By the time July comes around we have usually had enough of winter, even though the season is much shorter and considerably warmer than the winters we were used to back in England. Last year we went away for the month but started down in Victoria where is was much colder than home so this year we headed for a month in nice, warm Queensland with the aim of reaching the tropics and hanging around up there until it was safe to return. 

Ian fancied stopping at Barraba again so we drove 5 hours to the Glenriddle Reserve on Split Rock Dam. We arrived at 5pm so there was enough daylight left to set up and build a fire. It was beautiful as usual, cows roaming feely, fish jumping out of the water and heaps of birds but really cold overnight. We woke up to frost, yes frost! I have not seen frost since I left England nearly 9  years ago and I was hoping never to come across it again. It soon disappeared when the sun got up and the weather during the day was gorgeous. We spent our time doing very little other than walking and picking endless burrs out of the dog.

 It was time to press on after a couple of days and cross the border into Queensland. As usual, we had not planned ahead apart from a vague idea about reaching Rockhampton and visiting Great Keppel Island so we consulted the Camps 11 atlas and Wikicamps, both told us that Tara, 5 hours north, was a good free camp so that was where we headed. The facilities were excellent, as promised, but it wasn't really our cup of tea. We got the very last space in the cramped gravel area in the middle of a park, it was only $10 with power so very cheap but packed. Nice hot showers and clean toilets but, if we had to stop there again we would just park in the overnight stay car park where we would not have to unhook but would still be able to use the amenities. Tara is one of a number of towns in the area where the council have made a real effort to encourage caravanners to visit so we decided to just move a short distance to try another one. 

After only a 45 minute drive we came to Caliguel Lagoon in Condamine, another new, council camping area. This one was amazing. It was free with spotless toilets, a cold shower, a camp kitchen with free gas bbqs and about 6 pitches even had power, all free! The camping area was on the banks of the lagoon so beautiful too. We got chatting to a group of retired men all travelling alone, who meet up there every year, they told us about a few other places in the area which were equally good and free or very cheap too. 

 One of these was Meandarra which we drove to have a look at and discovered it to be even better, mainly because there was a town in walking distance which was not the case with Caliguel Lagoon. The road between Condamine and Meandarra was dead straight, we encountered a few roadtrains, saw a number of emus in the paddocks on either side and lots of pretty red flowers dotted the roadside all the way along, we found out later they are a pest called Mother of Millions, but they looked very attractive. The camping at Meandarra was on the river in Apex Park, which was good, but further along we came to Dillon Park which was fantastic, beautiful and peaceful on the river with toilets and hot showers and flocks of Red Rumped Parrots, there was hardly anyone there because they had seen Apex Park first.. The town was mainly agricultural although it did have a large ANZAC Museum, a library and a School of the Arts, nearly all country towns seem to have a School of the Arts, I have never actually seen anyone using one. 

 Back at Caliguel Lagoon we lit a fire and watched thousands of corellas in the trees and a glorious sunset to the sounds of the three old chaps next door giggling their way through rather a lot of port. Quite a number of families turned up the previous evening for the weekend making the place feel pretty busy so we moved on and left them to it. 

 We headed north again but did not want to spend too much time driving so aimed for Wandoan, just 1 hour 10 minutes away. We stopped at Miles on the way which is quite a big, smart town with both an IGA and a Foodworks so picked up some supplies then pressed on to Wandoan. There were 3 choices of places to stay so we had a look at all of them. One was free and right in the small town, the second was a paid showground just outside but the third was a the Juandah Historical Site. Juandah won hands down, it was brilliant. We parked the van among the historic buildings and were able to use the old open kitchen as our outdoor area. For $10 a night unpowered, $15 powered there were hot showers, clean toilets and unlimited entry to the historic buildings and museum. We have been to a few pioneer museums and this was one of the better ones, the story of the explorer Leichhardt is documented in the museum and we were interested to discover he had visited Port Stephens (our home) and Claremont Ferrand (where we had both been on school skiing trips in the 1970s). The caretakers were travelers themselves and were just looking after the place for a month, apparently it is not always open because of the difficulties finding caretakers to take on the job. The town was only a 15 minute walk but mostly shut apart from offices of several large gas fracking companies. The pub was a bit ordinary but it was great to see our first bottle trees of the trip. 

 I have been neglecting my blogging duties recently so this is a quick catch up before I move on to reporting on our recent Big Trip.

Back in March we waved goodbye to my sister Gill then set off the next day for a little break. We had spotted Glenriddle Reserve, on the banks of Split Rock Dam outside Barraba, when we were scampering home from Moree to escape the approaching floods. it was about a five hour drive from home so quite local in Australian terms. 

When we arrived there were about 4 vans there and we set up camp on the banks of the dam. It was beautiful, a massive lake with heaps of bird life, cows roaming about and incredibly peaceful with nice, clean long drop toilets. We foolishly did not think to bring our kayaks but others were not so silly and were paddling around happily, Ian tried a bit of fishing but the fish were not interested in playing.

 Clouds started to gather late in the afternoon and a storm came through overnight. It was so massive it washed the chocks away from behind our wheels and caused various bits of damage as people rushed out to put their awnings in. Everyone was a bit shell shocked in the morning, checking around for damage and borrowing tools to carry out emergency repairs.

It was all sunny after that and we visited the town, driving past the silos painted with pictures that look like Prince Harry, a few times. The town was pretty nice but, apart from the IGA, everything seemed to be shut but on Thursday that all changed and there were decent cafes, nice gift and clothes shops all open.

Back at camp, everything changed on Friday afternoon with families and groups arriving for the weekend. We will take note next time that you need to camp quite near the edge or, come the weekend, someone will squeeze in between you and the water. We didn't mind because we were going home on Saturday but we will know for next time.

About a month later a friend told me how good the birdwatching was in Chichester State Forest so we decided to go. The State Forest is just beyond Dungog so less than two hours from home. The only thing we knew about Dungog was that it was the place featured on news around the world when a house washed down the street in the big storm of 2015. For some reason I had a picture in my mind of a down and out little mining town but I could not have been more wrong! It was a beautiful place in rolling hills with views from just about everywhere. The shops were smart and open and some of the houses were gorgeous, however flooding was clearly an ever present danger with huge flood channels cut along the sides of all the streets. 

The lady in the visitor centre gave us a map of the Chichester State Forest campgrounds but neglected to tell us that;

a) the direct road was closed 

b) heavy rain was forecast

So, off we set up the gravel road climbing higher and higher for about half an hour, no mean feat towing a caravan, when we came to the point where the road was blocked. It had obviously been closed for some months so we were a bit miffed not to have been warned. We backtracked and found another road up to the Frying Pan Creek Campground. We checked the Teleghary Campground first but it was muddy and a bit gloomy so we pressed on to Frying Pan Creek which was much more open. As we pulled in a procession of caravans was leaving, they stopped us and told us we would have to leave as heavy rain was expected and camping would be impossible for the next two days as it was possible to get washed away up there.

Back down the long and winding gravel track we eventually stopped at Dungog Showground which was very ordinary with traffic noise and a really complicated QR code booking in system which we completed only to be repeatedly asked by caretakers whether we had paid or not, you would think they would know with an online system.

Still another couple of days before we could get back into the State Forest so we went to Gresford and found the showground to be closed but a quick look on Wikicamps directed us to Camp on Allyn, a farm stay. It was not our usual cup of tea but very pleasant for a night or two at $15 per person unpowered, big pitches all with fire pits, spotless amenities and large off lead dog areas. There were only two showers and campers were encouraged to use their own if possible, all the buildings were corrugated iron with cutesy names like 'Country Dunnies' and everything looked brand new. It was busy with some big groups but rained all evening and night which unfortunately put paid to any party plans they had.

Lostock Dam was mentioned as a camp site so we drove along 20km of lumpy, pot holey road to have a look. It was one of those caravan parks with mainly permanent residents and an area set aside for touring vans. The place was nice but a long way from anywhere and not  cheap at $20 a night, unpowered.

Monday dawned dry and we were finally able to head back up the hills to Frying Pan Creek free camp. It was worth the wait, very pretty with a fabulous 'Problem Falls Walk' and quiet. Apparently it can get quite noisy at weekends with illegal motorbikes and the police cruised by asking if we had seen any while we were there.

 Ian managed to climb the rocks and fall in the water at Problem Falls but luckily only went in up to his ankles, which was fortunate because the temperature changes were incredible and he would have got very cold on the return journey if he had managed a proper dunking. By about 2.30 the sun would disappear behind the trees and we would have to start rugging up, by about 4pm, fleeces and coats were required. It was fab though with fungi, staghorn ferns, birds and the sound of running water.