Crossing the Great Divide

We have crossed the Great Dividing Range many times on all the quickest routes, but now we have a caravan in tow I thought it best we find a not so steep, less travelled route.

It seems “less steep” translates into long and windy (curvy not blowy), but with gradual undulating climbs and descents, not long  steep gradients.

West to East we found a route north of Warwick to Gatton, which meandered over a dozen river crossings but avoided the Toowoomba Range and Cunninghams Gap at Warwick.  East to West we took the now bitumened Armidale Rd from Grafton to Ebor, (Ebor is 1350m above sea level) avoiding many steep routes and our only flatter option of staying on the Pacific Motorway with all its road works and dicing with traffic in Sydney’s western suburbs.

We were very pleased with both our choices.

                                  Cunninghams Gap is in the bottom of this photo

Also,  there are always many interesting things to see whilst driving along countryside roads.

These letter boxes take recycling to a new level - nr Clouds Creek

Beaut Bike Ride

Finally sold Dereks old alloy wheels that we have been carting around in the back of the Landcruiser for the past week......yes, he has new mags! so now we could get to our bikes.

Kirra Beach Walks

We marvel at how inspiring the ocean can be, as we are out walking the beach twice a day. So grateful the weather is finally warm and sunny here at Kirra Beach, where we honeymooned 36 years ago. Kirra is right next door to Coolangatta, and has a great tourist park 300m from the beach.

Gracious Glasshouses

I consider the Glasshouse Mountains an icon on the Sunshine Coast. They can be seen from Brisbane City, and from far away as you approach from the west.  From our home in Caloundra we could see them every day as we walked our neighbourhood and the many beachfront walks. They were a prominent reminder of how close to the coastline they are as we jetskied along Pumicestone Passage.  They were named by Captain Cook after the Glass Houses near his home in Yorkshire.

View from Caloundra

There are 11 peaks in total, now mostly surrounded by farmland and small villages. We are lucky to have spent the last 2 weeks living at Glass House, at the base of Mt Ngungung and we couldn’t resist climbing Ngungung for the second time. Height 253m above sea level, Grade 4 walk. It is a beautiful part of Queensland. Note to self, have breakfast before hiking a grade 4 mountain!  I had to stop for lots of breathers and had all my snacks eaten on the way up.            Spectacular views, such a clear day, could see Brisbane City skyline.

Mt Tibrogargan, after a storm had just passed through last weekend.

Not so sunny Sunshine Coast

As a favour to some close friends we are house sitting at Glass House for a couple of weeks.  In our care are 2 dogs, 1 cat, 4 chickens, and 2 hens sitting on about a dozen eggs which are probably going to hatch into little chicks on our watch. They are a great bunch, and no trouble at all.

We took a couple of days getting here in the caravan, and hope to get some sunshine at Kirra Beach for a few days and then visit the Warrambungles NP in NSW on the way home. The skies have rained continuously since arriving, with only a few blue patches today, so were able to take the puppy dogs out for a walk.

We are catching up on Family History, photobooks, reading, and have been able to have checkups on our health, finances, car and hair cuts.  Enjoying our time with family and friends, and still have Derek's nieces wedding to attend. 

It is very strange being back and even a little sad as we drive around the neighbourhood we once lived in.  We couldn't help picturing ourselves walking TicTac and playing with him at the parks.

Grampians part 2

Venus Baths was very enjoyable for children, but bigger kids found plenty of rocks to climb.

They all managed to get wet to some extent

We shared a fire pit with another family and made “smores” with choc wheaten biscuits and marshmallows.

We collected the sticks from our Venus Baths walk, and also some that would double has hiking poles for our ultimate huge hike the next day.

I hate getting smoky before bed time, so this night we had tea early, had the fire and marshmallows, then showers and hairwash.  I don’t need to say it but the kids slept very very well each night.  Even I was snug in bed by 9pm each night.

The Pinnacle, the majesty of hikes, and the toughest for the kids, it took us over 3 hours for the round trip, with tons of stops, detours to other rock outcrops, snack breaks, quartz hunting etc.  but we all loved it.

The Pinnacle can be reached by extending the Grand Canyon Walk, but we attacked it from the Sundial Carpark, which took us up, then across a ridge, then a final scramble up after we joined up with the Grand Canyon trail.

They all want their own real hiking poles for Christmas....bless them!

Jenna and Jordan did well carrying the backpacks of water for us all.






The Pinnacle....




Our lunch room for today

Grampians with Grandkiddies

It was time to get the 4 grandkids out of Finley for a week during the school holidays, and time for us to see a bit more of beautiful Victoria.

Loaded with a tent and sleeping bags for me and the girls we hitched up the caravan to the Landcruiser and headed off to Halls Gap Gardens Caravan Park, 41/2 hour drive to an unpowered site surrounded by roaming emus and kangaroos and with the beautiful rocky Grampian N P as a back drop.

We barely scraped the surface of the numerous hikes there are to do.  Our just 5 year old Jayde, did a tremendous job on all the hikes, and 6 year old Jacey was our leader most of the time. Jordan and Jenna are the best camp helpers, and always a pleasure to have aboard.  We found many interesting geological formations, collected quartz, enjoyed the wild spring flowers and generally had a ton of fun together.  The weather was mainly cool but sunny, almost zero overnight.

We accomplished 4 great hikes, with no complaints and had tonns of fun.

Our campground Halls Gap Gardens Caravan Park.

They were keen to learn camping skills whilst they are young

McKenzie Falls .. 260 stairs down....and then back up!

Boroka Lookout ... we could see our Caravan

Grand Canyon Hike .... majestic rock formations and rock pools through this canyon

Each had their own style of rock scrambling......Jayde is 5

Todays lunch room

We went on to climb down to Splinters Falls too.

Next day had a shorter walk from the village to Venus Baths rock pools, stayed about 1 1/2 hours, then a visit through the Botanic Gardens and icecream

Expect the Unexpected

Even the best travel plans can come unstuck.

* our bags did not make it from Hong Kong to Vancouver with us, they arrived 8 hours later on the next flight

* got to spend 2 extra nights in Great Bear Lodge after being smoked in, with only way out by boat

* left a toiletries bag hanging on the back of Vancouver Hotel bathroom door before the Cruise, Derek disembarked the cruise ship when we got back to Vancouver without me, made a mad dash to the hotel, retrieved the bag, met me at the ship as I tried to disembark with all the luggage, and then got questioned why my travelling companion was not with me as I tried to clear customs. We are normally very thorough!

* lost our luggage in Vancouver airport before we even boarded the flight to Anchorage, it was taken to a different airline heading for Gatwick London

* Michelle was lucky enough to receive all the special security treatment, they went through all the hand luggage, body scan, mobile phone case, etc

* Derek also picked to join the 20 metre, but an hour long queue to get his finger prints taken to clear USA border control, as we left Canada for Alaska, with only one security officer for most of the time, it caused a lot of people to almost miss their flights

* We were in “zone 5” for boarding, and we started to get worried when we were the only 2 that hadn’t boarded yet, yep, we were the only 2 in “zone 5”, and finally got called to board!

* It didn’t seem to matter how early we thought we were to get on the bus during our land tour, older Americans were already queued up, we always seemed to be the last on. I swear they save their sleep for when they are on the bus. They also fight each other to sit up front.

* Picked up a stomach bug, so quarrantined from the ground tour group who got to sail to the Cruise ship, instead were driven by car 4 1/2 hours to meet the cruise, arriving 40 minutes before sailing and last to board

Just as well we don’t stress too easily, and just thankful we arrive at our destinations safely.

“Zone 5” Just Derek and I.

Spring is here in NSW

We are still getting use to seeing the beautiful changes to the seasons here in southern NSW.  We took a moment to enjoy the blossoming trees, and acknowledge spring, as it is still very cool at night.

“hey bear”

When we were on land at Great Bear Lodge, the mantra was “hey bear” to ward off any lurking bears in the woods!

Here are a few photos taken by Julie from Bundaberg who had a zoom camera lense.

Julie and I spotted this bear frolicking in the water,  he walked back and forth across the stones....I am sure he caught a fish