Blounts on the road

NSW North Coast & Home

2008-08-24T05:33:00.000-07:00

Our last camp (Corindi Beach)

Do we have to go home?

We could join the circus!

We’re back!

South East QLD

2008-08-24T04:19:00.000-07:00

Fraser Island

Fraza will amaze ya

Amazing rainforest

Amazing lakes

Amazing beaches

Amazing fishing

Watch out for these guys though

Whale Watching

The Blounts were lucky enough to be in Hervey Bay in prime whale watching time

And the whales didn’t disappoint

Who’s checking who out

Yeah, see you later too

Sunshine Coast

The famous five (Ricky, Daniel, Josh, Chloe & Levi)

When in Queensland…….

Yeah, it’s a pretty place

Gold Coast

The Goldy is kiddy heaven

The Halls (Karina, Len Ben, Ellen & Rosie) showed us the sights

Chloe, would you like a cup of rosy tea?

This is easy Dad, can I try the Prado later?

OK, let it go kids, I think its had enough

Watch out mate!

Wet Tropics

2008-08-08T05:19:00.000-07:00

After 1500km of diesel and dust the Blounts made it to the east coast

Hey, the Frenchies are here too!

Thats cause for a celebration

As is Craig’s 21st birthday

Petanque with the Frenchies on a Daintree beach

Beachcombing with the Frenchies

Don’t let that tree kangaroo get away Josh

It aint no cassowary, but its big

Cute, but they’re not coming home with us

We were lucky enough to have some 5-star time in Cairns (thanks Di and Steve)

Then it was off to the stunning Whitsundays

For some snorkelling

And fishing

And just hanging around

Savannah Way

2008-07-29T05:02:00.000-07:00

Its mostly diesel and dust on the Savannah Way from Katherine to Cairns

But there are some pretty rivers too

Lunch in the middle of a river with The Family

Slippery dip, Top End style

Who needs a bath up here when you have hot springs everywhere

Sure it looks nice, but would you swim there ?

The kids are good at catching local wildlife now

And knowing which ones to leave alone

I know you already opened 20 today, but one more can’t hurt

Katherine Gorge

Yep, its big

Cool hand Josh

On the 8th day, God created Lawn Hill NP!

And he made it so only nice crocs (freshies) live there

Adam and Eve must live here somewhere

C’mon “Stroke, Stroke”

Top End

2008-07-14T04:48:00.000-07:00

Darwin

Surprise! Barbs has come to Darwin to visit us

Double surprise! DI and Steve have flown in too

We could catch some massive fish with this thing dad!

Race you to the top Chloe!

Cute frogs

Bad toads

Litchfield NP

Litchfield is waterfall and waterhole heaven

These are supposedly the biggest lizards in the waterways here

Nice pencil dive Di – 8 out of 10

Nice haircut Josh

Where we are, the Myers (ala ‘The Family’) are never too far away

There must be a lot of work for the Flick Man up here

Nice lines Di and Steve but can you do a river crossing?

Kakadu

This park is truly magnificent

Dawn on Kakas

The Jabiru - Kakadu icon

Jesus isn’t the only one who could walk on water

Yellow Water

Craig, are you sure its safe to fish here?

Yep, its worth it if you catch a barra

Not as big as our barra

The artist left little doubt as to whether this is man or woman

Sunset at Ubirr

Cobourg Peninsula

Off go the Blounts into Arnhem land

A land that time forgot

Its a very scenic drive up to Cobourg

Plenty of friendly wildlife

The black patch on the right is hundreds of barra trying to cross the causeway

Yep, it was worth the drive up

But where are the fish?

We’ll settle for some muddies

That culture day (spearcraft) at the aboriginal school payed off

Ah, roast muddy and stew

You gotta love the Territory

Gibb River Road

2008-06-27T05:04:00.001-07:00

The Gibb River Road is 800 kms of dirt and runs straight through the middle of the Kimberley

The way is very scenic

But it can be very challenging at times

And it takes many victims

Its not supposed to rain in June - But it did!

The Blounts were up to it

No road too rough!

No river too deep!

No croc too big!

We made some new friends

Including the Bowlers

And caught up with some old friends

We swam in many of the gorges

And hung around at many others

Yes that is Chloe on the rope swing!

We found a croc and a king brown snake at Tunnel Creek

And a taipan at Windjana

Chloe wanted to paint the rocks too

Next time it rains we should stay in here

Ningaloo

2008-06-14T06:03:00.001-07:00

Across the Tropic went the Blounts

To Ningaloo Reef

Being a Marine Park and Surrounded by National Park, Ningaloo has plenty of beautiful beaches;

Sand dunes;

Coastal Wilderness;

Relaxing campsites;

And Wildlife.

But we really came here for was:

The fishing;

And the diving.

Giant 30m white pointers (Megalodon) used to live here but thankfully only their fossilised teeth remain

We loved it here

And it was also Phillipe’s birthday

North West coast of WA

2008-06-10T06:11:00.000-07:00

80 Mile Beach

Cape Keraudren is at the southern end of 80 mile Beach

Barn Hill Station is at the north

Beautiful mermaids can be found here

And the waters are teeming with fish

Big fish at that

There were plenty of other creatures to be found

Lets play ‘Everyone jump on Craig’

You never get sick of these

Broome

There is something about Broome. Is itCable Beach;

the Pearling history;

Camels;

The stairway to the moon;

Dinosaur footprints;

Or the stunning sunsets.

This circular breathing thing isn’t so hard

Yeah its easy

Now try lighting them kid.

Cape Leveque

North of Broome is Cape Leveque

and we didn’t paint the rocks red

They are really this red!

The Buccaneer Archipelago

And the Horizontal Waterfalls

Another fisherman’s paradise

Captain Bluebone strikes again

How about we leave some in the sea buddy

No more buying bait

A day at the local school and the kids joined in an interesting lesson – spearmaking

And the sunsets aren’t half bad either

Karijini

2008-05-10T18:43:00.000-07:00

After about 15,000 kms of coast

It was time for another tree change for the Blounts

The Hammersley Ranges of the Pilbara

are heavily mined

by Tonka trucks on steroids.

Luckily some of the Pilbara is national park ‘Karijini’

This is an oasis of gorges and waterholes

That you can slip and slide your way through

Getting into the gorges can be a little tricky at times

But Chloe was up to the challenge

Josh only knows one way in

Sure its hot, but aren’t you kids overdoing the sunscreen a little

Plenty of swimming is required but the water is warm

This place was too much fun

For kids and grownups

Can we stay here forever?

Perth to Shark Bay

2008-04-30T07:28:00.000-07:00

Rottnest Island

Whats for dinner?

How about lobster?

No Josh, quokka soccer has been banned

The Batavia Coast

The Batavia and other Dutch ships were wrecked on this coast 150 years before Cook - this is understandable as the wind never stops here.

And of course the Sydney lays off here

The Blounts visist another Australian Icon - the Pinnacles

I need a boat

How about we get one?

This is fast dad!

Natures window at Kalbarri

Shark Bay

Into the tropics and we were greeted by cyclone Pancho

But it soon cleared up and we were away

This is a world heritage area, home to:

bilbies

turtles and dugongs

stromatolites

plenty of shags

Big tiger sharks like this 12 footer

and the best fishing yet

pinkies

blackies

Cook this up please Craig

We were lucky enough to meet the Butcharts (Wayne, Tania, Rachel and Monique)

who took us exploring

to the Peron Peninsula

and Faure Island

Captain Josh

Goodbye beautiful Shark Bay

Monkey Mia

Monkey Mia - where man meets dolphin

and girl meets dolphin

South West WA

2008-04-10T01:51:00.000-07:00

ESPERANCE and CAPE LE GRANDE

This is surely one of the best parts of Australia

Check out the white beaches

We hung out with a French family: Phillipe (dad), Agnes (mum), Juliette (9) and Louise (7) whom we are now travelling with

More beautiful beaches

And some cute kids too

The surf gets good around here

Chloe gave out a few tips to the Frenchies

Esperance Locals

Leatherjackets are always a tasty treat

One happy lad

And why wouldn’t he be!

Many hands make light work

The International Gameboy challenge

And yes we still managed time for some school work

ALBANY and DENMARK

They once caught whales around here

Now they catch salmon

Beautiful beaches at Albany

Yes it is beautiful, but you can’t keep it Chloe

Agnes’ birthday party

THE FOREST and MARGARET RIVER

Massive prehistoric forests occur around here

And this is the biggest tree of all

The easy way up to the canopy

And the hard way up

Supertubes at Yallingup

The south west corner of Australia (you can just see the lighthouse on the left)

South of Perth

Busselton jetty is apparently the longest of them all

Chloe caught up with Sammy,

an old friend from home who has migrated west

The Nullarbor

2008-03-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

There are some nice dunes at the start and end of the Nullarbor

and some good fishing can be had

On the aboriginal land

In between is 1000 kms of treeless plain

Not a lot of water

And a long straight road

On the Nullarbor you may find

a few tourists

traffic hazards

and some unfriendly creatures like this King Brown

No one lives here

The plain drops over sheer cliffs

Into the southern ocean

Which makes for great 5 iron shot.

“FOUR”

Eyre Peninsula

2008-03-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

At the Eyre Peninsula the outback

Meets the sea

In sometimes rugged coastline

With massive dunes

4WD required

There are also some kid friendly beaches

Where we swam

And snorkelled

And hung out with the locals

And some friends

Once you get to the end of these jetties

The fishing is good!

We also collected razor fish (clams)

Which were plentiful at low tide- and yummy!

Port Lincoln is a tuna town and here is a local celeb (probably Dean Lukin) chucking tuna. Apparently this is a favourite past-time down here and you can win 12K in the annual tuna chucking contest!

Of course we had to visit the local tuna farm and as luck would have it ‘Getaway’ were filming on that day, so no charge to us – plus 15 minutes of fame! Look out for the Port Lincoln show soon.

So which guy is the host of Getaway- this good-looking guy with no shirt?

Or this guy with the good looking shirt?

These fish are massive

And tricky to hand feed

Josh was first in

But we all got in eventually

Chloe was brave

The touch tank

There are also some weird rocks on the Eyre

Weird lizards (including these shinglebacks which are a biting version of the blue tongue).

And weird giant seagulls (don’t worry about your chips – these things will take your finger off if you give them half a chance)

The Barossa

2008-03-10T19:29:00.001-07:00

After 6 weeks on the coast and under canvas it was time for a tree change

And some solid walls (Ian’s stone cottage).

The Barossa is a nice mix of old world

farmland

and vineyards.

And when in Rome Do as the Romans

While we were there it happened to be harvest time so after a few tips from the Yalumba school of winemaking

And some of their grapes

The kids were ready

Some Crushing

Fermentation and ageing

And the 2008 Château Blount Shiraz was born- Cheers

K.I., The Coorong &Southern Ports of S.A.

2008-02-12T19:41:00.000-08:00

Kangaroo Island

Apart from a few burnt bits, Kangaroo Island has superb scenery.

Including many beautiful beaches.

There is plenty of wildlife and you can get right up close to:

Penguins,

Sea lions,

And about every other type of Australian animal.

Sometimes too close.

This pony ride turned into a gallop, but Josh hung on.

Most importantly! Chloe made a new friend called Jesse

The boys went fishing

And came up trumps, thanks to Josh.

The Coorong

The Coorong is a huge lagoon at the mouth of the Murray but much of it was dry due to the drought.

The drought meant we could get across to the dunes on the ocean side,

Where we camped

The Prado took on the massive dunes

Without getting bogged

And the beach too.

Mount Gambier and the Southern Ports

Mount Gambier is close to the border – not a lot there except the Blue Lake – which is seriously blue.

Piccaninny Ponds and Ewen Ponds. These ponds are phenomenally clear and provide for a great dive. But they are very cold (15 degrees).

The towns around the southern ports haven’t changed much in 150 years – which is kind of cute.

They are also crayfish heaven- although sadly, when we were there, it was too rough to dive badluck Craig.

The Blounts floating like corks in a salt lake that is 7 times saltier than the sea.

Coastal reefs (probably full of crayfish) around Beachport and Robe.

With little restrictions to 4wd’ing (unlike Victoria) the Prado cut loose.

Great Ocean Road

2008-02-11T20:26:00.000-08:00

THE EASTERLY PART
The Great Ocean Road winds its way spectacularly along the coast of Bass Strait.

Koala bears occur here,And some other remnant fauna.

Bells Beach is on this part of the Great Ocean Road
but the Blounts preferred the smaller breaks.
Better than the old man already.

We were lucky enough to stay at Kades family holiday house at Wye River, in the heart of the Great Ocean Road

Kade and the boys cleaning the beach

Kade's place was overrun with wildlife.

THE 12 APOSTLES

Good photo material, even for amateurs.

Aussie Icons !

Plenty of lighthouses around here

and blowholes too.
See them before they topple down – there are no longer twelve apostles and London Bridge has lost an arch.

THE WESTERLY PART

The petrified forest at Cape Bridgewater

We also did some caving. Can you see the half face?

Must be some good crays around here somewhere.
Believe it or not!

We did some bush camping around here and got a campfire going.

Phillip Island / Melbourne / Breamlea

2008-01-26T03:46:00.000-08:00

The kids had fun at historic Churchill Island farm (adjoining Phillip Island). The kids got to feed all of the farm animals and watch a cow getting milked and Josh got chased by this Cape Barren Goose. Josh almost trod on a very venomous copperhead snake. Lucky he is quick on his feet.

Just near Melbourne is Phillip Island. Although we went there mainly to see the march of the penguins we had plenty else to do!

Every evening hundreds (maybe thousands) of fairy penguins return to roost at a beach on Phillip Island and people get to watch them at close range. Chloe was most excited as she had just watched the movie Happy Feet for about the 5th time. The penguins raft in by the dozen and waddle up the beach with a belly full of fish to feed their chicks. We had front row seats on the beach to see the penguins. No photos are allowed at the march of the penguins .

We are not always eating bush tucker and managed to dine out at this restaurant at the Barwon Heads Surf Club. Surf Clubs in Victoria often have a bar too, which we have been known to frequent in the evening.

We have shrunk Victoria to reduce the food bill.

Strange foods in strange lands.

While in Melbourne we caught some trams (to nowhere in particular) and went to the Australian Open Tennis. Next time we go it will hopefully be to watch Josh in the Juniors. When we went it was the hottest day of the tournament. Although we spent most of the time eating icecream and only watched about a set of tennis in total (as we were on the outside courts in the full sun) it was fun. We watched J. Wilfred Tsonga play a Spanish guy and watched some doubles and womens singles. Good matches but couldn’t tell you who was playing.

We caught up with lots of friends and Chloe and Josh made another new friend – Lexy. Thanks heaps guys for letting us stay. We also caught up with Karina, Tom, Jack, Henry and Oli which Chloe and Josh much enjoyed.

Gippsland

2008-01-18T03:43:00.000-08:00

The Lakes District

We made hay while the sun shined.
Dont worry folks, not much traffic in this part of the world!
Lakes Entrance

Swannies
I thought Ned was dead

We stayed in the car this day

Wilsons Promontory

Wilsons Promontory is amazing!

Camping heaven.

It can get cold though.

We left our mark here

90 Mile Beach

We found a shipwreck at 90 Mile Beach - but no pieces of eight.

Sea monsters

The Gippsland coast (Mallacoota to Wilson's Promontory) is on Bass Strait. This became apparent every time we went in the water, as it was freezing - in the middle of summer too! We were also reminded of this when we heard that a whitepointer shark "the size of a stationwagon" scared some surfers very near to where we were. But the Blounts toughed it out and spent long hours on the Gippsland beaches.

Team Blount

2008-01-09T02:30:00.000-08:00

The Motley Crew

NSW South Coast

2008-01-05T03:23:00.000-08:00

With very bad weather up north the Blounts made the right call to head south (bad luck Sawtell crew). It was a week of visiting and staying with relatives and friends (thanks Kerry, Dave and co., Uncles & aunties, Miles, Jan and Lincoln, and the Sayces).
So far it has been a week of beach time. Josh has been brushing up on his surfing and snorkelling, Chloe on her swimming, Victoria on her tan and Craig is still waiting to catch a fish. Josh has also found a new mate and Chloe is working on her bug collection (more on this later).