Gladstone - Mt Morgan

On our way to Gladstone we called into the town of Rosedale for morning tea at The Tiny Tea House,  they have lovely homemade cakes and slices, of course we had to sample what was on offer. It was then back on the road heading for the busy Bruce Hwy, it is amazing to see the number of  caravans heading south it seems every year there are heaps more vans on the road.

We spent a busy week with the Jason, Neat and the kids, loved going to the water park and watching Liv & Archie running around enjoying the water features. I also went to the library with them for story time and was picked out by a reporter and interviewed for the Advocate as it was also seniors week. Our time with them went much too fast Jason was keen for us to stay longer but we needed to get back to the Grandparents Holiday.

Our next planned stop for a couple of days was to be Mt Morgan which is 130 klm north of Gladstone, 38 klm west of Rockhampton, this coincided with us crossing paths once again with Gladys and Graeme. It was lovely to see them and hear about their travels. Mt Morgan's claim to fame is the Mount Morgan Mine which was mined for 99 years for gold, silver  & copper. What was once a large mountain is now one of the largest artificial holes on earth - more than 2.5klm long and more than 300m deep. The historic town of Mt Morgan was once one of the busiest towns in QLD boasting a population of around 11,000 people now only around 2,500 people live there and around 30% of these are on welfare, hopefully some life may come back to the town if the mining company decide to reprocess the trainings and mullock heaps. 

We stayed at the Silver Wattle Caravan Park in Mt Morgan and the current park owners who have only been there a couple of years are really doing a lot for tourism in the town. Everyone speaks highly of their stay in the park and word spreads that it is a great place to 

stay and the owners are working hard to improve the park. Upon arrival they present you with four fresh eggs and there is Happy Hour every evening around a cosy fire where they provide nibbles and wood fired pizza.

The Tiny Tea House Rosedale 

The Tiny Tea House

Back at the Water Park Gladstone
weather is getting warmer

Made the local Advocate Gladstone

Snow White performance Gladstone Theatre

Mt Morgan Heritage Railway Station

Mt Morgan Heritage Gold Mine

Street Scape Mt Morgan

Enjoying a pie at the Dam Mr Morgan

Local wildlife

Dam Mt Morgan

Dry river crossing

Happy hour Silver Wattle Caravan Park Mt Morgan

Bargara cont:

Once again time is flying by, we have now been at Bargara for three weeks leaving here on Tuesday to return to Gladstone to spend some time with Jase & his family before heading south.

We have spent a reasonably quiet time here enjoying the lovely warm sunny days, sometimes venturing out on our bikes for a little exercise or going for walks along the picturesque waterfront. We have also enjoyed a couple of games of bowls last week pairing up with a couple of ex Tasmanians in the Turkey Pairs. Unfortunately we were not winners on the day the opposition were very focused on winning the prize money. I nearly said to the lady I was playing against if that was my husband & he spoke to me like that I wouldn't play with him, only to find out in time he was no relation but still does not excuse his attitude.

For the past two Sunday's we have travelled north around 130klm to 1770 a beautiful seaside town right on the mouth of the river. The picnic areas are well patronised you need to get there early to score a table. It was a good meeting place to meet Jase, Neat & the grandkids as its approximately half way between Gladstone & Bargara. We had a great time on the beach swimming, making sand castles and Jase hired a stand up paddle board and after some assistance from my son I was even able to stand up long enough for a photo, certainly lacking core strength big time!! Grandad informed Olivia that if she dug a hole deep enough she would reach China, Jason's comment was they don't learn that at school! "That's right" said Grandad, when they ask how do you get to China? The answer  will be, go to the beach and dig a big hole. A bit like the Great Wall built to keep the rabbits in! I think it was to keep one big rabbit out.

Yesterday we had a visit from our friends Alison, David, Sue & Bill they are staying at Iron Ridge Park, a bush caravan park 15 klms from Childers. It was great catching up always lots of news to exchange even though we talk regularly on the phone. We walked down to the township of Bargara and enjoyed a lovely lunch at Salt, even though we had enjoyed scones, jam & cream for morning tea still able to manage another feed.

Another beautiful day today found me down at the beach by 10.30 enjoying a refreshing swim only three days left here, so need to make the most of it. The rest of the day was spent relaxing around the van, need to rest up as Anita and Jase have us booked for some baby sitting when we get there.

Beautiful 1770

Guess Who!!!

Being scruffed up by Olivia & Archer

Sausage sizzle

Waterfront walk Bargara

Friendly rivalry - Go the Hawks

Our neighbour a big cats fan

Bargara Beach

Our three weeks at Burrum Heads certainly flew by much too fast! We celebrated Brian's Birthday with a trip out to Bamboo Land at Torbanlea a nursery that specialise in tropical gardens. We spent the morning exploring their extensive gardens which displayed all the species of bamboo & ginger before going to the pub for his Happy Birthday lunch.

Baz spent many a hour daily, fishing from the river bank at Burrum without any luck!  He was given lots of advice from seasoned fishermen who were able to catch nice size Bream right beside him, he spent so much money on bait & hooks it would have been better to just go buy a good feed. The day before we left we thought his luck had changed only for him to pull up a empty crab body. It was rather funny as we were all cheering and clapping exited that finally he had caught a fish,  only to crack up when we saw what was on his line.

Last Friday we said farewell to Maree, Brian, Christina & Eddie and headed to another of our favourite destinations Bargara Beach 20 minutes from Bundaburg. We arrived by 11am and settled in for the next three weeks. It was rather nice that a few acquaintances that we had met on previous stays came over to welcome us back, so it was not long before we were up to date on the happenings in the park.

The Bundaburg RSL has taken over the Bargara Bowls Club and we have joined as life members for $1, this entitles us to discounted drinks and also half price meals on Wednesday nights. Last Wednesday night we had a table of 18 and still some of the regulars missed out on a seat, next week we have booked two tables to accommodate our group of Grey Nomads.

Today we have been here a week already!  Baz & I have been helping the economy with our visit to the local dentist, so far we are out of pocket $800 and we still need to go back for more dental work. Baz needs a root filling which will not be covered by our health insurance as he had a crown and that has taken him to his limit, pity it does not come under general dental as there is no limit.

Last weekend we went to the Childers Festival, as the Main Street is used for all the stalls and stages the traffic on the Bruce Hwy is diverted around the town for the festival, much to the annoyance of the truckies, we heard them grumbling &cursing on the UHF. There were over 400 stalls and five stages with non-stop multicultural entertainment Baz & I ended up very hot & sweaty as we mingled in the crowds needed to drop into the pub for a lovely cold shandy!

Today Carlene & Rex come up from Hervey Bay for the day, it was great catching up with them again as it has been a couple of weeks since we had lunch with them at Maryborough. Before they arrived Baz and I had a quick trip on the bikes to the bakery to buy something nice to have with coffee. After  soaking up some of the lovely sunshine we all walked the 2klms to the township of Bargara where we enjoyed a lovely lunch.

Another beautiful sunset at Burrum Heads

Burrum Heads

Tree carving Bamboo Land

Bamboo Land Nursery

Parklands at Bamboo Land

Birthday Boy with his good mates

Fish finding expedition

Baz proudly displaying his big catch!

Childers Festival

Lunch with Carlene & Rex at Bargara Beach

Burrum Heads

Friday we arrived at Burrum Heads which is only 270 klms south of Gladstone and 20 minutes from Hervey Bay. Maree, Brian, Eddie and Christina were already here and it didn't take us long to settle in to enjoying their company and Happy Hours. Saturday night was the Parks Christmas in July which was well attended by the majority of the park patrons, lots of fun was had especially when Santa & his little helper arrived.

Monday found me at the hairdresser, Denise's Clip Joint for the much needed colour and cut. Baz can no longer tell me I have a Skunk's trail ( regrowth in other words)! Was a little shocked when I saw how much hair was on the floor, probably my fault, did say it needed thinning out badly.

Tuesday Maree, Christina & myself caught the bus into Hervey Bay for a little retail therapy, of course we found lots of sale items. Baz, Brian & Eddie were very happy with the amount we had saved them, only problem, we had to do a reorganisation in the vans to find room for the purchases.

Today it was off down to Maryborough to the Thursday Market where we buy lovely fresh fruit & veg. So happy to see the popcorn stall as have been waiting a whole year to indulge in the best popcorn I have tasted, don't usually like it that much. We retuned to Burrum  after visiting the supermarket in Hervey Bay to get some much needed supplies. We enjoyed a nice feed of Brim tonight that Kevin caught and was kind enough to share with us, once again Baz is not very good at hunting & gathering!

The weather this week has been very pleasant with daily average 22 degrees but the nights have been a little chilly dropping to around 12 degrees. Looks like next week we will be even colder at night they are forecasting temps as low as 4 degrees over night! Yuk nearly as bad as home!

House Rules Queenslander prize house

Making out I had the key to the door!

Christmas in July Burrum Heads

Getting into the spirit of the ngiht

Happy hour Burrum Heads waiting for the sunset

Didn't disappoint lovely sunset

Gladstone

Whew! What a busy 10 days in Gladstone, looking forward to returning to the Grandparents holiday!

It was good to be able to help Jason and Anita out with a little child minding so they were able to get out and about easier without having the distraction of little children while they went about their business.They managed to find a suitable second vehicle and also a nice house to rent in closer proximity to the City of Gladstone, shops, Gym, schools and work.

Since the mining boom Gladstone has certainly gone ahead with large shopping centres and residential areas and it's multi-commodity port being the largest in Queensland. We took a coffee cruise on the harbour which was aboard the Curtis Endevour 2 a vehicular ferry used for crossings to Curtis Island, I was sure it was to be on the Riverside Mandalay must have been dreaming!(wishful thinking) The cruise was very informative and a real eye opener of the workings of the port, which has major exports of coal, alumina, aluminium, cement products and liquid ammonia. Coal makes up 70% of the total exports from the port, each year 50 million tonnes of coal passes through Gladstone Port.

The weather was very settled while we were there around 24-25 daily and dropping by around 10 degrees of a night. It was great to wake up to lovely blue skies everyday.

The long awaited birthday finally arrived on the 2nd July, Olivia was given instructions to wake us in the morning so we could see her open her presents only she would not open any until Archie was awake and it would be the only morning that he slept in! Later in the day we went to the park in the Botanical Gardens to have her Birthday Party with Baz and I being Olivia's only party guests as she hasn't been in Gladstone long enough to make any special friends to invite. Olivia didn't mind and told me the best part of her birthday was the party bags! Of course as party guests Baz and I were recipients of party bags.

All aboard for the "coffee cruise" it was like herding
 cattle onto a transport boat. 

This boat looks like it would be more
comfortable and maybe serve better coffee!

Loader where Jason works

Power Station

Lake Awoonga, Gladstone's water supply

Picnic hut Lake Awoonga

Jason's car arriving from WA

Birthday Girl

Wuruma Dam/Tannum Sands

Last Tuesday we arrived at Wuruma Dam to be shocked by the number of Caravans & Motor Homes camped near & round the Dam. On an average most nights there would be 60-70 campsites. We were unable to get a spot in the 1st bay where we were last year, but were lucky to see someone in the 2nd bay loading his boat onto the roof of his vehicle, our luck was in he would be moving on later that morning. We waited patiently until he had packed & driven a good couple of metres before pouncing on the site! It was a great spot only a few metres from the edge of the dam. The weather that day was overcast but still pleasantly warm, the forecast for Wednesday was for rain, we were hoping it might miss us, unfortunately the weather forecast was right, as we had steady rain from early hours of the morning until mid afternoon. Thank goodness I had a good book to read, I didnt get out of bed until 11am, without TV, Internet or Mobile Phone cover it was certainly back to basic. 

To be continued, getting a little tired!

Back again, the internet connection here at Tannum Sands and Gladstone is only 3G and it is so frustrating as the connection is so slow!! It was after midnight the other night when the photo's on my blog finally loaded. 

Saturday we left Wuruma Dam after a great few days enjoying campfires with fellow Grey Nomads who were nice enough to share their Red Claw with us. Baz did put his traps out but could only catch one miserable Red Claw, he is not very good as a hunter & gatherer. We made our way to Gladstone finally arriving at Jason's after the Tom Tom took us a short cut over a very narrow, hilly, winding road.

It was great to see Jase, Neat, Liv & Archie especially the children as they have changed so much in the last few months. After spending the weekend with them it was onto Tannum Sands on Monday, which is 25 minutes south of Gladstone Les & Pauline would be arriving later in the day. It was lovely to catch up with them, Pauline had been busy cooking so we enjoyed a scrumptious afternoon tea. Pauline & Les pulled out this morning, their next stop being Rockhampton as they head further north their final destination Cairns for a couple of months.

Yesterday we popped back to Gladstone to look after Liv & Archie while Anita went to the hospital for a meet & greet she is hoping to pick up some casual work. We then had to make a quick return to the caravan park as had previously arranged that they come down for a meal & I was totally unorganised. Not a problem after the kids had a play in the playground, Baz cooking the meat on the bbq all was ready back at the van for another enjoyable family meal. When Jase & family left we grabbed a bottle of wine & headed over to the camp kitchen where the caravan park managers Geoff & Andy were hosting the Tuesday night sausage sizzle & entertainment. Good thing we are quiet broad minded as Geoff's jokes left our cheeks aching from laughing. These guys are definitely a couple & many of the jokes are about their relationship. We leave here tomorrow returning to Gladstone & Jason's place for the next week as it is Liv's fourth birthday on the 2nd July, then we will head off to Burrum Heads to catch up with Maree & Brian again.

Wuruma Dam - Baz relaxing

Sunset Wuruma Dam

Sunset Wuruma Dam

Livie & Archie having fun at the water park Gladstone

Still Tassie kids as too cold for any of the QLD kids

Catching up with Pauline & Les at Tannum Sands