An Update On My Travels

My last travel piece told you about the gem campsite I found called Foxbar Falls. I loved this place so much that I spent two weeks parked beside the lake and thoroughly enjoyed every minute there.

Here is that article, if you missed it :

From Foxbar Falls, I travelled back through Stanthorpe, along the New England Highway and finally crossed the Queensland / New South Wales border.

It was here that I had an epiphany that, greatly eased my mind and lowered my stress levels immensely.

I had been worrying for three months that maybe I’d purchased the wrong car to tow my heavy, off road caravan, because I was finding towing the van to be terrifying. Even with the weight distribution hitch I had installed, my car seemed to bounce along the highways and it was a stressful ride.

I’d lose sleep the night before my travel days and I’d be super-stressed as I drove the next day. I was only comfortable sitting on 80, sometimes 90, kilometres an hour and hated it when traffic built up behind me.

It got so, that I was beginning to think I’d need to sell my car — which has only done 3,000 kilometres — or even give up my dream of travelling the countryside.

But, then I crossed the border into New South Wales, and suddenly I was sailing along at 100 kilometres an hour and no bounce.

Turns out it’s not my car at all! No, it’s the state of the Queensland roads.

What a relief!

Towing still scares me some, but not in the debilitating way that it was scaring me before I discovered the truth of it all.

I was baffled because I made sure I was safe before leaving Brisbane and got my car and caravan professionally weighed. This told me that my weights were good and my car was more than capable for the job, but because of the Queensland roads, I honestly thought it was my car that was the issue.

I’m more than happy to now understand that is not the case at all.

After crossing the border, I headed south to the town of Tenterfield and checked in at the Tenterfield Lodge Caravan Park.

I was impressed with this little caravan park. The owners were lovely and they take a lot of pride in their little piece of the world. The amenities were clean and well maintained, with little extras above and beyond; such as pretty little soaps, a fully stocked camp kitchen — stocked with appliances that is, along with bench seating, lambskin rugs, TV, BBQ and books / DVDs.

The grounds were also well maintained and delightful.

The first night in Tenterfield I spoilt myself by dining out and thoroughly enjoyed someone else cooking for a change.

Sunday morning I drove out to see some of the tourist sites. This was extremely disappointing as two out of three of the sites were closed. The only one that I got to visit was the oldest cork tree in Australia, brought over from England as a seed in the 1800’s. A magnificent old tree.

To stave off the disappointment I discovered this quaint little cafe and stopped for coffee and cake. This delightful place even had a dolls house tucked into the corner of the yard.

Monday was a trip along the tourist drive that winds its way through the countryside on well maintained roads. I wound through the granite scenery, past Draining Rock, slowed to let the sheep wander off the road and stopped at the Mount Mackenzie Lookout, before backtracking and heading back to the van.

It was a pleasant day after waking to find it was a cool 10 degrees…….and this is meant to be summer!

That was the extent of my exploring around Tenterfield because Tuesday to Friday were my ten hour workdays.

Saturday morning I hitched up and said goodbye to Tenterfield.

Back onto the New England Highway, through Deepwater, Glen Innis and into Lambs Valley, where I checked into a private Farmstay called Glendawne.

And what a wonderful place it turned out to be.

I got to pick where I parked the van, anywhere next to the rustic and fabulous Woolshed. There was about an acre of mown grass surrounding the building, which is a genuine old Woolshed that is no longer used for its originally intended purpose, although the old smells where still there to remind you of the hundreds of sheep that had been shawn within its walls.

Didn’t Grizabella, my cat, have a ball sniffing out every nook and cranny of this wonderful old building.

The best part of this campsite was that it was all mine for the week — I didn’t have to share.

With that in mind, I decided I would spend the week totally alone; no exploring, no meeting people, no dining out. No, I would stay put and make the most of this beautiful, peaceful, serene property.

I got to experience hour long walks with Grizabella, spectacular sunsets, foggy, chilly mornings and glorious silence.

To my delight, I discovered a patch of blackberry bushes and gorged to my heart’s content. What a bonus and a first for me. I’d never seen blackberries growing before and was a little miffed at the thorns that tore my hands up as I pilfered its fruits — the tangy sweetness well worth the injuries.

Before I knew it, my week of serene solitude was up and it was time to move on.

Yesterday I hitched the van and continued our travels.

As I had time to kill before I could check into my next campsite, I decided to explore the Stonehenge Reserve for a few hours.

Apple Maps kindly took me down a 5 kilometre dusty, gravel road as a nice surprise (read sarcasm here), but the van and I drove it with ease.

Pulled into Stonehenge Reserve and I was delighted to find a herd of sheep wandering around the playground and BBQ area. Grizabella didn’t know what to make of them and refused to leave the caravan for a walk. Not sure I blame her as she’d never seen sheep before.

I also didn’t get to venture far around the reserve as there was constant gunshots sounding off to the left and I had no idea who was shooting or the direction they were shooting in. I wasn’t keen on taking an accidental bullet.

Still, Grizabella and I enjoyed the downtime and spent just over three hours in the shade, enjoying the view.

From there we hit the New England Highway and headed further south to our next campsite, which I’ll tell you all about in my next travel update, so watch this space.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for travelling this beautiful country with me.

Until next time.