We awoke to a clear day on the coast. Sam was awake fairly early and wanted to see how far away the beach was – it turned out it was only 50m walk from our caravan. He came back and gave us a description of the bay. Some ducks had come waddling along to just outside the caravan, so Hannah and Bethany went out side to see them. They asked if they could feed them some bread – I said no (thinking of the ducks’ digestive system), and then an older man from one of the caravans asked them, as they were standing outside, if they would like some bread to give the ducks – of well – let them enjoy it then:).

Once Hannah and Beth had breakfasted, dressed etc, I went with them and Sam to have a look at the beach (Lauren tends to wake up later, so she was still breakfasting at this point). Suddenly memories of my childhood came flooding back – the palm trees on the fringe of the beach, the muddied sand, the flat calm water, the colours of the sand and water – it all spoke of north Qld beaches. The 3 children had running races on the beach for a while and we went and felt the water – I said they could swim a bit later, after I’d done a few jobs at the caravan and was free to watch them. Lauren joined us then and they did a few more games like hopscotch etc on the sand. Then they saw some palm fronds higher up near the fringe of the beach and some bamboo sticks. They decided they would start to make a ‘fort’ (like they’ve done at home on our bush property). I watched them start it off and then left Lauren and Sam in charge, with instructions that no-one was to go near the water itself without asking Mum or Dad first. Then I went the 50m back to the van. 

Michael had had a sleep-in, but was up by now. We decided we needed at least the morning to get a few jobs done. We had quite a bit of washing to do, we needed to clean out the van floor and also a couple of the storage cupboards near the wheel arches had had some water come in ( we will try to get the edges siliconed up somewhere). Also Michael wanted to fix the bike tyres that needed fixing. We plugged away at all these jobs, checking on the children every now and then. They were thoroughly entrenched in their project of building a hut (rather than a fort, it had been decided it was a ‘hut’ ) and Hannah and Beth were pretending to be aborigine children who were going off hunting and gathering (I had been reading some Australian history to them all in the car the previous day). They had the big stick which was the pretend spear and they were killing kangaroo to roast in the fire back at the hut. Lauren and Sam had found some logs for the seats and made a pit for the fire. They had found some coconuts and were in the process of trying to get into one. They were being quite inventive in their attempts. It was lovely seeing them all playing and enjoying themselves together in that way. A couple of hours passed and then we called them back for morning tea. Michael had gone down at one stage and helped them finally get into the coconut and try the milk. The taste also brought back memories for me. By the middle of the day, the tide had gone a long way out, and it was mudflats for about 100m out to the waters edge. The kids asked if they could walk out there together, so I said yes, and then to come back for lunch. Well they came back quicker than I expected, with stories of the hundreds of crabs that had been out there. And Hannah and Bethany kept saying how loudly Lauren had screamed. Hannah was sad that she hadn’t been able to have a swim yet, and now it was too late because the tide had gone out. I hadn’t realised the tide went out that far. I said hopefully she could have one when the tide came back in later.

We then had lunch and got the 2 younger ones to have a rest on beds for half an hour, listening to audio stories. Then they rode their bikes around for a little while. It was only a fairly small caravan park, and we were the only family with children there – I think all the rest were either permanent residents or grey nomads – many of them had gone out for the day so it was fairly quiet at the van park – so there was no problem with the girls riding their bikes around for a bit.

Then they were keen to go back to the beach and continue their game. It felt good for me to be able to get all the washing done, dried and put away, and the van cleaned and reordered. I also managed to catch up on some blogging and posting of blogs I had written but hadn’t been able to post due to lack of 3G coverage at the time of writing. Michael pottered and was able to watch a movie and have a rest after all the driving of the last few days.

About 4.30, Michael and I found the kids on the beach and we all went for a walk along the beach for about 45mins. We collected some nice looking shells as we walked. On the way back, the younger girls started to walk in the water. Michael and I decided it would be bath time soon anyway, so they might as well have their ‘swim’ in their clothes (which had started getting wet anyway) and I would take them for a shower once back at the van park.  They enjoyed a splash for about 15mins and then we headed off to the showers, while Michael and the others did dinner. We all agreed it had been a great day, and were a bit sad to be on the move again tomorrow. Wouldn’t it be lovely if we could have a whole year to travel around Australia and we could take even more time? Of well, we are thankful for having the time we have anyway.

We packed up as quickly as we could – it was too wet for the kids to go out and ride bikes or anything. Then we backtracked towards Springsure and Emerald. Just after leaving Rolleston, we had to go through water across the road – another indication of just how much water was flowing in the rivers and creeks around here at present. When we got to Emerald, we stopped at a shopping centre to pick up some groceries and some new bike tyres (2 of the bikes needed some maintenance). We also posted some birthday cards for Nana while we were there (whose birthday is this Sunday). We then drove a bit further along to Morton Park in Emerald where there is a giant copy of Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflowers’ painting. We got a photo standing under it. This is a sunflower growing region – we had seen the crops of them alongside the road as we drove.

After Emerald, we headed north towards Clermont. This was a big mining town, with the huge Blair Athol mine just nearby. We had hoped to do a tour of the mine, but they only ran on a Tues and Fri (we were driving through on a Wed). Still we got to see quite a bit of the large machines in the industrial areas of the small towns we drove through. And we might be able to do a mine tour over in WA. We did have a short stop at Clermont and saw the monument to the 1916 flood which occurred there, killing 65 people – the worst disaster in Australia at the time. The monument was a tree with a line marking how high the water rose – 4.3m. A tree was chosen for the monument because so many people survived by climbing trees.

We then turned NE and headed along the Peak Downs Hwy towards Mackay. We drove past some cotton growing areas, and past the Peak Downs Mountain Range, which had some very unusually shaped boulders. We passed through some small towns called Coppabella, Nebo, Epsom and Eton. As we were driving, I was trying to work out where we were staying that night. Even though it meant driving a bit longer again that day, we wanted to get close to Mackay so we could stay somewhere for 2 nights at least. We had hoped to stay at Cape Hillsborough NP campground, but it was full. There   were a couple of other campgrounds in that area, but there was no power and generators were not allowed. We wanted to stay somewhere nice and close to water to have a rest day. We tried a place at Lake Kinchant, but they didn’t answer. Then we tried a place at Armstrong Beach, near Sarina, just south of Mackay. We got their last powered site. So we drove from Eton to Sarina, and didn’t have to go in to Mackay. Then Armstrong Beach was 10mins from Sarina towards the coast. We arrived about 6.30pm. The first thing we noticed when we got out of the car was how much warmer it was – being a little bit extra north and closer to the coast. We didn’t need a jumper, even at that time of night. The friendly managers helped us reverse into our spot. We had a spag bol dinner from the frozen dinner stash and got ready for bed. We got to say hello to Kermie the green frog, who sits on the wall just outside the ladies toilet every night.

After leaving Longreach, we backtracked along the Capricorn Hwy back to Barcaldine, had some lunch and picked up a few supplies. Then headed east for the 300km run to Emerald. We went through a couple of small towns called Jericho, and Alpha. It was a bit overcast and drizzly at times. It was getting close to 5pm as we approached Emerald, so we rang ahead to see if we could book into a caravan park. All 3 that we tried were booked up for powered sites, but had vacancy for unpowered. We rang ahead to Springsure, which was another 68km further on – they had one last vacancy for a powered site, and at a good price too. So we booked it and continued to drive on. It was about 6.30 when we arrived at the caravan park, so we had to reverse in to our spot in the dark – which was not too bad. It had obviously been raining quite a bit in this area, as the dirt roads had turned to mud. The lady at the park office enquired if we were headed for Canarvon Gorge, and advised us to ring ahead and check the road conditions in the morning, as all the rain may have made it impassable for our caravan. Lauren and I cooked a quick dinner of devilled sausages, instant mash and vegies while Dad and Sam setup the caravan. It was a later dinner than usual, then Beth and Hannah went to bed straight after. The others of us read or did some research on our iPads. I read up on the different walks available at the gorge. Then it was bed time.

Our visit to Canarvon Gorge was not the ideal visit at all, due to rain and overcast weather –  but it provided some learning experiences and we did get to see some of the area.

We allowed ourselves a bit of a sleep-in in the morning, and then had to make some phone calls to see what the road conditions were like etc. We decided not to take the caravan in, but to drive to the next town, Rolleston, and leave it at the caravan park there and just do a day trip into the gorge. Initially the lady we spoke to on the phone at Rolleston thought that maybe the highway between Springsure and Rolleston may even be cut off by floodwaters – we didn’t think there had been that much rain. After a few more enquiries, we decided to give it a try, and got through to Rolleston without problem. We parked our van at the site, packed our food and rain jackets and spare dry clothes into the car, and headed towards Canarvon Gorge. It was midday by this time, so we knew we wouldn’t be able to do any long walks, but there were a few short ones we could try. It was a 45min drive to the turnoff to the gorge and then 20 Km of unsealed road to the gorge area. After about 10mins driving along the road in, we came to what was to be the first of a few creek crossings. In the dry, they would be a levy, but with the rain, the water was flowing quite significantly. There were 3 other cars in front of us who we think were driving as a convoy and were checking out the crossing. One guy walked across to see how deep it was – about 30cm deep. Then cars came from the other direction and went across as we watched – some with trailers. So we felt quite confident then. We went across no problems. Another 10mins down the road and we stopped again at another creek crossing with a line of cars. Michael walked ahead to check out this one and came back saying ” You  might all want to hop out. There’s a car stalled in the crossing and the guy 3 cars in front of us with a Landcruiser is going to use his snatch strap to pull him out.” We did so, which was probably the first time the kids had seen that done, so it was a learning experience. The people who had been stuck (a mum, dad, and 3 children) had only been in a small car – they had driven in 2 days earlier (before the rain I guess) and then had heard the rivers were rising so had been trying to drive out while they could – but got stuck on that crossing. Their car engine had been flooded so they were not able to continue driving out. They had been travelling with another family whose car was still on the gorge side of the river. They decided they would all go back to the bush resort they’d been camping at and stay another night and sort out what to do. So between the 4 cars who had been congregated there at the crossing, we were able to fit them all in and take them back to the bush resort, about 10 mins away. We had the mum, Nicole, and the youngest boy, Jarrod (5yrs) in our car. They were from New  Farm in Brisbane and were quite friendly. They met up with their friends at the bush resort and we said goodbye to them there. Then we continued on another 5 mins down the road to the visitor and information centre. 

It was now about 2pm, so our walking time would be limited, but we were thankful we had been able to get in safely. We found out then that the main track into the gorge had water across the very first creek crossing and was likely to have a lot of water crossing it. This would mean a slower walk and we wouldn’t have had time. But there were some other shorter walks at the mouth of the gorge. One we were able to do easily was called Baloon Cave – it was about a 15min stroll to an overhanging cave with some aboriginal stencil art on its walls. There were a couple of bridges with creeks flowing underneath, on which the kids enjoyed playing ‘pooh sticks’. There was a Nature Trail which only went a short distance before being blocked by a wide creek (which I think normally has stepping stones over it). Then we found a path which followed the creek and started along that. We came to a section which had a wide expanse of rocks and pebbles beside the creek and the kids wanted to stop there to skip rocks in the creek. We found a big rock to sit on for afternoon tea and stayed there about half an hour, enjoying the solitude and the picturesque setting. While it was misty, it wasn’t actually raining at that time. There were some very interesting rocks of all sorts of different colours, most of them quite smooth and some with pittings in them which made them look like ‘moon rocks’. Hannah and Beth started a collection of their favourite rocks, which by the end was turning into a huge pile and they wanted to take them all home! Sam was working on his technique of rock skipping most of the time. Lauren found some of the coloured rocks that broke down easily and used them as ‘chalk’ on white rocks, and then as ‘war paint’ on herself. It turned out to be a pleasant time there. We then walked back to the car and began the journey back to Rolleston.

 We had no dramas with any creek crossings on the way back, and didn’t see many other vehicles this time. We did see a few wild pigs crossing the road and we also had to slow down to almost a halt for a herd of cows also crossing the road. It was quite funny seeing the back end of a cow trotting along the road just in front of the car, in an attempt to get out of the way. Back on the highway, then the 70km back to Rolleston. When we arrived back at the caravan park, we remarked that we were glad we had booked in early that morning, as it looked chock-a-block full, like extras had been squeezed in. Probably travellers who had been planning to go to Canarvon Gorge , but were unable to get through and so stayed at the closest van park. It was very wet getting into our van – mud and water everywhere! Hopefully tomorrow we could get somewhere dry and clean up.

We stayed one and half days at Longreach and mainly visited the 2 most often visited attractions there – The Qantas Outback Founders Museum, and The Stockman’s Hall of Fame. When Michael looked it up, he thought it was Sunday that was the only day the Stockman Show was not on at 11am, so we planned to do the Qantas museum in the morning of Sunday, start on the Hall of Fame Sunday afternoon, and then do more of the Hall of Fame Monday morning, including the show.

So Sunday morning it was off to the Qantas museum. We got tickets for a museum entry and jet tour. The tour started at 9.30, so we did that first. Unfortunately there was a very cold wind that morning and we had to be outside for the jet tour (the jet was not in a hangar).  We all had our jumpers on, but we wished we’d also taken our beanies. Anyway the tour went for one and a half hours, most of which was spent learning about and looking through the Boeing 747 200 series plane. Apparently it is the only one of this type on display in the world. We also looked through a Boeing 707 and heard about the great feat that it was to bring it back to Australia from South End in England. Michael and Sam probably enjoyed the tour more than the rest of us. I found it a little interesting, but would have been happy with half the time – certainly Hannah & Beth would have preferred that too, but they did well to be patient as long as they were. I actually found the museum more interesting than I thought I would – manly the history of Qantas and the stories of the men that founded it – I find these aspects more interesting than the technical information. There were some simulators and activities for the kids to do.

We got home about 1pm to have lunch (having had our own morning tea picnic in a windbreak area outside the museum). I was feeling pretty worn out and lay down to have a rest for a while. When it came time to head off to the Hall of Fame, I asked if I could opt out for the afternoon. So Michael took the kids to put in about 2 hrs worth of looking there. I rested for a bit longer, then did some typing on my blog. We had some milk and things we needed to top up on, so I decided to ride the big bike (the one we brought for Lauren – which is actually my bike – but I don’t use it much and she’d outgrown her old one) into town, which was only a couple of blocks away. It felt good to have some exercise. Neither of the 2 grocery stores were open – I guess being a Sunday in outback QLD, they still had the closed on Sundays philosophy. We had UHT milk and there was nothing else on the list that was urgent, so it didn’t matter. I went back to the van and decided I’d get parts of dinner ready early. When Michael and the kids got back, I asked who wanted to go for a bike ride to the park I’d found on my way back from town. Sam and Hannah said yes – Bethy wasn’t able to come as she was worn out and emotional. The 3 of us went and had a nice ride around on the bike for about 20mins. Then Sam went back to the caravan park and Hannah and I went riding a bit further along the road to where there was a nature walk. We walked along for about 10mins, but it was getting late, so we went back to our bikes and headed back to the caravan. We had a beautiful view of the sunset along the road, as there were no houses around us. Back at the van, Michael had put together the last of the dinner, so we were able to sit down and eat. We had live country music in the background as there was a guy playing his guitar and singing in the communal section of the park. He was quite good and quite a few of the ‘grey nomads’ were out listening to him. After dinner, it was the usual night time routine – showers, stories and bed. Just before leaving Canberra, we had found ‘The Betrayal’ book Sam and I had been reading a couple of months ago before it suddenly went missing. It’s quite a long book  – an historical fiction about John Calvin. So I’ve started reading that again with Sam at night.  I’m usually ready to go to sleep after I’ve read that with him.

The next morning we had to pack up the caravan as we were leaving that caravan park.  Once packed up, we headed towards the Stockman’s Hall of Fame. We had found out that Michael had misread the website information and the only day the Stockman Show was not on, was Monday – today. It was bit disappointing, but one of the ladies at the caravan park the previous night had said the outback show at the Gold Coast was just as good – so maybe we’ll have to go to that sometime when visiting the Normans in Brisbane. Anyway, we filled in another 2 hrs at the Hall of Fame – I could have stayed longer, but the kids had seen enough between yesterday’s visit and today. I really enjoyed the early explorer gallery and pioneer Australians gallery. Sam and Lauren really enjoyed the stockman gallery right at the end, and also the RFDS gallery. Hannah and Beth enjoyed bits and pieces of all the galleries – the interactive parts mainly, like listening in to the types of conversations people had on the party line of the early telephone service, and the ‘talking head’ as they called it – an animatronic about the life of a stockman. We had some morning tea on the grounds outside the building and then hopped back in the car for the drive back east.