Day 1 Coonabarabran to Mitchell of ‘Taking the scenic route to the beach!’

 We had arrived at Coonabarabran the night before, and parked up at the property of David and Brenda at 12.30am, after leaving Sydney at 6pm on Friday night. Despite needing to drive slower through fog, and trying to avoid wombats, kangaroos, and wallabies, we had made it safely and were glad to get to bed. We got up in the morning and greeted our fellow travelling companions before we set off for the day around 8.30am. 

Stopping for fuel and morning tea at Moree, and crossing the border at Mungindi and having lunch in QLD, we kept pushing on, aiming to reach Mitchell, with the lure of the warm Artisan pool upon our arrival. Dave had been leading the trio of clippers and offered Matt to lead after lunch. A wise move on David’s behalf as the roadside kangaroo population seemed to swell after 3pm and we cleared the way for the other clippers to avoid the big jumpy things that like to cross the road at the worst times, and we had a few close calls in the process. The things you do for your mates. We did hit a bird that flew straight into the windscreen, unfortunately, but better a bird than a roo. We were pushing forward to reach Mitchell before the Artisan pool closed, and we managed to make it in time to enjoy a magical 3/4 of an hour soaking in the warm waters that ranges from 30-50 degrees. We watched the sunset and enjoyed some chatting and catching up on our family news as we relaxed in the pool. I used pool noodles under my legs to help me float and keep my upper chest out of the water and keep my central venous access line for the IV nutrition, out of the water. After our early evening soak, we parked up at the local caravan park and sat beneath the twinkling night sky, as we ate dinner and chatted some more. A great start to this adventure. Matt and I are starting to relax and get into holiday mode, after the mad rush to pack and prepare and leave the night before 

 

Prelude to 'Taking the scenic route to the Beach'

 Tomorrow night, Matt and I head off to Coonabarabran, and meet up with our fellow travellers from last year's epic Top End Adventure, David and Brenda, along with Meredith and Ian. A lot has happened since we returned home last year, but our appetite for more outback adventures has only grown. 

Since our return, I decided to go ahead and have another treatment trial for my rare auto immune disease.  It was not a decision I took lightly, as it involved chemotherapy.  So this trip is my reward and was what I had to look forward to as I went through the treatment. Although there are some promising signs of improvement from the treatment, I have just started more ongoing immunosuppressive medications, and I still need the intravenous nutrition at the moment. As this adventure is only for a month, we have managed to fit all my medical stock and supplies on board 'Bridget', so we won't need any pick-up's along the way, which makes it much easier for us to be flexible. 'Bridget' has had a few repairs from the last trip, and new tyres too and hopefully she will behave. She still hides the red dirt from last year, and it seems to emerge from everywhere, no matter how much you clean (a lifetime reminder of the fun we had on that trip, that will stay with us and 'Bridget' forever)!

This trip will be an approximately 10,000km round trip to Nhulunbuy in East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. So we hope you enjoy travelling with us as we are 'Taking the scenic route to the Beach!'

Day 92 Quirindi to Doonside

 It was a rough night with regular trains passing by, though Matt managed to sleep through it all. When we opened the blinds, the train track was literally 5 metres away!  It was dark and rainy. I couldn’t see the train tracks. We packed up for the last time, and headed onward. The paddocks were green, lots of puddles and creeks flowing. The rolling hills of the great dividing range were partially covered in mist and fog. Rainex works better than the wipers do on Bridget. Rain came and went. Through the scenic Hunter region, and eventually onto the boring freeway. A brief stop for lunch at the petrol station, before our final descent into reality. We made good time and were home just before 1pm. Our dogs Roo and Pip greeted us with lots of love and affection. We will take our time to unpack all that we fitted in Bridget. So much to do but we also don’t want to let our 3 month adventure seem like a distant memory too quickly. Seems a bit like it already.  Some things we did seems like it was years ago. Time is weird  like that 

Bridget will no doubt be reminding us of our Top End Adventure with releasing red dirt forever more. She drove 17,200km, that is roughly equivalent to driving from Sydney to London, if it was a road! We enjoyed so many sensational sunsets, starry nights, saw amazing mountains ranges, views, waterfalls, a huge variety of flora, birds and wildlife in the wild, and so much more. We coped with any issues that Bridget challenged us with, and my health was stable and we coped well with all my medical needs. We met some amazing people, and learned about our Indigenous peoples stories and about the many Pioneers of our nation and the history of this part of our country. We created memories to last a lifetime and that will be part of our life story always. We were still, and knew God, as we marvelled in his creation; and we look forward to where the next adventure on our bucket list, and what God has in store for us.

We have both loved this trip and thanks to all who followed along while we went, and took the time to show interest in what we did, and maybe escape with us for a little while.  

We will probably revisit this format when next we travel, we will leave this blog up in the meantime so we can revisit where we’ve been , cause we’re old now , and the old memory is stuffed.after all we were  charged pensioner rates 4 times while we were away, ( Qantas museum charged us pensioner rates as well) 

Glad to have done it after wanting to all my life. And I can’t see it stopping with this trip.  We did it too well. And we are very comfortable with that way of living. 

Day 91 Bollon, Dirranbandi, Mungindi, Quirindi

 A cruisy start to the day, and daylight revealed that the Wallam Creek beside the free campground in Bollon, was very full. We strolled along the footpath into town, and checked out the shops, some had been loved and revamped since we were here last, whilst others had closed. We saw the sad sight of the burnt pub, and the smell of smoke still present. Bollon is a nice town, and it looks like it is growing again. 

The Bollon pub when I took Toogunna’s coaster to its new home in 2024

Bollon pub today. 

From Bollon, we headed to Dirrinbandi, another town that looks like it is growing and getting some life back into it. We did some window shopping and found a jumper for me, and found a few other things we were after, and Matt enjoyed a warm cinnamon scroll and coffee in the park. The breeze was quite nippy, and we could see storm clouds on the horizon. Next stop was lunch by the very full Barwon River at Mungindi, on the border. It was much more pleasant to stay inside Bridget than be outside. 

We headed towards the storm clouds, and on through Moree, with the rain soon beginning. All the water courses that we have driven past have appeared full or with a healthy amount of water in them. Crops looked like they were thriving too. This was the greenest we had seen this whole region. We drove through Narrabri and stopped at Gunnedah briefly for the last fuel up for the trip. An observation has been that towns are much closer together now, rather than being a few hundred kilometres apart, as we had grown used to. Throughout the day the roads have become wider, ie: wide enough for two vehicles to be on the tar at once, the paddocks have been greener , and everything is wet. That means that everything that had dust on it now has mud on it. And where the bus leaks it is now leaking mud. There is going to be red dirt coming out of this bus for the rest of its existence. Everyday there is a pile of red dirt in the corner of the toilet room. We clean it up everyday, then we drive and a new pile of red dirt is there.  We haven’t been on the red dirt in over 3000km. We continued on despite the rain getting quite heavy, and fog rolling in. We stopped just outside of Quirindi, in a road stop between the road and rail line. Sal loves stopping on the roadside overnight , as she’s such a heavy sleeper, and trucks and trains don’t bother her at all, and discussing the trains that seem to be about 5m from one side of the bus, I am forced to quote the blues brothers… “ how often does the train go past?… so often you won’t even notice…” there’s been about 4 trains in the past 2 hours.  The line looked further away in the dark . It was late and Matt has driven over 620km today.at least the kangaroos stayed in bed and out of the rain tonight. Didn’t dodge any at all.  We are snug with the diesel heater chugging away. It’s our last night on our big Top End Adventure and feeling the cooler and wet weather, makes us want to be somewhere else! As much as we want to see family and home again, we have been loving this nomadic life and the freedom to explore and enjoy our beautiful country. We do feel so blessed for having the privilege to do this trip and grateful to all that helped facilitate it and making it possible with my medical needs. We know we have been looked after by our Lord for keeping us safe, and well, and for Bridget mostly behaving herself, and any troubles were solvable. We were glad of the company of our travel companions and friends and the fun we had together. We hope all those that have been following along, have enjoyed reading our blog and seeing the photos and may even be inspired to get out there and explore Australia themselves.

By the way we have run out of chocolate , and are now forced to eat white chocolate cooking drops…

Day 90 Toompine, Eulo, Cunnamulla, Bollon

 We awoke this morning to the sound of light rain falling on the roof of the Clipper. We packed up and headed over to the farmstay to say happy birthday to Adam, and have breakfast with the guests and Fiona and Adam. We had further chats with Renae and Michael, who are travelling and working as they do, and they are currently working at the farmstay. It’s always hard to say goodbye to Fiona and Adam, and today was no different. We know we will be back. The distance to get there, doesn’t seem as bad as it did the first time or when it’s not 45 degrees. We headed off and took the obligatory bus photo by the saw blade that marks the gate and that Juliet had painted back in 2013 on our first visit.

Winston and snickers the miniature Rottweilers 

The gate saw blade sign 

There was still light rain falling as we headed back to Quilpie to fuel up, before we headed to Toompine, the town that consists of a pub and that’s pretty much it. It’s known as the pub without a town, used to be a gold rush town but dwindled to the point of having just the pub. The pub has been restored and done up since we were there last. It was nice to visit and not break down outside of it, like we had twice in our old Scenicruiser in extreme heat. We always stop here cause the first time we broke down there, the Scenicruiser our old bus, broke a suspension part leaving the bus crabbing sideways down the road. It was 42 degrees and I needed to fix this before moving on. The only people at Toompine hotel were the publican and a cook. And he helped me realign the rear suspension by tying the pub Ute to the bumper bar of the bus, and driving away from it at 90 degrees and launching the bus sideways so I could bash a broken pin back into its proper place. Then weld it there to get us home. We spent 4 hours there in the heat that day, with the kids entertaining themselves by throwing rocks at a 44 gallon drum. Well kids sorry to tell you that they now have a playground, 12 years too late for us though. They let me shower there after fixing the bus and I shared it with 11 frogs.  🐸. Funny the things that stick in your head. So we always buy a drink there to say thanks again. 

 We headed on to Eulo, with plenty of the recently fallen rain in puddles beside the road. We spotted emus, and a few brolgas and goats. We stopped for lunch and then continued on towards Eulo. We checked out Eulo and Cunnamulla and did a walk around both towns to see the shops. Most of the shops in Cunnamulla were closed, and it was only 3.30pm in the afternoon. We continued on towards Bollon. 

With heavy cloud still around, the kangaroos seemed to be out earlier. I started hearing Matt saying 5, 10, 23, and I realised he was counting the Roos we had spotted. He had dropped speed, as there was also the occasional cow and goats with kids on the road too. By the time we reached Bollon, the roo count was 54. It was dark, so we pulled into the free camp ground and found a spot. It looks like they have done the area up, as there was lights alongside a footpath that led back up to the main street. We will check it out tomorrow, and see where the pub once stood (it sadly burned down in February this year). It was late, so we just cooked dinner and then got stuck into writing the blog.

The Bollon pub is another thing that sticks in my mind. In 2010 we did our first outback links volunteer placement in Bollon , and spent three weeks here on a farm 35k out of town. A great experience which led to many more in this end of Queensland. We spent New Year’s Eve 2010/2011 in the Bollon pub and it is the only pub that I have ever been in before or since where the punters left a $50 note on the bar as their tab, and each round would be taken from the money on the bar, and the change returned to the same spot for the next round as the bar staff knew everyone personally.  There was multiple piles of cash on the bar and I think I estimated about $450 on the bar at one point , then everyone went out the back to have dinner. Left the money on the bar, and no one was there. Mind you no one was on the street either cause everyone that was going out that night, was in the pub. All 12 of them. I think the publican drank more that night than anyone he served.  Interesting night that one… 

Day 89 Belombre 4

 We had a lazy morning, I did some research work, reading through a draft grant application for some medical research and providing feedback. This is something I have been getting more involved in as a consumer advocate and now researcher for both Griffith University and University of Queensland. It’s good to be able to help direct research to improve medical care and knowledge and hopefully change policies, and quality of care and ultimately improve outcomes and experiences for patients. Matt was being Mattgyver today and fixing a few things, like an electrical problem in one of Adam’s trucks, and in his Landcruiser, and fixing a new plate warmer, that failed after only a few uses. He helped shift a portaloo, and helped Adam sort out an email issue. I watered the pot plants throughout the garden, and somehow managed to end up giving all the dogs a good rub today. I was popular😜!

One casualty, my poor old cordless drill. Snapped in half  under its own power, even though I haven’t charged it in three months . You have served me well over the last 6-7 years.😢

There is also something about old corrugated iron, it really appeals to me. The imperfection and character. It’s lived in, and has experienced life. 

The Woolshed , yep more iron. 

Sheep yards behind the woolshed, yes there is a sheep sleeping under the trees, seems she’s been sleeping there for a week. We had to tie her to the Ute and drag her to the middle of a nearby paddock as she was a bit on the nose.  

We headed over to the farmstay to do a photo shoot for Fiona with Bridget posing with the buildings and views. A quick wash and wipe to get her less dirty, and Matt had fun with taking different perspectives and angle with the lighting.. I sat down by myself in the sun, and listened, trying again to be still and enjoying the no traffic noise, and listen to the various flocks of birds chirping as they flew home, as dusk was beginning. I was trying to enjoy being here in this beautiful place, because tomorrow we start to head home. 😢. Adam then came over to tell me he had just met one of the guests that had arrived, and it was the lady that had been organising the Outback Links placements all those years ago, and had connected us with Fiona and Adam back in 2013. How wonderful it was to go to her and tell her, that here we are, still coming back and enjoying the firm friendship and connection that we have with Fiona and Adam, and still able to share our time and selves to support and help them out. It was pretty special. Although this lady works in a different industry now, I’m sure it gave her joy to see the fruits of her work from all those years ago.

We were also able to spend time with Fiona’s niece and nephew, who we had met on our visits here and to hear where life has taken them, and see them all grown up and thriving. It was freezing tonight and even though we tried to stand around the fire to keep warm, we were glad to head into the dining room and into the warm and to share in the dinner with all the guests. It was nice to sit with complete strangers and hear their stories and about their trips. Our last night here, I know we will be back in the future, and will see Toogunna Plains Farmstay continue to grow and develop. We feel sad at having to say goodbye, but feel so blessed to be have been able to do this trip and to finish it off this way.

 

Day 88 Belombre Station 3

 Another slow morning, and we headed over to the farmstay and Matt was back into working on the Wifi system in the under construction Reception area. I sat in the dining room and started to write a story of our adventure for the support group newsletter for people like me living on TPN -  PNDU- Parenteral Nutrition Down Under. It’s very hard to summarise not just the 3 months but, also the 12 months it took to plan and organise the medical deliveries and aspect of the trip. But I want to encourage others to travel and to share the story with the staff at Baxter Pharmaceuticals, to show them what they helped me to be able to do, so it’s important to write and share our story in this way. It’s hard to really describe how grateful I am to be able to have done what we have achieved and to see and experience all that we have; to be well enough and strong enough to do all the walks and long days, to have the TPN shipped to these remote places. I spent a few hours today and will need more time to finish it, and then to choose photos to match. But I am enjoying the writing.

i clad a table and cabinet in Corrugated iron, after finishing the data wiring under this desk and around this reception building. guttering makes a nice rustic corner edge.

We watched the tour group that had stayed here overnight, reboard the little plane and taxi out from the carpark and onto the runway and take off. It was great to watch. I then went and helped Fiona for a bit, before I went and had a rest and returned to continue helping Fiona. Matt had finished the wifi and was doing other odd jobs, as the farmstay is an ongoing work in progress to get the aesthetics done and add more facilities and rooms, to make it more accessible and functional. There is a huge to do list, and it’s very hard to get trades out to help. We are more than happy to help out where we can, and wish we had more time to help them further. As there were no guests tonight, we got to eat back at the homestead together, and talk about all sorts of things. A lovely way to spend the evening.

 

the backyard of the homestead