Leaving Coffs Harbour

Sunday, 24 March 2013

Mid morning and after the day had dawned bright and sunny, Team Turtle was packed and raring to go.  All was good, the tyres were pumped and the tank was full and we turned right and headed north.  Through beautiful downtown Grafton, along the Summerland Way, through Casino and into Kyogle.  The plans had been to stop at Kyogle for the night, take The Rav off and drive it out to Toonumbar Dam mainly to see what the road was like as we had been informed that it may not be suitable for our Rig.  These misgivings were allayed by the friendly gentleman at the Information Centre in Kyogle.

So off we went to Toonumbar Dam.  The first hurdle was the railway bridge - the height above the roadway was only 3.3 metres.  All very well and good except that The Turtle is also 3.3 metres high - not much leeway.  Fortunately, The Deckie (who is also The Navigator) noticed that there was a track to the side of the road which gave a clearance of 4.5 metres.  Quick directions to The Captain (who actually listened) and we were able to avoid the roof being peeled off!

Hurdle number two - a reasonable intersection with no signs pointing the way to the Dam.  A quick look at a map mentioned that it didn't really matter as there were two roads leading to the same place.  We went left which then led us to hurdle number three - a bridge that only had a load limit of two tonnes.  Yep, Team Turtle is 6.5 tonnes!!  The Captain made a spur of the moment decision, put the pedal to the metal and we literally flew across the decking.  A glance in the rear vision mirrors assured us that we had not left a trail of death and destruction behind us!

Onto the camping area of the Dam.  We found a great spot - not too far from the water's edge and away from the main camps.  Unhooked the trailer, parked The Turtle and the first of a couple of thunderstorms descended on us.

One must remember that camping on the sides of dams can be fraught with danger - mainly that they can have a reasonable incline.  This being the case with our spot.  The rains came and...

Our Own Little Waterfall...

Leading To The Dam

Not the best start for our trip!

A little while later, the skies cleared and we were able to finish unpacking - getting The Rav off the trailer, putting Tuf Tinnie into the water and so all was well.

The Proud Captain and Tuf Tinnie at The Boat Ramp

Taking Tuf Tinnie To Our Camp Spot

The Turtle's Camp Spot

Unfortunately, the fishing at Toonumbar was woeful.  Probably had something to do with all of the extra water that had been flowing through the area.  In fact, there was only about three other people that were camped there that had any luck at all and we were not one of them.  We did, however, have some very nice neighbours for most of the time we were there which helped while away the non-productive hours.

We drove back into Kyogle (using The Rav) just before Easter for extra supplies and this time we took the correct road.  And it was a much better road than the one we used the first time and no bridges either!

 

Easter Monday and we decided that it was time we headed off.  To save a bit of time and effort, The Captain drove The Turtle and The Deckie drove The Rav and our next stop was Woodenbong near the Queensland border.