Mawle Family

We’ve been so busy over the last 6 weeks that the blog has been neglected.  Back in Perth we moved house three times and the children went back to school for the remainder of the third term.  We had all managed to be healthy during our road trip but two weeks after starting school both Oliver and Emily managed to catch a nasty bug that was doing the rounds at school.  As Lou Russ reminded us the children had returned to the ‘petri dish’.  It did not help that the house we were staying in was cold, drafty and rain poured through the back door!

Emily running in the school cross country with friends Grace and Georgie

Despite the lack of preparation both Emily and Oliver competed in the School Cross-Country races and both did very well with Emily finishing 4th in the Year 4/5 girls and Oliver finishing 2nd in Year 2 boys.

The school athletics carnival was postponed twice due to the inclement weather but Emily still managed to represent the school at the inter-school athletics and won a 2nd place medal for the Year 4 girls relay, along with Lily, Eloise and Sanyukta.

Emily with Lily at the inter-school athletics carnival

Our beloved camper trailer, Jake, was sold very quickly to a family who were stuck up in the north of WA, having had their trailer written off by another driver on the Gibb River Road.  We were sad to see him go but glad that we could help another family finish their dream trip.  We also took the opportunity to clear out all the unnecessary items  from our storage unit.  Its so true that once you have lived without something for 5 months then your desire to keep ‘stuff’ rapidly diminishes.

We had a great final weekend staying with the Campbell family (we sailed the Whitsunday islands with them), they very generously let us stay with them before departing on the 30th September for Nice, France.  It was great for the children to be with Lauren and Matthew before we left, they had a great time playing and picking mulberries for one of Kirsten’s wonderful desserts – Kirsten’s fantastic cooking nearly caused us to delay our departure for a few more days (just kidding Kirsten!).

We said our farewells to Linda and Danny and headed north to Mildura then west towards Port Augusta.

Linda and Danny bid us farewell

On the way we stopped at Burra, a historical town with a nice atmosphere, situated in the South Mount Lofty Range.

Mount Remarkable shrouded in cloud

We continued north west past the Mount Remarkable National Park; we liked the area very much and reckon we’ll come back for a longer visit.  We stopped for the night at Quorn, a quiet town north east of Port Augusta with a history in mining and agriculture.

Quorn

We were quite late arriving and, by the time we had set up the camper trailer, it was too late to cook.  We asked the campsite owner where we could eat and she directed us to Emily’s Bistro.  We are so glad she did because it was a delight, a restaurant with a difference .

Emily’s Bistro

The old building used to be the Quorn General Store and it still had many of the original features.  Sally, one of the owners, was very welcoming and was happy to show us around – she even took us down to the cellar where the children were fascinated by all the old lamps, boxes, and newspapers (some from the 1950s).

The Bistro is in what was the General Store and is lined with old wooden shelves and cupboards.  At one end of the room there is the original partitioned office where the money was handled.  But perhaps the most interesting feature was the Flying Fox (at least I think that’s what it’s called) which is a cable system between the shop floor to the office.

Emily’s Bistro

It was used by the shop assistants to send customers’ payments (for purchases) to the office – the payment and price ticket were put in a small cup that ran along the cable, the shop assistant would pull a lever to catapult the cup along the cable to the office where payment was taken.  If necessary the office assistant would send the customer’s change back along the cable.  Ems and Ollie thought it was excellent – especially when Sally let them have a go at catapulting the cup to the office.  Oh, and the food was excellent too!

Sally said that they are still working out what they are trying to do with the place – she has some ideas but is taking things slowly so that they get it right.  Based on what they’ve done so far we reckon they’re getting it right.  The building is really interesting, there’s a nice, friendly atmosphere, and the food is great.

Ouyen (21st & 22nd):  Spent a lovely couple of days staying with Linda and Danny.  They haven’t changed a bit, and Linda’s cooking is as good as ever!  It’s been lovely to sleep in a proper house with rooms, and it was nice to sit in comfy chairs and catch up on all their news.

Dinner with Linda & Danny

Wednesday 21st: Linda took us for a stroll around the town, the children were delighted to find a BMX track so, after lunch, we took them down to the track for a ride.

Ollie against the clock

Of course it had to be a competition so, rather than set them off together (way too dangerous!) we pitted each of them against the clock.  After ten rounds Emily won by one tenth of a second.

Thursday 22nd:  After breakfast Ems and Ollie did some school work then we went for another walk with Linda and Danny.  As chance would have it, we ended up at the cake shop!  So coffee, milkshakes and cakes all round.

Later on we went back to the BMX track to give Ollie a chance to beat Emily.  It was an afternoon of thrills and spills as they both hurled themselves around the track.  Ollie crashed twice (he almost went over the handlebars on both occasions) and, for a moment it seemed that Emily had joined the Circus – she misjudged a jump and ended up whizzing along, lying on the saddle with her legs straight out behind her!

Emily on the way to victory

When dust had settled Emily remained the champion (by four tenths of a second).

Had a lovely evening nattering about this and that then early to bed ready for tomorrow’s long drive to Quorn in South Australia.  It’s been wonderful to see Linda and Danny again.

Monday 19th:  Woke up to a frosty morning.

Frosty morning.

The children ran down through the paddock to see the horses, in their pyjamas!

Have you heard the one about…

… and he said “stop horsing around!”.

We drove from Three Waters to Dubbo.  The road wound its way through the Great Dividing Range through some of the most breathtaking scenery we’ve seen on this trip.

We had a bit of a scare when Mitzi’s warning lights (engine, ABS, and Traction Control) came on.  The same thing happened near Katherine, and when we had the car checked they said that the car was fine.  The engine light went out after they had checked the engine.  So today we stopped, switched off the engine then restarted, the ABS and Traction Control lights went out but the engine light stayed on.  So we drove on to Dubbo and set up the trailer.

Tuesday 20th: Up very early and took Mitzi to the garage to have her engine checked.  The problem was  a faulty sensor.  The mechanic plugged his laptop in under the Dashboard, ran some checks and updated some software. Voila!  Problem solved.

Today was the longest driving day we’ve had on this trip.  We drove to Ouyen in Victoria to see Linda and Danny, who used to be our neighbors in West Harptree, in the UK.  We arrived at 7:30PM, very tired but delighted to see our old friends.

Saturday 17th:  Drove south and then east along the Gwydir Highway which took up into the Great Dividing Range.

Gwydir Highway View

It was a fantastic drive!  The road climbed through farmland then up a series of hairpins into the Gibraltar National Park.  The views from the summit Lookout were fabulous.

We then descended into Glen Innes, a historic town in the northern Tablelands of the New England region of New South Wales.  Some of the Glen Innes buildings have the look of a northern English industrial town – churches built from black bricks and houses that looked like they had been lifted straight out of villages in the midlands.  The area is a producer of wool, sheep and beef cattle since it was first settled, and was mined for Tin and Sapphires.

Three Waters

We spent two nights at Three Waters Homestead (http://www.threewatersholidays.com.au/) which is about 15 km outside Glen Innes.  It was raining when we arrived (it had been for most of the day) so we booked into one of the cabins in a paddock overlooking a tree lined creek.

Sunday 18th:  A beautiful sunny morning!

Steve showing Sapphires to Emily and Oliver

Spent the day at Three Waters.  Walked up to the Homestead and met Steve, the owner.  He told us about the Sapphire mining that used to be done along the creek, and showed us how to fossick for the gems and how to sort them from the Corundum.

Emily panning for her fortune.

Emily and Oliver immediately took on the task and within a few minutes had found some small, pretty Sapphires.

We’re rich!

Ems did most of the panning/sieving whilst Ollie, who didn’t want to get cold hands, took on the role of Quality Controller.

Quality Control

In the afternoon Steve saddled a couple of horses and we took Ems and Ollie for a ride through the paddocks and alongside the creek (happy children!).

Ollie with Milo

The landscape around the homestead is lovely – forested hills leading up to Mount Bullock (1174 metres).

Emily on Dave

The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying the view from the Gunyah veranda.

The Gunyah (Local Aboriginal term for Meeting Place)

Later in the afternoon the temperature dropped quickly so we went inside the Gunyah, lit the log burner and had dinner.

Wednesday 14th:  Headed south towards Brisbane, stopping at Noosa Heads for lunch.  Booked into another Big 4 campsite near the ‘Wet ‘n’ Wild’ water park.

Thursday 15th:  School work in the morning then off to ‘Wet ‘n’ Wild’ for the afternoon.  The rides were pretty good but not sure they were worth the hefty entrance fee.  Anyway, we enjoyed it and were all pretty tired when we got back to the campground.

We dined at the Bistro with a nice German couple, Raphaela and Werner, and their daughter, Alisa who are on holiday from Dusseldorf.  They had started their trip in Perth and had driven up and over to Brisbane via Darwin.  While we chatted, the children competed in the Trivia competition and finished second!

Friday 16th:  Drove down through Surfers Paradise.  Paradise!  I’m from Perth, get me out of there!  So we did, as quickly as possible and drove to Byron Bay.

Byron Bay

Charlotte found and excellent campground – Suffolk Park – which is right next to a long beach.

Emily, Byron Bay.

After lunch we went for a walk along the beach and the children played Beach Tennis and did a spot of beach combing.

Oliver, Byron Bay

Charlotte, ByronBay

Rainbow Parrot

Monday: Continued down south the Burnett Highway and stopped at Kilkivan for the night.

Kookaburra

What a lovely campsite!  Kilkivan Bush Camping site has plenty of space on the grassy tree lined banks of a small creek with lots of beautiful birds and surrounded by rolling hills.  It’s so nice, we have decided to spend another day here, the owners are really friendly and have children of similar ages to Ems and Ollie.

Once we were set up we collected some wood from the creek bed and lit a small campfire to toast marshmallows.

Tuesday: Schoolwork in the morning then the children ran off with the campsite owners’ children to have adventures in the forest.  It was nice to see them stretching their legs after being couped up in the car for two days.  Ollie also made friends with an elderly couple and their dog named Hugo.

Rainbow Parrots

Charlotte drove into the village to do a bit of shopping while I reviewed all the photos and videos from the Whitsundays and started typing the Blog.

Lit another campfire in the evening and star gazed (again).

Saturday 10th:  A very tired group of sailors this morning.

The Campbell team got ready to go to the airport while the Mawle team packed up the trailer ready to move into the Campbell’s cabin tonight.

I then drove the Campbell team to the airport while Charlotte did the laundry and minded two tired little pirates.

Bought a new battery for the car because the old one wouldn’t hold its charge.

We spent the rest of the day lounging around in the cabin.

Sunday 11th:  Left Airlie Beach and drove south through Rockhampton and on to Mount Morgan where we camped for the night.