Bonding with Belle/Beaches, buddies and bound northward 

2020 has started out to be an unforgetable year for many reasons. In spite of all that is going on, we are fortunate to be able to travel in Belle, our new Explorer Motorhome.  Our first trip in Belle in late June was visiting friends in Anna Bay and Rylstone, plus a bush camp in Newnes in the Wollombi NP, where we explored the ruins of an oilshale mine and refinery that operated from 1906-1931. A good explanation of the processes and products produced there (paraffin wax to make candles, lubricating oils and fuel oils) and a reminder of how things change over time.  Worth a visit and the campground was lovely, but the time with our friends was especially nice.

There is no map of our proposed trip for the next 3 or 4 months as we don’t really know where we will be allowed to go. The theme song for this trip is “Magical Mystery Tour” by the Beatles.  No plans aside from heading north and seeing what happens. We realise that being able to leave our home, and our state, for recreational travel at this time is a gift that not many can enjoy.

Just before we left home, we celebrated the exciting news that Amy and Neil got engaged. We are very happy for them and its especially nice to have such happy news to share and celebrate during this time.  ❤️❤️❤️

By the time travel to Queensland opened up on 10 July, we were ready to hit the road in Belle, so we left Sydney on 11 July, bright and early at 3:15pm.  Only got about an hour north out of Sydney when I lost all power in Belle and had to pull over to the side of the road.  Just made it when we stopped completely!  The engine warning light came on and it did not look good.  The fuel empty light had come on 10-15 minutes earlier and we were arguing about how soon we needed to fill up as the gauge said 1/8th full.  Called the NRMA who quoted a 1.5 hour wait, so we sat there tensely watching the darkness roll in, as the big trucks passed closely by.  Checked out local Toyota dealers and wondered where we could be towed to and where we would sleep. In less than an hour a service vehicle from the Roads Dept parked behind us with lights flashing.  He pushed the button on top of the fuel filter (ie bled the fuel line) and said we were out of fuel.  Such a good free service – he put in 10 litres of diesel and told us where the next service station was.  Felt we had a lucky escape! After all that we camped in a free camp at the Kurri Kurri Sports Ground.  This really is a mystery tour.

After a quick tour of Kurri Kurri, with its giant kookaburra and lots of street murals, we drove to Port Macquarie for our traditional catchup with Anne and Mick.

From there we made it to Red Rocks, a bush camp near the ocean, north of Coffs Harbour.  Great place for a rest day with a beach walk and some distant whale spotting from the headland.  We met a couple from Manly Vale in Sydney and invited them in for a drink, before a quiet dinner and a uke practice.

 In an attemp to be extra careful before crossing into Queensland we drove to Grafton to get a Covid test. They  wouldn’t do it as we didn’t have any symptoms.  We did a vehicle weighbridge stop and were happy that Belle’s weight is ok. We were heading back to the coast for another night on the beach when we saw on the news that some parts of Sydney were being locked down.  Decided to go for the border immediately and seeing a 1.5 hour traffic delay at Coolongatta, we took a back way along the Tweed Valley Way – windy roads through a mountain range. Got to the tiny border crossing and were met with signs that said “ Border closed -$33,000 fines apply”. Our hearts sank but when we got to the policeman at the border, he said it was open and he didn’t know why they put those signs up. We spent the night at the Canungra Sports Ground/Camping area. Realised that we knew people who lived in the area so we got in touch and they visited us the next day at 8am.

From there we drove to Steve and Denise’s.  Had a nice visit and even got to join them for dinner out to celebrate Denise’s birthday and for a coffee catchup with some of their other travelling friends. They live close to Explorer MHs and we needed to get a few things checked/adjusted, so that was all good. 

We now have lots of friends in the Brisbane/Sunshine coast area so packed in a lot of visits including:  lunch with Chris and Joanne at Kawana Island, and a dinner with Alan and Barbara in Mooloolaba and another overnight in Alan’s driveway.  Dick even did his Zoom balance class on Alan’s front lawn.  From there we had a lovely visit/afternoon tea at Janice & John’s with Gerry there as well.  Finished that day at Gordon and Joanne’s in Tewantin and met their neighbours over drinks.

Had another ‘Noosa lunch’ with Pamela and Rod; this time at Frenchies where we enjoyed good french food.  Retired for an afternoon sleep back at Gordon and Joanne’s before having another lovely dinner with them in their resort-style house. We followed up all that socializing with a driving day as we had a window shade problem in Belle and needed to return to the factory for a repair.  Luckily we were only 1.5 hours away and were able to get to our next camp spot on Noosa Northshore by 4pm.  

More beach walking followed on our rest day but the weather was not so kind. Took lunch and raincoats!

Now for some sand driving —armed with the relevant beach driving and camping permits we drove along Cooloola Beach to find our own camping spot about 30 kms along the beach in the dunes.  The header picture for this blog showcases our camping spot.  

Started the drive off the beach around noon when the tide was going out, and kept going another 5 k’s on the beach and 13 k’s through sandy bush tracks to get us to Rainbow Beach, where we got an underbody wash for Belle. From there we drove to Hervey Bay as we hadn’t explored that area previously.  It is known as the whale watching capital of the world and was named the first ‘Whale Heritage Site’ (Oct 2019) by the World Cetacean Alliance, for its commitment to and practices of sustainable whale and dolphin watching.  So we booked for a whale watching tour. 

What a great day we had – we saw SO MANY HUMPBACK WHALES; lots in each of 3 or 4 different groups.They were breaching, pec slapping, tail slapping, head lunging and they came right beside the boat. We had 15 guests on a boat that normally takes 100 and we had a fabulous guide, plus we scored a rainbow. What more could we want!  Hervey Bay is an important stopover place for humpbacks on their annual migration and whale watching goes from July – October each year.  HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!