Adelaide and the Fleurieu Peninsula

18th April 2011
Once the schoolwork was out of the way it was time to dip a line in Lake Albert. Nothing was biting so we hit the road, crossing the mighty Murray River by car ferry at Wellington. We arrived at our free camp site mid-afternoon and moseyed down to Langhorne Creek past the vineyards for an ice-cream.

19th April 2011
Seeking advice about Frankie's gear box in Adelaide I was pleasantly surprised that he didn't need any work. The rest of the day was just killing time before I lobbed onto my friend Jenny Eickhoff's driveway. The best friendships are the ones when even though you haven't seen each other in eight years you pick up where you left off as though you met only last week. We had a lovely evening catching up.

20th April 2011
Today we drove to Glenelg and had a look around. Jay was keen for some school holiday fun at The Beachhouse. We opted for the bumper boats and waterslides as the day had warmed up. I've always loved waterslides so was really annoyed when after braving the raft slide which is in a dark enclosed tunnel twisting and turning it's way to the bottom I got quite nauseous. I still don't know how I got all the way to Tassie without getting sick when I get travel sick on a water slide. Jay had to use up the rest of our rides on his own as I attempted to recuperate. I was glad to head back home for a peppermint tea to settle the stomach.

21st April 2011
It was back to Glenelg today to catch the tram into the city. The plan was to walk up to the Torrens River but the weather changed suddenly and bucketed down. Instead we ducked into the South Australian Museum and spent an interesting couple of hours exploring the exhibits. I think the highlight of the day for Jayden was a visit to the Exceloo.





We've seen a few of these fully automated toileting experiences now. I find them a bit disconcerting but Jay loves them and ensures he pays each one a visit. The return tram trip was rather unpleasant as city commuters crammed in. The driver must have dozed off at one point and almost overshot a station only to brake harshly knocking several standing passengers off their feet. I ended up with an elderly gentleman with his grandson on his lap on my lap resulting in a sore and swollen kneecap. Not impressed!

22nd April 2011
Being Good Friday we went to Jenny's church where we were warmly welcomed. Due to a communication breakdown Jenny wasn't aware I was coming and had booked tickets to Melbourne to see her Dad so she wasn't around to join us. A visiting group performed a couple of dramas which were interesting. I am missing my church family a lot and enjoyed listening to one of Dave's sermons whilst cooking dinner tonight. I took the opportunity to give Frankie a very thorough clean during the day and to re-arrange a few things to fit in a bit better. Jay was content to play with Sparkie the dog and Diesel the cat, as well as giving Cameron an excuse to play Lego. I was treated to another brilliant sunset this evening.





23rd April 2011
Being Easter weekend the call had gone out to give blood so I headed down to Noarlunga this afternoon to answer the call. After my blood letting Jay hit another adventure park while I lazed in the warm sunshine. Returning by the scenic route we ended up back at Hallett Cove in time for dinner in a cafe overlooking the ocean adjoining Hallett Cove Conservation area. This is a world renowned site due to the glaciated rocks and erratics (boulders that don't match the surrounding rock type) that were carried here by the glacier movement. As the sun dipped into the ocean the sky lit up in a blaze of colour.





Although it was dark as we completed our circuit along the beach there is always something new and interesting to be found. Jay was tossing the smooth wave tumbled rocks about when he noticed sparks flying as some of them struck. Of course this led to a lot of rock tossing and bashing to explore the firelighting characteristics of the rocks on the beach. Natural learning happens when you least expect it!

24th April 2011
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
On the advice of a friend via Facebook, this morning saw us joining with the Holdfast Bay Trinity Anglican church for their Easter Sunday service. A church plant from Trinity Adelaide with a Moore College trained minister, the congregation were very welcoming and dynamic. It was great to be in a church with a balanced service where God's word was read and taught well. Jay enjoyed the format of the service which saw him in with me for some singing, then out for some Veggie Tales and kids activities during the sermon, then back in with the whole church family to share in communion.
Onto Victor Harbour we journeyed (along with, it seemed, half of Adelaide). We arrived just as a flyover of bi-planes buzzed overhead. Horse-drawn tram was our unique mode of transport to Granite Island.





Built in the 1800's to transport goods to and from the sailing ships which docked in the deeper waters around Granite Island the tram line reaches the island over a long pier. Once there we took the walking track to explore the island. Massive weathered granite boulders very similar in appearance to those around the Bay of Fires in Tasmania stand sentinel around the island looking out to the Southern Ocean.





Back at the breakwater we enjoyed a late lunch come early dinner of fish and chips as we watched the dolphins playing in the sheltered harbour, delighting us with somersaults and other antics. All too soon it was time to catch the clydesdale powered tram back to shore. Back in Victor Harbour the camels were finishing up for the day, the horses were being unhitched and the handsome double decker timber trams moved into their sheds for the night.





Reluctantly we left this lovely little seaside town and returned to Hallett Cove for our last night in Adelaide.
- Posted using BlogPress from Julie and Jayden's iP

The Limestone Coast

10th April 2011
Not a good start to the South Australian leg of our journey. Today was wet, cold, wet, windy and very wet. We went to church at an AoG church called Liberty church. I'm always concerned when I go to a church and in the almost 2 hour service they didn't once open the Bible either to read it or teach from it. Jay had great fun in Kids church but they spent the whole time playing games and there was no teaching there either. We had a look at a sinkhole which has been developed into a garden, then onto Maccas where we could spend the afternoon in the warmth. Jay played in the playground while I continued to bring my photo labelling up to date. Perched on the rim of a volcanic crater at Mt Schank is tonights free camp location.

11th April 2011
Even life on the road has it's share of tedious tasks to attend to. This morning was spent driving around Mount Gambier looking for someone who could do Frankie's 5000km service. Seeing as they can't fit us in until later in the week we've taken a side trip to Naracoorte to see the world heritage listed fossil caves. We drove through many vineyards to get here. Harvesters were active in many of them trying to collect the grapes before the latest rains damage them on the vines. For those wine connoisseurs amongst you it won't be a great year for Cabernet Sauvignon from this region but the sweet late harvest wines should be good. Ducking into Naracoorte we visited the Information Centre and their museum " The Sheep's Back", which looked at the importance of the wool industry and farming life in South Australia.
Tonights campsite is in the Naracoorte Caves National Park campground.

12th April 2011
Exploring the caves at Naracoorte we started with Fossil Cave. This is the main reason the area has a joint World Heritage listing with Riversleigh in Queensland. The area sits on a huge limestone slab extending hundreds of kilometres inland and up to 300m thick near the coast. Occasionally a hole forms into the caves from the surface into which animals fall. These animals may die on impact or get trapped and die of stress or ultimately starvation. As more and more material falls into the hole it creates a cone. Rain will move material at the top of the cone downhill, natural collapse will also transfer material to the bottom of the cone. Consequently there is a muddle of fossils in the caves which is representative of what was roaming around on the surface over an extended period of time. With everything from Australia's megafauna to evidence of Tasmanian tigers and devils on the mainland to current species the finds are a muddle for the paleontologists. Interestingly a fossil is defined as evidence of life, a leaf imprint, footprint, shell or bone that is over 10 000 years old. Not all fossils are fossilised i.e. mineralised. With humidity in the caves at about 96% and most of the bones just fossils in dirt, not fossilised, I struggle to see how they could have survived the supposed 25 - 50 million years.
Fortuitously we were at the counter when a mother and daughter came in to investigate adventure caving.


Having previously put our name down but awaiting another two people to make up a group of four we were able to talk them into joining us. We spent two hours exploring stick and tomato caves in our overalls and caving helmets. Jay was especially good at all the little squeezes and was in his element. Being my first real caving experience as well, I attempted all of the squeezes on offer to test my mettle for future caving with Venturers.


I was pleasantly surprised at how well I coped in some quite tight spots and am looking forward to giving it a go when I get back to Scouting.
After dinner we headed up to Bat Cave to watch the exodus of 15 000 southern bent-wing bats from their daytime refuge to feed on the insects in a 100 kilometre diameter. This is one of only two sites in the world where this bat lives, the other being at Warnambool.

13th April 2011
Back to the Bat Cave this morning for a look at them through the infra-red cameras. It was especially interesting seeing the footage of the baby bats in nurseries clinging to the roof. How mum ever recognizes her baby again is amazing.
The final cave and by far the best was Alexandria. The formations in this cave are so delicate and beautiful. The stand-out favourite for me was the reflected fairy castle.


Then it was back to Mt. Schank outside Mt. Gambier for the night.

14th April 2011
Happy birthday Lindsay!
Frankie was booked in for his 5000km service today. Jay and I took off on our bikes to explore Cave Garden and Engelbrecht Cave. After Naracoorte they weren't very impressive, however they had their own points of interest in relation to the history of Mt. Gambier. After picking up Frankie it was down to Port MacDonnell. Jay met up with a couple of boys who were collecting shrimps in a net under the pier. They happily let him join in. These are the sort of experiences I want most for Jay. Just to get in with the local kids and do the things they do. Chatting about the different types of fish around the pier, the types of bait to use, where the best fishing spots were. He was enjoying himself so much that I decided to stop the night in the boat ramp carpark and let him have more time with the kids. During the evening he also got to see the resident dolphin and a huge manta-ray as I enjoyed an amazing sunset over the bay.

15th April 2011
Our quiet empty carpark turned into a main thoroughfare sometime in the early hours of the morning and we awoke to a carpark full of utes, 4WDs and boat trailers as well as an awesome sunrise. Jay couldn't resist throwing in a line at the pier this morning to try and catch some of the fish we could see swimming around.


Finally success, he hauled in a couple of small bream and was sooooo excited. Unfortunately (or not from my perspective) the fish were too small and we had to toss them back into the drink.
Blue Lake, a crater which exposes the water table, provides Mt. Gambier with it's drinking water. The water looks like a Harpic blue loo. After seeping through the limestone it is naturally filtered and has a solution of calcium carbonate which is believed to be the reason for the brilliant blue colour. We toured the pump house which took us down to the waters edge.


A play in the playground at Millicent and then onto Beachport where we again have stopped in the boat ramp carpark. With the wind whistling around us we settled in for the night.

16th April 2011
Only a short hop, skip and a jump down the road to Robe was as far as we got today. After restocking the pantry we conducted our own bike tour around the area. We soon discovered that indeed Robe isn't famous for Robes but has some beautiful coastline with the Southern Ocean on one side and Guichen Bay, over which the caravan park we stayed in looks, along the other. The bay was first sited by French explored Nicholas Baudin in 1802 not long before crossing paths with Matthew Flinders on his voyage to survey the southern coastline. Jay tried his hand at fishing again this afternoon off the pier but the wind was blustering up from the Southern Ocean and it was just too cold and unpleasant to hang around.

17th April 2011
After attending the Uniting church service in Robe in which the visitors outnumbered the regular congregation by about 3-1, we moved up the coast a bit for lunch overlooking Lacepede Bay. With the Coorong National Park on our left and dry flat pasture land to our right we continued on to Meningie. The Coorong is a 150km stretch of wetland which is protected by a line of sand dunes from the Southern Ocean. It is an oasis for a huge variety of water birds. We set up camp at the Lions Club park overlooking Lake Albert. Adjoining Lake Alexandrina, the two lakes are the point where the Murray River drains into the ocean. We were treated to another brilliant sunset this evening, our last on the Limestone Coast.


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The Great Ocean Road and Shipwreck Coast

29th March 2011
A short drive this morning saw us in Anglesea. Jay was keen to try a pedal boat so we hit the river for some vigorous exercise. Exploring this coastal village filled the afternoon. Always on the lookout for good parks we ended up at a beauty which remembered the shipwrecked Inverlochy. Pirates abounded as we used the park as a stage for Jayden's imaginative play. With no designated free camps along the Great Ocean Road we searched around for a place without a "no sleeping in vehicles sign" and ended up in a carpark by the river.





30th March 2011
Another brief drive and we came upon Airley's Inlet lighthouse. We took what turned out to be a private tour of the lighthouse which may be familiar to any "Round the Twist" fans. The tour guide was very interesting and over 45 minutes we wound our way up the tallest lighthouse on the mainland for a splendid view over Eagle Rock.






Most interesting was a topographical map of the Southern Ocean showing Antarctica, Tasmania and southern Victoria. With different colours representing the different depths it was easy to see the deep basin between Tasmania and Antartica where the whales go to feed and then the relatively shallow sheltered shelf joining Tasmania with the mainland where the whales come to give birth between May and November.
Further down the road we went under the Great Ocean Road memorial arch.





This is the third they have constructed because the first had to be removed when the road was widened and the second burnt down in the Ash Wednesday bush fires which devastated this part of Victoria. Heading inland into the Otway National Park took us to Erskine Falls. Set amongst towering Mountain Ash and dense rainforest with heady lemon scents this lovely waterfall splashes down over the mossy sandstone drop to wind it's way out to the ocean.





I was a bit frustrated by the lack of free camp locations when so many places would have been ideal. One in particular with toilets and BBQ's didn't allow me to sleep overnight in Frankie but I could park him there for the night and walk 500m into the bush to camp in a postage stamp sized campsite. I can appreciate that in peak times they wouldn't want caravans and campers clogging up the area and staying for days on end but why they can't allow overnight stays with restrictions like many of the Tassie sites had such as limiting stays to 24 hours or only allowing camping between 5pm and 9am I don't know. So we left a perfectly lovely campsite and headed down to Lorne where we booked into the caravan park for the night. With a bit of time to spare we went exploring the foreshore on our bikes. Lorne's playground resembles a wharf and again lent itself to some great imaginative play. Complete with a dozen trampolines sunk into the ground, a skate park and swimming pool the park area would be very popular in the summer holidays with families.





31st March 2011
Needing to release some energy after sitting at his schoolwork for a couple of hours Jay and I headed back to the park next morning. I was finally able to find a book I've been searching for since before we left home. "The Long Road" by Kerry Greenwood is about four children during the depression years who after their Mum contracts tuberculosis set off to find their father who is working on the Great Ocean Road after returning from the Great War. It has been wonderful reading about the places and history as we travel through the area and I would highly recommend it to anyone teaching their children about Australia's history through literature. Kerry Greenwood has also written another book called "Journey to Eureka" which we read before leaving home about the Eureka stockade.
At the southern end of Lorne Harbour is a long pier jutting into the ocean. Jay decided to try his hand at fishing off the jetty. It looked ideal, just had to allow the line to drop down into the water below the pier and wait for the fish to jump on. In the usual McEwan manner as soon as our hook hit the water the fish fled. Even the other fisherman on the platform who had been doing reasonably well until we arrived didn't pull in another thing and after about an hour or so we all gave up and headed for lunch. The section of the GOR we drove today was breathtaking in it's beauty.





It is what has earned the road the honour of being considered by many one of the top ten best drives in the world. We stopped regularly just to take in the view. Usually I don't mind Jayden playing screen games as we drive but for this stretch of road games were banned and he was ordered to look out the window and take in the scenery. Pulling into Kennet Creek around 3 o'clock I elected to stop for the night in a little family run caravan park knowing my chances of finding a legal free camp site along this stretch of road was unlikely. The office sported some wonderful photos of koalas and on enquiring we were given the likely location to find some both within the park and on the adjoining road. Since my expectations of actually seeing one were low we were therefore delighted to find numerous koalas snoozing in the gum trees. As we returned from our walk we saw a few King parrots and quietly snuck towards them to get a good photo knowing how shy and reclusive they usually are. Imagine our shock then when dozens suddenly flew out of the trees and swarmed around us landing on our arms and head.





Briefly we were amused by their antics and attempted to take a few photos until more arrived and we couldn't shake or push them off as they chewed our hair, clothes and my wedding ring. We dove for the relative protection of the base of the trees and were relieved when another group of people wandered down the road and the parrots realising we weren't going to feed them gave up and accosted them instead. It was like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie and reminded us why it's not a good idea for the tourists to feed the wildlife as they become dependent on people and can get very aggressive, even a normally placid species like the King Parrots. With an abundance of other small birds, the koalas and the added bonus of free unlimited Wi-Fi I would readily return to Kennet Creek for a few days stay.

1st April 2011
With schoolwork out of the way for the morning we decided to try our luck fishing in Kennet Creek. We could see schools of moderately sized fish swimming around. I suspected they might be bream so we added floats to our lines smooshed some stale bread onto the hook and cast in. We had a bit of fun feeding the fish and watching the water bubble and churn around our hooks as the fish delicately removed the bread from out hooks with nary a scratch. Somewhat relieved, as I actually thought our chances of catching something were pretty good this time, we lived up to the McEwan fishing reputation and came away empty handed. I don't know what I'll do if we ever catch something as I wouldn't know where to start scaling and gutting a fish. A little further along the road we stopped and wandered up to Carisbrook Falls. Here the water tumbles down a steep upended rock strata to the valley below.
Making Apollo Bay in time for lunch we stopped at the foreshore playground. After filling our tummies we visited the local shell museum which is a private collection from around the world. With time to kill we took the tourist drive into the Barham River area. This serendipitous drive through a combination of farmland and towering trees is one of the prettiest little valleys I've seen. Culminating in the Otways National Park after diminishing to little more than a single lane dirt road we found ourselves in the carpark for Marriners Falls. Having already sussed out a suitable campsite back along the road a bit I knew we had time to make the walk to the falls. Despite the obvious litter of fallen trees from, I suspect, the recent floods, the walk and moss covered falls were enchanting.





Returning to Paradise picnic area we set camp for the night amid the forest giants.

2nd April 2011
Being Saturday Jay was off the hook with his schoolwork so we headed back to Apollo Bay for the grocery shopping and the local market day. The stores don't have a fraction of the variety of stock we are spoilt with in Sydney but I've been able to get most things I need. The exception has been my favourite Sleepytime tea. The situation could get nasty when I run out in two days time!
This afternoon we were booked into a shipwreck discovery tour at Cape Otway lighthouse. The road in again was thick with koalas. In fact they are so numerous in this area that many of the trees have been denuded and have subsequently died.





Our tour guide was a retired lighthouse keeper who had worked in many of the lighthouses between Eden and Cape Otway during his working life. He and his wife had raised three boys in some very remote locations where the only way in and out was by ocean. The boys had all been home schooled using the distance education system. He had some great stories to tell about some of the 800 odd shipwrecks to have occured along the Victorian coast. Most were the result of poor navigation. After sailing for 3 months almost as far south as the Antarctic pack ice to catch the roaring 50's towards Australia the first land sighting was Cape Otway where the ships had to pass through "the eye of the needle" a 60 nautical mile wide stretch of Bass Strait between King Island and the rugged and trechourous Victorian coastline. Using only the ships chronometer and a sextant, an error of only one degree could put you 48kms off course and lead to disaster. Navigation was dependent on observing the angle between the sun and the horizon and the time difference from Greenwich Mean Time at midday to assert the longitude and lattitudal position of the vessel. Darkness, cloud cover or mist or for a few days could potentially result in disaster as the ships approached Australia. Add to this the clock's accuracy after three months tossing around on the high seas through equatorial heat and Antarctic cold. If it lost only a second a day it would be enough to send you on a collision course with the colossal rock formations of the Bay of Isles.





Dating back to 1848 the lighthouse at Cape Otway was the first to be built on the Australian mainland and was vital to the safe passage of ships heading for Port Melbourne. In one case a ship on seeing the lighthouse, and based on the ships navigated position, believed they were seeing the lighthouse on King Island and set a northerly course. Too late they discovered their mistake as they crashed into the cliffs along this dangerous stretch of coastline. Surprisingly despite the number of wrecks many avoided tragedy and were able to get crew and passengers safely ashore.
Our campsite tonight was Melba Gully where we bravely headed into the forest after dark to hunt for glow worms. We were rewarded with several gullies filled with the pinpoints of blue-green light looking like tiny constellations on the mossy rock walls.

3rd April 2011
Discovering new, to us at least, wildlife has been one of the highlights of travelling. Venturing back into the forest in daylight to see "Big Tree" we were somewhat disappointed to find that this 300 year old tree had only recently toppled over. Adding an Australian Ground thrush and Black Carnivorous snail to our list today assuaged our disappointment. With only 16 kms to travel today the plan was to get away early with the advantage that our body clocks hadn't adjusted to the end of daylight saving time and try and find a church in Port Campbell. What I hadn't realised was that the Twelve Apostles lay between us and our destination.





Spending most of the day exploring these amazing features as the Southern Ocean pounds into the limestone and sandstone cliffs meant we didn't get into town until about 3pm. Sadly the only church, a Baptist congregation, didn't have any evening services so we listened to some Chris Tomlin on the iPad and one of Pete's sermon from Norwest Anglican via the free Wi-Fi at the Port Campbell caravan park.
I found the story of the Loch Ard most interesting. After crashing into the cliffs and breaking up only two survivors made it into the safety of what is now Loch Ard Gorge, a narrow bay protected from the worst of the oceans fury by the horseshoe formation of the cliffs. A petite 5'5" 18 year old seaman, Tom Pearce made it to the beach from where he heard the cries of 18 year old Irish girl Eva. It took him more than an hour to get the 5'9" 12 stone girl dressed only in her nightgown into a cave. The next morning he scaled the cliffs and sought help from some farmers. Arriving back at the gorge the men described the beach as being 8 feet high all along with all manner of debris from the ship including a piano.





Only four other bodies were ever recovered, the captain and a crew member and two of Eva's family with life belts on floated into the gorge. Sadly Eva lost seven members of her family in the tragedy. Unknowingly they had passed her only remaining brother, who was estranged from the family, on the sea passage as he sailed home for Ireland. Being a gentleman and having inadvertently spent the night alone with a young lady in only her nightdress young Tom Pearce made a proposal of marriage which was declined.

4th April 2011
Today after stopping into The Arch, London Bridge and The Grotto we bid The Great Ocean Road farewell. We continued along the Shipwreck Coast.





The plan was to head to Portland for the night. Fortunately I'd picked up a brochure about Flagstaff Hill and as we passed the signs we decided to go into Warnambool and check it out. Once we were sure we could free camp in the area we opted to stay for the sound and light show after briefly looking around the recreation of a 19th century maritime village. I'm so glad we did. It looked at the shipwreck of the Loch Ard and brought it to life. By lamplight we strolled through the village as the tale began. Set with the village as a backdrop, fog and a water fountain in the lake became a screen for the video and laser show. The seats moved to simulate the feel of the rolling boat and rain poured down as the story of the ill-fated ship was retold. It really gave me a heightened awareness of the great courage and boldness of many of the 4th generation Australians ancestors most of whom would have made similar sea voyages to make their new life in Australia. I know my own ancestors came to Australia in the mid 1800's but I had never really appreciated just what this involved previously.
After the show we enjoyed a dessert of sticky date pudding and headed back to our free camp site at Bluehole overlooking the lagoon towards the ocean.

5th April 2011
One of the drawbacks of being in a different location each morning is that there's always something new and interesting to look at outside the schoolroom window. Some days, today was one of them, it seems to take Jayden forever to complete his work before we can continue on. It was back to Flagstaff Hill today to see the third survivor of the Loch Ard shipwreck, a metre high china peacock destined for the 1880 World Expo in Melbourne. She was salvaged by a local and never made the exhibition. In 1974 the family who had held her for so long decided to auction her off. The Warnambol historical society, local businesses and council got together and raised the $4000 to secure her. She was bundled into the back of a Ford station wagon on a mattress for the drive to her new residence at Flagstaff Hill. She is now worth a cool 4 million dollars! A few interesting facts about young Tom Pearce of whom I spoke before. The Loch Ard was the second shipwreck he had survived and he went on to survive two more, rising to the rank of captain. He eventually died at the relatively young age of 49 of heart failure. His two sons however weren't so lucky and both died at sea in shipwrecks.





Jayden enjoyed completing the Sea chest challenge around the village and getting his passport stamped at each location. I would highly recommend Flagstaff Hill to anyone traveling down this way. Tonight was again spent at Blue Hole.

6th April 2011
Once the schoolwork was completed this morning and I got a much needed haircut we grabbed some rolls from the bread shop and headed to the Warnambool Adventure Park. This is easily the best playground we've ever been to, and we've been to lots. Set alongside a lake there were flying foxes, a maze and two great playgrounds with an old style merry-go-round like there used to be in parks when I was a kid, a tyre merry-go-round and a few great slides.





We spent a good 4 hours playing and it was still hard to pull Jayden away at the end. Again plans can change at the drop of a hat when you're traveling. I was aiming for a campsite out of Portland but as we came into Port Fairy I saw a sign to Mt Eccles which WOK had recommended. I reset my compass for North and headed inland. It was getting late when we arrived at the Lake Surprise camping ground. Frankie had sprung a leak, fortunately just the hot water hose again, which I repaired with some difficulty. I just don't have the strength to tighten things enough. During a hunt around for firewood we found a koala up a tree. After dinner and some roasted marshmallows we had brush-tailed possums looking around for scraps.

7th April 2011
Today we set off for the hike around the Lava Canal. Mt Eccles is said to be the most recent area of volcanic activity in Australia. The first stop was into a cave created by the lava flow. It was quite spooky walking into it until a mob of noisy school children came in behind us. We freaked them out pretty good by suddenly appearing at the dark end of the cave and shiny our torches at them. The track followed the lava canals. You could see where the volcanic rock was built up on both sides of the path as the lava slowly channeled it's way towards the ocean. Passing the Natural Bridge we climbed Mt Eccles which formed as lava pellets spewed into the sky.






Finally the track passed Lake Surprise and we headed back to camp quite relieved that we hadn't seen any snakes as I'm sure it would have been a prime spot for them. We spent a relaxing afternoon playing Bey Blade and catching up on photos. We'd collected some firewood for Jay and this time he got the fire going all by himself with only two matches. The trouble was he was so excited about getting it blazing that he kept feeding it wood until the whole stack was gone. It was short lived but did produce some good coals for the perfect marshmallow roast. With noisy grunts and a lot of hullabaloo a big male koala strutted through our campsite as we sat by the fire. Being highly flammable due to the concentrated eucalyptus oils that collect on their heads where their tiny arms can't reach to clean, we were relieved that he didn't come too close to the fire.

8th April 2011
Finally making it into Portland our first stop was the visitors centre and maritime museum. A school group was coming in at the same time so we requested to tag along and were enthusiastically welcomed. We learned a lot about the area which was the earliest Victorian settlement. We were also surprised to learn that whilst the Southern Right Whales aren't due up from the Antarctic waters until next month the Blue Whales that spend the summer here had been sighted the previous day. Needless to say our next destination was to find a good place to whale spot. On the way to Cape Nelson Lighthouse we took in the Enchanted Forest. Taking our lunch onto the headland we settled in and stared at the sea. A gentleman next to us with a good pair of binoculars claimed he could see them spouting off in the distance where a flock of gannets were feeding. With the naked eye we could pick out the flock but didn't see any whales. As we strained we were able to see seals playing about the rocks below us and a pod of dolphins passed by. Next it was out to Cape Bridgewater. Unusually the sea was dead calm making our visit to the Blowhole a fizzer. The petrified forest was interesting although the interpretive signs weren't real clear about how it had formed.





A pleasant stride along the Great South West Walk sea cliffs, one of which is the highest sea cliff in Victoria at 130m, brought us to the seal colony. Although far below us it was fun watching them playing in the water, catching waves, jumping and somersaulting about. It had taken us much longer to walk to the colony than we'd expected and not looking forward to a 2 hour return trip Jay encouraged me to scab a lift back with a lovely Czech couple now living in Sydney with whom we'd shared our Bushman's insect repellant. They graciously agreed and so we were able to complete the walk to Shelley Beach and get driven back to Frankie. Tonight we are camped at the Blow Hole in the shadow of several giant wind farm turbines where we watched a lovely sunset over the sea and a trillion stars in a clear lightless sky dipping into the Southern Ocean. I love being able to lay in my bed and gaze at the stars just outside my window.

9th April 2011
We awoke to an amazing sunrise this morning overlooking the wind farm. It was finally time to bid The Great Ocean Road and The Shipwreck Coast farewell. We're bound for South Australia.





- Posted using BlogPress from Julie and Jayden's iPad

The Goldfields

21st March 2011
After a night at a noisy highway truck-stop today was again rather uninteresting as we drove towards Echuca and got some necessities out of the way like visiting an auto electrician and getting on top of the laundry. We couldn't find the campsite I was looking for but stopped in a pleasant picnic area instead.

22nd March 2011
Arriving at the port of Echuca was like stepping back in time. The wharf precinct is predominantly the same as it was 150 years ago. Placidly sitting at the wharf in the steadily flowing current of the Murray, the P.S. Pevensey awaited it's morning passengers.



The river was up a couple of meters up on it's usual flow for this time of the year after all the flooding rain Victoria has had in recent months. Even with the extra water it gently meanders through the red gum countryside as it moves inextricably towards Swan Hill, Mildura and eventually drains into the Southern Ocean via Lake Alexandrina south east of Adelaide. Echuca which means meeting of the waters, the Murray and Campaspe rivers, in the local Koori language, was an important crossroads for moving produce, mainly wool from inland Victoria, NSW and even Queensland sheep stations via the river highways onto the train and down to port Melbourne where it would then make it's way across the world. Due to the abundance of high quality red gum timber which is durable in water, a thriving timber cutting and ship building enterprise also blossomed. Extensive and more reliable road and rail networks eventually led to Echuca's decline as a working port and it fell into disrepair before the local historical society initiated action to prevent further decline. It is currently undergoing extensive restoration work through Federal, State and Local government funding to benefit the growing tourism industry in the area.


After a pleasant hour on the steam paddleboat we joined a walking tour of the port to learn more about the local history. Later in the day we rode our bikes from Victoria to NSW. For want of a suitable campsite I decided to spend the night at the carpark at the end of the port overlooking the paddle steamers and the Murray river. It made for a very pleasant stopover with a park across the road for Jayden to play in.

23rd March 2011
Our bike ride yesterday scored me 2 flat tyres so today was spent on schoolwork, repairs and traveling to Bendigo as the rain came down. We stopped in at Bendigo Pottery before heading back out of town a bit to the Lions Club Park for our overnight stay.

24th March 2011
As I wasn't expecting much of Bendigo today's adventures came as a pleasant surprise. We started at the Central Deborah Gold Mine where we ventured underground 61 metres into a real although now abandoned gold mine. Jay and I were fortunate to receive a private tour as we were the only ones there at the time. Two lovely old gentleman who used to work in the mine when it was operational conducted the tour. Donning out hard hats and battery pack lights we decended into the mine shaft by elevator.



While the tunnels have been widened slightly and made safe for the tourists it was nevertheless damp and dank and had a genuine feel to the experience. Operating the high pressure drill was somewhat daunting for Jayden, however he got a blast out of setting off the simulated mine charges. The mine was abandoned just 4 metres short of a long white gold bearing quartz seam. We were able to see un-mined gold in the seam. Following a brief time panning for gold in which we found a couple of specks of real gold we boarded the tram and headed off for an audio tour of the city centre.


Amazingly, as no one seems to know what the road rules concerning trams are, we didn't get hit and the return trip through the city centre was incident free. Vaughan Springs was our overnight free camp spot. This park has been popular for over 100 years when the locals would gather for picnics. Boasting a natural mineral spring which disappointingly was closed due to contamination from the creek after the Victorian floods, the area has a giant slide, miniature railway, gazebo and fenced 100 yard racing track. Pictures of picnickers from the turn of the century utilizing the facilities gave an interesting insight into the past. Tellingly the denuded landscape in the photographs again shows how little regard the early Australians had for the environment. Being an alluvial gold field every tree had been chopped down as the miners ravaged the timber resources for housing, heating and cooking. With the harsh summer sun beating down on them perhaps they regretted their rash actions as the area was replanted with many European trees to provide shade and beautification.

25th March 2011
Just out of Daylesford are numerous mineral springs much acclaimed for their health and healing properties which we were finally able to sample. If you like the effervescent lightly carbonated taste of rust (iron) and the bouquet of sulphur (rotten egg gas) then you must get to Wombat Creek. BYO bottles and you can enjoy as much of this heady brew as you please.



Sadly Jayden's and my taste buds aren't sophisticated enough and after a few tentative sips we emptied out bottles and headed for the nearest tap.
With no free-camps within cooee of Ballarat by necessity we booked into the Big 4 caravan park. Being conveniently placed within walking distance to Sovereign Hill gave it the edge over other parks in the area. My next challenge with Frankie seems to be the front tyre which was decidedly low. We went and topped up the air pressure and it has looked OK over the weekend, however I think a trip to the tyre experts might be in order. The last thing I want is a flat in the middle of nowhere.

26th March 2011
Journeying back to the 1850's, today was spent exploring Sovereign Hill. Recreated from photos and drawings from the era, the township is a very authentic reproduction of Ballarat about a decade after gold fever struck.
From the diggers panning in the stream to the more organized mining operations which developed as the alluvial gold dried up, the town has captured the essence of the gold rush town. I was glad we'd had the opportunity to explore the mine in Bendigo first as the mines here, although once authentic, have been so touristified that they barely resemble any longer what the actual mines were like. We spent the late afternoon panning once more for that elusive glint of gold.


We did find a few tiny (nuggets is probably a tad generous) slivers of gold to put into our bottle (which probably cost more than the value of the gold within). Home to Frankie for a bite of dinner then it was back up the hill all rugged up in our winter woollies and jackets for the "Blood on the Southern Cross" sound and light show depicting the events leading up to and culminating in the Eureka stockade battle. This was extremely well done and very interesting. Both Jayden and I have a much better understanding of this important moment in Australian history through this experience. It was delightful hearing him recount to a young girl in church the next day what the Eureka Stockade was about. I'm confident that this type of learning will have a greater impact and stay with him longer than it would have had he learned about it in a classroom.

27th March 2011
Joining with a community of believers from the Church of Christ this morning was wonderful. I arrived early after some misinformation from the tourist information centre. I always find it interesting visiting other churches. It is easy to get so comfortable with our own church that we forget what it is like for newcomers. Being early I had about half an hour to hang around between services. Initially I stood back to see if anyone would come over. The children were very welcoming and Jayden was soon off and playing. It took a good 20 minutes before anyone approached. Interestingly it was the senior pastor who noticed me sticking out like a sore thumb and after a brief chat integrated me into a group for a cuppa. The service itself was very much like our own with some great music and sound biblical teaching. The sermon gave me much food for thought as I reevaluate how I would like to serve when we return to Sydney. After some hot chippies at the local milk bar for lunch we moved onto the Gold Museum which we'd run out of time to visit the previous day. A relaxing afternoon in the caravan park and catching up on some laundry has been a great way to finish off the weekend.

28th March 2011
Happy birthday Chris, we're thinking of you on your special day. After getting Frankie's tyres checked, rotated and balanced we had a picnic lunch at Lake Wendouree adventure playground. From there we bid farewell to the Goldfields and headed back to the coast for the drive along the Great Ocean Road. Bell's Beach, famous worldwide for it's great surf, was our first stop.


Preparations were being made for the Pro surfing competition which attracts surfers from around the world to our shores as part of the world surfing circuit. With no free camps listed in my book and all the headlands clearly marked with no sleeping in vehicles overnight we pulled into a little car park at the head of a bushwalk for the night.
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Freycinet National Park and The North East

16th March 2011
Isn't it funny how our memories can sometimes deceive us. My recollections of Wineglass Bay from my last visit were of us spontaneously deciding to wander over there from the campsite in little more than our swimmers and a towel and thongs. This time around it seemed like a much more arduous venture. The walk into Wineglass Bay took us about 1.5 hours over a spur between two mountains. The bay itself is pure magic. A perfect semi-circular bay with a stunningly beautiful white sandy beach which gives the shallow bay it's amazing blue-green colour. Again the attractiveness of the beach lures you into it's icy waters. Jay played jump-the-waves as I scanned the bay for signs of dolphins since it was here that I previously had the opportunity to swim whilst the dolphins played around us. Disappointed that we didn't get to see any this time we reluctantly headed off to complete our circuit. Following the Isthmus track to Hazard Beach which was littered with abalone shells, possibly the remains of aboriginal middens, we returned to the carpark, completing our 11km journey.



Slipping in another couple of hours driving north we retired for the night at Lagoons Beach free camp site. As Jay was keen for a campfire, and there was little wood around, we went and introduced ourselves to some grey nomads already relaxing by a campfire. It proved the place to be as traveller after traveller joined us around the warm blaze. Being a typical Cub, Jay wanted to cook something, preferably marshmallows, over the fire. Lacking marshmallows I whipped up a batch of dough and Jayden amazed the other campers by cooking damper twists over the open fire and then filling it up with creamed honey. It's been interesting seeing the response of many of the grey nomads to Jayden. Some are wonderfully friendly and delight in helping him out and including him in conversations. These invariably are the ones with grand children at home whom they are missing. The others, possibly travelling to escape their grand-parenting duties, treat him with disdain or simply ignore him. Many are traveling with their dogs (I don't know that I'd like that in the close quarters of a caravan or motorhome) and Jay has enjoyed meeting new people, often through their dogs.

17th March2011
It was only a short drive into St Helen's where we stocked up on groceries and enjoyed fish and chips at the mariner. Moving on a bit we headed for Binalong Bay which is part of the Bay of Fires Conservation area.



Another stunningly beautiful and enticing white sandy beach surrounded by large dolomite boulders with a distinctive orange lichen growing on them which gives the area it's name. It's easy to imagine how boats passing this bit of the coastline may have mistaken the lichen on the rocks for fires or even lava. Rock hopping, swimming in the bay, fishing and reading whiled away the afternoon. Moving into our campsite at Cosy Corner 2 free camp around 5pm we had a bit of time before dinner to join in with a game of cricket the kids had going. Wandering down to the beach after dinner we couldn't resist a bit more adventurous rock hopping over and around these blazing boulders.



As the sun set and the long Tasmanian twilight lingered we returned to the safety of the beach and chatted to a local fisherman dipping his line into the moonshine encrusted waves. Bearing marshmallows this time we were invited to join two couples around their fire. Peeping shyly out of the coastal heath we spied some New Holland mice and on a trip to the toilets a very large brush tailed possum.

18th March 2011
Today was again mostly driving. Distances are deceiving in Tassie and regulary take me much longer to cover than I would expect. We went into Tree-top Adventures outside Launceston only to find that we'd just missed the last group for the day which had been full nevertheless. At $175 for the two of us I was quietly pleased that we couldn't be accommodated. Instead we continued on through Launceston and up the Tamar River towards Exeter where we detoured off to the Bush Maze. Following our failsafe method we easily navigated the maze and the tackled some of the other puzzles and challenges around the grounds. The night was spent in a pleasant council carpark on the banks of the Tamar called Rose Bay Park.

19th March 2011
Sadly today is our last on the Tasmanian Isle. Starting the day with Colin Buchanan singing about the Beaconsfield mining disaster we set off for Beaconsfield Heritage Centre. This proved quite interesting and we spent a few hours touring the centre. This is still a working mine, however the only sign of such is the large shaft and elevator with the miners safety tag board in front, so familiar from the media coverage of Todd Russell and Brant Webb's ordeal of two weeks underground squashed like sardines into the tiny safety cage awaiting their mates on the surface to dig them out. Jay was kept occupied with many hands-on displays throughout the centre including panning for gold. A very worthwhile experience.



Onto LaTrobe we headed for our last night camping in another council run park behind the local IGA. A brief walk took us to a marvelous doll, bear and toy emporium located in the main street. I wish we'd had a bit more time to explore this old home packed to the rafters with every type of bear, doll, fairy, puzzle and science kit you can imagine. We were met at the door by a fudge bearing jester and given a map to help us negotiate the store's wonderful wares. Before we knew it we were being ushered out and back to Frankie where we had a simple dinner to use up some of the bits in the freezer which would go off the following day with no refrigeration on our journey back across Bass Strait.

20th March 2011
Another early morning to get us back onto the Spirit of Tasmania. Good-bye Tassie, hopefully it won't be so long between visits next time.



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Bruny Island and Port Arthur

12th March 2011
After catching up on emails at Maccas just outside Hobart we continued on our journey. Across on the car ferry we went to Bruny Island. It was getting late in the day as we pulled into the booking centre for Bruny Island cruises. As we'd been on the go constantly since we left Sydney I decided to book into an afternoon cruise and spend a second night on the island. After settling into Captain Cook caravan park we crossed the road and went for a walk along the beach at Adventure Bay.

White sand, crystal clear aqua waters and an abundance of bird life made for a very relaxed afternoon. Looking terribly inviting the waters lured us in (shrinkage factor of at least 8). Needless to say we didn't last long and headed back across to Frankie for dinner.

13th March 2011
Chilling out on the beach was the order of the day this morning. After test running his skim scooter which involves me running up and down the beach dragging Jay in my wake, not exactly my idea of a restful morning, he found some kids to play with on his Wahoo board then got busy building sandcastles on the beach. Once he was preoccupied with the other children, I settled into my book and a beach chair.
After lunch we rode our bikes down to the jetty in readiness for the cruise. You know you're in for a rough ride when all the passengers are offered ginger travel calm tablets and dressed in ankle length water jackets.



A 12.5 metre Naiad with three 300 horse power engines (the 4WDs of the sea) whizzed us along the rugged coastline of Bruny Island edging over the demarcation line between the Tasman Sea and the Southern Ocean. We stopped to peer into sea caves and drift up close to the breathing rock which is a type of horizontal blowhole. As the ocean pounds against the cliff wall it sucks in air only to expel it moments later in a blast of air and water. Speeding through the gap between the cliffs and The Monument certainly gets the heart racing.



The towering cliff walls of dolomite loom over you as you float around at the base of the Cathedral in a part of the world usually only seen by a few fisherman and abalone divers. Once in the Southern Ocean we came upon the rocky islands which are home to a large colony of male Australian fur seals. We got close enough to smell them. Jayden was delighted by their antics and giggled as they played and scuffled with one another. The females and younger pups live in colonies in other places further up the Tasmanian, Victorian and South Australian coastlines.




During the return trip a southerly change blew in making the journey quite exciting as we bounced over the rough swell in chase of the Albatross soarinng overhead. I was very grateful we were out there on a quiet day. Apparently swells of 4 metres aren't uncommon and the boats go out in all but a cyclone. Jay got very wet and cold and we reluctantly had to move into the more protected rear of the boat and add a few layers of warm dry clothing. This cruise has by far been the highlight of our tourist activities in Tassie.

14th March 2011
Heading off on an early start so we could catch the 8:30am ferry back to the main island began our long drive to Port Arthur. We could see the peninsula from Adventure Bay and as the crow flies Port Arthur isn't that far away but by land it was a deceptively long drive. Arriving about 11:30am we ate a quick lunch in Frankie and then spent the rest of the day exploring the many interesting haunts around the settlement.




Having opted for the audio guide we were able to move at our own pace with a running commentary. The ferry took us across to The Isle of the Dead where we joined a guided tour about the cemetery that has become the resting place for possibly a thousand convicts, soldiers and nobility. Leaving late in the day after many of the tourists had left gave us a chance to see the settlement in a different light. It was easy to imagine we had travelled back in time as the shadows grew long and a golden glow spread across the grounds. I would have loved to hang around for the ghost tour but had to decline lest I scar Jayden for life.



Grateful we'd booked into the nearby Port Arthur caravan park it was only a short drive to our campsite. Since there appeared to be an abundance of wildlife roaming the park we expectantly grabbed our torches and ventured into the dark. We were well rewarded spotting Bennett's wallabies, Tasmanian pademelons, southern brown bandicoots, brush tailed possums a scorpion and something with glowing green eyes in the spotlight which may have been a possum or possibly a quoll.

15th March 2011
Returning up the peninsula at a more leisurely pace we stopped off at the Tasmanian Devil Park where we got a great up-close look at the ellusive Tasmanian Devils, although we'd seen plenty in the roadside butchery. Jay enjoyed being an active participant at the Free Flight Bird Show which showcased a number of Australian birds. Visits to Tasman's Arch, the Devil's Kitchen, the Blowhole, Tessellated Pavement and the Dog Line. The Dog Line was set up in the narrowest part of the Peninsula to stop any convicts who contemplated escaping from getting too far.
Mean, angry dogs were set in a line across the land chained to a barrel which doubled as a shelter. They even had dogs out on barges in the water should any of the convicts attempt swimming around. If the dogs themselves didn't get you the barking would arouse the soldiers who would shoot you. Ironically Friendly Beach in Freycinet National Park was our overnight destination. Here we camped in the coastal heath overlooking the white sandy beaches of the East Coast. Dozing off as the waves crash onto the beach, looking out the window at a zillion stars and awaking to the sun rising over the ocean is one of the magical moments of free camping.



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Western Wilderness

7th March 2011
Today we headed towards Cradle Mountain. The big excitement of the journey was when we ran over a black Tiger Snake. I'd aimed Frankie so he would go straight over the top without hurting him. Unfortunately he reared up, flaring his head outwards so as to look threatening and struck at us as we passed over. Hopefully he missed!

8th March 2011
We got off to an early start today climbing aboard the 8:20am shuttle bus into Cradle Mountain. The area has become very tourist oriented. When I was last here about 24 years ago I felt like we were the only ones in the park and that we were entering into a wild and rugged wilderness area. This time with tourist signposts, boardwalks and people of all ages tromping about the park it no longer has that wilderness feel to it.
Walking the boards is definitely better for the environment and I could
see the old tracks that we'd sloshed through ankle deep in mud still trying to repair themselves. Crater Lake was our first destination. Reaching the iconic wooden shelter you'll recognize from any photos you've seen of the Cradle Mountain area we donned our raincoats as the weather began to turn nasty.



Onto Marion's Lookout we marched as the drizzle turned to rain and the wind picked up and cut through our clothing. From Marion's Lookout we had a good view of the peaks of Cradle Mountain. As much as I would have liked to scale the heights the path is not an easy one, marked only with an occasional pole defining the track through a boulder strewn cliff side.



Reluctantly we headed back down to Dove Lake to complete the circuit around the lake and through the Ballroom Forest, a moss and lichen decorated corner of the forest perpetually shaded by the mountains ringing that side of the lake. Jay took a bit of a slip down some narrow stairs bruising and grazing his back pretty badly. The rain had really set in by now and we'd lost sight of Cradle Mountain completely, justifying my decision not to go up there. Certainly not the place to be in a whiteout with a nine year old. After fueling up on some lunch we took the shuttle bus back to the visitors centre. The weather was much improved so we embarked upon another walk through The Enchanted Forest. This was a beautiful walk through the type of forest that was used as the basis for the Elves home in The Lord of the Rings. It didn't take much imagination to believe that fairies and pixies might dwell amid the mossy vegetation.



On returning to the carpark Frankie had a tantrum about being left alone all day and refused to start. The weather had caught up with us again and so I was feeling rather miserable and sorry for myself as I attempted to jump start him with a battery pack from the rangers station. Wanting to be close to help should I need it next morning we stayed the night at a caravan park in Zeehan. I'd hoped for a special birthday dinner at a nice restaurant but the best Zeehan could manage was a pub up the far end of town which I declined. I didn't even manage to find a bakery for a celebratory cupcake!

9th March 2011
Frankie kicked up a fuss again this morning and I had to clutch start him. Fortunately I'd parked on an ever so slight decline but it was just enough to get rolling and turn the battery over. First stop was the mechanic in Zeehan who checked the charge in the batteries and declared everything to be working fine. He suggested it may be the starter motor or perhaps a short circuit somewhere and advised I take Frankie to an auto electrician. Mind you there isn't one on the whole West Coast and the mobile service only comes to the West Coast once a week and had been in yesterday. With him up and running for the day I decided to head to Strahan anyway and take evasive action that night by disconnecting the dual batteries to ensure they couldn't be flattened overnight. It would also allow me to work out whether the start motor was really an issue or not.
Strahan is a charming little fishing village on the banks of Macquarie Harbour with beautifully restored late 19th and early 20th century architecture giving the place a Victorian era feel.




After lunch we went for an amble to Hogarth Falls from People's Park which was a popular gathering place for locals in the late 1800's. Delightfully we spotted a platypus playing in the creek along the walk. This is a rare treat especially during the day and with so many people wandering up the path. We felt very privileged. We were dismayed to find the caravan parks all full, as was every other type of accommodation, and so we headed onto the free campsite only to find it was closed. A quick chat with the nearby golf club owner secured us a spot in the golf club carpark for the night.
From there it was a flat and pleasant ride into Strahan village for a pantomime "The Boat That Never Was". This interactive reenactment of an escape attempt by some Sarah Island convicts to Chile was hilariously entertaining and interesting. An unfortunate delay caused us to be a few minutes late and we were duly picked on by the two-man cast.



Jayden found himself playing the 95 year old hero Bill and I starred as the parrot. Jayden enjoyed his 15 minutes of fame immensely and did a sterling job in his character acting. He has found it somewhat bothersome ever since though when people approach him randomly in the street and congratulate him on his fine performance.


As if that wasn't enough excitement for one night we were booked onto "Sophia" for an excursion out to Bonnet Island. This took us through Hell's Gate a narrow and shallow channel, the only entrance into the massive Macquarie Harbour which is four times the size of Sydney Harbour. The passage into the harbour is guided by three lighthouses as the channel does a dog leg halfway requiring vessels to line up very carefully with the coloured strips on the lights to safely navigate the journey. It was to one of these lighthouses on Bonnet Island that our boat journeyed. Onto the island we trekked after the late Tasmanian dusk finally turned to night for a glimpse of the residents, a colony of Little Penguins. We weren't disappointed and had numerous encounters with the penguins from close proximity. Jay got to within a few centimeters of these sweet seabirds.



Unlike other harbours Macquarie has a layer of fresh water sitting atop the heavier salt water for a large portion of it's capacity. This allows for very healthy fish apparently as they are able to move between the salt and fresh water to rid themselves of many of the bacterial diseases that are a problem in other waterways. Another anomaly concerns the tides. The harbour isn't affected by lunar tides as you'd expect. The tides are a result of the air pressure. A high pressure system allows water into the Harbour and a low pushes it back out to sea. Even on a calm night like the one we had you've got to admire the gumption of the convicts who thought they could escape the colony by heading into the Southern Ocean and making a bee-line for South America.
It was two very weary but satisfied travelers who eventually cycled back to the golf club around 10pm that night.

10th March 2011
Arising early in case Frankie decided to be difficult I was delighted when he started first time after reconnecting the battery. At least it ruled out the starter motor as being an issue. Consequently we arrived nice and early at the station for the Western Wilderness Railway trip into Queenstown.




It was a pleasant and informative trip with an interpretive guide keeping up a commentary about the landscape and local history the whole time. It was rather disconcerting to see the King River which had all the dirt from mining in Queenstown dumped into it over many years. Millions of tonnes of debris have silted up the King and poisoned the banks so that for a long distance very little is growing on the banks, not even the weeds that would usually flourish in the vacant space. The faster flowing sections are healthier and there was a profusion of Huon pines on the banks. These come in male and female varieties. Notably the males have an erect habit whereas the females have droopy branches. Huon pines are very slow growing. Estimates of the age of some of the large specimens that were cut down in Tasmania's early pioneer days put them at as much as 3800 years old. If I thought that the King River was bad however, it was nothing in comparison to the Queen which flows directly form Queenstown into the King. Even now that the discharge from the mines has stopped flowing into the rivers it is stained orange and looks disgusting. Our guide could remember as a child playing a game where instead of skimming rocks across the water he and his mates would have competitions to see whose stone would take the longest to sink into the sluggish waters of the Queen. Eight seconds was not unusual. He informed us that the Queen used to glug along more like porridge than water. At least the water is now flowing again, but estimates of between 100 and 1000 years have been put forward for the Queen to make a full recovery. Pulling into Queenstown I got my first glimpse of the town I've heard described as a moonscape. I had always assumed that it was purely the mining activities that had desecrated the place and whilst that is partly true a lot of the desolation is due to the fact that to keep the mines running and also provide both heating and fuel for cooking for the residents it used to be necessary to provide 2000 tonne of wood per day. 1000 men were employed just to cut timber to keep the fires burning, resulting in them needing to gradually spread over ever increasing distances to obtain this precious resource, and culminating in the denuded landscape that bears witness to the poor environmental practices of the past. I was embarrassed by the state of Queenstown and hope that if nothing else it will stand as reminder to Australia to take better care of our natural resources. A coach returned us to Strahan where we then had to wait over an hour for the jump start pack I'd ordered in to arrive on the afternoon truck from Burnie to provide me with a little extra insurance and peace of mind. We then drove back to Queenstown where I believe God taught me a lesson about how, with His touch, even the most ugly and desolate things can be made beautiful. The afternoon sun was setting over the distant mountains throwing a golden glow over the barren landscape. The colours that those naked hills shone as we drove out of Queenstown were phenomenal. It was getting dark as we drove into the Lake Burbury campground that evening to make our camp.



11th March 2011
Our last day in the Western Wilderness took us through the middle of the Gordon-Franklin National Park. We did a short walk through the rainforest around the Franklin River. I had never realized how close we came to losing this wilderness area. The vote in the High Court of Australia regarding the construction of the Franklin Dam was 4 votes to 3. If just one of those four men had voted differently our nation would have lost this last untamed area in Tasmania.



We bid the wild west a reluctant farewell as we continued east towards Hobart. A quick hike in the Lake St. Clair National Park which I found fairly uninteresting was followed by a visit to "The Wall in the Wilderness". Artist Greg Duncan (no relation to Ken) is working on creating a one hundred panel wood sculpture depicting the mining and timber history of the local area. The panels are amazingly detailed and allow you to see the progression of the work from a two dimensional rough sketch on the wood through the initial chiseling to the meticulously sanded finish. For Jayden and I however the individual pieces were by far the best. Akubra's, dry-as-a-bone coats, work gloves and satchels all carved out of single pieces of timber and so lifelike you'd swear they were made of leather rather than timber.
It was a long drive into Hobart where we stopped at Treasure Island caravan park Claremont so I could get some laundry done. Connecting onto the mains water pressure blew one of Frankie's hot water pipe connections inside the kitchen cupboard. I was just finishing cleaning up the mess after addressing the maintenance issue when a second one underneath the bus blew. Despondently I crawled under the bus to make the necessary repairs.



To cap off my stay in Claremont, when I got up the following morning and went to collect my washing several items had been stolen off the line leaving me with very few warm items of clothing. At first I was angry and miserable at this turn of events but again God used this opportunity to teach me some valuable lessons. With Luke 6:27-31 in mind I wrote a note to leave on the wall near the clothes lines to let the offender know that I was praying for them and that I hoped the clothes would keep them warm in the chilly Tasmanian climate. Our main reason for staying in Claremont was to visit the Cadbury factory, only to find when we got there Saturday morning that they aren't open weekends. Oh well, moving on.


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