Kenilworth to Moree

 Friday 24 June - We drove down the Mary River Valley Rd to Kenilworth, a lovely little town inland from the Sunshine Coast. Judy and Frank McAlister were set up the showgrounds with a site for us beside them. We had a great catch-up over a glass of wine and lunch. In the afternoon we walked the length of the main street with some interesting shops and bought ice-creams and some cheese from the cheese factory. Drinks in McAlister’s van before dinner.

Sat 25 June – Another sunny morning. Val and I walked around the town and up to the bowls club. Many car clubs (Austin Sevens, Citroens) and  motorcycles lunching in the town. A very popular place on the weekend. There are many vans camped in these showgrounds as it is the start of the school holidays. There is also a pony club running a school holiday programme with many ponies and vans. Pre-dinner drinks in our van tonight.  

Sun 26 June – Frank and Judy left for home, but we will see them again on Monday. We drove the “tourist route” to Maleny on a steep windy road, where we are again camped at a showground. We stayed here with Frank and Judy on our first visit to Aussie 5 years ago. We walked up to the town where there seems to be many more touristy shops. More cloud today and as we are much higher than Kenilworth it is also much cooler, around 16C.

 Mon 27 June – Drove down from Maleny to Caloundra to visit Jill Rice. Bob died about 6 weeks ago, so it was a sad visit. Jill seems to be coming to terms with her loss however and we reminisced about the past. We drove a short distance down the Bruce to a National Park at Coochin Creek. Judy and Frank and their friends Allan and Annette were set up on adjacent sites and we had a site a short distance away. Debbie and her adult children arrived from Brisbane. We had not seen Debbie for at least 40 years. After they left for home, we lit a great campfire and later cooked dinner over it followed by raisin toast and liqueurs.

Tues 28 June – We walked around the camp and down to the creek. Sat and chatted in the sun and lit the campfire again around 4:00pm. Drinks and then we cooked dinner again over the fire. Our new warm jackets were great! Thanks Frank and Judy for a great few days.

Wed 29 June – We farewelled the campers and drove down the M1 and the toll roads over the Gateway  Bridge to the Brisbane suburb of Parkinson where Carolyn, Gary, Jess, and Hannah live. We have stayed outside their home on many occasions when passing thru Brisbane.  Gary barbequed huge steaks for dinner. Lovely!

 Thurs 30 June – Gary and Carolyn went to work, and we caught up with some things that needed doing like laundry, fixing our stools and even painted the hubs now that we do not have hub caps. It all looks quite smart. In the evening we went out to a local pup for a tasty dinner. It was great catch up with them. Thanks for your hospitality.

Fri 1 July – We woke to steady rain. After a shop up, we drove south towards the Gold Coast on the motorway. We were meeting David and Lorraine (and Lorraine’s brothers and families) at a café on the Spit at Southport for lunch. We were late as we crawled the last 20kms on the motorway for no reason that we could see. We had a great catch up with them. Val stayed with Lorraine and her family in 1967 and have kept in touch. We visited their farm in Western Australia in 2018. We left at 2:00pm and crawled thru the Gold Coast roads in rain. At one stage our windscreen wiper came loose, and we had to get off the road and re-attach it. Not an easy task in Gold Coast traffic! We had intended to stay in a showground at Murwillumbah in the Tweed Valley about 60kms away but arrived to find ‘no room at the inn’. We had to continue for another 40kms to the Mullumbimby Rugby League Club grounds on a windy road with another stop to re-attach the windscreen wiper. It was a very long hard drive, in mist and rain, arriving in the dark. A cable tie has fixed the windscreen wiper, I hope.

Sat 2 July – A very short drive thru Byron Bay where we bought a heavier power cable at Bunnings, and on to Lennox Heads and Ballina where we are booked for 2 nights. The rain stopped as we set up but started again in the afternoon. We are inside now as it is quite cold. 

Sun 3 July – A beautiful sunny day around 16C.  Breakfast outside and then onto our bikes for a great ride. First, we followed a path out to breakwater where many people were watching the huge surf pound in. Some had binoculars hoping to catch a glimpse of the migrating Humpback whales. Back on the bikes and a great ride around Ballina. The city is set on the mouth of the Richmond River with several creeks also joining it. There are cycleways along all the waterway banks. The city was affected during the recent floods, but we did not see evidence of the damage apart from a holiday park full of hired motorhomes as temporary accomodation. Later in the afternoon we sat in the sun near “Andy” by a lake, reading, and watching many large fish jumping out of the water.

 

Mon 4 July – This is our last day on the coast. We will not see the sea again until we are at Adelaide on our way home in a month’s time. We drove inland on the Bruxner Highway passing thru Lismore. The flooding devastation was everywhere. We continued to Casino with more flood damage. The road was rough, and with many slips. Up into the Great Divide and the roads improved. We camped at Tenterfield on the New England Highway. 200km drive today. We are at 850m and it’s really cold, 9C. It was a short walk back into the typical Aussie country town. We put the extra inner in the duvet!! Heater going flat out, thanks to the new power cable!

Tues 5 July – South on the New England Highway to Glen Innes where we turned west following a lovely scenic road to Inverell. It started to rain about 20kms out of town and has rained for the rest of the day. It is a bit warmer as we are now a lot lower.

 Wed 6 July – Still heading west in more rain, but not as heavy as on the coast. We are on the Gwydir Hwy passing thru Warialda, leaving the hills, to Moree, where have booked into a camp for a couple of days. We are now 500kms from the east coast. This town has many thermal springs and our camp has a great little pool at around 38C. It was only a quick dash thru the drizzle. It reminded us of Hanmer in the winter. We gave the cold plunge pool the miss!! Val booked our storage when we get to the Adelaide area in 4 weeks time.

Thurs 7 July – Warm last night and we woke to a sunny day which reached 18C. We enjoyed the sun and reading in the morning. In the afternoon we hopped on the bikes to explore Moree, an agricultural supply town. We went to an old bank where there was an arts expo, walked the main street and rode out to a pub where there was a DC3 aeroplane you to climb into and sit in the pilot’s seat. Back at the camp we ended the day in the thermal pool with some of the other campers. Tomorrow we will head south on the Newell Hwy.