8th August to 26th

Looking right along the beach at Haliday Bay, north of Mackay.

Looking left along beach at Haliday Bay.

Ball Bay, beautiful little beach north of Mackay.

Along the foreshore at Ball Bay, nice grass area, great for picnics and camping!

Cape Hillsborough, another beautiful sheltered
bay with a nearby caravan park, where we hope to spend a couple of days on our journey south.

The view looking back towards the coast, taken on the return journey back to Leap on the Bruce Highway about 15km north of Mackay.

Rainbow Lorikeets enjoying a feed in palm just outside our van. Very noisy!

A tree growing in our camp with beautiful flowers, seem to common around this area.

More flora!

Robyn and Fiona looking at oysters along side boat ramp at Seaforth.

Looking up river from the pontoon also at Seaforth.

The view from the boat ramp looking out across the bay!

Looking right from the pontoon. A beautiful calm day!

Beach at Seaforth, on the coastline.

Fiona collecting coconuts on the beach at Seaforth with the coastline in the background.

One of the many coconut trees found along the beach.

A safe swimming area at Seaforth.

29th July to 7th August

The harvester about to demolish the two acres of cane standing between the camp and the siting (where the trucks bring all the loaded bins back for the train to collect and transport to the Mill).

Nearly done! You can see empty bins on the train line waiting to be taken away by the trucks and brought back full.

Last lap, only took about an hour and 1/2. Was quite wet down the bottom of field, took some manoeuvring so the harvester didn't get bogged.

All fuelled up, parked ready for early start in the morning. 6a.m. will come soon enough! The truck 2nd from right (without bins) is Bruce's wheels for the duration.

A red-bellied black snake that shouldn't have crossed the road in front of Bruce. Thought we might try a little road kill for tea tonight! Never had snake before! Ha! Ha!

This photo was just show how long the snake was!

22nd to 28th July

Our new Zodiac 310 boat, will make it easier to catch those BIG fish out in deeper water. First outing was at Kinchant Dam, Queensland on Wednesday 27th July.

Bruce at the helm, seems very serious about this little expedition!

Horses wading up to their waists enjoying eating the weed growing in the bottom of lake.
Thought they were just cooling off for starters!

A beautiful water lily growing in Kinchant Dam.

A mother swan with four of her five cygnets, no.5 decided to swim off in different direction. He was soon chastised by mum and chased down.

A tree full of cormorants enjoying a rest after feasting on all the fish. None left for us to catch!

27th June to the 21st July

Sunday 26th June -
Bruce's first day off so we headed off to
Proserpine Lake, a very cool and windy day.   
Sugar cane seems to go for-ever!!!

Saw lots of these creepy crawly vines that seem to cover other trees on our travels in Queensland.

           


                  Proserpine Sugar Mill

Airlie Beach, a very nice place to visit and have fish'n'chips by the water.    

A beautiful pool along the board-walk in the bay at Airlie Beach.



                                                              

                                                                                            

Beautiful gardens full of colour!




                                                                                                                 

Bruce standing on his clean Kenworth T401 with
Eaton Fuller 18 speed transmission. On the trailer is 3 empty 6 tonne sugar cane bins.

Sugar cane locomotive that arrives frequently
during day and night to collect all the loaded bins.
This siting at Wagoora is the last on the line that
transports cane back to the Mackay Mill. All cane
further north is transported to Proserpine.

Our local corner store newsagency is run by an 82yr old lady who we believe has never thrown anything away. She has stock years out of date and a store of old newspapers that would make Health Inspectors cringe. General rule is dont buy anything that has got a skin or wrapper on it! Found spinach seeds best sown by Dec.1998. Great place to buy local grown bananas for only $4.40kg when everywhere else they cost $13.98kg

St. Helens Beach about 25km south-east of Wagoora. Got eaten alive by midgees!

 

Entrance to St.Helens estuary that leads to small creeks, good for fishing & mud crabs.

Fiona standing beside mangroves at St. Helens Creek.




                                                                                   

Murray Creek, a local fishing spot good for putting the crab pots in and to sit on the bank and try a spot of fishing. Whiting, Grunter and Brim are all caught regularly in this area.

Friday 8th July- Marina at Mackay survived the cyclone with damage to the rock wall which is   off-limits to the public due to large loose rocks.

Saturday 9th July- Packed our lunch and headed off to Kinchant Dam. A glorious day, leisurely drive. Tried fishing, no luck so Fiona had a nap on blanket after lunch. Caravan Park on the edge of dam, pretty ordinary, glad we aren't stating there! Travelled home via by Mirani and Marion.

Taken early morning just north-east of Alligator Creek. Fog has been in the hollow several mornings this week.