I am Still around

Hello all
I have been a bit quiet on here for a few days for a couple of reasons.....
There are no photos to post this leg mainly because the weather has been crap.
The Rain has been following me down the coast, which doesnt really make you want to get out and take photos
After three nights of 20-30mm of rain  I am finally drying out.......
I have also had a small vehicle issue which stalled me in Newcastle for two nights. I first raised the issue with the dealer in Hervey Bay, and there response was woeful to say the least. I have actually complained to the Distributor. Occasionally I would lose power, I told them what the problem was, as I had dropped into the Dealer in Dubbo as the engine fault light was coming on occasionally. They did sweet f---- all...............By the time I left Forster I had gone from easily cruising in 6th gear with 5th gear on some steep sections to struggling up hills in 3rd sometimes 2nd gear. By the time I arrived in Newcastle it was virtually undriveable. the EGR valve had come adrift and was choking the engine. I was struggling to take off at traffic lights...............
The Dealer in Newcastle was excellent and stipped a new EGR valve off a new vehicle to get me going. So today was back on the road arriving in Sydney. Scooting down the Newcastle Freeway with ease, overtaking trucks on the hills in 6th gear. Tomorrow I am having Lunch with a couple of the guys from the Toyota Help Desk in Taren Point, I have been chatting to these guys for years so it will be good to finally meet.........
Depending on what time i get away I hope to get to Canberra or somewhere along the way tomorrow night. I am trying to get to Canberra while double figures are forecast, but it is 5c tonight in Canberra......I think the camper heater might be getting a workout there....I have only work shoes twice since the 27th of October and not worn long pants since being away.... I am not looking forward to getting back to the cold weather at all.
Bye for now....

The Trip South

Hello all
I thought I had better do a post, all going well but not much to report. Just a leisurely run down the east coast. After leaving Beerwah I  took the freeway through Brisbane and the gold Coast staying overnight at Byron Bay, next night was Coffs Harbour, today was on to Port Macquarie.

Nambucca Heads

After having a look around Port Macquarie tomorrow morning I am heading off to Forster and Wallis Lakes. I am basically killing time as I don't want to arrive in Sydney until Monday and to a certain extent stalling as it was only 25c today.............not looking forward to the colder weather again.
bye for now

Glasshouse Mountains

hello all
the trek south has begun, I left Hervey Bay on Monday afternoon and headed to Gympie. 
I only wanted a short day to get the feel of how the ute handled with the camper on the back.
Next stop was Beerwah at the Glasshouse Mountains, another short day which gave me a chance to do some laundry.

Glasshouse Mountains

Glasshouse Mountains

at the lookout

I stayed in a Camping Park last night out the back of Beerwah and had no Mobile reception or internet, so I am updating this from Byron Bay.

camp at Beerwah

nice place but march flies the size of small aircraft

Glasshouse Mountains are only 50k north of Brisbane, and once I got on the Motorway I didn't want to get off until I was Below the Gold Coast. I did a couple of detours but the traffic was horrible.
I am in Byron Bay now and will be continuing south at a slow pace. I want to have a look at Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie and a few other places, besides the weather I crap in Sydney at the moment so I hope it gets better by the time I get there.
bye for now.....

Fraser Island

Hello all,
Yesterday I spent the afternoon with my 2 cousins I hadn't seen for 30 years, both avid nomads, so there was lots to talk about.
Today I spent the day over on Fraser Island after a very wet night and morning, we had about 30mm of rain from about 4pm Saturday until this Morning. there was still some showers hanging around mid morning over on Fraser but cleared this afternoon.

offloading vehicles off the barge at Fraser Island

the  tour bus at Central Station

 Central Station was an old forestry camp but is now used as a campground amongst Kauri and Hoop pines and massive Satinay trees all growing in sand.

Central station

Wanggoolba Creek flows nearby with crystal clear water surrounded by giant king ferns and forest.

Strangler Fig

Wanggoolba Creek the water is about half a metre deep but crystal clear

Heading over to the Eastern Beach the weather was still a bit wild.

Arriving at the surf beach

It was up the 75 mile beach to the Maheno shipwreck.

Maheno

The Maheno was a luxury cruise liner, built in Scotland in 1905. She was one the fastest turbine ship of her time setting a record of the quickest crossing of the Tasman sea in 1907.
In 1935 while being towed to Japan for scrap she broke free during a cyclone and washed ashore.

 

While we were there a G8 Airvan made in Latrobe Valley in Victoria landed on the beach. Vehicle have to give way to Aircraft at certain locations along the beach.

The Pinnacles coloured sands

The Great Sandy highway speed limit 80 kph

Eli Creek

Eli Creek

Eli Creek flows at a rate of 4.2 million litres per hour, remembering that this is a sand island......
After heading back to Eurong beach Resort for a buffet lunch is was off to Lake McKenzie.
Lake McKenzie is a perched lake, meaning it is about 80 metres above sea level, and the island being sand absorbs water. Over hundreds of years leaf litter has accumulated in a large depression an formed what can loosely be called a pool liner allowing the water to gather and not just soak into the sand.

Lake McKenzie

After Lake McKenzie it was back to the barge landing for the trip back to Hervey Bay.

The Fraser Venture coming to collect us

Tomorrow morning I will try to work out how the camper goes back on the ute, if successful I will be leaving the bay and starting a leisurely journey south towards the Glasshouse Mountains for a bit of a look.
Bye for now...

Fitting The Camper

hello all from steamy Hervey Bay in Queensland.
I arrived safely yesterday, and splashed out a bit (not too much) and stayed at Ramada Hervey Bay
http://www.ramadaherveybay.com.au/
Today the camper was fitted and wired through to the vehicle. The Camper Battery is now charging off the vehicle while driving and an isolator has been fitted also to prevent the vehicle battery being drained by the camper

These pictures are with the roof wound down, I will take some with the roof up later, and some of the inside when I tidy it up a bit.
Kevin and Tania have been excellent and extremely helpful answering all my dumb questions.
http://www.palominorvaustralia.com.au/ 

Note the full length awning on the side to sit under on hot days.............nice.

The first service is getting done tomorrow on the truck so I will be without wheels for about 4 hours, and they wouldn't do the service with the camper on, so it was only on the back for a few hours only to be removed tonight in readiness for tomorrow.
I am going to book a day tour to Fraser Island for hopefully sometime over the weekend, or possibly Monday before I begin the trip down the coast to Sydney and back via the Snowy Mountains.
Bye for now, I will post some pictures of Fraser Island after my Tour.

Heading North

Hello All....
I left Melbourne Monday morning and drove to Forbes in New South Wales the first day. I was driving along thinking the air conditioner wasnt working too well, until I stopped and realised it was 36c outside......
Today was Forbes to Goondiwindi right on the Queensland border, a stop at the Parkes Radio Telescope and a 70km detour for a quick look at the Warrumbungle National Park.

Parkes Radio Telescope

 34c again today, but is only 28c forecast for Hervey Bay tomorrow. In the morning I head to the Bay for a few days to collect my camper and get the vehicle serviced.

One of the Campgrounds in the Warrumbungles

Siding Springs Observatory

Warrumbungles

 

If there is anything of interest tomorrow I will post again tomorrow night otherwise I will post some pics of the camper from Hervey Bay.
bye for now

The Next Stage

Hello all
On Monday I leave for Queensland, doing a quick 3 day (maybe 4 day) run up the Newell Highway to Hervey Bay on the Fraser Coast.
This trip is to collect my new slide on camper, from the Australian Distributor, which has now arrived from the USA. 
http://www.palominorvaustralia.com.au/
I will post some pictures of mine later when I have collected it. 
I will be doing a tour to Fraser Island while there and then will be doing a leisurely journey down to Brisbane and the NSW North Coast to Sydney, and then through the Snowy Mountains on the way back. Stay tuned for some photos.

bye for now I will update once on the road :-)