Australia Part 13: The Southwest

Tuedsday, 19 Mar 2024

Before leaving Bromus Dam, Darren changed one of the wheels on the caravan with the kids. The tyre seemed to have a leak of some sort. We had a quick look at the dam and then packed up and headed to Esperance on the coast. We paid for some hot showers, did some laundry, topped up on water and groceries. While we waited for laundry, we met a man that had a pet ferret with him. We chatted to him for a while and got to hold his pet. It was quite cool. The kids enjoyed it too. The town of Esperance was not very helpful for people with caravans, as all the places to go and see said no overnight camping. So, we carried on after our errands were done and stopped at Munglinup Roadhouse for the evening. They had a playground which was really nice. The kids played there before it got dark.

KODAK Digital Still Camera

Wednesday, 20 Mar 2024

In the morning, we took it slow getting ready for the day. Then, we left the caravan behind, and drove to Quagi Beach. Darren did some fishing for a while in the surf. The man we met with the ferret said that a certain type of fish was starting to run through the area so Darren bought a clearance fishing rod to see if he could catch anything. The wind and the tides weren’t quite right though as he didn’t get any bites. The kids and I explored the rockpools around the beach and found a few neat shells and lots of water snails. Then we went back to the vehicle to have our lunch nearby at a picnic table.

KODAK Digital Still Camera

KODAK Digital Still Camera

After lunch we drove farther along the coast on a little goat track through the sand and rocks to a place called Infinity Rock Pool. It really was like an Infinity Pool, right on the edge of the sea! It was beautiful and shallow and calm. And the sea beyond the pool was deep and rugged and would splash the waves so that the mist of the splash could be seen while in the pool. Despite the cold wind, we didn’t want to pass up the opportunity, so we got in and had a swim. Sometimes the drops came in and one time quite a good stream of water came into the pool, filling it with little air bubbles which tingled on your skin. The kids played a little at the edge and Boy did decide to come in and have a little bit of a snorkel. He said he spotted a few little fish. We got cold after about 20 minutes, so got out and warmed up and then headed back to the caravan. The rest of the afternoon, the kids played at the park, and we relaxed. It was a really lovely day after that last week of quite a lot of driving.

Thursday, 21 Mar 2024

In the morning we packed up and moved on quite early so we could get a good spot at the next camp site. We pulled in to the Norman’s beach site around 2pm and it was full. so we tried a few more in that area and they were all either full or closed to fishing. Darren was hoping to spend this day and the next day fishing. We were hoping to find somewhere on the beach on a river estuary but realised that this was not going to work out. So, we kept moving west. We passed through Albany and found a spot along a river but farther away from the beach. It was called Hay River. It was very peaceful, but it filled up quite soon after we got there as well. Darren tried some fishing but didn’t catch anything here either. We did however spot a small black animal that was crashing through the underbrush near our caravan. We didn’t make out was it was, but after dusk it came back and Darren got some photos of it. It is called a bandicoot. It is a very small marsupial and it eats bugs and worms it finds in the soil. It hops like a kangaroo and scurries very fast!

Friday, 22 Mar 2024

We had a been talking it over the last day or so, about how there were quite a few things that needed some TLC on the vehicle. We could tell that those things were getting worse quite noticeably. So, we decided to do one last thing and then head home, which was only about 2.5 hours away. That last thing was a treetop walk through the Valley of the Giants. It was really cool! We walked up a platform into the trees and walked around through the treetops. The walk was 40 meters above the ground. The walkway swayed to and from and we walked just like the trees blowing in the breeze. After the treetop walk, we did the understory walk which took us through the tree trunks of the tingle tree. It is a type of eucalyptus tree only found in this region. We hoped to see some Quokka, which are really cute tiny kangaroo type animals, but we didn’t as they come out at dusk. We bought some souvenirs t-shirts in the gift shop and then drove to our final destination near Bridgetown. We surprised everyone there as they were expecting us a week later. It was a pretty neat end to our trip.

We have more travels planned for the future. We would like to make it all the way around Australia at some point. We have already travelled the whole east coast, so we just need to the west coast and the northern coast now. We’d also like to visit the very middle at some point. But that will have to happen at a later time. I hope to keep posting about how we are getting along here as we settle in and find our new normal here. New adventures are awaiting.

Australia Part 12: The Nullarbor Plain

Friday, 15 Mar 2024

In the morning, we got ready and drove into Ceduna. We went to the information centre and got a lot of great advice about what to stop and see as we cross the Nullarbor Plain. This Plain is 1200 km long and is made of a solid mass of flat limestone rock. Because of this, it is unique in the type of soil and plants that will grow on it. Trees have a hard time taking root partially because of the rock and also because the moisture goes straight through it into aquifers below, at least that is what I understand. So, the treeless plain is what it is known for.

Ceduna Jetty

After getting that information, we topped up on a few groceries and checked out the jetty by the sea and then headed off west. There wouldn’t be another stop for supplies other then petrol until we reached the other side in a few days time. One thing was sure, the flies and the heat were a lot better now. We found that a relief.

Our first stop was at a windmill museum. This included Australia’s largest windmill. These windmills were mostly built by farmers out of whatever they had on hand on their farms to pump water for stock on their land. Nowadays diesel pumps are used to pump water, so many of these windmills have been retired. After the windmills we took a small detour to see a pink lake that sits right next to the sea with only a road separating them.

Point Sinclair Pin Lake

After lunch here, we got back onto Eyre Highway and drove around 200 km to the Nullarbor Roadhouse. On the way there we passed a sign that told us we entered the Nullarbor Plain. It was very obvious to us that this had begun. The road dropped down onto the plan and it was clearly different than where we came from. It was flat and endless with only shrub like plants. At the Nullarbor Roadhouse, turned off the highway down a dirt road for 10 km where we camped for the night.

Saturday, 16 Mar 2024

In the morning, we explored the Murrawijine Caves. There were 3 caves which from a distance were invisible to the eye. The were just holes in the flat ground. We went into 2 caves, and Darren went into the 3rd cave without us because it was a little steep. In one of the caves we found aboriginal hand print artwork on a wall. It was really neat to try and count how many handprints we could see. Many were nearly faded away. We contemplated about the people that made these prints. After this, we headed back the highway. On the way we spotted four wild camels in the distance! Camels are an introduced species in Australia and are a pest. The people here are trying to irradicate them because they do a lot of damage, but it was still neat to see them.

For lunch we stopped at Gilgerabbie Hut, which is an old pastoral hut for those tending their livestock out here. We were able to get in the hut and eat at the table. We thought it would be neat to turn the hut into a house and live here.

We carried on for another hour or so and stopped to have a look at the Great Australian Bight and the Bunda Cliffs. It was truly spectacular. We wished it was not such an overcast day, but it was still very breathtaking. These cliffs went on for hundreds of kilometers along the Bight, which is the curved area under Australia. In this place the sea floor is quite shallow and in the winter Right Whales come to give birth in these sheltered waters.

Bunda Cliffs

After this we carried on to the Koonalda Homestead ruins. Back in the early 1900s the Eyre Highway was just a dirt track. We had to drive across this old track to get to the homestead where people used to come for a pitstop and to get there cars serviced. The house was made in post-World War 2 fashion, out of old railway sleepers and ties. Lots of old cars were lying around as well. We found the old outhouse, which was a hole in the ground with a drum over it, with a car tire for a seat!

One of the neatest things we saw here was a blow hole. Because the entire Nullarbor Plain is made of porous limestone, there are inumerable caves and cavities in the rock under the ground. In some places these caves open up to the service with just a hole and the equalising pressure creates a strong wind coming from the ground. We had a lot of fun playing here with the cool air. We had a lot of good laughs.

After what was a really enriching day, we went back to the Eyre highway and drove onward to the West Australia Border. We settled down for the night on the old highway track.

Sunday, 17 Mar 2024

In the morning we cooked up the last of our fresh potatoes and ate some of them for breakfast. We were going to cross the border in to West Australia and they don’t let you take any fresh vegetables or fruit. We had eaten the rest that we had over the last few days. After crossing the border into WA we went to the small roadhouse area of Eucla. We checked out the ruins of the original telegraph station that was used in the old days to translate and then sent on the telegraphs from Perth to Sydney and other places in easter Australia. Aparently the two sides of the country used different morse codes and this was necessary. It was really neat how these ruins were being buried in the sand. We were very close to the beach here.

Old Eucla Telegraph Station

After this, we out to see Weebubbie cave. We were really hopeful to go inside this one, as the reviews showed some really neat photos, but when we got there we realized that it had caved in a couple years ago and it was not safe to go in. It was really neat though to see the giant hole where the cave was. Then we drove to the Mundrabilla Roadhouse. We decided to eat lunch here. It was a neat experience eating at a roadhouse.

There are 3 time zones across the Nullarbor

After lunch we headed to Madura Cave. This cave was not as impressive on the outside looking in. We looked around for a little while and entered the cave on the left side, which was very shallow. It had a vew kangaroo skeletons inside but that was it. We were about to leave, but decided to have one last look on the other side of the entrance and found a small opening that we had to crouch to get through. We were so glad we did have that second look, because inside the cave opened up into a very large room that kept going and going. There were many branches. We explored for a while and found a group of sleeping bats on the ceiling. We explored a few branches for just a little distance. In a few places the ceiling had some holes that let in light from the sky above. It was a really neat experience.

One thing we really took note of was how green the desert was. After the recent rains, it was really coming alive. shrubs were beginning to flower, and there was a green carpet of seedlings and grass growing everywhere. It was so beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery over the many hours of driving across the Nullarbor. We stopped near Cocklebiddy roadhouse for the night.

Monday, 18 Mar 2024

On this day, we drove a lot. This was the day we crossed the longest straight piece of road in Australia. It is 90 miles long. You could see a car coming in the distance in the opposite lane and it would take several minutes to get to you and pass you. The shrubs did seem to be getting a little taller on this end of the Nullarbor. We did stop breifly at the Cocklebiddy Roadhouse. They had two wedgetail eagles in an aviary here. They were injured a number of years ago when hit by cars on the highway. Wedgetail eagles are the largest in Australia. Their names were Bruce and Samantha.

The only other thing we stopped for was at the Balladonia Roadhouse. They had a little museum inside. It talked about the history of the place. One interesting bit of history is that in 1979, the United States Space Station fell out of space and landed behind the roadhouse. They had several large pieces of the ship in the museum to look at. We read some of the newspaper articles about when this happened. All over West Australia, people could see the burning ship falling through the atmosphere. After this, we finally made it out of the Nullarbor Plain. We stopped for the night south of Norseman at the Bromus Dam. We hoped to see wild Brumbies here, which are wild Australian horses. We only saw their droppings.

Space Station

Australia Part 11: The Eyre Peninsula

Monday, 11 Mar 2024

In the morning, we headed into Port Augusta. Finally, the flies seemed to be less of a problem than they were farther north. So, we spent the morning at the Arid Lands Botanical Garden. I had never before been to a botanical garden that was not lush and thick and green. So, this was a new experience. We saw a few new bird species here, as well as a shingleback skink! It was so neat! It let us get really close to take it’s picture. It’s tail was large and stumpy and almost the size of its head. I’m sure it’s a good decoy for predators.

Shingleback Skink

We found Kangaroos hiding in the garden.

It was still incredibly hot, so after an hour outside wandering around the garden, we were ready to get into the air conditioning at this point. So, we headed to the landromat and also the grocery store to top up our supplies. We had a look at the weather forcast for some of the other towns coming up on our route, and decided to leave South Australia as soon as we could, as just across the border into West Australia, the temps dropped about 10 degrees celcius. We were all really looking forward to less sweating and feeling hot. So, we headed in that direction planning to spend 2 really good long days on the road to get away from the heat.

About an hour later, Darren pulled over and announced that the power stearing on our vehicle had stopped working. So, we drove to the next town, which was Kimba for the night. They had a really lovely free campground with showers, flushing toilets, an awesome play ground and lots of space.

Australian Ringneck Parrot spotted at Kimba

Tuesday, 12 Mar 2024

In the morning Darren got in touch with someone who could send him the pump he needed to fix the car. Early in the morning, it was cool enough to go for a walk, so I took the kids to the nearby Roora Walking Trail. This trail was a 6 km return walk past animal sculptures made of metal. We found another shingleback on this walk and read signs along the way that told us about the early pioneer days in the area. At the end of the walk before returning, there was a large sculpture of Edward John Eyre and his aboriginal guide. It was this man who discovered Lake Eyre and who the Eyre Peninsula and the Eyre Highway are named after. He was the first white man to travel much of the southern outback in the 1800s. We learned of his many near death experiences, due to the heat, lack of water and lack of food on his journeys.

When we got back from our walk, the heat had returned, so we didn’t do a lot more that day. The kids played at the park at the campground, and we discovered that if we got wet in the shower and then kept our clothes on while wet, that we felt much better. The temperature was around 38 Celsius (100 F).

We also learned that while it was not nice to be stuck with a broken vehicle, we were actually stuck for another reason. The Eyre Highway that we were heading towards was actually just closed due to flooding. The floods were caused by once in a 100-year rains in the desert. In the desert north of the Nullarbor they got a year’s worth of rain in a few days. So, we were at least very thankful that we weren’t stuck in the floodwaters, and that we had showers and toilets to use while we waited.

Wednedsay, Mar 13 2024

On this day, we checked out he playground in the town of Kimba. They had a jumping pillow. I had never seen anything like this before in a park. But, it was awesome, and the kids loved it! Near the end of the day, I bought some electrolyte tablets to put in our water and found that we felt much better after having these. All the heat and sweating had depleted some of our mineral stores. When we spoke to some locals, we found that it normally was not this hot here, but that they were having an unusual heat wave for that time of year.

Bouncing Pillow at the park in town.

Thursday, 14 Mar 2024

Darrens package with the needed part arrived in the morning and the vehicle was fixed by lunch time. The Eyre Highway was also open again, so after lunch we packed up and carried on with our journey. Before leaving Kimba, I got a picture of the halfway across Australia sign. It’s hard to believe that we still have so far to go before we arrive at our destination, but we will be going at a much faster pace now, as most of what is ahead of us is barren desert with only a few things to stop and to see. There are a few things on our list though, so after 3 nights of rest and recuperation we carried on west. We drove to Cedunda and spent the night just outside of town in a quiet camp site just off the road.

Giant Galah Parrot Sculpture at Kimba

Australia Part 10: The Oodnadatta and Coober Pedy

Friday 8, Mar 2024

That afternoon we Continued north towards the beginning of the Oodnadata track. A road which leads to the small town of Oodnadatta. This town began as a railway town in the early days of Australian Outback settlement. While the railway was being build, supplies were brought in by camel, along the Oodnadatta track. It is a famous route that is interesting for its historical significance and also because of the landscape and plant and animal life.

Walking along the old Ghan Railway

Flies

More flies. They seemed to want to land on us adults much more than the kids.

Finding what was left of the railway.

We decided to stop for the night just after beginning track. Before sundown, we took a walk along where the first railway was built to look at one of the old siding buildings that helped support the steam trains when they came through. This place was really very neat. It was in the absolute middle of nowhere… And it was very hot, dry and desolate. We didn’t see any animal life except flies, which were exceptionally bad. A local further along the track told us, that the flies are not usually anywhere near as bad. I am glad to hear that, because I was wondering how anyone could handle flies like that on a permanant basis. The plant life was very determined. It seemed like nothing could live in such a place, but I found succulants and flowers, and there were small shrub like trees as well. The colours of the sunset on the desert landscape were quite beautiful.

Small Desert Flowers

Saturday 9, Mar 2024

The flies and heat were so bad, that we decided to just drive all day long, so we could be in the air conditioned, fly free car. We drove past, Lake Eyre, which we were hoping might have water in it, but it didnt. Lake Eyre is the lowest point in Australia at 15m below sea level. It is usually just a salt flat, but when enough rain falls in Queensland and North Australia, it moves across the country and fills up this basin. Bird, plant and fish life abound when this happens every so many years. The desert comes alive.

Lake Eyre. Just salt out there.

Since there wasn’t much to see here, we continued to Coward Springs. This was a place where travelers used to come for water and a resting place along their journey. The original bore is still in place. We got to bathe in the same place as the original people from back in the day. It was a very refreshing stop despite the flies. The man who runs the place also has a small stand of date palms that he harvests each year. We were able to taste the fresh dates… they were different than any date I’ve tried. They were warm, gooey and buttery. Besides travelers, and dates, this man also ran cows on this land. It is unbelievable to think that people farm this land. We kept asking ourselves, what do the cows eat out here? But, they must be adapted to eating acacia and other desert shrubs.

Coward Springs

Little Succulents. They were full of moisture.

After Coward Springs, we kept going until we reached the town Oodnadatta. We stopped for dinner and the kids played at a park for a little while. Then, since we still didn’t want to be outside in the heat or deal with flies, we decided to drive 3 more hours to Coober Pedy. We were also very tired of the dust. The track was not sealed, and the type of dust out here just worked its way into every crevasse of the caravan. We even found it inside the fridge. We wanted to be able to clean it up only once. The max outside temperature reading from our car for the day was 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit). The total distance we travelled in this day was just under 600 km. After arriving in Coober Pedy, we spent an hour cleaning up the dust and then went to bed.

Beautiful Desert Sunset

Sunday 10, Mar 2024

We spent quite a good portion of the day in Coober Pedy. This town is known for being a place where people live underground. They build their houses and shops into the sides of hills. They are also known for mining opals. So, we had a look around at the streets and what this looked like, before having a go at ‘noodling’ as they called it, for opals in the leftover piles of dirt that had already been mined. We didn’t find a lot, but it was fun anyway. We did find quite a bit of gypsum, which is interesting, but not valuable.

Noodling for Opals

The flies and heat were still pretty bad, so we went as far as we could in the last part of the day. All the driving on this day was literally like driving on mars. There were no trees, and it was just flat as the eye could see. It was incredible, to drive across this landscape for hours on end! I didn’t get any photos of this because it just doesn’t look like anything on the screen. It’s very hard to take photos of a landscape where there isn’t anything in the distance. We stopped for dinner at Lake Hart and then kept going until we were just north of Port Augusta and called it a day. Total kms covered this day was 500. The last 2 days have been our longest on the road so far.

Lake Hart

Australia Part 9: Big Desert, Pink Lakes and The Flinders Ranges

Sunday 3 Mar, 2024

In the morning, we packed up and left Lonsdale Lake and headed northwest. We stopped at a few towns to do some grocery shopping and laundry, and to take some showers. Then, we carried on North to Big Desert. The landscape got dryer and dryer along the way, and it marvelled us to think what the farms in these parts actually farmed, with it just looking like mostly bare land. Then we entered the protected desert area of Big Desert. We drove for an hour or so until we were truly in the middle of nowhere, at Big Billy Bore’s campground. We settled in for the evening.

Monday 4 Mar, 2024

Next day, we played it easy at our campsite in the morning. We took a walk to the lookout nearby and then did some schoolwork. After lunch we decided to leave the caravan behind and have a drive on one of the nearby tracks through the desert. These tracks have no gravel or anything on them, so we let some of the air out of our tyres to help with driving on the sand and then had a good time, for about 3 hours we enjoyed the sites of the desert. The plants changed subtly along the drive, in many places, they were made of lots of small shrubs and plants and in other places it was with a few short trees thrown in for variety. All ranged from a varied array of muted colours. Greens, reds, purples, orange, and yellows all from the desert and then the big blue sky. It was beautiful. Some things we saw were, a large kangaroo taking a nap, a huge sand dune that we were not able to drive over, and some footprints that looked to be made by a dingo. The kids really enjoyed the ride, bouncing down the sandy track. They giggled and laughed much of the way. Then, it was back to camp for a quick meal and then bedtime. I had hoped we would see some more animals, but even the birds were really scarce here. We weren’t sure if they were actually not there, or if they were just hiding.

Tuesday 5 Mar, 2024

In the morning Darren spotted a long line of caterpillars marching across the path to the toilets. We looked them up and they are called, ‘Processionary Caterpillars’ and are the larva of the Shelter Bag Moth. If you touch their hairs, it makes you sick. We are glad that we didn’t touch them. They move together as a group to look for a new food source when they finish stripping a choice tree. We watched for a while and saw how at one point the group leader switched places with the caterpiller behind him, and then the group split into 3 separate groups and carried on in different directions. It was fascinating to watch! After that, we up and left Big Desert and headed to Murray Sunset National Park.

We had plans to stay at Murray Sunset until Friday to do some of the tracks there, but when we arrived a sign said the park was closed to overnight campers. So, we decided to look around at the pink lakes for a short while and then just carry on west into South Australia earlier than planned. The pink lakes used to be mined for salt. Each winter salty water comes up from under the lake as the water table rises. Then when it dries out in the summer it leaves a think later of salt in the summer. The pink colour comes from a bacterium that live in the salt which make beta carotene. After moving on, we entered South Australia, had some showers at Loxton then found our campsite at Wiggly Flat on the Murray River. As we drove into our campsite, we came across an Echidna crossing the road. We all got out and got a good look at him.

Looking at some salt from the stockpiles that were left here from the mining days.

The pink colour is darker and lighter depending on the sunlight and other factors.

Walking on the salt felt a little bit like walking on snow.

Echidna

Wednesday 6 Mar, 2024

In the morning, we had a better look around. The river was beautiful and it was quite peaceful, but the bugs were not very nice by the river, and it was very humid. I had a look around at the local bird life and saw a whole flock of spoonbills, some pelicans, and some herons. When they saw me looking at them, then flew up into these huge dead trees and looked down at me. Then we packed up and headed north to Jamestown, where we had some showers, then Peterborough, where we did laundry. There was a neat steam train to look at in this town.

Spoonbills

Next, we carried on to Yunta, then turned left onto Tea Tree Road which led us to the Wakaringa Ghost Town where they used to mine gold. We arrived after dark and made our way to the top of a hill next to a stone chimney. We settled in for the night.

Thursday 7 Mar, 2024

It turned very windy during the night and in the morning, we knew we didn’t want to stay here for another night. We had a look around the old town and the ruins and searched to ground for anything interesting. We didn’t find any gold, but we did find some neat clear crystals.

We continued on Tea Tree Road. That was an adventure in itself trying to drive it. We had 4 river crossings, one of which we had to drive up the river, and 2 bog drive arounds while towing the caravan. It was a treat for Darren.

Then came out of the dirt roads near Hawker, then carried on north through Flinders Ranges National Par The views on this drive were marvellous! We had dinner along here, then found our campsite in the Parachilna Gorge.

Friday 8 Mar, 2024

We packed up and drove out of the Flinders National Park. The sites were so neat. The colours were reddish brown and light metallic greens and greys. The rocks looked like the skin on a pudding that had been wrinkled up and down over the landscape. We drove through the wrinkles of earth. It made us think of the effects of Noah’s flood, and the power that was present to lift and twist the earth. We marvelled at the power of God. Then we came out on the Outback Highway and headed north towards the Oodnadatta Track.

Australia Part 8: Grampian’s National Park

Friday 1 Mar, 2024

We stayed at Fresh Water Lake Campground the previous night. We cleaned all the sand out of everything from our previous campsites near the sea. Then we headed North to Hall’s Gap which is a small town inside Grampian’s National Park. The drive itself was spectacular. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any photos of that, but it would have been difficult to capture it. The landscape was perfectly flat with farmland on every side for grazing livestock. The dry and golden grassland had large Eucalyptus trees peppering each paddock, with quite a lot of wild emus feeding together at almost every turn. In the distance, Grampian’s National Park made its appearance known. Jutting abruptly into the sky was looked like a single mountain with a few peaks. As we drover closer that mountain turned into a small range of mountains.

MacKenzie Falls

When we got to the town, we stopped for a few groceries, and then drove up into the cliffs and rocks. We stopped at a lookout for lunch, and then went to Mackenzie Falls for a walk. The walk was 260 steps down to see the falls. But is was a grand experience! We then headed back down to Lake Lonsdale Campground for the evening.

Saturday 2 Mar, 2024

Red Rumped Parrot

We spent the morning by taking a little walk along the lake, and then relaxing inside the caravan. We spotted some Red Rumped Parrots and some more cormorants. The lake’s edge was solid rock right up to the water. It was interesting to look at, but not very nice to swim in. In the afternoon, we drove back into Grampian’s National Park and did the Pinnacle Track which was part of the Wonderland Loop. It had several points of interest. The Grand Canyon, Echo Cave, Silent Street, The Lady’s Hat, and the Pinnacle were the most interesting to us. The track had us mostly rock hopping upwards, or climbing steps made from rocks. It was really fun. Then at the end we had to come all the way down again. Girl tripped and scraped her knee when we were almost back to the car, but other than that it was a great day!

Lake Lonsdale

The Grand Canyon

Echo Cave

The Lady’s Hat

Silent Street

Silent Street

Almost to the top!

The Pinnacle

KODAK Digital Still Camera

And then all the way back down!

Australia Part 7: Mt. Gambier

Tuesday 27 Feb, 2024

Sawpit Campground was similar to the last one, with not a lot to do, so we carried on west to look for a suitable place to park for a few days to catch up on things after all that driving. After taking some hot showers at a boating reserve, We finally settled on the site called ‘8 Mile Creek’. Which was next to Owens Creek. It was right next to the ocean, where the creek came out into the ocean. The resulting estuary was packed with black swans, pelicans and seagulls. In the afternoon, I caught up on schoolwork with the kids while Darren drove into town and did some laundry at the laundromat.

Girl helping Darren fill up the caravan’s water tank.

Wednesday 28 Feb, 2024

We hung around near the beach doing schoolwork in the morning. Then we went into Mt Gambier, which is the name of a town where there used to be an active volcano, to see a giant sink hole and a crater lake. It was so neat to look down into the giant hole in the ground and the gardens that had been planted there. In the limestone sides, honeybees had made their hives, and you could see the honeycomb through the holes in some of the rock. I just want to say that, it is very hard to take a photo of a hole in the ground and make it look like it’s not just a steep cliff in front of me.

We had planned to see some caves in the same place that day, but we decided not to after all when we discovered how much it cost. So, after taking a look at the crater lake in that town, which was a beautiful bright blue colour, we went back to our campsite. It was a very hot and windy day and sand got into everything. We had quite the job to get it all cleaned up when the wind died back down.

A Wallaby we saw near the spot we took some showers.

Thursday 29 Feb, 2024

In the morning we quickly packed up and backtracked east for a little bit in order to go to a national park called Bidj Bim. It was a site of volcanic activity thousands of years ago, but inside the crater that was formed was a lake. We walked around the lake on the rim of the crater. It was pretty cool to look down on the water. We also explored a small cave that was along the walk. The coolest thing though was that we spotted a wild Koala sitting in a tree right above the walking track. The kids and I kept walking and Darren decided to hang back a while. When we got back, he told us that he watched the Koala climb down the tree, wander off and climb up a new tree. The photos posted here are the close ups he got.

After the walk we went north to find a spot to camp near Grampian’s National Park and enjoyed a sunset over Freshwater Lake.

Australia Part 6: The Great Ocean Road

Friday 23 Feb, 2024 – Saturday 24 Feb, 2024

We Spent Friday and Saturday just enjoying Granny Flat Reserve a bit more. We did more Laundry, went swimming a few more times, did some more schoolwork and chatted with the other campers.

Boy found a Giant Slantface Grasshopper

I spotted this Pied Cormorant on the river at Granny Flat Reserve. He watched us as we swam.

Sunday 25 Feb, 2024

We drove all day, trying to fit a bit of school in while in the car. We went southwest to get past Melbourne, then hopped on the Great Ocean Road along the south coast of Australia. It was very beautiful to see the ocean at sunset. We turned off the Ocean Road and headed North for the night. We stayed at Dando’s Campsite which was up a lonely track in the hills. We got there late at night after dark and had to reverse the caravan out of a few wrong turns which was sort of exciting, but in the end we were glad to be able to finally rest after a very long day.

Monday 26 Feb, 2024

When we woke up, we didn’t really like the look of Dando’s campsite. It was very tidy and spacious, but there wasn’t a lot to do there. No river and not a lot of sunshine, since it was in a thick forest. So, we spent the day driving farther west. We stopped at the Beauchamp Falls Reserve and walked down to see the waterfall. It was a down, down, down, walk and then an up, up, up, walk back to the car. I felt that the rainforest in this part of Australia reminded me so much of New Zealand that if I wasn’t thinking too hard, I would think it WAS New Zealand, if not for the different smell of the place.

Beauchamp Falls

After that we decided to check out a grove of redwood trees nearby before driving back to the Great Ocean Road. While in the redwoods, we told the kids to run everywhere they went to make sure they got all their wiggles out after 2 days of driving. And they sure did run!!! We finished the Great Ocean Road after stopping for a look at The Twelve Apostles rock formations along the coast, also getting a glimpse of several other tourist sites along the road such as, London Bridge, Bay of Martyrs, and Bay of Islands. Then we found Sawpit Campground just as the sun went down.

The 12 Apostles

One thing that was interesting to notice, was the changing sunrise and sunset times as we continued to travel west. It was really obvious to see those times get later and later while we were in the same time zone. So far, we have travelled around 1500 km west.

Australia Part 5: Granny Flat Reserve and Craig’s Hut Area

Monday 19 Feb, 2024

While at Granny Flat reserve, we spent the morning doing laundry and some schoolwork with the kids. Then we had lunch and went for a swim in the river. We went for a short walk along the trails there as well. Darren got under the caravan and took off the axel in order to turn it around. When he put it back on, the caravan was lifted up higher. This was so we can go through some more rough spots in our travels. Boy and I played a card game called battleship and after dinner we had a small fire and then went to bed. While getting ready for bed, we saw a pair of Australian wood ducks walk by.

Tuesday 20 Feb, 2024

I really enjoyed Granny Flat reserve. It was very peaceful, and quiet. The river was warm and the camping spot was in a little valley with greenery on every side. In the morning we went for another longer walk and saw a Cockatoo, and a grey fantail. Then we packed up and left for Mansfield.

In Mansfield we got some groceries and then headed to our next spot which was not too far away called Carters Mill Reserve. The river was not as close as in Granny Flat, but Darren drove the kids to the river for a swim while I had a nap. They then came and got me and we swam a little more. Then we went on an adventure up Plain Creek Track to look for Tomahawk Hut. We were almost there and had to turn back because of a log in the middle of the track. While there we picked the best blackberries we had seen in a while. Yum! Then we went back to camp for the night.

Wednesday 21 Feb, 2024

The next day we left the caravan behind and took the Prado up to Mount Stirling to see Craig’s Hut. Craig’s Hut is not a real hut, but is a famous one built soley for the set of the movie called, ‘Man from Snowy River’ which was filmed back in the 1980s. The hut has since burned down twice but it has been rebuilt each time because it is such a neat spot and people love to come visit it to see the views from the mountain from this place. I think people also really like the movie. I haven’t seen it, but maybe I will. It’s a romance movie about horses and the pioneer days in Australia. While at the hut, Girl accidentally stepped on a little skink as it scurried under her feet. It didn’t end up surviving, but it was really neat to see up close even if it didn’t make it.

On our way down we took some of the four-wheel drive tracks down past Bindaree waterfall. Then went up to Mount Buller Ski Village, and then back to our campsite. Before stopping there, we went up a different track to Tomahawk Hut which is a more traditional Australian hut and is still used by hikers today and people needing shelter while in the bush.

Then we went back to camp and made dinner. After dinner a pair of King Parrots came to visit us. We fed them sunflower seeds.

Thursday 22 Feb, 2024

In the morning, they came back after our breakfast and brought some of their friends. They flew up on our hands to eat more seeds! What a neat experience! It makes me think how wonderful heaven will be to have all the birds come to visit us and to not be afraid. They will live in nature and also be our friends. We got a neat taste of that here.

We did some more schoolwork, then went for a walk by the creek to an unnamed waterfall. Then after lunch we decided to head back to Granny Flat Reserve for the night to be there for Friday and
Sabbath.

Australia Part 4: Victorian High Country

Sunday Feb 18, 2024

This day started out pretty ordinarily. Darren put into his GPS a camp site that was in between Flamingo Beach and a hut near Mansfield. He didn’t realise that the quickest way was going to take us up a lonely mountain road. After driving back through Sale, we headed Northwest, away from the coast on a journey that the GPS said would take 3 hours. It ended up taking us over 7 hours.

The road started out like some of the others, but then we started remarking to each other about how lovely the farmland was. It was just so beautiful. Rolling hills with rivers and forests and lush grass. Then we started going higher and higher. The forest began changing. It started with shorter trees, then changed to taller and taller trees, getting more and more majestic looking. Through the trees we could see the valleys below and some farms, then we couldn’t see through the trees anymore. We passed quite a few cows, who had free range of the place, even on the road which had turned to gravel. We passed only 3 other vehicles over the entire trip over this road. We passed through several logs that had fallen on the road and where cut away.

Then the trees began getting shorter again as we reached the summit. We stopped for dinner at the top and got some great photos, that did no justice at all to the beauty of the place. We realized that we were actually crossing a section of the Great Diving Range, which is a very large range of high country that runs along the eastern side of Australia.

On our way back down the other side, we found Bob’s Pipe Bath. Darren had read about it on a camping app that mentioned this track, so he was looking for it. When we found it, we realized that it was an actual bathtub on the side of the road with a tank next to it full of spring water. There were some hoses for siphoning the fresh water into the bath. So, naturally, when we found it, we all got out, filled up the bath with fresh water and washed up in it. First Dad, then Mum, then Boy, and then Girl, all had a bath, complete with shampoo and soap. We needed it! The kids ate blackberries on the side of the road while they waited for their turn. It was a little brisk, but we weren’t sure if we could light the fire under the bath since sometimes there are fire bans in Australia.

We thought this was the end of the adventure for the day as we were nearing the campsite. But just after sunset, in the dusky light we came across a large log fallen over the road. There was a large branch that was stopping us from crossing under the log with our caravan. So, we got out and Darren climbed the tree and chopped off the branch with an axe he brought along. Then, we carried on. We finally reached Granny Flat Reserve at 9:30 pm. Girl had fallen asleep already. We quickly set up and got everyone tucked into bed!