Blogs from New South Wales, Australia, Oceania - page 12

Wednesday: Geoff Udy arrived last night into Glen Innes having ridden from Toowoomba to join us. Unfortunately his wallet had fallen out of his open pocket on the way. This morning Geoff and Bryan embarked on a needle in a haystack ride to Tenterfield to try & find the wallet while Keith, Brenton & I went 40kms up the New England Highway to Deepwater for coffee & gas to wait for them to complete their search Geoff & Bryan were unsuccessful in their wallet search and soon returned to meet us. We then retraced our route 17kms to Dundee (NSW not Scotland) & turned East into Bald knob Road which led to The Old Grafton Rd. This had around 100kms of everything an adventure rider could wish for. Fords, mud, slippery seal & gravel, fantastic scenery ... read more

Following our hikes in the Warrumbungles, our muscles were aching and we looked forward to the hot artesian springs of Moree to recuperate. Gwydir Caravan Park did not disappoint, with five thermal pools ranging from 28 degrees through to 39 degrees celsius, all with reputed healing qualities. The bore feeding the pools taps into the Great Artesian Basin, and reaches down some 953 metres. The water contains many key minerals good for the body, including sodium carbonate, magnesium, sulphate, calcium, iron, alumina, silica ammonias and nitrates. Although it was raining a good deal of the time we stayed in Moree, it did not affect us as we were happy just to relax and soak in the thermal pools. Moree is surrounded by endless flat plains of rich back soils, which grows cotton, pecans and olives in ... read more

We have always driven past Mudgee on our way home, and it was time to savour the delights of this central west town. Mudgee lies in a picturesque valley and has a well deserved reputation for tourism and boasts many wineries and fine eating venues. Coal mining has brought a good deal of wealth to the town. The town is very clean and many of the old buildings have been preserved in the main streets. We spent a week in Mudgee, driving to Castle Rocks, Hands on Rock, The Drip and the historic town of Hill End. We also visited many of the local cafes. Being May, it was quite cold overnight.... read more

This cruise is the replacement for our Mediterranean cruise planned for our 50th wedding anniversary this year. Friday 5 August 2022 4pm - We are sailing !! Got away right on time and the Bay looks smooth. Will see how we go when we turn right up near Caloundra and then head South. Boarding was very easy - took us about 10 minutes from when we arrived at the Brisbane International Cruise Terminal door at 11:00am to getting on board. The cabin was ready so we moved right in and our luggage arrived by 1pm. So we are unpacked and just watching the land slide by. Our friends Graeme and Kathy are about 6 or 7 cabins down from us and we will be meeting them for 5 O'Clock Wine O'Clock before heading to dinner ... read more

This morning we packed the car for the second last time before we pack up for the big drive home on Wednesday. First stop, the General Store to buy another cask of water and some food in case we need it for lunch. Food and water sorted we popped along to Menindee Auto Repairs to see if we might be able to organise a replacement bolt for the LED strip light that is currently gaffer taped on at one end. The helpful mechanic engineered a bolt for us (he cut it shorter!), fitted it and checked that the other bolt is nice and tight and provided us with the sage advice that the tightness of the bolts should be checked periodically because dirt road driving will loosen the nuts!! All that for $10.00. We set off ... read more