We really had a great time doing this trip with great friends (family, really). The time went slowly at first but then the last few weeks rushed by. I am amazed at the beauty of God's creation and then appalled at how man manages to pollute and destroy. The worst examples of filth and rubbish were seen in areas where the natural guardians of the land were in charge. The wonders of the stars and heavens, when seen in the unpolluted skies of the outback were just amazing. We, in the cities, do not get to see that because of the lighting and smog. I would definately be putting my hand up for a second round. We all have a better idea of what to expect from roads and fuel etc. Now comes the time for cleaning cars, caravans and homes.
Thanks guys for a memorable holiday.
I did 9500 klms, $3187 on fuel and 2140 lts for an average of 22.5 lts/100.
Klaus.

Well, it is all over, and we are all home. Marg got home last Tuesday week after flying home from Rockhampton, while KnB and W&I landed home about 7-ish on Saturday night.
It was a very quiet trip home really. There was little conversation at breakfast on Saturday morning when we left Yamba, and not a whole lot of chatter on UHF channel 26 either.
It was sad to have to come to an end, but the trip was great... but I can only talk from my perspective. Sally asked us yesterday ' what was the one highlight of the trip?'. I couldn't think of one in particular as there were so many 'good things' we saw, both natural wonders and man-made events/items.
So, I assume this will be my last blog entry. I don't know if the others will put something else up or not.
So a big thank you to those who have been following our CapeYorkAdventure, and thank you to those who made comments or suggestions. If anyone wants any info, or wants any of the 5053 photos, let me/us know. And of course a big, big thank you to Klaus, Beryl, Margaret and Wendy for helping me complete one of the items on my 'bucket list'. If anyone would like to go back with me to the Cape, let me know as I expect I will do it again sometime.
Hopefully the photos and stories has convinced some of you to take the plunge, and head north to one of Australia's most wild, most remote, most beautiful, and most intriguing parts of this wonderful land we have - Cape York.

Some statistics from the trip:

Kilometres traveled (Glenhaven to Glenhaven):   9,431
Petrol & LPG cost (GHN to GHN):   $3267.99
ULP & LPG Litres:    2,759
Combined Photos:   5053 occupying 27.7GB
Food/camp/etc costs:   Lots

Mark

...and probably my favourite photo,

Well it has finally happened. It is raining! The very last day in camp and it started raining about 10:30 and hasn't stopped. It is the first rain during the day since we left Sydney 7 weeks ago. Good thing K & I went fishing at about 6:30 for some black fish. We got three good ones before we had to give in to the cold and overcast morning, not to mention our grumbling stomachs. Good for us the coffee shop was serving bacon and egg rolls! We finished them off and then went to the ramp next door to the campsite to clean the fish. You can see from the 2 iphone photos below that we were very popular with the locals.
I am not looking forward to putting the boat back on the car this afternoon in the rain!

@Ali - To fill the void, Wendy says you will have to buy a book. Your mum and dad say you will have to start cleaning the house and cooking for Chris! I say you can do whatever you like.

 Look at all the attentive locals. There were more to the right that hadn't signed the photo permission slips so they couldn't be in the shot.

These guys were worse than seagulls. They fought and squabbled with each other. The winners got to swallow the whole carcases (head, backbone, fins & tail) in one piece. I have no idea how they manage to swallow such large fish, let alone digest and then pass it! Those sharp fins must hurt somewhere along the process!

Hi...it's Thursday night and with only 2 days to go until the end, you will soon be over my rantings....
We are still in Yamba and have now decided to stay an extra night so we will check out Saturday morning and home Saturday night all going well.
The weather here has been wonderful. Full sunny days, cool nights, with only a spitting rain on Tuesday night - none of the forecast rain. Tomorrow is supposed to be a change though, so we are hoping it will be like all the previous forecast. Having said that, it was lightning outside a while ago as K & I returned from black fishing on the roak wall. Yes, we have managed to catch some fish, but nowhere like the numbers we would have liked. We have caught, and eaten, bream, whiting, flathead, and black fish. We have caught others but not eaten them as they were not legal size. The boat has been parked on the beach forthe last two nightsand we have actually used it quite a bit. We will go out again it tomorrow, then pack it up ready to head home Saturday.
Oh, by the way, I finally got the tour map to update properly, so you now should be able to see which way we went up, and which way we came back. Not too far to go now...the 'circle' is nearly complete.

I must say that none of us really want the holiday to end.

Here are a couple of photos (especially for you Ali) from the last few days:

 Some of the small locals in the area.

 Doing the Bugalugs waltz!!

 Here is the dad of the Eastern Water Dragons

 Wendy contemplating .....what?

 Mark trying to catch fish from the rock wall...

 ....and Klaus doing the same the following day.

 The beautiful sunset as seen from the rock wall

This one looks a bit evil.....especially when the same sky was filled with lightning 20mins later

Beautiful morning here, altho it is supposed to have 50% chance of rain. Currently not a cloud in the sky. Big plans for today - craft shops in Maclean, ferry ride to Iluka, vanilla slices in Yamba...so many choices!

@Ali - All is well here. I agree that Stormy's and emm's puppies were cuter. We would have loved one, but in reality, it would have crimped our lifestyle a bit. I am sure Buggalugs and a pup would get on famously. He could ride around on his back with a little saddle.

Hey everyone....we are still alive. We are now in Yamba, arriving here yesterday. We have had a very busy last few days catching up with long lost friends and family. After leaving K's sister in Bauple, we stayed with my brother Garry in Bli Bli - caught up with most of his family (and their families), caught up with my other brother Greg, then visited Dave and Jenny Mensforth at Morayfield, moved camp to Tallebudgera for two nights, meeting up with my nephew Dave, his wife Tania, and their 6 new 'kids' (see photos below), then had a lunch visit from Con and Margaret Giovas, then had dinner with Warren and Jenny Ernst. It has been very hectic, but very,very good.
We plan to stay here for 4 nights, but the weather forecast is not so good, so we shall see. Today is only 30% chance of showers so hopefully we can get the boat in and have a bit of fun. The rest of the week will sort itself out. The sunrise this morning was spectacular as usual - as you can see.
Keep the comments coming.....by the way, Dave's 'kids' are for sale if anyone wants to buy one.

 Only SOME of the mob at Garry & Chris' for afternoon tea. The rest, another 6 or so, were outside playing.

 Dave's new 'kids'! Charli (the mum) and Bailey (the dad) presented Dave & Tania with 6 perfect, pure bred, Border Collie pups 6 weeks ago. They are all male and for sale if anyone wants one. There is even a rare 'blue', even with blue eyes. Poor old Charli - all 6 were hanging off her and she just stood there - you can see the 'a mum's has to do, what a mum has to do' in her face! Send me an email, or a comment, if you want one and I will put you in touch with Dave. 

 This is how Jemma was when we picked her up. So cute.

 The rare 'blue' one.

 Bit of a family squabble here this morning.

 The serenity of early morning...

 ......and the beauty of sunrise.....

The 'not dancing' Pelican who, at least, smiled for me for the shot.....but not as good as my dancing dog one last week!

Stardate: 20110901
Just a quick one. We are currently in Bauple in Qld, where we are staying at K's sister's house. We drove down yesterday from Yeppoon after I got up for the sunrise at our beach over Great Keppel Island. Bauple is in the hinterland south of Maryborough. I was also up early enough to catch the sunrise from the hill on their property. See photos below.
Today K's brother-in-law Colin took us fishing on the Mary River. Unfortunately, we only got one fish, but we also got the rare privilege to see a platypus in the wild and also turtle (tortoise) on the river. We leave here tomorrow for the Sunshine Coast and then to the Gold Coast. Here are a few photos from the last few days:

 Sunrise over the dancing 'Jemma dog' (Border collie), over Great Keppel Island, over our beach. He was really catching a frisbee!

 2 hr exposure last night, until the battery went flat, but not before the dew fell!

 Sunrise from Bauple over Frazer Island in the background

 Me parked on top of the hill behind Colin and Silvia's house.

 One of their friendly and inquisittive horses when I was on my way down.

 The beautiful Mary River

 Sea Eagle....

 ....and it's nest. It would have been at least 3m across!

 On our way back upstream

Another friendly native on the river. I didn't get a chance to photo the platypus. He didn't stay around long enough.

It was dark and stormy night…..and it really was. We had quite a lot of rain in the evening after we got back from the Tavern, and it rained all night long. We had to take Margie to the airport this morning so we had to get up at 5:20am to make sure she was there by 6:45. Marg slept in out tent to make it easier logisticaly. When we got up we realised how much rain we had received as there was a lot of water in the camper. We have never had water in before, so I don’t really know why we got so much water in. We didn’t have time to find out why so we just got dressed and took off out the door.

We got to the airport ok with plenty of time beforethe flight. We had brekkie in there with her and made sure she took off ok. We drove home, not looking forward to the wet camper. We also had washing on the line so when we got back, Wendy went to the washing and I attacked the wet camper. I took all the stuff out and started to soak up the water on the floor with the new sponge I bought to wash my car. I squeezed the sponge into a bucket and when I had finished, I had about 9 litres of water in the square bucket! We had a few more sprinkles throughout the day but no new water entered. So I blame Marg for letting the water in!  

In the afternoon, we all went for a drive up the north coast a bit (40kms), and ended up in Nob Creek Pottery in Byfield. Wendy bought a couple of things, and Beryl bought some stuff too. We then went back down the coast calling in at Yeppoon to take some photos of the fruit bats nesting in the dead trees in the middle of town. We took lots of photos and I even climbed up in a tree to get a look over the surrounding trees. From the bats we headed down to Rosslyn Bay to take some photos from the lookout. K & I climbed up the very steep hill to get to the top and look at the amazing view. We also walked around the bottom of the hill from near the Great Keppel Island ferry terminal. We saw some people catching fish, but also witnessed the hubby of the women who had hooked a big fish lose it because of his stupidity!

From Rosslyn Bay we then headed further south to Emu Park to look at the Singing Ship. This is a memorial to Capt James Cook who was in this area and named the Keppel group of islands in 1770. When KnB were here last in 1975, K took B’s photo at this memorial, so we had to do a re-enactment of the mighty deed.

From there, we came home and decided to leave the chicken in the freezer and head back to the Tavern for the 2 for 1 Pizza deal. It was good too! When we came out of the tavern, it was obvious that it had been raining while we were eating, so when we got home, we were relieved to see no more water had found its way in to the camper. So, it must have been Marg!! 

We head out tomorrow and go to Bauple to see K's sister. From there we head to Bli Bli to see my brother, then to the Gold Coast to see Dave and Tania.

Here are a couple of photos from today:

 The fruit bats in Yeppoon. They didn't like us poking around and a lot of them took off.

 Beautiful islands off the coast here in Rosslyn Bay

 ...and some more.

The Singing Ships memorial to Captain James Cook at Emu Park. It didn't sing for us though as there was not a breath of wind.

Monday 29th - At 5am I couldn’t take lying awake in bed any more so I got up. The sky was crystal clear, and full of stars, so I decided to go for a walk with my camera to try to catch the sunrise. The previous late afternoon we had seen some vans out on the point but couldn’t work out how to get there. This morning I decided to walk along the mangroves and low tide sand/mud/rocks to see where it went. I ended up walking all the way to the point, across outgoing streams and sandbanks. It was really nice. I finally got all the way out to the point and saw that it was the proper camp ground for the area. It was Yarrawonga Park Reserve and it was free camping. It was a beautiful place with plenty of room, but no amenities of course. I spoke to a guy out there and he had been going out there for 20 years. Next time I am in the area, I will make sure I camp out there. I walked back along the track from the point, only to find that it was the same track that we had camped on overnight, just about 2kms further out. The track was full of rain puddles from last night, but it was a lot smoother than the track we had ended up camping next to. Mind you, if we had kept driving, we wouldn’t have made it in time to set up camp before the storm hit. I took some really nice photos.

When I got back – I had been away for 1 ½ hrs – the others had already had breakfast so we packed up and left the area. The neighbouring farmer stopped by and told us that it was a good thing we didn’t camp at the spot that was in the book, as there was a resident 14’ croc there that had already attacked two boats! He said they had never had so many croc sightings as they have had this year! I never saw one, nor any signs of any. On the sand, in a sand nest amongst the debris, I did find a black speckled, white bird’s egg, which was the same size as a chook’s egg. I asked Klaus later, and even took him to see it, and he thought it was a Tern’s egg, but he said they normally lay two eggs. Maybe something got the other one, although there was no sign of broken shell, or of mum and/or dad.

Back out to the main road again, we turned south. The road was really boring, with no features to talk of. This was the most mind numbing stretch of road that I have driven on, for a long time. (k) Just before Rockhampton, we turned towards Yeppoon, and when we had gone the 33kms to Yeppoon, we turned south along the coastline and ended up at Big4 Capricorn Palms, Mulambin Beach.

We setup camp as quickly as possible to try to dry out the camper from last night’s storm. Marg will stay with us again tonight as we are taking her to the Rockhampton airport early tomorrow, and she will fly home. By sleeping with us, her tent won’t be wet for the rest of the trip home. We will repack everything so that we only need to get out our stuff. We ended up travelling 298kms today, not as much as the 474 kms yesterday from Townsville.

Apparently we are going out for dinner tonight, so I have to go and have a shower!Here are some photos from this morning.

 West hill drying out from last night's big storm - the 1st rain since leaving Sydney 5 weeks ago.

 Sunrise over the outgoing tidal flats

 The view from the top of the easter point. Our camp is in the trees far to the right about 2kms in.

 Klaus doing some off-roading in the van.

 One of the locals called in to see us.

This frog is obviously a computer nerd. He was looking at my photos on the laptop.

Hi again. It is now Saturday night. We have just returned from a day, well most of the day, at Magnetic Island. I hadn't been there before - Wendy had - and it was nice. We caught the ferry over from Townsville, and then bussed (with some crazy drivers) and walked around.  We had lunch in the pub and walked on the beaches. We returned about 3:30 and then walked around 'The Strand'. There was a TV camera and crew fiddling around on the beach and we soon realised that a guy from the turtle hospital was going to return a turtle to the sea. They were there to film it for the local news I assume.
On the way back to the camp, we tried to find the road up to the lookout on Castle Hill, but we couldn't find it so we gave up in disgust. Even worse, we needed to buy bread and milk on the way home for tea, and Woolies was closed at 5:30!! We were not impressed. Tomorrow we head south again for a camp around Mackay. We are not exactly sure yet.
Here are a couple of photos from last couple of days.

 Unusual flower growths on rainforest tree

 Wendy doing her emails as K packs up the van in Cairns

 Curlew birds make themselves at home in the Big4 park!

 Numbers 1, 2 & 3 of the 'only 2 Canonball trees in Australia'.

 A bit of Yasi damage on Mission Beach

 Lunch in the pub at Horseshoe Bay on Magnetic Island

 Horseshoe Bay beach

 Where's (the) Wally???

 Amazing fig trees in Townsville. The aerial roots systems create a curtain to the ground.

 A man-made waterfall with Boganvillias at The Strand' in the middle of Townsville.  

 The kids water world in the park at Townsville. The bucket on top fills with water then empties out after a certain fill amount. The kids have a ball.

A turtle that was on the beach...