Monday, December 3 Inslip Beach Campground to Glass House Mountain Campground

    Diana got up  early and went for a short walk on the beach.  When she returned she said, "Bad news, we have midgies."  I put my glasses on and looked up through the screen of our tent roof and saw a small swarm of the tiny carnivores hovering around in the space beneath the tent fly, intoxicated by the scent of warm human flesh (me).  Darn.  At least they hadn't found us the evening before while we enjoyed our sausages. We quickly tore down the tent and drove into town, hoping to breakfast at a park in town unbothered by bugs.

     We took command of a sheltered picnic table in a nice park by the public beach and enjoyed our coffee and cereal unmolested.  A young couple were eating their breakfast our of the back of their Toyota camper van, and hearing their voices I assumed they were French.  We struck up a conversation about traveling around Oz, and discovered that they were Romanian, had left their country about 13 years ago, and had spent the intervening years in England, and for the past 10 years in various places in the US.  They had quit their jobs and come to Australia to experience the eclipse at the big hippie festival in the outback.  We remarked that he lacked the dreds, tats, and piercings of most of the festival tribe, and she laughed and said "Andrei is in IT, he's got to maintain a certain look."  They have gotten a skilled trade visa and plan to remain in Australia after traveling for a couple more months, expecting to get a job in computer networking.

     There were nice waves that morning, people were playing or surfing in the ocean, and a couple guys were catching the onshore breeze in parasails, gliding back and forth along the beach front.  We put on our suits and did a little body surfing in the warm, clear water.

It's sorta nice to be south of the jellyfish zone ...

... and out of "saltie" country ...

... although this guy does look a little salty.

     One of the benefits of swimming at a well established tourist beach is the showers.  Not only did we rinse off at the outside freshwater shower, but we got to use the enclosed showers in the beach house, shampooing and scrubbing a for the first time in a few days.

     As we passed a eucalypt wood on our drive out of Rainbow beach we passed a sign cautioning about koalas.  We've seen those signs before, and didn't expect to see any of the little gray 'bears', but less than a minute later Diana exclaimed, "I think I saw a koala!"  I couldn't believe she'd seen one because we were booking along at a pretty good clip and the trees have various bulging protrusions on their trunks, ant nests, epiphytes, and other hangers-on.  But I turned around and returned to the area she had spotted something.  Driving slowly along and looking up into trees, she said "Oh my gosh, there he is!"  We pulled off the road and looked at little guy with binoculars.  Boy are they cute!

Our first wild koala

     We had a couple more hours of driving to get us to the Glass House Mountain National Park, a series of basalt plugs left over from the volcanic past of the entire Queensland coast.  Along the way we passed an isolated lava neck rising above the forest.

     We found a campground near the park and set up for the night.  The owner came around and collected our fee, then regaled us with his tales of driving horse drawn stagecoaches which he had restored.

Steve established and runs the Teamsters Hall of Fame
from his property, which used to have a coach stop here.

    As part of the bicentenary celebration of 1988 he conducted a historic carriage journey from Melbourne to Longreach in western Queensland, via the Sydney Harbour Bridge,  including a meeting with the Queen who had a knowledgeable interest in his horses. More recently he undertook a recreation of Cobb & Co's (an Australian version of Well's Fargo)  last run, a distance of 83 km. This also established an official world record relating to the largest number of horses (24) driven in hand in a coach under reign on the open road. Unfortunately, an American undertook a journey with 52 llamas a couple years later, which stole the Guinness Book of Records away.  He also makes wooden wagon wheels, and has produced over 2000 over the years.  He kept going on with amusing and amazing tales, finishing some with the tag line "But that's another story".

      Here's his best story, "The Time I Thumped the Queen's Grenadier's Horse".  Stevie was in London with a mate ten years or so ago, his friend being the Mayor's second in charge.  Traveling together in a "Government Jag", the friend got an important phone call and told Stevie he was sorry, he had to leave him, but that the driver would take to the Royal Mews to see the Queen's horses.  

      When he entered the stable grounds he walked up to one of the Grenadiers sitting on his Cleveland Bay and asked him if he could touch his horse.  Steve knows a lot about horses, having broken hundreds of brumbies (feral horses), and he admired the big bay.  The Grenadier was stiff and formal, but responded to the Aussie with a curt yes.  Stevie demonstrated the unique nature of the breed's coat, how it lays in a certain way quite different than other horses.  Then he reached up to the horse's face and stroked a spot near his eyes that he knew would evoke a certain response.  Sure enough, the horse relaxed and sagged, the guard feeling the response through his saddle and legs.  "You know a lot about horses, don't you," he said.

     "I've handled a few."

     "Tell you what, see that guard over their?  Go over and feel his horse, it's OK, you don't need to ask his permission.".  Steve was surprised at the invitation, but went over to the horse and reached up to stroke him.

     But Steve recognized by the horse's response that he was a 'biter'.  After two decades of dealing with problem horses Steve's response was swift and automatic. He told us, "There's only one way to deal with a biter."  Showing us, he clenched his beefy fist and cocked it back.  "You have to punch him really quickly, right on the lips.  Too slow and the horse will open his lips and you'll either hit his teeth and break a couple bones, or even worse he'll bite and sever your fingers."

     So with his instincts engaged he gave the horse a swift thump.  That caused the horse to rear up and twist, throwing the guard sideways in his saddle.  Now afraid that the grenadier would be crushed, Steve grabbed the horse's upper lip with one hand and an ear with another, twisting the horse's head to make him stand still and upright.  Steve asked the man if he was alright, and as the situation settled down, he quickly made his way out of the stables.  As he passed the first grenadier he noticed tears of laughter streaming down his face.  "Bloody Pom, they didn't know anything about horses.  I got our of their pretty quick and went to Ireland".

     He ended his conversation with the statement, "A lot of people don't believe my stories, but I don't care.  You never know where life will take you."