30 August, Day 5, Toowoomba

On the road again today. After a very restful night in Narrabri we set off at 08:50 and continued up the Newell Highway. Passed through Moree and had lunch in a park in Goondiwindi, which is just on the Queensland side of the border. At this point the weather was still fine, but as we approached the Darling Downs, some very dark clouds became apparent and as we rolled into the outskirts of Toowoomba we encountered heavy rain and lightning, the first bad weather on our trip. We were dreading the thought of unhitching the van and setting up camp in the rain, but by the time we arrived at our caravan park the rain had just about stopped. We're planning to spend a rest day here and visit some of our favourite spots from a previous trip, including the Valetta Cafe. It will be interesting to see if there are any signs of the terrible floods they had here earlier in the year. On Thursday we will complete the final 270 km to Gympie to catch up with Saskia, Peter and Lexi.

29 August Day 4, Narrabri NSW

After two glorious days in Forbes, we drove 430 km. to Narrabri where we are overnighting. On the way we passed The Dish at Parkes and travelled through Dubbo. It's interesting pulling into a caravan park anywhere along the Newell Highway. We tend to arrive fairly early, around 2:30, and the parks are almost empty. Then, over the next few hours it gradually fills up with travellers bedding down for the night. In most cases you don't need to unhook the van. Just pull up, connect the power and water, unpack the easy chairs and open a beer. Within minutes someone will be over to have a chat and swap stories. Tomorrow is our last long haul for a while. It will take us to Toowoomba where we will spend a couple of nights, and from there it will be a short run to Gympie on Thursday.

28 August - Day 3 - Forbes NSW

Left Tocumwal at 10:00 yesterday, after replacing the mixer tap of the kitchen sink - one of the hose fittings had started to leak and the simplest thing with limited tools was to replace the whole unit. Fortunately there was a hardware shop next to the caravan park. Drove up the Newell Highway and arrived in Forbes at 3pm yesterday. The Newell Highway is definitely the road of choice of caravanners travelling to and from Queensland, we must have seen hundreds during the day. Forbes is a very pretty town and like most towns which had a gold rush has a legacy of attractive historic buildings. Had dinner at a very good Thai restaurant last night called Spice of Life, a great meal. Today we went on a self guided walking tour of the town, a good way to see the place. The photo is of the Town Hall which dates back to the 1890's. The weather continues to be brilliant and we've spent the afternoon soaking up the sun. We're off again tomorrow and heading for Narrabri.

26 August - Day 1 - Tocumwal NSW

Left Traralgon at 8:05 this morning. A bit overcast but fairly mild. Turned off the Princes Highway at Pakenham and made our way to the Yarra Valley via Cockatoo and Yarra Glen. From there to Yea where we stopped for coffee and lunch. After a nice break we then turned towards Seymour and Shepparton, arriving in Tocumwal at 2:45pm. It's a pretty little town located on the NSW side of the Murray, which has plenty of water in it at the moment. The afternoon was warm and sunny and we really enjoyed a beer and a champagne sitting in the sun outside the caravan. A great start to the trip.

10 May - Alcatraz

Today Rosa and I went on an Alcatraz tour while the Hirs' caught up on some last minute shopping. Alcatraz is an island in San Francisco Bay which has been used as a fort, a military prison, and for some 30 years a federal prison which housed some of the most infamous inmates in US criminal history, including Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly. The tour starts with a ferry ride to the island and from there on you can walk around alone, join a National Park ranger for a guided tour or take the self guided audio tour of the penitentiary.



This proved to be one of the most interesting days of our trip. Alcatraz has been immortalized in dozens of Hollywood movies including, "The Birdman of Alcatraz" and "The Rock", and it was great to actually be there and hear and see the reality. As a prison Alcatraz was shut down in the 1960's and today it is under the control of the National Park service and supported by lots of volunteers. Altogether a wonderful and informative day.
This will be the last blog for this trip. I've had lots of comments by email from all of you who have followed our adventures - thanks for that. Tomorrow is our last day. We check out of our hotel at noon, and we'll head out to the airport around 7pm. From then on its all endless queues, lots of security checks and an interminable flight home, but it's all worth it. We've had an unbelievable adventure and everything occurred just as we planned it.

9 May - San Francisco

Rode the famous cable car to Lombard St. San Francisco is very hilly and these world famous cable cars are hauled up the steep streets by cables under the street. The cable car runs right past our hotel and the ride provides a wonderful cross section of urban life. Lombard Street is known as the crookedest street in the world. It zigzags it's way down the side of a very steep hill.



From here we walked for another visit to Pier 39 on another world famous landmark - Fisherman's Wharf, where we spent some more time looking through an interesting array of shops and checking out a colony of 100 or so sea lions which have adopted the place since 1989. had dinner this evening in a nice Greek restaurant - Santorini. Tomorrow Rosa and I are booked on a tour of Alcatraz which was a very famous penitentiary. John and Sandra visited it on a previous trip and will be catching up on last minute shopping.

8 May - Mothers Day in San Francisco

Mother's Day and our first full day in San Francisco. Started with breakfast at Lori's Diner, an authentic 1950's diner across the road from our hotel. The girls were presented with a complimentary red carnation. After breakfast we boarded one of the famous San Francisco streetcars and headed of to Fisherman's Wharf. Lots of interesting shops, cafe's etc. and strolling around and soaking up the sights took up most of the day. Later in the afternoon we visited the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, one of only three remaining Liberty Ships. This ship took part in the Normandy Invasion in 1945 and has since been restored to full working order and is still used for short cruises around the San Francisco area. Here's John at the wheel of the old girl.






For dinner this evening we dined at a very historic and famous steakhouse.






John's Grill has been in business since 1908 and is a local landmark. I think it's fair to say our steaks were the best we had all experienced. Overall, San Francisco is one of my favorite cities in the world.