Day 145 Tuesday 30th November 2010 & Postscript

Shire of Bland


Silo kick


Dinner in the pub


Hello from the "Shire of Bland". Seriously that is what it is called. Susan wanted to take a picture of the sign but stopping from 100kmh when it is pissing down with rain was not option. Tonight's blog is being typed from the front bar of the Royal Hotel at Mirrool and is fuelled by many pots of CaRLTOn dRAUGHt hic.

Today started miserably with pouring raining at the Warrumbungle Holiday Park. We packed the swag under the BBQ shelter as best we could, keeping the mattress dry and the moisture on the outside. Sleeping under the car awning managed to keep the swag reasonably dry overnight. I had a shower when the rain was at its heaviest since we had payed for it.

We drove through Gilgandra, Dubbo, Parkes, (we saw "The Dish" in the distance) Forbes, West Wyalong and were heading to Narrandera when we saw a sign indicating free camping at Mirrool. Susan checked the Camps 5 book and saw the red recommended tick so we pulled in. I don't think we had a real idea of where we were going to stay since it poured with rain most of the day and dry spots would be thin on the ground. Sometimes you get lucky and this was certainly one of those times. The free camping area contained a BBQ with a steel roof and concrete floor which is where we chose to pitch the swag.

We wandered to the pub for tea. The pub being the only business in town apart from the wheat silo. Interestingly the hotel is actually owned by the community. We had a terrific tea with copious amounts of well cooked food. This is a good example of what a community can do by capturing passing trade. The big event in town is the annual kick a football over the wheat silo competition. The silo wins about 1 in 4 years. The first year the competition was won by Billy Brownless. The funds raised have been used to develop the community facilities.

The bizarre thing that happened tonight was that Susan heard the name Simon Harris mentioned in the bar. Yes you guessed it there were 2 Simon Harris's present go figure.



......POSTSCRIPT


Tiles in the front bar


Tiles in passage way/foyer


As Simon showered this morning I watched intently the flies that were sheltering from the rain on the underside of the guy ropes on the awning. Is it true flies cant fly in the rain? I saw that in an children's animated movie about bees at Takura!

The Royal Hotel in Mirrool is one of those relatively untouched pubs featuring many of its original federation era features such as stained glass, pressed metal ceilings and tiled walls. Tiles in several areas had an interesting arc of chips caused by the location of the dart board. As noted by Simon the pub is owned by the community who have plans for further restoration in coming years, it will be interesting to call back here next trip past. I is worth a visit if any readers are passing by.


Tiles in lounge/ladies bar


Tiles on walls of staircase

Day 144 Monday 29th November 2010

Daybreak at Bluff Rock


Fog at Warrumbungles, then came rain!


Hi all,

Tonight’s blog comes to you from the Warrumbungle Holiday Park about 12 km west of Coonabarabran. Tea consisting of BBQ chicken and salads from Woolworths has been eaten along with a desert of Lindt chocolate balls.

Today started at the rest area adjacent Bluff Rock. Dew had settled on the swag and awning causing us to wait for the clouds to dissipate and the sun to shine before we rolled the swag. Nevertheless we were on the road at 830 and soon enjoying coffee in the pretty New England town of Glen Innes. We were joined by the local mounted police and Susan was amused that the burliest of them ordered a chai latte frappe.

We visited the tourist information centre and viewed the sapphire dealer’s wares. Some nice big pieces of sapphire jewellery for around $4000 with larger pieces unpriced. Apparently 50% of the world’s blue sapphires are produced in this area. We wandered on and the towns began to reel themselves off, Armidale, Tamworth, Gunnedah and finally Coonabarabran. Susan rang ahead to where we are currently camped to find out the tariff which was $17 as we felt the need for cheap showers.

As soon as we arrived thick black clouds rolled over and we sheltered while eating tea in a bbq area. Once the rain cleared we moved from the area we were going to camp as it had pools of water. There is no 3G coverage here so it will be an early night. We need these as we battle our colds. However we appear to be improving. We travelled about 500km today which is as much as we like to do in a day. Haven’t quite decided on the final route home but we have 150 or so km to think about that in the morning until we get to Dubbo.

Cheers Simon

Day 143 Sunday 28th November 2010

Greetings from the Bald Rock free camping area about 10km south of Tenterfield. After several months in Queensland we have finally crossed the border back into New South Wales. The most obvious change is daylight saving. Hoorah!
We had several showers last night again at Nerang which necessitated waiting for the canvas to dry this morning. We departed around 11 after saying goodbyes to Steven, Michelle, Lili and Edi. We have our fingers crossed that they don't catch our colds.
After refuelling aided by a generous 10c per litre Coles discount we headed steadily southwards under grey skies into NSW and through Lismore to Tenterfield where we stopped for a visit to Bilo and a nice pizza for tea. Both too tired from our colds to contemplate hauling the stove out to cook. Tenterfield looks like a nice town unfortunately we are just passing through so won't be able to stop and explore. It is also the birthplace of Peter Allen..
The swag is now rolled out next to the Pajero under the awning. Susan has been wracked by coughing fits which will hopefully subside when we sleep. The Bald Rock camp site is close to the road so no doubt heavy transport thundering through will wake us in the night. Would be nice to see some sun tomorrow. I am not quite sure where we will be tomorrow night but around 400km closer to home would be good. :-)
night folks,
cheers Simon

Day 142 Saturday 27th November 2010

Mates reunited

Hi all, the canvas house resembles a tent in the great plague at the moment with both occupants stricken with a horrible cold virus. We were not helped by a heavy shower in the night where we had to get up to zip windows and put the kitchen away.

We pottered slowly this morning. Susan painted Lily's toenails and fingernails. At midday we headed up the road to Yatala to visit David (Cromb) and Jo and their children, Jess and Matthew. I was best man at Davids wedding in 1987(I think) We have had brief catch ups since including a stopover at Brisbane airport in 1997 and a visit to Adelaide circa 1999 with a young Jessica. There was also another visit that totally slipped my mind prior to when my kids were born as Jo remembered the nectarine tree in fruit and David a garfishing trip to the jetty. The fact they stayed overnight and the Challenger disaster occurred puts that date as (quickly searches google) 28 January 1986.

Anyway it was good to catch up on lot's of news after so many years. They have a nice big property and a lovely house. We insisted on sitting outside to avoid transmission of our horrible bugs so we didn't get to see inside as much as we should have. Jo prepared an excellent lunch and David produced bottles of good wine. The afternoon ticked away far too quickly, we said our goodbyes and hope to return before too long. Certainly not 10 years!

On our return Susan painted Edi's nails and we enjoyed fish and chips.

However an early night is in order as we are driving tomorrow if we manage to have the strength to pack.

Cheers Simon

Day 141 Friday 26th November 2010

Gold Coast


Appartments

Hi All,

We had visitors at around 630 this morning in the form of the girls that live here. As mentioned yesterday the sun is high in the sky by then so it didn't seem that early.

Today was a struggle weighed down as we were by this darn virus.
We dove down to Yatala to seek out an old friend. We located the house and i spoke to his missus over the fence. We will return tomorrow and try not to give them our germs. Should be an interesting day.

We then retraced our steps and visited Steven, Michelle and the girls at their Designers Home business in Bundall. Some very nice furniture.

From there we cruised down the Gold Coast Highway to Palm Beach as i tried to locate unsuccesfully a house i visited 23 years ago on Tullabudgera Creek. We returned to Nerang stopping at Coles to purchase ingredients for tea. Susan cooked a lamb stir fry which every body enjoyed even those of us with diminished taste buds.

After tea the girls retired to their inside tent for a spot of camping and Susan showed our hosts our blog and the Helpx website. We retired relatively early to catch some health rest.

cheers Simon

Day 140 Thursday 25th November 2010

Camper at Steven and Michelles


Camper

Hi all or few as the case may be.

We said our goodbyes at Twin Waters this morning to John and Wendy after packing up our stuff. I logged onto the govia website and established a one month account for the toll roads we will pass on today.

We hit the road about 11 and were winging our way down the highway. They have service roads off the highway into McDonalds so we availed ourselves of expresso as per usual.

We arrived on the Gold Coast at Nerang and after a bit of Laurel and Hardy with the camper are now set up in Stephen (Susan's Stepbrother) and Michelles back yard. Their girls Lily 7 and Edi 5 greeted us on the front lawn. Lily also made us Xmas cards last night. We had a delicious pasta tea with home made pasta and home made damper courtesy of chef Steven.

After a game of mousetrap the girls went to bed we settled down for adult conversation and retired to bed at about 11 still both sick as dogs woof.

Sunrise is now 442am here and sunset 624pm and they are still saying they don't need daylight saving, go figure!

Cheers Simon

Day 139 Wednesday 24th November 2010

Large house and Glasshouse Mountain



Glasshouse Mountains

Hi Folks,

The day started with a laugh.
Susan poked her head out of the toilet and said,
“Did you use the toilet this morning?”
“Yes first thing”
“Have you used it since?”
“No”(now knowing where this is going)
“Are you sure?”
“I did put my fingernail clippings in there”
“Thank god for that I thought you had worms”

As decided yesterday John and Wendy took us for a tour of the towns up on the Blackall Range behind the Sunshine Coast. We headed through Nambour, Mapleton, Mapleton Falls, and onto Montville. Montville is a pretty tourist town with the usual shops and a host of eateries. It is like Kuranda but with more class. After browsing some shops we had a bite of lunch and coffee and moved on to Maleny passing along Mountain View Road and stopping for a great view of the Glass House Mountains(named by Cook).


Montville shops


Large bat in the trees - Montville

We headed back down the hill and took up Johns offer of a coastal tour from Caloundra back up to Twin Waters, stopping to view several of the beaches.
We returned home. John and Wendy headed to a birthday party. After reheating our pasta from last night we settled down to some travel administration tasks. We are both now succumbing to the raging sore throat virus which is the first time we have really been sick since we have been away.

Sadly tomorrow we move on John and Wendy have been terrific hosts and have really made us welcome. It is a great help to be guided to the best locations in an area. Thanks guys!

Cheers Simon



Kitesurfing at Caloundra


Mooloolaba