Well being up to date didn't last long did it?
Never does I'm afraid.
We have made it back to Melbourne, we are staying at my friends Billy and Drews in their glorious spare bedroom. It is lovely to not be in a van.
I will get the blog up to scratch in the next couple of days and try and pop some pictures on their too.
Much love Leah and El xx
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Saturday, 1 August 2009
I'm up to date yipppeeee
Byron Bay was the next stop and again a 2 night stay we found a campsite just outside the centre and although they had some strange rules about reverse parking for the most part it was less scary than many we had frequented. We had a nice day looking around and managed to potter about the shops and find a nice bit of beach to sit on, El decided that she’s go surfing and set of to the rental place but the conditions weren’t great and so we spent the afternoon sitting in the sun. On the first night it rained non stop and the noise was so loud that it was almost impossible to hear yourself think let alone sleep! We had a couple of nice days though ( although we were a bit tired )
After a late start we set off to find a campsite in Brisbane ( or just outside it ) Unfortunately Brisbane doesn’t have any accommodation that is accessible. We got to Brisbane at about 5pm and it was already dark , the normal situation is that you rock up to a city and you have to pass through the sprawl , that ridiculous string of fast food eateries and bad motels situated next door to Waynes exhausts or Shanes tyres – Brisbane is different you hit the sprawl , you can eat, gamble, drink, get your car fixed, you can even do your laundry or get your pet looked at by 1 of the 645 vets but if you want to sleep you better think again, in 30km of non stop bright lights not a single motel/hotel/campsite finally, after almost giving up hope we spot the Hotel George It has a big Bar it has everything in fact that you could ever need so I go into the foyer and as I Can’t find a reception desk I head to the bar – I ask the barmaid if they have any rooms available, she informs me they are no longer a hotel . I am very cross with their signage.
She does however direct us to a shopping mall ( about 10 km back ) that has a hotel we decide that despite this advise we’ll continue on our way (heading into the city) after all why should we trust a lady that works in the George “Hotel” ? We are confident that there has to be a hotel/motel before we end up in the city centre, this lasts for about as long as it takes us to be in the city centre.
Now we are in the middle of Brisbane.
It is Saturday night there is an AFL Match 120,000 people milling about 30 minutes before kick off we do not have a map, any idea where we are going, and the good people of Brisbane have made t5he whole of their fair city into a one way system. Things are not good in camp Godfrey – Baker.
We drive about lost, tired and fed up when eventually we manage to navigate our way back out onto the road we came in on, it seems now might be a good time to put a little faith in that nice lady from the George.
We find the shopping centre, we get a burger, we drive around the place 3 times – there is no hotel.
El ends up accosting a man who is doing something complicated to the car park floor he tells her there is a hotel and with his directions we finally locate the place.
And guess what? They had a room.
We watch a film, drink a bottle of wine and vow that tomorrow we are going to continue up the coast and not go to Brisbane. We’ll save it for the way back when we don’t hate it quite so much.
So we set off up the coast it’s still a bit industrial, I don’t think I mentioned Surfers Paradise, it’s one of the hot spots on the Gold Coast Now I don’t want to put you off or appear to be critical of someone Else's home turf but I will say this ; If you paid me 5 Million pound and gave me my own house car, shipped over my cat and enough marmite for the rest of my life I would not live there, It was like something out of CSI Miami crossed with one of those horrid Spanish party Isles. Not only did we not want to stay there we did not even want to be there. Above Brisbane was slightly better but not by much. It didn’t take long however to finally get to the more secluded and country townships and we stopped for the night at a camping site in @@@@@@@@ It was a nice enough site very basic but with a TV room and a camp kitchen under cover. We decided to have an experimental dinner of Chicken and corn steak with cauliflower peas and pour over. Pour over is this great sauce that you put on veg to spice it up a bit. The reason why food sometimes becomes a little experimental is that we only have bowls and forks. We don’t have any plates and we can never find the knives ( apart from the sharp one for cutting ) so dinners are eaten from a small bowl, like the size you would usually use for cereal, it makes everything seem a bit silly really. We got an early night with the plan of an early start.
We travelled the 20 km or so to Noosa and found a campsite about 5 km out of town it was right on the river and really pretty as it was early morning we figured we’d head into Noosa and check out the beach and the town. It was a hot day but we walked the 5km into the village and then spent the day on the beach. Noosa is the loveliest place, chilled out, but with an air of elegance and just the best shops and bars and cafes and the beach ( despite the current issue that they are running out of sand ) is just the right size. Unlike a lot of the coast we have travelled Noosa is actually set right on the edge of its own national park and so there are no high rise or horrible purpose built buildings and the main street is shady and broken up by trees and seating areas. Apart from Melbourne, this is the only other place I would consider living in Australia. ( so far !) We went for a cocktail that evening and then caught the bus back to the campsite. The following day we headed into the town again, El wanted to surf and I wanted to finish my book so we had a quiet morning in the afternoon we walked around the national park and saw the local beauty spots. We both really enjoyed Noosa and probably could of stayed longer, the problem is that it’s quite difficult to gage how long everything will take you and being that we’re not really planning ahead at all! We do sometimes struggle.
Day 14 We got up early had our usual cup of plastic coffee ( have I told you about the plastic coffee?) and then decided we needed a proper breakfast. We had a lovely meal but the service was truly appalling at one point El said
“Excuse me “
And he replied with
“What”
Not exactly Customer service at its best!
After that we hit the road, Malkovich is a wonder, he has had a few problems, the windscreen chip ( hardly his fault ) and then there is the ongoing oil leak – I say this but we have absolutely no idea where the oil is going, for example;
Monday – Oil light is on, so using the same brand of oil that we have used from the beginning ( to avoid the rare but real phenomenon of 2 brands of oil not being compatible and wrecking Malk’s engine) we fill the oil up (using the red funnel which I have purchased specifically for the job) to the correct place on the dipstick ( as advised by a mechanic which I questioned in his garage whilst waving the dipstick around) Oil light goes off. I have checked the radiator, there is no oil shine off the surface, Oil is not leaking onto the floor and no smoke comes out of the back of Malk. We drive happily for 7 days ( or once 14 ) and then – the oil light comes on again.
The only other issue we had was when an exhaust bracket rusted through, But the boys at Midas who are very friendly but obviously were not that impressed with my cable tie efforts, I thought it was ingenious and have absolutely no idea why I felt that I knew enough about exhausts to start fiddling around with a cable tie but none the less.
They sorted that out and welded it fixed for about £20 and we’ve never heard a rattle since!
So all in all we can’t complain
We made it in good time to Tin Can Bay an odd little place – they have dolphins that you can hand feed, obviously this makes you drive the 40km to experience, what they don’t tell you on the 20ft sign is – Dolphin feeding time is at 8am in the morning! And as this is about the only thing to do in the whole place you sort of have to just leave, except of course if you have the nerve to rock up to a small towns bowling green and request not only to borrow two sets of equipment but also a green.
There are several reasons they are shocked by this;
We are not over 60
We are not dressed according to bowl club rules
We have just pulled into there car park in a van and I have just spent 2 minutes trying to change my bra under my top ( discretely ) as the one I was wearing had unruly underwire.
They agree almost immediately to our requests and supply with the kit and off we go.
Now although this clubs are surprised by our interest and attire they are very accommodating and engage us in chat about our trip, why we like bowls and often watch us out the corners of their eyes, today was no exception except for that we had the added enjoyment today of meeting Merv Baxter
Merv Baxter is obviously King of the bowls club he’s the one they all want to impress.
Merv makes his way over to us and introduces himself, we shake his hand, he is pushing 70 and as he takes the bowl out of Els hand it is clear we are going to get a tutorial. He tells us the correct way to stand, orders us to the best places for optimal viewing and then takes us through the steps.
He gives me a bowl
I feel very under pressure suddenly following all the instructions he has just given me mean that I am completely unable to actually release the bowl, I bodge it completely, as El approaches the mat Merv again takes the bowl from her hand, at this point I catch the look of surprise and mild annoyance on her face and have to stifle my laugh and turn it into a cough he talks about the art of bowling and then places the bowl perfectly on the jack with this he wishes us the best, tells us to practice and turns back to his adoring posy, we are left to continue our game.
El actually is able to follow Merv’s instruction and not only beats me but lifts her game so much that she is heckled
“Crikey El you’ve got a good bowl on ya”
“We’ll join you up yet”
We eventually decide enough is enough and after thanking the entire club we make our move.
We went to Rainbow Beach famed for its wonderful rainbow cliffs – again all very well but you need a 4 wheel drive to experience them ( Malk isn’t really all that comfortable with beach driving !! ) We quite liked it there it was quiet and friendly and we found a place to camp which had a brilliant BBQ area and we cooked up a storm, we were hoping to catch a few of the programs we like on TV but this was foiled due to the fact that game 3 of State of Origin is on. For those of you who don’t know it’s actually just QLD and NSW that have a team in this, it’s like rugby ( or is Rugby ) and they play 3 games whoever wins 2 wins. But they go nuts for it.
We end up chatting to some people who have been to Whitby ( everyone seems to have been somewhere in England and they’re always odd places ) we turn in after a couple of hours of serious card playing.
Day 15
We are looking at the map, drinking plastic coffee and eating fried tomato sandwich's at the camp site when we come across a place called 1770 – that’s its actual name , Well we had to go there, it had a twin town too, although it wasn’t like in England when you twin an English town with a French one, they just sort of teamed up with the town next door Agnes Waters. It was a great place , Friendly and pretty and right on the water. We found a campsite that had a real forest feel and we set up camp. We had fish and chips for dinner and spent the night chatting to two Dutch boys who were travelling on a similar route. We had brought a box of wine, or a goon as they call it here, now to give you an idea of the quality it cost $10 and that is for 4.4 litres of Chardonnay , after about a litre each we were quite drunk and let me tell you cheap wine = a very nasty hangover. We threw the remaining 2.4 litres away and vowed we’d splash out a bit and try and pay about £3 for a bottle from now on. This is the same night ( probably due to the goon wine ) that I had to get up for a wee at about 2am, this is the most annoying thing and trying to put a coat on over your PJ’s find your shoes undo the curtain, unlock the door, slide it open get out shut the door and then navigate the distance to the toilet block is not only highly frustrating it’s also difficult . Any way I make it to the loo and to my horror I see my first ( and only ) Australian style Spider. It was horrid, I believe it was a huntsman.
Yuck.
After getting some Coffee we picked up some lunch and headed to the beach and baked ourselves in the sun for a couple of hours – glorious. We are applying high factor sun cream every 20 -30 minutes so please don’t worry yourselves about this, also when we were in St Kilda you may remember there was the St Kilda Festival , there were some Nivea people handing out sachets of Face vail a factor 30 suncream that is light enough to be worn everyday ( even under make up ) which neither of us bother with! But any way we still have enough sachets to last us this trip. ( they did say to help yourselves) after lunch we were feeling a little bit less woolikie and we decide maybe the best way to spend the afternoon is to play a game of bowls.
Again we are met with the odd glances but on the whole this is the most libral club yet and as long as we remove our shoes they seem to believe that we are genuine in our love of the game. In fact the problem here is that although we are playing terribly ( and we really are, I blame the goon wine ) The head of the club actually comes over and invites us to come tomorrow for the 6 hour league match. Well, you can imagine we are shocked and after insisting that we really are only beginners and no nothing about the game or the rules in a match type scenario he becomes pretty insistent and starts telling us where to be at what time etc. We decide the only way to deal with the situation is to go along with him and then flee town. It is not that we wouldn’t like to find ourselves in a highly competitive game of bowls with 30 odd Australian Men who get quite angry when one of them under performs , oh sorry that is exactly what it is.
We set off early planning not to travel too far presently we came across Rockhamton, known to the locals as Rocky, the unique thing about this town is the 28 odd statues of giant cows on every roundabout and roadside ( most unnerving!) Deciding that it wasn’t the sort of town we’d like a prolonged stay in we headed on to Yepoon. Yepoon is a funy sort of place – It has one street which houses all it’s shops and apparently gets booked out way in advance ( I can’t think why) The tourist information kindly found us a spot but I have to be honest it was the weirdest place ( lots of Permies ) and when we checked in the receptionist gave El a key and said “this is for the toilets, we keep em locked, you don’t want any nasty surprises do ya” I did not like the sound of this one little bit.
The next morning we came to the conclusion the Yepoon was not really somewhere you looked around so we drove out to Sandy point in the Byfield National Park and poor Malkovich had the job of trecking over 20 km of dirt track ( I gave El a break and drove ) it was very bumpy indeed. The end result was worth it the beach was lovely and the sand dunes were quite impressive, we made it back in time to rent out some DVD’s and buy all sort of junk food and after running the extension cord out the window and through the front of the van we settled down for a night of movies. It was absolutely what we needed.
We had planned 2 nights here as we were going to go on a sailing trip across to the reef, but it ended up being fully booked.
Having decided to try and avoid staying at another Yepoon we got on the road at an early hour, the driving took us through a couple of towns and delivered us just North of Mackay to a wonderful campsite right on the beach, we were there early enough to enjoy just watching the sun set and tyo collect wood for our fire. The fire was a disaster and although we tried our best we just hadn’t collected enough wood so we went and sat in the camp kitchen instead.
We had left our chairs out by our failed fire and in the morning when we came to pack up El noticed they had a few ants around the legs. She grabbed the chair and banged it on the ground to make the ants come off and about 1000 ants poured out of the legs, it was horrible a swarm of them came out of each leg.
We had to leave our chairs there.
We had thought about staying another day here but the weather just wasn’t really up to it
We drove the remaining distance up the coast to Airle Beach and found the most brilliant campsite The only downside was the200 French school children ! We had finally made it as far up the coast as we intended to go and it was overcast.. Not the sunshine that Queensland had promised us. We booked in for 4 nights and booked two trips;
A days sailing around the Whitsunday Islands and a stop on Whitehaven Beach for lunch and a swim
A day out on the Reef station so we could snorkel on the reef itself
The first day we pottered around and managed to get a phone card and some internet access we also managed to find an underwater camera. On the camp site they had these stange tent like structures called CAMP-OTEL S they were brilliant and as we’d paid $30 to camp ( without any power) I asked the reception how much it would be to upgrade to one of these ( it had it’s own beds, power, light etc ) she charged me $10 and we moved in. We rented a couple more movies and had a really nice evening.
We woke up to sunshine, which was just as well as our yacht was waiting Maxi Ragamuffin ( 3 times winner of the Sydney Hobart race ) we had a great day, the weather was perfect and we managed to see a whale giving birth! Whitehaven is just beautiful it is home to the finest sand in the world and is there for a brilliant exfoliant and jewlery cleaner, I must admit I spent more time in the crystal blue ocean than polishing my rings! The water was so warm and you really felt like you were on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere.
We sailed back and El and I found a lovely spot and sun bathed the whole way back. Heaven.
The next day was the earliest start we’d had since leaving England! We were up at 6:45 and so excited I was jumping up and down in the car park. The bus collected us and took us to the boat which after stopping at a lot of the Islands ( it is also the taxi for the Islands) headed to Reef World.
Reef World is a permanent pontoon like structure which has very little on it it is fixed about 20 metres from the Great barrier Reef and the boat pulls up along side it and so you can have access to toilets and tea and coffee on the boat and access to the water from the pontoon.
They have built these clever metal platforms which are suspended about knee deep in the water so you can go down there to attach your snorkel and your fins before swimming out to the reef.
In my life I have never been so terrified and so excited at the same time. The minute you put you head under the water you see 2 things
Fish
Endless , bottomless blue, black sea.
The first is lovely, the second is panic causing, As you swim across to the reef you try and ignore the endless ocean behind you. The edge of the reef comes into view and the first thing you see is the cliff like edge as far as you can see ( maybe 10 metres ) before it is swallowed into the blackness. And then you are above it and just 1.5 metre below you is this sanctuary of coral, clams, fish and shells as you slowly kick your legs ( keeping your arms flat at your sides ) you propel yourself through this water wonder land. El and I swam side by side and I lost count of the time I tried to point at a fish and yell through my snorkel! Or she’d see something to her right and kick me in the head as she swam off! We spent an hour just swimming around like this before heading back to the pontoon. They also had a submersible which went out over an area of the reef you couldn’t swim over so we hopped in that and had a history lesson from a guide for 45 minutes. They put on a huge BBQ for lunch with salads and breads and we figured that the trip in the sub woud allow for the food to go down before we spent the last hour in the water.
We absolutely loved the last two days , they really are things you can’t do anywhere else in the world and it is so strange to think that this country has so many different faces, one minute you can be in the sea looking at such pretty fish and just 3 weeks ago we were wearing 5 layers of clothing coats scarfs and gloves !
We had the difficult task of deciding what we were going to do .
Should we go inland and head to Alice Springs? We only had 3 weeks and it worked out at nearly 2500 km more so we choose an inland route which afforded us a host of new places and the option of going along the Victorian coastline. With this in mind, on our way up I had picked up a leaflet about a place called Emerald, it was the heart of Saphire Fields, and you could go and Fossick for Saphires. We had both decided we quite fancied this and so plotted a route accordingly.
We had planned to stay in either Nebo or Moranbah but our guide book had nothing on either of them – I love these days best, we arrive, we look around and normally we laugh ( Sometimes we lock our doors and keep going !) Well they didn’t have any campsites so we ended up booking into a small motel in the mining town of Moranbah. The motel had it’s own Chinese restaurant so we ended up eating takeaway for dinner.
We drove to Emerald and decided to try our luck in Rubyvale. The campsite was brilliant, right next to the local pub, fossicking areas and the small amount of shops the village had to offer . we didn’t waste anytime, we set off to Willy’s and brought ourselves 3 buckets of rough.
The idea is this ; you put a layer of rough stone into your sieve and shake out any excess dirt, then you place thisa in a contraption which allows you to wash it you presh and lift a lever which lifts the sieve out of the water and then pushes it back under. After several minutes of this you take the sieve and flip it quickly upside down onto you station, the sapphires migrate to the middle during the cleaning process as they are heavier that the dirt. You have a pair of tweasers and a container and as much time as you need to go through the pile and pick out the gems. You repeat this process until you run out of dirt ( or patience )
The chap who ran this particular station was originally from Derby!
We did quite well and found a few chunks which are worth getting cut. It was a glorious sunny day and it was a brilliant way to spend a few hours. We went for a swim in the campsite pool ( It must have been the coldest pool I’ve ever been in! ) Then we went up to the pub for dinner and a beer.
We drove to neighbouring Saphire and had another fossick before heading out of town. We’re actually on a driving route called the great inland way, this is hard to believe as if we’re lucky we may pass 2 other cars in a whole day, unfortunately we pass alot more dead animals including 2 cows. We passed through Springsure, Rolleston and Roma before stoping over night in Surat, a tiny little village.
First stop this morning was for a egg and bacon muffin from the local shop, nest stop St George.
It woulod only be right at this point to make a observation about Tourist information centres in Australia. No matter where we are we tend to stop at each town to gather iformation. It gives us both a break, a chance to use the facilities and often these places help us decide where to stop for the night. 99% of the tourist Informations out here are ran by voluntears and the enthusiasm with which we are greeted is astronomical. The amount of time spent telling us where to go and the amount of leaflets they provide us with really is a wonder . They are also always so accommodating. This said, sometimes somebody goes too far and the lady at St George was a shining example of this.
She was nuts. We left St George ( which did mean we did not see the man who carved ostrich eggs ) we asre still to this day both bitterly upset by theis fact!
We travelled for sometime passing no one for almost 100km when we came across Hebel.
Hebel has 3 things
A camp site
A local shop come restraurant
A building on the other side of the road
We had a coffee and a pork and gravey roll and yet again I sat bewildered and amazed that miles from anywhere I was sat in the sunshine drinking a coffee watching the world go by Amazing..
We arrived in Lightning ridge and for me, it felt like coming home. The whole place is just ridiculas.
We arrived in their busiest week of the year, Lightning Ridge is home of the Black Opal, it is the only place in the world where it is found. We arrived in the middle of their opal fest, and were very lucky to find anywhere to stay, think then how amazed we were when the only place to stay was the coolest most amazing campsite you will ever come across and at the price of $12 a night we couldn’t believe our luck.
Lorne, the campsite has a full kitchen, dining room, living room that looks like it came straight out of a tumble down cottage, books, games, videos, an oven, plates, pans everything you can think of.
Outside there is a fire pit with benchs and chairs surrounding it and in the evenings everyone sits around the fire swapping stories and histories. It must be said that we were the youngest people there by at least 30 years and the other guests we’re a little to peppy at 7am for our liking, but despite that it really was a wonderful place. Now with our fossicking experience we felt we stood a chance at finding an opal or two .... we were wrong and our hunting on 3 different mounds left us with nothing more than potch ( non precious opal ) and flecs ( the tiny little bits ) The town have this brilliant system for guiding tourists around they have taken old car doors and sprayed them red, green, yellow or blue and then hung them around the area. For $1 you can buy a map from the tourist information which then guides you by the doors ( they each have a number on them ) around the different touring routes. One of these routes took us to a look out and we saw the most incredible sun set. I felt like I was on the edge of the world. On the 2nd day we decided to go out Glengarry which is another opal rich town about 60km away they have these massive ( think 3 story buildings) piles that you are allowd to look through for opals. Glengarry has the ‘Hilton’ it is a cafe in the middle of the bush and really quite an experience.
We returned with a bucket full of potch and thought we’d go and look at the opal fair. They have some incredible chunks and the colours are amazing. We headed back to the camp site for a very special treat, the owner of the campsite plays and sings on a Friday in a make shift stage area surrounded by fir pits and everyone sits around for a couple of hours, it was a lovely evening, chatting to some of the people we’d met the night before, a couple from Sydney, a couple from Bournmouth ( El had drank in their local pub when she was at Uni ) asnd a man from Queensland who talked about his Saga trip to England. During the conversation he asked “Do you know Somerset at all ? “ Yes I said I grew up there,
“ I share my last name with a town in Somerset, my fore fathers were from there”
“Where is it”
He replied “Chard”
I Nearly fell of my chair – after I explained that I had gone to school there we chatted for some time about his trips and such, El ended up chatting about Australia in the Golden years until Mr Chard went off to bed and we turned in ourselves.
We are on the road to Dubbo and we have just pulled into a coffee shop so that I can tell you this.
Love to you all xxxxx
After a late start we set off to find a campsite in Brisbane ( or just outside it ) Unfortunately Brisbane doesn’t have any accommodation that is accessible. We got to Brisbane at about 5pm and it was already dark , the normal situation is that you rock up to a city and you have to pass through the sprawl , that ridiculous string of fast food eateries and bad motels situated next door to Waynes exhausts or Shanes tyres – Brisbane is different you hit the sprawl , you can eat, gamble, drink, get your car fixed, you can even do your laundry or get your pet looked at by 1 of the 645 vets but if you want to sleep you better think again, in 30km of non stop bright lights not a single motel/hotel/campsite finally, after almost giving up hope we spot the Hotel George It has a big Bar it has everything in fact that you could ever need so I go into the foyer and as I Can’t find a reception desk I head to the bar – I ask the barmaid if they have any rooms available, she informs me they are no longer a hotel . I am very cross with their signage.
She does however direct us to a shopping mall ( about 10 km back ) that has a hotel we decide that despite this advise we’ll continue on our way (heading into the city) after all why should we trust a lady that works in the George “Hotel” ? We are confident that there has to be a hotel/motel before we end up in the city centre, this lasts for about as long as it takes us to be in the city centre.
Now we are in the middle of Brisbane.
It is Saturday night there is an AFL Match 120,000 people milling about 30 minutes before kick off we do not have a map, any idea where we are going, and the good people of Brisbane have made t5he whole of their fair city into a one way system. Things are not good in camp Godfrey – Baker.
We drive about lost, tired and fed up when eventually we manage to navigate our way back out onto the road we came in on, it seems now might be a good time to put a little faith in that nice lady from the George.
We find the shopping centre, we get a burger, we drive around the place 3 times – there is no hotel.
El ends up accosting a man who is doing something complicated to the car park floor he tells her there is a hotel and with his directions we finally locate the place.
And guess what? They had a room.
We watch a film, drink a bottle of wine and vow that tomorrow we are going to continue up the coast and not go to Brisbane. We’ll save it for the way back when we don’t hate it quite so much.
So we set off up the coast it’s still a bit industrial, I don’t think I mentioned Surfers Paradise, it’s one of the hot spots on the Gold Coast Now I don’t want to put you off or appear to be critical of someone Else's home turf but I will say this ; If you paid me 5 Million pound and gave me my own house car, shipped over my cat and enough marmite for the rest of my life I would not live there, It was like something out of CSI Miami crossed with one of those horrid Spanish party Isles. Not only did we not want to stay there we did not even want to be there. Above Brisbane was slightly better but not by much. It didn’t take long however to finally get to the more secluded and country townships and we stopped for the night at a camping site in @@@@@@@@ It was a nice enough site very basic but with a TV room and a camp kitchen under cover. We decided to have an experimental dinner of Chicken and corn steak with cauliflower peas and pour over. Pour over is this great sauce that you put on veg to spice it up a bit. The reason why food sometimes becomes a little experimental is that we only have bowls and forks. We don’t have any plates and we can never find the knives ( apart from the sharp one for cutting ) so dinners are eaten from a small bowl, like the size you would usually use for cereal, it makes everything seem a bit silly really. We got an early night with the plan of an early start.
We travelled the 20 km or so to Noosa and found a campsite about 5 km out of town it was right on the river and really pretty as it was early morning we figured we’d head into Noosa and check out the beach and the town. It was a hot day but we walked the 5km into the village and then spent the day on the beach. Noosa is the loveliest place, chilled out, but with an air of elegance and just the best shops and bars and cafes and the beach ( despite the current issue that they are running out of sand ) is just the right size. Unlike a lot of the coast we have travelled Noosa is actually set right on the edge of its own national park and so there are no high rise or horrible purpose built buildings and the main street is shady and broken up by trees and seating areas. Apart from Melbourne, this is the only other place I would consider living in Australia. ( so far !) We went for a cocktail that evening and then caught the bus back to the campsite. The following day we headed into the town again, El wanted to surf and I wanted to finish my book so we had a quiet morning in the afternoon we walked around the national park and saw the local beauty spots. We both really enjoyed Noosa and probably could of stayed longer, the problem is that it’s quite difficult to gage how long everything will take you and being that we’re not really planning ahead at all! We do sometimes struggle.
Day 14 We got up early had our usual cup of plastic coffee ( have I told you about the plastic coffee?) and then decided we needed a proper breakfast. We had a lovely meal but the service was truly appalling at one point El said
“Excuse me “
And he replied with
“What”
Not exactly Customer service at its best!
After that we hit the road, Malkovich is a wonder, he has had a few problems, the windscreen chip ( hardly his fault ) and then there is the ongoing oil leak – I say this but we have absolutely no idea where the oil is going, for example;
Monday – Oil light is on, so using the same brand of oil that we have used from the beginning ( to avoid the rare but real phenomenon of 2 brands of oil not being compatible and wrecking Malk’s engine) we fill the oil up (using the red funnel which I have purchased specifically for the job) to the correct place on the dipstick ( as advised by a mechanic which I questioned in his garage whilst waving the dipstick around) Oil light goes off. I have checked the radiator, there is no oil shine off the surface, Oil is not leaking onto the floor and no smoke comes out of the back of Malk. We drive happily for 7 days ( or once 14 ) and then – the oil light comes on again.
The only other issue we had was when an exhaust bracket rusted through, But the boys at Midas who are very friendly but obviously were not that impressed with my cable tie efforts, I thought it was ingenious and have absolutely no idea why I felt that I knew enough about exhausts to start fiddling around with a cable tie but none the less.
They sorted that out and welded it fixed for about £20 and we’ve never heard a rattle since!
So all in all we can’t complain
We made it in good time to Tin Can Bay an odd little place – they have dolphins that you can hand feed, obviously this makes you drive the 40km to experience, what they don’t tell you on the 20ft sign is – Dolphin feeding time is at 8am in the morning! And as this is about the only thing to do in the whole place you sort of have to just leave, except of course if you have the nerve to rock up to a small towns bowling green and request not only to borrow two sets of equipment but also a green.
There are several reasons they are shocked by this;
We are not over 60
We are not dressed according to bowl club rules
We have just pulled into there car park in a van and I have just spent 2 minutes trying to change my bra under my top ( discretely ) as the one I was wearing had unruly underwire.
They agree almost immediately to our requests and supply with the kit and off we go.
Now although this clubs are surprised by our interest and attire they are very accommodating and engage us in chat about our trip, why we like bowls and often watch us out the corners of their eyes, today was no exception except for that we had the added enjoyment today of meeting Merv Baxter
Merv Baxter is obviously King of the bowls club he’s the one they all want to impress.
Merv makes his way over to us and introduces himself, we shake his hand, he is pushing 70 and as he takes the bowl out of Els hand it is clear we are going to get a tutorial. He tells us the correct way to stand, orders us to the best places for optimal viewing and then takes us through the steps.
He gives me a bowl
I feel very under pressure suddenly following all the instructions he has just given me mean that I am completely unable to actually release the bowl, I bodge it completely, as El approaches the mat Merv again takes the bowl from her hand, at this point I catch the look of surprise and mild annoyance on her face and have to stifle my laugh and turn it into a cough he talks about the art of bowling and then places the bowl perfectly on the jack with this he wishes us the best, tells us to practice and turns back to his adoring posy, we are left to continue our game.
El actually is able to follow Merv’s instruction and not only beats me but lifts her game so much that she is heckled
“Crikey El you’ve got a good bowl on ya”
“We’ll join you up yet”
We eventually decide enough is enough and after thanking the entire club we make our move.
We went to Rainbow Beach famed for its wonderful rainbow cliffs – again all very well but you need a 4 wheel drive to experience them ( Malk isn’t really all that comfortable with beach driving !! ) We quite liked it there it was quiet and friendly and we found a place to camp which had a brilliant BBQ area and we cooked up a storm, we were hoping to catch a few of the programs we like on TV but this was foiled due to the fact that game 3 of State of Origin is on. For those of you who don’t know it’s actually just QLD and NSW that have a team in this, it’s like rugby ( or is Rugby ) and they play 3 games whoever wins 2 wins. But they go nuts for it.
We end up chatting to some people who have been to Whitby ( everyone seems to have been somewhere in England and they’re always odd places ) we turn in after a couple of hours of serious card playing.
Day 15
We are looking at the map, drinking plastic coffee and eating fried tomato sandwich's at the camp site when we come across a place called 1770 – that’s its actual name , Well we had to go there, it had a twin town too, although it wasn’t like in England when you twin an English town with a French one, they just sort of teamed up with the town next door Agnes Waters. It was a great place , Friendly and pretty and right on the water. We found a campsite that had a real forest feel and we set up camp. We had fish and chips for dinner and spent the night chatting to two Dutch boys who were travelling on a similar route. We had brought a box of wine, or a goon as they call it here, now to give you an idea of the quality it cost $10 and that is for 4.4 litres of Chardonnay , after about a litre each we were quite drunk and let me tell you cheap wine = a very nasty hangover. We threw the remaining 2.4 litres away and vowed we’d splash out a bit and try and pay about £3 for a bottle from now on. This is the same night ( probably due to the goon wine ) that I had to get up for a wee at about 2am, this is the most annoying thing and trying to put a coat on over your PJ’s find your shoes undo the curtain, unlock the door, slide it open get out shut the door and then navigate the distance to the toilet block is not only highly frustrating it’s also difficult . Any way I make it to the loo and to my horror I see my first ( and only ) Australian style Spider. It was horrid, I believe it was a huntsman.
Yuck.
After getting some Coffee we picked up some lunch and headed to the beach and baked ourselves in the sun for a couple of hours – glorious. We are applying high factor sun cream every 20 -30 minutes so please don’t worry yourselves about this, also when we were in St Kilda you may remember there was the St Kilda Festival , there were some Nivea people handing out sachets of Face vail a factor 30 suncream that is light enough to be worn everyday ( even under make up ) which neither of us bother with! But any way we still have enough sachets to last us this trip. ( they did say to help yourselves) after lunch we were feeling a little bit less woolikie and we decide maybe the best way to spend the afternoon is to play a game of bowls.
Again we are met with the odd glances but on the whole this is the most libral club yet and as long as we remove our shoes they seem to believe that we are genuine in our love of the game. In fact the problem here is that although we are playing terribly ( and we really are, I blame the goon wine ) The head of the club actually comes over and invites us to come tomorrow for the 6 hour league match. Well, you can imagine we are shocked and after insisting that we really are only beginners and no nothing about the game or the rules in a match type scenario he becomes pretty insistent and starts telling us where to be at what time etc. We decide the only way to deal with the situation is to go along with him and then flee town. It is not that we wouldn’t like to find ourselves in a highly competitive game of bowls with 30 odd Australian Men who get quite angry when one of them under performs , oh sorry that is exactly what it is.
We set off early planning not to travel too far presently we came across Rockhamton, known to the locals as Rocky, the unique thing about this town is the 28 odd statues of giant cows on every roundabout and roadside ( most unnerving!) Deciding that it wasn’t the sort of town we’d like a prolonged stay in we headed on to Yepoon. Yepoon is a funy sort of place – It has one street which houses all it’s shops and apparently gets booked out way in advance ( I can’t think why) The tourist information kindly found us a spot but I have to be honest it was the weirdest place ( lots of Permies ) and when we checked in the receptionist gave El a key and said “this is for the toilets, we keep em locked, you don’t want any nasty surprises do ya” I did not like the sound of this one little bit.
The next morning we came to the conclusion the Yepoon was not really somewhere you looked around so we drove out to Sandy point in the Byfield National Park and poor Malkovich had the job of trecking over 20 km of dirt track ( I gave El a break and drove ) it was very bumpy indeed. The end result was worth it the beach was lovely and the sand dunes were quite impressive, we made it back in time to rent out some DVD’s and buy all sort of junk food and after running the extension cord out the window and through the front of the van we settled down for a night of movies. It was absolutely what we needed.
We had planned 2 nights here as we were going to go on a sailing trip across to the reef, but it ended up being fully booked.
Having decided to try and avoid staying at another Yepoon we got on the road at an early hour, the driving took us through a couple of towns and delivered us just North of Mackay to a wonderful campsite right on the beach, we were there early enough to enjoy just watching the sun set and tyo collect wood for our fire. The fire was a disaster and although we tried our best we just hadn’t collected enough wood so we went and sat in the camp kitchen instead.
We had left our chairs out by our failed fire and in the morning when we came to pack up El noticed they had a few ants around the legs. She grabbed the chair and banged it on the ground to make the ants come off and about 1000 ants poured out of the legs, it was horrible a swarm of them came out of each leg.
We had to leave our chairs there.
We had thought about staying another day here but the weather just wasn’t really up to it
We drove the remaining distance up the coast to Airle Beach and found the most brilliant campsite The only downside was the200 French school children ! We had finally made it as far up the coast as we intended to go and it was overcast.. Not the sunshine that Queensland had promised us. We booked in for 4 nights and booked two trips;
A days sailing around the Whitsunday Islands and a stop on Whitehaven Beach for lunch and a swim
A day out on the Reef station so we could snorkel on the reef itself
The first day we pottered around and managed to get a phone card and some internet access we also managed to find an underwater camera. On the camp site they had these stange tent like structures called CAMP-OTEL S they were brilliant and as we’d paid $30 to camp ( without any power) I asked the reception how much it would be to upgrade to one of these ( it had it’s own beds, power, light etc ) she charged me $10 and we moved in. We rented a couple more movies and had a really nice evening.
We woke up to sunshine, which was just as well as our yacht was waiting Maxi Ragamuffin ( 3 times winner of the Sydney Hobart race ) we had a great day, the weather was perfect and we managed to see a whale giving birth! Whitehaven is just beautiful it is home to the finest sand in the world and is there for a brilliant exfoliant and jewlery cleaner, I must admit I spent more time in the crystal blue ocean than polishing my rings! The water was so warm and you really felt like you were on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere.
We sailed back and El and I found a lovely spot and sun bathed the whole way back. Heaven.
The next day was the earliest start we’d had since leaving England! We were up at 6:45 and so excited I was jumping up and down in the car park. The bus collected us and took us to the boat which after stopping at a lot of the Islands ( it is also the taxi for the Islands) headed to Reef World.
Reef World is a permanent pontoon like structure which has very little on it it is fixed about 20 metres from the Great barrier Reef and the boat pulls up along side it and so you can have access to toilets and tea and coffee on the boat and access to the water from the pontoon.
They have built these clever metal platforms which are suspended about knee deep in the water so you can go down there to attach your snorkel and your fins before swimming out to the reef.
In my life I have never been so terrified and so excited at the same time. The minute you put you head under the water you see 2 things
Fish
Endless , bottomless blue, black sea.
The first is lovely, the second is panic causing, As you swim across to the reef you try and ignore the endless ocean behind you. The edge of the reef comes into view and the first thing you see is the cliff like edge as far as you can see ( maybe 10 metres ) before it is swallowed into the blackness. And then you are above it and just 1.5 metre below you is this sanctuary of coral, clams, fish and shells as you slowly kick your legs ( keeping your arms flat at your sides ) you propel yourself through this water wonder land. El and I swam side by side and I lost count of the time I tried to point at a fish and yell through my snorkel! Or she’d see something to her right and kick me in the head as she swam off! We spent an hour just swimming around like this before heading back to the pontoon. They also had a submersible which went out over an area of the reef you couldn’t swim over so we hopped in that and had a history lesson from a guide for 45 minutes. They put on a huge BBQ for lunch with salads and breads and we figured that the trip in the sub woud allow for the food to go down before we spent the last hour in the water.
We absolutely loved the last two days , they really are things you can’t do anywhere else in the world and it is so strange to think that this country has so many different faces, one minute you can be in the sea looking at such pretty fish and just 3 weeks ago we were wearing 5 layers of clothing coats scarfs and gloves !
We had the difficult task of deciding what we were going to do .
Should we go inland and head to Alice Springs? We only had 3 weeks and it worked out at nearly 2500 km more so we choose an inland route which afforded us a host of new places and the option of going along the Victorian coastline. With this in mind, on our way up I had picked up a leaflet about a place called Emerald, it was the heart of Saphire Fields, and you could go and Fossick for Saphires. We had both decided we quite fancied this and so plotted a route accordingly.
We had planned to stay in either Nebo or Moranbah but our guide book had nothing on either of them – I love these days best, we arrive, we look around and normally we laugh ( Sometimes we lock our doors and keep going !) Well they didn’t have any campsites so we ended up booking into a small motel in the mining town of Moranbah. The motel had it’s own Chinese restaurant so we ended up eating takeaway for dinner.
We drove to Emerald and decided to try our luck in Rubyvale. The campsite was brilliant, right next to the local pub, fossicking areas and the small amount of shops the village had to offer . we didn’t waste anytime, we set off to Willy’s and brought ourselves 3 buckets of rough.
The idea is this ; you put a layer of rough stone into your sieve and shake out any excess dirt, then you place thisa in a contraption which allows you to wash it you presh and lift a lever which lifts the sieve out of the water and then pushes it back under. After several minutes of this you take the sieve and flip it quickly upside down onto you station, the sapphires migrate to the middle during the cleaning process as they are heavier that the dirt. You have a pair of tweasers and a container and as much time as you need to go through the pile and pick out the gems. You repeat this process until you run out of dirt ( or patience )
The chap who ran this particular station was originally from Derby!
We did quite well and found a few chunks which are worth getting cut. It was a glorious sunny day and it was a brilliant way to spend a few hours. We went for a swim in the campsite pool ( It must have been the coldest pool I’ve ever been in! ) Then we went up to the pub for dinner and a beer.
We drove to neighbouring Saphire and had another fossick before heading out of town. We’re actually on a driving route called the great inland way, this is hard to believe as if we’re lucky we may pass 2 other cars in a whole day, unfortunately we pass alot more dead animals including 2 cows. We passed through Springsure, Rolleston and Roma before stoping over night in Surat, a tiny little village.
First stop this morning was for a egg and bacon muffin from the local shop, nest stop St George.
It woulod only be right at this point to make a observation about Tourist information centres in Australia. No matter where we are we tend to stop at each town to gather iformation. It gives us both a break, a chance to use the facilities and often these places help us decide where to stop for the night. 99% of the tourist Informations out here are ran by voluntears and the enthusiasm with which we are greeted is astronomical. The amount of time spent telling us where to go and the amount of leaflets they provide us with really is a wonder . They are also always so accommodating. This said, sometimes somebody goes too far and the lady at St George was a shining example of this.
She was nuts. We left St George ( which did mean we did not see the man who carved ostrich eggs ) we asre still to this day both bitterly upset by theis fact!
We travelled for sometime passing no one for almost 100km when we came across Hebel.
Hebel has 3 things
A camp site
A local shop come restraurant
A building on the other side of the road
We had a coffee and a pork and gravey roll and yet again I sat bewildered and amazed that miles from anywhere I was sat in the sunshine drinking a coffee watching the world go by Amazing..
We arrived in Lightning ridge and for me, it felt like coming home. The whole place is just ridiculas.
We arrived in their busiest week of the year, Lightning Ridge is home of the Black Opal, it is the only place in the world where it is found. We arrived in the middle of their opal fest, and were very lucky to find anywhere to stay, think then how amazed we were when the only place to stay was the coolest most amazing campsite you will ever come across and at the price of $12 a night we couldn’t believe our luck.
Lorne, the campsite has a full kitchen, dining room, living room that looks like it came straight out of a tumble down cottage, books, games, videos, an oven, plates, pans everything you can think of.
Outside there is a fire pit with benchs and chairs surrounding it and in the evenings everyone sits around the fire swapping stories and histories. It must be said that we were the youngest people there by at least 30 years and the other guests we’re a little to peppy at 7am for our liking, but despite that it really was a wonderful place. Now with our fossicking experience we felt we stood a chance at finding an opal or two .... we were wrong and our hunting on 3 different mounds left us with nothing more than potch ( non precious opal ) and flecs ( the tiny little bits ) The town have this brilliant system for guiding tourists around they have taken old car doors and sprayed them red, green, yellow or blue and then hung them around the area. For $1 you can buy a map from the tourist information which then guides you by the doors ( they each have a number on them ) around the different touring routes. One of these routes took us to a look out and we saw the most incredible sun set. I felt like I was on the edge of the world. On the 2nd day we decided to go out Glengarry which is another opal rich town about 60km away they have these massive ( think 3 story buildings) piles that you are allowd to look through for opals. Glengarry has the ‘Hilton’ it is a cafe in the middle of the bush and really quite an experience.
We returned with a bucket full of potch and thought we’d go and look at the opal fair. They have some incredible chunks and the colours are amazing. We headed back to the camp site for a very special treat, the owner of the campsite plays and sings on a Friday in a make shift stage area surrounded by fir pits and everyone sits around for a couple of hours, it was a lovely evening, chatting to some of the people we’d met the night before, a couple from Sydney, a couple from Bournmouth ( El had drank in their local pub when she was at Uni ) asnd a man from Queensland who talked about his Saga trip to England. During the conversation he asked “Do you know Somerset at all ? “ Yes I said I grew up there,
“ I share my last name with a town in Somerset, my fore fathers were from there”
“Where is it”
He replied “Chard”
I Nearly fell of my chair – after I explained that I had gone to school there we chatted for some time about his trips and such, El ended up chatting about Australia in the Golden years until Mr Chard went off to bed and we turned in ourselves.
We are on the road to Dubbo and we have just pulled into a coffee shop so that I can tell you this.
Love to you all xxxxx
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Here's a bit more!!
Well it has been a long time since we left that ferry port in Victoria, actually it’s only about 2 weeks but it feels like a lifetime. I will start from the beginning and try not to miss out any of the exciting details – I should inform you that I am so hell bent on updating the blog I am actually typing as we go along plugged into the cigarette lighter in the van – although you may think my hearts not really in it I can assure you that it is and I have been keeping notes to remind me of all the things I want to share with you all. So here we go ..
Day 7 - Well we got to Melbourne . I think I mentioned that it was pretty rough on the crossing Somehow or other I managed to sleep but El looked properly possessed as we drove of the ferry – and kept saying “I didn’t like it” We decided to get out of Melbourne and so started our journey up the East Coast It was strange seeing our home again ( we swung by to steal the mail out of the letter box) and not being able to retreat inside of Rupert . we decided that we’d need a big breakfast inside us to prepare us for the coming journey so we went to our favourite eatery ( or one of them ) Kat Beloo for some food and then to the letting agents to claim back the bond. It turned out that although we had dropped the keys and all the paper work back into the office nobody had bothered to check the property in the 6 days we’d been gone. I had a small debate with the lady behind the reception desk and got the matter sorted out, sure enough 2 days later we had the cash. It is actually quite a good job they didn’t check as I did managed to spill 1 glass of red wine, and one rum and coke over our 9 months stay and although both stains have been hidden well with the unique placement of furniture no amount of scrubbing would get them out!!
We drove ( I say we – El drove) a total of 270km and as the majority of it was on the Hume Freeway there was really very little of interest to see, we stopped in Wangaratta a pretty little town famous for it’s Jazz festival – we arrived at lunch time so we popped into town and had a little walk around, and got a coffee and our usual supply of leaflets and flyers to browse through. We had found a small campsite just out of the township and although it had no facilities we managed to cook up a rather nice dinner before turning in at the newly appointed bedtime of 8:30. It is very hard trying to go to sleep so early, but it does at least mean that we wake up early!
Day 8 – We woke up to a rather cold morning, which wouldn’t be quite as bad if it wasn’t for the desperation with which you needed to use the facilities, trying to pull on a jumper, socks and shoes and then hot footing halfway across a 2 acre campsite before you wet yourself is not the best start to the day it must be said. We made some coffee and decided that we would visit Canberra. This was our first mistake. Canberra is not really the sort of place that anyone should feel the need to visit, It is the makeshift capital of this fair country and it must be said they have a lovely collection of art galleries ( we went to the National portrait Gallery ) but on the whole it feels very much like somebody gave a child a pair of compasses and said “ draw as many circles as you can and then we’ll turn your drawing into a city” It was not the place for us so we drove out of town and found a campsite. (440km)
a very strange things happened next.
Next to the campsite ( which was just off the main road out of Canberra – imagine a motorway ) was a pub. The pub had a restaurant and as we fancied a night off cooking we went to the pub for dinner. As we approached we saw a man staggering toward s the car park we then watched with absolute amazement and horror as he reached for his Ute door missed the handle and fell over – I have never in my life seen anyone that drunk – let alone seen anyone that drunk trying to drive, We went in the pub and had some food and then a lady came around and asked us if we would like to buy some tickets for the “Meat raffle” El and I thoughts this was really funny and looked around to see a mountain of meat assembled and a man with a microphone and a random number generator stood on a table. Not wanting to appear rude we brought 2 strips – and silently we both hoped that we didn’t win!
What a strange evening that was.
Day 9 – Desperate to put the crop circles of Canberra and the bizarreness of the Meat raffle behind us we set out6 for Sydney – (160km) It wasn’t long before we arrived but we did decide that we’d book into a hostel as all the camp sites were quite far of town and we wanted to be able to explore.
We booked into a YHA hostel in Bondi one of Sydney's coastal suburbs we had our own room and a great view of the coast. As El went off on an adventure down the beach I caught up on the blog and we went down to Bondi Beach for dinner and a beer, El had discovered a Bavarian Beer Cafe with the biggest beers ever 2 litres per glass. We did not order those but enjoyed a beer under the stars , and for the first time in a long while we sat out side ( with our coats on ) and did not freeze.
As we chatted about our adventures so far that night in our bunk beds back at the hostel , it was abundantly clear that we were both exceptionally glad to have a proper bed to sleep in and I don’t think we even finished our conversation before we were both fast asleep.
Day 10. Last night I had tried really hard to buy a bus ticket. The guy in the shop had pulled out about 20 different tickets and asked me which one I wanted. As I only new where I was staying and that at some point or other we’d want to see the harbour bridge I tried requesting a ticket for that journey, I still didn’t get anywhere so in the end we brought a couple of tickets and decided we’d just see what happened. El’s sister Tam has a friend who moved out to Sydney to live and El had contacted her to see if she wanted to meet up, so it was arranged that we;d meet them for breakfast . So we set off ( with our bus tickets ) for ‘Bills ‘ Clare had sent us the address and we felt fairly confident that we could find it in the hour we had allotted. We got the bus to Bondi Junction and then the driver pulled into the terminal everyone else got off. El and I did not. Then he turned the lights out and I became slightly suspicious that we may be on the wrong bus, I got up and he yelled
“Crikey – what are you doing on the bus”
I apologised and we both bundled off, we then started walking, it took a while and we were never really sure if were gonna get there but finally a nice man helped us with some easy to follow directions and we arrived. It was lovely meeting Clare and Lloyd they gave us some sound advise on places to visit and the food was very tasty.
The rest of the day was spent exploring Sydney, we went to the opera house and then took a boat to darling Harbour, the sun was shining and it was a lovely day for just walking about and finding our way. We sat and had a drink and then took the mono rail into the city, we wandered back to china town and had Dumplings for dinner
We had arranged to meet El’s old boss for a drink whilst we were in Sydney and we had a colourful evening but as we planned an early get away the next morning we were in bed by midnight.
Day 11
We set out for Newcastle, our next port of call on the way up the coast. Clare and Lloyd had recommended stopping at seal rocks, and so we headed that way first. It was a stunning coastal spot with a beautiful beach and we had lunch on a blanket surrounded by seagulls . El walked up to the small lighthouse and from the top spotted a pod of whales of the coast, as we drove along the coast we followed them and watched them splash up the water.
Newcastle was a fair drive and by the time we reached the centre it was dark. Completely at a lost as to where the campsite was I nipped into a nearby hotel and was lucky enough to be faced with a helpful lady who brought me up a map on google, unluckily for us the camp site was on an island and a 40 minute drive away, with the map in my head off we set and finally we made it. The campsite was not great. We had a pitch next to a small group of incredibly drunk rowdy ruffians concerned for our safety ( or more accurately the chance of sleeping ) we went to the camp kitchen to cook tea and watch some TV. El ran back to the van to get some salt and pepper and was privy to a rather colourful shouting match between the campsite owners and the people in question and then witnessed them being forcibly ejected.
We enjoyed our dinner watched TV until we were tired and vowed to lock all the doors ( although of course we lock all the doors every night)
Day 12 – After all the worry of the night before we ended up having a goods night sleep and were ready for another day of driving – which is what we got, we made plenty of stops up the coast and went to several beaches and quite a few lookouts, it is a funny old thing but most of the places along this stretch are not really villages – they are resorts, 20-40 houses built to all look the same within walking distance to the beach it’s not really representative of anything and El and I are reminded of Toy towns with everything painted pastel and inhabited by a robot nation.
We got stuck in one such town as there was a roundabout with 4 exits 1 exit led out of town 3 exits took you on a circular tour and brought you back to the roundabout – very very odd.on attempt 4 we made it out but ended up being trapped on the road by 3 dogs. As they were in the road El stopped , when they went to the side we started driving – and then the game began. We moved, they ran in front of the van we stopped. This continued for at least 10 minutes and by the end of it I was practically screaming at El to just run them over!!
We made it out and under the cover of darkness we pulled into Taree.
I was on the phone to my dad and being that one doesn’t often get to talk to anyone from home I was completely oblivious to the fact that not only had El found a campsite, paid for a pitch she had also managed to turn the van into a time machine and transport us back to the 50’s. The campsite was odd. But to be honest every campsite in Australia bar about 2 is odd. Now may be a good time to fill you in on the oddness.
The main factor to determine where you should stay often falls into 3 categories
Proximity to your location at the time of dusk ( thus avoiding driving at peak roadkill hours)
Recommendation from either guide books or tourist info
On seeing the caravan site does it look like you may get killed in the night.
Point 3 being the most important. One of the factors to help you determine this can be the presence of Permies. Permies are people that permanently reside on the campsite, often erecting small fences or gardens next to their caravans, most have satellite dishes on the floor or small dirty children playing with a used shoe in the road. It is true that however much one tries not to judge such folk when you are being heckled over the top of a broken down washing machine about the duration of your planned stay and being glared at through the window by a women with a menial stare you tend to try and avoid camping amongst those that call the place home.
This place had its fair share of permies but as we rocked up in the dark and departed before anyone was really aware of our presence we managed to avoid speaking to another soul.
Day 13 & Day 14
We drove a short way to crescent heads, and found a lovely campsite of the seafront and through we’d stop for a couple of nights and have a nice relaxing time. It was very peacefull and despite the wind the sun did come out for short intervals between the rain showers. Opposite the campsite was a club, it wasn’t a night club, it was a community club, and like every place we had driven through it had 2 things A bottle-o ( off licence ) and a bowls green.
Now in England I have never really given much consideration to the game of bowls, El agrees with me, it is something we had relegated in our minds as dull and perhaps considered it to be the game of choice for the elder generations. Well, let me tell you, Bowls is a very enjoyable and challenging sport and anyone who has ever felt other wise should quick smart get themselves down to a green and roll a few woods.
For less than a fiver we managed to borrow 2 sets of woods a kitty ( or jack ) 2 mats and our very own green ( we also got a few tips and told to take our shoes off as we did not have the appropriate footwear ) had it not been for the oncoming torrential downpour I think we would have spent the best part of the day there, but the weather drove us inside and we had to make do with a couple of beers instead.
We had a powered site which basically means we get to run an extension cable out the window and charge our phones and laptops, El had managed to join the local video shop and so we watched the changeling on the lap top . This made a nice change from rummy ( the only card game we know )
I know I know ...I'm still behind, but you can't knock the effort ...
Love you all xxx
Day 7 - Well we got to Melbourne . I think I mentioned that it was pretty rough on the crossing Somehow or other I managed to sleep but El looked properly possessed as we drove of the ferry – and kept saying “I didn’t like it” We decided to get out of Melbourne and so started our journey up the East Coast It was strange seeing our home again ( we swung by to steal the mail out of the letter box) and not being able to retreat inside of Rupert . we decided that we’d need a big breakfast inside us to prepare us for the coming journey so we went to our favourite eatery ( or one of them ) Kat Beloo for some food and then to the letting agents to claim back the bond. It turned out that although we had dropped the keys and all the paper work back into the office nobody had bothered to check the property in the 6 days we’d been gone. I had a small debate with the lady behind the reception desk and got the matter sorted out, sure enough 2 days later we had the cash. It is actually quite a good job they didn’t check as I did managed to spill 1 glass of red wine, and one rum and coke over our 9 months stay and although both stains have been hidden well with the unique placement of furniture no amount of scrubbing would get them out!!
We drove ( I say we – El drove) a total of 270km and as the majority of it was on the Hume Freeway there was really very little of interest to see, we stopped in Wangaratta a pretty little town famous for it’s Jazz festival – we arrived at lunch time so we popped into town and had a little walk around, and got a coffee and our usual supply of leaflets and flyers to browse through. We had found a small campsite just out of the township and although it had no facilities we managed to cook up a rather nice dinner before turning in at the newly appointed bedtime of 8:30. It is very hard trying to go to sleep so early, but it does at least mean that we wake up early!
Day 8 – We woke up to a rather cold morning, which wouldn’t be quite as bad if it wasn’t for the desperation with which you needed to use the facilities, trying to pull on a jumper, socks and shoes and then hot footing halfway across a 2 acre campsite before you wet yourself is not the best start to the day it must be said. We made some coffee and decided that we would visit Canberra. This was our first mistake. Canberra is not really the sort of place that anyone should feel the need to visit, It is the makeshift capital of this fair country and it must be said they have a lovely collection of art galleries ( we went to the National portrait Gallery ) but on the whole it feels very much like somebody gave a child a pair of compasses and said “ draw as many circles as you can and then we’ll turn your drawing into a city” It was not the place for us so we drove out of town and found a campsite. (440km)
a very strange things happened next.
Next to the campsite ( which was just off the main road out of Canberra – imagine a motorway ) was a pub. The pub had a restaurant and as we fancied a night off cooking we went to the pub for dinner. As we approached we saw a man staggering toward s the car park we then watched with absolute amazement and horror as he reached for his Ute door missed the handle and fell over – I have never in my life seen anyone that drunk – let alone seen anyone that drunk trying to drive, We went in the pub and had some food and then a lady came around and asked us if we would like to buy some tickets for the “Meat raffle” El and I thoughts this was really funny and looked around to see a mountain of meat assembled and a man with a microphone and a random number generator stood on a table. Not wanting to appear rude we brought 2 strips – and silently we both hoped that we didn’t win!
What a strange evening that was.
Day 9 – Desperate to put the crop circles of Canberra and the bizarreness of the Meat raffle behind us we set out6 for Sydney – (160km) It wasn’t long before we arrived but we did decide that we’d book into a hostel as all the camp sites were quite far of town and we wanted to be able to explore.
We booked into a YHA hostel in Bondi one of Sydney's coastal suburbs we had our own room and a great view of the coast. As El went off on an adventure down the beach I caught up on the blog and we went down to Bondi Beach for dinner and a beer, El had discovered a Bavarian Beer Cafe with the biggest beers ever 2 litres per glass. We did not order those but enjoyed a beer under the stars , and for the first time in a long while we sat out side ( with our coats on ) and did not freeze.
As we chatted about our adventures so far that night in our bunk beds back at the hostel , it was abundantly clear that we were both exceptionally glad to have a proper bed to sleep in and I don’t think we even finished our conversation before we were both fast asleep.
Day 10. Last night I had tried really hard to buy a bus ticket. The guy in the shop had pulled out about 20 different tickets and asked me which one I wanted. As I only new where I was staying and that at some point or other we’d want to see the harbour bridge I tried requesting a ticket for that journey, I still didn’t get anywhere so in the end we brought a couple of tickets and decided we’d just see what happened. El’s sister Tam has a friend who moved out to Sydney to live and El had contacted her to see if she wanted to meet up, so it was arranged that we;d meet them for breakfast . So we set off ( with our bus tickets ) for ‘Bills ‘ Clare had sent us the address and we felt fairly confident that we could find it in the hour we had allotted. We got the bus to Bondi Junction and then the driver pulled into the terminal everyone else got off. El and I did not. Then he turned the lights out and I became slightly suspicious that we may be on the wrong bus, I got up and he yelled
“Crikey – what are you doing on the bus”
I apologised and we both bundled off, we then started walking, it took a while and we were never really sure if were gonna get there but finally a nice man helped us with some easy to follow directions and we arrived. It was lovely meeting Clare and Lloyd they gave us some sound advise on places to visit and the food was very tasty.
The rest of the day was spent exploring Sydney, we went to the opera house and then took a boat to darling Harbour, the sun was shining and it was a lovely day for just walking about and finding our way. We sat and had a drink and then took the mono rail into the city, we wandered back to china town and had Dumplings for dinner
We had arranged to meet El’s old boss for a drink whilst we were in Sydney and we had a colourful evening but as we planned an early get away the next morning we were in bed by midnight.
Day 11
We set out for Newcastle, our next port of call on the way up the coast. Clare and Lloyd had recommended stopping at seal rocks, and so we headed that way first. It was a stunning coastal spot with a beautiful beach and we had lunch on a blanket surrounded by seagulls . El walked up to the small lighthouse and from the top spotted a pod of whales of the coast, as we drove along the coast we followed them and watched them splash up the water.
Newcastle was a fair drive and by the time we reached the centre it was dark. Completely at a lost as to where the campsite was I nipped into a nearby hotel and was lucky enough to be faced with a helpful lady who brought me up a map on google, unluckily for us the camp site was on an island and a 40 minute drive away, with the map in my head off we set and finally we made it. The campsite was not great. We had a pitch next to a small group of incredibly drunk rowdy ruffians concerned for our safety ( or more accurately the chance of sleeping ) we went to the camp kitchen to cook tea and watch some TV. El ran back to the van to get some salt and pepper and was privy to a rather colourful shouting match between the campsite owners and the people in question and then witnessed them being forcibly ejected.
We enjoyed our dinner watched TV until we were tired and vowed to lock all the doors ( although of course we lock all the doors every night)
Day 12 – After all the worry of the night before we ended up having a goods night sleep and were ready for another day of driving – which is what we got, we made plenty of stops up the coast and went to several beaches and quite a few lookouts, it is a funny old thing but most of the places along this stretch are not really villages – they are resorts, 20-40 houses built to all look the same within walking distance to the beach it’s not really representative of anything and El and I are reminded of Toy towns with everything painted pastel and inhabited by a robot nation.
We got stuck in one such town as there was a roundabout with 4 exits 1 exit led out of town 3 exits took you on a circular tour and brought you back to the roundabout – very very odd.on attempt 4 we made it out but ended up being trapped on the road by 3 dogs. As they were in the road El stopped , when they went to the side we started driving – and then the game began. We moved, they ran in front of the van we stopped. This continued for at least 10 minutes and by the end of it I was practically screaming at El to just run them over!!
We made it out and under the cover of darkness we pulled into Taree.
I was on the phone to my dad and being that one doesn’t often get to talk to anyone from home I was completely oblivious to the fact that not only had El found a campsite, paid for a pitch she had also managed to turn the van into a time machine and transport us back to the 50’s. The campsite was odd. But to be honest every campsite in Australia bar about 2 is odd. Now may be a good time to fill you in on the oddness.
The main factor to determine where you should stay often falls into 3 categories
Proximity to your location at the time of dusk ( thus avoiding driving at peak roadkill hours)
Recommendation from either guide books or tourist info
On seeing the caravan site does it look like you may get killed in the night.
Point 3 being the most important. One of the factors to help you determine this can be the presence of Permies. Permies are people that permanently reside on the campsite, often erecting small fences or gardens next to their caravans, most have satellite dishes on the floor or small dirty children playing with a used shoe in the road. It is true that however much one tries not to judge such folk when you are being heckled over the top of a broken down washing machine about the duration of your planned stay and being glared at through the window by a women with a menial stare you tend to try and avoid camping amongst those that call the place home.
This place had its fair share of permies but as we rocked up in the dark and departed before anyone was really aware of our presence we managed to avoid speaking to another soul.
Day 13 & Day 14
We drove a short way to crescent heads, and found a lovely campsite of the seafront and through we’d stop for a couple of nights and have a nice relaxing time. It was very peacefull and despite the wind the sun did come out for short intervals between the rain showers. Opposite the campsite was a club, it wasn’t a night club, it was a community club, and like every place we had driven through it had 2 things A bottle-o ( off licence ) and a bowls green.
Now in England I have never really given much consideration to the game of bowls, El agrees with me, it is something we had relegated in our minds as dull and perhaps considered it to be the game of choice for the elder generations. Well, let me tell you, Bowls is a very enjoyable and challenging sport and anyone who has ever felt other wise should quick smart get themselves down to a green and roll a few woods.
For less than a fiver we managed to borrow 2 sets of woods a kitty ( or jack ) 2 mats and our very own green ( we also got a few tips and told to take our shoes off as we did not have the appropriate footwear ) had it not been for the oncoming torrential downpour I think we would have spent the best part of the day there, but the weather drove us inside and we had to make do with a couple of beers instead.
We had a powered site which basically means we get to run an extension cable out the window and charge our phones and laptops, El had managed to join the local video shop and so we watched the changeling on the lap top . This made a nice change from rummy ( the only card game we know )
I know I know ...I'm still behind, but you can't knock the effort ...
Love you all xxx
Here's a bit more!!
Well it has been a long time since we left that ferry port in Victoria, actually it’s only about 2 weeks but it feels like a lifetime. I will start from the beginning and try not to miss out any of the exciting details – I should inform you that I am so hell bent on updating the blog I am actually typing as we go along plugged into the cigarette lighter in the van – although you may think my hearts not really in it I can assure you that it is and I have been keeping notes to remind me of all the things I want to share with you all. So here we go ..
Day 7 - Well we got to Melbourne . I think I mentioned that it was pretty rough on the crossing Somehow or other I managed to sleep but El looked properly possessed as we drove of the ferry – and kept saying “I didn’t like it” We decided to get out of Melbourne and so started our journey up the East Coast It was strange seeing our home again ( we swung by to steal the mail out of the letter box) and not being able to retreat inside of Rupert . we decided that we’d need a big breakfast inside us to prepare us for the coming journey so we went to our favourite eatery ( or one of them ) Kat Beloo for some food and then to the letting agents to claim back the bond. It turned out that although we had dropped the keys and all the paper work back into the office nobody had bothered to check the property in the 6 days we’d been gone. I had a small debate with the lady behind the reception desk and got the matter sorted out, sure enough 2 days later we had the cash. It is actually quite a good job they didn’t check as I did managed to spill 1 glass of red wine, and one rum and coke over our 9 months stay and although both stains have been hidden well with the unique placement of furniture no amount of scrubbing would get them out!!
We drove ( I say we – El drove) a total of 270km and as the majority of it was on the Hume Freeway there was really very little of interest to see, we stopped in Wangaratta a pretty little town famous for it’s Jazz festival – we arrived at lunch time so we popped into town and had a little walk around, and got a coffee and our usual supply of leaflets and flyers to browse through. We had found a small campsite just out of the township and although it had no facilities we managed to cook up a rather nice dinner before turning in at the newly appointed bedtime of 8:30. It is very hard trying to go to sleep so early, but it does at least mean that we wake up early!
Day 8 – We woke up to a rather cold morning, which wouldn’t be quite as bad if it wasn’t for the desperation with which you needed to use the facilities, trying to pull on a jumper, socks and shoes and then hot footing halfway across a 2 acre campsite before you wet yourself is not the best start to the day it must be said. We made some coffee and decided that we would visit Canberra. This was our first mistake. Canberra is not really the sort of place that anyone should feel the need to visit, It is the makeshift capital of this fair country and it must be said they have a lovely collection of art galleries ( we went to the National portrait Gallery ) but on the whole it feels very much like somebody gave a child a pair of compasses and said “ draw as many circles as you can and then we’ll turn your drawing into a city” It was not the place for us so we drove out of town and found a campsite. (440km)
a very strange things happened next.
Next to the campsite ( which was just off the main road out of Canberra – imagine a motorway ) was a pub. The pub had a restaurant and as we fancied a night off cooking we went to the pub for dinner. As we approached we saw a man staggering toward s the car park we then watched with absolute amazement and horror as he reached for his Ute door missed the handle and fell over – I have never in my life seen anyone that drunk – let alone seen anyone that drunk trying to drive, We went in the pub and had some food and then a lady came around and asked us if we would like to buy some tickets for the “Meat raffle” El and I thoughts this was really funny and looked around to see a mountain of meat assembled and a man with a microphone and a random number generator stood on a table. Not wanting to appear rude we brought 2 strips – and silently we both hoped that we didn’t win!
What a strange evening that was.
Day 9 – Desperate to put the crop circles of Canberra and the bizarreness of the Meat raffle behind us we set out6 for Sydney – (160km) It wasn’t long before we arrived but we did decide that we’d book into a hostel as all the camp sites were quite far of town and we wanted to be able to explore.
We booked into a YHA hostel in Bondi one of Sydney's coastal suburbs we had our own room and a great view of the coast. As El went off on an adventure down the beach I caught up on the blog and we went down to Bondi Beach for dinner and a beer, El had discovered a Bavarian Beer Cafe with the biggest beers ever 2 litres per glass. We did not order those but enjoyed a beer under the stars , and for the first time in a long while we sat out side ( with our coats on ) and did not freeze.
As we chatted about our adventures so far that night in our bunk beds back at the hostel , it was abundantly clear that we were both exceptionally glad to have a proper bed to sleep in and I don’t think we even finished our conversation before we were both fast asleep.
Day 10. Last night I had tried really hard to buy a bus ticket. The guy in the shop had pulled out about 20 different tickets and asked me which one I wanted. As I only new where I was staying and that at some point or other we’d want to see the harbour bridge I tried requesting a ticket for that journey, I still didn’t get anywhere so in the end we brought a couple of tickets and decided we’d just see what happened. El’s sister Tam has a friend who moved out to Sydney to live and El had contacted her to see if she wanted to meet up, so it was arranged that we;d meet them for breakfast . So we set off ( with our bus tickets ) for ‘Bills ‘ Clare had sent us the address and we felt fairly confident that we could find it in the hour we had allotted. We got the bus to Bondi Junction and then the driver pulled into the terminal everyone else got off. El and I did not. Then he turned the lights out and I became slightly suspicious that we may be on the wrong bus, I got up and he yelled
“Crikey – what are you doing on the bus”
I apologised and we both bundled off, we then started walking, it took a while and we were never really sure if were gonna get there but finally a nice man helped us with some easy to follow directions and we arrived. It was lovely meeting Clare and Lloyd they gave us some sound advise on places to visit and the food was very tasty.
The rest of the day was spent exploring Sydney, we went to the opera house and then took a boat to darling Harbour, the sun was shining and it was a lovely day for just walking about and finding our way. We sat and had a drink and then took the mono rail into the city, we wandered back to china town and had Dumplings for dinner
We had arranged to meet El’s old boss for a drink whilst we were in Sydney and we had a colourful evening but as we planned an early get away the next morning we were in bed by midnight.
Day 11
We set out for Newcastle, our next port of call on the way up the coast. Clare and Lloyd had recommended stopping at seal rocks, and so we headed that way first. It was a stunning coastal spot with a beautiful beach and we had lunch on a blanket surrounded by seagulls . El walked up to the small lighthouse and from the top spotted a pod of whales of the coast, as we drove along the coast we followed them and watched them splash up the water.
Newcastle was a fair drive and by the time we reached the centre it was dark. Completely at a lost as to where the campsite was I nipped into a nearby hotel and was lucky enough to be faced with a helpful lady who brought me up a map on google, unluckily for us the camp site was on an island and a 40 minute drive away, with the map in my head off we set and finally we made it. The campsite was not great. We had a pitch next to a small group of incredibly drunk rowdy ruffians concerned for our safety ( or more accurately the chance of sleeping ) we went to the camp kitchen to cook tea and watch some TV. El ran back to the van to get some salt and pepper and was privy to a rather colourful shouting match between the campsite owners and the people in question and then witnessed them being forcibly ejected.
We enjoyed our dinner watched TV until we were tired and vowed to lock all the doors ( although of course we lock all the doors every night)
Day 12 – After all the worry of the night before we ended up having a goods night sleep and were ready for another day of driving – which is what we got, we made plenty of stops up the coast and went to several beaches and quite a few lookouts, it is a funny old thing but most of the places along this stretch are not really villages – they are resorts, 20-40 houses built to all look the same within walking distance to the beach it’s not really representative of anything and El and I are reminded of Toy towns with everything painted pastel and inhabited by a robot nation.
We got stuck in one such town as there was a roundabout with 4 exits 1 exit led out of town 3 exits took you on a circular tour and brought you back to the roundabout – very very odd.on attempt 4 we made it out but ended up being trapped on the road by 3 dogs. As they were in the road El stopped , when they went to the side we started driving – and then the game began. We moved, they ran in front of the van we stopped. This continued for at least 10 minutes and by the end of it I was practically screaming at El to just run them over!!
We made it out and under the cover of darkness we pulled into Taree.
I was on the phone to my dad and being that one doesn’t often get to talk to anyone from home I was completely oblivious to the fact that not only had El found a campsite, paid for a pitch she had also managed to turn the van into a time machine and transport us back to the 50’s. The campsite was odd. But to be honest every campsite in Australia bar about 2 is odd. Now may be a good time to fill you in on the oddness.
The main factor to determine where you should stay often falls into 3 categories
Proximity to your location at the time of dusk ( thus avoiding driving at peak roadkill hours)
Recommendation from either guide books or tourist info
On seeing the caravan site does it look like you may get killed in the night.
Point 3 being the most important. One of the factors to help you determine this can be the presence of Permies. Permies are people that permanently reside on the campsite, often erecting small fences or gardens next to their caravans, most have satellite dishes on the floor or small dirty children playing with a used shoe in the road. It is true that however much one tries not to judge such folk when you are being heckled over the top of a broken down washing machine about the duration of your planned stay and being glared at through the window by a women with a menial stare you tend to try and avoid camping amongst those that call the place home.
This place had its fair share of permies but as we rocked up in the dark and departed before anyone was really aware of our presence we managed to avoid speaking to another soul.
Day 13 & Day 14
We drove a short way to crescent heads, and found a lovely campsite of the seafront and through we’d stop for a couple of nights and have a nice relaxing time. It was very peacefull and despite the wind the sun did come out for short intervals between the rain showers. Opposite the campsite was a club, it wasn’t a night club, it was a community club, and like every place we had driven through it had 2 things A bottle-o ( off licence ) and a bowls green.
Now in England I have never really given much consideration to the game of bowls, El agrees with me, it is something we had relegated in our minds as dull and perhaps considered it to be the game of choice for the elder generations. Well, let me tell you, Bowls is a very enjoyable and challenging sport and anyone who has ever felt other wise should quick smart get themselves down to a green and roll a few woods.
For less than a fiver we managed to borrow 2 sets of woods a kitty ( or jack ) 2 mats and our very own green ( we also got a few tips and told to take our shoes off as we did not have the appropriate footwear ) had it not been for the oncoming torrential downpour I think we would have spent the best part of the day there, but the weather drove us inside and we had to make do with a couple of beers instead.
We had a powered site which basically means we get to run an extension cable out the window and charge our phones and laptops, El had managed to join the local video shop and so we watched the changeling on the lap top . This made a nice change from rummy ( the only card game we know )
I know I know ...I'm still behind, but you can't knock the effort ...
Love you all xxx
Day 7 - Well we got to Melbourne . I think I mentioned that it was pretty rough on the crossing Somehow or other I managed to sleep but El looked properly possessed as we drove of the ferry – and kept saying “I didn’t like it” We decided to get out of Melbourne and so started our journey up the East Coast It was strange seeing our home again ( we swung by to steal the mail out of the letter box) and not being able to retreat inside of Rupert . we decided that we’d need a big breakfast inside us to prepare us for the coming journey so we went to our favourite eatery ( or one of them ) Kat Beloo for some food and then to the letting agents to claim back the bond. It turned out that although we had dropped the keys and all the paper work back into the office nobody had bothered to check the property in the 6 days we’d been gone. I had a small debate with the lady behind the reception desk and got the matter sorted out, sure enough 2 days later we had the cash. It is actually quite a good job they didn’t check as I did managed to spill 1 glass of red wine, and one rum and coke over our 9 months stay and although both stains have been hidden well with the unique placement of furniture no amount of scrubbing would get them out!!
We drove ( I say we – El drove) a total of 270km and as the majority of it was on the Hume Freeway there was really very little of interest to see, we stopped in Wangaratta a pretty little town famous for it’s Jazz festival – we arrived at lunch time so we popped into town and had a little walk around, and got a coffee and our usual supply of leaflets and flyers to browse through. We had found a small campsite just out of the township and although it had no facilities we managed to cook up a rather nice dinner before turning in at the newly appointed bedtime of 8:30. It is very hard trying to go to sleep so early, but it does at least mean that we wake up early!
Day 8 – We woke up to a rather cold morning, which wouldn’t be quite as bad if it wasn’t for the desperation with which you needed to use the facilities, trying to pull on a jumper, socks and shoes and then hot footing halfway across a 2 acre campsite before you wet yourself is not the best start to the day it must be said. We made some coffee and decided that we would visit Canberra. This was our first mistake. Canberra is not really the sort of place that anyone should feel the need to visit, It is the makeshift capital of this fair country and it must be said they have a lovely collection of art galleries ( we went to the National portrait Gallery ) but on the whole it feels very much like somebody gave a child a pair of compasses and said “ draw as many circles as you can and then we’ll turn your drawing into a city” It was not the place for us so we drove out of town and found a campsite. (440km)
a very strange things happened next.
Next to the campsite ( which was just off the main road out of Canberra – imagine a motorway ) was a pub. The pub had a restaurant and as we fancied a night off cooking we went to the pub for dinner. As we approached we saw a man staggering toward s the car park we then watched with absolute amazement and horror as he reached for his Ute door missed the handle and fell over – I have never in my life seen anyone that drunk – let alone seen anyone that drunk trying to drive, We went in the pub and had some food and then a lady came around and asked us if we would like to buy some tickets for the “Meat raffle” El and I thoughts this was really funny and looked around to see a mountain of meat assembled and a man with a microphone and a random number generator stood on a table. Not wanting to appear rude we brought 2 strips – and silently we both hoped that we didn’t win!
What a strange evening that was.
Day 9 – Desperate to put the crop circles of Canberra and the bizarreness of the Meat raffle behind us we set out6 for Sydney – (160km) It wasn’t long before we arrived but we did decide that we’d book into a hostel as all the camp sites were quite far of town and we wanted to be able to explore.
We booked into a YHA hostel in Bondi one of Sydney's coastal suburbs we had our own room and a great view of the coast. As El went off on an adventure down the beach I caught up on the blog and we went down to Bondi Beach for dinner and a beer, El had discovered a Bavarian Beer Cafe with the biggest beers ever 2 litres per glass. We did not order those but enjoyed a beer under the stars , and for the first time in a long while we sat out side ( with our coats on ) and did not freeze.
As we chatted about our adventures so far that night in our bunk beds back at the hostel , it was abundantly clear that we were both exceptionally glad to have a proper bed to sleep in and I don’t think we even finished our conversation before we were both fast asleep.
Day 10. Last night I had tried really hard to buy a bus ticket. The guy in the shop had pulled out about 20 different tickets and asked me which one I wanted. As I only new where I was staying and that at some point or other we’d want to see the harbour bridge I tried requesting a ticket for that journey, I still didn’t get anywhere so in the end we brought a couple of tickets and decided we’d just see what happened. El’s sister Tam has a friend who moved out to Sydney to live and El had contacted her to see if she wanted to meet up, so it was arranged that we;d meet them for breakfast . So we set off ( with our bus tickets ) for ‘Bills ‘ Clare had sent us the address and we felt fairly confident that we could find it in the hour we had allotted. We got the bus to Bondi Junction and then the driver pulled into the terminal everyone else got off. El and I did not. Then he turned the lights out and I became slightly suspicious that we may be on the wrong bus, I got up and he yelled
“Crikey – what are you doing on the bus”
I apologised and we both bundled off, we then started walking, it took a while and we were never really sure if were gonna get there but finally a nice man helped us with some easy to follow directions and we arrived. It was lovely meeting Clare and Lloyd they gave us some sound advise on places to visit and the food was very tasty.
The rest of the day was spent exploring Sydney, we went to the opera house and then took a boat to darling Harbour, the sun was shining and it was a lovely day for just walking about and finding our way. We sat and had a drink and then took the mono rail into the city, we wandered back to china town and had Dumplings for dinner
We had arranged to meet El’s old boss for a drink whilst we were in Sydney and we had a colourful evening but as we planned an early get away the next morning we were in bed by midnight.
Day 11
We set out for Newcastle, our next port of call on the way up the coast. Clare and Lloyd had recommended stopping at seal rocks, and so we headed that way first. It was a stunning coastal spot with a beautiful beach and we had lunch on a blanket surrounded by seagulls . El walked up to the small lighthouse and from the top spotted a pod of whales of the coast, as we drove along the coast we followed them and watched them splash up the water.
Newcastle was a fair drive and by the time we reached the centre it was dark. Completely at a lost as to where the campsite was I nipped into a nearby hotel and was lucky enough to be faced with a helpful lady who brought me up a map on google, unluckily for us the camp site was on an island and a 40 minute drive away, with the map in my head off we set and finally we made it. The campsite was not great. We had a pitch next to a small group of incredibly drunk rowdy ruffians concerned for our safety ( or more accurately the chance of sleeping ) we went to the camp kitchen to cook tea and watch some TV. El ran back to the van to get some salt and pepper and was privy to a rather colourful shouting match between the campsite owners and the people in question and then witnessed them being forcibly ejected.
We enjoyed our dinner watched TV until we were tired and vowed to lock all the doors ( although of course we lock all the doors every night)
Day 12 – After all the worry of the night before we ended up having a goods night sleep and were ready for another day of driving – which is what we got, we made plenty of stops up the coast and went to several beaches and quite a few lookouts, it is a funny old thing but most of the places along this stretch are not really villages – they are resorts, 20-40 houses built to all look the same within walking distance to the beach it’s not really representative of anything and El and I are reminded of Toy towns with everything painted pastel and inhabited by a robot nation.
We got stuck in one such town as there was a roundabout with 4 exits 1 exit led out of town 3 exits took you on a circular tour and brought you back to the roundabout – very very odd.on attempt 4 we made it out but ended up being trapped on the road by 3 dogs. As they were in the road El stopped , when they went to the side we started driving – and then the game began. We moved, they ran in front of the van we stopped. This continued for at least 10 minutes and by the end of it I was practically screaming at El to just run them over!!
We made it out and under the cover of darkness we pulled into Taree.
I was on the phone to my dad and being that one doesn’t often get to talk to anyone from home I was completely oblivious to the fact that not only had El found a campsite, paid for a pitch she had also managed to turn the van into a time machine and transport us back to the 50’s. The campsite was odd. But to be honest every campsite in Australia bar about 2 is odd. Now may be a good time to fill you in on the oddness.
The main factor to determine where you should stay often falls into 3 categories
Proximity to your location at the time of dusk ( thus avoiding driving at peak roadkill hours)
Recommendation from either guide books or tourist info
On seeing the caravan site does it look like you may get killed in the night.
Point 3 being the most important. One of the factors to help you determine this can be the presence of Permies. Permies are people that permanently reside on the campsite, often erecting small fences or gardens next to their caravans, most have satellite dishes on the floor or small dirty children playing with a used shoe in the road. It is true that however much one tries not to judge such folk when you are being heckled over the top of a broken down washing machine about the duration of your planned stay and being glared at through the window by a women with a menial stare you tend to try and avoid camping amongst those that call the place home.
This place had its fair share of permies but as we rocked up in the dark and departed before anyone was really aware of our presence we managed to avoid speaking to another soul.
Day 13 & Day 14
We drove a short way to crescent heads, and found a lovely campsite of the seafront and through we’d stop for a couple of nights and have a nice relaxing time. It was very peacefull and despite the wind the sun did come out for short intervals between the rain showers. Opposite the campsite was a club, it wasn’t a night club, it was a community club, and like every place we had driven through it had 2 things A bottle-o ( off licence ) and a bowls green.
Now in England I have never really given much consideration to the game of bowls, El agrees with me, it is something we had relegated in our minds as dull and perhaps considered it to be the game of choice for the elder generations. Well, let me tell you, Bowls is a very enjoyable and challenging sport and anyone who has ever felt other wise should quick smart get themselves down to a green and roll a few woods.
For less than a fiver we managed to borrow 2 sets of woods a kitty ( or jack ) 2 mats and our very own green ( we also got a few tips and told to take our shoes off as we did not have the appropriate footwear ) had it not been for the oncoming torrential downpour I think we would have spent the best part of the day there, but the weather drove us inside and we had to make do with a couple of beers instead.
We had a powered site which basically means we get to run an extension cable out the window and charge our phones and laptops, El had managed to join the local video shop and so we watched the changeling on the lap top . This made a nice change from rummy ( the only card game we know )
I know I know ...I'm still behind, but you can't knock the effort ...
Love you all xxx
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
At last.. Here's an update
Hello,
Gosh it feels like a while since I have sat down to outpour my thoughts on to paper, for once though I have a very valid excuse – We have most definitely been out of the realms of internet. In the last 10 days we’ve had a total of 1 hour of internet time and as I felt I would need a great deal more than that El used it. I have so much to get through, so much to go on about - but first I must take you al the way back to that wonderful trip to the Grampians.
We had a wonderful time walking, eating and drinking ( if I repeat myself forgive me it’s been an age) Whilst El and I were at work Sue and Charlie had made it to the Markets and had single handedly dug Australia out of the looming recession with their meat and veg purchases! We settled down to the most incredible BBQ evening the total eating time was over 5 hours and it was brilliant to have 2 wonderful friends to chat to about anything from the profound to the day to day rubbish whilst drinking beautiful regional wine and some of the tastiest lamb, Chicken and beef that I’ve ever eaten.
We headed back to Melbourne after a wonderful wake up from a selection of rather noisy birds having had a lovely stay in the Grampians.
Our guests went off to Sydney and El and I started to get more and more concerned with the impossibility of moving out and into a van, as the days ticked down the stress mounted and I think between us we were almost ready to explode, luckily when there is 2 of you, you can at least try and counter balance each other, I would have days of near hysteria and El would be perfectly level headed and tell me I was quite over reacting, The next day the roles would reverse ( although I think I was far less understanding ) Sue and Charlie returned from their NSW adventure and we booked tickets to go to an Aussie rules football match on the Friday night. Now for those of you who have not been to Australia I will try and explain as best I can; Aussie rules is a combination of rugby, football, American football and some other made up stuff thrown in for fun, everybody, regardless of their interest in the game ‘barracks’ or supports a team, there are only about 12 teams and they all play each other goodness knows how many times in a season. Now we go ( or at least I go ) with a very firm opinion that the game is quite ridicules and not at all like a proper sport, after the first 15 minutes I’m yelling at the top of my lungs, am 100% involved in the game and have not enjoyed myself this much for some time. It is hard to explain the attraction, the fact perhaps that rather than separate the fans everyone sits together, the fact that the playing field is an oval so the view (even from the cheap seats) was fantastic, or maybe it’s just that there was no bad feeling, no calls of abuse, no rhyming ditty degrading the referee just cheers of support and a level of mutual respect meant that you enjoyed the atmosphere as much as the game play.
My team lost, it reminded me of my days at the Goldstone (although the language was far less colourful) and I wasn’t quite as compelled to yell “up the bombers “ as I was to yell “up the seagulls”
I don’t know if I told you, but we also visited the Melbourne Gaol, a very enjoyable if not a tad over the top candlelight night time tour by circa 1900 hangman of the day. It was an eerie display of cells, stocks and torture methods as eerie well as the old gallows where Ned Kelly was hung. Ned Kelly for those of you who don’t know was a rather naughty chap who robbed a few banks and fashioned himself metal armour out of old farm machinery – it is hard to get a grasp on whether he is hated or revered in Australia, I think he was a bit of one man revolution against the politics of the day (and despite his rather unfriendly hostage taking of a small village) I have to say I quite admired his tale, well worth a Google if you have to inclination.
Well as our time with our friends drew to a close so did our time in good old Rupert, It is silly really, after deciding quite categorically that although Melbourne is a wonderful place I would not want to live there forever the idea of leaving it suddenly felt quite out of the question and when we removed our photographs (due to an inspection by potential renters) we were both quite sad as it really did mark the end of a wonderful and colourful 7 months.
Sue and Charlie had arranged something quite wonderful for their last day with us, a 4 course lunch on the tramcar restaurant. El and I had talked so often of booking it but it always seemed like a rather indulgent fancy and so reluctantly we had watched it pass us on so many occasions the excitement was very real when we arrived at the terminal to catch the tram and the 2 hour journey, delicious food, spectacular sites of the city we had come to love (and the free and flowing alcohol) did not disappoint it was a wonderful afternoon and by the time we stepped off I was quite merry!
We finished the day in the casino and when we parted with the girls at Southern Cross it was with the same sadness which we have become all to accustom with. We made our way back across town home knowing full well that in 4 days time it would be home no more.
The next few days passed without any great adventure we worked and packed and panicked and packed some more... And finally it was the 24thof June 8 months from our arrival we were packed, cleaned and ready to go – The rule in Australia when you leave a rental property is that you must have the carpets steam cleaned so the man turned up about 2 to take care of that and by 4pm we had dropped the keys off at Wentworth’s and were heading to the ferry port.
Tasmania
It seemed like a complete dream, no more work, no more early mornings, no more commitments just El and I and Malkovich and the open road. Australia is HUGE I think that until you look at a map, and you see that all the driving we have done in our 8 months, all the weekends away, the small breaks and we never left Victoria – Victoria is tiny in comparison to Australia , in order not to completely freak out and end up driving in circles to avoid the huge distances it was decided that Tasmania was the best place to start.
Tasmania is Australia’s smallest state ( about the size of Island ) and has some of the most diverse landscapes you could ever hope to see. We had 6 days a map, a guidebook, and a whole lot of enthusiasm and apparently that is all you need. If you really want to experience the journey grab yourself a map of Tassie – and you can follow the route as I try and share our first taste of Australia on the road.
We boarded the ferry at about 6:30 pm for an 8 pm sailing, to save on $ we opted for the cheap seats which are actually referred to Ocean View Recliners! Surprisingly after an over priced dinner and a quick chat to the lady at the tourist information we both fell asleep and didn’t wake up until 5:45 am when they announced that we should prepare to reclaim our vehicles (what was that I said earlier about no more early mornings!!)
Day 1.
As we left Spirit of Tasmania II and touched down on Tasmanian soil we set the KM to 0 it was pitch black 6:30 in the morning and it may as well have been the middle of the night we new that we wanted to try to get across to the East Coast so we set off through Launston, through Derby and arrived into St Helens. It was a drive which both of us were quite unprepared for, strangely we had assumed that Tas would be a lot flatter than it turned out to be and Malkovich was really put through his paces on some pretty rocky mountainous terrain – he coped well. We stopped just outside of St Helens for a short amble to a waterfall nearby before dropping into a cheese tasting farm. We found a campsite in Binalong Bay but as we had yet to purchase a gas bottle and we were both far too tired to search out a restaurant we were asleep by 7:30 without any diner.
Day 2 .
12 hours later we woke up hungry and excited, our plan was to drive to the Bay of Fires, Scamander and down to Freycinet National Park. Not before I whipped us up some porridge for breakfast using the campsites Kitchen we loaded our travelling cups with coffee and hit the road. It was today that we learnt that Michael Jackson had died It was an odd thing to take on board really, and we were both quiet shocked. The weather was not great but despite the rain and chilling winds we pressed on In Bichecno El saw a small sign for a blowhole and since rule one of our road trip adventure was to ensure that we stopped at lookouts and points of interest rather than concentrating solely on our destination we took the short diversion of the road to check it out. It was absolutely brilliant, I think the photo’s below will demonstrate just how much so. The best thing about doing this in the middle of winter (I am sure you can work out for your self what the downsides might be ) is that no one else is about, when we finally reached Freycinet National Park, we went on a brilliant walk around the lighthouse and saw only 2 people, at another short walk down to a cove we saw no one at all.
We had decided to camp in the national park as we had a pass and it was free of charge the lady directed us to the camp site and off we set , the first campsite we came to was in the middle of no where , there was not a sole around and there were no houses or buildings of any sort for at least 5 km . I am sad to say that in the pitch black I refused point blank to stay there, and amused by my sudden scardey cat behaviour El set off for the next campsite. It was called friendly beaches why on earth they called it friendly I have no idea (at least at night) scary beaches would have been a more appropriate name. It was black – no light what so ever and it was a rather unnerving night. It only got worse when we ventured to the toilet – a bush toilet, it is a normal toilet however it has no flush facility just a very very large pit underneath it. I have never been so terrified to use a loo in all my life!
We cooked our first camp meal ( having acquired a gas cylinder) Pasta and veg and sank a rather nice bottle of merlot before turning in – not before a wombat ran through our camp and caused El to have a small heart attack!
Day 3
Although everything suggested to the contrary we slept well and were up and away by 9am, a wallaby visited us first thing and watched us as we washed up the cooking utensils from last nights meal. We decided to set out to Hobart it was a rather blustery day but by the time we actually arrived the rain had stopped and we were lucky enough to be there on market day. We walked through the colourful stalls and then took a detour up to Battery point, looped back down the the wharf and enjoyed fish and chips on the water. We tried to find a local campsite to accommodate us for that evening but the rain meant that all those we called were not accepting new bookings, feeling a little worried we popped to the tourist information and found a leaflet for a little campsite in Dover. The drive was set to be about 2 hours and so off we went. It was the most amazing stretch of road the rolling hills with the mountains in the background was just breath taking and seeing the sun set over the countryside was just beautiful, we arrived just before the sun had disappeared and found that the campsite was situated right next to a lake.
We were the only people on the entire camp site and so we popped to the local shop for some lamb and some veg and we used the BBQ on site and sat out wrapped in layers of clothes, coats, scarf’s and gloves, eating our dinner, and playing cards under the stars.
Day 4
We drove to the National park which housed the Tahune Airwalk a wonderful metal structure which is suspended 40 meters above the ground, it feels as if you are walking on the tree tops, the walk made for some wonderful views and wobbly nature of the air walk made for some hair raising moments! It was a pleasant day and as we drove on the road back up top Hobart we were able to see some of the lovely scenery that we’d missed from the previous day. We started to wind around the roads across to Lake St Claire and came across the strangest of town Tarraleah – an old hydro town which having been rinsed of all it’s uses was turned into a purpose built resort. It felt like a toy town, all the houses were the same and painted pastel colours it was built in a large square and it still had all the old pipes leading from it – It was terrifying and we left in a hurry making up awful stories about the residents and the fates of those who innocently stopped there over night.
After freaking ourselves out with our silly stories 20 km along the road we saw a young girl standing next to her station wagon waiving petrol can. Now we have always maintained that from dusk till dawn if we saw anyone by the side of the road in any out of the way places we would simply drive past and leave them to their own devises, but as is often the case when faced with these decisions in real life you feel compelled to assist if you can.
We pulled over and the girl explained her car was broken and that she was trying to visit her boyfriend and then asked for a lift. She was certainly no older than El or I and so we let her in the back of the van, and drove on for the nearest town. Danielle turned out to be a very bubbly and funny girl, she told us a lot about Tasmania’s history and on arrival at the pub / hostel she brought as both several beers on the grounds that we had “saved her” and we enjoyed several hours of conversation before her boyfriend arrived from Queenstown to collect her.
We spent the night in the Dewent hotel – if I thought Friendly beaches were lying in their description that is nothing compared to this place, the term hotel obviously remained unknown to them as it was worse than most hostels and absolutely freezing, non the less it mean we were up and on the road by 10am.
Day 5
Today we drove to Lake St Claire and walked around an aboriginal trail, through the forest and then along the lake shore, it was the perfect start to the day, we even managed a game of pooh sticks en route. I did fall over quite dramatically but apart from that no incident occurred. And we continued down into the valley that is Queenstown and after a snack and a coffee we drove all the way back up to Cradle Mt – by this time the weather had taken a dramatic tern for the worst and it was horrid. We camped at Cradle Mt and lit a fire in the camp kitchen to keep warm, in the end we gave up and went to bed at around 8pm – it was the coldest night yet.
Day 6
With the excitement of cradle Mt in front of us we had a hurried breakfast and set of for the transit point. We were disappointed to be told that with the fog the way it was you would be unable to see it if it was a foot in front of your face and that no walkers were permitted. We decided that we would head back to Devonport and spend the day there whilst waiting for the ferry.
We drove back along the coast visiting Penguin ( it’s a real place ) before spending some time clearing and resorting Malkovich as we had neglected to do this during the week. We passed the remaining few hours with card games and cups of coffee before boarding the ferry for the return leg.
It was not a pleasant crossing. In fact that is an understatement, our excitement to get back on land was very real, especially for El who had barely managed to sleep. 1469km later we were back in Melbourne, what a wonderful week, so many things took our breath away, so many great views, quaint towns, and so many contrasting sets of scenery, a lady we met said,
“I drive to see my daughter all the time, I get 4 seasons, and 6 sets of scenery all in 2 and a half hours, can’t be bad can it? “
She was right, it was a magical start to our travels – Today we make a start on the mainland.
I know I know I'm behind but internet is a thing of wonder and often not available.
I will be writing Melbourne to Noosa tonight ( all 14 days ) and will pop back to the internet cafe tomorrow
Love to you all xxxxx
Gosh it feels like a while since I have sat down to outpour my thoughts on to paper, for once though I have a very valid excuse – We have most definitely been out of the realms of internet. In the last 10 days we’ve had a total of 1 hour of internet time and as I felt I would need a great deal more than that El used it. I have so much to get through, so much to go on about - but first I must take you al the way back to that wonderful trip to the Grampians.
We had a wonderful time walking, eating and drinking ( if I repeat myself forgive me it’s been an age) Whilst El and I were at work Sue and Charlie had made it to the Markets and had single handedly dug Australia out of the looming recession with their meat and veg purchases! We settled down to the most incredible BBQ evening the total eating time was over 5 hours and it was brilliant to have 2 wonderful friends to chat to about anything from the profound to the day to day rubbish whilst drinking beautiful regional wine and some of the tastiest lamb, Chicken and beef that I’ve ever eaten.
We headed back to Melbourne after a wonderful wake up from a selection of rather noisy birds having had a lovely stay in the Grampians.
Our guests went off to Sydney and El and I started to get more and more concerned with the impossibility of moving out and into a van, as the days ticked down the stress mounted and I think between us we were almost ready to explode, luckily when there is 2 of you, you can at least try and counter balance each other, I would have days of near hysteria and El would be perfectly level headed and tell me I was quite over reacting, The next day the roles would reverse ( although I think I was far less understanding ) Sue and Charlie returned from their NSW adventure and we booked tickets to go to an Aussie rules football match on the Friday night. Now for those of you who have not been to Australia I will try and explain as best I can; Aussie rules is a combination of rugby, football, American football and some other made up stuff thrown in for fun, everybody, regardless of their interest in the game ‘barracks’ or supports a team, there are only about 12 teams and they all play each other goodness knows how many times in a season. Now we go ( or at least I go ) with a very firm opinion that the game is quite ridicules and not at all like a proper sport, after the first 15 minutes I’m yelling at the top of my lungs, am 100% involved in the game and have not enjoyed myself this much for some time. It is hard to explain the attraction, the fact perhaps that rather than separate the fans everyone sits together, the fact that the playing field is an oval so the view (even from the cheap seats) was fantastic, or maybe it’s just that there was no bad feeling, no calls of abuse, no rhyming ditty degrading the referee just cheers of support and a level of mutual respect meant that you enjoyed the atmosphere as much as the game play.
My team lost, it reminded me of my days at the Goldstone (although the language was far less colourful) and I wasn’t quite as compelled to yell “up the bombers “ as I was to yell “up the seagulls”
I don’t know if I told you, but we also visited the Melbourne Gaol, a very enjoyable if not a tad over the top candlelight night time tour by circa 1900 hangman of the day. It was an eerie display of cells, stocks and torture methods as eerie well as the old gallows where Ned Kelly was hung. Ned Kelly for those of you who don’t know was a rather naughty chap who robbed a few banks and fashioned himself metal armour out of old farm machinery – it is hard to get a grasp on whether he is hated or revered in Australia, I think he was a bit of one man revolution against the politics of the day (and despite his rather unfriendly hostage taking of a small village) I have to say I quite admired his tale, well worth a Google if you have to inclination.
Well as our time with our friends drew to a close so did our time in good old Rupert, It is silly really, after deciding quite categorically that although Melbourne is a wonderful place I would not want to live there forever the idea of leaving it suddenly felt quite out of the question and when we removed our photographs (due to an inspection by potential renters) we were both quite sad as it really did mark the end of a wonderful and colourful 7 months.
Sue and Charlie had arranged something quite wonderful for their last day with us, a 4 course lunch on the tramcar restaurant. El and I had talked so often of booking it but it always seemed like a rather indulgent fancy and so reluctantly we had watched it pass us on so many occasions the excitement was very real when we arrived at the terminal to catch the tram and the 2 hour journey, delicious food, spectacular sites of the city we had come to love (and the free and flowing alcohol) did not disappoint it was a wonderful afternoon and by the time we stepped off I was quite merry!
We finished the day in the casino and when we parted with the girls at Southern Cross it was with the same sadness which we have become all to accustom with. We made our way back across town home knowing full well that in 4 days time it would be home no more.
The next few days passed without any great adventure we worked and packed and panicked and packed some more... And finally it was the 24thof June 8 months from our arrival we were packed, cleaned and ready to go – The rule in Australia when you leave a rental property is that you must have the carpets steam cleaned so the man turned up about 2 to take care of that and by 4pm we had dropped the keys off at Wentworth’s and were heading to the ferry port.
Tasmania
It seemed like a complete dream, no more work, no more early mornings, no more commitments just El and I and Malkovich and the open road. Australia is HUGE I think that until you look at a map, and you see that all the driving we have done in our 8 months, all the weekends away, the small breaks and we never left Victoria – Victoria is tiny in comparison to Australia , in order not to completely freak out and end up driving in circles to avoid the huge distances it was decided that Tasmania was the best place to start.
Tasmania is Australia’s smallest state ( about the size of Island ) and has some of the most diverse landscapes you could ever hope to see. We had 6 days a map, a guidebook, and a whole lot of enthusiasm and apparently that is all you need. If you really want to experience the journey grab yourself a map of Tassie – and you can follow the route as I try and share our first taste of Australia on the road.
We boarded the ferry at about 6:30 pm for an 8 pm sailing, to save on $ we opted for the cheap seats which are actually referred to Ocean View Recliners! Surprisingly after an over priced dinner and a quick chat to the lady at the tourist information we both fell asleep and didn’t wake up until 5:45 am when they announced that we should prepare to reclaim our vehicles (what was that I said earlier about no more early mornings!!)
Day 1.
As we left Spirit of Tasmania II and touched down on Tasmanian soil we set the KM to 0 it was pitch black 6:30 in the morning and it may as well have been the middle of the night we new that we wanted to try to get across to the East Coast so we set off through Launston, through Derby and arrived into St Helens. It was a drive which both of us were quite unprepared for, strangely we had assumed that Tas would be a lot flatter than it turned out to be and Malkovich was really put through his paces on some pretty rocky mountainous terrain – he coped well. We stopped just outside of St Helens for a short amble to a waterfall nearby before dropping into a cheese tasting farm. We found a campsite in Binalong Bay but as we had yet to purchase a gas bottle and we were both far too tired to search out a restaurant we were asleep by 7:30 without any diner.
Day 2 .
12 hours later we woke up hungry and excited, our plan was to drive to the Bay of Fires, Scamander and down to Freycinet National Park. Not before I whipped us up some porridge for breakfast using the campsites Kitchen we loaded our travelling cups with coffee and hit the road. It was today that we learnt that Michael Jackson had died It was an odd thing to take on board really, and we were both quiet shocked. The weather was not great but despite the rain and chilling winds we pressed on In Bichecno El saw a small sign for a blowhole and since rule one of our road trip adventure was to ensure that we stopped at lookouts and points of interest rather than concentrating solely on our destination we took the short diversion of the road to check it out. It was absolutely brilliant, I think the photo’s below will demonstrate just how much so. The best thing about doing this in the middle of winter (I am sure you can work out for your self what the downsides might be ) is that no one else is about, when we finally reached Freycinet National Park, we went on a brilliant walk around the lighthouse and saw only 2 people, at another short walk down to a cove we saw no one at all.
We had decided to camp in the national park as we had a pass and it was free of charge the lady directed us to the camp site and off we set , the first campsite we came to was in the middle of no where , there was not a sole around and there were no houses or buildings of any sort for at least 5 km . I am sad to say that in the pitch black I refused point blank to stay there, and amused by my sudden scardey cat behaviour El set off for the next campsite. It was called friendly beaches why on earth they called it friendly I have no idea (at least at night) scary beaches would have been a more appropriate name. It was black – no light what so ever and it was a rather unnerving night. It only got worse when we ventured to the toilet – a bush toilet, it is a normal toilet however it has no flush facility just a very very large pit underneath it. I have never been so terrified to use a loo in all my life!
We cooked our first camp meal ( having acquired a gas cylinder) Pasta and veg and sank a rather nice bottle of merlot before turning in – not before a wombat ran through our camp and caused El to have a small heart attack!
Day 3
Although everything suggested to the contrary we slept well and were up and away by 9am, a wallaby visited us first thing and watched us as we washed up the cooking utensils from last nights meal. We decided to set out to Hobart it was a rather blustery day but by the time we actually arrived the rain had stopped and we were lucky enough to be there on market day. We walked through the colourful stalls and then took a detour up to Battery point, looped back down the the wharf and enjoyed fish and chips on the water. We tried to find a local campsite to accommodate us for that evening but the rain meant that all those we called were not accepting new bookings, feeling a little worried we popped to the tourist information and found a leaflet for a little campsite in Dover. The drive was set to be about 2 hours and so off we went. It was the most amazing stretch of road the rolling hills with the mountains in the background was just breath taking and seeing the sun set over the countryside was just beautiful, we arrived just before the sun had disappeared and found that the campsite was situated right next to a lake.
We were the only people on the entire camp site and so we popped to the local shop for some lamb and some veg and we used the BBQ on site and sat out wrapped in layers of clothes, coats, scarf’s and gloves, eating our dinner, and playing cards under the stars.
Day 4
We drove to the National park which housed the Tahune Airwalk a wonderful metal structure which is suspended 40 meters above the ground, it feels as if you are walking on the tree tops, the walk made for some wonderful views and wobbly nature of the air walk made for some hair raising moments! It was a pleasant day and as we drove on the road back up top Hobart we were able to see some of the lovely scenery that we’d missed from the previous day. We started to wind around the roads across to Lake St Claire and came across the strangest of town Tarraleah – an old hydro town which having been rinsed of all it’s uses was turned into a purpose built resort. It felt like a toy town, all the houses were the same and painted pastel colours it was built in a large square and it still had all the old pipes leading from it – It was terrifying and we left in a hurry making up awful stories about the residents and the fates of those who innocently stopped there over night.
After freaking ourselves out with our silly stories 20 km along the road we saw a young girl standing next to her station wagon waiving petrol can. Now we have always maintained that from dusk till dawn if we saw anyone by the side of the road in any out of the way places we would simply drive past and leave them to their own devises, but as is often the case when faced with these decisions in real life you feel compelled to assist if you can.
We pulled over and the girl explained her car was broken and that she was trying to visit her boyfriend and then asked for a lift. She was certainly no older than El or I and so we let her in the back of the van, and drove on for the nearest town. Danielle turned out to be a very bubbly and funny girl, she told us a lot about Tasmania’s history and on arrival at the pub / hostel she brought as both several beers on the grounds that we had “saved her” and we enjoyed several hours of conversation before her boyfriend arrived from Queenstown to collect her.
We spent the night in the Dewent hotel – if I thought Friendly beaches were lying in their description that is nothing compared to this place, the term hotel obviously remained unknown to them as it was worse than most hostels and absolutely freezing, non the less it mean we were up and on the road by 10am.
Day 5
Today we drove to Lake St Claire and walked around an aboriginal trail, through the forest and then along the lake shore, it was the perfect start to the day, we even managed a game of pooh sticks en route. I did fall over quite dramatically but apart from that no incident occurred. And we continued down into the valley that is Queenstown and after a snack and a coffee we drove all the way back up to Cradle Mt – by this time the weather had taken a dramatic tern for the worst and it was horrid. We camped at Cradle Mt and lit a fire in the camp kitchen to keep warm, in the end we gave up and went to bed at around 8pm – it was the coldest night yet.
Day 6
With the excitement of cradle Mt in front of us we had a hurried breakfast and set of for the transit point. We were disappointed to be told that with the fog the way it was you would be unable to see it if it was a foot in front of your face and that no walkers were permitted. We decided that we would head back to Devonport and spend the day there whilst waiting for the ferry.
We drove back along the coast visiting Penguin ( it’s a real place ) before spending some time clearing and resorting Malkovich as we had neglected to do this during the week. We passed the remaining few hours with card games and cups of coffee before boarding the ferry for the return leg.
It was not a pleasant crossing. In fact that is an understatement, our excitement to get back on land was very real, especially for El who had barely managed to sleep. 1469km later we were back in Melbourne, what a wonderful week, so many things took our breath away, so many great views, quaint towns, and so many contrasting sets of scenery, a lady we met said,
“I drive to see my daughter all the time, I get 4 seasons, and 6 sets of scenery all in 2 and a half hours, can’t be bad can it? “
She was right, it was a magical start to our travels – Today we make a start on the mainland.
I know I know I'm behind but internet is a thing of wonder and often not available.
I will be writing Melbourne to Noosa tonight ( all 14 days ) and will pop back to the internet cafe tomorrow
Love to you all xxxxx
Monday, 15 June 2009
Happy Birthday Mum
Well yet again I’m behind; it is difficult to keep up.
I am going to tell you about our weekend because it was splendid.
Our friends Sue and Charlie are here from England so we decided to pop off to the Grampians for a weekend of country living. I don’t know if I have managed to convey just how cold it is right now, but I have actually had to buy a coat. And with a planned weekend of walking in the wonderful National park a pair of sensible shoes were also a requirement. El managed to find a wonderful cottage in the heart of the Grampians- Halls Gap and so we set off after work on Friday on the 3 and a half hour trip to take us back to nature.
I love arriving in the dark, you just know that when you wake up you will be amazed by the views and we were not disappointed. I woke up and took my coffee to the balcony where I was met by a rather friendly looking wallaby who hopped around the garden before taking a small piece of bread out of my hand...
We set off to the aboriginal ran tourist centre and with some helpful advise set off for some rather spectacular walks.
I am sorry that I can’t tell you more right now but it is 20 to 12 and I am really rather sleepy, you do however have my word that I will finish this in my lunch break tomorrow and so you will have it first thing in the morning.
Happy Happy birthday Mum I really hope you enjoy the rest of your day
All our love Leah and El
I am going to tell you about our weekend because it was splendid.
Our friends Sue and Charlie are here from England so we decided to pop off to the Grampians for a weekend of country living. I don’t know if I have managed to convey just how cold it is right now, but I have actually had to buy a coat. And with a planned weekend of walking in the wonderful National park a pair of sensible shoes were also a requirement. El managed to find a wonderful cottage in the heart of the Grampians- Halls Gap and so we set off after work on Friday on the 3 and a half hour trip to take us back to nature.
I love arriving in the dark, you just know that when you wake up you will be amazed by the views and we were not disappointed. I woke up and took my coffee to the balcony where I was met by a rather friendly looking wallaby who hopped around the garden before taking a small piece of bread out of my hand...
We set off to the aboriginal ran tourist centre and with some helpful advise set off for some rather spectacular walks.
I am sorry that I can’t tell you more right now but it is 20 to 12 and I am really rather sleepy, you do however have my word that I will finish this in my lunch break tomorrow and so you will have it first thing in the morning.
Happy Happy birthday Mum I really hope you enjoy the rest of your day
All our love Leah and El
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