I spent a night at Bluewater rest area north of Mackay and then headed for Walkamin. I had rung as I wasn't booked in until Monday the 6th - today. I managed to get a site although they are very busy and full most nights.
I had to move a couple of times but now I'm on my permanent site and it's great. With a rustic view from the back and plenty of space it's ideal and I'll be here for a few weeks.
When packed up for changing sites yesterday, Sunday, I went into Mareeba and did some shopping including a couple more pork pies!
I caught up with washing at a laundromat in Proserpine so I'm fine for a while - there are washing facilities here of course.
Max from Caravan World wanted a pic of me on my scooter so I got Bill, the bloke next door, to take one this morning. Here it is:
There are quite a few people here that I know from previous visits - Vi and I came here many years ago and booked for two nights that turned into a fortnight.
It's my favorite park - spacious grassy sites not set in uniform rows, lots of area, a great camp kitchen/recreation room where there's happy hour every night plus a bbq on Fridays. At $24 a night for a powered site it's still very reasonable.
The nights are cool but the days are sunny with temperatures in the mid 20s. Perfect!
I went for a scooter ride today and got a pic of Lady Fingers bananas growing. Unfortunately there was no machinery operating to show the height of the trees/plants.
I couldn't resist these gorgeous alpacas - we have two at home. Ours are Dorris and Lucy - named after Doris Day and Lucille Ball would you believe.
I've spent a lot of the day at the computer - Caravan World has instituted a new invoicing system and I had to get Lucy, the park owner, to download a form for me to sign and then I had to scan it with my phone, email it to myself and then send it to Bauar Media. What a lot of baloney - I think they still want something more but it's a wait and see.
Thursday 10th, July
These sugar bananas are hanging in the rec room and will soon be ripe - I don't know who will get them.
They grow here in the park and Jim tells me there are other fruit trees on the property;
We had entertainment for happy hour tonight, a professional guitarist and singer who played a lot of old favorites - I guess most of the audience were old favorites themselves. I bought one of his CDs and have added it to my iTunes library.
I videoed one song but I guess it will be too big to load on here - I'll give it a try though.
Friday 11th July
Yes - it wouldn't load so here's a still from the movie.
Tried again and hey - success!
You can go to full screen by clicking on the square at bottom right
Last night (Sat) Park Manageress Di got stuck into the bunches of bananas shown above and everybody got a few - there were a lot of bananas so they went a long way.
On Saturday my kind next door neighbors gave me a lift into the Mareeba market and then dropped me of at the IGA to do some shopping. No pork pies this week! I guess I need a break from them but disappointing just the same.
A couple from the ACC Hunter Ramblers spotted me at the market and we had a nice little chat.
It's been chilly at nights and I've had to put my dressing gown over my legs to keep warm watching the telly, so today, Sunday, I skootered in to Mareeba to buy a heater at Target. It's a lovely little ceramic one with thermostatic control so no more chilly nights. I could have sat by the lovely open fire in the rec room but having a heater in Yemmy makes more sense.
It was a test for the scooter as it's over 15km each way and a quite steep hill on the way back. I wasn't sure it would make it as the charge indicator was showing very low before I got to the top of what they call the 'jump up' here in Queensland. I wasn't sure what I would have done if it had stopped - I don't think it's too bright using the pedals.
Maybe if I ride a little slower I might get better economy and eztend the distance from a full charge.
Yesterday I gave Yemmy a run - he hadn't been on the road for a fortnight so I went to Youngaburra and had another look at the Curtail Fig Tree. Last time I went there to get some pics my trusty camera died and I had to buy a new one - this time a Nikon DSLR. It didn't die and I got a few pic and have tried to show its size in a video.
Then I did a big shop in the Super IGA in Atherton and was back on site and all set up again by mid-afternoon.
Pretty uneventful weekend and the telly was playing up. I did watch the German Grand Prix between pixelisations but I determined to get another antenna on Monday. I got a lift with my next door neighbors who were going into Mareeba and looked for an antenna at Jaycar. The one he suggested was out of stock but more were due on the Thursday. When I got home I decided to try a longer antenna pole and utilised my new broom handle. Problem solved - all channels including the elusive ABC work fine so no new antenna.While waiting for my lift in Coles I was surprised and delighted to see Dennis and Geraldine walk in. They were on the NZ trip earlier this year. They tried to get into Walkamin but the park was full However they are coming to lunch at the Bridge Restaurant on Friday with a few more ACC
members
When I went out to the restaurant yesterday (Tuesday 22nd) i saw this huge machine at work.
Click bottom right of the frame for full screen. Exit to return to normal screen.
Monday 28th July
Quite a lot has happened since I updated the blog last week but it has been playing up and not updating.
ACC Lone Trekker Chris arrived from Cooktown on Thursday and has her camper trailer set up next to me. She is a pleasant lady and we will travel together to Katherine and then down to Pt Augusta.
Nine of us ACC members weny out to nearby Bridges Cafe for lunch on Friday and it was great. Seven of us are at Walkamin and the other couple are at Tinaroo Dam.
The donkey is one of many animals in the grounds of the Bridges Cafe.
Saturday was our Christmas in July and 84 people sat down for a lovely meal and a great evening.
In the pic are Linda, Brian and Chris - and Chris again on the right
Then yesterday four of us went to the Herberton Pioneer Village. Despite a drizzly day we had a great time - it has a wonderful collection of thing from bygone eras - fascinating.
This steam engine was one of many working exhibits.
There were 15 of us who had lunch at the Tolga pub on Thursday 11 from the park and 4 who traveled from Cairns and Ravenshow to join us.
AUGUST
Chris took me down to Cairns yesterday (August 1st ) for a podiatry appointment and then after a look around a huge markets with a wonderful selection of fruit and veg, she suggested I could take the Skyrail back up the divide while she drove up. She had done the trip last year and it was a great ride.
We visited the Jacqes Coffee Plantation and a Mango winery on Wednesday and although I'd been before to Jacqes it was still good and we had a nice lunch there,
It was minus 1 degree C at home today! I'm so glad I'm up here.
August 19th
Lots has happened since I've updated the blog but unfortunately a combination of laziness and computer problems has delayed an update till now.
We had Christmas in July and about 84 people sat down to a great meal and lots of good fun. Here are some ACC members enjoying themselves.
We had a great time at Walkamin and had our names down for a standby balloon flight from Mareeba. We thought we had missed out but our turn came on the morning we were leaving and so after an early awakening we arrived at the take-off field where the balloons were being inflated. The huge gas flares wre an incredible sight and we watched as all the balloons soared aloft.
We the did a 'chase' in the bus to where 'our' balloon had landed and we changed places with the first group in the basket. The winds were capricious and our pilot did a great job to set us down in the grounds of the pistol club.
Leaving Walkamin we headed for Mt Surprise and booked in for the Undarra Lava Tubes tour. This has changed since I was last there and now there are more than two hundred steps up and down - a bit tiring for oldies like me.
Then it was on to Carters Towers for a couple of days as Chris hadn't been there before. A self-drive tour with cd commentary was OK but a bit hard to follow. The park - Charters Towers Tourist Park has an owner who has forgotten how to smile - that's if she ever knew.
After the Towers we headed foor a lovely free camp at Julia Creek and another down by the billabong at Camooweal. Across the Barkly Highway and right turn at Barkly Homstead heading for Cape Crawford and Heartbreak Hotel. We had a windy and dusty free overnight stop on the way to CC and then headed east to King Ash Bay for two nights. No-one mentioned the 22km of corrugations and dust! We played Bingo and Hoy - a new skill!
Then on to Daly Waters Highway Inn where un-powered sites were $7 and powered were $25 - no prize for guessing which we used.
We arrived in Katherine on Thursday, 15th and booked in for two weeks. It was great catching up with Jackie and Duck and we spend the evenings with them chatting and reminiscing.
I managed to catch up with John and Kath Kingdom who visit their daughter in Katherine each winter - they have had horrific troubles with their new caravan which had so much weight behind the wheels that it was very unstable to tow.
