Monthly Archives: August 2013

Maroochydore – Days 2 & 3

Posted on Sunday, August 25, 2013 by shorty

As we’re planning to stay here at Cotton Tree in Maroochydore for at least a couple of weeks, we won’t necessarily be doing a daily blog entry, but will provide updates when more interesting things happen. Here’s a quick update of the main events of the last few days.

Saturday:

Ann and Faye took off for a bit of power walking around Maroochydore at 7.30 am. Downunda wanted to go to Aldi to buy an electric car & caravan jack they had on special so I went along. We arrived at the store about 8.00 am and by the time the doors opened at 8.30 am the car park was full and the queue stretched for what seemed to be forever. Downunda had to elbow his way through the crowd and managed to get the last available jack – there were only about 8 on sale in the store. He is very pleased with his purchase. I wish that I had taken a photo of the bedlam!

After a brief stop at the caravan park we then headed off to the caravan accessory store. On Friday night we had a minor disaster in the fiver when the hanging rail in our wardrobe fell down; obviously as a combination of overloading and rough roads. Unfortunately the caravan place didn’t have a replacement rail so we did a bit of panel beating on the old one to straighten it out. Drilling double the number of holes and reattaching the rail with some bigger screws seems to have fixed that problem. Both Ann and I did, however, reduce the amount of clothes hanging in the wardrobe – just in case.

Oh dear!!!

Happy Hour in Maroochydore is at the very civilized time of 4.00 pm, because the sun goes down a bit after 5.00 pm and it gets a bit chilly outside. Downunda and Faye have stayed at this park several times and know quite a few fellow travellers so we have met lots of new people quite quickly.

Sunday:

Downunda and I started our morning walk at 7.00 am and enjoyed a good long walk around Cotton Tree, Picnic Point and surrounds. Ann and Faye left on their walk a little later. Our walks coincided with the Sunshine Coast Marathon, which meant that roads were closed to traffic. This is obviously a very popular event and there were hundreds of runners of all different ages and abilities. There was a full marathon and a half marathon, and a couple of shorter events as well, with plenty of people to cheer on the runners.

Sunshine Coast Marathon

Reflections of Maroochydore during the Sunshine Coast Marathon

Sunshine Coast Marathon

Batman at the Sunshine Coast Marathon

After breakfast we headed off to the Cotton Tree Market, which also meant that roads were closed off. There were plenty of people, some very interesting stalls, and a couple of very different but amazing musician buskers.

Crowds at the Cotton Tree Market

Busker at the Cotton Tree Market

We had originally planned to arrive today but Faye had alerted us about the market and marathon and we sure are glad we checked in early as getting here today with the road closures would have been a disaster!

The rest of the day was spent chatting, doing housework, reading the papers, etc until it was time for happy hour, meeting more people and another beautiful sunset.

Happy Hour at Cotton Tree

Sunset at Cotton Tree Maroochydore

Sunset at Cotton Tree

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: maroochydore

Hervey Bay to Maroochydore

Posted on Friday, August 23, 2013 by shorty

Our concerns about the narrow roadways at the Happy Wanderer Caravan Park came to life this morning and we had to ask the chap opposite to move his vehicle and then we had to reverse into the site behind us in order for us to escape from Hervey Bay. Oh the joys of a big rig!

The GPS took us via the Scenic Route out of Hervey Bay towards Maryborough. It was an interesting drive on another beautiful sunny day. On the way to Maryborough we saw the results of the fires we experienced on the way in, and some of the bush was still smouldering. Although we didn’t stop at Maryborough we did do a bit of a lap around town to get some sort of feel for the place.

Our morning coffee stop was at the small town of Tiaro. This is the sort of town we love as caravanners. There is a small free camp just off the main street and several shops including a nice little coffee shop, a tourist information centre and art & craft shop, a decent amenities block, a grog shop, a hippy clothing shop, and a butcher.

The butcher supplies exactly what caravanners need and we bought several vacuum sealed packages of a variety of meat products each containing just a few slices or portions. Tiaro is a town that understands the needs of caravanners and is obviously reaping the financial benefits that vanners bring to their town!

Coffee Shop & Butcher in Tiaro

From Tiaro we headed further south down the Bruce Highway and stopped for lunch at a rest area about 6 kms north of Gympie. Again this was a well set-up area with 6 specifically defined caravan sites and several other large sites, an amenities block and even a playground. Although this was a great place to stop for lunch it would be very noisy here as an overnight stop as it is quite close to the highway.

Rest Area near Gympie for Lunch

From Gympie we were pleasantly surprised when the Bruce Highway upgraded from being the single lane A1 highway to the M1 motorway with dual lanes, divided road and a 110 kph speed limit. Unfortunately it reverted to the A1 after a while but changed back to the M1 sometime later and presumably stays a motorway through Brisbane and beyond.

Much Improved Roads

Finally we came to the Maroochydore turnoff and the GPS somehow found its way to the Cotton Tree Caravan Park. Our friends David [Downunda] and Faye have been here for a while and had organised a site for us near them. They met us as we arrived and were of tremendous assistance in helping us get into our site and setting up the fiver.

After a cup of coffee/tea and a catch-up at their caravan, we all picked up our chairs and liquid refreshments and headed to the beach/river bank for a happy hour while the sun set.

Downunda Comes to Shorty’s Aid in Setting Up the Fiver

Downunda and Faye at Happy Hour

Sunset at Cotton Tree Maroochydore

Then it was back to the fiver for a meal cooked on the BBQ. We’ll sleep well tonight.

Still living the dream!

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: hervey bay, maroochydore

Hervey Bay – Day 2

Posted on Thursday, August 22, 2013 by shorty

Another cold night but the weather soon brightened up into a fine and sunny day.

Today we planned to see a bit more of Hervey Bay, so after some housekeeping chores we set out for the beach. Our primary destination was the Urangan Pier, but before we got there we were quite amazed by the exterior of Vic Hislop’s Shark and Whale Show. We had seen Vic Hislop on the TV quite recently and had heard about his shark show, but seeing it in the flesh was quite a surprise.

We then stopped at Swell Café right at the end of the Pier for coffee. We got talking to Les, the owner, who is a refugee from near Ballarat and just loves the weather up North. He has owned the café for about 12 months and sure can make a great cup of coffee, using beans from the Byron Bay Coffee Company.

Shark & Whale Show

Swell Cafe at Hervey Bay

Swell Cafe Makes Delicious Coffee using Beans from Byron Bay

Then we went for a walk along the Pier. It’s currently 868 metres long but was 1124 metres when it was originally built in 1917 as a base from which to export sugar, coal and timber. Exports stopped in the 1980s and the pier was shortened by 256 metres. Today there were lots of walkers like us, and a lot of people fishing – although we didn’t see many fish being pulled in. The views from the Pier are amazing.

As we neared the end of the Pier we noticed some boats heading in our direction at speed. When they got closer we realized it was a Rescue boat towing another which presumably had issues. We were surprised at how fast they were travelling.

The Pier in nearly 1 km long

View from Urangan Pier

Rescue Boat off Urangan Pier

Pelican at Urangan Pier

Not Quite a Pelican at Urangan Pier

After building up a healthy appetite on the Pier, we enjoyed lunch at the restaurant at Peppers, overlooking the water. Our meal was delicious and the view tremendous.

View from Peppers

Lunch at Peppers

Peppers

Classic Sports Car at Peppers

We then returned home to the fiver for coffee and a quiet read under awning before heading out for a few supplies and to top up the Ute with diesel. Ann just happened to know of a fabric and patchwork shop so we stopped there so she could have a good look around. She bought some really nice things there.

Again, back to the fiver where we pulled down the awning and end wall in preparation for our departure tomorrow.

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: hervey bay

Gin Gin to Hervey Bay

Posted on Wednesday, August 21, 2013 by shorty

It was quite cold last night and this morning was still a bit chilly, but we enjoyed breakfast outside in the sun. The sky was clear and blue and didn’t take too long to warm up into a beautiful day.

Our morning coffee stop was down the Bruce Highway, through roadworks, and into the town of Childers. What a great place! Childers is a busy and vibrant small country town which is smart enough to provide dedicated parking for about a dozen caravans just off the main street as a fantastic way to encourage caravanners to stop and contribute to the local community. There is street artwork everywhere, including statues, mosaic inlays in the footpaths, and more. Importantly, they have made the most of historic and heritage buildings rather than rip them down – bank branches, shops and even Subway are in old buildings rather than more modern constructions.

Caravan Parking in Childers

Street Scape in Childers

Heritage Building in Childers

Street Artwork in Childers

From Childers the plan was to stop at Maryborough for lunch and then head back to Hervey Bay. However Maryborough was engulfed in smoke so we decided not to stop and to continue directly to Hervey Bay. In the end we actually drove through the smoke which was part of a bushfire which we later learnt had been burning for the previous 24 hours and had burnt out over 100 hectares of thick forest. It even made the TV news tonight.

Smoke on the Horizon

Getting Closer to the Smoke

Driving through the Smoke

The fire burnt through over 100 hectares

We reached the Happy Wanderer Village at Hervey Bay for a late lunch. Ann wasn’t happy with the originally allocated site but was able to change it to another site which we were actually able to drive into. It will be a lot easier to get out as well. The sites here are large but the roads are very narrow which compromises accessibility.

After a late lunch and finishing our set-up, we went for a walk to Torquay Beach and strolled along the Esplanade. After what seemed to be eternity of walking we stopped for a cold beer and a sit to watch the world go by. It is a beautiful beach and we look forward to a better exploration of Hervey Bay tomorrow. We then faced another eternity walking back to the caravan. After a short papa nap I had enough energy to cook lamb steaks on the BBQ for tea.

Welcome to Happy Wanderer Village

Some of the Scenery at Hervey Bay

Kool Kombi Pizza Delivery Van at Hervey Bay

Several things about today’s drive were of some note:

Roadworks – again we were confronted by roadworks along the Bruce Highway, but our position has softened a bit since Miriam Vale as it is obvious that major improvements are being made to the road rather than just adding patches to patches.
Plantations – our journey today took us through a much wider variety of plantations than we had previously experienced, including sugar cane, mangos, mandarins, macadamia nuts and pine trees. There were even a few wineries.

Roadworks on the Bruce Highway

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: gin gin, hervey bay

Rockhampton to Gin Gin

Posted on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 by shorty

The last couple of days were remarkably uneventful so we haven’t wanted to bore anyone with the details or lack thereof. Needless to say we spent some time preparing for the next part of our adventure, and also time exploring Rockhampton.

This morning we left Rockhampton and hit the Bruce Highway and from prior experience that means one thing – roadworks. Leaving Rockhampton township we were immediately delayed by work on the road, and several times during the day we waited through sections of single lane road. Much of the work we saw was simple patching, but to be fair there were other significant works involving road duplication and major road straightening. There is plenty of activity along the Bruce Highway but the condition of the highway is still a huge discussion point throughout Queensland.

First stop was at Gladstone, which held some interest with us as one of Ann’s brothers had lived and worked here for several years. We suspect that things have changed quite a lot since he was here! One of the first sights to greet visitors from the North is the power station and in other areas of the city there are new housing developments, apartments under construction, and so on. We stopped for morning coffee in the relative tranquility of Apex Park. Our time in Gladstone was only short, although we did tow the fiver around many parts of the town, but we have included Gladstone on our ‘longer visit next time’ list.

Welcome to Gladstone

Coffee at Apex Park in Gladstone

New housing development in Gladstone

From Gladstone it was a relatively short drive to Miriam Vale for lunch, and what a surprise this place turned out to be. First impression is a small village on the side of the highway. Fortunately the GPS took us to a back street which was a hive of activity with plenty of visitors, a couple of coffee shops/bakeries, several other shops, an inviting country town pub, shady parking, walking tracks and exercise equipment and so much more.

Kute Kombis on the road to Miriam Vale

Tranquility Walk at Miriam Vale

“All Age Activity Area” Exercise Equipment

Main street of Miriam Vale

After a couple of delicious pies from one of the bakeries, it was a further 100 kms or so to our final destination for the day at Gin Gin, which is 50 kms west of Bundaberg. Traffic in town was incredibly busy for some reason. First off we checked out the free camp on the edge of town which was quite big and appeared to have good facilities, but after a drive around we didn’t see a suitable site for us. We then made our way to the Gin Gin Showgrounds where we struck gold – water and power and basic facilities at a bargain price. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing so Ann did a load of hand-washing – it was washed, dried and ironed within a couple of hours. TV reception is limited – SBS or SBS or SBS Radio, but we can live without TV for a night. We sat outside reading and relaxing but eventually had to go inside because we were getting a bit cold, and we’re not used to the cold!

Great site at Gin Gin Showgrounds

Still living the dream!

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: gin gin, gladstone, rockhampton

Rockhampton – Day 3

Posted on Saturday, August 17, 2013 by shorty

We spent most of this morning socializing. The location of our site here on the river bank at Riverside Tourist Park means that a lot of people go past and we have met some really interesting people with interesting stories to tell.

One of our “visitors” this morning lives very close to us in Melbourne and previously lived near us in Ringwood – it’s a small world. He is trying to convince his wife to try a fifth wheeler and we wished him luck.

We also spent some time comparing notes with the owners of the other Trailblazer fifth wheeler here in the park. One point of interest is that the registration on their fiver is only 3 numbers less than ours – again it’s a small world! Jane, Sally and Olive had done interesting things with the design of their van. It is always great to talk to other owners and learn about their vanning experiences.

We had lunch at the Rockhampton Botanic Gardens and were joined by some cheeky and brightly coloured park residents. After lunch we went for a walk through this glorious tropical park and it was a wonderful way to stay cool on quite a warm day. The sheer size of many of the plants here is amazing.

We returned to the Ute via the free zoo which has been incorporated into the gardens. Although small there are some very interesting exhibits and plans for a major redevelopment in the near future. We felt that having the zoo and botanic gardens together was a really lovely idea and it was certainly well patronized.

Lunch under trees at Botanic Gardens

Cheeky friends at lunch

What – you ate it all!

Oh dear – do they grow this big?

Some of the trees are enormous

Tranquil Japanese Garden at Botanic Gardens

From there we explored the older part of town and enjoyed very nice coffees and cake at the Bluetruffle Gourmet Café to the sounds of Jimmi Hendrix.

Later in the afternoon we returned to the fiver to relax and watch the beautiful sunset, again.

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: rockhampton

Rockhampton – Day 2

Posted on Friday, August 16, 2013 by shorty

Today was a necessary but not all that interesting day.

First up was to contact the auto-electrician recommended by the caravan park. Fortunately he was able to come around at about 1.00 pm, which was great. We were a bit concerned that we might not be able to get any help until next week.

That gave us a few hours to fill in so we visited the local shopping centre to stock up on some supplies, and enjoy a very nice cup of coffee. Coffee was accompanied by a lamington the size of half a brick! Very tasty and more than enough for the two of us.

Then it was back to the fiver and while Ann prepared lunch I got things in order for the auto-electrician – including empty out some storage compartments to give access to cabling, pull the back off the fridge, and so on.

The auto-electrician arrived spot on time and got to work straight away. His diagnosis was that all our cabling was operating as expected but that our two house batteries were in effect dead. As a result, no matter how much or how we tried to recharge the batteries they would not hold their charge.

Unfortunately he couldn’t supply new batteries but recommended somewhere that could and said that he would come back to install them.

I rang the battery place which was not far away and they had what we needed in stock. I left Ann at the fiver and went down to collect the two new batteries, and while I was there purchased the ultimate in insurance in a small generator. As we have had significant battery/electrical issues two years in a row, we now have the capability to recharge them in case of difficulties. Very important in very remote areas!

Unloading one of the new batteries

My electrical problem solutions

Back to the fiver and a call to the auto-electrician and within a short space of time the new batteries were installed and the old ones taken away.

And that was basically what filled in my day. While I was busy sorting out batteries and stuff, Ann was chatting to several fellow travellers who were going fishing off the river bank and she couldn’t resist some photo opportunities.

Views Across the Fitzroy River from the Fiver

Fellow Travellers Fishing on the Fitzroy River bank

We’ll start exploring Rockhampton tomorrow.

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: rockhampton

Fraggle Rock to Rockhampton

Posted on Thursday, August 15, 2013 by shorty

We got off to a late start this morning as our first stop was to be the Flaggy Rock Exotic Fruit Garden, so we had a sleep in and just hung around the van in paradise until about 10 o’clock.

Flaggy Rock Exotic Fruit Garden was less than a kilometre away and was a great place to stop. We both enjoyed delicious ice-creams and then finished off with great coffees. Then we went on a bit of a walk around the garden which was filled with all sorts of exotic fruits, as the name implied. There was also a separate Outback Gem Display and Tourist Information Centre which was very interesting as well.

Welcome to Flaggy Rock Exotic Fruit Garden

Delicious Icecreams

Outback Gem and Tourist Info Centre

Flaggy Rock Exotic Fruit Garden

On the recommendation of a fellow traveller, our next stop was only about 60 kms away at the St Lawrence Recreation Reserve where we stopped for lunch. What an amazing place it was. It seems to be basically stock yards, possibly disused, but with plenty of room for free campers and facilities including undercover shelters and coin in the slot showers. Even at lunch time, there were plenty of vans already comfortably set-up with awnings and solar panels out. One van was even doing a load of washing! A local sporting club is holding a community sausage sizzle on Saturday night as a fund raiser so it would be interesting to see the interaction between campers and locals in that situation.

Plenty of room at St Lawrence Free Camp

St Lawrence would have been a great place to stay for at least one night, but unfortunately an electronic problem with the fifth wheeler has re-occurred so we ruled out another night free camping and decided to head for a caravan park with power. Ann hit the phone and after a few calls was able to find a suitable site at a Family Park in Rockhampton.

So it was further down the Bruce Highway and more roadworks to the Riverside Tourist Park in Rockhampton. The site here is perfect for a big rig such as ours and is right on the banks of the Fitzroy River. Signs in the park do suggest that crocodiles might be around so we will be a bit cautious walking around at night. Hopefully we’ll find an auto-electrician tomorrow – the park manager has given us some suggestions.

Interestingly there is another Trailblazer 5^th wheeler here at the park, and a chap we were talking to said that there had been another 3 or 4 Trailblazers here in the last 3 weeks. This is quite amazing as in nearly 4 years of travelling we have only ever seen one other Trailblazer, and that was at Katherine.

Lamb koftas for tea – with views to die for!

Great Site at Rockhampton

Night Views Across Fitzroy River from our Trailblazer

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: flaggy rock, rockhampton

Conway Beach to Flaggy Rock

Posted on Wednesday, August 14, 2013 by shorty

Today was a travel day so we were up at a reasonable hour, hitched up, and off to the Bruce Highway.

First challenge for the day was the quite steep incline just leaving Conway Beach towards Proserpine, but the Mighty Mazda BT-50 surged up the hill at a top speed of 35 kmh in second gear and conquered the task without even raising a sweat. To be fair, the speed limit both up and down that hill is 40 kph.

Then it was through Proserpine along the Bruce Highway, which means roadwork. We struck speed limits and single lane sections pretty well all day and most of it was adding more patches to the existing patches on the road. Not much fun at all. Other aspects of today’s drive included a lot more road trains, particularly heading North, including quite a few wide loads with mining trucks on board. We also noticed a lot more cattle in largish herds and a considerable volume of road kill – mainly wallabies or small kangaroos.

Overall although it is quite interesting to see the cane harvesters, driving through cane fields isn’t all that inspiring. There always seem to be mountains in the background and that makes things a bit more interesting, but in general there was nothing overly exciting about today’s drive.

Cane Harvesting outside Mackay

First stop was at Kuttabul, where we had our morning coffee and updated the blog for the last couple of days – internet reception at Conway Beach was poor. Kuttabul has a general store/roadhouse and a mechanic and not much else.

Kuttabul General Store

From Kuttabul it was a short distance to Mackay where we stopped at the visitor information centre for some research material and had lunch. Mackay is a largish town but it wasn’t on our must see list this year so we continued down the highway through Sarina where we had planned stopping at the caravan park.

Outside Mackay Visitor Info Centre & Botanical Gardens

However, at the visitor information centre we had picked up a brochure for the Flaggy Rock Exotic Fruit Garden and Icecreamery. We then found out that there was a free camp at Flaggy Rock, so our final destination for the day became Flaggy Rock – I keep referring to it as Fraggle Rock for some reason. We were unsure of our timing and the respective locations of the free camp and the ice cream shop so went to the free camp and made sure we were set up first. As it turns out there is only one other campervan here, in a huge paddock behind the local community centre. We will visit the ice cream place tomorrow morning!

Ann had a bit of a chat with the ladies in the community centre who were having a local quilting group get-together and they had some beautiful work to show. They are getting ready for a local quilt show on 23^rd & 24^th August.

It Doesn’t Get Much Better Than This

We enjoyed sitting out in the sun reading our books until it was time for me to cook steaks on the BBQ for dinner.

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure, Free Camping | Tags: flaggy rock

Conway Beach – Day 2

Posted on Tuesday, August 13, 2013 by shorty

Today was an exploring day with Conway Beach as Base Camp.

First stop was Airlie Beach which was about 40 kilometres away. We had considered staying at Airlie Beach but had decided to stay somewhere quiet and out of the way like Conway Beach. We were very glad of our decision once we actually arrived at Airlie Beach.

First impression of Airlie Beach was chaos with major roadworks at the round-about entrance to the main street with detours in place and traffic at a standstill. Not a great way to welcome visitors and we simply couldn’t imagine trying to tow a caravan through the mess. It wasn’t only roadworks; there were other building and development works underway as well. There was no part of the beach front that wasn’t disrupted one way or another. To us it seemed ridiculous having all this work going on during peak season and disrupting holiday makers with road chaos, dust and noise.

Nearly at Airlie Beach

Chaos arriving at Airlie Beach

Construction work at Airlie Beach

Nice boardwalk at Airlie Beach

Nice views at Airlie Beach

Some of the accommodation at Airlie Beach

Whitsunday Airport

Once we had made our way around the detours and found a car park, we went for a great walk along the beach. We have to say that there are plenty of paths and boardwalks for pedestrian traffic around town. We found a nice café and had a delicious lunch on the promenade with chaos left and right but we had a great view of the water.

Overall, Airlie Beach probably isn’t our ideal holiday destination, but we’re glad that we’ve been there. It seems to be all apartments, bars, touristy shops and basically a base for tours to the Whitsunday Islands, fisherman with boats, and generally a younger crowd.

From Airlie Beach we drove about 10 kilometres to Shute Harbour as it was on our must see list. It wasn’t at all what we expected and was basically a transit point for Island tourists and basically a large boat ramp for pleasure boats and fishermen. We didn’t even see a coffee shop although there was a multi-storey car-park!

View at Shute Harbour

Proserpine was our next stop, and we quite liked it as a destination. It wasn’t just a tourist trap but a place where people live and work, and that is generally attractive to us as a place to stay. There were some very interesting shops including an amazing place called Colour Me Crazy which really had to be seen to be believed. We enjoyed a really good afternoon coffee with date scones at Cafe 22, and it too had some very unusual artwork displayed on the walls.

Colour Me Crazy at Proserpine

Then it was back home to the caravan at Conway Beach for a cool drink in the shade of this lush tropical garden.

Still living the dream!

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: airlie beach, Conway beach, prosperpine

Monthly Archives: August 2013

Maroochydore – Days 2 & 3

Hervey Bay to Maroochydore

Hervey Bay – Day 2

Gin Gin to Hervey Bay

Rockhampton to Gin Gin

Rockhampton – Day 3

Rockhampton – Day 2

Fraggle Rock to Rockhampton

Conway Beach to Flaggy Rock

Conway Beach – Day 2

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