Sunday 29th March
Had a lovely drive through to Forth, took all the country roads and see so many nice things along the way,
Freedom camping at Forth, thanks to the council, great stop. Also heard the penguins.
Setting up, plenty of room
Tag Archives: cows
Day 10 & 11
Monday 29th
Going into Tenterfield today get some bits, like fill gas bottle, fill petrol, gumboots, fresh fruit and vegetables. Milk and bread, etc. Well we got most of what we need, spent some time just getting a few extras. Love Tenterfield. Neat place. Went into Crooked Creek and had a look around. Went over to the equestrian place and one has to book now so we have the phone numbers to ring. Got home and put the groceries away. Went down to Kay and Mark, had a chat, we have all agreed that if the rains are going to continue we will pack up at 1st possible time and head to Texas, check out Bonshaw Wier if full go to Demasque river at Texas. We have had tea. The river has dropped a bit. No photos today.
Tuesday 30th
Woke to very dark clouds all around the hills, but wasn’t long and they had burnt off to a very warm day. We had breakfast, cleaned up and then did our walk, if you are not back from the walk before 8.30 am it’s just far too hot for me. The family next to us were having great fun going over the Rapids so Don and I started taking pics of them and did a video. I went over and told them and said I’d like to email them to them as i don’t want them. Harvey took me on the buggy down to the bottom of the rapids so I could do a video of them coming towards me. Then in the late afternoon Harvey took Don up the hills in buggy, I chose not to go as a bit rough on my back. We must of had 6 swims today. Kay and Mark came up for a swim in our waterhole as it’s in shade, their’s is in sun, not good for Mark. Sat around the fire for awhile and got all our scrapes burnt then bed.
These kids just bobbed around like little corks, they had so much fun.
Here they come down the rapids.
There the kids go, there helmets and camcorder on there heads, 
I would sit in the shade here and the cows would hang around, so neat.Day 4
Tuesday 23rd
Very chilly last night. Woke up early and got up at 5 am. Did my tai chi early and then I noticed the parrots were sitting eating the thistles watching, no camera in hand. 😦 I have moved the solar panels around to get the sun when its up over the hill, found coverage this morning on sat phone as the sky is clear, would not work yesterday as the cloud cover was thick. The owners came down and said they’d heard from my daughter she is coming out to camp with her husband. Had 3 swims yesterday. We went for a brisk walk up the hill and back. We have met three guys camping next to us in the paddock and its Davids birthday, the eldest of the three I think, we have enjoyed their company and Davids guitar playing. Emptied toilet today. Going to get Kay to move up past us be more quiet for them. The river is high and the animals cross over at our swimming hole.
Day 1 & 2
Saturday 20th December
Got away about 11.30 am. Good price for fuel, filled up everything, at $1.30 a litre and 4 cents discount a litre, was great.
Stopped at Logan river just before Beaudesert and had lunch.
Carried on down the Mt Lindsay highway, real lovely drive and over the ranges into Urbinville, and out to the Bruxner highway. Our turn off was not that far away and then we carried on down to the river where we are going to camp. Just had a wee bit of rain so have retreated into the camper, early to bed.
Sunday 21st.
Woke to a lovely overcast morning, sitting by the river having morning cuppa, I’m in heaven.
We had a opossum visit last night. Horses, cows a big bull and calves, just lovely. Its 6.08 am.
Have had a busy and good day. Turned out fine. Looked further up the road at the other camp spots, all nice but where we are better for view of river and closer to swimming hole.
A couple dropped into look at the camping area and popped over for a chat. Good chatting with locals as you learn more.
Late this afternoon I could hear thunder in the distance, sure enough it slowly moved over us, few spits of rain and thats it. Cools the air, but the flies are bad.
Collected heaps of fire wood.
Day 49
Monday 29th
Happy birthday to my eldest son, big 50. 🙂
After getting a few things done around the camper we headed off to Cape Bowling Green, packed lunch as we know it will be an all day tiki-tour. There is camping at the National park but is pretty ordinary and heaps of midges. Went into Cungulla, what a lovely place, sat by the estuary, a lady was throwing out a round net, was dam good at it as well. Heaps of Brahminy kites and ospreys soaring, lovely to watch. Camels with dwarf cows and bulls, the cows were jet black and I didn’t get a good photo.
A Storm Bird or Pheasant Coucal.
Rocks everywhere here just like at Magnetic Island.
Bush after the fire, looks so nice and green new growth.
Part of the salt pans as we enter the road to Cape Bowling Green
Camel
Brahminy Kite
Lady throwing out her net. This is at Cungulla. Salt Pans,
Day 18
Friday 29th
Well the winds got up about 3.30 am, by 6.30 am clouds were coming in over the range so worked in nicely that we were planing to move on today. Filled up with water, beautiful drinking water they provide here. We are heading to Elphinestone via the Nebo Rd, or Little Lizzy Rd, what wonderful country side, dry but still so much to see, along the way Jack saw Moonlight Dam Camping sign and radioed to us as to would we like to have morning tea here, of course we would, so off we go, OMG I wondered if we’d ever get there, but when we did it is lovely. very rough 4×4 drive, along a ridge and windy.
Lake Elphinestone, We camped here for two nights.
Here is a drag line bucket at the entrance of the town Glendon.
Amazing landscape along the way today.
All these Brolgas in the paddock, what a noise they were making, they were a long way away.
Going along the ridge into Moonlight Dam Camping.
Old trough, was once filled by the windmill in background.
Heaps of room for camping.
Did star trails at Lake Elphinestone.
Moonlight Dam Camping area, the Dam was only a puddle but large area when there is water.
Little Lizzy Road, heading to Nebo.
Going through a narrow part of Little Lizzy Road.
The animals weren’t as thin as I expected.
Love this shot, the way the road winds, Jack is the wee white dot at the end of the road.
Country side where we traveled today.
Day 16
Wednesday 27
Water was so still, Jack went out for a early row. We sat around and had breakfast chatting. So peaceful. Don did some fishing, kookaburra sitting on the branch above hoping to catch something every time Don reeled in. But nothing was caught. We had 2 ring tailed opossums here last night, one was red furred, very pretty. Baby butchers, 3 baby kookaburras. We have no coverage out here so J & A shot back into Eungella to do some business. Warmed up my water for a nice hot shower. Went for a drive over to the Dam wall. Lovely picnic area for day use. There are kites flying all around us. Went for a ride in the rubber duck to the other side of dam was lovely.
Star trails.
Eungella Dam wall.
Spillway.
Very foggy this morning.
Wonderful clean facilities.
One can camp anywhere here, very big area, it is paddock camping so you find what you can as far as level sites.
our set up.
More fog.
Earlier we could not see the other campers, so foggy.
Day 19
Friday 25th Anzac… Lest we forget….
Remember them I did down by the river, beautiful. There has been a few people arriving at Archers Crossing today. My friends took their canoe up the river, caught them here while I was taking photo’s on the shore line, so was Kate. I tried some star trails last night but there were a few to many clouds, lovely all the same. Had tea, sat by the fire with Kate and Chris.
The water had some sort of algae and you can see how green it is.
A Pacific Baza, real pretty hawk
And off he goes.
This is a shot of a Cormorant with a fish it has speared with it’s beak.
Cows grazing along the river bank
A snake swimming 
My view with my cuppa early morning
Day 7
Saturday 28th
Had a cuppa and got cleaned up after breakfast and going for a drive to see if we can see a bird I saw when we drove to Warwick, down near the Dump Point area, looked like a Yellow Rosella, so would be good to get a photo of it. We emptied the loo while down there. Just finished doing the ablution bit and noticed on the road behind us were a couple of bulls sizing each other up, one is a brown Brahma looking bull, the other one just a bull, I heard the cows going off mooing but didn’t take any notice, they must of known something, ha-ha. Stayed of course and got some photo’s, very exciting, the white bull won and then he headed back to the group of cows, so we can only assume that the brown bull was getting to close to his girls. This is the same white bull that has been very dominating over the cows and calves crossing the creek down by our camp site.
After all the excitement we then headed up a 4 wheel drive track to some look out, very steep, lots of loose surface on the track but was not to boggy, was good to test us and the vehicle on a small bit of 4×4 driving, we are new to this, Don has done it all about 30 years ago, so its a different ball game now a days in these smart vehicles. It was very steep, the view was so heat hazed we could not see much. We checked out another couple of area’s but never saw the bird again, in spite of sitting and listening many times.
Got back to camp, moved the solar panels again and put on a loaf of gluten free bread in the Weber in the camp oven. Now this turned out eatable but not very high as I only put a very small amount of mixture in due to the small camp oven I’m using, actually going to buy a proper bread tin when I get home.
Had lunch, grabbed some goodies for our smoko later and headed up to the rain forest and look at the Retreat. The walk to the Sylvester’s Lookout is really lovely not as steep as the Castle Lookout one, so more enjoyable, not many birds but did see one I have never seen before and cant find a name for it yet, not even in my bird book. Called into the retreat, what a lovely place, went up to see the lady and what a nice person, they have a great camping area as well as cabins, clean and a excellent real dump point. Just up from here is the Main Range National park
Entrance to the lookout.
Everything is covered with mossy growth, this is up at the tops.
View from the lookout, down in the valley towards the coast in a easterly direction. 
A bird that I do not know the name of yet! I think it is a Black-faced Monarch.
Beautiful ferns in the rain forest.
Lesueur’s frog’s.
A good day was had, did get pretty hot in the afternoon.
Day 5
Thursday 26th Boxing Day
Had another great day, just relaxing with Mark and Kay for some of the time, and getting bird shots.
Had lots of activity with the cows and the bulls today, there was one bull controlling the cows with calves from crossing the creek, he really was getting angry for a while. Didn’t even need to leave camp to have fun.
Did some washing, showered, gave the camp a bit of a tidy up.
The weather is real good, not so hot and nice and overcast.
We spent some time at K & M’s fire pit this evening chatting about the day and then did tea.
Lots of people driving around but so far we still have the place to ourselves. Time to have a cuppa and then crash for the night.
Had a couple a young opossums visit us while we were sitting at the fire and during the night. Good night.
Bower Birds Bow, all the blue bottle tops that it had collected, plus many other blue bits, wonder where it finds them.
Crimson Rosella, just in the trees where we camped.
Azure Kingfisher in the trees at camp.
Mother cow with suckling calf, needs to grab a drink while it can.
This bull was real funny to watch, he was not allowing a few cows and their calves to cross the creek and as one was crossing and about to go up the bank he turned and ran, I managed to get a grab shot.
Judy's Trekabout 