Orange to Broken Hill

My Dearest Friend - Val

Whilst it is a great idea to blog every day, it is impossible to get Mobile access wherever we are.  I will have to start keeping the diary in Word and then first chance I get to upload something – scoot it up the wire to the Blogspot.

Orange – There are some people who were put on this earth who are really disguised Angels – that’s my friend Valmae Houlahan.  She still continues to look after her family selflessly one tragedy after the other. Her latest one being her much loved sister-in-law Tammy who passed away with a brain tumor.  Despite all of this, Val still smiles and had lots of cuddles and hugs for the three of us.  I love seeing Val because it’s like coming home to Mum’s house. 

She looks after Me (Paul and Alex get plenty of attention too) making all my favourite dishes (Lamb roast – wonder where I learnt how to make such good roast) and just sits and chats without judgment.  I can talk to her about anything!  It is always sad leaving Orange because I want to do so much more to look after Val and can’t help wishing she was living closer to Brisbane (It’s two days driving to Orange).  I am always jealous of Makita and Glenn (her children) who have her so close and all the time. Speaking of Makita and Glenn – we got to meet the  new additions to their families – Maddison, Taj and Haylee!  Glenn had recently got married to Amanda and is not the proud father of FOUR children.  Saw the huge chuck taken out of his leg from the melanoma (please check your skin every six months) and am so pleased he is doing so well.  Makita is beautiful as ever and her oldest Katelyn, despite being a handful (still) is growing into a beautiful young lady – watch out guys.

We spent two nights in Orange – had to get out of Val’s hair so she could go to work.  Wonder what that is?  Hit the road to Broken Hill with a stopover just past Cobar.



In the Big Chair at the Miner's Memorial

 Cobar – Just a small stop through to see an Open Cut copper mine.  Uncle Henry took Paul underground in the early 1970s and picked up some ore.  We camped just past Cobar along the side of the road right next to a farm.  A really pretty spot!  Paul picked me some wildflowers which are blooming everywhere right now and let me sleep in the next day.  We have been pushing the driving so much I couldn’t get up in the mornings even after 8hrs of sleep.



Open Cut Mine in Cobar



Emirates Flies to Broken Hill




Broken Hill – Got in after lunch to find out that most sights are only open between 10am and 3pm.  So we went to the Line of Lode memorial for a looksee and then went to get some groceries.  Came back to the caravan park and had a nice hot shower , pasta for dinner and then bed.

Mt Tamborine to Just South of Narrabri - Tuskey Creek

Time flies way too quickly.  I can just see these three months zipping by really fast.  We stopped in Brisbane yesterday and had a lovely lunch with Kate (Paul’s daughter) and then drove on to Manly to pick up mail  Didn’t stop to say hello to anyone as we were running late to get to Tamborine.  When we finally got there, Donna just had time to show Paul the garden and get a tour of the house in before the sunset.  There have been many changes to the house since I was last there and it is so good to see Tony and Donna’s retirement plan come together so beautifully.

We got up at 5:30am (cheez – I thought we were on holiday Paul) and hit the road at 6:30 driving down the mountain, through Beaudesert, Boonah – via the Cunningham’s gap, Warwick, Inglewood and then the heavens opened (coz I started driving) and Paul had to take over driving.  Was a little bit scared at how heavy the rain was.  There is so much water lying around and every creek we passed was full or flooded.  Talked Alex through the wash out drill incase a wall of water washed the car off the road.  He started taking his seat belt off thinking it was for real!  Paul had to explain the similarities to an aircraft drill on the plane and then he GOT IT!

It was very wet all the way to Goondiwindi (Gundy for short) where we stopped for lunch.  As soon as we crossed over to NSW, the weather cleared up and it has been lovely and even warm. 

Tomorrow is Paul’s birthday.  He already got his pressie in Dubai – so nothing for him to open.  I bought his some blueberries and I am going to try making pancakes in the morning.  Hopefully the eggs are OK.

Brisbane and then Mt Tamborine

We got to Brisbane last night.  But my battery wasn't charged and the company was too good, so didn't get a chance to log in and Blog.

The boys went off to buy Alex some decent hiking boots.  He has complained long and loud about sore ankles and given how much walking we are going to be doing we figured we had better get him some good quality shoes to wear.  While the boys were shopping, I caught up with Andy to talk about a couple of projects I am helping him with.  He also brought up the question about how my studies were going and I have committed to working out some angles of research to explore while I am driving around.  We got to meet Andy's lovely family - especially Paulie - who is such a handsome young man.

Back to Donna and Tony's in the evening and finally caught up with John (Donna's brother) who flew in from Sydney.  Looking forward to seeing him again tonight at Mt Tamborine where we will be heading for the night at the new house.  Paul and Alex haven't seen it since the blueprints were being drafted.  We were going to sleep in the camper for the first night, but Donna has offered us a nice comfy bed inside (OK, it is a little cold outside).

Don't know how we are going to cope with the cold!  Thank goodness I packed the hot water bottles!!!

Woombye Pub and Mooloolaba Spit

It rained early in the morning so no fishing at the crack of dawn.  Paul took Alex down however at 10am but didn't catch anything except for a new Garmin GPS!

We caught up with the De Veres and Borsatos for lunch at the Woombye Pub.  It has had a big makeover and served up some really good Aussie tucker.  Still not hungry for dinner.  The Turkish delight creme brulle and vanilla bean ice cream did it in for my waist line.

Alex was so happy to catch up with his best mate James who is now not quite so little.  He has nearly finished Grade 11 and imagine when I met him the first time he was still in nappies!!  I can't believe I have lived in Australia for such a long time.

After lunch - guess what we did???  More fishing.  This time at Mooloolaba on the Spit.  This is where the boats come into the safe habour on the Mooloolaba river.  On the other side of the spit is Pt Carthwright.  This is the  magical spot where Paul proposed to me all those years back.  Where has time flow?

Kondillila Falls

The weather cleared up a little today.  Kondillila is an aboriginal name for (you will never guess) - Running Water!  These falls are very close to Ro and Pa's unit, near Maleny.  Ryan's mob most likely visited this place too, but if they haven't then they should.  It was a great walk down to the bottom of the valley and an even better walk back up - huffing and puffing so much I could feel the pounds melting off my hips. (Yeah right!!)  It was those leeches sucking blood - more like it.  Not me though...poor Alex got attacked by two blood suckers.  What drama!!!  Have never seen Alex walk so fast to get up to the top and to the car. 

Here are the fixes for leeches, but first NEVER pull it off otherwise its head gets stuck in your skin, then gets infected and you keep bleeding:
1. Burn it off.  Remember to pull it's backside off the skin before you put a match or gas lighter to it - otherwise - said attached human being does not trust Daddy to burn it off and keeps pulling his leg off just as the flame is getting closer.
2. Salt.  Shake salt over the head of the leech and you will never believe how quickly the leech falls off.  It does help however to carry salt with you when walking in leech infested areas.  When no salt is available, then use method number 1.  If no flame is available then only alternative is number 3.
3. Yank head out.  Only use this as a last resort as the head will break off and you can't get it out unless you go to the hospital.  Thank heavens we had access to solution number 1!!!!

Alright Paul now wants to add another fix so here is number 4 and 5!

4. Wait.  Wait till the leech has its fill of blood and then falls off.  Not a pretty sight for the faint hearted as I am told they can swell quite BIG!!!
5. Kerosense or Metho.  If you have access to either - pour on top of leech and it will fall off - works the same as Salt.


Now for the weather.  It was a nice overcast day for walking and it didn't rain even once.  The sun came out in the afternoon and Alex pleaded to either go fishing or get Sushi!  He got neither - poor little deprived kid.  On the bright side - the alarm clock has been set for 6am in order to catch the tide at 7am.  Hope it doesn't rain in the morning and hope he catches a fish!

The falls from half way down the valley.

Blood filled leech

Welcome to our Blogspot

Paul, Christine and Alexander are off on a big adventure to the Southern parts of Australia!  Our Jayco Hawk has been packed, car has been serviced, tank filled with water, food stocked in the cupboards and fridge and now for a relaxing five nights on the Sunshine Coast at Ro and Pa's unit.

Alex has bought himself a hefier.  Her name is #158 (at the moment) till he thinks of a better name.  She is brown and is very kind and nice and walked up to him in the paddock.  That's how she got picked to be his hefier.  In about 9months time, he should be the proud Daddy of his first calf. 

We will be posting news updates as we hit the road and will also upload some pictures to show you where we have been.  So do stay in touch with us and send us email to paulastephenson@hotmail.com.