Back Home (sigh) by Toby

Finally we headed for home (sigh), taking the long route (yay!).We went to Haddon corner, Dig tree, Cameron corner, Tibooburra and broken hill. By then the car was a mess and some rain on the final car trip home wasn't unwelcome. I missed home but I'm definitely going to miss the holiday more.

Age of Dinosaurs and Lark Quarry By Toby

One of the must do things, which we of course did, is visit the Winton age of dinosaurs museum and  the lark quarry dinosaur stampede.

The dinosaur museum consists of many fossils including the famous 'Banjo' and 'Matilda'. Our first tour was through the lab, a shed where fossils are cleansed of rock and pieced together, and to work there you had to be at least 12 but to work in digs you had to be 18.

The Lark Quarry dinosaur stampede was caused by a large theropod ambushing 86 small coelurosaurs and 70 small ornithopods. No bones were found, only the footprints of the dinosaurs. 

All the tiny divits you can see are dinosaur footprints 

well preserved in mud.

Great Barrier Reef snorkelling by Toby

Had a fantastic day out on the Great Barrier Reef. The snorkeling was great, we saw heaps of fish! Snorkelled on 3 sites but the last was my favourite.

Wallaman falls + rock slides by Toby

Recently we visited the longest single-drop waterfall in Australia, Wallaman falls. It was long enough that most of the water turned to mist before it hit the pool below! Another awesome place we went to was the rock slides, naturally formed rock water slides. They were heaps of fun, perfectly smooth and even mum and dad had a go.

 Wallaman falls

rock slides

The Tip by Toby

On the 17th of June we drove up to the tip, the most northern point of the Australian continent. We brought cake and fishing rods with us but mum was disappointed because she forgot the champagne. I was the only one to catch a fish, landing a small tuskfish. But the tip was not the most northern point of our trip because on the 15 of June we went on a ferry to Thursday island. 

The OTT by Toby

On the 11th of June we started our trek along the OTT at Bramwell Junction. Well... it wasn't really a trek since at the second creek crossing (palm creek) we chickened out and skipped the bottom half of the OTT (for good reasons) to the famous Gunshot creek. From there the rest of the track was still difficult but we managed it ok (mostly because we had joined a convoy of 3 4x4's with winches and because one of their drivers somehow managed to convince mum to come) and we made it all the way up to the Jardine without using the winches or wrecking a car. Dad was happy because now he is an expert driving off-road.

start of OTT

 people trying to wreck their car

 conquering Gunshot

crossing Nolans Brook 

(if you want to see this crossing, search for it on youtube)

Cooktown by Toby

Probably the most historically famous place we've been to this trip was Cooktown. There we climbed mt Cook for a magnificent view over the sea, went to the Cooktown museum, and saw the Cook memorial near where Captain  cook came ashore on the 17th June 1770. At the caravan park we were staying at, the staff were all dressed up for a re-enactment of Cook's landing.

Our Laura expirience by Toby, Diary entry by samuel

While we were in Laura we had quite an experience looking at some Aboriginal artwork.

Day 21                                                                                                                                            
9/6/17

"...We stopped at the Laura cultural center and then went to the split rock, an aboriginal art site which we had learnt about just before. we walked all the way to the end of the walk, viewing the rock art as we went, when we thought we spotted a green ants nest. In the cultural centre we saw a man eat green ants and dad tried to do so. Dad picked up what he thought was a green ant and put it in his mouth. It promptly bit him sending him yelling and jumping. Then the hive attacked. Dad and i ran out of range and turned around, hearing a trio of blood-curdling screams. Toby leapt into the air screaming, "they bite, they bite!" Then he ran off the track yelling, "I'm off the track, I'm running!" Then he ran off and we picked him up at the car park. We all got back in the car (dad supporting an extremely fat lip) and..."

It was truely a funny experience with those stinging, flying insects that we laughed about in the car and we still laugh about it now!

Daintree rainforest By Toby

The Daintree Rainforest was one of our best experiences. It was beautiful and green and full of wildlife such as wompoo fruit-doves and the mythical cassowary that we were lucky enough to get a glimpse of. There was lots to do (except when it rained) and we never got bored of walking though the deep green forests.

Bruce Belchers croc tour by Toby

On one of our first days in the Daintree, mum wanted to show us why we should not swim or go too close to in any waterways by taking us on a croc tour. It was great

we saw heaps of crocs and snakes and kingfishers. We also saw a couple of baby crocs, easily spotted by our guide who had 20-20 vision (he saw it from miles away).

Mossman gorge by Toby

On the 2nd of June we left camp at Port Douglas to go for a walk at Mossman gorge. The gorge was all rainforest with the Mossman river running through (very cold). There were vines as thick as my arm hanging from the gigantic trees and were perfect for swinging on. Halfway down we had a refreshing swim under a small waterfall. 

Undara lava tubes by Toby

The Undara lava tubes were formed when the volcanoes, such as the Undara and kalkani craters, erupted. The top of lava flows cooled down and solidified forming a massive tube... and we got a tour though them!

Some parts of the roof had collapsed and had rainforest grow in its place.

Cobbold gorge by Toby

We went to cobbold gorge and had to take a small boat through it for it was so narrow, we also saw a freshwater croc.

We left home Saturday heading for Port Pirie, the normal stop for us on our way north. Before we left we took a shot to recreate a picture from four years ago.

The boys have grown a bit over this time!

When we left Pirie the next day we did the same...

We made good time during the day (after a tyre repair) and camped on the Cooper Creek. 

Susan even got the drive for a little while. 

The stopped at Mungerannie  Roadhouse for coffee  @ 9.30, not sure why as the owner was having a beer. Met a older fella driving a 93 year old Model T Ford down the track. 

Generally to track conditions where excellent with only a few areas with the rock we had heard about. But we discovered later on that there had been some rain a few days earlier closer to Birdsville.

Bore on the Birdsville track, very hot water.... 

Went into the pub for a beer. 

We headed north from Birdsville, spending one night on the road before camping at Mount Isa for the night. We topped up supplies and and then headed out to Lawn Hill 

We had 2 nights here, and spent the day either

canoeing or swimming in the gorge. The boys spotted lots of wildlife including a file snake, no picture though.

 while swimming in the river we spotted an enormous catfish

At the end of the gorge we tied up the canoes and 
had a swim by a waterfall