The Waterfall Way runs from Coffs Harbour to Armidale, and guess what. There are lots of waterfalls to view along the way. We explored the key waterfalls in the Dorrigo area, and now headed further up onto the New England plateau, aiming to stay in Tamworth. First stop was Ebor Falls, followed by Wollomombi Falls, both relatively quick stopovers. We also passed Thunderbolts Rock near Uralla, which was a famous lookout post for bushranger Captain Thunderbolt, who was partial to robbing the mail coaches as they passed by. Thunderbolt had escaped from the notorious Cockatoo Island prison, and he wasn't planning on going back there in a hurry. He was eventually shot by an off duty policeman, who had shot his horse from under him. We stopped off for lunch in Armidale, and were impressed with ... read more

Staying on the Coffs Coast was an opportunity to revisit some of the places where we had enjoyed family holidays down through the years. It was also an opportunity to explore some family history. The family history exploration unfolded into a personal episode from the SBS series of Who Do You Think You Are. We randomly chose to stay at Sawtell Caravan Park, where we discovered on arrival, the Sawtell Historical Society office attached to the Park Office. After noting that the Historical Society was open the next day, we took a drive around Sawtell and Coffs Harbour to check out the beaches, creeks and ocean baths, as we were eager to get in the water. We were a bit nervous about swimming in the ocean in the Ballina area. First stop the next day was ... read more

Normally a visit to the Gold Coast translates to visiting the many theme parks, swimming at the world famous beaches or shopping at the vast array of malls. This Gold Coast stopover, however, was primarily about visiting Kim’s nephew Adam, who has recently been diagnosed with another brain tumour, having spent the last three years undergoing chemo and radiation in order to successfully eliminate his initial brain tumour. We wanted to encourage and support him as he commences treatment this week. After visiting and staying overnight with Adam’s sister, Melissa, and her family, we travelled to Yarrabilba and spent the morning with Adam and his wife Trish. Phone messaging is no substitute for face to face catch up. After visiting Adam, it was a short drive to Tamborine Mountain, which lies just west of and above ... read more

The Sunshine Coast (aka Sunny Coast) definitely lived up to its name during our stay at Maroochydore Beach Holiday Park, located right on the main beach. The weather was perfect for a beach holiday. The marketing slogan sure hit the nail on the head in stating “Queensland is beautiful one day. Perfect the next”. Maroochydore lies at the centre of the Sunshine Coast, with Noosa at the northern tip, and Caloundra at the southern tip. We wanted to visit Maroochydore as it was one of the destinations where we stayed on our honeymoon forty years ago. Our first port of call was the Eumundi Markets, which are purported to be Australia’s biggest and best Artisan markets, and they really did live up to their reputation. The stallholders are actively encouraged to “make it, bake it, sew ... read more

Throughout our six month caravan odyssey, we have clearly been looked after. Despite the weather having smashed Eastern Australia this year, we have only experienced around one week of rain in total, none of it torrential, even though places we have just been to or places we were planning to travel to have received significant rain totals, high winds and large hail stones. An example is the rainfall total for nearby Tin Can Bay for the last week has been 368 mm. We were originally planning to stay at a farm outside of Maryborough for a few days, however, the rain forecasts made it unwise to proceed with this plan. We changed our destination to Hervey Bay for three nights. On our way to Hervey Bay, we stopped off in Childers for lunch and a coffee, ... read more