It rained a lot in the night, so I didn’t get my beautiful sunrise (although I did wake up in time for it). Since there was no point getting up, I laid in bed until about 7.30, and managed to get a photo from inside the swag:
Nick’s swag didn’t survive the night. He had water coming in, so was understandably annoyed.
After breakfast I decided that I needed to go home. I was tossing up between today and tomorrow, but I really needed to get back and start preparing for my next trip. So I booked a seat on the 3.20 flight, and crammed everything in my bag, except for my swag. I was already planning on leaving that for Pete to bring back, but now it made even more sense as Nick could use it tonight (his flight was already booked for tomorrow). So I got some last photos, and after some lunch at the pub across the road, we went to the airport. Still heaps of rain coming…
We had a look at Palm Cove. The weather had cleared up by then. It was a beautiful area.
But then it was time to say goodbye at Cairns airport, after an awesome couple of weeks adventure!
The flight home was uneventful – I went through all of the photos I had taken (deleting the duplicates) to pass the time. There was a big crash on the Tullamarine Freeway, so it took over an hour to get home in the Uber, which was really annoying.
It was dry when I went to bed, but the rain came at 4.30ish. Pete woke me about 5.45, saying there was a break in the rain, so I got up and packed my swag up. Nick was a bit worse for wear, so after rolling his swag up, he had a lay down on Pete’s bed. I made breakfast in the camp kitchen, and the heavy rain started. It came and went a few times. At one of the breaks we rolled up the awning, and left about 9.15.
We had noticed something on the way in, so we went back a few km to get a photo of…The Big Bikini!
And then in to town for a photo of the big Cassowary…
Then it was on our way to our final destination – Ellis beach. En route, we saw Charley’s Chocolate Shop, so decided to check it out. But we were disappointed to see it was closed.
And so we went on. We were going through a town just before 12.00, so decided to get some food. It started raining, and finding a parking spot wasn’t happening, so we ended up getting pretty wet running in to the first place, which looked pretty dodgy. So back to the car, drive a bit more, and we managed to find a cool retro diner!
We had to fill up with fuel, and then finally got to Trevor Hill’s house – an old skydiving friend (who actually was one who helped me on my instructor course all those years ago). Trevor and Tracy have a great house, with an amazing man cave, filled with a couple of boats, a caravan, and all the tools you could ever need!
We stopped off at the war museum, to lend them a hand…
And then at the supermarket for some eggs for tomorrow, and finally made it to Ellis Beach. It was a beautiful caravan park, but the spot we had was quite small, and had concrete underneath the sand at areas, so there was a lot of trouble pegging Nick’s swag in. The rain didn’t make the situation any easier, but eventually we were set up. I was looking forward to a sunrise over the ocean view in the morning!
For dinner we cut up and fried some potatoes, did vegies inside, and had the barramundi we had bought the other day. OH MY GOD! It was cooked perfectly, despite the challenge of the heat. We all thoroughly enjoyed the food, despite the dampener put on by the rain.
A few more drinks and chatting, and eventually we called it a night.
There had been a bit of rain in the night, but it wasn’t raining when we woke up at 6.30. I moved my swag out (it was mostly dry) and got some breakfast organised. People had left the free BBQ covered in food and junk, which was annoying, so I cooked a few eggs back at camp. We then got everything packed up, and left camp by 8.30.
We didn’t drive very far, before seeing Frosty Mango. So that became our first stop. I had a muffin and a mango smoothie.
Back on the road, it didn’t take us long before reaching Ingham – famous for being the original “Pub With No Beer”. It was about 10.00, but we couldn’t NOT stop in there. We had an (alcoholic) ginger beer.
Another 30 minutes, and we made it to the Hinchinbrook Lookout. So we got out and had a look around. There was a second lookout, about a 150m walk so we did that too.
We continued through the mountains, and had a little bit of rain. We got to Caldwell around 11.45, so stopped at the big crab for a crab sandwich for lunch. We had a leg stretch too, and took some photos of the beach. The tide was in, so not much beach to see.
We were back in the car about 12.15, and making tracks to South Mission Beach, for tonights accommodation. Dark rain clouds were ahead of us.
We got to the Big 4 Caravan Park, and set up. I had a shower to freshen up, and then we went for a wander along the beach to check it out.
Back at the caravan park, there was a daddy and 3 baby cassowaries wandering around!
At 4.30(ish) we were picked up by the Hop On Tours bus, to take us to Mission Beach. We had found a brewery that did pizza and even had live music on a Sunday night! So sounded perfect for us. On the way in we also found out it was their 13th birthday, so lots of celebrating would be going on!
We got a table and tried their beers. The hazy was OK – nothing special, but probably good on a hot day when you just want a beer. We ordered some pizza’s and enjoyed the music, watching the crowd grow and grow as the evening progressed.
Over the course of the evening we chatted to a number of people, including the owner for a bit (Nick bought him a beer!) It was a great evening, but at 10.00 our ride home arrived. Pete went straight to bed, but Nick and I grabbed a couple of drinks and wandered around the beach.
In the middle of the night I woke up and could smell smoke. It didn’t seem close to us, so I went back to sleep. I was warm and had to have my swag open for a while, but Nick said it was a cold night. Go figure.
I got up about 6.30 – first time before Nick! Breakfast, and pack up, and we were on the road about 8.30. It was overcast, and nice and cool. No sunscreen yet! Our first stop was just a 5 minute drive from our campground, down at the harbour:
The town of Bowen was actually used as Darwin for the movie “Australia”, which was interesting to learn. But we had a bit of distance to travel today, and are staying at a free camp, so we need to get there at a decent hour (and still do more stops, of course). So we pushed on.
It wasn’t very far out of town that Pete was feeling a bit sleepy, so we pulled over and I did some driving for him to rest. It was only about 10 minutes up the road to our first stop though…
There was a food stall there, so we bought some fruit, and also a big barramundi fillet, which we thought we could have for dinner tonight.
Another 30 minutes or so up the road, and we stopped again.
Our next stop was another 50 minutes up the road. It was a bit tricky finding this big turtle, and we needed to walk a bit, but we got him! And the big python was at the other end of the stop area.
We stopped in the town of Ayr for Pete to get some after-mosquito-bite ointment, and I got a sandwich. They filled it with lots of ham and cheese, but the bread was stale, so I only really ate the inside.
Another 15 minutes up the road was the cheapest diesel in the area, so we stopped there to fill up, even though we still had about 150km left in the tank. And then another 25 minutes it was our next stop.
Pete took over driving, as we were close to Townsville, and he was feeling refreshed. So we found a Liquorland to stock up supplies, and continued on to Tomulla Campsite.
This was a free camp, and no reserved spots, so we just had to drive around and find an area. Once we found something, we set up, and went for a wander. No swimming again, unfortunately. High chance of rain, so we set up the awnings tonight.
We cooked dinner on the free BBQ – the barra wasn’t going to be defrosted enough, so we had the last of our steaks. It started raining just after we got back, so it was perfect timing. Pete fell asleep in his chair – which he hasn’t done when we’ve been camping together for a long time! Lucky I had driven for a bit as it’s all caught up to him. Nick and I sat up having a few more drinks, and moved my swag under the awning when we went to bed.
We woke up, had breakfast, and packed up. Farewell to Barry took a while, but we left the park around 9.30, for Airlie Beach. Our first destination was a visit to Lee and Caroline, our friends from Brewworks. We had never made it up to visit them, but since we were driving past, I couldn’t miss the opportunity. They were as welcome as ever. We brought some cakes from the local supermarket, and Lee had made crumpets, so we had a lovely feast. They have banana trees, so gave us some bananas to take with us.
We jumped in to Lee’s car, and he took us for a drive through Airlie Beach – much easier than taking the caravan through! He pointed out all the pubs and restaurants that they go to.
Back at the house, Carolyn came down and we said our goodbyes, before heading towards Bowen. We wanted to get there at a decent time so the boys could have a swim. But we still had to make a stop on the way…and also a trip to the supermarket for more eggs.
We checked in to our caravan park, and set up, in time for beers in the pool at 3.00.
We had showers and a couple more drinks, before our courtesy bus came to pick us up, and take us to the pub, where we had a good dinner, and watched the Hawks beat Adelaide.
The courtesy bus took us home after the game, so we were back around 10.45. The wind from earlier had died down, and it was quite comfortable. But I went straight to bed.
We woke up, cooked breakfast in the camp kitchen (the BBQ hadn’t been cleaned by the last people to use it, so I used the frypan on their gas stove). We packed up camp and were on the road around 7.30. We weren’t frantic about it, but we just moved efficiently, to get to our next destination.
Notch Point is another place Trevor suggested we go to. We had thought about staying the night (free camp) but given there was nowhere to swim and cool off, I wasn’t keen. Apparently it is only possible to get in and out at low tide, hence us leaving early. So about 45 minutes later, we were there.
When Pete tried to turn the car around, the sand was quite soft, and he managed to get stuck. A few back-and-forths, and he was able to get it out, without any digging. We got out and walked around for a while, but it was already getting quite hot, and there was no shade. We were glad we had made the call not to stay, but also glad we made the effort to go there.
We then headed off to Sarina, and went to the Sugar Shed. We had an iced drink, but didn’t bother doing the tour, which shows how sugar cane is processed.
Since the car was in a good spot, we walked in to the centre of town, for a couple more photographs, and a spot of lunch…
Then we finally got to Mackay. Instead of bypassing, we drove through a bit of the town – just to say we’d done it. And then continued on to Seaforth, where we had managed to find a council caravan park. We found our parking spot, got set up, and then went for a swim in a netted area to protect from crocs.
Back at camp, it was beer-o-clock. One of our neighbours came over to say Hello – Barry. We got a chair out for him, and he joined us for a couple of drinks. An 82 year old man, who had just bought an $80,000 caravan, and a $60,000 car, and was travelling. He had lost everything in the black saturday fires back in 2009, his wife has dementia, so he’s just enjoying the rest of his life. He had come to the town for a week, and that was 2 weeks ago, and hadn’t been able to have a conversation with anybody at the park until now.
We cooked dinner, and then went to Barry’s site and spent the evening with him. He showed us in his van – awesome set up!
Back to early mornings for me. I got up about 6.00 and it was a perfect 17 degrees. By 7.30 there was already some sting in the sun. Breakfast (for Nick and I) was bacon and eggs (surprise, surprise). We went for a walk on the beach, did a final pack up, and were on the road by 8.45.
We didn’t go very far – just in to Yeppoon, as we had been told there is a good bakery there (by old mate from the brewery). So we all got an iced drink and cake.
We went for a walk around the town a bit, as we didn’t have much on for the day and were in no rush.
And then it was a fairly uneventful drive on to Clairvale – Barracrab Camp Ground, as recommended by Trevor Hill (from skydiving days). It was a very open caravan park, right on the beach. Because it was quite windy, we found a spot a little back from the beach. Then it was in to book our dinner, as we had to do that before 4.00. And since we were there, we enjoyed a ginger beer on the beach.
On the walk back to camp we met Tony. We had seen him backing his caravan in on our way to booking dinner, and he said it was his first time. So we thought we’d give him some stick. Well, he was quite a character – Maltese. He had picked up the van yesterday so was pretty chuffed with it. For $60K it was a pretty awesome unit.
It was still about 2.00, so I got my laptop out to do a bit of work, while passing the time.
Come 4.00 (well, I waited until 4.30 while I was working) it was time for a beer or 2. We wandered over to dinner, and had a chat to the couple next to us until their meal came. We enjoyed our steaks, and then returned to camp for a few more drinks. Nick and I went to our neighbours site as they had music playing, but they weren’t really very friendly, so he and I just sat up talking shit all night.
I had a sleep in – got out of bed about 6.45! We left St Leonards 1 week ago. Pete was doing some work, so Nick and I grabbed some food and cooked up some breakfast down at the camp kitchen. After cleaning up, we returned to camp, and casually got everything packed up. I thought we’d be late, but we still left just before 9.00.
After a bit of a drive, we got to Miriam Vale, which was a place we were thinking of staying at. It was free camping out the back of the hotel, and we thought we could get some food too. But when I called them, they warned me that it was Mad Monday so could have been a bit crazy. I was certainly glad we had stayed where we did, having the opportunity to swim. However, we did find a crab shop, so I bought a crab pie. It was an unexpected “Big Things” stop.
A bit further up the road, we found a rest area with coffee and donuts, so we bought some jam donuts and had another short break. Then it was back on the road to Gladstone.
As we pulled in to Gladstone, we filled up as it was the cheapest in the area. We drove through looking around town, and before we knew it, we had found Ward’s brewery. So we stopped in there, and had a couple of beers. I had an American IPA, and a ginger beer, which was really refreshing. They had a full time brewer, a kitchen for food, and 8 beers on tap. They were really friendly, and we had a great chat, before getting back on the road about 12.00.
Not far up the road, we got to the Auckland Street lookout, which gave us some great views of the bay in Gladstone. And then it was back on the road.
We continued on the drive to Rockhampton, and were there before we knew it. Our first site was welcoming us:
As I hadn’t been paying attention, I wasn’t quick enough to tell Pete to turn left. So we had to do a U-turn, and come back. 10 minutes down the road, it was fairly easy to find our next site:
A few photos, and then it was on to the marker indicating the tropic of capricorn, for a few more photos.
Our next stop was at Anaconda. Nick’s air mattress had been going down on him slowly over the night, so he wanted to buy a new one. He had a full double air mattress inside his swag, so it was pretty full inside! Hopefully this will work for him.
Then it was on to our camp for the night, at Kinka Beach. The site was smaller than the other places we had been, but we managed to fit in. The whole park was also a lot more crowded than other places. But we got set up, and I went in for a swim in the pool. After drying off we made our way to the cooking area to cook our steak, bacon and eggs for dinner. Another feast.
We sat up coming up with a few plans for the rest of the trip, and eventually managed to get a fairly good idea. It was certainly good to know that – trying to keep travelling distances to a minimum while still getting to our destination on time.
I woke about 6.00 again. There was a full lunar eclipse last night. At one point I looked outside and it hadn’t started, and the next time the moon had gone behind the caravan so I couldn’t see it – although it was definitely darker.
I cooked some bacon and eggs in the camp kitchen for Nick and I – really convenient with the facilities all being there! Plus boiling water for a cuppa. We pottered around while packing up camp, and hit the road a bit before 9.00 for our first destination.
We didn’t bother with a tour, but we bought a drink and a banger.
In the shop, we decided to get some Bacon and Onion Relish, thinking it would go well with our dinner.
We left the brewery – Pete had to deal with some work stuff, so had a bit of a break first. And then we found the Big Barrel.
Inside we were able to get some labels for Bundaberg Ginger Beer bottles with our own photo and caption. So we thought what the heck and did that – especially as we were able to get the stickers without a bottle, so we didn’t end up with more glass in the car. A little keep-sake.
We turned off the road to Agnes Creek and Seventeen Seventy. A brief stop at the supermarket to top up a few supplies, and then we drove to the lookout at the tip of Seventeen Seventy. We took a few photos, and made our way back to the G’day Parks Caravan Park. Pete had joined up to get us a 10% discount. As a senior he got 10% off the G’day Parks membership too!
Our campsite was at the end of the park, but the closest spot to the beach, so we were quite happy. Although it was still 800m to the beach, but that was OK. We set up our camp. The campsite had lots of trees, so plenty of shade, keeping things nice and cool, so I was happy. We wandered towards the beach, after much debating about whether to walk or take the car down (4WD only track). About 2/3 down, I turned around to ge the car, as Nick would struggle to walk back up, and I met them at the carpark. It was then another 50m to the water. Shirt off, and I was straight in for a cool off. The water wasn’t cold at all, but the boys wussed out.
We got in the car and drove back to camp, and then organised dinner. We went down to the camp kitchen and cooked steak and sausages and eggs. Nick’s on first for a few minutes, then Pete’s for a minute or so, and then mine, as I prefer it rarer. Nick had bought some steaks from his local butcher, and they were delicious! As were the sausages. We had the bacon and onion relish on it, and it was a fantastic dinner!
After eating we washed up, and sat around camp, coming up with a rough plan for the next few days, and booking our next nights campground. The night went quickly, and before I knew it, I was starting to get tired, so went to bed.
I got up about 6.00, and had a shower to freshen up. Pete was already up watching grand prix stuff. Nick and Sharon weren’t far behind, and they started cooking some eggs and bacon for breakfast. Georgia got up and gave Nick his fathers day presents, which were amusing.
After a bit of dicking around, some farewell’s, and last photos, we got on the road about 9.00. We left full of beans and laughs, as we made our way to “The Big Matilda”, about 2 hours up the road, so a good stopping time. We used the facilities, and took a few photos.
Back on the road for another 90 minutes or so, and we reached our next rest spot, with an opportunity for a photo, and also some lunch. A chicko roll and a milk shake had me recharged for the next session.
We then continued on our way to our first nights accommodation – Hervey Bay. Our caravan park was already booked, so we were able to just go in and set up at our camp site on the beach. However the tide was out a long way! We unhitched the van, set up the swags, and sat down to enjoy a beer.
Then we took a walk along the beach and enjoyed the sun. Once we were back at camp it was starting to cool down a bit. We decided we would go to the pub for dinner, and being Fathers Day, we thought it could be busy, so we went in early – about 5.30. They had just had a cancellation, so we were able to get a table – lucky we decided to go there early! I signed up as a member so we got discounted drinks and food. So after a drink we all ordered the steak, and had another drink or 2. We decided to head off, and found a cocktail lounge, so stopped in there for a drink. After an (average) XPA, Pete noticed a bottle of 43. So after a small taste he decided he wanted some. They also served us soda water. We really enjoyed the place.
On the way back to the caravan I had to stop and get a photo of a chair chained to a pole…
We met a couple of local kids as we were fooling around. “That’ll be us in 30 years”…
Then back at the caravan park we sat and chatted a bit more, before going to bed about 10.30. It was a very enjoyable start to the trip.
I had about 4 hours of good sleep, but then had trouble getting back to sleep. There was a lot of rain during the early hours of the morning, which was quite loud. I ended up getting up before 6, and everybody else was already up. Some eggs on toast for breakfast had me ready to take on the day.
We sat in the kitchen chatting, and more rain came. The goats and chooks came to say hello, as well as a couple of magpies. Eventually there was a break in the rain, so we took the opportunity to head across to the main land. Rese and Kai showed us the block – they had done quite a lot of work since I was last there! We hit the road around 8.45.
No big things to visit today – we just drove to Nick’s house, and were there by 11.30. We spent a couple of hours re-arranging things – an adjustment needed to be made to the trailor hitch, we had to put the spare wheel on the roof so the trailor could get on as a result of the adjustment….it was all done in time for us to watch Hawthorn defeat GWS (Nick and Georgia (his daughter) are mad Hawthorn supporters).
We went to dinner at the chinese restaurant nearby, and then came back to enjoy a quite drink and some sambucca, before calling it a night.
It was a lovely night. At about 4ish I pulled the blanket over me – I would have been fine without it, but since it was there I thought I may as well use it.
I woke up a bit after 6. I cooked breakfast outside which was much easier than being the hunchback of notre dame in the caravan since Pete didn’t pop the top. We pottered around, and packed everything up, leaving camp about 8.00, making our way for Joly Nose Lookout. What an adventure that was!
The track was quite rough, and steep. Luckily the brake controller on the caravan was working and holding us back a bit, especially with the downhills. Going up, the car was working hard. There were a couple of areas that we didn’t really like, but there was no turning back so we pushed on. Luckily there were a few areas that we were able to enjoy the views, for the effort.
Eventually we got to a part that we had to stop. We wouldn’t have been able to do it withOUT the caravan, much less with it. There was a clearing just before it, so we were able to reverse the caravan in to there, and be far enough off the track, that we could walk the remaining 200 metres to the top. So we walked up there, and had a look around. Unfortunately the trees were too high to see anything! Where we had left the caravan was actually the best spot. So we walked back down.
We aired down, and headed back along the track. A couple of areas were rough, but we made it, until hitting one hill that we just didn’t have the momentum for. A stop and reset, reverse back down, and then we chocked the road with rocks and sticks to help, and the grade looked a lot better. I watched as Pete gave it what he could. His front left wheel was off the ground where we had built it up, but once that helped with the power, he managed to get over. What a relief!
We continued, and whilst there were some tricky bits, we had made it through the worst of it. And eventually we were back on bitumen. We had to go about 15km, before getting to a servo and were able to air up, and inspect the caravan. The fridge was closed, but had opened, and the shelf was on the floor, along with all the drinks. We lost two good soldiers in that adventure.
Enough of playing – we were a bit behind, so back on the road, and after a stop in Kempsey for the cheapest diesel (20c cheaper – but we paid in other ways, as it was busy, and also a really tight turn to get out), we continued to South West Rocks. Our mission there was to drop Dan’s scuba diving regs off for a service, as he and I were going to be diving there in 3 weeks. It was 11.15, but I was getting hungry, so we ate the leftover salad, and some ham and cheese. Then it was back on the road.
I got some work, while we continued on our way, first to Coffs Harbour – I’ve driven past a couple of times, but never been able to stop and take a photo…
And then another 2 hours or so of driving, to our lodgings for the night…we parked the car at Rese’s block – she and Kai were already there – and then we walked up to the Broadwater hotel for a few beers. I bought a few take-aways as well, as the Two Mates West Coast IPA is a nice one. We walked back to the block, grabbed an overnight bag, and went over to the island for the night. Pete says I had undersold when I had told him about it.
Kai cooked us a meat tray of food, so we had quite a feast for dinner. We spent the night reminiscing and enjoying a few more drinks, enjoying beautiful weather – it was shorts and t-shirt all night, clear sky, close to a full moon…perfect!
It was much warmer last night. Having the extra blanket, and the thermal top helped, plus the temperature stayed above 0, so it was a great nights sleep. Apart from the ranger emptying the bins at about 1.00 in the morning! I woke up feeling quite refreshed though, even though it was 5.15!
I dosed for a bit but got out of bed around 5.45. It was starting to get light. A cup of tea, some cereal, and some bacon and eggs, had me energised for the day. Pete boiled a couple of eggs, but didn’t end up eating them. We packed up camp, and were on the road before 7.30, after a bit of a walk around the campsite to check out the local area. Definitely a place I’d like to come back to and relax at!
We drove for a couple of hours. We were both quite surprised to make it around Sydney without too much traffic. We were making fantastic time, but then came across a (fatal) crash north of Sydney.
Eventually we made it past, and on to an open road, since all 3 lanes went in to one. And we continued our journey to my first “planned” stop of the day…the big frilled neck lizard!
It was good to have a leg stretch as it was about 10.15 by now. We used the facilities, but at $55 entry, we weren’t going to give that a go! Unfortunately we arrived at the same time as the school groups, so it was hell getting in there (at least none of the little shits used the toilets so we didn’t have to wait for them – I think 4 coach-loads arrived when we did!). Eventually they cleared enough for us to get a photo. And then it was back on the road.
I looked ahead at fuel stops, and the cheapest was when we still had about 100km left in the tank. So whilst we had only been going about 40 minutes, we had another stop to fill up, and also had an early lunch at the subway – it was about 11.30, but may as well make the most of the stops we have. Pete had a few issues to deal with at home, so took the opportunity to handle them while we were stopped. I checked the air in the tyres since we hadn’t since St Leonards (all good), and we got back on the road.
After half an hour or so, we started to hit the Newcastle traffic. At one point I wanted to go to the “Fighter World” museum at RAAF Williamtown (I’ve worked there, but I thought Pete would enjoy seeing it), and wanted to take him to Fighter World. But it was a bit too much of a detour with the traffic. So we continued up the highway, and saw our first sign pointing to Brisbane.
Another hour or so of driving, and Pete was starting to get tired. So we pulled in to a rest area. Apparently the car on the left wanted to camp and had a semi-permanent set up.
I had a turn at driving to give Pete a rest – which was good, since he got a stressful phone call just as we got to the car. Different driving with a caravan on the back, but the car had plenty of power, so it was easy. About an hour up the road we went to the supermarket to get some dinner for tonight. And of course, I had to take us on a slight detour….
Then it was back on the road, heading towards Jolly Nose. It was a place I had done a bit of research on, and had an idea of where to camp, but didn’t know if the caravan would get in there. So I had to walk the track, which was a fairly steep hill, in case there wasn’t a place to turn around with the caravan. I eventually found the start of the campsite, which looked OK, but was fairly tight. But just 50 metres down it opened up to a fantastic clearing and large turning circle. And luckily I had mobile coverage, so called Pete, and he brought the car up.
I set up my swag, and we made ourselves at home. Not 15 minutes later, another car arrived, so lucky we were there first! Once we were set up I wandered down and said g’day to them – a french couple on a working holiday visa. They were on their way to Sydney, and then Bali and back home. We chatted for a bit, and then I returned to camp and we organised dinner as the sun went down.
Tonights dinner was the steak and garlic butter we had bought, with the caeser salad. How healthy are we! Oh, and an egg.
We did a proper load of dishes, so got to test a few more things in Pete’s van. I also set up the lights outside so we could enjoy sitting outside for the evening. A bit tricky, but I managed to set something up which worked.
After dinner, our neighbours brought their chairs over. I had told them to come over after dinner if they wanted to, so it was great that they did. We had a good chat and asked them all about their travels in Australia. A little possum came and joined us, which they loved.
It was a bit of a later night tonight, but good fun. A couple of cluster-8’s and a couple of cc’s made it hard to stop, but I was well disciplined, and we got to bed around 10ish.
Oh My God! That was a cold night. I think the coldest I’ve been in the swag. I wasn’t expecting it to be that bad, but normally when it’s swagging in winter, I’m within a few metres of a camp fire. So it wasn’t a good nights sleep. The rooster at 4.00 wasn’t much help. I got up not long after 6 and put warm clothes on.
I had a hot drink to get something warm in me, some cereal (which cooled me back down), and then a proper camp breakfast to follow – bacon and eggs. We had a chill morning, another cuppa, fluffed around with a few things, and waited for the ice on my swag to melt, and then for the water to dry. We hit the road a bit after 9.00 and made our way to Canberra.
Our first destination was the Jaycar. We had a bluetooth speaker yesterday for music, but the charger lead broke, so we could no longer use it. Jaycar had a $25 reduced to $10, so we got that. It was quite a maze of streets to get in there, especially with the caravan. No parking so I got out while Pete did a lap of the block.
We then continued to the National Museum of Australia, for the Mr Squiggle exhibition. Paul and Lyn had told me about this, so we added it to the itinerary. It was well worth the visit. There were some caravan parking spots which were great, as we were worried about that. We got to see some classic Mr Squiggle history. We then went to the cafe for a light lunch, before making tracks.
Our next destination was Bent Spoke brewery – because no trip to Canberra would be complete without it. I had previously heard that the Cluster-8 was recently available (August 28th) so figured they would have stock. I wasn’t filled with confidence – the guy wasn’t too sure, but he manged to find some out the back. I had a Cluster-12 and Pete had a Hazee, while we looked at the map to plan our next nights accommodation. I couldn’t find anywhere further up the road than Berrima, so I called and booked our site at the Rec Reserve.
We had a quick look for a supermarket but no such luck, so got in the car, put on “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place”, and made our way out of Canberra. Not far up the road we stopped at the scenic lookout at Lake George and used the facilities. We assessed a few places for Diesel, but the cheapest was probably about 10km too far. Since we didn’t want to risk it, we had to pay an extra 8c/litre, and filled up at the cheapest servo in Goulburn – which luckily was also close to the highway, so we didn’t have to go in to town.
Then it was back on the highway, to get to Berrima. We were still about 40km out at 4.00, so were running late for beer-o’clock. But we were taking it easy. We drove through town looking for somewhere to buy some salad. We found the general store but that closed at 4, so no luck there. Oh well – we made our way to the Berrima Rec Reserve and found our camping spot. It wasn’t very level, but we used a chock under one of the wheels of the van, and I found an area for my swag.
Once set up I went for a walk down to the river and had a look. On a summer’s day it would be a lovely spot for a swim.
We had steak, bacon and scrambled eggs for dinner, cooked on the gas stove outside. A great dinner for the night. We cleaned up, and both got some work done. The night was clear – not a cloud in site.
I took an extra blanket in to my swag which Pete had under the bed, and also had a thermal top from my bag – I wasn’t going to be cold again tonight! We had a look at the map to work out our target destination for tomorrow, and had an early night.
The day started about 5.15. I had breakfast, Pete fluffed around, final check in the car and we were ready to leave just after 6.00.
We went to a servo to top up air in the caravan tires (we had checked the car last night), and dealt with the traffic, first going through Geelong, and then from about Kororoit Creek road. The Ring Road wasn’t too bad in places, and eventually we hit the Hume.
We stopped at a rest area to get a hot drink (and maybe a doughnut was consumed too) and a toilet break. We had been going for 2.5 hours so seemed a good time for a break. Then it was back on the road to the weigh bridge to see what our load was like. This was with me outside the vehicle, so with me included we were just over the 5,000 kg.
After another 90 minutes or so we stopped for another leg stretch, and then continued on to Albury. We met up with Rob for lunch – he found a nice cafe by the river, but unfortunately it was a bit chilly for eating outside. After an hour or so, we thought we’d better make tracks and get on the road. We went to a servo to fill up as we had the fuel warning – bring on Motor Mouth to find the cheapest diesel in town! Saved us 20c/litre, for 75 litres, so definitely worth it.
Pete had never seen the submarine at Holbrook, so we got off the Hume to look at that – always time for a quick scenic stop when you’re on tour!
We continued up the Hume, turning off a bit past Gundagai, to a town called Jugiong. Paul and Lyn had told me about a reserve with free camping there, so we thought we’d check it out. Fantastic place! No power, but we didn’t need it anyway. We arrived at 3.58, so just in time for beer-o-clock! I set up my swag, and then we sat down to enjoy the sun before it set completely.
After a couple of beers (which I brought from Metro Cellar Door in Altona), and a chat to ‘ol Tony (some regular at the campground who was quite a character), the sun went down and things cooled quickly. We put on our jackets and wandered across the road to the Sir George for dinner. We couldn’t get a table in the bistro because we hadn’t booked! Seems everybody at the campground goes there. Tony had told us it was a bit pricy, and there was another place we could go, but we would have had to unhitch the caravan for that. We went in to the bar and were able to get a seat there, so ordered a beer, and some dinner (parma), and had a chat to the people next to us, who were seasoned grey nomads.
After dinner we went back to the caravan for a CC, and had a game of “Fuck” which I had brought along. That had some good laughs to finish a long, enjoyable day. We phoned Nick for a chat, and then called it a night.
