Day 15 (2 August) – Brisbane (Brisbane Holiday Village, River Cruise, Observation Wheel & Apollo)
Having booked the cruise the night before and taking the bus into the city we walked across the river to the Cultural Centre Public Pontoon where our trip started.
The cruise was great, we had a seat up on the top deck at the bow on the Starboard side and got a great view as we headed down river with our captain providing a commentary as we went. At the halfway point, we berthed, dropped off some passengers who were having lunch there, picked up some more then headed up river to return to the pontoon where we started. Some fascinating sights on the river with very interesting history. Most impressive was the Storey Bridge and the observation wheel on Southbank.
After the cruise we headed over to the “7” observation wheel, got into a gondola and circled 4 times getting great views of the city and surrounding hills. As we were in the gondola, I got a call from Apollo that the vehicle was ready to be picked up – Iveco work completed, recall work completed, light cover repair completed, but warranty items not touched as there still wasn’t any approval. Their new process sucks!!!! Lyn concentrated on eating her lunch in the wheel gondola as she is not so comfortable with heights.
We even saw our boat from the morning heading off on the afternoon cruise.
Southbank in Brisbane (due to host the Olympics in 2032) even had their own Eiffel Tower.
We headed back to the Village, picked up Lucie and headed to Apollo to pick up Elsie. Travelling to Northgate is relatively easy, around 25 minutes. on arrival we had confirmation that the warranty items weren’t done and I set about connecting Elsie and Lucie. On entering Elsie I found that the cushions hadn’t been put back, a door strip (warranty item) was across the door and the vehicle wasn’t in any condition to be picked up. Lyn had gone inside to pay for the side light cover replacement while I got the vehicles ready to leave. I called to Alysia (our contact) to have a look at the readiness of the vehicle. She then got her new boss, Michael, to come out to see the state of the motorhome. I took the opportunity to say that if the back window leaked because it hadn’t been fixed, I’d be pretty upset. I was pretty upset at this stage but didn’t get angry with the staff although I could feel my blood pressure increasing. I just wanted to get out of there after only some of the items had been done and we’d had to wait a full day (Friday) to see if the warranty repairs would be approved whilst nothing was done to the motorhome.
Our afternoon didn’t get any better as I had hitched up the combination to exit through the far gate. On approaching the gate, I found the bins blocking the right-hand side driveway, a vehicle blocking the left-hand side that I couldn’t see from our starting point and, when I get there, the gate was locked anyway. As I couldn’t see the side very well, I scraped the left-hand side parked vehicle and had to disconnect Lucie, reverse her out completely (in a very tight space) then reverse out, scraping the awning cover and the top rear trim of the other vehicle. I had to manipulate all vehicles, finally managing to align everything and prepare to leave. I spoke with Michael about the damage done, he said “I think we’re even.” Finally, I managed to get out and head back.
The trip back to the Village was again through the city and took around 1.5 hours through peak hour traffic – what a lot of fun in a motorhome towing a Jimny through peak hour stop-start traffic. As we had the cabin until Monday morning, I was given permission to park the motorhome at the back of the Village where it would stay until we got ready to leave on Monday morning.
The watching the Demons being demolished by the Doggies whilst Lyn got the meal ready.
Day 16 (3 August) – Brisbane (Brisbane Holiday Village – walks and bike ride)
Well now I have the Internet, I was able to do a lot of administration. In between, I had to clear out the fridge as Apollo had set the fridge to power mode (electrical), I didn’t have a manual with me to get the gas mode going so I cleared out the fridge, decided to could fix all the warranty items myself and so brought all the fridge items back to our unit in the Village. Lyn did a load of washing and then we took a late morning walk through the bushland behind the Village. More paperwork (on the computer) and some bike riding (15km) around the back of the Village – all the way to Wishart and back.
Then more computer work and finally the Storm beaten by the Dragons – SGI.
Dinner in the unit and then an early night after organising the next few nights in the Sunshine Coast and Hervey Bay.
So early I missed the gold medal won by John Peers in the Olympic men’s doubles tennis. John played football with James at the Ashy Redbacks with Nick Smith of the Sydney Swans. The Ashy Greens won the U15 premiership in 2002. I’m pretty sure I was President of the Waverley Junior Football League at the time and awarded the trophy and medals to the team!
Day 17 (4 August) – Brisbane (Brisbane Holiday Village – bike ride & 9 holes at The Brisbane Golf Club)
A nice relaxing morning watching the tennis gold medallists on TV.
We went for a bike ride mid-morning. My bike broke down around 100m into the ride. I kept going but had to head back to the Village. I did manage to complete 3.6km though while Lyn headed off into the noon day sun.
Early afternoon and we headed to The Brisbane Golf Club for some golf. We were allocated at starting time of 15:47 but as we arrived early, they offered an earlier time of 15:23 with two members Dan and Arissa. There was a lot of work going on so we played the following holes in this order: 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 19 & 18. Luckily, we had taken the earlier time as it was getting dark by the time we finished the 18th hole.
We stopped to pick up sushi on the way home from a shop in Mt. Gravatt and then headed back to the Village. I moved the motorhome to the site next to our cabin and spent an hour or so changing the load in the Jimny and loading the motorhome.
So, peak hour traffic starting at 08:15 as we headed to the Australia Zoo arriving at 10:30 on a journey that should have taken 1.5 hours. The zoo was interesting, really well presented and we noticed the animal’s condition seemed to be really good. Most of the exhibits were like other zoos. The major difference seemed to be the crocodile show. A worthwhile experience and so we headed to the Cotton Tree Holiday Camp at Maroochydore.
After check in, we drove into the camping area, disconnected Lucie and then tried to reverse into our allocated spot. Very slowly, I tried to reverse in only for be told that I was hitting trees and just missing limbs. With advice from our neighbours, I left the motorhome sticking out of the site a little and headed to reception to advise of our problem. We were offered two alternative sites, after brief inspection of both we chose the one with the beach view and only one campsite away from the beach. I connected the power and the water to the high-pressure system and then went over to talk to one of our neighbours in a Winnebago. I asked about good places to eat and we swapped yarns about the poor Apollo service and support. LITTLE DID I KNOW!!!
I walked back to the motorhome and saw water gushing out from under the vehicle. I turned off the main water and thankfully the gushing stopped. I then partially filled the water tank and checked – no problems. I then tried to turn on the pump and water gushing everywhere again. Pump off and a call to Apollo to advise of the problem and to check what could be done (any agents up here?). I was told that the best option was to go back to Apollo in Brisbane to have it fixed the next day. I said that we’d look at options. I thought I’d have a closer look at the problems and had Lyn turn on the pump whilst I was under the vehicle. I found the leak under the area where the warranty work had been done in the vehicle. The warrant y work was upgrading the child restraint bracket bolts. I removed the seat cover and checked and it became clear that the person who had done the warranty work had drilled through the water hoses when he installed the larger bolts. I rang Apollo back, advised of what I had found and also let them know I’d fixed most of the warranty items myself. I agreed to bring the motorhome back the following day where they said they would repair the damage urgently. People who know me will understand my anger at the situation. I was relatively calm with Alysia (the Apollo service agent) but told her I was really angry with the quality of service and the warranty approval process as she advised that it still hadn’t been approved.
A quick walk along the beach (I had to calm down a bit), jump in the Jimny to work out where to store it whilst we headed back to Brisbane and then off to the Surf Life Saving Club for an early meal.
Back to the motorhome and Jimny to prepare to leave early the next morning for Brisbane. I hate Brisbane now!!!
Day 19 (6 August) – Maroochydore to Brisbane then to Hervey Bay (Apollo & Driving)
An early morning start (04:30), parking the Jimny in a hard-to-find all-day parking spot then driving back in peak hour traffic to Apollo in Brisbane for the water problem. UGGGHHHHH! We left at around 05:30 for a 1-hour drive to Apollo and arrived just after 07:00. Kyle met us and I showed him the waterfall under our vehicle when the water pump was turned on. Inside their showroom for the wait until the problem was fixed. Around 40 minutes later Kyle came in and said the work was completed. I asked if they had checked all systems. Apparently, the fix took 5 minutes and the remaining time was spent checking everything else. Finally, we appeared to have a working motorhome!!
We headed North and decided to have a look at Bribie Island on the way back to Maroochydore. A nice-looking place, plenty of boats in marinas but not a lot else to look at. A quick coffee in the rain (fortunately we were under cover) and then on to Maroochydore where we reconnected the Jimny and proceeded towards Gympie and Hervey Bay where we had booked in for the next few nights.
We had a fuel stop in Gympie and we stopped at Maryborough to stock up before Hervey Bay. On arrival in Hervey Bay, we found all the stores we needed and could have continued on and done the shopping in Hervey Bay. A quick look around town in the Jimny then dinner in the motorhome.
I checked with the holiday park owner for the best whale watching tour and was told Freedom was their choice so we booked the Freedom tour for Thursday as the next day (Wednesday) was fully booked.
GREAT NEWS – on arrival in the Lazy Acres holiday camp, I got a call from the manager at THL (Apollo’s new owner) who apologised for our problems and told us the warranty items repairs had been approved. I must admit I told him I didn’t want to go back to Brisbane and they needed to improve their approval processes and quality assurance. He also asked what compensation I was considering. Apparently, a long email to the THL CEO does wonders for getting their attention. I’d written one the night before and saw the effects in the service and follow up.
Day 20 (7 August) – Hervey Bay (Lazy Acres @ Torquay – Bike Riding & Golf)
It was nice to have a later start. I got the bikes off the Jimny and put the golf clubs in for an afternoon round later.
I did a quick trip to the airport where I found the aero club next opened at 17:00 on Friday – so no luck there. I then checked out the marina and found the location where we were to catch our whale tour the next day and met Mark, the owner. I’d checked so many tours and thought our tour started at 10:30 when it was actually due to start at 09:30. Fortunately, talking to him I was able to ensure we arrived on time the next day.
Lyn and I rode down to Shelley Beach, back to, and out along, the main pier and then into the market on Pier St. We purchased some puzzles for Wren and Luna then headed back along the beach. Coffee at a very popular coffee shop in Shelley Beach then we continued along the beach, turned around and then rode back and through the suburbs to our holiday park.
Our plan was to play golf in the afternoon at the Hervey Bay Golf and Country Club and then stay for dinner at 17:30. So around 13:00 we started the golf but managed to finish at 16:30 so went back to the park, changed then returned to the golf club for dinner. Quite a reasonable dinner then off to bed.
Day 21 (8 August) – Hervey Bay (Lazy Acres @ Torquay – Whale Watching aboard Freedom III)
Down to the dock – leaving the holiday park at 08:25 we arrived at the dock at 08:32 – early for our tour. Meeting Mark again, he said he wasn’t taking the boat out that day and that it would be an all-girl crew with Toni at the helm. Coffee overlooking the marina then back to board Freedom III at 09:15.
After the mandatory safety briefing, we left the marina at 09:45 and headed out to Hervey Bay. The wind picked up and we had showers of rain but were told the whales seemed to like the rain and weren’t affected by the wind. The boat had an overheating engine indication around 10 minutes out from the marina (they were Fiat Iveco engines – Elsie has a 3.0l Iveco engine) and so we headed into the wind for a couple of minutes then headed off into Hervey Bay after the indications seemed to settle. (We later found that the overheating indication was a faulty sensor).
Our first stop was alongside a mini K’Gari which is increasing in size (3 football fields over the last few years) and had pelicans and terns our side. Then into the Western shore of K’Gari (formerly Fraser Island) where we found our first whale. As the wind was picking up, and we had a bit of rain, we headed up the West coast of K’Gari and then towards Bundaberg. That’s when we saw pod after pod of humpback whales. We saw all of the antics – breaches, lazy breaches, tail slaps, flipper slaps, mugging as well as some curious whales coming right up to the boat and checking us out. One blew bubbles approaching us and one really big one as he was a couple of metres from the boat. We found the whales liked the music and colours – especially red and yellow. Fortunately I was wearing my red Queenscliff Golf Club Earlybirds shirt! Lyn and I got some great shots and videos. I’ll have to do some video editing and still shot capture work to post here. What a fantastic experience!! (as you can see below, I’ve learnt how to capture shots from videos).
Dinner at The Beach Motel Hervey Bay – really great meal. Lyn had the Scallops and Barramundi and I had the Arancini balls and the Pesto prawns. The meal was so good (spoiler alert), we had dinner there the next night.
Back to the motorhome to see the Storm overcome the Rabbitohs in a sloppy game.
Day 22 (9 August) – Hervey Bay (Lazy Acres @ Torquay – Tin Can Bay golf and crabs)
Another morning of chores and admin then time to start week 4.
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