Month: November 2020

This is our last post as our journey has ended in the cruellest of ways.

Last Friday we received the devasting news that our beautiful son, Jayden, passed away.    His sudden death has broken us, and we are heading home.

We have received so much outpouring of love, support and kind words that we are truly humbled.   Jayden knew he was loved he just couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

Jayden was an amazing young man who will be missed by so many. George Ty Kiandra and I are broken.

Keep your loved ones close and always remember that life is short and gone in a blink of an eye.

For anyone struggling with this news, please talk to family and friends that love and support you.   If anyone needs it Lifeline is there to help.  13 11 14.

You will never leave my heart.

Day 134 – Tamborine Mountain

Day being a somewhat sombre day since George’s sister, Lynette, passing, we decided to drive up Tamborine Mountain and explore the hinterland.

Tamborine Mountain sits on the edge of the escarpment behind the Gold Coast.   From Tamborine Mountain you can get a great view of the Gold Coast.   There are also some gorgeous waterfall including Cameron Falls, Cedar Creek Falls and Witches Falls.

The township is a lot like Berry in NSW, a nice stroll along a quaint country town where you can indulge in wine tasting, morning tea and shopping.   We spent most of the morning exploring all the shops and a couple of the cellar doors before heading office to explore the stunning waterfalls.

After a walk down to Cameron Falls, we ventured back through town to Eagle Heights for a cool ale, light lunch and view back over the Gold Coast.

Tonight, was spent with Jason Taryn Brody, Sienna and Jett remembering Lynette.  Was great to be with family again after so long.

Day 135 – The Gap (Brisbane)

Rise and shine in our beautiful camp spot with the cows lowing and the river flowing.   You would not think we are only about 30klm from Southport.

Today we headed up to The Gap to spend the night with my cousin Geoff and his wife Jane.   On arrival we were greeted with Jane’s catch of the day, a healthy look python who had decided to beat the heat and coil up in a bucket of water which had house some of Jane’s plants.    After a couple of calls to see if someone would rescue it (not) it was decided to leave it where it was and let it disappear into the night.

We had a wonderful dinner with Geoff and Jane.     We also got to sleep in a bed in a house!!    First time in 135 days.  

Day 136-137 – Oxenford and Guanaba

After heading back from The Gap the next two days were spent around Oxenford, Pimpama and Guanaba catching up on laundry, getting my haircut (yeeha), having the electronics on the car for the new van sorted and the best of all catching up with our long time friend (no not our old friend) Lorraine Mathieson.

What a great night we had with Lorraine dining at hers, swapping what we have been doing over the last 20 odd years, catching up on kids, grandkids, work, births, deaths and marriages.   Her quick wit has not changed, and George and she just slotted into bouncing off each other as they always did.  I certainly hope it is not another 20 years before we see her again.

Day 138 – Hinze Dam

Another catch up day with friends who once resided in Ulladulla.     Pat Collins and her two daughters, Vanessa and Rebecca.  Pat and I were work colleagues for about 15 years, her daughter Bec use to mind Jayden occasionally for me when he was a baby and I watch both her daughters Vanessa and Bec grown threw primary and high school.

Pat chose Hinze Dam as our lunch catch up and what a beautiful spot.   

We spent about 2 ½ hours catching up on each other’s lives since Pat and the girls left Ulladulla.   We really enjoyed our time with them, and it went by so quickly.

After getting back to our van, the owner had let the cattle into the paddock through which we travelled to and from the road.   Not a problem says George, of course we can open and shut the gate each time we leave and came back as one would do when on a property.    However, one forget to mention the bloody big bull with horns in the paddock and of course, George did most of the driving and I was the one that had to get in and out of the car to open and close the gate.      I am sure that bull lined me up every time!!

Day 139 – Springbrook – Mudgerabah – Nerang

We set off early this morning for a drive to the Natural Bridge and Glow Worm cave in the Springbrook National Park.   It was a short walk in and out of about 1.1klm round trip.   Well didn’t I have a grumpy faced George having to walk that far.   Really, he is such a sook.   It turned out to be a beautiful walk both in and out and not very stressful at all.

We took a further drive up the mountain to find a lookout which was on Wikicamps.    Luckily, George realised we were getting close to the Queensland/NSW border which had we ventured into Murwillumbah we would have had to wait three days to get a pass to go back into Queensland.   So, a quick U turn was made.   I was that close to NSW it felt weird to turn around and go back because of COVID rules.

We then headed into Springbrook for a coffee stop before heading down the mountain to Nerang for lunch with my sister Helen, her husband Terry and niece Julie.    

We had a lovely lunch and was nice to see both Helen and Terry looking well, especially Helen who has battled some health issues over the last couple of years.         Thanks, Julie, for fronting up again, you must be my favourite niece now!!   Sorry Deb.

Day 140 – A fond farewell

What a hot day.     Up until now the weather has been mild, warm but pleasant.  Nope not today.    I made George dragthe generator out as we were living off the grid so that we could fire up the air conditioner.       Mumble, grumble and with some grunting and wheezing away the generator went, and we managed to have some relief from the heat until we went out to explore Southport, the Fox and Hound for afternoon drinks and dinner with Jason and family at the Thai Restaurant in Upper Coomera.

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We bid them farewell tonight hoping that we will seem them all in the next couple of years.   The kids have already grown since we saw them in December last year.    

So that is it for another week.   We are heading south Monday back into New South Wales.  Will have to catch up on NSW COVID-19 rules.     

We have more friends to catch up with before heading further south into Victoria.   Have plans to stop in northern NSW for awhile before heading down to the boys in Victoria.

We are both well, safe and happy little (not as little as when we left) campers.    We love the new van, travelling, catching up with people we haven’t seen for so long and meeting new people.    It is so good for the sole, can’t image anything will replace that feeling of being free of the routine, stress and household chores.      It takes less than 15 minutes to make the bed, washup, sweep, clean the bathroom and be out the door.    

Hoping you are all well, counting down the days to Christmas, being allowed to visit family and friends freely and enjoy that wonderful Christmas break.

Love to all.   See you in NSW/VIC sometime soon.

Day 127 – Tewantin to Burpengary

Having decided to stay one more night at Tewantin and after a somewhat restless night for both of us, we set off early for our run down to Burpengary for the day.

We spent the morning probably making one of the biggest financial decisions for us and probably one that meant over the next week we would be turning ourselves inside out.

The exciting news is …… we bought a new van.   Oh yes, we did.   Oh yes, we are mad. Oh yes, we are both very happy with our decision. Really!!

Over the last 10 days whilst in Tewantin we put our van on the market and sold it 7 days later.    Lucky for us the buyer was happy for us to remain in the van until we picked up the new one and was able to transfer from the old van to the new one.

The new van we saw on the net on Saturday night and by Monday morning it was ours.   After signing the necessary documentation and parting with our deposit we drove back to Tewantin to pack up and move down to Burpengary.

Day 128 – Tewantin to Burpengary East – 100klms

Now having decided on the new van, drastic measures were now required.   More free camping and or cheaper camping places, less eating out and a strict budget for George and myself.      

I am not sure which George was more stressed about, the new van or the tighter budget!!

Our next camping spot for the next five nights was one a private property known as “Wescloud Lodge”.   Very rustic but plenty space to move around and no one camped on top of us.      

The manger of the camp, Frank, was very amenable and once we told him of our plans for the next week, he was more than happy to give a spot with plenty of room to park two vans and unpack and repack.

As time was required for the new van to be ready, the date for pick up was Friday and the pickup date for the old van was Saturday.   Yeap we would have less than ½ a day to carry out the move.

Day 129 – Bribie Island

Today we spent driving up to Bribie Island and having a look around the island.  

What a beautiful place, an island paradise that hasn’t been over commercialised.    What a change.     We could move around the island easily and were able to drive along the waterfront and take in the view. 

Bribie Island is a sand island forming part of the coastline sheltering the north part of Moreton Bay, it is 34 kilometres long and 8 kilometres wide.

The Bongaree end of the island was less built up than the Banksia Beach end of the island.

After exploring Red Beach, we were walking back to carpark when George ran into the Andrew and Elizabeth Nowasad, the previous owners of the Ulladulla Guest House.    They have moved to Surfers Paradise and were holidaying on Bribie Island.

After a quick stop for lunch we headed back to Burpengary to organise bits a pieces for the changeover.

Day 130 – Redcliff

Most of today was spent arranging bits and pieces for the new van before heading into Scarborough, Redcliff and Deception Bay before meeting my sister Lyn and her husband Vern for dinner at the Redcliff RSL.

The Redcliff Peninsula was one of the earliest settlements in Brisbane and there are a lot of historical buildings.

Our catch up with my sister and her husband was great as we have not seen them for a couple of years.

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Day 131 – Wescloud Lodge

Today was spent striping out our old van, taking off the bits and pieces that wasn’t to pass with the van and packing up inside.    The humidity was a killer, and we were so surprised how much stuff our little van could carry.

It was an early night for us although not a lot of sleep as we both tossed and turned, churning over the things that had to be done for the changeover.

Day 132 – Out with old in with the new

9.30am couldn’t come quickly enough.    We were on the doorstep of the caravan dealer for our change over right on 9.30am and spent the next two hours learning the ropes of the new van and parting with our money.

Whilst sorting out the paperwork in the dealer’s office, in walked the Swindales. You have got to be kidding! Of all the places to run into them. We shared our exciting news and were happy to hear that they had bought a van from the same dealer nine years earlier and were still happy with it. Great to see faces from home.

The afternoon was a big one, loading the new van, cleaning the old van and sorting out how everything worked.

George is an absolute marvel when it comes to working out the way things should be set up, so he left me to the inside and ploughed through with setting up the outside.

How exciting it was to be in our new van for the first night even if we were bloody exhausted.

Day 133 – Farewell to “Kickenback”

The new owner of little van came early and after running through all the bibs and bobs, it was time to leave.   However, the van had decided to give us one last farewell present by having the jockey wheel collapsing inside and the front stabiliser snapping off in George’s hand.   We couldn’t believe that this little van that had given us no problems whatsoever, decided to have the last say.     So, one new jockey wheel and stabiliser later, she was on her way.   

Day 134 – Burpengary to Guanaba via Pimpama

After a night of rain, it was a relief to know our new van doesn’t leak!!  Good start.

We set off this morning heading to George’s nephew’s place at Pimpama, to see the new home and pinch a bit of water before heading to our camp site for the next 8 days.  

On arrival at our new spot we were so pleased to see the beautiful green and spacious area on the banks for a small creek with lots for beautiful trees and cattle.

We set up and then headed back to Jason and Taryn’s for a catch up with them and Brody, Sienna and Jett.     

Well that is our exciting news exposed.    We are both happy with the new van and love the space inside.   George is happily snoring away as I write, the weather is a lot colder than we have been experiencing but nothing like the southern states.

We were very excited to hear that NSW is opening its border to VIC at the end of November and we are hoping that subject to being no more outbreaks in either NSW or VIC we will get to see the boys in December and have Christmas with them.

Our coming week will be busy catching up with more relatives, exploring the hinterland of the Gold Coast and spending more time with Jason and Taryn before heading further south.   We may even make it back into NSW or maybe not!!

It has been a year tomorrow since we lost George’s sister, Lynette so Monday will be somewhat sombre but we will spend the evening with Jason and Taryn and remember all the good times and funny things. Both George and Jason are still struggling to find someone that can cut their hair the way she did!

Love to you all, stay safe and healthy.

Stop laughing.

Day 120 – 126 – Sunshine Coast and Hinterland

Just a quick blog this week as time has been taken up with lots of catch ups and other stuff we had left for this part of our trip.

We have spent a lot of time travelling this week to look at all the wonderful little (and not so little) towns in the area and in the hinterland.

We have visited Tewantin, Noosa Heads, Noosa, Sunshine Beach, Peregian Beach, Coolum Beach, Mudjimba, Maroochydore, Mooloolaba, Kawana, Nambour, Flaxton, Monteville, Maleny, Witta, Conondale, Kenilworth, Eumundi and Cooroy.

We have enjoyed all these places from the sealine to the mountains.

We have also managed to be hit with the mother of all thunderstorms, not just once but 3 times.      At least the storms have been mostly late afternoon and night.    The van has stayed dry thank goodness otherwise we would have been paddling both inside and outside of the van.

We had a lovely catch up with Ian and Sharon Cowley having morning tea at Melissa’s favourite place.   Would like to say I feel bad about it Mel but….nah.      Mel reckons she was having a “Freaky Friday” moment, me in her favourite spot with her parents and her at my work doing my job.   Yep not feeling bad at all!

Then talking about work, we caught up with Linda and Gary McGhee at Mooloolaba.    It was so wonderful to see them.   They haven’t changed and it reminded me of the great times we had when they lived in Mollymook.        We think it has been about 16 years.    Unbelievable.

On Friday we farewelled Ian and Leeanne who headed home to Bowraville.   Very much enjoyed having their company over the last week.  We will see them again on our way south.

Well will leave it the photos to tell all the stories.   Sorry no history lessons this week as we have been busy organising some stuff up here.

We should be able to share our exciting news in our next post!!

Hoping just maybe the NSW/VIC borders and travel will change before xmas so we can see the boys.   

Hope you all enjoy Melbourne Cup and back the winner.      We will do chicken and champagne by the van!!