A long catch up finishing at Bright with a change of camper!

After Blanket Bay we joined the grey nomads and surfies and camped at Johanna Beach for a few days.  It was a free campsite next to a long, wild and rugged beach.  Campers of every size were set up in grassy paddocks. Apparently it is a favourite surf beach but on the days we were there, we came to the conclusion that you would have to be an extreme surfer to stay alive on the waves.  I became extremely anxious just letting the boys play in the shallows – a definite no swimming beach.  It was perfect though for long walks and for meeting interesting people!

Take Nick and Peta from Ballarat for example….Nick was an Opal miner in his younger days and as we sheltered from yet more rain, under our little retro awning, he told us stories about Coober Pedy.  Over 40 years ago Nick and 4 friends found an opal worth $360 000. That’s a lot of money now, but back then it was even more of a fortune.  On another occasion he found a couple of good sized Opals and put them in a McDonalds bag for safekeeping.  Later on in the week he cleaned out his car and guess what? He threw the opals in the rubbish and they were never to be found again!   He was a character and gave us a DVD with some episodes of “Opal Fever”(All about Coober Pedy and opal mining) to watch while it steadily rained outside.   He and Peta also showed us a small jar full of small opals that they had collected “noodling” - which apparently means going through the tailings from old mine sites.  We’ve decided that we’d like to visit Coober Pedy on another trip.

Our next stop on the Great Ocean Road was to explore the famous 12 Apostles, which are tall limestone stacks in the ocean.  They truly are beautiful and we viewed them from many lookouts and beaches. Our favourite spot was Wreck Beach as it was much quieter than the main lookouts and we walked until we found an anchor from one of the many shipwrecks along this piece of coastline.

At each stop Oscar measured the wind speed, atmospheric pressure, temperature and wind chill using an anemometer, which he borrowed from the Parks Centre.  This was another fun subject for Camper School!

On one beach there was a very friendly black dog that looked a lot like our friend Tia (Anna, Michael and Sam’s dog) She was wandering the beach at the base of some very steep steps.  She did not seem to be attached to anyone and was extremely thin.  She followed us for a long time and would walk next to us and play with the boys.  We lingered for a lot longer than we planned as we tried to find her owner but no one turned up.  The black dog just joined another group as we all silently and slowly made our way up the stairs.  Had she fallen from a boat?  Had she fallen off the back of a ute and made her way to the beach?  Was she abandoned?  Was a family searching for her? We decided as a family to try and help.  We rang the local Shire Ranger who said he would send some one out to pick her up.  We just hope she finds a home, as she was friendly, intelligent and gorgeous.

Our van unfortunately has been a bit of a lemon and our next stop was Warnambool for a few repairs.  Luckily Warnambool turned out to be beautiful with a safe swimming beach, adventurous flying fox in the park and a perfect pathway for lots of Ripstiking for the boys!

From here we went to a most beautiful old whaling town named Port Fairy.  The streets are lined with many original cottages and other buildings such as churches and an old school using the local Basalt rock.

We were very fortunate as Anna and Sam flew over from Tasmania to show us Port Fairy and Anna’s mum and dad, Ursula and Charles travelled from Melbourne.  They have a lovely little weatherboard cottage almost in the centre of town with a backyard full of 16 different varieties of fruit trees and a perfect place for our camper.

We had a very enjoyable time walking around Griffith Island, admiring the light-house, a variety of beaches, interesting architecture, eating fine food and drinking wine!  We ran into two Tassie friends, Simon and Caroline, who are travelling around Australia as we were investigating a replica of an early 15^th. Century Spanish boat named the Notorious.  We drove to an extinct volcano, met some emus and spied a few more koalas.  The boys loved catching up with Sam and Anna and we enjoyed the lively conversations with Anna, Ursula and Charles.  

Jon and I were a bit distracted though because it had become evident that our camper was just too heavy for our Subaru to tow easily.  Jon was finding it difficult driving also and was concerned our car may blow up!  An amount of time was spent researching new car options and the trying to sell our camper so we could buy a lighter set up. 

To give ourselves a couple more days to work all our options out we headed up to the Grampians, which surprisingly is not a very hilly drive from Port Fairy!  Oh …I am so glad we did, as it is beautiful!  We made straight for a walk on our first day named “Hollow Mountain” and it was perfect for two young boys who fly up rocky steep terrain.  There were the most amazing views and caves to explore.  The mountain is literally hollow in places and you can crawl about and explore.  We had lunch inside the mountain – a bit cold but interesting!

After a lot of Emails, phone calls and driving we have sold our Jayco and bought a second hand aluminium camper trailer.  We have left our kayaks and about 150kg of gear tucked away at Ursula and Charles’.

We then drove to Bright, which is one of the areas we really wanted to visit, and Jon found the towing much much easier!  The Subaru seems fine and we even set up the new rig in the dark without too much trouble.

First day in Bright was hot; the many deciduous trees are delightful.  I would have said it was just almost perfect until we woke up this morning and discovered that our brand new Waeco fridge and all its contents had been stolen.  Another family had their esky and a lot of alcohol stolen too but retrieved the esky from the river early in the day.  The policeman came around quickly, Jon drove the 2 hour return trip to Wangaratta and bought us a new fridge.  Insurance will cover most of the cost but it is not a nice feeling at all to have had people steal such a heavy item from literally next to where we were sleeping.  Ours was found broken in the river about 1.5km from our camp and returned to us later in the day ....the policeman is questioning a couple of suspects!  I guess all of this is life experiences which as a family we can analyse, discuss and learn from.  

Our day needed improving so we have finished it with a beautiful 10km ride on the Rail Trail, icecreams and homemade gourmet pizzas.  A couple of chapters of "Eragon" and a game of crib!

We’ve locked absolutely everything up tonight and I have at last finished a blog to catch you all up on our news.

Hope all are well.  Thinking of you all.  Angus is missing home and friends heaps!

Jenn

Blanket Bay

 Arriving at Blanket Bay after exploring Apollo bay a little was initially disappointing; the beach did not appear to be any good for swimming, it was bleak and foreshore rocky.  We had each visions of a smaller version of the white sandy beaches of Apollo Bay in our heads I guess...


Its interesting how first impressions are often misleading as our stay at Blanket Bay turned out to be one of our favourites so far.  The rocky shore was perfect for exploring and the rocks were intriguing in appearance - we all wish we knew a lot more about geology.  Some rocks were square like a chess board, others standing up in small round stacks, others with perfectly round holes to bathe in!

When the tide went out the bay was also well protected and became a wonderful place to snorkel and discover small striped fish and toad fish swimming along beside us.  One fellow staying here caught two crayfish to cook up for tea!

We saw our first koalas and had one in a tree very close to our camp which we could check on regularly to see which branch he was sleeping or eating on.  We all love the way they perch themselves in a fork of the tree to eat and then fall asleep with limbs dangling over like a soft toy on a shelf. 


A highlight was our evening campfire and how sharing a few marshmallows  allowed us to meet people from Serbia, Germany and Japan.  While we chatted Angus and Oscar had a lovely time contributing now and then and quietly and efficiently toasting and eating almost an entire packet of marshmallows!

Jenn

More about Forrest from Jenn

We’ve spent the last 3 days in a small town named Forrest, which is about 40km north from Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road.  It is a small town which has a long history of logging the forests. 

It had a railway line go through the town mainly for the purpose of transporting logs back to Melbourne.  For many years the logs were pulled out of the forests and along the rail-line to the station by draught horses which were bred in the area.

Some years ago the railway was closed and the forestry industry ceased in this area.  To try and “Re-invent” the township and draw tourists into the area they have built about 17 mountain biking trails which suit all levels of riders.  There is a multi-purpose rail trail and interpretative signage where the railway once was.

We’d heard about the area from many friends but were still surprised by the sheer delight of riding such purpose built trails.  The ones we have ridden so far have been fantastic.  You can ride the easier option on a trail or if your are an awesome MTB rider you could enjoy the optional log rides, large drop offs and super berms.

I’m really proud of the boys as they’ve ridden well on some tricky tracks and had a go at many obstacles I may of balked at had my 7 year old not just ridden it! 

The forest is beautiful too.  There is a real mixture of vegetation.  We found riding through swathes of kangaroo trees (Xantheria Australis) just magical but also enjoyed the dry eucalypt pathways fast and fun.  We haven’t seen a koala yet but hopefully we will in the next few days.  They say they are about but we haven’t been lucky enough to see them.

There was an Irish band playing at the local brewery yesterday and we wandered along and thoroughly enjoyed listening to the songs and watching the musicians as they played an electric guitar, electric banjo and electric fiddle(?).

Today we drove just 7km to Lake Elizabeth and tried to spot a platypus along the foreshore.  Instead we found plenty of people to chat to and the boys had a quick dip to cool down as we actually felt hot for the first time this trip!  Lake Elizabeth was an easy stroll and once again the forest was beautiful…lots of manferns and eucalypts so tall and straight they looked as if they were stretching out to touch the sky.  Jon rode back from the Lake on a track named “ The Red Carpet ” and said it was so “sweet” he wanted to ride it again!

Oscar cooling down in Lake Elizabeth 

Actually we would love to ride most of the tracks we’ve done again as they were just so much fun!  Our favourites have names such as: J2, Follow the Dog, Roller coaster, Forest Loop, Third Time Lucky, Vista and Barre Warre.

We’d recommend Forrest to any family who enjoys mountain biking, the outdoors and a relaxed camping style.  Thanks to the many families back in Launceston who recommended the town to us!    

Please don't forget to try and comment as Oscar has helped us to change settings and hopefully made it easier.  We'd love to hear from you!

Also, please don't forget Oscar's blog.  His blog is very easy to comment on. He is learning heaps about blogging by participating in a blogging challenge with school which has just started.  Thank goodness for our young IT consultant travelling with us! 


Jenn

Trying to comment?

Oscar has changed the setting which hopefully will make commenting easier without having to log in to a google account. Give it a try, drop us an email if it is still difficult to do or you would prefer your comments to be private/top secret etc.

Forrest MTB

The last 2 days have been spent at Forrest in The Otway Ranges above the Great Ocean Road. Forrest has had some excellent development over the years for mountain biking as a destination. There are a variety of trails varying in technicality. As we rode over small logs and jumps there were many "whoops" of joy from the boys who really love the tracks. I have to keep reminding myself not to get too excited or over confident as I need to survive the holiday in one piece.

The camping is a pleasant change from Lorne which was getting very busy and is pretty much camping in a mown paddock with some shower blocks.

This afternoon we dropped in to the local micro brewery where an Irish Folk group was playing. It was great music and relaxation with a couple of boutique beers. There was no mountain biking to be had after that.

Tomorrow we will further explore the trails then maybe head down to Apollo Bay area Tuesday for a bit more time by the coast.

Jon

Lorne discoveries

We have been at Lorne for the past two days which is a lovely place. The coast along the Great Ocean Road is spectacular. Lorne has a nice feel to it great beaches and delightful bushland fringing the coastline. At the moment it is fairly quiet which will change over the weekend. Today we started with a ride along the foreshore following an old logging tramway then a juice and coffee on the main strip. Then although a bit windy we headed to the surf and it was surprisingly not that cold, much warmer water in northern Bass Strait. This afternoon the boys had a kayak on their own down the river running through the campground, a great safe place to develop their skills.

 Cycling Near Lorne

Our plans are to explore some more of Lorne, I am currently scoping out some mountain bike tracks, I have found a map for the Anaconda Adventure Race so might try and find the track they use for that.

Angus at the Torquay Surf Museum

Jon

Moving on from Wilson's Prom

Our last day at Wilsons Promontory included many adventures.  We started the day by exploring Picnic Bay which reminded us a lot of the East Coast of Tassie with its large granite boulders and beautiful white beach.

 We were able to explore the length of Tidal River in our kayaks.  Oscar and Angus sat on the back of the boats for some of the journey and Angus body-boarded behind Jon's boat for some of the trip also.  There were many birds which we admired along the way and eventually the river ended up very narrow with tea trees overhanging the river.  At this point we turned around and enjoyed the current assisting us back to our starting point.

One of the little beaches along Tidal River.

We then walked up to the peak of Mt. Bishop and saw the amazing regrowth after the 2009 bush fires.  The colours were vibrant against the start black of the burnt eucalyptus trunks.  At the summit we had a wonderful view of Wilsons Prom and many of the beaches below.  Oscar and Angus fairly raced back down hiding behind many tree trunks trying to scare Jon and I as many times as they could.

We had planned to travel North but due to the severe flooding in those regions and after much discussion and deliberation we have headed west toward the Great Ocean Road.  We have not studied up on this region at all so each day will be a discovery.  

We stopped at Sorrento for two nights and were surprised at how beautiful this area is.  We spent time cycling out to Point Nepean and exploring the Quarantine station which was used to Quarantine any early settlers who were arriving in ships and who were thought to have infectious diseases.  Prime Minister Harold Holt also disappeared in this area in 1967 and we visited his memorial.

The highlight of our day was surprisingly exploring Fort Pearce and Fort Nepean.  The forts were set up to protect Melbourne during the second World War.  We were able to walk through tunnels, explore old artillery storage areas and learn a huge amount about the history of the area.  We were caught in a shower of rain on the way back but this only made us hurry up bit and cycle faster!  We had spent a lot longer than planned wandering the ruins of the forts.  

Port Phillip Bay was calm and inviting on our return to camp and we had a bit of a paddle and swim to check out the beaches, piers and many boats moored just offshore. Oscar and Angus built elaborate forts and tunnels with the sand and fortunately they survived the night!  Good architecture I must say!

We are now heading off toward The Great Ocean Road - not exactly sure where we'll stay the night .....part of the fun of an adventure!

Oscar and Angus checking out the view at Fort Nepean

Jenn

Cheeky Birds

It's been very rainy but finally we had some time to play on the beach and kayak yesterday.


It was fun kayaking.  I can paddle my kayak standing up.  


We also walked to Squeaky Beach
and we left our packs while we walked to the far end of the beach.  When we got back we found that all our food was scattered on the sand and rocks.  There were missing muesli bars.  My favourite jellied lollies were everywhere.  It appeared that birds had unzipped our backpack and helped themselves to the food.  


Angus

Simplicities of Camping

Before we left home we dug up all of our potatoes and were surprised at our haul.  We researched how to store them, as we've never had such a lot before, and left some for our return home.  We packed some up into a brown paper bag and stowed them away in the van.  We also picked all of the corn, even the tiny ones, and put them in at the last moment.

I'm glad we did this prior to travelling because it has been lovely to cook up our own corn for tea and lunches and a reminder to me how lovely it is to simply sit outside and scrub the spuds in a bucket.  We fetch our water from a nearby tap and wash up in a tub sitting on the table outside the van.

I was concerned when Jon wanted to buy a mini Weber BBQ for the trip that we would loose some of the simplicity of camping that we enjoy.  We left this purchase to the very last minute as we weighed up the pros and cons of such extravagance.  The decider was Jon's argument that it would allow us to do some baking while we are away as it is quite tricky to purchase "peanut free" bakery items.  I was still not absolutely sure we'd done the right thing until today.

We had purchased some cherries from the Cherry Shed at Latrobe on our way to the ferry.  They were Lapins and not particularly sweet.  Rather than see them go to waste I googled a cherry cake recipe and thought "Why not...lets give it a go on the Webber".  

A very pleased Jon admiring our almost cooked cherry cake on the Webber BBQ


Here is a link to the recipe: Joy of Baking Cherry Cake.  The results were delicious......sweet aromas floating out of the camper awning across the rain soaked camp-ground.  So once again Jon's shopping proves successful!  We still have our simplicity of camping but with a bit of flair and delicious options available to us when we wish!


Hmmm....if it keeps raining I think our waists will expand!
Jenn

Wilson's Prom Saturday

Wilson’s Prom Wet and Windy

As the South East of Australia is shrouded in rain and strong winds, we are right there amongst it. Looks like another day spent indoors with brief excursions out into the weather when possible. I looked on the weather radar and managed to find some areas nearby that were going to get much more rain than us so felt a little better. Yesterday was nice with the chance to have a paddle in Tidal River in the kayaks a walk and a few bike rides around the camping area.

Jon

Squeaky Beach

Tidal river Rain!

Braving the weather and exploring Tidal River at Wilsons Promontory

“This is awesome” was the boys catch cry as we:

   Traveled up the ramp into the depths of the Spirit of Tasmania and saw trucks and motorbikes strapped, extra levels of cars winched up above us.

   Discovered our cabin was at the very bow of the ship. It had an extra deep shelf in front of the porthole, which accommodated all of us as we lied on pillows and watched Devonport disappear and we sailed towards Melbourne.

   Had a picnic on the deck of the ship in very warm sunshine and toasted the start of our holiday adventure.

Fortunately it was smooth sailing across to the big city and we and we disembarked at 0640 into the busy traffic.  We made our first stop for breakfast at Racer Café in St. Kilda, which is a café primarily for cyclists.  It had hooks on the outside where people could hang up the bicycles before eating a hearty breakfast. There were cyclists everywhere both inside and outside on the road negotiating the morning traffic on their way to work and school.

I will never quite cope with 5 lanes of traffic going in one direction but seeing as Jon was driving we survived!  Navigating the multiple lanes can be tricky though especially when “Karen” our Garmin GPS lady tells Jon to go one direction and I can see a much more camper trailer friendly version on my map. I may need to download a lovely Scottish gentleman’s accent for our Garmin – he may be easier to tolerate!

I think we had all pictured arriving at Tidal River, Wilsons Promontory, differently to the reality.  We had a brief period of fine weather when we could see how beautiful it was with granite outcrops and tannin stained water in the river and then the weather turned!

Our little camper is truly being tested.  The gusts of wind last night would have been at least 70 – 80 km. per hour and heavy rain lashed about us.  Jon got up about 1am and tied extra guy ropes from the camper to our car in the hope both vehicles wouldn’t be blown away. 

Last March Tidal River had a once in three hundred year flood and you can see the evidence of that all around us.  The riverbanks were severely eroded, roads washed out, walking tracks washed away, the riverbed scoured, landslides and bridges washed away.  Many walking trails and roads are still closed and repair work is ongoing.  Lets hope that the heavy rain we are experiencing at the moment and which is forecast for the next week does not cause a “2 in every three hundred year flood”!

So after a brief walk in the rain, being blasted by gusts of wind which blow off all your freckles, and exploring the river we are now back in our cosy camper doing homework, eating lunch, reading books, cooking snags, and about to watch a movie all curled up in the warmth of a doona. 

Jenn