Our trip is over!

What a wonderful way to finish our trip - a couple of days in this lovely setting at Jervis Bay enjoying Beth Dust and the boys company! This must be on young overseas travellers 'must do list' as there seems to be quite a few foreigners in Wicked vans! Much like we found at Blanket Bay Cape Ottway. Anyway, we have 3 great sites next to each other, firwood is supplied and we have a fireplace right near us, the sun has been ensuring the solar panels are working and we have wildlife to keep the boys entertained! 

       

The parrots here, crimson rosella, king parrot and rainbow lorikeets are so tame it's tricky to eat sometimes without them stealing from your hands! At night we have a couple of possums visiting but the wallabies seem shy and stay away. 

       

                                 

The beach is glorious with lovely soft white sand and the boys love frolicking in the shallows! We've been on some nice walks and the camping area is quite large - in peak season it's hard to get a spot!

         

 

Getting here was easy on Friday as we only had 90kms to travel. We took the scenic route and can't believe how extensive the built up areas are with some enormous very expensive looking houses amongst some old quaint homes! We wonder how busy the places will be in 50 years time! Fortunately there are some pockets of State Forest and National Parks so these areas will be preserved for the public. We didn't like Nowra at all as the highway goes right through the town and that is so busy! To find a picnic park was a nightmare - and when we did, parking was tricky and to get back on the highway even trickier as lots of the roads were unmarked no through roads!! We were very relieved to leave that bustling place behind and head to Huskisson, where we met the Laverys for lunch before we headed out here.

          

       

 We did a tour of the area and found the Botanic Gradens which were really worth seeing.

So now we head to Junee where we will be kindly put up by Roger & Jenny then home to Murrabit we'll head! We have lots to look forward to - seeing the family, watching Milas concert, seeing Josh play in his Grand Final and enjoying our garden and house again. We've had a wonderful trip with great memories and thank Tops and Dennis for their great company! 

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Killalea State Park

Well, Darryl has won this weeks duffer award! It's raining, we are wanting to get going when he says "where's my watch?" Of course I know, as I know everything! Anyway we searched with no success then he remembered taking it off at the Plomer Point shower - so he rang there but they hadn't seen it! We're both pretty disappointed at this point as this is that special watch the kids gave him for his 60th and the Victor Harbor jeweller had raved about it! The rain stopped and Darryl went across to tell Tops and she looked at him strangely and said "what's that on your wrist?" A sheepish but relieved Darryl couldn't believe he was so silly and Dennis was delighted as at last I'm not paying him out! 

                             

We eventually got to leave Myall Lakes - about 2 hrs later than usual so by the time we fuelled up at Tea Gardens and got a few more supplies, it was midday. We had a pie for lunch and headed for the big smoke. We actually manouvered our way through Sydney pretty easily with only one hold up due to a truck accident. The only trouble was we didn't really know that we were travelling through Sydney as we didn't get a glimpse of the city or anything much other than freeway walls! 

At Kiama we called at the information centre to see about camp sites but they could only direct us to ordinary caravan parks that don't suit us so good old Wiki Camps (& Tops) found this place which is perfect! We even have washing machines!!  It's actually a beautiful surfing / picnic / walking and outdoor ecucation site right by the sea - plus the camping area - hardly anyone here and we could park anywhere, have our campfire, hang washing lines around and feel we are out bush even though we are surrounded by very modern expensive housing suburbs! This night time shot shows how close to suburbia we are! 

     

Evidently a lot of the land was sold to developers and luckily that has been halted or this area would be lost to the public. 

      

Today was one of those glorious sunny warm days and we had a lovely day touring the area. We drove through Woolongong over this amazing Seacliff Bridge - what an engineering feat that is! At the lookout we had wonderful views of the road and coastline - gee it's a heavily populated area but very beautiful.

      

 We drove back the scenic route and have a much better feel for the area than travelling on the freeway. At Kiama we had a bit of retail therapy looking at the shops and finished up looking at the blowhole (too calm for any activity today) and then buying lovely fresh prawns at the little fish shop on the wharf! They were delicious! 

Now it's Friday morning and guess what? It rained in the night again and we will be waiting for our canvas to dry! We don't think today is going to be as delightful as yesterday as forecast is for 16 degrees and it's rather grey looking.  We were disturbed early thismorning by the usual bird tweets as well as by a group doing exercises in the camp kitchen area - we didn't join in though! We don't have far to travel today - only about 90kms so we will be able to amble along and enjoy the scenery. We are looking forward to meeting Beth and Dust and enjoying our last camp spot together. Till later, love from us here in this lovely part of the world xxxxx

     

It's nearly over!

Our stay at Plomer Point was very good and we enjoyed some nice walks  along the beach and headlands plus we had some down time which was nice. 

        

The beach was lovely and we loved watching the pelicans who waited patiently for the fishermen to throw them a fish or two! 

       

Our trip from Minnie Waters to Plomer Point was interesting and we drove into Coffs Harbour and what a big place that is now days! We drove along the scenic route into a holiday place called Arakoon but unfortunately it was raining then and we didn't see the place at it's best. There was even a market there but we weren't allowed to stop!! We had lunch at the camp there but were turned off setting up as there was kangaroo poo everywhere - reminded us of Potato Point!! So we trundled off down the coast, called into see the Smoky Bay lighthouse then finally found Plomer Point!   

         

I think Dennis thought we'd never choose a campsite that day!! Here we are having our gourmet lunch by the sea - note jumpers are the way to go now for all of us! 

     

Today we had a later start as our canvas was wet after a heavy dew, so we enjoyed a quick beach walk then set off down the Pacific Highway.  We went through Tuncurry / Forster where we were last year and did a spot of grocery shopping then found our way here. We chose this camp as we can have campfires - the National Parks here don't allow them which is a shame. It's good here though very damp around and it was closed for 6 weeks due to being too wet. We have the prime spots by the river with a lovely sandy beach which would be great for kids.

    

         

Now it's Wednesday morning and it's raining!! We wanted an early start too! Sometime in the early morning there was a terrific crack of thunder that seemed to be just over us. It's our big day travelling through Sydney so hope we manage that ok. I think there is a ring road that will make it easy.  It's hard to imagine that this time next week we will be home! Our itinerary from here - if we ever get to leave as the rain seems to have set in - is to find a place the other side of Sydney for a couple of days then Friday we'll be heading to Jervis Bay and meeting the Laverys. We will have 3 days there then head to Junee and finally home! We have had such a wonderful trip but it will be lovely to catch up with everyone again! 

So from a wet Myall River Camp we send our love! 

Minnie Waters

We've had a lovely break here in this quaint place which is typical of so many NSW coastal villages. You wouldn't believe we are in a caravan park as we are tucked away in the bush:

   

        

We actually didn't like the look of the place from the road as it's mainly a hotch potch of permanent vans & sheds so thought we'd pop in for 1 night, do the washing (again!) and move on! But it's so good here - we have the best of both worlds - bush camping with all amenities - that we are staying 3 nights! We even have our own little toilet block which saves trecking over to the main block. Hardly anyone is here although a few more are around thismorning (Saturday) The beach is pretty rough with signs warning of sharks, rips, uneven surfaces, rocks  ...... not the ideal swimming beach but must be good for fishing. 

       

Yesterday Darryl took us on a tour around the area. Another morning tea this time at Wilsons Headland - note Tops is bravely still wearing shorts & T shirt whereas I have gone jeans & jumper & shoes! 

        

The Yuraygir National Park which surrounds us, have several campgrounds which we checked out and they look pretty good - and pretty full too! Because they have a beach frontage, I guess they would be popular - but also pretty exposed to the elements. The day deteriorated yesterday and a heavy shower of rain went through about 3pm and water collected in our annex roof. We weren't here as we went into Grafton to see the bridge over the Clarence river - which is double story - train underneath and cars on top. It's very narrow with a bend at each approach which makes it difficult for long vehicles - and at peak hour it's rather slow! 

      

We had lunch at the next little village called Wooli - Darryl was keen on fish 'n'chips so the Sao biscuits stayed in the basket and we lashed out. It was pretty cold and windy for a picnic anyway and this was a nice spot. 

     

Today is a rest day - before we head off again tomorrow. Darryl and I went for a walk along the beach and spied some different birds - and were also attacked by a pair of Lapwings who were protecting their baby!  Poor Dennis went to a Dr again in Grafton as he's getting no better and is tired of coughing! He was very impressed with this Dr who gave him a thorough check and prescribed different antibiotics and a puffer. Let's hope this does the trick. We had wanted to go for another beach walk but it's raining!! Let's hope it clears soon. 

Phone service is not good here and we have to climb up on a hill behind our site to get reception - so that's where I am and it's pretty cold!! Hope all the footy goes to plan! 

Love till next time xxxxxxx

Mr Bean in action!

Life travelling without Dennis would be so boring! This morning he was cooking his baked beans and because it's windy he had a few issues with the gas, which saw him drop his beans in the sink, drop the butter on the ground then the coup de gras was burning his lovely towel which was acting as a windshield! Tops was not happy!  

     

Unfortunately, as we travel south we are losing our lovely weather and last night had to fish out coats, beanies, jeans and scarves! Tops and I are refusing to put our shorts away just yet but might have to give in soon  ..... We had our last Queensland morning tea at Stanthorpe and headed to Tenterfield in NSW. Of course we had to put on Peter Allen's Tenterfield Saddler! 

         

We are now out of contact at a place called Mulligans Hut in the Gibraltar National Park off the Gywdir Highway which goes to Grafton.  Our altitude is about 1000 metres so expect it's chillier than by the coast - but we have a big fire going (using their wood) so should be ok. The shorts are off now too! It's a great spot with excellent amenities (except for only cold showers) but smart us used the buildings and took a bucket of hot water and little portable shower. Lovely!  If wealth was measured by the amount of hot water one had, we would be millionaires here as we have 2 buckets always on the fire plus the billy and kettles! Dennis and Tops love hot water! Darryl is getting into chef mode again and cooked us afternoon tea - scones! Camp fires are just the best. 

                     

    

There are heaps of lovely walks and birds abound so you - know - who is very happy. A beautiful stream runs over granite boulders and the whole area is well maintained with picnic tables and toilets aplenty. 

           

It's the first time for ages I've been able to have a decent walk without worrying about crocodiles and snakes - far too cold for snakes here now! This forest walk was just beautiful:

      

Last night we even had hail and it came in pretty awful but we were snug in our beds. We had a visit from a bandicoot and a marsupial mouse tried to eat the bread and tonight we are going to look for sugar gliders as they supposedly frequent this spot. 

         

It's pretty cold when Darryl needs work gloves to hold his beer! 

         

      

It was nice to have another rest day and tomorrow we'll head to the coast and maybe find a spot by the beach. Hope everyone is well and happy. Life continues to be great for us! 

Till next time xxxxxxx from the travellers 

 

Tractors tractors tractors!

Well spring has sprung and we are on our way again after a lovely break in Brisbane where we very spoilt by Rob & Pru, Rick & Flo. Those Greenwoods certainly know how to make guests feel welcome and we were wined and dined in style! I think we'll be eating cruskits and lettuce this week to make up for the feasting we've enjoyed! (tho Flo has popped a few goodies in the freezer!) We never felt we were in a city as both places as in beautiful rural settings on some acreage. This is the view from Rob and Pru's kitchen! 

         

and this is Rick & Flo's house:

        

Rob and Pru made sure our 45th wedding anniversary was celebrated and party hats and all were whipped out:

       

and the lollies would have made some kids we know very happy: (note not many left on the plate!)

The stay wasn't without some drama however, as Dennis trod on a rusty nail and ended up having to go to the Dr again (2nd time in a week!) for a tetanus injection! Poor Dennis!

The drive today from Ricks place in Ipswich to this little place called Clifton was very picturesque with pretty farming valleys and dramatic mountain backdrops as we made our way through Cunninghams Gap. We remember going through this gap years ago on the way from Goondawindi to Gold Coast. 

We are here now at the Clifton show grounds as Dennis got whiff of a tractor collection nearby. So we quickly set up and off they went leaving Tops & I to tidy and sort out things then we strolled to the Main Street and wouldn't you know it? The only dress shop was closed!  The town isn't very big and didn't take long to see it all! The boys had a lovely afternoon looking at this chaps collection - it's not open to the public but he was happy to show such nice chaps through.

      

I don't think we'd want to go camping in this old timer!

      

Tomorrow we will go through Warwick and then who knows? But we do fear we are going to strike colder weather - already the evenings nights and mornings are cold! 

Trust everyone is well and until next blog send our love xxxxx

PS ran into Elton John on the weekend!

     

Onto Brisbane

We had a great night at this free spot at the Chinchilla weir - it's even possible to have access to free power but we didn't need that. The local shire look after the place and think it's worth it as people come here and spend $$ in the town.  Chinchilla seems to be a thriving place on the fringe of the Darling Downs. We had a cute mumma possum visit us and share our chops!  

 

         

   

Dennis made more bread - too much for us humans but the leftovers proved popular with the possum and birds! 

       

It was chilly this morning and we still haven't got the knack of setting up so we get the morning sun! We had to wait a while for the canvas to dry out as we won't be sleeping in our campers this weekend. We are going to be living in luxury in a house - at Rob & Pru's. We won't know ourselves! 

On the way to Towoomba we passed through Dennis's birth place Dalby - their most famous son! (Well we think so) 

     

We had a tour of Towoomba looking for the house the Greenwoods lived in but couldn't find anything familiar so assume it's gone. We had no idea Towoomba was elevated in the dividing range and heading out towards Brisbane you come down 4 or 5 kms of steep decline to the Lockyer Valley. Now we understand how the flooding occurred. 

We decided to travel this route to avoid traffic on the Bruce Highway - well, we were wrong!  This Warrego Highway is the busiest we've been on with an unbelievable amount of roadworks -  so it's been a very slow journey!  Can't wait to get on outback roads again! 

We are now at the beautiful Greenwood resort and seeing we don't have to set up campers have settled down by a fire Rob has lit with a champagne and beer! I think this respite will be a bit of heaven!

        

Good luck to all those involved in sports this weekend! Xxxxxx from us here in paradise 

Rockhampton to Chinchilla

 We have had a lovely rest day here at Gracemere - which sounds like Gracelands but is really just a suburb of Rockhampton. We are in this great park which is very green and pretty with trees and birds. We are camped on lovely soft green grass which is a luxury!  There is a new shopping centre just down the road which was perfect for us as Dennis saw a Dr there (he has been struggling with a cough for a while) and Tops and I attended to some beauty therapy!  It was nice to have a rest day. We did a tour of Rockhampton and the city centre looks like it's struggling a bit with many empty shops. But there are lots and lots of shopping centres out from the city. 

We have some very different lunch spots - one day it's a lorikeet visiting at a beach side stop

      

and another day it's wood cutting way out back!

Now we are on our way to Dalby - famous cos that's where Dennis and Peter were born. We decided to leave the coast as the Bruce highway is busy and we are on the Leichhardt  highway going through some very funny places such as Banana where we had morning tea. Not a banana in sight but the name came from a yellow bullock called Banana! 

After carrying fuel for 7,000 km Darryl, as tour leader today, decided to not worry about refuelling at Rockhampton, but to get down the road with no towns in sight and use the emergency fuel. Turns out there was a station not far down the road anyway! 

The things you see on the road - the old Fords towing camper trailers had Dennis pretty happy. They are heading to WA for a rally from McKay so not a bad trip. 

 

    

       

Darryl's  pretty upset at the minute as he's over his data limit plus some extra he bought and despite trying to work it out with Telstra, they insist he used 1.2gb in 90 mins of normal usage! (That's checking messages, FB & reading newspaper) So in protest he's turned his iPad and phone off till Monday when new months data resumes! And I have to publish this as quickly as I can using my phone hotspot! 

 

We won't get to Dolby today so are heading to Chinchilla  weir - a free camp site.

Must hurry - love to all xxxxx

Heading south

We have this mindset that now we are away from Cape York we aren't far way from home - but last night at Forest Beach we were still 1500kms from Brisbane! This is a huge state! We can't believe how quickly the weather has changed and the last two mornings have been cool and quite dewy! The days  are still lovely though -  about 25 degrees. Maybe we'll head north again if it gets too cold! The scenery has changed too from the tropical rainforest to more open paddocks and gum trees.

    

Another day, another morning tea! 

We left our beachside campsite bright and early and headed through some beautiful country with many sugar cane fields and cute cane engines hauling long trains to the factories. 

      

This is certainly a food bowl area as we have seen every fruit and vegetable growing and for sale in road side shops. We also drove through lovely rain forests and kept our eyes peeled for the elusive cassowarys - with no success!! We called into Mission Beach as we had heard about it during the Yasi cyclone disaster and were pleasantly surprised to find this vibrant village with a lovely feel to it. The beach was beautiful with people swimming and relaxing on the sand. Evidently crocodiles are not often seen on the beaches - more often estuaries. It was quite busy and we walked around a bit enjoying the ambience of the place. You'd never know that the area had been hit by that cyclone. 

     

We then drove through Cardwell which looked like a lovely place but Dennis was on a mission and we did a quick drive by! We found Forest Beach which is a few kms from Ingham and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the foreshore. Tommy the satnav gave us a little tour of a Forest Beach but lead us eventually to Jack and June Kennedys place. They have a lovely spot - quite secluded with lots of trees and birds and plenty of space for us to set up our campers. We cooked a camp oven roast for them and despite not watching the clock or doing anything more than plonking the meat and veges in our camp ovens, the result was delicious and I think we even impressed Jack who does a bit of bush cooking!

      

They were very gracious hosts and we felt very relaxed and comfortable even though we hadn't previously met them and we should know to trust Dennis's judgement! We had a very pleasant evening sitting around the camp fire.

    

Today we had a later start and left there about 10am. We headed to Townsville again and found the Strand where we met up with Dennis and Tops's mate Roger Moore and his mother for a nice lunch right by this area with swimming beach and lovely surrounds. These towns have lovely beachfront areas but I think Townsville has a better feel to it than Cairns.  We didn't leave there till about 2 but still made it to the other side of Bowen. We had afternoon tea at Ayre and checked out Scott and Berny's storage sheds - not hard to find as they are right on the main highway! They are looking very neat and tidy!  This is a very impressive bridge out of Ayre:

     

  

     

Tops and I pored over our camp books to find a suitable place to stay tonight with not much success but Dennis did it again by looking at his Wiki Camps site! I think we could put our books away as they are  outdated and this web site has proven to be great! We are in this quaint farmstay place which is very rustic and unregimented - and we even went over to join in on the happy hour where the host cooked us a damper. It was delicious! Then chatting around the fire when we said we were from Murrabit she said she puts her houseboat in there at Stretch Landers place. She knows him really well as they grew up together at Bacchus Marsh! What a small world - Stretch is our neighbour!  

       

We now have a vague itinerary - to be in Brisbane by this weekend to catch up with Dennis's brothers Rob and Rick. Then we plan to be at Jervis Bay about the 12th September to meet up with Beth and Dust. We are pretty excited to be seeing them as we haven't since Easter! Then home via Junee. It's a bit sad to be planning the end of a trip but all good things have to come to an end. It will be lovely to see family again. Love to all xxx

Ps Dennis is thinking of leaving Tops and the camper here and bringing this beauty home!

      

Cairns

We are camped here at Bampton Beach which is a beaut little park south of Cairns. It's a nice little beach but we wouldn't be game to swim here of course! We have walked along the beach here but always a bit wary. 

 

Our trip down from Lake Tinaroo was beautiful - through rainforest and with lovely scenery over the mountains. It's much like Declan's favourite trip from Canberra to Batemans Bay!  It was a short drive to here really and we arrived before lunch - just as well as we hadn't booked and it's only a small park. However, once again we were lucky to get 2 great sites together and have had plenty of space with what Dennis calls our garden where we could light our fire in Darryls fire pit. That has proved to be a great thing to have as lots of places don't want fires on their grass. 

      

Dennis and Darryl got to the hose and tap and gave the cars a bit of a clean up and they no longer look red and grotty! I think we still need to find a proper car wash place to give a better clean. I reckon we'll be finding red dust in spots for ages!

Yesterday we headed to Cairns for the day - we were most impressed with the swimming pool area on the foreshore and we wished we had some little ones to frolic in the water. We had a coffee and strolled through the market (amazing that these bob up everywhere!) then headed to the Skyrail.

      

The weather was perfect and the whole Skyrail day was excellent ( better than the day we went up Greg - no ponchos this time!)  Our trip up on the Skyrail was great and the cameras were working overtime! 

    

       

We got to Karumba  and  the walk along the streets was very pleasant. We found a Vietnamese place for lunch and enjoyed quite a feast - so much so that Tops and I ate our leftovers for tea and Darryl and Dennis had a piece of toast! The town is a very touristy place and it heartens us to note Australian made souvenirs in the shops. Not very often you see that. We then caught the train back to the station and that was a great ride. How these early engineers designed a track in such rugged conditions is unbelievable - then the workers who toiled to make the project worked under very adverse conditions - the tunnels were made with pick axes and shovels! 

    

We rate this whole experience as being world class and couldn't fault anything - the personell, organisation, presentation, cleanliness, information - all fantastic! There was a shuttle bus to take us back to the car at the Skyrail which completed the great experience.

Unfortunately, we had to stop along the way home to get groceries - in a huge foreign Woolworths, we seemed to take ages to find things. We were not back at camp till about 6 which is real late for us oldies! We pack up and head south again tomorrow and are staying at some ex Kerang people's place at Forest Beach. Another adventure!

Congratulations to the Murrabit B grade netball and reserves football on their win and good luck at the next step. Good to see Port Adelaide back in form too! 

Hope everyone is happy and well xxxxxxxx