After our flat tyre the day before our first job was to get new tyres. After we left Tullamore I called Dubbo Tyres & Batteries and left a message detailing what we needed. Although they are not usually open on Sunday we received a text message to say they’d be able to have a look at our motorhome the next morning. They also messaged later to let us know they had the right size tyres in stock. Great!

So we were up early and into town. First stop for fuel and a gas bottle. Oh and guess what happened again last night? You guessed it! The gas ran out and the beeping fridge woke us up about 1am from sound sleeps. That bloody Murphy!!

We arrived at Dubbo Tyres & Batteries to find we’d been bumped down the list by a B-Double that needed a tyre repair. Rich would wait with the motorhome while Katie, the kids and I went to Orana Mall for some retail therapy. We picked up a new TV for Katie’s caravan from JB HiFi, a 12V Smart TV with DVD player. Pretty snazzy!

We spent a couple of hours wandering the shops and picking up a few supplies from Woolies until Rich called to say the motorhome was nearly ready to go with 4 new tyres on the back.

We headed back to Dubbo Tyres & Batteries where we thanked the very obliging Jamie for his great work on a Sunday and let him know how much we appreciated him coming in to do the job. We finally got away from Dubbo at 12.30pm heading towards Tamworth.

Next stop was at Dunedoo for a lunch break and we pulled in to the huge rest area which is next to a lovely park with toilets, a playground, painted silos and a sculpture park. What a lovely spot for a break.

Dunedoo is a small town of 1,000 people situated at the intersection of the Golden Highway and the Castlereagh Highways. So many heavy transport vehicles use the large Rest Area for a short stop. Dunedoo is a funny name, especially when the slang word for toilet in Australia is dunny, however the name comes from a Wiradjuri word for ‘Swan’. Swans are common on the waterways in the area.

I enjoyed a walk around the park to have a good look at the silo art and the fabulous bird sculptures. Check them out!

Back on the road after a half hour break. It was lovely countryside with gentle rolling hills however the road was a bit ‘how ya goin’. It was quite narrow with lots of pot holes and the edges were quite broken away. With about 85km to go to get to Tamworth we decided to stop. We’d had enough driving for the day due to our late getaway from Dubbo.

We decided to camp at Spring Ridge Recreation Ground. It’s a donation camp where you can stay for up to 72 hours. There is a toilet block, hot showers and even power if you want it. You can camp anywhere around the outside of the white picket fenced cricket oval. It’s $10 per vehicle for unpowered and $15 for powered. There were a few campfire pits scattered about so we found a spot furthest from the road where a previous fire had been lit and set up camp. The boys set up their swags for the first time on the trip.

Riley and Richard cooked on our Biji-BBQ over the open fire and we sat around the fire and enjoyed perfectly cooked sausages and tiny meatballs with salad and fresh bread with butter followed by an ice cream. Perfect!

I’m very impressed with Liverpool Plains Shire Council and after looking up their website to find out more I found this:

The Liverpool Plains is traditionally a drive-through area, the gateway between the Hunter Valley and the New England Northwest. 

Abundant in beautiful scenery, fascinating history and man-made attractions, has led to an increase in stopovers with many visitors choosing to slow down and have a look around. Visitors can stay at one of six freedom camping areas in the villages surrounding Quirindi.  Each freedom camping area offers free hot showers, toilets, gas BBQ and plenty of space.  They are all pet-friendly 72 hour stay areas. The freedom camping areas in Willow Tree and Premer offer powered sites – in Willow Tree, it costs $15 per night, and in Premer there is a Lion’s Club donation box. 

All freedom camping areas are unmanned, but do have donation boxes at each site.  These funds are then used for the maintenance of each of these areas and your donations are very much appreciated by the outlying villages as well as your patronage in these communities. 

How fantastic of the council to encourage visitors to stay by providing these great little free/donation camps. I’m sure they will have noticed an increase in tourism dollars because of this. Well done Liverpool Plains Shire Council.

First day of our ‘big’ adventure and we only made it some 300km. Just as we were leaving the small town of Tullamore our Tyre Pressure Management System (TPMS) started beeping very loudly. Oh no! A flat tyre!

The TPMS was able to tell us it was the outside rear passenger tyre and the error message said ‘Rapid Air Loss’ accompanied by an ear-piercing alarm. The tyre was very quickly flat.

We were able to turn around and limp back into Tullamore where a very friendly bloke at the service station offered to help and called the local mechanic who obligingly came to help change the tyre.

One thing we learnt from this is to always check the nuts are not tightened too tight and are able to be undone by hand. The nuts were on so tight the fellow had to get his compressor rattle gun to undo them. We were just fortunate he had all the right gear.

The kids made use of the time to play in the very good playground opposite the servo and Katie had a snooze in her car.

We were finally able to get going about 4.30pm and headed straight to our cousins place just on the outskirts of Dubbo. We were all very glad to get there. What a long day!

The long awaited day finally arrived and we headed off for another ‘big’ adventure with our daughter Katie, and her three children, Riley, Ben & Maddie. As usual we were in our trusty motorhome and they were in their awesome Prado and little New Age caravan with the boys swags on the roof rack of the car.

We’d been planning this big trip for a long time and the general route will see us head from our home in the NSW Riverina northwards via Dubbo, Tamworth and Tenterfield. We’ve planned a couple of days at Bald Rock National Park so we can climb the big rock then we’ll head into Queensland. From there we’ll pass through Toowoomba to Dalby then on to Kingaroy and across to Maryborough the see the Mary Poppins museum.

From Maryborough we’ll head across to the coast to Hervey Bay then spend 10 days meandering up the Qld coast to arrive at Airlie Beach where we’ve booked a stay in the Big4 Whitsunday Resort. Whilst there we plan to see crocs, snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef and visit Whitehaven Beach. None of us have been along that stretch of the coast and were really looking forward to it.

After our stay at the gorgeous Airlie Beach we will head inland to follow the Dinosaur Trail. We’ll pass through Charters Towers, Hughenden, Richmond and Julia Creek. We may fit in a short stay at Porcupine Gorge if time allows.

From Julia Creek we’ll head south via the Walkabout Creek Hotel, the one made famous by the Crocodile Dundee movie, then on to Winton, Longreach and then to one of our favourite Aussie camp spots at Lara Wetlands. We’ll follow the road southwards via Charleville then head west to Eromanga, Thargomindah and back to Cunnamulla.

Then we’ll be on the home stretch to Bourke, Cobar, Lake Cargellico and home again in six weeks time. We’ll have done some 7,000km and will have seen a lot of countryside.

So on on bright, sunny, cold winter morning we set off, firstly to Katie’s house where they were all ready to go. We were off on another ‘big’ adventure.