Well the road through the Warrumbungles has been re-opened but all of the infrastructure and walks are still closed following the fires in January.  So although we drove through and had a look, we were not able to camp there and do any walks.  

Instead we ended up at Tooraweenah and stayed at the caravan park there.  We were only going to stay one night but the welcome offering of scones, jam and cream were hard to resist.  Geoff and Sarah also light a fire every night and the company was good so we ended up staying for 3 nights :)

For anyone who's interested, they have doggy day care as well (Kate I'm looking at you!) so that you can leave your dog there while you explore the National Parks!

I could have done without the friendly frog in the toilet though!

By staying the extra nights, we were able to leave the van and do a day trip to the Pilliga State Forest and National Park area.  There are 5 sculptures along the top of the cliff walk.

We also saw the Sandstone Caves, they were really interesting to see with the effects of erosion over time.

 

The next day we rode the bike through the Warrumbungles to Coonabarabran and back again.  It gave us a chance to have a good look around and made it a lot easier to stop.

The re-growth is amazing to see!

Bun found this enormous weed/prickle/something!! Hope like hell it doesn't make it down along the river system!

A very bad 'selfie' taken at Coonabarabran :))

Geoff from the Tooraweenah Caravan Park has this on the front of his vehicle!

We had a couple of nights beside the Castlereagh River at Mendooran, it's a free park area and it was very pleasant to sit there.  Yesterday we went to Dubbo and stayed at a caravan park so that we could catch up on washing and do a couple of jobs.  Bun went to see the guys at the Isuzu Truck place and finally got some satisfaction regarding the brakes on the truck.  It turns out that the  back brakes have not been working properly since we got it.  They made the adjustments needed and Bun is now much happier with it, he said he braked as he was leaving their workshop and nearly put his head through the windscreen!

While we were in Dubbo, we caught up with Jack who worked with us in Queensland.  It was great to see him and the guys enjoyed a couple of beers :)

This morning we headed south on the way to Wellington with the thought that we would check out Lake Burrendong.  Ben is planning to join us next week while he has time off for the Anzac Day weekend.  We didn't get that far as we saw a sign for Ponto Falls and took a right turn :)

The following are photos I took alongside the river this afternoon.

I really need to make some time each day to have a play with the camera to improve.
We'll have a walk along the river in the morning before we head off.  

In other news, Callie and Steven are moving to Adelaide!  Steven will be starting work at Jamieson Trucks after Josh organised for him to see the boss :)  

Callie will be looking for work in Adelaide, she's already been applying for jobs but it will be easier once she's down there.  She rang this afternoon to say that they have a house to rent.  They will be in Valley View, about 5 minutes away from Josh and Kara.  Josh and Kara have a house to move into as well, only a few minutes away from where they are now.  It will be great for them all to have family close by :)

I think that's about it for now,
Cheers

At Gunnedah!

On the way from Menindee to Ivanhoe, we stopped to look at some old plant in the paddocks just near the railway line.  We presume it was used for processing gypsum.  Play 'where's wally' and find Bun in the photo below :)  

I loved the brilliant blue of the sky in these.

The road from Menindee to Ivanhoe was about 170kms of dirt and pretty rough.  We stayed at an empty truck rest area about 5kms out of Ivanhoe as the caravan park (such as it was) was across the road from the pub and we thought it might be a bit noisy on a Saturday night.  The woman in the bar had said that 'you can ring the phone no on the sign but she might not answer and anyway she's probably drunk by now'!!!  Anyway the truck stop seemed like a good idea hahaha.

These are the photos from that night.  

The road from Ivanhoe to Cobar was about 230kms of dirt and if we'd had any idea of exactly how rough it was, we would not have gone that way!  We crept along, going down to 15kph at some points.  The corrugations were really bad and along the way, we saw the remains of a caravan strewn beside the road!!

The photos below were taken in Cobar, just because you never know what will be on the road.

After leaving Cobar, we went through Bourke and onto Brewarrina and camped beside the river for the night.  The next day we went to Walgett and then on to Burren Junction and stayed at the Bore Baths there.  The baths are supposedly good for you but when we had a look, they seemed green and slimy-looking so we decided not to try them :)

There are plenty of people who apparently stay there for a week or two but to be honest we stayed there because it was a free camp and we didn't feel like going any further that day.  Also when staying somewhere like that, we feel very young and fit in comparison to the general population :)

Then it was time to head to Wee Waa to meet up with Robbie and Mick.  It was good to meet them and get a feel for what they require.  We parked the van at their place that night and got to know them a bit more over a couple of drinks.  Then on Thursday morning, Bun went for a bit of a look around with Mick and I went in to the shop with Robbie for the morning.  I made a sale!!

Things seem pretty straightforward and we are all happy with the arrangements we've made.

We will be back in Wee Waa by 2nd June and will be there until 5th July.

We left Wee Waa after lunch and headed through Narrabri and Boggabri before staying the night at a rest area just outside Gunnedah.  We had talked to Timmy and organised to catch up in Gunnedah on Friday so we decided that a full day and night at a caravan park was a good idea to catch up on washing and cleaning :(

Still it was all done before Timmy arrived and we spent the afternoon with him shooting around town while he picked up some things.  We got to meet one of his friends too, the local show was on this weekend and Kim was entered in the Showgirl competition.  Tea was at the pub, the guys were underwhelmed with their meals however my seafood was great.

Timmy stayed in his swag under the caravan awning and after an early breakfast this morning, he took us off for a look around the area.  First up, we went to Timmy's place so that Bun could have a look at his truck.  Then we went through a State Forest on the way to Nundle.  I wanted to visit the Woolen Mill there and there's a quilt shop too.  I bought some wool for a scarf from the Mill but was a bit disappointed with the quilt shop.  I think I was too spoilt by Almond Grove!!  Nothing really seems good enough hahaha

I know that I wouldn't have been able to visit Nundle with Timmy driving as Bun wouldn't have wanted to tow the van up and down the mountains.

Don't you love the way guys have to check out trucks??

 Hey Josh if you're reading this, we would love you to make us a cooker like this one! :)

After a long day in the ute, we had pizza delivered to the caravan park for tea....Winner!

We plan to head to the Warrumbungles National Park tomorrow.  It has only re-opened a couple of weeks ago, after the bushfires.  We hope to stay for a couple of nights and do some walks but will have to see which areas are open.

That's it for now
Cheers

Back on the road!

We finally got the caravan back Thursday afternoon before the Easter break.  By the time we cleaned everything on Friday and started putting things back in, we decided that there was no point joining Easter traffic on the road and we would wait until Wednesday to leave home.

Spoilt dogs?  I sure think so :)

We did make it to Adelaide on Easter Sunday to catch up with Josh and Kara and much to their disgust, I took photos!  It's ok Kara, I weeded out all the ones where there were funny faces and fingers up noses!

We spent the evening at Gillman Speedway for the Australian Sidecar Titles.  There was plenty of close racing and although it was cool, we didn't freeze.

We went to Mildura on Wednesday and caught up with Jodee and Bec from Tandou for lunch before going to Spotlight for supplies.  We wanted to try making some vinyl covers for the vents on the van to try and prevent dust getting in.  They have cut down on some of the dust but we probably need to seal off the door some more.  The photo above was taken where we stayed Wed night by the bridge over the Anabranch.

Thursday we headed back to Tandou and stayed the night at Gav and Ali's and got to see Cameron, Brodie and Zowie too.  I had plenty of cuddles with Zowie, just making sure I haven't lost my touch with babies before August!

 We had a quick look at the cotton crop but it's a bit early for it to look totally white.  For once our timing was great!  The Tandou Xmas party was on Friday afternoon at Copi Hollow just outside Menindee and we scored an invite hahaha.  It was great to catch up with people and hear all the gossip, the camp really reminds us of 'Days of our lives' with the associated intrigue!

It also seems that we might be coming back here to work later this year as 'contracts' were mentioned a number of times last night :)

If we do that, we won't be too far away if some 'baby-sitting' duties are required :)))

We had tea with the family before we left and Kate made sure that some 'happy snaps' were taken :)

We are heading towards Wee Waa to meet Robbie Barclay regarding the job in June.  We have talked a couple of times on the phone but obviously she would like to meet us before making a final decision.  If that works out, we will then head off for a while. Possibly towards Killawarra in Qld and then come back to Wee Waa for some 'training' late in May.

That's us up-to-date now

Cheers