The Grampians

After three buses and 40-plus hours I arrived in cooler and as it turned out later, wetter Western Victoria. Queensland was a real education for me, especially as a bicycle tourer, you start to become acutely aware of how precious water is for survival. In this slower but more enjoyable mode of transport (well...at least for me anyway), the distance between towns or regional centres becomes an even more important factor for planning your water regime and food consumption.

You start to sniff out for the most obvious sources, sports fields, rest stops and petrol stations. Through good advice from fellow travelers I have managed to accommodate an extra three litres of water to my kit. For me that translates to about 100km of riding in mid-range temperatures with 50kg of bike and gear to push, and the remaining 2.5 litres on the are bike for cooking and cleaning. As far as the planned Northern Territory leg is concerned, I decided through common sense or call it self-preservation to pursue this another time but in Winter.

I had such a good time traveling up the East Coast of Australia and the Great Dividing Range for about nine weeks that I simply ran out of time. Why the Grampians? I wanted to escape the constant trucks and hot 30 degree days in QLD (road temp about 45 degrees) and thought what a buzz to start at the very beginning of the Great Dividing Range that runs through all the Eastern states. Its always been one of my 'spiritual' homes, like the VIC alps, the Southern Ocean and the Flinders Ranges in SA. I can now add TAS to the list. The Grampians were named after a similar range in Scotland and provides a stunning Spring display of native flowers.

My favorite native flower - Orchid (Caladenia Sp.)

After several hundred kilometers I'm about six to seven kilograms lighter but I'm feeling very well. The little tummy has gone and thinner around the face to how I was a dozen years ago.

That's enough about me - now for a wonderful people story. At one camping ground I shared a campfire and meals with a lovely honeymoon couple from Melbourne. They had known each other as childhood sweethearts but then moved to different countries and eventually got married but to other people. Astonishingly, at one stage they were even studying in the same city but did not know this. After both marriages ended 'he' decided to try Facebook as a possible avenue to find 'her' at least to keep in touch. After persisting for many months 'he' found 'her' and the rest is for you to imagine. All this being told to me beside the campfire and full moon.

Tonight's meal - Chicken kebabs and rice.

Tonight's movie - Breakfast at Tiffanys - how appropriate given the last paragraph. A most memorable classic Parisian romantic story with stunning Audrey Hepburn and a young George Peppard. And would you believe it? The classic Moon River sung by Audrey Hepburn was also an iconic piece attributed to the American swoon singer Andy Williams who passed away this week.

Ahh....the sound of waves crashing on the rocks on the Great Ocean Road beckons..





 

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Gladstone, mining and 'Biloela

Biloela, pronounced "Bilo wela" or "bilo" if you're a local and Aboriginal for 'white cockatoo', is as far West and North as I go on the first leg of this trip. I have friends here and also wanted to get a sense of this part of Queensland for personal reasons.

I've 'adopted' twin sisters who share the same birthday as me and grew up near a small township to the West of here. The terrain reminds me of beloved Adelaide Hills and surrounding golden plains, and it was also a buzz to see another part of the Great Dividing Range that runs all the way up the Eastern part of Australia.

Native Hibiscus

As a cyclist you really have to be fully alert as up here you will pass or be passed by ten mining or roadwork trucks for every car. In the Southern states it's the opposite. I have two rear view mirrors, one on the bike and one on the helmet.

Wild cotton plant

Gladstone is the main shipping port for this region and exit point for the coal freighted by train from Bilo and Maura to the West. This region has attracted a lot of young male 'tradies' and associated occupations from other parts of Australia as it provides jobs with staggering pay levels compared to their 'home' jobs.I got the first appreciation of the numbers when I tried to find any accommodation in advance of arriving in Gladstone. "...sorry dear but we all booked up due to the mining boom, major hwy roadworks and new large gas projects, but because you've come this far with the bike I'll give you a discount - how is $90 for a cabin but you still need to use the common showers?"

I arrived at the holiday park which was overflowing with 'blokes' and their 'utes'. It appeared that every available space was occupied with them but magically the whole holiday park had become a ghost town next morning as all the workers had gone off to their respective jobs for the day.

I've met some lovely people here but the only negative experiences were from the number of 'hoons' (mainly young males in pairs driving around at night) telling me to " f off South you looser!" or "get a f..n car you w..r"

What a nice cultural exchange.

Mmmm...."when the cat's away the mice will play"

Tonight.s movie The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo.

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Hervey Bay, Fruit bats and Fraser Island

Hervey Bey was known to me as the fisherman's paradise and people I'd people met told me it was just "..a beach with shops.." they never mentioned it was the gateway to stunning Fraser Island. This gem of the Australia was idle curiosity but now I had the taste for exploring it albeit as a tourist/trekkie after seeing the south end from Sarawak Beach a few days earlier.

Before I start on Fraser Island (FI) may I mention the most eerie experience while arriving at dusk in Hervey Bay. The directions to the camping ground were clear but it did not mention the street was separated by a forest with wetlands. Somehow I found the connector but had to pass through the forest. There were no lights but my night vision is good enough and the dirt road was OK. As I moved on I as greeted by a view of several hundred flying shapes silently above me that at first I thought were parrots or cockatoos. But there was no sound and then I finally recognized these creatures as fruit bats. Countless waves of them passing overhead again and again but in absolute silence. What a shame I did not have the video recorder in the camera setup for night work.

I decided to stay on for another day so I could do the organized full-day exploration tour of FI. People that know me, know I would never do the touristy thing and go to Sea World or Disney World or any other Worlds of any description because quite frankly I think they're tacky and expensive rip offs and I'm not into holiday maker/family entertainment scenarios anyway. Hate crowds! This was a tour with a difference and I'd prefer to let someone as skilled as Craig the driver navigate the four-wheel-drive only sand tracks of the Island.

Native Boronia

This is probably the only island in the world with an identity crisis. The amazing geological fact of FI being one of the largest sand islands of fhe world and in Queensland, is that the sand comes from the Great Dividing Range in neighboring New South Wales.It started 2 million years ago through erosion of the mountains where the sand flowed out to the Pacific Ocean and travelled North to be met by a barrier in the Continental Shelf just NE of Hervey Bay. 750,000 years later the island sand stabilized to form what we see today.

Pure clean fresh water

The weather this day was perfect as our small group caught the ferry across from Hervey Bay to FI. At FI We got on the huge four-wheel-drive transporter and started our journey East only to be stopped by a stuck (bogged) vehicle. It really is four-wheel-drive only but the young family in their Rav4 may have been a little ambitious. Craig has five years experience on this island so he knew what to do and went to help them. After several minutes they got moving again only to get stuck a second time.In the end they were pushed aside to let all the four-wheel-drives and us through.

Hoop Pine

We eventually checked off our itinerary with morning tea, lunch, visits to stunning beaches, fresh water creeks, the long beach and fresh water lake. We learnt about the hoop pine and other timbers used to build the Suez Canal and London Dockyards, native dingo (90 per cent pure breed) and the country's decision to preserve this stunning wilderness. The fresh water is so pure you can safely drink it and the volume FI is equivalent to 5-7 times the volume of Sydney Harbour.The sand is carbon dated to around 85 million years.

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Gympie, the Great Sandy National Park and Sarawak Beach

I'd always associated Gympie with Muster. Apparently I missed it by a few days and it's biggest drawcard was Kenny Rogers. i suspect there is some rivalry between this and the Tamworth country music icon to the south in neighboring NSW. I'm a classical music listener so the Muster was simply idle curiosity.The locals tell me it's really 'the town that saved Queensland with the 1867 gold rush bringing prospectors in from all parts of the globe. After the 'whites' had finished mining, the Chinese took over and yielded four times the amount of their precedecesor. Ouch!

One thing I can definitely share with you without bias - this has to be the hilliest town I've visited. As a cyclist pushing around 45 kg of bike and baggage you really notice the hills. Most inland towns are established close to a natural resource like a river but Gympie was established around the promise of gold.After traveling a short distance on the Gympie to Tin Can Beach road I was stopped by a couple who were visiting from overseas. Renata and David kindly offered to save me from being a local road statistic and took me all the way to beautiful Sarawak Beach. It's North facing with a view of the Southern edge of Fraser Island. I've read the book, seen the film and now I finally get to see Fraser island it with my own eyes.

Those who know me understand when I say I'm in native heaven while traversing this pristine part of Queensland in the Northern Sunshine Coast. There are vast areas of coastal scrub and heath full of many plants in flower, such as Lemon Scented Teatree, Native Boronia, bottlebrush, coastal wattle and eucalypts, not to mention the bird life and reptiles.

Weeeeeeeee!!!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Weeeeeeeee!!!

Like the Fleurieu Peninsula and mallee scrub in SA, this is my favorite landscape for hiking and camping as everything is so close and accessible. I decided to do some solitary camping in the Great Sandy National Park. Early one morning, around 2am, I awoke to the sound of a small native animal Long-nosed Potoroo exploring the outside of my tent probably smelling the dried fruit. It disappeared when I unzipped the tent fly but I was greeted by this stunning moonlight glistening on the white bark and leaves of the mallee-shaped eucalypt trees. They looked like eerie sentinels guarding the landscape. With no wind and a very mild temperature I decided to enjoy a cup of peppermint tea and some dark chocolate. It doesn't get better than this!

Tonight's music - Finzi - Five Bagatelles - this makes my heart sing and I can imagine riding through the areas in England where he lived and composed early last century.

I will have to wait till next year.Tonight's meal - stir fry - an easy meal for leftovers.

Tonight's movie - Fargo - an eccentric bunch of characters in contemporary Minnesota portraying obvious Scandinavian roots. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fargo_(film)

 

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