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
