Getaway Travels
Picked up the caravan on 28/1/04 from Kratzmanns.
Levuka - 30/31 January and 1 February 2004.
Our first trip with our new caravan was to a 4WD park near Woodenbong with some of the Overlander forumites. The van went really well there and was soooooooo comfortable! Only problem was that we had frozen mushrooms on the Sunday morning - gotta turn that fridge down at night, but it was nice to have the icy cold beer!
Brunswick Heads - 21/22 February 2004
We parked up in Brunswick Heads on our way to dropping Laura off in Lismore. The van park is right on the river and very close to the surf as well as the town. Reversing the van into the site was a bit tight, but we managed OK. Saturday night saw us eating a beautiful Italian meal at this little bistro close to the park. We had intended going to the pub afterwards, but we were just so full that neither of us fancied much to drink so we went back to the van and just read and sipped coffee. The weather back in Brissie hot 42 degrees, but we had a very pleasant 29 degrees - perfect!
The only down thing was that we took our time packing up and left the site at about 2:00pm when we should have gone at 9:00am. They wanted to charge us an additional $10 but Karen beat them into submission and we walked out free.
19 March 2004
Drove to state forest camp site @ Coochin Creek off Roy's Road near Beerburrum.
Dark when we arrived & lots of mozzies. Blessed with a clear sky and the sight of the Milky Way we went to bed at 9:55 - warm night. Arriving at night means that you can't choose a nice site (at least not with an impatient Karen on board) so we set up next to some other people - they must have hated us!
20/4 Woke up to rain. It is so much nicer in the caravan than in a tent.
Travelled to Maroochy Palms park for the Saturday night. 4.5 stars & very nice but raining still. Got soaked putting everything up.
We were using up the Kratzmann's free night offer here. The night would have cost us $27 so it was a worthwhile saving. We spent $15 to get a late checkout though!
Got to buy a 12mm tap fitting.
Spent the day in Sunshine Plaza where Karen bought clothes & shoes to replace those soaked by the rain.
Lovely coffee @ Coffee Club & bought Laura a printer for uni.
Dinner was Thai chili chicken & lovely.
Sunday - lovely sunny day. Shame we had to go home.
Took a walk beside the Maroochy river & saw an old guy catch a golden trevally. Packed up and went home. :+(
9th April (Good Friday) arrived at Takarakka nr Carnarvon Gorge.
Beautiful bushy camp site.
Met Blinky Bill (Brian) & his wife Gerarda and 3 kids on the way at a driver reviver in Injune.
Dinner was easy with a simple pasta & sauce.
Easter Saturday : a beautiful day.
After a bacon & egg brekky we drove off to do the Mickey Creek and Wauthumba Gorge walks. A lovely gorge walk where we came across our first mozzies - there are none at the campsite.
Went back to the caravan & got a bit pissed!
Easter Sunday : another gorgeous day.
We did the long walk today to the art gallery. I just can’t get excited about abo art, but it was worth the walk to be there anyway.
The Moss Garden was a great place though (the photos do not do it justice) and we sat and listened to one of the Nature Guides talking. He had some really interesting things to say about the intelligence of the local ravens and how they use currawongs as lookouts while they rob the hikers’ packs of their lunch.
Ward's Canyon (with the giant ferns - Fronds 5m long) was just magnificent. We were surprised to find a paved path laid for people to walk on, but access to the narrow part of the gorge has now been canned.
Dinner was the yummy beef stir fry – gotta love this camping with all its hardships!
Easter Monday : what a lazy day! Did nothing but read & walk to the platypus pool.
Dinner was cooked in the camp oven (we had a boned leg of lamb with roasted veggies) and I was a little embarrassed to find that, when I went back to baste the meat and just check on it, the local NPWS team had organized a group presentation and discussion around the camp fire. I had to excuse my way to the front of the crowd (about 40 people) to retrieve the oven and then to replace it. I had to do the same thing half an hour later in order to take the now cooked meal out of the fire and off to our ‘van. Mind you, it DID smell really appetizing!
Tuesday : yet another beautiful day. The people with the circular TV antenna are off home. Saturn 3000 - check the web!
Went round & had dinner with Brian Gerarda & their family. A lovely meal. We brought just pasta and a sauce (they had similar plus lasagna) and we ended up pooling things and eating salad etc as well. Great fun and I am sure that the freely flowing red wine did its bit to smooth things out!
Wednesday : did the Bulimba Bluff walk. What a beautiful view! We went up at about 10:00am which was rather late and made the walk rather hot, but the fact that we were all alone up on top of the Bluff made it all worth while.
Decided to go to Hervey Bay tomorrow as we have seen most of this place & we could use a decent coffee shop! Besides, I have run out of beer and Karen out of wine and I am buggered if we are paying the $80 a slab price for beer at the Carnarvon Wilderness Lodge!
Thursday : took 9hrs to get to Hervey Bay! Karen navigated us down a gnarly dirt road (lots of fun) and an accident that closed the main road being the big slow downs. The road highlighted the desperate need for a stone guard though we now have lots of stone chips all across the painted sections on the front of the ‘van.
Friday : brekky @ a fish shop (Captain Chook) with dinner at the same place. Both good meals. We also went to see “Secret Window” with Johnny Depp. Not a feel good movie.
Saturday : went fishing @ Burrum Heads and caught a heap of small (and VERY small) whiting and bream. Nice place though. That night we had dinner @ the boat club. Big servings, but nice place.
Pebbly Beach 1/5/04 to 3/5/04
We took the opportunity of driving out to Pebbly Beach in Yuraygir NP for the long Labor Day weekend with Jim & Sandy and what a great weekend!
We drove off on Saturday morning (after having handed across the keys to her Laser to Laura – boy was she excited about it all!) towing the camper and with the traveler tent in the back of the Pajero and made it to Pebbly by around midday. Set up camp (we picked one spot but Rob the ranger pointed out that we would be close to a group of young blokes so we moved to somewhere else) quickly and had a beer.
Then we had more beer and wine.
Dinner was a superb porterhouse steak with salad both preceded and followed by cheese and other nibbles courtesy of Sandy. Yum! Jim & Sandy were very happy about the steaks – they hadn’t had any quite that good for years.
Sunday saw J & S off walking to Freshwater Beach while Karen and I lazed in bed. We had a big cooked brekky and then Karen and I took a walk while J&S did the washing up.
J&S went for a swim (cold water and a strong sweep apparently) while Karen and I organized a few things and then read our books. I took a walk down the creek (and came across millions of those little blue backed soldier crabs) before coming back to enjoy a beer.
Jim and I then tried our hand at beach worming and failed comprehensively. We could find the worms, but there was no way we could actually catch one!
More beer followed while I tried my hand at baking bread in the camp oven. The mix seemed to be pretty good, but I used too much heat and burned the outside while not cooking the centre. Bugger!
Dinner was a camp oven cooked leg of lamb with roasted veggies. A great success if I say so myself.
Monday we packed to leave and it was a leisurely process interrupted by lots of cups of tea and later a beer or two. It all went well until we drove off – Karen said “Oh look at that bird” so I slowed down to see it and we promptly got bogged. An hour of digging and we were still there when a guy from Brisbane 4WD club wandered up and offered to snatch us out. This was done and off we went with the minimum of fuss, but the maximum of embarrassment.
The drive home was slow as we hit a LOT of traffic.
Levuka - 30/31 January and 1 February 2004.
Our first trip with our new caravan was to a 4WD park near Woodenbong with some of the Overlander forumites. The van went really well there and was soooooooo comfortable! Only problem was that we had frozen mushrooms on the Sunday morning - gotta turn that fridge down at night, but it was nice to have the icy cold beer!
Brunswick Heads - 21/22 February 2004
We parked up in Brunswick Heads on our way to dropping Laura off in Lismore. The van park is right on the river and very close to the surf as well as the town. Reversing the van into the site was a bit tight, but we managed OK. Saturday night saw us eating a beautiful Italian meal at this little bistro close to the park. We had intended going to the pub afterwards, but we were just so full that neither of us fancied much to drink so we went back to the van and just read and sipped coffee. The weather back in Brissie hot 42 degrees, but we had a very pleasant 29 degrees - perfect!
The only down thing was that we took our time packing up and left the site at about 2:00pm when we should have gone at 9:00am. They wanted to charge us an additional $10 but Karen beat them into submission and we walked out free.
19 March 2004
Drove to state forest camp site @ Coochin Creek off Roy's Road near Beerburrum.
Dark when we arrived & lots of mozzies. Blessed with a clear sky and the sight of the Milky Way we went to bed at 9:55 - warm night. Arriving at night means that you can't choose a nice site (at least not with an impatient Karen on board) so we set up next to some other people - they must have hated us!
20/4 Woke up to rain. It is so much nicer in the caravan than in a tent.
Travelled to Maroochy Palms park for the Saturday night. 4.5 stars & very nice but raining still. Got soaked putting everything up.
We were using up the Kratzmann's free night offer here. The night would have cost us $27 so it was a worthwhile saving. We spent $15 to get a late checkout though!
Got to buy a 12mm tap fitting.
Spent the day in Sunshine Plaza where Karen bought clothes & shoes to replace those soaked by the rain.
Lovely coffee @ Coffee Club & bought Laura a printer for uni.
Dinner was Thai chili chicken & lovely.
Sunday - lovely sunny day. Shame we had to go home.
Took a walk beside the Maroochy river & saw an old guy catch a golden trevally. Packed up and went home. :+(
9th April (Good Friday) arrived at Takarakka nr Carnarvon Gorge.
Beautiful bushy camp site.
Met Blinky Bill (Brian) & his wife Gerarda and 3 kids on the way at a driver reviver in Injune.
Dinner was easy with a simple pasta & sauce.
Easter Saturday : a beautiful day.
After a bacon & egg brekky we drove off to do the Mickey Creek and Wauthumba Gorge walks. A lovely gorge walk where we came across our first mozzies - there are none at the campsite.
Went back to the caravan & got a bit pissed!
Easter Sunday : another gorgeous day.
We did the long walk today to the art gallery. I just can’t get excited about abo art, but it was worth the walk to be there anyway.
The Moss Garden was a great place though (the photos do not do it justice) and we sat and listened to one of the Nature Guides talking. He had some really interesting things to say about the intelligence of the local ravens and how they use currawongs as lookouts while they rob the hikers’ packs of their lunch.
Ward's Canyon (with the giant ferns - Fronds 5m long) was just magnificent. We were surprised to find a paved path laid for people to walk on, but access to the narrow part of the gorge has now been canned.
Dinner was the yummy beef stir fry – gotta love this camping with all its hardships!
Easter Monday : what a lazy day! Did nothing but read & walk to the platypus pool.
Dinner was cooked in the camp oven (we had a boned leg of lamb with roasted veggies) and I was a little embarrassed to find that, when I went back to baste the meat and just check on it, the local NPWS team had organized a group presentation and discussion around the camp fire. I had to excuse my way to the front of the crowd (about 40 people) to retrieve the oven and then to replace it. I had to do the same thing half an hour later in order to take the now cooked meal out of the fire and off to our ‘van. Mind you, it DID smell really appetizing!
Tuesday : yet another beautiful day. The people with the circular TV antenna are off home. Saturn 3000 - check the web!
Went round & had dinner with Brian Gerarda & their family. A lovely meal. We brought just pasta and a sauce (they had similar plus lasagna) and we ended up pooling things and eating salad etc as well. Great fun and I am sure that the freely flowing red wine did its bit to smooth things out!
Wednesday : did the Bulimba Bluff walk. What a beautiful view! We went up at about 10:00am which was rather late and made the walk rather hot, but the fact that we were all alone up on top of the Bluff made it all worth while.
Decided to go to Hervey Bay tomorrow as we have seen most of this place & we could use a decent coffee shop! Besides, I have run out of beer and Karen out of wine and I am buggered if we are paying the $80 a slab price for beer at the Carnarvon Wilderness Lodge!
Thursday : took 9hrs to get to Hervey Bay! Karen navigated us down a gnarly dirt road (lots of fun) and an accident that closed the main road being the big slow downs. The road highlighted the desperate need for a stone guard though we now have lots of stone chips all across the painted sections on the front of the ‘van.
Friday : brekky @ a fish shop (Captain Chook) with dinner at the same place. Both good meals. We also went to see “Secret Window” with Johnny Depp. Not a feel good movie.
Saturday : went fishing @ Burrum Heads and caught a heap of small (and VERY small) whiting and bream. Nice place though. That night we had dinner @ the boat club. Big servings, but nice place.
Pebbly Beach 1/5/04 to 3/5/04
We took the opportunity of driving out to Pebbly Beach in Yuraygir NP for the long Labor Day weekend with Jim & Sandy and what a great weekend!
We drove off on Saturday morning (after having handed across the keys to her Laser to Laura – boy was she excited about it all!) towing the camper and with the traveler tent in the back of the Pajero and made it to Pebbly by around midday. Set up camp (we picked one spot but Rob the ranger pointed out that we would be close to a group of young blokes so we moved to somewhere else) quickly and had a beer.
Then we had more beer and wine.
Dinner was a superb porterhouse steak with salad both preceded and followed by cheese and other nibbles courtesy of Sandy. Yum! Jim & Sandy were very happy about the steaks – they hadn’t had any quite that good for years.
Sunday saw J & S off walking to Freshwater Beach while Karen and I lazed in bed. We had a big cooked brekky and then Karen and I took a walk while J&S did the washing up.
J&S went for a swim (cold water and a strong sweep apparently) while Karen and I organized a few things and then read our books. I took a walk down the creek (and came across millions of those little blue backed soldier crabs) before coming back to enjoy a beer.
Jim and I then tried our hand at beach worming and failed comprehensively. We could find the worms, but there was no way we could actually catch one!
More beer followed while I tried my hand at baking bread in the camp oven. The mix seemed to be pretty good, but I used too much heat and burned the outside while not cooking the centre. Bugger!
Dinner was a camp oven cooked leg of lamb with roasted veggies. A great success if I say so myself.
Monday we packed to leave and it was a leisurely process interrupted by lots of cups of tea and later a beer or two. It all went well until we drove off – Karen said “Oh look at that bird” so I slowed down to see it and we promptly got bogged. An hour of digging and we were still there when a guy from Brisbane 4WD club wandered up and offered to snatch us out. This was done and off we went with the minimum of fuss, but the maximum of embarrassment.
The drive home was slow as we hit a LOT of traffic.
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