We had a slow start this morning, during the night it got so cold that the grass was still white when we let the dogs outside. They only wanted to go outside for a quick whizz and were back quickly. I got frozen fingers, nose and feet making breakfast and Marjo didn’t even let me get close to get some warmth. Luckily Nossi fulfilled the role of foot warmer.
Then I did a walk around the camping with the dogs, had a look at a fellow camper who traveled with a large GM 2500 ute customized with a sleep on unit and a Hobie foldable trimaran on the roof. The truck itself was already big and high, the sleep-on unit made it even bigger and the Hobie on top made it a monster.
The hobie itself was pretty cool though. It had two seats in the middle with a main sail but also foot propelled flaps to move without wind and an electric outboard for when you get too tired without wind. I looked it up but the thing complete costs well over $5k and weighs a tonne. Nice ideas but not for us.
The feature of this camp is a hybrid toilet. I’m sure all green blog readers start itching and moving to the edge of their seat in anticipation of what this is. Where most remote campaigns have toilets that are nothing more than a toilet pan, seat and lid above a big hole in the ground with associated yuck smells, this hybrid contortion has a little metal lid under the seat with a spring (I’m guessing here because it is still too yuck for a close up investigation). Once seated and producing yuck, it falls on the slippery metal lid and the weight makes it open and flap back again. I can only hope that they have seriously road tested this feature as I would not like the spring be too eager and flap back the yuck where it came from. It seemed to operate well though. The toilet paper is not heavy enough to operate the flap and once you close the lid there is a foot operated big rubber button that (by the sound of it) flushes some water on the flap which again makes the flap flip. I haven’t worked out what the hybrid part means, but it seems to operate well.
We slowly packed up and were on the road by midday. First we tried to take a shortcut and the GPS agreed. That brought us to Tinnan Bay over a beautiful tarmac road. It was the end of the line though. There is only one way in and out of Tinnan Bay and it is that beautiful road. Well Tinnan Bay road is for 5 km nice (probably paid for by Tinnan Bay) and then the remaining 7 km is horribly unsealed with corrugation, potholes and exposed stones.
The bus doesn’t like corrugated roads and any speed above 15 kph makes everything shake and rattle like there is no tomorrow. So we keep the speed down and a 7 km road takes then about half an hour.
The bus is great but not the fastest. The engine works a treat but is 30 years old and has not the modern oomph of turbo diesels. This means that although there is enough power (torque) to get up any hill, it doesn’t get you there very fast. Us optimists have found one big advantage…..you never end up at the end of a traffic queue, we just create them.
We have agreed to go to Agnes Waters, just south of Gladstone, where a good kiteboarding centre is. I will take kiteboarding lessons there and see if it is captivating enough to buy the gear and do the sport. The camping that we have put our eyes on there is 1 km out of Agnes Waters and has only cold showers. The deal is that tonight we will have hot showers so we can stay a couple of days at the Agnes Waters camping.
While driving we look at options and see a turnoff for Woodgate Caravan Park, on the beach. Of course we miss the turnoff and stop a bit further to make a coffee and discuss options. We call Woodgate and they have a spot. It seems to be a Grey Nomad place, meaning that half Melbourne camps here. They close the door in the cold in Melbourne, drive to Woodgate and stay here 3 to 6 months in the relative warmth, play lawn balls, walk the beach and do some fishing. Living the live.
Well, this again is not our camping. The sites are close to each other and the dogs need to be on the leash, even on the beach! We will stay the night and do some laundry, take a hot shower, have a fancy dinner (fish and chips) and will hear the State of Origin from all the caravan tv’s. The bloody Melborians will side with the Maroons so I will be a lone Blues fan. Go Blues, go! This is the only evening I regret we have no working tv!
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