Phillip Island, Great Ocean Rd, Coorong, Murray-Darling

[Tweaksta]

[Intro]

Well the time has come again for me to post my latest epic journey across this great land of ours.

This time after starting off at home in Sydney, we headed through Melbourne (without stopping) to Phillip Island. From there we went to the Mornington Peninsula, Great Ocean Rd, Discovery Coast, Coorong, Fleurieu Peninsula, Adelaide then followed the Murray River from the sea all the way to it's confluence with the Darling River. Then from there it was up the Darling almost all the way to Queensland......8000km in 37 days........

This time I didn't take 'Ridge' the Forester - instead we opted to take our other recreational vehicle, a 1983 poptop Toyota Hiace Campervan.

Why?
Because it has a comfy bed, stove/griller, 3-way fridge, 80L water storage, cupboards, gas, dining table, kitchen sink and storage galore. It gets 500km to the tank (averages 10L/100km) from it's 2.0L carburetted engine and is rear-wheel drive.

We figured that since 80% of the journey would be on sealed roads in fairly populated areas that we'd need a secure and solid place to stay - and we wouldn't need the AWD or clearance of the Foz until the Darling River section which we decided would be completely doable in a 2WD because up until 40 years ago - everyone out there got around in 2WDs anyway. With graders permanently working out there the roads are the best they have ever been (or so we thought).

[Next post - Week 1 - Sydney to Phillip Island, Mornington Peninsula and G.O.R]

 

[Tweaksta]

[Week 1 - Sydney to Phillip Island, Mornington Peninsula and Great Ocean Rd]

After the stress of packing, the first day of driving wasn't too relaxing. After 3 to 4 hours of driving down the Hume we pulled into one of our regular stopovers - the caravan park on the Murrumbidgee River at Gundagai.

On the second day, in an effort to try to get that holiday feeling we didn't set any targets. In fact after only a few hours we got to Chiltern and decided to take the afternoon off and try to find some very rare birds in the area. This is one of the last remaining places where you can find the Regent Honeyeater in the wild. Unfortunately, they didn't want to be seen today.

We were so unmotivated to drive that we decided NOT to continue to Melbourne so instead opted for another overnighter somewhere close-by. Less than 30km from Chiltern was the picturesque town of Beechworth so we headed in, grabbed some shopping and supplies and found a campsite at the Lakeside campground. It was perfect - we found a spot in a huge area of about 10ha. We had autumnal poplars and plane trees surrounding us and only one neighbour in the whole area. Needless to say, we had a wonderfully peaceful night.


Our campsite at Beechworth

Pied Cormorant at Beechworth

The next day we headed back to the highway and apart from stopping for lunch at Violet Town we pretty much drove all day. We hit Melbourne at peak hour and spent a few hours bumper to bumper. Somewhere around Cranbourne (just East of Melbourne) it got dark on us so by the time we got to our caravan park on Phillip Island we we knackered. After some dinner and hot showers we didn't have much left in us........BEDTIME!

The next day we had some time to look around the island and bought tickets to that night's penguin parade. We headed down to Cowes and had lunch and a look around. After that we headed to the Nobby's visitor's centre.

The Nobby's.

Cape Barren Geese

With many thanks given to a special they had on, we managed to get the "Duck's Guts" of tickets for a good price. As a result we had VIP treatment in the Skybox with our own ranger to ask whatever we wanted. Unfortunately no cameras are allowed.

The following day (Day 5) we did some more exploring exploring around Phillip Island then visited Churchill Island which is a smalish nature reserve off the main island. There is a pretty sweeeeet cycle track around it so we unloaded the bikes off the rack at the back of the van and did some cycling before having lunch are their little cafe.

There happened to be an American car show on while we were there.

The van with bikes on the back about to say goodbye to Churchill and Phillip Islands.

Once we were back on the mainland it was a only a few hours to the Mornington Peninsula where our first sight to see was Arthur's Seat.

From here it was a short drive down to the beach at Dromana where we found a whole chain of camping areas running at various intervals along the beach. Needless to say, the campsite was awesome - you could hear the small waves on the shore and the birdlife was great.

Day 6 was probably the shortest drive yet - 21.5km. Not bad for a day's work. Sorrento and Portsea just had way too much to offer so we stayed another night. This time we chose Blairgowrie campground, this also was right on the beach but this time we had a few metres of elevation giving us an awesome view, and, we were only 5 mins from Sorrento. We set up camp and used the bikes as our transport around the area for the afternoon and evening which was a pleasant way to get to the Italian Restaurant on Sorrento for dinner.

The defence area was also quite impressive - check out this canon protecting our mainland from intruders!

A few moments after taking this photo, an abalone diver came through the cave and got out at our end. I nearly blew him away with the canon (hehehe).

 

[Tweaksta]

View from our campsite.

To be continued.....(maybe tomorrow). Sorrento to Great Ocean Rd.

 

[Kevin]

Great start!

 

[mr turbo]

^Ditto
That together with some magic pics too

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 7 - Sorrento to Wye River (Great Ocean Road)

After feeling content with the Sorrento/Portsea area we whacked the camper on the ferry across the bay to Queenscliff. We made a short diversion to check out Geelong before rejoining the road to Torquay and the official start of the G.O.R.

The ferry:

Geelong foreshore:

Bells Beach was about 5 minutes from Torquay:

Our obsession with lighthouses (and birds) gave us plenty of reasons to stop for photos. This is Anglesea Lighthouse, the only claim to fame I can think of is that it was near here that Chris Cheney (from The Living End) had a bad car accident about 10 years ago.

After Anglesea it started to get dark and a bit rainy so we made camp at Wye River at possibly one of the best campsites we have ever seen.


Day 8
After a beaut brekky at Wye River cafe we headed on to do a quick bushwalk at Mait's Rest, then continued on to Cape Otway where we had hoped to find a secluded bush campsite with a degree of spectacularity....

On the way in, we stumbled across a Koala community right next to the road:

At Cape Otway there was another lighthouse - this time with a cafe!!

The wind & rain kept picking up all evening and when we set up camp at Point Franklin the ocean was fierce. The next few photos are a bit blurry as it was nearly dark but they still capture the vibe.

You can see the Cape Otway light on the far headland:

 

[Tweaksta]

The next morning (Day 9) we were pretty gobsmacked by the scenery:

We re-visited the lighthouse (yep we love 'em!) for a bit more of a look around:

Triplet Falls:

Back on the GOR after a slight detour the first major sight was Gibson Steps (in fact nearly every stop had LOTS of steps), our legs got pretty strong:

Juvenile Shearwater (aka Muttonbird), thousands of these are on top of one of the rock columns maturing until they migrate to Siberia, this one must have fallen off the ledge. Hopefully he still made it to Siberia for our winter.....he'd be back in Australia now if he did.

The twelve apostles at sunset (apologies for the cliche photograph)

That night we stayed in Port Campbell.

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 10:

We really got into the old tales of shipwrecks so the Loch Ard story really sucked us in.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ard_(ship)

Loch Ard Gorge

This is where the survivors took refuge for the night

Thundercave

I thought these were kinda funny - they look a bit like a Christian Rock album cover!

Famous Apostles - "Mog and Magog"

Gog (or Magog?)

Offshore Gas Rig

After all the sightseeing we stayed another night at Port Campbell.


Day 11 (Port Campbell to Warrnambool):
I had a brief moment with a seagull at Peterborough

The Bay of Martyrs

Bay of Martyrs Boat Ramp - check out the grade! It's signposted as strictly 4wd only. Perhaps they have had to rescue front-wheel-drives before as they can't get traction on the ramp.

 

[Tweaksta]

Childers Cove - Bay of Islands

Day 12 - Warrnambool

Flagstaff Hill (Warrnambool Maritime Museum)

Raven enjoying the view with me at Thunder Point

Day 13 - Warrnambool to Portland

Griffith Island Lighthouse - Port Fairy

Port Fairy harbour

Our campsite at Portland

Day 14 - Portland

Sunrise photographed out the back window from bed.

Got dogs?? These are Maremma Sheepdogs used to protect a gannet colony - and they are very effective (and good looking dogs too)!

 

[Tweaksta]

Just near the Maremmas and Gannets is Cape Nelson (with another lighthouse and cafe).

Eastern Yellow Robin

Singing Honeyeater

Day 15 we headed from Portland to Port Macdonnell.

Didn't take many photos until we got over the border into SA. Here is SA's most Southerly point - only 5500km to antarctica!

Port Macdonnell Lighthouse (on far left)

Day 16 - Port Macdonnell to Beachport

Blue Lake at Mount Gambier

Beachport Lookout

Day 17 - Beachport to Naracoorte

Cape Dombey - Robe

How good does this lunch look?

 

[Tweaksta]

Bool Lagoon Game Reserve

Since Bool Lagoon was close to Naracoorte Caves (and we were visiting the caves the following day) we set up camp at the Caves camp ground that night.

Day 18 - Naracoorte to Meningie

Morning at our campsite at Naracoorte caves

New Holland Honeyeater

Superb Fairy Wren

Naracoorte Caves

Cape Jaffa

Kingston

The Big Lobster at Kingston - "That's not very big!!"

After Kingston we travelled along the Coorong. At sunset it was pretty amazing. Words can't describe it and we have no photos of that section - bummer! We stopped overnight at Meningie which is right on the Coorong.

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 19 - Meningie to Port Elliot

We spent most of day 19 exploring around the Coorong, it truly is a spectacular place.

Day 20 - Port Elliot to Wirrina Cove

The mouth of the Murray River

Goolwa Barrage (a structure used to control flow of the Murray River)

Looking across Goolwa Barrage to Hindmarsh Island (which has now been ruined by overdevelopment)

Cape Jarvis (Kangaroo Island barely visible across the water).....bloody freezing cold!

Arriving at Wirrina Cove - looking slightly tired and hungry

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 21 - Wirrina Cove to Adelaide

Morning at our campsite

Old Homestead ruins - Wirrina

Wirrina Reservoir

Upon arrival in Adelaide we found a nice peaceful unpowered campsite in the caravan park at Brownhill Creek. Dinner was an easy walk from there to the Edinburgh Hotel in Mitcham.


Day 22 - Adelaide (and zoo) by bike.

The ride to Adelaide zoo

The Zoo

Irian - the Siamang Gibbon

Getting a kiss from a Quokka

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 23 - Adelaide - Glenelg & Seaside areas

Botanic Gardens

Glenelg Coastal Cycleway

The sun about to set over the sea

Day 24 - Adelaide to Blanchetown via Murray Bridge

From Adelaide our mission was to rejoin the Murray River and follow it all the way to the Darling River confluence.

All packed up and ready to leave our campsite at Ocean Shores

Looking over Adelaide from Mt Lofty

Murray River ferry crossing at Mannum

Still following the Murray - photo break near Coolcha.

Just after Swan Reach it started to get dark so we made our way to Blanchetown and found a place to set up camp......nothing too remarkable so we didn't take photos. This was just one of those stops you need to make to get somewhere far away.


Day 25 - Blanchetown to Berri and Lyrup Flats.

First stop was Brookfield Conservation Park, unfortunately we mainly took videos here. I'll give you the link to those at the end of this trip report.

Next up was Waikerie. The Murray River was still well up over it's normal water level. It's so nice when there is stack & stacks of water around.

Waikerie had a small park where local rescued wildlife can rehabilitate - we made friends with an emu.

Morning Tea at the Chocolate Factory in Waikerie. The river is just out of view behind me.

After a full day's driving we found an amazing campsite at Lyrus Flats....please excuse my daggy photo poses....

Putting up the TV antenna

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 26 - Lyrup to Chowilla Game Reserve

After packing up at Lyrup we took a few quick photos

Then we were ready to hit the road. Finally we were starting to get to the boonies. We were heading to Chowilla Game Reserve to camp there for the night. After a killer bumpy gibber road for 30kms (travelling at 15km/h for 2 hours) from Renmark we finally made it to this ex-station now owned by NPWS. It was deserted - we had the whole place to ourselves. As it got darker it got spookier, then once dark we did some googling and found out that Chowilla translates into Place of Ghosts.

The view from the campervan

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 27 - Chowilla SA to Buronga VIC

We checked out the Old Customs House from back in the days when river trade was booming. Of course, when we found the aviary we had to befriend the birds there.

It looks hard to believe - but inside this unassuming building was a really nice Art Gallery / slash / Cafe. You could almost say it was trendy....even though Wentworth is kinda verging on outback....or pretty much in it.
Artback Cafe Gallery

......and after another full day's driving we had made it to the Murray/Darling confluence!!

Right at the junction!

After dark, we set up camp at the Buronga Riverside park....we scored a riverfront site looking directly across the river to Mildura.

Day 28 - Buronga to Lake Mungo

Morning at our campsite

Before leaving Mildura we did a tour of a working orange farm called Orangeworld. It was a fun tractor tour of the property.

Mario - the owner and orange farmer extraordinaire

Another cool stop was the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens

Botanicals in red dirt country - frikkin' brilliant!

2500 year old eucalypt

The Gol Gol Hotel - had to take photos as it was a really REALLY nice country pub.

 

[tomtom88]

This looks like the trip of a lifetime! Amazing photos!

 

[Tweaksta]

After the "Goli" - aka Gol Gol Hotel we were on our way to Mungo along the notoriously rough Arumpo Rd.

About halfway there

Nearly there

Upon arrival at Mungo we wanted to pay our camping fees at the visitor's centre so that a ranger wouldn't knock on our windows at 6am so we did that first. Whilst at the visitor's centre we saw that the showers weren't being used (and were surprisingly clean) so we got showered too.

Once all done it was 2km to the campground where we set up, cooked our dinner and ate before spending some time relaxing before finally crashing out.

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 29 - Mungo NP to the Great Darling Anabranch

Waking up to a brilliant campsite is always a thrill. As a result we had to take a few shots to capture it.

Looking into the ancient Lake Mungo

Before pressing on further we thought we'd drop into the visitor's centre again..
Megafauna!

This beaut old steam engine was used to power the mechanical shearing clippers at the woolshed.

The Mungo Woolshed. Like my vintage Photoshop effect?
I'm not too sure myself...

After we had finished at Mungo we checked in with the rangers about road conditions.....hell there was only one road in and out and it was Arumpo Rd again. This meant we had to go back to Mildura again even though we had wanted to head North to Pooncarie to get to Menindee. Oh well, looks like we have to go via Broken Hill, which was fine as Julie and I have a fondness for Broken Hill.....in fact we can't get enough of it.

So, after a few hours heading back to Mildura/Wentworth, we finally hit the Silver City Hwy and drove towards Broken Hill until it got dark on us. Now, we had memories of trying to find a nice place to camp in Broken Hill in the past which, apart from Silverton, isn't the most spectacular as the only places on offer are crowded, packed-in caravan parks which we weren't prepared to do.

The first place that looked like a decent place to camp on the Silver City Hwy that we saw was Anabranch Bridge, it was close to water and the levels were still at flood level, however there were a few caravans there making it feel too much like Sydney - lol!

Another 100kms or so we came to another little spot on the Anabranch. This time we couldn't pass it up. We set up camp 50 metres from the water's edge and had a most enjoyable evening and night.

 

[Tweaksta]

Day 30 - Great Darling Anabranch to Menindee Lakes via Broken Hill.

Woke up gobsmacked by the serenity and scenicness (is that even a word?) of the place.

Once we got to Broken Hill we checked out Pro Hart's gallery.....
Now this is how you paint a Bentley!

Pro Hart's studio

The Man from Ironbark (great poem - if you don't know it google it!)

Robbing the Cobb & Co coach

Pro's Rollers or Bentleys