Tannum Sands cont - Burrum Heads

We had a very frustrating & stressful time for awhile after the Paj broke down while we waited for the diagnosis knowing in our own minds it was something major. Mitsubishi Gladstone had our vehicle for five days before they were able to tell us that the piston was cracked and had damaged the head! Indication was that the injector was not distributing the diesel evenly onto the piston which then created a hot spot causing the piston to crack!  We were then given options, hopefully we have made the right one for us. The vehicle has now had another motor fitted that they were able to source from the Gold Coast, it had been removed from a written off vehicle. If we had gone with a reconditioned motor plus having to purchase another injector pump and injectors etc it would have cost more than the Paj was worth. Going with the second hand motor got us back on the road quicker and some what cheaper but still a very costly option all up a little over $8,300 !! The motor has a six month warranty so hopefully we get back to Tassie without any further problems then we will need to purchase a new tow vehicle. The annoying thing about this is that we had the injectors serviced before coming away!

 We were lucky to have a hire car provided by RACT for 7 days and then we had a courtesy car from Mitsy for the remainder of the time otherwise we would have gone bonkers. Carlene & Rex called into Tannum for a couple of nights on their way to Hervey Bay so it was lovely to catch up with them and to hear about their travels since leaving home. While we had the hire car we did a trip to Burrum Heads to catch up with our friends, a three hour trip down and then back in the same day but very worth it to enjoy a few laughs and great company. It was sad to see another caravan on the site where we should have been, as we had to cancel our time there this year. We also had a lovely surprise to see our friends Alison & David walking along the foreshore at Tannum as we were leaving the beach last week, we spent a great couple of days with them showing them all over the Gladstone area as we have become quiet knowledgeable getting around the place.

Last Friday we were reunited with the Paj with it's new heart beating to a much better rhythm after two weeks apart. During that time we spent it out at Tannum Sands with Jason and Anita, so that meant we were with them for a bit over a month, by the time we left on Tuesday it was feeling a lot like home. Since Friday we have driven the Paj around as much as possible getting our confidence back and making sure all was ok before towing the van again, the weather conditions didn't help much as all down the coast has been very wet not ideal for being on the road, so nice to see blue skies again. We are now at Burrum Heads the Paj behaved very well on the 297 klm trip and we managed to get an unpowered site for 5 nights, feeling much happier now. Sunday we will head back up the coast a bit to Bargara Beach for four weeks.

Our home base at Jason & Anita's Tannum Sands

Gladstone Harbour

HMAS Gladstone Maritime Museum

Fully loaded Bulk Carrier leaving Gladstone Port

Bulk Carriers at anchor waiting to enter the Gladstone Port

Burrum River

Enjoying a coldie with Brian Burrum Heads

Having a chat with friends

Tannum Sands

We have been here at Jason & Neats home in Tannum Sands now for bit over two weeks. It has been lovely catching up with them and the grand-kids, seeing where Livie goes to Kinda, dancing & swimming, hopefully we have been some help to them and not too much of a hindrance! The time here has raced by, I enjoyed a day out with Neat and the kids at the Mt Larcom Show a great country agricultural show, while Baz had a rest day at home. Last week a Cruise Ship came into Gladstone and the precinct along Flinders Parade certainly came alive with market stalls and entertainment for the passengers and locals to enjoy.

Saturday was Livies 5th Birthday with a party planned for 9.30am in a local park, it was all hands on deck to get all the party food cooked packed and to the park on time. At least it was all over with by lunch time, home for a short rest before heading out to Tannum Esplanade to Tannum's monthly market with live entertainment and its many food stalls.  It reminded me of the Mindil Market in Darwin where families and groups meet to enjoy the local art, crafts, music and food.

Sunday it was time to say goodbye to the kids and head south to Burrum Heads where we would once again meet up with our friends Maree, Brian, Christina, Eddie, Judy and Merv. First off we needed to get the van out from beside the house, with Jase doing some major trimming of his tree we managed this without too much trouble. Hopefully the tree recovers, looks OK from the neighbours side. We were cruising along nicely for about 30 k's when without any prior warning the Paj started shuddering, blowing smoke and loosing power. We were on the Bruce Hwy nearly to Miriam Vale with cars, trucks and caravans streaming past us, lucky we were able to limp about 200 metres to a safer spot to pull in, hopeful that Baz may have been able to fix our problem. No such luck, so then it was time to ring RACQ and arrange for them to send out a tow truck,  the only problem being I had very poor mobile phone cover with the signal dropping out all the time. Baz was able to contact  Jase and he was on his way, so when he arrived he was able to take me where I had a better signal. RACQ said to leave the vehicle and put the keys on the top of the passengers side wheel, as it was going to be a couple of hours until they could send a Tow Truck. We were not comfortable with that as you were able to see the keys quiet clearly, we thought that the vehicle would be stripped clean if left it for too long. We did return with Jase to Tannum Sands with the caravan behind his car towing with no brake controller or mirrors, felt very sorry for anybody that was behind us,  I am sure they were cursing the steady speed we were going. We then returned to the Paj to wait for the tow. We had to wait until today for anyone to to look at the vehicle, only to receive the news that we have major compression problems with the engine. A second tow was arranged to the Mitsubishi Service Centre and we are now waiting on their diagnosis which should be sometime tomorrow. Feeling very frustrated at the moment and dreading the cost of getting us back on the road.

Lovely day in Gladstone

Playtime at the park

Baz out Birthday shopping

Party in the park

Enjoying the night market's and entertainment

Jase coming to the rescue

RACQ coming to the rescue

Emu Park

It seems such a long time ago now since we spent a lovely three days at Emu Park, a small coastal town located 21 klms south of Yeppoon. We stayed at Bell Park Caravan Park which has access to Fishermans beach where we enjoyed lovely walks along the  beach and looking offshore there are several islands including Great Keppel Island. To offset all this exercise we would end up at the local cafe/bakery for our morning tea. 

The caravan park was rather basic the amenities are old but very clean, they are currently having power issues and running 3 generators to supply the park. These older parks are finding that with the newer caravans now with air cons, washing machines & all the mod cons their aging wiring is not coping very well. The park is also host to a colony of flying foxes which can be rather noisy at times, best not to have a site near any trees! On the upside a great location close to the beach and town with an easy walk to a sensational Anzac Memorial also The singing Ship, a memorial to Captain Cook.

Fisherman's Beach

Fisherman's Beach

Reward

Mt Morgan

Sunday found us returning to the Silver Wattle Caravan Park in Mt Morgan, we had stayed here last year and had enjoyed the warm and welcoming atmosphere of the park. Sarah, Mark & Maggie are wonderful hosts with a Happy Hour by the fire every evening with Pizza and nibbles supplied, Maggie enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge of this very unique old mining town. There is currently a feasibility study being done at the mine which looks very promising for restarting operations to recover the remaining gold, copper and pyrite resources.

It just happened that Anita & Jason were travelling up to Rockhampton on Monday as Archie had a doctors appointment and suggested we meet them for lunch. Rocky is only 40km from Mt Morgan so 

of course we made the trip down the Range to see them and the grandkids. We had a lovely lunch at Bliss Cafe and then went to the Botanical Gardens playground for Liv and Archie to have some fun. Looking forward to spending time with them in Tannum Sands later in the month.

Today has been spent having a good clean up, we started yesterday finding a car wash to give the old Pajero a bath. Baz was able to partially clean the outside of the van, he was under strict instructions not to get water around the door side, as I didn't want wet grass & mud under foot. Washing is all up to date, floors cleaned and upholstery vacuumed in the van. All ready to head out to the coast.

Silver Wattle Caravan Park Mt Morgan

Happy Hour Mt Morgan

 Mt Morgan Gold & Copper Mine

Mulgildie

After a great feed of pancakes at Kilkivan we said farewell to Maree & Brian as they were booked in at Burrem Heads near Hervey Bay for the next eight weeks. It had been great travelling with them, such good company with lots of laughs the two weeks since we met up went much too fast. We had plans to head to Wuruma Dam for four or five days so we headed off with full water tanks and plenty of food only to find that it was chocker block out at the dam! The trouble is it is getting so popular also some stay there for months at a time so it makes it  near impossible to get a decent campsite for a few days.

It was mid afternoon by his time so we checked Wiki Camps for a suitable overnight stop, finding that the Mulgildie Pub was only a short distance away and offering free camping beside the pub, sounded good to us. It is a great overnight stop there are quirky paintings on the outside of the pub and very interesting memorabilia on the inside, they also serve up a great meal. We will keep this place in mind next time we pass this way.

Mulgildie Pub

Baz discussing the next destination

with his new friend

Enjoying a cold beer at the pub

Camping beside the pub

Kilkivan

Thursday we left Possum Park heading East towards Kilkivan, we travelled via Dalby where we were able to find the house that had been renovated on My House Rules belonging to Luke & Cody. It is quiet deceiving the size of the front yard as on the show it looks a lot larger than it actually is. 

On arrival at the Kilkivan Bush Camping Park we were met by Ralph the park owner who advised us we could choose anywhere in the park that best suited us. Plenty of room with too many options, finally deciding on a area we settled in to relax for a couple of days. With no TV, phone or internet it certainly was restful. We decided we would cook a camp oven roast, it was left to Baz to get the fire going to nurture the coals, unfortunately he also managed to smoke out our poor neighbours! Lucky for us they were very understanding on their return to their van. The very friendly park owners Ralph and Antonja put on free pancakes Saturday mornings which we thoroughly enjoyed before we departed. By the way Antonja is expecting their eighth child in September!

Luke & Cody's place Dalby (My House Rules)

Bush Camping Kilkivan

Camouflaged on the tree !

Cooking with our Camp Ovens

Roast and Damper

Miles (Possum Park)

Called into Possum Park (Miles) for an overnight stop, it was great to see that it still has its bush setting charm. It is certainly not your average caravan park, located 20km north of Miles on the Leichardt Highway. In WW11 the 360 acre property held 2500 tonnes of bombs as well as ammunition. There were 20 concrete underground bunkers some of these have been turned into accommodation. It's a friendly place to visit and we enjoyed a happy hour around the large fire pit.

A couple of years ago the owners purchased a Viscount plane and have spent many hours and a lot of money restoring it. Eventually the plane will be used for accommodation in the park.

Enjoying happy hour around the fire pit

Our vans at Possum Park

Viscount