Oct 21, 2018 - Port Hughes to Carramulka, west of Port Vincent

21/10/2018. Sunday. Sunny, blue sky, cool wind Port Hughes to Carramulka I woke with a start this morning, thinking it was an hour earlier than it was. Time to get up anyhow, and check out of the caravan park. When we took the keys back I said I’d like a refund and got stunned looks. I then said that we arrived on a beautiful sunny day and were leaving on a beautiful sunny day, but the 2 days we’d spent there were miserable with cold winds! The staff looked quite relieved when they saw that I was joking. For the third time on this trip,...

Oct 21, 2018 - Sydney

We had two uneventful days at sea followed by sailing into the most stunning harbor in the world. We arrived just before sunrise. The pictures tell the story but don’t do it justice. The iconic Opera House and Sydney Harbor Bridge. It’s hard to believe we are really here. Debarkation was very efficient and after a short taxi ride we are at the Hyatt Regency (thank you Paul) at Darling Harbor. We had our our room by 11:00. While waiting for it we took a walk around the harbor and scouted out the ferry system. That is how we got to the bridge...

Oct 21, 2018 - A streetcar named "Helensvale"

Off to Helensvale on the streetcar named Helensvale. We could have walked 500 metres to the 777 bus stop and taken the bus to the terminus but instead we drove to Pacific Fair and snuck out the entrance and walked over to the terminus for this was to be an End to End then back again experience. The G link system has been obviously well thought out, shaded bike shelters at each stop and chilled still or aerated water at each stop, your bottle or theirs. The ticketing machine was easy to get the gist of and we bought return Concessions @...

Oct 20, 2018 - Port Hughes

20/10/2018. Saturday. Sunny, cool/cold breeze Port Hughes A windy night, but not quite so bad today - and the sky was blue, well, most of the time. A trip into Moonta, ‘Australia’s Little Cornwall’ where we parked and walked up and down the main street looking in shop windows - Real Estate: Hazel & I saw an old bank for sale and decided it would make a wonderful home, but Hazel couldn’t stand the cold and windy weather and it still had lease options for 12 years - nah! Gift shop: ventured in and could have stayed for hours, just looking!...

Oct 20, 2018 - Off to the Hinterland

Off to the hinterland today. No not as far as O'Riellys, once along that road is enough... So we went to Canungra and Beaudessert. Its funny how revisiting somewhere can bring back strange memories. When in 1970 I completed training at JTC the chief instructor had earned himself the nick name “And errr consequently” because that's about all he had to say. Due to the heavy rain over night the creeks have all risen “and err consequently” we cant practice creek crossing today “and errr consequently” your programs will need to be amended AND it...

Oct 19, 2018 - Port Hughes

19/10/2018. Friday. Windy, rain. Port Hughes What a contrast from one day to the next, as the photos will show. We started our day with a lovely cooked breakfast in the Camp Kitchen, where Hazel and I were waited upon by our men. The 45-50kph winds predicted arrived, and there’s not an awning in sight, and even the seagulls have hunkered down. Just like us!!! Ian was close to dropping the top of our van, but in the end decided it wasn’t necessary. We stayed at the park for the day, Ron cooked scones which we had instead of lunch then...

Oct 19, 2018 - A day with the birds

Off to Currumbin today as we thought it would be the “tame” option for the mandatory theme park visit. The weather was on our side today as well. By the time we arrived the animals and birds had already been fed so most were asleep in their dens. The Brush turkeys were building their huge nests of forest litter and other birds were wandering around. They also have rope courses here for people who think climbing on ropes for pointless exercise is fun, I wonder at the roping course at Canungra do they have safety harness and safety helmets...

Oct 18, 2018 - Port Pirie to Port Hughes

18/10/2018. Thursday. Warm and sunny, some light breeze Port Pirie to Port Hughes We popped into Woolworths for yoghurt and left with a bag full of groceries! An older lady was walking past 2 old men sitting on a seat, and one man called out ‘hey Jane - show us your carpel tunnel’. It sounded so funny. After driving through some beautiful countryside with golden wheat fields backed by beautiful low hills topped with wind generators, we stopped for lunch at Port Broughton, a lovely town on the western side at the top of the Yorke Peninsula....

Oct 17, 2018 - Peterborough to Port Pirie

17/10/2018. Wednesday. Cold, wet, windy, hot Port Pirie We all had a much better sleep - that seems to be our main topic of conversation in the mornings - although the wind blew and it rained. We filled up with town water at our bush camp and headed towards Port Pirie - in the rain. It was just over 100k, and we were able to take our time and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the lovely rolling South Australian countryside, even through the light, misty rain. We didn’t see any signs of drought. We arrived at Port Pirie late morning and set up...

Oct 17, 2018 - Gold Coast

And so here we are among the chaos of the Gold Coast, packed in like kippers at the Nobby Beach Holiday Village. The people next to me have their awning guy ropes under my Van. They are going to get a shock when I need to walk along the side of the Van to empty the toot.... It was an easy drive along the highway getting here, the Bruce Hwy has had several realignments since we last drove along this section. Some interesting Bill Boards that caught my attention. “ Put your faith in Jesus, he will guide you home” Well I could do that too if I...

Oct 16, 2018 - Peterborough

16/10/2018. Tuesday. Cold, wet Peterborough Last night was very, very cold and today is very, very cold and wet! Hard to believe after yesterday’s sun and dust and heat. We stayed rugged up in our vans this morning and then went to the Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre where we had a guided tour of what was once a hive of activity in Peterborough. It was the intersection of the east-west and north-south railway lines between 1917 and 1937 when a more direct north-south route bypassed Peterborough. In 1970 it became one of three triple gauge...

Oct 15, 2018 - Broken Hill to Peterborough, South Australia

15/10/2018. Monday. Overcast, windy and warm Broken Hill to Peterborough, S.Aust What a shocker of a night! It blew a gale all night, and the van rocked and the awning flapped - thump, thump. Just as well the van is strong and withstood the wind. None of us had a good sleep, and I was up just after 6am and looked out the window and saw a dark grey/purple tinged sky with lighting bolts and thunder rumbling. Ian woke soon after and was out of bed quick smart, I phoned Hazel and Ron to warn them, and we started to put things away - tables,...