Holiday Trip Year 2004
2004 Trip
June 6th Left home this morning for our yearly trip away and our first destination is going to be Merbein, which is just away from Mildura, supposed to be a good freebie there so will check it out.
Found our spot and very nice it is too, stayed there and went in to Mildura next morning and took the caravan back to Halls for a bit of warranty work which was finished about 2 o clock and we headed off to Euston and stayed the night in a camping area at the rear of the Bowling Club.
Next morning we headed off to Hillston which is Nth of Hay, found the camping area about 45 Km Nth and spent the night there leaving at about 9am and headed off to Cobar. Took a bit of a stroll around the town had lunch then headed off to Bourke, had a bit of a walk around town {not much there} and then headed out to find a camping area which we did about 65 km North, was around about 5 other vans there and we left for Cunnamulla about 8.30.
Done the usual stroll around the street and decided to change our plan and not head for St George but will go to Cunnamulla, well this was the right move, we got to little place called Wyandra which is halfway between Cunnamulla and Charleville and found about 6 other vans already there and all settled in so we joined them.
Well to cut a long story short one of the campers was an old shearer that I shore with firstly back in 1956 then again in 1960 so as you can imagine it was like old home town, We shore a lot of sheep and buried a few old shearers This chap’s name is Laurie Hampton and he was one of the best shearers I had ever shorn with, both for quality and quantity. He shore 204 before lunchtime which would give you a fair idea if you know anything about shearing what sort of shearer he was in regard to tallies.
Stayed for 5 days and what a great break it was, there was free power and water and firewood supplied and all the fellow travellers were great people and a lot of laughs was had every day around the campfire.
Left here on the 15th June and we are now at Mitchell in Qld {16th June) This town has decided to supply free camping to travellers for 2 nights and then if you wish to stay longer you can go out to the Weir or if a fisherman to Fisherman’s Rest where there is all facilities except power so we will try that out tomorrow for a couple of days.
Appears as though this is the year that we meet up with old acquaintances, the Hunts from Leeton rocked up this arvo, we met them at Coopernook in NSW in 1999 and then again at Charters Towers in 2000 so no matter where you go you will know someone. Out at the Weir now and boy was it cold this morning, it was – 4 degrees in the van did not want to get up and I didn’t until Brode got up and put the heater on, spoils me rotten doesn’t she!!!?.
Left Mitchell this morning the 20th June and we are now at Injune, spent in total 5 days at Mitchell and will go again one year. Injune is a little town nth of Roma with a population of about 400 which has been devastated by a series of exceptionally bad years and to try and get people to stop and spend a bit of time in their town they have also decided to give 2 days free at the c/park and if you want to stay longer it is $5 a day which by today’s standards is very cheap, most parks are around $18, will stay at least 2 day’s. Brodie met up with Gaynor & Jack Picher from the Mannum Bowling Club, it’s a small world.
Left here after the 2 days and went on to Emerald and spent 7 days at Keily’s Farm which is 7 km out of town, the owner has opened up an area of about 10 acres to self contained motor homers and caravans and encourage you to stay as long as you like, there is hot and cold water and toilets and a eatery where you can have a meal which we did on the Friday night, very good value it was $12 a head for a BBQ with all the meat and salad you want and then sweets and as much coffee or tea as you like and to top it all off an entertainer who sang and told jokes. Again we met up with Gaynor & Jack who are a day behind us.
From here we went to Bedford Weir which is 27 k out of Blackwater, a very nice spot but as there was no TV reception and as we could not get the satellite TV working and as she who must be obeyed wanted to be able to tape the Tennis we moved back to Emerald and everybody is happy again. It is now the 3rd July and we will stay here until the 5th and then move on to Charters Towers and go out to Macrossan Park for a week or so.
Took a drive out to Fairbairn Dam last Sunday, it has 43% of it’s capacity and the weather does not look as though it is going to put any more in it this year, they have only had 6 inches of rain this year to date and consequently there has not been much planting of crops going on.
On our trip up the country all the way up to Mildura down to Hay and up to Hillston was very dry and not much feed around but from there up through Cobar, Bourke Cunnamulla and Charleville looked excellent but according to the locals there is not much value in the grass.
Very happy with our new van and Cruiser, getting up to 3.7 k to the ltr on LPG which in the old terms is 10.4 mpg but the price is R/S up to 70 cents a litre, at Wilcannia it is 74.9!! what a rip off, petrol is around 98 and up to 109 coming through NSW
Well here we are at Bluewater which is 30km Nth of Townsville, we ended up staying at Macrossan Park at Charters Towers for exactly 2 weeks, we had met the Hunt’s at Mitchell and again at Injune and Keily’s Farm and they were at Macrossan, they are keen bowlers and took Brodie in to Charters Towers twice a week to play bowls which she enjoyed very much so we ended up with 14 days there.
This camping ground and most of the others around Townsville is limited to 24 hours camping so we will not be spending much time around here, had some more warranty work done at Townsville like as in replacing radio and regulator for gas , stove was not working properly but now it is OK.
Stayed at Bluewater for 2 days and then went on to Rollingstone where we stayed for 5 days, weather has been terrific, still getting cold nights but the day’s are around 25-27.
Took the van back to Classic Caravans in Townsville to get the TV antenna fixed and also had the transformer replaced, everything in the van is now working 100% and I cannot speak too highly of the service that Jayco have given us and the product that they have put out is of 1st class standard.
Met 2 couples from SA at Rollingstone one of them is a retired police senior sergeant and quite an interesting guy, we are travelling with them at the moment and have just spent 3 days at Giru which is 53 kms south of Townsville and at the moment we are at Home Hill camped at the showgrounds where there are dog trials being held for the next 2 days, should be great.
From here we are going to a little place on the beach just south of here more about this later.
Stayed at the dog trials for 3 nights and it was really great watching the border collies working the cattle, met a couple from Rockhampton who visit all the trials and they have 20 dogs and have quite good success at winning some of the events, they invited us to their property at Keppel Sands when we are next in the area, which will not be this year as they are going up to Mt Surprise from Home Hill for more dog trials.
Went from here to a so called MAGIC spot about 30km from Home Hill and stayed 2 nights, right on the beach and the bloody Midges drove us mad so we left and went on to Proserpine where we stayed 2 days at the Rodeo Grounds, took a trip down to Conway Beach to see some people that we met in 1995 at Archer Creek, Fay and Kev Jelleff and had a most enjoyable couple of hours with them.
We are now at a nice quiet spot about 60 km from Mackay it is called Boulder Creek and is supposed to be a secret!!! We were told about it and it is really pretty, we are the only ones here at the moment so it is obviously not well known, will stay here for a couple of days and then move on down to St Lawrence to meet up with John and Genny Coventry.
Only stayed at Boulder creek for one night and went on down to Carmilla Beach one of our favourite camping spots, the camping area has been cut down considerably and was very sandy so only stayed 2 nights and then went on down to St Lawrence where we stayed for 4 nights. Quite a nice spot here, there is a very nice ablution block which requires 1 dollar coin for a shower, other than that camping is free.
Went to Rocky for a couple of hours on our way down to Calliope where we are now and done a bit of shopping, Nice town Rocky will have to spend a bit more time here next year if we come up to Qld.
Staying here until Tues {now Monday the 16th Aug} and will go down to Bundaberg to meet up with my old mate Stan and his wife Marj, they are in a park there and we are going to open the purse and go to a park for a couple of weeks.
At Bundy now and as there is an Internet café just down the road will finish this off and send it to you all.
Spent 2 weeks in total at Bundaberg, great little city Bundy it has an excellent shopping centre and the caravan park is only 1 km from the main shopping centre and every morning the four of us would walk down and buy a few things like as in food and Brode would finger a few new clothes, very seldom does she ever buy any but she has to look at them, should be grateful eh!
Took a few drives around the area, like as out to Moore Park, Bagara, Elliot Heads, and Innes Park. Was a great 2 weeks being with Stan and Marj, they are both having a lot of trouble moving on from Wendy’s untimely death from cancer at 45 years of age so we hope that or company helped a little.
Left Bundy on the 31st Aug and went over to Hervey Bay and spent 4 days with people that we met in 1995, Bob and Clarice Tomlinson, and that was a great 4 days also, Bob is a real dag and we had a lot of laughs, they took us all around the area and the level of building activity has to be seen to be believed, any area where there is beach front or close to it is being built on and the homes are mostly $300000 upwards.
Moved on yesterday and we are now at one of our favourite spots at Laidley which is in the Lochyer Valley west of Ipswich will stay here for a week and then will start moving down thru NSW aiming to be at Mildura around about the 22nd Sept.
Only stayed at Laidley for 2 days as she who must be obeyed did not want to go to Thornton so we decided to hesd down in to NSW, first night out was at Coolmunda Dam outsides Inglewood, then on to Warialda where we stayed at a reserve about 7 km out was going to stay longer but once again no reception for the TV and as the e tennis was on it was not acceptable so we head off to Split Rock Dam which is 60 km Nth of Tamworth.
Had a nice lot of rain all the way from Qld , up to 3 inches in places and there are a lot of happy farmers about