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Todd & Fletchers Travels
Well with just a few days before we hit the open road again we thought we'd keep you up dated on our going ons here in Queensland.
Since our last entry we've had a few more trips that we thought you may be interested in:
Tony decided to take us off roading in his 4 by 4 Musso up in the Black mountain at the edge of the Tablelands on the Rex Range. One of the main things we noticed while following the track was how quickly the scenery changed from rainforest to bush mainly due to the amount of light that could seep through and how open the land was. We drove for around 45 minutes over rugged paths arriving at a small creek running through the middle. You know we just had to have a paddle...it was freezing! I was tempted to reenact the scene from Dirty Dancing where Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze are dancing along a log...i was all for it until i noticed kerry, (Kerry and dave were a couple working at the resort-they lasted only a week!) had already tried something similar and lost her thong (aussie for flip flop!) her fella Dave had to wade in to his waist to retrieve it. Something was telling me Nathan would not be doing this so i best steer clear of the log!
Part of the track crossed over what is known as the 'Ghost Road' (A billionaire known as George Quaid built this road that believe us is as long as the stretch from Doncaster services to Brigg on the M180 as a through for people buying property near a lake he had also built. The only thing was he he'd told the government he was only building a track, so when they discovered this road-fully equipped with slow pass by lanes they were less than impressed and denied access-it is still closed down to this day and is not shown on any map anywhere!)
From here we continued through rugged sections, and it was here that i struggled to catch my breath for a few minutes. Nath and dave spotted a rather large snake of around 2 meters long baking in the heat of the sun in the middle of the road, reversing to get a better look it was determined that from the quick glance Tony got it was most probably called an eastern Brown-one of Aussies top 10 poisonous snakes! Needless to say i was on snake alert, especially as Tony was reversing yet again as he had spotted another snake (!) on the road, leaning out, he grabbed it, brought it into the car wriggling it very much in front of my face, Nath and Dave were trying to make the car two inches wider at their ends while i, and i have to admit, did a very girlie scream and extremely panicked to the very best of my ability, only to find out after looking at Tony's smiling face it was an old hockey strap!!!!
Half an hour later, including 3 schooners of Mid-Strength i began to see the funny side :-) Added to the humour was an Israeli fella asking us if we had any weed-i must have still looked completely shell-shocked! Throughout the day we had drove up through Kuranda, which is famous for its sky cable, and Mareeba where i saw my first (of many i hope) Kangaroos. these are now on our front page of the website and no doubt one of our favorite pictures-hard to imagine they are actually on a golf course.
Just before we leave we thought it best that we put all the camping gear on test, and what better way to do this than by going straight into the outback deep in the bush. Of course we didn't do this by ourselves, Tony led the way and kept us updated with facts like t he creek we were camping next too wouldn't have crocs in as it was too cold! As you can tell we really appreciate these facts.
We camped at a place called Emu Creek.It took us just under an hour to set up our first camp site, this we are guessing will get better as i know know what im doing with a tent and gas bottle! We collected fire wood and Tony set the fire going. I have to point out here i really am not a hunter or gatherer as the only logs i could find were more like twigs, i shall take the role of domestic goddess and set up the kitchen. Fire alight and the night setting in i cooked my first stir fry. Yes Rachel i cooked, and apart from the fact we were missing salt and pepper, it was pretty darn good, but i have to admit i have been told, and i take this for the truth, that apparently even if you can cook in australia it isn't possible to bring this talent back to the UK, so sorry if you hoping for meal invites! With the red wine flowing, Nathan keeping the fire happy, the moon almost full shining so bright we thought at one point it was car headlights, we ended the night, retiring to our tents happily p***ed. It was during one of these drunken moments that we discovered our first boomerang in the form of a torch! We'd bought a cheaper version in the hope of saving money only to find that it switched on/off as it pleased-this is no good when you are looking for a good spot for a wee, A non too happy nathan flung it into the creek only to wake in the morning to find it floating at the edge of the bank where we were washing! The only plus side being that when we needed to did a hole for a no2 it was daylight. I have yet to experience this but have no doubt i will do...i shall refrain from writing about it though so no need to panic.
Talk about instant hangover cure though, honestly brushing out teeth from a cup and looking out into the vast openness was breathtaking, i know it could be costly but every so often of you are planning a big bender of a night out i would suggest possibly trying this as a hangover cure?
With everything packed up and Stanley ready for off (we finally named the car-we'll let you figure out why we picked this name, a little clue being that at first our new car was missing a few beats!) we headed in the direction of Chillagoe-made famous for its caves. With over 600 discovered and still caving oganisiations finding more we had no doubt this would be a fantastic day out. One of the first things we noticed were how long the roads were and with few or no cars passing for miles....at one point i got out to take a photos only to see nathan driving off in the distance, it really was a worrying thought with all that surrounded me. We passed a world famous Australian pub called Lappa, being based in between Emu creek and Almaden, it is famous for being the only pub where you have to take your own beer! Surrounded by some stunning wildlife and views, a few of these include Black Cockatoos, Australia's biggest eagle; the Wedge Tailed eagle (worryingly eating road kill!) , termite mounds of outstanding sizes and indian cows that just roams as and where they please, hence signs at the edge of the road warning drivers to take care, not for the fact that we may knock one over, more so that they will come out of no where and do plenty of damage to passing cars!
We passed by marble mines (you know that we ignored the do not enter sign and got a piece of marble for souvenirs purposes) and an authentic Aussie shooting range-just set in the vastness of the outback and arrived at Chillagoe a little over an hour and a half later. Cillagoe is set along the Wheelbarrow way with only 18km of the road remaining unsealed. We purchased the ticked for the cave tours, i did think maybe we should just explore ourselves and soon learnt why this is the most craziest of thoughts i've ever had and is consequently the best $13 Nathan and myself have ever spent. With a bit of time to spare we did a little bit of exploring, Naths luck was in- a viewing of historic ford cars to start of, unfortunately the old guy that restored these cars reminded me far too much of the guy from the horror movie 'Wolf Creek' so i was eager,a s anyone whose seen this film would be, to get out of there! Thankfully the next part was much more thought provoking. we went to a place called the State copper 'Smelter' ruins. With all the information available it was hard not to feel sorry for the men that had to work in these mines, the conditions were shocking and even the heat we were experiencing was a little too much if we stood still for too long so all our sympathy's went out to them.
Moving on we of course had to do our designated cave tour, we were met by our ranger named Mick, we aren't joking this was his name, and all given packs to strap to ourselves with torches. the cave we were exploring was called the Royal Arches cave mainly because as you enter you can clearly see what looks to be Queen Victoria's side image-i couldn't see this on the way in and was convinced no one else was seeing anything just nodding in agreement, but as we went deep into the cave and various other formations were pointed out to look like the most bizarre things such as elephants, candles, Picasso etc i was determined on the way out i would see this image of Queen Victoria-and i did! At parts of the journey even though the flooring had all been mad made for our convenience and ladders put in some of the areas you had to climb through were really tight or low, so once we were in the heart of the cave and Mick asked us to turn our torches of, the complete blackout that followed was something unreal-the eyes don't adjust ever and being lost ion the extensive systems of the cave is not something we'd ever want to experience, never mind the fact that nathan had just spotted a rather large huntsman spider and i was really aware that was out of sight at that particular point. Besides the limestone's and various roots that were dangling from trees high above we saw as we'd hoped fruit bats hanging from way above. The tour lasted an hour and a half and was a must do for anyone-fantastic. We ended our day doing a short walk to the balancing rock, a big rock balancing on a smaller one on a hill-sounds unsafe, looks unsafe but perfect photo opportunity. And finally we viewed some original aboriginal Wullumba art-although it is rather strange on first appearance the viewing is something entirely different and interesting.
With our eyes adjusted to the daylight we headed home passed Dimbulah and Mareeba stopping at Almaden 'Cow Town' (namely for the fact that cows just roam around the town) for a few beers, we were really taken aback by this country town pub, it was truly so rural and Australian, the kind of place you could retire too, and like every pub you imagine in a small town in a film-unique! the trip itself was a great experience in many ways, we are much more aware of the vastness of the roads we are about to take and the challenge we are about to take in traveling of Australia in all seasons.
So here we are today, 13th August, with only a few days to go till we leave, we are really ready to hit the open road and the challenges that may occur. So it really wasn't a good idea for nath to go and roll the bosses car!!! Don't worry besides a few cuts and bruises Nath is fine and smiling but the car, having been rolled twice, is now minus a bumper and a cracked front window shield! In all fairness they were drag racing at The reef and rainforest track 2km North of Mossman and Tony did race the car again, Nath on the other hand is nursing a headache (check out the photos on our website).
But besides all of this we cant go without saying how greatful and appreciative we are with all Tony and Lenore have offered us here at The white Cockatoo, in between the hard work which in itself has some fantastic memories (Lenore we'll always remember:...'but it'll get creased!'), all the Trips Tony has taken us on with great commentary, the advice from both of you that we have taken on board and are will aim to put into action wherever possible, we are sad to leave behind some great friends. All we can say is thank for the opportunities you have given us, keep checking our updates and we hope that you have as many happy memories as we do, and if all else fails....'Cool Banana's!'
That's all from me and Nathan for a while, we'll be sure to keep you updated as soon as we can and look forward to hearing from you all soon as its a great to know you are following us.
Lindsay and Nathan :-)
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