South Western Australia

mei - juni 2024

Exploring the southern part of Western Australia travelling via Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide to catch up with family. Meer informatie

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South Western Australia
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- 13 mei 2024 17:22
- 🌙 20 °C
- Hoogte: 11 m
- Australië State of New South Wales Coffs Harbour Mid Sapphire Beach White Bluff -30.2287, 153.15330°13’43” S 153°9’11” E
Dag 1
Sapphire Beach
13 mei, Australië ⋅ 🌙 20 °C
After a week of planned starts, we finally left home and started our trip. We left about 11:30am and needed coffee, so didn't even get out of Ningi before our first stop.

Was just a driving day, so we kept going, just stopping for fuel, lunch and toilet breaks. We were at about Grafton and thinking about where we would stay the night when Liz mentioned "powered site" and I realised that I had not packed the second power lead, the 10 amp adapter and our wheel chocks! These were still in the cara-port where I had left them yesterday when we took the caravan to be weighed. We left the caravan on the lawn overnight and totally forgot about them. Oh well, we can buy or borrow replacements.

We stayed the night at Sapphire Beach Caravan Park which is 5 km before Coffs Harbour. This is a nice little park right on the beach with very tidy amenities and good size sites. We have stayed here before and think it world be the best place to stay if exploring this area... the other parks do not get good reviewsMeer informatie
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Lynne King Yay!! We're off.
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Reiziger Glad to have with us Lynne😄
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Reiziger Nice leisurely start is the way to go.👍 Shame about the cord etc, but easy to overcome
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Reiziger Indeed.
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Reiziger Nice have a Great Time in Australia
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South Western Australia
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- 14 mei 2024 17:25
- 🌙 19 °C
- Hoogte: 8 m
- Australië State of New South Wales Sutherland Shire Miranda E.G. Waterhouse National Camellia Garden -34.027079, 151.10555534°1’37” S 151°6’20” E
Dag 2
Miranda (Sydney)
14 mei, Australië ⋅ 🌙 19 °C
Lots of driving today so we can get to Sydney to catch up with Liz's brother, David and his wife Sheila for dinner.

So all day driving with just the obligatory stops. The last couple of hours were very stressful as we coped with the Sydney peak hour traffic. We finally got to the caravan park in Miranda about 5pm, a bit frazzled but happy to arrive. This park is a little average but it is convenient for the catch up.

We had a lovely dinner with David and Sheila at the local club and caught up on lots of news. After a cup of tea back at their house, we headed to our little home for a well-earned rest.Meer informatie
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Reiziger 😊
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when do u get to Adelaide? [Carole]
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Reiziger Hi Carole, in a few weeks. We will let you know. 😁
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Glad you had a nice catch up with our brother and Sheila [Dawn]
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South Western Australia
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- 15 mei 2024 12:17
- ☀️ 17 °C
- Hoogte: 635 m
- Australië State of New South Wales Wingecarribee Mittagong Lake Alexandra -34.44632, 150.45746434°26’47” S 150°27’27” E
Dag 3–5
Mittagong
15 mei, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C
David and Sheila picked us up from the caravan park and we went and had coffee in a little cafe around the corner. Was really nice to catch up again before we left.

Then finish packing up and off we went to battle the Sydney traffic again. We got through without too much stress, but boy are we glad to be over that!

David had suggested that we spend a couple nights in the Southern Highlands around Bowral and since we have never stopped there, we decided to try it. Not a lot of caravan parks in the area... Moss Vale did not get good reviews; and the showgrounds there are currently closed because they are too wet. There were mixed reviews on the park at Mittagong, so we thought we would call in and see what it was like.

It was only a little over an hour drive to get there, and the park looks good. It is only 11am and we go in the office and they only have one site left which is small and hard to get in to. They usually keep it for small motor homes. They said to go and look at it first. It is small and not a lot of room to manoeuvre but we think we can fit. They then said to try getting our van in and make sure it is OK before booking in. So we did! Slow and steady, but first try, and the van is in. Almost touching the fence at the back and the site slopes forward, so needed to use a combination of the jack and the jockey wheel to get level but all is good.

Then off to find lunch. Mittagong is much bigger than we thought with many shops including Aldi, BCF, Bunnings etc. We found a cafe in the main street and the staff were wonderful and lunch was delicious and plentiful...

A visit to Super Cheap Auto, and we now have wheel chocks and another power lead.

Then a stop at the local hand craft shop which has a huge range. Liz wandered around trying to be inspired about a project for her to do on the trip. With some help from the lady owner, she chose some sort of sewing, tapestry, stitching thing.

Back home to put the heater on, have showers and a light dinner.Meer informatie
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Reiziger Hopefully the weather will be kinder soon!
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Lynne King Project looks interesting
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Reiziger Project should keep you busy
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South Western Australia
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- 16 mei 2024 09:06
- ☁️ 12 °C
- Hoogte: 635 m
- Australië State of New South Wales Wingecarribee Mittagong Lake Alexandra -34.446328, 150.45747334°26’47” S 150°27’27” E
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Dag 4
Mittagong Day 2
16 mei, Australië ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C
The reviews for the park had mentioned noise from the road and train line. Overnight, the road noise was minimal, but there were lots of trains, some very long, but it was not too bad.

4° overnight, but we were warm with the heater on and snuggled under the doona.

Today, we are being tourists. We decided that we couldn't come here without visiting the Don Bradman Museum since Bowral is only 5 minutes down the road. So off we went and Bowral is a pretty little town, again with plenty of shops and cafes. We found a French patisserie, so that was a no-brainer for morning coffee. The chocolate eclair was delicious!

Then, off to the Bradman Museum. This is in a building built right beside the Bradman oval and pavilion. The museum is very well done - if you are a big cricket fan you could spend hours.... It is also the International Cricket Hall of Fame and so goes through the history of cricket as well as many of the legends' lives. About half the building is about Bradman and his life with many displays and much memorabilia. It was well worth the visit.

Lunch time sees us return to the patisserie for a chicken and leek pie and a lamb and rosemary pie, both excellent.

We drove up to the Mount Gibraltar lookouts, but they were working on the access roads, so only one lookout was available, and it was not easy to see much.

Next, we visited Lake Alexandra back in Mittagong. This is just a small lake but quite pretty, especially with the autumn leaves.

Finally we stopped at the local boutique brewery for an afternoon bevy. Was very pleasant sipping nice beers whilst the sun streamed in through the windows....Meer informatie
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Lynne King Oh, now I want an eclair. It looks delicious
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Reiziger That looks delicious 🤣
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Reiziger Indeed, it was. It had chocolate custard too. Yummy!!!
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South Western Australia
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- 17 mei 2024 17:11
- ⛅ 17 °C
- Hoogte: 129 m
- Australië State of Victoria Indigo Wahgunyah -36.003078, 146.39719636°0’11” S 146°23’50” E
Dag 5
Corowa
17 mei, Australië ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Today we decided to make a driving day so we can have two nights at Corowa. All we did was stop for coffee, lunch and fuel.

The weather has been great, sunny each day with a Max temperature around 20°. But as soon as the sun starts to drop, so does the temperature, with overnights around 5°. Makes us appreciate the heater in the van.Meer informatie
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South Western Australia
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- 18 mei 2024
- ☀️ 16 °C
- Hoogte: 135 m
- Australië State of Victoria Indigo Wahgunyah -36.003303, 146.39722236°0’12” S 146°23’50” E
1
Dag 6
Corowa Day 2
18 mei, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
We woke up and discovered the outside temperature was 2° so we snuggled in bed for a while longer.
We got up and decided to have showers. As Michael put his shorts in the washing basket, he said, "See you again in a few months." Out came the long tracks and jeans.
After breakfast, we set off to explore Corowa township. We had a map of points of interest around town.
The first stop was coffee and scones, and then we set out on foot.
Corowa is known as "The birthplace of Federation." In 1893, the Federation Conference was held where representatives from all the States mapped out the path to Federation.
The Constitution of Australia came into force on 1 January 1901.
We saw some lovely old buildings and artwork as we walked around and took pictures.
We drove across John Foords Bridge to Wahgunyah Victoria and found a lovely winery called Lake Moodamere where we sat near an open fire and enjoyed pumpkin soup and garlic bread with melted Camembert. We also had a wine tasting and chose a Durif to accompany our meal.
While the weather is lovely and sunny, the air is crisp, and the breeze is fresh.Meer informatie
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Lynne King The art work is wonderful¡
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Reiziger Wow, ice art
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South Western Australia
- Reis weergeven
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- 18 mei 2024
- ☀️ 16 °C
- Hoogte: 129 m
- Australië State of Victoria Indigo Wahgunyah -36.003138, 146.39727236°0’11” S 146°23’50” E
1
Dag 6
Corowa Day 2, more pictures
18 mei, Australië ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
John Foord was an early pioneer to the region. He established a business using punts to get people and goods across the Murray River. He then built the bridge and charged a toll for those using it.
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Lynne King Beautiful river. Also love the brolga statue
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Reiziger Great sculptures
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South Western Australia
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- 19 mei 2024 16:04
- ☁️ 13 °C
- Hoogte: 353 m
- Australië State of Victoria Golden Plains Linton -37.680012, 143.57041537°40’48” S 143°34’13” E
Dag 7
Linton
19 mei, Australië ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
We woke up this morning to -4.5°, so snuggled down and waited for it to warm up. So it was a balmy +4° while we packed up!

Michael's shorts went into the washing with an expectation to not see them for another few months. And we rugged up into track pants, jackets, and beanies.

Another day of driving, so there's not much news. The most exciting part of the drive was watching the odometer roll over to 111111.

As soon as we got close to Melbourne, the rain started! The first rain on this trip. It continued on and off until we arrived in Linton. It's great to see Mel, Dave, young Tormund, and Charlie (dog).

We are staying here for a while, so we will not be posting every day.Meer informatie
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Reiziger Enjoy your time. ( dry as a bone here but cooling down)
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