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Posted on December 25, 2013 by nilocrol

Conclusion

For those interested in statistics here is the trip in a nutshell.

Time on road                                                6 months, 10 days/205 days

Kilometres travelled                                    28,184

Litres of petrol                                              4,406

Cost of Petrol                                                $7,155

[Average cost per litre                        $1.62]

Accommodation                                          $5,011

Food/Liquor                                                $4,705

Tours                                                            $1,757

Car expenses                                                $1577

Van expenses                                               $106.45

Miscellaneous expenditures                      $1,775

TOTAL:                                                         $22,087  [average $107.74/day)

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Completing the Circle

Posted on December 25, 2013 by nilocrol

December 18, 2013

Today I get to cross back into Queensland. From Coonabarabran along the semi-trailer infested Newell Highway, through Narrabri and Moree and finally across the border into Goondiwindi. Stayed overnight there without unhitching.

December 19, 2013

A short drive today on the way to my town of Toowoomba. Unfortunately I missed a couple of friends who were out of town for Christmas, but I did catch up with the All Stars gym club folks as well as Marlyn, another close friend, while I was there. I also checked my storage unit, washed clothes and did a little shopping. I stayed for three nights, with beautiful weather throughout. Yes, I’m in Queensland!

December 22, 2013

I drove the very familiar route from Toowoomba to my Mum’s place on the coast at Marcoola. It was a double bonus – as well as greeting Mum after seven long months,Mum and I together again!

I was also able to see my brother Russ again who had arrived via train on the same day. It was fantastic to be able to finish the trip and have family to catch up with, although on the other hand I feel I could have kept going around once more too! I was weary, but definitely not tired of travelling – there is always more to see of this magnificent country.

This journey had initially seemed to be just a pipe-dream, but following an immense amount of research I finally realized that this was to be for real. I had to decide what type of vehicle I would use. Then when I had decided to tow I checked out over 100 caravans before finally deciding on this beauty.  I spent many dollars getting the car ready for towing, then moved out of my home in Toowoomba, set up the caravan for travel at Mum’s place, and in March headed down to Victoria and back, which in effect was a kind of “warmup” for the BIG trip.

Now that it is over I do feel a certain amount of pride in having completed this sojourn; from first thinking about the possibility of such a journey to completion of the journey was almost three years. The car ran very well which I think means that I prepared it appropriately for the many miles of towing; the van performed extraordinarily well, a tribute to its builders back in the year 2000 and to my abject fear of overloading it; and finally my body held up surprisingly well – no emergency visits to doctors, dentists, or psychiatrists! I kept reasonably fit from lots of walking, tough hiking, and some swimming, although I hardly did any running, which was a bit of a disappointment. I will make up for it now though.

Unfortunately the trip cost a fair bit more than I had originally expected, but now that it’s over I will be able to save a small fortune on petrol alone! My next and final posting will be for those interested in the statistics relating to my trip.

So thank you to all of my thousands of readers(!!!) You kept me writing when I simply wanted to put my feet up and crack open another beer! And thank you to all of the people on my trip who helped to make it so pleasurable – fellow travelers aptly named grey nomads, the many very friendly and helpful caravan park managers, the consistently fantastic tour guides, and of course those lovely friends with whom I was able to stay and visit during my trip.

Until next time…au revoir!

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Two Highs – Astronomy and Split Rock

Posted on December 19, 2013 by nilocrol

December 16, 2013

I leave Mudgee this morning, headed for Coonabarabran. I have been told to visit the Warumbungle National Park, a mountainous area about 30km east of Coonabarabran. The mountainous country is the result of a series of volcanoes and lava flows, with erosion over eons leaving numerous volcanic ‘plugs’ in a variety of craggy peaks and spires. Fittingly, Warrumbungle in Gamilaraay aboriginal language means ‘crooked mountain’.

I headed to the Visitor Centre to pick up relevant information about the Warrumbungles as well as the Siding Spring Observatory, then drove around town to see which road leads to the Warrumbungles.

December 17, 2013

I head west to the Siding Spring Observatory, set on the edge of the Warrumbungles. The Australian National University in the early 1960’s opened an optical astronomy research centre here due to the encroaching population in and around Canberra and the resultant light pollution. Siding Springs sits at 1160 metres, and offers excellent conditions for astronomy – low humidity, non-turbulent atmosphere, clean air, accessibility, and lots of dark nights due to limited light pollution.  Extensive bush fires devastated the Warumbungles in January of this year; there might have been a replication of the 2003 Canberra bushfires which destroyed the Mount Stromlo Observatory but mainly due to heroic efforts by helicopter and fixed wing fire bombers only a couple of the observatory support buildings at Siding Spring were destroyed, and research was not affected. Siding Spring is home to Australia’s largest optical telescope, the Anglo Australian Telescope which the public is allowed to view up close…albeit behind a window! Built in 1974, the housing for this telescope is massive – with the viewing area situated on the fourth floor, the telescope and domed ceiling still tower over the viewer. It is so huge I did not have a lens wide enough to take it all in. The telescope’s mirror is a mighty 3.9 metres in diameter. Its mass is 260 tonnes, with the mirror itself weighing over 16 tonnes. The visitor centre/café has an exploratory centre which provides a massive amount of information on the Siding Spring complex as well as general information on various space topics. One of the most interesting hands-on items was to feel the weight of a litre of milk as it would weigh on the planets, our moon, and the sun. I couldn’t lift the one on our Sun…I think they must have welded it to the table!Steel housing in which AAT mirror was shipped from EnglandFire damage, but not to distant telescopeView from Siding Spring Observatory, approx 1100 metres altitudeMore of the 16 space research centres on the mountainVisitor centre – Siding SpringAnglo Australian Observatory at a distanceThe BIG one – Anglo Australian telescopeCentre of million dollar mirror cut outYep…that’s big!Further info

Following this thoroughly informative and enjoyable experience I headed off to the Warrumbungle visitor centre to check out which hikes are open. Due to the bush fires many of the facilities are still closed as rangers work to fell potentially dangerous dead trees, and clear fallen trees and other debris from trails and camp-sites. I found the hike that I wanted – the ‘Belougery Split Rock Circuit’, but first I did a little 15 minute walk to the Whitegum Lookout. This provided magnificent views but also provided a close-up experience of the fire blackened forest.Devastation..but new growthView from Whitegum LookoutDevastation everywhereThe lookout

I drove out to the start of the big hike – a 4.6km return journey to the peak of Split Rock. It is described as “Steep to very steep and rough in sections”. It was that and more! I felt I was climbing the steps of a super high skyscraper, with no let-up at all. And the path was barely that, with new growth following the fire covering parts of it, loose scree in patches, and just plain sharp small rocks underfoot the whole way. All of the trees had been hit hard by the fire, and were either dead or close to it. Path signage was a big help!

Towards the summit it got way harder, and definitely scarier! I don’t remember being this scared – climbing the 65m Gloucester Tree was nothing in comparison. One impossible section near the top has been made possible by a steel staircase, but after that it is clambering up and across exposed smooth rock with a drop of I don’t know how far – I never looked down! The only thing that kept me going here was the series six of steel hand-holds that gave me something to really hang on to. When not using those I followed the mountain climber’s credo – always support with three of the four supports…two hands and one foot, or one hand and two feet. Finally I got by this section and then had another relatively easy (non scary!) slog upwards for another 100m or so, and…I was there! It took me 75 minutes of non-stop climbing to do it. What a view! And a perfect day for it, although two litres of water was not quite enough, as the sun heated the rocks so that the effective temperature was way hotter than it otherwise would have been.One third the way upThe stepsViews from the topEndangered rock wallaby tracksGetting lowerBrief uphill on the way downFriends greeting me just short of the car parkSafe!

It is listed as a circuit, so I searched around the peak for a while, but all I could find were vertical drops of hundreds of metres, and there were no obvious track signs leading to another route. So back I went, again having to traverse the scary stuff, but at least this time I knew what had to be done. When ascending it was always in the back of my mind – what if I get to a spot where I can’t go forward or back?!! I got through the tough bit, then down the steel ladder and now it felt as easy as pie. But now my quads were screaming – after 75 minutes of uphill now I had a continual very steep downhill. I had to say to myself “concentrate, concentrate” as it would have been easy to trip and fall a long, long way down!

Finally I made it down to the car park, again taking 70 minutes. It is right up with the toughest 2 hours 20 minutes that I have done. Maybe my 3:30 marathon was harder, but definitely not scarier! I set up my tripod for a picture where I meant to (and wanted too, believe me!) sit down, but there were too many big nasty looking ants everywhere. I then drove into town, filled up with petrol and bought a lemonade…the most enjoyable lemonade I have ever tasted!

Drank a lot more, had a quick salad and hit the sack – very early!

Hmm, way too many exclamation marks, but too bad. At least I didn’t CAPITALISE or italicize!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!The drive home…Late afternoon sun…late late afternoon sun…Sun almost gone

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Magnificent Mudgee

Posted on December 17, 2013 by nilocrol

December 15, 2013

North to Mudgee, across the edge of Australia’s Great Divide. What a beautiful country this is! I stopped at Bathurst, home of the famed Mt. Panorama car racing circuit, for a break and a coffee, and dropped into the Visitor Centre as well. Bathurst is a larger rural city, and is very impressive with lots of park and sports facilities.

Twenty minutes out of Bathurst and I’m in some serious mountainous territory, reminding me of the climb to the top of Mount Hotham in Victoria. The climbs were not nearly as long as that one, but just as steep so I knew I had to nurse the car along. Fortunately the engine and transmission were rested every time I had a steep downhill. There were at least fifteen difficult climbs, and fortunately there was not a lot of traffic on this road. On one long climb though, I had a group of cars behind chomping on the bit waiting to pass me. I saw a turnoff so nipped in to allow them to pass, but it was gravel and wheels were seriously spinning as I attempted to get going again. Note to self – ignore cars behind me in future – they will find their own time to pass! There are several spots along this drive where you reach the top and a magnificent vista opens up before you; in particular back before reaching Bathurst here is a magnificent view for miles below. Beautiful.

Fortunately the car handled the drive very well, but enjoyed the rest on entering Mudgee.

Mudgee – what a beautiful town! Set in wine country, with many beautiful old buildings in the township. I went crazy with the camera! I also picked a local winery to visit out of about thirty options – Huntington Estate Wines, about 10 minutes out of town. I tasted half a dozen reds and bought a couple of their 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot. What a magnificent wine for the price. I’ll keep them (hmmm, maybe one!) for Christmas.Mudgee’s river – never heard of itPerfect day for ‘working’ outside

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Cowra’s History

Posted on December 17, 2013 by nilocrol

December 14, 2013

I depart from Canberra today, but I will be back. There are so many attractions that I could easily spend a week there, and maybe I might even get to see the Deep Space Communication Complex!

I’m on my way to Cowra today, famed for its POW camp during WW2 and the breakout of 900 of Japanese prisoners in August 1944. My goal is to arrive early enough to give me time to visit the POW area in the afternoon and leave Cowra the next morning.  If you check the map you will see I am closing in on the end of my “keep turning left” journey around Australia, and my plan is to complete the circle and arrive  “home’ to my Mum’s place in Marcoola before Christmas. So let’s keep moving!

I first visited the Cowra Visitors Centre and watched an excellent hologram presentation explaining all about the Japanese breakout, then drove to the outskirts of Cowra to check out the POW camp site. They have done a great job over the years, having erected a replica of one of the guard towers, recently completing a walkway, the Garrison Walk, that ends at this site, and providing interpretation signage around the POW camp site. You can walk around the site, following the mown areas in the fields, but mind the vicious goat’s head burrs! There are a number of concrete pads remaining, although it is still a little difficult to visualize the four quadrants making up the circular shaped garrison. The guard tower has speakers attached which provide some detailed information about the garrison , the breakout, and the casualties suffered. 231 Japanese killed; four Australian guards killed, two of whom manned a machine gun at the perimeter. After viewing a couple of the POW camp sites in central Victoria, this became a much more meaningful experience for me.The holograph showView towards POW camp from the walkwayItalian prisoners built this fountainKangaroos also touring the compound

A nice touch, Cowra now has close ties with Japan, and hosts a magnificent Japanese Garden in the same vicinity as the POW camp. I had an hour before it closed for the day so in I went. Toowoomba also has a lovely Japanese Garden, and there are of course many similarities between the two, but also many differences. It was a beautiful late afternoon and I had the entire place to myself which was very special – so quiet and so peaceful. So different to my days in hustling bustling Canberra!

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Canberra the Beautiful

Posted on December 17, 2013 by nilocrol

December 13, 2013

My final full day in Canberra – let’s make the most of it. I didn’t realize until I picked up a free map of Canberra today that 2013 is the city’s centenary. Congratulations Canberra. My first foray is to the National Museum of Australia. GPS worked – check. No parking fees – check. I enter the very impressive building and am greeted immediately by a very friendly guide who introduces me to the wonders of the museum. He is about to conduct a tour so I willingly pay the required $10 and off we go, John the guide and I, just like my one on one walking tour of Darwin. We later found out that we had gone to school at the same time in Caulfield, a suburb of Melbourne: John to Caulfield State, me to Caulfield North State. It was an hour-long tour, full of interesting facts that I would not have picked up by myself. For example a simple piece of ochre which when ground is used as a paint medium. Found in Kakadu, it has been dated at close to 60,000 years old, which places aboriginal presence in Australia further back in history than experts had previously predicted. I found the older sibling of my favourite and second car that I owned. It is the first Holden (now General Motors Holden) produced not long after WW2. This is quite relevant in light of General Motors Holden’s decision to cease operations in Australia by 2016 based on the current government’s unwillingness to further assist in financing the company. After the tour I wandered around several sections that had been of interest to me, and I could have spent all day at this excellent museum.Impressive walkway from the carpark to the museumView from museum to Parliament HouseJohn, my ‘personal’ guideThat piece of ochre

Next, around to the south side of Lake Burley Griffin to Old Parliament House; I want to see “Behind the Lines”, the year’s best political cartoons from an incredibly interesting political year with a leadership spill, an election, and loads of intrigue. It’s great to be in an art gallery hearing bouts of laughter from all parts of the gallery! Brilliant ideas by such original thinkers.Old Parliament HouseOld Parliament House view towards War Museum

I had made an on-line booking for my next venue – the National Library of Australia. The library has a permanent Treasures Gallery, but the event that is pulling in the big crowds is titled “Mapping Our world: Terra Incognita to Australia”. It showcases a huge number of maps from the 1400’s t the 1800’s indicating how our country slowly became understood by the mapmakers of the northern hemisphere. At this point I can do no better than to quote from the exhibition pamphlet:  “The exhibition will take you on a spiritual, artistic and scientific journey, showing how European explorers gradually unraveled the secrets of the south land. Highlights include the magnificent Fra Mauro ‘Map of the World’, the remarkable  ‘Boke of Idrography’ presented to Henry VIII…a fifteenth-century Ptolemy manuscript…one of only four surviving copies of Mercator’s groundbreaking 1569 projection, and original manuscript charts by Pacific navigators including…James Cook and Matthew Flinders”.

The Fra Mauro is a circular map of the known world made around 1450, approximately 2 metres in diameter and a true work of art, fittingly housed in Venice. Stunning. But I could say the same about many of the maps on display. I love maps, but these went so far beyond being ‘just’ maps and for that reason, although entry was free (as was parking…haha!), bookings are required for each hour of the exhibition which ends March 10, 2014.National Library

So today was quite different to yesterday and the day before. I was able to remain in the same part of Canberra, not having to travel huge distances between suburbs with different time zones(!), I was able to walk through beautiful shady areas of the nation’s capital, I was thoroughly captivated by all three venues, and I didn’t have to pay a cent for parking! A wonderful day, and I will be back!

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Canberra, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Posted on December 15, 2013 by nilocrol

December 12, 2013

Have you ever woken in a bad mood and it continues from there? Well that was me today. I have no idea why…maybe because I had lost so much time in a city that I really wanted to see. Or maybe not.

This morning after breakfast I wanted to visit Canberra’s Deep Space Communication Complex, which has lots of interesting information on all things space, including the huge 70m wide dish used for tracking and communicating with the dozens of unmanned spacecraft exploring our solar system and beyond. Mistake. The pamphlet says “GPS Users: Enter – Discovery Drive, Paddy’s River District. My GPS didn’t recognize either, so I tried to find it by dead reckoning. The result…all dead, no reckoning. I had driven for about an hour trying to find it, I was already not a happy camper and this exacerbated things no end.

Plan B – Canberra’s brand new arboretum (Latin for trees, lots of). I found the address on my iPhone, plugged the info into my GPS, and it got me into the general area, but this time I could see where I was going, followed the street signs and arrived there. It’s 10:30 and finally I’m a real tourist! Uh oh, a government operated site, free entry, and I have to pay for parking? Way out in the sticks? So I insert $2 coin for an hour’s stay. No ticket. I go into the beautiful “Village Centre” to order a coffee and find out about my lost coin. I have to call a special government department that deals with PPP’s – pay parking problems throughout the city. She asks for the parking meter number. It has no number on it and although she doesn’t seem to believe me she takes down my details, and gives me an incident number in case I get a ticket. I just don’t need all of this. When I go back to collect my rapidly cooling coffee from the coffee shop in the “VC” there is now a primary school band playing…mostly out of tune. I don’t need this. I go outside to view the small arboretum section that can be seen from this vantage point, then decide to take a drive around the arboretum to see some areas from close up. This area had been hit by the huge bushfires of 2003, and a large pine forest was demolished on the current site, so young as it is now, I would love to see it in 10 or 15 year’s time. But my question was why plant an arboretum of 48,000 trees on the 250 hectare site of the city’s most memorable bushfire?Enough of thisVillage CentreA young but promising arboretumTelstra tower in background!

My next stop was to the beautiful 1930 art deco building housing a national collection of Australia’s audiovisual cultural heritage, as well as a theatre and theatrette. I attended a Australian documentary movie about the author of “On The Beach” – Neville Shute –  and the 1960’s movie of the book starring Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck. An entertaining and thought-provoking doco about the fast approaching end of mankind following a nuclear war. Not a laugh-a-minute thing but great entertainment. The only downer – it cost $3 more for bloody parking than for the film.Earlier was the Australian Institute of AnatomyArt deco exit signBeautiful courtyardMore art deco

After the movie I headed off in late afternoon to the Telstra Tower on Black Mountain, which provides a magnificent 360 degree view of the city and surrounds. Not to be missed, and highly recommended as a first stop for tourists to get oriented with our Capitol. And…PARKING IS FREE! Good on you Telstra, our largest telecom company. BTW it has an excellent restaurant way up at the top that apparently has excellent shrimp in pernod sauce!!Telstra TowerView of Lake Burley Griffin, named after the designer of Canberra

Despite the excessive parking fees for the movie it was the best thing I could have done for my negative attitude all day – sitting in a cool dark theatre watching an enthralling movie, being taken out of my thoughts and into those of the director. I must remember this in future!

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Canberra and Auto Electrical Problems

Posted on December 14, 2013 by nilocrol

December 10, 2013

It is a beautiful sunny morning and I am able to leave Cann River pretty early as I had kept the van hitched to the car overnight.Unpowered at pretty but rainy Cann River

I drove out of the town and immediately began climbing, following heavily forested country on twisting roads – mostly uphill, sometimes downhill. From forest country you almost immediately enter the Monaro high plains, virtually treeless sheep grazing on rolling grassland. From the dark greens of the forest to the light browns of the high country. In the far distance to the west are snow-covered peaks despite Summer having arrived.

After about an hour in the high country, all of a sudden I came across our Capital City, Canberra, far below, nestled in a bowl. An impressive sight.

I had some electrical problems, first detected when I noticed about half way to Canberra that my HEMA GPS system was operating on its battery, i.e. not charging from the cigarette lighter via its cable. I stopped  at Bredbo on the high plains to see what I could do, but when I unplugged the cable and inserted it again the radio stopped! I checked the 12 volt outlet that charges my cooler in the boot and found it was not working either. Bigger problems!  Also, later in Canberra I also found that the 12 volt outlet in the caravan was not operating.

So now I’m approaching a large city, population 400,000, with a GPS system that is not working – its battery has almost run out. I am so attuned to using my GPS system, as it allows me to concentrate on driving rather than having to stop and refer to maps, and constantly looking for signs to find out where I am and where I am going. But that’s what I had to do. After driving for ages through the endless suburbs of Canberra sans GPS, I had to fill up with petrol so I then took the opportunity to phone the caravan park ask how to get there from the service station. Good, I’m pretty close!

Once set up in the campground I was able to do some detective work, and found that a fuse had blown in the car – the cigarette lighter fuse, and also a fuse had blown in my caravan – the 12 volt outlet. I had to find a place that sells fuses as I didn’t have any of the van’s fuse size. This is where I started to find out how annoyingly far apart and separate Canberra’s suburbs are. Suburb…eucalypt forest…freeway, etc, etc. I drove to the nearest suburb, 20 minutes away. It has a series of strip shopping malls within a circular series of streets, way off the freeway. Got my fuses and drove back. Hmm, fuses in, still not working. I tested a couple of power cords using the cigarette lighter of a campground neighbour and promptly blew his cig lighter fuse! So we spend 45 minutes trying to find the offending fuse in his two fuseboxes. Finally at around 4:30pm we get that fixed. I then called an auto electrician and was told to call the boss at 8:00 the next morning. Take my tourist hat off; put my frustration hat on.

I called the next morning – he said he would call later in the morning when he had a mechanic available. 12noon and no call, so I decided to drive out there anyway and make a nuisance of myself. Of course, it’s about a 25 minute drive away on a freeway. When I arrived he was just about to call me so perfect timing.

I drove the car into the workshop and explained to the mechanic what had happened, and he went to work. I sat and waited back in the office area. An hour later it’s done. The cigarette lighter was the culprit – it had been incorrectly reinstalled by the Toowoomba “cowboy” who had installed my new radio. It could have been a lot worse, potentially stuffing my entire electrical system! So I paid my money, and before driving away I plugged in my GPS system, and bang! The fuse went and the radio stopped again. The charging cable for the GPS that plugs into the cig lighter is stuffed – its the charging circuit has been damaged beyond repair. So now off to a big shopping mall , this time 30 minutes away to see if they have the right cable. Whew! They do – Dick Smith Electronics to the rescue. Finally everything is working, but one and a half days wasted in Canberra. 

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Melbourne and Stratford

Posted on December 9, 2013 by nilocrol

December 6, 2013

Travelled down to Wantirna, on the east side of Melbourne this morning. The route was along the Melba Highway, downhill much of the way. Again, both sides of the highway for many kilometers had been hit by the 2009 fires, but even so it is a lovely drive through the mountains, and then into the foothills comprising Victoria’s Yarra Valley with its extensive vineyards.

I am stopping in Melbourne for one full day in order to meet several gymnastics friends in order to give them a report of my trip. Harold Scharley, who I had stayed with at Yeppoon, Queensland at the beginning of my trip had organized the lunch get-together at a pub central to all of us. It was great to see them again.

The morning was sunny and calm, a perfect time to drive to the top of Mount Dandenong for its magnificent view of Melbourne, Port Phillip Bay and the mountains that I had been travelling around earlier. The gardens surrounding the viewing area are pretty impressive too.

December 8, 2013

Today I head east to Stratford, which just happens to be situated on the River Avon(!)  My cousin Mal and partner Kate live there on four acres with two dogs, three motorbikes, two caravans, a hot tub and a tractor! It was great to see them, and Mal made a beautiful lamb roast for dinner. A bottle of red and after dinner sitting on a real couch and I was in heaven! I slept in my van, having one of the better sleeps of my trip.

December 9, 2013

Kate went in to work today; Mal and I had a late breakast then walked the two dogs (Doug the dour Scottish Terrier and Ruby the non-stop active Jack Russell cross) around the local reserve, housing many very old river red-gums and native grasses. The red gum at the entrance to Mal’s driveway is a canoe tree – aboriginals probably 200 years ago had stripped the bark off the tree in the shape of a canoe in order to make…a canoe!Mal et alSuper old Red River Gum

I left a little after 11:00am and headed east for Cann River. The road was heavily forested with continuous steep rolling hills. Fortunately there were numerous overtaking lanes on the uphill sections so that I could allow a few cars each time to get by me. I camped at the very pretty local caravan park, paying my $10 for an unpowered site at the town pub 🙂

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Black Saturday Fires…Postscript

Posted on December 7, 2013 by nilocrol

December 3, 2013

Packed up in sunshine although not in a big hurry – I don’t have a long way to travel although a lot of it will be through seriously hilly country. My destination – Yea (pronounced yay, not yee).

The entire trip was enjoyable, with many winding roads through rolling hills, eucalypt forests and pretty townships like Daylesford, Woodend, Lancefield, Kilmore and Broadford. Unfortunately as I got closer to my destination the rain, which was patchy for an hour or so, increased in intensity as I travelled the last hour or so. The road from Broadford to Yea was the best of all, with views to rival any that I had seen so far, but there was no place to stop to take pictures.

I arrived at the Yea Caravan Park and of the rain started to bucket down as I attempted to set up the van. Oh well, it’s all about how we handle the challenges…right?? And not only was it wet, it was becoming damn cold as well. A hot shower was much appreciated after I finally finished setting up the van.A little damp

December 4, 2013

It’s still raining, but I’m going to take a drive around the areas affected by the bushfires of Black Saturday, February 7, 2009, although the fires lasted much longer than just that day. The area mainly affected lies north east of Melbourne, only a couple of hours drive from Melbourne, and total area burned covered 4,500 square kilometres. The fires were precipitated by a long drought followed by extreme temperatures, peaking at an all-time record of 46.4 degrees Celcius in Melbourne, along with winds over 100km/h and humidity levels as low as 6%. A cool change followed, but brought winds over 120km/h that resulted in current fires joining into a massive fire front that burned with incredible speed and ferocity towards the towns that had previously escaped the flames. This fire peaked at up to 1330 degrees Celcius! Losses – 173 deaths (the largest toll of any bushfire in Australian history), over 400 injuries, over 2000 houses, and 3500 other structures.

With that information I wanted to see the positives in towns that in large part were decimated, i.e. re-growth (eucalypts actually require fire flourish over the long haul), and rebuilding. Regrowth has been astonishing, with the eucalypt forests looking quite healthy apart from their blackened trunks. Rebuilding has been extensive with what are old towns such Marysville, Granton, Narbethong, Kinglake, Strathewen, Flowerdale, Pheasant Creek and Toolangi now looking like new housing developments, including brand new shopping centres, schools, sports facilities, community centres, even playgrounds.Blackened trunks in Narbethong

Throughout the entire drive it was raining which prevented me from photographing in most cases, although it abated when I passed close to Cathedral Mountain.The only clear view of the dayCathedral Mountain in misty rain

Later in the day I began to drive up a step dirt road to a lookout in a National Park area untouched by the fires. Two kilometers up and washouts from the rain were getting worse, but I couldn’t find a spot to turn around until I reached three kilometers where the track widened a little. Whew!Getting worseKeep going…no place to turn!

The southernmost part of my trip was through magnificent forest country (Yarra Ranges National Park) and on to the large rural centre of Healesville which fortunately was not touched by the fires, although they did come very close.Maroondah Reservoir at HealesvilleDriving to Healesville

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More Ballarat

Posted on December 6, 2013 by nilocrol

December 2, 2013

I slept in today, and it was nice despite the bright sun demanding that I get up! I spent a leisurely morning over breakfast and coffee, and spent time catching up on my blog.

In the afternoon I visited Black Hill that overlooks the city, and is also the site of three different down-hill bike trails. I walked part way down one of them and marvelled at the skill (or craziness) of riders tearing down these narrow tree-lined tracks at break-neck speed. The term I think is appropriate. I have photographed downhillers at the course in Toowoomba and they are awe-inspiring to watch from up close with the elite level making it look so easy, as is the case in all sports.One of three crazy downhill courses

I then headed over to the Lake Wendouree district; Lake Wendouree is famous in Australia for hosting the rowing events during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, and continues to be a Victorian rowing mecca. I took a walk around part of the Lake, with some of Ballarat’s more expensive properties taking advantage of the lakeside views.Lake WendoureeLakeshore properties

Also by the lake and near the botanical gardens is the national memorial to all Australian ex-prisoners of war, a very impressive monument to the soldiers taken prisoner in many theatres of war.

December 3, 2013

Today I visited M.A.D.E., the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka. Only opened in 2012, it focuses on the beginnings of Australian democracy through the Eureka Rebellion, but then extends the theme to examine how democracy and human rights has been shaped and perceived in other parts of the world through the power of words, influence, symbols and numbers.  Central to the Eureka theme is the original Eureka Flag that has been restored and housed in its own darkened room. I happened to attend on the anniversary date, December 3^rd, and so gained free admittance. The Eureka stuff was very interesting but I think for the $5 million spent on the museum you could learn just as much on democracy and human rights using Google and YouTube. Nevertheless it was a very interesting afternoon. Another museum where I was the last to leave as staff are looking at their watches! In the grounds of the museum are further monuments to the Eureka Stockade Rebellion, with the complete Southern Cross flag proudly flying.M.A.D.E.The circular central part of M.A.D.E.The original tattered, “souvenired” flagThe eventThe diggers’ oathArtistic rendition of the stockadeThe Southern Cross

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Ballarat Up Close

Posted on December 4, 2013 by nilocrol

November 30, 2013

The last day of the month and in Australia the last day of Spring.

I rose early as I have a 350km drive to Ballarat today. It’s cool, cloudy and calm so good for driving. Soon after leaving Mt. Gambier I cross into Victoria, my home state. I had set up my GPS system to take me to Portland as I hadn’t been there before. Disappointingly, it somehow took me to the southern side of the city – the port district. Nothing to see there, and it had also begun to rain so enough of Portland for me. Maybe next time!

I set my sails to head N.E. towards Ballarat and as the day wore on I began to experience sunny, warmer weather. About half way to Ballarat I stopped in lovely Hamilton, for petrol, a break and a coffee. Further on towards Ballarat I passed through tiny townships such as Dunkeld, Glenthompson, Wicliffe and Streatham – suggestive of a strong Scottish heritage in the area.

I arrived in Ballarat after a long day to have a very nice woman in the caravan park office offer to walk with me to check out available campsites – a nice touch! I had a choice of two (!) sites, as the campground had been taken over by a group of RACV caravan club members for their annual Christmas gathering.

December 1, 2013

I talked to several of my RACV (Royal Automobile Club of Victoria) neighbours, all of them very nice and very funny. A good group to join you Victorian caravanners! Two of them had complemented me yesterday, as I had one of the toughest tasks of my entire trip, backing the van into an extremely tight spot. On the second attempt I placed it perfectly, under the scrutiny of my new neighbours. A nice feeling!

I headed into town to join a walking tour of the city that I had booked on the phone a little earlier. I left with lots of time to spare, parked near to where we were to meet, grabbed a coffee and walked over to our meeting place, cnr Sturt and Lydiard, with 15 minutes to spare. Quite proud of myself! Andrew, the tour guide mentioned that they (he and the one other tourist) had been waiting for me and he had left a message on my phone. I checked my watch – 15 minutes early. Only then did I realize that I had not reset my watch by 30min after entering Victoria! I apologized profusely and off we went, as I breathed a sigh of relief that there hadn’t been 22 people waiting for me!Andrew and I…I’m the short one

Continuing the tradition of great tour guides around Australia, Andrew (about 30 with a drama background) was so interesting and enthusiastic about Ballarat and its history that it was tough keeping up with his narration. And his trademark comment: “Now if you will come this way”! as though he were talking to a group of 20 rather than 2! So funny.

Ballarat is so much a product of the 1850’s goldrush in central Victoria, and it was Ballarat’s gold wealth which financed the incredible growth of Melbourne during that time, resulting in Melbourne becoming the capital of Australia when Australia became a Federation of six states in 1901. It was not until 1927 when its Parliament House was opened that Canberra became the capital of Australia.

There are countless stately buildings in Ballarat, reflecting the “golden” wealth of the city’s history  – Banks, Pubs, Post Office, Town Hall, Churches, Art Gallery, Picture Theatre, Railway Station…the list goes on. In the 1860’s there were, importantly, 477 pubs and 13 breweries! A mere 100 pubs and licensed establishments exist today.PubPubRailway StationOld Post OfficeAnglican Church 1868 – oldest stone building in BallaratGold shopW-I-D-E streets of Ballarat

A highlight of Andrew’s presentation was his account of history surrounding the miners’ Eureka Rebellion of 1854. It would take too long to present all of the information leading up to, during, and after the rebellion, but enough here to mention that the thousands of gold miners in Ballarat rebelled against the heavy mining tax, had a flag made (the Southern Cross), built a stockade and together agreed on oath that they would resist to the death these taxes,The oath

and burned their licences. On December 3^rd at 4:00am the government troops (British militia) launched an attack on the stockade and in 20 minutes the battle was over with 22 miners (diggers) and 5 troops killed. In 1855 a Gold Fields Commission resulted in all of the demands of the diggers being met. The Eureka Rebellion is considered by some historians to be the birthplace of Australian democracy.

I then dropped in to the Art Gallery of Bendigo, the oldest art gallery in Australia – 1887.

And what an impressive and extensive two-storey gallery it is. I did have a certain déjà vu moment –  housed in two rooms were the same outstanding paintings by Australian artists……..which I had seen before! Were the other ones reproductions? were my initial thoughts. What the heck is going on? On the way out I read a small notice that I should have read when entering. It is a National Gallery of Australia travelling exhibition – Capital and Country – The Federation Years 1900-1914. Ahhh, yes, I had seen the same exhibition at Darwin’s art gallery! What a weird experience, but problem solved.

I then drove around various parts of the city, stopped off at Coles for some shopping and returned  to the campground via the Arch of Victory and the Avenue of Honour – hundreds of elm trees either side of the road with a plaque at each tree commemorating soldiers from Ballarat who had served during WWI. It is an impressive sight.

Finally a few Ballarat sights:A novel Myer buildingTrades Hall with Eureka FlagOn a pub wallMemories!! Old style rail traffic gates…and old time railway signals!

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Volcanoes to the Left, Volcanoes to the Right

Posted on December 4, 2013 by nilocrol

November 28, 2013

I headed out a little later today as I have only a little over 100km to reach Mt. Gambier, home of the famous Blue Lake. I arrived around 11:00am after stopping at a few small towns along the way. This drive takes you smack bang through the middle of the small but very productive Coonawarra wine region. It is a 20km by 2km strip of the famed terra rossa soil which produces such quality reds. At the far end of the cigar shaped wine region is the historic town of Penola, home to the most beautiful hotel that I have seen on my travels, and I have seen some good ones! It is the Heywoods Royal Oak Hotel on the main street of Penola (actually there’s not much more than the main street). The old National Bank is not too bad either.

The Coonawara region has 25 cellar doors all within 10 minutes drive from one another – Balnaves, Brands Laira, Zema, Hollick, Penley Estate, Rymill, Yalumba and Wynns. There are also two older Penfolds vineyards, one planted 1963, the other 1968. Penfolds Grange anyone??

Mt. Gambier is dominated by several extinct volcano craters, the largest being Blue Lake crater. It has a lake because the base of the crater is deep enough to reach groundwater which continually seeps into it. Its deepest part is over 100 metres, with the lake being the major supplier of drinking water for Mt. Gambier. I happened to arrive during the several weeks in November and December that it mysteriously turns a beautiful turquoise blue, otherwise it is a normal slate grey. It is a great spectacle; I have always wanted to see it and finally…I have!Blue Lake crater

November 29, 2013

Today was a busy and physically demanding day, and fortunately the weather cooperated.

First was a 5km walk around the rim of Blue Lake – basically a footpath paralleling the road that circles the crater. It provides interestingviews from all angles. The first half of the walk is uphill to the highest point of the rim, with the second half…yes! Downhill! There are several spots where you can clearly see the layers of ash, basalt( lava) and limestone fragments close to the footpath.How it happenedHighest point on the rimAsh with pieces of basalt and limestone

Inside the crater the wall is divided into two sections, the white lower section of solid limestone which is the base of the Mt. Gambier area (part of the “Limestone Coast”) and the upper section composed of solidified ash formed from the intense heat as red-hot magma rose and suddenly hit the reserve of artesian water held within the limestone. The ash is a result of the limestone and other rocks being pulverized from the sudden powerful explosion.Limestone base; Mt Schank in the distance

Second, I drove 15km south to Mt. Schank, one of a number of inactive volcanoes in the general area. Mt. Schank is different though – it erupted only 5000 years ago, making it one of the youngest volcanoes in Australia. It is around 100m high and 300m in diameter, with no water at the bottom so its base doesn’t extend down below the water table. The adventurous can walk/scramble down to the base. I didn’t . I had hiked up  the steep side of the rim along a well-maintained trail to the top, then along a very exposed section of the narrow rim which could be pretty dangerous in a high wind, but I didn’t feel like going down into the crater as it involved walking along a track overgrown with high grass, thus the possibility of snakes….bad enough if you are with others, deadly if you are alone, and no-one else was on the trail today. There is also a secondary crater,200m in diameter, and older than the major crater as it is partly overlapped by the major crater.Approaching Mt SchankStart of the climbExposed rimFloor of craterCrater rim and wallEarlier secondary crater

Third, back to Mt. Gambier, and close to my campground is a 4WD trail up to Centenary Tower, the highest point around Mt. Gambier. It was built in 1900 to celebrate the 100^th anniversary  of the naming of Mt. Gambier. It provides a wonderful view of the city of Mt. Gambier as well as well as the volcanic complex of Blue Lake, Valley Lake, Brownes Lake and Leg of Mutton Lake.Waaaay up thereWhew!!! Made it!View of Mt GambierValley Lake foreground, Blue Lake crater further back

Fourth, I drove down to the beautifully maintained shoreline of Valley Lake and Brownes Lake featuring picnic areas, short scenic walks and a small swimming area. I’m not sure if boating is allowed. I also walked to the Devil’s Punchbowl, a large crater that was formed by an enormous venting of steam.

I slept well that night

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I Survived Three Caves

Posted on December 3, 2013 by nilocrol

November 27, 2013

My one full day in Naracoorte was spent caving. About 15 minutes drive out of Naracoorte we find the Naracoorte Caves and National Park and World Heritage Area – quite the mouthful.

There are 19 World Heritage sites in Australia including Uluru, Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef. Good company. Naracoorte Caves were recognized as a World Heritage site in 1994; there are 26 caves in the area with just five being open for tours. I chose two tours – Alexandra CaveAlexandra CaveBeautiful pool reflectionCoral and shells within the limestone walls

and Victoria Fossil Cave,We only toured a miniscule partTiger-like mammal, extinctLeaf-eating kangaroo, extinctFossil remainsMore fossils

and for that I received free entrance to the only self-guided cave – the Wet Cave.Down to the Wet CaveSmall hole through ceilingInteresting ceiling grooved by water

The Victoria Fossil Cave is one of the major reasons for receiving  recognition as a World Heritage Area. There are eight holes that have formed over tens of thousands of years, holes from the surface down to one particular section of the cave. These holes acted as traps for unwary animals. Along with topsoil and other debris being blown down these holes scientists have discovered silted fossil-bearing sites up to 20 metres deep. The layered nature of these fossils are helping scientists determine an accurate time-frame for many extinct animals. The layered nature of the fossils provides a snapshot in time for each layer.

It was a fascinating series of caves with beautiful but differing formations in each cave; compared to the Margaret River caves…I would say the Margaret River caves are more impressive, but the fossils here were not present at Margaret River.Impressive entrance to the caves area

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Two Lakes and a Coorong

Posted on December 3, 2013 by nilocrol

November 26, 2013

Travelling out of Strathalbyn through wheat and cattle grazing country, and crossed the Murray River, which for most of its course is the border between Victoria and new South Wales, near Tailem Bend. Then heading due south on the Princes Highway. All day I have been circling the very large Lake Alexandrina, leaving  the Fleurieu Peninsula and entering the Limestone Coast. After leaving Lake Alexandrina I now begin to drive along another connected lake – Lake Albert, with its town of Meningie beautifully situated right on the lake.

I’m now heading south along the Southern Ocean but I cannot see it. I am travelling along The Coorong. The Coorong National Park consists of approximately 100km of permanent vegetated coastal sand dunes backed by a narrow strip of saltwater lake – together, The Coorong. This and the two lakes are interrelated yet separated. The Murray River empties not directly into the ocean, but first into Lake Alexandrina and also into Lake Albert. They are both freshwater lakes, maintained by a series of barrages, low dams, some with locks to enable fishing boats and leisure craft to access the ocean via an opening which is continually dredged. These barrages allow fresh water from the Murray River to pass through to The Coorong and then the ocean during rare flooding periods, but prevent salt water from moving back into the two lakes.

At the south end of The Coorong is Kingston SE, home of Larry the Monster Lobster! From Kingston I headed inland, bound for Naracoorte, my next stop for a couple of days.

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Fleurieu and Strathalbyn, Gallic and Gaelic

Posted on December 2, 2013 by nilocrol

November 24, 2013

Leaving Adelaide today, on the way south on the Fleurieu Peninsula. I aim to travel down the western coast of the peninsula to the western-most point – Cape Jervis, site of the ferry service to Kangaroo Island. I will then head up along the southern part of the Peninsula, and finally inland to Strathalbyn.
Highlights:
The Adelaide suburbs run forever along the south coast.
Cape Jervis – I watched the ferry docking, turning 270 degrees with side thrusters within a tiny space. Counted 42 cars/motorhomes driving off from the ferry.
Victor Harbour is a beautiful holiday resort, only a short day’s drive out of Adelaide. It features a long walkway across the bay and out to a small island. This week though is schoolies’ week here so it has been virtually taken over by Grade 12 grads. Hint – stay away for a while!
Strathalbyn is a beautiful town, another South Australian town oozing history. It features magnificent parkland right in the centre of town. The caravan park is surrounded by sports facilities – a large football/cricket ground on one side, and excellent tennis courts doubling as netball courts. Fees from the caravan park fund the day-to-day operation of these facilities plus the building of additions as well. It felt nice to pay reasonable campground fees, knowing where the money was going.

November 25, 2013
A beautiful warm sunny day to spend doing the tourist thing. With a coffee in one hand, camera in the other, my first venture was to walk around the town then the parkland. The town was founded by 16 Scottish families around 1842. No wonder it is called the Valley of Scots. One of the architectural highlights is the twin-towered St. Andrews Uniting Church, built in 1844, with the square tower added in 1869 to house a bell that was too heavy for the steeple tower.
There are supposed to be 19 antiques and collectibles dealers in town, and that doesn’t surprise me. They are everywhere. There is apparently a mirror resilverer, one of only four in Australia, although I didn’t notice it in my travels.
The Information Centre is housed in a magnificent old building that almost begs you to enter into another world.
After lunch I took a scenic drive up into the nearby hills that overlook Strathalbyn for the first part of the trip, and along some beautiful twisting narrow roads through old forests, grazing country and a couple of cute tiny villages. After finishing that loop I travelled a short distance to the Langhorne Creek wine country. The wineries in the Langhorne Creek area boast the oldest recorded Cabernet Sauvignon vines in the world, and families that have been making wine for five generations or more – Angas plains, Bremerton, Bleasedale, Clegget, and off the main drag, Temple Bruer organic wines. Interesting, almost all of these vineyards are situated on a flood plain which is pretty rare for vines which normally require well-drained conditions. But successful they are. Orlando and Wolf Blass also have large vine plantations in the area.ParkSt. AndrewsPubAnd anotherThe Savings Bank of South AustraliaTrendy North ParadeOne of manyTypical stone houseNow that’s a hedge!View from the hillsTypical countryside

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Adelaide Adventures

Posted on November 23, 2013 by nilocrol

November 20

A busy day today – washing, car wash, shopping and Dan Murphys for beer and rum. Interesting, I bought a bottle of Buckeye Caribbean rum which was $6 cheaper than most of the regular rums. (It’s not rot-gut either!) On reading the label at home I find that the Caribbean rum had been shipped across the Atlantic to France to be bottled, then in turn shipped half way around the world to Australia. It’s still $6 cheaper than Bundaberg Rum, totally produced in Australia. Please, how??

November 21
I wandered around Glenelg, the most well-known beachside suburb of Adelaide.
Trams still operate in Glenelg – nice!

I bought a very nice coffee, and was lucky to get in just ahead of a group of cyclists who were ready to relax after a hard ride. Adelaide has more cyclists riding than any other city that I have been to. Serious cyclists too, and the city area is no exception with many people riding to and from work. I then got a much needed haircut and bought a fly net at a camping store, which probably means I won’t need to use it for the rest of my trip!

November 22
I took the bus into the city today, and it was the most annoying bus ride that I have ever taken. Every time the driver put on his indicators there was a LOUD metallic chirping noise inside the bus. Why I don’t know – I just assumed it was meant for blind people or something like that. It was no great surprise that most of the passengers had earphones! It was such a relief to get out of that madhouse and into the relative quiet of a bustling city centre. After picking up a coffee I headed to the Adelaide Botanic Gardens. I expected to spend a maximum of an hour there, but as I arrived I noticed that a free tour was just beginning so I latched on. Two very interesting hours later it had finished but I had to revisit a few sections for more photos.
A great variety of optionsHelen, our tour guidePalm house – Imported from GermanyInside the Museum of Economic Botany – Beautiful

This section just opened the morning of the day I visitedThe waterlily pavilionMain Gate – Botanic Gardens

I must say that Adelaide does a fantastic job for tourists and citizens alike by providing free tours (city and Botanic Gardens) and free entrance to the Museum and the Art Gallery. Most appreciated Adelaide! Thank you.
I then went to the museum.
Meteorite

The first thing you see as you enter is the Mundrabilla Meteorite, a 2500kg iron meteorite found on the Nullarbor Plain in 1966. This one is just a section of one of two meteorites found just 180m apart. One was 4-6 tons, and the other was a massive 10-12 tons. Nevertheless it is still pretty impressive. Then a little further in is an original Egyptian Column donated to the museum in 1892, which has hieroglyphics referring to Ramesses the Great.
It just so happened that there was a photography exhibition currently showing which I had wanted to see since seeing the winners in an on-line edition of the Australian National Geographic. The competition, titled the Australian Geographic ANZANG Nature Photographer of the Year 2013. I caught it three days before it ended! Photos must be taken in Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica or New Guinea. Go to http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/ and by clicking on the B&W photo of the two birds in flight (the winner) you can then scroll through 100 of the very best that nature photography has to offer. I was just blown away by the quality of the photographs as well as the incredible variety of subjects in approximately eight categories. Of course I had seen the winning photograph (a B&W of two birds almost colliding mid-air) way back in Mandurah, just south of Perth where I had met the winning photographer who was showing his works. I spent so much time at this exhibition at the museum that I ran out of time to see the rest of the museum displays. Next time S. A. Museum!
Following this fantastic experience I wandered along beautiful North Terrace taking photographs and people watching. As well as the Botanic Gardens and the Museum, the North Terrace boasts the University of South Australia campus, the Adelaide University campus, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the State Library of South Australia, the Migration Museum, the National War Memorial, Government House (I lost my invitation!), and both the New and Old Parliament Houses.

It is now 5:15pm so it’s home time, if only I can find a bus stop where my J1 bus will stop for me. Nothing obvious so I walk all the way back to the Adelaide Metro Info Centre and find out that I have to walk way back near to where I came from in order to catch my bus, and then had to wait for 45 minutes. NOT impressed. Finally arrived back at the campground at 7:00pm, and stopped in at the associated restaurant to pick up a take out meal. I had walked a ton of kilometers today so no cooking for me!

November 23,
I took it easy today. As I depart for the Fleurieu Peninsula tomorrow I did some more washing, filled the caravan water tank, and cleaned the inside of the car as it had gathered a lot of dust over the past month or so. I finished by cleaning out the boot. As I reached into the little area up by the hinge of the boot lid to clear out some leaves and muck a huge spider reared up at me. Did I ever jump back quickly – my reflexes are as good as ever, guaranteed! I wasn’t sure what to do with it as it was holed up in a protected area, so I got the bug spray and did the dirty on it. The spider raced out of its lair, spun a spiderman web and was on the ground in a flash, but not to fast for this old guy. STOMP! It was a goner.
Spiderman no more

I wonder when I picked that one up? Things could have been worse I guess – it could have been lurking behind my sun visor!!
A comment on my neighbours. It is a weekend, and we are in Adelaide. Friday afternoon the number of vans in the park doubled, with young families and small groups here for the weekend. They are not the same as my familiar grey nomads! Several times I have been ignored when I said hello. The last time it happened, only a couple of hours ago, I repeated myself – “How are you going?”. He looked at me like I was an alien, and kept walking. I had to hold myself back from following him and asking again! My immediate neighbours have a tent and are associated with the caravan family next door to them. Between these two sites there are four cars! Four! Three of the cars are next to me – I can hardly get between my van and their cars. Saturday night they are getting louder…at 10:30pm! Of course their company is not unbearable, but I will be glad to leave these “Weekend Warriors” with their new vans and tents and bad manners, and get back to my friendly, unpretentious nomads.

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Wheat, Hills, Vineyards, Ocean

Posted on November 21, 2013 by nilocrol

November 17, 2013

It is Sunday, and time to head off again. I had made the right decision staying for an extra day at Point Lowly as it is calm and a perfect day for driving.

I continue to head north up to Port Augusta, which is situated at the northern tip of the Spencer Gulf, then due south through rolling hills of wheat fields. The constant colour is almost overpowering – bright yellow wheatfields and yellow/brown rounded hills with no green to bring a breathe of respite.Golden fields foreverTypical rolling hills in the wheat district

The townships that I meet are oozing with history. There are numerous brick buildings reminding the visitor of the early and mid 1800’s; some are in beautiful repair while others are either disused or in a state of dilapidation. Many are in rural areas along the highway and so many times I wanted to stop for a photograph, but towing a caravan has its down-side! Wilmington, Melrose, Wirrabarra, Laura, Gladstone…small towns in various states of economic viability but a joy to stop for a break. The coffee might not be great but the friendliness is unfailing.STOP! Sheep crossing!

Wirrabarra – sounds like the Japanese version of ‘wheelbarrow’!

My goal today is Clare, a lovely little town in the Clare Valley around which the vineyards north of Adelaide begin, and continue intermittently all of the way south of Adelaide. I stayed overnight there and was able to get a drive-through so I didn’t unhitch.

November 18, 2013

Clare is only a couple of hours drive from Adelaide, my target at the end of the day’s drive. I didn’t want to arrive early so I decided to make some detours. First I headed east to the historic township of Burra and dropped in to the Visitor Centre, housed in a beautiful old stone building, to ask how to get to a nearby conservation park which I had heard of.Burra Town HallTown SquareVisitor CentreArt Gallery

Red Banks Conservation Park features rugged red earth gorges, spring fed waterholes and old growth mallee trees. What caught my interest though was that this area over 60,000 years ago was home to giant wombats, marsupials weighing up to two tonnes, the fossilized remains of which have been found here. After driving 10km along a reasonably well-groomed gravel road I came to the car park at the beginning of a 5km trail. It was quite hot, breezy but not windy. I got about a kilometre into the walk, saw a big red kangaroo bounding away, and had to turn back. Again the flies were unbelievably friendly, flocking around me despite constantly swinging a small towel around my face. It was too much so back I trudged. I was able to take a few quick pictures, then back along the gravel road. Defeated again by those damn things.Road into Red BanksA tiny portion of Red BanksAnd this

Again, grain field after grain field, through the pretty town of Eudunda,Eudunda

then, over one set of hills I am in the Barossa Valley.First vineyard of the BarossaSome older vines

Ahhh, green vineyard after vineyard, passing through the townships central to the Barossa – Nuriootpa, Angaston, Tanunda, all of them home to beautiful people, beautiful buildings, beautiful scenery. A much more extended version of the Margaret River wine area in Western Australia. I actually crossed Jacobs Creek! The iconic huge wineries such as Penfolds, St. Hallet, Grant Burge and Peter Lehman have their showcases in these towns, while outside the built up areas are the massive vineyards of Penfolds, Grant Burge and Wolf Blass. On the outskirts of Tanunda is a railway siding, mostly out of sight, but the myriads of containers I sighted show evidence of the massive transportation infrastructure initiating the distribution of these wines around Australia and the world.Magnificent homestead in Nuriootpa

All of a sudden, from the Barossa Valley I was climbing on a beautiful narrow twisting road (I love these challenges!) as I climbed out of the valley and into the Adelaide Hills. As soon as I reached the top and began to descend the City of Adelaide appeared way down in the distance – a magnificent view. Unfortunately, no place to stop in order to take it all in.

Now I am suddenly driving in heavy traffic in the northern outskirts of Adelaide, and I have much more of this in store as I have to cross the entire city to get to West Beach, my campsite for the next four days. But I must say that in most part Adelaide drivers were accepting of my situation and readily let me in when I needed to quickly change lanes. Adelaide, the city of churches…and polite drivers!

I checked into the Adelaide Shores Caravan Park, which I have to say is the very best, most efficiently operated caravan parks that I have come across in all of my travels. It lies on many acres of land, and only a very short walk over the dunes to the beach. I arrived and set up at 31 degrees, and by the time I had walked to check out the beach it had changed to about 18 degrees with a heavy cold wind. No swimming just yet!West Beach…more steps!

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Point Lowly

Posted on November 17, 2013 by nilocrol

November 15, 2013

I left Port Lincoln and now I’m actually heading North; it’s a long time since I have done that! And I have a 45 degree South East wind helping me along which is a nice change also.

I stopped off at Cowell (another oyster producing centre). It’s an out-of-the-way place and a little family run station, and what do I notice? They sell fresh oysters!! I congratulated the woman behind the counter as being the very first servo I have seen selling fresh oysters. Her response: “How many do you want?”.Oysters for sale!!!Interesting cloud formation, probably indicative of more wind to come!

I continued north through Whyalla, where for over 100 years iron ore has been mined close by and processed into steel at the Whyalla plant. In fact Whyalla is the only manufacturer of train rails in Australia. The Visitor Centre houses a Maritime Museum, of which the main attraction and drawcard is the HMAS Whyalla, a corvette which towers over the Visitor Centre. It was shipped (a most appropriate term) overland, very slowly, from the ship yards to the Visitor Centre in the late 1980’s.HMAS Whyalla

From the Visitor Centre I drove for 10 minutes along the highway, then turned off the highway along a paved road for 25 minutes to reach Point Lowly where there is an unpowered campground costing the exhorbitant amount of $5/day! Cold showers though, as I found out the next day! But it has a magnificent view of the upper Spencer Gulf, looking across toward the mountains of the Yorke Peninsula on the eastern side of the Gulf. It is sunny and warm so the solar panels are out doing their job.Solar panels outView from van…through screen.

There is not much to do here – a few dozen houses, a lighthouse and historic lighthouse keeper’s cottage, a boat ramp, and a lovely little sandy beach.HistoryLighthouse keeper’s cottageIn the distance

Point Lowly is just a little north of Point Bonython – a port that transfers LPG, propane and crude oil to waiting tankers moared at the end of the very long jetty.Huge Point Bonython jetty

Again the flies are horrendous – I may have to get a fly net! But once the sun goes down the wind picks up as usual, and the flies go to bed.

November 16, 2013

My full day here and I am really enjoying taking it easy. Talking to neighours while swatting at flies means that conversations don’t take too long! I drove to the next beach, Fitzgerald Bay, which offers free bush camping, meaning no toilets or showers. You have to supply your own! It is famous for its pebble dunes that follow the coastline. They are naturally occurring shingle beach ridges, the only example of these in South Australia.Shingle ridges

All along the rocky shoreline of the Upper Spencer Gulf an annual migration of the Australian Giant Cuttlefish occurs May to August when thousands of them congregate to mate and spawn in these waters. Cuttlefish are able to change colours, patterns, textures and shapes for camouflage or mating purposes.

Today the wind velocity continues to increase, until from 2:30 to early evening it was consistently 45kph, gusting to 55kph. The weather wind warning for this area is to continue until tomorrow evening. I was to leave tomorrow morning but due to the conditions I decided to stay over for another day.

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Flies…Lincoln National Park…Flies

Posted on November 17, 2013 by nilocrol

November 14, 2013Entrance to Lincoln N. P.First view of the obeliskAlmost at the topFrom the topHeading down, Port Lincoln in backgroundMore steps – at the car parkOne of few flowers in this area

This morning I have decided to attempt two hikes, both in Lincoln National Park, only a 30-minute drive from Port Lincoln yet you may as well be 3 hours away. It is an overcast morning when I park my car, don my backpack and head off to the top of Stamford Hill, a two hour hike, some of it very steep. At the top is a huge obelisk which can be seen miles away. It’s a monument to Matthew Flinders, the first person to circumnavigate Australia, in the early 1800’s. I met four rangers on the trail who were mounting a series of information plaques along the way which detail sections of Flinders’ diary of his experiences around the Eyre Peninsula. The rangers are wearing fly nets which are covered with bush flies – there are hoards of flies, but why would they want to hang around the top of a hill. I guess I should have asked them.  Once back down at the base of the hill I set off on a second hike, a 5km round trip. I got about 200 metres and turned back – I realized I was putting myself in the position of being driven crazy by the flies. I reached the safety of the car, shut the door, killed a couple of ……, and had a bit of the lunch that I had prepared plus a drink, called it quits and drove back to Port Lincoln.

I now had a free afternoon and as I had been set to get some exercise from hiking I decided to go to the local pool for some exercise. I spent a lovely fly-free two hours doing laps then jogging in the waist deep water. A great workout. I then headed to the supermarket for fresh fruit and vegetables, and finally to the local fish shop (more like a fish supermarket!) where I bought a dozen oysters for the magical price of $10.99! They were from Coffin Bay where my one photo had shown the oyster beds from where these originated. Nice! And they were magnificent – with a drizzle of lemon they disappeared pretty quickly!

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Koppio Museum

Posted on November 14, 2013 by nilocrol

November 13^th, 2013

I took it easy in the morning, then headed out of town on a fair bit of unsealed road to visit the Koppio Smithy Museum in the beautiful Koppio Hills area, about 30 minutes drive from Port Lincoln. I had read in an old caravanning magazine that it was a little out-of-the-way gem, and the author was right on. It is less a museum and more like a little village telling the story of the early days of the Eyre Peninsula. It sits on 21/2 acres donated by the Brennand Family to the National Trust, and to do it justice put aside at least three hours…or more.

Recent history of this area cannot exclude the horrendous fires of the Eyre Peninsula, January 2005. The Museum includes a separate room dedicated to the recording of this tragedy, a tragedy which was alleviated to a small degree by two miracles – the Museum was spared despite its being being surrounded by fire, and Port Lincoln was spared due to a late wind shift when the fire was at its peak.The fire slightly damaged this outboard motor!Hakeas, which featured in my post of Kings Park, Perth, require very high temperatures in order to seed

The “village’ focuses on the original 1905 Tom Brennand Smithy building, and the Brennand family cottage, but there are many other exhibits on which to spend mountains of time:

• Koppio General Store
• Glenleigh, and 1890’s thatched cottage
• The Jericho Family Heritage Hall, with a myriad of artifacts dating back three generations to 1909
• The Grain Story Shed
• The Koppio School
• A huge collection of vintage tractors and stationary engines
• The Bob Dobbins barbed wire and fencing room (worthwhile visiting the Koppio Museum for this alone!)
• Women’s Pioneer Room
• Local Bank of Adelaide
• Local Post Office
• Vintage automobiles…and lots more as well.

Views on the way to KoppioUnsealed road – 12kmFinally arrivedSmithy store – also Museum receptionDavid – CEO!!Colin – Assistant to the Assistant’s AssistantSee you next time David!

I took mountains of photos, testament to my total absorption in all things historical throughout this magnificent museum.

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Port Lincoln and Coffin

Posted on November 14, 2013 by nilocrol

November 12

I left my el cheapo, but good, accommodation at Farm Beach and decided to drive to nearby Coffin Bay, which has a great name for scenic beauty and oysters. Nice combination!  It is a lovely sunny, cool day, great for driving. When close to C.B. I turned off the highway at a lookout sign. Got to the top and…nothing much at all. Too many trees blocking what would have been a magnificent view which was a little disappointing. Back down the hill and straight to the local coffee vendor. First things first! I then took a tour of this little gem of a place. On the map it is a bay within a bay within a bay – absolutely perfect for fishing and boating in general. I drove along a loop of The Esplanard and found – only one spot where I could stop to take a photo of part of the bay plus the oyster beds. Very disappointing for such magnificent scenery. Even if I had been driving a car without a cumbersome caravan the number of scenic stops would still be very limited.My one shot of Coffin Bay. Oyster beds so close!

Feeling a little frustrated at lost photo opportunities I left Coffin Bay for the short drive to Port Lincoln which lies at the base of the ‘V’ of the Eyre Peninsula. With a population of 14,000, Port Lincoln, the “Seafood Capital of Australia” overlooks Boston Bay, one of the largest natural harbours in the world, and in 1802 was named by Matthew Flinders after his native Lincolnshire in England. Primary industries in the area include the production of lamb, wool and beef, as well as a variety of cereal crops. The fishing industry relies on catches of tuna (farmed), prawns, lobster, abalone, and scale fish. The totally sheltered fishing port is huge, and when I visited most boats were in port. The industrial port has huge grain silos feeding the ships docked at the pier.

I am staying at an impressively hilly campground, only 50 metres from the waters of Boston Bay. The downside so far has seen a strong wind blowing straight off the water, so I haven’t bothered to set up the awning.

I dropped in to the Visitor Centre for some ideas for my next two days, then drove around the city centre, and out to the combined working/pleasure boat marina.Port Lincoln’s esplanardPort Lincoln’s port and jettyRows and rows of prawn boatsRecreational marinaEntrance to marinas

A few random observations from the past month or two:

• Windscreen of a hoon’s souped up ute (for Canadians – windshield of a young redneck’s souped up pickup) states “Problem Child”. You assume that he knows himself as well as his Mum does!
• My favourite town name so far…and I think forever: Widgiemooltha.
• Seems like wherever I drive in Australia there is an Easterly wind blowing, usually with great gusto.
• How could I have lived for so long without an iPhone?
• Road safety sign: “Don’t Be A [insert picture of a rooster); Buckle Up!
• Another one: “No Belt, No Brains”, accompanied by a graphic picture of a heavily bloodstained, severely cracked windscreen.
• Roadtrains…big deal! I have come across so many going the opposite direction, passing within a metre or two at speed, that it is just another fact of the highway.
• Lots of Grey Nomads have cute sign-written names on the back or front of their caravan, like “Spending The Kids Inheritance” and the like. My all-time favourite though (and I congratulated them in the Shelly Beach Caravan Park, Ceduna): ‘Free Radicals”
• Tourism signs everywhere on the Eyre Peninsula: “A Breath of Fresh Eyre”. Not bad!
• Can’t remember exactly when I heard it: “Bet you $100 I can stop gambling”.
• Murray Greys have taken over from Angus as my favourite cattle. Beautiful placid beasts.
• Why can’t the ABC, Australia’s national radio broadcaster, reach ALL parts of Australia??
• When I buy coffee, anywhere in Australia, it’s either extremely good or extremely bad. No in-between.
• Found out today on ABC radio that bush flies are bad at the moment. Well I knew that! Their maggots play around in animal droppings, especially sheep and cattle, but also native animals’ droppings. But…the dung beetle will get to work and start breeding at an astonishing rate in December and will start to take control of the animal droppings market – they will munch on the juicy part of the dung, and so the fly larvae will perish for want of comfortable warm damp living quarters. Brilliant! The dung beetle was imported from Africa – a great decision, made back in the ‘60’s I believe.
• A horror story. My elderly widower caravan neighbour here in Port Lincoln told me something I didn’t really want to hear. He was staying in Fitzroy Crossing in a caravan park in the centre of town. (Not the campground I stayed at). He walked next door to the IGA supermarket to pick up some food, and returned to find his 2010 car missing. The upshot, local aborigines had broken in, hotwired it and driven off. His insurance company told him to wait a while to give the police a chance to find it. He spent 16 days there! Then had to get a bus to Broome to buy another car, drive back and get the hell out of there. As I said, I didn’t want to hear that story. Now I know why my campground in Bourke was surrounded by a high electrified fence!

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Down the Eyre Peninsula

Posted on November 12, 2013 by nilocrol

November 10, 11, 2013

I drove around Ceduna in the morning, checking the place out, and did some shopping after emptying my larder of all fruit, vegetables and honey for the fruit fly check on entering Ceduna. It is extremely windy today, so I decided to take on one last challenge – Ceduna Cow Paddock Golf Course in a howling gale, holes 1 (par 5) and 18 (par 4). There was nobody on the course at 3:00pm so I had it all to myself. The greens are a dirt base (called ‘sandscrape greens’) which you scrape before putting. Even so you have to hit it very very hard to reach the hole. This after merely tapping the ball on artificial grass and seeing it run off the green. Major adjustment needed!Royal Ceduna Golf and Country ClubHole #1 tee and fairwaySandscrape green…avec scraperHole #18 tee and unfairway

I played quite well; the par 5 was with the wind and I bogeyed it, the par 4 was into the wind and felt like a par 5! I played it as well as I could have, and bogeyed it as well. I must be getting the hang of this game! I went straight to the Ceduna Visitors Centre to pick up my Nullarbor Golf Links certificate which turned out to be quite impressive with its computer printed name and score (104!). I also doled out $2 for an ‘I Crossed the Nullarbor’ certificate. You get to place a tick next to one (or more) of: Car, Bus, Truck, Train, Motorbike, Bicycle(!), Walking(!!) or Running(!!!). I didn’t notice Ambulance anywhere.

After that rewarding experience I wandered around the foreshore, but it was so windy and cold even the seagulls were hunkered down in the sun and out of the wind. I gave up and returned to my nice warm van with heater!The Port of CedunaGrain silos and salt pile ready for exportCeduna jetty

Nullarbor Golf recollections:

Initially I was totally frustrated with all of the hurdles, especially after playing Kalgoorlie first. Frustration at artificial grass tee boxes that won’t allow tees to be inserted; rocky, bare, uneven, prickly snake country, and that’s just the fairways (don’t even think of going into heavy rough looking for your ball); nonexistent fairways; impossible artificial grass greens – impossible to get the ball onto the green and stay on, and so fast they are almost impossible to judge distance. Twice I putted off the green…on a flat green! But…after a few days I got into the swing of things, took my licks, and began to really enjoy all of these weird challenges. And, I will NEVER, complain about a regular golf course again. NEVER!

November 11, 2013

All packed and ready to leave at 8:30am, although I’m not sure where I will finish up today. I headed south, first continuing on the Eyre Highway, then onto the Flinders Highway to get closer to the coast.

Streaky Bay – a pretty little town where I bought a great coffee at the local bakery.Streaky Bay jettyRetro Streaky Bay bakeryStreaky Bay PubS.B. Pub Reception

Murphy’s Haystacks – a bunch of boulders on top of a hill, on private property – a farm in the middle of golden wheat country. Really impressive, and not bad for $2, honour system. Big question – how did the farmer grow them?

Woolshed Cave at Anxious Bay – a cave worn into the sandstone and limestone by eons of surf crashing into a weak section of the coastline. You can walk right inside if you tread carefully. Again, lots of stairs down to the rocks. Aussie local councils seem to love building stairs down to beaches.More stepsBeyond the entrance to the cave

Ellistone – another sleepy coastal town, until the summer hoards descend on it. It has some magnificent scenic drives along the coast, mostly gravel roads. I had lunch at one of the highest points. Luckily the wind was blowing onshore or I would have been blown into the ocean!Lunchtime view out of Elliston

Eyre’s Water Hole – Edward John Eyre, one of Australia’s many early explorers, used this water hole when travelling all the way to Albany, probably following the route that I took to get here from Albany, along the Eyre Highway.Thw water hole, not really drinkable these daysSouth Australian architect designed(???) concrete picnic table and chairs. Long arms required.

After 381km and a nap along the way (not while I was driving!) I drove the last 10km on a dirt road to reach Farm Beach Campground at 5:30pm, pretty late for me. It’s an unpowered campsite, but at $10/day a deal. Another honesty box as well. I was honest.

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South Australia and the End of the Nullabor

Posted on November 10, 2013 by nilocrol

November 8, 9,  2013

Leaving Madura after finally getting to play the Par 3 Brumby’s Run, I drove for 374km to stay overnight at Nullarbor Roadhouse campground (nothing to write home about, but at least the first 5 bar mobile phone reception since Perth), then another 300km to officially end my trip across the Nullarbor. From Nullarbor I drove 300km to the official end of  the Nullarbor crossing. It’s like an Aussie initiation ceremony to cross the Nullarbor, and if you wish you can pick up a certificate celebrating your crossing! So I will have to frame two certificates – for driving and for golfing!

None of the campgrounds along the Eyre Highway, until Ceduna, provide water. Power yes, water no. Understandable as there are no rivers or lakes along the Nullarbor, but a little annoying too. Had to pay $1 for a  shower a couple of times but again, I can accept that.

The wind continued to blow strongly at a 45 degree headwind throughout the entire crossing, but the car seems to be running better than ever as it did not seem to be affected at all. I always had to be aware of my speed (max 95kph, but usually 90kph) as the car just wants to go! Assisting me here, road is in excellent condition throughout which was a pleasant surprise.

The term Nullarbor is not as most people believe an aboriginal word. It comes from the Latin nullus (no) and arbor (tree), and for much of the trip this is true. The entire length of the Nullarbor is solid limestone, and I can attest to this after playing golf at so many places. Often I was walking on solid limestone rock, and having to carefully replace the ball to a deep dirt surface before the next shot, otherwise the result would be broken club, broken wrist, or both.

I mentioned previously, there are five spots along the Eyre Highway designated as landing strips for the legendary Royal Flying Doctor Service. As I drove along these strips I sometimes wondered how they would be able to land with traffic getting in the way! The obvious solution is to have police stopping traffic at both ends, but in places there are no police for hundreds of kilometers. Maybe local volunteers do it. But no matter, I’m sure it works well.

Just after Nullarbor Roadhouse is a 12km sealed road heading south to the ocean – the Head of Bight. It is the most northerly point of the Great Australian Bight, with a magnificent view of the huge limestone cliffs which run continuously along the coastline. After paying $7 you take a very impressive walkway down to spots where one can better view the cliffs as well as close-up viewing of whales on their migration to and from the Antarctic. The whales use this area to rest and allow their calves to ready themselves for their first trip south from the Bight. Unfortunately on this cold and windy morning I was a little too late to catch the whales.

There were only three other opportunities to view the Southern Ocean and cliffs along the Eyre Highway, so I looked forward to each one with anticipation. They, along with golf, were my only real breaks from the long long drive.

Between Madura and Nullarbor Roadhouse I finally crossed from Western Australia into South Australia.Never thought I would make it!

As I think I said previously, I feel as if I have spent half of my life in W.A.! A little research shows that I spent 91 days in this huge State, and drove 12,503km. It seems a little weird not to be in W.A. now!   I am also suffering a little from the time change – South Australia is now 2.5 hours ahead of W.A. time, so I want to stay up late, and want to sleep in! I had to change the time on my watch, car, and HEMA GPS. My iPhone is the only intelligent one – it got it right as soon as I crossed the border! The border crossing is situated just after Eucla, and when entering Eucla one has to climb the range which I had driven down into Madura. This limestone range, which used to be the ocean cliffs when the ocean level was much higher, run much further than the 180km between Madura and Eucla, and are fascinating to view as you drive along this section.

The 200km prior to Ceduna sees wheat fields again, the last time being north and east of Perth. Most of the wheat has been harvested already; I wonder if they will plant a summer crop? It is done occasionally under the right conditions, i.e. a wet Spring.

I am spending two nights in a lovely campground in Ceduna – Shelly Beach Caravan Park, protected by huge sand dunes and then a lovely beach. It came highly recommended and did not disappoint. Everything is so well appointed and…luxurious. I wonder if this is just a normal feeling after staying at Spartan roadhouses along the Nullabor!

So, goodbye to Norseman, Fraser Range, Balladonia, Caiguna, Cocklebiddy, Madura, Mundrabilla, Eucla, Nullarbor, Nundroo, Penong, and of course Western Australia.

Now, hello to South Australia…surprise me!Every tee area along the Nullarbor looks the same – shelter, hole description and some local history, and the distinctive shelter…for beers???So typical of outback Australia in general!

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Golfing the Eyre

Posted on November 8, 2013 by nilocrol

November 5, 6, 2013

Its time to leave Kalgoorlie and head south, back to Norseman, turn left and begin my eastbound trip along the Eyre Highway, crossing the Nullabor Plain all the way to Ceduna in South Australia, a l-o-n-g way away.

Golf. I have signed up and paid my hard earned $70 to play the longest golf course in the world – 1365 kilometres from Kalgoorlie (holes 1 and 2) through to Ceduna (holes 17 and 18). Now it must be said right from the outset that the two magnificent holes at the Kalgoorlie Golf CourseEven some Kute kangas to add to the idyllic scene

are NOT indicative of the quality of holes offered up by such places as Kambalda, Caiguna, Cocklebiddy, or Balladonia! Goat tracks might be too good of a descriptor for these individual holes offered up by towns, roadhouses, pastoral stations, etc. But are they ever fun! The objective of the ‘Nullabor Links’ was to drum up business for these places by having people stop, where otherwise they might drive past without blinking an eye. It works, and there is a side benefit. By stopping for a little exercise a couple of times during a longish drive one feels invigorated and ready for the next stretch of pretty boring highway. I can attest to this! We have a card which is stamped at each hole, and when we complete the 18 holes and 1365 kilometres we get a certificate (!!!) to frame and hang for all to see. How good does this get??

So after Kalgoorlie I played a hole at Kambalda, then Norseman for two holes (where the soles of my running shoes were totally covered by nasty nasty 3-pointed burrs; they also stuck to the tyres and one even stuck into my golfball, I kid you not). Then on to Fraser Range Station for the night, so again I didn’t unhook. Water is so scarce across the Nullabor that water taps are not provided in campgrounds for campers to hook up to, just power. Fraser Range even go so far as too charge a dollar coin for a 5 minute shower. I was really worried that I would finish up all soaped up then run out of water, so I finished in record time and luxuriated for a couple of minutes rinsing under a strong hot shower. I did notice the incongruous situation of charging for shower water, yet a sprinkler was operating on a lovely green lawn outside one of the rental bungalows. I hope it was bore water!

The next morning I had breakfast, packed up and drove along a dirt track about 500 metres to hole number six, Sheep’s Back, Par 3 141 metres.

Again I had to deal with those same burrs but not as bad as Norseman. Most greens so far consist of two grades of artificial turf, short on the green proper, longer around the edges. The worst spot to be is just off the green – you can’t chip it because of the granite-like surface, and if you put it you might hit a stone or clump of patchy grass and have it jump sideways. Life is tough. Oh yes, the flies. Why are there flies out here? Why do they exist fhere with no sheep or cattle? Probably the same as mosquitoes in Canada – they exist to make one’s life a misery if one dares to enter their territory. That in a nutshell is their raison d’étre. So after lobbing my tee shot onto the green then seeing it roll off the back of the green about 3 metres, I scored a 5 which included a 10 foot put! Golf can be a bastard at times! But fun.

Now I’m off again, onto the Eyre Highway for my next golfing challenge! One reason I travelled counter clockwise was to take advantage of the prevailing westerly winds on the long straight stretch across the Nullabor. Well, I travelled a magnificent 440 kilometres today (a record for me, and that includes three more golfing stops after the morning Fraser Range fiasco), and all day I had a 45-degree headwind. I was not amused by this, I can assure you. At least it was cooler and cloudy today so golf was more pleasant and so was driving…the car as well as the golf ball.

I took a well-earned break at Madura Pass. This is my absolute favourite place along the Eyre so far. A kilometer or so short of Madura you turn a bend and there is the most incredible view below of dead flat plains stretching all the way to the Southern Ocean, although we are to far away to see the ocean. Then you drive down the escarpment to the Madura Roadhouse. One of the better roadhouses I have seen on my trip. I booked in for one night, ready to play their par 3, ‘Brumby’s Run’ the next morning before heading east again. Wrong! It rained most of the night, and continued to rain on and off the next morning, so I booked in for another night. It would be no fun getting out to play golf in the rain then back in the car, wet, to continue driving. Of course if I were not playing the Nullabor Links I would have been out of there and on the highway in a flash.

Well this has turned out to be a positive because I have caught up with my blog postings, although I can’t post them yet as I have such bad mobile phone reception here, either one bar or no service at all. The barman at the reception area/restaurant/pub said that Telstra, our major telecom company in Australia, placed their tower on the other side of the range. Um…why not on TOP of the range Mr. Telstra???  So I have sat at the table working on my blog all morning and into the afternoon. I have tried twice to play Brumby’s Run today when the weather looked like clearing. Both times I was on my way over when down it came again. It’s like I just wasn’t meant to…BUT I WILL.Before Madura overlooking Roe PlainsHope my car doesn’t look like this at the end of the tripRoyal Flying Doctor Service air strip on highway – 5 so far on Eyre H/wayYour ruling??Typical rest area on the Nullabor.Lucky to be in the the hole 4 shots later!

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Kalgoorlie and its Super Pit

Posted on November 8, 2013 by nilocrol

November 2, 3, 4, 2013

Today is a short drive of 190km north from Norseman to Kalgoorlie where I will spend three nights. I was surprised to be driving through Eucalypt forest all the way; I expected more desert type country, but these Eucalypts are specifically adapted to this hot dry climate and along with an unusually wet winter they are looking very healthy. This area, the Great Western Woodlands, as I found out later is home to 20% of Australia’s Eucalypt species.

I pulled into the caravan park and was not surprised that there was not a patch of grass anywhere given the hot dry climate, but I was given a reasonably shady spot so I was happy. Today was windy and very hot, and the next two days promise more of the same. After setting up the caravan I drove in to town to see what information I could scrounge at the visitor centre. The two young girls working today were very helpful and I came away with a heap of literature. It is a little frustrating every time I do this as I know I won’t be able to see everything that I would want to see. It would be blissful to visit, say, Esperance for two weeks and see the entire coastline surrounding it, especially Cape Le Grand National Park which is supposed to be outstanding, and maybe do a tour or two. Really get to know an area. I know this is not possible on a trip such as mine, but nevertheless it is sometimes frustrating.  So with all my literature I do as I always do – sit down and try to figure out the sights that I would not want to miss. In Kalgoorlie it was hands down the Super Pit!

But first a little background. Its official name is Kalgoorlie-Boulder, population about 33,000, and situated about 600km east of Perth. Its ongoing prosperity began in 1893 when prospector Paddy Hannan (hmmm, wonder where he immigrated from?!) stopped to repair his horse’s shoe and found signs of gold, which started the biggest gold rush in Western Australia’s history. But the surface gold soon began to run out, and it was a Canadian miner, Larry Cammilleri, who discovered that there was the proverbial pot of gold hidden deep under the earth in what was called the Boulder Fault. These deep reefs were situated within what was later called the ‘Golden Mile’, considered to be the richest square mile of earth on the planet. It has been producing vast amounts of gold for over a hundred years. The Golden Mile was long mined by many individuals and companies, with some shafts going down close to two kilometers. They were highly skilled at following the reef and made their fortunes many times over. In the 1980’s these individual leases (about 260) were bought up by then Aussie billionaire Alan Bond and the Golden Mile became a one company operation in 1989 (Kalgoorlie Consolidated Gold Mines) which started an open pit – what is now the Super Pit. It is 3.7km long, 1.6km wide, and 600 metres deep. Today it produces 22 tonnes of gold per year; 40,000 tonnes of rock are crushed per day to produce four 17kg gold bars worth $800,000 each. To achieve this requires 40 mining trucks at $4.4 million each, and 4 face shovels at $18 million each – weighing 710 tonnes, 4020hp twin diesel engines, full bucket load of 68.5 tonnes. So far well over 57 million ounces of gold have been extracted from the Golden Mile. I find all of this so fascinating. You probably won’t!

Immediately after visiting the visitor centre I drove to the public viewing area of the Super Pit. How does one describe the overwhelming size of something so big? I can’t; maybe the pictures will help.Public viewing area with maxi scoop!SO……BIG!Some details

The next day I did a walking tour of Kalgoorlie.Town Hall and Visitor CentreOld Post Office with REAL gold leaf cupolaYes, an operating funeral parlourKalgoorlie-Boulder has so many wide wide streetsLots of traffic circles…Good!Fanciest pub I have ever seen

It was nice to be able to take a break from the heat by visiting the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Museum. There was a special exhibition running, titled Debt of Honour. It traced the history of Australia’s first commandoes in East Timor during WWII, along with a history of East Timor to present day along with Australia’s military and civilian involvement in assisting East Timor to become a nation.  Very well done and took me about an hour to go through it.

The Museum site is visible from most parts of Kalgoorlie because a previously operating mining headframe, 39 metres high, was moved to stand over top of the museum. Visitors can take an elevator to a viewing platform high above the museum. The museum also includes the Gold Vault which is a spectacular collection of gold nuggets, housing half the State’s gold collection. Also included is the British Arms Hotel, said to be the narrowest hotel in the Southern Hemisphere; upstairs is displayed huge trade union banners from the 1800’s, and an early dentist’s surgery. Claude De Bernales was a mining entrepreneur who made his fortune in the Goldfields, and his opulent Perth and Kalgoorlie offices are shown at he museum in all their grandeur.Dwarfed by the head frameView from the head frameThese, and all others are real!Millions of dollars in this vaultClaude De BernalesAnd boardroomAnd office

My final day was highlighted by the three-hour morning bus tour of the Super Pit. It included an excellent commentary by the tour guide who has worked in several mines including this one, two different views of the pit from much closer than the public viewing area, close-up views of the huge trucks and face shovel, and a drive-through tour of the milling plant which takes high grade ore from rocks down to a mud slurry, then uses huge separating tanks to separate the gold from the slurry. The Gold House is where the gold is melted, poured into ingots, stamped and stored, ready for delivery to the Perth Mint. I have a photo of the unimposing entrance to the Gold House. Some material has been left on a pallet outside the locked gate. It would seem that delivery plebians do not enter OUR Gold House. WE will come out in our own good time and collect the material!

My only disappointment was that I didn’t see a blasting operation, which usually occurs every couple of days. One of the more interesting aspects of the viewing areas is seeing the number of old mine shafts that the open pit continually uncovers. There are many of these shafts showing as ‘small’ holes in the walls of the open pit. After each blasting, debris such as wood shoring, railway lines, and miscellaneous tools and equipment are uncovered and carted up to a sorting area where “stick pickers”, the lowest level of worker on the mining payroll, remove this material, by hand, from the piles of ore. This is to prevent the primary ore crusher from being jammed by these objects. BTW the highest paid workers are those operating the huge face shovels that load the monster trucks. As well as loading the trucks they tell the driver if it is high-level ore, low-level ore, or waste; this determines where the truck will head in order to empty its load.This size of this pit is simply staggeringA slow day today – 18 trucks parkedHeading down in the busAnd further downFor this viewAnd this – the current work siteThey look like toys from the viewing platformBut they’re not!Guide driving, and assistant learning the ropesHeading for the milling plantHigh grade ore ‘sucked’ out from underneath for further processingRotating tumbler smashes rocks with shot put size bearingsThe unimposing Gold Room

I bought a DVD of the mining operations at the Super Pit, and this was by far the most disappointing part of the visit to Kalgoorlie. First, it was dated, made in the early years of this Century, but worse, it was 80% sale pitch on what GOOD PEOPLE we are who are making a large fortune from this huge hole. I wanted detailed information on mining operations, stats on the mine, etc etc. Virtually nothing. If I was still in Kalgoorlie after watching it I would have given it back to the manager, money back or not.

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Norseman

Posted on November 8, 2013 by nilocrol

November 1, 2013

Today, somewhat regretfully, I leave the coast and head north to Norseman. I am just spending the night here, and then heading further north to Kalgoorlie. I met up with a couple who I had first met in the Esperance campground. They are retired from the Salvation Army, and were just great company. We had agreed to get together at the one Norseman campground, which we did when they arrived at about 2:30pm. I had remained hitched up as I was leaving the next day, and so they asked if I would like to accompany them on a drive around town. I jumped at the chance and away we went to see the sights of the mighty metropolis of Norseman. Actually it was really interesting, especially the lookout which provides an excellent view of the operating goldmine. We also went on two short walks through very dry eucalypt forest country, one from the lookout and one from nearer the town. I forgot to bring my camera so I’m afraid no pics today!

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Esperance Beaches and Snakes

Posted on November 8, 2013 by nilocrol

October 29,30, 31, 2013

I leave Albany today, heading further east. I have an overnight stay at Ravensthorpe, and head on to Esperance on the southern cost of Western Australia. Esperance is 7 hours drive from Perth, and is not surprisingly becoming a major tourism centre. It has it all – mountain ranges, wetlands, and magnificent coastline. The beach sand is brilliant white, the water a mix of turqoise hues.

My first day of the two full days in Esperance was to be a 40km circle drive tour – the Great Ocean Drive. And it was. Tranquil bays, soaring cliffs, giant granite boulders, turquoise waters, and outstanding views along the road which runs high above the beaches:  West Beach, Salmon Beach, Fourth Beach, Twilight Cove, Observatory Beach, Nine Mile Beach, Ten Mile Lagoon, and one of my two favourites along with Twilight Cove – Eleven Mile Beach.Esperance BeachEsperance HarbourBeautiful Twilight CoveThe aviator……and his gliderFirst beach west of EsperanceYou wouldn’t miss this place if you had to visitLooking back to EsperanceThe big drop down to the car parkFirst sight of Eleven Mile BeachNot just one set of stairs……but two!Getting closerEleven Mile Beach sheltered poolHolding back the surfLimestone reef

The Great Ocean Drive breaks away from the ocean at Eleven Mile Beach and circles inland past Pink Lake (which definitely wasn’t pink when I saw it) which is a highly saline lake, and with the right conditions does turn pink. Table salt is produced in ponds at one end of the lake.

I passed a High School towards the end of the drive. It was the end of the school day and I was surprised to see many students heading home in all directions on motor scooters.  I was surprised at both the age of the students riding them, and the fact that they were allowed to ride them to and from school. Nice though.

The last day at Esperance included shopping and general cleanup, followed by a trip to the Helms Arboretum 20 minutes drive north of Esperance. Near the entrance I came across an outdoor information area, but there was precious little about the arboretum itself! I drove in and was astounded by the size of the place. It is sectioned into hundreds of acre size squares devoted to eucalypts and pines. It also has a good variety of wildflowers as well. I drove for over an hour, often stopping to check on particular flowers or trees, and still had not seen all of the area as it was late afternoon and I had to head back to the campground to make dinner and prepare to leave the next day. I drove over a small dead snake so decided to stop and see if I could identify it. No luck – the ants had been at it. As I was about to get into the car, just several metres in front of the car, on the dirt road, was a 5 foot Dugite snake, a close relative to the Eastern Brown which is highly venomous. I got my camera out and (at a safe distance Mum!!)  began to snap away. It just lay there, smiling for the camera and not moving. I went back to the car for my telephoto lens, and when I was ready to shoot he started to head back into the bush so I grabbed him by the tail….Not!One of hundredsThe ‘Spotted Gum’ Eucalyptus MaculataBeautiful Weeping GumDugiteWith telephoto

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Albany (continued)

Posted on November 5, 2013 by nilocrol

Albany (continued)

This coastline never fails to amaze – rugged, dangerous, beautiful…and intimidating yet welcoming. I continue to spend much of my time on this coast.

The Albany wind farm lies less than 10km from Albany and supplies much of Albany’s power. They are of course immense structures, 65m high with blades 34m long, and anchored by concrete foundations 16m into the ground. There is a walk from the closest tower down to the coastline which intersects with the Bibbulman Track. The views are memorable along this stretch of the trail.

My first stop on a tour of the coastline south of Albany was at a beautiful beach with steps all the way down to the rocks. Apparently it is a popular spot for rock fishing (fishing from rocks, not for rocks) and was very protected from the strong winds today. I spoke to a Japanese couple and we swapped photographs which was nice, as I knew they could handle my good Canon SLR camera!

Cable Beach is lies beyond the wind farm, having what initially looks like a lighthouse at its point. In fact it is a marine safety centre, intercepting distress signals from boats and ships in trouble, relaying the information to the nerve centre in Canberra (on the other side of the country!) where directions are issued to the appropriate naval or air rescue body. It is a short walk to the “lighthouse”, then a steep rough walk down to the cliff face overlooking the ocean. It was along this track that I almost trod on a small snake! I am always aware of snakes now that the days are warming up, and snakes are now emerging (after a winter of holing up) to find both food and a mate. For a small instant I was distracted by an impressive view of the ocean when I stepped off a rock on the path and in mid stride noticed a small snake which was obviously very agitated, as I was! It was only about 18 inches long and as thick as a pen, but could still impart a decent amount of venom. As soon as I stepped down I was in sprint mode and in an instant I was safely away from it.  From now on – no distractions while walking in the bush. I made it down near to the cliff edge but didn’t do anything dangerous – it’s pretty scary when you look down and see the roiling boiling ocean 30 or 40 metres down. A couple of quick pics and I’m out of there. I’d rather take my chances with the snake!

Further on from Cable Beach I reached two popular tourist points, The Gap and Natural Bridge. Pathways and viewing platforms have been erected, and were being well used while I was there. Backpackers as usual were tempting fate by going right out to the edge of the yawning chasms. Safety devices which can be thrown to people in the water are available at most of the tourist spots, but with the waves crashing against the rocks I wouldn’t hold out much hope for a person in trouble even if they were able to grab the series of 3 plastic buoys connected by a long length of rope. The gap is a pretty impressive inlet with vertical walls 40 metres high. Even though the surf was not high at all it is amplified many times by the narrow inlet. The Natural Bridge is just that – granite rock uplifted millions of years ago which has resisted erosion resulting in the bridge.

I finally decided to play a round of golf at the Albany Golf Club. I had lugged my clubs around Australia since I had picked them up from storage when I was in Toowoomba, and last I played was at Yeppoon with Harold Scharley. The front nine I played extremely well, surprisingly, with my short game as good as it has ever been. The back nine was another story! I was getting tired (I am definitely not golf-fit!) and my swing slowly began to desert me, or did I desert my swing? Either way things fell apart. But it really was a pleasant walk all by myself…playing golf at your own pace is an enjoyable experience which doesn’t happen very often.

While standing at a view point near where I had seen the Mauritian Navy belching smoke as it left Albany, I noticed what looked like a kite. It turned out to be a remote controlled glider. Yes, a glider in the shape of a delta wing. The guy flying it over the cliffs and water was amazingly skilled, making it dive, loop, hover, and fly at incredible speeds with the wind. I couldn’t believe the control he had over a plane without a motor! There was no time at all when it looked like it was in trouble. Total control. I watched for about 20 minutes until he finished, then approached him as he was returning to his car to congratulate him for providing such excellent entertainment.The area near where I first saw the delta wing glider – entrance to Albany’s beautifully protected harbourPilot extraordinaire!To the right of that long beach, Middleton Beach, is my caravan park at Emu Point, east of Albany

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Albany Part 1

Posted on November 3, 2013 by nilocrol

October 24, 2013

Moving day. I do the short distance from Denmark to Albany – 51km. I could just about walk that one! Albany lies 400km south-east of Perth, boasts 30,000 full time residents, and was settled two years before the big smoke – Perth. Beat that! It also has one of the best natural harbours in the world. Albany also sits at the end (or beginning??) of both the 964km BibbulmanTrack, a hiking trail extending from Perth all the way to Albany, and the Munda Biddi bike trail, also beginning in Perth.

My caravan park, the beautifully named Rose Gardens Beachside Holiday Park, was not named for its flowers but after the owner…Rose. Still, not a bad spot and a nice place to spend five days. My decision now is to list the fun things that I did in and around Albany over the five days without bothering to separate them on a day-by-day basis. I hope that’s okay with everybody!

Albany Visitor Centre: Very impressive, attentive to my needs, listened to my particular situation and came up with excellent options. Ten out of ten!

Albany Central District Heritage Trail highlights:

This is a self-guided walking trail which takes as long as you want to take.

*The Albany Courthouse, in use from 1895-1996. The magnificent arch doorways, made by a local stonemason using locally sourced granite, are not fixed in cement, just faced.

*The Old Gaol, built in the 1850’s it was converted in the 1870’s to a gaol from its original us as the convict Labour Hiring Depot.

*The Brig “Amity” replica, built in 1976, but never intended for sailing duties.  The 2-masted brig carried the first settlers from Sydney to Albany, arriving in 1826. An informative self-guided tour takes you to each of the three levels of the ship.

*Patrick Taylor’s Cottage (1832) constructed of wattle and daub and originally with a shingle roof, this was one of the earliest buildings in the settlement and is the oldest surviving intact dwelling in Western Australia. It is jam packed with memorabilia in all of the 11 rooms.

*Wesley Church Manse, built 1903, is a beautifully crafted building with elegant ornamentation.

*St Johns Church (1841) and Rectory (1850). The church could accommodate the entire town population of 170 when first built.

While driving past the wharf I saw a naval ship with a smoking funnel. Correctly assuming it was about to depart I drove down as close as I could get and used my binoculars to watch the pre departure activity on-board, the pilot’s boat leaving its berth, and a tug also leaving its berth. Despite the sleeting rain there was a band playing on deck. I hoped the band didn’t later have similar experiences to the band on the Titanic. I used my iPhone to check out the flag flying from the ship – Mauritius. Who knew Mauritius had a navy?! I drove up to the cliffs overlooking the harbour entrance, along with many others, and watched the naval ship steaming out under a huge pall of smoke, accompanied by the Pilot’s boat.

Stony Hill to Peak Head hike: 5km return hike, 3 hours, strenuous, traverses very steep granite outcrop…says the guide book. I get to find out how accurate. It is a very steep up and down hike on sandy soil through sometimes heavily overgrown sections of the path. The last section presents a very steep and slippery granite outcrop that had me on all fours crawling up the granite face. Fun! The view at the top was magnificent despite the inclement weather – cold winds, patches of misty rain, and overcast skies throughout. Oh well, no sunburn today. No flies either! It was a truly challenging hike which is what I was looking for, and chosen from my “Guide to 20 of the Most Popular Walk Trails in the City of Albany”.  Mis-titled in my mind because my hike, for example, was 20 kilometres out of Albany, traversing through absolute wilderness.Where I’m headingThe goalA touch of colour on a grey dayFirst view of the oceanAbout to start up the wallThe worn track up the granite wall, which I found was way too slippery from use.Half way up the granite wallFear? Exhilaration? Who knowsRoute marker near the topAt the topLooking back on the trail I had followedSome plants like heightsThe cairn at the topI was standing on top of this monolith in the distance the day before!

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Ospreys and Green Elephants

Posted on November 1, 2013 by nilocrol

October 23, 2013

Today is beach day. Too cold for swimming, but at least sunny. The first beach (damn, what was its name) was trod on by me and a couple of fishermen on a cool and windswept morning. A sign on the beach indicates that the rocks here and along much of the southern coast of Western Australia are exactly the same type of rock as that of northern Antarctica. Direct evidence that they didn’t really care for each other…just drifted apart. A big fishing boat came into the beach on the tide, was collected by a tractor and towed away to prepare itself for a record catch next time.Rocks from AntarcticaReady to fish another day

Speaking of record catches this feathered friend is the master. I caught this osprey half way through his sashimi as I was travelling from one beach to another. He wasn’t concerned that I was rudely photographing during his meal; maybe he was impressed when I told him that he might become famous on my blog, being introduced to thousands of future fans.Are you still photographing??You handsome devil!

I finished up the day at the twin beaches of Greens Pool and Elephant Cove, only an hour’s drive south of Denmark.  Greens Pool is Denmark’s favourite beach as it is a totally sheltered, very large rock pool, excellent for swimming and snorkelling in its crystal clear water. Next door Elephant Cove is famous for its huge rocks called, unsurprisingly, Elephant Rocks. They are huge elephant shaped boulders in the shallow waters of the small cove. To get from Greens Pool to Elephant cove you must descend a steep set of stairs between massive boulders, then squeeze between another set of boulders in order to reach this lovely secluded beach.First sight of lovely Greens PoolGreens PoolBetween Greens and ElephantDown the steps…Through the gap…And there it is – Elephant Cove!The elephant family

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Get That Tingling Feeling

Posted on October 29, 2013 by nilocrol

October 22, 2013

A busy day today, and fortunately it is a pleasant day with no prediction for rain.

First is a drive to view the Giant Tingle Tree (note capitals!), and in the same general area, Circular Pool. Tingle trees have loads of character, more than any other tree I have seen. They are often scarred and hollowed out by ancient bush fires, as well as showing many burls and stumps of large branches, especially in the high canopies. With many of these old ‘characters’ it’s easy to imagine faces in their ancient trunks. But to me the most puzzling thing was which of these monsters was THE Giant Tingle Tree? There were five or six trees that could have claimed the title. Tourists don’t want mixed messages, they want order. They want THE giant, then the second biggest, and so on. Well I do anyway.Character!Take a lunch bag to walk around this oneFind the faceYep, that’s a face

Further down the dirt road, and following a short but steep walk I found Circular Pool, which is fed by a coffee-coloured river running over rapids and circling into a large pool with coffee crema on top! True! Unfortunately I forgot to bring my coffee cup.

Finally, a fair way down the highway towards a town I had driven through on the way to Denmark, (Nornalup) I came to the highlight of the day – the Tree Top Walk. As the publicity goes, “Walk above the giant Tingle trees at the spectacular Tree top Walk in the Valley of the Giants”. No shortage of exciting descriptors there! But I must say it was pretty stirring to be walking 40 metres up amongst the canopies of Tingle trees, and more exciting was if I walked at a certain rhythm the walkway began to bounce up and down. Wow!

After the TTW I was tempted to go again (you can go as often as you like as it is set up in a square configuration) but I thought I had better move on to the associated “Ancient Empire Walk” (more great descriptors) which meanders at ground level through a grove of veteran Tingle trees. I referred to the character of these trees above; on this walk we see the “Grandma Tingle”. Your task is to find grandma’s face on this tree!How does this goliath keep standing?Grandma

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Denmark…Western Australia

Posted on October 29, 2013 by nilocrol

October 19^{th, 2013}

It rained most of the day – a very miserable Perth Spring day! But it was brightened when I was able to speak to Dave and Marja Ranson on Skype…and they are on the other side of the world just north of Winnipeg, Canada. It was amazing to see each other and to be able talk with no time delay. You look great guys!!

October 20^th, 2013

It’s time to leave Perth, so it’s pack-up time and, strangely for me, driving with my snail shell trailing behind! I headed south-east to Kojonup to stay overnight, so I didn’t bother unhooking.

October 21^st, 2013

Not too much packing up which was nice. I needed to fill the tank yet again so I stopped at the cheapest service station in town – only to find that it was unattended! You first swipe your card at a machine, enter the pump number and the max amount that you will need, back to the pump, fill up, back to the machine for a receipt, and finally drive off. My first time using this system!

I’m now heading for Denmark. Not across the ocean, but Denmark on the south-western coast of Western Australia only a couple of hours driving away. It lies within the beautiful protected Wilson Inlet, and the caravan park is on the coast of this inlet. Unfortunately as the wind was coming off the water we copped it so I didn’t have my awning up too much, as the van might have taken off with the strongest gusts! I had to take a shot of the best camping rig I have seen so on my trip:

Denmark was established on the Denmark River in 1895 as a timber mill town. As the timber resources dwindled, fishing, beef and dairy farming became the economic mainstay, although currently tourism and wine growing are the new growth industries.

First task is to visit the visitor centre. I received lots of information so the problem was deciding what to do for the next day and a half. I decided as it was a pretty nice day to do a hike to the top of Mount Lindesay. I drove 13 km along a dirt road only to find that the road to the Mount Lindesay hike car park was closed – a small bridge was down. No signs to let us know either. Very annoying. I looked at the map and chose a shorter hike as the day was moving along. I did the Harewood Forest walk through re-growth Karri forest. It was very relaxing yet runs parallel to the highway for quite a while. After this hike I went back to the Visitor Centre to remind them that the Mt. Lindesay road was closed. Surprisingly they didn’t know.The road to…just short of..Mt. LindesayHarewood Forest Walk

That evening I decided to use the camp kitchen BBQ to cook a steak that I had bought. A French backpacking couple were cooking when I arrived, so I was talking to them when two more couples arrived plus a single woman on a year’s leave from teaching. We had such a fun time swapping travel experiences that it was 10:00pm when the party broke up.

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The King of All Parks

Posted on October 28, 2013 by nilocrol

October 18^th, 2013

I went to Kings Park today.

Kings Park is 406 hectares (1004 acres), overlooking the City of Perth as well as large stretches of the Swan River. The most utilized area includes the impressive W.A. Botanic Garden plus an information centre and café/restaurant. This large area is only about 15% of the total park.

It was with great foresight that part of this area was set aside for public purpose as far back as 1831. In 1872 172ha were made Recreation and Park Land. This was increased to 400ha in 1890 and designated a Public Park. Finally it was re-named  Kings Park in 1901.

Cars are able to travel around the entire park, but I walked and by the end of the day I had just finished the 15% “most used” section. The place is huge!

First things first:Grand entrance of Lemon Scented GumsPerth from Kings ParkThe Swan River from K.P.Another view of the Swan

Must sees:Elevated walkwayDNA TowerWar Memorial

The Botanic Garden:Part of the Water GardenWater Garden

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$$$Perth$$$

Posted on October 25, 2013 by nilocrol

October 17^th, 2013

Today I take the car into the Ford hospital for some work. They are very nice people and drive me to the railway station. I’m an expert at the automated ticket machine now, and get impatient at a slow beginner in front of me.
After 30 minutes I’m in Perth again, with no great rush to do anything but see a bit more of this fine city. First a coffee, then I wander around the several street malls sporting a number of street musicians – all good: a drummer using mostly plastic paint buckets, a Chinese man playing a Chinese string instrument with a bow, a mouth organ man, a woman singing, and a few others. There is also the most impressive bronze sculpture, especially for gymnasts(!), of a man – a famous Perth street performer – doing a handstand, with his jacket opening up as he is upside down.

I take the city CAT, the free bus, just to see a bit more of the city, and saw some more city sculptures, as well as, from the outside only, the famous WACA ground (West Australian Cricket Association).The WACA

As I was a bit short of cash (the auto mechanic had called to tell me that they found some damage to the front suspension which had to be repaired) I decided to visit the Perth Mint, which is still operating as a mint and offers tours for the public. Unfortunately the full tour had been cancelled due to renovations, but the 25 minute short version that we had for free was thoroughly entertaining, especially the recounting of how several of the biggest gold nuggets in Australia, and thus the world, were found.Acually, it’s a fake…

The mint is a majestic building, as all mint should be, and offers goods for sale to the public, anywhere from $5 for a commemorative coin, to around $100,000 for Argyle pink diamond jewelry. They also display a real gold nugget, not for sale, worth…a very lot! I forget how much!Hmm, no guards…promising!!To stop you getting in…or out?Found the BIG one, in Western Australia

A couple of scenes in Perth:The nicest pub in PerthThe nicest church in PerthThe nicest…ediface in Perth!

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Freo

Posted on October 23, 2013 by nilocrol

October 16^th, 2013

I got up early today. No muesli as I have no milk. I packed my backpack because I’m taking the train in to Perth and will be spending the day there. I want to take the ferry to Freemantle (Freo)and see as much of it as I can. Eighteen kilometres from Perth the beautiful Swan River flows into the Indian Ocean at the historic City of Freemantle.

I drop the car off at the train station parking lot (free) – Midlands is the end of the line – and head for the station. It takes a while to figure out the automatic ticket vending machine, and when I finally work it out it only costs me only $1.70 for what was to be a 30 minute ride. The timing was perfect as the train was leaving in one minute.

From Perth Station I walked for 12 minutes down to the wharf and found that the ferry was departing in ten minutes, just enough time to buy a return ticket, grab a coffee and jump onboard. It was not promising weather but I sat outside at the stern which was protected from the cool breeze. Along the way we passed by the expensive homes of the beautiful people overlooking the Swan River (more like a huge lake than a river) – Claremont, Peppermint Grove and Mosman Park. Gina Reinehart’s home was close to the water and not ostentatious at all considering that she is the richest woman in Australia. We also saw Alan Bond’s house that he owned before all of his financial and other troubles. One big house was recently bought for $65million (mining money) with a 16 car underground garage, 25m indoor pool, 9 bedrooms etc etc. But most impressive and ostentatious was a massive property with several huge houses, all interlinked by underground passages, with endless brickwork used for landscaping. I forget who owned it, but it is all one family group that lives in the various homes.Alan Bond’s ex homeMonster property with multi family dwellings!Like a wedding cakeGina Rinehart’s low set home – centreNew housing estate on the Swan

I arrived at Freemantle after a little over an hour of cruising. I went straight to the Maritime Museum as I had wanted to do that one and it was within sight of the ferry dock. It was a fascinating place which includes (if you pay a few extra dollars) a 90 minute tour of the HMAS Oberon, a decommissioned Ovens Class submarine. We had to climb up to the top of the sub, then down into the bow section where torpedoes are stored and fired, and also houses the main escape hatch. We then gradually moved back towards the stern, stopping at all of the interesting bits. The most striking thing about the sub was its compactness (obvious) along with the complexity of everything: dials, valves, wiring, etc, etc. We could not imagine how one would: a) Do up architectural drawings, b) fit everything into the miniscule spaces available, and c) do so with everything in working order! Imagine a major electrical fault at 60metres under!Not just a periscope…How complex is all is stuff?!Diesel motors to charge batteries

Following the sub tour I wandered around the Maritime Museum, with a couple of the highlights being Australia II, the Aussie yacht that was the first to beat the USA for the America’s Cup back in 1983. There were recent celebrations in Freo to mark the 30^th anniversary of that momentous win, which put Freo on the international map. Also there is housed in a pressure tank a fully preserved rare type of shark – Megamouth – which was first discovered as recently as 1976. It is not a pretty sight, yet you could not take your eyes off it. A magnificent specimen.

I had a quick bite to eat at the museum cafeteria, realizing as I ate that I was fast running out of time as the last ferry to Perth leaves at 3:45pm. I decided to stick with the maritime theme and take a short walk to the W.A. Museum building housing the ‘Shipwreck Galleries’. By far the highlight here, which should not be missed, is the Batavia Gallery, an entire two storey room devoted to the stern section of the Batavia which foundered on reefs off Geraldton on the west coast of West Australia in 1629. How such a large part of the hull was preserved for so long baffles the experts. Also, its cargo included the material for a huge stone portico to be landed and erected in Batavia – modern Jakarta. A replica of the portico has been erected in the same room as the stern section. I won’t go into the gory human details of the murder of many of the survivors including women and children by a small group of mutineers while the Captain was sailing to Batavia for help.Stern section of Batavia almost 400 years oldThe portico

From the Shipwreck Galleries I hurried back to the ferry dock through an older part of Freemantle boasting lots of beautiful examples of the architecture of the time, and happened to notice the large, opulent(!) ediface of the ‘Consilado de Portugal’ on the street leading to the ferry terminal.

The weather had improved greatly while I had been inside the museums and the trip back on the ferry was much more enjoyable than the trip out. This was of course greatly assisted by a wine tasting experience on board! We were also treated to a cruising yacht race as we neared Perth – a fitting end to a great day.

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Handling

Posted on October 20, 2013 by nilocrol

October 15^th, 2013

Big day today – replace door handle!

Things were going well for the first 5 minutes, until the time that the entire external and internal handle assemblies have to be separated. I just could not remove the outer assembly, and I didn’t want to force anything. I read and re-read the directions. No help. By the way I had also researched the heck out of this task by checking on-line forums, YouTube, everything. But I finally gave up and called CAMEC. The answer? Separate the screen door from the main door first. Nowhere had this been mentioned. So I had to reassemble everything in order to separate the doors. Once done, both units came apart SO easily! After that I had the usual number of mini dramas (about 13) before…a brand new door handle installed, and working!Purrrfect handle!!

It works so much better now, so I don’t have to worry about locking myself in or out!

I booked my car in for some work with an auto mechanic in Midland, about 6km away (recommended by Glen, the SDA campground Commandant…just joking Glen!), and they had offered to drive me to the train station so I could spend my time constructively in Perth, rather than just waiting around for the job to be finished. I thought today I might check out how to get there to avoid any dramas tomorrow. Funny, it’s right next to a gym club! I also found the train station over a kilometre away.

There is a great aquatics complex quite close to the auto mechanic; I had planned to do some laps and had a fantastic workout. When I had done a kilometre I went to the warmer pool to the walking lane, and did tons of jogging in that lane.

I went shopping after the swim. I had two things on my list – bananas and milk. I bought some other things also, but forgot the milk!

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Caravan Door Saga

Posted on October 20, 2013 by nilocrol

October 14^th, 2013

It’s a nice feeling to know that I won’t be towing the van for a week! After a leisurely breakfast followed by a leisurely coffee followed by a leisurely shower I got to work. First up, I have to do something about my van door – it is well on the way to packing it in again, as it did a LONG way away at Wilson’s Promontory. It had been repaired in Melbourne but they had to use some of my parts, and the external handle has started to crack at a built-in weakness intended to prevent thieves from forcing open the door using the handle. Now I KNOW, after being locked in, that this door cannot, repeat cannot, be forced open. I called a local mobile caravan repairman but he was unavailable for an unspecified time. I thus made the decision to repair the door myself, as I did not want to pack up the van in order to take it to a caravan repairer. I called the CAMEC store, the largest caravan parts company in Australia, and whose store is in my general area, south-east of Perth. They said they had the part, which I knew because I had checked their website, so I planned to drop in and pick up the handle.

Mid morning I was about to head to the CAMEC store when I saw the couple who had been next door to me walking with wheelie suitcases. I previously had assumed that they had left, but instead they had stored their van and car at the campground, and were about to call for a taxi as they urgently had to fly back to Sydney. I offered to drive them to the airport as it is quite close by, to the west of Perth. They were very appreciative and away we went. Fortunately I had plugged the airport into my GPS system as the street signs to the airport from our direction were plain hopeless. They had loads of time to spare and invited me in for a coffee. Thanks so much, but I was on a mission to CAMEC to fix my door.

From the airport I went directly to CAMEC using my GPS; I get there without any problems, until I realised I had left my wallet back in the van. Aaaaagh!!! So back to the campground and now it’s time for lunch. After lunch I head back to CAMEC, and now the traffic is much heavier, but I finally arrive there, pick up my door handle and a couple of other related pieces (plus installation directions), all at an exorbitant price, and head back through even heavier traffic.

I decide that the door can wait until tomorrow and have a beer while going through all of my travel literature, organising into 3 piles – keep, chuck, unsure.

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Closing in on Perth

Posted on October 20, 2013 by nilocrol

October 11^th, 2013

So what a surprise, it’s raining when I have to get everything ready to leave! But I have a pretty short drive (in the rain) to a nice little spot just north of Bunbury on the Leschenault Estuary, a large ‘lake” which has several rivers running into it and also opens out to the ocean, so it is tidal as well.

After setting up ( I had to wait for light rain a couple of times) I drove 8 km into the city of Bunbury which is about 200km south of Perth. It was a cold windy day, and I needed to do some shopping – it was nice to be able to get inside to a warm mall! I decided to buy a whole cooked chicken which will do for a couple or three meals, and will be nice tonight with the miserable weather that is persisting.

October 12^th, 2013

Drove in to Bunbury again on a sunny but cool day. I dropped in to the visitors centre to find some walks that I could do today, then walked from there to Cappuccino Strip to pick up a coffee. My first walk was a 5km warmup around the Leschenault Inlet which begins right outside the visitors centre. The highlight was a mangrove ‘community’ which is the most southern occurrence in Western Australia, and only a few kilometers from the city centre. I also came across one of the older neighborhoods of Bunbury with  a number of beautifully restored old houses. I also laughed to see a fisherman’s car in the boat ramp carpark totally wrapped up in Glad Wrap by , I assume, some of his mates!The startHalf way aroundMangrovesLooking towards Bunbury City

From there I walked past Bunbury’s distinctive lighthouse on the way to the impressive lookout.Leschenault Inlet in distance

After this I drove several kilometers south to do the much tougher Maidens Walk, which climbs a series of steep sand dunes with excellent views of the surrounding countryside, as well as Geographe Bay and the Indian Ocean beyond.

Just before sunset I drove past the campground along a beautiful road

with the estuary on one side, small farms on the other side, and a steep ridge beyond the farms. I have never seen so many kangaroos grazing in one place, partly I guess, because the steep ridge prevents them from roaming too far.

October 13^th, 2013

I have booked into a caravan park in Perth today. It was recommended by the owners of Mavis, the huge motorhome. The campground is run by Seventh Day Adventists, and appropriately called the Advent Caravan Park. It is one of the cheapest caravan parks in Perth, but the office is open only from 8-10am, and 4-6pm. I could have arrived at 12 noon after leaving Leschenault at 9:00am, so in order to delay my arrival in Perth I decided to stop off at the half-way point, the lovely township of Mandurah. It had turned into a beautiful Sunday afternoon and there was a large crowd at the waterfront market area so I had to park quite a distance from the action. It was nice to be able to wander around with no particular objective in mind!

I spent a lot of time at the market place site of a brilliant local photographer, David Rennie, who had won the Australian Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year. All of his photographs shown were taken in the local area including his prize-winning photograph. See this truly amazing shot at:

http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/explore/exhibitions/the-australian-geographic-anzang-nature-photographer-of-the-year-2013

I left for Perth at 2:30 –  the caravan park is in a far-eastern suburb of Perth, Maida Vale. I arrived early so waited around in a huge open field for the office to open. I join the short line of campers checking in…never done this before. Glen is our host; he is very friendly and very efficient, down to asking that smoking and drinking be confined to the caravan! No problems!

The Apex campground is huge, with loads of beautiful big trees; only a small part of the park is set aside for campers like us.

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Mavis, Topaz, Whales and a JETTY!

Posted on October 11, 2013 by nilocrol

October 9^th, 2013

Up early and help load the car onto Mavis’ the trailer…oh, maybe I should clarify. Ray and Lynn, my campground neighbours, travel in a humungous motor-home with all the mod cons, and they tow a little Suzuki on a trailer in order to be able to get around easily when they stop. And their motor-home is called Mavis, named after the wife of the previous owner, and so it happens, my mother’s name! So, I helped Ray pull his trailer into position behind Mavis, he hooked it up, then I helped him line it up in order to drive the Suzi onto the trailer. Great fun! And of they went, about 30 metres of rig trundling out of the campground!Mavis Heading off

Once they had left I drove into the township of Dunsborough to see what it had to offer. Pretty impressive coffee shops, boutique stores, surf shops (the entire coast is a huge surfing area), Coles and IGA supermarkets. But so poorly laid out that it is a constant traffic jam.

I then drove north along the coast to check out hiking trails, and found one short hike along the coast to Castle Rock, then up to a lookout over Geographe Bay. I then drove further north to Bunker Bay’ a popular surfing spot, and found a beautiful trail that runs along the coast east of the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse. Much of the trail is along either sandy tracks or difficult jagged limestone outcrops, with again, magnificent views of Geographe Bay below.

October 10^th, 2013

This morning I spoke to another couple camped next to me. They tow what I consider to be the perfect van – small, very well appointed, and tough as nails, as it uses army construction – chassis and suspension – to allow it to go anywhere a 4WD will go. The brand – Track Topaz. I have seen a lot of smallish off-road vans but this one beats the lot, and is a lot cheaper than most of the others as well.

They left that morning, and I got a few tips from them re parts of W.A. that I haven’t yet been to.

I drove again to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, this time to do the trails on the west side of the lighthouse. Again there was a lot of sand and limestone, but I wore my hiking boots this time which made it a lot easier on the feet than running shoes!

Most of the trail overlooks the ocean (Geographe Bay again) and I was able to see many whales doing their thing far below my vantage points. Geographe Bay is a “rest area” for Humpbacks on their way south from near the equator, where they give birth to their calves, all the way down to Antarctica where they are able to feast on the krill in those cold waters. They were so far away, as we were so high up on the cliffs,

that even if I had my telephoto lens it wouldn’t have helped much. So this time binoculars served to provide my enjoyment of these beautiful animals.

After I had finished the hike I drove back to Dunsborough for a quick lunch, and then eastwards to Busselton to walk the jetty. It is a magnet for tourists, being the longest wood piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere at 2km in length. It was first built in 1864 to ship the local timber overseas, but as the area silted up, the jetty had to be extended many times over the years, until it attained its final length. It was a nasty afternoon, windy and patches of rain but Colin the jetty walker was not to be put off by a little foul weather! Neither did I did consider taking the jetty train out to the end of the jetty and back.

So after a very energetic day it was nice to return to the van for a nice cold beer.

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Margaret River…and Rain

Posted on October 11, 2013 by nilocrol

October 7, 2013

Packing up in the rain…again. It’s getting to be a habit that I don’t need. It’s also extremely windy this morning, and pretty cold.  I’m driving into the teeth of a gale and not enjoying it at all, but fortunately it’s a very short drive north up the Bussell Highway to Dunsborough, which is 235km south of Perth.

I spent the afternoon catching up on my blog…you should read it some time!

October 8, 2013

After a leisurely breakfast and coffee, and a talk to my nextdoor neighbours in the campground, I drove to Margaret River. It is a lovely town, the centre of a thriving premium wine industry. The problem is, out of about 80-100 wineries how do you select which one to visit for tastings or lunch or both. One common method is to go on a tour which will get you to several large wineries plus lunch at one. I didn’t bother as I think if you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all. Maybe I’m wrong! So I walked the town, visited the plush Visitors Centre, had a coffee at a nice little coffee bar and watched all of the beautiful people from Perth (with kids wearing the most expensive and sophisticated clothes) who are staying in HIGH end accommodation in the area, and going to all of the HIGH end restaurants. And I bought a couple of Margaret River wines at the local liquor store, so there! But it was fun, even if it did rain quite heavily when I was between shelters. It was only a 30 minute drive to get to Margaret River…in fact everything around here is about a convenient 30 minutes away!

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Lighthouse Between Oceans

Posted on October 11, 2013 by nilocrol

October 6^th, 2013

Another wet and windy day, so what do I do? I go to the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, on the extreme south west point of Australia, and marking the meeting point of two oceans – the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean.

The area around here first appeared on Dutch charts in 1627. It began its service to protect the heavy shipping around the Cape in 1896, and is made of local limestone, with walls much thicker at the base than at the top.

I took a tour of the lighthouse – climbing all 176 steps along with about 10 others.

The light bulb is quite small – only about 12cm long, but it puts out an incredible amount of light, and the huge glass lens multiplies the amount of light countless to about one million candlepower to enable shipping to see the light from a distance of 25 nautical miles. Even so, with all of the weight of the lens and its steel supporting apparatus having to rotate at a constant speed, it is a tiny electric motor that does the job!

We went out onto the circular deck and on the windward side it was all we could do to stand up with huge winds blowing at 56 metres above sea level. But what fun!

Following that experience I warmed up inside with coffee and scones.

Just adjacent to the entrance to the parking area for the lighthouse grounds is a short road to a big tourist attraction – the petrified water wheel! It used to (somehow) be able to pump water up to the lighthouse keeper’s residence, but now it has slowly calcified over the years and now takes on an ethereal shape – very interesting to see it from various angles.

On the way back to the caravan park I stopped in at Flinders Bay, a lovely little residential community set around grassy parklands right at the beach. It was full of cyclists who had finished a cross country race, so there were cars, expensive bikes, and people everywhere. I’m sure the locals must have been a little miffed with having to put up with such a crowd on a lovely Sunday afternoon!

Dinner tonight – fish ‘n chips! While waiting for them I took a walk outside to see some beautiful evening cloud formations.

More of the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse:

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Some Highlights of the Southern Forest Area of W.A.

Posted on October 8, 2013 by nilocrol

This gallery contains 16 photos.

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Lake, Mammoth and Jewel

Posted on October 8, 2013 by nilocrol

October 4^th, 2013

Damn! It’s raining this morning and I have to pack up at Fonty’s. I left the awning up for as long as possible while I was working. As it was a misty rain with not much wind it wasn’t all that bad.

When I was leaving I stopped in at the office to thank the owner, and decided to buy a coffee as a reward to myself for this morning’s efforts. They have a very good espresso machine in the office and it made great coffee.

I drove northwards through a fair bit of rain on my way to Augusta, which is due south of Perth and sits at the intersection of the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean. I am staying at the Flinders Bay Caravan Park which is named after Mathew Flinders who began his historic circumnavigation of Australia at Augusta, I think in 1801. Fortunately my site is sand based so it is quite dry despite the rain; also the rain had stopped by the time I reached Augusta so I did not have to set up in the rain. That’s good!

I drove up to the Visitor Centre which is in the centre of the small township, and on their recommendation I decided to visit three caves, with the furthest situated at most 40 minutes north of Augusta on the road to Margaret River, one of Australia’s better known wine regions. I bought a package which was much cheaper than buying individually, and also got my seniors discount as well.

I then returned to the campground and gave my car a much-needed interior clean and vacuum. It was getting pretty bad, with red dust starting to take over!

October 5^th, 2013

My first cave today was the Lake Cave, which was an organized tour at 10:30am with about 20 people in our group. All three caves are situated at the bottom of huge sink-holes where the original roof collapsed, so there is a LOT of stair climbing, first to get into and out of the cave, and second when in the cave as well. A good guess based on counting one set of steps would be approximately 1000 steps in total, up and down, for the three caves. Not a bad workout for the day! The Lake Cave is relatively small as far as caves go, but absolutely beautiful with very fine intricate formations throughout.Some ceiling!The lake.Trying to keep warm!The next group descends…!

The second cave, Mammoth Cave, was a self-guided tour using a convenient headset which commented on various parts of the cave as you came upon them. It was way more detailed than an in-person guide would be, which was great. Mammoth is just that, a huge ampitheatre with steps almost to the top, then winding around and down again. Very impressive in size. Whereas the Lake Cave was mostly delicate white/cream formations, Mammoth showed off bold darker colours: mostly browns, rusts, and reddish shades.

But the third cave was by far the best – the Jewel Cave. Every corner turned would be met with a gasp from the tour group, again about 20 people. The number, size and beauty of the formations was dazzling, and it just kept going, presenting one large vestibule after another. Its claim to fame is that it has the largest ‘straw’ (a very thin hollow stalactite, just like a drinking straw, which grows approximately a centimeter in 20 years) measured at 5.5 metres.Super straw!

After that fantastic experience I drove up to a lookout over the area showing off farmland, forest, the Blackwood River, Augusta, and the Southern Ocean. Also immediately below the lookout was the Augusta Golf Club, a beautiful course set in hilly forested country. Of course I had to drive down and take a closer look!

It had turned into a very nice day after some torrential rain, the heaviest by far that I have experienced on my trip, while driving to the Lake Cave in the morning. Hopefully that will be the last of the rain for quite a while. I am getting a little sick of it –  its initial novelty is wearing off very quickly.

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Shannon Country

Posted on October 8, 2013 by nilocrol

October 3^rd, 2013

Looks like another perfect day, so I went in to town to pick up a couple of items I had forgotten to include on my list (!) drove back to the campground and planned my activities for day.

I wanted to do another hike and also drive the ‘Great Forest Trees Drive’ in Shannon National Park. I also wanted to drive as far as I could along the Fonty’s Pool road which turns into a dirt road soon after Fonty’s.

The Great Forest Trees Drive is a gravel road that loops on one side of the highway, crosses the highway, then loops on the other side. The side I drove first was closed at about the half-way point, probably due to trees down,  but at least I was able to get to ‘Big Tree Grove’, a grouping of 7 or 8 monstrous Karri trees that are finally getting a bit long in the tooth – their age is showing!

I had to drive all the way back (about 6km) into one-way traffic. Fortunately I didn’t come across any cars coming the other way.

I drove to the loop on the other side of the highway, and almost immediately came across the starting point of a 5.5km walk, the Rocks Walk Trail, which I did.

Most of the trail was very narrow, and I was worried about ticks as I was constantly brushing past bushes and saplings. The trail wound through combined Karri, Jarra, Marri and Karri Oak, all incredibly tall, and many with huge girths. There was a lot of climbing, some of it pretty steep, but the highlight at about the halfway point was a huge moss–covered rock outcrop – Mokare’s Rock. A wooden walkway has been built to protect the moss and to make it a little safer to traverse. While sitting down eating an apple I saw one of the biggest kangaroos I have seen in the wild, munching on some grass tree fronds.Mokare’s Rock

The hike took two hours – so enjoyable on such a beautiful day.

It was getting late when I got to try driving to the end of Fonty’s Pool road – Seven Day Road; there were a few trees down which I was able to get around, but it was getting a little rough and pot-holey, so I parked the car and walked further down the road. It is much better than driving when you are able to experience the smells, bird sounds, and the magnificent old trees surrounding you.Where will the next turn take me??Karri Oak(y?)Redwood – this is why.Karri crown

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Gloucester – Up, Down and Around

Posted on October 8, 2013 by nilocrol

October 1^st, 2013

Today is a work day – washing, cleaning car and van, and shopping. Fonty’s is about 10km from town so I was careful to make a complete shopping list this time!

I also showed the owner my pictures of the private property where she and her husband live, and the pool just below their house. She was so impressed she asked if she could post them on their facebook site. I thought quickly (pretty rare for me!) and asked if I could swap the pictures for two more nights – free. No problem! So now I have more time to see a lot more of this beautiful country.

October 2^nd,2013

Today is our first perfect day with no clouds, 25 degrees and no wind! It’s the first such day I have had since Exmouth, so I have been waiting a long time. I took advantage of the weather and drove back down to Pemberton again. I have one major goal – to climb one of the three climbing trees in the general area. These trees were selected as fire towers because they stood above the remainder of the forest canopy. Imagine tree-climbing specialists climbing many of the biggest trees, 70-80 metres, to select the best trees. Once a tree had been selected, men had to climb the tree by hammering spikes into the tree, haul up their axes, then chop off the crown of the tree…at 60+ metres above the ground! Then they had to haul up timber to form the platform to be used for fire spotting. Not for the faint-hearted!

So, I drive to the Gloucester Tree a couple of kilometers out of Pemberton, pay my National Park entry fee, and walk up to the tree. A couple with teenage kids were wondering whether they should try it when I arrived, so I said if I can do it, you can! That forced me to start,

Should I….Shouldn’t I?

and three of the four followed. Fantastic! Even after I had started I didn’t know if I would be able to get to the top. I had decided to concentrate on counting the rungs, and I think it worked to keep my attention off the incredible height that I was reaching!

145 rungs later I had reached the top! The three others followed close behind and we high-fived when they reached the top platform.It’s up there some where!No worries mate!I’m there!!Other hardy soulsWhat a view

It was such a clear day that we could see sand dunes in the distance, and spotting a fire would have been pretty easy in conditions like that. It was an amazing feeling to be looking down over the tops of nearby monster trees, yet this one had had its crown lopped off as well.

After that fantastic experience I had a drink and a bite to eat, and headed off from this tree on one of three available hikes – 400m, 800m, and 10km. I chose the 10km hike – the Gloucester Route. It was pretty tough in places with some deadly climbs that went up and up…and up! It was annoying to then be walking downhill as I knew this meant I would have another uphill to have to deal with! It took me 21/2 hours and I was pretty weary by the time I arrived back at the tree.

There were more people climbing so I sat back and watched for a while, then chatted with two really nice French backpackers, and finally drove back wondering which would be first on my agenda when I arrived – beer or shower. The beer won!

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King Jarrah and the Tram

Posted on October 8, 2013 by nilocrol

Hmmm, looks like there is still some scrolling happening, even though I specified a calendar record of my blogs. I will keep track of this.

September 30, 2013

I got up early to photograph the pool, of Fonty’s Pool, and it worked well with a brooding sky in the background while the property was bathed in sunlight.

‘

Fonty’s’ is an icon in the area, with its fast flowing creek first dammed up by Archimedes (Archie) Fontanini in the early 1900’s in order to create alluvial soil for his vegetable garden. When his children and friends had so much fun in the pool in the hot summers, locals convinced him to make a permanent dam, and charge entry to the pool to cover costs. Fonty’s Pool was officially opened in 1925. In 2005 the property was bought by the current owners who started up this beautiful campground, and are also attempting to restore the pool and grounds to its original glory.

After breakfast I was intent on seeing as much of the Karri forests as possible. Karri is a hardwood tree, the second tallest hardwood tree behind S.E. Australia’s Mountain Ash, and the third tallest tree in the world. Karri and another hardwood, Jarra(h), can only be found in this small south west corner of West Australia. Nowhere else in the world. The other large tree found in this area is the Marri, or Redwood.

I saw my first big tree – the  King Jarrah, near Manjimup. It was awe inspiring to be able to touch  a tree which was a seedling in the early 16th Century.

I drove south about 30km to Pemberton, which has a booming wine industry, along with cattle and sheep. It also is home to the southern hemisphere’s largest hardwood saw mill. Here I found that I could catch a tram

which runs out and back through huge Karri forests, with an informative and amusing guide driving the tram. Luckily I had worn warm clothes as the high today was 14 degrees and the wind-chill effect on the open-sided tram brought the temp down considerably. We stopped halfway at to walk down to the Cascades waterfall which was gushing as a result of the recent rains.

We had to finish our trip at the Warren Bridge as recently one of the pilings had contracted resulting in a dangerous dip in the rails.

The driver, carrying his chair(!) moves to the other end of the train for the return journey which is almost all uphill.

After the tram ride (it’s more like a combination of train and tram) I stopped to see a little bit of Pemberton. I happened to park in front of a stall selling jams and chutneys made from local produce. She listed the best sellers, one being cherry chutney. I didn’t believe it could be made but when I tasted it…WOW! I had to buy a jar. I then went to the local bakery to buy a pie (it happened to be the best beef pie I have ever had) then borrowed a tasting spoon from the chutney lady and spooned it on my pie. Yummie! The chutney lady thought it was a good idea so she too bought a pie and used her chutney.

After checking a regional map I found that Manjimup is on the northern edge of timber country, so Pemberton is right in the middle of it all. North of Manjimup is mostly open farming – cattle, sheep and especially wheat, with isolated stands of Karri and Jarra. Typical country between Manjinup and Pemberton is forest, dotted intermittently with sheep/cattle pastures, and also many vineyards. The Pemberton area has a large number of vineyards producing high quality red and white wine.

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D(r)iving into Fonty’s Pool

Posted on October 8, 2013 by nilocrol

Hello to those thousands of readers out there!

Sorry that I have not posted for a while but I have been travelling out in the boondocks where mobile phone coverage was sketchy…that’s when I did have coverage! But I’m back with a vengeance!

You will have noticed that my blog format has changed. Apart from the sunset (this may change in future; who knows!!) I have moved away from the scrolling type of format. My cousin informed me that loading my blog uses up a lot of MB. now, instead of scrolling, I have a set up a monthly listing of my posts. Hopefully this will significantly decrease the amount of data downloaded each time you wish to read my posts. But please tell me if this problem continues!

Now on with the show….

September 28, 2013

From Toodyay I travelled through more magnificent rolling countryside, but more drizzly rain. There is a great variety of farming – sheep, dairy cattle, beef cattle, wheat, canola, and then just beautiful eucalypt forests, and every creek and river I cross is running full. They have had a lot of rain this winter.

I stayed overnight at Narrogin (gin is pronounced as in the drink!). It is a long weekend and the Aussie Rules football grand final is playing today. It is a huge deal in West Australia as one of their two teams in the league (Freemantle) is playing for the first time. I watched half of it at the pub but unfortunately for the rabid fans Hawthorn beat them. Some of the fans left right after the finish while the others stayed and drowned their sorrows.

I woke to rain, but by the time I was packing up it had abated.

September 29, 2013

Again I am driving through beautiful rolling hills like yesterday, and again it is drizzling most of the way. Nature is certainly making up for all of the dry days I experienced during most of my travels. And it is not only drizzling, it is bloody cold! Hey, it’s supposed to be Spring. Wake up! It may as well be the middle of winter here. The poor sheep too – around here most of the sheep shed their wool i.e. they don’t have to be shorn. Some have shed most of their wool and now they have to put up with this weather.

I am now at a campground called Fonty’s Pool. It is not listed anywhere but was recommended to me by an old guy at Toodyay who had stayed there quite a few years ago. It is a gem of a place, with a real natural pond that is open for locals and others to use. It has quite a family history which I will read up about tomorrow. It’s a small, well grassed campground and very well appointed. I’m sure some Perthites (?) come here regularly on this long weekend.

This area is famed for its truffles, and just near the entrance to the campground is a wine and truffle centre with restaurant, products, and even organized truffle searches! I bought a bottle of shiraz and some truffle oil – the cheap man’s truffle!

It has rained almost since I finished setting up (fortunate!) and there are several multi family groups camping in tents! Why they persist in this rough weather I don’t know but I have to admire them! It is wet and very cold, but they soldier on and seem to be really enjoying doing battle with the elements! While I sit snug inside my waterproof snail shell laughing. Hehehehahahaha!!

I will stay here three nights in order to see as much of the surrounding areas as possible. And who knows, maybe the weather will cooperate!

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Today in Toodyay

Posted on September 28, 2013 by nilocrol

September 26, 2013

I followed the coast southwards today, past Cervantes and Lancelin. Lancelin is considered one of the best kite surfing spots in the world, and I know why. The wind coming from my right (west) was consistent and made for very uncomfortable towing, even though I was several kilometers inland, with huge high sand dunes adding no protection.

At Guilderton I turned left and headed inland, through beautiful rolling farmland – wheat, cattle and sheep. Lots of eucalypts that were nice to see again after a long long time, and for the first time in ages I was reminded of parts of Victoria, manymany miles away! I felt like I was coming home. Even the drizzly weather played its part.

And so West Australian, the largest state/province in the world: a large green road sign indicating distances to just two townships, Bindoon 27; Meekathara 676!! It’s frustrating towing the van – a little difficult and dangerous to back up for a picture!

My goal today is Goomalling – the campground was highly recommended by a couple I had met in Geraldton. I stopped for a break at Toodyay (not a misspelling!) about 50km short of Goomalling. I needed the break as much of the road was narrow, winding, and it was raining on and off. I took a walk around this historic little town, and dropped into the visitor centre to see what they could offer this lone traveler. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful, and so I said I would come back from Goomalling to see more of the town. The response: “Very good caravan park, but did you know there’s nothing much else there?” I was convinced so I drove to one of the two Toodyay campgrounds, and got the last powered spot. It’s not only a long weekend, and the start of school holidays, but Sunday is the annual Toodyay Cup racing carnival! The entire town was booked out. I was able to stay Thursday and Friday nights which worked out well.

I walked the town that afternoon, photographing a mixture of old buildings from the 1860’s and ‘70’s, and art deco buildings from the ‘50’s! The main pub, The Freemasons Hotel (true!) is truly a magnificent building.

Most of the buildings are situated along the main street and are currently either housing businesses or are private residences.

The next day I drove to three reserves, one to the Dawn Atwell Reserve, famous for its orchids (I hadn’t seen any yet) as well as other wildflowers,

Orchids – finally

Orchid country!

and another to Pelham Reserve which overlooks the town and has large areas of ‘everlastings’, small multi-coloured flowers as well as a variety of birds and also wallabies. I was successful in both cases.

Toodyay from Pelham Reserve

While photographing wildflowers at the Pelham Reserve I was bitten by a huge red wasp on my medial malleolus (ankle bone). He went for my white sock which I think was fortunate as the soreness lasted only about 30 minutes – the sock might have prevented him from digging his stinger right in. I first thought I had brushed against a really prickly bush, but when I looked down and saw the wasp I frantically brushed at it and it stuck to my finger. I immediately brushed it off my finger and ran with a limp, as I didn’t know if he had any mates intent on getting at the interloper!

Wasp stings as this pic is being taken

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The Pinnacle of the Trip

Posted on September 27, 2013 by nilocrol

September 25, 2013

The sun is out, the wind has abated considerably…time for the Pinnacles, in Nambung National Park. It’s a little over 40km south of Jurien Bay so I packed a light lunch and headed off. The lady at the Park entrance saw my sticker from yesterday’s Lesueur trip, and so let me in for free. I’m impressed already.

The park is set up for driving a 4 kilometre unsealed loop through the Pinnacles Desert, or you can walk a 1.2 kilometre loop. I did both – I wanted the full experience! And what an experience! The Pinnacles Desert consists of 400 hectares of yellow sand, some vegetation, and thousands of the most amazing eerie limestone columns up to four metres high looking like they are growing out of the sand. There are also a variety of other shapes

as well, and the feeling is that you are in an otherworld graveyard. So when first entering the Pinnacles I just stopped and gasped – it was impressive way beyond my expectations.

My very first vision

As you drive the loop there are numerous parking spots where you can get out and wander the area, taking photographs or just taking it all in. It covers such a large area that most of the time it is eerily quiet as well. No wonder it is one of the most popular natural attractions on the Coral Coast, attracting over 190,000 visitors each year.

Driving

The walk takes you through several areas not covered by the drive trail,

Walking

and the halfway point is a lookout over much of the desert area. I asked a single backpacker to take my picture and I would take hers, and luckily she knew how to operate an iPhone camera!

Scientists are still unsure of how the pinnacles were formed, but one theory is that moving sand dunes covered a large forest, and over thousands of years the tree trunks were covered by an outer layer of limestone and rotted away leaving the limestone columns. I can understand how this theory might have evolved as some of the smaller columns looked like petrified tree trunks.

So needless to say my camera worked overtime today, and fortunately it was one of the rare sunny days we have had recently.

Some interesting pics:

Is this a Puffin bird?
If not, what?

Interloper!

Prehistoric monoliths

Graveyard

How many figures can you see?

The rest:

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Flowers at Lesueur

Posted on September 25, 2013 by nilocrol

September 23rd, 2013

I’m now back on the coast, at a lovely little spot – Jurien Bay. I decided to hunker down here for three nights as the weather is very bad with high winds and intermittent misty rain.

After arriving I decided to stay in the van (good idea) and sort out a lot of overdue paperwork. I also did some cleaning inside the van, so it wasn’t a lost day due to the weather.

My first full day I did a little shopping and washing, then headed northwards along the coast. I had decided to go to Lesueur National Park which is a little inland, set amongst some beautiful hilly country. I had to drive along a lot of dirt road to get there, but the loop through the Park has been paved which was nice. It’s also a one-way road which makes it easier to stop for photographs, which I did very very often!

The park is 27,000 hectares in size, named after the natural history artist aboard the French ship ‘Naturaliste’ which was charting areas of the Australian coast not documented by Captain James Cook. It boasts over 10% of the State’s known flora – 900 different species, some found only in the park. It is wildflower season and the range of wildflowers here is stunning. I felt I was stopping every 20 metres for a picture.

I will let the pictures do the talking.

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Mingenew is Really Quite Old

Posted on September 25, 2013 by nilocrol

September 21st, 2013

For such a long time I have been travelling in the tropics, where summer is the wet season, winter dry. For a number of days now, things have been reversed. From around the Shark Bay area at latitude 26 degrees south I have been moving into a Mediterranean climate, with cool wet winters and hot dry summers. The change is noticeable as we are nowhere near summer yet. I resist long pants though.

I’m heading inland today, west through Mullewa, then south to Morawa, and finally east to my destination of Mingenew, a tiny little town in the middle of the wheat district.

For the past few days I have been driving continually through large rolling wheatfields, all looking very healthy with the rain that we have been having lately. And the rain continued at Mingenew, heavy! Luckily I’m camped on concrete so no mud or mess to have to worry about.

I have a whole day here so I will take advantage of it by exploring some of the countryside with its magnificent fields of wildflowers, as well as several seaside towns on a cool and windy day.

From Mingenew I drove about 60km to the coast, and along parts of this road were some beautiful fields of wildflowers which I almost missed as they were hidden behind trees and bushes. I stopped the car, climbed over a fence and found myself in a continuous field of wildflowers amongst trees and bushes. The downside as I found out when walking back to the car – I was covered in mosquitoes. Why I don’t know as it was very dry in that area, but I may as well have been in Canada as I have never come across such hoards of the little suckers in Australia. It’s a wonder I didn’t feel feint through blood loss.

I reached the coast at the twin towns of Dongara and Port Denison, where I took a 3km walk which overlooked the Irwin River,

and finished at a bird hide near where the river meets the ocean. There must have been a lot of fish in that river because a couple of pelicans and darters were having a real feast on the water. The return walk followed the river back to the car park. It was near the car park that I came across a tree close to the river with beautiful tulip shaped flowers. I have no idea what they are. 

I then drove to the marina at Port Denison to watch some boys surfing near the rock wall of the marina; it was a perfect place to watch them as they are taking off close to where everybody was standing. Sometimes if they rode a wave right in to the shore they would run back along the marina seawall and jump back in, rather than paddle out through the pretty big waves.

Driving north along the coast I came to to a historic little town – Greenough. Just a little south of Greenough is a relatively small area between the highway and the huge sand dunes where you can see the effect of the almost constant wind in this area. Huge eucalypt trees (River Gums) have been blown horizontal from the time they were seedlings, and present an amazing sight.

The hidden treasure of Greenough though, is the Greenough Museum, home of the Maley family. John Maley and his wife  Elizabeth moved into the original cottage on this site in the early 1870’s, and as their family grew (to 9 sons and 5 daughters!) so did the house. The two storey wing was built in 1880, becoming the largest homestead in Greenough at the time. The Community Group of Greenough  now manage the museum and a curator lives on-site.

Courtyard

On the east side of the property is possibly West Australia’s oldest leaning gum tree, a magnificent specimen just short of 800 years old,

and in the front garden are pepper trees planted in the 1870’s.

On the way back to Mingenew I passed by a number of wind turbines – 57 of them, and that is just one company. There is also another power company in the area with a further 20 turbines.   I stopped at the information centre to discover that one blade is 40 metres long and weighs 7.5 tonnes. Three blades on each tower weigh a massive 22.5 tonnes! And I can see why some people living close to them complain – they make a very noticeable thump-thump-thump as each 7.5 tonne blade hits a certain spot. Their maximum power is attained at a wind speed of 36kph, and they shut down at a wind speed of 71.5kph. I guess nobody wants to see one of those things take off.

40 metres long!

7.5 tonnes!

Another leaner

I had to stop for this sign!

My absolute fave town name!

Rural property

Thurkle driveway…Looks straight to me though.

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Geraldton and Car

Posted on September 24, 2013 by nilocrol

September 18^th, 2013

Geraldton, largest city between Perth and Darwin, and this visit is mostly on business.

First I have to go Geraldton Ford to get a new remote control for the Falcon, as you might remember that I took the old one swimming at Python Pool. If it were just a battery, no problem, but no! The people at Ford were great and charged $16.50 less than Maroochydore Ford had quoted me when months ago I just happened to ask them how much it might cost! I didn’t have to wait long for a  mechanic to come out and reprogram the car to accept the new remote.

The next day I had booked my car into an RAC rated auto mechanic. When I dropped it off I asked the airhead receptionist if I could see the worksheet. “It’s on the computer” was her response. I should have followed up on it because when I picked the car up (they were very good to drop me off at the campground and pick me up) they had changed the oil, but had not done the other things I had originally listed to the airhead via telephone when I had made the booking. No wheel rotation, no air filter, no brake check, no fuel filter. They did notice that there is a problem with the left upper ball joint, which I was aware of, and the rear sway bar mounts need replacing, probably as a result of running over the dead kangaroo way back in May. I told the boss that his airhead had done him out of some business, and I had never had a job done before without signing a worksheet beforehand. He thanked me for the information – I wonder if the airhead is still working there. I wonder if they have changed their business practices? I’m sure the WA RAC people would be interested!

I managed to see a bit of Geraldton but not enough. I did walk parts of the city centre, and saw the Moore Point Lighthouse which was the first all steel tower built on the Australian mainland. It was imported from England in segments and began its work in 1878 and is still operating today.

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Ocean, Cliffs and Gorges

Posted on September 22, 2013 by nilocrol

September 17^th, 2013

A full day today! I left at 8:00am on a more pleasant day than yesterday to visit a number of beautiful views over the ocean, north of Wagoe Shacks, and south of Kalbarri. In a way it is similar to the magnificent views along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, with a new view just off the highway every few kilometers. Two of these views also had walks, one of which was several kilometers of climbing and descending, and a couple of views provided tracks down to beautiful secluded beaches. As the wind had been so strong yesterday the waves were fantastic!

On the long walk I saw in the distance a whale and her calf bashing their flukes on the surface of the water. Unfortunately I didn’t bring my telephoto lens on this walk as I expected just wide angle scenes during the walk. Damn!

Just to prove…!

I visited in order The Shell House, Grandstand, Island Rock, Natural Bridge, Castle Cove, Eagle Gorge, Pot Alley, Mushroom Rock, and finally Red Bluff.    See if you can pick them!

All of this took from 8:00am to 1:30pm. I then picked up a sandwich and coffee and gave my greetings to the local lounge lizard while waiting to be served.

Now I’m on the highway on which I came into Kalbarri,  in the National Park.

Yup, that’s where I am.

I’m travelling North East of Kalbarri to see two gorges, the Hawks Head, only 200 metres from the car park to the viewing point,

then off to the Ross Graham Gorge. Here you can walk down to the Murchison River if you wish. The Murchison meets the ocean at the township of Kalbarri.

On the way to the gorges I drove up a pretty rough and corrugated dirt road to a view overlooking Kalbarri, and was a little bemused by the sign at the start of the road. Um, isn’t it a tad obvious??

During the day I also stopped wherever I could to photograph interesting wildflowers, as ‘tis the season for them in Western Australia. I also found some interesting ‘beach stuff’ too. I finally returned to the campground at 5:30 after a tiring but very enjoyable day, especially as the weather kept improving during the day.

And the story behind this is…??

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Kalbarri

Posted on September 21, 2013 by nilocrol

September 16^th, 2013

My first wattle of the trip. Er, I think it’s a wattle !

Next stop Kalbarri National Park, the township of Kalbarri, and my destination for two nights – Wagoe Chalets which is 25km south of Kalbarri. Now the term ‘chalet’ may conjure up a picture of one relaxing after a day’s skiing in a condo owned by a billionaire, rented out to millionaires. This is NOT the case at Wagoe Chalets. The half dozen chalets cabins are made of cheap fibro, and look a lot the worse for wear, with pre-loved lounge chairs out front. Hmm, should have taken a picture!

But I came here because it was recommended because of 1. The view, and 2. The price. Well the view was spectacular, overlooking huge sand dunes and the ocean beyond;

and the price was OK. Unfortunately it was blowing a real gale the first night and we got the full brunt of the wind by being in such a high exposed spot. Needless to say I didn’t dare put the awning up.

Weather bad, cattle head for home

After setting up I did a quick tour of the very quaint town of Kalbarri, checked out the local post office/camping supplies store (yes they are combined – you’ve got to make a living!!), then went to the visitor centre and was the last one out after closing time. I seem to make a habit of this.

Kalbarri

Dangerous entrance to protected Kalbarri Bay

Back at the campground and I invited my neighbours, a French backpacking couple (who had bought an old Toyota combi van in Perth and were only about a week into their year long Aussie working/travelling adventure) to come over to my nice warm caravan for snacks and wine. Nice guy – all I can offer them are plastic cups for their wine! Oh yes, ils s’appellent Estelle and Nascimo, lovely people, and we talked for ages, often haltingly as Estelle’s English is in a state of disrepair…somewhat similar to my French. Nascimo has quite good English so he became the translator for the evening. His first task for Estelle to help her learn English was to have her go in and pay for petrol. Talk about being thrown to the wolves – I often have trouble understanding them as it is often backpackers who take your money, and their English is often not too hot!

See their blog:   31oz.over-blog.com      Warning – it’s in French!

Anyway three hours later we said our goodbyes and off they went back to their van in the wind and sleet. It truly was a dark and stormy night…!

One other thing, I was witness to a very dramatic sunset  : )

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Monkey Mia

Posted on September 20, 2013 by nilocrol

September 15^th, 2013

Up early to a nice sunrise,

and leave at 7:00am heading north along the Shark Bay Peninsula for Denham and Monkey Mia. Monkey Mia’s claim to tourist fame is the dolphin feeding which occurs usually three times each day, almost always in the morning. It is a well-structured and controlled operation – when the dolphins decide to come into the shallows a few dolphins are fed several fish by selected tourists. Although at the 8:00am feeding I saw around 12 dolphins close to shore, only the same few dolphins are fed each day in order to minimize human interaction.

They begin to arrive

Feeding

Loggerhead turtle swims by

After that feeding I walked around the interpretative centre, watched a documentary on dolphins, had a coffee, and kept an eye on the beach for the next arrival. Finally at 11:15am the came, so I was ready, good camera in hand. This time there was a smaller group of dolphins and a smaller group of tourists.

I then had a light lunch that I had packed, and drove off towards Denham,

then stopped off at several spots at several interesting spots on the way back to Hamelin Homestead – Eagle Bluff, Little Lagoon, and several other ocean views.

Little Lagoon

Before leaving I had set up my solar panels to recharge the battery, When I returned I tried lighting the gas for the van fridge again but no go, so I switched the fridge to 12 volt, being charged by the battery through the solar panels. This worked but the late afternoon sun wasn’t keeping up with the fridge demand, so when the sun set I switched the fridge off hoping that it would remain reasonably cool in order to pack it tomorrow morning. Then when travelling it would recharge from the car’s alternator.

Baked beans on toast (haha!) as most of my food is way over in the camp kitchen, tightly wrapped up in the fridge. A nice white wine though – Brancott Estate Sav Blanc. It’s a NZ wine (Booo!) but when you can get two for the price of one you take it.

It has been pretty quiet these past two days with no phone connection and no radio. Oh well, early to bed and early to rise!

Waiting…..

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Hamelin Homestead

Posted on September 20, 2013 by nilocrol

September 14^th, 2013

Today I’m heading south (not surprising!), continuing along the Northwest Coastal Highway, this time turning right at the Shark Bay World Heritage Area towards Denham and Monkey Mia.

After about 30km I turned right into a highly recommended campground – Hamelin Homestead. It is situated on a large sheep station (20,000 sheep) and bordering on Shark Bay Marine Park.

Driving in on a dirt road for about a kilometer, all of a sudden I’m driving into the campground area – on white stuff which turned out to be tiny shells! Definitely no dust in this campground!

From my van door

You also drive by a large pond which is fed by a bore; this bore is connected to a turbine which runs an electric motor, so the bore supplies a small amount of power to the station and the campground. A diesel generator supplies the remainder. I was met by Arnie, who with his wife Julie act as managers, and camp there as well. No power or water, but it is an amazing place, with a very impressive kitchen for campers, and the best (and very new) amenities block that I have ever seen in a campground. So good that I took pictures! Cost – just $15/day for a single.

As there was a large fridge in the kitchen I decided to use it in order to defrost the freezer in my caravan fridge. The defrosting went well but on trying to start up the gas power for the fridge nothing happened so I had to leave the food in the kitchen fridge for the remainder of the 2 day stay.

Only about 10 minutes drive away is Hamelin Pool, set in a large bay. This is one of the few places on earth where stromatolites grow. You mean you don’t know what stromatolites are?? Scientists say the Earth began as a mass of rocks and metals about 4.5 billion years ago, give or take a year. About 3.5 billion years ago the first living organisms to colonise Earth (cyanobacteria – blue/green bacteria) began to flourish in shallow ocean waters. They trapped floating sediments and very small shells to aid in the building of their ‘homes’ called, you’ve got it…stromatolites. These stromatolites dominated the world for 2 billion years, producing enough oxygen to raise O2 levels to 20% of all atmospheric gases. This led the way for air breathing life forms to evolve. And thus mankind was able to evolve. The Hamelin Pool stromatolites are about 3,000 years old, with flat spongy ‘mats’ in the shallow parts, and large craggy ‘towers’ in deeper water.

‘Mats’

‘Mats’

‘Towers’

‘Towers’

After stromatoliting around I drove a little further on the Shell Beach, consisting of kilometers of tiny little shells , just like at the campground. These shells are metres deep and one section of the beach is scraped and sold for a variety of uses including bird grit.

Well away from the water the shells begin to fuse together and for many years this material was used in the  construction of buildings in the area, and as far north as Denham, 100km away. There are several saw ‘pits’ in the area.

After marveling at this incredible beach I drove back to the campground and walked a short distance to the small lake on the property to see what bird life I could find. Nothing much apart from a few black ducks, too far away for me to identify, and some pelicans and swallows.

It’s late afternoon by now so I walked into the open area behind the campground for a few pictures of whatever caught my eye, including a sunset. I hear the groans!

Australian Ringneck

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Carnarvon Piers

Posted on September 20, 2013 by nilocrol

September 13^th, 2013

My last full day in Carnarvon, and I find that my milk is off a little, so drive down to the IGA store for milk.  That means I can have breakfast and coffee before my big task for the morning – washing the caravan and car. Actually I intended just cleaning both sides of the caravan awning which was pretty filthy from red dust mixed with dew time and time again. But one thing led to another and as well as the awning I washed all of the caravan, then all of the car. It was perfect weather for washing, not too hot,  and I wasn’t the only person in the caravan park doing it.

After lunch I drove around parts of Carnarvon that I hadn’t yet seen, walked a footbridge across an inlet which many years ago used to have a train running along it from the main pier (The Mile Long Pier) to the city area.

I then I went to the Mile Long Pier and walked it to check the length. It was about a mile! There is an old train that takes tourists along to the end of the pier a couple of times a day. After walking the pier I would not take that train – too many rickety sections, and the rails don’t look too healthy either! Weather wasn’t too appealing either – cold, cloudy and windy.

Dinner – fish and chips at what seems to be the only take out F&C shop in town. Excellent product and only half the price that I had paid two previous times. Good on ya Western Fish & Chips!

That night the drought broke. After 67 days and 9,582 kilometers IT FINALLY RAINED. Never mind that I was asleep and didn’t realize it rained, it did. Proof was my car – as dirty as prior to washing it! The rain had knocked all of the dust from the trees over the car but obviously the rain was not heavy enough to wash the dust off the car!!

I guess I was tempting fate to wash awning, van and car in one day!

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Quobba Blowholes

Posted on September 13, 2013 by nilocrol

September 10^th, 2013

Sad to leave this wonderful part of the world, but I am now heading due south on the road to Minilya Roadhouse for a night (fortunately I can stay hitched up), before tomorrow heading further south to Carnarvon, population around 6000. Not sure if there is any mining around there, but it was a breath of fresh air to not have any mining activity around Exmouth and the North West Cape.  I had a hamburger in the restaurant – a typical huge Aussie burger. Good!

They generate their power at the roadhouse, literally, with a monster generator that is loud loud. I forgot to use my iPhone decibels app but it would have be

en high. So  slept on my side so that my deaf ear was off the pillow. Result – slept like a kitten.

September 11^th, 2013

I’m now in  Carnarvon,  after crossing the Tropic of Capricorn. I hadn’t crossed this line since Rockhampton June 12^th, three months ago. Checked in to the Wintersun Caravan Park, as somebody somewhere had recommended it. Did some grocery shopping and found by shopping at Woolworths that I can get 15c per litre discount at the Woolworths Caltex service station. Yay!!!

I am experiencing heavy cloud and coolish weather. I am NOT used to this! Did I take a wrong turn and land in Carnarvon Wales???

Carnarvon sits on the Gascoyne River, bone dry at the moment, but beneath flows an underground stream. This stream provides irrigation for the rich river flats that produce millions of dollars worth of fruit and vegetables, from mangoes to tomatoes, bananas to beans.

September 12^th, 2013

After breakfast I drove about 80km north to Point Quobba. I tried a short cut for part of the way along a dirt road which was probably a mistake as it was often quite corrugated. At Point Quobba there are a series of blowholes where water under great pressure from the huge waves pounding the shore is forced up and sprayed through several holes in the rock to up to 20 metres in height.

It’s pretty impressive, but dangerous for people wanting to go too close to the edge, as king waves can (and have) sweep people off the cliffs. I heard that a woman was hit the other day and lost her iPad, and today a young backpacker was knocked over onto the razor sharp rocks and cut and scraped from head to toe.

The waves were continuous and amazing to watch as they smashed against the cliffs.

The only respite from the monster waves was at the caravan campsite which is close to a protected section of the coast with its own beach and coral reef.

I also walked up to the lighthouse

for a 360 degree view over ocean and coastal country,

and while there I caught sight of a pair of zebra finches flitting around a bottlebrush bush.

While walking down t

he road to the lighthouse I found numerous examples of coral embedded in the rocky parts of the road, evidence of this highest part of the land for miles having been underwater thousands of years ago.

Branch coral

Oyster shell

Hmmm, help! What’s this?

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Mandu Mandon’t

Posted on September 11, 2013 by nilocrol

September 9^th, 2013

This morning I hiked the Mandu Mandu Gorge trail. For people with limited fitness I would call it the Mandon’t Mandon’t Gorge trail. It’s listed as a 3km, two hour hike, Class 4. This means “Walks require a moderate to high level of fitness. Tracks are often rough…”  Well, they are right, but they don’t mention some almost vertical sections both up and down that I think a mountain goat might look twice at before attempting.

The walk begins for about half a kilometer on largish rounded river stones through a pretty impressive gorge. Tough start! I kept imagining I was Chinese and being given a very expensive foot massage!

Riverbed agony

Then the climb begins, and what a climb, but at the top the views of the Gorge and the Ningaloo Reef  were spectacular.

Ants? No, people

After that the serious work began, traversing three very steep smaller gorges that run into the large Mandu Mandu Gorge. Some of the tougher hiking that I have ever done, but exhilarating to get to the top each time and see a different view again and again.

Down…

And up…

And down..

And up…

Lots of evidence of rock wallabies but I didn’t see one. I was willing to pay any wallaby that was willing to show itself but no luck.

The track

My hiking companion

I drove back to the campground for lunch then headed off south again to the Oyster Stacks Beach where some of the best snorkeling off the beach can be had. I was not disappointed as there were lots of fish and coral and sea slugs to view. Unfortunately I had left it a little late and the tide had begun to ebb, leaving shallow water over parts of the reef. You don’t want to brush the reef with bare skin as it can result in sores that are notoriously slow to heal, so I just spent about 20 minutes in the water, then got out of there. I was so rushed that I forgot to set my underwater camera to underwater mode, but as the water was so shallow the colour wasn’t affected too much.

Stingray dozing

Onward…into the blue

With all of the exercise over the past two days I was ready for bed at about 8:30, but did a little blogging until my eyes wouldn’t stay open, and to bed at 9:30.

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Kayaking Ningaloo Reef

Posted on September 11, 2013 by nilocrol

September 8^th, 2013

Today I spent kayaking. I had signed up with Capricorn Sea Kayaking tours for a full day of kayaking and snorkeling. I wasn’t sure what I had let myself in for, especially as the day started off very windy. But it turned out to be a fantastic experience.

We were to kayak on the Ningaloo Reef which is one of the longest fringing reefs in the world, and are part of the Ningaloo Marine Park. Up to 500 varieties of fish have been recorded in the Marine Park. Outside of the reef the famous whaleshark can be found, although I was just a little late. But large numbers humpback whales can be seen heading to the Exmouth Gulf, the females to give birth to their young in the Gulf’s warm waters.

There were only three kayakers signed up – another couple from Hobart and myself. We were in two man sea kayaks so they paddled together and I was paddling with Neri, the guide, so I had lots of tips on paddling technique. She had recentlyspent 3 years in Canada doing a variety of guide jobs near Vancouver,  then up north in  Churchill. She also cycled from Vancouver across Canada to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 69 days! Thus a lot of our paddling time was spent sharing our experiences of Canada. Being the ultimate outdoors person she raved about Canada’s great outdoors store – Mountain Equipment Coop.

We saw loads of fish, clams, sea slugs (beche de mer) and coral under water, and lots of turtles from above and below as well. We also saw some sting rays jumping at high speed out of the water at our approach, and two very docile rays lying in the sand. The highlight though was a small pod of dolphins just off our bow, about 20m away. I was so excited trying to paddle closer that I forgot to pull out my camera.

The weather was perfect, with the wind only a little annoying a couple of times when paddling into it. We had a snack on the beach after about an hour of paddling, then lunch later on after about an hour of snorkelling, both beautifully prepared by Neri.

Coming back we were able to drift along with the wind and current, spending time sighting numerous turtles, some of them huge. There are three types of marine turtles in the marine park, Green, Loggerhead and Hawkesbill. We saw mostly Green Turtles.

On returning the campground I was both exhilarated and very tired. Tired because of the exercise involved with kayak paddling, and also because of my interrupted sleep the night before. Needless to say I slept well this night, with the awning rolled up tight.           

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Homestead, Hiking and Kites

Posted on September 11, 2013 by nilocrol

September 7^th, 2013

I arrived at Yardie Homestead Caravan Park around 10am.

Once set up I drove down the west coast of the cape again, to check it for future reference. I stopped again at the visitor information centre and I also stopped at a few more beaches – there are so many beaches and National Park campgrounds along this stretch of coast.

I drove on to Yardie Creek, which is about 60km south of the campground. I walked the Yardie Gorge Trail which took about 90 minutes, some of it reasonably difficult but worth it with some beautiful scenic views of the gorge and creek. There were also good views back over Ningaloo Reef.

Yardie Creek as far as the eye can see

Yep, it’s steep in places

On the way back I saw the kites of kite surfers, so I drove down a dirt track until the car bottomed out. I backed up, turned around and parked the car on a wider part of the track. I walked in about 300m and found two kite surfers quite close by, and another two on a distant reef with breakers. I was able to take some nice shots with my telephoto lens – 70-200mm.

After this little detour I decided to go back to the lighthouse to take some sunset photos, yet again. It was quite the party atmosphere there as a number of people had their chairs and tables out, with nibblies and drinks. While waiting for the sunset I also took some shots of the lighthouse in the rich late afternoon light. The sunset wasn’t of outstanding quality but was enhanced by the lighthouse setting.

On my way home in the dark I hit a kangaroo for the first time. Not a pleasant experience to say the least. Fortunately I was able to brake and turn and only struck it a glancing blow, so that it was able to hop off into the darkness. There was no damage to my car at all which was a pleasant surprise.

To top off the day the wind picked up to a small gale so that all night the awning kept flapping and rocking the caravan, but I was in one of those zones where my sleep was constantly interrupted, but I was never quite awake enough to make the decision to go out and roll the awning up. Bad, as I didn’t feel great for the next day’s exciting event.

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Exmouth

Posted on September 11, 2013 by nilocrol

September 3^rd, 2013

I’m on the road today to Nanutarra Roadhouse, halfway between Karratha and Exmouth in the middle of nowhere. Campsite was dusty and it was windy as well, so not pleasant. It was nice to get out of there early the next morning. At least I was able to stay hitched up overnight.

September 4, 2013

Travelled south-west to Exmouth today which sits near the north eastern tip of the rugged North West Cape. It was quite windy today, and for the first time since I don’t know when I had cross winds and head winds to cope with. Because I was travelling a decent distance, almost 300km, I was a little concerned about fuel so I kept my speed down and let people pass me. It worked because I made it with a ¼ tank remaining. I must mention that I was concerned because apart from cars on the road there was no sign of civilization between Nanutarra and Exmouth. Nothing. And no mobile coverage. What do you do if you break down? No idea.

I’m at the Ningaloo Reef Caravan Park, named after the coral reef that fringes the promontory for around 260km. It’s OK, well, no dust. I got a senior’s 10% discount but it’s still pretty expensive. After setting up I drove around town to familiarize myself, stopped at the only bank to withdraw money from the ATM, and did some much needed shopping. I was thinking of doing some washing but $5 a load didn’t sit well with me.

Apparently Exmouth was only established in 1967 as a support town for the nearby US naval communications station, so is one of Australia’s newest towns.

September 5^th, 2013

Had a veg day today. Went to the visitor centre, swam in the very nice campground pool (temp reached 35 degrees today), read up on what tourists can do around Exmouth and the cape, and read up on the Cape Range National Park which runs down much of the west side of the cape.

September 6^th, 2013

Did some driving today to check out beaches from Exmouth all the way to the tip of the cape, then down the west side of the cape as far as the Ranger Station at the entrance to Cape Range National Park. The beaches are beautiful, although I noticed that sandflies are about. But apparently the best snorkeling beaches are in the national park. I leave my campground tomorrow (Saturday) and have booked two nights at the Yardie Homestead Caravan Park; it is on the west side of the cape, short of the national park. From there I will have more convenient access to the southern beaches within the National Park.

Today I drove by the U.S. Naval VLF transmitter and antenna system, consisting of an array of 13 massive towers, connected at their tops by cables. The highest central tower is 387 metres tall, higher than the Empire State Building and well above the height of the Eiffel Tower.

Pictures really don’t do it justice – you have to get up close to see the cable supports in the ground, and the bases of the towers. The towers sit on 17m deep concrete bases, and all towers and cable attachments used 24,000 cubic metres of concrete. Please tell me how they erect these monsters. They have now stood there for 46 years (built during the Cold War!) and thus have withstood a few decent cyclones.

There is a boat launch area and a lovely beach almost next door to these massive towers – Bundegi Beach. I then drove up to the northern tip of the cape to see the surf (not great today) and the wreck of the SS Mildura, a cattle ship that foundered close in to shore. It is visible even at high tide. On to the Vlamingh Lighthouse, no longer in operation but restored to its former glory,

then to the Jurabi Turtle Centre, an interpretive centre housed next to an extensive turtle nesting area. I stopped at the impressive visitor centre and spent a long time there reading about the geology and marine life of the area, including the famous huge whalesharks of the area. Of the beaches I dropped in to, the most impressive was Turquoise Bay,

both for its sheer beauty and also being sheltered from the strong southerly winds blowing today. Finally I reached the entrance to the Cape Range National Park , and turned back, happy to have found that the rangers offer seniors’ discounts for entry to the park. Sweet.

I finished the long day with excellent take out fish ‘n chips from the Exmouth Marina.

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Exmouth and the Cape

Posted on September 7, 2013 by nilocrol

September 3^rd, 2013

On the road to Nanutarra Roadhouse, halfway between Karratha and Exmouth in the middle of nowhere. Campsite was dusty and it was windy as well, so not pleasant. It was nice to get out of there early the next morning. At least I was able to stay hitched up overnight.

September 4, 2013

Travelled south-west to Exmouth today which sits near the north eastern tip of the rugged North West Cape. It was quite windy today, and for the first time since I don’t know when I had cross winds and head winds to cope with. Because I was travelling a decent distance, almost 300km, I was a little concerned about fuel so I kept my speed down and let people pass me. It worked because I made it with a ¼ tank remaining. I must mention that I was concerned because apart from cars on the road there was no sign of civilization between Nanutarra and Exmouth. Nothing. And no mobile coverage. What do you do if you break down? No idea.

I’m at the Ningaloo Reef Caravan Park, named after the coral reef that fringes the promontory for around 260km. It’s OK, well, no dust. I got a senior’s 10% discount but it’s still pretty expensive. After setting up I drove around town to familiarize myself, stopped at the only bank to withdraw money from the machine, and did some much needed shopping. I was thinking of doing some washing but $5 a load didn’t sit well with me.

Apparently Exmouth was only established in 1967 as a support town for the nearby US naval communications station, so is one of Australia’s newest towns.

September 5^th, 2013

Had a veg day today. Went to the visitor centre, swam in the very nice campground pool (temp reached 35 degrees today), read up on what tourists can do around Exmouth and the cape, and read up on the Cape Range National Park which runs down much of the west side of the cape.

September 6^th, 2013

Did a fair bit of driving today to check out beaches from Exmouth all the way to the tip of the cape, then down the west side of the cape as far as the Ranger Station at the entrance to Cape Range National Park. The Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area

comprises the Ningaloo Marine Park, Cape Range National Park, and Muiron Island as well. The beaches are beautiful, although sandflies abound. But apparently the best snorkeling beaches are in the national park. I leave my campground tomorrow (Saturday) and have booked two nights at the Yardie Homestead Caravan Park which is on the west side of the cape, short of the national park. From there I will have more convenient access to the southern beaches.

Today I drove by the U.S. Naval VLF transmitter and antenna system, consisting of an array of 13 massive towers, connected at their tops by cables. The highest central tower is 387 metres tall, higher than the Empire State Building and well above the height of the Eiffel Tower. Pictures really can’t do it justice – you really have to get up close to see the cable supports in the ground, and the bases of the towers. The towers sit on 17m deep concrete bases, and all towers and cable attachments used 24,000 cubic metres of concrete. Please tell me how they erect these monsters. They have now stood there for 46 years (built during the Cold War!) and thus have withstood a few decent cyclones.

There is a boat launch area and a lovely beach almost next door to these massive towers – Bundegi Beach. I then drove up to the northern tip of the cape to see the surf (not great today) and the wreck of the SS Mildura, a cattle ship that foundered close in to shore. It is visible even at high tide. On to the Vlamingh Lighthouse, no longer in operation but restored to its former glory.

Info centre near the lighthouse

Views from lighthouse

Common W.A. wildflower

Then to the Jurabi Turtle Centre, an interpretive centre housed next to an extensive turtle nesting area. Finally I reached the Cape Range National Park ranger centre, and turned back, happy to have found that they offer senior’s discounts for entry to the park. Nice.

I finished the long day with take out fish ‘n chips from the Exmouth Marina.

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Millstream Chichester Oases

Posted on September 5, 2013 by nilocrol

September 2^nd, 2013

Today is a road trip with with cousin Sue to Millstream Chichester National Park. Round trip was 330km, with 108km on gravel roads, mostly quite good. The trusty Falcon held up well!

Millstream Chichester used to be two parks, but were joined (hence the name) in 1982, and now comprises an area of 200,000 hectares. It is comprised of rolling spinifex hills,

Spinifex hills

spectacular escarpments,

and hides some magical water holes and creeks. These waterways are fed from an aquifer contained in the porous rock of the area; this aquifer has an area of 2,000 square kilometers, and contains an estimated 1700 million cubic metres of water. This aquifer supplies water to the closer towns along the coast – Roebourne, Point Samson, Wickham, Karratha and Dampier.

But enough of the statistics! Our first stop was Python Pool situated in the north central section of the park.  No pythons were seen!It is a magnificent pool at the base of towering cliffs, and once in (it didn’t take us long!) the water temperature was just right.

Unfortunately I had my car keys in my pocket so the remote control no longer works. Oh well. I took some more shots with my underwater camera, then forgot to switch it from underwater mode to regular water mode. The result – everything for the next 5 or 6 shots was bright pink! I probably won’t make that mistake again.

We then drove 55km to the Millstream Homestead in the southern section of the park. The homestead operated for around 100 years from 1865, running 55,000 sheep and some cattle, and finally became a Visitor Centre in recent years, with Park Rangers based on the grounds. We were both pretty hungry by this time so we had lunch brought by Sue on the picnic tables set beneath the shady ‘Snappy’ gums, named because  of the sound they make as their boughs break off. GREAT spot for a picnic without hard hats!

But we survived, and visited the visitor centre as one does. It is unattended, but is an interesting museum dedicated to the original Yindjibarndi people of the area, as well as the early settlers and homestead owners.

The highlight of the homestead is a walk around the shaded area along the fast flowing creek. Lots of old palm trees planted by the wife of the homestead manager, as well as huge paperbark trees along the creek made walking outside on a hot day a real pleasure. The creek is fed by the beautiful Chinderwarriner Pool, lined with gums and paperbarks, with water lilies abounding. Much of the area where palms now stand was the vegetable garden operated by a Chinese gardener for the homestead.

We had to leave for home though, so we drove west into the sun, setting on a wonderful day with my cousin.

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Dampier, Rocks, and the Red Dog

Posted on September 5, 2013 by nilocrol

August 31^st, 2013

Short drive today, through Karratha to the other side, as I will be staying at the Dampier caravan park for three nights. It is a quaint community-run campground which supplies power but not water. There are no permanent campers here which is very nice. Everybody when leaving fills up their van’s water tanks from the one tap available prior to departing as the water is very drinkable! And the price is right.

It sits across the Esplanard from the water, and one can watch the iron ore ships being loaded at any time of the day or night, as well as a variety of large boats moored in the protected bay.

Dampier Port was developed in 1963 when Hammersley Iron, partly government funded, developed an iron ore mine at Tom Price and a port at Dampier. Today Dampier houses port facilities for Dampier Salt, Pilbara Iron, and Woodside Energy (Gas) .

Dinner that evening was at Jen and Dave Jan’s home. They live and work in Karratha. It just so happens that Jen’s Mum, Sue, my cousin from Frankston which is south of Melbourne, is visiting for a couple of weeks, so I got to see Sue again, and meet her daughter and son-in-law for the first time.  Jen and Dave are keen travelers and boaters and make the most of this magnificent area, and have been to most of the many beautiful islands off-shore.  It was a lovely relaxed evening, with Dave looking after the BBQ and Jen preparing a great salad. All topped of by a pavlova for dessert. Hmmm!

September 1^st, 2013

The first day of summer in Australia, so Jen drove Sue and I up into the Burrup Peninsula, which is just north of Dampier. The peninsula is comprised largely of huge piles of loose rocks. But what rocks! They are home to a huge number of ancient aboriginal stone carvings, or petroglyphs – the highest concentration of rock art in the world, up to one million in this area and surrounding islands. They depict human figures and faces, as well as animals, and are made by scraping off the thin outer layer of dark iron oxide to reveal a lighter colour. As a result you can see them from quite a distance.

The art has fortunately survived major erosion due to the hard rock and low rainfall and consequently some of the art is up to 22,000 years old. We spent the morning there, and I’m sure you could spend days exploring this huge area. It requires a degree of “rock-hopping” fitness in the heat reflected by the rock piles in order to move around to see the art, but well worthwhile.

On the way back we stopped in to the Red Dog monument at Dampier. Yes, this is Red Dog territory folks!

After that we went for a coffee back in Dampier with a beautiful view of the marina.

I was dropped off at the campground and a little later I was able to photograph yet another great sunset. Sorry folks! That evening I met Sue and Jen for dinner at a very nice pub in Karratha – a fitting end to a lovely day.

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Beaches, Cossacks and Ospreys

Posted on September 5, 2013 by nilocrol

August 29^th

Off today to Point Samson. Again the countryside was a little uninspiring – mostly flat scrubby bushland mixed with open spinifex country. The more I drive, the bigger this country seems to get. Part of the reason for this feeling of being a tiny gnat on a huge map is that Western Australia is the world’s biggest state/province. It takes so long even to get from one petrol fill-up to the next: like when you approach a roadhouse with a sign saying 250km to the next fill-up! A close friend described our car/caravan setup as snails, one following the other carrying its home and entire possessions on its back, so to speak. Quite apt! Oh, I forgot to mention that the other day while on the way to Port Hedland  I crossed a beautiful river, the De Grey I believe. Along its banks were many caravans set up in some of the most scenic free camping sites I have seen. A must for those keen on free camping.

Short of Point Samson is the historic village of Roebourne. It has an old gaol which is now the visitor centre and museum, and well worth stopping at.

I arrived at The Cove Holiday Village, signing up for a couple of nights. Point Samson is just short of Karratha and recommended for its beautiful beach and excellent campground. The campground was excellent, and better have been at $49/night, the highest I have paid so far. Let’s hope it’s the highest for the trip!

Finally! No dust! Each campsite has a concrete pad for the caravan, and a gravel parking spot next to it. It is a first class campground with one of the best amenities blocks so far. Also, the front office welcome was…most welcome!

The campground is just 5 minutes walk to a postcard quality secluded beach – Honeymoon Cove.

It is sheltered from the wind, but as a result I found out the hard way that it harbours hoardes of sandflies. And do they bite, and itch. Fortunately the campground is positioned high enough to catch the wind and this seems to deter these pesky mites. Speaking of wind, by mid afternoon the wind continued to increase so that by dinnertime I had to roll up my awning. It had become a mild gale.

August 30^th, 2013

After a leisurely breakfast I went down to the beach to try out my mask and snorkel in the crystal clear waters of the bay. As I was putting on my flippers in waist deep waters I was absolutely besieged by sandflies – like they knew my hands would be occupied so that I could not swat them away. Nasties!  I also used my underwater camera for the first time. I found it difficult to clearly see the LED screen, so I had to guess to a certain degree where the camera was aiming. Nevertheless it worked quite well, and didn’t leak. Applause! I also used my UV50+ swimming top for the first time. The water temp was quite comfortable, and there was enough to see to make it interesting – a variety of small fish, and some isolated coral of various shapes and sizes.

I then had a light lunch before touring around to catch some interesting spots close to Port Samson. First the town of Wickham, established in 1970 by a Rio Tinto mining company with the aim of creating an iron ore processing plant, a port at Cape Lambert nearby from which to ship the ore, and a township to house their employees. The ship loading facilities are 2.7km long, one of the longest and tallest open ocean wharves in Australia.

Not stopping there, Rio Tinto is currently expanding and modernizing the port facility. Even at that size I counted 18 ore ships waiting to be taken into port for loading.

Next I went to the ghost town of Cossack, one of the first port of Western Australia. Since the 1870’s it has been a port to service the pastoral industry of the area, to land the prospectors during the Pilbara gold rush of the 1880’s, and to service the 80 pearling boats from the 1870’s to the early 1900’s. By 1910 the port had become silted up, and as a result Cossack soon withered away.  But recently, bit by bit its historic buildings and wharf are being restored to their original condition, and the restored buildings are truly magnificent.

I then drove past Cossack to the impressive Settler’s Beach,

and on to the end of the road to Readers Head Lookout which has a magnificent 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside. With my binoculars I followed a hump back whale swimming right to left obviously on a mission as it never slowed and never veered off track.

Later in the afternoon I drove to John’s Creek boat harbour where I had previously noticed three Osprey on a nest set high up on a man-made perch. I took lots of photos, then back for dinner.

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The Two Hedlands

Posted on September 5, 2013 by nilocrol

August 27^th, 28^th,  2013

Drive today to Port Hedland. I spent two nights at the only caravan park in Port Hedland. First thing you notice is that this must be cyclone territory – there are caravan tie-downs provided at every site. Now all I need are straps to attach to the tie-downs in case of a cyclone! No worries, cyclone season is in summer and a little either side.

There are two parts to Hedland, the port, obviously called Port Hedland, and the newer much larger South Hedland. I never did notice whether the Council offices were in Port or South.

This is a mining town like no other. Every second car is a white Toyota or Nissan 4×4 with their distinctive reflective yellow strips, their large black ID numbers, and many with small bright orange flags flying high above the car. The working outfit for men and women: steel-toe boots, long blue work pants, and reflective tops. And you know they will have a hard hat in the car. Interesting, they seemed to drive the company 4×4 as a private vehicle; after hours they are to be seen at the supermarket, the liquor store, the local pub, fast food cafes for lunch, and parked at private homes. I’m told that’s part of the package to encourage workers to stay at the more isolated towns and cities of the north-west.

I was able to get to swim at one of the best swimming complexes I have seen, apart from the one in Darwin. It has an 8 lane 50m pool, a 2 lane 25m pool for lessons, a shallow tots pool with lots of fun stuff, and a wave pool which was currently being serviced. Water temp was perfect for laps, and the water crystal clear.

Lunchtime I went to the visitor centre then down the road to Marapikurrinya Park to see the huge iron ore ships being filled. They carry up to 350000 tonnes of iron, and thus there is a distinct difference between loaded and unloaded ships! They take around 24 hours to fill, and I was fortunate enough to see a Japanese ore ship departing the port, escorted by no less than 5 tugs, which pushed and pulled it sideways out from the dock.

They then slowly moved it forwards and out through the shipping lane, when only 3 tugs were needed as the ship was now under its own power.

Sunset I went to Redbank Bridge which spans the railway for the ore trains. It also overlooks the huge salt pans and salt works, most of which is exported not for table salt but for a variety of industrial purposes including the manufacture of plastics, glass and detergents.

I was also able to catch an iron ore train rolling under the bridge returning from the port. It had come almost 500km from the huge Mount Newman open cut, and is returning for another load. The rail network serving the many iron ore mines in the north west is immense, with trains of several kilometers in length. Like this train. Many have two locomotives pulling at the front and two in the middle push/pulling the huge load. Rio Tinto’s rail facility alone services 14 mining sites via 1500 km of track, and can haul 290,000,000 tonnes of ore per year.

Hedland is a real going concern with a vast network of new roads being constructed, as well as overpasses, railway crossings etc. It definitely cannot be categorized as “pretty”; it is a working town, with working class people, shift- working 24 hours a day. I didn’t mind leaving, despite being highly impressed by the ‘hive’ of activity.

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Beach, Bird…and Camel

Posted on August 27, 2013 by nilocrol

August 25, 2013

Drove almost 300km today along some pretty boring flat scrubby country to Sandfire Roadhouse.. It is a typical roadhouse, but with a difference. It was hit hard by a cyclone in 2009, and has been hit by cyclones prior to that time also. It has a little cyclone museum outside with newspaper clippings describing the results of this 220kph monster which hit the Pilbara area. The Pilbara is situated along coastal and inland north West Australia, immediately south of the Kimberly area. I’m not sure where one begins and the other ends.

The highlight of the day was the evening drinks time, where strangers from all ten caravans/motorhomes got together for 4:30pm drinks and snacks. All had such a great time that we finally broke up at around 8:30, wondering what we would prepare for a quick dinner! This was a first in my travelling experience and I hope not the last!

August 26^th

I had decided to stay another day here, as I wanted to see a highly recommended camping/fishing area – 80 Mile Beach. I was interested in camping there but I wanted to check it out first. I drove 50km along the highway the 10km along a dirt road to the beach. It was a very nice campground (although decimated by the 2009 cyclone) and the beach is very very impressive, but for me, not worth stopping tomorrow.

80 Mile Beach looking 4 ways:

north

south

east

west

Instead I will carry on to Port Hedland, almost 300km further south. Interesting, I’m heading south into Spring…How will the temperatures play out as I get closer to Perth on the south west ‘corner’ of the country? Perfect I hope!

On the way back to the campground I nearly run over a monitor lizard, 1 metre of it. With just the car I was able to avoid, but with the van, even though travelling slower, I don’t think I would have been able to miss him. So he lives to see another day.

The house at the back of the campground has quite the menagerie of animals and birds – a huge bullock, a camel, a free-roaming flock of very plump geese at which every camper looks at with hungry eyes! Also chooks, and beautiful peacocks and pea hens. Great entertainment value.

Just me, and my camel…

Camel lashes

Camel toes

White peacock begging for food

White peacock showing off

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From Cable Beach To Port

Posted on August 27, 2013 by nilocrol

August 24, 2013

My last day in Broome so I thought I would drive to Cable Beach, take the first (7:42am) bus down to Gantheaume Point (my sunset spot) and walk the 5km back along beautiful Cable Beach to my car. All was going well until too late I realized that I had parked at the wrong car park, and the bus came and went. This is the only bus that goes all the way down to Gantheaume Point. So instead I did an ‘out and back’, walking half way along the beach towards Gantheaume Point, then back again.

Cable Beach north

Cable Beach…up close

It was a beautiful morning, although for the last ten minutes of my walk the wind really picked up and my legs were getting sand-blasted. Time for coffee at a spot overlooking cable beach, hoping to see a whale in the distance. It’s not uncommon, but I had no luck. Even so it was one of the more relaxing coffees I have had.

Coffee overlooking Cable Beach

That afternoon I went down to the port to see what there was to see. Lots of people fishing as the tide was rushing out. I only had my iPhone but took a couple of nice shots of the pier.

All fenced in

Tide’s in

Piering up

Pier perspective

I noticed a restaurant nearby, and decided to pick up fish and chips later on for dinner. I ordered barramundi (our guide on the Lake Argyle cruise  told us that there are 7 types of the famous northern Australian barramundi – barramundi, barratuesdi, barrawednesdi….. amid groans from everybody on board). The barramundi although expensive was the best fish I have had since a memorable occasion years ago at Doyles Restaurant on Sydney Harbour.

Tide’s out

After the pier I thought it would be a good idea to go to my sunset spot, as there had been a bushfire in the vicinity and the sun was setting in the smoke, which usually results in a lovely dark red sunset. Yes, I’m beginning to be a sunset freak! I was ready to click away when I found that I had not replaced my memory card after transferring pics to my camera. Not good, but I had my iPhone with me so I’ll give it a shot. Nothing to write home about but I will include it anyway.

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Broome’s Moon, and Crocodiles

Posted on August 26, 2013 by nilocrol

August 22, 2013

Today is an auspicious day in Broome – this evening there will be a full moon rising along a super low tide. The result – something that tons of tourists flock here for – the natural event called Staircase to the Moon. The moon this evening rises over the ocean due east at around 7:00pm, and as it rises it casts a long reflection over the extensive tidal flats, called the stairway.  Thousands of people with cameras, tripods, and of varying photographic abilities gather at the several appropriate easterly viewing spots, bringing chairs, drinks, and nibblies along with theircameras and wait for the event. My first attempt at photographing the moon proved how difficult and elusive a good shot is. I failed, along with probably 95% of the people there! But it was fun and a privilege to have unknowingly timed it so well in order to have seen the event.

Tidal flats

30 minutes prior to moonrise

C plus

D minus

August 23, 2013

Today I head out east of Broome to visit the Malcolm Douglas Wilderness Park, which has a heavy emphasis on crocodiles! Malcolm Douglas is no longer alive. He started out back in the 60’s as a crocodile hunter/farmer as well as TV documentary maker, but when crocodiles became a protected species (mid – late 70’s) he devoted the rest of his life to the preservation of crocodiles. He died at 69 in 2010 at his new crocodile/wildlife reserve, found crushed between his car and a tree. A freak accident eerily similar in freakishness to the death of crocodile expert Steve Irwin. The park is laid out with a large croc pond holding about 40 male crocs.

The BIG croc pool

From there paths meander through the area past many individual croc pens, many of them too mean and nasty to mix with regular crocs. Like prisons for humans! Also throughout the park are bird and animal exhibits. The highlight of the 2pm-5pm day is the croc feeding which starts at 3:00pm.

The croc feeder (forget his name) is a true character. One precocious little 7yo girl later in the session came up to him asking “Have you seen my dad?” His reply, “I’ve seen lots of dads today dear, but I couldn’t find yours in the crowd!”

Our croc feeder had a big bucket full of smelly whole chickens and large filleted barramundi. “If you think crocodile handling is fun, try sticking your hands in this smelly stuff every day!” was another of his humorous comments. We watched as these massive beasts vied for position to grab the spoils, in the truest sense of the word,

Battling for a fish

and then we moved on to the prison pens. The only difference between these and a prison for humans is that these “prisoners” get to have a female partner boarding with them, except for one recalcitrant who killed his first wife so he gets to be a bachelor for the rest of his life internment.

Just another day at the office.

This guy was moving fast, very fast.

Giving us the evil eye.

Hey you!
If you would just like to put your arm…oh, maybe here?

I held this cute one too…no, the baby crocodile!!!

Great entrance for the kids

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Footprints From the Past

Posted on August 25, 2013 by nilocrol

August 21^st, 2013

Today I moved into Broome from the Broome Gateway caravan park. I first tried to get into another park close to the water (most of the Broome caravan parks don’t take bookings) but they were full, so I then tried Broome Vacation Village, a few kilometers south of Broome, and they had a spot. It is a very shaded site but so small that I had to park the car close to the van which meant I could not put up my awning, but in the long run it did not matter. The big problem is I’m next to the highway that runs to the Port of Broome so traffic is constant and loud. It’s a great motivation to get out of the park and do the tourist thing!

This afternoon at 5:00 the tide is very low and opens up the opportunity to see Brontosaurus and Stegosaurus footprints embedded in the rock from 130 million years ago, visible only at low tide. So I went. Even if we hadn’t found the footprints it would have been fun exploring the extensive rock pools with beautifully coloured fungi type organisms.

The sun on the red/brown/orange rocks was a delight to add to the excitement of the footprints.

Gantheaume Pt Lighthouse

Waiting for sunset

Boab with leaves…huh?

The footprints were not as big as expected but very clearly etched in the rock. To view something in situ that is so ancient was quite an experience.

Late afternoon was another chance for a sunset right after viewing the footprints. A nice sun setting at Gantheaume Point.

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A Whale of a Time

Posted on August 24, 2013 by nilocrol

August 19^th, 2013

I had a short driving day today – 150km. On the way out of Derby I stopped off at the Boab Prison Tree, which was used by police in the 1800’s as a staging point when escorting aboriginal prisoners into Derby.

My destination is a highly recommended caravan park called Broome’s Gateway, about 25km short of Broome. Its main advantage is that it is cheap – only $25/day. It has water but no power which was no problem for me as there is lots of sun for my solar panels. It also has huge shower/toilet facilities like ensuites, brand new and spotless. The downside was that it is very dusty, and takes 30 minutes to get to Broome proper. On the other hand the owners actually encourage car and van washing and both of mine urgently needed cleaning

Just to prove…

so I took advantage of their offer! I planned to spend two nights at Gateway, then move in to one of the much more expensive Broome caravan parks.

August 20

Washed the car and van early before the heat of the day (35 degrees continues to be the order of the day). A neighbour came up with the joke of the week: “Car AND van? You going to do a rain dance next?” Can’t beat Aussie humour.

Afternoon hopefully will be a highlight of my stay in Broome – I have booked in for a whale watching tour 1:00pm to 4:30pm. I had to drive in to Broome in order to be picked up by the minivan and on to the southern end of beautiful Cable Beach.

We walk out into knee deep water and climb into a “tinnie” (Aussie for 14 foot outboard aluminum boat you Canadians!)

and taken out to a magnificent cruiser powered by a 1300hp CAT diesel. Very impressive. It holds 32 whale watchers, and there were only 16 of us so lots of room to swing the proverbial cat, and we were never battling each other for a photo opportunity.

It was a magnificent afternoon in perfect weather. The crew did a fantastic job from the skipper getting us as close as possible to the whales, to our American guide who has a degree in marine biology and was able to answer all of our many questions about whales.

Our fave guide!

The whales travel up from the Antarctic to the warm waters around Broome to mate, then the females nurse their calves to maturity in readiness for their return to the Antarctic. Little known fact – whale milk has such a high fat content that its consistency is that of toothpaste. Hopefully for the calves it doesn’t taste like toothpaste! The whales are humpbacks, defined by the way they hump their back, showing off their shark-like dorsal fin.

We got to see lots of whales from a distance and water snake close up that had just caught a weird looking fish. Finally we got to see a whale breaching, driving half of its massive body vertically out of the water. Truly a sight to see.

At the end of the cruise we were all on a super high as we boarded the tinny back to the beach, ready to be driven back to our various destinations.  I have a feeling this might not be my last whale watching experience!

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Wharfing

Posted on August 24, 2013 by nilocrol

August 17^th, 2013

250 kilometers today to reach my next stop – Derby. After setting up I dropped in to the post office to mail a letter and read on the notice board that the fires I have seen are required to be carried out by property owners. They must burn the perimeters of their property once a year, as well as around their homestead and other buildings and shelters on the property.

Derby has a population of a little over 3000, with about half being of aboriginal descent. Tourists during the dry season would go close to doubling the population. It is situated on King sound and has a huge tide differential of around 11 metres. The wharf, a U-shape which allows cars to drive on and off it, has to cope with these massive tide differentials, and is set up for the export of lead and zinc.

You can usually find loads of people fishing, and at sunset you will find small groups sitting down, sipping wine while waiting for the sun do its thing. There is a seafood restaurant there which would be a lovely place to watch the sunset over dinner.

August 18^th, 2013

Today was dominated by the wharf. Early morning I walked the 3 kilometres to the waterfront following a very impressive newly built walking/cycling trail across the (now dry) wetlands.

I walked the wharf and chatted to very friendly people fishing and walking the wharf. It is such a different design, where the public drive on at one end and drive off the other end.

Afternoon I had a swim at the local swimming pool (nice to get some exercise) and the drove out to the wharf to see it in a different light so to speak, under the setting sun. I found a spot down on the rocks to view the sunset through the huge wharf pylons. It was low tide which also dramatized the effect. It was well worth the drive, short as it was, and the take out fish and chips were excellent.

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Fitzroy Crossing

Posted on August 24, 2013 by nilocrol

August 15^th, 2013

Almost 300 km today to get to Fitzroy Crossing; similar country to yesterday’s drive and the same dinosaur droppings termite mounds.

Fitzroy River Lodge is a pretty impressive Caravan Park across the Fitzroy river from the town. It has lots of large shady treed sites surrounding a central large amenities block. Even some grass at each site.

West Australia is home to the Boab tree, and I found Baby Boab in the campground. On the highway out of Fitzroy River I was able to stop and photograph the Mummy Boab, and later Daddy boab. They are very impressive trees, and some have been used as temporary prisons! I hope to see one at Derby, next stop. They lose all of their leaves during the dry season, which exaggerates their weird shape.

August 16^th, 2013

First thing in the morning I washed all “handy” towels that I use for a variety of cleaning purposes, usually when setting up and packing up.  I then wandered over to the office to enquire about a tour nearby of another “gorge-eous gorge” Peta! It’s called Geiki Gorge after some British geologist; he never did come to Australia to see his gorge! It is on the Fitzroy River, the cliffs having being ancient reefs, now limestone that has been worn down by the river over countless millions of years.

There are several tours each day so I chose the last one beginning at 3:00pm. The boats are like barges with no canopy, which enables everybody to see the towering limestone cliffs on either side of the gorge.

Ready to board

The lighter colours on the lower parts of the cliffs are a result of the yearly wet season when the river can rise by 16 metres, and it is these fast flowing waters during the wet that scours the lower section of the cliffs,  well as creating complex but beautiful erosion patterns. There are many freshwater crocs in the river and quite a few were warming themselves on the rocks in the hot afternoon sun. The cruise lasted well over an hour with an excellent guide to provide all of the necessary background to the area. A very relaxing time on a beautiful calm day.

Croc profile?

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China Wall

Posted on August 19, 2013 by nilocrol

August 14^th, 2013

Have to try to finish packing as early as possible these days – it’s getting quite warm by 7:30am. I’m heading south to Halls Creek today. I don’t know much about the place and only intend staying overnight.

I arrived at 2:00pm after an interesting drive.  W.A.’s Kimberley region has been quite varied countryside but today was much more interesting with range after range of distinctive weathered hills.

Typical rest area in W.A.

36 degrees today so I had the air con on for most of the drive. It was a longer distance than usual today so I topped up at Warmun Roadhouse. It is the gateway to the Bungle Bungles, a massive configuration of weirdly shaped rocky outcrops, reachable only by 4WD or plane/helicopter, which is becoming the thing to do. I will give it a miss and put it on my bucket list for next time. Warmun sets the record for petrol prices – 2.09/litre. And I paid it almost without blinking. When you’re this far from anywhere it’s no use getting upset. As well as the interesting geography along the way there were also different shaped termite mounds to those I had been seeing since the Northern Territory. They were large roundish mounds, consisting of small mounds piled on top of each other. I couldn’t get it out my head when they popped up along the highway that they must be what dinosaur droppings used to look like!

The Halls Creek campground was pretty dusty and ordinary-looking, but very well looked after, and by 6:00pm it was pretty full.

I discovered that there is a quartz outcrop nearby called the China Wall, because it’s supposed to look like a miniature version of the Great Wall of China. I got there just before sunset which was a blessing. 10 minutes on bitumen, 5 minutes on a dusty dirt road, parts of which are 4WD stuff, but the trusty  Falcon got me there and back with a little careful driving to miss the big deep ruts.

The China Wall was a spectacle far beyond my expectations. It is a naturally formed quartz wall which has withstood erosion as the soil around it has eroded over thousands of years. It is no wider than about 50 cm, and maintains a consistent thickness throughout the entire length of approximately 150 metres. I varies fro about 1 metre to 3 metres in height. In the late afternoon sun the red veins running through the white quartz stone stood out  and it glowed in the setting sun in a fascinating and quite eerie manner. I followed it along the base to find where it ends as it runs up and over a hill, with small trees and bushes growing along its length. It was a photographer’s dream at that time of day.

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Lake Argyle

Posted on August 18, 2013 by nilocrol

August 13^th, 2013

Today, an all day trip with Triple J Tours, beginning with a small bus trip to Lake Argyle, then a cruise on Lake Argyle, followed by a cruise up the Ord River back to Kununurra to be dropped off at our respective campgrounds after dark around 6:30pm.

I mentioned Lake Argyle in my last post. It was built over a 3 year period, 1969-1971, during the dry season only. Total cost a mere $22 million, as the rock and clay which make up the dam were sourced on site.

About to cross the dam wall

Lake Argyle’s size is described by the tour guide as being the equivalent of 15 Sydney Harbours (SH’s) during the dry season when the Ord stops flowing into the lake, 44 SH’s during the heavy floods of 201, and 70 SH’s if the lake were ever to be absolutely full to overflowing. The Lake Argyle cruise

Our Lake Argyle craft, twin Cummins diesel inboards.

gave us an idea of the immensity of the lake; it is truly massive. It has many islands

and a population of over 30,000 fresh water crocs. The tour guide threw so many statistics at us concerning the lake and dam I suggested they should provide a one page stat sheet so our failing memories needn’t work overtime. The guide’s reply: “But then we would have to give the same stats, every cruise!” Funny man.

He did though provide a computerized coverage of our position during the tour showing underwater floor, depth, position on the map, speed, etc. an interesting part was the clear path of the old Ord River prior to Lake Argyle swallowing it up.

A highlight of the birdlife and wildlife was a female rock wallaby, on the rocks, with her little joey in pouch.

Following the cruise we had lunch at the Lake Argyle resort, which originally was set up to house the dam workers. It was here that I met good friends from Toowoomba – Col and Rose Maguire. They were on a bus tour from Darwin down to Broome, W.A.

The resort boasts the “Infinity Pool”, a pool with a view. Very impressive, but we didn’t have time to go for a swim.

Infinity Pool

After lunch we took a bus tour across the dam wall and down to the Ord River below the dam. Here we boarded our boarded our boat for the trip up to Kununurra, 55km, said by our guide Jeff to be the longest  tourist boat trip…I didn’t hear the rest as Col Maguire tapped me on the should. He and Rose were on the boat! We both accused each other of stalking! The boat was built specifically for this cruise and sports 3x350hp outboard motors,

giving a max speed of 90kph! We didn’t quite reach top speed but we had to lock our hats on securely at times. Mostly though, Jeff would stop the engines and drift while he on a great variety of topics…the lake, the dam, the river, the diversion dam, the Ord River Scheme, various trees including their Latin names, birds, etc etc.

He was an infectiously enthusiastic man and his enthusiasm prompted many questions from those onboard. It helped that at the beginning of the cruise Jeff stated that if there were no questions we would be back in Kununurra in 30 minutes! He had an incredible knowledge of the area gathered over a period of 25 years of running cruises up the Ord.

The cruise came to a fitting end with yet another beautiful sunset over the water. Photographic bliss.

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Around Young Kununurra

Posted on August 17, 2013 by nilocrol

August 12^th, 2013

First things first, I did some grocery shopping, then a big wash – sheets, towels, clothes.

Following on from the work stuff, I drove around Kununurra. It has an interesting history – it is one of the youngest in Western Australia (W.A from now on) gazetted in 1961.  It was planned and built in conjunction with the Ord River Irrigation scheme. I think the planners did a great job with several lovely parklands, two lakes, and well planned, shady streets.

I drove south just out of Kununurra and crossed over the diversion dam and down to the Lion’s Park just downstream from the dam. It didn’t look it from a distance, but there was a tremendous body of water flowing out from the dam.

The dam system is an engineering masterpiece, set up to irrigate the Ord agricultural region. Well south of Kununurra the Ord River flows north and into Lake Argyle which is the biggest man-made lake in the Southern Hemisphere. Lake Argyle dam was completed in 1971 and holds back a lake 70 by 40 kilometres. It produces hydro electric power, and this water flows north along the Ord River to then be held back by the Kununurra Diversion Dam. Thus the water behind Diversion Dam is always at a constant level, and then is diverted into irrigation channels downriver.

After checking out the dam I drove up to the town’s lookout, and then on to Mirima National Park, just five minutes out of Kununurra. It is a relatively small park consisting of 350 million year old sandstone ranges, cliffs and valleys. In the late afternoon light it was an unforgettable sight. Three short walks can be taken which provide different views of the area.

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Kimberleyland

Posted on August 12, 2013 by nilocrol

August 10^th, 2013

Off quite early, and get to Timber Creek by 9:30am after an hour’s driving. Fill up with petrol and have a bit of a break on a lovely morning in a very pretty spot.

Now I head towards the West Australian border, where we are not allowed to bring in fresh fruit, vegetables, not even honey. And they come in and check all cupboards in the van! My fridge is just about empty, so when I reach my goal today, Kunumulla, I will be looking for the first supermarket to stock up, as will a few hundred others!

Checked in to the Kimberleyland Caravan Park (I am now in Kimberley country, the north western part of West Australia) which is beautifully situated on Lily Creek Lagoon.

I took it easy for the rest of the day as I was setting up in 34C temperatures (about 94 degrees F) and was dripping with sweat throughout the set-up.

It is hot here!

Tonight we have an indigenous singer entertaining us; everybody brings along chairs or rugs plus bug spray and settles down for an evening of entertainment. It was a truly pleasant evening.

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Victoria River Roadhouse

Posted on August 12, 2013 by nilocrol

August 9^th, 2013

I depart Katherine Gorge, travelling through Katherine again, and head south towards the Western Australian border, although I won’t make it today. I stopped at a lovely place – the campground at Victoria River Roadhouse

which is situated in Gregory National Park and sits on the Victoria River which down river becomes the largest river in the Northern Territory. It doesn’t look so big here, but apparently its really something to see when it floods. They have recently replaced a very serviceable bridge with a monster that will not be out put out of action several times each wet season! I took a walk at sunset along the old bridge – it was only a 5 minute walk from the campground to get to it. I was just a little too late to catch the full effect of the sunset on the red rock cliffs of Gregory N.P. Nevertheless it was a beautiful sight looking both ways along the river.

I write this outside in the fading light; it is so quiet and peaceful with no wind, no bugs, and a perfect evening temperature.

My 100th post. Happy century to me…!

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Nitmiluk Gorge…or…Katherine Gorge

Posted on August 12, 2013 by nilocrol

August 8^th, 2013

Time for another boat cruise!

Katherine Gorge, again with a breakfast included. This time our breakfast was served on the boat immediately upon departure. Another hot breakfast with OJ, coffee/tea.

Now the sun has risen but every time we turn a bend it is showing differently; it seems to have risen several times already!

The gorge should be called Katherine GorgeS, as there  are 13 interlinked gorges stretching for kilometers. We did the first two with a 600 metre walk to get to change boats. This was great as we passed by some beautiful aboriginal rock art  that was so high up we wondered how they had got up there produce such intricate art. The walk was also a chance to take people shots rather than scenery photographs!

The early morning sun shining on the towering golden red cliffs surrounding the gorge was a stunning sight, but in most cases the cliffs were so huge that a mere camera was not able to do them justice. But you try. A helicopter ride over the gorge would be just the thing, but no good for the wallet!

We finished at 9:30am, just when the kayakers were departing in their rented kayaks. I was tempted, but I had seen the gorge at its very best, and the kayaks have to be back by 4:30pm so a sunset view of the gorge would not have been possible.

I worked on my blog until I ran out of  the free wi-fi space provided by the campground, so I tried hooking my iPhone up to the computer and voila! I can now access WordPress again on my computer! Whoopee!

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Nitmiluk National Park

Posted on August 12, 2013 by nilocrol

August 7^th, 2013

I  now drove south through Kakadu Park to the adjoining Nitmiluk National Park which has as its main attraction Katherine Gorge. I will be staying at a caravan park right at the gorge. Like Kakadu, Nitmiluk is jointly run by the indigenous people of the area and the Federal Government. There is a large campground catering to all types of caravans, motorhomes, camper trailers and tents.

There are many Europeans visiting this part of Australia, most driving motorhomes or cars and thus staying in cabins and lodges. Most seem to be German or French. Younger backpackers were not as prevalent up in these parts.

I checked in at the impressive Nitmiluk Visitor Centre which handles campground bookings, gorge tours, and hiking trails ranging from 2 hours to 5 days. There is also a restaurant/giftwares section as well. I paid for my site and was told to grab any of the powered spots. Well I had no choice – there was only one spot left! It was OK, but the whole powered section was poorly designed: the sun sets in the west as we know, while the sites are positioned north/south. This results in the hot afternoon sun coming in under our awnings around mid/late afternoon. But enough complaining!

Some random comments:

• In the N.T. the authorities carry out controlled burning throughout the State as a preventive measure. This reduces the ‘fuel’ level available if a does start e.g. lightning, cigarettes etc. Thus if a bushfire does break out it won’t be nearly as dangerous. It is supposedly based on the indigenous system of burning  bushland with the goal of regenerating lush grassland which will then attract a variety of animals.
• All boat towing drivers are hoons (idiots) on the highway, without exception. Why is this?
• Darwin has midges – tiny biting insects that I thought were only associated with beaches and mangroves. Wrong. I was hit at the caravan park which is a long way inland. The bites are itchy as hell and last for 4-5 days.
• Today is the 32^nd day without rain during my travels, and almost every one of those days has been cloudless.
• Little Corellas are the noisiest, screechiest of all the cockatoo family. When they get together in a flock in the late afternoon you cannot hear yourself think.

Little Corella, Big Voice

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Mirrai, Nawurlandja and Anbangbang

Posted on August 12, 2013 by nilocrol

August 6^th, Part 2

Following the cruise we had a buffet style breakfast, the usual hot dishes as well as orange juice, fresh fruit, toast, all types of cereals, coffee/tea and more. It was magnificent.

After a little break to recover, my task was to drive back north on the road to Jabiru which I had done yesterday. First on the list was Mirrai Lookout – a tough climb of a little more than 1 km. I did it as fast as possible and to be breathing heavily after so long felt great after having had precious little exercise lately. The view was extensive – 360 degrees looking over the wetlands with commentary at each point of the compass. Unfortunately the impressive escarpments were too far away to really be appreciated with the naked eye, or with my iPhone camera. Back down again, and off now to two tent camping facilities on beautiful billabongs…read crocodile swimming holes!

Rainbow Bee-eater

Next was a short drive to another lookout, Nawurlandja, a more gentle climb but now right at one of the escarpments I had seen earlier from a distance. The view was beautiful, looking towards where I was to go next, to view ancient aboriginal rock art.

This is at the Anbangbang shelter galleries, a long and reasonably tough walk up to the high parts of the escarpment. It is a magnificent area, high above the wetlands with lots of protective overhanging rock. Aborigines over many thousands of years would have enjoyed the cooler breezes in summer, and protection from the elements. So no wonder there were many examples of their rock art in this area. I went on to the Gun-warddehwarde Lookout  which provided views of the wetlands again, as well as views back to the rock shelters and surrounding bluffs.

The rock art was extensive, varied, and awe-inspiring.

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Kakadu Cruise

Posted on August 8, 2013 by nilocrol

August 5^th, 2013

I drove east today, Darwin to Kakadu National Park, which covers about 20,000 square kilometers, the largest N.P. in the Northern Territory. Kakadu is managed jointly by the Bininj/Mungguy people and Parks Australia, and charge $25 per adult for a Park pass.

I’m staying at the caravan park Gagudju Camping Cooinda which is central to some of the activities that interested me in this park. It has excellent facilities and a lovely big pool with lots of grass, chairs and sunshades.

August 6^th, 2013

I chose to take one of several cruise offerings on the extensive wetlands area, called Yellow Waters. My choice was the sunrise cruise – Gugabelwi. It takes two hours and is followed by a magnificent self serve breakfast at the lodge. The cruise set out at 6:45; it was so popular that they needed to put on two boats, both holding approximately 40 people. We never saw the other boat apart from at the beginning and end of the cruise.

As the sun was just about to break the horizon, with the mist over the water, our guide, Nathaniel, started to play the didgeridoo at the back of the boat as we slowly drifted. I have never heard a ‘didge’ played better. The variety of sounds he could produce out of a hollow wooden tube was astounding, and the sunrise took second place for a few minutes as we listened to him, goosebumps being produced by the millions! It is one of those special moments that I will never forget.

Nathaniel and didgeridoo

Then it was back to cruising after a prolonged ovation. Nahaniel is a birding enthusiast and took great pleasure in pointing out birds and describing their special characteristics. I wrote down 18 birds that he pointed out, but there were more. He always positioned the boat for maximum photo opportunities by quietly drifting close to the banks.

We also came across some lazy crocs catching the first rays on the riverbank, some pretty big ones too. They are not very active on cold mornings such as this.

The cruise provided so many magical moments; may the photos I chose do justice to the occasion.

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Transmissions to Military Museums

Posted on August 8, 2013 by nilocrol

August 2^nd, 2013

I dropped my car off this morning for an automatic transmission service. I must admit I’m a bit paranoid, with the transmission under stress from towing. I left it with Mick Taylor, about 12 minutes drive from the campground. It so happens that he knows Ron Hill, the owner of the transmission place on the Sunshine Coast where I had the transmission cooler installed. Those auto transmission guys really get around! Mick drove me back to the campground where I took the opportunity to do some washing, and try to catch up on my blogging. I took the bus back to pick up the car (costs seniors $1) and picked up some beer and wine on the way back. I highly recommend an auto transmission service; not cheap but does the car ever run well afterwards!

August 3^rd, 2013

Went grocery shopping and then bought my underwater camera – Canon 20D. It’s waterproof to 10 metres and shockproof to 1.5 metres – I don’t intend to push it to its limits! Now I need a place without crocodiles to try it out!

New toy.

Some crocodile trivia: there are two types, fresh water crocs (freshies) and salt water crocs (yes, salties!). Salties have large broad snouts (see my pics August 1^st), and can live in saltwater or fresh water. They have big strong teeth for grabbing and ripping. They can take down water buffalo, horses and cattle, usually when they are drinking at the croc hotel.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/18414590/crocs-attack-cattle-and-profits-of-top-end-station/

Freshies have a more dainty narrow snout with fine needle sharp teeth used for grabbing and not letting go. They will not attempt to grab anything larger than they can swallow whole so humans are not on their menu. When we swam at Wangi Falls somebody standing on the rocks near the falls (where I stubbed my toe) saw a freshie, about 4 feet long. They grow to about 5 feet. Salties continue to grow and have reached 20+ feet. Moral of the story – don’t mess with salties!

The afternoon involved a visit to the Military Museum which puts greatest emphasis on the important strategic role that Darwin played during WW2, which of course was the reason for it being bombed by the Japanese in February 1942. Fortunately after the bombing of Pearl Harbour all women not directly involved in the war effort (eg military nurses) and children and the elderly were evacuated, and all were out of Darwin by the time of the bombing, otherwise the death toll would have been extensive. The highlight was a 12 minute video of the bombing of Darwin and the lead-up to it. It was a movie and sound spectacular, and highly informative at the same time. The remainder of the museum was interesting but not as outstanding as the Darwin Museum. And you had to pay for the Military Museum! Again I was gently asked to leave as it was closing time; I mustn’t make a habit of this. Next museum will be a morning visitation.

A couple of points about Darwin to conclude. The city is in the middle of a major building boom with construction cranes to be seen everywhere. Property values are right up there with the excessively high costs in Sydney and Melbourne.

Second, the Stuart Highway begins in the south of Australia at Port Augusta and runs north through Alice Springs and on to Darwin. The Stuart Highway officially ends its 2834 kilometres at the Darwin Esplanard, just short of the cliffs overlooking Darwin Harbour.

The end of the Stuart…or the beginning?

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Wallaroo Tour to Litchfield N.P.

Posted on August 8, 2013 by nilocrol

August 1^st, 2013

What a great day to bring in the month of August. I had a good feeling and for once I was right! I had booked a full day tour of Litchfield National Park, south of Darwin…I think. Yeah, checked it out. Right again. It was with Wallaroo Tours and they come highly recommended, even from me. Joe was our tour guide and he must be good – later in the day he convinced me to eat a green tree ant. Tastes like lime, very refreshing. He said he took the head off but it’s the tail end that does the stinging isn’t it? But no stung tongue so all was good.

I got off to a bad start because I had telephone booked and the operator said to be there between 7:30 and 7:40am. I got a telephone call at 7:20 to say they were waiting for me at the front of the caravan park. I was almost ready so I ran down to the bus (a small one holding 16 people) and everybody in unison shouted my welcome: “Good afternoon Colin!”  Bloody Joe.

Our first stop was on the way to Kakadu Park, the opposite direction to Litchfield. We drove down a winding road to the Adelaide River where Pat was waiting for us in a BIG aluminium boat.

Captain Pat

We were going to see if we could find any crocodiles. Pat said as it was early morning they wouldn’t be too active, if we could find any at all. I will let the pictures below do the talking.

After that experience we headed south to Litchfield N.P. where we were able to stop off at two places for a swim. First was Wangi Falls which was beautiful for swimming. I only wish I had a waterproof camera…which I did buy two days later!!! I stubbed my toe on the rocks next to the waterfall which hurt like hell, but it was nice to sit out in the sun (about 32 degrees today) for a little before swimming again.

After lunch we went to Buley Rock Hole where Joe took a bunch of volunteers on his ‘adventure swim’ down a narrow fast flowing stream, sliding over rocks and logs at times. It was great fun, especially when he scared a few swimmers witless when he brought out a fake crocodile head, yelling ‘WATCH OUT’!! So funny! We then walked bare feet (ouch!) back up to the rock pools and swam around while Joe took pictures of everybody, one by one, jumping in.

Photographer Joe

And I lived….

Driving back now, we stopped at a giant termitarium (you know what that is now) and took the obligatory picture.

On arriving back to Darwin Joe dropped us off on the foreshore…with prawns and champagne! What a finish to the day, sunset and all!

Big boxa prawns!

Finally most of us went to the Thursday evening Mindil Beach Market, an institution in Darwin. It takes up a huge area, and has all the things you would expect – all types of food from all around the world, clothes, health treatments, artists at work selling their wares, good coffee, ice cream. You name it. And a fantastic atmosphere as well with thousands of revellers, all in a great festive mood.

Ooooh, there’s one!

Look, he’s coming out…into the water

Closer….

Ah, you’re a little too close mate!

Holy………!!

Yeah, pat cheated…he used chicken bait!

Smaller female

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Darwin In a Day

Posted on August 7, 2013 by nilocrol

July 31, 2013 Interesting, my posting problems are not the fault of WordPress, although I say this reservedly. I am currently on a free wi-fi system at Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) campground and I can access WordPress no problem, albeit slowly. So the problem is with using my iPhone as a hot spot, or tether, for my computer, yet I have made no changes to my iPhone prior to the problem arising. So still a mystery. Now, back to the story. Today I did a Parliament House tour (free admittance) which my guide yesterday, Pearl, highly recommended. I’m glad she did; there were so many people for the tour that they had to split us up into two groups and I’m so glad we had our particular guide as she was extremely knowledgeable and entertaining as well. The building inside is beautiful with white marble, light brown timber from Tasmania, and green touches.

Impressive foyer – Parliament House

25 MP’s…a mini parliament!

The building  is able to withstand major cyclones because of the outside pattern acting to deflect the wind, and all glass panes being smaller than usual with heavy steel reinforced panes.

Built tough

The Northern Territory’s Parliament consists of 25 members with only no upper house. The Northern Territory achieved self government as recently as 1978. From 1863 to 1911 it was under South Australian administration, then it became a Federal responsibility. Darwin, the capitol of the N.T. has undergone two significant events which have shaped the city into what it is today. First, the Japanese bombing of Darwin in February 1942, only 2 ½ months after the Pearl Harbour attack. There were two raids on February 19^th ,  killing 243 people, then a further 95 raids on Darwin as well as parts of north western Australia and as far south as Townsville on the east coast. Clues to Darwin’s military history abound, and it is a topic that all Northern Territory school children study as part of the curriculum. Second, Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve 1974, one of the biggest cyclones to hit land ever recorded. It came almost without warning and decimated 75% of Darwin’s buildings, putting countless thousands homeless and jobless. A mass evacuation of the city occurred as a result. A Cyclone Tracy permanent exhibit can be seen and experienced at the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, free admittance. The Darwin Military Museum & Defence of Darwin Experience (there’s a mouthful) provides visitors with a multimedia experience of Darwin’s role in WW2. I then walked to the Darwin Waterfront which features a wave pool, and a protected seaside beach close by. A lifeguard who I was speaking to at the beach said that dangerous jellyfish and crocs are filtered out for everybody’s enjoyment! From there I drove to the Museum – no cameras allowed. I was ushered out at closing time; I could have spent another hour there! So with time on my hands I drove to East Point, a magnificent huge parkland only minutes drive from the city. It is a mecca for runners and cyclists during the cooler late afternoon/early evening period. I took some pretty good sunset photographs…uh oh…I found out when I later tried to transfer the pics to my computer that I had forgotten to install the memory card into my camera after last transferring pics onto the computer. I had spare memory cards in the car but at that time I didn’t realize that I had a problem…just snapping away! So no more silly mistakes like that ever again. Maybe.

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In Darwin

Posted on August 5, 2013 by nilocrol

July 30th, 2013

Signed up for a walking tour of Darwin first thing this morning. Huge crowd…just me and the tour guide, Pearl. She was so enthusiastic and knowledgeable, with a passion for the history of Darwin as well.
She also used to do Parliament House Tours, and convinced me that I should take this tour.
We did the parkland area which is on an escarpment overlooking Darwin Harbour (which is huge). Then on to Parliament House and the adjacent High Court, the old town hall that was decimated by Cyclone Tracy, Christ Church Cathedral – also severely damaged by Tracy, and finished up on the trendy Smith St Mall. I was so interested in Pearl’s stories that I only took two photos, so I had to retrace our steps after the tour to get my photo shots. I then went to my bank, and had a late lunch and beer at a nice pub.
Back to the campground for a nap, as I had put in a lot ok kilometres this morning.
Back to the city, this time to catch Darwin’s outdoor movie theatre. It typically shows art house movies mixed with a few Hollywood offerings. While waiting around outside a typically beautiful Darwin sunset started. My iPhone didn’t do a bad job. They provide a citronella based bug spray for midges and mozzies, so the entire area was one big citronella screen against the baddies. It worked!
It was weird though to be eating curry (yes food and alcohol sold there!) with a hand smelling heavily of citronella.
Forget the name of the movie…it had ‘Rust’ in the title. French, subtitles. OK.

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Sorry Everybody

Posted on August 5, 2013 by nilocrol

August 4th, 2010

I’m jumping ahead to Sunday August 4th for good reason. I have been unable to access my WordPress admin site which is where I post my blogs with photos. I spent all day today trying to solve the problem, and posted my problem on their forum. No responses yet. WordPress have so many subscribers that they now only provide help assistance to those who have paid to upgrade, eg to be able to post videos. That is pretty annoying because I have made no changes to my computer so the problem has to be at their end. I am able to post this because I discovered I could use the WordPress iPhone app, but it is way clumsier and slower. I’m not sure how to post photos yet but I know that’s going to be clumsy as well. I have big time catchup to do so bear with me. I will begin from where I left off last, and I will have to be briefer and post less photos than usual. Please bear with me.
BTW I’m no in Kakadu National Park, north west WRONG!! TRY DUE EAST of Darwin. Eventually you will hear about it!

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Now, Finally, Darwin.

Posted on August 3, 2013 by nilocrol

July 29^th, 2013

It was very dusty while packing up so I took a shower when the hook-up was completed, and I’m on my way at 9:00am on a beautiful, still, sunny morning. This is what all mornings should be like.

The drive is somehow surprising to me as I am driving through unexpected heavily rolling hills, with lots of small to medium size trees. In fact there are very few extended flat sections all the way from Katherine. I have the air con on for almost the entire trip as its getting warmer by the hour. My car gets very hot in the cabin – because of its aerodynamic shape the sun is almost always shining down through the windshield, onto the dash and onto me as well.

Saw another great decorated ant hill – a guitarist playing a rubbish bin lid guitar; the rest of the outfit rocked as well!

I arrived at the Riverside Caravan Park around 2:45pm it is situated about 10 minutes drive from Darwin centre. A fair camp ground but I am on the main road which is rough gravel and I am almost at the screaming stage with continual 4x4s scrunching and munching and smunching over the gravel. I think I would rather be close to a highway than to this annoying, almost continuous sound. At least I have a somewhat grassy site and a hedge for privacy from people walking past. In general, the dirtier and dustier the 4×4 the faster they drive through the stated 5kph campground. With exceptions of course. My neighbours seem to be there for quite a while as the husband/partner works in Darwin. I know this not because they are friendly and want to share their life with me, which they are not and thus do not, but because over a multitude of beers with his working mates after work they get louder and louder voicing their dissatisfaction with their jobs. Then quit, I feel like shouting!

I took it easy after setting up, sitting outside with a beer, and starting to catch up on my blogs. So nice to be in Darwin and looking forward to my week’s stay.

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Not Getting Out Of This Car…

Posted on August 3, 2013 by nilocrol

July 28^th, 2013

Time to take it easy. I slept in, had breakfast with a very nice coffee made by moi, then read outside for a bit. A quick lunch, then I headed in to town, only 8 minutes away, to pick up some groceries, then on to the Information Centre for some pre planning info on Darwin and Kakadu National Park.

After Darwin and Kakadu I will return to Katherine to pick up the Katherine Gorge which is supposed to be spectacular. I might actually book a boat tour of the Gorge when I’m in Darwin. I will see about that later.

As I write this I am glancing across the road where a Chinese husband, wife, and father of one of them arrived at their site with absolutely brand new everything – 4×4, caravan, etc etc. It has to be early on in their camping “career” – the older dad is directing the husband help back in to a pretty tight spot. The directions are not helping at all (just random arm swinging, like he was exercising) so the driver is doing what I have to do – get out of the car often to see the line and distance better. The wife meanwhile is sitting in the back seat with their little chickapoozlebub dog, and having nothing to do with the infernal practice of backing in to a site! Eventually they were able to unhook, and still she sat in the car. She wasn’t getting out until everything had been set up for her! It was quite an amusing little scene, and others were also being entertained by the chain of events. I wonder why they are camping rather than staying at hotels? Maybe they are renting everything in order to give camping a shot? I hope so. All of this is not a criticism mind you, just an observation and if they persist in caravanning in the future, all power to them!

Back down to the hot springs for an extended soak and then dinner: a lamb wrap with sundried tomato, olives, feta and mushrooms. Life is tough!

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Not a Good Start Today

Posted on August 3, 2013 by nilocrol

July 27, 2013

The day did not start off too well.

I didn’t need to do much work as I was already hitched up; I drove out of the campground and filled up with petrol before heading 333km north to Katherine. I couldn’t find my credit card anywhere. I searched all through my wallet, no luck, so I paid with cash and went back to search every nook and cranny in the car. Nothing. The last time I had used it was back in Elliott where I had intended staying the previous night. I was able to get the telephone number of the petrol station/post office from the petrol station manager, and he lent me his office phone as we were out of range for mobile phones. Sure enough, I had been stupid enough not to remember to ask for it, and the woman who took my card was in the wrong not to have returned it to me.

Now the speed limit on most Northern Territory roads is 130kph; it would be madness to tow my van all the way back to Elliott and back, 200km in total, so I unhitched the van and left it in the very big area to the side of the petrol station. Now I was able to sit on 125kph all the way there and back. As an aside, my petrol mileage for that trip without the van – just under 7litres/100km. Not too bad! By the time I had hooked up the van again I was able to leave for Katherine, finally, at 10:30am. I sure know that piece of road well!

I passed through Mataranka, not a big town but boasts some hot springs, and it is the home of the Big Termite Mound! There are apparently over 200 different kinds of termites world wide, and the Northern Territory boasts around 90 different sub-species alone. No wonder I have seen so many different kinds of termite mounds, called, I kid you not, termitariums!

“Cathedral” termite mound

On the trip this morning I saw about fifty decorated termite mounds. The best mounds for dress-up have a large gently sloping base, or body, with a perfectly round ‘head’ on top. Some of the better ones were: an infant’s dress and sun hat on a little baby mound, another with baseball cap, sunglasses and a ‘muscle top’ with the sleeves cut off. Another effective one had just sunglasses on the head part. I was laughing my head off so often. Who is doing this? Unfortunately I could never stop to photograph them as the highway slopes off too steeply to be able to stop safely. I arrived at the Riverview Caravan Park in Katherine (a lovely name for a town I think) at around 3:00pm, set up, and walked the 200m down to the Katherine Hot Springs. They bubble out into a small pool,

Source of the Katherine Hot Springs.

then directly into a larger pool,

Boy on rope

which connects to a narrow fast moving stream

The creek running away from the source

down to where most of the public bathe,

Boy on rope

and then it finally runs into the Katherine River, but I did not get to see this spot. You don’t swim in the Katherine because of crocs.

Katherine River

I’m not sure why they don’t come up the hot springs stream; maybe there’s a sign saying “No Entry”. Anyway today it was the young backpackers who were congregating downstream, drinking and smoking and talking in funny languages, so they would be taken first anyway.

The water is 32 degrees, and is extremely clear and fast flowing. I had trouble in the narrower parts swim/walking upstream towards the source, but it was so easy swimming back downstream.

The temperature today got to 33 degrees which I will be experiencing for a couple of weeks more, at least. It is not very humid as winter is the dry season in the tropics. I got to ditch the doona/duvet tonight  – 15 degrees is good for a blanket only.

Two future destinations; sign on Katherine’s main street.

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No Better Lamb Than At Dunmarra

Posted on July 28, 2013 by nilocrol

July 26, 2013

Moving day again! A little cool again this morning so I put the heater on to take the morning chill out of the air.

I left about 8:45, bound for Elliott which is 250km north of Tennant Creek. The wind has eased a fair bit this morning, still an easterly so coming in from my right this time.

The drive was by some magnificent views as I crested some high hills but apart from these highlights, not much was happening on this beautiful cloudless day. Unfortunately though, there has been a severe drought from central Queensland all the way through to here, north central Northern Territory. Hay bales are being trucked all over the place to keep the cattle industry going up here.

A couple of things did occur to relieve the “sameness” of the drive. First, I have come across 6 or 7 anthills dressed up. Yes! Dressed up in T-shirts, singlets, and the best one yet, a long skirt and top with a beanie to finish the picture!

Also, in the middle of nowhere I come across an overpass – a side road running beneath the highway. About 200m further on I see why – a manganese mine is operating in the area and their trucks must use this cross road to such an extent that an underpass was created for safety reasons.

I reached Elliott about 12:30, only to find that the caravan park is no longer operating. Oh well, on to Daly Waters, another 150km. On the way I slowed down just short of Daly Waters to drive through Dunmarra. I noticed grassed(!) camp sites at the little caravan park so I stopped to check it out. Very nice, so I went into the petrol station/general store/pub to pay: $7 for an unpowered site! I have lots of sun for the solar panels, so I dug deep and gave the man my $7. I pulled up onto a lovely grassy spot, set up, had a shower, cracked open a beer and did a little reading. No phone/internet connection and no radio reception here!

I went to the pub to restock my dwindling beer supplies and couldn’t believe my eyes – there on a rotating spit powered by a 12 volt car battery was a rather large lamb.

I checked inside, $16 the meal, DONE! It was by far the tastiest, most tender lamb I have ever had. Yum! With baked potato and lots of different salads to go with it. I had a glass of wine with it and spoke to a number of people at our bench table about their travels, so picked up a few ideas for down the track.

My plans for the next couple of days – Katherine 300km, then on to Darwin, a further 330km. Really looking forward to experiencing Darwin and surrounds, so I hope to be able to spend about a week there. Everyone says it is so busy so hoping that I will be able to get a camp ground reasonably close to the city.

Road train at Dunmarra

Without trucks Australia stops. I believe it!

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Not Pebbles….Boulders!

Posted on July 28, 2013 by nilocrol

July 25, 2013

Up at 7:30 this morning – a bit of a sleep in. Got into the laundry early to do my washing, had breakfast, planned my day, then went to the visitor information centre for the mine tour.

Unfortunately there was no underground experience which to me indicates false advertising, but so be it.  Instead we travelled from site to site to follow how the ore ( once it has been dug out of the hill) is treated in order to remove the gold.

The gold in this area is found in Ironstone, which is very rare; it lies in the stone in dust sized particles, and it is about a 16 stage process to extract approx 95% of the gold from the ironstone.

In the 30’s and beyond, the miners were often lying down in small tunnels in the hill, using hammer and chisel to make holes for blasting; this was no easy feat with the extremely hard ironstone. We were then shown how the ironstone is brought down from football sized rocks to almost dust in order to then extract the gold.

We were shown at the actual processing sites how all 16 processes take place,

but there were no actual demonstrations of any of these processes, which was also a pity. Nevertheless it was a learning experience, but not nearly as good as the Mt Isa underground experience.

Bill the miner

Huge battery of rock crushers

If rocks don’t go through this initial grate, miner uses sledge hammer!

I then picked up my washing from the line, had lunch, shopped for some much needed groceries, then with the late afternoon sun I drove 14km north, the 4km west along a dirt road

to get to The Pebbles, a series of rock formations which have special significance to the aboriginal community – it is an aboriginal women’s sacred place, and as such we are expected to stick to the path which winds around one of the many outcrops of rock.

The brochure that I had read stated that there was to be absolutely no overnight camping at the site. Hah! When I arrived there were about 15 caravans and motorhomes all set up, obviously for more than even one evening.

The walk was short but beautiful in the late afternoon sun.

I drove back around 5:00pm, had dinner – a big salad, and bed.

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On the Stuart Highway to Tennant Creek

Posted on July 25, 2013 by nilocrol

July 24, 2013

Another cool night last night which I don’t mind at all. What I do mind is the wind – it has been relentless, strong and annoying, especially when stopping at highway rest stops and being flailed by dust. Again, the only saving grace is that it has been behind me constantly. Counter clockwise direction has worked so far!

It was a gentle downhill for a long stretch, which means that Barkly Homestead was at altitude, looking down on most of N.T.? Thus the windy wind all night.

OK, here it comes. I passed a caravan, then…a backpackers combivan. YES!! I think the last time I did any passing was about 8000 kilometres ago!! Oh the ego inflates like you wouldn’t believe!

I come to the Three Ways, the end of the Barkly Highway and the beginning of the Stuart Highway, turned left and found Tennant Creek after about 30km.

John McDouall Stuart was one of Australia’s greatest explorers who on his sixth expedition  in 1861 made it from Adelaide all the way north to a point just east of Darwin on the Timor Sea. It was an amazing feat, going through the equivalent of Death Valley in the USA…times 10. He carved his initials on a tree to prove that he had made it, and it wasn’t until the early 1900’s that the tree was again found. This vindicated his name after many decades of detractors saying that he had fudged his feat. Booo!

Tennant Creek is a town of around 3000 people. I checked into the Outback Caravan Park at around noon, set up the caravan for the two days I will be here, then did the tourist thing, I went to the visitor information centre and picked up a lot of information about the route to Darwin, and enquired about the gold mine tour, which is on at 10:30am each day, so I booked for tomorrow. I then went up to the nearby lookout which has a pointer indicating what direction the various gold mines are situated and how far away they are.

I then went to the Tennant Creek Telegraph Station which was one of 11 telegraph stations built between Adelaide and Darwin in the 1870’s which enabled telegraph communications with England via underwater cable.

Cellar for storing food

On then to Lake Mary Ann, built in 1981 with an earthen dam and concrete spillway. These days of severe drought forego the need of the spillway!

On the way in to the lake I noticed an old gold mine tunnel at the top of a nearby hill.

The area around Tennant Creek experienced a gold rush during the depression years of the 1930’s.  The gold was found in ironstone rock rather than the usual quartz, and the rock needed to be pulverized in order to extract the gold.

Finally back to the camp ground for a beer and then start to prepare dinner. Filet steak, mushrooms, onions and peas. With red wine of course.

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Northern Territory, Show me Your Best!

Posted on July 23, 2013 by nilocrol

July 23, 2013

Cold last night, so on with the doona. I forgot to set my alarm and had a lovely uninterrupted sleep until 7:30. Now that’s sleeping in!

Woke up to a cloudless sky which was why it was cold. It’s windy already so it will be a windy one today with a max of 22 degrees so I pick up a coffee at the roadhouse before leaving. Not bad either.

Well, today I enter another stage, crossing the border into the Northern Territory. This is the only State that I have not been to previously, so a first for me! Almost immediately the low scrubby, small tree country turned into flat grassland, seeming to go on forever. I see no roos or any other animals, no roadkill, no eagles or crows. This is like Mad Max country!

And lots of rules too!

The road started off in excellent condition, then I came across about 10-15km of roadworks, so we were slowed down for quitea while. But it was good to see the effort being done…for next year’s travellers and road trains.

Absolutely no mobile phone reception and I feelI may not have any at my destination, the Barkly Homestead Roadhouse, about a 250km drive today.

Throughout the north of Australia ant hills have been a constant feature, varying in shape and colour, but never very imposing. All of a sudden I see a few beauties; I’m sure if you could hollow them out and use a bit of ant-rid you could live in these.

Speaking of ants I should mention a couple of experiences I have had. When in Cairns with Russ, and then in  Mt Surprise I had I believe, swarms of weaver ants getting at the water near the tap where my water hose attaches, then using my water hose as a highway as well. It was tough getting them off before disconnecting the hose from the tap then getting them off in order to roll up the hose. No stings though, and they didn’t seem to be interested in getting into the van.

Then, in Normanton, again I had ants using my water hose as a highway. This time they were those little red buggers, all 1mm of them, and they were looking for a free ride to the west coast. They seriously wanted entry to my van. I put some vaseline around the water hose where it hooks up to the van but it was locking the stable door after the horse bolted. They are amazing animals…no, insects, that can sniff out the smallest tiniest piece of food. I had a quarter packet of peanuts that I couldn’t fit into my ant proof jar which was “sealed” by rolling it up several times then holding it closed with a bulldog clip. No problem for these ants, there were hundreds of them inside the bag, and lots more in a trail from/to I know not where. Fortunately, I discovered later, this was probably a good thing, as by getting rid of all of these peanut lovers I had removed a large portion of these ants from the van. Then for the next week or so I would find them, usually on or around the kitchen bench. Death ensued, until a few days ago I saw a few of them near my stored electric kettle. I got rid of them, then looked closely at the kettle. There was a nest of about 30 up under the hinge of the lid. I couldn’t reach them with my finger so I tried pouring water over them. It budged a couple but they were hanging on for dear life. I finished up having to get a twist tie and bending it to reach around and disturb them. Finally they made a run for it.

Sorry guys but executions are legal in this van.

So now I only have the odd coconut scented ant that I picked up at Mum’s place back in February, They had actually started a nest before I realised the situation, so lots of ant-rid later I have just about done them in. Needless to say I am a little paranoid about ants in my van.

Arriving at Barkly Homestead Roadhouse after a very long, gradual uphill drive I was pleased to see that I had quite a strong phone reception. I filled up with petrol (it had to happen, $2.02 for each and every litre) and paid for my camp site. It was blowing a gale at this stage and dust flying everywhere so every newcomer is parking in the lee of another van, preferably a large one! I followed suit, but it was still uncomfortable, at least until about 6:30pm…no, 6:00pm; N.T. is 30 minutes behind Eastern Australia time, when it died down to a comfortable level. At least the sites are drive through so again I don’t have to unhook.

Haha! A nice quote particularly relevant to bloggers by someone called Elmore Leonard, “I try to leave out the parts that people skip”. Hopefully I do that some of the time!

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Onset of Sunset in Camooweal

Posted on July 22, 2013 by nilocrol

July 22, 2013

I have changed the layout of my blog to make it easier to find previous posts. Now you can readily scroll down to see previous posts. I also added a greenish background colour; if it is too disconcerting let me know. I can easily change the colour or go back to white again, or pink, or blue. No responses, no change!

I was not in a great hurry to leave Mount Isa as I only have 200km to travel to Camooweal, which is very close to the Northern Territory border.

The road is one of the better highways I have encountered in outback Australia. This route from Mt Isa through Camooweal and on to the Northern Territory was the inland defence route for World War II. The road was built by army engineers and carried over 1000 vehicles a day during the war. The road has recently been very much improved and it was a pleasure to drive. Between Mount Isa and Camooweal we enter the Lake Eyre Basin, where rivers instead of heading north to the Gulf, now head south to Lake Eyre which is in the north west part of South Australia.

This morning was a cool one – heavily overcast with a steady wind. This is the first overcast day since leaving Russ and travelling through the highest town in Queensland – Ravenshoe. I even had my car heater turned on (just a smidgeon) for the first time since…probably Ravenshoe!

Travelling was very comfortable with a strengthening following wind the entire journey.

A note about greetings on the highway:

Caravanners always wave to other caravanners when passing on a highway. Unwashed dust-red 4x4s, usually towing extreme dust-red camper trailers never wave to caravanners; they have been “off road “ and are too cool for such mundane stuff as taking a hand off the steering wheel. Motorhome owners almost always wave to caravanners, but rental drivers of motorhomes never wave to caravans. How do you tell the difference? Rental motorhomes have the rental company’s name in large letters on the front of the motorhome.  Farmers driving their Toyota utes usually wave to caravanners, and probably everyone else; I think they are very nice people! Now to road train drivers – I would have assumed that as kings of the road they would NEVER wave to anybody. It is usually difficult to tell with Macs and Kenworths because the driver sits so far back, but today I received a wave from not one but two road train drivers. Now that made me feel good.

I reached Camooweal at around 12:30pm, filled up with petrol (at $1.99/litre…aaaaagggghhhhhhh!!!) then checked in to the caravan park which I had booked before leaving Mount Isa. I was expecting something similar to the Burke & Wills Roadhouse, i.e. a bloody carpark. WRONG! Most of the sites are well grassed and a reasonable size.

The only downside is that I am closest of the sites to the huge road train carpark, and I have a feeling that bellowing cattle will either put me to sleep or keep me awake!

Ore carrying road train

But on the positive side there was an unbelievable sunset sky tonight and I was able to take just sky, and road train trucks in the setting sunlight. Magical. I will always remember Camooweal for its magnificent sunset, the best I have ever seen. Lots of pics below.

I had a pasta with a very nice red because it is a cool evening and I worked hard for these pics 🙂

Sunset:

Road trains in sunset:

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No mine cameras in Mount Isa

Posted on July 22, 2013 by nilocrol

July 21, 2013

Had my mine tour this morning. Unfortunately no pictures as we are not allowed to bring cameras into the mine. The mine sits beneath the vast site of the visitor centre, and was built(?) for tourists only, not for mining ore. This sounds a little chintzy, but not so. First the tour guides are retired miners from the Mount Isa mine. Second, we go 20 metres underground in a regular miners lift. Third, there are 1.3 kilometres of tunnels (4m high, 4m wide) mostly not lit so we have to use the lamps on our miners helmets. We also get an orange outfit to wear (we felt like prisoners), a waist belt to hold the battery for the helmet lamps, and rubber boots as well. The mine has been set up exactly as the Mt Isa mine would have looked 30 years ago, with working equipment, some of it big stuff. Much of this equipment was used to dig out the very tunnels we were walking. The total tour took 2.5 hours, and we got to use a ‘man’s’ drill to drill into the rock face, supported by Bill the guide of course! He operated some huge loud ore lifting equipment for us, and drove a monster of a “mucking” truck with a diesel engine towards us which was incredibly loud in those narrow confines. He showed us how charges are set and how checks are made to ensure that nobody is in the area where the explosion is about to take place. In Bill’s day miners mostly worked in pairs and it took an entire 8 hour shift to drill, set charges, and muck out the rubble of a 4m by 4m end wall. They were paid a wage plus bonus for work completed so consequently many short cuts were taken thus compromising safety. As a result many injuries and some deaths occurred. The worst death toll when Bill was working was seven in a year. Incredible for the 1960’s!

These days at the big Mount Isa mine one person drills from a  huge mobile drilling machine, a second person’s sole task is to set charges, and a third goes in and cleans out the mess. Of course there could be a large number of these groups of three operating at different mine faces.

Anyway, it was a great educational experience, and great fun at the same time. 10/10!

Bill took pictures at the opening to the lift, and stood with the single guys like me for our pictures. I just had to buy one at the end of the tour. I won’t show anybody though because they will think I have been a prisoner thanks to the orange duds!

After the mine tour most of us took an above ground tour of Mt Isa mining memorabilia. Following that I went to the Riversleigh exhibition for which I had paid an extra $5. Riversleigh, north of Mt Isa, is Australia’s most famous fossil site, situated on private property and lying adjacent to the spring-fed Gregory River, into which many of the prehistoric animals fell and were consequently preserved in soft freshwater limestone. Scientists have found fossils of mammals, massive birds, and reptiles from up to 25 million years old, and across a time span of 20 million years. The most surprising specimen in my mind is a meat eating kangaroo, and the huge possum and monster emu-type bird are also pretty impressive.

The entire exhibition is very well presented, and includes a diorama featuring life-size models of a large number of these animals set in their natural surroundings.

I then went back for a quick lunch then bought a few groceries, and filled up the petrol tank. Seems like I’m forever filling up the thirsty beast. At least it was relatively cheap for north Queensland – $1.55/litre.

As I sit outside typing this at 5:30pm the sweet smells of cooking waft past my nose. I’m going to enjoy dinner tonight!

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Now Some Catchup Time in “The Isa”.

Posted on July 21, 2013 by nilocrol

July 20th, 2013

Drove into the city, about 5 minutes away, bought a coffee, one of the best so far, then into the hairdressers for a haircut; only had to wait 10 minutes on a Saturday morning. Not bad.  Now grocery shopping – I stock up with whatever I can as prices will be high and availability virtually nil until I reach Darwin. Also bought a small cask of white wine which fits well into my Engel cooler. Then drop into the Telstra store to try to solve a problem I’m having in Mount Isa with my hotspot – connecting iPhone to computer in order to access the internet. It is just not happening.

Back for lunch to the campground, and up to the lookout to have a better look at the massive Xstrata mining operation with its two smoke stacks,

as well as various views of Mount Isa.

There has been concern by many residents of Mount Isa that lead level of their children is up to three times that of children in non mining towns. Also, studies have shown higher than normal lead levels in soil around the city. The mining company of course denies these results and produces other studies to refute the higher than normal lead levels. I noticed through my binoculars that all trucks leaving the mine go through a powerful wash beforehand, and I’m sure that the mine is following many similar practices to decrease lead levels in and around the city.

I spent the afternoon getting my blog postings organised and bought 24 hours of wifi from the camp ground office as my iPhone hotspot system is just not working here.

Dinner – a huge salad and bread. Perfect.

It’s going to get down to 9 degrees tonight so time for an extra blanket. Winter keeps reminding us that it does exist in Northern Queensland!

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Now west to Mount Isa

Posted on July 21, 2013 by nilocrol

July 19th, 2010

I was second out of the B&WRH campground, and on the road by 8:00am, heading for the mining town of Mount Isa.

Lots of wallabies grazing by the roadside, and I had to slow down for one which was in the middle of the road and ambled off even with my horn honking away. No wonder there are so many dead roos along the highways, especially this one. I would imagine the road trains take out the great majority of roos as they travel at night and early morning when the roos are out,and they are not going to stop for anything. Even dead cattle can be found on the side of the road every now and then.

The carcasses then attract wedge tailed eagles, black kites and crows. Interestingly the newly killed roos are not an attraction; the more decomposed and smelly ones are covered with all three types of bird. Sometimes they can be found pecking away at a black, half  eaten unrecognizable carcass. Yuck. One last thing on this topic, then I will leave it alone! At many parts of this highway the carcass has disappeared, but evidence of it having been there remains – the long lasting white droppings of these birds!

For so many daysI have been driving along basically flat country, with no real hills since Mount Surprise. All of a sudden, in the distance a large rocky outcrop, then a rocky hill,

then another until by Cloncurry the hills were constant. All were the same, heavily weathered reddish rocky ranges of hills, which I found were exactly the same as the hills at Mount Isa, site of the biggest mining operation in Australia, opened in 1924 and extracting copper, zinc, lead and silver. It has two major smoke stacks, the red and white copper smelter stack, and the recently built monster stack for the lead smelter.

But I’m ahead of myself. I stopped in Cloncurry for petrol, then walked around on quite a hot afternoon. I loved the Post Office Hotel, named I assume due to the Post Office being located across the road!

Now on to Mount Isa, 121 km to the west. The hills became almost continuous on this stretch. Also my favourite eucalypt, the Ghost Gum, abounded on this trip. There were much better examples than this one but one is limited where one may stop to take photographs on a highway such as this!

To drive in to Mount Isa for the first time, which I did at around 2:0pm, is to have one’s eyes drawn inexorably to the monster smoke stack, Australia’s biggest at 274m – the focal point of Mount Isa

I checked into the Sunset Top Tourist Park, another campground hit by the drought with dust instead of green grass at each camp site.

First things first, I dropped into the excellent Visitor Information Centre, and booked into a mine tour for Sunday morning.

Back at the campground, Russ’s bananas that he had sent with me had seemed to ripen in a day, so I offered some to the people next door, who have two young boys. They came over later to thank me (on behalf of their Mum of course) and to say that their Mum would make banana cake with the bananas, and they would bring some over when it was baked. Hmmm!

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No Frills at the Burke & Wills Roadhouse

Posted on July 21, 2013 by nilocrol

July 18th, 2013

Up at 6:15 today as I have a long drive back to Normanton and onwards from there. I had very little repacking to do so I was on my way at 8:00am.

I filled up the tank at Normanton and headed south along the Burke Developmental Road to the Burke and Wills Roadhouse on a beautiful sunny day. The roadhouse has that name  because it’s on the intersection of the Burke Highway and the Wills Highway. The wind built up as I drove, a northerly which was pushing me along again. Lucky me!

I arrived at the roadhouse at 11:45am,

grabbed lunch (a magnificent burger; there is something about Aussie burgers that beats anything out there) and checked out the campground. It was more a parking lot than a campground but no worries – $15 for an unpowered site suited me fine. I stayed hooked up and didn’t even bother putting the pop-top up. I set up one solar panel to power the cooler and lights later on, the set up my chair and read a book in the shade. Very comfy.

I had a great steak burger for dinner with a couple of beers at the outdoor bar.

Huge outdoor bar

Serving window for outdoor bar

I was unable to get any phone reception, therefore no wifi. First day of the 2nd cricket test against England but it wasn’t on TV in the bar, and I couldn’t get any radio reception. Isolation sucks!

The roadhouse is an obvious stop for truckers, and most were road train drivers so I got some closeup views of these monsters.

I did have some entertainment that evening as I got to talk to one of the drivers as he was munching on a monstrous burger. He must know the owners. Anyway, I got to ask him lots of questions and he was only too willing to talk to somebody! He owns his rig, including the three trailers; the cab has done 3 1/2 MILLION kilometres with some work on the diesel motor of course. He said it was about half way through its life if he looked after it! Registration is a mere $11,500 per year! he was carrying a monster load of hay bales to the worst hit areas of the north. I asked if he had to  search for work on the net. He laughed – said his phone never stops ringing; work comes to him. I had heard another cab starting up and there was an almighty loud screech with a big cloud of dust coming out from under the cab. I asked the driver what type of starter motor that was. He said they can start on compressed air, and he can obtain a burst of air from 4 of his tyres all at once! Amazing. He said it’s to save on batteries, or if your batteries are not up to par. When he left I counted 7 gears to get him to about 40kph! I should have asked him how many gears he has at his disposal. He did say though that he got one litre of diesel fuel to one kilometre. His range is close to 3000 kilometres so work that one out!

Early to bed as there was nothing worth watching on the TV in the bar.

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North to Karumba

Posted on July 21, 2013 by nilocrol

July 17th, 2013

As I only have one night booked in Karumba I get up early in order to get to Karumba as early as possible as I want to do as much as possible today as I leave tomorrow.

I see Karumba as the end of the first stage of my trip. Second is Karumba to Darwin through desert country; third is the west coast of Australia, and  stage 4 along the Nullabor to Victoria. I guess there might well be a 5th stage: up the east coast of Australia back to Mum’s on the Sunshine Coast.

The drive to Karumba went through scrubby country with groups of cattle (Brahman) gathering close to water holes or water tanks during this extensive drought. Then about halfway to Karumba I was surprised to see open grassy plains stretchingalmos all the way to Karumba. I was incorrectly expecting greener country as I got closer to the Gulf.

Karumba is the end of the road at this neck of the woods near the south eastern corner of the Gulf of Carpentaria. The town is divided into two parts, Karumba township on the Norman River, a couple of kilometres from the mouth, and Karumba Point, right at the mouth of the Norman. Karumba township is the headquarters of the fishing trawlers, mainly prawners – it is the prawning capital of Australia.

After setting up, helped by a friendly couple next door who were my eyes as I backed into a tight camp spot, I walked down to the boat ramp to set my eyes on the Gulf for the first time.

The ramp is wide enough for two cars side by side to drop off boats, and while I watched there was a constant stream of cars backing up. Fishing partners stood in the shallows to hold the boats while the car was being parked, so there seemed to be no fear of crocs. If I was a hungry croc I know where I would be hanging out!

I then walked along the “beach” which is very solid sandstone material, with shells comprising a large part of the mixture.

It was a hot day with little or no breeze, so I managed to finish up at the famous Karumba Point Tavern.

I had a beer then walked back along a different part of the beach to the campground.

I had lunch, then a quick nap to recover from the heat, then drove into Karumba township. All the prawn boats were in so I’m not sure when they do their fishing – probably related to the tides.

That evening I headed off to the Tavern again, this time for a locally caught barramundi for dinner. It was beautiful, especially as I was outside looking at the sun going down over  the absolutely calm water.

The State of Origin rugby deciding game was on TV tonight so I stayed to watch the game with 80% Queenslanders, 20% New South Welshmen in attendance. It was a great match with Queensland winning and retaining the trophy 2-1, for a record 8 years in a row.

Walked home on a beautiful evening and slept well.

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Normanton Day 3

Posted on July 21, 2013 by nilocrol

July 15 & 16, 2013

These two days  in Normanton have been fill-in days while I wait for a camp spot at Karumba to open on the 17th. They are SO busy there as it is the only the bitumen road to the Gulf, and a fisherman’s mecca.

So I filled in time by swimming in the magnificent pool several times, and taking more pictures around town, including the largest croc ever shot – Krys the Croc, on the main street.

I also did a thorough clean out of the van as it was starting to get dusty and gritty.

The last three campgrounds have been pretty dusty as they have lost their green grass due to the current 16 month drought, and dust predominates. Normanton campground has been the dustiest place so far.

Oh yes, I forgot, one for the kids courtesy of the Gulflander driver on Sunday when he pointed out a pelican:

“A pelican, whose beak can hold more

Than his belly can”.

Burns Philp Co and Visitor Centre

Burns Philp window

Shire of Carpentaria building, based on hotel design!

Purple Hotel

Albion Hotel

Normanton main street

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On the Gulflander

Posted on July 16, 2013 by nilocrol

July 14th, 2013

Sunday, so I can sleep in, can’t I?

But I do want to get some early morning photos of the original single lane bridge, which lies close to the new bridge, and has been set up as a fishing bridge, with cars banned from using it.

Lone fisherman

Didn’t see any crocs; they often can be seen from this bridge though.

Next, I decided to take a little journey on the famous Gulflander train, which I have already mentioned as I watched it leaving Croydon, bound for its ‘home’ in Normanton. Today is a short 90 minute trip out to “Critters Corner”, turn around, and return to Normanton. Only cost me $24 as a senior!

Just prior to departure

It was a very informative ride with the driver imparting little gems of information along the way.

We passed flood markers indicating the four highest flood levels along the track,

Believe it or not the top level is the height of the massive 1974 flood

and crossed the Norman River, although it didn’t seem to be flowing too vigorously at this point.

The Norman

The railway sleepers, or ties, are the original ones laid down in the late 1800’s. Due to the continual flooding of the area during the wet season the engineer who designed the track tried something totally new. The sleepers are made of hollow steel, filled with soil and laid down directly onto the ground, rather than on top of raised stone ballast. This results in floodwaters washing over the track without damaging it.

I had seen the extensive effects of floodwaters washing away ballast stones from under the rails during the 2011 Toowoomba floods; the repair was prolonged and extremely costly. The result though, is a real rocking and rolling train ride as the sleepers follow the contours of the ground. We crossed the Norman River but at this point there wasn’t too much water.

The Norman

We also passed by several permanent large water holes, and saw a huge black-necked stork (often incorrectly called a jabiru) taking off. I have never seen a bird that big (standing 1.20m high with a wingspan over 2 metres) flying; it was majestic.

No, I didn’t take this shot!

At the halfway point we all disembarked, and as this was right on the Croydon/Normanton highway lots of caravans stopped with a squeal of brakes to take pictures of this famous Aussie train.

Half way

Engineer switching

Just to prove I was on board!

High backed seats in the middl carriage

The station also has an interesting railway museum which I spent some time in, and also a souvenir/snack shop so I bought a coffee to finish off my Gulflander experience.

I should note while I remember, an artesian bore is located in our caravan park, which was put down in 1896 to a depth of 2040 feet. The flow is around 140,000 gallons per day and supplies natural fluoride to the town’s water supply (which is taken from the Norman river) as well as hot water for the showers in the caravan park. These showers are a little disconcerting as the hot water comes in big spurts rather than in a continuous flow, but you get used to anything when you have to!

The weather has been perfect again. I think you may as well assume this from now on, and I will only give you an update when/if it turns sour!

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Normanton – Gulf Country

Posted on July 15, 2013 by nilocrol

July 13th, 2013

Not much packing up to do as the car remained hitched overnight, but as I have another short trip to Normanton today I am in no hurry to leave.

10:30 I go through the farmer’s gate, being sure to close it behind me, and I’m on the highway again. The wind has died down quite a bit and the van is still towing beautifully – it somehow continues to amaze me! But a problem arises, not with the van though. Neither my radio nor my cigarette lighter/power plug for my HEMA GPS are working. I stop at the first truck stop I can and double check that I have not done something stupid. No sign of this, so I travel without sound, apart from the rumbling of the tyres) to Normanton.

Check in at the one caravan park here, and ask if there is an auto electrician in town. There is, and I called him after setting up but I guess he doesn’t work on the weekend.

The campground (for me somehow it’s a Caravan Park until I have set up, then it becomes a camp ground because there are motorhomes, caravans, camper trailers down to just tents making up our little, highly temporary communities.

I check out the campground first – there is a beautiful swimming pool here in which one could almost do laps. I will try it soon – it’s a popular hangout!

Then off to survey the town. First to the information centre which is housed in the beautiful Burns Philp Building, constructed in 1884, shortly after the formation of the company that was to become one of the most successful mercantile providers in Queensland.

Burns Philp & Co

One of two Burns Philp stockrooms

This store operated continuously as a general mercantile store for more than 120 years. I wandered around the various exhibits highlighting the history of the area.

Biggest croc ever shot – on the Norman R. – by a professional hunter (a woman by the way).

I read about the town wharf so thought I would drop around to see it. It lies way above the level of the river and much of it was washed away during the huge floods of 1974.

On to one of the three “supermarkets” to pick up some basic supplies. Why is the flour in the cooler? Why do they stock only one type of butter? Why no bread? Why no orange juice? Why do they have the best damn cucumber I have ever tasted, anywhere?? I have to be there at 10:00am Monday for bread. Will I have to fight for it? We’ll see.

I then drove the short distance to the lovely old railway station and walked around it – deserted today. It houses the Gulflander, which boasts that it is a railway from nowhere to nowhere! I love it. It does run from Normanton to Croydon twice a week, and does several other half day trips in between. There is one tomorrow and I might consider it. The rail line was begun in the 1880’s to bring the gold from Croydon during the gold rush there, to “Port Normanton” where it was loaded onto ships, taken down river to the Gulf, and on to who knows where…probably England.

Normanton Railway Station

I checked the petrol prices in town – they range from $1.69 to $1.79. Guess where I will be buying mine when the time comes, although really, I never imagined $1.69 would be cheap!

The road to the wharf and on to Karumba

Back to the campground for a beer outside on a perfect evening. A t-shirt is not needed at any time around here…winter…in Gulf Country.

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Only Two Gripes Today – at Leichardt’s Lagoon

Posted on July 14, 2013 by nilocrol

July 12th, 2013

A very short trip today – 130 km from Croydon to Leichardt’s Lagoon. It was nice to start off knowing I only had to drive for a couple of hours.

The weather is fantastic, with again not a cloud in the sky, the max being 34 today, and similar for about a week the forecasts say.

The road was excellent, with relatively wide lanes, one each way.

Just before Leichardt’s Lagoon I crossed the Norman River which was the only decent River I had seen for quite a while. I was told it runs through Normanton where I will be headed tomorrow then on to Karumba where it meets the Gulf of Carpentaria.

You leave the highway for Leichardt’s Lagoon, onto a dirt road, through a farmer’s gate and on to the campground only about 400m on. Everything is well signed and I check in at the caretaker’s – they live right there in a motorhome. They charged like a wounded…chiahouha, breaking the bank at a massive $7 per night!

Toilets and showers, not too bad either…surprisingly!

As the guy who had stayed here said yesterday, the water is not drinkable unless boiled and there is no power, so out come the solar panels for the first time on this perfect cloudless day.

My two little money savers

Living off the sun

There are small trees around but they hardly affect the efficiency of these panels. I just had to move them a couple of times when the van cast a shadow over them later in the day. These panels connect to the Anderson plug from my van, and they continually charge the deep cycle gel matt battery in my van. A deep cycle battery is designed to operate at a low drawing power for a long time, whereas a car battery is built to give a massive jolt to the starter motor when starting the car, and then recovers as the car is running. Two very different kinds of batteries.

My van battery runs the Engel fridge which can operate off 12v or 240v, and also powers the LED lights in the van plus 12v fan. The van 90l fridge operates on propane when free camping like this, and I cook with propane as well. I can use water stored in my van tank, but I try to use this sparingly.

It is still a strong easterly wind, but quite pleasant when stopped and sitting outside. It is 6:00pm as I type this and the temperature is just perfect, with the wind beginning to die down as well. Ahh, nice!

There is no mobile phone or internet connection here so don’t bother trying to call! And it also looks like I won’t be able to get the cricket on radio tonight either. Booooo! All of a sudden you realise how big this country is, and how isolated one can be.

My campsite is near the entrance to the park so as I sit outside I get to give a welcoming wave to all the new arrivals. They should be paying me for all this work! I took a walk around the large park and came across what I expect to see quite often in the top end: No swimming in lagoon. Saltwater and freshwater crocodiles have been sighted.

Croc country?

Hmmm, lucky I’m one of the furthest sites from the water!

PS    I have, so far, two beefs about free camping so far.

1. People running generators for their power. This park requires them to be turned off at 10:00pm, but it doesn’t matter, when they are running at any time of the day  they are highly annoying, and some are louder than others too.

2. Outside LED lights. It seems like there is a competition to see who can have the brightest row of outside LED lights. Now that’s OK, so long as they cover them so that they do the task required for their owner (eg cooking outside, or reading, or whatever) without bothering  people up to 70 metres away. I was viewing the extraordinarily beautiful bright starry night but even with binoculars to my eyes I couldn’t face a direction where there was not a bothersome LED light in my peripheral vision. Who would have imagined light pollution in the far outback of Australia.

Enough ranting for today.

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Now An Easy Day

Posted on July 13, 2013 by nilocrol

11th July, 2013

Had an easy day today, which felt really good! It’s going to be hot again, in the low 30’s, with not a cloud in the sky. I slept in until 7:30 after staying up late listening to the cricket.

First things first, I showered and breakfasted, then drove 4 km to the local lake, Lake Belmore which is dammed to provide the town’s water supply. It’s a lovely setup with a sand beach and floating jetty for swimming (so I assume no crocs!), a large building with change rooms and toilets, and a large sheltered open area for BBQ’s, picnics etc.

Jewell of the savannah-Lake Belmore

Driving back, after stopping to photograph some shy wallabies and some typical anthills, I stopped at a lookout from which the entire town can be seen, dwarfed by the huge flat expanse of savannah which eventually leads to the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Peek a boo

I drove back and walked around part of the town, notably an old old general store half of which showed relics from the early 20th Century, the other half being a modern general store, selling everything from butter to bicycles, so I picked up some groceries.

I then passed by the last remaining local pub (in the 1870’s gold rush there had been twenty something pubs in the town!) and bought six cans of beer for an exorbitant amount, but when you’re dry you don’t argue. I came back for lunch, then sat out in the shade and read  for the afternoon…in between a couple of naps!.

5:00pm came around and it’s beer & bullshit time again! I sat by some very interesting people who gave me loads of tips on where to go…yup, they told me where to go lots of times. But one guy and his wife had spent the past three nights at a place called Leichardt’s Lagoon which is just short of Normanton which is where I was due to head tomorrow. He said it was a beaut place and was the right price; no power, and you can’t drink the water without boiling it but they loved it. So I decided to head there tomorrow – a good chance to test my solar panels.

Dinner was tomato pesto pasta, then settle down to listen to the cricket, the second day of the five day test. The 19 year old rookie, Ashton Agar saved the day for the Aussies by scoring 98, just short of his century, poor chap.

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Onwards to Croydon

Posted on July 11, 2013 by nilocrol

July 10, 2013

Depart at around 9am this morning, still heading due west, looking for Croydon this time. I have been travelling along the Savannah Way which would take me all the way to Broome on the west coast if I were to follow it all the way.

I had been told that the beautiful highway that I had been travelling on would end pretty soon…and they were right. I had driven 22 km out of Mount Surprise when bang! I’m on a single lane “highway”,

so when traffic comes toward you (mostly other vans) you slow right down, move half your rig onto the red dirt, wave to the guy who did the same for you, and carry on. No problems doing 90 on a straight stretch but be careful on the crests!

Not long after I had reached this section I was signalled to slow down by a ute with flashing light. Wide load coming soon so pull right off the road he said. I found a safe spot, pulled off, and let a semi  with a huge dozer on board cruise by. Fun and games. It had two warning cars running ahead, and one spare(?) following behind.

Fortunately I met no road trains today!

I continued to have a strong easterly at my back so the car was doing this section easily. Haven’t worked out my mileage but it should be pretty impressive.

I arrived at Croydon Caravan Park early afternoon and checked in with Rob and Nell who run the council campground. Lovely people, and soon became fantastic people when they gave me two nights for the price of one for being a single traveller. Guess it has its advantages : ) They told me not to tell anybody and they are safe – nobody reads this blog.

After checking out this lovely little town which even has a traffic roundabout (big for this size town!)

Croydon’s traffic circle!

I picked up my chair and beer and walked over to the 5pm “Beer & Bullshit” hour around the camp fire. Pretty much the entire campground population was there; the weather was perfect and the company was better.

Fish and salad for dinner, and settle down to listen to the first day of the cricket ashes – Australia vs England for those not up with this sport! Fall asleep in bed to the cricket.

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On Kalkarni and Lava tubes

Posted on July 11, 2013 by nilocrol

July 9th, 2013

Did the tourist thing today.

Morning saw a half day tour to the Undara lava tubes in the Undara Volcanic National Park, 45 minutes drive east of Mount Surprise. Mark is our tour guide today – you cannot visit the lava tubes without a guide.

The drive to the lava tubes was interesting – Mark obviously has an deep interest in farming and provided lots of insight into the local cattle farming methods. Enough to say that it’s a far cry from throwing a bunch of cattle onto you property and crossing your fingers. Science is king in this industry.

After a brief introductory talk by Mark,

our first task on this extremely windy day was to climb an old perfectly formed volcano, the Kalkarni Cone, and walk around the rim. The view was magnificent but the wind, around 70kph, made it very cold and uncomfortable.

The lava residue which made up much of the trail was quite artistically formed

Back down to the parking area and hot coffee and biscuits were most welcome.

Now we drive a few kilometres to the first lava tube – Mikoshi. We climb down into a huge cavern, approximately 100 metres long and 30 metres high, with openings at both ends. It was to coin an old phrase, mind-blowing. The size, the colours, and the full realization of how this tube came about made it such a magical experience.

Mikoshi – fractured ceiling

Now time for a little lesson on lava tubes.

When we were walking the rim of the ancient volcano we could see in the far distance the cause of these lava tubes – Undara volcano. It is quite a large flattish shape, indicative of an “oozing” lava flow emanating from it. This lava oozed in copious amounts (estimated at 1000 cubic metres per second) from Undara for at least twelve months, approximately 190,000 years ago. The lava, like water will fill existing depressions as well as spreading across the tablelands. Many of these lowest points were watercourses, and when the lava filled these depressions it gradually cooled and solidified on top, but continued to flow underneath. Once the eruption stopped the insulated lava continued to drain away leaving a hollow pipeline.

Over thousands of years sections of the 100 kilometre long tube have collapsed leaving a line of depressions which can readily be seen from aerial photos, and from which in most cases the tubes can be accessed.

Many tubes are not fit for tourism as the carbon dioxide level is deadly for humans; the most notable of these tubes is Bayliss Cave, at least 1350 metres long, 11.5 metres high and 19 metres wide. Scientists have yet to map its full length.

Our second tube was the Ballroom, another very high relatively short ampitheatre with magnificent colours and shapes.

Directly from the Ballroom we entered a tunnel, much smaller than we had previously seen, but at least 400 metres long. This tube hosts a small colony of tiny bats. This is the Wind Tunnel, and bends slightly so that for much of the time you cannot see the light exit hole, and consequently was pitch black when we turned our torches off. This was by far the highlight of the three tubes that we visited, and a fitting end to the half day tour.

I had taken a number of photos of Mark, the guide, so I transferred them to a disk to give to him later. It just so happened that he was taking a group on a “mystery tour” of the township and surrounds at 5:00pm so I was able to give it to him then.

He threw tons of facts at us during the tour, too many to list here but a couple of signs he showed us: the general store’s “Burgers as they used to be before they stuffed them up”, and the pub’s big sign “Thirst Aid”. (The pub just happens to be across the road from the clinic! Also, the road out to the airport, O’Brien’s Road, is 60kph out of town, but 50kph into town. A little different!

So it was a busy busy enjoyable day, despite the fierce winds.

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Posted on July 9, 2013 by nilocrol

July 8th, 2013

Packing this morning was pretty easy as I had not unpacked much after our trip up to Cooktown; I had also left the fridge on (using propane) with food. A shopping trip yesterday  topped things up for the next stage of my journey.

I left about 9:30 after saying my goodbyes to Russ, who had kindly kept aside several types of tropical fruits, including bananas, to take with me. I even helped him cut down a bunch of bananas – much bigger and heavier than you might imagine.

I head west along a now well known road on the way to Millaa Millaa, through misty rain, heavy winds, and cold weather, soon to get colder and windier after climbing and climbing to each the Atherton Tableland.

At the top were a dozen or so wind turbines, huge things that I have seen before, but I have never seen them moving so bloody fast! The wind was howling on top of the hill. Lucky it was mostly behind me. Whew!

I drove in to the highest town in Queensland, Ravenshoe. It sits (better – holds on tight) at 900 and something metres. I thought Toowoomba was pretty high but this beats it hands down. It would have been a very pretty town if it wasn’t blowing a freezing gale. I stopped first at the excellent visitors centre, one of the best yet, and got directions to the best coffee in town.

The bakery, as is usual in rural towns in Australia, was the place so down I drove. Ordered my coffee and people were lined up for their home made pies so I though what the heck, a pie would add to the coffee to warm me up. Both were very very good.

After Ravenshoe the clouds began to lift, although the wind never abated. Even had a spot of sunshine every now and then. The trees became shorter and sparcer (that doesn’t look like a word does it) and I was now moving into cattle country.

About 12:30 I came across a little place that I had read about previously – Innot hot springs, which is a going concern with a campground, a convenience store/fast food place, and HOT SPRINGS! I had to stop and try them out. There are 5 pools of varying temperatures, all of which are pumped up from the nearby creek which doesn’t have much water running, but the water it does have is hot! Some backpackers were using it,

but the busy place were the hot springs pools: free for campers at their campground, $10 for walk-ins like me.

I worked my way up – the two outdoor pools are cool and warm; the three indoor pools are cool, warmer, and plain hot – too hot for me and everybody else who tried it! Not sure what the temp was as it was not signed at all. Hopefully some kid doesn’t jump in before parents can grab them! It was such a relaxing interlude after a long climb and nasty weather. I think hot springs should be set up at the half way points of every highway around Australia. It would definitely cut down on the accident rate!

I then continued on to Mount Surprise, where at exactly 2:20pm I came across my first road train – in this case a semi pulling 3 full length trailers, total length I would put at close to 50 metres! Quite the sight, and it was pleasing to have this high speed monster going the opposite way on a shared two lane, brand new highway! Tomorrow I will be starting on a single shared lane, and when you meet these things you get off the road…or else!

I finally pulled in to a lovely caravan park built and run by an the friendliest of hosts: some call them Mr Joe and Mrs Jo, others Joe and Jo!  A great idea here – all sites are drive through, which makes it quick and easy to park and get set up. J&J, between 1997 and 2009  have planted over 5000 trees, moved about 15000 cubic metres of soil, and sown 7 acres of lawn, although the current drought had turned most of it a definite shade of brown!

Once settled I drove into “town”, population 64, filled up with petrol and drove a short distance back to beautiful Elizabeth Creek, which I had noticed as I drove in, for some quiet time and a few snapshots. It is spring fed so never dries up, as evidenced during the current drought.

An early dinner tonight and early to bed.

PS   On a sad note I just heard today that the most beautiful cat in the world – Jan’s little ‘Tiger’ in Winnipeg – had to be put down at the beautiful old age of 16. RIP Tiger. You have provided so many people with comfort, love, laughs…and warm laps.

Our love – Tiger

Jan and Tiger

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Now, Finally, a Cassowary

Posted on July 6, 2013 by nilocrol

July 6th, 2013

Saw a cassowary!  Finally!

Had a nice sleep in this morning, and a leisurely morning after staying up late to watch the Tour de France. Russ stayed up later to watch Wimbledon tennis as well, but I called it a night early.

We travelled 40 minutes south to Mission Beach mid morning, first to do a mini tour past Bingil Bay to try to find a cassowary, which we have attempted to do since I arrived ininin Innisfail. Again, no luck. We carried on to Mission Beach to meet John and Di Hargreaves. I have known John since the early 70’s through gymnastics at the Melbourne “Y”, and after about 35 years met him again when we were judging at the Australian Gymnastics Championships in 2009.

We had lunch at a local restaurant then coffee at another restaurant when it looked looked heavy duty rain. We then drove around to another part of Mission Beach when I finally saw a cassowary crossing the road. No chance for a photograph as it ran into the bush on the side of the road but that didn’t matter – I saw one!!!

A large flightless bird which is related to the ostrich and emu, and whose habitat is far north eastern Australia, the female is significantly larger than the male, at up to 1.8 metres in height.

We appreciated the sights of Dunk Island, just off Mission Beach, on a dull grey afternoon, before saying our goodbyes and heading back to Innisfail.

Dinner was a great salad prepared by Russ, with chocolate for dessert!

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No Land Like Lakeland

Posted on July 5, 2013 by nilocrol

July 4th, 2013

We pack up and leave Cooktown by 9:30. Russ really getting the hang of setting up and packing up!

South to Lakeland, only 70km. This is the turnoff from the Mulligan Highway to head north to the top of Cape York Peninsula – Mapoon is right up there near the tip.

Lakeland  has a pub, a roadhouse and a cafe/general store, and even a  library.

Lakeland’s campground is grassy with quite private sites, very nice.

After lunch we drove to Laura – 70km where we visited the Aboriginal interpretive centre: Quinkan and Regional Cultural Centre. The exhibition is a highly detailed and interesting examination of the culture and history of the aboriginal tribes of this area. It is here that one can book a tour of the nearby prehistoric rock art, listed by UNESCO as being in the top ten rock art sites in the world. We found quite by accident that a self guided tour would be only $5 so in we went! It consisted of a short climb up to an impressive rock formation running along beneath a high ridge.

At the top the first set of paintings comes into view at Split Rock,

and from there we come across two further galleries. It is so impressive to view a piece of art made thousands of years ago. The surrounding rocky countryside is also most impressive.

Returning to Lakeland we  come across cattle grazing on the side of the road. This is a common occurrence in the drier areas of Australia and can sometimes be a hazard to cars (or vice versa) and this particular huge Brahman bull you would not want to meet head on!

July 5th, 2013

Leave 8:45  Drive back south the same way we came back so nothing really new to report.

Stopped at a great lookout Bob’s Lookout(!) that had been full of cars on the way up so took some shots. It overlooks a magnificent flat plain flanked by mountain ranges east and west. Sparsely treed mostly arid country is typical of this stretch.

Parked the can again in Russ’s neighbour’s backyard, unpack some things and left the fridge running on propane.

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One Day in Cooktown

Posted on July 4, 2013 by nilocrol

July 3rd, 2013

Our first task today is to climb Mount Cook which overlooks Cooktown.

Early stages

It is ‘only’ 461 metres, but the climb was pretty torturous. The sign indicates a 3 hour, 6 km return hike. Russ and I did it in 3 hours from the campground and back, so we  were happy with that, but it was a very difficult climb, extremely steep at times, and clambering over rocks was the order of the day.

Rocks, par for the course

Yup, need the rest

There is a magnificent view of the Coral Sea about 3/4 of the way up,

The view – Coral Sea

This far to go after the lookout

but we were extremely disappointed on reaching the summit that there was no view at all, just a radio tower. We knew we were getting close to the peak because we began to hear the weird whistling sound of the high winds blowing through the radio tower!

The whistling tower

It was a nice feeling to be finished by 10am as we have more things on the list do do.

First was to drive through the lovely Town of Cook all the way to the small jetty which lies in a semi protected bay. Moored here was a large cray boat, which we later saw depart towing 6 outboard boats which would later follow one diver each; the diver’s job is to collect the crayfish from the bottom in a net bag and bring it up to the boat. The boater’s job is to provide compressed air to the diver, to follow the divers air hose without chopping it on the propeller(!) and haul in the catch each time. The large mother boat has a huge number of live tanks in which the catch is stored.

Next we did the walking tour of the many historically interesting places throughout the town including the Historic Centre with many interpretive historical displays about Cooktown, had a beer at the ‘Top Pub’, and visited the James Cook Museum housed in a majestic old convent school.

Captain Cook Museum

Captain Cook Museum

View from 2nd floor of museum

This excellent museum boasts one of the cannon which Cook jettisoned in order to clear the reef, as well as the anchor which had to be cut loose after getting fouled on the reef.

Cannon and Anchor

We finished with a drive (not a walk this time!) up to the top of Grassy Hill upon which stands Cooktown’s historic lighthouse. The view was better than from Mt. Cook, as we could see most of Cooktown, the harbour, the mouth of the Endeavour River, and the Coral Sea out towards the reef.

Mt. Cook from Grassy Hill

Cooktown from Grassy Hill

Endeavour Harbour from Grassy Hill

We bought locally caught fish ‘n chips (the chips were cut, not caught) for dinner and caught the sun going down over the wharf while waiting for them.

Dinner: locally caught barramundi and chips, with a nice Houghton’s Sauvignon Blanc.

 Hippy bus in Cooktown – Love the upper viewing deck!

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Posted on July 4, 2013 by nilocrol

July 2, 2013

We packed everything early, checked all tyres at the petrol station, and headed north. It felt nice to be heading for Cooktown as the low last night in Cairns was only 11 Celcius.

We drove along the same beautiful route north along the coast and just before the coast turned left and drove up the range to the Atherton Tableland. This was a steep climb, similar to the climb up Mt. Hotham, but thankfully shorter. Nevertheless the car stuck itself in first gear again, just like Mt. Hotham, so again the automatic transmission cooler which had been installed was not really doing its job. Disappointing to say the least. We rested the auto transmission for 30 minutes at a lookout over the ocean so that was not too bad!

The car did the relatively brief remainder of the climb quite well, then we levelled off on the northern tablelands, then had a 226km drive through quite dry arid country all the way to Cooktown. The trip was highlighted by the Palmer River Roadhouse, a little oasis along a dry relentless highway. It is a pub with lovely cool beer garden, and provides petrol and campsites too. Second was a lookout from Byerstown Range, the last mountain range before Cooktown.

Also Black Mountain was truly impressive: a peak consisting completely of black rocks, some as big as houses. The entire top of this volcanic peak had shattered over thousands of years through weathering, mainly through cold rain hitting the hot black rocks. The result is an eerie out-of-this-world experience.

Cooktown is the gateway to ‘The Tip”, the northernmost tip of Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula.

It is the dream of any 4×4 driver to do this taxing trip and every second car you see in Cooktown is a rough and tough, dusty red 4×4. As it seems to be a badge of honour I don’t think most of them wash their cars for weeks after returning to civilization!

Cooktown is also famous for being the spot where Captain James Cook beached his ship, The Endeavour  for repairs after grounding on one of the thousands of separate coral reefs which make up the Great Barrier Reef.

After setting up camp I just wanted to sit outside, have a beer, and relax. N-i-c-e!

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Onwards to the Daintree

Posted on July 4, 2013 by nilocrol

July 1, 2013…Happy Canada Day!

As all Canadians know, Canada Day celebrates the anniversary of the 1867 Constitution Act which united three colonies into a single country within the British Empire. 

This is similar to the federation of the colonies to create the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.

Australia Day, for those who may be interested, celebrates the date of landing of the first fleet at Sydney Cove, January 26, 1788. Yes, we celebrate the landing of the first convicts in Australia! On the other hand many aboriginals term this date “Invasion Day”, symbolizing the adverse effects of British settlement on Australia’s indigenous people.

Thus endeth the history lesson!

This morning we headed north along the scenic coast. We stopped at lovely Palm Beach for a walk, marvelling at the huge paperbark trees and seaside views,

Reel for stinger nets

then drove past historic Port Douglas, through Mossman and on towards Daintree National Park. First though, we had to take a ferry across the Daintree River. The ferry holds 24 cars so line-ups can be pretty long! Why have they not built a bridge there? Sorry, I forgot to ask them!

Queue for ferry

Daintree River from ferry

The drive through the national park was beautiful, with trees either side of the road meeting above, and the view back towards Cairns was very impressive.

We finally reached the Daintree Discovery Centre, which utilizes an information centre, an extensive aerial walkway, a tree canopy tower, an interpretive display centre, using a detailed booklet and an audio guide to introduce visitors to the Daintree rainforest, the oldest intact tropical rainforest in the world. It took us close to 4 hours to do justice to this outstanding centre, which pictures cannot do!

Golden orb spider in her web

Honey ants working together

A long drive back, most of it in the dark. Trial and error produced rice from the microwave to accompany Russ’s great vegetable and chicken curry.

We are both tired and look forward to a good sleep before packing up the van and heading up to Cooktown.

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Now In Cairns and Kuranda

Posted on July 3, 2013 by nilocrol

June 30, 2013

We left Russ’s place at 10:00am after doing a complete restock of the van. Checked all tyres at the petrol station then head north to Cairns.

All went well and we arrive at our Cairns caravan park quite early, but problems arise. Our spot is very narrow, and cars parked at nearby caravans are making it extremely difficult to back in. Fortunately one of our new campground “neighbours” came out and helped me squeeze in, then helped another person squeeze in also. Top marks to this friendly fellow!

First thing – to Rusty’s Market in Cairns to buy fruit and veges. A great place with quality produce at excellent prices. Open Fri, Sat, Sun for those interested.

We made up a lunch and headed north west to the lovely township of Kuranda, a real tourist mecca. While climbing the mountain range we passed under the cable car which travels up from Cairns to Kuranda.

View similar to cable car view

From Kuranda we went to the well known Barron Falls on the Barron River, which runs through a chasm through the mountains and down to the ocean at Cairns.

The Barron Falls can look look this in the wet season,

but was a little milder when we saw it today.

We also were lucky enough to see the Cairns to Kuranda train which carries tourists to Kuranda and to the view over the Barron Falls. Many people take the cable car up to Kuranda and the very scenic train back down to Cairns.

Back in Cairns late afternoon and we had to drive down to the Cairns waterfront area, with large swimming pool, marina (where we checked out our wish-list for luxury boats), restaurants and hotels. Sunset on a perfect evening was magical in this beautiful city.

Help! Which should I choose?

Back to the van for dinner and bed.

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Posted on June 30, 2013 by nilocrol

June 29, 2013

Sorry but Russ has me running from pillar to post in his position as personal tour guide and resident historian. I just don’t have time to write many words, but you know don’t you, that a picture is worth a thousand words. Enough to say that tropical north Queensland is absolutely glorious, even without the winter temperatures of 15C min, 25C max.

Now on to today’s trip, a real long one requiring about 8 hour’s driving, all by Russ. Good on ya mate!

Chillagoe Caves via Malanda Falls/Pool,

Atherton and Mareeba.

We arrived and immediately booked one of four caves with tours. Ours was the Trezkinn Cave – discovered in the 1970’s by two guys who added their two last names to make Trezkinn. I can’t remember their names but your homework will be to attempt to guess them : )  It was a beautiful, well lit cave hat had us oohhing and aahhing throughout the 1 hour tour. (See cave pics below).

After the caves we drove a short way and walked to see the local Hanging Rock,

and on the way home, not too far from Chillagoe we stopped to check out one of several Marble quarries. Now I’m no expert on marble –  Michaelangelo would not have come to me for advice on the type of marble best suited to his works, but the stuff looked damned good to me!

Dinner on way home was at the beautiful Malanda Hotel –

so popular this Saturday evening that we couldn’t get a table in their wonderful old time dining room.

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On the Farm

Posted on June 30, 2013 by nilocrol

June 28, 2013

First thing in the morning Russ and I walked to the local caravan park to visit Theo and Jeanette, and mimi poodle Marsha. Coffee and baked goodies and a pleasant talk on a perfect day.

We then drove 30 minutes north west to visit Tom and Daniella on their farm. Tom did a pasta marinara for lunch which was outstanding. We took a walk down to the lowest part of their property near the creek to check out the cattle. They have a small Irish breed of cattle that are very cute, which is usually not the adjective you would apply to cattle! The breed is called “Dexter”, our late Dad’s name. Quite the coincidence!

That evening we went to the cinema in the South Johnstone Community Hall courtesy of the  Stratvelle Film Society, to which Russ belongs. The movie was “King’s Game”, a Swedish film made in 2004. A great story with excellent acting, directing and cinematography.

And to top it off we watched the night cane train carting sugar cane to the South Johnstone  sugar mill; the cane trains bring sugar from over 40 kilometres away direct from the farms, and is then processed and taken by truck to Mourylian Harbour for shipping all around the world.

Daniella and her ‘Dexters’!

Cane train on main road – Guess you have to believe me!

Russ, Daniella and her dogs

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NO…A Snake!

Posted on June 30, 2013 by nilocrol

June 27th continued.

Lake Eacham (I may have given the impression it is Lake Meacham…wrong).

We took a walk around the lake – approx 4km. Two things here, first we saw a snake, a red bellied black which is supposed to be number 5 in the most venomous in this country. It was crossing the path on a mission to catch a frog, but failed while we were watching as the leaves the frog was hiding in were in abundance. Second, Russ has pointed out a number of times the Lawyer Vine. It is in my opinion good for nothing. It has vicious thorns all over it – stalk, lead tendril, and leaves. It is the only climbing palm, and uses its thorns as hooks to climb up any other plant, up to 20 metres high. It can severely snag the clothes (or skin!) of hikers. A good for nothing plant, yet grows in abundance in the northern tropics.

Red Bellied Black

Russ watching Lawyer Vine grow!

A type of staghorn high up

Lawyer Vine stalk close up

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On Atherton Tablelands All Day

Posted on June 29, 2013 by nilocrol

June 27th, 2013

A l-o-n-g day today! We drove up into the Atherton Tablelands and a myriad of tourist sites:

Queensland’s highest mountain – Bartle Frere (1622m) and second highest – Bellenden Ker (1592m)

We aim to climb to the horn on south (left) side of Bartle Frere next week, weather permitting.

Bartle Frere to left

Crawford’s Lookout on main highway north

Henrietta Creek, again just off main highway

Three falls loop: Ellinjaa, Zilly and Millaa Millaa

Ellinjaa Falls

Zilly Falls

Millaa Millaa Falls

Millaa Millaa township

Giant Kauri Pine

Seedling 1137AD

Malanda township: pub, Majestic Cinema

Lake Meacham

Lake Meacham

Yungaburra pub for a beer

Yungaburra Pub

Hotel Room…ahh the memories

Curtain Fig Tree, Yungaburra

Mount Hypipamee National Park crater and falls

Foggy road home

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No Kidding, You Must See Paronella Park

Posted on June 28, 2013 by nilocrol

June 26th, 2013

Another perfect day and first we visit Warrina Lakes and Botanical Gardens. This is a huge  recreational area boasting a very large covered picnic area plus many rotunda type picnic areas as well. Plus a lake, barbecues, mini railway for kids, and the botanical gardens. This gem of a recreational area fortunately just happens to lie at the end of Russ’s street.

From there we visited the following:

Mourilyan Harbour, the scenic port used for exporting Queensland’s sugar;

The wonderful Etty Bay, just north of Mourilyan Bay for lunch on the beach;

And stunning Paronella Park, south west of Innisfail. Jose Paronella, an immigrant from Spain in 1913 had a dream, to build a castle.

He chose 13 acres beside Mena Creek Falls and built his castle, picnic areas on the river, tennis courts, tunnels, bridges, and wrapped all up in an amazing range of 7000 tropical plants and trees. See http://www.paronellapark.com.au

We then had dinner at the nearby Mena Creek Pub before heading home to watch Kevin Rudd take over from Julia Gillard as leader of the Australian Labour Party.

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Only One Crocodile, But Big One

Posted on June 27, 2013 by nilocrol

June 25th, 2013

Today is a perfect sunny winter day, looking at a max of 26 degrees Celcius. First stop Bramston Beach, a gem of a place a little north of Innisfail. It has a great little beach-front caravan park, a number of permanent residents in what looks like the perfect beach holiday area, and a nice little picnic area by the local creek where it meets the ocean.

We then headed off to the Eubenangee Swamp National Park. We parked the car at the entrance to the park by a creek and sugar cane railway bridge.

As soon as we started walking the 1km to our destination we were attacked by mosquitoes, so it was “keep walking, don’t stop for anything”. The walk was alongside a creek which boasts crocodiles, but in our haste we weren’t able to stop and wait for one to appear. We finally broke from the forest and climbed a grassy hill. The wind consequently increased and mosquitoes pretty much disappeared.

At the top of the hill, we looked over wetlands with much birdlife,

and it is on this momentous occasion that I see my first crocodile in the wild – a big one too! We guessed at 14-15 feet. It was sunning itself on the opposite side of the wetlands with its mouth wide open most of the time, and its tail curled around.It was a fat one too – probably feeding on the many ducks when his hunger got the better of him.

14-15 foot croc

We left for home, as Russ volunteers Tuesdays at the Innisfail Museum, home to a large variety of local historical treasures.

I made lunch and brought it to Russ in the office, then went on a photography jaunt around the city. Innisfail is famed for its many art nouveau style buildings, for its riverside avenues, and its rich cane farming history.

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On To Innisfail

Posted on June 27, 2013 by nilocrol

June 23, 2013

It’s Sunday and I pack up and move out of the lovely city of Townsville, to hit the Bruce Highway once again. This time I am on my way north to Innisfail to visit with my brother Russ who moved up here at about the same time I was settling in Toowoomba…which seems so far south now. Queensland is a BIG state!

Drove through Ingham and stopped for a little lunch. Behind me I heard a loud whistle; I looked out of the van and saw a cane train crossing the major route through the town, pulling a huge number of little carts full of cut cane. I found out later from Eddie, a friend of Russ’ that each cart when fully laden weighs five metric tons. At the sugar mill two of these carts are rotated 180 degrees to empty the cane, then placed back on the tracks. The entire process from planting the cane to bagging the sugar would be a thoroughly interesting process to observe.

I then drove through Cardwell (right on the coast) which has been hit by two huge cyclones, Larry in 2006 and Yasi in 2011. Work crews are now working on repairing the main road through town. The first job immediately after the second cyclone was to attempt to prevent the beach erosion from continuing inwards and taking the highway with it – huge rocks have been positioned right along the foreshore for this purpose.

I stopped here for a pepper steak pie and a cup of coffee at a road-side food cart. It was well worth the stop!

Then through Tully, which was extensively damaged by Yasi. Tully has one of the highest yearly average rainfall in Australia.

Almost there…and there is Russ waiting for me out front of his house.

I was given permission by Russ’ friends a couple of houses down the street to park my caravan in their back yard. Then Russ showed me around the City of Innisfail, where it started to pour with rain. It didn’t matter, as I was keen to take my first look at Innisfail’s sights and people.

June 23, 2013

The rain has stopped and we set off for a further tour of Innisfail and surrounds.

Johnstone River, Innisfail

Our first stop is Coquette Point with a beautiful view of the Johnstone River,

then the “danger – crocodiles” territory of Coquette Point – the south point of the mouth of the Johnston River. But we saw no crocs.

Now around to the north section of the mouth of the Johnston – Flying Fish Point. This is a beautiful grassy picnic area with a great view upriver as well as of the ocean. From here we saw with binoculars two naval ships stationed  south of us, with helicopters landing on them. We later learned this was a combined army/navy exercise seeking to protect Australians during conflict in a foreign country, with land-based forces based at Mourilyan Harbour. We then dropped into The Coconuts neighbourhood, right on the beach with its own coconut trees, and then home.

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No Less Than 1315 Steps

Posted on June 24, 2013 by nilocrol

June 21, 2013

This morning I set off for Townsville in almost perfect driving weather – overcast, no wind, mild temperatures. Cane fields continue to dominate the route, and I am stopped for the first, then the second time…on Australia’s major North-South highway, the Bruce Highway, by a cane train. I never cease to be amazed! Again, I didn’t see the coast for the entire trip, just cane field after…

Cane train

I bypassed Bowen, stopped at pretty Home Hill for a coffee at the local family run restaurant. I was served by a young girl, probably working her first day in the shop as school holidays have begun. What do you want? she asks. I’m tempted to say To get out of here but I bite my tongue and say coffee. She writes this down at the counter and is about to  walk away, so I realize I had better take control here – Flat white ,one sugar, to take away I say, forcing a smile. She returns and writes this down. Now I wait as her mother serves two locals without yet touching the espresso machine. Hmm. Finally I raise my eyebrows to the young girl…she smiles with a smidgen of embarrassment and passes the note re my coffee to her Mum. The coffee is now being made. Yea!

Shortly after leaving Home Hill crossed the Burdekin River to drive through the impressive Ayre. Then it’s the final lap driving through western Townsville to a caravan park 15km north west of Townsville – Townsville Woodlands Holiday Park.

After setting up I sit outside sipping a beer and working on the computer. It’s a nice large site, on grass, although everybody has to use a heavy hammer on the tent pegs. It must be grass on concrete.

June 22, 2003

Have a leisurely breakfast this morning, and sit outside on a lovely mild sunny morning with my coffee. Today I want to see Townsville’s Strand, The Museum of Tropical Queensland, and I want to climb Castle Hill to get a bird’s eye view of Townsville. Apparently it is just metres short of being classified as a mountain!

The Strand is a parkland/walking and cycling pathway running along the beach and marina, boasting a huge rock pool at one end and the historic Tobruk Pool at the other end where the highly successful Australian swim team trained prior to the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. A walking/cycling trail runs the entire length as well.

The Museum is very well presented, with an outstanding section devoted to the HMS Pandora, a boat which was sent out to the South Pacific by the British Admiralty to recapture the Bounty and her mutinous crew. The expedition was successful in tracking down and capturing the mutineers but then the Pandora foundered on the Great Barrier Reef off Northern Australia. A detailed archaelogical survey of the wreck has been made over the past 20 or so years, and the Museum beautifully displays a large number of artifacts from the wreck. The museum also overlooks Ross Creek with its wide variety of working and pleasure craft.

I bought coffee and a sandwich at the museum cafe and headed off to Castle Hill.

Castle Hill in background

My goal – Castle Hill

Had a little trouble finding the trailhead but eventually succeeded, parked the car, and headed onwards and upwards along the aptly named and well signed ‘Goat Track’. It is different from the Mt. Rooper climb of two days ago as for much of the climb I could see my goal – the summit of Castle Hill. It is a shorter climb than Mt. Rooper but way way steeper; it also has a multitude of rock steps which would have taken a long long time to complete.

Half way up

Two tough climbs in two days and for the first time in my life I have a case of patellar chondromalacia, but not bad enough to stop this old trooper. The last part of the climb is along the road up to the summit. When I reached the top I found that there are several “peaks” so one walks from one peak, to another, then to the next. The 360 degree view is spectacular and I took loads of photos in all directions.

Castle Hill is a pink granite monolith that lies almost in the centre of the city, and is a popular challenge for local runners and cyclists. One fit late thirties woman passed me as I was taking a picture. I jokingly said You must do this every day the way you are moving. Her reply, Every second day! She hikes up the goat Track and runs back down. Pretty impressive.

I stayed up there until 4:00pm then drove back to the camp ground for a shower and a well-deserved cool water from the fridge, and then a beer. It did go down well!

Sausages and mashed potatoes for dinner. Big international rugby game tonight with the Wallabies playing the English and Irish Lions, and this has to be one of the few caravan parks without a TV room. Damn!

My goal – Castle Hill

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Onwards to Eungella

Posted on June 19, 2013 by nilocrol

June 17th, 2013 I drive north on a magnificent day on the way to Sarina. I was surprised that the route was quite unpopulated, just mile upon mile of sugar cane fields. I caught sight of the ocean for about 5 seconds near Clairview, and that was it. Pretty boring really. The Tropicana Caravan Park is a smallish family run park that is about 50% permanent residents (mostly coal mining employees), 20% cabins, and 30% daily campers. The campground is quite pretty, tropical as its name implies, very shady with mostly small palm trees providing the shade. Daytime and nighttime temperatures have been consistent since Yeppoon – 22 to 23 degrees days, 10 to 12 degrees night at night.The sun doesn’t have much strength so it’s nice to sit out in the sun, something you wouldn’t want to do here in Summer. June 18th, 2013 Today I took a day’s drive into the mountain country west of Mackay, pronounced like ‘eye’. My destination was Eungella (pronounced ‘young-g-la’) National Park. It took almost two hours to get there, and was well worth the effort. Much of the drive there was along the Pioneer Valley, with canefields predominating, as well as some beef cattle.

Sugar cane flowers

The cane grows as high as 12-14 feet before harvesting which is just beginning. The sugar cane has a beautiful flower, which apparently indicates that the cane will produce no further sugar, so it is then ready to harvest. Transportation to the sugar mills is by truck or by an intricate system of very narrow gauge cane trains. Eungella sits at an altitude similar to that of Toowoomba (690 metres) and the final steep climb up to Eungella is similar to the steep climb up the range to Toowoomba. Once there the view is magnificent. The area boasts many walking trails through tropical and temperate rain forest, from a 300m wheelchair accessible walk to a 17km circuit. Stunning views of the Pioneer Valley can be had on all hikes.

Pioneer Valley

There is also the opportunity to view the very elusive platypus in the large creeks of the area. I went to a site that was recommended, and along with several other tourists we were fortunate to see one platypus reasonably close to us. Unfortunately due to the poor light conditions I had trouble using a shutter speed with my camera to ‘freeze’ this constantly moving aquatic animal. Nevertheless it was my first opportunity to actually photograph a platypus. They are quite a bit smaller than a beaver, weighing only one to one and a half kilograms. This one was constantly diving, looking for small crustaceans which it searches for with its bill, which detects small electrical currents emitted by its prey. There were also several turtles swimming around or sunning themselves on a nearby rock.

On my way back to Sarina (I took the back route through virtually continuous sugar cane fields) I had to stop, turn around and take a picture of one of the more humorous road signs that I have seen. A new, wide section of road had just been completed, but as it had not yet been painted with dividing lines, the speed limit was set at 80kph. At the spot where the beautiful new section ends, the road sign says “ End Road Work – 100kph – Drive Safely”. Fair enough, but … 100kph ON THAT ROAD? Crazy!

Ma fave road sign

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Nomads (Grey) at Mt. Morgan

Posted on June 19, 2013 by nilocrol

June 16, 2013

My last day at Kinka Beach, Yeppoon, and Harold and his wife lovely Marie are taking me on a tour to Mount Morgan, a Heritage Town since 1980, and a Historic Town courtesy of the National Trust of Queensland. It is about an 45 minute’s drive west of Yeppoon.

Historical note…pass over if you are not interested!

Gold-bearing rocks were discovered at Ironstone Mountain in 1870, and a claim was registered in 1882 amidst a flurry of family and business intrigue. In 1886 the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Company was formed, and mined Mt. Morgan until 1925. Then in 1929  Mt. Morgan Ltd was formed and replaced underground mining with open cut mining, taking the entire top off Ironstone Mountain. Open cut mining ceased in 1981, although the accumulated tailings were then treated until 1990.

Over  the 108 year period of operation ‘Ironstone Mountain’ produced 238,979 KILOGRAMS(!) of gold, 54,335kg of silver, and 360,000 tonnes of copper. An estimated 327,000 ounces of gold still exist at the site. The hole in the ground had become 325 metres deep (measured from the top of the old mountain), and over a kilometre in diameter.

Proceeds from this mine funded oil exploration in Persia which hit huge oil reserves in 1908, thus forming the Anglo Persian Oil Company. This company became the British Petroleum Company  (BP)in 1954!

The mine…Big hole in background

We toured the town, checking out many of the historic buildings, including the two hotels which have observation towers on the roofs. These were manned by the armed forces during WW2 to warn of Japanese air force invasion. Like Broken Hill, they were concerned that the Japanese might be tempted to visit with so much quality gold being produced!  We visited two impressive lookouts, and the original railway station for the gold train to Rockhampton, which is now the impressive Information Centre for the town.

Lunch (of award winning pies from the local baker) was at the Dee River Dam, a lovely spot.

Harold (R), me (L) at Dee River dam, Mt. Morgan

Cute(!) little caravan at our lunch spot

Thanks Harold and Marie for a a highly enjoyable day!

We then dropped in to the Fisherman’s Market at Rosslyn Bay to pick up some prawns for drinks with the neighbours. I had volunteered to show Marie how I make my beer batter for fish, to be used for the prawns. We made it a little thinner for the prawns and I must say they were delicious.

Recipe: plain white flour (enough), a teaspoon or so of olive oil, beer to bring the mixture to the right consistency, salt and pepper. Whisk energetically. Immerse prawn in mix, allow extra mix to drip off, place into HOT oil, and voila!

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One Boat and Three Men

Posted on June 17, 2013 by nilocrol

June 15th, 2013 Fishing today! And the weather is perfect. Stretch, a gentle giant of a man, is to take Harold and I fishing in his “tinny”, a 4 metre aluminium boat with a 30hp outboard to an estuary north of Yeppoon. Harold has a 4WD Land Rover which we used to tow the tinny, the last 10km of which was along a magnificent wide beach with the tide out. We saw about a dozen others along the beach, some fishing from the beach, some digging in the sand for bait worms, and others towing their boats to our destination. The plan involved dropping the boat off in the estuary shallows, then Harold drove the car up to a nearby car park to prevent it being caught on the beach at high tide. We sat in the boat in the shallows for about 15 minutes as the tide began to race in, and soon we were on our way. We had some frozen prawns for bait, but Stretch also wanted some yabbies so we went to the sand flats close to the mangrove banks. Stretch used a long pump to suck up, then pump out soft muddy sand containing a few yabbies each time. The yabbies are 4-5cm long, looking something like a prawn but with one effective little claw. Stretch shot them out onto the sand and Harold and I tossed them into a bucket. Now we are ready. Stretch had been a professional fisherman in his time so what he doesn’t know about fishing doesn’t really matter, and thus I was on a very steep and enjoyable learning curve! We had a slow start but kept changing spots as the tide changed. We all caught several fish, and that evening I enjoyed a meal of fresh fish courtesy of Stretch who did all of the cleaning and filleting for us. About 2:30, high tide, we headed in and Harold pulled boat and trailer off the beach with ease despite the soft sand. That Land Rover is pretty impressive, and handles beautifully on the road too. For a 2.7 litre diesel it has loads of power. Before 5pm drinks I drove a little way along the coast for some more richly coloured late afternoon shots, most from a short steep climb to an impressive lookout – Fan Rock Lookout, named for the fan shaped basalt columns, the result of violent volcanic activity millions of years ago.

Yeppoon’s Rosslyn Bay Marina

Fan shaped basalt columns

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No Rest For…

Posted on June 16, 2013 by nilocrol

June 14, 2013

Up early this morning, not for fishing but for washing. Yes, time for laundry in a caravan park.

Rule no. 1: have lots of 1 dollar coins,

Rule no. 2: get in early, like 6:30am, or else wait the 35 minutes for the washing cycle to complete, then find that she (I’m the only male who does laundry in a caravan park anywhere in Australia, I swear) has a second load, hidden down on the other side of the washing machine.

Rule no. 3: ignore colours, just throw it all in and get out of there before receiving the evil eye from she who thinks she undeservedly missed out on this machine by mere seconds.

Rule no. 4: don’t be late emptying the machine for fear of same evil eye from same person.

Rule no. 5: assume it will start raining the moment you take the washing out to the clothes line.

Cleaned out the van and had lunch while waiting for the clothes to dry (wonder of wonders no rain and even a little breeze to help things along).

Now an hour’s drive west to either “Olsens Capricorn Caverns” or the “Capricorn Caves”, depending on whether you read the tour ticket or the tour receipt.

Some context: side view and top view

The name doesn’t matter though – the tour was very well done by a young female tour guide.

the tour guide doing her thing

There were only five tourists, four campervanners from Europe and myself, so all could clearly hear what the tour guide had to say and and there was opportunity for lots of questions.

The caves were discovered by Norwegian immigrant John Olsen in 1882, and he opened the caves to the public in 1884; I’m not sure how these intrepid tourists got to this wilderness area back in the mid 1880’s but there are lots of pictures in the interpretive centre to show that they did. The one hour tour took us through a labyrinth of smallish grottos and large tunnels, beautifully lit by an indirect lighting system which is turned off by the guide as we leave each section. This so as to not disturb the colony of tiny bats that roost in these caves.

Looking back at ntrance from inside cave

Convoluted walls textured by underground stream

Olsen’s original timbers

We saw a number of these bats flitting around the caves, and some flew perilously close to our heads. The highlight of the tour was the cathedral which has been set up with rows of pews and can be hired out for weddings. The guide had us sit in the pews, turned out the lights and played an enchanting musical CD to demonstrate the incredible acoustics of this cave.

Me at top of Cathedral steps

Poor light – Cathedral

We completed the tour by winding our way through a very narrow, twisting passageway out in to the open, followed by a suspension bridge which fittingly completed the tour.

Narrow twisting exit from caves

Swing bridge

An hour’s drive back to Yeppoon gave me some nice opportunities for photographs with the fading light over the ocean,

then back to the caravan park…just in time for a performance by Aussie bush poet Bob Pacey, who works at the caravan park as one of the managers. He delivers his lines with a gift for timing, and has that bush poet ability to sum things up so succinctly. his recitations such as “The Outhouse”, “Aliens”, “The Cross-eyed Bull” and “Turbulence” had us nodding, then chuckling, then laughing our heads off. The fire pit lit for his performance on this cool evening topped thing off.

A quick dinner of cheese dreams (tomatoes, mushies and cheese grilled on toast) and off to bed after a long non-stop day.

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Not Just a Crisis..A Near Tragedy

Posted on June 14, 2013 by nilocrol

June 13, 2013

Up at 6:30 as golf is on the agenda. Harold, Marie, myself, and a “newcomer” John are to play at the Yeppoon Golf Club, teeing off around 7:30.

It is a lovely sunny morning, something we have not been used to recently, although the course is quite soggy due to the recent rains. I was a little worried about my game as the last time I played was in Toowoomba early in the new year. Fortunately I had no major meltdowns, neither did it rain, nor was the wind a factor – there was none. And nobody lost a ball which has to be a record.

The others headed back to the camp ground while I took my first trip into Yeppoon to do some shopping for groceries, beer and wine. Yeppoon is a very pretty town with hills on one side and magnificent views of the ocean on the other. It is set up very well for tourism with pubs, restaurants and cafes in abundance.

I stopped off at lunchtime for a curry pie and coffee and ate in a rotunda/pavillion with a view of the two major islands and part of the coast towards the marina.

Towards the horizon between the two islands I saw smoke drifting across the water from a distinct spot, with a helicopter flying above. It was either a real marine fire or a mock fire set up as practice for emergency services. Nobody I spoke to seemed to know. After being engrossed in this scene for a while I drove across the road to a drive-in liquor store for beer and wine, then headed off. Over half-way back to the camp ground I stopped to take a photo of a huge rock off the coast bathed in sunlight.

To my horror I could not find my iPhone. I instantly realised how critical it was to my travelling existence, and I knew I had left it back in Yeppoon. I turned around and was chomping at the bit having to keep at 60kph, but finally arrived at the liquor store to ask the clerk if I had left it there. No. The only other possibility was the pavillion across the road. I ran across and saw the same high school students who had been there when I left. And there, sitting on the seat of the pavillion where I had had lunch was…my iPhone. WHEW!!!

Drove back,took the picture, packed away the food and drink, and started work on my computer. It was now hot and very humid so this time I turned on the air conditioner – instant relief.

Come 4:30 and it’s drinks next door again, this time with a few extra bodies including golfer John and his wife.

Steak and salad for dinner, and off to bed early again as it has been a long eventful day, and there is also a possibility that I might be going fishing tomorrow morning. Not sure yet though. Goodnight.

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Onto the Side of the Road

Posted on June 14, 2013 by nilocrol

June 12, 2013

I set off today at 8:30am knowing that I had a long day ahead. Continuing along the Bruce Highway would have been tough enough with the heavy traffic, especially trucks, but as it rained for approximately 50% of the time it was even tougher. Although I had a long way to go I stopped a number of times to take a breather. At one stage on a 2 lane section a police car came towards me on the centre line on the road, waving me to slow down (which I had already done as one would with a police car coming at them); I then passed a few semis parked on the side of the highway which was strange. Then I have another police car coming at me in MY lane, waving me to stop. I’m thinking there must have been a horrendous accident ahead, and thus how long would I be stuck there. All of a sudden coming over the hill is a wide load wider than any wide load I have ever seen. It took over 1 1/2 of the two lanes available to it. I was so stunned by the size that I didn’t look carefully at the load so I have no idea what it was. If I had known it was a super wide load I would have had my iPhone camera at the ready. Alas, no pictures for you.

Today I passed by Bundaberg, home of Aussie Bundaberg Rum, Bundy to those in the know; then by Gladstone, a major port for eastern Australian raw materials exports, and finally through Rockhampton and a hard right turn towards Yeppoon…lovely name. My destination is Coolwaters Holiday Village at Kinka Beach, 15 minutes drive south of Yeppoon on the beautiful Capricorn Coast, (the Tropic of Capricorn passes through Rockhampton). It is a magnificent coastline with beautiful safe beaches, views of the two major islands – Great Keppel and North Keppel Islands – plus many other smaller islands and large rocks just off the coast.

I arrived at 3:00pm and found I had been placed next to Harold Scharley (at his request), a gymnastics friend from the olden days in Melbourne. After setting up the caravan for the four days I will spend here I was invited next door for drinks, along with several other campers. Harold and his wife Marie have been coming to this camp ground for many years and know many others who have been coming up from Melbourne for as long or longer than them. A great time was had by all.

I had a simple salad sandwich for dinner and hit the sack early. It was an uncomfortable sleep as it is unseasonably hot and humid, and I did not think to turn on my air conditioner. Silly.

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No. 1 of how many???

Posted on June 11, 2013 by nilocrol

June 11, 2013

First leg done!

Said my sad goodbyes to Mum and hit the road at 10:30 – not bad as I had a relatively short drive set for my first day. This was fortunate as the traffic on the Bruce Highway was pretty heavy with lots of trucks, which makes driving a little more tense with a semi up your backside on a two lane highway. ‘They’ are doing a pretty good job twinning a large part of the highway but there is still a lot of work to do.

The weather was dull, with intermittent light misty rain, so driving conditions could have been better. Fortunately there was not too much wind.

Arrived at the beautiful Burrum River Caravan Park just out of the little town of Howard. The owners were so friendly and helpful, the campsites well spaced (so well spaced that for the first time I had to add a second length of hose to connect to the town water tap!), and ensuite style shower/toilet facilities. There is also a beautiful walk past a swimming pool nestled into a hillside to the river where there are several access sites for fishing or relaxing – a pontoon, a ramp and a jetty. The pool has a sign: “Dogs not allowed in pool”. I would agree strongly with the owners’ wishes but how many dogs can read it?

Anyway, this caravan park is highly recommended if you are in this area. It is also very close to Hervey Bay, one of the better places to set off for a morning or afternoon of whale watching. The season is just beginning too. Oh well, next time!

Pathway down to the river

Beautiful little pool.

I have left the car hooked up so that I can get an early start tomorrow, as I will be driving a record long distance for me while towing the van – approx 400km. Not much with just a car but quite enough for me with the concentration required while towing. Hopefully the weather will cooperate, although rain is predicted.

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On the Road Soon!

Posted on June 9, 2013 by nilocrol

Back to blogwork!

Since I arrived at Mum’s for Mothers Day I have been busy preparing the car and van for the Around Oz Trip. For those interested here is a brief list of work done on both. I will not include prices – one person being shocked is enough!

 VAN

Brake & bearing service

Replace two brake magnets

Replace Battery (gel matt) 100 amp hrs

Adjust sticking awning arm

2x120W free-standing Solar Panels plus installed Voltage Gauge

CAR

Standard service

Oil

Diff oil

Upper ball joints replaced

Replace serpentine belt, drive belt tensioner and pulley

Wheel rotation and balance and alignment

Auto transmission service and flush

I will be departing Mum’s (Marcoola, on the sunny Sunshine Coast of Queensland), heading further north to visit my brother Russ, in Innisfail Queensland.

Monday will be pretty busy making final arrangements, and I also will be dropping in on a gymnastics friend from the 60’s, John Hargreaves and wife Di. They have travelled up from Tasmania and are staying at Noosa for a week – nice and close to my Mum’s place.

Then the final stowing check list for car and van, and off Tuesday morning.

It has been wonderful visiting with Mum for a month, and will be a bitter-sweet departure. I am so looking forward to getting on the road again, finding out what interesting sights lie around each corner of this great country, yet it means I won’t see Mum for a year or so. It will be tough.

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On To Toowoomba

Posted on May 10, 2013 by nilocrol

May 8, 2013 Lightning Ridge – Goondiwindi

Followed the Castlereagh Highway  north towards the border when I had my worst road experience yet. It is a very quiet part of the highway with very few cars, yet in this instance a car had come up behind me very quickly; I was turning a corner doing my usual 90kph when I suddenly come across a dead kangaroo in the middle of my lane. Usually no big deal – a gentle swerve into the other lane and roo negotiated – but fate put a car coming in the opposite direction to pass me right where the kangaroo was lying. I can’t go off the highway to the left because it drops off significantly; I can’t slam on the brakes else the car behind me will likely plow into the back of my caravan, so I grit my teeth, grip the wheel as hard as I can, and drive over the kangaroo. There was an almighty BANG!!! as the front underneath of my car hits it, then bang, bang as it rolls under the car, then another big bang as it hits the tow bar which is the lowest part of the rig. I don’t know what happened to the car behind me – he must have been surprised as hell to see a kangaroo coming out from under my caravan!! It was a 4WD so he was probably high enough not to be bothered too much. A couple of kilometers away I crossed the Queensland border and finally was able to stop and check the damage. I drove the front wheels onto the caravan levelling ramps to get a better view of the damage. Nothing! The car has a solid, obviously very tough plastic shield running from front to halfway back under the car. This probably saved the day. The only dents I could see were on the muffler, and I don’t know when they occurred. So I breathed a sigh of relief and went into the Hebel General Store for a well-earned coffee. This store is a treasure! Walking its uneven wood board floor (with stainless steel patches here and there) to get to the counter at the back almost made me seasick, but it was worth the experience. The coffee was the best I had had in a long time, and the apple pie could not be resisted. Ice cream on top. Yum! On then to Goondiwindi (great Aussie name don’t you think?) via Dirranbandi (quaint little town but I didn’t stop) and St. George (had to get petrol there, but well worth the visit). Camped at Goondiwindi by a billabong, or lagoon, a lovely little spot,       although all caravans were set up close together in only one half of the campground. The managers were beginners at the job, but nevertheless, give us a break. It’s like being stuck too close to several other patrons in a good restaurant when the rest of the restaurant is empty. Why?

May 9, 2013 Goondiwindi – Toowoomba

Now that I have got that off my chest… I left again at 8:30, this time because I had not unhitched the car when I arrived at Goondiwindi. I filled the petrol tank and headed off along the Gore Highway towards my Queensland home town, Toowoomba, situated on the Great Dividing Range which runs down the eastern side of Australia. Toowoomba’s elevation is 700 metres which results in quite pleasant summer temperatures, although winters can get a little cool. Golfing at 4 degrees C early in the morning is not a fun experience, especially if the wind is up! It was an uneventful drive, punctuated by some pretty country around Milmerran where there are a number of horse studs in truly beautiful settings. This was a stop start drive as there were numerous road works attempting to improve the highway following several floods over the past three years. Finally entered Toowoomba and found one of three campgrounds in the city. I chose mine due to its central location, as well as being a member of this caravan park chain, Top Tourist Parks, which means 10% off. Every cent counts, especially since I have not been on the road long enough to be able to set up a reasonably accurate budget. I look forward to seeing a few friends here, and definitely stopping off at the Allstars Gymnastics centre where I used to volunteer coach. On Sunday 12th, Mothers Day, I will head east to Marcoola, on the Sunshine Coast where my mother lives. Good timing or what!? I will be there for about 3 weeks, where I will have my car and caravan serviced before I begin my Big Lap Of Australia so I will put the blog on hold until then. “Til we meet again!

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On the Ridge Again

Posted on May 8, 2013 by nilocrol

May 7, 2013

Lightning Ridge

Fauna count: Only miners driving their old jalopies at 150kph along corrugated dirt tracks…and leaving me in their dust while I’m doing 10kph!    Animals!!!

I had been to the Visitor Centre yesterday to get them to help me map out a plan for today. They were excellent, as I guess they should be. For a whole dollar (Australian!) I had a map showing four self guided trips to different opal mining areas. There are four separate tours, all on dirt tracks of varying quality – from bad to bloody terrible. But I’m speaking like a wimpy Ford owner. If I drove a Toyota Landcruiser I would be racing the miners.

This is good – the four trips are designated Red, Blue, Green and Yellow Car Door. So you follow the map and turn off the paved road at one of the painted car doors, yes, real old car doors, and follow the signs. Car doors even direct you onto the correct track at each fork so even I didn’t get lost.

When I checked in to the camp ground I asked the desk clerk what things I should be doing during the day and a half I had available. She said to definitely do the Black Hand Mine Tour, and it just so happened that Trevor, one of the owners of this tourist site was in the office. He pipes up that I just can’t miss this tour, so I introduce myself and tell him I will be there. So my first self guided tour today is the Yellow Car Door, at the end of which is the Black Hand mine. I park the car amidst a bunch of mine tailings, wander over – nobody around, and walk into the front door. A voice comes up  on the intercom asking if I want to come down and if so find a hard hat that fits and read the directions. I followed orders, went down, down, down about 50 steps into the ground, and came upon a group that had been picked up by the tourist van and had just arrived, so I paid my money and joined up with them. First is the gathering area where you pay, then look at all of the beautiful opals for sale. Next we meet Ron, an English guy who dug the mine in the 60’s (down to 15 metres for the first level, and later down to 22 metres to the second level, removing 2500 cubic metres of sandstone and clay for the first level alone!), and then his artistic talents came to the fore. I will leave the photographs to do the talking, but there are over 500 sculptures and paintings on this level!  An incredible sight which must not be missed if you get half a chance. After a short talk by Ron we get to wander around this amazing set of galleries by ourselves.

After this is finished we are taken down to the second level which is set up just like an opal mine, with an opal miner giving a short talk but mostly answering questions.

When the tour had finished I drove further along the Yellow Car Door road to the open cut mine, which is 25 metres deep and covers a huge area.

The second tour that I took was the Green Car Tour, which takes you to Nettleton’s first shaft, sunk in 1902/03, and gives a magnificent view looking NW to the Corcoran opal fields, another series of opal mines in the general Lightning Ridge area. There were many many disused and blocked shafts in this area, along with a now decaying house made out of beer cans…only in Lightning Ridge!

When viewing opals at a variety of places, ranging from $50 through to $50,000, it is easy to see the magic and the beauty of the opal which drew so many people from all parts of the world to Australia’s opal fields. Even now the majority of Lightning Ridge’s population still live on the opal fields, most mining, some operating tourist operations, and some just simply living.

In the afternoon I did the red and blue tours, but didn’t stop at any of the attractions.

After arriving back at the caravan park all hot and dusty, I packed my swimming stuff and went to the local swimming pool for some laps. The pool is only about two years old and in immaculate condition. I have not seen water so clear in any pool anywhere.

Back to the park for dinner, and then walked over to the camp kitchen where Willie (not Nelson) and Jo were. Yes, that’s the duo’s name! It was a great atmosphere with a roaring campfire going, and Willie and his wife singing out of the back of their truck…and they had all of us in the palm of their hand. A wonderful, entertaining, warm evening under a blanket of stars.

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Nobody Should Miss Lightning Ridge

Posted on May 6, 2013 by nilocrol

May 6, 2013

Bourke – Lightning Ridge

Record!!  Departed at 8:15am from Bourke. An outstanding effort even if nobody but me gives a damn. Do you want to know why it was such a fine effort? No? Well I don’t give a damn either. Here is why:

Departing checklist:

Van interior

Get dressed

Make bed

Sweep floor

Put maps etc etc in car

Make travelling lunch

Stow all kitchen stuff

Turn interior lights off

Check all cupboards locked (37)

Safely stow fridge contents; lock fridge

Turn fridge from mains power to 12v travelling power

Radio under pillow

Microwave stowed for travel

Windows closed and locked.

Awning rolled up to travelling position

Roof lowered

Van exterior

Water hose and fittings stowed

Grey water bucket emptied and cleaned; stowed

Propane bottle turned off

Window outer covers closed and locked

Power cord stowed

Stabilisers wound to up position

Mats and step stowed

Front door locked

Wheel leveller, wheel chocks removed, stowed

Lock door

Hook-up to car

Raise van draw bar with jockey wheel

Back car up to draw bar

Lower draw bar onto tow ball

Stow jockey wheel

Attach safety chains

Attach electrical connections

Attach weight distribution bars (4)

Check van running lights, stop lights. flashers

Hook Engel fridge to 12v plug in car’s boot (trunk)

Set up GPS system for destination

Check van’s brakes as I leave

Hit the Highway!

I’m on the Kamilaroi Highway, again a narrow two lane highway with no shoulder – 110km/hr. I sometimes wonder! And on top of this, where they have recently done roadwork, but have not yet lined the road, the sign says “No lines – overtake when safe”. Now I don’t know about you but I have a tendency to overtake (the two times I have done so on this trip) when it’s safe even when there are lines marked on the road. Call me silly but why not a sign saying “Take care – no road lines” ??

Today’s fauna count:

Emus: 97 (biggest flock – 22; almost drove off the road counting them)

Wedgetail eagles: 43 (biggest flock 15 feeding on a dead sheep roadside)

Kangaroos: 4 (but real big ones so maybe it should be 8!)

Wild goats: 6 (they were pretty scrawny so I will knock their numbers down to 4). So an interesting day for fauna, with emus easily winning the count.

Some further casual observations – Crossed the Barwon River 5 or 6 times. It must meander like a drunken snake but at least I was finally seeing some water under the bridges. From before Bourke all the way to Walgett (4/5 of the way to Lightning Ridge) were many huge flat cotton farms. They are irrigated using water from the Great Artesian Basin, a huge, humungous (adjectives, I need more adjectives) underground lake, hundreds of metres below the surface, that covers about 1/3 of Australia. The cotton has just been picked (slaves not needed in these parts) as the fields are empty and I passed so many huge trucks carting cotton bales, each cylindrical bale about the size of a small house.

Remember I mentioned Walgett? Some interesting trivia from the information centre brochure. I will paraphrase it for your reading comfort.

“Mr Frederick York Wolseley invented the world’s first (sheep) shearing machine, perfecting the power driven mobile machine shearing device in 1885 in…Walgett. In 1888 Dunlop Station, near Bourke…was the first property in the world to attempt a complete shearing by machine – 184,000 sheep were shorn…In  1889 Wolsely …went to England where he formed  the Wolsely Machine Shearing Co. He …arranged for a brilliant engineer, Herbert Austin to take over his Birmingham plant. In 1894 Wolsely…resigned…and Herbert Austin took over. The following year Austin invented a motor car, which he named the Wolseley in honour of his former boss.”  So there!

I checked in to the Opal Caravan Park in Lightning Ridge, a town centred around the opal mining industry, which has been operating since 1901. Lightning Ridge is famous for its prized black opals, which are not really black; they have red, blue and green “flashing” colours on a dark background. A one centimetre black opal could cost up to $1000, and that’s Australian dollars!

This is a first. The campground offers the use of a drill t help with tent pegs. If the ground is so hard, I have a lot more respect for the miners of old who used pick and shovel to dig narrow shafts anywhere from 5 to 15 metres down.

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One Show Worth Watching

Posted on May 5, 2013 by nilocrol

May 5, 2013

Bourke

An easy day today.

I had heard about The Back O’ Bourke Outback Show so paid my $$’s and fronted up with 25 other intrepid souls to watch. And in an instant we were entranced. His name is Luke Thomas, and if you google his name he is not the famous(?) Welsh Chef, nor is he the journalist covering Mixed Martial Arts, or the UK composer of weird music. He is Luke Thomas, dinkum Aussie country showman with a troupe of 20 animal performers: bullock teams, clydesdales, camels, sheep dogs and performing horses, one with the most piercing eyes of any animal I have seen.

Check out the eyes. Creeeeepy!

His theme is transport of yesteryear and with his constant chatter as he works with his animals, interjected by a joke every 20 seconds or so, he had his audience as well as his animals in the palm of his hand. His horse which rang a hand bell to start the show, the camel that never stopped bellowing in camel language during his entire act, the dogs that, when let loose ran full pelt for 300 metres to start rounding up eight bullocks in order to bring them into the arena for their act, and the highlight in my opinion – Luke reciting an Aussie outback poem for the entire duration of harnessing his team of 8 bullocks. Worth the admittance fee alone!

The poem!

Leaders of the team – 2400kg between them.

After the show with one of Luke’s mates.

After the show we just didn’t want to leave, asking him question after question, and his humour didn’t stop with the finish of the show. I asked him how he moves his bullocks, up to 1300kg, from show to show. “I’m sponsored by Goodyear, and they haul them up with the blimp and ship them anywhere I want” was his instant answer.

I had a coffee at the restaurant overlooking Luke’s performance arena, and spoke to a couple from Inverloch, Victoria, who came to join me at my table. In half an hour we covered just about every travel topic under the sun; I walked away rejuvenated by those interesting 70 year old youngsters!

I then went to see the local wharf which stands way above the Darling River.

The Darling from the wharf – it has several different levels .

They have a 100 year old English Crossley diesel engine there which is started up at 12 noon every day. Unfortunately I missed it. It is huge.

I spent an easy afternoon driving around town taking a few pictures, shopping for milk and bananas at the IGA gaol, then returned to the caravan park to play chicken with the electric fence.

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Not Just Bad…the Worst Coffee Ever

Posted on May 5, 2013 by nilocrol

May 4, 2013

Cobar – Bourke

Didn’t have to get up too early this morning as I was already hitched up and I only have 161km to drive today.
It is going to be a beautiful day, already warm when I got up which is rare for the interior at this time of the year. When I had backed up into my site the day before the hitch had bottomed out, and when I left it bottomed out again. I didn’t think too much about it – it can be quite a common event when towing with a car, although it had only happened to me once before, leaving a service station.
Before leaving I decided to go into town to pick up some coffee at a cafe recommended by the caravan park people. The Twisted Sisters justifies its name – two lovely ladies with all the trimmings – tongue thingy, nose thingy, tattoos here and there, and funny people. I commented on the huge array of teapots on a high shelf. One said with some disdain that they had put two plain teapots up there and from then on people thought they were collecting them. Now they have about twenty, but their beef was that if people donate them they should also come in regularly to clean their donation! Also, hung on the wall is a piece of “art” titled “our First Attempt at Modern Art”. It was a dishwasher tray with various pieces of cutlery stuck to a melted plastic cutlery holder, then either spray painted black, or black because it had caught fire in the dishwasher. I didn’t ask!
BTW their coffee was the very worst I have ever tried drinking. I gave up after half a dozen sips and tossed it at the first road stop. But entertainment value was 10/10!
I’m heading north today to Bourke, north central NSW, which on the east coast is level with Grafton, northern NSW. All that means is that I’m heading to warmer northern climates as winter threatens. The plan is working! The highway is The Kidman Way, nothing to do with Nicole Kidman you movie buffs! It’s named after a cattle baron of the late 1800’s.
Fauna count:
Wild goats – 3
Emus – 0
Kangaroos – 0
Wedgetails – 5
So all in all a pretty boring time fauna-wise, although the road (on the map a secondary highway) was in excellent condition. Another NSW thing – 110km/hr on a two lane highway with no shoulder. Just crazy, but rarely do you see cars doing 110 which is nice. I sit on my 90km/hr and get passed by everybody which helps their egos, so I feel good.
Met a couple and their rickety 16 year old mini poodle at the road stop where I tossed my undrinkable coffee. “Can’t beat instant coffee” said Mrs, waving her coffee mug at me. They live in their van full time after selling their house to their son, and are totally self sufficient, mainly because of the three solar panels on the roof, two 80’s and a 120 (watts that is). Pretty impressive – they can free camp forever, apart from replacing water and food. They even have two TV’s! They had started their first round Australia trip but a family member is quite ill so they have put it on hold until next year, and are now on their way back to their home town, Emerald, Queensland.
Arrived just after noon at Mitchell Caravan Park in Bourke. The manager came out and Directed me in – right hand down, left hand down a bit etc etc. I felt like a novice the way he was doing it but I was positioned on my site in seconds. I am very confident with my backing skills but when backing in you always have a blind side so I have to keep getting out to check both the blind side as well as distance.
When setting up you have to unhook the two electrical plugs and safety chains. I found I could not undo one of the D-shackles which attach the chain to the car. I realised that when I had bottomed out in Cobar it must have hit the D-shackle. A bit of a workout with the locking pliers finally got it loose. I was relieved to find that I could screw the bolt back in again by hand so all is good.
I had a quick lunch , then headed out to the visitors information centre. They were very helpful and also have a world class…ok, national class exhibition centre on site. It consists of Building 1 – introductory video presention; Building 2 – early explorers, the wool story, and the artesian basin; Building 3 – outback legends, transport and communication and conflict. I know all of this because I paid my $18 and experienced a quality learning experience! Building 4 is a restaurant but I didn’t need that at the time.
I did, though, need to stock up on groceries and beer (Liz!) and what an experience that was. The local supermarket (IGA) has a high fence, which is locked after hours, surrounding the carpark; the front door, as with most other businesses is a roll-down shutter system. But get this – there is a liquor store directly attached to the supermarket, which is common in NSW and Victoria; very civilised. Now, you walk in but can’t get to the liquor. You are caged in and the clerk has to walk around and collect what you request. So I’m squinting through the cage trying to read the beers that are on sale, and the wines that are available. It reminded me of the early 70’s in Edmonton, Alberta where you had to fill out an ALCB form listing the liquor you wanted, and the clerk would bring it back from a storeroom for you. At least I could see the stuff they were selling here in the Bourke IGA! Back to the security system. Again, there is a strong aboriginal presence in Bourke, and their few bad apples cause the entire business district having to not shut down, but shutter down at the end of the work day.

Oh yes, the high fence surrounding our caravan park is, yes, electrified!

• Electric fence behind my van – good for BBQing sausages.The sign does say ‘Electric Fence’!

And the high school has a high fence totally surrounding it.

But to finish on a positive note Bourke has the prettiest old post office I have seen in a long time.

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Nothing but Highway

Posted on May 3, 2013 by nilocrol

May 1-2, 2013

Broken Hill – Wilcannia – Cobar

Barrier Highway
Left the Broken Hill caravan park and did my usual thing – turned the wrong way. All my life  I have had this tendency to turn the wrong way out of car parks, petrol stations etc. When I used to drive my university gymnasts to competitions I found out later that they were taking bets on which way I would turn onto the highway after filling the van with petrol.
So after rectifying this little matter I was now heading the correct way – east on a lovely sunny but cool morning.
The countryside was dry as a bone, with grassland and low scrubland most of the way. The highway was almost fun to drive though, as I was counting:
Wild goats – 32
Emus – 21
Wedgetail eagles – 6
Kangaroos – 0

Arrived at Wilcannia around 1:30. Not an impressive town at all; very rundown, and pretty well all aborigines. Now this is not a bad thing of course, but when filling up with petrol I felt a distinct hostility from the local youth hanging around. I paid and thought seriously of travelling on, but decided to check out the campground. I’m glad I did as it was beautifully set on the Darling River, and despite its pretty basic amenities I had power and water for only $15! The manager even came around to collect fees – a friendlier manager you couldn’t find. That night the van got down to 4 Celcius. I had trouble getting out of bed the next morning, but get out I did and I was on the road by 8:30am.

Barrier Highway (cont)
The countryside now was changing over the mornings drive from sparse trees to quite heavily treed country. There were some pretty views from elevated sections of the road, especially the MacCulloch Range.
Again I was counting:
Wild goats: 92
Emus: 2
Kangaroos: 0
Wedgetails: 4
Foxes: 1
Crows: 5,698

Also, over both days of driving I crossed probably 50-60 creeks, all dry. It is hard to imagine animals living in such dry conditions. The only running water I saw was the Darling River at Wilcannia.
I arrived at the lovely Cobar Caravan Park at 12:30. For the first time I was able to swing a deal as a single – from $35 to $25. Not bad.
I left the car hitched up as I will leave the next morning. After setting up and having lunch, for some reason I felt dead tired so I hit the bed, and woke up 3 hours later. I couldn’t even blame it on having a couple of beers because I have run out. Beer run  tomorrow at Bourke. Anyway, I guess I needed it,  and looking at it from the positive side it fortified me, enabling me to catch up with my blogging…and I know how my thousands of readers are hanging on my every word 🙂

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On two hills in one day

Posted on May 3, 2013 by nilocrol

May 1, 2013

Broken Hill

More touristy stuff.  10am we are to meet at the Visitors Centre for a two hour guided walk. Our guide was Margot White, 50ish, whose father had been a miner. What a wealth of information! In fact, for a walking tour there was too much talking and not enough walking! She had so much information to impart in so little time. There was a cool wind blowing and for some reason Margot would choose a shady spot to stop and talk. I could easily have sat in a lecture theatre and listened to Margot for two hours, she is so interesting.

Barabar

Her main topics were of course the B.H. mining history and the importance of a mining union, especially  in a small town, a history of the water supply to a city without a river, and a history of the rail system which was absolutely necessary to ship(?) the massive amounts of ore to the coast, ultimately Port Pirie near Adelaide.

Things most people don’t know, according to Margot:

By partially damming the Menindie Lakes south east of Broken Hill a constant water supply was guaranteed, and also flora and bird life continue to flourish in the Menindie Lakes again due to the relatively constant water level.

1919 saw an 18 month strike by the miners against BHP for better conditions. For example, although many miners were deathly ill from lead dust in the mines, BHP’s policy was no work, no pay. Also, although a shift was 8 hours long, there was no break, not even for lunch. If a miner was found snacking on the job, instant dismissal.

In 1942 after Darwin was attacked by the Japanese, the fear was that they might overrun the east coast of Australia. So Australia’s gold bullion, all of it, was shipped(?) by train to Broken Hill and kept in the gaol. It was the only active gaol with no prisoners!

The emergency plan if the Japanese were heading for Broken Hill was to dump it down      a deep mine shaft and blow it up to cover it over.

4. On New Years Day 1915  a picnic train  with 1200 travellers in open trucks was fired   upon by two Turkish sympathisers, killing four and wounding seven – the first act of war on Australian territory, as they were flying the Turkish flag during the action.

All in all it was a highly informative morning.

New City Council building with original BHP owners

Old Council building detail

Lunch to replace calories lost through shivering, then a drive 8km north to the Broken Hill Sculptures and Living Desert Sanctuary. Note: this is not to be missed!

The sanctuary is a 24ha reserve established in 1992, and is managed by the Broken Hill City Council.

The flora trail houses all sorts of native trees, shrubs and grasses, and a relatively short loop walk is required. A variety of magnificent views ambush you as you turn each corner.

A second and much longer loop is the cultural/fauna trail. It is enclosed by an electrified fence to keep the tourists in…no,no!…to keep out predators such as foxes and feral cats. No luck keeping out aerial predators though. Along the trail there is a viewing hide mainly for kangaroos, then a simulated aboriginal “Yapara” or camp area with several impressive looking lean-to’s.Then some aboriginal story poles carved by aboriginal students, a scenic lookout at the highest point of the trail, where I finally saw some kangaroos on the way up (me, not the kangaroos), then on the way down was a prospectors mine, hewn through solid rock. It is caged over and water has seeped into it now. Next was a quartz “quarry” at which aboriginals flung hard rocks in order to flake off sharp tools for later use as cutting implements and for spear heads.

Quartz “quarry”

The last section of the hike, when the sun was low in the sky I finally saw about a dozen kangaroos feeding together. I moved very slowly and managed to get reasonably close to a couple of brave souls. Most were very skittish though.

I see you!

The Broken Hill Sculptures were well worth the trip. I think I would have walked there from Broken Hill if necessary. They were sculpted by 12 international sculptors at the Broken Hill Sculpture Symposium in 1993 at the top of Sundown Hill, and during the process over several months received national, the international coverage. The huge sandstone blocks had to be carted in to the area and up to the top of this isolated hill in very difficult terrain. The artists came from Mexico, Bathurst Island, Georgia, Syria, U.K. and Australia. They lived on the hill for the duration of their work, sleeping in tents and relying on our State Emergency Service for food and water. The results are astounding, and I was fortunate to have late sunlight turning the  gold sandstone a beautiful red-orange colour.

Jumber Jikiya, Rustavi Georgia, Horse

Gordon Pupangamirri, Tiwi, Bathurst Island, Tiwi Totems

Thomas Munkanome, Tiwi Bathurst Island, Thmasina (Jillarruwi-The Ibis)

Badger Bates, Broken Hill Australia, Nhatji (Rainbow Servant)

Lawrence Beck, Australia, A present for Fred Hollows in the Afterlife

Valerian Jikiya, Rustiva Georgia, Angels of the Sun and the Moon

Antonio Nava Tirado, Mexioco, Under the Jaguar Sun

Dr Ahmad Al Ahmad, Syria, Habitat

Conrad Clark, UK, Moon Goddess

Dr Mahomad Mira, Australia, The Bride

Badri Salushia, Tbilisi Georgia, Motherhood

Eduado Nasta Luna, Mexico, Facing the Day and the Night

I had walked five or six km that day, up hill and down dale.  It was exercise long overdue, so I slept well that night.

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On Top of the Mullock Heap

Posted on May 1, 2013 by nilocrol

30th April, 2013

Broken Hill

Had a touristy day today. First things first, I wanted to discover the practicalities of mining for lead, silver and nickel in Broken Hill. What better place than White’s Mineral Art & Living Mining Museum. Bushy White is the owner, and what an interesting place he has built up. He was a miner for 26 years, and has nothing good to say about the present day miners who he says are lazy and bored to death down in the mines, as mechanization has taken the hard work out of mining. He has set up his place to replicate an old mine with timber supports every 2 metres. He has an amazing number of mining artifacts, and has made several models of underground mining sites, old and new. Simply astounding and so educational. I was fortunate to have caught Bushy giving a talk to a group of students from Sydney, so I was able to get a much better understanding of mining methods over the years. Best of all he used several of his models to help demonstrate his points. The deepest mine shaft is 1.5km. Draft horses were used in the mines until 1948; in order to fit them into the narrow “buckets” to take them down the shaft they lay them down, tied their legs and placed them on their backs. The same to take them back up seven days later. No matter how deep the mining goes, the ore is carried along to a downward sloping shaft where gravity takes over and it is then loaded into buckets in the shaft and lifted to the surface.

Old shaft mining system

Horses used in shaft mining

Diagram of newer mining methods

Bushy is also an artist, and has hundreds of excellent works of art on display, all made from natural minerals using their natural colours. Impressive!.

I then drove around the corner to the Mining and Minerals Museum. Its highlight is listed as The Silver Tree, a solid silver epergne (look that one up!) 66cm high, 41cm wide, weighing in at 8.5kg. It is a truly magnificent piece of art, and was crafted for the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880 by silversmith Henry Steiner. No photographs allowed though. Also showing at the museum was a video demonstrating the geological process resulting in the ore still being mined today in Broken Hill. The video began 2 billion years ago, or should I say the video explained how, from 2 billion years ago the geological process began, resulting in what finally became lead, silver and zinc. On display in other rooms were hundreds of examples of Broken Hill minerals, including a fabulous 42kg silver nugget. A number of these minerals are specific to Broken Hill alone, some having been discovered only several years ago.

Time for lunch so I headed up to the top of the “Line of Lode”, which is the approximately 250m wide, 7.5km long line that the ore was laid down millions of years ago. Much of the central part of “The Line” has been mined out, and all that is left is a huge mullock (tailings) heap which overlooks Broken Hill. On top of this mullock heap is a beautiful restaurant inside and outside – the Broken Earth Restaurant – with a wonderful view of the city. It has to be a world first for fine dining on a mullock heap!

Way up there

View south from restaurant

A hundred metres from the restaurant is the award winning designed Miners Memorial, which lists over 800 miners who lost their lives on the job. No wonder miners strikes are a major part of the history of Broken Hill. It was a powerful experience for me, particularly when almost immediately my eyes fixed on a miner who died…at 14 years of age. I list the following, as I was so affected by the causes of death of the Broken Hill miners: Fell down shaft, run over by truck, rock fall, “accident”, explosion, scalded, “died of injuries”, lead poisoning, dust on lungs, drowned in well, caught by flywheel, suffocated, entombed – rock fall, caught in belting, electrocuted. And it went on and on, with the most recent death in 2007 – “remote controlled loader accident”. The descriptions are worded in an achingly terse manner, yet I guess this would probably be appropriate for what were in almost all cases, horrible deaths.

Miners Memorial – Award winning design

Over 800 deaths

Fourteen Years

I still had some time left so I headed down the mullock heap and over to the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery, founded in 1904. This superb gallery received its initial donation from one of the original “directors” of BHP, add since then mining companies, city council, and individuals have followed his example ever since. I am told there are more art galleries than pubs in this art loving city, although I find that hard to believe. It seems like there is a pub on at least two corners of each intersection of the city area!

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North to the Silver City

Posted on April 30, 2013 by nilocrol

29 April, 2013

It was raining lightly when I packed up this morning, and continued to rain as I headed up to Wentworth, 30 minutes drive NW of Mildura. It is on the way to Broken Hill, where I am headed today, and I wanted to see the confluence of the Darling River, coming down from the north, and the Murray River which flows to the west. Also very close to that point is a weir on the Murray, one of many along the river which help to keep the river artificially high for irrigation purposes, and in the process aid in decreasing the potential severity of floods. At the weir is a lock which enables small and large craft to navigate the weir. During all of this it was raining lightly so on with the rain jacket for the first time.

Weir

Entrance/exit to lock

Lock with two rivers joining in background

Wentworth is in New South Wales so I have to reset my HEMA GPS unit from Victoria to NSW. Didn’t  have to call them this time!

On to Broken Hill, a different name for a city. I assumed it was because this has been a mining town since 1883 and the “broke” a hill to get at the ore. No. As I later discovered, it was simply because the early pastoralists in that area saw a series of hills in the distance as having a jagged broken outline. Too simple! That series of broken hills no longer exist, having been mined away.

The highway was long and boring with only a couple of rest stops along the 264km. The roadside was heavily littered with bottles and cans – people know there are few places to stop, not even one shop or petrol station the entire trip from Wentworth. No excuse, but no surprise.

Boring, littered Silver City Highway alleviated by interesting clouds

I drove into the Broken Hill Caravan Park around 2:30pm, only to find out the time was 2pm. Although situated in New South Wales, Broken Hill observes South Australia time. Why? Sydney, the capital of NSW lies 1100km away; Adelaide, South Australia’s capital, lies just 500km to the south west. Broken Hill is less than 50km from the South Australian border.

Broken Hill’s population is 21,000, although with the heavy labour demand in the mining sector prior to today’s highly mechanized system, the city’s population was over 30,000 people in 1930. Tourism is a major tourist destination, as evidenced by the full caravan parks. 4×4 adventurers use Broken Hill as  a springboard for exploring the outback, disappearing in a cloud of dust to all points of the compass. The 120 years of mining history here is intrinsically interesting and I look forward to learning more about it.

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On the road, further north and further west

Posted on April 29, 2013 by nilocrol

Hello again!

As I mentioned, I was to spend a week in Melbourne from April 10 to 18 catching up with friends and relatives in my home town.

I was able to see most of the people on my list, with a couple of must sees being out of town at the time. I will catch up on them in a year or so when I come around again!

Friday 19th I travelled up to Shepparton again to spend a little more time with my nieces Simone and Nicole, And Nicole’s partner John. I found Sim’s place with no trouble this time; practice makes perfect. Sim was to pick up her lovely and rambunctious dog Polly from the vet. She had been spayed and the hope was that she would slow down a little for a couple of days as a result. This did happen – she slowed down to about the activity level of a Jack Russell terrier. Polly is a black and tan kelpie, a truly Australian dog bred for working with sheep. I’m sure she could run all day if given the opportunity! Find out more about this wonderful dog at

http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/factsheets/Dogs/Australian-Working-Kelpie/338.

This was a busy time for Sim as on Saturday she had to rent a float to pick up a new horse – Ella, a white Arabian mare.

Ella – her first canter at her new home

Ella, a beautiful lady

Nicole and I accompanied her on this half day trip, and all were relieved that Ella travelled very well in the float. She took to her new surroundings with aplomb, and Simone was riding her the next day with a simple lambswool saddle (no stirrups either) while Nicole held a long lunge rope…just in case. Ella looked right at home with Simone on her back and it looks like Simone will get lots of riding in the near future.

Over the next couple of days we did the tourist thing with John being the pre-eminent tourist guide. I think I might have mentioned previously that he should be employed by the Victorian Government…maybe under secretary to the Minister of Tourism!

We visited the Shepparton Art Museum (S.A.M.) although I would have preferred it to be called the Shep Art Gallery (S.H.A.G).  OK, just joking Shep Council People! There was a magnificent exhibit of Chinese and Japanese prints from the 1700’s, brought in from an art gallery in Boston, U.S.A. As well I finally got to see the permanent exhibit of ‘Woman and Child’ by Sam Jinks. It was bought by S.A.M. for $76,000 and has more than made that up in entry fees alone. The artist’s hyper-real sculpture is stunning to see in the flesh, as that is what you see, the translucent thin flesh of the woman and the pink healthy flesh of the baby. See it at

http://museumoftheeccentric.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/woman-and-child-by-sam-jinks.html

We also visited the remains of one of many WW2 prisoner of war camps – Camp 13, which held captured German, Italian and Japanese prisoners. It is situated close to Murchison, Victoria, but way off the main highways.

“In memory of our fallen comrades”, built by the Germans during their internment

It was eerie to see concrete gaol,

machine gun bunker, concrete pads for kitchen and shower facilities, deep concreted underground drainage channels, and the road which ran around the entire huge circular complex. It is located on private property and one wonders if the land owners were compensated during the war.

We then visited the site of the Whroo gold mining area of the 1850’s. It is a ghost town now, with only an old church and an old visitor centre remaining. The best part was a walk down into a huge open cleft in the ground which had been blasted out, the a walk along a shaft which had also doubled as a train line to take the ore out the other end to be treated at the arsenic pits at the bottom of the other side of the hill.

Entrance to the main mine shaft, the only one open to the public

Nik, Col, Sim at Whroo, on Balaklava Hill gold mine

Ned Kelly was a bushranger in Victoria during the late 1880’s. He is well known by most Australians – some with disdain, others with reverence. He was famous for his iron armour used in a shootout with police near the town of Rushworth. We attended a kitschy, but memorable ‘Ned Kelly experience’ in Rushworth, then we found the cemetery in the tiny town of Greta where his remains were reburied last year by his descendants after having been discovered in an unmarked grave at the old Melbourne Gaol. To avoid desecration by crazies the bones, sans skull which has never been found, were encased in a cement block, and are buried in ONE of FIVE burial plots side by side, again to avoid desecration.

At entrance to Greta Cemetery

He’s in one of these, encased in concrete

Then on to Powers Lookout which is the site of the hideout another bushranger, Harry Power who had known the younger Ned Kelly. Power was a fearless and daring rider and bushman, but although claiming to have committed over 600 robberies never killed police or his victims. He broke from prison several times, defied the police in the Ovens district for a decade, and was finally convicted through an informer in 1870 – for $500.

The view of the King Valley from his hideout area is magnificent, as are the series of caves in which he lived for so long.

One of Harry Power’s caves

View from the caves – rough country!

Next, Paradise Falls, the highlight of my many tour stops. Very little water, but that was not important. What impressed was a huge pink coloured rock wall 150m wide and 70m high. It is so huge, and you come across it so suddenly that it assaults the senses. Photographs can not do it justice, but we tried anyway.

Wednesday 24th April

I said my goodbyes to Sim, Nik and John that morning, and headed off, north west to Swan Hill, on the Murray River which separates Victoria from New South Wales or vice versa, beginning its journey on the western slopes of the dividing range and running 3000km to the South Australian coast.

The trip along the Murray Valley Highway was through very dry country, despite the evidence of huge irrigation canals along most of the highway.  The caravan park in Swan Hill is situated on the banks of the Murray. The first paddle steamer heading out from the mouth of the Murray reached Swan Hill in 1853, proving that river commerce could be carried out successfully. Thus began a thriving paddle steamer enterprise al la the Mississippi River.

Thursday 25th April

Anzac day today (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps), remembering all of the members of the Australian and New Zealand armed forces who fought to allow us to enjoy way of life today.

http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.asp

I took an afternoon tour on a lovely paddle steamer, although diesel rather than steam driven. The captain had the dry laid back humour typical of rural Australia. If one listened carefully one might catch a quietly spoken joke every minute or so along with a very informative commentary. A perfect day, spent in a perfectly relaxing environment.

The Murray

My car and caravan behind tree at centre

Paddle wheels working hard

Friday 26th April

Continue north west still on the Murray Valley Highway. A weird combination of extremely arid countryside mixed with many oases of citrus groves and vineyards.

Mildura, my destination. A city of 60,000 with the surrounding agricultural area providing the great majority of our dried vine fruits and table grapes, as well as almonds and pistachios. Nuts to those who don’t believe that piece of trivia. Mildura, like Swan Hill, is situated on the Murray River, although my caravan park is at the other end of town. But I chose it because of their wi fi service. Crass, I know. But it is quite a nice shady park, nonetheless.

I have travelled a fair way north by now, so that I am almost at Sydney’s latitude. Sydneysiders mightn’t give a stuff about this but I have packed away my fleecy type garments, and shorts again are the name of the game. 28 Celcius seems to be what is ordered for this time of the year. Perfect, but where are my golf clubs? Oh yeah, in storage in Toowoomba.

Saturday 27th April

I have signed up for a day tour of Mungo National Park, 90 minutes drive north of Mildura.

http://www.murrayriver.com.au/river-towns/mungo-national-park/

The most commonly visited area is Lake Mungo, one of a series of dry lake beds. Lake Mungo is one of the smaller dry lakes at almost 200 square km. It is where Mungo man and Mungo woman were discovered in the 60’s. Carbon dating puts them at around 45,000 years old, and their remains were found amongst the combined clay and sand cliffs (lunettes) around the western side of the lake.

Our trip included a visit to the magnificent and highly informative visitor centre run by the local aborigines, a drive across the lake to the wind and water eroded lunettes followed by a guided walk where we saw evidence of a fire place 10,000 years old plus animal bones and shells of similar ages. As the sand and clay cliffs are constantly eroding, artifacts are continually being uncovered over the years. We then drove across the lake (sounds funny!) to a magnificent view of the entire lake, with lunettes at the far end.

So glad I took the tour to experience first hand ancient history and beauty of the first degree.

The drive in.

10,000 year old fireplace

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On board for a photofest

Posted on April 13, 2013 by nilocrol

For those fortunate few who view this blog on a Mac, the problem re right hand side text being cut off has been solved.

So to celebrate, here are some highlights from our Tidal River to Whisky Bay hike. Enjoy.

It be a wombat, not related to the flying bat.

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Northern Caravan Repair…Finally

Posted on April 12, 2013 by nilocrol

April 11, 2013

Woke at 6:30 – have to get the van to Northern Caravan Repair, 40+ minutes away to finally get the door fixed. The sooner I get there the sooner I can get back to Frankston again. I packed up in light rain, the first time that it has rained the entire trip so far during set-up or take-down. Touch wood!
I drove through heavy industrial area after heavy industrial area, along freeways and major roads, surrounded by trucks in front, behind and both sides. One feels a little insignificant next to them. So keep to the middle of my lane and don’t annoy them.
I found my repair centre quite easily – in Somerton, a far north west suburb of Melbourne. They are a pretty easy-going group of people, all smokers! I left the van on the street, and they said it would be ready after lunch. Does this mean just before dinner? I didn’t ask. I was hoping that I would be able to pick the van up early enough to miss the peak hour traffic.
It turned out ok as I received a call around 1:30 when I was on the way over to see how things were going. Good timing!
They had done a great job. The locking mechanism is now way better than when I picked up the van in Brisbane. They also fixed up a couple of small faults as well so things are a LOT better now.
The drive to Frankston was long in heavy traffic, but only one wrong turn is good…for me!
I backed up without Julie assisting – tough – and I am now back in a well known environment for a week.
I will be catching up on relatives and friends over the next week so I have decided to take a week off from the blog. I will continue after I get moving again.
So, take a rest folks, because I am!

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On Her Return To Canada

Posted on April 12, 2013 by nilocrol

April 10, 2013

Today Julie leaves for Canada. What a wonderful time we have had. We discovered that both of us had been very concerned about having to spend over three weeks in such a confined space. Would it work? Could it work? we found that keen travellers can coexist no matter what, and both of us are keen keen travellers.
Julie had packed the night before so we were not rushed or anxious, and the plan worked – we were only about 20 minutes from the airport. I still needed my GPS system though!
We said our goodbyes, Julie disappeared down the red carpet to start the departure process, and all of a sudden…I had one less passenger, one less set-up/take-down assistant, and one less companion. I guess I will be talking to myself a lot now!
I drove back to the campground, had a much-needed haircut ($10 for, surprisingly, a pretty good one), did some shopping, and then a lot of reorganizing of the caravan. I started my blogs after a little time off; I find it best to write my blogs on MSWord, edit any obvious faults, leave a ton of faults in so that others may learn from my mistakes, then paste them into my blog. This obviously saves time online when I use my personal hotspot on my iPhone to connect to the internet.
Dinner: Sri Lankan leftovers…highly recommended!

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Only Eat at Hop and Spice

Posted on April 12, 2013 by nilocrol

April 9, 2013

We packed up and headed, again, along the tollways and freeways, south of the City of Melbourne, across the huge West Gate Bridge built way back in the 60’s, and on to Ashley Gardens campground near the airport, situated in a combined industrial/residential area. It is a well appointed park with pool, excellent kitchen facilities, recreational area, and free internet, a rare occurrence!
We decided to go out for dinner, knowing that it would be a crapshoot in this area. I, yes, I chose from my iPhone list a Sri Lankan restaurant just down the road. Called Hop and Spice, we arrived to see a small shop-front restaurant …totally empty. I quickly jogged a short way down the street to check out an Indian restaurant, empty as well. Not a good sign. We went with our original decision and entered a slice of Sri Lanka. The one person of a two man cooking crew got up from his table and greeted us with a broad smile. My first question – BYO? His answer was in the positive so I went out to the car and brought in a nicely chilled white wine. No corkage fee…nice!
The food was astoundingly good. Spicy rice with chicken, prawn curry and chick pea curry. We could not fault it, and our meal was punctuated with oohs and ahhs! And there was enough for leftovers the next day, all for $29 total. I must write my commendations on their fb site. Please, if you are in the general area: hop to it to Hop and Spice. YWNBD. Okay…you will not be disappointed.

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On Old Piers

Posted on April 12, 2013 by nilocrol

April 7, 2013

Travelled from Kilcunda to the Frankston caravan park that we had started from March 14, 25 days ago. My how time flies.

April 8, 2013

We took a half day tour of the east side of Port Phillip Bay today – the Mornington Peninsula. I know it might sound repetitious and boring but it was another beautiful day. Remember, this is rare in Victoria. I grew up in Melbourne and we were never bored by the weather.

We drove the quick route via the freeway all the way down past the last town, Portsea, past the old quarantine station, as far as the road goes. If you wish to get to the very tip of Point Nepean, where exists Fort Nepean, a former defence facility protecting the narrow entrance to Port Phillip Bay, you must either hike in or take a bus – $10 for a pretty short trip. We decided not to. It would have been a great hike in but we did not have the time.

As was the case with Phillip Island, there is a sheltered side to the peninsula, and a surf beach side which can be really treacherous. We lost our 17th Prime Minister, Harold Holt who was a keen swimmer and snorkeller in these very waters, December 19, 1967. He had been in office less than two years. As with JFK, rumours continue to circulate.

We walked to the beach on the sheltered bay side and could see across the bay to Queenscliffe where we had begun our trip from Frankston. At this spot were the remnants of an old pier used to unload animals from ships in the 1800’s for quarantine. Settlers coming mainly from Great Britain oftem brought horses, cattle and sheep in order to assist them in beginning a new life in such a foreign environment.

We then took the “slow” route back north along the road following the bay. We passed so many beach-side towns which I remember from my childhood. I list these for my own pleasure, nobody else’s so feel free to ignore the following!

PortseaSorrentoBlairgowrieRyeRosebud(no sleds)McCraeDromanaSafety(?)Beach Mt Martha and up along the beautiful elevated drive to Mornington. Ahhh memories. The sun was getting low now that daylight savings has ended, and Julie got a wonderful shot from this elevated section of road.

The high road near Mornington

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Now Jump, Koala

Posted on April 12, 2013 by nilocrol

April 6, 2013

Another beautiful morning in Cowes and as the koala centre was across the road from our campground we packed up and headed 50 metres down the road, turned left, and we were there.
The Koala Conservation Centre, as with the Nobbies and the Fairy Penguins, has a magnificent interpretation centre, this one newly opened. The centre connects with elevated boardwalks allowing us to stroll amongst the eucalypts, cameras at the ready, to see close up koalas roaming within their natural habitat.
We saw 8-10 koalas at varying distances. There is only one male in the area as males tend to fight during the mating season, and can be severely injured.
We think of koalas as pretty slow, often motionless creatures (true) but they can be extremely agile as well. While photographing, just as I lowered my camera the male jumped about a metre to another branch. I had never seen anything like this and couldn’t believe my bad luck, as I had been following him with my camera for over 5 minutes. Never mind!

Before the jump

After the jump

It was a calm sunny morning, perfect for this activity. I would not like to be up in the trees on a wet windy day. I would leave that to the koalas.

Watch out for these

We then headed to Kilcunda, about 12 minutes drive off the island, past the lovely fishing village of San Remo. Our destination, Ocean View caravan Park. It was time to take a rest from the caravan so we took a small cabin for the evening. Though small, it seemed like a palace compared to the caravan. The park superintendent, Paul, was a true character. One question, “How did you finish up here?” elicited a monologue which though l-o-n-g was as interesting as it was long. He had been a brickie (bricklayer) then worked in a bank for seven years (couldn’t get a word in edgeways to discover how they were related) then he and his wife decided to travel around Australia via caravan. At Alice Springs after much persuading over a long period of time he relented (couldn’t refuse the free camping fees and huge salary) and did some much needed brick work at the local campground. He stayed there for quite a while, then headed for Darwin. They then took a holiday from their holiday and went to Vietnam and Cambodia, mentioning that Angkor Wat had to be in the top three highlights of his many travels overseas.He then proceded to explain how he had been ripped off by the desk clerk at a 5-star hotel in Cairo. Not impressed with Egypt as a result! Now, come to think of it, he never got around to answering the original question. But we were totally entertained for half an hour anyway. The perfect caravan park super!

We walked down the stairs to a beautiful rocky outcrop, showing because of the low tide. Although it was a surf beach the waves were miniscule as it had been so calm for many days.

Ahh, the life

That evening we went to a restaurant back on the island – the Shearwater. It had great views of cliffs and ocean, and an impressive menu. Julie’s seafood curry – not so hot in both ways. My filet steak – magnificent, and perfectly done, after a so-so beginning having to return my glass of wine as it pretty much undrinkable. We spent much of the evening discussing the many ways we thought the restaurant could have improved on its location, but kept our thoughts to ourselves. It was a beautiful sunset evening, set off by smoke rising vertically from a huge bushfire somewhere to the north. It looked more like the result of a nuclear blast rather than a bushfire, but we assumed the bushfire. I probably wouldn’t be writing this if it had been nuclear related.

What is it?

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Nobbies and Fairy Penguins

Posted on April 12, 2013 by nilocrol

April 5, 2013

Wile Julie did the long overdue laundry I attempted to find out the who when and where of caravan door lock repairs. I did some searching on the iPhone (it has been invaluable on this trip so far) and found several possibilities. All of them seem to be in the north west of Melbourne. First I called the Melbourne rep for my make of caravan – Regent. He put me on to a caravan repair company – Northern Caravan Repair. I spoke to Robert who said they would be able to do and asked if I could email some pics of the damage. Where do you start. I had a zip tie bag full of broken and not so broken bits and pieces so sent pics of some of the larger pieces plus various shots of the luckless lockless door. I told them I would be in the area on April 11th, and asked if the job could be done on the day. No worries was the typical Aussie reply.
That afternoon we took a trip to The Nobbies, the south western tip of Phillip Island. On the way we drove past the Phillip Island circuit which holds the International Motorcycle Grand Prix each October. Damn, just missed out.

The Nobbies is/are a huge rock that has resulted from erosion from waves and wind. It is quite close to the penguin parade down the beach, and quite a few penguins have their roosts on the mainland at the Nobbies. We took a walk along a boardwalk which gives a variety of views of the Nobbies and the very rocky coastline running for kilometres to the east, then toured the impressive interpretive centre afterwards.
Back to Cowes and dinner outdoors at Gullivers. It had to be fish ‘n chips at this part of the world. The fish was as fresh as you could want, and he beer was not too bad either.
Now on to the penguins. We had to be seated well before the parade so that they would not be disturbed. The first few that come waddling out of the water are pretty careful, seemingly checking out the place for hidden dangers. As the penguins have grown up with humans watching them for many many of their generations, they take no notice of us. They usually stop to preen themselves (I guess like we like to wash off salt water after swimming in the ocean) before heading onwards and upwards to their little burrows. The smart ones (or older ones?) have their burrows close to the shore. The others have to waddle up to several hundred metres to get to their little burrows. At this time of the year there are still some youngsters crying fish! fish! Well we assumed that anyway. It is amazing how these little penguins, 10 inches small at most, are able to find their nest out of thousands and thousands of nests. I wonder what happens when a penguin dies. Can it set up a will to provide accommodation for its offspring?
Towards the end we could walk back along the boardwalk to the penguin interpretive centre, following little waddlers all the way up. Again, they take no notice of us even though we might be as close as a metre or so.
They are adorable, and very impressive, memorable little creatures. A must do for anybody heading to Phillip Island. No cameras allowed so no pictorial record of this evening’s events.

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No…”Never mind”.

Posted on April 12, 2013 by nilocrol

April 4, 2013

We pack up the van this morning with one extra task – duct tape around the door so the door would not fly open when we were on the open road. Yes, I come prepared – duct tape and WD40. Oh yes, and a hammer in case the WD40 isn’t quite doing the job. I stopped a few times on our way out of The Prom to check the door. Silly I know, who has ever heard of duct tape failing.
I also called my caravan insurer to see what I could get out of them to have the door fixed. Nought. Nothing. Has to be an accident. As I had to break the door locks to get out it’s not an accident. In retrospect I should have told our saviours who helped get us out of the van to kick the door in and run. My insurance would then have covered me. Oh well, I hear everybody giving me the Gilda Radner “Never mind”!
We are on the way to Cowes, Phillip Island. Phillip Island is about 140km south east of Melbourne, and was named after the first Governor of New South Wales, Arthur Phillip.
We stopped for a coffee at Inverloch (now there’s a Scottish name if ever). Coffee was pretty awful, starting with the scalded milk. We seem to have started a bad run as our coffee at Tidal River was the weakest of the weak. With eyes closed we might well not have picked it for coffee at all.
But we did have a good experience at the Inverloch Visitors Centre. A brilliant solution for a small town, encompassing visitor centre, library, community hall, sports centre, and a maternal/child health care centre, all under the on roof. The people were very helpful, friendly and informative. We bought tickets to the Fairy Penguin parade which occurs every evening just after dark, when they come ashore after spending one, two three or more days out catching their breakfast, lunch and supper.
Enough about penguins though; we booked into the A Maze ‘N Things campground in Cowes. Needless to say they have a maze. I didn’t try it – I can get lost in my car. The campground was smallish and quiet now that Easter had come and gone. A first for us – a huge wood stove pizza oven that had to be booked a day ahead in order to fire it up. I think it would hold the world record for pizza cooking speed by its size. We didn’t try it as it was too late to book it the first evening and we were to see the penguins the second evening. Maybe next time. That afternoon we toured the Cowes Pier, did some grocery shopping and had our own gas griller pizza instead. Not bad either – thanks Julie.

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One Day: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Posted on April 9, 2013 by nilocrol

April 3, 2013

After some cold blustery weather yesterday on our arrival at Tidal River, we awoke to a magnificent sunny warm day. We had decided to do a long hike today and the weather was cooperating. The Prom as everybody calls it is a hiker’s paradise, with choices of 15-20 day hikes, and many two to four day hikes to choose from. We chose a 12km out and back hike along the coast north of Tidal River via Squeaky Beach, Picnic Beach and Whisky Beach.

The views continued to astound us as we turned each corner to see views of magnificent beaches,

rocky outcrops,

and stunning island views.

The further we went the less we saw of other hikers which was motivation in itself to keep walking, although the constantly changing views were the biggest motivator.
Although out-and-back hikes can be boring on the return trip, this was not the case as the lowering sun was providing much richer light for photography later in the afternoon.

We arrived back at the campsite quite late in the afternoon. A cool beer was the first step on returning followed by dinner of soup, Greek salad and crusty bread. Dinner had been laid out on the table when Julie said she could not open the caravan door to go to the amenities block. I got up to show her how to jiggle the door handle a little…no luck. We were locked in our own caravan! I had a screwdriver in the van which I used to attempt to open the locking mechanism, which locks in three places – middle, top and bottom of the door. No go. After about 30 minutes or more of unsuccessful attempts to get the door open I decided that we needed somebody to help from outside. I looked out of the front window for ages until a young couple came along with a flashlight. I called out to ask if they could help – that we were locked in our van. They found this quite amusing (I had long passed that point!) and the tall fit looking young man tried every trick in the book to open the van. No luck. I cut a little slit in the window insect screen and passed out the front door key. He tried it with…no luck. Finally, with a combination of me prying at the locking mechanism, and the young man pulling at the handle, the door sprung open with plastic and metal locking components flying everywhere. It was so nice to be outside breathing fresh air and feeling free! I introduced myself and thanked them profusely for assisting us, telling them not to be concerned about the broken lock. They left feeling pretty bad that the door was a real mess! Julie was still inside the van so I closed the door to show her what had happened when…now she was locked in and I was outside. I did the same as the young man and pulled at the door handle, jiggled it, lifted the door and pulled at the same time. Nothing. Finally with one great heave I broke the outside handle off. Serious trouble. But to cut a long story short we found that the middle locking mechanism could be opened with a knife, like a credit card can be used to open a lock. Finally we were both out, knowing that we could get in and out so long as we had a knife inside and a knife outside.

Next, just before sitting down to the long awaited dinner I could not find my iPhone. We searched high and low for thirty minutes, maybe much more – in the van, in the car, under the van, everywhere…except in the tied up plastic bag ready for the recycling bin. As it was the only place I hadn’t looked I tried it, and there it was, ready for the blue bin. Mobile phones should be recycled, but this one was well short of its recycling date.

Finally, dinner, the soup having been heated and reheated several times. It took me a day to fully recover from that evening’s events.

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On The Prom

Posted on April 9, 2013 by nilocrol

April 2, 2013

I drove to the Bairnsdale Centrelink office first thing in the morning to drop in some forms claiming my accommodation expenses on the trip. For the first time in my Centrelink experiences I came across a hard nut – no smile, no pleasantries, just the business of processing forms. Oh well, I guess it had to happen some time.

We then hit the road to Tidal River, Wilsons Promontory National Park which is the southernmost tip of the Australian mainland. Stopped for coffee – turned out to be one of the best coffees yet : )) – at a quaint coffee shop/restaurant/deli in Stratford on Avon. There were loads of caravans travelling on this section – I felt like royalty waving almost continuously to vans passing us in the opposite direction. We then had strong rainfalls which were welcome  if for nothing else than to clean car and caravan! We passed through historic Yarram with some beautiful old buildings and a magnificent old courthouse built in the 1880’s.

We turned off the highway to have lunch at lovely Port Albert, a tiny fishing village set up for smallish numbers of tourists. It was cold and windy so lunch was inside the van.

Then on towards Wilsons Prom after turning left off the highway. At first it was boring scrubby country after entering the national park, but as we wound through the mountains further south into the “Prom” we caught our first glimpse of mountains,  huge sand dunes a la Fraser Island, and an angry slate grey Bass Strait ocean. Magnificent.

Excitement despite the weather

All of a sudden we were entering Tidal River, a campground complex  run by the Victorian Government.

Tidal River campground holds many fun memories for me as our family had camped here several times many many years ago. It is very similar to Anglesea which we had visited ealier on our trip. Tidal River has its justly named river with extensive sandy banks on both sides, just like Anglesea, both of which are very safe for young kids, and then a large surf beach further beyond the river. Both campgrounds are nestled in the bends of their respective rivers.

I had booked a powered site the first night (very expensive) and an unpowered site the following night. The powered site did not even have “town” water so very disappointing for the price. Nevertheless you make the most of things, don’t you.

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No Fooling Us

Posted on April 9, 2013 by nilocrol

April 1st

April Fool’s Day – a beautiful day dawned and we decided to take it easy. Laundry first, then I attempted to catch up with my blogs that had I had fallen behind on. Julie read by the camp ground’s swimming pool as it was becoming pleasantly warm and sunny.

Nice to really relax all day after so much constant hard work setting up, taking down, travelling, again and again.

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Onwards Toward the Coast Again

Posted on April 9, 2013 by nilocrol

March 31, 2011

Leaving pretty Omeo we travelled through the rolling foothills of the Tambo Valley through Swifts Creek and Bruthen; mostly dairy cattle throughout the trip – not crop country at all.

Cute

Heading now towards the ocean and Ninety Mile Beach, we arrived at our next stop – Bairnsdale, on the Mitchell River, which we had been following for quite a while.

We checked in to Mitchell Gardens Caravan Park – very friendly people. Our site was close to the very large Mitchell River, and we were placed in a very green heavily treed site with a view of the river…and the amenities block! Julie had lost her Canada/Australia conversion plug-in for her hair dryer so we picked up another one at Dick Smith’s, an electrical goods chain across Australia.

That evening we went to one of the local pubs for dinner which had been recommended by the camp ground office staff, and it proved to be an excellent choice – the food was first class. It was a crowded room this evening as it was Easter Sunday so it was lucky we had booked ahead.

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On Top of Mount Hotham

Posted on April 1, 2013 by nilocrol

Sat March 30th

We left Myrtleford reasonably early, after picking up a coffee from Cafe Deliza, owned by a lovely old Italian man. The coffee was worth the long wait – one of the best coffees I have ever had. We knew there would be a pretty decent climb ahead of us; little did we know how decent. We travelled along the Great Alpine Road through beautiful Bright which is another ski based town further into the valley. Of course it is heavily populated by tourists in summer as well, especially as we passed through it in the middle of the Easter holidays. Soon after Bright we started climbing, and climbing, and climbing through heavily forested bushland. Much of this route had been hit by bush fires not long before, so we saw much less green foliage than we otherwise might have seen.

After about 25 minutes driving in 2nd gear most of the time, my car dropped down to first gear and I could not change it up to 2nd. The gauge showed no increase in engine temperature, so I assume it was a problem with overheating of the automatic transmission even though i had had a cooling system installed prior to the trip. I saw this as a sign of severe stress, even though I had no idea how far we needed to travel to the top at Mount Hotham, so I rested the car asap for 10-15 minutes. We had lunch here and found that the fridge had opened, spreading tabouli salad everywhere. Not sure how that happened. The gear problem disappeared, so from then on I travelled in 1st mostly, at about 15kph, taking breaks wherever possible. Fortunately there was not much traffic for me to hold up which made things a little easier. The road continued up with absolutely magnificent views, although I wasn’t too keen on checking them out as there was always the chance of going over the edge with a moment’s distraction.

Big drop-offs

The recent bushfire section changed into forests of twisted white arthritic eucalyptus trees which had been killed by an earlier fire.

Again the road kept climbing, sometimes steeply, sometimes incredibly steeply. We saw NO other caravans the entire climb. I now know why. But we did come across lots and lots of individual cyclists climbing this incredible road to Mount Hotham, and others coming back down at a rate of knots. Now I have a better idea of some of the tougher climbs we see in the Tour de France.

Finally, after a final killer climb, we reached the summit – the alpine village of Mount Hotham. My favourite sign – Mother Johnson’s Snow Clearing Control Depot!

The village has loads of holiday units, and all the trappings of a regular ski village.

After we passed through this area we headed on down the other side, which was much less steep than the side we had climbed. If you wish to drive this road pulling a caravan then do it the opposite direction to our drive. Head from south to north, not north to south!

We then entered the Gippsland region, which makes up most of coastal Eastern Victoria. We drove through beautiful heavily rolling dairy country for many miles, and then followed the very pretty Tambo River all the way into pretty Omeo, which is a small country town which had grown in population significantly over the Easter holidays.

Our campground was absolutely packed; we were in an unpowered site again, and were a long walk to the amenities – toilets, showers, laundry, camp kitchen etc. It was in general a young crowd which stayed up late, and were a little noisy. But the family groups got revenge early the next morning with their kids running around and making great noise while the older party goers were still sleeping!

We did have a beautiful stream directly behind our camp site, and some fishermen were trying their luck. But it seemed just too shallow for successful fishing to me.

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Nothing Beats Myrtle’s Ford

Posted on April 1, 2013 by nilocrol

March 29 Easter Friday

Had  a lovely leisurely breakfast with Simone – hot cross buns with loads of raisins etc, then chatted outside in the warm sun after a cold night with Simone and her ponies and dogs, and watched blind Scrappy chase his ball unerringly over the grass, and then bring it back to our feet! Truly amazing.

We left for Myrtleford at 12 noon – another late start, but again the distance to travel was not great so all being well we would arrive in Myrtleford with lots of time to set up.

We filled up with petrol at Violet Town (couldn’t find any violets, but what a lovely name for a little town) after being stopped by the Lions asking for donations. From a distance I thought they were cops pulling people over for breath testing – I was disappointed to find they were Lions as I might have passed this one!

We then pulled on to the Hume Highway again (last did it over a week ago) and travelled by major towns like Benalla and Wangaratta.

Myrtleford sits in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range and is the entrance to Victoria’s alpine ski country, and is a beautiful little town dwarfed on two sides by magnificent mountains, although unfortunately one section has been logged recently, clearly visible from the town. Very disappointing.

I had contacted a campground here a day or so earlier. Being Easter there, camp space was at a premium, so I was ready to have an un-powere site. The proprietor had said just “rock up” and we would have an unpowered site. When we arrived there…no sites at all.

But at least she called the other caravan park in the town who were able to get us into an unpowered site. It was a busy time in this park, but luckily we were in a quieter section of the place on a classy grassy spot. We have to be very careful of power usage when camping without power or water supplied by the campground. I had installed LED lights to conserve the caravan battery, and we pump water from the van water tank instead of using town water. Also the vans 90 litre fridge/freezer operates off propane when “free” camping like this. We needed to do some shopping so it was handy to have only a 5 min walk to the local supermarket. As we are in a valley the evenings are quite cold here so time to put on some warm clothes.

7:00pm and the kids are pretty loud, but again, it’s nice to be at the quieter end of the camp ground.

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On Losing Ourselves at Arcadia

Posted on April 1, 2013 by nilocrol

Thurs March 28

We left for Shepparton about noon as it was only about 150km to Simone’s place. Mistake, reason to come below.

After leaving Castlemaine it’s like you almost immediately hit the outskirts of Bendigo. Bendigo was the economic centre of the area during the old gold mining days and its impressively grand buildings of the era dominate the city centre. But what has changed is its size. It takes about 30 minutes to travel through the city on the “highway” – endless traffic circles and traffic lights for miles. Stopped to fill up the tank and carried on to Shepparton.

We arrived there around 3:30 – plenty of time. I filled up our propane tank for the caravan at the local BFC store (boating camping fishing), set my GPS for Arcadia Road, about 30 km south of Shepparton where Simone lives,and headed off with confidence, as I had been there twice before. This confidence dissipated kilometre by kilometre as we circled around and around the large rural neighbourhhood. It seemed like groundhog day as we saw the same roads and signposts time after time. Even had to back up the caravan a couple of times.

The sun was getting lower and lower, quiet desperation had reared its ugly head, when finally Simone was able to reach us by phone. After a couple of wrong turns to end the day’s travelling in a fitting manner, we finally met Simone on some road somewhere, and she led us slowly, carefully back to her home.  We then realised that we had driven right by her place at the very beginning. Oh well, all’s well…

Nicole was already there with a massive dinner prepared, and then John arrived just before we ate. It was great to be able to catch up with the twins again. Simone’s two dogs, little blind Scrappy, and young lithe Polly, as well as Nicole’s beautiful Jess, kept us busy watching their antics playing together.

It was a great night catching up with each other’s movements, and taking in John’s suggestions as to where we should go and what we should do around the area. He should have been employed by Travel Victoria!

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No Keeping Me in J-Block

Posted on April 1, 2013 by nilocrol

Today we travel out of the Grampians and on to Castlemaine, of which I know nothing except that it has goldmining heritage from the 1850’s.

We first passed through the  town of Ararat and stopped off at a pretty and very green park.

The green is what attracted us to the park as throughout almost all of Victoria the surroundings have been very dry brown grazing and crop farms following a pretty lengthy drought. Hay has shown itself to be pretty important in keeping cattle and horses fed. Above the park was an interesting old building. It turned out to be an old gaol and then an insane asylum for dangerous criminal types – “J Block”. We spoke to the curator who gives tours, but we were a little pressed for time. Maybe next time. BTW my nieces Simone, Nicole and Nic’s partner John have been to the same type of tour at a similar institution in Beechworth Victoria. They wanted a bit of a scare so did the midnight tour. Should try that one in the future as well!

From Ararat we drove through gently rolling countryside, sparsely treed with a variety of stock grazing the parched grassland, through typical small country towns with the obligatory several beautiful wrought iron balconied pubs: Elmhurst, Avoca and Maryborough. We reached Castlemaine mid afternoon and were checked into a very ordinary camp site by a slow hunt & peck keyboarding female desk clerk. It was a windy afternoon and dust and grit blew everywhere – not what you are hoping for in a camp ground.

We took a brief tour of Castlemaine and found it to be a beautiful, charming town, with many houses and other buildings from the mid 1800’s. Try googling ‘Buda’, Castlemaine to get an idea of the old houses in this area.

We walked around the city area and came across a butcher selling Australian award winning sausages. We bought a few of their latest winner, and they were THE best sausages I have eaten. A base of pork with a variety of herbs and spices (should have written the ingredients down). When cooked they hardly lost any weight at all, and that is definitely NOT through using sawdust in the mix!

That night we received a lot of rain, which turned the dry dusty site into a wet muddy one. Not really fun.

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Onward and Upward…To The Pinnacle

Posted on March 29, 2013 by nilocrol

Today, Tuesday March 26th, is a perfect day, cloudless, windless, and 30+ degrees predicted. Today we have decided to do a big hike to the Pinnacle, which has an excellent view of Halls Gap and surrounding areas including our camp ground and Lake Bellfield. It is to be about a 41/2 hour hike to the top. We packed our water, power bars and cameras and set off, again from Wonderland car park. We met many people from a number of different nationalities – German, Polish, Canadian, British, French, Sri Lankan, Indian, Chinese plus a number of hikers whose brief passing “hellos” we could not decipher as being from any particular country. We did meet a retired entomologist from Ottawa, Canada who happened to know a friend of Julie’s, the friend being a retired entomologist. Yes, it’s a small small world.

This hike was a tough one and we took many stops, mine being weak excuses to take photographs.

Most of the hike involved rock-hopping which was hard on the feet, and these rocks were radiating their heat from the sun back at us. It was hot.

There were some magnificent sections during the hike up, through a very narrow high-walled canyon called, somewhat hopefully, the Grand Canyon. But it was grand in its impressive, very narrow, steep-walled cool confines.

“Grand” Canyon

Throughout the hike we came across view after view of various convoluted rock formations, most with volcanic origins.

The view at the top really was magnificent, looking straight down to the town of Halls Gap over 400 metres below and many kilometres into the distance.

The Pinnacle

We stayed up at the top and rested, sharing the space with other tired hikers from all over the world. The hike down was very tough on the quads, but we arrived back at the car park around 4:30. I filled up with petrol in town, then we went back to the caravan park for a well-earned beer.

Dinner: an excellent pizza from the local ‘pizza plus everything else restaurant’. Loved the pizza titled “BLOODY EVERYTHING”.

We began to pack up tonight as we will be leaving this “wonderland” tomorrow.

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No Waterfall

Posted on March 29, 2013 by nilocrol

Mon March 25th

Our first full day at Halls Gap, which is the only township of significance within the vast Grampians area, started with a medium level hike to Turret Falls which starts at the Wonderland Car Park a few kilometres out of Halls Gap. Nice name for a car park.
It involved some rock hopping as well as well formed tracks.
Turret Falls was well worth the visit, although March is a bad time for visiting waterfalls as not only has Victoria had a long-term drought, but it is the end of summer (traditionally dry) anyway. They are more water dribbles at the moment rather than water falls.

Turret Falls – where’s the water?

On our arrival back to the camp ground we took the opportunity to do some long overdue laundry.
Dinner was a chicken stir fry – not too bad at all if I do say so myself.

The wallabies here spend most of their time around the camp ground from early evening onwards. When Julie took the short walk to the washroom facilities at night she almost walked into a grazing wallaby on the way back. She wasn’t sure who was surprised more, her or the wallaby.

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Not Only Wallabies at Halls Gap

Posted on March 29, 2013 by nilocrol

We left The Bool Sunday, driving again(!) in high winds, although nothing like Apollo Bay-Warrnambool; so it was no surprise to see banks of wind generators in the distance while driving along roads out of  Warrnambool.

Sun March 24

Now is the time to leave the scenic ocean views and hit the scenic mountain views.

We took a short cut to Halls Gap which is in the Grampians mountains, so the road was a little narrow for the winds we were experiencing. But we are veterans at this stuff so no worries mate!

We drove up and up into the mountains, and took a damned break at a dammed lake – Lake Bellfield, not realising that we were within a stone’s throw of our campground.

We saw some emus and beautiful Crimson Rosella parrots.

We then promptly drove right by the campground that we had booked because they had changed their name. After visiting the information centre at Halls Gap we realised our mistake. The caravan park is called Lakeside Tourist Park and is run by the friendliest people imaginable. It is in a beautiful setting, with wallabies and emus right in the park grounds. There are also many sulphur crested cockatoos which call this park home.They can be very playful, and we saw them getting stuck into a tent camper’s supplies. The cockatoos had their child’s toys out, and were exploring all aspects of the camp. One cockatoo had a plastic cup in its beak, probably assuming that there should be food somewhere inside. We learned later from the campers that the cockatoos had opened a screw-top container of rolled oats and had devoured the lot!

There are many many walks in the Grampians for all levels of fitness and expertise and we chose an easy one hour walk for late afternoon – Clematis Falls. It was so nice to be able to get some exercise again, especially with Julie who is an excellent hiker, or as Brits and New Zealanders would say, “a champion tramper”!

Dinner was a simple soup and salad but was the perfect meal to end a pleasant day in the mountains.

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On Lavender and Fairies

Posted on March 29, 2013 by nilocrol

Sat March 23

We decided to stay another day in “The Bool” as the next day’s travel was to be extremely short. Instead we will travel directly to the Grampians, bypassing our planned stop at Portland. But as a little bonus we are driving to Koroit, as Julie wants to see a lavender farm, and then we will drive to Port Fairy, 30km past Warrnambool and spend the afternoon there.

The wind started up in force late on our last night here, so I decided to get out of bed and roll up the awning, as it was flapping and moving around a lot. It is not a big deal, but as I was loosening one side, a big wind gust blew past and resulted in a broken aluminium bracket, which will need to be fixed some time soon. In the meantime I have set up a jury rig, just like ocean sailors have to do – haha!

First stop Koroit. On the way we passed a huge circular depression below us with a series of connected hills in the middle. A sign indicated that it was a state game reserve, but that didn’t help much. The depression looked like it should have held water but there was no water to be seen. We found later that normally there is water but it has been extremely dry throughout Victoria lately. There is also an aboriginal visitor centre there, and the area has been “stocked” with animals such as koalas, kangaroos, sugar gliders and emus. Following a forest fire that denuded the hills of trees early last century, 30,000 native trees have been planted on the hills and are now fully grown.Ultimately we found that it is the site of a volcanic eruption 30,000 years ago, and geological data indicate that aboriginals were in the area at the time of the volcano. Its name: Tower Hill.

So on we go to the lavender farm. It is in a private home, and the owner has been cultivating lavender and olive trees for 15 years. The huge garden also contains ornamental trees roses; unfortunately it is past the lavender picking season so we did not see the solid purple fields that would have existed a month previously. Her little shop which has taken over a double garage is packed with interesting items, especially lavender flavoured everything, from cheese to olive oil. We bought both, and they were magnificent. We even bought cherry tomatoes from her vegetable patch. If you get a chance, definitely visit Tower Hill Lavender, close to the town of Koroit.

Then to Port Fairy, winner of the world’s most liveable town under 20,000 people. Not a bad title to own! It is a beautiful, quaint place, with groves of magnificent pine trees (like hoop pines) lining several streets. A whaling station began there in 1835, and the town was established in 1843. As a result there are some magnificent old buildings, mostly of blue stone, a very hard dark grey (not blue!) stone. The city lies on the Boyne River and has a large number of protected mooring sites for private yachts and fishing boats. We had lunch, then visited the Historical Society building which used to be the court house up 1976. It is a tiny little place, and how they fitted the jury into the jury room is beyond me. It looked like it would be standing room only. The courtroom has retained all of the original furniture, and was set up as a mock court proceeding with judge, judge’s assistant, defence lawyer, crown attorney, defendant, witness, etc all dressed in  court trial clothes of the day.

Fascinating stuff. We wandered from room to room examining the various historical displays, and we had to experience sitting in the tiny dark prisoner’s holding cell. I also got to introduce Julie to Australian Rules football at a local game being played at the Port Fairy ground; it’s something like a combination of basketball and rugby for the uninitiated like Julie!

Port Fairy is a town that should visited by historians and port lovers and maybe even fairy lovers? A beautiful place.

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On monololiths

Posted on March 29, 2013 by nilocrol

It is the day after “THE WIND” and it is overcast and still windy but nothing like yesterday.

Our objective as I stated yesterday is to backtrack over the wonderful places along the Great Ocean Road that we had missed the previous day, without the hindrance of the caravan behind us. We headed south again from Warrnambool “The Bool”, and if you will bear with me…well you will just have to anyway…I will relate the experiences of a wonderful touristy day, shared with a pleasant variety of European backpackers driving rental vans filled to the gills with young people, busloads of Chinese tourists, older European couples driving rental motorhomes, a few Australians of course, and at least one Canadian that we know of – Julie Knight!

Here we go: Bay of Islands

Bay of Islands

Bay of Islands

Bay of Martyrs, The Grotto,

The Grotto

The Arch, London Bridge

London Bridge – section collapsed in 90’s

Port Douglas, Loch Ard Gorge

2 survivors of 54 people. Loch Ard foundered here 1878

The 12 Apostles

The 12 Apostles, the most well-known of all of the coastal monoliths

and finally Gibson’s steps which took us down to one of the few accessible beaches along this magical 30 kilometre strip.

Beach at Gibson’s Steps

We were constantly amazed at each stop by the spectacle of magnificent natural formations being pounded by huge seas brought on by yesterday’s wind. The immensity of these formations MUST be seen to be believed. The combination of the majesty of the thin ribbon of the Great Ocean Road, the dark brooding skies broken by shafts of sunlight on the monoliths, the white seething ocean with its foaming noisy persistence, and the variety of shapes, sizes and hues of these ocean bound giants, inexorably diminishing inch by inch will forever linger in our memories.

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Only a Cyclone Could Be Worse…

Posted on March 21, 2013 by nilocrol

We left Apollo Bay under threatening skies, looking forward to hitting some of the very best parts of the Great Ocean Road. The first 50km we retraced our tracks from yesterday’s tour; no big deal as it is a beautiful winding road through woodland, a fair distance from the ocean. But it was during this drive that I realised that I had not filled the tank prior to departing! Ouch. Then the low petrol sign came on. Along with this problem the rain began, which was going to continue on and off all day. Then we came across a car accident which had just happened on a 25kph sharp bend – one overturned car and another car which it had collided with. We were about to stop to see if we could help but were waved on, so it looks like there were no serious injuries. On top of this I had a warning light come on indicating an overheating engine, yet the temperature gauge showed no problem. I stopped the car for a while and all seemed to be fine again. I have no idea what caused this apart from climbing a couple of hills in 2nd gear, but this should not have been a problem. We set off again, and now the wind has started, mostly a headwind, sometimes a crosswind.
Nothing but negatives all the way so far. Fortunately Julie noticed a petrol sign pointing to the tiny tourist village of Princetown; it turned out to be a one petrol bowser town at, wait for it, $1.68/litre. And for once I didn’t care as the car would not have taken us much further!
I put 20 litres in – enough to get us to Warrnambool where we were to be staying for two nights. After Princeton the wind became gale force. This was by far the toughest driving I have ever done – white knuckle stuff with the van being thrown around by what we found later were 100+kph winds! That’s not a typo folks. I have never felt so uncomfortable behind a wheel. We took a coffee break at the beautiful tourist town of Port Campbell, with its magificent natural inlet and views, although most of the time we were there it was raining. We passed by some of the most scenic views imaginable along the last stretches of the Great Ocean Road, including London Bridge, Sentinel Rock and the 12 Apostles, all limestone stacks just off-shore that used to be part of the mainland but through water erosion from harsh weather conditions from the Southern Ocean find themselves as separate 45m+ high monoliths. It was no use stopping because of the severe weather conditions, and we were worried that the wind and rain could get even worse than we were experiencing. We decided that tomorrow we would backtrack to visit about ten sites that looked to be magnificent views, have lunch at Port Campbell, then head back to the campsite. This is all “weather permitting” of course!. We finally arrived at Warrnambool to a smallish but well run caravan park (Warrnambool Holiday Park) and set up in a howling gale. At times we felt we were about to be blown over. There was no chance of setting up the awning as it could have been badly damaged by the winds. We then took a tour of the city and did some shopping as well. Warrnambool is another of those regional cities that I could easily live in. It has a population of 34,000 with a combination of very modern and quite old historic buildings, lads of interesting shops, a very impressive beach and breakwater and lots of parkland with long walking, running and bicycling trails.
History: Whalers frequented the area in the early 1800’s, the first settlers arrived in the 1840’s, and grew quickly in the 1850’s during the Victorian gold rush, and gazetted (or established) in 1855.
A nice pasta meal for dinner and looking forward to some magnificent sight-seeing tomorrow.

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On the Great Ocean Road

Posted on March 20, 2013 by nilocrol

For those who might be wondering, I am only doing an average of 150 km/day which is very easy driving, albeit with a big van behind me for those kilometres. The reason is that it is nice to hit a caravan park  early afternoon and have a good selection of sites, but also it allows us time to check out the local scenery each afternoon.
Today is a only 130km so we were not in a great hurry to get away. The exciting thing today will be seeing the Great Ocean Road. I hadn’t driven it since the early 70’s, and it is Julie’s first time on this world renowned scenic route.
Torquay is the official beginning of the GOR, but it is only after Anglesea that the views really get to be spectacular. Our family used to go camping at Anglesea so it was with fond memories that I walked through the Anglesea campground, along the river and on to its beautiful beach.

The campground is of course nothing like the campground that we visited so many years ago, but big caravans and motorhomes demand different campgrounds, and progress can’t be prevented.

Through Anglesea and on to Aireys Inlet, Lorne, Wye River, Skenes Creek, and finally Apollo Bay where we checked in to the Apollo Bay Recreation Reserve. This campground shares facilities with an Aussie Rules football ground and a netball complex, but otherwise it is a regular campground. We had a choice of several sites, and the best of them was not bad, but had a sandy area around the front door which could get a little messy. Otherwise it was a pretty good park.
We stayed two nights here in order to do some touring.

Wednesday we took it easy during the morning, then drove a very winding road into the Otway Ranges. Our destination was to be the Triplet Falls – an hours walk (with some pretty tough sections) through really impressive mountain ash forest to a lovely 3-stage waterfall. It is the end of the dry season here so the falls were not as impressive as they might be during winter, but nevertheless they were well worth the walk. Mountain ash is a eucalyptus tree – the tallest tree in Australia and the tallest flowering tree in the world. There were lots of opportunities for pictures of huge ferns, the trees, as well as the falls.

Winding our way back to Apollo Bay, we did some shopping for pizza ingredients, then took a walk along the beach and then the breakwater. The weather today was perfect – sunny most of the time and a max of 29 degrees.
And our pizza was magnificent.

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On the Edge of Port Phillip Bay

Posted on March 20, 2013 by nilocrol

We are packed up and ready to leave Frankston at the crack of 11:00am. It is a drive along our now familiar M3, then around central Melbourne and across the Westgate Bridge which takes you onto the highway to Geelong, south west of Melbourne. The Westgate Bridge is pretty high, similar to the Gateway Bridge east of Brisbane for those who know it, and as soon as we started on to the bridge it began to pour. The heaviest rain I had encountered since Queensland, with trucks either side of me throwing up spray to make things even worse. Not long after leaving the bridge the rain eased, then the sun came out. Maybe Westgate Bridge is so high we were driving through the clouds??
Stopped at a roadside fruit stall to stock up on some essentials, and on to Geelong.
Geelong is a satellite city to Melbourne. It is a big thriving city, and even held the world road cycling championships last year.
For some reason my trusty HEMA GPS wanted to take me through the centre of Geelong on the way to Queenscliffe. That was fine as it was interesting to see a part of Geelong that I had not seen since the 60’s.
Queenscliffe (look it up in Google maps if you are not sure where it is situated in this big world of ours) sits on the Bellarine Peninsula, a promontory on the western side of Port Phillip Bay. It is a quaint little town catering to tourists, and is close to Barwon Heads which has a magnificent 36 hole golf complex – The Barwon Heads Resort at 13th Beach . It hosted this year’s Victorian Open for men and women.
The caravan park – Queenscliffe Tourist Parks (not sure why it’s pluralised) lies very close to the beach. It was very quiet which was a pleasant experience.
We drove down the road to Ocean Grove to do some shopping (foodbeerwine) before dinner and filled up with petrol at 8c/litre off. A nice feeling.

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One Day at Formula One

Posted on March 19, 2013 by nilocrol

March 14th
Yep, still way behind! Sorry, but here’s a little catch-up.

Now I am at a caravan park in Frankston, in Melbourne’s south eastern fringe.  The caravan park in Frankston, or Carrum Downs, or wherever we are, is pretty exclusive – I am beside a family of seven in about a 30 foot, six wheeler caravan. A monster. And there are lots of them in this park. I’m the smallest van by far.

I leave at 8:30am to meet Julie Knight (from Winnipeg, Canada) at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport. Tullamarine Airport is in Melbourne’s north west fringe. In a city of close to five million, that’s a lot of road to cover. Lucky most of the trip is on pretty fast freeways, otherwise I could have been hours late. Julie flew from Los Angeles to Sydney then direct to Melbourne. So, obviously, I wait for her at domestic arrivals, but she lands at international arrivals. It takes a good half hour for Julie to get through to me on my mobile phone to let me know where she is. Luckily not too far away. If this was Brisbane airport she would have been in a completely different terminal.
Now back along the freeways across town and finally back to the caravan park.
Julie amazes me by staying awake until 9:30 that evening, which is great as it will get her onto Australian Eastern Standard Time much more effectively. Jet lag is on the way to being beaten.
March 15th
Meet Peta Lorback at the amazing Greek market area of Oakleigh, near where I used to teach about a billion years ago. We had a fabulous coffee to kick the morning off. The mountains of food displayed were a feast for the eyes. Every imaginable combination of appetizers, mains,and desserts that you could imagine. We ordered three dishes and shared them. Wow! Peta spoke to a handsome young Greek waiter for a while until she realized that he hardly spoke a word of English – just off the plane from his economically ravaged country we guessed.
March 16th
Julie and I took the train in to Melbourne city from Frankston – exactly one hour station to station, for only $3.25. Not too shabby. We went straight to Federation Square when the rain began, and it pissed down on and off for the rest of the day. We then went to the Art Gallery and caught the Asian section (as much museum as art gallery) before being booted out – not for misbehavior, the gallery closed at 5:00pm on Saturdays. Oh well.
Then back to Fed Square for dinner, which half way through, we noticed we were the only non gay people in the entire restaurant. A little unexpected, but we finished our excellent meal and left non the worse for wear.
March17th
Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Lake – Formula One racing cars up close and in your face! And Julie and I are there, mixing with the rev heads and beautiful people who would never normally be seen together. We are in an exclusive section (Ye$, Col la$hed out big thi$ time) at turn 5, a sweeping high speed right hander. When I say high speed, believe me. When you can’t read the large advertising on the cars 30 metres away because your eyes can’t move fast enough, that’s speed. And then there’s the sound. When your ears seriously HURT without ear plugs, that’s loud. When your ears hurt with ear plugs, and your guts vibrate uncontrollably when a Formula One race car goes by spinning about 16000rpm 30 metres away, THAT’S loud. But what a time. Worth every penny to see these real athletes handling these cars, no…machines, at such incredible speed. It was very obvious that a milli second’s lack of concentration would have them in the wall at 250 klicks. Awesome, in the true sense of the word.

Then of course, prior to the big race we had an Aussie V8 Supercar race, a Porsche race, and a Formula Libre race. Libres are open wheelers that compete in 24 hour races in Europe etc and are almost as loud as the Formula One cars. All of the preliminary races were thrilling to watch, but the Formula Ones are in a class of their own.
We wandered around to different parts of the course in order to get a different perspective on the race. It was so impressive to see, from a very tight right hander the supreme acceleration of these machines. Another spot I would not pay money for – where they are coming straight at you at about 220kph before a quick right hander. If their brakes failed (they usually don’t!) they would be hurtling straight at you, protected only by a pretty strong fence and concrete safety barrier. Nevertheless small parts of that car would be flying through the fence, and I wouldn’t want to be there if it happened.
But on the positive side the greatest number of cars finished this race in the history of the Melbourne GP. A good result all round. And a Finn finished first. You can’t beat that type of alliteration can you.

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On the Great Divide

Posted on March 19, 2013 by nilocrol

So sorry to my thousands of my blog followers for the slowdown in production. but we’re back up and ready to go!
Of course I had to hitch up the next morning. Big pain, but I was on my way about 10am.
Drove a large variety of roads today on my way down to Melbourne. The first and toughest by far was the Eildon to Healesville road. It included really hairy stretches over the Great Divide – very narrow heavily winding roads through towering mountain ash forests with empty logging trucks going hell for leather in the opposite direction. It would not be a pleasant experience to have one on your tail on these roads. I stopped in Healesville for lunch and shopping, then headed off again, passing many Yarra Valley vineyards, well noted for their excellent reds. Onwards through the outer suburbs of a very sprawling Melbourne, then another new experience for me and my van – the M3 Eastlink tollway, heading south past Dandenong and towards Frankston. No cash changes hands on almost all our tollways around Australia. All you need is a small electronic tag on your windscreen which is detected by sensors on overhead gantries. Nice at the time but you pay later, usually by automatic billing!
Finally after what seemed like hours on the M3 with many many tollway beeps I made it to the Frankston Caravan Park on the Dandenong-Frankston Rd. Ahh, living it up big here with a personal ensuite next to the site. It has a shower, sink and toilet.

And the weather forecast is for cooler days starting tomorrow. We’ll see.

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On the Hume Highway.

Posted on March 13, 2013 by nilocrol

I left Euroa via the Hume Highway which is the major route between Melbourne and Sydney. It’s a beautiful dual highway – a lot lot different to when  our family travelled to Melbourne-Sydney-Melbourne in a Morris Minor! The Hume Highway then was built for Morris Minors at 65mph!
Seymour was a short drive in the morning. It is one of the larger rural cities in Victoria, situated north of Melbourne. I dropped in to a very small but well equipped visitor centre, and spoke to the single man in charge for quite a while,swapping yarns about caravan travel. Mostly it was what he had done and where he had been, while my emphasis was what I would like to do! I then went across the side road to visit a magnificent site dedicated to the memory of the Aussie Vietnam vets, especially for those killed in action.
I followed the Goulburn River through Yea, Alexandra and into Eildon. It is one of my favourite rivers, not too big, fast flowing through this area, with beautiful views of it along the way. It also serves to irrigate a large area around Shepparton, so it serves an important economic purpose too. Eventually it flows into the Murray River.
The road wound up and down and around, and was quite narrow with little opportunity for cars to pass me. Too bad for them!  It was the toughest driving so far.
I arrived at “Blue Gums Riverside Park” with lots of time to set up. The desk person showed me on the park map where I could drive through to set up. Wrong! There were trees blocking me from driving through into my site. This meant I had to back in with a couple of campers watching. No worries mate! Straight in (two attempts which is the norm). I just have to get out quite often to check for distance, overhanging trees, etc.
All of the sites were quite dusty; grass was really struggling to survive here. The drinking water comes direct from the Goulburn, but they suggest boiling it first. I drank beer instead of water. Way safer.
I had absolutely no internet connection- very annoying. I almost had no phone connection either – just one itty bitty bar. The front office said that their internet server was available to use for a fee – $6/hr. Unfortunately I could not seem to hook up with them – I have no idea why. So it was a quiet night listening to radio – at least ABC National came through loud and clear.

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On Top of Balmattum

Posted on March 11, 2013 by nilocrol

Up at 7am today.  First a quick breakfast as I plan to take a walk along the Seven Creek then climb the Balmattum Hill walking track which I’m told provides a pretty good view over Euroa and surroundings.
I parked the car a fair way from the start of the climb, so I warmed up with a flat walk of a kilometre or so along the creek. It was so peaceful walking with nobody else around through cathedrals of huge river gums – one of the most massive of the eucalyptus family.
Warmup done, and I start up the hill. It was a little disappointing because after five or six switchbacks I was at an official covered viewpoint. I couldn’t see much of Euroa and it just seemed like a bit of a waste of time…although we all know that any type of exercise is worthwhile, don’t we! But then I noticed the sign indicating that if you follow the white posts you can get to the top of the hill. So I fashioned a bent, ugly but very effective walking stick and set off. Now this was exercise! I was puffing hard for the duration of the 25-30 minutes climb. Unfortunately I hadn’t actually reached the top. To get there I would have had to jump a fence onto private property, and with the the grass being knee high on this very warm morning, who knows how many snakes might have been lying in wait for me : )
But nevertheless the view was way better than the earlier version and well worth the sweat.

Omeo from Balmattum Hill

Coming back down was tough on the quads as you have to stop your downward momentum with each step. The old legs knew it by the time I reached the bottom. I came across two families on the way up together and they were really struggling at about the half way point. I wonder if they made it? I hope so.
I returned to the caravan park and people were packing up as it was the Monday of Victoria’s Labour Day long weekend. I keep forgetting, some people have to work! Or then again, maybe I will have to work again if I run out of cash half way round this big country of ours.
I spent the middle of the day catching up with my blogs as you might have noticed. Three posted today! Had a light lunch – I just don’t feel hungry in this fierce heat. 36 today. 9:45pm and it’s still 26 degrees.
Then I went back to the local swimming pool for lots of laps. It’s real motivation to do lots of laps because you don’t want to get out of the water and into the heat!
I will pack up and leave tomorrow morning. I’m heading to Eildon, with its huge Lake Eildon which holds six times the capacity of Sydney Harbour. The dam to contain this massive lake was completed in 1956. It is a fishing mecca and I am looking forward to seeing this huge lake for myself.

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On the Bridge Across the Murray

Posted on March 11, 2013 by nilocrol

I slept in a little today as I didn’t have too long a trip today. I’m excited because I will get to see my two nieces, Nicole and Simone, who I hadn’t seen in about five years.Yay! Again, flat roads and little wind. A cloudless, scorching hot day. For the first time my car’s temp gauge  moved a fraction to the “hot” side. Nothing serious, but noticeable.
Smallish town Finlay was an interesting place. It has a man made lake which is actually higher than the highway!. So weird to look at such a large body of water at approx eye-level!
I crossed the Murray River about midday. The Murray for those who may not know is the border between Victoria and New South Wales. So today I again entered the state in which I was born! The river flats run for miles and miles, with campers abounding. It’s Sunday and a long weekend in Victoria. Most were probably there for the fishing.
I stopped in the heat at Strathmerton to get a drink and relax for a bit. I entered the biggest bakery shop I have ever seen! It had a large restaurant area at the front, then a huge central area for customers with a long long counter. I was truly impressed.
My GPS took me a little east of Shepparton on my way to Euroa, where I had booked a spot at the caravan park. Shepparton is one of the largest rural cities in Victoria, with about 30,000 head of population.
Euroa caravan park is very well set up with lots of shade, and is set on a picturesque little “Seven Creek”. I only saw one though. I will be staying two days so I will be able to relax a little for the first time on the trip.
Euroa boasts a magnificent swimming pool complex with a 50 metre pool plus three smaller accompanying pools. And only 3 minutes drive away. I could have walked it but it is just too hot.
I did my laps and felt like a million Euros afterwards.
Back at the van, and Simmi calls to invite me to a Thai restaurant in Shep. I had a magnificent meal with great company – Simmi, Nikki, and John who shows a WEALTH of knowledge about the area’s geography, economics, farming practices, war history, etc etc.
After dinner we walked to the biggest park where there was an outdoor picture show. We caught the last few minutes (!) then headed off.
Euroa is about 30 minutes drive from Shepparton, and I was really looking forward to a good sleep, when from the pub’s nightclub on the other side of Seven Creek there was an incredibly loud noise, which lasted well into the morning. I was told this by a camper the next morning. Fortunately I was too tired for those youngsters too keep me awake.

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O No Jimmy, Turn Back!

Posted on March 11, 2013 by nilocrol

What’s wrong with this country? It’s getting hotter the further south I go! This might be OK in the Northern Hemisphere, but here? 30 degrees yesterday, 30+ today and looks like more of the same at least until the weekend.
For some reason the sun seems to be infinitely brighter than up in Queensland. Not sure why but sunglasses have been an essential item, both driving and walking outside.
No headwinds again on the highway, fingers crossed. The countryside has been flatflatflat today, with very straight roads. Great for people trying to pass me, especially big trucks. Still 110kph!
My favourite place along this stretch has been Grong Grong. I kid you not! I had to stop here for a break at a lovely little park. I then walked around the corner for a coffee and orange juice. I have never had such hot coffee! My tongue will be tender for a few days.
A very pleasant couple was running the store and we talked Aussie Rules football for a while – apparentle the pub owner down the street had played one (1) game for South Melbourne back in the early ’70’s. We laughed, but how many good footballers get to do even that?
A little further down the road I came across my favourite creek name: “Turn Back Jimmy Creek”!  (I need a helmet cam to catch the interesting things that whiz by!) My imagination was running wild for the next few kilometres – thinking about how it was named!
Then the larger town/city of Narrandera, where the major feat was to cross the mighty Murrumbidgee River. Well not that mighty – they haven’t had much rain in the catchment area lately.
I arrived at Jerilderie around 3pm after taking quite a few stops along the way, and getting to speak to a couple of caravanners. These grey nomads are like golfers – almost all are pleasant to talk to; just all-round nice people. Of course there have to be a few bad apple in the bunch but hopefully I won’t meet them. At the Jerilderie Caravan park, after paying the fees for the night, I was led by the park manager (a very competent woman) to my site, and then she directed me to the “perfect” spot on my site. “That should be level” she said, and she was spot on. That was a first for me, and very impressive! I have found through trial and error that a perfectly level caravan aids one’s sleep immeasurably. Also the site had lush green (duh!) grass.
I finished setting the van up by 4pm, then headed off to the local swimming pool…next door! I had a great time, getting my first decent exercise since before I left on the trip. I had really earned my beer this time!
Dinner: I remembered that I had a freezer in the caravan fridge! Found a Lamb Korma thatI had frozen last year. October 29th. Yes, I label all my home-cooked goods that go into the freezer. Doesn’t everybody?? Anyway it does help to decide which package to thaw for dinner!

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On Coffee, and Other Things

Posted on March 9, 2013 by nilocrol

Wow! Do I feel great! Eye’s better and I’s better! Slept like a long tubular piece of wood and woke up feeling like I didn’t want to go back to sleep. Incredible. A long drive today and I’m ready for it.

First interesting place was Dubbo and its Taronga Western Plains Zoo. Tons of animals set in wide open plains. Apparently you can rent bikes to do safari tours. I hope the lions are well fed. Not far south of Dubbo is Tomingley. It doesn’t sound like a big thriving metropolis…and its not. But it does boast the biggest truck stop I have ever seen. So I thought the small service station/restaurant (both were tiny) would be a good place for coffee. As I walked in a truckie walked out with two meat pies and a big bottle of coke. Didn’t look too good for coffee. But I ordered it anyway. Back on the road I take the first sip. How can coffee from an espresso machine taste like half coffee, half chocolate? Rhetorical question, you don’t have to answer. And no, I didn’t order a capachino. I felt like heading back to ask him but I would have been disappointed if even he didn’t know. Oh yes, while waiting for my coffee I picked an interesting little book. It was a history of the local school with pictures back to the late 1800’s. I was so impressed I told the coffee making man (barista would be way too fancy a name) that somebody must have done a huge amount of work to gather all of these wonderful pictures of the school’s history, and then add all of the writing as well. His answer: “Well you know, this town has been here a long time”. I left perplexed, and I hadn’t yet started my coffee.

Much of my travelling in New South Wales is on the Newell Highway (Highway #39). It is a two lane highway, one north and one south, just to clarify. And many sections are 110kph. One hundred and ten! Two lane highway! Fortunately most people seemed to sit on about 100. I sat on 90. Never overtook anybody.

Next city is Parkes, but well before you reach Parkes there is the famous (for Australians anyway) Parkes Radio Telescope. It is featured in a great Aussie movie titled “The Dish” which describes the part that the Parkes Radio Telescope played in the Apollo 11 Mission in 1969. As usual there were many inaccuracies as apparently Honeysuckle Creek tracking station and nearby Tidbinbilla played a much more important part. Nevertheless the movie is great entertainment. But I digress; I decided to digress and take a look. It was so bloody impressive. HUGE! We were not allowed to turn mobile phones on (which houses my very handiest of cameras), so I used my regular Canon camera. Unfortunately I hadn’t used it for ages and didn’t check the settings carefully enough. Result – over-exposed pictures of The Dish. I was really dished off.

Now south to Forbes. What a beautiful city. There are some places that you visit where you know you could easily pick up and move there. It has a river running through it (not sure which) that has been dammed so that a large part of a quite central section of Forbes is a lake. Of course I probably appreciated it more as the temp was in the 30’s C  at the time!

I finally reached my destination – West Wyalong. The is a little backwater named Wyalong but the big smoke is definitely W.W. The caravan park was not too impressive. After beautiful green grass at Gilgandra, I’m now on gravel, at 33 degrees. Ironically on the other side of the fence are two rugby fields with magnificently manicured grass, way better than even the best fairways at my golf club. So at least I could see grass, if not experience it.

I decide to treat myself for a good day’s driving so hit the city centre for dinner. Not much around – Pizza, Fish n Chips, and Chinese. I chose Chinese – the absolute worst culinary decision I have made…ever! So when in W.W. don’t choose the wrong Chinese restaurant (there are two). Do not darken the doorway of the more Easterly of the two Chinese restaurants on Main Street W.W. I do not want to talk about this experience any more. Well alright, just once. Sechuan beef I have enjoyed many times. It is difficult to destroy this wonderful dish so absolutely. Enough.

Again, I slept well for those who care.

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On a downer

Posted on March 8, 2013 by nilocrol

Got to drive to Gilgandra today, but don’t want to. I woke up feeling rotten and continued most of the day; seems like I had no sleep, plus a sore eye when I woke up. Losing concentration on the road, so stopping way more often than usual. Never got into a comfortable driving position. It just sucked. So I will talk about the car I instead of complaining. My trusty Ford has auto transmission, with which you have two choices, regular auto which determines what gear it will select for you and takes off if you plant your foot to the floor, and SPORTS MODE!!!  Sports mode can be used just like regular auto transmission, but it revs at about 300RPM faster than regular automatic. It wants to go!! Best of all though, you can select whatever of the 4 gears you wish; it’s your choice rather than the auto transmission’s. Just like a standard/manual gearbox. This is perfect for towing, especially up hills and into headwinds. The downside is poorer fuel economy. The Ford manual suggests you use sports mode always when towing. I use both – regular automatic when on flat stretches with no headwind, and sports mode for tougher times. So I’m often switching between regular and sports mode, and when in sports mode I’m switching between gears. I sometimes feel like an Aussie V8 racer!

Arrived Gilgandra a fair bit later than I had originally intended, but it was a breath of fresh air to drive into a beautifully manicured lawn caravan park/camp ground. I got to choose my drive thru site. It was worth the bad day to arrive at such a pretty spot. I set up the awning with guy ropes in case of a windy night which never eventuated, and ate at my outdoors slat table. Nice. And I slept like a LOG that night.

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On the Road to Tamworth

Posted on March 6, 2013 by nilocrol

Another sunny but windy day (do you get the feeling like I do that I’m repeating myself?) but almost all day it was a tailwind so all good.

I drove today through what are now some of my favourite towns in Australia. Guyra, which claims to host the highest altitude caravan park in Australia (approx 1300m). Its “revive and survive” stall manned by volunteers (free coffe!) was unfortunately closed. I revived and survived the drive at the local park though. Armidale is a larger city with close to 20,000 population. It has beautiful wide avenues, big traffic circles (good for vans like me!), and a wonderful visitors centre. It just feels comfortable to be there. And Uralla – a quaint little town which could be set in the 1930’s! Do visit the antique shop if you get there – it’s on the main strip. (Not sure if there is anything else BUT the main strip in Uralla!) The visitor centre is small but interesting. It is the only visitor centre whose car park doesn’t cater to caravans, but is there a sign saying that? Not that I saw. I was considering turning in to the centre but at the last second changed my mind. If I had driven in, I would NEVER have made it out…well, unless I paid a truckie big money! The Uralla Visitor’s Centre Caravan Black Hole! On a more positive note there is a very nice little coffee shop/lunch restaurant attached to the centre. I do recommend their coffee!

I’m at Tamworth now. It’s a big sprawling rural city with a bustling but ruralish (is that a word?) city centre. The Peel River runs through the city and my caravan park is by that river. I’m not close enough to throw in a fishing line though. Hooray! I’m not at a Village this time, but I am at a Park – Paradise Tourist Park. It’s quite beautiful, and I think I might have experienced a little paradise here! The “amenities block” – washrooms, shower, laundry are outstanding. Big, clean, pleasant to be in. What more can I say??

Oh, I nearly forgot: pass number two today. I swept by a farmer in an oldish ute (a “pickup” you Canucks); I did it on an overtaking lane and did it EASILY.

Unhooked the caravan and explored the city centre. Bought some provisions at Coles, and an electric kettle at KMart. Why not use the caravan park’s power to heat water rather than my propane power? You have no answer to that one do you!

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On to Glen Innes

Posted on March 5, 2013 by nilocrol

Well, I thought it was windy yesterday, but that was nuthin! Left little old Aratula at 10:15, delayed by my Aussie HEMA sat nav system. I was to cross the border (Queensland to New South Wales) so tried to enter Glen Innes (NSW) and the little B wouldn’t accept it. Would only accept QLD places. Tried and tried…and gave up. An embarrassed me called the HEMA help line. Fortunately the answer wasn’t in the little manual that comes with the system so I didn’t feel all that dumb. But I could have found it in the 100+ page manual online. No thanks.

Anyway finally got out of Aratula (emphasis on the “tu”) and took on the GREAT Dividing range up to Warwick. The Falcon (I need a great name for this towbeast – HELP) took it in stride. I ACTUALLY PASSED SOMEBODY!! Well actually it was a fully loaded semi, doing about 5km/hr, but who cares. Oh What A Feeling! (jumps up high). I say this because I’m usually doing 80-90km/hr and because much of the trip has been one lane one way, one the other, I tend to hold up faster cars and TRUCKS. Lucky there were a lot of passing lanes on this section.

Once I got up into higher country the wind really took over. More of a continual gale actually. Often side-on which tended to throw the van around a bit. Then when a big semi passes maybe 2 metres away, at speed,  you get sucked into his vortex. The first few times were anxious moments, but after that, “no wurries mate”! Fortunately, again I had no head winds so there is a silver lining in every windy cloud. I can do with less wind for a few days though.

Today’s trip totalled 195km, [alert, alert, My maths failed me – it was actually 260km!] but it felt longer than yesterday[because it was], first because there were many steep hills which require a little more concentration when both going up, then going down. Second, already my bum is sore. I have to try to get a better seat position tomorrow. Maybe just a different position will help.

I’m now at Poplar Village Caravan Park on the south side of Glen Innes. A lovely spot. Even has a good laundromat on site – pity I don’t have enough dirty stuff to take advantage of it. Very clean washroom/shower area which I hope will be the norm. Two “Village” caravan parks already. Must be the “in” name. Looks like a clear night tonight. I’ve forgotten what stars look like! Clear means cold because we are at altitude – 1062 metres…yikes, I need my oxygen mask! And I’ll have to dig out my longs, socks and sweater. I think I remember how to put them on.

Fingers crossed for calm weather tomorrow.

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On My Way

Posted on March 5, 2013 by nilocrol

March 4th, 2013 – a BIG day. The culmination of all these months of planning!

Said my goodbyes to my wonderful 93 years young Mum and headed away from a very wet “Sunshine” Coast towards the little township of Aratula – 212km away.

No incidents…apart from one corner of the pop-top lifting  a little while doing 85km on the highway. Found a spot to stop and secured the retaining clips. All set to go again!

After weeks of rain on the Sunshine Coast, the day I left was fine although windy. Luckily the wind was behind me for most of the time. There’s not much worse than pulling a caravan into a strong head-wind. Lots of trucks on the last section of the trip. They were much faster than me, and just a little bigger so I pulled over to let them pass whenever I could. Fortunately there were several passing lane sections as well.

The Aratula Village Caravan Park is very small, with mostly permanents living there. As it is not a heavy season I was able to take up two sites; this meant that I did not have to unhook from the car for just an overnight stay which can be a bit of a pain. I stopped at Aratula because the next section is a big slow climb up the Great Dividing Range and I wanted the car and I to be refreshed and keen for the challenge.

One down…how many to go????

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On the nitti gritti

Posted on March 5, 2013 by nilocrol

If you wanted to see Australia you could just jump into a car and drive. I didn’t. I bought a car and a caravan, set them up, hooked them up, and was on my way. It took about 6 months of real planning though.
For those into details, read on. Others just wait for my next entry!
CARAVAN  Pop top. Has 3-burner gas cooktop and gas gorilla 🙂  90 litre built-in fridge – can run on 240v, 12v, and even propane gas.  Also roof mounted air conditioner which can heat in winter. No shower or toilet: just for sissies. Loads of storage space.
Length is 19 feet not including draw bar. Total length of rig 11.9m or 39’.
Tare (unloaded weight) 1300Kg

Expenditures:
Insurance
12 volt outlet inside van (same as car cigarette lighter)
Load levelling device
240v fan
12 volt fan
12v tyre air compressor
Hydraulic jack
15m & 10m power leads
2 x 10m water hose (high quality drinking)
2 wheel levellers + chocks
12v interior lights replaced with energy saving LED lights
A million other “incidentals” – kitchen stuff, bedding, plastic storage tubs, mats, folding step,  etc etc.

Found my brake lights weren’t working on the van (thanks for the help Dick and Sjarn!)
Still waiting on the guy from where I bought the van (Brisbane RVs) to come out and fix them, plus a broken gas strut that helps raise the pop top about 30cm. Two weeks now as I write. Not holding my breath!
Brake lights now fixed :))
Gas strut specialist has been contacted. Replaced it with a new one – $50 installed. Can’t beat that!

“The Rig”. 2004 Ford Falcon plus 2000 Regent Mayfair caravan

CAR – 2004 Ford Falcon 6 cyl 4 litre petrol…a beast!

Expenditures:
Safety certificate
Heavy duty rear springs and shocks
Rear disc pads
Fuel filter
Tow bar
Auto transmission service (note: for all those with auto transmissions..DO IT!
Auto transmission oil cooler – necessary when towing longer distances in Aussie heat
Electronics:
Ignition coils and spark plugs
12v outlet in trunk for 12v/240v portable fridge (Engel)
Wiring for Anderson Plug and 7-pin auxilliary outlet
Electronic brake unit
Radio:Tuner/CD/USB/iPhone aux in

Not cheap, but it’s my home for a l-o-n-g time!

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The beginning

Posted on February 28, 2013 by nilocrol

Once upon a time I followed a young man’s travel blog. I followed it like a football fanatic follows one’s team. I couldn’t get enough of it. Elation abounded following his achievements in the face of utter adversity; devastation with his disappointments and setbacks while heading south, always south.

The blogger was a 20-something Australian then living in Canada who had decided to travel alone in a little old rag top jeep from the northern tip of Alaska down to the southernmost tip of South America: Ushuaia,  island of Tierra del Fuego. To make a long story short (haha), he made it and the stories he related had me begging for more – I was not a happy camper if he missed even a day of entries! Yet he was not one to attempt to over dramatize his experiences, though dramatic they often were. He  narrated as though he were sitting way back in a comfy chair, feet up, glass of wine in hand, speaking directly to…me. Not a word wasted (and probably didn’t have much time to type in an out of the way Ecuadorian internet cafe!)  yet the picture was fully composed, fully painted. And inspiration…loads of inspiration.

Little did I know then that I would one day embark upon a similar expedition, albeit circular rather than southerly. My goal? To travel around Australia over a period of a year or so. For how long? However long it takes!  And if  I can paint half as good a word picture of my travels as this Aussie-Canuck did then I will be a happy camper. And please respond if you have specific questions – I would appreciate your perspective as you (I hope!) appreciate my travel perspectives.

BTW  the traveller was Dan Grec. His blog:  “The road chose me”.  It’s still up at:      http://theroadchoseme.com/around-ushuaia

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