On The Road Again

By Jon Peasey

Published by Peasey Publications

at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Jon Peasey

ISBN: 978-0-9941508-1-3

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Table of Contents

Preamble

Week 1: Tully QLD to Mackay QLD

Week 2: Mackay QLD to Southport QLD

Week 3: Southport QLD to Rochedale QLD

Week 4: Rochedale QLD

Week 5: Rochedale QLD to Robertson QLD

Week 6: Robertson QLD to Currumbin QLD

Week 7: Currumbin QLD to Rochedale QLD

Week 8: Rochedale QLD to Port Macquarie NSW

Week 9: Port Macquarie NSW to Lane Cove NSW

Week 10: Lane Cove NSW to Echuca VIC/ Moama NSW

Week 11: Echuca VIC/Moama NSW to Toowoomba QLD

Week 12: Toowoomba QLD to Rochedale QLD

Week 13: Rochedale QLD to Innisfail QLD

Epilogue

About the Author

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Preamble

The travel bug was biting us again. It was September 2004 in Tully in Far North Queensland (QLD), Australia. Our house lease was due to expire in November 2004; it would then be a good time for us to travel. Now was a good time to plan another long caravan holiday to Australia's southern States. We would head down the Bruce Highway along the eastern coast of QLD and continue over the border into New South Wales (NSW). We would then drive down the Pacific Highway down the east coast of NSW until we reached Sydney NSW.

From Sydney we could head inland and then turn south and drive down the Newell Highway into Victoria (VIC); however we had a couple of travel options up our sleeves and we would choose which one to use when we arrived in Sydney. The Christmas/New Year season in Australia is the peak holiday and tourist season; and school children are on six weeks' Summer school holidays.

Another interesting factor was that our eldest son Joel, his wife Jane and their little daughter Amelia were coming to Brisbane QLD from New Zealand at Christmas time; so we would meet up with them and spend time together.

We needed to get cracking to organise accommodation, particularly for the east coast towns in NSW. Inland areas were not such a big problem for us as most folk headed to the coast for their annual holidays.

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Map of Australia with Tully QLD at top right

[Source: Google Maps]

Week 1: Tully QLD to Mackay QLD

Sunday, 21-Nov-2004

Today I finished my work contract with Tully Hospital; however I was on a rostered day off. My wife Rachel ceased her Family Day Care business on Friday, 19-Nov-2004. As we had allowed our lease to run out, we were in the last throes of cleaning up the yard and the premises; and we were about to embark on another big caravan holiday to the southern States. Yesterday we had a very busy day; I had to remove a wire netting fence that was a safety requirement for the Day Care children. The star pickets and wire netting fencing were donated to our next door neighbour.

As today was a Sunday we went up to our local Christian fellowship at Wangan QLD near Innisfail QLD; about 40 minutes drive from Tully QLD. We went to both morning services and then came home for lunch and more cleaning up. We needed to go back again by 4:00 pm for our annual general meeting (AGM). This was followed by a Fellowship Tea and a Gospel meeting at night. Our friends Barry and Anne Rowbury were up from Townsville for the day and Barry took the gospel service.

We were both very tired that night. I had had a very busy week at Tully Hospital. The General Ward was full of patients and the Casualty Department kept us constantly on the go. Tully Hospital is a small rural hospital and you have to get used to multi tasking; however you certainly can't complain about the variety of work. In between my work at the hospital and Rachel's Day Care work we were cleaning and packing up ready for our holiday.

Tully QLD to Wangan QLD [Source: Google Maps]

Monday, 22-Nov-2004

It was a very hot, humid day today. I got my brush cutter out of the shed, started it up and cleaned up the high bank on the rear boundary of the property. This is a difficult job due to the steep angle of the bank. From the ground the brush cutter only reached half way up the bank. The difficult part was using the brush cutter from the top of the bank sweeping it downwards and trying to maintain my balance.

When that job was finished I cleaned up the brush cutter, dismantled it and packed it away in its box. Meanwhile Rachel had cleaned up all the rooms except our bedroom. I went around the house cleaning all the windows and the flyscreens. Later Carmel our landlady came around to collect the last lot of rent and give us our Rental bond paperwork to obtain our rental bond refund.

The food in our refrigerator was transferred to our caravan fridge; which was currently on mains power. Some of the food was also transferred to our portable car fridge. We are expecting the furniture removalist from Innisfail tomorrow morning at 7:00 am. We will have to take down our curtains early tomorrow morning and pack them in boxes for the removalists to take with our furniture.

Tuesday, 23-Nov-2004

We woke up early, showered, dressed and had breakfast. Then we took down our curtains and packed them into boxes. Rachel did some last minute clothes' washing and drying in the clothes dryer. Then we emptied the washing machine completely of water and dried it.

It started to rain heavy, a tropical downpour! The removals van arrived during the downpour. They backed the truck up to the edge of the carport with the back doors opened and secured to the sides of the truck. They were unable to commence the job; water was running down into the floor of the cargo area. The rain was too heavy; they had to abort the job. If it clears up weatherwise they will come back tomorrow.

After the truck went back to Innisfail we noticed that the heavy rain was causing flooding in the yard. It was even coming into the carport area and threatening to flood the living room areas. I went out