Pindari Dam

That's our van on the hill in the distance

We had spent some time at a few campsites late last year with "Budgie" – keen fisherman from Byron Bay in NSW. He told us that the Byron Bay Freshwater Fishing Club has an annual outing in February to Pindari Dam to fish for the mighty Murray Cod, Yellowbelly and Silver Perch. Murray Cod, a keen bunch of fisho’s, and great free camp with hot showers- we were going to be there!!

Jim and a yella

Linda's 56cm cod - our best for the dam

Pindari Dam is on the Severn River 83 km from Inverell in Northern NSW. At Bingara we had met up with Jim and Jen (who we met at Tinaroo Dam in far North Qld in August 2015) – so off we went to Pindari Dam with a plan to decimate the local cod and put a dent in the NSW XXXX supplies. After one night imagine our surprise when a couple from a nearby van walked across and yelled out “G’day Kerry”. It was my Cousin Sharon and her husband Gary! I had seen Sharon only once in the last 45 years!





So with old Friends, new Friends, long lost relatives, 5 boats, some obliging cod and yellowbelly, boxes of lures and beer – we had all the ingredients for a perfect and memorable stay. And we had a ball!

Nice yellow belly (and fish)

After picking up some tips from Budgie and his fishing mates we had some success in the cod catching outings.

Cooling down at the boat ramp

After 11 nights and 9 days fishing twice a day - when it was cool – as it was over 35C every day by midday - our combined tally was - 4 cod , 10 yellowbelly, one eel-tailed catfish and three turtles – not bad for a bunch of amateurs.

view from under our awning (a salt and battery)

For other travelers - the road into Pindari is all bitumen (if you come via Inverell and Ashford) with a few short steep sections at the dam as you come up to the campsite. The site only has room for about 7 vans but is well set out with lots of tables, rubbish bins, BBQ’s, toilet block (long drop), a boat ramp nearby and flushing toilets and hot showers a short drive away. All for free! If the site is full there is room for 2 vans up at the lookout above the camp (where you can get mobile phone reception) and spots down near the boat ramp where you can stay.

Bingara on the Gwyder

Yowie at Tooloom Falls!

After we left Brisbane we headed south to Bingara in northern NSW. On our way to Bingara we stopped over for two nights at Tooloom Falls free camp near Urbanville just over the NSW border. Nice spot next to the falls but a little close to civilization and thus frequented by younger folk in tents. We didn’t have any noise whilst staying there but has the potential for loud parties.  Didn’t spot any Yowies (Click Here)  but you could hear them rustling through the bush at night !

Bingara (Click Here) is a beaut little town on the northern  end of the New England Highlands in NSW. There are three free camping areas at Bingara – two are close to town and one  5 Kms out of town. All are on the Gwyder River  and all are great spots.

Washing Day

We stayed at the free camp near the boat ramp which was about a kilometer from town. Great spot – grassed spots near the river, and only a few minutes away from town. The folk in town were true country folk friendly, helpful and happy to have a chat.

Murray Cod on surface lure!

Also the local fishing clubs stock the river with Murray Cod and Gloden Perch. So in went the tinny and I was lucky enough to catch three cod on lures.

Gwyder River - Boat Ramp

Two were legal (55cm) and one just under. Cooked up one to share with friends camped next to us – bloody good tucker!

Chilling out with friends - way to go!

Bingara is a great place that goes out of its way to make grey nomads welcome – highly recommended.

Our Brisbane Break

Home in Brissy! For sale in March!

We spent 2 great months over the Xmas period camped at “Site 243” - a five star resort on the north side of Brisbane (also known as my sister Desley’s and husband Paul’s house in Joyner).  Great water, hot showers, manicured gardens, free WIFI, power, men’s shed, swimming pool, BBQ on deck and Netflix – wow talk about the perfect free camp – thanks so much Des and Paul. Reason we stay in Brissy is that most of my family live in the area and as I live in Perth the opportunities to see everyone are limited.

We stacked a lot into two months!!

Tom and Toga

I ventured out to Coochin Creek  (world famous whiting spot)for a morning’s fishing but caught little. There is a nice free camp there which would be great for a stay if you were into fishing or was looking for a spot close to Brisbane. I did manage to sneak away back to Imbil for 2 nights with my brother-in-law Tom to chase some mighty Toga.

Xmas breakfast - with family

We house-sat my nephews house for a week – situated in the Gold Coast Hinterland with views over the entire Gold Coast (pretty hard to take!!)

White pants and white fisted on tree top walk!

While staying there Linda and I did a day trip up to O'Reillys Resort - a drive not for the faint hearted - narrow, winding and steep (I loved it !)

Nothing better than Xmas morning for Dallas!

It was great to spend Xmas with our extended family and old friends.

The girls!- Amber and Tay at Sea World

We flew two of our grand-daughters to Brisbane for 2 weeks so Linda could have some “granny” time!

Get my rod!

Sea World, Wet and Wild, and Movie World – we were “theme parked” out by the time the girls left.

While the girls were here we stayed at my other Sister Donna’s house near the Gold Coast. Linda, Donna and the Girls spent a day shopping to you drop at harbour town (lucky Linda had been saving for months – I didn’t ask how much was spent!).

While the Girls were over Des and Paul went to NZ for a holiday so we house sat “Site 243” for a week – the girls loved the place –Netflicks, Pool, and free WIFI  – a teenagers dream!

The "gang" ready for NYE night out! I have a fat shirt!

We are on the road again on the 31^st Jan – heading slowly south thru NSW then down to Portland in Victoria before spending a month or two on the mighty Murray.  So more travel blogs soon!

Walking the Dog at Imbil

Imbil is a pretty little town nestled in the hills just 37 kilometers inland from Gympie in southern Queensland. Follow this link to find out more - Imbil

Swimming Hole at the Caravan Park

We stayed at the Island Reach Camping Resort in town – which is mixture of caravan park, camper trailers, and tents. If you’re looking for an organized caravan park where you are allocated your site clearly marked and set out don’t come here.

Our camp after 2 days of storms

The Camping Resort works on an organised chaos approach – park where you like, set up how you like and start a fire anywhere you wish. And it works! With acres of grass, huge jacarandas, figs and other flowering trees, a beaut swimming hole on the creek at the park – it’s a great place to stay.

Lake Borumba early morning

Enough of the tourist stuff – just 11 kilometers down Yabba Creek Road from town is Lake Borumba – a big lake surrounded by mist covered hills and post card waterways covered with waterlily’s and abounding with birds of all sorts. And guess what - it’s also well stocked with Bass, Silver Perch, Golden Perch, and breeding population of introduced Saratoga. This is why we were at Imbil !!

Toga hunter poised for that next cast!

Every morning just after 5:00 AM we hooked up the Tinny and drove out to the dam and Linda and I threw lures till our arms fell off. Home by 11:00 for brunch and at 3:00 PM out for a solo afternoon fish till dark.

Mutant Ninja Toga? 

Our plan was to fish for the “Toga” early and late and in between these times fish the deeper edges for Bass and Yellow-belly. After a couple of days of little reward for our Bass and Yellow-belly fishing and getting smashed by Toga on our surface lures we became Toga addicted.

Bass Britton?

There is little in fresh water sport fishing that can beat that magical moment where your tiny “walk the dog” surface lure is smashed in a moment of froth and spray by almost a meter of angry Saratoga that then comes flying fully out of the water for 2-3 times during the fight to the landing net. Certainly gets the pulse up! This is not me fishing but this YouTube video Toga Fishing gives you a good idea of the fun factor of Toga fishing.

Linda's family record Toga!

Linda now holds the Britton Family record Toga – a 78cm beauty (caught on my rod using my lure whist I was untangling a knot in her gear!!). But no sour grapes here - she earnt every centimeter of that fish having spent at least 30 hours out on the water casting lures while sitting on an uncomfortable seat in a small tinny in fine and foul weather. I joked that her “walk the dog” lure must have rabies because it walked a wobbly walk – buy hey she caught fish.

72cm of angry Toga about to be released

I also caught my personal best Toga at a measly 72cm and lots of others just under – woo hoo!!

What a beast! (but nice fish)

My Personal Trainer (AKA Tom the fishing guru) dropped in for an afternoon fishing session (he was half way through a 1600 Km round trip to see a sick mate) but alas his “dog” had rabies as well and the Toga weren’t interested in his famous Baralaba lure.

Caught red handed

Linda and I both loved Imbil – the caravan park, the lush green farmlands and the scenic Lake Borumba. We will be back to walk the dog again.

Wuruma Dam

At the dam wall

Wuruma Dam is halfway between Monto and Eidsvold on the southern end of the central highlands in QLD -  Map is here . Whilst at Boyndale Bush Camp we agreed with the mob we were travelling with since Baralabar that we would meet up at Wuruma for a week before we all headed our separate meandering ways.






On arrival we soon realized that “the secret was out” - the place was packed with grey nomads on every available space along the water front.  After towing the van around in circles and walking thru several camp sites we finally located the “Baralabar Bunch”.

View from under our caravan awning

There was no waterfront sites left but we found a spot at the back of the camp area close to our travelling friends and with views over the dam.

Excavations required to get level

There is not a single level caravan site in the whole Wuruma camping area and the spot we chose was no exception – so out with the shovel’s and lots of help from our fellow campers we soon had a hole of almost half the wheel height dug on the uphill side for our tandem wheels.  All vans in the area were similary dug in on the uphill side.

Spangled Perch

Wuruma Dam is stocked with Barramundi, Australian Bass, Golden Perch, Silver Perch and has a resident population of Saratoga and Eel Tailed Catfish.  It is also full of red claw (apparently!) and most folk with tinnies were catching 40-50 a night. Despite some determined efforts with Linda and my mate Budgie we didn’t catch any fish in the Dam except small Spangled Perch which were everywhere and always willing to hit a small diving lure or popper.

Wish I had caught these!

Also our red claw pots remained mostly empty with our best haul a measly 15 red claw – much to the amusement of our neighbours.

First Bass for 2015

During one dawn fish trip we talked to one of the locals out on the dam and he told us that the fishing was good below the dam wall in the river. Sure enough the first afternoon session resulted in two good size Bass on small walk the dog poppers and another two bass on the last trip.

Two nice 35cm bass

As the bass were very structure based my casting efforts ranged from very good to mediocre and most days a small refreshing swim was required to retrieve that occasional mis-directed lure.  Great fishing on light gear and those surface strikes got the pulse up.

Yep - been swimming again

Whist we were camped at Wuruma we witnessed some of the biggest and longest lasting thunder storms I have ever seen. Every evening from around 5:30 to 8:30 Thor got going with lightning and thunder.
We spent a memorable 2 hours one night under a mate’s caravan awning sipping cool refreshments and watching the non-stop light and sound show.




Linda is like a frightened puppy when it comes to thunder and lightning – absolutely terrified. Out came the ear plugs every evening.
Sadly we had to cut our visit short as at some time we had hit something with the prop on my tinny motor and broken the bush on the prop – this resulted in a max speed of around 4-5 knots (normally 14-17 knots). Off to the service man in Brisbane before we head to the next Dam!
It was a little sad to leave the Baralabar Bunch as we had become good friends over the few weeks we had travelled together. We had 5 days with great friends at a great place when at Wuruma – way to go!

Awoonga - again!

Sunrise Lake Awoonga

Boyndale Bush Camp is a great free camp on the western shore of Lake Awoonga about 45 kilometers from Gladstone in central QLD. With beautiful lake views surrounded by hills this is a very popular place for the grey nomads.

The tinny and I - early morning

For the “tiny” brigade there is the additional benefit that you can leave your boat in the lake usually within sight of your caravan. This is the third time we have camped at Boyndale bush camp – we enjoy the lake views, the birdlife and the challenge of catching red-claw and fish and generally being out on the lake in our tinny.

My fishing mate Budgie

We had met a group of fellow grey nomads at Baralabar (our previous camp) and they had also travelled to Boyndale. Together with a nice couple we met this visit we spent many a good night around the campfire with much laughing, joking and the occasional serious discussion.

Catfish Kerry!

Last time we were at Boyndale bush fires were raging in the hills to the east of the camp on the other side of the lake – this time there were several fire fronts on the western side not far from our camp. We kept a close eye on these and watched the fireworks during the night. Thankfully there was a constant easterly wind which kept the fires burning away from us and the local Rural Fire Brigade and water bombers kept it under control.

Budgie with a nice popper caught Sooty

For the period that we were there the local shire was upgrading the gravel road leading into the camp area and this will make access even easier in the future.


Great place, great people, a camp-fire, lake views and the occasional fish – we will be back!

Baralaba - you beauty!

Baralaba is a small town in central Queensland with a population of around 400  - one Pub, a General Store and a News Agent. The local shire has established a nice park and free camping area on the edge of town overlooking the Dawson River and Neville Hewitt Weir. Nice camp with grassed picnic area, $1 hot showers and town water available from 1 tap behind the toilet block. 

Sunset - Dawson River

Baralaba is also famous as being the home for Southern Saraotoga (Toga) – which is only found in the Dawson River and its tributaries in central QLD.

There's Toga in those snags!

After 5 days unsuccessful fishing for Toga at Bedford Weir this was going to be our last fish in the Dawson River system this trip and catching a Toga was on my trip bucket list.

I fished for 4 days- 6 hours a day - and despite seeing Toga “swirls and splashes” caught nothing but catfish! 

My personal trainer (AKA Tom the fishing guru) drove over 500 kilometers to fish with me for a night and morning session to show me how to catch the elusive “Toga”.  Well!! - after 3 hours fishing he had 4 hook-ups, lots of jumping Toga but none in the boat. Toga have very hard mouths, jump a lot and you are found in timber and snag infested sections of the river.

63 cm of  Dawson River Toga

After he departed and left me his secret Toga Lure – out I went again for the 3 hour afternoon to dark session.  

4 cm lure = 63 cm Toga

Armed with Tom’s secret lure and lessons learnt from the previous session -  I hooked 4 Toga and landed 2 !!!  As the sun set out came my favorite “walk the dog” popper and after a few casts - whammo  - big surface strike and screaming run until he pulled the hooks.

Yahoo – mission accomplished!!