31st July: Cowley Beach

Dawn

Midday

30th July: Cowley Beach

Well we are planted at Cowley Beach CP - for $29.45 (5% discount for Seniors) per night  - for three nights. Yesterday from arrival was glorious. This morning it is threatening to, but no rain yet.
We have decided to go for a drive after our morning walk all around the township.

Cowley Beach

There are Crocodiles here - even in the sky!

We discovered that the is a Dept of Defence establishment and a big training area fro here to the river which exits at Mourilyan Harbour; deserted today, and generally by the looks. Maybe it's for weekend warriors?

A bit damp this arvo!

Anyway off to Mission Beach which is 39km out to the Bruce Hwy, south to El Arish, east to Mission Beach etc. Well the main shops are not actually at MB, but a few KM south at Wongaling Beach. Found some excellent fruit at the little supermarket at MB, and some wine at BWS at WB - which also has a Woolies Fuel which we will use along the way.

On the way back we detoured into yesterdays nominal target Kurrimine Beach. Three caravan parks, a campground a pub and shop. Quite busy and a hundred tractors - of all sizes - used for launching the hundred fishing boats over the sand...             We like where we are. Very relaxed.

29th July: Bramston to somewhere south...

Still raining, still wet... Have finished packing up. The awning ends up with few leaves rolled in. They will blow off next time... We are heading for Kurrimine Beach, but via Flying Fish Point only about 45km.







What a pretty place is FFP. Stop and buy a coffee. Sit and look around. The Caravan Park looks tight and tiny. Might give it a try... another time. We continue... By now the day is beautiful, sunny, bit of breeze, great!

Flying Fish Point

Mourilyan Harbour 

Through Innisfail then out towards Etty Bay, but been there before, and its a National Park - no dogs, and turning around will be a problem. So we will go out to Mourilyan Harbour for a look. It is the Innisfail Port mainly for sugar and molasses although the Sugar Mill was destroyed by cyclone Larry in March 2006. There is new building happening. No idea what or why. Reckon one could stop a night out here - away from the ubiquitous QLD 'No Camping' sign.

Next detour will be to Cowley Beach, again because it's there - and we haven't been. Another pretty place!!! Check out the  Caravan Park on spec'; they have a beach front site available for a few days. We will take it! $31 less seniors discount $29ish with power etc Kurrimine will wait...

27-28th July at Bramston Beach

We decided to stay another 2 days, mostly because I discovered a broken bracket on the front anti-roll bar. It is a serious bar about 55mm diameter!!! Thought I had been imagining the tracking being a bit odd. We are not going anywhere like this, and it is of course now Sunday so no welding shop til Monday. Maybe at Babinda or certainly Innisfail.

What it should look like

On enquiring at the office about engineering shops the caretaker Trevor offered to weld it for me. How long are we staying? Can do it tomorrow...

By Monday morning we are seriously down on battery power. They are not holding up like they used to, and they are now four years old... Should have bought the Blue River batteries before we left. Thought about it; oh well! We will have to run, 'the generator' which is permissible 8am til 8pm. The 2.6KVA Kipor puts 16amps into The Redarc BMS. The load gets 6Amps (the fridge takes nearly 5 and runs about 70% of the time - it is warm here as well as wet...) and 10Amps boost into the batteries. They come up ever so slowly... we will see how we go.

Decided we better get some more petrol for the generator anyway, so headed out to the highway intersection - Murrawinni. filled up the Suzuki too. No 'Womans Day' for Maz tho - her usual Monday morning treat. Raining raining still, Under trees too so absolutely no solar from the amorphous panels, altho the new crystalline panels on the front turret occasionally give a tiny bit to the bus batteries. ( the controller has volt and current readouts) No opportunity to try the satellite system either thanks to the trees.

Eventually Trevor turns up (4PM) with the welded bracket. Looks like a decent job. The crack is close to a bolt hole so we agreed he would stay away from that to avoid re-drilling 14mm or the needing a round file job. I had already bent the distorted bracket back to nearly round. Used the tow bar 50x50mm mount and the neck as a lever. Did not even draw blood - which is rare for me. Re-installed without drama. We were lucky we didn't lose the nolothane bushes...

26th July: to Bramston Beach

It's an alright day today - not rainy, not bright sunny... Said our goodbyes to Sally and Peter and booked site 11 for all of July 2015...

Then off down the road. First stop catch-a-barra the saltwater barramundi farm at Wonga. Another couple of pieces in the freezer...

Next mission - shopping at Mossman. The huge new Woolies has the same prices as Smithfield, and better parking for RV's.

Then a coffee stop at Ellis Beach and a bit of a stretch and run for Honey - and the sun's properly out!!!







We went around Cairns via Redlynch etc rejoining the highway (Mulgrave Rd) some km south of the CBD. We are aiming for Bramston Beach - because we have not been there... It's only 195km and 17 of that is off the Highway from Murrawinni!


At Bramston there is a campground, with water no power ($22.50 per night) a caravan park with powered and unpowered sites ($20 and $25/n) the campground is much 'nicer' tidier, better beach big trees, lots of shade... on the solar panels.

We got in there for one night, on the understanding we would have to move to another site if we stayed longer. Then it rained, and rained - so no solar.



AND NO TELSTRA EITHER - OPTUS WORKS!!!

25th pre-departure...

The Premier Theatre experience

Tomorrow will be two weeks here and we are leaving. Stuff all to report for the last couple of days.We have been chatting, reading, watching movies and a bit of TV (Midsomer Murders) and eating and drinking!!!
We are very relaxed, no aches, not cold... mission being accomplished.
Now to exploring a bit. Places we have not been.

Planned to pack up this afternoon when everything - awnings screens, mats had dried out in the sun. No sun, well very little so we are again self contained and packed between showers. My T-shirt has been damp a few times... but it's warm and it dries quickly... Have been here long enough for a bit of the grass to yellow and start to grow through the C-Gear mat.
New neighbour unloading - very manual...

Tomorrow heading south aiming for Bramston Beach free camp north of Innisfail - about 190km - and via a short shop stop, so will be there early afternoon, with a chance of getting a spot!!!

23rd July: new neighbour today....

Instant block of flats next door.... Maybe half a million - didn't ask - and for sale...

22nd July: Mossman - shopping

Shopping day today. Aside from groceries, getting a couple of USB drives so we can more conveniently view our movies and concerts. Have converted some of our many terabytes of dvd.ISO files (which we brought with us along with a media player), first to .m4v for Apple stuff, then to dixv .AVI which the TVs will play directly from a USB stick (can't handle the terabyte drive tho). The Mac Air and USB3 ports process it pretty quickly. Can't find a converter fro .ISO to AVI directly!!!

Double header on the 2' gauge cane tramway

Also to the hardware for a few bits including a 2-way tap adapter, and a cheap multimeter...
Called in at Wonga Beach to get a hair quote for Maz... $145 for what costs $80 at home. It can wait.

It is winter cane crop harvest up here. Much of the coastal flat is sugarcane; as well as up on the tablelands - from whence the cane is trucked down the hill on B-Doubles...
Mossman has a refinery. The flatland cane gets there by rail... or to be more precise 'tramway' Not sure when a tramway becomes a railway.

21st July

Thanks for the various best wishes. My birthday lunch was magnificent. the $17.50 Barramundi salad and chips with a Sauv Blanc or two and tropical fruit cheesecake at the Daintree Tea House Restaurant.
Forgot to take pix of the lunch the venue and the wildlife - the beautiful Ulyses Flutterbys.
Adjourned to book reading in the afternoon... after Maz bought me a cool Daintree shirt.

Running costs update...

Was trying to figure out anomalies in fuel consumption, now that we are very rested and relaxed. Forgot that we had topped up the Suzuki - on a non detailed invoice... And also did proper sums on the first fill - 300km Swanhill to Mulwala in 2012 and 200 for the first leg in 2014 hence 40% of the first top up was for the Mulwala-Narrandera leg.
Then I realised that we have only done 102 km since Cairns so there is a full tank less 102km at say 21 l/100km (or there is about 100l or $170 left in the tank...)

So amended, better and more accurate figures for Mulwala Daintree...
603 litres of diesel costing $979 for 3207 km making it average 21 litre/100km for 34 cents/km!

Our neighbour (not the noisy one) from WA, has a Landcruiser with a 6.5 litre turbo diesel, towing a 6+m caravan and consumes 24 litres per 100 km!!!! I feel better.

... 19th July...

We have been at Daintree village a week. Have seriously chilled out, being so warm. Well a few of the nights have been cool and a bit of drizzle some mornings...
It has been a very relaxing time. Caught up with local gossip, like the two robberies of the General Store/Pub...
Peter and Sally Maher have improved the CP, but are still cleaning up after the 11metre!!! floods caused by the cyclone earlier this year.

 Went to Port Douglas the other day to pickup a couple of computer fan grills which I fancy would cover the air con return air hole... They will. 
Also had an expensive coffee in the Port Douglas shopping strip. Really don't like the place much... Did find a fresh seafood shop and bought a couple of pieces of mackerel. Maz's pick. 

On the way back visited the new and massive Woolworths at Mossman - which of course is only 15 km from PtD, and the last proper shopping before Cooktown! Most importantly tho is a visit to Autobahn. We need a rubber nipple to replace the leaky one behind the rear right wheel the 15mm branch in the main coolant line to the front radiator goes nowhere and is closed by a 5/8 rubber cap and hose clamp it is cracked perished and leaking. Tightening the clamp only increased the cracking. Anyway now it doesn't leak. Must confess it took several days to get around to it - crawling under the low end of the bus - by which time another 3 litres of coolant had escaped.
Well we have books to read, people to talk to... you know how it is?

We will stay another week (but might move along a site, the neighbours have crap TV going ALL DAY, so we have no peace in our corner). Better get the real camera dusted off too.

14th July @ Daintree...

Grilled Barra

Honeys perch

Rained last night, quite solidly and will shower on and of during the day. Went for our walk around town, a few km in a sunny patch. Delightfully warm none the less, down to about 18 overnight and 26ish during the day. Not too humid though.
Eating well and very relaxed... Both had a 'reading day'. Kindle rules!

13th July, Sunday!

What a beautiful place to wake up in! Have been for a long walk around town, after a coolish night (15C) expecting 26 with a chance of a shower later... Have done the washing... and entered all the travel data into Apple's Numbers spreadsheet - have finally given MS Office up (almost) totally.
So 713 litres at $1108. 3207KM at 22l/100km and 35c/km... Close to expectation, but a shedload of $. And of course the three nights in CPs $110.

Have caught up With Pete and Sally; great to meet up again. They have been working on the place - to say nothing of the cleanup after the recent cyclone and consequent flooding.
Live music this afternoon at the Pub (new owner who owns Orpheus Island etc etc. Must have needed to get rid of some $?) Grilling our own Barramundi after.

Honey has made herself at home, is very relaxed and even made a new friend next door 'Ben'. She is not even on the lead - yet!

12th July: Rollingstone to Daintree!!

We dined in style at the pub, then another gentle start after a moderately noisy night - drunks followed by traffic on the Bruce Hwy 50m away, but not to bad. Some interesting vehicles lying around. The Chev pickup has rego plates... paint is beaut, interior rubbish.

So, Ingham with Orpheus Island just off the coast; past Hinchinbrook Island then Cardwell - where we copped a rock to the windscreen 3 years ago (still not replaced). Past Tully, Mission Beach, Bingil Bay, Etty Bay and Innisfail. Bramston Beach is on the right, Mount Bartle Frere  (highest point in QLD) on the left.

Then it is the Cairns drag from abeam Gordonvale. The windiest steepest road to the Tablelands - Atherton heads up from here - hard work in a car!!! Took a wrong turn approaching Cairns. Had to detour a little to get on the back road to Redlynch.
Finally got to Smithfield shops and eventually managed to park - way out back. The shopping centre is in one long line of shops about a KM long!! Dan Murphy's at the other end... So shopped up and then refuelled it's off to 'Bonnie Doon, well Daintree Village. Sally has replied that the first site we stayed on is available UFN, good.
Past the 'northern beaches' Ellis Beach, Wangetti, Port Douglas, through Mossman and Wonga Beach; past the ferry to Cape Tribulation - Daintree.
Well with detours off the shortest route (2900) we have done 3207 to get here! I'll work out the fuel when I feel optimistic. Still have a coolant leak and have put about 6 litres in. Will tackle that while we are here. And of course we have a few dings on the kerb side. The offending bit of 'much-hit-steel' was on the approach to the causeway so one would not miss it and go straight into the gully... due regular flooding there is typically nothing on the causeway sides bar the 150x150mm kerb!