June 2017
John, Glen and Kathryn have been very busy building calf pens in the cow shed .Getting ready for another 65 calves due to be born in June .
In between this they have made silage . Planted oats, rye grass , vetch ( which is a legume) clover, and chicory. We have had a lot of rain and it sure has made the ground very boggie in places.
In between all this we have had both John's parents in hospital in early July . Dad with pneumonia and mum with bowel cancer . Thankful it all was caught early and both mum and dad are recovering well .
7th to 9th July is the Manada show . This show local people show their produce they grow. Live stock are displayed , from cows, goats, chickens , calves . Here are a few photos from the show
My paintings are in the middle of the photo and towards the bottom
7th July
What interesting and surprising day I had at Nereda Tea house today. We have 6 tree kangaroos that live around the plantation , Mum and dad and 4 children ages from 1 year old to teenagers. A lady came in with a baby Tree Kangaroo in her tea shirt . It's mother was killed by a car and a local farmer found her dead in the morning . He checked her pouch and found a vey wet and cold joey . He put it in his tea shirt close to his skin and that saved it. Hearing and feeling a heart beat gave comfort to get Joey . It was taken to the Tree Roo Rescue and Conservation Centre to put looked after in Atherton. The photos below are of this baby It was was two months old when it was rescued and now it is 5 months old. They will look after it for up to 2 - 3 years until it is released back into the wild.
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We left Malanda at 5 am this morning for Gympie . John found a NPR300 Isuzu truck on a truck site that might be just what we are looking for towing the caravan and putting our gear etc in the back of the truck.
Breakfast at Cardwell at 7am .
On our way down we can across a a Wild life causeway. So animals can get across the roads without being killed .
We came across is sign while driving . Be aware of Koala Bears in the area. No sadly we find not see any on the ground or in the trees.
We arrived in Rockhampton at 7.15 pm what a long day it was . Our total k for today was 1066. Our little Bumble Bee as we call it ( toyato Eco) went very well . We left with the fuel tank full as you do and put in 52 dollars worth of fuel for the days travelling when ever we saw a good price at the garages. The lowest price was $1.23 at Crystal Creek.
We stayed at Motel Lodge in the center of town . The cost for the night was $85.00 with 3 beds to choose from lol . The shower had wonderful pressure which was much appreciated as Marg had put her back out on the way up and was having difficulty walking let alone standing up straight .
A very enjoyable Chinese meal was had to complete the day. Sadly the Cowboys lost there game in Sydney to the Rooster 22 - 16 .
30 th July
We woke up at 3.30 am instead of trying to go back to sleep a cup of tea was had . Yes Marg could stand up straight after a good sleep with out pain yah.
By 4.30 we are on the road again making our way to Gympie to see this Isuzu truck . Leaving while it was dark give us the opportunity to travel without other vehicles on road . Traveling this far I sure hope it's what John wants or should I say requires to pull our Roadstar caravan with some extra space for our generator and chainsaw as the Nissan Navara was struggling to pull the caravan with all our gear in it.
It will take us approximately 5 1/2 hours of driving .
Since we left Malanda the weather has been in our favour fine .
Time for breakfast 7 am at a Stop and Revive site at Granite Creek and make a coffee on the go.
We had a wonderful afternoon and evening catching up from when we last saw them in October 2016 and saw there beautiful new home they have just had built.
31st August
We made our way from Woodford to Gympie where we looked at a NPR Isuzu 300 truck for towing our caravan . Our mechanic suggested to us that it maybe time to sell the ute as a bit of rust was starting to come through .
Yes John went for a drive and after having it checked out by the local Isuzu agents it was given the all clear as long as a couple of things were done before we brought it.
We are now owners of a NPR 300. It has 5 lift up doors on the tray with shelves etc in it. Once we get it back to Malanda I'm sure Glen and John will have fun sorting it out and getting it ready for us to be able to tow the caravan etc on our big lap around Australia .
Inside the back of truck before we strip it and rearrange it at the farm
Looking towards back of truck where the spare tyres are at present
Tonight we are staying at a country pub at TheeBine. What a wonderful pub and everyone is so friendly. They had roast pork and veggies for tea $16.00 each and $50.00 for accomadation .
We go back into Gympie tomorrow to hopefully to pick the truck up and slowly make our way home to Malanda
Lunch time at Rotaract Place Reserve in the middle of Gympie. A very popular park for children to see many different birds close up.
Black swan and her cygnet
Ibis bird being friendly
The three photos below are of some of the trees decorated in the Main Street of Gympie in celebration of Mid Winter festival. They are decorated by the locals and different schools in the area
( About two hours south of Rockhampton ) . They have fabulous self contained cabins at a reasonable cost of $65.00 a night.
3rd August
We left here at 6.30am in the morning and drove through to Townsville arriving here around 7 o'clock that evening. It was time for a good stretch and a top up of fuel for both vehicles and ourselves . With only 4 hours to go to get home to Malanda we decided to keep on going but stopping often on our way home to stretch our legs. We arrived home at 11.30 pm very very tired. But very pleased to be home.
In total we drive 3592 in 6 days, with 2 1/2 days of these just waiting for the truck to get it road worthy certificate .
We both worked on the Friday , but sadly John's dad was admitted to hospital again with fluid build up
In the afternoon and had to spent the weekend in hospital.
John is now looking forward to emptying the back of the truck and putting shelves etc in it ready for our next adventure .
John started looking for a bull bar and tow bar system . We were very luck to find both in Sydney at good prices . Bull bar $550. and the tow bar etc $275. plus postage of $300.00 .
John taking off the bumper and installing the bull bar we got from Sydney down on the farm.
Since our return from Gympie Glen and John have build a pump station for the excess and run off from the cow shed for fertilising the paddocks through the irrigation system .
Saturday 26th August we decided to go and visit friends in Bluewater Creek half a hour north of Townsville for the weekend, we are members of a group called Tropical Tourers . We all own caravans and travel when we can. A wonderful evening was had with a BBQ and a few games of Klopp and those that wanted to watch the Game between Aussie and NZ for the Beldisloe Cup . Yes NZ won
34-29 . That means NZ has kept the Beldisloe Cup for 15 years .
We stayed at friends Judy and Linda in Townsville for the night and returned to Susan and Les home in Bluewater creek for a brunch of bacon, eggs tomatoes and hash browns with Carol and Budgie which kept John and I full for the rest of the day.
So John could sort out the solar panels on the roof and hopefully find the leak at the back of the caravan. It is easier down in the shed with all the tools etc handy for John to get at.
We recently brought from Bunnings a wonderful addition for cooking outside. It's called a smoking bullet.
Our first attempt to cook a shoulder roast of veal and veggies . It took 3 hours of gentle smoking to make a very tasty meal . Very pleased with it. Next time will cook fish in banana leaves and veggies Watch this space . Any recipes are much appreciated for the smoker.
It is interesting what insects etc comes out at night . These two little frogs enjoying a evening at the movies on the window sill looking in at the Tv.
John gave me for my birthday a My Heritage DNA kit . Very Interesting results. Did not know we had South African in us .
I have been doing a little painting finally finished 5 Christmas Elves that I started in February and a few small Christmas stocking to go into Christmas cards .
These range from 11 inches to 14 inches in height.
Our daughter recently completed her 4 th Body Building competition and came 4 th out of 10 woman
. Here is a photo of here and her partner Manie. So proud of her.
Firstly I got a job at Bunnings in the beginning of September and I'm loving it. I work on the front counter as a register person. I greet everyone into the store and of course assist them in buying their products.
We decided to go to the Yungaburra markets for a change on a Saturday morning . Found this tree in summer swing lol
When we retuned go the caravan after being away for 4 hours the tempeture gauge says it all. Yes it was very warm in there .
John has been very busy on the farm putting in new fences with Glen and Kathryn .
We decided to have two weeks away on holiday before Glen and Anne go to Tasmania for 3 weeks .
Because John's parents have not been to well we decided to go to Lakeside Caravan Park at Yungaburra which is only about 15 k from the farm close enough if we were needed.
We had a lovely week out there until I picked up a bug . That sure was not nice vomitting and diarrhoea
it sure left me very drained thankfully it started on the Friday, by Sunday I was slowly coming right then
John got it sadly . We have a week to get over these bugs before we go back go the farm.
We decided to go and stay at Walkamin Caravan park for a week which is on the other side of Atherton for a change of scenery . We have driven past this park many times and often commented how nice the park looked etc.
We managed to get some energy finally and went and visited the new Cairns Aquarium which has just opened. I read some where it cost $54 million to develop it .
It has 15,000 aquatic animals, fish, plants and other organisms housed within 71 live exhibits . It is on 3 levels with 7800 square metres. It opened in September and is now valued around 100 million.
Will worth visiting the aquarium if you every get to cairns. We were here for nearly 3 hours enjoying looking at the different fish and fantastic coral, the colours are so stunning.
B. 
