Broadwater National Park.

G'day. We are now at a lovely large park, at the bottom of the mountains, inland from Ingham. On the way in were shocked by the damage from cyclone Yasi. The forest had been ripped to pieces. Thousands of trees just snapped off.
The camp is a really pretty, peaceful spot that has a nice deep swimming spot, in the rocky creek. The rainforest is lovely. We are starting to see a lot of palm trees and unusual plants that are not familiar to me. Heaps of ferns and plants with very large leaves. The birdlife is also fantastic but unusual.
We have seen quite a few Ulysses butterflies now. They are awesome. They have the most amazing irridecent electric blue coloured wings. Garry found a Cassowary this morning.
The weather has been lovely recently. A balmy 20 ~25 degrees most days with cold nights.
This camp is not near any shops so I have been baking bread in the fire, using the camp oven Greg gave me.
Garry is happy with his new Genny.
It works well, is fuel efficent and fairly quiet. We new if he got one the sun would shine for the solar panel.
The next place we are camping is Murray Falls. I'm looking forward to checking out the coast between here and Cairns too.
Lots of love to all. I'm a bit home sick. Xxxx

Big Crystal.

Hi. Have been at Alligator Creek and now at Big Crystal Creek in the Paluma Range. Loved Townsville. A really beautiful park with pools and waterfall along the beach front.
2 km from camp there is a rock slide area down waterfall /creek. Fantastic fun and not too cold. The weather is warming up at last.
Parks are good too. Paradise waterhole is 100 meters from camp. It is very pretty but the water is deep and cold.
Brian has been at the same camps, so it's been good to share a few meals and good company.
Garry has got us a 20i Honda generator. It will be very handy for when we have cloudy weather.
Garry fell off a picnic table a few days ago but didn't injure himself thank goodness. He also had a good birthday thanks for his birthday wishes.
Well must go. we are heading back too the rock slides this afternoon.
Love too family and friends.xxxx

Carmila Beach / Eungella Dam / Smalleys Beach.

Hi all. It's been ages since my last blog. From Boynedale we went to St. Lawrence. When we arrived at St. Lawrence the area was a cleared dusty rodeo paddock, at the edge of a struggling little town. There was a wetland nearby and muddy mangrove boat ramp about 5 km away. The rain started on our second day. It bucketed down and turned the area into a mud bath. We decided to remain there while the weather was so bad, as it was wide spread. There were good loo's, hot showers & it was another freebee.
From here we went to Carmilla Beach.
The weather had improved and it was a lovely beach camp, on the edge of native scrub.
The beach had 5 meter tides. So we had about a kilometer of beach at low tide. It was quite beautiful though and there were little hermit crabs running around every where. I really enjoyed taking Tweety, with Garry and I, on a couple of beach walks. I have a great photo of one of these walks.
We had to help pull a Kombie, a large Caravan and a large Winabago motorhome out of boggy sand. Garry is getting good at rescuing people with the Navara and snatchstrap.
Eungella Dam was our next camp. It was up in the mountains above Mackay. We really enjoyed driving through the cane fields, then up into the rainforest. The views from the top were amazing. We spoiled ourselves with a meal and beer from Eungella Challet. It was lovely sitting in the sunshine, enjoying the most awesome view and meal.
From here we explored Sky Window and Broken River.
The Dam where we set up camp was very beautiful. A large spaceous grassed area, on the edge of the lake, with lots of mountains and  gum trees.
Tweety was on Garry's shoulder outside on the second day here, when a couple of birds swooped Tweet and chased it out over the dam. After flying about 100 meters offshore Tweety headed back towards land but the other birds chased her another couple of hundred meters through the trees. Garry then went and picked her up. She still has a peck mark on the top of her head. She was lucky to survive it.
We went out in the kayaks and got a few Redclaw also in the first 2 days. After that we started getting really strong winds. Garry and I became quite worried about the wind. It had already ripped the awning vinyl completely off. The winds were about 70 km/h.
We have been happy but have found the weather frustrating. We have spent quite a few days reading, playing cards and scrabble because it was too wet, windy and muddy outdoors. The temperature is at least alot warmer than Goolwa has been this winter.
Yesterday we drove via Mackay to Smalleys Beach. We spent today fixing the awning and catching up with Brian again.
It is a really beautiful area. I'm looking forward to exploring the walking trails.
The camp sites are nestled in the rainforest, on the edge of a pretty beach. Mountains surround the area and seem to be like rocky spires. There is an estuary nearby for fishing too. We are booked in here until the 13th.
I have been missing our family. I'm a bit homesick but am loving exploring too. Lots of love to all at home.xxx