July 2018, Mirani, Qld A popular swimming hole, Platypus Beach is below the cane railway bridge over the Pioneer River at Mirani. There’s plenty of room on the wide sandy beach for 4×4’s as well as picnickers. But you’ve got … Continue reading Platypus Beach
July 2018, Eungella, Qld I had originally planned that we’d stay at the Broken River Bush Camp at Eungella National Park. Fortunately our mates ‘The Sugars’ in Mackay recommended the Finch Hatton showgrounds as the best option for touring the area and I now know why. Finch Hatton is central and the road up to Eungella is steep with a gradient in places exceeding 15%. If you’ve travelled the Waterfall Way in NSW it is reminiscent but steeper. Lined with palms, tiny waterfalls spurt from the rock face and halfway up a road crew are working to repair the edge. … Continue reading Eungella
Oct 2018, Mornington Peninsula, Vic There’s warmth in the air and a spring in every step. Melbourne has turned on one of those days when Port Phillip Bay is perfectly flat and a soft powdery blue. Families are drawn to … Continue reading Capel Sound
A cool entry to the park July 2018 Based at Finch Hatton showgrounds we drive up to Finch Hatton Gorge, through sugar farms and small acreages studded with fruit trees and banana palms. What a heavenly place this would be … Continue reading Finch Hatton Gorge
July 2018, Finch Hatton, Qld It’s a deliriously warm afternoon and from our showgrounds campsite we walk a few metres to the pub on the main street for lunch. By the photos on the walls The Criterion Hotel was once … Continue reading Criterion Hotel, Finch Hatton
July 2018, Finch Hatton, Qld Inland from Mackay the Pioneer Valley is positively bucolic. Small sugar towns, old Queenslanders surrounded by palms and cane, acres of cane. Sugar mills belching steam high into the air. Marian, the town where Dame Nellie Melba once lived as a young bride in an unsuccessful marriage. Towns like Mirani, Gargett where we stop to walk through the market and then we arrive at Finch Hatton. The Main Street of Finch Hatton, where a railway line once ran is lined with palms and big old mango trees. There’s a pub, a general store, a real … Continue reading Finch Hatton
July 2018 After hearing on the radio yesterday of a Campdraft at a property called Paradise Lagoons near Gracemere we got a little excited. After all we’ve been driving around this fair land for nearly six years hoping to chance … Continue reading Paradise Lagoons
Winter 2018 and we’re have a quiet dinner in a pub somewhere when Woody suddenly says, “You don’t really want to see the waitress pulling her undies out of her arse, do you?” On second thoughts perhaps it’s the places … Continue reading You Can’t Take Him Anywhere
Every Winter the caravan park in Ilfracombe hosts the Ilfracombe Olympics. What? You haven’t heard of this prestigious event? If you’d wondered why so many caravans head to Western Queensland in the Winter time this is the reason. It’s got … Continue reading Ilfracombe Olympics
This winters’ (2018) trip has been a fabulous trip for food. Starting with the winter warming curry pies from Grist Bakery at Kyneton only a few hours from home. The cumquats that we added brandy to at Cunnamulla and are now enjoying 4 months later. In Cairns it was fresh prawns, coral trout and Spanish mackerel from several seafood wholesalers. Along with red paw paw, juicy thin skinned mandarines and sweet giant passionfruit from Rusty’s Market. In Ingham it was Italian smallgoods, imported cheeses and an array of olives from Lou’s Food Emporium and bacon chops from the butcher next … Continue reading A Moveable Feast
