Lawnton Showgrounds, Brisbane and Sunshine Coast.



Lawnton Showgrounds

We had good tow up to Lawnton which is a northern suburb of Brisbane on 15th May. The tow was a good one, with everything performing well. Our new satellite navigation system tends to take us on the shortest route which is not always the best route with a big caravan, will have to look at the settings!
We soon settled in at the Showgrounds which used to be a dog track and trotting circuit. Very spacious with good showers at a cost of $20/night, not bad!

The showgrounds have a flee market every Saturday morning. Here we bought a teapot and some bed linen, cheap as chips! Richard wanted to buy a pet goose too!

Lots of trips around including Scarborough beach.

We visited the local Bowls club which was a very affluent establishment. Meat raffles and cheap drinks!

We spent a lot of time at Lawnton, attending to the necessary paperwork that has to be done when arriving in Australia as a Kiwi. Tax file numbers and Medicare numbers etc. All important stuff!

We also visited the people at RV Warehouse and ordered a shade sail and anti flap kits for our canopy. Got it all installed, very pleased with the results!

 



One of the market traders!!



 A visit to Brisbane, on the train during our stay here. What a lovely City!

Sunshine Coast

We had a short 80km tow up to Alex Beach camping site at Alexander Headlands, Maroochydore/ Mooloolaba area. This was 23rd May 2014. An easy tow with everything performing well.

This campsite is part of the "Top Tourist organisation" which we are members of, very clean, quiet and well run.  This pitch was unbelievably difficult to reverse into but, we did it.

 

 

 

 

Our pitch at Alex Beach

We have had lots of beach time here, weather is very warm and fine, not bad for Autumn/Winter!!!

 

Our nearest beach at Alex Heads

 

Helen and myself have both swum in the sea which is a pleasant 22C at the moment.

Visits from here have been to Eumundi markets where there was really decent stalls.

Helen bought some very nice shoes yippeee!!! and Noosa, very enjoyable! 

Noosa is especially beautiful at this time of year without large crowds of people. The beach was just lovely but Helen was more impressed by the Hugo Boss shop!!! and the amazing cafes.

 

Noosa Beach



Australia Zoo

 

 

One of the most important trips to do here was to visit Australia Zoo which was done yesterday 30th May...we are so pleased we did it!! it is by far one of the most amazing places we have visited. The weather was just right, it had been raining overnight and early morning but this didn't put us off thank goodness. The whole place is an epitaph to Steve Irwin and his young family. The very young zoo keepers were so knowledgeable and very friendly offering to let the visitors hold an Alligator, Snake or Cockatoos!! We saw the most amazing animals including Tigers, Crocs, Cheetahs, Rhinos, Wombats and especially Kangaroos and Koalas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mullumbimby, Byron Bay and Tweed Heads

Mullumbimby Rugby Leagues

Arrived safe after 282km towing through some quite bad rain! Staying on the Rugby League ground!

Friday had a day in Byron Bay, up to the light house we ventured! At a cost of $7 it was just brilliant! Hand gliding near us! I would like to try!











































Club house for dinner and meat raffle Helen chose numbers and last two numbers called were ours! Leg of lamb and 6 T bones.
Saturday 10 May
Up early to the sound of young children playing rugby! We watched all morning it was wonderful! We met a family from Manukau that moved to the area 2 years ago! Kids

attended Manurewa High School and mentioned Mrs Black!?? Helen later realised they mean Diane Black the attendance lady.






















After the rugby games we had a look around the town of Mullumbimby. A most interested little hippyish town which boasts its own Olympic sized swimming pool...very impressive. We had a nice little lunch and then found the RSL with the free Wifi! On arriving back at our camping site (the Mullumbimby Giants Rugby League club) we were happy to find new neighbours Jan, Steve and Michael... also travelling the big lap.

Sunday morning brought the onset of a special event, a grudge match against Byron Bay... that would consist of three games and guess what? the sun was shining!!! thankfully for the many spectators who had turned up. We spent all afternoon watching Rugby our side won two and lost their main A league game, so all not well with the world or the club house!

Monday morning and a very different take on the weather. We decided to take a Tiki tour into the hills and found the Nightcap National Park. As you can tell from the photographs wet weather gear was used!














A beautiful park with amazing views and a very photogenic Kookaburra!

Tweed Heads

Another tour took us about 50km trip north to a have a little look at Tweed Heads. Always our first find is the local Isite where the ladies there gave us all the information about another Lighthouse called Captain Cook Memorial.

Weather was on our side and off we went along the beachside and walked a beautiful boardwalk. Lots of surfers out catching the waves.. We are impressed. At the Lighthouse itself the memorial about Captain Cook was again very informative. Further along we walked another memorial walk where plaques had been placed to commemorate the ships that had been sunk in WWII quite amazing more than one from New Zealand. Richard looked at a number of padlocks that had been locked to the stainless steel wired fence along this walk, that were engraved/inscribed with people's births, deaths, marriages and undying love for each other!! we have heard of this before but never seen it until today. A beautiful lunch opposite the Lighthouse was had by us!



Bronze statues of children, they are looking up
at the Australian Flag

Captain Cook Lighthouse, Tweed Heads

View towards Brisbane

Plaques attached to the fence on the boardwalk,
commemorating the loss of the ships in WWII

Another plaque

Helen's lunch

 

 



Leaving Mullumbimby

Coffs Harbour and Sawtell beach caravan site

Saturday 26 April

After having a good sleep on our new sheets and after eating a hearty breakfast we again started to get to know the caravan. It seemed we had the canopy stays up all wrong! Our neighbours, Noel and Glenda who are from Newcastle were very keen to help us and exceptionally keen to have a look inside new our home. Noel showed Richard the correct way to set up the canopy and he also had a good look underneath checking out the water system etc. We all agreed to meet up for an evening meal in the village at a Thai restaurant that was most enjoyable.

Sunday morning weather sunny! Noel and Glenda showed us their favourite places around the area. We visited the market at Coffs Harbour on Marine Drive, a busy place with lots of local crafts being exhibited and not many being sold, unfortunately. Richard was only interested in one stall where a man had made fire grates from old gas cylinders; we will probably need one of these when out in the backs of beyond.

A visit to the nearest food and drink establishment which just happened to be Coffs Harbour Yacht Club and was called for as we were definitely ready for lunch.

Our new friends had to leave early on Monday morning, their massive motorhome was going into the dealers to have some work done on it. They had a first class cabin booked on the train from Coffs to Newcastle for their 5 hour journey!!

Monday morning also brought the endless telephoning to the Ford customer services people regarding the breakdown we had. One young lady named Melissa was sweetness and light, very convincing on having our complaint sorted. Little did we know that the conversations with her didn’t happen! 

Most importantly a new gadget was purchased on Monday an appropriately sized coffee machine.

 

 

 

A visit to the caravan dealer was on the agenda as we wanted to see if any more of our boxes had arrived. Richard was in discussions with the service department, as we required a new back light on our van, yes it had condensation inside it! No boxes! We are feeling a little worried!

April 29 Tuesday after our usual long walk on the beach we tried again to contact Ford and was fobbed off by different customer service people. This evening our wonderful daughter suggested we complain via Facebook on the Ford FB page.

And oh, the power of the internet!! Communication at its best. All we ask for is some compensation for the 3 hours we spent trying to get our vehicle back on the road! A nice lady called Lynda has since been trying to sort some kind of compensation for us. A not inconsiderable some of money was incurred, just getting back on the road! We shall see if Ford come to the party!

 April 30 Wednesday. After another long walk we went in the Sawtell RSL club for a well earned drink. We used the free wifi to facetime our lovely friends Helen and Heidi Wrightham, back in sunny Auckland. They are all good there and we enjoyed the catch up! Whilst we were there, they had a free meat pack raffle and we won a pack of lamb chops! Can’t be bad for nowt!!!! Richard is making some very informed decisions about the best beer to drink, trying them all out and making notes……

May 1^st to May 4^th Thursday to Sunday. Had a lovely weekend with great weather although decidedly chilly at night. We have even used the caravan heater to take the chill off whilst watching TV. That being said, the days are very warm out of the shade.

The caravan site is surprisingly busy, mainly with retired couples, just like us, enjoying a relaxed lifestyle. The site is adjacent to a bowls club and a croquet club. We marvel at the people all-resplendent in their club uniforms, battling it out in competitions.

Some of these pictures will not interest the vast majority of our mates but one or two of them want to see details of the caravan so here they are, mainly the kitchen drawers that are amazing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday 4 May

A trip to Coffs Harbour led us up Mutton Bird Island, an Aboriginal place, protected by the Government as a National Park. It was like the walk up to the Pa at Duder. The Muttonbirds and Shearwaters, rear their young there before migration, they have migrated now so we did not see them. A really beautiful part of the world.

A plaque on the jetty wall shows us that “Today is the gift”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 5^th Monday

Today we were up early. It’s the first official day of our retirement and we celebrated with a walk on the beach in beautiful warm sunlight, the surf was magnificent with only a few people walking the beach.

After our breakfast, cooked by the culinary expert Helen, we were doing our chores when we had a visit from our good mate Sid. He or She is one of many different interesting examples of wildlife here, especially birds and the like.

Another call from Ford Australia and we feel a little more hopeful that we may get a result and guess what? A call from our caravan dealer sends Richard on his way to pick up our final two boxes, thank goodness. We can now move on northwards on Thursday.

The Journey Begins!!!

The Journey Begins!

We arrived at our daughters place in Woollahra, Sydney on the evening of 20^th April 2014. Really tired but glad to be on the first stage of our planned adventure.

The 22^nd of April saw us busily registering with the Australian Road traffic people, getting driving licences and then travelling to Heartland Ford at Chullora. Our brand spanking new Ford Ranger XLT was waiting for us! We went through the car with the salesman, jumped in it and drove to our daughters. The following day, we loaded up our 3 suitcases and off we went, bound for Coffs Harbour and our new caravan.

After 200km, we stopped for a fish and chip lunch and a break, Helen then jumped in the Ute and off we went, after 50 metres, we broke down!!!!!

Over the next 3 hours we made countless phone calls to a largely unhelpful Ford dealer, cutting a long story short, we had to join the NRMA (like the AA) which cost us $380, the tow truck arrived and a very pleasant guy took us to Mid Coast Ford in Forster, a lovely little town, right on the coast. The garage guys were waiting for us and we unloaded the car, had a chat about what the fault might be and then they took us to a nearby motel where we had a good meal and long sleep. The following morning, early, the garage rang us and had fixed the car. Technical stuff, I had agreed with the tow truck driver that the pipe had come off the turbocharger and true enough, it had! The Sydney garage had not given it a proper pre delivery inspection and there was not enough oil in the car too! After a quick oil change, road test etc we were on our way, more expense!!!!!

We arrived at Watson’s caravans, Coffs harbour around 2 pm and saw our “baby” waiting for us! Nothing could have prepared us for the next 2 hours! Checking out all the systems, getting more and more inundated with instructions on how this and that works. We had to have special tow bars fitted to the Ute (more expense!), finally waving goodbye to the staff, firing the ute up and heading out on the highway!!!! Our first campsite is at Sawtell, a beach location, very pretty.





On the first morning, we were visited by a very large monitor lizard, around 4 feet long! Richard nearly had a heart attack!!!



We have spent the last 2 days (yesterday was Anzac day) visiting various shopping establishments, provisioning the van and buying bedding and crockery. Luckily, 4 of our 7 boxes had arrived at the caravan dealers, so we have got a lot of our stuff.

Today we are trying out our washing machine in the van and then off to explore. We are happy!