DEPARTURE FOR 2010

SUNSHINE COAST DEPARTURE
We began our preparation for departing Buderim on Thurs. 25th Feb. 2010. Firstly, it was to move our van from its muddy site back onto concrete. As there had been lots of rain we found it was impossible as we became bogged down. With a lot of help from Darren’s neighbour, Chris, throughout the afternoon, it was still impossible. So , the next day hired a crane to do the job, which left a really bad mess of the lawn area. We will organize to get it all fixed Darren, when the ground dries up. After re-organizing our storage areas and loading up we were ready for departure on Monday, 1st March as planned. Still it continued to rain.
Enjoyed our stay at the Broadwater Tourist Park, Gold Coast although it still continued to rain quite a lot. Lovely to see Jackie, Paul, Taylor & Chloe a few times during the week, as we don’t know how long it will be before seeing them all again. Keep up the good work at school Chloe. You are doing great & Taylor thank you for the keyboard musical renditions.
Thanks to Fiona, Peter, Di & Trevor for your company also during the week. Look forward to some more dancing from your band music Peter. Hopefully you can come & join us somewhere during our journey. Thurs. 4th March is grandson, Kyle’s birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE....We did call and leave a message, but we know you were on your way home from New Zealand at the time.
8th March after an early morning shower of rain we left Southport. Encountering drizzle rain & low cloud while climbing Cunningham’s Gap we decided to pull over about half way for the motor to cool. Our stopover for the night was the Gore Rest Area (795) 63klms w. of Warwick. The days travel was 263klms.
9th March Had a good run to Goondiwindi where we fuelled up then stopping at Tookeys Crk Rest Area (901) 48klms. Nth of Narrabri. Of course now we are in DST (NSW) & have lost 1 hr. today.
10th March. Travelled 144klms to Gunnedah for 1 nights stay in the Gunnedah Tourist Park only to catch up with friends Mike & Shane Brady. Really enjoyed our night with them. Time to fuel up again in Gunnedah.
11th March Windy but fine. Oxley’s Crossing (334) it was time to stop for our morning coffee break. We have it down pat now with our coffee breaks. While D’Arcy gets the generator onto the tailgate and plugged in I put out the slides (slide outs) just enough to use the espresso machine & proceed to make our coffee. This stop takes us approx. 30mins. We do the same for lunch breaks, but a little longer. Our overnight rest area was 10klms nth of Dubbo, (933) Brocklehurst. 258klms. for the day.
12th March. After a comfortable night we headed off into Dubbo where we stayed for 2 nights at the Midstate Caravan Park. First job was to do the washing and then a visit to D’Arcy’s cousin Mary Meehan who had invited us for lunch which was very nice and good to see her again. My nephew Dave McAnally and his wife Tracey, who live in Dubbo with their 5 month old daughter Andie, invited us to their house for dinner, which was lovely. Good to catch up with the rellies. Andie is just gorgeous. Sat. saw us do some shopping before Dave, Tracey & Andie came around for a visit. Dave is a pilot and does crop dusting in the surrounding districts. Learnt more about farmers crops than we knew before. Very interesting. Thankyou Dave & Tracey for your hospitality too.
14th March. Today is granddaughter Gorgi’s birthday....HAPPY BIRTHDAY GORGI...and we left Dubbo for Canowindra via Parkes, where we fuelled up and had coffee break, then Forbes and then lunch at a little cafe in Eugowra before arriving in Canowindra. Our reason for this stop was to visit a friend of many years, John Carter where we were able to park up beside his house for 2 nights. John took us to visit Tom’s Waterhole Winery, where he does a little bit of work. This is only a boutique winery run by a family, but produces some very good wines. The Canowindra area is looking lovely after having had some rain in the area. As we witnessed during our travels from up north.
16th March. It was 33klms. south to Cowra then west 55klms to Grenfell, another 68klms back to the Newell H’Way at Marsden. 37klms south to West Wyalong, then 69klms to a little place called Mirrool. This was an overnight rest area next to a lovely park with toilets and an old hotel. We decided to give ourselves a treat and have a pub meal and meet some locals. Across the road is a group of silos where every October they have a “kick the silo comp” which means someone has to kick a football over the silos, which is quite a height. (not sure how high). Met the lovely young lady, Lucy, who was the cook for the night and about to give birth to twins in 8 weeks time. Good luck Lucy. Of course there are always other travellers to talk to and hear their stories.
17th March.. St. Patrick’s Day..Made sure we had our green on today. Journey was 95klms to Narrandera then 30klms. to Leeton where we parked up beside Jan & Gary Eagles’ Motel Riverina. Great to see them both.......
To Be Continued..........

SUNSHINE COAST. 22.02.10

SUNSHINE COAST
After arriving at Buderim on the Sunshine Coast 3rd Dec. we spent 1 week then drove down to the Gold Coast. Had 5 nights at the Crown Towers Resort then 2 nights staying with friends, Fiona & Peter. Our main aim for the visit was to keep drs. appointments for checkups, which was all ok and see family and friends. Gosh, when you don’t see grandchildren for a while you certainly notice how they have grown. Good to see Jackie, Paul, Taylor & Chloe again after 8 months. They have a new home, which they hadn’t moved into when we left, and they have made it very nice and homely. Lovely to visit and enjoyed seeing them.
Back to Buderim in preparation for Xmas celebrations and arrival of family. It was good to catch up with mum, who lives down on Bribie Island and daughter Kellie & Rory from Hervey Bay. New Year saw the arrival of Gary & Jan up from Leeton. Along with some of Darren’s friends we had a great New Year’s celebration at home.
Since New Year there has been a hatching of ducklings on the lake we face. There was 6 to start with, but after only 1 day that was down to 5. I have become very fond of them and for a some time they have been coming up under the fence to be fed. As soon as they see me they waddle up. This may be a few times a day. Sadly a couple of weeks ago 1 came up on its own and I discovered that it had been attacked through the night around the neck area. It couldn’t swallow very well. It waddled off, but unfortunately it hasn’t been seen since. The swans were nesting in the lake too, but due to the heavy rains the nest was almost demolished along with the eggs. They have re-built and nesting again now. I was hoping to see the hatching of baby swans. There is also another group of ducks, 4 of them, that stick to together. 2 white ones and 2 coloured. One of the white ones has a fluffy ball on its head, which I have named Snowball and a very distinct curl on its tail. I will add photos.
Son, Darren has settled here and has a very responsible position with Dolphin Marine as Manager and doing very well. He has made many friends and really likes it here. I have enjoyed being here for him and helping out with lots of household chores and cooking for him. I am going to be very sad when we leave here next week.
D’Arcy has made good use of our stay here, (3 months) by doing maintenance on the rig and building a foldable trailer for our inflatable Zodiac as well as helping son, Michael construct a new back patio at his house in Caloundra. Have also been able to visit with his family of girls, wife, Di, daughters, ,Jaimie, Charley & Gorgi, all growing up too.
Our plan is to leave here next Monday 1st March for a week on the Gold Coast. Because we have had a lot of rain here we need for the ground to dry out or we may get bogged.

Then it is down on through western N.S.W to S.A. then up through the middle to Darwin.
Will keep you informed.........

GIN GIN-HERVEY BAY

5TH NOV. 2009

GIN GIN-HERVEY BAY (a little late for this posting)
5TH November and we were on our way again along the Dawson H’Way east via Biloela to Calliope and the Bruce H’Way south to Gin Gin. A distance of 329klms. Rest area 119 2klms nth of Gin Gin we decided to stay 2 nights. As it was a little quiet, not many travellers, we thought going over the 20hr. limit would be ok. As we were due to visit a friend in Mundubbera on the 14th, which was not far away, we decided to visit other friends, Carol & Len in Bunderberg where we stayed for 3 nights. A visit to the markets is always good in Bundy, with lots of fresh produce. As it was 6 months since our last visit it was good to catch up with Carol & Len.
10th Nov. Left Bundy headed south to Childers then west on the Burnett H’Way which saw us travel through Biggenden, Ban Ban Springs to Gayndah. (159klms) Claude Wharton Weir, 3klms north of Gayndah, (#460) beside a lake where we stayed for 2 nights. Very relaxing, but only a small area to park up. I don’t think we would get in when times are busy. Because we were ahead of schedule by 2 days there was a rest area in Mundubbera, The Black Stump, where we stopped for a night. Was going to be a couple, but went into town and caught up with our friend Peggy who suggested we head out to her place the following morning. She has a lovely property ,“Bonnydoon”, on 30acres just outside of town where we were very comfortable for 4 nights. Like most of Queensland it is very dry and could do with lots of rain. Fortunately, on our 1st night a storm came through and produced a good downpour throughout the night. Follow-up rain is now needed as her dam is totally dry. Really enjoyed Peg’s company and had a lovely time. Thankyou Peg for the wonderful homemade quiche and mango, passionfruit cheesecake. D’Arcy’s mouth is still drooling.
17th Nov. And we were in Rainbow Bay at the Rainbow Waters Holiday Park. As we hadn’t been in a park for a couple of weeks the washing needed doing and the fridge needed a defrost so this was a good opportunity. Carlo Point is on the water, but the park is very sandy and lots of sandflies, which is a bit hard to take so after 3 nights there it was on to Tin Can Bay only a short distance (40klms.) We had a visit with some friends we made during our yachting trip across the top to Darwin, back in 1996, Jeanette & Don in their boat ‘White Rose’. Lovely to catch up after 13yrs although we had still kept in touch. As son Roger & partner, Helen now live in TCB we had dinner with them at the TCB Country Club. The Tin Can Bay Tourist Park was very lovely. It had been quite awhile since we had lovely green grass under our feet. It would have been good to be able stay a little longer, as the town has really improved since our last visit, maybe 12yrs. ago. Many new homes and improvements made along the foreshore. An outdoor gym has been added for the health conscious with walking tracks just about right around the town. Right up my alley....TCB also has quite good markets, although not a lot of fresh produce. We did a bike ride around the whole track on our arrival. If walking is on the agenda it is best done early. I found that about 5-5.30a.m. was the best before the sun is too high and hot.
After departing TCB on the 24th Nov. We stopped for 1 night only at rest area #138, Petrie Park on the Mary River. Situated 2klm. NW of Tiaro. There is toilets but no fresh drinking water. Limited space for big rigs also. Next day saw us back at the Pialba Caravan Park, Hervey Bay for 1 week. A good chance to catch up with daughter Kellie & husband Rory. Had a lovely night out to help celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary and also a friends birthday. Although we had a lovely site on the waterfront it was quite windy for our week there, so restricted any water activities. We just love the fact that it is easy for walking & bike riding along the Esplanade (7klms each way) to the Pier at Urangan, to which we done most days.
3rd December we left for the Sunshine Coast. Son, Darren is now living there at Buderim. We have a beautiful site, parked up next to his house, which overlooks a local lake inhabited with wild life, including swans, birds, ducks and the occasional pelican.
Here now till our departure on the 1st March 2010.
Till next posting........