Day 41

13 March 2013

Today was apostle day!! Now while I was excited about this day, I also was thinking that I have already seen so many photos of these things, and was skeptical about whether actually seeing them for real would be much different....

Day did not start well....wind was huge here last night! We had the awning on the ute out overnight and were woken early morning with a huge bang which made us both sit upright and say WTF was that?! Well it was the awning crashing down! So in these huge winds we are trying to put the awning down while the wind is getting under it and forming a sort of parachute above our heads!! Crazy! Even better news it bent the leg of the awning so we couldn't pack it up properly and just had to do what we could until the morning. Not much more sleep was had after this as wind was so strong, Joel also got up and put tent poles on a diagonal at our beds to brace the roof as it was just swaying around in the breeze! Good times! We hate wind!!! The water pump in the van also burst and leaked water everywhere the night before so we weren't having much luck!

Anyway we packed up and got the hell out of there this morning for brighter pastures! Made it to the apostles, there is lots of parking here for big rigs which is good, and a little kiosk and toilets if you need them. Then a short walk to a boardwalk that overlooks the apostles. Well I couldn't be further from the truth by saying that seeing pictures would do this place justice....it did not! No matter how many pictures you have seen of these things, you will never be able to imagine how amazing it is in real life. The sheer size, shape, coastline....just amazing! This has to be on everyone's bucket list! I was really in awe...from here there are so many little stops you can see more and more of this great coastline.

We then stopped at Loch Ard Gorge which has one of the greatest looking rocks (I think), called Razorback.

Also at Loch Ard Gorge is the thunder cave which is a cool little cave chiseled out by the waves.

Further along the road is the arch, also great, just amazing that this is all naturally occurring!

Then to London Bridge which has collapsed into two pieces now. When this collapsed there was actually people standing on one of the rocks and they were marooned there until a helicopter could pick them up!

Bay of islands is pretty much the last lookout of this great area.

Great Ocean Road done and we are now in Warrnambool staying at a Big 4 park, living it up with jumping pillow, spa, heated pool, gym, table tennis, big TV and hot showers! All of which we have used this afternoon! Only here for the night and then well we are not sure.....

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 6

6 February 2013

Well our morning started off with rain and a fair bit of it. As this was going to be our last full day at Ballina we decided to do a load of washing before we set off.

There is a laundry at the village so we headed over there and set up the machine. $3 for a load and we left it and went to start organising the day.... Hour passed, washing done by now....open lid, clothes sitting in lots of water? Hmmm, front reception lady to then rescue, puts the machine on again. Hour later return to hang out clothes, but they are still sitting in a lot of water and machine stopped! Annoying! Front lady to the rescue again, put washing in different machine, went and watched some tv and whole machine did its job. Unfortunately by this time it was midday and we had wasted half a day doing one load of washing (which is not all that exciting about to write in a blog!) anyway if you stay at the village avoid the middle machine.

We had some lunch and then decided to do a trip to nimbin to seem what that part of town were up to....it took about an hour to get to Nimbin through Lismore (which sort of reminded me of Toowoomba) and the first thing I notice at Nimbin is.... The Nimbin Rocks.... Did you think I was going to say something else? Haha. These rocks are quite beautiful to look at and you can see them as you are driving into Nimbin, there is a "viewing platform" which is actually a small pull off on the side of the road that you can stop and take a look. As we get closer to the town centre, you start to notice all these drawings on the road.... As I saw more I started to realise they were marking where the potholes were and someone from Nimbin thought they would colorfully draw around the potholes and even do a trail leading to the pothole on the road! Some even had love hearts drawn around them, how thoughtful! Quick stop at the sign and I am pretty sure Joel is already looking out for the Nimbins in this photo! Haha

Driving through the town it is very colourful and pretty much what I expected. A lot of loose people walking around but a lot of tourists as well, it was absolutely packed couldn't even get a park. The other side of Nimbin is pretty great green hillsides that seem to roll on forever....it was a really nice drive. There is also meant to be a secret swimming hole here but as we had wasted time with the washing and it was raining we decided not to worry about locating it.

We headed back to camp and spent the rest of the night getting prepared for our early departure in the morning.

Carly & Joel

 

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