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Day 91: Tenterfield to Glen Innes
"Nothing's going to happen" were my famous last words before the kids and I left to explore Washpool and Gibraltar Range national parks.
I finally managed to convince Darren to stay in the van and rest to give his body a chance to recover from the virus he is fighting. He felt guilty and concerned and so made me write down my plans of where we were going and we even arranged a time he was to call the police if I hadn't yet returned.
The kids and I set off to first explore the Standing Stones. The area has a rich Celtic heritage and the stones are representative of this.
Next we drove the 60 odd kilometres to Gibraltar national park. We completed the walks to both Lyrebird Falls and Boundary Falls. Neither were very long walks so we hopped back into the car and decided to go to Platypus Picnic area to eat our afternoon tea. Driving the dirt road back to the highway we heard a noise coming from the rear tyre. I stopped the car and opened the door to have a look but the tyre looked fine so we drove the last few metres and merged onto the main road. Once on the bitumen it was obvious there was something wrong with the tyre so we pulled over and sure enough it was as flat as a pancake. I must have driven over something that punctured it.
I got all the required tools out and proceeded to change the tyre, only problem was I wasn't strong enough to undo the wheel nuts.
I stood there for a couple of seconds realising I was going to have to flag down some help. I had no mobile reception and so couldn't call Darren to tell him, and as Ethan so eloquently pointed out " even if you could ring Dad he couldn't help anyway". Umm, good point son! I was comforted by the thought that if we didn't return within the next 2 1/2 hours Darren would ring the police.
Luckily I had not one but two cars pull over to help me, and they had the tyre changed in no time. Thank you to my knights! Comforting to see chivalry is not dead.
The kids and I hit the road again but only continued another couple of kms down the road to Raspberry Lookout before returning back to Glen Innes.
On the way back I had to swerve to avoid hitting a tortoise crossing the road. I had a delayed reaction to turn around and show it to the kids. Soon after we got back to it, and were pulled over, a car past on the side of the road the tortoise was crossing. The car hit it and killed it, seriously dude- did you not see it? So instead of showing my kids a beautiful tortoise and helping it across the road I got to show them a tortoise being hit and killed. Surprisingly they didn't seem too fazed by it.
I think it was definitely time to return before the third bad thing of the day happened.
When we got back to Glen Innes we started driving around looking for a supermarket so I could get Darren some powerade. As luck would have it I found a Beaurepairs dealership first. Took the tyre in to see if they could fix it before we left in the morning. The manager said he could until he looked at the tyre and convinced me we'd be better with a new tyre instead. Time to ring Darren, better get his approval on this one. Long story short, our brand new tyre will be ready at 8.30 tomorrow morning.
Darren has decided I'm not allowed out on my own, in unfamiliar areas, again!
But wait, there's more.
We didn't book a site before arriving today. We quickly ducked into the information centre after arriving in Glen Innes, to get info on the national parks and the caravan parks. We kind of decided on one to stay at and were on our way to it when we passed one that was previously in Big4, Craigieburn Tourist Park. We decided to stay at it instead.
I have never been to a caravan park before where we were the ONLY guests. We joked about why they were no longer in Big4 but we were quietly a bit scared, had we just stumbled into Deliverence! Before the kids and I departed I told Darren to make sure he kept the door locked. By the time we returned a few other guests had arrived.
The kids have decided the key feature of the park is the big granite boulder you can slide down like a slippery dip. The owners even leave flattened cardboard boxes next to it to be used to slide on.
Tomorrow we make our way to Tamworth for a couple of nights.
- comments
Miranda Glad you enjoyed Glen Innes. The National Parks are beautiful. I used to slide down that granite boulder as a kid! Safe Travels M x