2013 road trip - Day 12

The campsite at Myall Lakes was quite popular and there were kids careering around on bikes almost the whole time we were there. Louka was more interested in the froth edging the lake adjacent to the campground.

We decided to take the Newcastle freeway home (rather than the old Pacific Highway as we'd done on the way North). It had been a good trip, with the only real negative Graham's foot injury which prevented him walking much for the second half of the trip. The weather had been good, with only two rain showers and a bit of drizzle one of the days - though some of the campgrounds were pretty boggy due to recent rain. The campervan worked well and suits our requirements better than anything else we saw. I'd like a better light away from the campervan, maybe a gas lantern, because the short daylight hours were a nuisance for cooking dinner. But yes, I'd do it again.

2013 road trip - Day 11

It had rained overnight so we couldn't sleep "under the stars" - with the roof of the camper folded back. But as we prepared breakfast, under a shelter, the clouds cleared away so we went to look at the beach.

We had lunch at Forster, where Louka was quite taken by the knitted signpost cosy we saw. 

Our last stop was Myall Lakes National Park. We had to cross a river on a car ferry to get to our campsite, and we were unsure if it would be running. When we got there it was about to leave but the ferryman saw us coming and opened the gate for us. We were the only vehicle travelling in that direction.

There were lots of campsites along the road on the southern side, and we checked out a few. The one we'd planned on using was actually closed, with only a bulldozer and a lot of mud, so it was fortunate we didn't need to rely on it.

2013 road trip - Day 10

Then another drive, another dose of Harry Potter. We'd planned on staying at a campground at Limeburners Creek National Park, but on the way we passed through Goolawah National Park with a number of pleasant-looking campgrounds. So when we arrived at Limeburners Creek and saw the rather basic facilities we just went for a stroll on the beach then headed back. The Goolawah campground we chose had been newly refurbished and gardens planted, and in the garden was lots of an odd-looking fungus.

Dinner:

2013 road trip - Day 9

It was a chilly morning in the mountains and the tall trees shaded us from any sun. The fallen logs were covered in moss.

For breakfast we toasted the walnut and raisin sourdough bread from Maleny IGA.

Tuesday night's camping spot was Yuraygir National Park near Grafton. Like all National Parks it wasn't in the GPS and Grafton wasn't close enough to be a useful location. However, Graham's iphone was able to locate the road we needed to take so we used it instead.

The beach at Yuraygir was covered with crab balls.

We'd bought some sausages for dinner as a change from pasta, but as I was cooking them a horde of kookaburras gathered around, staring greedily from branches overhead. I moved the stove to an open area but they followed, sitting on the grass. They started to swoop in and wouldn't be chased away, and eventually one managed to get hold of a sausage from the pan, and they all gathered to squabble over it. I managed to salvage the rest of the sausages by covering them with the saucepan lid, but we decided we'd better eat them in the car.

2013 road trip - Day 8

On Monday we were to head for home, but first my aunt wanted to take Graham to the doctor and to show me some of her favourite shops in Maleny. I was very tempted by her favourite shoe shop but the shoe I really liked was sold out in my size. So we just stocked up on groceries at the wonderful IGA supermarket and found a good saucepan at the charity shop to replace the evil boiling-water-spilling billy. There are some interesting shops in Maleny - I wouldn't mind living there myself for the shops and the environment.

We headed back through the Brisbane labyrinth and into NSW again, to Whian Whian State Conservation Area near Lismore. Up another narrow winding road, this time dirt, to another rainforest mountaintop. Of course Graham couldn't drive so I had to do it. I'm nervous on winding roads and dirt roads but I did get quite a bit of practice on this trip.

2013 road trip - Days 6 and 7

Saturday and Sunday were the far point of our trip, a stay with my Aunt and Uncle at Maleny. Quite a few of my Dad's family have settled in and near Maleny, so it's a great place to get together with the James clan.

First we drove down the mountain from Springbrook National Park, by the alternative truck route which was somewhat less winding than the one we took on the way up. Then we headed for the Glasshouse Mountains, where Graham had a try at walking barefoot around the lookout. It was rather slow.

My panoramic photo of the Glasshouse Mountains didn't stitch together well, but it does give a sense of the landscape.

We reached Maleny around lunchtime but thought we'd better not impose on my rellies for lunch so we found parking in the town centre (quite hard) and ate at a café. On the way to their place we saw my uncle walking down the street - he waved to us so we continued towards the house where my aunt was at home.

Soon my uncle arrived and Louka inveigled everyone into making and flying paper planes after her favourite design. Graham won the flying competition, but my uncle's decorations were pretty impressive.

For dinner they'd arranged for quite a few of the relations to come round, each bringing something to eat, so there was a good spread and plenty of catching up to do.

Next day we visited another aunt and uncle who live near the Glasshouse Mountains to catch up with yet another aunt and uncle who live on Bribie Island. Louka sat and drew wolves for everyone.

2013 road trip - Day 5

On Friday we crossed into Queensland headed for Springbrook National Park. To get there we had to navigate the incredible network of motorways surrounding Brisbane. We tried to get our GPS to direct us to avoid paying tolls, but apparently it was impossible and we heard the sound of our device registering a toll as we entered a tunnel. But Springbrook National Park was well signposted when we got near it and we had no trouble finding our campsite.

Springbrook is in the mountains and we had to drive up narrow winding roads through dense rainforest till we reached the plateau where the campground is located. Then we went for a walk through the rainforest, full of creeks and waterfalls. Part of the track was closed due to rockfalls, which seemed to be not very recent as there was a bird nest fern growing on the rock blocking the path.

It was Friday night when disaster struck. We were boiling the billy near the campervan for light and Graham somehow spilled boiling water on his thonged foot. We poured cold water on it, and held things from the fridge to it, but it was seriously burned. We didn't even have a bandaid. I persuaded Graham to ask the people in the next site if they had anything, and they, including among them a nurse and a veterinarian, bandaged the area so it didn't rub on his thongs. It would continue painful for the rest of the trip, though.

2013 road trip - Day 4

As a change from ready-made pancakes for breakfast, we thought we'd try the Dutch eating-house attached to the clog barn. Which specialised in pancakes. They were good.

Then we plugged in the name of the location supposedly closest to the Border Ranged National Park campground into the GPS and off we went. Well, we got to this place, an intersection of dirt roads with a couple of houses nearby, and looked for the signs we were to follow. No sign of them. We accosted a passing 4WD - the driver, a local, had never heard of the campground. We then thought of ringing the National Parks office. Oh, we should head back to Kyogle and go round a different way, and the road was just being re-opened after being closed for wet weather. We decided to go on to Tweed Heads instead.

At Tweed Heads we stepped into Queensland and back, and inquired at the information centre where we could camp. They directed us to the nearest (and supposedly one of the nicest) caravan park where we found plenty of caravans but nobody else in the tent and campervan area. It was a pleasant place, and quiet compared to last night at Coffs Harbour.

2013 road trip - Day 3

Wednesday night was the only night we'd planned to camp in a commercial campground - in fact a tourist attraction called the Clog Barn. I remembered being fascinated by watching wooden clogs being made on a school excursion to the Snowy Mountains. Turns out the people in Coffs Harbour had bought the clog-making machinery from the outfit in Cooma some years ago, so in fact I was getting to see a real flashback to my childhood.

As well as the clog shop they had a miniature Dutch village which Louka loved. It included a miniature Clog Barn but not a miniature miniature Dutch village, so we suggested this to the proprietor who said he'd talk to the model-maker.

2013 road trip - Day 2

Breakfast was ready-made pancakes, heated in the frypan (we took a toaster but it didn't work on the ute's power). Then another walk to the beach.

Louka had by now adopted the monsters first encountered at The Entrance - they are apparently endangered and need looking after by sympathetic humans.

When we got back to the campsite we found a note on the windscreen - they were about to do aerial spraying for weeds and we had to be out by 11am. This didn't really bother us as we'd have been on our way by then anyway, but I also received an email from the parks staff offering us a free night's stay in the campground any time in the next three months to make up for the inconvenience. Nice!

As we set off we encountered the biggest difficulty of our trip - none of the National Parks were listed in our GPS. We had to rely on sometimes inaccurate written directions to find our campsites. Fortunately Booti Booti, Tuesday night's planned stop, was no trouble to find.

It turned out to be a large grassy area that was mostly very wet from the recent rain.

We found a non-boggy patch to set up camp then tried the walk to the lake. Louka was barefoot and Graham in thongs, while I was wearing trainers and socks. This became unpleasant when the way was covered in 5cm deep water. However, we persevered and found a small graveyard belonging to the homestead that had once been here.

The lake is supposedly very beautiful at sunset, but we decided we didn't really want to be out after dark. It was quite attractive in the afternoon anyway.

Oh, and despite Louka's resistance we put Harry Potter on the CD player. From then on she wanted to listen to nothing else.

2013 road trip - Day 1

I was wondering what had possessed us to consider a camping road trip in the middle of winter, when it had been raining every day for the past I don't know how many weeks. But Monday dawned fine and clear, which was comforting.

I had planned camping stops, mostly in national parks, for every 3 hours or so, but the first day's drive was only to be an hour and a bit to Munmorah State Conservation Area. Then I asked Louka if she'd prefer the quick but boring route, or the longer scenic route. She opted for the scenic route, so instead of the Newcastle freeway we took the old Pacific Highway.

Graham had packed the complete Harry Potter audio CDs to keep us amused while driving, but when he asked if we should put one on, Louka said she didn't like them. Graham said ok, tomorrow then.

We remembered The Entrance as being a pleasant place to stop so we headed there for lunch. Unfortunately the fish and chips were pretty poor, but we managed to eat enough to stave off hunger and had a little walk along the waterfront searching for signs of monsters.

At Munmorah we were the only people, so we set up the camper and took the short walk to the beach. When we reached it we found a barrier across the path as the beach had eroded to make a sand cliff about 3 - 4m high. But of course that didn't stop us, and we wandered along the cliff edge till we found a more accessible spot.

We'd made some bolognaise sauce to take with us so the first night's dinner was easy - except it got dark at 5 o'clock! This turned out to be a bigger issue for winter camping than the cold. I think if we do it again we'll get ourselves a good lantern.