Chris's dream. Driving around Bathurst!

One of Chris's wishes has been to get to Bathurst for the V8 super car races. His first wish has always been to get to the actual races but his 2nd best wish is driving around the track in his own car ....and caravan!! Well the 2nd best wish came true. He did it!! The pictures say it all!!

All that I can say is that he was in total awe the whole morning. The only thing he couldn't do was drive through the pits. He tried but the area was closed off and we had to reverse our big "super caravan" back out....and it was his birthday too!!!

Visiting the motor museum was also a treat, as was standing in front of The Golden Guitar in Tamworth on our way to Bathurst. This is one birthday Chris will always remember!! His 2 passions - V8 Super cars and music! Not a market in sight!!!!!!!

A piece of paradise - Bellingen NSW

Bellingen in NSW - about an hour west of Coffs Harbour and 5 hours north of Sydney -is a small piece of paradise surrounded by rain forest, the Bellinger River and rolling hills. Our friends, Felicity and Brian, developed an 80 acre property into a bed and breakfast called, "Lili Pili" - a country house. They invited us to stay with them at the top of their driveway in our caravan. (They would have happily let us stay in one of the beautiful bedrooms but we were very mindful of them preparing all the rooms for hand over when they leave in 2 weeks.) They have sold "Lili Pili" and settlement is taking place on 15th September. The new owners have bought a piece of paradise- all Brian and Felicity's work!

We were in awe of what they had created and kept stepping out of our caravan door snapping pictures of the beauty all around. After their 8 year project they are moving back to Sydney to enjoy their 3 little grand-children. We were so lucky that our visit coincided with their move and we spent the happiest 5 days in their paradise!! We shared spotting the platypuses in the creek at the bottom of their property, Brian's exceptional coffee, lovely homemade meals, lots of wine, Brian's music on his ipod!... and plenty of chat sharing experiences of the past 17 years as that was when we saw them last! Felicity was quite happy to have allowed her hair to silver and we had lots of laughs of how "old" we are getting and have vowed not to let another 17 years pass before we see them again!

Bellingen town is another perfect hippie town. I loved the times we spent walking around the very unusual craft shops and galleries...... and Chris came too and loved it. He always finds unusual people to talk to which suits me fine as I can go looking at other interesting things like art works and local hand crafted jewellery...!!!!

We were very sad to leave but loved every, single minute especially spotting the green tree frogs which lived all over the place. We truly hope that Felicity and Brian will be very happy back in Sydney. As Brian says, it's time to "have a rest and enjoy his children and grandchildren". He achieved his dream of playing "farmer, farmer". We aren't sure what Felicity's grandchildren will call her now. She has always been "Grannyfarm"!!

Byron Bay - NSW

Having spent so much time in both rural and regional Australia we have decided that big cities are not for us. It didn't take long for our "grumpiness" to disappear once we were back on the open road living as gypseys again.

As we were heading south we had to see the Gold Coast- and it will be the only time ever. The endless highrises were certainly not a sight for sore eyes though it obviously appeals to a lot of people. Not for us after all the beauty we had previously seen.

We made our way down to Byron Bay which was everything I had imagined. We stayed for 3 days in a very quiet park right on the edge of the village. It seems to give license to anyone who visits or lives there to be a "hippie". Riding a bike around the town is a pleasure as bikes rule!! The lighthouse we visited at the top of the Bay is absolutely beautiful and the views out of this world. We stood watching whales frolicking around in the ocean on their way south to the Antarctic. The beaches around the area must be the most beautiful in the world. (I keep discovering what I think are the most beautiful beaches in the world!!) ...and again we found a house to buy!!! How will we ever choose???

Busy Brisbane

I can only describe Brisbane as a BUSY, busy, busy place – a conglomeration of ongoing roadworks and so many, many people. As the politicians keep saying, “South East Queensland is bursting at the seams” – and it sure is! Chris was convinced that what should be 2 lanes on the motorway have been squashed into 3. You have to have all your wits about you when you negotiate motorways, highways, bridge crossings, tunnels and endless traffic circles.

Where we stayed was 45 mins south of Brisbane and where we visited my friend Marilyn (from res days) was 45 north of Brisbane. Driving between north and south allowed us to see the numerous suburbs with an ever eclectic array of different homestyles. I would hate to be relocating to Brisbane as I wouldn’t know where to start to choose a place to live.

We spent a lovely day in the city walking down the South Bank with its beautiful design of parks and pools along the river and then catching a river cat looking at all the buildings and places along the river. We met 2 great ladies who had just flown in from NZ for the weekend – Tina and Vonny! Tina had a great sense of humour and we spent a good time laughing and joking. Not sure if we’ll meet them again but would be nice if we did!

We spoilt ourselves getting tickets to a QPAC production of Jesus Christ Superstar. We absolutely loved the singing, dancing and grunge style costumes. We could have sat through it all again when it ended. I also couldn’t resist popping into the Valentino exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art -I loved looking at the beautifully styled dresses and could imagine Nat wearing a few of them! I must say Brisbane has a fantastic cultural precinct and if I lived in Brisbane would make very good use of it! The lighted buildings along the river at night were beautiful.

The day we went into the city we caught a bus from one of the myriad of bus stations –oh my goodness …..the bus went way over 100km an hour down the motorway. I just held on for the ride. The one good thing was the designated bus lane on the edge of the motorway. We just went flying past all the traffic stuck in gridlock! It was really cheap too because we said we were pensioners!!!! and they didn’t even ask for a seniors card!!! Oh dear me!! I was hiding behind Chris. They didn’t see Mrs (Varicose) Vain behind him!!!!!

Being settled at a home for a while made me a bit homesick and, at times, we both seemed to feel a bit "grumpy"!- I think we prefer being out of the hustle and bustle of cars, people, shopping centres and the general madness of a big city! We are really looking forward to travelling through northern NSW and continuing our discovery of new places we haven't seen before. Hopefully the "grumpiness" goes away.

Terence and family in Brisbane

We are very spoilt to have been able to spend time in Brisbane with Terence, Lizelle and “Little Monster” Dylan - Terence’s nickname for little Dylan who is the most delightful, good-natured, darling child!! It was lovely catching up after last seeing Terence about 30 years ago!! We even managed to have a “conference” chat with Brenda and Gert on the phone in South Africa from Terence’s house!

Terence let us pitch camp in his driveway close to his shed which is as good as the local Bunnings. It was so interesting hearing his life story up until now where he is settled and living a normal, suburban life with his amazing wife, Lizelle, and little Dylan. Terence spent many years crewing on yachts all over the world’s oceans, lived in Thailand running a diving school, and then lived in New Zealand for 8 years. He has been in Brisbane for 3 years and loves it here though probably works way too hard!! His dream is to live in the country on a smallholding. I hope it can happen one day. He really needs to write a book! Just this weekend we waved goodbye to them as they set off on a 3 week journey across the Simpson desert!! The car was so full poor Dylan just managed to fit in but he was absolutely delighted when he found his spot amongst all the gear required for the desert!!

They are such an organized, focused couple it puts most people to shame. They are just the NICEST people too!! (There is a very visible spot of both Monica and Paddy in Terence - the parts we loved in both of them as we spent many happy hours at their homes in Craighall Park and the nursery in Fourways in the 1970's!!) They have left us their house for as long as we like while they are away. We feel as if we are back home and already forgotten how to be grey nomads … but we will be on our way very soon!!

It was also lovely hearing a little knock on our caravan door when Dylan wanted to come and visit us in the driveway. He loved examining all the parts of our caravan!! It reminded me so much of Eva, Eloise and Ali's knocking on our caravan door when we stayed in Nat's driveway. The only difference was that Nat's 3 just climbed into our bed for cuddles and stories - not so easy with 5 in a caravan bed - but we DO miss that!!

I posted the photos, as promised, for Barbara, Bren and Gert. ENJOY. Wish you were here!!