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Max's First Road Trip
  • Bec Taylor

Max's First Road Trip

A 21-day adventure by Bec Read more
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  • Trip start
    May 18, 2025
  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Home to Narrabri

    May 18 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    A ridiculously early start today, between packing in then rain, night time wake ups to a sick boy, and getting everything organised, then noticing the horrendous forecast, we got moving with maybe 3 hours of sleep.
    Max was dozing to start the trip and Puppy was too busy cracking the shits that the window wasn't down with the pouring rain. We stopped off at Singleton for a wander around and a feed for Max. On our usual trips, Pup is a bit of a pest in the car and won't settle until after the first stop, this was no different. Had another stint to Scone before Max cracked it, another wander and feed. Then we managed a longer stint to get us to Narrabri, Max did crack it again about 20 minutes out, thank God for Hey Bear on YouTube keeping him distracted, I think I'm double jointed in my shoulder now.
    We checked into Big Sky Narrabri caravan park,  thankfully we decided ages ago that we'd book a cabin for the first night. The camper is easy enough, but with little sleep and now Ben and I starting to feel a bit sick, it was the best choice. Alana, who I worked with at Glendale until she did a stint at Broken Hill last year, is currently at Wee Waa, came for a visit. It was so wonderful to see her, bonus that she brought snacks and caffeine! She was telling us stories, recently a bunch of the local teenagers were chasing roos onto the road with motorbikes etc, being absolute pests. Also the pig situation here is a lot apparently, so she took off before it got too dark, her Getz wouldn't win in a fight against the local wildlife. We all got some naps in thank goodness and we just had an easy dinner, wraps. Pup was doing plenty of pacing around but he went to the bathroom without too much prompting and settled in. Poor Max was definitely not doing well, very congested and his little cough kept waking him up.    Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    To Lightning Ridge

    May 19 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Even with the coughing, now from Max and I, we all had a much better sleep overnight. A relatively easy morning, just popping everything back into the car, feeding the boys and battling Max to spray Fess up his nose. We headed into town to stock up at the pharmacy and to get a few more groceries before heading to Lightning Ridge. It's ridiculously windy today, hopefully better out of town.
    We headed for Lightning Ridge with a few stops in mind if needed, but once Max fell asleep, that was him for the trip, so we just pushed on. We stopped at Stanley the Emu, a metal art sculpture that was originally meant for Birdsville. There was a story at the rest stop, explaining that Lightning ridge got it's name after a stockman and his flock of sheep died after a lightning strike. The locals seemed to disagree with the actual location however.
    Next we stopped off for a quick photo at the welcome sign, before heading to the information centre. Lots of Opal related signage around, it reminded us of Emerald and Sapphire when we did our Cape trip, funnily enough.
    Onward through town to the caravan park for 2 nights. We're staying at the big4 Opal park and splurged on an ensuite site while we get used to travelling with Max. Pup slept through set up, he was stoked when he realised his expensive kennel was here, straight into a tantrum on his bed.
    We were all pretty exhausted and being sick doesn't help, so as much as we wanted to venture out for a little bit, we decided just to rest up and chill.
    The park is lovely, the bore baths are 200m up the road, we saw a group of people walking up with their towels when we got in. Also at 4:30pm each afternoon there's a social gathering at they pavillion where a few locals have a yarn, sometimes they have a comedian etc, super lovely, just not for us. They also told us that there's barista coffee each morning, so I might need to test that out.
    Usual evening routine, cooking up dinner, showers and settling in, just added playtime for Maxy. Both Ben and I struggled to get the 'soap' off us when we had a shower, didn't realise until later that it's obviously the water up here.
    Not too much of a battle at bedtime, with the exception of trying to get pup back outside for a wee before bed.    Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Brunch and a wander

    May 20 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    Everyone slept pretty well overnight, I had Pup and Ben had Max, and everyone was pretty settled. It did get quite cold, but no real dramas and didn't need the heater or anything.
    A nice slow morning around the camper before heading off to Opal Street Cafe for a feed and a coffee. Another friend from work grew up in Lightning ridge and a friend of hers own the place. They had a pay it forward post it post it note to cover people's coffees/food if needed, and you could leave a note for an intended recipient - a teacher, nurse, anyone who needs it - no questions asked, it was really lovely, food was good too. While we waited, Pup and I went for a wander through the garden of the John Murray gallery, definitely seen some of his artworks around.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Walk in Mine

    May 20 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Next we headed for the Blue Car Door Tour, there are 5 self drive options of recommended locations to visit, such a great idea. Having Pup and Max made the decision for us for which locations to visit thay weren't too much of a drive but were also going to work for us. First stop was the Walk in Mine. We explored the gardens and shop, taking a few quirky photos, before a lovely gentleman asked if we'd be interested in doing the self guided tour, we double checked the info about Pup and how many stairs etc, he wasn't worried as long as we weren't. Ben carried Pup down the 31 steps, then it was flat down the mine. A couple who went in before us had a tour guide, so we listened in to her on occasion while having a look through. It was really well done and set up to be very easily accessible, even with the stairs, they weren't too steep. We wandered around for a while, both Max and Pup were very chilled, until Max realised he was starving and clearly hadn't been fed for a lifetime, good thing he can't use the phone to call DOCS. We were pretty much done anyway, so headed back up, watched a short video about how it all works, then headed off, after feeding the boy of course.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Bevan's Cactus Nursery

    May 20 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Bevan's Cactus nursery was next on the list, Max was snoozing post feed, so we just popped him in the carrier. We had a chat to the owners who's parents owned the garden and passed it on to them. The bloke gave us a rundown of where the plants had started, how long some of them had been growing and how to propagate etc, even giving us some seeds to take with us. He asked where we were from and asked if we needed a boat to get out. Told him we got away just in time, he's got family in both Teralba and Maitland, so he's been seeing lots of updates about the crazy rain back home. We then took ourselves for a walk through the garden, it was lovely, lots of signs with info and stories. It was nice in the sun. It wasn't anywhere near as big as Cactus Country down near Echuca, but they had done a great job with it.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Cruising around Lightning Ridge

    May 20 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Both boys were snoozing in the back so we stopped off and I ran into the Opal Cave shop for our usual magnets and stubby holder, then into the Australian Opal Centre. I got stuck chatting with the old blokes in the shop, super lovely and lots of information about fossils and opals from the area. They mentioned that their evening light show/movie, Spark, is on Tuesdays and Thursdays if we were keen. I did see an ad about it in the info booklet, however when I googled it it said that dogs were now only allowed to come if they stayed in the car due to some fluffballs causing grief. I said we had our old boy, 16 next month, and that he would stress, so if we could see and hear from the car we could make it work, otherwise we wouldn't want to upset Pup. The bloke was great, said he'd be there and as long as Pup wasn't going to bite or cause any dramas, it wouldn't be an issue at all. I had a laugh and told him stories about Titan and Missy, and how different Pup is from them. Not that they nipped at all, but they were stereotypical working dogs (minus the work) and Pup is definitely not. He ended up just giving us tickets if we were keen, which was so lovely. Max had woken with a vengeance as it was time for a feed. On our way back to the camper for a rest, we looped through the Red Door Tour roads and stopped at the Ridge castle. Another quirky stop with clever signs and an unreal design. We didn't realise that it's also an airbnb. There were a few other options on this tour, Amigo's castle is meant to be really good, we just didn't have the time or energy. On the drive out, an old bloke was wandering down the middle of the dirt road, we had to drive on the opposite side of the road to go around him. I realised it was Amigo, recognising him from my googling earlier. A quick stop off at the bore baths before heading back to the camper. We all managed to have a little nap.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Sunset

    May 20 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    The Green Door Tour was the plan for sunset, we'd also spotted Steve's Takeaway this morning, so decided to order pizza to take with us. We headed for Nettletons first shaft lookout, only just made it in time, damn you Steve. It was a beautiful spot, so many cars and travellers up there to take it all in. Ben helped me scramble to the roof to take some photos, then we wandered and had a look at the beer can house and stone labyrinth before it got too dark. After a feed for us and Max, we headed for the Aus Opal heritage shed where Spark was on. When we arrived (only a 10 minute drive mind you), we realised both boys were snoring in the back. We waited a little bit, but decided we didn't want to disturb them, and just headed back to the camper for an early ish night.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Seeya next time Lightning Ridge!

    May 21 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Our first proper pack up morning today. Another really good sleep for everyone, even with the usual through the night feeds. Poor pup, he always hates pack up day, I wandered around with him and Max while Ben folded the camper down and did some of the bigger bits.
    A quick fuel stop before heading to Dirranbandi. We had the option to do the slightly bigger loop via Thallon and Nindigully pub that we were considering. We stopped through on our way to the Cape in 2022, but decided since we're all still a bit crook and since we've been semi recently, we'd continue on to Saint George via the quickee route. The NSW border signs really need some work, they're so boring and generic, the QLD one at least had some pictures on it. After crossing the border we went through Hebel, very cute little town, the pub is well known apparently, even on the drive past you could tell it had a lot of character. Max has also figured out how to get his dozz into his mouth which is super handy and helps him fall asleep. We had a rest stop at Dirranbandi, worked out well as Max was starting to stir. It's a lovely spot, lots of sculptures and a nice bakery where we grabbed a feed. Took some time stretching our legs, feeding and playing with Max, and battling Puppy to do a wee with no luck. Saint George is only an hour away and we waited until Max's next nap time to keep moving.    Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Hello Saint George

    May 21 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Still not sure if it's Saint or St George, it's different when you google it and the signs aren't really consistent either.
    A pretty cruisy run to the next campsite, we're staying at Pelican Rest, it's a lovely spot, very green and quiet (except for the Max factor). We set up before heading out to find the big fish sculpture and to scope out where we'll get on the boat tomorrow. We came through here on the way to the Cape, but nothing really looks familiar. Back to the camper for leftover pizza and the usual showers etc, except Max decided that he hadnf had a tantrum since we've left home, so now was the time. Cue over an hour of insanity. Good news, the car is relatively sound proof if he decides to do this at 4am 🫠 despite this, we all slept pretty well.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Balonne River Cruise

    May 22 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Up and moving for our river cruise today. Brett, the owner of Sandytown River cruises, called us the other day to let us know that the pickup point was slightly different, easy enough, and that a group of CMCA solos would be getting on too. We had no idea what that meant, so did a google. Campervan and Motorhome club of Australia - solos, so people travelling by themselves, the association organises a couple of group holidays/rallies a year that they can join. Pretty cute really. The boat arrived and we started boarding, Brett asked the oldies to shuffle down slightly to allow room for the family, instead a delightful old bird sat down right as we were about to. It wasn't an issue, just rude in general. Anyway, we sat towards the back opposite another lady who said her dog doesn't like other dogs and might nip. Awesome, why bring your dog then? We were polite and said Pup would have no interest anyway and that he's not a biter or we wouldn't have brought him along. All good in the end as the dogs awkwardly avoided each other. Took Pup a bit to settle, he was standing up looking around, scooped him up to look out the side for a bit then finally laying on the ground. Max started well then ended up losing it, amazing. Turns out it was quite lucky we ended up sitting where we were, the lady next to us was a former maternity nurse and gave a few suggestions, and another way to give him some panadol where he doesn't spit it out straight away, even offered to hold him for a bit, figured why not. He calmed right down, little turd. She was lovely, asking about his birth, how Pup was with him, baby weaning suggestions etc. She was very considerate too, saying she didn't want to sound like she was sticking her nose in and some people don't like it of course etc, we said we understood that too, but her intentions were lovely and it was really nice of her. Back to the cruise! 2 hours along the Balonne River - Bah-Lon - Brett has been doing the job for 15 years now. We headed down toward the weir first, learning about the history of the area, wildlife and the big floods over the years. The levy has moved a few times to allow for the floodwaters, the original levy was submerged beneath us apparently. We headed back up the river, learning about the local grape growers, police and community members, lots of good stories. He does a 4pm cruise as well, and on either cruise you're welcome to take food and drinks and really relax, it's a good set up. The water is a lovely brown colour, which is the usual, but contrasting with the blue sky and greenery around, it was really quite nice. It was quite warm in the sun, but the breeze had a chill to it. Even with the unsettled boys, it was a nice way to spend a few hours.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    A late lunch at Riversand Wines

    May 22 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    We were keen to head back and have a snooze, but figured if we got back to the camper, we probably wouldn't head out again, thanks to this lingering sickness. Riversand wines popped up as a nice, dog friendly spot, so we headed over for a late lunch. My taste is a bit out of whack thanks to the boogers so I decided against a wine tasting. There was another large group of CMCA people who were wrapping up their tasting when we arrived. I popped in to grab a menu and the backpackers who were working there said there might be a little wait, while they sold the oldies wine, not an issue for us. We sat and enjoyed the sunshine, Max watched an episode of bluey before falling asleep, and Pup and I went for a little wander. Once the people had cleared and the cellar door was looking less packed, we ordered the sausage roll and salad, a toastie, fresh scones and pikelets and a sneaky glass of sparkling Shiraz for me. It didn't take long at all and it was a great choice, although simple, so bloody satisfying. The wine was nice too, as far as I could tell anyway. We grabbed fuel on the way back then settled in for a short snooze ourselves. Usual evening things, a small tantrum from Max made us worried that we'd be in for it again, but he settled thank goodness. Wraps for dinner and an early night. I put Pup's bed up in the top bed in case he wanted to lay on that tonight, nope, he just took up more bed space at my head haha. Worth a shot. We were laughing about why we even bothered bringing his bed, but he (semi) happily sleeps in it when we're in a cabin or airbnb, so definitely for the best that we brought it along. He did somehow end up in the gap down the side of the mattress that I (thought) I'd blocked off, with his head the other side of a pole. He looked quite happy with himself and comfy, but I dragged his heavy butt out at 4am feed time, just for him to take my spot while I pumped. Lucky it's quite cold, because I just snuggled around him when I got back in bed, he mustn't have minded because that's how we woke the next morning.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    On the road again

    May 23 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Pack up day today! Pup definitely knew what was happening before we even got him out of the camper. Pretty standard morning, with timings, we decided to go the 4 minutes back into town to grab a feed at Farmhouse Cafe. Bacon and egg rolls and a coffee while Max had a feed and Pup settled in.
    A big boring day on the road today, but the second longest of the trip, so we'll manage. As awful as it is that Max (and us) has been sick, we think it's helped him sleep more in the car, so glad for that. Also! Very glad we came inland instead of the coast, we wouldn't have been going anywhere. Still can't remember or work out why we decided to come this way first, but verrry lucky we did. Thinking our stays at Bellingen and Port Mac on the way home might need to change, but that's still a bit away yet, so we'll see.
    Reached the halfway point, Moonie, for a break. Not a lot here, the crossroads hotel is across the road attached to the servo. We stopped at the rest stop with the 'big yabbie' and mini info centre. Went for a walk, bathroom break, wraps and fruit (yes, Ben is eating mandarins and oranges now) and back on the road to Toowoomba.    Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Toowoomba

    May 23–27 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    Safely arrived in Toowoomba. While setting up, Max decided he wasn't getting enough attention for the 30 seconds he was popped down, so he spilled his first blood. Not 100% sure what happened, but there was a Max versus dozz incident and the dozz won, with Max winning a bloody mouth. He was back to his cheery self not long later, but my goodness, the poor little darling. Now for some quality time with the Martins!Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Brunch

    May 25 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Up and moving today, Kristy even convinced the teenagers to come along for our trip out to Crows Nest. We stopped first at My Little Blueberry cafe for breakfast. It was a great little spot, I had the breaky wrap and Ben had the croque madam, a fancy toastie with eggs on top. We planned on stopping back here on the way home to get some pastries and treats to enjoy later.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler
    1

    Crows Nest Museum and Historical Village

    May 25 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Next we headed to Crows Nest museum and historical village, it was $10 entry and very good value for the size. We spent over an hour walking through their homesteads and different shops throughout the village. They had lots of different artefacts and lots of great local stories relating to the items on display. Pup was having the best day going in an out of buildings, he was even pulling on the lead to the full length to explore. We had a chat with the volunteers before heading off, they get lots of items donated but unfortunately struggle to keep the place staffed and open with volunteers at times. We'd suggested reaching out to schools for excursions as an idea. It was similar to what we remember of Old Sydney Town.
    As planned, we popped back to the cafe for some pastries for the road, then headed back to Toowoomba for some well deserved naps. Chris cooked up the mince for burritos and Nachos, while we all just hung out and got ourselves organised to head off tomorrow. It was so good to see everyone, as always.    Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Bye Martins

    May 26 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Pack up morning, which meant a grumpy puppy, and me to be honest, I love being here with everyone. We got ourselves organised and Max had last cuddles with everyone before they headed off to work and school.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Picnic Point

    May 26 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    We only have about an hour to travel today, staying at Jaymie's new place near Ipswich, so we decided to stretch our legs and wear the boys out at some of our favourite spots in Toowoomba. First we headed to Picnic Point, such a lovely view, we always forget that there's a cafe here too. Lots of walks starting here, we just did the short one down to the waterfall.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Japanese Gardens

    May 26 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Next we headed for the Japanese Gardens, Kristy and co used to live a few houses down from here and we'd wander through all the time (also maybe to catch some pokemon). We did a loop through, taking some photos, and watched the birds and turtles.
    We headed back to the Martin's to hook the camper up and get on the road.    Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    An unplanned stop

    May 26 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Max and Pup were wrecked, so they slept well. Unfortunately only for a cycle though, with Max waking up screaming 40 minutes later. We stopped on the highway at a rest stop, he had a feed and a play. As he got tired, we popped him back into his seat and distracted him with Hey Bear (honestly, a lifesaver this trip). He fell asleep again, but we were getting hungry, so we had a quick stop for Subway near Plainland before continuing to Jaymies. The boys stayed asleep this time.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Newtown Ipswich - Hello Jaymie!

    May 26 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Ipswich is a lot nicer and bigger than I realised, she used to live at Springfield so I'd never really been into Ipswich itself, as Ben said, it's sort of like the Maitland of Newcastle (Brisbane). We were welcomed by Bagel and Honey, the sweetest little cavoodles. Pup was less enthused. We had a great night catching up and Mia and I walked the massive trek (about 60 metres) to grab takeaway Vietnamese for dinner.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    Queen Park Cafe

    May 27 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Bit of a sleep in today, until the sun hit us, holy dooley it warmed up quickly. Meant to hit 29 here today. Usual morning things, feeding, pack up etc, with the added bonus of Jaymie's company. She'd had a pretty intense day at work yesterday, so she took today off. Once organised, we went for a walk to Queens Park Cafe. Pup was not feeling particularly motivated so it was a very slow walk. If it was just that he's old and sore and walks incredibly slowly these days, that would be fine. But no, he absolutely can and does walk well, he was just in a mood. The park is lovely and the cafe is huge! Steak sandwich for Ben, Veggie breaky for me. Max then decided it was sleep time, so Ben walked back to get the car to pick him and Pup up. Jaymie and I walked back, just catching up some more and we grabbed a Viet coffee from down the road before heading off.Read more

  • Bec TaylorMax's First Road TripTraveler

    To Didillibah

    May 27 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Leaving a bit later than planned, not that we really had a plan, meant that we hit more traffic on the way to the Sunshine Coast. We're staying at Ingenia Rivershore at Didillibah, such a beautiful park and clearly had some money put into it. We'd gotten a text when we were not far off, saying that the restaurant was closed, but the pizza truck would be on site tonight, decision made for dinner. We got in, set up and went for a wander, before ordering dinner and going through the usual evening routine.Read more

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