[TAS] Ross,Wynyard,Ulverstone, Leith, Devonport [VIC] Camberwell,Orbost [NSW] Nowra,Coffs Harbour [QLD] Gold Coast, HOME!

Historical 1836 Ross Bridge

THIS IS OUR FINAL TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY!

On Sunday 2 January 2011 we departed our lovely Battery Point apartment in Hobart and drove to the picturesque town of Ross, camping near the river and the historical Ross Bridge - constructed by convicts in 1836. We had a stroll around the town with all its beautiful old buildings, and then saw that a Jazz band was playing at the Man O'Ross Hotel, so we settled into the garden dining area for a very enjoyable lunch and jazz session for the arvo.

Paper mache sculptures

Our next stop was up on the north west coast at Wynyard (the town where I was born), staying with Jules and Kez and catching up with Anna, Bruce and baby Ruby as well. Next morning we drove to nearby Boat Harbour but the day was very overcast and windy so we made our way back along the coast stopping at the Makers' Workshop at Burnie. This interesting place showcases the work of local artists and tells of Burnie's history in paper making - there were many wonderful life-size paper mache sculptures plus several historical makers' displays of machinery, clocks, musical instruments, garments etc. They also run regular paper-making and craft workshops.

Sue,John,Lizzie,Trude at Devonport Cup

We drove on to Ulverstone to meet up with Trude and Brendan, staying at a caravan park closeby for a couple of nights and then camping on their front lawn for several nights. Over the next five days we shared some great times between Ulverstone, Leith and Devonport with some of my old Devonport High School (DHS) friends and their partners - Trude and Brendan, Mike and Sue, Col and Jen. A great day was also had at the Devonport Cup raceday where we were very lucky to be included in a marquee situated right on the finish line belonging to John Dowling (another DHS attendee) - it was a very hot day but a fun time and we partied on afterwards at JD's beautiful home (otherwise known as "the party house")!

Paulie's first joy flight with Pilot Bruce

Second joy flight in a homemade plane

During the week, Paulie was spoilt with two joy flights - experiencing the great beauty of Tassie's north west coast by air. Our week was also filled with bike rides, delicious dining outings, live music, lots of red wines, bbqs, a visit to the Forth Hotel and one final visit to the Elimatta Hotel in Devonport on Monday 10 January before leaving our wonderful Tassie friends and boarding the Spirit of Tasmania back to Melbourne.

 

Our farewell brunch with Norm

Arriving in Melbourne early the next morning, we stopped in Albert Park for a hot breakfast, a stroll around the shops and a long walk to the St Kilda Pier. After a nanna nap in the van, we drove to Camberwell in the afternoon to meet up with our friend Norm who was staying at David and Mary's beautiful home. We enjoyed drinks with them and their friends Antony and Gill, followed by a delicious Indonesian dinner. Up early next morning to watch the latest TV reports on the devastating Qld floods, then out for farewell brunch with Norm.

We decided then that we wanted to get home as soon as we could as floods were hitting Victoria and NSW, so we drove on to Orbost for the night (a lovely town but the flies were unbelievable)! Next day we drove 520kms to Nowra via several pretty coastal towns. We had one night at Nowra and after dinner we walked around to the soccer fields next door to watch some local soccer games - I managed to get hit in the leg by a rogue speeding soccer ball and it really stung!

Our last night in the van of our nine month journey!

We drove over 700kms the next day having only two stops - fuel and lunch. Arrived at Emerald Beach in Coffs Harbour late afternoon, settled into caravan park near the beach, had a stroll along the beach, showers, drinks, dinner and crashed pretty early to bed. This was actually our last night in the van, as we drove the next day to Grafton and then had to detour inland via the Summerland Way because the coastal towns of Iluka and Yamba were flooded. At around 4pm we arrived on the Gold Coast and stayed with our friend Kaye for the night.

On Sunday 16 January 2011 we arrived home at our unit just after lunchtime - it was so good to be home - but what an amazing adventure we have had, and we will definitely do it again!

Our thanks to everyone who read and commented on our blog, for your emails and for keeping in touch while we were on the road, it meant a lot to us.

Here's some useless information from our trip:

• Towns we stayed in overnight = 110
• Accommodation costs = $12,045
• Kms we travelled = 27,000 kms
• Litres of fuel used = 3,640 litres
• Fuel costs = $5,235
• Amount of fun and laughs = priceless!

Of course there were also many many dollars spent on grog, food and a variety of sight-seeing activities and entertainment around Australia! That's all folks, lots of love, over and out.

LIZZIE and COXY  xoxo

[TAS] Triabunna,White Beach,Seven Mile Beach, Snug,Bruny Island,Gordon,Cygnet,Dover, Catamaran,Franklin,Elwick,Battery Pt Hobart

Maria Island

We have had computer problems and haven't been able to access our blog, so here's one months worth, sorry it's a long one!

After leaving Coles Bay on Saturday 27 November, we drove through Swansea, stopping at a Berry Farm and also Spiky Bridge – built by convicts in 1843 using jagged rocks for ornamental purposes and also to stop cattle falling over the sides. That night we stayed at Triabunna to get the ferry to Maria Island next morning. Our day on Maria Island involved a lot of walking, visiting the Painted Cliffs, Fossil Cliffs and Darlington town filled with historical buildings. We also saw a wombat up very close and lots of geese everywhere.

Coxy on the Dog Line

On Tuesday 30 November we drove to Sorell, Dunalley, Doo Town (houses with names like “Doo F#@k All” and “Just Doo It”) and then stopped at Eaglehawk Neck on the Tasman Peninsula. There we viewed the Tessellated Pavement (an unusual geological rock formation which appears like tiles), Tasmans Arch, Devils Kitchen and the Dog Line (site where savage dogs were stationed across the isthmus to stop Port Arthur escapees in the 1830s). We then drove out to beautiful White Beach for two nights, which will always be remembered as the place Paulie fell through his camp chair and we had to mend it until we could buy a new one!

Mr Devil

After leaving White Beach, we visited the Coal Mines Historic Site at Saltwater River – Tasmania’s first operational mine for over 40 years and which also served as a place of punishment for the worst class of convicts from Port Arthur. We then stopped at the Tassie Devil Conservation Park at Taranna where we saw lots of devils up close feeding and playing and then watched the Kings of the Wind fantastic show with a diving falcon and other birds doing tricks. After that, we settled into the caravan park at Seven Mile Beach and on our way to the beach for a walk we were stopped three times by people asking for directions – we must have looked like locals!

Next day was drizzly rain all day, so we took a drive into Richmond and strolled around the shops. Then back at Seven Mile Beach we discovered Barilla Bay Oyster Farm (we used to order many dozens of oysters from there every Christmas for years). They have a lovely restaurant and shop there, so Paulie bought half a dozen oysters and enjoyed those with a cold cider that afternoon. We decided we would return for dinner in the restaurant that night, which was absolutely delightful!

Lizzie before she turned green!

The little town of Snug was our next stop for a couple of nights before driving to Kettering to get the vehicle ferry over to Bruny Island for four nights. When we arrived on North Bruny, our first stop was at Truganini Lookout – a timber boardwalk climb of 255 steps located at “The Neck” where you get the most spectacular 360 degree panoramic views. Bruny Island Cruises run tours every day which cruise the South Bruny Island coastline, so we did the cruise on Tuesday 7 December. Unfortunately it was not a very nice day - overcast, howling winds, choppy seas – all the right ingredients for me to be seasick, along with several other people on the boat. They give you a big red waterproof coat to wear which is full length for a reason – you get wet! The scenery was amazing but it wasn't long before I started to get seasick and after two hours of getting thrown around in the wild seas, we headed back to the jetty for those seasick people to get off if they wanted - and yes I definitely wanted to get off. Paulie stayed on for the last hour and experienced dolphins swimming alongside the boat and more awesome scenery. Of course the next day the water was like a pond!

View from Fluted Cape walk

For the rest of our time on Bruny we did a 1 hour walk out to Grass Point, a 2½ hour cliff top walk to Fluted Cape 272m up with spectacular views where we also spotted some seals playing around the boats below. We also did some bike riding, lots of beach walks, visited the chocolate and fudge shop, strawberry farm and cheese factory. We really loved our time on Bruny Island, we had never been there before, so that made it extra special and it is just so beautiful but wild at the same time.

On the D'Entrecasteaux Channel

Saturday 11 December we stayed the night at the free camp area at Gordon, on the banks of the picturesque D’Entrecasteaux Channel - a great area where we were able to have a lovely camp fire that night (yes it was definitely cold enough). We had a really great night there just enjoying the outdoors, the beautiful views across the channel to Bruny and our cosy fire!

The Wooden Boat Centre

Next day we drove to Cygnet for one night in a nice little van park and strolled along the street checking out all the local shops. A restaurant there had been recommended to us but unfortunately it was fully booked out when we tried to have lunch there – it must have been good! On our drive from Cygnet to Dover the next day, we stopped at The Wooden Boat Centre. Located on the Huon River, this centre is a renowned school for wooden boat building using Tasmania’s unique boat building timbers like the legendary Huon Pine. This was such an interesting place to visit and we saw two boats in the process of being built (one being for a very famous Japanese chef)!

Coxy out on the cantilever

We then drove on to Geeveston and then 30km out to the Tahune Airwalk in the Tahune Forest Reserve. The Airwalk extends 597m through the forest on a walkway elevated 20m above the ground and includes a cantilever suspended 48m high with breathtaking views of the Picton and Huon Rivers and surrounding forest – just amazing. I had to practically drag Coxy out on the cantilever though - he reckons the welding looked dodgy! We also did the Huon Pine walk and then stopped at the Big Tree Lookout – an old Swamp Gum so huge that the camera just can’t capture it’s size.

After three days in the lovely town of Dover, we left for Cockle Creek, the most southern point you can drive to in Tassie. Cockle Creek is a very beautiful place but unfortunately it was drizzly rain when we arrived and not many good camp sites left. We found one site but it was swarming with mozzies so we drove back along the road to Catamaran, another lovely spot overlooking the water and no mozzies! It rained all day and most of the night but we managed to have a camp fire going for a little while.

Our next stop was to be Huon Bush Retreat at Ranelagh but weren't prepared to tackle the 500m of extremely steep loose gravel road into the Retreat (especially with the narrow road and very long drop off over the edge)! Plus with heavy rains predicted over the next couple of days we had visions of either getting bogged in there or else sliding our way down the hill on the way out. So we chickened-out and drove back to Franklin for the night camping at the Franklin Foreshore Reserve. We ended up walking in the rain to the local pub later that afternoon and had drinks in the “pool hall” which had a great big roaring fireplace going and a great atmosphere. We chatted with lots of the locals, had a few games of pool and then Paulie ended up playing in the pool competition – it ended up being quite a late night and heaps of fun!

Happy Christmas Campers

On Saturday 18 December we drove into Elwick (about 10km out of Hobart) and checked into a caravan park which was just across the road from Elwick Racecourse, where they have gallops, trots and greyhounds. It’s a fantastic venue with a huge modern fully enclosed area with massive windows and to view the racecourse with a backdrop of the Derwent River and hills beyond. As we had a week at Elwick before moving into Hobart city, we made good use of being within walking distance to the racecourse and went to the gallops on the first Sunday and then the trots the next Sunday!

At Cadburys!

The rest of our time at Elwick we visited the Cadbury factory, had some retail therapy at the pre-Xmas sales, did lots of walks and bike rides, drove to New Norfolk, and pigged-out on fresh cherries. We did a wine tasting at the amazing newly renovated Moorilla Wine Estate with beautiful grounds, restaurant, and huge outdoor stage - it is also home of the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA Gallery whose grand opening is on 11 January so we will miss that unfortunately). Christmas Day was very different for us this year, being away from family and friends, but we still had a wonderful day together cooking up some tasty dishes for our long lunch which involved grazing all afternoon, washed down with some lovely sparkling shiraz. We decorated our little camp table with a red bottlebrush flower we picked that morning on our walk and used one of Coxy’s cider stubbies as a vase! Of course we also spent a lot of the day talking to family and friends on the phone and lots of text messages.

Taste of Tassie rear shot of bouncing kangaroo taken for a reason!

We then moved into a lovely apartment at Battery Point in Hobart for five nights from 28 December to soak up the atmosphere of the Taste of Tasmania festival for the days leading up to and including New Years Eve. We were also very excited to be seeing some family for the first time since leaving home and had a great night at dinner with Dianne, Robin and Christian from the Gold Coast. We frequented the Taste of Tassie every day and enjoyed the great buskers, live bands, wine tastings, all the yummy food and the NYE fireworks. There's also the Sydney-Hobart yachts to check out at this time of year too and we spotted a few celebrities on the yacht "Loyal". We really enjoyed our time in Hobart and especially enjoyed our five-star fix staying in a nice apartment. Tomorrow we head back to the north coast of Tassie to say goodbye to friends before getting the Spirit of Tasmania back to Melbourne on 10 January.

[TAS] Bridport,Binalong Bay,Scamander, Bicheno,Coles Bay

Our Bridport campsite

Wednesday 17 November we decided Bridport would be our next destination. On our way there, we stopped at Hollybank Treetops Adventure to have a look at the flying fox rides, but the day was extremely windy so we gave that a miss - maybe we could try again on our way back to the north coast in January. We arrived in Bridport and very glad to find it was sunny, although very windy. We set up camp in the caravan park which goes for 2km along the beach front, where we had waterfront views for $25 per night, not bad! After our walk in the afternoon, the weather turned very cool with gale force winds. The next day we enjoyed lots of warm sunshine on the little beach in front of our campsite - having the beach all to ourselves. Paulie even tried a spot of fishing, but no nibbles unfortunately. We had drinks on the beach later in the arvo and then walked to the pub for dinner, watching the locals play in a pool competition which was becoming a bit rowdy by the time we left! The next day was mostly sunny but with a cold wind again.

Legerwood tree carving

On Saturday we headed for the east coast via Scottsdale, then Legerwood where we stopped to see the memorial trees - nine trees were planted back in 1918 to honour soldiers killed in World War 1. In 2001 the condition of the trees proved unsafe and the community were devastated they would lose their memorials, so in 2004 it was suggested the stumps be carved into a likeness of each soldier.

Binalong Bay

We then drove on to St Helens and then up to Binalong Bay (free camping at Cosy Corner North). Wow, this is a truly beautiful beach and thankfully we saw it on a lovely sunny (but of course windy) day. I took lots of photos of the stunning views as we walked along the beach and up over the rocks. The sand is so white and the water so blue, but way too cold for swimming - it was arctic. The next day it was cold and raining so we moved on - plus I was not handling the extremely smelly pit toilets situation! Scamander was our next stop for one night - not much to report on there though.

Bicheno from Whalers Lookout

Monday 22 November we arrived in Bicheno, settled into our campsite and then did a bike ride around town. Next day was a beautiful hot day of an unbelievable 35 degrees. We did a morning walk to Whalers Lookout over Waubs Bay and after breakfast did a one hour foreshore walk to the Blow Hole. We slept in til late next morning and then did more walks before the afternoon rains came, forcing us to commence happy hour early - what a shame!

Wineglass Bay lookout

We drove to Coles Bay on Thursday, staying near Muirs Beach. It was an overcast day with light drizzle but we did the walk to the Wineglass Bay lookout. Back at camp that afternoon we had a couple of drinks in the nearby Tavern while watching the Ashes cricket on TV and also had a nice little win on the Keno there. Next morning it was drizzly again but we strolled along the nearby beautiful Muirs Beach with views of The Hazards mountain range. We then walked around the waterfront in the afternoon, more drinks over cricket at the Tavern and another Keno win woohoo! More walks next day including Tourville Bay lookout.

[TAS] Devonport,Gunns Plains,Penguin, Stanley,Strahan,Lake St Clair,Arthurs Lake, Hadspen

Arrived in my old home town of Devonport about 6am and after going through the quarrantine checks etc we drove away about 6.30am in search for breakfast and found a great hot buffet breakfast. We then checked into our lovely apartment on Victoria Parade overlooking the Mersey River. Later we walked into town for a look around and then needed a nanna nap in the arvo before meeting up with some of my old school friends for dinner at our old drinking hole - the Elimatta Hotel. We then went on to a party and didn't get home til 2am! The evening of Saturday 30 October was my high school reunion (Devonport High School 1975), which was heaps of fun. It was a challenge trying to remember everyone as I hadn't seen most of these people since I left Tassie in 1980. Paulie attended later in the evening and everyone chatted and danced the night away, with the function finishing at 1am. A group of us then moved on to a party and finally left around 4.30am! (Photos from the reunion will be available later.)

Ghost Rock Winery

The next five days were full of socialising with old school friends which was just fantastic fun and so great to share the time with them all. We were welcomed into their homes and shared their favourite restaurants with them, and even though it was the first time Paulie had met them, he got on famously with everyone and had a great time. We also fitted in bits of sightseeing around the area, doing some great bike rides along the waterfront in Devonport around to Coles Beach and beyond, drives out to beautiful Port Sorell and Hawley Beach, did a wine tasting and lunch at the picturesque Ghost Rock Winery, visited Sheffield's amazing murals (see mural pic further below), did tastings at the cheese factory, honey farm, cherry farm, raspberry farm etc etc. You really can eat and drink your way around Tassie!

Preston Waterfall

From Devonport we moved on to Gunns Plains for some bush camping at the beautiful and quiet Wing's Wildlife Park. We arrived there on Saturday 6 November which was a nice sunny day but grew cold in the late afternoon. Luckily we were able to have a camp fire there which was our first since leaving home - so many places won't allow camp fires now. That night we slept for 12 hours as we were exhausted from our non-stop partying since arriving in Tassie! Next day it was freezing cold and poured raining all day, so we had a quiet day in the van catching up on correspondence, watched a couple of movies and of course had happy hour! Next morning we drove to Leven Canyon - walked to Cruikshanks Lookout, then descended the 697 Forest Stairs, did the Fern Walk, the Canyon Floor Walk, the 25m Preston Waterfall and Gunns Plains Cave - all amazing attractions. We then drove on to Penguin for one night in the caravan park overlooking the beach.

A couple of nuts at "The Nut" at Stanley

Tuesday 9 November we drove to Burnie to stock up on some groceries and then continued on to Stanley and checked into our waterfront van site. Caught up on the some washing and then after lunch we climbed the Nut (it's sort of like Tassie's own little Uluru)! Thankfully it was a beautiful sunny day, not windy like the last time we climbed the Nut when I nearly got blown off. It's quite a steep climb and our legs reminded us of this fact the next day.

Tarkine Forest slide

It was very cold, rainy and windy the next day as we drove out to the west coast to Arthur River, stopping at Green Point to watch some young students having surfing lessons (in wetsuits of course). On our drive back to Stanley we stopped at the Tarkine Forest Adventures site at Dismal Swamp where we braved the exhilerating rush of the 110m slide through the tree canopy down to the forest floor in less than 15 seconds. You get to wear a lovely hair net (obviously not to keep hair out of your eyes, as they gave Paulie one) and a helmet, then you lay down in a bag with handles inside then you shoot down the metal tunnel like a bullet - it's super fast. I went first while Paulie watched me disappear into the tunnel - he was waiting to hear me scream all the way down, but I was so scared I couldn't make a sound. It was a pretty bumpy ride and whilst it was heaps of fun, we both had headaches afterwards. Paulie did the ride twice - once was enough for me!

Gordon River

Thursday morning Paulie got up very early to climb the Nut again for some sunrise shots, but it was a really foggy morning. He said it was sort of spooky climbing in the fog too. We then drove to Hellyer Gorge, Waratah and Rosebery and stopped at Strahan for the night. Next day we did an amazing World Heritage Gordon River cruise on a very comfortable boat cruising from Macquarie Harbour out through Hells Gates to the Roaring Forties and Cape Sorell, stopped off at Sarah Island (one of Australia's oldest convict settlements) for a guided history tour, and also stopped at Heritage Landing where we strolled through trees thousands of years old. The day was overcast with showers, so our photos aren't great. On our cruise back to Strahan, we past a large number of salmon and trout farms. Once back on shore, we decided to have a couple of drinks at the local pub and later walked back to the van park in the drizzly rain - a fantastic day.

Lake St Clair

On Saturday we departed Strahan and drove via Queenstown to Lake St Clair, stopping to do the walks to Nelson Falls, Donaghy's Hill and the Franklin River Nature Trail. We stopped overnight at the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park right on the lake and it was absolutely freezing cold outside, drizzly rain and the lake was all misty.

Mural of "The Wall in the Wilderness"

Next day we drove to Derwent Bridge to see the extraordinary work in the making by artist Greg Duncan - The Wall in the Wilderness. These 3m high carved Huon Pine panels tell the history of the harsh Central Highlands region of Tasmania. When completed, the wall will be 100m long. The building which houses these panels is also beautiful inside and shows other free-standing sculptures and lovely silk paintings. This display is an absolute MUST if you are ever in Tassie (unfortunately no photos are allowed to be taken inside, but we did take a photo of the mural done of The Wall and artist when we were in Sheffield). We then drove on to Arthurs Lake, stopping to view some bronze sculptures at Steppes on the way. We camped the night at the Pumphouse Bay Campground on Arthurs Lake, which became a total fog whiteout by late afternoon. It was a very cold and drizzly night but we were snug in our van thankfully.

Rose garden at Woolmers Estate

Monday 15 November we drove down from the chilly Central Highlands through more fog, passing through Poatina and Cressy, stopping at Longford to visit the 1817 world heritage nominated site of Woolmers Estate situated on the banks of the Macquarie River. The estate provides a combination of the collections, artefacts, antiques, machinery, outbuildings, main houses and magnificent rose gardens. We then headed to Hadspen for two nights (just outside of Launceston) and restocked the van with supplies before starting to head towards the east coast and hopefully some good weather.

[VIC] Bendigo,Coburg,Surrey Hills,Braybrook (Melbourne)

Sacred Heart Cathedral

We drove away from chilly Avoca and headed for Bendigo on Sunday 17 October, where we were surprised by the size of the city and knew we could easily spend a few days there, in fact we stayed for four nights. We finally enjoyed some fine sunny weather and filled in our days by taking the bus into the city centre and doing the tourist things - riding the vintage talking tram tour which tells stories of Bendigo's past, climbing the Poppet Head lookout tower for the view over the city, walks to grand heritage buildings such as the Sacred Heart Cathedral and the iconic Shamrock Hotel built in 1854.

Loong dragon

Another day we visited the Golden Dragon Museum and Chinese gardens. The museum is home to Loong:  the oldest imperial Chinese dragon in the world, alongside culturally significant collections of regalia, furniture, artefacts and geneology.

Awesome burger moment

Lots of walking around the city worked up an appetite one day and we stopped in at the Grill'd hamburger cafe for the most delicious and healthy burgers - where they even do gluten free options which Paulie really enjoyed - he's never been able to get a gluten free burger anywhere. One day as we were walking around town, a newspaper reporter asked our thoughts on the Bendigo airport upgrade. Well, we hadn't even seen the Bendigo airport but Paulie responded by saying that Bendigo was a nice and happening place and that an upgrade would only add to the infrastructure. The photographer took his photo and so next day his photo and comment were in the Bendigo Advertiser! 

Melbourne busker

Thursday 21 October we moved on to Coburg, a couple of hours closer to Melbourne city, just spending one night before stopping over in Surrey Hills for two nights visiting our friend Norm there. Melbourne traffic was insane and so fast, Paulie said it was a bit stressful driving but thank goodness for our Tom Tom - what a lifesaver. We then stayed at Braybrook for three nights - this is the closest caravan park to Port Melbourne where the boat leaves for Tassie. So over these three days we took the bus into Melbourne city for shopping, visiting the Victoria Markets and more shopping. One day, Paulie just sat in the mall reading his newspaper and waiting while I went in and out of various clothing shops. When I returned to him, he said he had been asked for money twice as well as being asked to do a couple of surveys - he was a real target just sitting there. We saw this popular old busker in the mall with his piano belting out his tunes! We also had a great evening catching up with our friend Chris (Carrot) one night as he was staying in Melbourne for work.

Our "Spirit of Tas" cabin

On Thursday 28 October we filled in time at beautiful St Kilda beach and strolled around the shops at Albert Park until we had to drive onto the Spirit of Tasmania for our night cruise to Devonport in Tasmania. The process to get onto the boat with our van was quite lengthy but we finally got through and up to our cabin (which was spotless and very comfy, with our own shower and toilet). Due to my previous sea sickness experiences, I popped a Quells tablet prior to the boat's 7.30pm departure. However these do cause drowsiness and so by the time we were sitting down to eat our delicious dinner, my eyelids were getting droopy, but I managed to stop my head falling into my meal. Needless to say, we didn't party all night on the boat. The trip through the night was quite smooth until about midnight when it turned a bit rough and we were awoken and then struggled to get back to sleep.

[VIC] Portland,Warrnambool,Apollo Bay, Colac,Ballarat,Avoca

Portland's tiled shell

Tuesday 5 October we crossed the border into Victoria and stopped at Portland, a pretty harbour-side city where the European settlement history for the colony of Victoria began in 1834. Finding a caravan park right in the heart of town, we took a walk around noting the beautiful old Mac's Hotel which we had stayed in back in the 90s (we can't quite remember which year) - anyway it still looked exactly the same. The city has over 200 historical buildings from the 1800s. We strolled down by the water where there was a large shell and chair made out of tiles. We had mixed weather conditions over our two days in Portland and spent one afternoon hiding inside our van as a severe storm warning was broadcast on the radio, including hail. Luckily the caravan park was not full and so we moved our van to a back corner sheltered against a brick wall and out of the wind. Happy hour started early that day!

"Pip" the sheep dog at Port Fairy

Our next stopover was at Warrnambool, via Yambuk's "The Crags" with fantastic views of Lady Julia Percy Island and then Port Fairy where we noticed a sign advertising some Australian & New Zealand Sheep Dog Trials at the local oval. We stopped at the oval and had our lunch while enjoying the sheep dog trials - very entertaining. There was then an announcement made that the lunch prepared by the local country ladies was ready in the hall  - Paulie and I both looked at each other and knew that would be an awesome lunch, all that yummy homemade country food - shame we'd just had our lunch! We had a couple of nights in Warrnambool, seeing some local touristy stuff but also doing some administrative duties like spending over an hour in the Telstra Shop trying to sort out an incorrect bill - that was fun.

London Bridge, Great Ocean Road

Two of the 12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road

Next day we had a big day driving the Great Ocean Road (which involved lots of stopping to check out 11 spectacular viewing points - Bay of Islands, Bay of Martyrs, The Grotto, London Bridge, The Arch, Razor back, Thunder Cave, Loch Ard Gorge and Cemetery, Mutton Bird Island and of course the 12 Apostles). There were heaps of tourists at each of these stops but the most popular by far was the 12 Apostles. We got caught in the rain a few times as the weather kept changing. The big chunk missing from the London Bridge collapsed into the water in 1990 while people were standing out on the end - they had to be rescued three hours later ... how scary! We then drove on to Apollo Bay for the night where we had a fairly water-logged muddy site from previous heavy rains there. We decided to shout ourselves out to dinner that night, so we rugged up against the cold wind and walked to the local pub for a delicious and hearty meal.

Otway Ranges

Leaving Apollo Bay next morning we took the Otway Ranges road to Colac - a very steep, narrow and somewhat scary road with the most awesome scenery of green rolling hills and valleys - reminded us of Maleny in some parts. When we arrived in Colac, we heard there was a festival on about 20kms away at Birregurra, so we headed for there. This was quite a big annual festival which runs for the weekend with lots of stalls, live music, wood chopping, pig racing, line dancing, snake shows and terrier races! Luckily it was a sunny day so we strolled around the festival enjoying the sunshine with all the locals.

Beeac's restored windmills

Monday 11 October we did our morning walk through the beautiful Colac Botanic Gardens before driving to our next destination - Ballarat. On our way to Ballarat, we stopped at the tiny town of Beeac to see the display of seven old windmills which had originally been built by Beeac windmill makers back in the 1850s and which had been restored to life again by the locals. The windmill park was being completed as part of the town's 150th first settlement celebration in late October. We then drove on to Ballarat and checked into the caravan park and took a walk into the city which was surprisingly big. Next day was an overcast and stormy day with a forecast of hail, which thankfully didn't happen. In between showers the next day we walked to Sovereign Hill and the Gold Museum.

Back home after Avoca Cup race day

Our next stop was to the country town of Avoca where we stayed for a few nights. Avoca is only a small town so it didn't take long to do the town tour - the one thing that did stand out was how many pie shops there were! Recent heavy rainfalls in the area made the caravan park a bit squelchy/muddy underfoot and we had more rain while we were there too. Friday 15 October we walked into town in the rain to get the newspapers and then it continued to rain all day and was freezing cold and very windy, so we basically spent the whole day in the van reading the newspapers, watching movies and cooking our meals inside (which was a first), thankfully we had everything on hand. We hoped the weather would lift in time for the Avoca Cup on Saturday - well it sort of improved - we caught the local booze bus to the races where we experienced the four seasons in one day which Victoria is famous for, but we were dressed in multiple layers in readiness. It was a great day though with a huge turnout of people from all over the state. We had a few small wins, plus I backed the winner of the Caulfield Cup and Paulie backed the second place BUT it was the only bet all day where we forgot to put on a Quinella (which paid $145) DOH! After the races, we joined the crowd of race-goers back to one of the local pubs for a few more drinks and dinner to top off the day.

[SA] Nullabor Roadhouse,Ceduna,Streaky Bay,Coffin Bay,Port Augusta,Clare,Kapunda, Nuriootpa,Tailem Bend,Mt Gambier

Whilst the trip across the Nullarbor(ing) was pretty boring in parts, there were lots of beautiful wild flowers about, many more trees and shrubbery than we expected, collections of clothing, shoes, socks, hats, and stubbies hanging in trees, and heaps of very long road trains which nearly blew us off the road. There were also areas of the road which were marked as landing strips for the Royal Flying Doctors Service - it would have been awesome to see one land on the road!

Great Australian Bight

After leaving Cocklebiddy on Monday 20 September, we drove 470kms to Nullarbor Roadhouse, stopping along the way at various lookout points of the spectacular Great Australian Bight cliff faces. The day was overcast and showery with a cold wind of course but the scenery was breathtaking. The border check from WA to SA is not right at the border, so that night we had to cook up all our vegies before the border check next day at Ceduna.

Whale at Bunda Cliffs

On our way to Ceduna the next morning, we stopped at the Head of the Bight whale viewing platforms and saw a few whales lolling about below the 70m Bunda Cliffs. There were no big tail splashes or anything, they were just taking it easy. We drove on to Ceduna and stayed for one night, enjoying a dinner out at a very nice tavern near the caravan park, and we were joined by a lovely couple whom we'd chatted with at Cocklebiddy.

Next day we drove to Smokey Bay for a quick look on our way to Streaky Bay, a very nice little town with a caravan park along the foreshore. We walked around town for a look and out to the jetty and then had a delicious and cheap $10 soup lunch at a waterfront cafe. The weather was still quite cold, especially at night.

Coffin Bay

Our next stop was at Coffin Bay for a couple of nights, where we braved 91kms of scenic dirt road to see Sceales Bay, Cape Labatt (for the sea lions) and Murphys Haystacks which are actually bolders not hay. We then drove on to Elliston and did 6kms more of dirt road to view the cliff top sculptures which were interesting but not interesting enough for me to get out of the car to take a photo in the arctic cold wind! We headed back into Coffin Bay to settle into the caravan park overlooking the beautiful bay. Coffin Bay is renowned for its oysters, so next morning we did the oyster trail walk around the bay and watched some of the boats come in with their oyster collections. They are big boats and are towed to the ramp by tractors, so it was funny to see all these tractors parked in the carpark. I don't eat oysters, but Paulie loves them, so we tracked down a dozen which he devoured for afternoon nibblies with a chardy. We also bought some beautiful fresh King George whiting fillets for dinner (from the local butcher of all places) - delicious!

Saturday 25 September we drove to Port Augusta (via Arno Bay, Cowell and Whyalla) and stayed at the Big4 caravan park there. We didn't feel like exploring the town much, so just chilled out for the afternoon listening to the AFL grand final (the first one, that is) on the radio.

Sevenhill Cellars

Our next stop was the lovely town of Clare in the Clare Valley wine region which is considered Australia's home of riesling. We drove there via the Main North Road instead of the highway, as it was much more picturesque through the lush green countryside and the gorgeous historic buildings. We checked into the caravan park for two nights and then drove around town and to the lookout. The weather was overcast and very cold and we planned on doing the Riesling Trail on our bikes the next day but it was raining and bitterly cold. Next morning we stopped at the Sevenhill Cellars which is the oldest winery and vineyard in Clare Valley and also unusual as the winery has been owned and operated by Jesuit Priests since 1851. The beautiful Aloysius Church is at the heart of the winery.



Kapunda's historic copper mine site

Kapunda (northern edge of the Barossa) was our next stopover and we visted the information centre in town, where they had a great interactive mining display downstairs telling the story of the town's copper ore mine history - the highest grade ore found anywhere in the world, which began in 1838 but then closed down in 1878 after the rich ore had been worked out. For those "McLeod's Daughters" fans, this was the town known as Fisher in the series. That afternoon we did the walk around the historic mine site past open cut tunnels, the mine chimney and lookouts. Even on an overcast day, the colours in the rocks were amazing. Unfortunately it rained as we were nearing the finish and we had to sprint back to the car in the rain! The town was also once home to Australia's cattle king - Sir Sidney Kidman and is renowned as some of the best farming land in Australia. His horse sales were recognised as the largest in the world, supplying horses to the Light Horse Brigade. Kidman donated his family home "Eringa" to the Education Department which is now the Kapunda High School. A very interesting and beautiful town.



Wolf Blass Winery

 Wednesday 29 September we drove on to Tanunda and then on to Nuriootpa (Aboriginal word meaning "meeting place") where we secured a site at the caravan park. A surprisingly large town with some of the best-known cellar doors. We did the tourist drive to the Mengler's Hill lookout for a picnic lunch, even though it was quite cold and windy. Next we visited the Maggie Beer's Farm Shop filled with lots of her yummy chutneys, pates, sauces and other goodies - Paulie bought some delicious pheasant pate with quince jelly. Next stop was the beautiful Wolf Blass winery and cellar door (one of my favourites) where we read all about it's history, did the wine tasting of course and walked out with a couple of bottles!

Grant Burge Winery

Next morning we did a walk before leaving Nuriootpa and then headed out of town to the Lyndoch Lavender Farm - such peaceful and beautiful countryside. We walked amongst the lavender bushes in some lovely sunshine and then checked out the lavender shop, buying a few goodies there. When leaving the lavender farm we came across Grant Burge winery and cellar door - wow, a magnificent looking winery with the most beautiful gardens - and the wines aren't too bad either! Again walking out with a couple of bottles under our arms after the wine tasting ... oh well, this is the Barossa. We then drove on to Gawler for the night but couldn't get into a caravan park as all booked up - school holidays plus an orienteering weekend had filled the town. So we drove on to the town of Tailem Bend on the Murray River and went straight to the Information Centre where we chose a caravan park from the the two in town. Well, I'm just going to say it ... dodgeyville with some very strange folk ... think movie "Deliverance" and you might get the picture! The caravan park amenities rating was about -1 star, we couldn't even bring ourselves to have a shower there even with our thongs on! Once again we had been fooled by the glossy brochure. One of the permanent tenants came over to chat to us (a little scary but harmless enough), anyway we locked ourselves in the van after dinner and slept through the night with one eye open!

Dust flew up as we hightailed it out of Tailem Bend early next morning without breakfast and drove to Meningie on the Murray for breakfast (an omelette we prepared the evening before in preparation of our early escape from Tailem Bend). Our destination was Mount Gambier, some 400kms away. We drove through Woods Well, Tintinara and Keith and stopped at Padthaway for a very informative winetasting at Padthaway Estate cellar door and magnificent old homestead - tasting their champagnes, whites and reds and again walking out with a few bottles. The wine cellar in the van is well stocked now but then we are drinking some as we go ... as they say, life is short - drink the best!


Mt Gambier's Blue Lake



Cave Gardens


We drove on through the Coonawarra region to Naracoorte and Penola and then settled into the Blue Lake Holiday Park at Mount Gambier. After so much town-hopping lately, we wanted to stay put for a few days and catch up on some washing, shopping, relaxing etc, so we stayed at Mount Gambier for four nights. The park we stayed in was nice and grassy, quiet and lots of space around us, so we chilled out for a few days just doing local sightseeing to the beautiful Blue Lake and Valley Lake within walking distance. Blue Lake is one of three craters of an extinct volcano and each year around November changes colour to a spectacular turquoise blue colour. We also visited the amazing Cave Gardens which is right in the middle of town. At last we had some slightly warmer sunny days to enjoy. 

This was also our last stop in SA before crossing the border into Victoria.