Headed South!!!!!!

Hello everyone.

Thank you for reading our blog. The last time we blogged we were at Bowen in North Queensland. We are now at Bathurst in central New South Wales, so we have covered quite some kilometres since our last blog. We are now making our way south quite quickly as we must catch the Spirit of Tasmania Ferry on September 15. After leaving Bowen we made our way down the Bruce Highway through Mackay and down to St Lawrence where we free camped beside the highway at Waverley Creek.

The next day we travelled down the Bruce Highway to Rockhampton and onto another free camp at Calliope River.

The next day we travelled further down the Bruce Highway through Childers and onto Burrum River where we stayed in a caravan park for 4 nights. During our time there we visited Harvey Bay, Toogoom & Burrum Heads. Most days we enjoyed some casual dining and fishing. We were so impressed with the coastal hamlet of Toogoom that we checked out some local real estate …? /,,,,!

After a good break at Burrum River Caravan Park we continued down the Bruce Highway through Gympie to Maroochydore for 2 nights. This area is part of the Sunshine Coast and is a popular tourist destination. We caught up with Cheryl’s girlfriend Christine & her partner whom were staying at the same caravan park. We also caught up with some friends from Tasmania being Leonie & Howie whom we had lunch with at an Asian restaurant where we found the food to be delightful.

We were back onto the Bruce Highway and travelled to Caboolture where we caught up with an old insurance acquaintance of mine. John used to visit me when I was working in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. John had only just returned from a trip to the outback including Birdsville and Lake Eyre.

We left the Bruce Highway at Caboolture and headed west to Kilcoy where we utilised a free camp at Kilcoy.

The next day saw us doing some driving in the ranges as we travelled through Esk, Hampton and Toowoomba. We stocked up with provisions at Woolworths in Toowoomba before driving further south to a free camp near Clifton at a place named Passmore Reserve. We enjoyed two days there in the company of Clive & Margaret Bassett whom I knew from my New Guinea days. Unfortunately, there was no water in the Condamine River. The area is in desperate need of rain.

After leaving Passmore Reserve we travelled west to Goondiwindi and onto the Newell Highway and down to just about Moree in New South Wales. We found a good free camp on Rocky River and again there was no flowing water in the river.

The next day we hit the road early and travelled down the highway through Narrabri, Coonabarabran, Gilgandra & Dubbo and onto the Mitchell Highway for another free camp at Ponto Pool Reserve.

Ponto Pool Reserve

Today, we travelled down the Mitchell Highway through Orange to Bathurst for an overnight stop. Whilst in Bathurst we caught up with our former neighbour Maddy Smith & her son Ian for a great chat and light lunch. I also managed to complete a couple of laps of the famous Mount Panorama Racing Circuit. This car racing track is the most famous in Australia.