We left our van at Dashville for two days while we drove to Sydney for our friend's 60th birthday lunch. It just so happened that another friend was in Sydney and we were able to catch up for dinner. Last night we stopped in Kempsey at a small caravan park that had a drive through site available so we didn't have to unhitch. Today we stopped in at Yamba for lunch at Beachwood our favourite local restaurant. Tonight our last stop is Ballina. Again we managed to get a site where we didn't have to unhitch. We will catch up with some friends in Ballina for breakfast tomorrow before driving home. Our next adventure in the Bushtracker starts on 5 October. We will join the South Australian Aussie Road Crew tour with Beccy and Libby on 18 October. Farewell till then 🎶 🎸

This is our last day on the tour. Anita went on the wine tour on the bus and had a really good day. I stayed at our camp and drove to Singleton for a look around. Pictures of past floods made me glad I didn't grow up in that town. The chief organiser is Tammy and she is in a black Dolly Parton Tshirt while mine is white. Our last dinner was prepared by the Dashville team then we enjoyed our final concert. The visiting entertainers were Chris E Thomas and Catherine Britt (who is about 8 months pregnant). 

We drove down the New England Hwy from Tamworth past Singleton to this very basic bush campsite. The electricity keeps failing and the facilities are limited but will be ok so long as it doesn't rain. This pic is of Beccy Cole, Andy Toombs and Lyn Bowtell and so far this is the best concert yet!

Last night's concert featured Tracy Coster, daughter of Stan Coster who wrote dozens of the songs sung by Slim Dusty. Not surprisingly the musicians have trouble playing guitar in the cold. Today we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame which is in a building shaped like a guitar. Lunch at the Wests League Club was part of our tour and the meals were well above the average club fare. The concert at the club commenced with Libby O'Donovan singing a jazz mumber. I really enjoyed the show by Ashleigh Dallas with her father playing backing guitar. Libby has written a great song about our group not going to Cracknback. She sang it last night and added another verse and sang it again at the Leagues Club this afternoon. She made it up yesterday afternoon while she she was in the shower!

Last night Dan Murphy and Allison Forbes were our entertainers. Dan sings what I would regard as classic country while Allison is more eclectic. We drove over the mountain range via Wauchope and Walcha on the Oxley Hwy. It was very windy for 60 kms and we had to take some of the hairpin bends at 25 kph. There were lots of motor bikes on the road but enough areas where we were able to pull over to let them pass. The scenery was classic Australian bush with some farming.  We are now at Tamworth in a caravan park preparing for tonight's concert. It will be cold around the campfire tonight as the forecast is for a minimum of 1 degree overnight. Thank goodness we have a diesel heater in the Bushtracker!

Anita decided to have a day at "home" while I explored Crescent Head and South West Rock. A long board surf festival happening at Crescent Head this weekend and it was crowdwd with contestants. A bus load of surfers is arriving at out camp ground about midnight so I am glad our van is fairly soundproof. I visited the historic ruins of Trail Bay Gaol and Arrakoon. These pelicans were waiting near the fish cleaning table at a boat ramp at South West Rocks. Tomorrow we drive to Tamworth and have decided to go via the Oxley Hwy after much debate whether the trip over the mountains is easier via Bellingen and Dorrigo. There is a market at Bellingen so there will be lots of traffic, plus we went to Bellingen recently.

The consensus was not to risk the road to Cracknback and to stay here at Waves Camp Ground. So instead of having to pack up today and move we had a leisurely day visiting Kempsey and South West Rocks.  The new sections of motorway are not known to the Jeep's GPS so twice I have driven unnecessary kilometres up the M1. At Smokey Cape Lighthouse I saw several whales. In our camp ground this python is living on top of a brick wall in the toilet block. Yesterday I saw a six foot goanna and kookaburras are abundant along with other species of birds. Last night's concert featured Slim Dusty songs. Angus Gill is a 19 year old country singer with great talent. He was here for 2 nights in his parents' RV complete with P plates. He is a reasonable mimic and has the ability to sound like Johnny Cash. 

I visited the Slim Dusty Centre at Kempsey with several others from our tour group. He is part of Australian history together with his wife Joy McKean. They travelled in a large Ford sedan towing a caravan for upwards of 500,000 kms over many years. They averaged 30,000 miles in 10 out of 12 months each year. Our next stop is scheduled to be Cracknback Campground but there is concern the road will not be suitable for 30 caravans and motorhomes. With 60 kms of gravel road all of the hired vehicles should probably not go. Our concern is falling rocks and cliff edges on the narrow road. We'll see. I have to walk over to the beach to get reception hence beach pics.

Today I drove up to a lookout 500m above sea level on North Brother mountain, only 10 minutes from our caravan park. Fortunately I didn't have the Bushtracker attached because there is a sign saying the road is not suitable for caravans - trouble is you don't see the sign until you have turned into the narrow road and there is nowhere to turn around! After hooking up we drove to Waves Camping Ground about 10 minutes south of Crescent Head partly on a gravel road. The sites are tight with overhanging branches that can damage taller vans. We managed to park without incident but at least one van did some minor damage. The beach is just across the road and I'm sure we will hear the waves tonight. This is Anita on the beach.

We have gone back to the coast and are at a lovely caravan park in North Haven where it is also much warmer. The forecast for the week looks good. It would not be fun sitting in the rain listening to music. One of the entertainers for the past two nights has been a very funny bush poet named Prousty. In one skit he pretended he was at the doctor to see about prostate problems. The nurse told him to strip off so he proceeded to do so. When he dropped his jeans he was wearing these hilarious shorts with pictures on them that made it look like he was naked. 

Last night the entertainers were Libby O'Donovan (who grew up in Broken Hill) and Bec Willis (who used to play in Beccy Cole's band). It was a great show but it was FREEZING! Today I went to visit a dairy farm and the 2 women showing us around were really interesting. I can only say I am glad I wasn't born into a dairy farming family!

As you can see we are camped among the cows. This is a basic park in a good location. We headed north back up the windy roads and onto the Pacific Motorway. We stopped for fuel and discovered our Anderson plug had become disconnected and dragging on the ground leaving us without caravan brakes. Fortunately we located an auto electrician and it was easily fixed. We stopped for lunch at Dungog (which Anita keeps calling Dugong). The locals had noticed all the caravans and motorhomes travelling through town and I had to explain what we were all doing when we stopped for fuel. The garage owner is a firm fan of Beccy Cole.