Monday, June 28, 2010

Save Mary, Drown Anna

(18-20 June 2010)

After a few days of the generous hospitality at Kate and Giles’ we all head off for a few days camping at Borumba Dam (near Imbil) in the hinterland west of Noosa. The dam feeds into one of the many tributaries that feed the Mary River.

The extended tribe of Saffiya, Soraya, Kaydin, Zak, Jordan and Mardae create their own fun: dirt + water = mudpies!! We all revel in the flat space of the vacant campsite beside us to kick the football about, as well as play ‘tip’ and chasings.

We also compare camp cooking skills – Giles doing a damn fine lamb roast in his camp oven (beats anything on Masterchef – taste: tick, setting: tick, company: tick) and me pitching in with a red Thai curry of chicken and veggies in our thermal cooker. We all agree that both dinners are resounding successes!

The dam is an apparent haven for fishing and while fellow campers dart off at varying hours with their tinnies, the only evidence of the abundance of aquatic life are the catches of yabbies a few of the campers bring home.

The nearby town of Imbil offers Sunday markets to which we visit – a handful of stalls selling trinkets, gemstones, plants, fruit and vegetables, and the ubiquitous local jams and chutneys. We buy a banana cake which weighs more than an ingot.

At noon, we are greeted by the ‘toot toot’ of the Gympie Rattler – a steam train with its human cargo of weekend joyriders. This is the tribe’s first experience of a steam train so it was quite a buzz, especially when we were invited on board for a tour of the many different carriages.


Coincidently, we bump into a family with their own tribe of four kids who we previously met in February when camping at Paradise Beach along the Ninety Mile Beach in Victoria. They too are heading north so there’s a good chance we may yet run into them again!

The end of our stay at Borumba regretfully arrives and we say our goodbyes to Kate, Giles, Jordan and Mardae as we head in opposite directions.

As for ‘Save Mary, Drown Anna’ – a local catchphrase to save the Mary River by sending water down the many tributaries of the Anna Creek which looked a little on the dry side.

2 comments:

jecca said...

Where are you now?!?!?

Tim_G said...

We're still in Queensland - M and I post locality updates on Facebook.

I've got a handful of blog entries coming up . . .