2001 Holiday Trip

Wed 18th April, Left Younghusband at 9 o'clock and headed for the Coorong which is to be our first stop, have been along this road many times and have never stopped and had a look.

Arrived at the 42 Mile Crossing at 12 oclock had some lunch and headed out to the beach on foot, took about an hour or so to walk out and back, beautiful beach and some terrific surf, spent the rest of the day reading,

Thursday, left camp at 8 oclock and drove into Kingston, parked on the foreshore and went for another walk for an hour or so, had lunch and then drove on to our friends home at Robe arriving about 1.30. Spent the arvo catching up on old times (Joe and I shore together for many years back in the 1950's and 60's) and drank a few wines.

Friday, spent the morning pulling the caravan fridge out of Joe's van, the previous owner had fitted another fridge to it and had blocked off one of the vents and it could not keep up in the hot weather so we fixed that up and packed insulwool around it and in 4 hours the temp was down to 2 degrees in the cabinet so Success!! In the arvo we drove around the town and it is certainly a go ahead place the level of building activity is unbelievable and there are very few houses for sale.

Saturday, Got away from Joe and Lorraine's about 9 o'clock after having been loaded up with all the goodies. Crayfish, eggs, venison, jars of chutney, jams, sauce and fresh tomatoes and spinach, also bought a nearly new UHF Radio and a portable washing machine the same as one we have for our friends the Barkas's so all in all a good time was had. We went to a State Forest in between Penola and Casterton  arriving about midday and set up camp, had to stop early as Joe had hooked us up to the power but had forgot to turn it on so we had the fridge off for nearly 2 days and everything had started to defrost so we had to stop early and get the fridge fired up.

Sunday, Well it poured with rain all night and what with BIG insects hitting the windows (attracted by the Lights) we wondered if somebody was walking around outside, of course as soon as we turned out the light the noise stopped. Left our site about 9 and went through Casterton and Coleraine to the Wannon Falls where we are at the moment, this is in between Coleraine and Hamilton, it is now 11 o'clock and still raining the garage fellow in Coleraine said we had 100 mm last night so as you can imagine the country is looking a picture, will probably stay here for a few days and then move over to Daylesford where our mates the Barkas's are at the moment.

Monday, Rain has stopped but is very overcast and windy, will have to learn to put up with it won't we? After all it is Victoria!! The country all the way through the South East is looking very good obviously they have had ,more rain than we have  had up home. May go in to Hamilton after lunch .Went into Hamilton after lunch, it is only 16 kms and had a bit of a look around at the town, there is 9500 people live here but it has slowly declined in the last few years from close on 11,000 unfortunately there is nothing to keep the young ones in the town the same as most country towns in these times.

Tuesday, nothing terribly exciting happened today, done the washing and went for a ride on the treadly for half an hour, getting as bad as Brodie for forgetting things, have come away without my helmet, camp fire gloves and the charger for cordless drill, so I will have to button lip in future when Brodie has left something behind!!! Rain has kept away but still very overcast and another change forecast for Friday. An excellent little camp ground here, has composting toilets, undercover BBQ, firewood, rainwater, and even a bakers oven built in to the undercover area and the best part is it is FREE!!.

Wed, Took a drive back along our tracks to Warook Station which is a heritage listed property about 60 kms from here in between Coleraine and Casterton, very nice day and the 2 hours we spent on the farm was great, a lot of work and money needed to restore the  buildings but with the enthusiasm of the present owner it will happen, still blowing a bit but the rain has gone for now.

Thursday, apart from a bit more washing and a ride on the bike just lazed around the camp.

Friday left the camp at 8.45 arriving in Ballarat at 11.30. our friends the Barkas's were running late and never turned up until 12.30 so we went on to Newlyn to the reservoir where we will camp the night and go on to their place in the morning.

Saturday. Arrived at the Barkas's at about ten oclock and spent the day having a look around the town which is an exceptionally pretty town, has a lot of history as it is a old gold mining town and there are a lot of very nice old buildings.

Monday we went over to Ballarat and went to Soverign Hill to see Blood on the Southern Cross which is a reenactment of the Eureka Stockade, was very well done as to the history part of it but was a disappointment as we expected it to be a live show and it was only pre recorded voice over and with sound effects, cost $29 per head and lasted for 1 ¼ hours so as you can imagine I did not think it was value for money.

Tuesday we went for a drive out to Hepburn Springs and  then out to Mt Franklin where there is a very nice camping area, Hepburn Springs has a monster Spa and is very popular as a B & B area for Melbourne people, the country around Daylesford is very pretty, undulating but was very cold of a night, nice days so that was the main thing.

Wed we left Daylesford and our good friends who are great company and a bundle of laughs and headed for Bendigo to see if Len and Colwyn Tranter were home, which they were so we spent 2 nights with them, met this couple in 1994 at Balgal Beach in Qld and have kept in touch ever since, leaving there on Friday morning about 10 and headed for Echuca where we are at the moment camped at the Echuca Regional reserve which is a very nice area right on the bank of the Murray River and only 5 kms form the town. On the way up to Bendigo we spent a bit of time in Castlemaine which is also a very pretty town.

Sat Sunday Monday & Tuesday spent at Echuca Regional Reserve took a couple of trips in to Echuca and had a good look at the town, lot of history here with the old paddle steamers and there are quite a few operating as tourist boats now. Some very nice old buildings also.

Rode the bike in on Sunday to get the paper, have not been doing much riding so the 16 kms was good exercise. Have been doing a bit of cooking with the camp oven here, bought ourselves a thermometer for the oven in Daylesford makes it a lot easier for getting the temp right. Price of fuel is fairly high here $1.04 a litre, whilst I was talking to Graham Hammatt on the HF Radio on Friday another chap came on line and told us that it is $1.33 at the Border Village on the Nullabour so a trip to the west would be expensive also another chap who we met at Wannon Falls came in to the conversation and said he had just paid $1.20 at Maree so travelling is getting awful expensive

Left our camp site at 8.30 and headed for Yarrawonga stopping off at Cobram on the way through to have a look at the town and but some more RED( it is good for cholestral!!!

Found the camping area at Yarawonga and set up camp and had a look around, would have to be the nicest area we have camped at ever, we are about 2 kms out of the town  and have perfect TV and phone. The area where we are is sitting up on the bank with a magnificent view up and down the river with lawn and the site is out in the open with a forest of redgums behind us, the weather for the last week has been just out of this world, around the 19-20 each day and clear sky, will stay here for a few days.

Thursday, took a drive in to town this morning, a nice lot of shops but nothing of any importance to look at in the way of tourist attractions.

Friday. Sat. Went for a ride on the treadly and would you believe I fell off!! Decided to go cross country hit a hole and ass over head I went , took a bit of bark off otherwise no lasting damage, you would think that someone my age would have more bloody sense wouldn't you?. Took a drive over to Mulwala which is just over the other side of the River and done a little more shopping.

Sunday, went over to the pub at Mulwala for Mothers Day lunch, very nice it was to and reasonably priced. All Brode's kids rang and wished her a happy Mum's Day so that made her day. Brodie won herself a freshwater crayfish as a bonus for Mother's Day, there is a chap camped close by who caught a couple so Brode bought one so all in all she had a good Mother's day. Coming over cloudy and the weather forecast is for rain so we may have to head North soon.

Wednesday, left Yarrawonga yesterday after 6 days at our beautiful spot on the river and at the moment we are camped in another very nice spot on the Murrimbidgee at Darlington Point which is just below Griffith, will probably stay here until Friday and then go to Griffith. Pulled up in Jerildrie and filled up with water and petrol and bought a few vegies and bread, nice little town with a lot of history especially relating to Ned Kelly who robbed the bank and the Post Office back in 1850 odd, they have restored the old Post Office to what it was like and the display was very interesting. The spot here is right on the edge of the town all that is missing is phone reception, well that is not quite right we are getting a signal but it flashes in and out so doubt that it would hold for a call. The river is very low but the water is very clean, actually a chap at Echuca was telling me that it is the Goulbourn and the Darling that dirties up the Murray.

Thursday,17th, left Darlington Point this morning instead of tomorrow as the weather forecast is for rain and there is no way we would get out of here if we had a decent fall.

Only 35 kms to Griffith and after a walk around the shops we came out here to Lake Wyangan which is 10 kms from town, very nice area they even give you free power and you are allowed to stay for 3 days.

Friday, went into the big city and done the tourist drive which is about 40kms around the town and touches on all the scenic attractions, really a beautiful town with a very big shopping centre , if you cannot find what you want here you are too hard to please, there is a area that was developed by a Italian back in the 1930's at the back of the town and comprised of a series of caves that this chap lived in and he lived the life of a hermit and it has now become a real tourist attraction

Saturday, apart from talking to our neighbors who are from New Zealand nothing else was done for the day.

 Sunday, we decided to detour down to Leeton to see the Coventry's who are friends from Sydney who are staying with the Hunt's who we met a couple of years ago at Coopernook Forest out from Taree, they are heading for Charters Towers on Monday, Arrived at 10 o'clock and spent most of the day trying to sort out the problems with her computer, pleased to say that I had a 95% success so that was something.

Left Leeton at 12.30pm after picking ourselves a couple of dozen beautiful oranges from one of Nev Hunt's friends trees , then went to one of the wineries and bought some licquer and some Port and Claret. We travelled to Young which was about 200 kms. Pajero performing very well no problems with either vehicle or caravan at this stage.

Thursday, Spent a couple of hours in Young, very pretty town probably about 6000 people and is the recognized cherry capital of Australia had a good look around and found another couple of  camping spots close to the town, one is the Showgrounds where you can camp for a small fee, do not know how small but I believe $5 a night and the other is The Rocks 2Reserve on the Olympic Highway Rd about 6 kms from town, council do not encourage it but will allow it according to Tourist Office. We then travelled on to Grenfell where we are at the moment camped at Company's Dam which is on the outskirts of the town will probably stay here for tomorrow.

Left Grenfell on Thursday morning and spent the day at Forbes, another nice town with an excellent camping area about 2 kms from the shops on a Lake, very nice toilets and very quiet. Stayed only one night here and then went on to Parkes where we spent a couple of hours and then moved on through Dubbo and took the  road to Mendooran which is on the shortcut road to Coonabaraban, the local townspeople encourage people to stay awhile here by providing a very nice camping ground with toilets, tank water, and TV reception is A1.

On Sat  night we went down to the RSL club and had a very nice counter meal 2 course for $8, cannot get much cheaper than that and it was plenty.

It is now Sunday and the weather is very nice although the same as every where else we have been they are screaming out for some rain, it is about 18-19 today full sunshine and a little breeze, will probably stay until Tuesday when we will over to Tamworth. Brodie has had a very bad cold for the last 3 or 4 days but hopefully it is now about to break. Met a very friendly couple camped here with us from Mackay in Qld and they came to the club with us last night and in the raffle they won a meat tray and part of it was a leg of lamb which they shared with us tonight, quite a feast we had baked vegies in the coals and the leg in the camp oven

Monday, slight change of plans this morning , rained last night and the day does not look all that flash so we have decided to move on and we are now going to give Tamworth a miss and go to Split Rock Dam out from Barraba which is North of Tamworth. Arrived here at 2.45 and another really nice spot there are toilets, BBQ, water on tap and excellent TV reception, will stay a day or so and catch up with the washing while we have really soft water. Brodie's cold has broken and she has kindly passed it on to me, all heart isn't she?.

Stayed at the Gil Riddle Reserve until Wed and decided to move over to the Coast as the mornings are bloody cold around the 0 degrees each morning although beautiful days, I suppose they are just as nice at home. Going through the town of Barraba a motorist flagged me down to tell me I had a blown tyre on the caravan, the trouble is with tandem wheel trailers you have no idea that you have a flatty, this is the second tyre we have buggered up on this trip, by the time you find out it has gone down it is shredded, Stayed at Glen Innes last night at a roadside rest area about 8kms from town and boy was it cold when we got up this morning, minus 3 to be exact, the pump would not work(as the water was frozen in the pipes) to get water for breakfast so we had to use cold water from the fridge to make coffee.

At present we are camped at the showgrounds in Casino $2 a day will probably stay here until Sat or Sunday, when I came a gutser off the bike I buckled both wheels so have to get them fixed. Will probably move up to Canungra to  a nice little Park we know of from here.

Left Casino Sat morning after picking up wheels for bike, dropped off at the Boyd Bay Caravan Park at Tweed Heads to see Blue and Marcia Carpenter leaving there at 12.30 and came on to the James Sharp Memorial Park at Canungra. Perfect day only thing that upset it was the appearance of a Park Ranger to collect fees, this area has always been a freebie but the council decided that that was not on so they now charge $7 a day or $35 a week so we paid for a week and will leave here on the 9th , went into town this morning, it is only 6 kms out very pretty little place, Canungra of course was  very big in World War 11 as a jungle training camp for all the troops going up to the islands, it is very hilly here and lots of rain forests, there is still a camp here now called the Kakoda Barracks and is still a jungle warfare training camp.

Thursday now and we have had a beautiful week of weather around the 23 every day and the nights are about 12, not a lot to do here as we have been to both Binna Burra and the Lamington National Park and all the sight s around the Tamborine Mountains so it is nice to just sit and enjoy the weather. Had one little bit of excitement last night , we were sitting around our camp fire and I thought I could here screaming up the road, after a couple of minutes In decided to head up the range and see what was going on, well by the time I got there there was a girl standing on the side of the road and her car was upside down out in the paddock, the screaming I heard was her panicking when she could not find her way out of the car and there was petrol dripping in to the car, she managed to kick a window out and got clear, she was hysterical and I can understand why, no damage to her but the car was a write off.

Left Canungra on Friday the 8th and went to Laidley which is in between Toowoomba and Ipswich, very pretty area here in the Lochyer Valley and at the moment we are at a little place called Thornton which is 17 kms south of the town where the Shire have designated a camping ground on the Laidley Creek where they have constructed a beautiful set of toilets complete with hot showers and a laundry and power in the laundry and the best part is it is free, done to encourage visitors to the area and get them to stay awhile and spend some money, there is a time limit of three days here but you can then go in to the town to Lake Dyer and spend another couple of days free where they supply power and all the usual amentities. The farming land in between here and Laidley would be some of the most fertile you would see anywhere and a lot of it is under vegies.

Has been very overcast the last couple of days but thankfully has not been cold , nights around 12 and the days about 24 a lot warmer than it would be back home. A lady called in here to use the toilets this morning and Brodie struck up a conversation with her and low and behold she went to school in Mannum and knew some of the people that Brodie mentioned, small world isn't it doesn't matter how far you get from home you find someone who knows someone you do.

Tuesday 12th, went in to Laidley this morning to Lake Dyer, this is a very nice spot on the edge of the town about 2 kms and it has everything, beautiful ablution block and powered sites for the first two days are free and then $18.50 a night for a powered sight or $9 for an unpowered, do not know how they arrived at  $9 extra for power but that is what it is. Brodie has a appointment with the doctor tomorrow morning to see if she can get something for her cold. Seems as though she cannot get rid of the cough.

Brodie went to the doctor and he said she has a touch of bronchitis and gave her some pills so hope it stops that coughing.

Thursday, left Laidley this morning and went on to Toowoomba and did some shopping, Brodie bought herself a heap of gold charms to put on her bracelet, very pleased with her purchases she was, we then had some lunch and headed for Bowenville where we will stay the night and will go on to our next stop at Chinchilla Weir tomorrow.

Spent 2 days at Chinchilla, nice little camping ground about 8 kms south of the town  on a river nice toilets and power provided with a 2 day limit, the shire has woken up to the fact that there are a lot of caravanners on the road and if they provide a free camping area they will stay and spend some money. Chinchilla is a nice little town about 1200 people and has a very nice shopping area.

Left Chinchilla on Sunday morning and came on to Glebe Weir which is 54 kms from Taroom which in turn is between Miles and Theodore, this is another very nice free area with power and no time limit, there is one guy who has been here since Feb and the water board do not seem to care how long people stay, if anybody is reading this and has a caravan and may consider coming in here bring a couple of power leads so that you can access the power as there are no sites as such only power boxes in 4 places with 6 outlets in each and you may end up a fair way from  a box. Nice view here looking down the river set in amongst trees and a little bit of green grass which has been watered by the guy who has been here since Feb.

June 22^nd, have been here 6 days today and it has been most enjoyable, the weather has been beautiful around 20 degrees although the night s are quite cold. There are 24 vans here and the  people are a very friendly lot and most have a little dog, been trying to convince Brode that perhaps we should get ourselves a little Jack Russell, seeing as how we never go to caravan parks he would not cause much of a problem. Will probably move on Sunday to Theodore which is only 90 kms up the road and stay a few days at their camping area and then go on to Barralaba which is only 50 kms further on where they also encourage people to stay awhile in their free camping ground and  it has a bowling green so Brode will be able to get in a bit of practice for the coming season at home.

Sunday 24^th, pulled out of Glebe Weir this morning and we are now sitting at a nice little spot at Theodore, very small town with maybe 600 people could be even less with only 3 0r 4 shops a pub and police but with mobile reception and can get Chanel 2 will probably leave here on Tuesday and go on to Baralaba 50 kms further on.

Wed, left our nice camping area this morning and came on to Baralaba and another nice camping area on the Dawson River, facilities are not as nice here as at Theodore but are adequate although there is only cold showers here not a problem to us but for those campers who have no shower at least there is a shower. There are about 25 vans here and a very friendly bunch of people they are to, we have made friends with a couple our age from Victor Harbor by by the name of Ken and Janette Shalders, a very friendly couple, they are originally from the Wimmera and the Upper South East and they know people that I do from these areas so we have a fair bit in common.

Baralaba is a town that has only about 200 people but has a store and a pub garage etc and make caravanners most welcome as the business houses really need the money we spend in the town. They have social bowls on Sat night but I do not think we will be going to it. Still doing a fair bit of bike riding, was doing 20 kms every day at Glebe Weir and quite enjoying it, at Theodore and Baralaba it was only every other but all helps to keep the weight down.

Sunday, July 01, moved from Baralaba this morning and we are now at Dululu which is about 80 kms from Rockhampton, another nice little camp and there are about 6 vans here tonight , tomorrow we are going on to Rocky we did not intend to go there but have had a bit of trouble with the mouse on the computer and was unable to use it from last Sunday ,well one of the chaps in the camping area is quite computer literate and after playing around with it for awhile it is working again but we will still go on as we want to have a look at the old gold mining town of Mt Morgan which is on the way to Rocky, will probably stay there for a couple of days.

Arrived in Rockhampton at about 10 this morning (Monday) and booked in to the showgrounds for a couple of days, not a freebie but only $11 with power which is not too bad. Took Brodie over to the Rockhampton Fair Shopping Centre she has had withdrwal symptons showing for a few days  through not going to decent shops so after 4 hours she seems to have recovered!!! Went to the Brothers Footy Club for lunch, they have a special on Monday's’$2.20 for a roast dinner and 50c for sweets really good value, I will have to be careful we even had tea at the pub in Dululu last night, Brodie will start to expect it every night!!!!

Tuesday we went for a walk thru the Kernshaw Gdns and the original old shopping centre which strangely enough was quite busy

Most towns where they build a shopping centre it appears as though the original shops die as in Townsville and Toowoomba just to name 2. It is now Wed 1pm and we will be leaving here for Calliope about 3 oclock.

Friday, still at Calliope having arrived here about 4.30 on Wed, will stay here until Monday when we will move down to Lake Mondurran which is about 100 kms south from here, time starting to run out now only 2 weeks left before we will start heading home to SA, will take us a week or so to do that as 300 kms a day is far enough to travel nowadays, after all why drive long kms a day when we have all the time in the world to get home

Left Calliope and have come on down to Lake Mondurran which is about 60 kms from Bundaberg, another very nice spot with beautiful toilets, will probably stay here for a week then move on down to Gympie and then go to Jacobs Well to Tom and Norma Hastings before starting on our trek home.

Stayed a week at Lake Mondurran, then we went on to Bundaberg to visit nthe Butters who we met on the road in 1992, the originally lived in Mandurah in WA and 2 years ago they sold their home there and bought a very nice home at forest View which is on the outskirts of Bundaberg, Property values are very depressed in Bundaberg as there is no work in the area and they bought a very nice 3 BR brick Veneer home on 2 acres elevated site for $97000, stayed one night with them and then we went on to Gympie and camped for 2 days at a very nice lawned rest area on the edge of the town which has water and very modern toilets. Nice town Gympie has a very nice shopping area and you can buy whatever you want in this town, of course it is very popular in the last week of August with Gympie holding the annual Country Music Muster which this year being the 20^th year that it has been held.

On Thursday the 19^th July we lerft Gympie and headed for Jacobs Well the home of Tom and Norma Hastings and on the way we called in to the Ginger Factory at Nambour and spent an hour or so  looking over the factory and gardens, products were very expensive as were the macadamia nuts across the road at their factory. Arrived at Jacobs Well at about 1.30pm,

Spent a most enjoyable 4 days with Tom and Norma, went for a drive down to the Gold Coast and had a look at some of the developments happening down there, there is a new development similar to Sanctuary Cove taking place not far from Tom’s home and next door to it is Hope Island, some of the houses there are absolutely beautiful but of course the value of these properties is in the region of $700000 to $1m plus.

Left The Hastings on Monday the 22^nd and headed for home going via Beaudesert and stopping the first night at Coolmunda Dam which is about 16 km from Inglewood, second night was spent at Mendooran and to night we are at Condoblin at thye Gum Bend Park which is a fantastic camping ground 4 kms from the town with excellent toilets showers and electric BBQ’s, this town encourages people to come here and camp and there is no charge