Paddy's flyin !

[Irish Rambler]

Thanks for the inside info on Wolf Blass Bruce, much appreciated.
One of my problems is there is so much to see and do here in Australia, you really must visit and see for yourself.
The people here are warm and friendly and with Australia being a young country, migrants from various parts of the world have brought with them their home cooking, coupled with the Australians hearty appetite, one things for sure you will surely not be hungry.
I tend to support family businesses as I come from that background and so it was that we visited a small vineyard just outside Canberra to see first hand what was on offer as we come near the end of our stay in Canberra. Of course with a different climate and blending techniques the wine obviously reflects that, the majority are cracking but I did taste a couple which were a cross between old socks and mouthwash, however I put that down to me having a juicy kangaroo steak with spicy vegetables for lunch.
One things for sure with all this gorgeous food I won't blow over in the wind !

Photo's.
1, 2, This is the interior of a Costco supermarket where you can buy everything from baby food.......... to a coffin !
That's what I call taking care of you from the cradle to the grave.


3, Our visit to the Lerida vineyard.

4, These tanks are to collect rainwater, water is a very precious commodity here and every effort is made to collect and use it in the most economical way.

5,The vines are here taller than in France, that's due to selecting the vines for easy harvesting and local wind conditions. As you can remember from the beginning of this thread the vines were being harvested when we left France, whilst here it's the beginning of spring.
In the background of this photo is the largest inland lake in this region at 386 square kilometres, the main body of the lake is at the far side and the nearer flat grassy plains acts as a catchment area and floods in times of heavy rainfall. Some people have lost their lives by camping on the plain, unable to get away quickly getting swamped and drowning during torrential rainfall. These plains are rented out to sheep farmers in stable weather conditions.

6, This cask storage area is turned into a dining room with a difference where a master chef prepares meals for its discerning customers, wine from the vineyard accompanies each course.
Because Canberra is the nations capital there's a lot of politicians and government employees, being just half an hours drive from Canberra many come to spend their generous allowances to graze here and at other similar establishments.

7, Alpaca Llama's.
These animals hate dogs. Uncontrolled dogs worry sheep and kill lambs. There are many sheep farms in Australia and the farmers put 3 or 4 of these Alpaca Llama's in along with the herd, being taller than the sheep they can see over the herd and spot a dog easily and will attack and drive it off. The by-product is that they are also shorn and their wool is highly prized by artisans.
As a young boy I used to shear our own farms sheep with what's called 'The Bowen' method which originated in Australia. The sheep was caught and turned over to sit on it's bum with it's back resting against, and gripped by your legs. First it's toe nails were clipped, being on grass they didn't wear down and could grow long and hurt the sheep. That done, using clippers we sheared in a line from the throat to the crutch, then outwards in a sweeping motion, easing the sheep forward, then down it's back finishing with the tail and the sheep was then released.
The fleece was laid outer side down flat on the ground, the leg shapes were folded in and then from the head portion, rolled tightly, the tail wool was twisted to form a rope to tie the bundle together. Small yellow flakes are to be found between the sheep's body and it's woo these are pure lanolin, these help to keep the fleece waterproof this is highly prized for use in cosmetics. As a farmer at shearing time our hands would be soft and supple from this lanolin.


Incidentally cats are a major pest here with an estimated 23 million feral cats, 22 species of rare bird have been lost to feral cats.

 

[Irish Rambler]

It's time now for us to leave Canberra and head North to Cairns, a 3 hour flight via Sydney.
Cairns is one of the most popular ports for access to the Barrier reef.
We wished to stay in an old colonial style hotel and chose Hides hotel. In 1886 George Hides built his hotel and it was one of only two 3 storey buildings in Cairns, the other being Boland's store.
George Hides hotel became a meeting place for people coming into town from the surrounding tablelands and was the centre of social life. It was equipped with Punkah Wallah fans and guests could leave their shoes outside the door and awake to find them returned highly polished the next morning. The Masonic lodge held monthly meetings in the hotel. When George died his widow took over running the business. They had two sons, John Gordon and Robert Craig who both joined the Australian army to serve in the 1st world war, sadly neither survived the war.
During the 2nd world war Gen Douglas McArthur and his wife were regular visitors until the fall of Singapore with the threat of invasion he moved to Brisbane along with 7,000 of the local townspeople, many having a taste of big city life never returned
The hotel has had 2 extensions over time and still in business albeit in a reduced capacity as a 'budget' hotel. here you can turn the clock back over a century, being colonial style its comfort level is not quite what many people consider 'normal' in this modern day and age, there are no en suite facilities but for all that it's comfortable to taste the lifestyle of a bygone era.


1, Map of Australia showing our route so far.

 

[BruceK]

Wonderful seeing your travel writer skills at work in Australia. We still have some typical old country town style hotels, not 4* by any means but full of character, sounds like you found one.
You will see traditional "Queenslander" houses, built in timber on stilt frames to allow cooling from underneath,maybe useful in floods too.
Try get to Port Douglas while you are there, and even a little further north to the Daintree. We did a animal spotting boat trip on a silent electrically powered boat there, good for sneaking up on them.
Cairns, allegedly confused by some tourists with Cannes, has marina docks worth a walk. You are definitely in croc territory up there, even on the beaches. Surfing crocs? Maybe not but watch out for "drop bears" in the trees.

 

[Irish Rambler]

No worries Bruce, the problem is Australia's bigger than my wallet, which is the reason for a flying visit.
Virtually everyone comes to Cairns goes out to see the barrier reef, there are lots of thing for the young to do and see, sky diving, sea diving snorkelling etc etc but for the old and bold we chose to see the Great Barrier reef in a more genteel fashion.
The Great Barrier Reef is 2,300 kilometres long and home to 600 varieties of coral and 400 varieties of fish, it was first extensively charted by Captain James Cook the British exploration Captain who completed the survey using men in long boats taking soundings, he plotted the position using sun sights, stars and compass so accurately the when GPS came along his charts were spot on with only tiny natural flaws that would occur over 1 and a half centuries. As there are few navigable openings it probably saved Australia from invasion by the Japanese during WW2.
The cost of our trip for two was $ 650 so when you're budgeting for your visit my advice is to take a day wandering around, you can find better deals.
In small towns like Cairns its usually a few wealthy families who drive the region, the owners of Hides hotel also own two large catamarans for visiting the barrier reef.
What's it like ? bloody fabulous ! due to adverse weather conditions (an afternoon monsoon rain, followed later by all night torrential rain) the photo's are not quite up to the quality I wished as there was no light penetration from the sun..

Photo's.
1, General McArthur with his wife visiting Hides Hotel in 1944.

2,This is the old colonial style of hotel, and the first in Cairns.

3, This is the first lift ever installed in Cairns in Hides hotel, a real clunker but still works perfectly.

4,The exterior of Hides hotel, the balcony serves as an outside dining room for breakfast.

5,6, Our catamaran to takes us to the great Barrier reef.

7, Part of the reef, the turtles natural camouflage is so good I only spotted it when it moved.

8,We passed through a school of jellyfish in the semi submersible boat.

9, The semi submersible.

10, The ticket centre and gift shop, its like an airport reception with each company having a desk.


Oh the helicopter ride ? it was put back and put back and finally cancelled due to adverse weather. We were refunded.
The next day a boat sank in adverse sea conditions.

 

[Irish Rambler]

More photo's.

1, I know you guys like to see what boats other people use.

2,You can see by the cloud cover it wasn't the best day, it just got worse by the hour.

3,Cairns is also a working port for supplies.

4.This British sailing ship takes both able bodied youngsters but also disabled to give them an equal opportunity. They usually get a month 'under sail' before the next group arrive and another group get a crack at it.

5,When you arrive at the barrier reef there's a pontoon with all facilities.

6, Some new snorkelers having fun.

7,8. Plenty of healthy fish here on the barrier reef.

9,Pelicans resting on the mud flats.

10, Poor photo, this is called a 'Cannonball' tree for obvious reasons. Originally the species came from South America.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Another we peek at Cairns.
Photo,
1, Well it is the oldest profession after all.

2,3, And still discreetly carried on.

4,5, These are not leaves or fruit hanging down they are 'Fox Bats'.

6, Aussies love Barbie's, BBQ's but due to the fire risk here in sub tropical and South in drier regions the safe BBQ's are provided, a great idea for fire prevention.

7,This ship only sells a fresh seafood menu, eat on-board or take it away.

8, This amphibian obviously does tours and is built by Mitsubishi.

9.10, General views.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Wherever you go in the world a Paddy's been there before ya ! even in Cairns.
PJ O'Brien's Irish pub is very popular serving good beer and Irish style food as well as local favourites.

1, PJ's, PJ, short for Patrick Joseph.

2, There are company's who make fake memorabilia for Irish pubs around the world, even fake plate printers and Cork Post Office signs.

3, And old typewriters and paper printing rollers.

4, The Woolshed really was a Woolshed, nowadays it houses a noisy disco.

5, 6, Aboriginal art influences the flower bed walls.
Actually the early Aboriginals from different tribes were able to communicate through a universally understood series of painted signs, each line, dot or pattern having a different meaning.

This brings us to the end of our brief visit to Cairns, I hope you'll join us for the next leg of our flying visit.

As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction !

 

[Irish Rambler]

Just before we leave Cairns.
On the way out and back to the great barrier reef we passed an island called Fitzroy island, this was named by Captain Cook after an Admiral of the British navy called Fitzroy who was born in Ireland and invented the first marine barometer for weather predictions, he had weather monitoring stations built around Britain's coast to record the weather patterns. Another Irish born Admiral called Beaufort created the Beaufort scale to give a consistent measurement of wave heights and direction. Together these two far sighted individuals gave us weather predictions still used by sailors today.


Photo.


1&2. Effigy of Captain Cook on Captain Cook highway in Cairns, Australia.

 

[Irish Rambler]

To continue our journey we hired a camping car to follow the Bruce highway in a Southerly direction, the first night we stopped in a 'Rest and Revive' centre, the laybys are dotted along the highway for drivers to rest when they get tired.


Photo's.
1,2, Banana plantations line the road for miles.
This a major banana growing region.


3, Roadside stalls sell local produce., you can't get fresher than this !


4,Just pretty flowers we don't see in Ireland/South of France.


5, Sugar cane is also a major crop and 22,000 hectares can produce up to 2 million tonnes of sugar


6, There are hundreds of miles of these narrow gauge railways for transporting sugar cane to the factories.
Hundreds of miles.


7, Clear signs to protect property, no one has an excuse for trespass.


8,Very good 4 way test.
In other words if you can't speak well of someone then don't speak at all !


9, Inishfail ! you could be forgiven for thinking your back home in Ireland. Lots of places named by the homesick early Irish, English, Scottish settlers as well as the local indigenous place names.

 

[Irish Rambler]

If you look at the map in post 62 were heading South towards Townsville on our way down the Bruce highway we stopped off at Tully (there's a Tully forest in Ireland).
The lady in the Information office was very proud of her town, friendly and helpful.
This has the distinction of being one of the wettest places, if not THE wettest place in Australia. In fact we've had loads of liquid sunshine in Cairns and since.


Photo's.
1, Tap on the photo for clear explanation.


2, Rear view of the Tully Sugar factory, it employs 2,000 people and around 80 temporary worker in season.


3,4, Effigy of early sugar cane transport.


5, Worker loading cane onto wagon, nowadays it's all harvested by special machines and loaded onto the small gauge rail wagons.


6,7, Apologies for bad upload.


8, Wooden effigy of a Cassowary bird.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Tully averages a whopping rainfall of 4,450mm of rain over an average 150 days in the year.
The 'Golden Gumboot' we showed in an earlier photo shows the depth of the flood waters.
The wet sub tropical weather pattern is ideal for banana's, sugar cane, pomegranates, avocados, mangoes etc.
The first timber mill was established here to process redwoods in1886 and ceased trading in the late 1960's.
The first banana growers were Chinese and they shipped 8,000 bunches of banana's a week until WW1 when transport was so bad they had to dump their produce and abandoned the plantations. Banana growing has had a resurgence and this is now the major growing area in Australia.

Photos.
1, This is our camping car 'Juicy Lucy'. A wee tip, whatever you do hire one twice as large as you think you need. Were built with a low centre of gravity and you'd need to be an aerobics freak to be able to move around freely.

2,For those not aware virtually all the truck engines have an exhaust brake, those with Cummins engines have what's known as a Jake Brake and they are pretty noisy so truckers are asked to limit their use in built up area's, its proper name is a Jacobs brake after the inventor.

3, Some of the trucks here are called double bottoms, that means they can pull 2 semi trailers and can gross up to 90 tonnes for interstate haulage.

4,effigy of early settlers.

5, Yep, they have greyhound buses here too.

6,7,8,9. Memorial plaques and explanation of the 'Battle of the Coral Sea..

 

[Irish Rambler]

The trucks with a long bonnet/hood are known as conventional cabs, they have 600 hp Cummins diesel engines.
The Kenworth (centre) is a double bottom truck, i.e. can pull two semi trailers.
The yellow one is called a COE, cab over engine and made by a European company called Iveco to Australian spec with high mounted air intakes to help prevent dust intake.
The long nose type are not really suitable for town/city work as they have a restricted turning circle compared to the cabover.
They all have an 18 speed gearbox..

Photos,

1, Iveco Australian spec cab over articulated tractor with Cummins engine, our family company ran these to European spec and got over 1 million miles without any problem, only replacing the alternator, batteries and starter motor, it's all down to meticulous servicing.

2, Kenworth 'Double Bottom, tractor unit, this one carries 3,000 litres of fuel for interstate working, buying fuel in these quantities a few cents makes a large difference.

3,Mack car transporter.

4, The Battle of Coral Sea Explanation.


Incidentally we use Ronald McDonalds (known as Macca's in Australia) for uploading these posts,

 

[BruceK]

Great to see you travelling rural parts, the real Australia, meeting locals. "Tully" is not the only Irish town name you`ll see, NSW has plenty,like Grafton, Lismore,Crossmaglen, on the northern coast. Make sure you visit a good old Aussie country pub.
Overnight in a camping area and you`ll meet real Aussies, especially retired "grey nomad" couples spending the kids inheritance,in a Toyota Landcruiser with 20ft caravan in tow. We hired a campervan exploring the Northern Territory national parks and met nice people, even a retired kelpie sheepdog.
We looked for but never spotted a cassowary while exploring in FNQ(Far North Queensland). They are rare.
Parts of Northern Australia came under Japanese attack from time to time during WW2. Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory was well and truly hammered.
Macdonalds (aka Maccas)is also a great toilet/comfort stop but you`ll find better hamburgers at local town cafes.

 

[Irish Rambler]

As we drove down South on the Bruce Highway number 1 we came across some interesting old vintage pieces. In Australia there are many tractors of 30/40 years vintage still doing the occasional working day, a testament to those old engineers and designers of yesteryear. I wonder how many of todays machines will last as long ?

Photo's.
1,2, Strong girder bridge over this creek.

3,Bush fires are common and great care must be taken to prevent them.

4,This old engine was built by Ruston of Lincoln, England and worked here in Australia from 1930 until 1964, this one produced 66 hp, just look at the size of the tappet !
Ruston was founded in 1840 and over the years built railway engines, cranes, excavators and diesel engines. During WW1 they built over a 1,000 Sopwith Camel aeroplanes, during WW2 they built the Valiant tanks before reverting back to building diesel engines and turbines and in the 1990's was bought over by Siemens of Germany.

5,Beautiful sunset. It's a bit of a shock to our system as here in sub tropical Australia between the 20th and 21st parallel as the sun rises at 05;30 and goes down very quickly at 1930.

6,This machine is a hammer mill for extracting sugar from the cane and was designed by George Fletcher of Derby England who exported sugar and mining machinery worldwide.
The company was founded by George Fletcher in 1838 and during successive takeovers is now part of the US Harnischfeger company.

7, It's dangerous to driver here at dusk and dawn as the kangaroo's have no road sense and unfenced roads lead to casualties such as this.

8, Just a pretty visitor who came to say Hello !

 

[Irish Rambler]

At Proserpine we turned off the main Bruce highway to go to Airlie beach, this is a favourite holiday spot especially for backpackers and of course local Australians. Here we enjoyed the famous hearty plates of fish that are served in the restaurants, sitting on the balcony in the evening looking out over the harbour and enjoying the delicious Coral trout and tender Calamari (squid) sure beats working for a living.
Of course being here we enjoyed the Aussie famous beer and wine.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Apologies for the slow updates but Wi-Fi isn't always easy to get except at McDonalds aka (Macca's).
You will have seen from the previous post how the Whitsunday Islands were discovered by Capt. Cook.
Just around the headland at Airlie beach is a place called Shute harbour and it's here I turned traitor and went on board a sailing catamaran with my family for a weeks sailing around arguably the most desirable cruising grounds in the world, certainly in Australia as you see from the photo's.


Photo's.
1,Main saloon.


2,Yachts used in Australia have to be built to a high construction standard. This one built in China to Aussie specs.


3,Useful agents name.


4,Can it be better than this ?


5, Making golden memories with my family.


6,Note the very effective yellow cover on the RIB to protect the tubes from the sun.


7, Idyllic.

 

[Irish Rambler]

In the Whitsunday Islands we were able to swim in 26 degree C clear blue waters in turtle bay, and yes, there were turtles but as soon as you got near them for a photo they slipped below the water. Playful dolphins also cruised around these azure blue waters and snorkelling gives an unbelievable glimpse of the sea life below the surface.
I'm not a good enough wordsmith to do the Whitsunday islands justice, you just have to come and see for yourself, and NO I'm not getting any commission from the Australian tourist board.
Several of the islands are privately owned, 1 charges 175 $ just to moor for the night, plus electric and water and if you want to use the pool its another 100 $, one way to keep the roughs away.
The Lindeman family owns one of them as an investment from their winery business.


Photo's,
1,This is sunrise at 05;27 from the Pacific ocean.

2,A moment of reflection.

3,Ooops, photo taken from the phone and not turned thro 360'.

4,Local cruise ships cater for day trippers.

5,looking over the harbour on Hayman island where we called in for water.

6,Moored for the evening in a sheltered bay.

7, Time for an early swim as the sun climbs into the sky to make another idyllic day.

8, Even in paradise logistics still go on and these workboats transport supplies to the islands.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Whitsunday Islands cruise.

1, Catching the Pacific sunrise.

2, Even the young backpackers come to enjoy the Whitsundays on this old style ship, however the Umcha Umcha Umcha disco until 2 am wasn't particularly enjoyable even though they did moor far away.
I always thought M&M was a bag of sweets, I didn't realise it was some C rap waling voice with a great big chip on it's shoulder.

3,Beauty comes in many forms.

4,Jus messing around in the RIB.

5,High speed visitors.

6,Ain't it just magic.

7,The double bunk in the Cat hull, it's to high to step in with no step, if you slide out in reverse for a call of nature you stand a good chance of becoming a boy soprano, if you come face down you end up in a heap on the floor, all for the want of a step for the vertically challenged.

8,I'm going to copy this and get a sign made for the guest heads on 'Snow Mouse'.

9, Sea marks have many uses.

10, The company that makes the yellow cover to protect the RIB tubes from the sub tropical sun. Parks Masterson, if you want the agency the country code for Australia is 0061.

 

[Irish Rambler]

We leave Whitsunday's with great memories and continue on our journey South but first I want to see the ONLY TOWN ON EARTH WITH A NUMBER FOR A NAME.
It's called 1770 and here's the story.
Photo's.
1,The cairn erected to Lieutenant(pronounced Leftenant unlike the American Lootenent) as he was then to commemorate his landing.

2,3,4,5,6,7, Self explanatory.

It should be remembered that when ships of the British navy left Gosport victualing port (see Ireland to the Mediterranean Part 1) that once their stores ran out they had to become self sufficient.
One of the reasons for expanding the British Colonies was not only to expand the empire but also to provide victualing stations for the all powerful British navy, in return the natives were paid to grow crops and provide materials required by the ships and crews.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Just before we leave the Sunshine coast as Queensland is known, as a farmers boy I was interested in the machinery used in the sugar cane harvesting.
Take a look at these photo's.


Photo's.
1, This is the very first mechanical sugar cane harvester, invented in 1959 by Arthur Canavan, who with the financial backing of his family and the creative genius of the local blacksmith produced this ungainly looking but effective machine. The mechanical principles that Arthur devised are still in use in the most modern machines of today as you can see in the next photo.


3,4,Tractors with hydraulically operated trailers tip the harvested cane into the small gauge railway wagons.


5, Modern self propelled version of Arthur Canavan's brainwave.


6,After extracting the sugar this mulch is used to power the factory and excess electricity is sold to the state grid.

Incidentally the sugar cane factory that received the first mechanised harvest is called Inkerman, named after the battle of Inkerman in 1854 on the 5th of November when British troops and their allies(Australians amongst them defeated the Russian army in what is know known as Crimea.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Just before we leave the Sunshine coast as the Queensland coastline is known, as a farmers boy I was very interested in the origin of the machinery used in the sugar cane harvesting.
Take a look at these photo's.

1,This is the very first sugar cane mechanical harvester in the world, invented by Arthur Canavan and built by his local blacksmith in 1959. Arthur was financially supported by his family in revolutionising the sugar cane industry. His design of 'cut and throw' remains in use today as you can see from the modern version below.

2,Modern self propelled machine, some are wheeled and some tracked depending on the terrain.

3,Narrow gauge sugar cane train, there are thousands of miles of the narrow gauge railways criss crossing the sugar cane belt.

4,These hydraulically driven trailers collect the chopped cane from the nearby field and tip it into the sugar cane trains.

5,Looks weird but Arthur Canavan's invention lives on.

6,The cane mulch is used in a furnace to make electricity to power the factory and excess supplies the local grid.

7, This lads fond of the table but he drives this machine with precision.

Incidentally the first load from Arthur Canavan's machine was received at Inkerman sugar mill, the mill was given it's name in honour of the Australians who died fighting in the battle of Inkerman when the British and their allies (Australians) took on 4 times their number of Russians and defeated them on the 5th of 1854 at Inkerman in what is known now as Crimea.
My own mother regiment, The Sherwood Foresters were awarded at battle honour at the Battle of Inkerman.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Since we left Cairns until we reached Brisbane we've been following The Bruce Highway, named after a popular Australian Minister for Works in the 1930's Mr Harry Bruce. On our way we passed many towns, one of which was Rockhampton, Australia's beef town there you can see cowboys and effigy's of bulls down the central esplanade. We found it hard to take photo's due to the volume of traffic as we passed through.

We made a diversion to the beach side town called Noosa simply to have a look and try out some electric bikes to reach Noosa Head lookout point over the Pacific, (it was a fact finding mission as we're thinking of buying some for our boat 'Snow Mouse') we were late arriving due to slow traffic so instead we contented ourselves with a seafood platter of black lipped oysters, large meaty prawns, crab claws, flathead fish, coral sea trout, calamari (squid) chips and salad.
We finished all bar the salad and 4 chips, after all that gorgeous tucker (food) we weren't fit to fart !
Despite spending money in the place camping cars were discouraged in Noosa and we'd to drive 30 kms to find a campsite for the night.
Back on schedule again here's a question, with all that sugar cane what can you make with it ?
Granulated sugar, cubes, demararra and of course RUM !

Photo's,
1,3,4,5,,7 Self explanatory.


2,, Sugar Cane on it's way to be processed.


6, Look at the top row, these articles are a passing reference to an old Australian highwayman called Ned Kelly who used an old bucket as a helmet and pieces of metal as protection. Ned Kelly and his gang were responsible for Australia's largest gold robbery. He was captured and sentenced to 30 years jail with hard labour, after 10 years he was released on condition he left Australia, he went to America and was shot dead during a card game.


8, Noosa beach town advert, Pokies are gaming machines.


9, Hire boat with a built in BBQ on the front deck.

 

[Irish Rambler]

OK Hands up, how many of you saw the film 'Mutiny On The Bounty' with Russell Crow ?


Was it FACT or FICTION.


What's the connection to our visit ?


Co-incidentally Russell Crowe has a farm here in New South Wales however he's irrelevant to our story.


You may not know that Captain Bligh served for a few years as sailing master on the HMS Endeavour under command of Captain Cook and knew these waters well.
Later with his own command of HMS Bounty he was sent by the Royal navy to the Pacific to gather breadfruit trees and distribute them throughout the Pacific islands to help the natives feed themselves with a better diet.
It was during this voyage that a sailor called Fletcher Christian came to instigate the mutiny. Fletcher Christian was a bankrupt and unable to go to Cambridge as he desired ran away to sea to escape the courts and became what is known today as a 'barrack/bar room lawyer.
Captain Bligh as a good ships captain was a stickler for cleanliness and hygiene and insisted his men eat lemons/limes and oranges and local fruit they gathered from the islands regularly to prevent scurvy, he was well aware that a sick crew could disable a Naval vessel's ability to fight.
Although they knew it was necessary, the men didn't much like the diet and Fletcher Christian used this unrest to ferment a mutiny
During the mutiny led by Fletcher Christian, Captain Bligh begged for food supplies for the 19 men set adrift with him in a 19', yes that's correct 19' boat and for a compass and map, Christian also gave him a useless broken sextant.
In an incredible feat of endurance and navigation Captain Bligh sailed in this open boat for 3,618 miles to arrive malnourished and near death with the survivors in East Timor.
Fletcher Christian also set 11 other mutineers off the Bounty in a small boat, he was unsure of their loyalty and didn't trust them, these men came to Australia and their small boat was damaged on the great barrier reef just off the coast at Townsville.
The men were returned to England by the colony's police and were sentenced to mutiny and hanged from the yardarm in Portsmouth harbour (see 'Ireland To The Mediterranean Part 1' for details of Portsmouth harbour).
The remains of this small boat are preserved in the town museum at Townsville, Queensland, Australia, we passed through this town earlier and unknowingly missed visiting the museum and taking a photo for you. I apologize for my oversight in reconnaissance.
And Fletcher Christian ? he sailed the Bounty to Tahiti, captured some native girls and a few men against their will and sailed to the Pitcairn islands, broke up the Bounty and remained on the islands. Their direct descendants still live there as I write this.
Captain Bligh returned to England and was exonerated and sailed again with Captain Cook on his 3rd and last voyage and if you hang on in there for the rest of our travels I'll tell you more about that in 3 weeks.


Here's a question for you.
What's the difference between a Turtle and a Tortoise ? and what relevance does it have on Captain Cook and Bligh's voyages ?
Answer in the next post !

 

[Irish Rambler]

Answer to the question.
Turtles live in the water, Tortoises live on land.
It's relevant to our story because those early ships captains sent men to collect them, as neither turtle nor tortoise can right themselves if they're turned over they were stored on their backs to provide fresh meat for the sailors.

As we approached Bundaberg the soil became very rich and fertile, we passed many large horticultural farms of fruit and vegetables along with kilometres of orchards of Macadamia nut trees, these nuts are native to Australia and the harvested nut is a little sweet with a light buttery flavour, the nuts are used in bakery and crushed for its fine oil.
After Brisbane we come onto the Pacific highway and we've now going South down New South Wales coast which is known as 'The Gold Coast' with long fantastic beaches and the famous Hunter Valley vineyards.

On our way down we made a small diversion to visit Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo.
Steve Irwin was known as 'The Crocodile Hunter' and made many documentaries on Australian wildlife, with an easy down to earth educational manner he was able to get the conservation message across to all people.
His parents opened the Beerwah Reptile and Fauna park and by 1990 the site was re named the Queensland Reptile and Fauna park.
Steve took over management, aided by his best mate Wes Mannion embarked on a 10 year plan, sadly, 2 months later he lost his life on Batts reef by a stingray attack to the heart.
His vision of a world class zoo was carried on by his family and I can confirm it's the definitely up to his vision.
One of the most visible things is the bond formed between the keepers and their charges, it's almost uncanny to see a keeper interacting with his charge and the reciprocal movements and thoughts between them.
All the animals have very large enclosures as natural as its possible to be in a zoo.
So large in fact you need to take two days to visit every section and spend enough time to see and understand the exhibits, demonstrations and displays.
Not only is this Zoo by far and away the best in the world but it also has one of the worlds highest regarded wildlife hospitals where skills are also taught to visiting vets.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Here are some photo's from Steve Irwin's Zoo for you to enjoy.

1, Entrance.


2, Steve Irwin.


3, Iguana lizard.


4, Koala bear, these are also living free in the bush.


5,petty Sheila(bird).


6,Anteater having a snack given by the keeper.


7,8. Lizards.


9,Common Turkey, these are seen often in the wild.


10, of course a playful otter

 

[Irish Rambler]

For some reason I can't upload more photo's. will try again later.
Meanwhile if you'd like more info, or to donate to the wildlife hospital please Google Australiazoo.com.


Steve Irwin once said 'There were more snakes and sharks in the MGM executives than he had in the whole of his zoo.'

 

[Irish Rambler]

Just a few more photo's as I'm sure you seen them all before in Zoo's.

1, Another shot of a common turkey.

2,Steve Irwin in action (archive photo).

3, Tasmanian Devil, locally called a Tassie.

4,Wombat.

5,This turtle and is around 45 and just reaching sexual maturity, small birds peck on the legs of the tortoise and he raises his body to allow the birds to pass below and feed on the parasites attached to the underside of it's carapace.

6,These camels give rides to visitors in the zoo. During Australia's early years camels were used as pack animals for transporting goods to the interior. With the coming of the truck they were set free and have now become a pest in the outback. Some roaming packs of males, led by an alpha male cause a lot of destruction in settlements and on farms and have to be culled.

7,8, Red Panda's.

9, Small kangaroo, tame enough to pet.

10,This little guy is a guinea fowl. They mainly roost in trees and make a terrific early warning system, we had some on our farm and set up an awful screeching racket if any stranger came near.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Just a few more and we're done.

1, This bird absolutely adores his keeper and if it flies away she simply calls his name and he comes back immediately to rest on her arm.

2,This turtle has 2 lizards trying to get at his tasty snack.

3,Imposing entrance to the Eastern section.

4,Sulphur crested cockatoo.

5,Humourous sign in the Koala enclosure, the Koala's are only allowed to be petted for 30 mins before having a rest to prevent any stress.
Koala's sleep up to 18 hours a day because the leaves the eat are very slow to digest.

6,Can't remember this guys name.

7,8, Slippery guys. There are quite a few snakes in Australia and Steve Irwin saved many lives by doing a series on snakes, which are dangerous, how to handle them (or not) and importantly what to do in the event of a snake bite.

9, The man himself.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Our visit to Australia so far has been fabulous, everyone we met has gone out of their way to make us feel welcome and their sense of humour is brilliant.
The food is to us familiar, being an ex British colony, but better, Australian meat, fish and fruit are excellent both in texture and taste.
I love the chunky beef pies they serve as a 'take away' snack and super fish and chips, even Colonel Sanders finger licken chicken is tastier here than In France. If'n I don't get the hell outta here soon none of my trousers will get around me belly.

We're resting up for a couple of days after all the driving in a motel called 'The Sir Francis Drake', if you are curious about him and his ship look at 'Ireland To The Mediterranean Part 1' in the post from Torquay/Brixham.

Heatherbrae is Scottish for Heather hill, a name brought over by a homesick migrant.
Heatherbrae is just 45 minutes drive from the Hunter Valley, who, along with the Barossa valley are two of Australia's major wine producing regions.

At many roadside stops there are semi wild cockerels and hens who've got begging down to a fine art, we always gave them fresh water and bread.

 

[Irish Rambler]

Continuing our journey south I wanted to show you 'The Blue Mountains', firstly why are they called the Blue Mountains ?
From a distance the eucalyptus forest that covers these mountains take on an intense blue haze which gives the region it's name.
The blue haze is caused by an optical phenomenon called 'Rayleigh scattering'
The leaves of the Eucalyptus tree contain natural oils which are released in the air when the temperature heats up and when these tiny droplets of oil are hit by the sunshine the rays of light scatter.
Viewed from a distance it appears blue and especially so after a long warm dry period. After heavy rain they appear green until the oil droplets fill the air again.


Photo's.
1, Sub tropical Eucalyptus forested blue mountains.


2,Depending on heat and strength of sunlight the blue is clear to see. Less so in the next 2 photo's.