17th of September to 1st of October

17^th of September – 1^st of October

We spent some time in Brisbane visiting south bank where the kids enjoyed playing and swimming. The wife also enjoyed hanging out with her friend. We left Brisbane on the 20^th a Thursday to start our drive south across the border. We called in for lunch at Byron bay before heading south down the pacific hwy to a free camp south of Ballina. On Friday we head to Bellingen a little town south of Coffs Harbour where we set up at a show ground camp ground for $20 a night. Kate’s father and brother ended up meeting us here as they were heading north for a few weeks off. We stayed at Bellingen for 4 nights and I caught up with a girl I went to primary school with, who now lives in the area, we also enjoyed a walk or two. Monday night the 24^th we went up to the local Pub for dinner with my old school friend and her family to have a $13.50 chicken schnitzel which included a beer. 25^th of September we ended up leaving calling into Urunga to catch up with a father of a mate of mine to enjoy some morning tea while catching up and talking about our trip around Oz. We had to leave just before lunch and headed to Kempsey. My uncle lives in Kempsey on acreage so we set up our van there for a few days. Over the next couple of days we ended up going for a day trip up to Nambucca to have lunch with my Auntie and Uncle on the beach and enjoying the area of Kempsey. 28^th of September we head straight to Hawks Nest to a family member’s holiday house and where we meet my Mum, sister and partner. I also caught up with my old boss that I did my apprenticeship with, who lives in hawks Nest. I made sure I drank plenty of his beer. We enjoyed dinner at the golf club and relaxed for our last few days of our trip. Monday the 1^st of October we head home back to my Mum’s place on the central where our trip started. The last couple of weeks have been more catching up with family and friends as we came down the coast. We were also running on empty for the allocated money for the trip so major expenses and going out had slowed up. We weren’t that fussed as NSW and lower Queensland are places we can go to within a day’s drive.

Highlights for our trips.

1.       Port Lincoln and the entire peninsula. Great beachs clear water and no one in sight.

2.       Esperance WA, If there is a more clearer water and better beaches anywhere in the world I would be surprised just can’t swim out to far sharks lol.

3.       Atherton, After months of red dust and no grass pulling into Atherton on the great divide just west of Cairns is truly a breath of fresh air. This place has it all great caravan parks, great free camps, great tourist attractions and finished off with a few days at lake Tinaroo camping for $10 a night in paradise.  On top of this everywhere North of Rockhampton was great for free camping with grass and fresh water tap supplied at most.

4.       Perth, with a chance to spend 2 months in a place you get to know the place and what a place feels abit like Sydney 20+ years ago, feels like you’re in a country town when you go to the local shops. Add on top great beaches, Freemantle, kings Park, a great hospital where we had our baby and our great Friends we spent our 2 months with it doesn’t get much better.

5.       Victoria High Country, the main advantage of living in Sydney when places like this are within a day’s drive, With great lookouts and roads that take your breath away with views over never ending mountain ranges. Top that off with great mates a camp fire and sitting beside fresh water rivers so clear and a bit crisp from the melting snow.

6.       The other special days are ones where you can remember your kid’s excitement and great achievements. Karajini national park springs to mind while walking 3-4 km through gorges down rock walls and back up the other side. There little legs had to jump from stepping stone to stepping stone to cross the water time after time. They walked all day without once whinging.

7.       Other highlights for the kids were First time for Jessica bogey boarding and she mastered it at cable beach.

8.       Jessica also enjoyed holding the python at Malcolm Douglas world                    

9.       Megan and Jessica loved there day at Monkey Mia feeding the dolphins and there day at seaworld watching the dolphins.

10.    Jessica loved snorkelling at Coral bay and still talks about it while Megan loved the glass bottom boat ride.

11.   The hills behind Adelaide provided a cheap and entertaining day for the kids with our last stop being the whispering wall which the kids couldn’t believe (google it)

12.   Water parks at Darwin also are a hit with the kids and free for everyone.

Well 3 Months later I have finally got around to finishing my blog. Worked picked up where I left it and house renos are taking up my time, so the world carries on. The caravan is now a distant memory sold within 11 days being on the market with a $4000 lost from new and sold to a gentleman in Rockhampton purchased sight unseen.

      Thanks to all who read a plumbers journal of his dream to travel Australia and hope your dream can come true one day also.

Peter, Kate, Jessica, Megan and Emily

4th of September to the 15th of September

4^th September

Just an easy drive from Airlie beach down to Mackay where we checked into a caravan so we could catch up on some washing while the kids played with some other kids in the park before having a quiet afternoon.

5^th of September

Went from Mackay to St Lawrence, St Lawrence is a small little town just off the highway with a great free camp where we had a hot shower for $1. We had a quiet afternoon with some bears and chit chat with local travellers.

 

6^th of September

Short drive today Kate has an Auntie and Uncle at Emu Park just out of Rockhampton. We set up our van in their front yard. I went for a drive into town to get some dinner with Kate’s uncle and had a tour of the beach side town and then resided back to the house where we caught up over a few beers.

 

7^th of September

Followed Kate’s Auntie and cousin up to Yeppoon, we had some lunch on the beach with them so Kate could catch up with the cousins. Kate’s Auntie and cousin had to go so we drove back down the coast road enjoying the sites before stopping at main beach at Emu park where the kids had a play and swim. While we were at the beach a nice couple we spoke to at St Lawrence free camp turned up to have some lunch so we spent an hour talking to them before heading back to the van.  

 found this big whale at Emu park and it tried to eat the pajero

 Kate's Uncle and Auntie's house where we stayed for a couple of days

 

8^th of September

Left Kate’s Uncle and Auntie’s house, on the way out we call into Rockhampton to the botanical gardens and there little zoo which is free. After a walk around and some morning tea Kate fed the baby while I made up a heap of sandwiches to keep the kids fed. We left Rockhampton and we were heading to Theodore where Kate had another Auntie and uncle. Kate’s Auntie is the manager of the pub at Theodore, and we parked our van in the pub grounds. The pub at Theodore is actually owned by the council and is kept in great condition with heaps of accommodation, bistro and huge bar. We enjoyed a pub meal and had a heap of beers catching up with Kate’s family again.

 

Rockhampton big cows there is a few around town

 The gardens

 

9^th of September

Went for a walk down the end of the street with the girls and took Kate’s younger cousin who the girls enjoyed playing with. At the end of the street is a council run free camp which had free hot showers and is surrounded by a creek and a river, there were heaps of campers here that come from the south and stay all winter to keep warmer if I didn’t have Kate’s family in town this would have been a great place to camp. We also caught up on washing again while Kate hung out with her family. We enjoyed a pub bbq for lunch and spent a lazy afternoon before we realized we had run out of time to cook a dinner so Kate’s auntie ordered in a pub meal again ( the advantage of living on top of a pub lol)

 river on the left creek on the right. Jessica walking Katie's Auntie's dog

10^th of September

We left a bit later than normal as the kids were enjoying playing with Kate’s 10 year old cousin. WE are heading towards Rainbow beach but we won’t make it as it a bit too far to travel with a late start and some dirt roads to be crossed if we want to keep the distance down. We call into Mundubbera a river side town where we had lunch in the park before heading further towards the coast where we end up free camping on the side of the road. The free camp was alright but far from perfect which we were expecting as it had a recommended tick from the free camps publisher (also mentioned by others camped there) But it still had grass and flushing toilets so can’t complain.

 Had about 30km of dirt

 Lunch stop

 The big Mandarin

 Then a big Orange

I had some fun with the camera here.

 

11^th of September

We have a short drive into rainbow beach and are there by 10am where we get a permit to beach camp for 2 nights up at inskip point looking over to Frazer Island cost $21 for the 2 nights (I went to Frazer Island last year so we decided we don’t need to go again on this trip so soon). There are multiple camp grounds with multiple sites at each and it is a case of try find the best spot you can. We went to into one road which turned out to be an access to the beach with a turn off into the camp ground half way down that we decided to take as the sand was getting soft and then we were bogged. I got out reduced all tyre pressures down to 20psi I tried backing up until it bogged down again then went forward until it bogged down again but I got about 1m further then last time so promising. I had to go forwards and back a few times until I got the car onto firm ground and finally got out with the caravan still in tack lol. We ended up leaving that camp site as the stares we were coping while bogged was to uncomfortable and embarrassing to stay there so we headed up to the next camp site and found ourselves a nice spot on the water with water views to enjoy for a few nights. We had a swim that afternoon and built a huge sand castle that ends up falling to an incoming tide.         

Bit of fun with the kids building a sand castle on a incoming tide

12^th of September

Megan and me spent a bit of time playing with the lego as she was a bit tired and Kate and Jessica went for a walk up the beach. We spent the afternoon with the kids swimming and playing while I sat back and relaxed either on the beach or at camp looking over the beach.

 Our van spot on the beach in the middle

13^th of September

Where off to Brisbane, Kate’s best friend and family friend since she was 5 now lives in Brisbane. We had a great drive down with our first multilane roads in a long time and arrived at Kate’s friends place in time for lunch. We can’t set up our van level in our friend’s house so for the first time have to sleep in someone’s house (beside the time kate had a baby at hospital and was there for a few nights and when I had to go back to Perth to buy a new truck by my self). We spent the afternoon chit chatting before the girls went to the shops.

14^th of September

Just hung out with our friend and I also cleaned the car right out and vacuumed every spot including the roof trying to get rid of red dirt, we went down to the local park for the kids to run wild.

 Kids having a pinci in the suburbs of Brisbane

 

15^th of September

Sea world

We all piled into the Pajero 7 of us and went down to sea world. What a full on day with shows and rides for the kids we didn’t get a chance to stop and you could almost spend an extra day here. The highlights were the awesome dolphin show which the smile on the kid’s faces at the amazement of what a dolphin can do and to tell you the truth I was impressed too, one dolphin would have jumped a good 6 metres out of the water I wish I knew so I could have got that picture. We also enjoyed the seal show and the jet ski show for some action. The one surprise was shark bay we looked from above and didn’t think much but walked underneath to see a huge amount of variety and so many fish with a coral reef and smaller sharks swimming around. Then next to it, the larger sharks and larger fish also enjoyable. The kids also enjoyed watching the Dora show before heading home.    

30th August to the 3rd of September

30^th of August

We are having a rest day for the kids with no car driving. The kids spend all morning in the park playing nicely while Mum and I relax. Mum and the kids also went for a walk down the beach and collected some shells for the girl’s tressure boxes. We finish our day with a happy hour drink and some dinner, before settling down for another good night free camping.

 water melon time

 Old mate hung around the kids while we were at this free camp rumour has it he lives down the road and only goes home for a feed

 

31^st of August

Heading to Townsville which is about 22km away the shortest drive we have ever done and we are set up at a caravan park before 9.30 a personal best. We even were quick enough we left the kids in the car while setting up and went straight into town first for a drive around then up to castle look out for a view of the area. We then went food shopping while Kate and Jessica went shopping for Megan’s birthday. We then spent the afternoon swimming in the pool and relaxing at the caravan park.

1^st of September

Megan’s birthday today, we start it off with some pancakes for breakfast as requested by the birthday girl. After Breakfast the girls play nicely with all the new toys Megan got for her birthday at about 10am with decide to have birthday cake with a bit of happy birthday for morning tea. The girls continued playing nicely until it was nearly lunch time. We head into town to go down and enjoy the strand. We picked up some maccas as requested by the birthday girl to enjoy down on the water front. The kids and I then enjoyed playing in the water park before moving down to the pool area filled with ocean water.  We finished off the afternoon with some homemade pizza as requested again.

 Megan in her matching barbie and dress

 

2^nd of September

Father’s day today I had some scramble eggs and some presents before packing up.

We are on the road again heading to Airlie Beach with a drive of around 290km. We picked up a big brolga (a kind of bird) picture on the way out of Townsville to add to our list. We called into the town called Home hill so Kate could feed the baby and I took the kids to the toilets and let them run around. There is a great free camp in Home hill it is in the centre of town and is allowed for 48 hrs. It has showers, a camp kitchen, power to charge your lap tops, big eating area under cover and a coin operated laundry attached to it. We only didn’t stay at home hill as you kind of park on the road not a problem with big kids or retirees and also we didn’t think staying there a night or 2 would add to our trip just delay its finish if I was retired and had nothing better to do 2 nights here wouldn’t be a problem. We are off towards Bowen now where we plan to have lunch. We call in at a road side fruit and veg to get a picture of their big water melon and top up some supplies. At Bowen we enjoyed lunch in the park which was near the wharf that they used in the filming of Australia and pretended it was Darwin. On the other side of the road was the land used for the stock yards and old buildings that were part of the movie. On the way out of Bowen we got a picture of the big Mango. With just another short drive we were in Airlie Beach where we checked into another top tourist park. The kids spent the afternoon playing in the grass and we enjoyed some afternoon tea.       

 a big snake we found

 Bowen lunch stop looking over the wharf that was used in the movie "Australia"

 Big Mango

 

3^rd of September

Up early today and we are going to do an island hopper cruise for $220, we got 2 adult tickets to go anywhere their boats go all day and the kids were free. We headed straight out to Hamilton Island had a look around the marine, when blow me a bus pulls up and it has written on the front “free shuttle bus” I ask the driver so it is free right even for us? Yeah mate. So we go on a ride around the island until we pull up out front of one of those fancy places you know the type where they have a concierge. Well we walk straight into that resort and no one ever asked me anything and we walked straight out the back to the big resort swimming pools where the kids went nuts. I almost had a go on a wind surfer but a combo of no board shorts were packed for me and the gentleman at the beach shop started asking to many questions on room numbers etc.

 After a while we decided to head off and go to day Dream Island, so back on the shuttle bus over to the marine to catch the next ferry out. On arrival to day dream island the kids and I enjoyed a buggy ride while mum enjoyed even more so a quiet walk with the pram up to the shops end of day dream island. We enjoyed a pie at the bakery and looked around let the kids have a play in the park before strolling up to the other end of the island for a look at the resort. The kids enjoyed looking at a fish tank which had living coral in it and the outside man made lagoons with sharks, sting-rays and heaps of fish before settling into another swim in a bigger resort swimming pool followed by some hot tub time. We ended up leaving Day dream at 5pm for the ferry ride home and even managed to have the skipper of the ferry chuck on the anchors as there was a whale and its baby swimming in front of the boat and then down the side so we finally got to see a whale. The rest of the afternoon was spent with quick showers followed by a quick dinner then into bed for the kids.

 Emily loved driving around Hamilton Island she loves looking at trees

 Leaving Hamilton Island

 My mermaids I found don't tell anyone

 I am wearing Kate's board shorts man they were tight but a swim was much needed when it looks this good

 Girls hot tubbing it up

 The best picture I got of the whales

 Coming back into Airlie Beach