Banaraby, 2010

August 17th, We left sunny Brisbane and travelled to Maryborough, with a stop for lunch at a Matilda Roadhouse, just before Maryborough. We stayed at Wallace Caravan Park. They were very full so, to save unhooking the Van, we accepted a road site in the back corner where we could still connect to a power point. The TV reception was not too bad with the old analogue connection. They are on digital but you need to have a vertical aerial to receive a signal and our windguard was of no use.

August 18th, On our way to Benaraby we stopped for fuel and light lunch at Mirriam Vale. We booked into the Boyne River Tourist Park (Big4) for 13 nights. It’s a nice park, on the river and has 2 boat ramps and we are told there are plenty of fish. We drove into Gladstone, only 20 minutes away, for me to visit Centrelink while Val did some food shopping. When we arrived back at the Park, we drove down to the river for a quick look around only to find the typical North Queensland “Crocodile Warning” sign. There had been a recent sighting, so it said. I checked with the Office and they told me that The Parks and Wildlife People had been out and checked the river without finding any sign of croc activity, so the general consensus is that it has moved out of the area.

August 19th, Took the boat off the car today and got it ready to launch into the Boyne River. I pumped up the tyres on the boat wheels and found that one had a slow leak. My spare boat tyre was also flat so when we drove to Tannum Sands, to check out their Shopping Centre, I had a new tube fitted at the Tannum Tyre Centre. We were surprised to find that Tannum Sands was a large Coles Supermarket Centre and about half the distance than going to Gladstone. I rang the Windscreen Wizard (found them in the local phone book) and booked the car in to have the cracked windscreen replaced, 8.30am to-morrow.

August 20th, About 9.15 am The Windscreen Wizard arrived (Shannon) with a young assistant. Rain was threatening so I raised the Caravan awning up a couple of notches and drove the front of the car under the awning, just in case it rained. The old glass didn’t want to come out easily but 1-1/4 hours later the job was completed. They just got the new windscreen in place as a shower of rain arrived and was blowing under the awning. A great job, professionally handled under slightly difficult conditions. After lunch we went for a drive to Tannum Sands and Boyne Island then back to The Awoonga Dam which backs up Awoonga Lake. As we entered the Dam area we came upon a Wallaby with a joey in its pouch, how special. It was very tame, so obviously used to seeing people and cars. The Awoonga Dam has been stocked with 3 million Barramundi and is one of the Dams on the “Barra Trail”. There was a Barramundi Competition starting to-day and finishing to-morrow. It was a catch and release, lure only, competition where each catch had to be photographed and entered on their “brag” sheet. We couldn’t go and watch the fished being weighed in, which was a pity. A few of the competitors were staying at our Caravan Park.

August 21st, Caught up on a few caravan repairs and took a rod down to the river at dusk, to try my luck. I came back with a 27cm Bream, which I filleted and Val enjoyed for her dinner.

August 22nd, Launched the boat and spent a couple of hours fishing, on a run-out tide, without any luck. I was using cooked prawns for bait, same as last night but couldn’t get the fish interested during the day.

August 23rd, Same story as yesterday with this mornings fishing expedition. Decided to try off the bank again, just on dark, and came home at 7.30pm with a 39cm unidentified fish. I had no idea what it was and nobody in the Park was any wiser. It was fun to catch as it put up a good fight and at one stage jumped clear out of the water. Val wasn’t having anything to do with this fish until it was properly identified and specified a good table quality. I gutted the fish and put it in the fridge until I could go to the Tackle Shop to-morrow for identification.

August 24th, No fishing to-day. I went to Boyne Island Fishing Tackle Shop and put in a fishing rod for repair. They were able to positively identify my unknown fish as an “Oxeye Herring”. On the rating scale for table quality it was rated as 1, which is the lowest. They said it was edible but would be full of bones. When I think of Herrings I picture those small fish soaking in oil in a tin, so once again we “live and learn”. Val is passing on this one so I might use it for bait. On the way back I had a haircut and then dropped off my spare boat wheel into the Tyre Centre at Tannum Sands, to have a new tube fitted. Not much point in carrying a flat spare around.

August 26th, It was overcast yesterday and rained all last night and to-day. So, nothing to report. Did a lot of reading and picked up my repaired boat wheel.

August 28th, The weather is back to “Beautiful one day and Perfect the next”, so yesterday went fishing in the boat but caught nothing. To-day I decided to just throw a line in off the bank and caught 2 bream (25cm & 30cm) and 2 throwbacks (a hairtail bream and a butterfish). I was given a 34cm grunter by a couple fishing next to me. Val had the grunter for tea and said it was good.

August 30th, Didn’t catch any more fish and spent the afternoon packing up the boat and getting it up onto the car, with Val’s help. Picked up my repaired fishing rod from Boyne Island Marine and Tackle.

August 31st, Left Benaraby this morning and drove to Biggenden with a stop at Gin Gin for morning tea. We walked around Biggenden Township and grabbed some lunch before booking into The Mountain View Caravan Park for the night. We were surprised to find that if you book in for one night, they give you the second night “free”. This is a great spot to stay for people interested in National Park, hiking etc. There are 3 National Parks around Biggenden. We will be moving on to Toowoomba to-morrow, we are now on the return trip back to Sydney.

Brisbane, 2010

August 7th, While driving to Brisbane we decided to stay at a better Caravan Park than the two we had used previously, when staying in Brisbane. We booked into the Gateway Village Resort (Big4) at Rochedale. Very impressive Park, so we were pleased with our choice and will now make this our place to stay, whenever visiting Brisbane. We couldn’t believe how cold it was at night here, much colder than Tweed Heads.

August 8th, Went to Brian (Val’s brother) & Julies place at Thornlands for a BBQ lunch. Rebecca, Nigel and little Sophie were there also. Brian, Nigel, Val & myself are all dieting so we had a nice steak, seafood and salad lunch, very healthy. It was good to catch up and Val was looking forward to meeting & playing with Sophie (Rebecca and Nigels 11 months old daughter). She was very cute and a happy smiling baby.



August 9th, Took my Centrelink Rent Assistance form to the Caravan Park Office for signing only to find that this Park does not sign off any Centrelink forms. So, off to Centrelink I went armed with my receipt to prove my payment of site fees. After lunch I decided to find the cause for the slow drainage of water from the sink in our Van. Lo and behold, I not only found the cause of the problem but also Val’s missing peeling knife. It had slipped down the small drain hose until it reached the bend that then ran underneath the floor to the back of the Van and there it was stuck. I tried to get the knife to come back up the hose using a straightened wire coat hanger but that didn’t work, so I had to remove the fitting on the outlet end of the drain hose, crawl under the Van to remove the clamps holding the hose to the floor, allowing me to open the bend in the hose then flush the knife through. That worked, so it was only a matter of putting it all back to-gether.



August 10th, It rained all last night and stayed with us right through the day and night. We went shopping in preparation for an arranged family BBQ at our Caravan Park to-morrow.



August 11th, It stopped raining around 8am this morning but still looked likely to rain some more, so a quick phone call had us packing all our BBQ food up and heading to Brian & Julies for lunch. As it turned out the skies cleared to a fine afternoon, typical. We went to Redlands Bay RSL for a flutter and left having made our donation to the Clubs continued financial success.

August 12th, We went to Garden City Shopping Centre at Mt. Gravatt, to keep our 12 noon appointment, at the Post office, to have our Passport Applications processed. That went without a hitch and my Australian Passport will be at Cardiff in 2 weeks, Val’s British Passport will be there in 4 weeks. We then made our way to Forrest Lake to visit an old friend, Doreen, who had moved up here from Salamander Bay to be with her Family. Our navigator (Doris) was totally confused as the road works in progress were not known to her and we arrived much later than expected and rather frustrated. It was great to catch up with Doreen and she took us to see the site where her new house is being built and was pleased to find the Concreters there pouring the slab. Doreen then took us to the Golf Club, within the Estate, for a very nice lunch. On the way back to her place we stopped at her Storage Shed and picked up 2 “Porcelain” Dolls to take back to Sydney for Jessica & Annaliese. Doreen had promised a doll for each of the girls before she moved up to Brisbane. After a coffee with Doreen we bid her good-bye till next time and headed for “Spotlight” on the way back to our Caravan Park.

August 13th, To-day we headed for Redland Bay to visit our friends, Nerida & Rob, who we met last year while travelling through WA & SA. It was good to catch up and to have a few quiet drinks with them. We drove into the City to pick up Nikos from the Emporium Hotel at 7.30pm and walked across to the Makabah Restaurant (Turkish cuisine) for a very enjoyable meal. After Dinner we went to the Airport to pick up Steven, whose flight from Sydney had come in early, and then all went back to the Emporium bar for a few drinks and to catch up.

August 14th, Picked up Steven & Nikos from their Hotel and brought them back to the Caravan Park for lunch. After lunch we all went over to Brian & Julies place for afternoon tea then back into the City to have dinner at the Liber-Tine Restaurant (French cuisine). After a great meal we dropped Nikos back to the Emporium and Val, Steven & myself went on to The Treasury Casino to try our luck. Our first problem was to find a street parking spot, I had the boat on top of the car so Parking Stations are out. We eventually found a place to park down by The Botanical Gardens and walked back to the Casino. Val went off to play the poker machines and Steven & myself headed for the $15 minimum, Blackjack Table. We were both doing well, at one stage Steven had well over $200 in front of him and I was holding my own. We called it quits around 10.30pm, Steven was down to his $100 starting money, I had $170 so had won $70 and Val had lost all her $100 to the Pokies. It was a great way to finish off a great day.

August 15th, To-day Steven, Nikos, Brian, Julie, Rebecca, Nigel and Sophie all came to our Caravan Park for a BBQ lunch. Sophie ran all around the concrete paths, in her walker, and wore right through the toes of her leather shoes. It was a great family get together, enjoyed by everyone, with Sophie being the life of the party, of course. We have never seen a more happier baby, always smiling. We dropped Steven & Nikos back to the Airport at 5pm for their 6pm flight back to Sydney.

August 16th, Caught up on our washing in the morning and went to Brian & Julies for afternoon tea, to say our final goodbyes. To-morrow we travel further north to Benaraby (just below Gladstone) with an overnight stop at Maryborough on the way.