Hi all,  We are on the move again. Early February we left for an eight week jaunt to Victoria.   We spent the first week in Iluka with Dean, Sen and the kids.  Then off to Scotts Head where we met up with friends to start our way down the coast to Victoria.  After a couple of days at Scotts Head we headed for Old Bar near Taree for a few days.  Then  overnighted at Gosford greyhound racing track. After negotiating our way around Sydney (not the easiest thing to do towing the van) our goal was to go to Kangaroo Valley but fortunately for us it was booked out.  We have since been told it is a very windy steep road out of there so I feel a bit lucky about that!  We ended up at Shelharbour for a couple of nights then three nights at Huskisson (Jervis Bay). Got a bit adventurous there and hired a kayak for a couple of hours which was fun. We are now at Batemans Bay.  Today we all went to Mogo Zoo which is a very well kept small zoo. First time I have seen a cheetah walking around!

Tomorrow it is off to the markets then a bush walk and Sunday we have all planned a river boat lunch cruise up the river @ Batemans Bay. It’s been great sharing our  travels and happy hours with Denise and Bill. After here not too sure, probably Eden followed by Lakes Entrance. No plans after that….So far we have been fortunate with the weather (keeping a close eye on Brisbane weather though – thanks Darren for keeping an eye on the home front for us).  As you know we have been thinking about a move to a beach area well that just might change judging by the sand fly, midgie bites etc. that Tony is currently dealing with!!!!

hi, finally found some wifi. very limited access around the wonderful west. it was quite a shock arriving in vegas after the peace of the last ten days. just come back from a walk along the strip and will go back after dark. first impression is glitz and more glitz, busy, touristy and basically not for me but hey great to be here. would love to be game to lose $50 on blackjack but am not game enough to sit at one of the tables!!! this is a test so hopefully I can send some more from banff ….

🙂

his everyone.   sorry about the last post..I was practicing on my tablet and accidently pressed the publish key, decided to delete it and well you all know the result of that:)  thanks to all who alerted me to the problem.                  Hopefully this one works..here goes.   Jenny

My final post for this trip. We decided to stay at this Lake Leslie camp site for our last night rather than a caravan park.  It is hard to believe we are at the end of our adventure, traveling 23000k in 24 weeks.  Over the last six months we have seen so much of Australia but oh so much more to see.  We have met some very happy first time grey nomads, some retirees who “migrate” to the warmer climes every year although I couldn’t imagine going to the same spot every year for 3 months – most of these people book their sites 3-4 years in advance!

Back to Albury.  Our first day in Albury was a town walk with me asking Tony to have the same patience while I window shop as I do when he “Museum shops”!!!.  We did the town heritage walk starting at the Railway Station.  This was a very busy rail station in the early to mid 1900’s.  It was where the rail gauges from Victoria to NSW changed.  It is a very grand old building and has one of the longest platforms in Australia.   We then wandered around the shopping precinct, same shops, cafes etc you find anywhere but for me well worth the walk around the shops.Back to the park for an afternoon of rest and a couple of games of table tennis on a very wonky table with our very cheap paddles and balls but it was something to do. We are both feeling like resting a lot more than when we did when we started out  nearly 6 months ago.

Our last day in Albury was spent driving out to Lake Hume and home via “The Bongilla Migrant Experience” at Wadonga.  This was site 19 accommodation block of an original 24 sites  of Australia’s largest longest operating migrant centre .It was very interesting reading some of the comments of the people who passed through here.  Some were grateful for the chance Australia gave them for a new life and others complained about the food, mainly boiled mutton, white onion sauce and veges. That’s human nature I guess.

Heading now for Bathurst. we stopped at Wagga Wagga for morning tea at a beautiful park which also had the RSL remembrance rotunda with the eternal flame.  We decided that Wagga Wagga was a spot that needs to be re-visited – not quite sure now why!!  We decided on a free camp on the way . we found this reserve which is about 35k north of Junee.  Previously we have not gone to any free camps that had dirt road access but the driver felt confident so we headed down the 4k dirt track to the dam.  Lucky he did because it is really a beautiful spot but one has to be here early because there are not many level sites.

Now for Bathurst.  Seems the only thing to do in Bathurst is drive around Mount Panorama.  Tony did a number of circuits and talked me into a lap so he could video the track – I think I should be awarded the trophy for the slowest lap ever.  I was really surprised at how windy and steep the circuit is.  Certainly doesn’t look hard on the tele.

We did find some other things to do. We spent a few hours doing the town heritage drive seeing among other older buildings Ben Chifley’s home which is now on the heritage list, the Bathurst Goal which has quite a splendid sandstone façade – this is now a minimum security goal, and the railway is quite a nice old building.  Grand railway stations seem to be the normal in a lot of the towns we have visited.   Home for a walk around the park, a couple of quick games of table tennis – which I always lose but its fun anyway.

On to Katoomba.

After once again marvelling at the three sisters, a different view this morning with the sun shining on the mountains . We hopped on the scenic railway (world’s steepest railway) down into the valley.  We spent a couple of hours wandering around the walkway through the rainforest valley.  We then caught the cableway back to the main area.  This cableway is 545 metres. The views over the mountains and valley from this cable car are stunning.  We then took a ride on the skyway.  This cable car is 270 metres above ground and crosses the valley.  It has a glass floor which surprisingly didn’t make me feel unnerved.   Once back in the main building we went down the valley again, this time in the cableway – it was a bit more stomach churning going down – then came up via the railway.  Once again going up, for me anyway, was a bit more scary because I felt like I was falling forward when in fact you go up the railway backwards.

Then a visit to rellies in Stockton & Singleton then we decided to back track a little to go to Dubbo Zoo.  Having decided we wanted to go to the zoo we were still a little skeptical having seen many of the animals in the wild in Africa.  We were pleasantly surprised and spent 7 hours over 2 days at the zoo.  We hadn’t seen tigers or cheetahs in the wild so I was a little disappointed that the cheetah were just doing their own thing being lazy.  On the first day we could hardly see them lying in the grass but on the second day one was lying across a large rock so we could see their size. I was surprised at the size of the Galapagos tortoises.  They really liked getting their necks tickled, after a while they stretched right out and stayed that way until you walked away.

The meerkats were quite majestic looking while on watch.  Once again their size, small this time, surprised me.  I had watched the TV series on meerkats but didn’t really grasp how small they are.  Anyway in all a good time was had at the zoo.  I am sure we would go back if ever in Dubbo again.

On to a very nice caravan park in Tamworth, not crowded and lots of space.  I guess if you don’t like country music you don’t like Tamworth!  We did spend a few hours wandering around the town walk but that was a about it.

Then on to our last night at Leslie Dam.  That is our trip.  What next? I am off to Sydney in a couple of weeks to see Troy & Adam and his family and catch up with a girlfriend for some “girlie” time and shopping and then home to organise a week in Iluka to spend some time with Dean & his family then who knows?

Jenny x

Another week has passed already.  We spent 6 nights at Buronga Caravan Park (just opposite Mildura on the Murray River).  We went on a day trip to Wentworth and found the lookout for the junction of the Murray and Darling rivers.  There is a lot of water in the Murray at the moment – so much in fact we couldn’t go on a lunch cruise we wanted to because the water was too high to dock the paddle steamer at the restaurant. We were told when the river is lower there is a distinct difference in colour between the Darling and Murray rivers but today they both just looked muddy! We then found a walk on the island between the two rivers which took us to the confluence of the rivers.

One of the things we both wanted to do was a Riverboat cruise on the Murray.  We went on a two hour cruise that included going through one of the locks. It didn’t take long for the water level to rise, maybe 10-15 minutes. We spent a lot of time just sitting around our campsite as it was a very relaxing spot to be but all things come to an end and we headed for Echuca for 3 nights.  We took our time getting there stopping at Swan Hill on the way for lunch. Driving through the Murray River valley at the moment is very pretty as all the blossom trees are in bloom.

At Echuca we went on another cruise, this time on the Pevensey which was used in the 1980s mini series “All the Rivers Run”. This was only for an hour but it was powered by a steam engine which one of us was enthused by.  Of course when you are staying in a town that is advertised to have “the best fish and chips in Victoria” you just have to have fish and chips for dinner – that was our excuse anyway.

Now we are in Albury for 3 nights after driving into a number of smaller town city centres along the way.  There have been so many smaller towns that we have bypassed along the way that we could easily return down this way and spend much more time wandering around these towns – what did travelers do before the GPS was invented? Yes, I know, the passenger could navigate…..

We planned the rest of our journey home yesterday so that really emphasised the fact that we are nearly home but we are trying not to think about the end of the trip just yet – still lots to see and do.

I had a turn of “captaining” the Rothbury.  I was surprised at just how hard it was to turn the wheel – it took me all of my limited strength to do this

This family of ducks entertained everyone at happy hour.

On the road from Swan Hill to Echuca we were surprised to come across this crop dusting and see how close to the road he was flying.  He crossed the road after each round of dusting, did a u turn and back across the road to continue the dusting.

Echuca Wharf

Hi again – I can’t believe 4 weeks from today we will be home.  Our great adventure has whizzed by.  Conversation these days tends to be all about head winds, tail winds, no winds, litres per 100k, where to stop, how long to stay the list goes on…but don’t forget the navigating – that just never goes away and after 20 weeks it still stresses me out!!  So far we have traveled about 20,000k and taken 1800 photos.  My job has been to name the photos along the way so when we get home it will all make some sort of sense.  Traveling through SA has been very picturesque with the canola fields and wheat fields all looking very colorful due to the good rains they have had through winter.  After leaving the Flinders we headed for Melrose, then onto Burra where Tony’s great grandparents settled after arriving from Cornwell, then to Yorke Peninsula & Renmark where we caught up with some of Tony’s friends and we are now at Mildura.

Brachina Gorge was my favorite part of the Flinders because of its spectacular colours, creek crossings and amazingly, solitude. We wandered through this part of the gorge with our picnic lunch just soaking it all up.

This was our last morning in the Flinders Ranges.  We had very cold evenings and early mornings but luckily bright sunny days.

Finally then onto Melrose.  I don’t remember too much about Melrose because as you can see I was very happy to meet up with these three little delights (and their parents too of course).  The weather wasn’t so kind to us here unfortunately. By the time we packed up we were all ankle deep in mud around our vans but that didn’t stop us walking around the town finding a cosy little coffee shop with an open fire, lots of farm animals , going for hot rod rides, (there is a hot rod display held every 2 years to raise funds for the local school and this weekend happened to be it- the kids loved it).

In Burra you can purchase a town pass which gives you a key to access historical sites including the old goal, brewery and original cottages around the town and 3 museums. The main feature of Burra is their copper mining history in the early 1900s. After some searching in the local cemetery Tony found a couple of headstones belonging to his ancestors.

We were surprised to see these daisies along the highway through SA.  Made me think I should plant some when I go home to brighten up my world.

We certainly got lucky with this park right on the Murray riverbank –  NSW side.  We had decided it was time for a rest and seeing it is such a lovely spot we will probably be here 5 or 6 nights.  The van with the awning out is ours.  Tonight Tony lit a campfire and we had 10 people for happy hour .Most of them from SA or Melbourne just getting away from the cold for a few nights.   One of the good things about the weather improving is we can now start enjoying happy hour again.  In the colder weather everyone is tucked up inside by 5.30-6pm.   As you can see from the top photo Tony is getting into the relaxed mode.  He says he is not too sure what he will do when he gets home now that he has retired.

Jenny x

Hi again everyone,

Arrived @ Coffin Bay via a roadside “bakery”.  No idea where the bread was baked but everything was $4 via the honesty system and the yummiest, crunchiest vienna bread ever! Tony read in one of the brochures Coffin Bay is the place to buy oysters, so first stop after setting up was for oysters.  As luck happened just opposite the caravan park. $18/dozen for kilpatrick. (He went back the next day for another dozen).           We went on a boat tour on Boston Bay, Port Lincoln to see some seal lions and find out about the tuna fishing industry.  This proved to be a very informative day.  The tuna are caught at sea weighing about 20kg and then placed in the farms (up to 2000 in each enclosure) until the grow to about 40kg then they are processed and loaded on to ships bound for Japan.  80% of all tuna farmed go to Japan.  The buyer supervises the killing process and it must not take any longer than 11 minutes from when the tuna is caught by hand by the divers until it is killed and gutted.  The average time is 4 minutes.   The buyer also supervises the packing to make sure the tuna do not lose their shape. The tuna are worth $1000 each.  We then stopped beside a Japanese ship watching the loading process.

Then back to calmer waters for a Bluefin tuna sushimi tasting.  The tasting was prepared by each person (6) being given a paper plate, a small medicine glass size plastic cup with a sticky on the bottom to attach to plate which was filled with soy sauce, then wasabi, pickled ginger and horse radish put on the plate.  The idea was to put a little ginger, wasabi or horse radish on the tuna, fold it over, dip it in the soy sauce then eat it with plastic fork supplied.  From my point of view it was OK but certainly I would not pay $200 a plate for it!

Then on to Whyalla.  We did a bus tour around the Wyalla Steel works.  .  Went to see the blast furnace (where they make pig iron), saw the loading of iron pellets from rail wagons to blast furnace and then taking away  molten slag in huge containers and tipping it.  The red hot pour reminded me of a HUGE gold pour.  Then on to have a look at the coke ovens (there are 104 in total) where coal is heated up to 1600 degrees to produce coke then pushed out of the ovens, which looks like molten lava tumbling out, then to a cooling tower where water is poured over it making huge clouds of steam.  Then a tour of the steel mill..  After the tour ended we decided to go to a local hotel for lunch (roast of the day) and then back to the information centre for a tour of Whyalla Maritime Museum which included a tour of the wartime corvette HMAS Whyalla.  The Whyalla was sold after the war and bought back by the Whyalla Council in 1988 for $5000.00.  It cost $450,000.00 to move from the waters edge to its present site at the Museum.  The museum houses one of the largest model railways in the southern hemisphere.  It has 400 metres of track featuring lines between Whyalla and the iron ore mines and the setting is in a natural landscape.

Next a 300k drive to Parachilna (north of Port Augusta). . The population here is under 10.  The Prairie Hotel has been licensed since the late 1890’s. Their claim to fame is a meal called something like “Critters Delight” which is a camel sausage, some emu fillet mignon  and a kangaroo steak.  Tony then tried the Critters Delights – verdict – camel sausage – OK, emu – tough,  kangaroo – delicious.  I had fish and chips. We had a non powered site, overlooking the Heysen Range, in the old school grounds which is now a bush camping spot run by 5 locals ($10.50ea). – I guess that is most of the town! Tonight we are the only ones in the school grounds. It is kind of sad coming across these almost ghost towns that were quite busy in times gone by.  In this area there are a number of house ruins dotted along the highway.

With a bit of trepidation we left the caravan in the school grounds all by itself and set off for a drive.  We went on a 120k loop drive through the Parachilna Gorge, crossing creeks, admiring the everlasting views, walked a VERY small way on the Heysen trail (the trail starts here and goes to Cape Jervis – a total of 1200k) then on to Blinman then 26k south to drive through the Brachina Gorge, a bit more of a challenging drive again crossing creeks.  I think this Gorge was even more spectacular.

After 2 nights in Parachilna we set off for Rawnsley Bluff Tourist Park in the Flinders Ranges. On Sunday we decided on a long walk to Wilpena Lookout at Rawnsley Bluff.  This was an 11.5k hike, rated difficult, taking us 4 ¾ hrs. (the signage says 4 hrs but Tony maintains if you are over 60 you can add an hour!)The track was up up all the way with one third of being relatively easy on a gravel track, another third was difficult walking over uneven rocks and one third was very challenging for us needing all fours to scramble over and up and down the rocks.  The effort was certainly worth it with magnificent views over Wilpena Pound but the views going up are more appreciated on the way down were equally as beautiful.  The red colours change every corner you turn.

We have heaps of photos of this spectacular region because you just can’t stop taking just one more great shot.

Today was just a driving day after all the exercise yesterday.  Once again you just can’t help but marvel at the scenery.  The rich colours of the range, together with many different shades of green in the trees and grass dappled with small yellow flowers and the gum trees with their beautiful white trunks.  Unfortunately our little camera doesn’t do it justice.

We are here for another couple of nights then off to Melrose where we are meeting up with Dean, Sen & the littlies for a few nights.

Catch up again soon,

Jenny x

Hi again,  It is hard to believe another two weeks has passed since my last post and we will be home in another 9 weeks.  The time is certainly going fast.  A few snippets from the past couple of weeks. The town of Cowaramup which is only about 2k from our caravan park in Margaret River certainly trades on its name.  There are pretend cows in front of most stores, in the park basically everywhere.  I felt sorry for the ones outside the butcher shop!

Of course you can’t visit Margaret River without a visit to one of the wineries and having lunch.  A taste plate for Tony

Then onto Albany via Walpole where we found a nice tree walk to stretch our legs.  Our couple of days in Albany were spent driving around taking in the scenery and a visit to Whaleworld – we didn’t go in because we would have had to wait an hour for next tour but here you can take yourself back 30 yrs and board the last whaling boat used by Australia. After our Albany stay it was back in the car and a 340k drive to Wave Rock passing many salt lakes.  Settled into the park which is a very short walk to the large granite outcrop known as Wave Rock and then did a 3.6k walk up and over the rock. The rock is used as a catchment area for the local water supply so there is a wall built on the rock channeling the water into a dam. Then another 1k walk and home for the night.

After a lot more walking the following day we headed south via Esperance and then up to Norseman to start our Nullarbor journey.  We free camped for 4 nights on our way to Ceduna.  Free camping is certainly a much more relaxed way to go, nice starry nights, camp fires, crisp clear mornings, no-one parked just next door – the list goes on.  The downside of course is if no-one else is there you don’t sleep as soundly!!

We called into the Whale Centre along the Great Australian Bight after waking up to a very foggy morning and 6 degrees. (where is that power point for the heater!!). After paying our $12 each admission (that’s the oldies price) we set out for the viewing platform.  What a treat it was – there were at least 20-30 whales and their babies lolling around which could be easily seen from the boardwalk.  One showed us his tail occasionally.  They were close enough that you could hear their sounds and air blowing.  They weren’t all that playful but after reading the signage we learnt that the babies are still too young to be too playful just yet – mother and baby stay together very closely initially – so close actually that sometimes it was only by binoculars you could see the baby near its mother. The coastline along here is just spectacular.

and here we are now at Ceduna having made a successful Nullarbor crossing.  The first day I wish we had counted the road trains we met along the way.  Our guess was at least 40-50 and every time one went by Tony had to put his arm out and hold on to our mirror because the wind drift was so strong it was blowing the mirror off the suction at the car – he had a tired arm by the end of that day – our longest driving day so far – 480k.  Even after buying the recommended mirrors they have been the most hassle along the way.  The crossing wasn’t as boring and tedious as I had expected with changing scenery along the way, even the treeless plain was something different to look at.  There were lots of Wedgetail eagles along the way.

Hi again, After 14 weeks on the road we are still having fun.   After leaving Geraldton we went inland to Mt Magnet doing a loop back to the coast to Dongara (about 900k) searching for wildflowers (although we weren’t expecting many as we had been told there hasn’t been enough rain this year).  We were surprised at how many wildflowers we did see.  A few fields of everlasting daisies, bright red banksias, wattle and heaps of others I don’t know the names of.

We stopped at the site of Lennonville – a town of about 3000 in its gold rush days of 1894 – 1906 but now there is nothing except for a broken railway siding. At Mt Magnet we did a quick  walk around the town (didn’t take long – population here 700).  There are still some old buildings, school, police station, a couple of hotels etc).

Overnight at a free camp site (White Wells).  no other vans here yet.  .  Nobody came!Tony built a fire to sit around with our coffee and we settled in for an early night, lights out to make ourselves as invisible as possible.  Sometime during the night two trucks came in, they were refrigerated trucks so we had the drone of their compressors to keep us awake but at least I felt safer.

Next stop Paynes Find for petrol and there was a small museum about the gold mining in this area. The museum was actually owned and run by a woman (the only Australian woman) who worked the stamper battery.  She was a 3^rd generation miner and this battery was last used about 5 years ago.  She sold her and her father’s leases a few years back, she said fortunately when gold was at a good price! 

After another free camp – this time at a very popular free camp spot – at least 20 vans.  We headed for Jurien Bay, running into some very heavy rain – couldn’t see the white line at times – but made it safely. From here we drove about 17k south to the Pinnacles (literally thousands of limestone pillars rising from the sand dunes before heading to New Norcia. . 

New Norcia was founded in 1847 by the Benedictine monks originally for the support of the aboriginal community. Today the only people that can be buried in the local cemetery are the monks or aborigines.  There has been 80 monks living here but now it is down to 7 and 1 novice.    They still bake their own bread and I am sure it is the yummiest bread I have tasted.  We did a town tour with a guide (who told me he is 48 – I would have believed 38).  He applied to enter the monastery but said he was told he “wasn’t cut of good enough cloth” so now he just works there!!. 

Then to Perth. the caravan was booked in for a service in Perth and because of the bad weather (windy gusts over 90k per hour and heavy rain we decided to stay put for another day.  We are now in Margaret River- a farm stay park.  I just feel like I am in the country, animal feeding each day – I need the grandchildren!  The downside for me of all this travelling around is the navigating.  I just don’t seem to be able to read a map no matter how hard I try so that part is very stressful.  The GPS is good for A-B but getting around the towns is a bit of a challenge.

The lobster is tasty over here.  This is our third lobster dinner so probably our last!

Busselton jetty – we gave the tram and miss and walked the1.8k each way.  There is an underwater observatory (8 metres) at the end of the jetty but because of the recent bad weather this was closed due to poor visibility.

x

Hi again everyone,

Just a few photos of our last week.  We had lots of walks in the Kalbarri National Park.  The cliffs at Kalbarri are very similar to the Great Ocean Road and some of the landscape is very similar to the Kimberleys.  The red layers of sandstone I guess.  The week at Geraldton has been less hectic, visiting a couple of museums, a couple of day trips. Oh and of course there has been lots of Wimbledon tennis watching on my behalf.   I will let the photos do the talking.

There are numerous signs along the way “Stay away from cliff edges”.  I guess this photo shows why.

Lunch spots don’t get much better than this.

It was certainly worth a trip to here. The Principality was formed to outwit the WA Government over a threatened resumption of land due to a dispute over wheat quotas. Apparently under some ancient law a Principality is exempt from land resumptions!

This is an amazing memorial site.  Since the HMAS Sydney 11 wreck site has been found they have added the final stage of this site.

Amazing what you give way to…..

Blending in with the locals  –  this is in the first week of our trip….

Love….Jenny