Sunday 18 August 2013 – Rainbow Beach to Hervey Bay

This morning we were up pretty early, but didn’t rush as we knew we had only about 135 kms to drive today, so we didn’t leave the caravan park until about a quarter to ten.  Gave the car its breakfast energy drink and retraced the last forty kilometres of yesterday’s drive – back around Tin Can Bay to the turn off for Maryborough.

  Once on the Maryborough road we were pretty quickly in pine plantation territory again, and it carried through for a large part of the 60 kms to Maryborough.  And we thought we’d try Zola again today after her mental collapse the other day, and though she exhibited a bit of confusion for the first twenty kms, she soon hit her straps and got us here safely.

Sugar cane plantations were seen around Maryborough which appears to be a very beautiful city, with numerous heritage listed buildings and a history which dates back to its foundation in the mid 1800’s.  And along the roads we drove through the city, there was a predominance of Queenslander houses, in differing states of repair, and the well-maintained ones really lovely.

It was around midday when we arrived at our caravan park – the Fraser Coast Top Tourist Park.  It is quite small with only 41 powered sites, 6 units and 8 cabins, but has great facilities including a big recreation room with billiard tables, etc, and a really well-equipped camp kitchen.  The managers are really friendly, with the husband Gary escorting you to the site and directing operations when you’re positioning the van.

We took longer than usual to set up, as considering we are here for three weeks we wanted to put up the awning and the flys over the bed ends – not that we expect any rain, but you have to be prepared!  Also Grant has connected up the sullage hose and connected the water to the van – something he doesn’t usually do on one night stops.  On those occasions we fill the kettle from the taps or use what’s in our water tank, and let the sullage do its own thing once it has gone down the plughole.

The day was once again beautifully sunny and reached about 25 degrees here, so after we  set up we had a cuppa and something to eat before heading off to find a supermarket and stock up the pantry.  Once done, we went to the Happy Wanderer Caravan Park and caught up with my cousins Lauris and her husband Ray and Adrian and his wife Linda. We had a good old natter for about an hour and a half, then came back to our van.

Then there was a bit of excitement!!   Grant had just wandered over to the toilet when I heard ‘Knock, knock – anyone home’.  I said yes and walked to the door, to find Gary and another bloke there asking if I could move our car from where it was parked to just opposite, between two units.  I said: No worries – are we parked too far across?  (We had a vacant spot next to us).  Just then Grant came back so he moved our car.

  It turned out that the fellow with Gary had car trouble, and just waiting in the driveway a couple of van sites back was a big truck, with his car – a rather large twin cab thing with a canopy - secured on the back of its tray, and the big truck was towing a rather large caravan that had obviously (pre breakdown) been attached to the twin cab vehicle. 

Now as I have mentioned, this is a small park with quite a narrow road between each row of vans, and the driver of this rescue truck had to reverse the van into the space next to us.  With very precise directions from Gary, and pretty skillful driving from the rescue truck driver, the caravan was positioned with a minimum of fuss, but by now with about half the caravan park population watching on. 

Then the tray of the truck was slid back, the caravan owner started getting stuff out of his twin cab, including the washing machine, crates, bags and boxes – in fact everything they would need for what now will be an extended stay while their broken down vehicle is fixed.  And when that was done, the ramp was raised again and off went the rescue truck.

So now we have neighbours – carless – so luckily we are within walking distance to shops, beach, etc.

So that’s where we are at right now.  Tomorrow I’ll get some washing done and we’ll have a bit of a lay day, reading, making sock dolls, fishing, a walk along the beach – whatever takes our fancy.

                                Saturday 17 August 2013 – Nanango to Rainbow Beach

We were pretty much back to our normal this morning, as after waking at about 20 to 8, we were filling up with petrol at about 20 to 10, so a bit slow off the mark.  And it didn’t help matters when, while Grant was getting the fuel, I was putting our destination into Zola when she spat the dummy and died. Well she didn’t quite die, but the button you press to turn her on (I use the stylus) got stuck in the down position, and nothing would work.  Now for some reason unbeknown to myself, last night I had transcribed the directions from Nanango to today’s destination as shown on Google maps – maybe because we are up in the mountains and I remember being up in the Adelaide Hills early last year and getting totally lost!

So we confidently set forth ….. for about a kilometre until I started to second guess myself – the road name we were on didn’t match the one we needed to be on, but it did seem to be going in the right direction.  So after a bit of exasperated eye-rolling from the driver (it wasn’t me), we did a u-turn back into the main street and I got out of the car to ask for help.  In the local Mitre 10 shop, three men all contributed to the direction giving, which was confusing me even more, so I asked for a bit of paper and asked them for the names of the towns we needed to pass through, and just hoped the signposting would tally.  We left Nanango for the second time, interestingly going down the road I had first directed Grant on to!  By now the decision had been made that today we must buy a regional map for where we are going.

So with renewed confidence we followed Google maps directions, and the drive went without a hiccup.  Again most of the drive was quite hilly, and the first observation was a lovely big dam covering quite a big area, wandering around the hills.  It is the Bjelke Petersen Dam and holds over a million megalitres of water and covers an area of two and a half thousand hectares of land.

Constantly referring to the list of town names given to me by the fellows back in Nanango, I happily ticked them off – Goomeri, Kilkivan where we saw a dead snake on the road, Goombooran and Gympie.  In the vicinity of Gympie, we passed what appeared to be a convoy of 4x4 vehicles all loaded up with fishing rods in holders attached to the front of the car and held down onto the packracks, almost obliterating the vision of anyone in the passenger seat, and obviously hampering the drivers vision, too.  We thought they must be heading into the mountains to a fishing competition – but we were later to find out we were wrong.

 Continuing on in the direction of Tin Can Bay and into Rainbow Beach where we are installed for the night, we passed through massive pine plantations, and passed heaps more vehicles decked out in fishing rods.  It was only when we arrived here at the Rainbow Waters Holiday Park and spoke to Sue when we booked in, that we discovered that’s just how people arrive for a holiday here!  It’s a fishing place and fishermen come in droves!

We were here and set up by 1pm so after lunch went on a drive to explore the area.  Grant got in the car, picked Zola up from where she had been put in disgrace earlier in the day, turned her on, and she seems to be working, though the on button is still stuck in, so we’ll see how capable she is when she is set a task.

We went to Carlo Point where a number of boats were out, people were fishing and others were just playing around on the sand.

From there we drove the 12 or so km down the Inskip Peninsula to the barge loading point where you get ‘barged‘ to Fraser Island.  We were amazed at the number of people camped there in the ti-tree and scrub.  There would have been well over a hundred camps set up, and most of them up tracks of deep sand, only accessible by four wheel drive.  As it was quite a warm day, the spots there were beautifully shaded and everyone seemed really relaxed.

                             

The previous photo shows the vehicles on the beach – there were lots of them along the peninsula coastline.

Next we went into town and bought that all important map – no excuses now about not finding our way!  There was a wedding about to happen on the grass by the beach while we were there, and we drove past it two or three times as we explored the town, but the bride still hadn’t arrived.  We really like it here, it’s pretty, not too crowded and not too touristy.

Back at camp a bit after 4, and I’d just made a cuppa when we heard a woman call out knock knock!  We said hello, and the lady (Kay) told us that she and her partner had just got to the park, and her partner had said: Did you see that – a car like ours!  Of course she hadn’t noticed, but as they were interested in getting a camper of some sort, he was interested to see how it towed, etc.  He reckoned she wouldn’t come and talk to us, so he was wrong.  She was here for about fifteen minutes, then went off, coming back ten minutes later with Ross in tow.

They were here for the next hour – Kay sitting in the van and Ross standing at the door, and we chatted about everything – so that filled in the time till tea.  We did discover from Ross (they live in Dalby – about 300kms away) that the way those fishing rods we saw being transported is illegal, but everyone does it!  I wouldn’t be impressed if I was sitting in the passenger seat, I can tell you!

Tomorrow we reach our destination – a mere 130 km away.  Hopefully we can negotiate the route without too much difficulty.

Friday 16 August 2013 – Goondiwindi to Nanango

Up with the sparrows this morning – 10 to 7 for some unknown reason.  With such an early rising, we managed to get away at 20 to 9, heading for Nanango 331 kms northwards.  Before we left we had another chat to the neighbours when I mentioned that though I’ve had some differences of opinion with Zola in the past (our GPS lady), we would need to rely on her today as the route didn’t seem totally straight forward. The husband half of the couple (Trevor) said: Why would you take orders from a woman anyway.  I was gob-smacked when his wife told me that when they bought their GPS it had a woman’s voice, but he insisted it be changed to a man!!!  What a twit.

Almost immediately after leaving Goondiwindi we were struck by the big cactus looking plants scattered among the gum and wattle trees.  There were dozens of them.  Once I saw the fruit on some of them I realised that they are prickly pears – and they were out of control.  They looked really odd among the Aussie trees.

Today seemed to me like a day focussing on things of pure Australiana.  We drove through the Darling Downs which lie to the west of the Great Dividing Range.  This is a rich farming and agricultural district, where a wide variety of crops are grown. And it’s also the setting for the Australian classic novel On Our Selection - the life and adventures of Steel Rudd’s fictional family Dad and Dave who lived in Snake Gully.  And of course the fact that the Condamine River feeds the Murray Darling basin here reminds me of the folk song I’m sure we all learnt at state school – On the banks of the Condamine.

We had a fuel stop at Moonie – a name which rang a bell, and as we were leaving we noticed an oil drill out in a paddock. After checking it out the memory sharpened - Moonie was the site of Australia's first commercial oil field, somewhere back in the early sixties and though it is very small in comparison to deposits found since, it is still operating.

We continued on, passing through towns called Dalby, Bell and Kumbia before Zola first of all declared the trip invalid and had a bit of a meltdown, then when I reset her, she tried to send us off on a wild goose chase down gravelly tracks from Kumbia to Nanango.  So I took the easy way out – went into a café and asked directions and was told that from there it would be best with the van on to go through Kingaroy and backtrack the 21 kms to Nanango.  So that’s what we did, arriving here at about 1.30.  But the fun wasn’t over yet.  The street we were looking for – the one with the caravan park – wasn’t recognised by Zola either – she could find Arthur St west, but not Arthur St east, which turned out to be right on the other side of town.  So after a scenic tour of the majority of the township of Nanango, we made it to the park at about 10 to 2.

After setting up the van and having a bit of lunch, we went to visit a very distant Jessup relative who I had never met before to give her all the material I had amassed on her line of the family over the years – a large folder full of documents and a collection of photos.  She has taken on the research of that line of the family, and by doing so has taken a load off my plate.  We had a cuppa and a chat there for about an hour, then returned to the caravan park and have done nothing much since.

We found a fair chunk of the highways we drove today were not in very good nick – lots of very rough patches and uneven surfaces.  In a (pea)nut shell – well we are in the near vicinity of the peanut capital of Australia, though Grant did comment (tongue planted firmly in his cheek) that we haven’t yet found any peanut trees!  – a pretty uneventful drive, but the hills made it a different experience to the last few days.

Thursday 15 August 2013 – Coonabarabran to Goondiwindi

Second time around – I’ve just written up today and deleted it, can’t find it or recover it, so here I go again.

Today has been a beautiful day with clear blue sky, though the breeze was a bit chilly if you happened to be out in it.  But if, like us, you were mostly behind glass driving, then it got quite warm.  We woke this morning at about 7am, and had the van packed down, hooked on to the car, had checked that the lights, etc were all working – and I was just about to step into the car at about 9am when it suddenly hit me – I was still wearing my slippers (yes – Moe moccas!).  I told Grant, unlocked the van and started to scramble into it, thinking to myself where would I start to unpack.  Grant had obviously realised, too, that to get my shoes out (safely stowed in a cupboard beneath the couch) I would first of all take out all the stuff that sits on the floor of the van while we are driving – outside table, 2 chairs, large plastic garbag full of folded awning, ground mat, fishing rods, plastic stool, then move the microwave which sits on the floor in front of the ‘shoe cupboard’ – and then of course put it all back.  So he said to me ‘Just wear your slippers’.  So I reluctantly got into the car, deciding that I wouldn’t get out of the car where I could be seen.

First town we came to today was Narrabri, after driving through the Pilliga Forest – commonly known as the Pilliga scrub – which covers an area of around 3000 square km.  Obviously we didn’t drive through all of it, but what we did see is pretty dense, medium height and – yes – scrubby!  We stopped at Narrabri and gave the car her daily drink before moving on to Moree.  This leg of the day showed quite a different scene – again extensive wheat and canola crops, stretching into the distance.  And each little township you pass through has one obvious thing in common – huge silos for storing the wheat and canola seed.

Moree itself is quite a good sized town – its major industry being cotton growing, and its big tourist attraction being the fact that it is in an area known for its artesian water – and the resultant warm healing spas which seem to have popped up throughout the town.  We didn’t buy a cotton shirt, nor did we have a warm natural spa – the slippers would have had to be revealed!

One of the features of today’s drive was the lengthy stops we had on two or three occasions where roadworks were underway.  There were stop lights, enabling traffic from only one direction through at a time, and the affected lengths of each stop were about a kilometre, so as the majority of the traffic is either road trains or cars with caravans, the stops were quite lengthy.

A few minutes out of Moree we stopped at a roadside rest spot for lunch after which I took over the driving.  I managed to avoid any hold ups for roadworks, but had hazards of my own – a big herd of cattle grazing on each side of the road over a distance of about a kilometre.  They were just casually wandering on the gravel verge of the road then heading across as the mood took them.  At first I stopped to wait, then realised that we could sit there all night if I did that, so I crept along at snail’s pace, and Grant wound his window down and politely asked them to please get off the road!

And I drove all the way to Queensland (which from there was about 70km), arriving at Goondiwindi at about 2.30 this arvo. 

After setting up the van, a bit of lunch, and a change of footwear, we went off to explore the town.  Goondiwindi is very neat and clean, lovely garden beds and some nice old buildings.  But of course one of the major attractions is the statue erected in recognition of Goondiwindi’s most famous citizen – Gunsynd.  It is quite impressive and sits in a nice park on the banks of the Mcintyre River which forms part of the border between Qld and NSW.  

And right nearby is the historic Border Bridge crossing the river.  The bridge was built in 1914 and following that time was a major hub for the freight which crossed the border.  

And as Customs tax had to be paid on the freight, the Customs House was situated adjacent to the bridge.  The Customs House itself was built much earlier than the bridge, probably in the 1850’s, and constructed from pit sawn timber.  In 1859, when customs duties (an early word for tax) was introduced on trade between the colonies, this building was used for the purpose.  It is now a museum, and exhibits tell this story and remind the visitor that until 1901, passing between the states was like going to another country.

We also saw the Art Deco Council Chambers, and the architecture of the recently renovated Victoria Hotel is the most striking building you’d see in a month of Sundays.  I’m baffled as to giving the style a name, but it is certainly eye-catching.

So after topping up on bread and fruit we came back to the van, had a chat to the lady in the next van, had a cuppa and settled in for the evening.

Tomorrow we make for Nanango, so more information about that when we know any more than that!

Wednesday 14 August 2013 – Dubbo to Coonabarabran

Today started slowly after a bit of a sleep-in – Grant must have needed it after his manual labour fixing yesterday’s wiring problem.  So by the time we had showered (me), breakfasted (both of us), packed up (both of us), and had a chat to the neighbours (mostly me), we got away at about 20 to 10.  Filled the tank at the first service station, then made our way north on the Newell Highway.  It’s hard to decide which is the greatest user of the Newell – big trucks or happy travellers in their caravans, campers, winnebagos, etc.  I reckon it’s a close call.

Highlight of the first part of the drive was the sighting (right on the side of the road) of an echidna.  I think it was alive – at least it wasn’t squashed and its legs weren’t up in the air, and it seemed to be quite comfortable where it was.

The first town we came to was Gilgandra – a town my Poppa Davies used to talk about in stories from his shearing days.  Gilgandra now advertises itself as the town of windmills and the home of the coo-ee.  Well we did see some interesting examples of windmills as we drove through, but we didn’t hear a coo-ee, except for the one Grant let fly with and scared the bejesus out of me!  But it was interesting reading about the reasons for these two titles being given to Gilgandra.  Apparently until 1966, there was no water supply to the town and so pretty well every house had a windmill.  It is estimated that the skyline of the town was dominated by about 360 windmills at that time.  And as for the home of the coo-ee – it refers to the march of 35 men from Gilgandra to Sydney in 1915 to volunteer for the war. (A distance Google maps tells me is 452 km – WALKING!!)  By the time they reached Sydney their numbers had swelled to 263 making the 1915 Coo-ee March from Gilgandra to Sydney the first and most successful recruitment march of World War 1. So that is the education for today.

From there we made our way on to Coonabarabran – today’s destination.  We aimed for a short driving day, as we wanted to take in a couple of the things that Coonabarabran is famous for, and arrived here at around midday.  The distant view of the interesting formations of the Warrumbungle Ranges held our attention for the majority of that stretch of the drive.  Once here we had a chat with Lisa, who with her husband owns the caravan park we are staying in - the Getaway Tourist Park.  She was telling us about the terrible fires they had here in January, during which the Warrumbungles were pretty well burnt out, and worse for she and her family, they lost everything on their farm property – everything from the house right down to the fencing!

But she was a bright bubbly lady, and told us to pick any site we wanted, gave us the code to open the amenities doors, and advised us that at the mens, the door handle had to be turned to the left, and at the ladies, to the right – because a woman is always right.  Very wise lady! (Grant doesn’t agree with that statement.)

After we set up and had a bit of lunch (by the way – a very sunny day, and I had to get out of the jumper and put on a tshirt and sleeveless vest.  Still kept the long pants on though), we drove out about 26kms to the Siding Spring Observatory which perches on a very high point in the Warrumbungles.  A very pretty drive, though the devastation of the fires was very obvious – burnt house sites, and all the trees getting their new growth right up the trunks.  A very entertaining aspect of the drive, and we’ve actually noticed this yesterday as well, is the range of amazing letter boxes a lot of these outback properties have.  Some are really big and very clever – an 8-10ft long model of an aeroplane, Ned Kelly, clever animals made out of tin drums of various sizes – horses, cows, dogs, etc., people, penny farthing bikes – great fun to keep your eyes out for.

Once we got to the observatory – in fact there are several on this mountain – this one is Australia’s largest optical astronomy research facility, we went through the displays  which include lots of different galaxies, stars, planets and of course our own solar system.  Then we went up to the telescope observatory building and got the lift to the fourth floor to see the exhibits there.  We had a bit of a look, and were looking at how to get out to the mesh walkway which goes around the base of the dome, when a door opened and a fellow came out and introduced himself as Glenn – a technician who was just about to start his shift.

He told us that we really weren’t allowed out onto the deck, but as he had five minutes before he had to test the equipment in readiness for tonight’s astronomers, he would take us out.  So, decked out in hard hats, we were given the works – a tour of the actual telescope room (the telescope has a 4 metre diameter), a walk right around the deck outside the building (accompanied by a very strong, brisk wind), a tour through the area where the astronomers work and where the technical stuff is done.  While we were there he did the testing he had to do, explaining it as he went, then took us into the telescope area again to a good vantage point, told what he was going to do, then went back to his computers and did it.  And what was IT?  He set the telescope in motion and the whole dome started moving around us in a clockwise direction until the telescope was in the position it needed to be for tonight’s work!  It was pretty amazing!  I reckon the five spare minutes he had, stretched to about half an hour, so we had a very special treat, as this is a world recognised telescope, and astronomers from around the world come here to do their work.

The Warrumbungles

By the time we’d finished there it was close to 4pm so we headed back to camp and had the always welcome cuppa or two, had a read, and so the day goes. 

P.S.  We’d forgotten that in many places in NSW they angle park with the back of the car to the kerb – weird!  

Tuesday 13 August 2013 - Junee to Dubbo

Well here we are comfortable installed at Dubbo having just finished our chicken in sweet and sour sauce for tea, Grant starting on his latest Wilbur Smith book and me – well, what does it look like I’m doing!

After a chat with our neighbours after brekkie this morning (they are from Waratah Bay), we managed to get away from the caravan park by 9.30 on what was to be a most enjoyable drive.  The countryside was beautiful – lush green paddocks of recently planted wheat now about fifteen centimetres high, other paddocks growing canola at various stages of growth – some a similar height to the wheat, while others in full bloom, with their bright yellow colouring the landscape as far as we could see.  The countryside wasn’t what you’d call hilly, but mostly just gently undulating.  (Gee I’m waxing all poetic!!)  You can certainly see why the colours we are known for are green and gold, because in addition to the above, there are heaps of varieties of wattle trees out in bloom as well.

I hate to brag, but the sky was largely cloudless for the whole day, though the air wasn’t warm.  It got pretty warm in the car though.

The first town we came to, and stopped at to feed the petrol tank, was Temora where a few years ago we went to an airshow with Ron and Deborah Gilchrist.  Then we made our way to West Wyalong but didn’t stop there, but headed further north into bushranger country!  Ben Hall frequented this area way back in the ‘good old days’ and his presence is evident at Forbes, where we saw the Ben Hall Service Station, Ben Hall Reserve and various signs directing visitors to other Hall related points of interest.  We did see one interesting sight there – pictured below – but I find it hard to find any link between it and Ben Hall. 

 We did have a stop at Parkes though – a wee break - before calling in to have a look at ‘The Dish’.  Now fifty years old, this 64 metre radio telescope is still one of the world’s leading telescopes of its kind.  Today it looked like a dish, bowl facing upwards.  Many years ago, when we first saw it, the position was more upright.

And as we were leaving The Dish we had a prime sighting of another specimen of wildlife – a terrified hare bounced across the road in front of us.

We arrived here at Dubbo just after 3.30 this afternoon, well satisfied with the day – after being entertained courtesy of our in-car CD collection – yesterday by ‘Madame Pat and her Orkestra’ – a hark back to the Moe Jazz Festival, then today bopping along to ‘The Best of Dixieland’ before a complete change of genre ‘The Rock ‘n Roll Collection’.  So the travel music, coupled with the ever essential one or two finger wave to oncoming fellow caravanners – and we’re really back in the grey nomad groove.

THEN …. We wouldn’t have been in the caravan park here in Dubbo more than fifteen minutes – the van almost set up, when Grant plugged in the power, we tried the lights and …. No lights!  Memories of last year!! And we’ve had the van fully checked over, lights fixed, etc since then.  After twiddling with power sockets, three point plugs and anything else that may have been the cause of the problem, it was time to investigate.

It didn’t take Grant long to find one of the wires into the van had become adrift – and unfortunately it was at the back of the cupboard under the sink.  So after some general cursing type mutterings, Grant got down onto the floor (narrow space) arm thrust into the now emptied cupboard, trying to reconnect the essential bit.  After another half an hour during which time the sink was partially removed, attempts were made to disconnect hoses and further diagnosis – he found a clamp thing that had to be used for the connection, I was immediately dispatched into town to buy some of these clamps, and by about a quarter to five, all was well!  Dawn to the rescue!  When I got back with the clamps, Grant tried to connect it up.  However his hands wouldn’t fit where they had to, and with all the wriggling, reaching into the cramped cupboard – all the while lying on his back or on his side – this wasn’t what the doctor ordered for his shoulder.  So I connected it, and now add ‘electrician’ to my resume.

Then to add insult to injury – when Grant was putting the tools back into the car he noticed that our spare wheel cover (yes, the one with my name, etc) has been pinched! WHO would want THAT!  I reckon it happened last night.  When we are not putting our awning up (on one night stopovers), it sits outside at the front of the van, near the towbar.   A couple of hours after dark I heard a noise which I thought was our awning (packed in a big plastic garbag) moving, and I mentioned it to Grant who reckoned he didn't hear anything.  I heard it again a few minutes later but didn’t say anything as I thought it must just be caravan park noises – and it was a bit windy.  But I do remember looking when I went over to the toilets later and noticed that the awning bag was still there, so I didn’t think anything more of it. 

So we end day two.  Who knows what tomorrow may bring.

ANOTHER YEAR ….. AND ‘THE BLOG’ IS BACK.

Monday 12 August 2013 – Castella to Junee.

Well we are off on our latest escapade, and contrary to expectations (and our previous experience), today has gone without a hitch.  Well, apart from a small problem last night when we were staying at Amanda and Mark’s in Castella, where my Dongle and my laptop became a bit contrary and decided not to work together.  Though the dongle had me connected to the internet, it wouldn’t let me send emails as it said it was offline, and there was no way I could connect it.  I handballed the problem to Mark, who knows a lot more about these things than I do, but he had no success either.  I made two lengthy phone calls to the provider who eventually told me I needed to ring Google today and they would sort it out.

I didn’t really see how that could help matters, so instead called into a Telstra shop at Benalla this morning, where a young computer geek spent about twenty minutes or so fiddling with it, then told me it was fixed!  Apparently a box in Internet Explorer had been ticked which told the computer to keep the email section off line.  He kindly unticked it, and here we are!!

We left Castella at around nine this morning, cloudy and very windy, and obviously recent rain, but by then it seemed to have passed.  The countryside up through Yea and Seymour is lovely and green and we enjoyed the drive – even had a fox dash across the road in front of us near Yea.  We might see more wildlife than we did last year!  After our stop at Benalla, our next break was for lunch in Albury. 

As we left there I now felt like we were actually on holidays – we’d filled the petrol tank for the first time on the trip, we’d had our first meal (even if it was only at Macca’s) and we were already interstate! And best of all, the sun was shining.  It turned out a very nice afternoon, though the wind was strong and chilly once we got out of the car. 

Tonight we are camped at Junee – about 40 km’s north of Wagga at a very nice camp beside a lake, nice and quiet – at least it was until about an hour ago when I heard a continuous noise apparently coming from somewhere in the caravan park.  I though it must have been a generator, however after about twenty minutes it suddenly got very loud so Grant was dispatched to investigate.  It was the train …… going right past the front of the park, and it was deafening!

Junee is a pretty spot, very hilly, with a liquorice and chocolate factory (closed when we arrived), a correctional centre (fancy name for a prison), which we went out to look at and saw a couple of the inmates exercising behind the double security fencing, and some really nice old buildings.

So that’s today – not a lot to report, and Grant managed all his caravan setting-up jobs without even a twinge in his shoulder, so that is the best part.