THURSDAY – TOO MUCH WINE AND NOT ENOUGH EXERCISE

As anticipated, we did a wine tour today which was very interesting, both from a wine perspective and from the perspective of gaining an understanding of the Hunter Valley. While Cessnock started life as a mining town and is still a town where many people associated with the mining industry live, most of its mines, which were underground mines, are now closed and there is no sign of any mining here. The mining activity now takes place as open cut operations well to the north west of here.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a camera today so no photos again.

The wine industry around the Pokolbin area where we visited today looks to be in great shape and the country looks very healthy. We’re told that it is currently looking as well as it ever looks and that the 2014 crop will be a bumper crop. The wineries we saw all looked very prosperous.

The weather continues to be inclement and, as we head north tomorrow, it appears that we are heading for more inclement weather.

WEDNESDAY – ON THE ROAD YET AGAIN

Today was another driving day in that we spent the day driving in driving rain. It was a good day to be driving because it would not have been good for much else. Great to see the dry countryside getting a nice drenching.

We are now at Cessnock and have booked a Hunter Valley wine tour for tomorrow so you may not get much sense out of us tomorrow night. Obviously we will be here until Friday.

The webber is heating up. The wine is open. It’s a tough life but we need to enjoy it while it lasts. Back to the real world next week.

TUESDAY – ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Today was a driving day so no photos. We are now at Cooma having come here from Wilson’s Promontory via Sale, Orbost, Lakes Entrance, Cann River and Bombala.

We had lunch at Lakes Entrance where we were able to acquire some freshly caught prawns from a trawler. Needless to say, lemon peppered prawn entrée for tea. Lakes Entrance is obviously a place which warrants more time, preferably in warmer weather.

Even here at Cooma, the weather is appreciably warmer (but still cool) than the southern tip of Victoria.

We were hoping to spend a day or two at the beach on the way home but the weather forecast for NSW coastal areas is not the best so the Hunter Valley is looking like an attractive option.

MONDAY – WILSON’S PROMONTORY

Today was spent exploring the shorter of the many local walking tracks. There are long ones for the keen hikers who carry their camping gear with them but we will leave those for the long distance hikers. The coast is a mixture of beautiful sandy beaches and spectacular rocky headlands with an assortment of similar rocky islands offshore.

Perhaps the highlight of last night was a visit by two of the local wombats. They seemed very relaxed about our presence in their territory.

The above is a photo of Norman Bay at which the Tidal River campground is located. The campground is largely hidden by the trees but you can see a little of it on the left. As you can see, the weather today turned out to be sunny although we had rain overnight and a few showers this morning. That caused us to carry wet weather gear that we didn’t need.

The local birds continue to be as cheeky as ever. One of the rosellas landed on Trish’s foot as she sat on a chair enjoying a cup of tea.

Tomorrow we start our trek north. It will be a driving day as we head for somewhere warmer to spend the rest of the week.

SATURDAY – SUNDAY – PHILLIP ISLAND – WILSON’S PROMONTORY

We’re back.

Tonight we are comfortably settled in one of the 484 sites that are available for campers here at Tidal River being the National Park campground at Wilson’s Promontory. We are in fact in site 357 but it’s a lot better than it sounds in that there are relatively few people here it being Sunday night and we were able to choose a relatively secluded site just behind the dunes with the sound of the ocean prominent in the background.

We left the luxurious comfort of Torquay yesterday morning and returned to the carefree life of travelling caravanners. You will be pleased to know that I played really well at our last golf game at Barwon Heads on Friday but the Victorian weather defeated us in that we had a heavy downpour with two holes to play so we got very wet and the game had to be abandoned.

Unfortunately I couldn’t send a blog last night because we were at the Penguin Parade on Philllip Island which didn’t start until 8:30 so we were quite late home. I can’t show you any photos of penguins because photography is not allowed but, even if it was, darkness would have made for challenging conditions. Having said that, we were able to get up close and personal with the penguins among their burrows after they came out of the water. What I can show you is the viewing area that accommodated the approximately 2000 people that were there with us.

The last two days have been a mixture of the usual spectacular coastal scenery with significant wildlife viewing added. This magnified photo shows what you can’t see with the naked eye. Just off the south western corner of Phillip Island near where the penguins come ashore is an island appropriately called Seal Island which houses a seal colony said to be 30,000 in number. There were obviously quite a lot on shore when the photo was taken.

Phillip Island is home to numerous pairs of Cape Barren geese which happily interact with people and traffic.

We had a dose of culture in that we went to see Swan Lake with its numerous swans.

The local wallabies are very relaxed.

As I have been typing this we have been joined by two rosellas who are hoping for a handout. Unfortunately we will be disappointing them.

We will be spending the day here tomorrow and probably start heading home to a warmer climate on Tuesday. I am looking forward to being able to wear shorts again.

WEDNESDAY – A REST DAY

I wasn’t going to do a blog during the week but it’s Wednesday evening, we are relaxing in our unit after a long leisurely lunch at the Beachfront Pavilion at Lorne, 40 kilometres east of here. Today was a rest day between the two golf games we have had so far and the two yet to be played tomorrow and Friday.

We were all bussed to Lorne so nobody needed to be concerned about driving home. It was an idyllic setting in almost perfect weather conditions, looking out over the ocean.

I have been experimenting with photos taken from our room overlooking the Torquay golf course here at the very nice RACV resort. Strangely we are not playing here. The games are at Thirteenth Beach (2), The Sands and Barwon Heads. Fortunately I am hitting the ball reasonably well so, while we haven’t achieved a winning score, we have achieved respectability in the placings.

The format for next week is slowly taking shape. From here, we will go to Phillip Island on Saturday, then to Wilson’s Promontory, then to Lakes Entrance by which time we will probably need to start seriously heading north to get back to the real world on Saturday week.

It's a tough life but somebody has to do it.

SATURDAY – PORT FAIRY – THE END OF THE ROAD

Unfortunately we had to contend with wet and windy weather today so our sight seeing was a little constrained but not seriously affected. We started the day with Bay of Martyrs and Bay of Islands, the last of the seascape with the large offshore sandstone structures.

From there we went to Warrnambool where we were able to spend a good proportion of the inclement weather indoors at the Maritime Museum, its main theme being the large number of shipwrecks which occurred on this very rugged coast before the days of steam powered ships.

Port Fairy is a fascinating mixture of very old and very new with a great number of well preserved historic buildings. It would be a great place to explore by foot but the weather is preventing that.

No more blog now until after the golf when we start heading north towards home via Phillip Island and who knows where else. I hope we don't get any of this weather while we are trying to play golf.

FRIDAY - THE 12 APOSTLES

12 Apostles day today. We spent the entire day between Cape Otway and Petersborough where we are now camped exploring the numerous access points from which can get various views of the spectacular coastal formations generally known as the 12 Apostles. There are only actually 8 rock formations officially part of the Apostles. There were 9 but one collapsed. There were never 12. The name was just a gimmick to attract tourists. It works big time.

I had the obligatory helicopter ride. A great perspective. London Bridge looks very different from the air than it does from the adjacent cliff. Some of the pictures look a little misty because, although we had perfect weather, there was a large swell running and a lot of salt spray in the air.

Tomorrow we head for Port fairy via Warrnambool. That will be our last night before heading back to Torquay for the golfing week and a perfect end to a perfect two weeks.

THURSDAY - OTWAY NATIONAL PARK

Today was a forest and mountain day. We are still at Bimbi Park in the Cape Otway National Park but spent the day exploring a loop including a Californian Redwood plantation planted in 1938, Hopetoun Falls, the Beech Forest township with its spectacular views down both sides of the ridge, Colac being to the North.

From there we went to Triplet falls where we enjoyed a spectacular rainforest walk through the forest giants so favoured by the timber industry. After lunch at Otway Fly, we went via lavers Hill back to the beaches, firstly Johanna beach, then Aire River campground, then a very long and steep 250 metre walk to Parker River beach. We finished the day with a 1.5 kilometre trek along the Great Ocean Walk to Point Franklin.

A lovely day’s combination of great sights and plenty of exercise.

Tomorrow we head west to the Twelve Apostles (of which there are only apparently eight) and beyond.

WEDNESDAY - CAPE OTWAY

Our meander continues. Cape Otway day today. Unfortunately I won’t be able to post this until we next have internet access but, given that you are reading it, I was able to post it eventually.

Most of the day was spent at Cape Otway, the most southern point this side of Wilson’s Promontory. It is an hours walk from Bimbi Park, the caravan park in the Otways at which we are staying so, apart from seeing some spectacular sights, we also obtained some valuable exercise.

The wildlife here is very cooperative, very happy to pose for the camera.

The big lighthouse is a sham for tourist consumption only. The real lighthouse is the one pictured below.

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.