Leaving Bundaberg around 9ish we headed north towards Angus Water and 1770. We had 150km to travel to 1770 from our great farm stay at Riverview Ranch near Elliot Heads.

It was an uneventful drive and as soon as we arrived in Agnes Water we went directly to the Visitors Centre. We were unable to book into any of the campgrounds in Agnes Water or 1770 that were on or near a beach but we managed to find a Big4 at Rules Beach some 60km south of Agnes Water. We booked in there for a couple of nights.

We drove through 1770 and stopped at the headland lookout for a short look at the view. I have to say we were totally underwhelmed by the twin towns. I realise it was Qld school holidays so that’s why it was so busy. The campground at 1770 that I’d heard about so much was just jam packed. That’s my idea of a nightmare camp spot!

So after a quick look around the twin towns we headed to the new shopping centre where there is a large IGA supermarket. I asked the check out lady about the town and she told me that during the pandemic the town grew in population from 3,000 people to over 8,000. Hence the new shopping centre built 2 years ago to service all the extra residents.

We were all quite pleased to leave the little towns and head back south to the Big4 Rules Beach. We discovered on arrival that the park is very new, only 17 months old. It is large and the sites are huge. Of course the amenities are fabulous and the camp kitchen has to be one of the best I’ve ever seen. There’s a walk over the sand dune to the beach.

After setting up camp next to each other with our awnings facing each other we enjoyed a scrumptious lamb roast dinner that had been cooking in the slow cooker all day. Off to the beach the next morning!

What a fabulous day we had exploring Bundaberg. If you’ve never been to Bundaberg then it’s definitely worth the trip. Bundaberg is situated on the Burnett River which flows to the sea at Burnett Heads. The Bundaberg district is a ‘food bowl’ of Australia and as you drive around you see a patchwork of green, productive farmlands on the rich red volcanic soil.

Think Bundaberg and everyone probably thinks Bundaberg Rum or Bundaberg Ginger Beer but there’s more to Bundaberg than that. There’s also wineries, breweries and so much seasonal produce including avocados, pineapples, macadamias, strawberries, limes, mandarins, ginger, sweet potatoes, sugar cane and more. All growing in the rich red soil.

The Port of Bundaberg is located on the Burnett River and this is where you can catch a cruise to Lady Musgrave Island on the Southern Great Barrier Reef. Bargara, and Elliot Heads are the spots on the coast. Here you will find lots of holiday lets, van parks, BBQ spots, playgrounds and surf beaches.

This is the first time I have come across the narrow gauge railways that are used to haul sugar cane to the sugar mills from the farm gate. All over the region you find tracks and crossings marked with the usual train lights to let you know a train is coming. The engines pick up the loaded bins from the farm and take them to the local mill for processing. We were quite excited when we had to stop at one of these crossings as the red lights were flashing and we had to wait for the little train to go past. The narrow gauge railway lines are only 610mm wide.

Our first stop of our tourist day was the Mon Repos Turtle Centre. This state of the art facility showcases the incredible work that has been done and continues to be done to safeguard the survival of turtles. Much of the work is undertaken by volunteers and there has been significant success in protecting the turtles that come each year to nest on Mon Repos Beach. It has been a Conservation park since 1981 and research is ongoing to protect these wonderful creatures.

The centre has fabulous displays telling the story of turtles from the varied types of turtles, to their life cycle, to their battle with climate and man made changes and children are encouraged to touch everything. The centre includes a theatre that continually shows a movie experience about the work done at Mon Repos and the turtles coming to breed there each year.

Did you know that of the 7 species of turtle in the world 6 of them are found in Australian waters? Mon Repos is the largest nesting hub for marine turtles on the east Australian mainland coast.

Outside the centre there are two boardwalks that take visitors right down to the beach. It would be amazing to be there during the season from November to March to see these amazing creatures come ashore and using their flippers to haul themselves up into the sand dunes, dig their nest and lay up to 150 eggs, cover the nest and then make their way back to the sea.

We all really enjoyed learning more about these amazing animals.

Our next stop was to visit the Hinkler Museum situated in the Botanic Gardens on the northern side of the Burnett River. This meant we drove from Mon Repos back into town and across one of the two road bridges across the very wide Burnett River.

By the time we got there is was lunch time and we enjoyed a lovely lunch at Cafe 1928 in the Botanic Gardens before visiting the Hinkler Aviation Museum and Hinkler House. Wow, Bert Hinkler was an Aussie legend and what a fabulous museum dedicated to his amazing flying career. There was a cinema with a movie telling the story of Bert’s aviation adventures, and lots of interactive experiences. The kids loved the flight simulators and trying to take off and land various types of aircraft.

Bert designed and built his first aircraft, a glider, in 1912 in his parents backyard. Bert was the first person to fly solo from London to Australia in 1928 (hence the name of the cafe next door!). He was also the first person to fly solo across the southern Atlantic Ocean.

During the First World War Bert flew for the Royal Navy Air Service in Belgium, France and Italy. He was an ‘exceptional mathematician and inventor’ and made a lot of instruments that were used up until the Second World War.

In WWI, Hinkler invented a machine gun adaptor for air gunners. Back then, when the biplanes were flying upside down in combat, the hot, ejected shells would fall and burn the chest of the gunners as they fired. Hinkler’s invention had the ejected shells all flying off to one side instead.

Wikipedia

Sadly when he was just 40 years old Bert died in the Italian hills when he crashed on one his record breaking attempts. He was so highly thought of that he was given a full state funeral in Italy and is buried in Florence.

Next door to the Aviation Museum is ‘Mon Repos’ the Hinkler house from Southhampton in England. It was demolished and reassembled in the Botanic Gardens in Bundaberg brick by brick and visitors can tour the house that Bert and his wife Nance once lived in. It’s fascinating.

We had booked a 2pm tour at the Bundaberg Rum Distillery so we had to cut short our visit to the Hinkler Aviation Museum. I think we could have all stayed there for longer and I would have loved to see more of the Botanic Gardens. Oh well. Always leave something for next time!

We set off back across the Burnett River to the Bundaberg Rum Distillery.

What a fabulous tour led by very capable guides, Shaz and Kobes, who kept their presentation amusing with lots of ‘dad’ jokes. They were great. We learnt how a group of men met in a pub once to try to decide what to do with all the molasses that is produced as a by product from sugar cane production. They came up with the idea of making rum and the Bundaberg Distillery Co was born.

Rum is made from just three ingredients, molasses, water and yeast. We were guided through the working distillery and shown the molasses tanks, which you could smell as soon as you were near and then on through the process until the rum was in barrels. At the end of the tour you could taste 2 types of rum but as none of us were rum drinkers Richard gave away our tickets to other people who would appreciate the drink.

On our way back to camp we drove by the Port of Bundaberg, the beachside Bargara and then back to our farm stay.

We arrived back to camp around 5ish and Pa quickly got the fire going, Katie prepared beef stroganoff for our dinner, and the kids had a soccer game.

We had another convivial evening around the fire. We’d had a great day being tourists.

We woke to a lovely warm sunny day at Pialba Beach in Hervey Bay. Katie & Maddie joined us for a walk on the beach. The boys were still in their swags. The caravan park is right on the beach so we only had to walk through the trees and we were on the beach. The tide was going out and we found the beach strewn with shells and lots of small pieces of coral. I do love a walk on a nice beach!

When we arrived back from our walk on the beach Katie and I got chatting with the campers next to Katie. They are a young family with two young kids who were in week 5 of their 18 month lap of our country. They were having a great time and settling into life on the road. What an amazing experience for those two kids to remember.

Our boys were finally out of bed and ready to get going so we all piled into the Prado and headed off to explore Hervey Bay in the daylight. Ben and Maddie wanted to go to the Skate Park with their scooters while the rest of us drove around Hervey Bay so the skate park was our first stop. We dropped them off and continued along The Esplanade which runs all along the beach.

Hervey Bay appears to be a few beach villages that have eventually joined up to become one large town. We stayed in Pialba, next is Scarness, Torquay and Urangan. Each one has a set of shops. It was all vey laid back.

We stopped off to check out the boat harbour and admired the millions of dollars worth of boats. Harvey Bay is the whale watching capital of Australia and we found whale sculptures and lots of shops selling whale watching cruises.

Saturday Markets were on at Torquay and there seemed to be lots of stalls with many people wandering about. All along the Esplanade is a walking track and that was being well used with walkers, families on push bikes and lots of e-scooters.

After packing up and leaving Pialba around 12.30pm we headed towards Bundaberg munching on ham and cheese sandwiches I made for everyone to eat along the way.

Approaching Childers we started to see macadamia plantations. As we got closer to Bundaberg we saw avocado plantations and large fields of sugar cane.

Upon arrival we drove across the very wide Burnett River and back again before stopping for fuel then heading out to Riverview Ranch farm stay. $25 per night for 2A unpowered. $30 per night for 2A & 2C unpowered. RV’s must be self contained. Basically a large paddock that the owners mow and you are free to choose anywhere to camp. They have a number of fire pits for guests to use and sell wood $25 for 2 bags of wood.

The son of the owner brought us a fire pit and a couple of bags of wood and we enjoyed jaffles for dinner cooked on the little fire pit. The jaffles helped use up our leftovers.

The kids had fun kicking a soccer ball around and playing grip ball.

We had a great night sitting around the fire, listening to music, talking movies and toasting marshmallows. You just can’t beat a good camp fire! A good nights sleep and then we’d be off to explore Bundaberg.

More washing! Where does it come from? A load of washing done and hung up in the moho. Water tanks full and toilet cassette emptied. We were ready to head out.

Katie and the kids were having a bit of a sleep in while Rich and I drove out to visit Carol & David who we’d gone to the Big Red Bash with in 2021. They live just outside of Dalby.

We had a wonderful visit with Carol & David. It was hard to get away, we could have talked all morning! Carol had made scones and pikelets as she thought we were bringing Katie and the kids so she insisted we take them with us for the kids. On the way back to the caravan park we received a message to say KT and kids were at the Tourist Centre so we met them there. We finally left Dalby about 10.30am and headed towards Kingaroy.

Dalby is situated on flat plains but as we approached Kingaroy we drove into hills. Closer to Kingaroy we started to see a very green low growing crop and we all wondered if they were peanuts that the area is known for.

Arriving in Kingaroy, the hometown of Queensland’s most famous premier, Joe Bjelke-Petersen, we went directly to the lovely little Lions Park. The community made possible the construction of the Big Peanut. It’s one of those large sculptures made from scrap metal, very clever. Of course we had to take pictures at the peanut photo screen.

Across the road from the Lions Park is the Peanut Van, a Kingaroy institution, with its variety of peanut flavours and peanut paste for sale. I bought Maple Bacon and Salted Caramel to try and some Smooth Peanut Butter. Will let you know how they taste.

We drove around to the Tourist Centre so we could take pics of the enormous Peanut Silos on the other side of the road. They certainly dominate the town and can be seen from miles away. The 43 metre silos can hold an incredible 16,000 tonnes of peanuts.

The name Kingaroy means ‘Red Ant’. Kingaroy is known as the Peanut Capital of Australia and has the largest peanut processing plant in the country.

Did you know that peanuts are NOT a nut? They are a pea and grow in the ground. Peanuts were first grown in South America some 7,500 years ago.

Kingaroy is also home to the largest pig abattoirs in Australia called Swickers Kingaroy Bacon Factory.

Another product of the district is the Navy Bean. Farming of Navy Beans in the area came about because American troops were stationed in the area during WW2 and the American military had been using Navy beans as a food staple sine the 1800’s. Navy beans are more commonly known in Australia as ‘baked beans’.

A quick lunch in our RV’s and then it was on to Maryborough.

On arrival in Maryborough and parking opposite the Tourist Centre we hurried across at the traffic lights. We arrived at 3.50pm to find that the doors to the Cistern Chapel had already been locked and they are meant to be open until 4pm. We were very disappointed. The Cistern Chapel is the toilet block attached to the town hall and apparently the entire thing is painted in fantastic murals however we can’t say anything about that as we didn’t get to see them. Oh well. The Story Book Museum was also closed so we didn’t stop in Maryborough although we did get a photo of the Mary Poppins statue on the corner in front of the Story Book Museum. The museum is housed in the bank building where the author of the Mary Poppins books, PL Travers, was born. Apparently there are some 30 murals around Maryborough so we’ll have to come back one day to check those out.

We continued on to Hervey Bay.

I called and booked us in at Pialba Beach Holiday Park and we were able to get two sites next to each other for $130 for both sites for one night. On arrival we checked in to find that they had plenty of vacant sites. The sites were all lovely grass and slab sites and the park is right on the beach.

On the way to Hervey Bay I also booked us into a Farmstay near Bundaberg for a couple of nights. Unpowered camping on large acreage along the Elliot River. You have to be self-contained but they have fire pits scattered around and wood for sale. They are 15 mins drive into Bundaberg or Bargara. Sounds perfect to us.

It was dark by the time we had finished setting up camp at Pialba Beach. Pa had offered to buy everyone fish & chips for dinner and, following the recommendation of the lady at the caravan park, we set off in the Prado to find Migaloos Fish & Chips at Urangan. It was all the way at the other end of The Esplanade and it was a shame is was dark as couldn’t see the water that we knew was just there.

There were quite few people out and about and seemed to be a lot of cafes and restaurants to choose from.

We found Migaloos near the entrance to Urangan Pier and bought a seafood feast. The fish & chips were delicious.

After dinner we all wandered out to the pier and walked all the way to the end. The pier is 800 metres long now but used to be some 1100 metres long. The pier was 100 years old in 2017. There were lots of people fishing from the pier but none of the ones we spoke to had caught anything. From the pier we could see lights across the water on K’Gari (Fraser Island) which is just across the straight. One of the reasons Hervey Bay is so popular with young families is the beaches are so safe because there are hardly any waves. The big waves are blocked by K’Gari.

The walk out along the pier was great and by the time we’d done that everyone was ready to call it a night so back along The Esplanade to Pialba Beach we went. We were all looking forward to seeing more of Hervey Bay in the daylight.

What a gorgeous sunny day we woke to at Bald Rock. It was a shame to leave. What a pity it was that we couldn’t climb the rock that day instead of the miserable day the day before!

We were up and away by 8.30am after I had got up on our roof with a broom to clean off all the sticks and leaves that had fallen on us during the windy night. The slide out was covered in leaves and little sticks. You don’t want to slide in with those still on there!

We just had to stop at the NSW/Queensland border. It has become a bit of a tradition when travelling with Katie, Riley, Ben and Maddie to stop at each state boundary and get a photo. So here we are at the border.

What a lovely little town is Stanthorpe. We were very impressed with this little town with its lovely flower beds and roundabouts. Some 6,000 people call Stanthorpe home. The lovely main shopping street looked full of interesting shops as well as many of the chain stores . It seemed to be a large shopping area for a small town so maybe there’s a larger shopping population that uses Stanthorpe as its shopping centre.

The Stanthorpe area is well known for its apple orchards and not far out of town is another Aussie ‘big thing’, The Big Apple. Of course, there’s a cafe next to it. We only stopped for a photo.

We passed lots of apple orchards, vineyards and a few cellar doors along the way out of Stanthorpe heading towards Warwick. It was a really cold day, only 7 degrees with a bitterly cold breeze blowing but the sun was shining.

Isn’t it excting to venture on a road you’ve never been on before?

We passed through the town of Warwick that we had been to before on our way from Goondiwindi to Brisbane. We didn’t stop in Warwick though and continued on to Toowoomba.

We arrived in ‘The Garden City’ of Toowoomba and went directly to the Tourist Centre where we stopped and had a look inside. Toowoomba is known as the Garden City because of the large number of parks and gardens. The council budget for parks and gardens must be huge as all the ones we saw were immaculately kept.

One of the very friendly staff at the Tourist Centre told us about Picnic Point and we thought that would be a great spot for a lunch break so back in the vehicles and off to Picnic Point. Toowoomba is built at the top of a huge escarpment on the eastern side and Picnic Point has been a tourist destination since the 1800’s. The view from there down across the escarpment is gorgeous. There’s been a cafe/ restaurant there for years and it’s a very popular spot.

We had our lunch and then walked around Picnic Point admiring the views. Ben and Maddie spied photos of an amazing park so we had to go check that out.

After our little wander around Picnic Point we set off again towards Dalby. It seemed to take ages to get out of the city and had to remember that Toowoomba is huge by Australian town standards. Some 120,000 people live in Toowoomba!

Somewhere near Oaky we spied a huge solar farm so I just had to google it. Wow it’s huge! Oakey Solar Farm is a 100MWp farm that generates enough power to supply 10,000 homes. It was built in 2019.

We were driving through a huge farming area and the land became very flat after Warwick with that rich black soil. Cotton fluff balls lined the sides of the road. As we drove into Dalby there were some huge farm machinery dealers. Agriculture looked to be the mainstay of the area.

We made it to Dalby and checked into the Pioneer Caravan Park. $33 per night for a powered site (no extra charge for the kids!) and we managed two sites next to each other. As in many parks we had to drive the moho in to the site because if we reversed in we couldn’t get level. I do prefer it that way anyway as then our doors and awnings are facing each other. Some parks frown upon it though as it’s a risk and vehicles have to face the road. Not sure how they work this out as we can just reverse out whereas the caravans around us all have to hook up before they can go anywhere!

After we set up camp the chores needed doing so washing was done etc. Ben and Maddie took great advantage of the paved roads to ride their scooters. Katie and I did a quick shop at Aldi and we settled in to enjoy chicken burgers sitting under our awning. Another great day!

We woke to a misty, foggy day at Bald Rock NP campground. When I checked the Weatherzone app it said the temp was only 2.1 and felt like -3.3 and it certainly did feel like that. The forecast was for cloudy with a chance of showers, maximum of 10 and winds gusts of up to 35-55km/h. Not a great day to go hiking!

It had rained most of the night. Just a slow drizzly rain that made everything all wet. There was no dry wood to light a fire. We’d left our awning out and our chairs underneath to keep dry however I had woken in the middle of the night to the awning flapping and just knew I wouldn’t sleep again until I’d packed it away. So I rugged up and went out in the cold and packed the awning up. I went straight back to sleep after that. We had really good sleeps and I was happy to hear that the boys were snug and cozy in their swags in spite of the rain.

I met up with Katie and Maddie going for a walk around the campground and we decided to give the weather a chance to clear before we made any definite decisions about the hike to the summit. We did see some intrepid hikers at the day area preparing for a walk and watched them set off into the misty bush.

The campground at Bald Rock is set on a loop around a small hill. Each campsite site is gravelled and clearly marked with a sign showing the number of the site and the type of site it is ie. tent, caravan etc. There are two dunnies and a large picnic shelter with gas BBQ’s and a small shed with free wood. Each site has a great fire pit with two swingle bars, one with a BBQ plate and the other with a couple of hooks to hang billies and camp ovens. They are well made. You need to book your site via the NSW Parks website before setting up camp.

There is a day area with picnic tables and shelters just before the campground so day visitors don’t need to drive into the campground. Most of the walks start at the day area and there is plenty of good signage to show you the way.

The rest of the morning was a quiet one. The kids read and played in their van. Rich went back to his book, while I sorted photos and did some research about the next few places we are going. Katie brought her laptop over and got some school work done.

After lunch we packed our backpacks and set off on the Bungoona Walk. The Bungoona Walk meets up with the Summit Walk and we were hoping to make it all the way. It wasn’t raining but it was bitterly cold and windy as we set off. The mist had hung around all morning but had cleared a little. The track is a good one and as you get higher you come across steps and even crossing wide expanses of granite where white makers show the best route across.

We eventually came to the sign that showed we had met up with the Summit Walk. The usual way up and down is via the rock face but on a day like this one that would have been foolhardy. It would be very slippery and quite dangerous.

We continued on and it became more and more treacherous until we finally made it to a wide open area of rock just below the summit. It was blowing a gale and the rain had turned to sleet. The summit is 1277 metres above sea level and it really felt like it might snow any second. We all decided that was as far as we could go, it would be too dangerous to continue to the summit and there would be zero view anyway. On a clear day you can see into Queensland.

A spot between some huge boulders out of the wind was a good spot on the way back for a fruit break and a bit of a rest before we followed the track back the way we had come. 2 hours and 40 mins after we set off we arrived back where we started. It was still misty, windy and cold.

KT and the kids spent the rest of the afternoon in their van playing card games whilst Rich read his book lying on the bed in the moho. I made a batch of chocolate brownies and cooked a tuna mornay to have with rice for dinner. The lamb roast in the camp oven would have to wait until we could have a good fire again.

Sitting in the motorhome writing this I could hear the wind blowing fiercely through the tree tops above us. It was quite loud at times. The motorhome was a bit protected from the wind down below but the trees were really blowing about. The gusts came and went and it sounded a bit like pounding surf on a beach. I checked the temperature and Weatherzone said it was 8 degrees but felt like 2. Glad we were snug and warm inside. There was a couple of cars with rooftop tents that had arrived earlier in the day and I felt a bit sorry for them in the cold. They must be freezing!

What a glorious morning we woke to at Tenterfield. The sun was shining so it was a good morning to get some chores done. Even though we are on holiday and travelling the chores still need to be done. Katie’s little wall mounted washing machine was doing its thing shaking her little van as it washed. I got two loads of washing done too and we hung it all out on clotheslines under our awnings to dry in the sun and the light breeze.

The kids got busy filling the water tanks so we were full to go out to Bald Rock NP later that day.

Next was groceries and we all walked up to the Coles supermarket which is situated only one block away from the Showground campground. Ben and Maddie took their scooters so they could ride the pump track we’d spied on our walk the evening before. That kept them very busy while us grownups did the shopping.

Coles, Reject Shop, another bargain shop, the butcher and a liquor store were all visited and we set off back to the campground carrying all our supplies, picking up the kids and scooters on the way back. They’d had a great time on the pump track and skate park except Ben had a fall when he stacked it in a puddle. He limped home.

We unpacked the supplies and quickly packed up so we could head out of Tenterfield to Bald Rock. It’s only 27km. Along the way we spied the signage for Captain Thunderbolt’s Hideout and thought we’d better stop and have a look at that. There’s room to pull off the road for a few vehicles. There’s a large signboard that tells the story of the bushranger known as Captain Thunderbolt. Fred Ward was born in 1835 and in his early years was an excellent horseman. He was caught in a horse stealing racket, convicted and jailed for 4 years. He was arrested again and escaped from Cockatoo Island by swimming to freedom.

He became known as Captain Thunderbolt and roamed the Tenterfield region holding up travellers, inns, stores, stations and even the mailman. He never shot a single person though and had a good relationship with locals. He was eventually caught in Uralla in 1870 and shot by a Constable Walker.

The kids enjoyed exploring the tracks and caves where Thunderbolt and his gang would have camped and hidden from police. Ben thought it was a good place to hide with lots of escape routes.

Back in the car and our next stop was for another history lesson. This time it was for the WW2 Tank Traps. Again there was room for a few vehicles to pull off the side of the road and signboards told the story of the tank traps and why they were built in that spot.

During WW2 there was a fear that the Japanese would invade from the north so lines of defences were constructed. During the war some 10,000 troops were stationed in the Tenterfield area and the tanks traps were built. They were built in a narrow gorge and huge wooden pilings were built into the ground to stop the tanks. Kids were learning their history!

Back in the car and we arrived at Bald Rock National Park around lunch time and quickly found our allocated and booked sites and set up camp. The boys were able to get their swags down and set up. KT set up a clothesline to dry out their sheets and mattresses and Rich got a fire going. It was a challenge because all the free wood was wet. Luckily we carry a supply of wood and combining our dry wood with the wet wood finally got the fire going well. It became dark very early and was bitterly cold.

No Starlink at Bald Rock, not because Starlink doesn’t work there but because there was no clear line of sight to the sky. The trees are so tall and tower over us so there was no chance of fast internet. Luckily Rich and I have one bar of mobile service with Telstra and that is enough to get messages in and out and for Katie to logon to get some school work done.

It was KT’s turn to cook and we enjoyed steaming bowls of pasta bolognese whilst sitting around the campfire.

It was off to an early start leaving our great little camp at Spring Ridge by 8.30am. We had 385km to do. The distant hilltops were rising above a layer of fog.

It is a large cotton growing area around Spring Ridge and Caroona. Cotton had recently been harvested and many paddocks still had the huge bales waiting to be collected and taken to the cotton gin. Fluffy white cotton lined the sides of the road.

We just had to stop in Tamworth to check out another of Australia’s ‘big Things’, the Golden Guitar.

The big Golden Guitar is a replica of the original golden guitar which was designed as the trophy for the Australasian Country Music Awards when they began in 1973. It stands 12m tall and, just like the smaller original, has no strings. The originals were cast in bronze however this one is made from fibreglass. The big thing was unveiled by many times award winner Slim Dusty in 1988.

Next to the Golden Guitar is the Tamworth Visitors Centre and Cafe. I picked up some brochures for the areas would be going to over the next few weeks.

After a stop for a photo at the Golden Guitar we got back on the road and headed northwards. The New England Highway from Tamworth was very rough and full of pot holes. The rough road continued all the way to Guyra. It also started to drizzle down rain making the day rather gloomy.

We passed through Guyra, a little town between Armidale and Glen Innes, at 1330m above sea level and it really looked like it might snow. It was 6 degrees and drizzling. We were glad to be travelling along in our nice warm moho!

We arrived in the historic town of Glen Innes around 1pm and headed directly to the Australian Standing Stones. We’d been there before but this was a first for Katie and the kids. They went off to explore the stones while I got busy making toasties for everyone’s lunch.

The Stones celebrate the Celtic nations whose descendants came to Australia and many settled in the area. The first white settlers came to Glen Innes in 1838. Those from Scotland and Ireland developed grazing, dairy and mixed farming whilst those from Wales and Cornwall were often gold or tin miners. The Australian Standing Stones were officially dedicated in 1992.

Glen Innes is home to the Annual Celtic Festival held the first weekend in May each year at the Standing Stones and other venues around town. The Festival celebrates Celtic art, music and culture with a focus on a particular area each year. 2026 will be Scotland and 2027 will be Ireland and The Isle of Man. I think it would be a very fun festival to attend.

We had a bit of drama when Katie discovered a tick burying itself into Ben’s neck. How he picked up the tick we’ll never know but Katie was able to remove the offending insect. Ben seemed no worse for wear!

Back on the road northwards and after another 90km we made it to our final destination for the day, Tenterfield, where we’d booked a couple of powered sites at the Showground Campground. I’m glad we’d booked as they had saved two great drive-through sites for us. We were able to drive in opposite ways so our doors and awnings were facing each other. It was good to have power and water hookup and Katie quickly got her little washing machine working.

Katie had school work to do so after setting up the TV for Pa in our motorhome I set off with the kids to go for a walk. It was great to stretch the legs after being in the car since 8am. We wandered through the Showground and found a playground so the kids just had to have a play on that. Then we walked up to the town’s Main Street and along the footpath under the covered verandahs. Maddie and I thought many of the shops looked very interesting and worth a look tomorrow!

We wandered all the way to the Tenterfield Saddlery made famous by the Peter Allen song which he wrote about his grandfather who had been the saddler in Tenterfield for many years. Peter is a local lad who went on to have an international song and dance career. His most famous song would have to be ‘I Still Call Australia Home’.

On our walk we found a skate park and bike track that the kids were eager to try out the next day. We also found the Coles supermarket so we know where to go to get supplies before we head out to Bald Rock National Park. It drizzled rain the whole time we walked and when we arrived back an hour later is was still drizzling.

The boys have asked if they could sleep inside the motorhome due to the rain so Riley got the bed in the Luton and Ben got the blow up mattress on the table, which can be lowered to make a bed. It was cozy and warm inside as our new AC was working beautifully and is so quiet compared to our old clunky compressor one. There was plenty of room for all of us while the rain pattered down. The forecast is for clearing weather the next day and we had our fingers crossed the rain would stop.

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!