Camping days and the trek home

Enough soppy family stuff, we had a big day ahead and set off for on our 400+km trek to Ashford. We drove past ?? Dam which is the biggest Reservoir, Dam whatever I’ve ever seen. Well for now anyway. We sort of cut a sneaky back way through the Great Dividing Range it provided some diverse changes in landscape and we found this bloody big rock at the top of a mountain in NSW somewhere.

We went to the Western plains zoo today and saw many great animals it is quite a big place and two days would be better to see all the animals properly. It was quite hot so the pool got another good workout.

We stayed At Wells Creek Crossing a cool spot we stayed at on the way up. We went Canoeing and it was Jason’s first time solo.


He did a great job and got the hang of it really quickly.
It takes a bit longer to pack up with 4 of us and we struggled a little fitting everything in. We drove over 600km all the way to Dubbo, through Bingari which had a RV convention it was quite a sight. We stayed at the Dubbo Caravan Park which had a nice pool and playground for the kids. We were all happy to be able to have a real shower again.

An early rise as another big 500+km day awaited us. It was bloody hot and we drove on the Silver City highway towards Broken Hill before we turned off and headed back down along the Darling. This highway had the most road kill I have ever seen that and about 100 cattle trucks coming the other way was a good test for the nasal passage.We headed on some bush tracks to Wilga NP on the Darling and had our closest call with a two Kangaroos, but luckily no contact was made. We arrived late in the afternoon and set up camp. The heat did not let off at all and it was dam bloody hot. We went for a canoe and Kirsten had her first turn at canoeing.

Today was only a 200km drive to Menindee lakes and this time we camped at Burke & Wills camp ground. It is on the edge of Pamammaro lake which is currently letting out 4800mega litres a day into the darling and Murray courtesy of the Federal Government water buy back. Canoeing was quite tricky here. Thanks to Glenn’s Pizza Dough recipe we made some great Pizzas for tea.A better not forget to mention that Tina drove over two Brown snakes as well. They were not happy with her. Kirsten canoed by herself courtesy of a long rope and she really enjoyed it.
Another small drive today only 250km to Wentworth, we stayed at the Willow bend caravan park in an ensuite cabin. I’m not sure if the kids or we were more pleased about this luxury. We headed off to tea to the local services club. This was our last night with the kids and back to Adelaide the next day.

Off early again and back to Adelaide. We stopped off in some towns to pick up some local produce on the way home. It is surprising just our luxurious our caravan is.

Wynnum

Up super early to take Cheryl & Steven to the Airport for their trip back to here Adelaide. We are off to see Nan’s great great Grandchild and there are now 5 generations alive “Nan, Dorothy, Wendy, Rachel, Riley” it isn’t that often you can just see 5 generations together and what’s better they all still talk to each other. We have been using a mixture of both GPS and Nan’s directions and I’m not sure if either are very reliable anymore but most of that is due to the fact that they are changing just about every highway in all of QLD.



Anyway Nan said we have taken her to suburbs she’s never been to before and its been really great, Brisbane is much more hilly than we thought. We were off the next morning so we Nan’s favourite Fish & Chips for tea (mullet) it was a great electrical storm and Tina was charged up and getting static while we walked down the shop. We cleaned the young girls who were working there by themselves out of mullet. As we walked back the lightning and thunder turned to rain just as we walked up the stairs.

A sad morning to leave Nan’s, we have had a great time once again, 3 times now in 4 years and we got to take Nan to see lots of the family and we got to catch up at the same time. It took a while to convince her that we were not driving her around specially to visit them but we were letting her tag along with us. I finally won one, fancy trying to pay for diesel I love that stubborn independence she has it makes me feel great.

Gold Coast & Bribie Island

We are staying on the beach at the caravan park right on the marina and Brunswick river outlet. It is Friday night and we have been bush camping for quite a while so we thought we would treat ourselves to a pizza & a couple of beers. We wandered into town a short walk and did a lap. We headed into the Brunswick Hotel a massive place with already 50 odd people sitting in the outdoor area for what I think must be tea at around 4.30pm. A chat to the local barmaid led us to a Pizza Bar called Sticky Fingers just around the corner that came highly recommended. As we walked around a lady heard us talking and said oh yes Dominic’s is very nice Pizza but when we told her we were going to sticky fingers her comment was just the same.
We ordered the large Dianna Ross minus the anchovies and sat outdoors enjoying the beautiful evening although it has been quite blowy in the Arvo’s. Our Pizza soon arrived and disappeared as quickly much to the delight of us both. Truly a fantastic meal it was. We headed back to the Brunswick to complete our evening listening to a local band and watching Adelaide United live on Fox. We left at ½ time Adelaide leading 2-0 and headed back to camp to watch a movie on the Laptop. Such luxury with a flushing toilet, hot showers just a few metres away.

There is a market on in town today so we walked in again and headed for a real coffee. Not that our coffee isn’t real it was just going to be nice to drink it out of ceramic cup instead of travel mugs. It doesn’t take long for a six pack of beer to become a reasonable drink so the coffee was most welcome.
Back to the markets to do some shopping. First Tina littered the Darling with her sunnies, then the new ones broke the first day and we had to send them to Vic for warranty replacement, and then she breaks the last spare pair. So sunnies are our first target and nice pair of imitation something’s we picked up for $10 are now on trial. We picked up some gifts and s some of the local produce. There is no shortage of cottage industries with the majority being completely organic.
After breakfast we canoed around the heads and river in search of some good fishing spots. We stopped over the other side of the rive mouth and casted in. There were Oysters in the water everywhere so it hard to concentrate without eating to many. No luck here (too many skiers ad boats) so off to the other end of the heads (with some extra Oysters for Ron) There are people fishing everywhere but we were to late just like all of them. We lured behind the Canoes with Tina picking up an undersize Flathead which we returned our first success trolling with lures. It is so windy we chucked it in with a taxing canoe against the wind and chop back to the caravan park beach.

The plan today is to head up towards Tweed Heads in search of a free camp. The coast all the way to Tweed heads is very Tourist based for holiday makers and there are no free sites to be found. A tent site at Hastings Point was $18 cold open shower and public vandalised toilets were on offer. So we headed back to Wooyung Beach which we passed about 20km earlier. A little eco caravan park next to the beach. We set up and then organised a fishing venture down to the beach. It is no surprise that the first time we leave the camera behind we miss out on the playful antics of a Sea Eagle and 3 Air force fighters did a slow fly by. It has blown a gale on the beach for the last 5 days and fishing has been a non event and tonight was no different.

Today we were off to the big smoke, up the coast and a drive through Tweed, Coolangatta and Surfers. The traffic lights were a bit of a shock and there is no slowing in the progress of development here.
We made our way to Nan’s place and spend a lazy afternoon talking.

Another lazy day just sitting around catching up with Nan. We drove to the nursing home to visit Clare, Nan’s older sister who is 97. We took a photo of Nan and Clare and printed off a copy a Kmart to send her. We had Nan’s favourite Stir Fry for tea and caught up on some much missed drama on TV.

Today we meet Cheryl, Stephen and the kids at Coolangatta Airport, a 100km drive from Wynnum. The new highway takes you into NSW and when the clocks changed we were 10minutes late. Luckily the road swung back around into QLD before the Airport so we made it in time. People might complain about the old Adelaide Airport but Coolangatta airport is no better. We bumped into Darren Cook who was flying up on the same flight for a Stationary Conference, must be some new innovation in pens.
They arrived safely and it was great to see the kids and Cheryl again. We loaded up and drove back to the apartment we had booked. A nice little place, well I say little because 8 storey buildings in the Gold Coast look like shrunken houses. We settled in and had a swim in the cold pool. It is amazing how nice rooms, doors and other luxuries like bathrooms seem so appealing.

Our first park was Movieworld and we arrived early to beat the rush. We lined up for the new Superman ride which is the fastest in Aus. If having the complete shit scared out of you is your thing then this ride is for you. I must say that Tina and I are hardly show ride junkies and I have no shame in admitting that these rides really scare me. Jason went on this but Kirsten was too small. We tried most of the rides but I think Jason was a little more scared than he would admit and didn’t end up doing the Lethal Weapon ride. The Wild West and Batman ride were cool and Kirsten even did the Batman drop.
Quite a tiring day and so we headed back to the apartment for some much needed beers. Shannon and Robert were up in QLD and so we spent most of the day with them. A Pizza from the local Pizza bar for tea.

Up early again and off to Dream world. This place is awesome, first stop the Mick Doohan ride supposedly simulating a motorcycle ride. It was a little disappointing but at least Jason & Kirsten weren’t too scared. Next stop the tower of terror with just Cheryl, Steven and myself the only takers. 160kmh straight up the side of the Big Drop tower and then backwards to the start, not that scary until we travelled backwards past the ride operator who screamed at us on the way past. Lucky they have extra brakes for safety. We sat in the ride for 5 minutes or so while they released us manually. The ride was closed and they tested it for a while before it was reopened. We tried plenty of other rides and we had a good time.
We headed off to Northcliffe Surf Life Saving club for tea. We were greeted by a charming lady called Jackie who was well versed with SA. We had a nice meal some beers and saw some of the cricket which was great for me.

Not quite so early today with Seaworld just down the road. Morning Rain greeted us and did not let up the entire day. We had tea in the apartment and left Steven to babysit while Cheryl, Tina & I went out for a few beers. We stopped off again at the SLSC and then headed off into the main drag. A couple of beers at the local gay bar and then to the Hard Rock Café.




An early start packing up as we were going to Bribie Island with the kids. Cheryl & Steven stayed on for 2 days at the apartment. We stopped of at Nan’s and picked up most of the camping gear and drove the 100km to Bribie Island. You need a camping and 4WD permit to stay here. We drove 18km along the beach to get to the campsite. The overloaded Tojo doesn’t really like sand but seemed to handle it OK.
We found the campsite just 50m from the beach and set up. The Kids had to set up their own camp and tent which seemed to go well. Off down the beach for some fishing. A huge bite on Tina’s line and we nearly got it to shore but it just escaped.

Early morning’s in QLD it is light a 4.00am and sunrise is at 5.00am so there is not much sleeping in. We had a swim a walk and some more fishing which got us 1 sand whiting which we released. We tried some night fishing but with no luck. The fishing has been really disappointing but it seems that we are not alone. This does not really make me feel much better but it would be far worse if people near us all the time were hauling in fish.
The local wildlife has been spectacular with Kookaburras, Sand Monitors and a couple of local Kangaroos putting on a show. Lots of sand crabs here not mention some bloody annoying Crows.

Up early again and packing up so we can pick up Cheryl & Steven in Brisbane. We had to wait for the high tide to go down so we could drive on the beach to leave. We drove 2km north and then headed inland on the 4WD track in the middle of the Island. This is another great 4WD adventure and some good experience for Tina. We saw some more sand monitors and our first snake of the trip a 5 foot Brown snake. They are clearing and replanting a lot of scrub and trees on Bribie Island. Back to the highway and we collected Cheryl & Steven and headed back to Nan’s.

Minyon Falls

Minyon Falls are in this park so we drove down there had some breaky and took off on the 9km round trip walk. It is rated as class 3 so we were expecting some obstacles. The waterfall is 100m cliff so the walk looked a little daunting.


The walk is great for fitness and took about 1 ½ hours but the view when we climbed over that last rock was well worth it. A walk through the valley of the Palms and under 100m tall gum trees was brilliant. We sat at the bottom getting the odd cold shower form above and then headed back. There were eels playing in the water at the bottom of the creek and we encountered a somewhat aggressive Lizard that Tina frightened. He was probably just as scared as Tina and wasn’t happy to let Tina past.

A 3 hour round trip some great photos and two tired sore and whining bodies made it back to the car. There are plenty of Monitor lizards here and the local birds especially the Kookaburras are not pleased when they are around and constantly swoop the Monitors. We decided we would spend another day here just relaxing after our big walk. Two couples arrived in the afternoon ad set up camp next to us. We made Tuna and Potato pies on the Cobb. A quite night around the fire talking about travel stories and fending of the wildlife from attacking our camp site. A couple of local Bandicoot’s and a small Kangaroo, not sure what it is actually continually attacked our campsite in search of food.


We headed back to Brunswick Heads which is just north of Byron Bay on the coast. Still very popular but a bit more sophisticated. As usual we didn’t use the Tourist road but a 4WD drive through the mountains. We hope this road isn’t closed like every one around here. There are two things I don’t understand in these National Parks. Firstly they don’t want you to use the wood around the camping area. Well the more growth they clear around the camp areas the less chance of some city folk burning down the park. We have stayed at a couple of places where I was nearly too scared to light a fire. All the local cocky’s agree when I mention this. Secondly if they close all the roads how are emergency vehicles or fire trucks supposed to get down these road. There is some benefit to having people use these tracks as they maintain the firebreak.

Minyon Falls & Byron Bay

Next morning we packed up early as we off to Byron Bay to check out this beach side Hippy town. Many people you speak say it has lost its character and it certainly appeared that way. The drive there was spectacular driving through rain forests on the way down to the coast.

A toilet stop outside of Casino provided a chance meeting with the local Noxious weed officer who’s job is to log weeds. But today he had to canoe 12km down a creek to record weeds, sounds great. Tina spotted some incredibly damaged larger Gum trees near here and the guy explained that they had a hail storm last week 1.2km wide front that destroyed 100year old trees like they we twigs. 18inches deep hail not far from where we were. He gave some great local advice about creeks and camping spots in this region of Beaudesert area. We have noted these and will be back to check them out some time. Casino & Lismore are both very large towns and a little strange to see after all the time we have spent bush.


We drove over the last hill and there it was Byron Bay, well it is certainly pretty and the first time we had seen the ocean for nearly 3 weeks. We looked around picked up a couple of souvenirs and headed off to Brunswick Heads just a little further up the coast. We will head back there and spend a couple of days camping near the beach to try some ocean fishing.We logged a camping spot from the Camps book into our GPS, fueled up off we went.

Byron Beach

The road was very windy and busy and then turned to the dirt road we had expected. We lost the Satellite link near the turn off and could not find the road. So after a couple of U turns and driving past the same spot we spotted a driveway which we assumed was the road 4WD was engaged and a sign 4km Winding road greeted us. This was no bloody road it was a 3km climb straight up the side of a mountain. The road has wash out drains about every 50m and the Tojo scrapped the Towbar over nearly everyone. To my right a 600m shear drop so the only option is just keep going 3km up a mountain in 1st gear. I’m not sure who was the most scared but I didn’t want to let Tina know I was scared to. This was the most scary track I had ever driven and I would not want to drive down this track under any conditions. Then we made it to the top relief at last. Well for 1 second at least at the top the mountain the National Parks have closed the road and there was no going forward. It’s a pitty they couldn’t put that sign at the bottom of the hill. Well my worst thought came true and we turned around and started the decent. Low range was used and the Tojo crawled down the mountain perfectly. A little disheartened we programmed in another location near this spot and drove there. Luckily this one was open and about 2 hours late and 100km further we made to the same spot.

We camped in Whian Whian State forest. This place has great facilities including gas BBQ’s or wood ones.

Girraween NP QLD

A 30km drive and we arrive to very similar country full of Granite rocks and pools. This campsite is very popular and was quite full of campers.

Bald Rock

A quick drive takes you to Bald Rock NP and we are soon off to climb Bald Rock a 350m climb at 30°. This Granite rock is somewhat impressive at 1,277m above sea level and the 360° panoramic view is worth the drive and climb for anyone. The Great Dividing Range was named for a very good reason.


We are on Day 16 of our first leg on a two year trip and we cannot believe the beauty and adventures we seem to be having each day. Can it get any better than this? You bloody bet it can! We started the climb down the Rock and the first people we met warned us of a Brown Snake some 8 feet long. (I’m a bit suspect here biggest bloody brown’y I’ve ever seen was 6 foot and I can sometimes exaggerate a story a bit) We didn’t cross its path. Next stop Stanthorpe our first crossing into QLD. We stopped for our customary lunch time beer and some local knowledge about Girraween NP