The Journey Home

COWRA - MALENY 
Via Mudgee, Tenterfield & Mt Tamborine (1,300km) 2nd - 6th May
So I've been a bit busy getting issue 8 off the print and didn't get a chance to write up the second half of the story... and there will be a write up in issue 8 about  the Vintage Caravan Nationals and our crazy road trip.

After having had a nice porridge-on-the-BBQ breakfast at the trusty Lions rest stop, we refuelled and set off from Merriwa towards Wellington.  With only 350km to go to get to the Cowra Van Park this was to be a relatively easy driving day.

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By the time we got to Wellington we thought we'd stop for a bite to eat and as we ventured back onto main roads I said: "I bet we start seeing some vintage vans soon".
Then, lo and behold who should we see sitting parked on the side of the road, but some of the south east Queensland vintage caravan contingent who also had stopped for some lunch. It was awesome to be able to introduce Noddy to them and find he already knew John & Di Adams and so we all convoyed together for the last leg of the journey to the Vintage Caravan Nationals. We took lots of video on our trip and you can check out this part of the journey HERE

We spent 4 days at the Vintage Caravan Nationals, and had some great fun and got to check out around 130 other gorgeous caravans and our SEQ mob were by far the rowdiest at night!
We left Cowra on Wednesday just after sharing yet another yummy $5 lunch at the Cowra pub with them before hitting the road again for Mudgee to visit one of Noddy's old flatmates from years ago.  As had been the way for most of our journey thus far, the sunshine only stopped when it was time to pack up and go and so it was a gloomy day for driving, but we didn't have far to go, so we decided to take the car and the caravan for a blat around the Mt Panorama race track at Bathurst which was a real highlight despite crappy conditions.
One thing I have to say about this trip is that I have never laughed so much in my life as I have done on this trip. Noddy is a great travel mate, and we just cracked each other up all the time.
You can check out our Bathurst lap video HERE

That night we stayed at the Mudgee caravan park and were invited back for a scrummy home cooked roast meal which was a real treat.
In the morning we set off early with a massive 600k's ahead of us to get to Tenterfield via Tamworth where we finally got some photos of the van with the big Golden Guitar to add to my collection of "the-van-and-the-big..." photos (which incidentally is getting almost impressively as large as the "things" themselves! Might be a good subject for a future post there!)

At Armidale we refuelled again (both car and us) and then the momentous time came, when after a quick lesson on the do's and don'ts of caravan driving, I finally handed the reins to Noddy and let him drive the last 200k's as I was getting tired.
That night we parked the van in my friend Danielle's yard and she made us some super yummmy cold pressed fruit and vege juices that really perked us up for the last leg to Mt Tamborine for Garterbelts & Gasoline Noastalgia Festival, an easy 250km drive. Noddy, still hell bent on spotting a Kangaroo was certain the back road from Warwick to Beaudesert was the the perfect location and kept his eyes firmly on the fields around us. I, as the driver, was not so keen to come across a kangaroo, but when Skippy finally made his appearance with 3 bold leaps across the road in front of the truck that was just in front of us, he completely missed it! It was hilarious!
We arrived at Mt Tamborine Showgrounds at around 2pm and set up camp before heading off for a lovely pasta meal and then to the Rockabilly meltdown for some long-awaited dancing.

The next day we took the car for a carwash and picked up some astro turf for our display and stall as there was no way I was having thousands of red-mud footprints inside my caravan.
I then had a pinup photo shoot with Mitzi who had come all the way from U.S.A for the festival so it was a real treat to have my hair and make up done by the lovely Miss Candice and we had lots of fun in the caravan getting some super cute shots. I haven't seen then yet but when I do I'll post some here but here's a pic of me heading out for more dancing afterwards with my fancy hairdo & make up - Woot woot!

 

We had an awesome day at the Sunday car show and the VCM stall was very busy with hundreds of people coming to check out "Vicky" the caravan. Noddy took this awesome shot of it in the early morning light and it looks quite magical. I do so love my little road tripping home!

 On Sunday night we packed it all up and set off home to Maleny, with 3,000km of road tripping, 6 destinations and 2 events behind us and big smiles form ear to ear. And I can't wait to do it all again...

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