Our initial plans for our trip north had taken an unexpected turn. This was due to another potentially significant legal problem, this time relating to the load capacity of the van. I'll have much more to say about that later in a separate blog for the technically minded, but it now involved a detour down to Currumbin Waters on the Gold Coast and the only nearby park which would take the Black Panther, the Kirra Beach Tourist Park.
The City of Toowoomba sits atop a high escarpment at the eastern edge of the Darling Downs. Any journey east to the coast demands a very steep descent into the Lockyer valley below. This shot (courtesy of 'sunrisetoday.wordpress') taken looking out from the Picnic Point lookout over the valley below may give some idea of the drop.
The bountiful vegetable growing area which extends right along the valley floor made the news for all the wrong reasons a few years ago when flood waters poured off the Downs through Toowoomba and inundated most of the small towns and homes below.
Despite the rain of our last day in Toowoomba, we were confronted with no such problems today as we made our way back into the CBD in bright sunshine and thence to the junction of the Warrego Highway
where the road signs soon cautioned of what was to come. We had travelled this road twice before, but on both these occasions we were on the ascent, and only towing the small Coromal van. We knew that today's adventure was to be of a very different stripe ensuring that our brakes did not overheat and fail rendering our combined weight of 6.5 tonnes an out of control missile.
As is always the case in these circumstances, the photos do not really do justice to the severity of the descent,
The City of Toowoomba sits atop a high escarpment at the eastern edge of the Darling Downs. Any journey east to the coast demands a very steep descent into the Lockyer valley below. This shot (courtesy of 'sunrisetoday.wordpress') taken looking out from the Picnic Point lookout over the valley below may give some idea of the drop.
The bountiful vegetable growing area which extends right along the valley floor made the news for all the wrong reasons a few years ago when flood waters poured off the Downs through Toowoomba and inundated most of the small towns and homes below.
Despite the rain of our last day in Toowoomba, we were confronted with no such problems today as we made our way back into the CBD in bright sunshine and thence to the junction of the Warrego Highway
where the road signs soon cautioned of what was to come. We had travelled this road twice before, but on both these occasions we were on the ascent, and only towing the small Coromal van. We knew that today's adventure was to be of a very different stripe ensuring that our brakes did not overheat and fail rendering our combined weight of 6.5 tonnes an out of control missile.
As is always the case in these circumstances, the photos do not really do justice to the severity of the descent,
one which I treated with great respect. With the Cruiser set firmly in second gear, we eased along with only a modest use of the brakes from time to time to maintain an even manageable speed.
The occasional relatively flat sections came as blessed relief,
but these were relatively short lived before we were again pointing nose downwards, deliberately dawdling along on the thankfully two-laned highway.
but these were relatively short lived before we were again pointing nose downwards, deliberately dawdling along on the thankfully two-laned highway.
The several arrester beds along this section of the highway provide both caution and comfort, but we had to need to use any of them
and within fifteen minutes or so we found ourselves back in fifth gear and resuming a goodly clip along the valley floor where the highway assumes the name of one of Queensland's rugby greats.
At this point I am taking an editorial 'stitch in time'. From our emergence into the Lockyer Valley (not actually named after the sportsman) our journey took us into and beyond the built up areas of Ipswich and the southern sections of Brisbane and out onto the multi-laned Pacific Highway south to the Gold Coast, a necessary but decidedly pictorially uninspiring leg of our travels.
So fast forward to our arrival at the Kirra Beach Tourist Park, a sign I was more than pleased to see after just over 200 kms of challenging towing in heavy traffic,
where each oncoming set of highway signs presented the need to ensure that we were always in the correct lane and every decision was being made at 95 kph.
As I alluded to at the outset of this missive, we were here for a specific reason, but I'll go into all that in my next. For now, let me share with you the delights of this very well laid out, equipped and managed tourist park, a short five minute walk from the surf beach which has been home to the SLSA Australian championships for many years.
Our arrival as number two in the check in lane confirmed what we had already suspected....this is a busy park, but with our previous booking standing us in good stead,
the formalities of our arrival were soon completed and we were off through the boom gates. Here a sharp right turn
gave us our first glimpse of the large park pool
and took us past the equally big camp kitchen
to our allotted site in the 'doggie section' at the far northern end of the park.
When I had booked, I was told that we would be occupying a grass site, but as we pulled up we found that recent renovation work meant that we now had the convenience of a new, level cement slab on which to set up our outdoor living area. Apart from this boon, parking areas
on both sides of our site meant that we had oodles of that much sought after park bonus....'elbow room'. We were more than content, and although this section of the park was a bit of a gallop to the nearest good amenities block, this was a small price to pay.
A quick tour is in order. Just beyond our site, a gate in the northern fence led to the dog exercise area,
a large expanse of park stretching out under
the watchful eye of the towering building of the Southern Cross University.
In the other direction, we looked across more of the dog friendly area to the camp kitchen building
wisely located right next to the park camp ground area.
Like all the facilities in this council owned park, the kitchen is a beauty....large benches, good BBQs (which were cleaned twice a day!) and more than adequate fridges and freezers.
The nearby pool is surrounded by lovely gardens, and is unusually long. This is one park pool in which a decent swim is possible. I found it a touch ironic that such a good pool should be found in a park a mere hop, step and jump from a marvellous swimming beach, but this is a park which is definitely set up for the entertainment of youngsters.
Adjacent to the park office, a large games room, complete with hopscotch squares on the path leading to it,
caters for those with a need for mechanical forms of entertainment,
whilst the more adventurous kiddies can wear themselves out on the adjoining playground equipment.
This large park is not only home transients like us, but also to a significant permanent population,
many of whom occupy more than modest dwellings,
where the the front gardens demonstrate that they take an obvious pride in their surroundings.
Some have even taken full advantage of adjacent open spaces where they make up for the lack of a backyard.
Although sections of the park were quite crowded,
much of the shaded, grassy areas were vacant, although many of these sites did fill over the weekend.
As would be expected in a park of this size, there are two large ablution blocks which house more than adequate facilities for the increasingly diminishing numbers of caravaners who do not use their internal showers.
BBQ huts are dotted throughout as are picnic tables and benches.
And what's a park without its own lake, we ask?
This is to be found at 'our end' of the park, together a group of park cabins
and a very flash set of single room accommodation.
All in all we were more than happy with what we found here, with one exception.....the traffic noise from the nearby Gold Coast highway and Coolangatta Airport did take some getting used to after the quiet country towns in which we had spent much of the past weeks, but this was a case of 'needs must' as I shall explain in my next.
And there was a distinct upside to our unplanned sojourn here at Kirra.....it gave us the opportunity to catch up with our very good friends from our adventures in Western Australia, Yvonne and Les, folk we first met in Bremer Bay and more latterly shared some very good times at Shark Bay.
They treated us to a delightful lunch at their Brisbane home last year as we were making our way south, so it was a real pleasure to be able to return the favour 'chez Marshies'.
I also took the opportunity whilst here in the 'big smoke' to catch up with an old work colleague from Adelaide CIB days (circa mid 1970's) who retired many years ago to Burleigh Heads, and in another of those extraordinary coincidences of our life on the road, a close friend of our immediate park neighbours, who now lives in Coolangatta, is a chap who went through the SA Police Academy a few courses after mine. Whilst our paths did not actually cross on this occasion for a number of reasons, we have arranged to meet whenever we pass this way again.
and within fifteen minutes or so we found ourselves back in fifth gear and resuming a goodly clip along the valley floor where the highway assumes the name of one of Queensland's rugby greats.
At this point I am taking an editorial 'stitch in time'. From our emergence into the Lockyer Valley (not actually named after the sportsman) our journey took us into and beyond the built up areas of Ipswich and the southern sections of Brisbane and out onto the multi-laned Pacific Highway south to the Gold Coast, a necessary but decidedly pictorially uninspiring leg of our travels.
So fast forward to our arrival at the Kirra Beach Tourist Park, a sign I was more than pleased to see after just over 200 kms of challenging towing in heavy traffic,
where each oncoming set of highway signs presented the need to ensure that we were always in the correct lane and every decision was being made at 95 kph.
As I alluded to at the outset of this missive, we were here for a specific reason, but I'll go into all that in my next. For now, let me share with you the delights of this very well laid out, equipped and managed tourist park, a short five minute walk from the surf beach which has been home to the SLSA Australian championships for many years.
Our arrival as number two in the check in lane confirmed what we had already suspected....this is a busy park, but with our previous booking standing us in good stead,
the formalities of our arrival were soon completed and we were off through the boom gates. Here a sharp right turn
gave us our first glimpse of the large park pool
and took us past the equally big camp kitchen
to our allotted site in the 'doggie section' at the far northern end of the park.
When I had booked, I was told that we would be occupying a grass site, but as we pulled up we found that recent renovation work meant that we now had the convenience of a new, level cement slab on which to set up our outdoor living area. Apart from this boon, parking areas
on both sides of our site meant that we had oodles of that much sought after park bonus....'elbow room'. We were more than content, and although this section of the park was a bit of a gallop to the nearest good amenities block, this was a small price to pay.
A quick tour is in order. Just beyond our site, a gate in the northern fence led to the dog exercise area,
a large expanse of park stretching out under
the watchful eye of the towering building of the Southern Cross University.
In the other direction, we looked across more of the dog friendly area to the camp kitchen building
wisely located right next to the park camp ground area.
Like all the facilities in this council owned park, the kitchen is a beauty....large benches, good BBQs (which were cleaned twice a day!) and more than adequate fridges and freezers.
The nearby pool is surrounded by lovely gardens, and is unusually long. This is one park pool in which a decent swim is possible. I found it a touch ironic that such a good pool should be found in a park a mere hop, step and jump from a marvellous swimming beach, but this is a park which is definitely set up for the entertainment of youngsters.
Adjacent to the park office, a large games room, complete with hopscotch squares on the path leading to it,
caters for those with a need for mechanical forms of entertainment,
whilst the more adventurous kiddies can wear themselves out on the adjoining playground equipment.
This large park is not only home transients like us, but also to a significant permanent population,
many of whom occupy more than modest dwellings,
where the the front gardens demonstrate that they take an obvious pride in their surroundings.
Some have even taken full advantage of adjacent open spaces where they make up for the lack of a backyard.
Although sections of the park were quite crowded,
much of the shaded, grassy areas were vacant, although many of these sites did fill over the weekend.
As would be expected in a park of this size, there are two large ablution blocks which house more than adequate facilities for the increasingly diminishing numbers of caravaners who do not use their internal showers.
BBQ huts are dotted throughout as are picnic tables and benches.
And what's a park without its own lake, we ask?
This is to be found at 'our end' of the park, together a group of park cabins
and a very flash set of single room accommodation.
All in all we were more than happy with what we found here, with one exception.....the traffic noise from the nearby Gold Coast highway and Coolangatta Airport did take some getting used to after the quiet country towns in which we had spent much of the past weeks, but this was a case of 'needs must' as I shall explain in my next.
And there was a distinct upside to our unplanned sojourn here at Kirra.....it gave us the opportunity to catch up with our very good friends from our adventures in Western Australia, Yvonne and Les, folk we first met in Bremer Bay and more latterly shared some very good times at Shark Bay.
They treated us to a delightful lunch at their Brisbane home last year as we were making our way south, so it was a real pleasure to be able to return the favour 'chez Marshies'.
I also took the opportunity whilst here in the 'big smoke' to catch up with an old work colleague from Adelaide CIB days (circa mid 1970's) who retired many years ago to Burleigh Heads, and in another of those extraordinary coincidences of our life on the road, a close friend of our immediate park neighbours, who now lives in Coolangatta, is a chap who went through the SA Police Academy a few courses after mine. Whilst our paths did not actually cross on this occasion for a number of reasons, we have arranged to meet whenever we pass this way again.
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