A Photo Slideshow

During our 2 week stay at Shoalhaven Ski Park we often had visits from some of the peacocks ,and occasionally a peahen who came over from the nearby Shoalhaven Zoo. Those visits became a regular event, especially after they were given a handful of corn flakes one day.

There were only a couple of times when the peacocks showed of their huge tail feathers and we were luck enough to capture a few photos. Some of the photos can be seen in the slideshow by clicking the photo of the peacock in this post.

Big Is Not Always Better

This post shares some of the delights of stopping to smell the flowers. Sometimes we are in such a big rush to check out the big things that we sometimes forget to take time to look at things a little more closely.

So let’s use the macro function on the camera and get close-up to just a few of the small surprises that the Grey Nomad trips has delivered so far.

Click the picture below to go to the short slideshow. When you have finished click the Back button on your browser to return here.

Click The Picture for the Slideshow

A Move Down South

Three weeks in Sydney at the Lane Cove River Tourist Park provided us with plenty of contrasting experiences.

The park was about as peaceful as you can get, and with the night-time visitors, an enjoyable experience as well. We enjoyed our several trips on the ferries as that meant I did not have to drive the busy city roads. Getting lost in big shopping centre car parks was also another experience for our Sydney stay.

After the Sydney stay we moved out to Richmond, to the Wanderest Travellers Park, provided at a very reasonable cost by the Richmond Club. The maximum stay at Wanderest is 3 days, so after some tossing around ideas about which direction to go we decided on the South Coast of NSW, and Nowra gave us a couple of options.

The map below shows the route taken on our travels in November.

Exploring the Illawarra

Now that we are based at Nowra there are plenty of things to see and do.

Our first excursion took us back to Kiama to check out the Kiama Blowhole. A favourite tourist destination that has been to focus for millions of photographs over the years, but I just had to take a few of my own.

It is truly an awesome sight to the the water spout pushed into the air from the blowhole, even though the day we were there was relatively calm will very little swell. It must be magnificent when strong winds from the south east drive the waves into channel and force water high into the air.

It’s been great to see the coastline again after travelling inland for a few weeks, and in this region the thickly forested escarpment of the Illawarra region provides a great backdrop and plenty of places to explore in the next 2 weeks.

In The Night.

A few nights ago, while I was winding down at the end of the day I heard a thump on the caravan roof. That was followed by the sound of clawed feet moving across the roof.

By the time I had gathered the torch, gone outside to investigate and shone the torch around there was not a thing to be seen. I had a strong suspicion that it could have been a possum. Maybe even the one that discovered the vegetable peelings that I left outside on our first night at Lane Cove.

I did not have to wait long to have my thoughts confirmed.

Last night while I was using the laptop in the annexe. I looked up and walking straight past me was a Brush Tail Possum. I don’t think it was aware of me until I moved to get the camera. The possum slowly made its way to the door, and allowed me one photo, before heading out into the dark.

Not long after I could still hear it walking over the dry leaves and bark around the caravan, so i went to investigate further, with torch in one hand and camera in the other. When I found it I thought the possum would soon rush off, but maybe it was distracted by the light of the torch, and it stayed around, even moving closer to me.

After taking acouple of photos I decided to go back inside the annexe, and in less than a minute the possum was back inside. But not just in the annexe. This time it decided to climb inside the caravan and explore the bag of fruit and vegetable scraps that we were keeping for the worm farm at the caravan park. Time for another couple of photos after rescuing the worm food.

I decided it was time for the possum to leave, but it seemed quite content to stay, and it was only after some encouragement that it decided to head out through the annexe and into the night. And that was the end of the little escapade, as I closed the zip on the annexe door and went to bed.

Well that’s I thought. I forgot the backpack which had a couple of snack bars in the top pocket.

In the morning while looking at the photos on the laptop we noticed that the top of the backpack seemed a little messy, and on checking it out found a half eaten nut bar. It seems our little visitor returned for a snack while we were asleep.

It has been a real pleasure at the Lane Cover River Tourist park for these past couple of weeks. A peaceful environment, sharing with the birds and animals while being so close to the busy metropolis of Sydney.

More Sydney Icons

We continued our travels after lunch at Bondi and headed to Balmain, an inner city location that I have seen referred to in various movies and known as an area frequented by artists.

Leading to the Harbour

From Bondi to Balmain

With narrow streets leading down to the harbour’s edge the area is full of character. We stopped off at a craft market in one of the old churches, just as they were about to start to pack. One stall had many ink and pencil drawings of hotels that I assumed were local, and onn our short walk we saw several of these, all well patronised on the sunny Saturday afternoon.

We wandered down one of those narrow streets to have a view of the Harbour. At the end of the street was a small children’s playground and lawn that took us to the water’s edge.

The Bridge from Balmain

The view from there gave us another way of looking at the Harbour Bridge, THE Sydney icon that must have been seen on millions of postcards and holiday photos from many of the visitors to Sydney.

The Bridge and Ferries

This particular view of the Bridge also has another icon of Sydney Harbour, the ferries. Several were tied up at the Balmain wharf, and show in the foreground of the photo.

The next few days will take us to other iconic locations in Sydney.

What Are The Sydney Icons?

As someone who has lived in Australia for a lifetime, and only visited Sydney once before, there are lots of places in Sydney that I have seen in movies, on television, in the newspapers and of course on the tourist brochures. This trip, which was to be a short stay before returning in a month, has been extended and give us the opportunity to explore Sydney a little more.

There is so much to see and do, that it is not likely that we will get to see all that we have on the unwritten checklist. Especially as some of them would depend on braving the busy Sydney streets.

That’s why it was a pleasant day on Saturday to driven around by our son and partner on Saturday. They have lived in Sydney for many years, so know their way around a little better than us. The GPS, however, came in handy on a couple of occasions.

The icons?

First, we no longer have to drive through one of the motorway tunnels as we went through the Lane Cove Tunnel at the very beginning of our Sydney Icon tour. We also did the Harbour Tunnel later in the day.

The Bridge Up Close.

There are pictures of the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge all over the place, so I thought that it would be a good idea to show it from a different point of view. In this case, from the inside of the car as we approached it from the northern entrance.

If you are really hanging out to see a typical Harbour Bridge photo I will be adding one later from a recent ferry trip, although it was a dull day when they were taken, so I hope to get a photo with blue skies in the next few days.

The Kings Cross Coca Cola Sign

A favourite of the visual media when they want to show something that symbolises Kings Cross, other than the night life and the characters of the area. In daytime, not really all that brilliant, but with its location right in front of you as you approach Kings Cross at night you just can’t miss it. Great example of good location for advertising.

Bondi Beach

When thinking of what typifies the Australian beach and surf lifestyle, nothings beats Bondi.

Close to the city, with the curved beach with white sand, it is the place to be on a summer day. It is the place to be seen, the place to eat out or maybe even venture into the water for a swim or to do a bit of surfing.

Although not the safest of beaches, with notorious rips that carry unsuspecting swimmers out to sea, the Surf Rescue teams are there to help out people who get into trouble.

After a quick early lunch it was time to head out to more Iconic Sydney, which will be covered in the next post.

Peace and quiet in the middle of the city.

The previous post gave the impression that for someone visiting Sydney could be in for a stressful time, especially when driving in the busy traffic for the first time.

We are staying at the Lane Cove River Tourist Park which is located on the edge of the Lane Cove National Park. Leading from the caravan park is a walkway, down a series of roughly made steps, that takes visitors into the National Park and the walking paths and recreation areas alongside the Lane Cove River.

On a short walk through the park the thing that struck me most was the peace and quiet that could be found so close to the city. The park is about 15kms out of the city, but while walking through there is no sound or indication that we were so close to the busy city. And when the wind is in the right direction the flight path for the planes going into and out of the airport do not pass overhead.

Lane Cove River National Park

The photos below were taken during a short stroll in the park, and we will be making a return visit to enjoy the serenity.

Driving On Busy Roads

After months of travelling on quiet country roads with the occasional freeway driving, it came as a bit of a shock to hit the hustle and bustle of city driving that comes with being in Sydney.

We have moved from the central region of NSW, through Wagga Wagga, Goulburn and down the Hume Highway/Freeway to Sydney. Our destination in Sydney was Lane Cove River Tourist Park, at North Ryde, just 14kms from the CBD. Thankfully when I asked the best way to get there I was told to use the Western Link (M7) and M2 Toll roads, since that would cut out a lot of stop/start driving on busy streets. That turned out to true, and my experience driving the Landcruiser on some of the roads is proving to be very challenging, especially when the roads we are travelling on are unknown, and there seem to be hundreds of signs to read and comprehend.

A Quiet Park

Despite being so close to the city, and near some high rise office and business headquarters the Lane Cover River Tourist Park is quiet with very pleasant surroundings. The site on which we have set up is private, with trees and shelter. It is a site that has to have the van backed into it, and there’s not a lot of room to swing into it. With the help of another camper, we managed to site the van well.

Soon after we arrived we were visited by a couple of Brush Turkeys, who visit quite regularly as they wander the park scratching the bark for the goodies they want to eat. The Noisy Miners, however, don’t seem to appreciate them as they are often seen  annoying the Brush Turkeys. So much so that I saw one of the turkeys fly over a neighbour’s caravan and slide down their awning in an effort to escape the Noisy Miner.

The park has many tall trees, and with this being spring several have magnificent flowers. It is amazing to see many species that I have heard about but not seen growing in their natural environment.

On the first night, I heard a rustling sound in the annexe, and discovered that a Brush Tailed Possum had found the vegetable peelings that were inside a bag left outside, and not yet taken to the bin. He sat and watched me for a while, but decided that by the time I got the camera ready he should be on his way out of there. Obviously the possum doesn’t know that we are not supposed to feed him!

An Extended Stay

With so many things to do and a pleasant environment at a very reasonable cost, we have decided to stay for 2 weeks at this park, before we move on to another, or find some low cost/free camping near the northern outskirts of Sydney where we have a house sit planned in about 4 weeks time.

Tomorrow is looking to be a day of discovery as we are driven around by our son and his partner. Since they live in inner Sydney, hopefully they can get us to some places that we might have missed without their background knowledge.

Catching Up

The past week has been busy visiting some of the sites important in the story of the Kelly Outbreak in North East Victoria and into Jerilderie in New South Wales. I did promise to post more about that, but will leave that for later.

While we were free camping at Oxley, near Wangaratta in Victoria, the reception for the modem was a little patchy, so things have got a little bit behind. We have also travelled significant distances in the past couple of days, and there have been lots of photographs to process, which has also delayed the publishing of posts.

So for this post I will include a couple of maps to show the route taken over the last couple of days, with a photo or two.

Oxley to Jerilderie:

On the way to Jerilderie

Jerilderie To Ariah Park

Where is Ariah Park? Never heard of it? Neither had I until today. We found this place in the Bible for Free Campers, Camps 6. It’s not strictly Free Camping for us, because we chose to connect to the available power and water. However this community has decided to attract visitors by keeping the costs down, and also offer Free (with a small donation) to campers who want to be self sufficient.

There are several things to check out in Ariah Park, and day trips to Wagga, Junee and some other towns are also possible.

Starting The Checklist

One of the major aims of the current Grey Nomad trip is to spend some time visiting landmarks that featured in the historical events that were called the Kelly Outbreak in North Eastern Victoria in the late 1870′s and 1880.

We have completed the journey from Bendigo into Kelly country and have based ourselves at Oxley, where the Recreation Reserve is proving to be a very relaxing site.

A herd of about 40 cattle greeted us for the evening meal, and breakfast the next morning. The sound of the small birds that flit around near the caravan is very pleasant and contrast to the screeching of the Sulphur Crested Cockatoos. A little walk around the reserve also rewarded us with sights of Blue Wrens, Spoonbills, Egrets, Ducks and Kookaburras, among other birds.

From Bendigo To Kelly Country

Click the Map to see the route that we took to get to Kelly Country from Bendigo.

First Leg: To Rushworth.

We travelled over this route on our quick round trip to Shepparton and Echuca, and I wanted to go back to see if Rushworth had retained the title that I gave it on the first visit. The Town Where Time Stood Still.

We arrived in Rushworth at approximately 10:30am, and the clock on the Rotunda/War Memorial said 9:30, so yes the title still is true. It seems that someone forgot to adjust the clock for Daylight Saving.

Rushworth really is a town where time has stood still, as some of its buildings still have the feeling of being just as they might have been in the Gold Rush days.

In the wide main street we saw at least 3 places where you can enjoy a coffee or some take-away foods. It was a little early for us, so we had to give them a miss.

On To Euroa

From Rushworth we moved through Murchison and headed to Euroa for lunch.

This town has one of the significant Kelly sites that I hope to visit, the National Bank that was held up and several people were taken as hostages, before being released after the gang left town. More about that story later.

Although the original bank that Ned Kelly and his gang held-up has been demolished, there are several other magnificent buildings and places of interest to look at on the historic walk around the town.

With the imposing Strathbogle Ranges to the east of the town this was a ideal setting for a quick lunch before heading to the next stop.

Benalla: A quick visit.

On the way through to Benalla we left the freeway to take a quick drive through Violet Town, according to the sign as you enter, the first town surveyed in Victoria.

Then it was on to Benalla for a little shopping to make sure we had supplies for the next few days. Things were looking hopeful for finding a park when we saw a sign indicating caravan parking. Unfortunately the parking spaces for caravans were not long enough for our rig, so we went on short discovery tour to find some parallel parking spaces that would be big enough. Thankfully that was not too difficult and we managed to find a spot not far from the shopping precinct.

Benalla will be worth a revisit, and not just for the Ned Kelly sites. There are 4 gardens open for visitors on Sunday.

On to Oxley

From Benalla it was back on to the Hume Freeway, were we stopped to take a look at the Mokoan Rest Area, which has a great view out over the lake and has all the facilities for an overnight stay. It would however be noisy with the constant movement of trucks in and out, and the sound of traffic on the freeway.

Just past a Service Centre (there are actually 2 of them, one on each side of the Freeway) with fuel and the obligatory Macdonald’s Restaurant is the turn off to Milawa, which is the road to take to get to the Oxley Recreation Reserve, our destination for the day.

After a quick drive around the site we decided on a spot to park the van, and for the first night we had only the herd of cattle, and the many birds mentioned earlier as company. The Recreation Reserve has a creek running through the back, with an oval (obviously not used for regular sport) and some jumps and a dressage area for the local pony clubs.

For the second night we were joined by two other groups of campers, who also got to share the company of the friendly cattle.