September 2015

Mainly fine today for our trip of 355 km to Nambucca Heads.

We hit the road at about 9:30 am and headed for the Pacific Highway, stopping at Halfway Creek for fuel then again in a rest area for morning tea. We did not bother stopping for lunch as we were getting close to Nambucca Heads. We had a lot of 60 and 80 km speed limits on the way as there are almost continuous road works from near Byron Bay to the Urunga By-pass just north of Nambucca.

We arrived at about 1:30 pm and checked in for 4 nights on a waterfront site on the lagoon. Just as well we booked the site a couple of weeks ago as the park was fairly full with waterfront sites at a premium.

White Albatross Holiday Park - Site 13 on the Lagoon

The weather for the week was mainly fine and warm with temperatures up to 25 degrees.

On Monday it was a visit to the supermarket and BWS for supplies.

On Tuesday we had Brendan and Lyn over for lunch with more talk about suitable caravans - they are slowly narrowing the field.

Wednesday was a lazy day at camp.

On Thursday it rained again in the afternoon so we called off a trip to CSi for a pizza with Frosty and Marg.

On Friday Frosty and Marg dropped by for morning tea and to say good bye - we will not see them again until next year. In the late afternoon we started to pack up the annexe as the weather could not be trusted.

Saturday - we completed the pack up routine, and Brendan and Lyn called by to ask us to go and look at their final choices for a caravan. They had narrowed the choice to a Lotus Trooper Off Road caravan or a Royal Flair Aussie-Mate semi Off-Road, and needed a second opinion. We gave our opinion and left them to negotiate a good price on their final choice. Later that day they texted a photo of their new van - the Royal Flair Aussie-Mate.

During the afternoon Colin and Louise from Australia Wide Annexes called over and fitted the new room to the front of our van - just in time for us to pack it up again. The room is made in three parts - two wall sections that slide into sail track and zip together at the front, and a skirt that goes across the bottom of the van at the front to complete the room. It is the same colour scheme as our annexe and looks very good - the design was based on Frosty's version on his fiver.

Brendan and Lyn's new caravan - very nice it is too.

Our new storage room at the front of the van.

Di at the roll-up door to the room.

The forecast was mainly fine with a bit of cloud.

We drove to Varsity Lakes Station to catch the train at 10.09 am which would get us to South Bank at about 11:20 am. From there we walked the 15 minutes to the Plough Inn for Lunch. We both had twelve hour slow cooked lamb shoulder which made an excellent lunch.

After lunch we wandered through the South Bank Collective Market before continuing along the foreshore to The Epicurious Garden. The garden is a productive garden made up of edible plants including fruits, vegetables and herbs. Everything grown in the garden is seasonal and organic; it has also been carefully selected to ensure that it suits Queensland’s climate.

On the way to the garden we walked past a concert in the park featuring a group called The Wet Fish. At the end of the park we came to the entrance to the Queensland Maritime Museum, but as we had run out of time we will leave that until next time.

The Plough Inn at South Bank.

Plough Inn Beer Garden.

South Bank Collective Market.

South Bank street-scape.

Close-up of the hanging sculpture.

View of Brisbane CBD from South Bank.

Di checking out the garden - not as good as my garden!!!!!.

Bananas.

Papaya in the garden.

Concert in the park.

The Wet Fish.

Queensland Maritime Museum.

SS Forceful - an ocean going tug.

A lizard in the garden.

The forecast for today was not good - but the rain did not come until the evening when we got about 19 mm of rain. The only problem with heavy rain is that it floods all the ant's nests and brings then out of the ground looking for somewhere dry inside the van! A few thunderstorms were also on the menu.

No photos today.

Mainly fine and warm again.

Today was the Farewell Lunch provided by the Management of the Caravan Park - hamburgers in rolls with salad - for about 100 of the parks regulars who are all starting to go home to the southern states.

In the afternoon we headed over to the Robina shopping centre for a wander around and mainly window shopping.

No photos today.