Monday 30th, Tuesday 31st May, Wednesday 1st, Thursday 2nd June

Monday-Travelled about 23km to the Wivenhoe Dam. Beautiful spot! Going to try Red Claw netting, go for nice long walks, sit back and relax for next three days!

1 Red Claw

Tuesday-Lightning storm last night, sat outside and ate our tea and watched the show, was very pretty. Bruce tried some fishing, caught a small perch and the big one got away! Did some chores and cooked a cake, burnt its bum! Nice walk around dam edge to other camping and bbq areas. Set the red claw traps again.

View of Wivenhoe Dam

 Wednesday- Overcast today, slow start to the day with Bruce up-dating the blog photos while Fiona did some reading. Quick trip in to Fernvale for more alcohol and diesel and a newspaper. Drizzled for about an hour then off for a stroll around lake edge with our fishing rods. No luck again! A neighbourly beer/cruiser with Brian, his last night here. Tea TV & bed.


View of Wivenhoe Dam

Thursday- Foggy this morning but a beautiful day to follow. Caught up on some washing, coffee then off for a good long walk around the dam in the other direction. Dam seems to go forever! Sat back  in the sun and did some reading. Lunch, ironing, YES! ironing then off for another walk. Feels good ! Fiona finished reading her first book. A really nice relaxing day!

View of the Van at Wivenhoe Dam Camp site

View from the van looking down to the Dam


Lizard sunning himself on a rock.



Sunday 29th May

Left Leslie Dam, quick trip to Warwick for fuel, gas & food. Drive through Lockyear Valley and could see where January floods did their damage! Headed towards Toowoomba, driving through Grantham where people lost their lives and houses. Empty damaged houses both sides of the road. New crops been planted for miles around that area, looks really promising for them. Back out of Toowmooba, heading further east towards Ipswich, staying at Marburg showground for the night.

View from the side of the road in the Lockyer Valley

Saturday 28th May

Blue Green algae



 Bought ourselves a Qld fishing licence on-line today, hope to catch some fish. Short drive to dam wall, blue/green algae really bad, smell was over-powering. Mum & baby kangaroo visited again, was happy just grazing while we packed up outside gear ready for road tomorrow.  P.S.still no fish!



Sun set at the Dam





View from the van



Thursday 26th & Friday 27th May



View from the van at Tenterfield show ground.

  Drove from Armidale Thursday through Glenn Innes and onto Tenterfield. These are some photos from the camp area at the show ground.

Had a walk around the streets looking at the old buildings.

View from the van at Tenterfield show ground.

Looking back from the show ground at the van.



This foot bridgedistroyed by the floods,

  This foot bridge at the show ground was bent a little when the floods came through.


Sunset from the van door at Tenterfield.




View from the van at Leslie Dam.

  Friday morning was a very frosty start to the day. After a walk to get the blood moving we packed up 

View from the van at Leslie Dam.

and moved onto Queensland, arriving at Warwick  at around midday. Found our way to Leslie Dam to set up camp for the next 2 days. What a view from our front door!  Roos feeding at the dam edge birds every where. What a life! 

View from the van at Leslie Dam.





Looking back at the van from the Dam edge.



Monday 23rd, Tuesday 24th & Wednesday 25th May

Left Premer headed through Quirindi and Tamworth.Checked out Cockburn River as a possible camp site, not really what we were looking, had some lunch & took some photos before heading north again finally arriving at Dumaresq Dam, 9 km west of Armidale about 4 o'clock. Neighbours consisted of 4 vans 1 tent. Weather cool and rainy, Armidale recorded 46 mm o/night. Settled in for night. Tuesday woke to sunshine for the morning, Bruce tried a little fishing (no luck again) Fiona tried cooking some muffins in gas oven, limited success. Rain set in for afternoon and evening. Filled in time reading, Bruce did some research on new campsites for Queensland, played crib, which Bruce won 4-1. Was about 6 degrees all afternoon, had gas heater keeping us warm. Late start to morning, didn't get up until 9 o'clock. Still very cold and wet. Decided to visit Armidale, the Information Centre and Bunnings for some coat hooks. Lunch at McDonalds. Packed up our outdoor furniture and bits, fitted our coat hooks and re-fitted mirror to ute. More reading and cards. Talked to kids on skype and watched State Of Origin Rugby .Yuk!!! says Fiona 




                         View of the Cockburn River in these two.



 

View from the van at Dumaresq Dam

Cliffords set up at Dumaresq Dam.

Sunday 22nd May

Slept in until 8 o'clock, breakfast, shower and on the road. Short journey to Gilgandra, lunch at rest area on the way to Coonabarabran for fuel. Some 70km country road, bit rough at times to Premer for an overnight stay at Lions Park. Took a short walk around town, nice pub, school and a couple of nice houses but rest is very ordinary. Bruce sitting back relaxing with a beer watching Sydney V Hawthorn. Easy day today!


Cliffords all set up again!




Description of Premer.



Saturday 21st May



Fiona caught in the pillory.



Bruce caught in the pillory.

Quick trip to Farmers Market for farm fresh fruit & veg. Short walk to Old Dubbo Gaol. Spent 1 1/2 hours exploring the 1847 buildings. Decided the solitary confinement cell was awful and the rest of the accomodation not much better!!! A very interesting display of a prisoners life.  

Gallows



       

       

Cat of Nine Tails.



Whipping Stool used for floggings.

View looking back from the bike track at the Macquarie River meandering through Dubbo.

Friday 20th May



Happy the Hippo



Cuddles the African Elephant

                                                                                                                                                                       


  Cloudy start to the day, but warming up slowly. Off to the Taronga Western Plain Zoo,  riding the 5kms of tracks on our bikes. Great day, loved the giraffes, "Happy" the hippo, "Cuddles" the Indian elephant. Zoo handlers were very informative and we spent 5 hours enjoying the wildlife. A beautiful 23 degrees today and a really nice evening.                     

Mum Dad & 6 weeks old baby.

Thursday 19th May

 Left Carcoar Dam heading towards Orange. Fuel stop for diesel, gas and coffee. Leisurely trip on to Wellington. Did a guided tour of the Cathedral Cave, took about an hour. Arrived at Dubbo about 3.30p.m. Off for stroll walk around shopping centre. Nice walking/bike track along side of river. A beautiful 22 degrees today, shorts weather.

Wednesday 18th May 2011

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Courthouse Carcoar NSW.

 Nice day again. We left the van at the camp site and headed into Carcoar for a look at this very old town. We were very lucky to find a gentleman that had the keys to all the buildings to view. This was good for us as he then give us a great run down on every thing that he showed us, (better than trying to work it out for ourselves).He first showed us in the Stoke Stable Museum built in 1849 & then into the Court House built 1882, refurbished with a stimulus grant of $220,000. plus the $25,000 raised by the community.

Fiona as the Jugde in the Courthouse

He then took us for a look at the Performing Arts Center and upstairs to the war museum.

This photo was taken inside the St James Presbyterian church built in 1861.

After all this site seeing we needed to have a coffee. So off to the Former Stoke Hotel for morning tea before returning to the camp site.

We then drove up the hill a little to look at this sandstone church.

Fiona found time to plank a little (she did fall off) and some time to feed the birds.



Fiona planking



Fiona feeding the local Magpie