We made it!

Our route marked in black

Finally we are at Rick's sister's house up the Range from Cairns. We have driven just over 4,000 kms since we left Melbourne, and around 730 kms from our former home in Adelaide, to Melbourne. Looking at our route so far, we still have a very long way to go if we want to see all of Australia; this is a VERY BIG country!

20-5-09: We made it to Emerald, then on to Sapphire where we stayed at the caravan park for 2 days so we could try our hand at gem fossicking. We purchased a bag of wash from Blue Hollow Mine and were shown how to wash and sieve the muddy stones and find some treasures. We scored a few small sapphires and zircons and are happy with our find.

One thing we had to watch out for in this area was the local livestock, which are unfenced and wander all over the roads; cows, horses and some odd looking chooks. (pictured below)

http://bluehollowmine.com.au/

22-5-09: We left Sapphire this morning hoping to reach Mackay before dark. We passed through varied countryside; Rubyvale, Capella & Clermont, then onto the Peak Downs Highway to Mackay, where we re-joined Bruce Highway. Photo below is countryside between Rubyvale and Capella.

This is the sign on a farm gate near Capella.

Wolfang Peak, on the Peak Downs Highway.

Mackay is a big town, surrounded by canefields, and there were a lot of coal mines in the area along the highway; saw more long coal trains. We drove 44kms further on to a nice camp ground at Seaforth; our first sight of ocean since we left Adelaide. Photo below is Winny parked at Seaforth.
Next day we drove a further 400+ kms through Proserpine, Bowen, Home Hill and Ayr; when we reached Townsville we headed out as fast as we could. It was like a city, with lots of traffic and confusing motorways. Well, it seemed hectic to us after all the distance we put in out the back of beyond. LOL

We found a nice free camp at Bluewater Creek, about 30kms north of Townsville, which was very popular that evening.

24-5-09: Left Bluewater Creek at 9.15am, through Ingham, stopped at Cardwell, which is the gateway to Hinchinbrook Island. This looked like a nice town, and we stopped long enough to try their famous Barra Burgers. Yum! (photo below)

This a view of Hinchinbrook Island.
After lunch we kept going; through Tully, which is supposed to be the wettest place in Australia, (but it was fine and sunny) Innisfail, which was devastated by Cyclone Larry in March 06, a major banana and sugar cane growing area. At last we arrived in Cairns. The traffic was quite heavy, and we copped every red light through the city. Finally we had the chance to see how Winny would handle the Kuranda Range, and she did a fine job; plenty of power up the steep and winding road.

Photo below is banana plants at Innisfail. They cover the bananas with coloured plastic bags.

So here we are in tropical Far North Queensland; supposed to be the beginning of the dry season, but it has been raining all day. Yesterday was sunny and quite warm, and we expect to get more of the same for the next 3 or 4 months.

Crikey!!!

Part of the tribute to Steve Irwin.

This looks like a tiger eating a bloke; tiger was actually licking the bloke's head!

Tigers; pic taken through tall glass wall I am trying to be short enough to qualify for a pony ride. LOL Croc at Australia Zoo.

Sunday we joined our niece and family for a visit to Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. Though expensive, it was worth the visit. The young boys ran all day; don't know where they get the energy! We bade our goodbyes from the carpark, as we were already north of Caboolture, and found a free camp just off the Bruce Highway a bit further on, rather than back-track to niece's house. It was wonderful catching up with them, and we hope to stop by again on our way back down south later in the year.

Later that evening at the campsite........

"What's that funny noise" I asked.....................RAIN, said Rick. We woke up to more rain in the morning; set off at 9am northbound on the Bruce Highway, passing through Gympie & Maryborough. Stopped at Childers to re-fuel etc. I would have liked to stop here for longer as it seemed like an interesting town, and felt like we were quite high in the mountains. Actually, we have been surrounded by mountains all the way up here in Queensland; they must like mountains here............hahaha

We found a free camp at Gin Gin, where we needed a boat, as the rain was so heavy. When we woke in the morning it was still raining.

We left camp at 9am, another early start for us. Travelled north through towns Miriam Vale, Calliope, Mount Larcom, towards Rockhampton, where we decided to Go West (young man), towards Emerald along the Capricorn Highway, leaving Bruce behind.

I drove Winny for the first time today!!! About ??kms of winding and hilly roads to Duaringa. She wasn't as difficult as I had thought, so I will have another shot tomorrow. :)

Tonight we are free camped at a sports ground in the small town of Bluff, not too far from Emerald. The local lads are doing their footy training right now.

The coal trains are chuffing back and forth right across the road, and we hope to see the mines tomorrow, after seeing these trains all along our route today.

When we reach Emerald, and neighbouring towns, we hope to do some gem fossicking, as sapphires and other stones are commonly found in this area.

Still a long way from Cairns, but we hope to get there soon.

So far, we are enjoying this lifestyle, even though I would like to stop more often at places of interest. But we need to get to Rick's sister's place so we can help with his Mum, and sort out some other stuff.

Thanks for reading. :)

Visiting niece and family

Taken through the windscreen on the road by Somerset Dam, northern end near Kilcoy.

O'Shea's Crossing, on the Somerset Dam Road between Esk and Kilcoy. There is a nice picnic area here, but no camping.

Free camp by the highway at Helidon, just down from Toowoomba.

We arrived in Caboolture, north of Brisbane, yesterday afternoon, after taking a detour from the main Brisbane highway. We drove through some very pretty and hilly countryside to Esk, then took the narrow winding road past Somerset Dam to Kilcoy, where we stopped to re-fuel Winny and ourselves. After a relaxing stop, we headed down the range to Caboolture.

Perfect weather here, warm and sunny; seems it is cold and wet back home in Adelaide.

We took our niece in the Winny to pick up her son from school; he was surprised and pleased to see us, and thought our mobile home was pretty cool. The 2 smaller boys loved it too, and had to try out our bed. LOL

We still haven't registered the vehicle yet, but are on a Vic Roads 30 day permit, so we need to do something about this soon, maybe Monday.

After leaving Moree at 10.30 this morning, we drove to Goondiwindi on the Queensland border, then on to Toowoomba. After passing through what seemed like wide flat country, the road down the range out of Toowoomba came as a bit of a shock. Very steep and winding, we hadn't realised how high we were. We knew we would have to cross the Great Dividing Range sometime, just the approach from the west was so gradual.
The roads so far in Queensland are rougher than NSW and Vic, but the big B-double semis seem to do OK, passing us as we cruise along at 100 km/p/h.

We are free camped tonight at a roadside stop about 20kms down from Toowoomba, and will drive to Brisbane tomorrow morning, hoping to navigate around the city to get to Caboolture, where a niece lives. We thought we could annoy her for a couple of days before heading further north.

Artesian spa pools at the Moree Caravan Park. We luxuriated in the hot pool for a while this morning, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,
very nice.

The Warrambungle Range from the Newell Highway on the way to Coonabarabran.

On the road

Winny's lounge area. Our queen size bed is at ceiling level, a push of a button brings the bed down.

Tonight we are staying in Mehi Caravan Park, Moree, northern NSW. We have travelled about 375 kms today from last night's free camp at Terramungamine Reserve, which is around 10kms north west of Dubbo. Towns we passed through include Gilgandra, Coonabarabran and Narrabri. We have missed some interesting things along the way by driving straight through, but hopefully we will pass this way again.

We spent yesterday at the famous Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo, which was a great set-up, but in the middle of the day most of the animals were sleeping, or just laying around.

Winny!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We finally took possession of our Winny last Friday, 8th May, and drove out of the RV dealership at 1.30pm, heading north from Melbourne. (We had to wait for our extras to be finished; solar panels, etc.) About an hour and a half later we stopped at a town called Seymour, where we booked into the Highlands Caravan Park. We had a big load of washing to do by this time, and the proprietors were very friendly & helpful.

After that we kept heading north/north east towards Queensland, but even though we travelled 400kms yesterday, we still have a very long way to go to get to Cairns.
We are in Dubbo, mid N.S.W. tonight, free camping at a reserve by a river. We hope we will be OK here.
We have met some other RV'ers along the way, and we are collecting all their tips. We have just purchased some remote internet thingy thing, so I hope to be able to keep updating this inane blog. :-))

I will add some photos soon, when the DH stops driving long enough for me to have some time to upload pics.

I have seen all you followers, so thanks for that. I will try to keep you all updated.

Cheers from Dubbo!

Last week's update

Thursday 7th May. Update.
Still at John’s on Saturday 2nd May; pulled a lot of stuff out of container to re-arrange so all possessions fit. Took all day.
Sunday, after looking at John & Glenda’s new shop, then a quick stop at Mum’s, we set off towards Melbourne at 3pm. Made Bordertown 6.30pm and stayed in a motel for the night.
Next morning, Monday 4th May, we left Bordertown 9.30am to Melbourne. The drive was good, until we hit the freeways just outside the city. Very confusing to me.
Made it to Roberts RV Centre at 4.30pm. Looked over our Winny. When they closed for the day, we hopped in the car intending to find a bed for the night, but the battery was DEAD! We ran across the busy 3 lane highway to a servo, but they couldn’t tell us anything about the batteries they had for sale, so we ran back across to the car, measured the battery, wrote down the codes, ran back across; they still couldn’t help us. Actually, the young lad looked as if he wanted us to just go away. Luckily, a taxi driver came in and said go down to K-Mart. By this time it was dark, we were frustrated, tired and hungry. We trotted off down the highway to K-Mart where a helpful young man found the right battery for us. After paying for it, we put it in a shopping trolley and wheeled it back to the car, around ½ km, I think. Rick took out the dead battery, put in the new one, and action!
We drove a couple of kms the other direction to a caravan park hoping for a cabin for the night. (by this time it was around 7.30pm) Office closed and NO vacancy. We then stopped at La Porchetta restaurant for food, where the nice waitress phoned a hotel for us and booked a room. So we didn’t have to sleep sitting in the car, whew. Odd little room though, but comfy enough.
Tuesday, we went back to the RV place and sorted out more things. Transferred some $$$ to their account so they could add the extras we wanted; bull bar, tow bar, bike rack, solar panels and reversing camera. Then we went for a long walk in this picturesque (not) industrial area of northern Melb.
We have been given use of an old rental winny parked at the back of the RV centre, free, while they finish our “home”. Wednesday we went to the bank to get a cheque for full payment, then just hung around reading and relaxing. Now, Thursday 9.30am, our Winny is almost ready. Waiting on a couple of parts for the tow bar. Soon, Jared will take us through everything and show us how it all works.

We are homeless

Yesterday at 11am we handed over the keys to our house. The real estate people told us we would have access to our money that evening, or today, but things haven't quite worked out that way. We had assumed the $$$ would be transferred electronically to our nominated bank account, so we were more than a little surprised (to put it mildly) to find we had to drive across to the other side of the city, late in the afternoon, to pick up a bank cheque from the conveyancer's office. By that time, the banks had closed. (of course)
We drove the 70km (approx) back to my brother's place, (where we stayed the previous night) to stay another night. This morning we drove all the way back to our (previous) local area to bank our cheque, for which we now have to wait 3 working days to clear before we can pay for our motorhome. Sigh. So, another night at my brother & sister-in-law's house. (thank you John & Glenda)

Maybe we can leave for Melbourne tomorrow morning, taking our time, and then have a couple of days at the RV dealership learning about our new "home" before we are allowed to drive it away. That is now supposed to be next Wednesday, fingers crossed.

Things haven't been working to plan, but that's life. We are just playing it by ear, and hoping everything will work out for the best.

I am posting this from the Semaphore Library. Not sure when or where the next post will be from.
Thanks for reading. :-))