Tag Archives: travelling

Back to Texas

Posted on by kathousekelli70

We lit out for Texas this morning after a hearty Cracker Barrel breakfast. Got to say the bacon at this one was better than yesterday’s. 

We headed toward Pecos, Odessa, Midland via the beautiful Franklin Mountains State Park and Castner Range. It’s a steep incline/decline at 5244ft (still only half the height of some of the mountains we’ve been on in Colorado and only just a couple hundred feet shorter than our highest mountain in Australia) but the roads are perfect.

Lots of inland travel and into Texas, traveling the 180 through Carlsbad Caverns National Park, back up to 5700ft through Guadalupe Mountains National Park and passed the Butterfield Trail Marker.

The Butterfield Overland Trail (or Oxbow Route) traversed through Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. It was pre Civil War mail and passenger stagecoach route operating between 1858 and 1861.

What a hell of a trip during that time over this sort of terrain in all sorts of weather!

Cross country slight trip into New Mexico and back into the Texas panhandle we are back in oil and gas land through Orla – a very productive area.

On to Pecos where we stopped again and caught the damaged historic railroad  depot, Judge Roy Bean’s, Jersey Lily and the gravesite of ‘gentleman gunfighter’ Clay Allison.

Keep heading East through oil fields of Barstow and on into Odessa.

Quick stop at the Indian store for Jack – picked up a poker chip – checked out the bikes.

From here we went to Midland again and this time got to visit the Bush Family Home. A State Historic site in Midland, Texas.

The original home was built in 1939 for Mildred Etheridge and features the original knotty pine walls and floors.

After a few moves around in 1948-1950 the Bush’s settled in Midland during his oil times prior to politics.

The Bush’s, George H. W and Barbara were associated with cancer research during and after their daughter Robin’s death due to Leukemia, with baseball which George W. had a love for also.

George W. had a love for baseball and Roy Rogers. He eventually had a part ownership in the Texas Rangers baseball team.

The house is still going under preservation and getting it back to period correct interior. There were so many fun ‘ancient’ things like the refrigerator, bakelite phone, uranium glass and more.

Thanks Chase for his exceptional guided tour!

A stay in Midland again before moving to Novice tomorrow.

Night!

Kat x

Heading North

Posted on by kathousekelli70

From Newcastle to Gold Coast in a day, means around an 8 hour plus trip. Unlike days of old, it’s now mostly double highway, bypassing the coastlines and beach town views.

What would you find along the coast should you go the old route?

Newcastle

Beautiful beaches like Nobbys, Merewether and more.

Bogey Hole is a convict-built ocean bath. Also known as Commandants Baths, the sandstone/conglomerate rock was constructed in about 1820 intended for the personal use of Lieutenant-Colonel James Thomas Morriset.

Fort Scratchley today is a historic site and popular for watchers of whales migrating. Now a museum, it was built in 1882 to defend the city against a possible Russian attack. (Hmmm first time I’ve ever read about that!) The Fort never fired it’s guns in anger however, until 1942 during a Japanese submarine attack.

Seal Rocks

Further North you can find other popular surf spots such as Seal Rocks and Treachery. I frequented that area in another life.

Seal Rocks was originally named for its fur seal colonies that have not inhabited the area for many, many years, apparently they are being seen again in the Port Stephens area.

Popular for some awesome surf breaks, Seal Rocks and Treachery are very much a surfers paradise and still remains very uncommercialised.

Forster-Tuncurry

The twin towns on the coast about 20-25mins East of Mum and Dads at Taree.

Tuncurry is the smaller of the two towns and began around 1875. Tuncurry means ‘plenty of fish’, originally a timber milling area it is a beautiful sleepy little fishing town.

Forster being the larger town of the area, boasts beautiful beaches and surfing spots. It is a very popular Summer holiday spot being only 4 hrs North of Sydney.

Best fish and chips are found in coastal towns where it’s coming in fresh daily! No trip to Forster happens without fish and chips heavily salted and wrapped in paper! Yum!

Port Macquarie

First visited by Europeans in 1818 when John Oxley made it to the coast from his interior explorations.

It became a secondary crime penal settlement for convicts in 1821.

In 1823, the first sugar cane to be grown in Australia started here. Now that is interesting, as a kid, I only ever knew far north NSW and Queensland as the sugar cane country! Well there you go, learn something new ever day!

Anyway, lots of history there and gorgeous beaches also.

Up into further North NSW, the only remaining old section of Pacific Highway still goes through Coffs Harbour. Really don’t think there is anywhere for them to bypass this section but who’d want to miss the Big Banana attraction!?!😂😂

Coffs Harbour

Home to Big Banana, banana plantations (being superseded by blueberries), sugar cane regions, beaches and porpoise pool.

Was named after John Korff when he sought shelter from a storm in 1847, later accidentally changed to Coffs by an administrative error by a surveyor in 1861.

Many resorts and marinas here, very big tourist area.

Further there is Grafton, Byron Bay, Murwillumbah and Tweed Heads before crossing into the sunshine state.

Soooo much coastline to explore and then from Coolangatta up is beach after beach after beach!

Get some sand and surf into ya!

Kat xo

P.S. with Drive thru and a couple quick stops it took us just on 9hours.