A Few Stops Later

 

Simple Slow Wanders – A Few Stops Later

More than a couple of days have passed and we’ve stopped at quite a few new-to-us sites!

The weather has been alternating between glorious crisp days with sunshine, and windy mizzly dampness – depending on the day and the location.

Mabi is still tracking reasonably well, but it’s a constant worry for us that she wont sit or lie down the entire time we’re driving, and thus arrives at our overnight location at the end of each days drive, quite exhausted.
We had hoped that as she got more and more used to travel days in Henry, she would let herself relax and perhaps even manage to get some naps in; but that hasn’t happened and doesn’t look like its going to any time soon 🙁

So – a bit of a rundown of the Parks and Campgrounds we’ve been to so far…

Mt Larcom Tourist Park

Mt Larcom Tourist Park is a member of the Kui Parks network, and gives a 10% discount for kui park and cmca members.
Clean showers and toilets, and lovely hot water.
The Managers were friendly and helpful – which always helps to set a good vibe for a Park.
Washing machines and dryers were $6 per load, which is on the high side in comparison to other Parks.
(we didn’t do laundry, because we didn’t need to.)

We would really like to spend some more time at this little Park, as we found it very relaxing.

Burrum Heads Beachfront Tourist Park

Burrum Heads Beachfront Tourist Park isn’t technically beachfront at present as they are busy doing renovations to the river/‘beach’ side part of the park; so the accessible part of the park is currently 1 ½ blocks back from the water.

The park is next to a Foodworks, which is handy for anything routine you might need, and there is also a Bakery next to the Foodworks, which has some lovely sweet and savoury offerings.
It pays to get in early though as it’s very popular, and once the lunch rush has passed there are only a small sample of goodies left.

For us, this has been one of the least pleasing Parks of any that we have stayed at so far, and it’s quite unlikely that we would book there again.

Whilst the Staff were attentive and helpful, we found the ‘feel’ of the Park to be quite sterile and clinical.
Kudos to the Management though, as the Park is very well manicured and is spotless, and despite the building works going on around the area – they are not an impediment to the areas where patrons are currently sited.

The amenities block is new, and all toilets / showers are unisex. This doesn’t bother us.
The architectural design of the amenities block is very reminiscent of ‘Club Lotus Glen’ however (iykyk) and even require the use of a swipe care for entry access. 😀

The laundry has lovely new washing machines and dryers, however we personally take exception to the current operation of same, and it left us with somewhat of a ‘ripped off’ feeling.

One is unable to use cash at all, and must use either card or their phone – and whilst the advertised sticker price on the machine was $4 per wash/dry, the digital readout on the machines was $5, however the full price of each load was actually $5.28!

There is a 28¢ surcharge applied for using card, which we do not think is appropriate when there is no option but to use card. Not happy Jan…

Note: the Park has a lot of rules, which included a full A4 sheet of rules for dogs.
For us it felt a little excessive, although we’re sure that they’ve covered all the bases, so there shouldn’t be any questions of the expectations.

Kandanga

Our next stay was an overnighter with Family at Kandanga, parked up next to their stable block – which we thoroughly enjoyed, and we got spoilt with a lovely dinner, company and loads of hugs.

Canungra

Next stop was Canungra, where we stayed for three nights so as to attend the Wedding of a lovely couple.
We’ve been friends with the Bride for around 17 years, and it was an honour to be able to celebrate with them.
Three nights of campfires and conversations as well as a lovely wedding made for a great few days.

We were so very lucky to have our sister/sister-in-law come and stay with Mabi while we attended the wedding, and we think that they both had a pretty okay time together, loving on one another.

We stayed at Canungra Showgrounds, which has some really great areas for camping, and has good clean well-maintained toilets and showers.

Some of the sites were closed at the time of our visit due to the recent storms and flooding, as some of the trees and grounds were unstable, however there was still plenty of room for loads of people to be able to stay.

Whilst the area that we camped in was lovely and out of the way of the daily ins and outs of transient travellers, the area that we parked in should not have been allocated to a very heavy non-4WD motorhome, due to the inclines encountered getting in and out of that particular space.

It was definitely worse (and quite scary) getting out, as there had been rain the previous 24 hours, and the mud and cement were very slippery – and there is a corner before the incline – so no capacity to gather speed prior to attempting the slope…

Canungra is a lovely little town with an olde-world feel, and amidst all the wedding festivities we also managed to squish in a lunch at the Canungra Hotel, to catch up with four family members.

Whilst we wished we’d had more time to be able to see some other folk while we were around the GC area, we unfortunately just didn’t have the capacity this visit, so will have to arrange for that when we will have much more time up our sleeves, later in the year.

Ipswich

After Canungra we headed for Ipswich where we had a quick catch-up with one of our grand-daughters, then on to spend the night with our Son, his wonderful lady, and another two grand-kids.
It was a really cosy and loving evening with great food, and even better company.

There were hugs and tears aplenty when we headed off the next morning for our next leg, which would take us to a different Campground, at Burrum Heads.

Burrum Shores Beachfront Campground

When we first arrived at Burrum Shores Beachfront Campground, we were more than a tad sceptical, as were were both very tired.
It had been a loooong day, and our edges were a bit frayed…

Entry to the property was via a dirt road, then in through the gate to a very wet, muddy, pot-hole-ridden driveway, that we weren’t sure we were going to be able to make it in to, let alone ever get out of!

Whilst the driveway was reasonably flat, we were pretty worried we were going to get bogged, but we could see an excavator in the distance, so at least felt a little reassured that someone could (hopefully) drag us out if necessary!

We were greeted at the check-in point by the cheery helpful Campground Host Justin, and were offered a beachfront site, as the lady who had booked it initially had needed to cancel, so we could have it if we liked, as we were only staying for the one night.

Yes please!

Full moon + beachfront = happy Mabi and extra happy SimpleSlowRoadies!

We got Henry up on chocks and levelled, when it suddenly occurred to us that there were no ‘hook-ups’ at our new upgraded-position site (ie: power and water connections)

A moment or three of panic ensued, as we had let our water tanks run right down, and hadn’t ’pre-charged’ any of devices or lamps, but we do have a very basic house-battery set-up and we do have gas to run our stove and fridge, so we decided to just wing-it and see how we went for the night.

Worse case scenario was going to be that the house-battery died and the freezer wouldn’t have power, but as long as we kept it closed until we could get some power into it the next day, then all should be pretty ok!

We had some really lovely long walks along the beach, took some amazing photos, ogled many manyyyy stunning pieces of driftwood, and walked through the chilling puddles of sea-water at low tide, as the sun went down.

The full moon rising was just stunning!

The amenities are new-ish, and beautifully rustic, and the camp kitchen has everything you could want and more, including a couple of smokers, fire-pits and bbqs.

All in all – we loved this campground!

This has by far been our most favourite of campgrounds on this trip thus far, and we can’t see it being overshadowed anytime soon.
It was just an absolute cracker!

We will most definitely be making a return extended visit in the future.
(and yes, we easily got out of the driveway after a wonderful restful nights sleep and an early morning beach walk, before packing up. We may have been being a little dramatic the afternoon before…)

The next leg of the journey will be taking us to 1770 / Agnes Waters, so we’ll catch up with that on the next blog-post.

Until next time – happy travels; and make the moments matter.

 

sitting resting in the sunshine while waiting for Mumma to finish grocery shopping

what a good looking rig!

Burrum Heads Caravan Park amenities block

up above the Mt Larcom caravan park, at the lookout.
a good steep walk to get the blood pumping

Uncle Pierre & Aunty Brons place has awesome doggy-bones.

the lovely creek that the wedding was held next to (O’Reillys Winery)

first dance as a wedded couple, for the Bride & Groom

the camping and festivities area.
you can just glimpse Henrys roof and window between the gazebos

gorgeous miniature garden created by our son Sam

back on the road north-bound

parked up with the big kids!

we’re a long way from Cairns and the Tablelands Dorothy!

taking in the sights and sounds

rustic showers at Burrum Campground were a treat.

purpose built designer decor does exactly what its supposed to!

well stocked camp kitchen

amazing huge pieces of driftwood 

more beautiful pieces

so many pieces along the beach!

we should have realized when this is how we were greeted to Burrum Campground, that it was going to be one very special place… ❤️

 

**any prices, discounts and information given were correct at the time of writing (05/25).
Please do your own research to obtain up-to-date pricing and discounts available.