And a challenge met!

Just a couple of days ago we completed our first year in the caravan, apart from a couple of short house-sitting assignments. The first few months were taken up with establishing ourselves and a short trip to Port Lincoln, but the last 6 months has been spent on the road.

Now is the time to look back through the photos to remember all of the places we have been, where we have stayed and what we have taken from these experiences. If we just get some time sit back, and not out exploring new places, I might be able to prepare a little summary for this site.

Well that’s the milestone!

The challenge?

When we travelled to the South Coast of NSW for a few days we passed through the Illawarra region and down to the Shoalhaven. The journey there took us down the escarpment from the Southern Highlands into the Illawarra. From the drive down the Mount Ousley Road I knew that it was going to be a challenge going the other way towing our big rig.

And so it proved to be a challenge. I tried to look at alternatives for getting back to Richmond from Nowra, but each seemed likely to just as challenging, if not more so.

Thankfully today was a cooler day which made it a little easier to scale the road up the escarpment, although it was slow journey. We followed a heavily loaded truck up the steepest parts, being passed by the cars who were finding the drive up quite easy. When we reached the top, the truck in front of us pulled into the rest stop, where there were several other trucks parked, but unfortunately they prevented us from being able to see the strategically placed mobile coffee van who had set up in the rest stop. After the trip up that road a coffee would have been great to help calm the nerves.

Earlier in the day there was another small challenge. The exit from the Shoalhaven Ski Park, where we had been staying for the past 2 weeks. Originally the plan was to set up camp in the camping area of Shoalhaven Zoo, but on the steep road to there I took the wrong turn at the fork and drove into the Ski Park. Since their camping fees were similar, and I did not like the idea of driving out of the Ski Park, up the hill, turning around and coming back down into the Zoo camping area, we stayed in the Ski Park. And enjoyed the stay immensely.

From the bottom, looking up.

Today was the day to tackle the drive out of the Ski Park. We thought it would be quieter on a Monday morning, but it seemed that some of the early campers were starting to arrive. That could have been a problem on the narrow road if someone was coming down while we trying to go up. And the misty rain had perhaps made the road a little slippery.

So it was bite the bullet time, engage a lower gear and slowly head up the road. Thankfully there was no one driving down at the time, and the fears of a slippery surface were unfounded. At the top of the drive, time to start breathing again, and begin the drive before tackling the escarpment as described earlier.

Apart from those two white knuckle experiences, the drive from Nowra to Richmond was very pleasant, especially as we took the Grand Pacific Drive from Nowra to Gerringong, along the coastal (and less hilly) route past the Seven Mile Beach National Park.

We arrived safely at Richmond to prepare for the next house sitting assignment at Oakville. Tomorrow  we start to discover what it takes to look after several llamas and alpaca, many aviary birds, a couple of dogs and cats, two ponies and a few donkeys. Interesting times ahead.

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.

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.

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.

So Much To See And Do

A last minute decision to take the road to Bendigo, rather than another route through central Victoria,  has been rewarded with some wonderful experiences and plenty more that we could do with more time.

Gold!

Poppet Head Lookout

Bendigo is a large rural centre in Victoria, that was established during the Gold Rushes of the 1850s in Australia. It was one of several locations where gold was discovered and grew into large mining operations. The results of the wealth generated by the lucky, or resourceful miners and those who supplied materials and services to them, are to be found in lots of places around the town.

Buildings

Grand buildings, religious, civil and business, with ornate facades and balconies are all over the town.

Sacred Heart Cathedral

It is impossible to miss the Cathedral, started in the 1870′s, partly completed in the early 1900′s, and finally completed in the 1950′s to late 1970′s. It is an impressive, both inside and out, and well worth a visit.It is just one of many impressive religious buildings that are found around various parts of the city.

A visit to the Chinese Joss House, dedicated to Guan Di (Kwang Gong) is also worth a

Lion Guarding The Joss House Entrance

visit. There we found out about  the hardships that Chinese diggers endured, and their contribution to history of Bendigo. Included in the tour is a talk about the history of the building the uses of the various parts of the temple.

The Talking Tram

The main street, Pall Mall, carries a tramline that runs regular services  that have a commentary about Bendigo’s history and landmarks that it passes. This is the famous Bendigo Talking Tram. Actually there are several of different vintages.

Bendigo Talking Tram

Fortunately we rode one that had padded seats and not the hard wooden seats that we saw on another.

Mining.

The Central Deborah Goldmine has several tours available to people who want to find out more about Gold Mining, the conditions that the early miners had to endure and the tools and equipment that they used.

A Poppet Head has been relocated to the top of Camp Hill in the centre of the city, just behind the Information Centre and  Rosalind Gardens. The climb to the top is worth the effort with the spectacular views that it provides. Around the base of the Poppet Head is a series of mosiacs depicting the contributions of the many different nationalities who build the city to what it is is today, along with indications of the huge role played by gold.

Melbourne Zoo Butterfly House

This post is a little late due to power problems for the laptop, and so many other interesting things to see and do while we are starting out on our Free Camping experiences.

Before we left Melbourne we enjoyed 2 visits to the Zoo, and the Butterfly House in particular.

The bright colours of some butterflies are spectacular and the thrill of having one land on your head, hand or back is something to look forward to. Although there are some people who seem to shudder at the approach of a butterfly.

Some camera-shy butterflies also like to land on the camera, making it very difficult to take their photo.

To see just a few examples of the photos taken click the photo of the Orange Butterfly on Joy’s back. Or click here.

Werribee Open Range Zoo.

Actually, we’ve already been to the Zoo, and here are the photos.

There’s not much need for words. Most photos are from the guided bus tour of the Open Range sections of the Zoo.

My First Snow.

The weather forecast last night said that there was a potential for light snow at heights above 600m for today. A relatively short distance from where are now based is Mount Macedon, height 1000m, so we decided to head for the hills.

The weather didn’t look too much like it would provide snow, but we arrived at Mount Macedon after:

• A short detour when I missed the turnoff to the Calder Highway that would take us north, in the direction of Bendigo. I managed to get on the Calder Highway, but heading to Melbourne, and the dreaded Tollway. A short trip through some back streets and then back onto the outbound lanes of the Calder Highway and we finally heading in the right direction.
• Lunch at Gisborne. We found a great cafe that had some gluten free vegetable fritatas with salad or chips for lunch. A quick walk around part of the town then it was on to Mount Macedon.

The skies didn’t look too promising as far as providing snow, but right on cue, just after we got out the car we saw some snow flakes drifting to the ground. They didn’t hang around long but at least I saw my first snow, EVER!

We managed to get a photo with some snowflakes on Joy’s jacket before they melted.

Can you see them?

To help you out I have indicated a couple of snowflakes with arrows. You might even be able to see more.

The next photo shows snowflakes falling. Once again you have to look hard, and you might just be able to see the white streaks as the snow falls from left to right.

You may need to click the photo to enlarge it to see the trails made by the snow as it falls.

The Camels Hump

The highest point in the Macedon Regional Park is not actually Mount Macedon, but The Camels Hump, a rocky volcanic outcrop that is about 10m higher.

After a short 10 minute walk, up quite a steep path, there is a lookout that provides breathtaking view of the surrounding countryside. Set among the Snow Gums that exist in this cold, windy and wet environment, the lookout also has a plate pointing  out the directions to nearby locations, including another well know rocky outcrop, Hanging Rock.

The walk also takes you past many different birds and interesting understorey plants, mosses and fungi.

 The Return Journey

Rather than retrace the path that we took to get to Mount Macedon we chose the alternative route through Gisborne and Bacchus Marsh to return to Werribee South. The chocolate box pictures that we could have taken on this particular drive were also quite inspiring, especially as this winter has provided plenty of water that is still lying around in the paddocks, which are also still a bright green. Along with the bright yellow of the wattle trees and the canola crops the scenery is brilliant.