Raymond Island to Cape York ....NOT!
- jmsrtldg
- Aug 10
- 12 min read
Following commemorating Anzac Day at the local Paynesville RSA (where the Last Post and Reveille were both played by two buglers simultaneously, which was a unique touch), I spent a final weekend at my friends' (Henri and Kate) place on Raymond Island. I then had a wheel alignment carried out on the moho and headed to Sale overnight, followed by a night in the suburb of Dandenong in the SE of Melbourne.
Hanging Rock / Hanging Rock / Silo Art at Lake Boga / Mildura
From Melbourne I pointed Northwest stopping at Lake Boga (via Hanging Rock (the site of famous Aussie horror drama, "Picnic at Hanging Rock") and the gold-mining town of Bendigo). Lake Boga was the site of a major catalina flying boat base during WW2. I then moved on to Mildura on the banks of Murray/Darling River system.
Snailspace at Broken Hill / Eg of heritage building in Broken Hill / Pro Hart Gallery / Pro Hart scultpure
I decided to bypass Echuca, as I had visited there previously and completed the obligatory paddlesteamer ride on the river. My next stop was Broken Hill - a heritage city in Australia; a significant mining centre (silver, lead and zinc); and where the conglomerate BHP was 'born'. While in Broken Hill I visited the Pro Hart Gallery - Pro Hart was an iconic contemporary Aussie artist most well-known in late 70's and 80's, and considered to be Australia's own "Picasso". I nearly bought an original piece, but the cheapest was around $1500 and so small that it would have been lost - even on my moho's modestly-sized bulkhead (wall)!
I also stopped at Wilcannia - not a lot in the middle of nowhere, it has to be said, however, it had once been a significant port in Murray/Darling river trading heyday during the late 19C. My campsite was beside a rising Darling River (with minor flooding expected over the following week as floodwaters descended from QLD).
Bastard bindis at Cobar RSL / Giant Tooheys can, Cobar / sculpture at entrance to town
The weekly 'Dhobey run' (washing) at the Cobar Laundrette completed, I stayed overnight in a Free Camp at the back of the Returned Services League (RSL...RSA in NZ) in the centre of town. Here I was introduced, in no uncertain terms, to the horrendous prickles (see photo above) variously known as Spiny Emex, Doublegee, Khaki weed or bindis - lethally-sharp three-to-four pointed star-shaped prickles seemingly designed to always have at least one spike facing upwards....even went right through my jandals (admittedly well-worn by now!). It would have been absolute torture for travelling pets! Cobar is another well-known outback NSW gold and base metals mining town, with a cool themed sculpture (designed by the local secondary school students, I believe) at the entrance to the town.
Bourke Visitor Centre sculpture / Silo Art, Bourke
I travelled through Bourke 'en passant' - another well-known outback NSW town, also used to express remoteness (as in 'back of Bourke' = back of beyond) in the aussie vernacular. I did stop to visit the old Bourke wharf, a reminder of when the town was a major trading centre for the region and paddle steamers plied the Darling and Murray river systems, complete with multi-level gangways to enable offloading of people, stock and produce concurrently, which was pretty clever)
The old bridge, Brewarrina / Barwon River on the rise
My next stop was a small NW NSW town called Brewarrina (local name for a species of Acacia), where I camped beside the Barwon River for a couple of nights, with visits by local State Emergency Service to once again check on rising river levels and expected (minor) flooding later that week. Brewarrina had an interesting old bridge with a moveable centre section that used to be able to be raised for steamships plying their trade...but bridge has long since been replaced and restoration work appears to be on-going on the old one.
Lightning Ridge artesian bore pool / mural 'hommage' to John Murray , Walgett / Burren Junction atresian bore pool
From Brewarrina I travelled to Lightning Ridge, NSW - famous for being the home of the unique 'Black Opal' (...so I had to buy one as a memento...even if it is quite modest in size). While there, I visited the John Murray Art Gallery (a well-known local artist with iconic style of comically-dressed cartoon fauna (particularly emus) and outback landscapes). I camped overnight just out of town in a roadside rest area free camp (as the prices in town were extortionate and the reviews pretty poor!), getting up early to treat myself at the local artesian bore pools at sunrise (and before it got too hot...23C by 0830). The main pool (pictured) at @ 42-43C was bearable, but only for a relatively short duration, before then having to cool off under a cold shower or sit in the (cooler) kiddies' pool nearby! I rewarded myself with a full breakfast in town o/c (with plenty of caffeine, as I was feeling far too relaxed) before heading off to a low-cost ($5p/n) campsite beside yet another artesian bore spa bath at Burren Junction. The pool at Burren Junction was a bit cooler than Lightning ridge @37 deg C, but otherwise there was nothing really there (other than the campground). From Burren Junction I headed to Gunnedah (recently in the news for having suffered severe flooding) to stay a couple of nights at the CMCA (Caravan and Motorhome Club Australia) campground ($5 per night for members, has Fresh Water (FW), rubbish and a Dump Point for Grey and Black Water, but (generally) no toilets. They are usually situated close to town/shopping centres, however, so there is usually a public toilet within a couple of hundred metres).
I have been using a camping app on my phone called Wikicamps Australia (there is one for NZ as well). Initially when I started travelling, it was considered the best source of information, reviews and up-to-date camping spots, from free camps to donation and low-cost camps to showgrounds and more up-market offerings from the big camping conglomerates. Regrettably, since being bought out recently by a couple of those large conglomerates, it has deteriorated considerably, despite a supposedly fancier new interface, as it is no longer showing many of the free or lower-cost offerings (clearly trying to push users to stay at their more expensive campgrounds), or features that I had used in the old version (especially a scale to assess distances when zooming in and out) - most annoying!
artistic fountain, Gunnedah Visitors centre / Pensioners Hill Park sculpture / Dorothea McKellar silo art / selfie at Pensioners Hill Park
Notwithstanding this, Gunnedah was a pleasant town with plenty to do and see, including being the birthplace of Aussie poet, Dorothea McKellar (displayed on the silo art picture, with the second (and most famous) verse of her poem "My Country", a poem that sums up Australia quite succinctly:
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of rugged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I lover her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!
I had been intending to get to the NE coast of NSW via Uralla and the Waterfall Way (and to check out a number of said waterfalls along the way). I imagined that the waterfalls would be spectacular with the amount of rain that had been falling in the region, however, a large section of the route north of Bellingen had been closed in both directions because of slips due to too much rain, so I was obliged to find an alternative route to the south via the Oxley Highway, which was open, despite a number of roadworks. I stopped at Apsley Falls, which was pretty spectacular, before spending a night in a free camp in the Ellenborough Reserve that reminded me of a scene from 'Deliverance' (just without the banjo music), with misty rain, grey skies and a very boggy campground filled with semi-permanents (people obliged to camp because they cannot afford housing). Despite this, it was a quiet spot and good for an overnight stay.
Macksville Bridge / sculpture at Nambucca River
I once again stopped in Macksville in one of three free camps beside the river in this small RV-friendly town, where I had previously stayed before when visiting my sister, Elizabeth, who lives in the nearby seaside town of Nambucca Heads). The previous time I stayed on higher ground and still managed to nearly get flooded, this time I preceded the flooding that subsequently occurred just a few days after I left! After breakfast with my sister in a very pleasant riverside cafe at Nambucca Heads, I made my way northwards towards Brisbane via overnight stops at another very good free camp behind the pub at Coutts Crossing (still in NSW) and a funny (and wet and boggy) little place called Woodenbong (QLD).
Given the generally high cost and paucity of campgrounds close to Brisbane, I elected to stay one night in a low-cost campground in a place called Burpengarry. I managed to secure a site that, despite all the rain, appeared to be reasonably firm. The same cannot be said for a caravan and 4WD truck combination elsewhere on the property that had become severely bogged in mud but, after breaking one towline, finally managed to extricate itself from it predicament with the help of a V8 Toyota Landcruiser and the judicious use of a kinetic ('snatch') strap.
Some of the kids camping nearby showed some initiative in making the best of the muddy conditions to play in....
The annual service at Explorer Motorhomes in Clontarf, Brisbane, included some repairs under warranty to my awning bracket, which had broken the fibreglass panel to which it had been bolted, and also repairing the fibreglass gelcoat for an area at the back of the moho that had been chipped by the merciless onslaught of stones on the dirt roads. Because of the fibreglass repairs, the moho was required to remain at Explorer Motorhomes overnight...and an expensive stay nearby in a B&B (the more luxurious hotels and apartments in the vicinity costing upwards of $300 a night!)...but at least it had a swimming pool for a quick dip. Given that my next objective was driving to Cape York (the northern-most tip of mainland Australia) which would entail some water crossings, I took the opportunity to have a 'breather' kit fitted (expensive!) which, along with the existing snorkel, would enable me to safely immerse the bottom of the vehicle in water without potentially sucking water into the front and rear differentials and gear box.
I subsequently chilled in Bribie Island for a week (staying at the same caravan park at Bongaree, close to the beach and Pumicestone Passage (between Bribie Island and the mainland) when I first set off from Brisbane at the start of my Big Lap adventure back in late '23). I was waiting to meet up with my friend and engineer 'extraordinaire', John Brennan from Perth (who I met almost a year ago in QLD) and with whom I was to be tackling Cape York. His timing for travel had not been quite as lucky as mine, and he got caught by the terrible (one in 500-year) flooding in NE NSW as he attempted to visit his brother in Port Macquarie via Taree - both areas that were significantly affected.
We subsequently spent two nights in Bongaree in order to flesh out a rough plan to get up to Cape York. As John's Toyota Coaster (small bus) motorhome would not be able to cope with the lack of bitumen from Laura (still some 750km short of the tip), the plan was that I would tow his roof-top tent-equipped trailer and he would travel with me for the off-road part of the trip).
Gayndah, QLD / Dingo, QLD
We initially took separate routes northwards, with me stopping overnight at free or low-cost campsites at Gayndah (home of the big orange) and Jambin, reconnecting at Middlemount Hotel. From there we continued with the 'B' roads and slightly inland route via Dingo, stopping overnight at Glenden Madden and Bowen before a planned stop for two nights at a Caravan Park in Rowes Bay, Townsville.
From here I set off on my e-scooter to meet up with a friend from the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Kim, and her partner, Steve, at a brewery in downtown Townsville but had barely travelled 500m before I hit a deep pothole while travelling at @20km/h. The e-scooter stopped dead and I continued on, smashing my left knee in the ensuing tumble (quite seriously, as it later turned out!). Funnily enough, a doctor had heard the crash from within the campground, climbed the fence and provided me with paracetomol and water while calling for an ambulance....but as a gynaecologist, that was the extent of what he could practically do (but I was very grateful, nevertheless)! I managed to stop the e-scooter's rear wheel (which continued to spin madly) and ring Kim to advise that I wouldn't be making our rendezvous before the serious pain kicked in and I started to get very light-headed. My friend John (who I had also phoned) had turned up by this stage and, along with the doctor, wheeled my e-scooter back to the campground reception to be secured. Anyway, the ambo arrived pretty quickly and they transferred me to a stretcher for transport to Townsville University Hospital, giving me the infamous "green whistle" to suck on for pain relief - I couldn't suck hard enough and it had definitely run out by the time we arrived at hospital!!
I started off in ED, from where X-Rays and a MRI scan were taken. A young asian doctor initially came to review me, looking at the injury and declaring that I would be fine once the swelling was under control/reduced and I could go home. Having just been told by radiographers that there were serious fractures to both the tibia and fibula, I queried his diagnosis, referring him to the x-rays....I never saw him again, but it was definitely a worrying start to my sojourn at the hospital!
The next few days were a blur of shifting to different wards (four times!), pain and pain relief, MRI scans and further x-rays (ankle and hip - just to make sure there were no hidden issues) signing a consent form for surgery - finally ending up in surgery ward 1 (orthopaedic). Life in the surgery wards (pre and post op) was an absolute nightmare. Despite a ward of only four beds, the noise levels were persistently high and so constant throughout both day and night that it felt like I never actually got any real sleep. The noise was created by the hourly observations, the beeping of monitoring equipment, the alarming of said monitoring equipment, the specialists ward rounds with hangers-on, the cleaners trying to do their thing, the nursing staff changeovers, the dealing with issues arising with the patients, etc, etc. Notwithstanding all this, the nursing and medical care was without fault.
Initially I had consented for an operation to repair the fractures. As time wore on, it was suggested that, due to osteoarthritis already having determined that I would need to replace the knee anyway, that I should consider a total knee replacement. This would result in a shorter recovery period and greater mobility as an outcome. I was more than happy to elect this approach and only had to wait a few days more for the operation to be carried out under public health provisions...essentially free!
The operation was carried out 8 days after initial admission and I remained in perioperative care for a further 4 days before being discharged to my 'home' for the next 20 days, being a shared 'air bnb' (4 single rooms, 1 set of shared amenities on the ground floor of a house that contained a further two double rooms on the top floor and a converted garage....the owners' certainly squeezing every possible $ from the building!) close to the hospital. This had been discovered by my friend John, who not only packed up my motorhome from the campground, but also subsequently parked it up in the driveway at the air bnb while I was still in hospital. To John I definitely owe a great deal of thanks!!
The staples were removed two weeks following the operation, and with the exception of continued significant swelling, the wound was loooking OK. I was hoping to make a break from Townsville and head back down to my friends, Henri and Kate, in Raymond Island to complete my rehabilitation. I was accompanied by John down as far as south-western NSW, doing the trip in a series of short, 250km hops (to not over-stress the knee), focussing on pub camping so I also didn't have to cook too much!
Anyway, a couple of days later I had my first physiotherapy appointment, which didn't go so well - they suspected a potential DVT/blood clot as a result of the continued swelling and tenderness in the lower leg, and so I was once again packed off to the ED. Following a long wait in ED (which was freezing...I eventually had to ask for a blanket to stop shivering!), I eventually had a comprehensive ultrasound of my veins carried out that gave the "all clear" for no evidence of DVT. After being fitted with one of those diabolical compression stockings, I was again discharged to my accommodation.
The double irony of this accident was firstly that I had purchased the e-scooter to help me get around to do nearby shopping and sightseeing when the moho was parked up, knowing that my ability to walk was slowly deteriorating due to the ongoing osteoarthritis.... Secondly, I had elected to not include knee replacement surgery in my medical insurance while travelling in Australia as I was planning to do it on my return to NZ...the 3-year timeframe of the "Big Lap" being entirely predicated on the time that I could put my Southern Cross Health Insurance on hold while travelling out of NZ!!
Well, I am now parked up once again at the property of my good (and long-suffering) friends Henri and Kate on Raymond Island. From here I will undertake rehabilitation physio while trying to see an orthopaedic surgeon to review my post-operation progress (this should have been at the six-week mark, however, that was three weeks ago now). So I will spend the next few weeks focusing on maximising my strength and mobility to regain my independence (and, at least be capable of changing a tyre) before continuing with my travels.
So until then, dear friends and family, adieu and hooroo!
Jimmo (James)
+61 400 068 257
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