home again

3/4 (Mum, Leslie and I) of our party arrived home in Brisbane today after spending 10 days and 2813km on the road. We went as far north as Mackay and as far west as Dysart. We didn’t end up walking the complete Mackay Highlands Great Walk due to the rain not playing nice. We got did the first two days of the walk as day walks and then headed into Hazelwood Gorge for a 2 day walk before heading to Blackdown Tableland for another 3 days. We have seen a huge number of birds and animals as well as walking through countless different types of vegetation from rainforest to cattle country and everything in between. Many of the photos I have do not do any justice to the scale of the countryside, we are talking about vistas that literally leave you awestruck as you stand on the edge of a cliff 600m odd above sea level and look not only down the cliff face but out 100’s of km to the horizon.

The forth person of our party (CDM) departed us at Dysart to go camping at Carnarvon with her family so was not with us at Blackdown Tableland. This photo of Mum and I returning to the cars from Hazelwood Gorge was taken by CDM.

Mum and I

Mackay Highlands Great Walk

So goodbye for a while I’m off to explore
Every boundary and every door
Yeah I’m going north.
– Missy Higgins

[audio:Missy Higgins – Going North.mp3]

Tomorrow morning as the sun peeps over the horizon, Mum and I will be going north to do the Mackay Highlands Great Walk, 57km over four days with two of Mum’s friends. We have been wanting to do this walk for over a year now but due to a number of things we have had to keep putting it off.

I am really looking forward to exploring some new country, with my camera of course :D. Though I am only taking a very minimal kit with me which will be the following. Camera, 70-200mm f/4, 50mm f/1.8, extension tubes, ef-s 18-55mm, tripod, a polariser filter and a cable release.

Now I am off to pack up as there will be no time in the morning as our destination tomorrow night is Rocky and then onto the Mackay region the following day. We should be back July 3 so until then remember to smile 😀

Mum, a (semi) self-portrait

This is my Mum. Well her interpretation of a drawing that one of her students did of her a few years ago. Mum and a few of her friends are responsible for organising activities for the night meetings of Queensland Quilters. This month’s challenge was to make a self-portrait quilt.

The blue and green fabrics have been painted with sun reactive paints with leaves, lace and shells used as masks. To stitch the face she used the Stitch a Sketch technique by Faye Anderson in the June 2005 issue of Quilters Newsletter Magazine. She has a few more things to quilt on there yet but I wanted to show it off 🙂 I took it along to the meeting on Tuesday night as Mum is currently spending 3 weeks exploring the country west of Longreach and Birdsville. We had a phone call from her the other day and she is having a ball, lots and lots of native plants and birds to look at as well as seeing some very different country side to what she has seen before.
This was the roughly planned itinerary however I know it has changed since they have been out there due to where the rain has fallen and what creeks have flooded etc. I really recommend jumping on to Google Earth or Google Maps or whatever you like to explore the earth from above with.

To start at Longreach on May 2nd and travel to Birdsville by the shortest route. From Birdsville, travel down the Birdsville Track to Goyder’s Lagoon Waterhole where we will spend a couple of nights. From there we go to the Warburton Creek crossing, past which we turn back and travel up the northern side of the Warburton / Diamantina River, between the river and the bottom of the Simpson desert. This route will eventually bring us out at Birdsville or the Big Red sand dune west of Birdsville.
From Birdsville the course will be north by north west to Muncoonie Lakes from where we begin to follow the watercourses that flow here from the north.
Immediately above the lakes, the Mulligan River joins Eyre creek and after negotiating their confluence we will follow the Mulligan north through the western edges of several cattle properties. Crossing the Bedourie – Ethabuka access road we continue on up the river until we are near the source and as far as we are allowed to go. This point is on Glenormiston station and from there we travel back to Ethabuka, where we will stay, provided our interest is sustained, for 5 days. From Ethabuka we will return to Longreach by the most direct route hoping to arrive on May 23 or the morning of 24th.

and here is the quilt 🙂

Mum, a self-portrait

Hit the Road Jack Helen

Well the car is all packed up and I am about to walk out the door.
Today I am going to see Ben Kweller, John Mayer, Sara Tindley, Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars and who knows what else.
See you after Easter. Have a good one.

Today is Tuesday.

We had a big lunch at work today to celebrate 1000 working days without a lost time injury. Not many stores reach 1000, some stores have trouble getting to 50 days. Not one to miss a free lunch and my boss not one either we re-arranged my shift for today so that it would mean that I would get the lunch 🙂 They put on a nice spread for us with a mini BBQ grill in the tearoom which made the storeroom smell like a BBQ mmm. It made it mighty hard to work though, I was writing up milk credits and this smell was wafting through and making my stomach grumble.

More importantly though today is Tuesday and in two sleeps I will be heading off into the big Blue yonder which is the East Coast Blues and Roots Festival which is held in Byron Bay over the Easter long weekend. I have wanted to go to the Blues Fest year for years now and I am finally making the trip. I am making the trip alone though. I am heading 2.5hrs south of Brisbane to a town which I barely know, to a festival where I know no one for the lesser part of six days.

There is one thing I know I am looking forward to and that is Byron Bay Organic Doughnuts. Sigh those were so good at Woodford. I am also looking forward to spending some time at the beach. I haven’t gone to the beach in so long.

Matthew doesn’t see why I am slightly daunted over the whole shebang. That was till Mum pointed out the fact that Matthew could find and make friends with a broomstick (ok so she didn’t use those words, but Matthew is way more extroverted than I am). We can be walking through the shopping centre or in the city and people will randomly come up and say “Hey Palsson” and start chatting to him.

I may be slightly daunted about the trip but I am also extremely excited. I can’t wait to discover new bands and see old faves for the first time live or for the x time. I mean seeing Bo Diddley will be so cool. We have a compilation CD called Rock Around the Clock that Pabbi picked up for $9.95 at Brashs back in the day (early 90’s) that has Hey Bo Diddley on it. Such a rockin’ song. Closer to home, I am really extremely looking forward to finally finally seeing The Waifs and Paul Kelly and the list goes on and on.

Tomorrow is Wednesday and Andrea turns 21.99726 on Wednesday so we are celebrating. She is taking the off work and we will have fun, till I have to go work in the arvo. Andrea turns 22 on Thursday but I won’t be there, hence the celebration of her turning 21.99726.

Beechmont Launch

Well on Sunday I headed out with some friends to Natural Arch (Natural Bridge) to take some photos and take photos we did. I am not yet happy with my photos of the bridge or the creek in general. I was however happy with this photo of a Stinging Plant.

Stinging Tree Leaves

About 12ish we started to splinter off with people going home. I decided though that I had all day, some petrol and plenty of “film” left. I had thought of heading up to Binna Burra and taking a short walk but as I went past the Beechmont Launch on my way I stopped there instead and took some photos. Whilst the conditions for the hang and para gliders was not the best, there were still a handful up in the air.

Take off. This girl was lucky on her second time attempting to reach the clouds.
Take off

Paraglider and a model glider.
"in flight"

Looking across the top of the launch area.
Beechmont Launch

Blowin’ in the Wind
Blowin' in the wind

Safety Floats.
I don’t think getting caught in these powerlines would be a wise life choice. Hence the big red balls.
warning floats

I even managed to pick up my first hitch-hiker on that trip as well. Mum was quite shocked when I walked into the house and told her that. Well, that is until I explained the hitch-hiker. I had thought of driving home via Canungra but a km or so down the road from Beechmont I decided against it and did a uie, on my way back up the road I saw a paraglider lugging his big pack with his thumb out. I thought well I have just been taking photos of you all, so I may as well repay the favour with a lift back. I picked him up and a had a nice chat on the way back to the launch site about para-gliding and photography.