Inskip Point - Boondooma Dam, Queensland

Sunday delivered perfect weather. How disappointing for Shell, Adam and Lachy that they had to pack up and go home. Of the seven days we had been at Inskip Point there had only been a couple of decent days, the rest had been wet. They were on the road before nine, leaving Em and me to contemplate how we would spend our day.

The rain on Friday and Saturday had seeped into Em's camper so she pulled everything out to dry in the sun. Our full day at Fraser Island the day before had resulted in no housekeeping and the entire camp, including the inside of my van needed some serious attention. We both pottered around most of the morning getting things back into shape before heading into Rainbow Beach to get water and fuel. I also needed to get access to a power point to grind some coffee beans. Normally I would do that in the van with the generator running, but the bloody thing just refused to start. I suspect it may have got a bit damp during Friday's torrential downpour.

Around midday I popped my head into the Surf Lifesaving Club and asked if I could plug into a power point for a few minutes. "Absolutely, no problem". We sat outside on the balcony, in the sun, overlooking the stunning surf beach below and enjoyed a drink while I did the grinding. Back at camp we threw some snags on the BBQ for lunch before spending a relaxing day lazing in the sun, interrupted only by a spot of fishing for Em and a Blog update for me.

Monday was a fabulous day at Inskip. It started with a walk up to the end of the Point on the ocean side and back around to the van, bay side. James loves the beach. Most dogs do, but he's just suffered four months of beach deprivation while we've travelled up through the centre of Australia. Before travelling Oz he got to do a big walk along Seaford Beach pretty well every day of his five and a half year life.

Emma and I wanted to visit Carlo Sand Blow which is up on the hill behind Rainbow Beach township, so we headed into town quite early. The walk up through the National Park to the sand blow was beautiful, with the ocean visible down through the thick, semi-tropical vegetation and the bush oozing a delicious scent. Carlo Sand Blow was named by Captain Cook after one of his deck crew named Carlo. The unique "moonscape" sand mass covers over 15 hectares and the 360 degree vista is spectacular. To the North-east there are magnificent views over the town to the ocean, Inskip Point and Fraser Island, while to the South-east is Double Island Point and the cliffs of coloured sand. You are allowed to walk out onto the sand blow and to the cliffs on the edge of the ocean or back to the rounded edge of the massive dune that looms over Rainbow Beach town.

Our next planned activity for the day was to ride the bikes along the beach at low tide all the way into town. Low tide was at 1.15 and it was a very low 0.3 meters. We had a sausage in bread and were on the beach by 1.30. What a hoot! The bikes travelled with virtually no resistance on the hard sand and it was a fantastic ride along the edge of the crashing surf. We could really get some speed up with power set on high and peddling like mad. It took 40 minutes to get to the Rainbow Beach SLSC where we treated ourselves to drink on the balcony before heading back, just beating the tide as we neared home.

The batteries were pretty low on the bikes so as soon as we got back I hit the remote start button for the generator and it started first pop. Bloody excellent! The batteries went on charge while I got a big fire going and once again we had a fabulous night relaxing by the fire and listening to the waves crash on the shore.

I needed to be at the Sunshine Coast Airport by midday Tuesday to pick Brian up. He was keen to get back to warmer weather after a freezing six days in Melbourne sorting out his aviation stuff. I allowed around three hours to get there which gave me time to pick up a bag of firewood, do some shopping and have a cappy. James got to stay with Emma. It was a sunny but cool day of 18 degrees, so being in the car was ok. With Brian on board we took the coastal route, driving along the Sunshine Coast from Mooloolaba to Coolum. Last time I was there was 1979. The development, as you can imagine, was astronomical. It is a very, very, busy urban area and seemed to be pretty upmarket with beautiful homes and lush resorts.

Closer to home we detoured past the turnoff to Rainbow Beach and continued on to Tin Can Bay. What a lovely place. As you come into the township you pass by a beautifully manicured golf course. That's always a good start to creating a positive impression of any town for me. The course is part of the Country Club which also has a bowling green. It's not a particularly commercialized place though it is fairly well surrounded by water which, the tide being way out when we arrived, was largely mangrove mud flats. We didn't see any sandy beaches, however the waterfront is bordered by well maintained parkland which was just lovely. There is quite a large marina and heaps of yachts were moored out in the deep water. It's probably a great spot to live in retirement if you are into fishing or sailing.

From there we went via Cooloola Cove back to Inskip. The Cove is only a few kilometres up the road from Tin Can Bay and is quite a large residential area. We got back to the van at 3.30 and Em already had the fire blazing. James was beside himself with joy to see Brian. We had decided we would move and spend a few days at Boondooma Dam, put the tinnie in the water and do some fresh water fishing before Emma had to head back to Melbourne on the weekend. Brian got stuck into packing up in preparation for departure Wednesday morning.

We packed up our camps at Inskip, stopped at Rainbow Beach to fill up with water, then headed off in convoy to travel 200 km west back to Boondooma Dam. We managed a couple of weird diversions from track on the way thanks to the Beast's GPS deciding that normal main roads were too boring. We didn't mind though - we passed through some very pretty countryside and managed to pick up a stack of firewood on the roadside. It went a bit pear-shaped when we found ourselves turning onto a dirt road that was closed, without any clue as to which way to go. At that point Emma decided to take charge and used Google Maps on her Iphone to get us to Proston, the last town before Boondooma.

There were hardly any people at the Dam so getting a good spot was no problem. We set up well away from the few campers there, right on the water's edge with beautiful views over the lake and a big fire-pit between our camps. The afternoon was warm and sunny - just the weather were hoping for after mostly showery days on the coast. Brian was able to launch the tinnie straight from the Beast by parking parallel to the bank and virtually unloading the boat directly into the water. That was much easier than putting the trailer together, so he had his boat in the water in no time at all. One of the great things about Boondooma is being able to have your boat moored in front of your camp for your whole stay. We were all looking forward to some good fishing - as well as being able to explore the expansive waterway which is largely inaccessible by road. We had booked to stay until Sunday, so there was plenty of time to do it all.

The bird life at Boondooma is abundant. As soon as we arrived we were surrounded by very cheeky Apostle birds who were so tame they took food straight out of Brian's hand. I had to shut the van door to stop them going in. The Minors played with the side mirrors of the car even as we drove in. There were lots of different species of bird that we were able to identify including Pelicans, Darters, Cormorants, Ducks, Crows, Currawongs, Kookaburras and Magpies - actually too many to list. As night fell the temperature rapidly dropped. We loaded the fire up and got it roaring, then sat in front of it with our rods in the water, hoping for a lucky catch. That was not to be. After a fireside dinner Brian, James and I went for a moonlit walk while Emmie drove over to the ablution block to enjoy a lovely long, hot, pre-bedtime shower.

Thursday morning dawned clear and icy. A light mist hovered over the dead calm lake, the mirror surface broken only by pelicans gliding along or fish jumping. The Currawongs, Crows, Minors and Apostle birds were impatient for us to get up and crashed around the van, awning and furniture outside, chatting loudly. James stayed tucked under the covers for as long as he could stand it, but finally succumbed to his instincts, hurtled himself off the bed, bouncing out of the door as soon as it was opened to chase them all away. By the time I extricated myself from bed the sun was beginning to warm the day. It wasn't long before we were all in shorts and t-shirts. I took some bread out to feed the birds. The Apostle birds were happy to be hand fed while the Currawongs swooped down from the trees catching pieces I threw into the air. James was quite put out that he was confined to his chair while all this commotion went on and spent the rest of the day chasing them away from the camp.

Brian and I threw fishing lines in from the bank and hooked a Silver Perch each. Mine was too small but Brian's was 30 cm and we got a couple of lovely fillets from it. Em paddled out on the kayak for a couple of hours and threw a line in but didn't manage to catch a fish until later when she took the boat out. It was a bit small so she threw it back. Brian and I didn't have any luck when we went out in the tinnie though we did find a great pile of wood on the bank opposite camp and brought over some excellent big pieces for the night's fire. Before dark Em jumped in the tinnie and took a couple of nets with boiled potato in them to tie to a dead tree out in the dam. The camp manager had told us that big Redclaw were being caught on spud in pots set in 8-12 feet of water.

For dinner we cooked up the Silver Perch and the last frozen fillets of Yellowbelly that we caught a few weeks before when we were at Isisford. They were yummy, but I have to say the Silver Perch was nicer.

When we checked the pots Friday morning they were empty. Bugger! We were fully expecting a big haul of Redclaw. We shifted them to another location and reset them. The shrimp nets in front of our camp were another story - they were crawling with the little blighters. You beauty - plenty of live bait for the day's fishing. It was another beautiful, clear, sunny day. Em went for a drive to get fuel and did a bit of an explore of the area checking out Proston, Murgon and Hivesville. Brian and I pottered around the van just enjoying the fabulous environment. We took the tinnie across the dam and collected the night's wood, doing a spot of fishing on the way. When we got back I threw a line in off the back of the boat. The drivers seat is really comfortable and I can swivel it so my legs are resting up on the rear bench - a great way to relax and catch some sun.

Em took the boat across to the nets in the afternoon to add more bait. Brian had made a mix of dry catfood and fish oil which he put in little plastic containers with holes punched in them. He figured spud alone was not going to catch Redclaw. When Em pulled up the nets there was a large yabbie in each. She brought them back to camp because they had big claws and she was too scared to pluck them out. They went straight into the fridge. James and I hopped in the boat with Em and after we had re-set the nets we went exploring up near the dam wall. The spillway was a bit further on. You wouldn't want to get too close when water was flowing over it. It looked like a long drop down the other side. We found a little inlet and dropped our lines in. Sadly no-one got even so much as a bite for the whole day.

Boondooma is a very pretty dam set in rolling, bush covered hills. There are lots of rocky outcrops around the shoreline and more pelicans than I have ever seen in one place. You can watch them for hours as they paddle past, digging in the mud with their big beaks. When they lift their heads up to swallow you can see the outline of what they have caught in the sack part of the beak. Watching them take off and land is as good as being at an aerodrome. Brian reckons he's coming back as a Pelican.

We planned to leave Sunday, Em heading back home to Melbourne via Shelley's at Boyland (near Canungra Qld) and us going North to meet with Brian's daughter Natalie at Yeppoon. That meant Saturday was our last full day to enjoy Boondooma and Emma's company, and that we did!

An early check of the pots revealed a couple of good-sized yabbies to add to the fridge. Brian and I then did the usual wood collection by boat. There were mountains of dry timber all around the dam at the top of the 2011 flood level. I can only imagine how spectacular the flow of water over the spillway must have been at that time. We had pulled in a dozen or so shrimp that morning so we threw our lines in a tried a few different spots, without a bite.

Corey, the new manager of the facility, had dropped over to have a yarn the previous night. He and his wife were doing improvements, including the installation of a cappuccino machine and TV screen with Foxtel. We took James for a walk, got a couple of yummy cappy's and watched the replay of last few minutes of the Saints vs Geelong footy match. It's been ages since we watched TV and with the scores 41 a piece at the 6 minute mark we had to stay. We left when Geelong had hit the front by a point with 16 seconds on the clock. I couldn't bear to see Saint Kilda lose!

Later in the morning we went for a great bike ride up to the lookout over the dam wall and when we got back the three of us sat in the sun enjoying a drink and an antipasto platter for lunch. On the water's edge just in front of us a Cormorant was trying to swallow a large fish he had just caught. No matter how hard he tried it was just too big to go down. He coughed it up and sat almost on top of it contemplating his dilemma. A couple of Crows flew down and tried to steal it. They managed to pull it into the water, but all the kerfuffle attracted the attention of a nearby Pelican. He flew over, frightened the Crows off, then went into battle with the Cormorant who stood his ground for a good minute or so before the Pelican grabbed it and swallowed it down. It was so funny to watch. We were in fits of laughter.

                                                         "!@#&%% - you took my fish"

Mid-afternoon we all went out in the boat to explore a bit more and fish. That was great fun and while we didn't catch anything on the lines, when we went back to pull the pots in for the last time we had a 7th yabbie. Em was going to do a garlic butterflied yabbie entree for our last dinner.

Getting ready to leave can be quite therapeutic if you have the time to potter around in a relaxed head space. Em started her process early in the day, rearranging the way she packed and getting her camp in order. She loves her camper and it's a pretty enjoyable activity when you are in a stunning environment, temperatures are in the mid 20's and you have a beer in hand! Brian started the same process when we got back, loading the boat onto the Beast before slowly packing bits and pieces up. I fished!

We had a lovely last night in front of a huge fire listening to Indigo Girls (courtesy of Em) before going on a long walk to the end of the camp area. It will be sad to see Em go.

Boondooma Dam - Inskip Point Queensland

James is a crack-up. When it's cold in the mornings he snuggles down under the doona, tucked in beside me while I do my journal and absolutely refuses to acknowledge any interaction. Normally you can say words like 'walk', 'ball', 'cows', 'ducks', 'kangaroos' etc (he actually has a big vocabulary) and he instantly sits up and starts looking. But not when it's cold and he's tucked in bed. It's funny when we're driving along and there are cows or roos on the road ahead. One of us will casually say 'cows ahead', or some such thing. James can be fast asleep in his bed, high in the middle of the back seat and he's instantly up and searching. He's a real sticky-beak - doesn't want to be left out of anything, but you can't budge him when it's cold and he's in bed. Maybe he knows we're just tricking.

It was very cold and foggy when we awoke Sunday morning. It's the first time we've fired up the gas jets on the stove and left them to run a while to warm up the van. The fog burned off pretty quickly and as the sun came to life the day warmed up enough so that I put on shorts. The plan was a game of golf, so maybe that was more incentive for shorts than the temperature. We had only booked for one night at the dam, so we contacted Shell and Em (Emma had arrived at Shelley's the night before having driven from Melbourne) to discuss rendezvous plans. We agreed we'd meet Monday at Inskip Point and take our chances with the forecast iffy weather.

We booked a second night at Boondooma and drove into Prostin, 18 km away. The town has a population of around 300, most of those residents living on surrounding properties. It could be a quaint little place but is actually a bit run down and shabby. Apparently the area has been experiencing pretty tough times and is in decline. When the dam was being built in the 1980's it was quite prosperous.

At the nine hole golf course we met a couple of guys playing who gave assistance with borrowing a couple of buggies and paying our $10 green fees. We followed them to learn the course layout as they were just about to do the second nine (same as the first 9, but different tees). We both hit smashing first drives - excellent! It's a nice little par 35, in reasonable condition though a bit rough on the greens. We both played ok - and loved it. After the game we went into the clubhouse where the guys in front were having a drink. We got chatting about all sorts of things while enjoying a Sunday lunchtime sip. It's amazing that the club has only 14 members, a couple of whom green keep it. What a great job! The rest of our day was spent enjoying the beautiful Boondooma Dam environment, blogging, reading and fire-making. Before bed we packed as much up as we could in preparation for our departure for Inskip in the morning. I was excited that I would see the kids for the first time in over four months.

                                                            Sunset over Boondooma

We left Boondooma at 8.30 to wend our way east to Inskip Point via Gympie and Rainbow Beach. It was hilly, winding travel through country-side that was partly farming, partly forest and partly urban, particularly around Gympie. It was 16 degrees and drizzling for most of the way but cleared up and warmed up, thank goodness, by the time we got to Inskip early afternoon.

We arrived before Shell, Em and Lachy so drove along Inskip Point Road, off which the four beach side, bush camping areas are accessed. To stay at Inskip you buy a permit from Queensland Parks, then set up wherever you like at one of the designated areas. We needed a space that would accommodate three camps. It was tricky. Access was sandy and one spot we tried to get into we very nearly got bogged. When Shell arrived we walked around and found an area we thought would be ok. Getting in however was not without its dramas. The tight maneuvering caused the back of the Beast to connect with the front storage box on the van, damaging both the storage box and one of the tool boxes behind the rear wheels of the Beast. Bugger! We eventually got all three vans in place, but we were on black sand which, when it started to rain later, was sticky and horrible.

Our camp was almost at the tip of the peninsula so, protected on both sides by mainland to the west and Fraser Island to the east. Our camp was just behind the dunes on the ocean side.That was good for Lachy as he was into the water in a flash, joined by James who was beside himself with joy at being on the beach They played together for hours. By 4pm we had a fire going and started to kick back.It was great to catch up with the girls and my grandson. I did a Weber roast for us all and we enjoyed a lovely night together.

It rained quite a bit overnight. Em said it was lovely tucked in bed listening to the drops hitting the canvas of her camper. We all stayed dry. Lachy and Shell hit the beach at first light, despite the intermittent showers. He just had to be in the water! When Em got up she, Shell and Lachy went for a drive to have a good look through all the camping areas to see if they could find a spot that was on grass or yellow sand. The black sand we were on was was pretty messy and Lachy was constantly filthy. Our shoes were carrying the black stuff into the vans as well. Unfortunately they had no joy. The good spots were either taken or inaccessible due to deep sand or low overhead branches that the Beast and the boat would not fit under.

                                                      Ocean side with rain coming

Brian and I headed into Rainbow Beach to pick up our permit tags as we had booked our camping on line. Rainbow Beach is right on the ocean and has a lovely, fresh holiday feel about it. The main street ends at a lovely green park beside the surf club. There are some beautiful houses and holiday apartments that are built into the side of the hill behind the small shopping precinct. There are heaps of different beaches to go to around the peninsula and the sand is so wide on the ocean side that you can drive a car all the way from Inskip Point to Tewantin along the beach at low tide.That's a good 50 km. The beaches are truly stunning. It is a beautiful place. It does have one shortcoming - sand flies. You do really need to cover up.

In the afternoon Shelley, Lachy, James and I went to the ocean side for a walk and discovered lots of blue jellyfish on the high tide line. We scooped one up in Shelley's croc, took it back to camp and put it in a bucket. It had long, deep blue tentacles. We pulled out the Ipad and identified it as a Bluebottle or Portuguese Man of War. Their tentacles, which can range from 15 cm to 10 meters in length, inject a poison which causes incredible pain. From that point on neither Lachy nor James were allowed to play in the water on the ocean side. Fortunately there didn't appear to be any on the bay side. We all did a bit of fishing on both the bay and ocean sides and had plenty of bites. Em and Brian caught a couple small whiting but they were too small to keep. The drizzle came and went throughout the day but it was a relatively mild 20 degrees so not too much of a problem. Mid afternoon I got a big fire going and Shell made a stew which sat in the camp oven beside the fire and slow cooked until dinner time. It was yum!

We were up early Wednesday as Brian had a flight out of the Sunshine Coast Airport at midday. He was going back to Melbourne for six days to do his aviation medical, his AFR (practical flying review), and do the 100 hourly (maintenance/service) on his home-built RV aeroplane. The trip to the airport took just on two hours. I got back from dropping him off at 1pm, only to find that he had taken the key to the van with him. The spare key was locked in the van. Bugger! It took Shell, Em and me over an hour to break in. Fortunately in the end we only had to make a small cut in the fly wire of the security screen door then use a tent peg to unlatch it from the inside. Getting to that point, however, took ages and it was bloody frustrating!

After a late lunch and a clean up of my very sandy van James and Lachy had a big play and swim in the water bay-side while Shell, Em and I watched on. They both ended up cold and sandy by dusk, so it was bath time all around before they settled in front of a roaring fire all snugged up. Before bed James and I went for a walk along the ocean beach. The moon was bright and the tide was way, way out leaving a wide band of beautiful firm sand. It was just superb!

Shell, Lachy, James and I went walking on the beach as soon as it was light next morning. The tide was quite low and it was lovely to walk on the hard sand from the ocean side, up to the point and down the bay side to the back of our camp. We were really surprised to find a couple of wild horses grazing along the sand dunes at the edge of the beach. A stallion and a mare in foal, they were quite relaxed in the company of people as they wandered through the camps. The stallion had almost lost both ears. Shell reckoned it was because he had been constantly rubbing his sand fly bites on trees and had scratched them off. Aside from that they both looked in lovely condition.

I went into town mid morning to have a cappy, do a load of washing and fill the water containers at the public water point. Our van had the only hot water service and shower between the three camps, so it was getting a bit of a hammering - particularly given the black sand and showery conditions. Back at camp I pulled the bikes off their racks and Em and I rode the 14 km back into town for a fish and chip lunch while Shell and Lachy explored the playground and Tin Can Bay. It was great fun but on the way home Em had to resort to using power only as her bottom was so sore she could only sit one cheek on the seat at a time which meant she couldn't peddle. Luckily the batteries held out.

Thursday was our best day in terms of weather with clear skies and a comfy 22 degrees. Em had promised Lachy a ride in the canoe, so late in the afternoon we all walked across to the bay beach and Lachy got his paddle. He loved it. While on the beach he found a shell and held it to his ear. "I can see the beach!" he exclaimed.. How cute! A long play in the shallows with James followed, then a lovely hot bath in front of the fire. What a big day for a very busy little boy!

Shelley passed Lachy over to his Nanny Noelle first thing in the morning. Actually, it was first thing for me as I was still snugged up in bed - not for Lachy - he (and Shell, unfortunately) had been up for hours! He was ready for a play with James. Mmmm - a very loud and boisterous four year old and a dog playing catch hippo and tug of war in an 18 ft van is mind-boggling. It also leads to a touch of over-stimulation which is destined to end in tears. Ahhh - the joys of grand-parenting!

The day was cool and overcast with intermittent drizzle. Not the best beach going conditions, so Lachy and I went into Rainbow Beach for a mid-morning cappy and some time together on the foreshore play equipment. That was a good idea. A bit of rest time in the car seat and an area to run free and burn off some of that never-ending energy. It wasn't long after we got back that the heavens opened up and man - did it pour! It poured, and poured, and poured. Bucket loads. For hours and hours. Bugger! 

My job for dinner was to make a loaf of honey and oatmeal bread in the camp oven. The radar on the Ipad indicated the band of storms would pass so thought we would be able to get a fire going a a good bed of coals to cook the bread in time for dinner. Wrong! It was still raining at 6pm, and the fire that Em had used a bottle of metho on to get going, and that I had stood over with an umbrella to protect from rain was not exactly going to deliver a bed of coals. We did manage to pull out a few and with a pre-warmed camp oven I took the chance with the bread.

By 8 pm Shelley's partner, Adam, had arrived to spend the weekend, the rain had stopped, dinner was ready and we all ate it standing up in front of the fire because all the chairs were wet, accompanied by doughy bread.

It rained most of Friday night and was still drizzling when we left to go across to Fraser Island on the ferry at 9am. Adam was keen to take us over in his Navara Ute and had all the recovery gear on board in case we got stuck in the sand. The car ferry departed from Inskip Point, just a kilometer or so up the road, and it was only a kilometer or two across to the the Island.

I hadn't experienced beach driving before and was amazed at how many cars just drove off the ferry onto deep, soft sand, gave the accelerator heaps and ploughed through to the firm tidal surface close to the crashing waves of the ocean. Car after car roared along the undefined beach highway at 80 kph. All were four wheel drives of course and most, like Adam, had tyre pressures around 20 psi. It was funny though to see a group of blokes, two cars laden with fishing and camping gear get a stubby each on the ferry (9am remember), then bog one of the cars up to the axles on disembarkation on the beach at Fraser. Bugger eh!

We screamed along, slowing for washouts, dingoes, shipwrecks and aeroplanes for over 60 km, stopping only to grab a few photos and have morning tea and a fish. It was overcast with intermittent showers but amazingly spectacular - a seemingly never ending stretch of wide, white sand bordered by forest and sand dunes on one side and angry, crashing seas on the other. As we drove along we started to spot whales close into shore and when we arrived at Champagne Pools, we stood on the cliffs above the point and watched as pod after pod swam past blowing spouts and flipping tails.  

Champagne Pools is a beautiful set of three rock pools with a cliff on one side and the sea on the other. The water in them is crystal clear. Apparently when the tide comes in the waves crash over the rocky edges creating champagne colored water flows. Lachy and Adam had a swim but we couldn't stay long as we had to get back along the beach before the incoming tide got too high. Half way back we stopped for a picnic lunch before heading inland through the tropical rain forest to a look out over Lake Wabby, one of several inland lakes. The spectacular 12 meter deep waterhole was bordered by forest on one side and a huge sand blow on the other. It would have been great to walk down to it but we just didn't have time.

We got back to the ferry by 4.30, missing the top of the high tide by not much. It was a fabulous day. James was extremely happy to see us after 8 hours in the van by himself!

                                                            A dingo on the beach at Fraser

                                                        

Isisford - Jericho - Emerald - Mundubbera - Boondooma Dam, Queensland

Sunday is blog day. I really enjoy doing the blog. For one thing I revisit the past week so I figure my memories of our trip will be reinforced for future recollection. Then of course, it keeps family, friends and anyone interested updated on where we are and what we're doing. It's also a diary of our travels, so even if my computer crashes and my daily journal entries are lost it's not a huge drama - the blog is pretty much a re-hash of my journal anyway. What would be lost are the reports which detail our expenditure, mileage etc. As of today, day 123, we have travelled 15,166 km, spent a total of $17,784 of which $4553 is fuel, $2447 accommodation and $10,784 miscellaneous expenses - in other words, everything else. The reporting in Nomads Notes is pretty detailed. I can extract all sorts of data from how much we have spent on bait or cappuccinos or drinks at the pub to how many nights we free camped, average fuel burn etc.

As Sunday 7th July was our last day at Isisford we eased slowly into preparations for moving on. After a ride through the surrounding bush tracks with James bounding along beside us the bikes got put back on their racks on the van. All the bits and pieces we didn't need to use anymore were cleaned and packed away - camp oven, Baby Q, generator, cherabin pots, fishing gear etc. We went and collected a big load of wood for both the evening's fire and to take with us. We've found it pays to carry at least one good campfire's worth with us when possible. I reckoned there were probably a couple of fires in what we'd stowed in the Beast. Before dinner Phil and Tracey came over and joined us by the fire for drinks. We had a lovely last night at Isisford.

There was a bit of competition for our spot by the river at Isisford. Several people were ready to pounce when they saw we were packing up Monday morning. Brian and Phil had colluded to make sure no one else got it and Phil pulled his van in as we pulled ours out. Tracey and Phil were planning to stay at least another 5 days.

Our destination for the day was Slygo Station, around 210 km Northeast. We planned to stop on the way at Blackall to shop, but when we got there decided against it. The town was smaller than we expected and the shopping limited. We did spend some time walking around while there and visited "The Black Stump", which was originally used as a survey point in the 1800's. The term "beyond the black stump" is an actual reference to anything west of that point.

At Blackall we put a call into Slygo and only got a message, so we checked with the Info Centre and they knew nothing about it. It was 94 km toward Jericho, which was only another 27 km further on, so we figured we could stay there if needs be. The Blackall Jericho Road was part made and part unmade and pretty rough. It was a fabulous drive though - no traffic and that feeling of really being outback. As we approached Slygo we could see there had been a large bush fire not long before and the gates were closed, so on to Jericho we went.

Jericho is another Queensland town that caters to the Grey Nomad trade by providing quality free camping, toilets, drinking water and dump point. We pulled up at Redbank Park just out of town beside the river in a lovely spot with views, fire pit and space. Excellent. James thought so too! After a late lunch we hopped on the bikes and did a tour of town, which really only consisted of half a dozen or so streets. The main street has a railway station, pub, a couple of shops and a tiny drive in theatre that has a grandstand seating area at the back so it doubles as the town cinema. Innovative eh!

We rode out to the aerodrome, showgrounds and cemetery, which had graves dating back to the late 1800's. The town has quite a few houses that look like they might have been built in that era - excellent photo material. Back at camp we lit a fire (even though it was still mid 20's) and spent the evening star gazing. We even got to see the International Space Station pass overhead. Brian pulled up "Solar Walk" on his Ipad and we tracked satellites all over the world. That was cool!

From Jericho we headed due east on the Capricorn Hwy to Emerald. The countryside changed profoundly. After months in the Outback and weeks in a largely flat, dry and often barren stock-grazing environment, we drove into the Central Highlands region of Queensland with hills, trees, crops, clouds and cooler temperatures. We also hit our first traffic lights since Mount Isa three weeks ago. Bugger!

Emerald is situated 263 km west of Rockhampton pretty much right on the Tropic of Capricorn. It is a big town of some 14,000 residents and is the gateway to the Sapphire Gemfields, the largest, and one of the richest sapphire fields in the southern hemisphere. Lake Maraboon, which is as big as Sydney Harbour, was 18 km south and just two km down the road from our camp at Higher Ground Homestay.

Homestay camping was new to us. If Higher Ground is anything to go by it is effectively camping in some-one's back yard, albeit in this case several hectares of bush back yard with a river flowing through it. Higher Ground does have a handful of powered sites, but for the most part you just find a clear spot in the bush and set up. Powered sites cost $13 per night and unpowered $6. There are no facilities, so you can only stay if you are totally self-contained. We opted for power to top up our chargeables and located the van so it was facing into the bush. James loved it, especially when he got a walk down to the river one and a half km away.

Late afternoon we left James behind and drove into Emerald to do the shopping. We figured we'd get that out of the way, stay two nights and keep Wednesday for sightseeing. The township is very urban, and while we didn't really get much of a look around it does have a beautiful old railway station and seemed quite a neat and attractive place. When we got home with $300 worth of groceries I decided it I needed to light a fire which left Brian to do the unpacking and putting away. That was a bit naughty of me!

After a mild night we woke very early to a cool and damp morning. Very early! The bloody roosters started crowing at 4am. Bugger!

Our day of sightseeing started with Fairbairn Dam or Lake Maraboon as it is also called. It is huge, impressive and pretty, rugged mountains in the background with large expanses of shaded grassed areas for day trippers. At the base of the massive dam wall the water was cascading into a small canyon and dozens of pelicans were feasting on fish. It really is a fantastic recreational area with a boat ramp, swimming area and nearly 300 km of shoreline to explore. It is also apparently full of fish. What a great asset for Emerald.

We headed back past Higher Ground into town, dropping James off at the van on the way. The heart of Emerald has been beautifully planned and the main streets are landscaped with spreading, shady trees under-planted with tropical palms and ferns. The main roundabout in the shopping area features a stunning sculpture and the lush, green golf course lies at the end of the boutique shopping strip. Even in the dry of mid-winter the course was in excellent condition with undulating fairways edged in a variety beautiful, mature trees.

There is a big landscaped park on the Capricorn Hwy just before the CBD in the middle of which stands 'The Big Van Gough'. It could be corny, but I thought it was a brilliant piece of sculpture. We headed out to the airport on the Gregory Hwy that runs south. Along the centre medium strip tall palms separated the four lane highway which lead to a brand new shopping complex 2 or 3 km out of town. The airport appears to be undergoing refurbishment and there are signs of prosperity and growth everywhere. Brian and I were both very impressed with Emerald. We look at towns from the perspective of whether we would like to live there and we decided we would. It is clean, green, has all the facilities we think are important including a great golf course and a waterway. It probably has great weather too.

Thursday morning we left early taking the back way over the dam wall to pick up the Gregory Hwy some 10 km south of Emerald. Our destination for the day was Moura, 300 km southeast.

Springsure was less than an hour down the road and the scenery in the area was quite spectacular. Craggy mountains loomed large in the windscreen as we approached. Virgin Rock, so named because of its resemblance to the Virgin Mary nursing Jesus, towered over the quaint township. We stopped to take photos and grab a coffee. There are several national parks around Springsure and Carnarvon Gorge lies to the south. It's a place we will need to re-visit when we have time to explore.

The Gregory Hwy terminates at Springsure and the Dawson Hwy takes over. We maintained an easy pace as the Dawson was a bit of a roller-coaster ride. A couple of times it felt like our rig just about became airborne. James was not particularly impressed, and 300 km for us in one day is more than any of us like to do. Not only that but at one point a roo came bounding out from some long grass on the side of the road and hopped parallel to the Beast for several meters. Brian had to swerve to miss it. The countryside, however, was varied and interesting. We passed by a lot of paddocks that had been sewn with row after row some unknown crop that was woody, straggly, ugly and stood a couple of meters tall. It had green foliage sprouting. We were later told by a fellow traveler it was a feed crop for cattle.

We got to the Dawson River around lunchtime, none too early as the large riverside rest area was already fairly full of nomads free camping for the night. We squeezed the van between a couple of big trees at the top of the boat ramp. It was the best spot in the park, furthest away from the highway, no-one close by and looking out over the beautiful big river. We had a bite of lunch then went into Moura, 7 km further on.

Moura's an ordinary place (in my opinion anyway). It's a coal mining town surrounded by open cut mines and farmland. The best features of Moura were the river on which we camped, and the lush, green golf course opposite. It would have been nice to play but Brian had a heap of work to catch up on. Bugger! We drove along some bush tracks just outside the town in search of wood, and what do you know....some kind person had sawn up a dead tree and left us a beautiful pile of dry, cut firewood. Excellent! We had a lovely night sitting in front of the fire looking out over the river. What a great campspot!

The temperatures continued to drop as we moved south. Normal morning dress code went from shorts and thongs to long dacks, socks, joggers and windcheaters. It hasn't got any cooler by night, but day temps are in the low teens and only get to low twenties at best. There's also been a fair bit of cloud. The weather forecast does not look kind for our rendezvous with Shell, Em and Lachy on the coast. Showers and rain. Bugger!

Friday we planned another 300 km day, continuing 50 km east along the Dawson Hwy to Biloela (pronounced billow-wheeler) before heading southeast on the Burnett Hwy to a rest area just outside Gayndah at a Claude Wharton Weir. We stopped at Biloela for a walk and a cappy. Travel was pretty slow on the Burnett with lots of roadworks, but nice driving through hills, farms and forests. We pulled over for lunch (cold sausages, James favorite!) at Ceratodis Rest area  just short of Eidsvold and reconsidered our plans. If the weather at Inskip Point was going to be wet then maybe we should look at meeting the kids further inland.

With Willyweather on the Ipad and the 'Camps 7' book open we looked at some options and decided we should check out Boondooma Dam, pretty much due south by 150 km. The turnoff was at Mundubbera, 40 km down the highway. The Black Stump Rest Area was pretty much at the turnoff so we decided we would stop the night there if it was ok and do a short hop to Boondooma Saturday morning.

When we arrived at the Black Stump we were surprised to find we were the only caravan there. A combi and a car were parked with two young French couples camped and that was it. We parked the van in front of a big fire pit and as far from the highway as we could, although we did expect some road noise as the rest area was on top of a hill, small and close to the road. The view out over Mundubbera was lovely however. Time to explore! We unleashed the Beast (from the van) checked out the small township, the airport, drove along some bush tracks and collected wood.

By 4pm I had a ripper fire going. The French camp grew in size to about eight as the boys knocked off work picking mandarins and returned to socialize before sleeping in their cars. They were a great bunch, very friendly and considerate. One of the guys even came over with two slices of fresh bread and traditional French pate. By nightfall only a couple more combis had come in. We had to wonder why more nomads were not using the Black Stump. They certainly cram into other rest areas. We wondered if there was something we didn't know.

We had a lovely night sitting by a roaring fire, watching the lights of Mundubbera and listening to the good music the Frenchies had on. We both slept like logs. The trucks stopped, the music stopped  and there was virtually no noise for the entire night.

Saturday morning we woke to find the van shrouded in fog. With only a couple of hours travel ahead there was no hurry, so we waited until it burned off to give us a beautiful, bright sunny day. After a cappy in town we were on the road by ten.

The drive to Boondooma Dam was lovely. The undulating countryside was a mix of forest and cattle grazing farmland and the road had hardly any other traffic. For the most part we had two lanes but there were sections where it dropped back to a one-car, skinny bit of bitumen. We pulled off to the side of the road and collected some great pieces of wood, filling the back of the Beast.

Prostin was the only town on the way - just 18 km before the dam. As we approached we saw a beautiful, lush golf course with real greens, not sandscrapes like most we'd seen in past weeks. Excellent - 9 holes on Sunday was a given. At Higher Ground Homestay a couple of days before I had played ball with James, using my fire-poking stick to drive it like a golf ball. Man, did that feel good. I sent the ball a mile. I sooo needed a game of golf!

Boondooma is a big dam surrounded by bush. The camping section offers standard side by side powered sites or bush camping right down to the water's edge. The use of generators is ok so we elected to go bush. There was hardly anybody there so we were able to set up under trees about 50 meters from the water in a spot where we could not even see another camper. It's a great place. You can have a big fire, moor the tinnie or canoe in front of your camp, the fishing is supposedly good and there are lots of places to walk or bike ride.

We did a bit of housekeeping as soon as we got there - washing, bathing James, topping up with water and stuff. While James was left on the bed in the sun to dry we jumped on the bikes and rode for an hour, checking out the camping areas, boat ramps and the lookout over the dam wall. By 4 pm it was starting to get a bit chilly so I lit the fire and we settled in front of it to enjoy the clear, still night in the absolute solitude of the stunning bush environment. What a beautiful space!

Isisford, Outback Queensland

It was lovely to wake up once again to the sound of birds rather than voices and be able to look out and see the day dawn instead of being fully enclosed by drawn curtains, as was the case at Longreach. One of the features of our van that we love most is the large windows on every side. It doesn't matter if you are in bed, sitting at the table or doing the dishes, there are views. Our curtains are only ever closed when necessary for privacy. On the subject of vans, 115 days into our trip we couldn't be happier with our Jayco Starcraft Outback. While only 18'6" it is spacious enough to live in comfortably (even permanently as we are) with ample storage and the features (shower, toilet, big fridge, full stove/oven, dual gas bottles, 160 litre water tanks etc.) meeting all our needs for self-sufficient camping. We love it! It's not without its glitches however.  The 12 pin plug from the Beast to the van was overheating when we arrived at Isisford and one of the pin casings had started to melt. Brian spent hours Sunday morning replacing and rewiring both the male and female plugs. It's a good thing that he has his tools and he has the know how.

Our agenda after that for our first full day at Isisford was simple...a nice long walk around the township, some fishing from the banks of the Barcoo River, a drive to the edge of town to visit the aerodrome (a must-do for every town we visit), collect more firewood and build a big fire once settled back at camp for the day.

It was probably the coolest day we had experienced in close to four months. There was a strong, blustery south easterly and patchy cloud cover, so temperatures didn't move much over 20. I had the fire going by three, then set to trying my hand at bread-making. Brian dug a pit for the camp oven and we baked our first loaf of bush bread. I won't say it was a total success. We ended up with a rather flat loaf of very dense, and I must say, quite delicious bread. We ate it hot with butter, then had some more.....and some more until it ended up being dinner!

People had been walking along the track past our van with buckets. We wondered what they were doing. In conversation with our neighbours Phil and Tracey we discovered there was a large dam just a few hundred meters away that was supposedly full of Redclaw (a kind of yabbie). Excellent - we would put our cherabin pots in and try our luck. Brian had also spoken to the bloke in the van on the other side of us who'd been camped on the river for 14 weeks. He hadn't caught one fish in the Barcoo in all that time, but he knew of others who were going to Oma Waterhole and Thirty Mile and bringing home fish every day.

We wandered into town Monday morning and went to the Council Offices. We paid $10 for 9 days (the receptionist gave us 2 days free), and got directions to Sixty Mile, which was past Oma, about an hour's drive. The middle part of the day was taken up with work. Selling aeroplanes (for Brian), washing a very grubby James (for me), topping up the water tanks, emptying the loo, getting a gas bottle re-filled and of course, the fun bit, gathering another load of wood. We can head out of town along any of the roads or stock routes for three or four kilometers, pull up by the side of the track and get a full load in 10 - 15 minutes.

Phil and Tracey are good company. They have a 17 year old Maltese type dog named Macca. He's a bit naughty and wanders off all the time. They are forever chasing him and carrying him back to camp. He's a bit blind and deaf, and has a very bad temper. He likes to bite people. They think James is adorable, which he is compared to Macca! We chat to them often mostly while they are chasing after Macca. We stood around and yarned to them for ages on the way back from our walk up to the dam to put our pots just before dark.

Next morning Brian braved a very chilly dawn to check the pots. James and I stayed in bed, drank coffee and did the daily Nomads Notes journal. From two pots we caught a couple of reasonably sized Redclaw which Brian decided to keep asleep in the fridge until we've caught enough for a meal.

Late morning we jumped in the Beast with our lines and headed out on the dirt road south of town to Oma Waterhole. It's only 13 km from Isisford and is an optional $10 per week camp area serviced by the council. There were lots of camps alongside the two kilometer section of the Barcoo that is Oma. We stopped and had a chat to an old bloke fishing. He wasn't having much luck. We continued on a further 37 km to Thirty Mile. The dirt road was good and aside from having to slow down regularly for kangaroos, cattle and emus the Beast roared along at a hefty pace.

We pulled up at Thirty Mile beside an old windmill, got the lines out and threw them in. The Barcoo in the drought is a series of permanent waterholes rather than a running river and this section was the wider than either Oma or at our camp. Within 3 or 4 minutes I had a bite and landed a 35 cm yellow belly. How easy was that! It took just over an hour to land six fish between us, only one of which was undersized and went back. We had well and truly enough for a couple of meals and James was desperately in need of a drink. Because of his bath the day before I wouldn't let him walk through the cattle-churned bog at the water's edge and I wouldn't let him move from my side anyway because there were signs up that the area was baited. That is always a big concern in the outback.

At the van I pulled out the Ipad and did some research - firstly on baked whole yellow belly recipes and secondly on what to do in the event of 1080 poisoning. I decided to improvise on the recipe, and stuffed the two smallest fish with a mixture of breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, oregon, salt, pepper and left over salad dressing made on the stove from white vinegar, balsamic vinegar, sesame oil, caster sugar and olive oil. Brian filleted the rest of the fish for freezing. As far as treating James in the event of poisoning is concerned the best option given I think is to carry some salt and water and a plastic water bottle so if I see him eat something I can squirt it down his throat (hopefully not into his lungs) to try and make him vomit straight away. I am also going to buy a muzzle as soon as we get to a big enough town so he can wear it in places of doubt. He'll really love that....not! The yellow belly got wrapped in plenty of foil and baked on the coals. It was absolutely scrumptious.

Wednesday we jumped on the bikes to do some more exploring around Isisford. The electric bikes have been excellent. The rack that Blackie made to carry them has held them securely on the back of the van, contrary to popular advice that they would be rattled to bits over  rough roads. They have been covered in red dust, drenched in rain and ridden over badly corrugated tracks without missing a beat. Not bad for two girls bikes that were primarily designed for city commuting. We haven't managed to run out of battery on any of our rides. When we get down to one out of four lights on the power meter, which takes about 50 km or so, we still have heaps of km's to go and it's easy to plug in and recharge when  the generator is running or we're on a powered site. Since filling the tyres with yellow goo we haven't had a puncture either, which is amazing given the length of the spikes on some of the burrs.

After riding along a rough track that took us to a part of the river that curled around the back of town we decided to find the cemetery. They are usually pretty interesting in old towns. On the way Brian nearly ran over a small golden snake without seeing it. I freaked and screamed like a girl, which is not like me. I'm usually pretty laid back with critters. We doubled back and had a good look as it slowly slithered across the track. We found the sign 'Cemetery' and followed the track only to find another sign a bit further on that said 'Carcass Pit'. What a classic. They weren't one and the same as it turned out, but we did think the co-location was a bit on the insensitive side. We ended up spending ages reading the headstones, the earliest of which was dated 1884. It was sad to see graves with multiple, often young family members who died in close succession. It was getting on for 2pm when we left there and we were both starving. We called into pub number two in town, 'Clancy's Overflow', had sausage rolls and a bowl of the best chips in the world (so the sign said) accompanied, of course, with a little liquid refreshment.

On the way back to camp we called in to pick up bread  but the store had run out. Bugger - I would have to make some. I found a recipe for honey oatmeal loaf and spent the rest of my day up to my elbows in flour, with a break to go wood gathering and fire building. Phil, Tracey and Macca came over just on dark and shared the fire while the bread was cooking in the camp oven. It smelt delicious....and in fact it was!

Thursday we decided to hit Thirty Mile again and try to catch dinner. We took some sandwiches and left around midday, leaving James in the van. It's too risky taking him where poison baits have been laid. Baiting around waterholes is very common in the outback. It's understandable given the number of feral cats, pigs and dingoes we see, mostly as roadkill. The fishing was much slower than Tuesday with bites few and far between. After about an hour I pulled in a fair sized yellow belly, not enough for two for dinner, so we had to stay till we got another. It was at least an hour later that Brian caught the second - a beautiful 42 cm fish. 

It was close to 5 by the time we got back. James was desperately in need of lots of cuddles. Once the fire was going Tracey and Phil came over for a chat. They were very envious of our catch. We cooked the stuffed fish on the coals and it was delicious.

By Saturday morning Brian had collected a total of 14 Redclaw - enough for dinner. My plan was to
butterfly them and bake them in the Webber with a garlic, lemon and butter sauce drizzled over. They would be served on a bed of Spiced Indian Rice. Yum!  

We did the chores - washing, water, dunny blah blah with the intention of settling in front of the TV for the afternoon to watch the V8 Supercar racing at Townsville. We fiddled around with the TV for ages but couldn't pick up the channel we required. No problem - we'd ride up to the pub and watch it there.

The race was due to start at 3.15 so we got to Clancy's a bit before. The pub was empty and the publican was only too happy to oblige and turn the telly on. Well wouldn't you know it, Isisford picks up Alice Springs stations and it was footy on, not car racing. Bugger! We were already seated at the bar so we figured we might as well do the right thing and supplement the town's income. Shortly after an old bloke drove up in his gopher. He struggled off it and shuffled very unsteadily through the door and on to a stool at the end of the bar. He looked about 110. His shirt was tucked into his tracksuit pants which were pulled up so high they were just about under his armpits.The publican had his scotch and water in front of him before he got to his stool and once on it he slouched back against the wall,  struggling for breath from the effort of getting to the bar.

Eighty-eight year old Francis Edward Wright (Few as he was called as a kid) was up for a chat. He was deaf as a post but right on the ball and had a wicked sense of wit. Frank lived next door to the pub, was a 'collector' (you wouldn't fit a matchbox into his drawers), grew fruit trees, had lived in Isisford for 50 years, six kids, 12 year old dog, wife in hospital and had just that day found out Rudd had tipped Gillard out. He had a bit to say about that! We spent quite a while yarning with the old fella. He invited us to drop in to his place anytime we liked for a cuppa and a biscuit (he would love to show us his collections). I reckon he was more entertaining than the V8's would have been. What a character!

Isisford is well geared up for tourists and aside from a couple of good pubs there is virtually free camping at either Oma Waterhole or on the Barcoo for as long as you want, a plentiful supply of good water, dump point, toilets and town showers as well as a lopsided tin shed beside the general store with 3 coin operated washing machines. It also has full Telstra coverage and TV reception. It's little wonder this tiny outback town of 130 people plays host to well over that number of tourists for a large portion of the year.

The weather has been warming as the week has worn on. We went from 8 - 20 degrees on Sunday to around  14 to 29 the past couple of days. It's been lovely. The three of us are really enjoying Isisford, or more to the point, being on the banks of the Barcoo River. We will need to leave tomorrow (Monday) to rendezvous with Em, Shell and Lachy next weekend at Inskip Point, opposite Fraser Island on the East Coast. I'm really looking forward to it but it feels like we are heading into the burbs. It's easy to fall in love with the silence, space and pace of the outback. 

Our daily lifestyle here has been extremely laid back. We wake around 6.30, Brian gets up and checks the pots while James and I sit in bed with coffee downloading the previous day's photos and doing the journal. When Brian gets back he showers before making breakfast, which he serves to me in bed. He then does the dishes. By the time I am done playing on the laptop it's usually after 9. Once up I make the bed, sweep the floors and generally get the van tidied. Living in a small space with clutter is a nightmare, so things get put away. James gets a walk, Brian works, we both read and watch the tortoises swimming in the river,  then by 11ish we start thinking about what we'll do for the day.

My favorite part of the day is fire-lighting time. The wood around here is dry and gnarled with lots of rooty bits. Not once have I had to use matches as the coals stay glowing under the cover of ash for a good 24 hours. Last night I decided to see if I could get big lumps of wood to fire up without assistance and I almost succeeded - it just needed a little help with a dust pan used as a fan!