Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Sunday 14 November 2010: Darlington Park to Home


Damn!!  The time has come to pack up and return to the real world once again.  Rhonda and Ian have now sold up and are living in their van, so they are off to new adventures and we wish them well and hope to do the same one day.

Saturday 13 November 2010: Darlington Park


Another day in paradise.  We went for a drive into a friend’s property called Batinga, which is in the valley below O’Reilly’s Resort in the Lamington National Park.  A bit of four wheel driving in the new cruiser, which included 10 creek crossings.  We continued up into the hills which looked like something out of a story book, with huge green valleys and jagged cliffs.  We eventually found Burgess Park on the Christmas Creek road.  This is a small camp ground that would be great for about 10 to 15 vans and one we will revisit.  Well it’s back to camp for happy hour, a huge dinner and off to bed for our last night of the trip.

Friday 12 November 2010: Darlington Park


A day of rest and relaxation, followed by a roast lamb dinner cooked in the camp oven on the Oz Pig.  Beautiful!  A few beers, some bubbly and some rum liqueur and we were ready for bed.

Thursday 11 November 2010: Bingara to Darlington Park QLD


Only about 450 klms today and it started to rain as Ian and Rhonda arrived in their new van.  We are about 25 klms south of Beaudesert in a beautiful campground on the banks of a running stream.  It’s only $12 a night here and camp fires are allowed.  It’s also great to be wearing shorts again as it’s been a long winter and the weather down south was colder than usual for this time of year.

Wednesday10 November 2010: Goolgowi to Bingara NSW


Another long day on the road, with plenty of road works to slow us down due to the recent rains.  We arrived at Bingara in the dark, which made finding a level spot on the banks of the Gwydir River quite a challenge.  The bugs were out in force and were swarming around our lights, but we still managed to sit outside away from the van a little to enjoy a couple of drinks and a meal before bed.

Tuesday 9 November 2010: Springton to Goolgowi NSW


We left Springton and went via Sedan as recommended by Val.  This was a very scenic drive and avoided the traffic of the major roads.  We crossed the Murray on a free ferry at Swan Reach and travelled via Loxton and Mildura.  It’s great to see the Murray flowing so well again and the farm lands looking so green.  We spent the night at a rest area just before Goolgowi which we had to ourselves.

Monday 8 November 2010: Adelaide to Springton


Unfortunately we had to start our journey towards home and saying goodbye was very sad for all of us.  Oliver was growing and changing daily and it was a joy to see this happen and to be able to share these moments with his very proud parents.  But we will now revert to Olivers’ electronic grandparents seen via Skype until next time.

We drove up through the Adelaide Hills into the Barossa Valley to visit Chris and Val (Kedron friends) for the night.  Springton is a beautiful little town, which has been their home for only the last two years, but one they hope to remain in from now on.

Sunday 7 November 2010: Adelaide


Today was dedicated to Oliver’s christening followed by the Smith family gathering at Jason and Maddies’ place to celebrate.  Oliver was very well behaved throughout the event and laughed and smiled most of the day.

Saturday 6 November Adelaide


This evening was a party at a hotel to celebrate Kirsty’s 40 th birthday.  We volunteered to baby sit Oliver while Jason and Maddie had a night out.  Oliver is a breeze to baby sit as he slept right through until about 5am in the morning.  This turned out to be a one off for several weeks, it must be the grandparents touch.