Brisbane

We have been camped up in Mt. Cotton, a suburb of Brisbane.   Justin's work collegue, Col and his wife Linda were our hosts and were way too nice to us.    Justin flew up for a visit to his tattooist on the Gold Coast and we managed to spend 24 hours with him. He was suffering from a swollen and bruised arm from getting his tattoo sleeve coloured in.  Before he flew home we visited Mt. Tambourine and did a brewery, some shops, a cheese factory and lunch at a German Restaurant.    The boys had a massive german meat platter.   They were impressed.     Rick met up with a guy who was selling chevy parts and got his elusive grille for the 60 Chev.   One happy man now.    We left Brisbane and then headed to Beaudesert, about 90 mins. away to camp at the Showgrounds so we can be on the spot for the Swap Meet .

A pretty church in Beaudesert

Rick managed to get a couple more car bits so the Suzuki is getting heavier by the day.  Once the Swap Meet was done we decided to head to Boonah, about 90 mins away.   Our plan was to camp up and explore the outer edges of the Scenic Rim before returning to Brisbane and the Beenleigh Showgrounds where we were going to camp up for another Swap Meet and Hot Rod Show.

Visited the Boonah Info Centre, got our maps and stuff, and then headed off to a nice free camp.   Apart from the fact that two magpies were intent on causing us serious harm by dive bombing every time we came out of the bus, it was a nice spot.     But then we had a phone call to tell me my mum was not doing too well with her Alzheimers.    We decided that it was time for mum to go into care and so we pulled the plug on the rest of the trip and decided to head for home the next day.   Had planned hopefully to be away till December, but it was going to be an early return.     

It was sad going home, we had had a great time, didnt want to leave Qld or the sunshine behind but knew we had no choice.   The closer we got to home, the colder it got.   The day we arrived it was out with the long pants and shoes.  They hadnt been worn since we left home in May.  Oh My God how we hated that.

We are now home, its nice to see Justin, Rachel and Xavier, the house is the same, the garden looks like it could do with a week of rain, and my mum insists she is doing fantastic and will never never go into a home.    Sadly she doesnt realise that she isnt doing great.  She has been accepted into our preferred Nursing Home.   It is hoped that she will be going in towards the end of the month.   It will be a struggle to get her to leave her home but the family know its the right thing to do.

So another blog has come to an end.   Probably wont do any more, have found it a chore this time around as we havent been doing enough exciting stuff to warrant writing about.  I guess time will tell.  Thanks to everyone who has bothered to read it.   Cheers.

Whale Watching

We went to Hervey Bay to do a Whale Watching trip.   Well we could not have picked a worse day.   It bucketed down on the way to the Marina. The sun came out beautifully so we had fish n chips by the water as we waited for our boat to come in.   Sun shone when we set off but then drizzle arrived then rain and it continued for the whole 4 and 1/2  hours we were out.   We had a great time, spent so much time in the company of 6 whales who I beleive simply showed off for us.   We were told they were very inquisitive creatures and Im sure thats true.   They swam under our boat surfacing on different sides, which meant we were continually "running" from one side to the other to watch.  They were awesome. Coming so close you could see all their battle scars.  Could almost tickle their tummies.   BUT I simply couldnt get any decent photos.   We were so worried about the camera as it got drowned along with us, that in the end I put it away and instead just enjoyed the show.   In fact, Im glad I did, because it was unreal to simply watch and admire.   A great day out, spoilt by the weather in some ways, but it didnt effect the whales.   We came home drowned rats.   Got the heater on in the bus for only the 3rd time the whole trip. It was heaven.

 Last night we camped at a roadside rest area we have used before.  Its a 48Hr. stopover. Popular and crowded.   This time - ferals.  One guy has been sleeping in his car here for two weeks.  Others have set up tents, camp fires and are drinking beer at 9.00 AM  !!!!!!   They are OK people as we have chatted with them, but it makes the rest area look like crap.

Tonight we are at Maleny Showgrounds.   Great showgrounds, very friendly caretaker and the town is a beauty.   Would LOVE to stay a few days here but we have to be in Brisbane tomorrow and there is no camping here from tomorrow thru to Sunday as they have a huge food festival to get ready for over the weekend.   Bugger that would have been great to attend but we have a Swap Meet to go to.  !!!!!!!!!!  on Sunday.   Lucky for us we are now going to camp, in Brisbane,  next to Justins workmate's house so we dont have to go to a Caravan Park.   Will leave on Saturday and head out to a place called Beaudesert. Swap Meet, the biggest one day swap meet in Qld.   We will camp up close to it  or right there,   hopefully,as it starts at 7am.  Then we will travel a bit before coming back towards Brisbane the following weekend for another swap meet/hotrod show.   The Rod Club are allowing us to come and camp up on the Saturday afternoon for the Sunday Day Out.   Nice of them. Hopefully someone out there has parts for our 60 Chev.   !!!!!!!!!!

Maryborough

We stayed at the Maryborough Showgrounds for two days.  Great spot.   There were horse events on, lots of beautiful looking horses and riders doing their dressage thing.   It was a two day event and full of horse trailers of every size and sort.   Some flasher than our motorhome.   We also had the company of a remote control race car club.    They also had a two day race event on a special course.   Full on.  So many people watching and participating.   Stalls selling all sorts of stuff.   Cant beleive how big it is. Camped up with some kiwis in a Swagman motorhome.  They spend 6 months in Oz and then spend 6 months back in NZ in their Fuso Motorhome. Got talking to them and lo and behold - they are friends of Coral & Terry, our friends we stayed with whilst attending Coolly Rocks.   They actually house sat Corals house whilst they were recently overseas.  Its a small world after all.

We chose to stay at Maryborough cos we saw on TV that the Speedway was on Saturday night.   It was the opening of the Season so it was a mixed bag. Started with a car show at 1pm and ended with a massive fireworks display at 9.30.   We had a Burn Out Comp., Monster Trucks, midget racers (aged 5-10), and lots of speedway itself.   The little ones in their midget racers had their own racetrack within the speedway track.   They were hilarious to watch.  Throw caution to the wind, run off the track, get back on, dont look for oncoming traffic, just go for it.   So many near misses.  Loved them.    We had a great night out.   They had a special fireworks program at 6.30 for the kids and after that I think half the crowd left.   Prob. 3,500 people here.   The speedway holds 5,000 and it looked full.   The only downfall, we Victorians wore thongs, shorts & t shirts.  Took a blanket to sit on and our jackets but it got very chilly as the night wore on.   Most of the locals came dressed for Winter.

Camping Up

 Yes, thats what we are seeing in the very unfriendly coastal towns as we head south.   Fortunately we dont want to stay in these places and just drive thru.   A lovely rest area in Bowen, across from the Tourist Info Centre was the centre of atention when they actually fined travellers who had overnighted in this "Day Time Only" spot. $2000.    I spoke to the people at the info centre and mentioned that they were very RV Unfriendly.   They pointed out that there were plenty of caravan parks for us to stay in or we could head out of town to a farm stay where we could pay $10 to stay in a paddock next to the farm stay.  Didnt bother just wouldnt stay in these sort of towns.

We did camp up by a lovely billabong just past Sarina.   Very friendly Cafe. Opened up a camp spot. Spend anything at the Cafe and your $5 camping fee is waived

.   With home made fruit icecream and pies to die for.   It was easy to cover our $5 camp fee.

What The ?????

Spotted this motorhome in a back street of Mackay.    Have they been copying us or what???

We left Townsville and headed back down the Coast, now calling into places that we only drove thru on the way North.    Visited Bowen, Mackay and Rockhampton.   Took a trip down to 1770 and Agness Water to see what all the fuss was about and have to admit Agness Water was gorgeous.  Could easily spend a couple of weeks there for sure.   Lovely beach, patrolled, sand and blue water stretching as far as the eye can see.  We are also now camping up with fellow travellers we have met along the way, it seems everyone is now heading south back to NSW, Vic and SA.   The overnite rest areas are chockers by early afternoon, sometimes people are camping up in the mornings.!!!!!!   We arent that keen.   If we dont get in, there is always somewhere else.     Heading down to Brisbane now, be there in about 10 days to see Justin, who is flying up for two days for a tattoo appointment, would you beleive., and  Rick is hopefully picking up some chevy parts if the price is right.    Also two hot rod shows/swapmeets  in the next two weeks around Brisbane will see us quite possibly hanging out up here for a bit.

Townsville Rock N Rodz Weekend

We were very very blessed to be allowed to camp at the Townsville Turf Club, the site of the above festival. Thanks to the wonderful staff who couldnt do enough for us.   We asked if we could camp and they said YES..   Asked us not to mention to anyone as the Council give them grief  if they are seen to be allowing overnight camping at the Racecourse. We arrived on Friday afternoon, Michael the manager, parked us up on lush green lawn hidden behind a  screen of trees, ,inside the racecourse,  insisted we plug into power and water and also came along with beers and a bottle of sav blanc.  The grog was for us to share a happy hour with him when he finished work for the night.   Unfortunately a mechanical problem with one of the forklifts had him working till dark and he ran out of time to have a drink.

The Festival was only on Saturday from 10am to 10pm.    Hot Rods, Market Stalls, Food Vans and Rock Bands dominated the day.     The day is run by the Townsville Rock N Roll club so its all about cars of course, plus fashions of the 50s and rock dancing.    We had 4 bands playing thru the day, a big bar,  lots of dancing, a Mummy & Me  fashion parade, a miss Kitty Pinup Parade, a Burlesque Show, Cake baking comp. and an  Icecream eating comp.Not sure what those two had to do with rock n roll or hot rods but it was a lot of fun.  We lasted till about 9pm and then went back to the bus.     We were able to wander back and forward to the bus all day as we were on site but tucked away.    Fantastic day.     We could have stayed a week if we wanted to, but having done Townsville already, we decided to leave Sunday.   The alcohol came with us, we tried to give it back and they insisted we enjoy.   !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 We want one of this little caravans to tow behind the Chevvie when its finished.   So cute, so expensive, so in demand now.

This lovely couple are both blind and rock n rolled effortlessly, even when others tired out and sat a few songs out, they danced for the whole of one bands set.  A full 55 mins.

Mummy and Me Fashion Parade







Miss Kitty Kat Parade.   The girls had a number of outfits they modelled and went thru various routines to impress the judges.   A few were great, the rest were forgettable.