All things Hay and beyond!!!!

Good morning... We are doing the catch up on Hay NSW today.. In all honesty we have been to Hay about 12 times including the last visit now and have stayed in the Hay top tourist park caravan park the same amount of times bar one. I say bar one because one timeat the start of our travels 4 years ago we thought we would try the big 4 there and after that decided that the top tourist park one was better overall. They are lovely hosts there and we are on first name basis with them and we recommend their caravan park to all we meet, so I thought we needed to do a shout out to them...... HI!!!!
Anyways...... We have stayed in Hay 12 times now, mainly because it is the main route from Adelaide to central west NSW (home) and each year we ventured it at least once, so we are used to HAY!! We, however, had never stayed long eough to play tourist in Hay, so on the way across the other week we decided to do just that.....
It sounds boring but it was very relaxing and Hay has alot of interesting things to do and see... Hay is the port of call for the only POW camp in NSW in the war times. Hay was apparently an  ideal location as it was flat and far away from all other places. To think that we had a POW camp in NSW was amazing and scary. The worst part was that the POW's weren't there because they were bad but because they were outcasts and people in the war era were afraid of different. That to me is horrific!! We went to the POW train that brought them to Hay which has heaps of info about them and also went to the Hay Gaol that was a great jail full to the brim of history and museum artifacts. Our Sam especially loved the fact you were IN a jail and that the walls were all bricked around you and they had watchtowers in each corner....
To see the three sets of barbed wire fences in a photo of the POW camp was very frightening and it gave you a real sense that they were there for good. They even made their own money to barter with. They had a special name "the Dunera Boys" as it was the boat The Dunera that brought them to Sydney ( while being told they were going elsewhere....) and then they were shipped by train overnight to Hay, at the end they were eventually shipped by train after years to Victoria to the POW camp there.
One man had a claim to fame there of breaking out of the gaol from the pow camp. Only man ever to be able to do it and itt was proven years later that it was possible.
Hay has so much heritage, it is a great place to take the kids to visit. There is also Shear Outback, which is a shearer's hall of fame and all things shearing explored. We are aiming to go there on the way back through again!!!
Both the Hay Gaol and the Hay Intermitent Camp  were a very small price to pay to enter and we all enjoyed them immensely and suggest you visit them if you are near Hay.

They had their own legal tender... That's amazing!

very cool..

imagine being locked in there, just cause you are Asian or Italian or German..........

Hay Railway Station done up.

Their stamp.

The Gaol with the watchtower

From Hay we journeyed on to Adelaide where Andy had gotten some work for a few weeks. We are back at the Christies Beach Caravan park. Feels a bit weird to be back here again but nice too.... The day after we got here was my birthday and we weren't ready for a bday.... haha..... Andy and the boys did well at short notice and got me a card, a present, flowers  and a cake! Good job! Since being back we have frequented HARVEST CAFE at Morphett Vale, caught up with lovely "old" friends, seen whales swimming by in the ocean, Sam learnt to ride with no trainer wheels, been to Savers ( of course....) and done some school work ( of course: again....)... We love seeing Adelaide again, but this time as a tourist. The old windy City even turned on the wind and storms for us.. Just like old times!!! GRRRRR! We shall be in Adelaide for a week and a bit more and then we shall trek back across the Hay Plains to NSW and then UPPPPPP UPPPP UPPPPP to sunny QLD where she will welcome us home with open arms!! We may have one or two more on the road posts in us probably and then I might even continue it when we are settled (since you all love my ramblings so much....). Till we chat again. See you somewhere out in the Son..... xxxxxxx

As soon as we get into SA the weather goes bleak! Typical.

Hamish was in charge of photography!

happy birthday camper style....

They love multi player DS...

Sam learnt to ride with no trainer wheels...

Me and my Ducky!

The Explorers, looking more like harpooners...

Goofing off.....

best of friends...

mud play at the caravan park (shhh).

what a good bowl for mud!

Cally and dirt = FUN!

loving the legs....

mummy whale pops her head out of the water to see if it's safe..

water show...

The silly whale watchers in boats boxed the poor things in.

Hiiiii How do I get out of here??

how close can ya get...

safe and free again..

Following the Convoy to Canberra all the way down to NSW.

Morning all. Well here we are again........ AGAIN..... haha, Now where are we up to travellling to today.. Ahhh Clermont was the next step. I must add as we were out in the bush for a few weeks or more and we haven't seen very much tv since we started and a newspaper is a novelty and phone service is NON existent we were't aware of the Convoy of No Confidence to Canberra but as we travelled along we saw throught the small towns of inner Qld and along the highways pink balloons and signs that were sharing some interesting slogans and catch cries. We had no idea about the convoy till we got to a service station in the middle of nowhere for fuel and saw something about it on the front of a newspaper. It all started to make sense!! Passionate about their cause is an understatement. I really commend them for travelling all that way and rising to the cause (of course only to be stone walled by politicians in Canberra in the end... Tut tut tut!). No matter how far you got Australia salutes you Convoy of No Confidence!
Anyway we arrived at Clermont. Clermont is a little Gold town that has been taken over nearly fully by the big mines, which is always a shame to see. We got chatting to a few GN's (Grey Nomads for short) and they were all there for the prospecting. A woman that was 78 had been coming each year to Clermont to buffer her retirement plan and she said the extra cash always comes in handy. Now here is a tale of the big man overtaking the little man: she said that previous years she had left Clermont with a hefty wad of gold to help her lifestyle but this year because of the strength of the mines machines everyone's detectors were not working properly because of the interfearence so she had found hardly any this time around and was going to move further up to see if she had any luck up there. She said that Qld was being overrun by the big mines and that soon there wont be a bit of land left... She also made an interesting point I had never thought of : she said that the global warming etc she thinks is due to the amount of minerals we are extracting from the earth and the speed at which we are doing is what is making the global warming happen faster. She said, think about it, coal, for instance is in the ground for a reason and it sucks up all the heat etc, now take that out of thhe ground and there is nothing in there to suck it down into the ground: walllaaaahhhh the effects of global warming etc... Hmmmmm she may just be onto something!!! We got a awesome site at the caravan park there for just $20 for us all, so I recommend Clermont for a rest in the bush if you need one. It is a pretty town rich in mining history.

Red roads in the bush!

The boys doing book work at Clermont: bush style. (Jack's so happy about it..)

Hamish getting stuck into it... (usually other way around).

There was 5 of these in a row in Clermont.

Due to our tiredness factor and the fact that it was getting really cold there we all bunked in our king size bed top to tail and shoved all the blankets on us to share. The boys slept well, needless to say we didn't and needless to add we didn't do that again.... haha... We needed another solution to our exhaustion of putting up the camper for a few nights.... So the next stop was Roma. We were all so tired that we decided to break our cardinal rule of NO CABINS! First cabin we had stayed in the whole trip, so it was a bit of a novelty! Roma Big 4 was a lovely caravan park with lovely owners and we even got there on sausage sizzle and country music night.. Andy wanted the sausage sanga but didn't want to go over to the twang twang music.. Haha.. Very funny to watch! We rested up and watched as much brain frying tv as we could and had long showers and slept in comfy warm electric blanket beds.. AHHHHHH!!! Somethings we all take for granted became a novelty for us in the end. The next morning as we were packing up Cal decided to smash his head open and we had to do roadside repairs to him. We went to the good old IGA on a Sunday ( only place open) and found some butterfly clips, cut some hair out of the way, stuck it on and "whalah" all better. No need for glue in the bush!!!

Glad I didn't have to cut that one out....

All fixed. Note: he isn't in pain, he is over travelling in the seat!!

Next stop is Narrabri! Nothing much to tell about Narrabri! Haha.. Not that it isn't nice and interesting we were all SOOOO exhausted by the time we got there, we just hired ANOTHER cabin and SLEPT SLEPT SLEPT!! We really needed that rest cause if we didn't get that one we would have burnt out after that if not! We enjoyed the scenery on the way to Narrabri and The Warrumbungles Ranges. We always feels a sense of AHHHH when we get into central westy area of NSW cause it feels like home ( cause we were there nearly all our lives, it just seems to settle us even now after being away for all these years.)

They breed cactii big out in the bush.

Herro NSW

The Warrumbungles..

The harvest is ripe: my favourite time of year is canola time.

Next stop was Forbes. Now we were well rested and didn't have to pack up the camper two days in a row we were ready to face the world of camper trailering again. So we got to Forbes and setup. We thought we would give the boys a bit of a treat so we went and stayed at a big4 that had a jumping pillow. They had been on one when we went to Alice Springs last year so they were very very excited as we drove in and they saw the big jumping pillow in the caravan park. Of course no jumping pillow experience could be complete without Mummy having a go too... haha.... Very fun! We also went and saw where Ben Hall had been buried at the Forbes cemetary  (this joined into our earlier bushranger talks and research) and as a bonus we found Ned Kelly's sisters grave there and Captain Cooks grand Niece's grave also.. What a cemetary! Forbes is full of interesting things to do and is very pretty...

THE DISH!!!! (Gonna see it on the way back we hope.)

Jumping pillows are way fun..

Even parents have fun on them..

Our jumping pillow crew

Mr Ben Hall the bushranger.

...and here he lies..

I love how the tourist drive ends here..... haha

Macrossen Park and beyond.......

We left Dingo Beach with the aim of going up and across to NT/WA but as we travelled further and further up we realised that we were getting VERY VERY tired and that we needed to possibly head back down the old interior of QLD and aim for Adelaide quick smart and get our storage sorted to head it in the right direction: that direction being top of Brisbane area. We ummed and arrred, we yesed and noed, we laughed and cried, we grumbled and groaned and in the end we drove back down. Now in a perfect world where time wasn't a issue and money definately wasn't an issue and exhaustion (on behalf of us all) and boredom (on behalf of the kids) had not set in we would have continued on our merry way across NT to WA where we would ride camels and look at Cable Beach by sunset and feed Dolphins and go on tree top walks and visit dear friends but when you are travelling you have to be conscious of all things and make wise decisions. That was a wise but hard and painful decision!! To go another day we say........( tears...).
Anywho, we carried on with our journey from Townsville to Macrossen Park. Now if you ever get up near Mac Park oh my you must stay at the free camp there.. Ahhhh awesome is the best way to describe it. I think that Mac Park was my alltime fave camping spot the whole trip. It was right on the Burdekin River that constantly floods although you could not imagine it as there was only a trickle in it the night we stayed there. The river is wide though so it would fit a fair amount in when it does. Macrossen park is very popular in the free campers arena and I even read the other day in a camper tourer mag that they say that it is the best spot in QLD so I knew I was on to something.... haha... Macrossen park is also the starting point to the Great Dividing Range. You know you are in the outback when you see red roads not black top roads, eagles circling overhead every 5 kms and road signs to where you are heading with an open/closed light on each road to tell you if you can get there or not.... There were also road trains galore up there, much to the boys delight. When I say road trains I mean 50m long three to four trailers long road trains driving past you. We set up camp and hitched the clothes line up to finish drying the washing from yesterday. We went about searching for firewood and found a few stray ones but the big ones were all waterlogged (haha) from the floods at the start of the year. We didn't care but as long as we had enough to sit by and toast our marshmallows and poke for a few hours after dark we were happy. Nothing better than a campfire after dark in the bush. We love sitting round it toasting/burning marshmallows and talking about the stars in the sky. What a sight that is to behold! The devastation from the flood waters was amazing and we would have been under water where we camped and the current river was like a km down below us at the current time. Pretty mind blowing to see weeds up on the train bridge and realise how high the waters actually got. That's an awful lot of water people. On our way leaving Macrossen park on the main road you can stop on the side of the road and see the pole that they have measured over time how high the waters actually get from the sea bed to the top in flood times. It really hit home when we saw that...

Our car was getting a bit dirty by this stage.

Our washing. (That's how far the river came up.)

Our big boys adventuring with sticks.

Under the train bridge.

The water came up to the train bridge. (Lots hey..)

water left it's mark.

Train travelling across at sun down.

camp fire fun.

So much fun.

Now the top marker is the 1946 marker, the next one down is 2009 and they said 2010 was above 1946.