Category Archives: 2014

Day 15

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Tuesday 26th

Lovely fine morning and cool. Had breakfast in the sun and cleaned up. On the way by 9 am. Had a lovely drive thru to Eungella, its only 4km from the bottom of the hill to the top but boy its very steep. Had morning tea at the lookout.  The landscape is lovely with all the sugar cane farms, hills and sugar cane trains. The Eungella Dam is not part of the NP so we are heading out there and see the ranger when we get there. It’s 49 km from the top of the range to the Dam, 11 km of dirt roads but good. This is beautiful and huge, we will be coming back to to this camping spot. We share with the cows, horses and bird life, pretty good I say. Plenty tree’s for shade,  toilet block is great and a cold shower room, so we used our warm shower containers and had good showers. Rubbish bins and all this for $ 8 per couple per night. One pot dinner tonight, curry mince and cabbage.  Saw 3 satellites tonight and did star trails.IMG_2374  Lovely and sandy around the edge of the banks in places.IMG_2375  Lovely quiet spot for our camping. We were facing south perfect for star trails. 🙂IMG_2381  Dam wall.IMG_2401Evening light on the hills.

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Day 14

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Monday 25th

Up and away by 9.15 am. Went thru to Sarina and had morning tea at the train station. Then onto Mackay. Stopped at Caneland Central,  did some shopping. The drive and country side was real nice to here, lots of rugged hills and cane farms.  We got away from Mackay about 2.15 pm and headed towards Eungella,  pulled into a rest stop at Plummer River and ate lunch. Had chicken and salad, Got to Boulder Creek at 4 pm, long way out of the way for what there is,  but one never knows until you do it. At least the turn off to Eungella is only 1 km back, good short cut. Not a very big area,  nice wee creek running. We are only staying the one night seeing as its not fantastic.

IMG_2358  Entrance to Boulder Creek camping on left.IMG_2339  Boulder Creek.IMG_2337 IMG_2332 IMG_2330BoulderCreek
 This is the only area to camp in here, not big.

Day 13

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Sunday 24th

Nice weather,  very windy and cool. Had breakfast then headed off down to the bridge to get the incoming tide as it comes in so very fast. Well that was a joke, the tide was on the ebb,  all we got was cold bums. Got back to camp and had morning tea. After we warmed up we headed off to town to catch Sunlander train coming in, but it was 11.40 pm, so we were 12 hours to early. It’s been one of those days, but not in a bad way. Now it’s started raining.  I headed back to camp and when I got there I could here the Brolgas and Curlews calling. We got all packed up as much as we could for the morning. Filled all the water containers etc. One last hot shower as never sure where we’ll end up.

IMG_2325  Don and Jack doing macro on a praying mantus. Couldn’t resist this shot.IMG_2314  Jack walking back from the wetlands.IMG_2312  wet land. Loved the colours in the mud and the posts all ruined.IMG_2293  Train bridge, apparently when the tide comes in it rushes through this gap very fast and is a great sight to see. Another time.IMG_2292  Looking out across the tidal inlet.IMG_2287  Wetlands, lots of migrating birds at times of the year.IMG_2274  Animal holding pens.IMG_2273  Our set up.IMG_2268Mono
 Early morning from the rodeo seats.Did a black and white image out of it.

Day 12

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Saturday 23rd.

Was not cold last night but coolish this morning. Going to be a fine day and has a good breeze, do the washing, Don put up a line, so good. Went and posted some mail to NZ. Went all around the settlement lovely we place. Came across a chap who gave us a photo of the building he saw me taking photos of, got chatting, what a beautiful garden he has,  only flowers in St Lawrence,  cut a bunch for me to take back to camp. Lots of crocodiles here down in the mangroves by boat ramp, but we haven’t seen any and don’t need to. It’s a relax day today.

IMG_2201  Old bridge supports.IMG_2195  Only and best flower garden in St Lawrance.IMG_2183 IMG_2175  Driving back from boat ramp and a the wattles are in flower.IMG_2168 IMG_2163 Main St of St Lawrence, this is the post office and far building the court house.

Day 11

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Friday 22nd

Met up with our friends J & A at St Lawrence.  We stopped for lunch/smoko at Marlborough. We over shot the turn off for here and ended up at Clearview.  What a lovely spot, very expensive.  By the time we turned around and drove back 25 minutes J & A were just behind us. Found a nice flat spot, got set up and went for a hot shower, wonderful amenities here. Bed pretty early, we were all tired for some reason. Nice and warm.
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 Looking back at camp from the wetlands.IMG_2142LawranceCampingFromWetlands And with the wetlands in this one.

Day 10

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Thursday 21st
I slept well. Had breakfast, cleaned up and then went a walk.  Don and Jack are out canoeing. It is starting to rain. Using the generator  today no more sun by the looks. Saw the blue winged kookaburra this morning, very pretty. Does not laugh like the other one. When the rain eased up we went for a walk down to the Weir,  We all had tea and got settled into bed, be about 8.30 pm, Alice comes over asking for some tweezers,  Jack has a tick on his neck behind the ear. That was ok, then about 1/2 hour later Alice comes over to say Jack has had a reaction, lips swelling, rash and itching like mad, so off they went to Yipoon to hospital. Jack is ok, got a Tetanus jab and anti-histamine, slept it all off.
DSCF2971  Lovely big areas for campers to eat or entertain in.DSCF2961  Day area.DSCF2970  Toilet block, unisex, 4 and 1 wheelchair access toilet. Beautifully laid out.DSCF2955
  Was a very wet night but camper will dry out.

Day 8

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Tuesday 19th.

It was pretty cold last night. Had breaky and got cleaned up ready to hit the road. 10 am and we are off.
We got to Calliope and stopped to get a few things and went down by the river for morning tea. J &A are staying here while we go to my friends place in Rockhampton for a night and will meet us up on the Yepoon road on Wednesday.  Was great spending time with my friend, we chattered until 1 am in the morning, crikey, haven’t done that for years. Don got lots of stuff done on his computer. Bought a pair of sandals and a fleecy shirt, some wool for something to knit when the weather is not good.

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 Camping over the far side of the river at Calliope.DSCF2943  This is the camping up the high side.DSCF2940 DSCF2939

Morning tea view, very nice place to stay on another trip.

Day 7

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Monday 18th.

Very cold night, pea soup this morning, fog real thick, we had a cuppa and sat in the sun to thaw. Went for walk around the area, real nice, we will be back to stay for a week. The Dam is lovely with dead trees everywhere. Some person has planted some gardens with veggies and has painted on rocks to please water me and pick me, dont pull me out by the roots so I can keep growing and feed you. Please put scrapes in the compost pit. Most of the campers near the water sites have gone by 10am so if one came in by 10 you would get a pick of good site. The boys went rowing so I had my shower and washed my hair, did my washing. Morning tea time now, 10.30am what a great life. I ended up by cutting my hair, a wee bit short but a month will help. The days pass quiet quickly when you get chatting with others campers etc. We did star trails again tonight. Rang my friend and said where we are. Heading to Rocky tomorrow to stay with her.

IMG_1976  our set up for a few days, we had a good site right down the back, nice and private.IMG_1951  The Dam at Boynedale Bush camp.IMG_1948  Nice big area.IMG_1944 Fog over the water.

Day 5 & 6

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Saturday 16th 
Still raining. We have apostle birds visiting,  they are so funny.  Well it’s been a very wet day and we are going to leave tomorrow now. We have collected enough water off the tarp to fill all the containers and the camper. The farmers are going to be so happy with this rain as it’s been very soaking. We are having left overs for tea tonight so be easy. It’s very windy and blowing the rain in to where I cook. Once tea was cooked we all retreated into the camper lounge room. We have had the generator on to top up everything. The freezer is doing so much better even without the sunlight, so the heavy wiring Don did I feel has made a big difference. Rained all night, I just hope its fine in the morning to dry out a bit before packing up. No photo’s for today.
Sunday 17th
Well, we awoke to the most beautiful day, clear skies, sunny and a light breeze,  we will get everything dried before packing. We were on the road by 9.50 am. Had a great run thru to Monto, real lovely country side. We fueled up, $1.61 a litre. Dumped the toilet waste and got some grociers. Had morning tea then headed off up thru Many Peaks and then Mungungo, beautiful drive up over the range and then down thru the Boyne Valley, this is in the Gladstone region. We arrived here at the Boynedale Bush Camp at 3 pm, just good time for afternoon tea. The Dam here is feed by the Boyne River then flows out to Gladstone. We were all in bed early as it got very cold. We have coverage up by the toilet block sometimes. Did some star trails at 7 pm beautiful.
IMG_1933 IMG_1931  our Cub Camper set up and our friends in slide-on.IMG_1929 IMG_1926 StarStaX_DPP_311-DPP_313_lightenBoynsdaleDam Star trails turned out not bad, sky a bit dark as we had no moon.