March 2013 - Gwydir River to Bingara to Woolomin to Tamworth

After all the excitement on the Gwydir River, a week of calm and relaxation (not to mention DRYING) was called for.  Lots of clothes and linen needed to be washed and dried as a result of the wet and mud.  Having said that, the mud could have been way worse.  The banks of the river in that camp spot are primarily river stone with a dirt base, which cut down the amount of mud.
Bingara is a lovely little town on the banks of the Gwydir River.  The residents are very friendly and it has most services needed by the traveller.  Clicking on the following link will take you to the nicely descriptive web site - Bingara on the Gwydir.

Mal and Kerry were staying at the caravan park too.  Mal is very keen on fossicking, and the area is a treasure trove of locations where fossickers can play.  We took a drive out to Three Creeks Tourist Mine which is set up so the tourist can learn more about the history of the area as well as the ins and outs of fossicking.  Bush camping is also available for the really dedicated fossicker!  And apparently, if you find any gold – you get to keep it!!!  On the way back to Bingara from the mine, we came across an amazing sight – a whole paddock full of what looked like very old Giant Grass Trees.




After a lovely week in Bingara doing little other than relax, we headed to Woolomin.  As this tiny town is on the other side of Tamworth, we took the opportunity to call into our next house-sit and meet our clients – Jenny and Kevin.  Jenny very generously made lunch for us all and we picked up the Telstra 4G Wi Fi Modem which we had organised to be sent whilst in Brisbane.  And then, oh joy! oh wonder! we went to Coles to stock up.  Have I mentioned that I hate shopping with a passion???



We reached Woolomin Campground with a big sigh of relief.  Although the distance travelled wasn’t great, it had been a long day.  Mal and Kerry had arrived earlier, and selected a very nice site on the banks of the Peel River (operative word here is HIGH on the banks).  Very little chance of any flooding here!

Woolomin is a charming little town and the camp ground is great.  It is all nicely mown, with toilets and rubbish bins.  Very little in the way of phone or internet, but 8km up the road, there is a nice little lookout over Chaffey Dam where the locals all go to pick up a signal and check for messages.  Silly isn’t it!!



We stayed at Woolomin for 5 days, enjoying the local area, before packing up and heading into Tamworth to stay for a few days at the Austin Tourist Park.  This is an interesting caravan park as from the front entrance it looks more like it caters for cabins and permanent residents, but at the back of the park, on the banks of the Peel River (still HIGH banks!!) there is a beautiful camping area.  Full facilities, including dump point, power, water and sullage.  Most sites are grass, but there are a few concrete slabs.  The park is part of the Top Tourist chain and permits dogs.  It was here that we saw one of the largest caravans we’ve ever seen.  Owned by a young couple with 3-4 daughters (it was hard to count them OK?).  They were doing the travel, work and home school routine.

While in Tamworth I ventured to the local Telstra shop.  I have to admit Rick just about had to drag me in there kicking and screaming.  I have had an intermittent problem with my Nokia smart phone since purchase last year.  It would perform all its functions quite nicely with the exception of actually connecting to a phone signal.    It’s been back to Nokia once, which fixed the problem for a while, but at Bingara it cacked itself again.  So, to Telstra we went.  Amazingly, when I explained the problem and the happenings at the time of purchase, the consultant gave a beaming smile and said that oh! Telstra had had an ongoing problem with the micro SD cards and she could replace mine with a good one.  Guess what??  It worked!!!  I’ve never been so surprised!!!  I’d expected the old story of “it’s got to go back to the manufacturer” or “sorry, it’s not our problem!!”  Touch wood the phone has been good ever since!

And then it was 18 March and time to move into the house-sit and look after 2 cats – Binky and Bianca.

Gwydir River Campground – BY THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH!!!!

The weather gods were not kind to us at Sommerville Valley Tourist Park – wet and windy!  And they were no better the day we departed and headed for Bingara, NSW.  We came close to getting flooded in by Quart Pot Creek at Stanthorpe on our way to Texas (taking the scenic route), and it rained most of the way to Bingara.

Things were good though by the time we reached the Gwydir River Campground, on Copeton Dam Road near Bingara.  The rain had stopped and skies were clearing.  We arrived on 27 Feb, and the plan was to meet up with Kerry & Mal (fellow Kedron owners) and stay maybe a week?  Plenty of time yet before needing to arrive in Tamworth.  The Gwydir River Campground is a free camp, and there are plenty of spots to choose from.  A very pretty spot with both shady and sunny sites.  No facilities there, but as we are self-contained, it was not a problem.

 

And then the rain arrived AGAIN!!!  We now believe that it’s our fault.  Every place we’ve gone since we left Lake Eacham, the rain has been just behind us.  It caught up briefly in Six Mile Creek Campground (Toowoomba) and then Sommerville Valley, but we hoped we’d left it behind.  Afraid not!  The rain fell steadily all day and most of the night on 28 Feb.  The generator was running well, so power not a problem.  Cabin fever was starting to set in though.  And then it became apparent at about mid-afternoon on 1 Mar that the river was starting to rise – and rise – and rise some more.

 

One of our fellow campers, who said he was local, told us all that we were safe, the river would not come up high and that nobody would be in any danger.  Apparently the chap didn’t know his arse from his elbow.  The following pictures tell the tale.  Short story is that everyone got out safely.  It was a tight run for a couple of campers – one had to hook up with his vehicle and van already sitting in the water, and another, with a camper trailer had to abandon some property so they wouldn’t get trapped.  Said property then ended up somewhere further down the river!!  We had camped back from the river so as to get the sun.  It was also coincidentally one of the higher spots.  However, as Rick has pointed out on the photos – our rig would have been sitting in about 3 metres of water if we’d stayed where we were.

And then, to add insult to injury, a new sign was added at the entrance to the Campground!!  Check out the last photo in the slide show!!  NOT IMPRESSED AT ALL!!!!!

Busy in Brisbane

After some initial confusion (OK, so we had to change plans about 3 times) with days and dates, we finally made it to Lake Cooroibah to spend a relaxing week with Nelly & Terry.  They are such wonderful friends and made us feel completely at home.  Rick had booked the car in with Terry’s local mechanic to get the steering issues sorted, and the relief when it was finished at such a reasonable cost (and done very well too) was quite considerable.
We took Nelly & Terry out to Sunday lunch at the nearby Noosa Waterfront Restaurant & Bar.  The restaurant is lovely, on the banks of one of the Noosa canals, and the food and service (and company of course) was just great.  All in all, a lovely way to spend a Sunday.
We were also able to catch up with a couple of other friends in the area that we had made through Nelly & Terry, so it was a laid back but busy week (does that make any sense??)
Eventually, and with great reluctance, we had to head off down the Bruce Highway to Brisbane.  We got in on Wednesday, 13 February, which gave us a day to clean up etc. before taking the van to Kedron Caravans for some work (service and brake replacement) on the Friday.
We had a lot of appointments scheduled for the following week, so we tried to make the weekend as quiet and peaceful as we could.  Between me seeing a counsellor, three doctors appointments and two dermatology appointments (all on the other side of town thank you very much), we were kept on the run.  Both of us were very relieved when the final appointment (dermatologist) was finished, and Rick was given the all clear for another four months.  More appointments for a skin check then, but that’s the way it goes.
Saturday, we did some much needed shopping.  This is not my favourite job by a long-shot, so I’d been putting it off, but eventually reached the point where there wasn’t much left to eat!!
Same day, we finally were able to catch up with Dad & my wonderful step-mother Denise.  Dad has had a pretty rough time of late with acute pain in his lumbar region as well as the chronic nerve pain left from a bad attack of Shingles.  He also had to have a bronchoscopy the previous Thursday which was a complete nightmare for both of them.  Dad doesn’t remember too much as he was given some sort of anaesthetic, but because he reacts so badly to anaesthesia he was off with the fairies for the night.  Denise was completely exhausted by the end.  Now to wait for the results!!
Sunday was packing day, and Monday time to hit the road south.  YIPPEE!!!!  It was a slowish trip because of the rain and wet roads, but we made it safely to Sommerville Valley Tourist Park (near Stanthorpe) by mid afternoon.  Here for 2 nights, then we hope to meet up with fellow Kedron owners on Wednesday in NSW, on the Gwydir River near Bingara.
Got some washing done today, but it’s still raining so had to use the park dryers.  Sad!

What a fortnight we've had!!!!

 

Blue Chook - Rick's friend!!

 

We left Lake Eacham 2 weeks ago on 19 January.  As we wished to be at Six Mile Country Retreat near Toowoomba by Friday 25th we really had to rustle our tails and travel each day.  We also wanted to be close to Brisbane reasonably quickly for family reasons.  We had worked out that we needed to average 300kms per day in order to make the trip in a timely manner.  Doesn't sound a lot of km's each day, but doing it every day is tiring for the driver (Rick).  Due to an unfortunate slippage of days (OK, we kinda lost track of the days) we wound up at Yarraman with a couple of days spare.  Yay - we got to sleep in past 6am.  Luxury (I don't do sparrow fart very well at all!!). 

 

Golden Gumboot at Tully

Rest area at Tully - please note the rain!!

and yet more rain!!

On top of that, the rains started at Lake Eacham early on the morning we left, and didn't stop.  Ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald decided to follow us down the coast, raining his little heart out all the way!!!  Roads were being closed behind us, and by the time we reached Six Mile at Postman's Ridge in the Upper Lockyer Valley (scene of the devastating 2010-2011 floods) we (OK - I) were starting to get very nervous indeed.

 

So much of the state was flooded by this weather system, the news has once again spread world-wide.  Many areas we have visited in recent months on the Burnett River - Gayndah and Mundubbera in particular, have been hit very badly, losing up to 95% of the citrus crop, yet again.  Bundaberg was flooded very badly when the flood peak swept down upon them, and Rockhampton is now suffering as the Fitzroy River peaks.

 

Gatton and Laidley and many other small towns have suffered yet again as rivers and creeks in the Lockyer and Brisbane River valleys topped their banks.  There have been so many sights of utter devastation - leaving people once more overwhelmed.

 

In contrast, we at Six Mile were extremely lucky.  We were involved in a gathering comprising of Kedron, Bush-Tracker and Spinifex caravan owners over the Australia Day weekend.  In all, 19 vans (with associated sets of owners of course) braved the weather and turned up.

Mud!



Good numbers



The creek rose



And the creek subsided!

Lake Bigbird - home to rubber duckies and gnomes

There were some who made the decision that the risks of being trapped past the weekend were too high, which, for those people who needed to be at work on Tuesday turned out to be the right move.  Whilst the grounds of Six Mile simply got soggy and muddy, and we ended up with a temporary swimming pool for gnomes, the creek at the park entrance rose rapidly, and was impassable on Sunday and early Monday.  Additionally, there were a lot of road closures due to flooding, which unfortunately prevented  people from making their way home even after the creek went down.  We finally left on the Wednesday, giving some time for the roads to open and traffic to settle a little.  We did however, err on the side of caution and headed up the Toowoomba range, and have been staying at Crows Nest Caravan Park for the last 5 days.  It's a very nice caravan park even though on the New England Highway.  The owners and managers have maintained the park very well, despite the creek and dam being overtopped during the rain.  What it's meant though is lawn mowing, and more lawn mowing and yet more lawn mowing!!!!  Nuff said!

 

Tomorrow the car goes to visit the RACQ guy in Crows Nest for some front end repairs.  We were going to get the work done at the Toyota dealer in Kedron, Brisbane but decided we didn't really want to get to Brisbane that early.  The van goes in for a service etc on Friday, so Thursday is plenty soon enough to hit the big smoke.