Around Australia

Future Plans

robjwood — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:39:50 +0000

We expect to be in Sydney next week, and then a couple of weeks later Melbourne in time for Christmas. After a refreshing stay in Melbourne - who knows where? Thanks for reading, stay tuned for more news. Feel free to post us a comment too.

Rob, Clare and Olive.

Clarence Town: Spider Attack

robjwood — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:33:16 +0000

With some more rain overnight we were happy to pack up camp and move on. We headed out of the National Park, stopping briefly at some giant sand dunes, then through the tiny river side towns of Hawks Nest and Tea Gardens (a delightful name for a town). From the latter we spontaneously jumped an old wooden ferry which just happened to be leaving at the time we turned up. The ferry takes an hour across Port Stevens to Nelson Bay. At our destination we grabbed a bite to eat and had a look around the marina and main street of the busy tourist town. From back at Tea Gardens we drove up the hills to a historic little town called Stroud, which was owned by the AAC - the Australian Agricultural Company. A great town to spend a few hours in, but we only had one, before having to find a place to stay. We found a riverside park at Clarence Town on the way to the Hunter Valley, our next destination. For the third time in two weeks we found a huntsman spider in the van, much to Clare’s horror and now paranoid belief that they are breading in the van! Scary…

Mungo Brush, Myall Lakes National Park: That Dingo got my baby shoe

robjwood — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 20:30:41 +0000

It was a restless night due to the heat and the mossies that would not stop buzzing around our heads. Clare found a mobile phone next to our campsite, left by a weird lady seen lying next to our van late in the evening. We haven’t worked that one out yet, as she picked up the phone in the morning, blaming the dingoes for taking it. We had another cooked breakfast and started the day in slow motion. It is that sort of a place. There was drizzling rain for most of the day, which has been the case every second day now for about two weeks. We took a delightful walk for an hour through the neighbouring rainforest and to the beach. This location is great, but not overly peaceful due to the water-ski and jet ski action on the lake. The sun came out in the afternoon, and we were able to go for a swim, or some might say a bath. Late in the day we realized that a dingo had taken a pair of Olive’s sneakers - at least it was only her sneakers. We finished the day with a delightful walk along the beach.

Mungo Brush, Myall Lakes National Park: Lovely Lakeside Drive

robjwood — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:23:52 +0000

We took a short walk around the main street of Forster, and then drove south along the coast following the edge of the Myall Lakes. We had lunch by the river back at a little town on the way called Bulahdelah, next to the disappointingly small ‘Big Bass’. From there we took a mainly gravel road into the Myall Lakes National Park, across a river on a car ferry, to Mungo Brush campsite in the Myall Lakes National Park. It is located on the banks of a huge lake, with a great beach a short walk away. First thing we noticed was the dingoes hanging around, and we had previously been warned about snakes in the area – so look out Olive. It was quite a warm day, which we have not experienced much of lately, so we took a dip in the shallow tannin waters of the lake.

Forster: Unfortunate Big Oyster

robjwood — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:20:38 +0000

We departed Diamond Head campground in the rain, and drove back to the Pacific Highway. Our next stop was Taree, where we came to see the Big Oyster. We don’t know what it housed before, but the Oyster is now incorporated into a car dealership, and looks rather peculiar. Another 40 km down the road was the win towns of Tuncurry Forster. We camped by the beach and inlet, just a short walk to the main street and surf cultured town centre. It blew a gale non stop all day here, so it wasn’t very pleasant.

Diamond Head, Crowdy Bay National Park: Sun at Last

robjwood — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:42:52 +0000

Despite the forecast for a rainy day, we woke to sunny blue skies, and decided to stay here another day. We headed off on a two hour hike to Diamond Head and back, which also passed Kylie’s Hut, an old wooden cabin that was used by an author many years ago when she stayed and wrote about the area. We also saw some more whales and great views of long white sandy beaches up and down the coast. Olive loved patting the tame kangaroos, and has learned a new expression “k’roo poo’ after the advice not to pick up the little pebbles. An afternoon swim at the beach was followed by a cold shower. Most of the National Parks don’t have any showers, so it is better than nothing.

Diamond Head, Crowdy Bay National Park: Beach Kangaroos

robjwood — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:35:37 +0000

From Port Macquarie we drove south along the scenic coastline. Up at the peak of Dooragan Mountain, we had great views up and down the coast. After lunch there, we drove out to Kattang Nature Reserve and hiked the one hour Flower Walk circuit, which afforded coastal views but may have been better in spring when the flowers are in bloom. From there we drove to our accommodation for the night – Diamond Head NP. We were told conflicting information about the length of dirt road to the campsite, so it was an unknown entity. It ended up being only 5 km of rather tame gravel road. The campsite was worth it – plenty of lovely green grass with friendly kangaroos lazily grazing. One kangaroo was even found on the beach, much to Rob’s delight, as he had missed the opportunity of seeing that when we stopped at Cape Hillsborough a couple of months ago. It rained on and off all day, but it cleared for us to enjoy a stroll along the beach at sunset.