Cooroy - Sunshine Coast -   Rain & Cold     High 18 Low 10    Distance 565km                                  

Well, summing up - Australia is a bloody big country!  With extremes of temperature from the cooler south to the hot & humid tropics in the north.  This journey has only skirted the outer coastline and there is much, much more to see.  The inland areas consisting of deserts, mountain ranges, rivers and many outback towns will provide further exciting journeys for us.  We hope to cover some of these in the next couple of years all being well.

When we set out on our journey, one thing we were concerned about was crossing the famous Nullabor Plain but however, this went extremely smoothly with more traffic than we had expected between the towns of South Australia and Western Australia, namely Ceduna and Norseman.  However what did take us by surprise was the remoteness and vast uninhabited distances between Perth and Broome.  Sometimes we would travel for over an hour without seeing another vehicle & with our phones out of range.  We had taken out extra cover for breakdown & towing of both car & caravan but depending on the time of day, it could have taken them 2 days to get to us in the middle of nowhere.

All in all, we had a great time seeing some stunning scenery and meeting many interesting people -many international backpackers and others like us on the road around Australia - some of them taking up to a year to travel around Oz while others had sold their homes and were staying on the road following the sun for as long as 15 years!

Below, I have listed some stats of our journey for those who are interested.

We will now start planning our next trip but that probably won't be for a while.  Thanks to all of our readers for your interest in our journey - it feels as if you are sharing it with us. 

It was raining when we left Cooroy at the beginning of February & it was raining when we returned to Cooroy in May!! (However I have to add that the next day it was back to blue skies and sunshine!)



Rain!

Rain

GOODBYE !!

STATISTICS

Mileage                    -    19,498km  (12,111 miles)

Petrol Cost               -     $7801.64  HOW  MUCH???????

Caravan Park Cost   -     $3,129

Weather                    -   Very lucky with the weather - cold around the south of WA but no rain apart for a couple of days in Adelaide - the rest was hot & sunny.
      

Map of where we have travelled provided by friend, RAW in the UK, who tracked our route on Google Earth.



Emu Park, Rockhampton -    Sunny /cloudy periods.                 Temp  High 26C   Low 17C

This is our last day - we will arrive home at the Sunshine Coast tomorrow. 

Cooling down now.  Not looking forward to the cold weather at home - Cooroy today is High 23C & Low 10C.  Brrrr!  It will be cold in the van under the trees down by the creek.  However, there will be no neighbours to bother us in the middle of 100acres!  Looking forward to our house becoming vacant in July so that we can move in!

We still have another 565km to go so it will be an early start & another long drive tomorrow.  As we have travelled down the Queenland coast, we have noticed many Grey Nomads & their caravans from Victoria & New South Wales heading north to enjoy the warm Qld winter and leave their cold southern winter behind.  This is an annual migration and more & more retirees are doing this every year.

Emu Beach

 

 

Tezza at Emu Beach

 

 

The Singing Ship at Emu Beach

 

Emu Beach Village

 

The Caravan Park
our van on the right



Rockhampton -  Sunny to start with -cloudy later     Temp High 26C Low 16C  Distance 554km

(Pix have been added to the information on our rig.  See Post - 11/5/2013 - Townsville)

Travelled south through Proserpine & Mackay stopping for lunch at Sarina.  We decided to stay for a couple of nights at Emu Park.  We stayed here once before with Steve & Jacqui.

Kookaburra

Lunch at a park in Sarina

Hydeaway Bay  - Sunny with one short sun shower                                Temp High 27C  Low 21C

After an early morning walk, we spent the morning on the beach at Cape Gloucester.  No-one else on the beach - just  a couple of yachts moored in the bay.  It is a stunning area with Gloucester Island just across the water.



Cape Gloucester from Hydeaway Bay





Cape Gloucester

Bouganvillea



Gloucester Island in the background

On the beach at Cape Gloucester

Cape Gloucester

A steep hill on a gravel road at Cape Gloucester



We drove over to Airlie Beach in the afternoon.  Not very good at the moment as they are changing the centre of the town and have dug up the main street.  Altogether a bit of a mess.  Glad we are staying at Hydeaway Bay.

The Pool on the front at Airlie Beach
 

We have enjoyed many bbq's beside this pool with..........  Rod & June, Dave & Sheila, RWR and Steve & Jacqui.







































































Townsville - Hydeaway Bay (Whitsundays)  Cloudy   Temp  High 26C   Low 22C Dist  257km

 

AUSTRALIAN MOTHER'S DAY

We travelled to Dingo Beach & Hydeaway Bay calling into Ayr and Bowen on the way south.  (Had to sneak a quick look at Horshoe Bay at Bowen - one of our favourite places).

Sugar cane, Sugar cane & more Sugar cane
We are definately back in Queensland!

Mangos too, Jacqui!

Ayr

 

 

Main Street - Ayr

Then on to Bowen and Horseshoe Bay.....................

Greys Bay (next to Horseshoe Bay)

 

 

There are lots of colourful flowers in Bowen

We booked into the caravan park at Hydeaway Bay named after Edwin Hyde the original surveyer of the area - thus the unusual spelling.  Dingo Beach does not have a caravan park but it does have a very nice pub & beer garden right on the beach. The park is lovely - well cared for with friendly managers.

Hydeaway Caravan Park



 

Another "overcrowded" caravan park!!!!



Hydeaway Bay

Townsville -  Sunny but with a few clouds.  Windy last night.  High 28 Low 19C 

Went for a long walk from Rowes Bay to the town and along The Strand - washing completed & on the line & enjoyed a leisurely breakfast and it is only 8.45am.  How's that?

Townsville is the main town in North Queensland.  It is a busy town with a Defence Force base and also the James Cook University.  The local council is continually upgrading and improving the public areas and at present it is building a new parkland adjacent to the Rock Pool.  The land previously belonged to the Defence Force and the new parkland includes a military museum.  Jacqui will remember walking around this area when we were last there & I am sure she would really appreciate the new boardwalk which is to be built around the point and which I assume will connect Rowes Bay to The Strand.  (not confirmed).




Castle Hill Townsville

 Later we visted the Home Ideas & Leisure Expo.  We wanted to look at some camper-trailers as we are thinking of changing to one for our next trip.  A camper-trailer would give us access to more off-road areas such as National Parks where we cannot take a caravan. 

Our next trip will be either down the centre of Oz or to the Cape York Peninsular in Far North Qld.  Terry reckons for Cape York we only need the car and a tent but I am not convinced about that - I do not fancy sleeping in a tent with all those huge salt-water crocs around!

Rowes Bay

 

 

Strangler Figs

Caravan Park

In the evening we went for dinner at the Cowboys League Club.  Fraternising with the opposition as we support the Brisbane Broncos!  Afterwards we went for coffee at the RSL where a rock n roll band was playing.  A good night out.

The Rock Pool at Night
(this pool has sea water)

OUR RIG

We've had a few enquiries regarding our rig and Terry has put the following information together for those who are interested.......... 

Australian caravans are heavier than European / UK caravans and are also higher off the ground.  They have a much heavier chassis and they weigh in unloaded at approx 2.5 tons compared to the European/UK vans - 1 - 1.5 tons.  Over here the vans are mostly double axel to cope with the harsher road conditons and we also use anti-sway bars between the caravan & the towing vehicle.  See pic  Most vans here are fitted with reverse-cycle air-conditioning / heating which we were glad of in Broome & Darwin.  They also have roll-out awnings fixed to the vans.  Our caravan is a semi-off-roader which means it is even higher of the road than the average van and allows us to travel on dirt roads etc.  We tow with a Mitsubishi Pajero V6 petrol.  We are planning to change to diesel for our next vehicle.

Anti-sway bars on the caravan

 

 

Bike Rack

Caravan

Mitsubishi Pajero



Townsville   -  Cloudy with a few showers                                   Temps  28C High   20 Low

(9th - 12 May in Townsville)

Went for a long walk this morning from Rowes Bay into the centre and all along The Strand.  Hey - what is that wet stuff falling from the sky - last time we saw rain was in Adelaide in February!!

R n R today so no pics - sorry.  Macca's brekky - yummy hot cakes!!!

Magnetic Island in the distance