Diddillibah to Nambour HW Rally

Dora was ready just after Easter April 24th I picked her up and we drove to Diddillibah where she was stored for 2 weeks.  Rod at R+T did a fantastic job doing a lot of extra stuff he could of glossed over.  A truly great job, I highly recommend him.
I spent a further two weeks in the Eight2 unit SUPping some mornings and walking as usual.  I was intending to stay a month but cabin fever set in with a change in the weather.  So I registered for Nambour and headed off.
Did my usual thing of limited socializing and manage to fit the outside light/bluetooth speaker and a new mixer tap for the sink.  Stayed at Nambour Rally site from the 8th till the 14th of May and also donated blood at the Red Cross Blood Bank, for the first time.  After the rally headed north, just a bit, to Kenilworth.  Weather still an issue lots of rain showers.

 Nambour Showgrounds

Kenilworth Pub

Dora's Restoration

Rod from R&T (Caravan Services) called me on Saturday 12th to ask if I wanted a look at Dora with her lid off.  I was surprised by the amount of points where water had been getting in.  Some were long term leaks as the timber laminate below the fiberglass had rotted significantly.  Mostly where the after market had installed the solar.  Rod said the solar was a poor installation mostly because they did not bend the aluminium beams to the shape of the roof.  I'm confident Rod will put it all right.  The original profile of the roof would have the water running off but the fiberglass was not a good solution as it did not follow the profile and had or developed puddle points.  Rod is adding a further 6mm layer of timber laminate before glueing the rubber lining on.  All should be good when Rod is finished but he warned me to stay away from trees as it will rip easily.

Warialda - 7 unplanned nights

On Monday the last day of March heading to Yetman when the noise from the A/C pump was really worrying me.  I sprayed it with CRC and then realized just how hot it was.  The clutch bearing was all but shot.  I turned around just north of Warialda and had the NRMA workshop have a look at it.  Not serviceable so they tried to source a new one with no luck.  So I took over and eventually brought one from Suburban Imports in Sydney.  Apost took till the following Monday to get it to Warialda and I fitted it and off we went again.  A lot less noise coming from the engine bay, nice.

Not much to see or do in Warialda

Stopped at Texas Monday night and Fassifern rest stop Tuesday then dumped at Ipswich and delivered Dora to Caravan Services early Wednesday morning.  Picked up a rental car and got home to Eight2 just after lunch.  Nice to be home.

Bugger me school holidays again, busy, people everywhere, now I know why I prefer to travel via minor roads and small towns in regional areas of Australia.

Flood in at Pilliga then on to and Bingara

On Wednesday arrived at Pilliga after driving in the rain all the way.  I set up camp right by the bore pool in the day car park on the hard top, the highest point.  There were about 5 other campers there who all moved to the day park as the creek flooded the main camping area and the started on the all weather back one.
Fortunately the water stopped rising with a couple of feet to spare.  The road was closed north to Barren Junction and east to Wee Waa until Saturday morning but that was OK as I had all I needed and the bore was hot.  Met Fred Kern from Brisbane and had some interesting discussion as we whiled away the time.
Provisioned at Woolies Narrabri and was intending to stop at Sawn Rocks rest area but it was closed for construction?  Drove on to Bingara and set up on the Gwydir river for 2 nights.  Walked 5km in the morning then SUPed on the river in the afternoon.  Interesting thing was there was no current, the river was lower and there were gravel runs up and down stream.

Click on an image to enlarge

Pilliga Bore Baths from the road

Looking to the campground - 2013 April

Looking from the back car park

Escape from the Solo Rally

I filled my water tanks at Hay and also the fridge with veggies and whatnot and stopped for the night at Goolgowi rest stop after a schooner in the local.  Tullibigeal on Sunday night after a quiet day then on to Albert and The Rabbit Trap Hotel car park.  I had a beer or two and talked to the locals, nice.  Tuesday saw me camped up at Warren just out of town near the boat ramp, acceptable for one night.

Albert - The Rabbit Trap Hotel