Corindi Beach to Kingaroy

 Wed 28 June – Only a short drive to our next stop so we parked on a headland and had a read before continuing on to a camp at Corindi Beach where we booked in for two nights. This camp is on a bluff overlooking two beaches. We walked along the beach and skirted around the rocks with the tide coming to the second beach. The day warmed up and we enjoyed our sunny site watching the huge kangaroos in the paddock next door.

Thurs 29 June – We walked the beaches in the opposite direction with the tide lower. Nice beaches but a bit rough for swimming. A relaxing afternoon in the sun.

Fri 30 June – We drove the Pacific Hwy north for 80kms and then turned down for 20kms to the coast at Yuraygir National Park. Found our site which is unfortunately quite shady. Booking online gives you no chance to check these things and the camp is full. We are not on power and sat on the site next door in the sun. We went for a walk along the beach and back thru all the camp sites. The camp is slowly filling up as it is now the NSW school holidays.

Sat 1 July – Cold night and cool inside, so porridge for breakfast. Put our warm jackets on and walked up the road to Lake Arragan camp sites. Watched surfers on good waves off the rocks. Followed along the red cliffs back to our shady site. Camp is fully booked so no chance to swap sites. In the afternoon we walked along the beach in the opposite direction for some distance returning thru the camp sites at this end of the park. Quite a cloudy day today.

Sun 2 July – Drove 50kms north on the Pacific Hwy before turning inland for another excursion. We will dodge inland for a week bypassing the Gold Coast and Brisbane. We passed thru Lismore (seems to be recovering from their floods) and camped in a show grounds at the small town of Nimbin. A short walk up into the town. What a surprise! Very alternative, rainbow colours everywhere with businesses offering every imaginable hippie services. Just walking down the street we got offered “Cookies or smokes” and "do you want some marijuana today?" We politely refuse but a real education. The town was like Reefton on a psychedelic high.

Mon 3 July – It rained in the night. We followed a rough and windy country road thru Kyogle and on to a small town at Woodenbong. Now we know where the term “pot” holes originated! Beautiful country however. At one stage a kangaroo bounded out onto the road. I braked and thought I had missed it but it slipped and fell on the wet road and I just managed to swerve around it. A close thing! We stopped in a small, very cheap, community camp and walked back to the small shopping area under threatening skies. The forecast for the next few days is not good.

Tues 4 July – It rained all night and was raining for our 90km drive to the large town of Warwick. The road was an improvement from the last few days. We drove along the NSW/Queensland border in the Border National Park and are now well and truly in Queensland. We camped in the showgrounds, spending the rest of the day inside, as the rain continued. Since we left the coast, three days ago, we have been in a very isolated part of Aussie with only a few tiny towns on our route.

Wed 5 July – We shopped in the town of Warwick before joining the New England Hwy and driving out onto the Darling Downs, a huge flat fertile plain and up to Toowoomba. We have visited Toowoomba a few times so no need for sight seeing. The main reason for this visit is to get an oil change and filter for “Andy” tomorrow. We camped at the showgounds where there was a big Pony Club rally in progress. Sunny but a cool wind.

Thurs 6 July – Off to the “Oil Change Centre” where we left “Andy” and walked to a shopping mall. Val got a hair cut and we had a coffee to fill in time. A short wait when we returned returned to finish the job and then we were on the road for 85kms across the Darling Downs to Dalby. To our surprise the camp was full so lucky we had booked. We walked the main street which was bigger than we had thought. In the early evening we sat around a camp fire while a lady sang. Paul has a good description for her singing!!

Fri 7 July – An 111km drive over a bumpy road climbing out of the Darling Downs and on to Kingaroy where we stayed at the showgrounds with many other grey nomads. Yesterdays clouds had cleared and we sat out in warm sunshine. We will stay here two nights as there is a rail trail we want to bike tomorrow. A short bike ride into town where we went to the visitors centre and got information for our ride tomorrow. There was a museum attached and we were interested in the displays relating to peanut farming big in this area.

Sat 8 July – Another beautiful day with laundry and cleaning this morning before packing our lunch and biking the rail trail which runs for 50km from Kingaroy to Kilkivan. We will not bike the whole thing but did two sections about a total of 25kms. The country was lovely, mainly cultivated paddocks with rich red soil. The peanuts are not planted yet but there was fields of barley. Back at the showgrounds we relaxed in the sunshine and read. Tomorrow we meet up with Judy and Frank at Kilcoy.