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  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia Sept-Dec 2023
    Day 14

    Melbourne

    October 3, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    It rained all night and we both had disturbed sleep so we took a bit of time to get going. The temperature had also dropped overnight. Tuesday was set for cold, grey, wet and miserable just like English weather. We arrived at the rail station to find no staff. Tickets could not be purchased because they use a travel card system that is topped up with money in the same way as a London Oyster card works. After a couple of attempts, we managed to buy two cards and add sufficient funds for a return journey. When we arrived in Melbourne the card scanners at the exit gates didn’t read the cards so we had to go to the ticket attendant who told us that these new cards shouldn’t touch the reader - that sorted the problem. After a coffee and panko prawn sushi roll for Bun and something hideous for me, we set off wondering why we didn’t have an umbrella like everyone else in Melbourne. We walked to the Victoria Market, arriving at about 2, only to find that it was shutting at 3 p.m. The market wasn’t as exciting as it had been on our previous visit when we came during the evening and there were a lot of food stalls and musicians. We ventured out into the rain again and walked to the Melbourne Museum arriving soaked through. With only 1.5 hours before it shut, we didn't have time for a hot drink to warm us through. I was attracted to the areas dedicated to Aborigine culture and history that always leave me wondering about our humanity and how much knowledge we have lost and will further lose by not acknowledging the civilisation that lived in harmony with this country for more than 35,000 years - the longest known civilisation. One display was of a “scar tree” that had been found. These are trees that have scars left from having an area of bark removed for use in any number of ways - shields, canoes, utensils etc. The bark was harvested in a way that did not kill the tree. These days we appear to destroy anything just to get to something with no respect for living in harmony or balance. "This tree holds the knowledge of the past, the present and into tomorrow. It is related to my people, the Yalukit Weelam of the Boonwurrung. I invite you to learn from it with djil bruk (respect)." -Narweet Professor Carolyn Briggs AM.

    There were many other displays about the wealth of resources found and being plundered in Australia, fossils, history etc. A lovely couple of hours but not long enough for it to have stopped raining - so back into the rain again, albeit slightly less heavy. We walked back down into the centre and found ourselves in Chinatown. On 18 Feb 2020, as Covid was being reported as having come from China, I wrote “We’ve been told that many Australians are boycotting Chinese areas, which is pretty sad. However, I still didn’t understand where everyone was given the huge Chinese population we have seen .... maybe they are boycotting the area too?”. Today the streets were bustling and the restaurants and stalls were busy. We found a food mall where Bun had a pretty mediocre Prawn Laksa and I had a delicious Chicken Pad Thai. We then left (it was drizzling) and I had a brainwave - if I bought an umbrella, it was bound to stop raining. I found a shop selling umbrellas, bought one and, hey-presto, the rain stopped. Why hadn’t I thought of that earlier? The rest of the journey was uneventful and we arrived back at the caravan park around 8:15, leaving sufficient time for a shower, get some washing on and dried, then off to bed. One surprise was a box of kitchen utensils including pans etc, that was left in the laundry. This sometimes happens when people have upgraded or are coming to the end of a camping holiday. We picked up two saucepans and a good-sized frying pan with a lid. It started raining again as we got into bed and we had another disturbed night. Tomorrow we must camp in the open!

    We decided to give up on the idea that sightseeing in Melbourne would be better than walking a trail in the rain and decided that drinking coffee in a cafe, eating good food and generally not moving from the warmth would be better than the other two choices. We needed to be in Mount Evelyn (west of Melbourne) for a party on Sunday, so planned that tomorrow we’d head over to east Melbourne via a few stops.    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia Sept-Dec 2023
    Day 13

    Ziggy

    October 2, 2023 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 24 °C

    The main task today was to buy the BBQ, provided we could fit it into the storage space at the back of Bill. We had a leisurely start to the day. The weather was warm and sunny, so we went for a walk around the campsite. Someone with two Kelpies was throwing an Aerobie-style ring for them to chase. They chased it, sometimes caught it, but hadn’t mastered retrieval and the guy had to keep fetching it himself. We came across another guy who was sitting on the steps of his motorhome drinking something from a cup. He was probably in his 70s, pretty unkempt and the MH looked like it would benefit from a good spring clean. He told us that he usually camped on his daughter’s block nearby in Snake Valley. Had been out to the pharmacist because he hadn’t received a letter from his medical consultant and was due to start some medication prior to a surgical procedure and hoped the pharmacist would be able to help. He was obviously wanting a longer chat than we wanted to allow him. I find these glimpses into peoples’ lives quite fascinating. We have an insight into, and understand, some of the challenges of not having a permanent home, but we have a great support structure that mitigates many of the challenges.

    We drove back to Ballarat and headed straight for “Barbecues Galore”, fitted the BBQ into Bill without too many problems, bought it and set off to (hopefully) finish off buying more storage boxes for Bill. While I find it difficult to envisage what is needed, Bun is fantastic. There is minimal movement of boxes, plates, etc when we travel about. I might have to do a sequence of photos when we have finished this project that shows how well the storage works - it'll be almost as fascinating as watching paint dry.

    With the weather looking pretty miserable for the rest of the week, we decided that sightseeing in Melbourne would be better than walking a mountain trail in the rain. We found a campsite at “Sundowner Rockbank Caravan Park” that was a 15-minute walk to a rail station for trains straight into Melbourne. We drove there in the afternoon gloom and when we were about 100 yards from the main gate, Bun reminded me of a comment in one of the reviews about the impossibility of turning into the caravan park due to traffic. The park is located on the westbound carriageway of the M8 Western Freeway, we were driving eastbound and had to cross the three lanes of traffic during rush hour with heavy traffic leaving Melbourne. We sat for maybe 5 mins before a sufficient gap appeared and we managed to get across. We are only 6m long, what chance would there be for a big rig?

    The site was crowded with lots of “permanents” (people who live permanently on the campsite in a range of ram-shackle residences, some old MH, caravans, containers, chalets etc) but the caravans and MH were separate from them. In the rain, Bill looked very sad on a campsite rather than free camping, however, showers and access to a laundry is an attraction, especially when rain is forecast for the next 3-4 days.

    On the way to the campground, I felt brave enough to refill Bill with diesel. He's fitted with a 140-litre fuel tank. Diesel is AUD2.20/L. Watching the cost mount up left me in tears - it looked just like it was really £250! Fortunately, it was only about £125, still, it was more than I'd ever spent on a refill.

    (Note to self - do not camp under trees. If it’s not leaves, branches etc falling onto the roof, birds crap all over the MH and, in the rain, the gentle pitter-patter of raindrops is interspersed with the occasional water bombs where rain has accumulated in the tree before falling like a small pebble onto the roof of the MH that, being fibreglass, makes a sound like a drum being hit - hard! We had a very disturbed night. We are booked in for two nights so if it continues to rain, we’ll have another bad night tomorrow.)    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia Sept-Dec 2023
    Day 12

    Lunch at the Yacht Club

    October 1, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    No one told us that the clocks went forward last night, fortunately, my phone knew so our alarm went off correctly, but mentally I was still asleep. That situation has remained now for several days. We had, what might possibly be our last shower in a bathroom for many weeks, then walked to Macca’s (McDs) to catch up with Carole. We walked back home with her, loaded Bill up and went off to visit Barbecues Galore to try and find something that would enable us to cook everything we needed while on the road. While Webber BBQs are probably the most well-known, there has been a recent change to BBQ legislation meaning that, if it is to be attached to a boat, camper, motorhome, caravan etc. the device must have an auto-shutoff. Weber has yet to manufacture their BBQs with this device and told us that they will cost $150 to retrofit. Ziggy, a competitor of theirs, produce a similar range with the shutoff installed. The question was, does it fit in Bill’s storage compartment? We spent time looking around the BBQ and I then had to go and fetch Bill from where it was parked. By the time I arrived back at the shop, we had run out of time before going to lunch - oh dear, never mind. We left BBQ-G and went to the yacht club via Carole’s to collect something we’d left. We arrived at the club just as John & Kerry were getting out of their car. However, we then had to get changed before going in for lunch, lucky we’d bought a house with us in which we could get ready.

    We hadn’t seen John & Kerry since we left Oz in April 2020. We had used them as a base when COVID started impacting our ability to travel, then selling Bertha etc.

    The yacht club was not the austere venue I was expecting, but a relaxed fast-food restaurant on the shores of Lake Wendouree. We had a lovely lunch and caught up on all that had happened over the intervening period. After lunch they came and had a look around Bill, Kerri said all of the right things!

    Once they left us, we needed to work out where we were staying that night. We found a McDonald's to jump onto their wifi, but that wasn’t working. The campsites we phoned didn’t pick up or were booked “until the end of the month”. One message just said not to leave a message as “I don’t know how to work them”. In the end, we decided to drive a few miles back towards the farm where there was a rural park with a campsite we were certain we could get in. The cost would be a $10 donation towards its upkeep. It had few facilities, toilets and showers. Unfortunately, a key was needed for the showers and neither of the caretakers answered their phones. Despite that, we had an enjoyable night albeit disturbed by wind and rain, and an introduction to the coming week’s weather.    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia Sept-Dec 2023
    Day 11

    Grand Final Day

    September 30, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    The plan was to leave the farm, return to Ballarat to continue shopping for a few more items, spend the night camped on Carole’s drive and then leave on Sunday morning to see friends for lunch.

    First, we had to draft a couple of hundred sheep. That means separating one flock into two or more flocks - in our case, two; one for shearing and one that had already been sheared. Dale had already collected Molly, his brother’s working collie sheepdog, who would do most of the work. Elsie, the young Kelpy sheepdog would be around on a lead to observe and learn. Everything went to plan and the sheep were soon sorted out. Elsie had been allowed into the pen with Molly and me so that she could help drive the sheep through the race. She was very enthusiastic and of limited help.

    After sorting the sheep, Dale and I cleaned and filled an old bath with water for the sheep, went to collect the fire truck and also found an old compressor that Dale was giving us to take on our journey. Meanwhile, Bun was encouraging and helping Henry tidy his room while Charlotte made two batches of chocolate chip cookies and gave one batch to us. We said our goodbyes and set off knowing that, with reasonable sunshine and full water tanks, we could camp independently for several days.

    We drove to Ballarat to find that most of the shops that we wanted to visit were shut - something to do with ‘the grand final”. I left Bun shopping for more storage items etc and went to the first of three sports pubs that had been recommended as places where I could watch the match and enjoy the event. Murphy’s Bar was showing the match to about 6 people. I left and walked to the Sporting Globe which was far more lively. Upstairs was quite raucous, so I went to the bar bought a pint and sat on a free stool next to a couple a few years older than me. It wasn’t long before the bloke next to me turned around, asked me my name and introduced himself as Melvyn … or was it Mervin? Over the following 90 minutes, we became besties and reckoned we’d meet up somewhere on the road around Oz. He was more interested in telling me about his life in the army than watching the match, but he was good company and became very animated as the lead flip-flopped between the two teams. The final score put Melbourne’s Collingwood 10 points ahead of Brisbane’s team, so the locals were happy.

    I met up with Bun and we went to Carole’s for dinner, a film and bed. Meet up tomorrow at Macca’s.    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia Sept-Dec 2023
    Day 10

    Red Wood Trees

    September 29, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    The kids wanted lunch, Dale suggested another waterfall. Elizabeth had the casting vote, actually, in situations like this, it is Elizabeth’s word that matters, and we set off to find somewhere for lunch. Covid has taken its toll on small cafes etc and the first place we arrived at had shut down. We then found a small cafe (the Art Gallery Cafe in Beech Forest) with lots of paintings and a limited menu, but it was lunch. Toasties all around, milkshakes for the Barr’s and iced coffees for the Briggs’, plus a couple of chocolate brownies for the kids - job done. The final part of the adventure was driving to see the Red Wood trees. This is a small plantation of Californian red Woods, within a bigger area of trees. The trees were only 86 years old and not as impressive as those my brother saw in California, but despite their young age, they were an impressive height and quite a stunning plantation to walk through.

    Back to the farm, Bun & I collected our now dry washing and retired to Bill. Dale and I refilled Bill's water tanks to ensure that all worked, plus attached Bill to a main pressured hose to check no water joints leaked - all good. Off to bed.    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia Sept-Dec 2023
    Day 10

    Triplet Falls

    September 29, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    The kids thought it was time for lunch, but Dale’s plan was few km drive to Triplet Falls and a walk to see the waterfall. The kids were not impressed and even less so when we reached the car park and the sign said that the track would take more than an hour. We set off at a pace to get around as quickly as possible. There were three lookouts on the way. At the first the falls were hardly visible, and not much more was revealed at the second. At the third we could see the triple falls; not hugely spectacular but at least water was flowing. The march back up the hill, with Henry being carried a bit of the way, got us back with a round-trip time of under an hour.Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia Sept-Dec 2023
    Day 10

    Otway Fly Treetop Adventure,

    September 29, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    The day before “the big final” of Australian Rules Football (this year between a Brisbane and a Melbourne team), is a public holiday. I’m not sure why it’s not on the day of the final, but they do things differently down under. Elizabeth wasn’t working today so we were all going on an adventure that Dale had planned out. It was a gloriously warm, sunny day. All 7 of us went in E&D’s Mazda 7 with Elizabeth driving us to our first stop - Otway Fly Treetop Adventure, approx 90 minutes away at Ferguson. The treetop walk is 600m in length and varies in height around 25-35m above ground, but still below the canopy of many of the trees. The native Australian Mountain Ash grows over 100m high. The walk has a steel mesh floor so that you can see through it. Partway around is a 47m high spiral tower that swayed gently. There was also a cantilever section that ran out about 30m to a viewing area. This was only supported by two cables back to a structural mast. I went down to the end with Charlotte who decided it made a great trampoline, bouncing up and down as she jumped. Fortunately, she stopped when I asked her to. As a child I wasn’t frightened of heights but, as I have grown older, I have found that I don’t like them. I have a nagging curiosity about what would happen if I jumped. I’m told that it’s not uncommon. I also have an imagination of all of the events that could lead to whatever I am on collapsing etc. Last time we were in Oz, I cut a walk in the Blue Mountains short, because the path was along a sheer drop of many hundred feet. Yes, there was a wire fence, but that was not sufficient for me. Since then I have endeavoured to overcome my fear “Fear is temporary, regret is permanent” and yes I do regret not continuing along that path in the Blue Mountains. I was proud of myself after completing the treetop walk, but I wonder how far I can push this new-found braveness.

    The kids thought it was time for lunch, but Dale’s plan was a few km drive to Triplet Falls and a walk to see the waterfall.

    The 600-metre-long Otway Fly Tree Top walk is a cleverly designed series of lightweight steel trusses built on steel pylons.
    It is built to provide an elevated walk through the magnificent Myrtle Beech rainforest and Mountain Ash eucalyptus forest.
    Situated on 225 acres of what was previously used for logging and farming. The 47-metre high spiral tower is only half the height of the trees that originally grew here, As a viable alternative to tree harvesting it has paid for itself many times over, as well as providing a wonderful and educating nature experience for visitors from all over the world. Many times the timber value of these forests has already been generated while preserving nature in all its glory.
    The Fly opened in September of 2003. By January 2010 over two million "feet" will have walked over the Otway Fiy.    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia Sept-Dec 2023
    Day 9

    Tree Planting

    September 28, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    The day didn’t start well. Our 2L milk carton doesn’t fit in the door of the fridge so had to be put on its side on a shelf. Now opened, the lid of the carton is no longer watertight, or “milktight”. A puddle formed around my foot as I stood in the kitchen.

    Never mind, today was about putting our mark on Australia for generations to come. We had >400 native trees to plant. But the day started with scrambled eggs on toast with Dale and the kids, so much for free camping! Or maybe it was exactly that, free camping, free food etc.

    The trees were in trays and ranged from 2” to 8” in height. Dale referred to the tool we used as a “tree pig”. Essentially it was a 3’6” tube with a bore sufficiently large for the tree plug to go down. At the bottom was one fixed jaw and one hinged jaw that, when shut, was a bit pointy. About 6” above the base of the tube was one foot rest that I stood on to push the tool into the soil. There was also a foot-operated lever that opened the jaws so that, when the tool was lifted from the soil, the tree fell through into the hole made by the tool. At the top of the tool was a trigger to release the mechanism and the jaws shut ready to start the process again. A quick stamp to compress the soil around the tree and off along the row to plant the next. That sounds so simple and yet the reality was very different. I’m sure that the tool is ideal for fine, well-tilled loamy soil, but that is not what we had. I accept that Dale had run a tine almost up the entire length of the rows we were planting, but the soil was extremely compact in some places making it extremely difficult to get the tool down into the soil. Roughty-tufty Oz farmers wearing hard-soled boots who have hands of leather had a slight advantage over a pom in trainers with hands that have done little more than caress a keyboard since leaving home. Bun and Vivienne put tree guards around each sapling as we went along. After an hour we had some respite as someone was spraying nearby. Despite the farm being a few thousand acres, there is a trial site (for seeds) close to where we were working that needed spraying. We retired to the garden to make up some more tree guards, each from from two bamboo sticks and a 2L(?) milk carton with notches cut out to allow the sticks to be pushed through. After about 90 minutes we’d made a big pile of the guards leaving Bun and me with bamboo splinters in our hands.

    Dale and I had a chore to do, we had to fetch the fire truck from another part of the farm (I think all large farms have their own fire truck to sort out burns that run out of control and also if machinery catches on fire during harvest) and take it to a field where one of Dale’s workers was spraying a crop. The fire truck would be used as a water bowser rather than being there in case of fire.

    Once back at the house, we loaded the guards into the UTE and back off to the trees. Both Charlotte (12yrs) and Vivienne (9yrs) can drive the UTE although Vivienne’s foot is a bit heavy on the brake! Dale and I continued to plant the trees. I was assisted (?) by Henry who passed me the trees that were supposed to be planted randomly but Henry preferred a bit more structure. Bun and Vivienne put the guards around the trees and we finished as the sun was going down. Our (not very straight) rows of trees, each with a guard, looked impressive. It’s good to know that there will be lines of trees around, offering shade and a wind-break, for generations to come.

    That evening I had a shower in Bill to make sure everything worked OK (the van, not me), which it did, while Bun luxuriated under the shower in the house. Dinner, followed by marshmallows around the fire pit, put a load of washing on and off to bed.    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia Sept-Dec 2023
    Day 8

    Around the farm and about Camperdown

    September 27, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    I've already written this once and then it disappeared ... so this is an abbreviated post :-(

    Our first problem was that we couldn't turn off a set of LED strips without turning off all of our lighting circuits. Yes, a tiny single-room home does have more than one pendant light. Even in the light of the morning, I couldn't find a switch. I called the dealership who went and looked at their stock vehicle and told me where the microswitches are located - a new upgrade to this model. Why, when all of the switches and controls are in one place, would you fit microswitches elsewhere?

    Last night, the temperature had fallen to about 7C outside and 12C in Bill so we thought we ought to find a blanket for the bed during the day.

    We had b'fast with the family and then set off in the pickup (UTE) to check the sheep that were lambing and then check on the shearers. While lambing takes place in the spring, shearing the flock of 7,000 is done on three occasions during the year depending upon the breed of sheep and its purpose. Merino sheep are bred for wool and ewes fleeces can be up to 7kg, rams up to 15kg. If the ewe lambs and has a full fleece made heavier by rain, she can have a problem getting back up again, so they are sheared some months prior to lambing.

    After lunch, we drove off to Camperdown to try to find a blanket and other accessories for Bill. Camperdown, like so many of the towns we have visited, has so much to see (https://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/camperdown-vic). Prior to European settlement, the Kuurn Kopan Noot First Nation people called the area home. The first settlers in the district were John, Thomas and Peter Manifold who came to take up a 100,000 acre run in 1839. There are many references to the Manifold family - one might say there are manifold references ... :-). One of the main streets is called Manifold, they donated a hospital and a clock tower. It's easy to turn up in a town like this and spend a great deal of time wandering around and learning about its history.

    There is also a bakery-cum-coffee shop (Loaf & Lounge) that made us some lovely iced coffee and sold us a delicious malt loaf. Alas, there were no blankets.

    That evening we were set on being self-sufficient, but had no pots or pans so we just ate cheese sandwiches (Andy had pickle as he'd found a jar of Branston's) and an apple.

    The night was cold but we were toasty and we managed to get the lights to work, so not a bad outcome.    Read more

  • Andy n Bunny BriggsAustralia Sept-Dec 2023
    Day 7

    Arrive with Elizabeth & Dale

    September 26, 2023 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Sunday & Monday had been spent with Bun feeling slightly more unwell than she had been since our flight from Malaysia, plus trying to go shopping to kit out our new home.

    Bill is very compact, so every bit of space needs to be used well. When we bought Berth, we had all the kit and just needed to find a way to store it. With Bill, we don't have anything other than cupboards so we are trying to envisage what we will need to keep and how it will be stored. Having bought the basics (pillows, duvet, sheets, cups, kettle ... ) we decided we needed to go and camp to find out all the things we needed and all the things we didn't know how to get to work in/on Bill. The plan was to go to E&D's farm, park up off the grid and camp.

    We arrived later than planned, Elizabeth was still working, Dale had the fire pit roaring away, the kids were playing and we were invited in for beers and dinner ... not a lot of off-grid cooking that night.    Read more

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