Had my 60th Birthday at the lake at Middlemount, friend Deb & Phil, Di & John joined Maggie and I for a lovely dinner. Left German Creek Thursday 8th August and travelled to Duaringa to O/N, then on through Biloela (pronounced Bill O Wheel A) to Caliope (pronounced (Cal Lie Oh Pee) a mining town. Visited Gladstone, one of the buissiest ports in Australia, this place freaked me out, the roads are wierd, no signs to major points and it really has no centre of town! Went on to the town of 1770 and Agness Waters, lovey little town, 1770. Very impressd with Bundaberg, lots of historical buildings and easy to find your way around, called to see Mick & Gerry at Maryborough then on to Gympie, presently at Kenilworth for 2 days then to Robert and Lyn Sullivans place for a BBQ for his 60th, hes 14 days younger than me, its a surprise BBQ and I hope it goes well. See photos!

Left Aramac Sunday 22nd July. On the way to Barkie (Barcaldine) we passed a tree that resembled an Emu, we proceeded to Barkie and did some tourist things like possing at the "Tree of Knowledge", this is where the Australian Labor Party was formed and is famous as a meeting place for striking shearers and the foundation of the AWU in 1891/94. Stopped over at Jericho the first night (on the banks of the River Jordan), then on to Emerald for another stopover. Missed the turn to German Creek and went on to Middle Mount, a very well organised minning town, we then returned to German Creek to meet up with  Phil, Deb , John & Di. Have been here for nearly 2 weeks now, had to go to Rockhampton (600K round) to get a pump for the van.

Travelled from Atherton to Ravens-hoe spelt Ravenshoe, and camped at the railway station, its a very neat town. There a number of waterfalls to be seen here and the Information centre is a great set up, go there and find out whats about, the photo with Maggie and I is of the widest falls in Australia (so they say). Travelled back to Townsville via Greenvale (there building a line), then back through Charters Towers to Townsville, camped at Bluewater camp and went to the sports club for a social, it was fantastic (3 drinks for $6.00).
Left Townsville Saturday, on to Airlie Beach, to Pammy Poles home and set up camp, Michelle, Nifty, Pauline & Mick joined for what we hoped would be a nice stay!
Mackay to the General Gordon Hotel for a few nights then onto Lake Elphinstone, it rained and we left (6 days of overcast), camped at BP Clermont, then roadside out of Emerald. Went to Emerald AGROW, it was wet and muddy (like Mudgee Field-days), Maggie bought a Dream Pot cooker, they are fantastic (google them).

On to Barcaldine, then out to Aramac (verry verrry nearly ran out of fuel), and when we got to the pump, it was empty "until this arvo".
Met up with Phil & Deb at Lake Dunn, good to see them again, they'll be joining us in Aramac on Monday.

Travelled from Cairns to Cooktown via Port Douglas. Port Douglas is a great little fishing village gone COMMERCIAL, you can see this town at Margareaye!t River, Mt Tamborine or Leura, grossly over yuppiefied. Cooktown on the other hand is quaint and beautiful (keep it that way). Mossman is heading towards Port Douglas.
Up to Mt Molloy then on to Lakeland, overnight in the C/P. Travelled through Palmer River (River of Gold, a good book), this is all through the top end of The Great Dividing Range. The photos of the large mountain of black boulders is Black Mountain. The aborinal dream time say 2 brothers were in love with the same girl, the one that built the biggest mountain could have the girl, when they finnished the rains came and drowned the girl and the brothers turned to stone of the mountain. Life has not changed in 40,000 years!
The last 3 photos are of the Rocky Creek Heritage site of a WW11 Army base, there were between 100,000 and 300,0000 troops based here from 1942 to1945 Tom & Joe Murphy were based here and were in the 132 Transport Battalion (The Road Runners), the wall plaques are for families to have a memorial for their relatives, we are trying to organise this for the Murphy clan.
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On our way from Townsville to Cairns we stoped at a Bilyana rest area where I managed to photgraph a Cassawary, the first I have seen in real life. We then travelled to Tully here they have the Gold Gumboot festival and "have the highest rainfall in Australia" (several other places up here make the same claim), the gumboot shows the height of the annual rain fall if it all came at once. We then travelled to Babinda and stayed for 4 days in a great free camp, 60K south of Cairns, thats where we saw the Babinda pebbles, boulders in the creek. Cairns is a large city and we needed the GPS to find the Cool waters C/P, the first we have stayed in since Alice Springs. Went up to Karanda and saw some beautiful water falls.
Have thoroughly enjoyed or catch up with Pauline & Mick, and Nifty and Michelle, last night Nifty asked if we knew the Mullocks from Penrith, we then proceed to exchange a few stories of Ron and Mark, Nifty had a few very funny stories to tell.

Were off to Port Douglas to day, will keep you posted.

Travelled from Borroloola to Townsville via Comooweal, Mt Isa, Cloncurry, Richmond (home of Kronosaurus) (I dont think he sawus), Hughenden & Charters Towers.
If your ever in Cloncurry, go to the Bakery and buy a pie, they are big and beautiful!
Some of the photos I use her were from last year, of tthe same towns. Had to leave Borroloola, I had a problem with my gut, got some pills in Mt Isa and they still have not made it 100%. Had to have an auto electrician do some rewiring of the 12V plug to the van, it over heated and caused the older fridge to not work on 12V whilst travelling, this is related to the poor service from "Ryans Caravans @ Depot Rd West Dubbo". These photos show us with friends at Borroloola to travelling through Brunette Downs 360 degrees landscape, Maggie at Camooweal rodeo, the Isa ending at Castle Mountain in Townsville.

Townsville is MUCH bigger than I imagined, ther seems to be a large amount of manufacturing and industry here, its very vibrant. If you ever come here, go up Castle Hill (you cant miss it), the panorama is spectacular!