27th October - 2nd November

Monday 27th

It was fantastic this morning. I was sitting out the front of the caravan doing my computer work when a whole flock? of pelicans decided to swim up and down in front of our campsite on the river we were camping on for a couple of hours – it was amazing – never seen anything like it – there were so many of them – what a spectacle!!

We packed up and headed into Goodiwindi for free hot showers at the water park. We did some shopping, etc, then headed towards Moree – mum told us about the artesian baths there so we reckon we might go and check them out.

We found a great spot to camp about 8 kms north of Moree, as we came over a bridge there was a very uninspiring looking rest stop, (turn off at GPS: 29 24 42.0S 149 55 11.1E) but when we looked further, there were tracks leading down to the river (Gwydir I think), so we pulled up there for the night.

Tuesday 28th

We headed for Moree to try out the Artesian Baths - they were fantastic!! It costs $6 each to get in or you can pay $9.50 each to be able to go in and out as much as you want all day. We ended up only going in the once as poor old Boris was waiting for us in the car. There are 2 "spa baths", which are really just little pools with the water being pumped straight from the artesian bore - the water is crystal clear with a slight sulphur odor and the 2 different pools have temperatures of 38 degrees + and 40 degrees + - it was like having a giant bath. I guess the spa part of it is where they jet the water into the pools and you can stand in front of it and get a massage. The funniest thing we thought was that it was full of old people going after the healing qualities of the water (apparently you can even drink it), and then they all sat out in the sun and baked themselves!! You can only stay in for about 10 minutes before you start falling asleep, then you get out and jump in the cold water pool and start all over again!

We then headed for Warialda and stayed at Cranky Rock (funny name eh?). It's kinda like a gorge I guess and there is a caravan park attached to it. I wouldn't pay to stay here again, but I would come for a day visit. The price is too much for what you get ($18 unpowered/$20 powered), which is what you pay in other caravan parks and you get hot showers, laundry, etc, which you don't get here. We also didn't swim (Boris did), because the water looked decidedly green (I'm sure it would be great to swim in when there was more water in the rivers). It is a fascinating place though and the rock formations are awesome.

Wednesday 29th

We packed up and headed to Bingara - a great little town with an excellent information centre. The lady at the information centre told us we can free camp anywhere along the river (heading north out of Bingara, take first right after first small bridge) go along the highway and there are heaps of spots you can free camp there and it's a great place to camp. We found a campsite with a bunch of other campers and settled there. We all had happy hour at 4:30.

Boris was particularly pleased with our campsite as it is the closest we have been to the water so far and we can throw his ball in the water (we found a spare ball) while we are sitting under the awning.

Thursday 30th

We went for a great big walk this morning with John from Tamworth, one of our neighbours, up the side of a mountain!! We took the hand-held GPS with us and according to it we went up 160 m. It was a big walk but a fantastic view when we got to the top!! Boris had a wonderful time of course but there a heaps of nasty thistles here (Lion Pear? Bit like prickly pear but nastier) and poor old Boris had them all through his feet and even his mouth yesterday after our walk, so he had to endure us pulling them out - he was very good about it.

I made lemonade scones and shared them for afternoon tea when we had happy hour. Haven’t caught any fish here, but there isn’t a lot of water in the river (still swimmable). We will probably be here for a couple more days then head off to the least bumpy road home (caravan is falling apart around our ears!).

Ross went for a walk when it got dark to see if he could find any carp by shining the torch in the water and guess what?! He found them, he even grabbed one because they were all sleepy. We headed back to the caravan to grab the spear gun, but by the time we got back they had all woken up and taken off – onya Ross!! We might have another go tomorrow night.

Friday 31st

We went for another walk, this time along the river, according to the GPS we walked a total of 5.6km today - not bad! We found some excellent camping spots along the river, there are so many places you could camp along here, but we still reckon we have the best spot where we are because the river is much deeper here.

Had some more neighbours turn up today, Pam and Ian from Hervey Bay, they also have a miniature Schnauser with them named Gus. Gus and Boris seem to get on okay, so we will see how we go. For those of you who don't know Boris, he isn't the most sociable of dogs, but he is normally pretty good with little dogs. We reckon he never got socialised as a pup and really doesn't know how to play!

Saturday 1st

John went into town this morning so we didn't go for our usual walk. It was quite overcast and we had the occasional shower today. We ended taking the tinny up the river to see what we could see. It was a great little trip and we found some deep holes, so we are going to take it out again this arvo to see if we can catch any fish.

We toddled off in the tinny after lunch with Boris in his usual spot on the prow. Once we reached our fishing spot it didn't take Boris long to get bored and he spotted something interesting on the shore so he jumped out of the boat and was off. After about half an hour or so he got bored and wanted to come back in the boat, so he swam back out. Of course there is no way for him to get back in the boat other than one of us dragging him back in, which we did. Next thing he is shaking to get all the water out of his coat - all over us -we were saturated! Then of course he proceeded to walk all over the tackle box and spill tackle everywhere, not to mention jumping out of the boat again and getting tangled in the fishing line and we had to go through the whole process of pulling him in again and enduring getting saturated while he shook his coat out!!

Once we got back we all went in for a swim, and Gus and Boris played on the shore - that's right - Boris was actually playing like a normal dog - couldn't believe it!!

After awhile Boris decided to come in for a swim with us but didn't have his ball with him so he got bored (doesn't take him long). We all wear our "Crocs" in the water, which float, and I was blissfully floating about with my feet up in the air when Boris (with a little encouragement from Ross) decided that my Crocs looked enough like his ball that he might have a go at them! Unfortunately my foot was still firmly entrenched in the shoe when he grabbed it and started pulling away! It was so funny, I was laughing so hard I nearly drowned and Boris was so determined not to let go of my shoe that he nearly drowned too!! I couldn't get my foot out of my shoe as Boris had such a firm grip on it and I had to get Ross to grab him and wrestle my shoe out of his mouth before we both drowned - it was hilarious!


Sunday 2nd

We went for a walk this morning the other way up the river. There was John, Ross, myself, Boris, Pam, Ian and Gus. It was a lovely walk but poor old Gus has tender feet and kept picking up prickles and had to be carried parts of the way. All in all we had a lovely walk though it was getting pretty hot by the time we got home. It's still a bit overcast and we aren't getting much solar power at the moment.

I made my first cake in the camp oven - turned out pretty good though it was a bit burned on the bottom - will get it right next time!!

20th - 26th October

Tuesday 21st

We had a lovely few days in Brisbane. We stayed at Lee and Gary’s place and caught up with family and friends and picked up Boris!!

We have missed the cheeky boy, so it will be good to have him with us again – we will see how we go for camping, etc with him along. We know we won’t be able to get into National Parks, etc, but that’s ok – we will have to be more creative in finding places to go and things to see.

We left Lee and Gary’s after lunch as we were waiting on the mail for a new credit card that didn’t turn up, so they will have to forward it onto us.

We headed for Warwick and then got partway to Stanthorpe to Dalveen and stayed at Jim Mitchell Park there – a lovely little park off the highway so it wasn’t too loud with traffic. It was a very popular spot and there were a lot of people staying there overnight.

Wednesday 22nd

We had a lovely leisurely morning and went for a stroll and found an old mill that had been abandoned. All the workings were still there as well as an awful lot of timber just laying around going to waste. We picked up a couple of pieces to use as firewood.

We then moved on to Stanthorpe for a look-see, went up to the lookout at Mount Marlay – Stanthorpe is quite a big town when you look at it from up there.

We then headed for Texas – we have no idea where we are going to setup camp tonight – guess we will check out Texas and make a decision when we get there.

Half way to Texas a great big huntsman spider decided to crawl out of the window section of my door and proceeded to crawl along the inside of the door into the handle. Unfortunately there was nowhere to pull up at the time so I had to sit tight until Ross could find a spot – AAAGGGHHH!! I was very proud of myself though and didn’t try sitting in Ross’ lap or crawl into the back with Boris – I just sat tight and waited (and prayed a lot).

We got to Texas and had a bit of a look around - nice little place we thought - though VERY windy. You can have free hot showers in town and the locals are very friendly and helpful. We asked the locals and they told us its not usually this windy and told us about a local free camping spot on a river in a fishing reserve so we thought we aught to check it out. We had pretty vague directions but managed to find it. You have to go through a gate to get here, but it is a nice spot with only one other caravan parked here. (Turn off from Texas-Yelarbon Road at GPS coordinates 28 49 59.4S 151 05 42.2E - tiny sign saying "Gibralta Reserve"). There are no facilities at all, but we reckon we might stay a day or two to see what the fishing is like.

Boris had a wonderful swim, followed by a lovely roll in cow manure, followed by a very thorough bath in the river! He has no interest whatsoever in cows (nobody told him he is a cattle dog), but he absolutely adores fresh cow poo!! We have to keep him tied up now to make sure he doesnt sneak off again!

Thursday 23rd

It was absolutely bloody freezing this morning!! It stayed pretty cold all morning and then the wind came out in the afternoon - VERY windy, making things very unpleasant.

We got the boat out in the morning and went for a putter up the river, although it was very shallow and we didn't get far. The other guy who was staying there is an old hand at fishing and he told us the fish were off the bite because of the cold snap. Even though is wasn't a bad place, we thought we would move on and see if we could find something better.

Friday 24th

We went back into Texas to fill up with water and have another shower, chatted to some fellow travellers who had similar intentions, did some shopping then headed out to see what we could find.

When we reached Yelarbon we took the Border River Tourist drive as a particular map we had told us there were a lot of free camps on rivers along there. There were heaps of nice places and we would have loved to stay at some of them but there was no phone reception so we kept going towards Goondoowindi until we found a nice campsite near a river and decided we might just stay here a few days. We threw out the fishing lines but didn't even get a bite. We were getting a bid bored but we wanted to keep fishing so we took Ross' laptop down to the riverside where we were fishing and watched an episode of Psych while we were fishing (still didn't get a bite). We did put yabbie nets out though and got a heap of red claw before we retired to bed. We also caught a heap of shrimp that we might try as bait tomorrow. We had a go at casting the throw net again and caught a bunch of bait fish too.

Boris reckons its a great spot because we can throw his ball into the river from the caravan site so he can give us the ball any time he wants to go for a swim. Unfortunately we left him unsupervised with his ball and he destroyed it and we don't think we have another one with us - hmm - could be a problem!!

Saturday 25th

We had a very leisurely day today - we didn't do much at all!! Hard life. We went for a paddle in the afternoon and discovered why we weren't getting any fish - the river, although quite wide, is only about three feet deep the whole way across and anything other than the first couple of inches under the top layer is FREEZING!! Oh well, we will have to put up with eating all the yabbies we are catching instead. We had a great fire and cooked spuds, carrots and onions in the foil for dinner as well as sweet chilli yabbies - yummy!!

We solved Boris' temporary ball shortage by throwing sticks in the water instead. Sticks are ok to throw in the water - but not on land - too dangerous for Boris, so we will have to see what we can do about getting him another ball.

Sunday 26th

Another quiet day - watched "Psych", updated the side of the caravan, sorted through photos, etc. The weather is great and we have a great spot on the river - what a life.

Ross managed to break the chainsaw when he was cutting up the wood for the night's fire - another thing we will have to get fixed! Ross reckons the caravan needs some major repairs and we are going to start heading slowly back to Port to try and get things fixed over the Christmas break.

13th - 19th October

Monday 13th

I rained overnight again so there is no way of getting to Carnarvon Gorge for this trip, so we moved on and stayed at a lovely little rest stop at Warra, which is a teeny tiny town just past Chinchilla. We stopped at Miles for lunch and wanted to go and have a look at their little historical village they advertised, but they wanted to charged $10.00 per head and we reckoned it couldn't be that much better than Timbertown near home so we didn't go in.

Tuesday 14th

We decided to get to Brisbane to Lee and Gary's tonight so we could spend the rest of the week sorting out the caravan and then we could move on again early next week with Boris in tow - we sure have missed the little rascal!! If you haven't already - read the letter from him (Letters from Boris heading) - pretty funny - he is always up to no good!

Wednesday 15th - Sunday 19th

See next post!

6th - 12th October

Monday 6th

We drove out to Fairfield Dam this morning – it is HUGE!! We had no idea how big it would be. There is also no free camping here, but there is a farmstay nearby called Higher Ground that you can stay at really cheaply apparently, so we might check it out once we have been to Bedford Weir.

We got to Bedford Weir just after midday – pretty hot, so we set up the awning for the first time – made it much better. This is a great place – you can camp for free here for up to a week as long as you follow the rules (generators only between 8am and 8pm, dogs always on leash, no open fires). There are toilets and hot showers but no drinking water.

We went for a walk to look at the weir, then for a swim, then put the boat in the water (first time) and went and put out some yabbie traps to see what we could catch.

We had happy hour with all the other campers at 4:30 and found out that the fish are too well fed at the moment and aren’t biting – but we will give it a go anyway – tomorrow.

Tuesday 7th

We had a lovely leisurely day today - our first since we started our trip!! Did a few domestic duties in the morning, etc. Went and checked the yabbie trap (found out whe had put it in water too deep). Went for a drive around the dam in the boat, did a spot of fishing (caught a bunch of catfish), collected firewood, cooked a lovely meal, happy hour again - then bed! We are going to bed earlier and earlier and getting up at 5:30 of a morning. We are finally settling into our new lives and aren't fighting all the time!! We were getting a little frustrated with life and taking it out on each other when we were travelling every day, so we are really appreciating these few relaxed days. We don't have to get to Bribane until about the 17th. We were also told how to catch red claw better and are going to try that tomorrow night - apparently they like veggies - not dog food like we were told!

Wednesday 8th

Well, we finally caught our first Red Claws!! There were only three, but it was a start!! We will try it again tonight, but we are finally getting the hang of it! We put them on the BBQ for appetizers for dinner.

We spent most of the day just chatting with neighbours, doing little jobs, swimming, driving around in the boat, etc, etc – it was a lovely day – so relaxed!!

Thursday 9th

Bit of an overcast day. We got about 8 red claw in the nets this morning and cooked them up in a curry for tea – yummy! Ross isn’t all that keen on them so unfortunately I had to eat them all!! We went fishing and managed to terrorize the local catfish population again – man, if they were any good to eat we would be living like kings!!

Friday 10th

We had quite a bit of rain overnight but it had stopped by the time we got up this morning. At about 10:30 we made the decision that we should move on and head down to Carnarvon Gorge. We were in no hurry packing up and we didn’t get away until 1:30 (only 3 hours pack up time!!). We were heading for a caravan park at Injune that only charges $12/night for powered sites.

Ross rang his boss at Port Macquarie today to find out whether he could do some work over the Christmas period – Pat thought that was a wonderful idea, so we will aim to be back in Port at around mid November and will stay until about the second week in January before we head off down south.

We didn’t arrive in Injune till about 7:30 pm and set up at the caravan park – it had been raining most of the way down which made going pretty slow. It’s not looking good for a visit to Carnarvon Gorge L

Saturday 11th

Still overcast and miserable – it’s even cold!! Two days ago we were withering away in the heat and today we have all our winter woolies on! We can’t get in to see Carnarvon Gorge with the weather like this – can’t get through the roads. We are in a bit of a dilemma. If we move on we will have to either go to an free site with no power, which would be bad because there is no sun, or move on to another caravan park to get the power and where else can you get a powered site for $12/night?

We have decided to stay one more night to see what the weather does. If it is still raining tomorrow we might forget about Carnarvon and leave it for another day and move on.

We had a wander about Injune (lovely information centre – give you tea/coffee and bikkies), went for a walk up the main street (took about 5 minutes) then went for a walk around the lagoon – that’s pretty much all there is to do here so we settled in for the afternoon to watch movies.

Sunday 12th

Still overcast and miserable so I guess we will move on. We don’t have to be in Brisbane until the weekend, so we might pop out to Charleville and have a bit of a peek around there. If this weather isn’t going to clear up though, we might just pack it in and head back to Brisbane early. We have to get our power situation sorted out – we can’t survive in this bad weather for very long the way our power situation is at the moment.

We decided to walk down to the Roadhouse to get pies for lunch, but that proved to be a mistake, as they pretty much had nothing there as far as pies, etc were concerned, so we wandered over to the bowling club, but it was full of old people so we went back to the van to have sandwiches for lunch instead. There is pretty much nothing else to do in Injune so Ross watched Bathurst while I read a book.

Just before lunch a couple in a caravan pulled up next to us and we got chatting and after awhile we worked out that they lived in Lake Cathie (close to Port Macquarie) and have done for 20 years and Ross had sold them a laptop just before we went on holidays!! Small world eh? We also worked out that their names were Bruce and Jenny Adamson and they know my old workmate – Simone Cook – so Mon – if you are reading this, Bruce and Jenny say Hi!!