Lake McGregor

After breakfast we went for a walk around Lake McGregor. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the scenery spectacular.

Next we headed up Mount St John to the observatory. We spotted a man looking through an enormous electronic telescope. He invited us to take a look and even though it was daylight we could clearly see Venus. We chatted for a while and discovered he had applied to go on the space mission to Mars. WOW, we met a real astronaut!

In the afternoon we took a walk up a hill which gave a fantastic view of Lake McGregor, Lake Alexandrina and Lake Tekapo. We could even seen snow capped mountains in the distance.

Back at the campsite we chatted to the man who runs the site and he showed us the big rainbow trout he had caught that morning. The colours on it were incredible with a big red stripe down the side.

Heading South

First thing this morning, we took a visit to the supermarket to stock up on supplies for our journey.

Next, we headed south from Christchurch on the Inland Scenic Route heading towards the distant snow capped mountains. We stopped several times to admire the views. We crossed a number of rivers where the water was incredibly blue. At one stop a school was enjoying some outdoor adventure sports in the river; kayaking, rafting and drifting with the current.

We passed through Geraldine,and Fairlie,headed for the famous Lake Tekapo. The lake was wonderful and again the water an incredible shade of blue! We visited a small statue of a sheep dog, showing the local's appreciation for the great help they had been to the sheep farmers. We also visited a small church, the Church of the Good Shepherd, which was really quaint.

Afterwards we found a Department of Consevation (DOC) campsite and set up our tent by the lake. We ate dinner and waited patiently for it to get dark ... one thing Lake Tekapo is well known for is STARS as it is a 'black sky' area. We put out our picnic blanket, lay back and watched the amazing display above. Shooting stars, great constellations, planets... and Mars ... WOW! There were so many stars and we used a smart phone app to identify some of the main constellations and planets.

Impressive scenery

After a long lie in to recover from yesterday, we eventually ventured out. We took a drive along Summit Road which makes its way through the edge of the mountains in Christchurch and offers the most spectacular views!

We stopped and took an hour long walk offering 360 degree views over the city, the sea and local mountains. Really beautiful ...

We visited a small village with a port called Lyttleton. It was really 'British', selling London fish and chips and having an Irish bar too!

We discussed our route through New Zealand over dinner as tomorrow we will be leaving Christchurch...

Christchurch

It was a long night. Our flight left Australia at midnight and arrived in NZ at 5am. There is a 2 hour time difference, so that meant virtually no sleep!

We waited at the airport for sunrise and then collected our hire car. We drove into the centre of Christchurch, parked up and went to look around.

Sadly, what was once probably a beautiful city has been devestated. The earthquake that occured a few years back has destroyed many parts of the city. The cathedral has lots its spire and half of its walls. Many buildings have been demolished, many others are deserted as they are structurally unsafe. Some buildings were held up with steel supports. A terrible tragedy and horrible to see!

However, Christchurch is slowly rebuilding. We visited Old Regent Street which was beautiful and full of lovely old buildings. Also the picturesque River Avon and Restart, which is a temporary shopping centre made from containers. There was also many small areas where people had used the rubble from the buildings to make something fun for people to use. One such area was a small park with items like street signs and fire hydrants made into musical instruments.

Finally we found our accommodation which was just outside the city and it had the most spectacular views of the distant snow capped mountains! Then we slept ... a lot!

The long road to the airport

The rain woke us up this morning. Just what we had hoped wouldn't happen, as now we have to try and dry the tent before our evening flight!

On our drive down the mountain we spotted deer and also ... the man about to close the road to start roadworks. Luckily, he let us through.

We stopped in a number of small towns, all associated with gold mining in the past. We visited a local art museum, which had some rather unusual displays. One exhibit was a video of a man, pretending to be a deer?!

We continued on to Ballerat which again was part of the gold mining area. We visited a small gold shop selling 'gold nuggets' found in the area but we resisted buying any.

Finally, we dropped our hire car at the airport and waited for our flight to New Zealand!

Not a car in site

This morning we drove for about an hour. We did not see another car but we did see kangaroos, wallabies and giant sized eagles! As we approached Halls Gap in the northern Grampians this all changed ... It was a busy little spot packed with people visiting for the weekend. There was an aboriginal cultural centre which we looked around and a large visitors centre.

We decided to take a short hike, so made our way to the start, which was the Wonderland carpark. The signpost pointed us in the right direction for the Pinnacle, so off we went.

The track was difficult with many large boulders to negotiate. We passed through an area called the Grand Canyon and squeezed our way through another named Silent Street. Reaching the top was great. The views over the plains were wonderful. The viewing platform seemed to hang, hundreds of metres up, over the valley. Looking down was pretty scary!

We headed back to the car for lunch before trying to find a quiet place to camp for our last night in Australia. We found a remote bush camp which was great. It came with it's own diving kookaburra, who obviously wanted help Christine at Scrabble!

Mountain hike

Did the tent survive? Yes, but only after an executive decision to pack it away. We decided we didn't want to risk it being torn to shreds by the wind and rain, so we slept in the car ...

This morning after breakfast we put on our walking shoes and hit the trail to the top on Mt Sturgeon. It was a lovely walk with hardly anyone around. The scenery was great and the view from the top was really wonderful.

After lunch, we took a short trip in to the tiny town of Dunkeld. There was a bakery, a hotel and a few other little shops. We returned to the trail for the afternoon and headed along to Piccaninny. We reached the top easily and had great views of My Abrupt and the town of Dunkeld below.

We set up camp and fell easily to sleep. However, staying asleep was a little harder at 7 degrees ...

The end of the road

Today an early start was required to cover the final section of the Great Ocean Road and head north to the Grampian Mountains.

First stop, the Twelve Apostles. There were many viewing areas along the coast and we must have tried them all. Each view was magnificent! There were many stacks of limestone, deep gorges and holes cut through the rock like at Durdle Door. We spotted a couple of wallabies on the path that stayed for a while.

From here we drove through Port Campbell and on to Port Fairy. Port Fairy was a very quaint little village by the river. It had little Marina and cute little shops.

We continued inland passing through tiny towns until we arrived at Dunkeld, gateway to the Grampian Mountains. We got some information on camping and waks from the information centre. Next we headed to our chosen camping site by a small lake. It is very windy tonight, so will the tent survive?!

Loop

Today, we headed inland to complete a loop back to the coast. We set off bright and early heading towards Lavers Hill. Our first stop was a lovely walk through the rainforest to the Triplet falls. The falls were really nice and the sunlight peaking between the trees made everything look a little eerie.

Afterwards we visited the tree top walk with a zip wire course through the upper forest. As we had just done a wonderful walk to Triplet falls, we couldn't justify parting with the entrance fee. We moved on to the Redwood forest ...

The trees were huge and there were some people there filming with a weird machine called an octocopter. It looked like 8 mini helicopters attached to an SLR camera. They were filming a friend walking through the trees carrying his surfboard!

From here we continued to Maits Rest to walk through a rainforest containing 300 year old trees. Next, we visited the lighthouse at Cape Otway and took a short walk along The Great Ocean walking track.

We drove on to set up camp at Johanna beach, which was a lovely site by the sea.

Lorne to Apollo Bay

A short drive from the camp site took us to the beach in Lorne. The town was very picturesque and whilst we were there had a sculpture exhibition, all along the beach.

We walked from one sculpture to the next. They ranged from, a sailing boat in a tree, to an upside down polar bear balancing a table and chair on his feet! Interesting ... Finally, the sculpture trail led us to the pier. The locals were fishing and catching a lot. The surface of the water was broken by a lone seal who danced elegantly for the camera. Really cool! Not so cool was the school mini bus driver, who overshot a parking spot and ended up demolishing a hotel fence.

Next, we continued on the Great Ocean Road towards Apollo Bay and stopped at a scenic waterfall, which was more of a trickle than a tortent due to lack of recent rain. At Kenneth River we drove slowly up a quiet back road, searching for wild Koalas. Our patients was rewarded! Christine spotted a koala sleeping in a gum tree. We continued and spotted another lively little fella. This koala paraded for the camera and had a good scratch too!

When we arrived in Apollo Bay, known to the locals as 'Paradise by the Sea', it was very beautiful. We had a leisurely stroll through the town before leaving for the evening's campsite.

The camping area was really wonderful and a small track nearby led to a beautiful lake. In the tree across from our tent sat a sleeping koala! We got chatting with the couple next door. The man was originally from England and started a yacht brokerage in Australia many years ago! The conversation rolled on for the rest of the evening ... all about boats!

Great Ocean Road

Up early to collect our hire car for our trip along the Great Ocean Road. We caught the train with the Tuesday morning commuters, carrying our bags and lots of camping equipment. We arrived at Melbourne Central and walked the few minutes to the hire car company.

We left the depot armed with a Toyota and off we drove towards Geelong. We passed over a bridge, which was huge and we parked up in Geelong. We walked the Esplanade lined with wooden sculptures. They were all made from pillars of the old jetty that had been demolished. What a wonderful idea!

In Geelong we stocked up on camping provisions before taking the road to Torquay. What a pretty little town! Next stop, Bells Beach, a famous surfing Mecca. Considering there was little swell today, the waves were amazing and we saw a dolphin (we think!) We watched the surfers ripping it up from a great view point and they looked like they were having a great time.

On we travelled to Point Addison, then on to Anglesea, our next stop was Aireys Inlet. We took the short walk to the important lighthouse, with great views of the cliffs. Next, we stopped at the Great Ocean Road memorial which was built to commemorate the soldiers that constructed the road.

A short drive along the road bought us to Lorne. The views on the way were breathtaking. We found ourselves a camping spot in the Great Otway national park but were not alone... we were joined by the most beautiful parrots, who seemed to take a liking to our car. They made themselves at home on the open door, roof, windcreen wipers etc. etc. and watched our every move! Could it have been Christine's campsite cooking that attracted the birds from afar .... hmmm??

Dandenong

This morning we headed out to visit the Dandenong National Park. The road up to the hills was lined with gigantic gum trees and very picturesque.

We took some time to explore the little villages we passed through and first visited the Grant's Tea Rooms to see the wild birds. There were lots of cockatoos and a few beautiful blue and red rosella.

Next, we visited the William Ricketts Sanctuary with sculptures, which were blended into the rocks of a garden. The sculptures showed lots of aboriginal culture and were 'quite' interesting.

Finally we headed back down from the hills where it was warmer!

Tram

We caught the train into the city to go sightseeing. The train took us to Melourne Central, which was a good place to start from. Our first stop, the old Gael. Next, the library, which had a Ned Kelly exhibition, an ancient book exhibition and various art exhibits. All were amazing and what a beautiful building!

Outside the library we encounterd a protest against Tony Abbott, the Australian Prime Minster. Next, we entered a shopping centre containing an old shot tower, which used to make lead shot using the gravity method.

Afterwards we caught the free circle tram around the city. It took us past many of the city's attractions and stopped in Docklands, where there was a small market and big marina.

Eventually we caught the train to our accomodation, exhausted after a great day out!

Melbourne

After a long journey with plenty of rest breaks for the lone driver, we arrived bright and early in Melbourne.

We were staying outside the centre so purchased a Myki (like Oyster) card for the train to take us to our accomodation. We dropped off our bags and headed straight back into the city.

We were aiming for a Albert park with a big lake and a race track as this weekend is the Melbourne Grandprix! We made our way through the botanic gardens, through a pretty little (exclusive) residential area ... and found the circuit. Many helicopters and the Australian version of the Red Arrows helped pin point the spot. As we drew nearer we could hear the roar of the F1 cars!

We didn't have tickets so peeked through the fence. We watched as number of cars whizzed past and we could hear the commentator really clearly ... Hamilton, Button and all the famous drivers were mentioned!

We moved on and caught a bus to St Kilda, a small funky part of the city near the beach. There was a yacht race taking place in the bay, where it was a little breezy but the star attraction ... the penguins! Sheltering amongst the rocks were the penguins, with many feathers scattered everywhere. Very cute!

We eventually caught the bus back to the centre. As we passed the theatre, the bus filled up with people leaving a UK show, Mrs Brown's boys. They shared funny stories from show with us on the bus. They were all on a high.

Finally, we caught the train back to where we were staying for the night and played Scrabble.

Off to the shops

In the morning we went to a lovely shopping area. It was quite new and had everything we needed to buy for the next part of our trip.

We sat and enjoyed coffee whilst our friend's children had great fun playing in the fountain (it was very smart and had no pool, so was safe for small children too).

On the way back to our friend's house we treated ourselves to chips with chicken salt, which we are sure we can't get at home.

The afternoon was spent playing in the garden with the children and the water hose! Afterwards our friend kindly dropped us at the bus stop and sadly had to say goodbye.

We caught the bus to Central Station to connect with the overnight Firefly Express bus to Melbourne (12 hours!)

Bondai

After a nice little lie in, we went on am adventute to the famous Bondai Beach.

We watched the surfers. We watched the fitness fanatics, running across the beach. We watched the seagulls very closely as they tried to steal our flip flops! We ventured into the sea to play in the waves between the red and yellow flags, which is the swimming area supervised by the Bondi lifeguards.

There is a TV show in Australia following the Bondi lifeguards daily life on the beach. We saw TV cameras interviewing a lifeguard on the sand which we assumed was for the show.

We enjoyed a relaxing walk on the beach, played in the playground with our friend's kid's and ate lunch in a funky cafe!

In the evening we chatted, laughed a lot and had a great meal together with our friends.

Sydney Tour

Today, we started early. Too early ;-) We dropped the kids off, caught the hour long bus to Sydney and arrived before 8am!

We made our way to join a free Sydney tour. The tour took us to many historical buildings and was fun. We broke away from the tour to explore the opera house, harbour bridge and to grab lunch at the rocks.

After lunch we went to a museum that told the story of how Australia was discovered. It went into details of how Sydney was developed by the convicts sent from England and it was really interesting. From here we made our way to the botanic gardens which have a wonderful view of the opera house.

We met our friend after work, caught the bus home, collected the kids etc... Special dinner tonight, kangaroo steaks which tasted really great!

Riding

In the morning we had beautiful sunshine. We donned the Matt black crash helmet and in-turn rode into the mountains on our friend's Harley Davidson motorbike. The scenery was amazing and the view from the mountain top, wonderful!

In the afternoon we took to the pedal bikes and rode to the beach. We both dived in the surf (eventually) and watched the surfers ripping it up! We cycled on along the beach before we reached the lighthouse in Wollongong then turned back through Fairy Meadow (nice name for a village!)

In the evening we chilled out and enjoyed the most delicious 'last supper' with our friends.

Cruising

The boys were up at a reasonable hour and went straight to the beach. Our friend's dogs ran wild, Darryl took a dip in the waves and the weather was glorious! A lovely beach ...

Next, off to a rock and roll vintage car show with many American hot rods. The girls at the show were dressed in their 50's costumes and looked very glam! There was live music, little stalls of 50's memorabilia and rock and roll dancers. Very cool!

Following this the boys took a drive to a beautiful viewpoint. They were going to take the Harley motorbike but the weather was a little too warm, so they went in the immaculately restored 5.7 litre 1964 Holden ute (pickup). The car was beautifully polished and certainly turned heads. Wow! Back at base, the boys met up with the girls, who had been to a play park and driven home from Sydney.

Reunited, we spent the evening in the hot tub and eating!

Band

This morning we packed our bags as they were going to be taken up to Sydney by 'the girls'. The girl were heading for dinner in Sydney and to meet up with their friend.

Whilst the girls travelled, 'the boys' watched adventure racing sports on TV before heading to the local hotel/restaurant. The boys ate there and watched a great live band, whilst discussing future Harley Davidson cruising routes. From there the boys visited a friend's house where they sat in his 'man cave' (Australian phrase for male hiding place) watching DVDs.

The girls ate out at a lovely Italian restaurant and filled the evening with girly gossiping and conversations of old times.

Off to Woolies

We had to buy salad for tonight's dinner party at a friend's. A quick visit to Woolworths and we got all of the ingredients we needed.

After filling the fridge, we decided to walk towards the mountains. Apparently there is an interesting lake to visit. We never found the lake but had a wonderful walk along small trails that led through the trees.

After our little adventure, we had agreed to wash our friends dogs. They were very well behaved, though were not exactly thrilled! They both got a treat for being so good ...

We thought we deserved a treat too, so relaxed in the hot tub, until we became a little wrinkly!

Next, we prepared our salad and were chauffeur driven to a huge house for dinner. There was an 'unbelievable' view from the lounge and dinner was amazing!

Adventure

First thing this morning we did the drop off of the workers then headed out to see the famous sea bridge. The bridge runs along the rocky coastline offering magnificent views over the sea. We continued on to a Stanwell Park cliffs, where we stood and watched many handgliders launch into the thermals, which lifted them high above the cliffs. It looked amazing! On the way home we stopped in Thrroull at a very strange shop called Retro Wombat (an old junk shop). We were trying to find a saucepan for our future camping expedition along the Great Ocean Road. We did eventually find one in a charity shop nearby, which was great.

After a busy morning, we spent the afternoon enjoying the hot tub. Next, to a restaurant for dinner and to take part in the weekly trivia quiz. We had a large team of about 10 and we were doing well in the first round. However, we seem to lose our form in the next few rounds...

One of our friends got lucky in the raffle draw and he asked his girlfriend to collect the prize. It was a huge fruit basket, which looked wonderful and was so huge she could hardly carry it! What a great evening with great company....

Walk to the beach

First thing this morning, we had to change rooms. So, a quick tidy around and the room was ready for a visitor arriving from WA (Western Australia).

Next, we decided to take a walk to the beach, as it was a lovely day. It took us about an hour at an easy pace. There was an outdoor swimming pool, a very busy lawn bowls club and a school trip visiting the beach! We took a seat and watched the world go by. We also watched the big black cloud that looked like it was dumping it's rain over the mountains. We hoped the wind would blow it in the opposite direction. However, we were wrong! The thunder rolled in, the fork lightning, amazing and oh boy, did it rain! We shelterd and waited for it to ease off before heading back. Half way home it started again... we took shelter in a bus stop. We set off again and made it as far as the local shops before it rained again! It looked like the rain was going to stay with us for a while but luckily, a nice kind lady from the grocery store dropped us home!

The evening was spent chatting to the friend from Perth and generally having a nice time....

Kiama

Today, we took a trip to Kiama to see the famous blow hole. We arrived nice and early and the place was deserted. The waves work their way through a short underground passage before exploding through a small opening in the rocks, making a loud gushing sound.

There was a 4 hour wall along the coast from the blow hole to Kiama heights, which was a rather upper class residential area overlooking the sea. We stopped in a few places to watch the surfers riding the swell, which was great! After lunch we visited the quaint little town of Kiama and took a walk around the harbour.

Next, we drove to the impressive Nan Tien Chinese temple. There was a main temple complex, a tall pagoda and a pond full of lotus flowers and fish. The temple hosted many classes in Buddhist beliefs and even had a library!

We met our friends back in Wollongong at an Asian restuarant which served giant portions, before returning to their house together ...

Cycling adjourned

Today was going to be our first day out on the bikes. However, it was raining in the morning ... again, so we put off our adventure until tomorrow. Being in Australia is just like being at home!

We spent the rest of the day planning onward travel, shopping for ingredients for our Thai tom yum soup.

We also saw some amazing parrots in a pomegranate tree, totally multicoloured. The picture doesn't do them justice, at all!

Lazzzzy day

Up early for breakfast before returning the hire car.

Darryl played with serious 'boys toys' in the garage, whilst Christine helped prepare the Sunday roast.

We have uploaded a few more photos of our trip to Asia 7! Take a look....

Ps. It has now stopped raining and we saw a huge kookaburra on the fence today!

Back towards civilisation

Awoke by the animals, we packed all of our camping equipment into our Hyundai E10 hire car. We made sure we had left no trace of our campsite by the lake.

The trip dial on the car this morning will reach 1000km. We stopped in Tumit to stock up on essentials (cake!). Next a stop at Gundagai to visit their 360 degree viewpoint over the countryside.

We are travelling along Route 31, the Hume highway. For a major motorway leading to Sydney, there are hardly any cars! Then it started ... rain, and didn't stop. All day and all night!

We quickly stopped to make lunch under a picnic table shelter. We drove a lot only stopping again in Yass and at a shopping centre to grab something for dinner.

We abandoned camping, went back to our friends and sat in the covered hot tub whilst the rain continued throughout the night! Australian weather let us down ;-)

Moving on

Up at a reasonable hour, we packed away the tent and headed off, after breakfast.

We didn't have to travel far to a 3 hour walking trail through the hills of the Kosciuszko National park, part of the Great Dividing Range. We parked up and followed a track into the trees. It was uphill! After a while of uphill climbing it flattened off. We clambered across many rocks and at the end of the trail was a small waterfall. Heading back down was a lot quicker and easier!

In the afternoon, we first pitched our tent by the Blowing Reservoir, before having lunch. There were many kangaroos and emus leisurely strolling around, which was really amazing to see!

It tends to cool down a little by about 7pm, so we retired to the tent for the daily Scrabble challenge ...

Heading up

With a long way to go, we started early whilst it was still dark. We are heading into the Snowy mountains. Our first stop was in Nimmitabel to make some early morning coffee. It was misty outside, we'd been driving up into the hills and it was freezing! Driving on we reached Cooma, across a huge open plateau, which was covered in moors. Our next stop was Jindabyne to grab some information from the tourist office and fill up with breakfast. Baked beans heated up in our camp stove, great! From here we back tracked a little and headed for Adaminaby, near a huge lake. Interesting little town, very quiet like a ghost town. Onwards again to the Thermal pool at Yarrangbilly caves.

We took a dip in the pools, which were very refreshing, though not too hot, about 27 degrees. As we walked back to the car park along a beautiful river, we picked ripe blackberries along the side of the track. Guess what we're having for dessert tonight?

Time to look for a camping spot. The first we tried was a little exposed so we moved on. Next we found a wonderful spot near a little creek (steam) and it was perfect.

Little visitor

Last night we had a few visits from the local wildlife, not sure exactly what! There were however many little flies attracted by the lantern we were using inside the tent. They in turn attracted a rather large spider, the size of a saucer, who sat staring at us from on top of the inner tent. There seemed to be the sound of waves crashing on the beach but we weren't sure where the nearest beach was?! But, it was a very soothing sound...

In the morning, we stopped in Central Tilda, a historic town from around 1880. It was really quaint with little Devonshire tea shops! We continued down the coastal route and stopped by in Bermagui South by the river. A lovely picnic area served us well for lunch! Next we headed towards the small town of Tathra before driving inland to Bega. It appears Bega is famous for cheese so we sampled a few. We stocked up in the supermarket before driving on to find a campsite. Bemboka provided just the place, with a small stopping place for rest breaks. We set up the tent, cooked up some food and put our feet up. The toilets, with there bright lights, acted as a great habitat for moths, spiders and gigantic stick insects!

Heading South

We were woken by the forest birds and boy were they having a party. We russelled up a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs ... or was it museli?

On the road again we headed to Pebbly Beach, famous for its 'surfing kangaroos'. The kangaroos come down to the beach and play in the surf, sadly there were none out today.

We continued on to Bateman's Bay to have a picnic by the river. There was lots of yachts floating on their moorings in the river. After lunch we headed along the coastal road, through many surfing villages. Once back on the main highway, we headed through an old town with a pretty little church ... and a cheese factory! We had to sample a few and they were delicious.

Next we went to checkout a recommended snorkelling spot called potato point. Unfortunately the waves were rolling in, so no snorkelling today. We continued on to a national park to find a campsite.

The campsite was in a lovely spot by a lake. We set up the tent, unpacked the chairs and settled down for dinner. Then, the bushes nearby started to rustle and a bounding sound grabbed our attention. We looked around and there stood a kangaroo. It stayed for 20 minutes, eating, scratching and snooping around. Truly awesome!

On Our Own Again

We got dropped at the hire car centre but were a little early so headed across the road to Woolworths supermarket. We stocked up for the coming week. We will be travelling south on the coast towards Melbourne before looping back on the mountain roads back towards Wollongong.

Today was the start of our journey. We stopped off at lots of quaint little towns with beautiful beaches. We passed through Nowra, Huskisson, Hollywood and Ulladulla. The highlight was our stop at Jervis Bay. Hyams beach was so pretty and it is said to have the whitest sand in the whole world. It even squeaks as you walk through it! We had a paddle ... a little bit chilly.

Next stop was to find a camping ground. We headed up into a beautiful forest but couldn't find the campsite that was shown on the map. Eventually we gave up, turned around and headed back to camp at a national park by the beach.

We pitched the tent amongst the trees. On went the camp stove and dinner was served!