On The Road Again - Tassie to The Big Island

After an eventful day on Wednesday with someone taking the side out of the Mazda and a funeral on Thursday we finally left Acton by lunchtime on Thursday 3rd May 2019

We made our way leisurely to Launceston, where we caught up with the Tassie Travellers Caravan Club, that were having their monthly muster at Old Macs Farm. What a lovely place to camp, only 10 minutes from the CBD of Launceston, lovely grassy sites and only $10 for the night. Before we left on Friday we walked up to their Cafe Stonesthrow where we enjoyed lovely scones jam and real cream, not that airy fairy fake stuff out of a can.

Friday afternoon we caught up with Dennis and Lyn in Ulverstone before heading over to Devonport to catch the boat. We arrived there at 5.30pm and were directed straight onto the Spirit, no lining up in the cattle grids. We had a relatively smooth sailing only felt a few bumps along the way.

Saturday was an early start with Baz rousing me at 5am, 15 minutes before the official wake up call. Lucky for us we had no one holding us up when disembarking there is always someone that will hold up the vehicles, either by not making note of what deck they left their vehicle and have trouble finding it, or by sleeping in. We got away nicely and had crossed over the Westgate Bridge by 6.10am and were making our way to Lake Lonsdale near Stawell, where we planned to spend the night.

After a coffee and toasted sandwich at Stawell we made our way out to the lake and set up camp. We sat outside for a while but found it was a bit chilly so headed inside for and afternoon siesta, had thought we may have gone to Halls Gap in the afternoon but upon waking decided to leave it to the next day.

Old Macs Farm

view from cafe

Stonesthrow Cafe Old Macs Farm

Lake area Old Macs Farm

Campsite at Lake Lonsdale

Looking at Lake Lonsdale

Water level is very low the floating pontoon
 is certainly high and dry

Melbourne

Where has five months gone? It is time for us to board the Spirit and head home, it will be lovely to see Tan, Greg and the boys but we would have been happy staying on the road enjoying the Grey Nomad life.

 We left Cobram this morning and had an easy trip down to Melbourne stopping at Aldi Shepparton to grab a few last minute things to take home with us. As TT Line had a day sailing today the Spirit will not dock until around 6.30pm with us due to leave at 9.30pm, arriving Tassie 7am. Alongside where the Spirit docks is Navy Ship so there was plenty of activity around the wharf area today.

Until next year, we are already counting down the months!

The Navy is in town

Cunnamulla to Cobram

After leaving Al and Dave we headed further west towards Cunnamulla, stopping on the way for the night at the little town of Bollon that had a free campsite beside a river. Of all the towns and roads in QLD it was quite a coincidence that Baz’s cousin Helen just happened to also be making Bollon their destination. They left Cooloola Cove that morning and travelled about 700 klms to make it to Bollon for happy hour, It was great catching up with them.

Our next stop was Cunnamulla our farthest town west that we would visit before heading in a southerly direction on our way home. We stopped at the Riverside Tourist Park a little way out of the town. Judy has done s marvellous job of creating this space with private drive through sites seperated by gardens. Speaking with her about how the drought has been effecting the town and surrounds she was so thankful to the tourist that keep coming to the town and spending money as it’s helping to keep the town going. Many property owners have sold all their stock and are struggling in the dry parched drought conditions.

The roadside between Cunnamulla and Bourke was littered with roadkill, it is really quiet depressing to see so much carnage. We stayed at the Kidman Camp in Bourke for two nights, while we were there we went to the Outback Show. Paul was very informative on the jobs of Jackaroos and Jillaroos and a lot of his show centred around the training of their horses and dogs it was well worth attending.

Leaving Bourke our next overnight stop was Cobar, where we stayed behind the Cobar RSL. There were a dozen vans there overnight they just ask that you spend a little money at the RSL for the privilege of staying there.

Moving on from Cobar our next stop was Hay, we also stayed alongside the RSL at a freebie. Probably ends up costing more than a caravan park when you buy a meal and drinks.

Finally we made Cobram booking in for our last two nights on the road. We stayed at the Willows Caravan Park which has new owners since our last visit, still a lovely little park although it was much busier this time as it was a Victorian long weekend for the AFL Grand Final.  We caught up with our friends Bridget and Don enjoying a lovely meal at the Barooga Hotel, a courtesy bus picked us up from the caravan park taking us back over the border into NSW to the hotel.

Happy Hour with Helen and Bill at Bollon

Cunnumulla Fella 

Dry Outback

Outback Show 

Lonesome Campground Expedition National Park

Our next stop was Expedition National Park and the Lonesome Campground,  which is 37 klms north of Injune then another 18 klms after turning off the hwy. The road was sealed except for the last 750 meters, we had to negotiate a steep narrow range decent where you had to give a call on the CB that you were decending in case someone was coming up from the other direction. Once we arrived at the Campground it took sometime to work out where we would like to park for the night, as the more area you have the harder it is to make a decision! Finally settled and with a beautiful backdrop of the ridge behind us we relaxed around the campfire and enjoyed the peace and tranquility. Baz and I were glad we were with Al and Dave as we were the only ones in there, it truly was a Lonesome Campground.

The next day it was onto Roma where we booked into the Roma Gun Club who offer camping sites only a couple of klms out of town. It was lovely to have plenty of water, power and access to a washing machine to have a good clean up after camping out in the dry dusty conditions that are prevailing in Queensland’s west.

We travelled to Surat with Al and Dave the next day where we said a sad farewell, they would now head east and back to the coast and we would head further west to Cunnamulla. We had been with them for the last six nights and as always enjoy their ompany immensely, many laughs and we are never lost for something to talk about, looking forward to our next catch up. Only a week now before we need to be in Melbourne to catch the Spirit back to Tassie, time is going much too fast.

View from Lonesome Campground

Dave enjoying a snooze in the shade

Carnarvan Gorge

Travelling to Carnarvon Gorge was a much longer trip of around 250 klms we stopped along the way at Rolleston to top up with fuel. It was great to get off the Dawson Hwy as it was one of the worst surfaces that we have travelled, the uneven pitching surface left much to be desired, we have travelled on better gravel roads than this highway. Turning off the Carnarvon Hwy it is around 40 klms into the National Park, along the way there was plenty of wildlife and cattle also a memorial in memory of American and Australian personnel that lost their life when a Dakota Aircraft crashed during an electrical storm in 1943.  The road is sealed all the way into the National Park with a few river crossings that were just dry creek beds when we drove in.

We spent a great couple of days saying at the Sandstone Campground, which is situated on a

ridge with 360 degree views over the Carnarvon National Park and it is only a 5 minute drive to into the National Park to enjoy all that it offers. We went in to have a look at the visitors centre and ended up doing a couple of the short walks,  we were very unprepared not even taking any water with us. On one of these walks along a creek Baz was leading when he came to a sudden halt as a Phython was slithering off into the rocks as he approached. I managed to view it from a distance, was just glad it wasn’t me that came across it, as I would have embarrassed myself screaming and running in the opposite direction.  It is very picturesque everywhere within the Gorge whether you go for long hikes or just a short walk, we enjoyed the stone hopping over the creek beds and the lovely rock pool that   was surrounded by the sandstone cliffs and native fauna. We will return sometime to explore this area when we have more time and will attempt a longer walk when better prepared.

Sandstone Park

About time this Joey made his own way in life

Creek crossing Carnarvan Gorge National Park

Rock Pool

Wing from Dakota Aircraft

Moura

We met up with Al and Dave at Biloela and spent the night at a low cost stop at the Heritage Park. 

Our next stop was just a short distance along the Dawson Hwy a total of 65klms to the small town of Moura. The main industry around Moura is the Coal Mining. The town is very RV friendly and we ended up with a lovely green, shady camp spot at the Rotary Park within walking distance to the pub, supermarket and shops. It is great when small towns supply areas like this and only ask for  donation, it also brings enormous benefit to the town with travellers spending money stocking up with supplies and fuel. There is also another camp spot further south of the town at the Dawson River, a big bit more dusty than where we stopped.

Agnes Waters/Tannum Sands

Heading to Agnes Waters from Bargara we stopped for a coffee at the Tiny Tea House at Rosedale, we always get a good coffee & hot chocolate at this quaint cafe.

We stayed five nights at the Agnes Waters Caravan Park which is situated right on the beach and we would take our chairs down to the beach everyday for a couple of hours to sit in the shade also to enjoy an occasional swim.  A snake was spotted on the track that leads to the beach so we were super vigilant as we made our way to the beach. The local surf school uses the beach right in front of the caravan park so there was always plenty to keep us entertained.

Returning once again to Tannum Sands Jase and Neat were looking forward to their child free getaway, which would leave us holding the forte with the grandkids for a couple of days. Between getting them to school on time and clock watching to make sure we were there to pick them up, we had a pretty busy time also with the Prep Expo on the Thursday evening and a birthday party up in Gladstone on Friday after school. Everyone survived the couple of days with Jase and Neat returning refreshed and wishing they had, had longer. I am sure they will have it planned again for next year when we call in!

We said our goodbyes to them last Sunday to head off inland to Biloela where we were meeting up with our long time friends Alison and David. They would be travelling with us for a few days as we make our way south.

Tiny Tea House Rosedale

Camp site Agnes Waters

Agnes Waters Beach

Getaway Cafe Agnes Waters

Springs Beach Agnes Waters

Springs Beach Agnes Wasters

Sunset 1770