Thursday 29 November 2018

24 - Summary for 2018



SUMMARY 2018

2018 was another year devoted to travelling, exploring some magnificent locations in Australia with our caravan in tow providing our accommodation needs.

Previous years we had travelled to a faraway location enjoying the scenery provided by the journey along our chosen routes. 2018 we chose not to travel to that far away location, due to a family clan gathering for a wedding and the arrival of a granddaughter over a period of about two months around the middle of the year.

We chose to stay closer to home (within a couple of thousand kilometres or so) exploring some of the south eastern regions of Australia over the year. We still managed to clock up about 23,500 kilometres on our tow tug signifying how big Australia is!

Our cost summary for 2018.

All costs have been rounded out to the nearest $100.

Days spent travelling              =                      263

Expenditure incurred whilst travelling, ~       $61 per day.

Kilometres travelled                                      23,500

Food expenditure       =                                  $4200

Fuel expenditure         =                                  $5000

Accommodation expenditure           =          $2200

Other living expenditures       =                      $4800

Tow Tug years maintenance costs, registration and insurance        =          $2760

Caravan years costings, maintenance, registration, insurance, insurance crash damage excess and equipment upgrades installed at time of repairs                                =          $7100

We spent 42 nights in National Parks, 53 in caravan parks, 103 at free camping locations and 65 at showgrounds / low cost camping areas.

2018 was another special year for us. The pleasure, tranquillity provided being out and about in the awesome Australian bush removed from the hustle and bustle of modern life and the excitement with the arrival of our 2nd granddaughter. We also added some upgrades to our caravan and tow tug refining their provided modern day comforts, enhancing the equipment for many more years of happy travels.







23 - QLD to SA - travelling home



Entry 23 – Travelling SW from Queensland Sunshine Coast to Adelaide South Australia. – 11/11/18 – 28/11/18.

It felt good to be back in our caravan travelling again. Though it did feel somewhat cramped in the confines of the caravan with Steve struggling to anticipate which way Mary was going to swing her arms about, taking a few days to re-adjust.

The evening prior to departure from Coolum Beach we looked at a few travelling route alternatives, available scenery along each route and the 7 day weather forecast for those different locations. Predictions were for coolish temperatures along the coastal regions with the quieter inland route feeling more appealing with warmer predicted temperatures.

Our second day of travel a large truck travelling towards us dropped or flicked up a large flat object as it was passing us. The object was spinning rapidly in the air windscreen height, across the road directly in front of us. Our hearts were in our mouths, noooooooo, luckily it passed down the left side of us.
Offending truck

Scary seeing an object spinning very fast through the air towards you 
Somehow, we ended up at Pilliga Hot Artesian Bore Bath. It was our fourth visit over a four month period during our 2018 travels.
Pool all to ourselves with our quiet camp site close by in the back ground


The crowds were no longer present at Pilliga with the increase of the daily ambient air temperatures approaching the low 30’s C mark. There were still other travellers passing through, up to five other caravans one night, one other, on our last night. We managed to have the pool to ourselves regularly during our 3 – 5 daily dips over a period occupying a four night stay. It was a peaceful setting sitting under our awning watching the birds move about in the wetlands created by the artesian waters. When it was time for us to move on, our bodies were feeling very relaxed and content.

A couple of days along, down the road a bit, the weekend was upon us and we were going to be travelling through a number of populated country towns over the next couple of hundred kilometres. We decided to camp away from these locations to avoid the weekend shenanigans (people behaving badly) before proceeding. We set camp in a beautiful bush setting at Goobang National Park.

We had previously camped at Goobang N.P. 5 years prior and remembered the deafening mornings created by the abundant bird life. There were still some birds about, but the intensity of their noise was missing along with the mobs of afternoon kangaroos grazing around the camp site. We thought the ongoing drought conditions may have contributed to the decline of the wild life.

One of the reasons for choosing our travelling route was due to it being more populated than most other Australian inland routes with the many communities scattered along the route competing for the tourist dollar, providing a variety of options to entice tourists to their area. We prefer to travel at a slow relaxed rate, enjoying the scenery along the way and thought this route could provide some of those distractions from the task of travelling long distances to our destination. Also, it was a route we hadn’t previously explored, last travelling along this road in pre-retirement days where we didn’t have time to stop.

About 40 kilometres on from Goobang NP we stopped at Peak Hill, spending a good hour walking around the Peak Hill Gold Mine.
Great statues, panning for gold, made of small pieces of steel welded together.

Hole was very large, fully grown trees around perimeter help to indicate size.
About another 40 kilometres further down the road we stopped to view the “Dish,” the CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, Parkes radio telescope, where we enjoyed time looking and reading some of the provided information.

Mary looking a bit out of sorts
Our next stop was at Parkes information centre where we viewed the Elvis Presley museum. Another interesting, different activity for us.


Enjoyed viewing some vintage vehicles seeing the rear and front from the same standing spot
It had been a relaxing sort of day whilst still clocking up some kilometres towards home. Initially we thought of staying the night at Parkes with our only available choice, a caravan park. Reviewing our options, we decided to continue about 30 kilometres down the road to Forbes where there was a free camp in preference to paying for a caravan park. This turned out to be a good decision as the camping area was in a very picturesque setting, overlooking Forbes Lake, far nicer than a cramped caravan park.
Looking at our camp from the other side of the lake

Some of our view from our camp
Forbes had a great walking / cycling path travelling past our door, which we explored for a couple of hours. Forbes enticed us to stay a couple of nights with plenty to do.

First time we have seen signage advising pedestrians to keep left.




An hour and a half drive, down the road, we stopped at the town of Weethalle where we stayed the night in the showgrounds. It was $10 with power to stay the night and we could easily have travelled all the way home free camping along the way but after viewing the towns silo art we were inspired to stay for the day, walking around, viewing the township.
We liked the country town signage

This picture included the natural streaky cloud formations

Mary standing at bottom middle helping to show the significance of this large art works
The bureau of meteorology were forecasting a severe weather front affecting a large area covering the lower half of Australia with a prediction of strong winds for the next two days with some additional warnings for the area we were currently travelling through. It was a Thursday and we had planned a hypothetical destination of Yanga Homestead near Balranald about 330 kilometres down the road for some time on Friday. We assessed the detailed weather forecast where it showed the winds would be mostly side on along our route during the morning, changing to head on winds in the afternoon. We decided to travel to the town of Hay in the morning about 200 kilometres down the road where we would reassess our options.

Whilst travelling we were listening to the radio, monitoring any further weather updates. At one stage they were reporting on a 500 kilometre wide dust storm starting to engulf Sydney with visibility down to a couple of hundred metres. Just as they were reporting the dust storm our visibility was about to drop to less than 50 metres.
A while later the rain came, or should we say it appeared to rain mud for a while. The rain was effective clearing the dust but not all the hazards.

As it transpired the weather forecast turned out to be quite accurate. We were buffeted by side winds most of the trip, changing to a head wind during the last 30 kilometres or so to Hay. We set camp in Hay’s free camp at Sandy Point on a hard gravel surface away from the river clay areas in case it came in wet, deciding to reassess the weather forecast the following day.

We woke at first light coinciding with a drop in the ferocity of the wind. It was about 120 kilometres to our next targeted destination and we were mobile within 15 minutes of waking, taking advantage of the moderating wind, deciding to have breakfast at our planned stop. Our route was to travel west across the Hay plan, a route across a flat plateau devoid of trees, mostly covered by low salt bush. With no tree limbs about to help provide a visual assessment for the strength of the predicted head winds that we were driving into, we relied on the tow tugs visual dash display, indicating our average fuel consumption. At about the half way mark, our fuel consumption rate started heading north.

Yanga Homestead, circa 1850’s (our targeted destination for this Friday) was available for public viewing Monday – Friday having been purchased by the NSW Government 2005, for its natural, cultural and historic values, as is - presented by our photo’s. Back in May we arrived at Yanga Homestead on a Saturday, liked what we saw and had placed it on our wish list for viewing.
At $9 per person you are provided with a hand held audio recording and a key to access various internal areas of the buildings. With a gale force wind buffeting us, it was almost impossible to hear the audio recorder outside and not much better inside with the buildings creaking and groaning.
Interesting construction - hand cut chunks of timber 








Air-conditioning was via an extra wide passage front to rear door drawing in cool air

A bit over an hour later we returned to the caravan for breakfast and replayed the audio recording in the quieter environment of our caravan. We then returned to explore the buildings again with the added knowledge provided by the audio for around another hour. Another enjoyable experience and we could have spent more time exploring the grounds area if the weather had been a bit more comfortable.

About 10 kilometres down the road we set camp in Yanga NP, Mamanga camp ground on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River in a magnificent river red gum setting.
Our camp location

Beautiful river red gums

Our view from our camp site

Sunrise
We were woken early each morning by a chorus, provided by the kookaburras notifying all about, the pending arrival of the days sun. The air was awash with the sounds of bird chatter continuing throughout the day.





We camped in Yanga NP on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River, which was a fantastic setting where we could stay for an indefinite period. Unfortunately, we had a self-imposed time line with less than a month before Christmas and things to address, before the Christmas shut down period was upon us.

After 3 nights at Yanga NP we travelled about 200 kilometres to Murray-Sunset NP with several lake beds of dry white salt pans, where we set camp at the Pink Lakes camp ground. The lakes contain a red species of algae and after rain with nutrients washing into the lake, this triggers increased growth of the algae, changing the colour of the lakes to pink.

The day of our arrival at the Pink Lakes coincided with our 35th wedding anniversary. We had been concentrating on utilizing all our existing fresh food and had neglected to consider a special meal for our anniversary. About a 100 kilometres down the road we were entering into South Australia where all vehicles are stopped and searched by quarantine officials whom remove any fresh food located. This is due to strict quarantine regulations preventing the carriage of fresh food into S.A. So, we decided to have a special dinner once we are home.
 Celebrating our 35th wedding anniversary with a bit of fruit cake and a beer between us. 
One of the reasons for visiting the Pink Lakes was a predicted weather forecast of rain in this locality for the following day of our arrival. The B.O.M. were predicting up to 15 millimetres of rain, but we were unable to find any reference to the time line for the algae reaction. The rain arrived late afternoon with a light steady fall for a couple of hours. The below first picture shows our view prior to the arrival of rain. Note the dry Salt Lake surface with no reflection on the lakes surface. The second picture shows the change after rain with a surface covered in water reflecting the nearby land.
Pre-rain, Steve easily walked out onto the lake surface taking the first photo. At about the two hour mark of rain with a lull in the rain he gingerly walked out to the edge of the lake and could see the outer perimeter at the water’s edge was already changing to pink.

We witnessed a wonderful sunset enhanced by cloudy damp conditions. A lovely finale setting for the completion of our 2018 travels. We were less than 300 kilometres from home.

As it transpired only 2 millimetres of rain had been recorded by the B.O.M. By morning the water was already receding on the lake surface. Standing at the edge of the lake you could clearly see the outer perimeter had changed to a vibrant light pink colouring from the white salt surface prior the arrival of the rain.



Leaving the Pink Lakes, we travelled to Lameroo visiting Marys family on the farm then it was onto our sons place catching up with his family. We finally arrived at our home about 7 pm, travelling around 300 kilometres for the day. No more extended vacation time for us for 2018. It was back to reality, a rear yard buried under waist high grass, two trees no longer standing, and a couple of fence panels damaged/missing, possibly from a recent storm that had created plenty of damage in our area. Can’t wait to get out of here.