Matilda Finds a Dance Partner

Pick me!  Pick me!  I want to dance!

The 2 Travel/Sail R's returned from our one week shakedown road trip north and spent the night on Worrall Wind while we did laundry, changed oil, patched some leaks on van window stripping, dropped of stuff we decided we wouldn't need, and picked up stuff we thought we might.

A Dozen Highlights of this past week's road trip since our last blog were:

1. Our visit with friend Ken on Trim in Bundaberg, 
2. Mon Repos Turtle Reserve, 
3. Just opened R.J. Williams Learning Center in Eidsvold, 
4. Most horrific thunder and lightening storm we've ever been in, 
5. Out racing a storm cell that looked like it could turn into a tornado, 
6. Bunyas National Park
7. Awaltzing with the wallabies
8. Awalking in the rainforest,
9. Adodging killer pine cones
10. Making new friends in Kilcoy
11. Delighting in the Birds
12. Seeing our first wild Koala

Mon Repos Turtle Reserve was only a couple of kilometers from our campground outside of Bundaberg.  We plan to come back early in the season in November to see possibly three different types of turtles (green, loggerhead, and flatbacks lay their eggs.)  Out of the 7 species of turtles that have evolved out of the last 100 million years, 6 of those species can be found in Australia, Queensland.


A new learning center dedicated to an Aussie Outdoorsman and lover of nature and indigenous culture has recently opened in Eidsvold.  When fully functional it will be a wonderful asset not only to Eidsvold, but to Australia.

R. J. Williams

We spent one night in Eidsvold and according to the locals, experienced one of the worst thunder and lightening storms in their collective memories.  You know when the lightening and crack of thunder are simultaneous, that it's waaaaay toooo close!  For over and hour, we huddled in a bar-b-que picnic shelter as the lightning flashed and cracked all around us.  The water cascaded from the sky as a waterfall.  Within minutes, the gully behind our van was a river.

The following day, started off nice enough, but late in the afternoon while we were in the flatlands, a storm cell started bearing down on us.  Black tentacles were touching down to the ground and the wind was whipping up.  It looked like it could become a tornado.  Russ stepped on the gas and we fortunately got out of the way and changed direction to miss it.

Go Russ!  Go!

We decided to get out of the flat lands and head for the hills.  We got to the Bunyas National Park about dusk.  It rained all night and when we awoke the following morning, we had two dozen wallabies in the meadow with us.  What a treat!

We waited for the mist to lift, left the wide open meadow, and entered the Bunyas Pine Rain Forest.

There were posted signs to be cautious of the Bunyas Pine cones that are the size of bowling balls and weigh in at 20 lbs, much bigger and heavier than coconuts.  They fall from the trees in the fall.....yep this is fall in Australia.

We could hear them thumping and crashing occasionally as we walked quickly without lingering under the huge Bunyas trees that stick up far above the canopy of the rain forest.

Our walk was stunningly beautiful.  The rain drops twinkled on the ferns and the forest smelled fresh and earthy.

After our 4 kilometer walkabout in the forest, we ate lunch and headed back to Brisbane via a stop over in Kilcoy.  Friends Carol and Jim Barry of Colfax referred us to some of their good friends in Kilcoy who gave us an open invitation to stop by.  We did and enjoyed a lovely evening and morning with them at their home in the Queensland country side.

We were treated to a wonderful breakfast bird show and a glimpse of our first Koala in the wild.

We are just about ready to leave on the next step of our adventure.  More rain is due here in Queensland, so we are heading south where the weather looks a little drier.  We have reservations in a week from now on the ferry from Melbourne to Tasmania where we will spend the month of March.

Matilda Waltzes North

After two weeks of searching and readying Matilda, she was ready to leave by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday afternoon, February 17.  We could have spent another night on Worrall Wind, but decided Matilda was ready to go to the ball, and she didn't want to wait any longer....and neither did we.   Our first leg north was pretty short, and we reached the campground near Glass House Mountains by 6:30 p.m.  We spent the first night in our cozy little pop top.  We were pretty worried about mozzies, so we slept with the van closed up and it was a little too warm.

Glass House Mountains are these lava plugs that were once under the sea where the land was flat.  Once  the sea receded, the flat seabed eroded away leaving the exposed plugs sticking up.  As mountains, they are not very high.  What makes them interesting is they just seem to popup in the middle of flat, rolling lands.

Sidewalk Mosaic

On Friday morning, we explore the Glass House Mountains.  Later in the afternoon, we took a 3 kilometer hike through a national park from the town of Landsborough to Maloolah on a deserted railroad bed through a bat filled tunnel.  The nice part about the tunnel was it was cool and provided some relief from the heat.

Dazzling White Bark Gum Trees

We were really looking forward to seeing some wildlife outside of the zoo.  But no, we didn't see any koalas or kangaroos.  The bush however was noisy with cicadas and birds, quite a contrast from the quiet bush in New Zealand.  It was a nice walk and felt good to be out and moving.

We made our way up to Maroochydore on Friday night and stayed in a lovely campground by the Maroochy River.  We got there early enough to play with our mosquito netting before the mozzies make their late afternoon appearance.

Room with a view

There really weren't very many bugs in this highly civilized campground, but now we know how to open the back hatch and let the breeze blow through the van while we keep the mosquitoes and flies out.

Saturday morning, we traveled further up the coast to Noosa Head taking in the coastal beauty and then headed inland to the little town of Gympie where the Australian Gold Rush started in the 1860's.

Gympie reminds us of Sonora.  On our way to Gympie, we ate lunch in a park where several boys were skate boarding.  Every one of the little towns we have driven through have lovely parks with public restrooms, and many have skate board parks to attract young people who enjoy this sport.  We chatted with one young man who looked to be about 15 who was eating his lunch as well (two large chocolate bars).  I would have preferred that too!

We told him in California, that the public parks require helmets, knee and elbow guards.  He thought that was pretty funny.  The kids in these parks were wearing nothing but shorts and shoes.  He took a cigarette from behind his ear and lit up when one of his friends came over to eat some chocolate.  The boys talked about their plans for the evening and were excited to go somewhere there was going to be a party with girls and drinks.  The boys waved goodbye, put their skate boards under their arms and walked along the public path.

Russ and I reached our campground late in the afternoon, and just enough time to do some grocery shopping for dinner for two nights.  The grocery and other stores are closed on Sundays.  We bought ourselves a roasted chicken and made a green salad for dinner.

Today is Sunday, and we had a fun day on the Rattler, an old steam engine driven train that took us through the countryside to a a little town of Imbil,

 It was serendipitous that we chose this day to ride because every 3rd Sunday, the docent/actors reenact a train robbery at the end of the line.

Officer will soon die in gun battle

Our ascent into Imbil seemed to be going more slowly than our itinerary indicated, but we enjoyed the beautiful scenery as we gazed through the open windows of the old train.

We arrived midway at a stop for refreshments and were about a half hour behind schedule.  By the time we got to the end of the line we were an hour behind schedule.

The actors reenacted the train robbery which was quite entertaining. 

Cryer call for justice

After the train robbery, we were to go to the front the train to watch the engine be turned around on the turntable.  Sadly, the engine wasn't moving.  The poor thing died.

Ran Out of Steam!

Apparently, our slow ascent was due to a steam tube that had burst and was watering down the coal fire.  By the time we got to our destination, the fire was too cool to move the train any further.  While we waited for  air conditioned rescue busses to take us back to Gympie, we ate our picnic in the shade, watched the trial and flogging of the train robbers, and browsed the tourist shops in Imbil.

By 2:45, the passengers on the ill fated Rattler boarded our busses and returned to Gympie making a scheduled stop for wine and cheese tasting.  We arrived back in Gympie ahead of schedule after a very enjoyable day where we met and talked with lots of nice folks.  One of the ladies we met is a retired middle school teacher who has invited us to visit and stay with her a few days in her home near Morton Island.  She enjoys visitors and is signed up with a website called Global Freeloaders.  Haven't heard of it, but plan to look it up.

Tomorrow we are headed up to Bundaberg where we will visit our friend Ken on Trim and hopeful get a taste of Bundaberg Rum.  Russ has made reservations on the ferry to Tasmania out of Melbourne in two weeks, so we will need to start Awaltzing Matilda southward in a couple of days.  We're having fun and both feel great.

All is well with the 2 Travel R's on Awaltzing Matilda.

Yanks in America with Waltzing Matilda

Crikey! These Salty Crocs Are Big!

A thunder storm rolled through the marina this evening after a beautiful sunny, but sticky day here in Scarborough.  It's raining and the "just rained" smell is cool and fresh.  Today was a sad day for us as we said goodbye to one of our fellow cruisers.  Our friend Claudia left for the states today, via Japan to visit her daughter and family. She and fiancé Brian spent the night on Worrall Wind with us before heading to the airport this morning.

Claudia and Brian headed to airport.

Claudia and Brian have their boat up for sail and  are returning to the states, their voyage ending here in Australia.  We met this couple in the remote Cook atoll of Suwarrow, and have been with them several times in American Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, and here in OZ.  We have had a lot of fun together crabbing, repairing a jetty, collecting trash in the middle of the Pacific, snorkeling, diving, playing games including Bingo with villagers in Vanuatu, fixing generators in remote locations, visiting schools, sight seeing, etc.  Brian is staying back a few more months hoping that the boat sells, but then he too will be returning to the states.  They both have some work years ahead of them.

Our first two weeks back in Brisbane have been busy, busy.

We spent the first week scouring ads and hunting for used camper vans in the greater Brisbane Area. Our little rental car was put to good use.  The price here in Australia for used vans is much higher than in New Zealand, and the vehicles seem to be in worse condition...lots of dents, rust, and backpacker abuse.  The vans have these big bullbars in front so you don't kill yourself if you hit a kangaroo...not something we plan to do, but there is a load of roadkill.

It's been quite warm here in Queensland (Australian State), probably 85-95 degrees with high humidity.  Finding a van with air conditioning was on our want list.  Before we could buy a van, however we had to open a bank account, have dollars transferred, etc.

After finding nothing in the immediate area, we decided to visit our friends Brian and Claudia on SV Skylight about an hour and a half north of Brisbane in the community of Malooloobah.

As it turned out, there were three vans in the area that were for sale so the trip had a double duty purpose.  To make a long story short, we bought a van but had to wait after making the offer for our American dollars to be transferred.

While we waited, we stayed on Skylight a few days.  We took advantage of the wait time to visit the Australian Zoo started by the Irwin family.  You may recall Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, who was killed a couple of years ago while swimming with a large sting ray while taping for his TV Show.   His mother and father started the zoo when he was a child.  Steve's USA television show made him and the zoo famous. Crikey!

The zoo is a wonderful place.  It is lush, green, and the animals have beautiful natural habitats to live in.  The staff are dedicated to keeping the animals amused, entertained, and engaged in activities so that the animals do not become bored and depressed.   We were able to feed the kangaroos, and pet the Tasmanian devils. wombats, and those adorable Koalas.

We also toured the rescue hospital on the site where injured animals are brought in for treatment by the wildlife warriors.  It's quite impressive.

Australian children returned to school after a 3 month holiday, the day we visited the zoo.  Consequently, the place had only a fraction of the normal attendance giving us lots of free open spaces and elbow room.

Yes we got to see our first Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, wombats, crocodiles, kookaburras, and koalas.  The animals here are not unfamiliar to most of us in North America as we have seen them on TV or in zoos.  But it is pretty amazing that this collection of unusual animals are only found on the Australian continent and nowhere else in the world.  The zoo is expanding to include animals that are endangered as well, including tigers and elephants.

No Rust on Matilda

Poptop, awning, previous owner Cheryl, and her grandkids

Stove on left, cabinets with no sink straight ahead

Russ aligns cabinets, installs water tank

Refrigerator on the right

Stove swings out on hinges for cooking

After our day with the animals, we were notified of our dollar transfer.  On Tuesday, we bid farewell to our friends and to Skylight, went to the bank for a check, picked up our "new to us" van, paid the seller, filled out the appropriate paperwork, registered the change of ownership, got insurance, and drove both it and the rental car back to Scarborough, stopping along the way to buy a 3 way refrigerator for the van (electric, battery, propane).

The following day, we took measurements of the van and then went on a hunt to find material to make some minor modifications to the interior.  Primarily we wanted to install a water tank, sink, hand pump, and new bench top.  The refrigerator didn't quite fit, so that needed some modification as well.  We hope to have the van finished up after Valentines Day.   The boat yard that made repairs on Worrall Wind for us is doing some of the wood cutting for us as Russ does not have a table saw to cut the bench.

Once the van is finished, we'll take "Matilda" who has been sitting on the sidelines,  a waltzing up the coast a couple hundred kilometers for a shake down run, then return to Scarborough where we will make final adjustments to Matilida, button up the boat, and head South to Sydney and Tasmania for a month or two.

While waiting for our parts to come for Matilida, we spent one morning in Brisbane extending our visa until the end of January 2013.  What took us nearly four months in New Zealand, took us 20 minutes in the very efficient downtown office of Brisbane.  They were quite friendly as we forked over $600 for the extension.  Ouch!  We actually plan to stay until we leave on the Indonesia rally in August of 2013, but in order to get another extension, we must leave OZ and return.  We may fly back to states and/or do some other out of OZ traveling for a bit.

That's it for now.

All is Well with the 2 Sail R's on Worrall Wind
and the soon to be 2 Travel R's on Waltzing Matilda