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.

The Tall Timber.

On the drive along the Great Ocean Road it was difficult to stop in many places while towing the caravan. This was definitely the case when driving to Apollo Bay through the Great Otway National Park.

The concentration needed to drive safely on the hilly, tree and fern lined roads prevented me from taking in much of the magnificence and beauty of the area. The decision to spend an extra night at Apollo Bay was perfect, as it allowed us to back track a little (just 16km) to Mait’s Rest. It also gave us time to take a leisurely stroll among the giants of this Temperate Rainforest.

This destination is worth another visit, and another leisurely stroll among these giants.

 

One Benefit of Winter Travel

We have chosen to take the Great Ocean Road at the right time of the year. The colder weather has sent fellow Grey Nomads north to warmer regions. That means that it is easy to find places to stay in caravan parks that would be booked out in the Summer months. It also means that some attractions have closed down for the cold months, and that saves some money.

But It is…..

Whale Watching Season

on Victoria’s south western coast.

While travelling from Mount Gambier to our current destination, Warrnambool, we stopped of at Portland for lunch. When we visited the Tourist Information Office we discovered that whales had been sighted in the port that morning and had moved a little further down the coast. They had some spectacular photos of a whale leaping out of the water from earlier in the day. The Melbourne newspapers next had had these same photos on their front page.

We were wondering if as usual we were going to not see the whales this time. We had heard that whales were seen at Port Fairy so we stopped off there to check at the Tourist Information Office. But with the caravan hooked up and running out of time to get to Warrrnabool we did not try to see them on that day.

Today we took the short drive back to Port Fairy to ask if whales were in the area. The helpful staff at the Tourist Information Centre pointed out where they had been sighted, and when we drove there it was obvious that whales were still in the area. There were cars parked all along the foreshore and people with cameras and binoculars everywhere.

The nearest Fish and Chip shop  was doing a roaring trade with several people sharing their chips with the seagulls, even though it was mid afternoon when we pulled in to watch the whales.

These photos were taken of what was most likely a mother and calf, sighted off the beach at Port Fairy.

So that’s one of the things that we hoped to do on this trip ticked off on the checklist.

 

Perfect at any time.

Most people would expect that the best time to visit Port Lincoln would be in the warmer times, with its mild climate and water activities. It is also a great place to visit even in the depths of Winter.

Yes we di have to contend with gale force winds on a couple of occasions, and the rain has affected some possible activities, but there is plenty to see and do. In our week here we have only just scratched the surface.

Walks

There are several well designated walking trails for those who like to get out and experience the environment close-up. Close to the town is the Parnakalla Trail.

Further afield is the Investigator Trail, named after the ship captained by Matthew Flinders, with markers pointing out places of historic and environmental significance.

The Marina

Claimed to be home to the largest fishing fleet in the Southern Hemisphere, the Port Lincoln Marina is a great place to visit. When we were there it seemed like the whole fleet was in port. The Prawn and Lobster fleet were tied up, and there was a little activity as some were preparing to head out in a few days.

One of my nephews is the engineer on one of the Prawn boats, and evidently they are provisioning for the next trip, where I believe that they will be doing some tagging of prawns to help with research and management of prawn numbers. I must check out just what that involves.

Also in the fleet are many small vessels used to take the feed out to the numerous tuna farms located around the bays at Port Lincoln. From our position in the caravan park, looking out over Boston Bay we can see a couple of these tuna farms, and the boats regularly heading out to them with cages full of pilchards to feed the tuna.

National Parks

Located close to Port Lincoln are the LincolnNational Park and the Coffin Bay National Park.

Access to these requires a permit, and we bought an annual pass that allows access and camping for the next 12 months. We checked out one of the camping spots in the Lincoln National Park and will definitely be heading out there in the next few days to share the environment with the kangaroos and emus.

A Short Stroll Along The Parnkalla Trail

 

Well just a short section from the Port Lincoln Tourist Park to Shelly Beach (and back!).

The Parnkalla Walking Trail runs along most of the coastline at Port Lincoln. It is named after the Aboriginal people of the region whose Dreaming focuses on the beauty of the area.

Walkers can join the trail at many different places and there are markers along the way to tell of significant features.

The following photos are a small sample of those that I took on the late afternoon stroll.

Click on any photo see it in full size.

Where to tomorrow?

To see more photos from the Parnkalla Walk visit the Gallery

 

Location: Whyalla

There are 2 caravan parks in Whyalla. The Foreshore and Whyalla Caravan Parks.

A visit to the Information Centre as we came into the town from Port Augusta gave us that information, and indicated that one has a beach front setting and the other a bushland setting. We chose the bushland option.

It has given us just a few more opportunities to add to the checklist of birds seen on our travels, and the next task will be to find a way to add photos of those that stay still long enough.

Today’s best example is either the Kite that sat in the tree near our caravan, despite being hassled by a pair of PeeWees who weren’t too happy about its presence, or the pair of Little Grebes seen on a stroll around the Wetlands.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, there was a pair of Little Grebes. One of them just missed out on being in the photo by ducking under the water.

The Journey Begins

Wednesday: 6th June.

A short trip to revisit some familiar territory and connect with family has begun. The destination: Port Lincoln.

Since this is the first significant distance to be travelled with the caravan, it will be broken up into several stages.

Stage 1: Christies Beach to Yacka

After a slow start which meant that we were a few minutes late for checkout at Christies Beach and the boom  gate would not operate when I punched in the code, the first real experience at driving through the suburbs was negotiated successfully. If I ignore the slight scrape from the sign in the caravan park when I took the corner a little too casually. A great lesson learned!

A big rig like the one in which we are travelling makes it necessary to make some changes or adaptations to the driving behaviour that have been entrenched over many years. For example….

• On busy multi-lane roads in built up areas driving in the left lane is not recommended. In just 1 reasonably short trip that recommendation was very helpful in keeping the movement through the suburbs to be smooth.
• Stopping distance has to be increased.
• Parking: Just where can you park something that takes up 3 normal car spaces?

First Stop Over: Yacka

This has been at the top of the places to stay since noticing the park on the banks of the Broughton River at the northern end of the town on one of the many journeys through the town in the last 2 years.

Yackamoorundie Park is a community operated park with camping facilities. To get access to the park for camping and using the facilities there are several places where the key to the gate can be collected. For a reasonable $15 per night for a powered site. There are 8 available.

Even before the caravan had been set up Joy discovered an echidna or spiny anteater who made a hurried retreat. Well relatively hurried for a slow moving creature like him, aided by being able to slide down the steep river bank. But not before a quick photo was taken.

Facilities at Yackamoorundie include a Shower/Toilet block, 8 powered sites, campfire areas, barbecues (electric and wood burning), sheltered eating area and several magnificently mosaic decorated picnic tables and seats. At the time we were there two more tables were being prepared. A revisit to the park at some time later will almost certainly be on the agenda.

The Natural Setting

As good as the features described above, they do not really compare with the natural surrounds.

Being on the banks of the Broughton River, there are plenty of trees and consequently birds to delight in the morning and evenings. part of the park has a gently sloping area with dense scrub to attract these birds. In just a short period several species were spotted and crossed of the checklist and some even managed to find themselves in front of my camera.

This park is well worth a visit, especially if you want to get away from the stresses of day to day living. Phone reception is poor, internet connection is almost non-existent for wireless reception and since Yacka is only a small community out of the reach of major TV transmitters there was no TV to distract from the peaceful surroundings.

 

 

Oh The Noise!

The noise this morning was almost deafening. I could hardly hear the Corn Flakes in my breakfast crunching with each bite.

On a delightful Autumn morning, it seemed that every bird in the Caravan Park had something to sing about.

The parrots swinging around on the gum tree blossoms were so loud they almost drowned out the others.

Ticking Off The Checklist.

One of the side projects that I have intended on doing whole on the road is to complete a checklist of different bird species observed in the many locations that we visit. To date the list is only small, but then, we haven’t really started to travel.

Occasionally I intend to refer to some the bird observations here at Grey Nomad Times.

The first of these is not really an observation, because I have not yet seen these birds at the Caravan Park where we are staying. But we have certainly heard the Kookaburras laughing on several occasions.

I have for a long time been convinced the kookaburras can be a great predictor of rain. I guess it may be just a fable but I heard somewhere that when a kookaburra completes their laugh, rain will fall in in the few days after. That has been the case here at the park. Each time that I have heard the complete laugh from the local kookaburras we have had rain soon after, even if at the time it did not look like rain was on the way.

A Friendly Visitor.

A few days ago there was a scratching and thumping noise coming from the outside top of the caravan. When I opened up the shade below the hatch we saw that a Crested Pigeon, also known as the Top-Knot Pigeon was walking around and pecking at small insects?

He stayed long enough for me to get a photo through the perspex hatch. He is just one of the many birds that will come close to people in the park, and some of them give great pleasure with their antics. Like the Magpie who refused the small piece of carrot he was offered when he came close, but was very happy to take a tiny piece of roast lamb.

And who could not be happy to see a Willy Wagtail swing his tail from side to side as he hopes around picking up small flying insects. Add to that the honeyeaters who can find any dripping tap to get some water as they hang upside down. I will have to get the camera out next time I see one.

 

Heavy Rain and Caravans

 

Just 2 days ago we experienced the heaviest rain since occupying our caravan. That has emphasised just how much more dependent we are upon the weather.

The heavy rains came soon after a burst of hot weather, which challenged the air-conditioner, and made the day times very difficult for anything other than sitting around and keeping up the fluids. Unless of course, we decided to get in the air-conditioned car and head out for the day.

But rain, is another matter. The onset of rain often means that several things need to be done.

• Are all of the hatches closed? Especially those above the bed or the dining table. The hatch over the shower is not a problem so it gets the lowest priority.
• Windows. Especially if the rain is coming from the direction where windows have been opened.
• Leaks. There shouldn’t be any, but it’s a good idea to check. None found.
• The annexe is another matter.
• If the awning is not set to the correct position, some water can get inside from the stitching at the edge. Thankfully we discovered that very early on, and have adjusted the awning. This time just a small amount of water got in through there.
• Flaps down. The screens, if rain falls on them, make a fine mist and water splashes quite some distance.
• The door to the annexe. It was rolled down since the rain was coming through it from the direction.
• The anti-flap devise at the awning edge. Now that’s a perennial issue for our van. Despite adjusting it recently the edges of the awning have managed to work free in a couple of spots. That lets in a little rain if it is heavy.
• The floor. Despite a trench being dug to take water away, this time the rain was so heavy that some water managed to enter the annexe from under the edges. So, today meant that some parts of the annexe walls were removed to allow air and sunlight to flow in and start the drying process.  More will be needed in the next few days to help dry it out.

The rain we experienced was the edge of a huge system that has caused flooding in may other parts of the country, so the small inconveniences we suffered are indeed only minor, and just add another experience to be talked about.

Rain is not all bad news.

There are, however some benefits to this recent rain. The small man-made lake that gives the Caravan Park its name, Lakeside, was empty and dried up completely. The park ducks are now in their element, happily swimming around and looking very contented.

Earlier today I was puzzled by a sound that I mistook for somebody’s radio playing the distance, but discovered that it was the sound of frogs in the nearby creek, that had filled with water. So this afternoon I took a walk to the creek to check them out. This little video is the result of that investigation. At the time of recording, the frogs had to compete with the galahs settling down for the evening, but they were in fine voice, as you can hear in the video.