Nostalgia on the move

As we were driving in the dark yesterday I couldn't help comparing the smooth, wide lanes of that part of the Pacific Highway with the Pacific Highway of my childhood.  When I was 10 my family embarked on a 6 week trip to Bundaberg, Queensland.  One of my cousins and her family lived there, as did a dear friend of my mother's and her family.  'Crazy!' said people at home - 'going to Queensland at Christmas is madness!  The heat, the humidity, will be awful!'  Well the laugh was on them - Sydney suffered a heat wave with extremely hot, humid days for weeks on end that year and in Bundaberg we were enjoying a dry heat with days over 100 deg F that didn't feel anything near that temperature because the heat was dry.

The highway north at that time was just two lanes, only two thirds the width of two of the lanes of the present one.  Trees grew right to the very edge of the lanes - there were no verges like today.  The surface wasn't smooth like today, either.  The bitumen had gravel in it like today's but unlike today's you felt that gravel!

We were driving in our little Ford Anglia, towing a trailer with our canvas tent and all our camping gear.  I remember sitting in the back seat, wrapped in a blanket (no heater in the car) looking out at the gum trees as they went by in the darkness. They were so close and so friendly somehow - I felt as though they were nodding at me fondly as we passed.

Nowadays it is a 4-lane divided road, with extra lanes in parts.  The trees have been pushed back from the sides or bulldozed during roadworks and new species planted.  The extensive improvements mean that the road is smooth as silk.  Cars and trucks go ever faster.  And still accidents occur because of human stupidity: drink driving, fatigue, speed.

I didn't have a wonderful night's sleep but felt better this morning.  Peter slept well which was the main thing.  We left at 8.45.  Yesterday we did 198 kms, so have a fair way to go today.  It is a sunny day, around 13 deg when we left with blue skies and not a great deal of traffic.

We passed two wheelchair bikes going the opposite way, with a support vehicle following behind.  I wonder whether they are fund-raising or training for an event?

As we crossed the bridge over the Karuah River, the water below sparkled so brightly it was positivly dazzling.  Our friends Richard and Marilyn spent the night at Taree, so they are a good hour ahead of us or a bit more - at 8.55 it was 113 still to go to Taree so we probably won't catch up with them on the road.  We have asked to be put beside them at Camp.  We have other friends going too, who have also asked to be camped beside so we should be in a group.

Around 10.30am a bird of prey was circling low, about level with the car, beside the road.  It was so close that I could make out the cream head, the sharp eye and the curved beak.   It had brown feathers on the rest of its body and was quite large.  I have to look it up.  At first I thought it might have been a wedge-tailed eagle but they don't have the cream head and are even larger.

Rick and Marilyn phoned and asked whether we'd like to stop at Kew, a little village of 5-600, so we could catch up.  We were almost right behind them as we pulled off the highway because Rick had slowed down to 90kph and we were travelling at 100kph.  We had also left earlier this morning than they did.  Peter was due a break, and we were glad to stop.  We are firm believers in 'Rest, revive, survive' and stop around every two hours.

Iris, our GPS, became most upset when we took the turnoff - she really dislikes her instructions being ignored :)  She's a real bossy boots.  After a nice hot chocolate and a slice of cake we drove on a further 2 kilometres to Kendall, just to have a look.  Marilyn used to work for a geographic society that had geography teachers as members so hearing that a former Minister for Education had retired to Kendall she had been curious for a long time what it was like.  And of course as a retired school teacher I was interested as well, so we had a look.  It is a very small place and two 4 wheel drive cars towing caravans caused a certain amount of interest among the few people who were around.  There are a mixture of houses and buildings, some old, some new, some nice and some nondescript.  Several had lovely views over the river - not sure which river, there was no name.

We were back on the highway by 12, once again heading north with just 110 kilometres to go. The temperature was now a pleasant 19 degC though it felt warmer in the car.  I would have been more comfortable in a tee-shirt.

Soon we were in wine-growing country, with signs indicating turn-offs for various wineries popping up but mostly the highway was bordered by bushland - my favourite kind of scenery to pass through whilst driving.  It feels timeless somehow in spite of the intrusion of signs and such - not to mention that ribbon of asphalt!

At Kempsey our GPS Iris became totally lost and confused.  the Kemsey bypass has been  completed and she didn't know where we were, repeatedly urging us to do a u-turn and get back on the old route. I'm sure a note of frustration set in as we kept ignoring her pleas ;)  I'm not sure why Peter even hed the GPS on because he knows the way, except that it tells him the number of kilometres to go.  And what can I say - boys and their toys!

By the time she'd worked out where we were as we rejoined the old road (having cut out a considerable distance with the new bypass) I was surprised that poor Iris hadn't fried her circuits.

We arrived at Stuarts Point at 1.24, and were soon registered and parked in our site.  Leona and Ian were already there and set up and we are all in a row.  This year there are over 700 campers registered - 200 more than last year.  So I can understand why registration is open from 1pm today when Camp doesn't start until Friday evening.  It will be lovely to have this time to set up and get organized, relax and socialize.

It is so peaceful here, all we can hear is bird song in the trees - mainly rainbow lorikeets which are one of my favourite birds.  I will take more photos over the next few days but in the meantime here is a photo I've shown before of some lorikeets in our back garden, in the grevillea bush near our kitchen.

Flocks of forty or so birds fly overhead regularly at home, and lots are in the trees at the front and over the road but we have a pair and their offspring that claim the grevillea as their own and who have territorial squabbles with the wattle birds over it.

Here at Camp quite large flocks fly from the trees at different times of day too, and we hear them in the trees all the time but the trees are so numerous and so tall that it is hard to see them and to tell what kind of birds they are.

Interesting name today: Kundabung. It has a population of around 5-600 and it's name is derived from an Aboriginal word meaning 'wild apples'.

distance from home: 497.5 kms.