trees – Mick & Sue's Aussie Adventure

September 9, 2020September 12, 2020

Port Douglas QLD

I am a fish. Surrounded by hundreds of fish of every colour, shape, and design, I float with the current, facedown above the coral. I feel like a bird flying above a beautiful garden where other birds dart in and about the “trees”.

Photo of clown fish courtesy of Wavelength Reef Cruises taken during our cruise.

We joined Wavelength Reef Cruises and despite the wind and rolling waves travelled out from Port Douglas fifty-five kilometres to the Great Barrier Reef. We snorkelled at three locations: Beautiful Mooring, Rayban, and Mojo. Beautiful, stunning, immersive, colourful. We find orange, white and black ‘Nemo’ hidden in the waving fronds of a purple sea anemone. Mick sees a turtle and a reef shark.

Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef with Wavelength Reef Cruises

This trip (exploring our home Australia) for me is about getting out into nature, out of the office, away from screens, being part of the air, sun, wind, sea; being immersed in the outdoors. Getting up close to the wild flora and fauna is a thrill.

I felt I was wasting away my life sitting at a desk in a stuffy badly air-conditioned office every day, barely seeing the light of day, and just getting older. So while my heart goes out to family and friends still in lockdown in Victoria, I am glad our timing for this trip was fortuitous in hindsight.

There is a Japanese word “Shinrin-yoku’ that means forest-bathing. I love this idea and fully understand the health-giving outcomes of this activity. I had visited Mossmon Gorge many years ago and remembered the rainforest well. So, I was keen to revisit this area.

The walk through Mossman Gorge is a delight. Streams run over boulders and into green waterholes, home for fish and turtles. One little turtle sat high on a boulder, neck extended, perfect for photographers. The fragrance from the blossoms mingles with other scents of wet green foliage and forest mulch. Cicadas buzz loudly over the sound of the water cascades.

All the thousands of colours and variations of green that exist in the world can be found here in this tropical rainforest. Palms, creepers, fig trees, moss, flowers, and other ancient trees grow harmoniously in a perfect natural garden.

We enjoy a lazy lunch catching up with friends at a restaurant overlooking Four Mile Beach. These people we knew from south-west Victoria and they made the permanent move to Cairns. They say they love the lifestyle and have settled in well. I admire their decision and am very glad for them.

Sues, Amy and Nick at Hi Tide Port Douglas QLD

The Sunday Market appears to have less stalls than I remember, but perhaps this is due to CoVid. We walk to town from the caravan park every day. I spot some Bush Stone-Curlews and they are bigger than I imagine. We had heard their distinctive blood-curdling cry at night so knew they were around. They are a funny looking bird and their light grey fawn feathers are great camouflage amongst the leaf litter.

The sea water is brown and murky with the constant wind from the south-east. Other people swim between the flags, but we don’t feel the need. We know there are saltwater crocodiles out there in the murk. The clear swimming pool is a better option on the hot days.

Our last day is spent driving to and from Cairns in persistent rain, so that I can get two ugly skin cancers removed. From here we plan to travel further north up the York Peninsula to the tip at the Cape. We have the time and are in no hurry to return to Victoria while all the borders are still closed.

March 3, 2020March 4, 2020

Southern Forests WA

Grandma Tingle is 400 years old at least, and you can see from her knobby features that this is true. She stands surrounded by her extended family of Tingle trees in the Southern Forests region of Western Australia.

Rain fell lightly as we steadied ourselves on the swaying structure of the treetop walk at the Valley of the Giants near Walpole. It was stunning up in the canopy of these awesome trees. Then we wove our way at ground level along the track with a joyous chorus of wet frogs calling the way.

We stayed at the caravan park on the Denmark River next to the large lake of Wilson Inlet, which unfortunately had a pervading putrid smell that we could not escape. The pretty pictures belie the unfortunate experience of other senses.

It was indeed pretty, with pelicans, ducks, wildflowers, and stunning beaches. We took a day trip to Albany and had a look at the port and not much else.

Keen for some fresh clean air we went to Windy Harbour. This is another location Mick had pinpointed on the map as perhaps a good fishing location. Situated in the D’Entrecasteaux National Park the drive was beautiful through the Southern Forests full of giant trees like nothing I have seen before. Their trunks are straight, solid and do not decrease much in diameter as the tree reaches skyward.

Nearer Windy Harbour at the coast the forest stopped to reveal low native coastal scrub full of orange wildflowers, kangaroos, and emu. Windy Harbour is off-grid, low cost, and full of old fishing shacks. The long weekend attracted families and so the place was full. We walked to Point D’Entrecasteaux along the coast track and past Cathedral Rock. Nearby Salmon Beach is a popular spot for surf fishing and others told us of seeing sharks just two metres from the shoreline. We didn’t swim there but did have a dip at the sheltered rocky beach at Windy Harbour.

Windy Harbour D’Entrecasteaux National Park WA

Kangaroos hopped about the camp not fearful of the campers. One family of roos had a distinguishing white mark on their brows. Something I have not seen before. One young roo had a trident type marking. I wish I had captured his portrait. Gorgeous little birds flitted about the camp. Some I identified from my bird book as Superb Blue Wrens; the other yellow birds I could not identify as it was hard to see their markings as they darted about. Windy Harbour got windy and it was time to move on. We drove through some gorgeous forest and rural farmland of the region. The road was narrow in places, windy and hilly, so Mick had to concentrate on driving while I took in the forest of green.

February 10, 2020

Nullarbor – no trees

‘Nullarbor’ means no trees which is obvious when you think about it. And although there are trees in the 1,200 kilometres of the plain as you cross it, there is a distinct place where the native bushland ends and the Nullarbor begins. That place is just east of the Nullarbor Roadhouse, where the Yalata Aboriginal Land ends.

We left Ceduna early on a clear calm morning. Ahead of us were three hundred kilometres to the Nullarbor Roadhouse and five hundred kilometres to the Western Australian border. For the first couple of hundred kilometres the land is like a gorgeous pristine native parkland with small undulations.

Our first stop was at the Nullarbor Roadhouse. The first thing I saw as I got out of the car was a young dingo walking close to me. A truckie had just got out of a road train full of sheep and for a moment I thought it might be his dog. But no, it was a wild dingo. A worker told me there were three young dingos hanging around the roadhouse.

Mick and Sues at the Nullarbor Roadhouse

We took the ubiquitous photos that everyone takes, ate our fruit and vegetables in the caravan ready for the quarantine check at the border crossing, and filled up with fuel. We had already given our honey and a big bag of potatoes to a young farmer and his family who we had camped next to at Ceduna.

We stopped to gaze in awe at the cliffs at the edge of Australia on the Great Australian Bight. A couple of lizards popped their heads out from under a sign there. At some point well before the border our phones went back by 2 ½ hours as we crossed an invisible timezone.

At the border we were met with a large covered building with boom gates and stop signs. An official asked us some questions and then inspected the car and the caravan including all the cupboards for any fruit, vegetables, honey, and other prohibited items. We were all clear and so pressed on to Eucla.

Down an escarpment there was a distinct change of flora, and still no visible fauna despite the warning signs. A mountain range on the northerly side of the road provided a repeating pattern of bluffs in the distance. As we passed a bluff, a new one would appear in the hazy distance. This went on for kilometres.

Cocklebiddy Roadhouse was the place we chose to stay overnight parked on the gravel with a token for a short shower. It is a fuel stop with a bar, restaurant, cabins, airstip, two wedgetail eagles in a large aviary, and a loud generator that operates continually.

The next morning, we were back on the road by 6am. It was overcast and warm. We headed for Norseman which is at the western end of the Nullarbor Plain and about 440 kilometres from Cocklebiddy.

The landscape was once again like a lovely parkland with changing varieties of eucalypts, bushes, and spiky grasses. The longest stretch of straight road begins after Caiguna and stretches into the distance for 150 kilometres. We saw many wild wedgetail eagles near the road and perched in the trees.

Once again, the landscape changes to empty barren white rocks under a grey overcast sky. Then the western woodlands appear with more mature eucalypts and red dirt. At Balladonia the recent bushfire was obvious as the trees and ground were black. The road had been closed for about a week stranding travelers and truckies. The roadhouse was lucky to be saved. A piece of the old skylab is displayed proudly on the roof of the building. And then, disturbingly, bushfire smoke appeared and grew thicker on the highway. We tried to tune in for updates but there was no phone or radio service. Eventually we left the smoke behind us. We guess it was smoldering stumps.

We arrived in Norseman in time for lunch and then headed north to Kalgoorlie. Norseman was named after a horse who apparently pawed the ground and uncovered some gold, thus starting the gold rush of the 1890’s in the area.

We passed the time in the car by listening to ABC Conversations podcast episodes in the morning, and then music on my iPod in the afternoons.