Bundaberg, Australia

After the drive South from Rocky, we arrived in Brisbane and settled in to catch up with relatives and friends. Staying in Brisbane for a couple of days we again set off North, our first stop - Nambour! The weather gods were against us a bit here so we made the best of it that we could. Of course a visit to Nambour means a visit to the Big Pineapple - not the same as I remembered but the effect was still there! A photo and a cup of coffee in the tourist centre from a grumpy member of staff we didn't stay long and headed back to the van. We are really "treading water" at the moment waiting to see what the huge cyclone off the coast is going to do - it has already devastated Fiji and is heading towards the Oz coast so.....

17/3.  Bundaberg is out of range of the cyclones at the moment so we headed out of Nambour to Bundaberg. 

Rockhampton, Australia

5/3. Having left Longreach, we travelled along the Capricorn Hwy. towards Rockhampton. The country is very green (after so much rain) and incredibly flat. As we couldn't make Rocky in a day we decided to stop at Sapphire and try our luck! We stayed at the Blue Gem Caravan Park (where else!) and in the morning around town - there's not much to the place so you do walk round rather than through, in a very short time! Our search for sapphires took us on a short drive to Rubyvale (about 20Km). There, we took a tour of the Bobby Dazzler Walk-in Mine, once a working sapphire mine but now a tourist attraction. The short tour was made all the more interesting by our young guide Nathan and his Lab. pup Matilda - his enthusiasm was really refreshing. We couldn't leave without trying our luck with a bucket of wash (a bucket of rocks that may or may not contain precious gems, namely sapphires). It was a lot of fun with Nathan helping us to find our precious jewels and we thought we had found some pretty good stuff, but in the end it wasn't worth much as none of them could be cut - but well worth the visit. Then it was off to the Rubyvale pub for a cool drink - very old watering hole but a great place to relax. 

7/3. We left Sapphire and continued our journey to Rockhampton this time via Emerald and Blackwater. Interesting place Emerald,

they have, in the middle of town the "Worlds Largest painting on an easel" (according to Guinness). It stands 23m tall and is a replica of a Van Gough still life, it's very impressive but why? Blackwater next, about 60Km along the hwy. is a large coal mining centre with the International Coal Centre. The centre is very impressive and the displays are excellent showing the industrial development of the world and the dependence we have had (and still do) on coal. A very good display, made better for us with free entry - just before the tourist season helps sometimes! We spent the night at a freecamp in Yaamba, 30Km north of Rocky. A good spot but, apparently well known to many others - by dark there were 5 Road trains, 2 semis, 3 caravans and us crowded into the site - and very early in the morning clear again, all part of the experience!

8/3. Drive into Rockhampton to drop off the van for the new windscreen. With a couple of hours on our hands we took the opportunity to walk around town and to visit the information centre (in the old Customs House). There are some wondeful old buildings to see and it was a very enjoyable walk. Picking up the van we headed across the very swollen Fitzroy River to the Riverside Caravan Park - above the waterline and hopefully staying that way! In the morning, after a late start we headed up to Yeppoon about 45Km, North east of Rockhampton. It's a small ocean front village with spectacular views out to the Keppel Islands. We spoilt ourselves with a coffee overlooking the beach and ocean. The town doesn't have the development that many coastal towns suffer, maybe bacause the beach itself is pretty ordinary but, time will tell. We left Yeppoon heading back along the coast road to Rockhampton via Emu Park, mainly to see The Singing Ship, a monument to Captain James Cook. The tubes that form part of the monument we guessed were meant to make sounds ith the constant wind that hits the coast - we couldn't get more than a "hum" from it - must have been an off day! Then it was back to base...

10/3. After a quiet day, we decided to walk into town (across the very swollen a nd fast flowing river) for tea - since we were in the Beef Capital of Australia it had to be steak!! The Criterion Hotel advertised a steak menu we'd noticed earlier, and is wasn't too far so we headed there. Well, it would have to be one of the best steak meals I've ever had, it was delicious and just superbly cooked - they lived up to their name! You can see "bulls" all over town on top of buildings and in many advertising signs.

11/3. We have to head down the coast to catch with some friends and family that we couldn't when we were in Brisbane last so, an early start and down to Gladstone for lunch - it boasts the largest Aluminium plant in Australia (I can see why!). We left Gladstone and headed to Bargara (near Bundaberg) to go to the Turtle Hatchery at Mon Repos beach - hoping to see some turtles. Along the way we came across the "Mystery Craters" - a bunch of unexplained holes in someone's backyard that they have turned into a tourist attraction. It looks like the result of a meteor shower but the scientific community is not convinced - hence the mystery! It was an interesting diversion, and the business is for sale (if anyone is interested!) Anyhow, back to the turtles! The Loggerhead turtles come in to lay their eggs in December at Mon Repos beach and after an incubation of about 8 weeks the hatchlings dig their way out of the nest (60cm down), and claw their way to the sea and swim for 2 days to pick up the Eastern Australian current - Nemo was a

 documentary, who'd have guessed? We arrived at the Queensland Parks Centre at 6:45pm and checked in - there were lots of people so we finished up in Group 2, about 20 people and we all sat down to wait until an "event" occurred on the beach.  There is a team of volunteers that sacn the beach for a nest that is hatching and notifying the Centre so that the groups can go down a observe.  Anyhow, group 1 got their call at about 8:00pm and we had to wait until 9:45pm for ours!! So, much excitement as we all trooped off to the beach to be met by a parks officer and we were guided to nest just as the first of the hatchlings emerged from the nest. The parks officer moved a bit of sand away from the wall of the nest so that the turtles had a better climb, and it wasn't long before there was a seething mass of baby turtles, all trying to get out of the nest and head out to sea. Each nest has about 110-120 hatchlings. A small pen had been set up on the sand dune and as each turtle emerged they were placed into the pen until all had hatched and the next stage could start. It was at this time that we all got a much closer look - the ranger brought a couple around so that we could touch and photograph them, an incredible experience! Light affects the turtles and their sense of direction so, some have been known to head toward the lights of Bundaberg so, to minimise the effect we formed a line with torches to the shoreline so that the turtles headed out to sea. It makes you feel as if you've helped in some small way for the survival of these tiny creatures, as they claw their way to the sea over your feet! There are about 1600 nests on the beach, each with about 120 eggs, and since only 1 in 1000 will survive the odds ain't great - so it was a fantastic night.   

Sapphire, Australia

23/2 - Left Toowoomba @ 10:00 (or thereabouts!) and headed towards Roma in the "Outback". It's a good drive along the Warrego Hwy. through very green and lush country - not quite what we expected but a great drive. The drive goes through Dalby, Chinchilla and many small "hamlets" along the way, it really is a great country!

24/2 - ROMA. Not in Italy but a very fascinating place. Attached to the Info. Centre is the "Big Rig Display". Did you know, Roma was the first place oil and natural gas was discovered in Australia? No, I didn't either but, the display explains the history and the "intrigues" (such as Americans vs Australians), one in particular where a US manager was falsifying reports to shut down the "oz" operation!!! The Visitor Centre houses the "Big Rig" display which has a fascinating display explaining the history of oil discovery and development in Roma. We headed out along the Adungadoo Pathway which follows the creek into town from the Info. Centre and then into town to see old pubs (of course!) still in great condition and on to the Cultural Centre that houses the 3 Dimensional Mural - displaying the story of Roma and surrounds - crafted by a local dentist and his wife (go figure!) - an excellent display and well worth the visit (it was cool too!)  Our walk also took in the town's largest "Bottle" tree - like the Boab in shape but not related in any way! We went along after dinner to the Big Rig evening show - a show with pyrotechnics and video - not all of it working!

25/2 - Roma Saleyards. Up early this morning to get out the largest selling complex in Australia @ 2Km. out of town on the Brisbane road it's huge and well worth the visit! We watched the sales of cattle and tried to guess weights and prices as they were displayed on the tally board - an average of 5-6 cattle per pen - didn't do too well overall! It was really interesting to visit.

26- 27/2 - Drive to Charleville today, through flat and pretty uninteresting country - although very green after recent rains.  Arriving in Charleville we have found that we are ahead of the season (starts in April) and that just about everything is shut! It's a little bit sad actually. From our point of view what we do see is a lot of what were once wonderful buildings in a sad state of repair - Corones Hotel being a prime example. I know it

 must cost a lot to maintain a building such as Corones but some dusting? It must have been quite grand in its heyday - built by a greek migrant, the hotel has seen many personalities (including Royalty!) and now the foyer houses some faded and jaded photos of the hotel in its prime - bit sad really! Still, it's worth a visit. We went out to the airport and the RFDS hangar (gee) and what was more interesting was the sites that "hid" bombers during the war while they were in for repair.  The various planes were hidden in types of alcoves cut into the bush surrounding the airport. We then went over to the Graham Andrews Parkland to see the Vortex Rainmaking Guns - brought into Charleville to break the drought of 1902 - they failed. We did go the Native Timber Walk, 18 different species of trees with a plaque at each explaining it's heritage and uses! It's quite a good (short) walk.

28/2 - Up early today to see the launch of the weather balloon - don't get the chance very often and how many actually people get to see it?  Well we now know why..... We got to the weather station, the orange light flashed, the doors opened at exactly 9:15am, the balloon was launched and the doors closed - more excitement than you could imagine! Anyhow, the balloon floats away and we walk home and stay out of the coming storm!

1/3 - We have left Charleville and heading towards Barcaldine on the Matilda Hwy. via Tambo and Blackall. Tambo is really a very large and magnificent pub, and a very new and magnificent art gallery opened last November. They are showing works by local artists, all very good and well worth a look. Although out of character with some of the towns we've seen, it just seems to fit! On to Blackall for the real Black Stump and the statue of Jimmy Howe - the renowned shearer who sheared 321 sheep in 7 hours with shears in 1892 - a record that still stands!! 

2/3 - We're in Barcaldine and set off early into town for a look around. We actually managed to cover most of the tourist attractions by 9:00am - and we didn't run or jog once!! The Masonic Centre, built in 1902 and painted to appear to have facade, columns and arches made from stone. A very clever and deceptive appearence! Off to the main attraction of "Barcy", the Tree of Knowledge reputedly the site where, in the 1890's during the shearers strike, they met at this site (under the tree) - it's really a dead stump now (some say poisoned!!) but the memorial that has been built around it is really quite magnificent - a must see! The shearers? Well, I think the site might have had something to do with the 6 hotels directly opposite - just a theory. We went on to see the Workers Heritage Centre, "the custodian of the rich heritage, history and traditions of all working Australians" - a must see with many displays from government departments! There is also a "Youngin" - a clone of the original Tree of Knowledge.

3/3 - Left "Barcy" and headed west toward Longreach - a passing Roadtrain flicked a stone up and we watched (in slow motion) as this huge rock headed for us and SMACK, there's one hellva fright and Rob has some glass in her lap, and the windscreen has a hole! We stopped, cleaned up and went on to Longreach to get help....  arriving in time to go out to the Stockmans Hall of Fame and Heritage Centre. The Centre, built over 5 levels has excellent displays of the early pioneering days in Outback Queensland progressing through to the present day. Video presentations at various stations show each of the eras, pests, floods and everything that nature could throw at them! Level 5 is devoted to stockmen over the ages but, since it is the "Hall of Fame" I was expecting more..... a must see display, despite some shortcomings!

4/3 - Walked in to town along the Linear Botanic Walkway, a fantastic idea that shows off the plants and by default a lot of the wildlife! The path meanders from the Qantas Founders Museum right into town - interesting and informative! A visit to the Kinnan Store in town is a must - a veritable treasure trove of good quality clothes and even some "kitch" souvenirs! The afternoon was spent at the Qantas Museum - a very good display telling the story of Qantas from it's inception right up to the present day. The original hangar houses the first plane to have a toilet - I'll never complain again! There are aircraft including a Boeing 747-200, a 707 and a DC3 on display - all in all an excellent display that shouldn't be missed! 

The windscreen? Well, couldn't get one.... they had one in Rockhampton (broken) and the one sent to replace it arrived broken!! So, we headed back to the coast to try and speed the process up.

Toowoomba, Australia

15/2 - 18/2 - Ipswich/Brisbane. Well, we have left Ballina after a very pleasant stay in lovely weather and a very nice caravan park. We drove up the Pacific Hwy. towards Brisbane and Ipswich in the hope of staying a couple of days and catching up with my cousins.

As we drew closer to Ipswich the weather started to close in and by the time we had set up at the park, the rain hit and hit hard - sounded like we were in a 44 gal. drum and someone was belting the sides - the rain was so loud with its accompanying thunder, while all the time it was so hot and humid!! We managed to catch up with the cousins over the next few days, then left Brisbane late on the 17th, heading toward Toowoomba (the home of the Lamington - bet you didn't know that!) and cooler drier conditions. We arrived at about 6:00pm and checked in the the Jolly Swagman Park - very nice. We spent the following day doing some maintenance on the van and I went to the dentist to cure a tooth ache!!

The Lamington? Well, it seems that Lord Lamington was visiting Toowoomba and his cook was unable to make him his favourite "Snowball Cake" as she was short of ingredients. So, being ever resourceful she used what was at hand and the result was the square iced cake with coconut sprinkled all over which she called the "Lamington" - it became a firm favourite with his lordship and the rest is history!! (ain't it though?) 

19/2 - 22/2 - Toowoomba and Surrounds. We were up early and walked into town (about 15 mins.) to get the paper and were pleasantly surprised by the town and CBD. It's very clean and a lot of the buildings have been wonderfully preserved. It was a pleasant walk and we came across the Big Lounge Chair - another photo opportunity! We went over to the Infomation Centre and gathered all the pamphlets required to give us a good look around Toowoomba.

First port of call was the Cobb & Co. Museum - a must see for everyone. You can see an excellent display of early Australian transport including "buggies", "omnibuses (horse drawn)", "drays", "Cobb & Co. coaches" and many others, all well displayed and explained. Part of the exhibition is Toowoomba in 1959! Again, an excellent display and the memories come flooding back - old Kelvinator fridges, B&W TV's, "fashion" - another must see. We had lunch at the museum cafe and had a great talk to the staff about the future plans for the museum - already under way and doubling the size in the process! Finished with the best lamington ever - what else?? We walked home through Queens Park which, apart from being very large has an enormous variety of trees, including a giant Kauri Pine - a very pleasant walk home. The following morning we walked to the Laurel Bank Gardens that have a sensory garden for the sight impaired and some very good

topiary! A quiet day. 

20/2 - A long walk this morning along the creek bed and past the water bird sanctuary, right in the heart of town - a very pleasant walk. A trip out of town today to Jondaryan Woolshed and Station (about 45Km) west of Toowoomba. It was originally a squatters selection in 1859 (of about 300,000 acres) and has had about 6 owners over the years and has shrunk to it present size of about 2000 acres. The present station is very well set up and they have brought many of the old outlying buildings (stockmans huts etc) into the main station for the display. They have a genuine (as close as possible) outdoor kitchen for the "cafe" serving damper in various forms for lunch and snacks. Cooked on site, they offer the "ploughman's snack", consisting of a slab of damper (true, a slab), cut into three, topped with slabs of corned beef with sweet mustard pickles, all washed down with billy tea - really tasty and filling! We then met Snow Potter (our guide and local identity) for the tour of the property - giving us many anecdotes and history of Jondaryan. The standout is the Woolshed built in 1859-61 designed as a shearing shed for 52 blade shearers! This place is huge and must have been incredibly noisy when in full operation (for months at a time!) Snow treated us to a demo of shearing including a demo of "pulling the wool over your eyes" - comes from a time when shearers, whilst shearing may have had a problem with their equipment

 or some sort of break down. They would lay the sheep down, grab the fleece already shorn, then wrap the fleece over the sheeps head - it wouldn't move! Lastly, we were given a sheep dog demonstration by Snow's Border Collie (is there any other dog?) - beautiful to watch!

22/2 - Another drive today, up to Crows Nest National Park via Highfields, Cabarlah, and Hampton. It's a lovely drive through forested areas and pine plantations. These towns are geared to tourism - Highfields has a Village Green consisting of a number of shops built around a "green" with a fantastic view down the valley towards Brisbane. Cabarlah's claim to fame is the Cuckoo and Grandfather clock house (the House of 1000 clocks). All built in Germany, there is a huge range of clocks and other tourist "stuff" - steins, glasses, hats, braces (yep, braces). Hampton was a "blink" and Crows Nest is a small town with a village atmosphere. We headed out to the National Park (and falls) where we were surprised to find a fantastic picnic area that is carefully maintained and indeed a great place to enjoy our picnic lunch! Our walk to the Cascades and falls is fairly easy going and although not a lot of water tumbling down, it was still a lovely spot - well worth the visit. We got back to Toowoomba fairly early so went down to USQ where they have built some remarkable Japanese gardens. Although not on the scale of Cowra,

they are said to be very close in structure to genuine and traditional gardens. There is a great feeling of tranquility as you wander around the various features. Again, well worth a visit. Before going home we stopped at Picnic Point which gives a fantastic view out east from the town down the valley. You can see all the trucks struggling up the last bit of the very steep 4km. hill to the tableland where Toowoomba sits.

Roma next!

Ballina, Australia

4/2 - Gunnedah. Underrated town with lots to see. We were up early and a walk into town for the paper. Just near the park is a huge nunnery that is in magnificent state and well cared for, as are most of the buildings in the town. We walked down towards the river and found the flood marks on the marking pole - huge floods over the years and not a lot said about it. A very interesting walk. Off to Port Macquarie today. We headed out and through Tamworth which took us out through Walcha where the rain started! It poured - in some places you couldn't see 3m in front of the van, we stopped to have a break at Gingers Wayside Stop (about half way) which sits on top of a hill and has a great view - even on a day like this!!

5-8/2 - Port Macquarie.  Very warm and humid - we are near the river so that may account for it. After a walk into Settlement City Shopping Centre for the paper we set off for Timbertown @ Wauchope after breakfast. Wauchope was built on the timber industry logging mahogony and cedar among other timbers and in the 50's there were 36 mills operating in the area! Timbertown, now managed by the Wauchope Council, is a recreation of the area as it was in the 1880's and very good it is too! It has a tree lined main street with shops and houses, that leads down to a "smithy's" and a replica saw mill powered by a huge steam engine. We had lunch in the "Maul and Wedge", and then headed up the hill to see the bullock teams in action. The "lead" bullock was out of action (for some reason) and the bulls that were left were followers so the team could could not be shown in all its splendour... The bullocky did however show us

 how the team is hooked up, to show us just how they look when hauling a load! The sculpture in the photo is made up of a number everyday things - taps, axe heads etc - really quite clever! All up a very good display and a cheap entry price makes it a good value visit. Lots of rain over the next few days so not a lot could be achieved - we did see Avatar at the cinema - fantastic! Trying to stop ourselves going "stir-crazy" - we set out for Lierton via Lake Cathie to see Mt. Brother (North) lookout. It's a nice drive along the coast through many new housing estates and lots of building activity, we headed up Mt. Brother into the fog! We stopped at the peak and took the "Rainforest Loop" which takes about 20mins. and through the fog swirling around and water dripping from the trees it was quite magic! We emerged from the fog and headed for home via Lake Cathie which has the world's biggest bowling ball! Off to Coffs Harbour next!

9-12/2 - Coffs Harbour. It was still warm but we copped a lot of rain overnight so it was a slow start to the day. We went out to the Jetty for lunch and to buy some fish from the Fishing Co-op. We drove up to Bruxner Park Flora Reserve which is pristine forest with some very large trees - there are very good examples of "Strangler Figs" - they grow around a host tree towards the light in the tree canopy and in the process take over the host strangling it in the process. We then headed up to Sealy and korora lookouts that give spectacular views over Coffs and the North coast. 10th, we head out to Dorrigo National Park (a World Heritage Site) for some walking and to see the rainforest. The Rainforest Centre is excellent with "touchy feely" displays of the flora and fauna in the park. The Skywalk out over the forest is well worth it - a platform out over the tree canopy 21m up with spectular views down the valley toward Bellingen. With the heavy recent rains our walking options were limited due to a number of landslips on the tracks, we did however manage to get a good way over the Wonga path to the Tristania Falls (and back, about 8K all up). It is a great walk through the forest on a "paved" walkway - stops erosion due to the number of people that use the track. There is a incredible array of palms towering over our heads, Strangler figs doing what they do, Boxbrushes and many other types of flora towering over us, and in amongst all of this are hundreds of animals and birds (including bush turkeys), many of which just wander past us as if we weren't there! We got to the falls after about an hour of pretty good walking and they are quite spectacular - a footbridge spans them at about their midpoint - water falling down a 25m rock face, a small flat plateau passing under the foot bridge, then over another (hidden) rock face into the valley below. Well worth the walk. 11th - Off to the "Big Banana" to day, which turned out to be far better than we thought it might be. There is an introductory video and light show highlighting the development of the banana industry in Coffs. Then, in to theatre #2 where there is another show with an interactive computer generated display about all the uses that bananas can be put to! The shows finish and we're directed out the doors and a walk through the "plantation" to see bananas in the "flesh". The path winds through the plantation and then back down to the Packing shed where you can see the packing process and play some interactive games (with a banana theme!) - out the door and into the gift shop (where else!) and the actual "Big Banana". With fantastic "kitch" and lots to see -a great visit! Off to Ballina next.

13-14/2 - Ballina.  Walking along the beach we saw a large pod of dolphins (about 20) "frollicking" off the beach. Today is the big day - a visit to the Macadamia Castle (ta da!!) A 15 minute drive from Ballina we found that the "Castle" is geared mainly toward families, but it does have the "big knight" so, after some lunch we headed back toward Ballina via Lennox Head. This is a "surfie" town that has a launching place for hang gliders just a short distance out of town - they just seem to hover there! It was great to watch. We took it easy and headed back to the Naval and Maritime Museum in Ballina - well worth it!  The museum, run by volunteers is fantastic - there is one of the "Las Balsas", rafts that were sailed across the Pacific to prove that the indians could have done it! The journey took 185 days and the experiences of the crew are shown on video. There are many displays of various models of ships of maritime importance to Australia, covering successes and disasters (Voyager?) The models and stories are enthralling and I'm glad we went!

Lightning Ridge, Australia

Lorne Station Interesting place indeed! The facilities are basic at best and the amenities... Have you ever hopped into your

shower after carefully ensuring that your clothes are not going to get wet, you have your soap in hand, you stand under the running water and it all stops - yep, the water apparently goes off on a regular basis, for some reason ants like the pump that brings the water from the bore 26Km away and manage to stop the flow. We didn't know this! So, back to the van for a shower there, the water is back on.... Back I go and yep you guessed it, off it goes off again! (Not happy Jan!) That's it, we decide to bite the bullet and ask for a refund and go back to town. I think they're used to it, no questions asked and the money was back in our hands before you could cough! We booked into the Lightning Ridge Hotel Motel and Caravan Park - fairly basic but had running water! And, we met Feral, the magpie reared by a local that has a penchant for peoples toes or anything shiny - he's very tame and when you get back to the van from being out he races over to say hello. 

Car Door tour this afternoon - they have developed a series of 4 tours around town that are indicated by old car doors nailed to trees along the route, numbered and painted in 1 of 4 colours, Red, Green, Blue or Yellow. It's a fantastic and you can easily

 follow the doors from the designated starting point in town. Green first - It's a drive out to Nettletons First Shaft - sunk in 1902 it opened up the town for mining. There is a lookout of sorts out here that looks out West over the whole valley away from the Ridge. It's so green out there after the recent rains it's really hard to believe that we're officially in the "outback". There are lots of people and tailings mounds out here but not much action going on - not many opals either we're told. Blue next - this is an interesting trip that takes you through many of the areas with living quarters (homes?) along the way. Built from anything at hand there are certainly many amazing sights along the way. Red tour next - which takes you past the Astronomers monument and Amigos Castle (described later) - and other strange structures that have been built by miners in their spare time! Back to the Bowls Club for tea - the biggest bowls club in Western NSW - huge by anyone's standards!

Black Opal Tours - Picked up early by Larry from Black Opal tours (we're his only customers) for a guided 3 hour tour (I was the skipper!) around the Ridge.  We went out Amigos Castle, built by another immigrant (of which there are many here), he has built a castle from the local ironstone - very heavy and hard! He built it to keep himself busy and all by hand! The tower can only be accessed from a tunnel underneath the castle - one of many tunnels... Next the Astronomers Monument, built by a Polish immigrant who had been wrongly jailed for murder in Sydney and on release he headed out to the ridge and made Tequila from cactus and sold it! He also mined made other liquors, grew vegetables and in his spare time built the monument to honour

astronomers - he felt that they had been victimized over the years like him so he had an affinity with them. Each pillar in the monument has an astronomers name carved into it and he even built a replica of his cell in jail! He died when his still blew up one night! Larry took us out to Lunatics lookout (?) and the remnants of the largest open cut opal mine in the area - it actually shows the levels where opal can be located, if you dig down deep enough! Then, back to the office for a demo in opal cutting and how they make doublets and triplets, accompanied by a devonshire tea - great stuff. Larry took us out to the "Walk-in Mine" where you can literally walk down into a mine - no longer working - but you can see how the whole operates. Thanks to Larry, he made the tour interesting without being the overebearing guide - well done.

Chamber of the Black Hand! We booked for another night so that we could see the "Chamber". Essentially, it's an old mine that doesn't produce any more and someone has turned it into a tourist attraction by carving images into the walls of the mine. He's been at it for 12 years and still going - different thems make up the display including Hollywood, Egypt, Heroes, Animals and a few others. We were the only one again on this tour so we pretty much had the run of the place. The photo

 shows the miner building a "coffee chamber" opening later this year. As part of the "tour" we were taken down to a lower level to see the remains of a 90 year old mine - quite interesting. Our "guide" (Bowls Club Pres.) told us that there's not much opal around now and that mostly the mining is being done out at Glengarry and Sheepyard.  

After lunch it was up to the Bottle House - largely built from beer bottles and cans the "house" houses a huge collection of one mans memorabilia! He has bottles, tools, toys, stones, fossils, Avon bottles - hundreds of things in a tiny two room "museum" and each one has a story! After an hour we escaped back to the car and went up the road to Kangaroo Hill  - another museum. We should've seen the "signs" as we approached, more of the same. They had to do something for tourism to hold their licence over their claim - so, they dragged every piece of crap they could get their hands on, put it all in a shed and called it a museum - they kept their licence! There was a pile of tailings out the back that we were welcome to fossick through - I'm positive that the fine tooth comb had been dragged through the pile many times but it was a bit of fun and we did find some tiny stones with a bit of colour. Back to the Fossil Museum - very interesting and cleverly presented - lots of opalised fossils and explanations about the formation of opals and how they get valued, well worth a visit! 

]]> http://www.globenotes.com/travel-blog-entry/Australia/Moree/20039/Moree-Dreaming/ http://www.globenotes.com/travel-blog-entry/Australia/Moree/20039/Moree-Dreaming/#comments Travel Blogs http://www.globenotes.com/travel-blog-entry/Australia/Moree/20039/Moree-Dreaming/ Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000 The Farmer Odyssey View this Travel blog entry in full along with Photos and Maps on GlobeNotes.com

Moree, Australia

25/1 Left Bendemeer after our exciting times in Tamworth headed for Tenterfield and the Sheep Dog Trials that we'd heard about. Back through Guyra (the Lamb an Potato festival was still in full swing) and arrived in Tamworth late afternoon, just in time for the open finals. It was far more interesting than expected, you start to urge particular dogs on and hope that the sheep will go in to the right pen or square - all very scientific I know but a bit of fun for us! For the very serious it was "sheep station" material and they took notes and gauged all the qualifiers. All the dogs - "BORDER COLLIES" - best dogs around, can't beat 'em!!!

26/1 Happy Australia Day! We were inTenterfield and it was shut! We had our early walk into town (from the showgrounds) and had a good look around - a lot of activity around 1910-14 - Henry Parkes was doing his thing establishing the federation! We left at about 11:00am and headed down again towards Glen Innes on our way through to Moree (this is the fastest way). The drive was through hilly country at first and then levelled out as we headed through Inverell (where we stopped for a walk around and coffee) and on to Moree - very flat country out here! We booked in  to the Gwidyr Carapark which is huge (something like 120 cabins alone!) and they have their own Artesian Thermal Pools.  OK, the pools vary from 36 degrees to 40, so we went for a swim - 40 degree day, 40 degree pool - go figure!! Anyhow, it was great - it feels like you're swimming in fabric softener while being massaged! And then you go out and jump into the "cold" plunge pool - probably @ 23 degrees!! Anyhow, great fun.

27-29/1 Rest up day (27th). Early walk on the 28th, then Rob packed a picnic lunch for us and we headed out to Waa Gorge which is part of the Mt. Kaputar National Park. We'd been advised by the Information Centre in Moree to expect some gravel roads - she neglected to tell us about the creek crossings, gates, private land and really a crappy road to get in to the park! After the bitumen

 runs out you have 19Km of gravel road to navigate - 4 gates to open and close, 3 creeks to cross (ford), cattle to avoid on the road but we eventually arrived at the very celubrious car park in the National Park! The car park is clearly defined, there is a composting toilet (byo paper) and picnic tables - a really lovely spot! We were greeted by a 1m goanna that was most unhappy to share his picnic ground with others - he stalked off in quite a huff leaving us a table clear of insects! After our lunch we headed out of the carpark towards the gorge. After about 10 minutes we came across and area forming a number of "plunge" pools in the Berrygill creek - apparently used by early aboriginals, not a lot of water about at the  moment so they didn't really offer a lot! From this point on towards the gorge the track is not maintained so it was a matter of "follow the creek bed"! This wasn't as bad as it could have been as there was a reasonably laid out track that we could follow - there were lots of birds and a wallaby joind us for a while - more curious about us I think! 25 minutes later we came out onto the base of the gorge, which was quite spectacular with sheer walls and a lava flow that went up the full length. The shape, like huge bowl, had been carved out over thousands of years and it was well worth the walk in to see it in all its splendour! We didn't venture too far in as the weather was starting to close in with lots of thunder and lightning! Back to the car and the drive back to Moree - in the wet.... We spent the next day quietly, relaxing in the thermal pools and then later out to Woolaway Wines - a so-called local producer. Turns out most of his grapes are purchased in the Hunter Valley, processed there and he just sells the end result - winery? I don't think so!

30/1 - Much excitement - we're going out to "Trawalla" - the biggest Pecan Nut farm in the Southern Hemisphere. We were picked up by Hanns tours and driven out the 40Km to the fram - you must go with a tour group. They have 70,000 trees on the fram producing about 2,000 tonnes of pecans per year. They use a lot of water to irrigate the trees and lose about 50% through evaporation! They are gradually moving to put all the irrigation underground and have found initially that the trees produce more nuts and last better

using this method. We were shown the machines that do most of the work on the farm - the "shakers" - shaking the trees to get the nuts down,  the "sweepers" - gathering the nuts off the ground for processing, the "pruners" - huge machines that go down the rows of trees and prune with 1m circular saws! And, the trees "loppers" - again huge circular saws that shape the trees to allow the light in to ripen the fruit "just right"!!. It was a very interesting tour and or thanks go out Renee and Hanns Tours.

We'd been fortunate enough to leave the van in the caravan park whilst we went on the tour. So, back to the van and we set of for Lightning Ridge. The country is incredibly flat with the occasional marker showing the high water mark when it floods - it'd be above the van doors in places - hope we don't get to see it! We were heading for Lorne Station, about 5Km  out from Lightning Ridge. We'd found it on the web and it looked fantastic - great facilities, lots of room, "pancake Sunday" and lots more. After a gruelling drive over a road not really suited to a motor home - mind you gravel roads are not its best friend! we arrived at Lorne Station. It might have been something sometime - that time just isn't now! Seems that if they want to build something they grab whatever is at hand - corrugated iron usually and they slap it together... should be an interesting stay!!! Stay tuned.

Bendameer Tamworth, Australia

20th Jan., (cont.) Off to the Rhythm and Soul concert - starring Guy Sebastion, James Blundell, Wendy Mathews and Gina Jeffries. What a fantastic three hours! James Blundell was on first and just showed his professionalism and expertise - he was brilliant and clearly enjoyed what he was doing - he made it look so easy..  He was follwed by Gina Jeffries who has her own unique style of country, which was really very good. She was followed by Wendy Mathews - our favourite and an absolute stand out in the show! She was fantastic, a great range and great songs. She, like James Blundell showed great professionalism. The last act, Guy Sebastion although energetic and clearly a great performer, is just not my kind of singer. He put on a greta show but I still prefer the likes of Wendy Mathews and James Blundell. Still, a great 3 hours and apparently the biggest (and most controversial) show of the festival. The contoversy comes from the fact that these performers aren't really "Country" - who is?

21 Jan. Slept in late! But not to worry, we weren't due in Tamworth until after lunch. Liesurely morning and then we headed in to see Kel Anne Brandt at the Cattleman (a motel on the outskirts) - she has a show with her daughter Natalie that combines some of her own (and Natalies) material with that of Patsy Kline (lots of Patsy), Dolly Parton and others. She has a strong stage presence, (which Natalie lacks) and it was a very good show - Rob even won a bottle of wine! Certainly better than LBS!!

22 Jan. Another big day - Kasey Chambers tonight. We spent a quiet day and headed into Tamworth reasonably late (compared to usual) and headed to Wests Leagues Club. It's a huge club and the activity was full on, queuing to get into the show we lucked out with seats to one side but on a raised section of the room. We had a great and uninterrupted view of the stage. Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson (her husband) were fantastic - a really great and very professional show. They had walk-ons from stars like John Williamson, Troy Cassar-Daly, Gina Jeffries and others! They proved that they are a very talented team and it was a great show.

23 Jan. Up at 6:00am (does anyone still do that?) so that we could get in to Tamworth for the World Record attempt on the longest line dancing line. Bleary eyed, we got into town in good time and parked close to Peel St. where it was all going to happen. We wandered down to the assembly area, collected our numbers and were all invited out onto the road to have a practice. It's not easy when you have two left feet to move around in a crowd that largely knows what they're doing. After much laughing, stumbling and treading on toes we were ready! Some people were actually taking the whole thing very seriously! Our time came and went and we didn't make it into the record books but had a lot of fun in the attempt! Our WR onslaught was followed by the Calvalcade of Stars (or anyone willing to dress up a ute and sit in the back!) Although there were a lot of "floats" that had been lovingly prepared that outshone the ordinary efforts. There were bands, the army, utes, semi-trailers and of course marching girls! It was a great spectacle and enjoyed I'm sure by all who attended. After all the activity we headed up to the Imperial Hotel to catch the Round Mountain Girls (men actually!). Anyhow, a fantastic group of blokes that played bluegrass, Irish folk, Country and lots of other styles. A great way to spend the afternoon. We headed out via Shoppingworld to get some groceries, they were having a line dance demo outside Woolworths, so we sat and had a coffee and watched for a while. Very different from what we'd tried earlier in the day - they made it look so much easier! It was great to watch but all things come to an end and we headed home.

We came to Tamworth to boot scoot, see Country and Western singers and have a great time. We had a fantastic time and have left with a degree of wonder - what is country? The festival covers such a broad spectrum of music even though the country die-hards think it's all wrong, but it is a lot of fun, there is so much to see and do and well worth the visit!    

Bendameer Tamworth, Australia

After and early walk along the beach at Coolum and our goodbyes said to Chris, Jan and Rob we set out for Tamworth. First stop was Warwick - we intended taking a couple of days to get there so there was no real hurry. The caravan park was a little way out of town so we settled in for the night and walked in the morning through the town. A really lovely town and obviously very proud of their heritage, all the buildings were in excellent repair and it was a really pleasant walk down the main street. We had to keep moving so back to "camp" and pack up. Next stop was Glen Innes. We travelled through a lot of rain and very ordinary weather on the way down and reached the town mid afternoon.One thing we were disappointed with was the lack of roadside stalls selling fruit - we had expected a lot more and what was there was really ordinary - better off at the supermarket!!! We walked around the town, the following day being a little milder and no rain. It has a lot of history and is well worth a look - we'll come back this way later maybe

 and take some more time to look around. We did manage to wash the van in a truck wash however - she really needed a clean and now sparkles! We headed out mid morning for the short drive to Armidale - didn't want to do anything too strenuous!

On the way we went through Guyra who were having their annual "Lamb and Potato Festival". So not to miss a festival whenever one is on we stopped. They had set up tents and stalls along one side of the New England Highway as the main part of the festival. The town is actually on the other side of the railway line that runs parallel to the highway. So, what you have is - highway, festival, railway line then town. The only problem we had was finding what the festival was about - only a very small stand tucked away in one of the tents gave us a clue as to what it was all about! Seems it's one of the best areas for lambs and potatoes and you could be forgiven thinking that they were building jet engines!! (makes as much sense as lamb and potato festival) The only other clue we had was that you could buy a lamb burger! All in all though, a very professional group of stall holders and a town hoping that you will spend lots of money! Arrived in Armidale and set up camp at Pembroke Caravan Park - a very pretty park on the outskirts of Armidale and the winner of a number of awards. This is where we had a little trouble understanding how they won the awards! Although being an absolutely beautiful park with lots of trees and grassed areas, the amenities almost verged on "sleazy". However, it was only for one so we didn't mind too much - how they judge the awards still leaves us wondering a bit though! 

18 Jan. Left Armidale reasonably early to get to our home for the next 7 days - Bendemeer. We are staying at Bendemeer, about

 40Km out of Tamworth as there was no accomodation to be had in Tamworth for the duration of the festival. It has actually been a really good choice - cheaper and a fantastic view over the valley and MacDonald River from our front door. There is even a resident family of Platypus in the river below - we've only managed to see on of them so far! We have arrived, ready to boot scoot, sing country & western and have great time!  

Having set up, we headed into Tamworth to check what there was to see. There is just so much on during the festival it's mind blowing! We bought the official guide and got some very helpful advice from the Information Centre - the headed over to Hungry Jacks (next door) to have a coffee and work out what we might see! Took a while but we settled on a few shows, went back and booked them -some through the Information Centre and others had to be purchased at the venues. Anyhow that done wemade a frantic dash back to Bendemeer to change and get back to see the Tex Perkins Johnny Cash tribute show - we made it with time to spare!! The show was full of his songs and they told his life story in song and tale. A fantastic show and at times I think Tex was better than Cash on some of the songs!

19 Jan. Early walk into and around (and through) Bendemeer then off to Tamworth. We were lucky enough to get a park just near the river and an easy walk into town. We checked where venues were located and then back to Centrepoint for some lunch before heading up to the Srevices Club in Marius St. We walked along peel St. listening to the buskers and at the Telstra camp (for want of a better term!) we had the opportunity to meet and have our photos taken with the McClymonts. They are absolutely stunning and lovely girls - they talked to us like old friends and were absolutely charming. We left here to go back to the Services Club to have a sit, drink, cool down and catch "Steve Passfield and Handpicked" followed by "Luke O'Shea and Medicine Wheel" - both quite different but entertaining shows over the 4 hours! It was a great way to spend the afternoon and then back to Bendemeer for tea.  

20 Jan. Up early (for us anyway!) and into town for the LBS morning teas @ Butlers Auditorium. A converted house that is now a recording studio with a large shed out the back owned by Lindsay Butler and his wife Shaza Leigh (and yes she is older than 17!). We were there mainly to see Melissa Bajric (an up and coming star) but had to "endure" a number of other acts including Les Lawson (yes Les, it is OK to forget the words and the rhythm anywhere you like in a song!).   Melissa was very good, if only briefy on stage. The show started at 10:00am and went on (and on) until 12:30 and included a presentation to Deniese Morrison (yep, I spelt it right) being inducted into the "Wall of Honour", one of the hihest accolades you can get in C & W. We left and headed back into town for lunch. This was going to be a long day as we had tickets to the Rhythm & Soul concert that night. So, it was a matter of taking it a bit easy for the afternoon - listening to the buskers in Peel St. and up to the Services club to cool down and have a quiet drink. Late afternoon we went out to the Longyard Hotel for tea and to listen to Cameron Mason (an ex truckie turned country singer - go figure!).

Coolum Beach, Australia

Well, Happy New Year to all and yes we're travelling again after a restful Christmas with family in Melbourne and are now taking in the delights of the Sunshine Coast at Coolum Beach. Ah, the beaches, the weather ..... but more of that later.

We left Melbourne on the 6th of Jan travelling first to Albury to meet friends for dinner. They were passing through and wondered if we were going to be around - what a great idea, so we went straight up the Hume Highway, met at the Commercial Club in Dean St. and had a very enjoyable few hours over dinner and drinks. It doesn't get any better!! The Albury Central Caravan Park on the other hand does make Dimboola look like a chateau in the south of France.... suffice to say we were glad it was only for one night. You might have power or water on your site, but not both, and that's just the beginning!!

We headed straight toward Sydney next as we had arranged to drop off our old fridge. Stopping at the Poplar Tourist Park in Camden for the night we found the facilities a quantum leap from the previous night - what a difference!!! We arranged to meet the people with the fridge at the Rooty Hill RSL - this would have to be the biggest RSL I have ever seen! The Dandenong RSL would fit on one of its balconies ( maybe a bit of exaggeration but it was huge!!) We left there and headed straight toward Coolum on the fastest route possible (according to the GPS). Having made pretty good time we decided to stop at a free camp on the highway - Burrwawan Road Stop - turned out to be very basic and noisy - the cicadas and trucks passing competing with each other as to who could make the loudest noise. The noise of the Cicadas would come through the trees in waves and sometimes seem as if they might just take you along with them, it was that loud and overwhelming at times!! Waking early (no choice really!), we set off again toward Coolum. The route took us through Grafton - a really lovely town where we had lunch in a little park under the sahed of one of the hundreds of Jacaranda trees that the town is famous for. Again we we making pretty good time and reached the Gold Coast at around 6:00pm, deciding to spend the night at Helensvale Caravan Park - almost directly opposite the entrance to Movie World!

They gave us a site down the back which turned out to be a bonus - we could just drive the van, with car attached through the site and park - no hassles at all. 200k to go so we set out reasonably early and arrived in Coolum at about 12:30pm (local time). A very busy park with hundreds of kids everywhere on skateboards and bikes - bedlam, but everyone was having fun! We walked along the beach and met up with the Snows and spent the afternoon relaxing in their apartment overlooking the beach. Dinner at the Bowling Club - the best Barra I've had in a while!!!

12/2 - Rob booked in for cooking class at Spirit House at Yandina with Jan and Rob P., about 20K from Coolum. So, Chris drove the girls (Jan, Rob and Rob) out to the lesson and I had the morning to myself. It was very relaxing as I did some odd jobs around the van - gotta be done!! Chris picked me up at about 12:30 and we headed out to Yandina to pick up the girls and do a bit of touring. Spirit House is a beautiful Thai restaurant that is quite excxlusive but in very beautiful surroundings. It has been built from scratch in a paddock - they have developed it to point with huge bamboo, a small lake (that you dine beside) and lovely gardens to stroll through!!  The cooking class was enjoyed by all and new skills were learned - to be employed in many new culinary pleasures I'm sure!. Massaman curry...... mmmmm. We left the restaurant and headed almost around the corner to the ginger factory - opposite the Macadamia factory (bit of a toss up!!). Anyhow the Ginger Factory has some wonderful trpical gardens to stroll through and a number of small shops that

you can purchase all the touristy goodies...  After a quite an exciting day we headed back to Coolum for a quiet night.

13/1 - Market Day, up early to get out Umundi Markets. A town nestled in the hills about 25k from Coolum Umundi comes alive on Wednesdays for the market. Pretty typical of these types of market (similar to Karanda, Cairns), the market was huge, with many, many stalls selling a huge variety of goods. A lot of stalls and a lot to cover, we settled down to some lunch under a huge Moreton Bay Fig at about 12:30....  The Snows invited us for a quiet dinner later that day so we spent it resting.... (as you do!!) A quiet dinner indeed!! Jan cooked up a storm - roast turkey, chicken and vegies.... we were told "maybe we'll get some fish and chips" - fish and chips indeed - a truly wonderful meal, and it was enjoyed by all thos present - thank you Jan.

14/1 to 16/1.. We're off to Tamworth.

Melbourne Victoria, Australia

Eden is a very lovely seaside town with some quite spectacular scenery. The atmosphere of the town just makes you want to relax and take your time - no matter what you're doing. This we did for 5 days - walked, talked and generally had a very nice time.

We relaxed a treat in Eden but all good things must come to an end and so, packed our bags and headed home for Christmas - home being Melbourne.

To every one who has been following our adventures around just a small part of Australia we extend to you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I sincerely hope 2010 can be a year of peace and harmony in a world torn apart by the nonsense of war and hyprocisy!

We will be back travelling again early next year - from 6/01/2010 and will start up the blog then.

See you then, Steve & Rob 

Katoomba, Australia

Mind numbing, spectacular, unbelievable, superb.... these adjectives are all applicable to the valleys and mountains surrounding Katoomba in the Blue Mountains! Photos just can't do the area justice - you just have to go! Anyhow, we stayed at the Katoomba Falls Caravan Park - just across the road (practically) from Scenic World. Walking across to Scenic World we purchased a "Silver Pass" allowing us to ride on the Scenic Skyway, the Scenic Railway, the Scenic Cableway and the Scenic Walkway, once each. So, ticket in hand we went across the valley 230 metres up past Katoomba falls on the Scenic skyway with the glass floor! We walked around the cliff top to the Three Sisters lookout and then came the "walk" down the Giants stairway to Federal Pass trail and back to our ride up the mountain (on the Scenic Cableway) and back to Scenic World. The Giants Stairway goes past the Three Sisters where you can go out on a bridge to the "first" sister, then you head on down on 900+ steps that are either cut into the side of the cliff, or metal stairs have been installed! The steps in parts are near vertical, we were grateful that we were going down and not climbing! The Federal Pass trail follows around the base of the Three Sisters and you can see them from a number of different angles, along with other spectacular views.  After the oblibatory visit to the Tourist Gift shop, we caught the Scenic Railway down the cliff to walk around the boardwalks through the forest. The train was used originally to haul coal up from the valley in the 1890's but when the mine was closed it fell into disrepair until its rediscovery by the developers of Scenic World! It is near vertical, on an incline of 52 degrees and gives you quite a thrill as you travel down! Once down the bottom we walked past the remnants of the mine through beautiful temperate rain forest. We walked the entire 2.5 Km of boardwalks, saw 2 male and 2 female Lyrebirds. One of the males was "doing his thing" - singing and calling out while scratching out the forest floor. It's quite something to see these birds as they are usually so shy! Getting back to the Caravan Park meant climbing up the side of the valley - not quite as bad as the Giants Steps but still a vigorous climb nonetheless!

11/12, Out to the Zig Zag Railway today - Zig Zag, you ask? Well, I'll tell you..... 

The Zig Zag Railway was built between 1866 and 1869, and acclaimed a major engineering feat of its time. It was constructed to enable produce to be taken to Sydney from the prosperous farming areas beyond the Blue Mountains and to develop the coal and

 iron ore deposits found in the Lithgow Valley. The Zig Zag consists of a series of sloping tracks forming the letter "Z" with reversing stations at Top and Bottom Points. The Top part of the 'Z' is Top Road, the middle part is Middle Road. Bottom Road is now only a  short section leading to the Depot; the rest remains part of NSW State Rail network. The track passes over three magnificent sandstone viaducts, through two tunnels. There are striking views over the surrounding countryside. Our trip on the train (a Rail Motor from Queensland Rail) was with a fantastic host/conductor who, while having a passion trains was able to bring the journey to life with anecdotes about different parts of our journey down the mountain! It was a worthwhile journey, taking about 1.5 hours and we were back in time for lunch...

We then headed over to Jenolan Caves - about 45 minutes away. The road in is very narrow in parts, and then you come into Jenolan and drive through the magnificant "cave" entrance to the centre. The road goes through the hill and you come into the next valley where Jenolan house sits. Parking the car we walked down to the visitor centre and had some lunch while we decided on our next move. There are many caves and tours leave on a regular basis, we opted to go to the Temple of Baal. The tour takes about 1.5 hours and is very rewarding. Again, this is just something you have to see for yourself. One part of our journey took us into almost complete darkness and whilst watching the flickering lights on water in the cave, we listened to music that made the whole cave quite etheral!

12/12, We needed petrol so headed over to Leura (the twin town to Katoomba), the nearest petrol station. This turned out to be a real gem! There were caraollers on the street, the decorations were up and the whole village was full of Christmas cheer! The village itself (like the rest of the area) sits on a steep redge but does have many shops and cafes that are all worth a visit (I'm sure). We walked down to Leuralla - the former home of the Evatt family. They still visit, but mostly spend their time in Sydney. The house itself is quite magnificent and houses a huge collection of toys, dolls and memoribilia. They have seemingly collected everything they could lay their hands on! There are hundreds of Barbies, Noddy dolls, Popeye dolls, dioramas and many many models of trains. There is even a station in the garden containing a ticket office and another model railway in working order. The gardens themselves are well worth a look, they also contains seats from just about every station on the Sydney network! A very interesting tour and well worth the visit. 

After dinner, we thought we'd try and see the floodlighting in the mountains - unfortunately poorly maintained and many of the lights just not working! Very disappointing indeed.  

Set off early in the morning bound for Eden via Cooma. Stayed the night in a free camp site - comfortable, about 20K north of Cooma, beside a river. Next morning into Cooma for a quick look around. The Snowy Hydro Visitor Centre proved to be very interesting with lots on visual displays and a lot of information on the development of the whole Snowy Mountains Scheme! For those interested, Cooma is an RV friendly town with plenty of parking opportunitiesand easy access to all facilities!  After a bit of shopping we went to the park for a coffee and found the mosaics depicting the town, district and history - and excellent display and well worth a stop. There are many historical buildings to visit in Cooma - a town with many surprises.

We set out at lunchtime for Eden - over the mountains!! This proved to be a "different" experience - we got caught in very thick fog as we crossed over the Great Dividing Range - pretty interesting since it is mid-December and everywhere else is fairly warm!! We had some lunch and then headed down to Eden - arriving about 4:00pm. We're staying at the garden of Eden Caravan Park - very clean and lovely gardens everywhere! We've taken it pretty easy here - minor maintenance on the van and a bit of relaxation..... it's rather nice to relax!!!

Newcastle, Australia

We've left Canberra and started our route back towards Dubbo for the new fridge! We stayed at Grong Grong for the night - a great place for anyone interested in free camping! They have a small park available for travellers that has some very clean toilets, a barbecue area and a power point to plug in to! Very nice people and a great overnight spot! We then went on to Cootamundra - Bradman's birthplace. They have a museum(?) of dubious value at the site of the birthing centre where Sir Don was born - I think he was there for a total of 24 hours!  Then a drive back towards Dubbo to drop off the van - the fridge is in!!

30/11 - Van dropped off and we head off to Wellingon, south of Dubbo and famous for its Botanic Gardens and caves. The gardens are good, mainly for the roofed in fern gully - a very clever idea that simulates the valley of a temperate rain forest - ferns and many other plants surviving in what is a very dry and harsh environment! We then went out Wellington Caves (the Phosphate caves in particular) which were worked from 1912-1916. It seems tha it was a scam to get money from suckers - the world doesn't change a lot does it? Ok, back to Dubbo to get the van and our new fridge! Set off towards Newcastle straight away - bit tired of sand, dust and dry country! Stayed at Dunedoo for the night - interesting and obviously a favourite stopover with the truckies! - we couldn't see it somehow!

2/12 -  Newcastle, we're staying in the Stockton caravan Park, north of the Newcastle CBD but, on the other side of the river. It's a great spot, a suburb that has that holiday feel about it but still part of the city. The park is really nice and the facilities are second to none! We'll stay for a while and do needed maintenance!

4/12 - Into the city for a tour of the city and see the sights. We combined 2 walks - Architecural and Heritage walks (as they really cover most of the same ground) and headed out to capture Newcastle! There are many buildings in the centre of Newcas- they tle that should (and I'm sure do) have great historical significance that are in a sad state of repair! I'm not sure of the status of the buildings but, it would appear that very little is being done to protect a very important part of Australia's history! Our walk....    We covered the early parts of the city tracing the 200 year history. The trail leads us past the old Customs House, the convict lumber yard (now a garden), the old power station and up past Fort Scratchley and the Hospital. The buildings are great examples of a wealthier time but are in a sad state of repair - something that is being addressed slowly!

5/12 - Had to happen, a trip out to the Hunter, has to be done so you can say that all is well!!! Anyhow, we picked the wrong day didn't we? We found out on the way that Fleetwood Mac were playing at Hope Estate that night but too late for us! So, we pressed on into the fray and tried our damdest taste some wine! The Hunter Valley Garden Village proved to be a great spot for lunch, overlooking the manicured gardens whilst we settled into a very enjoyable "ploughman's lunch" - good value but, did need a bit more meat! After some wine tasting we headed home past the kilometres of cars heading the other way to Fleetwood Mac! I have to mention the Fishermans Co-op - best seafood we have tasted in a long time - go there if you can!!

6/12 - Pack-up and a drive up to Port Stephens to-day! We decided on the One Mile Beach Caravan Park - sounded like a good spot. It really has to be one of God's little acres! The whole area is just fantastic - seems that everyone in NSW knows it too! Anyhow, we just found it to be a great spot - you have Anna Bay, Nelson Bay - Port Stephens is a series of towns linked by a common name - ya just gotta see it! Our early morning walk took us from the park to Anna Bay (45 mins.) - the highlight being the abundance of wildlife and the ever changing flora that you can see - such a change from what we've been used to.

8/12 - Beautiful day today - we're off to sail, watch dolphins and snorkel! Sounds great and it was! We set out at about 1:00pm with Imagine Cruises on their catamaran to enjoy the afternoon. We went out through the "heads" and over to their "private" bay for snorkeling - turned out to be a great spot that was abundant in sea life and great snorkeling - even though a bit cool! We did see a couple of Wobby Gongs (Port Jackson Sharks 6-8ft long). On the way back we encountered a pod of dolphins "herding" dinner into a rocky outcrop - they herd a school of fish into the shore and then take turns feasting - nature at its best! The boat by this time was under sail and cruising toward Nelson Bay - a great way to finish the day. Fish & Chips for tea!!!

It's just the best place to visit - can't rate it highly enough! I imagine it's the pits at the height of the season though!    

Canberra, Australia

Packed up early (well not bad for us!) and set out for Canberra. We arrived at about 12:30pm and found a sote at the Canberra Motor Village - catering mainly to school groups but, reasonable. Booked the car in for a service and then mooched around home! The next morning promised to be a rather exciting one .... It was the day that the Environment Bill was to be dabated in parliament so what do you do? You go and have a squizz... We parked just down from Parliament House and walked up the hill and went first to the Senate - all was VERY quiet so, went for a walk while we waited for the tour of the House to start ( we couldn't get in to the House of Reps. until 2:00pm). The tour was OK(?) but, vague to the point of why are we here? You are told to meet at the top of the Queens stairs so, being good voters we all trooped up the stairs and waited - trying to interpret the 3 signs going in different directions for The Tour! But, the guide did turn up before too many people had wandered off to the press gallery. The tour was interesting enough - the previous PM portraits, the Great Hall and instructions on how to get to the roof! Tour over, we went back to the House of Reps for what we hoped was going to be a lively Question Time - Naah... pretty ordinary, with both sides trying to outdo the other and very little being achieved! Very disappointing so, we went for a walk down by Lake Burley Griffin - turned out to be quite interesting. There is the Captain Cook Memorial, The Canadian Flagpole, The RG Menzies Walk, Blundells Cottage and much more - takes about 1 hour to do the loop but really good value, and free!.

Lazy wakeup and a walk through the park behind the caravan park - the maps supplied to us were VERY poor so it was a matter of finding our way by landmarks, which are pretty thin on the ground around there! We the set out for Tidbinbilla -  NASA's Deep Space Exploration Station - about 20 minutes out of Canberra. We went to the Visitor Centre and found it to be quite fascinating. During our time there we were fortunate enough to meet Glen Nagle ( NASA Education & Outreach Manager for the Base) - he seemed to be just itching to talk to someone. He turned out to be a fascinating person to talk to - gave us a lot of detail about what was actually happening at the base - Did you know? - they are still in touch (daily) with the Voyager 1 & 2 spacecrafts! These are still gathering data after 32 years - 23 years after they were expeted to die! They are travelling @ 1.4 million Km per day through space and are expected to reach the next star in 230,000 years time! Glen was a mine of facts and figures - he was called away to a meeting but it made our visit to the Centre so much more interesting. The dish by the way is 70m in diameter, bigger than parkes and they are deep space so things like the shuttle don't even come into the equation. The centre runs 24/7 and time apparently is really hard to get!! We left the space centre and went back in time to Lanyon Homestead - they have a small restaurant there that has delicious (bit expensive) meals. The homestead was originally built in the 1830's and has been restored to the Victorian era very well with a lot of relevant detail. It is certainly worth a visit.

Where the Money is! We went out to the Mint which turned out to be a very interesting visit! The history of  coinage and currency is presented in a very informative and enthusiatic way - we even got to see Titan ( the robotic arm) strutting his stuff, delivering the blanks of coins to the presses! A good place to visit. 

27/11 - Car service so  no car - must tackle the local bus service - we decided to head over to the War Memorial, "piece of cake" in the end, once we found some who explained the system to us! The Memorial is really a "must see" when in Canberra. There are tours leaving regularly from the entrance but we decided to to our own thing - either way I think you can get what you want from the whole experience. The light and sound shows are certainly to feature of the visit. The story of G for George - a Lancaster bomber flown by Aussies - was a particularly moving story (for me at least) highlighting the futility of any war! We were particularly lucky to see the last flight of the "Caribou" as it was its last flight before being decommissioned and handed over to the Museum for display.  Built in Australia, the plane saw great service over the years in many war zones - a true favorite with many in the crowd.  As I was nearly a part of the Vietnam conflict (missed by a day!), this display almost takes your breath away - another must see part of the museum. Some of the displays in the Museum are heart wrenching to say the very least, and it does make me proud to be an Australian - it doesn't glorify war, it makes you think and wonder why!

Cockington Green - the miniature "city" on the outskirts of Canberra - the details is amazing. We headed here after the War Memorial - a bit lighter! The detail is fantastic and trees a shrubs seem to be matched to the situation. The international section is also very good and obviously sponsored by the various embassies - a great idea, you get a miniature insight into the various

cultures.

Last day in Canberra so what to do? I know, a visit to the NGA (National Gallery), why not? I must have a bias here but I admit to preferring the National Gallery of Victoria - seems a bit classier!! Anyhow, got see Blue Poles after all these years and the controversy. (can't see what the fuss was about!). There is an interesting collection of early colonial painting of Hobart, Melbourne and Adelaide. They did have a display of about 20 Sidney Nolan paintings, moved from Lanyon homestead - something about lack of temperature control! After the gallery we headed back to the car and went via the "old" Parliament House - a fascinating journey back in time! It's now a history museum of democracy - if only the walls could talk! We didn't have a lot of time so it was a bit of a "trot" aound the "house" - it's a real rabbit warren! Offices and corridors, side rooms, the PM office - all very interesting and great to see  - both houses are still as they were when parliament moved to the "permanent" home. Well worth the visit.                 

Cowra, Australia

The fridge looks like being a real problem so, early visit to dealer and decision time! While we pondered our problem, we headed out

to Dundallimal Homestead, about 5K out from Dubbo. The original home was a bark slab home, built in 1842. It was later transformed into a "home fit for a gentleman" by John Maughan - lovely cool verandahs and rooms. Many features from British Raj designs - wide verandahs, large rooms, louvres on the windows and plwnty of plantings, very comfortable!! Well, the fridge is stuffed and needs to be replaced! It'll be in from Brisbane in about 2 weeks! Having made our decision we headed off to the Old Dubbo Gaol (correct spelling....), built in the 1890's it didn't hold very many prisoners at any one time but did get as high as 60. It was and interesting visit but I feel a little overpriced for what you get!

OK, Dubbo Western Plains Zoo is a huge draw card to Dubbo, and run by Taronga Zoo. We bought a 2 day pass - great value "if" you use it. It does allow multiple access visits - so you can go home for lunch and go back again! We did

however, find that signage for people on foot was quite poor (us!!) - it's mostly directed at those who drive around. A feature of the park is the early morning walk - run by volunteers, you see the animals still in their sleeping quarters and can get up "real close" - well worth the trip @ 0630 in the morning! We headed back for a swim - it was just too hot!

Next morning, back to the zoo for my early Christmas present - a Sumatran Tiger encounter. It's and opportunity to feed the tigers - not so much scary as a huge adrenalin rush as the tigers approach to take their food. A truly great experience - and I had it all to myself... Go Tigers!! We saw some other feeding times and back for another swim...

Off to Parkes - only staying 2 nights, don't imagine staying any more!! Very sleazy park where feel you should wear boots in the shower! Anyhow, we woke early in the morning and drove out to "The Dish" the radio telescope made famous in the movie of the same name. It's been refurbished over the years to now make it one of the most advanced in the world - they've discovered most of the pulsars that have been discovered so far! Well worth a visit. On the way back kit was a trip to the Elvis Museum on the outskirts of town - owned by the (ex) Yellow Wiggle! He has collected over the years, many of Elvis' artefacts from his rise to fame and throughtout his career. There are many genuine clothing items and paraphenalia to see. Apparently, you just can't move in the place during the annual Elvis Festival - held each year in January. The Yellow Wiggle? - he married a local girl!

18/11..20/11.. On to Orange to-day. We chose Orange as it always appears to be 6-8 degrees cooler than elsewhere - and it was still hot! It's interesting to drive through very dry and harsh country and then come across an "oasis" called Orange - green and lots of trees. 

Short drive over to Bathurst today - heaps of history (quite apart from the racing circuit at Mt. Panorama!) We arrived just in time to hear the Carillion play "Men of Harlech" - possibly out of character but, it sounded quite good! The Carillion is opposite the Court House - built in 1891, a quite magnificent building, well worth a visit! We decided to try the heritage trail and headed down to the

 station for the start - soooo hot, so the walk lasted a few short blocks, back to the car and a drive up to the bulk of the sites - we then walked around the last of the trail - this includes the Royal Hotel. There is a lot to see, luckily mostly gathered around about 2 city blocks!  We drove out Ben Chifleys house - very modest, unfortunately only open on weekends! So, the Mt. Panorama Racing Circuit - I will watch the drivers that tackle this course with newfound respect - it looks so different on TV. There are turns and steep climbs that just don't show up on TV. Driving on the course you get to understand just how good these guys are - they do it 150KPH+ - we did it @ 60!!! On the way home we visited Bathurst Gaol - there is a lions head above the gate holding a large key in its mouth. Rumour has it that, should the lion drop the key all prisoners must be freed - hope not!

OK, on to Cowra. We headed for the council run park on the Lachlan River. My compliments to the way the park is run - welcomed and

shown to our site by the manager. The amenities were sparkling clean and the overall atmosphere one of friendliness! We were fortunate to find out about Ilanda (The Castle) - a homestead that is not open very often but was open for a tour that afternoon.. So, we hightailed out past Greenthorpe and to the Castle "in the middle of nowhere"! It is a 57 room house having 3 levels and includes 10 bedrooms (when you include servants rooms!), boasting 23 servants at its height! The property was first developed in the 1880's and they lived very nicely thank-you! Well worth the visit. 

The following morning we headed out to the Japanese garden. Built in the traditional style following natural lines and including much of teh local landscape. It is an excellent display and if you take the audio tour the explanations are very informative and you get a clearer meaning of the entire garden. Don't forget to buy some "Fish food" - the see you coming and will be waiting for you to feed them - the ducks also fight for the food as well - all a bit of fun! We went out to the site of the original Cowra POW Camp where, in 1944 1104 Japanese prisoners attempted to escape. 231 died in the attempt but 330 did escape - they were all recaptured. It's interesting to note that most of them were incredibly surprised at the good treatment they recieved - even after trying to escape. There is also a very good "holographic" display at the Visitor Centre - well worth it. 

Narrandera, Australia

Got away early....before 9:00am!!!! Decided to drive via the Murray Valley Hwy and through Kerang and Cohuna - not a good move as it happens!!! There was a road bike race on (Port to Port) and they wonder why we hate 'em!! Three abreast, idling along having a nice chat and a support vehicle right up their backsides - it took us until half way to Cohuna to "lose" them!!! Anyhow, we went this way to see Gunbower Island (the largest inland island) - not worth it really, not a lot to see, we did however, go out to Teal Point, near Kerang in the hope of seeing Mum's old house - think we found it.... Now, back to Barham, just in time, the bikers were bearing down on us!!!  Heading across the flattest country I've seen in a very long time, lots of wheat and very few turns in the road, it was off to Narrandera. We stopped for lunch in Deniliquin and bought some takeaway at the Old Dublin Cafe - lovely people and the food superb - highly recommended. Arrived in Narrandera about 5:30pm and found the park - Lake Talbot, no-one told me it was on a cliff!!

It's Monday morning and we've gone to the Info Centre to see the Big Guitar. Alongside the Centre is the Tiger Moth display, built to commemorate all the pilots that trained here during the war. It's quite interesting and lots of photos of crashes - not sure whether the

 training was at fault or the pilots but, they sure made some curious landings! Armed with all the local "sights not to be missed" list we headed out on the road towards Leeton - we're saving the excitement of Narrandera for later.... Got to Leeton and picked up more local information from their Info. Centre and went to the Sun Rice display centre. Leeton is the home of rice growing in Australia. They have had very poor crops over the last few years due to the drought, so Sun Rice have headed overseas to grow rice - they are still able to maintain contracts this way. Next stop, Fivebough Wetlands for some birdwatching - no birds and big warnings about snakes was enough for us - we didn't last long!!  So, back to Narrandera, a chook, some salads, sun setting and a picnic tea by the Murrumbidgee - doesn't get any better !

10/11 - Griffith today - about 45 minutes from Narrandera. Didn't see any mafia or machine guns anywhere! Really nice looking town! We had lunch up at one of the lookouts overlooking the town - fruit trees and vines stretching for miles. There was a tour we heard about at the Catania Fruit Salad Farm - a local farming property. We got there just as the tour was starting, a very jovial lady driving an ancient Toyota 12 seat bus - so old that the aircon was a separate engine started from the front and "chugged" away during the trip. It was very entertaining - they grow a vast variety of fruit including prunes, oranges, grapefruit..... Our tour guide was reciting a "script" and would sometimes lose her way - turn to me and ask me where she was up to, and then carry on on from the sentence before she lost her way - I had to pay attention all the way!!! The samples at the end of the tour are worth trying - her husband (Joe) came into the house and in the "typical" Italian way made sure that everyone had tried the wine, the mustards, relishes and anything else they had on offer - great fun!! 

We left there and went up to the Hermits Cave above the town. Built by Valerio Richett, a jilted miner from Broken Hill, he developed a series of caves, gardens (including water cisterns) and even a chapel in the hills above Griffith - well worth a visit, even in their dilapidated state. Back to the excitement of Narrandera!

11/11 - Problems the with the fridge so it's a drive to the nearest service centre - Dubbo! Not much time to see anything along the road through Parkes and Forbes - we will come back along this way once we have the fridge sorted. 

Mildura, Australia

3/11 - It's hot, damn hot.....!!! Cup Day and we're in NSW!! The Park management turned on a barbeque lunch for all residents today - a lovely shady spot overlooking the river. There was a singer (complete with his own "recorded" ensemble), and a version of fashions in the field - best hat, best tie..... all good fun and a very relaxing day for all.

4/11-7/11 - Waiting for Rob's new glasses so we took the opportunity to go out to the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park, about 55Km from Mildura. It's fascinating country with an ever changing landscape - you can be walking along the track in a very fine red dust and then come out onto a dry wetland with pure white sand. We did see some "big reds" that bounded away very rapidly as soon as they saw us! Back to Mildura, picked up the glasses and headed for Swan Hill and Riverside Caravan Park right beside the river - a really lovely spot with lots of trees - and sprinklers on all the time!!!! Having come from a very dry Melbourne, this comes as quite a shock...

The next morning, we walked the Nyah State Forest near Swan Hill beside the Murray. It's a beautiful example of River Red gums under great stress - lots of dead and dying trees just from lack of water - or so it seemed to me! There's lots of wildlife to observe along the path so it made for a great walk. Back to Swan Hill and a photo opportunity - the BIG Murray Cod! (They just get better!) 

Being in Swan Hill you just have to do the touristy things (don't you?) - well we did. Off to the Pioneer Village and a liesurely trip on the PS Pyap - a paddle steamer that traded on the Murray during the 1890's. The trip takes about an hour and goes upstream to the Murray Downs Station - a very nice property! And then after dark we just had to go on the light and sound show at the Pioneer Village. It's a fun ride on a tractor dawn "train" with a running commentary of life in the town during the early days, while the building you are passing lights up to highlight the commentary. An interesting hour.

Bit of touring around on Saturday - out to Tooleybuc (cos it's there!), a nice small town that's nestled on the river about 40K from Swan Hill. Tried to go back via the Speeway punt but the GPS wouldn't take us that way - gave up trying and went back via Nyah! In the afternoon we went down to a very empty and dry Lake Boga and the Catalina Museum. Lake Boga was used during the war as a repair base for the Catalina (and many others) flying boats. Lake Boga was ideal as they could land from any direction in any weather! It was quite interesting to see just how big the base was. Lake Boga also boasts an observatory run by an amateur astromoner. He gave a short presentation first - just getting us used to the massive size that is SPACE! Then out to the telescopes, they are computer controlled and you can have a good view of various planets/Nebulae. We observed a crystal clear Jupiter and moons as well as the Magellan Nebula - in full colour. A fascinating night!  

Mildura, Australia

It's hot!....damn hot! and here we are in Mildura loving it all!!! (40 deg today)!

Since the last entry we've been moving fairly slowly - what timetable?? Another day in Dimboola so we went over to Birchip - wouldn't you know it, the Birchip Bakery is the 2009 winner for the best vanilla slice! Just had to try, didn't we? It was (only 1) of course fantastic, there must be incredible competition between the bakeries to win the award - we also tried Waak's Bakery in Horsham - winner in 2008! It's hard work but the results are worth it!!! We waddled over to Toy's Chinese Garden Restaurant in Horsham to see the development of the Great Wall of Horsham - a work in progress but worth a look, I'm sure it will become a Mecca for tourists one day - see the Great Wall before you die!

OK, we left Dimboola and drove up to Mildura via Ouyen and Waracknabeal. It's vey different country to that we experienced down South - very flat and lots of wheat! We stopped in Ouyen for some lunch and discovered the "Big Mallee Stump" - a huge and wonderful piece of firewood dicovered by road builders. It's quite spectacular for a single mallee root. We again headed north toward Mildura and arrived in Red Cliffs to confront "Big Lizzie" - confront is appropriate here as Big Lizzie is enormous and hard to describe. Seems she was build in Melbourne in the   early 1900's and driven (@1mph) to Mildura to help clear land and cart goods around the countryside! After Lizzie we moved on to Mildura and across the border to the Buronga Riverside Caravan Park - we've left the state! It's a lovely park right on the river - we watch the paddle boats trail past all day long!

It's been vary warm since arriving here so we've tried to fit in as much as we can in the cooler times. Walking each day over the Chaffey Bridge into Mildura we get to see the sights at their best times. However, we went out to Wentworth to "see the sights" and found Orange World on the way - yes they have a Big Orange!!! (how kitch!!) side from that they have to sweetest and most enjoyable navel oranges I've had in a long time - well worth the visit! The tree shown is out at the Perry Sand Hills that are drifting on the wind - the tree, is buried by up to 5 metres of sand! The branches are seemingly quite comfortable just growing off the trunk and through the sand! We were actually standing "up in the branches".... Back to the Wentworth Gaol - a very harsh life had by all! We headed back along the river through Wentworth and Dareton and to the Inland Botanic Gardens that are just out of Buronga. There are a number of sections and very spread out - seems to be a large work in progress, although there are some fascinating flora to see.

It's the 27th and we are booked on a trip out to Mungo National Park with Willandra Lakes. Were picked up at 0830 for the drive out, during which we passed the most amazing country - wheat farms that are 1000's of hectares in size with the wheat growing right up to the roads edge. Thne road, by the way is bitumen for 22km out of Buronga and from there it is a pretty ordinary (graded recently supposedly) dirt road for the next 80+ km... We drove through a very large dry lake bed and then on to Lake Mungo, past the 4 star hotel (why?) and to the lookout over Lake Mungo - incredibly dry and uninviting country.

After a brief tour to the informatione centre we went across the lake bed to the Walls of China - the original beach of the lake where Mungo man/woman were found. We weren't allowed to the sites as they are now on private land. Mind you, it has been preven that no existing indigenous Australian is related to Mungo man (by DNA) - so no work or research is being carried out on the sites. Pity. These sites have been dated at 60K years old - the oldest human habitation on earth! Travelling across the lake bed we visited the Walls of China - the original beach of Lake Mungo - pure white sand dunes that are shifting and as they move new treasures are uncovered! We saw the remains of a giant wombats burrow, complete with skeleton and the "trail" of their burrow. They died out when the lakes dried up about 20K years ago.  We moved back to the Information Centre for lunch followed by a tour of the Mungo Shearing shed - built by chinese labourers in the 1860's! It's still in great condition considering that most of the fittings were made on site by hand! The shearing stations over the years shrank from 52 down to 4 - sign of the times?

It's been very warm over the last few days so not a lot has been accomplished! We had dinner at the Mildura Brewery (have to try the brews!) and enjoyed the jazz festival that's on at the moment in Mildura. It's been a great stay in in Mildura but time to move on! We will however be taking some of those oranges with us......

Halls Gap, Australia

12-13/10 - After leaving Hamilton we made the short hop over to Halls Gap in the Grampians. Checked into the Caravan park (Takaru - more on that later) and then off to town to check it out. It's just a fantastic spot as you drive into town with the mountains on either side - even in the rain. We headed over to Stawell to do some shopping as Halls Gap didn't offer much in the way of supermarkets - only a short drive of about 25K. What can I say about Stawell? Not much, except that they run the Gift there - it's an old mining town that has suffered over the years economically.

14/10 - Best day since arriving in Hall Gap - the rain has decided to stay away for a while! So, we needed to get some walks done! The first destination was out on Mt. Victory Rd. to the Wonderland Car Park - this you can walk if you want to from Halls Gap but we opted for the drive. First, we hiked up to Turret Falls (about 2.5K return) which was damp but quite lovely - lots of wildflowers and birdlife. The falls were small but a fair volume of water was going over - you can encounter a waterfall on a regular basis along the track - so much rain creates new creeks! We went back to the car park and then on to Splitters Falls in the opposite direction - very steep climb in places but, the falls were not as impressive as Turret. OK, the hightlight of the day is the walk up to the Pinnacle via the Grand Canyon and Silent Street - a spectacular walk in some very rugged country. The Grand Canyon has vertical walls on either side and a small stream flowing down the centre - it's a hard walk but well worth it!!You come out of the canyon and then continue the climb up to the Pinnacle - something everyone should do! What a view at the top, you can see the whole laid out in front of you, and nothing between you and a 720 metre drop!

15/10 - Late start! However, we set off for Ararat to have a tour of J ward at the old Jail - an asylum set up for the criminally insane. The jail was first built in 1861 as a jail and then converted to an asylum in the 1880's - it closed in 1991 along with the other asylum in the town - Aradale. A very unfriendly place that housed many "nutters" over the years - murderers etc. The tour takes about an hour (we ran overtime - our guide was fond of telling stories) but it is quite interesting. We found that Ararat has a fair bit to offer so decided to come back, however after J Ward we headed over to McKenzie Falls that reach a height of about 25 metres. There's two tracks - one to the base and the other to see the falls from above on the other side of the valley - so we split up, me to the base and Rob up top! It's a very steep walk when you get down to the lower levels but it gives you a great aspect of the falls. It was getting dark by now so we headed back to the van - through rain and hail....

Takaru Caravan Park - on the side of a hill with the Grampians overshadowing the whole site on either side and the Bellfield Reservoir at one end - so pretty uch closed in. It is in a great spot and has abundant wildlife that just wanders through. We were feeding rosellas and cockatoos by hand - they would land on our arms and head! There were also kangaroos (about 50-60)  and wild deer that would come through to graze. A great site - fairly cold though! 

16-18/10 - Through Halls Gap and onward to Ararat. Found the Acacia Caravan Park - right next to the Melbourne Adelaide rail line - they come through at odd times, including 3:00 in the morning! The Gum San chinese museum was the first place on the list to visit - Ararat was the only town in Australia developed by chinese ( I didn't know that either!) - The museum has an excellent display of the developemnt of Ararat through chinese eyes. 700 chinese arrived in Robe (SA) and walked into Victoria heading for the Ballarat gold fields - but found gold on the way! A very interesting and enjoyable display. The Golden Gateway Festival has just started and there are lots of activities including the embroidery and quilt show - not be missed. (It wasn't that bad really....). We visited the Green Hill Mine - a small gold mine dug into the side of a (clay)  hill for 210 feet and very narrow - they got a little bit of gold but the seam died away and they gave up in the 1920's. Charged $5.00 - gold coin donation would have been more appropriate! Another highlight would have to "Quickshear" - dominated by Maoris, not much shearing, plenty of drinking - we didn't stay long! We did however go out to Seppelts at Great Western. A tour through their underground storage area is not to be missed! The tour takes about an hour and goes through all the tunnels - they can hold thousands bottles at a constant temperature of 15 degrees. And then back for a tasting! The tunnels are being converted to a museum - the storage of the wine is just too labour intensive!

The next day we walked up to the One Tree Hill lookout - pretty strenuous but well worth it! You have the Grampians - from Mt. Abrupt/Sturgeon right up to Mt. Zero and Halls Gap, and on the other side there's Ararat below! Do the walk! The afternoon was

 spent at the Railway Museum - only open twice a week and run by some old railway enthusiasts. They have bought, shifted and restored an old signal box, right next to their museum at the station. We were fortunate enough to get one of the "old timers" to show us around the signal box and show how it all worked - we had the bells going upline and down - all quite fascinating fun. 

19-21/10 - Onward to Dimboola via Horsham - weather improving!! Incredibly flat country. Dadswells Bridge, a place not to be missed along the Western Hwy.! It's the home of the BIG KOALA - very kitch, very ugly but on the list of big things to visit. Have a look at the Koala, take some photos but don't have the coffee! Escaping, we head on to Dimboola and the Riverside Caravan Park - nice name but, we had a few problems finding sites that had water with an accompanying power outlet! After some searching we parked diagonally across two sites so we could have power and water!! It is only a short walk into town so we bought some supplies for a picnic tea out at Pomponderoo lookout to watch the sunset. Bottle of red and a chicken salad.... doesn't get any better!! We have had some lovely walks into the Little Desert (our main reason for coming here) and with thw Wimmera River now with water we've seen the rowing club actually practising! We've been able to see some emus and kangaroos in the wild. It's nor really desert but very dry country with trees and wildflowers. It's quite pretty in parts but not quite what I expected! There are a number of walks that are really quite good. 

Hamilton Victoria, Australia

4-5/10 - Walked to the Botanic gardens - they were planned by Guilfoyle in the 1850's (he was the director of Melbourne's Botanic Gardens), they have a great collection of flora that is well maintained - also a bird aviary that is full of many Australian birds. We walked back through town and discovered some lovely early settler/squatter homes - some of them on large properties and beautifully maintained. Tonight over to Dunkeld for dinner - well worth the trip - the meal was delicious. They have a set menu or (the one they won the award for) and a ala carte menu - @ $150.00 a head and 3 month wait the set menu was not for us and we settled for the ala carte - very nice indeed! 

6/10 - Up early and off to Coleraine. We went via Nigretta and Wannon falls that are quite spectacular after the recent rains. Then, on to Coleraine - the information centre is located in the old station which has been lovingly restored. The last trains ran through here in 1977. After the information centre talking to some of the locals we headed down to Glenelg Chocolates (everyone who knew we were heading that way told us we "just had to go to the chocolate place" -so once there we bought a bag of seconds and escaped! This gives you the chance to try most of the range...... worth it! We then headed over to Penola (via Casterton) for lunch. It's a lovely town and a rich history. The Mary McKillop centre is here as is Yallam Park - an early homestead. Adam Lindsay Gordon lived here for some time as well - so, a lot to see! We were told by the people at the information centre that the owner of Yallam Park showed people around the house at 2:00pm - so we "flew" out to the house. Turns out Glen Clifford (the owner) is 92+ years and a very entertaining guide - he was born in the house! The property originally covered 109 sq. miles but is only 2300 acres now, run by Glens son. One of the owners along the way - John Riddoch - built Yallam Park over 2 years in 1878. It still has all the original wall papers (52 different patterns) in fantastic condition! It is a fascinating place and Glen was a great story teller.  Back to Penola to the Mary McKillop Centre - very interesting person.

7-8/10 - Walked around Lake Hamilton early and the over to the Livestock Exchange to the sales in progress. Too late! It was all over before we got there, must've taken all of 10 minutes! So, back to the Ansett Museum - lots of memories here and lots of names in the

 visitors book that I could remember! Very interesting. Next morning we walked early and then decided to finish the drive we'd started the other day. We headed out to Mt. Gambier via Branxholme and Heywood. Mt. Gambier is really a lovely town with many early Australian buildings that are really well maintained. Next, over to Blue Lake - indeed blue it was, contrary to what we'd been told! We climbed up to the look out via the "Rook Wall", a rock wall built in one day by volunteers at a community working bee in 1900 - 200 metres long and 3-4 metres high! We drove out again via the Umpherston sinkhole - a volcanic sinkhole that is 15-20 metres deep and has a lovely garden in the bottom - I imagine it would be really cool on a hot day! We drove home via Merino, but alas no "Big Merino".....

9-12/10 - Up early to day to get the Livestock Exchange - hopefully to see some action.... We made it, it's all over in about 30 minutes (more animals today apparently) and the sales go as fast as you can walk from pen to pen! All a bit of fun... Then off to Budj Bim in

Heywood to take a tour of the land of the Gunditjmara people - the only indigenous people to establish permanent settlements in Australia! There was food aplenty for them so why move - Tom Lovett was our guide and a very passionate and interesting person making our trip to see the settlement very good indeed. He also took us out to the Lake Condah mission - or what was left of it. It was run by the Anglican church from the 1860's til the 1920's when it was closed - and literally blown up to stop any resettlement. A great trip. We went home via Mt. Eccles National park and walked around the rim of the extinct volcanoe. A good walk with a good display of how the land literally exploded! Sunday we walked over to the hamilton Art Museum - a great display with Streeton, Boyd and Bunny painting on show - well worth the visit, apparently only 10% of what they have is on show! Off to Halls Gap next, it just gets better!!   

Hamilton Victoria, Australia

25-27/9 - Left Melbourne at about midday and headed down towards Camperdown. Rained the entire way but an uneventful trip. We arrived about 5:00pm at the Lakes and Craters Caravan Park which is a very nice spot as it turns out - nestled between two peaks and overlooking Camperdown one side and the lakes on the other. The park also houses the Botanic Gardens which are quite lovely. We set out reasonably early the following morning to Timboon Distillery and cafe. Decided to work up an appetite by walking the rail trail for about 4.5K and back. Great lunch and then off to Apostle Whey Cheeses - tasting and purchases! 

 Just what we need! OK, having tried the cheese we set off to the 12 (11, 10, 9, 8) Apostles - one crumbled the day before we got there. It's still a great place to visit - the wind howling and the rain threatening - still love it though!

28-30/9 - Camperdown to Warrnambool. Rose early and walked from the main street (Manifold St, Camperdown) northe to Timboon House - a B&B about 4.5K out of town. A great walk and then back to the park and packing. Set off for Warrnambool and the Surfside Caravan Park - great system, find a site and come back after lunch and let us know where you are and how long you're staying - the system works! Set up and headed out towards Hopkins Bridge for a walk - along the foreshore promenade that follows the Lady Bay foreshore and across to Logans Beach - the whale nursery. The next morning we walked around Lady Bay in the other direction to the seawall protecting the harbour. Again the weather was pretty rugged and waves were hitting and bouncing over the wall.

30th - Went out to Hopkins falls - about 14K out of Warrnambool and lots of water at the moment with the recent rains. The falls drop about 11m and are the spawning grounds for eels - some people care about this fact! We left the falls and went back to Allansford (Cheeseworld) - cheese again, I know but it's sooo nice!!! I love to try boutique beers whenever I can (gotta try all the food groups!), so off to the Flying Horse Brewery and bar - a very nice (whale) ale but the wheat beer a bit disappointing. Rob went to the Blood Bank after lunch and we the walked out to Thunder Point - followed by mini golf, not a windmill in sight! We booked in to the light and laser show at Flagstaff Hill maritime village that night - turned out to be a spectacular show with a display of the wreck of the Loch Ard shown on a "spray" of water - confused? Well, you have to see it for yourself!!

1/10-4/10 - Up reasonably early (it's all relative) to walk over to Logan's Beach again - 2 whales lolling about in the water and not

 doing much - we're probably too late in the season. We then headed over to Hopkins River Boathouse - quite a famous landmark in the area and favourite tea rooms. After lunch walked up to Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village to see it all in daylight - a very well organized display and really well worth the visit. The museum includes the porcelin peacock rescued from the Loch Ard - packed in straw, it  floated to shore 2 weeks after the wreck, with only a small chip in the beak!! The Loch Ard was wrecked with only 2 survivors and still regarded as Australia's worst maritime disaster.  

Well, off to Hamilton next, staying at the Lake Hamilton Motor Village and Holiday Park - really clean facilities and friendly owners. Went along one of the tourist drives today over to Dunkeld - to book into the Royal Mail Hotel for dinner (more on that later), then to Glenthompson, Willaura, Yarram Park and Cavendish - a really nice drive that takes in some of southern most tip of the Grampians. We climbed Little Piccinniny - a short climb that gives a great view of

Mt. Studgeon and Mt. Abrupt - we crossed over via Mirranatwa Gap back towards Hamilton. The scenery is fantastic and so rugged.

We'll be in Hamilton for a week so there will be more news - there is so much to see in the area. Hoping to dip into South Australia and the wineries in the next few days. It's a great life isn't it?

Yarrawonga, Australia

We left Lakes Entrance in overcast weather and headed towards Orbost to have morning tea with Rob's Aunt (Joan).  On the way we received an SMS from Lee (Rob's long time friend) that her mum had passed away in Corowa. We decided to push on figuring the to turn back and head towards Corowa was probably just far as going forward! So, morning tea in Orbost and then on to Mallacoota.

Turning off at Genoa and 24K into Mallacoota and found the idyllic Foreshore Holiday Park. We drove the van in to a site facing the lakes under a shady tree - a truly fantastic spot. We had the bakery across the road and newsagent next door - not far for food and news! Discovered that we had a dodgy valve on one of the front (flat tyre gave it away!) tyres so, after getting the tyre off took it up for repair. Went for a walk along to Croajingalong National Park - very pretty walking along the waters edge. We had a couple of restful days here but had to get moving on to the funeral, but determined to return one day!

2/9 set out for Queanbyan. We followed the road up the coast to Eden and then over the mountains to Bega - fantastic views and a fairly hard drive on the van. We couldn't rally stop apart from a rest stop in Bega, then on to Queanbyan and the "interesting" Riverside Caravan Park - ordinary more than interesting!  Left early on the 3rd for the long drive down to Corowa.

We'd booked in to stay in Corowa for 4 nights so after the funeral we spent a bit of time with the family. Sunday, my Birthday and Father's Day. We decided to "do the wineries" After a walk along the Murray we set out for Rutherglen and surrounds.

 Headed for Vintara winery and brewery - both food groups! Unfortunately the brewery was closed for cleaning (they'd got a bug into the beer!), but we had a taste and a very nice lunch overlooking the distant mountains across the vineyards.  Went on to Morris's and had a very interesting talk with the young guy there. He explained the difficulties they're having with the screw top caps - they have to inject CO2 into the bottle on bottling to allow for proper 'oxygenization' - simplistic I know but it was a great discussion!! All in all a very good day.

7/9 Corowa - Yarrawonga.

Not a big drive but really lovely along the NSW side of the Murray - apart from the huge truck with two tanks (wider than the road lane) on the back trying to pass us! 8/9 Collected the mail and decided to get out and about - over to the big Strawberry @ Koonoomoo,

  Biramyne Homestead (a beautiful homestead built in 1842 by Elizabeth Hume - a widow with 9 children!). We then hightailed it across to Boorhaman to the Buffalo Brewery - he had beer! A very tasty wheat beer and others which I just had to sample.... We also visited the small clock museum in Yarrawonga which turned to be suprisingy interesting - the owner collected salt and pepper shakers as well - amazing what you can collect!  

We've spent the last couple of days just relaxing - gym, walking and soaking up the sunshine. Next leg is back to Melbourne to sign some papers and get some maintenance done - I have broken tooth that needs fixing! The blog might be go on hold for a few days while all this gets sorted out but - watch this space!  

Yes, we are back in Melbourne - don't know how long for. Robs mum is a bit crook at the moment so we are just keeping an eye on things - the blog will be on hold until we are on the move again.

Lakes Entrance, Australia

After a few false starts we have finally set off on our journey.

Thinking that we were "parked in" at Simons by someone who had parked their car directly opposite his driveway we felt stuck there until they got back to their car! We finally bit the bullet and decided to squeeze the van past him - it worked and we were on our way albeit after 3:00 pm, so travelling far was really out of the question. First stop, Pakenham almost out of the city but it was getting late so we decided to stop - the weather was lousy which also helped in the decision. 

Off to Phillip Island via the Royal Botanic Gardens at Cranbourne. These are really lovely and it was a nice break to walk among the Australian native flora! Settled in to camp at New Haven and went to the Farmers market the following day on Churchill Island - lots of samples of local produce - cheese, fruit juices, jams, chutneys  all manner of delights - really good for someone trying keep weight off!! NOT! We walked right around the island after this in an endeavour to lighten the load a bit.... It is a lovely spot with views across to Phillip Island, and as far away as Hastings. Just to make sure we'd kept to our diet we then went on to Panny's Phillip Island Chocolate factory! Again lots of samples, skinny of course! They have the life size statue of David made completely of chocolate!

From Phillip Island we headed out again towards Foster, the intention being to use it as a base to get to the Prom. The caravan parks on Wilsons Prom. don't take motorhomes the size of ours but, since we're towing the car it really wasn't a problem. We went down to the prom and saw first hand the devestation left by the bush fires earlier this year. It's quite remarkable the recovery that's going on in the bush - the trees are all sprouting again from their blackened trunks, and everything is starting to take on a look of recovery. Lots of walking tracks are still closed but there is still a lot to see.

After a very rough night (we thought we were going to take off) we set off for the Grand Ridge Road that runs from just north of Yarram across the Strzlecki Ranges to Mirboo North. Seemed like a good idea but, the route markings are quite poor and we soon lost the Grand Ridge road and headed north towards Yallourn! Anyhow during this drive we stopped at the Tarra Bulga National Park - a pristine and truly beautiful park just full of huge Mountain Ash trees (up 80 meters), a forest of huge wattles in flower, hundreds of very large tree ferns and lots of wildlife - we spotted a lyrebird in amongst the tree ferns singing quite happily and making the imitation "noises" that they are famous for. It was a lovely walk and well worth the stopover. This is where we lost the Grand Ridge Road - should have turned left instead of right! 

Next day (26/8) we set out for Morwell and Powerworks to have a look at the open cut - they dig out up to 4,000 tonnes of coal a day to power Melbourne and elsewhere - we've still only used less that 1% of all the coal that's there! No wonder they are trying to develop clean coal technology. After the tour we headed back to Mirboo North to try our luck on the Grand Ridge Road from the other end - OK until a tree across the road blocked our path.  Can't say we didn't try!

Foster - Lakes Entrance. Got here on the 27th and the weather is improving each day. Out to Mitchell River National Park. We went out to see the "Den of Nargan" which caught our imagination just by the name. Turns out to ba a large overhanging rock with a pool in front and stalactites/mites formed over the years. A very tranquil spot and one that is sacred to aboriginal women in particular. Walked back long part of the Mitchell river which, after all the rain lately is quite fast flowing.  Can't go to Lakes Entrance without going to Buchan Caves! So, yesterday we set out early and toured the Royal Cave - one of 3 that are open to the public. We enjoyed a very nice lunch at the Buchan Cafe, and walked it off on the Spring Creek walk up past the caves. Part of this goes across the dry creek bed a couple of times and makes for a very enjoyable walk.

We're up to date now and off to Eden tomorrow. Watch this space.