23/07/16 - Beenleigh - MacLean NSW

Had an overnighter at Beenleigh Showground, not the most salubrious of showgrounds with quite a few permanents.

Whilst here we caught up with a fellow forum member, Sally, who had a spare wheel cover for sale.

The spare wheel cover that our 5'er came with was an ill fitting vinyl one and this one raises the tone a bit.

 

We left Beenleigh to head over the border to Mullumbimby NSW, the showground there came highly recommended and we were planning to stay a few days there.

Much to our disappointment we arrived to a closed gate with a "full up" sign, apparently due to a music festival, Splendour in the Grass, at nearby Byron Bay.

So we kept going to Maclean on the Clarence River. 

The showground here is where the annual Maclean Highland Gathering is held, as the name suggests  Maclean has a Scottish heritage.

 

22/07/16 - Lowood - Beenleigh

Woke up to a very foggy morning at Lowood Showground.

By the time we were ready to leave the fog had lifted and we were on our way to Beenleigh south of Brisbane, halfway to the Gold Coast.

20/07/16 - Murgon - Lowood

Not a very long drive today but got stuck behind a cattle truck on the very long and steep descent after Yarraman, 20 km/h in 2nd all the way! And these guys complain about caravans holding them up?

This drive took us across the spillway of the Wivenhoe Dam, amazing the height difference between the water and the valley below it!

19/07/16 - Cherbourg

Went for a drive to Cherbourg, a town established in the early 1900s as an Aboriginal settlement. It has quite a chequered history that Australia has no reason to be proud of.

Before you enter this town you are warned about bringing excess quantities of alcohol in.

The town itself seems to be very well looked after, unlike some of the Aboriginal settlements we have seen further north.

What caught our eye was the large cemetery.

Although the majority of graves are marked with a simple white wooden cross, usually with only a name and no further details, some of the graves had quite elaborate head stones.

As Aboriginal life expectancy is generally well below the white population, this head stone for a 106 year old woman stood out.

Then there was the war grave of a WWI soldier, born in 1898 and died at the age of 80 in 1978.

Some other graves.

18/07/18 - Bucca - Murgon

Today we left our hosts for 6 days, Mary and Willy, and said a reluctant goodbye. Hopefully we will return next year and see the new Macadamia trees starting to grow.

The Bucca pub.

 
  We headed for Murgon where we also stayed last year at the free camp provided by the Murgon Council.

17/07/16 - Bundaberg

Today we went for a drive around Bundaberg and one of the places we visited was The Hummock Lookout which, much to Mary and Willy's surprise was packed with cars and people walking around like zombies staring at their mobile phone. You guessed it, Pokemon Go had hit Bundaberg. I'm sure that most of them would have jumped over the edge if their phone had instructed them to do so.

Later in the day we went to the seafront and even saw a young mother behind a pusher, one hand on the pusher the other held the phone, didn't have a clue what was happening around her, other people totally oblivious in the middle of the road. You get the picture.

Anyway, back to the lookout. Here are some photos.

At this same lookout there was a completely made from containers, interesting.

15/07/17 - Bundaberg

The tyres on the 5th wheelers were wearing unevenly, scrubbing out on the sides, so a check of the algnment was in order.

This crowd, truck wheel aligners, cam recommended. They have several branches in different states, this is their place in Bundaberg.

Here is Miandrin over the pit on the alignment bench. As there are no adjustments the do the aligning by actuall bending the axle(s)!

According to the computer generated report 2 of the wheels needed quite a bit of camber adjustment with a 3rd not needing as big an adjustment. Hopefully no more uneven wear.