Committed Travellers

We need to be up early to enjoy the cooler mornings before the heat of the day, so drove to Tamworth to walk around Bicenntenial Park. Breakfast at Hopscotch cafe was OK but not brilliant. We watched a council worker start the sprinklers and jets in the children’s water playground, and test the water quality. He gets wet doing this job!

Back at our caravan park we sat in the shade of our friends’ motorhome, with Tilly in the playpen occasionally hissing at Leo on the outside if he got too close. About half a metre gap is still needed to avoid trouble.

We were going to have a lazy day, but I needed to send a parcel full of sweet treats to my 92 year old father. I bought the box from the post office, loaded it with chocolate and lollies, then went back to the post office to send it express post. He also needed a new razor but that was easily arranged online via ebay.

We collected our festival membership cards from Wests League Club. These make it easier to enter the club and get discounts on food and drinks.

Several more vans set up in the caravan park today. I took Tilly for a walk and she ingratiated herself to several campers in the camp kitchen. She was rolling on the floor looking cute, but was really enjoying the warmth in the concrete after being in air conditioning.

Four of us had dinner at the Nehminga Tavern and we all enjoyed our meals. Even though this pub is only 400m from our park, we drove as there is no footpath beside that section of highway. There was a sudden heavy downpour as our meals were served. It didn’t last long but left many large puddles both sides of the highway.

A nearby property had this old car stored on top of a container. This might be the restoration project awaiting the owner’s retirement.

I spent the evening reconnecting a security camera to our wifi. It took a few failed attempts before I remembered to change our wifi to the 2.4 GHz frequency and finally made a successful connection. This frequency is not the best for internet browsing, but is the standard used by many wifi controlled devices.

The camera allows us to see inside the van when we are away from it, such as when we go to events in town. The main use is to monitor the inside temperature to make sure the critters are safe and the air conditioning is working.

Last night’s Uralla forecast “feels like” temperature was 8°C, which was cool enough to cause Tilly to sneak under the doona. The elevation of Uralla is 1,000m so it tends to be colder than nearby Tamworth at 400m.

As we were packing up I managed to take a photo of the rag doll cat under the veranda. It was licking its lips, but the bird is not real as it is one of many garden statues.

Most streets in Uralla have 45° angle parking, because the town has so many visitors. We parked in the designated caravan parking street, and walked to breakfast at The Alternate Seed. As we crossed the highway at the pedestrian crossing, Bluey pooped! He avoids walking on grass because there might be bindiis, so rarely poops on grass.

After enjoying our breakfasts, we left Bluey with Tilly in the van and went to the Visitor Information Office. There is an interesting collection of rocks, minerals and fossils from the area, including very small diamonds. Gold was mined in the early 1900s and there is still a fossicking area on the outskirts of town.

An excellent map and booklet identifies the  locations of more than 50 heritage sites in town. We walked along Salisbury St past the McCrossin’s Flour Mill which is now a museum. The old chaff cutting shed and stables are nextdoor, and the town hall is opposite. The 1886 Uralla Literary Institute is now an elegant private residence.

We only identified a few of the heritage buildings, but will explore more on our drive home. Rather than spend a second night at Uralla, we decided to go to our North Tamworth caravan park a day early. The manager was glad to see us  as the park will be very busy tomorrow organising arrivals.

It was hot as we carefully positioned the Bushtracker on our site to ensure we maximise our use of the space. We then had to level the van sideways and lengthwise. Bluey and Tilly stayed in the cool car, but little Leo knew we were there and was very keen to catch up! We had a quick visit before retreating to the cool of our van for lunch.

The pooches had an exciting day, but did settle down by the evening. Tilly hisses at Leo but they managed to spend brief periods when they were only a metre apart. She played in her tunnel in the play pen.

As we will be here for nearly a fortnight, I put out the awning and a shade screen on the other side of the van. I cooled off in the pool, which I had to myself.

We had planned to spend a couple of nights at the Glen Innes Showground, but there were no vacant sites. Instead we stopped in town for a walk and refreshments – coffee and a banana shake. We parked opposite this house with an interesting veranda.

My favourite building in the main street of Glen Innes is still the NAB with its original slate roof.

There was very little traffic travelling south, and we only had one truck wanting to overtake. Fortunately we soon had a chance to pull over to let it pass, and the driver flicked the indicators to thank us.

We decided to spend one night at Uralla and found a small, quiet caravan park. The showground recently opened to travellers, and there is another caravan park on the highway, but this old park is close to shops and restaurants, but away from the highway noise. The office is closed for a lot of the day, but a sign on the door said to find a site and catch up later. We only paid $32 for a large drive thru powered site. The amenities are old but recently painted and very clean.

We had dinner at The Top Pub which was a short walk up to the highway. My grilled salmon with vermicelli was delicious! We took Bluey and sat in the beer garden. On our way home we passed The Alternate Root cafe where we will be having breakfast. In front of the attractive corner building there is a replica gas light from the early 1900s, and modern street light. The replica gas lights were cast by the Uralla foundry.

Tilly was keen to explore her new surroundings, but I had to steer clear of a 6kg rag doll cat that lives in the caravan park with a permanent resident. Bluey endured the attentions of three young children!

Our trip to Tamworth was delayed due to a problem with the Bushtracker. On Friday we picked it up after a $925 brake repair/service, parking it outside our house. We hooked up Sunday afternoon, but when I tried to move the van, it would not go forward or backwards!

We ruled out any problem with the hand brake, as that only applies to the rear wheels. I jacked up the van and could not turn any wheels. Finally I realised the problem could be the caravan breakaway system. This is designed to activate if the van separates from the tow vehicle. During the brake service this had been found to be faulty, but a couple of squirts of silicone lubricant had it working properly. There were no issues when we drove the van home.

I touched the small breakaway unit on the A frame, and discovered it was burning hot! The laser thermometer recorded temperatures of 130°C+. The bulge on the side was new.

I was worried there could be a fire, or the electrical system could be damaged, so sent a photo to the service manager Sunday afternoon, asking if I should cut the wires. He immediately phoned me and said I should cut one of the two wires, but when I did the other wire broke. The brakes released immediately!

After an early morning trip to Big Wheels for a caravan wheel alignment, I took the van back to the service centre to have a new breakaway unit fitted. It was lunchtime by the time I picked up Anita and the critters, and we packed away last minute items.

We stopped at Beaudesert to touch all wheels to make sure they were not running hot, then stopped at the Aratula Bakery for a late lunch. Away from the coast the temperature had increased from 28° to 33° so we didn’t linger. There was a small bushfire on the way up Cunninghams Gap.

Given our late departure we decided to overnight at the Big 4 Caravan Park at Warwick. No drive thru sites were available but we were able to reverse onto our allocated site, and set up the lazy way with a couple of bits of timber under the rear wheels of the Toyota to level the van on the hill.

We parked Bluey and Tilly in the shade until the air conditioning cooled the van down. I let Blue visit our neighbours who are also heading to Tamworth. He lay down and enjoyed some attention from strangers. Tilly made a fleeting visit to that group, before wanting to explore further.

We escaped into the air conditioning where Blue, Tilly and Anita had a long nap. I cooled off by dipping my feet in the pool.