Jun 17, 2013 - Wellington Caves

Woke this morning to subzero temp and a pea soup outside. I used to work with a guy who was nick named “London Fog” because he never lifted.... We stayed inside till around 11:30 then wandered all of 50 metres to the Japanese Gardens and had a bit of a look and took a few pics. Its quite nice but not comparable to the one at Cowra... Walked down to the Golf course then back up to the bottle house before heading back to the Van for a bowl of soup, Minestrone, not Brown Windsor, if I want Brown Windsor soup I'd have to cook it myself. Now...

Jun 17, 2013 - City Tour

We got up at 6:15 after a fairly restless night – our room was quite near the train tracks and they rumbled on and off all night. Anyway, up and to breakfast – Alice didn’t want any. Then we headed outside and across the small park to our meeting place for the tour bus. It was just a collection bus that took us to the main terminal by the ferry dock. Once there we were joined by about 15 other folks and we piled on the bus for our city tour. We went first to “The Rocks” which is a district in Sydney of marinas and expensive houses and the...

Jun 16, 2013 - Reflections on our travels

We are now staying with family in Adelaide for the next week so our trip is almost completed. It is nice to wake up and know we don't have to pack up the van and move on again! On reflection: • We are especially pleased that we did achieve what we set out to do and have seen and experienced some amazing places in our wonderful country, as well as meeting a range of interesting Aussies and overseas tourists along the way. • We agree that probably 18,000 kms overall in 13 weeks living in the Avan was a bit too long, and, given we were...

Jun 16, 2013 - Wellington NSW

After an exhausting drive of 155Km we are camped at Wellington Caves. Quite a nice park; $66 for 3 nights – can't complain about that! Nice and quiet apart from the whine of the commutators and straight cut gears on Electric Golf Buggies heading off for a round, really why ruin a good walk by hitting a little ball and chasing it? Ventured into the Visitors centre after lunch (yes we got here for lunch) and another piece of the puzzle re Fardy slid into place. The question is; why did he bring his new wife Mabel to Wellington after their...

Jun 16, 2013 - Townsville

12TH – 16TH June, 2013 Well, here we are in Townsville Australia’s largest tropical city which has one of the highest residential growth rates in Australia. Townsville was established on the banks of a crocodile infested mangrove creek to serve pastoral development in the hinterland. The first land sales for Townsville were held in Bowen in 1865 and a year later the settlement was officially named “Townsville” in recognition of its financial benefactor Captain Robert Towns. The Coral Coast Van Park where we are staying is still much the...

Jun 16, 2013 - Across Australia

A nice easy start to the day. Up around 8:00, a nice shower, and down to the lobby for breakfast. Forgot my room number (!) but we eventually figured it out. Breakfast was quite good with a large selection of items – and, oddly enough, the eggs did not have bacon in them. The odd thing was a bird – a magpie – that was in the dining room landing at tables and eating people’s left overs. Servers didn’t seem to mind. If there were no empty tables the bird would squawk. Back to the room and finished packing then to the lobby. Transport showed...

Jun 15, 2013 - Townsville

16th June We finally made it to Townsville on the 13th June. Took us six days from Charters Towers about 130 kms. As you have probably guessed we are not in a hurry. Townsville is home to approximately 200,OOO of the regions population. Have enjoyed our time here. The weather has been hot 29 degrees even though the locals think it is a bit cool. Here you can shop till you drop. There are four major shopping precincts, offering shoppers a wide range of stores. Had to keep our wits about us while walking around especially Stocklands it was...

Jun 15, 2013 - Sofala at a glance

An amazing weather change overnight, woke up to pleasant sunshine. They day did remain coolish though... After a brief bout with the Good Guys to get a new PVR for the van we set off for Sofala. Carol even asked for the “Best Price” she must have picked that up from me in Hong Kong.... I sort of found where my Granddad lived according to the information supplied by the researcher, Beth, at Bathurst Library. He gets a spot too on the Memorial Roll of Honour alas the Soldiers Hall was locked so couldn’t get inside but the chap who runs the...

Jun 15, 2013 - Alice Springs

Up at a fairly reasonable hour and to breakfast at the hotel. Nice spread with lots of fruit and a wide selection of other stuff. Then back to the room and final packing, then drag our stuff over to the lobby at about 8:45. Bus at 9:05 picked us up, and about 25 other people, and drove us to the Ayers Rock airport. The flight only took about an hour and we landed at Alice Springs. We seemed to be the only people staying in town. As we approached the luggage claim there was a nice lady with our name on a sign. Most prompt welcome we’ve had...

Jun 15, 2013 - Kuala Lumpur to Mildura

I’m really tired of sitting around in airports. I know the girl at Malaysian Airlines in Paris was trying to do me a favour but it’s ended up being a real marathon with long layovers at Paris, Kuala Lumpur & the final straw was 6 hours at Melbourne airport. Because there’s no Business Class on the Melbourne-Mildura flight I didn’t have access to a lounge & didn’t want to get too comfortable anyway, in case I went to sleep & missed my flight. My total travel time from the hotel in Paris to Mildura was a bit over 48 hours. Mildura looked...

Jun 14, 2013 - Return To Orange

Drove to Orange this morning. Its changed a lot since we lived here (as one may expect). The Bathurst Orange Development Corporation were trying to develop the 2 cities back then – yet another Government football/hot potato that achieved little....We had a look around town took a cuppla shots of our first house, part of the deal of moving to Orange was that you got a new house.... Then drove out to Mt Canobolas via “The Pinnacles”... Mount Canobolas is as claimed the highest point in New South Wales west of the Great Dividing Range, but is...

Jun 14, 2013 - Sunrise, Sunset

Woke up a bit before the alarm with my toe bothering me. Took a look and it had gotten infected. I spent some time cleaning it up and putting on antiseptic then got dressed and headed for the tour. Alice was way too tired to get up so she stayed in bed. There were about 24 on the bus and we headed out into the darkness. We entered the park and there were about four busses there, plus a bunch of cars and campers. We got some tea and then wandered up the lighter path to the viewing area. It was very cold – about 40 – and quite windy. As the...