Wednesday 13th March ~ Clarence Town, NSW

It's always a gamble to enjoy something (like fish n chips) one day and then go back for seconds. Well, winners are grinners .. we enjoyed the fish n chips again, this time for lunch. Sooo delicious.

After we'd fed our faces, there was more talk of food. What's for dinner tonight? and come to think of it, what food do we have for the next few days? We didn't fancy a trip back to Coffs, so instead headed south to Nambucca Heads and did bit of a pantry top-up.

Interesting drive along the Pacific Highway - I've never seen this much domination before .. THERE WILL BE NO OVERTAKING HERE ! the safety barrier shouted at us.

 

 

We didn't spend much time in Nambucca Heads, but didn't miss the gigantic (beautiful) mosaic monster in the main street, I don't know how long it is, but it's long ... here's a glimpse (but if you want to see more click on the link).

 

 

 

http://blackdiamondimages.zenfolio.com/nambuccaheadsstreetartmosaic2009/h14C2EEB9#h14c2eeb9

 

As the day drew to an end, we just had to venture out onto the Urunga boardwalk (or footbridge) again - such a brilliant asset to the little area. Loved watching the millions of busy, busy soldier crabs; and

 

other sea creatures

 

 

and of course, the bird life (White-faced Heron)

 

 

There's been a shower of rain every night in Urunga, but the morning brings sunshine. Except for today, it was still raining as the sun came up. Regardless, we kept to our plan of moving on. Didn't know where to, but just move on.

 

Kempsey came into view for our smoko stop. Poor Kempsey people - the evidence of flooding was still everywhere. Everywhere you look, flood debris lodged and at such high levels. Our camps book guided us to 'Riverside Park' and we wondered (worried) what might greet us ... yep, that's debris lodged right up (and over) the roof of the shelter!

 

 

Not ready to call it a day, we travelled on and Taree loomed for lunch. We weaved our way through the roadworks - they're heavily into getting the dual lanes of the freeway/motorway underway. Found the information centre with everything a traveller needs, space to park the big rig, toilets, information and a craft shop!

 

Heavily laden with information and full tummies, we set off for destination still unknown. My co-driver was sifting through the multitudes of info, but fell back to the trusty camps book and found an out-of-the-way park on the Williams River, just north of Newcastle. Well that sounds nice. Co-driver, turned navigator, says turn here and there and well on we go, and go .. up and down narrow (and very rough at times) hillside roads; came upon some roadworks where I think all of the workers thought "what the ... " but we wandered on by with a wave .. anyway, much, later we arrived at Clarence Town on the Williams River. First we had to cross the Williams River - deep breath.. the bridge is only 3 metres wide and is boasted as being the 'oldest surviving timber truss bridge in NSW'. And the sign says 'no passing or overtaking' ... phssst, umm how could you?

 

 

So tonight, we have our very nice, very quiet and out of the way camp. Blissfully resting and sleeping, before heading into the madness of navigating Sydney !!  Well, we looked at going around Sydney, but it's mind boggling, so this may well be my last update. Nah, we'll be right.

 

Tuesday 12 March ~ Urunga, NSW

The plan for staying at Glenreagh was so that we could leave the van for the day and drive up to Dorrigo. But after a chat with the caretaker of the Glenreagh Reserve, we learned that 'up that way there has been falling rocks and landslides due to the rain'. It was good to chat to the caretaker because overhead at least 12 Yellow-tailed Black Cockies were flying over. Very majestic.

Ok, next plan.

After studying the map, the next best place to leave the van for the day and drive up to Dorrigo is Urunga (if only my co-driver could remember the name .. Uralla, Umunga, U something .. you gotta laugh).

The drive to Urunga (just south of Coffs Harbour) was quiet and easy. Being Sunday, and off the main highway, there was little truck traffic, but loads of motorcycles. Urunga is 'the best kept secret on the mid north coast' so don't tell anyone. There's only two caravan parks, so we pulled into the first to be met with a sign 'back soon'. With some time up our sleeve, we thought we'd check out the township and other van park. As fate would have it, it was the better park. First park located on main road, second park located on Kalang River with boardwalk, next to a park and short walk to main street.

On our way to find the other caravan park, we noticed a fish n chip shop and immediately thought mmm that sounds good. Then I remembered we are in NSW and usually the fish is well, not as good as Townsville. But the taste buds won and do you know, it was the best fish n chips we've had in a long while. I know, I hate to say it, but it was, the best batter, the best fish (even though it had the skin on) and crispy chips.

The board walk connects the township to the main surf beach (looking back at the township).

 

 

 

What a fantastic place, the sun shines here.. (just ignor the threatening clouds)

 

 

We set off to Dorrigo (World Heritage) National Park in glorious sunshine, with a cool breeze, enough to want to cover the arms. It was a lovely relaxing scenic drive through lush green paddocks; followed by the scenic but less relaxing, winding road to the top of the mountain to Dorrigo township, where it is essential to visit the bakery that still uses a wood-fired oven.

 

Fueled by our smoko, we ventured into the NP visitors centre and received our instructions for the walk. There are various walks, ranging from the very easy and short, Sky Walk (just don't look down) to the 6.6km full circuit walk.

 

As you can see in the background, the weather was closing in, but we did the full circuit and it was spectacular (even the steep bits). All tracks are sealed with some boardwalks, a suspension bridge, a couple of waterfalls and lots of birds.

 

 

Lee-Anne (who checked us into our walk) commented to us on our return 'Gee, you've been gone for hours'. Our comment to her was 'yes, and we've experienced all the seasons'. As I was browsing over the 'nic nacs' I overheard her repeat our words to other returning walkers.

 

We're enjoying a rest day today and taking advantage of Urunga's stress-free atmosphere and looking forward to indulging in a feed of those fish n chips :)

 

Saturday 9th March ~ Glenreagh, NSW

Happy Birthday to my Dad is where I start my story today, but I need to backtrack a bit.

I'm glad we spent the extra day in Tenterfield, it gave us time to appreciate the
history. Like the caravan park we stayed in .. Tenterfield Lodge & Caravan Park ~ it's a park-like setting tucked away. The Lodge is a beautiful heritage-listed building, built in 1875 as The Temperance Hotel. It now houses the gueshouse accommodation and the office. Julie & Jim are so proud of their business and it shows. We were very happy to be there and will stay again.

 

Here's our site

 

 



 

We enjoyed the many historical sites:

Who can think of Tenterfield, without singing along with Peter Allen (out loud, or in their head) the Tenterfield Saddler, here's the vision for you.

 

 

the Railway Museum

 

Thunderbolt's cave, but I didn't take a photo.

 

 

Once again, we woke to a wet morning and quite cold 14 degrees. Our pack-up takes us about 15-20 minutes, nice and quick and we were on the road again.

 

We always pack a thermos so that we can stop wherever we like for smoko, enjoy those bush scenes and bird watching. Today, for some reason, we kept missing the rest area signs and therefore the rest areas. So many times, we saw them too late to stop. Glen Innis .. already!? and before we had a chance to stop .. whoops. Oh well, there'll be a rest area just out of Glen Innis. Ha ! The weather closed in and then we were on Gibraltar Range ...

 

 

Finally, after rejecting many slushy side tracks and concentrating hard, we found a single lane road to Rasberry Lookout, misty rain and cloud .. too bad, coffee calls, albeit a quickie stop.

 

 

This is the site on a good day ...

 

 

Coming off the range, the drive became quite scenic. Weaving our way along a valley and on the edge of Mann River. Man what a river! Huge! So wide, so long and soo much water flowing.

 

 

We had an idea that we'd like to stop at Jackadgery Caravan Park or free camp (one on each side of the river).  The info in the Camps book met our criteria, but .. maybe it was the weather, it didn't look so good and the free camp was a bit too pokey. We stopped to give it a chance, stretch our legs and in that short time, the bird watching was good, but we knew there must be better stops.

 

On the road again, to Grafton, just to re-fuel. And before we knew it, no turning back, we had to drive across the mighty Clarence River. It was the bridge that we'll never forget .. in a word unbelieveable! It's very narrow, long and has bends. Of course we had to encounter an oncoming B-double cattle truck on one of the bends. Good grief... That's where you need a camera pointing at you to catch that face .. catch those saucer sized eyes catch that jaw drop ~ funny now though.

 

Not wanting to stay in Grafton, Ivor had remembered reading about Glenreagh Recreational Reserve in the Camps book. Glenreagh is on the way to Coffs Harbour, found the signs and off we set. Just as we were saying to each other, 'we're almost at Coffs, did we miss the Glenreagh sign?' Glenreagh appeared. Found the right road and here we are .. along with the Coffs Harbour motorhome club AND a pony club gymkhana too!! Something different. Ahhh the luscious smell of horse poo. Is that a bit of blue sky in the photo?

 

 

what a day .. what's next ... ??

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday, 7th March ~ Tenterfield, NSW

I mentioned little cute en suites in my last entry .. well now I have to talk about really big amenities blocks - we're talking 'ball room' size - really great to be able to spread out. We're at the Big 4 caravan park in Warwick. There are also some Big 4 trees here in this Big 4 park, where the Big trucks motor by.

The beast has his Big new shiney black boots fitted .. very schmik indeed. Thanks for your great service, Scottney's Tyres.

 



Inspired by our bright and sunny day (never mind the gale-force winds) Chef decided to do a Big cook-up for us. It may look a bit grose, but that's just the steamy lids, covering a couple of meat sauces and satay chicken dishes, YUMMY.

 



With all the Big stuff done, it's time to move on.

We sorta decided on maybe Tenterfield, thinking that it could be good for bird watching, so headed off on the New England Highway. It was heavily overcast, but the wind from the previous day had died down.

On the outskirts of Warwick, we read the flashing variable message sign 'Rough surface Warwick to Stanthorpe'. What? the whole way? Of course, we base all our 'rough surface' experience on our 2011 trip (when we were racing home from the floods and into the cyclones). That's a pretty high water mark (pardon the punn). But today, well it was nothing really. We may have disappeared into the odd very deep pothole, but mostly we could (safely) dodge them, and mostly the road was quite ok. Yes, it needs some work - but .. those boys and girls are out there getting the job done.

A rest stop in Stanthorpe was compulsory. Because A. who has been to Stanthorpe? and B. we needed some information. Afterall, maybe Stanthorpe is the place we should be staying. Also we needed a walk. While you're travelling, it's a challenge to get your daily exercise. Moreso in wet weather (oh be quiet .. yes, I exercise - my type of exercise that is). It was just a walk down the street, ok. I could hear the tinkle of wind chimes and look what we found ... a sculpture of the 'Roll-up Tree'. I took a (bad) picture and a search of the internet hasn't yielded a much better one.

 

I found this one in a brochure

From the brochure, here's a little bit about the sculpture...

As early as 1872 people rolled-up under the tree in the town centre to exchange news, to collect their mail and to read advertisements which were posted on the tree. The original tree was a towering eucalypt that stood close to this site in Stanthorpe’s early tin mining days. At a meeting in 1875 an effigy of the local Member of Parliament was burned under the tree. The fire killed the tree. The modern tree was constructed by Patricia Sheehan and John Ireland as part of the Stanthorpe Piazza streetscape. The roll-up tree involved youth at the time and the leaves on the tree are inscribed with youth and family names of the time. The tree is made of steel and anodized aluminum and was unveiled in 2002.

Deciding that Stanthorpe wasn't where we should stay, we moved on to Tenterfield. YAY .. New South Wales. We've been travelling for two weeks now and just crossed the border into NSW! Ivor was after some particular bird guide information so we checked in with the information centre. It wasn't as he remembered. So we ummed and ahhed and thought, yeah, let's do one night here and see how we feel.

After lunch (another late lunch, but then we're also on daylight saving) we set off to Curry Gap Reserve. We couldn't venture too far into the reserve because the ground was very wet and squelchy in places and when we came upon water flowing across a gully, with no way over, it meant definitely going no further. But we did see some birds.

On we went to Mt McKenzie. A lovely scenic drive through the country and all the country animals too see, sheep, cattle and a chook farm with thousands of chooks. The temperature dropped to 17 degrees as we reached the lookout. We saw some more birds and came home with a list of 30 species.

Quite happy with our efforts, the caravan park (it's peaceful with pretty amenities) and Tenterfield, we've decided to stay another night.

Wednesday, 6th March ~ Warwick, Qld

The next level of warmth applied to our bed for our night in Yarraman was very welcomed. The wind dropped a little during the night and the sun made a brief appearance to welcome the morning - so I snapped our site - just before the next passing shower came along.

 

 

The caravan park is everything that the sign descibes, but doesn't have an amenities block as you would normally find, it has many cute little en suites littered through the park. You can pay extra and have one all to yourself, or pay the standard rate and share.  I must emphasise 'little', so long as you kept your arms down, you were ok. And the one I chose, had a rattly door, so when the wind gusted, I thought somebody was trying to enter !  Oh well, I'm not really complaining, just an observation and as Phryne Fisher commented in our audio book 'I always marvel that when you turn on the tap, water comes gushing out'; and I do too.

While mentioning Phryne, I can't remember seeing 'Murder in the Dark' on ABC TV - it's a bit raunchy in places - maybe it was tamed down for TV, because my research reveals that it has been on.  You may know that Kerry Greenwood, who writes the Phryne Fisher stories, also writes other stories that we've enjoyed ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerry_Greenwood

We’ve been keeping an eye on the tread on our car tyres.  With safety and the top of the list and continuing wet weather, we decided to have the beast re-shod, new boots, sooner, rather than later. The question was, where would this happen? .. a few phone calls later, it’s all organised to be done in Warwick. But, let's get there first...

Was it the high altitude or was it just YUK weather? High winds, passing showers and poor visibility made the drive rather tense. The worst poor visibility was at Highfields .. mmm, they got that name right.

By the time we reached Toowoomba, the mist and rain had slowed, but not the winds.

We were counting down the kms to Warwick so we could get off the highway and out of the winds. Lucky for us (not) we chose the caravan park on the New England Highway (main highway Sydney-Brisbane), so it's a bustling little place with lots of trucks passing by, not a lot of option here though. 

Once our site was set...

 

we headed in to check out the "Rose City" and information centre. Warwick is known as the 'Rose and Rodeo' capital of Australia and has its own special 'City of Warwick' red rose (Arofuto) that flowers at Rodeo time in October. But we didn't miss out on flowering roses - they're everywhere - and to a northerner, they're just beautiful.

 

 

We also found RACQ. As members, we're entitled to free info and maps. You may think that we have such a lazy, carefree life, but there's lots of study involved...

 

 

It was early to bed as we were falling asleep watching TV - another of our fav shows, "The Closer".

 

 

Monday, 4th March ~ Yarraman, Qld

Hello cloudy skies in Gympie changing to blue skies and all with no showers or rain .. YIPPEEEE !

I have to catch you up a bit ..

From our pantry top-up shopping in Childers, we'd bought some lamb, which needed to be cooked. Never mind the multiple down pours and that we've been drenched (thank goodness for our sloped site). Chef (and co-Chef) decided on a favourite curried lamb variation - normally Chef needs yoghurt and a few other MIA (missing in action) ingredients, but our recipe discussion resulted in a very succesful variation - never to be repeated. Here's the Chef at work .. note the shiney ground (very sloshy!!).

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love photography and photos. I'm always saying, send me a pic of that .. I didn't have to ask this time and I'm very proud to receive this one ~ here is Jack, Raoul and Anna, in Canberra at Jack's 6-week ADFA (Australian Defence Force Academy) parade. (Jack is Raoul & Anna's step-brother - Congratulations Jack, we're all very proud.)

Back to the trip, after a thorough drenching in Childers, and a pesky little leak, we drove on to Gympie (more on that later). Poor Ivor was quite baffled by this little leak.. these things are better left to the 'man's department' but I do play a part .. I offered a few concerned looks and some suggestions of how that water could be coming in (the water was running along the inside section between the top of the van and the canvas part of the pop-top). All in all, quite annoying and baffling. Our friendly neighbour suggested bees-wax along the stitching in the canvas, and it seems to have worked. ?? It's still questionable because, we've moved on, so the van in on different angles and the rain isn't as heavy / constant. Hopefully, all is well and we'll never know about another leak.

We were glad not to have to drive in rain to Gympie. It was heavily overcast and throughout the day. But, tiny bits of blue sky poked through in places. I found myself smiling and a weight beginning to lift. Isn't that funny / weird? I think it's a real insight into the SAD syndrome (Seasonal Affective Disorder). We need the sun and blue skies to feel happy and light.

Our purpose for visiting Gympie was to catch up with a few of my relo's. We enjoyed a nice lunch at a restaurant and moved on to my Aunty Laurie and Uncle Keith's place for coffee and lots of talking. Throughout our drives around Gympie we saw no evidence of the recent flooding, no mud marks, or high water marks, no debris anywhere to be seen. My cousin Meryl explained to us that the clean-up happens very quickly and sprinklers in parks etc are turned on, certainly not to add to the water problems, but to wash off any mud from grass and plants in an effort to save them from dying from oxygen starvation. It was a really lovely afternoon - thanks everyone xo

Anxious to move on and hopefully out of the wet, gloomy weather, our stay in Gympie was kept to overnight. And our trip to Brisbane aborted. SORRY Brisbane Family and Friends :(

A check of the roads via the helpful TMR website, showed that our drive via Toowoomba (Burnett Highway), would be safe and with no road closures. Our plan was to drive in the direction, not really knowing how far.

We had smoko in Kilkivan - home of the Great Horse Ride.

I love seeing the creative talents of people, their sculptures etc. Such detail.

Once we left Kilkivan, there were numerous times where we saw evidence of water over the road. And in places it felt like the waters had parted to allow us to drive through, as we seemed that the water on each side of the road was higher than us.

We were both feeling like we'd had enough of driving and decided to stay in a little place, Yarraman. Really, I think we wanted to get out into the fresh air, sunshine and blue skies. It was soo windy, it was compulsory to do washing !

Ivor checked the mud map of surrounds and suggested a bird watching excursion. It turned out to be an enjoyable drive through the bush because the bats took over the walk through Boldery Park. Here's a pic, not too clear, but those palms above the sign hold hundreds of noisey bats.

 

 

No bird watching, back to the van, just in time to recover (mostly) dry washing from a little shower of rain - or so we thought. No washing to be seen. Our neighbours had saved it for us - how kind is that? The dryer finished everything off nicely. Then it was snuggle down time, in our comfy mobile home for a delicious meal (Panaeng Chicken left overs) and try to stay up to see 'Revenge', the bed (but maybe it won't happen in that order). It's a chilly 21 degrees - we haven't been this chilly in a looong time. We'll have to snuggle up .. whoopsie, too much information.

Saturday, 2nd March ~ Childers, Qld

After a quiet night in Rockhampton, we continued our Highway 1 'The Bruce' journey. During the evening before, we mulled over many travel ideas and scenarios, but we always came back to the 'secure' idea that sticking to The Bruce, would prove the most 'flood proof' (I know, I love that word). As we listened to the weather report, and heard of more heavy rain for the Gympie area, we looked at each other and frowned. We consoled ourselves with a yummy sausage role and chilli pie at Mt Larcom - only a smoko stop, but we'll call it nervous energy sustenance. With the weather dictating our journey, and choice of location, we decided on the high ground at Childers.

The Bruce is mostly in good condition and it's quite a treat driving over the newly finished sections. Still lots of new sections to be finished.

Some of the older sections are a bit rough - but the condition is no where near as bad as we experienced during our 2011 road trip.

As we arrived in Childers, the car needed petrol. We joined a non-moving queue at the servo and wondered what the hold-up could be. This little delay gave us time to see we were next to a Woollies - perfect, we can top up the pantry. As we drove up to our bowser, the driver next to us started disconnecting his car/caravan, we were quite puzzled. With our petrol and food business done, we saw a tow truck with that guys car on the back and caravan towing behind. Poor things. Looks like their brand new Ford Territory was in need of a rest.

Once all set up, and having lunch, we were surprised to learn that the time was 3pm. Thanks to that feast we had at smoko.

The Chef decided on Panaeng Chicken for dinner. Another jar of convenient curry paste and coconut milk, another yummy meal, with left-overs for another meal. Why cook just one meal, when you can easily do two?

We've finished our book 'Monsoon' .. so why is it still monsooning ?  I know, who would be foolish enough to travel at this time of the year?  Well .. ? (Those of you who remember Bewitched .. 'Well' is said with Samatha's inflection. And right now, I wish I could twitch my nose and be somewhere else, or stop the rain. While sipping a cool drink last everning, I was admiring our bush view. Should take a photo, I thought, but the light was fading. So I took the photo of the view this morning, we now have a bush and lake view -

Maybe it's because we like the colour blue ... If you look closely, through the rain, you can just make out Childers. You might even see us drowning, not waving.

Anyway, thank goodness for knitting and books. We're listening to a Phryne Fisher mystery 'Murder in the Dark'. Are you watching 'Miss Fisher Murder Mysteries' on ABC? Don't you just love her and the fashions (people and place)?
Here's a pic Ivor modelling his beannie ~