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Sorry about the delay in posting our blog but I have had trouble accessing the sight, together with the fact that I did not have service at Cape Hillsborough. Bob managed to connect with the aid of an extra antenna but the signal was very weak. Now that we are up and running I hope you enjoy all our comments, Bob and Paul will be adding their little snippets as well (as you can see Bob has already written about our misadventure at Cape Hillsborough). Enjoy!!
Mon 21st June 2010 (day 1)
After and early start on Monday morning 21st June (which as most of our friends and family will say is unbelievable) we were half way to the freeway when we realized that we had left Warrens mobile at home, so if anyone wants to ring us don't ring his mobile cause we aren't home. We arrived in Tairo at 12.30 as pre arranged and met our other travelling buddies Paul & Jenny the organizers of this trip & Jenny's sister Helen, also Bob & Sue. (We all belong to the True Blue Caravan Club, except for Helen, this trip is not part of any rally organised by the club though. Hi to all of our True Blue mates, we hope that you had a great time at the last rally). So after a quick lunch and a trip to the Tiaro butchers (famous for his hams & bacons) we were on our way, all very excited and looking forward to the next 8 weeks on the road. We travelled in convoy until the Woodgate turnoff outside of Childers where Warren and I left the other two vans and we went on to Bundaberg to spend the night with Noel (my little brother) and Karen his wife. Paul, Jenny, Helen, Bob & Sue visited good friends in Woodgate where I believe they were wined and dined & treated like royalty; they had a lovely night and haven't stopped talking about it since. We had a great night also (thank you Noel & Karen) we gatecrashed a family party (Karen's brother Jeff) we also ate and drank too much but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, reacquainting ourselves with people we had not seen in 10 years or more.
Tues 22nd June
After a big breakfast we left Noel & Karen's to meet up with the mad mob in Gin Gin, we all had a quick lunch then wagons roll and on to our next stop, Warren in the lead. We all decided that the Calliope River rest area just out side of Gladstone sounded like a good place to stop for the night, and we arrived there around 3 pm, found a good grassy spot to set up camp and settled in, it didn't take long before drinkies started (it was 5 o'clock somewhere I am sure). Boy what a popular spot, there must have been at least 70 vans pulled up for the night, no wonder the caravan parks are complaining. We all tucked in early that night as most of us were tuckered out form all the preparations that needed to be done for this trip.
Wed 23rd June
Another early start, we were all on the road before 9am. Paul, Jenny and Helen (to be known from now on as H) were to meet friend in Rocky for morning tea. Warren & I, with Bob & Sue in the lead took our time and motored on to Rocky and had morning tea at a lovely park down by the river on the north side of town. We had arranged to meet up again with Paul and his crew at Marlborough for lunch (nothing worth mentioning about the place), when everyone had fed and watered the horses we made tracks for out next stop for the night. We took a punt on getting into a van park at a small seaside place called Clairview, not very impressed with the van park it really needs a lot of work it's very run down, and there is only bore water (very salty) on tap, and one tap between the 3 vans, thank goodness we are all self sufficient and have our own amenities. The park is very noisy also as the main road and the railway track pass right alongside the van park. I would rate this park 2 out of 10 but new owners have just taken over and they have some big plans for improvement. We have booked in for 2 nights; some of us are going fishing in the morning, others are just having a rest day. Warren was the only one to get a good reception on TV, but unbeknown to Paul who was most perturbed as has just paid out big for a new antenna for his van, Warren rented a cable. There is not much going on in this sleepy little fishing village to speak of, but we will check it out thoroughly tomorrow. Our next stop should be Cape Hillsborough if we can get in, what with the migration of the Mexicans (southerners) and the school holidays starting Friday, we will find it hard to get into any coastal van park for the next couple of weeks.
Thurs 24th June
We woke up to an historic day in Australian history, Kevin Rudd has stepped down and now Julia Gillard is our Prime Minister. After breaky Jenny, H and Bob went fishing and the rest of us went for a walk. Apparently the beach is about 5k long but we didn't walk all of it, when we got back the girls had caught a few fish, Jenny had the biggest one, yeo Jenny, go the girls, Bob's not happy Jan. The rest of the day was spent catching up on some reading and a bit of quiet time for everyone. We are sending a big hello to our family and friends especially Rob & Chris who are looking after our darling Heidi (schnauzer) and to Pauleen & Hugh and our darling little grandson William. Not long to go till happy hour so I will sign off for now, so that's all folks, we hope you have enjoyed coming along with us on our journey, we will try to make it as interesting and enjoyable as I am sure it will be for us, so until the next episode, keep well and happy. Lol Carol & Wazza
Pauls input. Our first night out and we separated, Paul (that's me), Jenny and Helen with Bob & Sue stayed with Joe and Jillian Russo at Woodgate. Warren & Carol went on to Bundaberg to party with Carol's brother. What wonderful hosts were Joe & Jillian! We arrived about 3 pm just before Joe got home (early) from the first day of the sugarcane crushing season. Joe and his brothers grow about 10% of the Isis Mill crop - a very large and sophisticated operation.
After setting up camp in the back yard of their beautiful, newly built home on the Woodgate esplanade we settled in to true Italian hospitality. Jillian had prepared a superb meal and coupled with a few glasses of red wine and finished with some port we retired to a good nights' sleep. Next morning we did a quick tour of Woodgate, said our goodbyes and hit the road to join Warren & Carol at Gin Gin. Until the next instalment, bye for now Paul, Jen & H.
Fri 25th June
We had another early start again today as we wanted to reach Cape Hillsborough by lunchtime. We made Mackay by about 11am & as we all needed to stock up on a few groceries and grog we stopped at the Mt Pleasant shopping centre on the north side of the city. Mackay as always is lovely, everything is so green, & the cane looked healthy and ready for cutting, they must have had a descent rain fall this season. We were back on the raod again by 12 but because Warren had to get petrol we were a little way behind the other vans, & not really knowing where the turnoff to Cape Hillsborough was we went sailing on by (you have to take the turnoff to Seaforth) so we had gone about 10ks up the road by the time we realized. The sight we had was right next to the swimming pool, we were lucky as Paul & Jen were squashed into a sight where you could not swing a cat and to make matters worse they ended up with green grubs crawling all over their van and droppings from the grubs in the trees above, made a terrible mess. The afternoon was spent walking along the beach for as far as we could while the tide was out (which went out a damn long way).
Sat 26th June
We had decided to walk to all the lookouts around the cape. Well what an experience that turned out to be, we left camp at oround 9.30 in the morning and climbed a fairly steep track to reach the first lookout (Sue and I were struggling a bit), the view from the top was well worth the climb, the views from the top were breathtaking, (that was after of got my breath back). So after taking a few pictures we all decided to walk on to see the rest of the lookouts. I don't know in which order they came now but we saw 4 in all, Andrews, Turtle (and yes we saw a couple of turtles down in the bay), Wedge and Twin Island Lookouts. By that time we had walked in a big semicircle back down on to the beach. Now we were avised before we left to watch the tides because we could get cut off, but we thought we would be ok. As it turned out the tide had come in & had cut off the way back via the beach (a might great rock was in our way). But the fearless adventurers that we are refused to be beaten by a rock so we did a bit of exploring and finally found a track that took us up and around. Well, we are now all seasoned mountain climbers, bush trackers, & absalers, we all come through unscathed excpt for a few cuts, bruises & nettle stings. We were all so proud of ourselves, not bad for a bunch of senior citizens, hey. We were back in camp by lunch time and all decided to have a quiet afternoon. Jenny made a beautiful pea & ham soup for dinner that night, I supplied the damper and Sue the sweets. After a few drinks, a great feed and lots of laughs we all crashed early that night (much to much activiity for one day). Our next stop will be Home Hill where we will be staying on a cane farm owned by good friends of Paul and Jenny. We will be staying there for 3 nights. It will be nice to have a break from travelling and catch up on some reading and updating the blog now that I have got it working. Cheers to all our friends & family, hope this finds you all well and happy.
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