Karumba to mount Isa

Day 94
A red letter day today (and as im sure you all remembered) its Carmens birthday!!
What a lucky girl, she got a new basket for her bike and a shiny new pair of flip flops (thongs for the Aussies) and a lovely card, decorated with sea shells.

Well, after the excitement of all that had died down we decided to head in to karumba proper for a look as we have been staying out at karumba point, a 10 min drive away.
Theres not a great deal to it really, a small main street along the river.
We pick up some fresh bread and birthday cake for later and go to the dock where the prawn trawlers come in and get a kilo bag of cooked prawns for $15.
Head back and make a little picnic with the prawns for lunch, what a size they are too when we open them. Must be the biggest prawns we have ever had, about the size of your hand!!

Now a kilo bag of prawns is not to be undertaken lightly and by the end of it we are both stuffed to the gills and can hardly move. I do manage to get a picture of the kites that have been circling for ages, probably looking for spare prawns.

Spend the rest of the afternoong relaxing and head down to the sunset tavern for.... the sunset!

As its a Birthday tea we decide to have a nights break from fish and both order the steak.
When it come out it must be half of a cow, 500 grammes I am told.

We both manage to finish it and are rolled home afterwards just in time to enjoy (force down) the birthday cake. We both opted for the humming bird cake and delicious it was (we should be eating more cake).
What with the Prawns, the Steak and now the cake you could say we had been well fed today and retire to bed feeling slightly overfull but happy.

Day 95
After all of yesterdays eating we woke up full this morning and so only a light breakfast (and just the 1!) and were off fishing down at the riverbank (there really is nothing else to do in Karumba).
After about half an hour it is far too hot and we vow to come back later and retire to the coolness of the pool for a dip and head out on the bikes to look at the mud flats where the tide has gone out.
The beach has been compressed into a hard almosy rocky surface, which is especially good for mountain biking and so we enjoy riding up and down for a bit.

Back down at the waters edge later, Carmen has decided not to fish and is reading her book on the beach. I however am intent on catching something and so (with much bigger hooks (Bigger hooks equal bigger fish)) throw a line in and wait.
Before long I am in and it feels like a reasonable fish but when I get it to the bank its a Catfish and has sharp spines sticking out all over the place so back he goes straight away.
With no other fish we head back for fresh caught King Salmon and chips from the chip shop. We eat at the camp kitchen and run into the grey nomads who have been slowly adopting us over the last few days and the ones who helped us fillet the fish. For the second time in the last few days they feed us some of there desert and tonight it is baked apples done in the camp oven, stuffed with sultanas and spices with custard!
Its good to make friends with your neighbours.

Day 96
Time to pack up and head off so up early and on the road at a good time, back through Normanton and stop briefly to see a replica of the largst croc ever caught which was shot by a woman in 1957 in the river we had been fishing on yesterday!! It was a monster as well, over 8 1/2 metres long and could swallow you whole easily.

Where's wally

Excitement out of the way it was a 250km drive of nothingness to the Bourke and Wills roadhouse where we stop to fill up (pricey here) and have a sandwich in the stinking hot dustbowl.

Troy is this your creek?

Carry on to Cloncurry and arrive having covered another 467KM today.
Not much going no in Cloncurry but it does hold the record for the highest ever recorded temperature in Australia, clocking in at 53 deg! That's pretty hot and although it wasn't that today it felt like it had to be up there.
The man at the van park told us they were having a Sausage sizzle that night and invited us over.

Brilliant we thought and strolled over. Turns out its $2.50 for a small sausage in a bit of bread with a few onions on it. What a rip off.
We had 2 each....
Two sausages not being enough for a growing boy I needed a further meal when we got back to the van so went over to check out the kitchen.

Fridge in a phonebox

Lets just say they were not the best facilities we have encountered.
We enjoyed a beautiful sunset with a glass of wine and laid back and drifted off to sleep to the soothing sound of road trains passing 10 metres from our heads.

Day 97
Get up and out of road train central (I actually got a good nights sleep) and its only a short drive to Mount Is and what a nice drive it is, along a sweeping highway weaving through the Selwyn ranges and before you know it you see the huge mine on the far edge of town and you have arrived.
Hot is how we feel as we step out of the van into the dry dusy heat of Mount Isa, we do the now obligatory lap of the town and stop at the information centre to pick up all the leaflets and the like on the area and the next leg of our journey.

Its a mining town

We had spotted a Telstra shop and so head there to sort out our reception issues but would you believe it as we arrive the shop is closing (1pm on a Saturday afternoon!) and they wont let us in so that means nothing until Monday morning now.
'Bastards' Carmen said and we walk away annoyed.
Call in to get Polly an orange contact lens for her dodgy eye and a spare one just in case and Carmen insists on getting a 'Roo whistle'to scare them off as you drive so they don't jump out in front of you (We shall see if it works).
Checked in at our van park and popped over the road to our local pub for a cold one. The Overlander hotel and (We are told) it is legendary.

We have brought some of our frozen catch from Karumba with us and so whip up a  fish curry in the camp kitchen before getting an early night.

Day 98
A lie in this morning and after breakfast head over the road (next to the pub) to do some grocery shopping and stock up for the next couple of weeks in the remote outback with shopping opportunities few and far between.
Another milestone today as its 1 week on the beard growing ladder.
Not really a beard yet but getting there and notice how I have gone to the trouble of dying some of them grey to add a bit of age to me.

Jump on our bikes and go for a cycle ride around town to see the sights.

Ride up to the mine and look through the fence at the monstrosity that dominates the city and see the flying doctors base with a (restored) plane that crashed in Western Queensland in the 40's.

The mine

The plane

Deciding its far to hot again we cut short our bike ride and nip into the pub to cool down. Still not cool enough we decide to jump into the pool for a swim and this does the trick nicely.
Its Fish for tea again tonight (Again!!), the rest of the King salmon on the BBQ and we get an early night in preparation for another big drive tomorrow.

Ravenshoe to Karumba

Day 90
Woke up to that delicious smell of bacon cooking on an open fire, Dean is out with his new toy, a swivelling grille for cooking and is whipping up breakfast.

Its so simple but really does the job.
After breakfast its time for Dean and Tammy to pack up and leave us as Dean is off on a huge stag that afternoon.We say our goodbyes and thank them again for looking after us like we were family and as they leave (Down that steep drive) we are left, on the top of one of the highest peaks in Queensland with no phone reception.
We both take full advantage of this and have a day of relaxation, sitting in the sun and generally pottering about.

The only thing we had to attend to was 'lighting the donkey' a strange and cruel Queensland ritual where you find a donkey and basically set light to it......
Of course its not that, its just getting the hot water going by lighting a fire under the boiler.
Anyhow once this was done it was back to relaxing and another glorious sunset

and as if that wasnt enough it was apple pie and custard for desert.

Day 91
Todays the day for the big 'turn left' that we have been talking about since we left, time to head West into the unknown. Also time for my last shave for a while as it is day 1 of growing a beard.
Everyone else in the Storey family has now or has had in the past a full beard and moustache except 1.
Thats me.
Time to redress the balance and carmen is over the moon at the prospect as well (watch this space)!!
Our first task is to get Polly down the hill and back on to the tarmac. no small feat and Carmen is out taking action shots as we descend the mountain.

A 2 hour drive away are the Undara lava tubes and a shaky start as we are both paranoid about Kangaroos, Cows and Road trains but the road is good and we get there just in time to catch the last tour of the day at 1pm.
The tubes are formed when rivers of lava cool and form a crust and the middle is still molten and flows away.
Undara is famous for having the longest network of tubes in the world so we were both looking forward to this.
The tubes are brilliant, like big tube-caves and go on for miles apparently but a lot of it was still full of water from the last wet season and we even had to wade into one of them.

The tour lasted 2 hours and was over all too quickly and we had a quick sandwich
and headed on another hour and a half up the road to Georgetown and an overnight stop.

Day 92
Big drive today so we are up early (usual time) and with a full tank of fuel we are on the road to Normanton and finally to Karumba.
The road is a development road and starts off well with two full lanes of tarmac but there are also long stretches of single lane tarmac, so if something comes the other way you either share the road with him or get off it completly depending on who's bigger.

We drove for quite a way behind one of the road trains, which was good because everybody in front got out of the way but when he had to move onto the gravel for another road train you couldn't see at all for all the dust and gravel.
Stopped in Normanton for a quick look at the 'Purple pub', couldnt have a drink as we (I) were driving and so had a sandwich across the road and talked to a girl who was travelling around with a carnival!
Continued on the further 80kms to Karumba (Aie Karumba!) and excited to check into our camp site as they apparently have mobile reception (something we haven't had for days). Switch our phones on to tweet, check updates, text and all that but still no service, not one bar!!
Others around us are chatting and texting away we can see them!
Think it is either our sim cards or handsets and will visit the Telstra man in Mount Isa at the weekend to find out.
The campsite is nice, pretty tightly packed with caravans, 4Wds and tinnies but we find a spot for Polly and go to the beach to watch our first proper sunset over the water.

Day 93
Wake up to our 3 months on the road anniversary today and although it feels like yesterday that we were in Sydney it also feels like a long way away.
For those of you interested in the KM's challenge we have our first update picture (notice how well we are doing on 1 tank of fuel as well).

We will let you work out the total so far (check post No.1)

Still no phone reception so turn the computer on and plug in the dongle (perfect reception) and call Mitsubishi in Mount Isa to pre order the indicator replacement but after giving him the VIN number and waiting on hold he comes back to say that there isn't one in Australia and it would have to be shipped form Japan and would take 3-4 weeks!
'Shit' Carmen tells me i said.
So thinking ahead we have ordered the new part (from Japan) to be fitted in Darwin, hoping that in about a months time we should be there or therabouts and that is all we can do.
By the time I had got off the phone with Darwin Carmen arrives back at the van and informs me that she has just booked us on a fishing charter, leaving in an hour! It seems there really isn't anyhting else to do in Karumba (Which suits me)
So with not much time we head down to the boat ramp and await our boat, the 'Sandy Belle' and the skipper Daryl.

Looks like there area few others waiting to board as well but when he arrives just 4 of us climb aboard (1 bloke is doing a full day and is already on the boat) and we are off.

We motor out into the estuary for about 10 minutes and anchor up, we all cast in and wait.
The other womans line goes first and shes got a nice sized Blue threadfin salmon. Then Carmen is off and shes got another good sized bluey. The other woman is in again and so is Carmen, who catches a catfish this time (so he is put back).

Well me and the husband of this woman are looking at each other in disbelief here, 'outfished by the women' he says. Time to raise our game and then we started catching as well, all of us were reeling them in, and then I hooked a King salmon and what a whopper he was too, biggest fish of the day!

We carried on but the fishing died off and we returned to shore faced with the prospect of cleaning all those fish. The campsite is well set up for it with an area with benches and hoses for cleaning your fish, but as soon as we arrived, put the fish out and started taking pictures the two old boys in the background were over offering to help.

Well i did use to work on the fish counter in a supermarket but that was a long time ago and was happy to let the old boys show us their skills. Pretty swiftly, the fish were filleted and the job was done and we packed some in the freezer and kept a whole fish out for our dinner which we cooked in foil on the BBQ with lemon and herbs.
Delicious.

Cooktown to Ravenshoe

Day 82 (continued)

After slightly too much sashimi for lunch we both sat for a while and tried to encorage it to go down with a cold beer.
By the time this had happened it was nearly time for tea and so out came some more fish, Mackerel this time and two huge slabs of fish were slapped on the BBQ and again we ate far too much... (our omega 3 levels must be through the roof)

This is the one we ate

Day 83
Pack up early as we have the drive back to civilisation today. (Basically a 323KM backtrack to Cairns (good for the KM's))
Now we have a slight problem here as the freezer compartment in Pollys little fridge is hardly big enough for our bait let alone all of the fish we have left. We have thought ahead though and put it all in the freezer at the campsite overnight so it is now rock hard. We put this in a chiller bag, in a bucket full of ice and wrap our beach towels around the bucket to insulate it. That should do it.
With the fish 'on ice' we fill up with fuel and head off on the long drive, 15 kms out of town i look down to notice the oil light is on!
'Oh shit' Carmen tells me i said.
Pull over and check the dipstick and it is well below the low level. This is where all of that advice people have been giving us came back to haunt me.
'No we dont have any spare oil' was the answer but ill let you figure out the question.
Luckily we werent far out of town so we turn around and head back (With the fish still on ice), a quick check of the manual and im back into the garage to buy some oil. I even borrowed a funnel from the guy to fil it up.

Now even with a funnel a full bottle of oil is not an easy thing to manouvere, especially when the engine is under the passenger seat and so on filling i may have spilt a little. I check the level and all is good so we reverse out.. But whats that dark patch where we were parked?
Jump out and its a puddle of oil.
'Oh shit' Carmen tells me i said.
Well i looked at the oil and it all looked new and clear (probably that stuff i spilt) but with quite a big drive ahead of us we wanted to be sure and so pulled over somewhere else and waited for 20 mins with crossed fingers to see if it was leaking.
Checked it again and nothing there so finally leave town and head off towards Cairns.

Arrive in Cairns and put David's (A friend of Peters) address into Tom and 5 mins later we are there.
David had kindly agreed (although im sure there was some arm twisting going on fom Peter) to let us stay in his house for the next few days.

Richard, Carmen, David

It was nice to finally put a face to the name as we have been hearing stories about 'Dubba' for years in Sydney. We were made to feel at home and lubricated with a few beers whilst we chatted to David and Pierro (another friend he had staying).
It was Pierro's last night in Cairns and so we all went out to a local Vietnamese for dinner and continued the chatting (and the drinking).

Day 84
Woke up in this weeks luxury resort (we seem to be doing alright) and as it was a Sunday were treated to bacon and eggs for breakfast (thanks David).
Then it was time to jump on the bikes and explore Cairns so we Cycled along the esplanade to the man-made lagoon (there is no beach in Cairns)

Cairns beach

This is where all the tourists hang out, sunbathe and swim. We locked up the bikes and headed for 'Rusty's' Cairns farmers markets.

Some great fresh fruit in hand we walked to the RSL for a roast dinner (it really is Sunday) and after a lazy stroll headed back on the bikes to David's where he was already cooking a Lamb curry for dinner.
Devoured the beautiful curry and sat down in front of the gogglebox (a novelty for us) whilst we chatted some more.

Day 85
Up in the morning and David is off to Weipa for work this week so wish him good travels and thank him for letting two strangers stay at his house when he is not there (very trusting these Queenslanders).
This is our last big city for a while so spend the day getting things ready for our onward travels.

Get some big jerry cans (fuel and water) and get a man to have a quick look at Polly's pop top (where she sticks her bum up a bit) but he couldnt see anything wrong with it.
Back to Davids house and its Tuna steaks for tea, pan fried and finished in the oven. Very masterchef and very nice!!


Day 86
After a leisurely breakfast we cycled along the esplanade and visit cairns art gallery which seemed quite small but had a good exhibiton of aboriginal art.
Did some more shopping (Carmen got a bike basket for her upcoming birthday but dont tell her!) and headed back to the house to catch up on all of our washing.
Hot in the afternoon and so cycled back along the esplanade (again) for a swim in the lagoon.

Cycled the esplanade (hopefully for the last time) home and started preparing not one but two fish dinners (were both getting sick of fish morning, noon and night by now). We cooked ourselves a lovely baked mackerel for dinner and used the rest in a curry to take with us

Day 87
Time to pack all our clean washing (and the curry) back in Polly and head onwards for Chilagoe and the famous 'Chilagoe caves'.
A stop on the way at the Skybury coffee plantation for a caffeine hit and a look at the lovely view.

The road to Chilagoe is pretty good, its the Burke development road and is a nice smooth sealed surface all the way until you are 35KM away and then, for no real reason the road turns into dusty gravel, then back into tarmac for a bit and then dusty gravel again. It was actually quite good gravel with few potholes or corrugations and so the journey was pretty easy although Polly is starting to get a tan in all the dust.

Arrived in Chilagoe and stop at 'the hub', the towns information and basically its all about the caves in Chilagoe, fabulous limestone caves just outside the town, its only lunchtime and so we have time to catch the afternoon tour through the Royal arch cave and so we get our tickets and head out to the caves.
When we arrive the previuos tour is just finishing and so we have a chance to chat to Dug, a ranger who runs the tours.
A bus load of people finally arrive and we head into the caves, a series of underground limestone caves full with bats (Much to carmens amusement and she is also remembering that she is slightly claustrophoic) through to a cave where the roof has collapsed.

Strange golden trees

Dug is pretty funny and a good guide and tells us about the other, nearby caves which are self guided.
'That sounds more like it' I say (Ive always been a fan of caves) and we promise to come back in the morning and have a look.
Drive back to town and check in at the campsite (there is only 1), rough and ready but we have power and running water so are happy.
Call over the road to the local (we should have been doing something on pubs around Australia...) the Post office hotel. Named, it seems from the fact that it is over the road from the post office. The barman is quite chirpy and we stay for a drink and head back for some of that fish curry we made last night.

Day 88
up early this morning (6.45) as we want to look at the caves before heading back to Mareeba (a bit more backtracking).

Pack up and drive up to have a look at Bauhinia cave and Pompeii cave.

Both are good, we probably could have explored tham all day with lots of little passgaes but we dont want to get lost and so head over to the second site to lok at Balancing rock which is pretty good, just a big rock balancing really (hence the name) and some Aboriginal cave paintings, which after our tour with Willie a few days ago werent that impressive.

Brilliant though and we both enjoyed a mornings spelunking and all before 10.30!!
Next it was over to the Crazy ford man, a bloke that has some sort of obsession with Ford cars and so has loads in this garage in the middle of nowhere (He also runs the BP garage). So we pulled up and had a look round and the crazy guy (with no teeth) comes up and starts chatting to us and hes a nice bloke really but a bit hard to understand (with no teeth).

He did have a good collection of cars and trucks but his pride and joy was in something i have never seen before, a 'carcoon', bassically an inflatable bubble that you keep a car in!

It was a Ford falcon Gt 351 and was a nice car but surely not much good to you in a bubble?
then it was the long, hot, dusty drive back to Mareeba and then onto lake Tinaroo, where we set up camp for the night.

Day 89

Up and no mucking about this morning as we are meeting Dean and Tammy at the pie shop in Ravenshoe (an hours drive away) at 10am.
A nice drive through the Atherton tablelands up some windy roads and through some lush farmland we are about 5 mins outside Ravenshoe when we see a kangaroo hopping out of the bush in full bounce on a collision course with Polly!!
I slammed on the brakes and swerved but WHACK, we had hit him...
As i pulled over I saw the bugger get up and bounce back off into the bush so thought we had avoided something more serious, he was huge (for the Australians reading deffinatly a roo and not a wallaby). So got out (a bit shaky) to inspect the damage and was surprised to see that he had only smashed the indicator plastic, not even the bulb, the bumper is now a bit loose and we have a head shaped dent in the bonnet.

Could have been a lot worse.
Drove slowly into town and parked up to meet at the pie shop.
Happy to meet Dean and Tammy (and Bella) again and once we had explained what had happened they took us around to the only mechanic in town to have a look.
The closest Mitsubishi dealer in our direction of travel is in Mount Isa (about 900Km away!) but he reassured us that as long as the light is working (which it is) then were fine to drive and suggested that we call ahead to mount Isa to get the part ordered in before we arrive (about a week and a half).
Thankful we head back to the pie shop with dean and Tammy and have 'Axeman' pies, a meat pie with bacon and eggs on top. Bloody good it was too.
We follow Dean and Tammy out of town and up to their block of land on the top of a hill where we plan to spend the weekend.
We approach the driveway and we have been warned that it is 'pretty steep' by Dean but when we get there i cant believe this is the driveway. Round a sharp bend and you are almost vertical (it felt like it) and Carmen took one look at the hill and got out to walk up not watching.
Polly actually handled it pretty well and flew up the hill and we were here.
The block occupies the top of a hill and is surrounded by bush and borders a creek and this is where dean and Tammy intend to build their dream house. In the meantime they have a shipping container and a tin shed lean to on the side which is all wired up for power and water and even has guest acommodation (a tent).

We settle in for some lunch and Tammy cracks the first bottle of champagne and we enjoy catching up (it has been a few weeks).
After lunch i ask Dean about this creek at the bottom of the hill and if there are any fish in there and so armed with machetes we head off into the bush in search of water (just like the explorers).
It is steep and loose underfoot and the foliage is thick and it takes us quite a while to sight the water and even longer to actually get there. Dean has started building steps down but has only put the first few in and there is a long way to go.
We carefully climb along the rocky creek side and are making our way back when i loose my footing and Splash, Im having a swim.
Dean hears the splash and turns around to see my head poking up out of the water and smiling.
the water is lovely but thank god i didnt have my phone in my pocket!
We scale the hill again know that once the girls see this i am not going to hear the end of it.
Lo and behood much amusement is gained from a wet Richard.

I get changed and we watch a glorious sunset over the hills with a cold beer.

A treat for dinner is a seafood Thai red curry with apple pie and custard for desert!
This is luxury camping.