Majestic Victorian forests

The Grampians were first glimpsed by us from Dunkeld, rising up out of the lush green rolling hills, like sails on a barque. We pulled into Halls Gap, and found ourselves in the midst of a tourist horde. Puzzled as to why there were so many people in this tiny village on a Monday? The caravan park was very busy as were the main street and the ice creamery. No it was not school holidays in any state in Australia. It took as a little while to realise that it was the Melbourne Cup the next day and Victorians took a 4 day long weekend. We drove through the national park, looking for a spot that wasn’t jammed in with 50 other campers or one of the numerous “school” groups. The track was narrow and windy with few signs to tell us where we were. By 6.30pm, after an hour and a half driving through the park we stopped at Smiths Mill camp site. This had been an old timber mill, deep within the forest, surrounded by tall pines. Only a few campers, so even though camping in between Radiata pines wasn’t my idea of a “National Park” experience, we realised we had run out of options. It turned out to be a lovely spot, near a babbling creek, far from civilisation and beautifully quiet and serene. The weather was rather chilly, getting down to 6 degrees at night, rainy and very misty. We did some exploration, driving around and walking in the cold misty mountains to lookouts where occasionally the mist would clear enough to see across the spectacular valleys to the mountains beyond. We stopped at the Brambuck cultural centre at Halls Gap, which turned out to be one of the best we have seen on our travels. The information and display, as well as the building it self were very interesting. It was here that the girls found snake number 32, a large Red-belly Black, asleep beside the path.

From here we drove to Port Fairy, and stayed at a caravan park, as we desperately needed a shower after 3 days in the cold and wet. That’s the only drawback to our solar showers…you need sunshine! It was a lovely coastal town, on the banks of a river, with Victoria’s largest fishing fleet. The town it self has long tree lined avenues, with well maintained historic houses. It is a tourist town, with an abundance of rental cottages and boutique hotels. We went for an evening stroll along the harbour pier and the coastal boardwalk, and out to Griffiths Island. From here we were able to witness the return of thousands of Shearwaters (Mutton birds) to their rookery. Mutton birds are ground nesting and build burrows in the long grass growing on the coastal dunes, which they return to each evening after a days fishing. My Uncle Laurie used to tell me stories of catching Mutton birds for dinner.

From Port Fairy we drove along the Great Ocean Road, stopping at the sites, along with the hundreds of overseas tourists. It is a dramatic and awesome coast line. We decided to head into the Western Otway’s, driving up through Beech Forest, which Russ remembered from a childhood road trip. Unfortunately, it wasn’t quiet what he remembered from over 35 years ago. (Really!) We again went on a magical mystery tour, attempting to follow one of the Victorian National Park maps to a camping site within the forest. It was a beautiful drive through tall Mountain Ash trees and huge tree ferns. However we became a little lost after an hour or so, and again it was approaching 6pm, and we still hadn’t found the camping site we were looking for. The roads were all old logging tracks, muddy from recent rain and steep in sections. Luckily we came upon some fellows gathering wood, and they directed us to a camp site called Dandoes. (Not the one we were looking for) It was set in an old logging camp on a creek, with remnants of tall blue-gums planted in straight lines that we camped beneath. The place filled up the next day with locals from Geelong and surrounds, who liked to party, turn their music up and drink rather a lot. Thankfully by the third day, they all packed up and left us to a very quiet and peaceful evening. We explored the area, after being shown a quicker route then the one we had come in on. Walking among the majestic Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans), the second largest tree in the world, stunning views, the most amazing forest drive and the Otway Fly made this another highlight.

We are now camped in the eastern Otway’s, at Blanket Bay, a much easier place to find. As we drove towards Cape Otway we had to stop for a Koala crossing the road. The surrounding eucalypts were literally littered with them, and the trees themselves looked worse for wear. Last night a young Koala walked through our camp site, and is still asleep in the tree above our camper today. We saw two Echidnas next to us and have found a further two Koalas near us. We also had a visit from a fox and a feral kitten. The girls are obviously delighted. Koalas make grunting noises by the way, very odd, and their scats (poo) resemble those of a possum. We know because they are all over our mat!

Grampian rock art

More beautiful flowers

Looking across the Grampians

Here comes the rain!

The caldera at Tower Hill

The Grotto on the Great Ocean rd.

Twelve Apostles

just because we were lost didn't stop us taking this photo of the creek in the Otway's

Triplet falls, the Otway's

Our resident koala

Mist rolls in across Blanket Bay, Otway's

The devastation of the trees by koalas

at Bells Beach

The surf was pumping when "Super Russ" decided on a swim at Bells (those are really his undies!)

Adelaide and beyond.(New & improved, now with 15% less fat...but same great taste!))

Croquet any one?  Adelaide is one of the few places that actually play that game.

It is quite the place though, with trams going every-which-way, expensive mansions left-right-and-centre and shopping centres to get really lost in!

Besides all that, I really liked it here.

I was lucky enough to have my ears pierced while I was here! It felt very weird, but it was quick and the nervousness went away as soon as the needle came out of my ear, now I have a beautiful pair of dark blue studs, mum still thinks the good ‘ole sleepers  were better.

Mum left us for 3 nights to go to a cousin’s wedding in Noosa, while the rest of us had a wonderful time without her.

While she was gone we went to the zoo there and saw the only Giant Pandas in Australia, called; Wang Wang and Funi, we also saw Sumatran Tigers, many exotic and native birds, an extremely long Anaconda and lots of other animals all in lovely botanic surroundings. We caught a tram into the city and visited the museum there, with one particular exhibition all about The Kraken! There was one exhibition  full of stuffed animals from all around the globe, Tapirs, Tigers Grizzly Bears, Gorillas, Lions, Moose, potato, Moose, Moose, Potato, yep you name it, it was all there.

We got out of the Museum just in time just as the doors were just shutting, just like Perth! (sorry about all the “justs”)

We went out to dinner a couple of times each came with the complaint from Ellie “But I don’t wanna go out!”

We stayed in a very “Resort style” Caravan Park, with two large jumping pillows, a TV room and Games room, a large Playground, a tennis court, 2 swimming pools, a mini Basketball Court, a huge Skate Park right next door and a GIANORMOUS laundry, most of it was a child’s dream come true, correction, Ellie’s  dream come true.

I loved Adelaide

By Maeve J

From Adelaide we headed for the Coorong National Park, renowned for its bird life. It is a series of long, thin lakes, fed by the mighty Murray River, and separated from the ocean by a narrow strip of sand dunes. We were lucky to spot a rare and endangered Mallee fowl. They are a large bird, larger than a duck, which build huge mounds, like Brush Turkeys. To get to the Coorong we crossed the Murray by punt not that far from the river mouth at the small village of Wellington and hit the Princes Highway – which, incidentally, could have taken us if we so chose, all the way home (but we’re not ready for that just yet).

From the Coorong we headed for Naracoorte Caves NP, via the town of Kingston SE (we couldn’t find out what “SE” stands for, but guess it means South East). Its claim to fame, as well as fine limestone coast wines, is as home of the Big Lobster.  Naracoorte was the 8^th world heritage site we have visited on this trip, and is paired with the better known Riversleigh Fossil site we visited earlier in western Queensland. Both sites are on the world heritage list because of the information they have yielded on the evolution of Australian fauna. Naracoorte is a group of limestone caves which is the site of megafauna fossils, including the Diprotodon (an extinct giant wombat) and several other extinct mammals. One resembled a small hippo and another, a tapir. At least 3 species of extinct leaf-eating kangaroos (twice as large as today’s kangaroos) have also been found here. There’s a fantastic interpretive display here with full-sized moving models of some of the fauna in their recreated habitat from the world of several hundred thousand years past. We were able to explore two of the caves, one of which is still being investigated by palaeontologists. Their dig sites have inspired Nellie who is considering this as a future career.

From Naracoorte we headed to a cold and drizzly Mount Gambier, via Penola and the Coonawarra wine growing region. We stopped at the Mary Mackillop centre in Penola to pay our respects to the country’s first saint  - ie investment in a few souvenirs. This was where St Mary of the Cross, as she is now known, first set up a school and founded her order of Josephite nuns. Mount Gambier is a picturesque city (South Australia’s second largest), set around three volcanic calderas, one of which is the famous Blue Lake, due to its amazing colour. The city is built atop even more limestone caverns and underground lakes. One of the most interesting is the Umpherston Sinkhole, a large open cave where the roof has collapsed (long, long time ago) leaving a huge limestone-walled hole in the ground about 100 metres in diameter and 15 to 20 metres deep. It was transformed in the late 1800s into a mini Hanging Garden of Babylon, with a series of below-ground terraces with garden plantings and is now freely open to the public. We had planned to revisit it after dark when apparently the possums come out to feed in their hordes, but the damned freezing temperatures here sort of cooled our enthusiasm.  We hope the possums are also as sensible.  We head for Victoria and the Grampians tomorrow.  In all our 7 months of travel we have not resorted to a single fast food joint, no Mcdonalds or similar junk has tempted the girls, and they are very proud! Another interesting observation is that A.C.T. number plates are the rarest to find.

Solar challenge car from University of Chile, staying  at same caravan park in Adelaide

A Proud Achievement

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The old tramway connecting Victor Harbour to Granite island where there is colony of Little Penguins. (Looking back towards Victor Harbour)

One of the hundreds of Shingle Back lizards that inhabit this area. The girls had fun patting them.

Crossing the mighty Murray River by punt.

Looking across the Coorong towards the narrow sand dunes separating lakes from the ocean

A Mallee Fowl mound

One of the giant leaf eating kangaroos. Notice the skulls on the left? They are modern grass eating kangaroo skulls....notice the size difference? Thus is a single skeleton, found in the cave.

A marsupial lion. This was made up from several as they have not found a complete "single" skeleton.

The dig site.

"Cool" says the future palaeontologist.

Saint Mary Mackillop.

The Blue Lake @ Mt Gambier

Umpherston Sinkhole

Bound for South Australia

The Nullarbor Plain is, in parts, indeed “treeless”…Null (ie none)…Arbor (trees)! Wow, we hadn’t really known where the word came from until we were crossing this giant limestone plain. We took 3 days to cross, from Esperance in WA at the western end of the Great Australian Bight, to Streaky Bay SA at the eastern end. The nights on the plain were cold, and quiet, except for the sounds through the night of distant road trains, and the haunting calls of the Bronze-wing Pigeons. They sounded like the sound effects out of a science fiction movie, a sort of low, resonating whistle-come-moan that drifted from left to right across the bare plains.  We stopped at Head of Bight on the second night, and in the morning watched Southern Right Whales with their calves swimming within metres of the awesome Bunda Cliffs on which we stood. Travelling down the Eyre Peninsula we stopped at Streaky Bay, a sleepy, picturesque fishing town nestled around a small bay.  The caravan park was on the shores of the bay, with the water lapping within metres of our campsite. The girls walked to the long jetty for a spot of fishing, and caught sight of a sea lion, frolicking beneath the wooden pier. We had our first “freak accident” when a huge storm erupted in the middle of the night. A massive gust of wind pushed the canvas in, toppling our entire kitchen bench, 20 litres of water spilling out of the jerry can through the tent and to top it all off, the partially set jelly was splattered all over the walls and floor. Nellie was very scared, Maeve hid under her blanket, then comforted her sister whilst Russ and I spent an hour or so mopping up. The lightning, thunder and wind slowly abated and we all fell back to sleep around 4am. On the southern side of the peninsula from Streaky Bay was the Southern Ocean, with more amazing cliffs and the largest colony of sea lions on the mainland at Point Labatt. It was very windy and cold, but we persevered, and Russ managed to capture some photos of the lolling giants and their bubs from above. From Streaky Bay we continued south to Coffin Bay, which is set on a series of lagoons and surrounded by swampy marshes and wetlands. We spent a few nights here amongst the heath and abundant birdlife. Some more great wild and windy Southern Ocean views from places with great names like Cape Avoid (which some ships in the past, and to their peril, didn’t). From Coffin Bay we headed up the other side of the peninsula and around the Spencer Gulf, passing through Port Lincoln, Port Augusta and past Port Pirie. Driving through these industrial towns felt like driving through a large Port Kembla, and for a girl from the Gong, didn’t hold much interest. We camped at Mount Remarkable, which forms the southern tip of the Flinders Ranges. This was another surprise, as we had little information to go on. It was a beautiful campsite, with towering River Red Gums and native Cypress Pines, set along a shallow creek bed, with large shady sites, yummy hot showers and best of all wood fires! We could only spend a night there, but were able to complete a quick 8 km walk up to a lookout and back before heading to Adelaide in the afternoon. It certainly will be on our agenda for our next trip. We have had to make some adjustments to our planned itinerary, due to lack of time. This means we will leave the “red centre” for another time, and go home via the Great Ocean Road and maybe some of the Victorian high country. We have spent too much time enjoying ourselves in the tropics and feel that to do the “Centre” justice, we need more than 3 weeks. (Another Trak Shak venture on the horizon in a year or so, eh.  We’d better start planning! Anyone keen to join?) 

Here we go! Across the Nullarbor.

Look no hands! How to drive the straight bits.

As the sun slowly sinks across the plains.

Full moon over the Nullarbor.

Hand over all your fruit & veg once more.

The stunning Bunda cliffs at Head of Bight SA

A Southern Right whale & calf.

Oh look...sealions!

Look closer....

closer...

Aren't they cute!

A Golden Whistler. They have the most beautiful song.

A Blue Fairy Wren

Walking at Mt Remarkable

Cypress forest.

Here we are in the Flinders. 

The camp goanna, being harassed by some Kookaburras.