Hi folks , been catching up with more friends , doing a bit of free camping as well . We've spent a couple of days at Carmilla . We stayed for a couple of days and visited Carmilla Beach .
The cyclone earlier this year has certainly left it's mark on the landscape , debris washed up on the beach everywhere .
The sugarcane harvest is in full swing , and areas that don't have access to the cane trains have to truck the cane out . There's a variety of trucks used , this one puts 3 train carriages on the back and takes them to a rail siding , then loading 3 more empty ones before coming back again , and again , and again .
The next drive took us to the tourist hotspot of Carmilla West , not very well known as a hotspot , but there's still time for it to shine . The roads follow Carmilla Creek up into the mountains , which aren't very far away at all . Strangely enough they grow sugarcane here as well , with many smaller farms . Carmella Creek was flowing over 6m deep judging by the debris in the trees and the gravel at one of the causeways - it was covering the causeway and had to be removed by front end loader .
After driving up to a few dead ends and property front gates , we headed back . Beside the van was a flowering bush .
Not much more was done at Carmilla , so we prepared for our big drive tomorrow .
Wednesday 12/7/17
Big drive today , all 80 klms of it . It wasn't without incidents however , pulling into Sarina and looking for a the dump point , we ended up in a parking lot - Hmmm time for a 3 point turn / jackknife and back to the hwy , then another at the information centre that has some parking for 2 small vans and lots of cars , shame there was 2 caravans there already blocking almost everything off . We had to drive past them to get off the road , then there's a no bus sign , so we figured we wouldn't get in there either , fortunately it was reasonably early and there were 3 vacant car parks that we could reverse into and turn around while we waited to get the appropriate parking spot .
Back onto the hwy and off to Mackay to visit another friend , Mark , who we've known for years . We are lucky enough to be able to park beside him at a local tavern with a very large block of land .
This was sunset .
It is set in amongst the sugarcane fields , some of which are flowering , creating an interesting picture.
A rather insignificant ground covering plant was growing here , we've seen it in lot's of places , but it's now in flower . It has an interesting habit , whenever you touch it's leaves , they close up to protect themselves , they aren't entirely harmless , they have hooks on the stems to grab hold of you , and they are a little bit sharp !!
Mark's a B Double driver , at the moment he's driving from Mackay to Townsville and back on a casual basis relieving drivers , this week he will be going south to Miriam Vale & back , and he's doing that at night so is awake , driving all night & sleeping during the day - not our idea of fun !!
During the rest of our week , we've ridden our bikes around in Mackay , shopped and chatted to Mark . We managed to get 9 holes of golf in on Friday , then I played in Saturdays comp as well , playing better than I have for several months - playing to my handicap with 36 points - Hooray !!
Yesterday , Sunday , we were heading off but Mark invited us to go up to Eungella for the day .
We had spoken to Mark about how beautiful it was up there , so he was keen to go , and it didn't take much convincing for us to go . Until you've driven out the 70 klms from Mackay , you don't realise how much sugarcane is grown around here - it's all the way to the base of the mountain !! It's a nice drive through many small farming towns and then there's the climb up the mountain - it's 680m above sea level - very similar to going up Macquarie Pass near Robertson . We stopped up the top at the lookout beside the road .
We then headed up to Peases Lookout - one we hadn't been to , and about another 100m higher again and another view down the valley from the northern side .
From here it was off to Broken Creek and the platypus viewing areas . The platypus are usually most active at dawn & dusk , but we were here at 11am so just had to suck it up . We'd seen some last time we were here , so we'd have to wait & see . The cyclone had ripped through all the trees up here as well , what is normally a very pretty drive through the rainforest , was now decimated trees struggling with new growth and surviving - which we're sure it will , just needs time . Trees , branches & fronds were strewn everywhere , we were gob smacked to see it this way . Our next surprise was the depth of water that had flown down Broken Creek , the walking tracks had been covered , debris still caught up everywhere , water would have been surging through here 6m deep !!! Here's some pics of the creek .
It wasn't long after we arrived that we saw the first platypus emerge in the clear water , watched over by a local turtle .
Speaking of turtles , I'm not sure what the queue was for , but one of them was queue jumping or hitch hiking - I'll let you decide .
Our little platypus kept on coming back to the surface regularly , even swimming over near us for some photo's before swimming across the pool to the other side .
It was lunch time , so we headed back to Eungella and went to the Chalet - a hotel with the best view ever .
That's looking out toward Mackay , the dining area overlooks this view and there's also outdoor dining as well . It has something most hotels don't have - a hang gliding launch ramp !! I've known about this one for years , but hadn't made it here to fly , beautiful launch though !!
After lunch we drove back down to Pinnacle and headed up to Teemburra Dam , one very pretty dam.
Back down the mountain again to Mirani and to Kinchant Dam , which was shining in the afternoon sun .
From here we headed for home after an excellent day out .
Monday 17/7/17
Today we headed off further north to Airlie Beach , where we will base ourselves for a few days , where the days are warm & sunny and blogs will once again flow hahaha . Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1L7220tR0LuwD-e3rS-VHkQykZa4&usp=sharing
Great commentary!! Some of the photos should go into your coffee table book.
ReplyDeleteDid you actually para glide?
Brought back memories of our trip here. Love eating at the pub with the view. Weren't you just a little tempted to take a flight? As usual, great pics
ReplyDelete