Melbourne (8 nights)

We have had an awesome time here and today we leave!! We have been staying with my old uni friend Cherie and her hubbie Huw and wee girl Esme, it has been full house but a fun house.  They live in Hawthorn very close to the central city.  The night we arrived was the AFL final at the MCG with Hawthorn Hawks against Sydney Swans, the Hawks won so we were based in celebration central.
Things we have been up to include:

• Cherie and I took the kids to a place called Bounce (a big shed full of trampolines), its quite noisy there.
• We visited funky shopping areas like Fitzroy and Brunswick
• I got a day in the city be myself shopping and photographing transport geek stuff, the boys went to St Kilda
• I had a good night out with my buddies Sandra and Cherie
• We all went to Williamstown yesterday for ice cream

But generally we have been taking it easy and getting rid of stuff.  The vehicle has been sold to Richard from Adelaide who we met in Esperance and a deal was done some weeks ago.  The camper trailer is now owned by a friend in Melbourne and the roof tent is now with Cherie and co. Some other friends are moving back to NZ so they have kindly added a few boxes of books and nic-nacs to their container load. Sorted!

I can't believe its all over but also looking forward to getting home!  I will post an Epilogue soon covering the overall experience, has to be done!

Enzo, Leon and Esme at Bounce

View of Melbourne from Williamstown

Huw on the barbie

Cherie and Esme

The Great Ocean Road (Port Fairy 1 night and Apollo Bay 2 nights)

As an aside…after leaving the Grampains, on a grey dizzly day, we passed through a town called Hamilton and spotted this sculpture (Nucleus Divides) in the middle of a roundabout…..people from Christchurch will recognise this as being very similar to the one on High Street (same sculptor) umm..

Sculpture in Hamilton

Once we got to Portland we followed the coast and stopped at Port Fairy for the night, a cute historic town with a stunning port, one of the busiest fishing ports in Victoria.  

Port Fairy

The next day we set off for Appollo Bay along the infamous Great Ocean Road.  The road is a “permanent memorial to those who died while fighting in World War I, carved in rock, it winds around the rugged southern coast. Built by returned servicemen it was a huge engineering feat ending decades of isolation for Lorne and other coastal communities”. The first section through to Appollo Bay features dramatic cliffs and rock stacks where the cliffs have eroded over time.  There are multiple lookouts along the way, it is very tiring getting in and out the car, the boys declined after the third stop.  By the time we got to the 12 Apostles it was pouring and we weren’t feeling the love but we did spot hundreds of tourists, they probably only stop at that feature and neglect the lesser known features such as the bay of Islands, the Grotto and London Bridge.

Part of the Bay of Islands group

The Grotto

London Bridge

Appollo Bay is located at the foothills of the Otway Ranges.  We had intended to stay in one of the Great Otway National Park campsites but the weather was still grim and our enthusiasm for bush camping was waning (travel fatigue had spread through the entire party).  From Appollo Bay we visited Cape Otway (the oldest lighthouse in Australia).  The road leading to the cape is where you can spot koalas, once we again we developed ‘koala neck’ looking out for the little cuties, along with all the other vehicles, I suspect they have a high accident rate along this road!  We found loads of them making Enzo very happy!  We went for a walk out at the cape and came across a red bellied wallaby – more cuteness! We then checked out the Maits Rest Rainforest Trail, a walk through ferns and tall myrtle beech (Nothofagus cunninghamii) and mountain ash (Euculyptus regnans) – beautiful!.

Sleeping Koala at Cape Otway

Red Bellied wallaby

Enzo on Maits Rest Rainforest walk

Maits Rest Walkway

The second part of the Great Ocean Road from Appollo Bay to Lorne is very scenic but pretty much like the Drive to Kaikoura.  We stopped at Torquay further up the coast for a snack and watched the surfers/paddle boarders in their hoards.  Then we arrived in Melbourne - job done!  I will post a trip epilogue shortly.

Surfer central

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Grampains National Park (3 nights)

This national park had a big fire in January this year so the northern part of the park was closed but there is still heaps open for access.  We camped at Jimmys Creek, a very well laid out area with pit toilets and a funky bush shower (I used it but the boys seem to be comfortable going 3 days without a shower!).  For two of the 3 nights a family from Mornington Peninsula were camped next to us, it’s the school holidays in Victoria and they were giving their recently acquired camper trailer an outing.  The kids all had a blast, there were also four boys from Geelong there so it was great fun for the boys.  We had some good laughs while yarning around the camp fire, eating olive damper and roasting marshmallows.  Kangaroos and kookaburras hung out at the camp as well, quite social creatures, the kookaburras in particular are attention seeking and very loud with their evil laugh, but I adore them!

the two camper trailer families

The bush shower

industrious children

The days were stunning, warm and sunny but the first night was a frost!  We did some good walks and got amazing views across the park.  There were lakes and waterfalls – heaps to see! We saw another echidna, he walked out in front of us on the track, we stopped, he saw us then turned around and walked back into the bush, it was classic!  There weren’t any koalas to be found here due to the fire and recent floods which was a shame.  There is a town in the middle of the park called Halls Gap, it was very busy due to the school holidays with people everywhere eating the local treats, ice creams and fudge.  We had a wind up radio with us so we tuned in to find out the election results – interesting!

View over Halls Gap township

cool lake

views looking south over the Grampains

Natimuk (near Mt Arapiles) 1 night

Mt Arapiles is a massive outcrop that is one of the rock climbing meca’s of Australia.  John and I used to climb back in the days (John more so) and realising this place was on-route back to Melbourne was a bonus!  After a day travelling across from Adelaide we arrived to find masses of climbers camped in the State Forest camping ground at the foot of the mount.  It was another book on-line job and really designed for tents not anything being towed, so we headed to the nearest town to find a caravan park.  Natimuk is a cute little place about 5kms away and the caravan park was next to a lake, man was it cold at night, we woke up to find ice on the table etc.  Anyway we packed up the next morning and headed back to Mt Arapiles to watch some climbing, it was a beautiful day and there were climbers all over the show.  I have highlighted a few on one of the photos below with red circles.

A smaller outcrop before arriving at Mt Arapiles

spot the climbers!

Adelaide (4 nights)

The highlight of this stay in Adelaide was seeing so many koalas in the wild (not in a zoo or wildlife park).  We were camped next to Belair National Park in the Adelaide Hills and went for walks koala spotting, on one walk we found 13, some with babies!  

Spot the koala

the koala in the previous photo

Koala with a baby!!!!

Lorakeets in Belair National Park

We also visited the South Australia Museum in the city centre, we had been there at the start of the trip and asked the team at their info centre to help identify a spider we had photographed.  So Enzo took the opportunity to ask them about a dragon we had seen at Coffin Bay.  The chap looked at the photo and said it looks like a Ctenophorus decresii (Tawny dragon) and Enzo said “Yes that’s what I thought but it isn’t known to be in that area according to the field guide”, the chap pulls out his guide (the same one) and says “yes, you are right, let’s ring the states expert”.  So the expert listens to the details and concludes it is a Ctenophorus fionni (Peninsula dragon) but the colouring is different than usual and could he have a copy of the photo!

We checked out Port Adelaide and went for a trip down the river spotting dolphins and hearing about the various port activities.  Also went to Semapore Beach, great new playground there.

appartments on the waterfront at Port Adelaide

Progress Report

We are back in Adelaide! I have just added posts for crossing the Nullarbor, Ceduna, Coffin Bay and a random campground.  From here we head to the Grampians and Great Ottway National Parks before arriving in Melbourne and sorting out our gear.  I will add posts about Adelaide and these parks once we get to Melbourne.

Just over 2 weeks before we fly home on 5 October.  We are pretty much over camping now, the weather is just not that brilliant, very cold at nights! We are excited about coming home and sleeping in beds and not sharing bathrooms with strangers!

Random Campground on a farm (south of Port Augusta) (1 night)

Having turned up at Mount Remarkable National Park not realising you had to book a campsite online beforehand – doh, we ended up at this eccentric camp site with great shelters and campfire setups (we made pizzas in the campoven-yum).  We were the only guests until a young chap turned up later, the place is run by a classic cowgirl who walked around drinking with her dogs and cats in tow.  The toilet and shower block was new and obviously future proofed so it could be used for housing very tall animals, say giraffes.  Overall this place was good value and extremely quirky!

Coffin Bay National Park (2 nights)

The weather finally settled down so we headed to Coffin Bay National Park for some bush camping.  Brilliant spot, emu families wandering around, kangaroos grazing with their joeys on-board – mega cute!  There were lovely fairy wrens flitting about, the males are a brilliant blue.  We also found great wee dragons and heath monitors.   There were lovely beaches and it actually got quite hot in the sheltered bays!

Once again a social place with a family we had met in Perth turning up on the second night.  They had suffered a broken suspension leaf on their camper trailer since we saw them, some bolts had worked loose on a 4WD road we decided not to take!  We shared our campfire with a young French couple keen to enhance their English, and the boys wanted to enhance their French – “what’s French for weirdo?” ummm.  

Baby emus

kangaroo mummy with joey

Fairy wren

some sort of dragon

at the beach

Ceduna (2 nights)

Ceduna is a port town where grain is exported, there are massive grain silos here and at towns along the entire south coast.  We stayed for 2 nights to de-Nullarbor, i.e. get more fresh food and do loads of washing.  We went out to Decre Bay and found an echidna strolling along the rocks, it was great to see one during the day as they usually cruise around at night and we have only seen one other at Francis Peron while out with torches. We also found some seals.

Grain silos at the port and mosaic lighthouse

Echidna

Seals 

Crossing the Nullarbor (Norseman to Ceduna- 1200km) – (2 nights)

After heading north of Esperance by 200km you reach Norseman, if you then head east this is considered the start of the infamous Nullarbor (we named it ‘The Nothing’ – because at times that is all you saw out the window).  Nullarbor is Latin for ‘no trees’, There are actually some trees on the plains but not many until you reach the eastern end and approach Ceduna.  There are a series of plains and very long straight sections of road.  One straight is 146km, the longest straight length of road in Australia.  Under the plain are limestone systems with caves galore, Andrew and Karen and girls (the Bunge Bungle family) are cavers so were off to explore some caves, hopefully we will see them again and hear all about it.  

Nullarbor plains in the background

  At one stage I said to John “Imagine cycling this road!” and then up head we came across five mature males on road bikes in matching tops, it had just changed to a head wind for them!.  Anyway at Ecula while visiting the telegraph station ruins we met the support crew for this group, identifiable as they were wearing the same tops.  They told us these guys were riding from Perth to the east coast over 30 days (about 3000km) to raise money for an autism support organisation – what legends!  There were also two other cycle tourists on the road carrying their gear in panniers, I think I prefer the idea of a support crew.  Another sight on the side of the road was a family of emus, the babies are so cute!!!!

cyclists on Nullarbor encounter a headwind and stop for a rest!!

Emu family

Telegraph station ruins at Ecula

At about 720km we crossed the Western Australia – South Australia border, the clocks went forward 1.5 hours and you can’t take fruit and vege across the border (although they do the eastbound check at Ceduna later on). 

We stayed in 24 hour rest areas on the side of the road both nights, they generally have toilets and you can light fires.  We meet Jim and Jenny from Tasmania at the first stop and ended in the same spot the second night so shared a fire and yarns with them.  Their best yarn was the one about being in Berln when the wall came down and seeing an east-west romantic reunion on a train.  They are both teachers so very patient with the kids and their random yarns.

The highlight of the Nullabor is a visit to the Head of the Southern Bight where there is a couple of boardwalks and lookouts for whale watching between May and October.  The Southern Bight cliffs are dramatic and stunning and scary all at once! We were very lucky to see at least 10 southern right whales and their calves resting in the bay.  Binoculars were a must, you could see them so clearly.  Photographing them was a struggle but I managed to capture a calve doing a backflip!  The kids seem to be more impressed with the painted dragons and bobtails they spotted on the paths!

Southern Bight cliffs

Southern right whale calf doing a backflip!

Painted dragon

Esperance (3 nights)

The day we left Albany it was very stormy so we ended up driving all the way to Esperance rather than stopping for a night along the way.  The drive was scenic with the countryside very striking, the huge rapeseed fields against the stormy skies!. 

Rapeseed fields

The camping ground we stayed at was on the waterfront of the town and was quite social as we ended up running into the grey nomad crew we met at Walpole (still partying up!!) and a family we had met at the Bungles Bungles.  The latter had pretty much been on the same route and it seems we just kept missing each other along the way.  They had some classic stories to share including the tow ball incident – they had gone to hitch up their caravan in Carnarvon and the found the tow ball was gone, someone had stolen it and they had to spend several day there tracking one down so they could continue.

There is a Great Ocean Drive circuit to see the local beaches, wind farm and the Pink Lake.  The beaches have a sugar white sand and this makes the shallow surf an amazing brilliant blue.  It would be great to be in the summer and actually swim in the sea! The town’s waterfront area is getting a huge revamp, it will look great when finished.

At the end of the town jetty

We made a day trip out to Cape Le Grand National Park on a very windy day.  We did a few short walks and checked out all the bays with their beautiful beaches, again that awesome white/blue contrast.  Unfortunately the wind meant we didn’t see any wildlife that day, the day before a lady told us they had seen kangaroos on the beach!  The wild flowers were great though. That night the wind really got going, it was the most brutal we have experienced on this trip, not good in a tent!

Hellfire Bay in Cape Le Grand National Park

pretty!

always looking to be non-compliant