As I flip through the weekend paper from the urgency of Page One to the relaxed Magazine lift out one topic is discussed over and over, drones. Drones for the military, drones for agriculture, drones for real estate sales, drones … Continue reading Look, up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a …
Just two kilometres off the Princes Highway and roughly halfway between Central Tilba and Narooma, the Mystery Bay campground is in a grove of spotted gums with views to the pretty little bay and Montague Island in the distance. The … Continue reading Mystery Bay, NSW
We’ve been on the road for some time now and travelled 4000 kilometres, yet for some time I have had the sneaking suspicion that no one else in our little group knows where we are actually going. As I walk out of the water after my swim the others sheepishly declare that they were pondering what they would do if I had drowned. The Indian Ocean thankfully isn’t all that rough. Their answer was to stay in Geraldton forever as they didn’t know where we were headed or how to get home! It’s nice to be needed isn’t it? Continue reading Where are we now Mal?
It’s 2013 and we break for a cool drink at the little town of Ulmarra on the banks of the Clarence River. Like many along this coast of the Northern Rivers region this town has also suffered recent flooding and the last vestiges are still visible, sand bags around the houses, muddy remnants and the ferry is out of action. We have a beer on the veranda of the pub and watch small dogs just being dogs, moseying around, sniffing and peeing on the veranda posts. No pedigrees around here. This is where the sugar cane fields start, wide expanses … Continue reading Ulmarra Hotel
I attended a rather informative workshop at the Girgarre Moosic Muster in January, one for advanced Ukulele players. Advanced? Hmmm. The instructor Paul Jonson from New Zealand had some compelling reasons why I should upgrade to a new uke. I took his advice and visited Lord Uke in Carlton and bought a sweet tenor sized Luna, with a Low G String that gives it a little deeper voice. What does all this have to do with caravanning? Well it means that I now have one instrument that has a broader range of music. So I’ll probably travel with only one … Continue reading My New G String
Up in Normanton on the Gulf of Carpentaria it is winter, dry and hot. We drive our washing to the Laundromat to save it from walking there all by itself! The Laundromat is in the post office. In these parts every business multi tasks. As I wait for Woody to sort out the coin washer problems with the postmaster I lean on the verandah rail. I am overcome by a smell that takes me back to my childhood, but what is it? Then I hear brrrp, brrrp there are a few shrubs, a tank stand giving shade, a couple of … Continue reading Normanton Laundromat
How thoughtful, the Hydeaway Bay Caravan Park has a chookyard and a slot for campers to drop their unwanted vegetable scraps through to the girls. Continue reading Recycling Centre
It is wintry and very cold and windy in Port Fairy on Victoria’s west coast. We rug up and walk around Griffiths Island which is only metres from the shore. This is a place that holds a special meaning to me as I once worked with a gentleman by the name of John Griffiths who was a direct descendant of the Tasmanian entrepreneur and sealer John Griffiths who established a sealing business on this island long before Port Fairy was established. There is lichen covered basalt, oyster catchers dart across small beaches and tiny turban shells called Italian White Snails … Continue reading Port Fairy
We’ve been invited over to our caravan mate’s place for afternoon tea. They live in a seventy year old Queenslander housein tropical Mackay. Now I’ve been busting to see inside one of these houses forever so I’m just a little excited. The inside walls are of vertical timber boards that stretch up to a ceiling that is 14 feet above. The windows are shuttered and doorways are crowned with fretwork. We have tea on the wide teak verandah overlooking the garden and the rain that tumbles down unceasingly. This is the dry season. Our friends describe how they use the … Continue reading Unseasonal weather
itchingforhitching 