BACK TO THE MAINLAND

April 3-4 – Melbourne

April 3 - We disembarked from the ferry at 8:00am (in the rain) and drove through the very quiet Melbourne streets (it’s Sunday) to the Big 4 Caravan Park in Coburg which is in the northern part of the city. This is a different park than we stayed in when we were in Melbourne before we left for Tasmania. Took it easy for the rest of the day – we did some grocery shopping and we both took naps during the day because of the broken sleep on the ferry last night.

April 4 – It feels very good to be back on the mainland as Tasmania felt a little too isolated to us. We left the truck at the local Toyota dealership for its scheduled 60,000 km maintenance and took the tram to a shopping area about 10 minutes away. Melbourne has street level trams throughout most of the city. While most cities are getting rid of their trams, Melbourne is actually expanding their tram system. We had breakfast at a funky little café and then worked on the computer at an internet café down the street. After finishing there we went and picked the truck up and headed back to the van.

April 5-6 – Shepparton

Victoria Lake Caravan Park in Shepparton

April 5 – We packed up the van and headed to the Jayco service centre in Dandenong (again) for a couple of minor repairs, then back onto the M1 Motorway through Melbourne and north to Shepparton. The weather has cleared up again and it was a smooth drive. We checked into the Victoria Lake Caravan Park and settled into a nice site across from the lake and the Goulburn River.

The bird life here was prolific so I got the scope and tripod out and soaked it all up. There were birds everywhere - what a treat for me! Gerald, the gentleman from the caravan next door came over to check out the scope and the three of us ended up chatting for an hour.

April 6 – We did some shopping at the hardware and camping stores this morning, then went to the factory outlet store at the local Campbell’s Soup factory and bought some soup (surprise!) and then to the SPC-Armada fruit factory outlet and bought some canned fruit (surprise again!). After lunch we went to the local art gallery which had an amazing collection of ceramics and pottery dating from colonial to present times. We had assumed that they would have been open until 5:00pm or so but unfortunately we got there only 25 minutes before they closed at 4:00pm. As I am very interested in ceramics, pottery and mosaics, I really enjoyed what we saw during our rather quick tour.

After dinner Jeff went over to our neighbour Gerald’s place and chatted with him and I enjoyed a quiet night by myself.

April 7 – Narrandera

Left Shepparton at 10:00 am heading north towards the Victoria-New South Wales border. We stopped at Tocumwal briefly to look at the mighty Murray River which divides the two states. We arrived at the Lake Talbot Caravan Park in Narrandera at 2:30pm after a drive of 250 km and set up in a site right across from the lake.

Took it easy this afternoon, sat on the patio and read, had leftovers for dinner, watched “My Restaurant Rules” and had an early night.

The town hall in Forbes

April 8 – Forbes

Awake early, we packed up the van and headed out of Narrandera heading northeast towards Forbes. We are travelling through drought stricken areas now and you can see how dry and dusty everything is. They need rain very badly – it has been 4 years since they had a good rainfall.

We arrived in Forbes at noon and checked into the River Meadows Caravan Park. After a quick lunch we headed to the main town 1.5 km away and looked through the interesting Bushrangers Museum which was in the basement of the Albion Hotel, then went upstairs to the hotel for a cold one. We walked around town looking at some of the old buildings as this is a very historical town and has lots of old architecture, then did some grocery shopping and went back to the van.

April 9-10 – Dubbo

April 9 - Awake early again – the birds here are a very noisy bunch - We went outside and there were about 50 galahs (a type of medium sized parrot) sitting in the tree above us screeching and carrying on. What a racket they made!

Packed up the van and drove 2 km back down the highway to have a quick look at the Gum Swamp which is a wetland area that they have been working on to expand and restore over the last few years. These wetland areas are crucial to the birds and other wildlife of the area during the drought periods and you could see by the number of birds that were there how true that is.

The CSIRO Radiotelescope in Parkes

We drove to the town of Parkes, 25 km north of Forbes, to the CSIRO Radiotelescope which is a 64 metre wide radio dish. They had a very good visitors centre and while we were outside looking at the dish it was actually moving around as they adjusted its position. It was totally cool!

We continued on to Dubbo, which is one of the central towns in inland NSW, and checked into the Dubbo City Caravan Park, had some lunch and then went into the central part of town to look around. We looked through the Old Dubbo Goal which was interesting but not worth the $10 admission. It is very hot here this afternoon – 85F – so we did a quick grocery shop and headed back to the van to sit in the shade under the awning until it cooled off a bit.

Cooked burgers on the BBQ for dinner – yummy!

April 10 – Awoke to another beautiful, sunny day so we headed out for a drive to see what we could find. We stopped at the Dubbo Observatory, which was closed until that evening, but we did see the cutest “guard dog” that we had ever seen. She was a 10 week old fox terrier call Tigger which must have weighed less than a pound and could be held in one hand. What a little cutie!

Next we went to the Jedda Boomerangs site and learned how to throw a boomerang from a guy called Boyd who was quite a character. We had to wear hardhats during the lesson and I kept screaming and running around every time a boomerang came flying towards me which is just what you are NOT supposed to do. It was actually pretty funny! I didn’t do very well throwing the boomerangs but Jeff rocked and graduated to the fancy types very quickly. We purchased a couple to take with us on which to practice our technique (or lack thereof).

After a quick lunch back at the van we took the laptop to a café which had wireless internet (for free) and worked on that while we had a coffee.

We went back to the van where Jeff tried to wash some of the bugs of the front of the truck and then installed some screen across the front of the truck to protect the radiator from the bugs (sky prawns) we may encounter while travelling. We are not sure what to expect yet but we figure we would rather be safe than sorry.

The Breadknife and the Grand High Tops in Warrumbungle National Park

April 11-12 – Warrumbungle National Park

April 11 – Left Dubbo at 8:30am after stopping to buy some pies for tonight’s dinner at a local pie shop that had been judged to have made “Australia’s #1 meat pie” in 2003 & 2004. The proof will be in the eating.

We arrived at our destination of Warrumbungle National Park at 11:00am and set up in a site next to a very dry creek bed. We lounged around on our “patio” and were visited by a few kangaroos looking for a hand out. Even though we are not supposed to feed the wildlife, we (mainly Jeff) eventually broke down and hand fed one little kangaroo some cabbage – hopefully it didn’t give him gas!

We had our meat pies for dinner and they lived up to their reputation – yum! After dinner we had a small fire which is always a treat while camping and then watched “Desperate Housewives” on TV. It was lovely having a powered site in a national park in the middle of nowhere so that we could watch TV. It is surprising how many TV stations we can get with just our TV antenna and booster.

April 12 – We were up early this morning to go for a bush “walk” which ended up being a major hike. Left the van at 8:00 am, parked the truck and headed towards the Spirey View Lookout which was 3.3 km away. Once we had arrived there we still felt like walking more so we decided to head towards the Breadknife and Grand High Tops. It ended up being a long, uphill hike with approximately 1,100 steps at the very top. We were both exhausted when we got to the top, but the view of the Warrumbungle Range and the unusual rock formations including the Breadknife was absolutely magnificent and totally worth the effort. By the time we arrived back at the truck we had walked almost 12 km (much of that straight up and straight down) we were rather pooped and went back to the van to re-cooperate.

I didn’t move out of my chair for the rest of the day. Jeff actually had the energy to make a lamb spaghetti sauce and pasta dinner – amazing!

Ninghdoo view from our bushcamp

April 13-14 – Ninghdoo View Bush Camp

April 13 – Left the Warrumbungles at 8:30am heading towards Coonabarabran, then onto the town of Narrabri where we did some grocery shopping and filled up one of the water tanks in the van at the Information Centre. We telephoned Ed at the Ninghdoo View Bush Camp and Caravan Park to make sure he had room for us and he said “come on up” so that’s what we did. It was 27 km to the park with the last 8 km being dirt road which is always a little hairy with the caravan, but we made it there no worries and Ed settled us into a site.

This remote place was in the middle of farm land with a wonderful view of a rock formation called “Ninghdoo” and the adjoining mountain range. There was only one other couple (from Canberra) staying there so it was wonderfully quiet and peaceful. There were peacocks roaming around the campsite which Jeff fed by hand, and they also had chickens in a coop and we fed them too.

That night we had a roaring fire and gazed at the stars and even set up the scope and saw the planet Jupiter and four of its moons. It was so dark there that the Milky Way was clear and bright and spread across the sky. What a glorious place!

The cattle drive through our campsite

April 14 – We awoke to another clear, sunny day (they need rain badly here too) and fed the chickens some left over broccoli, carrots and rock melon (cantaloupe) from last night’s dinner. What a great way to start the day. Then to top the morning off Ed had to move his herd of cows from one field to another right through the campground so we had cows and their calves walking/running past the caravan with myself hiding behind the truck and van and Jeff videotaping it. What a blast!

We drove a further 25 km into the Mt. Kaputar National Park and up to the summit of Mt. Kaputar which is at 1,508 meters. From the top of Mt. Kaputar you can see a tenth of New South Wales in a panoramic 360 degree view. It was quite spectacular and well worth the drive up the steep, winding, partially dirt and often one lane road. Yikes!

April 15 – Inverell

Reluctantly we left Ninghdoo View at 9:00 am (after feeding the chickens and peacocks again) and headed back into Narrabri, then north to Moree and then east towards Inverell where we checked into the Fossickers Rest Caravan Park. We unhitched and set up the van in record time as we needed to be at the Inverell Draught Horse Centre by 2:30 pm and due to Jeff’s skillful driving we made it there at 2:20 pm. At 2:30 pm the owner, Marge, brought 5 different breeds of “heavy” horses out one by one for us to look at. What magnificent beasts they were! I patted several of them and asked lots of questions. I have always been fascinated by these big horses and really enjoyed the opportunity to be up close to them.

April 16 – 22 - Lismore

April 16 - I got up at 3:30 am to telephone the Canada Revenue Agency regarding our taxes so we had a bit of a broken sleep. Left Inverell at 10:00 am and headed east towards Glen Innes, then north through Tenterfield which was a very pretty town. The road from Tenterfield to Lismore was very winding and somewhat steep (up and down) and we were glad to finally arrive there. We parked at the Info Centre and it actually started to rain in earnest which we hadn’t seen since we left Melbourne. We got a bit turned around but finally found our way to the Roadrunner Caravan Park and set up there where we relaxed for the rest of the day.

April 17 – Did some computer work and tax work. In the afternoon we did a little shopping and went into the CBD of town to check it out and find an internet café. We did some grocery shopping and headed home. We BBQ’d a couple of rib eye steaks for dinner which were very good.

April 18 – We awoke to a foggy morning but that soon burnt off to a sunny, hot day. It is very humid here in Lismore which is only 35 km from the coast - what a change from inland NSW where it was so dry!

Worked on our taxes again, and then went downtown to an internet café and spent 3 hours on the internet.

April 19 – It was another foggy start to the day, but again the fog burnt off by 9:00 am to reveal another warm day. Today we worked on our taxes again. Yippee! We went for a swim in the pool in the afternoon, then put on the glad rags (I even put on some makeup) and went into town to the “Workers Club” for dinner. Australia has many social clubs that allow temporary members (us) to use their facilities, i.e. their restaurants, bars and gambling facilities. They are cheap and cheerful places and are of course quite popular with the locals.

April 20 – We took it easy today. We went into town to do some grocery shopping, and checked out the Lismore Centre mall where the Coles (grocery store) and K-Mart was.

The open air cathedral in Bexhall

April 21 – This morning we finally mailed our taxes to Ottawa, so that was a load off our minds. Yeah! We went for a beer to celebrate, then back to the van and relaxed for the rest of the day. We had BBQ chicken & home-made coleslaw for dinner.

April 22 – This will be our last day in Lismore, so we decided to take a drive down to the coast before we hitch up the caravan again. We drove east to Ballina and then north into the infamous Byron Bay for lunch at the Beach Hotel. What a lovely spot this is; right across from the beach, lots of people coming and going, the sun shining, good food and cold beer. After lunch we went for a walk through the township and checked out the shops and bought a fridge magnet as a souvenir.

On the way back from Byron Bay we stopped at the Open Air Cathedral in Bexhall which was a rather moving place. It is essentially a church without walls, only seats (logs) and a sandstone pulpit with a large cement cross behind it. The view is over the old cemetery, the Corndale valley and towards the distant Nightcap National Park and is very, very beautiful.

Tomorrow we are moving the van to Palm Beach, which is on the Gold Coast of Queensland. Stay tuned!

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