For a time the roadways are deserted, crossing a main road is just a walk in the park. The sky is clear, from our local small headland overlooking a sweeping coastline we can see Cape Moreton over 120klm to the north, the Hinterland ranges of the Gold Coast almost tower above in the clear atmosphere. We’ve saved the world from Global Warming? Families out early in the morning light laugh and hold hands as they head to the beachside parklands for an hour or two fresh air, walk, surf, play ball, frisbee! I imagine young families at home playing Scrabble, cards or Monopoly. They talk and laugh, eat breakfast, lunch and dinner together. It begins as a time of renewal, family bonds and neighbourhood friendships flourish as CoVid has lent us some time to be….to be human.
We cannot correctly fathom the fuss, after-all as Caravanning Nomads this is our life. Too soon people feel hemmed in, the time-rich family days have become passé. The normal 3 bedroom home is far too small to allow you to breathe, give respite or privacy. We, who spend at least 9 months a year in a caravan seven metres by two and a half metres, revel in the luxury of our “spacious” small two bedroom apartment just 150 metres from Miami Beach on the Gold Coast. Small? Well, 60 square metres is about two thirds the size of the bedroom of our last house, but three times the size of our Lotus caravan. Things are so relative!
As restrictions relax, traffic intensifies, pedestrians on your guard. Business apparel replaces board-shorts and T-shirts, from thongs to shoes, floppy hats to groomed hair styles. People feel unsure, pensive in the swings of lifestyle and social interaction. In an emotive period emotions flip and flop of their own accord. There is a sense of hurriedness, yet uncertainty of the future we are hurrying toward. Now, in close relationship with our communal moods, the vast expanse of views shrink as the air fills once more with the detritus of a modern industrial society, no not society, modern industrial commerce! We should wonder how our neighbours will look back on the “restrictive” months, with disdain or longing, or both. Whatever, this is a period of change both personal and societal.
Our city is now “business as usual” and we almost feel left behind as we take our morning walk to the beachside park and a pre-breakfast 7klm walk either north or south. The workday 150 metre walk to the surf, surfboard under-arm, has now so few fellow travellers and only a companionable small group on my favourite surf bank. We breakfast, lunch and dinner together. Play Yatzi or Backgammon, read the dreary newspapers, really just skim the headlines! Our main commonality with our neighbours is a disdain for the media and a distrust, and some disgust, for some layers of our various governments and authorities. Sad really.
Six months and still counting we have been Gold Coast resident again, the longest period by far during the past seven years. Commitments to family bind us here, but also the uncertainty of travel within our country as state boarders open and close like a revolving door. Sharon, our close friend and Landlady who lives upstairs, has been our companion throughout Event CoVid. We consider our Miami sanctuary as a small commune as we enjoy many activities, Happy Hours, chores, cooking and meals together. A CoVid inspired hardship, we think not, but it is a state of mind and we do consider ourselves fortunate not to be overly concerned with JobKeeping or JobSeeking.
As freedoms returned we began to plan short trips away, just a few days to have a campfire and stare at the stars. Our first venture was with mates Leigh and Jane to an old favourite about 90 minutes inland from the Gold Coast, Bigriggen Campgrounds. A 60 acre almost manicured parkland featuring mighty tall gum trees, kangaroos, possums and a myriad of birds. Nestled in a valley and sheltered from the city lights, the stars breathed new life into us, we’re home! We only spent a few days here and kept really busy doing nothing in particular.
We then road tripped to visit Sharons business, the 1770 Backpackers Hostel at Agnes Water run by her son. With no International holiday makers/backpackers allowed into Australia the Hostel was quiet, yet there are still young travellers who had remained here during the pandemic. We had a wonderful four days enjoying their company and the many varied stories of CoVid life for these travellers in a foreign country.
The Agnes Water piqued further taste of our Nomadic lifestyle and we have since had a four day break at Trinity Island Campground, about 10klm inland from Burrum Heads. A great camp set around a convoluted freshwater lake with plenty of room. Here we catchup with our son and family, Tom, Ash and our new Grandson, Lorcan. This break is just a happy family time spending the days playing with Lorcan (giving the new parents a break), talking, eating, drinking and all the things that makes for a busy camp-day!
Next up, Noosa Northshore Campgrounds. This requires a short ferry voyage across the Noosa River, then about a 5klm drive to the camp which fronts the beach. It’s hardly a camp as it provides powered sites and good amenities. It is also only a short drive to the beach track which, at lower tides, gives access to Teewah Beach and a 57klm beach drive to Double Island Point where we followed a 1klm track over the peninsula to Rainbow beach and the Coloured Sands. We loved the beach drive which being mid-week meant virtually no traffic, however, by the time we arrived at Rainbow Beach the tide was getting high so we opted to come back via some country roads via Boreen Point. Before getting on the ferry again we drove into Noosaville for lunch at the Noosa Yacht and Rowing Club, a great feed of Fish and Calamari accompanied by an icy beer. We followed this up by a 6klm walk out to the headlands of the Noosa National Park which was spectacular on this bright sunny day! T’was a good day out, and a great four night camp!
From the ocean to the mountains, for our next four day adventure we opted to get into some bushwalking, one of our favourite activities whilst travelling. A couple of hours west of the Gold Coast is Cunninghams Gap, a long steep climb up the Great Dividing Range, our destination is Main Range National Park and a really nice NP campground. The drive itself is enjoyable, and the camp which runs east west, though in a deepish valley, gets plenty of sunshine for our Lotus vans solar panels. The big attractions here are some loop walks of 2klms to 8klms, but the longer walk takes you through three distinct forest types with dramatic changes in fauna and flora. You begin in the deeper valley rainforest which is quite common in Australia, then above the lower steep slopes is scrubland forest, quite open and refreshing. The treat is a very different rainforest on the higher slopes, this is Gondwana Rainforest found only in the Northern NSW and SE Qld highlands. Gondwana forests hark back 23 million years to when Australia was part of the huge landmass of Gondwana, and the forest is spectacular!
Whilst at Main Range we caught up with old friends Paul and Angela at their horse property not far from nearby Allora. After a morning tea with homemade scones, jam and cream (yum) they took us for a 40 minute drive to see another property they had just purchased to run cattle and sheep on. The district is a mix of cropping and grazing and looks like a patchwork quilt, really beautiful. Other friends from Brisbane, Pete and Lindy, their daughter and husband have a hobby farm on the drive into our campground and they have invited us to join them camping there on the Saturday night before we head home. They have made a camp spot on a saddle between hills, however, it requires Low Range 1st gear to get up the steep and twisting gravel track. Now, that is daunting for the first time in the 4WD, but add a 3.4 ton Lotus caravan, well that takes it to a whole new level of fear and loathing. Fortunately Pete and Michael were waiting for us at the bottom, and Pete swapped with Evi so I had a navigator….fortunately! We survived the uphill, and also the downhill the next day!
Australia. Dust, Fire, Flood & Pandemic 
Gréât pix and an interesting, factual, and heartfelt read. Well done mate. Very entertaining.
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