blackpool Vic.

The weather has become rather windy and wet, so it seemed like a good time to go underground and visit the limestone caves in Buchan. Had to smuggle james dog into the reserve and bribe her with edible treats while we did the cave tour- an impressive set of interconnecting caves with excellent calcite features.


The previous night we camped up on the side of a small road near Buchan in order to get to the caves early and the severe gale warning maybe should have been heeded a little more carefully. At 4 am we were woken by bits of tree crashing down onto the roof of a rocking van and we had to decide whether to move out into the open and risk being blown over or stay put and risk being crushed by a tree. The trees seemed a more immediate danger.

With the weather worsening and the winds still wild we kicked free camping into touch and opted for a caravan park the following night near Lake's Entrance. This is a seaside town which had about as much appeal as a damp October Sunday in Blackpool. Ness, being a Kiwi, gets all misty eyed whenever she glimpses the sea or gets a mild sniff of ozone but I must confess to not being a huge fan of seaside resorts.

Sitting on a rock overlooking a sandy bay watching whales is unbeatable, but the down side for me is that unavoidable buffer zone between sea and land which is universally shabby, dirty, packed with architectural carbuncles and oozing tackiness, and Lake's Entrance had the lot in spades. It should be beautiful, a town port adjacent to the point when three large lakes meet the sea, with a 90 mile sandy beach but it fails miserably.

However as we had decided that for our own safety we needed a caravan site for the night we were in the right place, with no shortage of Holiday Haven Lakeside Beachside Ocean View Tourist Holiday Village Resort options with alpine style chalets and classic spa cabins. We parked the van between 2 sturdy wood effect chalet style cabins and availed ourselves of the facilities- mains water, electricity, clean spacious hot showers and toilets that did not need manual emptying. First night in ages that we have been able to heat the van, it was heavenly.

all creatures great and small

Now we are at the coast having followed the Snowy River until it enters the sea and have had our first views of the Bass Strait, the body of water between the mainland and Tasmania. Weather sunny and warm so great to give James dog a few long runs on the beach.


We camped in a large wooded site with a 150 metre track through a cutting in the trees and straight onto a sandy beach which we had all to ourselves.

The nightlife was incredible, as soon as night fell the possums were out in large numbers. We spent hours out in the forest with a torch spotting weird and wonderful marsupials. Saw our first ring tailed possum, a red and white creature with a long tail similar in appearance and agility to a squirrel.

The more common brush tailed possum was present in abundance, and they are certainly bold little devils. One climbed the ladder on the back on the van up onto the roof and kept peering in at us through the fanlight.



The area around Cape Conran has been involved in an intensive fox eradication programme and as a result many endangered ground dwelling marsupials are returning and populations increasing.
The long-footed potoroo and the southern brown bandicoot are being seen again in the region ( they are not found in many other parts of the country, and are most prevalent in this band of coast in Gippsland Victoria ).

We found a long-footed potoroo! They are about 1kg in weight with long snouts and dig under trees looking for fungi and small insects. He did not seem to notice us ( you can see how easy it would be for a fox to pick them off) and we watched him for about an hour digging about.
They look very like the brown bandicoot but apparently the tails are very different. Unfortunately this one had suffered an incident and had a scar where the tail should have been but we are pretty sure from its gait and colour that it was a potoroo.


We were going to travel a fair distance today, but called in at a small cove a few km from the campsite because we heard a rumour about whale sightings over the last few days. The main reason we are planning to follow the coast at this time of year is to try and catch the humpbacked, minke and southern right whales as they migrate to Queensland.

Within 5 minutes of arriving we saw our first humpbacked whales spouting very close to shore and spent the next couple of hours watching 6 or 7 giants breaching and playing in the bay. Not close enough for great pictures but with the binoculars we could see fantastic details.

So much for the travel plans-maybe we will manage a few more km tomorrow.




Ski fields to rare marsupials to whale watching in 5 days.
I love this country.

alpine heights

The ski season starts on the Queen's birthday, so we had a limited time frame to head south down the Great Alpine Road and climb Hotham Heights ( 1,862 metres) and through the ski fields before the snow started to fall.

It was quite a scary climb for the van, winding through the clouds and past all the signs warning not to pass beyond that point without snow chains ( forgot to pack them). When we started the climb it was 14 degrees, at the top it was 3 degrees and the Alpine Village was full of staff preparing for the start of the season. Views were limited due to the cloud cover.



We crossed Dinner Plain then camped half way down the south side of the mountain.The road to the camp ground was a steep dirt road and probably a little ambitious for the van, and all the signs warned 'dry weather use only'.We then lay awake for most of the night as the rain fell worrying about whether we would ever get up the slope again. We made a lucky escape and headed slowly down towards the coast.

Three days later and it was announced on the News tonight that heavy snow has fallen and the mountain awaits the first skiers.

God bless the Queen

It is curretly a bank holiday weekend in Australia- the Queen's birthday weekend. Feel rather cheated that we never had he equivalent in the UK. The huge wine district of Rutherglen on the Murray has a large wine tasting festival over the weekend and the traffic cops pick victims up like lambs to the slaughter. Random breath tests are common and on all public holidays there is a 'double demerit' system for traffic offences so 2 offences and your licence is gone. I was stopped and tested for the first time yesterday, and typically it was after a rather long and heavy night sampling the local wine produce ( Nug Nug camp...see later ) but it was well into the afternoon and I passed fortunately.

Before leaving he Murray we stopped in Yackandandah ( mainly because of the marvellous name). It is yet another cute little gold mining outpost but the buildings in the main street were very well preserved.I think the guy who originally built the store pictured below had most bases covered.



Beechworth was a town we were particularly taken with, claiming to have the best bakery in Australia, although Ness the pie connoisseur felt the chunky steak pie was seriously over peppered. Despite the pie shortfall, it has achieved the status of being on the list of places we would like to live.

Over the bank holiday weekend we decided to find a decent camp and bed ourselves down- we grey nomads resent the roads being clogged up with selfish working people coming out to the countryside and enjoying themselves. We headed to Myrtleford, another town which started out as a stop on the cattle run then progressed to affluence when gold was discovered. Since the 1880's the rich alluvial flats of the Ovens River were used to grow hops and tobacco, and although the tobacco industry is no more the landscape is still covered with old tobacco kilns- in true Aussie style, you can knock down any building that you no longer want but God forbid that anyone should consider violating a shed!


We found a great campsite on the edge of Mount Buffalo National Park ( camp Nug Nug ) and set ourselves up. A lovely guy called Paul arrived with his camper trailer and set up next to us and we shared a fire, food and a few drinks. He had come up from Melbourne and some mates were joining him the next day.
By 10 am the next morning camp 'Thelma and Louise' ( Paul's name, and we rather liked it ) was surrounded.


The guys unloaded their trail bikes from trailers, set up their tents, chainsaws appeared from each vehicle, 4 wheel drives and trailers were dispatched for firewood. An hour later trees were unloaded, logs were sawed, axes were wielded and there was an enormous firewood mountain. I swear there was so much testosterone in the air you could have cut it with a knife.
Great bunch of people, mostly 1st generation Aussies from Croatia. These guys know how to drink and enjoy recreational pharmaceuticals. The shortage of cigarette papers was not a problem- a Guide to trout fishing appeared and 'smoked trout' will forever have a new meaning to Thelma and Louise.



We will be catching up with Paul when we hit Melbourne.

linga longa

We have been without internet access for the last few days since we hit the Alpine Road heading south towards Melbourne through the mountains.

We continued east along the Murray to Yarrawonga- despite the tourist information beseeching us to 'linga longa in Yarrawonga' we did not do so, it is quite a large town and apart from being on the edge of Lake Mulwala it does not have a lot going for it.

Spent a night at the Lake Hume dam which is the one responsible for the bizarre looking Lake Mulwala. One of the guys who worked there told us that it was currently at 11 % capacity and this season there will be no water allocated for irrigation in the Murray basin, and that it was being preserved for domestic use only, so I guess that no rice will flourish this year. The reason Mulwala looks particularly spooky is that the level was lowered by 2 metres in the summer due to water shortages.

While at the reservoir we spotted 4 sea eagles all drifting in the thermals above the water- apparently they are flourishing there and someone doing a long term study has reported 14 juveniles this summer. Quite incredible to see so many of the massive birds together.



Beechworth and Albury had particularly fine post offices.

koala

We have left the Barmah forest with some reluctance, and are heading east along the Murray on the Victoria side. The weekend spent alone on the riverbank with the koala was fantastic, could have stayed for much longer.

more creatures

Spent another day here in glorious sunshine spotting creatures.

Below the 'superb fairy wren'

Another koala

A tawny frogmouth

...and spot the tawny frogmouth!