Maroochydore

We had been undecided which way to to travel up to Jason's from Esk, would we stay inland or go via the Sunshine Coast, the Sunshine Coast won. We booked into the Cotton Tree Caravan Park for four nights and we were quite surprised that it was only half full with the Grey Nomads. I think we may have been a week or two in front of them as we hear that this park is very popular and hard to get into in the peak times. The park is in a great location fronts onto a surf beach and the Maroochy River, so very popular for the surf enthusiast as well as the Grey Nomads that also frequent the bowls club just up the road. The Sunshine Plaza is amazing where we found a fantastic range of retail stores, restaurants and Cinema, we still didn't see all of it even after two hours wondering this vast shopping complex. Poor Baz got a little disorientated and needed to see daylight.

Wednesday we visited the Eumundi Market which is the biggest art and craft market in Australia with around 600 stalls. Wish they would set up the stalls so you could methodically walk up and down and know that you had seen them all, there were alley ways going in all directions a bit like a maze.

We travelled down as far as Mooloolaba and up to Coolum reacquainting ourselves with the area as for many years we have bypassed the Sunshine Coast on our way to and from the Gold Coast and Central Queensland.

Looking toward Mooloolaba

Cruise Ship off Mooloolaba

Mooloolaba

Point Cartwright Light House

Mural painted reservoir Point Cartwright

Eumundi main street

A Macaw from Maleny's Botanic Gardens
and Bird World

Eumundi Market

Sunset Maroochydore

Maroochydore

Esk

Our next stop for four nights was Esk, where we attended the 2019 Jurgens Jamboree. It was a statewide gathering and an interesting few days, with 65 vans and the crew from the Jurgens factory doing a presentation and answering questions and helping people with individual problems with their vans.

We were coming out of the camp kitchen one evening when we saw a koala lumbering along on it’s mission to find a new gum tree. Unfortunately I didn’t have my phone handy to get a photo.

For a couple of nights while at Esk we had rain which would soon pass through but as our site was under a tree we were left with the dripping all night.  I ended up with earphones and my music playing, trying to drown out the noise, felt very sleep deprived.

Jurgen Caravan Owners

Some people like clutter, permanent site in the park

Evans Head/Stieglitz/Gatton

More than a week has passed since my last post, looking back over that time we have certainly covered a bit of ground. My last update had us at Scott’s Head from there we travelled around 250klm to Evans Head of which 150klms was road works. The Pacific Hwy is being upgraded to four lanes between Grafton and Ballina with continual stoppages and speed limit changes which can add at least an hour onto your travelling time.

Evans Head Caravan Park is once again in a great location in this lovely seaside village, it is alongside the Evans River and also backs onto the Evans Head Beach and within walking distance to the township shops etc.  We had two nights there enjoying a lovely Chinese meal at the local bowing club, it is just through the gate at the back of the park, great being able to walk no need to use the Paj.

Leaving Evans Head we finally made the Queensland border then we travelled further north to Stieglitz which is on the northern end of the Gold Coast. Our friends Alison and David were staying there at an uncle’s place so it was a great opportunity to catch up with them as we were passing. We spent a couple of nights there which enabled us to pop down to the Sanctuary Cove International Boat Show, would have been good if we had a spare million or two to buy a few toys. It was a real eye opener seeing the millions is not billions of dollars worth of watercraft on display.

Leaving the Gold Coast we travelled with Alison and David north towards Brisbane before heading 90 klms west to Gatton. Gatton is a small agricultural town in between Ipswich and Toowoomba in the Lockyer Valley.  We spent three nights at Gatton in a free camp that is right in the township, once again sampling the local cuisine especially from the Indian Restaurant that had delicious Curry’s.

Evans Head

Evans Head

Sorry Bridget ended up sharing your Scallop Pie
with Alison & David

A little runabout for the grand kids
$3,990

Baz dreaming

Maybe trade the Mustang for this! Thought the back
better than the front

Freecamp Gatton

View from the freecamp Gatton

Scotts Head

The last four days have been spent at Scott’s Head an absolutely beautiful seaside village and beach, with a great surf break around the headland.

 We have spent our days enjoying time on the beach, swimming in the clear water with its pleasant water temperature. Lazing around watching the many surfers, paddle boarders and of course enjoying lovely walks along the beach.  The caravan park is located alongside the beach and we had a great site that backed onto the sand dune with beach access close by.  The sand dunes have quiet dense vegetation a great habitat for the very large Monitor (lizard) that came to visit looking for water. I was very wary with leaving the caravan door open after seeing what was lurking in the vegetation also a little wary as I used the beach access.

Today we were entertained by tree arborists that were in the park cutting back some of the many trees, we were unable to access the van for a couple of hours as they trimmed quiet close to our site.  Baz had washed the van when we first arrived, but after today we have a film of dust over the van from the chain saw and the chipper. Hopefully it will blow off tomorrow when we hit the road again, could have spent a couple of weeks here no worries at all.

Walkway from caravan park Scotts Head

Good thing the beach whale was well camouflaged

Beautiful clear water perfect for swimming, surfing,
paddle boarding etc

Monitor (lizard) making it's way up the track to the beach

Another visitor that came for a drink
 before making it's way back into the bush.
It was also in Camouflage colours!

Hawks Nest

Wednesday we left the Hunter Valley making our way to Hawks Nest, a small township adjacent the northern head of Port Stephens. Once we had double lanes out on the Princess Hwy and north of Newcastle the traffic settled down and we were able to travel at our own speed without worrying about what traffic was held up behind us. Only a short trip 90kls which took us through the delightful seaside township Tea Gardens, have since learnt that John Howard has a holiday home there. I am sure it must be along the boulevard opposite Jimmy's Beach as the homes there were stunning.

Our destination was a few klms out of Hawks Nest at the Myall River Primitive Camp. As soon as we entered the camp ground we could see that it was definitely a place we wanted to stay, lucky for us there were still a few areas to choose from along the river bank. It didn't take us long to get the chairs out and begin enjoying the serenity of the river and bird life.

This was an amazing camp absolute tranquillity, ended up staying for three nights and could have stayed much longer. Thoroughly enjoyed the camp fire each night that our neighbours shared with us, also watching the dolphins swimming past just on dusk and the daily visit from Pete the Pelican.

Relaxing beside the Myall River

Picturesque Myall River

Same picture at sunset

Pete

Jimmy's Beach Nelson Bay

Echuca-West Wylong-Coolah-Cessnock

It's been a few days since my last blog, thought I had better catch up with what we have been up to.

Upon reaching Echuca we took both the car and van to a car wash to give them a thorough cleaning after the dust storm that passed, leaving us very dirty in it's wake. It was also a chance to catch up on the washing after being on the road for a week. We had intended to only stay one night but rain set in and not only didn't we want to get the vehicles grimy quiet so soon, it is much safer travelling on dry roads.

The rain cleared late Friday, so it was on the road Saturday crossing over the Murray River that has certainly been affected by over use of water resources and drought. We were now in NSW and heading north looking for the warmer weather. Mid afternoon after travelling around 400 klms we pulled into West Wyalong and went to the showground/race track for the night. The next morning it was lovely to watch the powerful horses out on the track trotting around at a fast pace.

Leaving West Wyalong we travelled further north to Dubbo from there we headed East towards Newcastle and the Hunter Valley. Our next stop was at Coolah Sporting Club which offered free camping alongside the bowls green and that also overlooked the golf course. We supported the club by going for a Chinese meal that night, I am sure we spent more than if we had gone to a caravan park and paid fees.

We have spent the last two nights at Cessnock which is located in the Hunter Valley and is central to all the wineries. With so many great cellar doors in the Region it is impossible to visit them all so picking just a few we set off this morning to enjoy a tasting or two. I was blaming Baz for leaving wet cloths in the car as there was a distinct pong, forgetting that he had acquired himself some Blue Cheese from the Hunter Valley Cheese Company.

The Mighty Murray looking very depleted of water

Baz getting supplies of St Anne's White Port 

Being good sharing a Bee Sting at the Beechworth Bakery

West Wyalong track work

Not a car to be seen Coolah Sunday afternoon

Silo Merriwa 

Hunter Valley, Peterson Sparkling Wines

Cohuna

We finished travelling the Art Silo Trail today and were a little disappointed with the last silo as it seemed a little insipid compared to all the previous ones, but was still impressed with the talent that it takes to create these artworks. 

We are now travelling along the Murray River and was making our way to Echuca when we noticed a lovely RV site at Cohuna a small town approx 60 klms from Echuca. We need to go to Echuca as needing to stock up on the White Port from the St Annes Winery for our friends Maree and Brian and of course ourselves. The town of Cohuna welcomes the free campers as most will spend some money in the town. We made a visit to the butcher, IGA and the bakery, spending $'s in the town that otherwise we would have passed through not stopping.

The last Silo at Lascelles