While at MAROOCHYDORE John tried to undo the caravan wheel nuts but was unable to and bent the cross bar in the process. He also noticed that the tyres were bigger than the Landcruiser tyres. We had arranged to have Landcruiser wheels fitted on the caravan so the spares were interchangeable so after leaving Maroochydore we called at Caravan World where they were happy to change the tyres but in the process broke two studs trying to undo the nuts. IMAGINE if we had been in the outback and had a puncture!
From Maroochydore we stayed a night in a BRISBANE Tourist Park and gave my niece, Anne Maree, a night off cooking then spent a week on the Gold Coast at TALLEBUDGERA. Lovely when we arrived but soon turned to wind and rain. Poured down when we drove to Surfers Paradise but John didn’t want to stop there anyway!
Was great to catch up with Marilyn and Graham Elmsly and their daughter Penny who now live on the Gold Coast. We spent a lot of time with them in the seventies when we had our yacht. We played golf with Graham and Penny at the Emerald Golf Club.
Broadwater
Spent our first night “freedom camping” outside Emily (Penny’s sister) and Micks place at BROADWATER, a quiet spot south of Byron Bay. Then spent a few days at ILUKA, a lovely quiet holiday place on the banks of the entrance to the Clarence River. Raining when we arrived but then lovely. A really nice place. While having drinks on the foreshore we noticed a huge “flock?” of bats, locals told us, flying in the distance - we watched for 20 minutes and they were still flying across the horizon. There were millions of them. Went to the bowling club for the Friday night raffles and won a meat pack. Visited Maclean, a Scottish town, where all the telegraph poles are painted with different tartans.
From there we headed inland to CASINO visited Lismore and then stayed a couple of nights on John’s cousin, Linda’s, farm at KYOGLE but it rained.
On our way to WARWICK we called at the Queen Mary Falls where we saw TWO snakes, a small brown one which slithered across in front of John (who did the Michael Jackson walk back up the steps) and a larger green/black one which was curled up asleep. Locals had told us all snakes would be hibernating now so: no worries ………yea, right!
The coast side of the Great Divide was quite green but the inland side was very brown, all within a few kms. The views of the DARLING DOWNS were stunning and it would be great to see it after rain when the grass had turned green. Maybe next year, or the year after! It’s quite amazing what good condition the cattle are in considering there’s no green grass. Some places have quite a bit of brown grass so I guess that they can flourish on that.
TOOWOOMBA is a beautiful city, even in late autumn. So many trees in flower, a really lovely place. Gorgeous blue sky when we arrived but raining by the time we left. We did a day trip to the Jondaryan wool shed - a huge old shearing shed. There were also lots of old, very old, tractors and wagons - this equipment does not seem to deteriorate and some are still in really good condition. We had billy tea and damper there.
We spent a couple of nights in KINGAROY where Joe Bielke-Peterson lived and was buried the week before we were there. This is where we learnt how peanuts are grown. Not on a tree, as I thought, but small plants grow flowers which then send out runners into the soil which then produce the peanuts. The plants are uprooted and the peanuts are then harvested.
From Kingaroy we crossed the Great Divide, yet again, and stayed the night in NAMBOUR. It rained and by morning there was two inches of water outside the caravan door. So much for Queensland sunshine and the drought. We left the caravan at Caravan World for it’s 1,000km check while we headed back to New Zealand to help celebrate Papa’s 95th birthday. We left the Landcruiser at SciFleet Toyota for it’s 5,000km inspection.
Out of our 42 days in Australia we had had rain or showers on 28 of them!
And Australia is suffering from drought.
We flew to New Zealand on 13th May for 11 days.
It was great to see our friends and family again in New Zealand and also to be able to wish Papa a Happy 95th Birthday in person.
Unfortunately, while we were in New Zealand many people lost their homes due to torrential rain in the Tauranga and Matata areas.
Inland Australia could do with that rain.
24th May 2005
We stayed 3 nights in MAROOCHYDORE and caught up with my brother, Ross, and his wife, Jeannine who have a unit in Mooloolaba.
Also met a couple from Silverdale, Des and Glenys, who are in the process of buying a caravan and Landcruiser to explore Australia.
We called on John’s Aunty Audrey on our way through Maryborough and then camped on the waterfront at HERVEY BAY. There is a long, 14km I think, cycle track along the waterfront passing through all the different bays.
While there we visited Tin Can Bay and Rainbow Beach, which are small communities, but prices for land were starting to rise.
Tin Can Bay is at the mouth of the Mary River and lots of river boats were tied up there, along with power boats, yachts and launches. Many people drive their 4wds along Rainbow Beach to go fishing or view the coloured sands or just for fun. Further along the beach is the closest ferry landing to Fraser Island and the ferries just dig their landing platform into the sand and the 4wd vehicles drive through deep sand and onto the ferry.
Leaving Hervey Bay caravan park John had to back the caravan into quite a tight spot to get it out so a few of the campers stood and watched but much to their disappointment he did it beautifully. We have a couple of walkie talkies so I stand behind the caravan and tell him “caravan left” “caravan right” or “stop”. Works well. It’s a long way from the driver’s seat to the back of the caravan. We measure 14 metres in total.
JUNE 2005
We stayed at BARGARA which is close to Bundaberg but the beach was disappointing, a bit rocky so no beach walks. The area is progressing at a great pace as are all the coastal areas. We bought prawns and a Moreton Bay Bug for dinner. The bug was especially nice. Wish we’d bought more.
We visited the Bundaberg Rum Distillery and sampled some of their fine products. Bundaberg CBD is a nice area situated on the Bundaberg River. Moore Park Beach on the other side of Bundaberg has a nicer beach.
