Tambourine Mountain

From Movie World I camped the night at Fantasy Island Caravan Park.  The next day drove into the hills to Tambourine Mountain.  It's a holiday mountain town, and the best way I can describe it (for Melbourne friends) is like Olinda at Mt Dandenong.  A beautiful area, even if the hills were somewhat taxing on the van (back to 2nd gear on occassions).  I dropped into the Mt Tambourine Art and Craft show and picked up a gift for Sean & Nikki (more on that in a later post).  I then drove to the Mt Tambourine Rainforest Skywalk.   It's a beautiful walk through lush rainforest (funny about that), that has several sections of the walk elevated off the ground and in the canopy of the trees.  The cantilevered section was particularly scary, as it moves quite a bit when you walk on it (so much so there are signs saying no jumping or running), and the base is metal grid so you can see all the way to the ground.

Here's a LINK to some other photos from that area, including one the bugs that landed in my van the night before.

Movie World

From Currumbin I decided to see Movie World the next day.  So I found a caravan park (very nice one indeed) literally across the highway from Movie World.  The owners of the park had spent about 1.5 million redeveloping the pool area, and it was magnificent - resort style pool with water slide, spa, kids pool, and a cafe serving snacks, meal and drinks to the pool area.  I went for a swim at dusk and the sunset was fantastic.  As I was floating around in the pool watching the sunset, I noticed first one, then a couple, then hundreds of bats (flying foxes) headed west.  It was as though someone had left the "bat light" on at Movie World !!

Movie World is the typical theme park - a few rides (I don't do rides), some shows and plenty of stores selling themed merchandise.  The two highlights for me were the Ice Age 4D film - a 3D film with moving seats and a couple of other effects.  For some reason, I really like these type of shows.  The second highlight was the stunt car show with real stunt cars chasing each other (and the "baddies") around on a tarmac track.

I also ran into a friend and his family, from CGU.  Thanks to Facebook, I saw that they were in town, but wasn't expecting to see them - nice suprise.

Here's a LINK to a few more photos and video from Movie World.

Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary

After a long day at Sea World, I drove south to Burleigh Heads (couple of photos in the Sea World Set) and then found a caravan park at Miami.  It's really interesting how some caravan parks have a certain "vibe" about them - this one had very few families with kids, but was full of retiries and a fair proportion of permanents - quite an old group.  This wasn't a bad thing, as the park was pretty quite at night.  As the sun was going down and it was getting cooler (ie 25c instead of 30c), I went for a swim.

The next day I drove a little further south to Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary.  It's a bit like Healseville Sanctuary, possibly a bit bigger.   I do have vague recollections of going there as a kid on one of the family holidays.
They had lots of wildlife to look at, along with a few shows, however there were too highlights for me.  Firstly was getting a photo taken holding Lane the Koala (see shot below), and secondly was the massive storm that rolled through - it just got darker and darker until the skys openned up and we got a huge downpour. Thanks to the rain radar app on my phone I saw the storm coming, so I found some cover, unlike quite a few others at the park including a school group (what's the collective noun for a group of soaked school kids?).  I happened to be near the Tree Kangaroos at the time, and they appeared to be loving it - all out in the rain, none of them back in their huts.

Lane was very cute and cuddly, and took a great liking to the shiny buttons on my shirt.  In this shot she seems to be saying "I wish I could be as furry as you".

Once again, there are a few videos in this set, so I'm providing a LINK to the set itself, rather than a slideshow.

Sea World

It may sound a bit jaded, but having seen a couple of other Sea Worlds in the US, "Sea World is Sea World". What can I say - lots of performing aquatic mammals, well presented shows, and of course the obligatory screaming kids - and a few screaming adults for good measure.  However I must say, there are always lots of good photo ops.  It was a warm day, and there was lots of walking to do, so I resisted the urge to take the "big" camera, so all the shots you see were taken with my G1X - it's performing quite nicely for a compact camera.

For those with limited download capacity, please be aware that this set of photos contains quite a lot of videos. But with the shows being quite dynamic, it was the best way to capture the action.

Here's a LINK to the other photos and videos (this directly to the Set, not a slideshow, so you can pick which videos you want to watch).

NOTE: a couple of the shots in this set (the ones with grass/sea/landscape), are actually of Burleigh Heads, which is where I drove to after visiting Sea World. 

Surfers Paradise

From Byron I travelled up the coast (suprise, suprise) to Surfers Paradise.  Although it was late in the day, I thought I'd get my bearings for Sea World, so I drove out onto the spit near Main Beach.  Having found Sea World, I also noted in the Wiki Camps App that some people had camped on the end of the spit, even though it was only a park.  I drove out, and although the road out and back was sealed, the further I went out, the sandier the side of the roads got - I was beginning to think I'd never turn the van around.  I found what looked like a boat ramp of sorts, and that area was firm enough to turn the van around so I parked it to take in the views of Surfers, along with the sunset (see below).   Although it may have been a great place to camp (and also pretty quite), I really needed a shower and a chance to prepare for Sea World the next day, so I drove back to a caravan park near Main Beach.

And here's a LINK to a couple of other shots of the sunset.

Byron Bay and Crystal Castle

From Ballina I passed through Byron Bay on my way to the Gold Coast. Even though school holidays had finished it was still pretty busy, however not as many cheesecloth wearing Volkswagen driving hippies as I expected (I guess they are all in Nimbin). Angela - no chance to use my weed purse yet. 

I drove/walked up to the lighthouse at Cape Byron from which spectacular views of Byron and the surrounding hunter land were had. It is also the most Easterly point in Australia which means I now knocked off two of Australia's extremes (the other being Wilson's Prom - most southerly point of Australia on the mainland).  I wasn't planning on going to Cape York, but this does put some pressure on trying to get to the Northely most point.  However I think the "westerly most point" might need to wait for another trip. 

I also travelled out the back of Byron to a place called the Crystal Castle. It has an interesting history, starting off as a no compromise castle style building built on the intersection of magnetic lay lines, but the "no compromise" bit meant the original owners went broke. It was the.bought by the King family who had a vision to turn it into a type of spiritual retreat. Although it has no specific ties to any particular religion, there is a strong Buddhist focus to the extent that it has been visited by the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Monks have agreed to the construction of a Stupor in the name of world peace. There are beautiful gardens with magnificent stone sculptures of deities of various world religions, along with a large number of crystals, precious stones and geodes.  It was interesting that having walked the labyrinth (based on the one at Chatres Cathedral), I had a strong sense that my journey was just beginning (the last three and a half weeks have just been a warm up).   Beautiful afternoon all 'round. 

Pictures to follow, once I upload them to Flickr. 

And now for something completely different, I'm off to Sea World...

22/10/2012 - Sorry for the delay, here's a LINK to a slideshow of the Byron and Crystal Castle Photos.

Ballina and Lennox Head

From Coffs Harbour I drove north to Ballina to kick back for a few days.  I hired a cabin at Lakeside Caravan Park for a few days so that I could watch the Bathurst 1000, as well as the Japanese F1 GP.  The cabin was fantastic - right on the water - and I could walk out the front 15m and fish.  

LINK to other shots.

I also popped up to Lennox Head where the surf was pretty massive.

LINK to other shots from Lennox Head.

Oh, and on the way into Ballina I came across The Big Prawn - altough the site it is on was derlict so I'm not sure what it was advertising.

Coffs Harbour

While in Coffs Harbour I did a spot of fishing, walked up Mutton Bird Island, went to the Pet Porpoise Pool (Marine Magic), The Big Bannana and also the South Solitary Aquarium.  I also managed to get some late afternoon surfing photography in.  While at Marine Magic, aside from the Dolphin and Seal shows, I also saw a reptile show being put on my Steve McEwan.

LINK to slideshow of other shots from Cofs Harbour.

Waterfall Way

From Armidale, I headed towards Coffs Harbour via The Waterfall Way.  Due to the volcanic nature of this area, and the structure of the basalt, there are many waterfalls in the area (as the name suggests).

I didn't see all of them, but saw the major ones including Ebor and Dangar near Dorrigo.   I also dropped into the Rainforest Sky Walk - which was great except for the biting March Flys (and when I say biting - I mean they drew blood!!!).   

Here's a LINK to a slideshow of other photos from Waterfall Way.

Armidale

Nothing to see here, move on please ...

BOTH types of music...

...Country AND Western.  

From Port Maquarie I headed inland to Tamworth.  Crossing the Great Dividing Range was a challenging drive, and about a third of it going up was done in 3rd gear, however the van did well - no overheating (yay).

I was about 9 months too late (or 3 months too early) to see the Country Music Awards, but there is still quite a lot of "Country" to see in Tamworth.  The giant Golden Guitar and wax museum, the Country Music Museum, the "hands", the "busts", along with the plaques for the Roll of Renown winners.  

It would appear that a taste for Country music is genetic and is only passed on in the male genes within the Peers family.  I have cousins who are truck drivers who love it, Dad likes it and now I like it.  But Mum and Jen - not so much (understatment).   Growing up, there was one country album in the house that I remember, and that was by Reg Lindsay. My favourite track on the album was "King of the road" - this was my introduction to Country Music, and I still like the track to this day.... "Trailer for sale or rent, rooms for let 50c...".

An unexpected bonus in Tamworth was the Power Museum.  Tamworth was one of the first towns to have electified lights in the town streets, and subquently in houses in NSW, and a museum has been put together in the building where the first generator was run.  There are two semi-portable steam powered generators on site, and these get fired up a couple of times a year for demonstrations.  Although only small, the museum has a great display of old electical gear and appliances, and has an especially good display showing the evolution of electricity from the creation of the idea by the Greeks through to the contributions made by Volta, Faraday, Ohm etc.  As an (ex) Electical Engineer I was in seventh heaven.   The museum is run by volunteers, most of whom are retired electricians or electrical engineers.  One guy gave me a personal tour of museum and we soon found out we had something in common - Melbourne.  He was an engineer down there working in the electicity industry.  I found out more about the history of electicity in Melbourne (including the old cable based trams) than I had while living there!!!  

Here's a LINK to further photos from Tamworth. 

Port Macquarie

From Nelson Bay (Port Stephens), I travelled to Port Macquarie to catch up with some friends. On the way to Port, I stopped off at a roadhouse near Karuah to see "The Big Ayers Rock" - one of the few "big things" I've stopped at on the way - although this may increase.

TIMBER TOWN

Just outside Port Macquarie, I dropped into Timber Town.   I remember going there when I was a kid, and it's no suprise that it seemed a bit smaller now that I've grown up.  It was still lots of fun and I particularly enjoyed the Blacksmithing and Bullock Train demonstrations.   They were having a bad day -when I arrived, I was informed there may not be any horse & carriage rides as the driver had called in sick, but the Bullock driver was going to attempt to run a couple.   Sure enough the guy took a couple of loads of people around.   However trouble kicked in on about the third run.   While I was looking at the church I could hear the cart approaching and then there was a huge crash followed by "whoa, whoa, everybody get off NOW".  The wheel had litterally fallen off the cart!!

 

LINK to a slideshow of other Timbertown photos.

PORT MACQUARIE & AREA

As mentioned, I caught up with Jeff, Tina and Family, and stayed for 4 nights at their house.   I had a fantastic time, reliving old times, watching the AFL Grand Final + BBQ with their friends, laughing 'till I cried over the "salami story" recounted by one of Jeff's friends.   (I might just skip over the hangover that followed.)

We also went on a road trip and picinic on Monday, which included some fantastic locations like Diamond Head camping area, North Brother from where magnificent vistas can be had (see below), and then on to Ellenborough Falls - which are the 2nd highest falls in the southern hemisphere.   They were all great sites (and sights) and as the saying goes "a good time was had by all".

I was also treated to a Sunday roast, which was delicious and something that I'm unlikely to get while I'm on the road, so it was greatly appreciated.

I think I may have created a monster (or several monsters), after showing the kids a game on the iPad called Machinarian - they all became addicted, and it looks like Jeff is going to have to buy it - sorry Jeff !!!

LINK to slideshow of other shots from around Port Macquarie.

Shark and Stingray Feeding

Today I got into several wading pools and was able to feed several types of shark and stingray, including a 300Kg  Ray.    Absolutely awesome experience.  

Here's me feeding one of the "smaller" Rays:

This is not me (I got in later), but it's to show you the size of the big Ray:

And here's a LINK to a few more photos and don't forget to watch some of the videos that I took underwater.

Williamtown RAAF base and Port Stephens

From Dee Why I began making my way up the coast.  I was looking for a spot on the map about 1/2 way between Sydeny and Port Maquarie to stop - I decided to look in the area around Port Stephens.   Along the way, I noticed a sign to Williamtown RAAF base, and wondered if they would have some sort of display or museum there.  Sure enough, they have FIGHTER WORLD!!!   It was a museum of old, and some more recent fighter planes and memorabillia - as a fan of jets it was fantastic to see.   As a bonus, the RAAF base had quite an active flight schedule today, and it was like they put on a mini Air Show just for me and a few others - rather nice of them and their multi-million dollar jets.   This was one of those times when not having a schedule was perfect, because it gave me the chance to just sit on the side of the road and watch the jets taking off and returning from training missions.   There were a variety of jets including FA-18 Hornets and several trainers.

There are two sounds that nearly bring me to my knees in awe every time I hear them - one is F1 cars, the other is figher jets such as the FA-18.

Here are a few shots from both the museum as well as the jets on training missions.
And for good measure, here's a couple of my favourites from today...

After visiting the RAAF base, I then drove to the area of Port Stephens, and specifically Nelson Bay.

... and a link to a couple of other photos of the sunset at Nelson Bay.

I may have something interesting planned for tomorrow, so stay tuned....

Batemans Bay to Dee Why

On Tuesday I drove from Batemans Bay to Dee Why, just north of Sydney where I caught up with a work mate.  The majority of the day was spent driving (some of which was through the middle of Sydney - thanks GPS), so no photos were taken.   It was a tough day on the road, and what little spare time I had was spent recovering from the drive.   I'm still trying to get the balance right between driving, sightseeing and relaxing, but I think 200 - 300 km will be my daily max.

NOTE: I've added some photo links to the previous post, so if you missed it you might like to go back to see some shots of Mallacoota, Eden and Batemans Bay.

Mallacoota to Batemans Bay

Pretty much what the title suggests, I drove from Mallacoota to Batemans Bay today. Passed through Eden where I visited the Killer Whale Museum, then continued through Bega and Narooma.   Not much in the way of photos (if any are worth posting, ill add a link later). 

Late Edition...

Mallacoota photos.

Killer Whale Museum photos.

While staying at Batemans Bay, apart from a spot of fishing (lots of bites, nothing caught), I also went for a cruise up the Clyde River to Nelligen.  There's some photos to show for it below...

Batemans Bay photos.

I've started my trip

I'm on the road, travelling along the coast of Victoria headed towards New South Wales.  So far I've been to Lakes Entrance, Cape Conran, and I'm currently in Mallacoota.  Nothing overly exciting so far.

Here's some photos of Lakes Entrance.

Here's some phtos of Yeering River at Cape Conran.

I've only been on the road a week and I'm already sick of caravan park showers (some even have hot water, if you can wait for 15mins for it to come through!!!) and a very cramped van.   Hopefully things will improve.

Wilsons Prom

I have a thing for seeing wombats in the wild.   So I was absolutely chuffed when on my first night at Wilsons Prom I saw one shuffling around near the ranger station.  I approached it and took a few photos, and it didn't seem to mind me being there at all.   Heading into the evening, I thought I'd take a walk around the entire campground - which is actually larger than I expected.  Since it was off season, half of the campground is closed for camping.  As I made my way across to the other side of the campground, I noticed a dark shape in the corner of one of the closed camp sites - another wombat - wow 2 in one day !!!!   Then looked around at the next camp site - ANOTHER WOMBAT !!!! They were everywhere.  I stopped counting after 12...

The rest of the wildlife was amazing as well - lots of bird life including very friendly (some would say TOO friendly) Crimson Rosellas.  I also saw a deer, which is apparently quite rare.

The stint at Wilsons Prom was also a chance to try camping in one spot for a few days without external power - running off the house batteries only.  I'm pleased to say that all went well, which included running the fridge, the lights, charging my iPad and iPhone, as well as running the laptop for a short while.  It was also a chance to put the awning up for the first time.  It was fantastic to sit under during the sunny days, however I had to take it down during one of the nights because the wind threatened to rip it off the side of the campervan, or rip the side of the campervan off - I wasn't sure which one.

Lots of great walks were done - to Lilly Pilly Gully, as well as Squeaky Beach and Picnic Bay.   It's a fantastic spot, and I can see why they have to run ballots for camping sites during peak season.

Here's a shot of tidal river entering the sea, taken from the track just over the walking bridge.

During one afternoon, a wombat passed through my camp and given the way my campervan was parked, the read bumper bar was just the right height for him to scratch his back.   While he was doing this, the entire van was shaking - they certainly are strong little critters.   (So for Tom & Greg - I guess this means my entire van is a butt scratcher.)

Here's a LINK to a few more photos from Wilson's Prom.

P.S.  I've nearly caught up on my posts.  I am ACTUALLY already on the road for the big trip (posting this from Marlo), so hopefully I'll be posting shots from Lakes Entrance and Cape Conran soon - connectivity permitting.

Walhalla

On the way down from Wadonga to Wilson's Prom, I "dropped" into Walhalla.  They were in the middle of their winter festival, and have the town lit up at night.

Walhalla is an old mining town that has been kept / restored in it's original condition, with lots of old buildings.  There is also a mine that can be toured, with talks on the area, how gold was first found, and the effort required to dig the mining tunnels.
Although the town is tricky to get to (at least in a Campervan) with lots of windy, hilly, narrow roads, it was definitely worth it.

The evening I was there taking photos was extremely quite, and aside from a couple of locals that run set up and run the lights and audio-visual presentations, I only saw one other couple in the town.  It was actually quite eery to be walking around the town that was all lit up, but basically deserted.
That night i chose to park the van at the camp ground area (just a basic picnic area) instaead of driving back out to the caravan park at Erica.   It was very peaceful, and VERY dark, however the temparture dropped down to about -3 degrees, and with no 240V power for the van, I couldn't run my heater.  But with tracky dacks and a beanie I was able to keep pretty warm.

Here's a LINK to a few more photos from the town, both at night, and during the day from the track above the town.

Wadonga, Yackandandah and Beechworth

As a final test of the van, I spent a week on the road travelling around Victoria.  First up to Wadonga, for the Border RV & Camping show (very muddy).  This was followed by a couple of side trips in the area, including Beechworth, and then finally back down south to spend a few days at Wilson's Prom.

While in Wadonga, I stayed at the Boathaven Caravan park situated right on the Hume Dam.  It was a beautiful spot, and I took the following photo while sitting on the back step of my Campervan.

After seeing the camping show, I then did a day trip out to Yackandandah and Beechworth, to lovely little "old fashioned" towns, left over from the gold rush.   Beechworth still has many old buildings from that era which proved to be quite photogenic.

Here's a LINK to other photos from that area.

While staying at Bonegilla, I also took a tour of the Bonegilla Migrant Museum.   This camp was used from 1947 through until the early 70's to house virtually all migrants arriving in Victoria.  They generally arrived at Station Pier in Melbourne by boat and were wisked by rail cars up to central Victoria and dropped at Bonegilla station - which wasn't so much a station, as a stop in the middle of a paddock.   Reading many of the accounts from early migrants, they were extremely warey of getting on the train, and it didn't help when they were dropped in the middle of nowhere - they had no idea how they were going to be treated.

The old army barracks were turned into accomodation, but the basic structure of the camp remained - separate sleeping areas, ablutions blocks, dinning areas and recreation areas.  It wasn't the most comfortable for the migrants, especially in winter, but it was amazing to see how they adapted and improvised to make life a little more comfortable.

Depending on the work situation, some families only stayed for a week or so, while others stayed for months.  As soon as one of the family (generally the male) could get work, they would relocated to that town and settle down. 

Early on, the migrants were fed basic "Australian" food.  This was until there were riots and various groups within the camp won the righ to cook some of their own national dishes.

Although no where near on the same scale or seriousness, I had a small insight into what they were faced with when I moved to the USA with only a suitcase, and had to build a life for myself over there.   At least I had a job to go to and a little bit of money and could speak the language (although this may be contested my many of my US friends).

Here are some photos from Bonegilla...