Sydney Trip 2014: Plan & Prep 2014

The Plan and The Prep

So, the Sydney Woolers are having a christening on the 4th May 2014 and The Rockhampton Woolers are travelling en masse to Castle Hill, Sydney, Australia.
My sister Jill and her hubby Shaun are travelling down via Frasier Island. Noice.
My parents Wayne and Kay are doing the grey nomad thing and dragging their new caravan down to camp up in the Sydney Woolers front yard. 

ROAD TRIP!!!!!!

The Plan

Our itinerary is Maleny, Coffs Harbour, Sydney, South West Rocks, Pottsville, Bunya Nat Park (got changed on the road to Burrum Heads due to weather), Home. Should be a cracker of a trip.

Going South

 Going North

The Prep

This will be the first opportunity to get the Pajero out and about as the family tourer. I've only owned it for about 12 months and in that time I've lifted it 2", fitted new rubber and well, that's as far as I got.

This road trip will demand more storage to handle taking the family on the 3 week extended trip.

1. Fabricate a roof rack. Make the roof rack came out of necessity. I couldn't get the rack I wanted for the Pajero without spending $1000+. Just the mounting brackets alone were close to $500 before I even thought about a rack.
2. Install a cargo barrier.  While rummaging around the local tip shop (also known as the shit shop) I found a Milford Cargo Barrier for the NM Pajero. I own a NP and they are very similar so this one would fit my car.'How much?' I ask, 'ummm, $25' is the response. SOLD! Brand new they are $500. The downside was this poor thing had been living outside in rain for a long time and so every part of it had surface rust, even under the paint.
   No worries, a few hours with the pressure cleaner had the paint off, then rust convertor killed the rust and a fresh coat of hammertone paint to finish it off and hide the rough surface.
3. Replace the rear CV boots.Easy job. Once the tyre is off there's only 7 bolts to undo and the drive shaft is off.
4. Install suitable power outlets in the rear of the car to handle a Waeco fridge.
5. Install Child Attention Grabber, otherwise known as a LCD screen with movies.
6. Fuel up, lets roll.

The Fabrication of the Rack

Sydney Trip 2014, on the road to Mapelton, Qld.

And so finally after much prep work we are on the road on a 4000 klm family road trip. Leaving our home base in Rockhampton, Qld, the first stop was Mapelton up in the mountains behind the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. Maleny and Montville are also up in this area. It's a beautiful part of the world.
 

 

On the Road

We chose to stay at a caravan park called Lillyponds. We've stayed there before and so we knew what to expect. The grounds are full of mature Avocado trees which always seem to be fully laden with fruit. If you like avocados then you will love this place. I will suggest though beware the red dirt on which the park is built on. With the ultra heavy dew every morning, the red dirt turns to red mud which the kids thoroughly enjoyed playing in. 

Staying at caravan parks was going to be our strategy as this was the 1st trip with kids. A proper bush camping holiday would be too stressful. We had to learn for ourselves what our limits were with the kids. This, I thought would be our practice run before we did some real camping.

Camp Lillyponds

I've always wanted to do the drive from Rainbow Beach down through Cooloola and out at Noosa and this was my chance to do it.  We turned off at Maryborough, drove down past Poona NP and through the Tuan State Forest.
The state forest seems to be mostly pine plantation and actually makes for a nice drive.

The Route

What took me by surprise was the township of Rainbow Beach. Holey Smokes, I didn't expect there to be a town here. At least not a town so developed. I half expected to see a Woolies.

Rainbow Beach

No go zone on Rainbow Beach.

We were under the pump time wise to get down and off Rainbow Beach as the tide was on its way back in and this beach is definitely not place to be cutoff on. There's simply no retreat if you are midway on the beach. On the incoming tide the southern end of the beach is blocked by fallen trees, so the nightmare situation is to be attempting to beat the tide only to be blocked at the very end, forcing you to turn around but by that stage, you have no beach to drive on. Game over.
Anyway we returned the next day we had plenty of time to explorer and spent a leisurely day on the beaches.

Lunch at Lawrie Hansen Park.

The Prop from the Cherry Venture

Wiki on the Cherry Venture

Cooloola Beach

Cooloola Beach

Cooloola Beach

Fishing on Cooloola Beach

Fishing on Cooloola Beach

 Convoy on Cooloola Beach. Quite common to end up in one of these

The Pajero, Cooloola Beach.

This place does have a name but I'm a bad tourist and ignored the sign. These things were huge. 

I think I'm being followed.

At Double Island Point. The kids about to plunge into the beautiful blue water.

 The Rainbow Beach Cliffs. Don't get stuck on this beach. This is dead low tide. 

 Looking back to the sand cliffs, still on Rainbow at Double Island Point.

My boy Jack on his 1st real 4wd Adventure Holiday. Loving it.

It's impossible to see just how steep the sand walls are. Maggie gave up.

Rainbow Beach

There's always one. Bogged down to the axles, why? Because no one airs down their tyres here. No idea why.

 Waiting on the ferry to cross the Noosa River and continue on to our camp for the next few nights.

She's been in the car most of the day and still has a big smile for Dad.

Travel Day 1
Rockhampton to Mapleton

The path as recorded by GPS
download The Google Earth KML file

Travel Day 2
Hanging around Mapleton and Sunny Coast

The path as recorded by GPS
download The Google Earth KML file

Travel Day 3

Day at Rainbow Beach and Cooloola Coast

The path as recorded by GPS

download The Google Earth KML file

Sydney Trip 2014, Mapleton to Coffs Harbor

On the road to Coffs

Well after 3 pleasant nights at Lillyponds up in Mapelton it was time to hit the road and get to Coffs Harbor. Because it was going to be one of the longer travel days I had to pack the tent up with dew still sitting on it, normally I'd try and let the sun dry it off. Packing up a wet tent is a less than happy experience. It wouldn't be until we arrived in Sydney 4 days later that I would be able to dry everything out.

The drive itself was uneventful but we did take the time to stop off at a little place called Valla Beach. Kirsty and I were married here a few years back and I wanted to take a then and now photo. 

Then
The Happily Married Couple, Valla Beach Lookout

Now
Back to the scene of the crime at Valla Beach Lookout with a plus one child

Looking down onto Valla Beach

My little girl Maggie.

Every road trip to Sydney we take isn't complete without a stop off at Ballina for lunch by the river. We've not stayed in the area but everyone I talk too knows a place nearby that kicks arse. 

Lennox Head, Evans Head, Broadwater NP, Yamba, the list goes on. 

On our next trip we'll spend a  week or so checking it all out.

Some kind of magical flying fish at Ballina

Richmond River, Ballina

Fish & Chips by the Richmond River, Ballina

Maggie, Kirsty and Jack

Ballina

At Coffs we stayed with friends (Ali, Glenn, Luke and Baby Ben) and did a bit of tourist stuff. I really wanted to get up in the hills and tackle some 4wd trails, Coffs is renowned as a bit of a 4wd playground, but the weather turned on us and we had way too much rain to do any of the trails safely without a winch. Rover Trail came highly recommended as a medium to hard track to take on. 
I still had a location in mind that I spotted on a 4wd Action 213 DVD. This was Pebbly Beach and it looked awesome so that satisfied my 4wd fix. 
There is a tidal creek to cross to get into the campgrounds and this crossing I hear had claimed a few scalps over the years, we didn't have any issues crossing over but I could see how you could come unstuck if you weren't careful. 

On the beach south of Pebbly Beach.

Driving into Pebbly Beach Campgrounds

The actual Pebbles of Pebbly Beach

Retracing our tracks to get off the beach.

Pebbly Beach, looking a bit wind swept.

On the way back from Pebbly Beach the battery and engine light came on, bugger it. I had no lights, no indicators or cabin light but the Pajero was still powering on, nothing for it but to retreat to home base and figure it all out in the morning. 
As it turned out I had blown a fuse in the hazard light circuit which also disrupts the indicators, but on inspection the cable run that is tied at the bottom of the clutch bell housing had a few wires exposed and broken.
The damage must have been occurring slowly over time. The cables are taped together and then run through plastic conduit. Years of very slight oil seepage from oil changes had buggered the adhesion on the tape and the wires were loose inside the conduit, this combined with sand (I love my sand work) had an abrasive affect on the wire sheath which caused what you see below.

Poop Bugger Bum

It took quite a bit of detective work to find this break but laying under the car, on a very steep driveway, in the freezing rain, cutting out the crap wire and replacing it with new, with cold water dripping down on your face and also having a torrent of it run down your back, was the worst. 
2 hours later the problem was fixed. Little did I know there was more to come as my alternator was about to shit itself.  Never mind, time more sightseeing.

Taken from the Forest Sky Pier at Coffs Harbour

After repairing the wiring next day we checked out a few of the sites. Compulsory banana shot included.

Jetty, Coffs Harbour

Banana Shot, thanks Ali

Coffs complete, time to head for Sydney, or so I thought.

Travel Day 4

On the Road to Coffs Harbour

The path as recorded by GPS
download The Google Earth KML file

Travel Day 5

Pebbly Beach Exploration

The path as recorded by GPS
download The Google Earth KML File