Northern Rivers, NSW - part IV

Wednesday 13 February 2019

Slept in as I had had a rather bad night, but then I had to get up, because it was getting too hot in the back of the camper with the sun on the windows.  It was going to be a hot day.  In the end it must have been over 40 degrees.

We didn't undertake a lot.  Patricia went to Bunnings with Gail and Kty, but I prefered to  sit in the shade and write my blog.  I had a bit of a nap after lunch, to catch up on some sleep and later walked around the property to take pictures.

After dinner it was an early night for all of us again, because there was a storm brewing and the wind had turned rather cold all of a sudden.  As a matter of fact, it was the first night in months that I needed the cover of my doona. 

Thursday 14 February 2019

We left early, at 7 am, and just as well, because our intended route via Casino to Tenterfield was a no-go.  The bushfire near Tabulam, the one I mentioned earlier, had crossed the highway and the Bruxner was closed off. We had no choice but to make a slight (!) detour via Grafton in the south.  Nothing is really 'slight' here, so we added effectively another 300 km to our trip. Not that it bothered us.  We are no longer in the workforce and it was a beautiful route.

We passed a big 4WD motorhome with a man working on the roof on our way to Grafton.  I thought I vaguely remembered the vehicle from our camp at Coraki and later it appeared that I was right.  The vehicle had had a tyre blow-out and the man (have forgotten his name) was getting his spare tyre down.  What bad luck.

In Grafton Patricia knew a woman who she had visited before with a friend.  The friend's sister, Jackie.  She rang her and asked if it was alright to drop in for a brief visit, which was alright.  

Anyway, we had a cuppa and a chat and we looked at her, rather bizarre, pictures.  She was an artist and had not only painted framed pictures but had also large rows of snakes on the walls of kitchen and laundry.  Not ugly, and I like snakes, but it's not something I would like to see on my walls every day.

At around midday we left and drove approx 50 km west.  We stopped at Lollback Rest Area (#228) to eat our lunch and had a bit of a rest.

Then it was a rather scenic way, but very winding and up and down, via the Gribraltar Range towards our stop for the night: Beardy Creek Heritage Park (#136) just north of Glenn Innes.  As I hadn't checked the route on my GPS we made an unexpected turn before Glenn Innes and came out onto the highway just north of the rest area, so we drove the 10 km south to our stop, as the next stop north was too far away.  I was 5.30 pm when we arrived.  A nice time to get settled for the night.

The Gibraltar Range lookout

It had been a cool day after the earlier 40+ degrees.  So cool in fact, that I closed all the windows and the door during the night.

Friday 15 February 2019

We wanted to stop at Tenterfield and since it was only an hour's drive we didn't leave too early.  My plan to stop at Glenn Innes at the little cafe where they have the nice vanilla slices didn't work out because of our unexpected arrival north of the town, so we let that go. 

We planned to have a look around in Tenterfield and walked through the main street where the shops are. And it must have been our lucky day, because we walked right past a bakery with the best vanilla slices you can think of.  Unusual, but topped with strawberries.  Yummy!

There were also two geocaches in the area and one of them brought us to the famous Tenterfield Saddler  from the song by Peter Allen.  It's a kind of museum in the back room with lots of memorabilia and photographs.

The Tenterfield Saddler

#2069 - Tenterfield Saddler (cache)

The cache was located at the back of the building.  From there we walked back to our vehicles, but with a slight detour into the park as there was another cache hidden. Not the most exciting of hides, but at least it adds to the numbers...

#2070 - Jubilee Park (cache)

Our next stop was at a Warwick picnic area for our afternoon tea and a short rest.  The idea was to make it to Patricia's place in Toowoomba, which was within easy reach and we arrived at 4.30 pm.  If it hadn't been for daylight saving time in NSW we would have arrived an our later, but we gained extra time, which came in handy.

I was going to stay for a few days, but decided to just sleep in the camper.  Colin was home and I would have had to sleep on the sofa bed in the living room, so I opted for a good night's rest in the camper and didn't need to carry all my stuff around either.

Saturday 16 February 2019

A day of rest mainly and catching up on some of the logging of all the geocaches.  Patricia and Colin washed their camper, but first we made a little trip to the shopping centre.  We visited a few shops, bought some clothes, groceries and other little things and had a lovely lunch at Jamaica Blue. 

Upon entering the shopping centre carpark though we heard a loud noise, like something fell down in the back of the van, but we couldn't find anything out of place.  It later appeared that Patricia had missed noticing the beam with the warning of the vehicle height.  As I wasn't driving and thought that Patricia had taken her vehicle there before I had not paid any attention to the surroundings, so had not noticed it either. It cost her over $50 to replace the little hatch of the roof vent!

Sunday 17 February 2019

Not much different from the day before, but minus the shopping spree.  However, Colin, also an avid geocacher, had solved a puzzle for a cache and asked if I wanted to come around for the drive.  I generally don't want to find caches on somebody else's back, so I solved the puzzle first, with a little bit of guidance from Colin, and than we went for the drive.  I also happened to be the one to find it first. ;-)  But then, Colin may have let me.  With 10 times as many finds as I have, he seems to be a little more experienced!

#2071 - Picture That! (cache)

All in all we had a great time, Patricia and I.  I think I have lost count by now how many trips we have made together, at home and overseas, but we're still going strong!

I went home on Monday and took my time.  I made a huge detour, more like a scenic route, and enjoyed the drive.  I had many stops for coffee or tea or just leisure and was home just in time to do my grocery shopping before the shops closed.