Cooktown, Qld is all colonial charm and thankfully undeveloped. In fact it is the complete opposite of Port Douglas and Cairns. When we visit in 2014 there is a well-worn pub, an even more worn pub that has lost its … Continue reading Getting to Know Cooktown
It’s 2014 and we are camped in Port Douglas, Qld. We have neighbours who appear not to be all that compatible. She sits outside smoking and he can’t drag himself away from the TV inside. We refer to them as “The Bold & the Beautiful” and wonder how long they’ll last on the road together. We drive up to Cooktown and are thrilled that we have three whole days to spend there as it is an unusual town. We run into “The Bold & the Beautiful” and they are having a puncture repaired. They are unsure of how long the … Continue reading The Bold and the Beautiful
I stand under a hot shower in our latest caravan, the water is both cleansing and refreshing. There is classical music tinkling in the background and as I smell the aroma of espresso coffee I remember… My mother often reminisced … Continue reading The Evolution of Camping
It is worth the drive up to the Fort Bourke Lookout in Cobar, NSW just to see the colour of the rock face of the New Cobar Gold Mine. The town of Cobar stretches out in the distance. Continue reading New Cobar Gold Mine
Our mate El Prado and his dear lady Elle spent a few days at the Jamieson Caravan Park recently. One evening they walked across town to a little restaurant called Mingo’s for dinner, which they tell us is well worth the visit. After an evening of most pleasant inebriation they left the restaurant for the stroll home in the warm evening air. Suddenly a large pig of about 250 – 300kg loomed out of the dark with a certain attraction for our mate El Prado. Much oinking, snuffling and nudging ensued before they reached the safety of their caravan, their … Continue reading Pink elephants? Never!
Skipworth Reserve near Jamieson in Victoria is a bird watchers paradise. Fairy Wrens, King Parrots, Bower Birds, Wattle Birds, Black Cockatoos, Magpies, Kookaburras, Wonga Pigeons, Currawongs, Tree Hoppers. Big fat Wonga Pigeons scour the grass for tidbits. Fairy Wrens hop … Continue reading The Birdlife of Skipworth Reserve
We’re waiting at the Mansfield hospital to see a doctor. Both full of a chest infection and coughing our heads off it is indeed nice to lie down for a few minutes and just doze. In the opposite corner of the ward a woman’s voice complains to the nurse “Me back’s buggered.” It’s funny how things are triggered in your mind and my mind suddenly lurches back to Christmas Day in the late 90’s when we took our sick friend to Cobram hospital up on the Murray River and we returned to camp laughing our heads off at someone else’s … Continue reading Me Back’s Buggered
The Rusty Shed cafe in the port of Wyndham, WA is advertising Barra and Chips nite. So we find ourselves sitting under the gum trees on a large timber deck listening to a guy called Brad Martin play guitar and … Continue reading An Often Overlooked Treasure
The one commercial fisherman sells fish from his home in Wyndham and we have a hankering for a prawn lunch. We walk through the cyclone wire gate, across the dirt yard, between the mangrove tree, dog and an old bath tub on the right and the front end loader and dead car body on top of an orange shipping container on our left into the workshop. We step around the trail bike in bits on the floor and there’s the fisho’s missus packing up fish for the freezer. “Welcome to the processing works” she says. And this front yard is … Continue reading The Fisho’s Missus
Winter 2015 At Barn Hill, WA there is a rock cairn atop the hill that was erected by Alexander Forrest when he passed through here in 1879. It is reminders like these that make our journeys inconsequential compared to the … Continue reading Barn Hill
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