Karuah NSW September 1st 2024

 Karuah NSW September 1st 2024

Long day on the road gets us into Karuah, the only place we have ever found to stay at night, ready for a run down through Newcastle and Sydney and then - Home.

We got a bit of a surprise though, the service station is closed for renovations. Good job we are in the Beemer and not the Ford, because we had plenty in reserve. We went and found some 10km back ups the road though, just be sure.

The best place in Karuah is the jetty, with its attendant wonky old boardwalk. 

Karuah NSW

Karuah NSW

Karuah NSW

Karuah NSW

Yamba NSW August 27th 2024

Yamba NSW August 27th 2024

Easy run down to Yamba. Found our spot in the park and went up to town for lunch. Had a bit of a wander around to reacquaint ourselves with Yamba and the bits and pieces around the place.

Angourie Back Beach, Angourie NSW

Yamba main beach and pool, Yamba NSW

Fog rising over Yamba Marina, Yamba NSW

Did some stuff: ‘History’ Ferry Cruise - 4 hours of nothing, it would have been boring of you could have heard the commentary. Took 2 hours to cover about 5 nautical miles from the park to the highway bridge. And just a complete rip-off. You can't bring food or drink on board, but they will gladly sell you a sandwich in a plastic for $10 and a can of drink for five. Parkrun - great little run along the river front, pretty hot and humid though. Angourie Back Beach my favourite - 630 am deserted, heaven on earth, a run in the car out to Lawrence and Bushgrove, touched Grafton and came car through Maclean.

I wanted to go to Bushgrove mostly because it featured in a great pamphlet thing  marine chart we picked up which was about cruising on the Clarence River. It waxed lyrical about the wonder of having lunch on the deck overlooking the broad expanse of the river etc etc. The pub itself, including the covered patch of dirt on the river bank were ok, but far from the rhetoric of the glossy brochure. We did get to cross the river though, twice, on a vehicular ferry, which is a bit quaint these days.

Vehicular Ferry, Lawrence, Clarence River, NSW

Lunchtime viewing area, Bushgrove Hotel, NSW

The view from the said viewing platform 

Actually a highlight was lunch at Maclean where we ‘discovered’ the Botero Coffee Roasters and Cafe. Exellenent lunch, great coffee

Botero Roastery, Maclean NSW

The Caravan park was ‘nice’, until the 10,000 young persons with all their children and all their toys turned up n Friday. You can hear the kiddies starting to mumble and grumble from six am, then at 7 am sharp they throw all the van and cabin doors open and the kiddies erupt out onto their scooters and bikes, yelling and screaming at each other and moaning about this and that... and it doesn’t stop until 7 at night when thankfully they all go to sleep. 

And then there was the pool or pools, only one heated is the swim-up bar, and you can imagine what that was like! But the others, including the water play areas are decidedly cool. The main pool is really nice, just cold. Not frigid, just not a pleasant place to get in and splash around. Good for lap swimming though if you were brave enough to tough it out. One one or two brave souls, including me, used it as our own private pool all week... until Saturday. The temperature soared to 35° by 9 o’clock and a hot sweltering wind picked up. All of a sudden the “freezing” pool was the place to be! And then the power went off. Not just the van park, but all of Yamba. Came back on about three o’clock, so all the air-conditions could be brought back on-line.

Judy did some fishing from the end of the van park pier and caught all kinds of baby fish, biggest one was a 30cm flathead. All consigned back to their watery habitat for next year.

We will go back, we’ll just make sure it’s not on the weekend, especially a Fathers’ day one or the like.

Tweed Heads NSW August 23rd 2024

 Tweed Heads NSW August 23rd 2024

Koala. Kirra Beach Qld

Another 4 1/2 hours of highway hell. Tewantin to Tweed Heads, its just full-on motorised mayhem. Started badly when we very, very, nearly wiped out a bikie, who thought it was smart to swoop past us on the left while I was in the middle of getting back n that same lane after an overtaking move. He must have been doing 130 at least. Just how he didn’t hit us I really don't know. I swerved a bit, he severed a lot. Just plain good luck that I saw him in the side mirror in what would have been the last split second of his life.

One always expects the Bruce or whatever it is, “A1” I think is its proper name, to be busy with its four lanes but this year it has been taken to new heights of traffic all hell-bent on being somewhere else as fast as possible. That’s not so bad, I can handle that, but then they closed two lanes about halfway down to put in more lanes and so we were reduced to a crawl for half an hour or so before finally being freed of it at the NSW border. Northbound was just as bad. And the locals just accept it as the normal way to travel. Oddly, looking back through my blog and travel notes, I say the same thing every year. I think this may be our last, Id rather drive a few hundred kilometres further right out around the back of Brisbane than do this again.

anyhow, this year we are back at what used to called the Ben Boyd van park, owned an operated by the local council. Haven’t been here for 9 years as it turns out. I don't remember the old highway outside the fence being quite this noisey but it will have to do for this year.

Tewantin Qld August 16th 2024

Tewantin Qld August 16th 2024

We moved down to Tewantin, our hopes high that this was going to be the relaxing, satisfying, enjoyable part of the holiday that we have both been looking forward to. But no, despite a good trip down, including getting through Gympie way more easily than last year, we ran into a bun-fight at the van park. OK, so we’ve been here maybe 10 times and are quite fussy about our site. We now want, nay, almost demand, an en-suite in “Grevillea Street”, and it has to be an even numbered site. That’s because the en-suites are in pairs and the odd numbered ones are odd (sorry), in that they are on the wrong side off the van. Which means that instead of stepping put of the van, two steps into your own private facility, you have to step out and then walk around the back or front of the van to get to that bathroom door. Ok so that’s not such a big deal, but that’s what we have come to like over the years. And as we had booked in many months ago, we were not surprised to be allocated Number 30, the one we had requested. Full of joy we drove around to the spot, only to find someone else firmly ensconced in it. Judy, with steam coming-out her ears, charged of to reception, with the lady from the interloping van close on her heels. Sadly, it was never going to be anything else than a “Sorry, we can't promise anything”, which was pretty lame seeing as we had been give the site minutes ago. It seems that the incumbents had already been moved once and had been put there only this morning. And there’s nothing you can do. They gave as Site 31 right next door and so we just had to take it or leave it. We took it of course and as it turns out, on this particular site, it's not so bad, just duck out the back, between our van and a shrub and into the bathroom. But it's that initial letdown that sticks.

The park is great however and we are very comfortable here, and all around town. I just feels like home. My only complaint is that the pool is too hot! Even hotter than last year. The thermostat is set to 32°C can you believe?

We went to the Noosa Heads farmer’s markets which turns out to now be basically a pop-up cafe precinct for the beautiful people. So, that was disappointing as well. Anyhow, I had seen an old bloke in the servo with a Model T Ford in the morning and he said that he was on his way to a car run at Cooroy, which is 13km away up in the hills. So up we went, chasing rainbows, but settled for a nice coffee shop and a wander around the small but lovely little town.

Tuesday is Shopping Day, and we took ourselves to Maroochydore to sample the delights of the Sunshine Plaza Shopping Emporium, probably bigger than some of the towns we have stayed in! We found the few things that we needed and returned to the coffee shop, overlooking the creeks that flows under the mall. Gazing out the window, I was inspired to imagine that I was in Venice.... No harm in dreaming.

Could this be the Venice of Qld? Hardly, but a bit of fun anyway.
Sunshine Plaza, Maroochydore Qld

From Maroochydore we travelled the scenic route back along the coast, our destination being Peregian Beach, where we have had lunch "a few times" in the past. And so we did again this year, before heading home via the obligatory lap of Hastings Street in Noosa proper, flooded by a stroll along the river at Noosaville.

Sunset over the Noosa river at Noosaville Qld

Wednesday is of course Eumundi Market day, which is a must-do on the JB schedule. I retired to the Berkelouw’s Book shop and later to a .... coffee shop. 

Eumundi Qld

From Eumundi we drove down to Yandina where the Nut Factory and the Ginger Factory are. Had a quick look around tasted a few of the ware, bought some gingerbread persons and headed back to Tewantin.

Maryborough Qld August 15 2024

 Maryborough Qld August 15 2024

Didn't stay in Maryborough, just went down for the day, mainly to get away from Hervey Bay.

Sun is shining for a change, rather a pleasant day out. Went to the weekly markets held every Thursday in one of the streets, before going see what all the fuss was about at the Cistern Chapel.

I'll let the photos do the talking:

Also of note is that Maryborough is where Pamela Lyndon Travers OBE was born. She is best know for creating Mary Poppins and is honoured in town with these colourful traffic lights.

Mary Poppins pedestrian lights. Maryborough Qld

Mary Poppins pedestrian lights. Maryborough Qld

Hervey Bay Qld August 12th 2024

 Hervey Bay Qld August 12th 2024

Rained lightly all night, eased off while we packed our proverbial tent and left Rockhampton for Hervey Bay. Drizzled all the way down to Miriam Vale, where we pulled in for a break. Back on the road, and I have to say that its not been too bad, we hit heavy patches of rain and just kept ploughing on through to Hervey Bay. Van park is one we stayed in years again, and doesn’t look like anythings changed in that time, except that the now more numerous potholes are deeper. Or site was built for small rig, we only just managed to get it in and even so we are hanging over the back of their slab by a metre, just so the drawbar isn’t sticking out onto the road. These old van parks are all in trouble now that all the clever people are now driving Chevrolet Silverados or Rams and towing 20metre long palaces on wheels.

Went out for some lunch. Settled for a bacon and egg roll and some chips from a choke ’n puke. Found the supermarket, grabbed some things and retreated to the van. It's now officially pouring. Supposed to be ready to go whale watching at 8 in the morning....

As a matter of interest we have been here several times in our life: 2004, 2006, 2013, 2016 and 2018.

Up at 6:30, time for a shower and breakfast. Its bucketing down rain, the wind isn't quite howling but trying hard; and today is our whale watching cruise day.

Apart from rain and wind, once we made it out from the lee of the marina we had to content with waves and swell. The boat was Ok though, had a decent cabin lounge area to sit out the hour ride to the area known as Platypus Bay. The whales are all around and we had a great old time watching them. Photography is total rubbish, what with the heaving seas and the zero light and the wind swept rain... and the lunatic with the expensive camera. Anyhow, there are a couple that will remind us of the boat ride.

Hervey Bay Qld

Urangan Pier. Hervey Bay Qld

Judy & whale. Hervey Bay Qld

Whale, pointy end. Hervey Bay Qld

Whale, tail wagging end, Hervey Bay Qld

Finally stopped raining, not that you can tell the difference between the rain and thick fog. One pointer is that the pothole puddles are staring to shrink. Went for a walk today along the beach, couldn't tell the difference between sea, horizon and sky. Slowly though the fog started to lift a bit. Came across this highly venomous Elegant Sea snake. Seemed to be dazed. Apparently this is not uncommon as they get caught in the trawler nets and are basically nearly drowned when they are thrown back, left to sink or swim, they often get washed up on the beach.

Hervey Bay beach

Elegant Sea-snake, Hervey Bay

Rockhampton Qld August 10, 2024

 Rockhampton Qld August 10, 2024

Before we left Sarina, we drove back up to Mackay so I could do a Parkrun. Actually the third time I've done this, although the course has been changed this year, and for the better I’d say. Didn’t beat my PB from 2021 but came mighty close.

After breakfast we packed and headed to Rockhampton, some 300km away. As opposed to previous years, the Mighty Bruce is in pretty good condition. I think we saw one roadwork in the entire length. Bit bumpy in some areas but basically not so bad.

Bit of a surprise at the caravan park, we’ve been shuffled up to the other end, which we didn’t even know existed. Its OK though, just different from our previous visits. Mind you, the main train line is about 10 metres on the other side of the back fence and the big long freight trains are a wee bit noisy as first the engines roar and groan past and then the hundred or so carriages clunk and clank over the gaps in the rails. Oh, here’s one now, you can tell from the mighty fog-horn blast as they come over the railway crossing. Every time. Surprising how often that is!

Tropic of Capricorn. Rockhampton Qld

Sunday morning we dragged ourselves out of bed and wandered downtown, or at least to the old central part of town, which in its hay day was a bustling sea port. The wharves went in 1967 and the whole area fell into decay, but has now been tarted up and is quite a pleasant place to stroll around. We came across this grand old stone building, once the home of the Queensland National Bank, back in 1880, but now a really delightful cafe called the Riveston Tea Rooms. Naturally we had to sample the fare just to make sure it was OK. Which it was, I'm pleased to say.

Riveston Tea Rooms. Rockhampton Qld

Riveston Tea Rooms. Rockhampton Qld

One time bustling Port of Rockhampton on the Fitzroy River

Customs House. Rockhampton Qld

OMG it's an Art Work. Rockhampton Qld

Sarina Qld 9th August 2924

 Sarina Qld 9th August 2924

We were supposed to stay at Mackay, to be close to Parkrun in the morning. We had booked into Bakers Creek Caravan Park, but it turns out to be out the back of the industrial area, looked filthy, full of permanent camps and totally uninviting. Even I wouldn’t feel comfortable staying there. Other parks in Mackay demand a two night minimum, so our options were Sarina, 30km south or Rockhampton, way too far south. Fortunately Sarina had a spot left, so we booked that and headed out of town. We have stayed here a few times now. The van park is pleasant with a big grassy site for us. After some lunch we wandered out to Sarina Beach, where there is a nice hotel and a good view out over the ocean. Still a bit windy though and hard to spot whales with all the whitecaps.

The park has a sausage sizzle on Fridays, so we went over for a hour, had a snag and a bit of old chat. The oddity of this place is that it has weird animal statues throughout the park: elephants, dinosaurs, crocodiles, emus, and this big lizard on the roof of the Meeting Place where we were, meeting, of course.

Lizard. Sarina Palms Caravan Park, Sarina Qld

Bowen Qld. August 2nd 2024

 Bowen Qld. August 2nd 2024

Left Rollingstone a little reluctantly, because despite the incessant wind and the near frigid pool, it was a very pleasant place to stay.

Here's what we left behind. Are we crazy?

Tasman Caravan Park, Rollingstone Qld

Tasman Caravan Park, Rollingstone Qld

Anyhow, left it behind we did. Travelled south through Townsville, which seems to get bigger every time, something like an hour and a half to finally clear the city, and then an easy sort of run down through Ayr to Bowen. Road is rough in patches but a reasonable sort of run got us into Bowen at 1pm. We set up and went to get some groceries but got side tracked and had lunch at Horseshoe Bay in the cafe, which I have to say has really come on since last year. Nice food though, good coffee and some great rock and roll from the 60 and 70s playing. They know their target market.

This year we lucked into a front row spot, which faces straight out onto the ocean:

Guess we'll just have to tough it out for a week. Bowen Qld

I was busy writing this blog when I noticed it had gone dark and then there was this sunset. Had to get a snap:

Sunset. Bowen Qld

There's not a whole lot to do in Bowen. One can walk along the beach if the tide is out, one can walk through the park, one can even enter Parkrun, in the same park, if one is up at 7am on a Saturday. There are a couple of beaches to swim at, but the wind has been howling and being on the beach has been a bit unpleasant. One afternoon we took some afternoon tea and a couple of coffees down to the main foreshore, where the Catalinas were based, but the wind was so strong you could barely open the car doors, let alone sit at the table and admire the view. Today has been much better, there's a bit of a breeze but quite bearable. Judy did aqua aerobics at the town pool, I went and laid on Kings beach in the sunshine while I waited for her.

To celebrate the change in the weather, we went for a dive to the info centre, which is weirdly placed 5km out of town on the road to Proserpine. Its main claim to fame is that it has a big mango, now with ant.

The Big Mango. Bowen Qld

Well what can you do? You take your fun wherever you can get it. Just across the road from the Mango is a new seafood vendor come cafe, so naturally we stopped for lunch. I had a rather nice fish burger and Judy has the crumbed whiting.

Now a particularly funny, as in funny peculiar, thing happened in the van park this afternoon. This year we have a spot in the from row, right on the waters edge. The spot next to us is mostly empty except for the odd motorhome coming in for overnight stays. These people never seem to stay, just get in last thing and out first thing next the day. Today however, a car with a pop top caravan pulled into the spot. You wouldn't want to believe it, but this tow vehicles was a BMW X5! A single fellow got out and set everything and settled in for the evening. He appeared to have two dogs with him, but that's not abnormal these days, most places are dog friendly. Judy and I went for a walk, when we came back, there he is in the throws of packing it all up again! Someone had complained about the dogs and they had asked him to leave. Can you imagine that? Neves seen or heard anything like it.

Yikes! I'm seeing double.
Maybe they asked him to leave because a vanpark can only handle one BMW at a time.....

I went and tried the pool again, reasoning that they had had two days of sunshine and it's a fairly shallow pool, so there might be a chance that its would be warmer. Warmer? Not so that you would notice, but I toughed it out and did my laps and it made me feel good. What a hero. So all's well, as they say.

Had to visit the Port of Airlie today, for no good reason other than we haven't been there this year. Who knows they might have a nice pair of shoes in that shoe shop, or changed the menu in the cafe next to the creek. As it turned out we decided to go straight to Shute Harbour to see what they have done there. It's been looking a little 'lost' since they dredged the estuary at Airlie and invented the Port Of Airlie, and with cyclones etc, Shutre Harbour was looking somewhat neglected. So, today it seems a tad more prosperous, but a quick check finds the ferries still running from Airlie, so back we go. It's all pay parking course, just like a real city, so I ran into the ferry terminal to see what was what, only to discover that a ferry was due to depart for Hamilton Island in 15 minutes and for $89 you got a ferry ride and lunch. A no brainer.

Judy had parked the car, we waved a CC near the parking meter thing and we were off on a cruise. Not exactly what we had planned for the day but as always, we are a suckers for boat ride.

 

We went via Daydream island of course, which brings back the fondest of memories from the times we have stayed there, and then on to Hamilton.

Daydream Island, Qld

What a surprise! The voucher for lunch was at Popeyes Fish emporium and we were offered a full range of lunch options, not just greasy fish 'n chips. I had a burger, Judy the squid, both excellent. 

Hamilton Island, Qld

There wasn't a lot of time left after we had fed our faces, so we took a bus ride, didn't hire a golf buggy, ate some cake from the bakery and caught the 3:40 ferry back. Nice day out actually, but arrived back too late and too tired to even bother with the Airlie shops. Maybe next year,...

Another day in paradise. Having exhaiusted the options in and around Bowen, we took ourselves off to Collinsville, some 85 km to the west of Bowen. It's a mining town. It only exists because they dig coal out of the ground here, and hove done for 150 years. It's a 'quiet' town, in as much as for the visitor there isn't a whole lot to do. We went and made friends with the life size replica of the last Pit Pony, although they never said if it was Warrior or Mr Ed on the memorial stone.

Warrior or Mr Ed? Pit Pony Place. Collinsville Qld

We had a coffee in The Plaza, at the bakery, which was a shopfront with some tables and chairs strewn about outside,  we bought a pie each, because I hadn't seen a real potato pie for yonks, and went and ate them next to that dear old departed Pit Pony to give him some company. Can you believe that they used Pit Ponies right up until the 1990s? A pit pony is used to drag the rail carriages full of coal out of the mine, just like they did in the 1800's. The old-time miners scoff at the newbies with their open-cut fully mechanised coal gathering. They don't think it's mining at all! I've probably mentioned it before, but just watching the huge train loads of coal being sent to the Port at Abbot point for shipment oversees, where despite our beloved greenness, it will all be burnt, beggars belief. In Canberra for instance, they have banned gas and wood heating and we will all have electric cars before 2040 because it's using fossil fuels is so bad for the environment, yet here we are shipping 100's of 1000's of tons of coal a day oversees. 

After that, and having rested from the excitement, we went to the workers club, where we paid $8 a head to go underground, which is really up some stairs to the first floor, where we experienced the Coal Face Museum, which I have to admit, was pretty good. Damn harsh life for all concerned, including the ponies.

Not wanting to leave without having had the full experience, we went up to the top of the  town look out. It's all downhill from here... 

View from lookout, Collinsville Qld