22/6/22 Chillingham & Tyalgum

 

    An afternoon out took us to Chillingham and a small waterfall beside Zara Rd Chillingham . Time for some fun with the camera !!

   Sometimes i actually make it into the photo !

    There was plenty of water falling which made it so much easier to take these shots .

   There must have been a lot of water flowing down here as well .

   Tree roots have been more exposed by the floods , plenty of debris was lying around the banks - water level was about 3 to 4m above where it is now !!

   All calm above the waterfall .

    This is part of the Rous River just past Chillingham village .

    From Chillingham , we made our way to Tyalgum , finding Long Mountain Way as we went . It lead us up the side of a mountain to a phone tower , and the view was amazing over to Mt Warning and surrounding valley .

   This was looking back to the Scenic Rim - which is the rim of the old volcano , Mt Warning is the centre of that volcano .

    Speaking of which , here it is .

    Making our way down to Tyalgum , we went up through the village , finding a section of Oxley River 

 

   Tyalgum has a different Community Hall - cant say I've ever seen a 2 storey one ??

    There was also a General Store , a couple of other shops and the hotel .

   Our plan was to head straight back to Murwillumbah , but the flood made a different plan for us - the road was closed , presumably washed away . So rather than back track , we headed toward Uki - the only other road out . We'd travelled around here quite some years ago - probably about 40 years ago !! and we weren't sure if it was this road or not - turns out it was this road . The bitumen ended and we had a single lane gravel road winding it's way through the bush and also some plantation forest as well - it looked stunning in the late afternoon light , illuminating all the trunks .

   The road had been repaired in one section that had been washed away in the floods , before we got back out onto the bitumen at Uki .

   This section of Kyogle Rd hasn't been repaired yet , notice the witches hats - they're on the centre line of the road - just one of the sections of the road in the area that's one lane and has temporary traffic lights controlling the traffic 24/7 .

   An interesting drive through some great country , just another day 😎 here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1cIBaTOZQig8YaVjgKikLWMnyDXG-3DE&usp=sharing

20/6/22 Murwillumbah

 

   Time to leave Casino and head further north , this time to Murwillumbah , beside the Tweed River . We turned off the M1 at Yelgun and continued the last 30 kms on the Tweed Valley Way ( the old highway ) It's been a long time since we'd travelled that road - we'd forgotten about the hills & corners & up & down etc etc - needless to say we probably won't tow the van on that road again in a hurry . 

   Set up at the showgrounds , it was time for a ride around , the river was reflecting very well , even though it was very brown with a lot of floating branches and other debris coming down with the mud .

    Time for a few aerial shots around town , this is looking to Mt Warning .

   Here's the showgrounds looking to the east .

    It's a big sugarcane growing area , the harvest is starting in the next couple of days .

    This is the Rous River , which originates in the mountains to the right , out past Chillingham .

  A closer view of the sugarcane - nearly 3m tall !

   A farm driveway framed by cane .

  

    One afternoon we had a lot of low cloud on the mountains .

    Then there's the sun going down behind the mountains .

   And a nice glow to finish the week off .

    We did go up to the Gold Coast to check out one of the houses and chat with our property manager , did some shopping , had some lunch down at The Spit and left the Gold Coast to the locals . Another day we went out , but that's the next blog . Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1ZwYP22q5qrpRjh0U7L8hmaZgZ3H5_8o&usp=sharing

11/6/22 Casino

 

   Grafton behind us , off up the Summerland Way to Casino . The ute is booked in for a service on thursday , so that's good - Grafton was unable to do it for a few weeks - the floods are still causing a lot of problems , and getting cars serviced is just one of them !!

   All set up , we headed out for a ride , crossing over the river - it had been above the banks here and certainly did some damage to the concrete road down to the river's edge .

   Trees are leaning over - those that are still there - a lot have been washed down the river .

 

   There's a mural on the water tower , it appears to be unfinished , there's still a section to complete on the right hand side - not seen in this photo . It was also difficult to get photo's of it , there's no where to stop unless you're underneath the tank .

   Days have been spent catching up with Garry & Robbie at Grevillea - out from Kyogle , then Garry & Kelly at Lismore . 

  The floods have caused so many problems with the roads - some roads have been washed away completely , others just missing a lane , potholes & rough roads everywhere !! 

  The flood damage in Lismore was brought home when we were talking to Garry & Kelly - they told us about the flood being the dirtiest flood they've seen - so much water coming down with so much force brought a lot of topsoil & rubbish down from the mountains and everywhere , not to mention the amount of rubbish that also got washed down , animals , shipping containers - you name it , it probably came down the river . There's a barge working on the river with an excavator on it , just removing rubbish from the edges of the river and the trees that are still there . Lismore CBD is a ghost town , shops are boarded up waiting on repairs , businesses closed down that will probably never reopen . Houses in South Lismore are all open , no-one living in them , they're just drying out , Toyota Dealership went underwater - it was new and built above normal flood levels , it's still not open , Bunnings is only just getting close to reopening . Big W in the main shopping centre has only just reopened . Then there are the displaced people - they are living wherever they can , all those jobs not there any more . People are living in motorhomes that have been provided , presumably by the government - there were 80 motorhomes in the park we are staying at , others are living in their own caravans or tents , or with friends . If you want to shop in Lismore , good luck , there aren't any supermarkets open - people have to go to Ballina or Casino , so they are flat out . 

 It has been devastated !!

  And for a change of pace , we headed out to Mallangalee Lookout , it provided an overgrown lookout area with trees in serious need of a prune - like most lookouts . The phone tower 50m away provided a better look around - no trees up there !

   This is the view down over Mallangalee village - about 30 kilometres west of Casino on the way to Tenterfield .

   Here's one of the old farm houses near the lookout - seen better days .

   This is just west of the village down on the river flats .

   A White Spoonbill having a snooze .

   This is the local garage - like the fuel pumps !!

   This is the guard dog , letting the owners know we were stopped across the road - yes it is up on the roof of the car .

   We had plans of going up to Richmond Range NP , however it was closed - probably roads washed away at a guess . So another road was chosen to the southeast instead , through the Hogarth Range Nature Reserve . It was a great drive through the bush .

   Wattle trees were out in flower .

   This is the main street of Casino , with trees pruned to allow vehicles to pass , a lot of this part of town also still getting over the flooding that came into these shops .

  Some more of the older buildings in Casino .

  This shot is from the west side of Casino , gives you an idea how spread out Casino is . You can see where the river flows through town - just follow the tree line from mid right of photo .

   And that's our week in Casino , we did get out on the bikes a few times , I managed a game of golf - 1st one since early February - I said that to the people I played with , they laughed and said it's only the 2nd or 3rd game that they've had in the same time . In fact they had only just reopened the full 18 holes of the course - 2 holes had been too wet to get machinery on to mow the fairways & greens until last week .

   Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1i9FDcyIzB0BJ760V3xUNBWlAd1ZBFL0&usp=sharing

9/6/22 Grafton

 

   Leaving Stuarts Point today left us feeling good - in that we'd been able to help our sister in law with some cleaning up around her house & yard - something that started as an enormous task and gradually got chipped away - we felt like we'd accomplished something .  Hitting the highway and heading further up the coast , we cruised through Coffs Harbour , only getting about 4 red lights - a good run !! The highway has changed a bit since we were last on it , dual lanes go right through and now bypass South Grafton . The new bridge over the Clarence River is also new to us , and what a difference it makes as well - it also features in photo's further down the page .

  But first , we arrived and found we could only stay at the Greyhound club till Saturday - they had some racing on and no-one was permitted to stay . No problem to us , we wanted to get the ute serviced as we'd just ticked over 200,000 kms . We rang 6 different places , and had 6 knock backs - Hmmm , what to do ? Further up the road is Casino , so rang there and could get it serviced next Thursday , we were booked in ! The Lismore floods are still causing problems , even though the flood was months ago - car yards & mechanics haven't reopened yet , so people are getting their cars serviced wherever they can .

  Next day we headed into town and found our way to the new bridge , deciding we'd go for a walk across it . On the way there we found Fig Tree Avenue - a street with fig trees planted down either side of the road , creating a canopy over the road .

   We parked and found our way up & onto the walkway across the new bridge - it was interesting to look at the old bridge from the side - you would think that traffic would be travelling through the middle of the bridge - no , traffic goes on top of the bridge and trains use the middle section .

    It was an opening bridge when it was first built in the 1930's , however it didn't get used that much due to rail taking over from boat transport . It hasn't opened since early in the 1940's . This is , or was , the opening section of the bridge - it opened and went 90 degrees to the normal level section of the bridge .

   This is the old operating section , even has traffic lights for the ships !

  Continuing our walk , we arrived at the other side and wandered down the path , around and onto the old bridge . Here's a river view from that side .

   The old bridge was assembled in sections on a barge , then floated into position and joined up . The new bridge was also taken out on barges , but a crane was used to lift sections up to the new bridge height . Here's a picture of the peculiarity of the old bridge - the train deck also has water mains and telecommunication cables going across it . You can see the section above - that's the roadway and it turns and goes off to the left of the train tracks , and if you've ever driven across it , you will understand how awkward it is to drive around that corner . If there's a truck coming either way , all the opposite traffic will stop to allow it to get around the corner without squashing the cars on the corner . It's a horrible corner to tow a van around , so it was with great pleasure when we drove over the new bridge .

   The pylons under the road section have been decorated by street artists , making it into a good looking area .

   I noticed the roadway from underneath , checking out the brickwork .

  Here's a closer look , in between the steel rsj sections , they have bricked it up in a dome type installation - not sure if it's for noise suppression or not , but it's a hell of a job !

   Here's one of the towns pubs at Weilly's Corner .

    This is See Park a nice small park on the northern side of the railway .

    We caught up with a few friends while we were in town , Mark & Wendy who live in town , then Debbie & Jeff who live about 25 mins out of town . The following photo's have been taken at their property - it's only just starting to dry out enough for them to be able to drive their cars into the house yard  after all the rain they've had !  Fungus is growing madly on anything that isn't moving at the moment .

   Dams are full and creeks are flowing , grass is growing madly - probably only just starting to slow down with the colder weather that's now arriving .

    It can be difficult to drag ourselves away from friends , but we can always come back for further visits . Tomorrow we head north again , more family & friends to catch up with . Here's a map link :- https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1x8kCLtCyF1bEdUxz0voTQJSHKP2hlmw&usp=sharing