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| Townsville to Anakie 2006 |
| We left Townsville Friday the 15th of
December. First stop Ayr, Leslie and Merv. They just returned from the
Mudgee rally and had a few mechanical problems. Off to Bowen and the
caravan park at Horseshoe Bay. We have camped there many times and it is
very peaceful but that is about to change. An enormous block of apartments
is situated right on the nicest spot and is the dominant feature of the
bay. Next day to Airly Beach for some business and Bowen will probably look like this in a few years time. |
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| Next day visited the Sawtell family in Mackay and continued after lunch to Carmila Beach. A very peaceful free camp at the beach. From there to friends in Rockhampton for coffee and on to Caliope River Rest area. Another one of our favourite spots. Next morning to Tiaro where the freecamp guide told us there would be showers but they were closed. During the day we discovered that we had lost our hatch. We left it open and had blown away. There was a strong wind and in Gympie and Tiaro they had a mini cyclone the day before. A lot of broken trees and some houses lost their roof. |
| Finally in the big smoke (Brisbane) and
over the next days we visited some of our old friends and our old house. A
young couple lives in there now and are renovating. We build it in 1971.
The pool has been taken out and replaced with a vegie garden. The Tom Tom
proved to be a marvellous invention and we got everywhere without hassles.
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| 22 December on the way to
Casino village. We did stop at a place were they sell busses for
motorhomes (Koolah campers) and we decided to put our name on the waiting
list for a wide bodied Hino 7 meter bus. Casino village has changed a lot since we visited the first time 2.5 years ago. There are permanent houses everywhere and this time the camping area is overflowing. We met a few people we had met in the north at rallies. |
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| From Casino to Morie.
Tomtom directed us all the way but we ended up with 80KM of unsealed
roads. Just backed in our parking spot for the night and another couple we
met at motorhome rallies parked beside us and we just had the drinks out
and a caravanner joined us. Happy hour is always better when you are with
a group of people. The next few days were long driving days. December 28
we had our first encounter with a camp at the Murray River. We could not
miss the free camp at Tocumwal as there were heaps of tents and caravans
visible from the road. We parked besides the river with the cockatoos
overhead and a glass in our hand. The temperature at night was getting a
chilly 14C. 8 AM on the road again. The day before I filled up with with bio diesel. I will never do this again. The price difference was 15 cent but the drop in performance was more than this. The Mazda is slow at the best of times but with the foot on the floor I was struggling to get 85 - 90 KH. As soon as I filled up again the improvement was immediate. |
| We arrived in Anakie Friday afternoon.
Plenty of parking. The Goedegebuur family were all healthy and the girls
grown taller in the two years we had not seen them. New year's eve
watched the fireworks on TV and had glass of bubbly at midnight. Bart
decided to start the extension on his house and for three days we have
been digging trenches and poured the foundation the last day we were
there. |
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| Starting the
demolition job. Susan cooking for the hungry
army. |
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3 January on the road again heading north
towards Adelaide but not the shortest route. |
