Campers Road Trips

[Camper]

On the road again heading East towards Longreach;




I decided to go look at Captain Starlight's Lookout, 47K's of dirt road, black soil plains out here mean the road is often closed after rain.

This is where I came across the gibbers, road is rough but if you take it easy it's not so bad, locals were surprised that I made it in and out.








gotta love those reflections














Captain Starlight's Lookout, doesn't look very high but it's so flat around you can see for miles from the top.










Looking at this rock after being at the Dinosaur place made me feel like I could see back into history.

The top is swirled like coral or the sea floor.

I wonder what Starlight thought of it, what was the prevailing theory at the time?











"While the legend of Captain Starlight is largely contested, it is believed he and his men gathered together 1000 stolen cattle at this Lookout and split them into three groups to avoid a suspicious dust cloud. An epic journey followed through largely unexplored country, along the Barcoo River, Cooper Creek and Strezlecki Track toward South Australia. Around 800 miles into their journey Starlight was forced to sell a white pedigree bull at Hill Hill Station to purchase supplies. Carrying on to Blanchwater station, Starlight was unaware of his dire error. Here he sold the rest of the herd for approximately $10,000; however, he received only a note promising payment in six months. By this time three Bowen Downs stockmen were already well down the Cooper on the trail of the mob. They soon found the white bull. Starlight was arrested in 1872 and tried in Roma a year later. Despite strong evidence, including the distinctive bull which had been shipped back to Queensland, the jury voted “not guilty”, to which a stunned judge said “I thank God that verdict is yours, gentlemen and not mine.”











I saw a lot of different country in the short drive to the lookout, from dry yellow/white dust to black soil, gibbers, channel/creek crossings and red dirt, more variety than the 2hrs before it.

[Camper]

Hey all,

life got in the way there for a bit.

when I last posted I was on my way home from Winton, I had wanted to stay the night in Longreach and take a cruise, but I left it too late, could not get on a cruise and kept driving.

I stayed the night near Jericho beside a Billabong I have spoken about before, Redbank Park, really is a nice spot.






Got some great shots as the sun set




I really like this one, you can see the last of the sun as well as the moon, both reflected in the water







Next morning I woke up to the sunrise reflected in the other end of the waterhole

















Here you can just see the obligatory rope swing on the left, with a bird on the branch above and to the right, I sat and watched him fish for a bit. Eventually he had a friend show up.









They reminded me a bit of Spy Vs Spy from Mad Magazine









All right, suns up and it's time to go....





I generally wait til 8am to drive to lower the chances of a Roo strike but I did have 2 close calls this morning.

[Camper]

Loooong straight roads

















Stopped in at the same lookout on the Drummond range, met a guy who was heading back the way I had come, except he is doing it all off road, would take the whole day to do what had taken me 40mins, gave me a new appreciation for the road workers and civil engineers who make my style of adventure possible.






And back in Blackwater, this group of Roo's lives across the road from me and are getting pretty tame now, I can walk to within 5m without too much stress, it's been wonderful watching them grow. But I worry we will have an incident soon enough when someone else go's to pat one.

[Beachy]

Some great photos there outback Australia at Its finest

[Camper]

Some great photos there outback Australia at Its finest

Thank you Beachy

[Camper]

Hey All,

wanted to share some photo's from recent trips.

First up I stayed a night in Tolderodden on the way back to work;




This sort of trip is the main reason I bought the car, to look around a bit on the drive to work, stay a night in different spots and get to know Queensland better.











Not much of a spot, just off the road next to the Burnett river, you can see the bridge in the background. Turned out to be a nice night with the Moon really putting on a show.












Up early the next morning and off to work

[Camper]

Next up is some shots from around home on the Sunshine Coast




Kings Beach

Fish and Chips on the beach at sunset with seagulls and surfers, how Aussie can you get.





Golden Beach

Looking towards Caloundra, good spot to fish for black bream when they are on.





Pt Cartwright looking north

There is a lighthouse here and a good right hander under the point




Noosa Heads





Noosa Heads





Noosa Main Beach





Noosa River mouth, check out all those fish!


I was planning on camping on the beach across the river from here, I would have had to put the car on a barge upstream, there is a two wheel drive campground right next to the beach, 4wd's can drive on the beach heading north right up to Rainbow beach, across from Fraser Island. I have camped on Rainbow beach before and it is amazing.

I remember being astounded that fresh water just wells up out of the sand, we drank it for a week without worry, to top it off a guy comes pass daily with ice creams and news papers, brilliant!






Maleny Dairy, supposedly Australia's best milk comes from these cows, we had a tour of the dairy and got to taste some products - great stuff but hard to say Australia's best?





Glass House Mountains





Gardners Falls





Gardners Falls





Gardners Falls

The big tree just left of centre hosts one of the highest rope swings around, you would be 20ft above the water when you let go and you must land right under the falls or hit the bottom, water is icy cold most of the year, I'm surprised more people don't get hurt here.






Gardners Falls

Not sure what type of bird this was, almost penguin like, any one know?






The path down to the falls is really easy. Good spot to take Mum.

[Camper]

.


Next up I decided I would finally go see Nimbin, spend more time around Byron Bay and the Hinterland.





Didn't strictly follow this route, tried to stick to the beaches on the way down and the Hinterland on the way back.





Surfers Paradise





Sea World roller coaster





Tallebudgera/Burliegh Heads Looking back towards the Gold Coast.

You can see Q1, the building with the spire, it is Australia's and was briefly the worlds tallest residential building at 225M, huge views from the bar at the top.









Back of Snapper Rocks









Cabarita







Sketchy driving in here, was worried I might get bogged in the sand but made it.







Wyong








The Tweed Coast Road has to rank up there with one of the countries great drives, I was really impressed with the beaches along the way.









Watego's, Byron Bay, deservedly world famous









Byron Bay Light House

Definitely worth the $8.00 parking






Stayed the Night with family near Balina and headed back towards Broken Head the next morning

[hxbunny]

Love your stories and pictures, makes me feel like I am reading an 'Outback' magazine and how can you not be inspired to get out and look around.

Thanks for sharing your travels.

[Camper]

Thanks HxBunny,

happy to keep sharing and more to come this afternoon.