Backpacking

3 (afternoon) - 5 May

We had high hopes for the Grampian Mountains, a huge national park containing both ground-level and mountain walks, great scenery, and numerous convenient campsites at which to base ourselves over the following couple of days.

Leaving Bendigo behind, we arrived at Hall's Gap - the only town in the Northern Grampians at around 4pm and headed straight to the Park Office, ready to arm ourselves with comprehensive walking maps.

This is a tale with a moral. PHONE AHEAD. We learned from the Park Office that the majority of the Grampians region was recovering from a devastating forest fire that had only been brought under control in February, and that access to most areas was denied.

Blackened trunks begin to regenerate after fire

Luckily, Australian trees are pretty resilient and can survive the harshest conditions; some even require the intense heat of a forest fire in order to germinate.

Thus we hastily planned some 'contingency' walks and headed even further North to one of the few still-accessible campsites. The evening was cold and the only other folk around were a large school-party out camping and mountain biking. Despite passing fields literally full of Kangaroos, only one little fella was brave enough to hang around our campsite hoping for a feed:

4 May

The weather did not look promising. The skies were grey and wet, and it was freezing. Of course, the easy option would have been to dive back under the (new) quilt in the campervan and hibernate but we were in the Grampians to get some more walking under our belts and nothing was going to stop us.

We drove approximately 60k to the foot of Mount Abrupt, steeled ourselves, and began the climb. And, to be honest, it was better than we had hoped for. Enjoyable even. We climbed steadily through forest relatively untouched by the fire until we came out upon an exposed rocky plateau leading toward the summit in the distance. Well, we nearly made it. As we headed further and higher along the rocky plateau an increasingly strong (and cold!) crosswind arose, threatening to blow us from our lofty perch. Justifiably pleased with what we had managed in spite of the weather we slowly made our way back down.

That evening, in need of provisions we headed to a little town called Dunkeld just outside the national park. At least the campsite here had proper loos rather than the 'drop dunnys' (deep holes in the ground with a loo seat on top) favoured in the park!

5 May

The previous night had been windy, and neither of us had slept particularly well in the campervan. Looking out on this drab Friday morning, we feared that our time in the Grampians might have been completely wasted. The sky was solid dark grey cloud, and the rain was amusing itself by alternating between drizzle and torrential.

Today was the day we planned to tackle Mount Sturgeon; not an easy walk even in good weather. Wrapped up warm in our waterproofs we had a damn good stab at it, but the weather was unrelenting and the experience was miserable. The tourist literature we had read continually reinforced the spectacular views that we could expect from Mount Sturgeon. And so, dear reader, for your benefit here is the one-and-only photo I took that day in order to capture those views:

Lush green fields stretch away to scenic rolling hills. Behind the fog.

Spirits and clothes thoroughly dampened, we decided to leave the Grampians and head somewhere coastal for a bit of a seaside pick-me-up. And we couldn't have hoped for a better place than Warrnambool.

Wednesday 3 May

Bendigo was a great place to take a 'day off' from travelling, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time here.

Historic Architecture in Bendigo

Coming from Nottingham, England, I vaguely remembered being taught in history lessons about William 'Bendigo' Thompson, Nottingham's celebrated bare-knuckle boxer, and wondered what his connection might be with this Australian city. As it turned out, an early Australian goldminer and settler with a similar boxing style was given the nickname 'Bendigo' and this was then applied to the local area - 'Bendigo's Creek' and the town that grew up around it.

Bendigo is proud of its heritage, and there is plenty for visitors to experience here. We started by taking a narrated tram tour of the city, which gives the opportunity to learn not only the history of the trams themselves, but also to view the many points of interest and different architectural styles which make up the modern-day city.

Ding-ding!

Alighting from the tram, we visited the Central Deborah Goldmine - a genuine working goldmine from 1851 to 1954 - which now offers tours underground to illustrate the kind of conditions in which miners had to work right up until the mine became commercially unviable.

Sharon meets a Bendigo Goldminer

Our guide, an ex-Bendigo miner of some 17 years' experience, gave us a fascinating insight into daily life in the mine and the resultant toll that the constant noise, vibration, and dangerous working conditions took upon the miners. An hour in the pitch dark, damp mine was enough for us, let alone the eight-hour shifts the miners had to put in each day.

Back in the fresh air, a quick climb of the mine's winding gear tower provided panoramic views of Bendigo.

Before leaving Bendigo for our onward journey to the Grampian Mountains, there was just time for a quick look around the beautiful Sacred Heart Cathedral:

1 - 2 May

A couple more heavy travelling days - we were keen to cover a lot of ground to get to the scenic Grampian Mountains across the border in Victoria in order to get out and do some more serious walking.

We stopped for a quick stretch of the legs in quiet Narrandera , and ended up clothes shopping (a smart and warm striped cotton shirt was just too good to resist).

Then onward to Culcairn. The only thing worthy of note about this stage of the journey is that Victoria is positively obsessive about preventing the introduction of fruit flies and other pests into the state, and you are required to ditch any fruit in your possession before crossing the state boundary (roadside fruit disposal bins are provided!) or else face a hefty fine - from $200 up to $11,000 AUD if caught. Thus after stuffing our faces we sadly parted company with a perfectly healthy pair of bananas before continuing...

Tuesday 2 May

From Culcairn, we wanted to make it as far as Bendigo today, but a full day on the road isn't fun for anyone, and so to break the long journey we headed to Milawa to visit the producers of some of our favourite Australian wines. Of course it would be unfair to give the winery in question a free plug by writing their name here.

I shpent a pleashant morning tasting numeroush different wines (Sharon was driving), and we happily came away with six exclusive bottles available only from the Cellar Door. Cheers!

Pressing on, we passed through Glenrowan famous as the site of Ned Kelly (and his gang's) last stand. Although a great deal is made of this Australian icon, we didn't feel inclined to linger here.

Instead we made good progress to Bendigo (see next entry), and our camp site just outside the city centre.

Thursday 27 - Sunday 30 April

Sharon had been doing a lot of driving and a lot of walking over the last few days, and coupled with the tiredness caused by trying to keep warm overnight in an unheated van with minimal bedding we opted to take Thursday as a 'day off' in Goondiwindi. This is a great little town; not only did we find the most delicious hot pork rolls for lunch, we also bagged a bargain double quilt for the princely sum of $16 (about 6 quid)! No more chilly nights in the van...

Once again, the day was warm and sunny giving us the chance to spend a pleasant afternoon at our camp ground to catch up on the laundry.

Friday 28

And so, back to the travelling - we still have huge numbers of kilometers to cover...

Shortly after Goondiwindi we crossed the border from Queensland into New South Wales and pressed onward to the town of Coonabarabran. Our intent was to get as near to our next destination - the Warrumbungles National Park - as possible. Coonanbarabran is hailed as Australia's astronomy capital, with the night sky clearer here than anywhere else and the local hilltops dotted with observatories. Sadly, on this day, the skies were heavily overcast and so we missed the opportunity to spend the evening stargazing at Siding Spring Observatory.

Instead we motored on, finally arriving at a great caravan park run by a Scottish couple. Here we saw our first wild Echidna (a sort of spiky cushion with a long nose and short legs) and, inevitably, more Kangaroos.

Saturday 29

Setting off early for the Warrumbungles visitor centre gave rise to an increased likelihood of Kangaroos on the road (they tend to be most active at dawn and dusk) and sure enough, a couple hopped in front of the van; they were lucky - roadkill is evident everywhere in Australia as it is illegal to swerve to avoid animals.

Another bright and warm day persuaded us to tackle the 14.5km Grand High Tops trail. Despite the length of the walk, this is not too arduous as proper paths and stairs have been installed to ease the more challenging parts of the route. Mind you, some paths were rather well guarded...

Climbing steadily we eventually reached a famous rock formation known as the Breadknife

and a final (and reasonably tough) upward push brought us to the Grand High Tops themselves.

Again, the effort expended was more than justified by the views:

Better still (but sadly unphotographed. Pah!) was the sight of a huge Wedge-tailed Eagle hovering on an updraft no more than 5 meters or so away from where we sat.

Another terrific day's walking complete we headed off to Warrumbungles' own excellent campsite, where inquisitive wildlife happily mingled with visitors.

Sunday 30

If you've been keeping up with this blog you'll probably know by now that we can't resist the lure of a good wildlife reserve or zoo, and several of the people we had met in Australia had recommended the Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo to us.

The zoo is pretty large; it has a 6km circuit around which you can drive. Several families did this, seemingly never leaving their cars. Trying to maintain our new-found health kick, we toured the zoo on foot.

Whilst the Dubbo zoo is engineered in similar fashion to the zoo in Singapore (i.e. animals are separated from visitors by moats rather than cages giving an 'open plan' feel), it is slightly less imaginative in its presentation though we still found it an enjoyable way to pass a Sunday morning. We encountered a few animals we'd met before in our travels...

... and a few we hadn't.

These last being a mother and baby Macaque, a Dingo, and a Tapir.

Leaving the zoo, we headed for the campsite we'd earmarked in Dubbo but on arrival we found a patch of empty ground and a 'For Sale' sign! With time still on our side, we carried on to a one-horse town called Peak Hill where a very accommodating campsite manager found a spot for us. Feeling thirsty we headed into town in search of a pub but alas the only options were a Serviceman's Club or the local Bowls Club (visitors welcome). Feeling that perhaps we weren't suited to either of these fine establishments, we headed back to the van for a few rum and cokes...

Monday 24 - Wednesday 26 April

A new week, and at last the chance to escape our beloved Kiss campervan for a few hours and do some proper walking.

Monday saw an early departure from our overnight camp, followed by a short trip to nearby Landsborough for coffee and breakfast before the onward journey to the Glasshouse Mountains. Here, the very helpful couple who run the local knick-knack shop-cum-Tourist Info Centre gave us heaps of leaflets about the area.

Feeling the need to break ourselves in gently we opted for the 2.5km ascent of Mount Ngungun, which offers spectacular views of its surrounding peaks.

Mount Tibrogargan seen from Mount Ngungun

Mount Beerwah, also seen from Ngungun

The day was warm and sunny, and the walk was beautiful taking in a steady climb through picturesque woodland and culminating in an easy scramble over the last few rocks to the ridge and summit. Here we met a very laid-back (literally!) local walker, who pointed out aspects of interest from our lofty viewpoint and kindly took this picture of us:

Scary couple seen on Mount Ngungun

Energised and exhilarated by this walk we decided to press on and do a couple more, this time at ground level. We chose the Trachyte and Tibrogargan circuits, coming in at just over 8km. The warm sunny weather made these strolls through scenic pine and eucalyptus glades very enjoyable; for me at least - Sharon was increasingly worried about seeing a snake...

All went well until we were within 300 meters of arriving back at the car park. A hitherto undisturbed snake, basking on the verge, zipped away into the undergrowth as we approached. Unfortunately Sharon spotted it and instantly freaked out!

We'd planned an afternoon ascent of Mount Beerburrum, but shelved this as soon as we saw that the route to the summit appeared to be an ordinary gravel road. Instead, we headed to the town of Caboolture for provisions before heading to our next overnight stop.

Tuesday 25 April - Anzac Day

Part of the conditions of taking our campervan from Cairns to Sydney was an obligation to call in for a safety-check in Brisbane.

Anzac Day is a public holiday in Australia, and we'd been unable to phone ahead to to confirm that the service centre was open, but after decrypting a reasonably useless map of a secluded suburb of Brisbane we found the place - happily open.

Central Brisbane was closed off for the Anzac Day parade, but we managed to park up and watch for a while.

We were impressed not only by the huge turnout of forces personnel and spectators, but also by the very tone of the proceedings; never less than deeply respectful, but upbeat - the atmosphere celebratory rather than mournful.

Another freebie rest stop this evening at a place called Petrie. Here our Kiss camper was joined by a Star Wars camper and a Lord of the Rings camper!

Wednesday 26 April

Time for some more walking. We set off early, and after a brief stop for an entirely enormous breakfast we continued on to Brisbane Forest Park

Here we took in another beautiful 8km ground level walk (comprised of two shorter circuits) beside a lake.

Sadly, this walk became a bit of a route march as Sharon was in no hurry to have a repeat snake encounter. Thankfully we didn't. However, we did get our one and only view of a Duck-billed Platypus here, although it was swimming about in a tank and avoided all my efforts to photograph it. (Apologies Platypus enthusiasts).

In the afternoon we headed back towards Brisbane in order to climb Mount Coot-Tha, which affords a panoramic view of Brisbane and its surrounds.

Our rest stop this evening was in a camp spot beside another lake. Here we really noticed for the first time that although the days were still pleasantly warm, the nights were becoming increasingly colder...