LAWNTON

Today we were going to catch the train into Brisbane to have a look around South Bank etc, but 
as we passed it on the way here (photo) and Peter wanted to do a service, oil & filter change on "Lucky Pigs" as we have done nearly 5,000kms since leaving Adelaide, so most of the day was spend carrying this out as well as finding the Lawnton Post Office in order to pickup our mail. 
For tea we decided to try the local Domino's pizza shop, but unfortunately they were not made with the 
same care as in S.A.!

LAWNTON

Yesterday we travelled about 20 kms into the hills with Bruce & Dianne in their Suzuki to a country fair at a small town called Dayboro which was quite good, we saw a fantastic 8 year old young boy playing drums and dancing in a band. Had a look at the antique markets there which was also quite interesting. After grabbing some lunch at the show we ventured back to Lawnton and made the most of the weather as it is forecast to rain, which it did later that night! - thunder, lightning, and rained most of the night, Daisy was petrified of the thunder which was quite loud indeed. But by morning the rain had ceased and it turned out to be quite a nice day. Lesley went shopping with Dianne then did some laundry, whilst Peter carried out an oil change etc. on "Lucky Pigs". Odometer reading is 67,796 kms, so we have travelled over 4,700 kms since leaving Adelaide in February!

LAWNTON

Caught up with Bruce after work last night and we had a chat and drinks. Bruce and Dianne are staying here for another week or so in their "newer" Winnebago (photo) which they have called "Dog Gone Lucky" then they intend heading up towards Hervey Bay where they have rented out their house, after which they are heading over to W.A. Today we went to have a look at the local "flea market" held here at the Lawnton showgrounds with Bruce, Dianne took their dog, "Tricky" down to the local dog park. Afterwards we sat around in the sun and did some reading and knitting as it was a nice sunny day. Later we went over to "Dog Gone Lucky" for a chat and a few drinks.

BRISBANE

It was quite a chilly night at Woodenbong campground, but we departed at 9.30am and headed up into the hills and past Mt. Lindsay into Queensland, but the road was quite narrow and winds down the side of the ranges to Rathdowney. It surprised us to see several semi-trailers and big trucks going up towards Mt. Lindsay! After passing through Beaudesert and Brisbane we arrived at Pine Rivers Showground at Lawnton, which is 25kms north of Brisbane around 1.30pm. We intended to meet up with Bruce and Dianne, who are the previous owners of "Lucky Pigs" and have been staying here at Pine Rivers Showground for awhile in their new Winnebago motor-home, and after finding their motor-home we had a chat to Dianne, but Bruce was still at work, driving a local delivery truck. Cost for powered site here is $17.50/night or $105.00/week, so we decided to spend a week here and use it as a base to look around Brisbane with the Suzuki before heading north. Passing through Brisbane on the way here (photo), we drove right alongside the Brisbane River and the "South Bank" area and it certainly looks a lot better now than it did during the floods a few months ago. As would be expected Digital TV, Mobile and Internet coverage here is excellent

WOODENBONG

After departing Alstonville Showgrounds at 10.30am we travelled via Lismore to Casino, where we

did some shopping and went out to have a look at the Motorhome residential village there. Then off

to Kyogle where we refuelled (Diesel $1.499) and further on to a small NSW town just a few kms from the QLD border called Woodenbong (photo). We stayed  in the local campground which was very soggy after some heavy rain 2 days ago. Cost here was $5.00 or $10.00 for a powered site. We met a chap here from Nambour in QLD, who had just sold his house after 30 years and was now travelling about in his new caravan and Toyota Lancruiser Ute. He help us out with advice on our proposed route through Brisbane. TV and Mobile coverage was very poor here.

SURFERS PARADISE

Well our luck ran out as it started to rain during the night and continued for most of the
day. We decided to take the Suzuki and look around the Ballina & Bryon Bay area but ended up
traveling north, right up to Sea World at Southport. At Ballina we saw the "Big Prawn", then 
the beaches along the coast to Lennox Head, into Bryon Bay for a look around, out to Brunswick Heads where we saw a boat coming in over the "bar" at the river mouth, traveling inland a few 
kilometres to Mullumbimby which is a quite nice town away from all the bustle of Byron Bay etc.
To the coast again at Pottsville then up to Tweed Heads for lunch, where we decided to
go the rest of the way up the coast via Coolangatta and Surfers Paradise where there are
many high rise apartments and even new ones still being built(photo).We returned via Murwillumbah, which is also a nice town although larger than Mullumbimby. Traveling further up into the mountains which where covered in clouds we passed through Nimbin just after dark and saw all the "alternative lifestyle" shops, which were all lit up and still open. After passing down the mountains through Lismore, where we got lost, finally arriving back at our camp at Alstonville at 6.30pm! At least we have seen Surfers Paradise now, so we wont need to take "Lucky Pigs" there. 
We probably were lucky it was raining as alot of people would not have been out and about, 
although it was still too busy there.

ALSTONVILLE

Leaving our road-stop around 9 this morning, we traveled via Grafton where we refueled (diesel $1.487) and just north of there we started seeing for the first time crops of sugar cane in the fields. Detouring slightly off the Pacific Highway, which is bedlam, we passed through a nice country town with Scottish heritage called Maclean, then across the Clarence River and onto another little town called Woodburn. Just before reaching Ballina we turned inland for 7kms to Alstonville where we booked into the local showgrounds (photo) for 3 days at $15.00 night for power and water, but looks they don't have any showers so we will just use our own in "Lucky Pigs". We plan to do some washing here and use it as a base to venture down to the Ballina and Byron Bay coastal areas in the Suzuki in the next few days, so we may even extend our stay here if we need to as it is a nice quiet spot. Digital TV, Mobile Phone & Internet is very good here. They apparently had a lot of rain here yesterday, so looks like our luck is changing as we missed it!

GRAFTON

Away from our camp at "Delicate Knobby Campground" around 9.30am after we took a walk along the beach and let Daisy off her lead for a change, which she enjoyed alot! Then after refueling at Cresent Heads (Diesel $1.509 - elsewhere was $1.58!) we traveled via Kempsey and Macksville to Nambucca Heads for a lunch stop (photo), then via Urunga to Coffs Harbour and after looking around headed out past the "Big Banana" to our proposed stop for the night at Moonee Beach, but they wanted too much for a site there so we headed out up through the banana plantations & rainforests and even looked at a good spot that a local chap had suggested to us, but no dogs allowed there so we kept going to a road stop at Halfway Creek, which is 27km south-east of Grafton. After looking around the area and the beaches at Coffs Harbour we were very disappointed that there are no places to stop around the area except over-priced Caravan Parks, but no problem we don't spend any money there with them either! The coastline is very similar all along this coast, so we have already seen alot of it anyway.

CRESCENT HEADS

Finally we departed our camp at Coopernook Forest around 11am after saying our goodbyes to Lynton and Christine and headed through Kew to Laurieton, where we did some shopping and took the Suzuki up to the top of "North Big Brother Mountain" where there are spectacular views of the surrounding coast (photo). As it was getting late we hurried through North Haven, Bonny Hills, Lake Cathie, Port Macquarie, Kempsey and out to our camp for the night on the coast in Goolawah Reserve at "Delicate Knobby Campground", which was great spot right behind an ocean beach.

TAREE

We decided to stay another day at Coopernook Forest (photo) sitting in the sun, reading and chatting to other campers as the weather was so good, but as it is forecast to rain in next few days we made the most of it here. Lynton and Chris, originally from S.A. are now living at Buff Point which is north of Lakes Entrance here in N.S.W. are also camped here for a few days and we had an enjoyable night chatting around the camp-fire with them. We will move further north towards Kempsey area tomorrow.

TAREE

As this camp is so nice we decided to say here for at least another day, so we just sat around 

reading, knitting and enjoying the sunlight for a change. We decided to cook our tea with an open-fire tonight (photo) so we had potatoes in the coals with cheese and baked beans! Anyhow after we had our tea and were sitting around the camp-fire keeping warm a couple arrived with a camper trailer and we started chatting to them - and WOW what a small world! They are originally from Quorn and Barmera in South Australia but now live near "The Entrance" north of Sydney. After chatting with them a bit, we realised that we have mutual friends in S.A. and his brother used to race off-road buggies with Peter some 25 years ago! Anyhow they are just returning from a trip up the Darling River and had some goat meat, which they were cooking up for tea - and believe it or not Lesley even ate some!

TAREE

Upon waking up this morning we found that the noisy B-Double had gone so we headed northwards again from the road stop to Taree and found a great camp-site about 12kms further north and 5kms off the Pacific Highway in the "Coopernook State Forest" and to our amazement there were about a dozen other motor-homes camped there as well (photo), but nearly all were from Newcastle and most left soon after we arrived as they were from a local CMCA chapter (Motorhome club - local sub-branch) and only there for the week-end. After having a chat with a Dutch chap also with a Winnebago we settled back and relaxed in the sunshine for the rest of the day reading & knitting. Digital TV is good, but  Mobile Phone and Internet is poor here

BULAHDALAH

After departing Myuna Bay on the shore of Lake Macquarie we headed north via Toronto to Newcastle, which is a rather large industrial port with heaps of ships waiting out at sea to load coal for overseas consumption no doubt. We had a look around the city and stopped near Bar Beach (photo) for a coffee break. We then headed north via Raymond Terrace hoping to stop at "The Rock Roadhouse" some 50kms further north, but we decided to push on to another camp further on, but we missed it and eventually pulled up at " Newmans Road Rest Area" on the Pacific Highway some 13kms north of Bulahdalah. But during the night we were joined by a "Scott's Transport B-Double Semi" with both refrigeration units left running whilst the driver had his compulsory rest stop, but rather than move on we decided to persevere with the noise and believe it or not we got to sleep OK too, which was a great relief as we didn't feel like driving any further at night.

MORISSET

Friday 13th! - Just as well we passed through Sydney yesterday, as we heard on the radio this morning that a chap climbed onto the Harbour Bridge this morning and they had to shut down all the motorways and there was traffic bedlam in Sydney this morning - completely gridlocked too! How lucky we were. Anyway we departed the RSL club at Doyalson around 9am and after refuelling at Wyee (Diesel $1.499) we passed through Morisset and arrived at a nice spot on the shore of Lake Macquarie a further 17kms towards Newcastle at Myuna Bay, which is near Morisset. There are two other motor-homes here as well and five more pulled up after we arrived here! We only travelled 20kms today, but after yesterday we needed a rest day anyway, especially at such a good location (photo). Digital TV, Mobile phone & Internet coverage is good too.

DOYALSON

Well what a big day for us - 300kms! After a walk on the beach at Batehaven we saw this chap feeding the seagulls in the park there (photo) and they were all over him even sitting on his head. Leaving at 8.30am,travelling through Ulladulla, Nowra (refuelled diesel $1.517), Kiama and Shellharbour we stopped for lunch at a place called Warilla on the shore of Lake Illawarra, we decided to go for it and travel straight on through Sydney as tomorrow is going to be Friday 13th!! So we headed off through Wollongong onto the freeway into Sydney passing through all the traffic and chaos via Lucas Heights, Bankstown, Parramatta, Pennant Hills, Hornsby and onto the Newcastle freeway. Deciding to take the Gosford exit and look for an overnight stop but we ended up continuing on right through Gosford and Wyong ending up at the "Doyalson-Wyee RSL Club" who allow self-contained motorhomes to stay at the rear of their club which is about 50kms south of Newcastle. As we arrived at 7:15pm we went for a meal in the club which was quite good and after nearly 11 hours of driving we were really quite tired. Mobile Phone coverage is good here

BATEHAVEN

Well not much travel today, just moved about 60 kms further north travelling through hills & rain forests along the coast, but the weather is freezing at the moment and it is forecast to remain the same for next few days too! We helped a couple from Canberra (Mick & Marianne), when in Dalmeny as they had just purchased their caravan and needed to know how to set things up etc., so when we said our good-byes this morning they gave us a bottle of wine in appreciation, which was very nice of them. Anyway we ventured into Bateman's Bay to do some shopping and then returned 4 kms south to the foreshore at Batehaven for our stop tonight (photo). Must keep warm tonight as it's freezing and we just heard on TV that last night was the coldest Autumn night for 14 years in Sydney! Digital TV, mobile & internet coverage here is excellent.

DALMENY

As we are leaving tomorrow today was spent washing Lucky Pigs and the Suzuki and packing up. We are thinking that we might now stick to the coast as we head north towards Queensland, but that means we have to navigate through Sydney and it's traffic! But we have met a couple from Canberra who are staying here in their caravan and they have helped us plan a way through Sydney and on towards Newcastle, so we'll see how we go. But we will have to find another camp before Sydney and if we go through that way we will try to avoid peak hour traffic times. Our next camp will probably be up the coast a little way at Batehaven as we have been told of a spot on the foreshore by a couple we met at Mt.Gambier, and we need to do some shopping at Bateman's Bay anyway.

DALMENY

We are still at Dalmeny (photo). Reading, walking and washing is what we have been doing the last 
few days as it has been very good when the sun is out, but quickly becomes cold once the sun 
disappears. Wednesday morning we intend to head north via Moruya to a camp in Batehaven we have been told about, but then after some shopping in Bateman's Bay we are going to head inland over the mountains towards Goulburn.

DALMENY

We had a wonderful sleep on top of a mountain campsite about 20kms south of Bega (photo)

and after having to move during the two previous nights it was good. Leaving this camp we travelled the main highway to Bega, where we went for a walk up & down the main street. It is quite a nice quiet country town and not too big like some of Victorian country towns. Traveling via the coast we past through the Mimosa National Park, then Bermagui and Central Tilba (which is a little mountain village that has been fully preserved by the National Heritage exactly as it was in the 19th century). Our next stop was for Diesel ($1.579) at Narooma and a local bakery for lunch. Oysters are the local produce here and most ports along this coast are little fishing towns, but heavily reliant on tourists from Sydney during holiday periods. We finally arrived at our destination - Dalmeny Camping ground, and what a great caravan & camping park with a fantastic view over the surfing beach, so we have booked in for a week and only cost $136/week for a powered site. There are only about a dozen other campers here including three other motorhomes so it is really quiet too. Telstra Mobile is good, but Vodafone mobile & internet reception is poor. Digital TV is very good though.

BEGA

This morning was so foggy with a little drizzle but patches of blue sky, so things looked promising.
We travelled through some very scenic rainforests and crossed the border into NSW, which made Lesley
happy as Victoria has been so cold lately for us. So it was good to see the sea once again at Eden (photo)
and Daisy went "nuts" running on the beach so guess she was also glad to see the beach again too!
After looking around Eden we went to Pambula Beach and just after lunch found a good camp a further 13kms
north at "Yellow Pinch Dam" which was up this very steep hill (climbing up the road "Lucky Pigs" was in first gear!) and is about 20kms south of Bega on the NSW south coast.
We found another motorhome camped here and later some back-packers pulled up as well. TV, Mobile and Internet
reception here is good indeed. Tomorrow we want to find a caravan park at Dalmeny further up the coast which
was recommended to us by Gary & Colleen, friends we met at BlazeAid in Bridgewater, Vic.

CANN RIVER

Awoke to a dismal morning, raining and cold in Bairnsdale, so after picking up our mail from the post office
and doing a bit of shopping we refuelled "Lucky Pigs" with diesel ($1.499) and cancelled our plans to
spent a few days at Sale and just decided to head to warmer climates as soon as possible. So travelling
via Lakes Entrance, Orbost, Cann River we eventually after a huge 196kms. found a camp at "Thurra River"(photo)
just past Cann River and it rained for most of the trip! At this camp there is a rainforest walk and we
went on it before nightfall and it was great - huge stringybark trees covered with creepers and huge tree
ferns, even saw a lyre-bird which are very hard to spot as they are very elusive normally. We had to move
around midnight after it started to rain heavily again and "Lucky Pigs" was standing in a huge pool of water
so we moved to higher ground. No TV or any mobile coverage here - only managed to pickup one ABC radio channel!

BAIRNSDALE

Awoke to a freezing morning but still no rain, so off towards Omeo and the highway was still
a narrow, steep, winding road until Omeo, after which it became a normal type of road down towards
Bruthen where we planned our next campsite. It was suppossed to be just out off Bruthen down
a dirt road for 8kms to a camp in a state forest. Well after traveling down a small track for
5kms the track became too rough to proceed so we had to unhitch the Suzuki, turn it around then
reverse "Lucky Pigs" back down the track for about 1km where it could be turned around (5 point turn too!)
As rain was forcast we definately didn't need to be stuck\bogged down in this forest so we
setup camp very close to the junction of the track and the highway (photo). Anyhow just before nightfall
there was a knock on our door - a chap called "David" introduced himself and offered us the use
of a cottage on his farm for the night, but after explaining our current circumstances we politely
declined, which was just as well because at 2.30am down it came rain non-stop, so at 5am we decided
to get off the dirt track and travelled some 15 kms to a Lions Park on the outskirts of Bairnsdale.