Author: Bill

On our trip to the Boyne Valley I mentioned we started in Calliope and followed Hiway 69 south. Well, just a little ways down that road and just into the Boyne Valley is a turnoff to Kroombit Tops National Park … only 70 Kilometers away from the turnoff. Our destination today was Kroombit Tops National Park so we took the turn and headed west. Very interesting drive and a very interesting park.

National Parks in Australia are not like National Parks in the US. There is no big gate with a visitors center, ticket sales, maps, and talks. Australian National Parks are very natural and the original state of the geography, roads, flora and fauna are not messed with. They are an opportunity to visit Australia as it was before tourism. There are roads, and a few signs, but little else. Areas are set aside for camping but few facilities, and there are hiking trails that are marked and calibrated (you know how far you are going to walk before you leave).

I hate to do this but to give the park it’s due, I have copied some info from the Queensland National Park site … I thnk it describes the diversity and natural environment of Australia’s National Parks. There are many of them, some well marked and popular, others hard to find. Australia does not spend a great deal of money on them and each state is responsible for the parks in their state. I’m not sure what Kroombit means or where the name came from. My guess is that it is an Aboriginal word. A very interesting aspect of the park is the WWII Bomber that crashed in the park in 1945 and was not found for 50 years. I did not know of it when we went there and we didn’t have tme to make the drive to it when we saw the signs. A sure trip in the future.

Kroombit Tops began forming about 215 million years ago when volcanoes erupted and a great circular caldera, or crater, about 40km across collapsed beneath them. About 25 million years later, the area was covered by ocean, covering the volcanic rock with sand beds that were eventually compressed to form sandstone.
Over time, the surrounding countryside eroded away but the tough volcanic rocks capped with sandstone resisted erosion, forming the high plateau of Kroombit Tops. The steep slopes and exposed 100m high sandstone cliffs can be seen along the east and north-east boundaries of the park.
Over millions of years, streams draining to the west and south have carved narrow valleys in the hard volcanic rocks, creating steep-sided gullies and deep gorges where rainforests now grow. The Kroombit, Dry and Callide creeks all flow west into the agricultural Callide Valley while the Munholme and Three Moon creeks flow south into the Burnett River via Cania Dam.
Climate
Because Kroombit Tops stands about 900m above surrounding areas to the east, the weather it experiences is much cooler and wetter—a ‘temperate island’ in the subtropics. Temperatures are generally 5 to 10ºC cooler than the surrounding lowlands and can be quite cold in winter, especially at night.
On average, 1800mm of rain falls here each year, whereas nearby Gladstone receives just 1020mm. There is also a marked difference in rainfall across the plateau reflecting differences in elevation, aspect, and the influence of the escarpment. Rainfall is higher in the east and south-east, and lower in the west and north-west. Summer storms with destructive winds are common in the surrounding area, often causing branches to fall from large trees.
Plants
Kroombit Tops supports a wide variety of plants—more than 850 species. Three species are found only on this plateau and many are listed as rare or threatened. Vegetation communities change as you move from the south-east to the north-west.
In the wetter south-eastern sandstone country, blackbutt forests dominate, while subtropical rainforests grow around Three Moon and Munholme creeks. Piccabeen palms, brush box, coachwood and white beech, which are normally found further south in temperate rainforests, can be found here.
On the park’s eastern slopes and broad valley floors, open Sydney blue gum forests, pink bloodwood and rough-barked apple trees flourish. Sydney blue gum is another southern species normally found along the coast from south-east Queensland to Batemans Bay in southern New South Wales. It was one of the main trees harvested at Kroombit Tops from 1969 to 1995.
Further west the vegetation changes to drier white mahogany, grey gum and ironbark woodlands. In rocky areas, a stunted form of brush box locally known as ‘supplejack’ grows. This thin whip-like variety of brush box is very different from the towering subtropical rainforest form.
Dry rainforest grows in fire-resistant gullies on the drier western slopes. Look for the distinctive hoop pines towering above the canopy. Some individuals can grow as tall as 40–50m. In the far west, hoop pine forests merge with a dry bottle tree community.
Animals
Kroombit Tops’ varied vegetation and topography shelters diverse wildlife—71 mammal species, 165 bird species, 70 reptile species, 30 amphibians and numerous insect and spider species thrive here. Two species of frog are found nowhere else. Many animals are at the northern or southern limit of their distribution or are genetically distinct populations.
Mammals
Most of Kroombit Tops’ mammals are difficult to see because they live in caves or are active only at night. However, a sharp eye during a walk or drive at night might surprise you. Rufous bettongs are often seen at night in grassy areas, often feeding beside the road on new plant growth, while swamp wallabies are common in shrubby forest. Kroombit’s caves and trees provide roosting sites for more than 20 species of insectivorous bats. Tree hollows provide nests for short-eared possums (also called bobucks or mountain brushtail possums) and five species of gliders, the most common being the greater glider.
In dry woodlands and open forests, insects and spiders provide food for the mouse-like common dunnart. Herbert’s rock-wallabies bound around the escarpments overlooking the Boyne Valley and rocky outcrops along Kroombit Creek and upper Callide Creek. They are difficult to spot because they are secretive and well camouflaged, but you might see their droppings—cylindrical with a small point at one end—in rocky areas. On cool days if you are quiet, you may see them in the morning or afternoon sunning themselves on north-facing rocks.
The silver-headed antechinus was first discovered at Kroombit and has since been found only at Blackdown and Bulburin.
Birds
Large colourful parrots such as Australian king-parrots perch high on dead branches above the forest canopy. Pairs of little lorikeets and flocks of scaly-breasted and rainbow lorikeets screech harshly through the forest. Glossy-black cockatoos feed on forest she-oaks. Wedge-tailed eagles soar above and peregrine falcons nest on escarpment cliffs. At night, powerful owls perch in tall Sydney blue gums, hunting for possums and gliders.
In the rainforest you can often hear the cat-like call of green catbirds and the noisy ‘rustling taffeta’ flight of paradise riflebirds, both at the northern extent of their range. In the canopy the cicadabirds compete with the vocal chorus of cicadas. At night you may hear a sooty owl calling, like the sound of a falling bomb.
On the ground in open woodland you might see squatter pigeons, with their characteristic black and white striped facial pattern. Superb and wompoo fruit-doves favour rainforest habitats.
Reptiles
Among Kroombit Tops’ reptiles are some that usually occur only south of Gympie. (Gympie is a town about 100 Kilomters north of Brisbane on Hiway 1) Burrowing lizards Saiphos equalis relies on moist forest types such as rainforest and tall open forest; Stephens’ banded snakes are found in both rainforest and dry rocky forest. Diurnal lizards Ctenotus arcanus are dependent on rocky outcrops. These animals are relics from a time when moist forests extended all the way from north-eastern New South Wales to Kroombit Tops.
At the southern limit of their range, black-headed pythons are easily identified by their shiny jet black head and contrasting brown-banded body. They are one of the few snakes that eat venomous snakes.
You may encounter eastern water dragons, lace monitors or red-bellied black snakes sunning themselves by creeks, or small darting lizards on rocky ledges.
Frogs
Kroombit tinker frogs (Named after the park NOT vice versa) are the park’s most endangered animal. Nowhere else in the world can you hear their unusual call—a series of sharp, metallic ‘tinks’. These small frogs live under rocks and in leaf litter in small areas of gully rainforests along the eastern escarpment of Kroombit Tops. Unlike many frogs, they appear not to need surface water to breed, although eggs and tadpoles have never been found in the wild. Instead, it is thought they breed in small underground pools of water, perhaps as small as half a cup.
Kroombit is also home to a second species of endemic frog, the Kroombit treefrog Litoria kroombitensis. If you stop at the Kroombit Creek crossing in spring and summer, turn off your car engine and listen. You might hear male frogs calling to females. Can you distinguish the ‘wreeak ik ik’ of cascade treefrogs, the slow ‘chuck-uk’ of tusked frogs or the loud ‘wark’ of the great barred frogs?
Small, bright green cascade treefrogs are common in Kroombit’s rainforest creeks. They spend much of their life high up in trees, but come down to the rainforest’s middle fern layer to attract mates to the stream in breeding season. Like many frogs and reptiles at Kroombit, this species is usually found further south and the Kroombit population is genetically distinct from populations in south-east Queensland.
Culture and history
Connections over time
Indigenous people have maintained a strong and continuing association with Kroombit Tops for thousands for years. Since gold was discovered in the district around 1870, settlers have mined minerals, grazed sheep and cattle, and harvested timber here.
A road built between 1964 and 1968 opened Kroombit Tops for logging. From 1969 to 1995 hoop pines and hardwoods such as Sydney blue gum, white mahogany and blackbutt were harvested for timber.
Beautiful Betsy WWII Liberator bomber
A WWII Liberator bomber crashed at Kroombit Tops in 1945 and lay undiscovered for nearly 50 years. The area is now managed as a heritage site, and all parts of the wreck are protected.

Hope you are still awake!! Here’s some photos we took during our drive to Kroombit Tops Look-out.

A most interesting place that Nancy and I want to revisit once Summer gets here and everything greens up. It’s about an hour from our house.

That’s it for Kroombit National Park. Hope you enjoyed the tour and “Thanks For Coming Along.”

Several people we have met, since we arrived here, have mentioned having or knowing people who ranch or live in the Boyne Valley. Being curious we decided to look it up and see what it might offer as far as sights of interest, etc. Turns out that the Boyne Valley is a little ways south of Tannum Sands and inland over the first range of foothills. That range of foothills, and the next range in create the Boyne Vally which is quite large.

We decided, in spite of of being an overcast and drizzly day, to drive out to and through the Boyne valley and see what it is like. It is not uncommon to be overcast and drizzly here early in the day and clear and dry by ten or eleven so the weather was not a worry. We loaded up the Tucson and off we went. Here is a map of the area (The Boyne Valley is shown in the middle outline) and there is a red line that marks our path. the trip was just shy of 400 Kilometers and took us much of the day. Of course we stopped every so often and we were in no hurry. It turned into a beautiful day.

That got us through the valley. We started the climb out and found that when we got to the top we were entering the Burnett region. Recently, when we drove down to Brisbane we decided to take a back road and it was through the Burnett region. This trip however, we swung back north along the A3 highway to get back home. Still interesting.

It was a great trip. We hadn’t done a road trip just for fun in a while and it was nice to get out. Looking forward to the next one. See you then.

Yeppoon is coastal resort community just north and east of Rockhampton. We went to Rockhampton one day to look for some furniture we wanted and after finding nothing that caught our attention, we decided that, it was early, there might be interesting things to see up here, and we had not explored the coast by Rockhampton, so we did just that.

While Rockhampton, normally called Rocky, does have a port, it is in the city and there is not a beach as the city lies inland from the sea on the Fitzroy river. Yeppoon is located about 30 kilometers farther east and right on the shore of the Coral Sea. It is a beautiful area that is well developed and well taken care of. Many places to stay whether you are camping, hoteling, or renting a condo or beach rental.

The town has built a wonderful park along the beach where there are places to shower and change into your bather, let the kids play on water toys, walk on the beach. or sail out on a rental catamaran. There is a fair amount of parking (there is never enough) and access to the beach is easy. We drove around a bit, parked, walked up and down the beach, then took a different route back to Rocky and home.

We will probably return to Yeppoon, maybe once we get our caravan.

Agnes Waters is a small resort town south of Tannum Sands that is right on the coast. It hosts many camping facilities as well as hotels and many rentals. The coastline features rocky shores and thick forests where anyone can find a hike or activity of interest. Seventeen Seventy is a smaller part of Agnes Waters, newer but just as much fun. Nancy and I went there one day just to get away and had a great time.

Andy (our son) and his family camped in Agnes Waters 4th of July week. Nancy and I went down and spent the 4th with them. We did hot gogs, burgers, and watermelon. The tables and awnings were decorated in Red, White and Blue balloons, and we all had red, white and blue plates, napkins, and silverware. It didn’t take the Australians camping there long to figure out we were all Yanks. (They are actually jealous cuz they are still stuck with the King and England!) We had a swell time even though it rained a bit. Christian enjoyed the sparklers after it got dark.

Bundaberg, or Bundy as it’s known here, is about an hour south of Tannum Sands and is famous for it’s Rum production. Bundy is a larger city where people from here go when they need bigger city stuff, like medical specialists, etc. Bundy’s population is a little over 100,000 people so it has more to offer than the smaller cities. Also it is farther south, so it attracts more people. The farther north you move in Australia, the more remote it is. If you go west from the coast, it gets very remote, very fast. As a matter of fact (Yes, a Factoid!) 87% of the Australian population lives with 50 Kilometers (30 miles) of the coast. Bundaberg, Gladstone, and Rockhampton (which you will meet later) are all coastal towns and are all located right on major rivers. Bundaberg is on the Burnett River and has suffered catastrophic floods several times. Gladstone is located on the Boyne River but is hillier so the floods as not as damaging. Rocky is located on the Fitzroy River and floods frequently. Every year hundreds of cattle drown in the Rockhampton area by being caught in floods. This is how these cities were founded. They were established as ports where ships could bring in supplies and smaller boats and ships could carry supplies inland to the vast sheep and cattle stations that early settlers had established..

Bundaberg is an old city and is laid out the way you find may of the older cities in Australia. There is a wide center street that has parking on both sides with a wide strip in the middle for parking. All the stores and businesses are located mostly along that street. That all morphs as the city grows of course but amy of the older, small towns, have not changed much in the years they have been around.

I didn’t get many pictures of the city itself when we drove down one day but we did take a tour of the Bundaberg Rum Distillery, it was very interesting. The rum industry started in Bundaberg because of all the molasses produced when refining sugar. Sugar was and still is, a major crop in the area.

That’s it for Bundy. As with Tannum Sands, as we do more stuff and go more places, I will be adding more pictures … even to to these. I will get more shots of the cities themselves. I didn’t have this in mind when we went there the first time.

** NOTE ** As I add each new event or place, it will be at the top of the list under this post. That way you will be able to quickly see if there is anything new***

We decided to move to Tannum Sands, in Queensland, Australia in early December 2022. 

It took us until February 2023 to dispose of, or ship, everything we owned in the US and make it over to Australia.  Since then we have been slowly acclimating ourselves to living in OZ (Short for Australia in Australian).  “No Worries” really is a common phrase and Australians seldom get bothered significantly if things don’t go quite right.  The are forgiving and very helpful.  They have a interesting habit of shortening most words and adding an “ie” on the end so words like breakfast and Christmas become Brekie and Chrissie.  To make matters worse they tend to speak more English than American so they have the slang the Brits invented, like Bathers for swim suits and Jumpers for a jacket.  Lastly, just like in the States, every region has its own dialect and accent.  Nancy has to interpret for me quite often, As we have always done, we take frequent short trips on weekends or midweek breaks and tour local things of interest.  Local can be anywhere within a couple days drive.

We moved to Tannum Sands because that is where our Son Andrew, his Wife Candice, and our three Grandchildren, Samantha, Cathy, and Christian moved to in 2022 when Andy got a great job in Gladstone. 

Gladstone is the greater community in the area and Tannum Sands is like a small suburb of Gladstone.  Gladstone hosts the largest saltwater port on the east coast of Australia and it serves a thriving ore processing industry.  As you can see by the maps, Tannum Sands is right on the east coast of Australia about 500 kilometers (300 Miles) north of Brisbane. 

For you geogrphy enthusiasts:

Basically, what that boils down to is that here in Tannum Sands, we are just a little closer to the equator than we were in Tampa, just south of it instead of north. As a matter of fact, we are jsut a short distance south of the tropic of Capricorn which is why they call this the Capricorn Region. The weather here is a bit warmer than in Florida, it never freezes and seldom gets below the 40’s. Summers (October to March) are quite hot. Being south of the equator switches the seasons so its summer from October to March and winter from March ot October … not many white Christmases here.

For the past seven years or so Andy and the family had lived in Coomera which is about 75 kilometers south of Brisbane.  Tannum Sands and Gladstone are much smaller communities and the life here is considered rural by most Australians.  It’s a great place for kids to grow up in, has abundant work opportunities, and is just swell for older folks to live peacefully in.

I’m in the process of writing a book about our experience moving and living here but it is not yet finished.  Keep an eye out for it on Amazon if you want to read about our adventure in depth. (Just go to amazon.com and put Bill Rumpel in the search bar at the top of the page.  My book, once I publish it, will be there.)

Unlike the bigger trips I have posted here on this website, this post will be about the things and places we find interesting in and around where we live.  Most will be just a few pictures and maybe some description.  If we take a significant trip it will be in the trip side and I’ll just put a note in here to have a look at it.

We have lived here for around six months, have our own home, a car, we are waiting for a camper to be built (supposed to be ready in September … watch for the pictures), have become involved n the community, have got our Australian driver’s licenses, our application for a permanent VISA has been accepted, and we  we are enjoying being close to our family.

So, each of our little “adventures” will be a little tick below this one.  If you are interested in catching up, just click on the little down arrow next to this post in the menu and see if I have posted something new.

4 January – Today was a long, frustrating day filled with delays, rescheduling, and chaos. Yesterday we were told we would be departing the ship at five thirty AM to catch a bus to the airport where we would catch a flight to Iguazu Falls, have a lunch at a resort overlooking the falls, tour the falls, and go to our hotel that we would be staying at for check-in and dinner.

We got up at four and readied ourselves for the five thirty transport. Upon approaching the cabin door walking towards the head (that’s what they call the bathroom on a ship) we discovered a slip of paper had been slipped under the door sometime during the night informing us our flight had been cancelled and we were rescheduled for a later flight. We did not need to report for disembarkation and the bus until nine thirty. As we were already up, our baggage was gone, and we were, in no way, going to go back to sleep, we dressed and went up for some breakfast, coffee, and the wait.

We did leave the ship at nine, and because we were four hours away from our flight, they put a guide on the bus and we received another tour of Buenos Aires, by bus this time. Even though we pretty much followed the same route we did on the bikes the day before, the guide was different so we got a different slant on what we were seeing. We finally were delivered to the airport, we did get a one thirty flight to Iguazu Falls, and we did get there … six hours later than we were originally scheduled. Due to the late arrival, we went to the hotel where we were supposed to have lunch and had an early dinner (which was the lunch they had been saving all afternoon). You could see the falls from the hotel so we did see them. We then proceeded to cross the border into Brazil, where we were to stay and tour.

The tour guides did a good job of reshuffling everything but it was a frustrating day. We checked into our hotel, had a relaxing break at the lounge, and went to bed to prepare for an early tour of the falls.

5 January – The hotel was actually located inside of the National Park the Falls are in and the park does not open until ten in the morning. Because of that, we were able to walk out of our hotel and do a private tour of the falls before everyone else showed up.

Iguaza Falls is incredible. We were told we would see both the Argentina side and the Brazil side and that the Brazil side was more scenic. We agree. We walked along the walkways (which we had to ourselves but was packed later in the day) and were able to view and photograph to our hearts content. After the tour, our guides offered us a choice of three things to do. Go for a boat ride up the river to right up to the falls, take a helicopter tour of the falls, or just stay at the hotel and veg out until the afternoon when we would see the Argentina side. Nancy and I opted for the helicopter ride. Wow. Here’s some pictures. Most of them are of the water falls, different angels or views.

Then we did the helicopter ride. It didn’t last real long but was definitely worth the effort. We got to see the Falls from up above and from all angels. The pilot made a number of passes so everyone (there were five of us in the helicopter) got to see the best view.

A bit about the falls from Wikipedia. “Iguazú Falls or Iguaçu Falls  are waterfalls of the Iguazu River on the border of the Argentine province of Misiones and the Brazilian state of Paraná. Together, they make up the largest waterfall system in the world.  The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. The Iguazu River rises near the heart of the city of Curitiba. For most of its course, the river flows through Brazil; however, most of the falls are on the Argentine side. Below its confluence with the San Antonio River, the Iguazu River forms the border between Argentina and Brazil.” Now that you know all that, you can imagine how much we enjoyed it. That afternoon we again crossed the border into Argentina and walked through the Argentina National Park for the falls. Less dynamic but very beautiful.

Then, after that we went back to the hotel and prepared for a dinner show at an Argentine Steak restaurant. The dinner was a huge buffet featuring all sort of meats and other foods and deserts. Following dinner the restaurant presented a South and Central America Folk Dance Show. It was both loud and entertaining. The pictures a a bit lacking because of the light, or lack of it, and the fast movements of the dancers.

Lastly, here are some photos from our hotel;

The show ended our day and we again crossed back into Brazil. Each crossing took 30 to 45 minutes of extra time to process our passports but the day was good. Tomorrow we travel to Rio de Janeiro.

6 January 2023 – Another frustrating day. No fault on Viking or it’s folks. Today, we were supposed to fly from Iguazu to a small airport near downtown Rio de Janeiro, then have lunch, and do some touring. When we were on short final to the airport, the aircraft received a wind sheer warning and went around. Many of the people got quite excited as we were quite low and over water so it looked like we were going to bank right into the ocean. Anyhow, the pilot recovered and entered holding for about forty five minutes before he diverted into the international airport that was a forty five minute ride away from our hotel. Rio was socked in with fog so the bus ride was fairly uninspiring. We went through several parts of town, some not too nice, and finally made it to our hotel. The Hotel Copacabana on Copacabana Beach. Nice.

7 January – *** A SPECIAL DAY*** Today we were scheduled to see the big statue of Christ The Redeemer that stands above Rio de Janeiro and Sugar Loaf Mountain. Again the weather did not cooperate very much and low clouds and fog pretty much kept everything out of site … we still went. We loaded up right after breakfast and headed out to see Christ The Redeemer. Interesting buildings along the way and a great deal of history. A much better part of town than the trip from the airport.

The story about the Carnaval stadium. Carnival, sometimes known as Mardi Gras in other places, is a long standing tradition that features outrageous costumes and rowdy parties. Rio de Janeiro is especially famous for the biggest party. It became such a burden to the city to control they built a massive, half mile long stadium where the only parade allowed is conducted. Thousands of people come very early to get seats in the stadium and the participants line up and parade through the stadium from one end to the other. The parade lasts much of the day. The parties continue in smaller venues and private homes but the city wide party is a thing of the past. The day was wet and windy, but very interesting. Of course it would have been nice without the fog but you cannot do anything about the weather. We did enjoy the day. That night we had a farewell dinner at the hotel. A very nice evening with a great meal. Nancy topped off the evening by sneaking in a cake and Champagne for the group to celebrate my birthday. The perfect ending to a nice day.

8 January – Today is our return home day. our flight did not leave until ten thirty PM so we were given a late checkout from the hotel. Nancy and I took a walk on Copacabana Beach just to say we did, The exercise was good. We had a late lunch with the few people left from our group that had not left yet, then we went to the airport. The trip home was uneventful, we made all our connections and didn’t loose anything. We got home early on the ninth of January.

I apologize for taking sooo long to post this but we have been busy with our move to Australia. Since our return we have packed and shipped our belongings, sold our house and cars, and settled into a small villa that we will regard as our home in America. It has been a very busy month.

Hope you enjoyed the trip as much as we did. Viking does a great job, we saw many interesting places and things. See you on the next trip. Not sure where or when but there will be more trips for sure.

This year we decided to do something different for Thanksgiving. If you have not read my book “Us Vs The World” you do not know that Thanksgiving is the only holiday that Nancy and I have not been separated from each other for some reason or other. We have missed birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, New Years, all of them, except Thanksgiving. It’s a long story, buy my book on Amazon and you can read all about it.

This year we decided to take a cruise and have someone else do the cooking, and … the cleanup. In the past we have have enjoyed Thanksgiving at other people houses (Friends, relatives, work mates, etc), we have had these same groups of people to our house for Thanksgiving, one year we spent it in Hawaii, one year we invited our German Landlord and her family to this “American” holiday, and we have enjoyed Thanksgiving in fine restaurants. One year (last year) we rented an Airbnb in Haysville, North Carolina and we packed and hauled all the parts of the traditional dinner there. Nancy made a superb dinner but it was a lot of work.

So this year we opted for the no work, no clean up, and a good meal plan. Cruises are noted for their fine cuisine so we decided to go that route. We found a short five day cruise out of Jacksonville, Florida on Carnival and booked that. What follows is a few pictures of the ship and where we went. It was not a overly interesting trip as it went only to Nassau and a private Island but it did serve a great Thanksgiving meal. I was even able to have a double portion just so I could once again, over eat on Thanksgiving. Here are the pictures:

That’s it. I didn’t take many pictures. It was a trip to give Thanks for all we have and have a Thanksgiving diner. No picture of the dinner … you will have to take my word for it that it was good.

It was a good Thanksgiving. We met new friends, had a few drinks, enjoyed some entertainment, and we were together.