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East Coast Australia

February - May 2019
Travelling up the East Coast of Australia with our Campervan in tow. Read more
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  • East Coast Australia
    Day 2

    The Adventure Begins

    February 17, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Whoopeee. Our adventure begins. Loaded up the van, mainly with beer, cider and red wine... and hitched up the car ready to start part 1 of our Walshies Down Under Trip.

    Don’t worry, not every day will be an essay on r trip but do read on...

    We are driving our trusted Toyota Kluger Grande, a bit of a workhorse really, complete with kayaks on the roof rack.

    Our home for the next 5 months is our Goldstream “storm” campervan. We have mountain bikes at the rear and a whole range of creature comforts on board including air con. A 3 way fridge, oven, 2 x 60l water tanks, hot water system and shower, solar panel, TV, microwave, cuddly toy, and most importantly a Nespresso coffee machine.

    Today we set off and are heading to The Snowy Mountains in New South Wales. It’s about a 6 hour drive. We’re camping at a place called Thredbo Diggings at the base of Mt kozciuszko, Australia’s tallest Mountain. Great for bike riding and hiking.

    It’s the middle of summer here in Aus but Thredbo is part of the alpine region and yes, it’s a ski resort in winter so it still gets cold at night. Jen has her UGG Boots, they are well worn and have a hole in the big toe for ventilation.

    DRIVE: Melbourne to Thredbo (551km)
    So we’re driving up the Hume Highway towards Wodonda and almost ran out of petrol. Great start, we diverted to Barnawatha, it has a general store and that’s it and with 1k of petrol to go, we made it and refuelled.

    We Came through Corryong and purchased a National Park pass at Khancoban and took The Alpine Way (Charlotte Pass) through to Thredbo which gets steep, windy and narrow after passing Tom Groggin. The car and camper did it easy and the scenic drive with snow gums lining the road was awesome.

    THE CAMP
    On the banks of Thredbo River, Thredbo Diggings is a beautiful scenic spot which gets busy during Summer weekends but clears out during the week.

    Apart from bush sites for tents and caravans, the only facilities are pit toilets (no water supplies here, BYO) and fire pits for cooking in.

    We setup overlooking the river with good elevation so we could see down the valley.

    WILDLIFE
    Ducks, Kangaroos, Rosellas, Brush Tail Possums

    Sat having a Corona after setting up for the night.    Read more

  • East Coast Australia
    12
    Day 2

    Damper Bread at Thredbo Diggings

    February 17, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    2nd night camping on the banks of the Thredbo River at Thredbo Diggings. Woke up to an awesome view and the sound of Kookaburras as the mist rolled over the river and the sun glistened in the running water.

    We ventured on our mountain bikes and took a trail to Bullocks Hut. Jen managed to take out a few trees during our navigation through the narrow bike trail and we spotted a couple of bush kangaroos on our way.

    Back at base, just relaxing. Lots of Marsh Flys hanging around the pit toilets. They're never seems to be more than 3 or 4 flys but if you kill them all, 3 or 4 immediately take their place...!

    We made a campfire in the evening and let the wood burn to hot coals and placed my yummy damper bread recipe in a pot belly stove to cook.

    DAMPER BREAD RECIPE (30-40min)
    2 cup self raising flour, 1cup milk, a pinch of salt, walnuts, chocolate cherries.

    The choc cherries were kindly send to us by Jackie in Chicago. First attempt at damper and delish. A real winner.

    The Ducks have retired for the night and possums are scouting around the campsite for food and we spotted a platypus in the river during twilight.

    The days are sunny and warm but it can get quite cold in the high country at night so we have made hot water bottles to keep the toes warm.

    WILDLIFE
    Ducks, Busk Kangaroos, Platypus, Marsh Flys.    Read more

  • East Coast Australia
    111
    Day 3

    Mountain Bike Trailing 101

    February 18, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Day 3 of our great Adventure. There’s an intermediate mountain bike trail from Thredbo Village which passes our campsite at Thredbo Diggings. So we decide to ride it in the opposite direction to Ngarigo Campsite 9km return. How hard can it be?

    Wait a minute, it seems quite steep and unforgiving and all the pro bikers are riding past us at great pace in the opposite direction. Of course it’s a downhill mountain bike track and we are riding it uphill... doh!

    Jen went forwards and then backwards into a bush (see pic/it’s for real) and when we finally got to our destination, we were cooked (see pic of our bikes, we have both collapsed beside them).

    After a ham sandwich and a bit of a rest, we gamefully donned our bike helmets and traversed down the mountain bike trail back to base camp which was a hoot, so much easier, and not much peddling required.

    Needless to say, a dip in the river and siesta was required to recover.

    A quick storm passed and we lit the campfire to cook a pot belly sausage and red wine casserole in the evening. Quite like cooking over coals. Maybe we shall try walking over them next... it may be easier than mountain biking.

    WILDLIFE
    A Bush Cyclist...!    Read more

  • East Coast Australia
    2
    Day 4

    On Top of Mt Kosciuszko 2228m

    February 19, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Mt Kosciuszko is Australia’s tallest peak at 2228m and one of the hardest names to remember how to spell. Good job I have my trusted spell checker/wife to correct me.

    After a short drive to Thredbo Village, We caught the SIUKZOCKOS Express chairlift up to Eagles Nest to start our 13k return hike to the top. A bit windy on the way up but awesome blue sky and panoramic views of New South Wales and the Victorian Alps.

    In winter, it’s the ski season here but during the summer alpine season, there are downhill mountain bike tracks running from the top of the chairlift. The Mountain bikers are kitted up like armadillos and don’t seem to care about brakes as they fly down the near vertical tracks.

    Back at camp, I took my drone for its first real mission, to capture Thredbo Diggings and the magnificent Thredbo River. All good and landed the drone back at home base in one piece.

    WILDLIFE
    The usual suspects    Read more

  • East Coast Australia
    1111
    Day 5

    Snowy Mt Drive to PU a Possum at Bodalla

    February 20, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    “Moooving Day” today. and not just us...

    DRIVE: THREDBO DIGGINGS TO POTATO POINT (264km)
    We packed up early and hit the Snowy Mountain Highway through Jindabyne and crossed the magnificent Great Dividing Range which extends from Victoria right up to North Queensland.

    Our destination, Potato Point on the NSW coastline. Don’t worry, we will find out why it’s called Potato Point for tomorrow.

    En route, we passed Jincumbilly train station. You may be waiting a while for the express train, but hey, no one is in a rush in these parts, particularly the cows.

    We got caught head on into a herd of cattle on “moooving day” from paddock to plate... The bull took a fancy to our corr (sorry, car) and stubbornly took centre stage on the highway.

    WARNING... don’t ride a bike over Dalgety bridge unless you can swim.

    As we meandered through the high planes, we stopped at Pipers Lookout, named after Fred Piper, a long serving Bus Driver on the Cooma to Bega route (see pic).

    This is serious cheese and Motorbike riding country. “Bega”s famous for Bega” and Don’t blink or you may miss Tilba Tilba so please STOP. Central Tilba, the main part of this historic 1873 township is just around the corner and its where we ate lunch, visited the chocolate shop and stocked up on cheese at the Tilba Tilba cheese factory.

    We continued on to Bodalla to rendezvous with Possum (Jaime) who was travelling down the coast from Sydney by bus. The pick up went smoothly... as her bus passed us by and we chased it through Bodalla until it finally stopped. Like I said “moooving day”.

    CAMP SITE: beachcomber Holiday Park / Potato Point
    We are staying 2 nights at Beachcomber Holiday Park and have a fantastic site right on the beach front. There are more Kangaroos here than campers and the holiday park is very eco friendly, no power other than solar, no lights, bore water for showers and filtered drinking water from rain tanks.

    It’s great to have Jaime joining us on our trip for a few days. A glass of red, a piece of steak, a morsel of cheese and the family is right at home.

    WILDLIFE
    Lots of Kangaroos incl. baby ones, possums    Read more

  • East Coast Australia
    2111
    Day 6

    Why the Name Potato Point

    February 21, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    So why the name Potato Point you may ask? We took a photo of a rock that looked like a potato...! Alas, no need to load that one anymore after a little “digging”, we finally found the true answer.

    Potato Point is a village connected by road to the town of Bodalla, and surrounded by the Eurobodalla National Park. The Brice family grew vegetables and potatoes here, rowing them out to ships standing off the point for transport to Sydney market.

    Our car wouldn’t start this morning, assume a flat battery. Well not really, I must admit I had left the keys in the campervan and I spent a good while diagnosing the problem as the electric push button start wasn’t working. Obviously, I need the keys on me and had to fess up to Jen and Jaime.

    Today was more relaxed and nothing much on the agenda. We ventured into Bodalla and visited the Bodalla Dairy, Cheese and Ice Cream Factory. The girls played it safe with “let’s go camping” ice cream which was vanilla and macadamia with a subtle hint of smoke...! I went on a limb and got the “chilli and chocolate” ice cream which practically set my taste buds on fire.

    As you can see, we managed to take a pic of two real, live dairy cows. They breed them strange in these parts. I could swear they look like dogs...

    After a visit to the Bodallla All Saints Anglican Church, built in 1881, we drove to Tuross Head and found a cool and relaxed boat shed cafe with its jetty jutting into the lake. A very peaceful place to chill and have coffee.

    We have mentioned a lot about cows in recent posts so this is the last mention for a while. I spent the afternoon cleaning cow dung off the under side of the car and camper after our drive through a herd of cows yesterday.

    Pasta for dinner and a chance to teach Jaime a new card game, Blind Don. Look it up and give it a go.

    WILDLIFE
    I fed a juvenile Kangaroo some bread this morning and it bit my finger by mistake. Not supposed to feed them so serves me right.

    .    Read more

  • East Coast Australia
    21
    Day 7

    Jervis Bay, A Little Slice Of Heaven

    February 22, 2019 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 21 °C

    There was a power outage this morning. We had run the 100AMP Marine battery dead due to an excess of charging gadgets and the fact we have been on unpowered sites for 6 days.

    We were literally like Apollo 13 trying to power up the LIM and orbit the dark side of the moon before our next destination, Jervis Bay, NSW.

    DRIVE: Potato Point to Jervis Bay (172km)
    On our stroll up Princess Hwy, we took a scenic detour and then passed through Batemans Bay, a large fishing and tourist town. Further up the coast and another 54km, we stopped at picturesque Ulladulla for lunch, Flat Head and chips. Jen and Jaime restocked food supplies whilst I bought a spare Marine battery and refilled water tanks as Jervis Bay is also off grid.

    CAMP SITE: Green Patch / Jervis Bay NSW
    Jervis Bay in the NSW Booderee National Park is indeed a little slice of heaven. We are camping at Green Patch (site 53) which is right on the bay beach but it feels like we are in a sub tropical rainforest full of animal noises that we have never heard before. In fact, The Booderee National Park is full of native gum and 200 species of birds (raptors).

    The campsite is very private and the beach is crisp silica white sand that squeaks when you walk on it. Canpsite 55 is also a great big flat site for 2 families.

    Can you guess the Christmas carol me and Jaime performed on the squeaky sand? Straight in for a refreshing dip as we have had a warm summer’s day today.

    The girls heading off to explore the beach whilst I returned to “The LIM” for a siesta. Some folk call our campervan “sleepy hollow” as you will always find the male species of our clan in the camper asleep in the afternoon. Not unlike a Koala.

    Jen got quite excited as the girls spotted a pod of Dolphins frolicking close to shore in the bay. Jervis Bay is perfect for our kayaks as it is a calm and well protected bay. That’s our activity for tomorrow then.

    Drinks-a-clockses prepared by Jaime with cool beer and time for dinner, a nice fillet of salmon. Well that’s the day done, but what’s that weird scary animal noise coming from the bush. It’s seriously freaking us out a bit... like that movie... Jurassic Park.

    WILDLIFE
    Rainbow Lorikeets, Little Wattle Birds, Peacock, Walabies, Possums, Dolphins, unknown strange noise from the bush.    Read more

  • East Coast Australia
    1
    Day 8

    Walshies Dolphin Kayak Adventures

    February 23, 2019 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 21 °C

    Up early this morning and spotted a baby emu outside the toilet block. Maybe that was the weird and scary sound we heard from the bush last night. Emus are flightless but will chase you down if threatened so I was watching out for bigger bird close by.

    A good beach day today so we launched the Kayaks at Jervis Bay in search of the pod of dolphins Jen had spotted yesterday. The bay is pretty calm and well protected so it’s ideal for a leisurely Kayak adventure.

    We paddled up and down the shoreline but no dolphins to spot today. The Walshies Dolphin Kayak Adventure comes with no guarantees other than a relaxing paddle, great scenic views and a spot on board the vessel to hold your can of beer.

    The ranger at the station told us that a pair of peacocks had recently took up residence at the Greenpatch campground. I spotted one on the way to the beach as well aa a pair of rainbow lorikeets,

    There’s so much wildlife here and a brown swamp wallaby passes our campsite just before dusk each evening like clockwork.

    We made an open fire in the on site bbqs and baked some potatoes for dinner. Jaime was keen to try my damper recipe so we made a batch together and cooked it to perfection in the pot belly stove.

    WILDLIFE
    Baby emu, peacock, rainbow lorikeets, swamp wallaby.    Read more

  • East Coast Australia
    Day 8

    Huskisson, Greenfields and Hyams Beaches

    February 23, 2019 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 22 °C

    Its Sunday so after a big cooked breakfast, we had a morning stroll up the beach and back at Jervis Bay,

    We decided to drive to Huskinsson which is the main town for lunch and it has a great cafe culture. A local triathlon had just finished and the cafes were brimming with fit but exhausted participants. As you can imagine, the Walshies at least looked the part as we mingled with the athletes and competed for a table, a cafe latte and lunch. I think we have conpleted a swim, bike, run on our trip so that counts at least...!

    The bay beaches are outstanding so we explored secluded Greenfields beach, another example of white silica sand and the main Hyams beach.

    Back at camp, the little wattle birds were intent on swooping past Jen and Jaime as they played cards and sipped cider. Quite harmless fun as the birds dive bombed past from a gum tree, circled and repeated their aerial display over and over.

    After sunset, the possums came out and seem oblivious to the campers as they go about their night shift. A baby possum was hitching a lift on mummy possums back and I had to scatter two possums from our campervan roof.

    WILDLIFE
    Kookaburras, little wattle birds, possums    Read more

  • East Coast Australia
    1
    Day 10

    Cave Beach and the Shaded Kangaroos

    February 25, 2019 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    A lazy morning to start the day. I watched the EPL, Man Utd v Liverpool which was a scoreless draw so after the match, I retired to the hammock (hangermatter) for a morning snooze.

    After lunch, we set off to Cave Beach, an expansive surf beach on the coastal side of Jervis Bay. A sand lizard past us by.

    On return to the car park, a kangaroo with Joey had taken up residence behind our car, enjoying some shade from the afternoon sun. They were very friendly and completely approachable so I finally coaxed the duo away from the car. The Joey was intent on trying to find a way back into mummy’s poach but it was too big and had completely out grown the comfort of its first home.

    As we sat down for dinner, Jen spotted a red bellied black snake crawling out from a dead tree trunk. Pretty harmless really as long as you don’t get bitten...!

    The evening light was perfect as the sun started to set on the beach at Jervis Bay so myself and Jaime took the drone out for a mission ( see videos)

    WILDLIFE
    Blue bottle jelly fish, Shaded kangaroos, sand lizard, red bellied black snake.    Read more

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