A view of the island fom the ferry.
The North Gorge Blowhole
The Blue Lake.
A burned out tree stump.
The bark of a scribbly gum tree.Wednesday, February 28, 2007
North Stradbroke Island pictures
A view of the island fom the ferry.The North Gorge Blowhole The Blue Lake. A burned out tree stump. The bark of a scribbly gum tree.
North Stradbroke Island - Thursday 22 - Friday 23 February
Thursday 22 February
We caught the luxury Sea Stradbroke ferry which only took 45 minutes. North Stradbroke Island (NSI) is a subtropical island listed as one of the world's most ecologically important wetlands. But unfortunately, as we found, you needed a 4WD to be able to access most of the roads. These also take you to the beaches that no other vehicle can go. There are three main places on NSI.
Dunwich - where the ferry docks. Well known for its Aboriginal and European history and it holds graves dating back to shipwrecks in the 1800s. It's estimated that 10,000 people are buried there including 26 immigrants who died during a typhus plague that swept the immigrant ship, The Emigrant, in 1850.
Amity Point - where the first Europeans settled in 1825 when a pilot station was built to help shipping into Moreton Bay.
Point Lookout - where you can see for miles on the South Pacific Coast. It's basically the main tourist spot.
As Point Lookout was the mecca for all tourists we decided to head for there which was the northern tip of the island. We pulled up at Cylinder Beach Camping Area because it looked fab. The ranger had finished at 5pm though so we couldn't check in. This is the story of our life so far ever since we got Gert. I became a bit agitated as we needed a place to stay and who on earth finishes work for the day at 5pm? I know when I was at Freshfields I clocked off mentally at 4.30pm but at least I could be seen and heard. I spotted the bell and immediately started buzzing and buzzing. The ranger must have been very ignorant because he chose not to hear the bell. We left and headed for another campsite called Adder Rock Camping Area which was just outside Point Lookout. The ranger's notice said that the office had shut at 3.30pm. Crikey mate. Does anyone work a decent day over here? I couldn't believe it so I became a pain in their backside and buzzed and buzzed until someone came out and said that the ranger had gone out for the evening. So I decided to go one better and had a peep and found the caravan supervisor's number and telephoned him. He gave us the code to the gate and we were away. We originally found a camp spot right by the beach but it was too far away from amenities so moved to another part of the camp. After the stress we had gone through of finding a place we had to drink extra red wine which certainly helped our mood.
Friday 23 February
As reliable poms we went straight to the ranger's office and paid up for last night and also paid for tonight because the huge fruit bats (apparently called Flying Foxes) provided too much entertainment for us to miss. Plus this campsite was one of the best we have stayed in so far. It rained heavily through the night and some doughnut had left their mobile on the chair outside. The other doughnut found it but unfortunately it was too late for the phone. So, in just under a month, I will soon be on my third mobile phone. We went crazy and had our second dip in the sea here. The waves were really powerful so we didn't stay in for too long but the sea was lovely and warm. We visited Brown Lake which would have been lovely without the horrible rain. The lake was indeed brown. So I got changed into my long cargos and my coat. We headed to Blue Lake thinking that this would be more fun. We obviously hadn't learnt from our last walk which was Challenger's walk. In order to reach Blue Lake we had to park Gert and then take a walk which was a round 5.1km which didn't seem too bad at the time. The walk was through a forest which was really humid and so boring. We didn't see any wildlife at all. When we were half way into the walk we started walking a bit faster just to get it over and done with. We then saw a sign which said that the lake was 100m away. Once we reached the 100m point we managed to see a tiny bit of the lake from a lookout point but it was too protected by the trees - again. It was a difficult decision at the time but we decided to walk a little bit further because we thought that there must be more to see if they had sent us all this way. About another 150m on we came to another little clearing but that was all. It was a complete waste of an hour or so. We headed back to Gert but this time at a very fast pace. Five people arrived in a 4WD as soon as we reached our van and luckily for them we told them that the walk would be a complete waste of their time so they turned around.
After this experience Carl had spotted a walk called North George Blowhole. It took you around a little bit of the north east coast which included Whale Rock and Captain Cook Lookout. The first half of the walk was very impressive but then it started pissing it down - again - so we had to jog around the second leg and we were absolutely soaked through. We quickly ran into a surf shop and I did a bit of Roxy shopping. Whoever put that shop there was a genius.
We caught the luxury Sea Stradbroke ferry which only took 45 minutes. North Stradbroke Island (NSI) is a subtropical island listed as one of the world's most ecologically important wetlands. But unfortunately, as we found, you needed a 4WD to be able to access most of the roads. These also take you to the beaches that no other vehicle can go. There are three main places on NSI.
Dunwich - where the ferry docks. Well known for its Aboriginal and European history and it holds graves dating back to shipwrecks in the 1800s. It's estimated that 10,000 people are buried there including 26 immigrants who died during a typhus plague that swept the immigrant ship, The Emigrant, in 1850.
Amity Point - where the first Europeans settled in 1825 when a pilot station was built to help shipping into Moreton Bay.
Point Lookout - where you can see for miles on the South Pacific Coast. It's basically the main tourist spot.
As Point Lookout was the mecca for all tourists we decided to head for there which was the northern tip of the island. We pulled up at Cylinder Beach Camping Area because it looked fab. The ranger had finished at 5pm though so we couldn't check in. This is the story of our life so far ever since we got Gert. I became a bit agitated as we needed a place to stay and who on earth finishes work for the day at 5pm? I know when I was at Freshfields I clocked off mentally at 4.30pm but at least I could be seen and heard. I spotted the bell and immediately started buzzing and buzzing. The ranger must have been very ignorant because he chose not to hear the bell. We left and headed for another campsite called Adder Rock Camping Area which was just outside Point Lookout. The ranger's notice said that the office had shut at 3.30pm. Crikey mate. Does anyone work a decent day over here? I couldn't believe it so I became a pain in their backside and buzzed and buzzed until someone came out and said that the ranger had gone out for the evening. So I decided to go one better and had a peep and found the caravan supervisor's number and telephoned him. He gave us the code to the gate and we were away. We originally found a camp spot right by the beach but it was too far away from amenities so moved to another part of the camp. After the stress we had gone through of finding a place we had to drink extra red wine which certainly helped our mood.
Friday 23 February
As reliable poms we went straight to the ranger's office and paid up for last night and also paid for tonight because the huge fruit bats (apparently called Flying Foxes) provided too much entertainment for us to miss. Plus this campsite was one of the best we have stayed in so far. It rained heavily through the night and some doughnut had left their mobile on the chair outside. The other doughnut found it but unfortunately it was too late for the phone. So, in just under a month, I will soon be on my third mobile phone. We went crazy and had our second dip in the sea here. The waves were really powerful so we didn't stay in for too long but the sea was lovely and warm. We visited Brown Lake which would have been lovely without the horrible rain. The lake was indeed brown. So I got changed into my long cargos and my coat. We headed to Blue Lake thinking that this would be more fun. We obviously hadn't learnt from our last walk which was Challenger's walk. In order to reach Blue Lake we had to park Gert and then take a walk which was a round 5.1km which didn't seem too bad at the time. The walk was through a forest which was really humid and so boring. We didn't see any wildlife at all. When we were half way into the walk we started walking a bit faster just to get it over and done with. We then saw a sign which said that the lake was 100m away. Once we reached the 100m point we managed to see a tiny bit of the lake from a lookout point but it was too protected by the trees - again. It was a difficult decision at the time but we decided to walk a little bit further because we thought that there must be more to see if they had sent us all this way. About another 150m on we came to another little clearing but that was all. It was a complete waste of an hour or so. We headed back to Gert but this time at a very fast pace. Five people arrived in a 4WD as soon as we reached our van and luckily for them we told them that the walk would be a complete waste of their time so they turned around.
After this experience Carl had spotted a walk called North George Blowhole. It took you around a little bit of the north east coast which included Whale Rock and Captain Cook Lookout. The first half of the walk was very impressive but then it started pissing it down - again - so we had to jog around the second leg and we were absolutely soaked through. We quickly ran into a surf shop and I did a bit of Roxy shopping. Whoever put that shop there was a genius.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Sydney to Gold Coast pictures
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An oddly shaped building on the harbour in Sydney. Apparently an opera house. Bonkers..JPG)
Sydney Harbour..JPG)
Another great beach. .JPG)
Some pretty boats..JPG)
A huge spider (size of a hand) waits to pounce on the unwary bush explorer. Reports that Carl screamed when he saw this are hugely exaggerated. .JPG)
West Head Point... .JPG)
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Akuna Bay.JPG)
Back at the ranch - Avoca Beach..JPG)
Carl considers 'borrowing' a motor boat for a spin around one of the lakes in Booti Booti national park..JPG)
A laughing Kookaburra. Apparently the largest member of the Kingfisher family. This one eats snakes, lizards and anything it can poach from the BBQ. This picture doesn't do it justice. It was huge - and just three feet away..JPG)
A lonely tree..JPG)
Surf's up..JPG)
Like the Giant's Causeway - but smaller. .JPG)
Heavenly Dreams beach. The surf here was amazing..JPG)
A poser in the waves.Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Sydney to Gold Coast
Wednesday 14 February:
Valentine's Day. Or not in our case. Carl isn't really a romantic fella and for the last couple of days he's been trying to disappear to get my Valentine's Day card. Of course, being a female, I was already prepared. So on Valentine's Day Carl asked me to get the map out of the glove box and there was the card, full of love. We drove and drove for hours down some really dodgy, dark roads so that we could make a bit of headway and then maybe we would be able to spend at least two nights in one place. We ended up staying at Morton National Park. We didn't get there until it was dark so it was really creepy. Just as we arrived a huge Wombat staggered in front of the van and then blundered into the bush. Clearly it had had one shandy too many. The facilities were pretty basic - consisting of two toilets and a shower. Oh, there was also a barbecue area but obviously we didn't use it. We had to use our torches to go to the toilets which were nasty. Spiders and creepy crawlies everywhere. It was really scary when I went outside the van for a cigarette too. I kept hearing the wildlife in the bushes but because I have a very wild imagination I thought it might be a crazy Aussie sniper. One thing which we really love out here are the stars. At night, when the sky is clear, the stars are so bright and they're all clustered together. We've tried on many occasions to take a picture of them but we only manage to get one star. I don't know how.
Thursday 15 February:
Waking up in the national park was great. All the creepiness had disappeared so we were left with beautiful sights. Until we decided to have a shower. I was all prepared to face the cobwebbed shower and scrub myself clean until I saw a huge spider hanging from a line of web right above where my head would be. OK - it was a dead spider but all the same... I decided I would rather stink for the rest of the day so that's what I did.
From here we headed to Wollongong. The beach is really nice but it's a bit messed up because the view on the right is of an industrial plant. We still hit the beach and absolutely cooked. This was the first time we had actually sunbathed on the beach. Because we liked this place so much we decided to stay over in a caravan park. We managed to find a park on the beach and just across the road from a pub with grub. We hadn't been in a pub since we left Melbourne so we were having withdrawal symptoms. This is where we spent our evening.
Friday 16 February:
We drove to Sydney today which was a nightmare. It took just over an hour to get past the suburbs and the traffic was horrendous. This didn't give us a very good first impression of Sydney. We parked close to the Sydney Opera House and the views were amazing. You could see people walking along the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We tried to look for a caravan park close to the centre but no chance. Sydney is only good if you are a backpacker or staying in a hotel. So we had to face the hard drive out of Sydney and decided we would see it on another day. We drove around trying to find a caravan park outside Sydney. We managed to find one but they wanted to rip us off and charge us $35 just to park Gert on a piece of grass. So, because we are tight gits, we decided a better option was to keep searching. We found a place on the map called Basin Camp Ground which was in Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. It took about 45 minutes to reach it and when we got there we noticed that the entrance gate was closed and there was a board saying that you could only take tents in. Gert wasn't allowed. So we had to drive 45 minutes back and stayed at the rip-off place. Doh! The park was so busy and we had no space at all but we did get chatting to this guy called Ian who gave us loads of tips on where to go. We didn't stay an extra night.
Saturday 17 February:
We left the rip-off campsite at 10.15am. Our earliest start yet. We took the drive up to Palm Beach, on Ian's say so, which was another lovely coastal drive. The roads were really steep and bendy and even though there were only a few roads it was difficult to get out of the place. We ended up going in circles. From Palm Beach we took a drive back through Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. Along the road there were various stop points where you could park up and walk along a track to the beach or bay for excellent views. So we decided to stop at one called 'Challenger's Walk'. It sounds like the worst one we could have picked doesn't it? We walked on sand and rock with trees either side and it was really quiet. No wildlife. No humans. My sniper thought kept reoccurring. It was pleasant enough though until I stopped just in time. I nearly had a huge spider and its home in my face. We decided to mark the spot with sticks so we could easily find it on our way back. There were more spiders and webs as we went on and the bigger they got. For some reason the buggers span their webs at face height so we had to walk with sticks in front of us. We were only just past half way but we were both beginning to think that this was a very bad idea and were wishing that it was over. When we got to the end of the path, which was 1.5km, we had a view over a bay. Unfortunately, as with a lot of the views in Australia, the trees were in the way. But we did scramble to a clearing and managed to take a few shots. We then had to walk all the way back which wasn't that bad because we watched out carefully for our marks of danger and walked at high speed. Once safely inside Gert we headed for West Head.
West Head is a large point where you can see amazing views of Hawkesbury River and Broken Bay and the views were breathtaking. You could also see Barrenjoey Lighthouse. If you were brave, fit and could stand the heat, you could take the hundreds of steps down to the beach but we didn't because we couldn't stand the heat. From West Head we stopped off at Akuna Bay which is a tiny little village in Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. It was here that we bought 6 Coronas and 6 Crown beers for $24. We won't be making that mistake again. It was also here that I saw my dream boat, Lady J, on sale for $775,000. Unfortunately there wasn't a cash point near by. After here we decided to find a campsite early instead of the normal 8.30pm check in when the office is closed. We settled at a place called Avoca Beach Caravan Park which was by a lake but unfortunately because of the draught we didn't see too much of it. We sat outside but moved inside once the filthy mosquitoes started to join us. The next couple of hours in the van were spent trying to kill the bastards. We managed to get them but there's always one bugger you can't see.
Sunday 18 February:
I was right in saying there's always one bugger you can't see. I had been bitten twice on my back and once on my hand. We did have a good night's sleep though. I thought I had done a good job picking a shower with no spiders or webs until after I had started the shower. A mum and her two baby spiders crawled in from the next shower so I had to keep an eye on my clothes and shoes. We cracked open a beer at 11am (Carl's idea, not mine) and then headed off to a place called The Entrance were we had a dirty KFC and then drove to Stockton where we found a campsite. In the evening we caught a ferry to Newcastle, the closest town, which only took 5 minutes. We ate at a fish reataurant by the waterside called Scratchley's which was excellent and then we caught the ferry back to camp.
Monday 19 February:
Gert woke up this morning with the biggest attitude problem. We were ready to rock and roll but Gert wasn't. We tried and tried again to start her but she wasn't having any of it. It was only when we were going to call out the recovery people that she finally woke up. Bless her. We headed to Bungwahl to pick up supplies (ice, wine, beer, cigarettes) before reaching Booti Booti National Park. From the butcher we bought our beef sausages, sandwich steaks and chicken kebabs, and stopped in at the pub for a refreshing scooner (three quarters of a pint glass). When we reached Booti Booti National Park we stayed at Ruins campsite. Once we had picked our spot in the National Park we headed for Wallis Lake. We had a paddle in the water which was so warm. We liked this area a lot because on one side of the roadway are beautiful beaches and on the right are lovely lakes. It really is the place to be. As we cooked our barbecue we were surrounded by kookaburra's - see pictures .
Tuesday 20 February:
We drove to Coffs Harbour and found a lovely campsite straight away called Park Beach Holiday Park. I must mention that as we drove off the campsite to get supplies, Carl (for the third time) had left something on the roof of Gert. The first time was a cup of water, the second time was the coil to our mosquito burner - this fell off on a main road - and the third was a bottle of oil. Back at the camp, I had psyched myself up all day to go for a run with Carl. This would be my first bit of exercise in over a year. I had a glass of red wine and a cigarette and then went for my run along the beach. I managed to run for about 15 minutes (don't laugh) but kept stopping and starting. Carl was way ahead of me. Because I didn't have any decent shorts to run in I had to run in my surf shorts which were clingy so had to keep stopping and taking them off which suited me fine. Still, even though I only manged to run for 15 minutes it was a big achievement and it made it that much easier to jump straight into the sea. It was great fun jumping the waves which were enormous. In the evening when we were sitting outside we saw our first bats which were huge. They were eating in the trees above our heads.
Wednesday 21 February:
We headed to Byron Bay. The beach was really busy but it was a lovely beach. The beaches we have seen along our way have a maximum of 10 people on them at one time which is crazy. We had a few bevvies after checking into the most expensive, and the worst, campsite so far. We read in the newspaper that Owen Wilson would be surfing in Byron Bay so we were on the lookout. At the campsite some idiot was playing the bangos very badly and this Irish guy behind us was playing very bad music. We found a lovely place to eat in the evening and ordered our meals but I couldn't eat anything so Carl had to eat my main course as well which wasn't a problem for the growing lad. Our waiter was a young English guy who had been over here for eight months but his travel plans were to go on for another two years or so. He attempted grape picking because in Australia you have to do 3 months agricultural work before you can stay but he only managed a week because of the heat. When we got back to our campsite the Irish youngsters headed off at 12am to go clubbing.
Thursday 22 February:
We headed North and ended up stopping at a place called Kingscliffe which was stunning. All of the houses were on a lake and had their own balcony, jetty and speedboat. Some with jet skis. We have been talking about having a house like this in a few years time. Our house would have a huge balcony where our dining room table and chairs and barbeque would be (most of the houses have this). On the way further up north Carl made a wrong turn into a dead end. It was a good wrong turn though. This dead end happened to be a dead end in Fingal where there was a walkway at the end. We followed the track on foot which led to a lighthouse with amazing views. The sea was quite rough and was crashing against the rocks where we were standing. We took plenty of pictures and on our way back to Gert we noticed a sign which pointed towards Heavenly Dreams Beach. We followed the sign and it certainly was a heavenly dream beach. A huge beach with lovely golden sand and only a couple of people on it. There were quite a few jelly fish washed up but what the hell. We jumped into the sea and played with the waves again. Well, I was attempting to but they were too big plus my legs were very painful from my running attempt. I saw this big one coming my way so I tried to run back to the beach but it went straight over my head and completely knocked me. Carl just stood there laughing and watched me run because he knew that it would get me. We couldn't believe that this was the fist time we had been in the sea. We drove on to Surfer's Paradise. It has a beautiful name but unfortunately someone decided to choose a beautiful coastline and ruin it with sky rise buildings. We didn't stop. We had earlier picked up a brochure for North Stradbroke Island (NSI) so we decided this would be our next destination.
To be continued in the next post...
Valentine's Day. Or not in our case. Carl isn't really a romantic fella and for the last couple of days he's been trying to disappear to get my Valentine's Day card. Of course, being a female, I was already prepared. So on Valentine's Day Carl asked me to get the map out of the glove box and there was the card, full of love. We drove and drove for hours down some really dodgy, dark roads so that we could make a bit of headway and then maybe we would be able to spend at least two nights in one place. We ended up staying at Morton National Park. We didn't get there until it was dark so it was really creepy. Just as we arrived a huge Wombat staggered in front of the van and then blundered into the bush. Clearly it had had one shandy too many. The facilities were pretty basic - consisting of two toilets and a shower. Oh, there was also a barbecue area but obviously we didn't use it. We had to use our torches to go to the toilets which were nasty. Spiders and creepy crawlies everywhere. It was really scary when I went outside the van for a cigarette too. I kept hearing the wildlife in the bushes but because I have a very wild imagination I thought it might be a crazy Aussie sniper. One thing which we really love out here are the stars. At night, when the sky is clear, the stars are so bright and they're all clustered together. We've tried on many occasions to take a picture of them but we only manage to get one star. I don't know how.
Thursday 15 February:
Waking up in the national park was great. All the creepiness had disappeared so we were left with beautiful sights. Until we decided to have a shower. I was all prepared to face the cobwebbed shower and scrub myself clean until I saw a huge spider hanging from a line of web right above where my head would be. OK - it was a dead spider but all the same... I decided I would rather stink for the rest of the day so that's what I did.
From here we headed to Wollongong. The beach is really nice but it's a bit messed up because the view on the right is of an industrial plant. We still hit the beach and absolutely cooked. This was the first time we had actually sunbathed on the beach. Because we liked this place so much we decided to stay over in a caravan park. We managed to find a park on the beach and just across the road from a pub with grub. We hadn't been in a pub since we left Melbourne so we were having withdrawal symptoms. This is where we spent our evening.
Friday 16 February:
We drove to Sydney today which was a nightmare. It took just over an hour to get past the suburbs and the traffic was horrendous. This didn't give us a very good first impression of Sydney. We parked close to the Sydney Opera House and the views were amazing. You could see people walking along the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. We tried to look for a caravan park close to the centre but no chance. Sydney is only good if you are a backpacker or staying in a hotel. So we had to face the hard drive out of Sydney and decided we would see it on another day. We drove around trying to find a caravan park outside Sydney. We managed to find one but they wanted to rip us off and charge us $35 just to park Gert on a piece of grass. So, because we are tight gits, we decided a better option was to keep searching. We found a place on the map called Basin Camp Ground which was in Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. It took about 45 minutes to reach it and when we got there we noticed that the entrance gate was closed and there was a board saying that you could only take tents in. Gert wasn't allowed. So we had to drive 45 minutes back and stayed at the rip-off place. Doh! The park was so busy and we had no space at all but we did get chatting to this guy called Ian who gave us loads of tips on where to go. We didn't stay an extra night.
Saturday 17 February:
We left the rip-off campsite at 10.15am. Our earliest start yet. We took the drive up to Palm Beach, on Ian's say so, which was another lovely coastal drive. The roads were really steep and bendy and even though there were only a few roads it was difficult to get out of the place. We ended up going in circles. From Palm Beach we took a drive back through Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. Along the road there were various stop points where you could park up and walk along a track to the beach or bay for excellent views. So we decided to stop at one called 'Challenger's Walk'. It sounds like the worst one we could have picked doesn't it? We walked on sand and rock with trees either side and it was really quiet. No wildlife. No humans. My sniper thought kept reoccurring. It was pleasant enough though until I stopped just in time. I nearly had a huge spider and its home in my face. We decided to mark the spot with sticks so we could easily find it on our way back. There were more spiders and webs as we went on and the bigger they got. For some reason the buggers span their webs at face height so we had to walk with sticks in front of us. We were only just past half way but we were both beginning to think that this was a very bad idea and were wishing that it was over. When we got to the end of the path, which was 1.5km, we had a view over a bay. Unfortunately, as with a lot of the views in Australia, the trees were in the way. But we did scramble to a clearing and managed to take a few shots. We then had to walk all the way back which wasn't that bad because we watched out carefully for our marks of danger and walked at high speed. Once safely inside Gert we headed for West Head.
West Head is a large point where you can see amazing views of Hawkesbury River and Broken Bay and the views were breathtaking. You could also see Barrenjoey Lighthouse. If you were brave, fit and could stand the heat, you could take the hundreds of steps down to the beach but we didn't because we couldn't stand the heat. From West Head we stopped off at Akuna Bay which is a tiny little village in Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park. It was here that we bought 6 Coronas and 6 Crown beers for $24. We won't be making that mistake again. It was also here that I saw my dream boat, Lady J, on sale for $775,000. Unfortunately there wasn't a cash point near by. After here we decided to find a campsite early instead of the normal 8.30pm check in when the office is closed. We settled at a place called Avoca Beach Caravan Park which was by a lake but unfortunately because of the draught we didn't see too much of it. We sat outside but moved inside once the filthy mosquitoes started to join us. The next couple of hours in the van were spent trying to kill the bastards. We managed to get them but there's always one bugger you can't see.
Sunday 18 February:
I was right in saying there's always one bugger you can't see. I had been bitten twice on my back and once on my hand. We did have a good night's sleep though. I thought I had done a good job picking a shower with no spiders or webs until after I had started the shower. A mum and her two baby spiders crawled in from the next shower so I had to keep an eye on my clothes and shoes. We cracked open a beer at 11am (Carl's idea, not mine) and then headed off to a place called The Entrance were we had a dirty KFC and then drove to Stockton where we found a campsite. In the evening we caught a ferry to Newcastle, the closest town, which only took 5 minutes. We ate at a fish reataurant by the waterside called Scratchley's which was excellent and then we caught the ferry back to camp.
Monday 19 February:
Gert woke up this morning with the biggest attitude problem. We were ready to rock and roll but Gert wasn't. We tried and tried again to start her but she wasn't having any of it. It was only when we were going to call out the recovery people that she finally woke up. Bless her. We headed to Bungwahl to pick up supplies (ice, wine, beer, cigarettes) before reaching Booti Booti National Park. From the butcher we bought our beef sausages, sandwich steaks and chicken kebabs, and stopped in at the pub for a refreshing scooner (three quarters of a pint glass). When we reached Booti Booti National Park we stayed at Ruins campsite. Once we had picked our spot in the National Park we headed for Wallis Lake. We had a paddle in the water which was so warm. We liked this area a lot because on one side of the roadway are beautiful beaches and on the right are lovely lakes. It really is the place to be. As we cooked our barbecue we were surrounded by kookaburra's - see pictures .
Tuesday 20 February:
We drove to Coffs Harbour and found a lovely campsite straight away called Park Beach Holiday Park. I must mention that as we drove off the campsite to get supplies, Carl (for the third time) had left something on the roof of Gert. The first time was a cup of water, the second time was the coil to our mosquito burner - this fell off on a main road - and the third was a bottle of oil. Back at the camp, I had psyched myself up all day to go for a run with Carl. This would be my first bit of exercise in over a year. I had a glass of red wine and a cigarette and then went for my run along the beach. I managed to run for about 15 minutes (don't laugh) but kept stopping and starting. Carl was way ahead of me. Because I didn't have any decent shorts to run in I had to run in my surf shorts which were clingy so had to keep stopping and taking them off which suited me fine. Still, even though I only manged to run for 15 minutes it was a big achievement and it made it that much easier to jump straight into the sea. It was great fun jumping the waves which were enormous. In the evening when we were sitting outside we saw our first bats which were huge. They were eating in the trees above our heads.
Wednesday 21 February:
We headed to Byron Bay. The beach was really busy but it was a lovely beach. The beaches we have seen along our way have a maximum of 10 people on them at one time which is crazy. We had a few bevvies after checking into the most expensive, and the worst, campsite so far. We read in the newspaper that Owen Wilson would be surfing in Byron Bay so we were on the lookout. At the campsite some idiot was playing the bangos very badly and this Irish guy behind us was playing very bad music. We found a lovely place to eat in the evening and ordered our meals but I couldn't eat anything so Carl had to eat my main course as well which wasn't a problem for the growing lad. Our waiter was a young English guy who had been over here for eight months but his travel plans were to go on for another two years or so. He attempted grape picking because in Australia you have to do 3 months agricultural work before you can stay but he only managed a week because of the heat. When we got back to our campsite the Irish youngsters headed off at 12am to go clubbing.
Thursday 22 February:
We headed North and ended up stopping at a place called Kingscliffe which was stunning. All of the houses were on a lake and had their own balcony, jetty and speedboat. Some with jet skis. We have been talking about having a house like this in a few years time. Our house would have a huge balcony where our dining room table and chairs and barbeque would be (most of the houses have this). On the way further up north Carl made a wrong turn into a dead end. It was a good wrong turn though. This dead end happened to be a dead end in Fingal where there was a walkway at the end. We followed the track on foot which led to a lighthouse with amazing views. The sea was quite rough and was crashing against the rocks where we were standing. We took plenty of pictures and on our way back to Gert we noticed a sign which pointed towards Heavenly Dreams Beach. We followed the sign and it certainly was a heavenly dream beach. A huge beach with lovely golden sand and only a couple of people on it. There were quite a few jelly fish washed up but what the hell. We jumped into the sea and played with the waves again. Well, I was attempting to but they were too big plus my legs were very painful from my running attempt. I saw this big one coming my way so I tried to run back to the beach but it went straight over my head and completely knocked me. Carl just stood there laughing and watched me run because he knew that it would get me. We couldn't believe that this was the fist time we had been in the sea. We drove on to Surfer's Paradise. It has a beautiful name but unfortunately someone decided to choose a beautiful coastline and ruin it with sky rise buildings. We didn't stop. We had earlier picked up a brochure for North Stradbroke Island (NSI) so we decided this would be our next destination.
To be continued in the next post...
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Melbourne to Sydney pictures
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The Hume Highway. 880 km. Yawn..JPG)
Parliament House on Capital Hill in Canberra..JPG)
Rainbow over Canberra..JPG)
Some hills..JPG)
A beach..JPG)
Pelicans on the scrounge. .JPG)
Who's a pretty polly?.JPG)
Nice beach. Can't remember where though..JPG)
On the way to Wollongong.JPG)
Waterfall. No idea where though!.JPG)
A creek along the way. Monday, February 19, 2007
Great Ocean Drive pictures
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Gert - our accommodation for 45 days. 
A polite notice which is displayed on the side of the van.
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Views from the Great Ocean Road:.JPG)
A lost Koala..JPG)
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Triple Falls in Otway Regions..JPG)
The intrepid explorer..JPG)
A pygmy in the forest. .JPG)
Tree top walkway....JPG)
...and tower..JPG)
The Twelve ApostlesGreat Ocean Road - Monday 12 February
Thursday 8 February
This is the day we checked out of our Melbourne hotel where we had been living for the last three weeks. This morning we woke up at 9AM and caught the tram to Melbourne Zoo. The zoo was huge and so much better than Werribee Open Range Zoo. I was a bit disappointed with the koalas and kangaroos though. I wanted to see loads of koalas and maybe stroke, cuddle, feed and kidnap one - but no chance. We walked through a huge bird aviary, which was beautiful. They had a few colourful parrots and lots of other different species of bird. The seals were also very good, they were swimming upside down and you could view them from a glass window under the water. There was also a tiger with three cubs, although we only saw two playful ones harassing their mother, who ended up jumping on top of a large hut to escape. There were also four male lions who were roaring very loudly. Unfortunately the gorilla section was closed off but we did see loads of monkeys. Some cute and cuddly and some not so. Like the baboons. They were disgusting and they smelt really bad. Probably because they had swollen bums which they forgot to wipe. We saw red pandas, giraffes and all the usual sort of animals you would expect to see at a zoo. There was also a butterfly farm which was really great fun. The butterflies were beautiful and so colourful. They weren't scared to land on you either as our friend Chris (Thomas) found out. They loved him. The reptile house was also good accommodating small crocodiles, snakes and spiders. We came across giant tortoises and one of them was trying to escape through the fence. His shell was under one of the planks of wood and he was doing a good job at breaking through. As we were walking down the mail road to see the small cats we heard this really loud noise coming from one of the cages. We thought this was a lion as it was a continuous roar. We got to the cage and realised that it was a seal with a bad attitude.
Saturday 10 February
We picked our "Morman" campervan up at 11am. It took about 45 minutes to go through the procedures and about 10 minutes for the lady behind the counter to explain to me her dad's constipation problems. We loved the van straight away and decided to call her Gertrude (Gert for short). On the back of the van in large spray paint it says 'Normon elders make the best lovers because they practice so much on their own'. The on a sticker at the side of the van it says 'Attention Asshole. 8th Commandment. Thou shalt not steal. God is watching you you thieving bastard. It's a wicked culture, you'll be cursed by it'. We drove straight to Rye where we said our last goodbyes to our friends who had looked after us so well.
Sunday 11 February
We left Rye to catch the ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff. It only took us 25 minutes to reach Queenscliff but because the weather was so windy and the sea was so choppy we had to turn around and head back to Sorrento. The useless driver of the boad tried to dock at Queenscliff about 5 times, totalling about 20 minutes. Doh! But at least we got to spend some extra time with Nikki and James.
Monday 12 February
We left to catch the ferry again at 9.30am. This time the weather was perfect so we had no trouble reaching Queenscliff. We stopped briefly at a place called Torquay because I had seen a massive shopping centre full of surf shops such as ROXY!! We picked up the Great Ocean Road where we saw some of the most amazing views. The pictures look OK but I took them out of the van window as Carl was driving so they may look a bit wonky. We did see a koala at the side of the road though right by our van. He must have fallen because it was quite a way up to the trees. He looked really scared so he climbed a signpost and just stayed there.
After driving for most of the day we parked up at Port Campbell which was on the coast. The beach was quite small but they did have a pub. We parked by three other Wicked campervans (newer than ours but our paintwork was better) and this is where we spent our first night in Gert. In a carpark. The pub was in walking distance so we had a few pints and I whipped Carl's ass at pool. As always. When we got back to our campervan we noticed that the police kept driving past so we felt safe.
Tuesday 13 February
All eyes were open at 8am. From Port Campbell we drove to the 12 Apostles - a national park consisting of several (although we could not see 12) rocky outcrops on the coast which have become detached from the mainland. After a brief stop at the apostles we made our way to Otway Fly Tree Top Walk - which was meant to have been our destination yesterday. The walkway was in the middle of a huge rainforest. It was like nothing we had ever seen before. The tree walkway was about 25m above the forest floor. That doesn't sound high but for those of us (Carl) who suffer from vertigo it opens the sweat glands. The views along the walkway were amazing - the forest was so lush and green, and peaceful. Towards the end of the walkways are a 45m tower and a 30m cantilever platform on which the daring of us ventured. Carl stayed safely with the 'heavy and awkward' rucksack, which apparently prevented him from going any higher. At the top of the tower you are level with the tree tops and can see across the top of the forest. This was pretty boring really, so I went back down to the lower level and the cantilever. The platform is only connected at one end so it wobbles quite a lot as you walk out to the end of it. Apparently it can take the weight of 14 elephants. But since it wobbled with a few fat tourists I can't imagine that would be much fun for them. The whole experience was amazing and we would recommend it to anyone. It was really lucky we spotted the flyer when we were staying in Melbourne or we would have missed out big time. Neither of us had ever seen anything like it. Next stop was Triple Falls, a bit further into the Otway park. We followed a looping walkway through the forest to the fals. The forest was so quiet and peaceful it was amazing. We hardly saw a single person on our 45 minute trek. The waterfalls were breathtaking. We tried to get pictures but we just couldn't make the camera capture the beauty of the rainforest and the running water properly. You will just have to take our word for it. After leaving the rainforest we turned north and headed towards Sydney via Melbourne. The drive was really boring, but we had our music to keep us sane. After about seven hours drive we pulled off of the Hume Highway and stayed in Benalla leisure park, a few hours south of Canberra.
This is the day we checked out of our Melbourne hotel where we had been living for the last three weeks. This morning we woke up at 9AM and caught the tram to Melbourne Zoo. The zoo was huge and so much better than Werribee Open Range Zoo. I was a bit disappointed with the koalas and kangaroos though. I wanted to see loads of koalas and maybe stroke, cuddle, feed and kidnap one - but no chance. We walked through a huge bird aviary, which was beautiful. They had a few colourful parrots and lots of other different species of bird. The seals were also very good, they were swimming upside down and you could view them from a glass window under the water. There was also a tiger with three cubs, although we only saw two playful ones harassing their mother, who ended up jumping on top of a large hut to escape. There were also four male lions who were roaring very loudly. Unfortunately the gorilla section was closed off but we did see loads of monkeys. Some cute and cuddly and some not so. Like the baboons. They were disgusting and they smelt really bad. Probably because they had swollen bums which they forgot to wipe. We saw red pandas, giraffes and all the usual sort of animals you would expect to see at a zoo. There was also a butterfly farm which was really great fun. The butterflies were beautiful and so colourful. They weren't scared to land on you either as our friend Chris (Thomas) found out. They loved him. The reptile house was also good accommodating small crocodiles, snakes and spiders. We came across giant tortoises and one of them was trying to escape through the fence. His shell was under one of the planks of wood and he was doing a good job at breaking through. As we were walking down the mail road to see the small cats we heard this really loud noise coming from one of the cages. We thought this was a lion as it was a continuous roar. We got to the cage and realised that it was a seal with a bad attitude.
Saturday 10 February
We picked our "Morman" campervan up at 11am. It took about 45 minutes to go through the procedures and about 10 minutes for the lady behind the counter to explain to me her dad's constipation problems. We loved the van straight away and decided to call her Gertrude (Gert for short). On the back of the van in large spray paint it says 'Normon elders make the best lovers because they practice so much on their own'. The on a sticker at the side of the van it says 'Attention Asshole. 8th Commandment. Thou shalt not steal. God is watching you you thieving bastard. It's a wicked culture, you'll be cursed by it'. We drove straight to Rye where we said our last goodbyes to our friends who had looked after us so well.
Sunday 11 February
We left Rye to catch the ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff. It only took us 25 minutes to reach Queenscliff but because the weather was so windy and the sea was so choppy we had to turn around and head back to Sorrento. The useless driver of the boad tried to dock at Queenscliff about 5 times, totalling about 20 minutes. Doh! But at least we got to spend some extra time with Nikki and James.
Monday 12 February
We left to catch the ferry again at 9.30am. This time the weather was perfect so we had no trouble reaching Queenscliff. We stopped briefly at a place called Torquay because I had seen a massive shopping centre full of surf shops such as ROXY!! We picked up the Great Ocean Road where we saw some of the most amazing views. The pictures look OK but I took them out of the van window as Carl was driving so they may look a bit wonky. We did see a koala at the side of the road though right by our van. He must have fallen because it was quite a way up to the trees. He looked really scared so he climbed a signpost and just stayed there.
After driving for most of the day we parked up at Port Campbell which was on the coast. The beach was quite small but they did have a pub. We parked by three other Wicked campervans (newer than ours but our paintwork was better) and this is where we spent our first night in Gert. In a carpark. The pub was in walking distance so we had a few pints and I whipped Carl's ass at pool. As always. When we got back to our campervan we noticed that the police kept driving past so we felt safe.
Tuesday 13 February
All eyes were open at 8am. From Port Campbell we drove to the 12 Apostles - a national park consisting of several (although we could not see 12) rocky outcrops on the coast which have become detached from the mainland. After a brief stop at the apostles we made our way to Otway Fly Tree Top Walk - which was meant to have been our destination yesterday. The walkway was in the middle of a huge rainforest. It was like nothing we had ever seen before. The tree walkway was about 25m above the forest floor. That doesn't sound high but for those of us (Carl) who suffer from vertigo it opens the sweat glands. The views along the walkway were amazing - the forest was so lush and green, and peaceful. Towards the end of the walkways are a 45m tower and a 30m cantilever platform on which the daring of us ventured. Carl stayed safely with the 'heavy and awkward' rucksack, which apparently prevented him from going any higher. At the top of the tower you are level with the tree tops and can see across the top of the forest. This was pretty boring really, so I went back down to the lower level and the cantilever. The platform is only connected at one end so it wobbles quite a lot as you walk out to the end of it. Apparently it can take the weight of 14 elephants. But since it wobbled with a few fat tourists I can't imagine that would be much fun for them. The whole experience was amazing and we would recommend it to anyone. It was really lucky we spotted the flyer when we were staying in Melbourne or we would have missed out big time. Neither of us had ever seen anything like it. Next stop was Triple Falls, a bit further into the Otway park. We followed a looping walkway through the forest to the fals. The forest was so quiet and peaceful it was amazing. We hardly saw a single person on our 45 minute trek. The waterfalls were breathtaking. We tried to get pictures but we just couldn't make the camera capture the beauty of the rainforest and the running water properly. You will just have to take our word for it. After leaving the rainforest we turned north and headed towards Sydney via Melbourne. The drive was really boring, but we had our music to keep us sane. After about seven hours drive we pulled off of the Hume Highway and stayed in Benalla leisure park, a few hours south of Canberra.
Friday, February 9, 2007
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