Australia 4 - Brisbane & Sydney

Brisbane

Saturday, 5^th May 2012

Our friendly, but slightly strange (all tattoos and facial ticks) tow truck driver picked us up at around 11 am outside the KMS garage at the bottom of the Range in Toowoomba, taking us and our stricken Jucy camper van to Brisbane. He had a large collection of country music CDs for us to enjoy on the two hour journey, so we were pretty glad to arrive in this city of space and light.

Late autumn/early winter here is the most delightful time. The weather is warm in the day with clear blue skies, sparkling air, cool evenings and everything is still in bloom. It is green and lush as well, and everywhere you look in the city you see this green contrasted with the great expanses of water, glistening in the sun, spanned by long bridges.

This city is modern in every sense. The waterfronts are new and the architecture is bold and exciting and, of course, it is spotlessly clean. It is bustling and busy with great facilities for the inhabitants but still has a small town local feel.

They have a clever transport infrastructure that has buses that partly run on the road and partly on specially built concrete channels and viaducts that also run underground. These routes have been designed with a capacity that, in future, they can also take trains or trams. The system is also linked to the ferry services that run all around the harbours. The city council really want this to be a green city. However, wresting people from their cars is going to be a slow process, but they are working on it.

We are trying a new form of accommodation using an online accommodation service called 'Airbnb'. It is a way for people to let out a spare room, granny flat, apartment, or a whole house to visitors and travellers. It can be a shared bathroom with the host family or with private facilities, and the price pretty much indicates what you will get for your money. Hosts are reviewed by their guests, so you can see what others thought of their stay, and guests are reviewed by the hosts, so it works both ways. It is also a secure booking system.

We are staying in a house in the suburb of Brisbane known as the 'Gabba', which for all you cricket fans needs no explanation. It is the site of one of the world's great cricket grounds, revered by fans everywhere.

The house itself is late Victorian, made of wood and very beautifully restored, using classic cream and green paint - there are a family of possums living around here and people have to put wire across pipes and gutters or they will be living in your roof. We are staying in a basement room with attached bathroom. The hosts provided a microwave, fridge, kettle, dishes and cutlery, plus breakfast items of yoghurt, cereal, milk and so on. We had our own separate entrance and could come and go as we pleased, although the hosts were very happy to talk to us and gave hints and tips on where to go and what to see. It's like bed and breakfast without the strain of actually staying in a proper B & B and we liked it. The cost is far less than a hotel, so we liked that too.

We hopped on a bus down town after dumping our bags and walked all round the harbour then caught a ferry back across and went to a big pub that specialises in top quality steaks. We ate salad and drank beer, while all around us huge Aussies ate gigantic steaks and enjoyed themselves. It was strange being in a city again after all that space – not that it is crowded here in the sense of, say, Bristol.

Sunday, 6^th May 2012

It is Buddha’s Birthday and down on the South Bank there is a festival with ceremonies, singing and dancing performances and live music. There are also about a dozen food stalls, all with food made by local Asian societies for young people. They are all vegetarian and selling the most wonderful food. We choose from the Hari Krishna stall for lunch and sit eating it on the lawn, in the sun, watching the music.

The South Bank is a long and beautiful walkway along the river that takes you through bougainvillea covered paths, ponds, green spaces, and a public swimming pool – with a beach! At the end of the walk sit the brand new City Museum, Modern Art Gallery, Brisbane Art Gallery and a Science and Discovery Centre.

We visited the Modern Art Gallery that houses a truly dazzling, awe inspiring and all round fine collection of modern Aboriginal art. We also enjoyed wandering through the architecture and appreciating the relaxed approach to life that the Brisbanites take. 

We had a great day, apart from catching the wrong bus going home and ending up at the end of the line in the middle of nowhere with the only grumpy bus driver and had to wait for it to turn around and go back . . . but it didn't dampen our spirits.

Monday, 7^th May 2012

Labour Day holiday in Queensland so limited services and openings in town. We went back into the city for the afternoon and walked across Victoria Bridge in the sunshine to visit the Museum and Art Gallery, then back over the river to the Queen Street Mall for a bit of window shopping. 

 By this time our feet had quite enough walking and we headed back via a bottle shop and an Indian take-away for a quiet evening, because tomorrow we fly to Sydney, so we need to pack.

We are very excited about Sydney as we are going to visit old friends Plip and Alex, who we haven't seen for 8 years.

Sydney

Tuesday, 8^th – Tuesday 15^th May

Caught a plane at 4.15 in the afternoon and landed in Sydney at twilight and caught the train into town in darkness. This city has a very good transport system and it was easy to get a connection to Turramurra, a short journey out, in the leafy northern suburbs.

Alex and Plip gave us such a warm welcome, literally because the fire was lit, and physically with big hugs. We also met their sons Hamish and Sam again and they have both changed out of all recognition, particularly in height! It had been such a long time since we had seen them and yet we so quickly settled in to big chats and big glasses of wine! Alex cooked us a lamb dinner that couldn't be beat and we went off to bed in a warm fuzzy haze. To be staying in a home, after all these months in hotels and camping, especially in Plip and Alex's home, was a wonderful experience.

Next morning they drove us out  . . . to Cottage Point in the middle of Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. It is a small private community with an exquisite restaurant looking out over the water. We stopped there for a drink but we suspected we weren't posh enough as they told us they will only serve booze with a meal, so we left and got tea and cake at the little café on the other side of the creek, much more relaxed and much better prices!

Later, we went to the cinema to see the Exotic Marigold Hotel. It was Celia's first cinema experience since the terrible flea bites in Bangkok – but no such ill effects here, just nice memories of India.

Sydney is a great town for sightseeing so we duly spent a day doing that. Although it is Autumn we hit a patch of warm and sunny weather and we went down to catch a ferry from Circular Quay. This is the ferry transport hub for the city and bustles with life as the ferries whiz in and out.

Everywhere you look are sweeping vistas, interesting architecture, colour, light and life. Then there is the particular energy buzz you get from this city. That can-do attitude, coupled with; 'so what if it doesn't work out, I'll do something else' approach to life.

Our ferry took us to Manly Beach. This is a beautiful ride out past the Harbour Bridge, unbelievably huge close up, and the Opera House, stunning and magnificent, through bays and past islands to this relaxed and touristy area. The beach is lovely and we watched some surfers and ate ice cream, then it was time for culture.

We went back on the ferry. We walked round the Opera House complex and then took a delightful walk through the Botanic Gardens and what is known as the Domain to the Art Gallery of New South Wales and looked at all the art. Then it was back into the city through the park to the posh department store, David Jones, where nothing was purchased except dinner for later from their brilliant food hall.

One night the four of us went into town and had dinner at Ripple Restaurant. It's in a fantastic setting, just next to the famous Lunar Park fun fair and more or less underneath the bridge with the best views of the harbour.

Sunday lunch in the Dickson household gave us a real taste of home life as daughters Jessica and Beth, plus boyfriend George, were there for Sunday lunch - leg of lamb cooked to perfection by Alex, followed by a dessert that was made by Jessica called Butterscotch Sponge which, for John, was a pinnacle of the pudding world! 
 This is a favourite family recipe and has now been written down and will be tried as soon as we get back to 'Blighty' (watch out Pudding Club).


Tip of the Day: As the weather changes to chilly, just visit the Salvation Army or any other reputable second hand shop and tog up as required. We got coats for Au$20 that were perfect for our needs here, and in New Zealand.

On our last day in Sydney we visited the Reverse Garbage warehouse at Stanmore. It has been here for 40 years and John enjoyed meeting the staff and comparing their style and content with Scrapstore in Bristol. The area also had many other community type projects; theatre, recycling, green power projects, art galleries and workshops. 
This is a mixed area of well-to-do restoration project Victorian/Edwardian era properties, student lets and properties in poorer condition, housing people with greater social needs. This was reflected in the free food van that provides lunch every day for anyone who wants it, right outside Reverse Garbage. It is operated by a Christian charity project. John was offered a meal and tried it out and said it was really good.

We went down to Darling Harbour and watched the sea sparkling in the sun and reflected on our time in Australia and contemplated what it was going to be like in New Zealand – once again we have absolutely no idea!

Detail of the Day: Australian enthusiasm - Back at Turramurra station that evening, we enquired of the friendly ticket clerk about train times to the airport in the morning. In the usual friendly Australian way, he wanted to know where we were from and where we were going. When we said New Zealand, his reply was “Don't take a bloody camera with you, it's too bloody beautiful”!. He explained that you just have to keep stopping all the time to take shots and it drives you mad because it takes you all day to get anywhere.

The wonderful time we had being with friends in their home was so comforting and warm. The amount of wine and beer consumed was impossible to calculate and our livers all need a rest now. Thanks Plip, Alex, Hamish and Sam – come and visit us next time!


Christchurch, South Island of New Zealand will be the next report. Until then - “G'day”.

Australia 3 - Airlie to Toowoomba

Airlie to Clermont

28th April 2012

We were up at dawn and ready to go inland to take in some of the bush country via the Great Inland Way.

We headed south along the coast and stopped at Mackay for fuel. We then cut inland south west across the increasing bush through vast coal mines and camps that house the workers. These open-cast mines take thousands of acres of land as the surface is scraped away into yawning great scars on the earth. 

Our camp site on the edge of town had a huge number of cabins, permanently in use by miners or ancillary workers. The air had an all encompassing smell of burning wood and coal and we found that there was a large controlled fire in progress to clear a stretch of land prior to mining. The effect on the local economy is that a lot of money can be made if you have a store, hotel, camp site, supply business or skills that the camps need.

There are stories of young men working at a mine for a year and being able to buy a house for cash at the end of that time. The down side for the local people is that they cannot buy a house if they are on 'normal' wages or even find anywhere to rent at a reasonable price, because demand is so high. The effect on the small town society can also be devastating. Going from knowing everyone, never locking your door and being able to wander alone on the street at night, to a situation where the place is doubling in size in a year and awash with men, money and drink, can be pretty tricky.

We came upon the Fairbairn Dam, a vast expanse of water in the middle of the bush, which supplies the towns, farmers and mines across the whole area, and also acts as a reservoir for rainfall and runoff for flooding – so it was quite full. We stopped for a picnic lunch in the company of a host of Parakeets and Cockatoos in the Eucalyptus trees, Kites overhead, and a Darter, drying its wings by the water.

We got talking to a couple of gold fossickers (Australian for gold and gem prospectors), Gary and Norm, at the cook house. They had interesting stories to tell of their exploits out in the bush with metal detectors. They always hope to get some gold but mostly they enjoy the fun of exploring the different mining areas on their holidays. It was a lively camp site and there was a group of women on a girls weekend camping trip. They were stuck into the drink early on and were having a really good time, however, as they had started early in the evening, by 11 pm all was quiet!

Drama of the Day: Just after dark, as we sat in the cook house with Norm and Gary, a young man started calling out for help from a caravan a hundred yards away. John and Norm went over and an older man had collapsed and had stopped breathing. John started CPR, taking it in turns with another camper, until the ambulance arrived and the paramedics took over. We were told later that after taking him to the local hospital they put him in a helicopter to Townsville. The heroes returned to the cook house and after all that excitement, it was time for bed.

Clermont to Carnarvon Gorge

Sunday 29^th April 2012

Up at first light and stopped for breakfast, as it warmed up on a beautiful morning, at a viewpoint. We drove 55 kilometres to Emerald and went west to visit Anakie and Sapphire, and in case you hadn't guessed, they are all in the gem fields.  

We went to a Sunday Morning Sale, full of local characters, prospectors, fossickers, ladies selling home made crochet work, junk, antiques and, of course, gems and jewellery. John bought a phial of 'gems'. There was also a stand for joining the miners union.  

In the village, really just a garage/store and a couple of mining outfits, you could buy a bag of dirt from a local fossicking company and sift through it to find gems of your own, or you could go out to one of their sites and pay to fossick in certain areas. John thought it might be fun but Celia thought it might be a tourist trap and she prevailed – no fossicking for us. But lots of tourists were giving it a go and enjoying themselves.

We filled up with fuel, as we are now in country where the fuels stops are few and far between, and there is nothing in-between these small towns. We drove back to Emerald, then south through Springsure and Rolleston and at that point were very glad we filled up with fuel because we discovered that the Carnarvon Gorge camp site was another 100 kilometres off the main road. It is really easy to underestimate distance here and the quality of road surface can also slow you down, however, not the traffic, as there is very little of it. Most people you see on the road, always wave as they pass and we do the same. It is the sort of country where if you break down you will always be helped and everyone is really friendly.

We turned off to go into the national park that Carnarvon Gorge sits in, looking forward to reaching our camp site in late afternoon after a long day's drive, but quickly realised it was going to take us quite a while, as the road turned to a hard packed gravel, twisting and turning through creeks and crossing river beds. Steep hills tested our brakes and steering and we were tired.  

The upside of all this was we saw lots of emus, kangaroos, wallabies, birds of prey, a great bustard type bird and lots of small birds we could not identify. This was when it really hit us how very, very different everything is here; the flora and fauna is all upside down! We continued to drive through magnificent scenery and the light started to fade as the last twenty kilometres became harder to negotiate. 

We made it just before dark. The camp is in a flat river valley surrounded by steep, tree covered cliffs and hosts loads of outward bound groups in cabins and tents. There is a large and well equipped open air camp kitchen and we get cooking – lamb chops of course!

There are serious hikers here, who all look very healthy and are equipped with all the right walking equipment and clothing. Also, a group of 40 equally serious university students from the USA. They are here studying ants - what can we say, except we were impressed and feel rather frivolous in comparison. We met Charlene and Ed, newly-weds from Toowoomba, who were a delight, plus the couple doing all the catering for the US students and we had good fun under the stars. 

Carnarvon to Injune

Monday, 30th April 2012

This is a pretty magical spot and we would have liked to stay longer and explore the Gorge more but the road was pretty rough coming in and the weather forecast is for a lot of rain. That will mean the road will become impassable very quickly, especially without 4-wheel drive, so we have to go.

Back on the main road, after another bumpy but scenic ride, the vista stretches out before us of an endless undulating white ribbon. We started worrying about our fuel supply, because there is nothing in-between. Again, the sense of space and sky is just amazing out here and we are so glad we have come inland and seen this landscape.

We make it to Injune by midday without running out of fuel and we are really tired, so decide to stay. There is a camp site in town, mostly full of miners cabins, separated off from the tourist campers and have their own chef and dining hall. 

Injune is like an old wild west town, with a great hotel/bar that hasn't changed in a long time, full of old pictures and cowboy hats, so we went over for a drink, something we have hardly done in Australia because the prices are so high. It had a few locals at the bar and they were a friendly bunch and we had a good chat.

We visited the post office to send some post cards, again a really old building, and chatted with the postmaster as people came and went, collecting their own post and taking their neighbours' post for them. This is the sort of courtesy that is the way of things here – people help each other with the everyday things to make life easier in this harsh environment.

Injune to Roma

Tuesday,1st June 2012

Driving down long roads listening to the local radio playing songs like “The boys from the bush are in from the country”, we see kangaroos, emus and then a camel! (apparently there are loads of wild camels here). The 90 kilometres slip away and we are in Roma at midday getting our shopping in for dinner. This is where we first come across the fantastic and very beautiful Bottle Trees. 



This is also where we come across the Dame Edna lookalike at the camp site reception: perfect red talon nails, bouffant hair, immaculate and startling makeup, finished off with large, red, be-winged spectacles and of course a spotless outfit of matching slacks and shirt. Celia is transfixed taking in all the details and wondering how she stays so perfect. Visiting the showers later, you see the long arm of Dame Edna at work here too, as all the facilities are a show stopping deep lilac, but immaculate.

We visit the lovely old Villa Roma winery next to our camp site and are shown round by Don Roberts. He is looking after the place for the owners while they are away in hospital. It has been in the same family for many years but is now up for sale He is a retired vicar and now works part time as padre to the police in the district, covering thousands of square miles. The vines were all wiped out round here by the floods last year and so they have to buy in their grapes now. The impact of the floods is still being felt everywhere, particularly in farming.

We buy three bottles of wine and get back to camp where we meet the usual bunch of friendly Queenslanders, including Lorraine who loans us her bird book and gives us some of her home grown lemonade fruits. These are a green citrus and she recommends squeezing them for breakfast, which we duly do and they are like a sharp cross between grapefruit and lemon – very nice.

We eat delicious avocados with prawns for dinner and sit under the stars with a glass of rather good rose wine from Villa Roma . . . cheers Don.

Roma

Wednesday 2^nd May 2012

Took a drive out to see the local area. Visited Muckadilla (a picturesque pub and a couple of houses) and got stuck in a road work scheme in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of the outback that took a while to get through, although we were the only car and nothing for miles. Then we wound our way back through low hill country to Roma.

Detail of the Day: The road works don't usually have traffic lights to control the traffic through the improvement area, but a person at each end with a 'stop' and 'go' lollipop. They are just as likely to be women as men and are invariably cheerful and always give you a wave and a smile as you pass them. Just another part of what makes being in Australia an enjoyable experience.

Roma has some lovely old hotels that have been well preserved and a brilliant hat shop that John spent ages in, trying on everything and looking wistfully at Celia in the hope that she would give in and let him buy one, however her response was always “Where would you keep it?” and “Could you wear it in Totterdown?” 


 At which point, John's winning smile would collapse and he would replace the hat on the shelf with a disappointed air, before finding another type of hat and would start trying them on and we would go through the whole process again. We returned to the camp site empty handed.

Over at the camp kitchen we met a couple from Brisbane, Steve a South African and Henry an Australian. They are in real estate on the Sunshine Coast and have several holiday properties there. They are in Roma looking at buying property here because of the mining boom and the opportunities it provides for rental income.

We have more chats with some of the 'grey nomads' who wander round Australia in droves in their campers and never tire of exploring their own country. Their enthusiasm is boundless and infectious and we are very careful never to discuss politics in any depth, as the views are very fixed and not open to change in any way.

Roma to Dalby
Thursday, 3rd May 2012

The usual fantastic dawn chorus wakes us and parrots flit amongst the trees as we breakfast. The Warrego Highway is our road to Miles where the camp site is full and so we push on to Chinchilla, where the camp site is also full. We had a look at the Show Ground camp site but it is a bit too basic. So we ate some lunch under a tree and then pushed on to Dalby, a larger town with room at the inn for us, on a lovely site by the river with bandicoots running about, bats in the trees and kookaburras to wake us in the morning.


Dalby to Toowoomba

Friday, 4th May 2012

We travel through small hamlets on straight roads through cotton fields that shed little puffs of cotton that make you think there is a dusting of snow. We get to Toowoomba in 2 hours. It is a very green and prosperous city, sitting on a mountain with wonderful views from the lookout at Picnic Point, at the top of what is known here as, The Range, a very steep and sweeping hill that drops 700 metres to the flood plain below. The air is gorgeous and scented with roses and other blossoms as we sit in the sun and have a drink.

We decided to try and book in to Murphys Creek camp site down in the valley and it was a fantastic site by the river, but it was full so we had to turn around and try and find somewhere else. It was at this point when we were just turning up the main road to drive back up The Range, that the car started making lots of very unhappy noises. We pulled in to the very friendly and helpful KMS Garage and they told us the brakes were locking and it was too dangerous to drive.  

Just like that, our camping trip came to an abrupt end. All credit to our hire company, Jucy. They paid for taxis, a motel and refunded our last 3 nights, plus the tow truck for the next morning. But we were very sad because the trip had been so fantastic and we were savouring every last moment of our wonderful road trip and didn't really want it to end. We both want to come back and explore the rest of the country – there is just so much to see and so many great people to meet.