2013 Big Adventure

2013 Big Adventure – Recap

Posted on Wednesday, October 2, 2013 by shorty

We thoroughly enjoyed our 2013 Big Adventure and have been to some fantastic places all around Australia, have seen some magical scenery, have met some wonderful new friends, and hopefully have taken some decent photos. We do have great memories, plus now have this blog to look back on.

The low-tech, hand-crafted map below will hopefully provide a bit of an idea as to where we went on our 2013 Big Adventure, and also where we didn’t go. Our 2014 Big Adventure is likely to fill in some of those gaps, especially around South Australia and Western Australia. Only time will tell.

Map of our 2013 Big Adventure

As a male, it seems appropriate that I share a few statistics about our journey:

Total distance covered was 15,999 kilometres
Total diesel used was 2,398.75 litres at a total cost of $4,041.41
Average price of diesel was 168.25 cents per litre
Highest price paid for diesel was 198.90 – at Nullabor Roadhouse
Average fuel consumption for the entire trip was 14.99 litres/100 km
Longest distance travelled between refills was 733 km

Finally, we would like to say a special thank you to those who have followed Ann and I in our 2013 Big Adventure and have contributed to our journey through their comments and good wishes.

Stay tuned ………

Shorty

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure

Canberra to Home

Posted on Friday, September 27, 2013 by shorty

Canberra:

We enjoyed several days in Canberra catching up with Katie and Mick, and generally winding down before our final run home to Melbourne. We visit Canberra on a semi-regular basis and there are always new and interesting things to see and do. This time Floriade was on, as was the Thai Food and Cultural Festival. Plus we went to the Saturday morning Farmers Market at EPIC and had a good look around Gold Creek Historic Village.

Farmers Market at EPIC

Equestrian Event at EPIC

Our focus was, however, on family time, and we shared several meals with Mick and Katie, including a delicious dinner at the Taj Agra Indian restaurant. The highlight of this particular trip was a scenic drive around Canberra with Mick as our Tour Guide. We saw some great scenery including Cotter Dam, Uriarra Crossing, a pumping station, and enjoyed coffee and cake with a view at the Scope Cafe at Mount Stromlo Observatory. It is ten years since the devastating ACT bushfires in 2003 which destroyed five telescopes, workshops, seven homes and the heritage listed administration building at Mount Stromlo. The only telescope to escape the fires was the 1868 15-centimetre Farnham telescope. The Café houses an art exhibition and articles and artifacts from the fires as a reminder of that terrible time ten years ago.

Scenic Drive Around Canberra

Bike Riders up the Mount

Uriarra Crossing

Cotter Dam Wall

Water Pumping Station

Ann & Shorty Walking on the Moon [sculpture] at Mount Stromlo

Abandoned Telescope at Mount Stromlo

Burnt out Building at Mount Stromlo

Back on the Road:

After saying our farewells to Katie and Mick, from Canberra we headed back to the Hume Highway towards home – the BT-50 was pretty well on auto-pilot. We had a quick coffee stop at Bookham some 90 kms from Canberra and another stop at Tarcutta to refuel and to visit the Truck Drivers Memorial which commemorates truckies who have died on the roads across Australia. It is a very moving and sobering memorial.

Truckies Memorial at Tarcutta

Plenty of Parking at Tarcutta

For lunch we stopped at Jags Café in Holbrook – a town perhaps best known for its submarine. We have regularly stayed at Holbrook on our way to or from Canberra but this is the first time we had visited since the highway bypass has been finished. Time will tell what effect the bypass will have on the town. From there it was on to Painters Island Caravan Park in Wangaratta for an overnight stop. It seemed only fitting that we should spend the last night of our trip at Painters Island as this was where we spent our first night away from home on our 2013 Big Adventure.

From Wang it was a pretty straight forward trip down the Hume then across to the Tullamarine Freeway and eventually across Bolte Bridge and onto the Monash and home.

Arriving in Melbourne

We had a little difficulty getting the fiver in through the back gates as the olive tree has grown considerably since we left. Fortunately our neighbours Barbara and Len helped out – we tied a rope around the olive tree and they pulled it back over the fence to make a bit more room for us to squeeze the van past. The secateurs will be out there shortly.

Trailblazer back Home

So, finally we were home after almost exactly four months away and covering 15,999 kilometres. Barbara and Len were kind enough to invite us in for a cup of tea and lunch, which was a great way to settle back home. Now begins the job of emptying and cleaning the fiver, and preparing it for our next Big Adventure.

We can’t wait!

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: canberra, home, tarcutta, wangaratta

Cowra to Canberra

Posted on Wednesday, September 18, 2013 by shorty

We try to take every possible opportunity to visit our daughter Katie and her partner Mick in Canberra whenever we can, so today’s trip was to Canberra.

As we don’t plan our trip with absolute military precision, we had forgotten about the annual Floriade flower show in Canberra and the effect that it has on accommodation. Accordingly, we couldn’t stay at our usual place at Capital County Caravan Park in Sutton but were able to reserve a powered site at EPIC (Exhibition Park in Canberra).

The alarm went off ridiculously early to give us time to shower and breakfast and pack up and get on the road early so that we could get to EPIC as early as possible. It’s first come first serve for the best spots and being a bit larger than most vans we wanted to give ourselves the best chance of securing a good spot.

From Cowra Van Park we hit the Lachlan Valley Highway and headed to Boorowa. Road quality wasn’t great but the countryside was fantastic. Gently rolling hills with a mixture of bushland, grazing [mainly sheep] and cropping [plenty of canola]. The overall impact was spectacular.

Canola on the way to Boorowa

Sheep grazing by the Lachlan Valley Highway

We stopped at Boorowa for coffee and to refuel the Ute before continuing down the highway towards Yass. After Boorowa the countryside changed to be mainly grazing, but it was still quite interesting – the road quality perhaps increased marginally.

After a brief spell on the Hume Highway we eventually turned off onto the Barton Highway towards Canberra. Compared to other times we have been this way, there was very little traffic and we were able to enjoy the scenery which at this time of year is a quite spectacular patchwork of crops and occasional trees and blossom.

Barton Highway to Canberra

Views to Murrumbateman

We arrived at EPIC at about 11.00 am and took a little while to find a serviced flat spot that didn’t have too much mud. By noon we had found a site, were fully set up and Ann was preparing lunch in the van out of the cold wind.

Set Up at EPIC – Before the Storm

Later this afternoon we made our way to the Belconnen Westfield shopping centre to stock up on supplies. We found it quite strange seeing people walking around in winter clothes!!!!!

Not long after we returned to the fiver the skies opened up and we were subject to quite an impressive storm.

Katie even rang to ask where was the good weather we were supposed to bring with us! It just shows that you can’t please all the people all the time!

We’ll be in Canberra for a few days so we don’t plan to do a daily blog unless there is something worth reporting.

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: boorowa, canberra, Cowra

Cowra – Day 2

Posted on Tuesday, September 17, 2013 by shorty

Both the driver and navigator were pretty tired after Monday’s driving through the rain so we slept in quite late this morning. When we finally woke up the rain had eased but hadn’t completely gone away. It stayed that way all day.

After a late breakfast there was a break in the weather so we walked the short distance into town and had a look around. Most of the places we visited when we were in Cowra last year are still here, although there are possibly a few more vacant shops than we remembered. Unfortunately the quilting shop was closed.

One of the interesting things about our walk through town was the amount of what appeared to be snow in the streets. It’s actually blossom; possibly cherry blossom given the Japanese connection with Cowra. There is a big cherry blossom festival at the Cowra Japanese gardens in a couple of weeks.

Blossom in the streets of Cowra

Beautiful Old Building in Cowra

We reacquainted ourselves with a second hand bookshop called Browse Awhile we had visited last year and browsed a while. We both bought some books we have been searching for and had a good chat to Tony the owner. We will definitely come back to visit next time we are in Cowra!

It started raining again so we had little option but to stop for coffee and cake until the rain eased.

Finally back at the fiver we remarked what a nice park this is. Large sites, many with concrete pads for the van and awning, and some of the drive through sites even have pads under the vehicle. Amenities are not exactly modern but certainly clean. The park also backs onto parkland over the river, and we noted how much the river had risen since we arrived just yesterday.

View of Cowra Van Park

River Behind Cowra Van Park

We spent the afternoon confined to the fiver, catching up on some computer work, reading, and preparing for our departure tomorrow.

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: Cowra

Gilgandra to Cowra

Posted on Monday, September 16, 2013 by shorty

The weather Gods were not smiling on us today!

The day started well enough with kookaburras waking us at about 6.00 am. We packed up, hitched up and were on our way quite early.

It had rained overnight and it was a bit cooler with an overcast sky, so we started off in jeans and t-shirt instead of the shorts we had been wearing for the last few months. Before long, however, the overcast sky had turned to drizzle and by the time we reached Dubbo it was raining off and on.

Gloomy Day for Driving

Morning coffee was at a rest stop just south of Dubbo, and in true caravanner style we put on our “fashionable” polar-fleece jackets, as it was getting colder.

We would have liked to have stopped at Peak Hill for a look around but the weather was against us so we continued on to what was to be the highlight of the day – The Dish at Parkes. Appropriately, The Dish, or more correctly the Australian Telescope National Facility – Parkes Observatory is located in Telescope Road, and there is plenty of parking space for caravans, and for fifth wheelers.

Turn Here for The Dish

Australian Telescope National Facility – Parkes Observatory

Ann at The Dish

Shorty at The Dish

This is a tremendously interesting place to visit, and it would have been even better on a fine day as there are outside activities. Never the less, we started off with some short 3D movies about Mars, astronomy and the Parkes facility. The 3D glasses were ever so fashionable and the 3D effects were fantastic. Most of the films were actually made at Swinburne Uni and were very informative.

Having Fun in Super Cool 3D Glasses

After the introductory films we had a good look around the display area and shop where they have loads of interesting stuff. There are some hands on/interactive things to do as well.

Then it was time for lunch in the Dish Café. The menu was full of celestial named dishes, but we both thoroughly enjoyed our freshly baked Beef with Red Wine Pies. The coffee, made with Byron Bay coffee beans was as good as the Byron Bay coffees we had enjoyed at Hervey Bay!

Lunch at The Dish Cafe

After a quick run through the rain back to the fiver, we hit the highway.

Trailblazer in the Rain at The Dish

Interestingly, from Parkes the GPS took us off the Newell Highway and down a number of Class B and C roads through small towns like Eugowra and Gooloogong. The trade off in road standard was that there was hardly any traffic or trucks, especially compared to the Newell.

Eugowra Hotel

Gooloogong Hotel

Finally we made it to Cowra Van Park where Craig, the manager, showed us to our site. Last time we were here we parked on the grass but this time he was making an effort to park everyone on slabs as it really is so wet here. Set up was super quick and we are now warm and comfortable, and will happily stay here until the weather breaks.

Settled in at Cowra Van Park

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: Cowra, Gilgandra, Parkes, The Dish

Gilgandra – Days 2 & 3

Posted on Sunday, September 15, 2013 by shorty

We have had a terrific break this weekend and have done very little of anything.

Gilgandra is not a resort town and is not a tourist destination. It is simply a small country town that happens to be on the intersection of the Oxley, Newell and Castlereagh Highways and is a convenient stopping place for travellers on these highways. For most travellers it is an overnight stop without unhitching.

As we previously mentioned, the Gilgandra Caravan Park is very much like a botanical gardens. It is spacious with plenty of large sites and areas without caravan parking, all set among plenty of mature and shady trees which in turn attract birdlife.

On Saturday we did very little. I had a few things to do around the fiver and plenty of bugs to clean off both the Ute and the van. Ann baked a batch of delicious date scones, using dates bought from the macadamia nut shop in Yandina (thanks Mick). Plus we both had books that needed reading under the awning in the fine and sunny mid-twenties weather.

Bludging at Gilgandra

On Sunday we got a bit more energetic and spruced ourselves up – I put on long pants and a long sleeve short for the first time in several months – and went out for lunch at the Gilgandra Services Club. They do a great salmon and Thai salad!

Gilgandra Services Club

I enjoyed that meal!

Then we did a bit of sight-seeing around Gilgandra – this took the best part of 10 minutes – and then it was back to the fiver to start some new books with freshly brewed coffees and date scones.

It’s a tough life but someone has to do it!

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: Gilgandra

Narrabri to Gilgandra

Posted on Friday, September 13, 2013 by shorty

We were surprised at how much traffic was about in Narrabri early in the morning so we took our time and left the park at about 10 o’clock.

Preparing to Leave Narrabri Big Sky Caravan Park

Our first driving stint from Narrabri to Coonabarabran along the Newell Highway was quite unremarkable. Road condition was generally good, with no roadworks and not too much traffic; however the scenery was rather monotonous as we were driving through the Piliga Nature Reserve with no villages or stops on the way. We were a bit surprised at the number of pine trees in the reserve, but not so surprised at the amount of road-kill.

We stopped for morning coffee at the Yamminba Rest Area where we came across a surprising 3D billboard referring to the planet Uranus. It did seem a bit out of context, but a bit further down the highway, near the intersection with Oxley Highway, we came across a similar 3D billboard but on a much larger scale referring to Saturn.

Driving through Piliga Nature Reserve

Surprising Uranus Billboard

Even more surprising Saturn Billboard

Welcome to Woop Woop

It made more sense when we noticed that Coonabarabran’s byline was “the astronomy capital of Australia”. It turns out that the Siding Spring Observatory is located 27 kilometres west of Coonabarabran on the edge of the Warrumbungle National Park and is Australia’s largest optical astronomy research facility.

Our lunch stop was at Neilson Park in Coonabarabran. This is a great picnic area with a designated caravan parking area. The many geese and the playground were popular with the younger generation and the park was obviously popular with fellow grey nomads.

Neilson Park in Cononabarabran

As usual, we took a walk around town and admired the many old but well maintained hotels, shops and other buildings. The Commonwealth Bank building was quite outstanding. The armillary sphere sundial certainly caught our eye. A little research reveals that the armillary sphere shows the Earth (a central ball) surrounded by rings (armilla in Latin) which represent the great circles of the heavens. It was widely used during the 17th and 18th centuries in scientific debates over the relative merits of the competing central Earth and central Sun theories.

Armillary Sphere Sundial in Coonabarabran

Commonwealth Bank Building

Heading South from Coonabarabran was quite a different story to this morning’s drive. The countryside was a lot more diverse with a mixture of native forests, grazing land with sheep, cattle and some horses, as well as areas set aside for cropping. Plus there were plenty of interesting buildings. The road wound around the hillsides and sometimes the gentle undulating hillsides became a bit more like roller coaster rides, but it was quite an interesting drive. There was not much traffic going South but there was a considerable number of trucks, including oversize and wide loads heading North.

Much More Interesting Scenery south of Coonabrabran

When we arrived in Gilgandra we found that the Caravan Park wasn’t where the GPS took us. However, we both realised that we had had a “seniors’ moment” as we had been here in June last year and knew where the park was really located, and we even ended up on the same site as last year. This is a lovely park in the true sense of the word, with plenty of garden and parkland areas as well as large grassy sites with plenty of room between them. The main shopping area is a short walk away over the bridge.

Plenty of Space at Gilgandra Caravan Park

After setting up the van, we put the awning up and relaxed outside with coffees and our books. Once the sun went down we packed up the chairs and headed inside for delicious homemade pizza for tea.

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: Coonabarabran, Gilgandra, Narrabri

Swan Bank to Narrabri

Posted on Thursday, September 12, 2013 by shorty

It was ridiculously cold this morning at our free camp – according to tonight’s weather reports on TV it would have been somewhere between minus 3 and 0 degrees! We were in no hurry to get out of bed. However, the sun came up and with the fiver’s blinds adjusted, we soon warmed up and enjoyed breakfast in the sun. This is truly a great free camping site!

Sunlight Warming the Van This Morning

Looking Out Our Backdoor This Morning

We finally got going at around 10.00 o’clock and continued along the Gwydir Highway through Inverall and beside what seemed to be predominantly canola fields with their distinctive yellow flowers.

Morning coffee was at the Warialda Creek Rest Area before we crossed the Gwydir Bridge, over the Gwydir River on the way to Moree where we planned to have lunch. The GPS however had other ideas and managed to bypass Moree so we stopped at the Tycannah Rest Area which is just South of Moree along the Newell Highway.

Canola Fields

Welcome to Inverell

Gwydir Bridge

The countryside is again mostly grain crops with small towns with large grain silos and interesting names like Gurley and Gravesend. Along with canola the silos were accepting chick peas, soy, and others. One obvious exception to the grain fields was a huge beef feed lot operation.

Silos at Gurley

More Canola Fields

Our driving experience today wasn’t all that great. Many of the roads are in quite bad condition which limits driving speed and makes driving uncomfortable. Plus there are lots of roadwork stops which cause further delays, not to mention sticky tar and gravel under the ute and the fiver. There were a lot of trucks along the Newell today. We also came across a couple of “80 kph heroes” – drivers who travel at dead on 80 kph and probably get great fuel economy but cause massive frustration to other drivers. We actually gasped at a couple of near misses as trucks and other drivers tried to overtake them. Mr Magoo is alive and well and towing a caravan!

Eventually we arrived at our destination for the night – the Narrabri Big Sky Caravan Park. We had called ahead but there were a number of sites available. Ours is a large drive through site with plenty of room for the awning. We stayed hitched up and after connecting to water and plugging into power to recharge the van’s batteries we went for a good walk around town before returning to the fiver for a light meal, some TV, and updating the blog.

Welcome to Narrabri

Still living the dream!

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure | Tags: Narrabri, Swan Bank

Dalveen to Swan Bank Rest Area

Posted on Thursday, September 12, 2013 by shorty

After a great night’s sleep we were up and away reasonably early and headed off along the New England Highway. Today was a driving day but as we have left the motorways behind we can enjoy the experience and explore a lot more. This area along the New England Highway is really amazing with plenty of wineries and vineyards, as well as pick them yourself strawberry farms, home-made chocolates, and all sorts of other gourmet foods, plus B ‘n’ Bs for the gourmet travellers.

One of the many wineries along the New England Highway

Interesting Business Name

Stanthorpe seemed to be a nice country town and we had a quick stop for diesel at Wallengarra, which claims to be the last shop in Queensland, then crossed the border into NSW. The next town was Tenterfield and it is a delightful and interesting town. I was particularly taken by the Post Office building. We also visited the Tenterfield Saddlery, immortalized in the Peter Allen song. The Saddlery was originally built in 1870 from local handcut granite and its 20 inch walls made it ideal for later use as a bank, before being used as a home and again as a saddlery in 1897. Unfortunately the Saddlery was closed for renovations so we only had a peak in through the front window. We enjoyed a delicious coffee in a beautiful old, restored, building before resuming our travels.

Welcome to Tenterfield

Tenterfield Post Offce

Shorty at Tenterfield Saddlery

Nice parklands around Tenterfield

From Tenterfield we continued down the New England Highway but the scenery changed from vines and the like and became a lot more cleared land with cattle and some sheep. We also saw quite a bit of smoke, and there was a strong smell of smoke in the car. The bush fire season has started early in NSW. Then, from grazing land it became quite mountainous with plenty of exposed rock faces. Also of interest was a particular section of road where wattle was in bloom – we didn’t notice wattle blossom anywhere else.

Interesting Scenery

Glen Innes was our next stop and again the Post Office building caught my eye as we had a good long walk around town. For lunch we stopped at the Australian Standing Stones, which is a fantastic monument to the early settlers of Celtic origin who helped build the Australian nation and is built along the lines of Stonehenge in the UK. The town of Glen Innes was selected as the location for this national monument which features traditional symbols relating to the Scots, Irish, Welsh, Cornish, etc, as well as the Southern Cross and other Australian symbols. Glen Innes will host the 2014 Australian Celtic Festival at the Standing Stones.

Entering Glen Innes

Glen Innes Post Office

Australian Standing Stones at Glen Innes

At Glen Innes we also did a quick shop and bought a newspaper which confirmed how close we had been to the bushfires. Our travel plans have changed as a result of the bushfire threat and we left the New England Highway at Glen Innes to head further west along the Gwydir Highway.

NSW Bushfires

About 40 kilometres from Glen Innes we stopped at the Swan Bank Rest Area and set up to free camp for the night. This is a delightful spot and we were able to park right next to a small creek. There is a toilet, rubbish bins, undercover areas with tables and chairs and room for maybe 8 or 9 vans at a pinch. Horses were in nearby paddocks, frogs were in the creek, and there were blue tailed wrens and rosellas in the surrounding trees. We were joined at the free camp by another couple in their van just before dusk, and after a bit of a chat we retired to our respective vans for tea.

Our set up at Swan Bank Rest Area [Free Camp]

Blue Wren at our Free Camp at Swan Bank Rest Area

As there was no telephone, internet or TV access we did some reading before having an early night.

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure, Free Camping | Tags: Glen Innes, Swan Bank, Tenterfield

Maroochydore to Dalveen

Posted on Tuesday, September 10, 2013 by shorty

After some quite heavy rain overnight, the morning quickly warmed up and we were able to get fully packed and ready to go quite early.

Today was a driving day, and we stayed on Motorways pretty well all the way from Maroochydore to Ipswich. Although the roads were great and we made great time, it did limit the opportunity for coffee and other breaks. We also had to battle the GPS which wanted to take us one way but following advice from Downunda and Faye, we wanted to go another. Eventually we got to the Gateway Bridge which is quite spectacular.

Gateway Bridge

Our much delayed coffee break was at Fassifern Memorial Reserve in the company of several other vanners.

Coffee Stop at Fassifern

From Fassifern we experienced some quite steep roads and spectacular views as we went through the Great Dividing Range and the Main Range National Park and Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Area.

Great Dividing Range

We finally escaped from the Motorways around Warwick, which gave us a bit more flexibility to stop. As we were getting a bit hungry by now Ann got a couple of delicious pies from Percy’s Pies in Warwick which we ate at the Australiana Park, Warwick.

Lunch at Warwick

At Warwick we got onto the New England Highway and eventually made our way to a free camp at the Jim Mitchell Park in Dalveen. This is a nice spot with a toilet and a dump point, and a nearby shop. We had a good chat with our next door neighbours, also from Victoria, and said hello to people from most of the other half a dozen vans which had pulled up for the night. This is a nice friendly spot for an overnighter.

Overnight Stop at Jim Mitchell Park at Dalveen

We still weren’t totally happy with the rate at which the van batteries were losing power while we were driving so we got out the generator for the first time to charge the batteries. After a bit of mucking around I got things sorted and the batteries were fully charged in no time. A chat to another vanner here also gave me an idea as to what might be contributing to our flat battery situation so I’ve made a few changes and hopefully we’ll see an improvement from now on.

We’re still living the dream and still don’t know when we’ll be back home.

Categories: 2013 Big Adventure, Free Camping | Tags: dalveen, maroochydore

2013 Big Adventure