Mandarin picking

Back in Sydney, we've only been home 2 nights, but life already seems busy. We've caught up with friends, had to find school uniforms and new school shoes, and been welcomed back at church.
It was nice to escape to the country this arvo to pick mandarins at an orchard at Wiseman's Ferry. It was also good to get the boys out of the house on a cold wet afternoon.
I found myself checking Wiki Camps to find some free camps to escape to, there are a few national parks in this area and a beautiful river.

The last leg

We drove through the rain the day we left Sydney, 3 months ago, until we got to Bateman's Bay. Since then all we've had was a small shower in Albany, the midnight storm in the Kimberley and a downpour in Carnarvon Gorge.
I lugged my knee high gumboots around the country and wore them once.
So it seems fitting that as we approach Sydney on our final day, it's raining.

I am looking forward to getting home, to seeing friends, off loading the kids to play with their friends, S going back to school (he can't wait!), having a roof over my head, being part of the neighborhood again, not having to sit in the car all day.

It's a bit sad that the adventure is coming to an end. I've had people say that we're doing the trip of a lifetime but I don't think of it like that at all. I think it's only the beginning. We've got the camper trailer and Evan won't sell the Prado so we can go again at a moments notice. I want to do The Red Centre one August and there's also the Queensland coast (because we ran out of time). Back to the Gold Coast to stay with Jo again.
The Gibb River Road would be fantastic with a few other families. And Kakadu and Arnhem Land, I'll have to find out when the cultural festivals are on.
Closer to home, there is Barrington Tops and Myall Lakes. After driving through central Queensland we want to take the kids to a country show or Rodeo, maybe Orange or Dubbo next year.

Let me know if you want to join is for our next adventure*

*Tyre shredding and fine weather guaranteed.

Roof's going on

Back home the new Colorbond roof is half on, looking great in Basalt grey. The cladding upstairs needs to be finished before the rest of the roof can go on.
I am too excited to see it all!!!

Almost home

Back on the east coast it feels like we're back into civilisation. We've been staying in Jo's granny flat so we're no longer camping and we're back in the suburbs.
Down along the beach front at Burleigh Heads all the mums and their children are dressed in the latest fashions and everyone is exercising.
We've had a nice relaxing couple of days, taking the kids to the park and the beach and doing nothing around the house. Evan watched the kids while Jo and I went op shopping! Some great finds!
We even got out the sewing machine and made some cushion covers one night!

We took Jo's huge ridge back dog to the beach and I tried to remain calm when approached by a large husky.

Thank you so much Jo and family for a great time!!

We're only 800 and something kms from Sydney so we'll drive to Evan's Aunt in Lauriton tonight.
Oh NSW, your roads are so smooth but we're not so pleased with the road works which make them so.

To the Gold Coast

It was a long drive from Miles to Chinchilla to Dalby to Toowoomba. There are so many little towns along the way through this heavily farmed area of Queensland. It seemed to be mostly wheat fields and cotton that we were passing. Instead of moving at 110kph it was a much slower journey, but there was much more to see than rural WA.
East of Toowoomba and onto Ipswich and you're into the outer suburbs of Brisbane. There is a fantastic view when you get on the start of the motorway, looking east.
From then on it was motorways and traffic all the way to the Gold Coast.
We were welcomed by one of my oldest friends, Jo, and her beautiful family and we'll have a few nights with them.

This morning we went down to Tallebudgera Creek, just south of Burleigh Heads. There was a nice patch of beach for the kids to play on and they mucked about at the waters edge. Later we walked around the headland to Burleigh Heads. It's a beautiful path through the forest and we saw some dolphins in the waves and whales about 1km offshore, splashing about and blowing water spouts.

After lunch we drove to see Evan's Grandpa Harry who is 99 and lives in a nursing home. He seemed quite with it and the little boys were pleased to meet their Great Grandpa but not so pleased being cooped up inside.

Carnarvon Gorge

Carnarvon Gorge is a great national park, far enough from Brisbane not to get day trippers and a beautiful gorge with easy walks.
We enjoyed three nights here rather than the two we'd intended to, at Takarakka Bush Resort.
The forest here reminds me a lot of the bush around Sydney and the Blue Mountains with high sandstone cliffs, gum forests with ironbark and red gums, but the main difference would be the tropical feel you get from the groves of cabbage tree palms and huge cycads.
The main walking track takes you along beside the river, rock hopping large pebbles when you need to cross it.
The further up river you go, deeper into the gorge, the more lush the forest becomes. Side paths lead you into smaller gorges off the main river. It is cool and shady with more palms and tree ferns and the water in the creeks flows over and around mossy rocks. The Moss Garden was the first of these side paths and we all made the 3.5km distance there for lunch. R was carried on Evan's back but 4 yr old L walked the whole way there and back, even carrying a backpack!
The Art Gallery was a length of Aboriginal rock art at the base of the sandstone escarpment, about 50m long with handprints and boomerang stencils. Some are dated at 19 000 years. S and I really wanted to see it so we pushed on another 3km. Some looked so fresh I wondered if the ranger had been touching them up with an orange spray can.
On the walk back we also went into the Amphitheatre. Where the gorge ends there is a large crack in the sandstone. Metal ladders lead you up into the crack, taking you through a narrow passage and opening into an open space or amphitheatre. It was beautiful in there but quite cold. We careful descended the cold slippery ladders and finished our walk out of the gorge. I'd love to come back here in a few years time and walk to the very end of the gorge and camp overnight at Big Bend.
I was a bit sore the next day as S and I had walked 13.5km but we still did the shorter walk into Mickey's Gorge where it got narrower and narrower until you could touch the mossy sandstone walls on either side. S and Evan went in as far as they could but were stopped by a deep pool of water.

We really enjoyed our stay at Carnarvon Gorge, we'll definitely come back here.

The Willows Gemfields

As we traveled east along the Capricorn Highway we came to some signs to Sapphire, Rubyvale and The Willows Gemfields. This little area of Australia is known for it's sapphires and in some areas you can go fossicking.
The Willows was a tiny little town with a hall and RFS and a caravan park, so we stopped in at the caravan park to ask what the go was with fossicking.
I think most tourists give The Willows a miss and head for Sapphire or Rubyvale. The owners of the caravan park were very excited we'd come with kids to look for sapphires. The tattooed couple got out a map to show us where to look and showed us what to look for, pretty much black glass pebbles.
Out past the rubbish tip, on the road into town you could drive into some land, covered with dry gum forest, and dig. Old school, shovel and pick. There were small mounds of rock next to holes but less than a metre deep. If a hole had an upturned bucket in it you weren't allowed to dig there. This hole was reserved for 48 hrs.
There was an old man digging not far off so we went and asked him if he'd found anything. He hadn't from this hole, or so he said, but he showed us how you dig under the layer of ash and pebbles, then sift it and see what you find. He also showed us how he used his divining rods to see where it dig, interesting...
S and I did not have a pick or shovel or sive but we looked around on the surface for a bit. We didn't find anything.
As we'd come down the road to The Willows we decided to continue along this minor road to come out at Springsure and miss Emerald altogether. There was a stretch of dirt but a nice country drive.
We made it into Carnarvon Gorge later than that afternoon.

Small town disappointment

There seems to be quite a bit of tourist traffic moving through country Queensland. Lots of grey nomads, quite a few on motorbikes. We haven't seen this much traffic since we left Perth.

Queensland country towns all have their museums and attractions and I wanted to take the kids into a few, however the prices have been ridiculous! There's the Waltzing Matilda Museum in Winton as well as a dinosaur museum. Longreach has The Stockmens Hall of Fame and the Qantas Founders Museum. Should I have to pay more than $50 to let my family look through a few displays on the history of the town?!
We've just left the Qantas museum in Longreach where it is $70 for the family to look at the displays. This price does not include a walk through of the 747. You have to pay more to do that. We looked for free over the fence.
If it didn't cost so much to see these attractions we might hang around and stay in these towns rather than passing through. Wouldn't that be better for their economies?
Maybe I'm just tired and complacent. We've been traveling for 3 months now and it feels like we're almost home but it's still so far.
Lucky for the boys there was a fantastic collection of old farming machines and diggers along the main street of Ilfracombe and they were free to climb on!

We're at a nice free camp tonight in Jericho and we'll head towards Emerald in the morning.