Gold Coast - Southport

We had a brief stop over at the Gold Coast for three nights, just enough time for me to visit my favourite shopping haunts. I think Maree & Judy must have cleaned up before I got there as I found it hard this year to get the bargains that I have previously managed to ferret out, but still managed to complete Tan's shopping list for the boys.

Sunday morning we decided to head around to the Spit where we buy prawns that are caught the night before and sold direct to the public from the trawlers, can't beat the fresh king sized Tiger prawns. Next we stopped at the Marina Mirage to visit Max Brenner Chocolate Bar, where we treated ourselves to warm crepes filled with banana & hazelnut praline that has pure melted chocolate drizzled over the top. Pure indulgence, yum!

With the Commonwealth Games being held on the Gold Coast in 2018 there is a lots of work being carried out along the foreshore especially around the Broadwater Caravan Park where they are reclaiming, pumping sand from out in the waterway to eventually make more Parklands & events space.

Monday we left the Gold Coast travelling down the Pacific Hwy hoping the weather will be kind to us so that we can make it to Newcastle to visit Maree & Brian then head down to Sydney and out to the Blue Mountains.

Toogoolawah - Woodford - Beerwah

We decided that our next stop would be Toogoolawah which is about a 2hr drive from Dalby. The drive was rather interesting travelling through some lovely farmland then back into hilly countryside once we were back on the New England Hwy then branching off onto the D'Agular Hwy where we had the steep decent of the Blackbutt Range we passed quiet a few caravans going the opposite way as this is a popular direct route for travallers leaving the Sunshine Coast to head south down the New England Hwy.

The last four nights we have been stopping at showground inland from the Sunshine Coast, our first night was at Toogoolawah then we had two nights at Woodford and then onto Beerwah. We met up with our long time friends Alison and David at Woodford, it is always great when we get together lots of  laughs & fun. Alison decided we needed to experience Costco, it is a membership warehouse which has the best possible prices on quality brand-name merchandise. Not only do they stock food items they also have clothing, camping gear, tyres, jewelery, toys, optical, hearing aides and much much more. Baz did very well to stay the distance usually he will sit outside the shops and wait for me but we did need to take a little rest on the way around. We were also able to taste a few samples in the food area as there a a few demonstrators with tempting morsels. Just so unbelievable what was on offer in one large warehouse! Nothing like it in poor old Tassie. Today we travelled a whole 37klm from Woodford to Beewah we spent a couple of hours exploring the town and catching up on a few jobs.

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Al & Dave and head to the Gold Coast for three nights, unfortunately my shopping mates have already left Southport so will have to do it alone this year.

Costco experience

Too much shopping needed a rest!

Shopping at Beewah with Al & Dave

Caliguel Lagoon/Meandarra/Dalby

We had a call from friends who was leaving Moree on Thursday morning travelling North so we arranged to meet them at Caliguel Lagoon which is a free camp spot south of Condamine on the Condamine Meandarra Road. Faye & Allan were the first to arrive, we were fortunate to find a sheltered spot to camp behind a clump of tree as there was a strong wind and it was like a dust storm in the camping area it didn't seem to bother the noisy Corellas that were roosting in the trees. The wind subsided by late afternoon & we enjoyed a great night around the camp fire. Alan tried his hand at a bit of fishing in the river and managed to catch a Yellow Belly to his enjoyment, even though the fish really caught itself on the unattended line. A crop duster plane woke us early the next morning, I am sure the pilot got a lot a pleasure flying low overhead, making passes over the caravans several times.

The next day we had one of the biggest trips so far travelling 47klms to Meandarra. We pulled in along the river in the  town where you are able to camp, $10 for power or $5 unpowered. It has been four years since we were last there and in that time the General Store has closed down and the population has dropped to around 100. As we have found with many of the small towns more shop fronts are boarded over and the towns are slowly dying. We revisited the Anzac Memorial Museum that houses a large and comprehensive collection of military memorabilia. It is a very unique collection which includes a Canberra Bomber aeroplane, a Grant Tank and a Water Buffalo Tank.

That night we walked to the local pub for a meal, Baz and I ordered the pork chops, chips & salad when it arrived at the table it was a ginormous meal, I had trouble to even lift the plate. The next day we said farewell to Alan & Faye they are on their way to the Atherton Table Land and we headed east towards Dalby.

We arrived at Dalby around lunch time Saturday finding it quiet busy mainly due to the large market & car show that was being held at a local school. We had decided to find a park and check out the
market when we spotted a central caravan park along the river in walking distance to the market. We made a quick decision that Dalby was to be our next stop for the night securing a spot backing onto the river. We were entertained by a couple of  Eastern Water Dragons (large lizards) not sure if they were fighting for territory or if it was foreplay, they were very good at disguising themselves in their habitat when anyone walked their way. As Sunday happened to be Fathers Day we ended up staying another night and I thought it would be nice to go out for a Chinese meal, which turned out to be rather disappointing.

Caliguel Lagoon Campsite

Caliguel Lagoon

Meandarra Campsite

Eastern Water Dragons

Eastern Water Dragon

Dalby Dude

Theodore

On our way from Rockhampton to Gladstone we stopped at Calliope for morning tea, a popular free camp on the Bruce Highway. It was such a lovely day that we ended up not only having morning tea but lunch as well, finally moving off at 2pm arriving at Jason's just as Neat and the kids were arriving home from Kindagym.

We said a final goodbye on Wednesday then headed inland to Theodore securing ourselves another great camp site looking out to the Dawson River. We were quiet surprised that we could have a choice of sites as four years ago when we were last in the town the free camp area was filled to capacity. There were quiet a few caravans at the Showground, as the nights have been cool maybe they prefer having access to power.

Morning Tea and Lunch stop Calliope River

Theodore free camping spot

Kinka Beach

Last Saturday we left Mt Morgan negotiating The Range, which is a steep winding decent where we needed to change down to 2nd gear and increase the caravan brakes to put less stress on the Pajero and headed to Kinka Beach via Rockhampton. It was a relatively short trip with us pulling into the van park around 10.30am which gave us the rest of the day to explore the area after we settled into our site.

It has been seven years since we visited Yeppoon and the area has certainly changed, heaps of work happening along the foreshore and high rise buildings popping up along the esplanade, it is very busy and a really popular tourist destination. The beaches and the sea are so very inviting with the beautiful blue sky and the aqua marine water is very picturesque just a pity it is so tidal the water is a very long way out at low tide. After taking the scenic route into Yeppoon which is only 13klms from Kinka Beach we arrived back at the park just as  Leonie and Richard, who we met last year at Bargara were just checking in. They also have a Jurgens Lunagazer and we were lucky to have them right next to us in the park. We had hoped to catch up with them while we were at Bargara but due to family commitments they didn't arrive there until after we had left. We then arranged to meet them at Kinka Beach,  Baz and I had only planned on staying for two nights but ended up extending for another night as we were enjoying the company and of course the visit to the Bakery at Emu Park each day for morning tea. 

Baz and I headed off on Tuesday expecting to head West towards Emerald but by the time we had reached Rockhampton we had changed our minds, how very unusual for us! We are getting very indecisive these days we are having lots of trouble making destination plans. I think it is because we are now due to head south and we are not looking forward to the colder weather. So instead of heading inland we thought we would pop back in to see the kids at Gladstone one last time as we were only 100klms away, they said it was a lovely surprise to see us again (they sounded sincere).

Yeppoon

Singing Ship Emu Park

Richard, Leonie,Baz & Ginney

Anzac Memorial Emu Park

Transparent memorial of the Landing at Anzac Cove with
islands from the Keppel Group appearing
in the background 

Transparent Memorial of the Landing at Anzac Cove

View from Yeppoon looking towards where
the Fast Ferries leave for Great Keppel Island

Enjoying morning tea with Richard, Leonie & Ginney

Twins - not identical 

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