Getting the Message Across
A church message board in Maroochydore, Qld: “Honk if you love Jesus, text when driving if u want to meet him.” Naturally I didn’t dare photograph that whilst driving! Continue reading Getting the Message Across
Month: April 2016
The Nullarbor
Driving the Nullarbor forty years apart. 1975 and 2015. Continue reading The Nullarbor
Gentle Annie
It is a delightful spring afternoon, blue sky, puffy clouds, miles of grapevines and lush cow pastures. The drive down the narrow King Valley in Victoria is idyllic and complemented by classical music. The towns of Moyhu and Whitfield are little more than hamlets. Edi is even smaller. There is a good camping reserve at Edi cutting, it is quite a large area beside the King River with toilets. It is free and although we haven’t stayed there it looks to be popular with the big rigs. We decide on the Gentle Annie campground at Whitfield which is also on … Continue reading Gentle Annie
Lost in Translation
When we checked in at the Big4 caravan park on the beach at Port Denison in WA the receptionist told us that the sunsets have been good and that we should grab an empty box and watch the sunset with a glass of wine. To explain that: a box is a cabin and WA law prevents you from drinking in an outdoor public place. So we took her advice and toddled off with our drinks to the verandah of an empty cabin and happily drank legally while watching nature put on a stunning show. Continue reading Lost in Translation
What’s Up Doc?
Its early morning at Crescent Head in northern NSW and the surfers are already out working the break. After breakfast I step outside the van and my ankle is nudged by a fat brown rabbit, he likes multigrain bread and nuzzles my fingers. Continue reading What’s Up Doc?
Carnarvon Gorge, Qld
We turn off the highway towards the Carnarvon Gorge and wind through green grassy farmlands where the cows loll about. This is a hidden valley. In the distance the sun picks out the escarpments of Carnarvon. We pass the remains of an aircraft which crashed during World War Two killing the crew of Australian and US airmen, we are constantly surprised at the places where we find evidence of the war. We ford small creeks and the road turns to corrugated dirt for another fifteen kilometres. Woody grits his teeth. We cross Carnarvon Creek and enter Takarakka Bush Resort. Damn … Continue reading Carnarvon Gorge, Qld
Outdoor TV
Our club is camped at Nug Nug in the Victorian High Country. Only those with satellite dishes can get TV reception. Some of us are My Kitchen Rules fans and have missed out on last night’s cook off. So our mate G re runs last night’s show on the outside TV on his new Patriot caravan. It is spitting with rain so there we are sitting out in the bush under a large tree staring at a TV screen muttering “you didn’t crumb it properly”. And I always thought that outside TV’s on caravans were pretentious. I stand corrected! Continue reading Outdoor TV
In Search of Cassowaries
We have plenty of time to meander so we visit Mission Beach in Far North Queensland (humourously called FNQ up here). The drive in is through thick rainforest a mass of vines. There are signs, one after another warning us.”Cassowaries cross here”. “Cassowaries have been seen crossing here recently”. How recently? We ask. “Speeding has killed Cassowaries”. OK, we get the message but we don’t see any. Two days and many more warning signs later, we drive out to Port Coquette which overlooks both Innisfail and the river mouth. High above the town in a cow paddock stands a Cassowary, … Continue reading In Search of Cassowaries
The Bombing of Mossman
Until you take to the road you really don’t understand the amount of bombing that the top half of Australia received during World War 2. Bombing on the Western Australian coast stretched almost as far south as Geraldton. In 1942 Mossman, Qld was bombed by the Japanese. The only casualty was a small child who was hit by shrapnel. Fifty years on she unveiled the monument at the site of her childhood home. She was Australia’s only east coast civilian casualty of the war. In an irony of war that this bombing of quiet farmlands occurred little more than fifty … Continue reading The Bombing of Mossman
How Times Have Changed
Eden is a commercial fishing hub on the New South Wales south coast. It sits high on a hill overlooking the deep water harbour of Twofold Bay. I tour the Whaling Museum and learn that land based whaling stopped here in 1930 when ‘Old Tom’ the Killer whale died. He used to herd the Right whales in close to shore so that the men could come out and harpoon them. The men would then put marker buoys on the carcasses and leave them for the Killer whales to have their fill (usually the tongues and lips, hmm tasty). The following … Continue reading How Times Have Changed
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