and the roast of the day is ...................................

We have started a new collection of sign pics and so far this is the most unusual one yet LOL. Only in Mackay. They should also include the information service onto this sign and they will just about sum up the place (deco excepted) LOL.

Good news, I am back on my feet - just, lots of drugs and a whole day in bed seemed to do the trick. We are heading to a national park called Byfeld or something like that, north of Yeppon for a couple of days so not sure we will be in internet contact.

We're back

the Hunter Gatherer is at it again. Our stay at Carmilla Beach was really good. It's a free camp with a max. of 72 hours although no one really polices that. We stayed four nights and apart from day one the weather was great. Lots of walking along the beach, shell hunting for Bailey and yes we found some really good ones.

Today we motored down the highway to Marlborough and expected to spend 2 or 3 nights there but it was such a horrible place that we just kept going. The one thing we did forget was that we were in FNQ and services are few and far between and that includes service stations. We headed to the caves which is just outside Rocky and arrived on the smell of fumes, very lucky. We planned to be here for a couple of nights but my back has gone out on me and at the moment I cant move, so maybe this little stay will have to extend a bit. Hopefully all will be well for the flight home.

We haven't disappeared....................

we're just free parking which means NO power so I have to be very quick when on line. Back in civilization on Thurs.

Another sunset

Yesterday we headed up to Finch Hatton Gorge and then onto Eungella on the plateau. The Gorge was a great 7 klm walk in with spectacular rainforest all around. The waterfalls were flowing and it was very picturesque, I will get some pics up later today.

Hope everyone down south is dry.

A town that has buildings like this can't be all bad

We have arrived in Mackay and were warned that we would love the deco buildings and have not been disappointed. There must have been a big building boom here in the 30's as most of the towns pubs are like this. BLISS.

The birthday was a great day, we started off at the movies to see the new Star Trek (as we are both ol' Trekkies) and fell in love with the new crew. The movie is great, it keeps all the tongue in check happening, the gags, the sometimes less than state of the art effects but it all comes together as a great two hour ride on the Enterprise 1701, bring on the next movie. From there it was off to dinner at the "Best" restaurant in town (as per the tradition). The restaurant was called "The Church on Palmer" and the food was fantastic. We both started with soft shell crab followed by Crispy skin duck and both courses were among the best we've had anywhere. Pity the wine list didn't match the food. All in all a great day. Our new neighbours dropped in for dinner last night so a quietish day will be had today.

After
Before

Good morning from Mackay. As you can see from the above, the Hunter and Gatherer did do some work at the Lake and the Red Claw were only toooooo happy to throw themselves into it.

Many thanks to Ken and Diane for making it a great stay and we will catch up somewhere along the way. (Yes Hans we escaped before they really got to know us LOL).

As today is my birthday we had to get somewhere that had a restaurant as we have a long running thing of going to the most expensive place in town and last year I got the Daly Waters Pub, so, this year I was making sure there was at least a choice. Qld and fine dining leave a lot to be desire and I did expect to be faced with either Subway, Pizza Hut, Red Rooster etc but on arrival I got onto the people who should know and came up with two "Fine Dining" restaurants. Tell you all about it tomorrow.

Map update

We may not have had power or water at the Lake but we did get Eurovision on the sat /TV and Hans you were ROBBED. Ron and I agree that the three best acts (the only ones doing anything that was remotely contemporary) were: Switzerland, Norway and we just have to add the Netherlands (a bit of tacky drag always goes along way).

The lake has been great, weather fine each day and D'luded has been out strutting her stuff, sailing, peddling and even a touch of fishing. The Red Claw have been biting and Ron cooked a great meal of crumbed redclaw with a dill mayo dressing for dinner last night - YUM

Hitting the road again tomorrow, have no idea where we will end up but heading back to the coast and probably Mackay.

Rainbow Beach Dunes

I was fascinated by the way the bay had been carved out of the dunes. At this particular point the dunes are 100 + meters above the water level and if you were to walk towards the water you would encounted very very steep cliffs. Hope you like it.

and it's off they go...............

The collection so far that is headed for a weeeee hol overseas to get a cut and polish.

Day 4 total

Apart form the oops Miners Cottage was quite good to us.

DAY 4 OOOOOOOPS

When you go to a new place to get down and dirty the first thing you ask is: "is it Virgin ????" and of course the answer is always YES. Now drag your minds out of the gutter and get back to fossicking. Today's excursion was to "Miners Cottage" and after being doubly assured that all the soil/rock is from a stream just out of town and has never been sorted I found this miracle from God - a precut aqua stone approx 1 carat in weight !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hmmmmmmmmm LOL

Day 2 much much better and some ok cuttable ones in this lot

Day one total

There's an easy way and a hard way to do this...................................

and to start off we took the hard way. Off we went on the fossicking tour, $70 and they take you to a place that is virgin territory so you can find the BIG ones. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm as you can see, we got to do alot of digging, picking, sifting and washing but very very little scoring. Check day one pic.

Then there is the easy way, you go to the Sunday market and buy a couple of bags of "untouched" soil, (sure as if they didn't go through it first) and off you go. No digging or picking, just some washing and finding Yah. Check day 2 pic

We arrived here at Sapphire expecting to check in to last years paddock behind the general store and petrol pump (special added aroma), but as we were looking for Alby we didn't check in immediately. He wasn't there so off we headed to Rubyvale and checked the park there, No Alby but we found out about a park on the hill back in Sapphire, so off we went there. BLISS, this is one of the best parks we have encountered, only 20 sites and some cabins, manicured to death, immaculate amenities and they don't accept children, so it's very quiet and relaxed - Heaven.

Where NOT to be in the down pour

To prove we actually made it to the end, here is a pic from the Boowinda Gorge. This is at the 11klm mark and after 23 crossings of the river.

Who walked 22 klms ?

The story behind this pic is: on our way out of the park to do the walk we called out to the neighbours to have the foot spa ready for us on our return. Sure enough as we hobbled back they all came up to have a good laugh at our expense and from behind their back produced the tub of hot water and Radox. There was a fight to get there first and you can see who won.

So Who's a pretty boy ???

The D and D show arrived in town and the dinner party was had. It started off with the neighbours on our left saying hello as they had seen Miss G at Carnavon, the neighbours behind dropped in for drinks as we had run into them at a servo in the middle of nowhere and then the D and d show completed the evening. Considering some of our nights, this one was a mild one as everyone except us was leaving for new pastures this morning.

Off to the Gem fields tomorrow

Now this is what I call a "Corner Post"

We're back !!!!! After a week up at Carnavon Gorge we are back in range of something electronic. We left Blacktown last Thursday and headed up the highway to Carnavon Gorge with the intention of hiding up there while the Qld long weekend happened, but as usual the masses arrived, but for a change it was a really fun stay. It just happened that all the "On Roaders" or Nomads got put together and were surrounded by the weekend warriors with the hordes of children.

This turned out to be a VERY social little gathering. Ron went out to stake out our drive-thru site and by the time Miss G and I had turned up he was already chatting to the neighbours, from there it was drinks and then the rest of the crew called in and it stayed that way pretty much the entire stay.

We ran into Diane and Phillip on one of the walks and we meet them originally at the Warranbungles easter 08 so it was a reason for yet another get together. On the same walk we bumped into the D and D show, they were on day 4 of there two year trip and have proved to be every bit as much fun as going to IML. (in joke for those who know). Lots of drinks, lots of laughs and everyone had a good time. Rumour has it they are landing here in Emerald today for a rematch, heaven help the park LOL.

Now while all this good time and drinking was going on we DID do the walks, on Friday we did the 22klm to the end and then left the gorge to the warriors for the weekend and on Monday we headed back to do another 8 klm and yes we are still walking.

While all this was going on we were planning the arrival of the Lyns from Lincoln, you know the dinner parties, menu's lots of drinks and of course the amazing sapphire finds that were awaiting us. We had Alby booked for a week to start cutting the fab finds, but unfortunately LP has a really crook back and they cant make it. That of course just postpones the party, NO ONE gets away from us that easily. LOL

I just received an email from Frans and Eveline and they apparently were at Carnavon at the same time as us and we didnt meet up. Dam, it's a long way from Margaret river to here and we missed by a whisker. If you haven't check your email please do as I have sent you my phone number, so ring me if you are still in the area.