Back in The Valley

We had a lot of fun and successful competitors at Townsville trials. Several titles and several first passes at their level so just about everybody got something.
We left Townsville late on Sunday morning and got to the Torrens Creek Pub where we stayed in the free camp at the back of the pub. Just $5 to use the shower and toilet, but the added bonus was we got pub meals for dinner. I had a steak and a beer, Kathy had a chicken schnitzel and a wine. Two big dinners we did not have to prepare ourselves and we got change out of $50.
 I asked the Pub owners about the road condition to Aramac, it was marked as a dirt road on our map. He told us the first 30k was dirt with some corrugations and the rest was bitumen. We were planning to use the dirt road as it cut about 300km off the trip, but being mostly bitumen it saved us several hours too.
Tried the park at the back of the pub next night at Augathella and had another great meal in the pub with drinks for a bit over $50.
Night 3 was a free camp past Cobar so we had to cook our own meals that night.
We got early starts on the way back, mainly because Tiffany wanted to go out at about 5:30 am every morning. We were on the road by 7:30 am most mornings with 6:55 am being the earliest start.
Got home for the fourth night about 4:30 pm despite contending with multiple wide loads (7 metres at the wheels) and the inevitable road works.
The pictures show the lawn when we got home and how it looks after three mowings.
 

Townsville and Tablelands

 Two photos today. The first shows the Dinner falls near Ravenshoe (that's Ravens Hoe, not Raven Shoe) There is a deep crater nearby that was created by volcanic action producing a narrow tube about 90 metres deep, but the photo of that did not turn out too well. The falls were on the walk back. They are on two levels, the pic shows the lower level with the deep swimming hole that is popular with tourists on a hot day.  We left Walkamin in the Atherton Tablelands after the Dog trials ( they were a marathon in their own right, 29 courses covering Games, Agility, Jumping and Rally.)

We booked into the Townsville Tourist and Lifestyle Village for a few days of relaxation ready for the Townsville Trials starting tonight. The pic shows the view from the top of Castle Hill overlooking Townsville
We will start back for home on Sunday morning, hopefully, we will be home by Friday, unless we find somewhere nice to stop.

Baron Gorge

Tourists again, this time to Kuranda at the top of the hills overlooking Cairns. Bit of a tourist trap, but a nice place to visit. The Baron river flows nearby and we went for a walk along the tree top walk to see the Baron falls and Baron Gorge. Not a lot of water in the falls but the walk through the rain forest canopy was great. The pic shows Kathy pausing on the way to the viewing platforms.

Granite Gorge

We are having a few days being tourists. Yesterday we went to Granite Gorge, a few ks out of Mareeba. A warm day so we took turns to walk through the gorge so that one of us could stay with the dogs. The pic shows the swimming hole near the weir. Nice walking through the rain forest part, but got hot when crossing the rocks and climbing out of the gorge.
Today we had a drive around Lake Tinneroo. Very nice drive, but it is alarming how low the water is, There is a drought on up here and the lake is the lowest it has been in 15 years.
More touristy things tomorrow.

Cairns and Atherton

We completed our judging assignment in Cairns, (see the dog blog for their success stories) and now we are tourists for a few days. The Cairns City Kennel Club were very hospitable and went out of their way to make sure everything we needed was available, even arranging an extra couple of days in the showgrounds so we could do the tourist thing around Cairns. The pic shows the beach side recreation area at Port Douglas, about 60 km north of Cairns.
We have left the Cairns Showgrounds and moved to Walkamin, a little town in the Atherton Tablelands. We are regulars here as this is our third time at this beautiful park. In 10 days we will be judging the Atherton trials, but until then we will be looking at all the new and the old attractions around here.

Queensland Again -1 year later.

We have been very busy knocking down an old house so we could build a new one on the original site. We moved in a month ago so that is long enough for us to be on the road again.
We are heading back up to Far North Queensland for Dog Trials and holidays, The pic shows the Land Cruiser and the van near the Peanut Van at Nanango where we stopped for lunch.
Bad weather for the first two days, heavy rain and strong wind until we got to Goondiwindi and then we have had good weather since. The moist air caused condensation in the van which gave us damp beds. Two nights at Ipswich Showgrounds allowed us to dry out and visit relatives on the weekend.
The dogs have been really good. They spend long periods in the car then get a walk at the end of the day but they take it in their stride, curling up and sleeping most of the day, doing their "wee on command' trick when we are pushed for time.
We should be in Cairns by Thursday.