Week 0

We will be travelling south with our friends, Peter and Pam, as far as Melbourne on this trip.  We both decided that as neither of us had been away in our caravans for about a year, a short 'shakedown' trip would be a good idea to find out any niggling problems.  It's always better to fix something before you're 1000kms from home!

With more friends, Mike and Julie, we decided on Andrew Drynan Park.  This is located on the scenic Lions Road in the Border Ranges area of southern Qld only a stone's throw from the NSW border.

A really beautiful setting with a babbling creek about 30 metres down the bank beyond the vans.

We had two nights here.  As there are no power facilities, we were relying on our new batteries (2 x 120AHr AGM) and they performed excellently.  As the weather was perfect during the daytime, the solar panels had the batteries back up to 'float' levels by lunchtime.  The fact that we'd also replaced all the internal lights with LEDs was also a lot less drain on the batteries.  Fortunately, it was cool enough on the first night for us to try out our new diesel heater in the early hours of the morning.

On the second day, we took two vehicles and went into the Border Ranges Nat Pk for a drive.  The first stop was the Kyogle or Cougal or Border Loop.  This is a section of the Sydney to Brisbane standard gauge rail line where the track has to loop over itself to gain 30m (98') height to clear the Richmond Pass.

Looking South - the northbound trains enter at top left and proceed behind the central hill to appear again at middle right.  It then keeps turning left 360° across the bottom of the photo until it appears again at about 1/3rd in from the right.  At this point it then sets course across the border into Qld.  No trains in sight as most come through at night.  There are only two loops like this in Australia.

Map of the Loop from much the same orientation as the photo but a higher vantage point.

The Loop was originally surveyed in 1913, but not built until the Great Depression.

We all had a bite to eat in the forest and were joined by a Satin Bower Bird and a couple of Currawongs.

Satin Bower Birds are so difficult to photograph as their plumage is just about black.  This one has obviously been captured at some stage as it's been banded.

One of the two Currawongs waiting for the visitors to depart so they could scavenge any morsels we left behind.

We then proceeded to The Pinnacle where we had the most beautiful view looking east towards Mt Warning, the Tweed Valley and the sea.  It was a bit hazy so the coast wasn't immediately obvious.

Mt Warning is the first part of the Australian continent to catch the morning sun.

After two trouble-free nights with great company, we all said goodbye and returned home.

From left: ????, Sue, Pam, Mike, Julie, Peter

The end result of the shakedown trip was a slight leak in one of the fresh water tanks, but was otherwise uneventful.

On to Sydney, Melbourne and Tasmania!

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