Geelong to Bangor via Devonport - Monday 12th June 2023
The beds are still terrible so it wasn't a great night's sleep. Up at 5:45am, ready for a 6:30am disembarkation with a few delays so we were driving off at 6:50am. Only one of the usual cafes in the East Devonport area was open for breakfast (public holiday!) but the coffee was OK and I really enjoyed my egg, bacon and hash brown wrap!
Home by 8:30am to very happy pets and Stephen has done a great job looking after everyone. A quiet day to unpack and transition to the real world!
A quick summary:
5,210 kilometres travelled
20 days travel
14 different beds slept in
Tracey's favourite part of the trip:
- apart from catching up with family and friends, our time at South West Rocks and those amazing oysters!
Greg's favourite part of the trip:
- apart from catching up with family and friends, the trip on the Mary River Rattler.
Fairhaven to Geelong - Sunday 12th June 2023
What a beautiful vista to enjoy while drinking our morning cuppas in bed - the ocean, the lighthouse, the waves rolling in. Awesome start to the last day of our holiday.
Up a bit later for the traditional Sunday fry up, which we even enjoyed outside on the deck in the sun. OK, the heater may have also been on but it was surprisingly comfortable. And yet it was only a few days ago that we enjoying the Queensland warmth!
After another relaxing coffee, we headed off to the local markets which were heaving! There were so many people down for the long weekend and it was a nightmare to get a park and even get around the market. Some nice things to see but nothing worth buying so we headed home again for late elevenses, followed by lunch.
I packed our overnight bags and everything else into the car ready for a mid afternoon departure before Neill, Jude and I took Chloe down to the beach. One of my favourite things to do in this part of the world is walk along the beach, so Neill stayed to play with Chloe and build sand castles while Jude and I walked. The tide was coming in though so there wasn't much sand.
Then it was time for farewells and we set off for Geelong, for our first departure from the Geelong Spirit of Tasmanian terminal. Turns out it's not that easy to get to when coming from the south (they'll be getting my feedback) but we were on time and checked in, and waited a short time before boarding. Drinks then dinner on board and gritting our teeth for the uncomfortable beds!
Shean's Creek to Fairhaven - Saturday 10th June 2023
The wonderful community of Sunland caravan owners to which we belong would have been horrified to hear we woke up in a Bushtracker (the competition caravan!) this morning! It was very comfortable and I was pleasantly surprised at how dark it was (I find ours very light, which is disadvantageous when trying to have a holiday sleep in!) so I actually had to set an alarm knowing we were having a small three-year-old visitor shortly! Sure enough, we were still enjoying our cuppa when there was a knock at the door and in came Chloe!
Our lovely morning visitor did slow us down a bit so it was race to get sorted before we had to leave as we had a lunch date in Geelong at 12:30pm. We stopped for fuel and elevenses in Wallan - I almost thought we might run into someone we knew but we didn't!
We arrived at the Telegraph Hotel just a few minutes late and had such a nice catch up with Garry and Leslie over a delicious meal and a couple of glasses of wine. It was a great couple of hours.
Then we had a our last hour's drive down to Neill and Jude's house and arrived at just the same time as Clare and Heidi - so long since we saw them! It was great to be back at the beach and we enjoyed the afternoon watching the waves, before dinner and a good catch up.
West Wyalong (NSW) to Shean's Creek (VIC) - Friday 9th June 2023
Our budget cabin last night was just that - and the old double bed was the least comfortable we have had this trip! And the workmen started work on a new cabin out the back of ours just after 7:30am - good thing we were already having cuppas in bed.
We were on the road at 9ish because this morning's drive was all about getting to one of our favourite pie shops in Victoria at lunchtime. There was still a bit of rain about as we drove down to Narrandera and stopped for elevenses. The bakery was the source of the food but the queue for coffee was extra long so I went to a coffee shop up the road and that was much better - although they missed the memo on 65C milk as it was super hot. I drove down the road for half an hour before it was cool enough to stop and drink! That was close to Urana, a very small town and the only reason we remembered it is that Jude found us an excellent campsite there at the end of a trip a few years ago (maybe 2019?).
Rutherglen came into view just before 1pm which was perfect timing for lunch. Straight to our favourite pie shop - Parker's Pies, whose pies we have been enjoying for years and when we lived in Broadford, we were known to just drive to Rutherglen to have Parkers Pies for lunch (and buy some frozen ones for ron).
Out onto the once familiar Hume Freeway for the trip down to Shean's Creek, just out of Euroa where Neill and Jude's daughter lives with her two daughters and partner. This was the one night of this trip where we actually did have a caravan holiday as we were staying in the Bushtracker which Neill and Jude now leave there. We settled in for a cuppa as Justin was out fencing and Clare was at work. Justin already had the roast lamb on for dinner (true paddock to plate) so we chatted to him while he finished preparing and Clare and the girls came home. Lovely to catch up and see how much the girls are growing, and really nice to see where they live - a great part of the country with all those big rocks!
Coonabarabran to West Wyalong - Thursday 8th June 2023
It must be holidays when your trip is defined by food. Today's travels was all about making sure we were in Dubbo at lunchtime, to visit an old favourite. And we found a new favourite in Gilgandra for morning tea too!
The rain started and turned quite heavy while we were still having breakfast in Coonabarabran so I had to rethink my outfit and resort back to boots - and a jumper! The warm weather is well and truly over. We were on the road just after 9:30am and enjoying our audio book as we drove through teeming rain. Although we were going to be in Dubbo for an early lunch, we still needed elevenses so turned in Gilgandra to find a cafe and luck was on our side with a car park right out the front of one (handy when it is still bucketing rain). Gilgandra is a cute little town on the banks of the Castlereagh River and we have been in the impressed in the past with their RV friendliness (Launceston could take a leaf of this small town's book!). so a shout out to Cafe 41 in Gilgandra who gave us a complimentary small slice of cake with our very good coffees.
The rain was just starting to ease as we drove through Dubbo, past the zoo and turned left towards Red Earth Estate. It is a winery owned by a Chinese family (in an area not known for its wine making) and they have space to park your caravan for self contained camping - which we did back in 2019 - and they make the most amazing dumplings. In 2019 we arrived with Neill and Jude in time for an early dinner of dumplings and chatted to the owner who told us he exports all his wine to China and that the dumplings was just a side business. Fast forward to COVID when they had to close, had no workers to pick their grapes, couldn't export to China even if they had wine - it was a disaster for them. We were so pleased to hear they were open again and it was great to catch up with them but it does make us wonder how long they will last, now that they only sell their wine through the cellar door, But their dumplings
make up for it! Possibly the best dumplings we have ever had, so we really enjoyed them (and had seconds) and bought some wine to give them some business. Glad we came back.
On the road again and the rain seemed to have eased, as the sun came out after Parkes, through Forbes etc. A rock was flicked up to us between Forbes and West Wyalong and put a decent star shaped chip right in my line of sight so we found a smash repair place here (who specialises in windscreens) and he filled it for us - so well, it just looks like a smudge of dirt now. We are camped up in the same caravan park we stayed here in 2014 and it's probably the oldest cabin we've had on our trip (and not the cheapest!) but it will do. We have some luxury coming up over the next few nights!
Lake Leslie (Qld) to Coonabarabran (NSW) - Wednesday 7th June 2023
Aahhh, Coonabarabran - the site for much frustration and jest after we spent more time here in 2019 than anyone would choose. New readers can go back to the June 2019 series of blog entries to catch up on that story. Ironically, we are back in the same caravan park tonight, in a more comfortable and better appointed cabin for a much cheaper price than some we have stayed in on this trip! And I can even look out the window to our 2019 campsite!
We slept well in the beautiful four poster bed and as I had my coffee in bed this morning, I mused that that the decor of that cottage would drive an interior designer crazy. There's the Victorian era turned wooden bed and table, the leadlight lamp and light shades - and then the Balinese mirror in the bedroom complimented by a painted set of cattle horns above the door! Very eclectic.
On the road again just after 9:30am to slightly cooler temperatures but the day warmed up to 24C and I'm not giving up my Birkenstocks yet. We stopped for early elevenses at an excellent bakery in Inglewood paired with good coffee from a coffee shop. Actually very impressive. Also impressive were these awesomely painted silos at Yalarbon (pity about the sun behind them as I took the photo) a bit further down the road.
A fuel stop on the NSW side of Goondiwindi (at Boggabilla) and then lunch in Moree. It seems their crime issues are still prevalent so we certainly didn't linger there, but did make the necessary phone calls to find accommodation for tonight and then battled through road works for the 219km to here - culminating a 539km drive today.
Willowbank to Lake Leslie via Brisbane and Harrisville - Tuesday 6th June 2023
What a busy day we've had! We're currently holed up in a very quirky cottage at a caravan park at this beautiful location which is good as we are looking forward to quiet night to catch up on sleep!
What with the roadworks 150m from our motel room, and early starters in the neighbouring rooms, we didn't sleep well. Given we had to get up early for our big day, it wasn't the worst thing to be up and about before 6:30am. Our first trip of the day was to the Caravanning Queensland Caravanning and Camping Supershow - we had seen a video of the new release caravan from the manufacturers of our caravan and thought we could see it in person while we were here. It was being held at the Brisbane Showgrounds so pretty much in the middle of town - hence we decided to travel in by train. The receptionist at the model gave me instructions to the best train station, so we headed off at 7:45am but didn't realise how difficult it would be to get a park! Once we finally found one, we missed a train by 1 minute! Eventually we got there, and then there was a shuttle bus at the other end as the Showgrounds Station is having some significant works. By this stage, I was pretty desperate for a coffee (no kitchen in a motel room, so no way to make my own fancy coffee) so we stopped for that and a snack. So many caravans to see!
We made our way to our favourite manufacturer Sunland and spent about two hours there! The new van is awesome, and has everything we are missing on our current caravan. Could even have almost sold our current van while we were there! Anyway, need to think about that a bit more and have a chat to the financial planner.
Knowing we needed to get moving if we were going to get to the camel farm today before 3pm, we reversed our morning journey and was going to have lunch at the station but saw that a train on our line was due in 10 minutes so we knew we needed to get that. It turns out trains are pretty much the same the world over - quite boring when you are actually on them but they do get you from A to B quite efficiently.
Jumping off quickly at the other end, we headed straight to the camel farm, a further half hour drive. It was actually pretty awesome. Summerland Camels mostly milks their camels for its health properties so there are hundreds of camels milling around in the paddocks near the cafe and shop, which is also not far from the barn style milking shed. They had just been fed so were pretty happy for us to stand very close and talk to us in between mouthfuls of their pellets.
We treated ourselves to a camelcino given our lack of food and coffee today and a small snack, while we bought some milk, salami and cheese. Obviously, their meals had finished earlier in the day - if not, we could have had a camel pie and compared it to the one from the Birdsville Bakery seven years ago!
Knowing how tired we were, the mission was to find accommodation within a reasonable distance, We were just over an hour from Warwick so that seemed like a logical choice but there's obviously something on as there was no availability. However, this cottage was available only 15 minutes out of Warwick and on the banks of this great lake. I was very happy to see pelicans at the shore and raced down to get a photo at sunset.
It's kookily decorated - although the timber four post bed in our room is beautiful! - but will do us well. It's quiet, warm and let's just hope that bed is as comfy as it looks beautiful.
Noosa to Willowbank - Monday 5th June 2023
We were trying to pack a lot into today - but that didn't quite go according to plan!
Up reasonably early, after a very wet night - it rains heavily here! - we got ready and left at about 9am, to head to the headquarters of Rural Boss, the organic fertiliser company that Greg is the Tasmanian agent for. They were only 17km away and apart from not being well signed, we found them and had a cuppa with some of the team and a really good chat. As it continued to pour rain outside!
We left just after 11am and headed inland to avoid the freeways, which had us stopping in Beerwah for fuel and then lunch. I found a great Burrito Bar and it was really yummy! After our early lunch, we were on the road again, skirting around Brisbane heading for a camel farm south of Ipswich. Driving over the wall of the Wivenhoe Dam was daunting but interesting. Our travel plans were halted while stopped in Fernvale to determine our next route upon discovering the camel farm closed at 3pm - it was 2:32pm and we were 38 minutes away! A lot of research to plan the best place to stay for tomorrow's activities and still visit the camel farm had us returning to our original plan of staying at the Willowbank Caravan Park, right near the Amersley Airbase. Cabins were a minimum 2 night stay so we ended up in a motel room which is quite comfortable and well set up. I went for a walk this evening around the park - fair to say a different demographic to our kind of traveller and no Sunlands or Bushtrackers to be seen (but wait until tomorrow!!).
A quiet evening in ahead of our big day tomorrow.
Maryborough to Noosa - Sunday 4th June 2023
A nice easy day today. It was very wet and humid (I don't understand how these Queenslanders cope with humidity - and it's not even the wet season!) But this morning dawned rainy and warm and certainly felt quite humid. We had an easy morning, packed the car slowly and had elevenses with Janne before hitting the road.
An easy drive down the highway to Gympie (a favourite place of ours - NOT - see 2021 blog entries for context!) where we decided to stop for lunch for apparently the "best pies in Queensland"- we disagree. It was raining so we got takeaway and took them to a rest area overlooking the river but they really weren't that good. I'll refer them to "My Little Blueberry" in Crow's Nest if need be.
A bit further down the road to Noosa, as we wanted to be close to Kenilworth for the morning. A lovely caravan park at Tewantin (note to self - mark it in the Wikicamps favourites as it is a lovely caravan park - complete with a Sunland and a Bushtracker!) was our stop for the night and our cabin was very comofrtable. I took a good long walk around the park for some exercise - and if only you were still here, Renee! A nice home cooked dinner and that was our pretty easy day.
Maryborough - Saturday 3rd June 2023
The highlight of the day was our VIP trip on the Mary River Rattler steam train out of Gympie! A wonderful three hour experience that we would highly recommend to anyone when they are visiting this part of the world.
So we were up early to drive down to Gympie (bit over an hour) in time to check in, meet our guest experience officer (ours was Ralph) and board. It was a busy train, with more carriages than I thought to count, but we were in the Club Car just behind the steam engine - because we are VIPs.
On board we settled into our very comfortable seats with only 6 other VIPs. Our cheese platter was ready on our table and once we were underway, our wine was served. Some might say 10am was a little early for wine but we figured it was 5pm somewhere in the world! The commentary was very informative and the scenery became quite attractive once we were out of Gympie. We actually stopped at two former stations along the route more for sentimental reasons than any other purpose. This train line wasn't built until 1911 but was completed reasonably quickly and transported people in time for the gold rush in Gympie and beyond.
The steam train was beautifully restored, and emitted steam as the fires burned, especially when the train had to go a bit uphill (especially with all those carriages!). We arrived into Amamoor at about 11am and we were all encouraged to disembark to watch the engine disconnect and be turned around on the turntable. There was also a small market and a cafe - not that we needed the latter after our cheese and wine.
I do have a great video of the train turning but apparently it's too big for here! It was such a beautiful day and lovely to watch all the excited people. I observed one little boy telling anyone who would listen everything he knew about the train and that it was his birthday and then he'd show off his train cupcakes - he didn't offer us one though!! Eventually, the engine hooked back up at the other end and we were called to board again. It was amazing how different the return journey was now that we were the last carriage - without any weight behind us we did bump along, some might even say rattle..... However, it did mean we could stand at the back verandah although I sure hung on tightly.
We arrived back into Gympie just after 1pm, ready for our reserved table in the Rusty Rails cafe in the beautifully restored station building. We were served a lovely lunch (which I had ordered months ago when we booked the trip so not necessarily what I would have chosen today!) but it was very tasty and very filling, and finished off with dessert. Before we knew it, we were the last ones in the cafe so we thought we'd better head off. Our drive home was via Tin Can Bay for something different, as a slight rain shower fell on my freshly cleaned windscreen! After dropping Greg and Janne home, I headed to Coles for a quick grocery shop for the next few days by ourselves and we had a relaxing afternoon with a very light dinner after our big lunch. The train trip is really worthwhile and we would highly recommend it to anyone.
Maryborough - Friday 2nd June 2023
A beautiful relaxing day in the warm sunshine! Morning coffees were spent in the backyard while the sun glistened across the Mary River. How quickly one adjusts to warm weather again!
The highlight of our day was lunch at Portside Cafe. We first ate here on the banks of the river last July and really enjoyed their fish tacos. So much so that we knew we wanted to come back on this trip. Our plans to do so were nearly thwarted by road closures - there is a festival on tomorrow along the riverbank very much like Festivale for the Tasmanian readers of this blog and so they were setting up. I pleaded Tasmanian ignorance with my Tasmanian plated car and parked reasonably close. We were able to enjoy our fish tacos sitting at a table on the verandah washed down with some bubbles.
The afternoon was wiled away in the 26C weather. I did a few housekeeping tasks on the car and then we relaxed - just like holidays should be!
Ewingar to Maryborough - Thursday 1st June 2023
What a big day's driving! I am beat! But we made it to Janne's (Greg's aunt) just on sunset so at least I achieved my goal of not driving at night. When planning the route yesterday (recognising that it would be a big drive), the most direct route was 515km and scheduled to take 6 and a half hours. BUT, when we last drove that road (refer to the blog of August 2018), it wasn't in great condition. We were towing the caravan at the time so that makes it feel worse. However, Courtney who has recently driven it, suggested wholeheartedly that we avoid it because the road was in such poor condition that it would add more than the extra hour the alternative route proposed. So we decided on the alternative inland route via Tenterfield and Stanthorpe which had the extra benefit of completely avoiding Brisbane and any potential traffic issues. 7 hours and 27 minutes Google reckoned, for the 620km journey. Based on that, we decided we'd better get up early!!
Thankfully, sunrise is nice and early here so it was no hardship to get up at 7am. We pleasantly surprised ourselves by being ready to go in just on an hour! Goodbyes were said to the dogs (who clearly sensed something was amiss) and to Andrew and Courtney and we were on our way. The first hour was the slowest driving with poor road conditions and steep windy roads. First stop was in Tenterfield at my favourite public toilets and then for coffee at a very cool cafe called the Potting Shed. Second stop was just north of Toowoomba in Hampton and then lunch in Crows Nest. Now, this isn't a Google review but omg, the pies at "My Little Blueberry" pastry shop were just divine. Next to another lovely cafe and some cute shops - if only I'd had more time!! Further up the road to Nanango for another toilet stop and fuel (we thought diesel would be cheaper up here but it's still dearer than Tassie!), and our last stop at Kilkivan where I have pleasant memories of a very helpful mechanic also back in 2018. It was a beautiful sunset across the Mary River as we drove through town out to Janne's.
Oh, and we forgot to mention how wonderful the weather is! Sunny, warm and mid 20's - it's so nice to not need long pants or jumpers. And it's going to be 26C here in Maryborough tomorrow - pure bliss!!
As long as today's drive was, it brought back many memories of our various travels, camp trips and overnighters in previous years. So it was a good trip down memory lane and even better to catch up with Janne once we arrived.
