North Island Trip 2020

Christchurch > Inglewood

Mon 9 Nov

At last an overseas trip! Unfortunately, not Aussie though.A pleasant drive up north but heaps of stops for road works. We overnighted at a NZMCA pop park at a farm in Koromiko. It was a nice spot in a paddock with beautiful trees and sheep. The wind had got up and the forecast for tomorrows crossing is bad!

Tues 10 Nov

We woke with a text from Bluebridge informing us our check in time was now delayed until 8:45 instead of 7:00. The rain was pelting down when we arrived to check in and, as the Cook Strait forecast was for gale force winds and very rough seas, we decided a 24 hour delay may be the go. We rebooked for a sailing at 2:00pm Wednesday as we found out the forecast was slightly better and the ferry was a bigger one and handled the rough seas better (hopefully!!) As it was raining and cold be decided to opt for power at a camp in Waikawa. It rained all day so we could not even go for a walk.

Wed 11 Nov

The rain and the wind stopped and we checked out of the camp and walked around the marina before getting another text telling us that our sailing has been delayed until 4:30pm. The only up side is that the sea may have more time to calm down and we will not be driving out of Wellington in peak hour traffic. At least Picton is not a bad place to fill in a few hours. We parked at Waikawa Bay, had lunch and went for a walk before driving to the ferry and checking in. Loading was at about 3:30pm and we eventually sailed at 4:45pm. To Val’s relief it was like a mill pond all the way. Great feed of Fish and Chips for dinner and off the boat by 8:30pm. We drove thru to the NZMCA park at Plimmerton, which was nearly full, and found a park near the gate.

Thru 12 Nov

The noise from the road woke us early and after filling and dumping, drove thru to Foxton 20kms passed Levin. The new Kapiti Expressway has made this a much quicker trip. At Foxton we headed down to the coast to Foxton Beach where we will stay for 2 nights. Our camp is the Manawatu Caravan Club (an NZMCA POP). It is mostly permanent caravans with solid awnings and a mixture  of retirees and holiday accommodation. We were made very welcome, however. After lunch we rode our bikes to the beach and had a nice walk. It is a very shallow beach with a huge hard sand surface which many cars drive down. Back to the camp and a read outside in the sun.

Fri 13 Nov

Cloudy this morning but warm. Val did some laundry, and after lunch, we biked back to the beach and rode along the sand to the mouth of the Manawatu River and estuary returning via more bike tracks. Foxton Beach is bigger than we thought with a mixture of lovely original baches and modern holiday homes. We never saw the sun all day but the temperatures have been warm.

Sat 14 Nov

A nice sunny day as we shopped at Foxton before driving thru to Patea where we stayed at a small camp down by the beach. In the afternoon we walked down to the mouth of the Patea River and along the black sands of the beach. The river was once a very busy port exporting meat and cheese and even a twice weekly passenger service to Wellington. We followed a track up stream to the old freezing works and turn around area for the ships. Sat up late and watched the Pumas thrash the ABs.

Sun 15 Nov

Detoured thru the main street of Hawera and up the outside of Mt Taranaki following the coast to Opunake where we stayed at a free area overlooking the ocean at Middleton Beach. After lunch we walked the Opunake coastal walkway following the cliff tops, thru the cliff top garden and down to Opunake beach where we had an ice-cream before climbing back up to the coastal path, continued on to the mouth of the Waiaua River and inland thru some paddocks to Lake Opunake. We had a shorter walk back to “Joy” via the streets a total distance to 5 ½ km. We had two more campers join us and we sat outside before watching the sun set over the ocean. The cloud around Mt Taranaki cleared and we had a great view of the sun setting on it.

            

Mon 16 Nov

As we forgot to turn on the hot water we drove a short distance, off the grass, to the Lions Head Lookout for breakfast and showers. We drove thru New Plymouth to an expensive camping ground in heavy rain where we overlooked the port and the sea. After lunch the rain stopped so we walked into town where Val got a haircut.

 Tues 17 Nov

A nice fine morning with a cool breeze. We biked the New Plymouth Coastal Path. This is a wide  smooth concrete path which runs for 13kms along the waterfront, passed the wind wand and the city, and on to the Bell Block. It was a great ride with some spectacular scenery including this bridge framing Mt Taranaki. After a shop we drove to Inglewood where we met up with Rodney and Judith Clough and stayed up their drive. Judith provided us with a beautiful dinner and we had a few drinks, (more than a few) and caught up on all the news.

Wed 18 Nov

It rained in the night and off and on all day. Rodney took us to the Fun Ho Museum. The factory which made these famous toys was based in Inglewood. It was a walk down memory lane and very interesting. We went for a drive to a nice café for lunch and then to the new New Plymouth airport for coffee. We then went on to Noel and Rose’s house in Inglewood for afternoon tea and a walk around their beautiful garden which has been on display for the rhodo festival. Noel also has some great Mustangs which has now been joined by a lovely Willys Overlander vintage car.  

 

 

Roma to Sydney

24 Nov – A leisurely start to the day as we have decided to stay another day in Roma. We biked around the town on a series of cycleways before it got too hot. Some interesting sights including a big bottle tree. Spent some time in the afternoon in the small camp pool and ended up in the air-con watching the Supercars at Newcastle. Outside for drinks with an electrical storm and a couple of drops of rain.

25 Nov – On the road early for a 195kms drive to the next town, St George. We were now on the Great Inland Way. The country had changed and was dry and barren. We spent much of the time dodging dead kangaroos driving from one side of the road to the other. Just to mix things up, there were quite a few live ones deciding if they would dash across the road. We have no roo bars and hitting one would be a disaster. At St George we found a camp (with a pool) and had a quiet afternoon. There were thousands of galahs in the trees beside us and at drinks time the camp manager used a stock whip to scare them away. A huge electrical storm developed followed by 15 minutes of heavy rain.

26 Nov – The country became more barren and desert-like for our 235kms drive to Lightning Ridge. More roo dodging and we even had an emu try to outrun “Andy”.  The road surface was also rough until we crossed the border from Queensland into NSW. The road then improved. Lightning Ridge is known for the mining of black opals. We swam in the camp pool until a staff member advised us that a dust storm was on the way and it would get unpleasant outside. The dust was not too bad but we were glad to be inside with the air-con.

27 Nov – I take back what I said about NSW roads being better. The south was very rough. We stopped at the Coonamble Showgrounds for lunch. I had not been happy with some bushes in the front suspension which we had checked in Townsville and had got worst with the bumpy roads. We phoned ahead to Dubbo and jacked up for them to be looked at so headed on for another 150kms to Dubbo. The suspension place ordered the bushes and they will be installed tomorrow. We checked into a camp for 2 nights. A cooler day!

28 Nov – The suspension fix place rang and booked us in for 2:00pm. We rode our bikes following the banks of the McQuarrie River into the town which is about Ashburton size. Walked the main street and looked into the Old Gaol. It took the suspension place 1 hour to fit the bushes which seems to have had limited effect.

29 Nov – We left Dubbo and drove 150kms to the city of Orange. The country was very pleasant but dry, rolling farmland. There was a smoke haze however, as there is one bush fire north of us. The suspension was considerably better. We booked into a camp and after lunch rode our bikes to the information centre and went into a modern museum where there was a display of photos of 1920’s criminals. Fascinating!  A walk down the main street where Val bought a dress and back on the bikes to the camp. The temperature is much cooler and there is a cold front coming.

30 Nov – Only a short drive to Bathurst where we wanted to drive around the motor racing circuit at Mt Panorama. The circuit is deemed to be a public road when no events are on. Bad news! We drove into the carpark and there was a meeting in progress. It turned out to be a national time trial day where cars of all types try to better their times to progress thru their various classes. The good news was the day was free and we could walk anywhere thru the complex. We watched from above the pits for some time before hopping back into “Andy” and driving to the top of Mt Panorama, where the twisty circuit crosses the top of the mountain. We watched from various points including the “Dipper “, “Skyline” and the “Esses”. There were plenty of very fast cars trying their best and some very brave drivers! At around 3:30pm we drove back into the town of Bathurst, surprisingly close to the circuit, and camped in the show grounds.

1 Dec – Before leaving Bathurst we drove thru the main street. Dubbo, Orange and Bathurst are historic inland cities and although being different sizes, are very similar with some lovely old buildings. We drove 60kms to our final stop before heading home tomorrow. We chose Lithgow as we can catch a train to Sydney. The afternoon was spent with laundry and cleaning. As we had finished all our food, we walked 1km to some take-away restaurants and ended up getting a classic chicken roast from Red Rooster. Later we heated it up in our microwave and it was surprisingly great.

2 Dec – A very cold morning! We signed up for our storage and packed everything up. A taxi to the Lithgow train station and a 3-hour trip to the Sydney International Airport. It was a great trip thru the Blue Mountains and Katoomba and into the smokey city of Sydney. A nice meal and a glass of red wine before our flight home. It has been a great trip thru the NSW and Queensland hinterland.

Charters Towers to Roma

15 Nov – Shopped, LPG and fuel before leaving Charters Towers and driving south down the Gregory Developmental Road where we stopped for lunch at a bridge (no good for o/n stop) and continued on to the only civilization at the Belyando Crossing roadhouse. The camping area was closed as a mining company has taken over all the sites. We were allowed to park overnight in the shade. Beer with the locals. Interesting lot!!

16 Nov – An early start to avoid the heat. The road steadily deteriorated the further south we drove. We stopped for lunch at the nice little town of Clermont and then continued on for another 60kms to a smaller town, Capella. The camp had a beaut pool which we made the most of!! 39C today. Happy hour with the locals again. The camp manager was away and several of the locals were looking after the camp.

17 Nov – We decided to stay another day here and set off for a walk around the town before it got too hot. There was a great statue commemorating the “Light Horse Brigade”. Back in the pool and shade for the afternoon. The temp topped 40C.

18 Nov – Just a short drive to Emerald. This town is on the Capricornia Highway which we used to go west 2 years ago. Another huge circle completed on our map. After a quick shop and some phone calls we went off the main road to Lake Maraboon. This is a man-made lake but is nearly empty due to the drought. The camp overlooks the lake was with yet another great pool. It seems that we are going from pool to pool but with the temps in the high thirties who can blame us!! The camp is almost empty but must be very popular over the winter. The sport seem to be catching Red Claws, a type of fresh water crayfish.

19 Nov – We went for a walk to the lake before it got too hot. The lake is only 13% full and reminded us of Lake Mead in California/Nevada. Back to the camp and the pool for the rest of the day. At around 4:00pm the place starts to come alive and we were joined in the pool by a few. It seems they are either out on the lake or asleep in their air-con during the heat of the day.

20 Nov – On the road south by 7:30am and had a nice cool run of 230kms to Carnarvon Gorge National Park. Another great drive thru beautiful country, a mixture of bush, cattle ranch land and farming. We left the main road and drove 40kms into the National Park. The N.P. camp is closed for the season, so we booked into the Takarakka Bush Resort. One of the reasons we picked this route south was to come to this gorge, which was recommended to us. There was no pool, so we cooled off in the river which flows past our campsite. There is also a pool with Platypus in, which we have yet to see. At 5pm we went to a talk on the gorge which we will explore tomorrow. At sunset we had thousands of Little Red Flying Foxes flying around picking a roosting place for the night. It is comical watching them land in the trees as their feet are right at the bottom of their bodies. They grip onto a branch and then fall upside down.

21 Nov – We left the camp site by 6:30am and drove to the start of the track up the Carnarvon Gorge and were walking by 7:00am. There is a main track that follows up the gorge for about 6kms and there are side tracks leading off this to various scenic spots. We chose to walk right up the gorge and do the side tracks on the way back. 

Our first point of interest was the “Art Gallery”, an area of Aboriginal Art on a limestone cliff. Interesting as these figures were much newer (6,000 years) than the artwork we had seen on the west coast (30,000 years).

The next side track lead up into Wards Canyon. This was a beautiful, very narrow canyon.

A longer track climbed up to the “The Ampitheatre” via some steel ladders. A narrow slot opened out into a spectacular hidden valley with high cliffs all around. We were getting a bit buggered by this stage but carried on to the “Moss Garden”, another hidden waterfall with beautiful moss hanging all around. The last 3kms back to “Andy” were a bit of a battle with sore knees and feet. We had walked 17kms!!! Back at our camp we limped to the river and cooled off.

22 Nov – Our plan was to do another shorter walk before leaving the Carnarvon Gorge, but our bodies thought otherwise so we drove out of the National Park, back to the main road, and on to the small town of Injune for the night, where we stayed at the local racecourse.

23 Nov – A later start continuing our trip south and a short drive to Roma. This is a reasonable sized town servicing the farming area. After shopping we found a camp with a small swimming pool. Our plan is to publish this blog and walk up to the town for a meal tonight.

Townsville Area

4 Nov – Early start to the airport for our flight to Townsville via Brisbane. No screens so 5 hours of reading our Kobos. We caught an Uber to the storage place where “Andy” was waiting for us. Put the bikes on the back and then discovered the cranking battery was flat. Had to take a house battery out and jump start. No problems. We shopped before heading into Townsville city and the same camp that we stayed last trip at Rowes Bay. It was fairly hot (around 33C) so we enjoyed a cool off in the camp pool after we had set everything up. Dinner outside with the sunset around 6:00pm. A good long day with everything achieved. Bed was good!!

5 Nov – A good sleep and not too hot at night (around 22C).  I took the bikes off the back, pumped up the tyres and we rode along the cycleway to the Strand, the main Townsville beach. This is a great area and has a “stinger net” where we could safely swim without the fear of being stung by the jelly fish. We had a great morning with a couple of swims and reading in the shade of the palm trees. Back to the camp where we spent the afternoon at the camp pool, cooler than the sea!

6 Nov – Our trip this time is to re-position “Andy” from Townsville to Lithgow, just outside Sydney, so that we are in a position to head south next March. We have 4 weeks for this trip, so we have plenty of time. We headed north out of Townsville and drove 120kms to Ingham and then turned out to the coast, past the smelly smokey sugar refinery, to Forrest Beach. We camped in a large domain right by the beach with another stinger net. Unfortunately, the swimming in the stinger nets is only good a couple of hours either side of high tide.

7 Nov – Into our togs early for a swim (high tide) and a sit under the Palm trees in the shade. After lunch we walked around the small town and back along the beach, paid our camping fee ($10/night) and bought an ice-cream. Another campervan came in around sunset and we chatted with them.

8 Nov – Much cooler in the night and even had to pull up the doona! We headed back into Ingham for shopping, (stuff we forgot on our first day) check the tyre pressures and buy some plywood to fix the house battery locker. We drove 50kms south and then followed a rough road into the Paluma National Park and a camp at Big Crystal Creek. The creek forms a beautiful fresh water pool, called Paradise Pool, 100m from where we are camped. We tried the pool out. It was clear and cool with many fish swimming around. Just the ticket to cool off in. Quite a few mossies around at sunset!!

9 Nov – The weather is very unusual according to the locals. It should be cooler but much higher humidity. Today the temperature went to 37C but as it is dry is quite bearable. Being Saturday, all the locals have arrived at Paradise Pool for a picnic and a swim. We spent some time cutting and fitting the plywood, bought yesterday, to form a new base for the house batteries. We walked up to the pool to cool off and read in the shade in the afternoon before returning to the pool for another dip later in the day.

10 Nov – Swimming in Paradise Pool by 10:00am. Lots of families already there. Packed up and drove back out to the coast at Balgal Beach and found a site straight over from the beach and a grassy reserve. Low tide, so there will be no swimming in the stringer nets during the day. We sat in the shade of the trees overlooking the beach with a nice cooling on shore breeze. Temp a pleasant 29C.

11 Nov – Out of bed and straight into our togs for a swim at high tide. The water is at bath temp. After breakfast the reserve, which is also the local war memorial, was set up for a Remembrance Day Service. At around 10:30pm people started to arrive, so we sat under out awning and watched the service which included the singing of the NZ National Anthem and every possible local organization laying wreaths. We both have been bitten by some small insect giving very itchy welts. The Camping area filled up around dinner time and we even had an Asian family squeeze their caravan in next to us, with much yelling of instructions, at around 10:30pm just as we went were going to sleep.

12 Nov – Another pre-breakfast swim. We left Balgal Beach and headed south back towards Townsville for a last beach stop before going inland. This is another free camp right on Saunders Beach. No stinger nets here but some people braved the possible stingers and croc for a swim. We settled for reading in the shade and the cooling sea breeze. Later, when it was cooler, we walked along the beach and the small town.

13 Nov – We drove back into the outskirts of Townsville and after a quick shop (more insect repellent and anti-histamine) we headed inland following the road towards Charters Towers and stopped at a mango orchid where we could camp for the night. Very nice sitting under the old mango trees. At sunset thousands of fruit bats flew over us headed to their overnight roosting trees.

14 Nov – We drove west up the hills to Charters Towers. We stopped here earlier this year on our way to Townsville. As the forecast was for 39C and Val had a load of washing we went to a camp just short of the town. The camp had a great swimming pool and we spent the afternoon swimming and reading. As we had power, we ran the air-con and the interior is nice and cool. Tomorrow we start our trip south on the Gregory Development Road and it will be a few days before we get to any towns. We have been watching and listening to the news and so far, our trip will be nowhere near where the major bushfires are. We will be well west of them. This could change though!!