Back to the Bush

After leaving Byron Bay we made the steep climb up The Great Dividing Range to Armidale, finally leaving behind the warmth of the north and the constant blue of the ocean. We took a picturesque back road from Grafton through the Dorrigo hinterland and when we stepped out of Big Red at Armidale, only six hours after leaving sunny Byron Bay, we were properly cold for the first time in ten months. During the night the temperature dropped so low that camper was covered in frost in the morning and the dishcloths were frozen to the bench.

We stocked up on provisions and headed into a place called Teralba. Teralba is 600 acres of bush, old farming land, creeks and cliffs in the heart of the Namoi Ranges. Em's dad bought the property in the 1970s with his brother and three friends. There was nothing on the property at the time except an old woodcutter's hut. Over the following years they built a couple of stone huts, a timber house and a mud brick cottage. There was no power, and still isn't so they were all built with hand tools only, which required a lot of time, effort and love. The houses have weathered somewhat over the years and additional caravans and tents accommodate the expanding families. However, the owners and their families (including Em and later Rob) have visited and some have even lived in the isolated peace of Teralba over the years. It is one of our favourite places in the world so it seemed like a good idea to spend some time there as a last stop before heading back to Sydney.

There had been a fair amount of rain over the last year (as those of you living on the east coast would know) so the access road was a little worse for wear, in fact even after travelling over 50,000km around the country, it was probably one of the most challenging roads we've been on. But we made it in to Teralba in one piece and we had no intention to leave any day soon so there was no need to worry about the road for a few weeks yet.

We spent two weeks kicking back Teralba style. We panned for gold in the washed out dam, explored the ruins of the old tin mine, rob built a teepee for Jarvis and a new table for the rest of us, we cooked in the camp oven, ate dinner under the stars on the warmer nights and kept warm in Kim's house on the cold nights. We even had dinner, bonfire and fireworks one night. We toasted marsh mellows, rode motor bikes, played archery, read, painted and enjoyed the company of Em's parents, Kim, Steve, Gretta, Todd and brand new baby Atticus (that's the baby on Todd's front on the quad bike).

We had planned to stay on for a few more weeks. However, Big Red needed a new battery and the weather was turning windy and colder (if that was possible). So we decided to leave with Kate and Mark in case we needed a jump start or other assistance. Suddenly two weeks sooner than we expected we had packed the camper up for the last time and headed the car for Sydney.

East Coast 'Summer' Holiday

The east coast, it almost feels like home. The familiarity of the densely vegetated coastline with the constant backdrop of the great dividing range is like a breath of fresh air. It might sound odd, but on the most densely populated stretch of Australia's coastline, there are actually more trees, scrub and lush vegetation than on the vast unpopulated tracts of the west, north and southern coastlines put together (with some exceptions of course). And it is nice to be back amongst such a lovely setting.

The east coast really is the home stretch for us. We are getting weary of the constant travelling, running low on money and looking forward to seeing friends and family. So we decided to come down the coast fairly quickly. We have travelled this part of the country many times and so we just decided to make it a bit of an East Coast Summer Holiday. We stopped in at several Summery coastal towns, soaked up the sunshine and turquoise blue waters and enjoyed some yummy food and superb coffees.

We started our August Summer Holiday in Cairns. It was a brief stop but we had time to stock up on amazing fresh produce at Rusty's Market and have dinner at Yorky's Knob Boat Club with some old friends of Rob's.

As we left Cairns it was a gorgeous sunny day but as we neared our next destination, Bowen, the clouds started to roll in. We then experienced our first rainfall in four months. It wasn't torrential but it was enough to remind us we were leaving the dry season of the top end, which also meant saying good bye to crocodiles, barramundi, tropical temperatures and the land of termite mounds. We've really got quite attached to the red, brown, white and yellow towers being a constant part of the scenery.

Despite the rain, we were still able to get out and about and appreciate the quaint seaside town of Bowen. Bowen is exactly what an old-school seaside town should be, it has big wide streets, a good bakery, an imposing heritage style corner pub (used in the movie 'Australia'), gorgeous beaches, a lovely saturday market and friendly locals. We only stayed in Bowen for a couple of nights, but it was a lovely stay.

We aren't particularly fond of the stretch of coast between Bowen and Noosa, which is over 1,000 km's so we decided to just get to Noosa as quickly as possible. With a brief overnight stop in Rockhampton we arrived in Noosa after two long days of driving. Surprisingly though, despite Noosa being one of Australia's favourite holiday destinations, it really didn't do that much for us. The glamour of Hasting's street was a bit too pretentious, the cafes lacked the flare that we expected, the suburban sprawl in the surrounding areas is far from glamorous and don't get us started on the parking. Having said that, there are some beautiful beaches, you can't really beat a beer at the Noosa Surf Club, the rolling green hills and lush rainforest of the hinterland is spectacular and the Eumundie markets were an absolute treat. So although we won't be rushing back to Noosa in the near future there was plenty to keep us occupied and to top it all off, we bumped into Rob's cousin Pete and his family. So all in all our visit to Noosa was a great success.

From Noosa it is an easy drive to the infamous Byron Bay. We used to frequent this gorgeous part of the east coast regularly in our teen years, but hadn't been back in about 10 years. We had prepared ourselves for a complete shattering of the Byron Bay we had once known. And we found that it is true, Byron has changed but hey, so have we. But like Byron, the changes were mostly on the surface, we may not being driving around in a clapped out combi but Big Red makes enough noise to draw attention and has certainly seen better days and we may not be fire dancing on the beach with the locals but Jarvis sure has a good hip wiggle going on when the band is playing at the pub. So we looked past the expansion of the town, the uprising of several chain stores and the crowds that persisted even in winter, and got down to the business of enjoying what Byron has to offer. We lazed away the days at the beach, ate breakie at several amazing cafes and drank beers at sunset at the Beach Hotel while whales swam past.

It was the perfect way to finish our east coast travels. Tomorrow we will head up the great dividing range, back into the bush and into far cooler temperatures. We are planning to spend a few weeks on Em's family's bush block near Armidale. It is 600 acres of bush with no power, rain water only and makes for the perfect place to hang out and ready ourselves for returning to Sydney and the real world.

Cape York and the Daintree Rainforest

Not ones to do things the normal way, attacking Cape York was no different. Sitting in Karumba musing over the map, we identified a very vague, dotted, light brown road which basically cut a straight line from where we were sitting to the Musgrave Roadhouse about a third of the way up the peninsula. The backroad route would save us the trip across to Cooktown and hundreds of kilometres, whether it would actually save us time would depend on the condition of the road.

The first hundred or so kilometres was a breeze, the road seemed to be part of some sort of back road tourist trail. But as the decent road veered off to the east, we were staring down a goat track with a gate across it, which appeared to be no more than a property access road. However, there were no "Keep Out" or "Private Road" signs hanging form the gate, nor was it locked, so through we went. We passed through several other gates before crossing a huge river, the crossing was easy but at the other side (going in the other direction) there was a sign saying "do not attempt to cross the Mitchell River"…. oops. But this was only the beginning, a little further on a "road closed" sign hung from a road barrier. We had heard that this road was impassable for some time after rain, however, it had not rained in over four months so the road was unlikely to be boggy or the river crossing flooded. However, it was possible that one of the river crossings was so badly washed out that we would not be able to get across. It was decision time, we had just enough petrol to get to the major river crossing, turn back if we had to and make it out to the main road, at which point we would need to hitch a ride to the next servo to get petrol. Not a great back up plan, but it seemed good enough for us if the road really was impassable, so on we went (round the 'road closed' sign). The road was slow going, but the boggy sections and river crossing were dry and although the washouts were steep, Big Red made it through. It took us almost 10 hours to travel about 400km but it was exciting, the landscapes were amazing and we didn't see another car all day.

Musgrave Roadhouse is the only remaining overland telegraph station on the cape. It is now a petrol station, bar and campground. After our long day, we welcomed the grassy campsite and cold beers. Unfortunately, as we were setting up camp, Rob noticed that there was something wrong with the breaks on the camper. He started to pull them apart and within 10 minutes had attracted a small crown of neighbouring campers. They were actually all extremely helpful and one of them was even a mechanic. With their help, Rob had the breaks sorted out in no time and had even greased the bearings.

The rest of the journey up the cape was fairly uneventful, we did a small section of the Old Telegraph Track (OTT) and camped beside Canal Creek. Jarvis joined some other kids for a swim in the crystal clear water and we watched other cars and motorbikes attempt the river crossing. We also did the crossing the following morning and another section of the OTT. This was not an easy task with a heavy camper trailer, laden with a boat. We then took the car ferry across the Jardine River before finally arriving at Loyalty Beach campground just north of Seisa. It was more beautiful than we could have imagined. It was like arriving at an island paradise. After our exhausting drive from Darwin, across the Gulf and up the cape, we instantly relaxed into Cape York time. For several days we wandered along the beach at sunset, fished off the rocks and ate some of the best fish and chips ever at the makeshift bar on the beach.

We did some exploring too. We walked to the most northern point of Australia, had lunch at Punsand Bay, had treats at the Bamaga Bakery, stopped in at the croc tent and even popped into the Seisa Fishing Club on market day.

When we felt fully rested, we decided to finally turn our rig around and head south. Jarvis was delighted and kept saying "is this the way to Sydney", as he has asked many time on this trip, this time we could finally say, yes. We had planned to camp a few nights at Chillli Beach which is supposed to be beautiful, but dodgy road conditions and a lack of stamina on our behalf, meant we ended up heading straight to Lakefield National Park (via an overnight stop at Coen). The National Park was lovely, but in fact it was as we left the National Park and approached Cooktown that we were blown away by the view. The rolling green mountains, babbling brooks and the starting blue of the ocean in the background were simply amazing. We only stopped in at Cooktown overnight, but were also very impressed by this cute little town set on an amazing river mouth surrounded by rainforest and lush farms.

From Cooktown we took the Bloomfield Track through Cape Tribulation and the Daintree Rainforest. To say it was magnificent is an understatement, it is possibly the most amazing drive we have done on this entire trip. The track winds under the rainforest canopy up over steep mountain ranges and down through gorgeous rivers. Sometime we felt like we were above the clouds and other times we would look out our window to see the beach right beside us. At the southern end of the track, we camped at Noah's Beach right in the heart of the Daintree National Park. The campsites are limited so it is nice and quiet and we could wander from our campsite under a rainforest canopy right onto the beach. It was magical, there was even a rope swing under the coconut trees and coconuts for dessert.

After Noah's Beach, the drive was still beautiful but easier going (sealed road) and after crossing over the Daintree River, the thick rainforest slowly gave way to cane fields and small towns, then bigger towns and finally the ritz and glamour of Port Douglass. We only stopped in briefly before heading to Cairns but it felt a world away from the isolated tropical paradise of Cape York and the Daintree. We also looked completely out of place in our clothes, car and trailer all covered in red dirt. It looks like we might need a bit of a clean up before we tackle the civilisations on the east coast.

Leaving the Northern Territory via the Gulf

On our last night in Darwin we did our favourite Darwin thing, we went to Mindle Market (yep that makes 7 times). It was our last night with Tash and Adam and we met up with a couple of other friends Kurt and Tom. As luck would have it we also ran into some travelling buddies, James and Sophie. So it was a real party.

After enjoying our last spicy laksa  on a balmy night on MIndle Beach we set off for Queensland. Our destination was Cape York which is about 2,000 km's away so we did the trip over several days mostly via dirt roads, often very rough and with numerous river crossings. Our first stop was Mataranka which is a tiny settlement south of Katherine. It is most well known for its warm thermal springs set in lush pockets of palms and tropical vegetation. We met up with the Wright family and we enjoyed a couple of nights with them soaking up the springs, lunching at the Mataranka Homestead and lounging around the campfire. We also bumped into some friends of ours from Margaret River, Betty and David who also joined us for a swim and lunch.

We set off from Mataranka for a long day of driving. We hit the Carpentaria Highway and just kept driving until dusk. Just as the Kangaroos started to appear we pulled off the road about 50km east of Borroloola. We set up camp beside a lovely river and enjoyed the solitude after the hustle and bustle of Darwin.

We got off to a super early start and for several hours drove through gorgeous landscapes, which compared to the Gibb River Road scenery (but without the other cars). After crossing the QLD border and then Hells Gate the landscape became less spectacular but beautiful in its own way. We passed through Burketown and Normanton before finally arriving in Karumba just on dark. Karumba is the furthest eastern town on the Gulf of Carpentaria. After travelling 2000km's in 4 days, we welcomed a cold beer at the Sunset Tavern as we watched.. yep you guessed it, the sunset.

It was a mad dash from Northern Territory to Queensland. And although the days on the road were long and tiring the drive was pretty special, both due to the scenery and the solitude. We are now very excited to head north up to Cape York, our last exploration of Australia's Top End before beginning our journey back down the east coast, home.