Saturday 5th July - Lane Cove NP - Bombala Caravan Park

Too cold to try and free camp tonight so it is down to Bombala Caravan Park to spend the night. Stopped at a rest area on the Hwy named Mackey VC Rest Area.  Apparently there are a lot of rest areas named after soldiers that were awarded the VC and the drive has been named Remembrance Drive, which I think it pretty special. 6 degrees outside at 11.30am and I am very tempted to turn around and head back north.  I think Paul would follow but not sure about Maree!!!!!. We had a reasonable meal at the Bombala RSL tonight and played the poker machines for a little while.  Paul and I did much better at the chocolate machine winning a handful of chockies each......Home tomorrow so this Blog is officially closed, now planning the next one  Yiiipppeeeeee..

Friday 4th July - Lane Cove National Park

So good to spend the day with Glen today, I really miss him heaps..so once again we are heading up to the North Ryde Station to go into Sydney and firstly have a look at Paddy's Market before walking over to Darling Harbour for MT. Caught the ferry at Darling Harbour and traveled around to Circular Quay via Milsons Point which is over near Luna Park.  Fabulous day on the water and just in general for walking around.  Today we are going to walk up to the Pylon on The Sydney Harbour Bridge where there is a Museum and a vantage point at the top of 200 steps for some great photos.  Glen has shown me how to take landscapes with my camera as well as "selfies" so I am pretty happy with that.

Thursday 3rd July - Lane Cove National Park

All set up in Lane Park Caravan Park so now it is off to do the Tourist bit in and around Sydney.  First it was walk up to North Ryde Station to purchase our $2.50 ticket for our DAILY travel to enable us on trains, buses and ferries, how good is that......sometimes handy being Old..!!  Itinerary for the day was train to Town Hall so we could have a look at The Queen Victoria Building which is spectacular.  Morning tea at a little cafe in the QVB and then over the road to check out Westfield Shopping Centre under the Centrepoint.  Barry & I had lunch with Mayko, her husband George and baby Eugene which was great to meet George and catch up with Mayko.  Met up again with Maree and Paul after lunch and then caught the ferry over to Manly to see if we could find a nice spot overlooking the ocean to have a coffee.  Getting a little cold now so we decided to catch a bus back to St.Leonards Station and a train home to North Ryde.  We are certainly getting much better at this public transport game......Meeting Glen & Hector for dinner at North India Indian Restaurant which is just around the corner from the Park.  Lovely meal and tomorrow Glen is taking the day off to once again sightsee around Sydney.  A great day. 

Wednesday 2nd July - Tomago Bowling Club - Lane Cove National Park

Certainly not as cold as last night and a good spot behind the Tomago Bowling Club, nice and quiet.  Today we head 160kms down to Lane Cove National Park where we will stay 3 nights and leave on Saturday morning towards home.  Called around to visit Glen this evening and tomorrow we will hit the Tourist trail around Sydney.  Fantastic walks around the National Park that we only just found on this stay.

Tuesday 1st July - Half Way Creek - Tomago Bowling Club

Woke to a freezing morning with the van as well as the car covered in ice.  Maree shared a nice warm loaf of bread for brekkie and then it was down to Coffs Harbour to try and find a new caravan battery.  8.30am and it is a lovely sunny morning with not a cloud in the sky.  I think we may have been quite high up a mountain last night for it to have been so cold and icey during the night - 0 degrees...........brrrrr  The scenery is now changing as we travel down towards Coffs Harbour, lots of banana plantations and not so much sugar. MT by the beautiful Kalang River at Urunga, lots of pelicans sunning themselves and a great spot for a free camp.  Urunga has been put onto my list of places to travel back to, absolutely beautiful and a caravan park that overlooks the water, so good. Pulled of the freeway at Wauchope beside the Hastings River under the bridge for our lunch stop and once again Pelicans gliding past just for Maree. A very bumpy and rough 10kms back down towards Taree before hitting the highway once again. Plan on stopping at Tomago Bowling Club tonight for our free camp, another good spot to get off the road and spend the night on our way down to Sydney. We have just gotten the caravan battery fixed and now the gas fitting at the front of the caravan decides to leak, so now there is no gas so no fridge or hot water for the night.  Lucky we are on our way home.....!!!!!  Maree & Paul's gas regulator has also decided it is going to leak so we are both in the same boat..

Monday 30th June Mooloolaba - Half Way Creek Free Camp

Hit the road at 8.00am after bidding a fond farewell to Max & Carol.  Most of the day today will be on the freeway which isn't my favorite way of traveling from point A to point B.  Beautiful day, sunny and no clouds, still a little cool but hoping that will improve as the day goes on.  Lunch at Ballina and our overnight stop was behind the Shell Servo at Half Way Creek a $4 shower and quite a good stop for the night.  A very clear night and tonight our Caravan battery decided it had had enough and died.  No TV or lights so it was into bed bright and early as that was the only was to keep warm and asleep at 8.00pm 

Sunday 29th June - Mooloolaba

We are staying at the Mooloolaba Caravan Park for 3 nights.  Our back window looks out towards the beach and except for the dense shrubbery we would be able to see the water, just a few glimpses which is better than nothing.  Yesterday we called into the Sunshine Plaza shopping centre at Maroochydore across the road for Rivers where we picked up a heap of bargains.  The Plaza is built over the Cornmeal River and is very unusual as well as very pleasant sitting having a coffee looking out over the water. We then went for a drive up to Maleny and Montville for a look around.  They are little boutique towns situated in the Hinterland and the scenery getting there and back is quite spectacular.  A pizza for lunch at Maleny and then onto Montville where we were going to have a nice long walk around the shops except that it started to rain a little heavier so off home it was.  Saturday night it was up to the Vietnamese Restaurant (Vinh) for dinner with Max and Carol for our second last meal, after dinner it was over to the Surf Club to try our luck at the pokies....played for 15 minutes and ended up square,  Max was the only winner for the night.  Home into bed and it poured, very very heavy rain during the night. Luckily it is a beautiful sunny day today so all good. Today we are going for a drive up to Noosa, Barry & I have never been there so looking forward to seeing what it is like, we are actually looking for a nice caravan park where we can base ourselves for 3 or 4 weeks which is right on the beach and the weather is nice, so far the Sunshine Coast looks like ticking the boxes, all we need to do is find the right park...... Can't believe that our Kununurra holiday is nearly over and I am sitting here planning the next one....!!.  Sunday night will be our farewell dinner which we plan to have at a Thai Restaurant at The Wharf right across the road from the caravan park. Tomorrow morning we bid Max & Carol a fond farewell before we hit the road free camping for 2 nights on our way down to Sydney and Lane Cove National Park.

A wonderful dinner at the Thai Wharf on The Wharf at Mooloolaba tonight.  Tomorrow morning the Victorians head south and Max & Carol head home to The Gold Coast.  The girls had a bit of a mess around as we left the restaurant.  There was a group of kids rides against the wall so we all decided to have our photo taken on them. Gave us all a good laugh.

A drive up to Noosa today and we found a Shell Shop at Tewantin.  Lovely shells and managed to buy a few.

Friday 20th June Marlborough Hotel - Elliott Heads

Woke up to a very pleasant morning, although apparently it did rain during the night (I didn't hear it!!!) 410kms down to Elliott Heads where we are booked in for 4 nights but I am thinking that after checking out the weather forecast we will be staying for 7 nights. 25 degrees right up until Friday. We have decided that we have to come back and have a good look at Rockhampton.  There were some beautiful gardens on the left hand side as we went through the town.  Kershaw Gardens, with huge rock formations that had waterfalls coming down them.  They really did look quite spectacular. There is so much to see and there is limited time to actually get to do it all. All we can do is fit as much in as we possibly can and hope that one day we will be back to see the things we missed...Lunch stop at Bororen before getting off the Bruce Highway at Marion Vale and going down the back way to Elliott Heads.  Bruce Highway is the absolute "pits" there are so many roadwork stops and lots & lots of trucks wanting to get past you all the time. Much prefer to be on the B roads where you can amble along and actually smell the countryside and take in the views without some idiot trying to pass on a section of road that is just not safe to do so. Not leaving Elliott Heads until Friday 27th when we head down to Mooloolaba for 3 nights, then 3 nights free camping to get down to Sydney for 2 nights before heading home. The holiday is quickly coming to an end.......planning the next one already.

Would love this bit of driftwood in my front garden. Noticed it 2 years ago when we were here and it is still in the same place, even though the whole beach has changed where the river goes into the sea. Barry thinks it is a little big to get home on the roof of the Patrol - I'm sure it could be done...... where there's a will there's a way..

 Tide out at Elliott Heads

Thursday 19th June Bowen - Marlborough Hotel

Weather has improved again as we head off towards our next free camp. Think I am suffering a Migraine at the moment, very light headed and giddy and feel much better with my eyes closed. It was a very early night last night for me, and do feel a little better than yesterday..... Just coming into Mackay and have passed about 6 or more prime movers with HUGE speed boats on them. I am assuming they are headed to Bowen for the boat races that are happening next weekend. Pity we don't have the time now to hang around and watch them, I think it would have been pretty special. Pulling into Camilla Beach to have a look and stay for lunch. Max & Barry are hoping for a pie but I don't think that is about to happen. Camilla Beach is a nice free camp right on the beach, very sandy in places but there was room for one caravan to pull in and have great views of the beach out the back window.....unfortunately no room for 3 vans so it was back on the "shitty Bruce Highway" to try and find somewhere nice for tonight. We have managed to find a great spot for the night behind The Marlborough Hotel with nice mowed lawns and a hot shower, if you wanted one, for $5 each. We all decided after a 450km day to have a counter tea in the pub.  Chicken Snitzel....yummo. Haven't had a counter tea since I don't know when so it was really nice, there was also a few pokie machines to lose our $5 in.  There were a few coal ans container trains that went through the town during the night and I heard non of them.  The others thought they may have been trying to come through the Caravans!!!! I don't think so.

Wednesday 18th June - Bowen

Have had a couple of very ordinary days whilst here at Bowen.  Weather has been rainy and yesterday stayed in the Caravan for most of the day, although we did manage to go and have a coffee with Maree & Paul at the local bakery.  This morning we woke to a much nicer day, so Barry and I headed off to try our hand at Geocaching. First time effort and bingo I found the Geocache.  The name was "Flashing Barrier" so wasn't too hard to find it hidden in the barrier just below the train signals. Signed the book and left a shell after taking the Kangaroo toy that was one of the little "treasures" hidden in there.  There hasn't been anyone discover this treasure since May 2013 so we were feeling pretty pleased with ourselves.  We then decided to head off to Rose Bay to try to find a second one.  I believe that we found the hiding place but there was nothing in it.  These were the only 2 Geocaches around Bowen so I am thinking we will try our luck further down the track. Quite a nice day now so Barry & Paul have gone down to Rose Bay to try their hand at some fishing....good luck with that!!!!

 Geocache

 Hiding Place

Rose Bay Geocache, right sized hole and in the right place but no Geocache was there.


Barry & I have also been for a walk up to the Rotary Lookout at Horseshoe Bay, great walk and spectacular 360 degree views when you get to the top.

Scenery from Horseshoe Bay and Rose Bay