Saw I misdated my last blog. Oh well. Left Lightning Ridge and headed south on Castlereagh Hwy to almost Walgett then headed east to Glen Innes. Saw emus and red foxes and dead ‘roo’s. This is real outback. Found the coolant problem, a small leak in the radiator. Will see about getting it fixed tomorrow or use stop leak. Spent the night at Blue Sapphire Caravan park. Did a load of laundry. Lots of parrots around, the owner called them king parrots.
Day 22 Monday August 18
No one in town knew about a radiator shop so I went to an auto store and bought some Stop Leak and put it in the radiator. Will see how it works. Left town and headed north on hwy 15 to Tenterfield . From there went to Boonoo Boonoo NP.
Very pretty water falls and sights. Stopped at a picnic site along the river and saw a platypus. Real neat but picture is not good. I then went to Bald Mt. NP which has the largest exposed granite outcrop in the southern hemisphere. It is 1277 meters high (3700 ft above sea level). The long path up goes through boulder tunnels and is 2.2 km. On the way I saw a lyre bird but it did not stay put long enough to get a picture. Drat. It was very windy on the top and I had to take my hat off. Nice views all around. I then took the steep way down the face of the mountain. 
A 1km trail. Saw some red necked wallabies too. A good 
day. Spent the night at blue Sapphire Caravan Park in Tenterfield. Cold night again.23 Tuesday August 19
Left Blue Sapphire Caravan Park and headed north on A15. Took the road to Girraween NP. Climbed the “Pyramid” and had some great views, especially of the big granite rock I climbed
the day before. This climb was much steeper and lucky the footing was good. No lyre birds even though the guide book says lots of them. 
Continued north on A15 through Warwick, Toowoomba to Hamiltor where I turned right onto hwy 85 to Esk where I spent the night. Esk Carravan park space number 6. This is the first night I have been able to sit outside for dinner and feel reasonably comfortable. It is not windy or cold. Checked the coolant level and it look like none was used. Wheee! Will keep checking and hope it stays.
Left Blue Sapphire Caravan Park and headed north on A15. Took the road to Girraween NP. Climbed the “Pyramid” and had some great views, especially of the big granite rock I climbed
the day before. This climb was much steeper and lucky the footing was good. No lyre birds even though the guide book says lots of them. 
Continued north on A15 through Warwick, Toowoomba to Hamiltor where I turned right onto hwy 85 to Esk where I spent the night. Esk Carravan park space number 6. This is the first night I have been able to sit outside for dinner and feel reasonably comfortable. It is not windy or cold. Checked the coolant level and it look like none was used. Wheee! Will keep checking and hope it stays.Day 24 Wednesday August 20
Left Esk on hwy 85and headed towards Beerwah on hwy 6. Australian (Crockodile Hunter) Zoo)was just a few km’s north. It was very nice there, clean with lots of staff showing off animals, that you can touch if you want. It costs $50A and includes all the shows. Spent 5 hours there. I got to the aviary just a morning feeding. Wow birds flying all over the place. The main stage show had elephants, snakes, birds and of course crocodiles. The birds (parrots, cockatoos, and jabiru) were neat in that they were allowed to fly free and they all came back. The wombat and the Tasmanian devil were very cute and cuddly critters. Spend the night at Landsborough PinesCaravan Park at which there are ponds with lots of birds. I think I got a little sun today even though I put on sunscreen. First day for shorts. Yea!! There was just a accident outside the park where a woman ran a stop sign and ran into a empty tour bus. No injuries.
Left Esk on hwy 85and headed towards Beerwah on hwy 6. Australian (Crockodile Hunter) Zoo)was just a few km’s north. It was very nice there, clean with lots of staff showing off animals, that you can touch if you want. It costs $50A and includes all the shows. Spent 5 hours there. I got to the aviary just a morning feeding. Wow birds flying all over the place. The main stage show had elephants, snakes, birds and of course crocodiles. The birds (parrots, cockatoos, and jabiru) were neat in that they were allowed to fly free and they all came back. The wombat and the Tasmanian devil were very cute and cuddly critters. Spend the night at Landsborough PinesCaravan Park at which there are ponds with lots of birds. I think I got a little sun today even though I put on sunscreen. First day for shorts. Yea!! There was just a accident outside the park where a woman ran a stop sign and ran into a empty tour bus. No injuries.
Day 25 Thursday August 21
Left Landsborough and headed north on A1 until just past Gympie where I took the road to Kilkivan and then a side road to A3 North. The side road was only paved in the middle for much of it so with oncoming traffic I had to drive half on pavement and half on dirt. Spent the night at Biloela Caravan Park space 27. The road was scenic but as usual very bumpy and uneven. No dead ‘roos on the road and not much wild life. The rv park has a bunch of peacocks and guinea hens running around. Noisy buggers.
Left Landsborough and headed north on A1 until just past Gympie where I took the road to Kilkivan and then a side road to A3 North. The side road was only paved in the middle for much of it so with oncoming traffic I had to drive half on pavement and half on dirt. Spent the night at Biloela Caravan Park space 27. The road was scenic but as usual very bumpy and uneven. No dead ‘roos on the road and not much wild life. The rv park has a bunch of peacocks and guinea hens running around. Noisy buggers.
Day 24 Friday August 22
Stayed in Biloela until the bank opened and got some more money. Filled up the petrol tank and headed west on hwy 60 to Banana where I took A7 to Emerald. Spent the night at a place set aside at the local botanical gardens. No fee and no services. Warming up now. Should be plenty warm overnight.
Day 25 Saturday august 23
Left Emerald after a nice reasonably warm night and headed to Sapphire to look up some people Jim of the Shelton Rock club knows. After a few stops found one man who knew both couples and off I went. Met Lou and Trudy at their place which is on the way to Graves Hill fossicking area (rockhounding). Very nice couple. Lou has had the flu and invited me on Tuesday to watch him run his machine to separate sapphirs from junk. He showed me some of his gems he has cut and there are very nice. Lou said he will set me up with the equipment I need on Sunday afternoon. He is good friends with the other couple I was suppose to see. John and Toni live in town and ows a mine just outside of town. He and his wife both have real jobs outside the sapphire business. John gave me a piece of opal to bring back to Jim of the rock club. Spent some time touring the area. Spent the night in the local free camping area set aside by the local community.
Stayed in Biloela until the bank opened and got some more money. Filled up the petrol tank and headed west on hwy 60 to Banana where I took A7 to Emerald. Spent the night at a place set aside at the local botanical gardens. No fee and no services. Warming up now. Should be plenty warm overnight.
Day 25 Saturday august 23
Left Emerald after a nice reasonably warm night and headed to Sapphire to look up some people Jim of the Shelton Rock club knows. After a few stops found one man who knew both couples and off I went. Met Lou and Trudy at their place which is on the way to Graves Hill fossicking area (rockhounding). Very nice couple. Lou has had the flu and invited me on Tuesday to watch him run his machine to separate sapphirs from junk. He showed me some of his gems he has cut and there are very nice. Lou said he will set me up with the equipment I need on Sunday afternoon. He is good friends with the other couple I was suppose to see. John and Toni live in town and ows a mine just outside of town. He and his wife both have real jobs outside the sapphire business. John gave me a piece of opal to bring back to Jim of the rock club. Spent some time touring the area. Spent the night in the local free camping area set aside by the local community.
Day 26 August 24 Sunday
Went to the local flee market after breakfast. This was not ordinary in that there were cut gems in the thousands of dollars worth each just sitting there waiting for someone to buy them. Wow. I had a fried egg and ham sandwich for a snack. Yum. Found out Lou was still not doing well so he may not work his mine equipment on Tues. Went and rented some gear and headed off to one of the site. Spent all day digging, screening and wet screen. No luck. Found out all the sites available for free have been dug commercially and have be dug by thousands of people over the years. I will try a new place tomorrow. Went back to the free camping place for the night.
Went to the local flee market after breakfast. This was not ordinary in that there were cut gems in the thousands of dollars worth each just sitting there waiting for someone to buy them. Wow. I had a fried egg and ham sandwich for a snack. Yum. Found out Lou was still not doing well so he may not work his mine equipment on Tues. Went and rented some gear and headed off to one of the site. Spent all day digging, screening and wet screen. No luck. Found out all the sites available for free have been dug commercially and have be dug by thousands of people over the years. I will try a new place tomorrow. Went back to the free camping place for the night.
Day 27 August 25 Monday
While having breakfast, two horsed slowly wandered up to the van and stuck there head in to see what I was eating. Gave each half a carrot, wrong thing to do as it was then hard to get rid of them. Note that cows, horses, and goats wander freely around town. Well, after horsing around, I went and spent more time digging, sieving and washing dirt trying to make my fortune. Unlucky today. So I am spending the night in Rubyvale, at the Bedford Gardens Caravan Park which is a few km north of Sapphire.. While I am cooking dinner some apostle birds came
around, then a couple of rainbow lorikeets were here and a kookaburra landed on the raised tailgate. The owner of the park told me to put some bread in each hand and soon I had 8 to 10 lorikeets on my hands and arms eating. Cool. If I had gotten out a piece of chicken, the kookaburra would have taken it out of my hand too. Fun place, makes up for not finding a sapphire, that is for sure.
While having breakfast, two horsed slowly wandered up to the van and stuck there head in to see what I was eating. Gave each half a carrot, wrong thing to do as it was then hard to get rid of them. Note that cows, horses, and goats wander freely around town. Well, after horsing around, I went and spent more time digging, sieving and washing dirt trying to make my fortune. Unlucky today. So I am spending the night in Rubyvale, at the Bedford Gardens Caravan Park which is a few km north of Sapphire.. While I am cooking dinner some apostle birds came
around, then a couple of rainbow lorikeets were here and a kookaburra landed on the raised tailgate. The owner of the park told me to put some bread in each hand and soon I had 8 to 10 lorikeets on my hands and arms eating. Cool. If I had gotten out a piece of chicken, the kookaburra would have taken it out of my hand too. Fun place, makes up for not finding a sapphire, that is for sure. 
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