The South West and Perth….and a rainy day!!

Arrived in Albany to rain!! First grey and cool afternoon we have had whilst being on the road and it came as a bit of a shock however it didn’t last long and the next day we took a drive to the National park to view the famous coastal blow holes, natural bridge and gap.  We stopped for lunch at the oldest hotel in WA before a long walk along the beach to Emu point, recently voted the cleanest beach in WA.

We then headed to Pemberton and the famous wine regions via Denmark and Walpole where we stopped to walk in the ‘Tree Tops’ of the huge Karri and Tingle trees, some reaching 60m in height and 12 metres round. A walking suspension bridge passed through the tree tops (40m at the highest point) for amazing views of the tree canopy and forest floor. We stopped at Northcliffe for lunch where we clocked up 10,000km and decided to continue through Pemberton to Hamelin Bay and our first view of the Indian Ocean and sunsets over water.

 Hamelin Bay provided yet another spectacular beach with the campground right on the beach under the shade of the gum trees. The old wooden jetty now provides a home to numerous types of ray and you could walk into the water and watch them swim next to you and feed them.

Our first morning we drove down to Augusta to view the Cape Llewin  Lighthouse which marks the spot where the Southern ocean meets the Indian Ocean  before Daisy and Tom visited the ‘Jewel Cave’ (one of many in the region) 40m underground and 500 steps to view amazing stalactites and stalagmites and many formations. Back on the beach we saw dolphins swimming  10m away from us and later returned with the girls to watch the sunset with a few cold drinks! One of our favourite places so far!

Next day we took a short drive up the coast to Margaret River, staying near the river mouth at Prevelly Beach, via a 14km off road track through Karri forest. These trees truly are magnificent  giants!!! The afternoon was spent collecting cowrie shells on the beach  and the girls trying to catch a fish in the many  rockpools. The area suffered a bush fire before Christmas with over 40 houses destroyed.

We headed for Freemantle in Perth via Canal Rocks, Yallingup, Bussleton and Bunbury before we stumbled across a great lunch stop on the beach. The girls seem to be enjoying painting all the shells they collect and playing with them in made up ‘dens’ and continue to adapt to travelling on the road without any issue.  In Freemantle we visited the old Goal, Cottesloe beach to the north and stocked up with fresh food from the many markets before booking out day to Rottnest Island.

We took the fast ferry to ‘Rotto’ the next morning and hired some bikes to explore the island. Holly had the luxury off sitting behind Tom whilst Daisy had her own bike with stabilisers. In the 38 degree heat she managed so well and must have covered a good distance via crystal clear beaches and of course past the famous Quokas which can only be described as a cross between a large rat and a small kangaroo. We cooled off in the water as we needed to and returned on the ferry, after a well-earned drink; a great day out!

We then headed to North Perth visiting friends who live at Claremont on the swan river and took a stroll down for a paddle in the River. The amazing pool and spa at the caravan park was most welcome as Perth continued to experience its hottest summer on record. Total fire bans are in place and no agricultural was to be operated in some regions due to risk of starting a bush fire.

We couldn’t visit Perth without a visit to the botanical gardens with its great views over the city and  river but as the temperature touched 40 degree we headed back to the pool. Tom went for a final check up and got the all clear and whilst dealing with maintenance we took the 4wd in for a service and oil change before we set up north along the coral coast towards Broome and eventually the Northern Territory!

06.03.12

The Longest Straight Roads and the Whitest Beaches …..and Holly’s Birthday!!!!

Well we made it! We left Port Augusta in good time and drove 5 hours via Poochera (home of some prehistoric rare ant) to arrive in the 40 degree heat of Ceduna and a much needed swim in the warmest water  we have been in to date. On the way back we recognised a campervan belonging to an old school friend of Jo’s, Bruce Levick, parked right across from our own caravan. Great to catch up with Bruce and look at his amazing photos and get a copy of his children’s book, Drop Bear Roy, for Holly’s birthday!

Another long drive to the Western Australian border town of Eucla saw us passing the dog fence on the way. This fence is the longest continuous vermin fence in the world running 5614km from Queensland to South Australia. We passed through the famous flat and treeless Nullarbor Plain covering 200,000sqkm and took in the views from the cliffs of The Great Australian Bight. Tom played a hole on the longest Golf course in the world which also starts in Port Augusta and finishes in Kalgoolie! Before we arrived at WA we drove the famous 90 miles straight, Australia’s longest straight road which seemed to go on for ever! At the WA border we had a quarantine inspection before setting up for the night at Eucla.

Holly’s birthday was spent driving from Eucla to Balladonia stopping at Midura in the middle of nowhere for pink birthday cake with candles as well as balloons and party hats! We stopped at Cocklebiddy for lunch before arriving at Balladonia 6 hours later for more cake and Strawberry Jelly. Holly had a great day and had some great presents including the Muppets Treasure Island on DVD, clothes and books.

The last leg of the big crossing saw us arrive back in civilisation and to beautiful Esperance via Norseman for a lunch stop. We stayed across the road from the beach where Sammy the sealion still frequents 18 years after Tom last saw him!  The girls loved seeing him each day whilst scooting along the foreshore.

We have visited so many beautiful beaches all with white sand and clear blue waters and our first day was spent exploring Twilight Cove where we all enjoyed the cool water and the girls played in the surf and went for a long walk through the limestone rocks collecting fossils and shells!

Next day we visited Cape Le Grande National Park which boasts Australia’s whitest beach at Lucky Bay. The water was so clear and the sand squeaked under foot.  Other bays we visited included Hellfire Bay (just as the temperature reached 40 degrees) and Thistle Cove. We stopped at Le Grande Beach near Frenchman’s peak before heading back to Twilight Cove where the temperature topped 45 degrees, we have never enjoyed cool water so much! At Twilight Cove we were all pulled out of the water as a 7ft shark was spotted in the bay! A great few days in Esperance after crossing the Nullarbor and now onto Albany and south west corner of WA!

24.02.12

Great Ocean Road, The Grampians, Adelaide Hills and The Flinders Rangers……on the road again!!

Having left Melbourne as planned we headed for the Great Ocean Road and first stop for a break was Bells Beach just outside Torquay before stopping in Anglesea (where else!) for lunch. We stopped for the night in beautiful Apollo Bay heading to the hotel to try the local beer. An early start the next day taking in the sights of the famous coastline; firstly the Twelve Apostles, where we all went down the cliff face to walk along the beach, London Bridge, The Arch and The Grotto rock formations. Amazing views and drive and we ended the Day in Port Fairy before heading back inland to The Grampians National Park.

Our arrival to Halls Gap in The Grampians coincided with the annual jazz festival so we headed out of town to a caravan park on Lake Fyans with lovely views over the lake back to the mountains. The next day we headed into the mountains with the girls managing to walk about 5km in total to take in the views from Reid Lookout and The Balconies and Boroka lookout stopping at Mckenzie falls for lunch. Tom and Daisy went to look at some rock art nearby at Bunjils cave while Holly had a well earned sleep.

Back on the road and after a 5 hour journey through open farmland stopping at Keith(!) for lunch we ended up in the leafy and attractive village of Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills where the girls had an amazing time visiting fairy caves and gardens and making friends with Josie and Jackson from Perth who were staying in the same caravan park. Hahndorf is an old settlement with a German influence and we decided to stay an extra day so we could explore the pretty local towns of Stirling and Bridgewater. We even spotted a Koala in a pine tree of all places!! We also drove through Adelaide taking in The Adelaide Oval and the central market where we stocked up on some amazing food and fresh fruit and veg. We stopped at Glenelg Beach for lunch and we all had a swim to cool off in the 36 degree heat.

Another 5 hour drive took us north through open country to the stunning Flinders Ranges. We drove via the town of Laura for lunch and stopped at Orroroo and saw the 500 year old gum tree with a 10m diameter. RM Williams way then took us on to the Flinders, passing Rankine Road and countless Kangaroos and Emus. We arrived at 4pm with the temperature still a cool 38 degrees and the girls swam in the pool after playing in the red dirt while we had a cold beer or three!

The next day, marking our 10 year anniversary since we met, we drove through  countless dry gorges and lookouts spotting more kangaroos, emus, yellow footed rock wallabies, wedge tail eagles and just taking in the stunning landscape and surroundings. The temperature reached 39 degress as we sat under the twisted red river gums and tried to cool down. The colours of the rocks changed throughout the day and we ended the day with ice creams and a swim after a visit to the sacred canyon to look at the Aboriginal rock engravings.

We are now in Port Augusta preparing ourselves for the short trip of some 1850km across the Nullarbor desert to Esperance where we hope to be in 4 days time! So far the girls have entertained themselves with only the Wiggles via headphones and lots of stickers and colouring, as well as the odd snack…..let’s hope it continues!

18.02.12

Melbourne

Our stay in Melbourne started with  Jo’s  family get together  with  Aunties, Uncles,  cousins and their families.  Great day catching up on a lot of years and the girls loved playing with all their second cousins.  Australia Day was spent with a few drinks enjoying the gorgeous weather.  The next day we visited some old friends who live a few streets away from Pinoak court aka ‘Ramsey St’ so Tom couldn’t resist a photo.  We also spent a day visiting Seaford and the houses Jo lived in, her first primary school (Seaford North) and  got a photo of the church her parents were married in.  Then the girls played and swam on Seaford beach. We even managed a drive past nearby Frankston Hospital where Jo was born. 

A trip into the city was on the cards and we chose the hottest day of the year (38C) and final day of the Australian open tennis.  Saw beautiful Fitzroy gardens and Captain Cooks cottage as well as the botanical gardens where the girls played in the water park to cool off.  Walked over the Yarra river to Flinders Street station with views of the MCG before catching the train home where Uncle Brian had bought another Alpaca called Tom much to the girls delight.  More excitement was to come when we discovered a baby Alpaca in the paddock one morning and Daisy promptly named her Lily.  We were also lucky enough to see all 6 of the others get shorn and finish up looking like stick insects.  Daisy has also taken up mechanics and spent one morning with Brian under the car with spanners and plenty of grease!

Our last week was spent visiting a wildlife park where we saw wombats, cockatoos, emus, dingoes, wallabies, snakes, koalas and lizards. Daisy added more colourful feathers, seeds, and leaves to her collections which seem to be growing rapidly…..

We also did a day trip to the Mornington Peninsula  where we spent the morning on the beach at beautiful  Sorrento, one of the first settled colonies in Australia and now has one of the country’s most expensive postcodes. Fish and Chips in the shade on the beach followed a busy morning building sandcastles! We then travelled back via the ocean beaches.

Well we thought we would be in Melbourne for a week but Tom has been for numerous appointments and tests since we first arrived which has set us back 10/12 days. Thank you to Brian and Leah for putting us up for so long. Fingers crossed we shall be heading for the Great Ocean Road shortly!

Canberra to Melbourne...via a few places!!!!

Soni and Mick kindly put us up in Canberra as the temperature dropped to a record January low of 1.6 degrees and the snow fell on the mountains! Luckily the next morning the sun was back out and we all headed to Questacon Science museum for kids where the girls even attended their first lecture on Water! Great fun and from there we headed to the very moving Australian war memorial with its impressive view down Anzac Parade to Parliament House. We later went up Mount Ainsley to get some great views of the city and as Holly started to fall asleep we went to the Captain Cook fountain and then onto Gold Creek where Daisy fed the native parrots and birds!

Next Day we headed up into the snowy mountains along the Monaro Highway to stay in Australia’s highest caravan park in the Kosciuszko National Park, surrounded by snow capped mountains and cooler air we headed up the valley to look at Australia’s highest mountain, Mt Kosciuszko  and took a walk to view the wild flowers, snow gums and the Snowy river itself.  Returned to the camp site to find lots of friendly kangaroos which the girls loved playing with and feeding. Later on that night we had a visit from a number of brush tailed possums one of which must have mistaken Toms toe for a bit of apple!

The next day we headed into the main ski resort in the area, Thredbo and took the ski lift to the top and walked the 4km return trip to the Mt Kosciuszko lookout for some more amazing views. Temperature at the top was a refreshing 8 degrees. Ended  a great day round the camp fire with the girls eating  jaffles for their dinner!

We left the Snowies driving through never ending open country along the Snowy Mountains Way, rejoining the Monaro Highway, before  passing over the border into Victoria and arriving on the South Coast at Lakes Entrance. We took a late stroll over to ninety mile beach where the girls happily played in the sand having not seen the sea for over a week! Tom had started to feel unwell so we decided to stay a couple of night and relax before we headed north again along the Great Alpine Way to Bright through some serious skiing country. We passed Mt Hotham on the way and saw the Great Dividing Range again in all its glory. Bright was beautiful and the girls played in the river. Next day we headed south again and stopped at Glenrowen for lunch. This was the place of the last stand of Ned Kelly and his gang, famous Australian outlaw!

The big day then finally arrived, we were “going to Bonnie Doon”.  For those of you that have not seen the Australian Movie “The Castle” then we suggest you try and get hold of a copy as the following few sentences probably won’t make any sense! Bonnie Doon, arh the serenity, in all honesty it was beautiful as Lake Eildon was a full capacity and there wasn’t then smell of 2 stroke anywhere. Tom had to dig a hole to get the caravan level before we took a trip out to 3491 Maintongoon Road, home of the Kerrigans.  We thought, what would you want with a kit home, but it was complete with Mozzi zapper and power lines.

The serenity didn’t last long as the next morning we headed into Melbourne to stay with Jo’s Uncle and Aunt, Brian and Leah, and meet up with Jo’s parents. Tom went straight to the Doctors and then onto A&E to be diagnosed with Pneumonia.  Luckily we are in Melbourne for a while and the antibiotics started to do their job straight away.

From Melbourne we have no schedule to keep and so not sure how much internet access we will have but we will continue to post as often as we can!

Sydney and the Blue Mountains

Arrived in Sydney on the 5^th of Jan (just as Michael Clarke scored 300 at the SCG) to catch up with Jo and Jazz who looked after us as always being  great hosts and tour guides around Sydney harbour where we took in the usual sights of the Opera House, Harbour Bridge, The Rocks and Darling Harbour. Our water taxi to Darling Harbour took us on a guided tour via Woolloomooloo Bay, Fort Denison and the PM’s  Sydney residence, Kirribilli House. Ended the day with a drinks and Ice Creams at Darling Harbour. Only downside to our stay was a visit by a scumbag who smashed a window in the 4wd and stole the satnav and ipod!

The following day we went to Little Bay between Botany Bay and Coogee to stay with Vix and Giles who again very kindly looked after us. Great location on the golf course and a short walk down to the beach where the girls had a great morning with everyone.

With the city and coast behind us it was off to the Blue Mountains. We stayed for two nights in Blackheath and on arrival went to the lookouts at Govetts Leap for our first ‘wow’ factor of the mountains and saw the Bridal Veil Falls and Pulpit Rock. Then we visited Evans Lookout before calling it a day. The next day we went to scenic world outside Katoomba with modern cable cars taking us up and down the valley and a floating cable car with glass bottom. A highlight for Daisy was a ride on the steepest railway in the world (52 degrees) down to the valley floor! 

From the cable cars we saw the Three Sisters rock formation (280 million years old!), Jamison Valley in all its glory and the Katoomba Falls. That afternoon Daisy and Tom walked from Echo Point across onto the first of the Three Sisters before we took a trip down the Megalong Valley to view a Gorge from the inside. Wonderful couple of days!

Then onto Kangaroo Valley for one night, located between Bowral and the coast to enjoy some beautiful countryside. We managed to catch up with Hattie and family for lunch on the way which was great, thank you all again! The next day we drove through the stunning southern highlands stopping at Fitzroy Falls along the way.

Next stop Canberra and the Snowy Mountains!!!

The First 1500km - Noosa to Sydney!

First stop was the appropriately called ‘Christmas Creek’ just outside Beaudesert  (inland from the Gold Coast) to catch up with a school friend of Jo’s,  Louise  before we stopped the night in Beaudesert again with  friends  Barry and Di who Jo lived with in London. Thanks for all your great hospitality!!!

Next day we travelled to ‘The Goldie’ staying in Southport (thanks Tracey)  just outside surfers Paradise and caught up with another English/Aussie combo  Amanda and Justin at a nearby  water park.  By chance we also managed to catch up with another school friend Nicole and again caught up on the past 20 odd years which was lovely!

We then headed further south to stay just outside Yamba and our first night in the caravan! All went well and the girls seem very happy with their new life in and out of camping grounds/holiday parks.  Spent new years eve there and caught up with Jo’s uni mate tracey for some fishing and beers. The pacific heights hotel in yamba sits high on a hillside with a sheer drop and amazing ocean views from massive windows.  Also managed to visit McLean, Australia’s only Scottish town….

On the first day of 2012 we headed off to Nambucca Heads via Coffs Harbour and lunch on the river.  Beautiful weather so far and the girls have learnt to spot sugar cane and banana plantations which are the main crops grown here.  They even spotted the ‘big banana’ located just outside Coffs Harbour. Unfortunately we bypassed Ballina and the ‘big prawn’ as well as the ‘big pineapple’ on the sunshine coast...seen one seen them all  we reckon.  At Nambucca Heads we stayed below Captain Cooks Lookout and enjoyed shelly beach and a walk/scoot along the famous V wall where people are encouraged to paint the rocks.  

We then headed south, stopping at Port Macquarie for lunch, to the small oyster fishing area at Manning Point. We have now got a routine with the caravan and can set up in about 30mins! People in all the parks are really friendly and interested in what we are doing! We are now getting the ‘traveller wave/finger’ on the highway when passing other travellers.  A Long walk with the girls on the beach and some fishing from the jetty for bream and off to Sydney we go.

Our GPS tracker should now be up and running so you can follow our footsteps by clicking the link on the right hand side and then opening up the various trips !.....Next update Sydney and the Blue Mountains!!