cresta57

Not going to lose this one, remembered to type it all in word.
Just sent out an email to our friends back home and thought I may as well post it here as well. Apologies for any grammatical errors in advance, hope there's enough apostrophe’s and not too many double negatives, I'm a tiler not an English teacher


With Christmas and New Year safely out of the way and still three long weeks of holiday left Deb and I were persuaded by our daughter to drive down to Tenterfield in NSW. Amy and her boyfriend Tony went to live there a few months ago and as the relationship is getting serious they wanted us to meet the outlaws who live close by to them.
We had arranged to visit other friends and over the Christmas period I finally found an old friend I’d been trying to track down for ages. He’d emigrated to Sydney in the early 90’s and we’d lost touch over the years. I found him by accident while searching the friend’s reunited website for someone else well I found his sister and a mate in U.K rang her for me. We decided on the spur of the moment to visit him as well just for a few small drinks.
We left our humble abode, just North of Gympie, Monday lunchtime and took a scenic drive out into the bush heading out to Murgon, Kingaroy, Nanango before arriving in Scarboro’ to spend a pleasant evening with friends. We saw loads of trees and loads of rocks very scenic humph.
Setting off from Brisbane we’d been told by Tony that Tenterfield was only a couple of hours drive from there and we’d be there mid morning, looking on the map even me as an interstate driving virgin could guess that 300+ k’s would take at least 4 hrs. We arrived there at about 2 pm taking about 5 hrs to enjoy the scenery, more rocks and more trees. They live on an old farm and have about 200 acres so after the full tour we were shown the highlight of the place, the killing room, and wow! Not! The room below the house was where the livestock used to be killed butchered and prepared. It looked like a medieval torture chamber and the final straw was a rat the size of a bloody cat! I don’t do rat’s at all having a very morbid fear of them since childhood ugh. Anyway after a very pleasant evening with the extended family we returned to the rat place to try and sleep. No chance of that I was awake for hours listening to every scratching, creaking ratty sound in the night. Morning couldn’t have come early enough for me and by 8AM we were setting off on our continuing journey south, minus the boy who elected to spend some "quality time" with his big sister. Ignoring the “oh it’s only a few hours to Sydney� we estimated a 9 hr journey plus stops for refreshments and fuel.
We arrived at the city centre in daylight the entire journey having taken only 8 ½ hrs. Seems like we go a lot faster when I sleep and Deb drives as our k’s per hour increased by a large margin during her stints. Finding as room was easy as we booked into a hotel in Pymble on the way into the city, previous visits to large cities by car had forewarned us that it’s easier to take a train in from the “burbs“ than try and find parking in a strange city. For the time being it was fairly late so we had a nice walk around Rose Bay and as it got dark we took a trip around the usual sites, bridge, opera house etc. illuminated in all their glory for us yokels, it made a nice change from the rocks and trees.
We drove back to the hotel stopping for a nice meal on the way and enjoyed a rat free very pleasant sleep in a comfy bed.
Next morning bright and early we caught the train into the city $4 bucks return and free parking at the hotel brought out the Scrouge in me. Train was clean and on time that day can’t speak for usual routines though. We did the classic tourist thing and caught the “hop on hop off� open topped tourist bus, $60 bucks for 2 x 24hr tickets enabled us to visit all the places we wanted and resume our journey on the next bus, easy as. For a short break away from the usual tiles and more tiles we both enjoyed our visit to the big city. By late afternoon we returned by train to our waiting Ute and made our way south to the much awaited reunion with my old mate Steve. Following his excellent directions we quickly found the right street and parked up outside the bottle shop to buy a few supplies. Walking in we bumped straight into the man himself, 14,000 miles and 16yrs we finally met again in a bloody bottle shop, a taste of things to come. An excellent evening spent reminiscing and drinking copious amounts of ale meant we were very late starting on our journey homewards.
We made goods time from Ambarvale back through to the Pacific Highway at Hornsby, then cruised up the highway until Deb spotted a sign for a designer retail outlet at Tuggerah. Two hours later we were on our way again, wallet depleted further, bah humbug. We needed a fuel stop and came off the Pacific at Taree. Fuelled up Deb began her shift at the wheel, following signs for the highway led us well of the beaten track and onto some very steep winding unsealed roads. Had I not had my eyes tightly shut I’m sure the scenery would have been breathtaking as we approached the top of the range. It was a little un-nerving when we caught up to a large pick-up truck that filled the track and another one came up behind us. Cue the Duelling Banjo theme. Deb taking it all in her stride finally got us back on the highway at Kew some 40 k’s further north. We made good time again back on the bitumen and stopped for a coffee at Kempsey. By this time it was getting dark and we decided our journey up to Kingscliff would have to be delayed. At that time Amy and Tony rang to say they were going out for the evening and would we be there to join them. A quick consultation with Tony [Mr under estimator of the century] confirmed we were approx 4 hours away if we crossed the range and got back onto the New England Highway. We had a couple of options and suggested crossing at either Grafton or Lismore, his recommendation was where we were at Kempsey. I knew I should have looked at the map as approx 70 K’s down the road it became little more than an old goat trail up into the range and we spent the next 3 hours doing approx 20 k’s per hour 4x4 in the low box avoiding recent rock falls that blocked the already narrow track. Luckily it was dark and the sheer drop down the side of the mountains couldn’t be seen. Finally we arrived at Armidale and stopped again for a welcome Coffee by this time it was 11.40 and we still had a couple of hundred K’s to go. I drove and Deb slept 2.30 we arrived back at their house and Tony casually asked if we’d enjoyed the trip over the range. The bastard had sent us on it deliberately! Still he does have to live with Amy so that’s punishment enough for now. I decided as someone else had beat me to the mattress that sleeping in the Ute would be an excellent rat free environment and I enjoyed a very good nights sleep curled up in the back. Next morning we showered and breakfasted early collected number one son and all his kit and were on the road again by 9am we had breakfast again at Warwick as the boy was thirsty and we’d gained an hour back by crossing the border, humph always hungry that child must worm him.
It was approaching 12 midday as we picked our way through the Saturday rush in Brisbane and we made a quick decision to go over to the ex-pats meet at Wynnum. It was nice to see some of the old crowd there, as well as all the new arrivals. Enjoyed a chat and a beer with a few of them before heading north again to Scarboro’ to pick up Josh’s friend and return home.
We arrived home six days after our departure and clocked some 3000k’s The Ute needs a good service now and I think I need another week off work to recover. I ‘d have no qualms about driving down again as the roads for the most part are excellent, so long as you stick to the main ones. I enjoyed the break and the scenery to a point there are only so many rocks and trees you can get excited about.
P.S
Fuel prices vary enormously cheapest diesel we bought was at Mango Hill, North Brisbane @ 94.5 p/l Most expensive was Armidale NSW where it was 1.19 p/l. Fuel is dearer south of the border as it’s not subsidised as it is in Qld.

Pollyana

Wow! What a trip!! Glad you managed not to lose it this time!
Lots of nice rocks and trees between here and NSW then? Did you get photos?!

Nice of you to let Deb do some designer outlet shopping too - you must have been having a good time. She did deserve a reward for driving while you were asleep after all! You should both be good enough to start rally driving after all those treks along goat tracks....or were they rat-tracks.......

cresta57

Yep I've had my fix of scenery now until mid winter when I've threatned to take her North to Darwin
I'll be sure to bring you some Darwin Stubbies back though

Pollyana

Now that sounds interesting!!! They are the really big ones aren't they!

cresta57

Yep 2 litres of beer in a stubbie. Mmmmmmmmmm

http://www.ourestore.com.au/boslives...d.asp?id=~main

Now stop it or we'll get a reputation as forum drunks hic................

Pollyana

Why? Just cos it took me 7 hours to find your post cos I was in the pub....... hic hic!