Home again after quite a few days of cold rainy weather, only to be greeted by even colder weather at home!
Some statistics for this trip:
Distance covered: 7499km
Diesel Used: 1310.7L
Average diesel cost: $1.292/L
Total $: $1698.23
Average km/L 5.72
Average c/km: 22.6
Average L/100km 17.48
Again rain all the way, bucketing down when we were setting up at Narrandera Showground, didn't even unhitch the 5th wheeler!
Starting to sound like a broken record, rain all the way to Gulgong, dinner in the RSL again.
What a lovely little place Gulgong is, Showground highly recommended.
Continuing our way south with the rain keeping us company we went as far as Armidale and camped again at the Showground, as we did on the way up.
We were a little bit apprehensive about the road from Casino to Tenterfield as we were told by several people how steep and winding it was. We have been told those sort of things before and like previous occasions they proved to be over dramatised. There must be a lot of "nervous nellies" towing caravans as we found this road no steeper or windier than most other roads we have been on, certainly not as intimidating as the road in to Queenstown Tasmania (coming from the Hobart direction).
Anyway was a fairly easy drive, but the continuing rain didn't add to the ambience.
Camped behind the BP Service Station in Tenterfield and had dinner at the RSL, very pleasant.
We'll put Tenterfield on the list for a re-visit as it seemed quite a pleasant and historic place.
Did a round trip to Casino and Lismore. We wanted to check out the Casino Resort reportedly similar to the RV Homebase in Maryborough. The couple (Rod and Maree) we met in Lawnton are shareholders in this resort and when they heard we had been looking at RV Homebase they suggested we have a look at this resort.
It certainly didn't appeal as much as RV Homebase nor did Casino as a town have the attraction of Maryborough. The weather didn't help either as it rained most of the day.
We went on to Lismore, a bigger and more vibrant town altogether, where we looked for a replacement camlock for one of the lockers on our 5th wheeler. Found a suitable one in Bunnings but decided to check out what they had in Masters, right next door! The normal sort of story that we find every time we go in to a Masters, more staff than customers, and staff standing around talking amongst themselves. After asking for some assistance to find a camlock, the first 2 didn't know what I was talking about (even though I had the broken one to show!) but number 3 did know where they were and took me there. Price was much higher than in Bunnings and when I made him aware of he shrugged his shoulders and said "oh well, you get that and walked away!". So back to Bunnings it was.
(Update Jan 2016: Woolworths, the majority owners of the Masters chain, announced that US company Lowe's (a 33% shareholder) had decided to pull out and Woolworths as a result has decided to either sell the 63 store Masters chain or close it down - it has lost $800m+ so far).
The rain that started yesterday set in in earnest and followed us all the way to Kyogle, a quite hilly and winding road made rather "interesting" by the weather. We had intended to stop in Woodenbong (now there's an interesting name!) but the very soggy Showground didn't look very inviting so we continued on to Kyogle where the Showground was much more inviting and even the rain stopped for a while.
Canungra is quite an attractive little place and as is usual there is a War Memorial which I duly photographed for sending to Monuments Australia.
After unsuccessfully trying to get in to the Landwarfare Centre to photograph the Vietnam War Memorial we headed up Mount Tambourine, the road is partially one way and fairly steep.
The lookout at the top is now largely blocked by trees, so a bit disappointing.
Heading down the other side of the mountain towards Surfers Paradise which had visited in the 70s for a trade convention.
It hadn't improved much since then, still a tourist trap, which we normally try to avoid.
I wonder what will happen to all the high-rise buildings right on the foreshore if/when the rising sea levels because of global warming come to pass?
I must confess we didn't spend a lot of time here and headed back to Canungra, which was a very scenic drive.
After some 11 days at Lawnton Showgrounds it was time to move on so we headed south to Canungra in the Scenic Rim.
The Canungra Showground was somewhat disappointing with quite a few power points but only 2 water taps. We were lucky enough to hook up to one but had to use all of our 40m water hose (2x10 and 1x20m).
Pleasant day trip to Bribie Island with Rod and Maree.
There was a lady dressed in black from head to toe with a black umbrella walking along the Woorim Beach shore line which made an interesting picture.
The jetty at Bongaree was fairly busy with fishers trying their luck
with the catch not limited to fish it seems.
On the way back to Lawnton Showgrounds we all stopped off at Costco and had a good look at what was on offer.
Visited the Qld Maritime Museum today, and an interesting visit it was. The museum is on the south bank of the Brisbane River in a very appropriate location.
The exhibits are well displayed, both inside and outside.
Outside on in the river is the steam tug SS Forceful, which was unfortunately not open for visitors.
Inside there are numerous well displayed exhibits.
Outside in the drydock there is the Lightship Carpentaria
as well as HMAS Diamentina, a WW2 frigate
Virtually the whole ship can be visited, including the engine room.
Even a lathe was kept on board for necessary repairs.
The armoury
The bridge
We weren't the only visitors that day
All in all it was a worthwhile experience, highly recommended
Walking back to the car we came across these interesting sculptures made from scrap metal.
