Undara Rock and Blues Festival 2024

The five nights that we have just spent at Undara Lava Tubes for the annual Rock and Blues Festival was one of the most enjoyable times we have ever had.  We danced, sang, laughed, ate and drank our way through three days of festival music.  The line-up of artists was exceptional and the festival team have to be congratulated for the huge effort they put into making this weekend enjoyable for all.  I think the thing that we loved the most about the weekend was that the vast majority of people were our age so even if we are not terribly good at shaking the tail feathers, no one is judging because they are just too busy enjoying themselves.

Of course it helps to have the company of good friends.  Jane, Micheal, Philip and I could sit and talk for hours but then also respected the quiet down time that we all needed after a late night or two.  Jane had pre-pared some delicious meals and I contributed where I could.  It worked well.  Micheal enjoys a campfire so two of the five nights we were able to immerse ourselves in the smoky orange flicker of fire with the smell of the bush, that only a campfire can bring.  Perfection.

We hiked for two of the mornings.  The first hike was a very long one called the Bush Walk.  I wouldn't recommend it.  We walked for around 6km along an only just visible path through very thick spear grass.  If anyone has ever had the experience of spear grass let me tell you it is not pleasant.  The barbs from the grass penetrate right into clothing and can make for a very uncomfortable walk.  We stopped numerous times to pick them out of our clothing.  When we finally left the spear grass behind we were then confronted with a swamp!  By the time we got back to camp our shoes were very squishy with water.

A far better walk that we did twice was much shorter, around 2km, but it took you to the top of the bluff above Undara Central.  Looking out from the bluff towards the camping area there is not a vehicle/caravan/camper to be seen because each and very site has an abundance of shady trees. It makes for a very pleasant camp.  The only downside was the Khaki Weed that has inundated the camping area. We used to call this invasive weed "prickles".  They get into everything and as we packed up our camp we made sure that we were not carrying any of the weed with us.

Our next stop is Charters Towers where we will stock up on a bit of fruit and veg and will try to find the Mosaic mural that has been making news. It is 80 metres long and 7 metres tall.  I don't think we will have any trouble finding it!

Anzac Day at Undara Lava Tubes

 We made certain that we arrived at Undara a day early so that we could attend the Dawn Anzac Service.  Legacy host the service and the speech given by the president of Legacy Cairns Branch was very moving.  I loved the ending of the speech when we were left with the words "War is both Stupid and Costly".  How true this is. At the moment we have wars raging in the Middle East and Ukraine where we are seeing the senseless loss of lives. I think women should rule the world.  I could almost guarantee the end of war worldwide as we are, after all, the  "Peace-makers"......

After the service we made our way back to the main lodge where we enjoyed Bacon & Egg Rolls for breakfast.  

On the road again.....

We are going to be travelling around Queensland for the next 6-7 weeks.  First stop for us will be Undara Lava Tubes where the annual Rock and Blues Festival is being held.  We will be camping with friends for the five days  and we are really looking forward to it.  There is nothing like dancing to good music!

Preparation to get the Winnebago ready has been full on.  First there was the decal to be replaced.  Our poor Winnie has never been under cover so the decal was peeling on both sides of the motorhome.  I am so much in love with the new look that has made the Winnebago look almost new.

We also decided on our last trip in the Winnie that we needed to tow my little Suzuki behind the motorhome.  A lot of folks don't worry about towing a vehicle but it means that if you want to go shopping or sightseeing you have to pack up the motorhome each and every time.  Philip found a company that made a "tow dolly" and after a long and anxious wait it finally turned up a week before we were to leave.  We are very happy with it.

We also had a GPS fitted inside the cabin of the motorhome.  It really is a must have when you are travelling.  There is nothing worse than getting lost and coming to a dead end where you can barely turn around and believe me, we have been in that situation more than once.

So folks, stay tuned over the coming weeks as I update the blog with our whereabouts.

As time goes by..........

 How crazy and busy our life has been over the past two months and now we are back on the road again in our Winnebago, but more about that in the next post.  

It has been great being home at Paringa and catching up with our friends both in Cairns and Port Douglas.  Our little group that we have nicknamed Olgetta Connisseurs, (Olgetta means all together in Pidgin English) decide on a different restaurant to eat at once a fortnight and we have eaten some really great food at Elgreko in Palm Cove and Bayleaf in Cairns North.  

Philip and I celebrated 46 years of marriage at NuNu Restaurant in Palm Cove on the 25th March.  NuNu never disappoints both for ambience and food.  An added bonus was the full moon rising over the Coral Sea.

Easter this year was busy with the Olgetta group coming together at our place for Good Friday where I baked a whole side of Salmon and accompanied that with a simple salad and homemade bread.  The lemon tarts, that Jane made, were a perfect end to our meal and the little easter bunnies atop each tart reminded us that it was Easter.  

On Easter Sunday we drove to my cousin Susie’s place north of Mossman for a delicious lunch of steak and salad and another delightful dessert of chocolate mousse topped with a Chocolate Easter Bunny. It really isn’t Easter with chocolate is it……

We have stayed in Port Douglas a few times in the past couple of weeks and it was a treat to catch up with our friends Rod and Ange.  We dined at the Mexican Restaurant one night and the next evening we ate at the local Vietnamese Restaurant.  We topped off the week-end with tickets to the local Clink Theatre for a production of My Fair Lady.  It brought back wonderful memories and we all hummed and clapped along to the songs that we know and loved.  

Other places in Port that we enjoyed were cocktails at Barbardos and pub grub at the Tin Shed where we watched the boats coming back to the marina on sunset.  Of course Flagstaff Hill walk is always on the agenda and the weather was picture perfect.

I was given some sourdough starter on our last travel and after a few disasters (I totally underestimated the growth of the starter after you feed it and had my benchtops covered in the goo many times) I think I have now mastered the feeding technique and have been rewarded with some delicious recipes.  My favourite has been the sourdough crackers and the focaccia.  The lemon cake that looked fabulous as it came out of the oven was way too dry and ended up being used in a trifle. We have also eaten quite a few pizzas over the past month or so as the pizza bases, using discard sourdough starter, are the best I have ever eaten.  Thin and crispy the way we like a base.

I have been spending some quality time with the "girls" since we have been home with lots of coffee/lunch dates.  They have taken me to places that I never knew existed.  The view from the Food House Cafe on the top floor of Crystalbrook was spectacular.

Last Saturday the “girls” had a day out on the Tablelands where we played tourists for the day visiting all the sites including the waterfall circuit at Millaa and ending with a walk into Millstream Falls followed by a delicious café lunch at Ravenshoe.  There is something very satisfying spending time with your girlfriends!

So that is the last few months in a nutshell and although it has been hectic it has also been a lot of fun.  I'll leave you with this photo of our apartment building that has just been repainted.  It looks so lovely and has brought the 1980's building into the 21st century......

 

Home, Sweet Home

What an epic journey it has been that has taken us across six Australian States in nine months covering well in excess of 20,000 kms. Along the way we traded our beloved fifth wheel for a motorhome that will hopefully see us out for the rest of our lives with lots more smaller journeys planned for the future.

Since my last post, almost a month ago (sorry!) we had slowed down considerably and were also covering areas and places that we knew like the back of our hand. After Byron Bay we headed to Tweed Heads for a few days to make the transition from van to motorhome.  While we were there we caught up with my forever friend Lynn and her daughter Trina and also Marco and Suzie.  Marco kindly offered to take the Landcruiser back to his place at Gundiah, and later to Palm Cove. I was very grateful for this, as I wasn't very confident driving it back to Palm Cove!

Our next stop was Toowoomba where we had booked into our favourite caravan park for six days.  This gave us ample time to spend with my mum and also to shop a few items for the motorhome - things like seat covers and matting plus a couple of minor maintenance items.  So far so good with the Winnie!  While we were in Toowoomba we visited two of my aunties (mums sisters) on two separate days.  It was lovely to catch up with them but quite tiring for mum (and for us!)

After Toowoomba it was an overnight trip to Leyburn to catch up with the Reids that is always a lot of fun and always a talk fest.  Their lives are quite busy but they are planning a trip with their van to South Australia later in the year.  We loved South Australia so we were able to give them the heads up on some must see places in South Australia.  It is a state that we would definitely want to revisit at some stage.

Next stop was Gundiah where we enjoyed three nights with Marco and Suzie at "Evergreen".  Philip was able to get his cattle fix as Marco had cattle to pick up from a neighbours place and he was also re-locating young cattle from "Eureka" (another small block they own) to "Evergreen".  We also squeezed in a trip to Hervey Bay where we enjoyed a Tapas lunch at one of the local restaurants.  I love Hervey Bay with its coastal atmosphere but also a very busy regional town these days with all the services.

We said our goodbyes to Marco and Suzie but not for long as we plan on a trip back down to them before the five month warranty on the Winnebago expires.  We are going to caretake "Evergreen" for them while they go camping.  It will also be a good opportunity to spend a little more time with mum at Toowoomba.

Tannum Sands was our next stop and it is another place that we always enjoy returning too.  As always, as soon as we had set up camp, we took a long walk, this time along the Tannum Sands esplanade.  It is a beautiful walk and the bbq tables were packed with people celebrating various things on a sunny Sunday afternoon.  We would have stayed another night but home is calling.

Cape Palmerston was a place that we had always wanted to stay and I am so glad that we made the effort this trip.  It is just a short distance off the highway but well worth the drive as the caravan park here is one of the best we have ever stayed.  All sites are drive through and completely private with the use of hedges and trees between sites.  It is just a short walk through to the beach where we enjoyed a very long walk for a couple of hours.  It was low tide and the beach was crawling with soldier crabs.  We have never seen so many of these little crabs in any other place we have visited and you had to be very careful not to stand on the little critters.  The beach is flat to walk on and we covered five kilometres but you could walk in either direction for many more kilometres.

Next morning we got an early start as our destination was Alva Beach, just a short drive from Ayr.  There is not a lot at Alva Beach but we love the van park here (park wherever you want!) and the walk to the beach is also pleasant.  There had been a very wild storm pass through this area recently and council were still in the process of cleaning up.  It is a huge task.

The next day our final destination before Palm Cove was Kurrimine Beach.  This is another of those magical places that you want to return to asap.  Like most of these beaches, there is not a lot to do except go for long walks and this place has the perfect beachside pathway the runs the whole length of Kurrimine.  We were staying at the King Reef Resort caravan park that also has a restaurant and wonderful beer garden.  After our walk we pulled up chairs in the beer garden and enjoyed refreshing and cold beers. Perfect.  We know that we are back in the tropics though as the humidity is stifling and thank goodness for air-conditioning.......

So here we are back in Palm Cove.  We parked the Winnie at the Palm Cove caravan park for two nights as it was so much easier to unpack when we only had to take our gear two blocks.  I don't know why we hadn't thought of this before. The Winnebago is now clean inside and out and back in the storage shed at Port Douglas, at least for a little while!  I have been enjoying some of the walks around Palm Cove that are, I think, some of the best in Australia and I was also pleased to see a lot of familiar faces on the walks. It's good to be home.....

Gundaroo, Bathurst, Denman, Kempsey & Byron Bay, NSW

We have slowed down considerably in the past 10 days and it has been a time where we have been lucky enough to catch up with friends and family.  Lots of socialising!  We left Batemans Bay just a week ago and drove the 150k or so up and over the great dividing range to Gundaroo.  The least said about that drive the best.  Although the road is in good condition, it is both steep and winding with lots of hairpin corners.  Not the best road for towing a caravan!  But we made it in good time to Gundaroo.  We had told Philips brother that we would not be at their place until mid afternoon and that gave us ample time to stop for lunch at "Grazing".  This restaurant has a well deserved reputation for fine dining and it is amazing that they have set up the restaurant inside the old Royal Hotel at Gundaroo and done a beautiful job of restoring the old building.  Gundaroo is just 30 minutes drive from Canberra so the restaurant is popular with Canberrean's. Once we were seated, the menu was explained to us.  We had a choice of a set menu of either two or three courses (we chose two) and there were also a couple of specials that could be added to the meals.  We chose the Duck Liver Paté as our extra and the addition of the apple sauce was a nice sweet touch.  The complimentary Olive Oil & Balsamic was also delicious.

For our first course I ordered the Kingfish Sashimi while Philip chose the Quail.  Both dishes were outstanding and my sashimi was very fresh, which is never guaranteed but is also a must when you are dealing with raw fish.

Our second course choices were Crispy Pork for Philip and Lamb for me.  Both dishes, again, were faultless and the perfect size for me.

Our bellies were certainly full to the brim as we left the restaurant and headed out to "Big Ezi" - Philips brothers place that is around 10km outside Gundaroo.  It might only have been a short driving distance but it is one of the worst gravel roads imaginable.  However it was great to be able to spend two nights here and it was a bit of a talk fest over numerous glasses of wine and some delicious home-cooked meals.  We managed a couple of walks around the property that is about 120 acres.  It is quite beautiful.

We said goodbye to the family on Monday and made our way to Bathurst, a town we have always wanted to visit.  It was Philips birthday that was very low key however I did make him an improvised chocolate birthday cake......

On our second day at Bathurst we drove the short distance to Mount Panorama, the home of the Bathurst 2000 car race.  We drove one lap of the race track before making our way to the museum that holds a myriad of vehicles from cars to motorbikes to drag cars and everything in between.  Everything there has been raced at Bathurst at one time or another.  It was very interesting.

The Bathurst Showgrounds was our camp for the two days that we were here and it was perfect because directly behind us was a terrific walking track that we walked twice on our stay.  The original highway road bridge has been replaced so the old bridge is now a pedestrian bridge that you have to cross to reach the other side of the walking track.

On Wednesday we were back on the road and headed to Denman where we stayed with friends.  We took the long route via Mudgee and it was a lovely drive over fairly flat country that made a nice change from the big mountains we have been driving over the past couple of days.  We arrived at Michael-Lee and Tim's place mid afternoon and it was once again a bit of a talk fest.  They piled us into the car late in the afternoon to take us for a drive around the property.  We loved it.  As well as cropping they run a cattle fattening enterprise and we loved seeing the new state of the art cattle yards that do not require anyone to be in the yards with the cattle.  All gates are opened automatically using an hydraulic system. 

It was late in the evening before we sat down to a delicious roast pork meal with the family and another friend who conjured up Profiteroles for dessert!  We were all laughing at each other as we dived into them with our hands and all of us had chocolate from one end of our faces to the other.  Completely forgot to get photos.....

Next morning we were once again on the road.  After talking with Tim we decided to head down the coast towards Newcastle and get on the M1.  We skirt around all towns going this way and Philip commented that he loves freeway driving.  He can sit in the left lane and drive at his own pace while cars can easily go around him.  I tend to agree.  The only downside to freeway driving is that it can become a bit boring.  Time to crank up the music!

Thursday night was spent at Kempsey.  The only place we could get in was another Showgrounds but beggars can't be choosers.  We never ventured outside the van on our overnight stay.  The temperature soured to around 40 degrees so we cranked up the Air-Con and were very content to stay inside.

Friday we headed to Byron Bay that is where we are now.  It is very busy here on the Australia Day week-end but we are staying at the Sun Villas Caravan park again and we asked to be put right down the back of the park where the sites are large, green and shaded.  We have been for some long walks since arriving.  First day was a beach walk and today we walked to the Byron Bay Lighthouse that is exactly 9km with a huge amount of stairs.  Today is very warm and we were grateful that we made the decision to walk early in the morning.  Storms are predicted for this evening so I just pray that they are not wild ones!

Tomorrow we once again pack up the van and head to Tweed Heads, a short 80km drive.  We will be busy in Tweed as we have to wash the van both inside and pack up as much as we can in readiness to hand it over on Monday and drive away in our (not so new) motorhome.  Excited!