With the beer in the broken down fridge
rapidly warming up and the veggies going off we made for Townsville a
day early to find an auto electrician. Checking in to the Black River
Stadium campsite just outside town we hit it lucky when, upon asking
for a place to go for the electrics, Col the camp manager said “No
problem, you get the parts and I'll do it for you.” A quick trip to
SupaCheap and a good bottle of Merlot for Col and we were back in
business again better than ever.
Apart from the fridge we were in Townsville to visit Kevin and Helen McCarthy who we met on our 2010 trip; to hopefully see nephew Calum playing a game of rugby; and because it is a really nice place where somehow the weather is always beautiful when we are in town.
The first two days were a rugby fest
with five games of rugby to watch - somehow I suspected Sandra was
going to have a hard time! Arriving at Kevin and Helen's house on
Saturday afternoon, first up was the Australia / New Zealand test
match on TV (the Kiwis wiped the floor with the Wallabies) followed
by the Big Game – the North Queensland Cowboys vs the Rabbitos.
This is Rugby League country and the Cowboys are the local Townsville
team so everyone was delighted when they won. The main event though
was on Sunday.
Sandra's nephew Calum from Darwin is a
good rugby player and has been signed by the Cowboys. Just 17 he is
continuing his education in Townsville and combining this with
preparation for what will hopefully be a career in rugby league. He
is still too young to play for the Cowboys and is getting experience
playing for one of the local clubs – The Centrals. On Sunday the
Centrals were playing three games – all against a club called The
Brothers. The first game was at Under 18 level, followed by the
Reserve Grade game (basically the Seconds) and finally the A Grade
(the Firsts) The bad news, certainly for Sandra, was that Calum was
playing in two games – the first and the last, so we would have to
sit through all three games to see Calum playing – and we did.
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| Sandra's nephew Calum |
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| Calum in Action |
On Monday the car was in for a service
so we were given a chauffeured tour of Townsville by Kevin before
going out to Cactus Jack's Mexican restaurant for an early evening
meal with Calum.
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| Townsville from Castle Hill - Magnetic Island on the horizon |
Kevin and Helen are an amazing couple –
now well into their 70's they have a tremendous knowledge and
enthusiasm for sport, and not just as spectators. Their house in
Townsville boasts not only a swimming pool but a full sized, flood
lit tennis court which is not just for show but hosts weekly matches
played, to my eyes at least, to a pretty good standard.
As well as playing a mean set of tennis Helen is still playing competitive squash. On the night Sandra and I were stuffing ourselves in Cactus Jacks she, in her mid-seventies, was off playing a squash match where her opponent for the night was a young man in his twenties. She beat him in 5 sets saying that young men tend to run about the court too much and try to thrash the ball too hard. And they are excellent hosts and we hope that one day they will make the trip to Scotland in order that we can repay their hospitality.
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| Our hosts Helen and Kevin |
As well as playing a mean set of tennis Helen is still playing competitive squash. On the night Sandra and I were stuffing ourselves in Cactus Jacks she, in her mid-seventies, was off playing a squash match where her opponent for the night was a young man in his twenties. She beat him in 5 sets saying that young men tend to run about the court too much and try to thrash the ball too hard. And they are excellent hosts and we hope that one day they will make the trip to Scotland in order that we can repay their hospitality.
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| What do you mean it was out? |
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| Of course it was out! |
There was good news on the car front
when I got it back from the service. Regular readers will know that
we have had a number of problems with the Honda during our trip, the
latest being that for the last few months there has been a judder
usually at around 80 km/hour. Several trips to the Honda dealer in
Darwin resulted in new rear shock absorbers being fitted, followed by
new bushes (whatever they are) and a new differential vibration
damper (again, whatever that is) When this didn't work Honda referred
me to their wheel and tyre place where all four wheels were balanced,
the front wheels re-aligned and several kilos of dried mud removed
from one of the wheels. We were assured that this would b the problem
cured – it wasn't, and it had cost us many hundreds of dollars and
it has been getting worse.
I mentioned all this to the garage in
Townsville and the problem now seems to be cured. It would appear
that the transmission oil has never been changed. The oil, which
should be a clear red colour, was a murky black gunge full of
contaminants and it was this that caused the juddering. A 138 dollars
worth of new oil and the car is now going pretty smoothly, although a
further oil change to ensure the transmission has been fully flushed
may be required.
We did consider staying on in the
Townsville area and were keen on a trip to Magnetic Island 8
kilometres off shore. However, discovering it was Magnetic Island
yacht race week we decided to give it a miss and instead headed west,
planning eventually to get to Longreach in Outback Queensland.
Our first stop was for a couple of days
at Porcupine Gorge about 60k north of Hughenden. The gorge itself was
very attractive but required a steep rocky descent of over a
kilometre. That in itself wasn't a major problem other than that it
required an Ascent of the same distance!
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| Sandra in Porcupine Gorge |
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| The structure behind is known as The Pyramid |
On our second day there, as dusk was
falling, we were having a few beers with some fellow campers when I
noticed something hopping by our tent. Thinking nothing of it I later
went to the tent only to find we had been invaded yet again – this
time by a curious creature with an even more curious name – a
Rufous Bettong. Looking like a cross between a kangaroo and a giant,
long-tailed rat, the Bettong had not only rifled through some of our
bags, but was still doing so as I went into the tent and was
determined to keep on rifling whether I was there or not! As I tried
to chase it away it ran further into the tent and refused to leave,
eventually doing so under protest.
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| Our Rufous Bettong with very long tail |
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| And then there were two |
That however was not the last of our
Bettong problems. Having prepared a chicken and pumpkin curry with
brown rice for dinner we put the dirty pots on the floor whilst we
ate and suddenly found that we had not one but two Bettongs for
company. Once again they proved that, when food was at stake, they
were not easily persuaded to move. Although we do not usually feed
the wildlife, in this case let them lick the pots as it saved us
doing the washing up!
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| Efficient little dishwashers - saves water too! |
After a couple of pleasant nights at
Porcupine Gorge we sallied forth once again going through Hughenden
then on a mere 213k to Winton the next town of any consequence in the
area – although the inhabitants of Corfield (population 3) might
dispute this. Winton is known as “The Dinosaur Capital of
Australia” and is reputedly the first place to hear the familiar
strain of that well known Australian song “Waltzing Matilda”. We
intend staying a couple of days before heading to Longreach.
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| Giant windmill in Hughenden |
We are camped by a rather muddy looking
waterhole in the Bladensburg National Park about 20k south of Winton.
Unlike our trip through “The Wet Tropics” which certainly lived
up to their name (despite it being the “dry” season) this area of
Queensland is still suffering from drought. The land is parched and
dry with what looks like pretty slim pickings for the livestock.
Being a National Park we had to pay up front for the right to camp
and are continually amused at the people who roll up as darkness
falls, stay the night, then pack up shortly after dawn in an attempt
to avoid the Ranger and paying the $5 a night camping fee.
Anyway – we are now off on the
Dinosaur Trail to the tune of Waltzing Matilda.
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