Great Ocean Road

Monday morning we woke to clear blue skies and a gentle wind.  Perfect for our planned trip to do the second half of the Great Ocean Road.

The first 50km took us south east through farm land, until we hit the coast at a place called the Bay Of Islands.  What a spectacular view.  You come around a corner and suddenly there in front of you is the sea crashing into the high cliffs of a horseshoe shaped bay with several small islands in it.  I have a sneaking suspicion that is why they call it Bay Of Islands.

 

Because it is such a popular tourist attraction, the Australian National Parks have gone to the trouble of constructing excellent signage, parking, walkways and viewing platforms all along the Great Ocean Road.  Consequently you are able to make the most of viewing opportunities at all of the popular tourist sites, at times virtually hanging out over the edge of the cliffs to get a good view.  It was quite mesmerising to stand there and watch the awesome power of the sea unleash itself against the cliffs.  Christel commented that if we had to go home to New Zealand today, she wouldn’t be disappointed after having seen this spectacular display of nature’s power at work.

The road itself, at this end, was a bit like travelling from Mokau towards Tongaporutu, only the views were much more spectacular.  We called in at places like ‘The Arch’:

 ‘London Bridge’:

 

The Grotto:

and ‘Lord Ard Gorge’:

 which is the site of an 1880’s shipwreck.  All offered their own special attractions of what the sea can do after hundreds of years bashing away at the land. 

We read at one of the stops that the sea is presently eating into the southern coast line of Aussie at the rate of 2 cm a year.  Just think, at this rate, in about 600,000 years we won’t have to worry about Aussie beating us in cricket any more.

We finally got down to the ultimate attraction of the Great Ocean Road, the ‘Twelve Apostles’, though as we had been warned,  due to the process outlined in the previous paragraph, only eight were left.  How long ago the other 4 disappeared we couldn’t find out, but I guess for commercial purposes, 12 sells better than 8, so 12 it remains.

We knew we were getting near, by the ample warning signage, and the thousands of helicopters, (well three actually), full of Asian tourists, buzzing up and down the coast.  The huge car park was full of cars, caravans, campervans and buses, with people everywhere.

Personally we were a little disappointed with what we saw.  There were two ‘apostles’ on the eastern side of a peninsula, and from what we could see, 5 on the western side, and that didn’t add up to 8 in my book.  Maybe we should have taken a leaf out of the Asians book, and had a ‘rook’, from one of the thousands of ‘hericopters’.  I think we had been spoiled by the sights we had seen further up the coast.  Certainly most of the ‘tourist traffic’ was travelling in the opposite direction to us, and this would have been their first view of the ‘sea in action’.

Judging by the ‘rots’ and ‘rots’ of photographs being taken by the Asians, they were ‘obviousry’  ‘velly implessed’ by the ‘velly’ nice ‘scenely’.

The Twelve Apostles was basically the end of the road for us travelling from west to east, and from here the road swung inland to Lavers Hill where we had stopped for a beer after our trip along the road from the other end.  We continued on to the small township of PRINCETOWN and after a nice cold beer returned back along the road to Warrnambool.  We could now cross the Great Ocean Road off our list of things to do.  We were certainly impressed with what we saw overall, and, on reflection, can say it certainly lived up to its reputation.

Tuesday was another lovely sunny day, so we decided to take time out from our strenuous schedule and after school work, laundry, and blogging, spent a very pleasant afternoon on the beach. Cameron decided the water was warm enough for a swim and spent considerable time testing himself against the breakers, even managing to body surf in on a couple.

Later we went into town for groceries and also to buy some fuel containers and other essentials prior to heading north into the great unknown. We had decided that as tomorrow would be Dad’s Birthday and we were weren’t sure where we would be, we would go out for tea to celebrate.  We had seen the Warrnambool RSL building sitting high on a hill overlooking the town, and decided it would be a fitting place to celebrate Dad’s Birthday, so we finished off our day with a lovely meal, and toasted Dad with a couple of cold ones.

 On Wednesday we plan to travel from Warrnambool to HAMILTON, which is about 100km north, and from there explore the GRAMPIANS NATIONAL PARK.  Another ‘must do’ on our list.  Watch this space.



Geelong to Warrnambool

Hi Again. Long time, no see.  Seems that we are too busy to do the blog these days, and suddenly a week has gone by.  Last episode we were in Geelong and had visited the Ford Centre and Wirrebee Open Range Zoo among other things.  So we will continue from there with Wednesday the 23^rd.

After the usual morning’s school work we decided to go for a drive down to QUEENSCLIFF a small town right at the entrance to Port Phillip Bay.  From there we could look across Bass Straight and just see the outlines of the Mountains of Tasmania. 

After a walk along the beach and a look around the town, we headed due north to PORT ARLINGTON, another small seaside town, this one on the inside shore of Port Phillip Bay. From here we could look north across the bay and just make out the skyscrapers of Melbourne City.

We then headed back to GEELONG and down to the waterfront where Cameron talked us into having a ride on a Ferris wheel that was stationed there.  This thing was huge, real nail biting stuff, but a great view from the top if you were brave enough to open your eyes. We were the only ones on it, so the operator decided to give us our money’s worth by stopping it at the top so we could admire the view.  Bastard!

Thursday we went to Adventure Park, a huge fun park based on the Water World concept.  The park covers about 30 acres and includes water slides of all shapes and sizes, a lazy river, kayaks, paddle boats and water bikes, plus a mirade of other water based types of entertainment.  This place is geared up to hold about 500 people on a busy day with a staff of about 40 on a busy day.  Guess what, we had the entire place to ourselves.  Probably the fact that it was a freezing cold day had something to do with it, but we were treated like royalty.

Because of the huge demand on power to operate the pumps for the various activities, they only turn them on as they are needed, and when we bought our tickets they told us to just go and see an attendant whenever we wanted to do a particular activity.  Consequently Cameron had great delight in going and asking the attendants to turn on the various pumps as we went from one activity to another.

Back in Geelong it was down to the water front again for a beer and a feed of fresh mussels and chips.

Friday was the day we had decided we would do the first stage of the GREAT OCEAN ROAD.  This is one of Australia’s best known tourist attractions, and includes the famous Twelve Apostles, and was a must see for us.  Its Eastern end starts at the town of TORQUAY, which is on the coast directly south of Geelong.  From there it follows the south coast of Australia for about 240 km to WARRNAMBOOL.  We had originally planned to take the van along this road, but others who had done it advised us against this as there are so many stop offs and viewing places that towing a van just became a nuisance.

So instead we decided to do it in two stages, from Torquay to Cape Otway on the Friday, and then take the Caravan through to WARRANBOOL and do the rest from that end.  Unfortunately it wasn’t the best of weather on Friday but we thoroughly enjoyed the drive anyhow.  The sea was quite angry, and it was quite spectacular watching the waves bash themselves on the cliffs.  With the many stop offs and viewing spots we were glad we didn’t have the caravan in tow.  We had lunch at the lovely little town of LORNE, and then continued down to CAPE OTWAY.  Just before you get to CAPE OTWAY, the road swings inland and we had to take a side road 12 km down to the Cape Otway Lighthouse.  This was a beautiful drive, mostly through a National Park containing thousands of Gum Trees.

On our way back from the light house we saw some people stopped on the side of the road looking at something in the trees.  I glanced up as we were driving past and spotted a Koala asleep on a branch overhanging the road.  Needless to say, out came the cameras, and we spent the next half hour or so Koala spotting.  We must have seen about a dozen within about 50 meters of where we had stopped.  Most were asleep, but one fellow put on a display of roaring for us.  A great experience and our first sighting of Koalas in the wild.

From Cape Otway we continued on to LAVERS HILL, and after a beer and chips in the local, headed inland to COLAC and then back to Geelong.  The longest day trip we have done so far.

Saturday we packed up the caravan and headed off to WARRNAMBOOL.  For those of you like me who can’t say it, it is pronounced War-na-bull.  Why they don’t spell it like that I don’t know.  We decided to take the Hamilton Highway from Geelong to LISMORE, where it turns into the Hopkins Highway for the run down through MORTLAKE to WARRNAMBOOL.  Long straights, very flat, and remarkable for the number of dry stone fences along the road side and disappearing into the distance across the farm land.

We got to Warrnambool at about 2.30 and thanks to Know All Nancy, drove straight to our campground which is right on the coast on the edge of the city.  After setting up camp we joined Cameron on the beach and watched the local yachties and Surf Life Savers doing their thing.  Then we went for a drive to explore the city.  It is about the size of New Plymouth and is similar in many ways in that it fronts the seashore.

Because Dad’s birthday was coming up, we had arranged with Wayne and Maree that they would get Dad and Jean to call in at their place at about 1.00pm on Sunday, and we would Skype through to them and give him a birthday surprise. Wayne and Maree had also arranged for Phil and Jayne to be there. Sunday morning was spent doing schoolwork and chores, until it was time to Skype.

The ruse worked well, and after Maree informed Dad that someone wanted to speak to him, he was duly surprised when he saw us all on the laptop.  It was great to catch up with family again after 3 months and be able to wish Dad a Happy Birthday for the 30^th. We must do this ‘Skyping’ more often.  It was interesting to learn from Wayne and Maree that when they were in Aussie late last year, they had taken a train trip up to Ballarat, which they found to be a small settlement about the size of Egmont Village. If you are interested in finding out more about this mystery, just ask Wayne or Maree.

Sunday afternoon we went for a walk along the breakwater and watched the huge waves rolling in from the Southern Ocean and smashing themselves against the breakwater.  We also visited a couple of lookouts where we could see the sea doing its best to smash away the rugged coastline, sending huge plumes of spray high into the air. Then it was time for more groceries and another look around town before heading back to camp for tea.

The weather for the last week or so has been quite cold and overcast and we are looking forward to some clearer skies and a change in temperature. We plan to see the second half of the Great Coast Road on Monday, including the famous Twelve Apostles, and it would be so much better to see it on a nice sunny day.   Let’s hope the weather improves.

Cars, planes and the Zoo

Well, here we are in GEELONG.  The drive down from BALLARAT was uneventful, and Know All Nancy guided us straight to our chosen Camp Ground.  We did break some new ground on the way down though.  Seeing as the road was good and the traffic light, I pulled off to the side of the road and climbed out.  In answer to Christel’s rather worried “What’s wrong?” I replied, “You’re driving!”.  Reluctantly she climbed into the driver’s seat, and then drove for about 20 km without any problems. Her first time towing the caravan.

After setting up camp and having lunch, our first port of call was the Ford Discovery Centre.  Ford has a major engineering and parts manufacturing plant in GEELONG, so it was fitting that it should set up what is basically a museum and information centre about the Ford Motor Car.

Lots of “wows”, and “Dad look at this”, and Christel shamelessly drooling over the latest models.  Cameron got to sit in a Model T, and after watching all the cutaway displays of engines and cars working, he is now an expert on how a Ford works. Very educational for all of us.  BY the time we got out of there it was too late do anything else, so we went down to the beautiful Geelong waterfront for a drink and a look around.

Tuesday we decided we would visit the WERRIBEE OPEN RANGE ZOO, which was another item on our ‘Must Do’ list.  So after a morning’s school work we set off to WERRIBEE which is about 40 km north of GEELONG, on the road to MELBOURNE, faithfully following Nancy’s instructions.

Just before we got to the WERRIBEE turnoff, we saw some old WW2 Airfield Hangers by the side of the road.  I was busy explaining their significance to Cameron when I suddenly saw a sign ‘B24 LIBERATOR’.  For those of you who don’t know, a B24 Liberator is an American Four Engine Bomber Plane which saw a lot of action during WW2. I just had time to swing off the motorway to catch the entrance gate. 

Memories came flooding back.  I recalled seeing an item in an old Australian Post magazine, or similar, about 10 or 15 years ago, about a B24 which had been found crashed in a jungle somewhere in the Pacific by an Australian.  He had recovered it back to his place in Victoria where it lay for many years.  It was rediscovered again by some restoration enthusiasts and transported to WERRIBEE where it was going to be restored.  Could this possibly be the same plane?  For some reason I just knew it was.

We had no sooner got inside the door of the hanger, and there on a display board was a clipping of the very same article I had read.  I couldn’t believe it.  We spent the next hour or so being given a guided tour of the plane and the restoration project.  An amazing experience.  I just wished Dad could have been there.  Cameron got to sit in the restored cockpit and was really spellbound to actually see and touch a real war plane.  His camera was very busy.  We found out they are only open on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.  Some things are meant to be.  For those of you aeroplane enthusiasts (and I know of at least three) have a look at the website www.b24australia.org.au and you will see the plane pretty much as we did.

From there it was a short drive to the Werribee Zoo which specializes in an open range style of keeping animals.  Zoo is not the appropriate name for this place as the enclosures are so big.  Our first part was a bus trip through some of the huge paddocks containing various animals that in the wild would normally associate with each other.  Hence Zebras, Giraffes, ostriches and antelopes would be in one paddock. The surroundings were so well done you would swear you were in the middle of Africa.  There were also hippos, rhinos and camels. To give you an idea of the size of the place the bus trip took 45 minutes and must have covered about 10 km.

Then it was on foot to check out the rest of the park. Not a huge variety of animals, but to see them in surroundings so natural was just brilliant. It was more like going on a safari than visiting a zoo.  Cameron was absolutely rapt to the point where there was smoke coming out of his camera.  On the last count I think it was 92 photos between the B24 visit and the zoo.

Because we had spent so long at the zoo we ran out of time to visit the nearby Werribee Mansion, a huge homestead built by a rich farming family in the 1870’s and now listed as one of Australia’s Heritage sites.  It was Victoria’s largest family home.  We did manage to walk up the drive through the park like grounds and grab a quick photo or two, but were too late for a tour.  Never mind.

After dinner we went for a walk and just on dark saw dozens of fruit bats flying over our heads on their way out for their night’s feeding.  Oh yeah, forgot to mention, at BALLARAT we went for a drive in the country just on dark one night, and saw a fox run across the road just in front of us.  Another first.

Ballarat and About

After our big day out on Thursday, we decided to spend Friday in a more relaxed way.  Again the morning was taken up with school work and then it was off for another look around BALLARAT.  We had been thinking about getting a satnav, gps, whatever you want to call it for some time, especially after our little incident getting to the ferry, so decided now would be as good a time as any.  Not only that but Joe, Christel’s father, had recently bought one and couldn’t stop bragging about it.  He has even gone as far as calling the lady that speaks on it Dora, from Dora the Explora.  Fancy giving your satnav a name.

A trip to Dick Smith and the lovely girl shop assistant soon had us convinced we couldn’t possible live without one.  “You’ll never get lost with one of these”, she cooed.  Smart little bitch, how did she know about our trip to the ferry.  Maybe I’m getting paranoid.  Anyhow we came away with the latest Navman and $200 lighter.  We call ours ‘Know all Nancy’, because no matter where you are, she knows how to get you to where you want to go.  Sounds a lot better than Dora as well.

With Nancy safely installed on our windscreen, she didn’t like sitting on the dashboard, we headed for a Fruit Canning Factory outlet shop we had been told about, where you could get fantastic bargains on tinned fruit and other products, provided you buy in bulk.  Half an hour later we staggered out with a shopping trolley full of bargains like 12 cans of 400 gm Fruit Salad for $12.  12 cans of 400gm Baked Beans and Spaghetti for $11. Needless to say the van is going to be a bit heavy to drag around for a while.

One of the first brochures we had picked up at the Visitors centre advertised a trout farm where they virtually guaranteed you would catch a fish.  We decided we should visit it if we could, so headed off there on Saturday afternoon. It was about 30km north of BALLARAT, near the town of DAYLESFORD.  It was a lovely drive through typical Australian countryside to the farm, which is actually part of a sheep and cattle station.

The trout were kept in large ponds, and after paying for the hire of a couple of rods, dropped our lines in the water.  The hook with its bits of corn on it for bait, had no sooner hit the water and bang, a fish was hooked.  Cameron was in his element, and within quarter of an hour we had landed 5 fish, and released several others.  The owners of the farm filleted the fish for us, so dinner for the next few nights won’t be a problem.

On our way home we decided it would be nice to have a bit more of a look around the country side so we asked Know all Nancy to plot us the best route to nearby DAYLESFORD.  She took us down some lovely little country roads, places we would never have dreamed of going, and eventually popped us out on the main road right at DAYLESFORD.  

We then asked her to take us back to our campground.  This time she took us down a narrow windy country road.  We soon became concerned because it was obvious there was a fire of some sort very close by.  We came around a corner and here were flames right at the roads edge.   Know All Nancy wasn’t concerned at all, and kept telling us, “In 3.5 km turn left into Emu Road”.  Obviously Nancy couldn’t see the flames. We were just debating whether or not to turn back, when around the next corner were several trucks and workmen lighting the roadside undergrowth.  It was a controlled burn off. Nancy must have known all along.

She did make one embarrassing mistake, and at one stage took us down a ‘No Through Road’. Boy did she get upset when we did a U turn.

This morning, Sunday, was a short school lesson and then back into BALLARAT for more sightseeing.  We also wanted to see a Formula One Racing Car Display that was being held in the main street.  The street had been blocked off to allow the cars to do a few laps for the crowd.  We got there early and got ring side seats. Lots of high revving engines, wheel spins and smoke.  Great stuff for an 8 year old boy. 

We also visited the Australian Ex-Prisoner of War Memorial Wall in the Botanical Gardens.  A moving experience.

Well that’s it.  It’s Sunday night, and for once we are right up to date.  Tomorrow we head south to GEELONG where we hope to go to the WIRRIBEE Drive Through Zoo, visit the Avalon Airfield, and also a Children’s Water Adventure Park among other things.  So, watch this space.

Gold Fever

The 115 km drive from Melbourne to BALLARAT was uneventful and we pulled into a campground on the Melbourne side of BALLARAT at about 5.00pm.  BALLARAT is a city about the size of New Zealand’s HAMILTON.  It was built on gold mining, and is well known for its’ ‘Sovereign Hill’, a suburb of the town which has been preserved and developed as a replica of the way BALLARAT was during the gold rush days. It had been high on our list of ‘must do’s since we had first planned our Aussie trip.

One of its attractions was that you could pan for gold.  Cameron was busting to get there and couldn’t stop visualizing what he was going to do with the millions of dollars worth of gold he was going to find.

Wednesday morning was spent with school work and domestic duties, and planning our attack on how best to see the many attractions the city had to offer. We also had to get to a dentist, as during our Tassie trip, Cameron had lost a filling, and we thought the quicker it got fixed the better.

So first on the list was a trip to the visitor centre to find a dentist who could fit us in within the next two or three days.  As always, the staff at the visitor centre were more than helpful and we soon had the phone numbers of half a dozen dentists. The first one had a vacancy in about 3 weeks, the second advised us they were booked for 12 months ahead, but the third had had a cancellation and could see us at 3.30 that afternoon. Perfect.

With a couple of hours to fill in, we decided to find the generator shop and see what they had to offer.  It turned out to be a motorcycle shop that also stocked Yamaha generators.  They were more than helpful and after half an hour we had bought our new generator.  A 2.00 kW Yamaha which they just happened to have on special, down from $2150 to $1950.  Although we had paid $350 more than the Kipor, we were more than happy.  It was quieter, lighter, more economical, and most importantly, started on the first pull.

After a bit of a look around town it was off to the dentist.  Half an hour later we staggered out.  Cameron under the weight of two new fillings, and us under the weight of a $340 bill.  No wonder medical insurance is such a popular pastime in Aussie.

We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out some of the magnificent old stone buildings lining the city streets, and the many shops related to the gold industry.  Lots of nuggets displayed as they had been found. The more gold Cameron saw, the stronger became his ‘Gold Fever’.  He just couldn’t believe he was actually looking at real gold, and couldn’t wait to get to Sovereign Hill to starting finding his own.

Thursday was the big day, and after the usual morning’s school work, it was off to Sovereign Hill.  What an experience.  It more than lived up to our every expectation.  Those of you that have been there will agree I’m sure.  Too much to see and do to list here, but some of the highlights for us were first of all the gold panning, and the thrill of seeing those tiny flecks of gold appear in the bottom of your pan, a horse and buggy ride through the entire village, watching the various street scenes re-enacted by people dressed in period costume, and a demonstration on spoked cart wheel making, starting from turning down a sizable log to make the hub, right through to the final fitting of the steel rim.  For me this was an absolutely fascinating process to experience.

Apart from the gold panning, the highlight for Cameron was watching a demonstration of a Gold Ingot being poured from its molten state, into the mould, and then watching it get cooled down and turning into solid gold.  After it had cooled down sufficiently, Cameron was selected to come forward and hold the newly formed ingot, weighing 3kg, and valued at $140,000.  Unfortunately our camera decided at that very time to have a flat battery, so we couldn’t record it.  Never mind, I’m sure the memory of that moment will stay with him for a long time.

Our trip down a mine was also brilliant, and included a holographic display of the instance when the second largest gold nugget ever found, was uncovered in the mine face.  This actually happened in a mine about 100 meters from where we were viewing the replay. We finally left Sovereign Hill with our vial of panned gold, just as they were closing the gate.  What a fantastic experience.

The new generator

Having done everything we could we retired to our campsite to wait out the weekend.  We decided to make the most of the time by getting as much school work done as possible. It was also a chance for Cameron to let loose and enjoy the use of the swimming pool and playground equipment.  A good way to bribe him to get through his school work as quickly as possible.

I took the opportunity to familiarise myself with our new toy.  After carefully reading all the instructions, I took it out of the box and went through the ‘Procedure before starting’.  Having followed that to the letter I then pulled the starter rope.  Nothing.  Pull the starter rope again.  Nothing.  Check that every switch is in its correct position and pull again.  Nothing.  Pick up the Instruction book and reread it.  I had done everything right.  Being encouraged by the words in the manual, ‘having followed the procedure before starting instructions, pull the starter rope and the engine will start’, I pulled the rope again.  Nothing.   Check that the Instruction Book is the correct one for our generator.  Pull the rope again.  Maybe it needs half a dozen quick pulls.  Nothing.

Time for a rethink.  Perhaps some bastard has removed the sparkplug or something.  Read the Manual on how to find and remove the sparkplug.  It was definitely there, I could just see it buried within the depths of the casing.  Obviously not meant to be removed very often, however as it may hold the secret to why the jolly thing wouldn’t start, I would have to take it out and have a look at it.  Fitting the spark plug spanner to the plug and then slipping the lever supplied, which also doubled as a screw driver, through the hole in the spanner, I heaved.  I heaved again.  Once more.  Really put some effort into it this time.  Bang.  Broke the bloody lever.  I had very neatly converted their screwdriver come spark plug lever into a spark plug lever only.

Time for another rethink.  Maybe a gentle tap with a hammer will loosen things up a bit.  At last - success.  Out comes the plug.  Looks a bit dirty.  Maybe a cleanup and a quick squirt with CRC will help.  Spark plug back in, time to reread the ‘Procedure before start part of the manual again.’  Then fingers crossed back on the start rope and pull.  Was that a flicker of interest from that confounded engine? Another pull. Another flicker.  Yes, at last we are getting somewhere.  Another pull, and another, and another, and suddenly eureka, it starts.  Great, we now have a generator that goes.  The whole camp comes out to admire my victory dance, or was it that the roaring engine had disturbed their afternoon’s siesta. 

Despite the verbal threats and occasional empty beer can being thrown at me, I let the bastard run for a couple of minutes to make sure it worked okay, then retreated into the caravan for a well earned beer.

Next day, just to put my mind at rest, I decided I should fire her up again just to make sure she started okay, now that I had sorted out all the problems. I won’t bore you with a repeat of yesterday’s efforts, but guess what.  After half an hour it was put back in its box with a firm resolve that it was going back to the Super Caravan Centre, broken screwdriver and all.

Tuesday morning we travelled back to Creative Caravans, dropped the caravan off, shot down to the Caravan Super Centre, told them where to put their Hyundai Generator, and offered to help them put it there, picked up our generator box, which amazingly enough they hadn’t managed to sell to someone else, collected our refund on the generator, and returned to Creative.

The Guy from Creative said he could fit the box while we were having lunch.  He also told us about a shop where we might find another generator.  Unfortunately they didn’t have any, but the shop assistant, who just happened to be from Invercargill, was more than helpful, and after hearing that we were heading towards BALLARAT,  rang a shop there and confirmed they had what we wanted and would hold one for us.

Back at Creative our caravan was waiting with the box nicely fitted to the tow bar.  At last we were ready to hit the road again, and have time to reflect on our interesting Labour Day Weekend in Melbourne.  Lookout BALLARAT, here we come.

Black Friday

Well, here we are back on the Aussie mainland after just on five weeks in Tasmania.  We had driven just over 3300 km and still didn’t get to see everything we had planned on. Looking back, we had really enjoyed every minute of our Tassie trip, and it was hard to put any one experience above the rest.

Now it was time to pick up our caravan and generator, and hopefully a generator box that we could mount on the rear draw bar of the caravan to hold the generator.  You may remember,  when we dropped off the caravan we went to a nearby caravan centre where we were extremely lucky to spot a Kipor Generator, which we quickly put a deposit on so it would be there for us when we got back from Tassie.  We also spoke to one of the employees about a generator box, and he assured us he could get one made to our exact requirements.  As long as we gave him about a week’s notice, it would be ready for us when we came to pick up the generator.  We had duly emailed him from Tassie with what we wanted, but never heard back.  We hoped he had got the email, and had gone ahead as arranged to have it ready for us.

Eager to be reunited with our caravan, we headed off to Creative Caravans.   We were keen to be on the road again and hoped to be in BALLARAT by that night. There it was sitting in their driveway all ready to go.  One of their workers met us and quickly went over everything they had done.  Stove well and securely screwed in, scratches in the floor where the stove had landed, all repaired.  New table pedestal to replace the one scratched by the stove when it fell out.  Extractor fan now sucking instead of blowing. Sealing around the toilet all finished.

“Anything else” he says.  “What about the awning slide that was catching”.  “Oh yeah, we got the guys from Aussie Traveller, they make the awnings, to have a look at that.  They said there was nothing wrong with it”.  Christel and I looked at each other.  Had we imagined it?  “OK” we said, “let’s have a look at it”.  By this time we had been joined by another of Creative Caravans workers.  Sure enough as soon as we tried to erect the awning the same old problem occurred, the slide caught.  This time it was their turn to look at each other.

Surprisingly enough they continued to argue that the Aussie Traveller guys had assured them there was nothing wrong.  After repeated demonstrations of how the slide caught every time it was moved, one of the workers got a screw driver and tightened some fittings on the slide, and low and behold, no more problems.  Needless to say nothing would have been gained by commenting on the ability of the Aussie Traveller workers to detect and remedy very simple problems.

“Right then that’s everything”, says the Creative Caravans guy.  “What about the wiring from the van to the car, has that been lengthened”.  “Don’t know anything about that” he says.  “Well Emma wrote that on her list of things to be done” we say.  “I’ll see if the electrician can have a look at it for you” he says. “Good idea.” we reply.  Out comes the electrician who also claims no knowledge of the wiring problem, but offers to fix it straight away.  “If you can give us about an hour I’ll have it done for you” he gallantly offers.  “That’s great.  We’ll go and have some lunch and pick up our generator and generator box, then call back”.

A little disappointed that we still didn’t have our caravan in tow, and beginning to realise we may not get to BALLARAT today, we went and had lunch and then headed off to the caravan centre to pick up our generator, and hopefully a generator box.  Now, this is where the fun really starts.

Arriving at the Caravan Super Centre we quickly recognise the lady who had done the paper work for us when we put the deposit down on the generator.  We explained why we were there and she said she remembered us and got out the paper work with our details, and the fact that we had put down a $600 deposit on our generator.   She then went to the office at the side to get our generator.  We could see her hunting around, among a pile of packages, and then having a conversation with another employee.  They were frequently referring to the paper work with our deposit recorded on it, and made repeated searches among the packages.   It was obvious they were becoming a bit agitated. You know where this is going don’t you.  Finally they both came back to us.

“We don’t have it” they rather embarrassingly inform us. “What do you mean you don’t have it?  You must have it. We have paid a deposit on it”.  “Yes we know but it’s been sold”. “What do you mean it’s been sold?  You can’t sell it twice.  You had already sold it to us.  You have the receipt in front of you.”  “Yes we know, but there’s been a huge demand for generators because of the floods up north”.  “Look, we know all about the floods up north, that’s why we put a deposit on the one we saw here in the shop, so it would be here for us now.  Now if you don’t mind we would like our generator please.”  “We are very sorry, but we don’t have it”.

“I see.  Where is Michael Smith, the man who sold us the generator”.  “We’re sorry but he’s away at the caravan expo and won’t be back until Tuesday”.  “OK, who’s in charge while he’s not here”. “Well only us really, everyone else is at the expo.” “So, you don’t have our generator here, and there’s no one who can tell us why”.  “Yes we’re sorry, but look we do have another shipment of Kipor generators coming in, in early April, you can have one of those.” “Listen lady, we came into this shop a month ago to buy a generator.  We were told they were in very short supply due to the flooding up north, but you did have one in the shop.  Because they were in such short supply we put a deposit on it so it would be here for us now.  By early April we will be several hundred miles from here.  We have come right across Melbourne to pick it up so we can continue our trip.  We want a generator now.”  “Well we do have these new Hyundai generators in stock, you can have one of those.  They are more powerful and a bit dearer than the Kipor, but you can have it at the same price”.

I won’t bore you with too many more details, but by now you will have got the general gist of what was happening.  It would be a slight understatement to say I was pretty p$%^d off.  To my mind they had stolen our generator and there was nothing we could do about it. At the same time it was obvious the two staff members we were dealing with, had been left holding the candle, and it was no good having a go at them. If only this Michael Smith guy was available, but he wasn’t so we had to make the best of what there was.

The Hyundai Generator had a 2.6 kw output as against only 2.0 for the Kipor, and of course the bigger the output, the higher the cost.  Unfortunately it was also quite a bit heavier and quite a bit noisier, but beggars can’t be choosers. So to cut a long story short we bought a Hyundai 2.6 generator for the price of a 2.0kw Kipor.  Quite a good buy by any means but that wasn’t really the point.

Now comes the next part of our visit to the Caravan Super Centre.  Remember the generator box. The story goes like this.

“Ok now that we have got the generator all sorted, what about the box Michael Smith was going to get made for us”.  This statement was met with blank stares.  They knew nothing about it.  Great, now we had a generator and no where to put it.  Don’t you just love doing business in Aussie.  First a caravan that falls to bits, and now this.  I was beginning to wonder how many of New Zealand’s unemployables come over to Aussie and get jobs in the caravan industry.

Again to cut a long story short we decided to buy a box off the shelf from in their showroom.  “Now, can you recommend someone to fit it to our caravan for us”.  “Yes we can. The engineers we use are just around the corner, but unfortunately they have closed today at midday for the long weekend.”  “What long weekend?”  “Oh didn’t you know. It’s Victoria’s Labour Weekend this weekend.  Everybody closes up early on Friday and doesn’t open again until Tuesday.”

Now, remember how the day started.  A quick trip to Creative Caravans to pick up our van, pop down the road to the Caravan Super Centre to pick up our generator and box, and be half way to BALLARAT by lunchtime.  By now it was about 1.30pm, and at this stage our caravan was still at Creative Caravans, hopefully having it’s wiring fixed, we had bought a generator we didn’t really want, and a generator box that would have to do, but no means of fitting it before Tuesday.

We decided that maybe, just maybe, Creative Caravans could come to the rescue and be able to fit our box for us.  Problem was, the back of the Pajero was still full with our camping gear and we couldn’t get it from the Caravan Super Centre to Creative, and bearing in mind our experience with the generator, we were reluctant to leave it in the custody of the Super Centre.  However we had little choice.  Makes getting lost in Melbourne on the way to the ferry sound like a nice quiet day at the beach doesn’t it.

Obviously we weren’t going anywhere before next Tuesday.  Oh well, better ring a camp ground and get a site for the weekend, then come back on Tuesday, and see if we can get the box fitted by someone.  No problem, right? Wrong.  First camping ground - sorry booked out due to long weekend.  Second camping ground, this time a bit further out of town.  Sorry booked out, long weekend.  Getting the picture?  Finally after about six tries we finally got a site about 90 km out of town.

That dealt with, and with our new generator in the back, it was back up to Creative Caravans with fingers crossed that all would be well, and we could get the hell out of this place. At least we would have a chance to play with the new generator over the weekend and make sure all was well.

At last, the tide had turned.  The wiring was fixed and all was go. We spoke to one of the staff about our box dilemma. “No problem mate. You grab some bolts over the weekend, bring her back here lunchtime Tuesday and I’ll fit her on for you”.  So, with caravan in tow we headed out of town to our campsite.  By now of course, millions of Melbournians were on the road heading out of town for the long weekend.  Guess what, 4 hours later we finally got to our motorcamp.

Well.  I think that’s enough drama for one episode.  But don’t worry, there’s more to come.  Watch this space.

From Tasmania back to Melbourne

Tuesday morning we drove from CRADLE MOUNTAIN north to BURNIE on the north coast, intending to find a campsite and then explore the area.  When we got to BURNIE it was showery weather so we decided it would have to be a cabin again. Unfortunately everywhere we tried was booked out.   With the weather looking pretty shitty we finally decided to cut our losses and head straight back to DEVONPORT. 

We drove through the pretty little coastal towns of PENGUIN and ULVERSTONE, arriving in DEVONPORT at about 3.00pm.  Luckily the first motor camp we tried had one cabin available for the two nights we wanted it, so we moved in.  Then we went sightseeing around DEVONPORT, before buying groceries for our first really healthy meal in a long time.  Lots of veggies and meat.

Wednesday morning was spent doing school work, and drying out and airing our camping gear.  In the afternoon we took a drive through farmland very much like New Zealand, to the town of SHEFFIELD,  about 30 km south of DEVONPORT.  SHEFFIELD is known for its murals.  Then it was back to DEVONPORT by another route.

We had decided to spoil ourselves with a meal out on our last night in Tasmania, and ended up at the Devonport RSL Club. (Aussie equivalent to New Zealand’s RSA).  While there we ran into two lots of campers we had met during our travels around Tassie , all returning to Aussie on the ferry the next day.

Our car trip to the ferry on Thursday morning was extremely boring compared to our saga in MELBOURNE 5 weeks earlier.   Every major road intersection in Tasmania, no matter what part of the state you are in, has a sign post indicating which way to the ferry terminal. In DEVONPORT there are sign posts on almost every street corner pointing to the ferry.  Even I couldn’t get lost this time !!!

We were the fifth car in line to go on, and ended up below sea level on Deck One.  Unfortunately as were to find out at the end of the trip, first on – last off.  The ferry trip back to MELBOURNE was uneventful until we tried to ring ahead to book accommodation.  Unbeknown to us it was Labour Weekend for Victoria and everything was booked out.  However we finally managed to get a last available cabin in a motor camp out near the airport.

With Christel acting as navigator, we were soon zipping  through rush hour traffic to our motor camp.  For some strange reason Cameron wasn’t all that keen for me to get my hands on our map, and gave very firm instructions that I was to drive, and mum would be our navigator.  That bloody trip to the ferry is going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

Safely installed in our cabin, we were all looking forward to being reunited with our caravan the next day.  Little did we know what was in store for us.  But that will have to wait for the next episode.

Cradle Mountain

Anxious to make the most of the beautiful weather, we quickly set up camp, climbed into our tramping boots, and headed off to the Visitors Centre.  After viewing all the various tramps, we decided to do the Round Lake Dove Track.  A 6km track that circumnavigates the beautiful LAKE DOVE at the end of the CRADLE MOUNTAIN road.

Because there is very limited parking at the end of the road, the Visitors Centre provides a shuttle bus service to take trampers and tourists the last 6km up to Lake Dove.  This is an excellent service with buses running either up or down every 10 minutes. Just to give you an idea of how popular this place is, the car park at the visitors centre has spaces for about 200 to 300 cars, plus a huge bus parking area, and it was virtually full with not only cars, but also heaps of campervans and caravans.

LAKE DOVE lies at the very foot of CRADLE MOUNTAIN and when you get to the head of the Lake you are looking straight up at the mountain.  We spent a very enjoyable 2hr walk around the lake with beautiful views over the lake itself, and of course of Cradle Mountain. Due to the amount of trampers using the walk, a lot of it is a board walk, which makes walking very easy.

Back at our tent, the temperature was starting to drop and it looked like we were going to be in for a cold night.  We decided to cook tea in the camp kitchen where it was nice and warm, and after tea, spent an enjoyable evening in front of one of the roaring fires, playing cards.

We had several Pademelons hopping around in the scrub beside our tent, and a couple were even brave enough to come right up to us looking for handouts.  Pademelons are a species of wallaby very similar to the ones who had visited us at Freycinet National Park. 

At about midnight we were woken up by a possum inside our tent vestibule, trying his best to get into our bread bin.  Even a clout over the ear didn’t deter him, and finally I had to whack him with our chopping board before he decided to bugger off.  We had just about drifted off to sleep when we heard him back trying again.  There was only one thing to do, get up and put all our stuff in the car.

Monday morning was a bit overcast, and after a morning’s school work in the camp kitchen, we caught the shuttle bus back up the road.  This time we got off about three quarters of the way up, and did another walk following a river back towards the visitor centre.  This walk was another one of about 6 km, and this one was a boardwalk all the way.  We had been told to expect to see Wombats on the way, and if we were lucky, maybe Echidnas and possibly even a Tasmanian Devil.  Unfortunately we didn’t see a thing, but enjoyed our walk anyway.

After tea we took the torches and went spotlighting for wildlife around the camp ground and visitors centre.  This time we were luckier.  At the end of the visitor centre carpark we came across several Pademelons, and a Wombat quietly feeding on the grass.  We were able to get up to about 3 meters from the Wombat before he became a bit concerned and shambled off into the scrub.  Back in the camp ground we came across a possum sitting on a stump.  Again we were able to get right up close before he quietly moved off.  So different from New Zealand Wildlife which takes off as soon as it sees you.

Tuesday morning we woke up to a very heavy overcast sky and packed up straight away to beat the rain which looked like it would start any minute.  We were heading off to BURNIE and then hopefully a look around the North West Coastal area.

The road to Cradle Mountain

It had always been our intention to visit ARTHUR RIVER on the extreme North West coast, before travelling across to SMITHTON and STANLEY on the north western corner of Tasmania, then travel along the coast to BURNIE, before dropping down to CRADLE MOUNTAIN, and then returning to DEVONPORT, thus completing our tour of Tassie. 

In the course of this trip we had hoped to call in and see Tasha and Shane, friends of Kerri and Bruce, who live on a remote farm at a place called TOGARI, on the road between ARTHUR RIVER and SMITHTON.  Unfortunately, due to losing a couple of days snow bound at LAKE ST CLAIR,  we had to cancel this part of our trip, and instead head directly from STRAHAN across to BURNIE on the northern coast midway between DEVONPORT  and STANLEY, calling in at CRADLE MOUNTAIN on the way.

Sunday morning we headed north, intending to go as far as CRADLE MOUNTAIN, at the northern end of the huge Cradle Mountain/ Lake St Clair National Park. The park is world renowned for its famous cross country track from CRADLE MOUNTAIN to LAKE ST CLAIR.  A bit like the Milford Track.

About 30 km north of STRAHAN is the small mining town of ZEEHAN.  We had been told to make sure we checked out the mining museum there.  Unfortunately the mines have all long closed down, and today ZEEHAN looks a bit like Ohura on a good day.  However the museum was well worth the visit, and we spent an interesting 1½ hours there. 

They had a huge collection of hundreds of mineral bearing rocks of all shapes and sizes, including opals, crystals, gems, amethyst, gold, silver, copper, zinc, and hundreds of other types of minerals we had never even heard of like crocroite, and  andalusite. Some of them dated at over 500 million years old.  Mind boggling stuff. Cameron was especially fascinated with the peculiar spiky, colourful formations of the crocroite, and took heaps of photos.  Maybe he will become a lapidarist.  They also had displays of mining paraphernalia, and a simulated mine shaft which you could walk through.  

From ZEEHAN we headed north again to ROSEBERY, another mining town, and another glorified Ohura.  Unlike ZEEHAN, ROSEBERY does have an active working mine which overlooks the town. We had lunch in the one cafeteria, and enjoyed the entertainment put on by the locals.  Australian mainlanders have a saying that Tasmanian’s have two heads, and after watching the performances of some of the locals at ROSEBERY, including the running waitress, we understood why.  Must be a lot of interbreeding I think, look what happened to Cameron.

Glad to escape, we headed north again and then east to CRADLE MOUNTAIN.  The weather was beautiful and we were anxious to make the most of it, as CRADLE MOUNTAIN is notorious for its bad weather. We arrived there at about 2:00pm, and were lucky enough to find an unoccupied tent site.  After setting up camp we were ready to explore the park.  More in the next episode.

Strahan

Shit LAKE ST CLAIR is a cold hole.  Snowing and 2 degrees when we arrived on Tuesday afternoon, and still snowing and 2 degrees when we left on Friday morning.  Luckily we were snug and dry in our accommodation.  We hung around hoping the weather would improve so we could enjoy the sights, but it was not to be.  Needless to say poor old Cameron got to do plenty of school work.

Friday morning we decided we couldn’t hang around any longer and headed off towards QUEENSTOWN and STRAHAN out on the West Coast. We hoped to spend one or two nights at STRAHAN and if possible catch one of their harbour cruises.  We were a bit late getting away from ST CLAIR because just as we started to pack the car it started snowing again, so we had to wait it out.

The road from ST CLAIR to QUEENSTOWN took us through some of the best wilderness areas Tasmania has to offer.  Other travellers had told us to make sure we stopped off at a couple of lookouts, and also not to miss a waterfall known as NELSON FALLS.  Unfortunately, due to the shitty weather, visiting lookouts was out of the question, but by the time we got to NELSON FALLS it had cleared up enough for us to take the walk in to view them.

It was well worth it.  For once the wet weather had worked on our favour and the falls were absolutely roaring.  An awesome sight, but the wet draught caused by the falls meant it was freezing cold standing at the viewing platform, so we didn’t stay long.  It was a beautiful drive through the wilderness parks, though very slow and windy. (That’s windy, not windy as in wind, forget it).  I meant a road with lots of bends, not a road with lots of wind.

We eventually came out on a hill overlooking QUEENSTOWN, an old mining town.  The hills for miles around have been stripped in the search for copper, tin and gold.  It looked like a moon landscape.  There is only one mine still operating, and the town was looking very rundown and derelict.  After a quick lunch including the best sausage rolls in Tasmania, we drove on to STRAHAN.

STRAHAN is a small seaside town near the mouth of the huge MACQUARIE HARBOUR, which clearly shows up on most maps of Tasmania about half way up the west coast. In Australia it is second only in size to PORT PHILLIP BAY which is the harbour MELBOURNE is located on. 

We arrived in STRAHAN at about 2.00 and immediately had trouble finding accommodation.  We eventually ended up with a cabin at the Youth Hostel.  STRAHAN is an extremely popular tourist destination due to its reputation for its Harbour Cruises.  After setting up our stuff in our cabin, (still too cold for the tent), we headed into town to book a harbour cruise for Saturday.  We were lucky.  No seats left in cattle class, so we had to bite the bullet and pay extra for upper class seats, and there were only about a dozen of them left.

Saturday morning we woke up to a beautiful sunny day without a breath of wind, and when we got to harbour it was as flat as glass.  Everyone was commenting on the beautiful day.  We found out later it was the first fine day in a fortnight, and the boat crew couldn’t believe how lucky we were to strike such a brilliant day.  The captain made Cameron’s day by inviting him to sit in the co-pilots seat, and wear the Captain’s Hat.  His first words were, “Jack and Alex are going to be so jealous of me”.

The cruise was absolutely brilliant.  First we went out to the harbour mouth, and through the very narrow entrance, called Hell's Gate for obvious reasons.  It is only about 75m wide, and bearing in mind the size of the harbour, this is a very narrow gap for the tide to rip through.  You can imagine the fun the old sailing ships would have had trying to get through it.  This was the first time in over a month that the Cruise Operators had actually been able to take the cruise boat through the gap.  Making the most of the ideal conditions, they took us out to the eastern tip of the harbour, to the light house at CAPE SORELL.  Not normally part of the cruise.

Then it was back up the harbour with a stopover at SARAH ISLAND, which back in the 1800’s was another penal colony.  After a tour of the island, we continued on up the harbour to its upper most point where the GORDON RIVER enters.

On the way we called in to see some Salmon farms, where hundreds of thousands of Sea Salmon are farmed in huge floating net enclosures along the sheltered side of the harbour.  The salmon are first introduced to the farm, basically as soon as they are hatched, and then as they grow are moved from net to net until they reach the age of about 18 months.  At this stage they are about 40cm long, and are harvested for the consumer market. They are sold locally and internationally, and we had the pleasure of sampling some with our on-board lunch.

On reaching the head of the harbour we entered the GORDON RIVER and travelled up it for about 2km.  The GORDON RIVER drains a large part of the wilderness area we had driven through the previous day.  Beautiful native bush coming right down to the water’s edge.  This area was heavily milled for its Huon Pine back in the 1800s, and STRAHAN township actually developed as a port for the export of the timber, all of which had to be shipped out through that nasty little gap at the harbours entrance.  Luckily milling was halted some time ago and the area has regenerated well. After a walk through the bush we returned back to STRAHAN, the entire cruise taking about 5 ½ hours. 

On our return to STRAHAN we were dropped off at the only sawmill still operating in the area.   An unusual feature of the mill was its main breakdown saw, which was a vertically mounted blade, instead of a circular saw which is the common one used in N.Z.  Oddly enough the only timber milled these days is windfall and other dead trees washed down the river, or found as a result of slips or other natural phenomena. 

Some of the stuff they are milling has been lying around in the bush, or in the river, for well over a hundred years, and it is as good as the day it fell.  This explains the extraordinary prices they are presently getting for the Huon Pine timber, which is prized by boat builders, cabinet makers and the furniture trade in general.  They had scrap bins of what we would call pieces of firewood, selling for $10 apiece.

After a cuppa, we headed north along the coast to HENTY Sand Dunes, which is self explanatory.  Huge sand dunes gradually encroaching on the land.  We spent a couple of hours climbing, jumping and exploring the dunes.  Sand dunes can bring out the child in you!!!  Then it was back to our cabin after one of the best days yet of our Tassie Tour.