MacLean was our second overnight stop on our journey north to escape the rain and cold. The town is medium sized and sits on the banks of the Clarence River on the North New South Wales Coast. It was listed as an RV Friendly Town, which meant there would be some sort of cheap camping option available. Here it was the showground, unbelievable value at $10 a night with toilets and hot showers and walking distance into the town centre. We were able to set up on the riverbank too so enjoyed splendid views into the bargain.
 MacLean itself was a charming place, very proud of its Scottishness. 

The power poles were all painted in different tartans and every inch of spare hanging space around the town centre was taken up with posters and banners showing pictures of the Highland Games and the shops were full of tartan rugs, kilts and sporrans.
At sunset thousands of flying foxes passed overhead, they took about 40 minutes to fly over  and they did the same each evening, that is a lot of bats, I can't imagine what it would be like to see them at their final destination. It was not noticeably warmer in MacLean, although we were now dry, but it was so pleasant sipping wine and watching the sun go down over the river that we decided to stay for a couple of nights. 

The next day we took the ferry over to the neighbouring town of Laurence, the ferry ride was quite nice but Laurence had very little (nothing actually) to offer apart from an impressive radio mast and a house made from a railway turntable so we trotted out to Yamba, a surf destination with a pretty lighthouse and good fish and chips at the fishermen's co-op. 
After another cool, windy evening in MacLean we set off with the aim of reaching Brisbane, so back on the Pacific Highway. I have mentioned before the ongoing work to upgrade the Pacific Highway to bypass towns and become a serious motorway but the scale of the construction project is just astonishing, it all seems to be happening at once, not just a bit at a time. There must be thousands of people employed on the upgrade, a massive bridge was in the process of making its way over the Clarence River and looked like it would be open soon, meanwhile kilometre after kilometre of areas beside the old freeway have been flattened ready for the next stage. 

 The scenery changed instantly as we crossed the border into Queensland. The Pacific Highway travels close to the coast (the clue is in the name) and in New South Wales the freeway is mostly surrounded by trees. This is because NSW benefitted from laws passed in the 1980s which dedicated much of its coastal areas to National Parks. Not so Queensland, as soon as the freeway changes state it is bordered by warehouses and factory outlets for, what seems like, an eternity, a bit like the M6 in the UK. 

We had found a showground in Samford, just outside Brisbane to stay in and after a bit of a hair raising drive through Brisbane's city centre towing the caravan, we arrived. Well the place was immaculate, it looked like they trimmed the grass with nail scissors, $20 a night with power, water, toilets and showers - excellent so close to the city. We sauntered into the little town and found we were staying in a very smart area. The town was extremely pleasant with artisan bakeries and the like and it was only a short drive to catch the train into Brisbane. 

 The next morning we tried to do just that and found we could not take Monty on the train so had to drive into the city. This turned out to be a better option as we found a car park beneath the theatre right on the South Bank for $17 for the day with the added bonus of it being underground so, if we needed to pop Monty in the car for a while we could.
I had heard mixed reports about Brisbane but I loved the bits I saw. We wandered along the South Bank which is very much a copy of London's South Bank, the theatre and museum even look like replicas of the Royal Festival Hall and National Theatre, there is a big wheel  too but the whole area has been organised in a very family and visitor friendly way. 

 The wide riverside walk allows plenty of room for segway riders and cyclists as well as people just strolling like us. The pathway is dotted with free community bike repair stations and plenty of picnic and sitting areas, there is even a community veggie garden where people are encouraged to help themselves and a little rainforest area and bougainvillea covered walkways to allow people to keep out of the sun.
 My favourite part of all though was the artificial beach. Apparently there were sneers of derision when plans were announced for the beach but it is fantastic! It is all free with a large swimming and paddling area and sunbeds to lounge on and soak up the sun. How fantastic to be able to come out of your office in the busy city centre and eat your lunch on a beach - brilliant! 

 After nine days of non stop, torrential rain and with the promise of many more to come, we decided to hook up the van and head north up the coast to Queensland to try and escape the cold and wet. 
Friends are always telling us we should be used to the cold, coming from England, but it is surprising what a short time it takes to acclimatise. Also, England does cold weather much better with nice cosy insulated houses and central heating. There is very little of that where we live because winter is so short and it is very unusual for the temperature to get as low as 10 degrees overnight. Some houses have wood burning stoves while others rely on reverse cycle air conditioning but generally people tend to just rug up until it is over. 

 We set off in more pouring rain and scooted off up the Pacific Highway. Our first break was planned for Port Macquarie to visit the Koala Hospital. We had been meaning to have a look at the hospital for some time because we are asked about it regularly by tourists who visit the Tilligerry Habitat where we volunteer. Well, I will be recommending it to everyone from now on, it is a fantastic visit! 

Free entry (although I hope everyone would see fit to make a donation) there is a really educational information centre and visitors can walk quietly around the pens to see some of the patients. Koalas are there for varying reasons, some are being put back together after run ins with cars or dogs, others are being treated for illnesses (mainly chlamydia) and there are a few who will never be released because they would no longer be able to cope in the wild. My favourite section was the dehumanising area where koalas who have needed intense nursing, often in the home of a carer, are sent to learn to be wild koalas again. Many of these are orphaned joeys who have been hand reared and cannot be released until they are about a year old so, although the area is screened off up to a couple of metres high, above that the branches of the trees are dotted with tiny koalas just waiting to get big enough to leave, wonderful!

 As if that wasn't enough, the koala hospital is on the site of the historic Roto House which was built in 1890 and stayed in the ownership of the same family until 1979 when it was handed over to the National Trust. For a gold coin donation visitors can have an introduction from a curator and explore the whole house, because it was in the hands of one family for so long much of the history is still intact making Roto House a worthwhile visit. 

Port Macquarie itself was pretty nice too, quite built up but with low level apartments. The beach is huge with beautiful gardens leading down to it.
It was still raining as we drove on up the Pacific Highway towards Crescent Head where we were planning to have our first overnight stop. we turned off at the Slim Dusty Interchange and headed for the Delicate Campground, a National Parks campsite which allowed dogs. If we are travelling inland we manage to find plenty of cheap or free camping but it is virtually impossible to find anything inexpensive along the popular stretches of coast so the national Parks are a good alternative if your camping set up is suitably equipped. We are self contained so always happy to take a risk but, as it turned out there were immaculate flushing toilets and cold showers all for $24.

 The campground was very quiet and set prettily amongst the trees, the rain had finally stopped so we explored and found a path to a huge, empty beach right behind us. The sand was squeaky and a rainbow arched across the dark clouds, gorgeous. 

After a lazy breakfast and another walk on the fabulous beach (sunny this time) we drove into Crescent Head to remind ourselves what it was like. It is a very nice town with a caravan park overlooking a huge beach, a magnificent clifftop walk to a golf course with panoramic views of the coast.

 The landscape was definitely getting dryer as we took a short jaunt up to MacLean. The Pacific Highway is being upgraded at the moment and it was fun to take the new bypass around Macksville which, until recently had the highway going right through the middle of town with a constant stream of cars and trucks thundering over the bridge. We could see the town in the distance, it looked wonderfully peaceful, what a change for the residents.

 Now the excitement of Zoe's wedding and the visit from the UK contingent are all over we are finding it quite difficult to motivate ourselves to get on with more work on the extension. Part of the point of enlarging the house was to give ourselves more room in the existing accommodation by shifting some of our crap into the new area, that has now been achieved and we are quite comfy so it is easy to forget there is still more to be done. 

So we have been having a bit of an extended break doing the things we enjoy like wandering around taking pictures of koalas and birds or just watching the wildlife from our (new improved) balcony. A pair of Galahs are entertaining us at the moment as they try to hollow out a joint in a tree to make a nest, one works on the excavation while the other stands guard, then they swap roles when the digger gets tired.

 We are also taking our time over things a bit more so when we needed to drive to Sydney a couple of weeks ago to buy some flat pack bookcases from the blue and yellow warehouse of doom, we decided to time the trip so we could stop at our local airport where the Antonov......something or other.....second largest cargo plane in the world, was due to take off between 8.30 and 9am. Williamtown Airport is a RAAF base as well as a domestic airport so the huge plane was there delivering secret stuff for the fighter jets. There were hundreds of people there but the scheduled take off time came and went and nothing happened. 

We would have left but every time we thought about it there was a flurry of activity as if something was about to happen making us stay a bit longer. Eventually the thing started to move at around 11am and everyone got ready with their cameras expecting to see the massive plane take the full length of the runway just to heave itself over the fence at the last minute. 

Well it wasn't like that at all, it trundled onto the runway and took off after a very disappointingly short run up just like a normal plane, it was big though and at least we've seen it in action.
Onto Sydney via a different route this time, we decided to divert off the motorway just short of the city and take the Berowra Ferry which brought us in quite close to our target. It was a beautiful way to go, tiny winding roads took us down the valley to the river where we caught the ferry across.

Berowra Waters would be a sensational place to live with houses and restaurants nestled peacefully on the banks of the river right on the outskirts of Sydney. We came back the same way as it was just as quick as the usual schlep through all the traffic and the toll roads but far more pleasant, I think this may become our preferred route in future.
Back to the reality of building work now. We like to recycle materials when we can and Ian has found 2000 brick pavers on Gumtree at a bargain price for the path. These are located an hour's drive from us and we can only get about 500 in one trip so we did two trips on Saturday and have another two to go tomorrow, I hate days that involve this level of manual labour but it will be worth it in the end.
I will finish with a few before and after pictures, when I look at these I am astonished at the change in just 8 months. 

After saying goodbye to our UK visitors and the newlyweds we set off with my sister Gill for a couple of weeks in the outback. The plan was to start at Hill End, spend a few days in Broken Hill then onto Lightning Ridge to visit the opal mines and hot springs before wending a slow path back home. We had two weeks before Gill was due to fly from Newcastle to Melbourne on her way to connect with one of the first non stop flights from Perth to London.
The photos in this post are taken in Broken Hill.

 Hill End was marvellous, we were only there a few months ago but it was still fascinating. Once a thriving gold mining town it is now only home to a very few people but is being thoughtfully restored and the buildings, information boards and excellent information centre, really gave us a feel of how life must have been in the, not so distant, past. 

The only disappointment in Hill End was the National Parks owned camp site which had been a money in an envelope system when we were there at Christmas, had changed so it was now essential to book online. This was easier said than done in a tiny town with virtually no signal and certainly nothing stable enough to make an online booking. Eventually I found a spot where my phone worked for long enough to make a call and managed to pay that way. The whole site reverberated with grumblings from regular visitors about the change and the price hike that went with it, I couldn't help thinking they should have had a transition period. However, we had a great time there exploring the old mining tracks and walking among lolling kangaroos, Ian even went on a mine tour.

 After a couple of days in Hill End we struck off to Broken Hill on my birthday. We knew this was going to be a long day of driving, partly because it takes quite a while to get back onto a major road as Hill End is in the middle of nowhere along winding tracks, so we decided to get as far as possible before dusk when it becomes dangerous to drive because of the kangaroos. We took the Mitchell and Barrier Highways through Dubbo, Nyngan and Cobar until finally stopping in Wilcannia after ten hours of driving.
The campsite at Wilcannia (Warrawong on the Darling) was very pleasant, just outside the town with brand new facilities but Wilcannia itself was a disappointment. Years ago it was a town with real social issues but we came through about twelve months ago and it was busy with a nice cafe in the centre and plenty of visitors bringing their dollars to the town. The council seemed to be driving this change with good, clean facilities and neatly kept parks and public areas. This time though the cafe had closed down, the toilets were dirty and covered in graffiti and the town was dead , such a shame because it is a beautiful place on the banks of the river we had been planning to stop for coffee there but there was nowhere to go so they lost our money too.

About two hours further along a road strewn with kangaroo roadkill, lay Broken Hill the Silver City. Now I love Broken Hill, I don't know what it is about the place but, more than anywhere for me it brings about an understanding of how it must have been to live in the outback in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There is a wonderful miners memorial which lists how each miner died and demonstrates how safety improved over the years for them and the superb railway museum has rooms dedicated to the history of the local nurses and tales from migrants who moved to the area.

 Ian and Gill went off to see the Royal Flying Doctor Service (I had only been recently) and Gill came back brandishing fly nets for all of us to wear over our hats. We scoffed at them but soon put them on when we went to see the Sculptures in the Desert that evening which was glorious but also fly central. Unfortunately the starter motor on our car chose this very remote spot in falling darkness to pack up. Luckily sunset was a busy time to visit the sculptures so plenty of willing helpers produced jump leads and tried to help but the car was going nowhere. Eventually the ranger was called and he, along with several other kind folk who had stayed to make sure we were ok, gave us a push and we got started and made it back to the camp site. So Broken down in Broken Hill just like in Priscilla Queen of the Desert. It was Friday evening so, even though we found a mechanic willing to work on the weekend it turned out the part had to come from Adelaide. 

The difficult timing was compounded by ANZAC Day which is a public holiday, falling in the middle of the next week and the breakdown of the TNT lorry bringing our starter motor. The mechanic kindly loaned us a car free of charge(!) so we carried on seeing the sights. We took in the ANZAC Day dawn service, drove out to Silverton, visited Bell's Milk Bar and 1950s museum. Our visit even coincided with a month where the town hall was illuminated and a short history of the city projected as a slide show onto the building, but time was ticking and Gill had a flight to catch. When it became clear the starter motor was not going to arrive until after we needed to leave Gill hired a car and she and I drove back, Ian then had to bring the caravan back once the car was fixed.
It all worked out in the end, Gill made her flight to Melbourne and Ian and Monty rolled back in the day after she departed, Lightning Ridge will just have to wait for next time! 

 It has been a long while since my last post and that is because we have been busy getting ready for The Wedding Of The Year. Forget Harry and Meghan, their wedding won't be a patch on Zoe and Shaun's.
The excitement all began on 24th March with the hen party. We set off in a coach on a wine tasting day around the Yarra Valley with Zoe's Australian friends and family plus some new arrivals from England in various stages of jet lag. It was an excellent day and nobody succumbed to their tiredness in spite of only having flown in the night before. The most heroic effort was by Conor who landed in Melbourne at 5am on the morning of the hen do and was still up dancing with the hens until 3am! 
After a quick flight home, I was back down in Berwick the following weekend to help with the wedding preparations. There was actually not much to do as Zoe had been very organised, so we ended up having a nice week of outings with the English visitors which was a brilliant way of avoiding major stress build up.

 The wedding itself was on Phillip Island, so we transferred from Zoe and Shaun's house to The Silverwater Resort on the Thursday where we met up with our dear friends The Spooner family from the UK.  I cannot express how much it meant to us and Zoe that the Spooners, Conor, Sophie and Peter, Carla and Joel and family members came all this way for the wedding, their presence made it all the more special.
Phillip Island can have quite changeable weather and we saw a bit of rain and some grey skies on the days before the wedding but the big day itself was glorious, perfect blue skies and about 24 degrees so not too hot either. 

The wedding was at The Shearing Shed on the island and the ceremony took place by a charming little lake. Zoe looked beautiful, as did the bridesmaids, and the whole day was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.
The new Mr and Mrs Kent had decided they wanted to spend as much time with the UK visitors as possible so they, along with a large contingent of Brits, all flew up to Port Stephens to spend a week in our little town. 

The weather was kind again with cloudless skies and sunshine. We managed to fit in a 4WD sand dune trip, sandboarding, surfing, plenty of Red Ned's pies and much playing on the beach before waving a sad farewell to everyone as they either set off for home or, in Conor's case, carried on up the coast on his Australian adventure.

 Wending our way slowly home from Victoria we passed a sign we often see, 'Carcour - Historic Town' and decided that we would make time to stop there this time instead of whizzing by and wondering what it was like as we usually do.
I checked Wikicamps and discovered it was possible to camp for free in self contained vehicles at the disused station. This was not a great place to stop because it was just a station car park up a huge hill quite a walk outside the town. So we asked in the pub and were told we could stop there. It was $20 for the night which is a bit steep to park a caravan in a field behind a pub, there was a toilet and shower but usually pubs make their camping cheap in exchange for buying a meal or some drinks there. However, it was ok and we were right in the centre of town so easy for exploring the next morning.
Carcour turned out to be as interesting as the sign on the main road promised. It was an old town, settled in 1830 with the the two main industries being mining and wheat farming. Carcour supposedly has one of the healthiest climates in Australia sitting 3000 ft above sea level. Apparently it rarely gets really hot during the day and, even if it does, the temperature always cools to a comfortable level at night. It was clearly once a pretty prosperous place as the main street was lined with very impressive buildings for a country town.

 Next stop on our journey was a place I have been itching to visit ever since I arrived in Australia, the ghost town Hill End. 
We thought we might have to pay through the nose to camp at Hill End because the town is a listed tourist attraction but that was not the case. There were two main campgrounds run by NSW National Parks and the one we stayed in (Village Campground) was excellent, spotless showers and toilets, washing machines and dryers all for $8 a night. 

Hill End was as exciting as I had hoped it would be with an excellent free museum telling the history of the town. It was settled in the gold rush in the 1850s. By the 1870s it had a population of 8000, two newspapers, five banks, eight churches and twenty eight pubs. Eventually the gold ran out and by 1945 the population was down to 700 and now only 80 people live there.
The buildings are being restored one by one and there are some fascinating walks marked out. We walked along the track to the Bald Hill Mine passing the ruins of Irish Town and Chinese Town (clearly the various immigrants did not like to mix). The track itself was littered with pieces of quartz and there were King Parrots in the trees, huge kangaroos lounging about in the hot sun around every bend, we even saw a deer!

 The surrounding countryside was dry and hilly and reminded me a bit of Greece with winding roads teetering above sheer drops down the hillside, the only difference being that in Australia there is generally clearly room for two vehicles to pass which has not always been my experience in Greece! 

 Christmas forced us to take a break in our building project and not a moment too soon as the builder mentality was rubbing off on us. Ian had started whistling and calling me Mate and we have begun to refer to every break as a Smoko even though neither of us smoke!
We had been invited to Zoe and Shaun's new house for Christmas and decided we could spare about ten days and make a little holiday of it. 
First stop was Lake Illawara to visit our friends Tim and Virginia who took us to Shellharbour Village for a curry. One thing I really miss about England is the easy availability of an Indian meal, I don't care if it is in an Indian restaurant or just a curry in a box from Tesco's it is always the thing I ask my sister Gill for first when I visit. We don't have them around where we live so it was a real treat and Shellharbour Village was a splendid, busy little place full of restaurants, cafes and shops on a beautiful stretch of coastline. 

The next day was the 23rd December and we were due to arrive at Zoe's on Christmas Eve so needed to do some serious mileage and get ourselves well into Victoria for our next stop so we aimed for Benalla, taking the direct (if a bit boring) route straight down the Hume Highway for about 8 hours.

 Our rig rolled into Benalla at around 6pm and headed for the showground as it was easy and a bit late to mess around looking for somewhere to stop. The showground was a bit of a disappointment as it was $12 to stay there for no power or water and only the mens' toilets were open. It was very near a fish and chip shop though and, as we wandered over to get our chips we started to realise that Benalla was a very interesting town. There is a Ned Kelly trail through the town which takes in a shop where Ned hid after giving his guards the slip when appearing in court. The courthouse itself is a beautiful building with the cell on the outside where Kelly was held, this and the neighbouring houses have all been carefully restored. There was so much to see we resolved to stop on our way back.
The showground backed on to the church and we woke on Christmas Eve to the sound of carols, a very pleasant way to get into the Christmas spirit as we set off for Berwick.
After a great Christmas with Zoe, Shaun and his family, we trundled back to Benalla for another look. We had done a bit of research this time and discovered there was a free camp for self contained vehicles at the recreation ground on the banks of Benalla Lake.

 It was a fabulous spot with King Parrots, frogs, bats and countless water birds within a few minutes walk of the town centre. There was an art gallery and the town had definite artistic leanings, with interesting sculptures including a terrific sort of folly for children to play in and an annual mural painting competition for local artists, some of the murals were outstanding, we were very glad we made time to explore Benalla further.
Our journey had to be inland because Christmas is the big holiday season in Australia and everyone heads for the coast so it would have been virtually impossible to find any spots to stop along the coast road, so we headed to the Victoria/New South Wales border where the twin towns of Yarrawonga and Mulwalla sit opposite each other on either side of the Murray River.

 Wikicamps had told us there were several free camps on both sides along this stretch and, although they were busy, we managed to find a spot where we set up, kicked off our shoes and watched holidaymakers playing with their jet skis and inflatable toys in the river.
Although it was great to chill we thought we should get going again the following morning and headed further north past towns with amusing names like Howlong and Burrumbuttock (I really must try to grow up) to a town called The Rock.
Basically, The Rock was shut, we checked again the next morning and, apart from one supermarket, it still appeared pretty closed. It did have a fantastic free camp at the recreation ground, immaculate facilities, hot showers for a gold coin donation so we stayed one night but there was nothing to keep us after that so we hit the road again. 
This time our journey took us through Cootamundra, the birthplace of one of Ian's (and all of Australia's) heroes, Sir Don Bradman. Considering Sir Don only lived in Cootamundra until he was 3 years old they had made a pretty good job of turning his house into a fascinating little museum where Ian was in hog heaven as I am sure you can imagine.