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.
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!
16th to 18th March 2025
Reluctantly, we left Mungo Brush campground and continued our round-a-bout trip to Split Rock Dam. We had two overnight camps along the way, one at the Scone Golf Club, the other at Manilla Freedom Camp. We’ve stayed at the Freedom Camp a few times before and I always feel like a bit of a rebel when we stay there.
The following day we made it to Split Rock Dam.
Split Rock Dam was not as we remembered it. The water level was considerably lower, leaving a muddy dirty looking foreshore, a lot of dead Carp, (a pest in Australian waters,) and all the rubbish left behind didn’t help. I said to Peter one day that I felt as though we were camped on the edge of a landfill. Exaggerate much? Maybe a little. 😊 After Peter had done a rubbish pick-up and got rid of 15-20 kg of rotting fish it was workable for a couple of nights. Previously we were nestled amongst the trees, with green grass leading to the water which was only a few metres away.
There was however, something here this visit that wasn’t there last; Dragonflies. So, I took my bum rest, the caravans folding step, my trusty camera, and I went to sit at the water’s edge for a few hours. I think it was time well spent.
My bum was beginning to go numb, and I was thinking about calling it quits when a pair of mating dragonflies landed near me, so I ignored my bum and kept on shooting. I’ve never seen Dragonflies this colour before, so that was special and after seeing them in the act I became curious as to how they actually mate.
This is how I understood it. The male (we’ll call him Bruce) will fly around until he sees a female he fancies (let’s call her Sheila). Bruce has two little hooks (clasping organs) protruding from the end of his abdomen. He grabs hold of Sheila, just behind her head, and continues to fly, dragging poor sheila around behind him until she is ready to mate. This can take quite a while. When sheila is sufficiently in the mood, she will then raise her abdomen up under her body, and attach herself just underneath and behind Bruce’s thorax. This is where Bruce’s secondary reproductive organs are. This whole process takes a lot of time and Sheila must perform some precision moves as she often needs to fly to position herself, while Bruce just sits on his rock.
But wait, there’s more. After the eggs have been fertilised, Bruce still might not free Sheila. If he’s feeling insecure and wants to make sure no other male can mate with his Sheila, he’ll hang on to her until she has laid her eggs in the water. Once Bruce knows his progeny is safe, he’ll let her go with a promise of a phone call the next day.
We stayed at Split Rock for two nights, then moved on. Pleased to say nothing has changed with how we travel; plans are made to be broken.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
10th March – 14th March 2025
After what seems like an eternity, we are finally able to continue our travels. Sure, it’s only a short trip, just long enough to see how well mum can cope by herself, but still…it’s a trip and nothing is going to stop us, not even cyclone Alfred.
Now, where to go? Not too far, we must be able to get home (it’s scary that we call Port Macquarie home) quickly if mum needs us. Not too wet, which is virtually impossible thanks to Albert and not too dry, we want to be able to use the kayaks. We don’t want much do we?
We decided on Split Rock Damn, a 340km drive west/north from Port, which includes a section of the Great Dividing Range. On the morning of the 10th Alfred convinced us not to go over the range. It’s tricky with a van at the best of times but with this much rain, you can expect fallen trees, rockfalls and road falls, but that wasn’t going to stop us. We’d just go the long way around.
As you can tell from the maps, we didn’t make it to Split Rock Dam. We’d been driving south down the Pacific Hwy for a couple of hours in the pouring rain, when we saw a sign for the Myall Lakes National Park. We’d never actually been there but after a quick Google search I’d located a campground and booked ourselves in. As soon as we arrived, we extended our one-night stay to three.
It continued to rain for the first two days, we didn’t mind, then it cleared up on the third. We booked another night. We would have stayed longer but the site was fully booked. We had a lovely time on and in the water. We had a sandy, little beach was which was great for swimming, even though you had to walk a couple of kms to get more than thigh deep.
While Peter enjoyed the area on his new push bike, I decided to do the circuit walk that left from our camp. It was a short walk so, what could go wrong? Now right here and now, I’m going to blame the mozzies. I mean, they were really, really, bad. Every time I stopped, which I do frequently with my camera, I became a living mozzie attraction. On top of that it was 33 degrees c and incredibly humid. I’d only been walking about fifteen minutes when I called it and headed back to Chunky Bum for my mozzie net and bug spray.
And this is where it all went wrong. I zigged when I should have zagged and after a much longer than expected time, I finally burst out of the jungle into the camp site, only it wasn’t’ mine. I figured out where I was, and where I had gone wrong, and decided to take the wet weather track home as it was the shortest and, it was wet. Made sense to me. Well, it would have been had the track not slowly vanished from existence.
I did eventually get home, hot, tired, sweaty and covered in mozzie bites so I went for a swim. I tried again the next day, but with the same humid conditions, and nothing to protect me but my mozzie net, (the bug spray was so old it didn’t spray) I didn’t stay in the jungle for too long.
Peter and I were sitting by the lakes edge one evening when a group turned up to go prawning. Not off a boat but by pulling the net between four of them around the edge of the lake. We were quite interested and the group allowed me to take some photos of them at work.
We had a welcome visitor in the camp one day, a stunning Lace Monitor. For non-Australians, this is a subspecies of goanna. He was a lovely fellow and hung around the camp for several hours giving me plenty of opportunities to take his photo. I reckon this fella’s about a metre and a half from nose to tail.
There wasn’t a lot of bird life while we were there, I think most were still sheltering from Alfred, but I had fun watching this pelican enjoy his bath time.
Of course there were a few other birds as well, but this first is my favourite shot of all. Talk about timing. The Pacific black duck landed in front of me on dead calm water, at dusk. The lighting was perfect, the reflection spot on, I just love this shot.
Don’t worry, we’ll get to Split Rock Damn soon.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
18th November 2024 10st March 2025
Ok, so…this post is not a fun post, nor is it centred on travel. But this blog is primarily to keep a record of everything that happens while Peter & I are travelling, and as such, must be recorded.
My mum was admitted into hospital on the 28th of November 2024, and so began a very scary time for us all. We didn’t get her home until the 22nd of January 2025. But…get her home we did and we’re so very grateful for that.
During November Peter, mum and I had a series of medical appointments, thirteen in total, but nothing too serious. Then on the 28th Peter and I took the kayaks out, we were enjoying a lovely day on the water when we got a call from mum’s village, asking us to come home because mum couldn’t walk.
In short, this is what happened. Mum had a narrowing of her spinal column, caused by age, wear and tear and calcification of the spine. That resulted in paralysis in mum’s legs, mainly her right one.
Luckily for us, mum’s overall health is excellent, and it was determined that she was a good candidate for an operation, though there was no guarantee that the op would reverse her paralysis.
Spoiler alert! It did.
Mum’s journey started with twelve days in Port Macquarie Base hospital. Side note: We were supposed to have gone to Kevin and Gabriela’s for an early Christmas celebration with all the family, from the 6th – 9th December, but for obvious reasons, we couldn’t make it. However, Kevin, Annalise & her partner Lauren (from Sydney) and Nick & his partner Maddie (from Melbourne) paid mum a surprise visit on their way home. She was blown away.
After her twelve days in Port, mum flew south to John Hunter hospital (Newcastle). There she would have her operation, a Laminoplasty. We drove down and were able to stay on the hospital campus, basic but oh so convenient.
In layman’s terms, a Laminoplasty increases the space within the spinal canal. It does this by cutting completely through one side of the lamina breaking it free from the spine, and part way through the opposite side creating a hinge on the lamina. A bit like a drawbridge. Metal hardware is then attached to keep the drawbridge open (like wedging a door open with a stick), removing the pressure from the spinal column. Mum needed hinges on C4,5 & 6 (neck).
Mum spent a total of seventeen days in John Hunter, mostly waiting. She had four scheduled operation dates, where she was prepped and ready to go, each one cancelled at the eleventh hour. It was utterly devastating for her. But she was in a public hospital and emergencies had to come first. In the meantime, she was very well looked after. Her operation finally went ahead on the 23rd of December.
We celebrated our “Little Christmas” on Christmas day two days later. How’s that for recovery? They breed ’em tough where we come from.
On Boxing Day, mum was flown back to Port Macquarie where she stayed for a further twelve days and where her journey to recovery began.
But wait there’s more. Mum was then transferred from Port to Wauchope, a small country hospital twenty minutes west of Port, for seventeen days of rehab. Fantastic staff, and well worth the extra time away from home. They got her back on her feet and well on her way to recovery.
All in all, mum spent a total of fifty-eight days of incarceration, whoops I meant hospitalization, and by the end of it all, she was well and truly ready to come home.
I have to say, mum coped with it all extremely well. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t hard for her, or that she didn’t have any bad days, because she did. But most of all she hated all the waiting and planned many escape attempts. When they failed, she pleaded to anyone who came near her bed, be they doctors, nurses, lunch ladies or cleaners, “Can I go home now?” All to no avail.
For her age, (88) and for what she went through, and how well she came out at the other end I have to say we are extremely proud of how she coped. Throughout it all, she was rarely without a smile.
It was a huge relief when mum finally made it home, able to walk with the aid of a four-wheel walker. A tiring time for sure and what a relief to be in her own bed again.
We weren’t able to celebrate Christmas properly in hospital, so we rescheduled it to the 25th January. I think it is safe to say, the day was a success – if a month late.
Welcome home mum.
And that brings us to the beginning of March. Mum is almost match fit and Peter and I are chomping at the bit to get back on the road. We will, in fact, be heading off on the 10th, weather permitting, staying close to Port in case we’re needed but trying to get back in the mode of our nomadic life style.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
