Caravanning Camping Touring
Let me share some of our stories with you. I'll try to keep it fun and interesting, with heaps of photos, hints, tips and reviews all relating to life on the road.
1st May – 1st June 2026
So where are we now? We’re back in QLD at Darlington Park just killing time after all the hassles and holdups, and a super-duper cruise.
We have our feet in the grass once more, sitting next to Chunky Bum just enjoying the lorikeets and looking forward to nine days of relaxation before heading into Brisbane.
We often see horses wandering in the fields behind us, and for some reason they had a bit of a get-together late in the afternoon, probably to show off their shiny coats. They are certainly well looked after. It really is a lovely area and if you’re willing to walk a little, there is a lot to see.
Our main reason for going to Brisbane was to see a musical called The Last Ship. That’s really exciting for me, not least of which because Sting wrote the play, it features his music and he is in it. I love Sting.
The show’s set in Wallsend, (Northeast England) where I, and Sting, hail from.
It tells the story of the last ship that was built in Wallsend before the shipyards were closed, and how it affected the families who worked there. We really enjoyed it though Peter, along with most of the audience, had trouble with the accents and dialogue because, ne’ mony fowk theer spak Geordie. Or, in the Queens English, not many people there spoke Geordie.
We had a lovely dinner at the new Entertainment precinct in Southbank. Boy, has that area changed since we were there last. Then after the show we had a bit of a wander around Southbank. Brisbane really is growing, and it has some lovely high-rise buildings that elevate the city scape.
We still had ten more days to kill before we could take back possession of our house on the 12th of May, so we went to another favourite spot, Bowenville Reserve, Wainui. There we had plenty of opportunities to go kayaking, and birds for me to chase.
I just love taking my camera out on the kayak. I find a nice calm spot on the water and just drift, apart from the fact that it is incredibly peaceful out there, I pass wildlife that I would otherwise miss, or scare away.
Like this family of Finches sharing bath time.
Or this Water dragon and freshwater turtle resting on their respective logs.
As I drifted further down the river I saw a Nankeen Night Herron, Little Cormorant and an Australasian Darter perched in trees along the riverbank.
I hung around a couple of dead trees, branches protruding from the water, in an area where I had previously seen Restless Flycatchers, and another area where I’d seen Welcome Swallows. They soon got used to me and got on with their business.
Back on solid ground, I was thrilled to note we had a pair of Red Capped Robins. The males are so vibrant and colourful, while the females are so dainty and delicate.
But don’t let her looks fool you…she is a real killer.
This next set of birds were all taken around the camp site, there was no shortage of subjects to keep me busy.
Though it is long past, May 1, 2026, was the five-year anniversary of our nomadic way of life. Sadly, it also marks the end of our nomadic life…at least in its current form.
Circumstances changed courtesy of Mr. Trump – fuel prices went crazy. We paid $3.50 for diesel in Sydney – double what it was before Trump’s war. The cost was unaffordable but more of a problem was availability. There was a high risk of getting to Kickatinalong and finding that there was no diesel to be had.
On top of that, our health issues keep interrupting our travel plans, dragging us back to Port Macquarie or Brisbane. These aren’t particularly serious issues, just things that have to be attended to. We also need to be closer to Port so we can support mum when needed.
So, taking it all into account, we figured that maybe the universe is telling us it’s time to hang up our wheels, at least for a little while.
Peter and I have been quite busy since we made the decision to stop travelling and we’ve made some big life-changing decisions. We are selling our home in Queensland and are moving to Port Macquarie.
That doesn’t mean our travelling days are completely over. We’ve bought a block of land, which won’t be ready to build on until next year, adding to that a six-month build time, and we are still nomads for another eighteen months.
So, for now, we still retain our freedom.
I will keep the blog rolling, no matter where we are I always have my camera with me, and we are still planning to head back to WA to explore the north. Third time lucky, eh? We’ll see. 😉
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
1st February – 28th March 2026
As you know, our last trip was cut short when we hit a broken culvert and had to get towed back to Port Macquarie. Unfortunately, there was more damage than we had hoped, and it took quite a long time to get the repairs, plus the full service done. But done it is.
So, instead of hitting the road as planned, we took a drive out to Gloucester, a really pretty little town, and pottered around Port Macquarie. We did a bit of beach walking, shopping, coffee-ing, lunch-ing and dinner-ing. You get the picture.
We also enjoyed a bit of kayaking at our favourite spot. That is, it was our favourite spot until we had a little run in with a tree. It backed into us, I swear.
So, we then had to schedule, and wait, for those repairs to be done. As we sat and waited, our travel time slowly sank into the abyss, and by the time all our repairs were complete, we only had two weeks left before we had to be in Sydney for our cruise. Still enough time for a short trip.
Off we went.
We planned our first stop to be Kingaroy, then Maryborough, and Hervy Bay, Brisbane then a slow trip back inland, to Port Macquarie.
A nice little circuit we thought.
About 5 days into our trip, we got a call saying mum was back in hospital. Out the window went our plan, and we had a quick three-day (via Brisbane to get our suitcases from storage) trip back to Port. Mum had a pinched nerve in her lumbar, weakening her leg and causing her to fall, nearly. The gentleman who had taken her shopping made sure she didn’t hit the ground.
This was ten days before the cruise, the cruise that we had booked almost a year ago to celebrate mum’s 90th birthday. And here I am thinking nothing much has happened over the last two months.
Mum worked really hard and got that “stupid leg” (her words not mine) working again, so the cruise was well and truly on, and what a way to celebrate her 90th birthday, though she was quick to remind us that she won’t actually be 90 until the 15th of May. We stayed with our good friend Chris, and once again he was the perfect host. On our last night with him, he took us to his regular Chinese restaurant, and we had a fantastic time.
The following day, Chis dropped us off at Sydney Harbour where we eagerly, and very smoothly I might add, embarked on our ship, the Discovery Princess. We boarded at 2:30pm and left at exactly 4pm, as planned. We managed to find our way around this huge ship, up to the 17th level, and farewelled Sydney.
The cruise took us from Sydney Harbour, to Suva, Dravuni Island and Lautoka (Fiji). Heading back home we stopped at Mystery Island, (Vanuatu) and Noumea (New Caledonia). Thirteen nights of pure luxury.
We had a suite, mid-ship on level 16, which was serviced and cleaned twice a day, and our own balcony so we could just sit and watch the ocean drift by
I didn’t realise when I booked, but this was the first, and only time that the Discovery Princess will cruise from Sydney, so that was special. She also celebrated her fourth birthday on the 27th of March, the day before we arrived back in Sydney. She has a capacity of around 3,660 guests and 1,346 crew members. I believe we had a little over 3,200 on our cruise, but even so, she is so big, we never felt crowded and with the variety of bars, restaurants, and entertainment areas, you could always find a quiet spot.
The Discovery Princess isn’t the biggest ship in the world but she’s certainly no tinny: Over 330 metres long and weighing in at 145,000 tonnes – that’s huge!
There were three formal nights on board, the best being the captain’s ‘Welcome on Board Party’. This happened to coincide with St Patrick’s Day, so our Champagne waterfall was turned green for the occasion. And mum was one of the few, and I do mean few, who had her photo taken with the captain.
We did of course get the chance to go ashore at all of our ports of call. Some we did with organized tours, others we found our own transport and/or simply strolled around the towns. Only Suva had ports big enough for us to dock. We had to weigh anchor at sea for the other islands and go ashore by dingy. This added a bit of excitement, especially at Mystery Island where it was quite choppy and it really was a challenge getting on and off the rapidly bobbing dingy.
Mum was worried we might get lost if we just wandered around. One of the crew said, “If you get lost, just look for the biggest building in town.” We didn’t know what they meant until we headed back to the ship.
There was something to do onboard, on the hour, every hour, from 7am to 10pm. Of course, you only did what you wanted, or nothing at all. Discovery Princess has four swimming pools and ten hot tubs. There were three movies each day on the open deck, including a nighttime viewing, loved those, and shows, and bars, live music in various areas, and pubs and…you name it, they had it.
Mum and I treated ourselves to a lush, three-course meal at the Crab Shack. I’ll let the pictures of our main course do the talking.
The weather was perfect. The only hiccup we had was on the last full day at sea. There was a cyclone heading our way and it got a little bit choppy, though we could hardly feel it on the ship.
As we were packing up, I took a few photos of our cabin. In hindsight, I should have done this at the beginning of the trip, when everything was tidy. The cabin slept four; we had two single beds, and a sofa bed which was turned down each evening, and made each morning by our steward. If we had needed a fourth bed, a bunk would have been pulled down from the ceiling above the sofa bed.
Because of the cyclone, the captain picked up a bit of speed and got us back to Sydney on the afternoon of the 27th instead of the morning of the 28th. We weren’t going to complain, I mean you’d pay a couple of grand a night to stay in Sydney and have the views we had.
So that was our different mode of transport. I mean you couldn’t get much more difference between a one-hundred and forty-six thousand tonne luxury cruise ship and a six-tonne car and caravan. Life’s never boring.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
December 2025 – 1 February 2026
I was going to have a bit of a “blog break” but I figured since it is predominantly our travel journal, I really do have to keep it up to date. Now, I touched briefly on Christmas and New Year with mum at the end of the last post, but no details. So, leading up to Christmas Peter and I spent a week at Ramsgate Beach (Sydney), with our good friend Chris. And thanks to his generosity and great cooking, we gained about 7 kilos between us. 😊 We also had a couple of nights shopping in Newcastle with mum and were well and truly worn out after that. For an old duck mum sure loves to shop. 😊
Not only does she love to shop, but she loves to host parties. In this case she invited everyone on her street for a Christmas party.
When it arrived, we enjoyed a wonderful Christmas morning with heaps of gifts. Whoever says you need kids to have a fun Christmas hasn’t met my mum.
Lunch was a wonderful affair with mum, me Peter, Lee and John. (Mum’s friends from across the road). We couldn’t have had a better day.
New Years Eve was quiet. But with the help of a few bevies, and some heated games of Uno, we managed to make it to midnight. New Years Day we went to Bellangry State Forest, high up on a hill, and had a great picnic lunch. We did this last year as well and I think we might make it a new tradition. It’s a fantastic way to welcome the new year.
We left Port Macquarie on the 14th Jan 2026, our first stop…one of our favourites. Cobrabald River.
It rained most of the time there, but not bad enough to get us bogged down, but we loved it. Cool enough to have fires. So, Peter was in his element, he should have been a wood chopper.
We woke one morning and thought we were under attack. There were loud thumps against Chunky Bum, and she was rocking at an alarming rate. We needn’t have worried; it was just a herd of curious cows checking us out. They visited us regularly, which was lovely, except, Arnie and Chunky Bum were covered in cow slobber by the end of our visit.
The water level was quite high this visit, and we saw no platypus. However, there were bugs a plenty so that kept me busy.
I’ve never seen such vivid colours on flies before. Quite stunning.
Then there was a variety of other bees and bugs, including the European Bee.
Not to mention a few birds, a turtle, and thousands of Field Grasshoppers, all around our camp.
The area was massed out with Queen Anne’s Lace or wild carrot flowers. They are very pretty and I spent many happy hours photographing them.
On the 19th we arrived at an old RAAF buddy of Peter’s, not far from Tamworth. Ralf and Jennifer were perfect hosts, (more weight gain) and they took us into Tamworth where the Country Music Festival is warming up.
Up until then our plan had been to go to Mungo National Park (NSW) but after checking the BOM and seeing temps of 42, 45, 46, 48, 47…we thought, well I won’t tell you what we thought but we’re not going there now.
The areas around Murray River were cooler so that seemed like a good Plan so started to head in that direction. After two overnight bare camps we landed in the little town of Manildra on the 24th, checked the weather again and agreed that the Murray River Run was on.
We should have remembered that plans are not our friends. We drove out of the Manildra show grounds (a great place to stay by the way), cut a corner, most unlike Peter and ran into an exposed chunk of concrete.
This resulted and a loud bang, unpleasant bump, and big hole in the side-wall of one of Chunky Bums tires. Hmmm!
In the 37 degree C heat, we changed our tire. The caretaker there was very helpful, she even helped me lift the damaged tire up and fix it onto the back of the van, while Peter finished tightening the bolts on the spare.
At first it seemed as though the tire was the only victim, but as we began to drive it was clear that there was more damage than we had hoped. With the wheel slightly askew and squeaking in protest we hobbled a slow 49 kms to Orange, the closest major town in the area, hoping to get it repaired.
We arrived on a Saturday, tomorrow’s Sunday and the next day is Australia Day, I think we’re going to be here for a while. We had no luck finding anyone to help repair the wheel in less than six weeks. For more than one reason, that was not an option. Peter checked under the van, assessed the damage and we decided to try to drive the four hundred and eighty kilometers, carefully, back to Port Macquarie, and get any repairs needed done there. You never know, we might get lucky… or not.
And that, my friends, is why we are currently sitting on the side of the Great Western HWY, at Little Hartley, waiting for a tow truck to come get us tomorrow.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
14th – 17th October 2025
We crossed the border from the Territory into QLD and had to have a giggle at this sign at the crossing. In case the font is too small on your screen it reads,
“Welcome to Queensland. Adjust your watches ahead by 5 years and 30 Minutes.”
A little bit cheeky and somewhat true.
We stopped at Camooweal on the way up north and it was jam-packed, this time we were among maybe, four campers spread over the area. As you can see, it’s a beautiful area and has become a campsite of choice for us.
The birds were a little sparser as well, but I still had a few to challenge me including a pair of Nankeen-Kestrels who worked tirelessly to feed their youngsters. Young snakes seemed to be the main food, also mice, lizards and large insects. Yum!
They really are pretty birds. The females are a darker colour, a rusty red, and larger than the males. The males are much paler, with a silver/grey head. Interestingly, the male seemed to leave the feeding to the female. He hunted well, but more often than not he returned to the tree with his catch and waited for the missis to take the food off him, she would then feed the young ones.
I was thrilled that there were now three pairs of Brolgas, and a couple of Black-Necked Storks still in the area.
There were also a lot of Black Kites in the area, this one took a bit of a fancy to us, and perched regularly in a tree above our camp.
The Pied-Cormorants here are well fed indeed. On our last visit we saw them catch fish after fish, but this fellow may have bitten more off than he could chew with a huge yabby. He managed though.
We saw a family of Brown Quail, probably the same family we saw on our last visit, (we camped close to where we stayed last visit) they are very cute. They’re also very shy (and very fast) so I had to go into stealth mode to catch them.
On our last day here, the skies turned dark and threatened to turn our campground to mud. We made the most of our last day, cooling in the shallow waters and snapping a couple more shots before heading back to camp and packing up, ready to leave the next day.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
9th – 14th October 2025
From Edith Falls we were backtracking towards Camooweal.
First to Katherine, then Daly waters and Three ways, (the home of the world’s most expensive fuel) before once more crossing the border back into Queensland.
We stayed in the same caravan park (Katherine Riverside) as last time. More than half of the park was closed in preparation for the wet season, but we stayed for three nights, knowing it was my last chance to see my Blue-Winged Kookaburras one more time. I went into stealth mode and got some great shots.
Later that day I got the female flying back across the Katherine River.
As she got closer to the bank she spotted something interesting, she could obviously see me but decided to ignore me and go for her tucker.
Her prize securely in her bill, she quickly took off and headed to the safety of a tree. I scrambled up the bank and followed her. She sat there for a good five minutes before flying off with the now, well and truly dead frog.
Sometime later, a male, presumably our huntress’s mate, caught my attention. He flew into a hollow where he stayed for quite some time, I think he was trying to cool off a little before heading on his way.
I was hoping to see these stunning birds one more time before we left the NT, and they put on a great show for me. I really will miss them.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the other birds in the area,
Rainbow Bee-Eaters, Red-Collared Lorikeets, Dollar Birds, White-Bellied Sea Eagle and Rajah Shelducks. There was also a huge flock of Whistling ducks, not sure which ones (Plumed or Wandering) high above the canopy.
After three nights at Katherine, we continued south. Everyone had interesting things to say about Daly Waters, it’s promoted as a ‘must do’ stop in the territory. It was only 6 km west of the highway, so we went. Well, what can I say. There was nothing there except a pub, a very quirky pub.
The decor was eclectic, chaotic and a little bit creepy with dolls (and other paraphernalia) pinned to the walls and ceilings. Not my cup of tea. In the streets and the car park, where we camped, there were donkeys, horses goats, and chooks freely roaming. It was an interesting place, and we experienced our first tropical storm there, but the highlight was that we had dinner with a lovely couple and have kept in touch with them since. Would we go again? Probably not.
We overnighted at Three Ways in the van park (unremarkable) before making our way back to Camooweal.
This brought an end to our sixty-nine-day adventure around Australia’s Top End. Despite the extreme heat, the extensive burn-offs, and the lack of wildlife, we really did enjoy it, especially the crocodiles. Next time around, I think we’ll go at the end of the wet season and I’m sure we will see a completely different landscape.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
4th – 9th October 2025
Pine Creek was a little disappointing on a couple of fronts. Firstly, I had been led to believe that it was a great spot for bird watching.
Secondly, and more importantly, this is where Peter had his pushbike stolen. 😧
One thing at a time. To be fair, we were at the end of the dry season so the mid-town area, that was highlighted for bird spotting, was a little dry. Still, there were a few birds around the Water Gardens including the elusive Hooded Parrot and I was thrilled to see this lovely bird.
Over the last few months, I’ve been making up for the shortfall in birds, with dragonflies. Here are a few that I took in the Water Gardens.
Dragonflies were not the only photogenic little critters.
There were a few other birds at Pine Creek and other winged creatures that were not birds.
Now to the bike theft. For probably the second time since we bought the bike, it was not locked up. Around 2am on our first night in Pine Creek, a group of locals went through the Lazy Lizard Caravan Park like a dose of salt. Backpacks, clothes, passports, visa’s, mixed paraphernalia and…Peter’s bike, all were taken. Some things were recovered, scattered around the town, others were not. Peter loved that bike, he’d ridden it in some great places around the country, and its theft really devastated him.
We reported the thefts to the police, all of us, and they indicated that they had a good idea about who the thieves were, but there was nothing they could do about it. And I’m going to leave it at that and head on to Edith Falls.
Edith Falls National Park was lovely. It was one of the few parks that hadn’t had burn offs through it. Even though it was stinking hot, we enjoyed it there and made good use of the wonderful swimming hole. The waterfall was flowing gently and it was super cool to sit on the natural rock ledges under the falls and just…enjoy.
As well as the falls, there were a pair of Blue-Winged Kookaburras, I was able to get a shot of the male, as well as some pretty flora.
And a few more birds.
As mentioned, it was super-hot, even the birds were feeling it, but they made the most of the sprinklers that ran all day long. I must admit, even we dragged our chairs under the sprinklers, and it seems the birds were right…it felt really good.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
