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On the Road Again

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25.01.2022 Great work day today. Drove to Alva Beach , about 45 minutes south of here, to collect salt water. Minerals are extracted from the sea water to be used in the biodynamic process. Water was beautiful, glorious day. The pelican kept a close eye on us. Locals tell us they don’t swim in the water because of bull sharks and very large jelly fish. It certainly looked inviting! We then drove into Ayr for a coffee and a quick shop before getting home just on knock off time. Beats picking up cow . Apparently the fishing is quite good at Alva Beach and there is a very tidy looking caravan park within easy walk of the water.

22.01.2022 This afternoon’s harvest. Tomatoes, basil, lemon Thyme, parsley and shallots. So fresh and tasty.

21.01.2022 We’ve had 2 very full, busy and informative days in Winton. It is in the middle of nowhere but well worth the trip. We have been to the Dinosaur Stampede Exhibition which is about 110 klms south of Winton. A station worker stumbled across the site and when it was excavated thousands of footprints of small dinosaurs were embedded in the rock. A building has been built over the site to preserve it and there are guided tours of the site. It is surrounded by some breathtaking sc...enery. Next we went to the Waltzing Matilda Centre and Quantilda Museum. It tells the history of the song Waltzing Matilda and the outback region and displays lots of artefacts of the past. It also tells the story of the birth of Qantas. The original centre burnt down in 2015 and $23 million was spent on the new centre, which opened in 2018. Some great interactive displays. This morning we have been to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum. We did a guided tour made up of 3 parts, the Laboratory where they work on the painstaking extraction of the bones from the dirt and rock. The Dinosaur Collection which is a display of actual dinosaur bones, the end product from the laboratory. The Dinosaur Canyon is reached by electric shuttles and is a guided tour along pathways to galleries and lookouts containing life sized dinosaur exhibits. A Great couple of days. Very hot in Winton, the air con in the van has had a workout as has the pool in the park. We are on the road again tomorrow, a night in Longreach followed by a couple of nights in Aramac to check out the Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail. https://www.barcaldinerc.qld.gov.au/aramac-2

20.01.2022 We hit the road again yesterday after 2 nights in Emu Park. Our list of places to return to for longer visits is growing. We went for a drive to Yeppoon, the view of all the islands from the beach is unexpected. Lovely town. We spent last night at a farm stay about 50ks north of Mackay. Amongst the cane fields. Very relaxing. Rained all day yesterday and most of last night too. We are super excited to be arriving at our home for the next 2 1/2 months today. Can’t wait to see the Achacha Plantation and meet the owners and find out what we are going to be doing to help out.

20.01.2022 Self distancing on a friend’s private property. Lovely to be able to have a fire. Happy Easter everyone. Hope to see you On The Road Again one of these days. Stay safe.

19.01.2022 Another great week in NQ. We saw the Achacha trees being fertilised through their watering system and then by liquid fertiliser onto the actual leaves. All natural fertilisers and all made on the plantation. It was a mix of fermented kelp, silica extracted from the Casuarina tree and minerals extracted from sea water we collected from Alva Beach. It was then sprayed on the trees as shown in the first 2 photos. Everything is so healthy yet no chemicals or poisons or artificial... fertilisers are used. The Biodynamic process is working but not without a lot of work by the owners. We have seen very few bugs or marks on fruit and veges. Just snakes!! There are 20 horses on the property and tomorrow we are moving them from one area to another. All hands on deck for that, 6 of us. We don’t have TV reception here so apart from live streaming the news we are having quiet evenings, early nights and early mornings. Loving the lifestyle. See more

17.01.2022 After leaving Gympie at the end of January to hit the road indefinitely we certainly didn’t expect to be back in the area so soon. We decided we would prefer to be back in our own state while all the border closings are on so very quickly headed back from the NSW/Vic border. Crossed into Queensland yesterday morning and have now set up on a family property in Goomeri. A lovely spot, with power, water and toilet. Very comfortable. Stay safe everyone.

14.01.2022 Our first week at Palm Creek Plantation is nearly over. The plantation grows a tropical fruit called Achacha, originally from the Amazon Basin in Bolivia. There were 16000 trees planted on 120 hectares of land about 45 klms south of Townsville. The fruit is harvested from around January with the help of backpackers, grey nomads and WWOOFA’S. The plantation is Biodynamic therefore no chemicals are used, only natural methods to improve the soil therefore the plants. There are... also 60 mango trees on the property, many in flower and hopefully getting ready to produce a good crop around Christmas time. This work week included many little jobs. One was collecting fresh cow manure from a neighbouring property to be used in soil preparation , another was collecting horse manure to be used by the beekeeper in his smoker. Scott has been going out in the paddocks early each morning to help remove a vine which grows over the trees. This is an ongoing job. We painted a couple of the trailers used in picking the fruit. We cleaned up the garden and watering is a daily chore. I am taking lots of photos for the property owners to be used in marketing. Certainly an interesting week and a very informative week. Have learnt lots about growing naturally, bees, chooks and the Achacha. The weather is cool in the mornings but it soon warms up. There had been rain before we arrived and the mosquitoes are here in full force. We are off the Townsville for the weekend to visit family. See more

13.01.2022 We are between house sits so decided to head for the beach for a couple of days. Lovely park, Maroochydore Beach Holiday Park. We walked around to Cotton Tree Caravan Park and it is looking a bit empty there. It is one of our favourite parks and we have never seen it with waterfront sites empty. I guess it is usually full of southerners who have headed north for the warmth. Couple of nights here then a house sit at Chevallum for a couple of weeks. We’re finding house sitting a good way to keep visiting new areas but not have to stay in a Caravan Park. Loved our time at our Glenwood house sit.

12.01.2022 Palmwoods, what a beautiful little town. Worth a visit. The beautiful old pub and Rick’s Garage and Licensed Diner would be great for a Sunday lunch. A bit further afield we stopped for coffee at Woombye and on through Forest Glen. Lovely areas, worth a visit if you are in this area. Saturday we went for a drive up the Blackall Range to Montville, Flaxton and Mapleton, the Sunshine Coast’s beautiful Hinterland. The views are spectacular and you can spend hours walking Montville’s Main Street exploring the shops.

12.01.2022 We left Winton and stayed the night in Ilfracombe instead of Longreach. We’ve been thru the Qantas museum and the Stockman’s Hall of Fame on a previous trip. We stopped in Longreach for lunch and a grocery shop and fuel but their caravan park prices are high compared to Ilfracombe. We had a drink at the Wellshot Hotel in Ilfracombe and did the mile walk along machinery alley. The area had between 30 and 50 mls of rain a couple of nights ago which certainly freshened everythin...g up. Much more needed. Arrived in Aramac yesterday and tackled the Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail today. Well worth the 200klm drive, 2/3 gravel. I have only included some of the sculptures, our favourites. They were all fantastic. The Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail features 40 sculptures along the way as well the glorious Lake Dunn. More sculptures are being added each year. How did the sculptures get there? Ask a local and you may be told an interesting story about a sheila with a few roos loose in the top paddock. In reality, the sculptures are the works of a local sculptor, Milynda Rogers, who did reside on a grazing property along the trail and decided she needed a platform to display her work. The result is one of the biggest, permanent, outdoor sculpture exhibitions in the world. She has combined her love of sculpture and incredible ability to turn junk into art to fulfil her wish to put a smile on the faces of the people who travel through one of the most beautiful and historical parts of Queensland. Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail

11.01.2022 We were on the road again for a trip to Hervey Bay for a house sit. It was just a short 4 day sit, but we are heading back there at Christmas for a 4 week sit. Sunsets on Dundowran Beach were exceptional. We are in Upper Widgee today and for the next 2 to 3 weeks. Beautiful house in the country, 2 Rottweilers to take care of, some chooks, a couple of horses and some cattle and lots of wild birds who come in morning and night for a feed and drink. From here we are going on ...a road trip to Giru, Qld. South of Townsville, just over 1100 kms north of here. We’ve picked up a 2 1/2 month stint on an Achacha plantation. We are looking forward to helping out in the orchard and exploring North Queensland on the weekends. We will be living in our van for the stay there, this will be the longest we have stayed in one place in the van, and it will be good to set it up for the long stay. Water and power supplied and access to bathroom facilities. If COVID hadn’t come along we would be in Darwin at the moment, instead we have stayed on family and friends properties and picked up some wonderful house sits and now this great opportunity to help out on the Achacha Plantation. Living life and loving it.

11.01.2022 Our 3rd week at Palm Creek Plantation. Last week saw Scott, Bruce and Gary spend 3 days putting together a chicken caravan (see photos). The instruction booklet was 240 pages long! The chooks love it. It can be moved around the farm allowing the chook poo to fertilise where it drops. Great invention. Feed and water points are built in and the doors automatically open and close at a preset time. Hopefully the chooks are all inside when they close for the night! I did a count ...of the trees from an overhead photo of the plantation. There were 16000 trees planted, my count was 15290, some being lost to flood in one corner of the property. We visited Alligator Creek this afternoon. What a lovely spot for a swim. Water was clear and cold. No, we didn’t swim but there were others swimming. Brrrrrr. Our days vary from painting to gardening to computer work to vine removal and lots of little jobs in between. Very enjoyable. See more

09.01.2022 We are on the road again. Just for a couple of weeks. Left the Palm Creek Achacha Plantation Saturday heading for Charters Towers. We had a wonderful 12 weeks with Bruce and Helen, doing many and varied jobs and learning about Organic farming and biodynamics. Charters Towers is very hot and we chose the park we are staying in for its beautiful pool which we have taken advantage of regularly. We took a drive out to the Burdekin Weir, The Towers water supply, and we have been ...up ‘The Towers Hill’ a couple of times. Once to check out the sunset, which didn’t disappoint and the other time to watch a movie in the outdoor amphitheater about the founding of Charters Towers and the gold discovery. Was very informative and we would recommend it to anyone visiting. Scott got his fossicking license while we were here and has been out a couple of mornings early to try his luck. Hope he has better luck with the Melbourne Cup!! We did a walking tour of the Main Street area of Charters Towers, some beautifully restored old buildings. Lovely to see. We were heading off in the morning to Hughenden but our fridge is playing up and the closest service agent is in Townsville. So off we go back to Townsville tomorrow, hopefully it will be able to be fixed quickly and we can continue our journey west. Not a good time to be heading west but we have a Housesit in Roma mid November and we thought this would give us a tiny taste of what is out West for the next time we travel this way, in much cooler weather! See more

09.01.2022 We are at Emu Park (near Rockhampton, Qld and Yeppoon). What a beautiful spot. The local council has done a fantastic job with the waterfront area and they have a very moving tribute to the Anzacs with a memorial and walk. Caravan park is right on the beach and we went to bed last night listening to the waves roll in. 2 nights here and we will head off to somewhere near Mackay tomorrow.

08.01.2022 Free camp tonight at Chatsworth Rest Area in GYMPIE, Qld. We are between house sits. Needed to be in Gympie for a dinner tonight and an appointment in the morning. Off power, so might be a bit cold in the van tonight. And a bit noisy with this highway traffic. 9 vans or motor homes here tonight. Very popular.

08.01.2022 Yahoo, we’re on the road again. Heading to North Queensland after being around the Wide Bay Area since late March. Thank you to all the family and friends who have had us in their backyards for the last few months. It was great to catch up with the everyone. We have had some wonderful housesits too. Looking forward to the next adventure, helping out on an Achacha Plantation near Townsville for a couple of months.

08.01.2022 Sitting here reading, listening to Macca and the birds. That pool looks good enough to swim in, but my toes said it was too cold, even in Queensland!Wouldn’t mind doing this house sit again in summer. Lovely spot.

07.01.2022 Morning tea stop between Winton and Longreach

06.01.2022 Magnetic Island. A must visit if you are in Townsville. We’ve been to the island many times over the years, over on the ferry and hired a moke, taken our own vehicle over and stayed a week, done the magnificent fort walk and were lucky enough to see koalas. Today we caught the ferry over and joined Aquascene Charters for a trip around the island calling into some bays inaccessible by land, checking out a couple of wrecks, caught some fish, had lunch on a lovely beach where we could swim and paddle board and finished off the day with a snorkel. A small group of 14 with a very knowledgeable local, Adam, steering the boat and educating us about the island. Weather was perfect . Water was not freezing . Great day.

04.01.2022 Lots of birdlife. . And some slithery snakes .At Palm Creek Plantation, North Queensland. Lovin it in the tropics.

03.01.2022 The beekeeper came today to leave 20 hives to pollinate the flowers just appearing on the Achacha trees. He is bringing another 20 hives on Monday. Amazing to watch him handle them.

02.01.2022 Since we unexpectedly returned to Queensland, just before the border restrictions came in, we have been staying with family and friends on properties at Goomeri, Upper Wonga and Widgee. We have had a great time catching up with family and friends (whilst maintaining safe distances!). We were lucky enough to pick up a house sit for 3 weeks in the local area and arrived here on Friday to look after a house and keep their new gardens and turf alive. I must say it is so good to have a full size kitchen! Didn’t realise I had missed it! Last weekend we took the opportunity while we were in the area to climb Widgee Mountain. There is a 4WD track up to where the hangliders and parasailers depart then a couple of kilometre walk and climb to both peaks of the mountain. The views were worth the sore muscles. Nearly ‘On the Road Again’.

01.01.2022 Called in to Barcaldine for fuel and found we had a flat tyre. Limped to the tyre shop a couple of blocks away. One new tyre required. All fixed. Thank you @barcaldinetyre&auto.