The Wandering Tops

The Wandering Tops

17 January, 2020

Cawongla

We packed up at Murwillumbah Show grounds but before leaving we walked into town for a coffee.  After coffee we set off to our house sit at Cawongla which is near the top of the range.  Travelled on the Kyogle Rd which follows the Tweed River. We had arranged to arrive mid afternoon so this gave us an opportunity to stop at Uki and have a walk though town and have lunch at the Mount Warning Hotel.
Lunch in Uki at the Mt Warning Pub


Uki, an interesting shop!!
From Uki we continued on Kyogle Road which was quite steep and winding road venturing up to the ridge.We arrived mid afternoon to the housesit at Cawongla and met Bella, a Kelpie cross who we where looking after for the next 10 days.  John and Julie welcomed us into their home and explained our responsibility for the house sit. We had dinner that evening with John and Julie before they headed off the next morning for their holiday. Bella was easy to look after as long as we kept throwing a rubber toy ring like a donut which she would fetch. The weather was generally wet, one day we had arranged to go to Tumbulgum for Tennelle's birthday lunch but due to the rain and possible flooding some of the roads where closed so didn't venture out. The rain was quite heavy and the dam started to fill and the plants were receiving well wanted water!  Weather became very humid however storms at night relieved the temperature for a while.We took a drive into Kyogle only 14km to do some shopping one day and found a great coffee shop, The Sugarbowl Cafe Bar.
Otherwise we just enjoyed the view and watched the weather come and go, I enjoyed the sunrise and would sit outside the caravan in the mornings throwing the donut toy to Bella before breakfast. I also made the most of the sunsets when they looked promising.

We had a good spot to park the caravan by the house.
Just magical views

The ranges we could see from the balcony.

Sunrise around 5.30

Reflections at sunset
From the top of the drive sunset over Kyogle.


A misty evening when we walked up to the road with Bella.
We had made arrangements for our next house sit to be at Nashua, not far from Bangalow.  This was about an hour and half drive from Kyogle via Lismore.  As we didn't know if we could get the caravan into the driveway we went for a drive to meet the owner and confirm if we could get the caravan in.  Unfortunately we didn't think it would fit so will have to make arrangements to store the caravan during the next house sit.
On the way back we took an alternative route along the Nimbim Rd stopping for lunch at Nimbin.  Nimbin didn't disappoint! We walked the main street which we thought hadn't changed from the last time we visited, although we couldn't agree on when that was, it was certainly many years ago. We finished up having lunch at the bakery and just enjoyed people watching. There was a great mixture of people from locals going about the day to day shopping to tourists varying from grey nomads, like us, to alternative back packers.
Nimbin

Nimbin has it all.

After the 10 days we welcomed John and Julie home, packed up and was ready to move on the next morning to Kooralbyn, back in Queensland. The weather was very humid however the grass had loved the rain and everything was lush and green after experiencing months of no rain.

05 January, 2020

Caught up with the family

We spent a few days at Tugun staying with Todd and Tenelle and as we have not seen them or Briony since Christmas 2018, we had a lot of celebrations to catch up on.   The first was to have our Christmas 2019 get together, it was a hot day so Todd took us to Cudgen Creek where we finally found a park and a spot to set up the gazebo only a short distance from the water so we could have a refreshing dip.  Had a lovely lunch and must have looked strange as we had our Christmas T shirts on designed and supplied by Briony.
Catching up at Todd & Tenelle's home


Late afternoon after a big Christmas lunch
The 2019 Christmas T shirts
After a couple of days parked out the front of Todds we moved out to Murwillumbah Showgrounds for a week, travelling back to Tugun to celebrate my birthday.  Visited Briony at her new home at Banora Point then went to Currumbin RSL for drinks on the deck then dinner inside. Great meals however very busy and noisy.
Murwillumbah Show grounds camping area
While staying at Murwillumbah we drove around the area, one day Crystal Creek, Chillingham, Tyalgumthen then another day to the beach at Tyagarah National Park via Burringbar.  I had a couple of swims however very windy and quite humid.