A friendly blue-tongue joins us for a campsite drink

Met this drinking companion at Toowoon Beach

A Bogged Blog... stuck in the wilds of outback Australia

It had to happen

It had to happen, bogged down in the sand... immoveable! Both back wheels sunk to the chassis.

Except it didn't happen in far NSW, Queensland or the Northern Territory.

It happened in a powered site in our favourite park at Toowoon Bay, Central Coast NSW.

Here's a helpful guy from the park trying to get us out... unsuccessfully.

Finally, he called in a camper mate with a 4WD and a winch, which managed to drag us out.

You wouldn't read about it, except hopefully you are.

It's rugged out there!

On the country road, Cowra way, NSW

What's happened to Law & Order out here?

Anubis (newbie) is growing... fluffier...

and more adorable

Cowra Peace Bell

Ring any bells?

Japanese Gardens, Cowra

At Canowindra NSW, Australia's ballooning capital

The Cowra region is a bubble

We've spent a few days at Canowindra, mysteriously pronounced CaNOUNdra by the locals, with a silent 'wind'. Perhaps apt, because the place has been remarkably free of the wind, rain, hail and snow that the rest of NSW went through recently. The place is like a bubble.

This Cowra region is a micro-climate, which is why it is so perfect for wine-growing.  

It was like being in the eye the storm as the rest of NSW froze, including our old haunts in the Blue Mountains.

Next stop Cowra itself, before wending our way back Central Coast way.

The best camps in life are free - still loving Carcoar Dam

We're developing a taste for free camping

Richmond NSW

Richmond - almost free at $10 a night with power and water!

Beside still waters. Carcour Dam - amazing, totally free camp site, country NSW, SW of Blaney

Windmills across the water

Chilling (literally) in historic Beechworth Vic

Beechworth gaol - we missed the Ned Kelly tour

historic precinct

Adventurous bushranger - and Ned Kelly

Colonial geometry

Koala - and not in a zoo!

Trust me to spot him

I've been keeping an eye out for days - apparently one fell on a van roof recently

It was minus 2 yesterday morning, but Beechworth has its charms.
After 38 years in Australia Roy saw his very first Koala in the wild, right at our campsite.
Next stop Melbourne.

House sitting for friends in The Blue Mountains

Newbie makes a new friend, Cooper

Head in the lion's mouth

Friends

Parked outside friends' straw-bale house

They don't call Blackheath Bleak Heath for nothing!

View around our campsite tonight

 

We were about to hit the wind-down bed for the night to escape the cold when we decided to take a look outside the van!
No wonder we were cold.
Brrr!
Our poor little puppy Newbie is really feeling the chill in spite of his little coat.
Last night he cried and Roy had to go down the ladder and cuddle with him in the club lounge below.
Tonight may be my turn to cuddle with him!

Life in the Diversion, back in Sydney

Guess who is glued to the Olympics - and who isn't so much

Cosy winter nights in the Diversion motorhome

We're back in Sydney (Dural) to do a few things.

We also need to go up to the Blue Mountains soon.

Enjoying a good rest from our travels.

Gemfields RSL dinners in a roller-doors garage

Rustic RSL in a garage - the baked dinner was good

Rusty barrel wall and storage system.(Note the new gutters)

Our new RVer fills a dog-shaped hole in our lives

Anubis (Newbie) is settling into RVing really well.
Quite a self-contained little guy who is happy to curl up in the motorhome and go to sleep if we go shopping or out for a meal.
We called him Anubis because he looked just like Mighty Anubis, Egyptian dog god of the underworld. Not.

Back in the gemfields, Queensland...finding sapphires!

Thrill of the hunt

We found this - 2.55 carat blue sapphire

It was 5.2 carats before cutting

Humungous 18.5 carat sapphire - but presents cutting difficulties

Maybe we'll just have it polished in Thailand

We're back in Sapphire at a favourite resort in central Queensland on the Tropic of Capricorn.
We have now found 7 good sapphires (including, yesterday, a lovely star sapphire of 2.85 carats) and heaps of smaller ones and garnets to be cut and polished cheaply in Thailand. It really is addictive.