We just realised that is has been over two weeks since our last update... time gets away when you're so busy.

Our first day at Inverell saw us drying out the camper tent, all of the annexe and everything else that was soaked due to the precipitation at Coffs Harbour. The day was grey and dull but it did not rain, so it was a success. The next couple of days we had similar conditions, grey skies, no sun and light wind. Then the rain caught up with us again.... It was not heavy rain, but it was a constant drizzly-misty-annoying type rain that would not give up. We were determined to stick it out until the sun came out, so we kept ourselves entertained as best we could. Inverell is in an area known to have substantial amounts of sapphires and other gemstones, as well as other interesting rocks and crystals. By talking to others at the caravan park we gained the knowledge of a couple of areas where it was free to fossick for gems, so, raining or not, we went fossicking.

The first place we tried was out at Stanifer Creek, not far from Inverell. We parked the car beside the road and walked up the creek a hundred metres or so until we found a spot that looked like it would have some gems in it (like we would know what THAT would look like.... we've never done this before!) and started digging. We began washing the rocks through our sieves in the creek until the rain made it's presence known again. We persisted, the rain cleared, but shortly came back again. Kathy had the pleasure of swiping two hungry leeches off her legs while we were in the creek washing the rocks dug out of the creek bed. Between this and the rain, we decided to wash the rocks quickly and take the rest back to the caravan park and sort through them there. The caravan park had an undercover area with water and drums to sort out rocks. This kept Kathy busy for the rest of the day sorting through a tub full of rocks. At the end of it all we had a zircon-ish rock and a couple of sapphire-ish rocks. We need to find someone with better rock-knowledge to be sure that we have found our fortune....

The next day we took a drive to another spot we were told about. This is a mullock heap created by a tin mine operation many years ago. The story goes that the tin miners were only interested in tin (as you would expect a tin mine to be...) and so had no interest in sapphires or the like. Once they sorted through the rocks and got what they wanted, they dumped the rocks out at this site. Apparently there are quite a few gems to be found here. We drove out to the site via a very wet and slippery red mud track, deciding on the way that we definately need better tyres before we head outback. Once at the mullock heap we sat in the car for 15 minutes waiting for the rain to clear, it didn't, so on with the raincoat and start digging. This mullock heap is about the size of an average house block and up to 4 metres high in places, so there is plenty of rock to sort through. Given the weather was not cooperating we decided to put a few shovel loads into a tub and take it back to the caravan park again. This kept Kathy busy for nearly two days again, she was nearly cross-eyed and sick of the sight of rocks by the time she finished, and only had a few interesting crystals and a handful of this-might-be-something rocks to show for it. Oh well, it's better than sitting around staring at the rain. The weather did not improve much over the next few days and by the Thursday we were over it. By this stage we had not seen sunshine for 12 days apart from one arvo just on sunset when the sun made a brief appearance and I managed to get a photo. We had been watching the weather and had seen that inland Queensland had been copping a drenching, along with Moree not far from us at Inverell. We had spotted patches of blue sky in the north-east a couple of times, but no sun for us....

The next morning we woke to grey sky again, but no rain. There was a patch of blue sky on the north-east horizon again, the camper was dry and we took about 5 seconds to decide to pack up and leave Inverell. Once on the road we set our sights on that patch of blue and drove. We chased it across the Queensland border at Texas (where it rained on me as I was taking the photo), through Inglewood and up to Toowoomba, but we couldn't reel it in. We decided to call it a day at Somerset Dam and stopped for the night at a nice-but-expensive campsite near the small town. It was nice because the camp area was well maintained, clean, friendly birdlife and quiet. Expensive because it cost $20 for a piece of grass to camp on (no power available even if you wanted it) and then you needed to feed $1 coins into the shower if you expected any water to come out of the wall. We had a good night sleep there and woke the next morning to.... yep, you guessed it... f*%*ing rain again! We packed up regardless and headed off to find that blue sky. By now it had a fair bit of a lead on us but we pushed on anyway. Some friends of ours had told us they were to be in Noosa for a few days, so we headed there to catch up with them. Driving out past Somerset Dam in the rain we were amazed by the size of it, it seemed to go on forever. No wonder it is popular with waterskiers and jetski riders. As we neared the north end of the dam we spotted the patch of blue sky again, and he had some friends with him. We put our heads down and started closing the gap. Slowly there appeared more blue sky, then there was sunshine on the road ahead for a brief moment, we became excited and urged the Pajero to charge on ahead, and as we got close to Noosa.... blue sky! And sunshine! SUNSHINE!!! Yay!! We set up quickly for a one night stay in a caravan park, and caught up with friends for dinner and drinks. The next morning we sat out in the early morning sun having our brekky, packed up and headed off to Rainbow Beach. We were hoping to camp near the beach, but as with a lot of coastal areas, these camping areas no longer exist. The only places to camp in the Rainbow Beach area is in caravan parks or in National Parks. National Parks have a day entry fee here, plus camping fees. At nearly 30 bucks a day to drive up the beach and camp without any facilities, we opted for a caravan park for one night. Once set up, we took a short drive to Carlo Sand Blow. A short walk from the carpark brings you to the top of a huge sand dune, created by the wind blowing sand up a near vertical cliff face and over the land behind it. It resembles a desert, a vast plain of sand with dead trees poking through it. We walked toward the cliff to get a fantastic 180 degree view of the ocean. It is worth the walk for the view, but the walk back up the dune is steeper than you think, we were knackered by the time we got back. The next morning saw us have a walk on beach before breakfast for the first time since hitting the coast at Port Maquarie, what a difference it makes when it's sunny!! Then it was on the road again to Maryborough and Hervey Bay. Kathy's parents are staying in Hervey Bay for a while, so we set up camp in the same caravan park as them when we arrived in town.

We are still in Hervey Bay. It was originally planned to stay here only a week before moving on again, but the weather here has been great. With blue skies and temperatures in the low 30's every day, and being only a short walk to the beach, why would we leave in a hurry?? While here we have caught up with some friends of Kathys from when she lived here before moving to Victoria. Last Thursday we drove to Maryborough where we visted the owners of a huge old mansion built in the 1800's. The owner (who is an author) wrote a book describing the renovations of 'Baddow House' which Kathy read last year. Kathy used to play around the grounds of the old 'haunted house' as a kid, and wrote a letter to the owners saying how great it was to see the old place be given a new lease on life. They wrote back inviting us to visit and look at what they've done to the place if ever we were in the area, so we had to take them up on the offer - of course! It's an amazing old house which they have renovated sympathetically, and beautifully. The rooms were each almost half as large as our old house...just unbelievable. We didn't dare think to wonder how much the renovations would have cost...we unfortunately didn't take any photos (out of respect for the owners - they live in the house) but if you are interested, I believe there are a few pics on the internet...'Baddow House - Maryborough'. They took us through the entire house, and we were very grateful for the opportunity.

While in Hervey Bay we have been fishing, snorkelling, swimming and done a whole lot of not much as well. Last Saturday we went for a boat trip to Fraser Island for an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet. The food was fantastic, prawns, crab, Morton Bay bugs, fish, oysters and a whole lot of different desserts. I have never seen Kathy eat so much food, ever! And me... I ate so much that I was in pain!! It was good food and good value. Unfortunately it is very expensive to get the car and camper over to Fraser ($300 plus daily camping fees), so we will give that a miss. There is plenty of other country to explore....

We will leave here on Sunday and wander around a bit for a week or so, then we will head inland to meet up with Kathy's parents again. We are still enjoying ourselves and everything is travelling as well as can be expected. We are glad to have the rain behind us (hopefully...) and are looking forward to getting further north and exploring the outback.

We sure are glad to have caught that patch of blue sky...