Home - 13 to 14 July 2019
Waking in our van for the last time on this trip was a little bittersweet. We'd kept the heater running all night so were toasty warm while we enjoyed our cuppa in bed and our breakfast. Before we started any of our pack up duties, we headed into the house to spend some time with Stu. A couple of coffees and a good catch up occupied a few hours until lunch. We then headed into Gisborne to fill our fuel tanks (both kinds - lunch and diesel). Back at Stu's he helped us clean up the van (removing any dirt that Tasmanian quarantine could object to), while we did some other kinds of cleaning until the van was prepared and we were showered and dressed. I wanted to head into Melbourne early enough while it was still light so we said our goodbyes at 4:30pm and less than an hour later, were lucky enough to find a carpark close enough. The ship wasn't in yet so we fired up the diesel heater and I went to get fish and chips for our dinner. It was a late sailing as the ship also did a day sailing while there is only one ship in action. Our Delish fish and chips were just that and from our park, I could see if the ship was in yet so we were very warm and comfortable while we waited. The traffic started to build up outside the van which I thought was optimistic, given the ship still wan't in. Then I got a text message saying the ship was delayed and check in wouldn't start until 7:15pm. So we put the kettle on for a cuppa while more cars moved nowhere on the road alongside. By the time we had finished our tea, the ship was in and the line of traffic was moving so we joined in. It didn't take long to get to the quarantine check which was all fine.....until they looked in the caravan fridge and even though I had disposed of fruit and vegetables and cleaned out the vegetable crisper, I didn't know about trout. The smoked trout we had bought from Deano at our campsite in Black Mountain was not allowed into Tassie! Despite being commercially produced and packaged. I was devastated and if I hadn't eaten so many fish and chips I would have eaten it then but no.
We then sat in the queue on the pier for over an hour and a half. We did feel sorry for the ship crew - they were qorking twice as hard to get the onboard vehicles off and then prepare the ship for us to board. Finally, at about 9:40pm (10 minutes after we should have been departing), we were on board. The Patriot was ready for it's first trip to Tassie!
We headed up to our room and then to the casino for Greg's traditional hour of entertainment. It was nearly 11pm before the ship sailed, and not long after that we were tucked up in bed and fell asleep quickly.......until we sailed out the Port Phillip Bay heads! The boat started rocking and rolling which kept me awake for the next 3.5 hours. Finally, the waters calmed and I fell asleep again, unil we were woken by the ship's intercom at the very civilised hour of 7:30pm. It was closer to 9am before we got off, so I didn't like their chances of being on time today either! We headed around the coner to park along the water's edge for our breakfast and morning cuppa - as usual in the van with the diesel heater running!
A quick visit to the East Devonport dump point and then we were on our way. Our usual stop at the Exeter Bakery for scallop pies was made better with a visit from Greg's mum so we enjoyed a catch up with her. Setting off for the last stretch, the wind was startng to pick up again but at least it was sunny. The pruning of our driveway must have worked as we didn't scratch the van on the way in. Our fur kids were delighted to see us and we heard lots of stories from our wonderful housesitter before they headed off. A bit of rearranging got the Patriot parked up near the shed (in a spot that would make a very good campsite - it meets most of our criteria!) and we started unpacking. We are home.
It was a really relaxing trip, and we enjoyed getting to some places that we have never been to before. The weather was pretty good while we were north although if time had permitted, it would have been nice to go further north too. We did just over 6,000km, stayed at 19 different campsites (which included 3 caravan parks and 5 showgrounds) and spent some quality time with lots of special people on the way. The most special are Neill and Jude who travelled with us and we really cannot thank them enough for this 5 1/2 weeks. Back to the real world now.
Fairhaven and Berwick - Thursday 11 and Friday 12 July 2019
Although we love the convenience of the shower in our van, water preservation requirements normally keep our showers short and sharp. So it is fair to say we really enjoyed the big new showers and Neill and Jude's with their rain heads - and for a really long time!
A walk on the beach would have been nice but it was too cold, wet and windy so we settled for watching the ever changing ocean from the wamth of the lounge. After elevenses we headed to Lorne ostensibly for lunch, but there was nothing suitable open so we headed inland to Deans Marsh and had a very good steak sandwich in the Store. We then went to check out Paul and Emily's new house with it's rammed earth walls which was also very interesting.
Our usual routine of pre dinner drinks didn't change and we spent another lovely evening in front of the (fake) fire with a fine dinner.
On Friday Neill cooked a big fry up as we hadn't had one last Sunday and obviously we wouldn't be able to have one this Sunday. It was so good I deemed it the best breakfast of the trip. Neill and I then washed cars as we need to get some dirt off ours before we board the Spirit. After another cuppa, we said farewell to our travelling companions, commenting that it would be strange to wake up over the next few days and not to see them!
We then headed out to Berwick to catch up with the Thomas'. It was a three hour drive but we were rewarded with biscuits and cheese and bubbles and a lovely catch up with everyone including Marg and Karen. Paul had prepared an amazing roast beef so we enjoyed our dinner and feel so happy we could make this time to catch up - it is hard when your best friend of 34 years lives in another state.
Back to Gisborne (yes, we did a lot of driving today) to sleep in the van for our last time this trip.
Whipstick to Fairhaven - Wednesday 10 July 2019
It rained in the night so we were very lucky with your last night around the campfire.
We headed off in separate directions just after 9am although we were meeting up without vans at the beach later today. Our first stop was our friendly caravan repair man in Bendigo - another full circle given we visited him on our first day as well! - to fix the disintegrated shower hatch. Paul was as helpful as ever and we were back on the road within 15 minutes.
Elevenses was in the small town of Harcourt on the Calder, mainly because it had a dump point. The wind was starting to pick up - there is some horrible weather predicted for the next few days. So we were pleased we weren't towing the van our whole driving distance today. It was only a little while later that we pulled into Greg's brother's driveway and unhitched. The van was staying here for a few days. Popping into the house, we met up with Doug and Ruth and kids again before they headed out. We did some packing and van preparation and were back on the road again after lunch.
The wind was buffetting the can so we were very glad we didn't have the van on. It was more than a couple of hours driving down so it was pretty exciting to pull into Neill and Jude's new house on their old block. We enjoyed the toour, admired the build quality and settled in for our usual nightly routine - just inside with a fake fire while the wind howled and rain poured outside. What good timing!
Urana to Whipstick - Tuesday 9 July 2019
So many things in life go full circle. This is our last night on the road, so close to where we started that we’ve almost done a circle. But the more ironic circle is that we are camped 20 metres from the spot we camped in our very first caravan on our first night of having that wind up caravan, more than 8 years ago. We’ve been through three vans since then to get to the best of the best!
Even though it was a travel morning, we didn’t have much to pack up so it was a reasonably leisurely morning in the warmth of the van. The ambience was shattered at about 8:30am when Neill fired up the chainsaw to cut some more firewood for tonight’s campfire. All for a good cause.
So it was after 9:30am before we hit the road. We took some backroads which were actually very good and arrived in Berrigen for elevenses. Today we did actually get to a bakery which offered good products so we enjoyed our coffee and treats. I was trying to temember who I knew from my childhood who came from Berrigen and think it was a horse float driver - odd the things we remember.
Back on the road again, we drove through Barooga, which I remember was the destination for older Victorias to take a bus trip to in order to play the pokies when I was a kid. Then it was across the Murray and we were back in Victoria. We stopped for fuel and the rain started just after that, but stopped in time for lunch which was had on the banks of a tributary of the Goulburn River.
We then took some interesting roads south and west aiming for the Whipstick State Park, where we arrived just before 4pm. A quick dash through the bush for some kindling and the fire was lit. Our afternoon tea was had in the sunshine under clear blue skies - we quickly forgot the rain we drove through today.
As the sun set, our fire warmed up. Neill, Jude and I went for a bit of a walk before pre dinner drinks and our dinner. The fire was hot as we played music through the van’s external speakers and reminisced about this trip.
Canberra to Urana - Monday 8 July 2019
Although we are nearing the end of this trip - which normally saddens my heart even though all good things must come to an end - tonight’s campsite is such a gem that my heart is singing. As we all were around the best campfire of the whole trip!
It was a drizzly grey morning in Canberra as we packed up. So efficient were we in our packing that we were on the road earlier than planned, much to Jude’s chagrin.
The rain really settled in as we headed out of the ACT and turned onto the Hume. I kept an eye on all cars overtaking as we expected Doug and Ruth to overtake us, given they left at a similar time. But we turned off at Jugiong for elevenses so they must have gone past then.
The cafe in Jugiong was a pleasant surprise. Incredibly busy for 10:30 on a Monday morning in a one-horse town by passed by the freeway. We enjoyed our morning tea very much before it was back on the freeway. An hour later we turned off towards Wagga Wagga. Driving towards and through Australia’s largest inland city, the rain strated to ease and we were looking for a lunch spot. Just the other side of Wagga Wagga, we pulled up in a rest area and although it was now 5C warmer than when we left Canberra, it was still cold. We worried we wouldn’t be sitting around the campfire much tonight.....
The clouds started to part as we drove west, and then turned off towards Lockhart and Urana. First mission was to find some firewood so when Neill turned off on a little side road, I figured we were searching for wood. Passing a creek, I commented to Greg about what a nice looking campsite that was. Neill turned us around at some cattleyards and brought us back - to this very campsite! I thought it was a fluke but no, this was where we were heading! And so much better than expected. On the banks of a creek, with plentiful red gum firewood (we did cut a fair bit for a really big fire), not a cloud in the sky, sun shine and peace and quiet. This ranks highly as far as campsites go.
Jude made scones while we got the fire going, then we settled into the warmth as the sun went down. There was music, singing, burritos for dinner - a great night.
Canberra - Sunday 7 July 2019
It was a cold night, so we left the diesel heater running all night on a lower temperature. It's much quieter that the reverse cycle air conditioning (which we can run while we are on power) but we still didn't sleep very well so didn't surface until 8:30am, even though it was a lovely sunny day.
We farewelled Neill and Jude for their day at the War Memorial and had scrambled eggs for our breakfast. We then headed back to Doug and Ruth's for my promised nail painting session with my youngest niece. Some more lovely family time before we left them to a visit with friends and to pack for their trip to Melbourne - we should see them at the other brother's house this week.
Our late afternoon was occupied with housekeeping tasks around the caravan. That kept us busy until Neill and Jude got back and then we decided to go out for dinner. Once again, TripAdvisor was consulted and our fascination with dumplings directed us to a local dumpling house. It was incredibly busy which we took as a good sign. And it was - we had a very staggered meal with dumplings, steamed vegies, squid, duck, more dumplings and the traditional banana fritter. It was excellent and we enjoyed every minute of it - even though we outlasted most of our neighbour tables!
A quick stop at the supermarket then home for hopefully a good night's sleep before we hit the road again tomorrow.
Canberra - Saturday 6 July 2019
The day dawned grey and cloudy but we didn't come to Canberra for the weather. After our mornning cuppa in bed, we decided to have breakfast at the farmers market which is only 200m from our campsite. It's a very good farmers market, with good variety of high quality food and a diverse offering. We're now at the point where we are minimising our fresh food as we can't take vegies on the boat next weekend so weren't in a position to buy anything, but it was interesting. There was also a range of ready to eat food - but no egg and bacon rolls! We enjoyed some dumplings (strange choice for breakfast, and not as good as our Dubbo winery/campsite, but yummy) and then a pie.
After downing all of that, we headed to Doug and Ruth's new place. Ruth was outside just as we arrived so let us in through the underground carpark which is where Doug was. We hadn't seen their new house before, but because we came in at the carpark level, our tour started with their private garage and the piece de resistance - Doug's new wine cellar. It's amazing, and quite beautiful. He has done a really good job.
We spent the day with them, checking out the new house, catching up on news, playing with the kids - it was really nice. Neill and Jude came over to join us all for dinner, a delicious roast. A great end to a really lovely day.
Molong to Canberra - Friday 5 July 2019
Nothing to pack up this morning so it was a relaxed travel day morning- we didn't even get out of bed until 8:20am! And were still on the road by 9:30am! Molong is a nice little town, and this was a great campsite so we'll put this on the list to return to.
Heading south, we arrived in Cowra for elevenses. Cowra is almost famous for its military camps - one of which went on to become a prisoner of war camp (where a large group of Japanese prisoners even staged an escape - it took the authorities 12 days to round up all the prisoners) and the other turned into a migrant camp. The prisoner of war camp was dismantled in 1947 and the migrant camp housed 17,000 new Australians between 1949 and 1956. Five of those migants were my mother and her family. So it was very cool to have elevenses where Mum would have played as a 10 year old girl. I have photos of Mum playing with her cousin there - today there are only foundations left.
After this link to my family history, experienced with coffee and banana muffins - which were most sought after: Before Cowra, Jude radioed us to ask whether we wanted elevenses in a cafe or in the van. Greg replied, saying we had muffins (defrosted), to which a truckie somewhere on the road near us piped up saying "oooh, muffins would be nice" - we headed towards Boorowa, Yass and then Canberra. Lunch was had in the vans just before Yass, where Jude followed my example of an earlier campsite when I took a rubbish bag out to pick up discared rubbish from previous inconsiderate people.
We arrived into Canberra to drizzle and a cold wind and got ourselves set up at the Exhibition Park In Canberra (EPIC). We certainly timed it well, as the rain got heavier and lots more vans rolled in. The sun peeked oout occasionally so we had a cup of tea outside before the weather sent Greg inside and Neill, Jude and I out for a walk. There's a dog show on here this weekend so there are zillions of dog trailers and people here for that.
Dinner was in Cafe Bushtracker tonight so I prepared out antipasto platter for pre-dinner drinks and we had a lovely meal inside. Home for a good, warm night's sleep before our weekend in Canberra.
Tamworth to Molong - Thursday 4 July 2019
Greg and I took it fairly slowly this morning even thought it was pack up day, as Neill and Jude packed up early and headed to the caravan repair man to get their awning motor replaced. That all went according to plan, and maybe we should have gone with them as someone had their shower hatch replaced at the same time and that took less than five minutes! We discovered early on this trip that our hatch was stuck shut - we thought just because of lack of use. At Andrew's where we had access to a ladder we got up there to try and fix it and discovered it was so brittle from the sun that it crumbled as soon as you touched it. So at the moment we have a lot of duct tape holding it together. Maybe we could have got a group discount at the caravan repair man!
Anyway, we were on the road by 10:30 and decided to get through Tamworth and out the other side before we stopped for morning tea. The wind was up again, although the sun was still shining and it's not too cold. We got to Malleley for lunch - another little town that Greg and I have seen a lot of in the last couple of years going to Andrew's. Then we had a big afternoon of driving through small towns such as Coolah, Duneedoo, Wellington through drought affected country. We had some hills and valleys, mostly farm land with a few occasions of stock grazing the long paddock and it was approaching sunset as we pulled into Molong. We had already identified the Showgrounds as the best campsite and headed out of town to the combined showgrounds/golf course. A great spot - obviously very old showgrounds - but nice and quiet and only two other campers here. Neill, Jude and I walked many of golf course holes as it got dark just to stretch muscles after driving all day before Cafe Patriot (our caravan) provided the venue for dinner tonight. I had put a corned beef in the non-electric slow cooker this morning so we had a lovely dinner with more music inside the van as we couldn't have campfires here. Another great night.
Tamworth - Wednesday 3 July 2019
It's been quite a while since we actually stopped in Tamworth - we go through it every time we go to Andrew's but it was 2012 the last time we actually stopped to look at anything in Tamworth.
My most pressing priority - now that we are in a decent sized city - was to get my nails done. so we headed into town just after 9am for me to get that done before Neill and Jude came to join us. The second nail salon I tried could do me straight away so I was in and out within the hour, and ready for elevenses. Neill and Jude came in and we went to a bakery in the main street which was pretty good. Then it was off to the Australian Country Music Hall of Fame. The static displays were a little ordinary but the new "Walk a Country Mile" with memorabillia and videos of each era of country music in Australia was excellent. We took our time going through that and quite enjoyed it.
Then it was lumchtime, so TripAdvisor again steered us towards a cafe. We thought we had a dud when the service was not great and then menu was not clear but then the food came and it was amazing!
Neill and Jude then headed to the Golden Guitar but we have done that so we visited a few of the shops in the main street. Greg took a seat with Smokey Dawson, the founder of Australian country music.
Tamworth have done a really good job of branding themselves as the county music capital of Australia. The whole city lives and breathes itself as country music - it's really well done.
We had to get a gas bottle filled so we headed back to the caravan park and sorted that before settling back into the sun with a cup of tea and our books. As the sun sank, we lit the fire as the breeze was a bit cool and we needed the warmth. The wind dropped at sunset so we enjoyed nibbles in front of the fire while a roast lamb cooked in the weber. Jude's dinner was excellent and we enjoyed it while playing a range of country music artists through our caravan external speakers - artists who Neill hadn't heard off but had learnt abut today. A good day and night.
Black Mountain to Tamworth - Tuesday 2nd July 2019
It was cold last night. Yes, we are getting further south but I think it has more to do with the elevation here - they had snow here a few weeks ago!
So there was no hurry to get up this morning, until the sun was warming everything up. We went for a walk up to the trout ponds, where although Deano is trying to keep his fish numbers up, he is doing it in half the number of ponds due to the drought.
He also had a pretty big storm, almost a mini tornado, sweep through in February and destroy a lot of his netting. But he is a very optimistic sort of bloke so he just keeps going on. He is now also trying silver perch because they grow better in the hot weather whereas trout grow better in the cold - both extremes in weather are prevalent here.
We had elevenses in the camp kitchen overlooking the stocked fish pond where you can throw a line in. Clearly, this was going to be my best opportunity to catch a fish after the last few days but even I thought this might be too easy. I remember my parents taking Andrew and I to a trout farm in the Dandenongs in the late '70's and we both caught heaps. Back when I thought I was a fisherman....
Dean then took us through his processing plant and explained how he uses every element of the fish. It was very interesting and he has some great ideas for furture production, marketing and development of the family farm. We wish him all the best.
It was 12pm before we hit the road, so we only got to Armidale for lunch. For a large city, the lack of caravan parking was terrible. Not that Launceston does it well - despite my best attempts. We had a pleasant lunch in a little cafe at the park and then hit the road properly. We stopped for fuel in Uralla and then headed down to Tamworth.
There's not any freecamping in Tamworth so we're in a caravan park, but down the back on the river where we can still have a fire and don't have anyone around us. I did a quick trip to the shops then we sat around the fire until I got up to prepare dinner (outside - curry cooked inside leaves the smell for days!) and we planned our next couple of days here.
Ashby to Black Mountain - Monday 1st July 2019
Just recently I wrote about our criteria for the best camp site. Today as we arrived at yet another unique location, we ponder whether we need to add "uniqueness" to the criteria. So far on this trip, some of our best campsites have included the beach, a winery (with dumplings), the bush, on the banks of a river, at a rodeo and now, at a trout farm. We have an outlook over water, we can have a fire (and boy, do we need it!), there's no-one else here, the views are lovely - and there's yummy trout to eat!
This morning the sun was rising over the Clarence River as we woke up a bit earlier than normal - it's pack up day. By 9:30am, we were pulling out of our campsite, which included a steep exit, a one way turn and then having to reverse further down the road. No dramas, and soon we were on the Pacific Highway heading south. We pulled into Grafton in time for elevenses and a visit to the dump point. One day, I'm going to write that book about Australia's dump points!! The Grafton one is in the greyhound park - of course it is! Turns out the greyhound races are on for the next three nights so there was plenty of caravans and dog trailers. After coffee, we were on the road again for the biggest bit of our drive.
The scenery today encapsulated everything. We started with coastal, including sugar cane growing along the Clarence River for miles, then drove into a valley, then up into the mountains (from a 9m elevation in Grafton to 1400m this afternoon), then along the ridge all afternoon - in drought country.
We climbed and climbed and climbed, stopping half way up for lunch. The views from our lumchspot were amazing!
Once we got to that 1400m elevation, we levelled out and came into Glen Innes. Here we turned left and headed south down the New England Highway. Just south of Guyra we turned off to Black Mountain. A quick stop on the side of the road for some firewood and then we arrived at Deano's Springwater Smoked Trout farm. We met Deano who's lived here his whole life. He's been farming trout and yabbies for 20 years and have just recently branched out into tourism. He is building some powered sites and has already built a camp kitchen and a shower/toilet block. Good on him for expanding his business. We bought some smoked trout and some pate, lit our campfire and enjoyed the pate. It is going to be cold tonight though, which will challenge us. The roaring campfire kept us warm through dinner, which Jude had prepared this morning (after messaging me from 10m away asking for an onion!) and put in the thermal cooker all day. It was yum in front of the fire, and we lasted until about 8pm before we abandoned the fire for the much warmer diesel heaters in our caravans!
Ashby - Sunday 30 June 2019
It's Greg's birthday!!
We had a lovely day in the sun by the river with lots of good food to celebrate. The fog was in when we first woke up, to the point where I couldn't tell where the river finished and the fog started. So we had to wait for that to lift before a fry up for the occasion. Sitting in the sun, Greg's phone kept ringing so it was a lovely morning. I even tried fishing again - with the same results!
Afternoon tea was damper made in the campfire so the fire was already nice and hot for when the sun dropped behind the horizon and so did the temperature. It had been a delightdfully sunny day - we even got into shorts and t shirts again!
Greg's birthday dinner of roast porrk went into the Weber as the Jansz came out and Greg spoke to his nieces and nephews. The dinner was delicious, eaten while Greg's music blasted out of the caravan's external speakers! A festive evening under the stars as the river lapped - and those fish kept jumping out of the water and laughing at me.
