Week 17

Sunday

Stopped off at Balranald on our way home. We have stayed here before and it's a really nice caravan park.

Monday

After following the border of NSW and Victoria through the Riverina, we ended up at Mildura at the Desert  City Caravan Park.

This very small caravan park (just 14 powered sites) is nestled amongst cabins and the luxury Aquarius Apartments. Whilst we use the older toilet and shower facilities, we have full use of the gym and indoor heated swimming pool http://www.aquariusapartments.com.au/gallery.php

 

All this for just $22.50 per night (with our Top Tourist member discount)

Tuesday

 

 Leaving the Sunraysia Region we head for Loxton Caravan Park for just one night.

 

We didn't make a booking, but apart from permanent residents and a handful of workers in cabins, there was only one (1) other caravan in the park!

 

Wednesday

 

We're close enough to get home today, but . . . . we don't want to end our holiday just yet.

 

We stopped off at Swan Reach for morning 'smoko' on our way to Mannum

 

 

Good 'free camp' - Swan Reach on the River Murray

 



Mannum Caravan Park is one of our favourite spots right on the River Murray;

 

 Mannum Caravan Park

 

Thursday

 

Yes, it's the last day for the Grey Nomads holiday as we head back home via Murray Bridge and through Strathalbyn to McLaren Vale.

 

We got home just before midday to find our front lawn covered with branches? ? ?

 

Apparently in the last storm to hit Adelaide, one of our front trees was blown down! It took us about half an hour to move all the debris.

 

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It's been 116 wonderful days and 14,450kms from start to finish. We've caught up with our close friends in Victoria (Bill & Irene), NSW (Wayne & Gail) and Queensland ( Kevin and Maureen, Chez & John, Brian & Elaine and Ian & Mary)

 

We've seen places we have never been to before and now understand how really BIG Queensland is!

 

From the Gold Coast in the South East to the Daintree in the North and across to the Outback Queensland (Winton & Longreach) each place has their own special attraction.

They say; 'It's the journey . . . not the destination' that is important.

All of our close and new friends just made the trip that more enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 16

Sunday

Spent the day with Gail & Wayne and after a fifty minute drive we ended up at historical Morpeth for lunch.

This place is a really popular destination for shopping or lunch in the olde style shops. We finished off the day with a BBQ back at their place . . . yummy.

Monday & Tuesday

Spent the last two days with Wayne & Gail around Newcastle. The girls went 'shopping' together(surprise - surprise) and the boys gave Bunnings, Super Cheap and the local car dealers a hard time.

Wayne decided to test-drive a Ford Ranger and also the new Jeep and was suitably impressed with both tugs.

 

'He Bought a Jeep'

Wednesday

We left Wayne & Gail's place just after 9:30am and headed to Cessnock in the Hunter Valley where Australia was playing bowls against New Zealand (Professional Bowlers Association)

The East Cessnock Bowls Club have the best facilities I've seen, Undercover / Outdoors and even Indoor rinks.

For the record New Zealand beat the Aussies 3-Nil in the finals

 

Steve Glasson playing for Australia

Indoor Rinks at Cessnock

We stayed at the Cessnock Caravan Park and they have the BEST Camp Kitchen I've seen;

 

Camp Kitchen with Wood Fired Pizza Oven

 

 

Coke & Coffee Machine . . . and  even an 8 Ball Table

 

 

Thursday

We left Cessnock at around 9:00 am to avoid most of the traffic and although we had good Motorways and Tollways, it wasn't exactly 'relaxing'.

After 260 kms we arrived once more at Moss Vale Caravan Park where we stayed on our way north in April. Nothing special but the caravan park is very quiet at night.

Friday

Drama Again

After returning from my morning shower (yes, our caravan shower is still out of action) I noticed our caravan had been attacked by some dirty rotten scoundrel who had stuck three stickers on the back of our caravan;

Caravan - Sticker Attack!

 

We've notified the State & Federal Police and told them we didn't see who did it, but we know who committed this evil act . . . . . don't we Wayne Brown?

 



 



Wanted Poster - Public Menace No. 1

 Good one Wayne

Saturday

Heading home now and battling head winds all the way from a cold front that's hitting most of Australia. I understand the Adelaide Hills (Mt Lofty) had snow today.

We stayed overnight at Narrandera NSW and although it wasn't snowing it did get down to ZERO degrees Celsius overnight;

 

 ZERO degrees is cold enough for me!

 

 

Lumps of ice on my bonnet!



No more Free Camps for us until it gets warmer as we haven't got any caravan heating without mains power #

# Although Nola did warm the caravan up today, by cooking muffins in our gas oven.



Week 15

Sunday - Monday

'Free Camped' at Gold Coast in Kiwi-Ian's back yard . . . . just like paradise. Thanks Ian & Mary

Naturally we caught up with Maureen & Kevin at the new unit in Labrador on the Broadwater.

You can't put a value on life-long and such close friends as these two. We always get excited when we visit these two 'characters' and we miss them already.

Tuesday / Wednesday

Stopped off at Yamba for two nights. A really great spot and we will return here again in the future.

Thursday

Free Camped at Coopernook Forest Camp Grounds for the night which is about 190 kms north of Newcastle NSW. We had about a dozen caravans 'crammed' into about five acres.

'A Bit Crowded Today' . . . lol

 

Some Other 'Happy Campers'

Friday

Moving off again to Bulahdelah which is about 100 kms north of Newcastle.

We thought we would stay at the showgrounds but found this Free Camp on the Myall River which is just magnificent.

Our 'Riverfront' View at Myall River, Bulahdelah

This spot will take some beating

Saturday

Arrived at our good friends (Wayne & Gail) in Newcastle at around 10:00 am after making good time from Bulahdelah. Just great to see them again this trip,

Week 14

Sunday

Left Yeppoon / Cooee Bay after a leisurely one week stopover and headed south again for a Free Camp at Calliope River.

Calliope River Free Camp, Calliope

 

This is a magic spot, but everyone seems to know about it? After I took this picture, another twenty caravans turned up for the night!

 

Old Hume Highway across the Calliope River

 

Monday

Up early and we’re off to Maryborough Showgrounds & Equestrian Park near Hervey Bay.

Luck is our side. They had an equestrian event here recently and they weren’t allowing camp / caravan sites until the 1^st July ’13 . . . . . That’s today!

In April this year the Caravan & Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA) had a rally at these showgrounds and there literally hundreds of motorhomes here;

Maryborough Showgrounds - CMCA Rally in April this year.

 

Arriving just after 1:00pm we have the 4th pick of hundreds of sites.

Fortunately we weren't cramped for room (less than 10 caravans)

We had to have some luck eventually? At $15.00 a night for powered, watered sites with hot showers, we can’t go wrong.

Tuesday

Decided to check out Maryborough & Hervey Bay to see any changes since we were here in 2010.

Maryborough is still rebuilding after the Jan 13 floods and the trees in the caravan parks on the Hervey Bay foreshore have been substantially thinned out. The storms in January would be one reason, but apparently the 'lorikeet roosting trees' were reduced long before the storm.

The lorikeets must have moved onto another spot, because we couldn't see one tarp over caravans and cars (three years ago 50% of the park at Scarness was using tarps because of the bird-poo problem)

 

Whale-Watching Boat
 

We had lunch at the 'Boat Club' at Hervey Bay. This whale-watching boat was having work done on the bridge . . . so no cruises today.

Wednesday

Down the Hume Highway we trek again. Once we get past Gympie we've seen the last of the road works which are still repairing roads damaged in the floods.

After making good time on the road, we diverted to the popular Eumundi Markets where Nola is able to buy some fresh and cheap fruit & vegetables.

Arrived at Maroochydore (Maroochydore River Caravan Park) around 10:45am and after setting up camp, I dropped the Touareg to VW 'Roochy, so they can check out an annoying error fault light on my dashboard.

Thursday

Today we spent time checking out the area between Maroochydore to Mooloolaba. The beaches here are fantastic and with the school holidays still on, there were plenty of people holidaying on the coast.

 

Mooloolaba Beach

 

Nola wanted some new bowls shoes, so we head off to Mooloolaba Bowls Club (which has a Bowls Shop) but more impressively is the undercover greens;

 

Mooloolaba Undercover Greens - Bowls 365 days a year!

 Our Bowls Club NEEDS one of these!

This is the envy of every other bowls club and must have cost a fortune? Apparently it was made by a local manufacturer at Maroochydore.

Friday

Heading south again to Brisbane to catch up with life-long friends Chez & John (Nola has known  Chez for around fifty (50) years! Dinner at their place on Friday night. . . . we were spoiled rotten.

Saturday

The girls want to hit the shops and markets, so Roger & John decided to check out the Masters Home Improvement (MHI) store at Springfield.

John has worked for MHI for the last two years and will be working in their Tool Shop from next week (that's every blokes dream job).

Completely different to 'Bunnings' and their stores are air conditioned, tiled floors . . . . even has a Macca's and Café!

After Chez & Nola returned late afternoon (they had a ball) we were treated to a roast dinner from the McNamara's. It's just great to catch up with such close friends.







 

Week 13

Sunday

We wanted to return to Emu Park Caravan Park (where we stayed on the way up) but after one telephone call yesterday we found out the whole of Capricorn Coast was nearing  100% capacity.

 Apart from all the grey nomads who book from one year to the next, the NSW School Holidays start on Monday so this just adds to the problem. Emu Park Cvn Pk said if we wanted a week on any decent site . . . we would have to wait until the middle of August!

Fortunately, Cooee Bay Cvn Pk managed to find a grassed site for us on their 'overflow area' and whilst it's close to the road, it's quiet after 6pm.

Cooee Bay Cvn Pk

 

Monday - Sunday

 

We've seen our friends (Brian & Elaine) who live at Emu Park and plan to catch up with a couple from McLaren Vale who are caravanning at Yeppoon on Thursday.

 

Men's Bowls on Tuesday / Mixed Bowls on Thursday and if we want we can bowl again on Friday and Sunday!

Update; We skipped bowls on Friday 'cos Roger pulled up lame after bowls on Thursday.

One hour on Google on Thursday night provided a self diagnosis of a partially torn plantar fasciitis (tendon under foot) and it bloody well hurts.

After forcing Nola to watch three YouTube videos I strapped my foot up on Friday morning . . . much better now, but no bowls for me for at least a couple of weeks.

On Saturday we caught up two couples (at Yeppoon bowls) that we know from Adelaide and thanked them for their hospitality.
 

 

Week 12

Sunday

 

Frank Fayers (Bush Poet) at Winton Cvn Park

Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame - Longreach

Another one of 'Life's Challenges' to contend with!

Our Show Stockman and his crew.

 

Muster Time

Singing 'Cow' Boy

 

 

The 'Best Looking' windmill I've seen

 

Nola found a friend

 



Bon Voyage

First Class seats for Nola

 

Free Camp at Jericho

Saturday

Heading east again towards the coast we stayed at huge free camp at Duaringa, just off the main drag. No power, but toilets and showers . . . just a donation at the visitors centre across the road.

 
This free camp could fit a hundred caravans and motor homes if it wanted too, but thankfully less than twenty RV's were there that night

Duaringa Free Camp

Week 11

Sunday

We were going to have a lazy morning after our bacon and eggs breakfast, but we were distracted by the commotion outside.

What do you do when you get your 13 tonne motorhome / bus bogged

 

 in a hole this size?

 Easy, you get one of these (can u spot the nosey campers?)

 

 And pull the bugger out backwards!

Lawn Bowls again, this time at Mareeba Bowls Club. One of the bowlers (Sue Brady) is in the Qld Ladies Squad.

This year she won the 2013 Australian Open Ladies Pairs and came 3rd outright in the 2013 Australian Ladies Singles. Great bowler and personality, doesn't have tickets on herself and is born and bred in the Mareeba area.

Monday

Moved 50kms down the track to Yungaburra in the Atherton Tablelands. The caravan park is situated on Lake Tinaroo and is only $20.00 per night for a powered site.

Although Monday arvo turned out a bit 'drizzly',  we couldn't resist a drive to  waterfalls.

We thought the waterfall would be a nice quiet spot for a lunch and a snapshot. How wrong could we be.

Three bus loads of bloody tourists (oh that includes me) have gone ballistic in the rain and it now resembles a Public Swimming Pool.

 

Millaa Millaa Waterfall



Tuesday

Mixed Social Bowls again at Atherton Bowls Club today. All six teams ended up with one win / one loss for the day. The 'lucky draw' was won by . . . . . not us.

The sunset tonight was quite spectacular;

Lake Tinaroo - Yungaburra

 

Wednesday

Foggy morning across the mountains as we moved on to Rollingstone / Vincent (Bushy) Parker Rest Stop which is dedicated to a local WW2 pilot. The rest stop has thirty sites with water (no power) but it's a real beauty.

 

Vincent (Bushy) Parker Rest Stop

 

 

Bushy Parker Creek

Thursday

Pushed on to Charters Towers . . . very interesting place

 

Charters Towers Lookout

Friday

I finally found the problem with our leaking shower. A nine inch crack in the shower pan. Grrrrrrr.
This will need to be poly-welded when we get home. 'Not happy Jan'

 

That's where the water is coming from?

Saturday

Day trip out to Fletchers Creek, about 40kms north of Charters Towers. This 'Free Camp' is very popular with caravanners and campers alike.

It's not on the road to most destinations, so perhaps that's why it's popular?

Fletchers Creek near Charters Towers