Ten Days at the Beach

I always say that if you are going to holiday at the sea, you must be right at the beach, no point in having to walk too far to dangle your toes.

Well you can’t get much closer than this. We have just had ten wonderful lazy days with ten of our friends, camped right on the beach at Double Island Point in the Cooloola National Park.

How good is this

The view from the camper trailer window as we woke up each morning

The rest of the mob

Time was spent relaxing with some fishing thrown in and a day trip half way through to restock the food supplies and enjoy a counter lunch at the surf-club at Rainbow Beach.

One morning we ventured over the Leisa Track to the Bay to spend some time swimming and walking the rocks.

Half of the group chasing the sun down the beach one afternoon at happy hour.

Only thing missing was our nightly fire, with a Total Fire Ban that was out of the question. The Weber Baby Q got plenty of use for all our meals and the customary scones , bread and carrot cake. So once again, thanks for the great company, ten most enjoyable days of fun and laughs.

To the Gulf and Home Again

Its remarkable just how much you can do in a few days.

I left Brisbane last Tuesday morning for Mt.Isa aboard the Flying Kangaroo. Constable Plod had returned to the Isa from her holiday at Alice and the Rock so she met me and we left at lunch time for Normanton.

Naturally a quick stop at the Burke and Wills Roadhouse before continuing on

Then to Normanton. Funny thing, Monday night both in different places and both thinking of the Gulflander Train and both searching the web. Great minds think alike. Timing couldn’t have been better as it leaves Normanton at 8.30 each Wednesday morning for Croydon. So 8.00 am saw us at the station ready for our day out

It was a very interesting trip to Croydon and no mail or deliveries this morning, our only stop other than morning tea was for cattle on the line

Arrived at Croydon round 1.30 and then some relaxing time to take in the sights (and the pub) . What a nice little town.

Then back on the bus to Normanton where we took in the Big Croc and of course a photo of probably one of the most photographed hotels in Australia

We then decided that seeing we were just so close to Kurumba we might as well make the effort and have a look.

So the tent was down so fast and we headed for the water. Made it to Kurumba in time to get my tent up again and be ready for the sunset. And what a wonderful sight to be sitting at the Sunset Hotel looking out over the Gulf.

A beautiful meal at a local restaurant finished off what was a most enjoyable day.

We left in the morning and drove back through Croydon again and Mt.Surprise and decided to spend the night at Innot Hot Springs. That was also a wonderful way to spend the evening.

From there we headed through Ravenshoe and Milla Milla and down to the coast to just south of Innisfail. Through the outskirts of Townsville, to Charters Towers then to Clermont for Friday night , Mundubbera Saturday night and we arrived home yesterday morning. At least I did, then Plod had to go on from here. So in five and a half days we travelled a fair distance. Thanks for having me along for the ride, I enjoyed it immensely.

Back to the River

It doesn’t take much for us to head for our favourite camping spot. A mention by a friend at a 4WD meeting that he would like to try out his new caravan bush camping soon had four couples making tracks to the river for five days of relaxation. Two vans on their maiden voyages so plenty to keep the men happy fiddling and tweaking.

The river always looks good

Acting like teenagers floating down the river on tubes, gee this retired life isn’t bad

Poo and the dog enjoying themselves

Good chance too for me to try out the new Webber Baby Q.

Bread was the first try. Made a great small loaf, just perfect for Poo’s lunch

Then carrot cake for morning tea. Cooling, waiting to be iced. Delicious

We also cooked scones, a larger loaf of bread and a roast and all other meals for the five days were cooked on the Webber. Not a failure. Definitely, a good investment. Lives up to the accolades given it on the forum.

So another great time with once again, great company as always. We are so lucky to have a wonderful haven so close to our homes. Yet as we sit round the fire, you could be miles and miles away from civilization.

This week sees me flying to Mt.Isa to spend a week driving back with Constable Plod who has just enjoyed a holiday to Alice and the Rock. So its tenting for mother and daughter as we make our way back through Qld. Wonder what I’ll have to report on that trip?

Lasting Memories

Well, that’s another adventure over. We left our ship in Longyearbyen on Tuesday morning and after many connections which had us landing at Tromso, Oslo, Copenhagen and Bangkok we finally arrived in Sydney on Thursday morning. We spent the night with our daughter and son-in-law and then back to Queensland on Friday arriving home at 5.30 pm.

Our memories we will always have ,but just a few things

The feeling of coming “home” to the ship after each zodiac excursion

The wonderful zodiac excursions with great guides, Quark really know how to pick their expedition staff

The reality of only going ashore with our guides and each of them with a gun enforces just what dangerous territory we were moving in but their training meant that any danger was reduced to a minimum. It was brought to us on the last day when a group of our walkers came across a bear at eighty metres. But there was a zodiac nearby to extract them. In all the years Quark have never had to kill a bear, and this is a very serious situation as all bears are protected and if that should ever happen, your holiday is over , whether it be the first or last day, and its a return to port, with very serious consequences.

The colours of the icebergs

And that first coming on to the pack ice and seeing the mother bear with her two cubs and the seal

Wow, what a trip and was it worth it, definitely yes. Like we said before we left home, we didn’t think the scenery would surpass the Antarctic, and we still agree that nothing can beat what’s down there in the south but nothing could take away the thrill of those bears. We were so lucky to see so many and so close.

Really one should not try to compare the two, they are both beautiful but they are both so different. As the saying goes, they really are "poles apart”

I.m sure our bear is saying “See you again next time”

Poo being Poo

No need to tell you what sort of a time Poo had.

Whether it be out doing what he enjoys most

Watching icebergs from the zodiac

Wishing he had Chivas to go with it

He might have slept on the way back to the boat but he was straight back on the computer to download

Never to be outdone, no fridges in the cabins and hot beer from Longyearbyen, he soon found a way to overcome. It might have been 20 odd degrees in the cabin, but out on the window sill it was still freezing

One Must Never Assume

Sitting in the hotel foyer in Longyearbyen, the morning our cruise was to depart I noticed an old couple with Quark labels on their packs. My thoughts were, gosh, how is that old man going to manage all the walking and climbing into zodiacs that is going to be happening on this cruise.

Well, once under sail it didn’t take long for me to find that my “old man” was no other than Michael Westmacott, one of the mountaineers who was part of Hilary’s party on the 1953 successful conquering of Everest. (Once back in Sydney I took a quick look again at Hilary’s book and he played a very important part in the expedition.)

What a wonderful man and he and his wife Sally made for the most entertaining company when we were able to sit with them at meal times. What a life. He is still very active in keeping a database of all climbers to the Everest region and when on trips ashore put a lot of us to shame when it came to walking and climbing. And the fact that he is now 84 years old, incredible.

Birds and Animals of the Arctic

Have to say that other than birds, they were few sightings of animals up here on the tundra.

In sure numbers you would never be able to guess just how many birds there are here

On cliff faces

 

On ice

Of course the nicest of the arctic I think, the puffin

We saw reindeer, some on ice and some on the green tundra

Not many seals around, but then why would they be up on the ice with polar bears around, you saw the earlier photo of the kill on the ice. No doubt they keep themselves in the water under the ice where its safer. Thanks Sue and Allan for this photo. I missed this one. Must have been arguing with Poo over exposures.

The Walrus. Well, what can I say. We walked for so long and had to be so quiet to get to this herd of walrus. We stood for soooo long and not a movement. Poo whispered “their stuffed” but all of a sudden one slight movement from one

More action from the next days group we came across

Then you could read what this fellow was saying “give me my personal space”