Not Before Time

There are a few updates loaded today – I’ve had the words done for a while but have either been too busy, too tired, or not had good enough internet access to update the web site.  Hope it’s not too much reading for you all!

We’re currently in Hervey Bay, 30 something kms north of Maryborough in Queensland.  We found a lovely park and we’ll probably stay for a few days.  Not sure where we are heading next.  The first thing we did after setting up the van was get in the pool!  It’s really warm and humid here and it’s going to stay like that for a while I think.  While we’re here we plan on visiting Maryborough and Bundaburg.  So I’ll update in a couple of days and let you know what we’ve been up to.  We’ve got pretty good internet access here too which is a bonus!

This is our third visit to Gympie and each of them has been related to the van.  We first checked out the van here nearly 1 year ago, decided to buy it,  then went back in March to pick it up.  The visit this time was to have a couple of minor warranty repairs done and while we were here we had a fix done on the truck too at the local Ford dealer.  Both the van and the truck dealers were really great, with everything done on time and without any hassles. 

We stayed in the town for a few days, visiting Tin Can Bay one day and up into the hills another day.  It’s been really warm and humid here, and while they are on water restrictions it’s still lovely and green.  Right now there is a big political fight going on over the Qld Premier’s decision to dam the Mary River up here and flood the area to become Traveston Dam – not a popular decision with the locals, so there’s a lot of signage all around the area to save the Mary and some very active protesting going on.  It will be interesting to see the outcome.

When we were in Melbourne at Christmas, we found out that some very good friends of ours would be in Noosaville early February to visit their daughter and son in law so we arranged to visit the area at the same time so we could catch up with them all. The timing worked out really well with booking the van in at Gympie for some warranty work and we managed 4 nights in Noosa. We’d never been here before so I was looking forward to seeing it. We arrived on Sunday and found the Noosa Rivers Caravan Park which is right on the Noosa River (this sounds very obvious, but it’s not always the case that the name of the park coincides with the actual location of the park!) and it’s a pretty good spot. The park’s really nice and it’s easy walking distance to Gympie Terrace and you could also walk (although it would be a long walk) to Hastings Street, which is the main tourist area of Noosa. We were actually in the middle of getting the van on site when we got a phone call from our friends Graeme and Marie, they were watching us from their daughter’s boat at the park’s boat ramp and wanted us to go out on the boat with them! Good job it only takes 5 minutes to set things up in the van. Another 5 to freshen up and change and we were in the boat with a nice cold drink! There were also 2 other friends from Melbourne visiting the area too so we had a great time catching up with everyone. We were on the boat for a few hours, up and down the river and around Noosa Waters,  then home to freshen up to go out for a (really good) Thai dinner with everyone.

Monday morning we got up early to meet Graeme and Marie for breakfast, then when Dennis and Megan joined us we all caught the bus into Hastings St, where we walked the shopping strip, went to the yacht club for a drink then walked along the boardwalk watching sun worshippers and swimmers . That afternoon we went for a drive into the hills and stopped for a late lunch in Montville, a lovely town with some interesting shops and cafés and the drive getting there is really pretty. A BBQ at Michelle and Gary’s place that night rounded out the day really well. The next couple of days were just as busy as the first day. It was Michelle’s birthday on Tuesday and we had a great seafood dinner at Trio’s on the marina. We also went to North Shore and Rainbow Beach. It was fairly quiet in Noosa while we were there, but I believe in the high season you can’t move it’s so busy. I’m glad we went in the quiet time – don’t think I’d like it when it’s busy. It was great catching up with everyone and we were really pleased we were able to be in the same area when they were here. So if any of you reading this are going somewhere for a holiday, let us know and if we can, then we’d love to catch up with you.

We left Glen Innes to go to Gympie with a detour on the way to visit David’s brother Rick who had a heart attack a couple of weeks ago. It was a bit of a worry when we heard about Rick, but he is doing fine now and is recovering well. We had a nice relaxing couple of days with them and then got back on the road.

What a lovely town, and it’s really green in this part of NSW. Glen Innes is a place we’ve passed through quite a few times and we’ve always said we must spend a couple of days there, so when we decided to leave Tamworth it seemed a good place to go. I’m glad we did, it’s really pretty and the weather is great. We’ve been here for nearly a week now and have caught up on our sleep, enjoyed lovely cool (nearly cold!) nights and seen some beautiful scenery. The temperatures have been around 26 to low 30’s, so the days have been gorgeous. The caravan park we are staying in is small, but really nice. David had a bit of a job getting the van on site, but he got it on without any problems. You get so used to the size of the van you forget how big it really is and you need to remember the height of it too, so you have to look up as well as around the van.

Glen Innes is a town that is very proud of its Celtic heritage and there are lots of references to their Celtic ties. There’s the Australian Standing Stones which were erected about 20 years ago. These came about when the town needed some sort of monument and a group of residents came up with the idea of the standing stones, inspired by the Ring of Brodgar in Scotland’s Orkney Isles. The Standing Stones comprise a circle of 24 stones, 4 cardinal stones (representing true north, south, east and west), and 7 stones marking summer and winter solstices. The site is also the venue for the Australian Celtic Festival (being held this year April 27 to May 1) and the winter and summer solstices (taking place June 21 and December 22). It’s an interesting place to have a look at in a nice location and much better than just a pillar or statue as a monument. There is also a café on the site called the Crofter’s Cottage which is based on an 18th century crofter’s cottage in Scotland. They sell Scottish food and do light meals. Glen Innes also has its own tartan which is really nice. It consists of light, royal and dark blues with a bit of red and white, and each of the colours represent connections to Glen Innes, such as, pale blue for the sapphires found in the area, red for the Celtic connection and so on. You can buy a number of items made up in the tartan at the Visitor Information Centre.

Glen Innes is also known for its sapphires, found in the clay in the surrounding areas. Fossicking is a really popular activity here, so of course David and I decided we had to have a go. We found a few small (very, very small!) sapphires, not worth terribly much, but nice to have, and I found a red zircon which is valued at approximately $100 and we had it cut and polished at the sapphire shop. It’s a beautiful stone. Not sure what I’ll do with it yet, might just keep it as it is, as a memento of my first find! I think we’ll be doing a lot more fossicking though, it’s fun and can be rewarding and I think (for me anyway) addictive! If you find yourself up this way, one place that is really worth looking at, is the Land of the Beardies History House and Research Centre. This is a great folk museum located in the heritage listed old hospital. There are 26 rooms of displays and the contents really tell the history of the area and the families that settled here. The (mainly volunteer) staff have done a terrific job setting up the displays and every room is interesting. Its easy to spend 2-3 hours here. The museum is open 10am -12 noon, and 1-4pm. We’ve also spent time checking out the surrounding areas – Ben Lomond, Emmaville, Glencoe – good roads and very pretty scenery. Lovely spot, hope to get back again.