Relaxing at Kyogle

Our overnight stop at the Bluff Rock Rest Area was surprisingly quiet despite it being quite close to the road. As usual we were the last van to depart the Rest Area on Saturday morning in stunning weather and with no particular travel plan. With us closing in on Brisbane we are finding that there are less and less free spots to stay so we are having to do a bit more planning each night.  Even with the lack of free sites, we are preferring Low Cost sites i.e. Showgrounds, rather than staying in Caravan Parks.

Dearne at the Tenderfield Markets

As we were only a short distance from Tenderfield we decided to drive into the town and have a quick look around.  As ‘luck would have it’ the town was having its’ monthly Saturday market so of course that is where we headed. It’s amazing how Dearne can sniff out a market from a 100km away. The opinion was ‘that it was a nice little market’ but we did not come away with any new ideas for future income generation.

Driving through Casino

From Tenderfield we carried on along the New England Highway to Casino. Again with the cooler temperature and early spring, the landscape looked very much like we were travelling along any New Zealand country road. The ‘road kill’ was a little different to home but the country was very green with new lambs and calves on the paddocks.

Speaking of ‘road kill’, we have never addressed these experiences on our blog mainly because the grandchildren follow us and the explanations and/or visualisations could upset them. We have seen our fair share since commencing our journey in June 13 – kangaroo, wallaby, pig, sheep, cattle, camel, wombat, snakes, lizards etc etc..  We have done our bit by assisting a snake off the road and on another day slowing to allow a couple of rather large lizards to cross and live on. We have yet to come across an injured animal where the ‘humane’ thing was required and to our credit (we say ‘our’ because we share the driving) we have managed to avoid any animal/vehicle contact.

Entertainment on Sunday at the Kyogle Showground

We stopped and had lunch at Casino then headed north along The Summerland Way to a little town called Kyogle. We made a decision at Casino that we would stay at Kyogle to get off the highways over this long weekend. We are staying at the Kyogle showground along with about twenty other motorhomes who are travelling as part of a club outing. They have made us feel very welcome and included us in their socialising.

We will leave here tomorrow (Monday) and continue along The Summerland Way northwards towards Brisbane.  We have to be in Brisbane on the 16^th October so we still have a few days to take in more of Queensland and complete this part of our journey.