From the Mountains to the Sea

We left the cool elevations of the Blue Mountains (min. temp of 9°C) and descended to sea level.  We pulled up stumps at Bonnie Vale Campground situated on the shores of Simpsons Bay just south of Cronulla, in Royal National Park.  Pretty cool spot about 20km from the centre of Sydney and yet surrounded by scrub.

Snagged a nice spot on the Ocean front.  

The weather wasn't particularly kind to us with frequent showers of rain and high winds so we spent a fair amount of time just chilling.  However, we managed to get out and about for a look around - took a drive down the coast a bit.  Got to drive along the well known Sea Cliff bridge.  Noice!

 

Catch ya further down the track.

 

Entering NSW to the Blue Mountains

Since leaving Kenilworth, we travelled the Pacific highway with a couple of overnight stopovers - New Italy and Twelve Mile Creek near Raymond Terrace.

We made an unscheduled overnighter at Maitland in the Hunter region.  We stayed at the showgrounds for one night.

While there, we decided to pursue a little of Judy's family history.  Her paternal 3rd Great Grandfather, Charles Lavender Paine, served as a Captain with the Hunter River Steam Navigation Co in the mid 19th Century around Morpeth.  We paid a visit to the Morpeth Cemetery and found his and his wife's (Ruth Croaker) grave site.

The church in which they married in 1841 still stands in beautiful stature - St James Anglican.

Onwards, the next day, we headed for the Blue Mountains.  Without a booking, we called ahead and scored a site at Blackheath Glen Caravan Park - a 15 to 20 minute drive from Katoomba.

We last visited here almost 40 years ago and a lot has change with the focus on tourism.

 

Three Sisters as viewed from Echo Point, Katoomba.

Today, we visited 'Scenic World' which is a visitor centre from which you can immerse yourself in the beauty and magnificence of the Blue Mountains.

Took the train ride down into the valley, pounded the boardwalk and ascended on the Cableway.  

 

 

Unfortunately, we chose a foggy day to do this.  We took the Skyway car across the gorge.  The visibility cleared slightly giving us a window of opportunity to take in some of the sights of the 12 minute return trip.

 

Memorial Park across the street from our caravan park

View from Evan's Lookout, Blackheath

We have another day tomorrow to explore a little more of the area if the weather allows.  Then we head further west over the weekend.

Catch ya later!

 

Finch Hatton to Kenilworth

When we left our very rainy 'home' in Finch Hatton, we headed southwards.
On the way to our next overnight stopover, we took a small diversion to the St Lawrence wetlands for a few drone piccies.

We ended up stopping overnight at the Marlborough Roadhouse - a free camp on the side of the Highway.  You can park anywhere you like in the paddock out the back.

 

Next day, our longest stint so far, we chose to stay overnight at Childers in an RV Park one street back from the main street.

Onwards to Gympie to meet up with family for a coupla days down on the Troy's and Fiona's small farm.

 

Next stop is a short drive to Kenilworth, at Bluff Creek Campground.  Beautiful setting in the Mary Valley region.  Of course, we had to sample the wares from the Kenilworth Bakery we'd heard so much about.  Peter and Sue joined us for lunch and left for home later in the day.

Creme Brulee Donut

Tomorrow, we head off early into NSW and we'll decide where we pull up  for the night.
Catch ya later!

We're off - again!!!

Welcome back!

Well, we've set off on our 2025 trip.  This year, we plan to journey into State of Origin enemy territory.

So follow along if you wish.

We set off on Saturday just gone, after saying our farewells to family and friends.  First stop was Midge Point to catch up with our neighbours of 20 years.  Danny and Robyn are building on Midge Point and living in their van for the duration of the build.  They have a wonderful vantage point looking out over the bay.  

While we were there, overcast skies and showers were the order of the day (and night).  Enjoyed a bistro meal at the local and watched the (not so great) footy game.

Thanks for the catch up and your generous hospitality.

After staying the night, we headed off Sunday morning.  We decided to go to Finch Hatton and check out the sights of Finch Hatton Gorge.  Stayed at a HipCamp called ValleyView Camping ($20 a night).

 After arriving, the rain began to fall and didn't let up until early morning Monday.  We didn't let it stop us taking a sightseeing walk up the gorge - a 2.8km return walk through a rainforest in the rain was just what we needed.  Credit to National Parks, this track is one of the best formed tracks we've come across in our travels.

 

Thankfully, we had a few moments of respite when we arrived at Aruleun Falls - enough time to grab a few shots of the pumpin' falls.

The return trek got a bit strenuous by the end.  I was glad to spot the carpark as the old knees began to scream.

 

Nice drive through the rainforest surroundings across several creek crossings back to our campsite for the night.

The rain finally stopped and we awoke to a beautiful fresh country view up the valley towards the gorge.  Still some rain in them thar hills!

 We left around 0700 to some point south.

Catch ya later!

 

Blackbraes National Park - 05 - 08/07/2024

Last weekend, we took a trip out to Blackbraes National Park.  We were accompanied by my big brother and sister in law (Terry and Kim).

Blackbraes is situated about 170km North of Hughenden in the Basalt country of Lyndhurst, Q.

We went out via Hervey Range and up the Gregory Development Road and down the Kennedy Development Road (towards Hughenden).  Stopped at the Greenvale Roadhouse for smoko along the way.  Can recommend the hot chips.  Roads were pleasingly quite good all the way.  

Aerial view of the road southward from Moonstone Campground

 

Surprised to see sealed roads all the way with the exception of the last 2-3 km to the entrance of the National Park.  However the road surface was compacted and quite a smooth surface.

We decided to camp at Moonstone Campsite - just open area amongst the local population of Ironbark woodlands.  We arrived to an uninhabited campground so had first choice of sites.  By nightfall, about half dozen other overnight campers had pulled in and left the next day.

Weather was heavily overcast for most of our 3 night stay with a little misty rainfall if you could call it that.

We took the opportunity to check out the surrounds of the National Park.  Drove out to the campground within the park - Emu Swamp.  The road is advised as 4WD only and I wouldn't take a caravan in there.  Two creek crossings to get to it - one is very rocky bottom of Copperfield River but if you take it easy with high clearance, it's fine but the other crossing is a short/sharp ditch which I'd be hesitant to tow a van through.

Smoko - cuppa and shortbreads

Emu Swamp

 

We ventured out along Dulthara Road past Blackbraes Station homestead which, these days, is the NP Ranger Station I believe.  Out along this road you can walk to the edge of an extinct volcanic crater.

Volcanic Crater - would have liked to go a bit higher but the winds were too strong!

Ironbark scrub

Dulthara Rd to the craters

Moonstone Campground, where we parked up, is only about 150m off the main road.  The majority of the traffic along the road consisted of motorhome, caravans and trucks.  It didn't bother us as there wasn't all that much of it.