Overland Australia

Last night was another cold night and climbing out of the swag was very hard, when we did emerge we were treated to a beautiful thick fog which burned off slowly as the sun rose. We weren’t in too much of a hurry today so we milled around camp waiting for the heavy dew on the roof top tent to dry off. Eventually we hit the road and made our way south on the Bruce Highway. Lunch stop fro today was Tiaro and from here it was a couple of hours drive and we were home. This trip was fantastic and we are so glad we had this opportunity. We love heading out west into the deserts and were surprised at how much we enjoyed this trip. The 4wd tracks through the Creb, OTT and Frenchman's tracks were brilliant and our little Triton emerged relatively unscathed with some new pin stripes, rattles, bucket fulls of dust and some paint off the side steps and bash plates. Nothing a good clean/polish and touch up won't fix. I'm so glad we took our time and prepared properly, we saw heaps o

Another transit today, on previous trips we had camped at the free camp on the Calliope River so this was our destination for the day. Anna was craving another proper coffee and wanted to show the girls where her family used to stay in Mackay, so we took a detour off the highway and had a coffee and morning tea at the Mackay Marina. The park Anna used to play in as a kid was still there... We stopped in at Claireview for lunch and Anna and I think we could retire here one day, a very beautiful little spot. We started to hit the road works today but otherwise we made good time and had an uneventful drive south. Late in the arvo we pulled off the highway into Calliope River, this place is very popular with camping on both sides of the river. The area is huge and we managed to find a nice pot looking down over the river. Distance travelled = 541km

Today we started the dash home, so we packed up early so we had enough time for a quick look around Paronella Park before hitting the road. The other advantage of staying overnight is that you have access to the gardens before it opens for the day and can wonder around and have the place almost to yourselves. Not much to report from today, it really was a transit day... . Late in the arvo we reached Bowen where we filled up with diesel and literally hit the dead zone for free camping. We checked Wiki Camps and there were no free camp options along our route between Bowen and Mackay so we continued south and pulled into the O'Connell River Caravan park. Here we had the un-powered section to ourselves and had a nice view over the river, unfortunately the highway was quite close and we had a restless night due to the traffic noise. Distance travelled = 541km Its getting cold, almost home....

Last night was much cooler and I'm glad we had the doona in our swag… This morning we explored the nature park and the kids held some snakes and birds before we grabbed some Wallaby food and headed down to Wallaby rock. Here we spent almost an hour feeding the Wallabies and the kids had a great time, they are very friendly and keen to get a feed. Our tip would be to feed them in the mornings like we did, apparently they get a little full by the arvo and aren't so keen later in the day. Next stop was the Coffee Works in Mareeba, it was great to have a look around again and taste some of the chocolate and yummy liqueurs. After picking up some of our favourite liqueurs and some gifts for family and friends we had another proper coffee before hitting the road again. Our route took us through Atherton and then Malanda and Milla Milla where we stopped for a look at each of the falls which were quite spectacular. This drive through the rain forests and over the ranges was really s

We packed up fairly early as we had a dry night but it looked like it was going to rain and we din't fancy a wet pack up, on the way out of Elim we tried to drive to the coloured sands but unfortunately it was high tide and there was no access to the beach, ah well next time... Anna was very keen to stop in at Mareeba so we could visit the Coffee Works and the Golden Drop Mango winery so this was our destination for tonight. We got chatting to another family at The Bend and they recommended the Granite Gorge Nature Park so we phoned ahead and booked in for the night. From Elim Beach we made our way into Cooktown where we stocked up on supplies and diesel and then found the bakery for morning tea and a proper coffee.... We were back on the blacktop now and it was strange to drive along on smooth roads and not have the rattles and squeaks from the car. We pulled into Mcleods River which is a beautiful little free camp that we found on our 6 month trip and had lunch by the river.