Need Time Away

Day 10 - Airlie Beach to a free camp at a gravel pit just north of Yaamba. Although we only traveled just under 400km yesterday (Day 10), it was a really pleasant drive.  It was a day of vastly different landscapes.  From the vast cane fields up north, to the barren brown landscape where we ended up - it really shows the differences in vegetation in our country. Landscape somewhere north of Marlborough So, here are some pictures of how our day ended, with Al setting up a make-shift office in the gravel pit to do the inevitable emails and officework at the end of the day. I'm absolutely loving this lifestyle :-)

Day 9 of our wonderful adventure saw Al off working for the day in Airlie Beach, while I spent the day around the caravan park, doing chores and catching up on work emails. So, here I am, at a luxury caravan resort, chilling out before we begin to head south again tomorrow. Airlie Beach Airlie Beach Big4 Caravan Park, Airlie Beach Big4 Caravan Park, Airlie Beach Big4 Caravan Park, Airlie Beach Big4 Caravan Park, Airlie Beach

The end of Day 8 sees us at Airlie Beach, staying at the Big 4 caravan park to say the least!  The atmosphere here, and 'class' of campers is completely different from the earlier part of the week.  Where the first week was very much mud, dirt, country camping, this week will be more refined 'city' camping.  Both have their place, but I know which one I prefer. Anyway, some pics of the last couple of days.... Bush Oasis Caravan Park, Nome Anzac Park, Ayr Anzac Park, Ayr Ayr We have pulled up for the night (and tomorrow night) here, the Big 4 Caravan Park in Airlie Beach.  It is very fancy.  I would love to be able to take Tanya for a visit here - she would love it. Big 4 Caravan Park, Airlie Beach Big 4 Caravan Park, Airlie Beach Big 4 Caravan Park, Airlie Beach

Day 5 saw us leave Emerald, and instead of heading towards home base, we were diverted unexpectedly north to Townsville by Al's work.  I guess when you are on a working holiday, you need to expect the unexpected. Staying at the Emerald Showground We left Emerald at about lunchtime after Al had finished his work in Emerald and headed north towards Townsville.  Going through towns like Clermont, Charters Towers...names that I had heard many times and always thought they were in the "middle of Queensland somewhere".  Now I know where they are.  I would like to come back this way again as a tourist.  I'm told that Charters Towers is a particularly nice town, but unfortunately the Gregory Highway bypasses it so I wasn't able to see any of it's charm. So what we had today was endless bitumen with stunning scenery that seemed to change at every bend.  We started to think about setting up for the night at around 3pm, however lack of phone service ...

Day 4 bought us from Roma to Emerald, a trip of just over 400km.  Last nights accommodation at Up'N'Downs Farmstay in Roma was beautiful.  Quiet, country, comfortable.  If down this way again we'll definitely stop again. Today wasn't terribly eventful - no stops, no historic pub visits, no boggings, but there was plenty of beautiful scenery to enjoy.  I particularly loved the Boxvale State Forest, between Injune and Rolleston - lovely.  I can't wait to come back to this area as a tourist.  I have always wanted to visit Carnavon Gorge, and unfortunately I could only admire the road sign at the turn off this trip.  Next time.... On the way into Emerald

Day 3 of our Western adventure started cold, really cold.  One could say bitterly cold.  I think it was only due to be an overnight low of 8 degrees, but it felt more like minus 8!  I have to say, living in Queensland does make you forget what cold really feels like. We woke up in Mungindi - a town that I quite liked.  It is a unique little town, part NSW and part Queensland, separated down the middle by the Barwon River.  We had a request from family to take a picture of the Mungindi Hospital, which was in the Queensland part of town, the petrol station in NSW.  Very unique Nights accommodation, outside the 2-Mile Hotel, Mungindi After free-camping behind the 2-Mile Hotel for the night, we started the 300km trek up to Roma.  The scenery was absolutely stunning, and hardly a car in sight.  This is the sort of country that I love.  The sun even made an appearance for most of the day, although it was still quite boggy in places, somethi...

As promised, some photos from Day 1 and 2 of our Western Queensland adventure. Day 1 - A very wet Cunningham's Gap Day 1 - Caravan's first visit to a petrol station Day 2 - Narrabri Big Sky Caravan Park - all packed up and ready to go Day 2 - Lunch stop Day 2 - On the road towards Mungindi

Day 2 of our adventure.  We woke to the sound of rain and heavy mist.  It was heaven.  Just like a winter morning should be.  Al had to work in Narrabri all morning, so I spent the morning working in the caravan, drinking cups of tea, and generally being much more comfortable than other times when I've been on Al's work trips (and had to wait in the car).  Bliss. Then, just when I thought we would be staying another night in Narrabri, Al came out and we were off on the next phase of the drive.  And what a drive it was!  Up through Mooree, then onto the Carnavon Highway.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We were trying to get as far as Roma, or at least to the Nindigully Pub, but didn't get quite that far.  So instead we free camped at the 2-Mile Hotel in Mungindi, and had a lovely meal and a few drinks.  Freezing cold, but lovely.  I had an absolutely wonderful day. Internet woes, so photos to come tomorrow, hopefully.

Yesterday we started a new adventure.  Not the "around-the-country" one, but a significant one nevertheless.  Al get the go-ahead to take the caravan on a service run through Western Queensland, and upon hearing this, nothing was going to stop me from tagging along. Preparations started for a Narrabri-Roma-Charleville-Emerald run.  Packing for this trip was unlike any other we had done.  Whilst experts on packing for weekends away camping, this was a business trip.  And whilst experts at packing for a business trip, this was a business trip in a caravan.  We needed 'bits' of our weekend camping kit, and 'bits' of our business kit.  Lists abound, anything we forgot we will do without. So, amidst torrential rain, we left home yesterday just after 8am for the long haul to Narrabri, NSW.  We decided to go through Cunningham's Gap instead of through Toowoomba so that it was an easier run. Towing three tonne of caravan through rain isn't fun, so the...