Day 29 - 40

DAY 40 - Thurs 29 July

• Baby Hunter had surgery at 8am. All went well although he seemed to be in pain whenever moved and was quite unsettled... who could blame the poor little guy? Poor Corina had not had hardly any sleep over the past few weeks too. The photo below is Hunter a few hours after surgery...

DAY 39 - Weds 28 July

• Geoff was organising and sorting out a few things that needed doing in Port Macquarie
• Amanda spent the day at Gosford Hospital with Corina and baby Hunter, Jacko (Corina's husband) and her mum. 

DAY 38 - Tues 27 July

• We left Dungog and headed back to Port Macquarie and arrived there around 2pm.
• Just 6 hours later Manda and her mum jumped back in the car and headed back down the coast to Gosford. Hunter, my sister Corina's 6 week old baby was not well. He was admitted to hospital needing surgery for 2 inaugural hernia's. 
• Geoff stayed in Port Macquarie.

DAY 37 - Mon 26 July

• Today we went on a picnic with Geoff's parents to Chichester Dam, just west of Dungog.

Along the way we noticed this caravan up a tree... what a cubby house hey!

• On the way home Geoff learnt a new respect for moss! We were slowly heading down a rather steep, narrow dirt road with banks dropping down either side of the road. Next thing we know the car was spinning sideways heading towards the steep ditch lined with trees! Heather let out a yelp, Tony made sure his ticker kept ticking, I left some claw marks either side of my seat and Geoff, with his heart racing, managed to get the car back under control before we careered off the road... Apparently our tires went over some moss on the side of the road and the rest is history... We were all praising God for keeping us safe and the car on the road and for our new off road tyres! (which helped us gain control of the car). 

DAY 36 - Sun 25 July

• We spent the day in Dungog with Geoff's sister Naomi, her husband Luke, their kids Grace, Maeve and Jude, Geoff's brother Tim and Geoff's parents Tony and Heather. It was great spending time with them all and playing with the kids. They all left that night to head back home. 

DAY 35 - Sat 24 July

• We left Port Macquarie and drove to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle to visit Sarah and Ben and their beautiful new daughter, Honor Violet. 

Manda and niece Grace checking out the new addition to the family...

I think after our crazy drive I must still have been a little tired... I look a little 'special' here...

I think Geoff must have been a little delirous also as he is holding Honor like a brick or piece of 4 'b 2!

Our gorgeous nephew Jude...

We then made our way our to Dungog to spend some time with Geoff's Family at his parents place.

DAY 34 - Fri 23 July

• We slept most of the day today trying to catch up from our crazy drive. 

DAY 33 - Thurs 22 July

• Sleeping in the car proved to be a little challenging as only one of the front seats would decline (the fridge was behind the passenger seat). Manda slept quite well in the drivers seat from 2am till 5am. Geoff managed to somehow contort his 6 foot 2 frame in the middle backseat but was so uncomfortable didn't sleep well. We swapped spots at 5am but then manda couldn't sleep... so at 6am Manda drove for a few hours while Geoff slept. Geoff said it was the WORST sleep he ever had which is quite a call from someone who I believe has a supernatural power to sleep anywhere, anyhow, anytime. 
• On the early morning 6am driving shift I drove past a big kangaroo dead on the side of the road. As I drove past him, it lifted it's head and looked at me!! Totally freaked me out...
• 2289 kms later, and 35 hours since we left Wonga Beach, we arrrived in Port Macquarie... 

DAY 32 - Weds 21 July

• Today was D- Day ("Driving Day"). Wonga beach to Port Macquarie. 2306km or so. Cant wait :(
• At 5am Ben called to say Sarah had delivered a little Girl, Honor Violet. What good timing on the day we planned to head back!
• We were finally ready to leave at 10.30am. It took us awhile to get the van ready for storage and pack the car. 
• We dropped the Caravan off just north of Cairns at a Storage place.
• After the first 100kms Manda was keen to throw Geoff's golf clubs out the window cause they rattled SO much... only 2206kms left of rattling... 
• We drove and drove and drove, tag-teaming... 
• I'm afraid Geoff's co-pilot wilted by 9pm but he pressed on to Rockhampton arriving at 2am, after doing around 1200kms. We pulled in behind a servo to catch a few hours sleep in the car. 
• Along the way Geoff saw 15 wallabies, 2 roo's, 4 rabbits, and 1 fox. Praise God he kept them all out of our way. 

DAY 31 - Tues 20 July

Geoff spent most of the morning and late afternoon trying to fix the Solar on the van. It had stopped working at some point a couple weeks back... a few of the grey nomads offered help. Owen below was especially helpful (I'm being serious here). Finally Geoff discovered that a wire on top of the van wasn't actually connected to the Solar... sorry Jayco not a good wrap.

Around lunch time we decided to go for a drive into the Daintree Area. The photo's below really dont do it justice. It was SO lush and beautiful, we can't wait to go back. We had lunch at the the Big Barra Cafe in the Daintree Village and Geoff had Barra 'n Chips which he confidently declared was "the best fish 'n chips I eva had!" It was accompanied by a selection of tropical fruit most of which Geoff had no idea what they were, but they were all delicious he says. We also met a local called 'Toxy' (he obviously was named due to his love of beer). He had some CRAZY stories to tell although I felt I needed to wash my ears out with soap afterwards... Geoff says I better get used to it as even the grey nomads like to swear!

At the Wonga Beach Pinnacle Caravan Park there were quite a few peacocks getting around. Their colours are just amazing...

DAY 30 - Mon 19 July

• We were up early and drove 40 mins south to Port Douglas to do our tour out to the Barrier Reef on the SilverSonic. 

^ This is the boat we decided to head out on... apparently it also had some fandankle super sonic stablising soft ride mumbo jumbo technology to ensure a smooth ride out to the reef...

^ On our way out to the reef... it was such a beautiful day (too bad it didn't last). You can see in the next photo the rain in the distance... that's where we headed!

We got to our first snorkel spot and it was pouring rain, windy, rough and miserable. We jumped in tho and the reef and fish were amazing! We saw big parrot fish, very big hump-headed maori wrasse, white tip reef sharks, barracoota, a school of squid, many nemo's, just to name a few... At our 2nd dive spot the sun temporarily came out which made the coral even more beautiful. There is no doubt that there is a God! 

Unfortunately, the fandankle super sonic stablising soft ride mumbo jumbo technology to ensure a smooth ride out to the reef didn't work for poor ol'Geoff. He felt pretty off esp. by mid arvo. 

On the drive back to Wonga beach, quite a few farmers were burning off their sugar cane fields. We stopped and talked to one of the farmers and Geoff had all his questions answered...

Geoff riding a WW11 missile that was dropped in the area... sorry, not a very patriotic photo but we had a little giggle over this one...

DAY 29 - Sun 18 July

• We left Cairns and headed 100km north to Wonga Beach
• Along the way we stopped at Generations Church. It was a friendly church and we met a guy called Matty. He had some great stories including this one... He often swims from the beach at Cairns about a mile out to sea to a reef to spearfish (and I might add ON HIS OWN). Last week, on his solo swim out to the reef he somehow missed the reef and so stopped to rest on a bombie. As he climbed onto it to a large shark fin swam past belonging to a big hammerhead. After half an hour he couldn't get rid of it so he decided to head back to shore swimming on his back with the spear gun between his legs watching underneath and behind him. At some point he turned to face the front and there was the shark right in front of his face! He decided that would be his last solo spear fish! Crazy stuff - not to mention it being croc infested waters also. Matty also said he might be able to show us around cairns sometime and take his to his Gold Mine lease. We hope to see him and his wife again sometime. 
• We arrived at Wonga beach and set up camp before being invaded by friendly grey nomads wanting a chat.

Day 21-28

DAY 28 - Sat July 17

• We are looking at heading back to Port to see Ben & Sarah's baby and tie up a few loose ends. Problem is, it's roughly 2206km! That's a long way to tow a van too... thinking of heading back in a few days after we do the Barrier Reef tour on Monday (without the van hopefully). We've been really undecided about the best way to get home as flights are also really expensive and we want to drop a few things off that we wont need... mmmmm 
• Geoff put some ridiculously big, definately ugly mud flaps on the Car... (We already noticed a stone chip on the back of the car and we havnt even been on a dirt road with the van yet. All others we have talked too highly recommended something to protect the back of the car and the front of the caravan from rock damage).

• Tomorrow we are FINALLY leaving Cairns and heading to Wonga beach which is about 45km North of Port Douglas as we are doing the reef tour from Port Douglas on Monday. 

Bush Turkey blogging today's update

These photos below are of the fandangle boat motor box that Geoff made before we left Port... Its going great too...

DAY 27 - Fri July 16

• The "Dugong" and "Bush Turkey" went for their first run (for the purposes of exercise incase you were wondering). The Dugong's "jogging" speed was too fast for the Bush Turkey and her limbs were flopping around like spaghetti (or so it seemed).
• Still in Cairns organising... today we designed and made a fishing rod holder in the car. Awesome! although still needs some tweaking... 

The rods are held on with some velcro tabs which are screwed on. The rods used to live on the roof racks under the boat but then couldn't be accessed without removing the boat.

The hunter sharpening his new ax...

DAY 26 - Thurs July 15

• Cruiser had a 3rd battery installed for an in-car fridge for when we go to the holiday house (camping). 

• Rode bikes into the city and went to the movies, saw "Knight & Day". Adams Movie Rating (AMR) 16.5/20 "Quite entertaining"
• We LOVE riding our bikes around Cairns (and I only got horned once by a car). 

DAY 25 - Weds July 14

• Mr Mechanic fixed by bike. When we rode to Church my bike decided it was now an Auto and kept changing gears frequently... it made for an interesting ride.
• Today the car seat punched me in the face so hard it knocked my sunnies off! I went to 'upright' my seat after laying down and as it forcefully sprung forwards I turned to look at Geoff... he thought it was hilarious and laughed for a long time - no sympathy!
• The humble porta-loo (it's basically a bucket with a toilet seat lid) has become one of our most versatile items...     

1. Obviously porta-loo, 
2. Laddder, 
3. Bin with closing lid
4. fish bucket. Who knew!

DAY 24 - Tues July 13

• Still hanging in Cairns just getting ourselves organised for the rest of the trip.
• Used mixing bowls for dessert bowls tonight as we both didn't feel like washing up but desperately wanted dessert

DAY 23 - Mon July 12

• Mr Mechanic installed the new radiator and the car works!!! I'm impressed to say in the least (and absolutely relieved). For someone who knew nothing about cars this is quite an accomplishment.

DAY 22 - Sun July 11

• Really wanted to go to Church today but obviously the car wasn't an option - so we decided to ride the bikes the 4km into town. Ended up having to saw the bikes off the bike rack as the bike lock had seized up. We madly peddled (as we were now running late), to Living Waters Cairns and arrived sweaty and smelly (I may have forgotten deoderant that day). It was a great service. The msg was on making sure we are fertile soil so the seed (word of God) takes root and is not stolen by the birds (enemy).  And also the importance of tending to it and watering it etc. to avoid the weeds (cares of this world) choking it.
• After Church we rode along the Esplanade which runs along the coast. Cairns seems to be a very wealthy place! On the Esplanade there was the most amazing kids playground, massive skatepark, beach volleyball, heaps of nice BBQ areas and a large open pool with white sand edges (as you cant swim in the sea). There is such a diversity of people here; wealthy, 4WDrivers, backpackers, every race of people and language just about... it's an amazing place! The city is all flat too with bike lanes everywhere so getting around on a bike is great fun. 

Thats Cairns City across the massive mud flats... and the Marina below...

 

• We learnt that you can only buy wine in a Goon Sac here after 4pm!

DAY 21 - Sat July 10

• Happy birthday Danielle - miss you!
• 105,000 km Service on the Cruiser
• Geoff, now "Mr Mechanic" attempted to change the rear suspension airbag (as it had popped up at the Cape). After hours of pulling off the wheel, the suspension, handbreak cables etc. Mr Mechanic discovered the clowns had given him the wrong size replacement airbag and they were closed until Monday! Most people in this situation would probably say a few choice words, possibly throw some tools and take it out on the nearest unfortunate soul... but Mr Mechanic shrugged his shoulders and begun putting it all back together minus the airbag. 

• Mr Mechanic then informed me he was now going to replace the radiator. You have to understand this was coming from a guy who's idea of 'mechanics' on a car involved popping the bonnet and just making sure the engine was 'still in there'. But as all good wives do, I smiled and nodded but was inwardly FREAKING OUT! By dinner time there were bits of car spread around the lawn but he had managed to remove the damaged radiator - I sure hope he knows how to put it all back together again!

• We ate our freshly hunted fish from yesterday for dinner. Might need to practice cooking it a little more though. 

CAPE YORK

DAY 20 – Fri July 9

• Up at 6am and took the tinnie 45km south to Dooral where the Mulgrave and Russel rivers meet and head towards the sea (a local gave us the tip to head there). Geoff caught an undersized queenfish which was released and a good size trevally. Manda caught a nice little flathead. WHOO HOO we caught dinner!! On the way back to the boat ramp we saw our first croc sunbaking on the sandy shore – we were pretty pumped and glad he was only a little fella.
• Before we left to go in the tinnie I asked Geoff if he wanted his raincoat… he laughed at me wearing mine and said “I wont need a raincoat – it wont rain!” quite confidently… Famous last words!! It rained alright and I was snug and warm in my raincoat!
• What a day! We caught dinner and saw a croc. Happy days.

DAY 19 – Thurs July 8

• Washed the desperately dirty car (Geoff was Mr Popular at the caravan park as all the old grey nomads realised we had been to the Cape due to the ridiculously dirty car and wanted to know all about it)
• We thought we would go exploring and check out a place called Yarrabah. However, the closer we got we realised it was an Aboriginal community in the middle of nowhere (the big Aboriginal flag painted on a rock near town was the final straw) so we did a u’y and headed back to Cairns. There are a lot of Aboriginals up north and unfortunately most we have seen have been blind drunk and seem to get a little violent and loud at times.
• Geoff did his first solo mechanical on the car replacing the radiator fan. Hercules! Hercules!
• Manda lovingly washed the tinnie (but im sad to say it will never be a shiny, fancy tinnie again. The red dirt has partially corroded the aluminium (Geoff says it has ETCHED not corroded)…

DAY 18 – Weds July 7

• We slept most of the morning as we both felt pretty lethargic and tired after the trip. Just managed a food shop today.

DAY 17 – Tues July 6

• Left Palmer River Roadhouse and made our way back to Cairns. (Daff and Helen had to stop along to way and clean their brakelights and indicators as you couldn’t see them at all through all the mud).
• We picked up the Van – Oh it looks so luxurious I had tears in my eyes!! Nothing like 10 days camping in the outback to make you appreciate and LOVE a caravan.
• We checked in again to a caravan park in Cairns and met up with the others at Outback Jacks Bar n Grill for a last dinner together before we all went our separate ways. Kind of sad to say goodbye after our 10 day adventure together. We met some great new people and had so much fun together.

DAY 16 – Mon July 5

• We checked out the Archer river and signed the visitors book at the roadhouse then hit the road again.
• We decided along the way that the caravan is our home and the tent is our holiday house J
• The boys all had fun driving on the muddy roads after some heavy rain

Keeping an eye on the radiator - it was all good tho :)

We pulled over along the way for this road train to come through

• The road between Laura and Palmer River Roadhouse was spectacular! 

• Camped the night at Palmer River Roadhouse.
• Felt a little homesick knowing we had no real home to return to (like the others) and it was back to a caravan park in Cairns. 

DAY 15 – Sun July 4

• Left Punsand bay and started headed back south again.
• Stopped at Bramwell Junction for lunch and took some car photos...

• Camped the night at the Archer River Roadhouse

DAY 14 – Sat July 3

• First launch of the beloved tinnie. There was gale force winds and quite choppy but no swell so we decided to brave the crocs and go for a spin. In the first five mins I caught a small spanish mackeral (which was too small to keep but died due to traumatic injuries sustained whilst undergoing hook removal). We then very slowly made our way up a creek called crocodile creek (for obvious reasons) searching for the 5m local resident. It was VERY quiet and eerie, then suddenly a few fish jumped out right next to the boat and we both nearly had a coronary! We bailed after that as it was also getting really shallow and we DID NOT want to get stuck there. We returned home absolutely sunburnt, windburnt, tired and without fish to keep but happy. PS> the boat motor started first go… phew!

This helicopter was taking people on joy flights and would land right on the beach in front of our camping ground!

 Geoff pulled out the car seats and lifted up the carpet to try dry out the car (from water getting in at GunShot)

DAY 13 – Fri July 2

• We did the last 15km up to the Cape York Tip which is 3670 kms from Port Macquarie! We made it!!! 

• It was a pretty lazy day with everyone being quite tired from all the long days driving.
• We all decided to go croc hunting on the beach that night but with only a couple of torches it was a little freaky and didn’t last long… still have not seen a croc (other the one from the bus window).

DAY 12 – Thurs July 1

• We jumped into this gorgeous waterhole between 2 waterfalls for an early morning swim...

• We continued our trip North bound for Punsand Bay (which is about 15km from the most Northern tip of Australia).
• We crossed the Jardine River Ferry at no small cost $88! Some photos from the day...

We had lunch in Bamaga and some of the local kids came over for a chat with Matt

• We arrived late arvo at Punsand Bay and the girls headed down to the beach for a fish… unfortunately with no luck. And the boys offered whatever support they could...

DAY 11 – Weds June 30

• We left the Dulhunty river campsite and headed over to GUNSHOT creek “just to have a look” says Geoff. It is a well-known near vertical drop into a muddy pit that only the brave (or possibly foolhardy) attempt in their 4WD’s.  Geoff decided he was up to the challenge, although I was a little dubious about the extra weight of the boat on the roof and possibly flipping the car. Once again, Geoff did a great job of driving (this time with a large crowd watching). We were all cheering as he safely made it down until he stopped moving right in the middle of the deep muddy pit… No drama’s he thought, we’ll just use our fandangle winch. Although we then discovered that the clowns who installed it forgot to tie the end of it up to the winch barrel so nothing happened. At this stage Geoff was getting quite a bit anxious as water was starting to creep in around his feet. However Geoffs support crew (Doug, Matt and Daff) were on the ball and managed to fix the winch and winch geoff out of the hole. Geoffs comments; “Its AWESOME! I never thought I would do it but saw 3 others with the same car go before me so…”

Gun Shot drop off..

A 4WD taking an alternate route to the gunshot which also looked difficult. This poor car had also hit a roo along the way...

Another poor soul who took another alternate route which didn't work out so well. They also had a camper trailer on and took a few hours to get out.

Here goes Captain Careful taking on the famous GunShot...

• Lunch at Fruit Bat Falls – so incredibly beautiful which was good as we just discovered as we pulled up that our radiator fan had lost two blades and damaged the radiator in a deep river crossing (we think). PRAISE GOD tho because the radiator was not leaking and the car was still OK to drive. 

• Twin Falls: Definitely one of the most beautiful places we have ever swam at...

Awesome photo of Daff under the falls that we had to include. Can you spot wally (aka Geoff) in the next photo?

Daffyd and Helen

Doug and Liz

Matt and Di

• From here, the girls declared it was “Girls Go Driving” time… it didn’t last very long as only a  few hundred metres down the road we all bailed!
• We popped one of the rear airbags under the car on a rough bit on our way to camp :( (They are more to support the car when towing the van so it wasn’t too much of an issue).
• Some photos from the days drive...

• Camped just north of Twin Falls and enjoyed happy hour by the water...

When we arrived at camp, I wondered into the bush for a toilet stop and was very carefully watching the ground for snakes. Problem was I wasn't watching head height and I came about half a metre away from walking face first into this beast of a spider... It gave me a SHOCK to say in the least!

DAY 10 – Tues June 29

• 8.30am we all did a Bauxite Mine Tour.  4 tonnes of Bauxite = 1 tonne of Aluminium. (Manda might have had a nap or two while Geoff’s nose was pressed up against the bus window)...

• On our way back to Weipa on the as the mine tour bus crossed a river, we spotted our first croc…

•  Yes there is a croc under this ripple of water (was a little difficult to photograph on a moving bus)
• Geoff and Manda are no longer friends as someone forgot boat fuel and we are headed into woop woop!
• We begun the Old Telegraph Track which is notorious for rough 4WD’ing. About 1km in we came across a massive drop, followed by a deep river crossing with a steep clay bank on the other side. After watching a few young cowboys very roughly attempt it we all decided it wasn’t worth it and took the bypass track. Much to Geoff’s delight we discovered the bypass track was just a dead end and the only way through was down the deep drop... This photo is Daff and Helen going through the deep river crossing in which they discovered their car wasn't watertight! 

• Geoff says he’s “too excited to fart!”

• Geoff and Doug randomly mounted this anthill as I was taking a photo of it - Classic.
• About 6pm that night we arrived at an awesome campsite right next to a bubbling brook of the Dulhunty River  i think). 

A late night wash down by the river - were all hoping it was too shallow for crocs.

Geoff enjoying a morning bath in the the bubbling brook... he found a deep hole to sit in :)

DAY 9 – Mon June 28

• We left Hanns Crossing and headed towards Weipa.
• We stopped at Musgrave Station for fuel (there was a long line of big 4WD’s). The fuel guy also commented on our shinny new rig… We need to get it dirty!

• It was a long boring red dirt road

• Manda says “I have LOTS of dirt up my snoz!!”…
• Arrived in Weipa just in time to have happy hour on the beach and watch the sun set over the ocean... Aaahhhhh

DAY 8 – Sun June 27

• We dropped the van off at a storage place just north of Cairns as we made our way to Lakefield National Park to meet our friends.
• It was a beautiful drive with the scenery changing from lush rainforest to dry, sparse, rocky bushland...

• We were referred to along the way as the “Landcruiser with the fancy tinny on top” over the UHF radio (they didn’t know we were listening)… Geoff was keen to dirty it up a litte.
•  I realised as we entered the campsite (Hanns Crossing in Lakefield National Park) that my freshly pressed skirt and diamonty thongs was not suitable camping attire! Minutes after arriving we were also greeted by a snake crossing the river and going up a tree near our campsite.  Welcome to the wilderness! 

• Matt and Di cooked an INCREDIBLE meal for us: rissoles with onion, baked pumpkin filled with veggies, baked potato, boiled veggies, garlic bread and warm homemade custard for dessert with banana – We were blown away! Camping is awesome!
• Around the campfire that night we told croc attack stories and matt and di shared all their recent snake sightings in the National Park…. I went to bed slightly petrified (I also need to mention here that all 3 other couples were sleeping in their cars and we were the only ones on the ground in a tent – was VERY grateful we had a new tent with no creepy crawly holes). 
• A couple of pics of our campsite...