- Well hello, here we go into the Australian Outback. It will be a 974 mile trip taking a total of four days. I am so looking forward to seeing sheep (lots and lots of them), kangaroos, possums and anything else that is native to the Outback.
- The first stop we made was at a town called Charters Towers, total population of 9,000. The hotel was far from modern but did at least have air conditioning as the temperature was beginning to rise sharply the more we went inland. After we had eaten and unpacked we heard this squealing noise outside our window and what looked like a huge flock of birds were passing by in the twilight. The "birds" turned out to be bats, thousands of them out for their evening meal. The night shot I took did not do the amount of bats justice. I had never seen so many of them before. The next morning they were all roosting in the trees surrounding the town's park.
The Charters Tower's Hotel we stayed at on our first night in the Outback.
The road we were driving on was very sparsely travelled with the exception of the "Road Trains", trucks with 2, 3 and four trailers. Some of the trucks were amazing with their kangaroo bumpers on their grills. I have to confess, I really did like the road trains and enjoyed looking out for them.
This one had four trailers. We found the drivers to be very experienced and courteous. The next few photos show you some of the countryside we were seeing. As you can see, it is very dry and does not have a lot of interesting vegetation.
My Australian cowboy.
The above photo shows one of the few sightings of kangaroo. This one was accompanied with some goat friends.
A view of the road we travelled.
Oh my gosh, it sure is hot outside. One hundred and six point seven degrees.
We passed this sign telling us there would be no more gas for 213km. Thank goodness we had filled up before we left Charters Towers.
Yippee, my first ostrich. or so I thought. I mentioned it to some Australian I met and they told me they did not have any ostriches in Australia and that it must have been an emu.
This chap was out hiking miles away from anywhere but seemed to know where he was going.
Our next stop was at a town called Winton, population 2,000. Wintonshire covers 20,000 square miles so each person could have 10 square miles each.
The town of Winton is known for its opals and for the person who wrote "Waltzing Matilda", Banjo Paterson. He wrote the song in 1895 whilst staying at Dagworth Station, a sheep and cattle station near Winton.
There are two more points of interest in Winton. The first one, it is the birthplace of Qantas having been founded in 1920. It is the oldest airline in the English speaking world. Qantas stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services. Its first operations were taxi services and pleasure flights. The second one I have inadvertently lost and will need Gary's help to retrieve it. I will get back to you later. Found it, it was a wall full of everyday objects stuck into it by a "bloke" called Arno. It even had a kitchen sink and an old TV. The wall was constructed in 2010 and is now quite a tourist attraction.
Surprisingly, the Outback must flood fairly frequently in the rainy season as there were many markers on the side of the road indicating the water depth. It was hard to imagine this dry countryside flooding.
I have been called some names in my life but "Ewes" was not one of them. The local loo called the ladies "Ewes" and the mens "Rams".
I left the Outback feeling very disappointed. I had not seen vast amounts of sheep nor had I seen many live kangaroos. There were plenty of roadkill kangaroos to be seen but that was not what I was wanting. What was interesting was each little Outback town had a racecourse and a golf course. You could play a game of golf for 15 Australian dollars which, compared to U.S. prices was very cheap. We also could tell when we were out of the Outback as we saw the first traffic light we had seen in four days.
After the Outback we journeyed to Gladstone on the coast to catch the ferry to Heron Island, 72 kilometers off the coast of Australia. I am hoping for a smooth trip not like the one we had in Cairns.
After a good trip we arrived at Heron Island and were greeted by pristine, blue waters and a lovely white beach.
The Island was called Heron Island by mistake. The island was discovered in 1843 by a Royal Navy Expedition comprising the corvette HMS Fly and the cutter Bramble.The island was named by Lieutenant Charles Bampfield Yule, the commander of the Bramble who thought the island was inhabited by herons. He was wrong. No herons are to be found on Heron Island, only egrets.
The above photo shows a wrecked boat at the mouth of the entrance to the resort. Many tropical fish have made it their home and can be seen when snorkelling.
Breakfast was included in the package but other meals were not so we had to eat at the resort's one and only restaurant. I thought the buffet meals were very good as well as the choice of food considering the island was so far from the mainland.
The main reason we came to Heron Island was to snorkel and I am sure glad we did. It was absolutely breathtaking and something I shall always remember.
The following photos show some of the fish and coral on the Great Barrier Reef.
It is hard to see but the above picture has a turtle in it. I do wish the camera had taken a better photo.
Sunset.
Moon over Heron.
I just liked the above photo so I have included it for you to see.
Baby egrets, not herons.
Mom and baby Rail.
Noddy Tern of which there were thousands nesting on the island. This one is airing his wings to get rid of lice hidden in his feathers.
Shark seen whilst walking along the waterfront.
It is hard to see but the above photo is of a stingray just underneath the surface of the water.
A lovely coloured parrot fish.
We left Heron Island after 3 lovely days. The weather was perfect, the room and food great and the Reef fantastic. Would loved to have stayed longer.
Off to Sydney tomorrow via Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. I am looking forward to that.
No comments:
Post a Comment