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.
Saturday 29 October 2011
Thursday 27 October 2011
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.....
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.
Wednesday 26 October 2011
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!
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
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 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!!!!
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 
Farewell Tully!!!!
Monday 24 October 2011
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!
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.
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.
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
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.....
Wednesday 12 October 2011
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!!!
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.
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!
Wednesday 5 October 2011
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!!!
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!
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!!!
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