01 Jan More travels to the end of 2019
This year we decided to take up croquet and started lessons at the Point Lookout croquet Club in Maryborough. We joined the club as members on 1st July and now play as much as we can while at home, and try to find clubs to play at when we travel.
Now that we have a small motor-home, it is easy to hop in and do short trips here and there so we are doing more of that.
At the end of the year we went on a cruise to New Zealand.
20th May – 25th May 2019
We were having a problem with the slide-out room on the new motorhome, being very noisy and squeaky as we trundled along the roads. We booked in to an Avida dealer on the Gold Coast and did a quick run down there and back. They said they fixed it, but it still squeaked on the way home! We stayed at a few different places on the way home including Proston Golf club where we had plenty of room!
13th June – 17th June
We attended a Wide Bay Wanderers (motor-homers) meet at the Goomeri Bush Camp. It was a fun and friendly time, we met some new people, played some disc bowls and croquet and generally had a relaxing few days. When we left we travelled with another couple from home who are croquet players, to a little hamlet called Gundiah where we played a game of croquet with the locals and joined them for dinner in the club house. We stayed the night at the grounds and went home the next day.
5th July – 7th July
A mini-break in Hervey Bay with 3 other motor-homes, when we all went on the Mary River cruise from Hervey Bay to Maryborough and return.
16th July – 24th July
We were the organisers for the Southern Cross Fifth Wheelers group annual muster at Kenilworth, so even though we now had a motor-home we still attended and had a lot of fun with our friends. It was a Christmas in July event so we had a Christmas dinner at the local pub. The Judge issue lots of fines to those who deserved it (all of us) to boost the coffers.
18th August – 20th August
A quick trip to Brisbane and back for Skin Clinic appointments, and visiting friends at Tewantin and Redcliffe. We stayed at a National Park campground called Coochin Creek on the way down, a very pleasant place to stay.
7th September – 15th September
We spent several months organising a tour for residents of RV Homebase to local small town golf clubs, to have fun but also to support the struggling little clubs. The drought and the loss of population in these towns has really impacted them. We started off at Biggenden, then Proston, Wondai and Nanango.
Unfortunately on day 2, Bev had a severe allergic reaction on the face to sunscreen and we had to go home the next day. The Doctor prescribed strong steroids and Intense Pulse Light treatment which calmed it down and we were able to rejoin the tour a few days later. It was a great success and we are planning another tour in April/May 2020.
27th September – 22nd October
We have to get a 6 monthly service on the motor-home from the Avida dealer network. For the first service we decided to go back down to the dealer we bought it from, so we spent a few weeks driving down to Newcastle, NSW and back home again.
We managed to play croquet at 2 clubs, Moonan Flat (the smallest club in NSW with 1 lawn and 9 members), and Branxton, another small club. Both were very welcoming and we enjoyed games with the local members, but the flies at Moonan Flat were a little too friendly for our liking.
A new place we found to stay was at the golf club at Uralla, which only has space for 4 RVs. We went into the club for dinner that night with the other campers and had an enjoyable evening. On the way to Uralla after hot weather along the way, a big thunderstorm started while we were climbing the hill towards Uralla. It rained so heavily we had to pull off the road and sit it out. After a short while the rain turned to sleet, and then snow. We could not believe that clumps of snow were sliding off the roof over the cab and onto the bonnet. Talk about a change in the weather!
Another new place we stayed at on the way home was Deano’s Springwater Smoked Trout farm. He grows trout and smokes it with various flavours. Of course we had to buy some to try out and it was very tasty.
A favourite place to stay is Yelarbon, where we went to the local pub for lunch.
A new camp for us was at Bony Mountain. Plenty of room there too and a noisy thunderstorm.
10th November – 13th November
Another quick trip to Brisbane and back. On the way home we stopped at Eumundi so we could go to the markets in the morning. It is a huge market and being able to camp in the parking area next door makes it easy to roll out of bed and head for the stalls.
24th November – 8th December
We splurged on a cruise from Brisbane around New Zealand and back to Brisbane, with friends Sue and Jim. We had mostly good weather and enjoyed shore days at 6 ports plus a wonderful day of scenic cruising in Fjordland. We have travelled in NZ before, but seeing the coast from a ship was a different experience and the shore trips with tour guides and someone else doing the driving was very relaxing. The days on board were also relaxing, we enjoyed the dining experience, the theatre shows and movies, and Sue & I developed a taste for the Raspberry Romance champagne cocktails!
29th December – 31st December
The final trip for the year to Kilkivan Showgrounds for a Geocaching get-together. We spent 2 days with 3 other couples from RV Homebase and various others, finding lots of caches.
That’s it for this year. Next year will be busy doing all sorts of trips so we will update as we go along.