Eugella - Platypus
4th - 10th September
We finally left Hervey bay with some reservation as it had been so relaxing and really friendly camp-site. We’d planned to try and get to Airlie Beach but we saw it was about 800km’s - too far for a pleasant ride so we settled for a half way point, which turned out to be Mackay, also on the coast. We visited the tourist information centre in town and visited the advised camp-site but found it to be far too clinical and so set off to find another which we did, just off the beach. The weather looked like it was going to change for the better so we were optimistic for a few nice days and set up our tent literally just off the beach just away from the coconut trees which we were warned might deposit a nut or branch. (We heard both a branch and a coconut falling on seperate occasions and were very glad we wern't beneath them !!)
The following morning we woke up to a nice but windy morning and we were still hopeful for a nice day…by mid-day our hopes had been dashed with a vengeance. The rain fell and fell, the wind got stronger and we just stayed in a very very noisy tent reading for the whole afternoon. In the evening we decided to go out for dinner just to get a break from going canvas-crazy !
The rain just poured and we just put our over-suits over our normal clothes and nipped up to the local and recently opened steak house, Beefies. The prices were a little higher than we’d hoped for BUT when dinner was served, my steak, a T-Bone, was huge and really tasty and well cooked. Sylvia also enjoyed her rump-steak. The owners, Pat & her friend, were very friendly and we had a nice evening there, topped off by an invitation to share a post-work drink with them in the restaurants open-air fore-court area.(Open air but covered !!!…but still cold) We were also offered to sleep in Pats garage for the night where she had a bed but we gratefully declined. When we returned to our tent we were going to watch a film on the lap-top but the noise of the weather was so bad we couldn’t hear the speakers and it was too wet/windy to retrieve the personal ear-phones from the bike so we settled on the prospect of the hope of sleeping.
As you’d expect, not the best nights sleep, however the tent did really well. We stayed dry and just had to re-peg at two points during the night(on those ohhh so necessary visits to the toilet) so now at least the tent had been properly tested. (If you were wondering, it is a North Face Merlin 3).
We got up and the weather had settled to a nice calm looking day with an 'attituder' just like a naughty child after its stopped misbehaving, looking at you as if to say, ‘Who?, me ?‘
We stuck to our decicsion to leave and set about packing all our stuff up, however one of the panniers had leaked during the night(even though it was closed and covered with the bike cover) and about half a litre of water was in the bottom soaking too many things including our Lonely Planet guide to Australia !!! So Sylvia had to empty the pannier out and dry everything before we could re-pack. Finally we were packed (around mid-day) and set off towards Eugella, one of the few areas known as home to the Platypus. BEfore we left though we popped into town to check our e-mails and get some lunch. As we sat there the rain caught us up again and poured for about 45 mins before finally and gratefully stopping.
As we got nearer to Eugella it was apparent that we weren’t going to get there by nightfall and so we started to look for some accomodation. We were in Finch Hatton and so followed some signs to the local Gorge which was 18km away where we understood ther eto be some accomodation. The road deteriorated into dust and then we went through a few rivers and then we were riding on mud with a wet top-surface. The Tourances gripped well and so did Sylvia as she knew the limitations of the tyres !! When we finally got to the accomodation we found it to be fully occupied and $AU95 per night anyway, so we about turned and returned to Finch Hatton itself.
The Criterion, the main and only Hotel in town was fully occupied, we were however offered the local ’play-ground’(more like a football field) to pitch our tent on if we ran out of options. We weren’t that keen and so we set off to try and find a Hotel/Motel. After a number of rides to local villages we couldn’t find anything except one Hotel which couldn’t offer us food, so we returned yet again to Finch Hatton to pitch up for the night. We went into the field area and whilst pictching we were greeted by the owner of a local circus that was in town and offered a coffee. We declined then as we were trying to get to the Criterion for some food before it was too late, however we said we may take him up on his offer later.
We had a curry each at the Criterion and a couple of XXXX’s before retiring.
We were woken up early to an array of animal noises, a goat, any number of birds screeching or laughing;-Those of you who’ve heard a Kookaburra will know what I mean. Other than that we’d had a good sleep and settled down to our first cup of coffee when we were approached by what we presumed to be a local man. Then a tirade began from this man telling us that we were parked/camped on private property, and how “people like us spoil it for everybody” and that’s “why he’d locked the toilets the night before“, “it wasn‘t free“. We hardly had a chance to speak as his tirade began.
We tried to explain that we’d been told the night before in the local Hotel that we could stay and for free. We were accused of lying and worse. I said if there’d been some misunderstanding we were sorry and would pay now but all he wanted satisfied was his power-trip, not a resolution. At one point he said he’d seen us arrive the previous evening !? !!! ?-why he didn’t say anything is anybodies guess. I won’t bore you but he was really obnoxious, the worst experience I’ve had so far in Australia and possibly the world. We think his name is Brian, the playground caretaker. Well done Brian if you get to read this!! Nice Job !!!
Brian wanted us “off the grounds immediately“, was ”informing the Police” and “advising further campsites up the way“. We’d just made our coffee and weren’t leaving immediately as we’d not long woken up. We didn’t however stay for breakfast as I knew this was just going to be unnecessarily provocative. We packed and took breakfast at a little café across from The Criterion. Whilst we were there, Sylvia actually met the Lady who’d advised her/us of the campsite the previous evening. We explained what had happened and she was shocked. Apparently though she had forgotten to mention that it wasn’t free !!! (ahhh, a little light is shed.) I said we were quite happy to pay, even now after leaving the grounds. She didn’t seem interested in taking any money. She was very sorry for what had happened to us. Apparently her husband is on the committee which runs the grounds and she would mention it to him to speak to Brian at the next meeting.
We continued after breakfast to Eugella, which is famous for its flora, fauna and Platypuses. After checking 2 camp-sites we settled on the public one as it had a hot shower and power to re-charge my razor, camera batteries and the laptop. We pitched our tent very close to a nice Pagoda and close to the edge of the hill which gave us a beautiful view over the area. The Pagoda became our dining room immediately and we settled in quite nicely. Added to that I could get free wireless internet access from our dining room so that was a real bonus !!
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Drying out our wet "water-proof" gear at our campsite at Eugella.
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Our camping spot & Pagoda dining room !
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The view from the campsite...awful to suffer whilst digesting your museli !!
We got up early the following morning to try and see the Platypus. We rode down to the site on the bike as it was about 15km away and went to a viewing platform. We waited for a while and saw quite a few turtles but no Platypus. After around 30 mins one of the rangers came down and had a brief chat to us and let us know that some had been seen over in the wishing pool this morning, just over the other side of the road. We went over and were looking for a while with another couple from England when out of the corner of my eye I could see something moving. Initially I thought it might be a leaf in the wind but the movement was too consistent. I clambered over the rocks we were on and followed a half-made foot-path to around the point of the movement. Sure enough there was a Platypus semi-sitting on a half submerged branch. The others cam over and we were soon rapidly capturing digital images.
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A shot of the area of the Platypus's living area.
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One of the turtles we saw whilst waiting for a view of a Platypus.
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A first sighting of a Platypus !!!
We bimbled about a bit in the afternoon and returned again in the evening to watch for teh Platypus once again, this time we saw a few which were swimming around the base of the bridge supporting the main road running through the area. We read on one of the notice boards that early naturists thought the Platypus to be a hoax with its strange looking beak, that was until they disected one !
That night the owners had turned over one of their huts to a group of young teenagers to have a Birthday Party unsupervised. They were about 12-13 years old. They made a racket all night and despite telling them to keep it down, they forgot a few minutes later and we struggled to get the sleep we could.
The following morning we were up early again to see the Platypuses one last time and managed to see one in particular who had got up onto another half-submerged branch to give him self a good scratching which amused us both. When we returned to the campsite I complained to the owner about the noise of the party to which she dutifully apologised. I pointed out that had we been warned the previous evening we could have moved our tent- the boys could have done their thing & we could have had our sleep. But ultimately it was over for another year and we were leaving. Very Sorry.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/18237158/290493474.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Our second or third sighting which lead into....
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...a whole cleaning ritual.
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The closest shot we managed to get.
We packed and headed initially towards the Eugella Dam to have a look as we’d heard it was very pretty. It was and I got my second real chance to play a little with the Adventure on a dust track and some rough terrain and it handled it with flying colours, even fully loaded with Sylvia on the back.
At the dam the water was full of a half submerged petrified forest. Very Bizaire. If we’d had enough food and water we would have loved to have stayed but the thought of the ride back to our campsite to buy some more expensive food and the return journey were sufficient to keep us heading towards todays ultimate destination of Airlie Beach.
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The half-submerged forest.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/18237158/290493490.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Couldn't resist getting the Adventure in !!
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I try my hands and feet(s) at using the Adventure on looser ground for one of the first times.
We drove to Airlie Beach and pitched our tent at the best looking Caravan park. Initially we’d hoped to stay in a cheap caravan for a week to enable me to catch up on web entries but they were either really old and dirty or expensive so we resorted to the tent. We bought a Pizza and a few beers, rented a DVD and settled down to watch it in the tent.
The following day we woke up to sunshine and decided that that was a sufficient reason to stay another night. I can’t remember why we stayed yet another night but we did !!
Similarily to Airlie Beach we’d hoped to move and stay at Hydeaway Bay in a caravan so we could enjoy keeping everything out, watch some TV and for me to catch up on web up-dates. However when we arrived the one caravan they did have was already booked. We looked at the other close-by resorts but they were too expensive and/or fully booked for the week we wanted. Finally after a few calls to another resort, Bowen, we rode back to the Hydeaway Caravan park and set up the tent for the night. Sytlvia wasn’t that impressed with the site as it was quite close to the road but I loved it. We got some beers, food and a DVD from the local store at Dingo beach and headed back to our site. Whilst cooking dinner we met an Aussie family and had a pleasant chat with them. It is lights out on this site at 10PM(and all other sites so far here in Australia.) and so we said our good-nights and went off to bed.
Mike.
4th - 10th September
We finally left Hervey bay with some reservation as it had been so relaxing and really friendly camp-site. We’d planned to try and get to Airlie Beach but we saw it was about 800km’s - too far for a pleasant ride so we settled for a half way point, which turned out to be Mackay, also on the coast. We visited the tourist information centre in town and visited the advised camp-site but found it to be far too clinical and so set off to find another which we did, just off the beach. The weather looked like it was going to change for the better so we were optimistic for a few nice days and set up our tent literally just off the beach just away from the coconut trees which we were warned might deposit a nut or branch. (We heard both a branch and a coconut falling on seperate occasions and were very glad we wern't beneath them !!)
The following morning we woke up to a nice but windy morning and we were still hopeful for a nice day…by mid-day our hopes had been dashed with a vengeance. The rain fell and fell, the wind got stronger and we just stayed in a very very noisy tent reading for the whole afternoon. In the evening we decided to go out for dinner just to get a break from going canvas-crazy !
The rain just poured and we just put our over-suits over our normal clothes and nipped up to the local and recently opened steak house, Beefies. The prices were a little higher than we’d hoped for BUT when dinner was served, my steak, a T-Bone, was huge and really tasty and well cooked. Sylvia also enjoyed her rump-steak. The owners, Pat & her friend, were very friendly and we had a nice evening there, topped off by an invitation to share a post-work drink with them in the restaurants open-air fore-court area.(Open air but covered !!!…but still cold) We were also offered to sleep in Pats garage for the night where she had a bed but we gratefully declined. When we returned to our tent we were going to watch a film on the lap-top but the noise of the weather was so bad we couldn’t hear the speakers and it was too wet/windy to retrieve the personal ear-phones from the bike so we settled on the prospect of the hope of sleeping.
As you’d expect, not the best nights sleep, however the tent did really well. We stayed dry and just had to re-peg at two points during the night(on those ohhh so necessary visits to the toilet) so now at least the tent had been properly tested. (If you were wondering, it is a North Face Merlin 3).
We got up and the weather had settled to a nice calm looking day with an 'attituder' just like a naughty child after its stopped misbehaving, looking at you as if to say, ‘Who?, me ?‘
We stuck to our decicsion to leave and set about packing all our stuff up, however one of the panniers had leaked during the night(even though it was closed and covered with the bike cover) and about half a litre of water was in the bottom soaking too many things including our Lonely Planet guide to Australia !!! So Sylvia had to empty the pannier out and dry everything before we could re-pack. Finally we were packed (around mid-day) and set off towards Eugella, one of the few areas known as home to the Platypus. BEfore we left though we popped into town to check our e-mails and get some lunch. As we sat there the rain caught us up again and poured for about 45 mins before finally and gratefully stopping.
As we got nearer to Eugella it was apparent that we weren’t going to get there by nightfall and so we started to look for some accomodation. We were in Finch Hatton and so followed some signs to the local Gorge which was 18km away where we understood ther eto be some accomodation. The road deteriorated into dust and then we went through a few rivers and then we were riding on mud with a wet top-surface. The Tourances gripped well and so did Sylvia as she knew the limitations of the tyres !! When we finally got to the accomodation we found it to be fully occupied and $AU95 per night anyway, so we about turned and returned to Finch Hatton itself.
The Criterion, the main and only Hotel in town was fully occupied, we were however offered the local ’play-ground’(more like a football field) to pitch our tent on if we ran out of options. We weren’t that keen and so we set off to try and find a Hotel/Motel. After a number of rides to local villages we couldn’t find anything except one Hotel which couldn’t offer us food, so we returned yet again to Finch Hatton to pitch up for the night. We went into the field area and whilst pictching we were greeted by the owner of a local circus that was in town and offered a coffee. We declined then as we were trying to get to the Criterion for some food before it was too late, however we said we may take him up on his offer later.
We had a curry each at the Criterion and a couple of XXXX’s before retiring.
We were woken up early to an array of animal noises, a goat, any number of birds screeching or laughing;-Those of you who’ve heard a Kookaburra will know what I mean. Other than that we’d had a good sleep and settled down to our first cup of coffee when we were approached by what we presumed to be a local man. Then a tirade began from this man telling us that we were parked/camped on private property, and how “people like us spoil it for everybody” and that’s “why he’d locked the toilets the night before“, “it wasn‘t free“. We hardly had a chance to speak as his tirade began.
We tried to explain that we’d been told the night before in the local Hotel that we could stay and for free. We were accused of lying and worse. I said if there’d been some misunderstanding we were sorry and would pay now but all he wanted satisfied was his power-trip, not a resolution. At one point he said he’d seen us arrive the previous evening !? !!! ?-why he didn’t say anything is anybodies guess. I won’t bore you but he was really obnoxious, the worst experience I’ve had so far in Australia and possibly the world. We think his name is Brian, the playground caretaker. Well done Brian if you get to read this!! Nice Job !!!
Brian wanted us “off the grounds immediately“, was ”informing the Police” and “advising further campsites up the way“. We’d just made our coffee and weren’t leaving immediately as we’d not long woken up. We didn’t however stay for breakfast as I knew this was just going to be unnecessarily provocative. We packed and took breakfast at a little café across from The Criterion. Whilst we were there, Sylvia actually met the Lady who’d advised her/us of the campsite the previous evening. We explained what had happened and she was shocked. Apparently though she had forgotten to mention that it wasn’t free !!! (ahhh, a little light is shed.) I said we were quite happy to pay, even now after leaving the grounds. She didn’t seem interested in taking any money. She was very sorry for what had happened to us. Apparently her husband is on the committee which runs the grounds and she would mention it to him to speak to Brian at the next meeting.
We continued after breakfast to Eugella, which is famous for its flora, fauna and Platypuses. After checking 2 camp-sites we settled on the public one as it had a hot shower and power to re-charge my razor, camera batteries and the laptop. We pitched our tent very close to a nice Pagoda and close to the edge of the hill which gave us a beautiful view over the area. The Pagoda became our dining room immediately and we settled in quite nicely. Added to that I could get free wireless internet access from our dining room so that was a real bonus !!
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/18237158/290493458.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Drying out our wet "water-proof" gear at our campsite at Eugella.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/18237158/290493482.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Our camping spot & Pagoda dining room !
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The view from the campsite...awful to suffer whilst digesting your museli !!
We got up early the following morning to try and see the Platypus. We rode down to the site on the bike as it was about 15km away and went to a viewing platform. We waited for a while and saw quite a few turtles but no Platypus. After around 30 mins one of the rangers came down and had a brief chat to us and let us know that some had been seen over in the wishing pool this morning, just over the other side of the road. We went over and were looking for a while with another couple from England when out of the corner of my eye I could see something moving. Initially I thought it might be a leaf in the wind but the movement was too consistent. I clambered over the rocks we were on and followed a half-made foot-path to around the point of the movement. Sure enough there was a Platypus semi-sitting on a half submerged branch. The others cam over and we were soon rapidly capturing digital images.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/18237158/290493480.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
A shot of the area of the Platypus's living area.
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One of the turtles we saw whilst waiting for a view of a Platypus.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/18237158/290493476.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
A first sighting of a Platypus !!!
We bimbled about a bit in the afternoon and returned again in the evening to watch for teh Platypus once again, this time we saw a few which were swimming around the base of the bridge supporting the main road running through the area. We read on one of the notice boards that early naturists thought the Platypus to be a hoax with its strange looking beak, that was until they disected one !
That night the owners had turned over one of their huts to a group of young teenagers to have a Birthday Party unsupervised. They were about 12-13 years old. They made a racket all night and despite telling them to keep it down, they forgot a few minutes later and we struggled to get the sleep we could.
The following morning we were up early again to see the Platypuses one last time and managed to see one in particular who had got up onto another half-submerged branch to give him self a good scratching which amused us both. When we returned to the campsite I complained to the owner about the noise of the party to which she dutifully apologised. I pointed out that had we been warned the previous evening we could have moved our tent- the boys could have done their thing & we could have had our sleep. But ultimately it was over for another year and we were leaving. Very Sorry.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/18237158/290493474.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Our second or third sighting which lead into....
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/18237158/290493499.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
...a whole cleaning ritual.
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<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/18237158/290493497.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
The closest shot we managed to get.
We packed and headed initially towards the Eugella Dam to have a look as we’d heard it was very pretty. It was and I got my second real chance to play a little with the Adventure on a dust track and some rough terrain and it handled it with flying colours, even fully loaded with Sylvia on the back.
At the dam the water was full of a half submerged petrified forest. Very Bizaire. If we’d had enough food and water we would have loved to have stayed but the thought of the ride back to our campsite to buy some more expensive food and the return journey were sufficient to keep us heading towards todays ultimate destination of Airlie Beach.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/18237158/290493495.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
The half-submerged forest.
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/18237158/290493490.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
Couldn't resist getting the Adventure in !!
<IMG SRC="http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/4062504/18237158/290493487.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosting by PictureTrail.com">
I try my hands and feet(s) at using the Adventure on looser ground for one of the first times.
We drove to Airlie Beach and pitched our tent at the best looking Caravan park. Initially we’d hoped to stay in a cheap caravan for a week to enable me to catch up on web entries but they were either really old and dirty or expensive so we resorted to the tent. We bought a Pizza and a few beers, rented a DVD and settled down to watch it in the tent.
The following day we woke up to sunshine and decided that that was a sufficient reason to stay another night. I can’t remember why we stayed yet another night but we did !!
Similarily to Airlie Beach we’d hoped to move and stay at Hydeaway Bay in a caravan so we could enjoy keeping everything out, watch some TV and for me to catch up on web up-dates. However when we arrived the one caravan they did have was already booked. We looked at the other close-by resorts but they were too expensive and/or fully booked for the week we wanted. Finally after a few calls to another resort, Bowen, we rode back to the Hydeaway Caravan park and set up the tent for the night. Sytlvia wasn’t that impressed with the site as it was quite close to the road but I loved it. We got some beers, food and a DVD from the local store at Dingo beach and headed back to our site. Whilst cooking dinner we met an Aussie family and had a pleasant chat with them. It is lights out on this site at 10PM(and all other sites so far here in Australia.) and so we said our good-nights and went off to bed.
Mike.
