Goondiwindi to Tocumwal 2011

GOONDIWINDI

 

Are we there yet, are we there yet. Not quite as still doing catch up but I'm not too far away now so should be back on track in a few more weeks.

 

Left good old Scarborough  for Goondiwindi which we deemed the first leg of us heading to Melbourne, had to stay 3 nights here as I had pre booked the car in for it's 30000 service

 

We stayed at the Goondiwindi Top Tourist Park; the park has quite big sites and most are drive through, the sites alternate in & out (one van in one way and the other in the opposite way). We had plenty of room even when we had neighbours; the park caters mostly for passing through overnight stays which seemed to be the norm all the way down the inland highway (Newell), same as us really but we were in less of a rush.

 

Pricing at the park was okay at about $28 p/n; amenities were clean and tidy and kept that way throughout the day, park facilities were of the basic type, laundry, BBQ's etc. The park is about 6km out of Goondiwindi township so not really walking distance for shopping but it is in a quiet location, one problem in some areas of the park is power tripping out even just using 2 appliances at one time, it does need some work done on the electrical supply to power heads to accommodate today's power hungry vans.

The park is good for one or two nights (longer if you need) but as with most of the caravan parks down the Newell they are mainly used as overnight stays to somewhere else. Short term managers were in place during our stay but were very helpful and polite.

 

 

Our site; as you can see plenty of room even when unhooked.

 

NARRABRI

 

We stayed at the showgrounds in Narrabri for one night and glad we did, these places are fantastic for one or 2 night stays as you can stay hooked up and most grounds are in walking distance to town, as usual tons of room with power and water points everywhere.

 

Cost was $14; the amenities were okay toilet wise but we opted to use the shower in the van. There were around 15 vans when we arrived and some had been in the grounds for a week or so, give me showgrounds any day for overnight or even a few nights stay (cheap roomy and very friendly places).

 

 

Shows where we parked within the grounds; every van had about half an acre so no noisy neighbours.

 

 

The showgrounds had a race/trotting track so in the afternoon some locals came with their horses for exercise; even if the horses did not want to go they had no choice as they were tied to the back of a commodore (above)

 

GILGANDRA

 

We stayed in Gilgandra 3 nights, the main reason was for us to head out to Gulargambone on one of the days. Nice little town with the main shop being an IGA which is about all that is need for a population of around 3000; it has the normal array of small shops, pubs & clubs so you won't do without.

 

We elected to stay at the Gilgandra Caravan Park which is located on the northern side of the bridge into town on the highway; the park is situated back far enough from trafic noise and after looking at the other parks in the area would (in our opinion) be the best.

 

The park has good basic facilities including a pool which in the warmer periods would be most welcome; amenities were good and the sites were once again very roomy. Site fee from memory was around $26 p/n; good place for one or a few nights stay.

 

 

Above is our site; no complaints about room and shade is good without having trees directly over your van.

 

 

First time I have come across this; for those that have eyes as bad as mine the sign on the laundry dryer says” This dryer is free to use. Please do not overload”. Good to see something like this and for those just staying overnight and wanting to get laundry done and dry before leaving the park it's a godsend. 

 

GULARGAMBONE

 

Well I hear you say “what is so important about Gulargambone”, for you probably nothing but for us it was a significant (but not lengthy) part of our lives. Dad bought the lease on the hotel and us in a moment of madness we agreed to help run it; so it was me off to West Ryde Tafe to obtain the publicans licence.

 

We drove from Gilgandra to Gulargambone without the van (50km) just to have a look around to see what if anything had changed; you guessed it in one, not much at all.

 

We did find the Gulargambone Caravan Park which is not bad; we had a look around and the facilities were quite good for a small town and the park was clean & tidy. Not a bad place to stay if you are heading out west via this route. Price for the park was at the time $22p/n. There is a bowls and golf club along with the pub, a small grocers shop and a few take away places but be aware you are limited and it is expensive so best stocking up as best you can before heading west.

 

 

Above is the Gulargambone Caravan Park; quite tidy when we had a look around.

 

 

No star rating here but note the sign; this is a 6 (Galah) rated park.

 

 

The caravan parks camp kitchen; a real bushies paradise. They also had a large fire pit external of the kitchen which was still smouldering from the previous nights cooking.

 

 

At the side of the camp kitchen is this great looking “Dinkum Dunny” so the sign on the door says; not sure if it is a working loo or not as I did not have a look inside.

 

 

Above is the inside of one bar at the Gulagambone hotel; as soon as we walked in all the memories of this place flooded back, some good, some bad and some really horrid. Can't remember too many weeks without there being at least one fight either inside, outside in the beer garden or in the pub car park. We worked with my mum & dad for 6 months whilst they got going but it seemed like 6 years, start time for Lin & I was 6.00 am and I would be closing up and stocking the cool room as late as 1.00am (18 –  19 hours a day). Don't miss the place one iota.

 

DUBBO

 

Sorry but we did not take any pictures of Dubbo; the place is just like a mini city, very busy and lots of shops and traffic.

 

We stayed at the Dubbo City Holiday Park for 2 nights which prides itself on having the best security in town; seems like some of the parks are targeted by thieves, they did tell me the main culprits involved but best I not put that on here or I may get sued. First time I had seen this; the park had a fully planted herb garden with a sign saying “These herbs are for the use and enjoyment of our park guests”, nice touch with several fresh herbs available for you to pick and use in cooking.

 

The park was clean and tidy and the amenities very good; the park is surrounded by a high fence with barbed wire at the top; entry to the park during daylight hours is as normal, after that the security gates close (security gates not boom gates) and pass codes are required to enter or leave the park.

 

Dubbo is a very big town with everything you would be able to get in a city centre so it is a good place to stock up on reasonably priced food and grog.

 

PARKS

 

We only passed through parks on our way to our next stop, West Wylong but we towed the van out to the Dish. Some of you would have been here or would remember the Australian movie of the same name. They have plenty of room for parking cars and vans and a lovely cafe so it is well worth the stop, it is only about 15 minutes off the main highway.

 

 

Linda is the little dot just to the right of the bush. Just a couple of statistics for you; it has a diameter of 64m, weight of the dish alone is 300 tonnes and it has a total weight of 1000 tonnes above the control tower, it cannot operate in winds greater than 35 km hour.

 

 

In front of the entrance they have 2 dishes called “The Whispering Dishes”; they are situated about 100m apart. Lin stood at on and me at the other and if you whisper into the dish your partner can hear you at the other end, very weird when you first do it (whisper, that is).

 

WEST WYLONG

 

Stopped here for a couple of nights at the Ace Caravan park; it is just about in town on the left heading in but it is back enough off the road that noise is at a minimum. Most of the sites are drive through but no slabs and it can be a little dusty if the wind picks up.

 

The amenities were good, nice and clean and the showers were separate from the loos, nice to have a shower without listening to someone having a s#*t, top marks for this. Everything was clean & tidy both park and facilities wise; the park did have a pool so in the hotter months would get a fair bit of use. Site fees were $22p/n so once again good value. The town has a population of about 3000 and does have an IGA which is sufficient for shopping needs, the usual shops exist and “Her Indoor's” managed to sniff out a small scrapbooking shop, it was at this point I headed for the pub.

 

 

The sites at West Wylong; plenty of room to stay hooked up and town was an easy walk.

 

 

Could not resist taking a photo of this building in town; as you can see on the top of the place it says “Thoms Corner 1894 –  1923” and the front facia says “ Thom, Dick & Harry's”. Not sure what it all means but it was just an unusual name and made for a good picture.

 

TOCUMWAL

 

After leaving West Wylong we headed for Tocumwal which is just on the NSW/VIC border; classed as NSW as it is just north of the Murray River. We stayed at the Boomerang Way Tourist Park and they were kind enough to give us 2 sites (one in front of the other); It allowed us to stay hooked up and wonder in to town for a look around.

 

The park was very good and the upkeep of the grounds & amenities first class; the park has a pool so once again good for the hotter spells. The town does have some quaint buildings but little in the way of shopping; has the usual foodworks, pubs & clubs along with a few cafes & take away places. Great for an overnight stay.

 

 

Above our site at Bomerang Way Tourist Park; a slab for the van and another for the car. It was good for us as no unhooking and a walk to town.

 

 

Had to stop at the Big Strawberry; yes it is Linda with her head through the cutout.

 

Okay all that completes this post; next stop for us after here was Seymour; we decided to stay here for a few nights before heading into Melbourne (on a Sunday).

 

Hope you have enjoyed the read of this section of our travels; the next post will have Melbourne (and our exit north). Tassie or bust did not happen and I will cover the reasons why next time.

 

Until then keep well, stay safe and if I don't get another post up beforehand have a great Christmas & New Year. We will be bedded down at Scarborough Holiday Park from the 16^th  December to about mid Jan to avoid the road warrior's and Richard Cranium's.

 

Love to all our family & friends and hope to see you somewhere, sometime soon.

 

David & Linda –  The DavLin Rig

NQ Floods - Burnett Heads & Other Stuff

Well here I am back at it again trying desperately to catch up (and I seem to be getting closer) ; following this post the next one will cover our trip down to Melbourne down the inland highway and the stops on the way so I'm nearly there.

 

PROSERPINE & BOWEN FLOODS

 

After “Yasi” and our stint at Kurrimine it was time to head back south; sounds easy enough and would have been if not for the floods at Bowen & Proserpine. To give you an idea of how the trip was we left Ayr to get to Mackay, a total of 306km. It took us 10 hours to do the trip and the time taken was because of the floods not because I drive a Nissan!!!. 

 

 

The above was the queue of traffic waiting to run the gauntlet at Proserpine. The only chance to get across was at low tide when the waters would be at the lowest; main roads came out at low tide to check the situation and refused to take down the “road closed” barriers as they believed it still to deep to cross. After they left the scene a number of trucks and 4 x 4's decided to go; we were the tail end (last vehicle) to take the plunge.

 

 

As we were approaching the food waters we heard on the two way radio from those that did not go that a highway patrol car out of Proserpine was chasing us for not obeying the “road closed” sign ($300 fine); fortunately we made it into the water well before the police arrived; a radio call later confirmed they had turned back (too deep for their car}.

 

 

 

Must admit it was deeper than expected and the distance from entry to exit of the water was approximately 8km. Don't think I would do this again as it was difficult to define where the road was.

 

After the usual overnighters we ended up in Scarborough for Easter; caught up with all our family & friends in the area. Our daughters partner, Nick had his parents coming over from New Zealand so we spent some time on the sunshine coast telling Kiwi jokes (not really).

 

AGNESS WATER / 1770

 

We were offered to do a shared management role at the park at 1770; this would be a three month on, three month off share with the current managers. We decided to give it a try as it would give us all the experience of front & back office (wages, banking and invoicing). We did learn an awful lot but we decided against this as we have not finished our travels; it would have been a good position to be in if we were another couple of years down the track.

 

 

The parks booking system; it looks a bit like an excel spreadsheet but it is way more complex than that.

 

 

Linda on mail sorting after Australia post drop off the daily delivery of boxes, letters & parcels.

 

 

Cabin keys; to explain, the keys you see at the back of the cabinet are the cleaners keys, there are normally the guest keys hanging in front when they a vacant; as you can see by this shot all 28 cabins were booked out, the park does get very busy at times.

 

BURNETT HEADS

 

The Lighthouse Caravan Park –  This is a great little park and we would definitely stay again; the park is run by the son & daughter in law of the managers of the Elliott Heads park, both are council owned, we went and had a look at the Elliott Heads park but location wise we found this to be the best. The sites are a mix of grass and slab so if you want a specific type best you book.

 

Rates for the park were $144 per week so a great price; the amenities were keyed and kept fairly good, new cisterns were being installed so some mess and noise during this was unavoidable. Burnett Heads has a new IGA, yacht club, chemist, bakery, newsagent come post office and a very good pub which does not look like much from the outside but is very nice inside. Major shopping should you need it is at Bundaberg which is only about 12km away.

 

This is a good spot to sit and relax for a few nights or a week plus; the park is more set up for the older traveller as there is no pool, jumping pillow, mini golf, peddle carts and the like, suits us as you are only paying for what you need, not the things you don't use. 

 

 

Our site, we had plenty of room and the grounds are kept clean & tidy.

 

 

This is the historical Burnett Heads lighthouse which stands next to the caravan park; it was relocated to South Head from Morton Island in 1873. It was moved to it's current location under the ownership of the Bundaberg Historical Society in 1972; it is now under the control of Bundaberg Council, they spent $17k in 2002 refurbishing the building.

 

BEC'S 30TH –  FATHERS DAY & THE TEN TENORS

 

We had to make sure we were back around south east Queensland for these events; our daughter, Rebecca had her 30th birthday bash and it was one we wanted to make sure we were at.

 

Linda & I are not late nighters but we managed to hang in until it got well under way; there was plenty of food and even more in the way of drinks. I am a little more wiser these days and just stay on my beers; no spirits or mixers for me and just the odd glass of wine or Bundy & Coke for Lin.

 

 

Linda with our daughter Bec and her partner Nick; the night was a blast.

 

 

The above is what's known as a beer bong (half a plastic coke bottle with a pipe attached) although it does not seem to matter what concoction you mix up or pour in it.

 

The way you use it is pick your poison, put the pipe in your mouth blocking the outlet with your tongue, get someone to hold the contraption as high as the pipe will allow then remove the blockage.

 

The result is 500ml of alcohol going down your throat in about 4 seconds; this brings on a lot of burping but can also lead to alcohol coming out your eyes and nose and may even cause you to throw up. You will also get the added benefit of hearing fits of laughter from all your mates, this could be followed up the next day by an embarrassing picture of yourself being put on Facebook. Anyone want a go??? certainly not me!!!  

 

 

Our two boys; Jay on the left and John

 

 

The grandkids on Fathers day; left to right (excluding the old fart) are Shandelle, Karly, Ruth, Cayle, Healy & Jaxon.

 

Much to my surprise (and horror) whilst we were at 1770 “her indoors” had booked 2 tickets for the Ten Tenors at Queensland Performing Arts in Brisbane; seems I was about to be introduced to a cultural evening so no ruggers and thongs for this do.

 

To top of this night of nights I booked a hotel at Southbank (Rydges) on the internet; the package on the web site offered an upgraded room, valet parking & a full breakfast for 2 at $170, quite good deal considering a standard room here is normally the same price with no breaky or parking, the hotel was only a 5 minute walk from QPAC

 

 

We near died when we got in the room; it had a separate lounge which was huge. I discussed it with Lin and we thought about giving the van a miss for a while and squatting here for a week or two

 

 

The bedroom; better known as the “den of iniquity”

 

 

Dion Molinas; one of the Ten Tenors.

 

 

Stewart Morris; Linda's favourite (after me that is).

 

This was a great night and not what I expected as they do a lot of the modern songs in an operatic way, if you get a chance to see them it is well worth the money.

 

Hope you all enjoyed the read; the next one will be our southerly trek to Melbourne and Canberra and a heap of other places as we went. Should have another post done in a few weeks (prior to Christmas).

 

Love and warm regards to all our family and friends; until next time stay well and travel safely.

 

David & Linda –  The DavLin Rig

 

 

The A/C Saga & Cyclone "Yasi"

Well I'm back again still doing my best to catch up with the site; only got me to blame for being so lazy and disconnected from keeping things up to date

 

Okay, let's start with the A/C saga or as referred to in a recent post “the shuffle & chase”. After the bloody thing broke down again at 1770 and several calls to Dometic they advised me that in travelling north if I stop at Rockhampton they had a service agent in town who would evaluate the problem and fix or replace as required. So off we went happy that we could get something done, never drive away happy based on Dometic saying “we will help you”.

 

We arrived in Rockhampton and proceeded to the address we were given which was in some back street where it was even difficult to park; considering this guy is an agent for Dometic and services A/C's on vans it was tight to even park on the street. The service technician came out to see us mainly because we were blocking his driveway; we explained our problem and he advised us he would get a ladder but also said he was not sure what he could do for us as he was only an agent for Waeco fridge's (Dometic own Waeco). Keeping this part short we checked in to a caravan park to sort out the mess with Dometic in Brisbane

 

 

 

Above is our site at the Discovery park just north of Rocky; I have put this on the site in a past post but it is one of the better parks and in a good location. I believe at the time it was under the $30 mark; amenities were good and always clean, sites had plenty of room and they asked if you would like them to put the van on the site, good marriage saver if you need help.

 

Okay, back on to the A/C problem; after a few call to Dometic they assured me that they had a very good agent in Mackay, as we were north bound we set off after spending a couple of nights in Rocky. we arrived at Andergrove van park (previously blogged) and were told to call Patrick from the A/C company on arrival.

 

He came out to the park which was good for us; his first question to me was “have you got a ladder” and “i need a pen and paper”; I thought here we go again what sort of tradesman for air conditioners does not have a ladder. He proceed (up my ladder) and took the top off the A/C; he advised me the compressor had lost all the oil and was buggered. The unit was not repairable and another new roof section was needed.

 

Patrick filled in all the warranty paperwork and sent it to Dometic, they approved a new roof top section under warranty and would arrange for it to be sent from Brisbane. Patrick told Dometic that if the despatched it Wednesday to Mackay he could fit it no problem on the Friday, any later and he could not do the job for another week, Dometic advised Patrick “no problems”, another non trustable statement as they did not despatch it till Thursday.

 

I contacted Dometic to let them know the A/C (already despatched) would now need to go to Townsville; TNT Transport were contacted and we were assured it would not go to Mackay but head further north to Townsville. When we arrived in Townsville we contacted the new agent that was to fit the new unit; he in turn advised me that he had contacted TNT Transport and they had lost it (a 2ft x 4ft 50kg package had been lost).

 

The final outcome it was found, it was fitted and it is still working.

 

 

One of the parks on our way to Townsville was the Burdekin Cascades park in Ayr; this park is council owned but leased by the current managers from council. This is a great little park and I would recommend it over the others in the area. The amenities block you can see on the left was new and each is like an on-suite, inside each of the doors is a shower, toilet and vanity. Some areas of the park can be quite ground sodden during heavy rain so best staying to the higher ground. The park is just about in town so it is easy to access all of the shopping by foot if you like. Would stay again here as it is great value and a good location; the park managers are very helpful and friendly.

 

 

One of the parks at Ayr has a large snake; bigger than my pet python or more commonly known as the one eyed trouser snake. 

 

 

On the road but the police make sure you get off when one of these big buggers comes along; this was just outside Ayr.

 

KURRIMINE BEACH & SILKWOOD Vs. CYCLONE “YASI”

 

I must thank Troy & Abby for these photos as when we arrived the cleanup had been underway for some weeks; even so when we did get into town it was a totally different place. Linda & I love Kurrimine Beach and the surrounding area so if you do head through these places think of stopping for a few nights; the parks at Mission and especially Kurrimine are great places to stay and unwind.

 

 

A bus stop at Kurrimine Beach with someone's roof sheets wrapped around it.

 

 

The boat survived but the shed it is housed in could not stand up to the cyclone.

 

 

A caravan on it's side; it is hard to comprehend the force that can upend something this heavy.

 

 

The front reception at Kurrimine Beach Holiday Park

 

 

Some of the tree damage within the park at Kurrimine Beach

 

 

A tractor mower that was upended and blown to the back of a shed.

 

 

Garage roller doors were no match for “Yasi” with all within the town being either blown in or sucked out of their frames.

 

 

The structure you can see poking out of the water is a picnic area; normally this is a creek and a nice place for a BBQ, not so during “Yasi”

 

 

This is not a partially constructed house but a partially deconstructed house; the roof has gone and the windows have been ripped out by the force of “Yasi”

 

 

Another house which was damaged but it could have been worse; note the power pole laying over.

 

 

Expensive bananas!!; the above shows what was done to most of the banana plantations in the area, absolutely flattened.

 

 

The above is the swimming pool (25mt) following the cyclone; it had to be drained, refilled, pumps and filters replace and repainted. This was a very big job and very expensive for Marcus & Kay (the owners of the park).

 

 

The scope of work involved in getting the pool back to normal; Bob (Abby's Dad) did the sand blasting and repainting of the whole interior of the pool, the size of this thing can be seen when you consider Abby & Linda were standing at the deep end.

 

 

Abby doing the fishes and other features of the pool; she did a magnificent job in getting it looking aquarium like.

 

 

Linda (right) getting involved; more so with advise and encouragement than actual painting. 

 

 

One of the pictures by Abby.

 

 

Linda helping with paints and the odd brush stroke on the pool artwork.

 

 

Abby and husband, Troy with son Zac; everyone was involved in getting things back to as close to normal as possible.

 

 

Alan (left) who was also helping in getting things back to normal had a birthday in March; it was later we all celebrated as our birthdays all fell in the same week. The huge camp kitchen at Kurrimine Beach came in handy for the celebrations.

 

Well that's about it for this post; still plenty to do to catch up. We are currently at Hallidays Point (just below Taree) after leaving Victoria and heading north stopping at another couple of places before reaching home for Christmas (Scarborough Holiday Village).

 

Hoping you, your family and friends are all well and if your on the road, travelling safely. The next post should be on the airwaves in about another week or so but as always you will get an email to confirm. Hope to see some or all of you in the near future.

 

Love & warm regards to all our family & friends.

 

David & Linda –  The DavLin Rig