We’ve been in Bonny Hills the last few days and other than the weather been a bit cooler than we would like its been a very enjoyable place to stay. We are about 30 k’s south of Port Macquarie, with our van park right on the beach, over looking Spooney’s Bay beach.

We’ve caught up with Mark & Lorraine Monkley who have a unit at North haven, which is 6 k’s south of Bonny Hills. This area is were Mark grew up so he has been showing us around all his old haunts, its been very interesting, always good to have a guide when your someplace new.

Mark’s a keen fisherman and if we had a few more days here I’m sure he and Susan would have been fishing. The area seems to be a fisher person’s Mecca, no doubt we will get the chance to come back sometime and Susan can try here luck.

We’re heading down to Newcastle tomorrow, actually pulling the van into Mark and Lorraine’s place for a couple of days before we head inland to Dubbo. Hoping to do the ANZAC walk along the coast, which will be appropriate with Remembrance Day on Wednesday.

Well its time for another golf report, I know its been nearly 2 weeks since my last CRAPP and I’m busting to get one out!

I originally wanted to play Bonville which is Australia’s “Augusta”, its only 10 minutes down the road. Unfortunately its booked out to mid December, which I must admit I find hard to believe, so Bonville will have to wait. So Sawtell Golf Club was the next choice and I’m glad I played because I had a great morning playing with 3 other visitors and their wives also played, we had a really good time. Plus Sawtell was a very good course, with friendly people, I will be back sometime, that’s for sure.

So here is the rating:

Design – 18 out of 20 (a very good parkland course, rather hilly in places with some sloping fairways to make shot selection important)

Condition – 17 out of 20 (the club has worked hard to keep it in good nick during the drought, there were a few bare patches but with the rain coming they’ll disappear soon. Greens were very consistent)

Cost – 16 out 20 ($40 dollars for 18 holes was reasonable)

Visual Appeal – 18 out of 20 (a very picturesque course, it just showcased what’s good about walking a golf course)

Facilities – 9 out of 10 (good pro shop and putting green and the clubhouse had everything. It would be a very good club to be a member of)

Ambience 10 out of 10 (this is the first course I’ve given 10 to, it just felt good and like I’d played there all my life)

The final score comes out at 88, just 1 short of Toowoomba’s City Golf Club’s 89 which is the clubhouse leader on the BBOT Golf CRAPP. I really liked this club, right from the start it made you feel comfortable and hence I’ve had my best score on the trip so far. As Arnie has stated “I’ll be Baaarck”!

Yamba to Sawtell today which is about 15 k’s south of Coffs Harbour. We stopped off at Ulmarra (just north of Grafton) for some antique shopping during the morning and then for lunch its was Woolgoolga which is about 30 k’s north of Coffs.

It was a beautiful sunny day, unfortunately wet weather is forecasted from Thursday afternoon for a few days. We were hoping for nice warm weather as we come down the coast but it looks like that’s not going to happen in the short term. Probably have to wait top we go inland to Dubbo in a week’s time to get back to the high 20’s or low 30’s.

Sawtell is a lovely town, you could nearly call it a suburb of Coffs Harbour. The Main Street is a delight with some good cafe’s and the RSL looks very impressive, it would be a good place to escape the cold Melbourne winter months. Plus it has a very good golf course so we might lock Sawtell away in the memory bank .

I’m off to play golf Thursday morning and Friday we’re into the “big smoke” going to Coffs Harbour for the day.

Well its Melbourne Cup Day and certainly not our normal Cup day. We didn’t have our own mini BBQ, we decided to go to Iluka for a pub lunch instead. Iluka is a 5 minute ferry ride across the Clarence River from Yamba or a 45 minutes drive, which is what we did.

Iluka is mainly a small holiday town, there is not much there other than the Pub, Bakery, Supermarket and some craft stores. There are lot of Caravan parks and I’m sure its a busy place during summer. There were surfers out at the breakwater, as the waves were huge at times, so I suppose they keep the town going in the off season. It was very quiet today as the shops had closed from 12 midday due to Cup Day.

We had lunch at the pub, which was unique in its own way as the photo below shows. It was not what I expected, I don’t think there was a level piece of floor anywhere inside and certainly the outside hadn’t seen any work in a long time. The meal was very good but surprising it was cash only over the bar and credit card from the bistro. To get into the pub we were interrogated by 2 people before be allowed in, I suppose its a sign of the times and something we’ll have to get used two as we move further south and head home.

Tomorrow we hit the road again as we head further south to Sawtell which is a bit south of Coffs Harbour.

Yes after 10 months on the road we are into New South Wales. It only seems like yesterday when we were locked down in WA that we thought we’d be heading home and never getting this far. All States decided to lock down but with some good management and luck we’re here and in about a month’s time we’ll be back in good old Vic!

We left the Gold Coast yesterday, aiming to have have lunch in Byron Bay. Before we left people in the park said we’d be lucky to get into Byron on a Sunday and never a truer word has been spoken. 5 k’s out of Byron we hit bumper to bumper traffic, basically it seemed like everyone on the north coast of NSW was heading into town. So we turned around and headed further south, deciding to stop in Ballina and we’re very glad we did. We had lunch right on the Richmond River (how appropriate is that) in beautiful weather. Ballina was certainly worth stopping at.

From Ballina it was onto Yamba and our stop at the Blue Dolphin Resort. You would have thought it was school holidays, as the park was full of rug rats running amok everywhere, although I lot did clear out today and it’s been a bit more peaceful. Yamba is a lovely little town but with many more people than I thought, mainly Grey Nomads & holiday makers. I think irrespective where we are on the coast in NSW we are going to have to put up with lots of people, so not quite as relaxed as we hoped.

Yamba is about halfway between Ballina and Coffs Harbour and it seems to be surrounded by beaches. We have seen 3 main beaches so far and that’s not counting those on the Clarence River. Not that I’m keen to swim in them, only mid 20’s at the moment so a bit cold for me, plus there was a shark attack a bit further south from here today.

We are here until Thursday then its off to Sawtell, which is just south of Coffs Harbour. So to everyone, happy Melbourne Cup Day tomorrow, hope you back a winner. We are looking forward to having our annual Cup Day BBQ at our new place in Emerald next year (hopefully the Reno’s will be completed by then).

Well what a day its been in SE Queensland. Around lunchtime the storms came rolling in from the NE and stayed with us to about 6.30 pm. Some of the rain is the strongest I’ve seen in years and we’re told this is going to be the norm particularly during La Niña and the years ahead. Good reason not to shift to Queensland if this weather is going to be the norm, then again we’ll cop it back in Melbourne too.

Obviously with the weather hitting us hard we weren’t able to do much today but we did get to Currumbin Wildlife Santuary this morning before Armageddon hit us!

I have to admit I was disappointed. My memories are of all the birds congregating around everyone when you feed them but now feeding time is 0800 and 1600 and we weren’t there at these times, so it basically became a poor man’s Healesville Santuary (in my opinion). Plenty of Koalas and Kangaroos but I said previously it was a bird Santuary with hundreds of birds and that’s not the case now.

We did drive all over the Gold Coast today from Currumbin in the south to The Spit and Biggera waters to the north. Unfortunately it was so dark and combined with the heavy rain and hail it was not a good time fore a drive. We had planned to go for a swim this afternoon after Currumbin but that was cancelled as well. It was a disappointing way to finish off our 3 months in Queensland. We started with a sunny 33 in Mt Isa and finished with a wet and wild 20 on the Gold Coast. So the photos below are basically all from the Widlife Santuary. Yamba and NSW await us tomorrow, our last state before getting back into Victoria after 11 months.

We travelled down from Marburg yesterday via Thornlands which is an eastern suburb of Brisbane near the coast. I visited an old RAAF friend who I hadn’t seen in 20 years. Fred is getting on now and isn’t travelling all that well, so it was great to catch up.

Now we’re on the Gold Coast and despite the current situation, the place is packed. The van park isn’t all that large and is very tight, I clipped the rear bumper on the van on a bollard and bent it back so some runnings repairs where needed. The park is right on the beach, so we’ve had a few walks along the beach already.

Today we travelled up into the hinterland, inland behind the coast to Tamborine Mountain. Stopped off at Mt Tamborine to view the Parasailors launching off the mountain. There must have been over 50 of them flying the thermals above the mountain and down into the valley below. Plenty of shops for Susan to browse thru at North Tamborine and Eagles nest. The view from the Eagles Nest Hotel of the coast was spectacular, would love to see it at night.

Tomorrow is Halloween and also the Queensland State Election, so 2 horror stories in one. We’re off to Currumbin Bird Santuary and also do a quick tour the Gold Coast. It simply amazes me the number of people here, coming down the Pacific Highway to the coast was like peak hour on the Monash freeway in Melbourne. To each there own I suppose.

Whilst we are not staying in Brisbane we are basically there, as Marburg will be our base (other than our next stop on the Gold Coast) whilst we are in the region. Marburg is just outside Ipswich which is 30+ k’s from the Brisbane CBD. You know your in Brisbane with 3 major thunderstorms today. Some of the lightening tonight has to be seen to be believed.

I have to say on this day after the AFL Grand Final, Go Tiges! To come from behind at half time and win was a great effort and I’m so glad they won, for 3 special supporters back home in Melbourne. In a time of darkness the Tiges have given many back in Melbourne much joy and last nights GF win was the icing on the cake,

We are staying at the Marburg Showgrounds, not a true caravan park but just as good but much cheaper. We turned up today and set up and then had the opportunity for some free entertainment as the Marburg trots were on. Something about country sporting events that makes them special. It’s the closest I’ve ever been to “horse racing” and it was fun, particularly the 1st race for the youngsters and their stead’s!