18 FEB TO 28 JUNE 2014

Well a lot has happened since the last post on this blog, so here’s a brief summary;

We eventually had everything fixed to our satisfaction on the van then had it serviced by Vehicle Components.  We purchased a house at Cooloola Cove which is in the process of being rented out while we travel around Oz for however long it takes, years hopefully.  This will also supplement our income while travelling.

Our first trip away was down to Copeton Waters with Laurie & Helen for 5 days or so.  An absolutely beautiful spot to camp & fish, but as usual we didn’t catch anything of note.

From Copeton Waters we headed for Tyndale near Grafton.  We stopped a couple of nights at a free camp Cangai Bridge.  What a beautiful spot.  No facilities of any kind but a nice peaceful, serene spot to chill out for a few days right on the Mann River.

For over 12 months we had promised our old friends Bev & Trevor from our 4wding days that we would come & work with them in their roadhouse/restaurant/caravan park for a few weeks so we could learn the ropes & give them a few days break.  This experience will be quite useful should we decide to apply for work during our travels.  You never know we may get the urge. We now have experience in many types of fast food preparation, making all sorts of coffees, eftpos & cash register transactions, RMS systems used by caravan parks Australia wide, record keeping for cash & fuel usage etc. etc..  I also helped trevor build a pergola on the back of his house.  It was such a learning curve for both of us & being on our feet about 14 hours per day nearly killed us in the first week.  But eventually we got the hang of it & Bev & Trevor were able to go away for 4 days while we ran the place, and quite well if I do say so myself.  There were no disasters that I know of anyway.

We left Tyndale Monday 23rd June for our slow trip to Adelaide to enable us to arrive 19th July for our first ever house sit.  Our first night was Coffs Harbour showgrounds caravan park as we were booked in to get a new gas regulator fitted & the heater checked.

All good, we headed west and stayed at the Bellingen Show Grounds the following night.  A nice little town at the base of the ranges.  We went for a drive into what they call the promised lands & would compare it to Samford Valley near Brisbane.  The next morning we climbed up what seemed like a never ending assent up the Waterfall Way & had lunch at Dangar Falls.

Our destination for the night was to be Ebor Rest Area beside the recreation grounds and opposite the water falls.  A great little free camp with pit toilets.  The wind came up and we had a good frost overnight with temps getting below minus 4 outside.  Thank goodness for the gas heater & the good quality wool blanket we bought before leaving Brisbane.

We only went a short distance each day which was nice for a change and the next night was spent at the Styx State Forest camp ground by a small stream.  We had the pig blazing to keep warm but the cold night air eventually sent us inside to watch a movie.  The sat dish has also proven to be a good purchase giving us perfect TV whenever & wherever we want it.

We used to like stopping at the Dumeresque Dam at Armidale but some geniuses on the council decided to close it to all camping rather than try & manage it.  They obviously don’t need the income from grey nomads that many smaller towns now rely on.  So we continued on & spent a night at the Bendemeer Showgrounds for the huge sum of $5.  It was beside a picturesque stream & the pig was brought out again.  What a wonderful bit of gear it is when travelling in winter.

Our stopover for the 28th is the Coonabarabran Caravan Park.  This allows us to wash clothes, refill tanks & enjoy the luxuries of being on power for a night.  We’ve been driving into a strong headwind all day, so hopefully it will ease overnight.  It is now cold & overcast here, record snowfalls in the Victorian snowfields isn’t helping either.

29 June to 3 July 2014

Travelled a few hundred klms to Lake Mulwala at Kyffins Reserve. This would be a nice spot in nice weather with the lights of Yarrawonga & Mulwala on the opposite side of the lake. But it was drizzly, windy & cold so indoors was the go. We then moved to Forges Beach No.1 which is about 3.5klms west of Yarrawonga down a track beside the olive farm. It’s a beautiful free camp on the Murray with a sandy beach and fairly new drop toilets. There’s plenty of sunny spots here and not many people, as it’s winter, but likely a very popular spot in summer.