Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Bush Poets and such

This Ballard was sent by a friend and I felt that it was well worth sharing.........

DON'T SELL AUSTRALIA OUT

When the shearing sheds are silent and the stock camps fallen quiet

When the gidgee coals no longer glow across the outback night

And the bush is forced to hang a sign, ‘Gone broke and won't be back'

And spirits fear to find a way beyond the beaten track

When harvesters stand derelict upon the wind swept plains

And brave hearts pin their hopes no more on chance of loving rains

When a hundred outback settlements are ghost towns overnight

When we've lost the drive and heart we had to once more see us right

When 'Pioneer' means a stereo and 'Digger' some backhoe

And the 'Outback' is behind the house. There’s nowhere else to go

And 'Anzac' is a biscuit brand and probably foreign owned

And education really means brainwashed and neatly cloned

When you have to bake a loaf of bread to make a decent crust

And our heritage once enshrined in gold is crumbling to dust

And old folk pay their camping fees on land for which they fought

And fishing is a great escape; this is until you're caught

When you see our kids with Yankee caps and resentment in their eyes

And the soaring crime and hopeless hearts is no longer a surprise

When the name of RM Williams is a yuppie clothing brand

And not a product of our heritage that grew off the land

When offering a hand makes people think you'll amputate

And two dogs meeting in the street is what you call a 'Mate'

When 'Political Correctness' has replaced all common sense

When you're forced to see it their way, there's no sitting on the fence

Yes one day you might find yourself an outcast in this land

Perhaps your heart will tell you then, ' I should have made a stand'

Just go and ask the farmers that should remove all doubt

Then join the swelling ranks who say, ' don't sell Australia out!'

Written by Chris Long - Edmonton F.N.Q.



Day Six........

Eileen's knee was playing up a little today and she decided to stay at home and read her book while I took Pepper to the beach for a swim.   There is 1.5 kl of off leash beach and put simply Pepper had a ball.   She met a couple of other groups along the way and had lots of run chasing each other in and out of the water.



There was one lot of 4 English sheepdogs and 2 Australian sheepdogs.  And Pepper.....












After the swim, Pepper was plumb tuckered out so we had a leisurely stroll along the beach looking for shells and such.



As we were heading to the car we saw this Brahminy Kite sitting and observing, looking for its next meal.


A very pleasant day but I am afraid Pepper has overdone it and come up lame in her left rear leg and daddy has to help her up into the van.  Will see how she is tomorrow. 


Monday, July 18, 2011

Day Five........

After tea last night Eileen and I sat down with a lovely glass of Port (or three) and played three games of Mahjong and even though I studied the rules Eillen beat me three games to nil. I couldn't create a pair let alone a pung...  never mind, try again tonight.




Up early, lots to do today...  Bacon, eggs and tomato on toast for breakfast then off to do some sight-seeing and shopping.   Along the way we found a great off leash beach and Pepper just had to go for a swim.


The water was cold but she didn't seem to mind.







Come on Mum can't you keep up?......

















Here is our site at Woodgate........



Come on Dad, give me a cuddle......



Sunday, July 17, 2011

Day Four......

What a difference a day makes!  Sunshine....

Packed up early and departed Rainbow Beach at around 9.30am.   A leisurely drive to Woodgate Beach with one rest stop for a burger (tummy was rumbling).

Arrived at 12.45pm and started to set up camp, half way through, met the neighbours (two more Fifth wheelers) and talked about our rigs for half an hour or so.  Both couples seem very nice and we look forward to happy hour for more chats.

Took puppy for an afternoon walk and the beach looks great.  The caravan park is chockers, 150 or so vans of all types.   This place has a very good reputation.

Woodgate Beach at 5.00pm

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Day Three - Woodgate

Weather not much improved, although sun is trying to push through the clouds.   Went for a drive to Inskip Point which is where the barge takes off to go over to Fraser Island.  It is quite remote but there were lots of campers.  Here are a group of photos taken looking back to Rainbow Beach and Double Island Point from Inskip Point.   The sea was rough and the beach was all but deserted, I'm sure that on a fine and clear day the picture would be much better.

















Walking along the beach we saw this little fellow.  A Black headed Python I believe.  He was only a couple of feet long, so just a baby.... wonder where Mum is???

Day two - Rainbow Beach

Buggar.... woke up to a cold, windy and rainy day.   Bacon and eggs for breakfast and a brisk walk for puppy and some supplies and back to the van.  Spent the day reading and eating with a side of TV.

Hope tomorrow is better.

Here is a photo of our van site, as you can see, there is not much room to manouver.   Rainbow Beach Holiday Village is neat and tidy but not very big.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Day One

Very excited and got up early to walk puppy and do the final pack up.  It still took a while to complete the few tasks that we couldn't do until we were ready to go and it was around 9.15 am when Dave came over to say farewell, so we got him to take the first official photo of our trip.


The trip to Rainbow Beach was generally uneventful and apart from one stop for fuel at Yandina we made the 242K trip in 3hrs and 45mins including the comfort stop. The van tows very well and is most comfortable between 80 and 100kph.

Parking the van on the site was a little difficult as the road was very narrow and there was a tree that I had to negotiate around, anyway with a few forward and backs we finally had it parked and ready to connect to power, water and waste.

We had a short walk down to the beach to have a look around.   Pepper is very excited and wants to go for a swim.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Oh dear!

Pepper seems to be accident prone just like her mum, she has hurt her foot either jumping into the van or out of the car.... off to the vet this morning.

We have almost completed breaking camp and only have a few small jobs to do.  Need to visit a few people before leaving on Thursday morning at around 9am after the traffic dies down.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Our Trip

For the next four weeks Eileen and I are going to cover a fair section of Central Queensland.

Follow us on the map.  
Our first stop is Rainbow Beach (near Tin Can Bay) where we will stay for 3 nights. 

Next stop is a little further north at a little town called Woodgate.   We have heard good reports about this place and are staying 4 nights here.

From here it's on to a place called Midgee just outside Rockhampton.  The reason for this town is that there are no dog friendly sites in Rocky (poor form, however they are not on their own in this regard.  It appears that dogs are only welcome west of the Great Divide, the coastal towns are so far up themselves and have very poor town planning laws and litigous laywers.)  4 nights here so we can have a look around.

On to Sapphire where we will spend 5 nights and hope to make our fortune prospecting.. Ha! ha!

The next leg is our longest at 400klms to Longreach where we want to visit the Stockmans Hall of Fame and the Quantas Museum.  We spend 5 nights here also during which time we will day trip to Winton to have a look at the Dinosaur remains.

Heading home on the downward track to Tambo for 3 nights.

Charleville for 3 nights

Roma 1 night and

Miles for 3 nights and then home to Brissy.

On Holiday at last.....

After a huge week at work with people away sick or on leave and a 40 footer and two 20 footer containers full of small items arriving, there was so little time to get everything done, and before I knew it Friday afternoon had come and our holiday had begun.  Woo hoo.....

This is Eileen and my first paid holiday in twenty years.

We now have a few days to break camp and do a couple of small jobs around the home before we set of on our trip.  Getting quite excited.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Eileen's Hobbies

Eileen's Hobbies Quilting, Paper Tole' Painting, Folk art writing childrens stories and i am currently working on a murder mystery i have published some of the books on Amazon Kindle.







Just some of the many quilts i have made and given away i have enjoyed making every one.