SWAN HILL TO RENMARK

As we last advised we attended the Swan Hill Rural Field day. Very interesting with load of farm machinery indicative to the area. Things such as mechanical pruners for the vines we had never seen before! I had my shoes cleaned twice to demonstrate a leather cleaner and we bought stain remover spray, tried wonderful strawberries, could buy yabbie burgers and we could view much of the craft work in the community hall. All in all a very interesting day!

Whilst in Swan Hill we visited the BIG COD and the Burke and Wills tree. This tree was purported to have been planted at the beginning of the fateful expedition of these two well known Australian explorers. It is now listed as the largest one of its type in Victoria and of historical significance.

From Swan Hill we drove the 139 kms to Robinvale. This is another cute little town beside the Murray, rich in vines, olives and citrus. There are over 40 different nationalities now residing in Robinvale. We had a beaut site right on the bank of the river in a lovely park. Bird life was prolific and we also tried for that big cod! On booking in the owner told us that the guys camped just down from us caught a 90cm cod the day before from the bank with a yabbie! Well that got us excited and gave him a customer for bait too! Needless to say over the week we only caught a carp each and taught a lot of worms to swim!
We went on lovely rambling walks along the river first one way then the other. Whistling kites haunted the river early each morning and on nightfall hunting for their dinner and during the day herons and egrets along with purple swamp hens stalked their prey. Lovely golden rosellas and white wing chuffs populated the trees around us. We had a fire bucket (an old beer keg cut in half) and the owners of the park provided us wood for a small sum, delivered to us on site.
We had heard about the Robinvale Olive grove and their variety of products so we drove out of town through the asparagus, vines and citrus to visit them. Their olives were great and so was their hand cream. 3 jars of olives and one hand cream now live in the van.
One area that we both had read about for a long time and never visited was Mungo National Park. The park lies 110km north-east of Mildura and150km north-west of Balranald. So we left the van in Robinvale and with the 4WD, tent, wine and necessities we travelled the 150 kms north to camp for a couple of days.
Mungo National Park covers most of an ancient dry lake bed on the plains of south western NSW. During the ice ages, Lake Mungo was one of a chain of freshwater lakes strung along Willandra Creek, then the main channel of the Lachlan River. These dry lakes preserve one of the longest continual records of Aboriginal life in Australia, dating from around 50,000 years ago through to the present day. Dating of ancient burials shows that these are the oldest known fully modern humans outside of Africa.
We set up camp in the main camping area. Basic facilities there, only pit toilets. We had taken our change tent with us so we could boil the billy for warm water and wash down! We first visited the Information centre where we found we could also buy cheap fire wood and picked up the maps for the following days tour around the park. There are many interesting features in the park, but none more so than “The Walls of China”. These are also known as the lunette. It is a crescent shaped sand dune developed over thousands of years. The layers of soil and the different colours typify another era and time frame.
The Pink soils at the base is the Gol Gol unit, laid down between 120,000 and 100,000 years ago, a dry period.
The brownish cream and white sands are the Upper and Lower Mungo units, 60,000 – 37,000 years ago, formed when the lakes were full.
The grey clays which cap the residual pinnacles are the Arump/Zanci units 37,000-18,000 years ago, a period during which the lakes filled and dried out several times.
Within the latter 2 units extensive evidence of Aboriginal occupation can be found. Then beyond the main lunette are the white dune crests which have formed over the period since the lakes finally dried some 15,000 years ago.
Early next morning we packed our lunch and drinks and drove the 10 kms across the old lake bed to the lunette. The vision of the lunette and the fantastic shapes makes you feel that you have landed either on the moon or Mars! We spent 2 hours wandering over the lunette, discovering old bones, shells and fossils. Then back into the car for the drive the 70kms around the lunette, through the Mallee country, the white sand dunes, the old water tanks and evidence of station properties. There are even old wheel ruts where the old Cobb & Co coach used to pull up regularly at a perennial well. We ate lunch at the other camp site (no camp fires allowed here as it is Mallee country).
After getting back to camp we had afternoon tea but arranged to drive back to the lookout over the lunette for sunset. Check out our photos for the amazing colour changes – it was definitely worth doing.
Back to Robinvale where we then spent a day washing and ironing ready for our trip into Mildura. We stayed on the NSW side of the river at Buronga. Another fabulous caravan park, again on the river bank, with a fire bucket and this time the wood was free. We had a great view across the river to where the Paddlesteamers left for their cruises. Two friends, who used to reside at Cobar, now live in Mildura so we were able to catch up with Peter and Chris. They arranged to pick us up on the Friday night and we went out to the Coomiealla Club for dinner. Lovely club and nice meals. The following day again picked us up and drove us around the area. We visited Woodsies Gem Shop, the old Pysche Pump House, around the river to where old barges have been just left to rot, a great old country pub for hamburgers for lunch, then on to Red Cliffs to view Old Lizzie. Now how to describe Old Lizzie? It is a monster piece of machinery made to clear the paddocks of stumps etc. It was planned to take her across the river but it was found that she was too heavy for any of the river vessels at the time, so she stayed on the Victorian side.
On another day we met Pete and Chris at the boat ramp to go with them on the river. We drove up stream past many houseboats and amazing river front properties. Bird life on the river is great and this time we saw Mum and Dad swan with 6 little cygnets. We pulled up about 32kms up river and Pete was prepared with the Eco Billy , the BBQ for a sausage sizzle, coffee, tea and bikkies. After relaxing for an hour we then headed back down to Mildura.
On the Friday, Pete again picked us up (without Chris as she had Grandmother duties) and drove us north of Wentworth to where his son is Production Manager in the Gingko Sand Mine. Tim had organised to show us around the mine. It was about 1 ½ hours drive to the site. Now this is one big sand pit! With big boys toys too! They extract the sand and then they are able to separate it into about 8 different minerals including titanium. Most of the finer breakdown is done at Broken Hill after being trucked there. We left there and drove the 60kms to Pooncarie, had a drink at the pub before heading back down the Pooncarie road to Mildura. Two other friends who also used to live in Cobar, now have “retired” to a property on the Pooncarie road, 23 kms north of Wentworth. So we opted to drop in for a cuppa on the way through. Sheryl and Allan have a lovely 105 acres right on the Darling. They gave us a quick look around and we had coffee with them and arranged to bring the van up and stay for a couple of days.
We left Mildura and headed towards “Sullivan’s Run” on the Pooncarie Road, via Dareton. We arrived at lunch time, set up the van and Allan & Sheryl decided that we would have lunch on the “party boat” on the river. Lovely sunny day so we loaded up the boat and headed off up stream. Here the Darling looks quite healthy as the water is still under the influence of the lock at Wentworth. Check out the difference of the river at Pooncarie though. It was so lovely cruising slowly up the river. Again the bird life was great. Whistling Kites, egrets, herons and even a Royal Spoonbill and a juvenile Rufous Nankeen Night Heron.
The next day we repeated the exercise but this time down river after the horses were fed and the chooks released from their pen, allowing them to roam free. Sheryl and Allan are living in their “up market” shed at present. Their plans for their new home are lovely and the building of it is just about to commence.
The following day, Sheryl & I dropped into Wentworth to pick up the mail and get a few provisions. She took me down to where to two mighty rivers, the Darling and the Murray meet so I was able to get some photos of that plus the memorial to the Fergie tractor. These tractors built the levee bank that saved Wentworth from a flood. On return we again packed up the boat with the BBQ this time to go further downstream and find a nice bank where we could pull over and cook lunch. About ¾ of the way down, it was discovered that not one of us remembered the matches. Having No smokers certainly can have its disadvantages! We cruised on until we found some habitation and Allan went up to the house and begged for a box of matches – otherwise no BBQ! From now on they will have matches or lighter on the boat and we will have one packed up with the BBQ! Much laughter over this I can tell you.
With a bit of sadness we left their lovely property on Friday and crossed the border into South Australia. Whilst in Mildura we did pick up a brochure about what you could and couldn’t take into the S.A. Riverland area. My herb garden that has travelled up to Cooktown and back was a casualty. So I left the herbs with Chris in Mildura for her garden – just taking the empty pot with me. When we arrived at the border, it is a mandatory stop at the Quarrantine station. The inspector went through our glove box, our frig in the car and everywhere in the caravan. I had cleaned out just about everything at Sheryl’s but found I also could not take in my garlic or the chilli! So first stop in Remark after setting up the van was to the shops to re-stock for fruit and vegies!
One of the reasons we had timed our run into Renmark for the June long weekend was that it was when the Riverland Balloon festival was on. So Saturday after picking up the info at the Information Centre we drove out to the No 2 oval where they were launching. As the winds were in the wrong direction, they decided to launch at another site called Talda about 27kms from Renmark. So we dutifully tailed the procession out there. It was well worth it. Nine balloons of varying sizes being unloaded, laid out and going through the procedure of getting them inflated for flying. After they all flew off we went back to Renmark where again we are camped right on the river. The river is huge here and so much houseboat traffic. We overlook the old 1927 built Paringa bridge that opens twice a day to let the river traffic through.
At 6.30 pm we headed back into town to the No 2 oval for what they call “Night Glow”. All 9 balloons are again inflated but this time do not leave the ground. They use a yellow flame to “glow” the balloon. Very spectacular at night, with the varying balloon colours, all glowing in the dark! All this made us decide to opt for a flight the next day. So up at 5 am in the morning, down to the oval for the briefing, then back out to Talda, as again the winds were in the wrong direction. We had to help get the basket and balloon ready for flight, then into the basket and away. It wasn’t anything like I expected. It is very calm, quiet and amazingly serene. Initially we were travelling about 30 knots about 150 metres from the ground then we often dropped down to within 10-15 feet of the ground to cruise at lower speeds. Cruising over properties, trees and stock. The flight was about 1 ½ hours before we landed, packed up the balloon and treated to Langhorne Creek Champagne and chocolates. Then we were driven back to Renmark and the Renmark Hotel for a slap up breakfast. This didn’t finished until 12 midday! The Renmark Hotel has amazing history. Built by the Chaffey Bros. they only allowed it to supply meals and accommodation and NO Alcohol. This surely must be the original Pub with NO Beer!
We had a quiet afternoon as the weather came in and overnight we have had about 1 inch of rain. So today it gave me a chance to update the web site before we go off rambling around this beautiful area tomorrow. So much to see here including 25 acres of roses, over 50,000 of them, wineries such as Banrock Station, and Angoves. Berri with its almond shops and fruit juices, lookouts and lochs, old homesteads of the Chaffey Brothers. And so on, and on……

Until next time, enjoy life as we are
The Happy Travellers Rob & Walter

Birds Eye View of the Landscape from the Balloon

ON THE ROAD AGAIN!


We farewelled our friends Kev, Fran and Becky at Lochinvar and travelled to Medowie to stay for a time with Howard and Lyn Grigor and “Will & Wont”. These are the 2 baby wombats that Lyn is currently hand rearing. Gorgeous little things that without her love and care would not be part of this world.

We arrived on the Friday and planned to attend the Rotary District 9670 conference in Newcastle. We are honorary members of the Rotary Club of Salamander Bay thanks to Howard and Lyn. This enables us to continue to share Rotary fellowship with clubs as we travel.

The conference was wonderful and a great place for us to catch up with friends. The Friday night was a cocktail party held at the Harbourview Function centre on the foreshore of Newcastle harbour. Saturday and Sunday was held at the Newcastle Town Hall – lovely old building. It was an inspirational conference with great speakers.

We were guest speakers at the Salamander Bay Rotary Club at the Breakfast Club meeting on the Tuesday, outlining our travels up to that point. It was nice for us to meet the members and they us, as we have sort of been their “ghost” members! Following the meeting we packed up and headed to the Southern Highlands to spend some time with family before heading west.

It was great spending time with my Mum and sister and her family. Whilst we were there, the Open Garden scheme was available in a number of the local gardens. What a lovely time I had with Mum visiting a number of them, all very different but gorgeous and innovative. We first visited a small garden in Queen Street Bowral before going to the larger ones. Milton Park was one of the old established gardens, initially being the home of Anthony Hordern. It is now a resort but the gardens are a treasure. Some of the old trees there are majestic. On the Sunday, we went out to Exeter to visit Red Cow Farm. Mum said she had driven past this cottage built in the 1800’s many times but had never visited it. It just looks like a small cottage garden from the front but what a surprise when you go in and start to explore. It was over 2.5 ha! Lovely formal areas, lakes, ponds and 800 roses! It would be a delightful garden to go back to in the spring to see the differences. It was lovely now but would be different again with the seasons.

Fitzroy Falls has always been a favourite of mine so we packed up lunch one day and with 2 other friends from Queensland went and hiked right around to the Renown Lookout. Fabulous views of the falls and the valley, dropping away from the coastal escarpment. We even spotted a lyre bird and there were some great wild flowers out too.

We also caught up with one of my favourite Aunts & Uncles! Uncle Ken cooked a lovely Good Friday meal for us of fish and chips and arranged with Walter to go down to Thirlmere and visit the Steam Train museum. Mum and Aunty Judy and I played many games of Scrabble with the results being fairly evenly distributed!

I have been home to Bowral many times over the years but had never attended the Scottish Festival at Bundanoon known as “Brigadoon”. So Mum, Walter & I packed up our lunch and headed out early on the Saturday to attend this famous affair. Even though we were early by most standards, hundreds had already arrived! For those who don’t know the area, Bundanoon is a tiny village on the Southern Highlands of NSW. For this day even the name of the village is changed, all the signs now read “Brigadoon”. This is a fabled village in Scottish folk lore that rises out of the mist each 100 years and the villages celebrate the day. They cannot leave the village or the village will disappear forever.

It was a bright sunny day and the lads and lassies had donned their kilts and the pipers had skirled their pipes for a majestic and fun day. We watched them tossing the caber, throwing the haggis, tossing the hay bale and best of all the brawny lads had to heft the “Fergie Stones”. These are huge round stones weighing from 130kgs to 160kgs. They had to be hoisted onto wine barrels sitting in a stand and with a tyre on top! The winner was a policeman from Newcastle NSW! I heard a couple of young men behind me state “that they weren’t going there for a night out”!!!

We left in time to beat the crowd and went and visited Brian & Liz Patttinson. Brian & Liz did live in Dubbo for many years before making their “sea change” to Bowral. They have a lovely home and seem very well settled in to their new environment.

We had to say goodbye so that we could continue our travels. Our plans are to travel along the Murray to its mouth in South Australia.

We headed out towards Albury and booked into the All Seasons Caravan Park in Lavington. We nearly got lost on the way in as our wonderful GPS didn’t know about the new bypass freeway! We were into Albury before we knew it and had to do some back tracking! We had a nice site but before we even had our feet on the ground we had a phone call from two lovely friends we had met in Rollingstone Qld last year. Brian and Leonie live in Wodonga. We arranged with them to go over to their place the following day.

Their hospitality was exceptional and loaded us into their car and drove us to Beechworth for lunch. Beechworth is a lovely historic gold village about 40kms south of Wodonga. We ate pies at the famous Beechworth Bakery and wandered the streets looking at the facades of the buildings – all kept in the original painting. The autumn colours were also starting to be evident. Such an interesting history. The Chinese even cut long channels through the rock to assist in channelling the water to wash the gold. The old hospital, now only the stone front remaining used to treat over a 100 patients a day. Brian drove us around the village and even out to the old Powder store. We left Beechworth and drove through Yackandandarah, buying lovely apples from a roadside stall before climbing Mt Stanley and then back down through the pine plantations. The road then took us around Lake Hume. This is terribly sad to look at, as the water level is so low. The whole area down here is so very dry, you really do feel for the farmers.

The following day we again met up with them and drove from Wodonga up to Yarrawonga, checking out some river camping spots as we went. Yarrawonga is on the Victorian side of the river and is joined to Mulwala by a whacky bridge with a bend in it. The story goes that it was a joint consultative work between the two states and their engineers but after construction had commenced, found it didn’t meet in the middle! We drove over the bridge and found a nice spot beside the lake to have afternoon tea before travelling on. We then drove along the NSW side of Lake Mulwala. We found a place mentioned in the Camps 3 book called Kyffins Reserve. We drove in and found that it had some great free camping sites. We picked out where we wanted to be and then drove back to Albury. We went up to The Monument, situated above Albury, commemorating those lost in the wars. The sun was setting in a beautiful sunset as we were there with that lovely soft light reflecting off the Monument Tower.

A quiet day was decided upon just to enjoy each others company for the next day. Brian & Leonie decided upon a BBQ for lunch so I made some rissoles to take. However, after I had finished I turned around and knocked my knife block. I felt it falling and instinctively put my hand out to stop it. Whoops! Wrong move….the carving knife had already began slipping out and it caught my little finger on the way down. The end of the story was 6 stitches! (All fixed now though). Thanks to Leonie who played nurse and medical carer getting me to Wodonga Emergency whose staff did a great job it repairing it.

We left these lovely friends and headed to Kyffins Reserve at Lake Mulwala for some free camping on the edge of the lake. Lovely spot. We relaxed and had camp fires and watched the marvellous sunsets over the lake. There was a myriad of bird life with corellas, rosellas, black swans, ibis, Azure kingfisher, ducks, grass parrots and cockatoos. Many more as well that I hadn’t even been able to identify! We also had cute little ringtail possums running around our camp at night. Many an apple went their way! After 5 days though it was time to find a caravan park to fill up the water tanks and get the washing done!

We travelled a whole 6 kms to Lake Mulwala Holiday Park. This has now been taken over by the Lake Mulwala Ski Club but it is right on the lake and a lovely place to stay. Has great cabins too. So we did the full spring clean, inside and out. They allowed us to wash the van using the fire hose as it was water from the lake. We visited the Yarrawonga Info Centre and bought some great booklets called Murray River Access! They show all the free camp sites along the river and there are heaps! So we hopped in the car and did a bit of a “reccy”! We found a great site only 5 kms from town on the Victorian side down a road known as Forges Pump Road. Lovely spot right on the river with a great sandy beach.

So we left the caravan park and headed out for some more free camping along the river. We had 4 days in this idyllic place, reading and watching the mighty Murray amble by. There was quite a bit of water here as the weir forming Lake Mulwala was just up stream. We tried fishing but didn’t catch anything. I got a bit dirty though as my line was in and the fish were jumping right in front of me!

We spent one day driving the 40kms to Rutherglen where we checked out the famous Parker Pies and went wine and olive tasting! We can really recommend the pies; they are not cheap but worth the money. I even bought a couple of frozen ones – crocodile and crab to cook in the caravan for lunch the following day. They were very delicious for those of you turning up your nose here! All Saints winery is an incredible building built like a castle and we also visited the Indigo Cheese Factory for some local produce.

Then on to Tocumwal where we invited to park the van in the yard of other lovely friends who we met in Walkamin last year. Marion & Neil have a lovely home on 4 acres. Neil normally trucks grain but with the drought there was no work last year so they took their van to Walkamin on the Atherton tableland to truck sugar.

It was so good to catch up with them and catch up on their news. They sold their van in Cairns last year on their way home but only a month ago purchase a lovely new Regal van with shower and toilet. So lovely we could nearly swap ours for it!

Again this amazing pair showed us incredible hospitality and loaded us into their car and firstly drove us out to a place called Ulupna Island. It is on the Murray and I had read about it as it has a good population of koalas. Well I can honestly say I have not ever seen anything like it. There was virtually a koala in every second tree. So good to see this unique Aussie animal in such numbers!

Then the decision was to leave fairly early and take the 2 hour drive to Bright to see the autumn colours and come back via Milawa on the Food and Wine Trail! Now we are talking….

Bright blew us both away. We had heard that this is the place to see autumn colour but I certainly wasn’t prepared for the overall effect! It is so deserving of its reputation. It was a cold and misty rainy day when we arrived but that added to the effect. It is truly stunning. It isn’t far from the Victorian Ski fields and we found that Mt Hosham had 15cm of snow whilst we were there!

The town also has a unique quality about it and also has many craft and gallery types of shops. We left there and Neil drove us out of town and up a mountain to have lunch at the Red Stag Deer and Emu Farm. The food and wine was great and the views looking back over the Bright Valley a picture. There were lots of Emus, Ostriches and the big Red Stag deer to be seen and even a little tiny baby goat in its red knitted coat was running around. We then headed toward Milawa and firstly Brown Brothers winery. No poor wines on that list let me tell you! After buying a few good bottles we headed for the Milawa Cheese factory where we were able to participate in a great cheese tasting, then it was the chocolates. Loaded up with the “3 course meal” (wine, cheese and chocolates) we headed for Milawa Mustards. Here we undertook more tasting of mustards, tapenades and raspberry jams! Laden to the hilt we drove home via Wangaratta back to Tocumwal where we had a plate of soup for tea!

Again, we had to say goodbye and off we drove again, this time to Echuca. Cold and rainy but we are about now to go out and explore the historic port area here. The weather was not very kind to us and so we didn’t venture very far.

Saturday we decided again that it was time for greener fields so we headed off from Echuca towards Swan Hill. Swan Hill was named by Major Mitchell who had spent a sleepless night on the banks of the Murray on this spot, being kept awake by the noise of some swans – hence the name!

We met up with some lovely friends again, Steve and Vicki. We initially met them at Walkamin on the Atherton tableland, then again at Cooktown, then Yeppoon and then Mon Repos before moving into NSW and meeting them again in Dubbo. So we have had such fun being with them again. We have a great camping site on the river bank. Not quite the Murray but what they call an Anna branch. It is the “Little Murray” or Marraboor River. It comes off the Murray and runs into the Murray. We are only 100 yards from where it runs back into the Murray. The Paddle steamer makes its way past us twice a day, tooting its horn.

We have spent 2 days at the Pioneer Village. We initially thought that 2-3 hours would do it including the ride on the paddle boat but the village was so extensive and so interesting we extended our passes to go back again today. The village was wonderful and has something for everyone.

Tomorrow we are going to attend the huge Rural Field day here that show cases not only all the farm machinery and innovations but all the local produce including the wines for tasting! Its only $3.00 for pensioners! So we’ll be there…..

We will report on this jaunt in our next spiel..

Hope you are all well and life is treating you gently.

The Happy Travellers

Rob & Walter

Rainbow Beach, Mudjimba to Dubbo

In December as previously stated, we left Rainbow Beach to spend Christmas with our son Michael, his wife Tanya and our three gorgeous grandchildren. It had been 2 years since we had seen them last so as you can imagine, we saw how grown up they had become.

We arrived there on a Saturday and both Nick and Briony were to be christened in the Catholic Church. Tomeeka our lovely 18 year old granddaughter had also come up as she was to be Godmother for the two. Tomeeka had just completed her HSC and hoped to get into Uni to undertake Nursing.

The christening was lovely with Michellie (the oldest) carrying the communion wine so she had an important part to play too.

Christmas Day dawned bright and sunny and Mike and Tanya bought the kids down to the beach before breakfast for a swim. They were allowed to open a couple of Santa presents first. We had a lovely swim at Mudjimba beach which was across the road form the Caravan Park before we headed back to Mike’s for Ham and Cheese Croissants’ for brekky! After that the presents under the Christmas tree were attacked. The kid’s favourites this year were Dora the Explorer for Briony, Spiderman for Nick and Bratz for Keelie!

Just before lunch the weather began closing in and Tanya’s dad, Bill, Mike and Walter hastened to erect a tarp over the patio area as we were planning to have lunch there. Then the rain came………….and it was the last we saw the sun in Queensland! It poured rain for the next 10 days, part of that nasty sub-tropical low that came in to much of the south east Queensland coast. One night we had 80 mls rain – like being under a waterfall! Although the weather was not kind and no more swims at the beach, we had a great time with them all. We went 10 pin bowling one day, watched the cricket, played card games with the kids, ate too much and just enjoyed their company.

On the 5th January we left Mudjimba and began heading towards Dubbo. Walter had a Pre-Admission appointment on the 15th January there that he had to keep. We made some good travelling decisions and went through the Glasshouse Mountains, down beside Somerset Dam to Toowoomba, then onto Goondiwindi. We stopped the first night just in a truck stop about 65kms out of Goondiwindi. Then headed on down through Moree to Narrabri. We decided to stay a few days here as neither of us had spent any time here. It was a fascinating place.

We visited the Cotton Centre that had a very informative display from which we learnt a lot. We understand now much better there use of water, the technology that has gone into plant development and the uses of cotton. We drove out to Sawn Rocks, part of the Mt Kaputar National Park. These are incredible rock formations dating back to the Vulcan era, many millions of years ago. On another day, we drove out to another part of the National Park, the site of Mt Kaputar itself. Its’ about an hours drive and you climb through steep valleys and mountains with spectacular scenic views over the surrounding plains. You can actually drive right to Mt Kaputar with only the last 100m being steps and a boardwalk. It was much cooler up there, Narrabri being about 36 degrees and on the National Park about 27! There was lots of wildlife and birds, Eastern Grey Kangaroos, Goannas, King Parrots and Black Cockatoos to name just a few.

Our third day we drove out the 23kms west of the town to visit the Australian Compact Array Radio Telescope. It is actually 6 telescopes, on a rail line. Very impressive and they can also work with the Radio Telescope at Parkes and the Radio Telescope at Siding Springs in the Warrumbungles. When this happens it is the same as one telescope with a diameter of 320 Kms! Amazing..

We then ambled further down the highway to one of our favourite places – The Warrumbungle National Park. We spent 3 idyllic days here surrounded by the usual wildlife. One kangaroo decided that the shade under our annex was definitely to his liking! We even had a huge goanna amble through one day.

Our destination of course though was Dubbo to have Walter’s errant left hip fixed. He has really suffered in terrible chronic pain over the last 8 months. The date of the 13th February was given to him for the operation so whilst he was waiting he decided to have his eyes checked out too as he found his vision was getting blurry. He though he needed a new script! Wrong!!! They found he had a large cataract on his right eye so another operation had to be organised.

Well he has now had the “full grease and oil change” and has recovered from both ops really well. Whilst he was undergoing all this I decided that I could get a bit of casual work for the 5 weeks of hanging around and I was employed by Fletcher International Exports. This is a lamb abattoir where 95% of its end product goes overseas. I was working in the Cold Boning room and it entailed packing meat, and after they gave and trained me on knives, preparing it for packaging. It wasn’t rocket science but I enjoyed it. The fellow employees were many like us travelling Australia and picking up work as they go along for a couple of months. They were such a happy lot and the company has another plant over in Albany in WA and we will most likely try for work again there too when we get that side of Australia.

We left Dubbo on Friday and headed to Lochinvar to meet up with our very dear friends, Fran and Kevin and Rebecca. They have a gorgeous house and property at Lochinvar and we can park the van in the front yard.

On Saturday I travelled with Fran to Raymond Terrace to watch her with Riding for the Disabled (RDA). Fran is sitting for her coaches exam in another 8 weeks and had the opportunity to attend and assist with placing wheelchair bound kids onto the horses. It was so rewarding to see these kids faces. Instead of looking up at people from their wheelchair they are looking down from the horse and interacting with these lovely animals. Some had Cerebral Palsy, one other girl about 14 years of age had been a bright and happy normal little girl and at 10 years old had had a stroke. We don’t have anything to complain about have we?

We had a great dinner out with them on Saturday night at one of the Lower Hunter vineyards called Mojo’s. Most beautiful food and fabulous presentation. We are now house sitting for them for a couple of days, feeding the dogs, Ruby and Tessa, checking the horses, Rags and Malibu, feeding and cajoling the chooks to lay eggs! Kev and Fran have gone to spend a few days at Mudgee Homestead, the most beautiful B & B where we were married. We are looking after Becky, getting her on the bus in the mornings to go to work as well. Kev & Fran don’t really get much of a chance to be able to take any days off so this is an opportunity for them and for us to spend a bit of time in a real house. They have 12 acres with a lovely dam at the end of it, there are so many birds too. W e are spending our time in the pool or reading, a real tough life.

From here we leave Friday to go to Medowie and stay with Howard and Lyn and attend the Rotary District conference in Newcastle. It will be great to catch up with many friends before leaving for the Southern Highlands. We will be staying in Mittagong Caravan Park for 2 weeks. A chance to catch up with my Mum in Bowral before Kim and Mary Jane meet us on the second week. After they have a look around the area we will be travelling the “wallaby’ with them to Albury/Wodonga and follow the mighty Murray River all the way into South Australia. From there we will either go across the Nullarbor or north up the Centre!

From the Merry Travellers

Hervey Bay to Rainbow Beach

I cannot believe how quickly time is flying! We have been here at Rainbow Beach for two weeks already and only now have five days left before we go to Mudjimba for Christmas with Mike, Tanya and our Grandchildren, Michaellie, Nick and Briony. It’s been 2 years since I have seen them so I guess we will find big changes in them!

Maryborough

First let me tell you about our bus trip to Maryborough. There were only the 2 of us and the bus driver, Barbara. She picked us up and we headed the 40 kilometres to Maryborough. This is a town of about 29,000 people but has amazing facilities. Barbara gave us a good understanding of its amazing history that also incorporates Hervey Bay. Firstly Hervey Bay was only a fishing village and people from Maryborough used to take their holidays there. Maryborough sits on the banks of the lovely Mary River and was originally settled in the early 1800’s. The historic buildings and architecture there reminded us very much of Charters Towers. Truly lovely buildings. The town was moved though as the original spot was always flooding. The Council though still keep the maintenance on the old area and its graves as a lovely historical park.

The main city park is lovely and Walter got very excited when he saw the old steam train running around taking people for rides. Every Thursday parts of Maryborough’s main streets are closed to traffic and they have market stalls selling just about everything. You can pick up some great bargains but we stuck to the fresh fruit and vegies. So the old steam train, run by volunteers, chuffs its’ way around the track picking up customers from the markets. We also strolled through St Paul’s Anglican Church that has beautiful stained glass windows and a very old organ.

After the guided tour through the city part, Barbara took us to this amazing old store that opened first for business in 1871 and only closed in 1972. The owner at the time (who was the son of the original proprietors) just walked out and left everything just as is was. Owned by George and Agness Geraghty, IT SOLD EVERYTHING! They imported oranges and wine and sold butter, meat and packaged products as well as rural supplies and serviced a huge area all the way up to Bundaberg and south to Brisbane. Even all the old invoices and ledger books are left in the office!

Barbara then took us for lunch at the Pier side Restaurant that was part of the original customs buildings and overlooks the river. It was a very interesting day!

Rainbow Beach

We left Hervey Bay and arrived at Rainbow Beach about 2 hours later. We have a nice site and its only 5 mins walk to the beach. We can see the water and hear the waves, but not right on the beach. The shopping centre is only across the road but it is just a sleepy beachside place (at the moment!) Like most coastal places it goes berserk over the Christmas period! The beach goes for miles in both directions and to the north just across a narrow strait of water is Fraser Island. To the south is Double Island Point.

On the Tuesday after we arrived our lovely friends Marie and Bill arrived with Nora (Bill’s Mum). They stayed in one of the cabins. We took a drive out to a coffee shop for lunch and then drove over to Tin Can Bay for afternoon tea. When we came back we headed across to the Surf Club for dinner. Lovely little club with views right sown the beach. No too shabby at all! Food was good too! I can particularly recommend the Pesto Reef Fish! They left early next day to drive all the way back to Yeppoon.

After enjoying ourselves on the LARC trip at 1770, we found that there was another LARC here! So we booked ourselves on the Friday trip. Sad to say though that on the day, the LARC has an auto electrical problem. We did the trip though but in a 4WD bus instead. Still and all, it was fantastic. We drove out through the Coolangoola National Park through beautiful forest down to Freshwater. This is a little camping and picnic area maintained by the National Park right on the edge of Teewah Beach. Now for those who have their map out, Teewah beach runs 55 kms all the way down to Noosa. At low tide it is another beach drive. However once we turned onto the beach we drove north again towards Double Island Point and the lighthouse. Quite a bit of traffic on the beach including professional “wormers”. These guys spend hours finding worms that they then on-sell to the fish and bait shops. Back breaking work!


We have never seen water as clear as the ocean on Teewah Beach! It was crystal clear and so very beautiful. When we reached the end of the beach we climbed the 4wd track (about 2 kms) in the bus to the top and the lighthouse. And what a view! All the way to Fraser along Rainbow Beach and south to Noosa. It was spectacular! Whilst we were at the top we overlooked Wolf Rock (about 2 kms out to sea) and by all accounts a great dive site. Also below the headland the amount of marine life visible in the water blew us away. We saw at least 8 Loggerhead turtles swimming around, 2 Manta Rays and a Shovel Nosed ray. The bus driver told us this wasn’t even a good day! He stated that there is usually also about 40 dolphins which weren’t to be seen whilst we were there!

After leaving the lighthouse and going back down the track we then travelled about ½ km along the beach south before turning onto a track called the Leisha Track. This is another 4WD only sand track that crosses the headland and takes you onto Rainbow Beach. We then travelled along the beach beside the Coloured Sands, cliffs of multi coloured sand. This way is only negotiable at low tide. Once getting close to the end it is the rocks right at the end which cause many vehicles grief. We were told that the insurance figure (per year) for damaged vehicles at this point is approximately $1 million a year! What happens is that people get impatient and they can see Rainbow Beach township around the corner of these rocks and get over confident about making in it instead of re-tracing their tracks back along the 11 kms beach, over the Leisha track again and then back up the inland Freshwater track! So they try and negotiate the rocks. It is only possible on the exact low tide and sometimes not even then. The sand can wash away leaving the rocks exposed. Two places in town, including the Information Centre as a Wall of Shame, a wall of photos of the wrecks, some nearly underwater!

Our 4WD bus had high clearance and we struck the rocks right on low tide. The photos we took whilst we negotiated them will give you an idea! Again so glad we did not try it in our car!

We have wandered over to the beach most afternoons with our chairs and our books and have cooled down surfing then come back to read. When the tide is too high we use the lovely pool here. We also drove up to the lookout and took the walk to Carlo Sand Blow. Again the views were fantastic, over to Tin Can Bay, over the top of Rainbow Beach and out to the Pacific Ocean. This is also the spot where the Para-sailors launch from. So we stopped and watched their antics for a while.

Fraser Island (Again)

Fraser Island so intrigued us we found another 4WD trip to take us form here, but this time over 2 days. So last Monday we were again picked up at the front of the caravan park and headed out to Inskip Point where our 4WD bus caught the barge across to the island. It’s only a 10 minute trip from there. So we landed at Hook Point and started another adventure. Tide was still too high to drive around Hook Point on the beach so we took an old mining road inland for about 11 kms before cutting onto 75 mile beach. It’s an amazing beach to drive on and our first stop was Eurong Beach Resort for the “comfort” stop before heading further north along the beach. Again we stopped at Eli Creek and paddled our way all the way up as far as we could go before floating back with the current. Our tour guide had organised lunch why we floating down. Why does lunch always taste better when 1) we are outdoors and 2) when somebody else does al the work!

After lunch we were back in the bus to run all the way up to Indian Head. This is the end of 75 mile Beach. A steep but short climb to the top gave us another spectacular view north up to Waddy Point, Middle Rocks and the Champagne Pools and south right down the beach. Looking west you could also see a number of the sand blows. Looking down we could see two 4 metre long tiger sharks swimming around the headland. Another good reason not to go surfing at Fraser! The good thing about having the 2 days nothing was rushed. We were able to spend a good time up on the headland before climbing back to head back south along the beach. We again stopped at the Maheno wreck and the Coloured sands at the Pinnacles were more photos were taken. Further down we stopped on the beach for Rainbow Gorge. As it is a walk to a sand blow, Walter & I decided not to take it as we had already seen the Carlo Sand Blow. It would have been too much walking for Walter with his painful hip, so we sat on the sand watching the traffic roar past us on the beach and enjoying the view. Following this, we then headed back to Eurong Beach Resort for our accommodation and evening meal.

Next day we headed off at 8 am inland this time to Lake Mackenzie. We did not have any problem going back to this beautiful spot and able to have 2 hours there this time. Being wiser by having been there before, I took my mask and snorkel with me. Never though to take my underwater camera though – I’m still kicking myself over this! I spent most of the time snorkelling around the edge watching the turtles and the many small fish. The visibility is like over 100 metres the water is so clear and no current at all. After a cup of coffee and lamingtons (tour driver looking after us again) we headed over through the rough sand tracks to Central Station. This was initially the centre for the logging operation years ago. This was a barbeque lunch spot, so sausage sizzle it was! After lunch, all of us except Walter walked through to Pile Valley. It is along the rainforest floor beside Wooloonga Creek (also known as the invisible creek as the water is so clear you cannot see it!). Walter did not do the walk as there are also 136 steps to climb out of the valley up to the ridge and the car park where we were to be picked up. He with the tour guide just did the top part of the walk back into a 1000 year old Satinay tree.

Then again it was back in the bus, back to Eurong and back on the beach for the drive right down the beach to Hook Point and back to the barge. (Tide low now) What made our day though was at the south end of the beach was a Fraser Island Dingo and her pup. We had a few chuckles as we watched the little one try to get off the beach by climbing the sand dune and he just kept slipping back. It’s the only time on the 2 trips that we actually got to see the dingos.

Thursday saw us take a drive to Gympie where we did a bit of shopping at Coles and then drove back to Tin Can Bay for lunch. Whilst we were there we realised that the school holidays were about to begin for Queensland and everything was going to get very busy. So we made the decision not to leave coming back to Tin Can Bay for the dolphin feeding to the next week but we would do it tomorrow.

Tin Can Bay

We set the alarm clock early Friday and drove out to catch the ferry from Carlo Point to Tin Can Bay. It’s a lovely trip across the bay, about 20 minutes, so we could go and hand feed the dolphins. The dolphin feeding is free and run by volunteers. They often get up to 3-4 dolphins but only one came in when we were there. His name was Mystique. Poor old Mystique though had been in the wars this week and had been targeted by a Bull Shark. He was missing part of his dorsal fin and one half of his tail fin but seemed to be OK. The volunteers said he has his appetite back which is a good sign and that they have marvellous recuperative powers. He is very gentle when taking his fish from your hand and he definitely knows the procedure! It was a great experience.


Well we had planned to do a 4WD trip ourselves today to go down to Freshwater and Teewah Beach (coming back the same way) for a picnic. However when we woke up this morning it was pouring rain so we have put that plan on old. Maybe tomorrow if the weather is OK.

This will most likely be our last update for the year. I know I will be too busy with grandchildren and Christmas to do anything. Then we head back to Dubbo to get Walter’s hip fixed. Poor fellar has been in so much pain with it and gets frustrated because he cannot do what he would like to. Patience is not one of his virtues!

We both want to wish you all a very Happy and Safe Christmas and a wonderful New Year. If you are travelling we hope to catch up with you somewhere in this great outdoors!

Cheers Rob & Walter