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

Toowoomba/Lake Boondooma

Since my last blog update we have spent a couple of nights in Toowoomba as we needed to get the Pajero a health check. Once again the Pajero had a couple of dash lights appear for no apparent reason, so thought it best to be on the safe side and have it checked. The Mitsubishi dealers were unable to find a problem but have cleared all the error codes, so keeping fingers crossed they do not come back on again, they did say it may need a valve sensor part if it does happen again. I think we have already replaced that at some stage hopefully we do not have to again, as part and labour was over $500.  We didn’t get a very good impression of Toowoomba as when we were turning off the Hwy to head to the caravan park a truckie was quiet abusive to us over the two way,  mustn’t  be a caravan fan, also the weather  was rather overcast & miserable which didn’t help things. While we were in Toowoomba we also needed to buy a new toaster, as when Baz was kindly going to cook toast for my breakfast, sparkes came shooting out of the toaster. Upon inspection he found that two screws had worked their way out over the many klms of rough uneven roads. 

Our next stop was Boondooma Dam, we had a lovely two days there camped right on the water’s edge. We woke up each morning with Pelicans & Egret’s, preening & sunning themselves, outside our van. We sat around outside appreciating the sun and reading especially as we had heard from friends the mixed weather that they were having out on the coast. One evening while we were there we were enjoying our little Happy Hour when a fellow camper fired up Bag Pipes from across the Dam. It had a good acoustic effect over the water with applause and calls for requests coming from other campers around the Dam. We didn’t have TV reception out there but Baz was able to amuse himself with the internet, we also only had intermittent phone reception.  I even got the old boy to play a couple of games of Sequence, but he is a pretty poor looser. Out at the dam there is also a powered area near the kiosk where we noticed the big daddy in off road vans a Bush Tracker, they are  all equipped for the bush and outback roads this one looked as if it had never left the black top, would have thought they would have been lakeside with us!

Leaving Boondooma Dam we headed further north stopping at Gayndah to buy lovely fresh mandarins also to have a lunch break, then we continued onto Eisvold stopping for fuel & supplies before pulling up for the night 11 klms north of the town at a roadside stop. We were there along with 15 other vans, a very popular stop over for the Grey Nomads heading north. Once again no TV, internet & very iffy phone cover, so it was out with the game of Sequence, this time the old Baz had the luck on his side, no sulking this time! Evenings seems to be getting longer as running out of pre recorded material. 

Wondai Timber Museum

Lake Boondooma

The Lone Piper

Ceratodus Rest Area free camp

Moree/Goondiwindi

Maree & Brian arrived at Moree last Friday and it has been great to have their company, many stories and lots of laughs never a dull moment. After spending the long weekend lounging around in the Thermal Pools Maree, Keren & myself thought we could do with some retail therapy, could not believe we took 5 hours to walk the Main Street in Moree! I am sure Baz, Brian & Alan were getting a little worried we may have worn out the plastic, I was quick to reassure Baz that I had saved him lots of money as I only brought discounted items. 

Baz & I managed to fit in a last dip in the Thermal Pool this morning before leaving, we only had 130 klms to travel to our next destination Goondiwindi. The weather has certainly improved over the last week with lovely blue skies with the temp today reaching 23 degrees. I am sure that as soon as we crossed the NSW - QLD boarder I felt the temperature rise. Arriving at the Big 4 Goondiwindi around 11am we had time for a quick cuppa before going into town for lunch and of course finding a few more bargains, if I keep this up I will run out of space in the van. We also visited the Cotton Shop located in the town, and have now put on our must do list a Cotton Farm Tour, unfortunately will not have time this visit as we will be heading off tomorrow making our way to Toowoomba where we will stay for a couple of days. Maree & Brian will be leaving us tomorrow making their way to Burrum Heads near Hervey Bay, we will catch up with them again early in July. The very nice lady at the Cotton Shop directed us to an Orange Farm a few klms out of town explaining to us that the Oranges should be nice and sweet after the frosts that they have had in the area lately. Oranges had not been on our shopping list, but of course if recommended by a local you have to try them. She was right lovely and sweet.

Returning to the caravan park mid afternoon I had time to try out the spa before joining the communal happy hour for Damper and a Cuppa. There were five variations of Damper, Mixed Fruit, Cheese, Garlic & Onion, Date and Chilli, of course I had to try them all.

Relaxing in the Thermal Pools Moree

GOONDIWINDI

Once again water logged this time at Goondiwindi

Planning

The iconic Victoria Hotel with it's outstanding architecture.

Happy Hr Big 4 Goondiwindi - Damper & Cuppa

Pilliga/Moree

We had four very pleasant nights at Gulargambone, many hours we sat around the communal campfire solving the problems of the world and enjoying the hospitality of  Dave & Bernadette. The local town ladies that hosted the Biggest Morning Tea informed us they made $1200 and were very thankful that the Caravan Park campers were big contributors.

When we arrived at the Pilliga Bore Baths the day was fine and the camp area was dry underfoot until early evening when a fine drizzle started and then we had constant steady rain all night. We had very disturbed sleep that night as we were concerned about getting out from where we had parked, as the ground was black dirt that turns into sticky boggy mud. Luckily we had the front tyres of the vehicle on the red gravel and the ground underneath was dry and selecting 4wd we made it out with only the caravan having a bit of a slip and slide. It then only left the slushy red dirt track to negotiate back to the black top. We were able to get an under body wash as we headed towards Wee Waa as there was plenty of water laying in the low areas of the road, we were lucky enough to end up pretty clean. We stopped after few klms to put our shoes and socks on as we had to get to the car in our crocs that had six inches of black mud stuck to them then sticking them in a plastic bag to deal with later on.

We are now at one of our favorite locations the Gwydir Caravan Park  & Thermal Pools at Moree, looks like we will be here for about 10 days as we want to be here when Maree and Brian arrive later in the week.We have once again been lucky to get a good large site, many here are very tight. We go over to the Thermal Pools twice a day spending most of our time in the 39 degree pool then cooling off in the 37 degree pool, haven't bothered to get into the cooler ones. The last couple of days we have had lovely blue skies again, unfortunately not all that warm only around 15 degrees. This morning we had a 1 degree morning with the awning of the caravan frozen solid didn't take long once the sun was on it for it to thaw and start dripping. Looks like another cold one tonight suppose to get down to zero overnight!!!!!!  We enjoyed a great roast tonight, I only had to do the vegetables as the local butcher here in Moree will cook your meat for you if you order it in the morning to collect later in the day. Way too easy, love it!

Sharing the Long Paddock

Moree Thermal Pool

Gulargambone

Overnight at Ponto Falls was rather cool and we awoke to a rather heavy overcast day so it was decided that we would move on again to try and get away from the chilly weather. Our first stop was not too far up the road only 50 klms to the Taronga Western Plains Zoo  Although we have previously been to Dubbo a few times we had never been to the zoo which is an open range zoo, that has a 6 klm circuit that you can either walk, ride or drive around. As we wanted to travel further north after visiting the zoo we elected to drive around but we were still there for two and half hours, someone kept getting fascinated with the animals especially the Siamang Apes. There was this little guy who was like a naughty child you could see that the older Apes were wanting him/her to cross the moat onto an island, the naughty litter guy would tease them going so far then returning to do his own thing back on the bank of the compound.

We unhitched the caravan and left it in the car park while we did the circuit at the zoo, after hitching back up we were on the road again heading to Gulargambone. Gulargambone is a small town on the way to Coonamble it has a population of around 500 people 60% are indigenous, it has a good community spirit all keen to see the town thrive. We stayed at the Gulargambone Caravan Park last year and we were keen to return and give Dave & Bernadette our support, they are great hosts putting on a happy hour every evening at 4pm, there is always something to eat that has been cooked outdoors whether its damper, soup, wood fired pizza's or camp oven roast. The camp fire is a great gathering point as all the campers come along and sit around sometimes for hours havin' a chat! Word of mouth is working really well for Dave and Bernadette as business has certainly increased in the 18 months that they have been here, and they encourage all their guest to spend some money in the town to help keep it going. Also the another good thing about the park the daily fee is still only $20 for a powered site. We had booked in for two nights when we arrived, we have already been here for three and depending on the weather we may stay longer, as rain has been forecast for Central Western NSW and it's not enjoyable towing when it's wet.  

Today the local ladies hosted a Biggest Morning Tea in the Main St, is was great to see all the people who were staying in the park go along and support the fundraiser. We were all made feel very welcome, think we must have had a sign on our forehead as they would ask are you staying in the caravan park?

Mouth wash anyone?

A visit to the Dentist!

Naughty

Gulargambone Happy Hour

Fire Pit -enjoying the Happy Hour or Hours

Caravan Park residents 

Biggest Morning Tea Gulargambone