Tropical Queensland

Before heading to the coast we stopped in the town of Richmond to check out the dinosaur museum and so some fossiking. Millions of years ago this whole area was covered by ocean which was home to several species of marine dinosaurs. Over the years hundreds of skeletons from these ancient creatures have been uncovered and it is one of the few places on earth with these kind of dinosaurs. We drove out to one of the many fossiking sites and tried our hand at digging in the dirt to see what we could find. After a couple hours of scratching and digging we found a couple beautiful sea shells and the fossil remains of some type of fish scales. It was a very interesting day to say the least. We then went into an old gold mining town and took a tour of the ancient gold smelter. It was a lot of hard work back then and they would use liquid mercury to separate the gold from the ore. Needless to say they didn't realize how poisonous and deadly mercury can be and hundreds of the town folk died at a very young age due to the pollution from the mill operation.
The old cemetery is filled with families and young children who perished here, many in unmarked graves.
We finally headed to the coast and hit the beach in Rollingstone. Our caravan park was right on the ocean with hundreds of coconut palms. Bob couldn't resist gathering a few and extracting the juice. With all this fresh juice on hand the only thing left to do was buy a few local pineapples and make pina coladas. Yum!
Bob's brother Allan and wife Delphine spent a couple days with us as well so we had a great time sitting on the beach for our happy hour. Later that evening we were entertained by a family troupe who played and sang for us. Everyone gathered around with their drinks of choice, pulled up a chair or found a soft grassy seat and enjoyed the entertainment. It is good to be back to the warm sun and sandy beaches again.
Not sure about the guy with the strange tattoo but on that note, we'll see you later alligator!

Daly Waters & Mount Isa

It seems everywhere we go Bob gets himself into trouble and ends up behind bars. The sleepy little town of Daly Waters was no exception. The good news is that after a very brief stint in the local lock-up he was released and we headed straight to the pub. About the only interesting thing about this town is the pub and people go out of their way to sit and enjoy the unusual ambiance. Every night a funny fellow aptly named the "Chook Man" sings and tells jokes with a rooster on his head. After the show and several drinks later many of the audience remove various articles of clothing and nail them to the walls as sort of a weird parting gift. Although I left my clothes on I couldn't resist getting my photo taken with the infamous "Chook Man".
Our next stop was in Mount Isa which is a mining town and still is in full operation today. We happened to hit town when the famous Mount Isa rodeo was on and we went out the night it started to enjoy the parade and watch some of the cowboys riding these crazy wild bulls and bucking broncos. Unfortunately we forgot our camera so we missed a lot of good photos. Another interesting bit of history is the underground hospital which was built after the bombing of Darwin during World War1. It was built as a safe haven to transfer the sick and injured in case Mount Isa was also bombed. Fortunately they escaped this fate and the hospital was never used. It is now a famous landmark and most of the artifacts are as they where found when the hospital was rediscovered after many years of being sealed up. Interesting stuff!

Before leaving Darwin we took a little side trip to Indonesia to the beautiful island of Bali. It is only a two hour flight from Darwin but is world's apart when it comes to the people and their culture. It is a "very busy" place with a population of about four million people of which most drive motorcycles. We stayed in a beautiful hotel right on the beach in Nusa Dua. The day after we arrived we hired a car and driver and headed out to the town of Ubud with their art villages and rice paddies. We got the rare privelage of visiting an actual old world Balinese house complete with dogs, chickens, pigs and whatever other livestock the family could afford. We saw some amazing wood carvings, silversmith's and batik making. We wandered through the rain forests at Monkey Forest where we made some friends with the local inhabitants. They're a lively bunch and feeding them was a treat. One of them liked me so much he decided to hitchhike on my shoulders for a while. Now I know how it feels to have a monkey on your back!
The next day we decided to laze around the pool and relax. This was great until Bob got bored and decided to go para sailing. He really enjoyed it and nothing would do until I did it as well. After much pestering and three Pina Coladas I got the courage and went for a ride. Whoopeeeee ! It really was a blast!
We only spent three days in Bali but certainly enjoyed our short holiday. The laid back life style and the beautiful green of the countryside and surrounding mountains were breathtaking.

Darwin

 

Darwin is an amazing city and was named after Charles Darwin a scientist and evolutionist who explored the harbour on his ship the "Beagle" in 1864. Because of poor communication and transportation plus the unpredictable weather the city was slow to grow. Then in the 1940's nearly 10,000 allied troops moved to the area to defend the coastline during WW11. In February 1942 the Japanese bombed Darwin. The city was bombed a total of 64 times during the war and needless to say suffered extensive damage. If that wasn't bad enough, then on Christmas Eve 1974 Darwin was devastated by "Cyclone Tracy", Australia's worst recorded natural disaster. Virtually evacuated for a time, it had to be rebuilt from scratch. Now it is a bustling, modern city and capital of the Northern Territory. The "Dry" season is from May to October and is so predictable that outdoor events can be planned years in advance. While in Darwin we visited the war museum and went on an outdoor adventure to see the "jumping crocodiles". There are some really big guys in this river and they literally jump out of the water trying to catch the dangling bait they tempt them with. We even got to see a croc with no front arms and some other slithery creatures which I had the pleasure of holding.
We also took a day trip out to Crab Claw Island but sadly we didn't have any crabs but the barramundi was really good. After we left Darwin we spent a few days with our nephew Simon who lives in the small town of Humpty Doo. Love that name!  After of couple days with him we left our caravan in amongst the mango trees and flew off the Bali for a change of scenery but that is a whole other story. Look for our next amazing adventures from beautiful Bali which we will post in a few days. Cheers for now...BB & MA