Sometime ago (approximately June 2017) William decided it was time to see Australia, Personally I’d never been that bothered but there were places on the bucket list I wanted to see so why not do them all in one go.
William started investigating Motor Homes, again something that had never appealed – too “Grey Nomadic”.
So after much looking around and one very pushy salesman we ended up with a mobile home hence forth known as Marge (Simpsons Reference).
We didn’t have a define departure date but we eventually took delivery of the van mid October.
In the meantime Willy had managed to break his right arm in a cycling incident (whole different story – details available on request).
We hadn’t actually taken delivery when the accident happened but by that time we were fully committed.
For anyone interested the Van is a locally manufactured Avan “C” class based on a Fiat chassis. It’s diesel, licensed to carry and sleep 4 and is about the largest motor home van you can get which doesn’t need a special vehicle
licence. It has additional features to support “free camping” – camping away from services. We can probably manage about 6 days away from any facilities, the limiting factor being water. There is an additional solar panel and an extra house battery. We also added a bike rack to carry the electric bikes.
Between mid October and end of November we did a couple of short trips to test Marge out and after making a couple of modifications we felt ready to go.
To help fund the trip we have let the apartment which happened from the 27th November 2017 with a 12 month lease. Friends and acquaintances beware…
As most of you will know, about 12 months ago we got a 6 week old rescue kitten, Lisa who has turned out to be a bit of a handful. A friend of ours, Alan very bravely agreed to look after Lisa (sight unseen) for at least some of the time we were planning to be away.
As Alan was available from 6th December and we let had the apartment from late 29th Nov Brian & Grant kindly offered to put us up.
The journey proper started on Tuesday December 6th 2917. We stayed in Wagga Wagga from Tuesday through to Friday. By the time we left Lisa seemed to have settled in well . She managed to find a suitable panic room in the wardrobe but was spending most of her time under the duvet.
We planned to end up in Melbourne on about 21st Dec, leave the van at the airport and fly back to Sydney for Christmas/New Year and then return to Melbourne on 4th Jan 2018. .
The meant that the only deadline we had was to be in Melbourne in time to park the van and catch the flight on 21st December. Not having any definite travel route from Wagga Wagga we decided to head into the Victorian alps making for Beechworth.
9th Dec – Beechworth and it’s close neighbour Yackandandah are old gold mining towns in the Mount Pilot National Park. There’s lots of good walking and cycling tracks.
On the Saturday we did a short part of the Mountains to Murray track from Beechworth to Everton. At about 32kms round trip and billed as “Easy Down, Challenging Up” it’s a great trip passing several vineyards through cuttings and best of all no traffic.
Unfortunately after the trip I ended up with a very sore bum so decided to take the next day off and sat around in the sun reading some Scandi-Noir (as if it’s not bad enough living with it!).
Book Finished: Anne Hold – What Dark Clouds Hide
9th Dec – Took the Alpine Way to Bright – fantastic scenery all the way with some very steep hills. At one point there was a distinct smell of disk pads after a particularly long and steep decent.
Stopped off at Myrtleford to do a bit of shopping and have a coffee – nice place but they have music playing everywhere – was somewhat reminiscent of Patrick Macgoohan and Prisoner.
From Myrtleford travelled through to Bright which is an even nicer little town and no music. Found a perfect spot in Wandilgong about 5km outside Bright, besides a creek and only $10/night…
10th Dec – Left Wandilong about 10.00 and headed for Mount Hotham. The countryside is quite stunning very very green, very windy roads, not too many safety barriers and some really nasty bends. Fortunately there is very little traffic. The scenery is quite stunning probably the best I have seen in Australia. Lots of Alpine Gums between about 800m and 1200m. The last big fire was 2013 but the result is plain to see.
Stopped at Mount Hotham alpine village for a coffee when William decided he wanted to take the mountain cycle track and I would take the van down and meet him at a place called Wiskey Flats which he though was about 12 kms further on. I suppose it was really my fault but when I reached East Gippslands and still hadn’t found Wiskey Flat decided to turn around. Anyway eventually found the meeting place which was really another alpine village caller Dinner Plate and the trip continued on to Omeo.
Passed through Omeo and eventually ended up at Swift Creek which had been recommend as an overnight stop. We camped right next to the creek.
11th Dec – Headed for Lakes Entrance, stayed long enough to have fish and chips. The next stop was back inland in the Mitchell National Park. The site had good reviews and was situation at the end of a unsealed road.
The campsite was nice – only one couple there, lots of space and some vans
that had not been moved for years (meths lab / hydroponic weed?) , lots of fire wood and a duck pond. Wandering around the site we found a Bower Bird’s nest complete with blue things.
That Wolf Creek Feeling: On the site was a old shed and if you looked closely there was someone looking out of the window. On closer inspection it wasn’t a person but a full size shop window dummy complete with blonde wig and what looked like a tutu. In fact there were several dummies all done out in different costumes – this was really quite bizarre and add to this the couple of large wood chopping axes, the total isolation of the place (no phone signals) and my vivid imagination it was a real Wolf Creek stuff. I must admit I was very relieved when daylight broke the following morning and it was time to move on.
Books Finished: Agatha Christie – A murder is Announced
15th December – After leaving Wolf Creek we need to find a site with some water and power and ended up in small country town – Yarram. The camp site had good reviews and everything we needed. All was going well until the dog incident which pissed William off no end. He’s the same in Rushcutters Bay Park with owners and errant dogs….
That evening Tina Turner and Joe Cocker (just in from Melbourne apparently) were performing at the local theatre and we were offered cheap tickets by the bar man – we declined and just had dinner – Garlic Bread followed by Roast Beef for Willy – I had fish and chips again. Country pubs are not big on vegetarian cuisine.
Then moved to Wilson Promontory which is all national park.
Did a 12km walk to a couple of the bays on the first day and then did a 9km mountain and boardwalk walk on the second.
Tuesday Dec 19th we decided to by-pass Melbourne and take the Sorrento to Queenscliff ferry service. This takes about 40 minutes and saves all the hassle of Melbourne. It crosses Port Phillip bay at the narrowest part of the entrance.
From Queenscliff we head for Barwon Heads camping. The place is next to the water with a rather rocky beach. Arrived and were offered one of two sites
we picked the really good one, no neighbours and on a quiet corner. Bit of a tricky site to get into so had to move the van a couple of times to get the services connected and avoid a low hanging tree. Took about 60 minutes and then relaxed. Took the bikes off the back and decided to go to the local hotel which we noticed on the way in for a drink.
I picked up the parking information given to us at reception and noticed that were allocated site 115 or 128 – we were actually on 125 – bugger. Had to pack up and move by which time it was starting to rain. Needless to say someone wasn’t happy – must be more careful in future before setting up. Just to make matters worse the site we had to move from is still empty….
Dinner: Prawn Gyoza with Salmon seared in Chilli and Garlic Soy with green salad.
We are booked back to Sydney from Avalon on Thursday 21st Dec. Leave Barwon Heads about 10.00 and head for Avalon which is about 60 minutes away. Arrive, put the bikes in the van and head off to Sydney.
21st December to 4th January
Stayed in Potts Point and thanks to John & Hal had the perfect Christmas/ New Year break from our 12 month around Australia break.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/98145375@N06/25717100698/in/datetaken/
Hans & Lotte do Macleay Street (a view from the pool)
We had Christmas eve with Brian and Grant and then Christmas lunch with Bob and Diane.
Managed to fit in a “pensioners day out” to see the Pipiloiti Rist exhibition at the MCA in Sydney, caught up Elisabeth and with Susan for lunch and had dinner with the Priests, David and Jeff and Denise.
Watched the NY fireworks from the apartment and had a quiet few days before Brian kindy took us to the airport on Thursday Jan 4th to catch our plane back to Melbourne.
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As part of the blog we are going record books read, some of the more notable meals, living life without shampoo and meat (pescatarianism), advances with our social skills (talking to people) plus much much more….
fantastic