Author: Colin Spain

The Official Blogger for Grey Nomads Travel and Cruise and GR8L1F YouTube: @colinspain1078

Darwin – 2023 – To the NT Border.

Since our September 2022 return to base in the Yarra Valley of Victoria, a lot of maintenance and renovations of our home have kept us busy. We decided to update the inside of the family home of 33 years. Every room has a new coat of paint to last another 30 years. Before then, “the box” will have arrived and taken us to our “final resting place”.

The kitchen and bathrooms have been stripped back to empty space, and replaced with all new modern fittings and cabinetry. It’s like a new home. Relearning where things are and where to find them has been an education.

When we left for this trip at the end of April, furniture and clothes were left stacked in piles in their wrong rooms to allow Gary Sprinkler room to complete the wall paint. Let me tell you who Gary “Sprinkler” is. When we re-turfed the lawn in 2021, Gary’s wife offered her husband to install an automatic irrigation system to allow us to water the garden and lawns automatically if it had not rained. We had trouble remembering his name so called him Gary Sprinkler. His name comes up on our phone as “Gary Sprinkler calling”.

Our departure for 2023 came along the day after we originally planned and that was fine; it just meant that we would miss out on a couple of nights stay at Crescent Head near Kempsey NSW. After the winding road towards Benalla, the Hume is a comfort to travel along. At Jugiong is a donation camp just off the highway. We arrived in time to have soup with Chris and Marilyn who had been camped there for a few weeks – I think.

It was at Jugion that we realized that it was time to upgrade to lithium batteries. Our gel batteries were purchased last year and we thought they had failed us. We had to start the motor home motor to put some charge in the house batteries to bring the Slideout in before we could travel further. So an appointment was made with trusty James to have that done two weeks later on the Gold Coast.

Most years, we attend a Grey Nomads Convention at Stuart’s Point. This lasts ten nights and has about 450 attendees; many of them are friends from way back and from various work places over the years. Always a good time bringing back memories. Lyn had been asked to speak at one meeting about her favourite destinations around the world.

After Stuart’s Point, we headed through Coffs Harbour and to Grafton where our daughter lives. They have recently purchased a hybrid caravan and we were able to spend a weekend at a hidden camp called Secret Lake Retreat. All sites are unpowered so our batteries were really “tested”. We had to use the generator during part of the nights to keep the fridge doing it’s job with no food spoiled.

On up towards the Gold Coast where we stayed at Kirra Beach. For Mother’s Day dinner, we enjoyed a Thai meal near the beach. Meeting up with old friends is always good and a couple from Broadbeach managed to be allowed out on parole. Sorry Max and Jenelle. A little after they left for home, it rained, and rained, and rained. In 12 hours, we had 120mm. Packing up to travel further north while it’s raining is no joy at all.

First stop was to get the replacement lithium battery. It was found that the real problem was that the DC2DC charger had ‘retired’ without an approved request. The charger converts solar power into 12v to store appropriately in the battery. Now we are able to “free camp” without running out of power during the night.

From the Gold Coast, we made our way up towards and past Toowoomba and through Dalby to Chinchilla. The country camping ground was a good clean, no rush, camp ground, to do some washing and get to know a few fellow travelers.

On our way to Morven, we stopped at the Bakearoma at Roma. Their beesting is even better than the ones from Beechworth Bakery on a good day; they had drizzled toffee over the top – mmmmm. Marven accommodation was at a donation park at the sports ground; the lithium batteries doing well overnight; a sign of good things for the future.

If you want a bouncy ride, take the road north to Longreach. You’ll have the best milk shake if you had milk for breakfast. The scenery? Barren with hardly any above grass vegetation. The little towns along the way came up each 80km with Tambo the cutest. Barcaldine; fuel up and turn left to Longreach for another 100km.

Longreach caravan park is very large with extensive development of even more sites. It was quite noticeable that campers only stay here three nights to enable visits to both the Qantas Museum and the Stockman’s Hall of fame. We have rarely flown first class but we did here. The first class tickets gave us a tour of 3 early aircraft Qantas used as well as a tour through the 747-200 City of Bunbury. Our first class choice enabled us to a more detailed tour of the 747 with an opportunity to sit in the pilots seat as well as a walk out onto the wing; safety harnesses and closed footwear were a necessity.

If there’s one criticism of the stockman’s hall of fame, it would be, the show needs to become a show, that incorporates a story involving more people and intrigue; one stockman on few different horses is a bit lacking. All is good in the static museum with a “tour in your own time” headset with voice and ditties along the way.

We would return to what seemed a busy and progressive business center. Longreach is a “must stay for a few nights” kind of town.

The distances are vast out here. You pass many entrances to farms but strain to see the farm buildings in the distance; many unable to be seen. Can you imagine the request, “can you go out and get the mail”, and the kid takes a 2 hour trip to the mail box on the highway.

The rest stop turned out to be a great location to put the drone up for a scenic flight. Wow! The color was so much “Australian outback tonings”, I had trouble in my mind to switch to “breakfast is ready” mode. I’m happy that the drone gives such a different approach to landscape movies and photos.

Through Winton, the road is straight for kilometers with little towns popping up at around each 80 to 120 kilometers. We came to a country pub called The Blue Heeler at Kynuna and decided to enjoy a lemon squash while watching the road trains roar past. Behind the pub were 20 or so sites for travelers at $15 a night. We stayed the night and managed to get going by 8:30 for a bit more driving before having breakfast at a rest stop – I said rest stop, not restaurant!

Further up the highway, and the vastness of this typical outback vista, we came across another outback pub. We were too early for opening time but it brought back the vivid memories of that iconic Australian movie “Crocodile Dundee”; the old car from the movie sits outside waiting for photographers to enjoy with the pub in the background. Just a tiny town with a police station that had 7 satellite dishes on the roof – I kid you not.

Our destination for today was Mt Isa. After filling the fuel tank with more diesel at Cloncurry, and driving towards Mt Isa, we had hoped we could tour the now closed uranium mine made famous when the Australian Government was prepared to sell the uranium to overseas energy companies but refused to build clean energy power stations in its “own backyard”. What a saving that would be now in non-renewable materials being used rather than solar panels and wind turbines!

We had an offer to stay at a property in Mt Isa for the weekend but when we drove past, there wasn’t enough room to fit our vehicles, so we drove further west to Camooweal, just 12 km from the Northern Territory border, to a billabong that proved very popular with like-minded Grey Nomads.

Winter Warmer – 10

How remiss of me to miss many weeks of posting updates to our Warmer Winter trip. Here we are with a summary of the complete 8795 km and six and half months of traveling. With over 45 stops to set up and “break down” a day or two later, we are back to more permanent rain and lots of colder weather. Enjoy the post.

We left Woori Yallock 30th of April and after Grey Nomads Camp and a week with Sharlee in Grafton, we made an easy crossing into Queen Anna’s state of sunshine and zero Covid-19. Perhaps there’s some correlation there! Sunshine and zero Covid. I’m sure Anna doesn’t want that big of an influx of southerners to her state of “Queenslanders”.

We slowly moved up the coast after a service to the motor home on the Gold Coast, stopping at Bribie Island, Harvey Bay, the Whitesunday Islands and on up to Port Douglas where we did a U-turn and came back via the Atherton Tablelands. One town we passed through was where Lyn’s Dad first attended school, Tarsali. It was so small, and it was pouring with rain such that the cameras didn’t get a look.

Lyn’s younger sister and husband are housesitting in the beautiful coastal village of Cardwell while Peter drives trucks for the sugar cane harvest. We spent 3 weeks in the area notching up a few interesting locations while there. We enjoyed the mission beach area and Wallaman Falls.

Out west of Townsville, we were invited to stay at a camel farm and thought $20 per night for pensioners was a great tariff for two weeks. It was like an oasis in the middle of the Australian bush. The camels are bred from, and used, to improve the camel herds in the Middle East.

When we stock up the pantry and fridge of the motor home, we can get through two weeks, which gets us to the next pension payment. It’s surreal to be paid a regular pay after over 30 years of self employment.

We’ve met some interesting people while in Queensland, mainly from Victoria who escaped the lockdowns and curfews like we have managed. Some have made a rapid dash through NSW. Some have gone the long way round across to the NT, down to SA and into Victoria. Others, like us, have been patient and moved south when the annual electrical and hail storms started coming through from the west each day.

We crossed into NSW last Wednesday from the Kooralbyn valley. Traffic was sparse in the area and there were no physical checks other than the obligatory “smile at the camera” number plate photo. After a few days with Sharlee and Paul, we have started the 4 or 5 days of travel to the Victorian border. On checking the Victorian border crossing rules and application for permits, I think we’ll leave that until 30 minutes from the Murray in case the rules change a further time. (Has anyone been counting?)

As I write, Lyn is driving from last night’s stop at Uralla Golf Club to Gunnedah, and I’ll drive on to Dubbo. If we arrive by mid afternoon, we may continue for another hour or two.

It’s now a day later and we have enjoyed showing off our new satellite dish – our neighbours wonder how we are going to get in the driveway, but we’ll do our best.

We’ve made it to Albury tonight (Wednesday) and have had to change our plans of going to Geelong on the way home. Three of the grandkids have had to isolate as there’s been a few positive Covid cases at their school. That means we have to wait for the all clear.


We’ve been approved to return to Victoria as it appears the state needs us for some reason or another – maybe the population has decreased in the last six months and federal funding was on the decline.

Sorry, but your thoughts of hoping we would not return have been dashed. We will be home tomorrow- Thursday.

Ready to mow and trim

Strange, I found I hadn’t posted this prepared ramble I wrote 10 or so days ago. Since arriving home we have only seen the sun for short bursts which has enabled the garden to receive some attention.

Warmer Winter – 9

No news is good news! That describes our life since we arrived in Cardwell back a few weeks now. We have done what we have planned without any interference from Mr Covid; so far.

Our move to Mission Beach was a good move. Our campground at Wongaling was near to a supermarket and only a kilometre to the long, wide, hard sandy beach. There was a 4 km ride to the main Mission Beach. That beach is similar but has more tourists there to fill the Cafés, bars and clothes shops, if they’re not on the beach sun baking. We had a couple of nice snack meals there before returning to our motor home. We met up with Chris and Marilyn who have been on the road for nine years now; somehow, we find them on each of our trips to warmer weather.

Our itinerary still had a few chosen spots to get to before U-turning south to the southern spring. Next stop was Cairns for 4 nights. The bikes came in handy to get around a few of the nice areas of the town. The esplanade is a good place to both ride and wander. Cairns council have done a good job of developing this area and keeping it green and clean. The large pool just on the edge of the esplanade was well patronised with many doing a “double take” to watch the Tokyo Games shown on large screens while swimming.

Cane fields south of Cairns

Our journey along the coast towards Port Douglas became a highlight of our holiday so far, when we were treated to a fabulous day to view the coastline from Rex’s Lookout. The use of the drone came in handy for some great video of the coastline. It’s a “must-see” if ever you make your way north.

We experienced Port Douglas with virtually no tourists; there were no “holdups” in any shops, food or clothing. Our campground was a kilometre away from the main drag and the beach was about a kilometre away too. We found a lot of southerners were “two home” people (one down south and a unit in Port Douglas). Caravaners were the same – and why wouldn’t you? At this time of year, perfect temperature each day and mostly sunshine to match. All healthy people with so much of that miracle vitamin that comes to us all freely from the “big light in the sky”.

We had lunch with one of Lyn’s clients from the travel agency in Yarra Junction, now living mainly at Palm Cove, and on another day, a lunch at the surf club with a Port Douglas Paradise Motorhome owner who we had chatted to often, but had never met in person. Thank you Judy and Graeme.

Due to a road accident on the Bruce Highway, our journey heading south included a 5km detour. The air ambulance circled over us and landed just up the road in front of us before we were asked to u-turn to the detour. The cane farm on both sides of the highway had been recently prepared for new cane planting and the helicopter did a good job of stirring up the dust while landing. The enormous ball of dust enveloped us and we couldn’t see the vehicle in front for a short time. Interesting.

Now we’ve spent a week in the Atherton Tablelands just enjoying the no rush quietness and the walks in the local area. I have my annual eye/vision check appointment to keep my drivers licence on Tuesday so will head to Innisfail on Monday to have that happen.

Warmer Winter – 8

Really truly, the weather is warmer. Today is sunny again and 28. We are staying at Cardwell with Lyn’s sister for a few days but inside a garage – the price is great but the view of the tropical garden can only be captured if we bend over to look out the front window. Anyway, better start this post from where we left off at Airlie Beach.

We did fall in love with Airlie Beach last week and has become the pick of spots to make a booking for a couple of weeks next year. The touristy feel is evident but everything is clean and organized. True, it would normally be packed with backpackers with a non-Australian accent but Mr Covid has prevented that. We rode around the marina and noticed a super luxury yacht with a guy in a blue shirt and grey hair wandering the deck. Lyn googled the name of the yacht and came up finding it had a $10million price tag with the owner being Clive Palmer. We mentioned the fact to some young people nearby and they asked “Who’s Clive Palmer?” Oh dear, his campaigning has meant a “naught” for effectiveness.

We headed north some more and found a “pub on the side of the road” with free camping in the back and the main railway out the front. Gumlu is a quaint little town with hardly any houses but the school has an electronic announcement board out the front inviting us to attend the grandparents day “next Friday morning”. We declined the offer, but enjoyed an $8 dish for the main course at the pub. At least we heard when each train went through the village – such a quiet place after hours.

Gumlu

Beyond Gumlu was the turnoff to Rollingstone Beach Resort where we had tried to book for a 5 nights stay but could only manage to book 2 nights, but what a view; right on the waters edge looking out to the ocean and the many islands of the Coral Sea. The caravan park is now on the list to spend a month at, next year. Anyone want to join us?

When we were positioning the motor home, the neighbors came out to greet us, as often happens. (We must be attractive or something) Swapping town names was interesting. Lyn asked “and where are you from?” The response, “you wouldn’t have heard of our small town in Victoria, Yarra Junction,” she said in a quiet voice. “Oh! I had a shop there for 27 years, I know it well. I owned the travel agency there,” was Lyn’s reply. “Oh, are you Lyn? You did our travel to the UK 10 years ago.” You just never know who’s following you around this big country. The location, looking out to the islands, provided some great “this is my office for the day” views.

Rollingstone Tourist Park

Towns along the Cassowary Coast, all have histories of cyclonic damage. Our next town of Cardwell was obliterated by Yasi in 2011 and then again by Marci in 2015 and Debbie in 2017. However, council, with the benefit of government and Australia-wide community gifts, have rebuilt the foreshore to an attractive and a great stopping resting spot for those using the Bruce Highway. Real Estate is cheap but comes with a high rate of insurance. Some properties are attracting amounts of $11,000 per year.

Cardwell Queensland

From here, we move to Mission Beach tomorrow.

Warmer Winter – 6

The further we venture north the more I wonder about the notion that “it is warm up north”. All the way from Melbourne to Sarina, the temperature has been between 2, on a bad day, and 22 on a good day. Yes, there hasn’t been a lot of rain but since Maryborough, a lot of rain has fallen.

Our planning included a few days at the beach in Mackay but others beat us to it. The plan changed, again, and Armstrong Beach on the coast near Sarina accepted us. It’s a small town with a very small campground. Initially, we thought not to include it in our next itinerary north. After a few days and evenings beside the communal campfire, we’ve changed our minds and will be back. The beach is quite acceptable to walk on and very good to practice moves with the new drone. That thing really rips along when in “sports” mode.

Around Armstrong Beach

It was in Sarina, that I recognized where confusion originated. The Woolworths supermarket had all these green circles near the checkout requiring me to “Please Stand Here”. They never said “for how long” or “all at once” or “over how long-a period of time”. Someone suggested I take a chance and hope that, from heaven, a load of fresh food would descend. I chose to move on to the pharmacy and line up for the prescription drugs someone suggested I take for a “better quality of life”. No message to stop after death though.

Confusion Point

Moving on from a quiet little campground, our next site booking was at a busier, larger, campground near Airlie Beach. There’s something about larger touristy towns on the coast that we love-they have ice cream shops. New Zealand ones too. Airlie Beach is busy but at the same time clean, during the day. I’m told that at night, it is a much busier, noisier, town through to the mornings. With Covid, a shopkeeper told us, all the Bali Hens holidays have been happening in Airlie Beach, and the like. Yes, it’s a party town.

Luckily, we headed out early after a good night’s sleep. There is a great spot next to the yacht club for launching the drone, and the sky was blue with good sunshine at 8:00am. So we made our way to include some good vision of the area. What a day for photos! Rich blue skies with clear air and “comfortable” sunlight.

Airlie Beach

Whenever we book a day for a particular adventure, we include in the order, a day full of blue skies and photographic sunshine. Today, we were “half blessed”. The sunshine started 10 minutes before our boarding time of 11:00am, to return to Airlie Beach. So the drone shots are pretty dull and very average. The change in the atmosphere, made a good day a great day; just what we had come for.

Whitehaven Beach – in the top 5 in the world.

Warmer Winter – 5

I’ve overlooked keeping my regular posts; perhaps they should become irregular posts from now on.

Our moves since leaving the Gold Coast have included Bribie Island, Pialba Beach near Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Moore’s Park Beach, and now Yeppoon. Our expected U-Turn is to be at Port Douglas at the end of July.

We had never been to Bribie Island before. Our choice of campground was on the ocean side of the island to allow beach walks most mornings or afternoons. There are also some great bike paths and Lyn’s eBike got a good workout a couple of days. My balance factor still prevents the normal enjoyment I used to feel prior to the accident of 30 months ago. However, a different enjoyment has captured my relaxation time. Using a drone is a bit demanding but I am feeling more comfortable each time I press the “UP” lever (that’s the left one).

Hervey Bay is one of our favorite places to spend a few days. However, it’s not always the secure location one would expect from a town full of grey nomads. The coaster van next to us, was broken into and the lady’s purse was an obvious choice to get away with. She had security cameras inside to help the police identify the culprit. Lesson learned by one solo lady “never leave valuables on display at any time”.

Our site was a great spot to launch the drone from each time I wanted to have a lesson. A past memory was a few great Pialba sunrises and sunsets. They didn’t come to fruition this visit. However, while flying, we noticed a coastal eagle in a tree and made a close move for a few “dangerous” shots. He seemed to be interested in the weird object hovering close to his territory.

Pialba Beach Caravan Park.

Bundaberg CMCA park is an appropriate located short stay park near the shops and town Center. Priced at $3 per person per night in a self contained vehicle, is always a good choice. We met up with Doug and Kathy, who used to live in Warburton over 16 years ago. One of their daughters has a wild animal refuge licence and cares for baby kangaroos (some without any hair yet). Some have been retrieved from their mothers when involved in tragic accidents. She bottle feeds them and even teaches them to suck on a dummy.

Bundaberg CMCA site and baby kangaroo growing up in refuge.

Moore’s Park Caravan Park is unique in its own way; just a small quiet town on the coast about 25km north of Bundaberg. Near the park on a Sunday, the “Bundy Bergers” food outlet was in the right spot to provide a Sunday lunch of fish and chips beside the ocean. With great bike paths, many seniors were out early of a morning catching up on the exercise they meant to have 40 years before. Of course, the coast allowed some more drone flying practice on a few occasions.

Moore’s Park Beach

We noticed a “bush camp” location on our itinerary guide, so took 3 nights there at just $10 per person per night. The free firewood was a great bonus to making this a regular stopping point. Off the main trek, but our kind of bush camping.

Bush camping in the “wilderness”

We are now at Yeppoon where it started raining the evening we arrived and is still raining 50 hours later. It’s amazing how things get in the wrong place in a small “house” and today we spent a few hours rearranging where the pantry food is stored and where other things are now kept in a much more orderly way.

Our Yeppoon camp ground choice.

Warmer Winter – 4

After delivering the motor home to Paradise Motorhomes to complete a service and an accident repair job, we were transferred to a hotel on the Gold Coast just a block from the esplanade. Lyn had a “bank load” of points available so we are living it up in a hotel with a normal Gold Coast view – other hotels with a little peak in one direction at the ocean if you strained your body, and a peak in the other direction to the hinterland which keeps the surf out of inland Queensland.

The hotel has an interesting way of promoting the Gold Coast; inside each lift is a picture suggesting you will enjoy your time here. You may enjoy the pictures too.

Because the motor home repairs are going to take extra time to complete, we will not be able to move back in until Tuesday. This has meant we have had to vacate the QT and walk to The Vibe for an extra 4 nights. Our new view looks over the city to the left and the Nerang River to the right. We’ll miss the great breakfast buffet at QT but have gained a little kitchenette to enjoy at least one meal a day in our room.

It’s been many years since we took our kids to Sea World so OUR chance came again. The “Hopo” ferry took us up the paradise waterways to Sea World at a much more leisurely pace than our kids would have wanted those years ago. Breakfast wasn’t served until 10:30am which connected time wise to the dolphin show. The wander through the kids rides brought back memories of our days at Disneyland and Knotsberry Farm in Los Angeles. A shiver went all over us as we watched people having a closeup time with the penguins and the jellyfish exhibition was colorful and impressive.

Dolphins at Sea World

Warmer Winter – 3

We are now in Grafton visiting our daughter and son in law. Grafton is famous for its Jacaranda Festival. Our daughter had her wedding beside the Clarence River nearly 8 years ago during the Festival – so colorful. Today has been a brilliant blue sky day, just like it was for the wedding.

A revisit of Sharlee and Paul’s wedding site.

For many years, the town has been in need of a new bridge to join the north and south regions. The government completed a new bridge a year or so ago beside the dual purpose bridge; the north-south railway shared the crossing with motor vehicles. Traffic chaos reigned at peak hour on the vehicle section with a couple of bends along the way.

Landscaping work is nearly complete with the new bridge in place.

We’ll stay here through until Sunday.

Yesterday, we took a short trip to Yamba, north of Grafton but on the coast. The town shares the mouth of the Clarence River with Iluka. There are a lot of cafes and up market shops with up market prices. A lighthouse stands on the headland up from Yamba. The sunshine made the sky a brilliant blue so we are happy with the photos of the day.

The headland at Yamba is inviting the tourists that turn up in droves in season.

When our daughter married Paul, she found that he was a “keeper” of both fish and feather. Paul has a large fish tank and cares for many little fellows. The plecostomus spends a good amount of time puckering up to the glass as if he’s searching for a long drawn out “pash”. At first the bird aviary had to be constructed for a good stock of bush parrots and quaint birds. The numbers decreased a year or so ago from a disease and they haven’t been replaced. Harry is still the king of the aviary and often welcomes us with a “hello. Whatcha doin?”

Paul’s fish tank
Plecostomus
Aloo. Whatcha doin?

I have for a long time, wanted to venture into drone photography. Now I can say I’m a happy owner of a DJI Air 2S. It is so easy to get going compared to the $250 drone I bought from China which never worked properly. Just a couple of shots taken at Red Rock so far show what will be my photography and movie work in the future.

One of the main reasons we have come to Queensland is to repair some damage done 18 months ago when driving to Sydney for a funeral. An overtaking motor home cut us off and “pushed” us off the highway enough to brush with a white plastic post. The motor home also needed a service done to many of the components that make living in a Paradise worthwhile. It will be next week before it is ready to continue the “warmer winter” series, so we are having a different kind of luxury for the week in Surfers Paradise.