 
On The Road Again

By Jon Peasey

Published by Peasey Publications

at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Jon Peasey

ISBN: 978-0-9941508-1-3

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Table of Contents

Preamble

Week 1: Tully QLD to Mackay QLD

Week 2: Mackay QLD to Southport QLD

Week 3: Southport QLD to Rochedale QLD

Week 4: Rochedale QLD

Week 5: Rochedale QLD to Robertson QLD

Week 6: Robertson QLD to Currumbin QLD

Week 7: Currumbin QLD to Rochedale QLD

Week 8: Rochedale QLD to Port Macquarie NSW

Week 9: Port Macquarie NSW to Lane Cove NSW

Week 10: Lane Cove NSW to Echuca VIC/ Moama NSW

Week 11: Echuca VIC/Moama NSW to Toowoomba QLD

Week 12: Toowoomba QLD to Rochedale QLD

Week 13: Rochedale QLD to Innisfail QLD

Epilogue

About the Author

*****************************************

Preamble

The travel bug was biting us again. It was September 2004 in Tully in Far North Queensland (QLD), Australia. Our house lease was due to expire in November 2004; it would then be a good time for us to travel. Now was a good time to plan another long caravan holiday to Australia's southern States. We would head down the Bruce Highway along the eastern coast of QLD and continue over the border into New South Wales (NSW). We would then drive down the Pacific Highway down the east coast of NSW until we reached Sydney NSW.

From Sydney we could head inland and then turn south and drive down the Newell Highway into Victoria (VIC); however we had a couple of travel options up our sleeves and we would choose which one to use when we arrived in Sydney. The Christmas/New Year season in Australia is the peak holiday and tourist season; and school children are on six weeks' Summer school holidays.

Another interesting factor was that our eldest son Joel, his wife Jane and their little daughter Amelia were coming to Brisbane QLD from New Zealand at Christmas time; so we would meet up with them and spend time together.

We needed to get cracking to organise accommodation, particularly for the east coast towns in NSW. Inland areas were not such a big problem for us as most folk headed to the coast for their annual holidays.

******************************************

Map of Australia with Tully QLD at top right

[Source: Google Maps]

Week 1: Tully QLD to Mackay QLD

Sunday, 21-Nov-2004

Today I finished my work contract with Tully Hospital; however I was on a rostered day off. My wife Rachel ceased her Family Day Care business on Friday, 19-Nov-2004. As we had allowed our lease to run out, we were in the last throes of cleaning up the yard and the premises; and we were about to embark on another big caravan holiday to the southern States. Yesterday we had a very busy day; I had to remove a wire netting fence that was a safety requirement for the Day Care children. The star pickets and wire netting fencing were donated to our next door neighbour.

As today was a Sunday we went up to our local Christian fellowship at Wangan QLD near Innisfail QLD; about 40 minutes drive from Tully QLD. We went to both morning services and then came home for lunch and more cleaning up. We needed to go back again by 4:00 pm for our annual general meeting (AGM). This was followed by a Fellowship Tea and a Gospel meeting at night. Our friends Barry and Anne Rowbury were up from Townsville for the day and Barry took the gospel service.

We were both very tired that night. I had had a very busy week at Tully Hospital. The General Ward was full of patients and the Casualty Department kept us constantly on the go. Tully Hospital is a small rural hospital and you have to get used to multi tasking; however you certainly can't complain about the variety of work. In between my work at the hospital and Rachel's Day Care work we were cleaning and packing up ready for our holiday.

Tully QLD to Wangan QLD [Source: Google Maps]

Monday, 22-Nov-2004

It was a very hot, humid day today. I got my brush cutter out of the shed, started it up and cleaned up the high bank on the rear boundary of the property. This is a difficult job due to the steep angle of the bank. From the ground the brush cutter only reached half way up the bank. The difficult part was using the brush cutter from the top of the bank sweeping it downwards and trying to maintain my balance.

When that job was finished I cleaned up the brush cutter, dismantled it and packed it away in its box. Meanwhile Rachel had cleaned up all the rooms except our bedroom. I went around the house cleaning all the windows and the flyscreens. Later Carmel our landlady came around to collect the last lot of rent and give us our Rental bond paperwork to obtain our rental bond refund.

The food in our refrigerator was transferred to our caravan fridge; which was currently on mains power. Some of the food was also transferred to our portable car fridge. We are expecting the furniture removalist from Innisfail tomorrow morning at 7:00 am. We will have to take down our curtains early tomorrow morning and pack them in boxes for the removalists to take with our furniture.

Tuesday, 23-Nov-2004

We woke up early, showered, dressed and had breakfast. Then we took down our curtains and packed them into boxes. Rachel did some last minute clothes' washing and drying in the clothes dryer. Then we emptied the washing machine completely of water and dried it.

It started to rain heavy, a tropical downpour! The removals van arrived during the downpour. They backed the truck up to the edge of the carport with the back doors opened and secured to the sides of the truck. They were unable to commence the job; water was running down into the floor of the cargo area. The rain was too heavy; they had to abort the job. If it clears up weatherwise they will come back tomorrow.

After the truck went back to Innisfail we noticed that the heavy rain was causing flooding in the yard. It was even coming into the carport area and threatening to flood the living room areas. I went out into the yard to see what was making the flooding. The drainage ditch I had dug along the embankment at the rear of the property was clogged up with leaves and the water could not get away quickly. To make matters worse water from the yard up behind us was cascading over the embankment. I had no choice other than to clear the blocked drainage ditch. It was a wet, miserable job; however it eased the problem and the water levels in the yard began to slowly drop.

About 11:30 am the weather cleared up in Tully. I rang the removals people in Innisfail and informed them it was now fine in Tully. They sent the truck down immediately. After the upload was finished, I had to follow them back to Innisfail to pay their office staff and sign a storage contract. I refuelled the car at Mourilyan on the way back to Tully.

Our Jayco Eagle caravan at Tully QLD prior to our trip

While I was in Innisfail, Rachel had finished cleaning the house and had the caravan packed and ready. We put the last bits and pieces into the caravan and car. We then loaded the portable car fridge into the car and plugged it into the 12 volts DC cigarette lighter socket for power on the move. The caravan fridge was a 3-way set up - 240 volts AC - 12 volts DC - or Gas. I switched the fridge over to 12 volts DC to run off the car battery whilst we were driving. The power lead was disconnected from the house and stowed in the front caravan boot. The awning was retracted and secured and the caravan pop top was lowered and secured for travelling. The car was backed up to the caravan and hitched up to the caravan. Next the weight distribution bars were fitted and the safety chains attached to the car's receiver hitch. Then the 12 volts power loom was connected to the car. I then put the extension mirrors on the car and adjusted them.

We were ready to roll! The house was locked up and the keys were left on the kitchen bench. Carmel would pick them up later in the day. As we were both quite tired I decided only to go as far as Rollingstone Beach Caravan Resort at Rollingstone Beach QLD north of Townsville QLD, about 154 km south of Tully.

We had fine weather for our drive south down the Bruce Highway to Rollingstone Beach. I booked 2 nights on an ensuite, powered site. We needed to relax and unwind. It turned out to be a wet and windy night.

Tully QLD to Rollingstone Beach Caravan Resort QLD

[Source: Google Maps]

Wednesday, 24-Nov-2004

Next morning we woke up to overcast skies with cool breezes and occasional showers of rain. It was a good day for sleeping and relaxing. Here is a good tip; only drive a short distance the first day away. You don't want to arrive at your destination overtired and irritable. That is when mistakes often happen. We slept a fair bit during the morning and caught up on some missed sleep. We started to feel more relaxed.

I hooked up my laptop and did some computing. I also sent an SMS message off to our eldest son Joel in New Zealand. Joel in his reply said he was "playing manager" on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. In other words he was relieving a local ASB Bank Manager. We will catch up with Joel, Jane and baby Amelia in one month's time. They fly into Brisbane on Christmas Day. Tomorrow we will drive down to Bowen QLD.

Thursday, 25-Nov-2004

The weather was patchy on the trip down the Bruce Highway to Bowen about 266 km away. The weather was mostly fine with some showers of rain. We refuelled the car at Alligator Creek south of Townsville. There were very strong head winds today; the car was using more fuel than normal.

The weather was fine in Bowen when we arrived at Coral Coast Caravan Resort; located on the foreshore of Horse Shoe Bay, 266 km away. I was busting to go to the toilet - the Reception door was closed! I rang the number listed on the door; the manager was gardening on the beach front section. He said, " _Pick any sight._ " He went quickly to the Reception office and got me an amenities block key. A quick trip to the amenities block then took place!

We picked a nice site facing the Coral Sea. It had a nice shade tree as well. We unhitched, set up the van and rolled out the awning. There was one slight problem; the lawn sprinklers were on and began to wet our site. An upturned bucket over the sprinkler fixed this problem. We then went to Reception and paid accommodation for two nights. The weather turned sour and we began to get heavy wind gusts and rain. We had to peg down our awning to stabilise it.

Rollingstone Beach Caravan Resort QLD to Coral Cove Caravan Resort

Bowen QLD [Source: Google Maps]

I was using my laptop that night when the power pack seemed to give up the ghost. I was then only on battery power. My Acer laptop was still under warranty. Maybe I can get it fixed in Rockhampton. The battery power went down to 4%. I can't use my laptop until this problem is sorted out. As I do a lot of writing this was a real setback.

Friday, 26-Nov-2004

We had occasional showers and cool breezes during the day. We went grocery shopping in Bowen. When we are on the road we tend to shop more often for fresh food as our refrigeration capacity is less than a normal domestic home fridge. We also keep a good stock of non-perishable foods in the cupboards. I bought some caravan magazines at a newsagency and Rachel bought a crosswords puzzle magazine. Rachel enjoys crossword type puzzles. We have allocated $10.00 pocket money each week to spend on ourselves.

Later we went sightseeing to Flagstaff Hill lookout and then down to the old wharf at Port Denison. Bowen has a good lookout with 360 degrees panorama. There was also a restaurant at the lookout.

View from Flagstaff Hill looking over Bowen QLD

We walked out along the old wharf which further out split into two arms. The right hand arm was closed for the public as two Pilot boats use it as their base. The left hand arm was being used by recreational fishermen to fish off the wharf. Old railway lines ran along the wharves. In years gone by it was a very busy port with ships being loaded and unloaded. The railway carriages could be brought right alongside the ships.

Old Wharf at Port Denison, Bowen QLD

In the late afternoon we had strong wind gusts and we had to roll our awning in, as we did not want it damaged. The weather cleared up again towards evening and we had a full moon shining over Horse Shoe Bay. It was a glorious sight! Tomorrow we will head down to Mackay QLD.

Saturday, 27-Nov-2004

We had overcast weather as we left Bowen for the trip down the Bruce Highway to Mackay, about192 km away. We drove through some heavy rain and into strong head winds along the highway.

We stopped at Proserpine to refuel the car and also had some lunch. We intended to book one night's accommodation at Beach Caravan Resort at Far Beach, Mackay. We have stayed there on previous occasions. We tend to stay at the Big 4 chain of resorts as our membership entitles us to a 10% discount off the going rate. On arrival at Beach Resort we booked in for one night on a powered site. After we set up the caravan we headed off in our car to Canelands Shopping Complex in Mackay. We did a lot of browsing in the various shops and also a bit of grocery shopping; then we returned to our caravan.

Coral Cove Caravan Resort - Bowen QLD to

Beach Resort - Mackay QLD [Source: Google Maps]

In the cool of the late afternoon we walked out over the sand dunes at the rear of the van park and went for a walk along Far Beach. There are big tide changes on this part of the coast. At low tide the water seems to recede for kilometres offshore. You can almost walk out to a small island in the distance. I wouldn't like to chance it if the tide turned; you would have to get back to shore very quickly.

Tomorrow we plan to drive down to Yeppoon QLD near Rockhampton QLD. We have not been into the Yeppoon area before; although we have been through Rockhampton numerous times over the years.

Week 2: Mackay QLD to Southport QLD

Sunday, 28-Nov-2004

We set off for Sarina about half an hour's drive from Mackay where we refuelled the car. Our next fuel stop will be at Marlborough which is inland, not on the coast. Leaving Sarina we commenced the long boring drive to Rockhampton. We stopped at Clairview QLD, a seaside village, for morning tea. This is the only place on this part of the journey where you can see the ocean. We then continued on to Marlborough QLD our next fuel stop.

Leaving Marlborough we continued down the Bruce Highway to the northern outskirts of Rockhampton where we turned left off the highway to go to the Yeppoon area. We drove around the beach areas to look at the caravan parks in the Yeppoon area. We were not fussed about the van parks or their locations. So we drove back out of the loop to Rockhampton.

Mackay QLD to Rockhampton QLD via Yeppoon QLD

[Source: Google Maps]

We drove into Rockhampton and booked one night's accommodation on a powered site at Southside Holiday Village. We had just completed a 399 km trip. The site was situated close to the amenities block. The day was hot and we put up our shade cloth walls around the awning. We then noticed we had a problem with black ants running over the caravan. We had to use insecticide spray and talcum powder to (a) kill them off, or (b) dissuade them from getting on to the caravan. I don't think we will come here again.

I then rang Acer in Brisbane to see if I could get my laptop situation sorted out. As we were moving on to Brisbane they suggested it would be quicker to book the laptop into their Brisbane Repair Centre; otherwise parts would have to be sent to a local authorised repairer, which would lead to further delays. So I booked the laptop in at Acer's Brisbane Repair Centre.

We had planned to stay at Boyne Island/Tannum Sands QLD then move inland to Gayndah QLD - Yarraman QLD - Toowoomba QLD - Stanthorpe QLD - Brisbane QLD. This was all scotched! Our plan was now to get to Brisbane as soon as possible.

Monday, 29-Nov-2004

We left Rockhampton in good weather. We had some difficulties caused by passing cars and trucks today.

One very nasty incident was somehow averted just outside Rockhampton. A Prime mover and B Double rig passed us safely and proceeded down a long line of slow traffic ahead of us; when suddenly a car pulled out in front of him to pass another vehicle. The truck driver slammed on his brakes and had to try and move into the space vacated by the car! Fortunately a commercial delivery van driver sized up the situation and moved his van way over to the left leaving as much room as he could for the B Double rig. The truck driver kept his cool, moved into the space the car had left, waited momentarily for a vehicle coming the other way to pass by him and then accelerated smoothly back out to pass safely. Phew!

We stopped at Benaraby QLD at the Boyne River, refuelled and bought fish and chips for lunch. We ate our lunch just over the other side of the river at the Queensland Transport rest area. From there we continued on to Tiaro QLD where we again refuelled the car. Leaving Tiaro we continued south to Forest Glen Holiday Resort at Forest Glen QLD; near Nambour QLD and the Sunshine Coast area. Today we travelled 541 km.

Rockhampton QLD to Forest Glen QLD

[Source: Google Maps]

We booked a powered site for one night on a drive through site. The lady at the Reception Desk seemed vaguely familiar. As I spoke to her it turned out that she used to live at Mena Creek QLD near Innisfail. Mena Creek is where internationally famous Paronella Park is located. She knew Rachel's late sister Ruth and her late husband Silvio quite well. The woman's children used to come to Youth nights at Wangan Christian Assembly at Wangan QLD. She and her husband used to have a small cafe at South Johnstone QLD near Wangan. The cafe did not attract enough trade and they had to close the business.

There was lots of smoke in the air at Forest Glen; because they were clearing scrub nearby. The smoke in the air caused our smoke alarm in the caravan to go off. This happened a few times even though the smoke alarm was reset each time. I finally had to remove the smoke alarm battery temporarily until we left next morning. The amenities block at Forest Glen Resort was being refurbished; so the gents had to use a portable toilet block and a portable shower block. The van park was very quiet at that time of the year hence the refurbishment.

Later that day we booked 2 nights' accommodation at Brisbane Caravan Village at Aspley QLD, a suburb on the north side of Brisbane QLD. It was the closest van park to Albion QLD where my laptop was to be serviced.

Tully QLD to Aspley (Brisbane) QLD

( **1,561 km** ) [Source: Google Maps]

Tuesday, 30-Nov-2004

As we had a short drive today, about 80 km, we didn't leave Forest Glen until 10:00 am. We had a scary incident on the motorway into Brisbane. A woman in a little white car in front of us pulled off into a stopping bay. We continued on at 100 kph when she suddenly pulled out in front of us again! I had to brake hard - I could not slow down in time! Fortunately I was able to swerve into the next lane safely to avoid her. I blew the horn hard to wake her up!

Driving a car and caravan rig requires a lot more awareness than just driving a car. You have to be constantly assessing your defensive driving options, particularly in traffic. You have to try and anticipate what other drivers are likely to do. You have to leave a longer gap between you and the vehicle in front of you. You cannot pull up as quickly as a car. Unfortunately vehicles overtaking you will sometimes rush into that gap and then brake hard to avoid running into the back of the vehicle in front of you. All of a sudden your safety margin is gone and you are also braking heavily!

We headed off the highway at Aspley and drove to Brisbane Caravan Village (about 80km from Forest Glen). We set up our van for a two nights' stay. After lunch we drove to Albion to get my laptop serviced. Boy did we have fun finding parking! Acer Repair Centre was located in a very busy commercial area. However, once we arrived inside Acer's Repair Centre it only took about 10 minutes to sort us out. As I suspected the problem was not with the laptop but with a dud power pack. It was dead as a Dodo! We left with a brand new power pack.

Back at Brisbane Caravan Village we rang our son Michael. We will catch up with him tomorrow. Rachel then rang her brother Sam at Sunnybank QLD and then her sister Dina at Labrador QLD (on the Gold Coast). We plan to move down to the Gold Coast for a while on Thursday. We will try to catch up with our nephew Daniel and his family at Sunnybank Hills QLD and also our niece Gail and her family at Toowoomba QLD. These will have to be day trips.

Wednesday, 1-Dec-2004

It was a hot sunny day. We left the van park and drove to Michael's share house at Nundah about 10:15 am. We met Michael's girlfriend Maureen who was also a university student. She was certainly a lovely girl. We also met one of Michael's flat mate's Andrew.

We spent some time with Michael and Maureen; then Maureen who lived nearby went home. Michael and Maureen met at the local State Primary School. Both of them were doing after school programs with primary school children. This was an organised program and they were paid on an hourly basis for their time. An added bonus was that they were both students at the University of Queensland (UQ) at its St Lucia Campus in Brisbane QLD. Michael was studying to be a Secondary School Teacher majoring in English and History. Maureen was studying to be a Physiotherapist (what the Americans' call a Physical Therapist).

After Maureen had gone home Michael suggested that we have lunch at Sandgate QLD. Sandgate is a beachside suburb of Brisbane fronting on to Moreton Bay. So off we went to Sandgate where we had Fish and Chips + side salad for lunch at a beach front cafe. From our cafe table we looked directly out over the beach to Moreton Bay.

From Sandgate we went back to Gateway Village. I copied some computer programs to disk for Michael to use on his laptop. Michael had a nap in the caravan and we took him home to Nundah about 6:00 pm, because it was his turn to cook dinner at the share house.

Thursday, 2-Dec-2004

Rachel and I were off to the Gold Coast today to Southport QLD about 60 km away. We decided to miss the morning traffic peak hour and leave Aspley at 10:00 am; as it was a relatively short drive to the Gold Coast.

Meanwhile Rachel went for a look at some nearby shops and I packed up the caravan ready for hitching up. I had a problem with our hose fitting on the site's water tap it would not loosen. It took me an extra 10 minutes to loosen the fitting and pack away the water hose. We left Brisbane Caravan Village about 10:10 am and had a good run down to the Gold Coast.

At Southport I missed the entrance to the caravan park we were booked into. It was on the opposite side of the highway and we had to back track. We were booked in for 7 nights' accommodation at Southport Tourist Park on the Gold Coast Highway at Southport QLD.

Aspley Caravan Village - Aspley QLD to

Southport Tourist Park - Southport QLD

[Source: Google Maps]

I had an unexpected problem setting up the caravan after unhitching. The caravan rolled slightly on to the back bumper bar on the Falcon and left a small mark. The site was uneven where vehicles' tyres had left ruts. I had to jack up one side of the caravan and put metal stands under the chassis rail on that side to level the van. Because the caravan fridge is a 3-way system - 240 volts AC, 12 volts DC or gas, the fridge has to be level to run efficiently. Thus the caravan has to be level when on site; both horizontally and vertically.

We went for a walk in the afternoon to the local shops. Dina and Barry were expecting us for dinner at their place at Labrador. It just happened to be Barry's 71st birthday today. Dina had cooked a yummy roast dinner with roast vegetables. Their youngest daughter Alison lived with them and worked in the Information Technology (IT) Department of a multinational hotel chain. Alison should be able to organise a discount voucher on the accommodation we booked at Currumbin Sands Apartments at Currumbin QLD on the Gold Coast. We have pre-booked one week's accommodation so we can spend time with Joel, Jane and baby Amelia; from Boxing Day onwards.

Friday, 3-Dec-2004

It was a nice, sunny day with a nice sea breeze blowing. I washed our Falcon sedan. As there were water restrictions in place I only used one bucket of water. Later I sent Alison an SMS message with our booking number for Currumbin Sands Apartments. We will have to wait and see if she can get us a discount off the accommodation price.

Rachel and I then went shopping for groceries at Aldi's at Labrador. Aldi's was a German owned multinational food supermarket chain which was gradually expanding in Australia. Most of the lines were their own brands. The variety was limited; but their prices were lower than other supermarket chains.

Dina and Barry called in to see us on our site at Southport Tourist Park; then we all went for a walk along the Southport Beach front. We had afternoon tea together in the caravan. We gave Barry the table leg off our caravan dining table so he could shorten it slightly. The table sits just a little bit high for comfort. Barry has volunteered to cut a piece off the round metal tube leg.

Alison rang us, she had not received our SMS message we sent her; so we gave her the booking number of our Currumbin Sands booking. After dinner we went to Barry and Dina's place to pick up the shortened dining table leg for our caravan. Alison had the discount voucher for the Currumbin Sands accommodation; which we were very grateful for.

Saturday, 4-Dec-2004

It had rained overnight and we had patchy rain periods during the day. Rachel and I went shopping at Australia Fair a large shopping complex at Southport. After browsing around the shops we bought more groceries before heading back to our van.

I bought a connectivity cable for my Nokia [CDMA] mobile phone; so I could connect it to my laptop for internet browsing and emails. I also bought 6 hours of internet time. Rachel was not impressed. The upshot was I had no pocket money for quite a while! Later back at the van I could not get the connection to work. A file seemed to be missing on the Nokia installation CD. I needed Alison to see if she could sort it out for me.

Rachel's cousin Phillip was down from Brisbane visiting Barry and Dina. Rachel's mother Vincenzina was Phillip's aunty. About 2:30 pm we went to Barry and Dina's place to catch up with Phillip. Cousin Phillip was in good health and in good spirits. I took my laptop, Nokia phone and the connectivity items; on the off chance that Alison could help me out. I was hoping that Alison could sort it out when she arrived home from work.

When Alison arrived home I explained my problem to her. She also could not get the connection to work. Fortunately, Alison sorts out these types of problems and numerous others in her IT work. So Alison knew how to trace the problem through and arrive at a successful conclusion.

It required talks to 3 Telstra technicians + 2 Nokia technicians + a download from Nokia's website on Barry and Dina's phone landline, which was connected to my laptop, before we were successful. It took 2.5 hours of non-stop probing by Alison to come up with a successful outcome. I needed expert assistance as two essential files were missing from Nokia's installation CD. What a messy time for Alison! With my limited experience there was no way I could have gone through that mess to get it fixed.

Week 3: Southport QLD to Rochedale QLD

Sunday, 5-Dec-2004

We went up to Brisbane today to Multicap Meadows for the day's services; the breaking of bread meeting; and after lunch a Bible study meeting. There was a lot of rain around. Later in the afternoon we went to Sam and Italia's place for dinner and had a pleasant time with family.

Our Falcon sedan's brakes were squealing on harder applications at very low speeds. Maybe the pistons in the wheels' slave cylinders were not retracting properly? The brakes needed to be checked out. We left for Southport around 6:30 pm. We had a good run down to the Gold Coast; but ran into heavy rain about 15 minutes from the Gold Coast area.

Monday, 6-Dec-2004

We had occasional light showers during the morning. The constant rainy weather makes clothes drying a bit awkward. I had set up the shade cloth walls around the awning to restrict the rain from wetting the clothes on the clothes lines under the awning. It was too expensive to keep feeding $1.00 and $2.00 coins into the commercial clothes dryers in the van park's laundry. The clothes hanging under the awning took longer to dry; but we managed OK.

The weather cleared up later in the morning so Rachel and I went for a walk along the sea shore, along Marine Parade. We were away for about two hours. I took photos looking over towards Surfers Paradise.

Looking across the Broadwater QLD to Surfers Paradise QLD

(in the distance) on a wet, drizzly day

When we came back we had a cup of tea and a biscuit. We then relaxed and read magazines. Rachel cooked fish for lunch, which we had with potatoes and salad. After dinner that evening we went to Barry and Dina's place to play Upwords games with them. This game was harder than Scrabble. I am not a 'games' person anymore I had too much of it during my Nursing days with an Aged Care Rehabilitation Unit. We planned to have a picnic lunch together down the coast tomorrow, weather permitting.

Another view over the Broadwater

looking towards Surfers Paradise QLD

Tuesday, 7-Dec-2004

It rained heavily during the night and continued into the morning. The picnic down the coast was cancelled due to the wet weather; so more Upwords with Barry and Dina. We had a 'picnic' lunch at their place instead. Very heavy rain fell throughout the day.

Rachel and I needed to decide if we will continue to stay on the Gold Coast or head up to Brisbane on Thursday morning.

Wednesday, 8-Dec-2004

The rain had eased to light showers. We decided to go for a drive down the coast and over the border into New South Wales (NSW). As we would be passing by Currumbin Sands Apartments we would have a quick look at it. The entrance had easy access from the Gold Coast Highway. The Palm Beach shops were close to Currumbin Sands and The Pines shopping complex was about 10 minutes drive away. Currumbin Sands backed on to the beach, so there was easy beach access from the apartments.

We continued our drive to Coolangatta and then crossed over the QLD border into NSW. The showery rain continued as we drove through the NSW coastal towns of Kingscliff - Cabarita Beach - Hallidays Point and Pottsville. There were plenty of caravan parks to choose from! I decided that as it was continually raining each day we may as well head back to Brisbane on Thursday.

We concluded our drive into NSW and went back to our caravan at Southport for lunch. The rain eased off after lunch which was a good opportunity to start packing up ready for our departure tomorrow. We had dinner in our van and then went to Barry and Dina's to say goodbye.

Thursday, 9-Dec-2004

We decided to base ourselves at Gateway Village Resort at Rochedale QLD, a suburb south of Brisbane; a familiar and favourite van park for us. There were periods of heavy rain on the drive up to Rochedale. We paid for 7 nights' accommodation on a powered site and then set up the caravan for a long stay. We will pay week by week until we journey down south in early January 2005.

The weather is very unsettled; I set up the big silver tarpaulin over the caravan awning, like we did at Ayr a couple of years ago. The big tarp helped to keep the wind and rain off our wet laundry clothing. We still had wet clothing with us from Southport. I also put up the shade cloth walls around the awning. Rachel was worried about getting our washing dry. The commercial clothes dryers at Gateway Village were $1.00 for 5 minutes drying time!

Our Jayco Eagle caravan set up at Gateway Village

(minus the big silver tarpaulin)

Our food supplies were getting low; we needed to do some grocery shopping and I needed a prescription filled out a local Pharmacy. We went to Springwood QLD instead of Rochedale as we wanted to check out temporary membership at the Logan City Library Branch near IKEA.

We ended up doing three trips to Springwood. (1) On the first trip I forgot my driver's license which I needed for identification; so we had to go back and get it. (2) On the second trip the towing hitch receiver was scraping over the speed bumps in the car parks. So we headed back to unload heavy items from the boot of the car; such as the tow ball hitch and the weight distribution bars. (3) On the third trip all went well! We did our grocery shopping and then joined the Logan City Library. It was good to be able to borrow library books again. Rachel is an avid reader and borrows lots of books each trip to the library. I also like to read and I tended to borrow autobiographies and biographies. Rachel has variety in her choices; fiction and non-fiction, travel stories, craft books and magazines. She also likes a good autobiography or biography. It rained most of our very busy day!

Friday, 10-Dec-2004

We had a lazy day in our caravan. There was more heavy rain again today. The International Cricket match between Australia and New Zealand at The Gabba in Brisbane was completely washed out. I decided to set up clothes lines under the awning. I also set up a temporary clothes line inside the caravan. I then turned on all the inside lights and both our fans to try and dry out our clothes that were fairly dry.

Rachel had a leisurely clean up in the van and did some rearranging in the cupboards. After lunch I ironed dry some essential clothing as we were just about out of dry summer clothes. We had a small portable ironing table that sat on our caravan table. Rachel had contact today with our niece Claudia Tangye (Sam and Italia's daughter). We will be having dinner with her and her husband Max tomorrow night. Our son Michael rang during the evening. We will go to his place at Nundah tomorrow morning and pick him up about 11:00 am.

Saturday, 11-Dec-2004

It was only two more Saturdays to Joel, Jane and Amelia's arrival from Christchurch, New Zealand (NZ). Fortunately, the weather cleared up and Rachel was able to hang our wet washing on the main clothes lines at Gateway Village.

We picked up Michael at Nundah and then the three of us went to the Queensland Art Gallery and later to the Queensland Museum. We had lunch at the Queensland Museum. We then had a pleasant time with Michael strolling around Southbank, another Brisbane icon. In the late afternoon we dropped Michael back to his share house in Nundah and then came back to Gateway Village.

We had a rest for a while and then it was time to go to Claudia and Max's place for dinner. Claudia and Max live in their own apartment under Sam and Italia's home. Cousin Phillip was also there for dinner. We had a nice dinner together; followed by a pleasant evening talking on a range of subjects.

Week 4: Rochedale QLD

Sunday, 12-Dec-2004

We went off to our local Christian Fellowship at Multicap Meadows at Eight Mile Plains. It was less than 10 minutes drive from Gateway Village. We had a breaking of bread remembrance meeting followed by lunch. After lunch, there was a discussion type Bible study on Romans chapters 12 & 13.

Rachel's brother Sam told Rachel that Italia was upset that we had not called in to see them yesterday when we had dinner with Claudia and Max. So we made a point of visiting Sam and Italia before we went back to Gateway Village.

A big electrical storm was brewing. The Brisbane area and indeed all of South East Queensland is renowned in Australia for severe electrical storms with heavy rain and hail. We just got back to Gateway Village in time. A few minutes later the storm unleashed its fury. In the calm and the coolness after the storm Rachel and I went for a walk around the grounds of Gateway Village.

Monday, 13-Dec-2004

We went to Macgregor QLD to the Queensland Transport Motor Registry Office so I could update my driver's license address details. I used Sam's address at Sunnybank as we were planning to go to Victoria (VIC) and South Australia (SA). I also had had our mail redirected to his address before we left Tully.

We then drove to Tingalpa QLD to look at Jayco's new motorhome range at Brisbane Camperland (where we purchased our Jayco Eagle caravan). I also needed a new screw for the front door lock striker plate. We came back and went to Coopers Plains QLD where Rachel bought some fabric remnants for only $2.00. She came back with a big plastic bag full of remnants for her patchwork quilting. We then had some lunch at a Hungry Jack's restaurant and went to see cousin Phillip who lived nearby. As we drove back to Rochedale from Phillip's place at Coopers Plains we could see another storm brewing. This storm was a real beauty; it was a brilliant light and sound show with very heavy rain as well.

After the storm had passed I cleaned the interior of our Falcon sedan. I swept the floors; then shampooed the seats, upholstery and carpets. The interior looked much fresher. Meanwhile Rachel had reorganised our under bed storage in the caravan to fit in more gear from the car.

Our nephew Stephen and his wife Dale rang and invited us over for dinner tomorrow night. Michael and Maureen were available to come as well.

Tuesday, 14-Dec-2004

A very hot day today 36 degrees Celsius; with hot dry winds! Rachel was feeling the heat and wanted to shift to a shadier site at Gateway Village. We went to IKEA at Springwood QLD to browse and enjoy the coolness in the air conditioning. We then went for a look in the local Pharmacies for a gift. We bought a nice Teddy Bear at Rochedale for Steve and Dale's baby due in March 2005.

In the late afternoon we headed to Nundah to pick up Michael and Maureen and then drove to Red Hill QLD to Steve and Dale's place. I got confused at an important road crossing and had to drive down into the city CBD area then drive back out again. We had a nice evening together with Steve and Dale. We enjoyed a delicious meal consisting of Ravioli with salad; followed by fresh fruit salad and ice cream, plus cold drinks. After dinner we went back to Nundah on a slightly different route. Rachel and I then drove back to Gateway Village a round trip of 47 km.

Wednesday, 15-Dec-2004

The weather was cooler today with cool breezes. We were able to move to a shadier site. It was the same site we were on with our tent in 2002; before we bought our first caravan. The site worked well shade wise; however we had a sullage problem with the caravan on this site. The site sloped up slightly at the rear of the site and the drainage outlet was well above ground. As water does not run uphill I had to figure out a way to get rid of our sullage waste water. We certainly did not want to be emptying buckets of water into the drainage outlet all the time.

I had to rig up an aqueduct system to keep the sullage hose at the level of the drainage outlet. I used my caravan stands and tied the sullage hose to them. The waste water was then able to drain into the drainage outlet. Rachel meanwhile decided to try her hand at sketching and later commenced making patchwork squares for a patchwork quilt.

Jon's sullage waste water aqueduct system

Thursday, 16-Dec-2004

It was another nice cooler day with cool breezes. I tried to get the wireless WIFI to work on my laptop; as the resort had a free WIFI hot spot. It did not work as apparently the necessary hardware was not installed on my laptop. Due to the hot weather Rachel was not in a good mood. She wrote me a letter telling me off about "bogus travel ideas". She wanted a home to live in not a caravan. The waiting around and the weather conditions of late are getting to her.

Sam rang to tell us that our nephew Daniel and his wife Suzanne were at his place. They had moved down with their two little girls from Yarraman QLD; where Daniel was a Primary School teacher. We locked up the caravan and drove to Sam's place at Sunnybank about 10 minutes drive away, in light traffic.

Emily is quite grown up now and full on. Baby Grace is very cute with big blue eyes. Daniel and Suzanne were staying temporarily at Robertson Gardens (near Sunnybank) until they can move into their new house. Rachel and I are also booked into Robertson Gardens for two nights on the 24th and 25th of December 2004.

Friday, 17-Dec-2004

Another very hot day was forecast for today. I had booked the car in at Q Ford at Springwood to have the squealing brakes checked. The appointment was scheduled for 8:00 am. I drove the car to Q Ford and then walked back to Gateway Village a distance of 4.6 km. It took me about 50 minutes walking up hill and down dale. Q Ford's Service Manager thought the squeal might be the handbrake linings and the brake drums.

Rachel was not in a good mood due to the heat and was feeling hot and bothered. About 2:00 pm I walked back to Q Ford. I took a bottle of water with me. It was a very hot walk and it took me about one hour. I was fortunate a slightly cool breeze was blowing. The squealing brakes were rectified by a handbrake adjustment which only cost $49.95 for the service - hooray! I had had visions of a big repair bill.

Saturday, 18-Dec-2004

We slept in this morning. Later we went the Logan City Library at Springwood to change our books. We then did grocery shopping at Coles Supermarket and the fruit shop at Springwood.

After we arrived back at our caravan, I must have been pre-occupied as I stepped out of the van. I whacked my head hard on the caravan door lintel. Ouch! It was very painful. I felt sick and sore all afternoon. I took some paracetamol for the pain and then had to lie down and rest. I had an early night. Rachel read a book and came to bed later.

Week 5: Rochedale QLD to Robertson QLD

Sunday, 19-Dec-2004

We went to Multicap Meadows again to remember the Lord Jesus Christ in the breaking of bread. We stayed for lunch and the afternoon activities. I had a dull headache from the knock on my head yesterday. I was sporting a lump at the wound site. We spent a quiet time in the caravan after the day's activities.

Monday, 20-Dec-2004

We were off to Labrador today to see our niece Gail Parry and her husband Joel and their two young sons. Gail is one of Barry and Dina's daughters. We bought a cooked chicken at a Red Rooster store at Labrador as our contribution to lunch. We had a hearty lunch with the Parrys.

Noah is a full on child - noisy and brash - but a nice kid. Little Ethan is a beautiful child - very affectionate. Gail and Joel were looking well. The holiday apartment they were renting looked out over the Broadwater and the Spit.

View out over the Broadwater on the Gold Coast QLD

Before we drove back to Rochedale we went around to Barry and Dina's place for about one hour. Guess what we ended up playing? Upwords again! On the drive back we could see a storm brewing. Yet again we just got back to the caravan in time. South East Queensland has a lot of electrical storms during the summer season. It is an annual occurrence. The storms usually form during the afternoons.

We had dinner that night at Claudia and Max's home. Daniel, Suzanne, Emily and baby Grace were there also. I took photos of the girls. After a pleasant evening we came back to our van with full tummies from two excellent meals.

Tuesday, 21-Dec-2004

We had a lazy morning then we went to Rochedale shopping centre. Rachel bought herself two new blouses. We also bought Christmas presents for Joel, Michael, Maureen, Dina and Barry.

I needed to go to RACQ our motoring service organisation at Eight Mile Plains QLD. The RACQ Headquarters was located on a road just before an entry ramp to the Ipswich Motorway. Guess who made a wrong turn? I turned up the entry ramp to the Ipswich Motorway by mistake. It was one way only and I could not do a U turn!

Unfortunately for me I had to go through the Toll Station before I could exit and make my way back to RACQ. I had no cash on me for the toll charges. My explanation did not make any impression on the Toll attendant. I was charged the $1:50 toll + $5.00 surcharge. If it was paid within 10 days I could deduct $3.00. I sent off a cheque for $3.50 that same afternoon. Boy was I embarrassed by this incident! It was a costly wrong turn. What a goose! I still feel slightly embarrassed even today when I remember the incident.

That afternoon I did up a photo album with large photos of Emily and Grace for their grandmother Italia. We dropped them off in the late afternoon.

Wednesday, 22-Dec-2004

We went to the RACQ Sales Office at Garden City shopping complex at Mt Gravatt. I deliberately kept away from the Eight Mile Plains premises. We bought tickets for Joel and Jane to go to Movie World. We also bought tickets for 5 adults (Jon, Rachel, Michael, Joel and Jane) to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. After a discount I was entitled to as an RACQ member, the all up cost was $210.00.

At Garden City, Rachel went clothes shopping and bought herself a new pair of jeans. I bought myself a camera bag for my Sony digital camera. We returned to Gateway Village about 11:30 am and had lunch. After lunch we began preparations for our move to Robertson Gardens and then to Currumbin Sands Apartments. I had negotiated to store our caravan at Gateway Village (off site) while we were away.

Michael had asked us to for $75.00 so he could attend the Boonah Music festival at Boonah; a small country town in South East Queensland. So I transferred the money to his bank account. Michael was still attending university in Brisbane and Rachel and I were his chief means of financial support.

We needed to rent a child car booster seat. We searched the Yellow Pages Directory for suitable baby hire places. We found a place at Coorparoo, a suburb in Brisbane. We rang them up and organised to rent a booster seat tomorrow.

Thursday, 23-Dec-2004

The weather was hot and humid again today. We drove to Coorparoo to pick up a child booster seat to install in our Falcon sedan. We paid for hire of the booster seat for the whole time Joel and his family will be in Australia.

Michael decided to come out to Gateway Village for lunch. He caught a train from Nundah to Fruitgrove Railway Station (near Eight Mile Plains). This was the closest station to Gateway Village at Rochedale. Michael rang us when he was about 15 minutes away so I took the car to Fruitgrove Station to meet him.

Rachel and I needed to do some shopping and then continue getting the caravan ready for storage. Michael was happy to just chill out under the awning and relax. We took Michael home to Nundah in the early evening.

Friday, 24-Dec-2004

Christmas Eve! We had to be off site by 10:00 am; and move our caravan to the storage area at Gateway Village. The van will be in storage for 9 days. It was a tight squeeze between caravans already in storage. The storage area sloped slightly uphill. The only downside to the storage was that there was no electric power available for vans in storage. We could not leave perishable foods or refrigeration items in the van.

We left Gateway Village about 10:30 am and drove to Robertson Gardens at Robertson QLD (near Sunnybank). The receptionist charged us an incorrect amount of $270.00 instead of $230.00 as quoted. She corrected the error and adjusted her records.

We unpacked the car and settled in to our unit. We went grocery shopping in the afternoon. Man was it busy! Christmas Eve is probably the worst day of the year in Australia to go shopping. It was very busy in all the shopping centres and finding a place to park was very difficult. Rachel was worn out and went to bed early that night. I stayed up to watch the Channel 9 "Carols by Candlelight" program. This is Australia's premier Carols by Candlelight show.

Saturday, 25-Dec-2004

Christmas Day! We had to leave about 7:00 am to pick up Joel, Jane and Amelia from Brisbane Airport's International Terminal. Fortunately, the traffic was light both ways. No Christmas shoppers today!

Joel, Jane and Amelia were tired after their flight from Christchurch NZ. Brisbane was three hours ahead of Christchurch. We drove to Robertson Gardens and helped them unpack. I had to pick up Michael for lunch. Joel and Jane decided to come along for the ride. Rachel stayed behind to look after Amelia. It was a very slow trip along the Gateway Motorway. We crawled along in the very slow moving traffic.

When we picked up Michael he directed us back to Robertson; via the Inner City Bypass Road and up on to the Riverside Expressway. The Riverside Expressway continued on as the South East Freeway which we exited near Sunnybank. This was a good opportunity for Jane to have a quick look at Brisbane City.

We had plenty of food for Christmas lunch and then Christmas presents to open! There was wrapping paper everywhere for a while. Joel, Jane, Michael and I then went out to Bellbowrie to our cousins David and Jan Grasso's place. We had a game of cricket, a swim in their swimming pool and later a beaut Christmas dinner. Our cousins Jenny and Paul Sweatman loaned us a Portacot for Amelia to use; which we gratefully accepted. Meanwhile Rachel looked after baby Amelia back at Robertson Gardens. It had rained heavily at Robertson Gardens during the day and water was lying around.

When we arrived back at Robertson Gardens, Daniel, Suzanne, Emily and Grace we there visiting us. They were also at Robertson Gardens. After our visitors had left, Michael had to be driven home to Nundah.

Week 6: Robertson QLD to Currumbin QLD

Sunday, 26-Dec-2004

Boxing Day Holiday! We packed the car with difficulty. The Falcon's boot was chock-a-block full. We had to squeeze ourselves into the car and nurse luggage as well. Today we were off to Currumbin Sands Apartments on the Gold Coast for one week.

Joel drove the car, Jane sat in the front passenger seat, Amelia sat in the booster seat and Rachel and I squeezed into the back seat alongside Amelia. We had a good trip down as far as Nerang - then we crawled along! It seemed like most of Brisbane was heading down to the Gold Coast beaches! As soon as I could I directed Joel on to an exit ramp and we drove down the middle section of the Gold Coast. The driving was a lot easier on this route. We came out at Burleigh Heads and then continued our journey down the Gold Coast Highway to Currumbin Sands Apartments; an 85 km journey. Apartment 21 on Level 1 was a nice three bedroom apartment overlooking one of the swimming pools.

Robertson Gardens to Currumbin Sands Apartments

[Source: Google Maps]

We unpacked the car and set ourselves up in apartment 21. The front of Currumbin Sands is accessed from the Gold Coast Highway. The rear of Currumbin Sands has direct access to the beach. From the front right hand side of Currumbin Sands it was a very short walk to a salt water lagoon on the Currumbin Estuary. The lagoon was a safe place for families with small children as most of it was quite shallow.

We watched the Boxing Day Cricket Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG); on TV in the afternoon. Joel and Jane went out in the car for a while to do some shopping. Michael will be coming down to stay tomorrow.

The news that night on TV was terrible! Huge tsunamis had hit Indonesia and other countries and the death toll was expected to be massive. Pictures of people, being swept out to sea in Indonesia was horrifying. The devastation was heart rending.

Monday, 27-Dec-2004

Michael arrived today with our cousins, Jenny and Paul Sweatman and their little son Aden. I went out about 9:00 am to try and get a haircut- with no success. Hairdressers and Barbers were all closed - some until 4-Jan-2005.

We had lunch with our visitors and they decided to stay on and have dinner with us as well. After lunch Rachel and I drove to The Pines shopping complex to do some shopping. We had a very nice day with our visitors. Joel and Jane ordered Domino's pizzas for dinner and then went to pick them up. We had a heavy storm after dinner and Paul and Jenny had to drive home in heavy rain.

Amelia and her cousin Aden

Tuesday, 28-Dec-2004

Joel and Jane went off to Movie World today. It was one of their Christmas presents from us. Rachel, Michael, Amelia and I were left to hold the fort. We had a good day with Amelia and Joel and Jane thoroughly enjoyed their visit to Movie World.

Wednesday, 29-Dec-2004

Barry, Dina and Alison came down from Labrador to spend the day with us at Currumbin Sands. We all had lunch together then went for a walk to the Currumbin Estuary and then along the beach.

Joel and Amelia in the lagoon at the Currumbin Estuary, Gold Coast QLD

After lunch we played Upwords in teams.

**-** Joel and Rachel

**-** Barry and Michael

**-** Jane and Dina

**-** Alison and Jon

Alison and I won the teams' games. I somehow won an earlier individual game.

Thursday, 30-Dec-2004

Joel and Jane drove across the highway bridge to Currumbin Beach and had their breakfast at a cafe. Michael must have been really tired as he slept in until 11:00 am. When Joel and Jane came back, Rachel and I went shopping at The Pines. Claudia and Max came down from Brisbane for lunch and afternoon tea. They had come down primarily to spend some time with Amelia. In the meantime Joel and Jane went up to Pacific Fair Shopping complex to do some children's clothes shopping for Amelia. Pacific Fair was the largest Shopping complex on the Gold Coast. Grandparents come in handy at times.

Cousins Christopher Yarrow and Matthew Groenestyn also came down from Brisbane for the day. They had lunch with us and later went swimming at the beach with Michael. When Joel arrived back from Pacific Fair he decided to join the boys at the beach.

Joel arranged with Rob and Elizabeth Yarrow (Christopher and Jenny's parents) to spend four nights at their place next week. Elizabeth is Rachel's cousin. Joel also booked two nights' accommodation in an apartment block at Kangaroo Point in the Brisbane city area. That night Joel, Jane and Michael went to see a movie called 'The Incredibles' at a cinema at Coolangatta. Coolangatta QLD is a town that straddles the QLD **/** NSW border with its twin town, Tweed Heads on the NSW side. Amelia was again in our care.

Friday, 31-Dec-2004

New Year's Eve! The weather continues to be sunny and hot. Most people are more reserved this year about New Year's Eve celebrations. The Tsunamis' death toll in so many countries is staggering! It has made a huge impact on people everywhere.

We decided to use our tickets to the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary today. It was only five minutes drive to the car park. Rachel and I used to holiday at Currumbin when our boys were little. At that time it was known as Currumbin Bird Sanctuary and was privately owned. The owners gifted the Sanctuary to the Queensland Government so it would be preserved for the people of QLD.

It had been many years since Rachel and I had been here and it had grown enormously. What had been bush land across the highway was now a major part of the Sanctuary's operations. A narrow gauge railway linked the two areas via a tunnel underneath the Gold Coast Highway. The tunnel also had a pedestrian walkway.

Centre: Joel and Amelia looking at kangaroos

at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Tame kangaroos were in abundance. There was also a crocodile enclosure and a reptile caged area. The Sanctuary was still famous for the myriad of Rainbow Lorikeets who flew in twice a day for feeding. Of course there was also a koala enclosure as well.

4 metres + crocodile at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

We spent the day at the Sanctuary and had lunch and afternoon tea at one of their eateries. Amelia was fascinated by the different animals and wasn't even alarmed by a python coiled around a Ranger's arm.

Ranger, a python, Amelia and Jane at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

Later in the afternoon we made sure that we were at the feeding area to watch the Lorikeets feeding.

Rainbow Lorikeets feeding at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

In the late afternoon we were at the koala enclosure. We left soon after to head back to Currumbin Sands Apartments; with New Year's Eve celebrations coming up tonight.

A koala at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

There were fireworks' displays tonight at Broadbeach, Coolangatta and also a really big display at Surfers Paradise. Michael and some of his friends went off for New Year's Eve celebrations. Joel and Jane drove up the coast later to watch the fireworks. Rachel, Amelia and I were all asleep by 10:00 pm. We had a big tiring day!

Saturday, 1-Jan-2005

Rachel and I woke up, showered and dressed then went for a walk along the Currumbin Estuary area and then crossed over Currumbin Creek on the road bridge. When we returned we had breakfast and went shopping; the soles of my sandal had split and I needed a new pair of sandals.

Joel, Jane and Michael went to Surfers Paradise after lunch and came back about 3:00 pm. Later in the afternoon 11 of Michael's male friends turned up! They all went swimming in the pool in front of our unit. A couple of young, pretty teenage girls at the pool must have thought that all their birthdays had come at once! Fortunately for our food supplies the friends took Michael out for dinner. Michael went home to Nundah later that night with his cousins Christopher and Matthew. Tonight was our last night at Currumbin Sands; tomorrow we head back to Brisbane.

Week 7: Currumbin QLD to Rochedale QLD

Sunday, 2-Jan-2005

We packed up and loaded the car for our return journey. We dropped Joel, Jane and Amelia with their luggage and the booster seat at Barry and Dina's place at Labrador. Rachel and I continued on to Gateway Village at Rochedale. We needed to set up our caravan again.

It was hot, sweaty work moving the caravan out of the storage area and back on to a powered site. This time we were on site 27. We were on this site in 2002 on our way to Ayr in North QLD - on our return trip from VIC. The only problem with this site is it cops the afternoon sun; with no shade trees on the western side of the site. Fortunately, our caravan awning was on the eastern side, and subsequently we could sit in the shade under our awning. Rachel and I went for a walk in the cool of the evening.

Monday, 3-Jan-2005

Another very hot day today it reached 36 degrees Celsius. Rachel and I went grocery shopping in the morning to Woolworth's supermarket at Springwood. We were fortunate enough to get an undercover car park. Woolworths at Springwood did not seem to be quite as good as Coles' Supermarket at Springwood.

Joel rang to tell us that he would be at Gateway Village at 1:30 pm to pick up our car. Barry and Dina were bringing them back to Brisbane. This time frame worked out OK as we returned from shopping at 12:45 pm.

Joel, Jane and Amelia liked our caravan. Amelia enjoyed playing on the caravan bed.

The day turned into a real scorcher! Joel and his family were really feeling the heat. Rachel was also struggling with the hot conditions. Our caravan does not have an air conditioner. As Barry and Dina were also here we all trooped off to Sam and Italia's place for afternoon tea. Italia had a surprise for Rachel; a George Foreman electric roaster.

After our visit Barry and Dina headed home to Labrador; Rachel and I grabbed a lift with them as far as Gateway Village. From there they drove home to Labrador. Meanwhile Joel, Jane and Amelia took our car and drove to Rob and Elizabeth's home at Indooroopilly; a western Brisbane suburb. Rachel cooked a nice roast dinner in her new roaster.

Tuesday, 4-Jan-2005

Another hot day! Rachel caught a bus to the Garden City shopping complex at Mt Gravatt. The bus stop is very conveniently located in front of Gateway Village's main entrance. Rachel returned about 1:00 pm. While Rachel was away shopping I did some revision on my 'Closed On Tuesdays' travel memoir manuscript (the 2002 trip). Thankfully, a nice breeze came up later in the day; however the day was still hot. I went for a swim in the pool about 5:00 pm; the water was warm but refreshing.

Rachel cooked another nice dinner in her new roaster. We had Ham steaks with steamed vegetables. The day cooled off nicely during the evening. My internet hours ran out and I will have to buy a new lot. Joel and Jane rang; they are coming over on Thursday to buy, "Dad's 60th Birthday present". This was a belated birthday present as my birthday was at the end of October. It is supposed to rain tomorrow which should cool everything down.

Wednesday, 5-Jan-2005

It was not as hot today, but very humid. There were episodes of light spitting rain. Rachel and I decided to go into the Brisbane CBD by bus. The bus stop was right in front of Gateway Village's main entrance; on School Road at Rochedale QLD. We left about 9:20 am. The off peak fares were AUD$4.80 each with unlimited travel on buses, ferries and intra city link trains. Very good value indeed!

The bus terminated at the Busway under the Myer Centre in Queen Street Mall, in the Brisbane CBD, Retail Precinct. We looked around the shops in the Myer Centre and in the Queen Street Mall area.

We then went for a walk down to the Goodwill Bridge spanning the Brisbane River. We walked across this pedestrians' and bicycles' only bridge. On the other side of the river we came out at Southbank. There were lots of families at the beaches at Southbank. It was school holidays' time and the children were not due back at school until the end of January.

We had lunch at 11:30 am; I had Spaghetti Bolognese and Rachel had a Greek salad. We followed that up with an Apple Danish and a bottle of lemonade. Then looking to do something different we took a ride on a River Cat ferry from Southbank to the University of Queensland ferry terminal at St Lucia. You get a completely different perspective of the city buildings from the ferry. On the return trip we came back to the CBD side of the river, to the North Quay ferry terminal.

We then went to the Bus terminal under the Myer Centre and caught a bus to Garden City at Mt Gravatt. We had just missed our Logan bus connection and had to wait one hour until the next bus to Gateway village arrived. This bus came about 2:10 pm. It was hot and humid in the bus waiting zone. Even though we were sitting in the shade of a bus shelter you could feel your energy levels depleting!

We later went to the swimming pool at Gateway Village to cool off and then had a late afternoon nap.

Thursday, 6-Jan-2005

There was showery weather about today. It made us feel sticky and uncomfortable in the high humidity. Joel and Jane picked us up in our car about 12:00 noon and we went to the Garden City shops at Mt Gravatt. Joel bought me a WIFI card and 6 hours internet time; as my belated 60th birthday present. The WIFI card slotted into my laptop; which I then used on the free WIFI hot spot at Gateway Village. We had lunch at Garden City and after lunch paid a visit to Rachel's cousin Phillip at his home at Coopers Plains.

After visiting Phillip we went to visit Rachel's cousin Josie Grasso at Jindalee. Josie is the matriarch of the Grasso families. We later went to Rob and Liz Yarrow's place for dinner. It was a bit of a gathering; 16 people in all, all related to each other. Joel ordered seven pizzas \+ soft drink and Rachel and I took a Michel's passionfruit cheesecake for dessert as the Peasey contributions. As it was still quite warm and humid in the house Rob and Liz had the air conditioner on to keep the place cool.

Rob and Liz had a new kitchen and bathroom to show us on the upper level of the house. Their block of land sloped down away from street level. There house was on two levels; the lower level was below the street and the upper level was at street level. The entrance however was on the lower level. Rob wanted to build a carport for two cars, coming in off the street with a walkway to the upstairs balcony; which would then become the front entrance to the house.

On the way back to Gateway Village our Falcon sedan blew a low beam headlight bulb on the passenger's side (left hand side).

Friday, 7-Jan-2005

It was a very overcast day with high humidity. As Joel had our car we spent a quiet day at the van park. I installed my new WIFI card and had free internet access at Gateway Village. I also topped up my prepaid internet account in readiness for our trip down south. After lunch we walked down to some local shops at Rochedale. I had to get a prescription filled at the local Pharmacy. We bought potatoes and lemons at the fruit and vegetables shop.

Rachel was concerned about our trip finances. We may have to shorten our trip. We probably won't be able to go as far as South Australia this time. I was not happy about this, but I recognised we will have to shorten the trip.

Joel and Jane moved to the rental apartment at Kangaroo Point today; for two nights

Saturday, 8-Jan-2005

We had a quiet morning; I did some word processing and Rachel walked down to the local shops. We had lunch in the caravan and about 3:30 pm we caught a Brisbane city bound bus. We got off at the Mater Hospital bus stop on the Busway. We then walked down Vulture Street, Woolloongabba to go to the apartment at Kangaroo Point. Michael and Maureen were already at the apartment with Joel, Jane and Amelia.

Michael and Maureen had come in Michael's car; so we used Michael's car and our car and we went to Southbank. We had a nice walk around Southbank and later bought fish and chips for dinner. We ate our dinner on a grassed area overlooking a small stream.

Joel, Jane and Amelia fly home to Christchurch tomorrow afternoon. Michael took one of Joel's large suitcases in his car and will bring it to the airport tomorrow. Rachel and I brought our car back to Gateway Village. We will pick up Joel, Jane and Amelia tomorrow morning.

Southbank, Brisbane QLD

Back row: Maureen, Michael, Rachel and Jon

Front row: Joel and Amelia

Week 8: Rochedale QLD to Port Macquarie NSW

Sunday, 9-Jan-2005

I refuelled the car at Rochedale; then Rachel and I went to pick up Joel, Jane and Amelia and brought them back to our caravan. The day was warming up, however there was a nice breeze blowing. Amelia liked our caravan bed and played happily on it again. Joel, Jane and Amelia went for swim in the swimming pool. Later Jane and Rachel took the car and went shopping at Springwood.

Amelia playing on our caravan bed

It's a small world! We met some Christian friends of ours from Sydney. Joel and I were walking to the office when I heard a distinctive voice saying, _"I don't believe it! I don't believe it! It is! It's Jon Peasey!"_ It was Graham Whittaker. He and his wife Jane had come up to Gateway Village from the Gold Coast with their daughter Derenda and her family. Derenda and her family lived at Robina at the Gold Coast. Graham and Jane's other daughter Marlene and her husband Jeff were holidaying in a villa at Gateway Village. So Gateway Village was the Whittaker families' meeting place. We had a great catch up time together; as it had been many years since we had seen each other.

About 2:00 pm we got ready to go to Brisbane Airport. We took Joel on a quick nostalgia trip to see our old house at Rochedale South. Then Joel drove us to the International Terminal. Michael and Maureen had arrived at the check in area just before us. We all sat together for about half an hour after Joel and Jane checked in. When it was time for them to go through Customs we all said our goodbyes.

Michael was off to Cairns tomorrow with his cousins Christopher and Matthew and his friend Jonathan. Rachel and I drove back to Gateway Village and started to organise the next phase of our trip down south. We took our high chair and lots of toys (from Family Day Care days) to our niece Claudia, who does Family Day Care at home. We then took Jenny's portacot to Rob and Liz's house. Tomorrow we will have a list of things to do.

Monday, 10-Jan-2005

We began to pack and reorganise in readiness for our departure tomorrow. We drove to Coorparoo to return the car booster seat we had hired. We received our AUD$80.00 security deposit back on EFTPOS. We then mailed Joel's T shirt to his home address. He had left it at Rob and Liz's place. We then drove to the Logan Hyperdome shopping complex; where Rachel bought a new pair of jeans at a Rockman's store.

On our return we did a big lot of laundry, both washing and ironing. I took down the shade walls and packed them away. Rachel reorganised the storage in our van for shorter stops. We have different set ups for short stays, long stays, hot weather or cold weather. I reorganised the front boot of the caravan and the car boot for travel conditions.

Tomorrow we cross over the border into NSW and begin out trip down the NSW coast to Sydney. It started raining during the night.

Tuesday, 11-Jan-2005

After breakfast I went into Rochedale and refuelled the car. When I came back we hitched up the caravan and left Gateway Village about 9:50 am. Our trip today was down the Pacific Highway to Brown's Rocks Caravan Park at Goodwood Island NSW, near Iluka on the Clarence River. We had pre-paid our accommodation.

The weather in QLD was patchy; overcast with some fine patches. Over the border in NSW it was a different matter; we drove through heavy rain at times. When I pulled up at the Brown's Rocks Caravan Park I had to unhitch the caravan as the owner of the caravan park wanted to move us on to the site with his tractor. Then a problem occurred; I could not undo one of the safety chains' "D" shackles. I had to use a shifting spanner and a hammer to loosen the "D" shackle. The edge of the shackle was jammed hard against the hitch. The owner of the van park was a well meaning fellow but he was not very proficient at moving caravans on to his sites. I could have backed in unhitched, rolled out the awning and had a cup of tea by the time he had us correctly aligned on the site!

It started to rain as we setup on the site. We had a great outlook! The caravan park looked out over the Clarence River upstream from Iluka. It was a firm favourite with fishing types. When the weather fined up we went for a walk in the evening along the road to the Export Jetty which was a 'No Entry' area. We got back to our van just as it started to rain again.

We had already booked all our accommodation for the trip down the NSW coast. We had needed to work this out before leaving Tully QLD. December **/** January is the height of the tourist season in NSW. I spent a lot of time on the internet and on the phone organising a workable travel accommodation itinerary.

Clarence River NSW opposite Brown's Rocks Caravan Park

Wednesday, 12-Jan-2005

The weather was better today, mostly sunny. Rachel was able to do clothes washing which dried out OK; we then went for a drive into Iluka. We did some window shopping and bought some fruit and vegetables and I refuelled the car. Iluka is directly opposite Yamba; both are at the mouth of the Clarence River. Yamba is a much busier town than Iluka. A passenger ferry service operates between the two towns.

When we returned to our caravan Rachel did some sketching and some crossword puzzles. I spent the time on my laptop; updating finance spreadsheets and then did more revision on 'Closed On Tuesdays'. After lunch we had an afternoon nap. My sister Lyn rang about 3:15 pm. We will ring her tomorrow about 4:00 pm. We will continue down the Pacific Highway tomorrow to Darlington Beach Resort at Arrawarra, for two nights' accommodation.

Thursday, 13-Jan-2005

We left Brown's Rocks Caravan Park about 9:50 am. The weather was fine and sunny. We had a good drive down the Pacific Highway to Arrawarra NSW and we arrived about 11:30 am. We set up our caravan on our designated site # 08. It was a big shady site which for some reason was set on an angle to the road. I backed our rig in spot on. The car and caravan had their own concrete slabs to park on.

Darlington Beach resort at Arrawarra was a large complex. Being the school holidays and also the Christmas **/** New Year holiday season the Resort was a very busy place. There were lots of caravans, tent trailers, camper trailers and tents. There were lots of families staying at this Resort.

Rachel and I had a particular reason for booking Darlington Beach Resort; my brother Neil and his wife Terry lived in the residential section in Lorikeet Avenue. I obtained their address from Reception and using a Resort map walked to their home for a visit. I stayed chatting to Neil and Terry for about half an hour; while Rachel caught up with some clothes washing. The look on Neil's face when I appeared at his front door was priceless! There was no way Neil would have dreamed that I would show up at his place; out of the blue.

In the late afternoon when the day cooled down, Rachel and I went for a walk along the beach. It reminded us of walking the beach in Mackay QLD in the late afternoons.

My sister Lyn rang us just after we arrived back from our walk. That's the beauty of the mobile phone networks; we can be contacted easily as long as we are in a coverage area, and vice versa. We will catch up with Lyn and our grand nieces' Cody, Gemma and Paige at Woolgoolga tomorrow at 11:00 am for a picnic lunch.

The night cooled down rapidly and we needed our feather down quilt for warmth on our bed.

Friday, 14-Jan-2005

Next morning we left our caravan on site and drove about 15 minutes further south to Woolgoolga NSW. We departed about 10:45 am and we arrived in good time for our picnic lunch; which Lyn had prepared. We found a nice spot to picnic in the park overlooking Woolgoolga Beach (a patrolled Surf Life Saver beach).

There were lots of families at the beach and it was a glorious, sunny day. Cody, Gemma and Paige are growing up beautifully and are a real credit to their parents' Brett and Sally. Brett is Lyn and Bill's eldest son.

Looking down over Woolgoolga Beach NSW from the town lookout

We had an enjoyable picnic lunch and a good time with Lyn and the girls. We then went shopping in Woolgoolga, known locally as 'Woopi'. I had a haircut in town. Rachel and I arrived back at Darlington Beach Resort about 2:40 pm. Lyn has invited us for a BBQ dinner with her and Bill at their place at Emerald Heights, overlooking Emerald Beach and the Pacific Ocean.

I updated our finances and Rachel did some more clothes washing. When it was time we drove to Lyn and Bill's home at Emerald Heights; another five minutes drive south of Woolgoolga. We had a beaut BBQ dinner together; then looked at some of our travel photos on my laptop computer. Lyn then showed us her sketches and her paintings; some of them were really good!

Tomorrow we are driving south to Port Macquarie where we are booked in at Sundowner Breakwater Caravan Resort.

Saturday, 15-Jan-2005

It was another fine, sunny day. Neil and Terry saw us briefly before we left for Port Macquarie. We had good driving conditions on the way down. We arrived at Sundowner Breakwater Caravan Resort about lunch time. We were given a site near the Hastings River and the breakwater. There were good cool breezes blowing.

Hastings River at Port Macquarie NSW

The site had the concrete slab on the wrong side for our caravan awning. Apparently it used to have a cabin on it. The grass on the site had not been mowed for some time and was getting quite long. In the late afternoon we went for our customary walk; this time along the river pathway into the town. There were plenty of people out walking. A sailing ship launched in 1905 was moored at one of the wharves. It attracted a lot of people. We saw a lone dolphin in the river as we walked along.

We had a leisurely afternoon and evening. It was a pleasant spot to be with views of the Hastings River from our caravan windows.

Sailing ship at Port Macquarie NSW

Week 9: Port Macquarie NSW to Lane Cove NSW

Sunday, 16-Jan-2005

It turned out to be another fine, sunny morning and we caught up with some reading. However, it was a different scenario in the late afternoon. Heavy rain began to fall. A severe electrical storm then came along and we had a power blackout. When the storm was over I checked the power pole on our site and found that the safety switch had tripped. When I reset the safety switch power was restored to our site.

Heavy rain fell during the night. It did not make for a good night's sleep. Thankfully the power stayed on during the night. We were warm and snug in the caravan; but if this rain kept up it could be a wet time packing up and hitching up the caravan tomorrow morning.

Monday, 17-Jan-2005

It was raining heavy when we woke up! Not a good omen for packing up and moving on to Tuncurry NSW. We had to put on our wet weather gear. A storm came up with severe wind gusts, as well as the heavy rain. When I took the anchor ropes off the caravan awning the wind blew over an awning leg; making it difficult to retract the awning. When the awning was secured for travel the power lead, water hose and sullage hose had to be stowed. The Falcon was then hitched to the caravan.

By this time my shorts and sandals were sopping wet. I had to change into dry clothes before I could drive to Tuncurry. I drove to Tuncurry in bare feet. It was miserable driving conditions; we had wet weather all the way down to Tuncurry. It was still raining as we drove into Tuncurry; but not as heavy.

We were booked in at Great Lakes Caravan Park at Tuncurry on the shores of Wallis Lake. Tuncurry NSW and Forster NSW are twin towns at the mouth of the lake. A road bridge links the two towns. Forster is the busier town. It was still raining as we unhitched and set up our caravan on our site. Fortunately, the rain stopped for a while, but only after we had set up in the rain! Inside the caravan we had lots of wet gear; which we had thrown on to the floor in our haste at Port Macquarie. The wet awning shade walls (in plastic bags) had leaked on to the caravan floor.

Rachel did some laundering on the kitchen table and we had some water leak on to the fabric upholstery of the dinette seat! We had to use Rachel's electric hair dryer to dry the dinette seat. Gradually we restored order and then had some lunch. Later we went shopping in Tuncurry at a Bi Lo food supermarket. The rain started up again. We bought a Sydney street directory and a book for Rachel at a bookstore. However, we could not find a shop with umbrellas for sale.

I had begun to get a head cold from the heavy rain conditions yesterday. We had a terrible night with noisy neighbours! An older couple in a caravan next to us went out drinking and came back in a very argumentative mood. The woman was particularly nasty. It got so bad that the Police were called to quieten them down.

Tuesday, 18-Jan-2005

The noisy neighbours were moved on this morning. However, from the looks Rachel and I were getting everybody seemed to think that we were responsible for the hue and cry! Oh well, that's life! Nobody spoke to us; we were treated like lepers and were not given an opportunity to explain what had really happened.

My head cold had freshened up overnight. The weather was overcast today, but no rain. After breakfast we drove across the bridge to Forster for a look at the town and then came back. Later in the day we went back to the large Stockland shopping complex to a Kmart store. We bought an outside door mat for the caravan and an umbrella. Rachel also bought an artist's colouring in pad and then a second umbrella.

I was not feeling well with my head cold and spent the afternoon lying on the bed and reading. Rachel did some colouring in of some of her sketches and then did some reading. The weather remained overcast and cool.

Wednesday, 19-Jan-2005

It was 18 degrees Celsius overnight, quite cool for summer. The sun was valiantly trying to poke its head through the clouds. Rachel caught up with our laundry items today. The damp awning shade walls were set out up so they could dry out. As the weather was clearing up we decided to walk across the bridge to the Forster CBD; where we bought the latest edition caravan magazines. We then walked back and had lunch.

Rachel had problems with her sandals after the walk; they were starting to come apart, probably due to being in the heavy rain at Port Macquarie. So we drove back across the bridge to Forster. Rachel looked at lots of sandals but could not find a suitable pair. We refuelled the car in readiness for our trip down to Karuah tomorrow.

The weather turned out nice and sunny as the day wore on. We will probably have a cool night again. My head cold was not improving.

Thursday, 20-Jan-2005

It was a nice sunny morning. We had good driving conditions to Karuah NSW; the road around the Myall Lakes area on the way to Bulahdelah NSW was very picturesque and well worth the drive. We rejoined the Pacific Highway at Bulahdelah and continued south to Karuah NSW.

We could not believe the difference at Karuah! The Pacific Highway now bypassed Karuah. Karuah looked like a ghost town. What had been a very busy town with constant heavy highway traffic was now so quiet that I could cross the former highway with hardly a glance for any traffic. The quietness was eerie!

Karuah is right at the end of the lake system that spills out behind Port Stephens on the Pacific Ocean. We had pre-booked two nights' accommodation at Karuah Jetty Village right on the edge of the lake. Fortunately, we were allocated a nice shady site. The day reached 37 degrees Celsius. Our caravan did not have air conditioning; so we used a couple of 3 speed box fans for cooling.

As we were close to the swimming pool, we soon got into the pool to cool off. The pool water was cold and refreshing. In the late afternoon it clouded over and a strong breeze blew up. A storm was brewing; however we did not get the storm as it bypassed us.

Friday, 21-Jan-2005

I was feeling worse today, my head cold had turned into influenza. The day turned out to be sunny and a bit cooler than yesterday. We walked up to the shops. The food supermarket prices were too high for us. We will wait until we reach Sydney tomorrow.

I needed various items from the local Pharmacy especially vitamin "C" tablets. The Pharmacist suggested that I take a very large dose of vitamin "C" today and then reduce the dosage to more normal levels tomorrow. When we returned to our van, I rested most of the day. Tomorrow we will get back into heavy city traffic again. I was not looking forward to this! My influenza worsened during the night.

Gateway Village Resort, Rochedale QLD to

Lane Cove River Tourist Park (Sydney) NSW

[Source: Google Maps]

Saturday, 22-Jan-2005

I woke up feeling quite ill; however we had to move on today as we were booked in at Lane Cove River Tourist Park in Sydney NSW. The weather was fine; at least I did not have to drive in rain.

The trip down to the Lane Cove River Tourist Park was good and we found the place fairly easily. We had journeyed 954 km from Gateway Village. I grew up in Sydney and I knew that local area. We were given a nice site overlooking a valley full of trees. The Tourist Park was run by the NSW Parks and Wildlife Service. After setting up the caravan on site, we went food shopping at the nearby, huge Macquarie Centre (4 levels of shops). We bought our groceries at a Woolworth's food supermarket.

In the late afternoon we sat out behind the back of the caravan on our camping chairs. We were in the shade and the views down, and across the valley, were pleasant. We spotted a couple of rabbits hopping along. The Park area is part of a wildlife sanctuary; and forms part of the Lane Cove River National Park. The weather was getting overcast again; maybe it will rain tonight.

Week 10: Lane Cove NSW to Echuca VIC/ Moama NSW

Sunday, 23-Jan-2005

Today we were hoping to go to a local Christian Fellowship we were associated with at Lane Cove. We had not told anyone of our arrival, so we were not expected; which is just as well as I was feeling worse and the 'flu was getting down into my chest. I needed to see a medical officer as soon as possible.

We went to the Macquarie Centre after lunch to see if I could get an appointment with a Doctor; but we could not get any parking. Round and round we drove in the car park; but it was futile. So we went back to our caravan. About 4:30 pm we tried again and managed to get a parking bay this time. We had a fairly long wait to see a Doctor. He confirmed that I had influenza and started me on a course of antibiotics immediately. We had the prescription filled at one of the pharmacies at the Macquarie Centre.

Rachel was anxious to get down to VIC. She wanted us to head due south or go out west of Sydney and then down to VIC. It rained continually during the day. We ended up making a tentative decision to go west over the Blue Mountains and then later go down the Newell Highway to VIC.

Monday, 24-Jan-2005

It rained continually overnight. The wet conditions were not aiding my recovery from the 'flu. About 9:30 am the rain eased off. We made a snap decision to head west to Bathurst NSW. We still had one night's accommodation paid for. However, I wanted to get away from the rain on the coast.

We packed up, hitched up and left Lane Cove River Tourist Park. We drove down through Epping and Carlingford and then along the Cumberland Highway. I was to turn right at the Western Motorway to go via the Blue Mountains to Bathurst NSW. The traffic was heavy,

I was on an inside lane and could not get across in time to the right hand turning lane. The result was I could not make the turn on to the Western Motorway.

I made another snap decision! We had not booked any accommodation beyond Sydney; so I kept going straight ahead. I decided that we would go to Canberra, Australia's national capital instead. I could have gone on a bit and turned back to the Westers Motorway; but Rachel and I liked Canberra and it was on a southerly route. The Cumberland Highway we were driving on took us through my old home town of Smithfield NSW to Liverpool NSW. At Liverpool we joined the South Western Freeway and continued south. The freeway further south became the Hume Highway.

We stopped for lunch at the charming old village of Berrima NSW. The Hume Highway bypassed Berrima now. Berrima used to be on the Hume Highway. Berrima has preserved its old Colonial sandstone buildings and wooden houses and shops. It was once a very important place in Colonial times, with its own Courthouse. We had a nice lunch at a cafe in one of the old buildings. We then had a good look around the many Arts and Crafts shops. Rachel was in her element with so many patchwork quilts on display.

It rained a bit on the way to Canberra. For a change this time, we decided to look at caravan parks in Queanbeyan in NSW; right on the border of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). We had stayed at caravan parks in Canberra in previous years. We booked two nights' accommodation at Queanbeyan Riverside Tourist Park.

The site we were allocated overlooked a weir on the Queanbeyan River in front of us. The van park had an added bonus; we were only a few minutes' walk from Riverside Plaza shopping complex. The weather cleared up, but was overcast at times. I began to feel a bit better in the drier conditions and the antibiotics were beginning to work.

The Weir on the Queanbeyan River in front of

Queanbeyan River Tourist Park at Queanbeyan NSW

Tuesday, 25-Jan-2005

The weather during the morning was cool and overcast. We slept in and had a late breakfast. After breakfast we walked up to Riverside Plaza to do some browsing in the shops. When we returned Rachel caught up with our washing and did a load in one of the van park's large commercial washing machines. She then hung them out to dry on the clothes lines.

After lunch we drove into Canberra to see the National Museum of Australia; which had been opened by Prime Minister John Howard in 2001. It was a fascinating place, well worth the visit. We also went to the National Art Gallery. We have been to this gallery a few times over the years. We were a bit disappointed with some of the displays this time around.

The weather remained fine and it did not rain. We came back to our van and just enjoyed the ambience and quietness of the river in front of us. It had obviously not rained much of late. The river below the weir was not flowing.

Wednesday, 26-Jan-2005

It was a National holiday today; the Australia Day Holiday! We packed up and left Queanbeyan early; well before 10:00 am. Our destination today was Cooma NSW; about 110 km south on the Monaro Highway. Cooma was the gateway to the NSW Ski fields in the Kosciuszko National Park; which has Australia's highest mountain, Mt Kosciuszko.

We booked in at Snowtels Family Caravan Park at Cooma NSW for three nights' accommodation. The weather was fine and sunny. We could take our pick of the available sites as the van park was off season and quiet. We chose a good shady site reasonably close to the amenities' block. After our lunch we went into Cooma and then walked around looking at the shops. The town was very quiet - it was a National holiday after all!

Rachel and I had been to Cooma before on a camping trip back in 2000. We liked this town. It was a very busy town for many years back when the Snowy Mountains Hydro Electric Scheme was being built. Now it relied on agriculture in the region, tourists and skiers on their way to the Ski fields in winter.

The weather turned cold during the night; we were in the foothills of the Snowy Mountains Ranges!

Thursday, 27-Jan-2005

I had a close look through the Snowy Hydro Visitors Centre. We then took a drive up to Jindabyne NSW. This is a really nice area. I took photos of the lake and we also looked at the Visitors' Centre exhibits. We also went to the Tyrolean Village and East Jindabyne for a look.

We came back to Cooma and had a late lunch at the KFC restaurant. Back at our van I had a nap, but woke feeling a bit queezy in the tummy. When it had settled down we went into Cooma. Rachel looked at books and magazines and then bought a crosswords puzzle magazine.

Tomorrow we planned to go to Adaminaby NSW. A storm developed in the afternoon, but went around us.

Lake Jindabyne NSW

Friday, 28-Jan-2005

After breakfast we drove up to Adaminaby, another Alpine village. The original township of Adaminaby was moved in 1956 **/** 1957 due to Lake Eucumbene flooding the old site. The relocated township of Adaminaby was a nice place. It had an interesting art gallery and a museum in the township. In a park in front of the CBD area there was a statue of the world's largest Trout. I took a photo of the trout.

We then went to the site of Old Adaminaby and Anglers Reach; both situated on the shores of Lake Eucumbene. The area was well set up for trout fishing. After an interesting morning we came back to our caravan for lunch. Rachel wanted to go into Cooma to do some clothes shopping. I dropped her off and came back a couple of hours later to pick her up. Meanwhile I had a quiet time reading in the caravan. When I picked Rachel up I bought myself a Beanie for cold weather. Rachel had bought herself some new clothes and was happy with her purchases.

The day turned out nice weatherwise; a storm developed in the late afternoon; but again it went around us. The air was crisp and fresh here and the sky was a lighter shade of blue. The sky seemed to be incredibly clear. The clear skies at night were filled with myriads of stars. What a contrast to where we lived in Tropical North Queensland.

We were undecided as to our destination tomorrow. Will it be Gundagai NSW, or Yarrawonga VIC, or ??

Statue of the World's largest Trout at Adaminaby NSW

Saturday, 29-Jan-2005

We left Cooma about 9:30 am. We planned to drive back through Canberra ACT, out to Yass NSW and then head down the Hume Highway through NSW to the Murray River at the NSW **/** VIC border. I got lost in Canberra; it's not the easiest place to work your way through!

It was a beautiful day for driving. We stopped at Yass NSW to refuel the car. We then drove to Gundagai NSW where we had lunch at a McDonald's restaurant. I was feeling OK; the 'flu symptoms were clearing up.; so I kept driving to the NSW **/** VIC border town of Albury NSW. We crossed over the Murray River to Wodonga VIC and turned right and then drove along the Murray Valley Highway to Rutherglen VIC. At Rutherglen we needed to refuel the car as it was quite low on fuel.

Rutherglen is a famous wine growing region in VIC. Rain clouds were forming so we continued to drive in a westerly direction across the top of VIC. We continued on the Murray Valley Highway to our planned destination at Yarrawonga VIC. It was raining constantly at Yarrawonga; we kept heading west to Cobram VIC. It rained all the way from Yarrawonga to Cobram.

At Cobram we decided to keep going to our old stomping ground of Echuca **/** Moama about 100 km further on. Echuca VIC and Moama NSW are twin towns on the Murray River border. We arrived at Echuca **/** Moama about 6:00 pm. The usual place we stayed at was at Maiden's Inn Holiday Resort at Moama on the NSW side of the river. They had no vacancies! We were a bit suspicious about this as we had the feeling that the owner could not be bothered processing a site for us. This was disappointing as we were loyal customers and had stayed here quite a few times before.

So we ended up at A Shady River Caravan Park - Moama instead; where we booked two nights' accommodation. This caravan park was also on the NSW side of the river. We had a good shady site, close to the amenities' block. However, unlike Maiden's Inn you could not see the Murray River; the river was several minutes walk along a bush track from the caravan park.

We had a long twilight up to 9:00 pm. Our site was good, the facilities were good – but we were not close to the river!

Week 11: Echuca VIC/Moama NSW to Toowoomba QLD

Sunday, 30-Jan-2005

It turned out to be a beautiful day in Echuca **/** Moama. We drove across the bridge to Echuca to the Historic River Port precinct. This has to be one of our all time favourite places to visit! I was able to take photos of 5 separate paddle steamers.

Paddle Steamer PS Alexander Arbuthnot

at Echuca's Historic River Port

Rachel and I went for a walk along the Port area. It was quite hot in the sun. We spent about one hour in the area then went into Echuca CBD to do some grocery shopping at a Coles' food supermarket. We came back to the caravan for lunch.

You may be wondering why we shop so often. Our caravan does not have good facilities for keeping non-perishable food items. The caravan fridge is quite small compared to a domestic refrigerator at home. In hot weather the food items go stale or go off quickly. It's far safer to keep topping up your non-perishable food items and the food is lovely and fresh.

Mid afternoon we drove into town to refuel the car in readiness for our departure tomorrow. Tomorrow we will probably head to Swan Hill VIC, or maybe Mildura VIC; both towns are on the Murray River. We could possibly leave our caravan at Mildura, then drive into South Australia (SA) to the Barossa Valley for an overnight stay at a motel.

Monday, 31-Jan-2005

We packed up and left Echuca **/** Moama about 9:45 am. It was another fine, hot sunny day. We continued in a westerly direction along the Murray Valley Highway to Swan Hill VIC. We had good driving conditions along the way. Our journey from Lane Cove River Tourist Park NSW to Swan Hill VIC via Cooma NSW totalled 1,235 km.

We booked into Riverside Caravan Park at Swan Hill for two nights' accommodation on a river site. The Murray River was directly behind our caravan. Rachel and I have been at this caravan park before. The grounds looked green and well kept. The amenities block was a little way off but out river site was worth a little inconvenience.

Lane Cove River Tourist Park NSW to Swan Hill VIC via Cooma NSW

[Source: Google Maps]

When the day cooled down I gave the car a quick clean up. I then started to clean the exterior of the caravan; with the exception of the roll out awning. Meanwhile Rachel gave the inside of the van a good clean up.

Tomorrow we planned to take a short walk down the road to the Pioneer Settlement at Swan Hill. Maybe they will have some new displays we haven't seen, or new activities. The night turned cool; however we were snug in our caravan.

Tuesday, 1-Feb-2005

The day started out fine and sunny. I washed the car using buckets of water. Rachel cleaned more of the caravan interior. Mid morning we walked to the Pioneer Settlement down the road. The day was getting quite hot. The possibility of severe winds was broadcast over the radio. We came back to our caravan about 1:00 pm and had lunch.

The day was getting really hot; it was 38.5 degrees Celsius inside our caravan! We drove into Swan Hill to the shops to get into some air conditioning to cool down. We then went to a McDonald's restaurant for a cool drink and something to snack on.

Later back at the caravan we were sitting in the shade of our awning. Just before 6.00 pm a dust storm appeared on the horizon. I rushed to get the awning retracted before it was damaged. Rachel rushed inside to close all the windows. I struggled with the awning because of the severe winds with the dust storm. The speed of the dust storm was frightening!

I managed to retract the awning. Then we quickly tossed our loose furniture outside the caravan into the caravan and closed the caravan door. It was stiflingly hot inside the caravan; with a red dust film everywhere. Small branches from trees were snapping off and some fell on the roof of the caravan and on the car. As soon as the dust storm passed it was immediately followed by thunder storm, with heavy rain and strong winds. The caravan was buffeted by the strong winds. Boy, oh boy! The caravan park grounds were littered with branches broken off the trees. We were fortunate that we did not have large tree branches fall on to us.

We had an unsettled sleep that night. The rain continued incessantly!

Dust storm at Swan Hill VIC from our caravan window

(looking out over the Murray River)

Wednesday, 2-Feb-2005

It rained all night. Once again we had to pack up and hitch up again in the rain! The weather was cold, raining and miserable. We needed to find some sunshine again; I did not want a relapse of influenza.

We decided to head east back along the Murray Valley Highway to the river town of Tocumwal NSW, to try to get away from the rain. It was raining at Tocumwal. We crossed over the Murray River into NSW and headed north up the Newell Highway. We drove to Finley NSW where it was still raining; so we continued on to Jerilderie NSW and then to Narrandera NSW. It was raining at Narrandera.

We ended up at West Wyalong NSW before we came into clear skies and sunshine again. We drove a distance of 580 km to get to the sunshine! It had been a long, miserable, wet, tiring day! We booked overnight accommodation on a drive through site at Ace Caravan Park at West Wyalong.

When we opened up the caravan we noticed that water had forced its way under the front caravan window seal and the kitchen area was wet. We had to use our dry towels to soak up the water. We pulled out our small, trusty electric fan heater to warm the inside of our van and to dry it out! What a day!

Some light rain developed later. It was cold in West Wyalong. The temperature went down to 12 degrees Celsius - this is summer! Tomorrow, we planned to head further up the Newell Highway. It's not much use heading back into the rain areas.

Thursday, 3-Feb-2005

We left Ace Caravan Park early and refuelled the car in West Wyalong NSW. We then headed north up the Newell Highway. The weather was fine so we planned a long drive today. We passed through the NSW towns of Forbes - Parkes - Dubbo - Gilgandra - Coonabarabran - Narrabri and Moree to Goondiwindi in QLD. We stopped to refuel the car at West Wyalong - Gilgandra and Moree. We had lunch at a KFC restaurant at Narrabri.

Swan Hill VIC to Goondiwindi QLD [Source: Google Maps]

We arrived 759 km later at Goondiwindi QLD on the NSW **/** QLD border. We were both very tired after two long days of driving. We booked two nights' accommodation at Goondiwindi Tourist Park at Goondiwindi QLD. Rachel and I have stayed at this van park before. We were thankful that the weather was fine and hot in the northern regions of NSW. Tomorrow we planned to give both the car and caravan a good clean up.

Friday, 4-Feb-2005

It turned out to be a fine, hot day ideal for cleaning. It took me all day to clean the outside of the caravan and the awning from the red dust caked on both vehicles. It was a slow job using buckets of water due to the water restrictions at Goondiwindi. Meanwhile, Rachel concentrated on cleaning the interior of the caravan and washed the curtains. By the end of the day the interiors of both the caravan and the car were free from red dust.

I noticed that the car windscreen had a small crack on the driver's side, down low near the dashboard and close to the edge of the glass. Well we can't say that we have had relaxing days of late!

Our plan was to drive to Toowoomba QLD tomorrow to see our niece Gail Parry and her husband Joel and their two small sons Noah and Ethan. We planned to stay in their back yard for three days.

Saturday, 5-Feb-2005

We left Goondiwindi QLD about 9:30 am and drove along the Gore Highway to Toowoomba QLD via Millmerran QLD a distance of 225 km. The weather was fine and hot. The highway was undulating and bumpy in the early stages of the trip.

We refuelled the car at Millmerran. Due to the angle of the entrance gutter into the driveway of the Service Station, the back of the caravan scraped as it went across. Fortunately the exit did not pose this same problem. We had a good run the rest of the way to Toowoomba QLD. There was plenty of traffic in Toowoomba. I had a couple of minor problems in the traffic due to my unfamiliarity with Toowoomba; nevertheless we arrived at Gail's place safely.

We were welcomed with open arms. Gail had removed two fence panels and a fence post at the side of her house. I was able to drive the rig around to the back of the house and unhitch the car. I connected power and water to the van and we used a plastic bucket for waste water. I then drove my car around to the front of the house and parked it in the spare bay in the double garage. Gail and I then reassembled the fence.

We all had lunch together, but dinner separately. Young Noah played in the caravan with us in the late afternoon and early evening.

Week 12: Toowoomba QLD to Rochedale QLD

Sunday, 6-Feb-2005

We decided not to go to church services with the Parrys as they were having a special farewell for their Pastor who was moving on to a different church. They came home about 1:30 pm. We spent a quiet afternoon with them.

Gail's house was really nice, with lovely landscaping around the back of their one acre block. Natural bush reserve at their back fence gave the back of the yard a lovely tranquil feel. Young Noah was certainly full of beans! He sure had some energy. He reminded us of our Joel at the same age. Baby Ethan was a delightful bundle of joy! He was hardly ever grizzly or grouchy. Gail's husband Joel seems to have improved physically and mentally on his natural diet. He was still on a rehabilitation schedule after his car accident some time ago.

Gail was coping quite well; she has matured amazingly over the past few years. Rachel and I went out later to do some grocery shopping to tide us over until we get to Brisbane QLD again.

Noah, Ethan and Gail in their back yard in Toowoomba QLD

Monday, 7-Feb-2005

It was a foggy morning in Toowoomba QLD; it cleared up to a hot, sunny day. Rachel and I were off with the Parrys today for a picnic lunch. We all went in the Parrys' 7 seater 4x4 Toyota Prado. Our destination was to be Cooby Dam, north of Toowoomba. We stopped en route at Laurel Bank Park near the CBD. There were lots of lovely flower beds with a multitude of flowers in bloom. One area had a 'Sensory' garden. This garden is specifically designed for vision impaired and blind people. Each flower, bush or shrub has a distinctive aroma and the various perfumes emanating from this garden section was exquisite. Carefully designed paths for wheel chairs wound through the 'Sensory' garden to maximise people's enjoyment.

A section of Laurel Bank Park at Toowoomba QLD

We then went to Cooby Dam for a barbecue lunch. We barbecued sausages and bacon; which we ate with bread rolls and fresh salad. The park area was downstream from the dam wall. The grass in this part of the park was high; it had not been mowed for quite a while. The water level in the dam was quite low due to lack of rain.

On our way back we stopped at a small collection of herbal and arty type shops at Highfields QLD. It was a very nice place, with a nice atmosphere. We had afternoon tea here at a coffee shop cum kiosk sort of place. We had our refreshments outside, sitting at a table and chairs shaded by a large umbrella. It was very relaxing and very pleasant!

On the way home we also stopped in at Queen's Park, Toowoomba's main park. Queen's Park was a very large park; with lots of walking involved. We made our way to a large floral section at the rear of the park; then we went to the Playground area for Noah and Ethan to play for a while. It was a pleasant, hot, tiring day; but worth it!

Gail and Joel visited us in our caravan after they had their dinner and the boys were asleep. As our caravan was at the back of their home it was easy for them to keep an eye out for the boys. They stayed for a long chat then Joel grew tired and went off to bed. Gail stayed talking until 11:00 pm.

Tuesday, 8-Feb-2005

It was another foggy morning in Toowoomba. I rang my old work place, Innisfail Hospital in Innisfail QLD. I inquired about job vacancies for nurses. I was told to ring back on Wednesday as the person responsible for hiring nurses was not at work.

Rachel and I planned to drive down to Gateway Village today. We had to remove the two fence panels and a fence post again to get our rig out on to the street. It was a bit tricky manoeuvring around the corner of the house. When our rig was safely on the front lawn area the fence was restored to normal.

The day was rapidly warming up; I was sweating profusely by the time we departed. The air conditioning in the car soon cooled us off. We had a good drive down to Brisbane. We joined the Logan Motorway (a toll road) at Ipswich and came out at the Eight Miles Plains exit. School Road, Rochedale was nearby which was where Gateway Village Resort was located.

Goondiwindi QLD to Toowoomba QLD to Gateway Village Resort

at Rochedale QLD [Source: Google Maps]

We found the shadiest site available and booked three nights' accommodation initially. The day was hot! Rachel washed our laundry items. Fortunately, a nice breeze was blowing so I had a nap. I washed our car in the afternoon. Later Rachel was feeling sick on the tummy and could not eat any dinner. My tummy was also feeling uncomfortable so I just had some breakfast cereal and a cup of tea. A nice cool breeze cooled things down in the evening.

Wednesday, 9-Feb-2005

The day was overcast and hot. We went to Garden City shopping complex at Mt Gravatt for our groceries. I took the opportunity to have a haircut. The hot conditions are affecting Rachel's well being. She felt much better in the air conditioning. The caravan is not air conditioned and our box fans just seem to be blowing hot air at times. The hot, humid stormy weather conditions certainly don't help.

We returned to our caravan for lunch. After lunch we went to Sam and Italia's place to pick up our mail. Before we left Tully QLD I had our mail redirected to Sam's place. If there was anything that looked important or urgent he would telephone us so we could respond to it.

We stayed for dinner and also caught up with their other daughter Guilia, Claudia and Max and Daniel and Suzanne and their two girls.

The day cooled down in the late afternoon with sporadic bursts of rain.

Thursday, 10-Feb-2005

Today was cooler with sporadic bursts of rain. We went for a drive to Beaudesert QLD, a small country town south of Brisbane, inland from the coast. I wanted to check out the area for accommodation and jobs. Beaudesert was a nice town. The accommodation options turned out to be pricey and not good value for money. There was a job available however for me at the local Nursing Home.

We also looked at accommodation in the nearby towns of Rathdowny QLD and Kooralbyn QLD. However we decided these townships were too far out of the way. I needed to be close to the job due to shift work. It was raining on and off on the way back to Rochedale.

Rachel was not happy about going back north again. She wanted to stay in the Brisbane area. That night I did up an action statement listing the pros and cons.

Friday, 11-Feb-2005

I spent most of the day on the internet; using the free WIFI at Gateway Village. I looked up nursing vacancies in the Brisbane and Gold Coast areas. I phoned hospitals on the south side of Brisbane. A Christian Nursing Home at Norman Park QLD could offer me two days per week only. Greenslopes Private Hospital had full time or part time positions for Endorsed Enrolled Nurses (EEN's) available.

Thus I could get a job in Brisbane; however rents were very high in comparison to North QLD. There was also a question mark on whether Rachel could get a job. If Rachel started to do Family Day Care again it could take 2-3 months set up time.

Tomorrow I planned to get the Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin to check house or unit rentals. I went to Reception at Gateway Village and paid for another four nights' accommodation. At this stage we tentatively planned to leave Brisbane on the morning of Tuesday, 15-Feb-2005.

Our Jayco Eagle caravan back at Gateway Village Resort - Rochedale QLD

Saturday, 12-Feb-2005

I got up early and went out for the Courier-Mail and the Gold Coast Bulletin. After carefully perusing the classified sections for housing rentals, we came to the conclusion that rents were too high.

I rang our friends Esther and Rudy in Innisfail QLD to see if their daughter Ruth's house at 8 Riley Street was available for rent. The house was again available for a reasonable rent of AUD$150.00 per week. We made a quick decision to go back north as Rachel would be able to start Family Day Care again easily.

I rang Warrina Nursing Home in Innisfail to inquire about any job vacancies. A brand new wing had just opened its doors for new residents. Nothing available! Our plan now was to be back in Innisfail QLD by next weekend, or just after. When we told our relatives about our plans \- they were not happy! We would not be able to tell Michael until tomorrow.

Liz and Rob invited us over for dinner. Our young cousin Michaela Groenestyn from Innisfail was here in Brisbane for a conference. It just so happened to be her birthday. A big group of relatives gathered at Liz and Rob's for Michaela's birthday dinner.

Week 13: Rochedale QLD to Innisfail QLD

Sunday, 13-Feb-2005

Rachel and I went to the meetings at Multicap Meadows. Barry and Anne Rowbury from Townsville QLD were also there. They were in Brisbane visiting their son Jonathan and his family. I took the afternoon ministry meeting; then Rachel and I went to Nundah to see Michael.

Michael was not happy that we were returning to North QLD. After our visit Rachel and I came back to the caravan for dinner; then we went to cousin Phillip's place to say goodbye. The plan for tomorrow was to drive down to Labrador to say goodbye to Barry and Dina.

Monday, 14-Feb-2005

After breakfast we got in the car and drove down to Labrador QLD to Barry and Dina's home. The day turned out hot, but with a good sea breeze. The four of us went for a walk along Marine Parade. We went back to Barry and Dina's place for morning tea. We had lunch together later and then played Upwords after lunch. We stayed on for afternoon tea and then returned to Gateway Village Resort at Rochedale QLD.

Our nephew Daniel Patane, Sam's son, and his family moved house today. We were roped in to help with the unpacking and setting up. Along with Daniel and his family we had dinner with Sam and Italia. Daniel had a big problem to sort out; the furniture removalists had not been able to get a queen size bed mattress ensemble upstairs to the bedrooms. They had left it downstairs.

After dinner Sam and I went over to Daniel's house at Sunnybank Hills QLD to figure out a way to get that bed upstairs. It was a tight squeeze getting that bed upstairs. Sam, Daniel and I had a difficult job ahead of us. The innerspring mattress was reasonably easy to manoeuvre as it was able to flex a bit; but the solidly constructed base got stuck half way up! By dint of hard effort and a lot of minor manoeuvres we at last managed to get the base up on to the upstairs landing. What should have taken no more than 10 minutes stretched out to half an hour. Sam and I then assembled Grace's cot. Daniel is not a do-it-yourself (DIY type and really needed our help.

Rachel and I have decided to postpone leaving Brisbane for another day. Daniel and Suzanne needed our help tomorrow to unpack cartons and assemble some furniture.

Tuesday, 15-Feb-2005

I paid for another night's accommodation at Gateway Village. We then drove up to Sunnybank Hills to Daniel and Suzanne's new home. There were lots of cartons to unpack! Most of the floor space in the double garage was stacked high with them. The overflow of cartons went into the lounge and dining rooms.

As 1st priority I cleared a space in the garage to begin the task. I unpacked my first carton; then used the empty carton to put the wrapping paper in. The next carton was unpacked and the wrapping paper was stuffed into the first carton unpacked. The newly emptied carton was flattened out and stacked against a wall. This procedure went on and on; flattening cartons and stuffing the wrapping paper into other empty cartons.

Rachel and Suzanne continued unpacking downstairs. I went upstairs to unpack and clear up most of the upstairs' rooms. When Rachel and Suzanne had unpacked cartons in the garage with items needed for every day purposes, they concentrated on the kitchen and living room areas. I came downstairs when I had cleared and unpacked upstairs. I then concentrated on unpacking cartons in the dining room area.

I found their desk top computer components and put the computer system together again. The computer desk however was wobbly. I took the computer off it; then went and got some tools from my car. I modified the desk to make it stable again; then I put the computer back on the desk. Everything worked fine!

We had some rest breaks along the way; including morning tea and lunch. As I was finishing the modification on the computer desk, Daniel arrived home from work. The whole house was a lot more orderly now. The garage had one bay full of cartons filled with wrapping paper and lots of flattened cartons piled up in heaps. We had broken the back of the work. Daniel and Suzanne could finish the remainder at their leisure.

Rachel and I were very tired! We drove back to our caravan with the feeling of a job well done. Guess what? We left our mobile phone at Daniel and Suzanne's place! So after dinner we retraced our journey to pick it up. We then called in on Sam and Italia to say a last goodbye.

Wednesday, 16-Feb-2005

We left Rochedale about 8:45 am and headed north along the Gateway Motorway. Traffic on the motorway was quite slow up to the Toll Gates. After the toll gates the traffic bottleneck disappeared. We followed the Gateway Motorway until it merged with the Bruce Highway. We then headed north up the Bruce Highway which would ultimately bring us to Innisfail QLD. We stopped at Tiaro QLD to refuel the car. We then drove to Childers QLD where we had lunch. Our next stop was Miriam Vale QLD to refuel the car. We decided to keep driving to Benaraby QLD, on the Boyne River, and stay at a caravan park there.

There were lots of road works in progress on the next stage to Benaraby. We booked into the Big 4 Willowgrove Caravan Park for an overnight stay. I left the caravan hitched to the car so we could make an early start next morning. Rachel and I both had headaches, so we decided to have an early night. Tomorrow we planned to head to Mackay QLD.

Tuesday, 17-Feb-2005

We left Benaraby about 8:00 am and drove up to Rockhampton QLD and then to Marlborough QLD. We needed to refuel the car at Marlborough. The Service Station **/** Restaurant had a large parking area off to one side. We pulled into this parking area and then walked to the restaurant and ordered some take away food. We ate our food in the caravan.

Then it happened! As we left the caravan and tried to lock the door; the door lock would not work properly. I tried to fix it and it jammed closed! Fortunately, we were both outside the van and the rig was ready to roll. I could not get the caravan door lock fixed in Marlborough because it was basically a whistle stop on the highway. I refuelled the car at the Service Station and we drove to Mackay QLD.

In Mackay I went to Tulmack Caravans on the Bruce Highway and explained our plight; it was about 2:30 pm. The proprietor told us to unhitch the van in the street; leave it with him and come back at 5:00 pm. We then drove to Beach Resort at Mackay and booked in for an overnight stop. We explained our predicament and waited in the TV lounge until 4:30 pm. We then drove back to Tulmack Caravans to pick up our caravan. They had to take out a side window to get into the caravan. The complete door lock had to be replaced and the door jamb realigned. The repairs cost us AUD$162.50.

I lost my cool backing on to the allocated site at Beach Resort. I was tired, irritable and I had had enough for one day! Fortunately, this passed swiftly as we had to concentrate on unhitching and setting up.

In the early evening we drove into Mackay for some grocery shopping. Tomorrow we planned to drive to either Townsville QLD, or Rollingstone Beach QLD.

Friday, 18-Feb-2005

We left Beach Resort about 9:00 am, refuelled the car in Mackay and continued north along the Bruce Highway. It turned out to be a hot day, with some patches of clouds in the sky. We drove to Home Hill QLD on the Burdekin River and refuelled the car.

We then headed to Ayr QLD about 12 km further on, north of the Burdekin River. Rachel and I were quite familiar with Ayr. I spent seven weeks working at Ayr Hospital at the end of 2002. We stopped at McDonalds at Ayr for lunch. We had to park the rig in a side street due to the length of our rig (12 metres). After lunch, we drove past our former landlord John Patti's flats. John was near one of his flats but did not notice us.

Rachel and I came to a decision to spend our last night on the road at Rollingstone Beach QLD. So we left Ayr and drove up through Townsville QLD to Rollingstone Beach Caravan Resort at Rollingstone Beach QLD. We booked an overnight stay on an ensuite site. Tomorrow all being well we should be in Innisfail QLD about lunch time.

Gateway Village Resort - Rochedale QLD

to Innisfail QLD [Source: Google Maps]

Saturday, 19-Feb-2005

We left Rollingstone Beach about 9:00 am. We arrived at our friends' Rudy and Esther's home in Innisfail QLD about 11:50 am. Rudy had removed a side fence panel in our neighbour Jim's yard; so we could access the front yard of 8 Riley Street with the caravan. Unfortunately I could not back the caravan in from Jim's yard; the backing angle was too severe. It was time for Plan "B".

After repeated attempts through the side fence I eventually gave up and went back out into Riley Street and backed the caravan into the front driveway, and unhitched it. It took four adults to man handle the caravan into position across the front yard. Recent rains had made the lawn soft and soggy. The front jockey wheel of the van kept sinking into the lawn as we manoeuvred the caravan.

The power was still connected to the house at 8 Riley Street. Rachel and I began transferring our belongings except our books, into the house. The books could be moved in tomorrow. Our portable car fridge was having trouble coping in the very hot, humid conditions. I bought a bag of ice later.

We took our caravan mattress off the bed and put it in the main bedroom of the house and switched on the air conditioner. We used our fold up camping chairs and fold up table as furniture. We transferred all our clothing into the bedroom wardrobes. I plugged the caravan power lead into the mains power so we could keep the caravan fridge going until our kitchen fridge was delivered back with our furniture. I planned to arrange for our furniture to be taken out of storage and delivered back to us on Monday, 21-Feb-2005.

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Well that was it; our second big caravan adventure was over! We were away for 13 weeks and we certainly had our ups and downs on our journeys. However, there were many more ups than downs. We broke new ground on some of our travels particularly into the Snowy Mountains areas in NSW and along the Murray Valley Highway in VIC. Would we do it all again? Of course we would!

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Epilogue

We had our furniture delivered on the afternoon of Monday, 21-Feb-2005. Rachel was able to successfully recommence Family Day Care within a couple of weeks. I was able to find part-time, on call, employment as a nurse at both Innisfail and Tully Hospitals. Over the next few months my work was predominantly at Tully Hospital.

For a few months we had our caravan on a long term site at Lake Tinaroo Holiday Park at Lake Tinaroo QLD. Lake Tinaroo is up on the Atherton Tableland in the Cairns QLD hinterland. The Atherton Tableland is familiar to many overseas tourists visiting the Cairns region. Rachel and I spent the occasional weekend in our caravan at Lake Tinaroo. However, in October 2005 we made a decision to sell our caravan. It was a sad day for us. This decision did not mean that we would stop touring. We could do fly **/** drive holidays over shorter periods; or we could go camping again.

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About the Author

I am a retired male nurse, married with three sons, who have grown up and left home. I live with my wife at Innisfail in tropical North Queensland, Australia. The main agricultural crops of the region are sugar cane, bananas and paw paws. Innisfail is situated at the confluence of the Johnstone and South Johnstone rivers; adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef. The closest major city is Cairns about 88 km further north.

I am a committed Christian and I fellowship with like minded Christians at a Gospel Hall in Innisfail. I enjoy writing and reading my Bible and Christian books. I also enjoy reading other non-fiction books in my spare time, particularly biographies and autobiographies

You are invited to check out my other books.

Ebooks author page https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/JRPeasey

I also blog on my two blogs:

Biblical Perspectives blog http://www.jon-peasey.blogspot.com

Words of Life blog http://www.jrpeasey.blogspot.com

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