Yabba Creek!?!

The week and a bit in Brisbane has been productive and also relaxing.  Of first priority was a decent GPS; I settled for a Garmin nüvi 4190T and am very happy with it.  A major reason is that there is a download available from Camps6 Australia, loading all the camps listed in their book onto the GPS, which to me is invaluable.  It also has Bluetooth so I can talk handsfree when a call comes in (there is never anywhere to pull up when the phone rings when you are driving), so I will be assured of being contacted by all the telemarketers out there!  For city driving there is Advanced Lane Guidance, a 'must have' for me as my 'scenic tour' of Melbourne proves.

I have re-arranged the van somewhat, with the aim of anticipating usage and sorting things more in the order I will use them, E,g a set of clothes, rather than have all trousers in one cupboard, shirts in another etc.  That way some of the 'deeper' storage areas don't need to be constantly accessed (usually a procedure involving moving a lot of other things to get to them).  I also purchased some bins to better sort things and have them more readily available. A new summer weight sleeping bag and setting up the awning should help as the weather is now warming up.  As extra tabs were required for the awning, the sewing machine was required!!

So on Sunday, 7th August, I keyed '162' into the GPS and set off following it's instructions.  Let me explain this a bit more:  The sites in the Camps6 book are listed by State, name and number.  On the GPS, you select the State and the names are listed, so you can scroll thru them to find the one you want, or you can key in the relevant number as a quick means of selecting your goal.  Such is faith (or perhaps laziness) that I didn't bother checking the map, until, after continuing along ever narrowing & winding roads, -  to the strains of "I'm Just an Okie from Muscogee" appropriately - I came to the end of the road!  The GPS stated I had a few more Km to go, but I was in a cull-de-sac surrounded by houses.  So I looked at the map.  The first thing I discovered was I should have keyed in '168'.  I then noticed some vague tracks shown on the map, but if they existed, I doubt if they'd have been trafficable by my van, as I was on quite a hill and the only way was down, sharply!  So I backtracked to the main road, continued on and along the way noticed the path the GPS was trying to take me originally was a very deep, steep rugged valley!  Arriving at the Little Yabba Picnic Area, just south of Kenilworth, QLD, I set up the van, complete with awning!  The only other vehicle was another HiAce from Tasmania!  We exchanged greetings, spent the evening in polite conversation and thus was the first day of my true goal-less Grey Nomading.  From here I'll review other camps in the area to decide where to go next, meanwhile, I shall spend the day here and move on tomorrow (Tues).  Unfortunately there is no phone reception here; tonight is Census night, so that could be interesting!