V & C Impressions

Almost Grey Nomads caravaning around Australia

Author: Vincent

  • Galaxy Caravan Park – Brisbane

    Galaxy Caravan Park – Brisbane

    We’re a quaint holidaying destination located in Tanah Merah, Queensland. Nestled comfortably between Brisbane City and the Gold Coast, our caravan park boasts outstanding friendliness, a relaxed atmosphere and exceptional cleanliness. This is the perfect place to base yourself as you explore all that South-East Queensland has to offer

    Galaxy Caravan Park
    Shadow outside Galaxy Caravan Park

    Our Opinion

    This is a pretty good, well run park, with clean amenities, the park itself is quite, but warning here, the M1 motorway is noisy, so if peace and quite is your thing then this place is not for you.

    Location is excellent, being only a few kilometres away from Brisbane CBD, not too far from the Gold Coast, A major shopping centre on the other side of the motor way. Location wise, it is close to everything.

    Sites I would describe as sufficient for a caravan and car, with not much to spare, pretty typical for a caravan park this close to a city.

    Access to the Galaxy caravan Park is not difficult, Google maps got us there no problems. wether you are coming from the north or south, you should not have any problems.

    Directly opposite, on the other side of the motorway is the Hyperdome, here there are movies, restaurants, Cafes, Supermarkets etc. Also close by, there are the other useful stores, Supercheap, Repco, Bunnings etc.

    We have been here twice now this year, and would not hesitate to book again.

    Galaxy Caravan Park pool
    Galaxy Caravan Park

  • Farnborough Beach

    Farnborough Beach

    Great for Dogs, Kids, and a Lovely Beach Drive

    When travelling with a dog, you soon realise that many areas are not dog friendly. They are what I describe as dog tolerant.

    By dog friendly, I mean the ability to let the your dog run freely about, with you keeping an eye on him or her, of course. After all you do need to clean up after them, and also just as importantly make sure they don’t get themselves into trouble.

    Well, this beach is dog friendly, and to boot you are allowed to drive on it.

    It is about 10 minutes north of Yeppoon, easy to get on the beach with a 4WD, head north and find a spot to have a picnic. Bonus is, during the week your dog can be off leash.

    The beach is firm, so easy to drive on, and when the tide is low, there is heaps of beach for the dogs to run around.

    When we were there, it was relatively quite, a few other people with their dogs running around, but since the beach is so big, especially at low tide, it was easy to find a spot away from other people.

  • From House to Highway

    From House to Highway

    Embracing Full-Time Caravan Life with My Wife and Our Loyal Companion Across Australia

    This has been a long time coming, close to 5 years of planning, saving, dreaming. Now we have started, it’s kind of scary.

    The idea for this lifestyle, came up at the beginning from a trip we did 5 years ago to the Big Red Bash, we also added in Uluru, and Kings Canyon. 6 weeks on the road, in a camper trailer, and we loved it. Did not want to go back. When home, we discovered YouTube, and the various other people that were doing this lifestyle full time already, or starting to, that got us thinking, if they can, we can.

    It takes courage and determination to go ahead with a change like this. Leaving your comfortable home, job, life, to completely upend it to living on the road in a tiny home, with limited income.

    Catherine has managed to secure a part time role with her company working 3 days a week, I, on the other hand have left my job with nothing to look forward to work wise. Am I concerned? Yes and no.

    “You are confined only by the walls you build yourself.” — Andrew Murphy

    I don’t want to look back on my life and say to myself I should’ve, could’ve. We took a gamble moving from New Zealand to Australia 13 years ago, scary at the time, again leaving a good comfortable life behind heading into the unknown. Turned out the be a good decision, more doors opened, new experiences, and a better lifestyle emerged out of that decision.

    Why Now?

    Health, and tomorrow is never guaranteed. With various health issues creeping up on Catherine and I, we felt that if not now, then in the not too distant future it will quickly become a never.

    We were looking for a change. Both of us, perhaps more me than Catherine, were becoming bored with our jobs and looking for a change.

    World events, everything is going nuts, conflict everywhere, political distrust, cost of living, you name it, it doesn’t take an Einstein to figure out that this lifestyle we have embarked on may not possible soon, or at least not so achievable.

    Website Changes

    This website has been about my photography, birding adventures, due to the above mentioned health issues, and Covid, that ended up on the back burner, so nothing happened here for a couple of years. So, the new focus will be –

    • Our travel Blog, full of updates, hints, tips and experiences of our travels.
    • A Diary of my (our) thoughts on this lifestyle.
    • The highs, and lows of our experiences.

    So come join us on the journey and if you are travelling yourself and wanna do something together, get in touch.

  • Pic of the Day – Wall Art

    Pic of the Day – Wall Art

    A striking image at an entrance to an underground cafe. There sure are some talented artists around.

    Things have been a bit slow around here for the past year, hopefully now that society is getting back to normal, I can find more time to get active with the camera.

  • Pic of the Day – Taking Notes

    Pic of the Day – Taking Notes

    While walking around Vancouver on holiday I came across this lady sitting on the ledge, so I grabbed a shot.

    I happened to be shooting in Black & White as this was the middle of the day with bright sunlight.

  • Pic of the Day – Lone Tree

    Pic of the Day – Lone Tree

    While camping at Norval Park campground I took the opportunity to get up early and have a go at some early sunrise photography.

    The weather was not particularly co-operative with heavy clouds and rain forecast. The clouds did break at dawn with some nice colors to come through.

    This tree, or what was left of it was about the only item of significance on this beach, I thought it would match well with the moody heavy clouds.

  • Pic of the Day – On the beach

    Pic of the Day – On the beach

    This trip was a long time coming.

    Towards the end of our holiday, we met up with some friends, so we can go in a group to the beach, you know, safety in numbers, especially since we had never done beach/sand driving before. Byfield National Park was the place we stayed at for a few days, so we just had a short drive to the beach along some sandy tracks.

    As the Ranger suggested drop Tyre pressures down to about 14psi, low range, manual third gear and just keep on going. Our new Nissan Patrol did not disappoint, handling the sand with ease. Not once did we think we would get stuck.

    It was a good day out with the experience wanting use to do it again soon.

  • Pic of the Day – Lest we Forget

    Pic of the Day – Lest we Forget

    Took a drive around Yeppoon and then on to Emu Park today.

    Very much a holiday destination with an idealist coastline, excellent climate, what more could you ask?

    How about Byfield National Park just a short drive up the road which you can drive in and around on the sand dunes. Thats for another day that adventure.

    At Emu Park there is this memorial to the Anzac fighters. Well laid out and in a pleasant location.

    The Singing Ship
    Yeppoon coastline
  • Pic of the Day – Sunrise

    Pic of the Day – Sunrise

    In what seems like forever I have managed to get out at sunrise and do a photo shoot. It felt good to get back to what started getting me into photography in the beginning. But like everybody else, life/Covid gets in the way.

    It also helps to be on holiday in the Sunshine Coast, staying across the road from the beach.

    With the living with Covid now beginning to be reality, and hopefully with-it lockdowns/restriction ending, life can get back to normal.

    Below is a pic of Shadow, our dog, just has happy to be out and about on the beach.

    Shadow on the beach
  • Pic of the Day – Red-bowed finch

    Pic of the Day – Red-bowed finch

    It has taken me awhile to have a good opportunity to get a clear shot of this bird. A common bird but in my experience an elusive one when it comes to photography. Plenty of times I have seen them around, but never able to get a good shot.

    Taken a Oxley Common Creek, and added to my bird gallery.

    The red-browed finch (Neochmia temporalis) is an estrildid finch that inhabits the east coast of Australia. This species has also been introduced to French Polynesia. It is commonly found in temperate forest and dry savannah habitats. It may also be found in dry forest and mangrove habitats in tropical region.

    Wikipedia
  • Pic of the Day – Red-backed Fairywren

    Pic of the Day – Red-backed Fairywren

    The venerable Red-backed Fairywren, a common bird around eastern and northern Australia.

    It has been a long time between updates on this website, life has a habit of getting in the way, as does Covid. Hopefully moving forward, I can get some regular content happening.

    Today I managed to get to my favorite birding spot Oxley Commons Creek.

    The red-backed fairywren (Malurus melanocephalus) is a species of passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae. It is endemic to Australia and can be found near rivers and coastal areas along the northern and eastern coastlines from the Kimberley in the northwest to the Hunter Region in New South Wales. The male adopts a striking breeding plumage, with a black head, upperparts and tail, and a brightly coloured red back and brown wings. The female has brownish upperparts and paler underparts.

    Wikipedia
  • Pic of the Day – Striated pardalote

    Pic of the Day – Striated pardalote

    A trip to Eagleby Wetlands today yielded one of the pardalote family of birds. I went back a couple of times, and this little fellow was there both times.

    The striated pardalote (Pardalotus striatus) is the least colourful and most common of the four pardalotespecies. Other common names include pickwick, wittachew and chip-chip.[2] It is a very small, short-tailed bird that is more often heard than seen, foraging noisily for lerps and other small creatures in the treetops.

    Wikipedia