Week 5

Sunday

The Noosa Sports Festival (swimming & cycling) is on today so we kept well clear of the beaches and the rat-race. Just a lazy day around the caravan park :)

 

Noosa Marina

 

 

Monday

 

Last day in Noosa are so we soaked up the sights and a cup of coffee down by the water;

 

 

 

 

Finally we get the Touareg (or is it 'Tow-Rag') back from the VW dealers with a big dent in our bank account . . . ouch. Apparently it's the second one they have fixed this week!

 

Two days ago we 'sprung a leak' under the bed (no, it's not incontinence) from the hot water tank inlet and outlet pipes. Luckily we were able to get that all repaired / replaced by a local RV Mobile Repairer for a very reasonable cost.

 

Tuesday

 

 'On the Road Again' . . . heading somewhere north?

 

We bumped into a convoy of soldiers heading towards Rockhampton and if I win the lottery I'm going to buy a Bushmaster 4WD.

 

At 12,500kg (empty) it is a massive vehicle, but it sure would give me '4wd bragging rights' when I next pulled into a caravan park!

 

 

My Next 4WD

 

 Arrived at this Free Camp on the Bruce Highway early afternoon

 

Gin Gin Rest Area

 

 

Wednesday

 

We thought the last free camp was popular until we stumbled on this one 28kms east of Gladstone.

With camping permitted on both sides of the river we had plenty of other caravanners to talk to.

 



 







 

Calliope River - Free Camp

 

As we arrived here early we shot over to Gladstone for a look. A bit disappointing, but we now know it's primarily a mining town and port.

 

Closed Bridge over Old Bruce Highway

Thursday

Arrived at Emu Park for a few days stopover (booked for 4 days) and have already put our names down for bowls at Yeppoon on Saturday.

We checked our Rosslyn Harbour on our way through, but we don't think we'll be going on any cruises to Keppel Islands.

Rosslyn Harbour

 

Saturday

Lawn Bowls at Yeppoon Bowls Club in the afternoon (of course we WON!) . . . but no cigars.
 





  









Week 4

Sunday

 

The Bradley's and our lifelong friends Kevin & Maureen (old neighbours of ours) hit the Carrara Markets really early . . . . . . we arrived at an ungodly hour of 8:00 am!

 

Getting there early proved to be a good idea, we had the pick of the car parks and left by ten thirty to meet up with Kym & Daniel

 

Monday

 

Shopping day for us both before moving on from the Gold Coast. I left Nola @ Harbour Town Shopping Centre for three hours, whilst I had some Heavier King Springs http://www.kingsprings.com/default.htm fitted to the rear end of the Toerag (in mean Touareg).

 

Apparently the original VW springs are more suited for comfort rather than towing a fully loaded 22 foot caravan. With the new King Springs fitted, I've gained back 15mm of height to the rear end and when I hook up the caravan it wont drop as much :)

 

Last minute goodbyes to Maureen & Kevin (I wished we could see them more often) in the afternoon before returning back to Ian & Mary's place at Worongary to pack up the van.

 

 

'Tight Rope Walker'

Tuesday

 

We left Ian & Mary's sanctuary around 9:30 am for a leisurely drive to Noosa, arriving around one o'clock. Nola started on the laundry (4 days worth) while I replenished all our water - tanks and containers and setup the rest of the caravan etc.

 

Wednesday . . . Bugger of a Day

We only have today to look around the Noosa, as we are planning on leaving tomorrow morning for Monto . . . . WRONG.

 

After a short drive to Noosa Heads (just 3kms) early in the morning, we have a 'flashing' light on our dashboard.

  

The owner’s manual tells me it's a 'Diesel Engine Problem', which could be absolutely anything (I'm thinking major dollars now).

  

The nearest VW is 30kms away in Maroochydore, so off we go. Our biggest problem is it's Anzac Day tomorrow, but the good news is we get them to look at the Touareg and they replaced a faulty Exhaust Sensor for a cost of $250.00

 

However, they then tell me the bad news, when they were road testing the vehicle they detected another major problem with my 'Treg'. The entire driveshaft needs to be replaced and our 4WD is 'un-driveable'.

 

This is what the driveshaft looks like;  http://www.touaregdriveshaft.com/images/driveshaft.jpg

 

Yes, it looks expensive . . . sounds expensive and . . .  is expensive.

At around $1,500.00 + labour we won’t get any change out of another $1,700.00 . . . . Bugger

 

On a positive note (if I can just smile for a second) at least we didn't break down on the way to Monto where we would have been 125 to 177 kms away from a VW Dealership. Anyway they have ordered the part and hopefully we have our bus back by Monday arvo.

 

Probably the 'worst' part of the day was waiting six hours (yes 6 hours) at Maroochydore Shopping Plaza with Nola until the VW courtesy bus returned! Nola was in Retail Heaven, but it was definitely Stress City for Roger.

 

 

'Roochy Shopping Plaza'

News Flash

I can't believe it, but Nola has turned into a 'geek'. After embracing her smart phone, Nola said she wanted a 'Tablet' for her birthday! With no iPods, iPads or iPhones we were advised to buy a Nexus Android Tablet which is similar to our Smart Phones.

Now that I have setup a new Pocket Wi-Fi, there's just no stopping her.

 

Thursday (Anzac Day)

Regretfully I didn't make the 5:30am Dawn Service as I was still shell-shocked from yesterdays events.

Nola & I decided to have a trip to Noosa and Noosa Heads. The trouble is twenty five thousand other people had the same idea!

With today being a public holiday the pace was packed with families having BBQ's in the parks and beaches. Wonderful for those families who got there early, but we decided to come back Friday morning, which was a lot quieter.

The weather has just been glorious. With temperatures around 25 to 27 deg Celsius, everyone has been thanking us for bringing the sunshine with us.

Friday

Now that the crowds have gone back to work today, we hit the 'tourist trails' around Noosa. Roger even got to shop at 'Bunnings' (it's a 'man thing')

 

Noosa from the Lookout

Fishing at Noosa Heads

Saturday

Bowls Day for Roger & Nola at Tewantin Bowls Club . . . wish us luck

(for the record we won our game of bowls by 2 points, but no prizes today)




 

Week 3

Sunday

Our last day with our good friends Wayne & Gail who have spoiled us rotten over the last 11 days.

After a guided tour of Lake Macquarie (it's huge) and surrounds we treated ourselves to an ice cream at the big 'M', before returning home for a Sunday Roast.

Thanks again Wayne and Gail for your friendship and spoiling us rotten :)

Monday

We left our friends around 8:30am and arrived in Tamworth around 3:00pm after a leisurely drive

'Nice Cap Roger'

from Newcastle. Just enough time to setup camp and have a walk around the caravan park

Tuesday

 

Shopping day in Tamworth with a mandatory visit to the Big Golden Guitar.

 

 

 Big Golden Guitar

 

Wednesday / Thursday

 

We moved on to Casino (the town that is) and stayed at the Casino Caravan Park / Casino Over 55yrs Retirement Resort.

 

An interesting concept for the retirement village. Every home is custom built to accommodate a caravan or motorhome;

  



 

Casino Resort Homes

 

Men's bowls on Thursday afternoon, but Roger missed out on the 'milky bars' on a count back, but happy with a 30-11 result :)

 

Friday

 

Arrived at Gold Coast area around 11:00 am after mandatory shopping trip to Robina Town Centre.

 

My 'caravan forum friend' (Ian) has a wonderful property complete with kangaroos, wallabies, rabbits, cane toads, lizards and birdlife

 

 

 'Site 31' at Ian's place

 

The Major Mitchell Cockatoos are hand fed by my friend Ian

 

 

Kangaroos graze here every day!



 

Saturday

 

We also caught up with lifelong friends (family really) Kevin & Maureen at their new apartment which was terrific. Hopefully we can spend some more time with them over the weekend?

 

Big NRL game coming up the 28th April . . . . Gold Coast Titans v Newcastle Knights. With mates in both camps who shall I support?

 

 

 

 'Go the Titans'

 



The girls  decided to get some 'retail therapy' at the local shopping centre, but Roger & Kevin headed to 'The Spit' near Southport Broadwater to see what was happening?

 

Kevin with Surfers Paradise in the background

 

Surfers 'Water Taxi' to South Stradbroke Island ($6.00 return)

 Surfers Paradise

The weather has been just brilliant (around 27 degrees Celsius) and I'm still wearing shorts and T shirt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Week 2

Sunday

Our good friends Gail & Wayne gave us an extensive tour of Hawks Nest and Tea Gardens. Just as we got there the ferry from Nelson Bay arrived;

Anyway we decided to have fish and chips at the Tea Gardens Hotel. The trouble was that everyone on the ferry had the same idea!!!

 

 
 

Monday to Friday

It's a full time job feeding the six resident kookaburras.

They will even take food from your hand, head or even from your knees!



On the way to Mungo Brush Resort (for coffee) we bumped into George the local Goanna

The men wanted a beer but all we got was coffee.

I can't see any Kookaburras this morning!

 

'Beer - O'clock' around the campfire is always fun;

 

Up close and looking for an easy meal

   Just after we left the beach these clouds turns into a waterspout.

 

Wayne & Gail took us for trip to the beach (Little Gibber Point looking south to Hawks Nest)

'Hand Fed' Kookaburras

Just a couple more snaps of 'paradise before we left camp on Friday morning;

 

'Life's a Beach' . . . . even in a low cost camp site

View from one end of campsite to the other (we are all camped at the far end)

 

 

 

Saturday Night at Hunter Stadium, Newcastle

 

 

'Go the Knights'

 

 

Hunter Stadium

 

 

For the record the Newcastle Knights beat Penrith Panthers 8 - 6. Not a really good game but at least Wayne & Gail's team won :)

Week 1

 

Well we got away OK on Sunday morning and free camped at 'Burnt Creek' just south of Horsham.

You wouldn't believe it . . . the other people in the caravan behind us were from McLaren Vale!!

 



 

Burnt Creek

We passed the Avoca Hotel (that's at Avoca) early on Monday morning. It was closed, but I just had to take a snap of the hotel . . . . and the bank

Avoca Hotel & Bank

 



On Monday night, we spent with friends Irene & Bill at Maryborough, with free camp in their driveway.

Tuesday we hit the road again and parked in a wayside stop on the Hume Highway. I lost count of the semi trailers going past but it was probably one every two heart beats!

Mullengandra NSW

Wednesday we passed through Gundagai and paid our respects to the famous dog.

 

 Gundagai

While we were there a magnificent Citron 'DIY' Camper pulled up. You won't see one of these again!

Citron Camper Van

 



We then had a 'navigational' error from our Free Camps book (they gave us a 'bum steer' on the coordinates) and we ended up in a dead end 5km into Wingello State Forest!

After wasting an hour, we made and 'executive decision' to head for the nearest caravan park at Moss Vale.

Thursday - We made good time towards Newcastle, so we 'free camped' in Brownie’s driveway for two nights. Maaaaaate, I’ve got to tell everyone about this place!


 

 

On Friday we got the ‘Cooks Tour’ of Newcastle arvo (thanks Wayne) before watching the NRL rugby after tea.  After a couple of ales, I just couldn’t resist getting into the spirit of rugby mania;

 

Saturday - We were expecting more rain, but we weren't going to let that stop us. Arrived at Myall River Camp around midday. Don’t’ tell anyone about this place otherwise I’ll need to kill you!

This place is just paradise. No power or water but it’s got everything else going for it.



Top Spot Here!

 

 

Beware - 'Man at Work'

 

Head Kookaburra (six of them)

 

Top Spot at Myall River

'Girls at Rest'