Heading North to Caloundra

The night before we're due to leave for The Lap and here I am updating the blog with last month's foray north! :(

We left Melbourne in very heavy traffic - typically not an early start for us.  Lake Mokoan Wetlands was a lovely spot to stretch the legs before heading for our first night at Gundagai.  We hit heavy fog the next morning travelling through Young to Cowra.  

Thick fog near Young
We stopped at the "Cowra Peace Precinct" Japanese Gardens but with only a half hour to spare, we decided not to fork out the entrance fee but push on towards Dubbo.


Fortunately we stopped at an Autobarn on the way and put some 'Sonic Animal' warnings on the bullbar; not long after, a roo seemed intent on leaping out in front of us, but stopped, looked up and bounded off in the other direction.  Seems those sonic sounds do work.  Although it was getting late and we'd decided we wouldn't drive at night-time, we ventured on past Coonabarabran to Narrabri, arriving just after 6 pm.  Someone at the local RSL clearly has been very creative mind and turned the restaurant into a ridgy didge Aussie outback complete with verandas, saddles on posts, and a huge mural of an Aussie country town that boasted a plethora of Acubras!  Lorraine obliged many of the visiting patrons by offering to take their photos (with their cameras) - always with the obligatory, "Well someone always ends up missing in the photos, don't they".

An early morning start saw us in Goondiwindi for brekky/morning tea and checking in to a motel in Caloundra by just after 6 pm.

We picked up our Q+ on the Wednesday and headed north-west to a free RV campground at Kandanga.  The local folk have a "Friends of Kandanga" and ensure the grounds are mowed and every now and then a few blokes "get bored" and go out and chop down a tree, chop it up, and put it in a covered area for use by the campers.  And all they asked was a gold coin donation for our stay! I think we might have provided a bit of amusements for the other campers, our first time towing Q and being late in the afternoon, there weren't many bits of grassed areas to snooker.  But we met some lovely fellow campers who certainly made us feel very welcome.

Two happy campers!
Our trip back to Melbourne was via the AOR factory to sort an issue with the timber rack.  Then we were on our way - just in time to hit the peak hour traffic heading down to the Gold Coast for some family time.

The hills inland from Coffs Harbour served up a freezing cold stay.  We stopped at a WikiCamp (free camp) at the side of the local footy oval.  The highlight was a roast pork dinner with loads of roast veggies.

Lorraine towed the van through Sydney- from north to south - and in peak hour!  Yep, we managed to get our timing wrong again!  Thank goodness for the Hema sat nav.

Coledale on the east coast was a beautiful night stopover right on the beach. It would have been true bliss had it been summertime.  But as it was, it was pretty special.

Bermagui was a true delight but again, very cold - a definite place to return to in the summer months. Another WikiCamp 'special' was listed as Lake Tyers, but it turned out to be a laneway at the back of the pub, so the local caravan park at $28 was a great option.

It was great to get home safe and sound.  The van has certainly had a good shake-down.



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