Day 6

Hello
I didn't get my blog done yesterday, so here it is now. We had a leisurely morning catching up with the washing and a bit of shopping. We went to Scott and Courtney's by mid afternoon. Geraldine looks after Sophie each Wednesday, so she was able to go back to Ballarat earlier and we took over the babysitting till Scott and Courtney arrived home from work. Sophie was very happy and we had a lovely time with her. We took her outside to get some photos - this isn't her normal hair style - a gust of wind did this.








Poppy playing with Sophie -










After a tasty dinner, we headed back to the van. The wind got stronger over night. This morning we rolled up the awning as it was rocking the van too much. It's very windy and cold here today, with expected rain this afternoon and the next few days.
That's all for now
So till next time,
Cheerios and love from Lesley and Peter



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Day 5 - Coburg

Hello again

The fog was still around when we woke up this morning, and we were on the road by 8am. We aren't usually on the road that early but I think Peter was keen to get to Melbourne. We drove just over 400 kms today and we arrived before 3pm.

Holbrook, where we stayed last night is the home of the big submarine - HMAS Otway.












We continued on the Hume Highway all the way to Melbourne. This highway is in great condition, with 2 lanes each way. The north and south bound roads divided all the way. There are regular large truck and car rest areas which we dropped into every 2 hours for a break. All the towns are bypassed so the travelling is easy.

After setting up the van and a short rest, we went to Scott and Courtney's to see the birthday girl. Yes Sophie was 1 today. Geraldine ( Sophie's other nana) was there as well as Charlie, one of Sophie's cousins. We had a lovely dinner and Sophie had fun opening some of her presents. I'm sure she'll have more presents to open on Sunday at her party. Here she is ready for bed. She was very tired as she had been out all day for her birthday. They went to a winery on the Mornington Peninsula for lunch.





Sophie has grown a lot since we last saw her at Christmas time. She is walking a bit, so won't be long before she running around everywhere.

That's all for today.
I'll be back tomorrow,

Love from Lesley and Peter.


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Day 4 - Holbrook

Hello
This morning we woke to a beautiful fine sunny day. This is the same view as yesterday afternoon but with better light.








We left a bit later this morning - was getting onto 10am before leaving Shell Harbour. As I said yesterday we decided to change our trip and head inland rather than down the east coast. I checked out the maps and off we headed to the Illawarra Highway. It soon became a bit of a country road, and without warning we were on a very narrow windy road through the Macquarie Pass National Park. We climbed to 700 meters and the road was a bit scary at times. I didn't want to look out my window as it was a long way to the bottom and no rails on the edge of the road. I am glad a big truck didn't come the opposite way. There were warning signs to watch for trucks on the sharp corners. The worst one was a sign saying " caution - trucks backing up". I was trying to work out what the sign really meant, and the truck that was just ahead of us was backing back. It was such a tight corner, the trucks can't get around in one turn. And this is a highway!!!!
I was pleased when we got to the top and back to "civilization".

This was our lunch stop.




And me serving up some lovely soup to warm us up - 8 degrees outside but 17 inside the van.



We finally reached the Hume Highway and had a great drive for the rest of the day. We went through Moss Vale, by passed Goulburn and Yass, and onto Gundagai which is of course famous for the Dog on the Tuckerbox.



From here we headed to Holbrook, a small town where we are staying the night.

Although it has been sunny all day, the temperature most of the day has varied between 8 and 12 degrees. Some of the areas have been very dry, and others appear to have had some rain more recently as there is some green grass appearing. Most of the property's have sheep with the occasional cows.

We saw some large wind turbines. Not sure if it was the turbines causing cloud, but the cloud was quite low right along where the turbines were. The first photo isn't very clear but you can see what I mean. These were taken as we were driving.







As we arrived at the caravan park at 4.45pm you could see the fog starting to roll in. I think it will be a cold night here.

That's all for today,

Love from Lesley and Peter.









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Day 3

Hello

The rain didn't stop all last night and it continued for most of the day as we headed further south. Sydney has had the wettest June in 6 years. By mid afternoon it started to clear and we actually saw a glimpse of the sun.

We left Tuncurry just after 9am. Our intention was to go to Gosford, but after lunch and a short rest, Peter decided he could drive south of Sydney, so we ended up at Shell Harbour just south of Wollongong. We travelled on the freeway which takes you to the western parts of Sydney and out of all the traffic which is great. I'm not good at reading maps but it is very easy with the maps and directions on the ipad. Peter said they must be designed by a female as I don't have to turn the maps around as we go - it does it itself. We arrived here at 5pm. The park is right on the waterfront. It will be lovely hearing the waves tonight hopefully instead of rain. These are a couple of photos I took from the park before I ran out of light.










As we were on the road all day I haven't got much to report again today. We have changed our travel plans for the next couple of days. We were going to continue down the east coast but have now decided to go via the Hume highway, through Albury and Wangaratta and onto Melbourne, cutting our travelling time by a day.

That's all for today.
I'll be back tomorrow

Love from Lesley and Peter.



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Day 2

Hello again,

We woke this morning to lovely sunshine and a beautiful day. We hit the road by 9.30am. This is a little lake at the caravan park at Grafton. I thought the ducks on the water were very quiet, till Peter told me that they were fake - they looked real.








It's the start of school holidays here in NSW so the roads were very busy again today. We had some rain on and off today but not as much as yesterday. Many of the towns are bypassed, so staying on the highway you miss seeing all the touristy things. We also missed the turnoff to Taree where we were going to stay tonight so ended up at Tuncurry which is a bit south of Taree. The caravan park is located right on the river so a very pleasant place to stay. This is the view from our van overlooking the Manning River.









After a walk around the park and some talks with other caravaners, we headed back inside as it was getting a bit cool outside, so settled down with a glass of wine and rum (for Peter) to warm up before dinner.

That's all for today,

Love from
Lesley and Peter.


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Melbourne trip - day 1

Hi everyone

We had an early start this morning to finish packing the van and it was 9.30am as we drove down the driveway.





We headed south to NSW and just over the border, stopped for lunch and Peter had a short snooze before setting off again. That's the great thing with the caravan - being able to stop, eat and rest at almost any time in comfort. The roads are very busy with lots of trucks and caravans - most caravans heading north ( very sensible for this time of year.) Also there are a lot of roadworks happening on the Pacific Highway, so it slows the traveling down a bit.
The further south we travelled the more it rained and we arrived in Grafton about 4pm to a wet, miserable and dull afternoon. We had a trouble free run.
Tomorrow we are off to Taree, so hopefully the rain eases a bit but by the forecast don't think it is going to improve.

Till next time,
Cheerio and love from
Lesley and Peter .





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Day 44 - Thursday 1st March

We are on the last leg of our holiday. We left Gae and Graham's this morning driving through Armidale, Glen Innes, Tenterfield, Stanthorpe and onto Warwick where we are staying tonight.





The scenery today ranged from undulating hills to rocky mountains, with some trees just starting to change colour with the change of season.














We will arrive home tomorrow after travelling over 7,000 kms.


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Location:Warwick