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.
After being stationary for so long we were determined to get some kms on the odo. That meant longer stretches of driving, and what we call “bare” camps, only setting up the minimum for comfort. So, after leaving Capalaba we had single overnight stops at:
- Little Yabba Ck, Camboon
- Gunalda
- Gin Gin
- Bajool
- Blackwater
- Bogantungan
- Barcaldine
The distance was 1271 kms, about twenty hours of driving at towing speeds which average out at about four hours per day. Not a lot by some standards but almost double what we normally do.
The stretch from Little Yabba to Gunalda was a very short drive. After and hour twenty, we were forced to stop by a heavy downpour which reduced our visibility to almost zero. The following night at Blackwater, we were greeted by a gaggle of minions, very cute.
Travelling offers insight to where our everyday products come from. In past posts, I’ve written about cotton farms, farms which are plentiful along our route. We passed a huge area filled with bales of cotton, wrapped in plastic of varying colours. I did a little research about the colours and their meaning, but other than pink, which is used to support breast cancer awareness, there is no meaning to the colour, despite what Google’s AI will tell you.
Bogantungan was a lovely overnight stop. We actually camped at the Drummond Range Lookout, but there were very few spaces for big rigs, we were lucky to find a spot and enjoyed the stunning views.
You know how people build stone cairns around the country? Well, we saw some unusual bridge cairns. After examining them I decided that the stones must be stuck together somehow, so I touched one. Guess what? They weren’t. I felt so guilty about knocking it over, we decided to rebuild it, but like any DIY job, there were a couple of pieces left over.
After rebuilding the one I knocked down, Peter was inspired and decided to make his own.
We drove through Jerico, and nice little town east of Barcaldine and while Peter explored the open-air cinema, I hunted butterflies and we both admired the murals.
By that time, we were ready for a bit of a rest, and on the recommendation of Hazel & John, (sister & brother-in-law) we drove through Longreach and checked out the Darr River.
This really was a great place to stay. There were only two or three spots suitable for a larger van, but again…we were lucky and got a great spot. Unfortunately, Peter was still unable to lift heavy objects, so we couldn’t get the kayaks down for a paddle (we will next time,) but we were able to walk along the river quite a distance. Crossing a railway line and another barbed wire fence, into the neighbouring property.
We loved it there and we stayed for four nights. The river was full, the birdlife was plentiful, and it was home to some of my all-time favourite birds…Budgies!
I was surprised to find Black-Fronted Dotterels and Stilts this far inland, but…here they were.
Just on the other side of the river was a very busy pair of Whistling Kites preparing for their chicks.
Once more we hit the road leaving Darr River (Longreach) on our way to Mt Isa.
We stayed two nights at Winton, mainly to catch up on some washing and to top up our water.
While in Winton we were treated to a show by bush poet/comedian, Gregory North. Although he lives in the Blue Mountains, I think he makes Winton one of his bases. He got a bit of a buzz out of being Gregory North performing at the North Gregory hotel… cute. He was actually very good and has been voted best bush poet several times.
Anyway, you know how it is when they call for someone from the audience… no-one volunteers, so feeling a bit sorry for his stalled act, I put up my hand. It was fun 😊 This little snippet is from the end of my show. I’m thinking of taking it on the road.
The next day took us through Kynuna a little country town with a resident Brolga, and that night we stopped about halfway between Kynuna and Mckinlay.
On the way to Longreach the next day, Peter spotted a hill. Now if you’ve been following our blog, you will know that Peter can’t resist a good hill. So, off we went, sneaking through a barbed wire fence, into an old mining area just so we could climb this.
We made it to Mt Isa without falling down a mine shaft or getting arrested. Like many mining communities, it’s not a pretty place, but Mt Isa Mines have contributed heaps to Australia for over a hundred years (since 1924).
A short drive out from Mt Isa is Moondarra Dam.
I think it’s safe to say we are now back in the swing of things, but it wasn’t until we reached Longreach, outback Qld, that we felt that sense of freedom and we knew we were back where we belonged.
And so, we continue: The road to Camooweal beckons.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
3 July – 17 July 2025
Our sojourn ended all too soon and we found ourselves back in the big smoke. Well, Mount Cotton anyway. Peter had an MRI booked before his surgery, we got that tucked away and I delivered him to St Andrews War Memorial Hospital in Spring Hill on July the 3rd, the op was the following day, and we had hoped to have him home the day after.
The gallbladder was removed without a hitch, but some stones were outside of the bladder and were proving difficult to remove. Peter’s surgeon had foreshadowed this, so we weren’t surprised or overly worried when we were told that they would keep Peter in hospital and try a different procedure to remove the troublesome stones. His next procedure was booked in for July the 8th.
Just a side note, Spring Hill is an inner-city suburb. Nothing wrong with that, unless like me, you’re not comfortable driving a vehicle the size of a tank through the city. Getting lost, then having to circle the hospital several times hunting down a parking space. Then, when you do spot one, you find yourself parallel parking between a Porshe and Mercedes in an opening big enough for a standard sedan, not a tank. (FYI no car was hurt during the parking of our vehicle).
I won’t even go into the traffic, which turned a half hour drive into a forty-five-, or ninety-minute drive home. Suffice to say a couple of wines were welcome each evening.
Peter’s second operation to retrieve the missing stones was successful. The surgeon removed about a tablespoon of “gravel” which would have proven problematic for Peter down the track, and he was discharged the following day.
I’d like to say I enjoyed my ‘home alone’ time, but I didn’t. I missed Peter too much.
Peter had a fair amount of post-op pain, so we stayed at Greenacres caravan park until the 17th of July, giving him ample time to convalesce.
So, ‘The end is nigh’, is now simply, ‘The end’; our waiting period is over. Mum is still doing well, my next follow-up isn’t until November, Peter’s gallbladder has been dealt with, Chunky Bum & Arnie are both in good shape, and we are free to travel again. It’s only taken us ten months.
Where to next? I hear you ask, well your guess is as good as ours. Well not quite, we know we’re heading north then west, but will we make it to WA as we’d hoped? Let’s just see where the road takes us.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
17th June – 3rd July 2025
First up, I got a bit ahead of myself in my last post and as a result, I lost three weeks. Hey, it happens.
In summary: After Flanagan’s, we spent three nights at the Allawah Scout Camp, two nights at Rodney’s Rest (aka Harland Park), then two- and a-half weeks with family in Kingaroy, except for one night which we spent in a motel at Clevleand, for a doctor’s appointment. From Kingaroy we had an overnight at Cruice Park, again to be close to town for a doctor’s appointment. After that, we backtracked towards Kingaroy for a well welcomed stay at Benarkin State Forest.
This brings me to the 18th, June, our stay at Greenacres Caravan Park in Mount Cotton, and where we received Peter’s verdict. The Gallbladder must go!
Who says I can’t be concise? Look at that, three weeks in a single paragraph.
With ten days to kill before Peter’s operation, we were in desperate need for some relaxation. Bowenville Reserve, 30kms southeast of Dalby, was just the place.
Chunky Bum was parked about 30mtrs from Oaky Creek, which was full, flowing and offered us many, many hours of paddling.
We had planned to go to Lake Broadwater but pulled into Bowenville for a couple of nights first. We never left. We did go to look at Lake Broadwater, which was very nice, but Oakey Creek was calling to us. It was perfect for paddling.
There was a dark section of the creek, thanks to the heavy growth along its banks. This area was frequented by a group of Cockatoos most afternoons, when the light was particularly bad. I got some lovely photos, but they were dark, so I decided to have some fun with photoshop. I figured, if the background is so dull and boring, why not get rid of it. So, I did.
I have to say, I love the result.
We much prefer rivers/creeks over most lakes or dams. The latter are often big wide-open expanses of water, good for an exercise paddle or fishing. The former however, are great for exploration with little side channels, fallen trees and rocks to navigate around. Also, more opportunity for birding.
And, as I’ve said many a time, where there is water, there are birds. I identified twenty-one species, but I’m sure the experts would have found more. Don’t worry, I’m not going to show them all, 😉only a select few.
There was a large population of Red-Rumped Parrots in the area feeding on the grasses and bathing in the creek. I’ve often said, one of the advantages of travelling how we do, is that we are often in an area long enough to get to know the habits of the locals. This allowed me to get these lovely shots.
A lot of birds seemed to use this area as their drink hole and bathing area. Peter certainly knows how to pick a good camp site.
On our trip to Lake Broadwater, we passed quite a few cotton farms, most of which had been harvested leaving row after row of freshly bundled cotton. Of course, we had to go and have a closer look. The last image will give you an idea of just how big these bales are.
There were a few birds of prey living around Oakey Creek; Whistling Kite, Black Kite and the Black-Shouldered Kite.
Interesting fact: Peter witnessed a pair of Whistling Kites that had taken down and were devouring a Black-Shouldered Kite. Strange but true.
I was drifting in my kayak when I saw this Willie-Wagtail flying around some driftwood. I snapped some shots, but it wasn’t until I got home and cropped them, that I realised I’d caught him hunting. Not like Peters Whistling V’s Black-Shouldered Kite hunt. This was Willie V’s Fly, spoiler alert…Willie won.
The fly is visible from the second image, very bottom of image, inline with Willies bill, just a tiny blur. However, it is missing from the last image. I wonder where it went.
I told Peter that my challenge for this stay was to catch a Restless-Fly Catcher in flight. All I can say is that they are well named. Those little blighters never stop and they’re hard to get in front of the lens… especially when they’re on the lens. Even then, this fellow just did a quick equipment check and was off again.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
20st May – 17th June 2025
Flanagan’s Reserve is only 44kms west of Darlington Park and unlike the open grassland of Darlington, it has a rustic bush setting, with the Logan River flowing through the property. We have stayed there before but I don’t remember much about it. I was quite unwell for the first few days last time we visited and I slept most of the time, then my appendix burst, and I spent the next 5 days in Ipswich hospital (never again). So, I was looking forward to re-visiting it (Flanagan’s, not the hospital, 😊) even though it was a bit further away from Victoria Point and our Doctor
I have to say Flanagan’s was looking pretty tired. The campground is poorly maintained, with rubbish lying around the camp areas. Peter collected half a dozen beer cans, plastic bottle tops and some food wrappers before he set up camp for us. We’ve never really seen that in a managed campground before. The firepits were the standard half steel drums, but these were old and rusty with dangerous, sharp, jagged edges. The garbage bags went into an open trailer (you can imagine how the birds and possums loved this set up). There are only two toilets and one shower for the Ladies: one toilet and one shower for the men, plus a row of 6 portaloos near the amenities block. Flanagan’s has twenty-eight acres available for camping. That’s a lot of people. All I can say is I’m pleased that we’re are self-sufficient.
The neighbours were pretty cool though.
We had a good camp spot at the far end of the property which backed onto cattle grazing area. Even though the gamp ground got really busy over the weekend, we had our own little spot. Maybe it was our hobby that kept people away form us.
There wasn’t much in the way of birdlife, though I did see my first Pale-Headed Rosella so that was lovely.
On our first day there we spotted a small mob of kangaroos in the neighbouring property, they were quite a distance away, but I was able to get some shots of a couple of young bucks practicing their fighting skills. There was a lot of pushing and wrestling, maybe even a bit of boxing. I’m pretty sure that they were only training, had they been fighting in earnest I think there’d have been a bit of blood flying around. Check out those claws on their paws.
But it’s not really the claws that inflict the damage, it’s those incredibly strong legs which produced powerful kicks. What really surprised me though, was how they use their tails. I’ve never seen kangaroos fighting before, but those tails must be solid muscle, and a strong, long tail is an obvious advantage in a fight, look at the height he’s getting.
Even though they are “playing” they certainly don’t hold back their punches, or in this case kicks. You can almost see the wind being knocked out of the guy on the left.
I have to finish off with the junior boxing squad. Super cute.
While here, we had our first real hike in what seems like forever. The 4.5km return trip with and elevation of 660m, is considered to be a challenging route. But we did it, and it was worth the effort.
And as for Peter. Well, he had his ultrasound on the 27th and after another week of waiting we got the results. It turns out that he has some rather large gallstones and…you guessed it, they’ve got to go.
We have an appointment to see his surgeon on 17th of June, until then…we wait and continue to explore the Great South East.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
1st May – 20th May 2025
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again; plans do not work for us.
We wanted to leave Port Macquarie on May 1st and head north, then west towards Western Australia. I must be back in Port for a check-up in November, so that would give us six months to explore the area and get home before the summer heat and rain got too bad.
With that in mind, we spent most of April getting ready. This included a quick run up to Brisbane for some admin, you know, non-important stuff like renewing our drivers’ licences, vehicle rego’s, mail redirect, and I can’t believe it, but drop more stuff off at the storage locker, then back to Port.
We were in Port for three days before heading north again. This time to Kingscliff, where we had a wonderful Easter long weekend with Mum, Kevin and Gabriela. Then, back in Port we did health checks on Arnie, Chunky Bum (all good) Peter and me. That’s when our plan began to fall apart.
Peter was due his usual blood work and I was worried about an area of skin on my nose. Peter’s bloodwork was a bit off, and our doctor wanted to re-do the tests. She also told me I needed a biopsy. However, we were determined not to stay in Port any longer.
Mum is doing really well, and we – well, we just want to get back on the road. So, Peter re-did his blood work and set a tele-consult for the results, while I made an appointment with our regular GP in QLD for the biopsy. Nothing’s going to stop us from getting to northern WA this time.
So, come the 1st of May, off we went. Our first night away from Mum was spent at a roadside stop east of Walcha. From there, another single night at Mother of Ducks Lagoon (always liked that name), then three nights at the entrance gates to Lake Wyaralong, south of Beaudesert (this is part of the National Trail). Sorry no photos, I’m a bit slow getting back into the blogging routine.
Anyway, we were taking our time, making sure Mum was coping alright alone, and she was, so we decided to keep going north where we stopped at Darlington Park, south-west of Brisbane. We figured we’d be back on the road in a couple of weeks.
You may have noticed a few Rainbow Lorikeets in that last set of photos. That’s because a large number have made Darlington Park their home. Such a pretty, noisy, charismatic and randy bunch of birds you have never seen.
Rainbow Lorikeets are so full of character and because these ones are so used to people, we got to witness some of their mating rituals. This selection of images reminds me of date night, as in dinner and a dance. I think these two are doing the official dance of love…the Tango.
I had the biopsy on my nose on the 7th, but we had to wait another week before getting the stitches removed and pathology results. Good news was, it was not skin cancer. Yaaaay! Then the doctor noticed a lesion near my right eyebrow, which he suspected might be a melanoma. Of course, we made another appointment for him to excise it in his surgery; there goes another two weeks, so we extended our stay at Darlington Park. With time to kill, we did a bit more exploring.
It was another week before the appointment to excise the lesion, and another after that to return to get the stitches (4) removed and the pathology results. We were super relieved that pathology showed it was not a melanoma, but a BCC (Basal Cell Carcinoma) and the good doc got it all so, for now, I am done with doctors.
Here are a few more birds from Darlington Park
Peter, however, was a different story. His bloodwork was still a bit off, his liver enzymes, though lower than the last results, were still way too high, so an ultrasound on his liver and kidneys was arranged…another week. Sigh!
Anyway, we decided we were due for a change of scenery, packed up our goods and chattels and moved to Flanagan’s Reserve where we’d set up home and prepare for the next period of waiting. Our trip to WA seemed to be slowly slipping from our grasp. Not a problem, so much to see in South-east Queensland.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
18th March – 30 March 2025
Copeton Dam, some two and a half hours north of Split Rock Dam, was a lovely surprise. The water level here was low, just as it was at Split Rock but we hadn’t visited before, so we had no expectations, and it was a much cleaner area. No dead fish, toilet paper or broken beer bottles etc. After nearly two weeks here we had a single overnight at Ebor Falls before heading back to Port. A nice little three-week round trip.
We found a great spot and the kayaks were in the water the very first day.
There were a few other campers here, but this is such a large area, we could have been all alone. There is a caravan park on the western side of the dam, a paid campground on the northern foreshore and a free camp area, this is where we stayed, on the eastern foreshore.
This is a deceptively large dam and much to his disappointment, Peter was unable to circumnavigate it, though he did find a lovely little swimming cove.
Peter had been out on the kayak for a few hours, when he arrived back at camp, he was very excited about his find. He told me all about a hidden swimming hole so, the following day, we packed a picnic and kayaked to his secret spot. After fifty minutes of paddling, we arrived.
It was lovely there, and we visited a few times while we were at Copeton.
It was quite wet while we were at Copeton, thank you Cyclone Alfred, and cool. And what do we do in cool, wet weather? That’s right, we build a fire. But before the fire, comes the wood collection one of Peter’s favourite pastimes.
Once we have the fire what do we do with it, other than sit around it and drink wine? Right again…we cook. Peter did his first damper of the season, and I did some yummy lamb shanks.
A good friend of mine didn’t think my dragonflies were very “interesting”, (I wasn’t upset, she’s a birder) so I hunted theses down just for you RC. 😊
Just kidding,🥰 I know these aren’t birds. 🦜🦜
Here we go. There were quite a few birds in the area, and I was thrilled to see one of my favourite raptors, the Black-shouldered Kite.
There were also Black Kites, (I think)…
…and White-Bellied Sea Eagles, an adult and a juvenile. When I first saw the juvenile, I thought it was a Wedgetail, but my trusty birdy book set me straight.
We also had a mob of kangaroos in the area, a few with young Joeys.
And because there can never be too many birds, here are a few more that were around our camp.
So ended our lovely stay at Copeton Dam. After days on the water, animal spotting, cooking and relaxing we were ready to move on.
From Copeton Dam we started off for Port Macquarie via Armadale and picked up Waterfall Way. This is a slightly less steep and a little bit straighter route over the range than crossing at Walcha but more importantly, it allowed us to stay overnight at Ebor Falls and boy, were they falling.
To top off our stay we had a stunning rainbow and some friendly kangaroos.
And finally, just to be a little different some midnight slugs. Yup, we went out at midnight to take photos of slugs. Warning: the following images contain sexual content.
So, from here we’re headed back to Port where we will start to get ready for our next big trip. Fingers crossed we’ll be going back to Western Australia; this time to explore northern WA.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
