Day 77

18 April 2013

Joel's mum has put a request in for a blog about how we live each day in the van and where we camp etc, rather than just showing you all the great places we visit! Now I thought this would just bore everyone but apparently it's interesting so here goes...like sands through an hourglass, so are the days of our caravan lives..

Currently we are bush camping so the only facilities here are pit toilets (my personal fav) and bore water (which you can't drink). This site is right next to the beach just over a big dune so the camp sites are sandy and a bit of low bush around. Not real private you can pretty much hear and see everything everyone is doing but we have been to worse. This is a shot of the campground...

And this is how we normally set up... Our van has a rear door (unlike most that have a side door) so we try and pick spots where there is bush behind us and not people! We park the ute next to the van so we can roll out the awning between the ute and van to sit under if we want to.

There is also an awning on the back of the van but its time consuming to put up and it's purple (which Joel doesn't like) so unless its raining and we need the shelter for the bbq etc we don't set it up.

A typical morning starts with tea and coffee (like most people)! Obviously when we are bush we have no electricity so it's gas all the way here (fridge runs on gas when bush). Boil our kettle on the stove in the van for tea and dishes etc.

With no electricity we still need to charge electrical items like phones and iPads so this is where cigarette sockets that Joel has installed in the van come in handy.

These were connected to the dual battery on the car, we just plugged the car into the van via an Anderson plug. Now we have solar panels and a third battery so the cig plugs run directly off that now. Joel installed the new battery under the seat at the table and a volt meter to make sure we do not run the battery too low. It's also good to know what things really chew the power etc and you can see what volts the solar panel is creating.

Now you might be asking yourself (probably not but just run with it) how do you charge stuff that doesn't have a 12v charger? The answer.... An inverter which you can plug 240v chargers into and it converts to 12v.

This is also why we purchased a new tv...it is a normal tv but came with 12 v adapter so can be run on either. Saves power because we don't have to have the inverter running as well. Oh and it has a DVD player so Joel can now watch his 4wd DVDs!

We still have a little table where we sit to eat....yummy!

I still have to do dishes, washing and clean the van! So nothing changed there. At the moment we just don't have much room when we pack up, we put everything into the van on the floor which makes it difficult to stop anywhere for lunch cuz you can't get into van without pulling it all out. So once we pull up to camp we pull everything out from the floor as it is the stuff that sits at the rear door, eg table, bbq, etc. and whola we are set up. Oh there are 4 clips on the outside of the van that have to be undone and then the roof pops up... And now we are done.

On the flip side, we explored Jurien Bay today which is a pretty little town, did some fishing, tried to catch a blue swimmer crab with a rod, and managed to catch the sunset!

Anything else you want to know....just ask!

Carly & Joel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Day 51

23 March 2013

Today we were a bit slow in getting going, we haven't been sleeping all that well in our new beds, still getting used to them. We had a few little things to do in town, so did this first up. And while in town thought we would check out another attraction....a replica of a shark weighing 1520kg caught on a 24kg line off the jetty here! This is located in the shell servo in town.

Today was a big day in Streaky Bay! It is the annual race day! So we thought since we were here we may as well get amongst it. This however did mean pulling out nice clothes we had buried deep under all the shorts and shirts we have been wearing for the last 8 weeks! Also finding different shoes other than pluggers! And even putting a bit of make up on!

Courtesy bus picked us up from caravan park and dropped at races, good service! $10 to get in, $5 steak sanga, $7 spirits, $5 beers, $5 race book and we were ready to race! Now you know how they rate the track, dead etc. Joel rated this track, dead dry and shit! I would add dusty to that rating! There was not a patch of green to be seen but was still a good day out! The horses did resemble ponies compared to the big horses you see at big race meets and some of their legs were like twigs but hey they still run! We won a few races, lost a few races, came out even so can't complain.

Courtesy bus back, long chat to neighbours and we are out for the night.

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 42

14 March 2013

Last night we finally had a decent sleep, besides some drunk girls screaming their tits off, pretty good.

 

Packed up and headed on our new destination.....South Australia!

 

We drove from Warrnambool to Port Fairy, Portland, stopped in at Nelson (last town before border) and then crossed the border into South Australia! We are now settled for a couple of nights at Port MacDonnell. On the way into this town is a couple of little seaside towns which are actually like rural properties but right on the ocean! I mean cows eating hay with a backdrop of the ocean.... Guess I was wrong about seaspray....this is the real area where country meets coast!

 

Other thing I have noticed about SA is the sand is really white and like a powder consistency, very fine! So diverse to Vic that is quite course and a real terracotta colour.

 

There is not a lot to do here, few walks and fairy penguins which I am very interested in hunting down (hunting is probably not the right word!) Caretaker here informed us that whiting is getting caught on the beach at the moment with someone bringing in a 60cm one! That's huge! Whiting on steroids!

 

We have been a little lazy today and have watched TV for most of the arvo, I feel this is fair considering the last time we were able to watch it was almost week ago!

 

Have been throwing around ideas about where we are heading, we are interested in going to Coober Pedy but it is in the middle of nowhere really so if we did maybe we would cut straight up the middle first?! We need help, suggestions! Also working, where is the best place for us to go to source it?! We still think Perth at this stage but maybe you know someone or know something we don't know, help us out....contact us.

 

Carly & Joel

 

 

 

 

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Day 39

11 March 2013

 

This morning we got up before the sun to start packing up the camper for our ferry ride. While we did try and be as quiet as possible the neighbours probably weren't too happy being woken up before sunrise! Joel wound the camper down and it was about half way down when I realized that the front was going down but the back was still in full upright position! The roof was on a total 45 degree angle! Shiiiiittttt! We thought the winch in the camper had finally given way or something had broken, turns out a few wiggles and a few bangs later the back part fell to the fronts level. Haha classic Jayco. We were on a time limit being booked on the barge for 8am so luckily it did not turn into a big problem.

Headed to Sorrento and we were running early and made it to the barge at 7am and just in the nick of time to catch the earlier one so we didn't have to wait another hour! And we were on the ferry for sunrise which was nice....

Ferry is very comfortable, nice cafe where we grabbed coffee and nice lounges to rest in while the ferry does the rest.

Only took about 30 mins to arrive at Queenscliff, headed off the ferry on our way to the Great Ocean Road!!

Drove on the Great Ocean Road through Torquay, Stopped at the Memorial Arch for a photo, Angelsea, Lorne, Apollo Bay. What a great road, really, why aren't they all built like this! It should be called Great Scenery Road though I think as some bits do cut inland and you wonder where the ocean went but still spectacular!

Past Apollo Bay and then we started to run out of Diesel....hmmm in the middle of two towns we decided to press on to Lavers Hill as google indicated there was a petrol station there. On way to Lavers Hill we checked out a campsite at Aire River (probably not the best choice when running out of fuel) was nice here but was absolutely packed with people for the long weekend so headed back out on highway to continue to Lavers Hill.

Diesel getting low, but come up the hill and see petrol pumps....thank you....but wait diesel pump has a sign saying "no I don't work" and unleaded has sign saying "yes I work"! Not helpful, apparently pub down road might have diesel left......head to the pub.....doesn't look open, picked up diesel nozzle and there is a padlock on it! Panic stations, we are nowhere close to another town and we are on the red line! While we were sitting contemplating how we got ourselves into this mess, a guy comes out and says "you guys aren't from around here are ya?" He also had a key in his hand that opened the diesel pump!!! Saviour!!! He told us he rations the fuel as there is limited supply so depending on whether he likes people or not he will give them $20 of diesel or a full tank! Haha he filled our tank up! That was soooo lucky!

On the way up the hill we found another free campsite on the beach so headed back here to check it out with a full tank of fuel. Great spot, in Johanna, right on the beach, big open grassy areas, lots of friendly people around and it's free! Winning!

Spent the arvo setting up, resting, beach fishing and eating!

Tomorrow day trip without camper!

Big Happy Birthday to Rachael!! Hope you had a great day!! We did buy you a card but forgot to send it! So made you a card in the sand at Johanna, Vic....you can't buy this!

Carly & Joel

Tip we learnt today - instead of buying the chemicals for your porta loo, use napisan, it doesn't smell as much and you can then tip it into toilets as it is biodegradable! Great tip as chemicals are expensive! Thanks to two men emptying their porta loos or "dumping" (as it is commonly referred) while we were at the toilet block. You just never know when you might find out useful info!

 

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Day 18

18 February 2013

Was another chilly morning so we were slow to get moving again this morning but packed up and got back on the road towards Bateman's Bay. It is about a 4.5 hour drive from Oberon so we had planned to stop somewhere in Goulburn which is approx half way. I was hoping we may be able to stop somewhere near the Big Merino; however it was not on the road we were travelling and it is a bit too much hassle deviating just to see a big thing!

I had lunch ready and we had just gone through Goulburn and I noticed on Google Maps that there was Wakefield Park coming up on the road we were on, we were both busting to go to the loo and we figured surely a park would have toilets. We pulled off and turns out Wakefield Park is a V8 race track just outside of Goulburn! Joel was very impressed with this lunch break and they had toilets so I was happy! You seem to be able to just walk in and watch the cars and this seems to be a place you can buy one of those V8 experiences where you do hot laps with a driver or drive yourself. So some cars were absolutely hammering and others were Sunday driving (similar to the go kart weekend we had with work!)

We ate our lunch while watching the cars race around the track, it was quite a find! Unfortunately couldn't watch forever, had to keep making tracks to Bateman's Bay so jumped back in car and kept going.

Made it to Bateman's Bay and our destination Casey's Beach Holiday Park is actually in Batehaven (a little bit below Bateman's Bay) and directly across the road from Casey's Beach. I think we have done it again with picking a great location. The serenity again is pretty amazing, beautiful clear blue/green water, can't complain, and the park is really well looked after with a pool so plenty of places for us to get wet! And good news too we have now entered another coastal place with more coastal temps so it was a nice 31 degrees here which meant as soon as we pulled up we had to change out of our mountain gear (jeans and jumpers) and get into our summer gear again!

Went for a quick explore of BB, got some groceries, booked the car in for a service tomorrow and came back to camp for a quick dip in the pool.

Now we are absolutely buggered and going to bed!

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 17

17 February 2013

Last night and this morning was freezing, apparently got to 9 degrees overnight here! Where is summer, I am not done with you yet!

Off to Jenolan Caves this morning, it is about 28kms from Oberon and a fairly easy drive. There is a steep section down into the caves entrances which runs for about 5km and is very narrow road, luckily for us there is two entrances to the caves and we seemed to be the only ones using this road!

It is quite an interesting looking place and you can actually stay here in the accommodation. They also have concerts and a restaurant if you are looking for something different. There are 12 different cave tours to choose from all ranging in price from $30-$40. They run at certain times of the day so check this before you go if you want to look at a certain cave. We didn't really mind which one, the next one leaving was booked out, so we decided on Temple of Baal which is described on the website as

"The Temple of Baal Cave is renowned for its beauty and spectacular features. Although this cave is often used as a wedding venue, it is not a ‘temple’. Rather, the unusual name was inspired by limestone formations which reminded early cave explorers of the Biblical story of ‘Elijah and the Prophets of Baal’.

Visitors enter the Temple of Baal Cave via the ‘Binoomea Cut’ a long manmade tunnel. Then, they travel down the ‘Dragon’s Throat’, via a dramatic winding staircase. There are 2 massive chambers, one 42 metres high and filled with beautiful formations. One of these formations, the 9 metre tall ‘Angel's Wing’ shawl, is one of the largest cave shawls in the world. The cave also offers beautiful examples of crystal helictites.

This cave tour includes evocative light and sound, taking you back in time, to the creation and discovery of the cave."

We headed to our entry point and waited for our guide. I was saying to Joel how cool of a job it would be to show people through caves like this everyday and how there are not many jobs women normally do that aren't sitting on their ass so would be cool job. He thought the guide would be a man, but it was actually a nice young girl so there is hope for me yet!

The tour starts in a tunnel that leads to the cave, they then turn lights on slowly to show you different features of the cave. Well this is probably where my explanation ends, I am not sure I can describe what we saw in the cave.... Amazing, crazy, unbelievable to think this is a natural occurrence, silence was had all through the cave when each section was shown to the group, I think this is because no one knew what to say, what do you say, it's nothing like you have ever seen before! I tried to take many pictures, most of which didn't turn out as I made the mistake of taking the little camera and not my big one into the cave. With the lighting it was really hard to get a good shot and almost impossible to get a shot with a person in it! It was either just a shadow of your face or your face was ghost white from the flash and nothing could be seen in the background!

These photos give you a tiny idea of what you will see but seriously get here and see it, it is a must see on everyones bucket list, maybe even on your 30 before 30 list stace?

Included in your tour price is a free self guided tour through another cave called Nettle's Cave and Devil's Coachhouse. They give you a audio unit that tells you different things about the cave as you walk through. Of course it wasn't as spectacular as the paid caves but just different as this cave is exposed to the open air all the time so the cave is dull would be the only way I could describe it.

 

There is also a 1.5km river walk you can do and bistro for lunch. Little tip for the budget conscious, take your lunch and snacks as there are areas everywhere to eat and this will save you some dollars. This is pretty much a whole day event if you want it to be, lots of things to do and look at.

Your cave tour ticket also allows you to get 50% off another tour for 12 months after your first visit so if you know someone that has just been you could get it half price. (anyone want to go let me know)

If you want to spend the money you can actually abseil some of the caves as well!

Overall pretty cool place.

Bateman's Bay tomorrow.

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 10

10 February 2013

Woke up this morning to a calm river and boiling hot morning!

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha I am lying in bed typing this blog and Joel has already dosed off. He just woke up suddenly and said "Nah, you can't do that" and I said "What?" And he said "Play the didgereedoo for an hour!" Hahaha made me laugh!! I tried to continue the conversation but he just said "Oh, I don't know" and now he's back asleep!

Anyway where was I, so we got up and mosied around and packed up the camper, by this time it was 9 o'clock and the ranger still hasn't come for his money so we left happy... First night free camping!

Headed down the highway towards Port Macquarie to a place I had found only last night called Stony Park at Telegraph Point, it is also a water ski park so sounded right up Joel's alley.

We pulled in and it was very well maintained and everything looked new (I think it is fairly new). $22 a night so a little more expensive than our free camping! But that includes use of all their facilities, BBQ area etc and you can go to either of the lakes and watch people ski. We set up, checked out the amenities (brand new, look good) and then walked down to the lakes to check out some waterskiing.... Obviously there is not always people on the water but this weekend there is a man camp so there are plenty of pretty good skiers to watch. You can waterski here yourself but it is quite costly, $160 to hire lake for 1 hour; however this does include all your gear and they will teach you how to etc.... would be good if you had some friends that wanted to ski as well.

We had some lunch and headed into Port Macquarie. It is about a 20km drive from here. Stopped in to get some supplies, one of which was a new shower tent! (More on this later) and drove out along all of the beaches. The coast is beautiful really wherever you go, but Port's rocks in the water and surrounding the beaches add a point of difference. The water was also so clear you could see straight through it, would be good snorkeling etc here I would assume. We then drove to the Tackings Point Lighthouse and did a little walk around the lighthouse and down to a viewing platform. Great views from up here!! All along the coast were little spots to stop to get great views so you won't miss them!

We then headed to Lake Cathie which was about 20 km down the road. It is home to the big bowl (lawn bowl that is) so thought it was worth a look. The big bowl is on the way into town and while it's big compared to a normal lawn bowl, it's not that BIG! Joel actually didn't believe me that this was one of the big things.... I also wonder whether it made the list as it weighs two tonnes... Anyway another big thing ticked off the list! Haha. The lake here is nice for a picnic, swimming or canoeing.



We then headed back to camp for something to eat and to get ready to catch some big fish!

Out on the boat in a little river just down the road from camp called Maria River, it is fresh water which is not really our forte (if we even have one) but felt a little glimmer of hope when saw a couple scaling some fish at the boat ramp. Well that glimmer of hope faded over the next couple of hours as barely a bite was too be had the whole time! I think we really need some fishing lessons! Joel did however catch something.........Introducing the new turtle man!

After our catch we decided to head back to camp, make dinner and relax. Happy to report shower was awesome as well and hot. Joel then decided he might test out the new shower tent, from our last story we threw our old one out, it was one of the pop up ones, which are great on the pop up, not so good on the pop down! So this time we bought one with poles.... Well I have never seen so many different components to one little shower tent, small poles, big poles, three different material components and pegs. It was quite funny watching us opening it and going WTF are all these poles for! Haha oh and of course our instructions were missing from the box! Anyway we did manage to work it out, we think... I'm not sure this will be a faster solution however we can feel good about the fact that it will go back into the bag eventually!

Joel whipped us up another awesome pizza for dinner only to find that the Weber was out of gas! Found a fault in the Weber, after you use it every night, lunch, breakfast the gas will eventually run out! Plan B, spaghetti.

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 9

9 February 2013

Another chilly morning in Dorrigo, hard to get up! We started early to pack up the camper and we were on the road by 10am. We decided to ditch our shower tent today as we spent about half an hour trying to fold it up to fit back in the bag! We have had many issues with this tent so decided we were better off without it. Of course Joel wanted to throw it after his first failed attempt so I said I can do it, give it to me.... I tried for nearly 20 mins and I was ready to hurl it half way across Dorrigo! Decided to bin it, looked down at my nice top I had put on for the day and it was covered in mud and shit from trying to put the stupid shower tent away! Better yet we had already packed up the camper so I couldn't get to my clothes to change, the only thing I could get to was the shirt I wore yesterday so had to wear that! (Just thought I would let everyone know the story so you don't just think I am some homeless person who wears the same thing everyday!) haha.

Anyway on the road heading to Coffs Harbour for the big banana, Aldi and JB Hi Fi. Was a nice winding road again to get out of Dorrigo but not the same craziness that we came in on! The road is called waterfall way and that's because there is actually waterfalls that run down the side of the mountain and under the road and back out the other side of the road! Bloody amazing! Where's the photo you may ask?... Well I saw the first waterfall and thought wow that's cool, oh well missed the photo op, there would only be one of those cool waterfalls... round the next corner..... Another one! Dive for camera but too late! Wait for the next one.....but no more : (. Haha.

Coffs Harbour, first stop big banana! I'm not really sure what I was expecting but I felt slightly disappointed when I saw the banana... Anyway since I raved about how interested I was in the big things we stopped for a photo op! (I feel my big thing fascination dwindling, better be something good soon!)

Then off to Aldi as they had some caravan items in catalogue and needed some groceries. Of course none of the caravan stuff we wanted was in stock so bit disappointing! I also purchased a new gadget for the iPad which has been awesome so far....a connection so I can plug the camera straight into iPad and get photos rather than laptop, emailing, uploading crap I was doing before so win there. After our shopping trip we headed south again for our destination at Smoky Cape Campground @ South West Rocks; however on the way found a nice town on a river - Nambucca Heads so decided to head to info centre (practicing what we preach) and get some info which has led us to Gumma Reserve which is just near the town of Macksville. It is right on the river, fire, toilets and nice location (nothing like Dorrigo tho!). We are only going to stop here for one night so left trailer hooked up to head off in morning. Site is $12 a night and that's if the ranger turns up to collect the money.

We did a bit of fishing off the bank this arvo and caught a couple of very small whiting and bream, didn't take any pictures tho so you will have to take our word for it! (However if we knew they were going to be the only fish we caught we probably would have taken a photo!)

Lamb chops for dinner tonight, fire with marshmallows and sleep.

Carly & Joel

 

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Day 8

8 February 2013

Well last night was freezing! Compared to what we have been used to in the last couple of months anyway! My feet would just not warm up!

Woke up to a cool morning but the sun was shining and there was not a cloud in the sky so can't complain. We got up and boiled the kettle the slightly old fashioned way on the gas stove and made a cuppa and had brekky.

We were off to visit some falls and walks today in Dorrigo or just outside of it. I had sort of researched where everything was but I thought there would be signs to everything so just decided to hop in the car and go. Another rookie mistake we drove for too long in wrong directions and Joel was losing his patients, also on the road we lost Internet connection so I was unable to even google where we were going!

We happened to stumble on a sign to Ebor which had Ebor falls so followed the road to find these. The falls are about 1km from the Ebor town centre and are well worth a look. There are upper and lower fall viewing platforms, would have to say the upper is the one to go to. We took a photo here with the falls behind us and honestly the photo just didnt look real! Looks like we had photoshopped the falls in the background....but it was real and beautiful!

We then headed to cathedral rocks NP and headed down a long gravel road which we weren't really sure where it would end....Joel decided he didn't want to travel so far to see "rocks" so we pulled up to chop some firewood for our campfire tonight (lamb shanks are on the menu)! While chopping wood we noticed that there was a dead cow in the paddock which at first I thought may just be lying down for a sleep however if the chainsaw noise didn't wake it up, it was clearly dead!! For anyone that wants to visit the rocks they are about 8km down this gravel road and about a one hour walk from there.

Wood piled into the ute we decided to head back to Dorrigo for some lunch and work out where we were going next. We stopped at the local IGA and picked up some ham for lunch and headed back to camp. Ham and salad rolls for lunch, we decided to wash the ute as it was filthy from our little crazy road adventure the day before. We then wanted to go to the skywalk in Dorrigo so looked up the map and worked out where we were going before leaving camp! It is only about 2km out of Dorrigo and it is located at the Dorrigo Rainforest Centre. It was $2 per adult to get into the centre where there is a shop, information centre, skywalk, other nature walks and cafe. Well worth the $2!

We had a little look around the rainforest centre information, which had stories about the wildlife and land etc. We the walked out on the skywalk which is 70m above the forest floor and looks out onto amazing countryside, you can see for miles.

We then decided to take a walk to crystal falls which was about a 2.8km walk round trip but is very steep on the way back! Forget about the steepness on the way back, there are plenty of chairs to rest at, this was by far the coolest thing I have seen in a while. You walk across a suspension bridge and to your right is this cascading waterfall which is great enough but then you can keep walking to the back of the waterfall and get light sprays of water from the waterfalls raging force as it cascades down the rocks and into the waiting pool below. You can have a dip if you like to but we didn't take our togs so didn't go on. In between the waterfall and the walking track is these awesome cave walls! Honestly it is so hard to explain but I would highly recommend it to anyone that is in this area!

The steep climb back up was tough going, especially as Joel and I thought it would be a good idea to run up some of it! At the top is a nice picnic area with gas BBQs so you could make a real day of it!

After this we were buggered and headed back to camp. Hot shower, few wines and beers, chat to some of the other campers, start the fire, put the lamb shanks on and we are now just enjoying the serenity again! Haha

Our tip for today is to always visit the information centres in towns you think you might like to camp in. Not only can they give you great information about the touristy things to do but (as a nice couple we met told us) can also advise on free camping spots etc.

Carly & Joel.

 

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