It's been a couple of months since our last update - we know that's a bit slack. We've had a busy and relaxing time since we left Tumbarumba in the Snowy Mountains just before Christmas. We had an enjoyable festive season in Canberra with family. We like camping at the EPIC campground where there's plenty of space. We were there for a few days before Christmas and moved out on December 23. EPIC is closed for a few weeks over the Christmas/New Year season to make room for the Summernats with their loud engines, burnouts, drag races etc and all the rev-heads have a great time. 
We were lucky that we had arranged for a house-sit at Googong, about 10km from Queanbeyan, for 2 weeks from late December to mid-January so we moved our caravan to Googong when the campground closed. Our time in Googong was great. We looked after 2 dogs, a rabbit and a horse - more animals to add to our list for variety.
The weather was perfect and we were close enough to Canberra that we could catch up with family and friends while we were there. We were able to visit Googong Dam, one of Canberra's water supplies and walked to the London Bridge rock formation.
Mid-January and we were back at EPIC for a few days and then we were back to the Snowy Mountains with our grandchildren. We camped at Angler's Reach on the banks of Lake Eucumbene. We had a lovely campsite with plenty of grass and trees which were welcome on the hot summer days. The lake was well down as water is drawn from it for Snowy Hydro Electricity. The water was too hot for fishing - all the fish were in the deep holes in the deepest parts of the lake to keep cool, so no-one was having any luck.
We drove to Yarrangobilly one day where we explored one of the caves. In the 1980s we often went caving there with our caving group. This time we visited Glory Cave, a self guided tourist cave. It was lovely and cool in the cave and we saw many limestone formations. After our caving experience we went swimming at the thermal pool.
At 28C the water was warm and refreshing. It's quite an experience to swim there on a cold, snowy winter's day with steam rising off the pool. This time we cooled down in the mineral laced water which bubbles up through the limestone. The only drawback is the 700m walk UP the steep path back to the carpark afterwards. Somehow the downhill walk to the pool doesn't seem that far. 
On following days we went swimming at nearby Adaminiby, home of "The Big Trout", in the council pool - cool and no uphill walk. We had a great time camping with the children. We love having them and they seem to enjoy the outdoor life with us.
Our return to Canberra saw us preparing to leave on our northwards journey.
Our first stop was Crookwell, where we celebrated Australia Day. We were also able to do some family history research there. Robert's mother was born and lived at nearby Cotta Walla and we visited the schoolhouse, which is now a private residence. We spent some time at the Historical Society and we were able to put a probable name to the painting of an unknown girl - Emily Ivy Vidler (Robert's Great-aunty Em). We visited the Linder Sock Factory and saw how socks are made on their circular knitting machines which have been imported from Germany.
Nearby Taralga had it's annual Rodeo and Sheep Dog Trials over the weekend so we ventured forth to watch the dogs go through their paces.
Our 2 days in Crookwell turned into a most enjoyable 5 days after which we moved further north to the small goldrush town of Sofala. We camped on the banks of the Turon River which was not flowing and was pretty dry except for a couple of waterholes. Sofala is Australia's oldest goldrush town and its large population was spread along the riverbanks for several kilometres in its heyday. These days it's a sleepy heritage town with a population of about 250.
After Sofala we continued to the Northern Tablelands to spend some time with friends near Armidale who we had house-sat for about a year ago. Lunch one day at the Blue Wren Cafe provided welcome water views and green trees. The hot weather and drought are certainly taking their toll with most farmers hand feeding their cattle and many are trucking in water.
A quick weekend trip east to the coast to visit our grand-daughter at Bellingen provided some welcome relief.
From Armidale our next stop was Wallangalla on the Queensland/NSW border. This little town was a main rail hub where the rail gauge changed on northwards trips before Australia had a standard width rail gauge. Passengers and goods had to change trains to continue their journeys north or south. We planned to stay for a couple of days but our visit was cut short when we discovered the battery charger in our caravan was not working; so we decided to head to nearby Stanhope for a couple of days where we could plug into mains power at a caravan park.
Stanhope is in the Granite Belt area of the Darling Downs with market gardens, orchards, berry farms and wineries abounding. We bought apple juice and cider at the cidery and strawberries and strawberry ice-cream at the berry farm. We drove into the Girraween National Park to check out the campsites there. We had wanted to spend some time in the park but the caravan camping area at Castle Rock is closed until mid-April 2014 while maintenance is carried out. The campground looks great, and we'll certainly spend some time there on future visits to this area. Bald Rock is spectacular, although the walk to the top looks a little daunting.
We stopped off at Heavenly Chocolate for morning tea - which turned into lunch it was so filling. We sat on the verandah drinking our hot chocolates and watched the birds - king parrots, wrens, finches and 2 pet ducks.
While we were at Stanhope the town filled with classic cars and hot rods of all descriptions for the weekend. The annual Hot Rod Moonshine Run was on and we were treated to the sounds of V8 engines as they passed through the caravan park. The park cabins were all booked out by enthusiasts.
As we travelled north into southern Queensland we passed crops of cotton, sorghum, corn and sunflowers. This time the crops were all green. On our previous trips we've seen fluffy cotton bolls and ripe sorghum heads all ready for harvest. Now we're in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast. We're getting some work done on the caravan as well as having its 20,000km service. We'll be off again in a couple of days - heading further north.
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