Hay NSW to Malanda (home) Qld

 Friday 16 th September 

We visited the Australian Shearers Hall of Fame in Hay. It was very interesting seeing the old equipment that was used many years ago, well worth a visit if you get into this region .

     

                             

                                              The local fire station in Hay

 

       

   

       

                       

                                An amazing collection of old Shearers blades 

        

                          John checking out the grading of the wool just been shawn 

        

            John standing by a wool wagon . Photo below of one with it loaded up 

       

                                     Record load of 150 Bales of wool weighing 17.5 tons

                                    

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We had a walk around the town last night and came across the local fire station .

We traveled to West Wyalong then on to Forbes. This was interesting to say the least many parts of the road were in flood due to the heavy rain we have had in the last 48 hours here.

      

     

                        Check the side mirror a lot of water we went through 

       

                                Another very deep piece of the road traveling north 

        

                        This area is known for it canola oil crops. Sadly not today.

We arrived in Forbes around 3.45pm . Time to set up for the night so John can watch the league.

We found a freedom  spot close to town within walking distance. The local river had flooded here so.

      

                 We are parked just 40 metres from the lovely walk bridge for the evening.

Saturday 17th September 

Woke up to a beautiful sunny day this morning . Leaving early as we want to get to Moree before the rains come again. The roads will be flooded again not wonderful driving  when this happens.

      

 

                   The view from our caravan door this morning over looking the river 

We arrived in Moree without any rain on our travels . We are staying at a caravan park called Gwydir just on the edge of town. We have stayed here before on a previous visit and found it very comfortable. Great hot pools. We caught up with our friend Mel with whom we met in Alice Springs and is now living in Moree. You can meet some wonderful people while traveling . 

    

     

              Hot pools under cover closest is 37 degs , top left 39, top right children's pool 

     

                                   Swimming pool for the serious swimmers 

          

                 Packing up caravan and ute ready for the next part of our journey 

19th September we arrived back in Queensland, a quick phone call to Anne (John's sister) to tell her to put the jug on brought laughter to her even if we are still around 1400 k away she knew we were nearly back home .

We made our way to our friends Anne and Keith Nicholson in Millmerran where they have been farm sitting for the last 12 months doing odd jobs. It has been great catching up with Anne and Keith ( Marg knew Anne from the grocery trade in NZ been friends for a long time ). 

      

                      Our caravan parked up in front of Keith and Anne's at Millerran 

We went into Toowomba for a day and had a look around. Did a grocery shop at Aldi and got some good specials . Picked up 2 pairs of support socks for John only $4.50 a pair normally up to $40.00 in the chemist. 

John and Keith went to Brisbane on Thursday 22 nd to a truck auction , checking out the prices of buying a small truck to tow our caravan with as we seemed to of collected quite a bit of stuff since we have been back in Aussie traveling around.  We need to be able to put a little car in the back so we can have a car for running around in. 

When the boys came back from Brisbane our ute heated up again and is now in getting looked at . They seem to think it maybe a cracked head. We sure hope not . In between all this John has helped Keith with doing some work on his ute and Keith helped John fix our led lightening in the outside of the caravan. Anne and I have caught up with some craft work and a few repairing jobs that needed doing. 

Not good news when the boys came back, our ute has not even been looked at. So we won't know anything till Wednesday. It is a blessing we are staying with Keith and Anne that is for real .

10th Sepetember. 

The ute has been in the work shop for 18 days now . They found out that the head was cracked, so that had to be tested and another one found then the radiator was not looking good. Thankfully we were able to stay with Anne and Keith on the farm they a house sitting . 

We have a Lovely time catching up with them and playing a card game called 5 crowns every night. We have also met some wonderful people whom Anne and Kieth have met. The 3 weeks we have been here has gone very quick.

We had a wonderful roast meal yesterday (Sunday) cooked in a camp oven for 2 hours over a lovely open fire. It was all very tasty and filling. I think John and I will have to invest in a camp oven in the not too distance future for our travels around Aussie and NZ .

      

                               Our midday meal cooking slowly in the camp oven

We have been promised the ute back today around midday. Anne goes to a craft morning once a fortnight, I have been invited  to go again this morning as we can do nothing until the ute is back. This I'm looking forward to.

Our friends Jimilie and Greg also came and stayed for two days so we could catch up with them and see there little dogs again Digby and Maggie May. We had a wonderful time with them plus Keith and Anne have made some  new friends. Sam Kieth and Anne's little dog had a great time playing with Digby , and the laughs we had from watching them play helped pass the enjoyable time away .Life is great. 

John went into Pittsworth for the ute at lunch time . Thankfully it was all complete and up and running .

The cost for a reconditioned head and gasket was $1852.90 . The labour was $1450.00 , total for car repair was $3591.30.

Our last night with Anne and Keith we played 5 crowns again and had a few drinks. It will be sad to leave as it has been wonderful spending this time with them. But Malanda is calling us home. Tomorrow we are hoping to get to Taroon.

11 th October

We left Anne and Keith at 6.50am and headed out to Brookstead to get the caravan and ute weighed.

John was pleased with the weight of it. Ute 2800kgs and the caravan 2760kgs yah we are no longer overweight in the caravan .

We travelled up through the Cecil Plains to Dalby then onto Chinchilla , then onto Miles where we stopped for lunch. From here we went to Taroom as everything was going good we decided to continue to Theodore and stay at the Show ground there. It is only $15.00 a night . Plenty of room to park and very quiet.

12 th October

         

         

                                        Theodore show grounds camping area 

We left Theodore for Mouragoubg the back way. Very interesting , 3 kangaroos decided to run in front of the ute to close to our liking but the made it safely to the other side. We saw a very large eagle and a mother goose and babies going for their morning walk. Sorry no photos it happened to quick .

     

Towards dusk we saw 5 kangaroos crossing the road with babies thankful we did not hit them . 

We arrived at Charters Towers at 7 o'clock after driving 820 k a long day. . We stayed at the Dalyrmple caravan park where we have stayed before , a great park very clean. 

It was great to see the different bird life whilst travelling to Innit Hot Springs. We saw several Bustards which is unusual close to the side of the road , these are very large birds, Wedge tail Eagles , Brolgas .

We travelled 450 k today and got to Innot Hot Springs at 3 o'clock , Met up with the Tropical tourers groups had a happy hour then it was time for a soak in the pools . The hotel next to the caravan park have wood fire pizza on a Thursday night , we decided it was time for a treat very tasty and one pizza was very fulling Between the two of us .

  

       

                       John and Marg receiving the Tropical Tourers BBQ apron 

14 th October

Today brought another beautiful sunny day ,time to go and catch up with Mum and  Dad then park up the caravan at Glen and Anne's farm ready for John to start work . Fingers crossed I can get a job at Bunnings in Atherton . 

We have now been back 5 weeks in Malanda in that time, John has been busy milking at his friends Ross's farm morning and night 5 days a week.

22 nd November 

Glen and Anne have gone away for a well deserved holiday south for 3 weeks. John is busy milking now on the farm here and looking after the rest of the farm. I'm having fun helping with the cleaning every milk . 

I have not yet managed to get a part time job other than the odd night at the RSL in Malanda.

I have been for a interview at Stockmans Eggs and have been told that when someone leaves or has a sick day they will ring me to go and work. Still waiting regarding Bunnings. Once again I am just waiting for a night fill position to become available and then I'm in I have been told, which will be great. Apparently there a quite a we kiwis working there and it is a friendly friendly store. 

We have just brought ourselves another's vehicle a Toyota Echo 2003 3 door hatch for running around in locally. ( we have named it the bumblebee). 

       

We have the Nissan Nivara ute up for sale, John is wanting to buy a tuck for towing the caravan plus hopefully we can put the echo on the back off it .

The weather has been very warm since we got back , many days into the mid 30s.

On the 12 th of November we had the Small Farms field day in Malanda a great sunny  day and a wonderful turn out of people. John and I helped Glen with the selling of raffle tickets .

       

             John selling tickets for the guessing of the young steer 181 kilos was the final weight 

                                       

                                              Yes it has been a little warm here lately 

      

                        A view over the farm at 5.45 am  with the clouds lifting 

We have had a surplus of cu cumbers and zucchini's so John has been busy pickling in the evening . He has had a good time at pickling eggs . Yes they turned out very nice . 

                       

                                                 Pickled  Pullet Eggs 

Here's wishing all our friends and followers a wonderful Christmas and may the new Year  2017 be a good year for everyone .

    

         

Adelaide August 2016

We arrived in Adelaide on the 15 th August.

Glen was at the airport to met us and take us to see Judith then onto his place we we are staying for two weeks in Gawler.

16th August brought a lovel sunny day so it was time to remove the cover off the caravan and check the inside of the caravan . They had a few dust storms in Gawler when we were in NZ . Yes a lot of dust got in so it was clean up time . All good , it was great to do something active by the end of the day it was spick and span . The rest of the week we were busy getting the ute serviced , then found out the clutch needed replacing. $2800.00 yes a lot but it needed doing before we leave Gawler . We don't want a break down on our way to Queensland .

Monday 22nd August 

Today turned out to be a lovely sunny day so we decided to take a train ride into Adelaide from Gawler. 

We visited the Houses of Paraliment and had a good walk around Rundle Mall . The train ride was free due to us having a senior card ( over the age of 60).

       

                                                     Adelaide houses of Paraliment 

                                      

         

         

                                                  Adelaide Railway Station 

25 th August

Today we are taking the caravan to Georgetown to have the axle and springs replaced on it so that the arm can be upgraded so we can be legal while on the road.

Interesting driving up to Georgetown, we passed paddocks that were bright yellow. This is canola oil flowers .

        

After delivering our caravan to Australian Loadmaster trailers we went across to the local Georgetown pub for lunch . We had Chichen hamburgers and chips for $13.00 each 

After lunch we visited the Historic Gladstone Goal.It was constructed between 1879 and 1881.  This was the second largest rural goal in Australia with 125 cells after extensions in 1959. During World War 11, the goal was used as an internment camp for Italian and German internees . In 1979 the goal re opened so a film could been made recreating prison life in the early 1970s for a movie Stir starring Bryan Brown.

The kitchen and dinning room once used by the prisoners under the watchful eye of wardens is now available for hire . Either for self catering or meals prepared to your requirements.

         

        

                                                Woman's section of the prison 

        

                                                         Sleeping area in the goal 

                                        

                                                High security area for the men in the prison 

   

        

         

31st August

Our caravan is ready to pick up from Lyle at Loadmaster Trailers in Georgetown . Lyle did a great job putting new springs on our caravan for us . It is good to have it back and know that we won't be over weight.  We sure do recommend him for any caravan axle etc repairs 

       

       

         

       

With time to spare we visited the place with most history of the area the local cemetery. 

                              

                                   A lovely headstone still in very good condition 1897.

Sadly we did not pick  up the caravan today  Lyle had a few problems whilst doing it so it took another full day's work to complete it . John gave him a hand for 3 hours so we get it done.  Then John and Glen had to meet him on Saturday at Clare half way between Gawler and Georgetown because he had not stamped the metal certificate that is attached to the caravan with enough numbers etc. 

In between this we had to completely empty the caravan of our stuff so John could get a true reading of the tare weight. This took us a hour and half to empty and when  John brought it home it took us the rest  of Friday and Saturday morning to put it all back. Yes we had a chuck out as well. We were both very tired from it. Thank goodness it is all legal now.

        

        

         

                                  Glen babysitting Scoobie   Doo while emptying caravan 

We finally got the ute back on Monday after we had to get a new themostat and gasket . A total of $8,000. We have spent on the caravan and ute for maintance etc since we have been back in Adelaide 

6th September 2016 .

We are finally now travelling to Mount Gambier for a few days with our friends Glen and Judith who kindly looked after our vehicles whislt we were in NZ .

John and I wanted to start our travelling north from the start of the Murray River in South Australia.

We had lunch today at the start of the Murray River, at Goolwa. Finally made it here .

         

                                  Dredging at the entrance to the Murray River and the sea 

      

      

         

         

                                      Glen and Judith at the start of the Murray River 

                                  

                                  

                                     Wild flowers along the rivers edge in the sand dunes 

We had our first night at a place called Parnka Point right on the lake edge. Lots and lots of very large mozzies and sandfly here. Sure  do need the repellent for these big ones .

        

       

7th September

Lunch was at Kingston right next to the big  Lobster sadly the centre was not open .

        

From here we drove to Robe along the coastline . Robe is very much a holiday area. Well known for its 

Sea food and fishing .

          

                                            Robe foreshore and local hotel x

          

                                             Robes Marina for its many visiting yachts etc 

     

9th September

Last night we stayed at Tantanoola after spending a wonderful day sight seeing in Mt Gambier.

We visited the sinkhole gardens in the centre of Town and then went to look at the Blue Lake .

Sadly it started to rain when we did it, but it is still worth visiting. 

We spent an afternoon relaxing in the caravan as it was raining very heavy playing 5 crowns a card game.

When we woke up this morning there was water everywhere. Very large puddles great for the ducks and ducklings which were many.

      

On our way to Penola many farm paddocks were under water due to the rains. We passed many vineyards with the vines now in bud with new growth.

Once we got to Penola we visited the information centre. This is a wonderful centre with lots of information of the area well worth a visit before you go to the Mary MacKillop centre and the staff are very helpful with there knowledge.

 

     Old stone building in Penola where many homes and industrial buildings are built like this 

We visited the Mary MacKillop Interpretive Centre in Penola. This was a very interesting centre well worth a visit. As you wonder around the centre you can read  what Mary did for Australian children.

  

       

Mary MacKillop is widely referred to as a Saint for all Australians .

In 1860 at the age of 18 Mary left Melbourne to work in Penola as a governess for her Uncle Alexander Cameron. Alexander was widely known as the King of Penola. Mary met a priest Father Julian Tenison Woods who changed her life . He encouraged Mary to educate all children and the lessons were held in a small cottage. Mary converted the stable into a school room which would accomodate up to 40 students. It was here that The Cradle of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart began. 

For more information you can go to www.visitmarymackillop.com.au.

                                   

                                 

                        Lead Windows that have been used in the centre from the 1870s

We had a lovely Beef and Gunness pie from the local bread shop for lunch and brought a fresh  loaf of bread.

We have found that parking on truck site or rest areas to be great surprisingly we have found them to be very quiet at night , just what you need when you have been driving all day and sight seeing.

Glen found these 3 adult echidna in the bush and called us over to take photos of them   They move very quickly when disturbed.

 

      

We followed the Murray river to Haythorpe reserve in Mannum . We had to take a vehicle ferry to go across the river to the reserve. 

        

        

Once on the ferry we were told the Murray River Princess paddle steamer would be leaving the wharf at 5.00pm and going up the river . Wow what a sight it is. There is a tour you can take on it and travel up the Murray River for 3 days returning to Mannum.

We stayed 2 night at the reserve costing us $10.00 per night . We thought it was good value having toilets and a dump station there. 

I tried to catch a fish but sadly no luck they enjoyed my bait though . It was very relaxing here. A good time to catch up with doing the laundry etc. 

Monday 12 th August time to move on to another spot  on the river. This time we are going to            

180 k from Mannum 

       

        

        

        

                  Dusky Moorhen lives on the Wetlands in south-west and eastern Australia 

        

             Eurasian Coot along the Murray. Lives throughout mainland Australia and Tasmania 

 

This is one look out we stopped at on our way to Waikerie where our next stop for the night will be.

         

       

                                      

Here are a few facts that we found interesting about the Murray River. 

The Murray is the third longest navigated river in the world behind the Amazon and the Nile. 

Total length 2756 kilometres from it source in the Upper Murray to Kosciusko National Park.

The Murray is continuously navigatable for 1986 kilometres from Goolwa to Yarrawonga.

It spans 3 states Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.

The river has 4 major dams,16 storage weirs and 15 navigatable locks.

It is the major domestic water supply for over 1.5 million households.

Along with its tributaries, the Murray is the third largest water catchment on earth.

                           

   

We stopped at Blanchetown for lunch were I decided to make some savoury scones for lunch for us all. Yummy there were. While parked up a wonderful thunderstorm and lightening passed over, it gave the ute and caravan a good wash .

        

Another Murray River crossing by ferry at Morgan.

       

       

We are parked up at Hogwash Reserve. Sadly it is raining and the Murray is getting higher.

Due to the rain forecast it is time for us to move to higher ground namely a caravan park in Renmark .

We came across a small park called Riverbend caravan it cost $34.00 a night very friendy staff and good ablutions . Sadly it has rained the two days we have been here with just the odd blue sky showing . 

      

                        The caravan park from the bridge going into Paringa 

  

      

           The view from the caravan park looking at some houseboats across the Murray river .

Sadly we say goodbye to Glen and Judith and hopefully will return to Adelaide another time to visit them. We have had a lovely time traveling around with them thank you Glen and Judith we will miss our  game of cards in the evenings with you .

15 th September 

Today we drove from Renmark to Hay . We travelled 460 k today 

We are staying at the Hay show grounds $20.00 a night. It is cold here and yes we have the heater on.

Fruit fly inspection station at Yamba S.A. just before crossing into Victoria