After two weeks of sunshine and blue skies in Hervey Bay it was time to move off again.

We headed inland a short distance to Cania Gorge National Park, where we intended to get out again for some bush walking. We drove into the park and up to the Cania Dam, hoping to find somewhere to free camp. Unfortunately there is no free camping to be had. So it was back out of the park and stop at the Cania Gorge Tourist Park. This is a quiet little caravan park right at the entrance to the National Park. From here we were able to explore the walks in Cania Gorge. The next day we walked to two different sites, Dripping Rock and The Overhang. Great walk with some fantastic scenery, with good weather to go with it. That night we met two dutch backpackers while cooking dinner in the camp kitchen. We ended up sitting around the campfire under the stars until late, talking, roasting marshmellows, swapping travelling stories and killing Cane Toads. Good times! The next day we went for a day trip to Kroombit Tops National Park. This is a 180km round trip from Cania. The drive to Kroombit passes through farmers property and requires your passenger to open a few gates along the way. Luckily for us that Kathy is a Chief-gate-opener and did a marvellous job of figuring out the various methods some farmers use to hold their gates closed. We stopped at a lookout which gave us a fantastic view, and then continued up the "4WD track" toward our destination at a plane crash site. The road was more of a gravel road than the 4WD track that is was descibed as in the brochure. The last 100 metres or so before the crash site was the only part of the road where a bit of clearance was needed. The plane crash site we were visiting was the place where "Beautiful Betsy" crashed in 1945. She was a B24 Liberator bomber being used for food and medical supply runs to Darwin. She took off from Darwin, destined for Brisbane, but she never arrived. The wreckage was discovered in 1994 by a park ranger, ending a 49 year mystery. The site is remarkably intact, although no doubt there is some wreckage missing. The tail section of the plane is the largest piece of fuselage visible, with the wings, undercarriage, all four engines and countless pieces of twisted aluminium scattered amongst the bush. It was a very interesting place to visit with information boards around the site detailing the life of the aircraft and of those who died in the crash. One guy, a pom from the RAF who flew Spitfires in the Battle of Britain and was doing a stint in Darwin, was hitching a ride on the B24 to Brisbane to get married. He never made it, and his wife-to-be would have not known what happened to him until 1994.

On the way back down from Kroombit Tops the 4WD track got better, with some rocky and steep sections giving us the chance to use low range and take some paint off the underbody protection of the Pajero. Fun! Driving back through all the gates again and the weather was turning sour. We were treated to a fantastic lightning show and then it bucketed rain. It rained into the night but we woke up to a break in the weather and a dry camper. As it was looking like rain again, we packed up in a hurry and got back on the road.

We drove to the coast again to the town of 1770 and Agnes Water. As we drove east the weather deteriated, grey skies returned, it rained and became windy again. We had a drive around 1770 and Agnes Water and had a look at the coastline as the weather appeared to be clearing. A short distance from the town of 1770 is a monument for the site where Captain Cook supposedly made first land on Australian soil in 1770. I say "supposedly" because the board next to the monument states that some people used Cook's description of his journey ashore from the Endevour and are pretty sure he landed here... ish. Rather than stay in a caravan park again, we were keen to camp out at Deepwater National Park, south of Agnes Water. What we hadn't realised is that as of January this year, the Queensland government changed the way they allow camping in National Parks. Rather than allowing free camping or even self registration with an honesty box for the fees, they now require campers to pay for their campsite before entering the National Park. So, before you even get to see the campground, you must pay the camping fees at one of the Parks and Wildlife offices, or over the phone or via internet. The latter two are a better idea as you could probably ring up from the campsite and then pay, but most National Parks do not have any mobile signal.... who makes these rules? Anyway, we paid for two nights at the office in Agnes Water, we were given an actual campsite number (so even if the site was muddy or not suitable for the camper trailer you can't just pick another site...) and drove out to Deepwater National Park. The drive out there is virtually just on the land side of the sand dunes, so it is 10 km of soft rutted sandy track. The track was a bit of fun and worth the drive. Our campsite was tucked in behind the trees and dunes, it was quite pleasant. Which was just as well, because it was howling wind from the south east again. A short walk along the beach was all you needed to treat your legs to an exfoliation treatment of being sandblasted from the knees down, it was far from picture perfect. We braved the wind and spent a bit of time on the beach and relaxing by the campsite under the trees, watching Scrub Turkeys and the odd goanna wander around. After our two nights were up we drove back to Agnes Water and then up the coast again to Yeppoon.

We went to Yeppoon to catch up with a friend of Kathy's from her school days. When we arrived in town we were met with the wind doing a good impression of a gale straight off the ocean again and it had it's old friend torential rain as company. Yay... wind and rain on the coast again. After much deliberation and a few phone calls to various motels, we hardened up and put the camper up in a caravan park right on the beach. Once again, no free camping in or near a coastal town.... We caught up with Kathy's friend and her husband the next day, stayed for dinner and had a good catch up. The girls worked it out that they had not seen each other for 17 years, so there was much to talk about. We stayed at Yeppoon an extra night to have our first anniversary dinner at a restaurant in nearby Cooee Bay, which was quite a good meal. The next morning we woke to a nice sunrise and what seemed to be the first blue sky we had seen in a few days, so, not wanting to miss the chance, we packed up the camper. It was barely folded down with the cover on and the rain came in off the ocean again. We left the rainy coast again and headed inland along the Tropic of Capricorn, aiming to camp at Blackdown Tableland NP for a few days. Driving along the Capricorn Highway we were followed by rain from the coast all the way to Blackdown Tableland, and all the way to the top of the ranges. This is a very nice national park with some awesome rock formations, but the weather was crap and the ground very wet. Once again it was required that we pay for the camp site before even seeing it, but we decided to take a drive and look at it first, thinking it might be a bit wet. Our thoughts were confirmed when we got to the campsite after 10 km of wet dirt road to find the campsite quite muddy. The sites are also quite small and more suited to small tents rather than a camper trailer. We stopped for some lunch which we cooked under an umbrella and then ate with a number of friendly Currawongs looking on. Due to the weather, the forecast for more rain, and the muddy campground, we drove back down the hill and onto the highway again.

Not far down the road, west of Emerald, we turned off to the Gemfields. For a bit of useless trivia - Emerald was not named after the gem... it was named by the Irish settlers who were impressed with the regions "Emerald green hills". I bet you feel a bit smarter knowing that now!! We stopped at the little town of Sapphire (which is named after the gem stone) and set up at the Sapphire Caravan Park. This is a great park set in the bush with great facilities. There are countless birds, wallabies, possums and plenty of frogs here. Unfortunately, there are also quite a few Cane Toads, but they are slowly becoming fewer every day. Sapphire is a small town with plenty of character. There are plenty of shacks that pass as houses, cattle and horses wander the streets freely and it has a great laid back feel about it. The weather has been warm with blue skies since we arrived, no complaints about that!!

We are still at Sapphire. Kathy's parents have arrived and met up with us again. Some friends of theirs have a mining claim near Sapphire and have a safe and modern set up. They were more than happy to give us a tour of their newly started mine and took us down 43 feet under ground to show us how it is done. It was a mild temperature down there and suprisingly not claustrophobic, although it might be different once it is full of dust and noise from the jackhammer. It was interesting to see how the shaft had been dug and where the layer of stones that hold the sapphires sits so far underground. We will stay for a couple of more weeks and have a go at finding some gems of our own (by fossicking in the river, not starting our own mine). We have already had a go at digging some rocks out of the fossicking area ourselves and sorting through them, without any luck. Kathy's parents have had experience and success in finding gemstones, so hopefully they can show us how it's done.

Stay tuned....