2017 Caravanning​ Eastern​ Australia

Today the car needed to be in at the service centre by 8am for the new suspension kit etc. to be fitted. Once we’d delivered the car we had quite a bit of time to kill. We stopped for a coffee while waiting for the shops to open. I searched for nearby hairdressers and managed to book in for a cut and colour in the afternoon. We wandered down to the library and relaxed there for nearly 3 hours. They had papers to read etc. and we passed the time quite well. Around 12midday we had a call from Rick and Kerry. They had to come into Mt Isa from Corella Dam and so we met up with them and went out for lunch. Following lunch I went off for my hair appointment and Rob went with Rick and Kerry until he had a call to say the car was ready to be picked up. Rob is happy with the car and hopefully it will mean that when towing, the front of the van won’t sit so low.

I’m writing this from Mt Isa….. so yes our tyre arrived yesterday afternoon and Rob was very happy! Last night, unfortunately the “elite athlete” (Rob) appears to have pulled his hamstring while trying to sleep! It kept him awake for a while but then he nodded off to sleep and started snoring. I normally wake him to stop him snoring but thought I should let him sleep with his injury so I didn’t get much sleep! We had a good drive out from Adels Grove to Mt Isa arriving back at the caravan park where our van was being stored, just before lunch. While we were waiting for another couple to park their van a man came up to the side of our car to tell Rob that he had a flat tyre. He could not believe it. Two flat tyres in one week. This tyre had a slow leak so we were able to pump it up a bit to park the van. We both spent the whole afternoon cleaning and Rob had the extra job of fixing the punctured tyre. At least this one was fixable. We did a little shopping as the shops are not open her...

As we were spending an extra night here waiting with our “fingers crossed” for the arrival of our new tyre we decided to re-do the walk we did yesterday but this time we would take a camera. We enjoyed this walk once again and this time took some photos of the scenery, bats etc. On the way back I found a lovely little swimming spot on the river and decided to cool off. It was quite refreshing but Rob opted out as it was too cool for him! We heard this morning that our tyre had to be sent from Brisbane to Mt Isa and would then hopefully be put on the truck to Adels Grove…..we are hoping it arrived from Brisbane because if it doesn’t we’re not sure what will do.

We were away quite early and headed out to the National Park. I was the first person out on the water and the sights were even more spectacular that yesterday. The reflections of the gorge and vegetation on still waters was truly beautiful. Rob had offered to walk to the “portage point” for the kayaks and canoes and help me move from the middle gorge to the upper gorge. I knew I couldn’t do this by myself so I was really happy as this meant I could continue on to the second smaller falls in this gorge. Rob and I managed to meet at the portage point, pull and carry the kayak over about 100 metres to the second gorge and I continued on my merry way while Rob waited for my return. Rob then spent about an hour assisting other people move their canoes from one gorge to the next. On my return from the falls, many people I encountered in canoes on their way up said how helpful Rob had been! He was quite the celebratory. After my return we met up with some new friends we met at Gregory and th...