Australian Walkabout

So, our shakedown trip is done and dusted and we’re ready for our next foray into the wilderness. We repacked for a longer trip, including push bikes and an electric piano. What? You never know when you might need one.

Once more we squeezed through the garden gates, and this time we managed to not hit the tree.

Our first stop was at Esk, a mammoth one and a half hours drive from home. It was Peter’s first two days of working from Chunky Bum, and we wanted to make sure he had plenty of phone/internet coverage. That’s our excuse anyway.

After that we spent another night at Harland Park, where Hugo had a good catch up with Rodney the Rooster and we explored the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail which runs past Harland Park.

The next night we spent with family at Kingaroy. I had a killer headache and went to bed early, I got lots of sympathy for that. Peter and his brother hit the port bottle, so Peter had a killer headache in the morning. Sympathy…not so much. From there we revisited Ban Ban Springs.

So far, no new roads traveled, we have simply retraced our previous trip. The thing is, you can’t avoid travelling some of the same roads, and it is a good opportunity to stay at some of the places you have enjoyed in the past. Still close to home we drove through Gayndah, Mundubbera (you must check out the butcher there) and Eidsvold, before spending the night at Cracow.

By this time, we discovered we had a leak from our freshwater tank, the washing machine had broken away from one of its three insubstantial tethers and the greywater gauge was faulty. Fingers crossed that’s all.

Sadly, we had to leave Hervey Bay, sadder even still, we have to head home. Some unexpected admin stuff to take care of. But that’s ok. We will call into Caravan World on the way home to fix a couple of small issues, do what we must do at home, then head on out again.

We refueled at the Puma on Walker St in Maryborough on the way out. I only mention this because it was easy to enter and exit with the van on tow and because we are such seasoned travelers, we know this is an important issue. No one wants to peel off the top of their van when driving into a fuel station.

We didn’t know where we would be spending the night, but we ended up at a free camp at Ban Ban Springs, on the way to Gayndah. It rained off and on, and the wind picked up on occasion, but that did not spoil the relaxing atmosphere.

We even got the chance to use our bikes. The road was rough, and I mean rough, cycling over gravel and corrugation is not fun on the bum, but…we enjoyed it.

After a light lunch, a couple of beers and an evening stroll, we settled down for the night. Let’s see where we end up tomorrow night.