Miscellaneous 2017

 

After we came back from Tasmania our biggest disappointment was the house sitter. People had tried to break in , she claimed an old boyfriend, a door replaced, all our wine gone (she replaced it later) items missing. She took in a nephew and boyfriend and when the electricity bill turned up $1000 instead of $300. Now three month later no items returned. First time we had problems with a house sitter.
Since April no big trips but little ones to Mackay  for Jed's christening, outings with the motorhome club and our "Dam fine rally" at the end of June. We don't drive around but we managed to get 340 motorhomes at Ross dam Park. Seen that I am in the committee a bit of work to do. However it was a great week.
After this two weeks to get ready for Christmas in July at Mareeba. The two weeks started off with a weekend in Charters Towers open air movie theatre and on to Anna Branch. This is on the way to Mareeba on the Gregory Development road.
15 Motorhomes for the weekend. We continued north via Greenvale and Ravenswood. We travelled with our house sitter, (The good one) she has looked after our place a few times over the last few years. After five days in Mareeba slowly house wards. We offered our house to the son of friends who had his girlfriend over from Holland. A few more repairs to the bus and ready for another weekend out with the motorhome club. This time to a country music weekend. There were some good singers but some were worse than terrible.

 

 

        Susan at the DFR fashion parade                           X Mas in July Mareeba                              Ingham RV park
 
August. After a week home we volunteered to mind a camp the motorhome club had set up in Ingham. This is run by volunteers. We used to live in Ingham and still know a few people here. We do two weeks here when we move 100KM north for a weekend with the four motorhome clubs in this region. As you can see we are very involved with the motorhome club. At least the bus get's used a lot. The weekend with the Barron Rivers wanderers, Far Northern Nomads, Thuringowa Drifters and our club the Tropical Coast Wanderers was a success. Beautiful weather good food and a band to keep us entertained.
Only one week home and slowly off to the Bundaberg rally where we both offered to volunteer.
 



All the participants from the four chapter meeting spelling our main club name:
                                                                                                                   Campervan and Motorhome club of Australia

We made it in the local rag

 

23 September. First stop Guhalungra. This is just a rest stop beside the road on the way to Bowen. We supposed to go with 10 motorhomes but heard later that two dropped out. That night the local rugby league club had an important match and all sorts of methods were in place to watch the game on TV.  My normal TV worked perfectly till all all channels dropped out just after dinner. Someone had a projector  and had a screen hooked up. This did not work either. We could watch it inside because we have satellite. In the end we just listened to the radio. Next day to Collinsville. A nice rest area but not much going on in town.  After Collinsville Lake Elphinstone. We have been here a few times before. A large campsite with toilets and showers. All participants of the tour are now together. Nice weather and nice travel companions. Two days here and off to Mount Britton. This is an old gold mining town. No buildings left just signs where everything was. A big 100 y ear old fig tree provided shade during social time. One of the travel companions and myself decided to hike to one of the peaks you could see in the distance. We left at 7.45 AM and at first it was an easy walk but the way up was steep and the service was all little pebbles which proved very slippery. We got close to the top at 11 AM but the rock was too slippery and steep to do the last 50 metres. On the way back we decided to take a different way back, big mistake. The terrain got even steeper and more slippery. Also the temperature was 40 degrees in the shade. By 1 PM we got really tired and progressed slowly. Tried to get back to the track we were on first. Luckily we had two radio's, two phones, water, a little food and a mirror. My companion lost his radio and phone reception was nearly non existing. By 2 PM we decided to contact base to activate an personal locator beacon. This sends a signal to a satellite and on to the emergency services. We had to wait just over an hour when we heard the helicopter. It took a while for them to find us. The battery of my radio was going flat and we could not communicate with the helicopter. The mirror saved the day. It still took over two hours to get us back to camp. After we were checked out by the ambulance and declared fit all was left to drink plenty of water and go over the day again.

You can watch the channel 7 newsflash here:  https://youtu.be/-fCkCks39oQ  and the paper article here:   https://www.dailymercury.com.au/…/two-lost-bushwal…/3229296/

 

 
                    Still on the way up                             Being winched out           We were aiming for the peak in the middle
 

29 September.  A long drive this time 330 Km to Duaringa. This was especially selected because the local football team won and is now in the finals and the game is this Sunday. The campsite is beside the Dorrigo river. The game is over and the cowboys lost. At least we got a nice pub meal out of it.  During the night we had a lot of rain and when we left the next morning two motor homes got bogged.
One overnight stop and we arrive at the rally site. A lot of motorhomes here already. The first couple of days not much to do. Drove a couple of times to familiarise ourselves with the route we have to take.
8 October and all the motor homes arrive. I had a late shift and got one turn to get familiar with the bus and the route by myself. By now an experienced coach driver.

 

 

Bundaberg CMCA rally

 

14 October. Open day which means the general public can have a look. This is the day the rains came. Now five days later and it has rained nearly constantly with very strong winds at times. When I tried to wind my awning in one arm broke off the motor home. Luckily I could fix it the next day. Only have to replace one broken part. On Tuesday we were supposed to clean the busses and return them. But because of the rain this got delayed and we decided to have a look at a lifestyle village. Drove around in a golf buggy in the pouring rain. Very nice facilities and houses. Susan made an appointment with an other village which we visited on Wednesday. Not as nice as the first one but much cheaper. We have something to think about when we get home. We planned to drive direction home after the visit but all roads out of Bundaberg are cut. And even the main highway north is cut in several places. We got as far as Gin Gin for the night. Next day Mackay with Luke and Nikaela. Jed is now 15 month and walking. Susan couldn't keep her hands of him. Two days in Mackay and back to Townsville on Sunday.  We wanted to drop off some money and something for the rescue crew in Mackay but the bell and phone did not work. Home again at 4PM.  Townsville had a fair bit of rain in the last week and the grass was green again instead of brown when we left. Berryl the house sitter had done good job not like the one when we were in Tasmania.

 

 

No more plans for travelling this year. Our house is about to go on the market and off to Bundaberg.
We are still in Townsville. No sale.