March 2018, Robe, SA Late in the afternoon I pop into the Caledonian Inn (1858) to pick up a crisp white for dinner. We’ve eaten at this pub many times over the years. We’ve even stayed in what I call their ‘Rooms in the dunes’ cottages that back onto the beach overlooking Guichen Bay. “Lovely day” I say to the young assistant. “It’s a real pearler isn’t it?” She says. You’ve just gotta love The Cally. Continue reading Caledonian Inn
July 2018, Mirani, Qld A popular swimming hole, Platypus Beach is below the cane railway bridge over the Pioneer River at Mirani. There’s plenty of room on the wide sandy beach for 4×4’s as well as picnickers. But you’ve got … Continue reading Platypus Beach
July 2018, Eungella, Qld I had originally planned that we’d stay at the Broken River Bush Camp at Eungella National Park. Fortunately our mates ‘The Sugars’ in Mackay recommended the Finch Hatton showgrounds as the best option for touring the area and I now know why. Finch Hatton is central and the road up to Eungella is steep with a gradient in places exceeding 15%. If you’ve travelled the Waterfall Way in NSW it is reminiscent but steeper. Lined with palms, tiny waterfalls spurt from the rock face and halfway up a road crew are working to repair the edge. … Continue reading Eungella
July 2018, Finch Hatton, Qld It’s a deliriously warm afternoon and from our showgrounds campsite we walk a few metres to the pub on the main street for lunch. By the photos on the walls The Criterion Hotel was once … Continue reading Criterion Hotel, Finch Hatton
Winter 2018 and we’re have a quiet dinner in a pub somewhere when Woody suddenly says, “You don’t really want to see the waitress pulling her undies out of her arse, do you?” On second thoughts perhaps it’s the places … Continue reading You Can’t Take Him Anywhere
Every Winter the caravan park in Ilfracombe hosts the Ilfracombe Olympics. What? You haven’t heard of this prestigious event? If you’d wondered why so many caravans head to Western Queensland in the Winter time this is the reason. It’s got … Continue reading Ilfracombe Olympics
Oct 2012, Approaching Broken Hill, NSW The road signs tell us we are now on Central Standard Time (South Australian Time even though we’re in NSW) and our clever little iPhones suddenly drop back a half hour. We pull into … Continue reading It’s Just a Matter of Time
Winter 2016, Toowoomba, Qld We leave Jondaryan on Queenslands’ Darling Downs and before our bums have been warmed by the heated seats we’ve hit the outskirts of Toowoomba and boy it is larger than we had expected. With excitement we … Continue reading Toowoomba
Having diesel or gas heating in a caravan means that in cold weather you can still enjoy the natural beauty of freedom camps rather than paying top dollar for a campsite in a Caravan Park just to be able to plug into their power. We’ve owned our caravan Priscilla for close to five years and she’s probably around six years old. As her layout and size suit us quite well we’d prefer not to upgrade as we figure that she and us will probably wear out at about the same time anyway. Because of her age we had decided not … Continue reading Seduced by Diesel Heating
While slurping away happily on a $5 bubbly beside a Queensland campfire Elle Prado and I chat to a couple who are Victorian vignerons and they shyly tell us that they would love to do more caravanning but their award-winning vineyard has kept them too busy. I have a sneaking suspicion and later do a Google search and sure enough their vineyard supplies a very well known winery with a particular variety of grape. In fact, the best of this variety of grapes in Australia and if you want to try it you’ll have to fork out $130 – 199 … Continue reading Let’s Keep It a Secret
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