Month: January 2016

Qld, Wildlife4 Comments

Gone batty

Itching for Hitching

I ride my bike down to Tooan Tooan Creek in Hervey Bay, Qld and in amongst the mangrove swamp I’m captivated by four different types of butterflies flitting about in the sunlight.  To onlookers I must have looked like some sort of mad woman dashing back and forth about the swamp wearing a bike helmet and waving a Nikon. On the north side of the swamp the flying fox colony is chattering and screeching in the trees, so before long the whole dashing performance thing is repeated. Continue reading Gone batty

Freedom Camp, Places, Vic4 Comments

Worth More Than Gold, Walhalla

Itching for Hitching

Australia’s Great Dividing Range is the spine of eastern Australia. Stretching for 3,500 kms down the full length of the east coast before turning westwards and dividing most of Victoria as well as influencing the climate. “Ah the weather will improve once we’re over “The Divide.” As we often say, because it is much drier inland of ‘The Divide’. There’s a tiny town called Walhalla nestled in a steep valley in the southern slopes of the Great Divide in Gippsland in Victoria. There are only a handful of permanent residents, less than twenty according to Wikipedia. Yet in its gold … Continue reading Worth More Than Gold, Walhalla

Freedom Camp, Vic3 Comments

Never Look a Gift Pub in the Mouth

Itching for Hitching

The wee town of Port Albert is a fisherman’s paradise. The free camp is actually a parking area for cars, boat trailers and RV’s right on the sea front adjoining the boat ramp. There is supposedly parking space for six RV’s. So a bunch of us new arrivals all stand around debating how and where we are supposed to park. We later find the parking instructions and yes we have parked our vans incorrectly, but it isn’t busy and we aren’t blocking anyone. We should have parked the van on the lawn with the car on the asphalt. The town … Continue reading Never Look a Gift Pub in the Mouth

Qld, The Characters You Meet2 Comments

Free Entertainment

Itching for Hitching

It’s Monday morning in Rainbow Beach in Qld and in front of us there is a rather noisy camp of people who we’ve noticed won’t walk to the toilet, they drive! And no, they’re not disabled, we’ve checked that out. This morning ‘the boss’, as we’ve begun to call him, is pacing back and forth talking loudly into his phone. I think that he wants to feel needed but isn’t, the staff are probably glad that he’s away with the family for a few days. We hear all about a concrete pour that went wrong last Friday because one of … Continue reading Free Entertainment

Qld, The Pubs5 Comments

Lion’s Den Hotel

Itching for Hitching

We take the short drive from Cooktown, Qld to have lunch at the famous Lion’s Den Hotel. It is a curiosity pub of the highest order. Set on the banks of the Little Annan River the back paddock is spacious and available to campers for a small fee. The pub has been operating since the tin mining days of the 1880’s when the miners would record their beer tab on the walls. Tourists still write notes on the walls. Hanging from the ceiling there are: shark jaws, cattle skulls, T shirts, bras, g strings, ski goggles, caps, miners hard hats, … Continue reading Lion’s Den Hotel

Bush Poetry9 Comments

Australia Day 2016

Itching for Hitching

My Country The love of field and coppice, Of green and shaded lanes. Of ordered woods and gardens Is running in your veins, Strong love of grey-blue distance Brown streams and soft dim skies I know but cannot share it, My love is otherwise. I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains. I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea, Her beauty and her terror – The wide brown land for me! A stark white ring-barked forest All tragic to the moon, The sapphire-misted mountains, The hot gold … Continue reading Australia Day 2016

Caravanning with PetsLeave a comment

Abi’s Story

Itching for Hitching

We recently spent a weekend with friends at the Heathcote Wine Festival in Victoria, sampling a few wines and having a lot of laughs. Our mates T & T have a gorgeous little King Charles Cavalier called Abi and like most dogs she loves caravanning with a passion. T & T had only recently upgraded to a spacious new Jayco Silverline van. You know the ones, with the big black wraparound front window and a slide out to give even more living space inside. This was their second trip in only a few weeks in the van, so you could … Continue reading Abi’s Story

NSW, Road House4 Comments

Coombah Roadhouse

Itching for Hitching

The Coombah roadhouse is the only roadhouse or in fact commercial building on the 266 kilometres of Silver City Highway between Wentworth and Broken Hill in south western NSW. This used to be known as the ‘Crystal Highway’ because of the amount of broken windscreen glass on the road but windscreens are better constructed these days. To break the monotony on this long straight north south highway, emus dash across the road when you least expect it. Whilst driving one tends to say “oh look there’s an emu running beside us” and before you know it he’s dashing across the … Continue reading Coombah Roadhouse

Tugs9 Comments

In For a Service

Itching for Hitching

Being a woman of a certain age I recently and nervously checked in for my regular colonoscopy. As I laid there on the operating table in my stunning backless blue hospital gown my Gastro Enterologist, whilst waiting for the anaesthetist to do his job, was cheerily trying to relax me by asking how the caravanning was going. “I’d just love to talk my wife into caravanning” he said “what sort of four wheel drive do you have?” “We bought a Jeep” I said and promptly fell into unconsciousness.   Continue reading In For a Service

Choosing a Van, Why CaravanningLeave a comment

Wanna give it a go? Why not hire?

Itching for Hitching

Have I piqued your interest yet? Would you like to try caravanning but don’t want to outlay your hard earned cash on a rig when you’re still unsure? Don’t be disheartened there are options available to help you make a decision. You could do what we did. We hired a Britz Motorhome and toured the North Island of New Zealand. It was a reasonably inexpensive holiday as for the price of a hire vehicle there were low accommodation costs and most of our meals were prepared onboard. New Zealand’s motor camps are reasonably priced and of an exceptionally high standard, … Continue reading Wanna give it a go? Why not hire?