Easter weekend camp 2025

Sunday the 13 th of April we hopped into the car for a therapeutic Sunday drive.

We headed off taking the Maryborough Biggenden road heading west from home. We passed through Aramar, Brooweena, and found a sign on a farm gate overlooking a beautiful dam. The sign introduced us to a couple that provide a camp site on their property.

The rest of the Sunday run went to Killkivan. Via Woolooga for the worst coffee that we have ever had. In Killkivan.

We went back the same way from which we had come for a second look at the lake side camp that we had seen. waving to the owners mowing as we stopped by the gate.

Decision made to book it for the Easter weekend.That turned out to be arrive Friday and leave Tuesday.

Most unfortunately we had a doctors appointment for Covid booster shots on Tuesday so we booked from Friday and leaving Monday. No dramas as we just lost a day in paradise. Paradise it truely was. There were only three other camper families that turned up for the weekend even better they stayed well away from us.

What a place, only 24 acres with the most beautiful dam full of beautiful water plants and supporting all fresh water wild life.

Our front yard for the Easter weekend what beauty.

The bird life was amazing.

Fish jumping tortoise’s swimming and bees feeding on the small white flowers that waited for sun up to open up. The bees were wonderful to watch in the early hours trying to force open the tightly closed little white flowers before they were ready to greet the day.

22025 Will be better

I am starting to feel like those people that publish pictures on social media of every meal that they have, but here goes. Yucky stuff.

A week ago I had a BCC (Basel cell carcinoma ) chopped out. It has been way too long since I had a skin check consequently I am paying for it now. Thankfully it was completely removed. Not pretty though.

All good now has healed well and am

Mobile again,

This stuff really does not end the older you get.

But wait there is more stuff yet to be removed so I wait for the clean up.

All healed now so off we go forging a head with my our next post following.

Cheers to all.

Pretty gross

We are still above ground :-

Life during and after COVID has been a real s.it.

We have not been away it would seem forever and as a consequence no posts have appeared.

Like most we fell victim to the dreaded covid but both recovered well to continue with our lives.

The last enjoyable trip that we experienced was to Boondooma Dam in January 2023.Boondooma is about 3 plus hours from Brisbane and is great spot but unfortunately the temperatures were at records and constantly in the 40’s. This necessitated a lot of relaxing in the warm waters of the dam right in front of our camp. Most pleasant bathing in the lovely waters.

The first weekend turned out to be a huge fishing competition consequently the place filled up rapidly with fisho’s keen for the prizes offered. There was a mass of carp caught that were not the species that were targeted for the comp. These critters were unceremoniously dumped in skip bins awaiting disposal. [skip bins are large garbage bins ]for those of you not from Aus.

It turned out that Charlie our killer guard dog happened to love the kayak as much as Mavis. We only had to look like we were going to get in the kayak and he would jump straight in to his position in the bow.

We have had a bit over 12 months of health issues that have kept us mostly grounded.

About a year ago Mavis was diagnosed with. Metastatic Breast cancer. It was a major blow to our wellbeing obviously. The cancer has affected her spine,skull and ribs.

Following a couple of weeks of radiation the oncologist prescribed a course of Kemo tablets which reacted very badly with her actually putting her in hospital. The hospital visit degenerated into her shuffling between Maryborough, Hervey Bay and The Royal Brisbane Women’s hospital where she caught Pneumonia and another lung infection. Due to the Kemo and her infections she was kept in an isolation ward. Two months of Hospital is obviously. no fun, Fortunately all is now better as she tries to recover some strength and energy.

The good news is that the cancer has not progressed any further for the last 10 months.

But wait there is more. Not to be outdone I tripped over a bucket that I had left on the front verandah and broke my right knee cap. This required surgery to wire it back together. About a month after surgery the wires started to come to the surface so a second surgery to put it all back again. Strangely there was no pain associated with the injury or the repair.

It’s a lot prettier now.
Because I didn’t get the attention that I craved I had an operation to straighten my ring finger on my right hand.I was /are still suffering from a Viking disease called Dupuytrens Contractur which causes the tendons to contract causing the finger to close up and can’t voluntarily be straightened. Not a pretty sight but surgery worked as well as it could, now the other hand needs attention for the same disease. I call it Vikings disease because it is attributed to their laying their seeds through the Celtic nations while they raped and pillaged spreading their hold on the known world at the time.

Soo if you are of Scottish or Irish decent beware it could hit you as it has me.

Well that be the current news associated with the travellinkyds or should I say the not so travellinkyds. Hope this rave finds you all well and hearty.

Cheers from the Kyd’s.

2021 we are off North again/1

The time is near when we head off North for the winter months.

As I write this we are still at home preparing everything that is required for the trip.

We have a new vehicle, a Ford Ranger that is demanding a lot of modifications before departure my Scottish background dictates that I don’t spend where I can do it myself. Do you all realize how bloo.y hard it is to get back off the ground after working under the vehicle at my age and condition :-/.

My love decided that we just had to have another tandem kayak as we no longer have the ability to take the boat due to weight restrictions on top of the car. The size of the storage area is extremely reduced from the F250 sooooo much re-thinking has had to happen to accommodate necessities/perceived necessities. If you travel north this year and see heaps of jetsam beside the highway have no fear t’was I relieving the excesses of packing :-).

Received a parcel that I/we had been waiting for on Friday from ITechworld in W.A.. A jump starter/ power supply, see Jump Starter 2000A 20000mAh Backup Power Bank Charger Portable for Car Boat 12V – iTechworld for details. This arrival flagged our departure on Saturday, which occurred at about 10am.

The Plan was to make it to Calliope a mere 275 km’s from home. Before we approached Calliope we decided to head out to Lake Elphinstone for a couple of day’s to check out the new Kayak. We carried on to overnight at Marlborough north of Rockhampton. Sooo, 487km’s were done instead of the original 275. Massive storm hit us after stopping with small but driven hail and heaps of rain, all good so only a short 282km’s tomorrow.

From Marlborough we headed to Nebo on Sunday morning then on to Lake Elphinstone for a couple of day’s. Plan “A” was to get the new Kayak in the water for a test run. Upon arriving at Elphinstone it was raining so we didn’t set up camp but parked and had a Nana and Poppy nap listening to the rain on the roof of the van. It don’t get a heap better :-).
The road from Marlborough to Nebo would have to be the worst sealed road that we have ever driven on, no pot holes but massive waves that were like giant corrugations. It was a relief to reach Nebo. Regardless, along this cr.p road we did see a koala sitting in a tree beside the road and a brolga and some deer, so this road was not a total loss

After the rest I/we moved off to find a semi flat spot beside the lake to set up. This we did and sat with a coldy admiring the view of the lake and resting my RS knee. For those that take offence RS stands for righthand side now look away so the others can see that it is actually rat sh.t knee. The drugs are working I think!

For those with a very keen eye you probably noticed that the F truck shrunk. Knew I shouldn’t have washed it. 🙂
Very sad, Lake Elphinstone is extremely low and has blue green Algy warnings. The level was on full display when yesterday (the 8th March) a bloke and his missus and baby rocked up with a 3.8 tinny with 30 horses on the back yes a 30 horse!. They proceeded to the boat ramp just up from us and launched the boat. Missus and bub loaded on board and hubby pushed the boat out into the lake. He was only getting his calves a little wet for the first 50 meters then the level almost got to his knees, time to start the motor! With the motor tilted they motored out into the middle of the lake churning mud the whole time. Turning North they disturbed the bottom half way up the lake before giving it away as a bad joke. My bet, the only things that are not touching bottom are the ducks feet and the pair of swans as they pretend to be swimming around.
Damn shame this is a great spot to kick back and enjoy the serenity, but a little better if you can also enjoy the water. Recommend this stop over to just get chilled, fires allowed (BYO wood) and an amenity block on site cold showers and toilets. BYO water as the nearest water pick up is at Glenden about 25 klicks away where there is a sort of supermarket and toilet dump and the potable water pickup. Top spot Lake Elphinstone, ask Charlie he was off his lead most of the time!

Little buddy guarding his ball

Gum Tree Lodge and Bush Camp August 2020

Greetings all.

Again a long time since last post so hear goes.

Saturday the 22nd August we headed North from Maryborough for at lease a week away from the drudgery of home life. The van was packed the truck fueled, water tanks full incase we needed to have a break from the trip somewhere remote ,  off we went. It was a grueling and very tiring trip but we managed it in fairly quick time. It was a big day but we managed to cover the 35 kilometers to Gum Tree Lodge with still plenty of daylight to set up :-). Yes 35 kilometers from home this bush camp is at Howard and well placed for a quiet chillaxing time without a major trip.

 

See  https://www.facebook.com/GTLHoward for further info.

Our hosts George and Debbie Brown have done a great job in providing this wonderful getaway  in the short 12 months that they have been here. Power and water available at this time is $25 a night pay 3 get 4 or pay 5 and get 7,excellent value! and dog friendly. Due to the unfenced dams children can not be accommodated here. Adults only! There is also a granny flat and guest suite available for the non campers.

On the front of the block is the main camp area but we chose the newly opened back area (still with power and water) which is a little more out of the way. There are movable fire pits supplied along with plenty of complementary fire wood. The wood is a little green but ok in the fire pits. There is a newly cleared area that would suite a group that didn’t need power.

Our front yard while we are here

Hot dog’s for dinner

George and Debbie are hot rod enthusiasts/ nuts and the extent of this enthusiasm is incredible and on display in the monster shed near the house. Below just a few of the treasures.

The plate is a good indication of what’s under the cover 🙂

Under construction is Georges garage which will be a haven for hot rodders, rock and rollers and other enthusiasts of years gone by.

All in all a top place to chillax or have a look around the area. It is in close proximity to some great things to see and do.

Cheers to all, hope you enjoyed!

 

 

Proud to be an Aussie

I am a bit out of sequence with the Blog but this rave must be said.

We are currently doing a house sit at beautiful Carcoar about half way between Cowra and Bathurst in New South Wales for a couple of weeks.

We have not been doing big shops for some weeks and decided to combine a site seeing tour of Orange with a stock up at Woolies (an Aussie supermarket for OS friends).

I must admit that I have stopped looking at Facebook of late due to the cr.p that has been getting posted about the rush on toilet paper,(who would be that stupid right?)

With a small shopping list in hand I ventured into Woolworth’s in Orange to fill the order. I was confronted with some empty shelves (as seen on TV and I dare say inspired by typically sh.ty reporting).

   There was plenty of food with the exception of rice and flour of all things, but ALL paper products were missing. No dunny rolls, tissues, serviettes or paper towels.

This inspired me to scour the internet when we got home for recipes using these bleached paper products but alas I found none with any nutritional value to sustain a chap of my bulk. So as of now we have to use both sides of our remaining tissues and hang them out to dry. I put the feelers out to the boss about washing them but was confronted with a fairly negative reaction although some do sneak into the wash in my shorts (bit hard to unravel after the wash and dry though).

Next stop in Orange was the Salvo’s shop for Mavis to check out their wool supplies for her crafty works. Needless to say Charlie and I stayed in the car avoiding the excitement of the bargain hunt.

Opposite the parking spot was an IGA (supermarket). I was totally pis.ed off watching mindless idiots walking out of the shop with large bundles of dunny paper and nothing else. I don’t think we have ever been shopping to only buy toilet paper unless confronted with a major curry induced diarrhoea outbreak.

One bloke took the top prize for being a complete dick. His Volvo was parked on the street directly outside the entrance to the shop. This clown made three yes 3 trips (while we were there) into the shop and came out each time with a big bag of toilet rolls and loaded them into his car. The last pack he had to stuff into the front passenger seat on top of more bags of toilet rolls. The rear seat windows were filled with the site of (drum roll) you guessed it bags of toilet rolls. He hopped into the drivers seat with his cargo obscuring his vision to the left of the vehicle and drove off.

Even if he was supplying a 300 room hotel he would be over stocked for months.

Makes you proud to be an Aussie doesn’t it, where the h.ll do these people come from?

Trip South 2020 part 3

From Cooyar we did the scenic back road route to Maclagan. We were going to visit our old mate Dave at the Rangemore Estate Winery but unfortunately he was not at home. The back road to Maclagan from Cooyar as usual was spectacular.  We used to call these magnificent natives plants Black Boys or grass trees,( but I am now bowing to Political correctness and call them Small Indigenous Male plants), they were spectacular!.

Maclagan has the best butcher shop on this planet. A stop was made to buy some of their snags, some of their own bacon, a small rump steak and some chicken thighs for future consumption on the journey ahead.

The next overnight was at Bluff Rocks near Tenterfield. Not the best camp as the parking area was on a pretty big slope. Again I cursed myself for being too Scottish to have self levelling airbags fitted to the van when we had it built. As a consequence out came the levelling ramps and blocks of wood but the van was still on a lean so we put up with it .

 

The next morning took us through Tenterfield and on towards Tamworth.

Between Armidale and Tamworth we had a break at Uralla. The reason for this stop was so we, correction I could have a look at the Ural Motorbikes. The Importer is based at Uralla. I have been fascinated by these Russian made bikes for some time. They are very strongly made and come with a side car. Those made for left hand drive country’s  are two wheel drive as the side car wheel is powered but for right hand drive countries they are only driven by the bikes rear wheel. What a rugged looking beast!

If Santa is listening I will be vewy vewy good this year. Couldn’t you see Charlie oh and Mavis in the side car.

 

The decision was made to go to Hat Head to see Mavis’s sister and bro in-law but ringing on the way revealed that Margaret was not home until the next day, so South of Walcha we turned back towards Tamworth to continue out travels.

We stopped for the night about 30km from Tamworth at a spot that we had glimpsed as we went past, turned out to be a great overnighter by a creek and I managed to find a flat spot yehaa to set the van up for the night. We were the only ones here. GPS below for future reference

Charlie loved it as he could run around without his lead and chase the ball.

Refreshed we took off the next morning headed for our next port of call which turned out to be Werris Creek where we stopped for a visit to the chemist shop and to empty Charlie then on to Carcoar and Cowra both via Bathurst.

Carcoar is the place that we have a house sit at the end of February so we contacted the owner and dropped in for a visit to say g-day. From here we moved on the Cowra.

Cowra was a furnace at 42 deg C so we went to the Cowra show grounds camp which had both power and water available along with plenty of dust. It took a couple of hours for the aircon in the van to drag the temp down to 31 deg and a few more hours for the van to become comfortable. Needless to say the aircon stayed on all night while we slept in comfort.

The next day was no better temp wise so we chose to stay put with the aircon running for the next couple of days. It was amusing to run the washing machine hang the washing out under the awning put the next load on and when it was finished the first lot was already dry, bl..dy hot.

Part 4 coming!

Trip South January 2020 part 2.

Our first stop after leaving Kenilworth was Karen and Collins property at Maidenwell. Only a short stop to pick up Mavis’s gear that was left there when she finished the house sit, then off to our first free camp at Cooyar Swinging Bridge Park.

This is a top spot with two Power outlets available if required and can be booked at the pub.

There were not too many campers there so being that we had the guard dog with us we went right down the back and set up camp. There was a nice breeze and plenty of green grass making for a pleasant stay.

Charlie loved it, being away from other campers we let him chase his ball and investigate all the new smells and tastes that were on the area. Check that smile 🙂

There is a little grave in the park of a 5 year old girl that drowned in the creek in 1904. It is well maintained and a wonderful tribute, lovely but very sad story!

Only Tuesday night spent here then off to the next stop. Info follows in the next instalment part 3.Cheers

Trip South January 2020 part 1.

We started our trip South on the 21^st January at Kenilworth with the Kedron Group to celebrate Australia Day. Arriving before most of the others we just chilled for a few day’s enjoying being away in the van.

This as a matter of fact was Charlies second trip in the van after having Christmas in Lawnton with Son Ash.

It rained nearly every day at Kenilworth and was very hot relieved only by sporadic but most welcomed breezes.

We invaded Kenilworth Pub to have a dinner with the group on the Saturday night,nice meal had by all.

Australia day saw a self catered morning tea that was enormous. Masses of beautiful delights comprising the obligatory lamingtons, vegemite sambo’s, cheese boards and baked goods,yummo!.

The rest of the day was pretty quiet until the afternoon frivolities with more eats and a few medicinal alcoholic beverages.

Entertainment was provided by a gumboot chucking competition followed by the thong (jandal for our Kiwi friends) distance throwing competition and a pool noodle throwing comp to finish off.

We gathered quite an audience on the other side of the tournament oval where another group of caravaneers had parked. We invited them over for a challenge comp and a family agreed eagerly and the mum walked off with a prize and the two kids loved it. Great fun!.

Tuesday morning we headed off to Maidenwell to see friends that Mavis had house sat for and to retrieve some things that she had left there. This is the place that she was kicked off the quad bike while taking their dog’s for a run. The damage to her left arm was pretty bad but she has survived :-).

The road from Kenilworth via Maleny is very steep and windey, No problem for the Effy with the van in tow.

Stay tuned for the next chapter in the tip.