It felt good to be driving out through our front gates this morning. The past week has been quite busy preparing the 4WD and van. This is our first trip away with our 200 Series Landcruiser. Ros has been busy making dishes to pack in the van's freezer, just in case the weather turns nasty or we want an easy evening meal.
Our original plan was to head west from Grafton and climb the Great Divide, passing through Glen Innes, Inverell, and Warialda. But with the chance of night temperatures dropping below zero, we have decided to head north along the coast.
Just over an hour after leaving home, we passed Grafton while continuing further north, passing Ulmarra, a small town on the southern side of the Clarence River. 35 km later, we crossed the Clarence River just east of Maclean before passing through Woodburn and Broadwater. The contract for the remainder of the Pacific Highway duplication, approximately 155 km from just north of Coffs Harbour to the new Ballina bypass, has been awarded, with an expected completion date of 2020.
We are really looking forward to this and hope some sections will open before that date. Our first night's camp is at the Yelgun Rest Area, just over 50 km north of Ballina. This is our usual stop whenever we travel north towards Queensland. The rest area has toilets, covered tables, and chairs, and is very popular.
Our original plan was to head west from Grafton and climb the Great Divide, passing through Glen Innes, Inverell, and Warialda. But with the chance of night temperatures dropping below zero, we have decided to head north along the coast.
Just over an hour after leaving home, we passed Grafton while continuing further north, passing Ulmarra, a small town on the southern side of the Clarence River. 35 km later, we crossed the Clarence River just east of Maclean before passing through Woodburn and Broadwater. The contract for the remainder of the Pacific Highway duplication, approximately 155 km from just north of Coffs Harbour to the new Ballina bypass, has been awarded, with an expected completion date of 2020.
We are really looking forward to this and hope some sections will open before that date. Our first night's camp is at the Yelgun Rest Area, just over 50 km north of Ballina. This is our usual stop whenever we travel north towards Queensland. The rest area has toilets, covered tables, and chairs, and is very popular.
The next 80-odd km followed this pattern until we reached our campsite tonight, located in the small village of Bauple, which lies 3 km east of the Bruce Highway. The town is the spiritual home of the macadamia nut, and the local Aboriginal people have been harvesting and eating the nuts for thousands of years.
It is situated 40 km south of Maryborough and offers free camping for self-contained caravans and RVS. There are toilets located at the museum and the local sporting ground, approximately 200 metres from the campsite, both of which are open 24/7. And best of all, we had the area to ourselves.
The museum is a real asset to the community, and it’s easy to spend several hours exploring the memorabilia that dates back to the 1800s. The large table in the centre of the main area is made of Queensland golden maple and was presented to the Local Government Association of Queensland by the Premier at the time, Joh Bjelke-Petersen, in 1982. It was the meeting table in the cabinet room.
This Land Cruiser was the first 4wd to visit Fraser Island.
Just over half an hour after leaving camp, we bypassed Maryborough as we headed north towards Childers. The town is situated on a rise overlooking the surrounding sugarcane fields and boasts many historic buildings, being classified as a National Trust town.
North of Childers, we encountered an unusual sight with cattle being fed oranges and lemons as supplements.
We passed through Gin Gin and Miriam Vale, with its café on the highway that serves the best crab sandwiches, before passing the turnoff to the town of Calliope. Our third night's campsite is several kilometres north of the township on the Calliope River. We have stayed here before and prefer camping on the southern side of the river. You can also camp on the northern side, but it always seems busier, and tonight was no exception, with over fifty vans parked up for the evening.
The site has a dump point and toilets, and it's free. Camps 8 suggests a maximum stay of forty-eight hours, but after looking at some of the vans parked here, it isn't strictly policed. Parked in front of us was a couple with a Trakmaster van. We sold our Trakkie in early 2008 before purchasing our current BT. Bron and John knew many of the Trakmaster owners we knew when we were members of their club, and they also knew the people who had purchased our van. They joined us for happy hour, and we spent several hours reminiscing about Trakmaster days.
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