Trip 31 - Maryfarms - Updated

WORDS BY: Fina
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Don

With Tropical Cyclone Hamish hovering over the east of North Queensland, we decided to try and outrun it from Mackay to Maryfarms. Leaving Mackay at 6:40am on Saturday 7 March 2009, my best friend, Ness was checking out the Bureau of Meteorology website the whole time and texting us of the current situation.

From Mackay we travelled up the Bruce Highway on the coast until Innisfail where we then turned left and headed inland towards Atherton and Mareeba. We had outrun the cyclone and we made it to Maryfarms at approximately 4:30pm. Debra’s instructions to find the farm was drive 15km past Mt Molloy towards Cooktown until you come to Station Creek. Exactly 3km past Station Creek is a dirt track marked 5828. The dirt track to the house is approximately 1.5km long with one creek crossing and one locked gate. Neil and Debra own a 300 acre Mango farm. They are going south for their daughter’s wedding in Noosa and then onto Victoria to see Neil’s family and will be away for approximately 5 weeks.

As their neighbours had invited us over for dinner, we set up camp quickly and then headed out to Dave and Robyn’s house for dinner. Again lovely people that we will be able to call on if anything goes wrong on the farm while Neil and Debra are away. Unfortunately there is no mobile phone or internet reception on the farm however at Mt Molloy, just 15 minutes (20kms) down the road, we do have mobile reception. Neil and Debra have a land line in the house but we are only to use this in case of an emergency or call the neighbours.

On Sunday 8 March 2009, we started learning all about the farm. The power for the house runs from solar panels but has a huge diesel generator as backup power. The twin tub washing machine runs on a smaller one and the diesel irrigation pump pumps water up from the river to all the plants via a sprinkler system. All the generators including the water pump are diesel based but Neil has worked out a way to use old filtered fish and chips cooking oil that they collect from the surrounding areas. They are even using the oil in their diesel Nissan Pathfinder. All seems to work well and they hardly buy any diesel – what a cheap way to go! Not sure about the long term effects on the car motor though. I will have to read more about it on the internet.
While here we have to make sure that the plants receive at least 20mm of water every 3 days either by pumping the water from the creek or rain water. March is still considered the wet season up here so we may not need to pump that often.

Neil and Debra also own 3 kelpie dogs – 1 male, Toby and 2 females, Tara and Lily. So we just have to look after them, make sure they have water and feed them every night.

Our other job on the farm is mowing the couple of acres or so around the house and plants either by two rideons or a push mower. Don really loves the rideon and now you can’t get him off it. With his farm clothes, farm boot, camel back full of water, ipod in the ear and ear muffs, he is thoroughly enjoying the mowing.

Their hot water system for showers is heated by a wood fire combustion stove. Once the fire is lit the water stays hot for approximately 3 days.

Sunday afternoon Neil and Debra took us up to Mary Falls for a swim in the watering hole. Interesting dirt track and a beautiful swimming hole surrounded by boulders and mountains. The crystal clear refreshing water was definitely welcomed after quite a humid day. However, on our way out I slipped on a rock and landed on the inside of my left knee. Quite painful so Nurofen gel and Nurofen Plus are helping a lot.

Neil and Debra are leaving for their trip on Tuesday 10 March 2009 really early so they invited us over for dinner on the Monday night. With Neil being a baker for 30 odd years they made us real homemade pizzas for dinner. Absolutely the best pizza we have tasted in a long time.

On Tuesday, Neil and Debra left for their 5 week holiday. Don and I moved the camper and set up properly for a long stay. We also took a drive out to Mt Molly for some small supplies and to meet the publican of the National Hotel, Scott Peters. During our stay in Brisbane, I happened to score a gig here on the 9 April 2009 so I went in to meet Scott and confirm the gig time. While there Don had some beers and Scott was kind enough to let me use his power to check my emails and also to make some phone calls.

Wednesday was the first time that we started the washing machine generator to do some washing. After about 10 minutes of cranking we finally got it started and twin tub was working great. The crank requires a lot of muscle so Don comes in handy for that.

Our first week on the farm was mainly mowing the lawans. As I have said before, Don loves his rideon with ipod music in the ears, he mows every bit of grass that is too long. Since my rideon has broken down with some sort of electrical problem, I am resolved to the push mower mowing the bits Don can't get to with the rideon.

We also visited our neighbours, Dave and Robyn frequently giving them bananas which are coming out of our ears. Another neighbour, Jean, is the most fascinating country woman you ever meet. Her yarn telling of the days she managed cattled stations are truely amazing. I told her she must write a book of her life.

The local pubs at Mt Carbine (10kms north of us) and Mt Molloy (20kms south of us) are great places for meeting locals and socialising.

Another couple who live in Mt Carbine, Phil and Joyce, own a one acres property in Mt Carbine Village and travel Australia whenever they can get away from their cleaning business in Port Douglas.

My leg is getting better every day as I am trying to use it more and move without a walking stick.

As we don't have much to do on the farm apart from feeding the dogs, mowing the lawns and watering the plants, the rest of our days are pretty much ours. Don has been catching up on watching movies and sorting out his opals which I have been catching up on my reading and website.

On Friday 20 March 2009, I did a free gig at the Mt Carbine Hotel. Mark, the publican, and his wife, Janelle, provided bar snacks and various raffles. I also had the hat out for any donations. I ended up gathering $97 - not bad for a free gig. Good to know that more paid gigs are coming up soon with Mt Molloy pub on Thursday 9 April, Jullaten Tavern on Saturday 18 April and Richmond Pub on Saturday 6 June 2009. I am still making heaps of phone calls and emails to try and get more gigs around Maryfarms as well as when we start to travel from Maryfarms to Quilpie at the end of April. We will have 2 months to get to Quilpie so we are just going to take our time and enjoy central Queensland a bit.

Update - Friday 27 March 2009

Our life continues in Maryfarms with more mowing, more watering and feedign the dogs. Apart from those few chores we are quite bored so we go the local pubs to socialise or drive to find a track which takes us somewhere or swim in one of the many natural swimming holes around the area.

While here I have managed to book some gigs around the area in Mt Carbine, Mossman, Cooktown, Mt Molloy and Jullaten. The soloist / karaoke gigs are very successful. I have also booked more gigs for our journey from Maryfarms to Quilpie during May and June.

I also did a soloist gig for just one and half hours at the Mareeba old people's home. You should have seen the men and women's faces light up when the music started. Some of them may not be able to walk or talk but they were certainly tapping their toes, smiling, clapping their hands and wiggling in their wheelchairs. This was such a satisfying gig that I definitely need to do more community service gigs like this one. I even had Keith as backup on the bongo drums and no matter what song I sang or whether he knew it or not, his rhythm and beat were impeccable and he ever missed a beat. Quite remarkable for someone in their 70's. Thanks Keith for the backup.

My ride-on Rover's electrical issue was fixed so I had full reign of the two acres while Don's ride-on Husqvarna was still being welded. Both mowers were being fixed by our very kind neighbour, Dave.

However, after mowing all the yeard with only the driveways left, my ride-on Rover blew up. I mean literally blew up with a big bang, lots of smoke and oil pouring out of the engine on all sides. Later, Dave's explanation of what happened was "Counterweight left the crank shaft and went through the block". What a mouthful but pretty much a new motor is required. We will have to give Neil and Deb, the owners, the bad news next time they ring.

Update - Wednesday 1 April 2009

Twelve months on the road today so we are going fishing with our other neighbours, George and Jean. They have a secret fishing spot on the Mitchell River, the second largest water shed behind the Murray-Darling system. Our first cast was using cheese blocks as bait to catch some small black bream or catfish, then use these fish as bait to catch the big suckers. We all caught fish including four big ones and eight smaller ones. George got the big fish of the day being a black bream and I got the smallest fish of the day, a spangled perch about 2in long. We caught many catfish as well but they all went back or the smaller ones were used for bait. What a great day, good company, great spot and terrific fishing. All too easy!

In our spare time (of which there is lots) I have been reading a lot of biographies of some Australians living on outback stations and how they cope. Very interesting to the point where I feel we have stepped back in time living on this farm with no running water (our water tanks are filled up from the river) and no power (everything is run by generators). Certainly a lot different to how we have normally been living but still very interesting and certainly all part of the adventure.

Update - Tuesday 28 April 2009

On Wednesday 8 April 2009 we went fishing and gold fossicking on the Palmer River halfway between Maryfarms and Cooktown. Unfortunately, there was no fish for the water was too shallow and definitely no gold only mica known as "fool's gold". On the way home we stopped at the McLeod River for another fish (no, the McLeod's Daughters do not live here) but only caught a couple of small black brean that we kept for bait.

On Good Friday we spent the day at Phil and Joyce's place, locals of Mt Carbine. Then we were invited to Stretch and Irene's place, other locals of Mt Carbine, where I did a free gig. It ended up being a great party and night with Mark (the Mt Carbine Hotel publican) on the harmonica as backup. Unfortunately, at the end of the night, our car wouldn't start cause of a flat battery so Irene had to jump start us. I will have to look into this problem after Easter.

So on Easter Saturday, we took a drive into Mareeba to Repco to see whether it was the alternator. If you remember the alternator was replaced in January in Woolgoolga. Or it could be one of the two batteries. Unfortunately, with all the local auto electricians closed over the Easter break, we left Mareeba with the hope that by turning off the Engel in the back of the car, the car will start until we are able to get back into Mareeba on Tuesday.

So Easter Saturday night we spent at George and Jean's having a BBQ with some other neighbours that we hadn't met yet. By Saturday afternoon, I felt a head cold coming on, so Easter Sunday was spent in bed blowing my nose, coughing and taking drugs. I really felt like death warmed up!

Neil and Deb (the owners of the Maryfarms property) should be home some time after the Easter weekend so after my gig in Julatten on Saturday 18 April 2009, we will leave Maryfarms to head south towards Quilpie. So far we are going to take the opal trail down to Quilpie over a 2 month period and I have approximately 9 gig booked so far for the journey.

Wednesday 15 April and Thursday 16 April 2009 was spent mowing the lawns and tidying up the place for Neil and Deb's arrival. As it was they rang on Friday morning to let us know that they would be home Friday afternoon. Great planning, don't you think! The 3 kelpies, Toby, Lara and Lily were very excited to see their owners back home. As they arrived late afternoon, we invited them over for dinner at our camp. They had a great holiday and travelled 10,000kms in 5 weeks. In contrast, we have travelled 25,000kms in just over a year. Just goes to show how slow we are doing our trip with no rush and no plans in the future to finish any time soon.

The gig at Jullaten on Saturday night went really well with approximately 10 singers up singing and having a great time. It is a lovely old wooden tavern with lovely Bec and Antony as the managers.

Since our time to leave Maryfarms was coming up soon, on Monday 20 April 2009 we decided to do the usual maintenance such as oil change, checks, lubes, tyres, etc.

On Wednesday 22 April 2009, we started to pack up so with everything almost packed for leaving tomorrow, we decided one last night at the Mt Carbine hotel with dinner was on the cards. Thanks very much to the publicans of Mt Carbine Hotel, Mark and Janelle, for a warm welcome into the community.

We are still having problems with our camera so not many photos yet. Hopefully we will be able to purchase another one once we hit a major town.

Don't forget to check out "more photos" on the right hand side of this website.

Till our next trip, take care.

Trip 30 - Mackay

WORDS BY: Fina

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Don

On Friday 6 March 2009, we left Bundaberg and headed further north again as far as we could. We ended up stopping in Mackay and stayed at the Andergrove Van Park.

After setting up camp for night, a swim in the pool and a nice long hot shower we settled in for the night for an early start tomorrow.

Don't forget to check out "more photos" on the right hand side of this website.

Until next time ...

Trip 29 - Bundaberg

WORDS BY: Fina

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Don

With only half a day travel left, we left Caloundra and drove as far as we could. Around 4pm we decided to stop in at our 4WD friends, Gavin and Hayley in Bundaberg. It was great to catch up with them again as they had left Brisbane for Bundaberg 6 months before we left on our trip last year.

While in Bundaberg, Gavin has started to build their own camper trailer made out of polypropylene which will make the trailer exceptionally light. He has almost finished it as they are starting on an extended trip this year sometime. Hopefully they will be able to meet us in Quilpie for a while.

Thanks Gavin and Hayley for putting us up for the night.

Don't forget to check out "more photos" on the right hand side of this website.

Until next time ...

Trip 28 - Caloundra

WORDS BY: Fina

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Don

As the camper trailer had to be in Caloundra at 7am Wednesday morning (4 March 2009) we said our goodbyes once again and headed off early. We dropped the camper trailer off at Australian Offroad Camper Trailers and they said that we could pick it up sometime on Thursday. So we booked ourselves into a cabin at the Hibiscus Caravan Park in Caloundra overlooking the water.

With some basic shopping done, I just relaxed on the patio of the cabin looking over the water reading a book while Don tried his luck at fishing off the pier. Unfortunately, no luck with the fish.

On Thursday 5 March 2009, we picked up the camper trailer around lunch time and started heading north to Maryfarms.

Don't forget to check out "more photos" on the right hand side of this website.

Until next time ...

Trip 27 - Brisbane

WORDS BY: Fina

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Don

On Monday 2 March 2009 and with only a couple of nights up our sleeve before heading to Caloundra as I had booked the camper into the manufacturers on Wednesday 4 March 2009 to get the hardfloor shower floor installed, we decided to stop in at Brisbane to see my son, Daniel and my grandson, Rhylee.

Also the truck was still heating up a bit on load, so I booked it in at Red Devil Radiators in Lawnton. They had the truck for one day clearing the mud blockage that had taken over the radiator. In the end the radiator was 60% blocked and $375 later will hopefully end my overheating problem.

A big sorry to all family and friends who did not get to see us during these brief 2 days. We will be back in Brisbane and promise to catch up with everyone then.

While we were there, Daniel got another tattoo “Only Trust Yourself” on the back of his forearm. Lovely writing and beautiful saying.

It was great to see Daniel, Rhylee, Ness and Janine and of course their ferals. Rhylee is very well behaved 4 month old boy who is just happy sitting around, drinking his milk and sleeping. Hardly ever crying or whinging, he was a joy to be with.

Don't forget to check out "more photos" on the right hand side of this website.

Until next time ...

Trip 26 - Yamba

WORDS BY: Fina

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Don

During our time in Woolgoolga I joined a number of internet resources. One is Aussie House Sitters where you can find houses to stay in while the owners go on holidays. Generally it is free camping and all you have to do is look after the house, maintain the lawns and gardens and feed any animals. I managed to score a house sitting position in Maryfarms from 10 March to the end April 2009. Maryfarms is located in far north Queensland, 50mins north west of Mareeba or 50mins south west of Mossman and only 15 mins north of Mt Molloy.

Another resource is Work About Australia where they advertise jobs all over Australia but mainly in the more remote places. We have also scored a job in Quilpie from beginning of July to mid September 2009 at the Channel Country Caravan Park. We will receive $300 a week for both of us, plus a powered site plus meals at night. The job entails cooking twice a week where we will get $4 per person that attends dinner. Don will also be doing opal tag-a-long tours at $10 per person. I will also be entertaining at night with a hat out. They do have a full time cleaner on board but just in case she can’t make it we will be cleaning the cabins for $18 per hour. We are both looking forward to the experience.

The other resource I located is WWOOF which stands for Willing Workers On Organic Farms. This entails giving the owners of the farm 4 hours of your day. In turn the owners will feed you 3 meals a day and well as accommodate you for free. Usually the minimum stay is one week but length of time is negotiable with the owners.

With these 3 resources, it will give Don and I a variety of things to do while we travel.
So after our stint in Woolgoolga, we decided to head north for our house sitting position in Maryfarms. As we still had a couple of weeks up our sleeve, we decided to stop at Yamba on Tuesday 24 February 2009 where our friends Ryan and Mel and of course the ferals, were staying for a few days. We camped while they had a gorgeous cabin at the Clarence River Resort Caravan Park. Our time with them was mainly spent in the caravan park swimming, fishing, walking, relaxing, talking, drinking and looking after the ferals.

After 3 nights Ryan and Mel left, we decided to hang around a bit and check out Yamba and some geocaches.

Also a couple of couples that we met in the Caravan Park invited us out for dinner one night at the local Yamba pub so we all hopped into the courtesy bus and had a great night.

Our time in Yamba was only 6 nights but it was a very relaxing time. Next stop Brisbane to visit my grandson, Rhylee.

Don't forget to check out "more photos" on the right hand side of this website.

Until next time ...

Trip 25 - Part 2 - Woolgoolga

WORDS BY: Fina
PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Don

On Saturday 14 February 2009 (Valentine’s Day), our friends from the 4WD club Mick and Nat along with their ferals came down to the Lorrikeet Caravan Park in Arrawarra for a weekend away. They also brought along Mick’s sister, Shelley and her husband Phil and their feral. Since Arrawarra is only 10 minutes drive from Woolgoolga, Don and I met up with them and showed them around Woolgoolga and Coffs Harbour.

While in Coffs we visited the Big Banana where we did a tour of the banana factory and learnt about the history of the banana plantations in Coffs Harbour. Very interesting tour and for only $10 each was well worth it. Because of the mild climate in Coffs, the bananas take 18 months to mature rather than 12 months like north Queensland. The extra 6 months growth rate produces a much sweeter banana than Queensland ones.

We also visited Coff Harbour Plaza for lunch, The Clog House, the Jetty Markets, the Fish Co-op and the Marina where a surfing competition was being held. After lunch at the Fish Co-op Don and Nat decided that they were in desperate need for desert at Cold Rock.

After leaving Coffs Harbour we decided to head inland on the Waterfall Way through to Bellingen, Dorrigo and Coramba where we saw the Newell Falls and the Dangar Falls through the Dorrigo National Park. In Bellingen we visited the old butter factory which is now a place for artists to display and sell their art work. With the rain over the last couple of days, the Bellinger River was flowing quite fast. Little did we know that the day after we were there the river rose to the point of cutting off the township of Bellingen for a few days. How lucky were we? It is certainly a beautiful scenic drive along the Waterfall Way with some dirt road but mostly bitumen.

Back home and the new addition to the Sadlier family, Lucky the cat, is becoming quite acquainted with Nancy the dog. The recent rain brought in a lot of birdlife including lorikeets in the back yard.

After purchasing the Rhino bags as Christmas presents, we were still having problems with the one atop the car roof. Having already replaced it one, a phone call to Rhino confirmed that the manufacturer of the bags produced some dud ones. The bags are guaranteed to be 100% waterproof but after 4 days rain the bag housed about an inch of water. We had to take everything out of the bag and dry it all, including washing some clothes that were in a backpack in the bag. So back to Rhino and another replacement bag. So we are on our third bag now and hopefully this one won’t leak.

On our last weekend in Woolgoolga, we visited the lighthouse where a couple of paragliders were out trying to catch the wind. Don and I both decided that one day we would like to try this out.

That day in Woolgoolga we met Peter and Debbie. Peter is also an amputee of the left leg above the knee and we were wondering if he was the same shoe size as Don. Unfortunately not however they invited us out to their house in Upper Corindi. They are grevillea growers and are fully self sufficient on their farm with solar panels for power, dam water for water supply and a pit toilet. We meet so many interesting and lovely people on the road and Peter and Debbie are no exception.

As I have probably mentioned earlier, a major part of the population of Woolgoolga are Indians. They mostly own all the banana plantations in the surrounding areas and Woolgoolga houses their temple of worship.
Again, our time in Woolgoolga was both relaxing and interesting.

Thanks again to Wayne, Chrystie and Sami for letting us stay on their property during these couple of months. We will certainly keep in contact.

Trip 25 - Part 1 - Woolgoolga

WORDS BY: Fina

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: Don

Even though our time spent at Pebbly Beach was relaxing, quiet and very picturisque, crossing the salt water creek almost every second day for 4 weeks was the straw that broke the camel's back when it came to corrosion and damage to the Patrol. It started on New Year's Eve when the first thing that failed was the alternator. Luckily we had met Wayne and Chrystie from Woolgoolga who own a mechanical workshop. They generously offered for us to camp in the backyard of their 3 acre property, while Wayne sourced an alternator. So after leaving Pebbly Beach on New Year's Day, we set up camp in their backyard with a lush green bush view. Wayne also has a mechanically equipped workshed at home so we parked the Patrol in Wayne's shed for some routine maintenance. Don removed the old alternator and once sourced, fitted the new one. Don is becoming a great bush mechanic learning about the different components of the truck. The only problem is the size of his coconut hands trying to squeeze into the smallest of working spaces under the bonnet!

Woolgoolga or 'Woopi' as it is known to locals, is a town with a population of 3,793 on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, 25km north of Coffs Harbour in the City of Coffs Harbour. It is on the Pacific Highway and has a beach on the Pacific Ocean. Woolgoolga has long been a centre of banana growing in New South Wales, but this industry has declined in the face of competition from Queensland and overseas. Woolgoolga has a stunning headland where dolphins and whales can be seen with the naked eye easily swimming about just near the coast line. It is surrounded by Sherwood Nature Reserve which is located west of Woolgoolga and incorporates the former Woolgoolga Creek Flora Reserve as well as open forests, heaths and sandstone escarpments.

While the Patrol was parked in the shed, we took advantage of the situation and performed some other much needed maintenance on the truck such as oil change, tyre rotation, fuel filter change, hub and CV clean up and a general clean up of salt water and sand. Wayne also looked over the truck and decided a few things were in desperate need of repair. The truck is 10 years old and has almost reach 370,000 kms on the clock, so after all the extreme 4wdriving over the past 4 years, driving the dirt, corrugated roads of the outback and normal wear and tear we replaced the paper air filter with a K&N filter for better air flow and better fuel economy, did a radiator and coolant flush, clutch fluid and brack fluid flush.

After first inspection, Wayne also found that the brake rotors were rusted and falling apart, the brake pads brittle, the swivel hubs were leaking, the brake lines were too short and it needed a wheel alignment and balance of the tyres.

After Wayne fixed what he could on the truck, other things that needed fixing were the pyrometer which measures the exhaust temperature (Bob's 4WD Centre Coffs Harbour), the sub-tank warning light (Nissan Coffs Harbour), airconditioning evaporator (Natrad Coffs Harbour) and the spotlights (Banana Coast Electrical Coffs Harbour).

A big thank you goes to all that helped with the truck but most of all Wayne and Chrystie from Autofix Woolgoolga. So if you are ever in the north coast area and need some mechanical repairs, call into Autofix and tell Wayne I sent you.

There are a few other things on the truck that need repair but are not urgent so we shall do these at a later date as we had already spent too much money. These are the Return to Centre dampener, the Draglink which was bent on the 4WD trek on that log in the mud and the rear Limited Slip Diff.

However, our time in Woolgoolga was not all getting the truck up to stratch. We also had some fun times on the property and doing some things with our new found friends.

Don learnt to drive the tractor, the quad and even did some bush bashing in an old commodore. We mowed the lawns both with the ride on and push mower and whipper snipped the edges.

Apart from a dog (Nancy) and 2 cats (Oscar and Lucky), Wayne and Chrystie also own a minature horse named Tina so we even helped move the electric frence from one paddock to another, so that Tina had more grass feed. Don and Wayne removed the star pickets with the tractor and chain while Chrystie and I fixed the electric wire into place.

On another weekend Wayne decided to gather some of his 4WD mates for a trek through the Woolgoolga State Forest. With 3 Toyotos and 3 Nissans, the day was set to be an interesting one. Our leader, Josh, managed to find some great tracks with rock step ups, winding tracks and hill climbs and finally some rotten stinking dirty mud. The first 2 Toyotos made it through but with 4 more cars to go the mud was getting chewed up quickly. The next Toyoto and the 2 Nissans before me had to be snatched out of the sinking mud. So I was prepared with low second gear and front locker locked but as I was the last car, the mud was chewed up that bad that I even found a huge log under the mud which ended up taking the valve off the back driver's wheel while being snatched out by the maroon Patrol. So with all the mud, we managed to change the tyre without too much hassle including able to wash our hands from our spare jerry can holder. Knew it would come in handy one of these days.

After the others left us at 5pm, Wayne decided for us 2 remaining cars to head home via a short cut. However, the short cut ended up being 3 1/2 hours with more mud and winching activities to get Wayne over some very hairy obstacles and step ups. The scenery was absolutely magnificant and tracks just as great. It felt good to be out 4wdriving again rather than just the dirt and corrogated roads of the outback.

With Don and I behind Wayne, and Wayne's almost standard Landcruiser, the ARB winch did what it was meant to do including using the snatch block at some very weird angles to get Wayne over some high rock step ups.

One day while Don and I had nothing to do and the truck was all fixed Don and I went to explore the areas around Woolgoolga. After leaving Woolgoolga we headed north towards Corindi Beach to turn off the Pacific Highway towards Glenreagh.

Corindi Beach is situated roughly 36km north of Coffs Harbour and 40kms south of Grafton along the Pacific Highway it consists of a small village community set in largely untouched bush and coastal lands. The islands, ocean, headlands and estuaries in this area are within the Solitary Islands Marine Park. This is where the warm ocean currents from the north meet with the colder southern currents and there is an amazing diversity of marine life, including soft corals.

Glenreagh is a small town in Clarence Valley Council on the North Coast of New South Wales, Australia. It had a population of 280 in 2001, including indigenous people foreign born people. Don and I had lunch at the Golden Dog pub in town talking to the locals and enjoying the atmosphere of Glenreagh.

After Glenreagh we headed towards Nana Glen. The name Nana Glen is derived from the Two-Tailed Lizard. Nana is an aboriginal name meaning 'Two'. The lizard is rare mysterious reptile once sighted in the region. Hence the name Nana Glen. The well-known film actor Russell Crowe lives at his 320 hectare property in Nana Glen, which as a result has become famous in Australia and abroad. Coramba was our next stop before heading into Coffs Harbour and back home to Woolgoolga. All in all the drive was quite magnificant with bush settings, rivers and streams, winding dirt tracks and quaint little villages.

On Saturday 24 January 2009, Chrysties' mum and dad visited from the central coast so as an activity we all decided to go ice skating at the Big Banana. I haven't been in ice skates until my teens and Don had never tried it at all. It was great to see that the ice skating rink had skating frames that you could use as a beginner. Wayne and Chrysties' dad, Denis, helped Don around the skate rink with the skating frame. It was so much fun and a lot of good teenage memories flooded back as we were going round and round the skate rink.

We also went searching for a number of geocaches within the Woolgoolga area. One took us to the top of the Woolgoolga headland overlooking the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Another in particular took us through more forest tracks until we finally had to walk the last kilometre or so to a dam and waterfall where the geocache was hidden inside a log. This has been our hardest geocache so far but not in finding it just in the terrain as it was very slippery and there were times where we were down on our hands and knees trying to get through the slippery hilly scrub. On the way back to the car I ended up falling into the river where apparantly leaches are prevalent and ended up all over me and my clothes so the last 200 metres back to the car the only thing I was wearing were my shoes. So after Don checked my body for leaches, we continued walking back to the car hanging onto my shorts and shirt at a distance. Yuk! Interesting fact: Why do leaches die after they have suck all your blood and fall off - What is their point?

On Sunday 25 January 2009 the 4 of us went to the Amble Inn Pub in Corindi to watch Austin Tayshus. He is an aussie comedian that some of you may remember back in 1983 doing the Australiana poem. The start of it goes like this:

Sittin' at home last Sunday mornin' me mate Boomer rang. Said he was havin' a few people around for a barbie. Said he might Cook a burra or two.I said, "Sounds great, will Walla be there?"He said "Yeah and Vegie might come too".So I said to the wife "Do you wanna go Anna?". She said "I'll go if Ding goes".So I said to Boomer "What'll we do about Nulla?"He said "Nulla bores me to tears, leave him at home."

For only a $10 entry fee and even after hearing it again after all these years I still ended up in stitches with sore cheek bones from laughing too much. However, Don just sat there not quite sure what all the laughing was all about. Bloody kiwis!

Wayne also owns a V6 limited sprint car. He norally enters it in the Grafton races which are held each month. Wayne's driver, Neil, is a professional sprint car driver and they both maintain the race car up to stratch. On Saturday 31 January 2009 we went to watch the races at Grafton Speedway that included Amcas, limited sedans, stockers, limited sprints, nos sprints, 4 cylinders and juniors.

After Neil won the first 2 heats, the boys decided to up the fuel flow in the sprint car. This caused the car to have too much fuel and stalled on the racetrack during the feature race unfortunately causing them to loose. Oh well, Wayne and Neil, better luck next month.

During one of Wayne's quiet periods at the workshop, him and Don managed to fix Don's new crutches which received a basing during Don's sheeping experience. The crutches are now part Harley with new nuts and bolts so now Don thinks he can go faster. Go figure!

All in all, our time in Woolgoolga has been fantastic. Even though the car required major repairs, we cannot thank Wayne, Chrystie and Sami enough for opening up their backyard and home to us. Considering we were only meant to stay a couple of weeks at the max, it has ended being almost 2 months. Once again thanks from Don and I.