Tennant Creek to Mataranka to Kakadu



Anouk does like drawing but perhaps
The Pebbles (near Tennant Creek ) was
not the appropriate place ....

Well, get a long way from Tennant Creek we did - 560 kms in one day in fact - a record I hope that we will not see broken but Mum REALLY did not like Tennant Creek.  Anyway, we got to Mataranka which is home to some Thermal Pools and a bunch of wildlife.  The caravan park was located right next to the thermal pools and they were very nice - about 34 degrees.  If anything, a touch warm.  If fact, it was decidely hot in Mataranka in the middle of the day - mid 30's.  Also, there were heaps of wallabies and lyrebirds that came into the caravan park. Also bloody noisy cockatoos that dropped these massive and heavy things out of the trees on to the van.

A wallaby near Steve and Nana's caravan.
This one was looking decidedly nervous...

And it was in relation to the wallabies that Pa - now known as Steve (as in Irwin not as in Nelson) - really showed his bush prowess.  Apparently some wallaby was causing problems with noise in the middle of the night so he went out to inspect and saw a wallaby in the rubbish bin.  Now, here the story gets a little scratchy.  Mum's version of events is that she heard the noise and looked out and saw some local vagabond with skinny white legs going through the rubbish.  Pa's view was that he had to grab the wallaby by the tail and swing it around his head three times in order to rescue it.  Whatever the truth he made so much noise that most people in the caravan park heard about it and wanted to know what happened and he became somewhat notorious in the caravan park for throwing the wallaby in the rubbish bin in the first place (that may have been me spreading that story).

Thermal pools at Mataranka.  Isaac happy, Anouk
happy, random tourist taking photo of wallaby in
background happy. Yvette screaming - but you
cannot see her on the basis of my concerns
about DHS looking at this site.

Taking about noise, Yvette managed to scream every time we took her near the pools.  A water baby she is not.  Isaac, who along wtih the other two, was fantastic on the trip to Mataranka (apparently, he did not like Tennant Creek either) was then hopeless the following day when he refused to go do bed. Finally resulted in Dad getting him in the car and taking him out to the loneliest patch of some godforsaken road in the middle of nowhere and threatening to leave him there.  Not in the parenting books, I know, but it worked.  (PS please do not show this website to DHS and if they are reading this - please be aware that we did things differently up here).

The trip into Kakadu was another interesting experience - 400 k's and the kids were still very good.  38 degrees.  Had to hand it to the windscreen bloke in Katherine.  A got a chip in windscreen a few days ago and I dropped into to ask him what he could do about it.  His impressive customer service was, "well, when I finish what I am doing I will come and have a look".  Apparently not much competition around these parts.  The second impressive thing was the bush fire we had to drive through in Kakadu.  Well, it was either a bushfire or the Northern Territory method of burning off - light a match and wonder off and let it burn.

Tomorrow, we are going crocodile spotting.  Hopefully, Pa will leave them alone. 

There are two sets of thermal pools.  One near where we stayed
and another set north of the town which are more "natural" -
that is, they have not removed the swamp, the water snakes or the
spiders,



 



Hughenden to Mt Isa to Barkly Homestead to Tennant Creek

I have been falling behind - badly - with my entries so, hence, this catch up entry.  After one night too many in Hugenden we ventured into Mt Isa.  Seems that the traffic engineers had a sense of humour - why remove all the ups and downs if you can make people with caravan enjoy a five hour rollercoaster ride? 

We saw a whole lot of this....

Anyway, here are the highlights of Mt Isa:

 - coming into Mt Isa.  After hundreds of kilometres of flat country, there are rocky "mountain ranges" all around Mt Isa and then the town itself it dwarfed by the mine.  And then you learn that almost all of the mining happens underneath you;
- seeing Nana and Pa look like gits dressed up in the orange overalls for the underground mine tour (Mum missed out as kids under 7 could not go and she volunteered to look after them);
- the underground hospital tour.  They built a hospital underground during WWII when Darwin got bombed because they feared they could be next.  Lucky they never had to use it.  Reckon I would have preferred to take my chances withthe bombs than get operated upon in the underground hole that would have been this hospital;

This was a hospital you really did not
want to go to if you were sick. For one
thing, it meant the Japs were dropping bombs
on you. For another, the medical staff were a
little on the inexperienced side...

- kids making friends with other kids on the caravan park. Anoul is getting very good at this - much better than us;
- the public playground - the best I have ever seen.  Section for under 6's and other section for older kids (flying fox anyone?) and a section for water play too.  The kids spent almost a full day here.

The lowlights of Mt Isa:

- having to get dressed in orange overalls for the underground mine tour and looking like a git;

Three gits going on a mine tour...

- getting the lift that did not work to the train without brakes for the underground mine tour.  As it happened, the fact that it did not have brakes did not matter because the train did not go anyway and we have to walk out of there.  Makes you wonder about the state of the mining operations at Mt Isa generally;

Photo in which Isaac chose not to be present
He is attempting to avoid over exposing
himself on this trip.

- Mr Grumpy at the caravan park who "paid for his site and did not expect to have kids all over the place" - which he yelled at Isaac (when Isaac's parents were not even there to be seen.  What is the point at yelling this type of abuse at a two year old but then what type of freak goes to a caravan park and them complains that there are kids there?)  Mr Grumpy gathered Bo Radley type qualiites amongst the kids in the park.  It was quite funny.

In the end we could have spent much longer at Mt Isa but we had to move on.  Barkly Homestead is a purpose built traveller's accomodation half way between Mt Isa and Tennant Creek - although someone seriously stuffed up because it about 500 k's from Mt Isa and 200 k's from Tennant Creek.  There is nothing else there and you would only ever spend one night there.  Highlights of Barkly Homestead were:

- the night sky.  I have never seen that many stars and stars that stretched from one horizon to the other.  Amazing;
- having to shoo the cattle off the caravan site before we used it; 
- having a caravan park with a bar.

Lowlights of Barkly Homestead:

Barkly Homestead. Ahhh, love that red
dirt.

 - paying $7.50 for a Crownie;
- our introduction to red dirt.  I am already over it.

Onward to Tennant Creek for a two night stay.  Highlights of Tennant Creek:

- well, it hasn't happened yet but leaving tomorrow will be a highlight.  The town of Tennant Creek (which is actually just the Stuart Highway with a few shops on either side) is fairly appalling.  The shops are all boarded up to prevent break ins and its hard to tell if they are even open.  A large number of drunks and beggars on the streets (Mum got accosted by one while in the car with the three kids in the back and Dad was in a shop - she was not impressed) and its impossible to avoid noticing the colour of their skin.  Its terribly sad and tragic.  There is a very impressive local Aboriginal contingent who have put together an impressive cultural centre but the place is really rather a dire place that resembles a third world country during war and, in some ways, is an indictment on us all;

Isaac cracking on to some hot chick at the Mary
Ann Dam...

-  The Mary Ann Dam. A little oasis on the outskirts of town and about the only place to find some grass and a playground;

-getting asked for ID when I purchased some beers.  Not for my age but because they ask everyone to seek if they are are on the banned list;
- gettiing a lesson on bush tucker from Jimmy Duckett.  Really interesting and I got to eat live insects;
- Anouk losing her second tooth.  She got a bit freaked by the blood.  Dad used a bit more force than last time but she came good.

Lowlights
- see above;
- having my Father of the Year nomination offically revoked.  I thought I was still a chance even after I had allowed Anouk to smash up her face and taking my kids on a tour of the nudist beaches of North Queensland.  However, letting Yvette roll off the seat while changing her nappy, and having her land on her head with a bang that was heard by most people in the caravan park, was probably the nail in the coffin.

Guess who was given a camera? And guess
who hates being in front of it...

Tomorrow, a long drive ahead of us.  As much to get as far away from Tennant Creek as possible as anything else.

Townsville to Hughenden

Townsville really is a super spot.  We took a trip over to Magnetic Island and had a great day at the very kid friendly beaches. Dad and Anouk went on another walk - Anouk really is a very impressive hiker - and we ended up at another nudist beach.  (I really hope no-one from DHS ever reads this blog).  Again, I swear I did notknow that is what is was and the rumours that this blog is to become a reference map of niudist beaches is not correct.  Anyway, for future reference, keep away from Balding Bay if you are on Magnetic Island and have impressionable children.

And Anouk is definately impressionable.  She can already ask, "Hows youse all goin'?" like a local.

Nana and Pa also checked out the museum in Townsville and while watching a documentary there about (and I quote) "something", they both managed to nod off.  But they both said it was excellent.  Gotta love those grey nomads.  Very easy to please.

Big truck, slow truck

Anyway, we then headed west along the Flinders Highway (actually, its about 60kms south to start with which is a bit annoying) on the way to an overnight stop at Hughenden.  We met out first road trains.  They're big.

Part of the team with the most impressive
tourst attraction in Hughenden - Isaac is about
as impressed by the Muttaburrasauras
as dad.  It would be easier to see why if the
photographer was better ...

I think that this little episode explains our trip to Hughendon quite well.  I was waiting outside the dinosaur museum(seriously and its not quite as bad it could potentially be) with Yvette in the car as she was asleep.  The others had gone in.  Mum brought Isaac out to me because he was being a [insert your four letter expletive of choice here - my starts with a "t"].  As we sat there - on the main street of Hughenden - a tumbleweed blew by.

This shows that:
- Isaac is being a revolting t*rd;
- Hughenden is impressively boring.

Indeed, the most exciting thing that happened in Hughenden was when I came face-to-fang with a spider about the size of my head as I was brushing my teeth.  Didn't know it was possible for me to skip my evening toilet stop but I learnt that night that it is.

Bowen to Townsville

The tourist highlight of Bowen -
a mango that is green at the top
and over-ripe at the bottom.

As some of the readers of this blog and New Idea may be aware, the film "Australia" (you know, Nikki Kidman, Hughue Jackman etc) was filmed in Bowen.  But the similarities do not end there.  The film cost millions of dollars, was seen by almost no-one and was a huge disappointment.  Ditto Bowen.  It has a few nice beaches around near Horsehoe Bay but one of them is a nudist beach (think the 70 year old man with leathery skin and no tan lines kind of nudist beach - I swear I did not know it was a nudist beach until I got there - mum reckons the 15 signs saying "nude beach" should have tipped me off) and there is a major resort built over the top of them.  There is not much else going on despite large sums of money obviously being spent by the council - witness the huge number of road works going on in the town.

Two sharks and a boy

So we headed further up the Bruce Highway not expecting much from Townsville, the self proclaimed capital of North Queensland (as the sign into town tells you).  And the Big 4 Caravan Park only just lived up to those very low expectations.  Although we have the best spot in the caravan park it is next to a block of flats housing the mother with the foulest mouth in Australia.  I don't even know what some of the words she uses at her kids mean. Nana and Pa are miles away from us - thank goodness - because they are parked on the highway,  The caravan park is in the middle of nowhere - with a petrol station out the front - and about 10 kms from town.  We could have stayed in a park right on the beach on town but I was in charge in choosing the park here.  I think we may now all have been sacked from that job. (Anouk still ranks it a 10 because it has a jimping pillow).

Unforunately, Anouk's face is not
distorted in this shot - it really does
look like that at the moment.

Anyway, although the carvan park here in Townsville is generally pretty crap, Townsville is a real surprise.  I was expecting run down derelict buildings and bogan after bogan.  But is a lovely place with a fantastic view out to Magnetic Island with a great mix of old and new buildings.  Its clear that a lot of money has been spent on the place and it really shows.  Today we went to the acquarium and checked out the "Culture Fest" being held on The Strand. Not exactly sure about the cultural exchange (actually I am sure - there wasn't much other than the cultural exchange occuring via that American superheroes jumping castle and Anouk and Isaac) - it was more like a poor man's Rye Carnival.  Anyway, I am prepared to forgive them that litle indiscretion.

That was an improvement over how the day started.  In the 10 minutes that mum went to have a shower, Anouk managed to fall over and smash her face on a rock.  No permanent damage but she has a very swollen face.  Yvette also managed to have a blow out during the same 10 minutes.  Mum is now banned from showering.

Anouk sends a big hello to all her friends in the Butterfly room.  Although she is having a great time, she is missing them all very much.  Except when she's on the jumping pillow.

Cape Hillsborough to Bowen

After the excitement of Cape Hillsborough, Bowen lacks a bit.  But then, Bowen might lack a bit after the "excitement" or Mordialloc.  Hence, rather than writing about a boring town towards the north of Queensland, let me explain our experience of travelling and camping with three kids so far.

After dad's effort at parking at Bundaberg
Isaac took over the driving. 

Their travelling has been pretty good.  We have discovered that we can go about 350 to 400 kms but that is the absolute limit.  If we go further than that then, even if they do not lose it during the trip, they will lose it after we get there.  And when they lose it, we lose it.  And its not pretty.  But otherwise they have been pretty good so far.

Three tubs means a quick bath time.  And a great shot for their
21st birthday parties .....

Yvette has been a really crappy sleeper so far and when a 12 month is a crappy sleeper in a caravan, it tends to be somewhat disruptive.  In the same way that the atomic bomb was "somewhat disruptive" of life in Hiroshima.  And when she loses it, we lose it.

But we are working into a routine.  We are working out the jobs we do and do not do.  Apparently, it is nobody's job to put the clips on the pop top on the caravan because we have driven off twice with them undone.  And when we discovered that, we lost it.


Anyway, so far, so good.  Other than all of the times we have lost it.  Maybe we should relax more.  Perhaps we need a holiday....

Yeppoon to Cape Hillsborough

When you have been in a caravan for a while, one's inner bogan tendencies tend to emerge.  All of sudden, a flanelette shirt seems the most sensible option to tackle cold mornings.  And going four wheel driving and driving along the beach are really good fun.  Even Pa, who does not like to get his Landcruiser dirty, tackled beach driving for the first time in his life.  It is good fun.  Never really got to do the four wheel driving though becuase they were burning off at Byfield National Park.

Kookaburra coming in to
share afternoon drinks.  Simone trying
to look relaxed but actually flinching.  Note
that she is not nude.

On the other,Nana and Pa, got to do some four wheel driving on the journey to Cape Hillsborough - caravan in tow - thanks to a GPS which has a rather wicked sense of humour. Indeed, the ongoing battle between the map, the GPS, the road signs and one's own intuition (which, sensibly, I tend to ignore given my appalling sense of direction)  ia an interesting battle.  The GPS tends not to care whether one has a caravan in tow so does not mind taking you down back alleys with pot holes and caravan eating bends.  If the speed limit is 100 kmh then, apparently, that is the fastest way to go.  And if you ignore it, it is so insistent that its way is tbe best that you almost feel apologetic for ignoring it.

Anyway, that brings us to Cape Hillsborough Nature Resort.  Calling it a "resort" is a bit of a stretch and putting "nature" in the title ends up making it sound like a place for nudists.  As I discovered, its not.  Apparently a "nature resort" and a "naturist resort" are different things.  Good thing to learn early in the trip.

Pa and kids starting the walk at Cape

Hillsborough

Kids checking washing ...and,
on yeah, a ' roo doing what
'roos do - nothing. 

Anyway, what it is, is about 50 kms north of Mackay and for me, the highlight of the trip so far (despite the lack of nudity) and definately on the list of "Places I Have to Go Back in 20 Years and Wonder Why I Thought it was So Great the First Time".  Anyway, in order to remind myself in 20 years time why I did think this place was fanstastic was because it is in a national park with heaps of wildlife - wallabys and kangaroos hop through the park and laze on the grass and kookaburras that join your table at happy hour.  Its a bit more of a camper's place than the earlier sites wtih a few more bugs and creepy crawlies but nothing too dramatic and you can buy Bundy and Coke at the bar.  Its right on the beach with coconut palms and amazing mountain scenery.  The walks are rated in the top 10 in Australia by National Geographic.

Isaac and Nana on the walk up to
the lookout.  I still cannot believe
she made it.

Talking of the walks, they are pretty punishing - particularly with a 11kg one year on one's back.  But before I get too excited about congratulating myself, 2 year old Isaac managed one climb that felt like it was almost straight up at times.  It was very impressive effort by him and the walk leader, Anouk.

Anyway, two days was nowhere near enough there. 



A hot chick and her mother checking out
the scenery from the look out.

Kids having a little lie down after the walk
up to the look out.  Perhaps I should not
have made Anouk carry Yvette the whole way...



Bundaberg to Yeppoon

Sure, Anouk lost her first tooth at the
Bundy factory but you should have
seen the other kid...

As expected the kids really enjoyed the Bundy Factory.  Anouk was into the Bundy, lime and soda citrus pre-mix whereas Isaac is more of a "on the rocks" purist when it comes to his Bundy.  Actually, Isaac was pretty disappointed that the polar bear was asleep so he did not get to see him but you can't help bad luck and polar bears do need their sleep.

Anyone who carries a flag pole to hoist
the Australian flag is a person best
avoided in these parts...

Getting out of the Bundaberg CBD caravan park with its view of Officeworks was only slightly less challenging than getting in.  Just to prove a point from an earlier blog, even this park was full when we left.  And the locals could not believe we were leaving after only a couple of nights.  Perhaps this may assist them to understand why. As I was attempting to get the van into the park - which, admittedly, took about three days - a woman we will call Madge (which may, in fact, be her name - she looked and sounded like a Madge) said to Nana, "Oh, you are from Melbourne.  I hear there are lots of Muslims there.  And they are pretending to live with their grandmothers so they can get welfare."  Yep, Madge, we have lots of Muslims, Christians, Buddists, Hindus.  And there are welfare cheats amongs them all.  As you may know since your husband then told us about the fact that when they had the floods, you moved out of the caravan park because anyone who had to relocate - even for a night - got $1100 from the government and you happily pocketed yours. 

Arrived in Yeppoon (just outside of Rockhampton) today.  Well, we "arrived in Yeppoon" in the same way that a person getting to Frankston has "arrived in Melbourne".  Its a bit of hike from the caravan park into the big smoke but it its a great caravan park.  It has a jumping pillow which means that it is a "10" in Anouk's estimations.

Tin Can Bay to Bundaberg

Normal Service has resumed (at least for a period).

Anouk doing what she is told
with the dolphins....

Tin Can Bay was decidedly short on tin cans.  SES collects the aluminimum variety but not so much the tin.  Hence, in order to attract the tourists, a couple of friendly dolphins come into the bay each morning to say g'day and get a feed.  Its pretty impresive and worth getting up early for.  Of course, some of us (yes, that is you, Yvette) tend to up early anyway.

... and bloke not doing what
he was told and getting yelled
at and risking a $300 fine for
reaching out to them.

After that early morning escapade we learned that we have to book caravan parks well in advance. We wanted to go to Bargara but neither park had two powered sites available.  Have to say that it annoys me that all these grey nomads want to park their lazy backsides and sip chardonnay in the same spots as we want to park out lazy backsides and gulp beer and vodka. For us, its about killing the pain.  Not sure what their reason is.

Talking of pain I had the first real challenge in backing the van into a tight spot today.  Killed somebody's guy rope and knocked over a tree.  It was not a "how to lesson" in parking a caravan I can tell you.  However, I do have one tip - do not have four people telling you how to park a caravan especially when none of them know how to do it themselves and then they argue with each other!  Ah well we eventually got it to this site in Bundaberg (closest caravan park to Bundaberg CBD) and there is not a caravan site in Australia with a better view of an Officeworks than we currently enjoy.

Tomorrow, the Bundy factory.  The kids will enjoy that.

Coolum Beach to Tin Can Bay

It is now my turn to write! (Dad is responsible for the captions to the pictures and I take no responsibility for them).

Dad ventured back to the big smoke for a night and left me and the kids (with the assistance of Nanna and Pa) in Coolum Beach.  Even with an extra 2 pairs of hands it was still lots of hard work.

We entertained ourselves at the Ginger Factory - great if you like ginger (i don't) or if you are 2 or 5, then a quick stop in at the Macadamia Nut Factory. We 'enjoyed' a train ride on a little steam engine and a boat ride in search for the 'ginger bread man'.  It was pouring with rain so this managed to keep the little ones entertained.

Once it stopped raining we checked out the local playground.  Rating on equipment was high, on ferral children and beer drinking parents also high.  (Just for the reocrd that was not me - i waited until at least 5pm before cracking one or two or three open.)

Anouk & Steve Anouk is in pink.

The highlight of our trip to this area was a visit to the Australia Zoo (about 45 mins drive south of Coolum).  Unfortunately we didn't run into Bindi (sorry Sienna) but did meet up with several of the beer drinking parents from the playground (I'm not sure if it was actually them but, if not, it was their closely related cousins).  The kids loved the crocodiles, elephants, tigers and especially the kangaroos complete with joeys in their pouches.  The croc show was entertaining but not at all informative.  Was it worth the outrageous entry fee?  Probably not. 

kangaroo at australia zoo and
two unknown children

On Sunday we packed up (i think we bettered our time by about 45 seconds).  It is something we are getting better at (I think this is true, but sometime I think I am saying it to make myself feel better).  Dad managed to remember to lock down the roof this time!

 

It was a short hop up the coast to Tin Can Bay; which is a tiny little backwater of a town near the southern tip of Fraser Island.  The people camping next to Nanna and Pa have been here for 11 weeks - Lord knows what they have been doing!

Playground at Rainbow Beach. Anouk
rating - 10.  Parent rating - 5.

We spent the afternoon checking out the coloured sands at Rainbow Beach (from a distance - it was high tide) and the playground - are you noticing a re-occuring theme? According to Anouk it was the best playground ever.  I'm not sure a 5 year old is very discerning - she was playing at the time, and not having to share any equipment with other kids.

We have an early start tomorrow with the hope of feeding the dolphins that come in every (or maybe most) mornings to Tin Can Bay - the reason for our stop over here.  Then its off to Bargara.  We need to get further away from those parents who are also each others' cousins.

Byron Bay to Coolum

Byron Bay was, as one would expect, fantastic given that we had great weather.  Unfortunately, it was also unseasonally warm in Melbourne which was disappointing. Far better to laud it over those poor folk back in Melbourne if they are freezing through a shocking winter than when they are enjoying temperatures not dissimilar to your own.  Good news is that winter is on its way back to Melbourne town.

In any event, we had a number of great surprises in Byron.  First was the fantastic first birthday party that the Sue and Mark put on for Yvette's first birthday.  It has to said that they really outdid themselves to put on a great birthday for her and for the second and third youngest members of Team NQTLBros and their parents.  Cake decorating for the kids, followed by a huge BBQ, fairy tablecloths, and plates etc a and balloons etc etc.  The whole experience.  It was fantastic.

Niki, River and Soul lunching at main
beach at Byron Bay

The other surprise was when Simone was doing the washing and someone called out, "Hello Simone."  Not knowing anyone else likely to be camping at all, let along in Byron Bay, it was a real surprise to bump into Niki Fisher and her family, Pete, River and Soul (sorry if I have the spelling wrong).  Apparently they take the winter off every year and travel up to Byron and the surrounding area.  Anyway, nice life if you can get it.

Today we travelled from Byron to Coolum.  First I have to say one big tick for the Queensland government. Even though this route would appear to take in Brisbane, you actually bypass it and we basically were on 100kmh the whole way.  Basically did not see a town between the Byron Bay and Coolum.  Its pretty impressive.

The tur-maid at Coolum beach.

However, even better was meeting up with Nana and Pa. The arrived at the caravan park just as we were checking in. Pretty good timing when we consider that we have both travelled about 2000 kms from Melbourne and basically arrived at the same place at the same time.  We checked out the beach this afternoon.  Anouk wanted to make a sandcastle.  She wanted to do a mermaid.  I wanted to do a turtle - essentially because they are easier.  In the end we agreed to do a turtle.  Well, I thought we agreed.  Anouk was in charged of the tail and it looked suspiciously like the turtle was given a mermaid's tail.

Tomorrow the fourth youngest member of the Team NQTLBros travels back to Melbourne for the memorial of his cousin, Danny.  Sadly, Danny passed away on 26 July 2011.  He will be greatly missed.  He was a tremendous bloke with a very dry and keen sense of humour but none of his humour was even nasty or against someone else.  A joke told at Danny's own expense was much funnier to him than a joke at someone else's expense.  He was much loved and he died way too young.

Stops 2 and 3 - Armidale and Byron Bay

Stop 2 was an overnight stay at the caravan park in Armidale wtih the happiest man in the world at reception.  It went something like this:

Man: "Hello, hello, heeelllllooooo.  Welcome.  Let me guess.  You look like a man who wants a powered site"  (Looks out window and sees a caravan and then, literally, punches the air).  "Yes, yes, yes.  I am right.  One powered site coming up.  Are you a Top Tourist Park member?"

Now, the answer to this question was "yes" but I was a little nervous that if told him this then he might pop a gasket but the other hand I could not disappoint him so I nervously said that I did.  "Fantastic.  That is just fantastic.  Super.  Wonderful.  Excellent news."  And so it went on.

I was wondering if it was just me but then someone else came in while he was serving me and off he went again..."Hello, hello, heeelllooooo....."  Anyway, enthusiastic bloke, nice town but I was only there for the night so little to report other than the fact that it was so cold overnight that the water in the water hose froze.  Seriously.

Me from the balcony that is part of the
facilites for use at Clarkes Beach caravan
park looking over the beach.  And note,
wearing short sleeves and not a cloud...

Anyway, after about 1700kms and three days constant traveling, I am now at Byron Bay awaiting the arrival of the the other members of Team NQTLBros  this afternoon (other than Nana and Pa who we will be meeting at Coolum at our next stop).  I can report that the weather is perfect although ccording to the sister of the fourth youngest member of Team NQTLBros (who lives in Byron - which is what the locals call Byron Bay) if you walk around in shorts and a t-shirt then you must be from Melbourne because its winter and so locals wear jeans and a jumper - because, regardless of how hot they are, they do not want other locals to think they are from Melbourne.  I am from Melbourne and don't care that the locals know it.

We are staying at Clarke's Beach Carvan Park and it is fantastic. Right on the beach with every facility you could imagine (short of a jumping pillow - which is Anouk's criteria for judging caravan parks - sorry Anouk) and all very new.  I am very excited to be starting the real part of the trip here and cannot wait for the rest of the team to join me.  The only drama was trying to back the van into position.  Don't be surprised if the next post relates to a badly burnt out clutch having to be replaced....