Rockhampton, Gladstone and Lowmead

We had been avoiding rain for most of our trip, everything had been wet and water was everywhere on our travels. We had only had a few showers and light rain since we had left Melbourne, but this all changed in Rockhampton, luckily it was only light rain, however it was fairly constant. We had planned to stay at Kershaw Gardens, it was just a sloppy mess, solid underneath with approximately 50mm of slush on top. We then decided to try Fahdooleys Bush Camp. 16km out of Rockhampton. It was still very wet and we had to pick where we walked. There was toilets and showers and a camp kitchen at the bottom of the sloping camping area.

Happy hour was up towards the owners house in a room with a bar, a tv with Youtube constantly playing music from campers requests and some light snacks provided each night. A barbeque area outside for when the weather was a little better made for a fantastic venue, ran by wonderful hosts. We had a wonderful time while we were here, a return visit with some better weather on a future trip will be high on the priority list

A trip to the summit of Mt Archer was a very nice drive, with a walk around the boardwalk gave some breathtaking views of Rockhampton and surrounds, although the weather did close in with low lying clouds restricting our views towards the end of the circuit.

A trip to the Koorana Crocodile farm on the way to Emu Park for lunch was very interesting. Our tour guide did point out that the crocodiles don’t like the cold weather and while they were a little inactive, the incentive did bring them out of the murky water. It did show how easy it would be to be complacent around waterways where crocodiles live, one would have no clue if they were lurking in the murky water, until they lunged up at their prey.

Lunch with friends Graeme and Lenae in Emu Park was very enjoyable, although walks around the foreshore had to be avoided as steady drizzle made walking uncomfortable, we chose to stay dry.

We was thinking of staying 2 nights at the Gladstone Showgrounds, however they were setting up for their annual show forcing us to just have an overnight stopover. Gladstone is a very interesting place with lots of industry, 2 days here would of been better, however we will definitely return on a future trip to delve a little deeper and visit some outer lying areas of Gladstone. We did manage to have a quick look around some of the foreshore and a suprising number of lookouts mostly highlighting most of the industry around the area.

A day trip into 1770 and Agnes Waters on our way to Bundaberg necessitated an overnight stop at the Lowmead Hotel just to break up the drive. Russell and Gai wanted to have a look around 1770 and Agnes Waters, so we unhooked Russells 5th wheeler and left our Iveco and 5th wheeler in a gravel pullover area opposite the Fingerboard Roadhouse and ventured there for a look and some lunch.

Russell unhooked his 5th wheeler and I parked ours around the hitch for some extra security

1770 is definitely not a place to take a large 5th wheeler and the Agnes Waters caravan park has very limited sites that would allow a 5th wheeler to fit either. 1770 and Agnes Waters are very picturesque, either place would be a fantastic spot to come and just relax for a week or two, we only had time to have a quick look around some of the fantastic beachfront locations.

Looking north from the Bustard Bay Lookout

The Lowmead Hotel was just a place to have an overnight stop, however we probably shouls have stopped at Rosedale to avoid a little back tracking the next day on our way to Bundaberg

Gayndah, Monto and Westwood

We bid farewell to Gary and Jan, our plan was to slowly make our way towards Rockhampton. A quick stop to have a look around Nanango, check out a couple of free camps for future reference and top up with water.

Gai is dwarfed by the huge dragline bucket on the edge of town

We arrived in Gayndah and setup for the night at the Heritage Railway Stopover, only $10 a night and all money goes to upgrading the site, including the railway station and the stationary rolling stock on site.

Our next stop was at the Monto Self Contained Overnight Stopover, an old railway station right in the middle of town, we only stayed one night. It would have been nice to spend some extra time, however we did have a good look around. This will be another town to visit again on a future trip.

Monto Three Moons Silo, approximately 6km before we arrived in Monto

Rotary Park Water Tank Art

Rotary Park Water Tank Art

Rotary Park Water Tank Art

Monto water tank

Monto water tank

The Monto Historical and Cultural Museum was another fantastic place to visit in Monto.

Plenty of murals everywhere in Monto

Everywhere you walk around Monto there is a mural, most of them are marked on Wikicamps and easy to find. Monto is a town that is trying to encourage the travelling public to stop and spend a day or two. A meal just over the road from the campsite at the Grand Hotel made for a very busy day.

Our next night was meant to be the Queensland Heritage Centre in Biloela, however the campground was waterlogged, anyone staying there was allowed to stay, but was closed to any new arrivals. We did have a quick look around the museum, but we did have to find an alternative campsite.

We still haven’t had any rain, except for a few showers, however it is extremely wet underfoot at the Lions Park when we stopped for lunch. Biloela had plenty of rain before we arrived

We did try Dululu 48hr rest stop, however all the good spots were taken, we finally found a campsite behind the Westwood Hotel, no charge for camping however we went over for a couple of drinks after setting up the vans. As we had travelled further than planned, we only had a short trip to Rockhampton tomorrow.

Nindigully, Surat, Kumbarilla and Tarong

Its the 25th June and we have finally made Queensland, slowly heading north looking for warm weather. While the weather has been mostly fine, only a few showers here and there, the nights have been cold, the gas furnace in the Rockwood has been having a good workout overnight.

Great spot for morning coffee and a walk around the old railway yard.

Monto was another quick stop, firstly to see some more silo art and there was also a small park with a huge wombat with rock climbing grips, some of us just had to climb up on it for a photo.

The Monto Silo Art

A large wombat in the park in Thallon, complete with rock climbing grips on the side.

Not everyone was elegant in climbing on top of the wombat

Our first stopover in Queensland is the Nindigully Hotel with a large camping area. It was completely full, however we managed to find a spot on the edge of the truck parking area.

Great place to have a wander around, both inside and outside of the hotel

Next morning we had a quick stop in St George to top up our supplies. It was also necessary to top up with water and empty our grey and black tanks. Some tree trimming was needed to get access to the dump point.

Some tree trimming was necessary to access the dump point at St George

We did have plans to stop just out of St George, however a decision was made to keep going to Surat as they had a camping area for big rigs. We were still relatively early, our plans to check out a free museum while doing the washing was thwarted as the museum was shut on Sundays. We had to settle for a coffee and a walk around town.

Fishermann’s Park on the Balonne River was only a short walk to town

The decision to stop at the Museum as we left town was a good decision, what a fantastic story of the history of the town.

Cobb & Co and its link with Surat was the focus of the museum

A short video below showing a small part of a looping video projected onto the wall in the Museum

We were planning to meet up with friends in a couple of days and after consulting some locals about a tourist route towards Dalby we headed via Meandarra. the road was sealed all the way, however it was very flood damaged and we had to travel very slowly. A quick stop at Glenmorgan, mainly just to stretch the legs before reaching Meandarra, where Russell in particular wanted to check out the Meandarra ANZAC Memorial Museum, however we all enjoyed having a look. A small RV campground on the edge of the town would of been a good stop, however we wanted somewhere just a little closer to our destination tommorow.

Meandarra ANZAC Memorial Museum

A purpose built building around a Canberra Bomber

Russell and I checking out some of the exhibits

Our overnight stop at Kumbarilla was a just a truck rest area, complete with a drop toilet, however there was 2 or 3 large areas out the back for plenty of camping away from the highway. We were still setup early enough for Dianne and Gai to cook up a storm, while Russell and I stocked up on firewood, as there was heaps of small dead trees from what looked like a fire had gone through several years earlier, just by judging the regrowth throughout the area. We were lucky as the bark had fallen off and no charcoal to get us dirty.

We certainly did eat well on our trip, sharing the cooking

Our next stop was Tarong, refuelling in Dalby on the way, lunch at the Cooyar Swinging Bridge Park and Campground. Dianne and I have stopped here before, however we gave Russell and Gai an opportunity to walk over the bridge and take a photo.

The next two days were just to catch up with fellow Tasmanians Gary and Jan Thwaites, who were staying with family on a farm at Tarong, just south of Nanango.

Jan and Gary Thwaites put on a barbeque night for us, Gai is checking out if its cooked properly

A trip to the Bunya Mountains National Park filled in one day, a must see if you are in the area, sadly it was very overcast with low cloud cover blocking most of the panoramic views that would have been awesome on a clear day, a definite return will be a high priority for a future trip when in the area again. The main centre of the national park was very picturesque with some fine examples of the local Bunya Pine and plenty of wildlife, with many people feeding the birds, bags of feed can be purchased from the cafe, with many landing on their shoulders and eating directly from their hands.

An interesting sculpture in the grounds, probably highlighting the quick growth in the rainforest

There is an abundance of wildlife, most of which is very used to human contact

Lightning Ridge and Goodooga

Coonamble to Lightning Ridge 201km, to Goodooga 80km

After a quick overnight stop at Coonamble, we made our way towards Lightning Ridge, we had to check out some more Silo Art in Walgett.

Idigenous country singing Jimmy Little, features on this mural

Our next stopover, the Lorne Station Camping Ground, a basic unpowered campground with a laundry, an older camp kitchen and several firepots layed out around the grounds.

Lorne Station, a little dusty but lots of room, they even provide fire pots

No trip to Lightning Ridge is complete without having your photo taken with this sign

We had a tour of the Chambers of the Black Hand, I was here several years ago and a lot of the painted sculptures have been returned to plain sandstone. Apparently the moisture coming out of the sandstone is slighty salty and causes the paint to bubble, hence the reason for some removal. Some liked the sandstone look, although I thought some of them were better when they were painted.

The Last Supper

There are several car door tours that you can follow with a mud map obtained from the Information Centre, the highlight was a visit to Amigo’s Castle, at this stage all above ground, however we just missed the chance to see some of the underground features, they are still waiting for approval for this to happen.

A delightful insight into one man’s life in the Opal fields and what can be achieved if you set your mind to it, way before building standards and safety regulations came into effect

We had planned to stay 2 nights in Lightning Ridge, however we had such a great time a third night was added. Our third day was a mud map tour of the Grawin Opal fields to the west of Lightning Ridge. A day well spent with lots to see. A visit to the Club in the Scrub, a golf club was our first stop in the middle of no where. Lots of stuff to check out while we had a coffee break.

Well worth a visit

Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make this awesome eightball table.

Next was the Glengarry Hilton, nothing like the rest of the Hilton hotel chain, but great for a quick look around

Lots of character and great place for a visit

After driving around looking around the opal fields we stopped for lunch at the Sheepyard Inn. Another about pub with heaps of character and a place for a good feed. The area all around the pub was like a cross between a wreckers yard and a museum with plenty old old relics lined up for us to have a look around

Russell and I spent a lot of time checking out all the machinery surrounding the pub

Found my new Motorhome project

Wouldn’t you get some comments pulling up in the campsite in this beast

We couldn’t get Dianne and Gai to add to the Bra Tree

After enjoying the artesian bore bath at Lightning Ridge, we decided to see if the one at Goodooga was as good. The campground was right next to the pool, an amazing setup for a small town with not much going on, however someone has faith in the town as they have built a brand new supermarket and a large refuelling sight next door.

A large flat gravelled area, as well as some more room on the other side of the road, a little wet underfoot in a few places, but still plenty of campers found a nice dry spot.

A fantastic facilty here for campers and the local community, an artesian pool, partly shaded, some exercise facilities, toilets and showers, a picnic table.

Tomorrow we will finally reach Queensland.

Euston, Hay, Lake Cargellico, Albert and Coonamble

Mildura to Euston 93km, to Hay 213km, to Lake Cargellico 236km, to Albert, 210km, to Coonamble 216km

Dianne and I left Mildura on Thursday June 16th, heading for Euston for one night, leaving Russell and Gai catching up with family. We stayed at the Euston CMCA RV Park, while it is part of the Euston Club, CMCA members get a good price. We only paid $10.00 for an unpowered site, great value for money for the awesome facilities that are available.

The best camp kitchen at a low cost campground we have ever seen, 2 enclosed rooms, both with tv’s, one with cooking facilties and 1 open sided shelter with a barbeque and even an 8 ball table.

A weir and Lock 15 on the Murray River, a short walk from the camp ground

A quick trip across the river to Robinvale, back in Victoria was a windmill with a 30ft diameter wheel and standing 60ft tall, reportably the largest windmill in the Southern Hemishere, very impressive even though the photo doesn’t really reveal its huge size

Russell and Gai, met us at Euston and we started to slowly head towards Queensland. We decided to stop in Hay at Sandy Point Camping Ground on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River. The camping area had many wet boggy holes throughout it and most of them were where a high vehicle would go. Most dry tracks were all under low overhanging branches. A little time was needed to find a suitable track into a level dry camping spot, however the effort was well worth the effort.

The swollen river, giving an indication to how wet the area was, lots of seating and picnic tables partially submerged.

However we did find a lovely open space that was dry to set up for our overnight stay

We did check out the local silo art

We also paid a visit to Shear Outback as we left Hay heading to Lake Cargellico, which highlighted the history of shearing in Australia.

An informative place to visit, especially if you have some interest in shearing history

Our next stopover was Frogs Hollow at Lake Cargellico, a nice little campground to break the trip as we head north. There was also a lovely silo art, very hard to get a good photo.

One of several magnificent murals on the water tank

Frogs Hollow Campground, magnificent place to sit around the fire and watch the sun go down.

Our next stop was the Utes in the Paddock at Condoblin, they have been relocated from Ootha. While the utes are all standing nicely, the powers that be are well on the way to creating a fantastic place to stop and enjoy a marvellous attraction.

A work in progress, will be awesome when finished

Russell loves his Bundaberg Rum, he didn’t want to see any spilt

There are several awesome carvings on a short walk around track behind the Utes display

A bad choice of routes heading to the Rabbit Trap Hotel had us to travelling approximately 60km of gravel roads, while in fairly good condition, a large proportion of it was negotiated at 40km/h or just slightly faster. This was a big reminder to change to the “Avoid Unpaved Roads” setting on the GPS. We were looking forward to an outback pub with a bit of character, while they had a fantastic oversize rabbit trap on the roof, we were a little underwhelmed with the rest. We did however enjoy a late counter lunch, mainly because of our slow speed on the gravel road.

The Rabbit Trap Hotel in Albert NSW, the rabbit trap on the roof is to scale and looks fantastic close up

Our next overnight stop was Coonamble Showground, mainly to break the drive as we headed to Lightning Ridge.

Mildura and Beyond

I have been very busy enjoying our holiday, as well as a little lazy and haven’t had time to keep up to date with my holiday posts. I have added a map of our trip so far, hope to post updates, but will probably be when safely back in Tasmania

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1YktJIIIUCACEEHjDm3AEezo0SUST6Tk&ll=-45.969193647635976%2C111.98866250298971&z=4

We left Devonport for our overnight sailing to Port Melbourne, the weather was wild and windy all day. We were expectig a rough sailing, however we were lulled into a false sense of security as all was calm as we sailed down the river towards Bass Strait. Once away from the shore, it was soon apparent that we were in for a rough trip. Sitting in the lounge area was OK, however walking around the front or rear of the ship, just standing was a challenge, good use of the hand rails was needed to stay upright. Our cabin was towards the front of the ship, we were in bed by 9.30pm. Little or no sleep all night for all of us. Dianne and I were just happy that we were not sick at all, very thankfull for that. Our travelling partners had mixed results, one was a good sailor, the other was not so fortunate, we’ll just say Russell lost his lunch.

Early off the “Spirit” and made our way to the Westgate Freeway, all was good until over the Westgate Brdige and the Freeway split in two, the right 2 lanes stayed as normal, the 2 left hand lanes veered to the left on a new temprary road to allow for highway upgrades. This was very unsettling for a couple of minutes until we worked out what was happening while it was still dark. My first thoughts were we had taken an off ramp to who knows where. All good as the roads merged together again, an overpass being widened, the reason for our angst.

Our drive for day 1 was going to be long, as reaching Mildura was our first overnight stop. Our breaks throughout the day were timed to mostly check out the silo art along our route. After a quick breakfast at Macca’s at Calder Park, we were on our way, having navigated our way out of the Melbourne traffic, even on a Sunday morning is a little stressful. Unfortunately we missed stopping in Wedderburn for their murals, there was no where for us to stop, so a quick glimpse was all we achieved.

The Nullawil silo was well worth a stop

Nulawill silo

Mini silo

Our lunch stop was at Sea Lake, a lovely little spot with a fantastic mural on the silo’s and several small murals also around the town centre.

Sealake silo

The donation container

Several murals around the town as well

As we made our way through Redcliffs, a quick stop was made to show Russell Big Lizzie, a magnificent example of our pioneering history.

Big Lizzie

We arrived at our campspot, the Ramon Deed Veterans Retreat at Coomealla is home for the next 4 nights. Russell and Gai met up with family for the night, while Dianne and I had an early night.

Dianne and I were on our own again for most of the day, so a trip to Wentworth filled in most of the day. We had a look at the confluence of the Murray and Darling Rivers. Very interesting to see the difference in the colour of the water from the Darling River was noticably dirtier than the Murray River.

Confluence of the darlingRiver with the Murray River, notice the dirtier water flow from the Darling River on the left

The Wentworth Gaol was well worth a visit, lots of historical information about the gaol and Wentworth

The Wentworth Gaol

On our way back to the van we made a stop a restoration of the paddle steamer Ruby, no one about, but another fine example of a 100yr old paddle steamer.

The Ruby

We also enjoyed a walk over a small bridge onto Junction Island, a small narrow island that seperated the Murray and Darling Rivers. A different perspective from looking from Wentworth.

We went for a walk to to where the Darling (on the right) joins the Murray (on the left).

We left Mildura and spent a night at the Euston CMCA RV Park on our own, before Russell and Gai joined us again for a night in Hay, checked out the Utes in the Paddock at Condoblin on the way to our next stop at the Rabbit Trat Hotel in Albert..

Next we had 3 night at Lightning Ridge, a night at Goodooga and then finally into Queensland for an overnight stop at the Nindigully Hotel, then Surat, Kumbarilla, Tarong, just south of Nanango, Gayndah, Monto, Westwood Hotel when Biloela was under water

Almost Ready for our 7 Week Trip

Dianne and I are travelling with friends from New Norfolk this year, Russell and Gai. Looking forward to our trip north this year to escape the Tassie winter.

Lots of fine tuning of our new Rockwood Ultralite 5th wheeler for off grid camping including solar panels, installing an inverter and fitting a remote switch to operate from inside the van, as well as setting up the 120v inverter to operate an overhead fan and the supplied tv with a remote inverter as well. An isolator switch to control our 12v fridge. It is not needed for everyday use, however for time when stored undercover with the fridge turned off, disconnecting the batteries and then reconnecting unfortunately turns the fridge on, an easy way to flatten the batteries with no solar power inside its shed. These switches and the Victron BMV-712 monitor have been mounted on a small panel inside the van for easy access.

Making life easier with remote inverter controls, as well as a Victron battery monitor and 12v fridge isolator

A last minute fitment of a 240v microwave was made, mainly as we stumbled across one that fitted while still using the original surround

Panasonic microwave fits very well, inside original surround.

A trip to the weighbridge to make sure we are not overweight. Loaded up with food and firewood we are right on the limit, although the Iveco has been derated to drive on a car licence. We have 700kg to spare if the Iveco was rated for a light truck licence.

The Iveco 4330kg and the 5th wheeler axles 3590kg give us a grand total of 7920kg

A big driving day first up is planned, around 575km. An early departure from the Spirit of Tasmania terminal at Port Melbourne at 6.30am should get us well out of Melbourne for a quick stop for breakfast, followed by a few stops to see some silo art along the way should see us in Mildura mid to late afternoon

Our trip plans have only three definite destinations planned, the first is Midura for our travelling partners to catch up with family, a few days around Bundaberg and a few days south of Brisbane to catch up with my sister and her family. Lets hope the weather is kind to us.

Two Week Trip to Geeveston (Solar Awareness)

We have finally heading off for 2 week trip to see how the Rockwood 5th wheeler performs on an extended trip. We have had several weekends away and have worked out we need more solar capacity.The original 190w panel is really only capable of keeping the 12v fridge working. With 400ah of lithium batteries, we can easily go away for 3 nights simply by using the capacity of the batteries to see out a weekend away. After 3 nights away the batteries are down to approximately 30%, if the sun shines most of the time. This will be no good for 2 weeks away.

I have taken delivery of 4 x 200w solar panels, however time constraints have only allowed me to install 2 of these. However this will allow me to learn how much power our 5th wheeler uses. The main TV is large by caravan standards, around 40″ and it is 120v. It came as a standard fitment and while not ideal we decided to keep it. It does however require the 120v inverter to be used, best option or if we use the 240v inverter, it needs to be powered through a 240v-120v transformer. Lots of battery drain if we run either 24hrs a day.

Reflecting back on our trip the 600w of solar is OK if we have full sun. Our 2 week trip, while warm was extremely overcast except for 2 days. We never hooked up to power for the entire trip, we did have 3 days where we did do over 100km of driving and the DC-DC charger did boost the batteries along with the solar. After our 2nd day away, the batteries never reached 100% full. We were never below 50% for the entire trip. This has reinforced the decision to add an extra 800w solar, I now need to add the final 400w to finish off the upgrade. Having almost 1000w of solar will be overkill over the summer months, however we will have plenty in reserve for extended periods of no sun. We have enough power for 3 days with no solar at all, however with 1000w, even small amounts of sun on gloomy days should extend our off grid camping capabilities

476w being generated from 2 x 200w solar panels through a Victron 150/60 solar controller. Unfortunately due to the overcast conditions, this was rarely achieved on our trip

We arrived home after a great trip and the final 2 panels have been fitted, however no real tests have been performed as yet. I have yet to install both the 120v and 240v inverter remote switches. At the moment I have to go outside to turn them on/off, not ideal when trying to conserve power. The Victron BMV-712 remote readout is still to be fitted, along with the 12v fridge on/off switch to isolate the fridge when parked up in the shed. At the moment I have been pulling the fuse out to isolate. This is one downside of the 12v fridge. I can turn it off, however if I disconnect battery and reconnect the fridge automatically turns on.

Having a Victron BMV-712 bluetooth monitor makes it so easy to see how our battery is performing. One menu readout shows the % of charge in the battery. This alone makes the purchase invaluable

https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Datasheet-BMV-712-Smart-EN.pdf

Rockwood 2622RK 5th Wheeler is now registered

Well the long haul is now over after 12½ months from placing my order for our new 5th wheeler, we have finally have it registered ready to use. Covid has probably added 3 or 4 months to the ordeal with lots of extra waiting for parts and tradesman.

The actual registration process was uneventful. I was amazed that they didn’t even ask for me to unhook the 5th wheeler from the Iveco to check if the pin was ADR compliant, however I would not try to get it registered without replacing the original pin as they would no doubt check it then. I have removed the awning as it was overwidth and have no plans to reinstall it and run the gauntlet of being uncompliant.

I do have a few small jobs to completely finish the van off completely, but they can be done at my leisure with no need to rush now, although adding 4 more solar panels will be top of the list.

Finally have 5th wheeler registered ready to use, now its time to go camping

The question I have been asked many time, would import another 5th wheeler again. My answer is definitely yes. The 2nd time would be so much easier and less stressful. I have thought I may repeat the process again in 5 years, however Dianne is not so keen, she reckons once is enough.

Shakedown Trip in the Rockwood UltraLite

Nearly 4 months after taking delivery of our new Rockwood UltaLite 2622RK 5th wheeler, its time to go camping. The Evergreen Ultima 27RK 5th wheeler has served us well for over 10 years. It has now been sold and payment has been made. We have to deliver it to Sorell in Southern Tasmania soon, hopefully before Christmas.

We are spending the weekend at the Deloraine Pony Club, which is part of the showground. All went very well, even though we have one 190w solar panel. This is inadequate as we have a 12v fridge, luckily with 400ah lithium batteries that have been swapped over from the previous 5th wheeler. Lots of backup power, however extra solar will need to be added very quickly.

Plenty of room and some fine weather, a little overcast but no rain all weekend

We had a great weekend with a few friends, the van performed faultlessly, some fine tuning of where everything is stored and hopefully many happy years of happy camping.

We did drive on a temporary registration permit, hopefully we will have it all complied and registered before our next trip over the new year