Our Queensland Trip

Three weeks in winter 2003

After much preplanning and preparation we finally set off north to the warmth.  We had thought of everything (yeah right!).  Day one saw me forget to securely latch both the fridge door and the door of the van, consequently we did a Hansel & Gretel with the contents of the fridge all down the highway out of Cowra..... duh!  At least the crows appreciated my wife's freshly baked fruitcake, I didn't even get one slice!  We did Canberra to Gilgandra on day one, then to St George via Lightning Ridge and on to Carnarvon Gorge for three nights.

Animation by Greg Cooper

Lightning Ridge is a smaller scale version of Coober Pedy, interesting but booked out by a 4wd police safari.  St George is a lovely typical Queensland town on a big river.  Carnarvon Gorge is something else, absolutely spectacular and very relaxing (if you want).  The Moss Gardens are beautiful and the Apostle (CWA) birds of the outback are a very noisy but amusing sight.  We arrived just after the school holidays so it wasn't too busy at all.  The rangers give a slide show a couple of times a week which is well worth while.

Lightning Ridge            Moss Garden Falls           Apostle Birds

From there it was off to Clermont (a gold fossicking town) and then across to Airlie Beach.  We stayed a week at Airlie with three days out on a 100+ year old sailing ship.  Airlie Beach we could take or leave but out on the boat in the Whitsunday Islands was one of the best things we have ever done.  We went out on the Solway Lass (you'll see my sunset photo on their website) which was a totally relaxing and fun experience.  I took the sunset photo from a beach on Hayman Island while drinking champagne and having one of the funniest evenings I can recall.

Solway Lass (Java)  Whitehaven Beach      Banyan Tree           Morning Tea        

The trip home was quite different, we both like a quiet life but the coast road is anything but.  We stayed a couple of nights in 1770 which was very pleasant but is very much on the "up" and is pretty indicative of the rest of the coast.  Frantic subdividing and building is the name of the game.  There were a few nice things like the Banyan Tree in Maryborough.  We stuck it out as far a Byron Bay as we really wanted to see how much it had changed (it had!) but then we headed inland again via Tamworth and spent our final night in our favourite park, Forbes Apex Caravan Park.

It was a lovely holiday but steep learning curve for us novice caravanners.  I think we committed every error in the book but by the end of the trip were feeling pretty comfortable with everything.  We are happy with our choice of van, easy to tow and easy to park and setup.  I think it bounces around more than bigger vans which means firm packing but I think the minimalist approach is the way to go.  When you see the amount of gear some people carry it makes you shudder, we still had spare space even in our tiny van and didn't want for anything.  We have list as long as our arm of things we want to implement in the van so that will keep us busy.  Both the van and car created a lot of interest where ever we went so I think Driftaway may get a few sales out of it.  The Subaru Forester averaged about 8km/litre at 90-100km/hour which considering we had stiff headwinds most of the way was pretty good.

The Van is a "Little Robin Mini" from "Driftaway Caravans" in Geelong.

We would love to hear from other Little Robin Mini owners about their experiences.

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Contact details:  sdavo@yahoo.com

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