It has been an awful long time since our last itinerary update, we could make a lot of excuses about lack of WIFI, busy fixing rental accommodation, servicing the Digger and shopping for stuff but that would-be lame. Reality we are just spending too much time having fun. Anyway, following is a quick summary of the trip so far from the Barossa to South East Queensland.
It was early morning 8 May 2017, at Greenock Oval and it was good-bye to Nathan as he headed off to Melbourne and we set off towards Broken Hill. Neither of us had visited Broken Hill before and this was our first stop on our big journey heading back east to recommence the Mile Beach expedition. A visit to the Royal Flying Doctors headquarter and museum was a must.
After Broken Hill we had our first road side overnighter at Baden Park Rest Area, on the Barrier Hwy. Unfortunately, the best spot was take up by a cow that really had seen better days, so we stayed upwind from Mr Cow.
Heading further east we then found a fantastic river camp east of Dubbo, at Ponto Falls Campgrounds. Hundreds of Cockatoos with their raucous screeching made an incredible sunset welcome as did our fellow R.V. neighbour who happened to be towing his personal hovercraft and not wanting to miss a photo opportunity by Chris did a spectacular 360 spin on the river.
Arriving back on the east coast we had a welcoming stay with family friends Richard, Katie and little Jeffery in Newcastle (Katie still enjoying your homemade BBQ sauce, yum yum). There were also excitement with the recommencement of the Mile Beach assignment; you can read about this beach side car park bush mechanic repairs that Chris had to do in the dark on Nine Mile Beach report.
It was then moved on to Port Stephens and special visit from our daughter Renee to spend mother’s day with Jo. Renee’s and her friend Jordan joined us for the trek along One Mile Beach, Anna Bay which sadly the rain fell and we got soaking wet. Jordo was looking forward to putting his snowboarding skills to the test on the sand dunes of Stockton Beach but sadly the downpour meant this was not to be. To compensate Chris took us on a 4WD trip through the dunes with Jordo laughing and Renee and Jo squealing up and down the dunes.
Foster Tuncurry was our next port of call with three more mile beaches: Seven Mile, One Mile and Nine Mile) done and dusted it was also time for the kayaks to get wet with our first paddle around the oyster farms and highlighted with a couple of dolphins who came to join us.
Next was a family stopover in Kempsey with Jo’s uncle Gerry and Roslyn. Many thanks to Gerry for the special guided tour of South West Rocks and Crescent Head with spectacular sunset at the Old Trial Bay Gaol.
Time for the Digger to get serviced it was great to stay in Coffs Harbour with Chris’s cousin, Damien, Danielle and family. Thanks guys for the fantastic couple of days.
Continuing our trip north our next stop was at Black Rocks Camping ground, south of Ballina, were Ten Mile Beach could be found. Fantastic camping ground so much to do including spectacular Kayak along Jerusalem Creek, where a frenzy of spawning mullet jumping around us as we paddled along, with one jumped onto Joanne’s Kayak, nearly landing in her lap.
After a quick one night stop over at Lennox Head for Seven Mile Beach it was then onto Brisbane, staying at friend’s of long standing Jen and Bish. These few days meant we completed maintenance on our investment property and also had a wonderful day out cruising the Brisbane River with Jenny and Bish followed by a excellent Lebanese lunch at Southbank. It’s a hard life this 4WD around Australia! In Brissy we also caught up for drinks with Jo’ girlfriends Elsbeth for drinks at Eagle Street Pier and Leanne for coffee on our way out-of-town. A quick drive by of the house we lived at BC (before children) was a bit of an awakening to the changes to our old neighbourhood of 30 years ago.
Before heading off to Fraser Island – 75 Mile Beach, we spent a couple of days with a former Kambah neighbour Tim and his new family and managed to track down a matching 16” DMAX steel wheel rim on the Sunshine Coast, which we could not find previously anywhere since leaving Canberra.
