Orbost

We said goodbye to Canberra at midday Sunday and headed south. stopped for lunch at Cooma then over the border toward home. We stopped at a free camp approx 10 k from Orbost. The boys built a campfire and toasted marshmallows on the final night of our holiday.

War memorial

Saturday afternoon we visited the war memorial - they had a sound and light show on the Lancaster Bomber which held great interest for the boys. We should have allowed a full day as we ran out of time to see everything before closing time.

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Canberra

Awoke saturday morning in Canberra with a minus 6 morning - no water as pipes in and out of motorbike frozen! It eventually turned out a sunny day. Dean visited the new stables which have all the latest facilities - including an undercover walker. After my run had lunch with Lyndi & family.

Canberra

On the road again Friday, our destination Canberra. Arrived in the afternoon and visited the Mint before catching up with Lyndi, Nick, Chloe & Jesse

Kiama

After a great day at the v8's on Wednesday, we travelled to Kiama to spend a couple of nights. A picturesque town, but very hilly for running & cycling. East park where we stayed has its own beach and takes up 36 acres! The blowhole was impressive, and the boys thought the aquatic centre was a great place to spend an afternoon.

The hot lap

The boys were impressed with the D'Alberto display

Eastern creek

The drive was today and we arrived in plenty of time for the hot lap with the Bargwanna team. Dean said he had forgotten how hard they go!

Munmorah

Our mission was to be in Sydney on Wednesday so we didn't hang around Taree and got on the road fairly early Tuesday. We detoured into newscastle to find a doctor for a sick child and then decided to stay the night at Munmorah state conservation reserve. It was a beautiful spot and excellent camp ground. We drove down to The Entrance for a look around, getting back at dusk.

Coffs Kart club

Before we left we called into the Kart track and the 3 boys had a spin. We travelled south and ended up staying the night at Taree.

An early morning run saw the start of another beautiful day at Coffs. Sadly we had places we needed to be so we packed up to head south again.

Big banana

We cruised around the coffs market Sunday morning and ran into Kerryl & Paul from home - they were having a fabulous time heading north whilst we were on our way south.
Afterwards in typical tourist fashion we visited the big banana - and the boys did their best to smash each other on the toboggan ride.

Coffs Harbour

After another windy night we packed up and left Ballina and headed down the road to Coffs. The weather was kind to us and we set up camp at the Park Beach caravan park - great facilities and another good riding track right near the park. We checked out the go-kart track and the boys were disappointed they didn't have their karts with them as there was a meeting on the weekend. They were very impressed with the track and planned to visit Monday and have a spin in the hire karts.

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Ballina

Thursday July 21st we explored Ballina on our bikes - we are stayed at the Shaws bay park which is right on a walking / riding track. We battened down the hatches for the night as high winds were expected. The next day we visited the Bundjalung national park. We had a picnic lunch and did a bush walk. The area was quite sheltered in comparison to our camp.

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Most Eastern mainland point

After visiting the most Western mainland point of Aus last year we had to do this shot of the East!

Byron lighthouse

On July 20 we went to Byron and had lovely day in the sunshine.

Byron lighthouse

Bald Rock National Park

The most fabulous views could be seen from the summit of Bald Rock, in the national park 30 km from Tenterfield

Bald Rock

Bald Rock

It was a very steep climb, in some spots 30 degrees!

Guyra then onto Tenterfield

We paused briefly in Guyra for lunch after leaving Tamworth. The boys only lasted 10 minutes in the playground as it was sooooo cold. Our destination for the day was Tenterfield, we arrived around 4 and set up camp in the showgrounds before exploring the town on our bikes

Tamworth

We had to visit the big Golden Guitar whilst in Tamworth

Brock's birthday - complete with choccy cake!

Someone shrunk my bike! We were at the Sunday market in the main street of Dubbo when we encountered a clown who let the boys have a go on his bike.

Brock's birthday

Brock awoke in Tamworth for his birthday and stayed in bed a while with all his gifts!

Tamworth

After a couple of days in Dubbo we headed to Tamworth

Dubbo zoo

Dubbo zoo

Dubbo zoo - The Trainer also brushed the Hippo's teeth!

Dubbo

We arrived in Dubbo on 14 July after a long drive from Parkes. Of course we had to visit the zoo! The best way to see the zoo is on your bike, as there is a 5 km circuit within the zoo. The zoo is linked to Dubbo by a sealed bike track which was only a few km from where we were staying, so easy to get there.

The Dish

At the dish near Parkes we saw 3 3D movies. Quite massive! were the boys comments.

Forbes

On 13th July we travelled from Hay to Forbes. Forbes is a lovely RV friendly town - we free camped on the lake. There is a fabulous walking / bike track around the lake and town. Next morning we visited the McFetters car museum in Forbes then headed off to Parkes.
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Shear Outback at Hay -Adam is not liking the sign behind!

Shear outback at Hay

Shearing exhibition centre quite interesting to visit. First time in his life Adam has played a sheep!

Hay - Dunera museum

We found a great camp when stopping in Hay for lunch so decided to stay and check out the sights.
We visited the Dunera museum which details the history of over 2000 political internees and 800 prisoners of war shipped from England and detained at Hay in the 1940. After initially showing boredom the boys gained a greater understanding and appreciation of how some of our Italian, German & Japanese were treated during the war.

Deneliquin "ute capital of the world" !

Deneliquin

On Tuesday 12 July we made our way to Deneliquin where we stopped for morning tea and a visited the museum & art gallery. Mum and Dad showed their vintage by recalling stories of time spent at desks similar to those in the photo (remember the ink & fountain pen.. Ooooh what about the CANE! )

Campaspe River Elmore

A midday start meant we could only travel around 5 hours today - finishing up at a large camping area on the river not far from Elmore / Rochester called Aysons Reserve. We all jumped on the bikes and explored the many tracks in the camp area, giving the boys the chance to let off steam before dark.

On our way

Waking to a typical winters day in South Gippy we were pleased to commence a new adventure. Farewelled Nanny, Buster, and all at the shop and hit the road. Outback NSW & Queensland await us!