TUESDAY - THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD

Here we are on the Great Ocean Road as the rain drizzles down. It seems to be following us but the good news is that it didn’t start until we had set up camp for the evening. Tonight we are at the Wye River, about 20 kms west of Lorne.

The water temperature is cool but the locals seem to find it quite comfortable.

Our first stop today was at Torquay, coincidentally opposite where we will be staying next week. We then moved on to the famous Bell’s Beach where, because of the delightfully warm weather, the swell was very modest.

We spent the day admiring the spectacular coastline. Tomorrow will be similar as we head further west but with perhaps a bit more walking.

MONDAY - GOLD MINING COUNTRY

Another meandering day today. This time we meandered around Central Victoria visiting the goldfield country in the Ballarat Bendigo area.

We spent some time wandering the historical streets of Maldon, which we shared with a group of Rolls Royce vintage cars.

This afternoon we visited Carman’s Tunnel, a gold mine near Maldon which last produced ore in 1926 and learnt a little of central Victoria gold mining history.

We have now joined up with Bernie and Colleen at Smythesdale.

Tomorrow the Great Ocean Road.

SUNDAY - A RETURN TO THE WARM COUNTRY

Another driving day today so little to report. We awoke this morning to a nice crisp cold mountain morning. It was 11 degrees when we finally got going so it would have been substantially lower than that when we got up. Once we got out of the mountains, the temperature increased considerably to a maximum of 31 degrees.

We are now at Seymour, a town just off the Hume Highway about 100kms north of Melbourne. We have been caught by surprise in that tomorrow is a public holiday in Victoria so all the parks are full but we were able to get an unpowered site in a park here on the banks of the Goulburn River so Trish can catch up with some washing and I can refill the water tanks and dry out our wet gear after two successive wet nights.

We spent the morning meandering along the Alpine Way, a road considered unsuitable for caravans. There was nothing unsuitable about it so perhaps that’s a winter concern.

Tomorrow we will head west from here to the Ballarat area before heading to the Great Ocean Road on Tuesday after the long weekend campers have left. We expect to link up with Bernie and Colleen tomorrow evening for a few days.

SATURDAY - KOSCIUSZKO CONQUEST

We made it! Along with hundreds of others, we celebrated Hannah’s 7^th birthday by doing the 6 km walk from the top of the Kosciuszko Express Chairlift to the summit of Kosciuszko from where we rang Hannah to wish her HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH.  Fortunately the people were spread out along the trail so there weren’t too many in any one spot.

Obviously we had to take the obligatory photos.

Most of the trail is an elevated steel walkway which snakes off into the distance. The photos below tell the story. As you would expect, it is uphill most of the way but the walk back was really nice. At the top of the chairlift, the altitude is 1937 metres. At the top of Kosciuszko, the altitude is 2228 metres so the climb over 6 kms is approximately 300 metres.

We were right at the head waters of the Snowy River but didn’t see the Man. His horses were grazing on the high country though.

This building is not an air raid shelter. It’s the toilet block located at Rawson’s Pass, just below the final climb to the summit.

We were very fortunate with the weather in that we had a mainly clear sky for most of the day but, as I sit under the awning typing this, the thunder is rumbling and the rain is falling gently. We made it home and had a nice warm shower before the rain started but the temperature is now plummeting as it does in this part of the world. It’s time to open a bottle of wine.

Tomorrow we head through the mountains into Victoria and start heading for the Great Ocean Road.

FRIDAY - MOUNTAIN COUNTRY

Well here we are comfortably settled at the Thredbo Diggings Campground on the banks of the Thredbo River a few kilometres from Thredbo. The togs and towels hanging on the back of the van are still drying from yesterday morning’s surf at South West Rocks. We won’t be doing any swimming here but the view from our campsite is very pleasant.

This afternoon we drove up to Charlotte Pass being one of the two spots from which one can do the Kosciusko walk. The photo is a shot taken of the peak of Kosciusko from about 10 kms away and you can just make out three people standing beside the monument at the top (at least I can in the magnified version).

Tomorrow we intend to do the walk from Thredo. The return trip is 12 kms rather than 20 kms from Charlotte Pass and you start from the top of the Thredbo chairlift so there is a lot less climbing to do.

The temperature is dropping. Time to put my jeans on.

THURSDAY - ON THE ROAD

Very little to report tonight. After a two hour walk on the beach and a delightful surf, we packed up and hit the road. Most of the day was spent on four lane road, some of it with a 110 k speed limit.

Tonight we are at Goulburn, planning to be camping somewhere near Thredbo tomorrow night. The interesting stuff should then resume.

WEDNESDAY - A BEACH DAY

It’s a tough life but somebody has to do it. Today was a perfect beach day. We went for a long walk before breakfast along the very scenic coastal ridge and back through a moist coastal forest.

After breakfast, we went for a surf, certainly the best surf I have had this summer and perhaps the best for a number of summers. After organizing our seafood for dinner, having lunch and the obligatory snooze, we went exploring and found Smoky Cape Lighthouse and followed some challenging 4WD tracks to find Gap Beach, strategically placed between two headlands. The car is no longer as clean as it was when we left home.

We followed that with another surf and am now enjoying our wine and oysters. I am about to fire up the stove to cook our lemon peppered prawns.  As I said, it’s a tough life.

As one would expect in a National park, we encountered plenty of wildlife including two Tawny Frogmouths which live above our heads. They are obviously nocturnal (being members of the owl family) in that they have not moved all day.

Tomorrow, after our morning surf, we will be  heading south towards Kosciusko although we don’t expect to get that far in one day. That’s the next destination where we intend to spend a couple of nights.