FINAL DAYS

Sunday, 22 September 2019

Itchy swallow

Ferry arriving at Sorrento

Sorrento

HMAS Melbourne passing through the Heads

With Norm, Margaret and Milton

Yachts at Sorrento

New additions to the caravan park

Melbourne – a time for shopping and a time for eating with friends and relations!  Tuesday for our first day of retail therapy and our first stop, by pure coincidence, happened to be having their half-yearly sale!  It didn’t take long for the shirt collection to increase!!!  We were also able to find some good bargains at the DFO (he resisted the temptation for more shirts), with some early Christmas shopping being stored under the bed later in the day.

On Wednesday, we drove to Sorrento, parked the car and crossed to Queenscliffe on the ferry.  During the forty minute voyage, the HMAS Melbourne crossed our bows and we were able to watch her pass through the Heads on her final voyage before being decommissioned.  We were met at the dock by Norm and taken to the Jack Rabbit Winery, where we joined Milton and Margaret for an al fresco lunch.  The weather was just superb – clear skies, warm, no wind and Port Phillip Bay was like a millpond.  It was wonderful to be able to sit beside the water and enjoy the food and company.  Our return voyage to Sorrento went without mishap, although we did pass the alternate ferry sitting quietly in the middle of the Bay, going no where and waiting for assistance; so glad we didn’t take the earlier sailing!

Thursday was another lunch time dining experience at Steeples Bistro, Mornington.  We joined Sandra and Trevor for a very pleasant and long lunch, before returning to say goodbye to Sally and Paul, who were sailing home that evening.

Friday was HOT!  When the weather gets hot, the only place to be is an air conditioned shopping centre, so it was off to Chadstone to help with the Victorian economy – and add to the shirt collection!  It was amazing that we could walk five kilometres in a shopping centre.  That evening, we were collected by Gary and taken to a lovely restaurant, Waterfront, at Frankston; time to catch up with different family news.

Saturday was cold, very windy and showery and after eating so much the previous few days, we decided on a quiet day with light food.  The rain cleared overnight, although the temperature remained cool for our final day before catching the Spirit of Tasmania very late tonight.

COMPLETING THE CIRCLE

Monday, 16 September 2019

Coffee at the Dog on the Tuckerbox

Barramundi (and bubbles) at Yering Station

We have completed this year’s circle and arrived in Melbourne today.  We departed the Lake Macquarie region early on Saturday morning, with Moss Vale our intended destination for that day.  All went well on the motorway south to Sydney, crossing the Hawkesbury River along with many other vehicles.  Travelling through Pennant Hills, Sydney, went well and TomTom soon had us back on the motorway.  We had only travelled a short distance when TomTom said “Exit the motorway,” so we did and started wending our way through Sydney streets, with no real idea where we were or actually headed.  It was at this time that TomTom decided it was all too hard and lapsed into a coma.  Great!  No where to pull off, no idea which direction signs we should be following.  Discovered that TomTom had actually run out of power as the USB plug connector had failed.  Pulled over as soon as possible, retrieved iPad from caravan plus new connector and continued on our way, with much muttering about TomTom’s weird directions.  We discovered the next day that there had been a fatal accident on the motorway, hence the deviation directions.  Travel along the motorway south of Sydney was very, very slow (about 25km/h), with much discussion among the truckies, some of whom have a very limited vocabulary!  We eventually arrived at Moss Vale for our overnight stop.  A rather strange caravan park in a lovely town.  Set on the side of a hill, the permanent vans/cabins scattered about among caravan sites.  Only a limited number of sites were able to accommodate a longer caravan and no effort had been made to level the sites – we walked around the caravan leaning towards the front.  The shower wouldn’t drain, either.  There was a pile of bricks at each site to help raise the jockey wheel and jacks.  Not keen on having the jockey wheel sitting on half a dozen different sized bricks.  We suffered a very noisy afternoon and night; were quite glad to leave the next morning.

Left Moss Vale early on Sunday, with a 500km drive planned for Sunday.  The area around Mittagong/Bowral/Moss Vale was very green and looked very prosperous.  We continued south on the Hume Motorway – very easy driving with no trucks and light traffic.  We had our second stop of the day at the Dog on the Tuckerbox and managed to arrive a few minutes before Sally and Paul left.  We will see them again on Tuesday.  Our next stop was at Holbrook for fuel and lunch, before arriving at Wangaratta’s Painted Island Caravan Park.  This was a lovely quiet and peaceful park, most welcome after the previous night.

Monday morning was cool and it wasn’t long before the threatened rain commenced as we continued south along the Hume Motorway.  More trucks and vehicles today!  We left the motorway at Seymour, heading towards Yea and the Yarra Valley.  After last year’s experience, we couldn’t really drive past Yering Station and decided to have lunch as well as make a purchase from the cellar door.  We arrived at Big4 Mornington Holiday Park (South Frankston) about 2.30pm and looking forward to staying put for six nights.

LAKE MACQUARIE REGION

Friday, 13 September 2019

Breakwall at Port Macquarie

Rock art

Meeting Sir Edmund Barton

Sea Scout patrol boat in the maritime museum

Small section of the Port Macquarie caravan park - spot our caravan?

Looking south from the Breakwall

View of Lake Tuggerah from our caravan

Three wise birds

Lake Tuggerah at sunset, opposite our caravan

Sunset glow on the paperbarks

Plover

Sunset

Pelican swimming on a purple lake

Norah Head Lighthouse

View south

Farewelled Sally and Paul, then turned south once more.  Beautiful highway until we reached Coffs Harbour, then it was a slow crawl through the city until we were once again on the motorway – it was easy to see why the people of Coffs Harbour are desperate for a bypass!  We arrived at the NRMA Port Macquarie Breakwall Holiday Park before lunch; a very large park on the banks of the river, right beside the breakwall and its very popular walking track.  Using the breakwall track, with its painted stones, it was only about a fifteen minute walk to the centre of town and some interesting shops, including the obligatory gelato bar!  We managed to help the local economy before retracing our steps and walking to the end of the breakwater – the sea was much calmer than the previous days.

We discovered that our preferred caravan park at Lake Macquarie the following two nights was located next to a large power plant, so decided it might be a better option to find someone more suitable.  After making a decision, we rang Belmont South Caravan Park and was allocated a lake view site for a rather exorbitant fee.

We departed Port Macquarie at 8.15 am, along with all the school and local traffic, then met up with all the trucks and caravans heading south on the Pacific Motorway.  After negotiating the roads of Newcastle, we arrived at Lake Macquarie about 11.30 and checked into the caravan park (the one we booked yesterday).  When we arrived at the site, it had brand new concrete, was very long and narrow, the only view of the lake was from our toilet window, it was in the middle of a construction site with a digger beeping non stop while it was working (non stop) and the little tipper truck beeping every time it was put into reverse (frequently). We didn't unhitch, sat in the caravan and found another park with good reviews a bit further south, went back to reception and said the site wasn't worth $50 a night and I couldn't stand the noise, we asked for a refund, which was willingly given with apologies.

The Canton Beach Holiday Park is huge but contains a lot of onsite holiday caravans, many of which are rather decrepit.  We have a site which looks out the front window over the lake and are paying only a third of the Belmont South park for the two nights. Tomorrow night is $5 extra because it is the weekend - and the place is virtually empty!  We can only access 137 television channels, too.  We enjoyed a walk along the lake’s shore during the afternoon, with a short stop at the local bowling club to watch the locals compete.  However, the best part of the day was still to come – sunset over the lake and some magnificent colours!

Today, along with thousands and thousands and thousands of locals, we visited the local shopping centre for supplies.  On exiting the centre, we noticed a cinema complex across the car park, so decided to check out the current movies.  What luck, Downton Abbey had commenced only one minute previously, we quickly purchased tickets, were given a piece of cake each and told to “mind the wheelie walkers.”  Walking into the darkened theatre, we couldn’t see a thing, dug out the phone torch and realised the theatre was full, groped our way among the walkers to a couple of empty seats near the screen and waited to a brighter screen (and our eyes to adjust) to try and find some seats further back.  Thoroughly enjoyed the film – it is nice to leave a theatre with a warm, fuzzy feeling – and when the lights came up at the end, realised we were probably the youngest in the theatre.  Following lunch, we visited Norah Head lighthouse, with some magnificent views of the sand dunes to the north and the rocky headland.  After a cool and cloudy start to the day, the sun appeared, the temperature rose and the southerly wind remained cool.

WOOLGOOLA REGION

Tuesday, 10 September 2019

Smoky Grafton

Cows in the smoke

Siblings and partners

Darlington Beach

Storm clouds over Arrawarra headland

"Think he knows we are here?"

Sharing lunch

Catching up

Wild surf south of Woolgoola headland

Hanging on in the wind

Sheltered by north of Woolgoola headland

Sikh temple

Fierce competition

Moon cakes

We arrived in Brisbane on Friday morning, having no trouble negotiating the motorways, thanks to TomTom.  After checking into the Brisbane Holiday Village and setting up – we have stayed a number of times in this very nice and professionally run park.  Having been on the road for five consecutive days, we decided to treat ourselves to a massage and lunch at Garden City, which was just round the corner from the caravan park.  Friday was hot and the city smog bound, owing to the large number of fires in South East Queensland.  A very strong wind developed overnight (the awning was hurriedly rolled in at midnight, but at least the smoke was blown somewhere else.  On Saturday, we enjoyed a Chinese lunch (or banquet!) with our daughter-in-law’s parents and somehow seemed to bring home more food than we actually ate!  Sunday was time for another lunch with friends, Jenny and Brian.  We have a lovely couple of sociable days in Brisbane.

We departed Brisbane early on Monday morning, continuing south along with thousands of other vehicles, towards the Gold Coast.  With the hills to our west covered with thick smoke, we travelled very slowly along the Coast strip until we were well south of Tweed Heads.  By this time, the wind had started to pick up once again and the countryside became quite hilly.  Unfortunately, the smoke did thicken and the dreaded roadworks once again appeared and lasted for about 100kms.  It was very slow travelling, especially as we followed a hire motor home who appeared to be very nervous, had trouble maintaining an even speed and was unwilling to pull over and allow the long line of frustrated traffic to pass.  The smoke was very trick around the Grafton region, but did clear as we neared the coast at Woolgoolga/Arrawarra.

We are staying at the Darlington Beach Holiday Park at Arrawarra – another favourite park with enormous sites, lovely trees, kangaroos and friendly birds.  Sally and Paul arrived about half an hour after us and we able to set up next to us.  Although it was still windy, we discovered the beach seemed to be sheltered from the south westerlies and we able to have a good walk on the sands.  Needless to say, there was a fair bit of talking until very late in the afternoon as we caught up on the family and travel news.  Today, after Sally’s fresh scones for morning tea, we drove into Woolgoola for fuel and supplies, a drive around the lovely seaside town which has a large Sikh population, a quick stop at the headland in a force 10 gale and lunch at a local brasserie.  Back at the caravan park, we enjoyed a quick game of bowls on the four rink green before celebrating with Moon Festival with moon cakes supplied by Linzi and Wei.  Although sunny all day, it was extremely windy and quite cold.  We have now realised we are not in Queensland anymore.

HEADING SOUTH

Thursday, 5 September 2019

Found this fellow in our shower before we departed Cairns

Looking for turtles at Tyto Wetlands, Ingham

Waterlilies

Found the turtles!

Magnificent sculpture in the Information Centre

Shady part of Blacks Beach, Mackay

Enjoying the late afternoon sun, Blacks Beach

Nice view

Marlborough locals

Found him hiding under a tree at Southside Caravan Park, Rockhampton

Cooling down after sunset

Iron Ridge Park

Standown Park

Memorial Lake, Standown Park

Pink blossom - spring is here!

Our time at Cairns has come to an end and early on Sunday morning we joined the large exodus of caravans from Crystal Cascades.  We headed south, in beautiful sunny and calm weather, and joined the majority of southbound caravans enjoying a stop at Cardwell before continuing to Ingham and a lunch stop at the Tyto Wetlands.  A walk around this area is always enjoyable and after a visit to the Information Centre, we were on our way to Townsville and our overnight stop at Townsville Tourist and Lifestyle Village, which is only a few hundred metres from the Bruce Highway.

We were able to stay hitched up and were on the road by 8.00am on Monday, as we continued to Mackay.  Although we couldn’t remember it from our trip north, the journey from Townsville to Ayr was virtually non-stop roadworks – very slow travelling with frequent stops.  We had a short stop at Home Hill to change drivers before continuing to a lunch stop beside a roadhouse in the middle of no where!  Traffic was a little heavier today, with trucks and caravans annoying each other.  Our overnight stop was at Big4 Blacks Beach, Mackay, another favourite.  We even waited until later in the afternoon (the temperature needed to drop a bit) before enjoying a lovely walk along the beach.

With the car still attached to the caravan, it was another early start for the drive to Rockhampton.  It wasn’t long before the temperature rose quickly, as well as a rather unpleasant headwind.  Apart from grass, scrubby trees and cattle, along with a few little settlements, there isn’t much between the two cities – apart from caravans and trucks, of course!  By the time we arrived at Rockhampton, the outside temperature was hovering around the 33 degrees and this had increased to 36 degrees at the Southside Caravan Park when we checked in.  With the humidity down to 5%, the air was extremely hot and dry – too hot even to walk across the road to the Visitors’ Centre and the Tropic of Capricorn.  We did manage a walk around this very large park very late in the day, just before sunset.  The region is suffering a severe drought and all the parks in Rockhampton looked rather dead and the ponds had very little water in them.

The dreadful drought conditions continued today, with the bare paddocks staying with us all the way to the Childers region.  It is so sad to see the cattle standing in the paddocks and the waterholes empty.

Although the temperature dropped dramatically overnight, it didn’t take long for it to climb above 30 degrees once again – thank goodness for climate control!  The road surface today wasn’t as bumpy as yesterday, however, today we did have roadworks!!!  Even when we did come across a stretch without workmen, and did become a little excited about being able to drive above 80kmp, we would find that “they” had erected roadworks signs and speed limits.  Our estimated travel time was extended by an hour.

With the temperature hovering around 33-34 degrees, we arrived at our overnight stop at Iron Ridge Park, east of Childers.  We have stayed in this bush setting caravan park, on a local farm, on a number of occasions and do enjoy the enormous sites, peace, quiet and local wildlife.  There are only about a dozen sites, so plenty of room, especially with only six caravans here tonight.

Farewelled Iron Ridge Park and once again passed the many thousands of macadamia nut trees as we returned to the Bruce Highway and turned south once more.  The road quality had improved today, as had the traffic!  Fortunately, there weren’t as many roadworks but enough to break the boredom.  The weather continues to be very hot and dry but the colour of the countryside changed from dead to green as we neared Gympie.  Obviously being close to the Sunshine Coast, this area actually receives rainfall.

Despite being close to Brisbane, we had decided to stop at a caravan park about 24 kms east of Gympie, called Standown Park.  This park had originally been developed as a retreat for Defence Force veterans (initially Vietnam) and is evidently very popular around Long Tan Day.  This park consists of sites around the edge of a very large grass paddock, surrounded by pine plantations.  There is a memorial lake (complete with “crocodile”) and large amounts of memorabilia in the camp kitchen.  Very much a park for blokes.