Ballarat to Adelaide & Home

 Sun 24 July – A cold cloudy morning as we shopped and left Ballarat heading out on the Western Hwy. Halfway down the road the cloud lifted, and we broke into sunshine. The country is flat and the road straight. Our overnight stop was at a horse racing track where we camped in the gum trees. We sat outside in the sun reading before it cooled down. Val tried to download books from our Waimak library but there was a problem. Hope we can solve it as we will run out of books shortly!

Mon 25 July – It rained in the night and was torrential as we continued west. Suddenly the skies cleared, and we drove thru Horsham, a large town, and continued on to Dimboola, a tiny country village. We camped at a shire camping ground and walked a track back to the town. Dimboola is on the Wimmera River. These small towns all have great public facilities including, libraries, stadia, swimming pools, sports ground, and parks all paid for by the local shire. Val managed to partially solve our library problem so we have some books that will get us home.

 Tues 26 July – A cool sunny day but with a strong wind blowing. On the way out of Dimboola we stopped at the Pink Salt Lake. We are camped in Bordertown about 20kms into South Australia. This is a different time zone, so we had to wind our clocks back 30 minutes. We want to be close to Tailem Bend for the Supercars starting Friday so have 3 days to get there. As this is a nice town, we will stay an extra night here leaving us one night in a camp close to Tailem Bend. Sheltered by “Andy” we had lunch in the sun and walked a bit of the town. This is the birth place of Bob Hawke, Australia's charismatic Prime Minister.

 Wed 27 July – A lovely sunny morning. We both did a bit of internal cleaning of “Andy”. In the afternoon we walked around the town and around a small lake. Read outside for an hour before coming inside. The camp is starting to fill up.

 Thurs 28 July – Our last fill of diesel for this trip!! Drove west, stopping at a small town for the last of our food, before our overnight camp at Coonalpyn, a free shire camp. A heavy drizzle has set in. In a break (we thought) we walked out to some huge silo art featuring 5 local school children. Unfortunately, we miss read the rain and got soaked.

Fri 29 July – A 45-minute drive to our camp at Tailem Bend for our Supercar weekend. The friendly staff booked us in remembering getting Val’s pleading email for a powered site! Tailem Bend town is just up the road. The bend in the name refers to a bend in a Murray River. The camp is full of like-minded motorsport fans. Only a short walk (500m) to the raceway where we spent some time wandering around the supercar pits. The semi-trailers are very impressive! We walked along the main straight to a grandstand at the end. We will not have access to this stand tomorrow. All the support classes were either practicing or qualifying. The track is quite large (4.95kms) but it is easy to walk to many vantage points. There is also a free bus circulating around. We sorted out some good spots for tomorrow for the first of three supercar races. There is also camping at the raceway but is dearer and there is no power. Frost forecast for tonight. Back at our camp by 3:30pm.

Sat 30 July – All organised with a packed lunch, warm clothes and our chairs, we walked to the track by 9:30am. We set up our chairs in front of the grandstand at the end of the front straight where we have a great view of 5 corners and saw plenty of action. We were in time to see the first practice session for the Supercars. There are 5 other support classes racing, Historic Touring Cars, Aussie Racing cars, Sports sedans, V8 Superutes, and Porsche Carreras competing this weekend. There is also track entertainment, Drift cars, aerobatic planes, 4WD dirt trucks, and even dancing girls in any down time. After the practice session we walked back to the pits for another look. This venue is unique letting the public have access to many areas not available on other tracks. We crossed thru a tunnel to the infield and saw more of the circuit. Back over an overbridge, bought a coffee, and to our chairs and the action. It is cold and the wind is freezing! The last race of the day was Race 21, the first of the three Supercar races. There is a compulsory pit stop for each car to change 2 tyres. Shane van Gisbergen came thru the field, pitted very late, and won! His driving is so very smooth but quick. Surprising how many Aussies cheer for him but it could be that he drives a Holden!! We did not hang around for the drag car demonstration and fireworks as we were frozen. A great day despite the cold.

Sun 31 July – We have reviewed our dress code! Now two pairs of track pants and two jackets. We must look like the Michelin Man. We like our possie at the end of the front straight so went back there. More qualifying, before the second Supercar Race 22. A car stalled on the front row of the grid and Heimgartner (NZ) drove into it at 100km/h. Eventually the carnage was cleared and SVG won again also recording the fasted lap. The last race of the day was Race 23. After the cars formed up on the grid rain set in. All cars changed to wet tyres and the race started behind the safety car for a couple of laps. The word went around that the grandstand was now free so we grabbed our chairs and headed out of the rain just in time for the race. SVG and Cam Waters drove in torrential rain side by side for many laps. Quite astounding the car control these guys have in these conditions. Again, SVG won also getting bonus points for the fastest lap! Back to “Andy” to dry out jackets, brollies, and a tarp. Another thrilling day!

 Mon 1 Aug – Everyone is packing up camp today. “The Bend” is an amazing place, privately owned with beautiful  facilities including many racing circuits, drag track, go karts track, a Rydges Hotel above the pits and our camping ground. We headed west, crossing the Murray River and thru the hills and the Barossa Valley to our camp, south of Gawler, 10kms from where we will store “Andy” on Wednesday. We have started to cross off our “to do” list before storing. We walked to a railway station to find out about buying train tickets for Wednesday, but it was tiny and unmanned. Val has now sorted it out.

 Tues 2 Aug – This is our pack up day and Val spent the morning washing our bedding and towels. I did a few jobs outside. Val got all the laundry dry just before it started to rain. This has been a great trip. We have been very lucky as the east coast of Australia has had some serious rain and flooding. We have managed to dodge it all, flooding down south when we were north and vice versa. Thinking back, we have not spent one full day inside because of the weather.

 Wed 3 Aug – We were packed up by 10:00am and a very short drive to Angle Vale and our storage place. We found this place on Gum Tree and it is the huge back yard of Val and Kathy, where they have about 10 other vehicles and a boat stored. We are very happy to with the setup. It feels secure. We put the bikes inside, locked up and, as Val and Kathy were going to the shopping, we gratefully accepted their offer of a lift to the train station.

 An hour-long ride, in a lovely modern electric train, took us right into the heart of Adelaide and a short walk to our budget hotel. We walked around the CBD along the Rundle Mall. Lots of historic buildings with modern buildings built behind. We picked up lunch headed down to the University area to eat it. On to the Museum, Art Gallery, Government House, and Parliament House, before crossing the Torrens River and the Adelaide Oval and St Peters Cathedral. Around the Oval and back across the Torrens River, very like a bigger version of the Avon before walking back to our hotel. We will go to the Adelaide Airport early tomorrow for our flight to Auckland and on to home.

Moree to Ballarat

 Fri 8 July – It was a cooler morning as we left Moree after shopping. We are now heading south on the Newell Hwy which runs from Brisbane to Melbourne. I drove this road in around 1996 with Paul Whitehouse and Dave Krakoski, when TVNZ ( Moving Pictures) was running an OB fleet of 3 trucks picking up the odd OBs in Aussie. We had a Rugby League in Brisbane, and our next job was in Geelong. This road is the main trucking route, and we were warned against using the Newell. We found the first 100kms smooth, flat, and wide so no problems. They are building a new inland railway along this road. We stopped at the showgrounds at Narrabri and sat in the sun and read. We now need power as our only heater is electric and it is cool at night.

Sat 9 July – Chilly this morning! On our way to Coonabarabran, we stopped at the Pilliga Sandstone Caves and walked a great 2km track around a huge sandstone outcrop where the were many caves. The colours in the rocks were beautiful.

 Our overnight stop was at a small cheap camping ground. We walked around the town of Coonabarabran and sat outside until 3:30 in warm sunshine.

 Sun 10 July – Our coldest night yet! 0C. Heater on before we got up so “Andy” was nice and cosy. We drove south to Hickeys Falls just off the hwy. Lovely! 

And on to Gilgandra. The Newell is now in undulating country with mostly bush beside the road. We are in a very small, neat camp and again we walked the town. This town was made famous as a recruiting march left from here in 1915 with 25 men heading to Sydney 515kms away. As they passed thru each town they called out “COO-EE” and arrived 250 recruits.

 

Mon 11 July – A short drive to Dubbo. We parked in town to get Val a haircut but there was a 2 hour delay. We shopped for 2 new jerseys and boots for Val, read in the sun in a carpark and then the haircut. Checked into a camp and sat outside in warm sunshine until 4:00pm.

 Tues 12 July – No driving today. Rain is forecast for this afternoon; we got the laundry done and I washed the lower half of “Andy”. We have been to Dubbo 4 years ago as it is the junction of several highways. Still no rain so we biked into town and along the Macquarie River. There is a cycling bridge crossing the river with a cycleway on each bank. The river was in flood  and the bridge was under water, so we had to do a “u” turn and ride back to the camp passing many playing fields. Sunny again for a read outside but it soon cooled down.

Wed 13 July – Back on the Newell Hwy heading south to Parkes. Just short of the town is the “Dish”. This is the large radio telescope made famous for being the receiving point for the TV pictures of the first moon landing of Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong’s “one step” speech. There is a visitor’s centre and some interesting displays of the 1960s equipment. I was involved with transmitting the TV pictures from Christchurch to Dunedin. It was never “live” on TV in NZ as there was no satellite receiving station in those days. We had a film version, flown from Sydney to Wellington by Canberra Bomber, screened simultaneously  to all centres, a couple of days later. “The Dish” was a movie, starring Sam Neil, telling the story of this period. It is cold and we are camped in a showground in Parkes with a mixture of black clouds and sunshine.

Thurs 14 July – A cold foggy morning. We drove down the main street of Parkes and 30kms to Forbes in the fog. There is a car museum in Forbes, and we enjoyed the 60 odd cars and motorbikes ranging from early 1900s to modern classics, some in original condition but most immaculate.

 The sun came out and it was an interesting drive to West Wyalong to the showgrounds. This is the start of the Riverina region and the bush and cattle have given way to crops. West Wyalong was a gold mining town with some beautiful old buildings and a crooked main street as it follows the original bullock track around the mines and trees. We walked to the town centre in warm sunshine.

Fri 15 July – This is our last day driving the Newell Hwy (route 39). We have driven 755kms from Moree. The road and traffic have been great and not the disaster some would have us believe. We are camped at the Narrandera showgrounds. The showgrounds all have power, needed for heating, have large sites, and are sunny with very few shady trees and cheap! ($20-25) A short walk away there is an AFL development tournament being played with schoolboys of all ages. We watched the senior boy’s game. Very skilful!! We sat outside until 4:45pm in warm sunshine.

Sat 16 July – A cloudy cold morning. The sun came out after lunch, so we biked to some tracks in a reserve down by the Murrumbidgee River. The first track was called “Koala” and sure enough we spied 2 Koalas sleeping in the gum trees. These are the first we have seen in the wild! The ride down to the river was great thru beautiful gum trees. We returned via the main street of Narrandera. Found a thorn in Val’s rear tyre so spent the rest of the afternoon changing the tube. Many Kangaroos invaded the showring at sunset.

 

Sun 17 July – Woken by gun fire in the night. No idea what it was all about. Much warmer this morning as we left Narrandera and drove down the Sturt Hwy to Wagga Wagga, pronounced Wogga Wogga. This is the biggest inland city in NSW (66,000). It is also where Prince Charles stepped off an aircraft, in 38C heat, wearing a fox hat. We bought a new tube at K Mart and drove along the main street. Not very inspiring!  Our camp was a few kms north of the city. A couple of showers in the afternoon and rain at night. The direct route to South Australia would be to travel west but we have decided, as we have time, to head south down into Victoria to visit Bendigo and Ballarat.

 Mon 18 July – By-passed the city centre, picked up the cheapest diesel so far this trip ($2.19), and headed to Albury with a stop at the original Ettamogah Pub. Unfortunately, the main building was closed.

We are camped at the Albury Showgrounds. In the afternoon we biked into the CBD and walked the main street. Some lovely old buildings, beautifully painted, and a great vibe. Albury is right on the border of NSW and Victoria.

Tues 19 July – A frosty morning but lovely sunshine all day. A longer drive today (175kms) down the Hume Hwy crossing the Murray River which is the border. 100kms of fast smooth dual carriageway before heading west towards Shepparton. The landscape is now flat, but in the distance, we can see mountains with a dusting of snow. We are in a camp and biked into the smallish town along the main street and then into a cycleway thru a park and around Lake Victoria. Sat outside in the sun until 4:00pm.

Wed 20 July – West for 120kms on the Midland Hwy to Bendigo. We found our camp and had lunch. Bendigo has a population of 120,000 and we are 8kms from the CBD, so we drove “Andy” to a parking area in the city. There was a replica mine head tower near our park, so we started our exploration by climbing it for a view of the area. Bendigo was one of the great gold mining towns from 1860 odd. Under the town there is a number of gold bearing quartz reefs and many mine shafts were dug to extract the gold. The town is beautiful, with great parks and buildings reflecting the huge wealth. We walked around the CBD before returning to our camp. Another warm, sunny day.

Thurs 21 July – Drove “Andy” part way to town again but parked where the vintage tourist tram starts its run. We hopped on and rattled our way thru the CBD to the other end of the track at the Deborah  Gold Mine.

This is now a tourist mine and we wandered around the various buildings and equipment that served the mine in the past. 

A short walk back towards the town stopping at an impressive Catholic Cathedral both inside and out. We went to a restaurant for lunch and sat outside, near the Alexandra Fountain. A last walk along the main street admiring the beautiful buildings before catching the tram back to “Andy”. Another good day!

 

Fri 22 July – Our drive out of Bendigo took us back down the main street and out onto the A300 towards Melbourne. The country was quite hilly and windy as we turned again west, passing thru several small gold mining towns, and on to Ballarat. This is another gold rich city, slightly bigger than Bendigo. Before heading to our camp, we parked and walked thru the city. Not as spectacular as Bendigo but still some great old buildings. A little drama finding the camp as there was a railway line dividing the street our camp is on and a long detour to get over the tracks. A cooler day and the forecast for tomorrow is not great.

Sat 23 July – Cold with drizzle this morning. A short walk out of our camp to the Eureka Centre where there is an audio/video presentation of the Eureka Stockade. In 1851 the gold miners refused to pay a tax on their claims. They created fortifications and defended them against the British Army. The rights and wrongs of the situation seem to be unclear, but in a short battle 36 miners  and 6 soldiers died. The depiction of the battle and the aftermath was very well done. Outside the centre there was a memorial to the dead. Back in “Andy” for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we will leave Ballarat and head west towards South Australia taking 5 days to reach Tailem Bend and the Supercar Racing next weekend.

 

 

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.