After a five month wait we are finally on our way to Mildura to pick up the all new RV Supertramp.
Our planned route is:
Gwydir CP, Moree 11 & 12 June
Bourke 13 June
June 14 - Travel the Bourke to Wilcannia road (350 klm dirt road following the Darling River)and on to Broken Hill.
15 June Adelaide. Visiting with friends and rels for several days
20 June leave Adelaide for Mildura. Take delivery of our Jayco Sterling.
Return route - unknown
After taking delivery we will return to our Tweed Heads base (River Retreat CP). We have a 4 week booking.
Load the van, pick up the boat and trailer and head off for parts unknown. It is our intention to make this van our home for the next five years.
After spending the evening with my father in Tweed Heads we finally get away at 10:25AM 11-06-2006. We had planned to take the Pacific Highway to Grafton then up to
Glen Innes, Inverell to Moree. However the navigator had a last minute change of plan (as they do) and we took a trip through the hinterland. Turning off the Pacific
Highway at Brunswick Heads following the old highway to the Mullumbimby turnoff.
During the sixties many weekends were spent at Byron Bay chasing surf and sun. The pacific Highway
in those days wound its way through the ranges after leaving Murwillumbah and directly opposite the Mullumbimby turnoff was Uncle Tom's Pies. It was a ritual to stop for a pie with peas
and/or apple pie with fresh cream. The new highway has bi-passed Uncle Toms and I had often thought about the pies at Uncle Toms over the years. Well I couldn't believe my eyes.
There at the turnoff was Uncle Toms like it was right out of the X files. Hard on the brakes and pies with peas and apple pies all round. They haven't changed in all those years.
If you are ever going that way be sure to stop for an Uncle Tom's pie, you won't regret it. It's tradition.
From Mullumbimby we toured through the hinterland. Through rain forest and foothills
passing through Clunes, Bexhill until meeting the main road to Lismore. Wanting to make Moree before dark was looking more remote with weather closing in. With all stops out we made Moree just
after 6:00PM following the highways to Casino, Tenterfield, Glen Innes, Inverell, Moree.
Rain to showers and a strong cold headwind made it a long drive, however 13.1 litre per
hundred klms wasn't too shabby from the Landcruiser seeing that it was up and over the Great Divide and into the wind. A quick comfort stop a Tenterfield had us reaching for the
snow gear due to the wind chill factor. One truckie on the Ch 40 reporting snow down towards Armadale.
Our best intentions of trying out our new camping gear was put off
until another time. Dark, raining and cold is no time to be pitching a tent. We opted for a cabin at the Gwydir Carapark and Thermal Pools. Wanting a rest day after all the parking and moving out of
our unit we booked in for 2 nights and spent the day (no rain sun shinning) relaxing in the thermal pools, washed the dog and updated the this site.
Since our last visit here in 2003 there has been
a major extensions to the Gwydir Carapark with the addition of many more van sites and two more pools. There are now 4 pools of different temperatures, 33°, 34°, 37°, and 39°. We
started in the 33° pool, however it wasn't long before we migrated to the 39° pool. We spent about an hour in that pool and life was good.
Rested, tomorrow we head on to Bourke for the night before tackling the Bourke to Wilcannia track/s on Wednesday.........
