The Bus ‘n’ Us | Personal blog

The Bus ‘n’ Us

Phone: +61 487 410 382

Add/Update information

Reviews

Tags

• Other
• Brand
• Website
• Personal blog

25.01.2022 Friday 11 October, day 99. We have set up this afternoon at an RV park at a Football Club at Port Augusta. Yesterday we travelled from Coffin Bay to Tumby Bay where we had lunch and spent some time looking around the town. From there we headed further north to a free camp in the dunes behind the beach beach at Cowell Wells. The site is about 5km south of Port Neill on the Spencer Gulf. Road was a bit rough but the bus handled it well. Camp oven dinner after a walk along the beach until it got too cool and windy. This morning we visited several little beachside villages, and Cowell which is a very nice little port town with lots of early 20th century stone buildings. And did I forget to mention that we had a few feeds of oysters and king George whiting whilst we were at Coffin Bay $14 a dozen and $20 kilpatrick.

24.01.2022 Wednesday 9 October..day 97 finds us at Coffin Bay on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. We arrived here yesterday around midday after travelling from Elliston where we overnighted at the golf course RV camp up on the hill overlooking the town and coast. We were going to sample some coffin bay oysters for lunch however all of the cafes had run out and were waiting for re-supply from the oyster farmers. So we had to make do with king George whiting in tempura batter. As Paul Wu...th would have put it ‘not too shabby’. We booked into the RV park on the Esplanade for a couple of nights, and by then the wind had dropped, the clouds disappeared and the sun came out, so I finally got to go fishing on the town jetty. Some good bites and plenty of crabs chewing on the bait however nothing landed. So back down the wharf today. Going to wait until it warms up a bit though. 6 degrees C outside at the moment, well after 8am.

24.01.2022 Saturday 5 October. Had the worst mornings travel since we left home. High winds and almost solid dust storm from not long after we left our campsite until we arrived at Ceduna, a couple of hours travelling. The wind is still strong here, but coming off the ocean so no dust. however it was hot hot until about 4pm It just happens to be Ceduna’s annual Oyster Festival this weekend, so after booking into the Shelly Beach RV park and doing the weeks washing we headed back into town to see what they had to offer. After half a dozen oysters kilpatrick, whiting fillets, tender calamari done a couple of ways, prawns and a few chips I decided that SA seafood is good. Not mud crab good, but good enough.

23.01.2022 Talia Caves, Anxious Bay

22.01.2022 This evening we are camped at Lake Keepit on the Namoi River, between Tamworth and Manilla. It has been a great day, beginning with an exploration of some Wiradjuri Red Dust Clan camp sites along the Macquarie River. Lots of spear and axe sharpening grooves, and a few flour grinding places. The camp on the river was great, with just a shower or two overnight, however it was too cold and windy this morning to wet a line. From Dubbo we headed through Gilgandra, Coonabarabran and Gunnedah to Lake Keepit on the back road to Manilla. Got here early enough to do a spot of fishing and picked up a couple of carp. The lake (Keepit Dam, which was built to provide water for irrigation) is only at 1% capacity, and the country is very dry.

21.01.2022 Well, 22 October, day 109 already. Again almost a week since our last post. We had a great time in the Clare and Barossa Valleys, followed by a couple of days in Hahndorf in the hills behind Adelaide before heading into The city for a few days with our Niece Leanne and her husband Iggy. Had a wonderful visit with them, lots of laughs, fine food and refreshing drinks, and saw some parts of Adelaide that we had not been to before. On Saturday Iggy took me out to the range where... his muzzle loader black powder rifle club shoots. I got to learn how to load, fire and clean several rifles. Flintlock, percussion cap, and breech loader black powder cartridge long arms and also a pistol. Now we are out at Two Wells visiting my cousin Jasmin (our own daughter Jasmin/Jaz is named after her) and her husband Joe. They live on a farm on the outskirts of the town, and have an olive grove and vineyard, and grow chillis, capsicum, tomatoes, beans and lots of other veges. They run chooks, sheep (5 lambs born since we arrived yesterday morning, including 2 sets of twins) and pigs, and make all their own olive oil, wine and salami. So close to being self sufficient in that regard. Joe has retired and makes concrete garden ornaments, from moulds he manufactures himself. A true artist, and every time we visit he offers Vonelle the pick of his stock. Thank goodness we don’t pull a trailer or we would have a 200kg garden fountain to get home So here are a few pics from the last week.

21.01.2022 The evening of Friday 8 November, Day 127 finds us back in Queensland, camped at the reserve at Allora. We had a great couple of days in Armidale and then headed north to Glen Innes for the morning. I particularly wanted to visit the Standing Stones, erected in Glen Innes as a celebration of the Celtic Nations whose descendants contributed to life in Australia. The stones reflect the movement of the earth around the sun, an important feature of Celtic farming life. Interestin...g that the Celts and other cultures knew that the earth revolved around the sun, long before Copernicus ‘discovered’ this in the 1500’s. I had a unsuccessful go at pulling Excalibur from the rock, and we had a great morning coffee and almond butter cake at the stone Crofters Cottage, a replica ‘taig dubh’ (black house). From Glen Innes we headed further along the New England Highway, trough Tenterfield. The further north we got the stronger the cross winds blew, with lots of dust, and smoke in the sky from fires to the west of us. The country around Tenterfield was black from the recent fires, and from Deepwater north we travelled through thick smoke for many kilometres. Mid afternoon we crossed into Queensland and briefly visited Stanthorpe and Warwick, then travelled through to this camp at Allora which we visited several times when we were in SE Queensland for a couple of months last year.

20.01.2022 Just to let you know we made a couple of donations at Mathura today one of them in the collection box on top of the sign Breast cancer research is a great cause

17.01.2022 Wednesday 6 November, day 125. We got as far as Armidale this afternoon, after spending the morning revisiting childhood memories at Manilla, then through to Tamworth for a late lunch. Weather has come good, lovely cool mornings and warm days. I lived as Manilla for a while in my pre-school years, and spent several holidays camped there on the weir on the Namoi River which runs through town. Great swimming and fishing those days. Now there is a caravan park downstream and a r...ecreation area and sports field up on the bank above the weir. When we first arrived in Manilla (dad was a PMG tech there to work on installation of the automatic phone exchange to replace the old plug and play switchboard) we stayed in a pub, think it was the one in the photo. Have no idea where the house was where we lived, but remember it had a lime tree in the front yard. On the way to Armidale another childhood memory jumped out, Thunderbolt’s Grave at Uralla. We visited several times as kids and had to hear dad tell and retell the stories of the ‘gentleman Bushranger’ ...not quite a Robin Hood, but just as interesting to us as the tales of Ned Kelly

14.01.2022 30 October, Vonelle’s birthday and day 118 of our epic journey. This afternoon we pulled into the Eureka Holiday Park, Ballarat, right beside the site of the Eureka Stockade, and the new Eureka Stockade Centre. We will visit the centre tomorrow to see the original flag and memorabilia. After leaving the (once were) 12 Apostles lookouts about midday yesterday the road travelled through the densely forested mountains and valleys of the Otway National Park. Spectacular country ...as we travelled through to Apollo Bay where we had an early birthday dinner for Vonelle at the Great Ocean Road Brewhouse. This morning we pushed on along the road and found that it changed back and forward from meander along the cliff tops to a winding climbing then descending road, sometimes right along the beach, across creeks and rivers and up and down densely forested mountains and valleys. the road was too narrow, with no places to pull over, so unfortunately no photos to share. A wonderful drive though to Loren where we had a break for coffee, then on to Anglesea where we had a birthday lunch at a pub up on the hill overlooking the southern ocean. From there to Torquay and the end of the Great Ocean Road, then through Geelong to Ballarat. Another great day on the road See more

14.01.2022 Monday 7 October, day 90 something. We headed south on the Eyre Peninsula after leaving Ceduna, and called in to Smoky Bay for a seafood lunch. We had a look at some of the gear from the old whaling station and from there we wandered down to Streaky Bay and booked into an RV park on the beach. Great setting and it was a bit warmer and not as windy. Had a walk on the beach and for dinner a sausage sizzle on the beach at the park, in aid of a local charity. This morning we had ...a slow start, still trying to adjust to the 3 hour time change. We called into several villages with a jetty(mostly old wheat ports) as we wandered south along the coast, however it’s still not good fishing weather, too cold and windy with rain showers. Along the way we visited Murphy’s Haystacks, pink granite formations that are millions of years old. From there we headed further down the coast and out to Talia Caves on the cliffs of Waterloo Bay. Spectacular. Will also post a short video of the area. Tonight for a donation we are camped at the Elliston Golf Club, up on a hill overlooking the town and Anxious Bay. Tomorrow we hope to get to Coffin Bay for a couple of nights. See more

14.01.2022 Thursday 31 October. After a visit to the Eureka Stockade site and memorial centre at Ballarat we headed to Bendigo via some back roads. Visited some very nice little towns on the way, full of history and old homes and buildings, most of them very well maintained. They all had streetscapes of old oak trees, and flower gardens everywhere. We also saw many dry stone fences, and more old stone churches, some of them quite elaborate, than you could count. I reckon Daylesford was the prettiest little town. From Bendigo we wen5 through to Echuca and along the Murray on the Victorian side to a nice camp site on the river. Weather has certainly warmed up over the past couple of days. High 30’s this arvo, but cooling down now. Camp oven dinner on the coals, and it’s time for a glass of red.

10.01.2022 Saturday 2 November, day 121 already. Tonight we are camped on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River at Hay in NSW. We left Echuca today after a few great days camped on the Murray River, mainly due to some thunderstorms and rain rolling in from the south west, and a huge influx of campers as it’s a long long weekend in Victoria. Came through a bit of rain as we headed north through Deniliquin along the ‘long paddock’, and saw storms to our west, but so far just a few showers and a bit of thunder here. If the weather holds we will stay here for a day or so whilst we make up our mind as to where we head next...north to Wilcannia then Cobar or north east to West Wyalong/Dubbo. Decisions decisions

09.01.2022 This morning, Tuesday 5 November, day 124, finds us camped on the banks of the Macquarie River, at Terramungamine Reserve outside Dubbo. Hope to get some fishing in today, plus a hike through the reserve to check out the Aboriginal artefacts along the River which include grinding stones. Yesterday we visited Forbes, Parkes and Peak Hill on the way north. So many years since I visited those towns, and it was great to see how they had grown and changed. We also visited ‘The Dish’ on the way through. I think that our last trip through this part of NSW was was after a visit to cousins, Aunties and Uncles in the west in 1982, in a Holden Kingswood with three children.

08.01.2022 Wednesday 16 October, 104 days on the road. It has been a busy time since our last post almost a week ago. From Port Augusta we headed out through Quorn into the Flinders Ranges. Thanks John for the tip on a great camp site the first night out. From that area we headed south through Wilmington to Melrose in the shadow of Mount Remarkable, then to Doughboy Reserve for the night. Another great overnight site, campfire and spuds in the coals. The next day we took on the Germein ...Gorge road. A beautiful drive through rugged country, green, creeks, farms, sheep, stands of red gum and narrow passes through the Remarkables. That put us back on the coast where we visited Port Germein and walked the longest wooden pier in the Southern Hemisphere (1680 metres each way). Also visited Port Pieri. That evening we headed back east away from the coast to Crystalbrook where we camped in their overnight RV park. Next morning we headed south through more broad acre farming country to Kapunda for a while, then Greenock where we pulled up at their Centenary Oval RV park. A very well set up space right in town. That evening we caught up with the locals for a yarn at an historic old pub in the town. The next day we headed out into the Barossa for the day visiting Anguston, Tanunda and Nuriootpa, and had a wonderful lunch in the gardens at the Peter Lehman vineyard. We had been there for lunch when we spent some time in the Barossa 19 years ago. It was just as good as we remembered. Later in the afternoon we headed back to the RV park at Greenock and walked the history trail around town. So many beautiful old stone houses, shops, churches and other buildings and of course, the cemetery with graves dating back to the mid 1800’s. Enough for now. Will just pick out a few pics from those days

08.01.2022 27 October, day 114 of the journey finds us at Portland in Victoria. We finally dragged ourselves away from Two Wells on Friday after a very enjoyable 4 days with my Cousin and her family. They loaded us up with their olive oil, wine and salami, and for Vonelle a Grecian figurine statue from their garden ornament production line. We crossed the border from SA this morning after a wet and miserable day in Mount Gambier yesterday. Still a fair bit of rain on the road this morni...ng however the strong winds have dropped and the weather is clearing and we hope that the prediction of sunny weather for Tuesday and Wednesday is correct, as we are intending to be on the Great Ocean Road those days. So we pulled up early today and will do another short run tomorrow to give the weather time to improve. Today’s highlight was Dartmoor where we had morning coffee amongst some spectacular wood carvings. Yesterday between Tintinara and Mount Gambier we came across other larger than life religion inspired wood carvings at Father Wood rest stop. See more

05.01.2022 29 October, day 116. We have just left the 12 Apostles on the Great Ocean Road. This is day 2 on this road with its spectacular scenery. We got as fa4 as Peterborough last night and hope to get to Apollo Bay tonight. So many great views and photos, so will just pick a few to post

05.01.2022 Sunday 3 November, day 122. The rain and thunderstorms chased us away from our camp on the banks of the Murrumbidgee at Hay, so we looked at the weather charts and headed north east through the Riverina’s Hay Plains to West Wyalong where we have set up at a camp site on the eastern side of town. Unfortunately the rain has followed us, with showers along the way, and it has been raining heavily for the last hour or so. Not complaining, the country that we have travelled throug...h on the way here was as dry as old chips, and definitely in need of a drink. Despite that we say some operating irrigation channels, many quite reasonable wheat crops ready for harvesting, an immense olive plantation and a huge cotton gin. Along the way we pulled into several little towns, most fairly desolate, but all still had character, AnZAC memorials, halls, rest areas,parks and displays of things from the past, interspersed with closed shops and derelict buildings. One of the highlights was a set of murals on the wheat silos in the town of Weethallie. Also thought that I would share a pic of the Morris Mini on a pole that I took for our Son in Law Paul, who has always thought that he would like to own one way out in t(e middle of ‘nowhere’ for us but ‘home’ for someone See more

04.01.2022 Time change Tango...I know what day it is. It’s Sunday 6 October. However my body clock is a bit confused. When we got to Caiguna mid week we entered a new time zone and had to put our clocks ahead 45 minutes. When we got to the SA border we had to put our clocks ahead an hour and 15 minutes. This morning daylight saving commenced and we had to put our clocks ahead an hour. It’s 12:30 and my body still thinks it’s 9:30 am. Guess I will adjust to the local time in time