Author Archives: shorty

Day 83 – Cowra to Canberra

Posted on Monday, August 18, 2014 by shorty

This morning was probably the coldest day of this adventure to date. The thermometer was showing 4 degrees when I first got up, but the van soon warmed up with the heater on. We took our time packing up and preparing to leave, by which time the sun was out, the sky was clear and blue, and it was starting to warm up.

The drive from Cowra to Yass along the Lachlan Valley Way is a tremendous driver’s drive. It is basically a series of sweeping curves through rolling countryside on a well maintained road with a few straight stretches thrown in for fun. This drive is interesting for the driver and offers the occasional challenge at whatever speed suits. Importantly the countryside is also interesting, with green fields incorporating slashes of yellow, plenty of cattle and sheep grazing with a few alpacas and goats for good measure. There are a few smaller villages and some very interesting buildings and properties along the highway.

Scenery along the Lachlan Valley Way

Morning coffee was at Boorowa. We’ve stopped here several times before for coffee or lunch and visited several cafes and pubs. Today we had coffee at “The Pantry on Pudman”. The coffee was superb and the muffins were fresh from the oven, tasty and not horrendously oversized! Décor was “quirky” with antique furniture, books and magazines, light fittings, paintings, etc everywhere. I’m sure that if I had mentioned to the waitress that I liked the cup and saucer my coffee was served in then it would be immediately for sale! Our friend Diana would love to see this place.

Arriving at Boorowa and Pantry on Pudman cafe

From Boorowa we continued down the Lachlan Valley Way to near Yass, where we turned onto the Hume for a little while and then onto the Barton Highway to Canberra. This stretch is not nearly as enjoyable as our morning drive, although the countryside is still quite interesting.

From the Barton Highway we changed to the Federal Highway and we soon arrived at our favourite place to stay in Canberra, Capital Country Holiday Park, which is actually just over the border in NSW at Sutton. This is a clean and tidy caravan park with plenty of large drive through, level sites and good amenities. There is also a range of cabins and facilities for school groups. Although most of the occupants of caravans and RVs we have ever seen here are in the grey nomad’s age group, there is a jumping pillow, tennis court, outdoor swimming pool and mini-golf, so the younger patrons are catered for as well. Although actually in NSW, it is still only 15 minutes into the centre of Canberra. At this time of year the park is almost deserted, and we have the place pretty much to ourselves.

Capital Country Holiday Park is almost deserted apart from us!

Jumping pillow, tennis court, swimming pool and cabins at Capital Country Holiday Park

We will be spending several days in Canberra with our daughter Katie who has been living here for a few years, and we won’t be posting daily blog posts during that time.

Categories: 2014 Townsville Adventure | Tags: boorowa, canberra, Cowra

Day 82 – Chilling in Cowra

Posted on Thursday, August 14, 2014 by shorty

Today was a designated rest day after several days of solid driving so we allowed ourselves a bit of a sleep in and a lazy day in general. It wasn’t quite as cold this morning but we were very glad of our new heater to warm up the van. Outside it was another crispy, clear sunny day with blue skies. It might be cold but at least it isn’t raining!

Early Morning at Cowra Van Park

After fiddling around in the van for a while we went for a walk into town to stretch our legs and enjoy the sunshine. We stopped for lunch in a small coffee shop and then continued on our walk. Eventually we went our separate ways and Ann went to a fabric shop and I went to a second hand bookshop. We were both very pleased with our purchases!

We then walked back to the van for a short rest before heading off in the Ute to the Cowra Japanese Garden. This is an amazing place and we come here every time we visit Cowra. Many travellers will remember that Cowra was the site for internment camps for the Japanese and Italians in WW2 – there was even a film about the Cowra Breakout. Ann’s father had been stationed in Cowra at some stage in his military service. The Japanese Garden is a beautiful commemoration of the now friendly relations between Japan and Australia.

Cowra Japanese Garden

The Japanese Garden is a very peaceful place to visit with a weight seeming to be lifted off your shoulders almost as soon as you enter. It has all the traditional Japanese features including ponds and waterfalls, raked pebble gardens, curved paths, rock formations, clipped hedges, traditional buildings and so much more. All this is in a typical Australian environment where the eucalyptus trees combine wonderfully with the Japanese elements of the garden. There are several small buildings and plenty of benches and seats so you can just sit and contemplate in the peace and quiet.

Cowra Japanese Garden

In addition there is a cultural centre with displays including Japanese traditional culture, warriors and samurais, architecture and buildings, bonsai plants, pottery and sculpture, and so on. There is an audio tour device that will help guide you around the various exhibits. There is also a café and a gift shop.

Interesting Facts about the Cowra Japanese Garden:

The Cowra Japanese Garden and Cultural Centre was opened in October 1979, with Stage 2 opening in November 1986
The garden covers 5 hectares and is designed to represent the entire landscape of Japan
It is the largest Japanese garden in the Southern Hemisphere

On the way back to the caravan park we stopped off for some supplies. I then made various preparations for our departure tomorrow before we both settled into the van for the evening, by the heater.

Still living the dream – but perhaps wishing that it was a bit warmer here!

Categories: 2014 Townsville Adventure | Tags: Cowra

Day 81 – Gilgandra to Cowra

Posted on Thursday, August 14, 2014 by shorty

This morning the thermometer inside the van displayed 6 degrees – you might say that things were a bit chilly! However the heater soon warmed the van, and hot showers and a hot cup of tea warmed us as well. Outside, it was another bright sunny day with a wonderful clear blue sky. The wind, unfortunately, was cutting, and very, very cold.

Early morning at Gilgandra Caravan Park

Packing up didn’t take long and we were soon back on the Newell Highway. Well sort of. There were major roadworks right outside the caravan park entrance which extended over the bridge across the Castlereagh River and pretty well to the junction of the Newell and Oxley Highways. We had to wait a little while at the caravan park exit but then the man with the stop sign signalled us to go and we actually got exclusive access to the road, across the bridge, and onto the Newell Highway while all other traffic had to wait. We felt very privileged!

Our stop for morning coffee was at the side of the highway in Dubbo, near the Zoo. We were sure that we could hear some of the animals!

Dubbo

The Newell is a busy highway with a constant stream of big trucks and oversize loads travelling in both directions. The condition of the sides of the highway and the various rest stops and truck pull-overs indicate that inadequate funds are being provided for road maintenance works. The safety implications of this lack of maintenance are very obvious to travellers.

Plenty of Big Trucks on the Highway

We then continued down the Newell and at about Peak Hill we both started feeling hungry. The original plan was to have a light lunch in the van at a roadside stop somewhere along the way but we both decided that a pie and chips would be a much better option. After-all, it was cold! Fortunately we knew just the place to go.

Several kms North of Parkes we turned down Telescope Road and made our way to the CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope – better known as the setting for the Australian movie “The Dish”. We knew from previous visits here that the Dish Café serves up fabulous pies and excellent coffees. The chef certainly didn’t disappoint this visit either! Our lunch left us in great form to continue our journey today.

The Dish, Parkes

Pies and Chips for lunch at the Dish Cafe

From Parkes we continued down the Newell to Forbes where we intended to stop for a quick cup of coffee but I got distracted by the sign to McFeeters Motor Museum. We saw this place last time but had to keep driving – this year we seemed to be making good time so we stopped to have a look inside.

McFeeters Motor Museum, Forbes

We arrived just in time to be taken on a guided tour by Bill McFeeter himself. Bill McFeeter is 75 years old and has been collecting cars for a very long time. His collection grew to the size where he decided that he needed to build a shed to store all his cars and the idea of making the shed a museum came to the fore. His wife Jan convinced him that his shed should be something different and it certainly is! This motor museum is a purpose built building which also houses a café, wine and local honey shops, and a tourist information area. Jan also convinced Bill that there should be carpet on the floor and that the cars should displayed with suitably dressed mannequins. Jan even changes their clothes to suit the seasons! Jan’s whole idea was to make this motor museum interesting to women as well as men and judging by comments we heard, she has succeeded!

Bill McFeeter at McFeeters Motor Museum, Forbes

There are 60 cars on display, most of them owned by the McFeeters and the rest on loan from various friends, neighbours, etc. There is a similar number of motorcycles, although these are all on loan. Many of the cars are still road registered and Bill takes them out for a spin regularly. The collection is incredibly diverse and he has several “only one in Australia” vehicles.

Bill is one of life’s characters who loves a chat and is clearly both passionate and knowledgeable about his car collection. After the tour we took a few photos of some of the collection.

View of McFeeters Motor Museum, Forbes

Early caravan at McFeeters Motor Museum, Forbes

Some of McFeeters’ Collection

Time got a little bit away from us and we still had to complete the last leg of our trip, this time along the Lachlan Valley Highway. Fortunately the condition of the road was very good and there wasn’t much traffic so we made very good time to our destination, Cowra Van Park. We have stayed here a couple of times before and we enjoy both the park and the town. Ann had booked ahead so even though we were a little later than we would normally be, it wasn’t a problem. Keith helped us into our site, which has a concrete slab for both the van and the awning. We did a quick set-up and unhitched the Ute as we had to make a quick dash into town to buy a new heater as the other one gave up this morning.

Then it was back to the van to settle in for the evening by the heater.

Categories: 2014 Townsville Adventure | Tags: Cowra, forbes, Gilgandra, Parkes, The Dish

Day 80 – Moree to Gilgandra

Posted on Monday, August 11, 2014 by shorty

This morning we woke to beautiful clear blue skies, but it was still very chilly.

Leaving Moree on the Newell Highway we immediately struck roadworks, and bridgeworks, and more roadworks. We almost thought that we were back on the Bruce Highway in Queensland! A lot of work was being done on widening roads and also clearing trees and scrub away from the roadside, presumably in preparation for further road widening. The roads were in a really bad way, so much so that the council had signs up advising motorists to slow down due to bad road conditions. This section of road was largely flat, with crops like canola growing.

Scenes along the Newell Highway

Our first stop was at Narrabri where we stopped at Cameron Park – N771 – for morning coffee. This is a nice area next to the river with amenities and a dump point, plus an undercover seating area, a kids’ playground and plenty of parking. The road actually continues around under the bridge to access sporting facilities on the other side of the Highway.

Cameron Park, Narrabri

Back on the Newell Highway, driving conditions changed with a better quality road, a straighter road, and plenty of National Forest areas. At one stage we passed another Trailblazer 5^th wheeler – we don’t see very many on the road and selective perception means that each one we do see seems to be special!

Lunch was in Coonabarabran. We stopped there on our 2013 Adventure and again parked in Nelson Park – N786 – before walking around town to find somewhere for lunch. This park is another great facility for travellers, with parking, BBQs, undercover seating, a large, clean amenities block, playground equipment, and more. There were plenty of people stopped there for lunch. Visitors do need to be a little careful though – the park is guarded by several large and cantankerous geese!

Lunch was at Coonabarabran

Road conditions changed again as we left Coonabarabran with picturesque rolling hills and more grazing country. We saw sheep in large numbers for the first time in quite a while.

Different scenery along the Newell Highway

Then disaster struck! While we were stopped at a servo just outside Gilgandra a truckie indicated that we had a bit of a problem with one of the tyres on the caravan! He wasn’t joking – it was absolutely shredded!! What was worse was that it was OK at Coonabarabran and that neither Ann or I had heard or felt anything go bang, and I hadn’t felt any difference in handling. I have to put it down to a solid chassis in the van and dual axle configuration. We pulled over at the servo and changed the tyre before heading on to our overnight destination.

Shredded Tyre on our 5th wheeler

Changing the tyre on the 5th wheeler

Off to the tyre store

Gilgandra Caravan Park is a favourite of ours and we have stayed here several times. They again put us on a good site and as soon as we were set up I headed off into Gilgandra to find a new spare tyre. There is only one tyre store in town and they fixed us up with a good second hand tyre with the right specifications – they didn’t have any new tyres in our size in stock. This will do as a spare until we get home when we can review the tyre situation overall.

Set up at Gilgandra Caravan Park

Then it was back to the van to store the spare in its allocated position before heading inside to put on some warmer clothes and relax with a beer.

Not quite the way we had planned today – but it could have been a lot worse!

Categories: 2014 Townsville Adventure | Tags: Coonabarabran, Gilgandra, moree, Narrabri

Day 79 – Warwick, Qld to Moree, NSW

Posted on Sunday, August 10, 2014 by shorty

When I first poked my head out the van door this morning it was a crisp and chilly with a heavy fog as far as I could see. There were ducks and kangaroos searching for food amongst the caravans. I did exactly what any sensible person would do – I came back inside the van, turned on the heater, and got back into bed!

Eventually things warmed up a bit and the fog disappeared, so we thought that we should get up and get things happening. As a result we made a bit of a late start. We hadn’t unhitched so getting ready didn’t take too much time, and we were able to stop at a tap on the way out to top up the water tanks.

We drove along the Cunningham Highway to Goondiwindi where we turned onto the Newell Highway. Some 40 kms past Goondiwindi we stopped at the North Star Road Rest Area – N761 – for lunch. This is quite a large area with what appear to be very new amenities and quite a few good, sheltered spots where you could stop for the night.

Driving today has been a real mixed bag, and has been quite difficult and tiring. The road has been uphill and downhill, straight or with sweeping bends, good quality roads and shocking quality roads, roadworks, extra wide loads coming towards us, and practically anything you can imagine. At times the amount of road-kill on the road tested my slalom driving skills!

Police escort for extra wide load approaching

Extra wide load approaching

Wow ! That’s big!

Wow ! That’s big too!

Interesting roadside stop

Scenery wise, again it was a mixed bag ranging from dry grazing land, to lush irrigated pastures, to dead dry waterholes and dams, to groves of healthy looking olive trees, to crop stubble, to recently tilled soils, to just plain ugly scrub.

Olive groves

Our final destination for tonight was the Moree Showgrounds – N765. Ann and I are both a bit over caravan parks and when we can’t find a suitable free camp – ideally a lake or dam – stopping at sale yards and similar is a good compromise. There is usually power and water, often a dump point, almost always plenty of space, and usually basic or better amenities. Moree Showgrounds fits the bill perfectly with only a few vans here; we have power and water and a nice big level site. The amenities are very basic – but our van is self-sufficient so that’s not really a problem.

Plenty of room at Moree Showgrounds

We did a proper set-up and unhitched and drove into town to top up with diesel and to shout ourselves a decent cup of coffee. Then it was back to the van for dinner and update the blog.

Still living the dream !

Categories: 2014 Townsville Adventure | Tags: Lake Leslie, moree, warwick

Day 78 – Forest Glen to Warwick, Qld

Posted on Sunday, August 10, 2014 by shorty

For a combination of reasons we have decided that we need to make our way home more quickly that we had originally planned. In our short time here, we caught up with our friends Downunda and Faye, who are staying at Cotton Tree in Maroochydore where we stayed last year. Afternoon tea at Cotton Tree with Downunda and Faye stretched into Happy Hour when Carole and Robin joined us. Happy hour is always fun at Cotton Tree.

Our first challenge today was to get out of our site without damaging anything. It was a bit of a tight fit but after moving some concrete edging and under the watchful eye of the owner of the van in front of us – he actually put his awning up to be on the safe side – and having the Ute in low range, we slowly and carefully made our way to the main driveway. What a relief! Big 4 Forest Glen is not our favourite caravan park and we won’t be coming back again.

Next challenge was to make some sense of the Queensland motorway/freeway system. There are lots of freeways and motorways and exchanges and it’s quite confusing to the uninitiated. There is also a surprising volume of traffic at all times! We had been advised to ignore the Garmin GPS to get through to Ipswich and to go down the M1 and then the M2 and this added a little bit of extra excitement. Motorways are great at moving traffic quickly, when there aren’t roadworks that is, but if you are moving from one motorway to another there aren’t too many opportunities for coffee or other stops.

Gateway Bridge in Brisbane

We successfully made our way over the Gateway Bridge, which is an amazing structure and after sneaking into a servo along the way for a quick stop, we eventually stopped for a more relaxed coffee break somewhere along the Cunningham Highway some 170 kms from Forest Glen. Our next stop was to top up the diesel at Warwick and we then made our way to the famous Warwick Pie Shop for a couple of their delicious pies for lunch.

Warwick Pie Shop

Driving today has had its challenges. There were roadworks of course, but we’ve come to expect that. The most spectacular part of the drive was crossing the Great Dividing Range, mostly in 3^rd gear. It’s quite amazing countryside with huge cuttings into the mountains for the road, and it’s quite steep in places. This type of driving really chews through the fuel in the Ute. Ann got to see the scenery a lot better than I did, and hopefully some of the photos will do it justice.

Scenes along the way

After lunch it wasn’t too far from Warwick to Lake Leslie, where we stopped at the Washpool Camping Ground. Ann had rung the caretaker in advance and he had explained the process. Basically, there are 60 acres on the banks of Lake Leslie and you can camp pretty well anywhere you wish for a modest fee per head per night. We were told that there are a number of powered sites, at an extra $3.50 per night, which actually turned out to mean that there were a few power poles spaced irregularly around one area, with a few randomly placed water taps as well. There are no marked sites so you just find the best place you can amongst the trees and as near as you can get to power or water or both, without blocking any of the unmarked roadways. There is a brand new amenities block, including showers, which is in better condition that those at many caravan parks we have been to. There is also a dump point.

We found a great flat site and connected to power. Lake Leslie is a beautiful spot. The lake is stocked with fingerlings each year and attracts many fisherpersons. There were several boats out on the lake and others fishing from the shore. There are plenty of ducks and other birds and kangaroos feed by the water’s edge. We went for a long walk around the camping area before settling down outside to catch up on some reading. As it got a bit cooler many of the other campers started up camp fires; some for warmth and other for cooking as well. There were some delicious aromas coming from some of the camping sites.

Our first look at Lake Leslie – the angling club

View of Washpool Camping Reserve at Lake Leslie

Settled at Lake Leslie

Kangaroos feeding at sunset by Lake Leslie

Sunset at Lake Leslie

Campfires at Sundown at Lake Leslie

After watching a beautiful sunset we packed up the chairs and went inside for the night.

It’s places like this that make caravanning so enjoyable!

Categories: 2014 Townsville Adventure | Tags: forest glen, Lake Leslie, warwick

Day 75 – Eumundi Markets and the Ginger Factory at Yandina

Posted on Wednesday, August 6, 2014 by shorty

Today Ann and I enjoyed catching up with our friends Neville and Mary. We hadn’t seen them for some time and it turned out that they were staying in Mooloolaba but were flying home on Friday.

We arranged to pick them up at their apartment in Mooloolaba and then drove up to visit Eumundi Markets for a walk, coffee, chat, and lunch.

Neville and Mary at Eumundi Market

Shorty and Ann at Eumundi Market

After a thorough circuit of the market and take-away coffees we ended up at the Lionheart Hotel for lunch. The hotel is currently undergoing major renovations using a medieval castle theme in what is basically an old Queenslander hotel. It’s a bit of a strange combination but it seems to work. One thing that struck us today was that the temperature was in the mid-twenties but they had a fire going in the dining room! Needless to say we didn’t sit near it. The meal was good, the company was great and it was a great environment in which to catch up.

We then moved on to Yandina to check out the Ginger Factory and the Nutworks factory opposite. Mid-afternoon, the weather cooled down a bit and after more nice hot coffees we headed back to Mooloolaba and Forest Glen.

Mary and Ann at one of the shops at the Ginger Factory

Neville and Ann at the Nut Factory

What a great way to catch up with old friends!

Categories: 2014 Townsville Adventure | Tags: eumundi, yandina

Day 74 – Maryborough to Forest Glen, Sunshine Coast

Posted on Wednesday, August 6, 2014 by shorty

Ann and I both slept very well last night. There was no rain and no howling winds and, as we realised later, no children and no slamming doors of Hippy/Wicked style campervans. This caravan park is a great place for grey nomads.

As we hadn’t unhitched the van from the Ute, packing up was a pretty quick matter, so we were back onto the Bruce Highway quite early.

Leaving Maryborough, we were surprised that there was still a lot of sugar cane, but it did disappear the closer we got to Gympie, out first stop for coffee. We pulled into the Lake Alford Recreation Area on the south end of town and what a nice spot to stop this was! The lake itself is well maintained and has fountains, bridges and seating. There is plenty of wildlife in the form of ducks, ibis and other water birds. There are also amenities for travellers and other historic attractions in the area. On the highway is a large statue commemorating the early gold miners of Gympie.

Coffee stop at Lake Alford, Gympie

From Gympie we continued down the Bruce Highway which as highway A1 has a maximum speed limit of 90 kph. At one point in becomes the M1 motorway with dual lanes and a speed limit of 110 kph, and then reverts back to the single lane A1 at 90 kph. Very confusing! Then, as we came closer to civilisation it reverted back to the M1 and it continues in that mode all the way into Brisbane.

M1 Motorway

However, as we commented previously, there are some massive roadworks going on along the Bruce Highway. As frustrating as it can be to have to travel at 40 kph at times and to have to drive on newly laid bitumen, the improvements will be massive and will make driving on the highway much safer and more pleasant.

Roadworks on the Bruce Highway

Major roadworks on the Bruce Highway

Just before lunch we reached our destination at the Big4 Forest Glen Holiday resort, just out of Maroochydore. Ann had tried to book a site at Cotton Tree where we stayed last year and where friends of ours are staying, but nothing was available and this park seemed like a good alternative. Unfortunately we had a bit of a problem as someone had changed the site we had originally booked and we couldn’t fit on the replacement offered. Eventually they did find a site that we could squeeze onto, although Andy from the park had to assist us onto the site.

At this stage we weren’t totally happy with the world in general so after a quick lunch we headed out to the nearby Kunara Organic Marketplace. It was quite amazing. There is a huge organic food store, an organic butcher, a small clothing shop with hemp, bamboo etc style clothing, an organic café and a garden centre. The entire place was packed! We had a good look around and enjoyed very nice coffee and non-fattening cake at the café before returning to the Ute. We then drove a short way to the Forest Glen Shopping Centre and had a look around there as well. Ann enjoyed her visit to the Patchwork Angel quilting shop.

Kurana Organic Marketplace

Feeling a lot better we returned back to the caravan park, hitched the van onto the Ute and made a few adjustments to our set-up and unhitched. Now we were feeling a lot happier! This is an older park built on a slope and many of the sites were not designed with big rigs in mind. Still, our site is reasonably flat, unlike some of our neighbours who almost seem to be perched on stilts.

Finally set-up at Big 4 Forest Glen

Not all sites are level – look at our neighbour!

For dinner we got our glad rags on and went to “Jampa’s Spirit of Tibet” traditional Tibetan restaurant which is a separate building in the grounds of the caravan park. Ann had a Tibetan Beef Curry and I had Rashhi Ngu-Tse, which is a goat and spinach curry. Both our meals were absolutely delicious and we will be coming back here another night.

We will be staying in Forest Glen for at least a week and may not post daily entries to the blog while we are here.

Still living the dream!

Categories: 2014 Townsville Adventure | Tags: forest glen, maryborough, sunshine coast

Day 73 – Maryborough Day 2

Posted on Monday, August 4, 2014 by shorty

Despite our hopes, it rained heavily all last night. Fortunately the rain stopped early morning but the sky remained grey and overcast all day with occasional showers. We decided to stay in Maryborough another day rather than travel through bad weather and hope that the weather would improve tomorrow.

So this morning we just fiddled about in the van. Some of last night’s rain had somehow got inside so I spent a little bit of time carrying out some emergency sealing repairs where it appeared that the caulking around one of the windows had shrunk slightly and may have been the cause of the leak.

Minor caravan repairs

We had our morning coffee under the awning although the wind blew up quite strongly so we decided to put the awning up and escape inside, out of the weather completely.

As fifth wheel style caravans aren’t that numerous on the road, I am always interested to see them on the road and to talk to other 5^th wheeler owners. A quite unusual 5^th wheeler parked in the site next door so I went out to have a chat to the owner. It turned out that he had made his own 5^th wheeler by converting a conventional Roadstar caravan, because he preferred the towing characteristics of the 5^th wheeler over that of a caravan. Basically he chopped the front “boot” off the caravan and welded in a new sub-frame for the new hitch. He then modified a fibreglass aerodynamic nose cone for large trucks for the new front for his caravan, and while he was at it added additional side storage compartments. He then custom made a special tray with hitch for his ute – a BT50 of course. The end result is a great combination of the best features of both a caravan and a 5^th wheeler. His design means that the bed is in its original position and he can walk around it and he can still lift it up for storage – something we can’t do! Sure there are some compromises but there always are no matter what sort of RV you have. This project obviously took a lot of thought and effort and it’s great to see such ozzie ingenuity.

Interesting home made fifth wheeler caravan

After lunch in the van we put on waterproof/windproof jackets and went for a good long walk. We stopped for coffee at the Station Square shopping centre before walking back past Aldi where we stopped for a few more supplies.

Today has been a lazy sort of day and we haven’t done any touristy type things. We did however see this interesting monument to the pioneers of Maryborough.

Monument to the early pioneers of Maryborough

Categories: 2014 Townsville Adventure | Tags: maryborough

Day 72 – Boyne River to Maryborough

Posted on Sunday, August 3, 2014 by shorty

After a good night’s sleep we woke to see the free camp area transformed. Although still early, the sun was out and the scene looking over at the bridge over the river from the van was wonderfully peaceful. Some of the vans had already left and the number of cars and tents that seemed to have appeared overnight was quite surprising. There was even a convoy of military vehicles stopped in the rest area. By the time we were packed up and ready to leave the number of cars simply stopping for a cuppa – or to use the toilet facilities – was again, surprising. This is a very popular place!

View of the bridge over the Boyne River – from the van

Boyne River Rest Area Transformed, including army convoy

Breakfast at Boyne River rest area

Our first morning stop wasn’t too far down the highway at Miriam Vale. Although we had stopped there last year we nearly missed the turn to the main street which is not very well signposted at all on the highway. Miriam Vale is a delightful “village” with a friendly looking pub, a couple of coffee shops, some interesting gift shops, good visitor facilities and is overall a great place to stop for travellers. The coffee shop where we enjoyed coffee and non-fattening cakes was full of friendly, chatty travellers so our morning coffee was very enjoyable.

Main Street, Miriam Vale

From Miriam Vale we continued due south and stopped for lunch at Gin Gin. Gin Gin has a great free camp on the north end of town which we had a look at last year but couldn’t fit in – so we stayed at the Gin Gin showgrounds. Again, Gin Gin is a traveller friendly town with a good variety of shops, pubs, amenities, an information centre, caravan parking in the middle of town, and more. Ann and I lashed out on the $8.50 roast of the day with vegies and gravy at the Highway Hotel.

Interesting street scape in Gin Gin

Highway Hotel in Gin Gin

The scenery today was varied. Around Gin Gin we experienced more sugar cane fields, although there were also orchards growing various fruits including citrus, mangoes and we believe macadamias. We were also a bit surprised to see some pine forests.

More sugar cane fields near Gin Gin

Orchards near Gin Gin

I might also make a quick comment about the Bruce Highway. Last year we made many comments about the state of this highway, most of them in the negative. This year there are still roadworks but it is very obvious that massive works have taken place over the past year or so and the improvements are considerable. The highway has been widened and in some places duplicated, corners and bends made safer, hills flattened, overtaking lanes added and rest stops and pull-overs added and improved. All in all it is a much better and safer driving experience and the various levels of government involved should be congratulated. One can only hope that all the good work going on won’t be destroyed by the next storm or flood!

We drove through Childers without a stop but again, we were here last year and this is a nice little town worth exploring.

Main street of Childers was very busy

From Childers we continued to our final destination today, the Wallace Motel and Caravan Park in Maryborough. Ann had booked a drive-through site which made getting set-up a lot easier. This is a nice park which has been rebuilding after three damaging floods in the last three years. The sites are flat and grassy, we have a concrete slab under the awning, and the facilities are good. TV reception isn’t wonderful here but we do get some channels and we can live without TV anyway – we came prepared with some DVDs just for this situation.

Set Up at Maryborough

Relaxing at Maryborough

After setting up we went for a walk and visited Aldi for a few supplies. Upon our return to the van we sat outside for a while just relaxing and reading. That was until it started raining a little, which got a little heavier, so we packed up the chairs and retired back into the van. We haven’t heard any more rain on the roof for a while now so hopefully it has blown over and we will have a fine day tomorrow.

Categories: 2014 Townsville Adventure | Tags: boyne river, gin gin, maryborough