4x4 Fun

I'd never been off-road with my husband before last weekend. When I was young I fondly remember my dad barreling the XF down dirt tracks to remote campsites, box trailer in tow. What fun. 

But I've never really been "4WD-ing" so when C decided he wanted to give another go to the mountain trail that I'd freaked out on a few weeks prior, I was a bit nervous. 

Lucky my husband is a prepper - he likes to be prepared for all eventualities. As he loaded a first aid kit, some "Max Trax" and a roll of loo paper into the back of the X-Trail my fears were somewhat assauged. 

The road we'd decided to take started at amount Kilcoy and ended Who-Knows-Where. We'd managed to find it on a Hema map but weren't sure where we would end up as there were multiple intersecting roads. I was having visions of the RACQ rescue chopper having to winch us out. 

I must admit, being completely alone in the Australian bush unnerves me. I was on Yowie-watch the whole time! The difficult parts of the road scared me, whereas C was having a complete ball tacking washouts and slippery corners. The scenery up there is stunning. At times over 600m above sea level, the bush changes from scrubby gums to semi-tropical rainforest as you go. 

In the end it wasn't a particularly challenging trail (apparently) but more than enough for my nerves! After a couple of hours I was ready for home and the promise of a hot shower. 

What I did like was taking the new camera and tripod and practicing our photography. And we even saw a kangaroo. 

Now we just have to decide where to go next! Any suggestions?

Chasing Cassowaries

When we were in Townsville last month, hubby and I made a pact to do some things we'd never done up there before. After talking to the locals and a bit of googling, we decided one cool thing to do would be to visit a national park.

We settled on Girringun National Park, 51km from Ingham and a lovely day's drive from Townsville (though made a lot longer by Bruce Highway roadworks). The main attraction was Wallaman Falls, the highest, permanent, single-drop waterfall in Australia.

But on the way there, we spotted this sign:

And I said to C how awesome it would be if we saw a Cassowary!  To me, Cassowaries are seven-foot tall warrior birds that will slash your gut open with one swipe of their claws as soon as look at you. How thrilling to see one in the wild! And then, ten minutes later, we came across two of them! Not seven foot tall though.

One was shy and wouldn't come out of the bush, but his mate wandered boldly out to inspect our cars. I was so happy I had the good camera in my lap so managed to get a few shots.

Hullo. When he saw his reflection in the car window he did a double-take and wandered off again!

So then we continued on to the falls. They were well worth the long drive up the mountain - spectacular! And no hiking to get to the lookout, which my bad feet were thankful for. C took all these shots with the Nikon - I reckon he has a good eye, don't you?

 In holiday attire - practical runners and shorts because North Queensland's winter is like a Spring day to me!

I highly recommend this drive if you're ever up in the Ingham area - oh and the Olympia Cafe in the main street isn't bad for lunch either!