From Rockhampton, I caught a plane the short distance up to Mackay. My daughter had just moved into a house at Campwin Beach, south of Mackay, near the little town of Sarina. I had to see it.
Continue reading “One way ticket to the North – Rocky to Campwin Beach”
I’ve been wondering for a while about how far I could get in my explorations without a car, mine or a rental, so I decided to test it out. The Queensland Rail website made their trains look pretty comfortable and so I booked myself a ticket on the electric Tilt Train, which runs from Brisbane to Rockhampton, stopping at many of the towns along the way.
Continue reading “One Way Ticket to the North-Tilt Train to Rocky”
Fremantle is Perth’s port, located at the mouth of the Swan River, just 22 kilometres south of the city. I caught the train down for two days of exploring.
I’ve been wanting for a long time to head west to explore Perth. We’re deep in winter here in Melbourne and I’d heard a rumour there’s sunshine over there. So a couple of weeks ago I checked temperatures, they were pretty pleasant, so I took the bull by the horns and booked a one-way flight out of here.
From Albury, I wended my way along the Riverina Highway, ending up in a pretty village by the name of Howlong, with a rather upmarket-looking golf resort.
It was late morning by the time I took the turn-off from the Hume Highway to Gundagai.
I was out of the Grand Hotel, Kiama by 7 am, partly to get out of the Grand Hotel, Kiama, but mainly to get across the mountains without too many SUVs, caravans, freight trucks and motor bikes piling up behind me, wondering why I’m not negotiating the sharp bends at two or three times the speed limit.
After my night at Lake Wallaga, I crossed over to the ocean side of the road to do the cliff walk.
It had been a long time since I’d tackled a road trip of any length, but with family responsibilities now sorted and Melbourne’s weather getting me down, it was time I set out again.
I’d never explored New South Wales’ south-east coast. Every time I’d decided on it, something had got in the way. This time I’d nail it. In September, I headed out.
Continue reading “NSW South-East Coast to the Murray – Part 1”
On the way back from the Grampians, I stopped off at Maryborough.
Miners, over thirty thousand of them, rushed here in 1854. Within a decade, companies were mining rich, deep gold leads around the town, the last of these still producing gold in 1918.
Planning to the Nth 