A deviation from simplicity: North Queensland, The adventure that was

Yet again I have let months pass without writing an update for this blog,
It’s partially due to a lack of reliable internet access, and also life has a different pace to it in NQ, but now that I am back in Adelaide I want to catalogue the adventure of living and working in North Queensland.
I arrived in Cairns on the 14th of November and after one night there I travelled to Ingham by bus. There I met Ellie Bowden who owns the property with her husband Shane and two kids Michael and Phoebe. I was instantly made welcome and started to meet the various neighbours in the area. Sam Torissi who lives next door, Kathy and Pete up the hill, Box the local madman and others from Mt Gardnier Road.
I started to work on the two properties Ellie has and I quickly learned how tough it can be to do anything in tropical heat with 35*C temperatures paired with 80%+ humidity. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times with the midday spent in air conditioning or swimming in the creek.

The Donga where I Lived for the duration of my stay

The view from the road looking down to where the donga is

The trusty Ute i used most of the time,

One of the many fires burning all the timber i cut out of the creek

The first snake i met, by accidentally running over it with the ute

The Creek about 15 metres from the Donga, perfect for a morning swim

Most of the work I did in the early days was Cutting and burning wood from a large creek/gully on the property, hours each day cutting with machete and chainsaw, this became much more interesting when I started to move down the creek to steep slopes and soft soil. It's hard to describe the climate to someone who hasn't experienced it but basically the heat and humidity make you feel like you are working in a sauna only its full of flies and you cannot get away from it. After some time I became somewhat accustomed to it but it is still hard to work when you are sweating faster than you can drink fluids!

Along with the ongoing project of clearing out the creek there were other jobs such as brushcutting, lawnmowing, maintaining vehicles, and any other miscellanious jobs that arose.
I must say Ellie was a fantastic boss from the very start, each afternoon we would catch up for a beer and a chat whilst arranging some jobs for the following days. She always kept me supplied with anything required such as Vehicles/tools/supplies/food/smokes/drinks and she also introduced me to all the neighbors on the road who welcomed me graciously and invited me to barbecues, parties and so on throughout my time there.

Ellie and her crew out on the property

Calum and some of the local kids at Moodys swimming hole

Ellie shaving Box's head one evening while I burned some scrub

Part of the rock wall surrounding the creek

Ellie Brittany and Shelley on Australia day

Sam Torissi who lived next door was a great help, always willing to give a hand to fix the chainsaw or borrow some tools and as time went on we would usually have a chat and a smoke most afternoons as he worked on his various panelbeating and restoration projects in his workshop. Sam also used to take me along to bait and check crab pots along the river nearby. Several times we came back with a decent haul of Mudcrabs which are vicious but delicious crabs. Soon I was collecting them myself and cooking them up regularly.

The first big haul of crabs

The river which is frequented by several crocs, who sometimes destroyed the crab pots

Sam breaking out the whiskey on new years eve

Just past Ellies property live Pete and Kathy, as good friends of Ellie and her family and Sam and his family I would quite often meet them in the afternoons along with their daughter hannah. Just like everyone else on the road Pete and Kathy showed me great hospitality. We would quite often spend evenings up at their place having a chat and a drink with the various other neighbours who might call up. As avid skydivers they both had a taste for adrennaline sports and great stories of their past exploits! I always felt welcome at their place and like others on the road they were always accomodating when I needed a hand with anything

Pete and Hannah

Pete on Australia day

Ellie and Kathy at my going away party

At the top of mt Gardnier road live Steve and Sue a wonderful couple who showed me great hospitality, inviting us up for meals of delicious Japanese cuisine and specially for my going away they cooked a meal of Irish cuisine with beef stew, mash, corned brisket, and even a glass of guiness to accompany it! I spent several evenings sitting on their patio talking about life in the area and the diverse wildlife such as the stick insect walking about on the table or the majestic Ulysses butterflys, Rocket the wallaby and more. A visit to their place was always a pleasure due to the good company and unparalelled food!!

The stick insect climbing my beer

Steve and Sue with Sam at my going away do

In my first week I met the anomaly that is Box, only going by that moniker he lived about halfway down the road on a property on the lower steps of the mountain range, His place was an experience in itself, perched on the slope by a fresh rainwater creek, little more than a rain-tarp and some furniture surrounded on all sides by forest. I spent many an afternoon and evening there swimming in the creek, playing some music and having a royal old time as the rain poured and the creek roared past us, Box was a great friend and showed me how Queenslanders really live, cooking full pigs on the spit, driving down the swamp at night to spot crocs and generally living on the edge most of the time. He is also quite well renowned for organising a mean party and I experienced firsthand how much fun a party of people can have in the middle of nowhere with a small generator, sound system and a wood fired stove to cook on. laser lights and plastic skeletons adorning the creek along with great people and the queensland weather keeping us going into the small hours!
Box is also great at giving the weirdest presents! as a welcoming gift he gave me a spider in a jar, which after inspection most people agreed was probably a bird eating spider. so I put it into a glass case and fed it various frogs. However after I accidentally fed it a poisonous frog it died. So I put it on the table and referred to google to identify it correctly, as it turns out it was not a bird eating spider, but a fully mature female FUNNELWEB!! Lethal doesnt begin to describe that species. one bite and you will survive 5 - 20 minutes depending on your health. Needless to say I was glad it died! In his defence Box had no idea it was a funnelweb, considering he picked it up bare handed to put it into the jar in the first place!!
Another novel gift of his was the amazing stubby cooler (a cooling sleeve for beer bottles)
Outside of tropical climates they are not common at all but in extreme heat they keep your beer cold.
However this was a much more advanced model, made by hand from spare foam, it contained a hole for the beer, lighter, torch, bottle opener, pen, and more space for modifications! genius at work folks!

Spidey, who turned out to be a Funnelweb

Box cooking up a storm in Halifax

Having a go on the swing in Box creek

Rained in for the day in box's place


Box Creek in full roar during the first big rain

Other neighbors in the area were also very friendly and I made numerous appearances at barbecues and evening drinks getting to know the people and the area. All the while I was working at various projects such as clearing the creek, building a rock wall, etc and I gained a whole new respect for working in those conditions. Ellie was very accomodating and gave me the use of the vehicles when I needed them, be it driving around the properties on the 450 Quad, pulling timber from the creek with the Ute, or going to town in the Land Cruiser, Twice even she gave me days off to drive to cairns and stay in the hostel there. My favourite vehicle by far was the Quad which I took everywhere due to its ability to climb even the most extreme rock paths, after some time I even started customising it to add storage crates and some attachments. Secondly there was the Ute which is an extremely well worn Land Cruiser pickup. If you were to imagine the stereotypical outback beat up cruiser, this was it!!

The Ute which is the only name Aussies use for a pickup

Out in the cane paddocks setting Crab pots

Quad plus trailer, the perfect combo for offroad carriage

Loaded up to do some cutting in the gulley

The Crusier on my way to Townsville

As I became accustomed to the life and routine in the area I started seeing more and more wildlife, and the north Queensland wildlife is both diverse and intimidating. On my first night I could not believe the caucophony of crickets frogs and cicadias emenating from the forest surrounding me. Cane toads litter the ground at night, not to mention the bandicoots and wallabies bounding around in the darkness!!
On one of the first days Ellie took me along to spend a day with her Greencorps crew who are local youngsters who work on a government sponsored work programme. While they did their work in the morning I wandered TYTO wildlife park in Ingham getting amazing photographs of the local birdlife and various reptiles! Back at the Donga I discovered geckos, skinks, green frogs, giant bugs, even bigger spiders, and some insects I still cannot identify! It took a few weeks before I found the opportunity to photograph wallabies, who collect in one of the neighbors garden to feast on bread and scraps.
One of the most breathtaking encounters was one morning while sitting outside having a cigarette and coffee I looked up and was stunned to see a fully grown male cassowary walking towards me,
He walked around and picked at the ground around the fireplace for a good ten minutes before casually walking away and crossing the field beside me,
I took multiple photographs and also managed to capture a few minutes of video before it was gone
I will always remember that encounter due to the intimidating size of the bird which are renowned for their ability to kill prey with their claws, and also I was amazed at the stealth and grace of such a big beast!!

The Cassowary watching me as I photographed him

Cane Toad

A hawk I think, that circled me as I walked through the wildlife reserve. wingspan about 1.5m

Cicada the loudest bug in the forest

A Huntsman spider that frequented the trailer outside my door

Gordon the gecko that lived inside the donga for the 3 months I was there

A green frog just hanging out on the trailer, watching the spiders

Shay, Ellies dog, a great little charachter


Michael, Ellies son holding the turtle he found in the creek

Along with the diverse wildlife the environment itself was completely alien to what I was used to in Ireland.
Plant life in the tropics is quite strange and all around the properties were palms, coconut, banana, mango and leiche trees. The weather was also an experience with scorching heat followed by tropical monsoon rains, sometimes flooding the rivers and roads in a matter of hours. Returning to Adelaide was strange in that respect because although it is summer, 20 degrees feels cold compared to 38 degrees and high humidity.

Torrential rain at box creex, but it doesnt dampen our spirits!!

Water lily in TYTO park

Sunset at lucinda

Now that I am back and settled into Adelaide I do miss Queensland, and I will certainly go back someday. However for now I am going to focus on getting back to work here and gearing up for the Adelaide Fringe festival, I have been contracted for work in La Boheme by the festival for what I am told will be at least 60 shows if not more!! So onwards and upwards, hopefully my next update will be soon enough and I will have lots of photo and video to show of Adelaide life, part 2!

Until then, I will leave you, as usual with a random selection of pictures from the past 3 months and I look forward to hearing from all you folks soon!!

Talk Cha

Frank