All change for Queensland - Going Troppo

 A new job beckons 3,000km north in lovely tropical Cairns! So we are leaving our Seaview townhouse in lovely Kiama. Last days are filled with cleaning, organising things in Cairns, and Gen spots a lovely 4wd Nissan Patrol for sale nearby which we break our budget for. Named Bushie, we have a very different life planned for him than the previous owner who never took him offroad and kept everything immaculate.

First off we got all our possessions that wouldn't fit into either Bushie, the Nissan, or Bluey the campervan, and either sold, or gave them away on Facebook groups or dropped loads off at the local tip. Everything got packed in, crates of wine, and a bottle of bubbly for the trip.

Leaving at noon, our convoy headed round the west of Sydney, ascending all the way up and over the Blue Mountains. Close to the top at Blackheath the Police pull over Robert for random breath testing. Officer asks if I have had anything to drink. Then asks me to count one to ten. I helpfully say 1-2-10. He wants more though, must think I'm being a smart arse, so I count all the way from one to ten while breathing into a mouthpiece. All clear.

We stay over at Canobolas caravan Park, near Orange. Three degrees at night. Sleeping bag territory. We even have the heating on...what a change to 39 degrees in Lightning Ridge several hundred kms further north.

We drive next day through drought hit NSW outback to Lightning Ridge, a quirky black opal mining community, a bit like Coober Pedy.

From the campsite, we visit the town, looking at hilarious emu murals.

Then head for the dirt drive to the routes named after coloured car doors. Visiting blue and red door tourist circuits, we pass all sorts of rough and ready miners' shacks and equipment parked outside beside the heaps of processed earth.

Robert can't resist his namesake road for a pic.

We then pass by Amigo's Castle, an eccentric European miner's building fantasy from times long past.

Next day, we visit the first shaft lookout dating back to the late 1800s, at the end of a dusty, potholed road. Here there is a view from the ridge of the opal workings, plus a wonderful beer tin house.

 

Everywhere there is evidence of quirky Aussiedom, mad max contraptions, obsession with keeping possessions private, and a lovely dry sense of humour.

We tear ourselves away from Lightning Ridge and drive north to Angledool, a tiny collection of houses, where we follow the dirt road for a while and see a wild dog strung up next to a river. These dogs are the bane of farmers and there are big efforts to trap, bait, and shut them out with dog-proof fencing to stop massive damage to livestock.

Also seen along the road is a very unlucky emu that lost its leg and very probably also its life in a barbed wire fence.

Back at the campsite, our female cabin neighbour arrives with a friend in a car and has an animated chat whilst screwing on her wooden leg.

Midday sees us at Hebel Hotel, a lovely outback pub with emu murals and a wild pig head sporting a chic hat on the wall inside.

Destination for end of day is St George where we relax in a cabin with a nice fan to cool us plus our glass of wine.

Fairbairn Dam and Maraboon lake are our next day's destination. The lake is enormous, three times the size of Sydney harbour, full of all kinds of fish, including barramundi and the yummy redclaw crustaceans we eat for dinner.

We pop into nearby Emerald to meet a couple of Gen's Facebook arachnology friends - the males of the party have hairy legs as they should. The picturesque botanical gardens and old railway station, as well as an amazing giant Van Gogh easel (portraying the local specialty sunflowers) round off the day.

Charters Towers gives us the humid breath of the tropics to come, a lovely town currently tearing its hair out because thousands of red and black flying foxes have taken up a noisy, smelly residence in the lush park which is the apple of the town's eye.

 On the last leg of the trip, we stop in to see the pier at Cardwell and meet a wonderfully motor brained and mouthed 70-year old who tells us all about the area, the four metre snake on his deck, how he lost half an ear to cancer, and directions to the blue pool, a lovely stream with swimming holes just a few kms into the forest.

As a break from driving 3,000 kms, we spend two days in a beachside cabin at South Mission Beach and have been instructed that the local cassowary can assault shiny cars if he sees his reflection - reception even sells car covers in case we are worried.

Dawn breaks pink and clear, outlining the bathing safety nets. The tropical bird morning chorus fills the air. Tomorrow we get to Cairns for our first day of rain since leaving Kiama.