Farewell 2016 - Hello 2017

Well here we are looking back over yet another year, 2016, and the beginning of another life adventure in 2017. How come the older I get the quicker the years fly past? That is why I promise myself today, as I have for a number of years, to live each and every day to it's very fullest. But, I must admit I do love this time of the year. Looking back on my year, reflecting on what I have accomplished, what I didn't get around to doing and where I have grown, gives me great satisfaction. Then looking forward to the next twelve months, making goals and planning what adventures I want to experience fills me with much anticipation.

How was your 2016, did you accomplish the goals you wanted to succeed at? I have found this year more than previously there has been a majority of bad news bought to use on our 6.00 news. I myself have made a conscious effort not to watch the news and just read what I want to on the internet. With all this bad news being thrown at us we sometimes forget about all the good things that have happened during the year.

The first five months of 2016 was pretty much indulging myself in my friends and family and accomplishing some goals I had set. Then from May 12th we headed off in our camper Myrtle for another Aussie Adventure. This time it was up to Cape York to the very tip of Australia, across to Karumba, the prawn capitol of Australia.

It was a bit of a hard walk to get there, but it was worth it. 

The best seafood buffet I have had in a while

The three day rodeo in Mount Isa was a highlight and the dinosaur triangle was certainly an eye opener. Along the way we also saw many more amazing sights, learnt so much about our homeland and met some lovely, interesting people. It is nice to now be home, but the travelling lifestyle is certainly in my blood and I am constantly researching where to next. 

I think I have become a bit of a rodeo junkie!

Amazing discoveries

The trail of our Aussie Adventure 3

What will 2017 hold for us all? Do you set yourself some goals (I dislike the term New Year Resolutions)? If so, what is one of your goals you would like to accomplish in 2017? I used to do the whole New Years Resolution thing but I found that just set me up for failure. It was to much for me looking at the whole twelve months as a whole. I now break my year down into months, weeks and even days. I have a monthly goal chart that I stick nine things I would like to accomplish during the month. Some of these goals do carry on through several months or even the whole year, depending on how much I am progressing with the challenge.  I also have my daily diary where each night I write down some things I want to accomplish during the week or following day. Yes, I know I am a list person, always have been. I find it works most of the time so I'm not changing now. 

My monthly goal chart

So what monthly goals am I going to set myself for 2017? That is the question, I don't know yet. I find on January first the goals seem to just flow to me. I'm not sure if we will be departing on another big Aussie Adventure, this year might include smaller adventures to places where were will concentrate on a smaller area. I will definitely still be doing my Hometown Adventures while I'm in Melbourne. It's very satisfying learning about the history and goings on of your hometown.

I would also like to thank each and every one of you here on my blog and on facebook for joining me in my adventure this year. I have loved all your comments and have enjoyed having you all along for the ride. Here's to the ending of 2016 and the beginning of 2017 and look forward to seeing what we all can accomplish.

Crocodile Dundee Walkabout Hotel, McKinlay

As usual our last night in Mount Isa we went out for dinner. This time is was a visit to the Mount Isa Irish Club. The meal was pretty good but my main fascination was to why an Irish Club in Mount Isa would have a Melbourne tram inside the building, featuring as it's Tram Stop Cafe?? 

Mount Isa Mine at night

Tram Stop Cafe

Next morning it was off to McKinlay. McKinlay was named after the Australian explorer John McKinlay who passed through the area in 1862 during his epic travels from Adelaide to the Gulf of Carpentaria in search of the ill-fated explorers Burke and Wills. 

The local police station lock up
 - although it's not used as it doesn't comply with standards

Queensland's smallest library - used as the tour office in the movie

This building has had many uses included being a Pool Hall

We decided to have a couple of nights at the Walkabout Creek Hotel which was featured in the Crocodile Dundee movies starring Paul Hogan.  With a population of only 20 there is not much to see in this little village but there is a lot of history. The new owners of two years have done a lot to give the tourists a real Crocodile Dundee feel. Only recently they were contacted by the personal assistant of John Cornell "Strep" who in the past was Paul Hogans manager to see if the hotel would like all the artefacts from the sets from the pub scenes of the first two movies. Of course the pub owners jumped at the chance. John Cornell had kept all the paraphernalia in a storage unit for 30 years and had decided it was time for others to enjoy it.

Walkabout Creek Hotel

A replica of the vehicle they used in the movie

The actual bar, bottles, barrel, boar's head and swizzle sticks
 used in the first two Crocodile Dundee movies. 

Then whilst talking to the pub owner he asked if we would like to jump in his car and go for a drive around this tiny in size but big in history village.  Of course we jumped at the chance. Prior to being featured in the movies the pub was called the Federal Hotel, but when the movies became so popular there was a name change. The pub was also originally down the what was then the main road but when it needed to be re stumped it was moved onto the now highway. From what I could tell it certainly does get a lot of visitors dropping in to checkout this Aussie Icon.

The once main street of  McKinlay

We also went for a drive up the road (80 kms) to another interesting pub,The Blue Heeler Pub. It's literally a pub in the middle of nowhere. But this pub has an interesting history as it is said to be where the famous Banjo Patterson wrote the iconic Australian song Waltzing Matilda.

Kynuna Blue Heeler Pub

The walls and ceiling of the main bar area re covered in names.
The earliest I could see was 1994

During our last night we had quite a lot of rain and we were greeted by a bit of flooding at our front door when we woke up. Oh well it's not the first time I've been flooded as I was a lot back in my tent camping days.

Here come the clouds

Our little lake we woke to. 

It's very flat flat land out here, and a lot of sky

More interesting landscape - well the clouds are at least

Aussie Adventure Part 3

After a few weeks of getting organised we are finally off on another Aussie Adventure for the third time. This time we are heading north to the tip of Australia - Cape York. We have made a loose itinerary but if this trip is anything like our last two our plans could change and any time. Our first night was spent at a free camp in the north east area of Victoria, Bellbird Creek. We camped behind the Bellbird Hotel in a lush green paddock surrounded buy evergreen trees and other trees covered in glorious Autumn colours. All the owners ask is that you spend some money in the pub, which is not a problem for us!! Waking up to kookaburras, various birds and cows mooing was an enjoyable start to our adventure.

We are now having a couple of nights in Batemans Bay with my son Shane, daughter in law Stacey and my two adorable grandsons O'Shea and Finn. Tomorrow we will be heading inland for our 2,643 km journey up to Cairns. 

Saturday night at The Meadows

You may ask where and what The Meadows is? Well The Meadows is one of the two greyhound racing tracks in Melbourne and is situated about 26 km (26 mins) from Melbourne CBD. It's also where four girlfriends and I had our Christmas night out last Saturday night. I'm not much of a gambler but this is a pretty entertaining night which includes entry to the venue, and a buffet dinner, which was quite nice. We were lucky our table was situated right at the windows and looking straight at the finish line. I really like greyhounds and would like to adopt one but it's a bit pointless while we are still in our travelling mode. I have been friends with Alice, Melissa, Robyn and Wanda for around 15 years and cherish their friendship, and we always have a lot of fun when we venture out. I did have a win and a couple of placegetters so I came out about even.

Davine, Robyn, Alice, Wanda and Melissa out for a great night

Here they come

This little beauty won me some money 

As night fell the sky turned the most amazing colour

Seeing we have finishing our travels for a little while and staying home for Christmas I have decided to do a bit of exploring in my own city, Melbourne. So I will be doing some posts on what beautiful attractions Melbourne has to offer. 

I'd love to wish all my readers a very merry Christmas and the happiest New Year. 

I have also just started an online Photography and Social Media course with UTAS (University of Tasmania) and we have to keep a journal on our progress. So I have decided to do my online journal on 53 Buddhas and also on a Tumblr site I am in the progress of setting up. 

Bourke to Cunnamulla

We ended up having a couple of nights in Bourke. I liked the town a lot more than I thought I would. Bourke is situated on the Darling River which along with the Murray River is the two major river in Australia. I was very surprised to see just how muddy this river is, like an upside down river.

Darling River - Bourke

Bourke has a very interesting old cemetery with some interesting subscriptions on some of the old graves. The bush ranger "Captain Starlight" is laid to rest there. Also one of Australia's most loved and influential people "Fred Hollows" is also laid to rest there too. Fred Hollows was actually a New Zealander and his first visit Bourke was in 1971 when he was Chair of the Division of Ophthalmology at the University of New South Wales. From the first time he set foot in Bourke, he fell in love with the town and its people. Fred was buried with his glasses, a bottle of whiskey, letters from his children, sawdust from his workshop, his pipe and a tin of tobacco. Throughout his life he did so much for so many people and their eyesight. What an amazing man he was. 

Fred Hollows Grave

This morning we headed off not really knowing where we would stay tonight. When we hit the New South Wales - Queensland border we came across the historic (very old) Tattersalls Hotel. More interesting than the hotel was Mary the 91 year old publican. She was such a character with lots of stories. She loved the horse racing, so her and Shane had a lot to talk about. She also had an interesting story about Fred Hollows too. Many years ago he visited the hotel and she sat in her kitchen and had a bowl of her homemade veggie soup. She said he was a "pretty rough bloke. Tough and he swore like a trouper". As we were leaving she said to Shane "I wish you could stay longer and we could talk racing all day". She was such a personality to meet along the way. 

Tattersalls Hotel - NSW / Queensland Border

So now here we are for the night in Cunnamulla, Queensland. Today has been the best weather so far 27c. We have also had our first Queensland sunset tonight , which was pretty nice. 

Our first Queensland Sunset

We thought we might stay two nights but will probably head off tomorrow as the people who are running this caravan would have to be the two rudest caravan park managers I have ever come across. 

Clyde Mountain

Well leaving Batemans Bay this morning was a bit sad for me as I'm not sure when I will see my son Shane, daughter in law Stacey and my grandsons O'Shea and Finn again. I was already missing them 2km down the road. We decided to head home the inland way rather than the coast. The road takes you up the Clyde Mountain with is a scarey road to drive down! But seeing we were going up we weren't worried at all. Only problem was it was drizzling and foggy all the way so we had to take it easy. Because this road runs between the coast and our countries capital Canberra it was pretty busy after this long weekend. But once we got past the Canberra turn off we had the road to ourselves until we hit the Hume Freeway. Which is the main freeway between Sydney and Melbourne. Once again we were surrounded by cars!! After a drive of just over 5 hours we decided to spend the night in Albury which is on the border on New South Wales and Victoria. We are staying in a cabin in a caravan park we have stayed at a few times before. After leaving Batemans Bay on a 13c morning the day turned into a delightful mid 20c's but the  wind has just turned cool and picked up so we may have a bit if rain tonight. So on that note I will say goodnight.

Our Week in Yarrawonga

Well we have arrived in Yarrawonga safely with our camper and after a very warm and tiring set up and a yummy dinner we are now settled down at our camp. For my international friends Yarrawonga is situated on the Murray River, which is the border between Victoria and New South Wales. As you can see by my photos below our camp is in a perfect position overlooking the river. I am really looking forward to my week here.