BACK ON THE ROAD - CANUNGRA, BLI BLI & HERVEY BAY

As of midday Monday June 1st restrictions on travel in Queensland were lifted. Bloody beauty! That meant I could get back to my travels. Given I had been planning to leave on June 12th , the forecast date for intrastate movement to be allowed, I needed a few days to get ready to go.

Monday 1st. I had my fortnightly plasma donation taking place and I was still doing a few things to the van that I needed to complete. The stove lid had a nasty burn mark on it that I wanted to fix. My initial plan was to cover it with a sheet of black gloss Melamine or the like, but after speaking to a couple of cabinet makers it appeared I would need to purchase a whole sheet for one small piece....way too expensive. One of the blokes I spoke to did offer me a sheet of thin stainless steel for $20, which he cut to size. Excellent, that might just work. I would need to sand back the lid to get rid of the burn mark. I started to do so before discovering that the burn was actually on layer of plastic sheeting that was glued to the lid. I was able to slowly peel the entire layer off and after cleaning off the sticky residue with solvent I ended up with a gleaming black lid that looked like new....yay! Way better than the stainless steel sheet. I'm guessing it is now, however, far more fragile so will need to be careful with how I use the surface.

Another problem I had was at the front of the van. The vinyl behind the draw bar and gas bottles had started to pull away from where it tucked under the metal cladding above it. Shelley had a can of contact adhesive she used in her saddlery business and with her expertise we were able to glue the whole think back in place...woohoo!

By Wednesday I had cleaned the solar panels, skylight hatches, fly screens, windows and awning, which got rolled away. Tyre pressures on the van were checked and I used my pump to inflate all four to 45psi. They all needed a fair bit of air! It was a beautiful afternoon so Shell and I hit the golf course on Tamborine Mountain. It was Shelley's very first nine holes of golf. Armed with her new clubs she hit a pretty bloody good ball! Then Thursday afternoon we spent an hour or so at The Hills driving range...I think she's getting hooked.

I decided Friday would be D-Day. With lots of freecamp areas still closed I booked a site on YouCamp for three nights. Thursday I readied the car for travel - fuel fill, tyre pressures, oil check, tow mirrors attached and rear of the Jeep packed. That night Shelley, Adam, Lachy and myself shared a farewell dinner at the local Canungra Pub, making sure to arrive exactly at 7pm, as booked, and leave at 8pm as required, so the third 20 person dinner sitting could come inside the huge dining room. Covid - ugh!

Friday morning I said my goodbyes to Lachlan as he headed off to school. That was sad. I will miss him. With a fairly short run north to get to Bli Bli Valley Camp, I took my time getting ready - housework, water fill, van hook up and final pack up. By mid morning I was ready to go. It felt weird. It was like starting all over again and I must admit to feeling somewhat apprehensive. 11 weeks and 3 days of enjoying the relative luxury of living at Shell and Adam's (power, water, security, company etc) might have made me a bit soft. Did I remember how to tow? I did multiple walk rounds of the car/van checking connections, lights, brakes etc before bidding my final farewells. I hugged Shelley for ages. Thanks to my beautiful family for an amazing time in Covid-19 lockdown.

Once out on the road it wasn't long before I started to feel comfortable back behind the wheel. In perfect weather I made my way north, bypassing Brisbane on the M1 towards the Sunshine Coast. By early afternoon I had arrived at my destination, Bli Bli Valley Camp, some 190 km from Canungra.

Bli Bli is a rural town situated between Nambour which is located at the foot of the Blackall Range and beachside Maroochydore. The Maroochydore River and it's Petrie Creek tributary run through a subtropical wetland valley that used to be a sugar cane area. It's now open, lush, green farm land. Bli Bli Valley Camp is in the middle of the valley and has five huge, flat sites situated right on the edge of Petrie Creek as well as a large camping area adjacent. I had a spot right on the creek. It was so expansive I could have shared it with another 3 or 4 vans. The property owner, Darren, had sent me a message telling me to set up anywhere on the site and he would catch up with me later. It wasn't long before James and I had settled in. It was lovely!

Over the next few days I explored the area, doing a spot of grocery shopping, grabbing a coffee or two and checking out the local golf courses. One day we did a drive up through the picturesque Blackall Range to Baroon Pocket Dam. it was quite pretty. Most of the time though I was quite happy to chill beside the fire, throw a line in the creek and catch up with the other campers. Darren dropped in a few times for a chat. What a top bloke! I felt really comfortable on his farm.

After a leisurely pack up Monday we left Bli Bli and headed north once again on the Bruce Highway to our next destination, Harvey Bay. My friends, Marie and Ross, have a lovely home on a huge block of land very close to the beach at Point Vernon. I've camped on their front lawn on a few occasions. We arrived mid afternoon, backed the van in place, hooked up to water and power and set up. I discovered whilst connecting to power that one of my leads (the one that had been 'adapted' to convert from 10 amp to 15 amp) had a melted plug. It must have happened at Shelley's. Luckily Ross had a spare lead, so I borrowed that. I would need one of my own however, so put it on my 'to do' list before leaving.

It had been almost 12 months since our last visit, but James settled in immediately, remembering his mate Milo and the space. He was one happy puppy. The weather was not great, but each day we managed a walk or two with the fur babies. The beach that looks across to Fraser Island is a couple of hundred meters from Ross and Marie's and the dogs just love it there. It has fascinating rock formations and the views out over the turquoise bay to the island are stunning.

Ross, Marie and I took it in turns to cook each night and we shared yummy meals, nice wine and
good conversation. Our last night we went out to Chinese. It's something of a novelty to eat out now that Coronavirus restrictions are being lifted. The meal was delicious! One rainy afternoon we watched the movie The Invisible Man. If you ever get the chance to watch  it...don't bother! And I did manage, with Ross's guidance, to make up a new power lead to plug from the normal household 10 amp power point to the caravan's 15 amp lead. Not quite legal but I was rather impressed with myself!

Harvey Bay is a great spot and normally at this time of year is absolutely chockers with southern tourists. It's impossible to get a spot in a caravan park if you don't book well ahead. But sadly, Covid-19 has really stuffed up the local tourism industry at this time. The beachfront caravan parks were empty. I really hope that state borders are opened up soon so that lives and incomes can get back on track. Bloody Coronavirus!

CANUNGRA - MAY - A SLOW EMERGENCE FROM CORONAVIRUS RESTRICTIONS

Another month has passed in this new world of Covid-19. I'm still living in my van at my daughter's property in SE Qld some 10 weeks since my hasty arrival to beat border closures back in March. We are all well and life is pretty bloody good!

The past month has seen the easing of some restrictions in all states, albeit in varied ways between states and territories. Whilst social distancing, frequent hand sanitation and self-isolation/Covid testing if unwell are a requirement nationally, in Queensland the kids are all back at school, 10 people can dine in at a restaurant, most shops are open and we are all free to be out and about within 150 km of home base. We still can't go off caravanning, however. At least, not just yet in this neck of the woods.

The weather has cooled significantly through May. Once the sun starts to go down it's definitely time for jeans and long sleeves, though the days tend to sit in the mid 20's and are delightful. My nightly fires are now a necessity beyond that of my mental well-being alone. The daily routine is as follows:  heater on, onesie on, kettle on between 6 and 7AM; coffee, computer, ABC TV news and knitting in bed till 9ish; housework and exercise till lunchtime; then out and about for golf, shopping, blood bank etc; pick up Lachy from school at 2.40, to the shops for food for him then home by 3.30; change into warm clothes, split the wood and make the fire; 5ish, pour a wine and sit in front of the fire before retreating to the van for dinner around 7.

Picking Lachy up each day is a highlight. With adolescence looming and the desire to grunt rather than converse being something of a norm, the relief of escaping from school combined with the anticipation of food leads to animated conversation. It's a joy to my ears to listen to his excited  chatter.

Golf is yet another joy. Most days I either go to the driving range at Jimboomba Hills golf course or get nine holes in at Tamborine Mountain course on the way to getting Lachlan. I treated myself to a lesson a couple of weeks back and it has made a huge difference to how cleanly I'm hitting the ball. Shelley and Lachy came to the range with me one Sunday prompting Shell to buy herself a set of second-hand clubs on Gumtree. That was a great day's outing. We went over to the Gold Coast to pick up the clubs then checked out a couple of the big golf retail outlets buying a new bag, putter and balls. From there we drove up to Clancy's Irish Pub on Tamborine Mountain (where we had pre-booked to meet the 10 person seating rule) and enjoyed a delicious sit-down restaurant meal and wine. It was excellent!

One stunning day Shell took me for a drive to a place called Lost World, a short drive south of Beaudesert. The surrounding mountains and geographic formations look like something out of prehistoric times. Really stunning scenery. We stopped to walk the dogs at a camping spot by a river called Darlington Park. It was closed off to campers due to restrictions, but open for day trippers. Definitely one to keep in mind when I hit the road.

Saturday just gone we enjoyed a family outing to the quaint little town of Boonah for lunch then up into the Koreelah National Park where we stopped to enjoy the amazing views at The Head. We ended up doing a 6 hour loop that took us via the beautiful Queen Mary Falls to Killarney on the south-western side of the range. The quickest way home meant we had to go across the border into NSW. With border restrictions that meant we could get into NSW but would be stopped at the checkpoint crossing back into Qld. Shell phoned a friend who just happened to be a cop and he talked her through doing an online application to get border passes downloaded to her phone. That did the trick and the drive home past stunning Mount Lindsay where our permits were checked by police as we returned to Queensland was very scenic.

Throughout May, with much help from Adam, I did some work on the van. The ceiling lights, one of which had actually fallen out and the other two of which were not working, needed replacing. I picked up 3 much more modern and very pretty new ones from Jayco. Adam put them in and they look amazing!

My bathroom/toilet cubicle had been giving me the shits for ages as the molded plastic had gone from white to a disgusting dirty brownish color, one of the mirror doors to the cabinet had smashed long ago so was missing and the other door was looking manky and rusty. One day when I was out walking I got talking to a neighbour who was a painter. I quizzed him about painting over the surface and he gave me details of the products that would do the job. A trip to Bunnings provided me with all the stuff I would need, and I set about the week-long task of prepping, priming and double spraying. It was messy to say the least as it was oil-based paint and airborne paint specs got everywhere...ugh! I eventually got it all done and with Adam's help one again, also installed two new mirror doors that I had made at a local glazier's. I was very happy with the end result!

MAY 2020 COVID-19 STATISTICS & SITUATION

1/3/20

Global Infections:  86,604              Australian Infections:  25

Global Deaths:   2977                  Australian Deaths:   0   

1/4/20

Global Infections:  871,371            Australian Infections:  4763

Global Deaths:   42,107         Australian Deaths:  20

1/5/20

Global Infections:  3,322,966            Australian Infections:  6766

Global Deaths:  234,408         Australian Deaths:  93

1/6/20

Global Infections:  6,259,224            Australian Infections:  7,195

Global Deaths:  373,691         Australian Deaths:  103

I think we are very lucky here in Australia. So many countries in the world have been hit incredibly hard by Covid-19, the USA alone approaching two million cases and over 100,000 deaths. Europe, UK and Brazil have also been hammered. The official global death toll and number of cases is most certainly well below the actual.

As restrictions lift in Australia there is a growing sense of relief but there is also growing concern over our future. Relations with China have deteriorated, the USA is a mess and our confidence in their role as the world super power is crumbling. The stability of our economy, as well as that of every other country is a an unknown, and while our internal and external borders remain closed and restrictions on numbers of people who can gather is limited, it's difficult to see how life will ever return to normal.

CANUNGRA, QUEENSLAND - APRIL WITH COVID-19

As of today, May 1st. I have been in government-enforced lockdown at my daughter's property near Canungra for five weeks and three days, so there's not a lot to write about from a travel perspective.

Having said that, the 'stay at home' rule does have some exceptions. We can go out for essential shopping, medical appointments, education, work or exercise. My son in law Adam, who is a tradesman, still goes out to work although he is not doing the number of hours he normally would. My daughter Shelley is a saddle-maker who specializes in custom hand-made bridles. She has a workshop on the property and is surprisingly busy. They both leave home to ride their bikes, shop or do work-related travel. Grandson Lachy is remote schooling under the daily direction of his classroom teacher via a web link. Shelley and Adam oversee that in the home.

As for me I have managed to keep pretty busy. I'm doing lots of chipping and putting practice, going on 8-10 km walks, working out on the rowing machine or doing Pilates on my yoga mat. I've started a new 'paint by numbers', done a few jigsaws, I'm knitting a jumper, reading, learning macrame, spending a lot of time on the internet and watching more 'catch up TV' than I have ever done in my entire life. Every now and then I make myself a gourmet lunch, pour a glass of wine and pretend I am sharing it with a friend, as I have so often done in the past.

My big outing is a fortnightly trip to Robina, some 30 km away, to attend the blood bank and give plasma. Woohoo! That's except for today. My appointment was canceled due to the blood bank running out of some pieces of equipment, necessary to the collection, that come from overseas. That's a worry for those who need blood products. Could it be the shape of things to come I wonder...shortages of imported goods!

The weather has been stunning. High 20's cooling just enough in the evening to warrant a daily campfire. That's the best part of my day. I collect and split the wood before lighting the fire around 5. Shelley joins me for a drink and a chat beside it - Adam as well sometimes. Even Lachy (who is umbilically attached to his computer) comes over and toasts the odd marshmallow from time to time.

  

I have lots of long phone calls with daughters Emma and Fiona in Victoria, as well as staying in touch with my sisters and a handful of close friends. Everyone seems to be making more of an effort to connect. That's an upside to this devastating pandemic.

We are all exercising 'social distancing' here at my new home as required but we have shared a few meals both beside the fire and in the house. Lachlan's 11th birthday was a special event celebrated by just the four of us with pizza and ice-cream cake. I reckon he'll remember it as his Covid Birthday.

Lachy and I did share another special time on Anzac Day when he came with me into Canungra to get take away coffee and brunch. We walked across to the park in the centre of town and were fortunate enough to share, inadvertently,  in the 11am Ceremony. It was very moving with an old bugler playing the Last Post. I did shed a tear or two.

I'm loving the wildlife and the King Parrots are now so cheeky they fly into my van in the morning to sit on the back of my seat and look at me working on my laptop in bed! Clearly they want some sunflower seeds.

Yesterday Shelley and I flauted the rules and went for a drive to a nearby lookout where we shared a couple of glasses of bubbles. I have been missing my outback pub visits, so Shell took me out. That was a lovely treat. Big (distance) hugs for number one daughter!

There's no doubt I'm one of the lucky ones. I have a safe and beautiful space to sit out this absolutely weird time of Covid-19, I have family to interact with, we're all well and Australia is in a better position health-wise than pretty much any other country in the world. I know there are some of my fellow OZ travelers out there who live permanently on the road and are locked down in some not-so-nice spaces and circumstances. That could have been me! Lucky me!

APRIL 2020 COVID-19 STATISTICS & SITUATION

1/3/20

Global Infections:  86,604              Australian Infections:  25

Global Deaths:   2977                  Australian Deaths:   0   

1/4/20

Global Infections:  871,371            Australian Infections:  4763

Global Deaths:   42,107         Australian Deaths:  20

1/5/20

Global Infections:  3,322,966            Australian Infections:  6766

Global Deaths:  234,408         Australian Deaths:  93

In Australia restrictions have remained in place, with plans to start easing some state-imposed restrictions as I write.

The world is heading toward recession, if not depression, due to job losses, business closures and the economic consequences. Trillions of dollars are being spent by governments world wide to support individuals and businesses, and to prop up their economies.

Global debt is unprecedented.

Not only have we all lost many of our fundamental freedoms, but our future generation will be hamstrung by debt for many years to come.

The upside for our earthly environment is that because there are very few factories operating, almost no planes flying, a fraction of cars on the road and a huge drop in air pollution generally, the world can breathe again. The skies over China are blue and dolphins are swimming in the canals in Vienna.

There's always a silver lining....