Sunday 22 September 2019 - Home

Last night there was a function on at the club rooms.  The music wasn't too bad.  You noticed it when it first started and when some songs were louder than others but you were soon able to block it out.  The cars leaving the function didn't disturb us but the three couples that were camping overnight (and had to set us right next to us) woke us when they come back to their swags, car and camper and then proceeded to talk for awhile before retiring.  They probably were not too pleased they were so close to us in the morning when we were packing up and they were still asleep!

Straight forward drive home along a road often travelled.

Saturday 21 September 2019 - Jindera

Back on the road again this morning.  The countryside is greener around this area with splashes of color from the canola crops and cherry trees in blossom.  The dams and creeks even have some water in them.  Haven't see that for awhile.

It is overcast and the farmers have lost the top layer of their soil as that is in the air as well making it very dirty looking.  

We are camped at the Sports Ground in Jindera.   After setting up and lunch we went for a walk around town.  They have boards placed around the town telling historic facts.  This was the site of the flour mill, the first general store etc.    The only original building was the blacksmiths.

We got back to the van just as a shower arrived.  Only lasted a few minutes but would have been enough to get wet.  

Friday 20 September 2019 - Young

I remembered during the night that I forgot to mention what happened during our drive yesterday.  We were overtaken by 15 Porsches.   They must have been having a club day or something.

Now on to today.   Not much to tell really.   Uneventful drive to Young where we are staying at the Showgrounds.  We set up and had lunch before venturing down the street.   We had a bit of a wander around before heading back to the van.   The show was on last weekend and there were 2 caravans/horse floats with miniature ponies still here and also a carnival ride that was packed up on the back of a truck ready to go.

Only 5 vans here tonight so very quiet. (except for one very unhappy baby - hope it sleeps all night!)

Thursday 19 September 2019 - Gulgong

Boy was it busy last night.  I think there was only 1 or 2 empty spots and every third van had kids.   I forgot to say yesterday the people that broke down must have had a minor problem because they had left by 7.30 am yesterday morning so we missed catching up with them to see what the problem was.

As we were leaving Tamworth we stopped at a roundabout and the lady in the car next to us was tooting her horn and pointing at the side of our van.  I thought she mouthed that our door was open.  I relayed this to Ian.  We had to drive through the roundabout before we could pull up.  I was watching in the side mirror and the door looked fine on the van.  We pulled up and as we were blocking the traffic I jumped out and checked the door.  It was closed and locked.  I glanced down the side of the van and all appeared in order.  Jumped back in the car and we drove a couple of kilometres until there was a shoulder to pull out of the traffic's way.  We both walked around the van and could find nothing wrong with the van.  Have no idea what she was on about but she sure gave us a fright.
  
The rest of the drive to Gulgong was uneventful.  We are staying at the showgrounds here and at the moment there are 13 vans.  Would probably hold about another 15.  We set up and after lunch drove down to the main street.  It is very narrow and has lots of lovely old buildings.   

After strolling around the main street we drove up to Flirtation Point Lookout.  Didn't realise there were so many houses.  Have no idea what people do here for work.  

Wednesday 18 September 2019 - Tamworth

Up this morning and out for breakfast.  It was overcast with a few drops of rain but only enough to put dirty marks on everything.  We drove out to look at the Equine Centre.  There was an event on and we could see riders and horses but the gates were locked with signs pointing for where competitors were to go.  As we couldn't get in to see it we continued on our way and went to the Information Centre where the Big Golden Guitar is.  There is also a wax museum and general museum about country music but as Ian and I are not really into country music we decided to give it a miss.  We wouldn't have know who we were looking at.  

Tamworth was the first town in Australia to have Municipal Electric Street lighting with the light being turned on in November 1888.  Our next stop was the Powerstation Museum which opened in 1988 and was the first all electrical museum in Australia.   It is run by volunteers and as luck would have it the only people there were us and another couple.  The volunteer worked for PMG/Telstra and did the same type work as Ian so started giving us a personalised tour of the museum telling us information about different pieces on display.   Another volunteer turned up so he took the other couple on a personalised tour.   They had old electric kettles, vacuums, fridges, washing machines, light bulbs, batteries and a pictorial history about the early development of electricity.  At museums I like to be able to skip past the things I don't want to look at and concentrate on what interests me but with a guided tour this is difficult to do.  While listening to him I was trying hard not to yawn and half the time I had no idea what he was talking about so would just nod my head and occasionally say "Oh really".   He seemed happy with that.  We spent more time there than we expected to.

Our last visit was to Oxley Lookout for a view over Tamworth.

Tuesday 17 September 2019 - Tamworth

We were the last ones to leave this morning.   The couple we were speaking to last night left about an hour before we did.  I didn't even hear the other van leave but it was first.   We finally set off at about 8.30 am.   Uneventful drive.  Everything is so dry.   At 10 am we came up a hill and just as you start to go down it we noticed our neighbours from last night parked on the side of the road.  We presumed they were having morning tea.  We stopped at the Barraba Silo for a look.

We then stopped at the township of Manilla where we did a lap around the main street.  There was a lovely old hotel named the Imperial, which reminded me of Blue Heelers. 

Back in the car and headed for Tamworth.  We set up and had lunch, I turned and looked out the window and noticed a tow truck with a car on the back and towing a caravan.  We watched them drive in only to then work out it was our neighbours from last night.  When we presumed they had stopped for morning tea they had actually broken down.   

We set off for a walk into town and had to walk straight past their van to get out the park so stopped to chat to them.  They were driving along when the engine went bang and the car stopped.  Luckily they had enough momentum to get up the last bit of the hill and coast to where they had parked.  They were also lucky there was a cleared space for them to pull up in as there were trees either side of that spot.  The car was being dropped at Nissan and at this point they have no idea how long they will be here.   

We walked around the street and checked out a few shops before returning back to the park about 1 hr 30 minutes later.   As we walked back into the park we noticed that the car has been returned to them.  Hopefully we will run into them tomorrow to find out what happened.  It obviously can't have been too serious.  

Monday 16 September - Coolatai

Thankfully a quiet night last night. Packed up and headed off. Lovely scenery along the way with mountain ranges around us which we then had to cross making the trip more interesting going up and down and round and round. We arrived at Texas at lunch time so we parked the van and went for a walk around the main street. A few nice old buildings but none of the stores enticed us for a second look. We found a park with seats in the shade and ate our lunch. Left Texas, goodbye Queensland, hello New South Wales. We continued on for another hour until we reached Coolatai. We are staying at a free camp, which asks for donations for use of their showers and toilets. 

We set up and were sitting outside when another van turned up so we chatted with them for awhile.   Ian set his camera and tripod up to try for some star shots seeing there didn't appear to be much lighting around to spoil them.  

Another van pulled up so there were three of us for the night.  Ian played with the camera for about an hour before we settled in for the night.

Sunday 15 September 2019 - Beaudesert

The Swap Meet noise stopped about 9.30 last night. The food van behind us served food during the evening to stall holders who were setting up and camping there over night. Voices woke us up and when I checked the time it was 4.00 am. What are they doing up and there already? As the time passed the noise increased and by 6 am it was full of people finishing their set up procedure. 6.20 am (Ian looked at the clock) the music started blaring and 7 am the gates opened and the people streamed in. By 8.30 am I was sitting out under the awning listening to the band who were now playing 70’s and 80’s music. Go Skyhooks and Little River Band. As well as the Swap Meet there was also a show and shine so Ian had wandered over to check out the cars on display. He also did a tour of the junk, sorry, items for sale.

One car that took his interest was a 1972 Ford which was still owned by the original owner.  He owned the car for 47 years.  I'm sure there are not too many people that hold on to a car that long.

He returned about 10 am and we set off on the 30 minute drive to Logan Village. Friends are living at a lifestyle resort there. We had not seen their home so we called in for a coffee and checked out their house and also the facilities that they can use by living there. Very nice with pool, spa, tennis court, theatre, bowling green, billiards room, craft room, library and meeting room. They have a rock and roll club, hiking group and there is also a small gym. We then went over to the local pub and had lunch, which was very nice. Back to their place for a bit more catching up before the 30 minute drive back to the van. We arrived back at about 5 pm and thankfully, 98 % of the Swap Meet had already been packed up.

Early night as we had been awake since 4 am.

Saturday 14 September 2019 - Beaudesert

Another cold night and cool start to the morning with an extra layer of clothing required until after breakfast.  An easy drive through the ranges. Wasn't particularly windy just up and down.   At one point Miss Google gave us a choice of two ways so we selected the secondary road rather than the highway.  The road was good and the traffic very light, until we came to an intersection which we had to cross.  Only trouble was it was the highway to Brisbane and had four lanes of traffic.  There was no way we would get a big enough break in the traffic to get across all four lanes.  There was an area between the two north bound and two south bound lanes but only enough room for a car to wait not a car and caravan.  So we decided to turn left and it took awhile for enough of a break in the traffic on the two north bound lanes to do that.  We travelled up to the first exit off the highway and there was an overpass for us to use to cross the highway and we continued on.   We arrived at Beaudesert but accidently drove past the driveway to the caravan park.  We drove up the road until we were able to turn around.  Coming back we noticed the showgrounds which had signs up advertising the Swap Meet which is on tomorrow.  We thought it had been lucky we had rang and booked a site at the Caravan Park earlier in the week as it will be full with the Swap Meet.  We arrived at the Caravan Park to find that it backs onto the showgrounds and there is just a wire fence between us and the Swap Meet.  Set up behind us is a food stall with a hired cool room unit that is running.  Hope by night time we become so accustomed to the hum of it that we will be able to sleep through it!   They must have opened the gates to the Swap Meet at 12 for people to set up as there has been a steady stream of traffic and banging with people setting up their stalls.  It also looks like they can camp there tonight as there are a few caravans and tents as well.  

Views from the back of our van of the people starting to set up for the Swap Meet.

We drove down the street and had a look around but there was nothing that took our fancy.  Returned to the park and chatted to our neighbours who used to own a Caravan Park at Mission Beach.  They said it was very busy and the gentleman told us that he wasn't good with the public so he was left to do maintenance around the park and have little or no contact with the public, which was left to his wife.   We told him that he reminded us of someone we knew who was better at doing the odd jobs around the place than dealing with customer queries.   Not naming names here but you will know if it is you!  

Friday 13 September 2019 - Esk

Something is wrong.  Got up this morning and had to put a cardigan on.  It got cold through the night and we had to get an extra blanket.  Slow pack up as we don't have far to go today.  It had now warmed up so packed the cardigan away and off we set.   Nice drive over the Ranges.  Arrived at Esk and set up.  Although we did not have a drive through site the park let us stayed hitched and to use some of the site behind us.  There were 4 of us like this.   

After lunch we walked down to the main street and did a lap either side of the street.   The main attraction is an old pub that has been turned into a trading post.  There is a coffee shop, clothes shop, craft shop in some of the downstairs room.  The rest of the old pub including the entire upstairs (which use to be bedrooms for the pub) are full of antique furniture, old crockery, books, records, vases, money boxes, just about anything you could think of.

Below is the view we enjoyed.

After returning from the street we chatted with our neighbours.

Thursday 12 September 2019 - Kingaroy

Noisy night or maybe I should say noisy early morning.  We have some guys that do tree lopping staying opposite us and they got up at 4.30 banging around before driving off at 5.30.  Quiet for awhile before the early morning risers at 6.30.    

We went down to McDonalds for breakfast before heading off for a drive to Mount  Wooroolin Lookout, about four kilometres west of Kingaroy. Established in 1988 as a bicentennial project by Kingaroy Shire Council, the area features a grassed area with picnic tables and wood barbecues.  The elevated viewing platform offers 360 degree panoramic views of the surrounding countryside: Coolabunia Hill, the Bunya Mountains, and Tarong Power Station, which generates approximately one fifth of Queensland’s power.   

Thought about going to the observatory but it wasn't opened last night or tonight.  Next idea was to visit the Lavender Farm but that is only open on weekends.  

Back to town and another wander around the centre of town, grabbed some groceries and back to the van for a quiet afternoon.

Wednesday 11 September 2019 - Kingaroy

Packed up this morning and had an uneventful drive to Kingaroy.  We are staying at the Showgrounds and it is busy.  There are a group of bowlers here for a tournament and the Speedway is here on the weekend and a few people have arrived already for that.   There was about 3 powered sites left when we arrived at 11 am.   We set up and had lunch before venturing down to town for a look.   There is a shopping centre with Big W, Best & Less, Millers, specialty stores and Woolworths.   We also walked around the  main block in the centre of town and I only saw one empty shop, a bit different to a lot of other towns.  After Ian had a haircut we returned to the van.   Ian decided to have an early shower and wandered off, returning 10 minutes later complaining there was no hot water.  He showered in the van and then walked down to the office to let them know.   40 minutes later I went down for a shower and ran into a worker from the showgrounds who told me there would be plenty of hot water as he had just changed the gas bottle.   And there was.   I returned to the van and as we now have internet and phone coverage have spent time preparing and posting these blog entries.

Tuesday 10 September 2019 – Kilkivan

A lazy day today. Some washing and that was about it. I was hanging out the washing and a parrot flew up to me. I crouched down and it came right up to me, obviously expecting something to eat. I went back in the van and looked out the window and two parrots were sitting on the ground cover under the awning. I took some biscuit crumbs out to feed them and all of a sudden joining the 2 parrots were 4 magpies. I escaped back inside until they flew away. 

Tonight there were only 3 vans and 1 tent on the lower level and we had the upper level to ourselves.

Monday 9 September 2019 – Kilkivan

Windy again today. Not sure about how much work the owners do around the park. Very little cleaning done on the weekend and the bins are in need of being emptied. This morning we decided to drive into Kilkivan for a coffee and to get some phone service to check our messages and emails.   Before heading into town we drove to Mt Clara Copper Smelter Chimney.  It was built in 1873 and only operated until 1875.  The smelter remains  were renovated in 1978 by the Shiare Council.  

Back into the car and into town where we had coffee and scones while getting a hit of modern technology.  Returned a couple of phone calls then decided to go for a drive to Dickebramm Bridge, a historic road and railway bridge over the Mary River. The directions we had been given by the caravan park left a lot to be desired and Miss Google Maps moved one of the towns we were meant to travel through 6 km down the road. The last intersection in our instructions was meant to be a T intersection with us turning right, instead we found a normal intersection at which we still turned right. There was also a sign saying the road was closed for bridge works. We, wrongly as it turned out, presumed we would still be able to see the bridge just not go across it. When we got there the road was closed about 300 metres from the bridge and all you could see was trucks and roadwork equipment. Turned around and started to return the way we had come. We had noticed a sign for Fernhill Park Fishing and Camping Ground, so we decided to go and have a look so the 50 km we had driven to get there were not totally wasted. The sign said it was 7 km down a dirt road. At the 7 km mark we still had seen nothing to indicate a Camping Ground anywhere. We decided to give it 1 km more. Still finding nothing we pulled up on a driveway to turn around. As I looked down the driveway I noticed a sign on the gate stating it was Fernhill Park. The gate was chained and padlocked. I then noticed a closed sign on the ground where it had fallen off a tree. I am not sure if it is closed for good or for some other reason. Oh well another wasted trip. Turned around to return to the Caravan Park to laze the rest of the day away.

Sunday 8 September 2019 – Kilkivan

The wind has picked up and is a bit gusty at times. Just about everyone seems to be leaving today. We spent the day doing nothing. The bird life here is abundant and we have watched and listened to them all day. 

There are 7 vans in all here tonight with 3, including us, on our level.

Saturday 7 September 2019 - Kilkivan

Up this morning and set off towards Kilkivan intending to stop at the Eumundi Markets on the way.   It is very hazy with smoke from the fires blowing towards us.  As we passed the Glasshouse Mountains you could just see them through the haze.  
We turned off the highway but when we reached the Markets the traffic was just as bad as on the highway and we could not find a place to park with the van attached. Gave up on that idea and returned to the highway to Kilkivan Bush Camping and Caravan Park about 10 to 15 minutes south of the Kilkivan township. We pulled in and set up. The area we are parked in is meant to have 6 van sites. We parked more or less in the middle between two trees. We can picture a site on our left on the other side of the tree but if there were six vans here one would have to park where our awning is. Too close for me. Anyway we have the area to ourselves at the moment. There seems to be 2 groups here with about 6 vans each in different sections and about 6 other vans. There is meant to be 90 powered sites so is fairly quiet.

Friday 6 September 2019 - Toorbul

Up this morning and done a couple of loads of washing.  When I went down to hang out the second load (45 minutes after hanging the first load out) half of the first load was dry.   Spent the morning getting the blog up to date and intend to rest and relax the rest of the day away before we start to pack up as we are leaving here in the morning.

Thursday 5 September 2019 - Glasshouse Mountains

Set off this morning for a drive to see the views.  We headed towards the Glasshouse Mountains and came across a sign for a lookout at Mount Beerburrum so detoured up the dirt road.  Now we had come prepared for walking, yeah sure.  I had thongs on and Ian had sandals.  We pulled up at the carpark to find it was a 1.5 km round trip to the top.  The only trouble was it was more or less straight up.  As you walked you had to lean forward so you didn't fall back down.  The lean was so great I felt like I could touch my toes or the ground.  I got two thirds of the way and had had enough.  Apart from huffing and puffing like a steam train my feet were sliding out of my thongs.  I was trying to grip onto them with my toes which lead to my toes cramping.  At this point I threw the towel in and started to return back to the car park.  Ian continued on and these are the views from the top of Mount Beerburrum.

The trip down was just as bad.  You were leaning backwards so you didn't tumble down.  My feet were now sliding forward in my thongs and the piece that goes between your toes was digging into the skin.   And don't start me on the mosquitoes.  There were hundreds of them.  Now I must say, apart from the thongs, it was nice amongst the trees.  At one point I rounded a bend to see a head on the edge of the footpath.  The body was in the greenery.  I couldn't tell if it was a snake or a lizard.  I started stomping my feet figuring that if it was a snake it would return to hide in the foliage.  The head didn't move just looked at me.  I stood still for about 5 minutes watching it until, I presume, it decided I wasn't a threat and moved out onto the path.  Thank goodness it is not a snake.  I stayed still and it moved across the path.   I continued on and arrived at the carpark.  While waiting for Ian I was reading the information board to find what had crossed the path was a Lace Monitor, although not a full grown one.   When Ian arrived back we set off in the car heading for Glasshouse Mountains lookout.

Now this is my type of lookout.   The car park is at the lookout.   The only problem with this is that tour buses also visit.  Luckily for us the tour bus pulled up as we were reading to leave so we didn't have to share the view with a bus load.

Yes, that is our car

We continued along the Glasshouse Mountains Tourist Drive and on to Maroochydore.  With a mixture of roadworks and traffic we were over Maroochydore before we had arrived.  We were heading towards Sunshine Plaza when Ian saw a shopping centre with Harvey Norman so we headed there instead.  Only trouble was it had Harvey Norman and then the rest of the shops were furniture shops.  There wasn't any food outlets even a supermarket, which we needed to get a couple of things.  Having had more than enough we returned to the car and back towards the van via Caboolture.   Travelling along the freeway they have display boards which were flashing the news that there was an accident ahead with lengthy delays expected.  Luckily Miss Google Maps also detected the accident and then redirected us around it.  Our aim when we arrived in Caboolture was to get a few things from the supermarket.  They had an underground car park.   We fitted under the first height restriction only to find that this lane just drove straight out the other side of the car park.  We couldn't fit under the height restriction for the actual car park so we drove around and found a parking spot and had to walk back to the shopping centre.  We had a late lunch, grabbed a few things at the supermarket and then returned back to the van for the night.  The temperature is currently in the low 30's but luckily there is a cool breeze coming off the water which cools the van down for sleeping.

Wednesday 4 September 2019 - Bribie Island

Set off on the 30 minute drive to Bribie Island.  An old work colleague of Ian's and his wife live on Bribie.  Last time we were up this way we visited their block where the plumber was busy laying the pipes before the slab was poured.  This time we visit the finished product.  Very nice house with lots of lovely outdoor living areas to make use of the weather and the cool breeze when it comes.  We had coffee and chatted before heading off to the RSL for lunch.  After a lovely meal we went for a drive around Bribie and adjoining Sandy Point.  

We also visited the Mater Prize Home which is first prize in a raffle with proceeds going to research and patient care at Mater Brisbane.   It is positioned with the back of the house overlooking the canal on Bribie Island.  The plan makes full use of the view of the canal and is stunning.  The study which is situated in the middle of the home has a window instead of a wall so you can see into the living area and then out to the canal.  I don't think much work would get done there.  More daydreaming looking out on the water.  

Back to their place for another coffee before we headed back to the van.

Very enjoyable day and great to catch up in person rather than the phone.

Tuesday 3 September 2019 - Toorbul

Today was spent doing the boring but necessary jobs.  Sweeping floors and washing.  The rest of the day was spent chatting to people around the park, reading or just plain nothing.  Nice to be out of the car for awhile.

Monday 2 September 2019 - Australia Zoo - Part 2

We were very lucky with the Lemurs as they run freely around on Bindi's Island.  You are not meant to go within 1 metre of them but if you stand still they come right up to you.  There were 2 staff with them.  They have an area they seem to play in and then they all go to the sleeping area.  We arrived just as they were finishing up playing so a few were still chasing each other and swinging in the trees.  Then they started walking towards the sleeping area.  There was probably about 10 to 15 of them.  We walked with them for awhile and got talking to one of the keepers who told us they were heading off for a sleep and once there would probably sleep until later in the afternoon.  If we had arrived 15 minutes later than we did we would have only seen them sleeping.  One of the Lemurs had a short tail.  He was apparently in a zoo in America and the tail got frost bite and had to be amputated.  Luckily they don't need the tail for balance and this particular Lemur is near the top of the hierarchy of this group of Lemurs so manages to live a normal life. 

Most of the animals were awake and moving as we went past but I think that was because we got there at opening and it hadn't started to really heat up yet.

They also do shows throughout the day including Tortoises Live, Kids' Story Time, Otters Live, Tiger Keeper Talk, Crocs Live, Birds Show Live and The one we went to Australia  Zoo Wildlife Warriors Show.

At this show they had snakes, birds and a crocodile.  The staff walk around the arena carrying the snakes while on the arena a staff member pretends to get bitten by a snake and they tell you about first aid for a snake bite.  

Then they bring in the birds, which fly freely around the arena including in the grandstands before they fly back to the keepers or out one of the exits and I presume back to where they are kept.  

Finally a crocodile comes into the pond in the middle of the arena and comes out of the water so you can see him.  Once he gets some food he returns to the water to show you how they can jump up out of the water for food. 

After 4 hours we had seen enough so drove back to the van via Donnybrook to see what was there.  Not much.  We checked out the caravan park but decided the one we had chosen was much better.

Spent the afternoon getting the blog done.


The picture below Ian had captioned "Two old fossils and a crocodile".

The cheek of some people !!

Not sure if you realise if you click on the photo they will go full size.  Just hit the x in the corner to return to the blog.