wine, fruit, cheese, liquer......

We spent the day in Stanthorpe...lovely place to relax and drink and eat.  We have been there before when we lived in Brisbane but it was good to go back and visit a few places we didn't see first time around. 

Here are a few photos

At the dairy factory for lunch....delicious cheese, relish and wine!

Castle Glen on the outside...sells liquer, wines, fudge.......

and on the inside....look at the beautiful bottles...and how many flavours to choose from!!  Tasting was divine.....

the stash we came back with...............guess its one way to lose weight before we head back to NZ to gorge ourselves for Xmas!!!

Three weeks gone - three weeks to go!

Last weekend we went out to Leslie Dam which is unfortunately a national park so we couldn't get Chip out the car to have a swim even though the water looked so inviting. Its a lovely spot and has a really nice caravan park within it (with a pool even) - pity about not being dog-friendly!!! There were quite a few people around with boats and jet skiis and picnicing....great place to take kids.

We were in Warwick shopping yesterday when the Xmas parade went by...very very sad indeed!  One bunch of kids that looked like they were from a dancing school, followed by a small pipe band and then Santa on a sleigh - although he was being pulled by real reindeer which I was fascinated with.  Apparently Warwick doesn't have big Xmas parades - they have a huge madi gras parade when the Rodeo is on instead.

Last night we went out for dinner with my boss from work (male nurse unit manager who is a nurse/midwife) and his wife.  We had a lovely night - a very nice couple.

Today we took Chip to Lure Coursing - we had never heard of it before but saw it advertised in the local paper and googled it.  Basically dogs chase two plastic bags around a course - a motorbike is especially set up to pull the bags around on the line.  It was a bit of a laugh and once again the Warwick locals were really welcoming of us - though Chip really had no idea preferring to run from Mal to me and vice versa.  Some of the other dogs were fantastic to watch.



We then went out to Glengallan Homestead for a look around and had lunch at the cafe there.  Its a lovely old homestead that has been restored in recent years.     This is Mal infront of the impressive house.  

Me in the ensuite bath...very modern for back in the 19th century...even used to have a shower over the top and you can see in the corner whats left of the toilet which used to flush!!

The view from the verandah on the second storey.  

If you are ever in Warwick I would highly recommend having a look.

We had a slight reprieve from the weather last week with a bit of rain and cooler temps, however its all changed again today with the sun out and once again we are sweating!!!  Guess our tan will be looking great by the time we hit NZ for Xmas!!!

One week in Warwick

We arrived in Warwick a week ago today. Here is a piccie of our travel route here

 The camp ground where we are staying has turned out to be better than our first impressions.  Unfortunately there is no pool here and its off the Cunningham Highway which can be quite noisy and there are a few interesting permanent residents - but over the course of the week we have got used to it all.  Mal has met all the permanents and found out their stories - Chip has taken a real shine to one of them called Greg - a guy probably in his late 20s early 30s so we know when he is around as Chip will be out there whining for a pat.  The guy that owns the park is an ex cop and does keep the place and tidy and you certainly feel safe here (even the womans toilet is always locked and you need a key to get in), and I can't moan at all as the hospital is paying for the camp fees which is awesome. Here's a few pics of our set up

 

All the staff at the hospital are very friendly.  One of the nurses died two weeks ago following a brown snake bite so they have all been a bit down with that, the funeral was last week but staff from all over the district came to fill in while they went to it.  That was on my second day and I was put in charge of the ward...like the blind leading the blind really - but the patients all survived and we muddled through the shift.  Its a bigger rural hospital - the ward that I am on has maternity - 2 birthing suites and an assessment room, and 4 postnatal beds,  they have about 250 births a year.  The rest of the ward is made up of 24 beds and has palliative care, surgical, rehab and patients awaiting placement in rest homes.  I work across the ward depending on what is happening in the midwifery side.  One week down already...AND in my first 3 weeks not one night shift....total bliss!

On the subject of snakes they are really bad here this year.  Apparently its due to it being really wet last year and colder for longer than usual this year.  The weather has just warmed up in the last couple of weeks so the snakes are coming out from hibernation hungry and wanting to mate.   They are even chasing people without provocation and apparently there have been a large number of animals bitten recently that have died.  We haven't seen one yet but we are being more cautious than normal after hearing all of that.

Warwick itself is a really nice town.  The shopping is great and it just feels really clean and new.  We have everything here that we need to get ourselves sorted with the car needing its 10,000 service, wanting to get a cover made for the back of the ute now that the scooter is gone, me needing my yearly medical check and Mal his and Chip needing a haircut before Xmas! 

The Condamine River runs through the town.  We went out sightseeing today to Killarney and saw where the catchment for the River is.  Its located at the headwaters of the Murray–Darling Basin and it extends from Queen Mary Falls near Killarney in the Border Ranges, through to Chinchilla on the north western edge of the Darling Downs.  The river is approximately 500kms long and is the longest river in Australia.  Here is a photo of Queen Mary Falls and me at the lookout for the catchment - on the right of me is Mt Tamborine in the distance

 

To get back to Killarney we took the 14 river crossing 4x4 trek - which no need to say Mal loved!  Its the first time we have done a bit of 4 wheel driving in the ute.  It literally crosses the Condamine River 14 times and is a beginners type track. 

Mal will have to wash and polish the ute again now that it got dirty!!!

We stopped off and had a nice cold beer on the way home - the temps here are pretty hot late 20s early 30s and we are really feeling it - though it does cool down at night which is fantastic. 

Finally I couldn't help but photograph these signs - obviously we are more famous than we once thought - not one road named after us but two!!!

Toowoomba

We decided to stay in Toowoomba through to Sunday - its lovely staying at the showgrounds and Chip can run around as he pleases.  We moved sites the second day down to an area overlooking the lagoon where two other vans are parked up.  We got quite friendly with another couple from Canberra who have the same van as ours just a few years older.  He is a real handy man and we shared stories and ideas about what we have done to our vans along with all the funny stories about what we have done wrong!!    We even found out where a switch is for the outside light that we hadn't been able to work out how to turn on all this time....

It was really warm the other day so we took Chip down to the lagoon to have a swim to cool down.  Its pretty muddy looking but he doesn't care and we just give him a wash down afterwards.  We chucked his ball in to the water and as usual he couldn't pick it up again so he spent quite some time bobbing it around the lagoon....we thought he was never going to get out and end up exhausted.  He slept well that night though!

We went to Picnic Point today and had coffee and cake...its really lovely up there and gives a great view of the surrounding area. 

We have been surprised by how windy it has been though...we have had to pull our annexe down every night and last night even pulled in the hydraulic slide out for the bed as it was so windy and the wind kept gusting under the awning part and keeping us awake.  The lower temps at night make for nice sleeping though...but I have had to put my socks on to keep my feet warm - very different from having the fan and/or air con on at night up north!

We are heading to Warwick tomorrow and will get all set up for the next 6 weeks there.  I start work on Tuesday - I imagine the atmosphere in the hospital is going to be a bit subdued as one of the nurses died from a snake bite a couple of days ago - very sad and a reminder to be very careful at all times!

Roma to Toowoomba

We ended up spending two nights in Roma...the camp was okay but not a lot to do there.  We were then planning on spending a night in Chinchilla but ended up driving through. Despite another caravanner telling us it was a nice little town there didn't seem to be much to do or see.  So we drove through to Dalby and spent a couple of nights there.  The caravan park we stayed at was okay but none of these parks have been up to the same standard as the ones on the coast that we stayed at on the way up north. 

What we have found with all these inland parks is there are a lot of workers dongas  - infact some of the parks are pushing caravan spaces aside to make room for more dongas as there is so much work going on with roadworks and the coal and gas industries that the accommodation is needed for the workers.  We got told this little ditty by the caretaker at Theresa Creek Dam 'go to the coast for show, inland for dough' - sure seems to be true as these little towns are booming and we got told several stories about the good money to be made.

We drove through to Toowoomba today and are now parked up at the Toowoomba Showgrounds which is the only place you can camp with a dog here - we reckon we have the bargain though.  Its only $22 a night, the Showgrounds are huge and we are parked up on a rise in one area all by ourselves.  There are a couple of other caravans further round the park - the gates get locked at 8pm and we will have the whole place to ourselves.  Chip is loving it as he can run around (although there are heaps of biddy bids which I have to keep yanking out of his fur).  We will stay here for 3-4 nights before heading through to Warwick.

Injune & Roma

We had a lovely two nights at Theresa Creek Dam - that place is just lovely - if you are in to fishing and/or water sports it would be the perfect place to spend time with family out on the boat.

We drove from there to Rolleston yesterday planning on spending the night at a caravan park in Rolleston so we could recharge the battery.  We pulled up and then drove off...Rolleston is a tiny little town and the park was full of workers with nothing nice about it at all.  Instead we kept driving through to Injune and found a resonable park to camp the night there.  That park has recently been brought by a company that are doing the road works in the area - they were busy building dongas for the workers and a big kitchen etc.  There is so much work available in this part of Qld what with the mines, the gas exploration etc.  We went out for dinner at the local pub and had a delicious meal.

The couple in the van parked next to us for the night were from Gympie.  She is an emergency nurse at Gympie hospital and they are looking to go 'grey nomad' next year so she wanted to know all about working for an agency etc.  They were really interesting to talk to and who knows we may bump in to them next year when they hit the road.

Today we drove through to Roma and have parked up in a caravan park for two nights.  I have caught up on my washing and refilled the pantry and fridge.  There is a lovely swimming pool here which Mal has already tried out, there is a winery (Qlds oldest apparently) right next door, and a Bottle O and small supermarket next to that - so we are pretty set really.  Roma seems a nice little town - we might go for an explore tomorrow.

Charters Towers to Clermont

We drove for hours today on a very long and mainly deserted road....we nearly ran out of diesel...we weren't sure if we missed a sign saying there wasn't a fuel stop for a very long time or if there just wasn't one....luckily for us out in the middle of nowhere there was one!!  Ironically enough there was a sign after the gas station saying there wasn't fuel for hundreds of kilometres!  We made sure to fill up the extra container just in case.  Our outside temperature gauge was showing the temp sitting at a constant 38 degrees....

Not much sightseeing to see on the way....as you can see from this photo.


We have settled for a couple of nights at the Theresa Creek Dam which is about 22 km south west of Clermont.  Its a really lovely spot - only costs $10 per night to camp, no water or power hook up.  There are a few others here camping but a lot of the grey nomads have already headed back south. 

Mal and Chip took a plunge in the dam but I only went in to ankle depth...I could see the fish jumping out the water and wasn't keen on sharing with them. 

We got chatting to the couple who are the caretakers onsite.  When they found out I was a nurse/midwife and Mal was an electrician and had his truck licences they tried talking us in to staying here...the local hospital is apparently full of temporary agency staff and the two local coal mines are yelling out for staff.  The guy has just got a job working on one of the mines, the mine pays for him to get his truck licences and he starts on $50 an hour...Mal was very tempted .....maybe next time around.  Clermont itself did had a lovely country feel to it.....

Free camping

We had a lovely drive from Wongaling Beach to our first stop at Macrossan Park just outside of Charters Towers.  Mal is driving really well...no major dramas at all!  The ute is towing like a dream  and we have worked out how to use cruise control which is fantastic.

Its pretty barren up this way and very dry - no sign of all the rain over the last couple of weeks falling anywhere near this area.  Was amazed by the size of ant hills in the paddocks..have a look at the photo taken out the car window

We arrived at Macrossan Park late afternoon.  Its a free camping spot just 1km off the Flinders Highway.  Its quite well set up with toilets and cold water showers - though I didn't venture in either rather preferring the luxury of the van amenities...thankfully as Mal used the toilets in the morning and unbeknown to him had two toads a few inches away from his bottom..they came out to play when he flushed!!!  There are also picnic tables and wood BBQs. 

Our spot in the park.  In the rear you can see the railway bridge across the river....it looked inviting but we didn't let Chip venture in as there were crocodile warning signs up!

The van is working well on 12 volt and LPG gas now that we have worked it all out.  I even managed to cook a tasty frittata for dinner.

We were a bit worried at night as a scrub fire started at the other end of the park...we weren't sure if it was a controlled burn off or not...we found out in the morning from other campers that had been woken up early to move their van that it was a burn off that got out of control...it was all out by morning.

We drove in to Charters Towers today to check it out - not a bad sized town with a reasonable shopping area.  Managed to buy a 12volt adaptor so that I can plug my laptop in which went flat in no time at all last night when I was chatting to the kids on skype (can't be without my lifeline).

We are heading to Clermont today and another free camping spot.  Its a very bumpy undulating deserted road so far!

On the road again

We set off yesterday from Wongaling Beach.  Was sad to go but 3 months in one place is long enough we have decided.  There were another couple at the beach who had set off travelling round Ozzie 9 years ago and keep getting stuck in places - they had been there for 4 years - we don't want to end up like them.

All packed up and ready to go - note the huge amount of space on the back of the ute with the scooter gone and Mals new cover to protect the front of the van from stones.



Chip all set for his new adventure

Mal giving Vanessa the manager of the park a farewell cuddle.

Farewell Tully!!!!

Time to leave beautiful Nth Qld

Well the last 3 months have gone so fast - we can't believe we have been here since July! 

The weather started to get wet last week so we got a taste of what the 'tropical wet season' is like here - not too sure that I would want to be here over the next 3-4 months.  They desperately needed the rain though as it was so dry and there were several fires that they hadn't been able to get under control around the area.  On the good side we know for sure that there are no leaks in the van and the annexe stayed nice and dry too.

Was sad to finish up at work - though 9 shifts in a row was a sly way to make me feel not so sad to leave on the final day!  I finished with a night shift so the other 2 girls on shift and I had a little party inbetween dealing with an unconscious totally anebriated 16 year old girl!! 

We were due to head off today, however Mal woke up this morning feeling a bit anxious about the state of the ute all packed up and the weight of it all with our purchases over the last 3 months.  A lot of other vanners have been talking about weights and getting pulled over etc etc...so long story short he has sadly sold the scooter to the couple who run the van park we are at......it leaves a huge amount of room on the back of the ute now which doesn't look so weighed down anymore.  Of course we had to take a happy snap of it before he handed it over

With all that extra cash in Mals pocket I 'suggested' he shout lunch at Castaways Resort - we hadn't made it there yet so perfect opportunity on our last day to go.....we had a very nice lunch!  Yep - its great to not be working again.

So we will head off tomorrow...we are going to try free camping as much as we can on the way back down and see how the other half live.  We brought a Camps 6 book which lists all the free and very cheap camping areas and Mal has plotted out a path....if we miss 'civilisation' we can always head in to a caravan park and plug in!!!

Farewell Wongaling Beach.....

A first for all of us!

We went for a drive today through Tully and out to Alligator Gorge.  While driving along the Tully/Mission Beach road Mal finally got to see a Cassowary...it was on one side of the road so we stopped to have a look and it crossed the road towards us. Here is the proof

Mal was surprised by how big it was...it hasn't been the biggest one I have seen along this stretch of road though.  We had a wildlife carer in the hospital the other week and I was talking to her about cassowary's and snakes etc....she doesn't really like cassowary's as she saw one recently eating a half dead kangaroo on the side of the road that had been hit by a car.  I hadn't realised that they were meat eaters..put me off them too!

We drove out to Alligator Gorge to have a look...a well known water hole around Tully and picnic area.  Its in a national park so couldn't get Chip out there but just down the road the river ran along so we got out and chucked him in the river with Mal...it was lovely and refreshing...the first time Chip has actually been in a river. 

He absolutlely loved it...got a blow wave through the windows on the drive home and is now lovely and fluffy and for the first time in ages sand free!!!





When we got back to camp I donned my swimmers for the first time and had a swim in the pool....absolutely lovely - dunno why I haven't done it sooner!

Will certainly be spending more time in the pool over the next two weeks before we head off - temps are now hitting up to 35 degrees here so its pretty bloody hot!!!

Plans in the making

We are nearly at the end of our stint here at Wongaling Beach - another 3 weeks then we move back down again heading to my next contract in Warwick which will take us up to Xmas when we head back to NZ for a couple of weeks.

Mal has been busy with his latest venture - studying to become a Massage Therapist.  Plan is to offer massages from our annexe - we will partition off an area and set it up.  He has brought a massage seat and will look at getting a massage table shortly.  It all came about from enquiries from campers here at the beach looking for a place to get massages.  Many of them have been going to a local guy while they have been here (who wasn't apparently that good).  Mal went round and asked what sort of massages they would be interested in and how much they would be willing to pay.  Its not going to make us rich but will bring in some extra money while we are on our travels without too much hassle or outlay and means Mal will still be flexible with hours around my shifts - perfect! 

Meanwhile he still manages to live the life of Riley.....with Chip alongside!!

The campground is starting to look like a ghost town...all the southerners are heading back home - we may well be the last ones left here aside from a couple of permanents.  Its perfect for the last couple of stints of night shift I have.....peace and quiet.  We made quite a few friends from around the country and who knows we may bump in to them again along our travels.  We also learnt a lot from them about caravanning.

Apparently the snakes are now on the move - thankfully we haven't had any sightings around the camp ground yet.  There are a couple of snakes at the hospital between the hospital itself and the accommodation - one of the girls had one hissing and rearing up at her the other night.  I stay at the accommodation when I do late/early shifts (like tonight) - I will be driving the ute round the back from now on rather than walking along the dark path.

We have also been busy planning our Europe trip for next year.  Its very exciting - we are doing a european river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam, staying a couple of nights in Amsterdam then flying to Paris for 4 nights, then flying to Rome and doing an 8 day tour around Italy, then flying to London and doing a 19 day trip around England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.  Guess we will need a holiday after that lot!!!

Days off....Townsville and Maggie

Finally had a couple of days off...sooo deserved after a really busy working week - quick run down, several retrievals with very sick patients (pulmonary embolus, motorbike accident, septic shock, GI hemorrhage), excitement with 6 overseas trampers that were missing in the hills behind the hospital found by the medivac helicopter and brought to the hospital for observation (very nice looking young men who we happily 'observed'), all on top of fighting some weird virus that had my temp up to 38.2 but still I soldiered on at work......

so we booked Chip in to a pet resort just outside of Townsville that was very flash..unfortunately all their luxury 'cabins' were booked so he had to rough it in the normal accommodation but have a look at the set up with the pool.  They told us they took him to the pool for swim time and had him going across the pool on a boogie board but he wouldn't plunge in...apparently he had them all entertained.  Don't think he slept a wink while there as he was exhausted when we picked him up...

We stayed in a motel along The Strand in Townsville which is a lovely area along the beach. 

They are still rebuilding some of it after cycone Yasi. 

We went to the Reef HQ Aquarium which was pretty cool - a bit like Kelly Tarltons in NZ.  We watched the fish feeding and went for a tour in to the turtle hospital - well worth going to if you find yourself in Townsville. 

Mal with his favourite fish!!!

 Went to Jupiters Casino for a buffet dinner which was delicious then had a flutter on the Pokie machines....we came away over $80 up so that paid for dinner!!!

The next day we took the ferry out to Maggie (Magnetic Island).  Took us a bit of walking to find the scooter hire place, but we finally found it and went round the island on the scooter for a look.  We were surprised by how many people live on the island - it is a lovely spot with lots of different beaches - a huge variety of accommodation and restaurants.  Had lunch at Horseshoe Bay at the pub and then stopped off at Arcadia Bay for an iced coffee.  If you want a relaxing island holiday then I would defintely recommend Maggie...its lovely!

All up we had a lovely 2 days...Townsville was a bit of a surprise....had a picture in my head of some old, decrepit town with a bunch of ferrals whacking cane toads with cricket bats....but its a lovely town, just the right size, mix of old and modern with good shopping and restaurants...could definitely see myself living there for a bit. 

Atherton Tablelands

We organised a family from the caravan park to dog sit for us yesterday....got home to an exhausted but very happy dog that had been for 5 walks down the beach (one with Mal before we went and then all 4 members of the family each took him down during the day)!!!

We had a great day in the Atherton Tablelands.  We drove right up to Mareeba stopping off at various places along the way....the theme usually had something to do with food, ie; chocolate, cheese, peanuts, coffee.....we also did a bit of scenery sighting, the curtain fig tree, and the Milaa Milaa waterfalls.  Was a long drive there and back (would have been better to do over a couple of days) but the scenery was lovely.

Came back with a variety of chocolates (love lemon myrtle and chilli chocolate) the most divine chocolate liquer and a variety of peanuts.......

The Curtain Fig Tree - absolutely massive

Milaa Milaa Falls....would be lovely on a really hot sunny day to swim in