Travelling Around Australia

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Continuing our journey..Hopetoun, Victoria

January 11^th 2013 to January 21^st 2013

I am writing this blog a little earlier than I had intended, I prefer to do one every month or so, but this destination needs to be written about. Who knew Victoria had such a lot of attractions, not many of us, because we prefer travelling interstate. But believe me if you can think outside the square and don’t mind a bit of camping, Victoria has a real lot to offer, including this delightful destination I am blogging about. We met a lady from Tasmania (no reflection on the beautiful Tasmanians we have met) at Bass Reserve on our way home in January 2012 who told us she hated Victoria because there were no decent places to camp and nothing to see. Clearly she didn’t try too hard. I now know Victoria is fantastic if only we took a little time to explore.

The day we left Rocklands it was tipped to be 44 degrees. In hindsight we should have stayed another day. The trip to Hopetoun was difficult to say the least. We travelled into a very strong northerly wind which prevented us from doing more than 70 kph all the way. A one and a half hour trip turned into a more than two hour trip. The only reason we chose Hopetoun was to split the trip up between Rocklands and Mildura. We generally don’t like travelling more than two or three hours between destinations. Aside from the length of travel, we find we miss too much if we travel long stints.

We had never heard of Hopetoun as far as a tourist destination, so we weren’t sure of what we would find on our arrival. After the long and hot trip from Rocklands and the flat, dry and bland scenery we came upon our destination. Lake Lascelles in Hopetoun is an oasis in the Mallee, there is no other way to describe it. It was a very welcoming sight and before we even set up for our stay we dove straight into the water to cool down. We camped on the Eastern side of the lake, which is the free camping area and only 10 metres from the lakes edge.

Hopetoun is about 5 hrs from Geelong and is between Horsham and Mildura in the Mallee region. It is only a small community with about 590 people, but it has everything you need as far as supplies go. An IGA, a bank, 2 service stations, a pub, a butcher, a cafe, newsagent, pharmacy and Post Office among the services provided. The people of this town are very friendly and welcome visitors into their small community with open arms. The Apex Club, the Angling Club and the community in general have done a fantastic job of developing Lake Lascelles into a tourist attraction and take great pride in their achievements.

Lake Lascelles is a mecca for walkers, swimmers, boating enthusiasts and fisherman. Water skiing is an extremely popular pastime here and we have witnessed many days of this activity. It is a perfect lake for our Hobie as the circumference of the lake is around 2 km’s and it makes for a great workout. It also great for swimming and the weather this time of year allows us to enjoy it every day. It is also the perfect lake for take a stroll around. BBQ areas are situated in four areas around the lake with maintained grassed areas. Playgrounds, toilet and shower facilities and firepits are also provided. All free of charge. But if you are like us, a donation wouldn’t go astray to help this lake remain fully maintained and functional.

We are camped on the Eastern side of the lake, which is a free area. We have access to fresh water, can dispose of our rubbish as well as enjoy the grassy areas. It is really very beautiful. On the Western side of the lake (town side) there are powered sites available on a first in first served basis. They only cost $15 dollars per night and are based on an honesty system, as is the hot water for showers. Also on that side of the lake is the Mallee Bush Retreat accommodation area. The buildings are built from corrugated iron and timber and have a very rustic feel. It is a fantastic complex and offers unique accommodation for a very moderate price.

The buildings in this complex have unique names which represent the farming heritage of the area such as Cow Shed, Horses Stables, Silo and Limestone Grainstore. The Shearing Shed houses the camp kitchen which is fully functional and includes a TV and fireplace. The Mallee Bush Retreat would be a great place for a completely relaxing holiday in a natural environment. They were all designed and built by a local builder.

We have enjoyed a beer with two locals who both had a hand in developing this site. Peter is the treasure of the Apex Club and Chick represents the Angling club. They really love their lake and its surrounds and volunteer their time to maintain and keep the area clean for visitors and locals alike. I really commend their efforts, it truly is first rate.

For those of you who have never been here, you really should do yourselves a favour and try it out one long weekend. It is really popular over Christmas, New Year and Easter, so perhaps a quieter time in February, March or April would be and ideal time. If you don’t mind the free camping and are self sufficient, 2 or 3 nights on the Eastern side of the lake in your tent would be perfect. I honestly cannot recommend this place highly enough and of course the people of the community would welcome and deserve your patronage.

Hopetoun is also the gateway to the National Parks in the area. The Wyperfield National Park, the Murray-Sunset National Park and the Big Desert Wilderness Park are popular with 4WD enthusiasts who want to take the great Mallee Drive. It is 625 km drive, which is usually done over a numbers of days with some fantastic camping spots along the way. It is best done at a leisurely pace so you can enjoy the region and even though the Mallee is Victoria’s driest region, there is still an abundance of wildlife and flora to enjoy.Althoug we had a peek at it, Greg and I did not do this trip as it is best done in the spring. The weather is far too hot this time of the year, but it is something we will look forward to doing in the future.

We are heading off tomorrow (Monday 21^st Jan) to camp at a little spot called Psyches Bend about 12 km’s east of Mildura on the might Murray river. I love the Murray and look forward to giving you details of that adventure in my next blog. Cheers til next time.

View from our camp through the trees

Reflections at dusk

Part of Lake Lascelles

Sunset at the lake

The beautiful colours of sunset at Lake Lascelles

Skiing action at the Lake

Ducks on the lake

Local Artwork at the Mallee Bush Retreat

Buildings in the Mallee Bush Retreat

Part of the camp kitchen at Mallee Bush Retreat

The Silos accommodation at Mallee Bush Retreat

More accommodation at Mallee Bush Retreat

And yet some more accommodation

The big meeting place Mallee Bush Retreat

View of the lake (Western Side) we are over the other side

More boat action

more skiing action

Thats us over there on the left

Mister on the waters edge

Awww Mister

Another glorious sunset

Same one different view between the cruiser and the van

Cheers

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Continuing our journey......Victoria

December 7^th 2012 to January 11^th 2013

The new journey has begun. I hope you all look forward to my upcoming blogs. It has been a while but we are finally back on the road continuing our around Australia tour. I will start with a reminder of where we were at last time you read our story. We arrived back in Geelong on Australia day 2012 after 12months of travelling Tasmania and the East Coast of Australia. Greg started working again and we prepared the house for selling. We put our house on the market around early July and after an initial contract fail we finally sold it in October with a settlement date of 7^th December. With only a few short weeks to prepare we left Geelong on settlement date with great anticipation.

Our first stop was Camperdown with the intention of spending a few days with Greg’s mum before we headed off. A few days turned into 2 weeks as we were approached with an opportunity that was too good to pass up. To cut a long story short we bought another house in Lismore on the Hamilton Highway in country Victoria. Greg’s mum will be living in it while we travel so we have someone to look after it and it is a perfect investment for us, allowing us to travel without any worries.

Finally on 20^th December we were on our way. Our destination is Rocklands Reservoir on the west side of the Grampians. Balmoral is the closest town to us for supplies at 26 km west of our campsite or Horsham at 73 kms to the north. Mountain Dam campground at Rocklands Reservoir is a free camp with toilet facilities and a boat ramp. There are acres of bushland and plenty of room to set up camp. Unfortunately the reservoir is only about 45% capacity, but it is still ideal for kayaking and fishing. We stayed here for 22 days and of those only two days were below 30 degrees with the temperature topping 44 degrees on four days. Thankfully we could use the reservoir to cool down.

To get here via Balmoral we had to travel along 14 kilometres of dirt track. It wasn’t a bad track with only a few tight corners and loose gravel. It is not far the Rocklands Dam wall, which is a popular spot for waterskiing and fishing. Our campsite was a perfect bushland setting and very peaceful. The strange thing about being on our own at that time was the first morning we woke up was the day the world was supposed to end. To wake up and have only us there, acres of bushland and not the sight nor sound of another human being was quite strange. Thankfully we had full internet access and I was soon able to confirm, what we knew anyway, that all was well with the world around us.

For those of you who have never been up this way, I was one of them, the landscape is quite amazing. After kilometres of flat, dry and barren land, all of a sudden the Grampians burst into the scenery. It must have been a very welcome sight for our early explorers.

The reservoir is full of old, dead tree stumps but still with plenty of clear water to manoeuvre a boat or in our case the Hobie around in. It is strangely quite pretty, particularly when there is no wind as the reflections of the trees add a serene beauty to the water. Because of the extreme heat we generally took the Hobie out in the early morning or in the evening. We had no luck with fishing, but then neither did the fisherman who came this way during our stay. I think it was just too hot. Even the yabbies didn’t want to be caught.

Mister, our dog, has been settling in well the camping. He loves to run around and although he hasn’t been eating very well since we left home, we think he will enjoy the whole experience. He has turned into a bit of hunter, probably a natural instinct, and loves hunting for leftover food from other campers. He doesn’t eat his finds but he has buried quite a stash. He doesn’t like the water, but mostly sits perfectly still whilst on the Hobie, although on a couple of occasions he just walked off his buck board. We have him on a lead so that we don’t lose him, but when we put him back on he shakes the water off and then falls in again.

We cooked ourselves a beautiful Christmas dinner and ate in the gazebo protected from the flies and other insects. A real ‘bush Christmas’, perhaps I could write a song about that! By New Years Eve there were quite a few other campers near us, so we didn’t feel quite alone. One of our neighbours had some fireworks for New Years Eve and gathered all the campers around to view them. Unfortunately the fireworks turned into a firework as only one worked. But it was a pretty one and I was able to get a photo.

We drove over to the Grampians one day to view the beautiful waterfalls and lookouts. The Grampians is a huge tourist destination and after being at the Rocklands with hardly anyone around, it was amazing to see so many people. Every car park at the various lookouts and falls were full. Lots of cameras were out taking photos, the scenery is magnificent.

We were joined in the New Year by my brother Peter and his wife Lynette. They arrived in the morning of the day when the temperature would soar to 46.7 degrees. Not such a nice welcome and it was a very hard day to get through. Thankfully the cool change came through over night and the next few days were hot but not extreme. My sister Louy and my daughter Emma came next and we all enjoyed a nice peaceful and few days together. We even enticed Peter and Louy to have a ride in the Hobie, which was a biggie for Louy as she doesn’t like the water very much. After they all left our neighbour from Ranger Crt, Trevor came and stayed a couple of nights. We enjoyed seeing Trevor again and although he had no luck fishing he enjoyed his short stay in the bush.

We left Rocklands on Friday 11^th January to head to Hopetoun. That amazing story is for the next blog. Cheers til next time.

Balmoral

Our campsite

Greg, Mister and me on the Hobie

Louy and Greg on the Hobie

Emma and me on the Hobie

The family together at camp

Moonrise over Rocklands

Mister and Greg getting ready for a ride

Rocklands Reservoir

Mister on the Hobie

Rocklands Reservoir

Mister all tuckered out

Peter and Greg on the Hobie

Panorama of our campsite

Panorama view from our campsite

Rocklands Dam wall

Rocklands Dam

Mackenzie waterfall in the Grampian

The beautiful Grampians

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Forster NSW and the journey home

New Years Eve until 24^th January 2012

Today is January 24^th 2012. This day marks exactly one year since Greg and I departed on the Spirit of Tasmania to begin our adventure. Time sure does fly. We have certainly found out that if you want to see this beautiful country of ours, I mean really see it; you can’t possibly do it in a year, perhaps not even in a lifetime. People who say they went around Australia in 6 months, just did that, went around Australia, without really seeing it. We are so happy that we have made the decision to keep travelling. We will be home on Thursday 26^th (appropriately Australia Day) to begin preparations to sell our house. Hopefully that won’t take too long, so that a new journey may begin.

We stayed at Bretti Reserve for 3 weeks. It was really a perfect spot. The weather did improve and we had some wonderful warm and sunny days lazing by the river. We took a drive to Tamworth, which is a couple of hours to the west of Bretti. I guess Tamworth only comes to life during the music festival, which as we speak is in progress. We visited the Big Guitar and of course I brought Greg the latest compilation of the CMA songs. We had wonderful neighbours at Bretti; Doug and Ann from Newcastle and Gary and Val from Western Australia. It was a first for Val and me to be away from family at Christmas time, so we were of some comfort to each other. We enjoyed a pre Xmas lunch drink and of course a post Xmas lunch drink together. Greg and I cooked a magnificent Xmas lunch, first time in the van. Mmmm loverly! We were sad to leave Bretti on New
Years Eve, mainly because we were leaving some good friends behind. Hopefully we will see them again somewhere in the great outdoors.

I just thought I would let you know how our New Year holiday in Forster went and a little about our journey home. We met with my sister Louy and her husband Phil in Forster on New Years Eve. We stayed at a caravan park on the foreshore there. Although it was a nice spot, it was extremely busy. The weather was perfect for 9 of the 10 days we were there, so we were able to do a bit of swimming and kayaking. We had a wonderful time. The coastline was really pretty and we drove to Seal Rocks, just 30kms south of Forster and then back up the coastline to see all the very pretty beaches. As you could imagine, we partook of a few brews during the 10 days. I think I will really need to detox sometime this year.

After Forster we headed back down the coast. We skirted Sydney and stayed for one night at Camden. The next day we headed to Bawley Pt, just north of Batemans Bay. This is where Greg’s friend from WA lives with his wife Michelle. You might remember that we stayed there for 10 days on our way up the coast in May. Louy and Phil came with us for a couple of days and were were able to show them the sights along this beautiful part of the coast. They then left to head for Wodonga for a couple of days before heading home to Geelong. Greg and I stayed with Marty and Michelle for 3 more nights. It was again great to catch up with them after 9 months.

Greg and I then headed south on the journey home. We stayed at Merimbula for 3 days. Greg had only ever been through Merimbula, and as I had holidayed there numerous times in the past I was able to show him all my favourite spots including, Middle Beach, The Bar Beach, Mitchies Jetty, Tathra, Tura Beach and the beautiful Pambula Beach. Again we were blessed with really nice weather. After Merimbula, we stayed one night at Bellbird Creek, between Cann River and Orbost. The camping area is free and is right behind the Bellbird Hotel. This is a really pretty spot and a nice stopover, particularly to enjoy a pub meal. Then we headed to Willow Creek, between Sale and Traralgon. This is also a free camping spot which is beautifully maintained by the council. They supply water, toilets and a well manicured camping spot all for a gold coin donation which we were happy to pay for each of the 3 nights we stayed there. 3 couples at this spot have sold their houses to keep travelling around Australia. I am always amazed at how many people are doing the same as us!

Finally we are here at Bass River Reserve in South Gippsland. A quiet bush retreat not far from Korumburra. This is yet another free camping spot. We have met some New Zealanders who have been in Australia since March, some Tasmanians who are also travelling around the mainland and an Australian couple doing the same thing. Tomorrow morning we are heading to Melbourne where will stop and see our friends Billy and Bec Bridge, their gorgeous sons Harrison and Jackson and meet their newest addition, baby daughter Harmony Rose Maree. We can’t wait to see them again.

So we will be back in G town on Thursday. For however long we need to be. Hope to catch up with most of you during this time.

Cheers til the new journey begins.

Seal Rocks

Pacific Palms Hotel

Pelican Pete on the Great Lakes at Forster

Tawny Frog Mouth Owls in the trees at our campsite in Forster

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Queensland to NSW

15^th November 2011 til 2012

Well here I am again and this blog will be a little different as we have a bit of news. After leaving Emerald we headed towards Toowoomba with the aim of getting the car serviced. We travelled about 800 km’s that day as we couldn’t find a decent camping spot. It was getting really late, so we decided on a motel for one night. Unfortunately everywhere was booked out. We finally found a vacancy in a little town called Chinchilla. The Acacia motel is run by a young couple who have a delightful and clean establishment and provide a home cooked dinner and breakfast.

Toowoomba isn’t far from Chinchilla, so we arrived there before lunch on Wednesday and set up our camper trailer in The Garden City Big 4 caravan park.

While we were in Mackay, Greg and I decided to go home in the New Year and sell the house. We really love this life on the road and have decided to keep doing it for a number of years. Then when we were in Emerald we discussed the possibility of buying a caravan after we sell the house. We have really enjoyed our life in the camper trailer and have been able to visit a lot of places, but it really is not viable for long term travel. I would totally recommend one for weekends and annual camping holidays, but after living in one for 11 months, it becomes a bit tedious. It takes a while for us to fully set up and is not ideal for overnight stops. We always had to set up for at least 4 days or more to make it worth our while.

So the plan was to go home, sell the house, buy a caravan and take off again. Things changed a little in Toowoomba. After we had the car serviced, we decided to look at some caravans, just to get an idea of what was available. Well as it turned out it was the most expensive car service ever, as we ended up buying a van. We looked at a few and kept going back to the first one we saw, which is the one we bought. So our time in Toowoomba was spent organising the trading in of the camper trailer and the purchasing of the van. Along with other bits and pieces we needed to do to get the van on the road.

Not much to report on Toowoomba, except that it is somewhere I wouldn’t like to live. The shopping is fantastic, but the weather is ordinary. I really think Toowoomba forgot it was in Queensland. It was wet and cool and nothing like Queensland weather should be. After 23 days at Emerald with an average temperature of 35 degrees, we all of a sudden felt very cold. According to locals, cool weather is not unusual in Toowoomba. It can be very cold during the summer and particularly at Christmas. Pretty much like Geelong really.

So, about the van. It is beautiful, although the camper trailer was well equipped and very comfortable, the van is another story. We called the camper our Taj Mahal, but the caravan is our Imperial Palace. It is an Evolution, Luxliner, semi off road and 21ft 6ins long. It has a full ensuite, air conditioner, oven and microwave. I have included some photos at the end of this blog. This is our new home!

After spending too long in Toowoomba and finally organising everything with the van, we left on Friday 9^th December. Our first stop was an overnighter just south of Tenterfield, NSW. Yay, finally in Daylight Savings Time. My oh my how easy it was to set up for an overnighter in a van. Compared to the camper trailer it was a breeze. But Greg felt a little lost, he couldn’t believe that 15 mins after arriving, he could sit and have a brew. He kept thinking he had forgotten to do something.

Next day we headed further south to Armidale and set up for another overnighter at the Amaresq Dam Reserve about 18kms west of Armidale. Again it rained all day and night. When we will ever get a summer? Seems we were able to swim all winter, but are now wrapping up to keep warm for summer! I can imagine how nice it would be at this reserve if the weather was kind. Really nice facilities and perfect for all water sports. We packed up on Sunday morning and headed into town to do our Christmas shopping as it was the last major town we will be near prior to Christmas. We also stocked up on food and drink etc before heading to our next destination. A couple we met at Emerald told us about this great camping spot, about 34 kms north of Gloucester. It is called Bretti reserve, which is situated along the Barnard and Manning Rivers on Thunderbolt Way, (an appropriate name). It is only about 200kms south of Armidale.

What they didn’t tell us was how difficult the drive would be. We climbed at one stage to 1440 metres before descending to about 500 metres. That was the nature of the whole drive, up and down, up and down. This is very beautiful but extremely undulating territory. About 18 kms out from the camp spot we were still about 1300 metres above sea level. We couldn’t believe that we would be camping beside a river in a few kilometres. That is until the warning signs came up for the very steep and long descent. Oh dear, oh hell. How would the cruiser which had coped so well with the big climbs and descents for 100kms or so manage this. Not only that, the weather had turned bad, it was blowing a gale and pelting with rain.

Greg engaged in low gear, really low, 1^st gear to be precise and down we went. Slowly, very slowly and pulling about 2 and a half ton of caravan to boot. I was feeling a bit nervous, but had every faith in Greg, who later told me that in all his years of driving he has never been confronted with such a huge downhill run. The length of the descent was 11 kms. Phew! But we arrived safely and in one piece to a most beautiful camping spot. This is where we will be spending Christmas before heading to Forster on the coast to meet with Louy and Phil for the New Year. The only drawback to this site is there is absolutely no internet or phone service, so our plans of Skypeing family on Christmas day have been cancelled. We will need to travel the 34kms to Gloucester to make a phone call, so we will do that on Christmas morning before heading back to camp to enjoy our Christmas feast.

This will be our last blog until after the New Year. We hope you have all enjoyed reading about our travels in 2011. There will of course be more to come sometime in 2012 with many more new adventures for us to enjoy writing about.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our family and friends, and new friends who we have met during our travels this year, a very Merry Christmas and a safe and Happy New Year. We hope we can catch up with most of you at home in the New Year or somewhere in the great outdoors in 2012.

Cheers til 2012.