Graham’s wanderings

In about one weeks time google will be stopping doing blogs so I will revert to sending emails. So if you would like to receive my emails please send me an email saying so and I will put you in my list.

There is not much to report today which started with my morning walk around a pair of bridges over the river in Moree. Like a lot of rivers in this part of the world it does not have a huge amount of water, but it is better than some. Then after my chores I headed to town to look around and to find a barber. Well I found a barber who after I waited quite a while, she actually put me into an iPad which kept track of my progress in the queue and allowed me to go walkabout while waiting, I was told that I had a much longer wait so I made tracks. The countryside out here is very dry but, I may be imagining it, it does not seem to be a lot dryer than our Western Australian eastern wheatbelt. Whatever it is definitely dry. I have finished up at a town called Walgett which has a very basic camping area on the edge of town.

I started today in high spirits having found a free bush camp that looked good, it had excellent reviews on both the websites that I use. So up I got and had a good look around the Showgrounds where I was staying. It has been in use since 1873 any many of the buildings have very long histories and when one registers to stay there they are given a sheet with these details. So as I said I had a good look around and soaked in the history surrounding me and following that walked down towards the town. I did not go all the way as it was a long way down a fairly steep hill so I only went part of the way and looked at some of the old houses. Then the usual routine followed by a drive around town without much to stop for as I passed through here a couple of weeks ago and had a good look then. Then off west I went with the next worthwhile town being Inverell. Quite a bit to see here as they seem to be a bit town proud and have done quite a few nice things. The highlight was their centennial...

Today, despite a poor start which I will report later, was great. Once again I have crossed the Blue Mountsins heading west and the scenery was nice, very nice and at times magnificent.  The greenery and the rolling hills really are something to bottle and take home. I stopped a few times at lookouts and enjoyed conversations with fellow travellers who were all going in the opposite direction to me. At one stop there were bell birds singing or should I say peeling as they sounded exactly like bells. The first time that I heard them I thought that something under my bonnet was making the noise until someone else who was at the same stop told me what it was. The driving, as I have said previously, requires lots of serious concentration particularly when on a narrow, barely two vehicles wide, one is confronted by huge two trailer trucks on very narrow bends. I had a period when there were five of them over a fairly short period of time and I actually got almost off the road and stoppe...

Today was very much varied weather from a cool overcast start, then some sunshine and now it is raining. The start was not auspicious, as I got ready for my morning walk, walked to the front of the van to do a few push ups and the van was covered, really covered in little ants. While I was deciding what to do a couple of locals from the lifestyle village came past and told me that they are quite common there. Anyway I got out the crawling insect spray and zapped all of them, then shifted the van to a tap and blew them all off with water. That sort of stopped my walk so I had breakfast and went into town to do some shopping. Then on the road again. The first stop was a pretty little riverside town called Woodburn and I was amazed at how busy the Main Street, cappacino strip was. After a wander road I moved on to Evans Head where there is an aviation museum that I wanted to see. The main attraction is that they have a F111 on display. Amongst some other interesting stuff on display i...

Here is a funny little story, one of life’s coincidences. Last night I was lying in bed thinking how I liked the way that my caravan repairer in Casino went about his business, just like the guy that sold me this van. Then it occurred to me that his name is Geoff Bryant and the man who sold me the van is Corey Bryant which you will probably agree is not a very common surname. So this morning I phoned Geoff and they are not related, so what sort of coincidence is that? Incidentally they are both primarily caravan repairers who have a few caravans for sale in their yard. Last night was a huge storm with big lightning, loud thunder and heavy rain for a few hours. I do not really know how long because I fell asleep, but I did wake during the night and the rain at least was still going. The rain was still around in the morning, but not so heavy, and the forecast was for it to continue all day. So I arranged to spend another day here as I do not see much when travelling the rain along the ...

Last nights camp at The Channon was interesting. It was on private property and the owner collected the fee but it is listed and signed as ‘The Channon campground’. It occupied what was basically a very wide driveway to a house which I presume is a farm house as it is surrounded by paddocks. Actually only on one side the other side is a very steep embankment leading down to the river. This morning the whole site and surroundings were blanketed by mist which made it rather pretty. They also supposedly have resident koalas, but I did not see any. The town itself is very small just a tavern, a post office and a few houses. There might have been more but I did  not see them. It is very pretty and would be a nice place to live if you like isolation and prettiness tucked away in the blue mountains. From there, after the usual routine, I proceeded to Lismore which was quite a pleasant drive, despite the poor road quality. At Lismore I refilled a gas bottle, which is happening far to o...

Once again Dan and I worked hard today. I started the day with a walk around Murwillumbah  which is a nice middle size town with the Tweed River running through it. Then after the usual routine left the Showgrounds and the first stop was the Lions Lookout at the end of the usual very steep road, but it was worth it for a great view. Then I made tracks for Byron Bay and the road was scenic until it finally joined the motorway. If I had to rate the roads here, with the exception of the motorways, I would be struggling to rate a five. They are rough with lots of lumpy repairs and have actual holes in the road like we used to get in Beaufort Street fifty or sixty years ago. Anyway I got to  Byron Bay and I can now say that I have seen it, about the most commercialised place that I have ever seen. Example they have a lighthouse at the end of another very steep, very narrow road in poor condition and they charge for parking at the two small bays on the way up and they charge to ...

Tonight finds me at the Murwillumbah Showgrounds after a relaxing day. I seem to be staying at a lot of these Showgrounds where they offer basic accomodation with facilities for those that need them and a lot of caravans do not have bathrooms. They slso seem the have power and water which is nice, I do not use my own water and with electricity I save on gas, both being connected directly to my van. On the way here I actually passed through the Gold Coast and had I realised that beforehand I probably would have spent a night there. In fact my part is now running a day late so if I had that information earlier in the day I definitely would hacpve stopped. Anyway I also passed through Tweed Heads which is a pretty city but nothing special. Where I am is only about thirty kilometres or so south and appears to be very nice, I will explore tomorrow. I did not realise that they grew sugar cane so far south but as I passed several fields of sugar cane I guess they do. For me the perfect ca...

To start with a bit of housekeeping - I have had a couple of nice comments from ‘unknown’ so if you put your name on the comment I will know who you are. The only thing wrong with this campsite is the weather, if it was not so hot and humid I might even stay another night. After getting up late I went for walk then spent a very difficult day doing nothing. I did have another swim or rather a sit in the nice fresh running water of the river, and I did blow the trumpet and I did clean Dans wheels. Other than that I did quite a bit of reading, and one other thing that I did was fly the drone and talk to my neighbours. I should add that this I quite a large area nicely kept with just a couple of toilets, a couple of bbqs and a children’s playground and at the moment four well spread out campers. I have been told though that it gets very busy, particularly on long weekends.

Tonight I have reached the camp that I wanted to reach yesterday. There was nothing wrong with last nights camp but I was probably going to be all by myself tonight. So I took the road that said ‘unsuitable for caravans’, trucks, etc after I was told that the only thing wrong with was that it was steep up and then down. That is correct it was so,steep that I had to engage fly crawling up a wall mode, a slight exaggeration but it was really steep and windy and narrow and the usual not very good road. However Dan the Van handled it without any fuss and, once again, despite her drivers concentration the scenery was great. The total drive today was eleven kilometres. This place is called Darlington Park and is very nice and well kept with basic facilities. I do not really care about facilities as, unless they are really close to me, I do not use them, preferring to use my own facilities. I shall stay two nights and have committed myself to that by setting up with awning, shade curtain an...

Today I feel like an explorer having travelled all over the countryside. That is a bit of an exaggeration so let me tell you a story. Firstly there is last night which was spent at the Kyogle Showgrounds which in turn was hosting a bullriding contest. There was a lot of noise, mainly from the commentator during the contest which finished at a reasonable hour. At one stage I wandered over to have a look, nothing much happened other than a couple of riders who were tossed off so quickly that I did not get a chance to see what they were doing. Then I went back and went to bed only to have ears assaulted by very, very loud head banging music until quite late. On my walk this morning I discovered why. In addition to some very full large bins there was a virtual carpet on Bundy cans. Anyway I hit the road at about 10.30am intending to stop at Darlington Park about 90km away for the night. The first turning that my navigator directed me to was marked not suitable for heavy vehicles. I had...

Another average day I must be rushing, although I do not think I am, but I am making mistakes that are not usual and that I associate with rushing. The story is that after doing my washing at the caravan park and all the usual morning activity I headed out. The first stop was gas and that done I drove off, about an hour or so later I stopped for lunch and realised that I had left the gas bottle at the filling station. So I headed back and picked it up, turned around and retraced my steps or rolling wheels. Due to that wasted time I stopped here at a town called Kyogle where I am camped at their Showgrounds. Based on my recent errors and my thoughts about rushing I might just stay here tomorrow and slow myself down. It is a nice town but nothing special and the relaxer might however do me some good. Tonight they have a bullriding thing on about 100 metres away so that might interrupt my sleep but no matter I will see what tomorrow brings.

Tonight I am in Casino and have found someone to replace my missing window. It will take a few days for him to get the part so I will do a circuit of the area north of here, which I was going to do anyway, then come back and get the job done. It will not be cheap but it will hopefully teach me a lesson. The other thing is that, once again I am paying for accomodation, which is happening too often with the result that I am now just over the average of $10 per day. The rest of the day was fine I drove here from Tenterfield. The trip was wind my way uphill then wind my way back downhill then start again and snake my way uphill only to have to snake my way back down again. I lost count of how many times I repeated that procedure all of it on very average roads and with regular light rain. To compensate the scenery was grand. Then I arrived here in Casino and stumbled across a caravan repairer. This was a big surprise as my friend Google did not tell me about him last night when I asked...

Today is a bad day and I am not in a good place! I usually open my galley (kitchen) window almost first thing after parking the van at the end of the day. When I did that today there was no window to open, it was gone. I remember opening it at lunch time, which is unusual and I obviously forgot to close it. I was very upset, I know a bit of money and time will fix it but I am upset that I let it happen. Anyway back to today, which started with a walk along the Mother of Ducks lagoon, only the lagoon was bone dry due to the drought. It is normally a huge lagoon filled with ducks and other birds but is, for now, just a great big patch of dry weeds. Then on to the road after one of my very rare hot showers from my own system (I usually have a cold shower) because it was quite cold in Guyra. I had a drive around town and did a small shop at the local IGA before driving north. Next stop was Glen Innes which was a very interesting town with lots of nice buildings. So after a walk around ...

Tonight’s news comes from Guyra which claims to be the top of the mountains, about 1330 meters above sea level. It is a small town but like most of her peers has hotels, golf course and lots of other things happening within her borders. I am camped with a number of other vans next to the golf course. Last nights hosts were very nice and it was a pleasure to stay there. It was the first time that I have used mso (member stop over) which is specified in the club website as free but you are allowed to give them a donation. I decided to do that and left $10 in an envelope marked ‘thank you’ in their letterbox as I left. Armidale itself was a bit of a disappointment. The University was very bland so much so that I checked at the visitor centre to make sure that I had visited the correct place. The Saumarez homestead was nice and rather impressive and as usual the buildings in town, especially the churchs were very nice. I have decided though that I went into the wrong business, I should...

Today both Dan the van (as sailing vessels are always female and this is my land sailing vessel Dan is short for Daniele) and I performed well today, details to follow. The morning started pretty well as usual with a walk along the boundary fence of the sports ground and the usual activities. Also as usual I was last to leave the camp not counting the one couple who were staying for the day. I was making tracks for Armidale when I noticed a sign to Lookout Point and as I had been told that this had a good view over the surrounding countryside I turned onto the road as per the sign post. The road turned out to be 15km long unsealed except for about five hundred metres at the start and about fifteen hundred metres at the end. As usual for a hill climbing road it had lots of bends and unusually for an unsealed road was quite okay. So Dan the van climbed her way up to the lookout which is 1569 metres, or thereabouts, above sea level. Good work Dan. Then I walked 600 metres each way to ...

Today was just another day of beauty. This morning I did another walk down to the foot of the waterfall and as the track at the end of the boardwalk was not all muddy (we did not have much rain last night) I was able to go all the way. It was really quite spectacular and of course I got some photos. Then after the usual things I headed into town to stock up on green groceries and forgot about grog again, I am down to my last drink. From there back in the road which was very hilly climbing ever upwards with lots of quite tight bends requiring a fair bit of concentration. It was however a very pretty drive, one of the best that I have done this trip or with Elaine. There were lots of green fields spread over lots of interlocking hills, at time quite breathtaking. Just thinking about this there are the drives through the blue mountains which are also beautiful and I have now done a few of them so that I am quite spoiled by nature’s beauty. The north of Australia and inland Western Aus...

Today was a lay day or what the navy (very much in the distant past) used to call a make and mend day. I am still at Dangar Falls Lodge and managed to sleep in until 8am. Then I proceeded to have a walk down to the foot of the falls, I actually did not got all the way because the path turned into a steep muddy track and I decided once again that good sense should prevail. So I headed back up the hill and it was still quite a good walk a couple of kms and very strenuous. Part of the walk included a labyrinth which is a bit like a maze but is a continuous path in ever decreasing then increasing circles and meant to relax one. Then the trumpet got an outing, I do blow it most days, then the drone had a go. So far the drone has not had much work to do partly because I initially had an issue with colour in the photos and partly because I have simply used my camera. The camera is using up an enormous amount of battery power, I am very pleased that I bought an extra battery and a 12v charge...

Now let me tell you about today. First last night, about 9pm I hear a vehicle pull up next to my van and a young couple set up a tent by the headlights of their car. It was a bit closer than I would have thought necessary but I did not worry as it was late and I was in bed. Then this morning I get out of bed at 7.30 and they are gone, that is one way of not paying for your campsite - arrive after fees are collected and leave before the next collection. So off I go on a very nice beach walk, probably only a couple of kms except that I had a bit of difficulty finding the path back to my van and had to walk backwards and forwards a bit. You just cannot trust these old b.......... to do anything simply can you? Anyway after the usual morning routine I take off heading inland this time. Heading inland requires a drive up the mountains as I am far enough north to be in the New England high country. But before I get there I try to trick my navigator into going off the motorway, that doe...

Strange things are happening Telstra is supposed to be the best network but both here and the last couple of days my phone, which is iinet/Optus, is much better. Anyway today I had a rainforest walk which was very nice but only a couple of kms. I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere because it was supposed to be 4kms. I did not understand that rainforest happened outside the tropics so I suppose that I will have to find out why. After my walk and the usual morning activities I headed north. By the way the van got a wash yesterday, a lot of theses camps have ‘do not drink’ water so I used some of it to pretty up the van a little bit. I am also still trying to absorb the information that my friend of a couple of days ago gave me about my van. First stop some one hundred kms up the road was a town called Taree where I got a gas bottle filled. Once again I have been on a dual carriage way pretty near all day and there do not seem to be any small towns over here. Another by the way ...