Agnes Water - Rockhampton

Wed 11 July – Up early as the next camp we want to stay in is “first come first served” and we do not want to miss out. We are heading out to the coast to Agnes Water about 120kms away. We arrived at the Workmans Beach camp at about 10:00am and got one of the last sites. This is a Regional Park camp and set in bush. It reminds us of the great State Park camps in the USA. We walked out to the headland behind the camp with great views. After lunch we rode down to the town and the beautiful beach of Agnes Water. The end of the beach faces north and is sheltered from the S.E.  winds. On the way back, we walked a couple of short tracks with great views. We have booked for 2 nights but may stay longer.

Thurs 12 July – We packed our lunch and cycled 7kms to the town of 1770.

This is where Captain Cook made his second landfall on Australia. (Botany Bay was the first). There is a sheltered river mouth where he moored the Endeavour and caught fish, and shot the turkeys which are still everywhere. We walked thru the Joseph Banks Conservation Park to a lookout. Back on the river we had our lunch before the return ride to Agnes Water Beach for a sit in the sun and a read.

Fri 13 July – Another packed lunch and a ride in the opposite direction partly on a road and then a 4WD track to a carpark at Springs Beach.

We walked the Red Rock Trail along beaches and over headlands for 3kms. The area up from the beaches is all privately owned (Myers) with eco-friendly houses set discreetly into the bush. A great walk with pristine beaches.


On our way back, we walked a boardwalk thru a Paper Bark forest. Enjoyed some time relaxing when we got back.

Sat 14 July – We left this great camp (we will be back!) and drove 120kms north to a free camp on the Calliope River. There is camping either side of the river and we got a great spot on the north side overlooking the river. There are about 100 campers and caravans in this area but there is lots of space. Most people lit camp fires at sunset.

Sun 15 July – It was a very cool morning. When the sun reached “Andy” I gave Val a haircut. Clear skies and very sunny. In the afternoon we walked over the old bridge to the camp on the other side of the river. The guy next door lit a camp fire at sunset and invited us and another couple to join them. A very pleasant evening talking and enjoying the brilliant stars.  Even saw the International Space Station fly over.

Mon 16 July – We will stay here for another night. It was much warmer this morning. Breakfast outside in shorts. We walked up to the small café where the local CWI ladies serve scones with jam and cream. Very yummy. Our neighbours lit a campfire and we spent another very pleasant evening with them.

Tues 17 July – A 100km drive to Rockhampton where we are booked into a camp. We did a shop up and after lunch Val washed everything that did not move! I had to be careful I did not end up in a washing machine. We will return to this camp in a few days’ time to look around this city of around 100,000 situated on the Tropic of Capricorn.

Wed 18 July – We drove out to the coast to Yeppoon, found a park and walked the beach into the town. It is a bit like a mini Mooloolaba with yuppy shops and apartments above. This area is Keppel Bay with the Keppel Islands in the distance. We booked into a camp down the coast for a couple of nights. There seem to be lots of older couples from Victoria wintering over here. The camp is on an inlet with a causeway separating it from the sea. We sat on the inlet watching the sunset.

Thurs 19 July – We walked across the causeway and along the beach for about 5kms. The weather has been perfect for the last three weeks. Sunny days (around 23C) and cooler evenings. We spent the afternoon in the sun/shade reading.

 Back to the inlet with our chairs and a glass of wine to watch the sunset with the pelicans.

Fri 20 July – We drove away from the coast and inland.
 This will be the last time we see the sea for a very long time!

 We went to the “Fardooley’s Bush Camp”. This is a private little camp up on a plateau in the bush. There were about 20 sites, run by a hard case couple who just enjoy the company. At around 5:30pm we all assembled in the Fardooley Bar for “happy hour”. We had a great couple of hours talking to many other couples traveling much as we are.

Sat 21 July – A cooler but sunny morning. I had bought some bits to fix the tap in our shower and spent most of the morning (with Val’s help) shifting the tap. A very successful job.

In the afternoon we walked down the hill and followed a track to the creek. Platypuses have been sighted there but the creek was just a series of shallow puddles so non Platypuses. Back up to the bar for “happy hour”. Very hospitable hosts.

Sun 22 July – Back to the city of Rockhampton with a shop up on the way. We are booked into the same camp as last Tuesday and will spend a couple of nights here before heading inland for the next part of our journey.

Sunshine Coast to Bundaberg

Sat 30 June – We left our site and sat in the carpark for lunch before driving to Little Mountain where Judy and Frank McAlister live. It’s basically a suburb of Caloundra. We parked in their drive and had a great catch up. Val and Judy took Lucy (Debbie’s dog) for a walk while I used Frank’s workshop to fix our bed ladder. I also replaced a TV aerial on Franks RV. Drinks and then a great dinner.

Sun 1 July – We meet up with Jill and Bob Rice for coffee at an outdoor café at King’s Beach. We parked and walked a boardwalk to the café.  Another good catch up. After lunch back at Judy and Frank’s we drove to Mooloolaba and booked into the beach camp. (expensive!) We had arranged to have drinks with Peter and Rana Eggleton. We walked the beach and back thru the shops, changed and then had a short walk to their luxury apartment overlooking Mooloolaba and Alexandra Heads. Val played badminton with Peter for many years. We had a nice time with them and some friends who were staying from Christchurch. The views from their 9^th floor apartment were spectacular. We wandered back to “Andy” buying fish and chips for dinner.

Mon 2 July – We drove to Woolworths (food) and Bunnings (LPG) then followed the Sunshine Highway thru Noosa to the ferry across the Noosa River and into the National Park to the beach camp at North Noosa. We were going to come here last year for a night but it was not worth the expense of the ferry crossing. We got a site overlooking the beach. The day was beautiful despite the forecast. Spent the afternoon enjoying the view. We were outside until after sunset around 5:30pm.

Tue 3 July - We have booked in for 3 nights here and, after breakfast outside, we went for a long walk along the beach. This beach looks back into the main beach at Noosa. Another lazy afternoon.  We took our chairs onto the sandhills at the rear of our site. Weather was the same as yesterday.

Wed 4 July – It was overcast and windy in the morning. I changed the bathroom light to LED. “Andy” is all LED now. The weather cleared a bit so Val did some washing which we hung up in the awning. After lunch we walked along the beach in the other direction. Some of this beach is like 90 Mile Beach, a public road for 4WDs.

Thurs 5 July – We left this great beach and back across the ferry ($9 each way) and joined the Bruce Highway to Maryborough. We are following a different route from last year to Bundaberg. We stopped in a carpark in the centre of Maryborough where there is a designated area for self-contained RVs and caravans. We are all backed in with a great grassy area behind us. At the Town Hall (next door) we picked up a free parking permit for 48 hours. There are about 20 parking spaces. A great way to promote the town. We also picked up some info on the place and will do some of the historical walks.     

The other thing we discovered was that Maryborough was the birth place of P. L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins.
We walked around the CBD (not very large). They have really played on the Mary Poppins theme with a statue and even the “Don’t Cross” lights are Mary Poppins.






This town is on the Mary River and was famous for ship building. They also have replica of a locally built steam train, Mary Ann, with the tracks right behind our parking place.

Fri 6 July – Breakfast outside on the grass and then a walk around the town until it started to rain. After lunch we continued our walk thru the gardens and along the banks of the Mary River. Quite a few yachts moored in the harbour. Back into the town where we checked out the RSL for dinner. The Huge Anglican church bell tower was chiming a very disjointed version of “Home on the Range”. Strange we thought until we spied a sign saying that, with a group of 8, you could learn to ring the bells. Pre-dinner drinks in “Andy” before a short walk to the RSL for a roast of the day. Very yummy!

Sat 7 July – After dumping and fuel we continued up the Bruce Highway and then turned down to the coast to Woodgate, a trip of 90kms. We are camped at the local hotel on a big grassy site over the road from the beach. We put out the awning just as it started to rain. Later the rain stopped and we biked a great cycleway following the beach for 5kms passed many lovely holiday homes and a couple of shops. Just as we got back the rain started again.

Sun 8 July – It was really cold in the night but a sunny morning with a cool wind. We shifted sites to get some shelter. We walked down to the beach where the tide was out and the sea was calm. After lunch we biked along the beach in the opposite direction from yesterday to where a creek joined the sea and then back along the road to our camp and continued on the cycleway to the shops and an ice-cream.

Outside at dusk several kangaroos graced us with their presence before hopping away. It was slightly warmer in the night thank goodness.

Mon 9 July – This is a great beach so we have decided to stay another night. We took our chairs down to the beach and sat and read. There are surprisingly few people here considering it is the school holidays. The water is still too cold for us to swim! In the afternoon we took a long walk along the beach. This beach deserves a better name than just Woodgate!

Tues 10 July – Back on the road for a short drive to Bundaberg. This is as far north as we came on last year’s trip. After a big shop up, we checked into the CMCA park for a night. The CMCA is the Aussie equivalent of the NZMCA in NZ. They have very few camps however, this one is great, but we will not be renewing our membership. 

There are some interesting vehicles here including a house boat on a trailer. (Boat a Home). It was a cool evening but it did not stop the more hardy folks assembling for “happy hour” including us.

The Start of our Aussie Winter.

Mon 18 June – Nicola, Gary and the boys moved into our house yesterday, so Nicola spent the day unpacking and dropped us off at the airport for our 4.05pm flight to Sydney. It was great not to be on our usual early morning flight. We caught the train into Central Station where we decided to catch a taxi to our cheap hotel as it was teeming. The taxi driver did not know our hotel and dropped us off around the block from it and we almost walked further than from the station. It was a clean tidy room just what we needed. Indian at a food hall for dinner.

Tues 19 June – We walked back to Central Station where we caught the NSW Xplorer to Walcha Road. The train left at 9.30am and arrived at 4.45pm. It was an enjoyable trip firstly up the coast to Gosford and then inland up the Great Divide. The excitement was provided by a young Asian bloke who got caught smoking in the toilets and very publicly was evicted from the train. At Walcha Road Station we were met by a minivan and driven the 20kms to Walcha and Mountain Motors where our camper (Andy) was waiting for us. Chris, the manager welcomed us back and explained all that had been done and wished us good traveling. We camped the night in the local camping ground. Walcha is at 1100m elevation and it got really cold at night. We used the aircon on heat mode but found it hard to regulate.

Wed 20 June – A fine sunny day and after putting the bikes on the back we drove thru the hills (Aussie mountains) to Tamworth. Andy was going very well. After a shop up which included slippers and a cheap fan heater we had lunch and followed the “Fossikers Way” to the small town of Manilla and on to Split Rock Dam for the night. As we were levelling the camper Val noticed coolant dripping on the ground. I had a good look but could not establish where it was coming from. As we had no cell phone coverage we climbed a hill and managed to contact Chris from Mountain Motors. He suggested taking “Andy” back to Manilla the next day and to get a garage to find the leak and hopefully fix it. Failing that he would sent someone up from Walcha, 150kms away!! We took a walk down to the dam watched by many kangaroos. It was a great camping site in the gum trees.

Thurs 21 June – A slightly earlier start for our 20kms trip back to Manilla with 3 stops to check the coolant level. The garage we chose pressurised the cooling system but were unable to see where the leak was. A phone call to Chris who sent Gary, the mechanic who had done the repairs, in the breakdown truck, a 2 hour drive. When he arrived, he did some investigations and thought the problem was the water pump. Yikes!! 

Andy suffered the same humiliation as last time, being loaded on the breakdown truck. Three of us in the cab for the 2 ½ hour drive back to Walcha. Guess what - we were back camped in the yard at Mountain Motors. Too late to do anything today.

Fri 22 June – Much better news today. Chris had ordered a replacement water pump which would arrive at lunchtime, Gary would fit it and with luck we would be set to go. As they had removed the water pump for the original fix, Chris very fairly decided he would cover the entire cost.  I did some minor jobs in the morning and we walked up to the laundry in the afternoon. When we returned Gary had made great progress, and by 4.00pm we took “Andy” for a 40km test trip. All good. Gary’s wife, Nadene, invited us to their home for dinner and we enjoyed a great roast with them and their two daughters. Very generous people.

Sat 23 June – We left the yard at Mountain Motors for the last time (we hope!!) and set off up the Thunderbolt Way thru the country towns of Uralla and Bundarra to Inverell - a trip of 160kms. Driving these backcountry roads is very pleasant. This part of NSW is suffering a huge drought with all the paddocks bare. Some of the counties have allowed the farmers to graze the “long paddocks” (the sides of the road) and we passed a few stockmen keeping an eye on the cattle herds. At Inverell we stayed in the Show Grounds. We will need power for a few more nights as it is still cold. The day time sun is great but it very quickly cools off. Our plan is to head north and over the NSW/QLD border for warmer weather. We got the bikes off and had a pleasant ride around the town which was quite large.

Sun 24 June – A heavy frost this morning! Cars with kids, parents and grandparents arrive for what must be Sunday football tournament. We headed up the Gwydir Hwy to Warialda where we fuelled up before turning north on a very rough but sealed road to our overnight stop at a tiny outback town called North Star. The country changed from cattle land to crops (wheat stubble). The ground colour also changed from red dust to black soil.

At North Star we parked for the night at the sports club in a huge area with power. They were having a $15 roast hoping to attract a crowd for the State of Origin. We walked over at 6:30pm, a great meal including pudding, but very few had shown up. We talked to a few of the locals and then went back to “Andy” before the game.

Mon 25 June – Back for a short time on the bumpy road until it joined the Gore Hwy at Goondiwindi on the NSW/QLD border. The road, although a main highway, was still rough for our drive to the Millmerran showgrounds where we spent the night, a total of 200kms. We have changed into shorts and tee shirts and even put the awning up for the shade. We sat outside until 5pm for yet another great sunset!!

Tues 26 June – It was a much milder night. This area is the southern part of the Darling Downs. The road improved as we headed north for a short drive to Toowomba. We shopped before finding a camp near the centre of town. We will stop here a couple of nights to do some laundry and explore this city with a population of 110,000. The weather is overcast and rain is in the forecast. After lunch we walked down to the CBD but will look around more thoroughly tomorrow.

  They have an outdoor ice skating rink set up for the “Winter Festival”. Strange to see people skating around in shorts! The day time temperatures are around 17C so it must be hard to keep the ice frozen. Val phoned Judy and Frank McAlister and we will visit them in the weekend.

Wed 27 June – The forecast rain arrived in the night and it rained all morning. Our planned bike ride around the town was cancelled! Val did laundry. After lunch the rain eased to drizzle so we donned our jackets and walked back to the CBD. There was a huge multi storied mall which we wandered around but only bought a cap for me. Had a nice gelato before our walk home.

Thurs 28 June – It was foggy and drizzly as we left Toowomba and drove thru some nice country toward Lake Somerset thru the towns of Hampton and Esk. We have driven part of this road last year.  Our overnight stop is at the Kilcoy Showgrounds. “Andy” is performing well, thank goodness.

Fri 29 June – There was thick fog this morning covering the lower part of Queensland. Even the Brisbane Airport was closed. After the fog cleared, as we only have a short trip today, we drove into the town of Kilcoy and walked round in lovely warm sunshine. Shorts and tee shirts again. On the road thru the Glass Mountains to Beerwah where we camped in the Sportsgrounds. It was great to sit outside in the sunshine for lunch and then a bike ride to the town which is quite large. We managed to replace our clock which had crapped out. Back for a read and relax in dappled sun.  

Trouble at Mill !!

Mon 2 April – We left the camp and shopped at Coles before heading up the Oxley Highway.
 It was a steady climb up the windy road into the mountains. We stopped for lunch at Stockman Creek and continued on to Tia Falls at the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. The 7km road into the Falls was very dusty.

We had a beautiful camp site in the bush very much like a US state park with a camp fire and table. We followed a track to the views of the Falls and the Gorge. What a site! The falls were huge and the gorge a real surprise.
 We even had a family of wallabies visit us. It was much cooler as we were at an elevation of about 1100m.

Tues 3 April – We walked down to the Tia River with more great views of the falls. Then things went downhill!!! The motor would not start - exactly the same feel as our problems at “The Pub With No Beer”. No cellphone coverage so we walked back up the road to the nearest farm. Don the farmer was a great help phoning the local garage, “Mountain Motors” about 40kms up the road at the small town of Walcha. Gary, the mechanic arrived from the garage and we tried all the tricks that had worked in the past but with no luck. Eventually we had to admit defeat and call the garage again this time for the flat deck truck. Poor “Andy” - loaded onto the flat deck truck and a fast trip to Walcha and Mountain Motors. Nothing could be done today so we stayed the night outside the garage. Hopefully they will find the problem tomorrow.

Wed 4 April – Gary spent some time investigating the problem with increasing pessimism. Chris, the owner was away for the day and Gary was reluctant to commit to the diagnoses. We walked around  Walcha which has many art sculptures scattered around. It is a pretty town but we could run out of things to do here. Fortunately, we have good TV reception and can watch the Commonwealth Games and the Masters Golf. It was decided we would spend another night here, discuss the problem with Chris and Gary, and make a decision as to the solution. We plugged into power and emptied the toilet. We also have water here.

Thurs 5 April – Chris eventually arrived and we got the bad news that the problem was the injector pump. Not a cheap or quick fix. The pump had to be removed and sent to Dalby, Queensland for servicing, a 3-week exercise. We decided to get public transport to Brisbane and fly home on our scheduled flight on 13 April. On reflection, we have travelled many 1000’s of kms in various campervans in NZ, Europe and North America and this is the first time we have ever had a major mechanical problem. Our luck had to run out at sme stage. Chris very kindly offered to store “Andy” at his property after he is fixed. There was no G3 cellphone coverage so no internet. We went to the library and researched transport and accommodation.

Chris is happy for us to stay the weekend outside the workshop so we will travel by train to Tamworth on Monday, stay 2 nights there and catch a bus for a long trip to Brisbane City where will stay another 2 nights before our flight home.

Fri 6 April- After watching the Masters Golf on TV, we asked Philippa, the office lady, to make up our bill so far. Not as bad as it could have been. The big bill will arrive later!!! At the library we finished our accommodation bookings, did some banking and cleared our emails. Then onto our bikes with the washing to the laundromat. After lunch we took our chairs over the riverbank, found some shade and had a long read. Another quiet night watching the Commonwealth Games on TV. (Well at least the Aussie version).

Sat 7 April - Chris has given us the loan car for the weekend. We packed our lunch and chairs etc and headed back down the Oxley Highway for 18kms to the Apsley Falls. We followed a track over a swing bridge and along the gorge rim to various viewpoints.

Unfortunately, the river is almost dry so the falls are not very spectacular. The gorge was great however. After our picnic lunch we walked the other gorge rim including steps taking us well down towards the river. We sat in the dappled shade and had a read before returning to “Andy”.

Sun 8 April – The car was handy to take all the towels and bed linen to the laundromat. We then set off for a 40km drive to Uralla, a larger country town.

We walked the main street with many beautiful buildings before having lunch and a glass of wine at a nice café on the street.
On the way home we stopped at a lagoon and had a read. In the evening we started closing “Andy” down, de-frosting the fridge, putting up screens etc.

Mon 9 April – We had an early start as the bus to take us to the train arrives at 8:45am and there was heaps to still do. We have been camped at the garage for 

6 nights! People have been very kind and having the car for the weekend had been great but we were not sad to leave Walcha for the short bus ride to the railway station. The train we caught goes from Armidale to Sydney but our trip was only 1 hour to Tamworth. Nice scenery but very dry and dusty. We had not researched the motel we had booked properly and ended up walking thru the centre of the town and then 4kms to the motel. It is very basic but clean and comfortable.

After a rest we discovered that the Big Golden Guitar was only down the road so we visited it, and took the usual photo. Back at the motel we had a swim and relax in the pool.

Tues 10 April – We caught the bus back into town. Tamworth’s population is around 50,000 and has a nice centre which we walked around before continuing on to the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was very good with video presentations of all the eras of Country Music. Back on the bus and another swim at the pool. In the evening we walked back to the Big Golden Guitar area and the Longyard Hotel for a beer and the Roast of the Day. It was great! It’s hard to cook a roast in a campervan! The place was flat out. Tamworth seems to be a very busy place.

Wed 11 April – A very early start (5:45am) for our long bus trip to Brisbane. 588kms and 9 hours! The trip was better than expected. Not many stops and interesting scenery. For most of the trip the land was dry and dusty but after our lunch at Warwick, there was more agriculture and we crossed back over the Great Divide and down into Brisbane. We made up for our distance to our accommodation problem at Tamworth as the bus stopped just over the road from the apartment we booked. It’s a great apartment and even has a balcony - Abbey on Roma.

Thurs 12 April – We had a sleep in and then went for a walk to the Queen St Mall to check out where we might have dinner. Back in our apartment we packed our lunch and walked to the South Bank area. Our plan was to have a swim at the artificial beach but being the school holidays there were kids everywhere. We ate lunch at the beach and had a read before it started to rain.
We headed back but stopped at a fan viewing area and realized that the Comm Games Mountain Biking was on so we enjoyed watching NZ get gold and silver.

We walked back to the Queen St Mall and had a very nice dinner at “Jimmy’s on the Mall”, a well-known landmark in Brisbane.

Fri 13 April – We will publish this last blog before we check out of our apartment. The plan is to leave our back pack here, walk to the botanical gardens and spend some time there. We will catch the train to the airport which departs just over the road. Our flight is at 6:30pm and we will land around midnight NZ time. It has been a great trip despite the problems we have had. Hopefully when we pick up “Andy” in late June we will have trouble free cruising!