April 4 - April 8

We arrived in Mt. Isa under a heavy mist and we have been under that same heavy mist since we arrived in Queensland.  It is still very warm though.  We stayed in a Top Tourist Caravan Park, it was quite full but they didn't consider it tourist season until after the long week-end (this was the beginning of it) so only half the amenities block was open, so was very crowded, only one dryer worked and you can't hang your clothes on the line here because they don't dry, too humid and it rains quite a bit.  We were also surrounded by dogs, which isn't a bad thing, except for the fact that the owners were away, the dogs were young and whined all the time.  However, they didn't whine nearly as loud as the kid across the road from us.  He must have been having a really bad day because he whined about everything and it seemed to go on for ages.  I bet we listened to him for 1 1/2 hours before we finally had enough and went in the van and turned the air conditioner on.  Not that it was hot, but it did give us something else to listen to.

Next day we drove to Cloncurry, a beautiful little town.  The Courthouse is really a house.  We stayed in the Gilbert Park Tourist Village and it was excellent.  It also had a beautiful pool.  Queensland's pools are at least 10 degrees cooler than any of the pools we have had so far and we are really enjoying them.  All the pools so far are salt water.  We like them best.  No chlorine smell.

We met a couple of Kiwis(Hank and Tash) and they gave us their number to look them up when we get to New Zealand. 

We left Cloncurry and our first stop was Richmond.  It is famous for fossils, we didn't go looking for any but we stopped for lunch.  Cute little place.

This was the view from our window at Cloncurry, we thought it was a beautiful sight.

We stayed in Charters Towers at the Charters Towers Tourist Park.  Lovely little park, too late to swim.  We were parked in front of the amenities block and there were a bunch of teen age girls there so Dalton didn't get any sleep that night.  I wear ear plugs so nothing short of a bomb would wake me up.  I guess they partied in the amenities block until someone kicked them out.  Their tent must have been close to us because they continued on through the night.  I guess no one complained because Dalton said they were at it for a long, long time.  The last two days driving were very long so Dalton was especially tired.

Charters Towers is a fairly big place so we wanted to stock up on supplies before we carried on.  We found the downtown core, parked the van and went walking to the store.  It started to rain and I mean it bucketed down.  By the time we got back to the van with our shopping, we were soaked to the skin.  It is still warm though.  There were rivers running down both sides of the street (gutters), it was amazing.  The funny part is, everyone we saw was still wearing shorts and singlets (that's a tank top), mothers were pushing their carriages in shorts, thongs (yes they are still thongs here) no one seems to care that its raining.  Some people have umbrellas but not many.

All the streets and highways are red here.  Again the city streets are nice and wide and the highways are terrible.  Probably the worst ones we have seen to date.  We were driving along at one point and without any warning the highway went down to one lane for both inbound and outbound traffic and here comes a road train, nothing to do but head for the ditch and hope the shoulder is wide enough for you.  Those road trains don't slow down for anything.  Dalton remained calm, however, I was a nervous wreck by the time we got to archer Creek Rest Area, a free camping stop where we stopped for the night.

 I took this from the front window, we could hardly keep the rain off.  You can see how narrow the road is at this point.

And then this comes at you, see how much of the road is left for oncoming traffic.

By the way, the little black spot, that is where the rear view mirror is supposed to be.  They didn't give us one because there is no window in our back door.

Archer Creek Rest Area was a very interesting place.  We met three couples that were camped there.  Two couples (Barry & Dianne and Stuart & Jeannette) were our age plus a few years, but who counts at this stage of the game.  But the other couple, Jules and Jess, were travelling by bicycle.  They covered 4 Continents, 27 Countries and put on 33,000km. on their bikes.  They are on the home stretch, they are from Melbourne.  They showed us some pictures of the roads they travelled, it was very interesting.  We thought we were doing good and we have only put on 9000 miles.

April 7 - Stuart and Jenny flew to Ireland today.  They are gone for one month, will return about 5 days before we arrive back in Tassie.

We arrived in the Atherton Tablelands and it is so foggy you can hardly see anything in front of you but if you look out the side windows it is really pretty.  Everything is so green.  This is a very fertile, food growing area.

We went to Malanda where we tried to see some Tree Kangaroos.  We had never heard of them, but this is their area.  We couldn't get any pictures because we couldn't find any.  We have to bring brochures home to show them.  It was a beautiful walk through the forest though.

We also went to the Nerada Tea Plantation.  Dalton had been to one before when Ceylon was the big Tea Distributor.  However, it was very interesting to me.

It looks like someone mowed the top, and that is pretty much what they do.  They take the bud and the first two leaves off the top of the plant. 

We had Devonshire Tea here, not as good as you would expect.  I still like the Blethering Place in Victoria best. 

Next we went to Yungaburra, a very cute little town.

Dalton was particularly interested in this place.  It is a winery and Distillery.  He bought some of their Port.  Said it was quite good.

We checked into the Halloran Leisure Park, a very nice park.  Great pool.   Here we met Gail and Bob.  Dalton just can't wait to meet the neighbors.

Today was my day.  We went to Tarzali Lakes and we saw several Platypus.  They guarantee a sighting or your money back.  The mothers all have babies, so to draw your attention away from them, they come to see you.  I just love these shy little critters.

I can't wait for Jenny to get back so she can see my pictures.  She knows how much I wanted to see one.

They are pretty hard to see.

They don't stay out of the water for long, they are really fun to watch.  I watched through binoculars and Dalton took the pictures.

On the way home we stopped at Gallo Dairyland for some cheese and chocolates.  We loved both and bought lots.