Judy & Brian Tour Oz

Atherton Qld July 21 2023 Easy run up into the mountains except for the last 40km which was at snail’s pace due to climbing and twisting and narrow road  which banked up the traffic into a convoy. Oh well nought to do but tag along and enjoy the scenery. Made it into what must by now be in our top three van parks, the NRMA Atherton Holiday Park. Shock! Horror! They’ve heated the pool! Yeah, way to go them. Got parked up and nipped into town to hit the shops for some essential food items, and Bunnings for a new heater and a new hose fitting. Later in the day I walked back up to the platypus pond, saw nothing, then went around to the old train station and took some snaps of the carriages now being used  for a cafe. Train cafe, Atherton Qld Train cafe, Atherton Qld Atherton July 22nd 2023 I was up early and did the Atherton Parkrun for the second time. its been four years since I did this one last, the time certainly gets away. This time I walked up to the start of Parkrun, maybe...

Emerald Beach NSW August 30 2015 Just a couple of days doing nothing. We are at Emerald beach which is just north from Coffs Harbour, close enough to be half-handy, far enough away to be relaxed. As relaxed as one can be with mum, dad and the 4 kids across the road going flat out at full volume all day from 630. One of the kids just sits there and squeals all day. They have a pop-top van with the beds folded out each end. They have 5 bicycles, 6 chairs, a play pen, several tables, a BBQ, numerous toys. The whole lot is spread out over two caravan sites. Mum sits out in the road, using it as a table to fold the once clean clothes. Dad is reliving his childhood through his children, which is OK, except he's making more noise than them. We went out. Naturally, on day 1 we gravitated to Coffs itself and stumbled into the markets, a car show, saw a steam engine, snapped a DC3 and had an ice-cream at Sue's sisters place on the wharf. We wandered around the marina and found some...

Tolga, Qld Day 3 Late start due to some housework to be done, but started at Peanut Place up the road at Tolga. It’s just a shop / stall on the side of the road with all kinds of peanut based products. They reckon all the peanuts in Qld are grown here, just that they all get sent to Kingaroy for processing, which is why most people would say ‘Kingaroy = peanuts”. I had a Dragon fruit & lime sorbet, Judy had macadamia and something. To be honest, couldn’t come at peanut ice-cream. Back along the road we came to the Woodworks, same sort of thing as at Bungendore in NSW, only better. Not just heavy timber items, but a range of hand crafted works: glass, ceramic, metal, leather. In one corner they have a selection of timber off-cuts for sale and I think I just found the latest goldmine in the area; $25 for a small piece about 25mm square and 40mm long of something exotic like blackbutt or celery top. We were on our way out when we stopped to have a look at the menu (of cour...