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PT Adventures

maj 2024
We have thought about this for a long time, and have just finished kitting out our campervan. Now, time to travel! Läs mer
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Datum stigande
  • ResenärPT Adventures
    Dag 1–2

    Blackbutt

    12 maj, Australien ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    We arrived safely at Blackbutt around lunchtime, but nearly didn't make it when Tom had a senior moment in Kilcoy. He almost ran into the back of a car when there was a lapse in his concentration, so he jammed on the brakes quite violently. Poor Starlink flew off the bed, smashed into Ninja Foodi and the stool, making me think all were unrecoverable. Tom immediately went into a side street and declared he wasn't fit to drive any more. Luckily none of the aforementioned casualties sustained and lasting issues, with me learning how to more securely stow all the "stuff" in the campervan. Lesson learned, Universe. Quite cheaply too! Thank you. 😊Läs mer

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  • ResenärPT Adventures
    Dag 2

    St George

    13 maj, Australien ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    After a chilly start to the day, we set out on our trip to St George. Along the way we stopped at Dalby and got out for a walk.

    You know you're really in the country when you come across a place selling cattle crushes! For the uninitiated, they are used to keep cattle in place whilst you are drenching them, branding them, or other associated cattle-type activities.

    Hands up who's seen the movie about Temple Grandin, the American academic? Now that's another use for a cattle crush!

    Anyway, here we are in cute St George, enjoying a fireside view. And pretending I'm on a rotisserie, turning round and round, heating all sides.

    Toasty now, so it's time for bed. And no, I didn't forget to put the extra blanket on Tom's side. I don't need it, because I'm already hot!    Läs mer

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  • ResenärPT Adventures
    Dag 3–5

    Cunnamulla

    14 maj, Australien ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Well, here we are, in Cunnamulla, searching for the Cunnamulla fella. After many steps around the town, we finally found him! And all of the women lining up to see him!

    We also went for a walk around town to see what we could see and had our first hot drink from the bakery. I wasn't real impressed, as the apple slice I was salivating over was partly frozen! Not happy, Jan.

    On reflection, we probably should have spent another day at St George, rather than here, as the token seemed to be bubbling with life there, whereas here it's a little sad.

    The few Queenslanders that we saw were lovely. However, most of the buildings around here were a little, or a lot, rundown. How some of them haven't been totally condemned is beyond me. And they have people living in them.

    I keep on expecting to walk around a corner and run into Slim Dusty, or Lee Kernaghan, warbling about the Cunnamulla Fella whilst strumming their guitars.

    It's about 21 years too late for Slim, and Lee is probably still celebrating his 60th birthday 🎂. Ah well, such is life! Still, we're rolling along and enjoying all the sights and the red dirt! And fingers crossed when Tom's driving 🚗🙂!    Läs mer

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  • ResenärPT Adventures
    Dag 4

    Another Cunnamulla

    15 maj, Australien ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    The BCF hijab face covering is amazingly versatile! Not only does it protect your whole face, neck and head from the sun, but it has a myriad of other uses as well.

    For me, it protects my face so hopefully I don't get another scc cancer. Although, when you stop and think about it, that was quite beneficial, making me a bit like Benjamin Button!

    But today's tasty little teaser was that it protected me from the flies. You know. Those sticky little buggers that find their way into your nose or mouth when you're walking, making you gag involuntarily!

    Well, that wasn't me, today, but it was Tom! On our walk out to the Riverside Caravan Park, about four and a half kms out of town, they attacked him with such ferocity that he was gagging and choking! I thought he was having a conniption.

    That's another little hidden gem of the hijab! One can't see when the other is smiling like a Cheshire cat because you were clever enough to bring yours with you on holidays (i.e. me) when you left yours behind. Ah, regret, my old friend. I meet you again.

    And the ten things you can do in Cunnamulla? It turns out that there's only a few, and we'd done them all on the first day! Going to the information centre, though, we were bombarded with a wealth of knowledge of other things you could do that Google didn't know about, or forgot to inform us about!

    Anyway, a picture tells a thousand stories, so here's a multitude of them to keep you going for the next ten years! (Next time, ask for the Executive Summary. You'll save yourself some time, or simply scroll on by.... Nobody's forcing you to read this drivel.)    Läs mer

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  • ResenärPT Adventures
    Dag 5–7

    Charleville

    16 maj, Australien ⋅ 🌙 16 °C

    Today was us for a short drive to Charleville. The skies looked ominous, with heavy, rain-laden clouds abounding. The perennial pessimist noted that we could get flooded out on the roads, because look at all the flood levels. The eternal optimist scoffed at the idea and kept on driving.

    Along the way, quite a few old man emus made themselves visible (now tell me you don't have that song in your head .. "let me tell you of an interview... with..."). With some luck and slowing down almost to a stop, we missed them. Dammit! Just kidding. Don't get your knickers in a twist.

    So, whilst trying to placate the perennial pessimist, who wanted the headlights turned on, in the daylight, I happened upon a knob that I hadn't touched before. Today, I flicked it up. Nothing. Okay. Keep on driving 🚗. Then another set of emus made their way onto the road, so again I went to slow down.

    Now, I've always prided myself on being fairly switched on, but obviously I've given myself waayyy too much credit! When I took my foot off the accelerator, it kept on going at the same speed. That's when I got my Eureka moment! I found out, to my eternal delight, that we have cruise control in the van!!!!! How good is that? And here I was thinking we should get it installed. So, that's my moment of stupid. Confessed! Forgiven?

    Around 10.30am we arrived in the surprisingly delightful township of Charleville. It is the much, much richer cousin to Cunnamulla, with lots of 'open' shops (as in, not closed), structurally sound housing, delightful parks and plenty of places of interest to whet your appetite! A night or two might have to be had here!

    On asking Google where the information centre was, we got directed to the Cosmos Centre - a bit like the planetarium in Melbourne. This destination apparently was correct until about 2018, but not any more, Mr Invasive Google! Get your facts right, would you? Stop sending us on wild goose chases, will you?

    So we located Baileys Bar Caravan Park, and drove in to book a spot. I asked for a site with a view of the amenities block (- long story; one for another time) and was guided to the site by .... well, hello country bumpkin, how's the frost out on the pumpkin 🎃 🙄? I digress. Can't get that song out of my head! Bet you can't either! What do you mean? You don't know it???

    Just across the road behind us are the Showgrounds and the Racecourse. It's Show Day here tomorrow (in capitals), so all the stalls are setting up with food, rides, and expectations of fun and frivolity abound. It's a public holiday here tomorrow (hence the capitals), so we'll try and get some different types of excitement into our lives. Wish us luck!    Läs mer

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  • ResenärPT Adventures
    Dag 7–8

    Miles

    18 maj, Australien ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    It was time to move on today, so having risen early (you know the old saying "early to bed, early to rise"), we set off from Charleville around 8am. Filled the van up with diesel, then hit the road. A few kms out of town is a lovely little area called the rock pools. We ducked in there for a quick photo, with Tom lamenting that the road was unsealed and we were going to wreck our tyres, only to find that it was just about fifty metres off the main highway. (I didn't have to say anything. Hehehe.)

    Soon enough we were off and continuing our trip to Miles. About one km down the road, I waved at a car, that was suspiciously like the one that Robert and Rosalita drove (those of the 30,000 acres). Sure enough, no sooner had I told Tom who I thought it was, and my phone began ringing. As I was driving, Tom answered and was able to practice his Tagalog on Rosalita. (Methinks we may have a stalker on our hands. She rang again in the afternoon too. Do do do do. Do do do do. Duh duh! In the best scary music. I mean, why would anyone want to befriend us? Hahaha.)

    The trip to Miles was fairly ordinary and boring, apart from the times that we had to stop at red lights, it in the middle of nowhere, with nothing coming in the other direction.

    That's when it got all fired up, with the husband invoking all sorts of hell on those flea-ridden sons of witches (I'm sure that's part of the diatribe that came spewing forth from his sainted mouth, but maybe I misheard. Perhaps it just sounded like witches! Hmmn, I'll ponder that for a second or two. Done! It may, just may have, started with a b, but the next words were ducking idiots, or some such thing!) Inside I was chuckling (no, not shuffling), but didn't dare show my wayward thoughts on my face. Oh no, that would never do! Hehehe. Not then, anyway. And not now, especially not now, when the football is on.

    When I became the passenger, we drive past a sign that said "Injune". I would have liked to have gone and seen that place, but we couldn't. We weren't allowed to. We're only in May, and can't meet the selection criteria. (Well, you live with a leopard long enough... you do know that saying, don't you?)

    On entering Miles today, the speed sign showed 60, then immediately under it was Miles. Didn't we convert to kilometres back when dinosaurs were pups? I could have sworn we did. Which got me to pondering, would we have a valid argument if we got caught doing 100kms that we were only obeying the road signs? What if I were American? Would that make a difference? The vagaries of life. Sigh!!!

    A walk, and a wash (shower didn't have quite the same ring to it), then off to the pub for a counter meal. My lemon pepper calamari was delicious, and judging by the way Tom polished off his huge, dripping burger with the lot (and more!), so was his. As football was on (and he can't eat dessert immediately after finishing the meal), we got a couple of sticky date puddings, with scream (icecream) to go. And boy, it went!

    The husband is now solidly cursing, tutting, sighing and generally not emitting any signs of pleasure, that methinks St Kilda are not performing as they should. (They're probably performing as expected, but still, it breaks his heart every single time!!!) Poor lad. Whoops. More tutting and tongue clicking!

    Here come the sighs again, interspersed with some more ducks, so time for me to bury my head under a pillow and feign the state of sleep. I don't want to enter into any discussion about the merits or otherwise of those ducking idiots. (I wonder why they do that all the time? Duck!? Another one of the mysteries of the universe! We're dealing with all the big issues in the world here....) Night 🌙 night 🌙 😴 people. I'm off to the Land of Nod!    Läs mer

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  • ResenärPT Adventures
    Dag 8–9

    Kilcoy

    19 maj, Australien ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    A chilly start to the morning today. Heavens, I'm beginning to sound a lot like Christmas.... No, you fool. Not that one. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record. There. That's much better. I guess it's winter, so what else can I expect?

    So, we put some miles (kms?) between us and Miles today. The husband drove as far as Dalby, then allowed me to take over. (???) When I got into the driver's seat, I immediately saw a warning light on, near the 20km mark on the speedo. What is this? I asked.

    The husband feigned all knowledge of the light, and tried to infer it must have been me! Me?? No, I just got in. Look it up in the book, I says. Couldn't find it. Do you want me to pull over and check it out myself? Says I. (I'd better. I used to own a service station, so I have a bit of a handle on these sort of things, you know.)

    Ah! There it is! Where? asked the husband. Under troubleshooting, and what these lights mean. says I. Okay. It's a fuel particle filter that is filled up. Recommended course of action? Follow up with your mechanic asap. Bloody heck, I says, we just spent over two grand a week or so ago, supposedly having those things replaced! (Don't get me started on that! That's a whole 'nother story, for 'nother day!)

    So, we limped to Kilcoy, on a wing and a prayer, with me driving. I'll send that bloody mechanic a text or two once we get there, I says, trying to pacify the explosive husband... (It's a tough job, but someone's gotta do it! And Imarried him, so it had to be me.)

    Well, the Kilcoy showgrounds, where we ended up for the night, has a wonderful area for caravans and campers. It's a lovely setting, right next to the racecourse, and we even got to have our showers in the jockey's room! Just line up the door directly opposite the winning line, where that big horseshoe is, the caretaker told us. That's where you'll find the showers! Find them, we did. And it was lovely to be able to come out of the shower, without smelling like a sulphuric egg fart, I can tell you.

    A walk had to be had, as it wasn't completed in the morning, and what a pretty area it is for walking! There was lots of water, with a plethora of birdlife, all twittering, warbling, cawing and emitting all sorts of noises, but there were literally hundreds of them. Ducks, swans, pelicans, storks, cranes, waterbirds, all sorts of things that flap and fly, with most of them indulging in the delectable delights of the watercourse.

    Our belies filled with roast chicken, mash and steamed veggies (home made, or is that van made? Not man made - woman made!) saw us watching a new series, scoffing down some chocolate frogs for dessert, then off to the Land of Nod!

    Oh, that reminds me. I read out the last two paragraphs of yesterday's diatribe to the husband this morning. He almost wet himself laughing and asked me to send it to him, like he usually does when I tell him a good joke. 👍 When I told him the joke was on him, he was bewildered. What do you mean? He says.

    It's like this, honey. I go for a wander around my mind while you're watching footy, and keep myself thoroughly entertained with a myriad of things! Eventually, I settle on one or two, and last night it was you and footy. But, he says, I thought it was about some St Kilda tragic... confused look on his face. It was, I says, it was you! Needless to say, I've been relegated to the sin bin ever since. Not sure if he'll ever forgive me. 😕 lol. And this was going to be a short one today. Looks like I can't do short! Sweet dreams.    Läs mer

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  • ResenärPT Adventures
    Dag 9–13

    Somerset Dam

    20 maj, Australien ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    I'll tell you something, the mornings are icy cold; cold enough to make you want to stay in bed. All day. But nature makes her calls, and one must heed them, otherwise you would inadvertently pass the bed. Oh, not pass, but sounds like... 👌Therefore one must be brave and face the trek through the long, wet grass in order to assuage nature's call.

    Morning abulations (or is it truly adorations, like my auto-correct came up with) done and dusted, we thought we'd get the jump on the others and make it to Somerset Dam nice and early. A check of the map showed a long and winding road (that leads to your door ... who sang it??), so the long-suffering husband says, I'll drive. Ummn. No. Why not? he says. Because you'll just try to flog it. It needs to be nursed along, because there hasn't been a response from that dratted A1 mechanic (so he thinks, but I'll have a word with him!) as yet and I'm ready to give him a piece of my mind.

    Hmmn. Better not do that, 'cos I need every part of it that I've still got left, otherwise I'll be slowly losing it! So, back to the long and winding road... It didn't lead me to your door at all, Somerset Dam. It lead me astray and to the township instead. I asked the husband to do that (check what the address was, so we could get google to lead us astray), but no, we're very clever and can do that without Google's help. Besides, the races takes precedence! Let's stop at the general store. A hot chocolate (with almond milk) later saw us returning almost to our point of origin as our destination. We certainly took the long way. All the byways.

    If you're confused now, imagine how I feel! I have to live with this mess that is my mind. (Whoops, too many exclamation marks. Can't have that. Let's try again.) Ah yes, the destination. We checked in early, before 10am, in spite of going to the wrong place, but it was a pretty enough place to see regardless, and we got to see the mist on the water near the dam wall, which was real pretty. Once we set up, I sent out messages to the hordes that were yet to arrive, to let them know where we were located.

    One by one, they arrived in their twos, setting up their caravans, wild west style - all in a circle and pitch everything in the middle. I was so impressed by their speed and efficiency in getting set up and bringing out the liquid nourishment. We were still trying to do our washing, so we could make our bed! But much excitement was had with us all being there together. ☺️

    Nibblies and drinks were distributed to all, then superwoman, who was trying to put us all to shame (successfully too, I might add), whipped out the bickies she'd baked, then later a homemade veggie soup, followed by a Mexican dish with guacamole sour cream etc etc, completed by a lemon curd dessert with thickened cream! Well bowl me over and call me tweety, I bowed to the greater person that I'll aspire to be. When I grow up.

    It seemed to be a bit of a competition happening, as another one, not to be outdone, whipped up a cheese and onion damper (cooked in a camp oven on the table), followed by chicken drumsticks, also cooked in the same. Boy, do I now know what I want to be when I grow up!?! Yes. Yes indeed I do. I wanna, I wanna... just kidding. I want to be a man! Yes indeedy, I do! I got a taste of it today, with the real women doing all the work, and me just sitting there twiddling my thumbs, feeling like a twat for not having thought of anything like that, let alone for everyone! Oh. Do men actually feel like twats, or do they just take it for granted?

    But definitely a huge thank you to those who made the day a very special one. ❤️ I am in awe of all of you that put in the massive efforts to raise the marquees, fix the dinners for everyone, get a rip-roaring fire going and create a magnificent ambience and contribute to great conversation, even if it only appealed to the lowest common denominator. Replete with gratitude, we said our good nights 🌙 ✨️ (early; is hard work, this having fun. It takes it all out of you) and headed back to our powered site to watch our last episode (of our limited series) and retire to bed. Sweet dreams, beautiful people!!! You are amazing. Hakuna matata.    Läs mer

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  • ResenärPT Adventures
    Dag 12

    Last night Somerset

    23 maj, Australien ⋅ 🌙 11 °C

    Ahh, the last few hours together spent playing games and sitting around the fireplace telling tall tales. And short tales. Before the tears start. When one-by-one each of us slowly pack up and pull out of the park, on our sad journey back to reality! No Mum. I don't want to go. Can't I stay a little bit longer? (Oh, won't you stay-a-ay a little bit longer? Please, please, pretty please??) Enough with the tears! It's time!!

    We had a couple of nocturnal visitors tonight, with a feral cat stalking across the grass. Then a mob of kangaroos came thumping down past us to the riverside, or is that dam side? to feed on the sweet and lusciously tender grass at the edge of the water, their silhouettes shining in the moonlight!

    In spite of the full moon, no-one started howling at it, so I don't know if that was a good or a bad thing. Then, whilst we were all sitting around the fire, telling tales and sharing far too many details for good sense, a brush tailed possum casually strutted on past, frightening the bejesus out of many of us! Heart, do not pound so. It's only looking for Bangers Ugg boots to mate with!

    Peter and the others cooked up a storm whilst I was lazing around in the bed, overcome from trying to keep up the frenetic pace over the past couple of days! I'll have to go home for a rest, after this holiday! This is all too much fun and excitement for this old heart to bear! Who are you calling old? Surely you couldn't be refering to moi, could you? What do you mean? Yes, you could! (Bawling starts!!!) Don't be a wuss!!!

    We've played mini-golf, trying to get little round balls into seemingly square holes. We all think that the first off the mark must have cheated, because his usual score per hole was either a 2 or a 3! We had to keep asking if anyone actually saw him get those scores. I'm not saying he was cheating, but come on! Can anyone achieve those results by fair means? When it came time to declare the winner, everyone knew who won, so there was no need for any other scores.

    The first round of players asked us what our average score was. We're like, did we really want to know? (I tore the scorecards up, because we all had so much fun, no-one was actually a loser. What more did we need to know?) But definitely fun and hilarity was had by all! To think, all these years I thought that playing golf was equivalent to watching grass grow!! How much fun would that be? Little did I know that I might, just might, become a convert. We'll, perhaps we won't go that far, but it was a lot of fun.

    One of the local hotels has a sign at the entrance to the park, stating they would provide a pick-up service for anyone wanting to eat there. I rang to book for 13 people, but they told us that the van only seated 11, thus 2 had to make their own way in. When the bus turned up, there was an extra person in the van that come along for the ride! What? Are you kidding me? Why would they do that? It meant that the youngest had to sit on the floor and duck down every time we passed a policeman. Eeekk! Where were their heads at? I shake my head in disbelief at times!!!

    So now we're all getting sad about leaving tomorrow. Must it come to an end? Yes, Peter Pan. Everyone has to grow up sometime. And do some adulting. Now it's time for the Land of Nod, as the eyelids grow heavy and start to close all by themselves. Yawn?!?!! Goodnight folks, fans and others. It's time to stack some zzzzzs. P.S. Note to self: proofreading is a must when the soft sounds of snoring start rising, instead of precision and crystal sharp concentration!    Läs mer

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