Evil Oddie

My big sister’s birthday – Happy Birthday Sally! Sorry we don’t have any phone coverage so I can’t call you…

We had Toad in the Hole (made by Scott) for breakfast today.  Not a great fan cause I don’t like soft runny yolks.  While packing up, Alex dropped a chair on her ankle and it looked pretty painful.

We finished off the Southern Section of the OTL and Gunshot was quite interesting.  Once again there were lots of cars waiting to go through, but no one was stuck.  We all got through fine.

Dog at Gunshot

We stopped at Fruit Ball Falls and had a swim.  The boys got right under the waterfall and got pummelled.

Dog at Fruit Bat Falls

The next stop was Eliot Falls.  Eliot Falls is absolutely beautiful.  It is well worth the stop, but the campsites were pretty crappy and the toilets stank!!

Twin Falls

Eliot Falls

We did a creek crossing and it was really weird – we’re not sure what creek it was, but it was like the surface of the moon.

We were all pretty amazed with the landscape.

The northern section of the OTL is awesome.  There isn’t as much traffic and **most** of the Poles are untouched.  We had heard some pretty bad stories about Nolan’s Brook and that was the last crossing for the day.  The boys walked the crossing thouroughly before going across.  We all got across fine and made camp there.  There were lots of flys, but other than that it was a really good campsite.  There is an old log crossing that we jumped into the creek from and floated downstream to where the crossing was.  Lots of fun.

Alex was reading and I had started dinner when Scott said he’d heard a car.  The boys went down to the creek and they thought that the other car (a Jeep Cherokee) was going to make camp on the other side of the crossing.  A little while later, I said to Alex, “Does that sound like a winch motor to you?”  We went down to the creek and the Cherokee was well and truly stuck in the creek.  The boys asked if they wanted a snatch out and then Luke went up to get the Challenger to pull them out.

These people we had run across before and let me just say that we have met nicer people on the track than these guys.  Their entire car was a swimming pool.  They were bailing water out of the car all night and they had all the stuff out of their car.

We had Shephard’s Pie and peas & corn for dinner.  Scott stepped on a hot coal that the fire had spat out and he’s got a lovely blister on his big toe.

Injuries & Ouchies:

Alex – Ankle
Jeep – Weld that Glen did for the Control Arm broke
Scott – Burnt Toe

We had pancakes for breakfast this morning.  The boys were still pottering around the Jeep to make sure everything was okay.  We let all the other cars go before us incase we had anymore problems.  One  thing that I’ve noticed already is that people have defaced the Poles that were used for the OTL.

Defaced Telegraph Pole

It really annoys me that people can’t respect property and give all the other people doing this trip the chance to see the history of the Line.

Dog in the back of the GU

Today was the day I got to drive the GU through the OTL.  I will admit that I can’t drive as quickly as Glen, but we were also going slow to see if the Jeep would be okay (my excuse anyways).  Alex has been driving the Challenger for a lot of the way because Luke’s ankle is still really quite bad.  Alex and I are alike with driving.  We don’t enjoy driving just for drivings sake.  We drive to get from A to B.  I’m not sure if Luke realises the sacrifice that Alex has made for him during this trip… Not giving Luke a hard time – I think any boy wouldn’t appreciate how much pressure it puts on us girls who don’t have that much experience.

Anyway, during my driving stint, Glen was crapping himself.  “You’re too close to the left”, “Slow down”, “Did you see that hole in front of you?” and “Change gear” were all said quite often.

We saw an Australian Scorpion at camp!

Aussie Scorpion

We made camp at Delahunty Creek and we decided to stay for two nights. The first night was pretty warm and there were lots of flys; other than that, it was an awesome campsite.

Dog at Delahunty Creek

We went for several swims.  There was a small waterfall and at the top, there was a small spa like area where all of us could fit.  I went total bogan style and washed my hair with Eco Soap.  It wasn’t a good look.

Camp oven Pizza was for dinner.

We had Cereal for breakfast because we needed get up and going very quickly due to needing to be at the bridge at 9:30am (it opened for 5 mins).

Dog in the Pantry

We got up early and had a good run to the bridge and we had some time to kill so we went to Red Beach.  We had a look around and Garry spotted a log that didn’t really look like a log. When the log moved, we were sure that it was a chomper.

Dog at Red Beach

We filled up at the BP 149.43L $216.52 (1094km since filled up totally – Cairns).  We stopped at the Bauxite Terminal to get some piccies and then we were on our way.

Dog & Glen checking out the Bauxite Process

We took the Batavia Downs turn off to get to the start of the Old Telegraph Line (OTL).  We stopped for more piccies at some huge Ant Hills.

Oddie & Dog with Ant Hill

Ristan was interested in checking out the Moreton Telegraph Station and we stopped there and got more piccies.

Dog with Telegraph Pole

Next stop was Bramwell Junction.  They guys had to fill up (again) Unleaded – $1.80 per Litre and Diesel – $1.86 per Litre.

Dog at Bramwell Roadhouse

Once everyone had had amenities stops, we started on the OTL.

Dog at the start of the OTL

When we got to the first creek crossing, there was a back log of cars waiting to get across.  A car had got bogged and someone was pulling him out.  We met quite a few people while waiting for the guy to get pulled out.  The Jeep went across first for our group and Scott drove it easily.  The GU was next and Glen had his frilly skirt firmly on.  A small log that the bogged guy had tried to use to get out, flicked up and hit the GU. Luke helped another guy towing a trailer down (snatch attached to the back of the trailer and the Challenger lowered the trailer slowly – releasing the pressure on the tow ball etc) and then the Challenger went across without a problem.  Garry and Ristan decided after a while that they weren’t going to risk their son’s Hilux through the crossing.  The Hilux took  Bamaga Road to the top.

Not long into the track, Scott broke his front driver’s side control arm and then noticed the mount to the rear driver’s side shockie mount had broken off.  The guys took off the control arm and the shockie and we decided to make camp so they could attempt to fix it.

Scott with his broken Jeep

We made camp at North Alice Creek.  They guys that we had met at the first creek crossing asked if they could camp with us and if we could all share a community fire.  These group of people were awesome.  They were quiet and even set up the fire for us.

A note here for Mick and Shaz – Oddie made like a bear in the woods at North Alice Creek…

We had Wagyu Steak and Mushroom Risotto for dinner.

Injuries & Ouchies:

Jeep – Front Control Arm
Jeep – Rear Shockie
Jeep – Castor Slap

We had Corn Fritters for breakfast – yum! and then we were off and racing.  I need to mention again how shocking Battle Camp Road is.  It was really really bad – slow going!!  We stopped at Musgrave Roadhouse for the guys to fuel up (again – we still didn’t need to).  Glen and I got icecreams – it feels like such a treat!

Km’s from Musgrave

Garry needs to have medical attention for his toothache.  We stopped in Coen, but the nurse was on lunch.  We decide to check out The Bend Camping Site.  We got there and we were not impressed.  The toilet stank!  The campsites were not level and the site was actually on the main road.  Not so good for the light sleeper – ie me.  We decided that we would have some lunch and Garry and Ristan would go back into Coen to wait for the nurse to come back to the Medical Centre.  We had just finished lunch and were about to head into Coen to see how things were going when Garry and Ristan turned up.  The nurse had given Garry the drugs he needed without a charge.  They gave a donation to the Royal Flying Doctor’s Service instead.

Garry’s Swollen Face

We decided that we would continue on to Archer River Roadhouse as they had Amenities – including a hot shower!!  We got to Archer River Roadhouse at about 2pm and we were the first campers there.  We got the pick of the campsites and got the flatest bit and all of us made camp around a campfire.   A winnebago parked next to our car and the guy got out and had a good chat with us and even gave us some crap about chewing up the roads (bloody 4wders as he said).

On the menu for dinner was Rib Eye Steak with Mushroom Sauce, Deb and Peas & Corn.  We had Apple Crumble for dessert.  I cooked my first Camp Oven Bread and it turned out fantastically.  Yum Yum fresh bread.

As the evening wore on, more and more campers were setting up camp.  Soon, we were in the middle of a huge nest of campers.  We went to bed and could still hear people pulling in.  The attendant when booking in told us that the generators would turn off at 10pm.  At midnight it was still going and we had bogans come to our fire in the middle of our camp and they made noise and yelling until 2am.  We had tried several times to ask them to be quieter, but alas, they were bogans (bevans, wankers, f*cktards, morons etc) and didn’t care who they annoyed.  WE WERE NOT HAPPY!!!

When they bogans (finally) went to bed, the locals (after drinking) went balistic.  Glen went to the men’s facilities and saw two Aboriginal males having a full on blue.  Glen said one guy was speaking english and the other was speaking a different language.  When we drove through the Archer River Crossing, we saw where the locals had made camp and there were beer cans and other mixer cans everywhere.  It was like a trash site.  I feel sorry for whoever has to clean that up.   We spoke to some other people futher up the Cape and they stayed the same night as us.  They saw a local lady that had been bashed to a pulp and she was in the middle of the bridge.  They went and found help for her.   What can we do to stop this?!?!

Advice for all future people heading up the Cape – DON’T STAY IN ROADHOUSES – IT ATTRACTS BOGANS!!

Injuries & Ouchies:

All – No sleep and cranky!!

We checked in to the Sebel Reef House and Spa on Sunday.  Our room is fantastic! We have “ocean glimpses” and it was a bargain on Wotif.

View from our room

Glen testing out the bed

View of the pool from our room

Dog getting in on the act

On Sunday after we checked in, we went for a walk down the beach and wandered down the esplanade.  It is a really touristy spot and if you plan on using the campground, book in early.  It’s pretty busy.  Most of the restaurants / eateries charge approx $30-$40 for a main meal, so if you want to do Palm Cove on the cheap, get an apartment rather than a room like ours (as awesome as it is).   Mind you, honestly, every meal that we have had here has been fantastic!  The banana pancakes from the Sebel’s restuarant were devine.

Monday we did the tourist thing that you’ve got to do when you’re up this way – Kuranda.  We were picked up from the Sebel by bus (at 7:10am) and we  caught the train up to Kuranda.

Dog on the Bus

Dog at the Museum at Freshwater Station

Dog on the Train

We had 3.5 hours to do what ever we wanted while in Kuranda.   I actually got Glen to come with me to the markets (and I bought a dress – two ground breaking moments in a day!)

Dog at Kuranda

We also got some pistachio nut bobbleheads…

Dog with Pistachio Nut friends

We caught the Skyrail back.  I can honestly say that getting off at all the stops is worth it.  Take a wander to the lookouts and look at all the stuff they’ve set up for you.  At Red Peak, wait for the Ranger to do the guided walk, the info that you get is really interesting.

Dog on Skyrail

Glen and Dog check out Barron Falls

When we got back to the room, we were both pretty tired.  We watched “Love the Beast” with Eric Bana.  After we watched the movie, we went to go get some dinner.  We were going to go to Clifton Beach to get Fish & Chips.  When we got in the car, I said to Glen, where did you put the aerial?

Glen’s response “F*ck!”  Our aerial had been stolen from our car.  I went to reception to see if / what they could do… not much; they gave me the Smithfield Police phone number.  I called them and the number rang out.  We called Suncorp, and there was nothing they could do – our excess was more than the aerial.  Glen was furious!!!

We had a pretty restless night as we have our tent (Oztent’s 30 second tent), gazebo, spare tires and other good stuff stored on the outside of the car.  Glen was  doing multiple trips to the car to check on it.  Hamish, the employee that checked us in, caught up with Glen near the car and had a good long chat with him.  Very much a fate thing.  Hamish actually works in the restuarant here and was taking out the rubbish when he saw Glen.  Hamish reckons that it could’ve been the local kids… grrrr…

Tuesday involved chasing an aerial.  Obviously, this event has really dampened our holiday mood and has jaded our thoughts on the people around here.   We ended up getting the aerial from Dick Smith. $198… bugger…

When we got back, the Sebel’s Maintenance guys hooked  up a hose for Glen and I to us to fill up our 60L water tank.  It didn’t take very long to fill.  We went for another walk down the beach and esplanade trying to soak it all in.

We went back to the room for a cuppa tea (well that’s me anyway).  It wasn’t long before Glen got a call from Scott to say that they had just finished their Skyrail ride and they were on their way to Palm Cove.  We met them at the Coles at Clifton Beach to do final shopping (milk, bread, cheese etc).

We’ve just had dinner all together (Garry, Ristan, Luke, Alex, Scott, Glen & I) at the Thai restaurant.  We’re meeting at 8am at the Camp Ground at the end of the esplanade to start the actual trip to the Cape… part 2 of our holiday – woot….

Maybe a while til we get coverage again…

NB. Glen and I are no longer embarrassed taking Dog with us placing and setting him up.  We’ve actually  turned into entertainment for other tourists, pointing and talking to us.  The pistachio nut photo was pretty amuzing.  People were taking photos of me setting up the photo – lol!

Today, we slept in.  That’s a first, we didn’t get out of bed til 7am.  Glen woke up at 4ish again, but went back to sleep.  We packed up quickly and went down for the breakfast that was included in the room’s tariff at SeaBreeze.  We were the first guests down for breakfast and caught the staff during their break having coffee.  They were really friendly and showed us to where the food was and our table.   We had raisin toast, fruit, yogurt, cereal, juice, tea & coffee.  We checked out and were on our way to Townsville.

I really wanted to stop at That Sapphire Shop at Leap, but it didn’t open til 10am.  Glen has said that we’ll stop there if we come back the coastal road.

We stopped at Home Hill.  Glen and his olds lived in Home Hill some time ago.   We drove around looking for Glen’s old house, but it has been knocked down.

Home Hill Caravan Park

Glen has got a Tourmaline at home that he bought from Home Hill when he was a boy for $6.  So we went to the store to check it out (seeing I was disappointed about the other gem stone store).  We had a look at the tourmalines and they were now $130 for a decent  size rock.  I had a look at the Sapphires (my birth stone) and they were all chips and expensive.  Very keen to go back to That Sapphire Shop to see what they’ve got!

Dog posing in front of the Gem Store at Home Hill

On our way to Ayr, dog met his first snake!  He was not impressed!!

Dog meets Snake

We stopped at Dal Santos Gourmet Deli in Ayr for lunch.  We had to wait 20 minutes for a couple of sandwiches (read cranky Glen), but it was well worth the wait!  I had roasted capsicum, grilled eggplant, semi-dried tomatoes and jarlesburg on a pannini and Glen had pretty much the same but with meat.  The latte was perfect too!

We met a couple of kiwi ladies at the Deli and Glen was comparing stories with them.  Their husbands were in Townsville for the V8 race and they were kicking back in Ayr.  They told us that Townsville wasn’t that busy and they had enjoyed their day at Townsville the day before.  They had flown over from NZ just for the race.  Talk about keen.  They were so lovely, they even waved us off when we left.

When we originally planned our trip up to Cairns, we didn’t know or  investigate if there was anything else planned up this way.  So a couple of weeks ago when I read the Sunday Mail about the V8 Supercar Race on July 11 in Townsville, I freaked out.  After many calls, emails and rumours of rooms available, I got a room at the Dalrymple Hotel.  Glen was a bit tentative seeing it’s a hotel and we’ve heard how busy Townsville was going to be.  So far so good.  We’ve just had room service and the food was good.

After we checked in the room, we walked down the block and checked out Anaconda, Spotlight, Dick Smith and a couple of other stores.  Glen is very taken with Howard’s Storage World.

We checked out the race and here’s dog getting close to the action! Haha!

Dog getting close to the action

Next stop over Cairns (Palm Cove!).

After 18 months of planning, Glen and I left for our Cape York Trip yesterday, Thursday 9 July 2009.  Glen and I aren’t the biggest fans of having our photos taken so a work friend (Hi Tricia) gave me the idea of taking  a mascot and letting them tell the story of your trip.  Don’t get me wrong, there will be pictures of us during the trip but already we are having heaps of fun setting up our mascot.

Our mascot is… Dog from Footrot Flats.

Now to the story so far.

Glen had taken Thursday off work to pack the final things into the car and he picked me up from work after I had sent the 170+ PAYG Summaries out!!  Glen had packed the car, was ready to go and I still had work to do, so Glen went to say “Bye” to his olds in Brisbane before he came to pick me up.

Dog says Bye to Glen’s Olds

We left Upper Mount Gravatt at approx 1:30pm and we stopped at the BP northbound for lunch.  The first of many takeaway meals on the way up.  Seeing we were both starving and the fastest moving line was McDonalds, that’s what we had.  We had a pretty good run up to our first overnight stop, Bundaberg.  We stayed at my olds place.  Dinner: Glen – Pork Chop & Veges Me: Spaghetti Bog (yum yum my favourite) & Veges.  Dessert: Apple Pie & Custard.  After dinner we went to my sister’s for second desserts: Little Cakes, Chocolate Slice, Anzac Slice & Tea / Coffee.

Dog making friends with My Olds in Bundy

10th July: Glen woke up just after 4am, and we were on the road by 5am.   This is the biggest kilometre day for the trip up to Cairns, our official start for the Cape Loop.  We stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast – top hint – 24 hr open Maccas will give you old crappy stuff if it’s sitting there.  We didn’t eat all our brekky – we felt crook.

We stopped at Rocky for the touristy photo ops (and a P Stop).

Dog meeting a Santa Gertrudis

Dog at the Tropic of Capricorn

Dog showing the km’s to go from Rocky

Something that we’ve noticed is the amount of caravans that are heading up north with us.  We had two different episodes of where people pulled out in front of us (in a 110 zone) and Glen had to JAM on the brakes to stop from ramming into them.  I understand that the highway is busy at the moment, but hell, wait and not cause an accident!!!

We stopped at Sarina for some lunch – Bakery food.  Sarina reminded me of Bundy.  Probably something to do with the Mill and the smell.

Dog checking the ties on the Roofrack at Sarina

From Sarina, we stopped at Hays Point to check out the Coal Port.  Glen counted 32 ships waiting off the coast to come in to fill up with Coal.  The tugs bringing them in were awesome to watch.

Dog checking the Coal Port

Walking down from the car park at the Coal Port (Hays Point), I saw this sign and freaked out (wearing thongs!).

Dog making sure the snakes don’t get us

Our stop for tonight is Mackay.  I booked our accommodation on Wotif and when we plugged in the address, we kept driving and driving and we ended up at Slade Point.  It’s on the beach north of Mackay.  Driving through Mackay, Glen and I  really liked it.  The CBD is really beautiful, and there seems to be a lot works happening here, so we assume that Mackay is really growing and moving ahead.

Our room at SeeBreeze is pretty good.   I saw some dodgy places in Mackay that wanted $90 per night and we paid $100 for here and that includes Breakfast. The shower is awesome!

Dog enjoys the shower at Mackay

We went down and had dinner in the Bistro.   Glen got the seafood pasta and I had a vegetarian stirfry.  Big meals and pretty reasonable cost.

Our stop tomorrow night is Townsville.  Should be interesting seeing the V8 Supercars are in town this weekend too!

For the Queens Birthday long weekend, Glen and I went to Rover Park.  Initially we we were going to go to Levuka, but after all the rain, all of their 4wd tracks were closed, so Glen sourced Rover Park.

I have to say that there were a LOT of people at Rover Park.  The Campground near the amenities block was absolutely packed.  We camped in Campground 2, which is behind the main campground.  There was only two other groups in our campground.  In our group, we had quite a mish mash of cars and people.  There was us (Mav); a Challenger;  a Wrangler; a Range Rover;  a Discovery and; a Cherokee.

The Cherokee died on the way into the Park.  The transmition blew up and they called RACQ to get towed.  Seeing we were in NSW, they had to wait for NRMA to come get them.  The Wrangler broke on the way out of the park.  It drove home in front wheel drive.  The Range Rover had major issues on the way home.  I’m not sure of exact details, but I think it had to limp the whole way home.  The guy who owns the Challenger rolled his ankle on Sunday night and it blew up the size of a house.  He got taken to the hospital at Tenterfield and ended up getting 2 weeks off work!

On Tuesday morning, I woke up and said to Glen, my eye feels funny.  He took one look and told me that it’s blown up again.  Last year, in August as my Doc tells me, my left eye decided to have some fun and swell.  I didn’t know what it was from and my doctor at the time told me just to have an anti-histamine.  We didn’t look into it, because the anti-histamine did the trick and it hadn’t happened again or before then.

So on Tuesday, I just took an anti-histamine and went to work.  It did kinda go down but not enough.  I called the doctor’s and made an appointment.  While waiting at reception, my face started to puff up.  So did my lips, left arm, left hand and my left side…. Weird… I just took off my watch and waited for the doctor…  When I got to see the doctor – She gave me a stern talking to… Off I went to get an injection to stop the swelling and she put me on steriods too.  Apparently, I was in the midst of a pretty serious allergic reaction.

Seeing Glen and I are doing a Cape York trip in just over 2 weeks, I have to get an EpiPen.  I got told that the Allergy Specialist has signed off on my Pen; but I’ve got to go and have testing to see what I’m allergic to… Should be fun…

Glen has been getting the GU ready for our Cape trip in July – August this year.  His list is a mile long of the stuff he wants (needs) to get done in time.

He’s done all the little stuff and now all that’s left is big stuff.  He’s dropping it off at ARB on Monday for heaps of stuff to be done.  I think he’s over messing around trying to get everything ready on weekends when you can get people that have all the necessary tools to get the job done quickly.

Which leads me to why I have nothing to do.  The stuff that’s left to be done on the GU is expensive, so I can’t spend any money.  So I’ve really done nothing pretty much all year.  My weekends involve: washing, cleaning, watching TV & working.   mmmm doesn’t that sound like fun…

The Z has been ready to sell for a while now and I’ve finally had a moment to breathe, so I thought I would blog about it.

When Glen originally bought it (quite some years ago, I think it was 2001 or 2002), he hunted for ages trying to find a 300zx that was in good condition and hadn’t been flogged.  It is really a fantastic car and realistically, I’ve driven it more than Glen.  I used to have this crappy Holden Nova that cost $2500 and when I had to drive anywhere other than work / shopping centres, I’d take the Z.  Since Glen’s gotten into 4wds and I sold the Nova and got the GTiR (since sold),  the poor Z hasn’t really been driven much.

I went up to Bundy the weekend before last and I wanted to take the Z.  I wasn’t allowed to because it would put too many k’s on it.  Talk about baby-ing a car.

 I really want the Z to sell cause then I can get my engagement ring!!!!  So if you want it, let me know…  I think Glen’s got $11 000 on it.