Wednesday- a snailing we go

I love this sign on the main road.  Isn't that wonderful?  We have signs at home saying take care: children, elderly people, etc.  Here they have those but also koalas.

The day started with Nathan's excited return from the amenities.  As he had come out of the toilet block two rainbow lorikeets had come and landed on him - one on his head, the other on his shoulder.  Because he has a pronounced startle reflex (result of his certebral palsy) they flew off quickly when he reacted but he was still thrilled by it all.


As he walked past the tent of a couple from Tasmania camped opposite us a brush turkey stolled past. They wander around the caravan park a fair bit and Peter took a photo of it later on.

 It is a while since Nathan has seen one (on our WA trip) and he was talking to Sue, one of the couple camped opposite about it - he is a very sociable young man and always chats to people. We have also been getting to know a them little bit.  People are friendly on the whole in caravan parks. Peter has been answering their questions and giving Ian instructions on how to get to their destination while still avoiding the traffic of Sydney and the tollways; and I have been talking about the best way of touring Tasmania.  When we returned from Susan's they asked if we had been sightseeing, I told them I had a miniaturist friend...what's a miniaturist....we make scale model houses....and so it went, and I showed them the gorgeous outfit that Susan had made.  They were absolutely blown away by that!  


So the following morning I hear Peter rummaging in the back of the car - and next thing I know he is showing them one of my quarter scale houses!  It was Honeysuckle Cottage, a Petite Properties one.  Then he showed them the partially-built John F Craig.  They were still so intrigued by the little outfit that they had been asking more questions about miniatures.  


It's lovely here, listening to the kookaburras and the whip birds.  These shy birds aren't often seen but are often heard, with a distinctive long, drawn out note followed by a distinctive sound just like a whip crack; then some soft follow-on notes, which are actually the female responding.  Although it sounds like a single bird it is in fact a duet.  

There are also lots of kookaburras here.  A family of four flew down from to line up on the clothesline outside the amenities and watched Peter  with great interest as he came out and returned and returned to our van.  Wondering what he was doing in there perhaps? More likely wondering if he had something for them to eat lol.


I'd love to have a leisurely trip one day where we could stay on if we wanted to see the sights of a place, or rest.  To be true 'grey nomads'!  One day.  For now we are just fortunate that we are able to have a holiday.


We set off quite early today, headed towards Brisbane.  We were thinking that 5 hours driving, plus another hour for lunch and breaks would get us there, and we would only have another shorter day's drive tomorrow to Bundaberg.


Except that there are extensive roadworks virtually all the way!  Our 5 hours turned into 9 hours, with all the stretches where we crawled along in head to tail traffic or stopped while they allowed the traffic coming the opposite way to use the one lane open.


24 kilometres into the trip we passed Halfway Creek again,  If it was halfway before, how can it still be halfway all these kms further on lol?


We stopped at Grafton, the 'Jacaranda City' for fuel and an early lunch at 11.45.  Had the most delicious vegie burger: a vegie patty the size of a small bun, fried onion, tomatio, lettuce, cucumber, beetroot (a real Aussie burger!) and pineapple, all with a sweet chilli sauce. 


We've never managed to get to Grafton when the Jacaranda Festival is on, but it must be a sight to see.  I love these trees and we have one in our back yard at home.

The McLeay River was sparkling in the sunlight as we crossed the bridge over it.  It's so good to see every waterway and dam full of water compared to our last visit to Queensland when the drought was still on.


Soon we began to see sugar cane farms lining the road, though there are fewer than there used to be, due to the recent floods and cyclones.  After the years of drought these were the last straw, especially with lower prices for sugar.


Also banana properties more in evidence though again far fewer than I am used to seeing. Cyclone Yasi was the death knell for many of these farmers too. 


At 2.30 we stopped at a roadside rest area for a break.  This area has a thick screen of native  bush beside the road and around, left at the request of indigenous Australians of the area to show what it was like before European settlement.  The rest area itself was nicely shaded by trees and as we prepared to leave I heard a sweet bird call and went to investigate its source. I managed with difficulty to get some photos of the bird and later emailed our friends Marilyn and Richard to ask them to identify it - they know their birds and we have left our bird books at home.  they had no trouble identifying it as the Blue-Faced Honeyeater, about 25-30cm (10-12") in size.  

There was another caravan set up already for the night.  They have sold their house, bought a caravan and 4WD and been travelling for 7 years now with visits to their family for special occasions.  I love the idea but like the security of a permanent home to return to or sell at the  end.  Besides, where would I put all my miniatures lol?


With so much stopping at roadwords we didn't make good time at all.  By 3.15 we'd only done 320 kms - and we were stopped again.  Soon after that we arrived at Ballina, and as we passed through we could smell the Broadwater Sugar Mill. On the other side of Ballina macadamia nut farms were more and more frequent.


By 3.30 we were at Tweed Heads, on the New South Wales-Queensland border and by 4pm Brisbane was still 137 kms away.  Peter was disappointed.  He had hoped to make the Glasshouse Mountains or Brisbane but with all the roadworks we did well to get as far as we did.  He had to be satisfied with at least reaching Queensland.  By 4.45 we were looking for an exit from the motorway to somewhere we could find a caravan park.  We inquired at a service station to find that the closest was way, way back at Burleigh Heads.  There was no way we were going to backtrack that far, so Peter decided to push on and perhaps stop overnight at a truck stop once again.


We kept going on the freeway toward Brisbane and of course by now it was peak hour traffic so we were glad that it was 5 lanes of highway heading north.   That finally reduced to 4, then 3 lanes but the traffic flowed well as more and more cars turned off for different destinations: Ipswich & Toowoomba, Stradbroke Island etc.


As dusk rapidly faded to darkness, it was only 21 kms to Brisbane.  The cacophony of birds settling in trees for the night reminded us to keep looking for somewhere to settle ourselves too.  Finally we took the exit for the Sunshine Coast tollway.  


We were pleased to be bypassing the city - all routes to the suburbs were choked solid with peak hour traffic, head to tail and at a crawl at best, mostly at a standstill.  We in comparison were at least moving steadily - finally.


By 6pm we had reached Mudgee Beach turnoff, and again came to a stop.  I was starting to feel that I'd like to stop soon but I had a feeling that Peter wanted to push on to the Sunshine Coast and that was another 84kms further on.  We finally started to move in fits and starts for quite a long time until we passed the exit where the cars were banked back, causing the delay.  


Then suddenly at 6.30 Peter took an exit ramp to a service centre, with a service station, a couple of restaurants, a car and caravan parking area and truck stop.  And we were set for the night!


considering we'd been on the road for 9 hours, actually driving for 7 1/2 of them, we had only done 472 kms.  That was slow going.  We had expected to go much further than that in just 6 hours driving.  But we are here, we are safe and we can now have a good sleep!


Some names and their Aboriginal meanings from the trip today:
Mudgee - from the Wiradjuri term Moothi meaning 'nest in the hills' or 'mou-gee' meaning 'contented'.
Tyagarah Ck - 'tussocks of sharp bladey grass' or 'open grass country'; also camping ground.
Cabarita - 'by the water'
Ulmerra - 'bend in the river'
Woolgoolga - derived from 'Wee-Gulla', the name of a native plum which grew between the bay and the lake.
Arrawarra - 'meeting place' Arrawarra Headland, near Coffs Harbour is very important to the Garby Elders, their families and descentants of the Gumbaynggirr Nation.  It has long been a special place where Garby Elders and people meet, hold ceremonies, gather fresh seafood and  collect natural medicine.  Parts of the headland are traditionally only visited by men and is a rain-making site.
Yarrawarra - mountain ash

Tomorrow we make Bundaberg and I see my good friend Jan and her lovely hubby Jim.  I am very excited about that!

Until then,

Blessings,

Sandie