Category: News

Cockle Creek

Our stay at Cockle Creek is a good example of the highs and lows of travelling.  Cockle Creek is the most southerly campsite in Australia and we found a perfect spot to park up.  It was the warmest day so far in Tassie at 29 degrees and we were hotter than Cairns, Brisbane and Alice Springs.  There were oysters and mussels on the rocks and Jonathan used his geology hammer to harvest some for dinner.  Winston enjoyed swimming in the creek and running on the beach.

After a fabulous day, we set off back to Hobart the next morning only to get a flat tyre 10km out of Cockle Creek.  A lovely local couple stopped to assist with a tyre change and we were on our way again an hour later.

We spent the afternoon on a quest to get some new tyres and TyreRight in Hobart managed to sort us out.  While we were waiting, we went to the Electoral Commission office and cast our votes for the upcoming Queensland elections.

In other voting news today, the results of the same sex marriage survey were announced and 61.6% of Australians voted for the law to be changed to allow same sex couples to marry.  Many landmark buildings around Australia were lit up in rainbow colours to mark the occasion.

The Central Highlands

We drove straight down through the centre of Tassie.

Deloraine is a very pretty town on the Meander River.  More platypus swimming about right in front of the van.

Jonathan caught his biggest brown trout to date at 20”, fly fishing at Penstock Lagoon.  It made a very tasty dinner over two nights.

We sat watching this cute little echidna for ages.   Tassie wildlife doesn’t seem at all shy.

Ann’s big 5-0

Jonathan says I’m the only person he knows who was looking forward to being 50 as it was a step closer to retirement and access to over 50s concessions.  It did feel like a milestone though. We spent the weekend with our friends Peter and Kim at their home near Shepparton, Victoria.  They had kindly been receiving cards and parcels for me at their address during the week.  I think everyone had been scratching their heads over what to give someone who’s travelling in a campervan for several more weeks.  Jonathan came up with an excellent gift.  I’ve constantly used our old binoculars for watching wildlife during the trip so he bought me some Bushnell Legend waterproof binoculars for some serious observing.  Thank you for all my other gifts (and gifts to come) and all the lovely birthday messages which made me feel very loved.

After a sunny start, it was a stormy day so we were glad to be in a house and have extra space.  I didn’t have to lift a finger all day and indulged in reading, whilst drinking white chocolate liqueur and stuffing my face with Belgian chocolates.  The day was rounded off with an Indian takeaway and birthday cake.  We all felt suitably sick afterwards and went for a late evening walk, followed by watching the movie ‘A Street Cat named Bob’ sent by my sister Joan.  A very enjoyable true story and excellent acting by Bob the cat who played himself.

A big thank you to Peter and Kim for their hospitality and allowing all of us the luxury of soft furnishings for the weekend.

 

J-Ward Asylum, Ararat, Victoria

Described as Ararat’s premier tourist attraction; J-Ward asylum housed the who’s who of Victoria’s criminally insane for over 100 years until its closure in 1991.

Our volunteer tour guide was Nola, a former psychiatric nurse.  She took us to every part of the complex and was talking non-stop, so there was plenty of information to take in.  The asylum started out as Ararat Gaol and there were three executions within its walls which are commemorated by small plaques at the burial site.  Nola told the stories of notorious inmates such as Garry Webb who became violent at the most trivial of provocations and killed himself by eating razor blades.  Bill Wallace who was admitted in 1926 age 43 and who died there age 107.  The inmate who believed he was a member of the British royal family.

There’s plenty of memorabilia such as an autopsy table, a collection of restraints, a re-creation of an electric shock therapy room and carvings made by inmates on the walls.

I thought the tour was an hour but it lasted nearly 2 hours and Jonathan thought they weren’t letting me out.  It’s not surprising that you can also go on ghost tours of the asylum  and join paranormal investigators on an overnight visit.  Interestingly, that night on TV, the ‘Haunting Australia’ team were investigating nearby Aradale Asylum which claims to be the most haunted building in Australia.

View across to Mt Ararat and Aradale Asylum

 

Crossing the Nullarbor Plain. Part 1

The Eyre Highway which crosses the Nullarbor Plain is either seen as one of Australia’s great road journeys or one of its most boring.  The town of Norseman, 190km South of Kalgoorlie is the gateway to the crossing in the West and it’s a journey of 1200km to Ceduna in South Australia.  As we set off, our GPS told us that our next manoeuvre would be a roundabout in Ceduna.

We had been free camping for four days as the weather was perfect but Tuesday was forecast to reach 35 degrees.  We’ve learned to adjust the times we travel so that we’re driving with the air con on during the hottest part of the day.  The first night we stopped at Fraser Range Station which was a very pleasant and scenic stop.

There’s not too much to stop and see along the first part of the highway.  One interesting place is Balladonia.  In 1979 it made the news when debris from Skylab fell close to the town.  The Shire decided to issue a litter infringement notice to NASA (which was later written off).

The Nullarbor Links is the world’s longest golf course.  It starts at Kalgoorlie or Ceduna and there are holes at various points along the Eyre Highway, mostly at roadhouses.  We didn’t bring our clubs with us but there were plenty of people who were working their way along the course.  You can buy a golf score card for about $70 at visitor information centres in Kalgoorlie, Norseman or Ceduna.

www.nullarborlinks.com

Just outside of Balladonia is the start of Australia’s longest straight road.  At Caiguna, at the other end was a very interesting blow hole which was like a natural air conditioner.   It was a hot day and we would have sat near it for lunch if there hadn’t been millions of flies around.

You also have to put your clocks forward by 45 minutes at Caiguna.  This seemed to make life confusing for everyone at Cocklebiddy a bit further on where they had ‘Perth time’, ‘Cocklebiddy time’ and ‘Adelaide time’.   We were ready to call it a day at Cocklebiddy even if we weren’t sure what time it was.  The van park at the roadhouse is enormous and was empty apart from two vans.  We had to scratch our head at the manager who decided he wanted to put us between a smelly fuel container and a noisy generator.  I very politely told him no thank you.

(By the way, no photos of me today as I was bitten on the eyelid by a mosquito in the night and don’t look my best!!)

 

Caves Road from Yallingup to Augusta

Caves Road is the scenic route to take through the Margaret River region, instead of the Bussel Highway.  It’s narrow and twisty in parts but there are plenty of places to stop for a break along the way.  We thought the Margaret River region was only famous for its wineries, breweries and artisan sellers, and most of these are along Caves Road.  However the coastline is also popular with surfers.  The surf breaks at Yallingup Beach were among the first ones surfed in WA in the early 1950s.

Yallingup surf breaks

The road winds through forests, dairy farms and vineyards.  We had to stop at the Burch Family Wines cellar door, as Burch is a family name but they don’t have the Burch name on their wine bottles unfortunately.

Caves Road runs the length of the limestone Leeuwin-Naturaliste ridge which is undercut by over 150 caves.  Four of these are open to the public.  We did the Jewel Cave tour, which is the largest cave.  You can get a pass to visit more than one which works out a bit cheaper.   Jewel Cave is spectacular.  Warning though: there are a lot of stairs and narrow walkways.  The tour guide turned out all the lights for a minute when we were deep into the cave and it was so dark, you couldn’t see your hand right in front of your face.   There is a statue of the extinct Tasmanian Tiger at the entrance, as footprints of the animal have been discovered in the cave.

Augusta is the closest town to Cape Leeuwin – the most south-westerly point of Australia, where the Indian Ocean meets the Great Southern Ocean.  The coastline is spectacular but also treacherous.  Twenty-two ships were wrecked off the coast before a lighthouse was built in 1896.  The nearby water wheel was built to pump water from a spring to the lighthouse cottages.  Over time, the wood has calcified and the wheel is now fossilised.  Instead of driving, you could walk the 135 km Cape to Cape trail.  It starts at Cape Naturaliste, West of Busselton and ends at Cape Leeuwin.  It’s usually completed in 5 to 7 days.

Cape Leeuwin is also famous for whale watching but despite sitting with binoculars trained for quite some time, there weren’t any migrating past while we were there.

Winston’s National Park disguise.

 

Busselton, South West WA

Busselton has definitely been one of our favourite places and that’s not just because the sun was out again and it had started to warm up.  We stayed at the Kookaburra Caravan Park which is only a short walk from an off-leash dog beach, the famous jetty and the town itself.

Busselton Jetty is 1,841 m long and only Southend Pier in England is longer.  Dogs are not allowed on the jetty so we had to explore it separately.  There was plenty of black ink along the jetty so Jonathan walked along with his fishing gear in the hope of catching some squid for dinner.  When it was my turn, I took the idle approach and caught the little jetty train.

The Underwater Observatory at the end of the jetty was a worthwhile experience.  You descend the stairs 8m to the ocean floor and stop at viewing windows on the way down.  The jetty piles have become an artificial reef covered in corals and sponges.  No fishing is allowed at the end of the jetty and the piles are home to hundreds of fish and marine creatures.

One of the viewing windows had a live webcam linked to the observatory website so I sent Jonathan a text to say if he logged on, I’d wave to him!  If you watch the webcam on Wednesday mornings, divers are cleaning the windows.  ‘Underwater window cleaner’ must be one of the more unusual jobs you could have.

 

Feed me Seymore!

In the world of carnivorous plants, it’s a little bit disappointing that the ‘real things’ are somewhat less spectacular than Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, but they have still fascinated me since childhood and poor Ann has on many occasions had to suffer some bizarre house plants from all over the globe. These plants evolved in such poor circumstances that they have turned to eating insects to supplement their diet. I had a lovely selection whilst in London, and Samford is home to a rather splendid pitcher plant on our al-fresco.

So when I took a walk up the desolate granite dome of Bruce’s Rock in Western Australia, I couldn’t help but notice that the mossy, peaty dampness was prime Sundew territory.

I was not disappointed, with three distinct species of Sundew being identified in half an hour of searching. Sundews, like the better known Venus Fly-Trap, actually grab their victims in their sticky little paws. Not with the same ferocity of the Trap, but with a more gentle caress lasting a few hours.

These plants are quite tiny – The size of a 20c coin or smaller, so are often overlooked. They flower too, with their long flower stalks just beginning to shoot from the centre of the rosette.

I’m looking forward to finding more 🙂

 

 

Perth

Even though the weather forecast was for heavy rain and strong winds, we couldn’t put off travelling further south any longer.  The last time we visited Perth was Easter 2005 for the wedding of our friends Anna and Ed who we met in the UK when Anna and I taught English at the same school in Wiltshire.  Anna is from Perth and the wedding took place at the Sandalford Winery in The Swan Valley to the East of Perth.

It had been pouring with rain on their wedding day too but I’m sure Perth must see the sun sometimes.  We had a great catch up with them over the weekend and also enjoyed sitting on soft furnishings again.

Their cats Jazzie and Mischief weren’t as pleased to see us, as Winston has had a hatred of felines since he was a puppy.  He became finely attuned to the bells on their collars and went berserk at the slightest tinkle.

What cat? Where?

Winston was a hit with their young son Danny though but the poor lad developed puffy eyes after intensive Winston snuggling.

Kings Park in Perth ticked all of the Bradshaw’s boxes for a stop.  Loads of parking space for the campervan and parking is free.  The majority of the park and botanic gardens are dog friendly – only the Federation Walkway is closed to dogs.   The café is also dog friendly and you can sit and have a coffee taking in the extensive views of the city and the Swan River.  The gardens are immaculate and there was an army of gardeners working around the park.  We were lucky with the weather too, as the rain held off for the morning.

A fish and chip lunch at the historic port of Fremantle.

We found a fantastic caravan park called Queen’s Grove Caravan Village in South East Perth.  All the amenities are brand new and the park is spotless.  The heavy rain and wind arrived on Monday morning when we were booked into the Fiat garage to get the handbrake issue finally fixed.  Luckily they were happy to let Winston sit in their warm waiting room too.  He turned out to be an excellent meet and greet Spoodle.  New windscreen tomorrow.  It will feel strange not to look at a squiggly windscreen crack anymore when driving along.  We thought we had better get it replaced before crossing the Nullarbor because it’s probably only one large stone away from shattering.