2016 October Brisbane and back

24^th October 2016 – to Brisbane and back

It has been a long time since our blog had an update, but we’ve been busier than a one armed juggler with an itch.

Twelve months ago we moved into our freshly built house, and anyone who has been through that will appreciate the attached turmoil. Even when you manage to get everything installed and working, you can never find things – they are never where they should be nor where you think you put them.

Then when you decide to jump in the caravan and have a little “get away break”, you find that the van has developed some issues that require work. The Tow Hitch had a little hairline crack and thus needed a replacement; the door on the front boot had developed a leak; the rear camera had forgotten how to work; and the water tanks were less than pure. However, the real problems begin when you try and fix all these ‘little’ imperfections.

Does anybody really understand the inner frustration and emotional turmoil that sweeps across that calm gentility with which you began the task of threading the new camera cable through the small hole at the rear of the van? Simple! You foolishly thought. With ease it traversed the outer hole – and with total resistance it hit the inner layer of the roofline. After some hours the task was put aside as I retreated to the comfort of some alcohol. The efforts of the next day produced the same result, as did the next.  5 days later I achieved success. It was then time to clear the water tanks. All were emptied, or so I thought until I tried to refill them with purified water. The first two filled with ease but the third was blocked solid. During the investigation I discovered that one of the pumps wouldn’t work #$%^&*@#$. Two days later the problem(s) were solved. Full mains pressure was applied to the inlet nozzle and ………. A major clump of spider web was ejected from the kitchen tap --- and another from the external tap. In future, when leaving the van idle I’ll block the taps with some form of cover.

We finally got away in early September and had the central Queensland gem fields as our destination.  

Sydney was our first stop with the aim of visiting relatives etc. We chose a van park near Windsor in the far western perimeter of the city and what a good choice. Windsor is one of our nation’s earliest towns and as such is filled with historic buildings and items. What particularly hurts is that as a young couple we lived not too far from this town, and travelled through it many times without stopping.

Our next destination involved a climb over the Blue Mountains via the lesser used Bells Line of Road – not an especially difficult route except for the narrowness of the road plus the unrelenting climbs and descents. It starts at near enough sea level and peaks after some 40 kilometres at 1150 metres. And within that distance not a metre is level ground, and only the shortest distance of road that can be used to overtake. With over 3 tonne of caravan on tow, we do tend to provide a bit of a road block, and with this road the streams of following traffic were quite large. It was very frustrating for both them and for us. The remaining 50 kilometres of this road lacked the climbing but retained the winding and narrow road.  Thankfully after reaching the city of Lithgow, the road became far more enjoyable and we finished the day after 350 km.

Aussie towns could once generally be broken into rough groups based on the number of churches and the number of pubs (and licensed clubs). A broad generality is that for every pub there was a population of 800 to 1000 – a similar formula applied for churches.  These ratios have risen over the past 25 years as blood-alcohol breath testing plus take home beer sales have had an effect. Likewise, church attendances have fallen because??????

As an example one of the more impressive towns was/is the famous town of Barcaldine in central Queensland which as of 5 years ago had a population of 1600 with 5 Pubs (plus clubs). That’s 1 hotel for every 320 thirsty folk.

Turning back to our next town, Quirindi brought these figures to mind when we found a population of 3000 with 4 hotels plus 4 licensed clubs. Of even greater interest was that the local IGA grocery store (a member of a common rural chain) had split their grocery section and alcohol sales into separate buildings.  The grocery section was significantly smaller than the alcohol one….. Perhaps this may explain the very friendly nature of the good townsfolk?

It was around this time that we became aware of significant pending trouble with our proposed route. Continual rain had fallen across large parts of the central eastern states. Victoria was almost totally flooded, even in areas that had not done so for decades. Almost the entire central west of New South Wales was under water, and also at a level not witnessed for decades. However, most alarming was that the area of Queensland that we would need to travel through was flooded. We decided to push on but with some alternate plans if things didn’t improve.

Again our next stop involved a climb up to 1100 metres (what is it about this altitude?) This time it was to magnificent “Irish” green pasture and grazing land that adjoined the town of Walcha.

Sitting atop the New England Range (a featured section of the Great Dividing Range) it is no shock to find that the area is surrounded by some of Australia’s most rugged and remote bush country. Given the rain that had been falling within this high bush area it seemed a good idea to drive out to view the local waterfalls – what a great idea.

Apsley falls are about 20km from town and we found them in full flood with water thundering over and into the narrow gorge below. The mist and rainbows rising from deep within the gorge made photography somewhat difficult.

    Top of Apsley Falls in flood 

                                                                                                                   Rainbow cast by falls

Downstream Gorge cut by falls

The town and rugged highland view enticed us to stay an extra day and when we set off it was not up another mountain – it was downhill through 140 km of thin, continual twisting and descending road until we reached the coast. From here we pushed north until we found a very small seaside village called Red Rock. What a find! Only 20km to the charming town of Woolgoolga that is home to Australia’s largest Sikh population, and it was this very weekend that the town was holding the annual “Curry Fest”. We both love curry, so it seemed like destiny had played right into our hands mouths. The only negative to the Red Rock village is that there is no reticulated water; only bore water which cannot be consumed. Lucky we knew of this limit beforehand so we went there with our three on board tanks full with 240 litres of sweet mountain water.

    

 

Red Rock River Mouth & Ocean Beach

 

By this stage of the journey we had confirmed our worse fear that we couldn’t get through to the gem fields so had to adjust (that’s another word for give up) and instead go up to Brisbane to visit our son and daughter in law plus kids.

The route to Brisbane was varied to include a few days at Kyogle. We’ve travelled through here a few times, but never stopped so given the lovely valley in which the town sits we were looking forward to staying a little while. Originally a timber town it evolved into a second industry of dairy production as the timber was cleared.

Away back in 1973 a small mountain village called Nimbin held a “Hippie” festival which created a lasting institution within the town. Originally associated with protesting against the felling of local forests, it is now generally regarded as the Hemp capital of the country. The entire town is painted and decorated in colours and designs that most folk relate to the hippie culture and lifestyle, together with a quiet but not formally legal acceptance of hemp use. We drove over to have a look and were amused by the rather laid-back shops and features. Honestly, we only had a coffee….Truly.

Hemp Embassy

  Nimbin Hotel

   Shopping area

      

Isn’t it marvellous when you find a community that, when facing government inaction and obfuscation, just gets up and does something themselves. The road between Kyogle and Queensland travels North West to the top of the Border Ranges, and then turns hard to the North East. Meanwhile, the railway line heads directly north. Back in the 1940s the local Kyogle folk realised that if a road following the rail line was built it would save many kilometres of travel, and thus they set about lobbying the state government (plus anybody else that they thought could help) to build such a road. Their efforts were all in vain.

In the early 1960’s a group of locals decided that they would build the road themselves and thus began one of the great “Do it ourselves” events in Aussie history. They gathered whatever machinery that they had and set to work creating a rough bush road in a northerly direction up over the range. Nothing fancy, just good enough for off road type farm trucks. A fringe benefit was that they opened up the views of the railroad spiral to any adventurous train buffs.

Australia has but two railroad spirals: one is in the central slopes near Junee, and the other is north of Kyogle. After leaving Kyogle the track runs up the ever narrowing and climbing valley until just south of the border where it needs to climb at a rate which is too steep so it curls in a large, but still climbing 360 degree loop where it goes back over itself and enters a tunnel to travers the border. The new road opened this up to sightseeing tourists.

The new road has since been upgraded and sealed and is still maintained by the local folks, but with some financial assistance from the state government.

Our stay at Brisbane was, as usual, most pleasant. We took advantage of their Foxtel to see all the episodes of ‘Game of Thrones’. I also got to see the Bathurst 1000 Supercar race on a giant wall projected TV system at our grandson’s house - - awesome. After 10 days it was time to leave so we set off on our way home.

First stop was the seaside town of Lennox Head where we were lucky to see a good size pod of whales as they frolicked just below the headland on which we were parked. Upon our departure we noted a great looking picturesque beach located next to Lennox. A very short time later we heard on the car radio that a young fellow had just been bitten by a shark at that very beach!!!!

  

No, we cheated. These are from the Web …….. But we did see some from further away. 

We cheated again…..Although I’m told that this is a distant cousin of the mentioned above.

We took the chance and stayed at an away from the main road type park at Mylestom; a small (make that ‘tiny’) village at the mouth of the Bellinger River. What a great choice this turned out to be. Unfortunately the cold and brisk wind meant that any thoughts of beach walking soon disappeared, but we did take the opportunity to go for a bit of a local tour.

For decades, when travelling to Brisbane we have driven up the Pacific Highway, and thus have gone straight through what to us was a small town called Urunga. To us it consisted of little but a few basic roadside stores plus maybe 30 or so houses leading the road onto a big river bridge.  Our little tour opened our eyes when we turned off the highway and followed the road to the other side of the railway – a much larger and neat small town right on the riverfront. Plus a splendid caravan park that has definitely been included on our list of “Parks to stay at in the future”.

After a one night roadside stop, plus 2 nights in Sydney we arrived home a few nights earlier than planned. Unpacked the van and car and settled back into urban life.

Update June 2016

From August we stayed at Lake Conjola Island View Caravan Park.  We went to Ulladulla movies, did our shopping and all the normal things you do if you are home.

We had some really heavy rain at times. A couple of times the rain came very close to the van and we drove through large puddles on our way to town.

Late August we had a trip to Brisbane in the car for a family funeral.  Although it was lovely to catch up with family it wasn’t so nice in those circumstances.  In October we went to Canberra to babysit our two lovely granddaughters while their parents went to Vietnam.  They have a very friendly one eyed cat, which was locked out of our bedroom after the first night.  We were exhausted after tennis, swimming, dancing, tutoring, reading, school drop off, homework, washing clothes for girls who wear 3 outfits a day.  When we got home we slept in the following morning till 10am.

In November we went to Sydney, staying at Narrabeen Caravan Park.  After visits to family we did the tourist thing and jumped on a bus to Sydney, then ferry to Manly.  We took photos and I reminisced about my time living in Manly when I was a child.  We drove around Neutral Bay and Crows Nest where Ian spent as a young teenager. Then we were off to Budgewoi for Ian’s brother’s 70^th birthday.

After months of trying, planning, changing plans, arguing with council, we finally received advice from our architect that we have approval for our house.  Yeah we were off and running.

We travelled further north to Port Macquarie and while there purchased 3 koala sponsorships for 3 of our grandchildren.  This sounded like a better idea than more toys and they get a newsletter and little story about their koala.

Then we were in Brisbane for our daughter-in-law’s big birthday.  They had updated their back patio area and had the party there. It looked great and worked well with lots of people.

We stayed in Brisbane until the end of November then off to Evans Head.  It was very hot and humid.  We stayed there for a few days and did the sights then onto Hat Head.  Then we were off to Lane Cove Caravan Park in Sydney and visiting family before Christmas.

Mid December we were back in Canberra at Mathew’s place to mind their house while they went to Perth for Christmas.  The cat didn’t worry us too much this time, I think he learnt his lesson from last time.  We had a lovely time in Canberra, family visited us at Mathew’s on Christmas day and after Mathew’s return from Perth we stayed another 4 weeks before returning to our second home – Lake Conjola.

We spent the next month picking appliances, plumbing, handles, colours and every little thing for our house.  We visited the block at least once a week and kept a photo diary of progress.

Mid-March we decided to go on a short trip and our first stop was Lane Cove, then Harrington, and onto Crescent Head.  While there Ian developed a back ache that got worse as the day went on.  So early evening off to the hospital.  We are getting ok finding hospitals in regional places now.  I stayed with him for a while and when they said they were keeping him overnight, I drove back to the van, after getting lost on the way of course.  The next day when Ian came home we decided it would be safer to be near a hospital for the next little while so decided to go south.  Mathew offered his driveway again and we set off after 2 days rest.  Ian couldn’t drive so I had my first drive of the van.  I drove from Crescent Head to 12 mile creek where we stayed the night, then onto Canberra the next day.  480km in one day and that is the furthest we have gone in one day.  Mathew helped us set up in the drive and Ian was in bed and popping pills by early evening.

We spent 2 weeks at Mathew’s and Ian’s back improved but was still not 100%.  We decided to go to Lake Conjola and he could relax there.

In mid-July we moved into a friend’s place just across the road from our new house.  They were going overseas for 3 months and said we could put the van in their backyard and use their bathroom and laundry, so we jumped at it.  This allowed us daily visits to the house.  We were very excited and couldn’t wait to move in.  Finally the house was ready and we moved the van into the carport on 17^th September.  We stayed in the van until our furniture was delivered on 23^rd.  There were no fences, blinds or curtains so we had a very bright red chenille bedspread on the bedroom sliding doors which faces onto a public walkway and put up a shower curtain in the ensuite.

We now have fences, curtains, blinds, and a garden (of sorts).  I have had knee and hip replacement and I am very pleased to be out of pain.

Next trip is planned for September and October 2016.

5th AUGUST 2014

Wow! How time flies. It is now 6 months since we updated our blog and we haven't travelled very far, but have seen and done lots and lots.

During our first month at Mollymook we wore ourselves out looking for a new house, or block of land upon which to build one.  Eventually we came to the conclusion that our specific needs could only be met by undertaking a custom build.

Towards the end of February we found and purchased a suitable block at Sanctuary Point (approx. 5km from Jervis Bay), and hitched the van and hauled it to the Canberra where we had a number of really productive discussions with our Architect.  This resulted in a really different design that meets our needs perfectly. We stayed at the local Showgrounds – called “Exhibition Park in Canberra” (EPIC – so much more imaginative than just “The Showground”).  It's odd that everyone seems to visit places far and wide, but rarely takes the time to visit the local attractions - we're no different, so we took the opportunity to play like a pair of tourists at our former home city.  

 The National Arboretum - located on an area that was burnt out during the 2003 bushfires

Within the Arboretum is the National Bonsai Collection - Wow!

 One of the consequences of staying at showgrounds is the need to vacate whenever they have a major event such as the annual “National Folk Festival”. Thus we had to leave EPIC, but couldn’t find a site down the coast until the end of April. Bugger! 

Our solution was to travel around parts of New South Wales that we had previously travelled through, but never stopped to look at. Off we went – first stop was the town of Young which has a very strong gold mining history and includes the first event where the festering tensions between European & Chinese miners burst forth into the public and legal view. In what seems to be a fine trend, we arrived in time to see the annual re-enactment of these events, together with the fair. Of special interest was that the centre of festivities was the former railway station – a place that I had seen a few times before, but only from a train. Some 60 years ago I lived at the city of Orange and on a few occasions had travelled with my mother and brother from Orange to my Grandparents home at Yass. This involved starting the journey in the dark of morning, and some 4 different train journeys later, we arrived at Yass very late at night – these days it’s about a 3 hour trip in a car. My time at Young brought back memories – some with joy, others being somewhat melancholy.

Re-enactment of Young in period of gold riots

 

Next on the itinerary was Forbes where we camped on the banks of river and beside the remnants of the old swimming pool – a fancy dressing room beside a section of the river and weir.  The town has a number of claims to fame – burial place of one of our notorious ‘Bushrangers’ (Ben Hall):  a very good example of a cityscape of buildings from the 1870s; and a really awesome car museum. I liked the museum the best!

I can't see us holding the Olympics in this pool

 

While we were at Forbes  we took the opportunity to visit the town of Trundle which came to public attention two years ago when half a dozen ‘city folk’ who were without housing or work had been offered free housing and work in Trundle. This was an innovative idea aimed at slowing the towns declining population. Unfortunately, it seems that the idea wasn’t the success that the townsfolk wanted.  However, on a brighter note, the main street is still the widest in the state and the pub remains with what was the longest wooden verandah.

Trundle Pub - Verandah was originally 50% longer, but you can still turn a 20 beast bullock wagon in the street.

 

Since I was a teenager and first noted the turn off to Wellington Caves, I have wanted to visit them, but never found the time or circumstances that allowed me to do so. Well, I can now tick that one off the bucket list. As far as caves go from a visual perspective they are not the biggest or best, but they are quite special from a scientific bent.

All limestone caves are good - some just bigger than others.

 

As we approached the Easter period a question arose of where we could find a site for our van during the said 4 days. All free camps would be filled by caravan travellers looking for somewhere, and most parks booked out with families on their 4 day holidays. Our solution was to seek a town that is small, somewhat obscure, and has little if anything to offer tourists or kids.  We chose wisely; we chose the town of Boorowa. Not much to do, but a great (and cheap) small caravan park within a small town that has all the needs. Four days of relaxation, then back to Canberra for a few more days before heading down to Lake Conjola where we remain some 3 months later.

Our house has been designed and submitted to the  %^&*%$#  council, and it appears that approval will be forthcoming this week, or the next or next or next. Meanwhile, we have spent many hours in tiling shops, plumbing shops, appliance shops, paving shops, and any other damn shop that exists.

The caravan park is one of life’s little gems. Because it is winter there are very few vans here – actually, if more than 2 more turn up on a weekend we think we’re crowded!  Mostly we share the park with a few other longer term residents plus hundreds of birds and what seems like half the Nation’s Kangaroo population.

An everyday scene in front of our van.

 

A mum carrying this years joey, and keeping an eye on last years.

This little fellow popped his head out to look at us getting in our car - inquisitive little sod.

 

 

 While you feed 'em, they'll stay and eat.

 At times you can have more than 6 or 8 on your arms, shoulders, and head.

 

 

So, that’s about all that has been happening – we’re waiting on the building of the house but can’t make plans for any more trips until the builder gets things underway. Until then we must sit back here and enjoy paradise.

12th February 2014

 

When the Christmas school holidays arrive so do the “No Vacancy” signs at all the caravan parks on the NSW coast. With all the parks absolutely full with families (and their numerous kids), we chose to head south via the New England high country. We’ve travelled the road many times but not with a caravan. Our younger days witnessed many 1200 km single day trips from Canberra to Brisbane; then slowing to one of one and a half days with an overnight stop at either Tamworth or Armidale. We got to see a lot of road – but not much else as we seldom stopped anywhere. The last month has seen us spend about a week at 4 different locations – and each one is a gem!

First stop was at the town of Warwick which sits within the Great Dividing Range. Given the heatwave that was engulfing the entire country, it was good to be in the cool (?) high country (only 39 deg rather than mid 40’s). We sweltered anyway.  There is a limit to how long you can sit in air conditioned shops, and even in air con caravans. We found that limit and went for a nice long drive in our a/c Landcruiser.  Our meander took us eastwards through little historic villages such as Killarney (the one in Australia, not Ireland), and the really good Queen Mary Falls – lots of good exercise walking down to the base of the falls, followed by the inevitable walk back up. Did I mention that it was a really hot day?

Queen Mary Falls

Someone at Queen Mary Falls cafe has too much time with nought to do. But, a crochet cover for a tree is cute. 

 

Glen Innes was our next stop and what a jewel this proved to be. Many towns have their local historical museum and to be truthful, a good number of them are a simple collection of old stuff with no rhyme or structure to the poorly described display. However, from time to time you come across one that captivates you and grabs your attention – such a place is the Glen Innes “Beardy Museum”.  Located in the former hospital, it is brilliantly presented and structured in local sections that deal with the various slices of historical life in a town that has a story to tell. We spent quite some time there.

Historical matters seemed to centre our thoughts because we also did a day trip to the small (make that tiny) former tin mining town of Emmaville. Once more there was a really good museum that focused upon the 100+ years of mining life, and again we spent quite some time just looking and marvelling at how things were done pre modern machinery.

This ‘pre machinery’ era was brought to our attention once more when we did a somewhat long day trip to Grafton via the old road, and returned by the new one. When it is considered that Glen Innes sits at 1120 metres altitude and Grafton is at sea level, to cut a road of 160 km through thick scrub and rainforest, and to do so with hand tools is an amazing feat. And along the way, cut a tunnel through solid rock lifts the feat to new heights. The main climb on the new road rises 700 metres in 17 km, and the old one was steeper!

After a week at Glen Innes we decided to move on to Armidale where once more we were enchanted by a great city. We were however a little curious as why a city of 25,000 people can support only 8 pubs and 2 clubs! There were 9 pubs until just before Xmas when one of them went into liquidation.

The architecture indicates a history of wealth and prosperity and this is supported by a very impressive array of major education facilities such as a number of large private schools and a significant university.  At one stage Armidale was also home to Australia’s premier teachers college – an impressive CV. So how come these wealthy folk can’t support a reasonable number of pubs?

Former Booloomimba property main house - now admin building for University.

 

In what became a bit of a habit, we did a day trip (wow, what a big surprise). This time we explored a number of the many waterfalls in the area – but just our luck, there is at present a drought and thus a good number of the falls are devoid of water  - including Wollomombi, Australia’s 2^nd highest, but not widest, nor highest single drop, nor whatever other difference can be thought of.... A waterfall without water just seems to be missing something.

Ebor Falls with water (not much)

 

Wollomombi Falls with no water (Australia's 2nd highest not waterfall?)

 

 

So onward to Cessnock where we intended to spend time ensuring that the local wine industry was still performing up to a high standard. It was. And so was the growing industry of cheese/deli/processed food/chocolate/cafe/and entertainment. With stars such as Bruce Springsteen, Dolly Parton, and INXS appearing at gala events hosted by various wineries, it doesn’t surprise to find that tickets need to be booked quite some time in advance.

The real reason that we chose to stay at Cessnock is that the southern hemisphere’s largest display gardens are located there. These magnificent horticultural sights had been on our “bucket list” for quite some time, and so it is always a good moment when you can tick off such an item. Were we happy? Were we delighted? No, we were absolutely blown away by the proliferation of different plants and the innovative way that they were displayed. Laid out in various themes such as nations, or nursery rhymes, or Xmas they each grab your mind as it searches for superlatives. Then just when you think it can’t get any better, they shut the gardens for a few hours and re-open them at 7:30pm. Now you find that various figures, themes, plants etc are lit by over 1.5 million lights!

 

Humpty Dumpty

Border Garden

Snow White at Night

Aussie by night

 

These are not just static lights, but ones that flash, blink, change colour, outline figures, perform dances, and just enthral you. This event occurs every December through to Australia Day.

We are now at Mollymook on the South Coast and spending every day searching for either a new house, or a block of land so that we can build a new house – thus not much interest for blog readers so I’ll hit the “Blog Pause” button until something interesting happens.

A NEW TRIP – Nov 2013.

2 Jan 2014    Brisbane Qld.

Finally, Yep! Finally, here’s our first post after leaving Canberra.

After many late stage “must do’s” had been either completed or substituted with an excuse, we hit the road on 1st Dec.

We now have a new tow vehicle in the form of a Landcruiser 200 series diesel, so the first week involved a reasonable amount of time understanding just what it does, how it does it, and “Why the $%^& $#$%@ hell” doesn’t it do what I want.  And, who writes the user manuals for..... well, anything? Should details about the interior lights be listed under: Interior, Lighting, Accessories, Options!, or Electrical?

Our timetable was to be in Bargara Qld by 12^th December so that we could see the turtles come in and lay their eggs.    This meant we had limited options to spend time along the way so we chose to travel via every back road we could find, and stay for multiple days at only one place (Mudgee).

Day one and we tackled our first descent climb – and it turned out to be a good one. The road from Goulburn to Oberon drops down to the Abercrombie River and then climbs over 700 metres during the next 20 kilometres – but the first 400 metres of the climb is met within the initial 4 km. The new tow beast handled it with hardly a pause, but I fear that our beloved previous one would have been down to its very lower gears.

A one night stop-over (stand?) at Bathurst witnessed our 1^st disagreement. Shirley wouldn’t let me try for the “Car towing a 3+ tonne van” lap record of Mt Panorama!  I just knew I could break the 10 minute mark, but was denied the chance.

The next day and another big climb as we dropped down into the historic village of Sofala, and then climbed the quite short (3km) but really very steep exit. I can’t think of a steeper bit of main or secondary road in Oz.

Mudgee is one of those places that we had been through many times, but never stopped to see what it had to offer. Our 5 days were great – day trips to old mining villages, wine tasting, local history (2^nd oldest settlement west of the Blue Mountains), and wine tasting. I fear that because Shirley has once again filled the back of the Landcruiser with wine, I must suffer with the task of reducing the load. It may take some time, but I’ll keep at it.

From Mudgee, we went north via Narrabri and the Killarney Gap road to Bingara, then onto Inverell, Texas, and Toowoomba where we stopped for 2 nights. Yep, we’ve been through Toowoomba before, but never stopped – but we’ll spend longer at some future date as we really liked what we found.

Eventually we arrived on schedule at Bargara and set up camp about 6 metres from the high tide mark. Each night we’re lulled to sleep by the gentle breaking of waves upon the rocky ‘beach’, followed by a dawn spectacle of the sun shimmering across the sea. And, from time to time we were treated to a mid morning performance by a pod of dolphins.    

Life can be hard sometimes

Mid to late every November Loggerhead turtles begin their egg laying at a number of Queensland beaches. Mon Repos beach is where Qld National Parks have established a research and conservation centre, with visitor facilities and each night they run guided viewing.

We went there on two nights and were able to see the nest digging, followed by very close look at   the actual egg laying – average 125 to 130 eggs per clutch!, and each female comes ashore 3 to 4 times at 2 week intervals!!!!!  

The laying area is in the upper beach and dunes but earlier this year the beach was seriously depleted by a cyclone. The turtles now have great difficulty accessing the area that is above the summer high tide line so the rangers wait until ‘mum’ returns to the sea before digging up the eggs and transplanting them further up the dunes. This allows the viewing group, particularly kids, to experience a very rare and special moment as they are encouraged to help carry the eggs to the new nest.

Another turtle saved.

 After a week by the sea, we moved off and headed to Brisbane, where we we’ll stay with family until just after New Year.

Not much to say about our Brisbane stay. went to the movies; went out to dinner; visited friends and family; and ate far more chocolate that some might suggest was in out best health interests! The really big thing was to just spend time with some of our family who live far from our previous home - sometimes its perfect to just be there and chat.

We move up to Warwick on Sunday and the forecast is for 40 degrees (oh! Bugger, hope the air con can handle it).

November 2013 - leaving home

Well, we have done it,  sold our house and we will live in the van until we find a new one.  We moved out on 11 November and stayed in the van at Mathew's house for a couple of days, then moved over to EPIC (Canberra's showground).

We have set up the van, although the aerial is not too good and we can't get ABC at all.  Horror horror.  Ian has bought a new aerial but needs some bits to install it which are proving to be elusive.   When we first moved to EPIC we had to get an electrician to come and install a new water heater element as ours was tripping out the electricity.

We had family dinner with the kids at the Southern Cross Club, and caught up with their news, including Grace who has just returned from overseas.

It is taking some time to get used to the bed in the van, Ian's feet are hanging out the end again.   We are also having trouble remembering where things are or should be.  Remember, Ian can walk from one end of this house to the other in 4 steps so there is not many places for things to get lost. not. 

Ian will update the blog as we go along, so keep an eye out.  We expect to leave Canberra on 1 December and head north.

14th November 2012, Summary

As promised, some data and general info from our trip.......

Firstly, our rig consisted of a Turbo Diesel Toyota Landcruiser 100 series, towing a semi off-road van which is 22ft long and weighs 3.2 tonne when fully loaded. I’m fairly confident that we didn’t get too close to that figure as we generally didn’t have the water tanks full – that saved 250 kg. If we intended to ‘Bush Camp’ we filled the tanks, but elsewhere we only carried about 40 to 50 litres. As we left home we deliberately ran light to allow room in our payload to buy stuff as we got into the trip (Shirl has the capacity to spend like you wouldn’t believe – I only drink the wine so that we can lower our rig weight).

Typical cruising speed was about 85 kph, but out on the flat plains, it crept up about 10%. If into a headwind, we dropped back to about 80 kph.

Daily travel distance varied a fair bit – eg: maximum daily this trip was 422 km, with only another 5 days being greater than 400km. Minimum was 36 km, but that was because of our blown radiator. The minimum normal day was 106 km, with another 6 days being less than 150 km.

We travelled 16,054 km with the van, plus another 7730 without the van.

Total fuel used was 4632 litres, at an average of 19.48 litres per 100km. Cost of this fuel was $7,454 (dearest = 202.9 cents/litre). And, joy oh! Joy, our precious fuel vouchers saved us 1.41% or $106.27. Fair dinkum, if any other business offered you a 1.4% discount you’d laugh at ‘em.

We were away for 218 nights, and we stopped at 59 different locations. The most expensive nights were at Parklea in Sydney ($52.50) and the cheapest night was $19 at Dunmurra in the Northern Territory. Overall we averaged $31.29 per night when using Caravan Parks. It shouldn't be a surprise that the six most expensive places (over $40) were at the "Big Ticket" places such as Broome, Kakadu, Exmouth, Bungle Bungles etc.

During the last year (since Nov 2011) we have dragged the van through each and every mainland capital city. We have also driven on (but not always with the van) the most easterly, northerly, and westerly piece of sealed road in the nation – we also came real close (42 km away) from the most southerly.

Between Byron Bay (18^th Apr) and Perth (31 Aug), we didn’t see any rain – nor did we find the need to not wear shorts nor put a jacket on.

Specific memories include the excitement of departing, and the joy of returning. The bits in between were also very very special. Of course, some places were more special than others, but we don't recall any bad places.

At this moment, we are not planning any long trip next year – we may hitch the van up sometime around next Spring/Summer for a short 3 or 4 weeks.

Cheers to all.

We're travellin' before unravellin'