Days 23 - 29

We left Seaforth after spending 4 glorious days there – it was the longest we had spent so far on our trip in any one place and we felt that we had really made progress with the whole camping thing. Over the days we stayed there, we set our camper trailer up exactly the way we wanted it, cooked some gourmet meals (even if I do say so myself!), ran the fridge off the solar panel for the entire time and conquered the art of filtering vast amounts of WVO (180 litres in total – thank you Seaforth and Mackay!). We left, after managing to squeeze in one last sunrise and breakfast on the beach, feeling annoyed that we had to pack up and start again in the next place. It also didn’t help our moods that the camp next door was also packing up to move on. They sat there and watched us slaving away as they had breakfast and read. About half way into our packing up, they got up and announced that they too had to pack and with a couple of pulls and folding of tarps, their camper trailer was nicely folded away whilst we were nowhere near ready! They really did have a “Rolls Royce” of a camper trailer, which included a side annex for the shower!! Seaforth was our favourite camp spot so far on the trip and we thought we would be hard pushed to find another spot so tranquil.

We headed north, passing the Big Mango at Bowen!, to a camp spot in a national park called Bowling Green Bay NP, about 20kms south of Townsville. You can really tell now that we are in the tropics as the heat has really increased. The humidity gauge on one camper trailer read 91 percent and this is in the winter!! We stayed at Alligator Creek for two nights where we camped next to the creek and watched tiny freshwater turtles play. It was a little magnet for wildlife as on the grass behind our camp, we had wallabies, potoroos and bush turkeys. It was a pleasant spot for the two nights we stayed there but we didn’t manage to find any WVO for us in Townsville (for some reason, this always makes us not like a place as much – I think I am becoming far too keen on WVO!). It was the same old story with people already taking it the day before or takeaways having a contract with someone who pays them for the WVO. We also found a few takeaways who cook with animal fat rather than oil, which we are not using due to the fact that the animal fat would have to be heated first before it can be filtered.

We moved on further North towards Cairns and at the last moment, we decided to change our plans and headed inland to the Atherton Tableland region. We are so glad that we did as the region was absolutely stunning. The track inland wound its way right up to the top of a mountain and then the road opened out into dense forest on the one side and rolling countryside on the other. We headed into the forest and came to Lake Tinaroo, where we camped right on the lakeside. The views from our camper trailer were incredible. We spent 3 days simply relaxing, fishing and reading – again, another stunning camp spot and due to the fact that each camp spot had their own camp fire area (a very important commodity when rating camp spots!), probably nicer than Seaforth.

We are now in Cairns after travelling 4,726 kms in the Battered Fish! We will be here for a few days filling up with WVO and preparing ourselves for the journey we have ahead of us – Cape York. We have heard so many people talking about Cape York, some rate it as the best trip they have ever done in Australia, whilst others seem unfazed by it. For us, it will be a huge test of both our driving skills and the reliability of the car and the camper trailer as the roads are largely dirt tracks with hundreds of Creek crossings (for an example of a crossing, do a Google search of Gunshot Creek!). It is also the habitat of the dreaded saltwater crocodile, or "salties" as they call them here. Some advice we have received regarding creek crossings is always check the depth of the creek crossing before entering it – my thoughts are how are you to test the depth of the creek crossings with salties in them? Their reply to this is not all the crossings have crocs in them as some are freshwater. Again, apart from getting out of the car and tasting the water which will put you within pouncing distance of the croc (I’ve watched that scene in Croc Dundee!), how are you to know which ones are safe??!! Any volunteers want to come with us as our creek tester!! I am sure it will be fine and we have just built the area up into something it is not. We are not sure of how much reception we shall have in this region as it is pretty remote but hope to blog the next time at the Northern most point of Australia, the Tip, in 3 weeks time.

Regarding the Battered Fish herself, she is running like a dream and loves the WVO! The Barnacle is also behaving herself and we have not had any breakages/losses to report on this week. We have updated the blog with a running list of all items that have broken or we have lost throughout the trip. Some are being replaced as we go along whilst others have not been so lucky.

I have had a few emails from people enquiring about how we are getting on camping. The answer is we are slowly getting used to it. Sometimes it is very annoying that you cannot have a hot shower when you want one (the shower that we have is a solar shower which takes 3 – 6 hours to heat up) or just load up the washing machine with clothes (we are using a bucket with a lid that you fill up before you drive to your next destination and the vibration of the driving acts like a washing machine!) or use a dishwasher (I have Gerard!) but in a way, it is very liberating not having these things as you really do get back to nature. Some of the campsites have basic facilities such as cold showers and toilets but the last time I used the toilet, I flushed the chain and a frog appeared – I am not sure who was the more surprised
!!

Anyway, we hope you are all well and thank you for all your comments on the blog and emails. I have added a few photos of some of the sunrises and sunsets we experienced, the reflections of the trees in Alligator Creek, some of the wallabies we saw at Alligator Creek, our set up of the camper trailer at Lake Tinaroo and our view of Lake Tinaroo from our camper.

Until the Tip…..

Take care,

Rach and Ged x

Days 16 - 22

Firstly, thank you to all of those who have commented on our blog - we really look forward to reading comments when we turn on the computer each week so thank you all for your time and effort. For some reason, we cannot answer the comments on the blog so if you drop us your email address with your comment, we shall try and get back to you.

Now, onto our week. Again, it has been mayhem but we have seen yet more fantastic places and met some extremely kind and generous people.

We went over to Great Keppel Island at the beginning of the week for 2 nights, 3 days. We stayed in a lovely place just off the beach in a "luxury" 2 man tent. This meant that we didn't have to put up the camper when we arrived at the place which was bliss! It was like a mini honeymoon away from the Battered Fish and the Barnacle (a name that we have given to our camper trailer after how much veg oil it consumed on fraser island)! Great Keppel itself is very quiet but nice, with great bush walks and snorkeling just off the beach. We saw fish, turtles and sting rays. Yet again, the beautiful sandy beaches were practically deserted and we sat each night having sundowners on the beach watching the sunset over the mainland. Perfect! However, the one down side to the island is the Birds - my word they were noisy. We had a crow "sqwarking" from about 5 in the morning, followed by another crow "sqwarking" in reply, then a kookaburra "laughing" again and again and again! It went something like "sqwark", "sqwark", "sqwark". "sqwark", "hhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeee", "sqwark", "sqwark" etc etc. I wondered, listening to the crows sqwarking, if this is where the Australian expression "stone the flaming crows" came from?

We left Great Keppel and stayed back in Yeppoon where we collected 40 litres of WVO - thank you! Yet again we came across numerous fish and chip shops that already had a contract with someone or they had emptied their drums just the day before we arrived. Extremely frustrating but it is all part of our experiment. We drove inland to our next destination, Sapphire (about 400kms West of Yeppoon) and stopped at a town just before Sapphire called Emerald (if you haven't worked it out yet, they are both major fossicking places where you can dig for gems). Yet again, we got rejected in the fish and chip shops in Emerald which meant we would need to fill up with diesel. Before we did fill up with diesel, we pulled to the side of the road and did some roadside WVO refueling! A car that was passing stopped and asked if we needed any help as we must have looked a fairly strange sight with a drill, hose and invertor in our hands! We left the roadside, minus the new drill which we had purchased earlier that week for the filtering ( I am solely blaming Gerard - it definitely wasn't me!!!) and headed to Sapphire. We quickly noticed a difference between the roads inland and the roads on the coast. We started seeing Road Trains for the first time (huge trucks carrying 3-4 carriages behind them full of cattle or coal), cattle grazing on the side of the roads with no fences, and the straightness of the roads for miles and miles.

The reason we were going to Sapphire was to get a HF Radio fitted to the car. A HF radio is a high frequency radio that you can use in an emergency (you are connected to the Royal Flying Doctors) or just to chat to people all over Australia. The guy that was fitting the radio, Bob, and his partner Denise, welcomed us to their place and we set up the Barnacle in the garden. At exactly 4.30, Bob pulled out a "cold one", then his mate Les arrived at the house and even before he had swung his feet out of the 4WD door, he had opened a cold one too! We decided it was time to go to the off license to get some beers of our own as it might be a long night! We asked where the nearest off license was as we had only seen a general store and a RSL (a pub) in the town. Bob told us and we headed there. We arrived and it was just a tin shed with stacks of beer in. It was aptly named "the Tin Shed", well, that's what it was, why waste words? We spent 3 fantastic days with Bob and Denise in Sapphire. They had travelled around Australia in a bus so stories and photos were swapped over a lot of alcohol. During the day, Bob had a workshop and helped Gerard connect the solar panel, fit the driving lights (the ones that we needed in Fraser Island but found they didn't work!!) and mend the fridge and fridge slide. All things that we had needed to do for weeks but just had not had time. I took out all the equipment in the trailer and the car, replanned the distances of our trip as I have come to realise that the distances that we thought we could do in a day is just not possible, tried out the sunroom which fits to the Barnacle to give it an extension! and completely repacked everything. All in all, it was a very productive time.

We left Sapphire and headed back to the coast. The morning we left, it had absolutely pelted it down all night and we quickly learnt why they say the camper is "water resistant", not "waterproof". Leaks were springing in everywhere and we decided it was time to leave to go back to the coast for some better weather. We are still staying in a fantastic little place called "Seaforth", which is about 40kms North of Mackay, right on the seafront. We could wake up each morning with the sea at our front door. I say "could" as we do not have this view as we put the camper trailer around the wrong way on the first night we set up camp as you guessed it, it was dark when we set up! People keep on coming up to us and asking why we are facing around the wrong way. I am blaming it on the wind from the sea at night but now feel embarrassed about changing it round!

We also managed to get a further 150 litres of WVO from various fish and chip shops in Mackay so a massive thank you to everyone who gave us this as we desperately needed it. Gerard is busy filtering now.

Over the next week, we will slowly make our way up to Cairns and prepare ourselves for Cape York.

Please keep your messages and comments coming, it is really great to hear from everyone. I have added some photos of Great Keppel, all our recovery gear when we took it out of the Battered Fish, Bob and Denise, the Tin Shed and Gerard refuelling on the side of the road.

Take care

Rach and Ged x