Arnie’s off his training wheels
25th September to 7 October 2024
Before I get to the main topic, I did forget something else, and I’d be remiss not to rectify my omission. On the 19th of September, we went on a family picnic at Bjelke Peterson dam. We had a lovely time with our family.
Peter and I hung around the dam for a while longer and I did my usual wander with the camera. I was pleased to see a few birds there.
It seems we weren’t the only ones having a bit of a get-together.
A party of cormorants of all types: There were Little Pied, Pied, Little Black and even Great Cormorants, as well as Pelicans, Seagulls and Little Terns.
And a few loners. A Black Fronted Dotterel, Great Crested Grebe and late in the afternoon, as the storm clouds rolled by, we spotted this Wedge Tailed Eagle.
All in all, a day not to be forgotten. 😊
Now, back on point.
We said goodbye to Big Ears on the 25th, and on the 26th Arnie ditched his training wheels as we left Kingaroy on his first solo trip, without Big Ears to keep him in line.
Not before we had a couple of visitors near Chunky Bum.
Something not quite cute, and something super cute.
We felt it was fitting to carry on some traditions in Big Ears’ name. So Arnie’s first solo camp was at Rodney’s Rest. It was, after all, the very first place we stopped with Big Ears way back on the 1st of August 2020 (The first day of Peter’s retirement).
Talking about carrying on, you may recall Rodney the Rooster.
This is Rodney and Hugo; they were good mates.
He lived at Harland Park and we saw him a few times over the course of a couple of years, so we figured this was ‘Rodney’s Roost’. But the time came when we saw him no more, so we renamed Harland Park to ‘Rodney’s Rest’.
Well, on our first visit with Arnie, who should we see but, da, da, daaa!
The son of Rodney.
Ok, so it might not stand up to a paternity test, but it is a nice story: New car, first camp repeated, new Rooster to greet us.
Anyway, enough of that frivolity. We had planned a longer trip before heading back to Port Macquarie, but we had some exciting news that meant we’d be back sooner than planned. We have relatives in the USA, and my cousin and Aunt are coming over for a holiday at the beginning of November. So, Port Macquarie here we come, albeit slowly. You all know us by now, we don’t do anything quickly. 😊
After two nights at Rodney’s Rest, we continued our journey south, to Toowoomba. Toowoomba is a lovely City, heavily treed, heaps of gardens and our single night extended into three while we enjoyed a bit of civilisation, and the end of the well renowned Toowoomba Flower Festival.
From there we drove to Millmerran. We were just going to pick up some groceries and pass through the little country town. But it was difficult to miss the Camp Oven Festival signs, so we asked the local shopkeeper what it was all about. It turns out that it is a biennial event and had been sold out for months.
But undeterred, we made a call and sure enough, the lady said it was sold out! We had checked on their website and it looked as though there was a ‘Big Rig’ site available, so we asked again and after a bit of re-checking she gave us the site and we were booked and paid for, and heading for the Millmerran showgrounds.
They checked us in through their system, we were given our pretty, hot-pink, paper bracelets and a blue BR 14 sticker for Arnie. Our entry fee covered all the festival and 7 nights’ accommodation.
We got a fantastic spot, right up at the back end of the camp area, and a corner block to boot.
On our third day, after being out sightseeing, we got home to find the real owners of BR 14 camped a few metres away, they had booked the site months before! Well, it was a big site, so no problems.
It’s hard to tell from the photo, but the ovens in the forefront are big enough to cook for fifty.
There were a few bits and pieces on from the Tuesday, (when we arrived) but the main event didn’t start until Friday, through the weekend.
Damper throwing competition, only in Australia
I have to say, we’re not normally the “big gatherings” type of people. Too much humanity squished into a small space is a bit hard for me to take, but because of our location, we still felt we had plenty of privacy in amongst the other 1,250 caravans.
I found this image online for the 2016 festival.
While in the area we took the opportunity to explore a little, and really enjoyed our trip out to Mount Basalt on Thursday.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
Hi Jo and Peter – I hope that Rodney did not end up in someones camp oven – and also the Highland Cow!!
You two do make the most of all opportunities and it is great to hear from you. You were about to get an email………