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August |
Tuesday the 1st
A cold evening equating to a foggy morning for my walk, needless to say, due to the coldness of the morning it was nearer 8 am before I set off; though I have to say that with the sun rising the sun soon dissipated the fog. We did our usual's and about 10 am we moved for the rest area is a designated 20 hour stop. The sign stated that overstaying could lead to a $1500 fine, so we moved the motorhome close to the golf course and then used Digger to go into Kingaroy proper. First stop was at the Big W where we were to buy a new chair for Liz and a few other odds and sods, then into Best & Less and bought a couple of things and then off to the butchers. We then went to the information centre and gained information of the touristy things, we had a look at the museum of course that promotes mainly Peanut Farming, there was plenty of old machinery and then we were to watch a short film on the peanut industry. The big silo's in the town are not for grains other than peanuts and that is 55,000 tonnes of processed peanuts a year, they have a peanut van where you can not only buy different types of peanuts also peanut ice cream and of course the dreaded peanut butter. |
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| Early morning fog Kingaroy | Peanut Solo's | Old Machinery Museum |
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Then we went to the library to see if it was possible
to upload the diary that we have found impossible in the various town
we have visited in the past month, the answer was no and they library
persons referred us to the Downtown Community Health Centre; certainly
not the place I would have thought would have allowed us to upload.
Well, I was wrong the woman could not do enough to help us upload and
only charged $2.50 for the use of the facility. |
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| Countryside for the Lookout | Peanut bearing land | Kingaroy with mountain background |
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We were to wind our way through the
only two traffic lights in the town and headed upwards until we arrived
at the lookout, the views were excellent and again it is the Peanut Silo's
that dominate the skyline. The ground around the town is all good farming
land for peanuts and as we learned in the Museum peanuts are only grown
here and the Atherton Tablelands and in the Northern Territory. All the
peanuts end up here for processing irrespective where they are grown. We spent a pleasant hour just taking in the excellent views and then we went down to the Woollies fuel outlet where we bought unleaded fuel for Digger and the Generator at $1.26.9 a litre. As it was nearing happy hour we decided to head off and camp again at the Stuart Creek rest area, there were a few more happy campers arrive and so we had a good happy hour especially since it was one of the blokes birthday, by five o' clock the cold was permeating the air which made sure we were inside by six o' clock we couldn't be bothered to light a fire. |
Wednesday the
2nd This morning was extremely cold with a heavy frost, there was no way that I was hopping out of a warm bed to face this cold. When I did arise the temperature in the Motorhome was four degrees and on going outside poor old digger was covered in frost as was the surrounding ground. Out on my walk I was to wear my woollen gloves and beanie, though I have to say once the sun shone through it was much warmer even with clouds appearing. We moved up to the gold club and parked up and then went out to the airport to view the world war 2 display of memorabilia which included buildings etc that have been restored, this has meant that the buildings are spread over a wide area thus takes time to look at. We hopped back into Digger headed into the business centre of Kingaroy, our first stop was at the Community Op Shop and then onto the Warehouse and then into Big W and Best for Less again. Doesn't time go quick when you are having fun in no time at all it was lunch time and we set off to Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch, my goodness all this junk food over the past couple of days we may have to do more exercise. |
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| Deep frost on Digger | Gardens of Rock | Owner and Tour Guide |
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We then
decided to go out to the Garden of Rocks, that appeared in the tourism
brochure, and have a look about. Now I have to say every now and again
you come across something that is special and a bit out of the ordinary. This is what we discovered when we were pull up outside the House and the Garden of Rocks, we just sat there and had to come to grips with the enormity of the premises and its displays. Here was a brick house sitting on a large block with not a blade of grass just pavers, concrete and lots of rockeries and displays of old horse drawn machinery, both for peanuts, potatoes and silage plus drays and wagons. We were to meet the owner who for a gold coin donation gave a guided tour of the area, Harry is 82 years of age and is very proud of what he has established over forty two years, in fact he has also created similar Rock Gardens for his daughters and Son which he assures us are just as good as his display. Where do you start? The Rock Garden is covered with semi precious stones which are placed between other rock specimens, there are many rock walls and fish ponds spread throughout the yards, there are many areas set aside for fossilised wood and indeed whole fossilised trees that Harry and a friend had to cut to be able to wheel barrow out of the many mud bogs where they were discovered. Indeed he told us that the collection started simply by both he and his wife on their travels in the outback carrying bags full of rock specimens and fossilised crinoids both locally and around Crackow out for this collection and he even has a dinosaur footprint which is set in old rock. What a character Harry is, even at his age he is constantly checking to see that he is not boring you and quickly answers your questions, his grasp of the old machinery and their uses and where they were obtained make the display all the more interesting. He even had 300 different types of Barb Wire on display and is quick to explain their origins and the bottle display is no doubt the best we have seen ever, even down to a bottle of whisky that is supposed to be the smallest in the world, it fitted into a match box and there was plenty of space left. In fact he has three large sheds on the property containing valuable rocks, stones and boulder eggs and more specimens than I can recall. There is not a chance that I could do justice to the two and half hour tour that we experienced other than to say to those that come this way that it is an important to place in your diary this tourist attraction to look at when in Kingaroy. I must have taken over twenty photo's and again it is difficult to choose which should appear in this diary. It could be that if those who view this diary would like to see all photo's then I may place them on a separate page for viewing, of course this will depend on response. In finishing Harry was to point at his 1976 Landcruiser and stated that it had not missed a beat since he first purchased it brand new, he went on tell us that it would be soon fired up to head out west on another quest to obtain fossils and precious stones. All this from a bloke aged 82, good on you mate! Needless to say we both enjoyed this display and the commentary given so much so we did not complete all that we wished to see in the area before we move on tomorrow. Back to camp for happy hour and we had much to talk about and of course the usual refreshments where the order of the day by our fire. |
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| Horse drawn Potato digger | Section of Rock Garden | Fossilised length of tree plus stumps |
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Thursday the 3rd It may have been another cold night though with two doona's on us it was very warm in bed, when I hopped out of bed for my walk it was five degrees and a beautiful sunny day that would last all day for a change. Cleaning up our camp and we were on the road at 8am bound for Kilcoy our next campsite, the road was great and we had no need to go back into Kingaroy for we found a shortcut out on to our highway, the going again seemed to be all uphill with few downhill runs until we reached Nanango. As it was still early in the day we decided to stop and have a walk around the town centre. We had just stood on the footpath deciding what to do when we looked up and there was Robin & Lynda, who we travelled with for a short period last year, in their Motorhome plus their towed Jiminy they pulled up when they saw us. We chewed the fat for awhile catching up with the news and whereabouts of those club members that we know, it was really great to find a friendly face we remembered from last years travels. Nanango appears to be a forestry community as well as farming and we were surprised to find the local green grocer the cheapest we had seen for some months though we only bought broccoli and then strolled around and looked at the various shops etc. Back on the road and boy I thought we had been travelling uphill now we were climbing up hills in third gear and coming down the other side in the same gear relying on the exhaust brakes and normal brakes to hold us back and we were to do this for the next forty kilometres and at stages we were holding up trucks and other vehicles. We took a break when we arrived at Blackbutt and took on a bit of water and then it was onto Moore before taking the turn to Kilcoy. The countryside was still a little on the steep side though this did not deter the cattle that we were to see especially those at the Santa Gertrudis Studs and yet we are to see any sheep, the area is certainly in the grip of drought and it appears that they have not had rain for awhile judging by the near empty dams. We arrived at Kilcoy a little after noon and we decided to stay overnight for it appeared to be a pleasant Council Campsite by the creek on the edge of town and for $10 we had power and hot showers, no it is not a caravan park that is up the road away's. After lunch I set up the satellite dish for the local television was next to no existent, besides practice makes perfect and it takes no time at all to set up and hook into the satellite for television; those around us have no service at all. We then walked into town and had a good look about including the many parklands that they have around the area, there are many signs that make reference to a Yowie in the area though I expect that it is a case of some bloke dropping a full stubbie on his foot on the way home from the pub screaming out "Yowie"! Well, we are off to have our showers and then of course our happy hour or two no wonder I have piled on four kilo in weight since I left home I shudder to think what it would be if I hadn't walked every morning! Kilometres travelled 142 |
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Timber Cutter Nanango |
Stream near camp Kilcoy |
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Friday the 4th Another cold one, so gloves and beanie were the requirements for the walk this morning, first up to the post office then out along the highway for a couple of kilometres. Pack up the camp and then on the highway towards Caboolture which is only 48 kilometres away, the road on the way was very steep at times and a lot of gear work was required to climb and then one hill we came down had a 10% gradient so the gears were required to assist brakes and exhaust brakes; not nice! The road was such that on many occasions we were holding up trucks and heaps of cars for there was no area where we could pull off the road and let them pass. We were to note the change in scenery which had a more tropical look about it and in the distance we could see the Glass House Mountains that seem to just jump up out of the scrub, very scenic indeed. It didn't take long and we were in Caboolture and coming in from a different direction to other years I did not recognise anything until we drove into the business centre proper, we parked up and went into the information centre and obtained road and street maps for both Caboolture and the Redcliffe Peninsula. As we had a broken door lock on one of our gas doors we sought out a caravan repair facility where people we met up the road stated that whatever we wanted would be at this business, and true to their word what we required they had in stock. As usual you could not just buy the broken piece, you had to purchase the complete unit even though we didn't require it, cost? $62.25 take it or leave it. After I recovered from the shock of the price it was either go to another locking system or pay up; we elected to shut our eyes as we passed the money over. Though we cant complain this was the only repair required to date and we of course hope this remains the case. We then moved on and set out for the Redcliffe and our final destination of Clontarf where we were stay with Liz's nieces, well it was back into full on traffic that we hadn't experienced for some months it required a change of driving attitude, like I had to be more aggressive just like those around us. Before we arrived at our destination we pulled into Woollies to refuel, we took on 88.30 litre's at $1.27.5 for we hadn't refueled for 669 kilometres, then back into the traffic and then onto our destination. Lisa was the only one home and was pleased to see us, we stayed with her and her husband in Kununurra in Western Australia last year prior to them moving to Queensland. We set up in the drive and then had a cuppa and caught up with all the family news. We then went out to visit my sister who lives in Brighton then back and then off to the supermarket to get food for a barbecue this evening. We had a longer than usual happy hour and caught up with both families with Kim arriving home from work and the children from school with Tina indicating that Glenn was currently in Tasmania. I watched St Kilda get thrashed by West Coast on the television and then went off to bed very disappointed. Kilometres travelled 91 |
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| Welcome to Redcliffe Peninsula | Bridge across to Peninsula | Pelican Point |
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Saturday the
5th What a pleasant surprise the temperature when arising this morning was 11 degrees and a fine sunny morning with a stiff breeze on the water, needless to say off for my walk again and since I had over indulged last night I opted to walk along the foreshore past Pelican Point( The Pelican Point information centre has hot showers you can access for free). The views across Morton Bay were excellent with the cranes of the Brisbane wharves standing out in the distance and the bridge's across to the Redcliffe Peninsula in the distance, I walked the full length of the old bridge which is now for recreation purposes. There were plenty of walkers and bike riders using the bridge with others fishing, the fish they were catching appeared to be Whiting, when I arrived back at the motorhome I was buggered for the walk had lasted for a bit over two hours. I had breakfast then put an extra line out for Liz to hang up the washing and then we were off to look at the Big W looking for another camping chair. We checked how far I walked this morning and it turned out that it was nine kilometres, no wonder I was a bit sore in the legs. No luck once again so stocked our happy hour supply and then Tina drove us around Sandgate and we stopped of at the long wharf took a couple of photo's and then back to Clontarf where we tidied up the Motorhome and fitted the new door lock and renewed a few screws in the fridge panels. We had another barbecue tea and then watched the Collingwood vs. Adelaide match said goodnight to all and retired for the night another full day.[ |
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Public wharf Sandgate |
Swimming enclosure
Sandgate |
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Sunday the 6th A warm morning, this mornings walk took me along the walkway beside the water to Woody Point, I have to say the scenery is great and the local council has done an excellent job in creating a people friendly foreshore with plenty of seating, toilets and shelter and kids playgrounds all the along the foreshore and not necessarily all in on position. The walkway is shared with bike riders and to date I have no trouble sharing with bikes, the footpath is marked in tenth of a kilometre's to letting you know how far you walked/rode. There were two pop top vans with N.S.W. registration parked and there was no doubt that they had parked on the point all night, of course small vehicles can get away with this not the bigger Motorhome's, on my return I noticed that you could see the high rise buildings of Brisbane in the distance. Kim was leaving Kununurra this morning and I was in time to bid him farewell and a safe flight. Well it is time to move on and today we will go to Petrie to camp for a couple of days and hopefully catch the train into Brisbane for a look about, we said our farewells to Lisa, Tina and children then we were on our way. |
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| Woody Point | Looking across Peninsula | Old Wharf at Woody Point |
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We were to go out the way we came in through Kiparing
and then onto Kalanga and then Petrie, even though we call the overnight
stop Petrie the signs state Twin Pines. We were surprised to see the
area nearly full though we were lucky to get a spot near a table and
in mostly sun for the solar panels, after we set up five couples came
over to say hello and ask where our travels had taken us to date and
likewise they stated their travels to date. |
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Campsite at Petrie |
Liz, Vi & Ken at
happy hour |
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Monday the 7th I utilised my walk this morning to establish the way to the train station for we decided to go to Brisbane to have a look about and visit Southbank. After our shower and saying farewell to those we had met and were leaving this morning, we walked via the Twin Pines River up to the train station at Petrie, we bought two all day tickets for $13.20 which allowed for travel by bus, train or river ferry from 9am to 3:30 and return to Petrie. The train took 45 minutes to arrive at Central Station and the speed of the train was surprising even though it stopped seven times to pick up passengers at the various suburbs. On arrival we walked around the shopping district and then onto the Roma Street Station and caught the train to South Bank. |
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| Twin Pines River | Our train to Brisbane | Monument to ? |
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We walked down through the grounds of the
University and down onto the boardwalk and then onto the Maritime Museum,
the museum was great with an old anchored lighthouse ship and an old Navy
frigate in the old dry dock among the many exhibits. The museum is still
being added to and construction is still in progress and when completed
the area and exhibits will no doubt be first class. We then walked along the boardwalk and took in the excellent views of the river and the river ferries scurrying from wharf to wharf again a wonderful scene. |
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| Old Lighthouse ship | Brisbane City from Southbank | River Ferry's |
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This city can be proud
of its river heritage and the roads that have been built on the river
do not detract from the views, then into the Rain Forest that has been
created along with small waterfalls makes you feel that you are in a tropical
forest well away from the City. We have been here many years ago and it surprised us to see the many changes and additions that have taken place, I must have taken over 50 photo's of the area, to see the man made beach and beautiful light blue water complete with a lifesaver sitting in his tower overseeing the swimmers was quite novel we thought. We spent about two hours in the area and then decided to walk back into the city across the bridge. As we had to walk past the Casino in the old Treasury Building we decided to go in have a look, on entering the first thing you notice is the beautiful Chandelier in the foyer and due to the ban on camera's we off course were unable to take photo's. The Casino is quite spectacular with the internal decoration and of course they had entertainers singing as the tables and poker machines where in full swing, we noticed on the board games there were few Australians mainly people of Asian descent the Aussie's were mainly on the Poker machines. We then went into the mall and had a look at a few shops and then feeling peckish we opted for Hungry Jacks grease for lunch and then window shopped and then back to catch the train at Central Station back to Petrie. The trip back was uneventful and on arriving back at our camp we noted that quite a few new comers had set up, as it was happy hour we had a couple join us who we had met at Kingaroy and so we were to exchange news and future travels, one solo bloke came over and we established that we had met earlier this year at the Rushy Lagoon Hoe Down. Then it was inside as the cool evening was coming down with the dark, television and reading will be the things we will do tonight. |
Tuesday the 8th
Arose and walked into Pine River this morning, the traffic was heavy even at 6:30am; though it was a fine day with plenty of wind, back at camp showered had breakfast and then packed up. We elected to wait until after 9am before we hit the road bound for the Gold Coast and Dad's place due to peak hour traffic. When finally underway we elected to go back through Kalanga and then onto the Bruce Highway bound for the Gateway Bridge, the traffic was dense with two lanes then into three. The climb up onto the top of the bridge is steep and the traffic appeared to be heavier due to the feeder roads entering just prior to the bridge, the views, if you were able to take them in, was very spectacular especially when right on top of the bridge looking over to Brisbane. The toll was $2.50 and had we gone over to the manual payment it would have cost $6.80 due to Digger being towed, we did not hang around and went with the flow and further down the Highway it became a four lane concrete surface. Already the concrete is starting to get a little rough in patch's and no doubt by the time the road is ten years old it may be rough. Again the traffic was such that you had to be more aggressive, like them, to survive in the traffic especially from those entering from the slip roads; oh! for the outback and the cattle and roo to watch out for on the highways and maybe the single lane bitumen roads weren't so bad after all. It wasn't long before we were going past all the Fun & Theme Parks whose car parks were full and all rides including the Tower of Terror working. We were then entering the Gold Coast area with no let off with traffic and soon we were back to three lanes and then two, there were heaps of Motorhomes, Trucks and Caravans heading for the N.S.W. border or thereabouts. We stopped at a Petrol Station and refilled the one tank so as to leave Queensland next week with the cheaper fuel and full tanks, the cost today was $1.33.9 cents a litre, on checking my fuel to date we have burnt 792.42 litre's of Diesel for a cost of $1,105.77 which averages out at $1.40 per litre overall; this will change when we will need to replenish our fuel supplies in N.S.W. and Victoria. We at last arrived at our destination with a very strong wind blowing though the temperature was still around 22 degrees, we had a cuppa chewed the fat and then went off to the supermarket. Whilst the woman went to the op shop I strolled over to the green grocers and found Broccoli at 99 cents a kilo and Tomatoes at 79 cents a kilo and blow me down there was no banana's on sale, which was sad for I wanted to lay by a couple. Back home and sat around with a late happy hour and then settled in after tea to watch television in all it has been a good day in our travels especially given that I will catch up my sisters and other friends over the next couple of days. |
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| Approach to Gateway Bridge | Brisbane from top of Bridge | Welcome to Gold Coast |
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Wednesday the
9th Last night was the latest we have been out of bed on the whole trip to date, it was 11:30 pm before we retired and had some trouble going off to sleep for we stayed inside the house and slept in a double bed, something we have not been used to for the past three months. No doubt we will just get used to this and it will be time to move onto Casino for Tassie week. What a walk this morning, the area in Andrews does not lend itself to walking; for there is very little flat land with the hills very steep; it was a matter of pushing myself with a lot of puffing and panting to get to the top of the hill to enjoy the views. The views down onto Dad's house is very colourful with the differing colour's and designs of the houses and it is easy to see that they have little yards for the houses being as large as they are, take up all available ground in most cases, the views into the hinterland are breathtaking only marred by the high tension electricity wires and poles, well worth the climb. You also get a good view on the Burleigh Heads high rises and the sea, it was difficult to take a photo for I was staring straight into the sun and hopefully later in the day when the sun is sinking in the West I will drive Digger up to get photo's. I unloaded everything out of the back of Digger and it was surprising how much weight was in the back, it filled up the front seat of the Motorhome. We decided to go out for a drive and so we set off towards Burleigh and stopped and checked out a couple places for plugs that I wanted for the television and batteries, it is a beautiful day with just a slight breeze though the sun has plenty of bight and of course the clear blue sky's. We drove as far a Robina and went into the shopping centre and wandered through Aldy's supermarket where the prices are cheaper than other supermarkets, we bought a couple of things and thought we would come back after making out a grocery list later in the week. We noted that there was mainly imported products on the shelves and they stocked meat as well. The normal price for 1kg Devon was $1.49 whereas Woollies is $2.59 a big difference for the same brand. This was the same for other goods as well; though vegetables were on a par, when you get to the checkout the girl is sitting down and just passes the goods by the machine and the rest such as packing and sorting is your responsibility. They do not offer carry bags you supply your own or buy bags from them to carry your groceries away and to encourage trolley return you pay a deposit of $2 refundable on return of the trolley, there was no shortage of shoppers. We then went into the Wharehouse and spent some time looking at the junk buying little then onto Woollies and then to Bi-Lo and then back home for a late lunch. The rest of the afternoon went quickly reading and just taking it easy plus relaxing, and I took the opportunity since we are on power to check and isolate the batteries for some topping up cells with water and extra charging, I don't think we are going to do much at all over the next four days before we push off to Casino. Tonight we will watch part two of the movie we watching last night it has wonderful actors and should be as good as last night hopefully. |
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| Our camp at Andrews | Wet Lands with ducks | Hinterland from Andrews |
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Thursday the 10th It was a little colder when arising, 8 degrees so I decided not to tackle the hills this morning rather I opted for the flat footpath which is only about a kilometre long. It was time to give the Motorhome a clean up inside and though not dirty the extra effort just freshened up the living area, the outside will have to stay dirty for there is level 3 water restrictions in operation which precludes washing of any vehicle, even Digger could do with a wash, both units will have to stay as they are for the time being. During the morning not wanting sit inside the house I opted to get my camping chair out and sat on the lawn near the Motorhome and read a couple of short stories, the neighbors probably think I am a bit crazy; its just that I feel more comfortable out in the open. Around noon I ran Dad to the doctors and then I went on to the village to have a look at the cheapies which included Crazy Clarke's, The Reject Shop and the Wharehouse and then into Bunnings still looking for a camp chair for myself and the fittings for the satellite dish. It is marvellous how quick time goes before I knew it the clock indicated 3pm, browsing certainly takes up time. Liz has gone off to have her hair cut and have a look around the various shopping centre's for awhile. Well, its time for happy hour and after that it will be tea and again watch television for the rest of the night, over the last couple of days neither of us have been over energetic instead of out and about taking in the various touristy things we have stuck around the motorhome. |
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| Bird of Paradise Tweed Heads | Surfers at Point Danger | High Rise at Burleigh Head |
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Friday
the 11th Another cool morning and again I stuck with the flat going on my walk, we were just plodding along and the time has gone by fast, by the time we showered and cleaned up it was 10am. We headed for the highway intent on going to Tweed Heads over the border in N.S.W., the traffic was thick though moving on at a fast pace. On arrival we went into Big W still looking for another camp chair to no avail, as it was near enough to lunch time we decided to visit the food hall in the shopping centre and selected what we both desired. After lunch we saw the K-Mart so we went in there and lo and behold there was a camping chair we were looking for though it was ten dollars dearer than the one we bought for Liz at the Big W, we purchased it anyway and thankfully that purchase finalised what we wanted. We saw a caravan repair centre and I went in and was able to purchase a 12 volt plug that I had been looking for the past two months though not the f-connecter sleeve I still require. We decided to stock up on vegetables for the next couple of weeks so went into the vege shed and found brussel sprouts for $1.99 a kilo, tomatoes 99 cents a kilo and beautiful Leeks for $2.45 a bunch all good quality and nice and fresh, then we went to the headland at Tweed Heads which was named by Captain Cook as Point Danger. It is easy to see how the area was named for there is a treacherous looking reef running into two large breakwaters, man made of course, whilst there we were to witness two pleasure craft literally surf in through the breaking water; it didn't look very nice at all and I bet they were happy when they were in the calmness of the river. |
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| Beach front at Burleigh Heads | High Rise at Surfers Paradise | Adventure Duck at Surfers Paradise |
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There was anything up
to a hundred surfers in action near the breakwater all waiting for that
special wave, we drove around the corner and into another beach area and
found that there was a Rip Curl surfing competition in action so we stayed
for a while and had a gander. There was no doubt we were looking at the champion class of surfing competition as they were a delight to watch how they handled the breaking waves, there were very few that came off their boards. We decided to drive around the foreshore towards Surfers Paradise for as long as we could, we stopped at a couple of beach entrances and it was notable that the high rise flats and the remaining houses had absolute beach front land, you need to go through these very few beach entrances to gain access to the beach. There is no boardwalk or track along the foredune they are privately owned. Then as we approached Currumbin we drove through rain forest very beautiful and though a small area it was very relaxing and no doubt they go to a lot of trouble to maintain this little bit of paradise where there appears to be a lot of birdlife. Further down the road and we were to witness what upsets everyone in south east Queensland, we were to see unleaded fuel rise by 17 cents a litre in one hit, in other words the price yesterday was $1.20.9 per litre; today and for the weekend it is now $1.37.9 per litre. The price of diesel remained the same, I'll make no further comment. I stopped and bought another carton of beer which cost more than what you pay in the outback (probably more than petrol) this is something I can't fathom out. |
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Beach at Surfers Paradise |
Looking towards Southport |
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Before we knew it we
in Surfers Paradise so we headed for the beach front, there are quite
a few cranes on the skyline, building more high rise accommodation; though
it was only 3pm it is noticeable that these high rise buildings cast huge
shadows over the beach. Even so it did not deter those who wished to swim, though of course they could not sun bake due to the shadows, we parked up and walked along the beachfront. We had only gone about 300metres when we spotted the parking machine, oops! I stated to Liz that I had better go back and purchase a ticket and place on the window screen, just as well for the parking meter attendant was booking the vehicle next to Digger and when I spoke to her she indicated that Digger was next and it turned out the fine is $35. Strolling along we noticed that there were many stalls being set up along the foredune footpath and it appears that on Friday nights they have market stalls, we then wandered down the main Mall of Surfers Paradise and it was noticeable the amount of tourists especially from overseas that are visiting the area. After looking around the various shops we were to note that my favourite ice cream shop is still in operation doing the same thing they done over the past twenty years. The girl on the waffle cone making machine and others serving up the many different flavours, Yummy! though we had the strength to not purchase a double rum & raisin my favourite! We then drove out to Southport and past Sea World and all the 5 star Hotels with their stretch limousines parked outside, we had a look at the yachts and pleasure craft and my goodness they must cost a kings ransom, not just to run also to store on the shore or anchored out on moorings. I went into the ships Chandelier shop and again the part I want is not stocked though they know of it, it was 5:30 pm and time to head home so we headed for Robina and then straight up the highway in peak hour traffic and home. Tonight we bought fish and chips for tea and the fish was humongous which we had with salad as well, we were to watch the Collingwood vs. Essendon match and poor Liz was not happy at all with the outcome and she has contracted the flu so is feeling a bit down. It has been a full on day and we saw quite a lot of the coastal strip and took heaps of photo's so we were more than happy to go off to bed about 10pm to throw a few Z's back. |
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| Norm grouting tiles | There garden paradise | Parrots feeding next door |
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Saturday the 12th Out for my morning walk once again on the flat which is probably only a kilometre and bit, the mornings are getting colder and the same in the evening after say 3:30pm. We did some more work on the Motorhome (I hope nobody saw me on the vacuum cleaner) with Liz catching up with the many months of ironing. I fitted a F-Connector through the wall of the Motorhome to make it easier setting up the satellite dish, to make sure that all was ok I set up the box and soon was receiving the signals from C-3 and then I tuned into B-3 and went to the arab station and discovered that they were doing a documentary on Dingo's in Australia in both their language and english, it was all very interesting and the programme confirmed what many were saying in that the Dingo mates readily with the household dogs and thus is starting to lose their gene pool, which is sad. They stated that it is not the poison baits that will kill off the Dingo just the inter breeding. We had lunch and then I packed away the satellite gear and then headed off to see my sister and brother in law, they live down at Currumbin and luckily we did not get lost maybe it was the directions given to me by my Nagavator that had us arrive without any drama. They are both looking well and on our arrival Norm was just finishing off the grouting for the tiles he had laid, we had a cuppa and over the next few hours chewed the fat and caught up with the news from their side of the family. Their gardens are a credit to them both and later in the day we were to witness the many parrots come into land next door for the bloke feeds them daily. Well, I am starting to feel like Liz with fits of coughing and my joints feeling sore not to mention the soreness of my kidneys, it has been an excellent day and on the way home we stopped off at the Pines Shopping Centre to buy a roast of Pork for tomorrow night's evening meal. After tea we watched the football, both match's which you are able to watch with Foxtel television, I am starting to get worse and Liz is no better so we went off to bed to see if we could sweat it out |
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| Carrara Markets | Vegetable stand | Another section of the market |
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Sunday the 13th No walk this morning for a very good reason, over the last couple of days Liz has been coughing non stop and indication that she is sore in the joints. Well, yesterday afternoon I copped a dose whatever it is and I can assure you with the coughing and sore joints it is not nice, normally people around me can flu like symptoms and it doesn't affect me. Now I now what Liz was going through, we just have adjusted to the cold of the morning or early evening though rest assured there were plenty of blankets on our bed last night with a fair bit of sweating going on. We were going to the Carrara Markets today and due to me feeling like a country dunny I went off to bed and Liz went off to the markets, I went to bed at 10:am and did not wake until after 2pm in a lather of sweat. Lunch was out of the question so I loaded up Digger for our trip to Casino N.S.W. tomorrow, there are some days you shouldn't get out of bed and today is one on them. I reversed Digger to fast and for to long and it hit the spare wheel on the truck and dented the back door so much so that you can not undo the door, bloody Richard Cranium. When Liz arrived home she had improved health wise and had purchased fruit that had been over $5 at the supermarket for just one dollar, Liz also bought lemons and honey for us to drink tonight. Well I am off to upload this section of the Diary and watch St Kilda vs. Geelong. |
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| Peak hour traffic | Sugar cane in the distance | About to enter the road tunnel |
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Monday the 14th
We both had another bad night sweats etc, again this morning my walk was postponed and we set about showering and packing for we wanted to be on the road by 8am. After saying our farewells to Dad & Helen we were on way to the Casino Village, of course leaving at this time in the morning meant we would run into peak hour traffic and by the time we reached Tugen we were well and truly caught up in the morning rush. It was to remain this way until we had passed Tweed Heads and were well into N.S.W. There is a lot of roadwork's going on and we were to pass sugar cane on both sides of the highway for as far as you could see. We were now climbing and we were back into second gear on a number of occasions, we were to pass the turn off to Byron Bay and as we climbed the hill we were to look to the side to see the sea and lighthouse on the point. It wasn't long before we were approaching Ballina and we pulled into the rest area just outside of town, then we drove through the town centre and as we had been here on two previous occasions we did not stop. We pushed on and it wasn't long before we were to turn right onto the road to Casino, again the going was tough with plenty of hills. We had not improved health wise and we were doing it tough, we pushed on and finally arrived at the Village where we booked in and were shown to our site where we set up and then I went to bed while Liz had a lay down on the couch. We had several of our friends come into the Motorhome though they didn't stop long when they realised we were both crook. We went to the happy hour with coffee only and found that there was 32 Tasmanian Motorhomes booked in already for Tassie Week we didn't stop long for the cold came down when the sun disappeared, we went back to our Motorhome and even though we cooked tea we didn't eat much, we watched television for awhile and then went to bed. Kilometres travelled 182 |
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| Patrick & Julie | Brian & Jean | Jim addressing the masses |
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Tuesday the 15th No need complaining, we will live the aches and pains for another couple of days to see if we can get through what ever it is we have, again no walk this morning we did not get out of bed until nearly 8am the latest to date during this trip. It is another nice day and reached a top of 24 degrees with not a cloud in the sky and as we now have hooked into power and mains water we are using our own shower after turning on the electric hot water system, its great not lining up for a shower for the village is nearly full of people, the majority here for Tassie Week. There are 36 Tasmanian Motorhomes present and they grouped us generally in the same area. At 10:30 I gave a presentation on why Motorhomers should visit Tasmania especially for the Combined Chapters Rally to be held at St Helens in February 2007, the session went until noon and was well received judging by the amount of questions and participation of the audience. |
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| Tassie disc bowls team | Two legged race | Egg on legs & Bob |
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Then it was time to have
lunch and after lunch I was helped by John to panel beat the rear door
of Digger to allow the repositioning of the door lock to allow the opening
of the door once again, you can still see the damage that was made though
we are not too worried about that. We then drove into Casino and went to the post office and also bought a paper at the newsagents, it is noticeable the difference between here and Queensland in relation to the coverage of A.F.L. football, there was none in the sydney paper at all; other than rugby. Back to the village and had a lay down trying to throw the last of the blasted flu or whatever off. Whilst I was doing that Liz went off to the disc bowls practice sessions and took photo's, also photo's of the two headed leg race and Liz informed me that it was all laughter and frivolity. Since I have lost my weight I have lost the title of "Egg on Legs" and it has now been transferred to a bloke from Western Australia (see photo). Before we knew it, it was happy hour and again to hear the laughter and good cheer was excellent and that went for two hours, then it was time for our evening meal. After watching a bit of television it was time for the trivia night, unfortunately we elected not to go to this event for the evening is very cool again and we do not want to exacerbate our colds whilst we are on the mend. There is no doubt that Chrissy and Bob have done an excellent job of organising so much entertainment, which is greatly appreciated by all. |
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| Tassie Tigers await their match | John throwing a disc | Bob, forbidden scones & cream |
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Wednesday the
16th Yet again no walk again this morning I am still not willing to risk getting further chilled than is the case at the moment, I do not intend to labor the point other than to say Liz is on the road to recovery quicker than I am. It was decided that I should visit the doctor and on information gained it could be a couple of days before an appointment could be made, as Camper Kenny found. However the office girl with a nod and a wink found there was one doctor not listed on the information list which she phoned; now this is the punch line. She made a booking for me in the name of "James Mungo" for she thought that this was my name she was quickly corrected for my medicare card certainly does not say that. She had been privy to people calling me either Jim or Mungo, might I say that we were very impressed in the manner that she assisted us for there was no call for her to do so. Then we were off to town to see centrelink and we obtained an interim healthcare card for ours back in Tassie waiting for us. The report after being well checked was that we are both suffering viral infections, (I am not kissing Liz anymore! just joking) so no antibiotics required. Just one thing happened which I think is worth repeating and this will be last of dreary subject. Other to say we were bulk billed,Bonus! Well, in our wisdom we thought we would get some tablets from the chemist that may help us called Ease a Cold and did they help us of course they did, take a white capsule during the day, no problem! take the black capsule just before retiring for the night, yep ok(only I did so). Hopped into bed and feeling very tired and sorry for myself and then wham! Crikey's it felt that all of a sudden I was on a high and sleep? no way mate and then it started needed a squirt back into bed, twenty minutes later and squirt again and then I felt dehydrated so had a glass of water and this was the nature of the night, the rest I will leave to imagination, that's enough to say on this subject for if the doctor is correct we should be rid of it in another three days, hopefully before we enter the below zero temperatures of the New England Tablelands next week. On our return to the village I attended the Seminar of set top top boxes which was really informative especially the new features of the new sets that have a 80 Gigabyte hard disc for recording programme's whilst watching other channels. The seminar went for over three hours and I noted that no persons left the room. We had entered the Tassie Tigers vs. Mainlanders round robin disc bowls and in our first match we were defeated 13-1 not a good result and in our second match we drew thus the skips had to play off and we lost by one. better than the first result. We finish the round robin on Friday. Back in camp and laid down for awhile and then off to the Wednesday Evening Bistro which was catered for by outside contractors and the meal was excellent there was even seconds of the main course if people wanted and of course there were plenty of takers, we were more than satisfied with with the quantity then there were sweets. Music was next with a few singers and the funny side of the night after the dancing was the Chicken Dance the blokes on the musical instruments could not quite get the tune right which resulted in some strange interesting gyrations that bought forth much laughter. As usual it is a bit of let down to wander off to bed after an excellent night of entertainment and meal. Note no capsules taken! |
Thursday the 17th Another chilly night turning into a fine sunny day with just a few clouds later in the day, no walk again this morning and after breakfast we had our showers, being able to hook into mains pressure water has meant that with the electric hot water service gives us a chance to stand under our own shower and not having to worry about use of water. Liz was to do a little washing whilst I went over to Bobs place and played around with the satellite dishes, then we went into town to visit the op shops and Crazy Clarke's to buy clothes and gadgets for the fancy dress dinner on Saturday night. Casino is a vibrant township which is famous for its Beef Week festival each year, locals indicate that since the Village complex has been built there had been an economic lift to the town. Back to the camp for lunch and then it wasn't long before we were called to participate in some events that have been organised for us, of course they were orientated towards fun and they achieved that alright. First was the mapping competition and then a Spirit of Tasmania water event that was really hilarious, which if you were not careful would see you end up all wet as some of the competitors found out. This took up most of the afternoon with the rest being taken up with stuffing Spirit of Tasmania bags with goodies for tomorrows "Tasmania Experience" part two. Then we used our surplus drum water to give poor old Digger a good wash given that it was so dirty though the first rain behind the motorhome will fix that, it is going extremely well given the load it has in the rear and what we ask it to do. Tonight there is to be a grocery bingo night and it will be interesting to see how that unfolds. Unfold it did there was a nice crowd and each contestant had bought two items from their grocery cupboard as prizes, it wasn't long before it was "eyes down" and the same woman called "bingo!" on two separate calls with someone asking was she trying to replenish her grocery cupboard, of course joking and this bought plenty of laughter and the third "bingo!" was called by Liz and she selected two items from the many on the table. There is no doubt there is a level of camaraderie experienced at the village, given what it is, everyone appears to be having a good time and the organising committee for fun and frivolity have task down pat. |
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| Attentive Audience | Touring Tasmania by map | Disc Bowlers hard at it |
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Friday the 18th |
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| Julie and her paintings | Second Place Disc Bowlers | Interviewing committee |
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Saturday the
19th A fine sunny day and after our shower and breakfast I was off to set up my satellite dish to assist Bob in his workshop on Satellite Television, on the subject of workshops there have been plenty this week to keep people occupied, quite a few of our woman went along to the painting workshop. We are informed that they were most surprised given that a few had not had any experience in painting, they were most pleased with their own productions, such was the quality and especially patience of the workshop artist, I suspect that we will see them at future Rally's armed with paint brushes; good on them! The Satellite Television workshop was well attended and as usual Bob gave a quality presentation that all were able to keep up with, in all it went for two hours and only ceased at lunch time due to the finals of the Disc Bowls beginning at 1pm. Bob dealt with free to air and also some other satellite television that is available. After a quick lunch we were off to the Disc Bowls Championship and we were surprise to win our first two games easily and then in our final game we came up against a mainland side that just killed our team by 13 to nil, they were to go on win the championship by 6 games to 1 defeating another Tasmanian team. It could be said that we came in either 3rd or 4th probably the latter given our score line. The days have been very full with our fancy dress dinner tonight as the Tassie Week winds up with most us hitting the road on Monday. |
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| A few dressed up or lack of | Dressed as a Convict | Section of Diners at Fancy Dress |
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The time
came for our fancy dress dinner and Liz dressed as an Apple Maiden and
myself as a two headed pistol packin' Taswegian, the standard of the costumes
was very high and the amount of work must have been time consuming given
the quality. The mainland contingent at the dinner must have been a little
amused at the strange goings on and who will ever forget Frank "Egg
on Legs" and his beef week costume, absolutely amazing. We were entertained to the music of "Hank" whose professional standard and presentation is always excellent, many were to dance the night away after the presentations were made for Disc Bowls and other competitions that had been held during the week. We have a final sausage sizzle on sunday night and the last chance to bid farewell to the many new friends made over the week. |
Sunday
the 20th Rang Mark this morning and gave him our itinerary for the next few days and with a bit of luck we will see him shortly, we unhooked from power and water and drove into town to top up the fuel tanks so we leave with full tanks. For a change we went into BI-LO and bought bread etc and had a look at the prices, we also purchased a box of Pepsi Max at ten dollars for 24, We were held up at the bridge again as they are doing repairs and then back to the village for lunch, the rest of the day will be spent just relaxing and slowly packing for our departure in the morning. |
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Our Barbecue Tea |
Derrick & Yvonne
pre dinner drinks |
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We finished our packing and then it was time for the
happy hour and again all of the Tassie's gathered and for many this
would be the last before we all went out separate ways, to a T everyone
has stated that it has been a memorable week with the many events planned
and executed by the many volunteers of the Village and the work carried
out by Chrissy and Bob whilst Rex the wonder dog baby sat their Motorhome. |
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| Main Street Grafton | Leaving Grafton over bridge | Climbing up to New England Tablelands |
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Monday the 21st We both climbed out of bed at 6am and again no walk, we headed for the shower in the complex for we packed ours away last night, we were ready to leave the Casino Village by 7:30am however by the time we said our farewells to those that were awake it was nearly 8am before we checked out. Out water tank has progressively leaked more over the past couple of weeks and I was annoyed to see that I had lost a quarter of what was put into the tank last night, there will be a need to watch this over coming days or we will be out of water. We intend to put a few kilometres under our belt today for we wish to drop in and see Mark on the way to Melbourne. The morning was sunny once again and the traffic was light on the way to Grafton, the early part was pretty easy going and we were able to maintain a steady 85 kph, then we started to climb and an hour and half later we were driving into Grafton. The temperature was a little cooler and it was noticeable that many of the trees were starting to blossom which looked lovely in the morning sun. We drove into the city centre and straight away became lost or not quite just a simple turn around and heading out we saw the shopping complex so we parked up and went in and had a look at the Reject Shop and then into Woollies to buy some rolls and sliced ham for lunch over the next couple of days. Back on the road heading for Armidale we had to climb up on a very old rivet bridge which was very narrow to the extent a truck had to wait for us to come around a slight bend or we would not have passed, It was such a nice day that the view off the bridge was great, we were making good time and then we started climbing and for the next two hours it was mainly 2nd and 3rd gear all the way. The scenary was nice with plenty of trees and man ferns that were over four metres high, very impressive, we were steadily losing the time that we had made early in the trip and I thought we would have stopped for lunch with only about 80 kilometres to go to Armidale. This was not the case we stopped at 12:30 pm and we still had 95 kilometres to go. We had our lunch and a cuppa and were back on the road by 1:15 pm and we finally arrived at Armidale feeling a little tired for the amount of gear changes and steering that had to be done, we refueled and decided to push on towards Tamworth. Sheep and more sheep more than we have seen over the past couple of months, there were more sheep now than cattle and of course there were plenty of Lambs in the paddocks. We were to pass many small villages that try to entice tourists into their town even if they are off the highway, we decided to call it a day at 4pm and looked for and found a bush camp off the road just 40 kilometres out of Tamworth; we are currently parked on top of the mountain where you go down in 2 kilometre increments in three stages. We will tackle this in the morning and I suspect we will be going down in 2nd gear and with the exhaust brakes operating. We have set up the television for the night though I suspect that about 8pm will see us in bed. Kilometres travelled 411 |
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| Runoff for trucks | Signage showing steepness | Out of the plains |
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Tuesday the 22nd A cold evening something we will have to get used to from now on down to Melbourne, we awoke early again after a good nights sleep and were able to look down along the valley to some very nice views through the trees unfortunately it was not conducive to taking photos. We knew we were to experience a very steep decline for we could hear the exhaust brakes on the trucks working overtime, when we finally moved off signage indicated that we would be facing steep decline on three separate occasions and that we should check our brakes before proceeding down the mountain. After checking brakes and fluids away we went and to say it was steep was an understatement, we were in second gear with exhaust brakes working flat out and touching the brakes now and again. We were to experience this over three sections and the run offs for runaway trucks were huge with gravel and then wires and finally rock cages all designed to bring trucks to a halt. We would have liked to stop and take photo's though this was not the case for it was to dangerous to do so, We were only 30 kilometres short of Tamworth and it didn't take long to cover that distance. Again today we intend put a few kilometres under our belt and the going today is a lot easier than yesterday, we drove through Tamworth and headed towards Gunnedah and then onto Coonabarabran, we were supposed to fill up with diesel here though by the time we looked for service stations we had gone through the town so we will need to fill up both tanks in Dubbo . We were pushing a slight breeze and the countryside was quite pleasant with generally flat going for the first two hours and then it was climb, climb, climb, the area is obviously sown down to wheat for we were to see many huge paddocks and along the way many sulphur crested galahs and plenty of Major Mitchell's. The traffic was heavy and we were surprised at the amount of Police patrolling the highway and through some smaller towns were pulling over cars, trucks etc checking licence's etc. It turned out that a field day just like Agfest in Tassie was underway at Gilgandra and the traffic dropped off after we passed the turn off to the open day, though the police presence along the highway certainly did not. We stopped for lunch at a small rest area and only had thirty minutes and were back on the road, it would be true to say that after lunch it becomes a chore to drive especially when the countryside was now all hills and we were forever changing gears and really we did not take much notice of the small towns that we passed through. I know that I stated that I wouldn't mention it again, however Liz is cured and I am feeling very queasy so the driving is taking its toll on me its becoming a real chore. So much so that we stopped and made a bush camp at 1:30 pm and the first thing I did was have a sleep waking up all sweaty and feeling not much better. I the past two days we have covered nearly 800 kilometres and would have covered more had we not pulled off the road so early today. Tonight we will watch television even though there is plenty of wood laying about I don't want to be out in the cold night air. Kilometres travelled 381 |
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| Log Cabin Wylong | Mine Winder Wylong | Held up by train at the "Rock" |
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Wednesday the
23rd Slept extremely well last night and awoke refreshed this morning, though not enough to tempt me to walk. We were on the road at 8am and it did not take long to make Dubbo. We fueled up and that cost $104 thankfully only one tank was empty, I was to achieve the worst fuel consumption on the trip to date, due to the head wind in the afternoon yesterday. We obtained some water for our showers for when we pull up tonight and as it is a good day for travelling we will again put some kilometres under our belt. Mark rang last night expecting us to arrive today though that wont be the case and as it was we are only 217 kilometres away from Corryong, had I been well yesterday no doubt we would have arrived today. The road was good and there were heaps of trucks on the road heading in both directions, there were only two truckies that complained not being able to get around me as quickly as they wanted. I would pull off where possible to let other trucks past no way these blokes who did nothing other than curse and swear so I just tuned them out. The fact is I cant do 100 kph plus like they want you to do, that is the minority and it always surprises me the guttural english they use. The road heading towards Parkes is very undulating and about 20 kilometres out we were to see the radio telescope that dominates the countryside it is just so huge, the surrounding farm land is all sown to wheat. Before we knew it we were on the way to Forbes and in no time at all we passed through and kept going, there was road works in progress along the highway that held us up for about 30 minutes all told. The amount of trucks still amazed us we do not recall seeing this many on the way up three plus months ago. We passed the turn off that we took that took is to the Lake Gum Bend some months ago and then things were more recognisable along the way. At noon we arrived at Wylong and pulled into the rest area and had our lunch, we were to have a look at an old bark hut and it is interesting how they held the bark in place and of course the mandatory tin chimney also there is an old mine winder that was used in West Wylong at the gold mining leases. Then back to the road house to re-fuel again this time the fuel cost $1.46.9 cents per litre. Yuk! We then took the turn off to Wagga Wagga for we intend to go into Corryong from Wodonga, we were to pass many little towns and Temoro's claim to fame is that they have an original WW2 Spitfire in pristine working order, you are able to go into the air museum and then take a joy ride in the spitfire if you have the cash. All the land for as far as you can see is sown wheat, needless to say there are many silo's and holding yards with the grain all tarped no doubt to keep out vermin. We finally arrived a the township of "Rock" and before we could enter we were held up by a five engined train for about ten minutes and then we made our way out to the conservation park, on arrival it was a nice area though the slope was to great to build up the motorhome so we made our way across the road and parked up on a service road for the rail line. We are not concerned about a train going past for the rail is rusty, that is the risk we are taking of course. We had our showers and then settled in to watch television and the sky at the moment is very overcast and looks rain which we hope is not the case. Kilometres travelled 482 |
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Bringenbrong Hill on
way Tooma NSW |
Gathering rain water
from awning |
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Thursday the
24th We were to get a sprinkling of rain during the night, it was not enough to wet the ground . On awakening this morning we decided to head into the township of Rock for breakfast, it was only 7am so after brekky we headed into Albury some 80 kilometres away. There was plenty of traffic on the Olympic Highway and the rain started to come down pretty heavy, there was plenty of fog about, the countryside was green and as usual it was sown down to wheat with plenty of Silo's beside the railway line. They must have had plenty of rain for the surrounding countryside was very green and the sheep and cattle looked to be in good condition, we made Albury in good time and drove through to Wodonga on the Victorian side of the border. I had decided to top up the fuel tank before proceeding to Corryong and discovered that it was 3 cents a litre dearer in Victoria. Oh! well them's the breaks. Not much we could do about it so we filled and discovered the worst fuel consumption to date, we parked up after the re-fuel and then unhooked Digger and drove back into the town centre and went to both Safeway and Coles for a few dinner items over the next few days. Poor old Digger was running a bit dry so we had to put fuel in it as well. Then we were on the Murray Valley Highway bound for Corryong, the going was easy whilst we wound our way around the Hume Dam, it was very empty and I would hazard a guess that it would be over ten metres down in capacity, it is absolutely huge in size. Then it happened, we started to climb and did so for the next couple of hours sometimes down to 2nd gear. There is no doubt that this trip is going to another shocker fuel wise, we had some steep declines for awhile which we must face on our return. We finally arrived at Corryong and drove through the main shopping centre and I suppose the population must be more than 4000, we drove up to the lookout and had lunch. We could not take photo's for the fog was to thick, after lunch we started down off the hill and received a phone call from Mark who indicated that he had been informed that we had hit the town some time earlier. It was the Caravan Park owner that had spotted us and it was towing the car that helped identify us for Mark. We met up with Mark and said our hello's and as he is on his lunch break he gave us directions to his place which was about another twenty kilometres on the the way to Tooma, we crossed the Murray River and again we were welcomed back into N.S.W. The weather had deteriorated even further and when finally we arrived at Marks residence it was really wet, the house that he lives in is the old homestead and sits on top of the hill, thus it took us a fair while to establish where we could set up for the ground was so uneven. We opted for ground down near the front gate and a few blocks later we were set up, I then put out the awning to catch the rainwater and it took no time at all to fill the buckets, which we will pour into our water tanks. Mark finally arrived home and we chewed the fat for the next few hours catching up with all the news, he appears to be happy working on the farm along with the multiplicity of differing types of work. It is still raining and we elected to stay in the warm motorhome and watch television we only get two channels and a bit disappointing that one of those is not the football channel, tomorrow I will set up the satellite dish. Kilometres travelled 262 |
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| Corryong from Lookout | Man from Snowy River Museum | Snow on Mountains tops |
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Friday the 25th It rained steadily all night, so much so that all the drums were full with run off from the Awning, first thing I did this morning was to put the rain water in the water tanks. Our tanks are over three quarters full more than enough to get us home from here, as the rain was steady it wasn't taking long for the drums to refill. Up went the satellite dish and this is the hardest yet mainly due to the lay of the land and the unsteady nature of the tripod, it took over 45 minutes to tune the dish unheard of as a rule, I was about to give it away and bingo up came the signal. Christine pulled up and came inside and over the next couple of hours and a cuppa we were to hear how the boys and everyone was going since they arrived in Corryong. I indicated that the valley where we were even in the dismal rain appeared quite pretty, Christine remarked on the lack of wind unlike Binalong Bay and lo and behold up came a gust of wind and while the sat tellie was going in the background all of a sudden the screen stated no signal and on looking outside the dish had blown over. As Christine was leaving the dish was reset and this time tied down with pegs and I had to do the same to the awning due to the wind. We had our shower and then decided to go into Corryong across the border some twenty kilometres away for lunch. |
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| Crossing into N.S.W. | Murray River heading south | Our camp at Bringenbrong Hill |
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| Dam at Khancoban | Murray River headwaters | Pipeline down to Power Station 2 |
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Saturday 26th We had a very late happy hour last night as we watched St Kilda defeat the Western Bulldogs, on awakening this morning it was a very heavy fog and as cold as. Mark joined us for breakfast and we cooked up a few eggs, toast and heated the stew left from last night, it was that cold I went back to bed and did not get out until 11:30am when the fog had disappeared and the sun was shining. The valleys with the sunshine casting shadows among them was very pretty, it was as we suspected given sunshine the area would be beautiful. We had our lunch and then we decided to go for a drive out to Khancoban and have a look at the dams and hydro electricity power stations, it didn't take long to be climbing and as we came around one bend we were hit with the spectacular views of snow on Mt Kosciuszko it was absolutely breathtaking. When we arrived at Khancoban it was obvious that it had been one of the construction villages of the Snowy River Scheme and now was the summer playground for the tourists, There were plenty of boats for hire and the caravan park and motel dominate the area thus NO CAMPING! signs. We drove over the dam outlet road and looked at the water coming out of the tailrace and feeding into the Murray River it was so beautiful that we stayed and took heaps of photo's before moving on down to the lower section of the dam where we could look up at the sluice gates; there was only one that was open letting water through. |
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| Power Station 2 | Power Station 1 | Snow on Mt Kosciuszko |
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We then drove out to the Snowy power
station 2 and being a Saturday and winter it was not open to the public
so we took a few photo's looked at the hugh pipelines coming down the
mountain not to mention the many huge pylons carrying electricity wires. Then we thought we would drive further up into the national park and have a look at further power stations and dams, the climb up was enormous with poor old Digger struggling in 3rd gear, we were to see many small dams down in the valleys and again the scenery is excellent with everything being so green and the wild flowers and wattle starting to flower. About ten kilometres on we came across the next power station being Snowy Hydro Power Station 1 this has an interpretation centre which unfortunately is only open Monday to Friday in the winter months, at the end of September it opens for 7 days a week. The pipeline coming down the side of the mountain into this power station are huge and there must be heaps of generators given the amount of pylons and electricity wires leaving the station. It is surprising how time goes when you are enjoying yourselves, as the boys and Anna are coming out to see us we headed off home and stopped and took one last look at the Majestic snow covered mountains in the Snowy Mountains. When we arrived home we found that everyone was there so we caught up with the latest gossip and haven't they all grown since we have seen them last, at the moment they are playing football and just being young adults. We had a barbecue tea and it was good to see the boys appetite had not slackened off, after tea we lit the open fire inside the house and watched the movie and had a bit of fun with everyone, it was after 10:30 pm before we went to bed; and wasn't it cold in the van we placed two doona's plus a blanket on the bed and that certainly kept us warm. |
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| Hume Lake | Another view of Hume Lake | Tourist Boats on Lake Mulawa, Yarrawonga |
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Sunday the 27th |
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| Our camp at Tocumwal | Murray running past camp | Koala dropped into to see us! |
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Monday the 28th A cool night and when going outside I was not surprised to notice that there was frost on the ground, even though there was no steam rising on the Murray River as it rolled past our camp. Though it was a good morning with the sun shining and not a cloud in the sky with fluctuating breezes. It was to remain this way all day which was great, after breakfast we went into the township of Tocumwal to have a shower and use the Laundromat, unfortunately they have shut the hot water off for winter so that was the shower of the list. Whilst the clothes were washing we went for a walk around the town and of course ended up at the op-shop and we chewed the fat with the elderly ladies that recalled us from 4 months ago, they wanted to know where we had been and we discovered several had been to Tassie for holidays we spent considerable time just chewing the fat. Back to the camp and set up the cloths lines and whilst Liz hung the clothes out I then gathered water from the Murray to wash Digger and fill our shower bags, of course we lit the fire and heated up water for our showers. Poor old Digger certainly gets dirty being dragged behind the Motorhome I am not sure how many times it has been washed up to now, we had our showers and then it was time for lunch. After lunch we just settled in and watched the Murray making its way to the sea, its a river that we never get tired of watching, I haven't bothered to set a rod up for the area around us has been designated as a breeding area for the famous Murray Cod. You are able to catch them as long as you return them to the water straight away and you must be by your rod at all times. I went walkabout looking for Koala's however no luck, we heard them during the early hours of the morning fighting. Then on the way back to camp I could not believe my eyes there was one just coming up from the River so we both grabbed our camera's and took photo's when it was in the lower branches of a small tree less than 10 metres from our camp. It was a nice sunny afternoon and I had no problem snoozing in the chair in the warm sunshine, we are still on our own in the campgrounds and we are enjoying being away from people for awhile. In the late afternoon on went our camp oven complete with chicken , size 8 of course and then later, in went the veggies for baking of course we are eating more veggies than normal for we did not think we had so many left, the same with fruit we do not want to have any left by the time we reach the Spirit on Thursday. It has been a nice pleasant day though we went inside early when we could feel the coolness of the evening coming down, so again tonight we will watch the tellie and read our books. It has been a very warm relaxing day. |
Tuesday the 29th Another beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky and we are expecting about 18 degrees, this morning there was steam rising off the Murray though we didn't hop out of bed until 7:30 am. We did our usual chores and a clean up around the area and then we headed off the 85 kilometres to Shepparton and then to the Mooroopna factory of Ardmona/SPC. The going was excellent with no wind and just a few trucks belting along, there are many small towns on the way including one that has a Kraft Cheese factory though they do not sell to the public. We finally arrived at Shepparton and went out to buy groceries from Safeway and it was good to see the prices were around normal again, this is probably due to Aldi and Coles being close by. Then into the Reject shop to buy a few items, then we were back on the road over the Murray once again and then we arrived in Mooroopna. We pulled into the car park of Ardmona/SPC and grabbed ourselves a trolley, it has been two years since we have been here so it will be interesting to note prices, Once inside they again direct you via the coffee shop first and then the tins goods etc. We noted the prices were the same it was two years ago though the amount of cans per box had been reduced with the exception of tea bags, we bought the usual baked bean, peaches, tinned tomatoes, beetroot, asparagus and heaps of single items that gave us a bill of $87. I have to admit that for the money outlaid there is certainly twelve months supply of the various products, and of course poor old Digger had to carry the many cartons back to Tocumwal. This was our day out and it was very enjoyable and we avoided the junk tucker shops and bought grain rolls and corned beef etc to make rolls for lunch, we were back at camp at 1pm wondering where we are going to store this food that we had bought. It was great having lunch by the Murray watching the birdlife and antics of the ducks, it just relaxes us so much so that at 2pm I went for a snooze and never woke until after 4pm. I had a quick look about for the Koala's and only spotted one high in the trees at the back of our camp, I then walked around the foreshore for awhile and then back to camp. We have heaps of vegetables so Liz cut them all up and along with soup mix we placed the huge pot on the fire and as usual Liz wasn't all that impressed when I had it boiling instead of simmering, it certainly looks and smells good with Leek, sweet potato, potato, onion, celery and carrots. We will have this for tea tomorrow night and still have more left over and tonight we will finish off the cabbage, spuds etc. Tonight again we will watch the tellie as it gets to cold out to sit unless you are surrounded by a series of fire. |
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| Our Mate the Koala high in the Gum Tree | ||
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Wednesday the
30th The night was cool though not uncomfortable and hopping out of bed and going outside this morning displayed that there was not a cloud in the sky just beautiful sun which would relate to a 22 degree day, wonderful. We had our breakfast and decided to move a little closer to Melbourne and have a much shorter journey tomorrow, we have come to love the Murray River so much it is hard to leave without a certain amount of sadness, of course our time here has been without any neighbors so there has been no restrictions as what we do; which is great. It was marvellous how long it took to pack this morning, we gathered water from the Murray and used it in our shower bag along with hot water for our showers, whilst Liz was having her shower I went looking for our mate the Koala and there he/she was high in the gum tree looking down at me. It is strange that we have only seen one Koala this time normally we see up to five or six, maybe the others have moved further back into the forest. After my shower I decided to walk across the border into Tocumwal and buy the Victorian paper, by the time I arrived back at camp I sure knew that I had walked it for it has been nearly three weeks since I have pounded the pavement, so to speak. Then we were underway hooking up Digger behind us and then onto the highway heading for Melbourne our first stop was at Yarroweyah for fuel, we took on only $32 dollars worth which was the outcome of travelling on flat ground since leaving Wodonga. Then we headed towards Shepparton and of course having been there yesterday we took the by-pass and which lead down to Campbell's soup which was only 3.5 kilometres off the highway. We were to enjoy a nice hot cup of pumpkin soup and then had a browse around what was on sale, I have to say that it appeared that you could buy the soup cheaper in the supermarkets than you could in their shop with the exception of anything out date, despite this we purchased over $40 worth and now there is even less room to move in the Motorhome. As it was now 1pm we elected to pull up outside of the East Shepparton race track and have our lunch, we took the opportunity to get rid of our rubbish in the bins by the road, then we found that they in fact we placed out by the race club to picked up by the council; I have to say that a caravan pulled in and done the same so we don't feel so bad now. Back on the road and the going was easy with brilliant sunshine which had me removing my jumper as we went along, we turned back onto the main highway to the Hume and found many trucks going both ways, fortunately we were able to get off the road and therefore we did not hold any up; the trucks tend to do 100kph which is a lot faster than we go. We are only about 140 kilometres out of Melbourne when at 2:30pm we came across the Taungurung Country rest area on the Goulbourn Valley Highway, no doubt named after the local indigenous tribe, we pulled up had a look and were happy to stay here and do the rest of the kilometres tomorrow on our way to the boat. We set up and then headed for the picnic tables and read newspapers etc in the lovely sunshine still in our t-shirts, we had a tourist bus come in and we were swamped by them, the blokes wandered down to the Motorhome and looked at Digger hooked up and then they had a cup of coffee or tea and were back on the road with the exception of a few trucks that came in for a couple of hours and then back on the road. Today we decided to resume our happy hour now that we are both over the effects of our viral infections, out came a packet of Kettle chilli chips purchased from Campbell's and a couple of cans and a bit of wine and we enjoyed it immensely, as Liz made a huge pot of soup last night that will be our tea tonight. Again we will be watching tellie tonight and off to bed and then our final journey to the Spirit of Tasmania tomorrow, are we looking forward to it Mate? You bet your sweet whatever's. |
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| Station Pier Port Melbourne | Spirit of Tasmania 1 | Top and Bottom Loading Spirit of Tasmania 1 |
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Thursday the 31st We both slept well last night though it was a little on the cool side, we both hopped out of bed at 7am, washed and then had breakfast and were on the road heading for Melbourne. We proceeded down the Goulbourn Valley Highway and then onto the Hume and along the way we noted that the new housing divisions that were some 70 Kilometres from the Melbourne City Centre. We heard on the radio that a truck had rolled over on the start of the Western Ringroad, on this occasion we were going this way for we were headed for Willamstown. The closer we approached the city the heavier the traffic became, when we arrived at the Western Ringroad they had closed one lane thus we all had to enter one lane only, it took no time at all to get past the accident scene, Twenty Kilometres on and we took the turn off before the West Gate Bridge into Williamstown and then headed towards Pauline's house, did we take the wrong turn? of course we did for the maps we had did not give all the streets of Williamstown. We were to get a good view of Port Phillip Bay with all the ships coming in and then along the foreshore where we rang Pauline and told her our plight, then I spotted the postman and after a few directions we found we missed the street by one intersection and then we were at her place. We finally bid her farewell and then headed back towards the Gateway Bridge, every year they mess with the signs and change traffic lanes so it is never like the year previous, we were on track for Port Melbourne and luckily I spotted the 3metre high bridge and took the turn before it thus saving our air conditioner and other possible damage. We went to park over at Altona as we would normally do and lo and behold where we parked in previous years they have turned it into a bicycle way so we had to seek out other parking. When we parked up we had our lunch and then unhooked Digger and went up to the Victoria Markets, we spent some two hours there and had a cappuccino and then bought a few items and then headed for the the meat department where we bought heaps of meat at cheaper prices and good quality. We were most unhappy not being able to buy vegetables for Broccoli was $2 a kilo, Cauliflowers 1.20 and Rock Melon $2 just to mention a few prices, the rest of the veggies carried similar prices. Back to the Motorhome and placed the meat in the fridge which we will freeze down tomorrow and hopped in Digger and did a dry run to the boat to see how long it will take us, on arrival we took photo's of the Spirit of Tasmania 1 and then returned to the Motorhome and unfortunately we cant have a happy hour for we will need to deal with peak hour traffic when we get underway this afternoon. As we found that we could board the boat about 5:30 pm we had a cuppa and prepared our overnight bag complete with thermos flask to take aboard, we moved about 5:15 pm and luckily we were able to drive straight onto the wharf. We underwent the usual security check and then proceeded into the booking in area, that in itself was a little strange for the girl wanting to give us two Port Hole Cabins; when questioned as to why we would need two cabins she checked the computer. The booking has me and the Motorhome and Liz driving on Digger and that's what confused her seeing Liz in the cabin of the Motorhome, we assured her that Liz would drive on the Suzuki and of course the bloke that lined us up to go on board was happy to leave it hooked up to the Motorhome, so that's where it stayed. We were not placed on the cargo deck therefore had to go up the external ramp to the fifth deck where we left it and headed for our accommodation. Once in the Cabin we prepared beds etc for our return later in the night and then went up to the rear lounge of the ship and had a late happy hour, we met up with Bob & Mona again so we went and had our evening meal with them in dining area of the ship. The meal was really good and I think well worth the price they charged and the selection of meals is enormous. By this time the Spirit of Tasmania 1 was underway moving down Port Phillip Bay towards the entrance at the Heads, we adjourned to the rear lounge again and continued our happy hour and we ran into Ken & Lyn who we discovered were at Karumba around the same time as us and went on the same charter boat out into the Gulf. Needless to say we had a fair bit to catch up on therefore we were late retiring to our cabin, the truth of the matter is, that as usual I was last to leave the lounge at 1am when they closed the bars and I then headed off to bed. Friday the 1st of September. We hopped out of bed at 6am and had our showers and a cup of tea for the ship was due to arrive at 7am, once again we have had a really smooth trip it only rolled a little coming out of the heads last night and into Bass Strait; these ship are really good to travel on and though we have heard of people having rough journeys we have had nothing other than smooth trips since we started travelling on them in 1997. We watched the shoreline of Tasmania getting closer through our porthole and as we entered the Mersey River we went out on deck and took photo's of the sun rising through the clouds and of the Spirit of Tasmania 111 that I understand has now been sold. There has always been some fool on each journey that cant find where they parked their vehicle when it is time to embark, and of course the vehicle in front was one of those vehicles that had no driver or passenger. We were to hear them called over the intercom and about five minutes later I saw people running down and when they neared us they said "They never called us to our vehicles" well, what can I say everyone else was in there vehicle and these clowns held up an entire row from getting off due to their lack of diligence; so Liz and I just looked at them without saying a word. Then we were off the ship and bound for home, we first stopped at Parramatta Creek rest area and had our breakfast before continuing on to my Sisters for another cuppa, a ritual we seemed to have adopted over the years. Well our Journey to the Gulf Country and return is now over and other than both of us contracting a viral infection for about eighteen days it has once again been a worthwhile journey meeting up again with so many people from previous years and meeting and establishing new friendships this year. So now it is all over rover and no doubt we will be looking forward to our next journey, where to? who knows! The price of fuel will influence that. |
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| Port Melbourne from the ship | Our Cabin | Sunrise over Devonport |
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It's
all 
over! |
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