Everybody Must Get Stoned

Springbrook NP in the rain and the raincoat performed admirably! We wandered around a circuit track at Purlingbrook falls were we walked behind the falls and got even soggier than we already were! The next day we continued down to Twin falls for anther wander in the rainforest where we saw twin falls and blackfellows falls and discovered some very pretty crayfish burrowing in the debris - they were blue and white and were not easily wrangled. From here we were bulk excited to go the "The Best of All Lookouts", the walk was nice taking in some very old antarctic beech trees, knarled and twisted with time and then onto the lookout. It was foggy again so needless to say we saw a magnificent view of nothing!

From Springbrook we travelled the narrow and winding road up to O'Rielley's plateau where we walked along the suspended tree top walk and even climbed up a couple of ladders to perch ourselves ontop of an emerging tree from the rainforest. We camped at Green Mountain camp ground where we found a rice bubble loving rosella who was taking them out of our hands. We intended to feed the king parrots and rosellas at the bird feeding exhibit but a bus load of Japanese tourists rocked up and we decided to leave them to it. We took a walk out to Python rock to take in the views but once again we were greeted with a view of mist and fog.

On to Canungra and a night by the river at Sharp Park where we shared our camp spot with three tawny frog mouths and watched thousands of bats migrating to the hills for an evening feed. Here we also saw some pale headed rosellas winging their way through the park.

We crossed the border again to NSW via Murwillumbah for supplies before heading to Mebbin NP for a night. We took a walk down to a creek where we saw the biggest strangler figs we have encountered thus far - they were enormous (will post some pics soon), we saw a rather angry looking unidentified snake on our walk which thankfully Bronson didn't try to wrangle. There was a small echidna at camp which we did manage to pick up, not too spiny and rather friendly. An early night was had due to an early rise to climb Mt Warning the next day.

Alarm went off at 5am and we stumbled out of the van to prepare for our walk up the mountain. It was raining but we drove down to the start of the walk regardless. As we sat weighing up our options the rain and fog increased making the decision to slug out 10kms for nil return of views quite easy. We pulled the pin and drove up to Border Ranges NP - Mt Warning would have to wait till a clearer day. With crappy weather the views were again fog filled but we camped at Sheepstation for the night in the hope that tomorrow would be clearer. We heard the most bizarre noise from camp that night - kind of a chook crossed with a pigeon trill. Bronson investigated and managed to locate a red-eyed tree frog. Apparently these frogs don't sound like a chook/pigeon but maybe he was trying to mix it up a bit! We also found an endangered Fleay's Barred Frog hopping along the road which was a good find indeed as they are very rare and have a very small distribution. The next morning was clear so we could take in the lookouts we missed the previous day, spectacular views of Mt Warning and the Tweed Valley (almost don't need to climb the mountain now!) and a few noisey finches alerted Bronson to the presence of a carpet snake settling in the branches of a tree. We started a walk through the rainforest but lost the track so ended up turning back before we got lost.

On to Nimbin to hang out with a few stoners. We were suprised that after spending a good half hour in the village that we were only offered to purchase drugs once! A couple of locals were overheard discussing the scarcity of magic mushies due to the flood and some rather wobbly, hairy looking hippies topped off the experience. We got the fudge out of there and headed for the hills again to Nightcap NP in the Whian Whian Conservation Area. We partook in a much needed wash and a few bacardis to cleanse ourselves of the Nimbin experience, whilst watching lightening from afar - didn't get the storm though.

We are now in Byron Bay about to consider a swim but it looks to be clouding up and the possibility of rain looks pretty high. Will head back towards Mt Warning for another try but think we had better check the weather first this time! Other than that we are both well, not sick of each other yet, Lulu is as happy as she could be given the number of hills she has been climbing lately and the children are asleep on the bed as normal.

Summer Rain

Isn't it supposed to be warm in Qld? We find ourselves sitting at a picnic area in the Springwood National Park about 30 mins drive from the Gold Coast. Whilst happy to be away from the city limits it would be nicer if the sun was out. At least Ruth will be able to use her new rain coat we bought the other day. After setting out from Netty's place last Thursday we crossed the border into Qld where we stayed at a rather well kept little camping spot although we weren't exactly sure where we were. A couple of efforts with the rods in Running Creek yielded no results even tho we spotted plenty of big catfish. From there we pushed onto Burliegh Heads to stay with Maree for a few days in the apartment she is staying in. We explored Tallebudgera Creek with the fly rods where Ruth picked up a couple of nice little flathead. Bronson caught bugger all! The stay with Maree enabled us to get some serious washing done and a few repairs for the children. Namely Frogga who now has 2 sparkly new eyes with which he seems most pleased! After 3 nights in Burliegh we headed into Ashmore to stay with a couple of friends Jon and Raewyn for a night (and a few ales!) and now find ourselves sitting here in the rain. Probably something we'll have to get used to. I don't think there will be fishing on the cards here but if the weather eases there are some nice walks and waterfalls to check out. Future plans are to head back into northern NSW for a week or two to see a bit more of the coast and check out a few rivers before pushing north once again. Anyways, there appears to be a break in the weather so we're off exploring. Take care peoples!

Addicted to Bass!

Hello from Netty's kitchen table!

From Station Creek we headed north up the coast to Wooli (pronounced Woolai not Wooly!). What a great little town, we could see ourselves retiring there one day. We fished the creek with poor results on the first day and camped just out of town at Digger's Camp. That evening just as we were about to give up on the surf fishing Ruth's rod hit the sand and started to take line. A sting ray was landed after much huffing and puffing. We fished Wooli again the next day where we were given a bum steer from a local and ended up in a dud fishing spot so he could steal our spot! Ruth managed to land a couple of flathead on the fly caught in the flats on the outgoing tide at Wooli. Another night back at Digger's Camp, a close encounter with an emu, an experience with a carpet snake wrangling Spaniard and then headed up to Lawrence to spend a couple of nights with June and Rob Hooker. We had a lovely time with the Hooker's, although it was very hot in Lawrence town. A couple of day trips to Yamba and Iluka for some swims were wonderful heat busting adventures. It was amazing to see how quickly the area had recovered from significant floods only three weeks earlier. We left Lawrence with our fridge stocked with home grown vegies from Rob's garden and a container of goodies baked by June. Thank you to you both for having us and your wonderful company. We then headed to one of the Hooker's local fishing holes on the Mann River at Cangai (about an hour west of Grafton). No joy on the fishing front but we managed a heap of swims to cool down (although the water was only marginally cooler at 31 degrees). From Cangai to Kyogle for a cupper with Netty, then out to the bass fishing dam of Toonumber. We had a couple of nights here in the rain but at least it was cooler. Bronson absolutely smashed the bass in the overflow from the dam catching 11 bass in two sessions on soft plastics. Ruth managed 2 on the fly after giving up trying to figure out how to fish a plastic. The fish were hard fighting and a couple were around the 40cm mark, which is apparently pretty bloody good for bass. We also saw the usual assortment of goannas roaming around, the ugliest and biggest cricket we've ever seen and a Peron's tree frog who decided our bed might be a good place to hang out!

We' re at Netty's place in Kyogle now and just got back from a couple of hours fishing at Lynches Creek up the road. One of Netty's friends kindly let us access the creek via their paddock. What a great place, there was a nice deep hole for fishing and swimming. Here we indulged in a lovely lunch and a spot of fishing. Bronson came up trumps with a huge catfish caught on a soft plastic.

Aside, Lulu has had a bit of an upgrade to her battery system. We had some cables made up in Grafton so we could charge the auxiliary battery off the alternator when we are driving. This should help us out when there isn't much sun about.

We are both well, a little sleep deprived before the rains hit a couple of nights ago. It's getting bloody hot in Lulu at night time, especially if there isn't much of a breeze. We have been sleeping upside down in the van so our heads are near the open windows. We think we need to engineer a mozzie proof way of leaving the boot door open overnight so we can get some air and hence some sleep. Might even splurge and buy a 12volt fan.

Heading up to the Gold Coast tomorrow to see all the ex Tassies we known up here. The place seems to be full of them. Keep an eye on the trip photos as we'll attempt to post a few recent fishy photos to prove we can actually catch fish! Be good peoples!