Stage one of our retirement journey

Monday 30 July 2012 saw our departure from the Gold Coast on stage one of our retirement journey. After a teary farewell to daughter Amy, Deon and boys we set out to do a drive by farewell  to the crew at MCCGC. Another beautiful  hug fest took place before we hit the road for real.
Off to the highway and on to our first stop at Tenterfield to visit with our dear friends Ted and Pam. After a couple of enjoyable nights ( sub zero temperature)  we hit the road again looking for a slow trip to Young where we had another visit planned.

We had just been through Inverell on the way to see the Copeton Dam when there was an almighty bang. We stopped to find a massive failure on the caravan draw bar. the van pulled up with no real drama as we were not going fast and the road was straight. You can see from the pics that the weld caused a weakness in the overhanging plate and it let go. Fortunately we were in mobile range and rang RACQ. Luckily we had upgraded to Ultimate cover before setting out. RACQ were wonderful and organised a flat bed to pick up the van as it was not towable. Unfortunately none was available in Inverell so we had to wait for one to come from Glen Innes about 90km away.
We had a couple of people stop to check on us and one was a local Councillor who gave us some advice as to the best engineer in town to have the van repaired. He even called back on his return journey with a couple of cups of coffee. Turns out he was a keen caravanner and even owned a Boroma.. We got back to Inverell at about 6pm ( 26km tow) and the owner of Sapphire City Engineering came back to work to let us in and store the van. We then headed of to the local van park for a cold night in an on site cabin ( free courtesy of RACQ) as no one else could accommodate us with our beloved Trixie.
Another sub zero night and we were back to see Gary at Sapphire city to inspect the damage and make plans for its repair.The boys got into it straight away and by lunchtime they had rebuilt the draw bar section by removing broken plate and installing a much heavier piece of steel without the weld line on the leading edge. They advised that the weld should not have been made across the front of the bar as it weakened the whole structure. You can see that the piece of steel was partially fractured which finally let go. We were so lucky not to be going down hill or on a sweeping bend or we might have lost the van. We were only connected by the back two bolts of the Hyland hitch.
Wednesday afternoon saw us back on the road  and our first bush camp of the trip. nothing spectacular but a taste of things to come. On Friday evening we decided to stay at Dunedoo caravan park to have a long hot shower and catch up on some washing, A great little park with modest fees and great facilities. Another sub zero night then on to Young and a long awaited visit with Jan and Cam, old friends from the coast.


Jan, Aileene and Cam in Young

Young is a beautiful town and we had a wonderful stay with our friends and enjoyed great hospitality and visited many of the local attractions. Aileene got a cherry charm for her bracelet and I bought some PJ's as the cold was getting to me.(pics to follow he he!!)
We will definitely be back to spend more time with our mates and explore more of the surrounds. maybe in the warmer months.




After three nights in Young it was off on our next stage to Melbourne. Our first night back on the road was a great free camp at Walbundrie, Camps #809. Country hospitality showed its face again when a young chap and his two sons came by to collect firewood along the river reserve. On their way out the insisted in leaving us with a pile of cut wood for a fire. Can't beat country folk!


Whroo camp #255, old gold fossiking area

As it would have been a long day to Melbourne and all the difficulties in navigating Melbourne's ring roads we decided on another bush camp just south of Rushworth at a place called Whroo, Camps # 255. It was a beautiful place and we had the area once again to our selves. I guess all the nomads were in the warm north of our fair land. Unfortunately it was also our first rain and as it was a bit muddy we had Trixie sleep in the Cruiser. This proved a tad messy in the morning when we discovered on letting her out just before dawn that she had experienced an upset tummy and left a very soiled pair of front seat covers. As dogs rarely soil their beds Trixie had used the two front seats as a toilet. I could not chastise her and felt so sorry that she had experienced such discomfort. When I opened the truck she exited like an Exocet missile, poor dear. So there I was pre dawn removing soiled seat covers etc and trying not to vomit. I bundled everything into plastic bags and strapped them on the roof rack to deal with in Melbourne.
A cold wet rainy day on Thursday led us to Narre Warren and brother John's where we will spend the next couple of months house sitting whilst they go to Europe.