Back in Range

Binalong Bay, Northern Bay of Fires

Superb Wrens sitting on our bike cover

Jeanneret Beach, Bay of Fires

Two happy pelicans at Musselroe Bay

Apologies for the length of time between blogs this time, but we have been out of range (yes I’m talking about you Telstra – where’s the NBN when you need it?) for a few days, which means no SMH, no phone coverage, and no internet! 

We stayed several nights at the Bay of Fires, named by Captain Furneaux who, from his ship, saw smoke from fires at Aborigines’ campsites, hence the name.  It’s a beautiful conservation area with several different campsites less than a kilometer from the road – Swimcart Beach, Jeanneret Beach and Cosy Corner being just a few, where 2 Superb wrens spent all afternoon attacking our windows.  The little brown female did most of the attacking, under the direction of the beautiful blue male.  

The first day, on Swimcart Beach, I was really tempted to don the togs and venture into the calm, emerald green water for a swim.  However, by the time I prevaricated about going in, the whole scene had changed with strong winds, and large waves.  We were warned by a local not to swim there as there are (fairly) frequent drownings.  The beach is very steep, and there is a huge drop off just where the waves roll onto the beach, with a big undertow.  You’d have to have absolutely perfect conditions there to venture into the water – and they don’t last long – though I think summer would offer kinder conditions.

After 2 nights at Swimcart and 1 at  Cosy Corner, we headed south to St Helens on Georges Bay for restocking.  St Helens has 2 IGAs(?) a pharmacy, several small bakery/cafes and sundry beachwear shops.  It has been our base in the east, as otherwise it’s just the occasional corner shop and not many of them.  Our other staple, water, is also available at St Helens, so we filled our tanks – both water and diesel, and set off north west along the A3, taking a side trip to Pyengana and the Holy Cow Café.  Pyengana cheese is rightly famous down here, and we bought enough (after a yummy tasting) to do us for a goodly while.  We also had lunch at the Holy Cow to sit a while by their open fire and watch the drizzle outside. 

In many ways this area reminds us of the Highlands of Scotland.  The constant mist, grey skies but emerald green hillsides dotted with black and white cows, the narrow winding roads and the cold.  We overnighted at the top of the Weldborough Pass in a huge paddock behind the 1886 Weldborough Pub, which markets itself as “the worst little pub in Australia”.  We really can’t vouch for that; having eaten breakfast at Binalong Bay, and lunch at The Holy Cow, we didn’t exactly feel like a night out at a pub!  I went for a walk in the afternoon and counted no less than 12 houses in the town; at least 2 of them For Sale!  Would you believe the only other caravan in the field belonged to 2 travellers from, where else, Raby Bay!

Only an hour or so from Weldborough lies a pretty little, well kept town called Derby.  Derby was the centre of the eastern tin mining industry in the late 1800s and has an excellent Tin Mine Centre.  We watched a video presentation of the history of the town, telling of the Chinese and other migrants who played a key role in the mining industry, and the ultimate destruction of most of the town, with resultant loss of life, in 1929 when the dam burst after massive rains.  It’s yet another interesting part of the history of Australia which is never taught in schools, but well worth reading.  (Sorry I can’t detail more of it here, but I’m sure Google would help).

After spending the morning in Derby we backtracked a few kilometres for the turnoff to Musselroe Bay in the far north east, taking an unsealed but generally good road from Gladstone to our current position alongside Musselroe Bay.  Once again we are the only people camped here – lucky it’s still early in the season.  There are quite a few houses here, mostly I think, holiday homes.  We’re surrounded by trees but the wind has abated quite a bit, the sun is shining and the sky is blue so all is right with the world.

After setting up, we went for a short walk along the narrow sandy beach beside the Bay, spotting some pelicans further down the shore.  Ray was disappointed when they took off almost as soon as we set foot on the beach, but far from disappearing over the horizon, they flew towards us and landed nearby, perhaps mistaking us for fishermen.  Then the 2 pelicans whose photos we’ve included, gave the most breathtaking display for around 15 minutes, flying in unison above and around us, seeming to enjoy every moment.  Lucky we have a digital camera, as Ray took hundreds of photos of them.  Trying to decide which one to put onto the blog was quite a task!

We hope to spend a few days here, perhaps sampling some of the other campsites, and Mt William National Park.  We’re only limited by the amount of water we carry; between 4-6 days if we’re careful.  The other essential is diesel – not only for powering the engine, but powering our wonderful diesel heater.  I was skeptical about its necessity when Ray was having it installed at great cost, but it really has been an excellent addition to our comfort.  One memorable night our tank dropped below one quarter and the heater safety switch cut out!  Merde!!!  We’ll never do that again.

Sally (and not forgetting Monsieur, who takes marvelous pictures)

PS  Our plans have changed once again, with inclement weather at Musselroe Bay.  We were heading for Tomahawk along the road to Bridport, but having to traverse about 20 kilometres of corrugated dirt road in the wet, we opted instead for heading back to St Helens and points south east.  We spent one delightful night at Stumpy's Bay campground, which was awash with Bennett's wallabies, all females with tiny babies aboard, where once again we bumped into locals (Wynnum); the only other people in the campground.  Tonight we're back at Swimcart Beach, and may head on south to St Mary's and Bicheno, or else just frowst here for a couple of days and try to wait out the coming rain.