Jun 3, 2018 - Gear Check

Another late start; although not as cold as last night, still cosier in bed then out. Another lovely hot shower and a leisurely breakfast. Do 3 loads of washing in van this morning and we meet a fellow camper from Colac also hanging washing. His wife had a hip operation and got an infection in the hip so now has difficulty walking and is on permanent antibiotics. She has other health issues so they are loath to open her up again to fix the infection. How lucky are we with our minor health issues. I walk up the township to buy a couple of...

Jun 3, 2018 - Darlington Point to Mail Route Rest Area just west of Euston

Up at 6.45, quick shower and pack up. Meet Carolyn and Michael members of the ACT ACC Branch who are also doing the big lap on the way to Denmark for the Muster. They are meeting friends in Burra so we are sure to meet them along the way. On the road by 9am, visit the dump point then fuel at Waddi, which is cheaper than Griffith and head for Hay. We drive through heavy fog for miles, and the air is freezing. Cannot believe the amount of cotton being grown on what was once dry farming country. New canals have been put in and we see cotton...

Jun 2, 2018 - Town and Wine

Sleep in until 8am after a freezing night, Bob reckoned he couldn’t get warm, I was cosy. Hot shower for me then cereal for breakfast. Having a bit of trouble with the cold water through kitchen tap, so Bob takes the line apart and finds lumps of grit, obviously from the anode. He cleans them out and it works fine. Then we can’t get the water to heat on 240v. Bob reads up on the water heater and he reckons the element is shot, so we will just use it on gas for this trip. Other than that everything else is working well Around 11am we head...

Jun 1, 2018 - Dapto to Darlington Point

Very cold and windy as we leave. Gets colder as we progress. No complaining of how hot the motor gets in these conditions. Forgot the thermos, so coffee at Marulan with nice warm sausage roll. Lunch at Gundagai where the weather is a little better. Then drive through to Darlington Point with just a quick stop for fuel at Wagga. Book in for 3 nights, Geoff only charges us $20pn, cheap. Doesn’t take long to set up then quickly into the van to heat up dinner, casserole made yesterday and a welcome warm dinner it is. Very cold so I put my...

May 7, 2018 - Sprouts

We went to see Graham's new business venture in operation today He is growing organic sunflower sprouts. His plot is on an organic farm in the nearby hills. This is the biggest bag of potting mix I've ever seen! It's an interesting process and it takes 6 to 8 days from start to finish. The sprouts are packaged in 2 sizes and the local shops are taking them as well as a couple of wholesale fruit and veg suppliers. Finn was hoping to take Grandad fishing after school today but we had a rainy afternoon so hopefully tomorrow will...

May 5, 2018 - But wait ........there's more!

After departing Port Stephens we had a long day's drive to Lennox Head. We stopped at Ulmarra on the beautiful Clarence River to catch up with Paul and Kath on Moor R & R - a very short half hour stop as we still had a couple of hours driving to do. Then it was on to see our son and family. Grandad and Malia played chess. Finn played his first ever game of soccer. Then we did a trip up to the northern outskirts of Brisbane to catch up with Tim and Amanda, and their lovely daughters, Ashleigh and Carrie. This is the view from...

Apr 22, 2018 - board the Explorer of the Seas

There are certain spots in some cities that immediately identify where you are. The Sydney Opera House is such a defining feature of Sidney Harbor that you immediately know that you could be nowhere else. When the Opera House was originally designed by Jorn Utzøn, it was impossible to build the way he had envisioned it. He had designed such huge sweeping sails on the roof line that construction technology was not up to the task. Compromises were made and a slightly less grand version of his plan was built at a much grander price. He was so...

Apr 19, 2018 - back in Sydney

A passion for RV'ing brought us together with Al and Sue and we spent the morning touring their new rig and taking a ride. Ken photographed it with his drone, even though technically we were in a "no fly" area a bit too close to the Air Force Base. However, he hardly flew higher than the palm trees and I doubt even his neighbors noticed. Our test drive also took us to a nearby a spacious campground which had some sites large enough even for a rig like ours. However, there appear to be no sewered sites in Australia, which makes that part of...

Apr 18, 2018 - House-sitting in Outback

Hi everyone I mentioned meeting Australian renowned artist John Murray and his photographer wife Viki . . . guess where I’ve been house-sitting for the past seven and a half weeks? At the “camp” on the outskirts of Lightning Ridge that John built and owned for decades until 2016 when he sold it to Mel and Susie, two of Australia’s top bush poet entertainers – who are currently away on tour . It’s been an interesting and initially challenging time – I’m sure you can picture it, a Kiwi attempting to house-sit a rural mining camp in the semi...

Apr 17, 2018 - off the tourist track

After a final linger on the beach at the beautiful resort in Palm Cove, we drove to the airport for our final flight in Australia. It was the longest flight so far. Cairns is farther from Sydney than Auckland, New Zealand. When we were in Australia last in 2009, we were shocked to have visits from two different couples who listen to our RV Navigator podcast here Down Under. Al and Sue spent some time with us in Sydney and we enjoyed a ferry ride to Manley with a bicycle tour together. We keep track of what they are up to on Facebook and...

Apr 14, 2018 - Sydney - Day 1

Time to fly off to Sydney. A crazy city with people every where. The sidewalks were packed with people and the grocery store was so full with people you could not walk down the aisles in the evening. The store had like 30 check out lines and you still had to wait to pay for your groceries. We were originally scheduled to be at a hotel right in the middle of the central business district, but decided to move to a hotel apartment with a kitchen and laundry area. The only downside was that it was near Chinatown and meant a 30-40 minute walk to...

Apr 8, 2018 - Sydney - UPDATE NOTES

Hi All, So a change of plans was made to our non made plans and we stopped off in the Blue Mountains for a few days then we moved to Sydney to see Marco's sister in hospital, but her operation was moved back 2 weeks and she was not in hospital nor could we change our booking so we came anyway and saw her for a day. On the way we stopped off in the Blue Mountians staying at Blackheath and having a bit of fun for 2 days. We saw and photoed the Megalong and Jamison Valleys, saw the 3 sisters (a rock formation in Katoomba) and Anne, Barry and...