ALISON’ S FIRST FAREWELL TOUR
FIST STOP: A WEIGHBRIDGE
We left home as planned and made our way to our first stop, the closest good weighbridge, to make sure we were within our load limits. Well, with a payload of 920kg, you would hope you would come in okay, and we just made it. PHEW!
The first part of our trip involved seeing lots of family and friends. Our first real tourist stop was in Bellingen, NSW. We set up in the showgrounds. There are no set sites – you just go to an area and set-up where you can connect to power. There’ s a lovely place to visit in Bellingen, the Old Butter Factory. You don’ t get to see inside a factory, but there are some excellent shops there, plus a café. The things that really attracted us were the cattle! There were sheep as well, but the cows won our hearts!
We drove into Bellingen and enjoyed a walk through the streets. For us the highlight was the gelati shop.
Inside the woodwork shop of the Old Butter Factory in Bellingen, NSW.
Coopernook Hotel was the next stop. Staying behind pubs is always interesting. Sometimes the van parking area is very well catered, other times it’ s basic but still good. Well, Coopernook is basic but still good, with about six sites, no power, no water, but access to the outside amenities. The cost is only $ 25 for a night. The absolute winner from our point of view is that if you choose to eat in the pub, they take $ 25 off the meal bill!
ON TO BULAHDELAH
The town of Bulahdelah will always be linked with helicopters in our memories. We chose to stay in the showgrounds and found a good level site on the tarmac around the oval. What surprised us was that the oval was crowded with fuel trucks and helicopters. We heard one take off, we heard another come in. Then it happened again.
We finally worked out that they were coming in to refuel, and their water buckets would be filled elsewhere. They were part of the fire-fighting that was currently happening in the area.
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