical ventures that explore and breakdown the precious reef.

Fishing is supposed to be good-with mangrove jacks being caught in the channel.

You can see evidence of abandon hotel complexes-such a pity, that this complex is allowed to remain as a blight on the local landscape-it has been in this state for 5 years now.

There are not many long term free camps on the Queensland coast. The free camps that are here have a time limit. Much has been written about this on various blogs and forums, and in caravan magazines. Council’s defence on this matter appears to be based on the rubbish issue or the fact that permanents will set up camp. Providing no set limits to camping areas would encourage more spending in the local towns and support for local tourist ventures.

Even, the local council campgrounds are pricing themselves out of our budget-consequently they remain half empty. At $37pn-for 2, yet, the local Tourist Park campground charges $30pn.

We stayed at 1770 for 7 days at $180, as opposed to $250 at the council campground, (1770). During our 2 weeks at this commercial franchised campground, it was never full, maybe a third occupancy rate for sites. The ablution blocks are adequate, very clean but extremely small shower cubicles-just like the seating on an aeroplane-trying to cram in more passengers-not allowing space for people who are wider or taller than me!

At the campground were many birds-we were privledge to watch the mummy owl and her chick gradually grow big enough to take its' first flight.

Why did we stay here?-it was convenient-just across the road to the council exercise equipment-marvellous playground for both of us-supplied and installed by a company called Duplay-would love to see this in Perth, (maybe they have been installed since we have been away). These exercise stations are located in every town in the Gladstone region-some are different types and also differ in the number of pieces of equipment.

 Also the beach is only 900metres from the campground, it was quiet, shaded, had a lovely pool especially when it was cleaned. Murray took the opportunity to get fitter-walking the many tracks along the beach to then end of 1770-to Round Hill lookout and the beaches.



Round Hill lookout



While camping at 1770, our neighbours Jan and Jeff had 2 dogs-Bucky alsatian/rottweiler-he was born in Singapore and Stephie-a rescued pound dog-both very quiet dogs who just love to sit on the back seat as they travelled around Australia.

During the stormy nights that Brisbane experienced, we had our own night sky-a sky lite up with lightning and thunder.

Mission beach Yarn Bombing



Mission Beach Art Gallery



cassowary collage



pineapple flower



Superman writes about the cassowary, reading and life

I haven’t seen one in real life but I have heard about these rare and spectacular birds. Brenda and Murray first saw a cassowary at the tropical zoo at Cairns. These birds stand about the height of an emu/ostrich, have feathers like an ostrich/kiwi, and a beautiful red gullet, complemented with red/purple bits hanging from its’ shoulder. On top of the head is a brown crown. The neck is a brilliant sky blue. Some people consider the cassowary to be a nuisance, yet some people have set up a trust to save these birds. Brenda is knitting a yarn bombing piece depicting the cassowary and at her art class she has created a mixed media piece.

We visited the Cassowary Centre and had our photo taken with some displays. The ferral pigs attack the cassowaries and cause horrible injuries to them. We saw pictures of cassowaries with their necks ripped open at the centre.

Muz and I have been very lazy, spending most of the days blobbing on the beach or hanging out in the palm trees. The other day we were lying in the hammock and along came Lyn. She was chattering away to us – (we think she thought it was Brenda in the hammock), cause when she got up to us – she muttered something under her  breath…..

In front of our caravan is a humpy – a hut made from the coconut palms. Last year some backpackers stayed in the humpy. Muz and I like to read in here on hot days.

Brenda and Murray love it here, Brenda thinks she might become a FIFO!, but it is a long flight from here to Perth.

Each day, Brenda, Murray, John, Dave and Lyn do the www.stuff.co.nz trivia quiz. You must try it-you don’t have to be a kiwi – as the questions are a real mix. It is very addictive, - we hear them competing against each other.  A great way to start the day!

It is the school holidays here and the camping ground is becoming full with families. Next to us we have a group of 18 camped over 5 sites. The children range is age from 6 months to 10 years and are very excited, waking at 6am. They have very colourful bikes, deck chairs, skimmer boards which look like scooters, every tonka truck that must have been made, and little beach tents. The grandparents caravan is so cute – it is an old old caravan done up – the old round shape.

We welcome our friend Marie from Thames, (NZ) to Australia and look forward to catching up with you.

The Undara Experience/Expensive

Many people we met along the way recommended the lava tubes as a must see! Now, my experience of lava tubes are the floating colour in the glass tubes – so my expectation of Undara was along these lines......

Once upon a time the Collins family farmed thousands of acres. One day the government of the day – Labour came along and wanted the Colllins family land-they could see potential. Alas, the Collins family had to sell their land which had been in their family for 6 generations.

Mr 6th generation Collins came to an agreement? With the government-he would retain some of the land on a  75 year lease , utilize the lava tubes into a tourist paying venture. The National  Parks and Recreations would have the remaining acres.

The lava tubes have always been there, but it wasn’t until the 1970’s that scientists began to take an interest in them and in the 1990’s the Collins family developed this natural phenomena into a money making venture. At $16pp per night to camp and $50 each for a 2hr tour-it won’t take too long.

Also firewood is not supplied here - $7.50 for a small bag – how lucky we were to be given our neighbours pile he had collected on the way in.

Unfortunately the only way to see these tubes is on a tour either from here at the resort or from Mt Surprise you can join a local tour. Undara is 15 kms off the Savannah Way between Mt Surprise and Ravenshoe.

 The lava tubes were formed 190,000 years ago from a volcanic eruption. It is like walking into a tunnel like cave, except  instead of rock it is coral like lava layers with tree roots hanging down. We saw little bats hanging from the ceiling of the caves, and tree roots growing down into the lava tunnels. The day we went was cold – it was our first day of cloud and showery weather.

'down in the tube-looking back to the steps'

The ‘resort’  has renovated railway carriages set in a quad – restaurant and bar. Meal prices are expensive for food that has been reheated in a microwave or similar. Soft mushy chips mixed in with local midges – is not ‘resort’ standard.

We walked to the Kalkani Volcano – a 2.5km round trip – nothing spectacular. The campsites have kangaroos and their joeys jumping around. The local currawong population welcomed us – standing outside our van chirping for food. The reminded us of the magpie – you couldn’t leave any food out-they ripped into everything.

Not our van!

 Would I come again or would I look at lava tubes again – NO!, been there done that!

Impressions of Mataranka

Our first impressions of Mataranka were not favourable-we stopped here briefly back in June on our way from Roper Bar-making our way to Katherine for a ‘famous’ homemade Mataranka pie-but like so many of us – these are non-existent-must be a ‘drawcard’ to enter and buy other products.

Since writing this remark we have met 2 kiwis who have tasted these ‘famous pies’- @$7.00 each and apparently a nice tasting pie.

Mark recommended we call into the Elsey National Park Campground-  on our way south – so we did – 14 nights later we moved on.

However we have come to love the area especially the Elsey National Park, the rivers, the thermal springs, and the bird life.

Mataranka has a population of around 250 people but this swells during the dry season as travellers come to enjoy the pools and the elusive Barra fish. There are 3 campgrounds – Territory Manor-Barra feeding here and Bitter Springs, Mataranka Homestead –thermal pools and the Elsey National Park-where we stayed - $6.60ppnite.

 Typical of National park campgrounds-set out in circular roads with campsites veering off-we camped on a bitumen surface. Hot showers, flush toilets, drinking water and free firewood make this campground one of the better facilitated campgrounds. The Roper River runs through the camp ground-there are pontoons to lie or swim from, boat ramps, canoes to hire. Once a week the ranger comes to give a talk about the region. This is a NO GENERATOR camping ground and also no pets/animals. Two campers with a black dog were discovered-they had managed to evade the caretaker for 4 days by leaving early morning and coming back late at night, but another camper reported them and they had to move the next day.

Although a NO GENERATOR campground,  campers still seem to think they can run a generator for a few hours, arguing that no other campers are nearby. The caretaker assured them this was not possible. Almost everyone here has solar panels-either mounted on the roof or free-standing. We have 2x 80watts free standing panels that charge 1x 87amph and 2 x104amph batteries – 1 in the caravan and 2 in the truck.

We also have an invertor-which charges our phones, electric toothbrushers, shavers, cameras, computors etc.

There are also walks within the park-Murray and I did the Mataranka Waterfalls walk-4kms each way. The falls are not spectacular – very small, but the walk is pleasant and you can swim at the falls.

The bower birds intrigued us and kept us amused each day. They reminded us of the cheeky magpies-picking up silver/white objects to decorate their bower. They were very friendly and loved to hop all over our tables and chairs picking up crumbs or the beer can tabs.



bower bird nest



Apostle birds and blue-eyed honeyeaters were also prolific.

Fresh water crocodiles inhabit the river; pigs come out in the evening. The ranger told us that the pigs are trapped and used as bait for the salty traps and the ‘agile’ kangaroos – (road killed) are used as bait in the pig traps. Wild cats are also trapped.

Donkeys can be heard neighing, especially at 6.30am! One night we heard a high pitched bellowed neighing, followed by 2 quick neighs-speaking to others we feel a dingo ‘got’ the donkey. And on another occasion a cow bellowed/mooed all night – the caretaker suggested her calf may have been taken by a dingo.

Fruit bats are found at the Mataranka Homestead pools-to eradicate these tall sprinklers have been installed and when the bats arrive-on come the sprinklers. The bats have now moved to the Botanic walk at Elsey National Park. Because we were getting over our midges from Darwin-the caretaker advised us not to do this walk due to the bat excrement on the path and dropping onto us.

Murray was shown a new method to make fish bait-one thatis  guaranteed not go smelly-does anyone recognise it, or how to make it?

Kakadu v Kakadon't

To see Kakadu  like the TV documentaries,  you need to part with your $$$. We were lucky enough to see Kakadu from the ground, water and air. We experienced the culture, the food, the arts, the wildlife and the serenity.

We were lucky we did not have our vehicle broken into or our van stolen.

 All non NT residents pay $25 each for a permit-at some camping spots you pay up to $10 pp, or in some cases no $$, because the honesty box has been broken into.

We drove the 4wd tracks to escape the commercialism, sometimes we stayed in the Cooinda Resort camping grounds-the facilities were not a high standard.

The sunset cruise at Yellow River was good value at $88pp, we had our crocodile fix, saw many varieties of birds, enjoyed the wetlands.

Our Kakadu flight provided us with 1hr of scenery-such a vast area with extremes in the landscape from rocky formations, uranium mining, to wetlands and river systems. We saw communities of 2 families and the township of Jaribu –a purposely built mining town, built for a pop of 3500, but only 1500 people live there as only one mining permit was provided.

I loved the wetlands, the vastness of the mangroves and waterways, unfortunately we did not see water buffalo-this is the only animal we have not seen here in Kakadu. From the air the wetland grasses resembled the hide of a shorthaired animal, as the wind caught the colourful weaving patterns.

We travelled to East Alligator Crossing at the far eastern end of Kakadu NP. Here we camped for 3 nights-paying NP fees-$10pp per night. The sites are set in the bush and have camp fireplaces. Rubbish bins, solar showers and flush toilets are provided.

The rangers provide slideshows, guided walks and cultural activities. Sue and I attended a weaving workshop where we learned how to split the pandanas grass-preparing it for dyeing, how to pound the bulbs and cook the grass in the dye, then how to make bracelets.

The local people run cultural boat cruises on the east alligator river. This cruise complemented our yellow river cruise-. The boats cruise along the river stopping at plants and trees growing on the riverbanks explaining their uses from spears to medicinal. We stopped on Arnhem  land for a spear throwing demonstration-Neville threw his spear from one side of the river to the other, nearly missing the sleeping crocodile.

our next adventure... Superman will relate...

Clem Walton Park

Camp spot at Corella Dam. 65km E of.., thru gate, 1^st Y veer left, 2^nd Y….., veer right to camp spots near river, toilets, no drinking water, rubbish bins, freshwater crocs, bird life-green parrots, ferral cats, kangaroos, kites, eagles, green budgies, kingfishers, willy waggies…. Fish-grunter, catfish, turtles…

Currently there are 4 vans camped along this section of the river, around the bend are another 2-Stein-we met at Clare back in January is at the end-he keeps to himself.  At ‘our’ end are; John and his dog Pat (Pat the Dog is her full name), Mark-whom we met back at Paradise Beach in February-chief chainsaw operator, and ourselves-we take turns at cooking the evening meal-tis lovely to go out for dinner every 3^rd night… no need to worry about whose turn to drive…

Now and again other campers stay the night-we met Terry and Karen-left work a week ago to get away from the rat race-now they have to keep moving to meet up with friends at various spots, they loved this spot-but they had people to meet, deadlines to keep-and they stopped work to avoid this! Karen had seen the Coopers creek flower about 10 days ago-she couldn’t believe she had met the creator!

It is cool at night, but during the day warm-t-shirt, shorts and jandal weather. Warm enough to have a solar shower.

We do all cooking on the fire; boiling the billy, using the camp oven for roasts, casseroles, damper date scones, bread-making, the bbq plate for pancakes, bacon/eggs etc.

Mark and Murray spent a morning wooding and we have a good pile. Wood and fresh water are precious commodities. Our pile has attracted other campers to enquire if it is provided-alas we inform them we have gathered it-it is a no touch zone-some campers joke that each piece is numbered or branded-that is how valuable wood is.

Drinking water is also a valued commodity. Most people carry plastic containers that only contain water from a safe known source; for instance we get water from Info centres, service stations, camping grounds, parks. You can buy a special tap from Bunnings that fits onto taps that do not have a handle. Or some campers have separate water tanks in their vans. We have 3/ 55 litre water tanks fitted on our van-all separate fillers-depending on cooking methods and showers-a tank will last 3-5 days. So when we are camped by a river – this water is used for washing and showering.

We fill in our days with walks-Murray, Mark and I tramped up a bluff to the dam wall, although we appeared to have tramped higher than the wall. We came across old porcelain power isolators-too heavy to carry back to our campsite, but the many stones/rocks of a sparkling black material were attractive enough to lug back in our pockets. The breathtaking views at the top of the hill left me – WOW – I made it to the top. Looking down on the other side-we decided to try and climb down the rocky hillside, only to find a huge rocky cutting. Clambouring over these, and up a steep track, we came to the dam lake.

We spent many happy evenings, making new friends, discussing where and how long each had been ‘on the road’. Some are green-having the most upmarket van-using 100litres of water in 2 days to those who have been on the road for 11 years. Some finance their trip with the pension determining their movements-park up until the next payment, rental investments, self-funded super schemes, working holidays, some are on holiday, or extended leave, some on benefits, most of us are free/bush camping. With camping ground fees around $30 per night, this would eat up your weekly budget/pension very quickly.

Each day is different, as people leave more arrive. Over 2 nights and 8 vans/campers, 14 were men and me the token woman.  We have come across more single men than women travelling, often the men have a dog. The couples we meet are retired and on the road on average 10 months a year.

All have a story to tell…

We have only met 3 vanners from WA. Many are from Queensland.

The most exciting event at this campsite has been the fresh water crocodile-apparently they are not man eaters. Even so, I am not game to kayaking or swimming in the water hole – we eye each other from a distance. During the drought 35 crocodiles were sighted.  Also I have seen a monitor lizard swimming-didn’t realise they swim!