Days 238 & 239 Toowoomba

 So sorry for going off the air the last couple of days, but there wasn’t a lot to talk about. It’s been great to spend time with mum and to help her out with the odd jobs that she now can’t do. Yesterday it was moving all her winter clothes to the upstairs wardrobe……(Mum, you have too many clothes 😂🥰😩). I caught up with eight months of mum’s book work and also made a few phone calls to sort out a couple of things, that all took time.

After lunch I went into Toowoomba Grand Central Shopping Centre to buy mum a new pair of homyped slippers only to find that they can only be bought at Clifford Gardens Shopping Centre! Thank goodness for Uber!

Today, when we went to say our goodbyes to mum, we found out that her fridge had died. Things happen in threes and this was number three so hopefully the last! It was important to get the fridge replaced asap so we drove to Good Guys who had nothing after the Black Friday sale, and then on to Harvey Norman, who incidentally don’t have anything to do with Black Friday, who had plenty of fridges to choose from. It was easy to chose the replacement and they assured us that it would be delivered today so it was perfect. We waited until it was delivered around 1pm and then said goodbye to mum as we continued our journey.

We didn’t travel very far to our free camp at Hampton. It is behind the Visitor Centre and we are quite comfortable with water and toilets if you need. Had a bit of hiccup with our 12v again but it was a rooky error this time 😂😂😂

Tomorrow we will arrive at Marcos place at Gundiah where we will stay for a few days. We are looking forward to catching up with our son.

I am writing this post on my phone and I wanted to show you the glorious sunset at our free camp but for some reason I can’t move them from the top of the blog!! It was glorious.

Day 237 Toowoomba, Qld

We both woke early this morning. I was determined to take a nice long walk and Philip was having withdrawal symptoms from not being on his bicycle.  It was a coolish morning with quite a bit of fog but no wind so it was very enjoyable.  When we finally meet up again in the van we both said that we felt energised.

My sister, niece and her two children arrived at mums place around lunch time and we had pre-determined what we would both contribute for lunch.  Rob brought cooked chook, Caesar salad and profiteroles and my contribution was ham, bread, fruit salad and ice-cream.  It was a feast fit for a king. The kids were hungry when they arrived so we set out the lunch as soon as they arrived.  Over lunch we chatted and caught up on all the news.  

My niece had her car stolen earlier this week and as mum no longer uses her car, she has decided to sign it over to Jaime. It is a big relief all round.  The thief (female) was very brazen.  While my niece and her family were in the back yard the thief stole their car from the garage right beside them.  They did try to stop her and also to chase her down but she was long gone.  They live on the Gold Coast and it, like so many other places across Australia, has a youth problem that is out of control.  It is unlikely that they will get their car back and if they do it will probably be torched.

The afternoon went all too fast as the family had to leave before 3pm to get back to their homes (Rob in Beaudesert and Jaime on the Gold Coast).  But we did have time for a quick photo shoot.  

I really don't know when we will all catch up again.  Hopefully the middle of next year when we return to South East Queensland.  My mum will turn 86 in April 2023.  She looks pretty darn good and her mind is as sharp as a tack.  I hope I am as good at the same age......

Day 236 Toowoomba, Qld

Toowoomba Motor Village has to be one of the quietest caravan parks we have stayed in.  We are nestled at the bottom of the park up against West Creek.  We have no neighbours in front of us or to our left so it is a very private spot.  Because it is so quiet we both slept in till almost 7am.  I cannot remember the last time we slept that late.

We picked mum up at 9am to drive out to Pittsworth to my Aunty and Uncles farm - "Hawthorn".  It took us around an hour but it is an easy drive.  I just love driving around the Darling Downs.  The wheat fields are all looking fantastic and harvesting has begun.  The rich black soil can be seen in paddocks that have been left fallow and it is so incredibly green.  I have said it before, and I'll say it again, we have seen Australia at its absolute finest on this journey.

Aunty Ann and Uncle Kenny were there to greet us as soon as we pulled into the driveway and from that moment until we left many hours later it was non stop chatter.  Aunty Norma and Uncle Barry arrived around lunch time with a whole lot more news about their recent move from near the Sunshine Coast to Cambooya.  Life is good for everybody.  I neglected to get any photos today that is very unusual for me and something I regret because we get together so very rarely.  

We were back in Toowoomba by 3.30 and after a little nanny nap Philip and I took ourselves on a long walk along West Creek.  It is such a lovely walk and there were many people enjoying parties at all available picnic tables.  We even walked past a young couple with their little one having Christmas photos taken under the shady trees.  The photographer had a lot of Christmas props lined up so the photos would have been lovely.

It feels so good to be back into our summer clothes again.  The day was perfect at around 34 degrees and the mornings have warmed up considerably.  Tomorrow my youngest sister and my niece and her two children are driving up to Toowoomba from Beaudesert to pick up mums car. My niece lives on the Gold Coast and last week had her car stolen.  It has been a devastating blow for them but its great that mum is giving them her car.  Mum no longer drives and is very happy for Jaime-Lea to have it so it is a win/win.  They will be arriving for lunch so I imagine it will be another talkfest.  I'm excited.....

Day 235 Toowoomba (Warwick), Qld

We are back on the road and in tourist mode again.  It's been awhile.  Today we took a detour to Warwick, my old home town, on our way to Toowoomba.  It was easy to park the van up against Leslie Park and we set off on foot to explore the town centre that is full of spring bloom and beautiful old sandstone buildings.  

The first thing that I noticed was just how green and inviting the town streets were looking.  There are trees lining all the streets and lots of lovely garden beds full of colourful flowers.  Back when I was a kid there was not much incentive for councils to "go green" in the town. If you wanted to find a shady place you went to one of the parks.  The streets were stark with hardly a plant in sight.  Nowadays, almost every council has a Parks & Garden team to ensure that the town looks green and lush.  Warwick has done an excellent job at achieving this goal.

It was interesting walking along the streets as a tourist.  You see things through different eyes.  When I was young, all the buildings that I now find interesting, were just seen as old buildings. Age has a funny way of improving vision.  The Town Hall stands proudly in the centre of town but I don't know what has happened to the clock in the tower as it seems to have stopped working.  Perhaps it was too expensive to repair.

I remember that there were many hotels in Warwick and it was the usual thing to go to one of them on Saturday night for the "disco".  The old Langham Hotel was a favourite and the last place that I ever drank Bacardi & Coke.  Yep.  Bad memories of that night. 

The Horse and Jockey Hotel was where Philip and I met.  It seems so out of place amongst all the lovely old hotels but it was a favourite drinking hole for the Rugby Union players and it was where I worked as a barmaid after moving back to Warwick after living in Brisbane for quite a few years.

The Warwick High School is on the diagonally opposite corner to the Horse and Jockey and it is where I went to school.  Looking through my 65 year old eyes, it looks such an elegant building but I'm certain I never appreciated it when I went to school there.

As we walked past the old Kings Theatre Philip and I both laughed at our different memories of those old picture theatres, but both our memories were the same. Sitting in the back row kissing your latest beau.  Kings Theatre looks a bit sad but she certainly has a bit of age about her.  There is no streetscaping in this street - Grafton Street - that is a bit sad.

We stopped at a great little coffee shop cum gift shop in the Main Street and had the most delicious brunch of Brioche Bacon & Egg Roll.  It was a bit hard to eat, but goodness me, it was good!

After that enormous breakfast roll we continued our journey along Palmerin Street all the while stopping and admiring the lovely buildings.

It really was a wonderful walk down memory lane for both Philip and I.  Mustn't forget that Philip spent quite a few month here before he headed to Western Australia.  We probably would have stayed longer and driven around the town if we didn't have the van behind us.  I would liked to have done a drive past my old home but maybe we will do that next year when we return.

Now we are set up at the van park in Toowoomba and of course the first thing I do is put on a load of washing.  I must have killed a chinaman because the washing machine gave up the ghost.  A quick ring around and we found a replacement at one of the caravan centres.  We have now installed washing machine number three. 

When I was checking into the van park I found these nifty awning clothes lines that they had for sale.  $40 each and it will now mean we can get rid of the folding clothes line that takes up quite a bit of room.  Philip is pleased.

We are just about to head over to mum's place for afternoon tea so I cooked up a quick batch of honey biscuits.  I keep the uncooked dough, rolled into a long sausage, in the freezer and when we want a batch of biscuits I just slice the frozen dough into rounds and pop them in the oven for ten minutes. 

So that's been my day. We are both feeling much more relaxed and looking forward to the next few days in Toowoomba.  Tomorrow, Philip, Mum and I are driving to Pittsworth to have lunch with a couple of my favourite Aunts & Uncles so it should be a lovely relaxing day.

Days 233 & 234 Leyburn, Qld

The last couple of days have passed by in a bit of a blur, hence no post.  We complained bitterly about daylight saving when we were in South Australia and New South Wales, but here in South West Queensland the first rays of sun are streaming through the blinds at 4.30am! Consequently we have been wide awake by 5am each morning.

On Tuesday we packed our bags and headed to mums place in Toowoomba where we intended to stay until our part. We were told it could take between three and seven days.  We arrived around 10.30am and at 11.30am we received a text from Repco to say the part was ready to be picked up.  Unbelievable!  It took less than 2 days to get to Toowoomba from Melbourne.  Big call out to the Projecta team in Melbourne who must have a very efficient warehouse team to move parts that fast.

Philip rang the auto-electrician straight away who said that he would meet us at the van on Wednesday morning around 10.30.  We were incredibly relieved as the stress levels have been pretty darn high.  We were now able to sit back and enjoy our day with mum.  

I cooked us up spaghetti bolognese for lunch and for dessert we each chose one from mums Lite-n-Easy stockpile in the freezer.  They were delicious and mum said the main meals are also very good.  The prepared meals are delivered each Thursday to the door and are such a great idea for the elderly, or anyone for that matter.  They are calorie controlled portions for those who are not able to burn the calories throughout the day.  

Wednesday morning we were again awake at 5am in Toowoomba and this time it was not just the sun. We were anxious to get back out to the van and get everything up and running. After a light breakfast, clothes packed back into the car, a quick goodbye to mum, we once again drove the 50km back to Leyburn.  This road is now very familiar to us!  

The auto-electrician met us right on time and quickly set to work to swap out the two AGM batteries for Lithium, the Projecta Power Management System, and install a Projecta Shunt.  What we were essentially doing was replacing every single part of the power system.  It is not a fast process and the auto Electrican was here for almost three hours.  The place where we purchased the power system told us that we could do this ourselves as it was a simple matter of plug and play.  What a joke!  We would never have been able to do this ourselves.  

Once everything was re-wired it was simply a matter of changing a few things through the Projecta App and I am very pleased and relieved to say that everything is now running smoothly and completely back to normal.  It was interesting to find that the batteries were both good (they are only eight months old) so it all came back down to the power management system not recognising the levelling system (running off the batteries).  We are now running the levelling system through the shunt (that runs between the battery and the power system) and that has alleviated that problem.  The auto Electrican charged us the princely sum of $250 (cash) for the wiring, and we gave him the two old batteries that he said he could sell.  Most auto electricians charge that amount per hour!  

After everybody had gone, I gave the inside of the van a good clean from top to bottom.  We now just have to tackle the outside.  We are booked into a caravan park in Toowoomba for the next three days so we might get a chance while we are there to wash down the outside with a bucket and soap.  Just praying for some warmer weather.  We woke to six degrees again this morning but the cloud has disappeared so it looks like it is going to be a lovely day.  Black Friday sales are on today so maybe I can fit in a bit of retail therapy...

Day 232 Leyburn, Qld

Our friends have a family run timber milling business and today we drove twenty minutes out of town to watch the whole process.  It is a massive business and much bigger than I anticipated.  At the moment, apart from family members, the business employs another six people on the site.  The business runs like a well oiled machine (pardon the pun) and I was very impressed by the whole set-up.  The business is mobile and it goes from property to property in search of old timber ie dead trees that are lying on the ground, and they pay the owners a certain amount of money per tonne.  The property owners are very happy because not only do they have their land cleared of old timber, they are getting paid for the privilege.  Money for nothing for them.   The timber is cut into manageable size logs by the biggest saw I have ever seen (scary!) or taken one step further and split into smaller pieces.  The business has a B-double truck that runs continually, taking loads to either Sydney or Brisbane.  

Philip and I will be heading into Toowoomba tomorrow to stay with my mum until our part arrives for the power system. We are both feeling discombobulated with our holiday coming to such an abrupt halt but we also know that there is nothing we can do about it. We are having a lovely time with our friends here in Leyburn and are still grateful that we have the van parked in their huge yard and not in the middle of nowhere.  We will enjoy the next few days in Toowoomba and might even play the tourist while we are there.

Day 231 Leyburn, Qld

After dozens of phone calls this morning we were able to pin point our loss of power to our levelling system.  Unbeknown to us the caravan levelling system is wired straight to the battery and we now know that it should have been wired into the Power System.  There has been a conflict that has eventually caused the failure of the system. All we needed was a power shunt, that costs just a couple of hundred dollars, and we would not have had any problem.  You never stop learning when you own a caravan!

This morning we drove to Toowoomba and were able to purchase a replacement power system, Lithium Battery and a Power Shunt.  The first two items were in stock but we will have to wait for 3-7 days for the Power Shunt as it is coming out of Melbourne.  The local auto electrician assures us that he will be able to connect everything once we have all the parts on hand. It's a big relief.

It took us the best part of the morning to drive all over Toowoomba to pick up the necessary parts so we didn't get to see my mum until lunch.  We swung by a fast food joint to pick up a burger before heading to mum's place.  The fast food drive through was extremely busy so it took us ages to get our meal.  This is the first fast food we have purchased in eight months and we were gobsmacked at how expensive fast food has become.  We won't be buying that again for a long time.  It is much cheaper (and better) to just cook your own food.

We didn't get back to Leyburn until well after 2.00pm and after doing a couple of loads of washing and having a cuppa and cake with our friend Wendy we took ourselves for a nice long walk around Leyburn.  It is a small town with just a pub and a fuel/grocery store, but in August every year the little town of just 150 residents comes alive with tens of thousands of people who come for the Leyburn Sprints.  Cars of every shape, size and horsepower race on a course around both the town and the shire over the course of two days.  There is even a monument set up in the Main Street celebrating the sprints.

After advice from Wendy, Philip and I walked down to the river and had intended to cross it and keep walking on that road but the river is still flowing over the crossing so instead we about turned and walked the other way towards the free camp area and the vineyards.  The winery is on the outskirts of town and they produce some pretty decent wines. The Tempranillo is particularly good. We walked back along the Main Street and finally made it home in time to sit down and have a beer with our friends while we watched the sunset.

All in all it has been a productive day and tonight we will sleep a little easier knowing that we have found the source of the problem and hopefully can have it rectified.  We are fortunate that we don't have to be home at any particular time as these kind of problems do take time to fix.  All we can be grateful for, is that it didn't happen at Cocklebiddy on the Nullarbor!

Day 230 Leyburn, QLD

The power problems that we had a couple of days ago came to a head today when we reached Leyburn.  We now have no 12 Volt Power at all.  Fortunately we had arrived at our friends place in Leyburn, unhitched the van and connected to 240 volt, before we realised that it had happened. We have a local auto electrician coming to us this morning to see if he can restore 12 volt but it doesn't look hopeful.  There was a burning smell coming from our Projecta Power Management System so it will probably need replacing.  Thank goodness we are very close to Toowoomba so fingers crossed someone there will have a replacement in stock.  We will also change to Lithium Battery. We feel that the batteries are the root of the problem.

It is great to be here with Micheal and Wendy and it was a bit of a talkfest last night over a dinner of Roast Mutton.  Yes, you heard me, MUTTON!  It was so full of flavour and delicious. Wendy said that it had been cooking in the oven for hours and you certainly need that amount of time to get the best flavour out of mutton.  Gee I miss it.

Yesterday we took our time driving from Toobeah (Two Beer) that is just a short distance from Goondiwindi.  We stopped at Yelarbon so I could take a photo of the silo art - undoubtably one, if not the, best we have seen.

Our next stop was Inglewood so Philip could replenish his beer supplies and while he was doing that, I wandered down to the local IGA (another beaut shop) to pick up some lemonade and a couple of other grocery items.  Since we have arrived into warmer temperatures in Queensland I have been enjoying a shandy - another of my dads favourites!

Lunch stop was at a rest area between Inglewood and Karrara.  I had made a bolognese sauce the day before, so it was just a matter of cooking the pasta and heating the sauce.  While the pasta was cooking I went for a little wander around the area and found this pretty little wildflower.  Wildflowers are not just found in Western Australia!

I don't know what today is going to bring.  We can't shift the van without 12 volt because we need it to bring in the slide and retract the levelling legs.  I will keep you informed.

Day 229 Toobeah, Qld

When we arrived back to the caravan last night after dinner at the local pub we lost all battery power to the caravan.  It had been playing up a little over the past couple of weeks but we were ignoring it.  Silly us.  We eventually restored lights but there wasn't enough voltage in the battery to run the water pump.  Sponge baths for us.  When we woke this morning there was only JUST enough power to bring in the slide and lift the levelling legs. Philip is fairly certain that one of the two batteries has lost a cell that means it is not holding charge.  The good news is that we will be in Toowoomba on Tuesday where there are heaps of auto electricians so we will swap out the two AGM batteries for one Lithium and because we are staying in Toowoomba for a number of days we can make certain that everything is running smoothly on solar/battery before we start heading north. We were going to go down the Lithium path at any rate so as it has turned out it is just sooner rather than later.

As I have mentioned previously, we have had to dodge flooded roads on our journey north/east and today when I put our destination of Toobeah into the Qld Transport app it told us that there were two routes - one had road damage but the other was all clear.  We chose the route that was "all clear" of course.  Big mistake.  This road was 50km of gravel road.  ****sigh****  It was a very slow road and when we arrived at Toobeah and I opened the door I was meet with dusty floors and benches.  It could have been worse I guess but it is still annoying that Qld Transport sent us down this road.  But, as Philip rightly pointed out, it is a gazetted road....

We are staying at another free camp tonight. This one is behind the Toobeah pub.  It is a lovely green grassed area with lots of shade on the western side.  We did pay the optional $10 for power hook-up that was an absolute necessity for us with no battery power, and I daresay we will be grateful for air-con later this evening as the temperature has risen to 35 degrees.  Is it really just three days ago that we were warming the van?  

Once we had given the inside of the van a quick clean we headed over to the pub for a counter lunch of steak sandwiches and cool beers (forgot to take photos).  It was actually pretty good value at $12 and much better value than the very ordinary steak and salad I had for dinner last night at Bollon that cost $32.

Our journey today took us through St. George and the whole town is in Jacaranda bloom!  I think the Jacaranda tree is my favourite tree.  It's just a shame that it looks so ordinary when it isn't in bloom.

Tomorrow we will arrive at our friends place at Leyburn.  Philip is looking forward to seeing the machine that they imported from Cananda and is used to to cut the felled timber into different sizes.  I am just looking forward to catching up with our friends news.  We will stay here a couple of days and should arrive into Toowoomba on Tuesday.  I am looking forward to seeing my mum.

Day 228 Bollon, Qld

 Because we had to turn our clocks back one hour as we crossed the Queensland/New South Wales border, we arrived into Cunnamulla at 10.30am Queensland time - too early to check in - so we made the unanimous decision to keep going in an easterly direction.  WikiCamps told us that there was a very good (donation) free camp at the little town of Bollon that was a further 180km along the Balonne Highway.

The rising flood waters around Bourke were very evident as we drove out of the township.  They tell us that Bourke won't go under water.  I hope not.

As we drove further north the country changed from Mulga, with goats grazing both sides of the road, to vast open downs that were covered in some very lush grass that looked very similar to the Mitchell Grass plains around Julia Creek.  There was a mix of sheep and goats grazing in the paddocks and all the stock looked very healthy. I've said it before and I will say it again, we have been so lucky to see this country looking so green and heavily grassed.  

The Queensland Border is a welcome sign for us but also makes our adventures over the past eight months almost seem surreal.  To kill the boredom when we are driving along, we challenge each other to remember where we have been in the correct order!  It is no mean feat as the WikiCamps app tells us that we have visited 108 places and travelled 18,746 kilometres so far and we are still almost 3000 kilometres from home!

Arriving into Bollon I am completely gobsmacked by how lovely the Wallam Creek Free Camp is.  There are only two other caravans here by 3.00pm but I can imagine it would be hard to find a spot in peak season.  The little town has gone to a lot of trouble to make it as inviting as they possibly can with Wallam Creek lined with bbq tables and chairs and there is a concrete path - fully light with solar lamps - that takes you all the way into the township. 

Philip fuelled up the car as soon as we had un-hooked the van because we found on the Fuel App that Bollon has Diesel at 225.9/litre.  The cheapest we have seen in quite some time!  How great is this place.  If there is a downside to this camp it is that, although there is four bars of 3G Telstra, it is taking an enormous amount of time for me to upload my photos.  We would not be able to use Telstra for Apple TV.  We have struck this a few times on our travels.  It takes me back to the days when we had to connect to the internet using dial-up modems and it took forever.  It's a shame that we (I) have become so impatient and need everything to be immediate.

We are going to head to the Bollon Pub for dinner tonight as the bloke at the service station told Philip that the steaks there were the "best in the west".  A big call.  I'll take photos.