Childers and Gladstone Qld

Childers
We had visited Childers previously but still managed to discover a few things to do and see to fill our weeks stay.
A visit to the Bird Park, although a bit expensive, was interesting with some very friendly and colourful birds in the free flight area.













Bundaberg is only an hour away so we took a drive there and had a cuppa and a chat with Fred and Sharon. We visited the Ginger Beer Brewery and also drove around town and could see some of the damage caused by the flooding earlier in the year. We returned by to Childers via Gin Gin.

Gladstone and Tannum Sands

Tannum Sands, just south of Gladstone has a park that could accommodate us for a week. Most caravan parks in the Gladstone area are filled with workers.
We had a great catch-up with Kim and Michael and their growing family and celebrated Michael’s birthday when we had a sleep-over at their home.
Kim, Crawf and I enjoyed a morning tea barge cruise of Gladstone Harbour and viewed the islands and the growing industrial sites. The excellent commentary informed us about the liquid gas and coal handling facilities which are being built and extended in the area.











We also drove to Agnes Water and Seventeen Seventy. Seventeen Seventy is so named because it was a landing place for the explorer Captain James Cook in 1770. Agnes Water is a very pretty sea-side holiday town with great beaches.










After a week we departed Tannum Sands and made the very slow trip to Rockhampton, slow going due to extensive roadwork.

Queensland, beyond the Gold Coast

Finally we have the appointment out of the way and can start exploring Queensland. We by-passed Brisbane and Ipswich and decided to spend a few nights at Esk, a small country town close to Wivenhoe Dam. This dam became famous when it overflowed last year and flooded the valley, killing many and causing extreme damage all the way to Brisbane.

We found a neat little caravan park at Esk with very friendly residents and management and a koala in the tree next to our van site. He slept nearly all day and came to life in the late afternoon to eat. Sometimes we could hear him growling at the birds who dared to enter his tree.
Goomeri Showground made a great base for a few nights from where we could visit many other small town, Murgon, Wondai and Nanango.

Wondai has a very good timber museum and still has a working timber mill.

From Goomeri we made our way through Tansey, Ban Ban Springs and Coalstoun Lakes before a stop for lunch at Biggenden. From Biggenden it was only a short trip to Childers.

Casino to the Gold Coast

Lunatic Hotel, Drake, NSW

Our trip to Casino was only 124 km but it took two hours as the road was very hilly and winding although very pretty.  We stopped for a break at Drake where we saw an interesting hotel/shop/laundromat/cafe etc. named the Lunatic Hotel. This is a very popular destination for bikers as there is suitable accommodation along this ideal road for the motorbike fraternity.
We then crossed the longest De Burgh timber truss bridge in NSW at Tabulam. The single lane bridge was built in 1902.
Casino was celebrating ‘Beef Week’ which began at Evans Head where they have ‘Beef meets Reef’. We drove to the coastal town and enjoyed the festivities of the market day and street parade.

Nimbin Museum

Another day was spent driving to Kyogle and then to Nimbin, the most notorious hippie village in Australia. Famous for its alternative life-styles, Nimbin is a very interesting town with many different shops, smells and people. We visited the Nimbin Museum with a great collection of items which tell the story of the aborigines, pioneers, hippies and drugs in this area. Another interesting building in Nimbin is the Hemp Embassy, originally in the museum building but is now across the street. The Hemp Embassy is devoted to ending the illegality of cannabis use.


Lismore, NSW

After wandering and absorbing the atmosphere of Nimbin (but nothing illegal) we continued on our round trip via Lismore, a city with a large shopping area and some old buildings before returning to Casino.
Our departure from Casino was delayed while we had ‘Breakfast with the Butchers’ in the main street. Free steak and sausage sandwiches and milk were supplied by the local butchers and milk company and many organisations had stalls and other activities including cow milking competitions and cow-pat lotto. The locals dressed in Aussie related costumes and shops were decorated in Aussie themes.

We left Casino and made our way to the Gold Coast of Queensland passing through Clunes and Bangalow and by-passing Byron  Bay, Mullumbimby, Murwillumbah, Tweed Heads and Coolangatta before arriving at Helensvale.
Bus transport was used to get around the Gold Coast area as parking the ute would have been impossible. While in this area we went to Australian Outback Spectacular, a great show and dinner, and also had a lunch cruise with friends around the canal system where we viewed the homes and boats of the rich and famous.







Gold Coast, Qld







Tamworth, Inverell, Glen Innes and Tenterfield

Tamworth, NSW

Tamworth was our next destination, the country music capital of Australia. Of course a visit to the Big Golden Guitar and Museum is a "must do" and a visit to the lookout revealed the memorial to country music artist Smokey Dawson and his wife, Dot.

Big Golden Guitar, Tamworth, NSW



"Larry"

Tamworth also has a huge Equestrian and Livestock Centre where the Australian Stock Horse Association was holding its championships.

The Marsupial Park and Bird Aviary is well worth a visit. Crawf made friends with a bird named Larry.



Nundle Dog Races

Sunday was very different as we spent the day at the Nundle Dog Races. Dogs of all sizes, shapes and breeds were represented. Races and novelty events such as dog high jumps and best dressed dogs and owners were the order of the day.

Our next stop was near Inverell to visit some friends. While there we had a look around Inverell and visited Copeton Dam.

Glen Innes
We then returned to Glen Innes, an area settled by Celtic migrants because of its similarity to their homelands. Beautiful hills and trees provide great scenery at this time of year with magnificent autumn colour.


The Standing Stones, Glen Innes, NSW

Glen Innes is also a renowned gem fossicking area, especially sapphires.
The highlight of a visit to Glen Innes is the "Standing Stones", 40 granite monoliths which form a circle of 24 stones representing 24 hour of the day, three central stones; The Australis Stone for all Australians, a link between old and new; The Gaelic Stone is for Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man; and The Brythonic Stone is for Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. The Southern Cross is comprised of five stones, marking North, South, East and West and another inside the circle of 24. The stones are accurately positioned to indicate the dawns and sunsets of the summer and winter solstices which are very important dates to the Celtic communities for planting and harvesting. Several other stones represent significant rituals and ceremonies of Celtic importance.

Town Hall, Glen Innes, NSW

Glen Innes also has a great museum within the old hospital building, another museum we were nearly locked in at closing time. Glen Innes also has its own registered tartan.

Standing Stones, Glen Innes, NSW





Tenterfield
Tenterfield was our next stop after passing some old railway towns, Dundee, Bolivia and Sandy Flats.

Tenterfield is a very hilly town and the wind seems to blow all day and stop at night. We took a scenic drive around the area, 

Tenterfield, NSW

viewing some huge rocks and then visited Mt Mackenzie lookout from where we could see the town and district as far as the Queensland border.

Rail Museum, Tenterfield, NSW

The Railway Museum is well presented and the old building in town are great for photographic opportunities.

School of Arts, Tenterfield, NSW

Of course Tenterfield is most famous for its connection to Sir Henry Parkes, "the Father of Federation" who made his famous speech advocating the formation of the Federation of Australia in the Tenterfield School of Arts.
Another claim to fame is

Tenterfield Saddler's Shop

with Peter Allen's song "Tenterfield Saddler" about his grandfather who was the saddler in the town for many years. The shop is still there and the parking signs in front of the shop indicate that only horses can stop there. Captain Thunderbolt, Fredrick Ward, was a notorious bushranger well known in the area and had a hide-out nearby.

Mudgee to Newcastle Area

To Newcastle and Area.

A trip to Cardiff near Newcastle was next for us to have the van serviced. We spent a couple of nights at the quiet little town of Sandy Hollow on the Golden Hwy, between Merriwa and Denman before staying at the Belmont Pines Caravan Park.

Lake Macquarie, Belmont, near Newcastle, NSW

While the van was being serviced we drove to Kurri Kurri and Cessnock. Kurri Kurri is the home of the Big Kookaburra and 52 murals  painted on buildings around the town, depicting the town's history.
Cessnock is a coal mining town as is Kurri Kurri.

Kurri Kurri, NSW

With the van serviced we were finally on our way northwards. We decided to avoid the coast road and headed to Singleton to collect our mail and then continued to Muswellbrook where we stayed for a couple of nights in the showground. Both towns are heavily involved in the coal mining industry.

Mudgee, NSW

Mudgee Rally

 Mudgee, NSW, April 2013

Mudgee hosted The National Antique Tractor and Engine Rally this year.

We arrived at the caravan park and discovered that the "back corner" site we had been allocated was in fact the best site in the park, overlooking the Cudgegong River.

We spent a couple of days getting to know a few others who were also here for the rally as well as a few others who happened to be here to see the very interesting old mining area.

Gulgong, NSW

Several couples from Temora and area as well as Cynthia joined us after a couple of days.

Mudgee has a mining history, old buildings as well as being a wine and food area now days. It is also within a day drive distance of the town of Gulgong, Rylestone, Kandos, Hill End and Sofala.

Gulgong, NSW

We had an interesting day in Gulgong, "the Ten Dollar Town", so named because of its street photos on the original $10 note. Several hours were spent in the museum, we took a pass-out at lunch time and completed our tour of the museum after lunch at the pub. The street-scape of Gulgong is as if you had stepped back in time, very narrow, crooked streets and great old buildings. The Gulgong Opera House has been saved from demolition and is now used a regularly. Many great artists have performed here and it is well worth a visit. We didn't have time to see all of Gulgong in one day so made a return trip.

Gulgong, NSW

A trip to Kandos was mandatory for me as my grandfather was the manager of the Co-Op there in approximately 1920. On our drive to Kandos we stopped for a cuppa and a walk around Rylestone, another quaint mining town with more narrow, crooked streets and well preserved old buildings.
Another day trip was to Hill End and Sofala. After a visit to the Old Hill End Hospital Museum and Visitors Centre we paid a visit to the local hotel for lunch where Crawf struck-up a conversation with a chap who wrote a song about Temora's famous horse, Paleface Adios.

Hill End, NSW

Hill End is devoted to it's history with informative plaques along the streets to tell the stories of the area. From Hill End we completed our day with a visit to the other very hilly old mining town of Sofala.
Ten days were spent at Mudgee and area, looking at old tractors, towns, buildings and catching up with many friends, old and new.



Rylestone, NSW

April, 2013

After a couple of months in Temora and area, having a great time celebrating birthdays and Easter, we finally began our next big trip, this time to Queensland.
Our first destination was to Parkes to visit with some friends and a couple of days later we continued on to Wellington.

Wellington Caves Caravan Park

Phosphate Mine, Wellington, NSW



Dinosaur Bones, Wellington Caves, NSW

We stayed at the Wellington Caves Caravan Park and while there we toured the Cathedral Cave and the Phosphate Mine.
The Cathedral Cave tour was very well presented and the stalactites and stalagmites quite beautiful. The caves also contain very good bone samples form Diprotodon and Thylacoleo dinosaurs which can be seen as you explore the caves, in particular the phosphate mine. Phosphate was mined there in the early 1900's, especially during World War 1 when phosphate was usually mined at Noumea which was then controlled by Germany and as phosphate is used in the manufacture of explosives and ammunition it was in high demand during the war.
We also drove into Wellington, a town with many old buildings and then took a trip to Burrendong Dam.

A New Year - New Direction

2013, New Destinations

Our travelling this year started in January when we were accompanied by Cynthia on a trip to the Beechworth area in Victoria. Beechworth was our choice for a base camp and we enjoyed wandering around the historic old town viewing the old buildings and learning about the history of the area.

Beechworth, Vic

Set in an old gold mining area, Beechworth is also famous for its connections with the bushranger, Ned Kelly and his gang. Ned Kelly's trial was held in the local court house and  interactive re-enactments are conducted for school children on excursions. Ned Kelly and his mother were both detained in the old Beechworth Gaol.



Beechworth Court House

Beechworth Gaol

All the historic buildings have been well maintained and provide a great deal of information about the events and life during the the 1800's.

Chinese Burning Towers

The Chinese presence in Beechworth during the gold mining period is also well represented and a trip to the cemetery, which includes a Chinese cemetery and burning towers is well worth a visit.

While in the area we also took a day trip to the nearby towns of Yackandanda, Mt Beauty, Bright and Myrtleford. The scenery is breathtaking and at this time of year the daytime temperature is pleasant and the nights are a good temperature for sleeping without air conditioning. The only disappointment was the smoke haze from nearby bushfires restricted our view and didn't make for great photos.

Yackandanda

Another day trip was to Tarrawingee, Wangaratta, Rutherglen, Chiltern and Eldorado.
Chiltern appeared to have been frozen in time, the late 1800's. The old buildings, winding streets and the fact that is was Sunday with very little traffic made us think we might see an old miner wander along the street with a pick and shovel and a horse and cart. The hotel has a grapevine in the beer garden which was planted in 1867 and still bears fruit.
Our return trip took us to Eldorado with an old gold dredge, high and dry now, and the town claims to have the smallest hotel in the state.


We all enjoyed the week, we met some great people in the park, saw some interesting areas that Crawf and I had never seen and some Cynthia had not seen since she was on a school excursion as a child.