Our Australia trip

After two days being along the water and not having a way to nicely get wet or up a kite board it starts to itch. So we pack up and head east for the ocean proper.

We drive past rural properties with cows, sheep and alpaca’s, the latter being the most photogenic.

We stop in Foster on the way to ask at the Information kiosk for the best spot. Marjo gets lost in the gallery next door and while babysitting the bus and the dogs I spot people spending inappropriate amounts of time on the roundabout. They don’t seem like council workers or vandals, still they keep ripping out plants.

When I ask a couple that look like locals, they inform me that it is a council garden, open to the public. None of the locals go there but all visitors seem to love free veggies. The car fumes must work as a suitable herbicide as the veggie patch is prosperous. Upon her return Marjo checks it out and returns with basil.

She swears that by nature basil smells, but I’m suspicious that cats frequent this roundabout too and spray the wares liberally. I’ll have to keep an eye out for what’s in dinner over the next few days.

Then finally after 9 km’s of dirt road (just within our limit) we arrive at the campsite.

The camping is definitely bush, it is stretched along the back of the dunes, only has a drop toilet and has mainly locals. We find a nice spot in the back, not far from a couple in their caravan. We all like the spot.

Our neighbours worked out to be a nice couple from Melbourne camping for a few days. I helped him to fix a chair and we had some drinks and nibbles together. She was an author, Elizabeth Stewart and has written a nice healthy cookbook called “Nourishing your Heart and Soul” of which we got a copy when they had to leave.

The beach here is called 90 mile beach and for a reason. As far as we can look left or right there’s beach.

This beach is nice for exploring….

swimming….

sitting in the sun…..

and in the shade…..

and just enjoy each other’s company.

Of course I wanted to kite, even when the ocean was quite rough and had to settle for body dragging (fly the kite and get dragged through the water without the board).

Dotti didn’t mind whether I was kiting or dragging and was the perfect spectator.

On the last day we had a good wind and less wild surf (you will need to click to start the movie).

The straight on land wind though made landing sometimes interesting and a bit up to close for the camera woman.

The only downside of this camping were some creatures on the sand or in the bushes that made Nossi’s legs itch to a degree that Marjo cleaned his paws with medicinal wash.

There are three issues with staying longer in a bush camp.
1st that water runs out. With 100 liters and taking a daily ocean bath water stretches to about 6 days maximum so that was fine.
2nd that the toilet fills up. With a drop toilet on the camp site that problem was easily solved
3rd that we run out of groceries. The bread was the first to go, so I looked up a recipe to bake bread without an oven. It looked simple, enough.
Mix up some dough to a ball….

Let it rise on a warm spot….

Bake it on full flame for a while for a nice dark crust….

Oops

The rest was not too bad and we had edible bread for another day.

Marjo blamed the thin bottom of the pan for the burn, me, I put it on distraction watching performing artists.

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A magical stay.

Posted from Briagolong, Victoria, Australia.

Our direction is the ocean and having escaped any further branches dropping on the bus or us, we pack up and drive towards the east.

With the heat it would be nice to see the ocean, so we head that way. Ideally we would go to Wilson Promontory but as some genius declared that National Park, the dogs don’t agree. Luckily someone else decided to make a camping just on the edge of the National Park and hey, there’s even a bush part to it. To clarify myself, what I mean by bush parts is the following. Most official campings have a nice piece of flat land, they make trenches for fresh water pipes, electricity pipes and grey water drain pipes. Then they put turf (grass) over it, make neat fences, put up lights, a nice amenity block and sometimes even a store for some urgent supplies. People camp there joyfully, nicely in neat rows, parked back to front and gather for morning tea, talk about the weather, go fishing and at around 4 pm it’s time for drinks. They have the benefits of plentiful power, water and clean toilets and shower every day. Most have the washing out, some even put out pot plants and stick up the arial for the television.
Then there’s us…….we like to not do any of that. Of course, sometimes it’s nice to have a real shower and wash our clothes after a week of bush bashing. But most of the time we enjoy those campings where we can find our own spot, have shade, rely on our own power (solar), most times our own 100 liters of water and our toilet in the van (to complete the visual in your mind, don’t worry, the loo is in an enclosed cabin inside the van with a fold up door). Ideally there’s some form of toilet on the campground for the more serious business and to empty our toilet cassette every couple of days. These campgrounds are usually provided by councils; some are free, others charge a fee of around $7 pppn. In most instances they have a dirt road as means of access and, although not dirty, they are generally less well maintained; very rarely grass and not every camper cleans up behind themselves.
Some campings have smartly anticipated these two kinds of campers and have a full fee paying camping and at a short distance a reduced fee bush camping. Also at Shallow Inlet. They have fresh water taps (not at the site but at locations spread around the campground) and drop toilets. So a perfect choice for us.

The name of the campground has a reason and when we arrive it becomes clear why this is not a great kiting spot. Not only there’s not much of water apart from at high tide (which here and now is at 7 am and 7 pm), also in the deeper part every man and his dog has parked a little boat. I’m not a total beginner but kiting a narrow inlet and playing slalom around buoys and boats is asked a little too much.

Lucky for us there are enough things to do around the camp site and we don’t have to get bored. Funny that, we have not much to do apart from travel around Australia and we are never bored. When there’s no time pressures you can fiddle for hours with little things, read a book, play guitar, play with the dogs, have time to talk, practice art or play the Very Bad Game we got from Niki and Nic for Christmas.

It’s a fun game, but then I’m an easy judge; I love any game I can win. Ok, I’m a sore loser but enough about me.

We also observed the wild life around the bus. Many birds and a shy little porcupine.

Nossi was possibly even more interested than we were and when we spoke to him about inappropriate interest in the other species he was all innocence.

So Marjo took him on a long walk which settled him a little more.

Dotti meanwhile kept herself entertained.

All in all a nice stay.

Posted from Woodside, Victoria, Australia.

After the highlight of seeing the children and their partners it was somewhat strange to get back in travel mode again. It didn’t take long though and soon we were on the road again.

First stocking up on food and other necessities like a collapsible bucket (our non collapsible bucket tried anyway and suffered a fatal end with holes and tears), Keen shoes for Marjo so she can’t hurt her toe any more on her long walks. We also went to the vet with Dotti as lately she licks her fur from her paw. Seems that a grass seed lodged itself in her skin and found that fertile enough to shoot roots within her skin. Marjo had already pulled it out (and a second one from Dotti’s tummy) but the wound stayed infected. Dotti got antibiotics as well as a shield to prevent her from licking the wound.

The day got very hot with temperatures nearing 40 degrees. We shouldn’t complain though as Sydney reached temperatures of over 45 degrees. We were glad to stop at a camp site though, set up and do nothing.

Nossi got bored so Marjo and he went to explore.

Marjo looked up and found trees and birds.

Nossi looked down and found water.

Then while we sat outside we heard the trees react to the heat. Branches cracked and popped and first a small dead branch fell down followed by a big one that threw up dust.

With many flies and later some mammoth size mozzies, we decided to stay inside and create some airflow using the electric fan and only went outside to admire the sunset.

A hot but rewarding day.

Posted from Yanakie, Victoria, Australia.

We booked the camping in Werribee South many weeks ago, in anticipation of the flight back to Sydney. Els, Marjo’s friend, has offered to look after the bus and the dogs while we are away in Sydney which helped us out greatly. So we decided to book for 10 days at a camping just outside of Melbourne, easily accessible from the airport.

From Johanna Beach we take the remainder of the Great Ocean road towards Melbourne. This results in some nice shots.

We stop to look at a waterfall.

And a bit further to let the dogs cool down in an inlet.

Then we come to Werribee South where there’s a lot of produce farming and park on the camp ground and do spring clean (well, get the bus cleaned up after so much travel).

In fact we first went to Werribee for a haircut (Marjo), shopping (Marjo) and a bus wash (Dotti, Nossi and Axel).

It was not all work though, I managed to pick up my new bigger board and try it out. Works great.

Then it was time to leave the dogs for a few days and take a flight to Sydney.

In Sydney Niki picked us up from the airport and we went together to Joran and Christine who kindly put up with us for the duration. In return we did some garden work.

And cooled down in the pool.

Joran’s and Christine’s dogs needed also a bit of cooling down.

We felt very welcome at Joran’s and Christine’s, they got all our favourite foods, a nice room for ourselves and we enjoyed staying with them very much during our Sydney visit.

Then we went with Joran, Christine, Marjo and Axel to dinner and met up with Niki and Nic. Niki and Nic met while we were traveling and have been a couple for quite some time. We had heard all nice things about Nic and contacted him using Facebook but this was our first in-person contact. We had a great time and are glad he and Niki met.

Anja was so kind to shout dinner and for good measure we decided to taste their yummie dessert as well.

We all went back to Joran’s place for some drinks and a chat and it was a nice evening.

The Saturday was full with meeting new people. First we went to Nic’s parents, Rob and Willemine and had coffee and talked with Nic, Niki, Willemine and Rob.

Niki’s dogs Peppe, Flow and Envi were happy to see us after all this time and their enthusiasm couldn’t even deter the wild King parrots that visit the backyard.

Rob is a quite gifted musician and he showed me his guitar. I failed to impress him and he was very nice about it 🙂

Then it was time to dress up for ladies day at Nic’s cricket.

There was very nice snack food made by Willemine and other ladies and Niki and I fought over some of it.

Niki won of course.

Then Niki en Marjo went to a hippie shop nearby. Nic drove them there and had the good sense to not wait around. Two hours later he picked them up. They had a great time and got some nice new garments.
That evening we went to a birthday party of friends of Rob and Willemine. They had a life band and some nice food.

We had a great time, met many people of which we mostly don’t remember the name. It’s fantastic to see how nice Niki and Nic form a couple and Niki blends with Nic’s extended family. All a very warm and happy feeling.

This got even better when Nic proposed to Niki and she accepted. With Joran and Christine already engaged in December we now have two children who decided to marry their loved one. Oh what a feeling!

Back in Werribee South, everything went well with Els and the Dogs. Els had a busy time with running with Nossi.

And a visit from a friend.

When we returned we made some music.

Got some fish and chips.

And enjoyed the sunset.

A fabulous time.

Posted from Yanakie, Victoria, Australia.

The Friday was supposed to be very hot, more than 40 degrees and hot northern wind. Not the best situation to be deep in a forest with 10 km of dirt road and another 20 of bitumen to get out of it. We decide therefore to pack up and look if Johanna’s Beach is a good next stop.

Not everyone agrees with leaving this cool stream.

We dread the busy environment of the Great Ocean road but it works out that it’s not too busy. Our first stop is for fresh organic blueberries on the side of the road.

Then the scenery changes and we can see the ocean again.

The Johanna Beach campground is quite big and busy, but we find a good spot on the edge of a large grass field, not too far from the beach and not too far from the toilets.

The camping has a very high turnover; when we arrived the field was empty bar 4 groups of people, at sunset on Friday the field was full apart from the middle. It goes like that every day, empties during the morning and fills up in the afternoon. It’s popular because there are toilets, it’s not far from the beach and it’s free (where other campings charge up to $75 per night during this peak season).

The ocean is quite wild and swimming is not recommended due to wild waves and strong currents. So we keep it to bathing.

Kiting is out of the question, especially when we see delta wing flyers jump off the high dunes; the updraft of the wind could make a kiter an inverted parachutist.

With he temperature in the 40’s and the beach a bit golden the temperature of the sand gets so high that normal walking (even on slippers when the sand gets between your foot sole and the slipper) is too hot. So everyone runs for a bit and then when they can’t bare it any more stands still to let the sand under his soles cool down and build up courage to run the next bit of sand. Nossi just made a quick dash in the dunes and barely touched the sand; poor Dotti plainly refused and turned topsyturn so she was on her back with her fur between her skin and the hot sand. She had to be dragged and carried across. So they were really happy when they could cool their paws in the pools.

And then were content with their little tent.

Then Marjo saw a hat float in the water.

Until she realised that there was a bold head attached to it, cooling down under water.

The only others in the water were some surfers who love the big waves and if you weren’t careful they would go straight over your hat.

We stayed four nights at this camping; partly because it is not bad, partly because we are supposed to be in Melbourne in 4 nights and the campsites between here and Melbourne are all in National Parks, not open to dogs and partly because we have traveled enough for a (short) while.

During the last two days we met a nice couple, Jack and Mary who invited us over for drinks. Jack had built his own nice vintage motorhome in which they traveled for short trips. Jim (with hat) who camped on the other side of us with a nice slide-on motorhome also joined us.

Marjo and Dotti were pulling faces 🙂

The next morning Jack showed us how you can make nice thin bread in a fry pan. Something to repeat for sure!

Some of the days were very hot (42 Celcius), others were quite cool (20 Celcius) and some days there were not many flies where on others I stayed most of the day inside and for the rest with my head wrapped in a fly net. Marjo just took it like the woman of nature she is.

At night the sun set nicely over the water.

That was not the sign for everyone to quieten down though; this camping is popular with groups of younger people which meant that we could hear music, talk, dogs, laughter till well past midnight. Where if my head touches the pillow my sleep switch turns on, poor Marjo listened to all the noises. I’m sure that once or twice the thought hit her of joining in.

A nice stay.

Posted from Johanna, Victoria, Australia.

Lake Colac was not a place to stay for long. It was not only that Marjo was kept awake all night by a crying baby of a couple camping about 10 meters from us, or the constant flies that tried to crawl in every orifice. It was the feel of the camp site that was somewhat weird. Hard to describe but we didn’t feel happy. So time to move again.

We had many people comment that Johanna Beach is such a nice camp site and while looking it up we also saw the description of Dando’s campground which is on the way to Johanna. We decided to have a look there first, also because it’s still the first week of January and smack in the middle of peak holiday season.

The first impression is that it’s in the middle of the rainforest and it’s pretty!

Besides plenty of shade from the tall trees (which are Manna gum trees favoured by koala’s) there’s a nice cool stream running beside the campground.

Then we went in the water and it was about 20 degrees cooler than the air temperature. Glad that it was about 36 Celsius that day.

Dotti and Nossi had also a great time in the water.

The only real downside of this camping were the horseflies that particularly bugged Nossi and Axel and we were happy when the sun set.

It was fly bedtime and just to make sure we decided to light a fire and expel all flies and mozzies.
Nossi and I went out to get some wood and because he didn’t carry any wood, he was back much quicker than I was.

We light a nice fire, had dinner and a nice evening together.

A magical day.

Posted from Johanna, Victoria, Australia.

We said goodbye to Herman and Renate and made our way back over the rough off road track and took our time to get to the bitumen.
Then it was on to Ballarat where we would get groceries at Aldi and we found a shop that possibly had a new micro switch for our pressure pump.

We saw some buildings.

And waited while Marjo did shopping.

And waited on the vet to give new medicine for Dotti.

Then Marjo got cravings and gave some subtle hints.

So you can understand that her eyes got a healthy shine when we had to detour to pick up Dotti’s medicines and ended up at another vet next door to a Hungry Jack’s. You can guess what we had for lunch.

We left Ballarat with a full stomach, the ingredients for a healthy pump and new groceries and drove towards our next stop. We saw pretty clouds

Quick passing road trains.

Salt lakes.

And then we came to Lake Colac where we stayed for the night.

And captured the sun setting over the lake.

Then it was bedtime.

A nice day.

Posted from Johanna, Victoria, Australia.

Time to go bush again and we want a nice spot to celebrate New Year. So we try and leave the dry fields.

And swap them for the bush.

We set up at a great spot, next to the river (well pretty much dried up) with plenty of privacy.

Makes us happy.

Tonight is New Year’s Eve and because we will miss Sydney’s stunning fireworks display our neighbours create their own fire work.

Well, I mean work for the Fire Brigade. The forest around this area has been the centre of gold mining and quite a while ago many Chinese prospectors came here and dug man-size shafts (1 x 1 meter holes, many meters down) all over the place and our neighbour’s dog walked unsuspecting about 5 meters from the path through the shrub and went straight down one of the shafts. Because they’re dark and of unknown depth the dog owners had tried Victoria Parks and Wildlife, then when they couldn’t reach them they rang the emergency number 000 and the police turned up as well as 4 fire trucks.
They got the dog out in no time with a ladder and a slim fire woman.

Nossi did his own attempt in finding gold, but after a few scrapes he gave up.

That afternoon Marjo and Nossi went for walks while I tried again to fix the faltering water pump. The pressure switch has now died completely and so the pump is now either on or off with the tap always open. It has to work that way until we get a new switch.

Later we met a couple (Herman and Renate) that moved many years from Germany to Darwin and were now caravanning around Victoria. I helped them with some electric problem in the van and in return they asked us over for New Years eve. She made Boerenkool (curly kale) with sausage and yummie pancakes with peaches and cream.

That evening we celebrated New Year sitting around a big fire and consuming wine, beer and port. We rang the kids just past midnight who all had a great time at the Sydney Casino. At 4.30 am we crossed the river back to our bus.

The next day we took things slow, went for walks and had a quiet evening.

A beautiful stay.

Posted from Cabbage Tree, Victoria, Australia.

When we checked in, Lola told us that she wanted to go to church the next day and that, unless we wanted to go to church too, we might as well sleep in. No need to rush out of the camping by 10 am.

We oblige and get up slowly, take the dogs for a walk and fill up with water before leaving. The water pump in the bus plays up again and fiddling with the wires stops being the solution. Our next overnight stop means another repair. We have ordered a new microswitch (with specific dimensions that fits in the pump) but that is still on its way from the US, so we have to make do with what we have.

We’re struggling a little with where to go next. Every time we have a specific date (this time the arranged camping in Melbourne for the flight to Sydney) we are trying to plan the way till that point. That doesn’t work very well as we tend to stay where we feel right and move on where we don’t. Now we’re caught a bit between the dry dust and heat of inland Victoria and the wet and cold (19 degrees Celsius) on the coast. We decide just to move lateral as it’s in the high 20s here which is nice.

Our first stop is to walk the dogs and stretch our legs. Marjo poses in front of a tree.

And we decide that this is as good a time as any to take a “travel family” portrait.

The camp grounds that we find in this region though are very dry and busy and to us unappealing. Along a very brown river littered with junk, people are camped left right and center and a bit further along the same river where there’s a weir, the water is full with loud growling power boats and the dustbowl camping packed to the rafters with loud folk wearing wife beaters and with barking dogs everywhere. Minimum stay was 4 nights. Or none, which we chose…..

Then we decided to move south, more away from the dust and towards the coast. Our next stop would be Maryborough, a camping along a small lake.

Before we get there we hear the thunder of a big helicopter and think bushfire and indeed the chopper hovers to take on water from the river.

Then he’s off; there’s no smoke anywhere and we wonder if it’s just a practice run.

The camping is ok, quite busy but that was expected between Christmas and New Year so we stay for a night. We soon work out that today is the day of remarkable transport. First the helicopter. Then we see a soundless vehicle zoom past.

At closer look it works out to be a supersonic push bike that races around.

Then to our surprise a train rolls past, and another, and a third. All very loud. Let’s hope train drivers have read the camping notice of no noise after 9 pm…..

The pump signals by its quiet and lack of water flow that it needs a repair. This time I take the micro switch apart as well, clean it and somewhat mend the broken parts. Then fit it back under the bus. It seems to work, hope it stays that way.

With the hot dry weather more inland, our skin is getting drier and then calluses crack, so time for a pedicure. The good life.

Right before, left after.

For good measure (and to head off some comments) I did Marjo’s feet too 🙂

Then we go for a walk around the lake and meet with some of the habitants.

Some just escaped us.

We also capture the beautiful sunset.

A beautiful day.

Posted from Maryborough, Victoria, Australia.

That morning the bus shakes us awake. We suggest from earthquake to tornado but cannot find a reason ….until I look at one of the tyres of the bus and find this.

A bug (cicada?) shedding his shell. Ok the shaking might have been a bit over the top, but nice to see a rebirth anyway.

Now we’ve come so north that it makes sense to visit the Grampians. We hesitate because it’s a National park which means no dogs but with Nossi in his pyama’s and Dotti furless we think we will be able to wing it.

So we head towards the mountains.

Soon the road takes us higher and higher.

Suddenly we feel as if we’re in Switzerland and I’m afraid that Marjo starts jödeln when we see a car pass us with “Luzern” as license plate. Then my subconscious seems to get in overdrive and suddenly the magic lightbulb comes on and I remember that it belongs to Pierre, a colleague from Lawson, who kindly has offered to babysit the trailer when we are going to Tasmania in February. What are the odds, seeing Pierre here in the Grampians.

With no way to stop on the narrow winding roads and no mobile reception up the mountain, we leave it to some light flashing.

Then it’s time to enjoy the view. And it’s breath taking.

Then we drive to the McKenzie Falls which are nice from the top.

But even better in close-up.

We follow the road back down the hill and stop to let the dogs go for some well earned walk and play in the water.

And we find a very functional little camping in Murtoa on the lake. Lola, the very nice care taker from well past 80 tells me all about her life in Murtoa and the amazing Stick Shed and we have a nice stay for laundry, a swim and a nice shower.

While walking with Nossi around the lake there are some nice trees.

A beautiful day.

Posted from Murtoa, Victoria, Australia.