2023 Austrailia Boris Yammy

On our day trip to Magnetic Island , a short hop off the coast from Townsville. We were fortunate to spot two koalas.  Now our work here is done and we can start working on our tan.

I think we only added one species of birds to our list here. They did have a good exhibit explaining how the continent of Australia has drifted around. Five hundred million years ago Australia was glomed onto a single land mass called pangea What I did discover, was that Australia was the last continent to touch Anarctica. Fifty million years ago they separated from the rest of the land masses and fifteen million years they briefly touched up against New Guinea.  The aborigines have been here for fifty to sixty thousand years.  Anyways they have had a lot of time to evolve plants and animals unique to this continent. And they share a bunch of animals and plants with New Guinea.  Stay tuned for the next post explaining why hopping is more efficient than running. This blog is being composed at a rest stop where we are waiting for a torrential rainfall to ease up.

We have had three fabulous nights of sleep in our van so far.  The camping part is basically composed of two big boxes with hydraulic lids. Both have extension brackets that come out and hold a small sheet of plywood. The box in back holds a small fridge and all your kitchen supplies. The box in the front basically holds cargo. Then there are three cushions that make up a cozy bed. Your head is to the back door and there is just enough room to shimmy forward into the front seats or out the side doors. It is getting harder and harder to imagine us reverting to our tent. This is our kitchen area. All the pots ,stoves ,water and fridge are tucked in there. You can sleep with the back down or with the tent over the back door. There are screens that go over the middle door windows and the back tent has three screens . The air circulation is quite good. Anyways this is our home until the new year.

We made or way over to the coast. And what a change. Things are greener, it seems less hot, the people not as friendly, harder to find free camping sites . Despite all that we have seen some interesting stuff. The bird life here is a little more prolific and we have been ramping up our bird list. We were lucky enough to spot a cassowary walking along the beach . According to the locals these beasts can get a little aggressive at times.  We spent a morning walking along Cairns sea promenade. We got to see a few shorebirds that make it it to the Yukon. Everything in its dull winter plumage. I was a little lost at first but some local birders pointed out the different species. Anyways we are not much for the big cities,  so we headed north . Now we are at a paid campsite on the lower Daintree. Tomorrow we head off on a river trip. And to get you in the mood.

We are in Charleville in the middle of the Queensland outback. We have survived two incidents.  While driving into the setting sun we narrowly missed hitting an adult kangaroo and her Joey. I jammed on the brakes and missed them by about 2 meters.  The other incident involved stopping for a quick rest break . I pulled on to the shoulder which appeared to be red gravel and which turned out to be red sticky mud. We got good and stuck. Our only resource was pulling the mud away from the wheels with our hands and stuffing tufts of grass behind the wheels.Two local women stopped and offered advice and then slopped into the mud to help push the vehicle on to firmer ground. Luckily there was a free campground nearby where we were able to remove the mud from ourselves and the car.

Mostly sleepless night, then two hour fight to Vancouver, then 12 hour wait, then 15 hour to Brisbane where we arrived two days later and not feeling too bad.  We are staying at the Brisbane Manor  built in 1900, an old rooming house located pretty close to downtown and a few hundred meters from a big park.  We marched downtown to get the bugs out of my new sim card , then a quick nap and then in the heat of the day we explored the park next door. Right away we saw some hot birds. Various locals befriended us. I think they thought we needed protecting as we stumbled about gazing at birds oblivious to speeding bikes and scooters. Sulphur crested Cockatoo and Galahs Bush thick knee Masked Lapwing Austalian Magpie