PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Don
With Tropical Cyclone Hamish hovering over the east of North
Queensland, we decided to try and outrun it from Mackay to Maryfarms. Leaving Mackay at 6:40am on Saturday 7 March 2009, my best friend, Ness was checking out the Bureau of Meteorology website the whole time and texting us of the current situation.
From Mackay we travelled up the Bruce Highway on the coast until Innisfail where we then turned left and headed inland towards Atherton and Mareeba. We had outrun the cyclone and we made it to Maryfarms at approximately 4:30pm. Debra’s instructions to find the farm was drive 15km past Mt Molloy towards Cooktown until you come to Station Creek. Exactly 3km past Station Creek is a dirt track marked 5828. The dirt track to the house is approximately 1.5km long with one creek crossing and one locked gate. Neil and Debra own a 300 acre Mango farm. They are going south for their daughter’s wedding in Noosa and then onto Victoria to see Neil’s family and will be away for approximately 5 weeks.
As their neighbours had invited us over for dinner, we set up camp quickly and then headed out to Dave and Robyn’s house for dinner. Again lovely people that we will be able to call on if anything goes wrong on the farm while Neil and Debra are away. Unfortunately there is no mobile phone or internet reception on the farm however at Mt Molloy, just 15 minutes (20kms) down the road, we do have mobile reception. Neil and Debra have a land line in the house but we are only to use this in case of an emergency or call the neighbours.
On Sunday 8 March 2009, we started learning all about the farm. The power for the house runs from solar panels but has a huge diesel generator as backup power. The twin tub washing machine runs on a smaller one and the diesel irrigation pump pumps water up from the river to all the plants via a sprinkler system. All the generators including the water pump are diesel based but Neil has worked out a way to use old filtered fish and chips cooking oil that they collect from the surrounding areas. They are even using the oil in their diesel Nissan Pathfinder. All seems to work well and they hardly buy any diesel – what a cheap way to go! Not sure about the long term effects on the car motor though. I will have to read more about it on the internet.
While here we have to make sure that the plants receive at least 20mm of water every 3 days either by pumping the water from the creek or rain water. March is still considered the wet season up here so we may not need to pump that often.
Neil and Debra also own 3 kelpie dogs – 1 male, Toby and 2 females, Tara and Lily. So we just have to look after them, make sure they have water and feed them every night.
Our other job on the farm is mowing the couple of acres or so around the house and plants either by two rideons or a push mower. Don really loves the rideon and now you can’t get him off it. With his farm clothes, farm boot, camel back full of water, ipod in the ear and ear muffs, he is thoroughly enjoying the mowing.
Their hot water system for showers is heated by a wood fire combustion stove. Once the fire is lit the water stays hot for approximately 3 days.
Sunday afternoon Neil and Debra took us up to Mary Falls for a swim in the watering hole. Interesting dirt track and a beautiful swimming hole surrounded by boulders and mountains. The crystal clear refreshing water was definitely welcomed after quite a humid day. However, on our way out I slipped on a rock and landed on the inside of my left knee. Quite painful so Nurofen gel and Nurofen Plus are helping a lot.
Neil and Debra are leaving for their trip on Tuesday 10 March 2009 really early so they invited us over for dinner on the Monday night. With Neil being a baker for 30 odd years they made us real homemade pizzas for dinner. Absolutely the best pizza we have tasted in a long time.
On Tuesday, Neil and Debra left for their 5 week holiday. Don and I moved the camper and set up properly for a long stay. We also took a drive out to Mt Molly for some small supplies and to meet the publican of the National Hotel, Scott Peters. During our stay in Brisbane, I happened to score a gig here on the 9 April 2009 so I went in to meet Scott and confirm the gig time. While there Don had some beers and Scott was kind enough to let me use his power to check my emails and also to make some phone calls.
Wednesday was the first time that we started the washing machine generator to do some washing. After about 10 minutes of cranking we finally got it started and twin tub was working great. The crank requires a lot of muscle so Don comes in handy for that.
Our first week on the farm was mainly mowing the lawans. As I have said before, Don loves his rideon with ipod music in the ears, he mows every bit of grass that is too long. Since my rideon has broken down with some sort of electrical problem, I am resolved to the push mower mowing the bits Don can't get to with the rideon.
We also visited our neighbours, Dave and Robyn frequently giving them bananas which are coming out of our ears. Another neighbour, Jean, is the most fascinating country woman you ever meet. Her yarn telling of the days she managed cattled stations are truely amazing. I told her she must write a book of her life.
The local pubs at Mt Carbine (10kms north of us) and Mt Molloy (20kms south of us) are great places for meeting locals and socialising.
Another couple who live in Mt Carbine, Phil and Joyce, own a one acres property in Mt Carbine Village and travel Australia whenever they can get away from their cleaning business in Port Douglas.
My leg is getting better every day as I am trying to use it more and move without a walking stick.
As we don't have much to do on the farm apart from feeding the dogs, mowing the lawns and watering the plants, the rest of our days are pretty much ours. Don has been catching up on watching movies and sorting out his opals which I have been catching up on my reading and website.
On Friday 20 March 2009, I did a free gig at the Mt Carbine 
Hotel. Mark, the publican, and his wife, Janelle, provided bar snacks and various raffles. I also had the hat out for any donations. I ended up gathering $97 - not bad for a free gig. Good to know that more paid gigs are coming up soon with Mt Molloy pub on Thursday 9 April, Jullaten Tavern on Saturday 18 April and Richmond Pub on Saturday 6 June 2009. I am still making heaps of phone calls and emails to try and get more gigs around Maryfarms as well as when we start to travel from Maryfarms to Quilpie at the end of April. We will have 2 months to get to Quilpie so we are just going to take our time and enjoy central Queensland a bit.
Update - Friday 27 March 2009
Our life continues in Maryfarms with more mowing, more watering and feedign the dogs. Apart from those few chores we are quite bored so we go the local pubs to socialise or drive to find a track which takes us somewhere or swim in one of the many natural swimming holes around the area.
While here I have managed to book some gigs around the area in Mt Carbine, Mossman, Cooktown, Mt Molloy and Jullaten. The soloist / karaoke gigs are very successful. I have also booked more gigs for our journey from Maryfarms to Quilpie during May and June.
I also did a soloist gig for just one and half hours at the Mareeba old people's home. You should have seen the men and women's 
faces light up when the music started. Some of them may not be able to walk or talk but they were certainly tapping their toes, smiling, clapping their hands and wiggling in their wheelchairs. This was such a satisfying gig that I definitely need to do more community service gigs like this one. I even had Keith as backup on the bongo drums and no matter what song I sang or whether he knew it or not, his rhythm and beat were impeccable and he ever missed a beat. Quite remarkable for someone in their 70's. Thanks Keith for the backup.
However, after mowing all the yeard with only the driveways left, my ride-on Rover blew up. I mean literally blew up with a big bang, lots of smoke and oil pouring out of the engine on all sides. Later, Dave's explanation of what happened was "Counterweight left the crank shaft and went through the block". What a mouthful but pretty much a new motor is required. We will have to give Neil and Deb, the owners, the bad news next time they ring.
Update - Wednesday 1 April 2009
Twelve months on the road today so we are going fishing with our other neighbours, George and Jean. They have a secret fishing 
spot on the Mitchell River, the second largest water shed behind the Murray-Darling system. Our first cast was using cheese blocks as bait to catch some small black bream or catfish, then use these fish as bait to catch the big suckers. We all caught fish including four big ones and eight smaller ones. George got the big fish of the day being a black bream and I got the smallest fish of the day, a spangled perch about 2in long. We caught many catfish as well but they all went back or the smaller ones were used for bait. What a great day, good company, great spot and terrific fishing. All too easy!In our spare time (of which there is lots) I have been reading a lot of biographies of some Australians living on outback stations and how they cope. Very interesting to the point where I feel we have stepped back in time living on this farm with no running water (our water tanks are filled up from the river) and no power (everything is run by generators). Certainly a lot different to how we have normally been living but still very interesting and certainly all part of the adventure.
Update - Tuesday 28 April 2009
On Wednesday 8 April 2009 we went fishing and gold fossicking on the Palmer River halfway between Maryfarms and Cooktown. Unfortunately, there was no fish for the water was too shallow and definitely no gold only mica known as "fool's gold". On the way home we stopped at the McLeod River for another fish (no, the McLeod's Daughters do not live here) but only caught a couple of small black brean that we kept for bait.
On Good Friday we spent the day at Phil and Joyce's place, locals of Mt Carbine. Then we were invited to Stretch and Irene's place, other locals of Mt Carbine, where I did a free gig. It ended up being a great party and night with Mark (the Mt Carbine Hotel publican) on the harmonica as backup. Unfortunately, at the end of the night, our car wouldn't start cause of a flat battery so Irene had to jump start us. I will have to look into this problem after Easter.
So on Easter Saturday, we took a drive into Mareeba to Repco to see whether it was the alternator. If you remember the alternator was replaced in January in Woolgoolga. Or it could be one of the two batteries. Unfortunately, with all the local auto electricians closed over the Easter break, we left Mareeba with the hope that by turning off the Engel in the back of the car, the car will start until we are able to get back into Mareeba on Tuesday.
So Easter Saturday night we spent at George and Jean's having a BBQ with some other neighbours that we hadn't met yet. By Saturday afternoon, I felt a head cold coming on, so Easter Sunday was spent in bed blowing my nose, coughing and taking drugs. I really felt like death warmed up!
Neil and Deb (the owners of the Maryfarms property) should be home some time after the Easter weekend so after my gig in Julatten on Saturday 18 April 2009, we will leave Maryfarms to head south towards Quilpie. So far we are going to take the opal trail down to Quilpie over a 2 month period and I have approximately 9 gig booked so far for the journey.
Wednesday 15 April and Thursday 16 April 2009 was spent mowing the lawns and tidying up the place for Neil and Deb's arrival. As it was they rang on Friday morning to let us know that they would be home Friday afternoon. Great planning, don't you think! The 3 kelpies, Toby, Lara and Lily were very excited to see their owners back home. As they arrived late afternoon, we invited them over for dinner at our camp. They had a great holiday and travelled 10,000kms in 5 weeks. In contrast, we have travelled 25,000kms in just over a year. Just goes to show how slow we are doing our trip with no rush and no plans in the future to finish any time soon.
The gig at Jullaten on Saturday night went really well with approximately 10 singers up singing and having a great time. It is a lovely old wooden tavern with lovely Bec and Antony as the managers.
Since our time to leave Maryfarms was coming up soon, on Monday 20 April 2009 we decided to do the usual maintenance such as oil change, checks, lubes, tyres, etc.
On Wednesday 22 April 2009, we started to pack up so with everything almost packed for leaving tomorrow, we decided one last night at the Mt Carbine hotel with dinner was on the cards. Thanks very much to the publicans of Mt Carbine Hotel, Mark and Janelle, for a warm welcome into the community.
We are still having problems with our camera so not many photos yet. Hopefully we will be able to purchase another one once we hit a major town.
Don't forget to check out "more photos" on the right hand side of this website.
Till our next trip, take care.
