Author: kvnrowe

1 August 2022

This trip has been a little different from our previous travels. This time we are staying in one place for at least a week. Whilst we may think this is slow we have met many fellow campers who are happy to stay at the same place for 6 weeks and longer. Many have been coming to the same camp ground for twenty years. This level of commitment is quite foreign to us, there are just too many places to see.

We have now been on the coast for the past three weeks and are more convinced winter is something to avoid. The birds had it worked out a long time ago. I have now completed the Parkrun alphabet challenge with runs at Urunga, Yamba and last weekend, Varsity Lakes. Now for a new challenge like Parkruns in all States.

Conversations

One of the great pleasures of travel is meeting new people; people you would otherwise never have a conversation with or have the opportunity to hear their story. Last year it was the truck drivers who told us all about hauling fuel out to Birdsville, the young guys driving road trains full of cattle headed to the feed lots and of course the women running the bakery with their 80 year old dad out the back in the kitchen.

So it was at a French restaurant a short walk from our camp. Our neighbouring table asked us about the crab spaghetti which they in turn ordered. After we had all finished our meals we kicked off a conversation about where we had grown up, high school friends and class reunions, travel and online dating. Our friends for the evening were about our age and had met through online dating. They were quick to point out, in hushed voices, that the people on the table on the other side of us were on a date, people also of our age. Our new friends had overheard some of the conversation of the couple on a date and were convinced by the nuances of the conversation of what was happening. We had a collective chuckle at the expense of the dating pair. The night came to an end, we said our goodbyes and walked off into the night. I am sure we will never see them again, just like Paul who pulled over to help me last year with my flat tyre, never to be seen again.

I came across a group of six people deeply in a very animated conversation on a surf beach. They were waving their arms about and were quite deliberate with their hand movements. I thought they were trying to make themselves understood in the wind and sound of the crashing waves. As I got closer I realised not a word was being said. They were signing to each other and with raised voices considering the energy behind the arm and hand gestures. Just another conversation on the beach.

New Vistas

Have you ever returned to place you haven’t visited for 50 years. You know the place has changed, you’ve seen the pictures. Then you arrive and see for yourself. You suddenly feel so out of place in a setting more like a beachfront in Sydney or Miami. So it was when we drove through towns of the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise in particular. Its now all motorways, McDonald’s, apartment buildings, and traffic. I think I need to get back to the outback towns with a population of just 100!

News from Home

Winter is in full swing at home and so we must look to new destinations north. Whilst there are many fellow travellers on the road there must still be that rare quiet beach camp that is free from the southern hordes. After a week in a city setting we have had our fill of people and traffic and are ready for the bush.

19 July 2022

After a hiatus of nearly twelve months now seemed to be a good time to get back to recording my thoughts and our travel experiences.

We are back on the road for at least a month and who knows maybe longer. We are not good at making definitive plans. That said on this trip we are actually booked into camp grounds over the next three weeks.

My motivation for this trip is to complete the Parkrun alphabet challenge. This involves running at 26 events that start with each letter of the alphabet. At the time of leaving home I had four letters to complete the alphabet. After this I might try for runs in every State. Parkrun is a 5 km run conducted on Saturday mornings all over Australia and around the world.

A few months ago we went crazy and bought an RV. It was there in the sales yard ready to be bought with no 18 month waiting period. It was too good to be true and it had everything we wanted especially a tow bar to carry our bikes. So we are now the proud owners of an RV and a caravan. The RV is for short trips and bike adventures and the caravan for longer tours over weeks or months, at least that’s the plan. Maybe we are just trying to recreate our younger days of travelling the US in our Chevy van.

We left home in early July and headed north where it must be warmer. Wrong, the morning I ran Parkrun it was -3c at 8:00am. The next day the car was covered in frost as we packed up and drove to the coast and warmer days, it was -5c!

All locals are well aware, however for my overseas readers I need to explain about travel from inland Australia to the east coast. From Cairns to Melbourne if you travel from inland areas to the coast you almost always have to drive over the Great Dividing range and that means a long downhill drive. As it was for us on this trip we had a day of driving down through the mountains with several hairpin bends. A lot of fun towing a 2.5 tonne caravan. We avoided roads that have were severely damaged by the recent rains and floods.

Along our travels we stopped at the site of the Myall Creek massacre. It’s sobering to quietly walk the site where 28 aboriginal women and children were murdered back in 1838. No doubt there are massacre sites across Australia just not as well commemorated as Myall Creek.

As expected the coast is substantially warmer and we are now enjoying weather that does not include frosts. I have completed two Parkruns and have only the letters Y and V to go.

There will be more and within the next week or so, not in 12 months time…..

16 August 2021

All things must come to an end and so it is with epic adventures. We have completed 12830 kms over 105 days or a little over three months on the road. With the COVID situation worsening we decided with some trepidation to return home.

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We were close to the NSW border and thought we might take a few days to get home. Alas the COVID situation became more difficult and we were left with two long days of driving to get home a week earlier than planned. We are now left with the unpacking, cleaning and reflecting on the trip and where to next.

A quick summary in no particular order of the highs and lows of the past three months:

Best Quote:

From behind us at the Fred Brophy boxing tent we heard a lady in the audience cry out to her friend who was in the ring: ‘run away, run away‘. I don’t think this cry was ever heard at a Muhammad Ali fight although it might have been useful advice.

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Best Tour Guide

Stewie, the retired drover at Blackall was the most engaging guide of the trip. Stewie had no time for political correctness and could tell a yarn like the best of the old time story tellers. Alas I fear the days of the Stewie’s telling these stories of life in the outback are numbered.

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Best Butcher:

The Quilpie butcher is the best and the sign on his shop states he is the best butcher in Queensland. I think he is right.

Best Experience

The flight from Cairns to Cape York was a bucket list experience. A great way to see the wilderness of the cape from above and without the corrugations and the muddy roads.

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Challenging Experience

Replacing a flat tyre on the road out from Adeles Grove was a bit of a challenge until the ever helpful Phil turned up. Changing tyres isn’t a difficult chore if you have the right gear, its just inconvenient.

Probably waiting in Normanton for four days for a new tyre was the challenge.

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Not to be forgotten was our experience at the Augathella butchers. When we asked for lamb shanks and to be told a woman had just come in and bought them all. That wasn’t the shock. The butcher went on to say she bought them to feed her dogs! Yes, we were in shock.

Worst Coffee:

I won’t name the business and whilst Tambo might have the the best meat pies I have come across their coffee is not such a positive experience. I am sure this is only a temporary situation and they will get better.

Best Artesian Baths

The old bathtubs set up on an outback cattle station were probably the best. Hoping into a hot bath under the stars at 3.00am with a glass of wine was a most memorable experience.

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Best Pizzas:

The chefs at the Hotel Corones in Charleville presented the best pizza in our travels and they were not expensive at all. Recommended.

Worst Road

The journey of 470kms between Charters Towers and Emerald is a challenge. The road is sealed however the impact of road trains and flood has left this stretch of road full of undulations and gutters in the surface that mean there is no opportunity to relax. Its an exhausting day’s drive between these two towns.

Most Expensive Fuel:

At $1.96 a litre the fuel in Innaminka was the most expensive. However when you are that remote and the nearest competition is hundreds of kilometres away who is going to argue. In fact out there a full tank is the very definition of happiness.

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Most Useless Thing Packed:

We carried wet suits, snorkels and masks and then primarily travelled through the western plains of Queensland.

Best Meal:

A seafood dinner on the Esplanade in Cairns was the high point for culinary delights. The Coral Trout was outstanding.

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Best Customer Experience

This is a tough call. We experienced some amazing instances of customer service that was so bad it made us laugh and we had to retell the experience over and over. In many instances other random travellers told the same stories about the same organisations.

As for the best there were so many. A couple of examples come to mind including the husband and wife team that run the Outback Oasis Holiday Park in Charters Towers. They owned the park and were outstanding operators. The manager at Lara Wetlands just out of Barcaldine was full of energy and knew how to run a remote camp.

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For entertainment value the Quilpie butcher and the ladies at the Quilpie bakery who had their 80 year old dad out back in the kitchen baking. He was in fact the baker.

Phil, the man who helped me change a tyre and then vanished into my memories.

The lady who collected the camping fee of $10 at Lake Dunn will be remembered for her ability to share personal details and family stories just a little too much, maybe way too much!

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As an aside I think I might have been taken to the cleaners for a bit of welding I needed in Winton. I rationalise the experience as my effort to inject some cash into a remote country town.

Most Surprising Experience

Finding the Cob and Co stagecoach that ran from Queanbeyan to Cooma fully restored and on display in Herberton was a surprise. Seems to me it should be on display in Queanbeyan but I don’t think we would ever get it off the folks at the Herberton museum.

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So now we are thinking of where to next and when that might happen. Maybe a quick adventure within NSW before the warmer temperatures of summer. After that who knows, a remote adventure into central Australia…..

11 August 2021

It’s been a while since I last posted a log. It seems we have been on the move quite a bit and time for writing has suffered.

We have left the tropics and are now well south of the Tropic of Capricorn. We are only two days from crossing the NSW border and are only too well aware that once we cross that border the gates will slam shut behind us, at least for a while.

My Most Recent Observations:

The Changing Scenery

We have left the green of the wet tropics and the mountains of the coastal ranges. We are back out west on the flat open country of outback Queensland. The horizon is obvious and the distance between towns immense.

Out here the massive road trains hauling cattle to market or feedlots and trucks hauling mining equipment are more prevalent. The UHF radio is so useful when you need to call up a truck driver who might be approaching or sitting on your tail.

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The Borderlands

We have reached the Borderlands. I am not talking about the border between States rather a wildlife border. We are now in a transition zone where the roadkill is consumed by both crows and kites.

North of here you will only see flocks of kites and south only crows and not a kite to be seen. I didn’t see the line on the road or the fence but clearly the crows and kites know where their territory lies. The wedge tail eagles are also absent this far south.

You are also more likely to see emus in open country now that we have left the tropics. Cattle of course along with goats and horses are out here but no avocado, sugar cane, bananas or mangoes.

Mining Towns

I have mentioned before the impact of fly in fly out mine workers and the lack of people in the small towns. Another impact of modern mining technology is open cut mines rather than underground mines.

The old mines had a limited impact on the landscape, with only the shaft opening visible and the relatively small heaps of waste rock. In contrast the new open cut mines leave massive scars with deep pits and huge spoil heaps.

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These days if it costs $1000 to mine one ounce of gold the mine is considered profitable. That could involve the removal of 30 tonnes of ore for 1 oz of gold. Those numbers help explain the huge waste piles so evident in this country.

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The Good Old Days

It’s pretty sobering to visit the cemetery in an old mining town. There a headstone recorded the death of a 15 month old baby due to arsenic poisoning. Maybe the good old days weren’t so good.

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Stock Exchange

These days we think of stock exchanges only in the big cities, New York, Melbourne, Sydney, London etc. However in the day country towns like Charters Towers established their own stock exchange.

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It seems there was a lot of skullduggery going on with lots of scams over potential mining claims. The stock exchange was established to bring some order to what was becoming a little too Wild West. And we thought scams were a modern aberration.

Gem Stones

While the big mining ventures are so visible there are still opportunities for the amateur prospector. In the areas surrounding the ramshackle towns of Sapphire, Rubyvale or Anakie you can still try your luck at finding that sapphire. Alternatively for $15 you can spend an hour or two picking through a bucket of sand looking for your gem.

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Tour Guides

We have come across a few tour guides these past three months. Some very good, some not so. Some who can tell a story from their own life experience and others that talk straight from pre-prepared notes.

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Stewart Benson is the guide at the Ram Park museum at Blackall. Stewart is an old drover with the skills of the true story teller. He lived his life as a drover and a horse man and has little time for political correctness. His stories are the stuff of legend and the Australian outback. He talks about his exploits as a kid and the Chinese veggie growers who might have enjoyed the smoke of the poppy, to the woman who served goat meat sandwiches and pigeon pie to train travellers and the doctors who travelled with the sick on the single carriage railway ambulance. He told stories of outback women who were tough enough to kill a goat in the morning, prepare lunch, get to the hospital to give birth and then be home to prepare dinner for the men.

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Stewart encourages people to come to his tour by riding his horse through all the camp sites regaling travellers with his encouragement to come to his tour which is free. Anyone travelling through Blackall must visit Ram Park but do it soon, Stewart is no spring chicken.

Blackall also has the last wool scour left in Australia. The Blackall wool scour is a steam driven wool washing plant that serviced the region from 1908 to 1975.

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And so we travel on south and back into NSW, maybe……

1 August 2021

The time has come for us to consider the third phase of this trip, namely the return home. I’m not talking about a rush to return to southern climes, rather a planned, slow retreat. The expectation being that the longer we take to return the better chance of Spring weather to have either arrived or to be very close.

We are still in the tropics and are enjoying tropical days around the pool, reading or partaking of a chilled beer. In recent weeks we have enjoyed snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef and exploring the tablelands west of Cairns.

My latest observations:

The Local versus the Visitor

In the country towns and even the larger centres its quite obvious who are the travellers and who are the locals. I am not talking about the tacky shirts tourist are renowned for wearing the world over, rather the winter attire of the locals.

On a morning of say 22c the visitors are wearing shorts, maybe a tee shirt and sandals. In contrast the locals will be wearing puffer jackets, beanies, long trousers, shoes and socks. They will look like they are ready for freezing weather or maybe a frost. This is always a source of great amusement for the visitors.

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The local will be uttering phrases like its freezing this morning and the visitor will be casting a sideways look with a comment like what are you thinking it’s a beautiful morning.

Of course come the wet season the locals will still be able to function in 38c temps and 100% humidity while the visitors will have melted into an oil stain on the footpath.

Self Service versus Service Delivery

Over the past many years we have all gotten used to the idea of the customer doing more themselves and less by the service provider. The examples are numerous and include self service petrol stations, self service check outs, ATMs, printing out your photographs and so the list goes on.

I am however amused at a service that a century ago was provided by dedicated workers that we now do ourselves. I am talking about the emptying of toilet cassettes at the dump point at camp grounds. A hundred years ago the ‘night soil’ man visited your house and collected your waste a couple of times a week. Night soil collection then wasn’t a self service industry.

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It seems there are some daily activities that we think were relegated to the past and are no longer part of our daily routine. Not so, some have simply evolved and remain with us just in a new form.

Small Country Towns

A long chat with a local has left me an excellent appreciation of how to grow and harvest tobacco. This is a skill I never thought about and it is redundant since no tobacco is grown in this country anymore.

However tobacco is not the issue. What I learnt was that during harvesting every farm employed at least 16 farm hands; mechanisation reduced that to 4. Similarly we saw pictures of shearing sheds from days gone by when 40 men were employed during shearing. Sheep are no longer raised in these parts.

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These numbers of workers employed across the country explains why there were so many small towns each with its own schools and at least a couple of pubs.

Farms now operate with a lot less people and so those small towns are shrinking if not vanishing.

Curious Characters

We met a couple of cyclists in the rainforest where they were having a drink and some lunch. One of them had just ridden his BMX, yes a BMX up a very steep mountain road with lots of hairpin bends, twists and curves. The road is 19km long or 12 miles. He took just 2 hours for this epic effort on a bike with no gears. He was probably in his mid 20s.

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He and his mate were very happy having lots of laughs about the ride up into the mountains. They were however enjoying an infusion of a less than legal herb. Who was I to criticise after that very impressive ride. They had finished their bag of chips and we refreshed their water supply. I don’t think they stopped chucking the whole time we chatted.

Snorkelling

We knew that as we get older we will face some restrictions with respect to where we can go or what we do. We didn’t expect this to happen so quickly.

As we headed out to the reef and our first dive for the day we were questioned by one of the guides regarding our health and whether we had any ‘issues’. We are both very healthy but oh no, I had a red tape wrapped around my snorkel and Barb got two stripes. The tape was designed so they could keep an eye on us as we strayed away from the boat and all because we had certain health issues none of which limited our ability to snorkel.

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Damn the red stripe on my snorkel, I will resist. Maybe I will just accept the red tape and enjoy the Parrotfish, the Wrasse, Anemone fish (think Nemo), Angel fish, Triggerfish and of course the Sweetlips.

The message is get out there before they, whoever they might be tell you that you can’t do that or this tour isn’t suitable for you.

Guacamole

When you can buy a bag of seven avocados for $2 then living on guacamole is not an issue. Smashed avos with every meal is well within a healthy and budget conscious lifestyle. We will miss these little luxuries down south.

The Quintessential Australia

We have seen much of outback Queensland and met some interesting characters and heard many stories. The epitome of the culture of the outback however was summed up in a night at the Fred Brophy boxing tent.

Fred is a fourth generation showman. He is a boxing promoter that travels all over Australia visiting regional shows, rodeos, horse races and any where there is a large gathering of people willing to take on his troupe of boxers.

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Now don’t get me wrong this is not championship boxing. Fred invites men and women from the audience to come up and challenge his boxers. It’s more circus than serious boxing but what a great night. I have not seen so many mullets in one room for many years.

A couple of likely lads and two women got up and had a go. Most did very well, remaining standing for the three rounds except for the odd fall to the mat. There was lots of cheering for the underdog and lots of smiles. The only downside was when an amateur boxing champion entered the competition and knocked out Fred’s boy in about 3o seconds into the first round. That wasn’t quite in the spirit of the night.

Fred’s boxing tent is the last of its kind in Australia and possibly the last in the world. A rapidly fading side of what makes the Australian outback unique. A once in a lifetime experience.

And so our travels continue…..

21 July 2021

This is the tenth Travel Log in this series and it’s the 10th week we have been on the road. We have completed 8725 kms and have now visited the most northerly point of the Australian continent.

During our travels we have also been able to procure our second COVID vaccine shot right on the 12 week mark.

The stories to tell are some many and so varied its impossible to recall them all in these travel logs. Suffice to say that the wide range of characters you meet, from the two homeless guys living in their van or tent and staying in free camps through to the interesting characters managing camp grounds or pubs all add to the richness of this trip. Camping ensures you are never isolated from people and their marvellous curiosities. Being mobile means there is always new people to meet every day.

My observations of recent days:

Museum Visits

It’s confronting when you are able to explain to a father and son how something in a museum works. You’re old enough to have seen what is on display actually operate and be part of normal life.

Captain Cook

Two hundred and fifty years ago Capt Cook ran into the Great Barrier Reef and put a couple of holes into the hull of the HMB Endeavour. Today he would probably be fined for environmental damage to the reef but in 1770 he saved his ship and crew and became a hero. His efforts are now celebrated in the town named after him, namely Cooktown. We are a creative bunch when it comes to names like Cooktown.

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What is also interesting is to examine paintings of the HMB Endeavour when it was being repaired on the bank of the river of the same name. Here is a vivid record of the river when Cook was repairing his ship and the impact of Aboriginal fire management of the landscape. The landscape of the Endeavour river no longer looks like what it did in 1770.

The Daintree Rainforest

This rainforest is reported to be the oldest rainforest in the world, older than the Amazon or the rainforests of Africa. It is recorded as being 180 million years old. This is a little incongruent when you realise it’s on the driest continent on earth, apart from Antartica. It’s also pretty amazing when you realise that this forest was around when dinosaurs roamed the world. Looking at the forest now I would not be surprised if there was the odd dinosaur still roaming that wilderness. Of course there are relatives of the dinosaurs living in the Daintree, namely crocodiles and there are plenty in the rivers, estuaries and coastline of the Daintree.

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I met a character who had an altercation with a cassowary which chased him around his car trying to get the man’s food. He expressed the view that on observing the cassowary’s sharp claws he was sure it was a direct descendant of velociraptors. Cassowaries are described as dangerous birds capable of killing which just adds to list of Australian critters that want to do you harm.

French Patisserie

In Cooktown there is a French patisserie of exceptional repute. Unfortunately our movements never aligned with their opening hours however we did get to enjoy their amazing French pastries and cakes. People come from miles away and in fact even from overseas to visit this hidden gem. The locals love it and it seems the owners have no interest in working longer hours just to satisfy the fickle demands of the tourist.

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I direct your attention to the names of the medical professionals who provide counsel to these bakers.

Pubs in Obscure Places

Today most of our mining companies rely on a FIFO workforce. For those readers who don’t hail from Australia that’s an acronym for fly in fly out. Fortunately back in the 19th and early 20th century we didn’t have aeroplanes and no FIFO workforce at our mines. This meant that towns were built and people lived where they worked, not thousand of kilometres away from their workplace.

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With a large workforce these mining towns required many pubs to service the thirst of the miners. Some of these pubs remain and are now enjoyed by travellers in some very remote locations where now a mere remnant of what was past populations once resided.

The Coastal Mountain Range

Out west in what is best described as the outback we have observed a critical lack of staff across many other industries. It seems the mines and the salaries they offer are like a vacuum sucking up all the available talent.

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The situation changes when you cross the Great Dividing Range. Suddenly critical staff shortages are not apparent. There are cooks at the restaurants, two receptionists staffing the counter at the camp grounds, bar staff aplenty and gardeners maintaining the landscapes. I am thinking that not only does the mountain range that runs the length of the Australian east coast acts as a barrier to rainfall it is also a barrier for people to go west. It is clear we Australians really do love the coast, sandy beaches, surf and fishing.

Cape York

The northern most point of Australia, the Tip, is for many Australians our version of Everest. It’s a place you have to go to once in your life.

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Few people live there and its largely a wilderness.

So to get to the tip you have three options. You could go by the barge which is a six day return trip from Cairns. You could drive to the Tip which will take about two weeks for the return trip. You will be driving on seriously corrugated roads and you will be sleeping rough. As an aside there is a large wreckers yard at the top of the peninsula full of cars that didn’t make the return trip. Finally you could fly to the Tip leaving in the morning and be back for a gin and tonic in the late afternoon.

You can guess which mode of transport we took. The view of the Great Barrier Reef and the wilderness from 780 metres is quite stunning. We were also able to spot the odd 4WD wreck submerged in the water obviously caught in a rising tide.

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COVID Signs

I’m not sure what they were thinking when they thought we could get a kangaroo or maybe three kolas to stay beside you while strolling through the supermarket.

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8 July 2021

We have left the dry, flat and open country of western Queensland and have landed on the coast these past few days. The transition is quite confronting, from largely empty country to the hustle and bustle of the east coast tourist city of Cairns.

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It’s clear that all those people who might have travelled overseas during winter are now on the road in their newly acquired RV or caravan. No longer cruising down the Danube or the Mediterranean, no tours of South America or the UK. Oh no, now its travel within the Australian landmass. The migration north this year must have some effect of the earth’s tilt. Maybe it will effect global warming?

Up until now we have had no difficultly in finding campsites. That’s all changed. We are now hearing phrases like ‘it’s never been this busy’ and ‘we have never been so full’. This is great for regional economies however it has created lots of vacant job opportunities that foreign backpackers once filled.

We have now been on the road for 9 weeks and have covered over 7,000 kms.

Recent Observations:

Foreign Visitors

There aren’t any.

COVID has meant a complete absence of foreign accents. No French families travelling the outback; no German couples in their rented RV; and no tour groups of Chinese visitors or Chinese families in the camp grounds. No longer do you hear a Belgium accent from the office staff at the camp ground or maybe a UK accent from the young guy pouring a beer at the pub. The baristas are all from here.

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Beyond the lack of foreign accents there are no foreign visitors asking for directions or assistance. Everyone is a local and speaks English or at least a variation thereof. This changes the whole travelling experience when you don’t get to explain to an Italian couple that they shouldn’t follow their SatNav down that road, its 4WD only.

Everyone is from here, how boring!

Campground Etiquette

You are packing up your site, ready to move on. A young boy who has been collecting fire wood for his campfire walks past and says hello. You acknowledge his greeting and then notice his gaze.

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He is checking out the remains of your campfire and assessing whether you might leave firewood behind on your departure. He is quickly analysing how long it will be before you leave so he knows when to be there as soon as you go. He will be ahead of any of his friends and will score any of your abandoned firewood.

He is not being friendly and polite for the sake of it, he has a plan. You have to smile and appreciate his thinking.

Industrial Archeology

We have visited many old mining and mine processing sites. It is sobering to think of the conditions these people worked in with none of the modern conveniences like air conditioning that we take for granted.

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Men and their families walked to the Chillagoe mine pushing wheel barrows with their meagre possessions. Naturally their efforts are now commorated in an annual run from Mareeba to Chillagoe. Relay teams push a wheel barrow in a race of over 140 kilometres. In their day no one thought of fitness or running programs, they were just fit.

Crocodiles

Shooting crocs stopped in the 1970s. That means the crocs of today have been around for at least 40 years and have another 60 to go. The males never stop growing so swimming up here is a sport for the crazy.

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We are told Christmas Day is the worse day for croc attacks. No the crocs are not celebrating Christmas. It seems Christmas cheer, alcohol, and hot and humid weather all cause people to want to go for a dip. This alignment of conditions creates the perfect conditions for a croc Christmas lunch.

In winter the crocs are all on the river banks absorbing the sunshine. As soon as the river water warms up they are back into the water and looking for a tasty morsel.

Crocodiles have been around for 200 million years so maybe laying around in the sun with a heart rate of 2-3 beats per minute and not doing much is the smart option.

Tomorrow we head further north to the place where James Cook careened and repaired his ship after running into the Great Barrier Reef. You will surprised to know the town is called Cooktown.

25 June 2021

Before I get into my ramblings I just wanted to tell my readers that if you haven’t already done so you can register your interest in this site and receive an email every time I publish a new article. This service is all part of my subscription so please avail yourself of the service. To do so look for the Follow dialogue box at the bottom right of the planetrowe.com screen.

We have now completed more than 6500 kms and have been on the road for 7 weeks.

We have left Normanton and are heading east towards the coast. Our minds are now focussed on avoiding anything that looks like a congregation of people, traffic lights, traffic in general and anything that might hint of civilisation.

Recent Observations

Fellow Travellers and their Rigs

The people on the road represent all sectors of the Australian community. Everybody is out here. There are retired couples, young families doing ‘the lap’ around Australia, single men and single women, groups travelling in convoys and those making their own way. There are those moving on to their next job and those for whom paid employment is a fading memory and something they did so long ago.

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There are the planners who know where they will be each night. The wanderers who make it up each day and never know where they will be one day to the next. There are the homesteaders who travel to the same town and campsite every year and then there are those who keep moving, some quickly because time is limited, some slowly because there are no deadlines.

The rigs range from a small tent through to an apartment on wheels. There are people with their pets and people without. There are boats, motor bikes, bicycles. There are off road campers, caravans, and RVs of all sizes. There is the experienced and the not so.

There are those comfortable with driving on dirt and gravel roads and those that ‘don’t do dirt’.

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Regardless of their circumstances everyone has a story. A recent conversation was with a retired diesel mechanic who worked in some of the most remote locations this country has to offer. He had worked on mining equipment through to the bulldozer broken down on some distant part of a massive cattle property. Every story is a precious gem in its own right.

Jobs in the Outback

They are everywhere.

Politicians Australia wide claim their focus is on job creation. Having travelled through these outback towns the problem is not jobs. Work offers are everywhere. The problem is the lack of people for these jobs.

In the past Australia got away with relying on the humble international backpacker. These guys were young and cheap. They were willing to work all day and to curl up in the back of their van or join many others in dormitory style accommodation for the night. Funnily enough most Australian workers aren’t satisfied with these conditions and certainly not for the long haul. And now with COVID there are no backpackers cleaning the motels, making those flat whites, serving at the pubs, cooking in the cafes or restaurants or managing the office at the van park.

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The jobs on offer have included patrolling large cattle properties ensuring the cattle have water, coffee baristas, cleaners, caravan park managers, cooks, bar staff, bus drivers, tour guides and so it goes on.

One woman I spoke to said it had taken her 5 years to find a house to buy in the town where she was working! In her opinion access to housing was the greatest impediment to getting people out here.

A Haircut

Let me start with the fact that barbers out here are hard to find if not non existent.

So my story begins with a walk back from the Croydon hotel after an afternoon beer. Suddenly I am in a conversation with a barber from Carlton, Victoria. This is one of the trendier parts of Melbourne where barbers could demand top dollar for their services. For me the opportunity for one of these hair professionals to have their way with my locks was too good to refuse.

His fee was $20, no waiting, no reading out of date magazines and importantly no trying to work out who in the shop was ahead of you and who was after you. It was only about me.

There was also a conversation with a somewhat pushy young lady who wanted foils done. I don’t know what that is and ‘my’ barber had no interest in taking on such a project in the late afternoon. The conversation between the two in a shady camp ground, in the afternoon heat was most memorable.

This was one of the best and cheapest trims I have had since an afternoon spent in a barbers in Wellsville, New York, pre COVID.

I would add the haircut was enjoyable after the beer and the purchase of a new shirt in the local supermarket come coffee shop. A perfect afternoon.

Clothes Line Culture

Everybody knows there are two types who use clothes lines; those who leave the pegs on the line and those who remove the pegs. The ‘leave them on’ argue process efficiency, the ‘take them off’ argue aesthetics.

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In our travels I have discovered the clothes line culture is far more complex. Of course everyone removes their pegs and takes them back to their camp. However now we have the neat hangers and every piece gets two pegs through to the minimalist who may not even use pegs. Gasp, shock horror.

Now I’m not drawing conclusions about which demographic is represented by which technique however the young, single male might have a preferred methodology for hanging their washing.

It’s all about the complexity of modern Australia.

Onward to the east and the tropical coast of Far North Queensland or FNQ to the locals.

21 June 2021

As I sit in Normanton waiting on whether I will get my tyre fixed today or maybe tomorrow or whether it is even in town I reflect on a comment a friend once made about the Northern Territory (NT). His advice was NT stood for Not Today, Not Tomorrow, Next Time. With this advice in mind I have decided that I must relax and adopt FNQ time, that’s Far North Queensland and to go with the flow. As the venerable King Canute was at pains to point out, some forces of nature just cannot be challenged by mere man.

Over the past five days we have visited all the sites Normanton has to offer. Included in our exploration of Normanton was a visit to the rugby games played between six local teams.

The games started at 1.00pm and didn’t finish until after 9.00pm. To describe these teams as local is to rely on the local interpretation of what constitutes ‘local’. One team was from Normanton, another flew in from the Mornington Island, there was one from Doomadgee on the Gulf, a six hour drive and another from further north up the Cape a mere 12 hours away.

It was a great day with lots of cheering from the fans on the side lines. After the games there was a local band performing what from a distance sounded like country music. These teams get together four times a year and when they do it’s a weekend of entertainment.

Breaking News: The tyre has arrived and I should be down to get it fitted in a half hour. Yay.

Some sites of Normanton:

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18 June 2021

It’s been a while since I last wrote. This lapse is largely due to the remoteness of this country and the lack of or very slow internet access. We are however now in Normanton and reconnected with the rest of the world.

Since my last post we have travelled to Mount Isa and then north to Adels Grove and on to the Gulf country of crocodiles, tiger prawns and barramundi.

Mount Isa

It’s a serious jolt when you leave the wide open, empty country with the odd small town of a few hundred people and to suddenly arrive in a place with traffic lights, intersections, people and a choice of shops. Mount Isa is the biggest inland city in Queensland, anything else of any size is on the coast. It’s an underground mine that places this city where it is.

The mine produces lead, silver, zinc and copper. It’s huge. The mine is 2,300 metres deep and the underground roads big enough for huge trucks cover some 1500 kms.

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Mount Isa was a great place to resupply before we get into even more remote country so a day was spent shopping and another washing clothes.

The Cashless Society

You pull up to the only fuel point for 100s of kilometres, you need to top up as you have another 200kms to go before you might get fuel. “Sure we have fuel, do you have cash? The internet is down.” It might be called a town but it’s more an intersection than a town. There is a pub and a tin shack that is the coffee shop, there is no ATM here. It’s the pub that sells diesel. A quick search of our wallets and yes we have cash! A salient reminder to always have some of the folding stuff and not to rely on technology out here.

Easter Eggs

I know its mid June but you can still buy Easter Eggs in the supermarket at Normanton. Just thought you needed to know.

Some Signs from Out Here

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Wedge Tail Eagles

Can any bird lovers please explain why wedgies always turn to fly in front of the oncoming vehicle. They might be feeding on a road kill kangaroo and facing the side of the road and the bush. When they see the oncoming vehicle they turn and fly across your path. So far we have missed all offending eagles but one just cleared our UHF aerial.

Change and New Owners

Some years ago we visited Adels Grove. It was a very popular camp with a restaurant, large deck area and lots of tours on offer. Since that time the restaurant burned down, the original owners sold the business and now after one other owner the place is falling behind. No longer is it the remote camping resort it once was. Maybe the new owners will save the day, lets hope. The staff certainly want it to succeed.

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Sometimes it’s not smart to go back, remember and celebrate what was and don’t let the what is get you down.

Selecting a Camp Site

I have said before reversing a caravan is a spectator sport, not one for the faint hearted. On this trip we have observed a traveller that took camper placement to a whole new level.

It seems the two factors that can impact on the ability of some people to locate their camp are choice and judgement.

You check in and are told you can put your camp anywhere you like; now you have choice! A simple, you’re on site 21 is easy, there is no choice. Now you have to drive around and around to find the best location for your camp. Good enough won’t do, it’s got to be the best site because it’s your choice.

Judgement comes into play if you are travelling with others who you fear will judge you on your choice of site.

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You are now in a world of hurt which was amply displayed by our neighbour who spent at least an hour before he settled on the same site he selected at beginning of his quest. He drove around the 5 acres of the Grove four times before he selected a place next to us. I would add the Grove was 70% empty when he started his quest but next to us was where he had to go.

He then proceeded to reverse onto his chosen spot many, many times. On several occasions jack knifing the camper. In frustration he would pull away do another circuit of the campground and start all over again, trying to place his small camper on that same piece of ground. The patience of his partner or wife was truely laudable. Never did she utter a raised voice or a profanity that we might expect from 99% of people in the same situation.

The driver and guide were communicating via UHF radio which might have allowed some people to listen in on their conversation. You have to understand entertainment up here is pretty scarce.

This poor guy was given choice and then his family was going to catch up with them the next day. A disaster waiting to happen. His family of course camped nowhere near him but close to an area filled with a large camping tour group. With such a wide open and empty country why do people need to camp on top of each other!!

In deference to Einstein and based on my observations of this poor man’s effort I have developed the following formula on time taken to settle on a site. Where:

T is the Time taken to settle on a site

C represents Choice which is based on the size of the camp ground and the number of sites available

J represents Judgment and the likelihood you will be judged by others who have some influence over you.

My Formula:

T = CJ²

And so we can see if you have no choice and C=0 or there is no judgement and J=0 then you will have your camper settled in no time at all.

Maintenance and Life on the Road

The road out of Adels Grove carries road trains and campers of various assortments. The road is about 80km of dirt and gravel some of which was very good and some was deeply pitted with sharp potholes excavated by Roadtrains. That’s the background to my next story.

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I heard a subtle change in the road noise from my tyres. I stopped and checked. All ok, car and van tyres looking good. I continued another 200 metres and then it happened, the rapid expulsion of air from a tyre, I had a puncture.

I pulled off the road on to a flattish spot knowing a jack was about to be deployed. After some frustration and the use of the torch on my iPhone I was able to get the spare on the ground. The wheel nuts on the stuffed tyre were loosened.

Suddenly ‘Phil’ pulls up and offers assistance. Something about having problems in this country, everyone stops to offer assistance. Phil got straight out of his ute and came over to assist. Four hands and two heads made all the difference.

In no time the broken tyre was removed and spare fitted. Yes, the tyre pressure in the spare was checked. The stuffed tyre has a large split across the tread. There are no pictures as I was not in a place where I thought, oh let’s get some photos. Fortunately the stuffed tyre was on the shady side of the car.

Spare fitted and stuffed tyre mounted where spare goes. A rudimentary wash and we were back on the road. After expressing our profound thanks Phil headed off towards Adels Grove, our paths never to cross again.

The question now was where do we get a new tyre. We stopped at Murrays, the best coffee in Gregory Downs and started with the phone calls to tyre retailers within 200 kms. The choice was drive back from where we had come and wait two days or drive on and wait until next Monday. We decided to drive on. We also decided it would be smart to avoid dirt roads until we have a spare. So here we are in Normanton waiting for Monday. We do have another spare tyre on the van but I don’t want to push my luck.

I dropped by the Normanton tyre place just to make sure the tyre was on order. Without prompting the tyre guy anointed me with my nick name from High school days, oh the memories. This is the fun of travel to remote places. He tells me to drop by at 9.00am on Monday and that the tyre should be on the truck from Cairns on Sunday night. Here’s hoping it turns up on Monday, regardless, up here you just go with the flow. Om…..

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Now to explore the sites and pubs of Normanton.