Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all our readers, trust that 2012 will be a good year for you all and that fellow travellers have safe and exciting travels around this great country.
December saw us back at our “home” base at Napperby, South Australia where we joined the family for the festive season. This year we have enjoyed the extra company of my brother Pete and his wife visiting from Derby, UK. They insisted on coming to SA in December-January as they wanted a bit of sun. Well to date, they have seen the worst storm ever. Sixty-six mm of rain, hail and strong winds that blew down trees, a power pole and disrupted power for 17hrs. Since then, several days over 40 degrees, hot north winds today and praying for the cool change that might bring some rain.
We totted up the statistics of our first travels in the Truelux 5th wheeler van. We travelled a total of 16861 Kilometres, 8086 kilometres towing the van; Used 2907 litres of diesel, at an average cost of $1.49 cents/litre. We had 254 days of travel between picking up the new van, two visits to Melbourne for service and four states, one territory. We crossed state borders 11 times, changed clocks three times and had all four seasons of weather. Climbed a mountain, paddled in the sea and seen waterfalls, green hills and dry semi-deserts.
We look forward to more travels in 2012, not too soon due to family celebrations but April should see us heading North or West once more. Australia still has plenty for us to see and share.
Good health to you all, happy travelling wherever you are; we would love to hear from you soon.

Mylestom to Euroa

14th November 2011
We have continued our travels down the East Coast of New South Wales, through Sydney and on to The Australian Capital Territory and Canberra. So many things to see and do, so many places put off for “RON”, (“later on” in Aussie vernacular). This week we are back in Victoria and awaiting our appointment to have the van serviced again before heading home to South Australia by the end of November.

Sunday 16th October
Packed up the van and moved on to Port Macquarie, a popular northern holiday destination. From there we accessed several popular drives around the district. Stopped off at Lake Cathie, a very pretty estuary, quickly becoming a bit of a “Yuppie “ holiday spot, new shops and many houses gone up since our first visit in 2004. North Head is also a pretty spot where we stopped off to enjoy our packed lunch, alongside the breakwater. From the popular Laurieton North Brother Lookout, we had magnificent views of the surrounding hills of the Hinterland and coastal lagoons, down to the river estuary of the harbour. The Don Johnson lookout is a popular hang-gliding launching pad and a better picnic spot than at the harbor.
Travelling the Hinterland, beautiful scenery, the old village of Lorne, on to Wauchope, an old timber town made for a pleasant day out.
Another day out, this time north across the ferry to follow the dirt road to Crescent Head, a popular surfing venue, frequently mentioned in surfing competitions , Crescent Head is popular with the younger set and families. From the headland lookouts, we were again fortunate enough to be able to watch several pods of Humpback Wales on their way south, several with calves that had been born in the warmer northern waters.
At South West Rocks, more surfies, and the near-by location of the Trial Bay Gaol, last used for German Internees, WW11. Now only a shell, the complex is a formidable reminder of how prisoners were accommodated.

Sunday 23rd October
Moving day and decisions needed. We wanted to go to Port Stephens, an area with several holiday destinations around the Karuah River Estuary. Nelson Bay is the major centre on the estuary and there are several caravan parks in the area. Finding one that first, could accommodate our bigger rig, and second, one that only charged a reasonable rate, was the issue. As we are getting close to the major cities of Newcastle, then Sydney, only a couple of hours drive down the freeway, prices are getting up, parks are prone to crowding and have fewer caravan sites. Preferring instead to be offering cabins or on-site vans for the higher paying holiday maker.
We decided that the caravan park at Karuah would suit, off of the main road, still on the estuary within easy reach of the resorts at Nelson Bay and Port Stephens.
Again, from there, we were able to enjoy pleasant drives out to the coastal venues of Tea Gardens, Hawks Nest and Myall Lakes National Park. We encountered several old towns of historical interest on a drive along the Buckets Way, (or is that Bouquet???). We found the old Monkerai Bridge, now unused the second oldest wooden span bridge in NSW. Stroud, named after the UK town; Clarence Town and Dungog, plenty of history to follow up.
On a day visit to Nelson Bay, we stopped off at the Williamtown RAAF Air Force Base; there is a great RAAF museum, Fighter World, which is dedicated to the fighter jets squadron based there. Very interesting and the F/A-18 Hornets we saw taking off probably used more fuel on the runway than we do on our whole trip. In the museum, one could sit in the cockpit of a jet fighter, see how weapons of the air-wars have developed and read about the RAAF pilot heroes of several wars.

Sunday 30th October
Check-out day again and this time, the relatively easy drive down the Newcastle Freeway to Sydney, (easy apart from the two heavy thunder-storms along the way); a short crossing of Parramatta A7 to get on to the 40km of the new M2-M7 Toll Ways. The ability to now get around Sydney to the South is well worth the few dollars that the toll will cost us when it finally gets billed to our Citylink Electronic Tag, worth its weight in gold, the tag works on all toll roads in the country.
We travelled along the Hume Highway, eventually to book into Moss Vale, another of the historical towns along the many routes throughout NSW. From there, we again took several drives out to tourist venues. We were able to visit several magnificent waterfalls where the rivers fell 80 metres or more from the Escarpment of the inland Great Dividing Range to the coastal plains. Fitzroy, Belmore, and Carrington are three popular, easy to get to and photograph waterfalls of the region. Near Moss Vale are two other historical townships of Bowral and Berrima. The former is the home town of Australia’s most famous cricketer of the century, Don Bradman. Followers of cricket can visit the Don Bradman Museum. We didn’t go, but we were told that it is a most comprehensive collection of cricket memorabilia. At Berrima, we visited the unique old Court House, watched a diorama of one of its more famous trials and were fascinated by the history of the building of the place. Next door, the prominent high stone walls surround the old Berrima Gaol, only recently the abode of 72 female prisoners. Perhaps this too will soon be part of the history tour of the town.
On another drive out, we visited Kiama, on the southern NSW coast and by the old lighthouse, watched the famous “blow-hole” in action as ocean waves forced a huge spray up through the rocks to the delight of many spectators. We headed back via the Macquarie pass that winds up the escarpment; one can only be awed by the thoughts of the original pioneers who built this trading route between the coast and the mountains. After making our way safely, we were to hear the next morning that the Pass was closed because a truck had jack-knifed on one of the tight corners.

Friday 4th November
Moved on to cross the border into the Australian Capital Territory, (ACT), and set up camp at the EPIC Showgrounds. Vicki hasn’t been to Canberra before so this was to be a first for her, just a short visit to see how the Capital of Australia is looking today.
Here we visited the lookout tower at Black Mountain, the Mount Stromlo Observatory and the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex at Tidbinbilla.
At Mt Stromlo, the remains of the two oldest Newtonian telescope housings are a stark reminder of the devastating bush-fires that came to the capital and claimed several lives, many homes and thousands of hectares of forest and farm lands.
The Canberra War Memorial is the highlight of any trip to Canberra; we were there for over three hours and still hadn’t seen all of the exhibits. The new building addition with aircraft G-George, WW11 Bomber, Japanese mini-submarine and videos of Australians at war, too much to take in on one visit. The playing of The Last Post at 5:00pm closing time is quite moving. A definite RON agenda!
The Canberra Mint was another must-see tourist stop. We set off for a visit and down came the rain, bad enough trying to navigate Canberra roads without the added stress of teeming rain. When we got to the mint, we had to sit in the ute for quite a while until the rain eased. The visit was well worth the trouble, history of coinage in Australia, exhibits worth many millions and the gallery for viewing the modern coin stamping processes. The most fascinating was the automatic robot which travelled around to pick up 44 gallon drums of coin blanks to tip them into the counting bin, marks on the parquetry floor showed that “he” didn’t deviate from a perfectly constant line of approach.
One could spend weeks at Canberra, so many highlights, history and events, just a taste for us this time. Thought about extending but the park was fully booked owing to the 70th anniversary Remembrance Day Service 11/11/11, at the Canberra War Memorial, an opportunity missed.

11 November 2011
So on Remembrance Day, we crossed the border back into Victoria, booked into Euroa Caravan Park for a few days. We are close enough now that Vicki’s family and especially grandson Arthur were able to come up and visit, great to see them “live” after last being with them in May. We took a day trip up to the Victorian Alpine Country; we visited Mount Buller, a winter Ski Resort. There we were able to see the idle ski lifts against the rocky back-ground of the mountain and tried to imagine it all covered in snow. In summer, one can drive through the village to near the Summit Ski Lift Terminal. From there, a steep climb up to the summit itself. Of course, we had not prepared for this height, 1805 metres above sea level and it was quite cool. Picture me in my shirt sleeves and shorts, Vicki same. Luckily she carries a fold away jacket and fleecy top; we were able to wrap up a little bit. The climb up the few hundred metres to the cairn and fire-watch tower on the summit, was quite an ordeal, I was panting before too many strides and several times thought about giving up. I am sure that the many photos we took will not adequately show the gradient. Nevertheless, we did get there and were rewarded with magnificent 360 degree Alpine Country vistas. There is not much activity in the village come summer, however, the post-office shop was open to get post cards and the Cattleman’s Cafe did us a welcome hot chocolate.

We have the van booked into Truelux for its next big service, a few days to spend with Vicki’s family and then we will be heading back to South Australia. Christmas and a visit from the UK of brother Pete and sister-in-law Mavis, going to be a busy time ahead, it’s all happening.

Click on the link below to view some of the magnificant array of photos in our next album.

https://picasaweb.google.com/108879761974384702036/MylestomToEuroaVic?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCPjC0aG127i09wE&feat=directlink

Tin Can Bay to Mylestom

October 13th 2011

We left Tin Can Bay on Wednesday with the intent of making a night stop-over at Yandina, this town is home of the Buderim Ginger Factory and the Macadamia Nut Factory. Therefore a mandatory stop to top up with ginger products, macadamia samples and a nice cup of hot chocolate at the cafe. It is a very busy tourist stop and is the major drawcard for the town.
The next day, we crossed the border into NSW and on to Murwillumbah, our third visit. Unfortunately, the caravan park has deteriorated a little since we were there in 2006. We decided to go there because of the NSW school holidays, inland is less busy than the coast and no holiday loading for site fees. On our previous visits we had made friends with the proprietors, Stuart and Gwyneth. They would be heartbroken to see how their hard work has been let go. We did find that long term resident Margaret was still there and pleased to see us, one friendly face. Three days was enough for us to revisit a few of our favourite venues, The Natural Arch Waterfall, just over the Border Ranges; Clarrie Hall Dam and to Mount Warning. The dam is a beautiful picnic spot, the Mount is quite different. Being the core of an ancient Volcano that formed steep crags of the Border Ranges, Mt Warning is said to be the first part of Australia to greet the sun every morning. The walk/climb to the top is reputed to take over 5 hours, so we only did enough to show us that we would be making hard work of it.

From Murwillumbah to another inland location, Mullumbimby, to camp at the Rugby Leagues Ground, from there, we were able to do a bit more sightseeing along the coast and into the ranges. We revisited Nimbin, (The “Grass” Capital of Australia) again after driving through beautiful forest ranges to see Rocky Creek Dam and to Minyon Falls. This time at Nimbin no one came up to us to ask if we wanted to buy any “grass”. We didn’t but were disappointed to find things “not quite the same”. Some say that if you haven’t been to Nimbin, you haven’t been anywhere!
Brunswick Heads, was very busy, being a favourite family destination in the holidays, quite a tent city on the shores of the estuary with dozens of family groups enjoying the break. We saw enough though to mark this up as a great place to visit again, the fresh fish and chips at the Marina were good enough to go back for.

Byron Bay, a very popular holiday destination for thousands of overseas and Aussie youth, is the place where one can visit the lighthouse at Cape Byron, the most Easterly point of mainland Australia, . Not that we think that the youth come to see that, it is the popular beach, the weather and the surf that attracts. On our visit, it again was very busy and not a town for “grey nomads” to R&R.
As we walked up the hill to the lighthouse, we were rewarded by a distant view of a pod of three-four whales. They were moving steadily on their way south but still put on a bit of a show for visitors to the Cape.
After Byron, a bit further south, we did find a spot that would be worth adding to our itinerary at a later date. Near Lennox Head, we found a caravan park at Lake Ainsworth that would be ideal for a stop-over, having the lake one side of the road, the lovely beach on the other.

CASINO
Moved on to Casino, a larger town that is the centre of cattle country along the Richmond River Valley; beautiful country with great drives around the many State and National Parks and forests, scenic surprises around every bend. One day saw us driving along the Richmond River to Evans Head, the mouth of the river. There is a magnificent look-out above the river estuary, facing north and viewing miles of pristine (and empty) beaches. Again, we earmarked the caravan park for possible future visits.
Along the valley, we came across the small town of Coraki, another caravan park on the river bank that would be worth a stay, fishing should be good, and the people we met were friendly and welcomed travellers.
Another day, a drive out to Kyogle, still on the Richmond River; Kyogle is surrounded by the ranges and forests, great cattle country and a busy service centre. The town was due to have its annual Bull Riding Event and Show Weekend. On to Toonumbar Dam for our picnic lunch, followed by a lovely forest drive through the Richmond Range National Park. The roads are unmade, winding their way through the forests, alive with small marsupials that we think were paddymelons, we also saw a lone Echidna, spotted the lovely Regent Bower Bird, a rare sighting. The road along the ridge-tops follows the Cambridge Plateau Forest Drive, 35km of narrow track. We only saw a couple of other vehicles along the way and had a pleasant afternoon drive. We were quite surprised at the southern end of the trek to exit onto the Casino-Tabulam highway at a familiar spot. We remembered that on our very first visit to northern NSW, we had earmarked a free camp that when we got to the turn-off with the caravan in tow, saw the sign about “4-wheel drive, impassable when wet”. We then changed our mind about trying to find the camp at the park. After coming right through the park, it was self evident that trying to find the camp with van in tow would have been disastrous.

School holidays in NSW are over so we now can head back down to the coast. We decided to stay at the North Beach Holiday Park at Mylestom. The small town, a “locality”, is south of Coffs Harbour, set between the ocean and the estuary of the Bellingen River. A very quiet spot, Mylestom has lovely walks along the river, or along the beach if inclined. Eight Mile Beach is deserted, early morning fishing, alone with the pod of dolphins just off-shore, it looks a good surfing beach to me.
We took a drive along the Bellingen River Valley to the township of Bellingen, still cattle country and up to the mountain town of Dorrigo. Dorrigo boasts “...where the mountains meet the sky”. The surrounding country is the highest parts of NSW outside of the Australian Alps. At Dorrigo, we visited the Rainforest Centre, walked down through the rainforest to the lovely Crystal Showers waterfalls and later visited the Dangar Falls. Both falls are easy to get to; it’s just that the walk back up-hill is exhausting.
Dorrigo is also home to what is said to be the largest collection of railway steam locomotives and rolling stock, “.....possibly the largest collection in the world”. The yards are not open to visitors but you can drive along the side road to view the steam locos, we counted ten along the track nearest the road with many wagons and rolling stock across a wide area.

There are many NSW State and National Parks around this area and many waterfalls, the highway from the coast across the mountains to Armidale is named the Waterfall Way, and one could spend weeks up here exploring the many walks and sights of the Great Dividing Range.

On Friday we took a day visit to Coffs Harbour, a drier day after they had had 56mm the previous day. We had lunch at the marina and a bit of distant whale watching from the causeway to Muttonbird Nature Island Reserve; a walk around the retail centre and some shopping to top up the pantry. A nice day out!

Next week, we will be moving onto a second beachside venue, yet to be decided, as we wind our way down the East Coast of New South Wales. Please enjoy a look at the photographic updates in the attached albums:

Click on the link below to view the album.
https://picasaweb.google.com/108879761974384702036/TinCanBayToMylestom?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLjLltGrxajroAE&feat=directlink

Tin Can Bay

September 18th
After settling in at Tin Can Bay, we took in a bit of local exploring, there are several kilometres of a good walking trail, below the street from the park. One can choose the path along the Environment Walkway to Toolara, along the coast amid trees and mangrove shoreline. With the tide out, there are miles of mudflats, anchored boats lying on their side. A prettier picture when the tide is in, a myriad of birdlife; parrots, lorikeets, White Ibis and a variety of honey eaters, minor birds and the harassed ravens. At one point we had a raptor of some kind swoop down and flew away with a fish carcass. Appropriately, this walk is known as the Bird-walk. The other direction and the path is to follow the wooded shoreline of Snapper Creek to the marina and fishing wharfs. Not far from the marina is the Public Boat Ramp. Next to the ramp is the cafe that is famous for Dolphin Feeding.

Dolphins:
For many years, successive generations of Estuarine Dolphins’ have been coming up to the little beach to interact and get a feed of small fish. At around 7-7:30am, 2 or three dolphins swim up to the beach awaiting their 8am feeding time. We were lucky enough to get there when two of the regulars turned up. For $5 children were able to walk into the water and have a dolphin carefully and gently take fish from their hand. These are wild animals, from the same pod; it was wonderful to see them in their own environment. As soon as the last bucket had been emptied, they turned away and set off with the tide out to the Sandy Straits proper. (See photo in our albums).

Another feature of the estuarine waters is that the tidal flats are home to a variety of marine life. Most spectacular is seeing the hoards of Soldier Crabs. These little crabs, 1-2 centimetres in size, move along the mud in unison. They look like something along the lines of the Orks in Lord of the Rings. With blue shell-backs, an area of around a square metre moving en-mass, one can imagine a Stephen Spielberg Epic filmed in miniature.

The Mary River flows into the sea, through Maryborough, birthplace of P L Travers, creator of Mary Poppins, the famous nanny, . At Maryborough, we were in time to see a school spectacular, the annual Technology Events, head-lined by a 24 hour Pedal-Prix, over 100 school teams with a variety of human powered vehicles, (HPV), they were all very serious about it and some of them were really moving in their machines around the street circuit. Behind the scenes, in “Pit-Lane Tents”, teams rested, machines repaired and even massages for the young rider/drivers. So good to see teenagers from many kilometres away, doing something so physical. A special mention must be made about the hundreds of hours that teachers, parents and community members had to have put in to organise and run the event.

The Mary River Valley drive provides a scenic route to several small towns and is also the route of the Mary Valley Rattler, a wonderfully restored and maintained steam engine. The train runs from Gympie, through Kandanga to Imbil. We caught up with the train at Imbil and Vicki was chuffed to be allowed up onto the foot-plate to see the controls and feel the heat of the boiler.

Hervey Bay Whale Cruise
On Friday 16th, we travelled to Hervey Bay to take an afternoon Whale Watch Cruise. We booked on the twin-hull Tasman Venture, the same operator that we used back in 2006. The weather was good, clear and only light winds, we had a great time. Being Friday PM cruise, we were fortunate that there were only 12 adults on a boat designed to carry 90. This made it much more comfortable to be able to run around the deck to view the whales. We got to see several small pods of whales and it was, as if scripted, the last pod of four that put on a good show for us. We saw rolls, mugging, pectoral flips and tail waves. Best of all, we got to see “breaching” where the animal leaps clear out of the water. Just awesome! Visualise up to 40 tonne of marine animal putting on a spectacular show. The day was rounded off by a magnificent sunset over the bay as we returned along the north shore of Fraser Island, The cruise is a highly recommended experience.

Tin Can Bay is a very pleasant and relaxed little town, growing like so many but it should remain quieter than the busier Rainbow Beach or Hervey Bay. We would come here again. Not sure yet as to when we will be heading back south, it is school holidays time in NSW and QLD so many towns along the coast are very busy. Decisions-decisions!!!!!

Meanwhile, take a look at some of the magnificent pictures that Vicki took, (hundreds taken, few were selected!), yes, all her own work and no Photoshop editing: https://picasaweb.google.com/108879761974384702036/WhaleWatchingHerveyBayQLD?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIvh9oKJ5a2crQE&feat=directlinkauthkey=Gv1sRgCIvh9oKJ5a2crQE&feat=directlink

Click on the link below to view some photos in the album.

https://picasaweb.google.com/108879761974384702036/GowintaFarmToTinCanBay?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOCv56vUxZGOXA&feat=directlink

Durack Gardens, Brisbane to Tin Can Bay

August 2011
Brisbane is a busy city, not sure if by world standards but it has to be up there. The four weeks at Durack Gardens went quickly, weather swung from glorious early spring like back to winter rains on a daily basis. We picked a nice day to revisit the Botanic Gardens at Mount Coot-tha, took a picnic lunch and spent a couple of hours wandering through the displays and around the numerous walk-ways. The park map was just about useless to directionally challenged folk like us and the meandering paths didn’t seem to match up at all. A good day however, the Botanic Gardens are a lovely spot.
Tamborine Mountain is a popular Gold Coast Hinterland destination, right in the mountains, B&B’s, touristy quaint shops and cafe’s make for a lovely day’s outing. There we visited the Tree-Top Walk, Cheese Factory and found an “Olde English Lolly” shop. We liked the cheeses on offer and bought a few samples but didn’t try the local ale from the brewery next door. Quite a popular spot this as you can try their products before you buy. The route back via Logan gives magnificent views of the Gold Coast.

August 22nd
Packed up and moved from Durack Gardens, via the motorways, travelled northwards to the Glass House Mountains region and Beerwah. We had read about a seasonal caravan park at a real working farm, Gowinta Farms. The farm produces strawberries, April to October, Pineapples and Lychees. The farm is in a lovely area, apparently the volcanic soils of the region being ideal for this type of farming. Two of the Glass House Mountains, first named by Captain Cook, in the background add to the scenery.
The majority of the people in the park were the seasonal workforce picking and packing the fruit. Many of the pickers were young folk from Europe on work visas, back-packing and living in tents and from the back of their vehicles. They seemed a happy bunch, even when up to their armpits in mud from the several rainy days. Mind you, some European mothers would have a fit if they saw how their off-springs were living. Have a look at the photos of Gowinta Farm in our albums.

There are several tourist drives around the district from Beerwah; small towns such as Maleny and Montville are prettily nestled in the valleys up in the mountains of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, . These are very popular with the locals and tourists alike. Several lakes, waterfalls and scenic lookouts are features of these drives, wineries, a couple of dairies and our favourite, the Maleny Cheese Factory.

From Beerwah, the Sunshine Coast is not far away, we had two day trips to Caloundra, Maroochydore and to Mooloolaba. The latter is well known for the Underwater World, a most impressive aquarium complex on the harbour. It was a lovely day for the drive there, the visit to the aquarium and a walk along the breakwater, a bit of sea-air.
In the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, there are several tropical fruit and nut farms; a visit here without calling into the Buderim Ginger Factory would be a waste. The factory is at Yandina, a tourist complex with shops, a tour of the factory to see ginger being processed and a shop to buy their products. We had orders for family so spent quite a bit in there. Across the road, very handy is the NutWorks Factory, where Macadamia Nuts are processed, our favourite, (and most expensive!).

Down to Maroochydore and a visit to the huge Sunshine Plaza shopping complex. We had to replace a couple of lens filters for Vicki’s camera and a specialist camera supplier was needed. The complex centre is built around the river estuary and boardwalks, bridges and two levels makes for an interesting shopping experience. It would take a month of Sundays to get to know your way around there.

At Gowinta, we were fortunate to have the company of Bill and Joy, our caravanning friends who were travelling back from Townsville. They are good company and we were happy to catch up with their latest news. This year they are travelling with Molly the dog, Vicki loved having the dog to walk and fuss about. We love to pet other people’s dogs!
At the farm, we were allowed to select fresh pineapples from the “seconds” bins, fresh juice couldn’t be better, however, it wasn’t until just before we left that we found out about “seconds” of strawberries. Never mind, next time!

September 7th
Pack up day and time to move on, again to the north, via Gympie to Tin Can Bay, a small holiday town on the estuaries of the waters between the mainland and Fraser Island, the largest sand-island in the world they say, famous for being right on the migration trail of the great Southern Right Whales. People come from all over the world to visit Fraser and to go on whale watch cruises.
Tin Can Bay is a quieter spot around the region, the park that we are in is lovely and clean, well paved and organised. I think of it as being likened to a retirement village.

Rainbow Beach, around the estuary is famous for the spectacular sand cliffs. Rainbow Beach is named after the multi-coloured sands in the cliffs, last time we were here we collected 14 different coloured samples of the sands. Most of the coast between Noosa and Fraser Island is composed of State and National Parks of some significance.
From Inskip Point, near Rainbow Beach, is a vehicle ferry that takes campers in their four wheel drive vehicles, campervans and tents to enjoy the driving and scenery of the long flat western shores of the island. Just to get on the ferry requires 4x4 to cross the deep soft sand of the beach.

Less experienced travellers go from Hervey Bay to hire their 4x4 on the Island; they come from all over the world to experience this most exceptional place. They hope to see some of the last of the pure-bred Australian Dingo, isolated from mainland strains; again, quite unique. They bite!
Locals often shake their heads to see people from the big cities of Asia and Europe, land at Fraser, pick up their rental Landcruiser and then take to the soft sandy tracks around the island. Looks good on the adverts but one can get into all sorts of trouble. At Rainbow Beach, there is a rogues Gallery of photos of the disasters that befall even the best of drivers.
Enjoy the photos in the albums, until next month, keep safe and well

Click on the link below to view the latest photos.
https://picasaweb.google.com/108879761974384702036/DurackGardensToTinCanBay?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOHU7uj8soTjYg&feat=directlink