Tag: Travel

Vic, When Things Just Go Wrong6 Comments

You Should Try Caravanning…

Itching for Hitching

We had been trying hard to convince our friends to retire and try caravanning because we knew that they love the bush and we’d often camped together over the years. Not to be outdone by an earlier episode at Healesville when the water main burst we decided to try again and invited them to meet us in Mildura. “There was a light breeze but it was a lovely evening to sit on the riverbank. The fire worked well and the leg of lamb smelled good as it cooked on the Weber. We warned our friends that caravanners like to go … Continue reading You Should Try Caravanning…

NSW, Places, ShowgroundsLeave a comment

Tenterfield, NSW

Itching for Hitching

The Tenterfield showgrounds are home for the night so we park beside a rocky little creek that looks as though it may have flooded recently as there is quite a bit of debris about. The caretaker is a rosy cheeked lass who looks to be more at home on a horse, but that is what this area is famous for. In fact whenever we visit the toilet block we must take care to step around the horse poo. The town shops appear at first to be run down but on closer inspection there are upmarket women’s wear shops, quality home … Continue reading Tenterfield, NSW

When Things Just Go WrongLeave a comment

The Bathroom Door With Anxiety Disorder

Itching for Hitching

Nervous Nellie, the bathroom door on our caravan is scared of dirt roads. “How” you say “would you know that? It’s a door for God’s sake.” Well, at the mere mention that we’ll be travelling on an unmade road, it trembles and quakes and jumps off it’s guide rails. When we travel on a dirt road for no matter how short a distance, it does the full banana. Slips its lock and jumps off its guide rails then wedges itself between the wall and the toilet at such an angle that we can’t get into the bathroom. No matter how … Continue reading The Bathroom Door With Anxiety Disorder

National Park, NSW, Places, Top SpotsLeave a comment

Woody Head

Itching for Hitching

At Iluka, NSW which is opposite Yamba on the mouth of the Clarence, we choose to stay at the Woody Head camp ground in the Bundjalung National Park. The camp ground is in a sheltered basin overlooking the ocean and surrounded by World Heritage rain forest. We set up on a large level site and have lunch with a wild turkey and a couple of old ducks. There are a lot of people camped here but it is incredibly quiet, except for the screeching of the lorikeets and the pounding of the surf. Back at camp we enjoy the solitude … Continue reading Woody Head

Caravanning Hints, SA, WALeave a comment

Mental Telepathy

Itching for Hitching

The quarantine officer at the SA border was so helpful. He even gave us a quarantine guide booklet listing the do’s and don’ts for each state. After much discussion and cooking of the vegetables that shouldn’t cross the border, we reach the WA border quarantine point. I think we must have read the booklet in reverse because we had all of our fruit and vegetables confiscated except for one measley carrot (the one that somehow missed last night’s stir fry) and an unopened bag of lettuce leaves. Poor Woody is frantically unlocking hatches and Eskies for inspection while choking on … Continue reading Mental Telepathy

NT, The Pubs2 Comments

Daly Waters Pub

Itching for Hitching

Driving down the Stuart Highway in the Northern Territory, we can’t go past the iconic Daly Waters Pub for a lunch and even though it is three kms off the highway there is a traffic jam of caravans out front and more out back in the yard van park. It’s a classic curiosity pub full of paraphernalia and Dad jokes. Of course there’s underwear hanging from the rafters too. The folks around here must wander home half naked after a night on the beer having left their clobber either in the pub or draped over an ant mound somewhere along … Continue reading Daly Waters Pub

The Characters You Meet2 Comments

True Blue Aussies

Itching for Hitching

We’re at a service station in Bendigo, Vic two old codgers with long flowing beards and well developed paunches are filling their absolutely immaculate, head turning, bright red, FJ Holden. They both start whooping and hollering in greeting to a mini van driver. The sign on the side of the van says “Living leather 100% dead cow”. The van driver hops out he also has a long flowing beard and an artificial leg. “Watcha been up to?” they chorus “Aah scratching my arse. Where’d ya get that heap a shit?” says the van driver. Continue reading True Blue Aussies

Freedom Camp, National Park, Places, Point of Interest, SA, The Characters You Meet, Top Spots1 Comment

Pildappa Rock

Itching for Hitching

About 15kms off the Eyre Highway near the town of Minnipa in South Australia, Pildappa Rock stands high and proud above the wheat fields. The Eyre Peninsula is known for its granite monoliths and nearby Mt. Wudinna is 2nd largest to Uluru. Our mate finds a perfect campsite beside the wave face of the Rock and we constantly marvel at its size and the lichen stripes and patterns. Our other fellow campers are sprightly eighty year old retired Clarence Valley farmers in a camper trailer. We climb the rock and watch the sun set over the wheat fields. Our neighbour … Continue reading Pildappa Rock

NSW, Places, Point of InterestLeave a comment

Shipwreck Walk, Stockton, NSW

Itching for Hitching

The Newcastle Shipwreck Walk is on the northern breakwater at the mouth of the Hunter River. Built on the rusting hulks of numerous shipwrecks it is a place for reflection. Like all piers it is the preferred spot of fishermen and those who’ve passed are also remembered here with poignant messages painted on the rocks. “I always thought I would see you again.” A bike or a bucket on the path signifies a fisherman at work below on the rocks. Feral cats also a feature, live amongst the large rocks. They are hard to see but their meows are a … Continue reading Shipwreck Walk, Stockton, NSW