Heading to Hunter Valley - Mar 29

Penrith again

Today had the feeling that we were going home, or at least back to some familiar territory. After running up the interior for a couple of days we were headed back towards the coast and the Hunter Valley Wine area. Since we were west of the Blue mountains we had several choices of routes. We could stay west of the mountains while heading north but that would mean backtracking south to reach the Hunter Valley, after we were past the mountains. We could swing east to the coast, just south of the mountains, but that would mean battling the freeway traffic around Sydney. We decided on the third option of driving east, through the heart of the mountains, and revisiting the Katoomba area. This seemed like the most attractive and shortest of the options.

Hunter Valley campsite

Since we were passing right by Penrith we stopped in to get a bite to eat and revisit the whitewater venue. After Penrith it was highway travel up to Cessnock were we stopped in at the local information centre for info on the wineries. As usual they were very accomodating. We booked into a Caravan park and scheduled a half day winerey tour for the 30th. A great campground with a talkative attendent.

Praying Mantis, about 16 cm long!

 

After supper we sat out in their patio to read, pleasant temperature and no flys or mozzies. I did get to play with a large praying mantis and got some nice shots of a big Redback spider by the toilets.

Australian Reback. The size of a loonie.

 

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Journey to Cowra - Mar 28

Morning in Cowra

We are starting to feel the pressure of distance vs time. We were up this morning to what looked like another great weather day. The sun was shining on our van while the rest of the campers were still in shadows. Boy, we picked a good spot last night. We are headed out at 09:00, north and east towards the western end of the Blue Mountains. We were already in the Blue Mountains when we visited Katoomba last month but, we want to get to the Hunter Valley wineries north of Sydney and it seemed like a better idea to drive through the scenic mountains than battle the highways and interchanges of Sydney, east of the Mountains. We should be able to reach the winery area in plenty of time tomorrow.

 

Public Toilet in Young

 

 

The drive today was pleasant and we had a picinic lunch in Young. We got as far as Bathurst before we stopped to pick up groceries. There was a nice Lions Club park right across from the information centre, on the edge of the cricket pitches, so we parked ourselves and settled in around 4:20. When we were at out lunch spot on Young we knew we were in small town Australia. The public toilet (pictured here) was dedicated in 2011 by the Mayor, Chief of council and the Lions Club chancellor! I'm not sure of they also declared a public holiday at the monumentous event! Obviously the daily driving is getting to me. We hope to be able to spend two nights in the Hunter Valley to relax, check out the wine and hopefully get a Hunter Valley t-shirt or wine glass.

 

Toilet Dedication Plaque

 

Bill Having Lunch

 

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Wagga wagga - Mar 27

Murray River Wharfs

Up at around 07:30. The sky was clear and it looked like a beautiful day ahead, maybe we were finally past the rainy days. After breakfast we headed into Echuca. Echuca is the farthest upstream on the Murray river that the paddlewheelers could travel in the old days. From here freight was off loaded onto trains for movement to Melbourne, only about 200 km away. We strolled around the old wharf, which was made in 1919 out of timber from the Red Gum Trees. The town tour was swift and we were out on the road by 10:00 and headed for Wagga Wagga, 350 km north east.

 

Crossing the Murray we stopped at Tocumwal for fish and chips and picked up some local maps that would see us through to Sydney. Unless you are on one of the major highways the rest of the roads are like Highway 22 to Sundre only rougher and without paved shoulders. Putting over 300 km in a day is making pretty good time. Also, you have probably seen picutres of our van. It likes to go 85kph, will do 95kph, but gets a little scary over 100 kph!

Wagga Wagga Campsite

A short coffee break in Lockhart and we pulled into the towns campsite in Wagga Wagga at 4:30. This site is great! Wide open, trees scattered around , in town, next to the river. Nice toilets and no fees, it will make up for last night in Echuca. We walked across the bridge into the down town to check it out. Wagga Wagga is the largest town in New South Wales that is not on the coast. It is a little smaller than Cochrane.

 

The Bottle-O, a drive through liquor store!!

By the way, their roads may not be top notch but they have their liquor outlets figured out, Drive Through!!

 

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Echuca - Mar 26

Before leaving town in the morning we drove over to the Brambuk Cultural centre in Halls Gap. We picked up a couple of souvenirs and looked through their Aboriginal exhibit before grabbing a coffee and heading out of town. I figure we need to do at least 200 km a day till we get back to Brisbane if we want to keep on schedule to get to Cairns (pronounce it Cans). We drove through Ararat, Maryborough and Bendigo, ending up in Echuca for the night. We did a total of 375km for the day. We were shooting for a free site on the banks of the mighty Murray river but we could not find it. We ended up at a caravan park, called Yarraby's, for $38.00! Oh well, it had nice showers and friendly neighbours (Ivan on one side and Alan on the other). We heated up some pasta in the shelter and had a nice salad with brocolli and cauliflower added. The night sky was really clear with the southern cross and the milkyway were brilliant. They had a container for recycle material, which is really unusual. There is not a lot of recycling going on down here. Part of the problem is there is zero refund on cans and bottle so, even if there is a recycle bin for these things, most people just chuck it in with the rest for the garbage. As far as paper, cardboard or glass... good luck finding a place to recycle it.

Yarraby's Campsite

We did not take a lot of pictures today as we were just trying to put in the kilometers. Unfortunately it is not always about sight seeing. Some days it is all about putting in the kilometers!

 

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Grampians - Mar 25

The Pinnacle

The Grampians are a range of mountains and tourist area something like Kaninaskis Country. The only difference is the mountains are low enough to be tree covered and are only about 50 km long, sticking up out of the local wine country hills to a max ellevation of 1110 m, 3 hours south west of Melbourne. Last nights campsite was just on the southern edge of the Grampians and we were in the smalll town of Halls Gap, the heart of the Grampians by 10:00 am.

 

We chose a meduim difficulty hike of 4 km return, up to the Pinnacle, a lookout point over Halls Gap. The views were great. We headed up to Boroka outlook where we had a lunch beside the van and finally Reeds lookout. The views are unobstructed of all of the surrounding countryside. Fortunately, the weather cooperated all day with sunny conditions, although the high for the day was only around 19 C.

 

Back in town we booked into the Halls Gap caravan park and strolled around the town, all 4 blocks! We decided to go out for supper and, on the recommendation of some local folks we headed over to the Kookaburra Hotel. We enjoyed Moroccan Lamb and the local wine. We also ran into a young couple that we had chatted with on the hike. We seem to be running into more and more people down here on a repeated bases. Back in the campground we struck up a conversation with a young

 

Danish couple a few sites away from ours. Turns out they recognized our van. They were at the Art Factory, in Byron Bay, the same night we were there last month. Our van is apparently imminently memorable!

Fire Scarred Forest Everywhere

The evening was warm and relaxing as we sat by the van reading. Around 10:00 the wind kicked up and the rain started. It rained and the wind rocked the van all night. We were really glad we were not in a tent like some of the other folks around the campsite.

 

Right Hand Drive!!!!

 

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Blue Lake and Caves - Mar 24

Blue Lake

The morning certainly started better than yesterday ended. It was still cool but at least it was not raining. We made breakfast in the camp kitchen then drove up to see the Blue Lake. This is an old volcano that has several lakes, within the crater, at the top of the volcano. Blue Lake is the largest and known for it's deep rich blue colour, at least in the summer. We hiked around the rim a bit but it was still chilly. This would be a great place to spend a couple of days in some better weather.

Cave Entrance

 

Back in town we drove around town doing some shopping before heading over to the Engelbrecht Cave. This is a limestone cavern in the middle of town. We had a 45 minute tour of the cave by Jesh, the young guide. The cave was quite extensive and is a very popular cave for divers, the water is extremely clear and the underwarer system fairly lenghty with several large air filled domes along the way.

 

Engelbrecht Cave

Jesh our cave guide ( I promised I'd post a pic of him)

We ended up in a small town called were we settled into their caravan pard. $20 for the night and $5 for a wheelbarrow full of fire wood! We enjoyed supper and sat around the firepit without any rain for a change!

 

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Mount Gambier - Mar 23

Wallabies at the camp last night

We woke up in the morning and decided to head straight into Portland for coffee and breakfast. There were a lot of ants at the campsite and Di was a little freaked out! In Potland we found a nice cafe on the waterfront and ordered some breakfast. They had a WiFi connection, though it was sketchy. Nevertheless we managed to connect with Harold and Priscilla on Skpe. It always feels good to connect with familiar faces from home. It put us in a good mood for the rest of the morning. The destination for the day was Mount Gambier, about 90 minutes down the road. We arrive in the town just as the rain settled in for the day. A quick trip to the information centre and we settled on a caravan park right in the heart of the town. A good choice considering the weather. In town we strolled over to the Main Street Centre where there is a video presentation of the forming of the volcanic lakes and sink hole caves in the area, as well as maritime history of the area. The films and presentations were great to watch and there was a cool sinkhole/ garden area behind the Centre. We had a coffee and lunch on Main street before heading back to the campsite for showers and laundry.

Campground in Mt. Gambier

 

 

 

Lladies room at the 12 Apostles look out, FYI

The rest of the evening was, let me think... Oh yes, miserable! The wind blew strong and gusty and the rain never let up., did I mention it was cold! We spent the time in the van reading and talking.

Ladies Room at the 12 Apostles Visitors Centre, FYI

 

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Warrnambool Mar 22

12 Apostles

The drive from Princeton to the next campground, near Portland, was one of the most scenic to date. We packed up and were out of the campsite by 09:20 and it was only 10 minute drive down the road to the 12 Apostles. The day was hot and clear, perfect conditions for viewing the sites along the coast. The 12 Apostles did not disappoint! We hiked down to the beach at the first stop and got some great pictures from the waters edge. From there we drove another 1 km down the road to the visitors centre and did the sight seeing walk along the top of the bluffs. The view was spectacular and worth every minute it took along the ocean road just to see this. We also stopped at Loch Ard Gorge before pulling into Port Campbell for coffee. The inlet at Port Campbell had some huge waves and we watched some really good surfers on 3 meter waves surfing into the bay.

 

Further along, at Warrnambool, we stopped at the visitors centre and the very helpful gal there helped us book our return flight seats on Quantas. That is just one thing off of our minds for the coming weeks. There was a quaint, restored port town in the bay below the visitors centre.

After leaving Warrnampool we drove a short distance down the cost to Port Fairy. Although we only stopped there for about 45 minutes it was well worth the look. We strolled down the harbour wharf looking at the tour and private boats then drove out to the entrance of the harbour to watch a dozen or so guys doing some terrific surfing. They only had area just outside the narrow bay mouth, approximately 300 meters wide, in which to play. Any deviation left or right would bring them into some ugly looking rock shoals on either side of the bay. These guys clearly knew what they were doing.

 

 

It took us less than an hour to find the Sawpit picinic area just past Narrawong. It was another free camping area, just 3 km off the highway, nestled in the forest on Mt. May. The sites are large, with picinic tables and good fire pits. We settle in to a good spot then hiked the 1.2 km to the Whalers Lookout. It had a nice view of the ocean around Portland. We had a light supper and sat around the fire till around 9:30, enjoying a mild evening. Possibly our last good evening for a while. The forecast for the coming week is decreasing temperatures and increasing rain showers. Hopefully, as we head inland from here, we will be able to miss most of the rain. We had a couple of wallabies wander into the campsite just before dark. They hung around within about 10 feet of us munching on some mangoes someone left behind.

 

 

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Treetop Adventure-Mar 21

The camp site last night at Otway was OK, but not all it appeared on the internet when we were at home in Cochrane. Still it certainly was rich in Koalas. We got a later start today because we could not find our plug-in adaptor for the Aussie power. We tore the van apart searching but to no avail. Still, we got away by 09:00 and headed into Apollo Bay. At Apollo we found a bank, and replenished our dwindling cash. We then found a electric supply store that had a Canadian/Australian power adaptor for $12.00. Good news or bad, depending on how you view it, we can continue to charge our electronic gizmos and post this engaging Blog!

 

By then it Was close to 11:30, time for our now routine morning capuccino and snack. WiFi service is good in the cafes along the Great Ocean road so every day around noon our time, 6:00 to 7:00 pm Alberta time, we check to see if anyone is on Skype or Facetime. No luck today but we will keep checking.

 

We poked around the farmers market then headed inland on the Otway road. The drive was spectacular, the most fun I have had yet driving in Australia. It was a tight winding road through wonderful rainforest, paved all the way but single lane in many places.. Our destination was the Tree Top Walk, a series of suspended walkways up to 47 meters of the rainforest floor. The walk to almost 2 hours but was worth the time. Really cool vantage points at all levels of the forest canopy, We finished with a coffee before hitting the road again. Well sort of, I left the lights on again and had to beg a boost from 3 people before I found a guy to help. I guess they are not used to boosting vehicles down here.

 

 

 

Our next stop was a campground just south of Princeton, back on the coast. The site is one of our favorites so far. We are nestled in a pocket in the beach shrubs, out of the wind and with a fire pit. There is a herd of about 100 kangaroos in the field adjacent to our campsite. We got a couple of pictures before pouring a wine and settling in.

 

 

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Cape Otway - Mar 20

Let Me Call This Meeting To Order

This morning we left the Big 4 campground in Melbourne and headed to the Great Ocean Road. This on of the best known drives in Australia. Something like the Cabot Trail? It starts just south of GeeLong and runs along the coast. It was hand built just after the First World War by returning soldiers. We cruised along stopping at most of the viewpoints to stare and take pictures. At Lorne we pulled into the information centre to get some brochures and view a history presentation of the building of the road. Up the street we stopped into a roadside tavern and had a beer and some lamb cabobs. We also managed to Skype with Kit for a while. Great view from the outdoor terrace and there is a whole flock of Sulphur Crested Cockatoos hanging around looking for handouts.

We continued on again for another hour or so to our campground at Cape Otway, where we had booked a site for the night. Pulling in at just before 5:00 we setup and went for a walk. There are wild Koalas all over the place and we took a bunch of pictures of them feeding. Back at the van we heated up some supper and settled down. It is quite chilly here tonight and we had to put on our warmest clothes.

 

 

 

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