Photography Course and Townsville

Margaret sneaked in her 60^thbirthday on July 14^th. We had a quiet day out in Atherton .

No fuss she said, just another day older.

Marg was very lucky to be able to go on a workshop weekend with a German Photographers Juergen and Stella Freund, well known for their Wild life nature photos. It was arranged through the Tableland Regional Council in Malanda where they managed to get a grant for a limited number of 15 people only and the cost was just $50.00. He held a weekend course taking us around the Atherton tableland area taking photos of different wild life. It was a full on weekend. We went to Granite Gorge to see the Rock Wallaby's up close. They are protected and have become very tame to the point that they eat oats out of your hands and like to be patted.

                                                                            


Teacher checking student

                                                                                  

 

Rock Wallaby

 

Margaret hand feeding a Rock Wallaby

 

After a morning of theory on Sunday we went to Mt Hypippamee to photograph water falls and ( hopefully) Cassowary . A large bird that is protected and can be very dangerous if you get up to close to it. As luck would have it after a lot of walking up and down rough tracks and taking some photo's, we came back to the car park and there were two adult cassowary and 3 chicks. The males look after the babies and are very protective of them and will charge at you if they feel threatened. There was a lot of excitement as these birds are not seen very often.

Dad and two baby Cassowary

                                                                               
                                                                                   

Dad and baby

                                                                              

Peek a Boo with a cassowary

 

                                                                                  

Stag horn ferns

 

From here we went to Bromfield swamp to photograph the Brolgas ( Native Companion ) flying into the swamp for the night. In October in the Tableland area they have a Crane week highlighting the cranes  and other birds in the area which are many.

                                                                          

Cranes coming into Blomfield swamp for the night

 

 

 

Cranes flying over to land before dark

                                                                              

                                                                         

John had been busy helping Glen build a fernery for Anne close to the house. Once that was completed it was time for us to have another look around the area in our caravan. As I (Marg)are starting work at the Atherton Holiday Caravan Park as a relieving Manager while the owners go overseas for 9 weeks from the 9^th August 2013. John is looking after a friends farm for a month while Ross and Wendy go over to  USA and do Route 66.

We decided to head off to Townsville 4 ½ hours away for 4 days.

We stopped at Tully for lunch. This is where the sugar cane is processed for the area. Then onto Cardwell, a very nice beach side town. In 1911 , 440 people lived in the Cardwell shire council a areas which covered 2901 square kilometres. Hinchinbrook Island is just of the coast of here, it is a National Park great for diving and swimming amongst the coral beds and plenty of walks around the island to do seeing many different birds. Today Cardwell is a popular tourist area for the region .

First night we stayed at Rollingstone free camp.(camp book 6 site  36 Bushy Parker Park Qld )  A lovely camp very quiet. It has a small river running past it and there I found some turtles. Met up with a couple who own a farm in WA and they have decided to sell up and live on the road and see some of Australia. It is amazing how many farmers we have met on our travels doing it exactly that.

                                                                                 

Rollingstone creek

                                                                            


Parked up at Rollingstone

                                                                     

                                                                             

An Ibis wondering through the camp

 

Early in the morning we travelled to Blue water rest area and parked our caravan. You can stay here for 3 days so this suited us fine.. (camp book 6 site 39 Qld )  Time for a visit to Townsville a few k down the road.

First stop was Castle Hill lookout.  A great place to see the surrounding area from. Then from here down to the strand along the waterfront. By this time it was near lunch time . After walking around the shops for a time we came across the Cowboys rugby League Club where we had our lunch. John follows the Cowboys but is still following the Warriors and always picks them to win when they play.

                                                                                

Castle Hill lookout Townsville

                                                                                   

   

By this time John had developed a Full on head cold so back to the van we went. A relaxing evening and a early night for John.

Wednesday brought us another lovely day. Back into Townsville we went and visited friends

whom we met in Shepparton. It was great catching with all of their news from Christine, sad to say Ray was busy working driving the cane trains.

We had another look around Townsville and went out to Rowes Bay for a drive and tried to take a Panorama photo of Magnetic Island just off the coast. Magnetic Island is one of 900 islands within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The Reef HQ Aquarium is the worlds largest living coral reef aquarium with over 130 coral species and 120 fish species on display which is situated in Townsville. We did not get a chance to go and visit it, ran out of time but next time we are in this area we sure are visiting it.

We stayed at Francis Creek rest area (Camp book 6 site 33 Qld    ) We left the van at the rest area and had a look around Abergowrie area.

 

                                                                           

 

                                                                                  

 

 

                                                                             

 

This is where John and Glen went to boarding school . It brought back many memories for John . From here we went to Wallaman Falls which is the longest single fall in Australia.

 



                                   

Calf having a feed while Mum is walking

                                                                                

 

Had a look around Ingham for the rest of the day. The next day we went to Taylor's beach and Lucinda Beach which is were the sugar is exported from. Sugar produced in the Ingham area is all exported from the Lucinda wharf. Then from here we went to Cardwell and had lunch along the beach front and back home to Malanda.

                                                                                  

Harvesting sugar cane

Sugar cane train

                                                                        
                                                                               

sugar cut ready for the mill

                                                                               

 

Sugar cane growing

Lucinda Beach

                                                                                  

While we were touring around Townsville Johns Dad was in Brisbane Private Hospital having heart surgery.

Thankfully Dad is now back home recovering with Mum.

John and I moved into the Atherton Holiday Park to look after it for 9 weeks while Lorna and Agan go overseas . It is a lovely family park close to a lot of activities around the Atherton Tableland.

We are now into our third week and it is going great. Meeting lots of wonderful people and directing them to see many of the different attractions in the area. The last three weekends here at the caravan park have been fully booked out. So yes we have been busy.

John is now getting up at 4.30am to start milking at Ross around 5.15am . Gets back to the camp ground around 5.30 at night.

6th September 2013

I  (Marg) had the opportunity to visit the Crystal Caves store in Atherton. Having lived here for two years now  and not visited the caves I thought It was about time especially as I have been telling all the visitors to go and visit the caves. I am so pleased that I went. It is amazing the many different crystals that Rene Boissevain has collected from over the world, over many years. The front of the shop is for selling of the crystals in rings, necklaces and just beautiful pieces to hang on the walls etc.
Rene has created a set of caves for you to walk around and view and touch many of the crystals so it feels like you are underground. The Empress of Uruguay stands 3.5. metres tall and weighs 2.5 ton. The thousands of crystals she displays are rated AA jewellery quality and were all created naturally inside her millions of years ago.
The Amethyst Room  is the largest collection  in Australia. The energy in this room is amazing . You can buy these amethyst Geodes from around $250.00 up to and over $17,000.00 . nature at its best.
You can buy small geode from $30.00 to $300.00 and crack open these in the store with help from the staff. The Geodes will crack into two neat halves revealing the hollow interior of beautiful crystals in that that have been hidden for 44 million years. The word "Geode" means "of this earth".
They are only to happy for you to take photo's of the crystals and there are signs saying this around the caves. If any of our followers get to Atherton. The first thing on the bucket list I would recommend is the Crystal caves. Check out their web page www.crytalcaves.com.au

Agate Nodules

                                                                          

The Empress of Uruguay crystal



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Uncut Geode 

 

 

 

 

 

Chillagoe Caves

5^th July 2013

It is time for the Malanda show again. This is a local show for the showing of the local cattle and dairy animals. With a few sideshows and rides for the ones who dare to, No we did not have a go at any of the rides. Also in the pavilion the local ladies and school children have a chance to put their veggie growing and cooking talents to the test as well as art work and quilting, scrapbook work and many beautiful locally grown flowers.

This year Marg decided to give it ago again with her folk art paintings. She got two first and a second. Photos below.

                                                                               

Now that the silage is done and the fields re planted. John thought is was a good time for us to go to Chillagoe for a few days . Monday was a overcast day with showers due , fingers crossed there is sunshine in Chillagoe.

We stopped at a rest area by the Eureka creek for Monday night. A lovely spot for a happy hour sitting along side a stream listening to the kookaburras and cockatoos and other birds. While we were there 3 local ducks decided to be friendly and pay us a visit. Yes I felt sorry for them and gave them some biscuits. Photos below. We were the only ones there for the night . In the morning a couple from Victoria arrived around 9.30 am. Don and Margaret told us they were going to stay there for 3 nights. Time for a cuppa and a chat. We found we had a lot in common as they had not long sold their dairy farm and had just started touring around Aussie.





Eureka Creek Rest Area



                                                                              
                                                                                

Locals

Chillagoe is 215 km (3 hours) west of Cairns via Mareeba, Dimbulah, Petford,and Almaden on the northern end of the Atherton Tableland. We stopped at Almaden for lunch . This is a small village of a population of 30. They have a railway station where the train still stops twice a week. It arrives on a Wednesday from Cairns and returns on Saturday. The local hotel patron Shane was telling me that they are looking at ending the trains in 2015 .This would be sad as it is their only way of bring money into the area. The Railway Station Hotel is the main gathering waterhole for the local stations in the area.

Petford Railway Station

Wheelbarrow Way is where every year they have a wheelbarrow race from Mareeba to Chillagoe on a fundraiser. Many teams from different cities participate in it and it is 140 kms is the total distance. This year was the 10th anniversary and the teams raised a total of $461,000. They travel 50 kms a day pushing a wheelbarrow and a lot of fun is had by all. ( Google the great wheelbarrow race and check out the times people achieve, you will be surprised )





Almaden Railway Station




Resident Cattle Herd in the Centre of Almaden

                                                                                 
                                                                                      





Railway Hotel at Almaden

Once we arrived in Chillagoe our first point of call is the information centre. Wonderful friendly people. They directed us to the local Rodeo ground where we could park up for $6.00 a caravan with no power for the night. Great price we thought. There were only 4 other vans here. Once we set up , we decided to walk into town and have a look around. Not a lot to see, a craft store that sold local marble which was quarried in the area. Lovely pieces but sad to say a little too heavy for us to carry around in our van . Popped into the Chillagoe Hotel for a glass of dark tooheys' ale. Very refreshing and had a talk to the local people which is always interesting to learn about the local area.

                                                                              

Says it All



Caption Says it All

                                                                                                                                                          

 

10^th July we rose to a lovely sunny day. After breakfast we went to have a look at the Balancing Rock in the National Park. A wonderful walk to it, seeing the local bird-life and trees. John spotted a Bloodwood tree on the way to the entrance of the caves. Its sap is red (like blood ) and was dripping from the bark onto the ground.




Balancing Rock in The National Park

Balancing Rock in The National Park

                                                                             
                                                                             

Area Around Balancing Rock



Area Around Balancing Rock

                                                                    

                                                                                



Area Around Balancing Rock




Looking Down from The Entrance to the Trezkin Cave

                                                                             

Bloodwood Tree

 

Sap Oozes out of the Bloodwood tree

 




Aboriginal Art

 

 

Aboriginal Art



Aboriginal Art

 

We wanted to visit the Royal Arch Cave and do a tour . This tour is very popular as when we went to buy tickets they had sold out as only a limited number of 28 are allowed on each tour. It is an hour and a half to go through.

We went for a drive around the local area visiting the cemetery. We found a couple of graves that were in the 1890's. They died so young back then.

Visited the local picnic and swimming hole that would be  lovely for swimming.

 

                                                                             

                                                                          

                                                                             

Weir and swimming hole

 

 

 From here we went to the Old Chillagoe Smelter works . Here they removed copper , silver, lead and gold from Ore mined at the turn of the 20^th Century. It is now a historical, industrial site that includes pits and tanks and contaminants. Photos below.

 




Old Chillagoe Smelter Site




Old Chillagoe Smelter Site

 

                                                                                  

 

Along the road coming into Chillagoe we noticed a lot of marble blocks. These are all quarried in this area. Sad to say a lot of the blocks that have been cut are just left to the elements. The average weight of each block is 22 tons and the marble is only about a metre below the ground in some areas. We asked a ranger as to why there were a lot marble blocks around the area and his answer to this is once the marble has been quarried from that area a large hole is left, so to stop the animals falling in these holes the not so good marble blocks are placed around the holes to prevent this.




Disused Marble Quarry




Disused Marble Quarry

                                                                              


Marble Rock at the I-centre in Chillagoe

                                                                            

The Royal arch tour was very interesting. On the outside of is a rock formation that looks like the queens mother hence the name Royal Arch. Just before you start the tour you are given a led light with a battery pack to put around your waist. These batteries last for 15 hours if required. As this cave is over 100 years old they have decided not to put lightning in it but leave it as natural as possible for the public to see the rock formations and not to disturb the small bats that live in the caves. There were many stalactites and stalagmites to see which were thousands of years old. In this Cave system they grow at a rate of about 5mm per year.

                                                                                 



Queen Victoria Figure in the Rocks

 
                                                                                  

It was meant to be an hour and half but lasted over two hours long. During the tour people who wished to have a go at crawling into a small space then end up coming out into a small cave could do so. Both John and I declined due to us both not liking that idea. We saw very small cockroaches that live on the floor of the caves, these feed of the poop left by the bats. Then the spiders a few large ones deal with the cockroaches.

                                                                                       

 

 

 

 




Walking back to the Rodeo Grounds from Shopping



Inside a termite Nest (ant hill )