Blog for November 2022

K’gari . Leisa and James Place . Russell and Mandy’s place . Debbie and Chris’s place

Perentie Wandering November 2022

Day 281, Tuesday the 1st of November, 2022

Today is cloudy and raining but cleared by the evening. We are catching the barge to K’gari (pronounced Gari, the K is silent) formerly known as Fraser Island, therefore we need to wake up early and catch one of the first barges as low tide is at 7:00 am and the main road is on the beach, during high tide you cannot drive on the beach in some areas, so all travel is organised around low tides.

You have to cross lots of fresh water creeks that drain into the beach

Along the road we spot a beautiful Sea Eagle with his breakfast.

We stop at the bakery in Eurong to buy some fresh bread, get a cup of coffee for Bob, a hot chocolate for me

We took the bypass road around Yidney Rocks, the tide was already coming up and we did not want to risk it.

He was a very healthy looking Dingo – seemed to know where he was going.

We drove all the way to Eli Creek to have a look

Once we camped, we climbed a nearby sand dune to check out the view

Day 282, Wednesday the 2nd November, 2022

The next day we woke to a beautiful clear morning. We decided to spend the day chilling, enjoying the surrounds and the day.

We were visited by some little birds that would eat the sand flies as we killed them, they were very cute, reminded me of a miniature Stone Curlew in looks, but could not find out what they were called.

There was a little pond next to our camp site with water lillys

and teaming with life, like this little Red Veined Darter

Aurora Bluetail male dragonfly, this dragonfly is not very common, so I am pleased to have photographed it

Could not identify this little fellow, but he looked like a miniature Stone Curlew to me

He would eat the sand flies that we killed

Not in the least bit shy, they would come right up to us

We had a Male, Female and their baby hanging around

Day 283, Thursday the 3rd November, 2022

Again, we woke to a beautiful day, we decided to go see the Maheno wreck.

We had a Gould’s Monitor or Sand Goanna visit us in the morning

The day was gorgeous with blue skies and sunshine

The Maheno was built in 1905 in Scotland and sold to the Union Steam Ship company in New Zealand to be used as a luxury steam liner accommodating 234 first class passengers, 116 second class passengers and 60 third class passengers.

In 1914, the New Zealand government commissioned the Maheno to be its hospital ship for the Great War. It carried 7 medical officers, 10 nurses, 59 other ranks and had the capacity to accommodate 340 bed-ridden patients. The Maheno had 8 wards, 2 operating theatres, anesthetising, sterilising and X-Ray rooms, a laboratory, a laundry and drying room, steam disinfector, dispensary, telephone exchange and 2 electric lifts each of which took 2 stretchers at a time.

The Maheno served at both Gallipoli and Le Havre amongst other places. The ships crew had pride in its grand record that although 90% of the patients were carried aboard on stretchers, the majority would walk off the ship in New Zealand.

After the war, the Maheno returned to its luxury steam lining.

1935 the Maheno was declared outdated and removed from Service. It was sold for scrap to the Japanese Amaska Company. The ship was under tow from Sydney when an unseasonable cyclone hit the Maheno, broke its tow and landed where it lies now. The Maheno was abandoned as it was not worth salvaging. The remains of the ship are visited by over 26000 people per year.

The wreck of the Maheno with one of the tourist planes flying above. The planes land right on the beach.

We drove further up the beach and visited The Pinnacles with its coloured sands.

It was a nice calm day so Bob took the opportunity to do a little fishing.

He almost caught one, it broke the line just as he was pulling it up on the beach.

And then we watched the colours over the water as the sun set.

Day 284, Friday the 4th November, 2022

Our last day on K’gari, we woke early to take advantage of the low tide again and headed for the barge to Inskip Point.

When we checked the truck, we noticed that one of our garbage bags was on the floor, and then there was another a little way away, then we noticed that our canvas garbage wheel bag was ripped. A Dingo had come during the night, ripped the canvas bag where we put our inside garbage bags for disposal. We were amazed as we had heard nothing during the night. We picked up our garbage and next time we will put the canvas bag higher – lesson learnt.

I am sure this is the same Dingo we saw on the way up…

One of the creeks we crossed had tannin stained water from the tea trees nearby

It was interesting how dark the tannin was

Our barge was ready and waiting, we were lucky we got on straight away, they had put on 2 barges for the weekend traffic.

We did not really do much sight seeing on the island on this trip, K’gari is such a beautiful place to explore, we just wanted to chill this time, but I thought I would show some pictures of the highlights on the island from our last trip in 2019 for those who have not been here yet.

Indian Head

Champagne Pools

Central Station

The water in the creek was so clear you can’t see it in the photo.

Lake Allom

Lake McKenzie

Lake Birrabeen

Orchid Beach

Sandy Cape

The Lighthouse

Once we reached the mainland we headed for Brisbane, we had some errands to run and we had a great weekend planned where we would catch up with friends.

Day 285, Saturday the 5th November, 2022

We drove to Bribie Island to catch up with good friends Leisa and James for lunch, we were really looking forward to it as we had not seen them for quite a while. We had a wonderful time and a lovely BBQ lunch with non stop talking.

Leisa and I have been friends for over 25 years, where does the time go?

We caught up with Bob’s friends Mandy and Russell for dinner, we sat by the fire and ate home made pizza, great night, great people we stayed up talking till 11:00, had a great time. Unfortunately we forgot to take pictures.

Day 286, Sunday the 6th November, 2022

Today we caught up with good friends Debbie and Chris. We had an absolutely fabulous time and so much fun, Debbie cooked a beautiful meal and even though I had only seen Debbie in September, I loved seeing her again and meeting her partner Chris. Again we forgot to take photo’s.

Day 287, Monday the 7th November, 2022

We stayed at the Jacobs Well Caravan park for the night so we could do washing and maintenance, I had some over ripe banana’s so I made banana bread, and since we were close to Debbie’s house she came over for afternoon tea and stayed for dinner. This time we took a picture.

We had such a wonderful week end, we are so lucky to have such fantastic friends.

Day 288, Tuesday the 8th November, 2022

We head down the coast, heading slightly inland to the Gold Coast Hinterland it was a drizzly cold day, but we still managed to see as much as we could and have fun even if we were wet.

We also crossed the border to New South Wales, although there was not signage along the roads we travelled, so we crossed without any fanfare.

First place we visit along the way is Purling Brook Falls.

Then we followed a road that would take us to “The Best of All Lookout”

These are Antarctic Beech Trees, a relic from ancient times when the weather was cooler and these trees were more widespread

The Best of All Lookout – I am sure it would have been lovely if the cloud was not there 🙂

Next we stopped in Natural Bridge and walked the track to the Natural Bridge and Glow Work cave. Unfortunately the glow worms were in the middle of a blackout.

The Natural Bridge with the waterfall behind it

This little fellow was very wet and looked very uncomfortable, he was sitting in the cave

The Falls on the outside before it falls into the cave

We end the day in Tyalgum, we are spending the night at the Tyalgum Reserve.

The General Store is not just great to look at, it was filled with yummy treats and interesting produce, loved browsing.

This bunny, named Rex by the residents turned up at the RV Reserve about 3 weeks ago, along with 5 chickens after the floods

The Chickens are gone, but Rex continues to live in the park. He is very tame and allows you to pet him

I have always thought that butterflies should be called flutterbies, I love it that someone else agrees with me

We also had the lunar eclipse this night, we watched as much as we could although it was very cloudy for the start and the end.

Day 289, Wednesday 9.11.22

My son Adam has a birthday today, his 30th Birthday, yes I feel really old. I hope he has a wonderful day.

We head to 2 places today, the Tweed Heads Farmhouse Cheeses, where we bought a tasting plate for lunch- it was really delicious. The second place was Tropical Fruit World. We did not want to do a tour but we managed to get a couple of fruit tasting boxes, which ended up being our lunch dessert. We also bought another black sapote which we had with ice cream for dinner dessert that day – we really liked the black sapote fruit, also known as chocolate pudding fruit. The fruit has a pudding consistency with some chocolate tones to it, however it did not taste completely like chocolate, but it was delicious and Bob and I have decided to plant a tree at home.

loved this house with the hills and jacaranda tree

Nice scenery, this strange rock in the middle of a cane field

Male Water dragon, you could just see the red belly – the males have red bellies and or chests

We spent the night at a private camp called LiveLoveLife, and alternative lifestyle place. It was right next to the M1, so there was lots of traffic noise, but the place was pretty, we camped next to the dam.

Day 290, Thursday 10th November, 2022

We headed to Byron Bay to have a look around and also to take a picture at the most easterly point in mainland Australia.

Byron Bay was very pretty and very pricey and no we did not see any celebrities.

The most easterly point on mainland Australia

Someone was kind enough to take a picture of us

Afterwards we went to visit The Farm, a 3 Blue Ducks restaurant. It was an interesting place with a great menu and lots of great things to buy.

Day 291, Friday 11th November to Day 293, Sunday 13th November, 2022

We travel to Pebbly Beach in the Yuraygir National Park, just south of Byron Bay. It is a lovely camp ground right near the beach, lots of wildlife around and a good place to chill for 3 nights

We stopped at Yamba along the way for lunch, this cheeky Pelican was waiting for scraps from the fishermen

Little Sand Crab which decided to dig it’s home next to the truck

This is why Pebbly Beach is called Pebbly beach, not much sand just this

The only bit of beach that had actual sand instead off pebbles

I was very happy to spot this Tawny Frog Mount family

You can see one of the chicks peering down at me from under his mum

Day 294, Monday the 14th November, 2022

We left Pebbly beach today and headed for Urunga.

As we left we spotted this Beach Stone Curlew

Day 295, Tuesday the 15th November, 2022

We spent a couple of nights at the Urunga Caravan Park. Urunga Caravan Park is right on the river, an old fashioned family owned caravan park with very reasonable rates and good facilities. It must be good, it is very hard to get a spot there, we were very lucky to get an unpowered site.

Very friendly Rainbow Lorikeets visit tents

These two Australian Wood Ducks with their family of 13 ducklings

Day 296, Wednesday the 16th November, 2022

Today we head for Wollomombi Camp Ground in the Wollomombi National Park. We stop at Ebor Falls along the way.

The lower falls, you can see a rainbow at the base of the falls as the mist rises

Day 297, Thursday the 17th November, 2022

Wollomombi camp ground is lovely, each site is secluded from the other with toilets and there are two walks that can be done. We did both today, combined they were only 8.2 km, but the first walk was quite difficult because it was a very steep decent and then ascent.

The first walk was the Chandler walk. It was 4.2km return and had varying degrees of difficulty from grade 2 to grade 4. It offered views of the 2 main waterfalls, Wollomombi Falls and Tia Falls, and across the top of the gorge.

Wollomombi Falls on the left and Tia Falls right in the middle of the picture

This Bearded Dragon was on the path, he just held his ground whilst I photographed him from behind then walked past him to take photos from the back he did not move

He did not move even when Bob Walked past him

The second walk was the Wollomombi walk. It was a grade 3, 4 km’s return, taking you up to the start of Wollomombi and Tia falls with beautiful views all the way along.

Along the way we came across a Crimson Rosella

Day 298, Friday the 18th November, 2022

We continued our journey and ended up spending the night at the Uralla Showground camp area, the countryside was very pretty.

Day 299, Saturday the 19th November, 2022

We travelled through the town of Walcha which had a Farmers Market on today, we stopped, bought some bagels, fresh goats cheese and we had some hot smoked salmon in the truck – lunch – yum.

An interesting sculpture which was also a water bubbler.

We were spending the night at a freecamp called the Riverside Camp by the Apsley River. We travelled through some very pretty countryside and stopped at the Budds Mare Lookout.

You need a 4 wheel drive to get down the very steep hill, but it was quite pretty.

Day 300, Sunday the 20th November, 2022

We decided to spend another night at the Riverside Campground, it was very peaceful and a good place to chill.

We decided to explore up the river, there was no real path, so some bush bashing was required.

Australian native passionfruit flower – no I didn’t know there was a native one either.

Australian native Jasmine – Same – no idea

Day 301, Monday the 21st November, 2022

We are not far from home so we are taking our time having a good look around, we read about another free camp which has great reviews.

Lots of wildflowers along the way, I love spring

The Jacky Barker free camp is absolutely beautiful, even more than we expected. The place is secluded, you need a 4WD to get down there, but the best things are the rock pools and waterfalls – gorgeous, we didn’t expect this. It would have been nice to have paths and or ladders to be able to get to the different levels of the creek.

A male king parrot came for a sticky beak 🙂

Day 302, Tuesday the 22nd November to Day 304, Thursday the 24th November, 2022

We travelled to our next camp area, Kylies Beach in Crowdy Bay National park. Along the way we stopped at Carson’s Lookout, which was dedicated to Eric Carson and his sons Max and Terry who built the part of Thunderbolt Way that links Gloucester to Nowendoc in 1961. The road was named after a local bushranger, Captain Thunderbolt who roamed the area in the 19th century. Eric Carson is the grandfather of one of our friends Greg, who’s father was Terry.

we were also spoiled with great scenery as we drove along

Kylies Beach Camp ground was a really lovely place to chill for a few days. Beautiful beach, good walks, beautiful scenery and gorgeous sunsets.

Kylies Beach is named after Australian writer Kylie Tennant who for a time lived and wrote in a small hut built on Indian Head. The story of her time there is told in “The Man on the Headland”

We didn’t do much the first day except enjoy the sunset.

The second day we did one of the walks along the beach and up to the headlands, where we were able to see one of the highlights of the area, The Natural Bridge.

This handsome fellow was walking around Indian Head campground as if he owned the place

These Kangaroos were obviously hooligan rebels, the sign clearly said “No Camping”, but they decided to ignore it.

and slept on he grass during the middle of the day

Day 305, Friday the 25th November, 2022

Making our way to Little Plains, where we had booked to camp in their sports ground

We stopped at a little town called Comboyne along the way for coffee and hot chocolate. The town was having a camp draft that weekend, so they were getting ready by brining in all the steers that would participate in the action – a Camp Draft is like a rodeo.

The steers were being driven in on horseback

The dairy inspired artwork on the local RSL

Street art on the side of the general store

And of course the Friesian Koala at the café

We also stopped along the way at Ellenborough Falls for a walk to the falls.

Ellenborough Falls with a 200 metre fall, is the tallest single drop waterfall in NSW, and the second highest in the northern hemisphere. It is certainly spectacular to look at.

There are three walks that can be done, the first one that we did was the walk to the bottom of the falls, a total of 641 steep steps, yes it was hard.

Remember, every step we climb down, we have to climb back up

The second walk is called the Knoll, and takes you to a viewing platform across from the falls for a different view, this walk was much easier as it was level most of the way and 700 metres long.

The third walk was only an easy 50 metres and took you to the top of the falls

Once we had finished looking at the falls, we continued our journey to our resting place for the night at Little Plain sportsground , lovely scenery along the way. The camp was quite nice, very quiet, we were the only ones there.

Day 306, Saturday the 26th November, 2022

We woke to a beautiful day and made our way the Gloucester, we were spending the night at the showground there and we wanted to do some shopping. It is always worth going into the Drifta shop there, lots of great camping stuff. Lots of nice scenery along the way. The camp ground was fantastic, quiet, the amenities were pristine, all they needed was piped music to make them perfect 🙂

lots of Jacaranda’s along the way, I love Jacaranda’s.

Day 307, Sunday the 27th November, 2022

Again another beautiful day and we continued our journey towards Sheba Dam Reserve free camp located near Nundle. The countryside is so pretty around here.

Sheba Dam was originally built by hand to store water for sluicing gold. Now they are just a pretty spot to picnic, free camp, and fish for trout with lot of wildlife around.

Day 308, Monday the 28th November, 2022

We awoke to a cool and very misty morning. The reserve looked like something out of a movie.

We left Sheba Dam Reserve and headed for a free camp at the Royal Hotel in Spring Ridge. along the way we stopped at Chaffey Dam Lookout. The hotel camp was a good place to stop for one night with an added bonus of being able to get a feed at the pub for dinner.

You can see the water draining into the pit to be released on the other side of the dam wall.

We continued our journey and stopped in Tamworth.

Silo art at Quirindi

Day 309, Tuesday the 29th November, 2022

We decided to visit the Warrumbungle National Park for a few nights, see if we could get some good dark sky photography done as well as a few challenging walks.

Along the way we stopped at the Siding Spring Observatory. Siding Spring Observatory is a working research facility and has the largest optical telescope in Australia. This observatory has been a world-leading facility discovering exoplanets, supernovae and galaxies.

The Siding Spring site was selected by the ANU in 1962 from many other possible locations because of the dark and cloud-free skies. By the mid-1960s the ANU had set up three telescopes, together with supporting facilities, such as sealed roads, staff accommodation, electricity and water.

After 1950, the Australian and British governments negotiated the construction of a very large telescope for Siding Spring Observatory. The Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) has a 3.9-metre (13 ft) aperture.

The camp ground at Warrumbungle is absolutely beautiful, separated camp sites, flushing and drop toilets as well as hot running showers. To top it all off, there is an abundance of friendly wildlife. When I say friendly, I mean that they do not run from people, they co-exist, not too close of course, except for the Apostle birds that don’t understand the concept of personal space.

They wander around your feet and will climb into or onto anything, they will argue back if you complain.

This little fellow keeps trying to nurse from his mother

She keeps pushing him out so she can feed and encouraging him to eat grass

Lecture on the benefits of being independent

Give up, trials and tribulations of being a nursing mother

Day 310, Wednesday the 30th November, 2022

We decided to do one of the walks today, we had wanted to do the Goulds Circuit walk but unfortunately it was closed, so we did the Fan Horizon Walk. This walk was moderate to steep, 3.6 km return and included over 1000 steps. The view from the top was worth the pain. The walk or should I say climb was beautiful filled with wildflowers and glimpses of the mountains.

The path was covered in wildflowers, predominantly flannel flowers

This lookout is called Fan’s Horizon in memory of Fanny Gould, the wife of Alick Gould, a long-time Secretary of the Park Trust, this was her favourite View

Panorama of Fan’s Horizon, you can see the Breadknife formation, Belougery Spire and Crater Bluff.

The view if you follow the path a little further along a spur.

The flannel flowers look like snow amongst the trees from above

I am not sure, but I think this may be a Jacky Lizard

There were lots of goats around the camp ground today, along with the numerous Kangaroos. There is a real problem with the goats, there are no predators in the park, so the goats breed unheeded, culling does not work as they hide when the helicopters hover. I know they are a menace and do not belong here, but they were very cute.

Lots of goats, they don’t belong here and incredible damage to the park

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