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Chris and Charly Down Under

a travel blog by chrischarly

Bye bye tuk tuks
Bye bye negotiating
Bye bye, 'Hello Mister'
Bye bye long bus rides
Bye bye heavy backpacks
Bye bye savings...
And G'DAY 'down under'!

After plenty of time spent in South East Asia, we have just left Australia after having an amazing time driving around for almost 3 months in a camper and are now in New Zealand doing the same :)

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The lovely Townsville

Townsville, Australia

View from the hill

Completely cleaned out the van this morning and did a lot of re-organising and it now looks as good as new, before Beth took us out to check out Townsville. First stop was to Castle Hill and we took the easy option of driving up trying to avoid hitting the masses of locals on a keep fit regime trekking up and down, which did not look easy.

After admiring the views for a while we drove back down and had a look at The Strand, but unfortunately couldn’t go for a swim as the man made pool was closed for cleaning. We then made our way back, Beth showing us other sights along the way, had a bit of dinner, played cards and chatted for a few hours.

written by

chrischarly on November 3, 2011 from Townsville, Australia

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On the road again...

Bowen, Australia

Left Beth’s this morning after breakfast, sad to leave after being looked after so well, just like staying at your Nan’s! We then briefly stopped off in Townsville to pick up some things, before hitting the road and continuing south. We didn’t make it far though opting to stay in a free campsite but the only one for 200kms. In the afternoon we attempted to fix the cracks and chips in our windscreen as much as possible and chatted to a few people before getting back into our early night routine.

written by

chrischarly on November 4, 2011 from Bowen, Australia

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Platypus spotting

Mackay, Australia

Drove straight to Airlie Beach this morning, but due to a lack of stinger nets, we went swimming in the manmade lagoon, lovely if you ignore all the toddler wee. We then made our way to Eungella National Park to go Platypus spotting

A platypus swimming

and we were lucky enough to see a few as well as many turtles.

The platypus' home

Then headed just North of Mackay and found a great free camping spot for the night.

written by

chrischarly on November 5, 2011 from Mackay, Australia

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Chris' 1st fish!

Carmila, Australia

The monster flathead

Took a short drive today to Carmila Beach between Mackay and Rockhampton. There was a nice campsite directly on the beach so decided it was time Chris put into action his fishing skills. Only problem was the fact the tide was out and it was about 500m to the water.

Chris and his catch

At the end of the beach was a River mouth were the sea runs in so decided to give it a go there. With his cheap rod and reel and only Squidgee lures we setup and gave it our best. Still in Croc territory we were sure to watch the water and got a bit freaked when seeing something surfacing then diving,

Where we were fishing

after a few times we realised they were huge turtles coming up for air. Anyway, back to the fishing, we setup on the slippy bank and after about 15 mins Chris was in with a big fight he landed what can only be called a monster Flathead

(we found out the name after). It was a monumentous fight and trying to find somewhere to land it was a job in itself.

Cleaning the fish

I even managed to slide over and get myself covered in mud whilst helping. Anyway, we got it in, killed it and carried on fishing for an hour or so, before deciding that we had enough fish for a few meals. We took it back to the campsite, Chris hacked it up best he could and we froze down some and left some out for dinner. Chris then cooked a yummy fish stew and we enjoyed our first free meal!! More please!!

written by

chrischarly on November 6, 2011 from Carmila, Australia

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Another day of fishing

Maryborough, Australia

Decided to give fishing another go, but was not lucky this time so packed up after an hour or so. Then we headed further south to another campsite by the Boyne River. Saw some local fishing so thought we would give it a go so wandered down the bank and chatted to the local.

Chris cleaning his fish

He advised us not to go barefoot into the water as there were lots of stonefish that apparently have a spike on them that is very poisonous and can kill you if you don’t get to a hospital, good old Oz.

What a great fishing spot!

He was fishing with livebait that he had caught with a net, but we decided to give the squidgee another go as that’s all we had.

The pretty river

A few hours passed and whilst enjoyable, there were no fish for us or the local. Then just as we were considering packing it in, Chris caught another flathead. One of the other campers was taking a walk and showed us the best way to clean and fillet it. We then headed back to the van and fried up the fillets to have with our leftover stew, once again very tasty and free.

written by

chrischarly on November 7, 2011 from Maryborough, Australia

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Not a lot...

Gympie, Australia

Didn’t do a great deal today, a little driving and camped just south of Maryborough on the Mary River and went for a really nice swim.

written by

chrischarly on November 8, 2011 from Gympie, Australia

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Catching Mary River turtles

Noosa Heads, Australia

Now a dead flathead

Chris went for an early morning fish in the Mary River and managed to catch quite a few catfish and the endangered Mary River turtle,

all of which he threw back in, especially the turtle as quick as he could before anyone saw! We then drove up to Noosa Heads stopping off for an ice-cream on the sand and then drove south down the coastal road before camping just North of Australia Zoo.

written by

chrischarly on November 9, 2011 from Noosa Heads, Australia

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Australia Zoo

Landsborough, Australia

Having a close look at a Koala

Joey feeding off it's mum

Koala having a snooze

Me and my bird friend

Woke up early this morning, Chris all excited about going to pay tribute to one of his hero’s Steve Irwin at Australia Zoo.

Chris and Steve

Feeding a Kangaroo

Kangaroos having a sleep

A massive tortoise

Feeding a kangaroo

Feeding a croc!

So we arrived just before 9, paid our $118 entrance fee and walked around and around the zoo checking out all of the animals before leaving at 4:30pm with a flat battery on our camera to quickly recharge and then take a look at the animal hospital just outside.

Chris and the Irwin family

Chris with a massive croc

Great day, but pretty exhausting! Then made our way to a free campsite just North of Kilcoy.

Mother and baby kangaroo

Australia Zoo hospital

written by

chrischarly on November 10, 2011 from Landsborough, Australia

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Meeting up with Wil and Florence

Coolangatta, Australia

105 different pies to choose from

We left our campsite and headed further south stopping for a swim in Somerset Dam and then at an awesome little pie shop in Fernvale.

Chris tucking in

Yummy. We then managed to get in touch with one of Chris’ old work mates, Wil who now lives in Coolangatta so made our way down to the Gold Coast to spend the night with him and his wife Florence. We went out for dinner on the sea front at a surf club and had a great evening chatting the night away.

written by

chrischarly on November 11, 2011 from Coolangatta, Australia

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Stunning beaches

Gold Coast, Australia

After saying goodbye to Wil and Florence we drove to a couple of the beaches along the Gold Coast understanding why so many people want to live here as the beaches are stunning.

Walking along the sand

We slowly cruised down the coast a little way before finding somewhere to camp up for the night earlier than usual and got chatting to a couple of friendly Aussies who invited us to join them at a poker night in town, so of course we went. Neither of us won though, but it was free entry so we didn’t lose anything and Chris even made it down to the final 5. Good evening though and was nice to go out to a true local pub.

written by

chrischarly on November 12, 2011 from Gold Coast, Australia

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chrischarly
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