Dinosaurs Past and Present

Undara Lava Tubes

Having reached Cooktown in the north we headed back south visiting some extraordinary places en route. Our first stop was at Undara Volcanic National Park. Here are the remains of the longest lava tubes in the world which were only discovered in the 1980's when a local farmer went to find cattle and found some had fallen into deep gullies. These were the remains of lava tubes formed some 190,000 years ago when a volcano spewed lave for around 12 months across the tablelands, forming lava tubes up to 160kms long. The remains of the lava tubes can be seen in impressive caves some 20m in diameter and gullies across the dry tablelands where dense forest still occurs, leaving a green trail where the tubes have collapsed.


Cassowary at Etty Beach

Cassowary

From Undara we returned to the tropical forests of the coast determined to see a Cassowary, en route finding a platypus foraging in a small river on the Atherton tablelands.

Platypus

Having heard Cassowary could be seen at Etty beach we parked at the beachfront and while sitting having a coffee were startled when a 4ft cassowary came up behind us, before strutting off along the beach, its bright blue head and dangling red wattles making an extraordinary sight.


Dinosaur footprints

Dinosaur Stampede

Our route back south took us inland to the outback where we stopped at Winton, the home of Waltzing Matilda, and an extraordinary set of dinosaur footprints. Discovered by accident when cattle were being rounded up they are now excavated and available for general viewing. Some 3000 footprints have been uncovered from 3 different species of Dinosaur. It is believed a mixed herd of small chicken and turkey sized herbivores were drinking on a mud flat by a pool when a larger carnivorous therapod  the size of a pony arrived and caused panic. The prints are exceptionally well preserved and well defined allowing the scientists to determine the speed they were running and even seeing the therapod accelerate and turn.
Nearby on the dry plains they also started to discover the bones of large 90 million year old sauropods, and each year are excavating at least one site, with a large fossil cleaning workshop established. Gradually they are creating a fine collection of fossils, and have plans to build a large museum to display them as well as dinosaur fossils from across Australia.

Aboriginal rock art

Carnarvon Gorge
 

Our final week before reaching Brisbane was spent in a variety of National Parks including Carnarvon Gorge where the sandstone has been eroded into a sheer sided gorge where overhangs have been used for thousands of years by the aboriginals as special religious and meeting sites, and now are covered in spectacular aboriginal rock art. Narrow fissures and side gorges have been eroded into spectacular chambers.
With forays into some of the remaining temperate rainforests 100km inland of Brisbane we eventually returned to the Gold Coast where we spent a week cleaning the van before it was finally put into a shipping container for its journey to New Zealand.

The birdlife in Australia has been fantastic, colourful, noisy and with huge number of raptors and we have been fortunate to see and identify over 230 species. The east coast has provided us with viewings of platypus and echidna as well as a very large rock python and offers a huge range of habitats from dry outback to coastal mangroves, tropical and sub tropical rainforests with their huge and diverse species of unusual trees, and dramatic landscapes ranging from beautiful sandy beaches, forest covered mountains and deep canyons with numerous waterfalls.

 



Budgerigar                                                                              Echidna

Hinchinbrook Island



 

Strangler Fig                                                                             

 

The Outback near Winton

Sub tropical rainforest

Van loaded ready for shipping to New Zealand

 

One of many stunning sunsets

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      

Into Queensland and the Tropics

View over Gloucester

Having decided to ship from Brisbane in early July, before the Carnet expires, we are eager to get to the north of Queensland around Cairns. So after passing through Gloucester and reaching the Pacific Coast Highway we had three days of driving, to reach Brisbane, but managed to find some beautiful  campsites en route.

Sunset over river at Macleans Campground

At the Macleans Campground site a few kms off the highway we managed to park beside a tidal river with beautiful views of the sunset reflected in the estuary. Just after we parked two dolphins swam right past the van, then in the last afterglow of the sunset tens of thousands of fruit bats - or flying foxes - flew over the site. an extraordinary sight which went on for a good 10 minutes. Finally as we were having dinner persistent lightning provided a fantastic lightshow in two separate clouds over the coast. No thunder, and no rain.


Lightning illuminating a cloud

Just south of Brisbane we stopped at Byron Beach where a headland marks the eastern most point of the Australian Mainland. From the viewpoint we were privileged to see a dozen or so dolphin playing in the waves, a small shark patrolling the shoreline, and out to sea several humpback whales breaching and playing.
Passing through Brisbane we headed north stopping for a night in the glasshouse mountains - an area of numerous sharp hills in a flat landscape which are the remains of ancient volcanic plugs.   

Narrow gauge rails for cane trucks

Another couple of long days driving through mile upon mile of sugar cane fields with their snaking narrow gauge railways to take the cane to either a processing plant or a main rail terminal and we reached Townsville, and much warmer weather.

Wallaman Falls

Here the Great Dividing Range again approaches the coast and the scenery becomes more interesting, with more extraordinary places to visit. Wallaman Falls just north of Townsville is the longest single drop waterfall in Australia with a single fall of 265m. A morning walk down the track to the bottom of the gorge rewarded me with the sun progressively illuminating the falls, and growing the rainbow formed in its spray, a mesmerising sight.


Fan Palms

Queensland is home to the Cassowary - a prehistoric bird similar to an ostrich but with a blue head and red wattle, so we were keen to try and catch a glimpse of one. They are present in two areas - some forest near Mission Beach, and the Daintree Rainforest north of Cairns. Wanting to maximise our chances of seeing one we headed towards Mission Beach stopping in the Fan Palm Forest, no Cassowaries but remarkable fan palms. We then drove to the main campsite, getting the last available place when the caretaker said he had just seen a Cassowary crossing the main road in the centre of town!



We arrived in Cairns looking for the Tourist Information centre to find this weekend Cairns hosts one round of the international Ironman competition. So having found out about snorkelling on the Great barrier Reef we headed north to the Daintree as the road will be closed for 50kms tomorrow for the cycle element of the race.

Where the Rainforest meet the Ocean

The rainforest here tumbles down the mountains straight to the sandy beaches of the Coral Sea - beautiful. We spent a couple of days pottering along the coast past Cape Tribulation, and north towards Cooktown with the best campsite so far at Archers Point just south of Cooktown.

The birdlife continues to amaze us with a wide range of beautiful birds - something new almost every day.

Archers Point Campsite

 

Evening light from campsite

Queensland Coast North of Cairns

 



Beach Rock Curlew

 



The elusive Lyre Bird

 

 

New South Wales

Brush Tailed Possum

As we travelled north so the weather has improved, with nice sunny days, and clear, but still cold nights. The Jervis Bay area has some beautiful beaches and dramatic cliffs, and also offers whale watching - at this time of year the whales are migrating north to the warmer waters to breed and we spent several days enjoying the area, including camping by honeymoon beach - a small, almost circular sandy cove - walking along the dramatic cliffs, and crawling through a 10m long rock tunnel to a platform 30m above the crashing ocean.

Honeymoon Bay

Humpback Whales

We twice took a boat out to see the whales, the first time it was more of an adrenaline ride with 3m of swell and strong winds, but no whales. On the second attempt we were fortunate to have a pod of three whales come straight to towards the boat and the skipper had to reverse rapidly out of the way.


Skirting Sydney we headed inland to the Blue Mountains which offer some dramatic waterfalls - the Fitzroy falls dropping over 300m, and spectacular vistas across the deeply cut valleys from the sandstone escarpment around Katoomba.









There are numerous walking trails and lookouts giving different perspectives on the landscape. We spent time visiting a number of them before heading north through the Great Dividing Range and its beautiful varied scenery, with its dramatic autumn colours on the trees.







Pulpit Rock Lookout

We eventually dropped back down towards the coast through Gloucester and picked up the Pacific Coast Highway to make faster progress north. 

 

Queen Elizabeth Lookout

 



 

     

Back to the Mainland

Cradle Mountain
 

The Edge of the World

The wild north west of Tasmania provided some dramatic seascapes west towards Patagonia with one viewpoint named The Edge of the World. One of Tasmania's main attractions is Cradle Mountain - an area of Alpine scenery. Spending a couple of days in the area reminded us more of Scottish weather with mist and drizzle - and overnight lows of -4 Celcius, but through the mists we caught glimpses of the more rocky outcrops of Cradle Mountain and wandered through some of the valleys where ancient pine trees, many over a thousand years old sit in the temperate rain forests covered in mosses and lichens - all very atmospheric.

Tasmanian Devil

With time running out on Tasmania, and not having seen a wild Tasmanian Devil we visited Devils @ Cradle, a centre where they are maintaining a breeding population of Tasmanian Devils, and Quolls isolated from the current outbreak of facial cancer amongst Devils which is decimating the wild population.



Russel Falls on Tasmania
 

Our last day on Tasmania was spent driving through the beautiful central mountains and stopping at Sheffield to view some of their extraordinary displays of wall murals and on to Latrobe, and the Mersey River to look for platypus. We were fortunate to see a couple of platypus - strange creatures,  searching for food in the meandering river.



Duck Billed Platypus

Back on the mainland we drove around Melbourne to get a feel of the city and enjoyed its fabulous Botanic Gardens, then headed south to Philip Island with its beautiful beaches and rocky headlands. It is famous for its little penguins and as we walked some of the tracks we spotted some resting in their burrows. However with the weather still mainly dull and drizzly we decided it was time to head north and east to find more scenery and to get away from the static weather pattern which had established itself over the Tasmanian Sea.


Little Penguin in its Burrow

Driving north we crossed into the Great Dividing Range - tree covered mountains with beautiful winding valleys. As it is out of season the roads and campgrounds are incredibly quiet. Canberra - the Capital is a planned city with huge spaces of grass and trees between its public buildings, but driving through it had a feel of Milton Keynes - lots of roads with wide grass verges and roundabouts.

Dramatic East Coast
 

We are now on the East Coast of New South Wales about 200kms south of Sydney enjoying the wild coast and beautiful beaches of Jervis Bay. This is a popular area for vacationers and as a consequence some of the wildlife has become very friendly - we have had close encounters with wallabies, kangaroos, possum and have even been attacked by a Kookaburra!

We plan to head north now to explore the Dividing Range and head to Queensland and hopefully even warmer weather.

 



Frosty campsite Cradle Mountain
 

 

 

Tasmanian Mountains

 





Captive Spotted Quoll

 

 

Back on the Road

Anzac Day Parade

After 5 months "enjoying" the British Winter we eventually returned to Australia in late April - managing to arrive in Sydney on Anzac Day. Despite 26 hours of travelling we went in to the centre of Sydney to witness this event. It is amazing the level of involvement - the parade of servicemen, ex-servicemen and organisations took around 4 hours to pass, with over 50 brass, pipe and drum marching bands; even a Sikh pipe band. It was extraordinary to see. The parade concluded with a lovely service at the Anzac memorial in the centre of Sydney. Well worth making the effort.

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House

We had a couple more days in Sydney visiting the sights, which are every bit as good as the photos, before flying down to Melbourne to be reunited with the van. It was just as we left it and once we had connected the batteries it was fully functional, even starting on the first turn of the ignition. It was great to be back.



Eastern Grey Kangaroo

We had four days around the coast near Melbourne while we recuperated from the jet lag, and did some long waited for maintenance before catching the ferry across to Tasmania. With two weeks before our return crossing we headed east, then down the beautiful east coast with its pure white squeaking beaches and granite outcrops, stopping at some of the National Parks to see waterfalls, huge Gum trees and some special wildlife, including our first sighting of a wombat, two species of possum and even little penguins. The latter surprising us crossing the road, after we had sat for over an hour in the dusk watching their beach with no success.

At the southern tip of Tasmania is the infamous Port Arthur - the punishment centre for repeat offending convicts from across the Australian penal colonies. The weather had started to deteriorate, but it gave a better feel of some of the raw conditions the inmates had to suffer.



Wombat

With bad weather forecast we first visited some spectacular coastal arches and blowholes, before heading to Hobart - a lovely town set in a beautiful landscape under Mount Wellington. Choosing the camp in the grounds of a tavern 15kms outside Hobart we enjoyed blazing log fires and a steak dinner before settling down in the van to the sound of drumming rain. Around 11.00pm a thunderstorm broke overhead, and continued for around 2 hours. As it subsided we could feel vibrations and hear large rocks rumbling in the nearby river. Looking out we were in 2" of flowing water and the river could be seen above its banks. Deciding discretion was the better part of valour we move uphill, further away from the river.

Possum

The morning news headlined with the biggest storms in Hobart with the centre of town flooded and roads closed due to landslips, flooding and washed away cars. Mount wellington recorded over 220mm of rain.

With less than a week left in Tasmania we have started heading up the western side, much more mountainous - rather like Scotland, but with a lot of tree cover, and we are currently in a small town Strachan, on the west coast, with nothing but ocean between us and Patagonia!

 

 

 

   

Change of Plans

Well, our expected return to our van in Australia has been delayed as a result of Sue tearing her Achilles tendon at the beginning of the New Year. As a result she is on crutches for 8 weeks so climbing in and out of the camper van is not really possible. We will be staying in the UK until after our eldest son's wedding and we plan to recommence our travels in Australia in late April. Meanwhile it has ben lovely to be able to spend more time with the family and Ed has been busy with various jobs for the family such as helping to install a new bathroom, decorating and gardening occupying much of the time.