After a few delays we set off on our annual winter trip at the beginning of June. This time we were planning to visit some friends on the Sunshine Coast at the beginning of the journey so drove up the coast for a change.
It was not the mad dash to get to somewhere warm that we usually attempt because Ian had installed a diesel heater in the caravan. This proved to be a game changer for us. No more being forced to stay at powered caravan parks just so we could plug a fan heater in, we could stay where we liked and still be cosy in the van. So we drove in glorious sunshine for less than two hours to Coopernook State Forest free camp. It was a huge, flat, grassy, camping area among the trees with a few picnic tables, a forest playground and spotless drop toilets. Very nice indeed, we will be back.
The following morning we set off to Woolgoolga, two and a half hours north and just past Coffs Harbour. The freeway now bypasses all the little towns it used to go through which makes for an easy, if a bit dull, journey. The Coffs Harbour bypass is still under construction however, so there is still a fair bit of stopping and starting to be done there.
We had opted for Sunset Caravan Park in Woolgoolga as there were not any options for free or cheap camping along the coast and it turned out to be an excellent choice. $48 unpowered, we choose unpowered because there is always far more room than in the powered areas where vans are crammed in right next to each other. The park was fun with mainly permanent residents who had turned their caravan and annex setups into quirky little dwellings over the years, mostly with beautiful gardens. The amenities were spotless although the pool and camp kitchen were being renovated over the winter. The RSL is situated at one end of the park and has great food with an extensive Malaysian menu as well as the standard RSL fare and the Bowling Club is at the other entrance, so no shortage of food and drink options here.
There is a nice short cut from the park to the town which sits on a fabulous stretch of coast and is a wonderfully diverse, friendly place. Following WW2 Punjabi Sikhs with Agricultural expertise were encouraged to move to Woolgoolga to work on the banana farms which were experiencing a labour shortage. There are a couple of fabulous Sikh temples in town and the wonderful Sikh Volunteers, who turn up with their food truck to offer relief after fires and floods all over Australia, hail from here.
We were enjoying Woolgoolga so much we decided to stay for another night and took the receptionist's advice to dive out to Nana Glen for a look. Russell Crowe has a farm there and, as we were in the middle of banana country we expected to see a few nanas but nothing. In fact, Nana Glen was a bit ordinary so we hopped back in the car and drove to Glenreagh instead which was much more interesting. The Big Golden Dog dominates the little town and the Return and Earn was due to open when were were there. These are usually permanent setups in supermarket car parks where you post your bottles and cans into a machine and get 10c each for them. In Glenreagh two retired chaps turned up with a gazebo, some bins and a cashbox then the locals filed in with their empties. It looked pretty efficient but did not have the advantage of the anonymity of the machine, instead they had to face being judged for the amount of bottles and cans they were returning.
After coffee at The Bluebottles Cafe we headed north again to Murwillumbah Showground where we found the bossiest caretakers we had ever encountered! After a big fuss and much huffing and puffing about us turning up on spec instead of booking, Sue and Gary just managed to squeeze us in. Gary was very firm about exactly how we should drive our caravan onto our pitch and we could see all the other campers sniggering as they had obviously had a similar experience. The place was enormous and more than half empty, I can't imagine what the hoo haa would be if they were actually busy. The price was $35 unpowered, which is up there for a showground, the amenities were clean but old and there was no temperature control on the shower. This was ok for us but the showers would have been way too hot for a small child. There was also a snake curled around the rafters above my head in the ladies toilet.
Murwillumbah is on the Tweed River in the shadow of Mount Warning. It is a very hilly town with nice historic shopfronts but very higgledy piggledy with cafes, shops and houses squashed together in confusing, meandering streets. Nice but very busy.
We had a few running repairs to do and wanted to stay a second night so had a small fight about who was going to approach Sue and Gary to ask. I lost so had to do the begging, after much deliberation they managed to squeeze us in again pointing out we were Very Lucky because Gemfest was coming for the weekend. Some stallholders were already setting up their crystals and dreamcatchers and apparently there would be some shamanic drumming later... can't wait!
Murwillumbah is a really busy town with loads of cars everywhere in the jumble of streets. We needed to get a part for the van so drove out to a big industrial area. On our return we found queues of traffic because there was glass all over the road in not one but two different places. There was no sign of the truck carrying the glass so presumably they carried on oblivious to the fact that they had lost their cargo. I hope they weren't the long awaited windows for someone's Grand Design. So we scrunched over the glass then went for coffee in the lovely Austral Cafe which was started over 100 years ago by a migrant from Ithaca. His village scraped together the money for his passage when he was 15 because his father thought there was no future for him on the island. He worked in cafes before opening his own which still has the original booths and decor and serves amazing thick shakes.
Gemfest was up and running by the time we were leaving but Gary was his usual jobsworth self and would not let us leave the van to have a look, it had to be moved to an area designated by him. We obeyed and had a look around before heading into Queensland to BliBli where our friends live. The road took us alongside several Gold Coast theme parks and Ian got stuck driving for a long stint because there were no stopping to change over opportunities. We had selected Riverside Caravan Park in BliBli, $40 unpowered, right on the river, good amenities. There is a big IGA next door and it was a very short walk to Peter and Pam's house.
A castle overlooks the park, which is something you don't see very often in Australia. Apparently it was built by a Scottish couple in 1972 to house their doll collection, now it is a sort of history/toy day out for kids, very strange. There is a big dog park just along the road so we wore Harvey out before leaving him in the van while we went for an evening of musical entertainment in Pam and Peter's over 55s village.
In the morning Peter picked us up and we went to nearby Palmwoods to Piggyback Asian fusion restaurant for lunch. The towns around here are very attractive as it is extremely hilly so the views are great. Palmwoods was a bit of a destination town for bars and eateries with Rick's Garage (bit like The Ace Cafe) dominating the High Street.
