The Path Less Travelled

Since leaving Canberra we have been travelling north on an inland path to avoid the busy Sydney area and the coast north of there since we will see all of that on our return trip south at the end of our journey. In doing so we have come across some lovely National Parks, beautiful valley views and very few people, allowing us to move at a very leisurely pace. In fact it got quite slow on one road where some modern day shepherds were moving at least 1,000 sheep along the road to another pasture. It was worth the wait.

In Tamworth, the Country Music Capitol of Australia, they had a Lighthorse memorial with a sad story. The Whaler breed of horses were very strong and were brought to the near east to be used in World War I by the Australian forces. Before departing the Turkish region at the end of the war, the soldiers had their mates kill their own horses which could not be brought back home due to disease concerns, and they did not want them to become mule alternatives if they left them behind. In Uralla, we learned about Captain Thunderbolt, a villain with panache who never killed anyone and often served a drink to people after robbing them. He is now a local hero and his statue is the home of a very interesting geocache which we found.

Heading east from Armidale, we spent time in 4 National Parks, most of them along Waterfalls Way. The Gara Gorge was the home of Australia's first hydro-electric station and we had a good hike along the old flumes used to carry the water to the steep drop into the gorge. While the trail was devoid of hikers, we spotted numerous younger people at the bottom of the gorge, jumping off 5 metre high rocks into pools and sliding down smooth rock waterfalls on boogie boards.

We spent one evening at Cathedral Rock NP, which was an 8 km gravel road drive into the campground, only to find that we were the only ones there. We had a lovely campfire with the only sounds coming from the birds around us. It also meant there was never a line-up at the long-drop (their affectionate name for an outhouse).

This morning we had an apple pie breakfast (from a local bakery) at the beautiful Ebor Falls, another spot with only a handful of people. We are now back to civilization in the town of Glen Innes. They have a Celtic heritage and celebrated their centennial in 1988 by building a Stonehenge lookalike, with 30+ massive granite stones in a local park where we had a picnic lunch. Following that we did their Heritage Walk showcasing many buildings from around 1900 which are still in use.

Tomorrow we will continue our northern path to Tenterfield where we will visit a few more NP's before heading east towards the coast on our way to the BluesFest in Byron Bay on Easter week-end.

 

Highway traffic jam

Tamworth Lighthorse Memorial

 

Gara Gorge - calm before the storm

Cathedral Rock NP campground - with all of our friends

Ebor Falls - Upper Falls

 

 

Glen Innes - 1887 Town Hall

 

Mke's Rant for the Month

Most of you know me as a reasonable person, easy to get along with.......isn't that right Pocahontas?

Well, at the half way point of our Down Under trip, I am becoming a little irritable about internet accessibility, my travel lifeblood. Most of the campgrounds and caravan parks that we have stayed in do not have WiFi availability and those that do seem to charge excessively for using it ($6 per hour). This seems quite odd to me given that almost every hostel in both South America and SE Asia provided this service for free, and we were in much more remote parts of the world. My better half (two thirds is probably more accurate) keeps reminding me that my reluctance to convert over to a mobile fully-featured phone......where everyone seems to be consumed with using their thumbs to communicate instead of actually talking to a person.....might mean that my laptop is now one time zone removed from the rest of the world.

While I am on a roll, the other item that concerns me is the design of automobiles over here, putting the steering wheel on the right side of the vehicle. Presumably, this is because they have chosen to drive on the wrong side of the road. In doing so they have forced my navigator to sit on my left, and since I don't hear nearly as well from that side (post radiation), it has resulted in numerous U-turns, wrong turns and missed turns due to communication problems between the pilot and the navigator (not to mention the additional rocket fuel for our spaceship). I briefly considered letting the navigator take control of the steering wheel but her penchant for power naps while we are on the road makes this option a risky one. We will try to make the best of this nuisance factor.

After departing the Barossa Valley wine region we followed the Murray River upstream to its' source in the Snowy Mountains. Along the way we enjoyed fruits and vegetables from the Murray Valley as we stopped in many small towns and farmers markets. Mildura and Echuca were lovely towns with some of the locals living on houseboats which were also for rent along the wide and lengthy Murray River.In Echuca we stumbled upon a Celtic Festival and spent one evening listening to several Irish bands at three different pubs within walking distance of our campervan. It was a nice way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

Approaching the Australian Alps, we spent a full day hiking in Mt. Buffalo National Park. The Horn (360 degree views for 50 km's in every direction from the peak) and The Old Galleries (interesting rock formations with a slot canyon feel) were our two favourites of the four hikes that we completed. We then drove through the Snowy Mountains where the spaceship had to dodge a few kangaroos and wallabys along the quiet roads. Threadbo was a nice looking ski town inside the NP and one of Australia's largest ski resorts (but still about half the size of Lake Louise). Snow chains are mandatory in the winter and they were available for rent at all the entry points into the NP so that drivers could drop them off on the other side of the Park if they were driving through. I haven't seen this idea come to fruition in Western Canada yet but it seems like a good opportunity in the regions where chains are mandated.

Our final stop on our swing back east was at the nation's capitol, Canberra. Another beautifully designed place with a lake in the centre of the city, and numerous parks around there housing their many museums, galleries and government buildings. The business district was a few kilometres away from the lake, minimizing traffic and making our walkabout quite pleasant. The War Memorial, the Glassworks ('live' workshop) and the walk along the lake with the National Carillon bells chiming were highlights. We left Canberra this morning and are now heading north on an inland path to check out some more small towns, national parks and allow us to bypass the busy Sydney area which we will explore at the end of our trip.

Echuca - Murray River houseboats

Mt. Buffalo hut / shelter built in the early 1900's (on our way to the Horn summit)

The Cathedral hike in Mt. Buffalo NP

Picnic lunch at Lake Jindabyne (just outside the Snowy Mountain range)

Canberra - War Memorial Museum

Anzac Parade with Parliament House in the background

Bird Symphony

One of our memories from Australia will be the sounds and colours of the birdlife over here. Most mornings we awake in our campground to a symphony around us. The rosellas, cockatoos, kookaburras and black swans are plentiful. The bellbirds sound just like a set of bells. Our only wish is that there would be even more of them to deplete the pesky flies who don't bite but seem to enjoy buzzing around our heads......we have learned what the 'Australian salute' is all about.

Since our last post we have had many highlights.
Our first stop was at Cape Otway, known for their lighthouse built in 1848. A fellow camper had advised us to watch out for koala bears on the road out to the lighthouse. Sure enough we spotted a couple of travellers taking photographs and I stopped and asked if there was a koala in the neighbourhood. They told me to look around, up high, and before long we could see up to 20 koalas resting in the limbs of the gum trees (eucalyptus plus other gum tree variations). They are nocturnal creatures so most of them were sleeping while others were changing to a more comfortable position, some of them with babies in their back pouches. They were fun to watch and easy to photograph. As we drove on (and knew what to watch for) we saw many more along the way. The lighthouse was a different story. The locals seem proud of its heritage (running regular tours) but it is also on the Shipwreck Coast where there have been more shipwrecks than anywhere else in Australia (some of it due to WWII German sea mines). In any case, I didn't get it, someone clearly wasn't doing their job properly if there were that many accidents.  It seemed to me like celebrating the Calgary Flames (or Toronto Maple Leafs) surviving a season without being relegated to the minor leagues like they do in soccer.

Our next stop was in Port Fairy which had a Folk Festival going on during the week-end. Unfortunately for us it was sold out several weeks in advance but they had a Fringe Festival going on at the same time. There were lots of street performers along with food and market stalls, and several bands from the folk festival came outside the gates to do sets in the town parks. We enjoyed the time sitting in our camp chairs listening to the music.

On another day we drove to the Naracoorte Caves, a World Heritage site, where we took a guided tour underground to see some ancient fossils and some 'living' caves (stalactites, stalagmites and columns). A swim in Lake Alexandrina was refreshing after another 30c+ day. That led us into the Fleurieu Peninsula, south of Adelaide, where we spent a day touring around. They have some lovely beaches and in the centre, the McLaren Vale wine region, where we checked out several wineries.

The next day we walked around Adelaide, our furthest western destination in Australia. The city is very well designed with the downtown area completely circled by parks and a river along the north end making it very accessible for biking and walking. They have done a good job of preserving and utilizing their heritage buildings, especially around the University of Adelaide area, but their modern architecture seems quite boring (compared to Melbourne). The daytime temperature finally dropped to a more comfortable 25C so it was a nice day to stroll around the city, including a stop into their large Central Market where we bought some more fresh food for the next few days.

Today we toured the Barossa wine region which was on our 'to do' list and were glad we did. It will always be a favourite from now on. The wineries produce excellent wines (which we knew), but they are also unpretentious (unlike Napa), in beautiful surroundings, uncrowded and still offer free tastings, including some of their $50-100 wines. We visited some of our cellar favourites.....St. Hallett, Thorn-Clarke, Yalumba and Penfolds. Our camper van is now fully stocked......we might even have to discard some vegetables and fruit if they continue to get in the way.

Cape Otway - koala

Great Ocean Road - 12 Apostles



Crimson Rosella

Port Fairy - Fringe Festival

McLaren Vale - d'Arenberg winery, Handling Soil

Barossa Valley - picnic at Peter Lehmann winery

University of Adelaide building

An Angry Summer

The talk over here, down under, is that this has been an 'angry summer'. The temperatures throughout the country have been several degrees celcius above the normal summer averages creating drought conditions in many areas, and in the NW (Brisbane to Cairns) they have also had above average rainfall with several cyclones, creating flooding conditions. We just recently completed a short tour of Melbourne, which we loved, and they were forecasting several more days of 30+C highs which would break the record for consecutive days (9) above that. The global warming discussion continues.

Our trip down the east coast and around to the Victoria south coast has been wonderful. In Eden we visited the Whalers Museum where we learned about how Old Tom (an orca whale) worked with the fishermen to herd balleen whales into the cove for them to harpoon and was then rewarded with the leftovers (tongue and lips). At Cape Conran we had our first campfire (banned in most places because of the dry heat) and enjoyed a 2 hour hike along the Cape boardwalk the next morning. We spent a night at Lakes Entrance where we had a campground bbq of freshly caught shark and prawns, with a morning visit to the Sunday market and a sandspit walk where fifty-plus youngsters were participating in Surf Life Saving exercises, a common practice in most seaside communities.

Approaching Melbourne, we made detours to Phillip Island (bridge connection) and the Mornington Peninsula. Both areas are within 2 hours of Melbourne and popular spots for the city folk to relax in their summer homes or on the beach. On Phillip Island we enjoyed the Penguin Parade at sunset where we saw over a thousand Fairy Penguins (now called Little Penguins to be politically correct) march from the sea to their shore nests after gorging on seafood to feed their chicks who were screaming to be fed ......they were prepared to accept food from anyone but apparently the mothers know who their chicks are and will only feed them. Although it was more touristy than we would like.....500 people in a grandstand, and even a skybox for those that wanted to pay more for premium seating, the penguins didn't seem to mind and it was quite an experience. The next morning we did a hike out to Cape Woolamai where we saw some significant surf that seemed to have an edge over the surfers who ventured out. The beaches on the west side of the Mornington Peninsula were fabulous....sandy and calm. We walked out to the end at Nepean Point and nearby Cheviot Beach but saw no sign of Harold Holt, the Prime Minister who went for a swim in 1967 and never returned to shore. There was a small memorial at the beach. The only other apparent accolade for him is a swimming pool in a suburb of Melbourne (named after him) where they teach little kids how to swim in case they want to become PM some day.

The next day we had a great time walking around Melbourne. With 4M+ people and water, it took a long time to get in and out of, but the downtown area was splendid. It was mix of old (Victorian architecture) and new (colourful contemporary), and easy to walk around. The river walk, old buildings, electric trams and multiple parks made it very pleasing to the eye. We had a delicious lunch at a restaurant on Lygon Street which was filled with sidewalk patios......it was a good finish to our time with Bill & Bobbie, who acted as tour guides for the past 10 days, and who were returning to their Yamba home (south of Brisbane) from Melbourne. We will visit with them again later in our trip.

We are now touring the Great Ocean Road in our Spaceship. It is carved out of the Otway Ranges, similar to the Sea to Sky Highway (Vancouver to Whistler) but with beautiful beaches (long and sandy). Yesterday we checked out the Ozzy surf capital (Bells Beach in Torquay) where we arrived 3 weeks too early for an international competition of the best surfers in the world. There were many skilled surfers working on their moves when we were there.

We just recently learned that Labour Day week-end occurs this week! All the Caravan Parks are booked as the Melbourne and Adelaide city dwellers try to escape the heat for a long week-end along the south coast. Most of the other foreign travellers that we have talked to are scrambling to find a place to stay with everything on-line booked already. Fortunately for us, our previous stays at hostels made us aware that many of them with a bit of extra grass, will allow small campervans to park there and use the hostel facilities (showers, common rooms) so we have secured a spot to use as a base for the w/e.

Eden boardwalk - foot long jellyfish (one of several)

Cape Conran - Surf Life Saving club practice (Sunday Market in background)

Phillip Island - Little (Fairy) Penguin parade

Cape Woolamai hike - pink granite

Melbourne - Train Station with 88 story Rialto Tower behind

Lygon Street - The last (almost) supper

Torquay - Surf Beach school