(01) Northwards from Sydney – MAY 2021
Our first overnight stop was a free camp alongside the Bulahdelah Golf Course. This was a good excuse to be up early and get a quick 9 holes of golf before heading north again.
Port Macquarie was our first ‘proper’ caravan park. It was here we entertained those watching with our tense attempts to back into a fairly tight spot. I tell you, this is more difficult than anchoring! Really strange we ran into Adrian and Silvia old work mates walking on the promenade!
Ever northwards to Emerald Beach which is just Coffs Harbour and a must do stop to have dinner at a Mexican Restaurant recommended by the Kilpatrick’s.
Besides great food there was a two page menu of Margaritas of every conceivable variety. The early morning walk on the beach and headland was worth it just to see the kangaroos.
The following week was spent catching up with friends. First the Kilpatrick’s camping at Brooms Head followed by a quick coffee one morning in Yamba to see Tim.
We had an ‘employment’ opportunity at Beach Farm in Cudgen (near Fingal Head). Our sailing friends who have a catamaran in Greece called Licence to Chill, Andrew and Marijun Locke (aka Lockie and MJ) have a 30 acre mixed fruit tree farm. In exchange for leaving the caravan on their land for 10 days we offered to help with avocado picking.
Beach Farm, Cudgen
Lockie was experimenting with a roadside fruit stall to sell excess produce so John became marketing manager together with picker of avocados, custard apple, mandarins, oranges, lemons, papaya, chokos, sapote (aka chocolate pudding fruit). We were invited to celebrate Andrew’s birthday while we were there and meet the extended family. They insisted we stay in a guest room and were great hosts.
After the birthday party we left VanGo at the farm and spent a couple of nights with my brother Bruce in Tweed and caught up for a coffee with the lovely Dawn Niven and husband John, while also managing to see another sailing couple, Deb and John Thornley (they have a catamaran in Greece called TaKaOa) and are doing the grey nomad thing also.
John wanted to catch up with an old work mate, Wayne and Jacquie Harris and the only time that worked was to meet at the GC International Boat Show at Sanctuary Cove. We had a great day out and the catching up was fairly expensive with Wayne now having his heart set on a new 35 ft Beneteau Swift trawler which can sleep 6 and uses a sh** load of fuel! Argh the engine room space!
Our last stop on the Gold Coast was to visit an old friend from our Africa trip days (35 years ago) Greg Wood. His small holding at Wongawallan in the GC hinterland has a beautiful home where he Libby and their children live with some very fine horses, plus chickens which provide plenty of fresh eggs for the great farm breakfasts Greg cooked us each morning.
After another short visit to see more sailing friends, Jane and Andy, in Scarborough before we finally headed out towards the west.
We met up with another couple at Widgee inland from Gympie and spent a fun day at the local pumpkin festival at Goomeri which swelled the town population from 750 to over 30,000 for the weekend! Then it was on to stay with new friends we met at Brooms Head, Eric and Kate Sturgess, who had the exact same caravan as us and were parked in the next caravan spot. They invited us to stop and spend a few days at their property in Gayndah on the Burnett Highway where they have a citrus orchard.
What a nice surprise this small agricultural town was – full of history being the oldest town in Queensland first established in 1849 and with a lovely museum and many restored buildings. The town is on the Burnett River and has seen many floods over the past 150+ years and is the centre of citrus growing in Queensland.
We parked in amongst the mandarin trees for the next 3 days and connected up to water/power. Easy access to all the mainstream shops and Eric’s workshop meant John was in heaven and managed to get lots of jobs done eg fitting protection around all our plumbing pipes under the van which we will need on rough/dirt roads; fitting the anti-flap bars for the awning; bonnet protector etc.
Now, almost a month after leaving home we are close to reaching Carnarvon Gorge in Queensland. We had 3 weeks traveling up the coast from Sydney to Brisbane catching up with friends and family and enjoying some amazing hospitality so now we really feel we are on our own. The land has got drier, the towns smaller and the temperatures warmer. Next stop : Carnarvon Gorge.