2 – 10 February 2013 – Gold Coast

We started with a lazy Saturday morning today but the kids were excited about a few of the kids’ club activities on for the day.  Sami went to play a mini-golf championship just before lunch today making some new friends along the way but we didn’t allow Zoe to join her due to one of her stubborn rants.  Anyway… this afternoon we spent quite a few hours at Harbour Town walking around the shops.  It’s a huge shopping centre only minutes from the caravan park and there are some great things to buy.  However, we are unemployed and living in an extremely packed caravan, so it doesn’t allow for great purchases of any kind.  Josh was going out with some friends tonight so the girls and I stayed in and did each other’s nails, watched a movie and played board games.

Our Sunday morning was much the same as yesterday, lovely and quiet.  We didn’t do much all day but in the afternoon, we had friends to the van for dinner and it was lovely to see Joey and finally meet his stunning wife Louise.  The following day Josh had his first day of consulting work to head to so I was couped up with the girls for schooling for the day.  This routine ran all week and it was more than a little frustrating to try and get the kids to concentrate on school work.  I tried to bribe them with activities around the caravan park and even used the theme parks to try and encourage them, but it was pointless, it just kept taking all day to get to all the schoolwork required.  Fortunately for all of us, the reprieve has been the pools in the park and the basketball court directly behind our site.  At least there is an outlet of some kind.  Late in the week the kids had also made a few friends to play with away from the school work so I think they really appreciated the interaction with someone around their own age.

Saturday rolled around again (9 January) and we finally left the caravan park.  We all jumped in the car and went for a drive to some of the gorgeous surrounding suburbs not far from Biggerer Waters including Paradise Point, Sovereign Waters and Sanctuary Cove to name a few.  We ended up in Surfers Paradise and decided to go back to the top of the Q1, this time in daylight.  It was great timing as the Nutri-Grain Iron Man was underway and we had a pretty good view from where we were.  We were not there too long as the parking didn’t allow us to stay so we went and moved the car and took our butts down to the beach to watch a bit of the live action.  The kids had squeezed their way into perfect position for the finishing of the race whereby Ky Hurst had come second to Kendrick Louis.  We headed back to the van and Josh pulled the boat out for a quick spin along the back canals and took Sami along for the ride.

On the Sunday, we got some washing done before heading to Main Beach for a refreshing dip.  We weren’t there long when we spotted a few bluebottles floating about.  Unfortunately, there was one in the whitewash that had just landed upon us and my left arm had started to sting pretty bad.  Looking down I could see the blue thread that had wrapped around the lower part of my arm so I quickly detached it and headed for the lifesavers who gave me some ice to sooth the pain.  It stung and tingled badly for around half hour before the pain started to subside…. but at least it got me and not one of the girls.  We didn’t hang around after that, we simply grabbed the towels, jumped back in the car and drove around the broadwater for a while.  Upon returning to the van, the kids went and played with some new friends (Stephanie and Jessie) while I sat and chatted to the parents (lovely to meet you Brie Kerr).  Shortly after, Joey and Louise had dropped in and Josh took them for a spin on the boat for a while.  After dinner we settled in for a quiet and early night ready for work and school again in the morning.

1 February 2013 – Bald Rock to the Gold Coast (and our ten year wedding anniversary)

No school work today – yippee!  Seeing as though we didn’t get to swim yesterday we drove to another nearby area ready to take a dip.  It was called Morgan’s Gully (still in Boonoo Boonoo National Park) and was a much calmer part of the river.  What a way to spend the first part of such a special day!  The kids were a bit hesitant to get in the water to begin with but once they were in, it was hard to get them back out.  The pictures probably don’t show, but the water still had a bit of strength to it in parts even to the point that there was a small waterfall flowing over the rocks.  It was such gorgeous and serene surroundings, and not a soul in sight.  Heaven!!  We spent some relaxing time in the refreshing water before I decided to walk down a rock that the kids had been playing and running along.  However, my water shoes are obviously not as “grippy” as the kids and I went for a big fall landing on the point of my elbow and on my backside.  My elbow is still sore and bruised nearly 2 weeks after the fact but it is improving.

Upon leaving Morgans Gully we headed for Bald Rock National Park in the hope to climb Bald Rock.  This rock rises to a height of approx. 260 metres and is the biggest exposed granite rock in Australia… so we went to climb it.  We had two choices, the Bungoona Walk which was the more gentle 2.5kms to the top or the Summit Walk which was around 1.3kms and headed straight up the smooth side of the rock.  Josh chose – we were taking the summit walk!!  I was a little nervous scaling the side of this rock, especially having the kids in tow and having such a smooth surface to move along.  We would walk a bit of the way up and stop to rest before continuing.  At each stop, the sights became prettier but also much scarier.  One wrong move and you would simply roll….. no doubt, all the way to the bottom!  Upon reaching the summit, the views were absolutely stunning with a 360 degree view of the landscape.  We were way above the never-ending trees of the national park but funnily enough we found a small gap in the trees where we could see the top of our parked caravan (we had the kids binoculars with us).  After a quick snack and lots of negotiating with Josh, we took the Bungoona Walk to return to the base of the rock.  It was a stunning walk and one which even Josh was glad we took.  A few wallabies took us by surprise on the way down by jumping out in front of us and scaring us half to death, but there were also many and varied sized boulders leaning and hanging above us on the path down and the bushland simply surrounded us.  As pretty and adventurous as our walk was, I can’t deny that I was extremely grateful to have all made it down safely.

We spent the next few hours back in the car bound for the Gold Coast.  We took the dirt road thru to the Lindesay Highway and the surrounds were by far prettier than taking the main road.  The bikes were still inside the caravan though so it may not have been the wisest of choices.  Fortunately when we got to the other end, everything was still intact thanks to the many ocky straps Josh had used.  The saddest of the sites on this trip was the effect the recent floods had had on these areas.  We saw many disrupted river systems as well as a few roads that were quite badly damaged and really felt for the locals in some of these areas.

Upon arriving to the Gold Coast, it was pretty late in the day and we set about making ourselves at home at Treasure Island Caravan Park.  Josh in particular was pretty tired from the events of the day as well as the hours of driving so we didn’t head out for a fancy dinner to celebrate our anniversary but instead headed to the restaurant in the caravan park for a quick buffet.  Although the food wasn’t great, having my family right by my side is exactly all I needed.

 

 

30 & 31 January 2013 – Tenterfield to Boonoo Boonoo National Park

Last you all read, we were free-camping near Bluff Rock (just south of Tenterfield) in a small dead-end rest area.  Around 11pm that night there was quite a bit of commotion coming from just outside our caravan.  As it turned out, a massive truck had decided to take a rest for the night in what was already a very crowded overnight rest area.  The truck pulled in and was surrounded by caravans – and then had nowhere to go and nowhere to turn around.  Josh of course came to the rescue and decided to head outside and give this poor truckie a hand.  As it was pitch black, Josh turned on our car headlights and grabbed these bright torches that we have and went out and started waving them around as if he was assisting in a plane take-off.  After something like a 25 point turn this truck had somehow managed to turn his lode around (and I got a late picture of the event).  He apologised to all the “vanners” and headed back on his way out of there.  I felt pretty bad for this guy, he needed to pull in for a rest from his long drive yet there was no room for him.  I wonder how these truckies feel about being taken over by grey nomads and us younger travellers looking for cheaper accommodation?

The following morning we stayed at the rest stop and schooled the kids up until lunch time and then packed the van and went into Tenterfield.  First stop was the information centre and we grabbed some maps and figured out what we would do for the remainder of the day.  After a short stroll down the road, we came to the Sir Henry Parkes School of Arts / Museum.  We paid for a tour of this small building due to its significance in our lives.  It was there in that building in 1989, that Sir Henry Parkes made the first public speech in relation to Australia becoming a Federation (which was then further developed and later delivered in Melbourne).  This tour was well worth our time and hopefully the kids too will remember some of the information when they are older.  We grabbed a bite to eat, picked up some groceries and called into the Tenterfield Saddler before jumping in the car and driving past the oldest cork tree in Australia (dating back to 1861).  Heading north from Tenterfield we stopped on the side of a road at a place called Thunderbolt Hideout.  This is a natural cave and bunching of large boulders that was used by bushranger Captain Thunderbolt when he escaped from Cockatoo Island where he was imprisoned for horse stealing.  It’s a lovely place with a creek that runs through nearby and the large smooth boulders are amazing shapes and sizes.  Whilst here Josh fortunately checked how the bike rack on the back of the van was going – not so good!  The welding had worn and cracked and the bike carrier was lacking a lot of strength and was no longer safe.  We ended up having to pull the bikes off and stand them inside the van for the rough road that was to come.

We kept on our track, headed to Boonoo Boonoo National Park in hope to swim at the Boonoo Boonoo Falls.  Little did we know of its size and the amount of water running downstream.  There was no way that we would be safe to swim here as the falls were over 200metres high in total and the water was absolutely gushing along.  However, it was extremely pretty to view and as hard as we tried to capture the beauty in our photos, they just don’t do it any justice.  We headed back to the local campsite area and set up the van with very few people in our sites.  Fortunately, we did meet a pair of English backpackers whom we sat and chatted to until we ran out of wine and any other alcohol we could find (which was unfortunately very little compared to the norm).  They were lovely and just as enthused about their travels here in Australia as what we were about ours.