Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland

SUMMARY

After we left Perth: first stop Corrigin to visit Ian, Barbara’s cousin.

Then to Coolgardie, and off across the Nullarbor again.

We stopped at Whyalla in South Australia and caught up with Brian and Maureen - friends of ours.

We then headed through Bourke, Moree and Glen Innes to Moonee Beach (Coffs Harbour) where we stayed for a while.

After Moonee Beach we had a week at Sawtell, a day at Woolgoolga, then on to Grafton for a week.

After Grafton we stopped at Lismore for 5 days then on to Burringbar free camp overnight, then a week at Tweed Heads South.

Then off again to Canungra showgrounds, then Lawnton showgrounds (a northern suburb of Brisbane).

Next stop was Beerwah, then Landsborough, Gympie, Maryborough and into Hervey Bay.

Then to Tannum Sands (Gladstone) via Moore Park Beach to visit family.
A wonderful week camping on friend’s property at Baffle creek with friends and family.

Then on to Agnes Waters and the Town of 1770 and a day trip on a LARC with Neville who joined us for a few days.

Back to Gladstone and into the Boyne Island Van Park for another ten days with family.

After that we headed a little west but mainly south; one night at the Gin-Gin rest area, next stop  Kilkivan Bush Camping & C.P. for two nights, then Chinchilla for two nights, then Cecil Plains council park for three nights.

Next stop was Texas at the Texas Dumaresq River Rest Area for one night, then Inverell.

Then on to Coffs Harbour with one stop at Bundarra on the way and caught up with Joan again.

Leaving Coffs, we headed down the coast to Crescent Head, then Bulahdelah and on to Cessnock to catch up with friends in Newcastle.

Leaving Cessnock we drove a little West to get to Putty Road then South to Windsor/Richmond in the Hawkesbury area and into “Percy’s Place” a van park in Pitt Town just out of Windsor.

After the Hawkesbury we stopped at Kiama and Ulladulla then Moruya and Bermagui.

Last stop before leaving NSW was Eden.

 THE DETAIL

After spending Christmas with the family and picking up our new Land Cruiser on New Year’s Eve, we left Perth Vineyards Van Park on the 12^th of January and arrived in Corrigin Caravan Park the same day.

That afternoon we walked up to Ian’s place (Barbara’s cousin), for some great conversation, wine and a wonderful meal that he cooked for us.

Next day we were off again heading across the Nullarbor, stopping overnight only at the Coolgardie Tourist Park (not a place you'd want to stay more than one night), then a free camp at Moonera Tank, then an unnamed free camp and finally into Shelly Beach Van park in Ceduna.

After the Nullarbor we continued east stopping for one night at a great free camp in Kimba and then into Whyalla for one night.

While in Whyalla we caught up with friends Brian and Maureen for lunch at the local, then back to their place for a bit more of a chat and Brian gave John a ride in his MGA, big smiles from John!

Nice Car!

Next day we were off again; only overnight stops again at Little Topar, Mitchell Caravan Park Bourke, Gwydir Caravan Park & thermal pools Moree, and then Glen Rest Tourist Park at Glen Innes.  We were trying to get to Coffs Harbour as quickly as we could, however as John had a cold we stayed at Glen Innes for about five days.

Next stop was our good friends’ place at Moonee Beach.  We arrived at their place after lunch and set up to get ready for some very pleasant happy hours with Len and Joan.

Ron and Joan also joined us and added to the fun of the happy hours.

Len, John, Joan & Ron Pettett & Joan

We stayed for just over two months as sadly the reason we came here was that Len was ill with Mesothelioma and left us on the 26^th of February.  Len was a true gentleman and a lot of fun (he had a wicked sense of humour!), he will be missed every day.

We spent our time doing our best to help Joan as in the middle of this sadness they had sold their family home of 15 years and she had to move into their retirement home alone.

Some good news among all of this was that we got to meet Len and Joan’s wonderful family and friends, which was a blessing for us.

Joan with daughter Lisa and her husband Steve

Joan with son Justin and his wife Rebecca

Joan with daughter Kylie (her husband John had gone back to Karratha to work)

Len had really wanted Joan to buy a nice new Mercedes, which she did and named it Black Beauty; lots of envy from all of us.

Black Beauty - what a nice car!

While here we had some very wet weather with the worst being about 80mm in one night.  John had unfortunately forgotten to put the awning on a slope, so in the morning the awning barrel had a very banana like shape.  This was replaced under insurance, first claim on the van ever for us.

When Joan and Len’s house sold we moved to Sawtell caravan park, just south of Coffs Harbour, for a week to be close to Joan while she moved into her new home which is absolutely beautiful!

The Beach at Sawtell

On our first day after leaving Coffs Harbour we stopped overnight at the Woolgoolga Lakeside Holiday Park, very nice right by the beach and inlet.

Woolgoolga beach looking south

We then spent six nights at the Gateway Village, Grafton.  This is a very nice park, we didn’t do much here but it is a nice town.

We then headed to Lismore and into the Lismore Showgrounds, another beautiful spot.  We stayed here for five nights and while here visited Nimbin, which is an alternative lifestyle village made famous after hosting the 1973 Aquarius Festival.  It has a very colourful main street with an array of cafés, craft shops and galleries.

We spent most of the day here as it is so interesting.  We also found an amazing handmade candle factory and we had to buy some!  John had a remedial massage and we had a very nice late lunch.

Nimbin main street

Nimbin main street

Just a couple of the hundreds of candles available

After that we drove into the Nightcap National Park and looked at Minyon Falls, which is a 100 metre drop.

Minyon Falls

We also had a scenic drive across to the coast and looked at Ballina and Lennox Head, where we had a great morning tea, then on to Byron Bay.  As it was Sunday it was absolutely packed, so we didn’t stop (would be a nice place to wander around if it wasn't so busy); then on to Mullumbimby and surrounds and back to Lismore, all very nice sub-tropical rainforest type country.

Leaving Lismore we stopped at Burringbar free camp; this camp spot is right in town and quite nice.  The Butcher is supposed to be famous for his pies so we tried them for lunch and were not disappointed.  The town is very small so only took a few minutes to see it all.


Our next stop was the River Retreat Caravan Park at Tweed Heads South.  We got hit here by an east coast low and three days of rain!  Got up one morning to ankle deep water around the caravan, but we were nice and dry inside.

The Tweed river out front of the van park

From Tweed we did a drive through little towns like Tumblegum, Murwillumbah and Tyalgum where we found an amazing café for another sumptuous morning tea.

Tyalgum Cafe

We continued on around Mt Warning and Wollumbin National Park to a quaint little town called Uki, where we had lunch and then drove out to Mt Warning for a look, before returning to Tweed Heads.

Mount Warning

While here we also drove up to Main Beach at the Northern end of the gold coast and had coffee with Steve and Leisa (Joan’s daughter and son-in-law) and had a good look around the tourist strip on the Gold Coast, including a drive out to the “Spit”.

Gold Coast

After Tweed Heads we drove into Queensland and into Canungra and stopped at the Showgrounds.

Our spot at the Canungra Showgrounds

From here we took a drive back south to Springbrook Mountain.  First stop was Purling Brook Falls, then on to Canyon lookout where John took the Twin Falls walk which included walking behind two waterfalls and through five different types of forest.

Purling Brook Falls

Blackfellow Falls the track goes behind them

Twin Circuit Falls

We then went on to Best of All lookout which is on the edge of the escarpment with spectacular views across the Tweed Valley to Mount Warning, Byron Bay and the Gold Coast (1020m high).

On the way back from this lookout we drove along Lyrebird Ridge road and were lucky enough to see some Bettongs feeding on the side of the road. Unfortunately they were quite shy and hopped away into the bush before we could get any photos.

Next day was a trip to Tamborine Mountain; first stop was the Coffee Plantation for morning coffee and to replenish our ground coffee supply.  Then on to Curtis Falls, which is a one and a half kilometre walk to the base of the falls, very pretty.

Curtis Falls

After this we stopped in town and did the “Gallery Walk” to explore the shops.  The ones that took our fancy were some of the craft shops, German Clock shop, Fudge shop, The Glass Castle (lovely glass jewellery) and Summit die-cast cars and collectibles. We had lunch at the Mount Tamborine Winery.

After Canungra, we headed north to Lawnton showgrounds (suburb of Brisbane) and while here we had the car serviced, met the new property manager of our unit in Bracken Ridge and waited for our mail to catch up to us.

We then left Brisbane and headed further north to Beerwah and into the sports ground; unfortunately there is a three day limit here and we had intended staying for a week.

Street Art in Beerwah

However on our first day here we managed to look at the glasshouse mountains from the glasshouse mountains lookout and had a cup of coffee at a café on the same road.

Mt Coonowrin - Glass house Mountains

 


Second day we drove across to Caloundra and up the Sunshine coast through Mooloolaba, Maroochydore, Coolum to Noosa Heads, very pleasant drive and back along back roads to Beerwah.

Caloundra

After Beerwah we again headed north, this time only as far as Landsborough, (about 15k’s) and into the Ocean View Caravan Park; lovely views of the sunshine coast from here (on a clear day).

View from the park

From here we spent a day at the Australia Zoo, which was quite pleasant, and we got to pat an Echidna (carefully) and a Koala.

John and the Echidna

Barbara and the Koala

Glossy Ibis

Rhinocerous Iguana

The next day John went alone to the Queensland Air Museum in Caloundra and spent an enjoyable few hours looking at old and not so old planes, including an F1-11.

Caribou

While here we also took a drive out to Eumundi for the markets, then from there into Noosa for a ferry ride up and down the river followed by lunch at the Tewantin RSL club.

The Ferry

Next day we drove into Maleny; looked at a great wood gallery, had a coffee at the Maleny cheese café but didn’t get any cheese, then just out of Maleny we had an African lunch at the Key Restaurant, which was very spicy hot but very nice.

When we left here we had an overnight stop at Gympie and a quick look at the town and next day continued on to Maryborough and into the Cheery Nomad farm stay and Caravan Park for a week.  We looked around Maryborough and drove out to Hervey Bay to make some enquiries about day tours to Fraser Island.  We decided that as we had to be ready by 7am to join a tour we would 
move to a caravan park in Hervey Bay and do it then.

This tour was well worth doing, call me fussy but I hate the idea of taking a good 4WD and driving through salt water, much better to sit in a 4WD bus and let them worry about the rust.  We got to see Lake McKenzie, Wanggoolba creek, Central station, The Pinnacles (coloured sand cliffs), the wreck of the SS Maheno and Eli Creek.

Lake McKenzie Fraser Island

The Tour buses; ours is on the right on 75 mile beach

SS Maheno

We also got morning and afternoon tea supplied and a great lunch at the Kingfisher Bay Resort. The driver pretty well talked all day with a very informative commentary.

While at Hervey Bay, we found a great little café on the beach called "Enzo’s On the Beach" and had lunch here one day and breakfast on another, very enjoyable.

After Hervey Bay we headed slightly north, just past Bundaberg to Moore Park Beach for a week.  The weather was not the best, windy and a few days of rain, but we managed to visit the Ginger Beer Factory and took a drive out to look at Bargara and also managed a short walk along the beach at Moore Park.

Next stop was Tannum Sands just out of Gladstone; we stayed here for 16 days and caught up with family; lots of lovely meals, and plenty of card games.

Then we headed a little way south to friends Lloyd and Judy’s property, right on Baffle Creek, along with Rob and family, Glen and family and other friends, including Neville a good friend of ours who happened to be just leaving Tin Can Bay at the same time.

Rob brought his tinny along, so we had heaps of fun fishing, mud crabbing and of course eating and playing cards. It was a great week, beautiful spot and many thanks to Lloyd and Judy for allowing us all to share this piece of paradise.

The Camp

The spot

Some of the crew

Magic spot

Unfortunately this sojourn had to end after a week and we all went our separate ways.  We made it as far as the Reef caravan park, just out of Agnes Waters and stayed here for a week and luckily for us Neville followed us in.

From here the three of us went for a day trip on the pink LARC (Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo) vessel, which is a landing craft with wheels, made for the army originally.

The tour took us from the Town of 1770 to Bustard Head, where we had a tour of the restored lighthouse, museum and graveyard.

We had lunch just down from the lighthouse and then into the dunes for some sand-boarding, then back to 1770 - all in all a great day out.

The LARC

The view from Bustard Head

The Lighthouse

We also had a Thai dinner one night with Neville and then he left to head west. We headed about 12 k’s up the road to The Captain Cook Van Park in the Town of 1770 for another week.

After that we headed back to Gladstone and into the Boyne Island Van Park for another ten days with family.

Off again, now heading a little west but mainly south, one night's stop at the Gin-Gin rest area; fairly close to the road but a nice spot anyway with about 20 RV’s.

Next stop was at the Kilkivan Bush Camping & C.P just out of Kilkivan for two nights, very quiet and peaceful.

Next stop was Chinchilla at the Chinchilla showgrounds for two nights again, just another nice spot, then on to Cecil Plains council park for three nights, had a nice meal at the pub while we were here.

Next stop was at the Texas Dumaresque River Rest Area for one night, what a lovely spot by the river, quite a few RV’s here but heaps of room.

Next stop was Inverell and stayed at the showgrounds again, they only have 6 sites and don’t take bookings so you need to be there fairly early.  While here we visited the National transport Museum (see photos) and also a small amazing place called New England Woodturning, well worth the visit - this guy does some amazing work.  John just had to buy another clock!

1926 Diana

1937 Dodge

1957 Vauxhall ute

1953 Vauxhall Vagabond

Then we were on to Coffs Harbour [with one stop at Bundarra Van Park ($10.00 a night) on the way].  We stayed at the Sawtell Van Park to catch up with Joan. We also wanted to see all she had achieved with her new unit and we were very impressed.  While here we had lunch at the club with Joan, Gerrie and Bernie.

Leaving Coffs, we headed down the coast to Crescent Head, where we were only going to stay one night but we got such a pretty spot we decided to stay two, even at $40/night.

View from our spot

Next stop was Bulahdelah and again we stayed at their showgrounds, not many taps to connect to but heaps of power, so just topped up the tanks and set up for the night.  That afternoon we took a drive through Myall Lakes National Park to Tuncurry and back.

Boomerang beach near Tuncurry

Then we moved on to Cessnock, again into the showgrounds.  While here we caught up with Justin, Rebecca and Isabella (their new baby).  Isabella is gorgeous and we spent a few very enjoyable hours at their place, and also got to see Justin’s nicely restored 65 Dodge Phoenix and Rebecca’s 350 red Corvette.

Justin with Isabella

Justin with the Dodge

Leaving Cessnock we drove a little West to get to Putty Road then South to Windsor/Richmond in the Hawkesbury area and into “Percy’s Place” a van park in Pitt Town just out of Windsor.  First day we had a look at Richmond and Windsor and back to camp.


Day two saw us heading north on the Pitt Town/Cattai road to Wisemans Ferry, for a coffee stop then on a bit further to St Albans, then back to Wisemans ferry for lunch but stopping on the way to have a short walk on the OLD GREAT NORTH ROAD at Devine’s Hill.  This road is an important civil engineering story in Colonial NSW.  It features well preserved examples of convict built stonework including buttresses, culverts and bridges.  The road has survived in its original form and was closed in December 1992 between Wisemans Ferry and Mount Manning to protect the remaining convicts' work.  We had lunch in Wisemans Ferry then took the back roads to Percy’s place.

Most of the way on this drive we were following the Hawkesbury River; the river and surrounding scenery is very picturesque.

View of the Hawkesbury from our spot at Percy's Place

Wisemans ferry

View towards Wisemans Ferry

On the ferry crossing the Hawkesbury

The convict built road

When we left Percy’s Place we skirted Sydney and stopped at Kiama on the NSW coast.  This is a very pretty little town with three van parks, must be really hopping in summer!  While here we looked at the Blowhole, drove up to the top of town to see Len and Joan’s house when they lived here, wow what great views!.

The Kiama Blowhole

Next day we drove north again, stopping at the Australian Motor Life Museum. There were a lot of very interesting cars and a great guide who knew the history of each one, unfortunately I did not get any photos, too busy looking and talking.

Then on through Wollongong and up Bulli Pass, stopping at the top for lunch at the Cliff Top cafe with great views over Wollongong.

View of Woolongong from the top of Bulli Pass

The Sea Cliff Bridge

After lunch we drove back to Kiama via the Grand Pacific drive and the Sea Cliff Bridge.

Day three we headed out to Gerringong, lots of surfers here at the beach, then via the Kangaroo Valley scenic drive to see the Hampden vehicle suspension bridge which is the oldest one still surviving in Australia, built in 1898.

Gerringong Beach

The Hampden bridge

We also stopped at the wood working place specializing in rocking horses in Kangaroo Valley township.  On to Berry for lunch and a walk around town.

Day four saw us head out through Jamberoo, a quick stop at the Saddleback Mountain lookout then on to Minnamurra rain-forest for a very pleasant walk, on nice boardwalks with a couple of suspension bridges too.  As we were driving out of the park we spotted a lyre bird on the side of the road and managed to get some photos.

Minnamurra Rain-forest

Lyre Bird (female)

We left Kiama and just to make sure they remembered us John attempted to take a no parking sign with us as we exited the park.  First bingle ever, luckily very little damage.

We continued south to Ulladulla and stopped there for a few nights at a nice park with views to the inlet and ocean.

The view of Ulladulla harbour from the park

Had a bit of a look around here, including a walk around Milton with quaint old shops, finishing off with a walk through Ulladulla’s wildflower park. Unfortunately it is too early in spring, so no wildflowers, but a pleasant walk anyway.

Next stop was Moruya and while here we went to the local market and then to Mogo, another quaint village which we wandered around and had coffee. We also drove up to Batemans Bay for lunch and back down the coast road.

Then we moved south again stopping this time at Wallaga Lake just out of Bermagui.

The lake at sunset from our site

From here we visited the National Trust village of Central Tilba. Central Tilba is 360ks south of Sydney built in the shadow of Mount Dromedary. Alluvial and reef gold were discovered here in the late 1800’s and Central Tilba thrived.

After the mining boom died Tilba remained viable due to dairying and in particular cheese, however in the 1960’s that also declined but through the efforts of the townspeople and the National Trust the historic character of the town was preserved.

For a while Bega cheese was produced here but the factory was sold and the famous Tilba cheese is still made here, by the ABC cheese company.  We had a tasting and bought some very nice cheese.

Central Tilba

We then drove south through Cobargo (another cute village) then through Bega and east to Tathra on the coast, then followed the coast road back to Bermagui.

Also while here we went to the lookout at the Blue Pool and stood there watching whales for a while, then had a nice seafood meal at the fishermen’s wharf.

Off from Bermagui as far as Eden and into the Sapphire Sun Holiday Park, again right on the ocean, beautiful spot.

Another great camp spot

From here we had a look at Boydtown then went a bit north again as far as Merimbula which is another pretty coastal town, built on an inlet/lake with some great views.

Coast line at Merimbula wharf

Then south again to Pambula, and back to Eden to fisherman’s wharf for lunch, stopping at Ben Boyd National Park to look at the “pinnacles” which are actually cliffs formed from multi coloured clays.

The Pinnacles in Ben Boyd National Park

That’s it for this Blog, we are heading into Victoria when we leave here, then SA and home.

Keep smiling


John and Barbara