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.
We called in to Port Macquarie long enough to say hi to mum, drop off Chunky Bum, then drive down to Sydney on the 1st June. Our singular reason for the visit was to catch up with a good friend of ours. Chris, as always, was the perfect host. Home cooked meals, a chance to catch up with some other friends which was lovely and a big night out on the town where we experienced the “Vivid Festival of Light”. A spectacle where the area around Sydney Harbour, including the bridge and the Opera House, were blanketed with lights and images. Luckily the rain had cleared by then.
Welcome to Sydney
Vivid – Festival of Light
This was a lovely surprise for Peter and me, as we had no idea it was even on, or what in fact it was.
It was a short but sweet visit with Chris, as we had to be back in Port Mac by the 6th June. We had to take mum up to Kevin’s in Kingscliff on the 8th. Mum and Kevin were headed to England to spend time with family and they were due to fly out on the 10th. Also on the 10th I had an appointment with my eye specialist in Brisbane (all good and out by 3:10). Our plan from there was to was to drive straight back to Port Mac.
However, there was a bad accident on the Pacific Hwy between Brisbane and Kingscliff which threw a spanner in the works. I sent Kevin a text joking he’d be in England before we got to Port…I wasn’t far wrong.
It was close to 6pm before we got past Kingscliff. The usual hour and a half drive took us three. We drove another hour, then called it quits at Ballina, booked into a motel and wandered over to the local Sporties club for a meal, and a very nice one it was too.
We arrived at Port late the next afternoon, after stopping at Coffs Harbour for lunch on the way down. As it turned out, we arrived at Port Mac only a few hours before Kevin and Mum called to say they’d arrived in England.
We had a week of leisure at mum’s place, a few beach walks, a lot of washing and a bit of shopping and cleaning, before packing Chunky Bum once again and heading back to Cobrabald River, but this time we wouldn’t be alone.
Camels on Lighthouse Beach
Home sweet home
We’d met Joey and Gaz while crossing the Nullarbor last year,. They were camped next to us at Bunda Cliffs and we really hit it off. We’ve kept in touch and were finally able to meet up. We had a lovely few days with them, and while we saw plenty of Rakali, the Platypus were quite evasive.
The beauty of having the freedom of time, is that you can stay longer hoping to see more and the day after Joey and Gaz left, we had a platypus parade. This one’s for you Gaz.
I think if he could, Peter would stake his claim here; yes, it is that nice. Anyway, after one of our drives into Walcha (we’ve been told its pronounced Walka) Peter wanted to play in the mud but he underestimated how wet and slippery it really was and promptly got us bogged. The car really was bogged and digging it out and packing the slippery track with bark and timber was not an attractive job, so I left Peter to it and walked home to make dinner. I was going to video him driving out but I was standing behind the car and too busy trying not to get covered in flying mud.
While Peter was playing with the car, I was playing with this little fellow. He was camped just outside the caravan.
A Wolf Spider
This really is a great place to camp, and there were a couple of other overnight campers along the river this time. We walked further, following the river as it meandered through the country, and were surprised to see this foxy lady.
Spot the fox
The other animals didn’t seem bothered about her at all. After all, she was very pretty.
It was cold here this visit. Usually one to two degrees centigrade overnight. Not to mention a couple of minus two and minus three degrees. For a couple of sooky Queenslanders, that’s pretty darn cold. But there is always a silver lining and those cold nights resulted in some beautiful misty mornings.
Of course we made the most of the cold with our fires and camp oven cooking, even Peter took a turn in the kitchen.
And in between all of that wood chopping and cooking, Peter and I still found time to explore.
Australian Wood Ducks
Peter’s idea of exploring…
My idea of exploring
Fence? What fence?
Peter exploring again, or is that snoring again…
We hadn’t decided when we would leave, but we woke up on the 26th and it looked like rain. We were a bit concerned about getting the van bogged (I don’t think Peter’s bush skills would have been much help with that) so, we made a snap decision, packed up our home and were on the road within an hour.
We felt really good about our decision to leave, chatting about where we’d spend the night, and were generally having a great day, but then…it all went pear shaped.
The drive through the New England region was quite lovely, even though it rained most of the time. The misty drizzle turned the skies silver grey, but highlighted the trees and provided a lovely show during our drive over the Great Dividing Range, (GDR) and we arrived safely at Port Macquarie in good time.
Over the GDR
View from our “cockpit”
As usual, we had a few commitments while back in civilization, not least of which was to celebrate Mother’s day with mum, and her birthday a week later. After that we had a couple of weeks free and we decided to make the most of that time.
Peter, mum, me and Kevin
Mum working hard
So where did we plan to go for our two-week holiday? Note I said “plan” and not just “go”. We had planned to go to Wyangala Dam, a lovely place which we have previously visited. But we got sidetracked when we stumbled across yet another camp that we had previously visited. Now, when I say stumbled upon, I mean, re-traced our steps, looked at past blog posts, racked our memory and finally called into the Walcha information center where we had our, “That’s the place!” revelation. Two weeks later we were still there.
Our planned route.Our actual route.
Can you blame us?
What a camp spot!
It’s a hard life
So, what is so great about this place we “stumbled upon”? Apart for how pretty it is of course. Well first and foremost, there are platypus in the river. We knew that from our previous visit and were thrilled to see that they were still there.
Platy or a crock? You tell me.
I have to say, that apart from the fact that platypuses are weird, bizarre creatures, they are also very difficult to photograph. The are extremely shy, keep a very low profile in the water and travel long distances very quickly under the surface. On top of that, they seem to have the ability melt into the water without a ripple. Peter likens them to icebergs; you only see the smallest part above the surface. However, I did get a lot of photos and had to do an awful lot of culling.
We were able to identify three individuals for sure, but there could have been more. There were also a few of our feathered friends, including quite a large flock of these little beauties.
Eastern Rosella
Crimson Rosella
Dusky Moorhen
Fairy-Wren, Variegated I think.
Welcome Swallow
White-Browed Scrub Wren
It was pretty cold while we were there, overnight temps were between 2 and 4 degrees C. But, there was plenty of firewood in the area so all was good. Besides, this gave Peter something to do, and me a chance to brush up my camp oven cooking skills.
My Woodsman
Now this, is a woodfired pizza
Beef stew, with cauli, pumpkin and potato cooked in the coals.
This really was a very pretty place to wander around with the camera and it’s surprising what you can capture. There wasn’t a lot of life on/in the water but I did see one turtle…which turned out to be a frog. (Last image).
Now, Rakali. The title of this post. What is it? What does it mean? Well, Rakali is the indigenous name for Australia’s native river rat, and it was a pleasure to have seen them. Yet another creature that we had never heard of before, and they are very pretty. So much so that they were nearly hunted to extinction (in the good old days) for their soft pelt. Like the platypus, these little critters were pretty shy, but with time on my hands I was able to see quite a lot of them.
A Rakali
Time for a quick snack
Mmmm… yummy yabby
And off we go again…
I’ve included the link below if you’d like to know more about one of our native animals.
Now what else? There was so much to keep us busy while were were there. We were lucky enough to have a full moon and even more lucky to be in a position to get some interesting shots.
When we weren’t hunting platypuses, rakali, or toiling over a fire, we just kicked back and relaxed.
Lazy Sunday afternoon
Platypus with wine & cheese
The weather was fantastic. Cold, yes, but with beautiful misty mornings followed by stunning sunny days. It was a terrific, relaxing fortnight and we will be back. In fact we’ll be back very soon.
The night before we arrived at Kingaroy, we stayed at one of our fav spots. Harland Park, AKA Rodney’s Rest. So named for Rodney the Rooster whom we visited a couple of times over a few months. That being said, we had a wonderful visit with family at Kingaroy, and we were sad to be on our way, but…the Autumn colours of New England were calling and we didn’t want to miss them.
Rodney’s Rest
Rodney and Hugo from an earlier trip
Part of the rail-trail cycle track
Our first day on the road had us passing through Warwick where we got our first glimpse of the autumn colours.
We were a bit surprised at how many leaves had already fallen, then we realized that we were actually half way through autumn, and as the temperature dropped we realised how close to winter we were. Where does the time go? Anyway, we still got to see some of the best that the New England region has to offer.
We stopped overnight at Bluff Rock rest area, then headed on to Armidale.
Bluff Rock
We had four nights at Armidale, a really pretty area, especially at this time of year, even though the weather wasn’t the best. We did a bit of shopping and explored the area, including the Oxley Rivers National Park, in particular, Dangar Gorge.
Dangar Gorge
Armidale
Peter was keen to prove his fitness after his recent heart attack, so I let him choose the walking track, he was determined to test himself.
Hmmm! Mind you, that sign was at a crossroads in the track, and we had already walked some distance. We ended up walking a little over four kilometers, that day.
After all the rain there was plenty of water in the falls and we spent a lot of time simply enjoying them.
And of course, there were birds. I could hear them all around me, but I was only able to capture a few. I’d seen a Little Grebe and Brown Thornbill before, but the White-Throated Treecreeper was a first. I just love this first image.
Brown Thornbill
Little Grebe
White-Throated Treecreeper
It was a really pretty area and even though we didn’t do the long walk, we thoroughly enjoyed walking around the gorge and exploring the valley floor.
We’ll have a short stay in Port with mum, then head off for another mini adventure. So, stay tuned.
As the heading suggests, this post is more of a factual record than an entertaining post.
During this time, we travelled from Kingaroy to Port Macquarie, then back again, with a few stops in between.
And you’ll hear how we’ve hit yet another figurative bump in the road.
First off, Robynn’s 80th birthday party (in Kingaroy) was fantastic. There would have been close to a hundred people there and we caught up with some family members whom we hadn’t seen for a very long time, and of course it was wonderful to be there to celebrate with Robynn.
From Kingaroy we headed towards Brisbane stopping at the Brisbane Gateway Caravan Park for a week. We booked in there solely for the location but were surprised at how nice it was and for being so close to the highway, it is surprisingly quiet. Just across the highway is a company called Alloy Ute Canopies. This is where we had the canopy made and fitted, and we had to take the car back there to have some damage on the gull-wing door assessed. You see, while in WA we had an encounter with a post, and the post won. 😊
Not only was the location good for AUC, but it was a relatively short drive to our storage facility. As mentioned in an earlier post, we have a bit of a weight issue, one of the reasons we came back east was so that we could off-load some unused stuff. We also made the most of our time here and caught up with a few friends, which was lovely.
After we had our business sorted, we started to make our way south to Port Macquarie. First stop, an hour’s drive from the caravan park, was to visit my brother at Kingscliff. We had a lovely few days there, as always. The boys even got a spot of fishing in.
From Kingscliff we headed down to Yamba to catch up with some friends. We met Ross and Julia early in our travels and have kept in touch with them, meeting them whenever we could. We had planned on staying in Yamba for one night but had such a good time, we stayed for three.
Road to Yamba
Fishing Haven Holiday Park, Yamba
White-Headed Pigeon
Striated Heron …I think.
Spotted Dove
Even Hugo got into party mode as he caught up with Muffin. Thank you for being such wonderful hosts.
Green Pool
Blue Pool
Hugo and Muffin
From there we finally made it to Port Macquarie. Got settled into life in a real house (Mum’s) then two weeks later Peter had a heart attack. He spent a week at Port Macquarie Base Hospital, and when they released him, they did so with three stents in place and a warning that more work might be needed on another artery. What was very reassuring though was that the angiogram showed that the quadruple bypass he had a couple of years ago is doing exactly what it should. The arteries are wide and flowing beautifully.
According to Peter’s surgeon, who accessed his original angiogram from the bypass, three of the arteries bypassed were correct. However, there were two more that were blocked, and the fourth bypass they did was the least blocked artery, and it was the one that they did not bypass which caused the heart attack. Make sense?
The fantastic news is, Peter is doing great, we’ve been out walking, he’s booked in to do heart rehab at the hospital and we’re continuing to eat well. We’ll be seeing his surgeon on the 15th May and will have a serious decision to make then. There is still one more blocked artery, but it will be a tricky procedure to place a stent in this one. So, depending on how that affects Peter, we must decide whether or not to risk fixing the problem now, or leave it, deal with angina attacks and see what happens.
Our medical emergency competition now stands at Peter 2 – Joanne 2 and we have decided to call it a draw.
As you can imagine, our stay at Port Macquarie was a very relaxed one. But we have commitments back up north, namely we’re booked in to get the gull-wing door replaced on the 29th of April. So, we have retraced our steps in reverse. Leaving Port Mac, then up to Kingscliff, (we skipped Yamba as Ross and Julia are away) then the Brisbane Gateway CP, and Alloy Ute Canopies, and…another trip to the storage unit. We had planned a camping trip up to Cape York, but for obvious reasons, we won’t be doing that this year. So, 60 kilos of camping gear…to storage you shall go!
We’ll leave here on the 1st of May which is our official travel anniversary date; First of May 2021 we left Redland Bay after renting the house. On the first of May 2022 we left Port Mac after Peter’s quadruple bypass operation. First of May 2023 we left Levi Adelaide Holiday Park after being there on and off for over a year, and finally making our way towards Western Australia. First of May 2024, we’re leaving Brisbane Gateway CP and going…well, Kingaroy for starters, but it’s still an anniversary.
Travelling back from Western Australia we stayed at Shelly Beach Caravan Park in Ceduna. We had stayed there on our way west, and decided to do the same heading east. It’s a good park a few kilometres out of town and only a short walk to the beach. I also took the opportunity to use the fruit I had to stew at the old Telegraph Station as we crossed the Nullarbor, (before going through the WA/SA border quarantine.) It wasn’t pretty, but tasted great.
Ceduna waterfront
Ceduna waterfront
Shelly Beach at low tide
A Shelly Beach local
Not a Shelly Beach local
Apple, pear and currant pie
After Ceduna we hit the road again, fresh and ready for a long haul.
We didn’t waste any time during the first week of travel, only stopping overnight and “bare camping.” That’s what we call it when we just pull up and only set up the essentials (like turning on the gas, making a cuppa and settling down for the rest of the day). This means that we can get up the following day, and be on the road in about ten minutes and still have a ‘coffee to go’. So, we bare camped from Ceduna to Cunnamulla.
National Hwy A1, SA
Wilmington area SA
The Big Galah, Kimba SA
Crossing int NSW
Overnight Little Topar Roadhouse
Outback NSW
First camp back in QLD
The road to Cunnamulla
For those familiar with remote Australia you’ll be impressed at how green the country was. There’s been an abnormal amount of widespread rain and the country is literally lush, almost every creek flowing with water and the dams full. It’s pretty amazing how quickly the parched, red soil turns comes to life after rain; it’s just a few days from red to a carpet of green.
It made an interesting change for us to be driving with a purpose every day and covering the map. We made the 1,756 km journey in 6 days, then had a rest.
Warrego River Caravan park
Warrego River
A bit of flooding down by the weir
We had time up our sleeves, so we stayed in Cunnamulla at the Warrego River Caravan Park for three nights. Last time we were here the place was teaming with birdlife, this time not so much but I was still able to give my camera a bit of a workout.
Rainbow Bee-Eaters
Crested Pigeon
Variegated Fairy-Wren
Red Winged Parrot
Butcher Bird
Cunnamulla is just the average outback Queensland town that suffers from mediocre management, limited opportunity, lack of funds and lethargy that’s common in those towns, but the Warrego River Caravan Park really is a nice oasis in the west and it’s worthy of being a destination in itself.
After a relaxed few days at Cunnamulla it was a short drive to Bollon (one of our favourite bush camp spots) on Wallum Creek. It was hot, 39 to 43 degrees, but the creek was full to capacity, so we were able to keep cool. Though to be honest, I think we’ve gotten a bit soft in our old age. This was the first time we’d experienced these temperatures (without air con) since we started travelling, and it was a bit draining. Not so much that it chased us away mind you, we stayed there for six nights.
Keeping cool by the creek
This Emu made his way to the creek looking to cool off.
We got the hammock up and the kayaks down and we did what we do best…enjoyed the serenity of the bush. We virtually had the place to ourselves, if you didn’t count the billions of ants, but they were too busy getting on with whatever they were getting on with to be a bother to us. The flies were minimal, and I only saw a couple of mozzies, but there were hundreds of crickets. I’ve never seen so many, it was pretty cool actually, somedays I’d go for a stroll, and they’d rise from the grass like a plague of locusts. Which I guess is what they were, sort of. The birds were enjoying them too.
Take your time with the photos and you’ll see why we love this place so much. It really is the idyllic outback camping spot.
Wallam Creek camp
Did somebody say birds? Of course, there were birds. Most were a couple of kilometres down the creek, but hey…that’s why we have kayaks.
Whistling Kite
A nervous Australasian Darter and a Whistling Kite
Phew…he’s gone.
Dollar Bird
White-Breasted Wood Swallow
Rainbow Bee-Eater
White-Plumed Honey Eater
Diamond Dove
Apostle Birds
How many Apostle birds can you fit in one nest?
Spiny-Cheeked Honey Eater
Little Friarbird
One of each
Noisy Friarbird
Mallee Ringneck
Magpie Larks
Peaceful Dove
Nankeen Night Heron
Bye bye Bollon
From there we had three nights at St George, with air conditioning, right on the banks of the Balonne River, then one more bare camp near Dalby.
Balonne River camp
Brown Tree Creeper
Red-Rumped Parrot
Wet-rumped swimmer
We arrived on schedule, at Kingaroy on the 7th March. Peter reckons we travelled at about our average rate of 117 Km per day. But if you take out the three night stay in Cunnamulla, six nights at Bollon, and three nights in St George, we actually travelled the 2,463 km in nine days, an average of about 275 Km per day – now I think that’s pretty darn good for us.
You may have noticed a subtle change in direction, no longer are we westward bound. East is our new heading. That’s right folks, we’re coming home! Not to stay mind you, just for a little holiday, then we will be on our merry way once more. Why the sudden urge to come home? Well, it’s not so sudden really. There are a few reasons. One, we know a lady who is having a very special birthday, (but we won’t embarrass Robynn by telling everyone she’s turning 80!) Two, we need to drop off some goodies that we’ve been toting around with us (unused I might add) for nearly three years. And last but not least, we want to catch up with friends and family. But first we have to cross the Nullarbor once more. So join us as we go Nulla- (and you have to say this with a sing-song voice) boorrriing.
Norseman to Ceduna on the Eyre Highway 1200kms
So, how to make this post a little different from the last time we crossed the Treeless Plain? What I thought I’d do is take you all for a drive with us. I’ve taken a photograph of the road on the hour, every hour (give or take a few minutes) from leaving Norseman to arriving at the Ceduna quarantine point. Oh, and ignore the time stamps on the car’s nav system. We passed through three time zones over the five days, and the car didn’t update, neither did we for that matter, very confusing.
Day One – We left Norseman bright and early 05:57am hoping to get a good distance before the heat of the day stopped us. The first day of driving was uneventful and we stopped at Rusty’s under the Gums camp spot for the night, 473 kms from Norseman.
The Nav will keep us on the straight and narrow
6am On the Treeless Plain
7am … Is that a hill?
8am … Could be another hill.
9am … Keep on driving…
10am … Just keep driving…
11am Slow down for the corner.
12pm Are we there yet?
12:36pm Camp just east of Cocklebiddy.
Because it was an early start we didn’t have any breakfast, so I stuck a couple of spinach and fetta rolls in the pie oven, ready for morning tea at 11am. Yet again, we were disgusted at the mount of rubbish left behind. I really don’t know what’s wrong with people. Have they no pride in themselves, or they just don’t give a damn about our country.
Rolls in at 9ish
Rolls out at 11am. It’s not quick, but it is effective. The pie oven that is.
Morning Tea at Caiguna
Unbelievable…
Rubbish everywhere
Tons of it.
Geez, what is this strange thing? Some kind of useless art work maybe?
Top-up before we hit the road again.
Day Two – Not such an early start. Today we got on the road at 8am, ready for another day’s drive along one of the longest stretches of straight road in the country. Hang on…we’re going the wrong way!
Yep, only we could get lost crossing the Nullarbor.
Do a U-Turn when possible…
8am No trees in this section
9am This actually is a hill
10am Dead straight for over 150km. Could almost be an airstrip.
11am Hang on… It is an airstrip!
12pm Heading for home.
12:40pm Home for the next two nights
Old Telegraph Station
We only drove 236kms today, and we stopped for the night at the old Telegraph Station. We actually ended up staying two nights there. We had a good excuse. We had a lot of fresh produce that had to be used up before we reached the quarantine area at Ceduna. Also, it was really nice there.
Day Three – So while Peter wandered the beach, about 1km over the dunes, I stayed at home and cooked. I par-cooked the carrots, sweet spud and garlic and got them in the freezer. I made some vegetable frittatas, and stewed the apples and pears, ready for a fruit pie at a later date. We ate what was left over the next couple of days.
Hugo does tend to wander off, that’s why we make him take the two-way.
Walk to the beach
Day four – We left the Old Telegraph Station at 9:50am, and we drove a short distance to Bunda Cliffs. I had been looking forward to staying there again. It truly is a beautiful spot. It was however, also blowing a gale. I kid you not, the caravan was heaving and pitching in the wind. We persevered until 5pm but the wind showed no signs of easing, so packed up and moved on nine kilometres, where we found a nice sheltered spot amongst the trees. Our trip for today was all the way from Western Australia to South Australia – a mammoth 31 kms.
10am Long, straight and flat.
10:34am Back into SA
11:20 Bunda Cliffs
Just a tad windy…
…and it kept getting worse.
Camp East of Eucla
Day Five – An 8am start found us on the last leg of the Eyre Hwy and on the home straight to the Ceduna quarantine area. It was a longer drive today, 458kms but we did it with ease and without guilt, knowing that we had no fresh produce to declare.
8am Long straight and flat
9am Much the same…
10am And on it goes.
11am Hour after hour…
12pm Neopolitan road surface
1pm Look, the road bends and there’s a town!
1:37 pm
Crossing the Nullarbor really is an iconic Australian road trip. But just for the pedantic among us (Peter) they have taken a bit of licence really. You see the Eyre Highway crosses south of the Hampton Tableland and the actual Nullarbor Plain is north of that. So I suppose that’s a reason why the treeless plain we cross isn’t… well… treeless. But it’s no less impressive for that, just makes you think about what it would be like to really cross the Nullarbor, but that’s over aboriginal land and you can’t do it without a special permit.
Congratulations! You have successfully crossed the Nullarbor with us. All 1198 kilometres. We hope you enjoyed the drive.
