November 17th 2014 to December 5th
2014
This is my final blog; we have been home for almost 6 weeks but
due to Christmas, New Year and a few parties during this period, I haven’t had
time to sit down to complete the tales of our journey.
After we left Mackay we drove to Rockhampton to stay for a
couple of nights and it was there that we made the decision to be home from
Christmas. We had toyed with the idea and were in two minds about what we
wanted to do. We decided to quickly travel down to the Murray River and spend a
week on a houseboat before going home. We thought we needed a little holiday,
after three years on the road. From Rockhampton we travelled down through Theodore,
Taroom and then stayed the night at Condamine. The next day we drove through to
Goondiwindi where we stopped to take a photo of the famous Goondiwindi Grey. We
travelled further south through Moree and stayed at Narrabri for one night,
where there was a swimming pool. The weather had been so hot; it was a very welcome
relief.
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On the road from Rockhampton |
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Taroom |
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Gunsynd, The Goondiwindi Grey |
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Goondiwindi |
Next stop was Parkes,
where we took time out to have a look at the Big Dish. This was another thing
to cross off the bucket list. We stayed overnight at Forbes and again were
relieved they had a pool. From Forbes we travelled to Tocumwal and camped on
the beach there for three nights. What a fantastic spot this is. We were camped
right on the river, had beautifully warm weather and were able to use the Hobie
everyday. The beach was lovely with a nice sandy bottom, which made it very
pleasant for swimming. Our last day there we were paddling on the river when we
noticed some storm clouds rolling in. We paddled faster and just made it out of
the water when the storm hit. Apart from the drenching rain, we had extremely
high winds and after all this time on the road we had our first mishap; the
wind caught the awning on the van and ripped it. The wind was so strong it
picked up the Hobie and tossed it, but without damage, and the door to the van
knocked me over; no damage to the door but I was left with a big bruise on my
upper arm. We had a bit of cleaning up to do but thankfully the next morning
was bright and sunny and we were able to dry everything before we left for
Echuca.
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The Big Dish |
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The Big Dish |
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Tocumwal after the rain |
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Tocumwal after the rain |
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Tocumwal during the rain |
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Our campsite at Tocumwal |
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The bridge at Tocumwal |
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The Bridge again |
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and again |
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Paddling toward the bridge |
We so love the Murray River and being on the river in a
houseboat is really very special. Dinky Di let us to take the houseboat out a
day early so we spent eight nights cruising the river. We moved everyday as we
wanted to make it to the Torrumbarry Weir. Torrumbarry is 80 kilometres from
Echuca on the River and it took us two leisurely days to get there downstream
and then four days to get back upstream. It was an extremely relaxing week with
no towing, setting up and packing up; a great way to finish our journey. We had
a very special time on the houseboat, just the two of us with divine weather,
good music and swimming every day. Love that life!
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On the houseboat |
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On the houseboat |
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On the houseboat |
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Captain Chris |
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Views from the houseboat |
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Views from the houseboat |
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Wildlife on the river |
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Torrumbarry Weir |
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Pelican Pete |
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Views from the houseboat |
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Views from the houseboat |
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Views from the houseboat |
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Wildlife on the river |
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Wildlife at sunset on the Murray |
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Wildlife at sunset on the Murray |
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Wildlife at sunset on the Murray |
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Views from the river |
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Emmy Lou on the Murray at Echuca |
Now it was time to go home, our journey was ending and although
we were sad to be finishing it, we were also excited to be going home. On the
way home to Lismore we stopped at Bendigo for three nights and had look around
this delightful city; although we have been through Bendigo many times, we had
never stopped there. We did the talking tram tour and visited the Chinese Joss
House Temple. The vintage tram tour was delightful and the tram tells you
stories about this city that was founded on one of the world’s richest
goldfields. Stopping throughout the city where you can get off and on at your
leisure, it takes you through the wide streetscapes and you can witness the grand
architecture of Bendigo. We drove out to the Joss House Temple and as we
were the only ones there we had a private tour by one of the volunteers, who
told us some wonderful stories about this extraordinary Chinese Culture.
Chinese history in Bendigo is amazing with over 5000 Chinese people living in
and around the diggings in 1855. The building was constructed by hand in the
1860s and then taken over by the National Trust in 1968, restored and reopened
to the public in 1972. It is now the sole remaining structure of this large
settlement of Chinese. It was well worth
a visit and before we left we shook out the Chinese fortune sticks to find that
one of our readings was “Travellers Return.” Well that is exactly what we were
doing; a very accurate reading.
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Bendigo Architecture |
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Bendigo Architecture |
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Around Bendigo |
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Around Bendigo |
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Bendigo |
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Bendigo |
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Ready to catch the tram |
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Inside the tram |
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Inside the tram |
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Inside the tram |
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Around Bendigo |
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Around Bendigo |
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Around Bendigo |
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Around Bendigo |
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Around Bendigo |
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Around Bendigo |
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Around Bendigo |
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Joss House Temple |
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Joss House Temple |
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Joss House Temple |
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Joss House Temple |
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Joss House Temple |
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Joss House Temple |
On the way to Lismore we stopped at Beaufort for lunch. If
you are ever travelling in country Victoria you must visit this little town and
have a meal at the Hand Made Cafe. The service is delightful and the food is
delicious, it was well worth the stop.
We have been home for almost six weeks. During our first
week at home we met up with many old friends and family with a get together in
Geelong. It was a great turn-up and so good to see old faces again. Thank you
all so much for coming to us. Of course with Christmas and the New Year we have
been very busy and we have also started renovations on our house, so it is busy
times. Friends from Perth came to visit before embarking on their journey to
Tasmania. We met Val and Garry at Bretti Reserve, NSW in 2011 and stayed
with them in Perth in 2013/2014. It was great to see them again.
Yes we are happy to be home, we are not happy that we are no
longer travelling, but we have been blessed with the time we were able to spend
touring this wonderful country of ours. We have had the best of times, met the
best of people and seen the best of places. It was been a wonderful experience
for me writing about our journey and even better that I could share it with
you. There will be other adventures for us down the track, we are going to
rediscover our own beautiful state with short trips in the roof top tent and do
some off road stuff as well. Maybe I will share those journeys with you.
Cheers til next time.