Bargara

Thought it is about time I updated my blog! Well once again where has six weeks gone? We have spent a very social time with our Bargara friends at the Bargara Beach Caravan Park. What a change new management have made to the park, upgrading the sandy sites, pathways, garden maintenance, fresh paint and bench tops in the amenities. The staff are great with Ray organising entertainment, morning teas and pizza nights. There was also the fresh veggie man and the seafood guy that came into the park three days a week, the fresh Ocean King Prawns have been delicious, have certainly made little piggies of ourselves on them.

Wednesday night has been our regular night at the RSL for their seniors meal good value for $7.95, we also had a great Christmas in July the first week we arrived with the cooking of a whole pig on the spit, Ray has said he will get a bigger one for next year. We have also been playing bowls regularly, have adapted well to the faster rinks not sure how we will handle the heavy greens back home. Baz wasn’t happy when we drew guys with the cheating sticks (bowling arms), just happened that we had to play them twice one week, bloody dead eye dicks. We maintained our regular walks down to Bargara’s business hub each day if we didn’t manage it during the day we would walk of a night. This year we have had many swims at the beach even Baz surprised me coming in on a number of occasions.

A highlight this year was my trip down to Brisbane to the Pink Concert and meeting Tania, Greg, Sham and Paul leaving Baz at Bargara for a few peaceful days without me. I caught the Tilt Train from Bundaberg to Brisbane which takes 4.5 hours not a bad way to travel and with the Seniors discount you only pay half price. The worst part was the Uber driver that picked me up from the train station, as he had pulled up on a pedestrian crossing he got fined and was clearly very unhappy ended up dropping me 1 klm from my accomodation. Thank goodness for google maps as I had no idea where I was, struggling with my bag (no wheels) in the uphill incline of Adelaide Street I eventually made it to the Minolta rather red faced and sweaty. The concert was amazing, Pink is certainly a pocket rocket with her amazing aerial acrobatics and high energy as she impresses with her vocal ability. Having the chance to celebrate Tan’s Birthday was a bonus loved my time down in Brisbane with her, the days went much too quickly.  It was a tearful farewell at the train station when it was time for me to leave, it will only be 5 weeks to I see her again.

Fathers Day we travelled up to 1770 to meet Jason, Neat and the grandkids along with Neat’s parents. 1770 is approximately halfway between Tannum Sands where Jason lives and Bargara where we love to spend six weeks every year.  Lunch was fresh prawns and a BBQ, then later spending an enjoyable time swimming and playing on the beach a lovely relaxing day.

Our last week at Bargara slipped by much too quickly with the caravan park clearing out of the regulars with lots of goodbyes and all saying  that we will  hopefully see each other again next year. We pulled out of Bargara on Friday along with 50 other vans all going our seperate ways, most of them probably heading south. We are heading up to Agnes Waters near 1770 for five nights then onto Tannum Sands to look after the grandkids for a couple of days. Jason and Neat are taking the opportunity to have a night away without kids! 

Christmas in July

Christmas in July

Breakfast at Bargara

A night out at Casey's with Bargara friends

Sunset Burnett River

Riverfest Bundaburg

Enjoying Riverfest Bundaburg
with Bargara friends

Pink Concert

Amazing sea of heads at the
Entertainment Centre Brisbane

View from our unit
43rd floor at the Minolta

Tania, Sham and me in Brisbane

Birdlife at Bargara

Fresh fish at the Port

Fathers Day at 1770

Lunch 1770 Fathers Day

Last treat before leaving Bargara

Burrum Heads

Three weeks at Burrum Heads, where did that time go?

As usual catching up with our friends Maree, Brian, Eddie, Christina, Judy and Merv is always a hoot with lots of laughs and many funny stories to be shared, there is certainly no time to get bored. We shared many Happy Hours down by the river with beautiful sunsets most evenings, sometimes more enhanced with the smoke from the cane burning. 

We had a couple of trips into Hervey Bay to satisfy our retail therapy itch, also enjoying lunch at Akurra Tea Rooms a couple of times, one of those occasions to celebrate Brian’s Birthday when Carlene and Rex joined us as well. The market at Howard was also on while we were at Burrum, it is a great market with dozens of stalls with beautiful fresh fruit and vegetables galore. There was a torrential downpour while we were there with the plastic covers quickly coming on, twenty minutes later the sun was again shining brightly, covers all off but the crowd was certainly depleted. 

Twenty minutes from Burrum Heads is Bamboo Land near Torbanlea, it is lovely to walk around the parklands and the lovely bamboo groves. Of course a meal at the Torbanlea Pub is a must.

Once again Baz was unsuccessful in the fishing department, good thing Jason had given us some for the freezer before leaving Tannum Sands. Hopefully all the small fish that he fed will have grown into something bigger by next year and just maybe he will be surprised when one jumps on his hook.

Sunset Burrum Heads

Lunch Akurra Tea Rooms

Parkland Akurra Tearooms

Maree, Carlene and Christina Akurra Tearooms

Bamboo Land

Restored carriage Bamboo Land

Wildlife Bamboo Land

Denise's new friend at Bamboo Land

Tannum Sands/Childers/Torbanlea

Leaving Mount Morgan we headed back out to the coast and down to Tannum Sands to once again catch up with the family for a few days. Baz was quickly into cleaning the van as we had bat droppings on the roof from being parked under trees in Cairns, also we were quiet grimy all over.  I thought I would lend him a hand by taking the Pajero through the car wash then leaving him to clean the inside. I did manage to do a good clean inside the van and made good use of Anita’s washing machine. All nice a squeaky clean ready for our next couple of months.

We left Tannum Sands Sunday afternoon travelling south for a couple of hours, we ended up pulling into Childers and stopping at their free RV area that is situated in the street behind the Post Office. It was nice to walk the main street of Childers and admire some of their very old buildings, being late on a Sunday afternoon the main street was very quiet compared to the usual congested daytime activity. We were walking past the local RSL and we were coaxed in by one of their members to enjoy happy hour drinks. It was an entertaining half hour spent listening to a couple of patrons talking crap after they had consumed a few too many whiskeys. We also met a solo traveller there and ended up at the Federal Hotel enjoying good company and a Sunday Roast.

Today we travelled a little further south only 38 klms to the Torbanlea Racecourse, they offer camping sites powered and unpowered and is only about 16 minutes out of Hervey Bay. We will stay here tonight before we move into Burrum Heads where we are booked for the next three weeks, hopefully Baz will have more success this year with his fishing off the river bank.

Morning tea at Childers

Unpowered area at Torbanlea Racecourse 

Mount Morgan

We had an overnight stop at Dululu, only about half a dozen houses and an abandoned pub with a good area for overnight camping. Hot shower and power if required, hopefully all who stay leave their donation to keep this area going.

We then moved onto Mount Morgan staying at the Silver Wattle Caravan Park for three nights. The park has new owners Debbie and Dave who are great hosts keeping up the previous owners tradition of supplying 4 eggs on arrival and a Happy Hour by the fire every night. This must be our fourth time we have stayed at Mount Morgan, and finally got around to doing the Gold Mine Tour.  I think I only got Baz on the tour as he now has some shares in the mine and he wanted to see if there was

any progress in it’s revival, with the hope of at least getting his money back. Trouble is QLD government is making things very difficult with environmental issues that need to be addressed.

 This quaint little mining town once was thriving back when the gold mine was in operation, with 27 pubs and 4 suburbs. As the population declines there are only 4 pubs left in the town of Mount Morgan, the Golden Nugget did close last year to then be bought by a group of locals who didn’t want to see it’s demise.

Dululu Hotel a little beyond renovating

Mine Office Mount Morgan

Chimney Stack 

Market Main St Mount Morgan

Theresa Creek Dam

We left Charters Towers and travelled down the Gregory Developmental Road towards Clermont, stopping for a fuel stop at Belyando, where the 9 metre wide load that we had previously been caught behind also pulled in for a break and fuel stop. We had intended having a longer break but thought we would get back on the road before they took off again, we didn't want to get caught following at a snails pace until they can pull over to let the vehicles through.

This is the fourth time we have camped at Theresa Creek Dam, it is always a very popular spot for a low cost stay. We counted between 60-70 campers each night with still plenty of room for more, we ended up there for 4 nights enjoying the peace and tranquillity with only the occasional generator humming in the background.

Traffic held up behind a 9 metre wide load

Up close to the mine truck that was being transported
on the Gregory Development Road

Sunset Theresa Creek Dam

Our campsite Theresa Creek Dam

Rainbow Lorikeet hoping for morning tea

Theresa Creek Dam

Out walking

Hoods Lagoon Clermont

Charters Towers

Thursday morning we enjoyed a quick dip in the thermal pools then we were on the road by 9.30am heading for Charters Towers. We stopped for any early lunch at Greenvale then heading off again we decided we may as well go right through to Charters Towers. It was a big day for us as we covered 440 klms, we don't usually like to do that distance towing any more, we usually like to be off the road now by around 1-2pm.  At least with sharing the driving makes it not so tiresome. 

We knew our friends Pauline and Les were already in the park at Charters Towers and we were pleasantly surprised to find ourselves only two sites away, so we didn't have to carry our chairs too far at Happy Hour. They were not expecting us until Friday so hopefully they were pleasantly surprised with our early arrival, trouble was we missed out on the scones that Pauline had planned to cook for our arrival on Friday.

We have stayed in Charters Towers previously so have done most of the sights of this enchanting outback town with it's 1890's heritage. With a quick trip up Towers Hill Lookout and out to the Berdekin Weir we refreshed our memory of the area. We have now caught up with the washing and restocked the van ready to move further south to Theresa Creek Dam for a few days.

Road trains Greenvale
This pic took my fancy as gives the impression
of the trailers having a truck towing either way

Lookout over Charters Towers

Selfie

Burdekin Weir

Innot Hot Springs

Wednesday we were on the road again leaving the rainforests of the Tablelands behind us. We negotiated the steep, windy range before passing the Windy Hill Wind Farm that has 20 wind turbines that provide enough power for 3,500 homes. Then we were passing through Ravenshoe, Ravenshoe is the highest town in Queensland and is where the rainforest finishes and the savanna begins. We were making our way to Innot Hot Springs following the Kennedy Highway. 

Innot Hot Springs Leisure and Health Park is very much like an oasis in the bush, with six pools which all vary in temperature. The Caravan Park is pretty basic with unlimited use of the pools, we spent a very relaxing afternoon soaking in the thermal pools and reading in the shade. It really is a hard life sometimes.

 Some people who want a more natural dip, dig a whole in the river sand of  Nettle Creek which flows just below the caravan park and soak in the hot thermal water. Some sections of the creek are really hot with the potential to burn your skin.

Windy Hill Wind Farm

Innot Hot Springs