Well the day of the big trip came around quicker than expected as per normal – you always plan at a date then there’s the 20 million jobs left at the last minute 🙂
We departed Townsville and headed south. The original plan was to revisit a favourite spot of ours at Cape Palmerston, but unfortunately the tides and weather didn’t agree with us. Looking at the weather forecast we decided to keep pushing on. We eventually garnered some accomodation at Rockhampton and called it a night. The weather had taken a turn for the worse and the wind was a fair pain in the bum. Overall though a solid day with some good km’s completed.
Day 2
Morning broke and we headed down the road. I noticed that the battery light was starting to come on at lower revs. At higher revs it was disappearing initially, but the further I drove the more it stayed on. The weather was atrocious and I was nervous driving without lights due to my alternator problems. I ended up sitting behind Michelle in the Prado and just running park lights to alleviate any potential problem.
The roadworks were out of control – the amount of times we stopped and started was unbelievable. I ended up laughing everytime I saw the next lot, as the alternative was to become some axe wielding maniac which may have gotten me into trouble.
We ended up calling it a day at Gympie. The caravan park was basic but it did the job. I plugged the battery charger in and let it run overnight. We grabbed some takeaway that was bloody fantastic. Sorry I can’t remember the name of the joint, but the Rougan Josh and Buttered Chicken was brilliant.
Day 3
I ended up punching it straight through to our family farm near Bellingen, whilst the missus went and caught up with friends out near the RAAF Base at Amberley. The run was fairly uneventful other than horrific weather the whole way down there. I don’t know what we did wrong, but we haven’t had a day without rain yet!
Getting down to the farm in three days was quicker than we initially planned, but it was nice to catch up with my Aunty and Uncle and relax for an afternoon. Spending the day with my eldest boy doesn’t happen often, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Michelle and the youngest three made it to their destination without any problems.
Day 4
I pulled the alternator out and found the brushes were screwed as expected. Got lucky when phoning around and they had a set sitting in Coffs Harbour. So I phoned up Michelle and asked her to grab it on the way through.
The rest of the day was basically spent relaxing helping around the farm a little – although I think I was more of a hindrance than a help. Michelle arrived and I put the alternator back together and into the old girl, and all was well again.
Day 5
Went into Bellingen and got the kids some gumboots – that’ll tell you how wet it was. Still haven’t had a dry day yet. In some respects it has been lucky that we aren’t living out of the trailer, even though I am towing it.
Kids ran amok at the farm, in particular young Ethan. It has done them the world of good spending some time here, and it’s a shame we can’t get here more often.
Day 6
Unfortunately we had to keep going, so we bade our goodbyes and headed down towards Sydney. Unfortunately the usual routes we take are now closed due to landslides, so we had to divert (nearly 60km’s) to make our way around to Macksville.
Again surprisingly it rained!!! 🙂
The trip in itself was quite boring. It is so tempting seeing signs to Barrington Tops, Stockton Beach and the Watagans but temptation was something I didn’t have the luxury for. Arriving down at Dad’s near Campbelltown we decided to go out to Sizzler for dinner. Won’t be doing that again in a hurry – $200+ I won’t get back in my back pocket anytime soon!
Got to catch up with one of my best mates too – he’s actually the father to our godchildren. A few beverages were consumed – namely Bundy 100. Went down real well too.
Overall a long boring day, but a very enjoyable evening.
Day 7
Michelle and the kids departed for Albury, where they were catching up with some school friends from our last posting.
Me – well I went down to Wagga to catch up with some fire brigade mates. Great mates they are too – first thing they did was rope me into helping clean the shed and fit some breathing apparatus brackets to the truck!!!
Nah it’s a good thing they are finally getting them. It’s been a long time coming and it is a capability that will most certainly help them and the community out that way.
I also got to catch up with an old work colleague of mine who was a mentor to me during my junior days of becoming an instructor. I always enjoy catching up with people who you manage to stay in contact with over the years.
Hardly any beverages consumed surprisingly.
Day 8
Got onto the road nice and early just after 0600 and made good time over to Albury. Waited for an hour and then told Michelle to meet me at Omeo. Was a beautiful drive over the mountain and it never fails to remind me of how good this area truly is.
A bit of snow on the tips of the mountains, but overall it wasn’t too cold. I arrived at Omeo to get a shock at the recent damage from the last lot of rain. There is certainly some work to be done, in particular down at the old park/swimming hole.
Approximately 45 minutes later and Michelle (with kids thankfully) arrived and we grabbed a bite to eat. Heading south there was a lot more damage from the floods, with a number of places having the complete lane of the road washed away. I really don’t know how they are going to fix that without going into the side of the rock face – that’d be an interesting job.
The run down the Princes Highway was quick and boring, and we finally arrived at our friends place at Sale just before 1600. The fire was already going and the beverages ran well. The food was bloody nice as well.
Overall a great day and well worth the drive anytime of the year.
Day 9
We decided to stay a second night. There really wasn’t any need to race away too quickly, and I must admit that the company was alright too…..
A fairly relaxing day with good food, good company and some good beverages. Kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly, although we couldn’t let them out because of the……..wait for it…….RAIN!!!!!
Day 10
Across to Melbourne we go. Said our goodbyes and trundled off nice and easy. Still arrived in Melbourne with plenty of time before check-in, so we parked down on the Esplanade and consumed some lunch on the St Kilda pier. Nice place actually.
We did the quick run across the Westgate Bridge and pulled up stumps at the Big 4 Caravan Park. It was $195 for the night but the accomodation is bloody nice. I had a haircut and grabbed some wine, food and snacks. Some friends of ours came over and the evening was spent devouring the previous mentioned items – have to admit it was pretty good.
Day 11
Michelle and the kids went out to visit friends. I went for a job interview and then parked the old girl down on the Esplanade. Grabbed a tram and caught up with a mate from the Overlander Forum. Brought myself a book and spent the rest of the afternoon eating smoked salmon and reading.
Eventually Michelle and the kids joined me and we proceeded to board the boat. Had some dinner and then watched the movie in the cinema. The kids loved it. A bit of a rough crossing but nothing too bad.
Day 12
Nice and early we bounced through customs, grabbed our gas bottle and headed on down the road. Michelle was gone – you could nearly see the smoke coming of the tyres!!!
I stopped and grabbed a coffee in Deloraine and finally made it to the in-laws place. DONE!!!
Long trip and the weather was pathetic the WHOLE ENTIRE BLOODY WAY. Talk about annoying. I didn’t even bother taking many photos this time, as it just wasn’t worth it.
In some respects it was good to drive down, but it wasn’t like a holiday. It was all highway legs with rain as mentioned, and there was always that pressure to be somewhere on a certain date. The couple of times we stayed a few nights (Farm & Sale) were very enjoyable, and catching up with everyone was fantastic. But it really felt rushed.
I sat down and worked out fuel consumption figures, and I was averaging 15 litres every 100km’s – which is huge amounts for the old girl. Wind really kills it. For both vehicles it was practically costing us between $25 and $30 every 100km’s which became very expensive.
I promise more pictures next time.
Cheers
Chris
