Welcome to our big adventure!!!!!!!!!
After 2 years of jokingly saying we should quit our jobs and travel for a while, our stars seemed to align and we actually made the decision to do it.
It all fell into place when I decided to leave my job as working away every second week was becoming to hard on the family. Shortly after giving my notice, I found out I was on hold for a new and much better job but as yet do not have a start date or location. So with that info we made the decision to pack up and do some travel until the new job started, so we do not know if we will have a month or a year.
we finally got going on 14th September and it was a long couple of days drive to the Gold Coast to drop Toby the dog off with my brother who was kind enough to offer to look after him while we are travelling.
leaving about lunch time after a final clean of the house and dropping the keys to the real estate we made it all the way to Gunning at about 9pm that night. We camped at a great free camp in the middle of town which even had showers as well as toilets.
the next morning we got going early before stopping in Goulburn for breakfast. The Bakery across the road from the big marino is awesome. From there we made another big day of it, stopping about 6pm in Corindi at the recreation reserve. Another great camp spot in the bush and while not free was pretty cheap. Much better than a caravan park.
The 3rd morning it was then a shorter 4 hours up to the gold coast by lunch and some relaxation. Toby and the kids were also very glad to be out of the car.
We stayed 2 nights on the gold coast catching up with family before moving on to Hervey Bay to stay with good friends.
On the Monday after we got to Hervey Bay we headed out on our friends boat to do some whale watching, What an awesome day it was. perfect weather, awesome company and heaps of whales, dolphins, amd stingrays to be seen.
After a few more days relaxing and spending time with our best friends we headed to the town of 1770 on Friday 23rd September for a few nights.
On the way, we of course HAD to stop in at the Bundaberg rum distillery for a sample and some supplies!!!!!
On the Saturday we caught up with some more friends also on holidays there and went to explore the nearby Eurimbula National park for the day. It was an easy drive but managed to have some fun playing in muddy holes as well.
On Sunday we did a Family Kayak tour in the morning (the kids were no help paddling) around the inlet where we fed the fish and saw lots of wild life before having a nice morning tea on one of the sand banks. In the afternoon we relaxed at our friends apartment and ate to much cheese and nibbles!!!
Monday morning we went for short walk up to the headland and then to the museum. The museum is a great little place with tons of things to look at and an abundance of info on Captain Cook and the area as well.
For dinner we headed to the marina to eat and watch the sunset ending our time in 1700 in the best way possible.
We stayed at Captain Cook holiday village which had nice big shady unpowered sites where we were and heaps of cabins as well as plenty of powered sites. The staff were really friendly and happy to help.
Tuesday 27th September we left 1770 and headed to the very small town of Ubobo in the Boyne Valley which is only a bit over an hour away and from there we planned to explore the nearby national parks. The Discovery centre in Ubobo is a great spot to camp all the facilities and friendly volunteer staff.
Wednesday we did a day drive to Kroombit tops National park and did the hike to see Beautiful betty. Betty was a lancaster bomber that crashed there in 1945 on its way from Darwin to Brisbane, sadly killing all 8 on board. The wreck is incredibly well preserved with everything still left when it settled. It was a nice not to hard walk but you will need a proper 4wd to get to the car park as it is at the bottom of a very steep descent.
Unfortunately our stay on the Boyne valley had to be cut short as the Patrol had developed a nasty sounding squeal from the engine bay and we had organised to get it looked at in Gladstone on Friday. So Thursday morning we slowly packed up and headed to Gladstone an hour away where we are staying at the showgrounds.
Unfortunately we found out Friday that the squeal coming from the patrol is a much bigger problem than hoped……. The turbo has S#*t itself. so looks like we are stuck here for a few more days to get it fixed. The mechanic said hopefully he can get it done by Tuesday or Wednesday (monday being a public holiday).
Stay tuned for part 2 of our adventure in a few weeks or so.
See the below links for our recorded travels on a ma
Route part 1 Ballarat to the Gold Coast
Route part 2 Gold Coast to Hervey Bay
A Love of Adventures 