Finally to Brisbane

Jeff was a little disappointed to discover that his immunity to the spider bite was due to the fact that the spider was a non-venomous Golden Orb spider and not because of any super-human resistance.

We completed the final leg of our journey to Brisbane with a gradual shift in weather from torrential rain to occasional showers. After about 10 days of fairly constant rain this was a great relief. With such glorious beaches and warm water we at last began to fully appreciate this area. We arrived in Brisbane after overnight stays in Tweed Heads and Surfers Paradise – the latter in the Marriott hotel at a ridiculous knock-down rate.

Surfers Paradise – and the whole Gold Coast region - is about as close as you get to California life style. Huge high rise buildings, beautiful long beaches, enormous shopping malls. Surfers Paradise boasts the highest building in Australia. Not quite our scene, so we quickly moved on to Brisbane with a call in at Manly (yes there is one in Brisbane as well as in Sydney)

Manly

Brisbane has a wonderful river flowing right through the centre and there are City Cats which are large water taxis to ferry you up and down.

Brisbane from the City Cat

This is a great way to travel and we could travel right in to the heart of the city. We had only one day to explore and focussed on the 'new' Anglican cathedral and the (free) outdoor swimming pools on South Bank.

St. Johns Cathedral was built in Gothic Style but started only about 100 years ago.

St. John's Cathedral

They finished it this year! The main interest for us was that the wood carvings had been done by two generations of Blumsons who must have been part of the diaspora of East Londoners in the 19^th century. It is remarkable to see what the old cathedrals must have looked like when they were (relatively) new.

Brisbane's South Bank is a lovely little park on the river opposite the main shopping mall. It has lovely pools where you can just peel off and swim for free. It woldn't work in England but in Brisbane's climate it is a wonderful way to cool off.

South Bank swimming

Meg teaching a dog (Monty) to swim

Finally, on the 20^th Feb we left Brisbane for Thagoona, just west of Ipswich where we met up with Jeff's second Australian cousin. A special three days followed before we began the long trip back towards Melbourne.

One of the many local residents at Jeff''s cousins

... and another - a Cane Toad

Throughout our travels we have appeared to bring disaster to the places we visit – floods followed our departure from Hanoi and we just left Java before the landslides. Bush fires followed our trail in Victoria and there were more floods in our wake as we passed through NSW. We left Queensland wondering if there might be a plague of locusts to follow, although, as we write this, our fears have proved unfounded.

Sydney to Brisbane

Sunday 8th Feb – Day 130

After the heat, the rain. Our two nights in Sydney were intended to check it out and see what we might do there on the way back from Brisbane to Melbourne. We had booked a hotel about 4 km from the centre in Glebe Road – small, friendly and not too pricey, and arrived about mid-day. The temperature had dropped too a really pleasant level and we walked into the city, around and around to get a feel for the place. Eventually we ended up at Circular Key. The setting is just stunning and in the evening sunshine, sitting in a cafe overlooking the harbour and the Harbour Bridge, it was hard to imagine anything much better.




















Cafe Culture – Sydney Style

We eventually returned to our hotel, the next day full of promise.

You can buy a day ticket for A$17 that covers all bus, train and ferry rides for 24 hours. Meg, ever with an eye for a bargain, snapped up a couple the next morning and we set off for the city again to see our cargo ship agent and sort out some paperwork. It was nearly noon and we needed to work hard to use the full $17 so we set off on the ferry to Manly which gives a good view of the harbour and is an interesting suburb to explore.


























Sydney Harbour


And then a mystery tour using the buses and trains. This involves hopping on the first bus you see and then switching buses at random intervals until you are completely lost. The challenge then is to find your way back.

By the late afternoon the rain had set in, and this was the first of the rain that plagued us all the way to Brisbane. The next day we set off northwards towards Brisbane. We had arranged a couple of stops at Dorrigo and later at Byron Bay so it was a weeks journey. We somehow had not expected poor weather and dull rainy days, very reminiscent of an English summer , were not part of our plans.. Enthusiasm for camping in a tent disappeared and how to 'amuse' ourselves became an issue. Walking is not much fun in the rain and exploring small Australian towns only holds so much interest (which has largely expired now).

Meg – ever resourceful – noticed Stroud on the map, almost on our planned route, and announced that we must go there. So we did. Jeff was much enthused by the fantasy that we would somehow pass through a hole in the space-time continuum and arrive outside the Subscription Rooms.




















A short cut home?

It is hard to imagine two towns that are more different. Linked only by the name and, apparently, an annual brick-throwing competition, they are at different ends of the spectrum on almost every other parameter. One is politically left wing and the other very right wing. (Guess which way round they are).






















Brick throwing – a local sport

The NSW Stroud has a population of 551 and is at an altitude of 500m. We decided to sample the “cafe culture” proudly promoted in the tourist literature.




















Meg samples 'Cafe Culture' Stroud Style

We announced to the locals that we came from “near Stroud” and they looked at us with mild interest – sort of half way to us being Martians. Boldly going where no man has trod, we decided to stay the night in the Stroud Hotel. Its not one we would recommend to friends in search of a luxury resort break, (no en suite rooms, no breakfast, an outside staircase and a remarkable bathroom), but for only one night...

























Stroud Hotel






















...and its shared bathroom

We hastily moved on the next morning to Gloucester. This is a pleasant small town; we checked out some walks in the nearby national park, but still did not feel inspired to go for long walks in the rain, so headed north once more. Given that rain usually swells waterfalls, something which are not necessarily inspiring at the end of a three-year drought, we confidently headed up to Dorrigo, a small town with a World Heritage National Park on the “Waterfall Way”. Our host, Susan, was a mine of knowledge about local activities as well as a good cook, so next day we headed off to the said national park where we had a (dry) walk through some of the most magnificent sub tropical rain forest ever, including a visit to two waterfalls.





























Trianna Falls






















Ebor Falls

The trail actually went behind the curtain of water for the Crystal Falls. In the afternoon we set of to see two more sets of falls - one at Ebor, and a second one at Dangar. There were others, but it had started to rain yet again, so we called it a day.

The rain seemed to be unrelenting, so we decided to try out a few of the scenic rural towns in this part of Australia, which is called New England. It certainly felt that the weather was English for us. We got to Grafton which boasts the largest colony of fruit bats in the southern hemisphere (how do they know?) but there was little else of cultural, social or any other interest, so we pushed on again to Lismore. This is a town of 40,000 people where we felt there would be something to stimulate and engage us. I think we misjudged it.

Staying in a cabin here we had to take some remedial action on the car. Whilst the engine seemed fine and had powered up many a mountain, the boot let in water, and we had to do some running repairs to avoid travelling with a mobile plunge pool. And still it rained.

Byron Bay is described in the Lonely Planet as “God's Own Country”; actually the description of it being an ex-hippy town with magnificent beaches and crashing surf makes it sound like Stroud-on-Sea. We had made contact with friends of Australian friends who had graciously invited us to stay with them. And we instantly felt at home. We joined them and friends for morning coffee, which stretched through lunch until about 5 p.m. The conversation flowed non stop, but so did the rain. Phil, our host, said that occasionally in summer there were days of heavy rain. He described the rain falling at night : “You hear the rain thundering on the tin roof and think 'My god, that's heavy'. But after about half an hour the sound goes up a whole level and just as you think that surely there cannot be any more rain up there, it seems to get heavier still and the drumming on the roof becomes unbearably loud”. We can testify to the veracity of that statement.

But on the Sunday morning the skies had cleared and we set of with our hosts and other friends of theirs for a wonderful walk to the lighthouse, the most easterly point in Australia. But so did hundreds of others, we saw more people walking that day than at any other time since the fashionable board walk in Cottesloe, Perth. It really is a spectacular walk to the lighthouse and then back along a broad, flat surfing beach.

After brunch Jeff and I set of to explore the northern beaches in the town and the town itself. Because of the surf and lovely location, Byron attracts a lot of backpackers in their early twenties as well as young tourists from other parts of Australia. The ratio of people in the twenties to oldies in their fifties must be about 200:1. The main implication of this is that there are a lot of very beautiful, lean, tanned bodies on the beach. We looked for the sign which said “Oldies this way” convinced that there must be some sort of local regulation which prohibits elderly people exposing white flabby bodies in public. (We did not expose ours just in case there was).

Byron Bay

The spider – playing dead

The small red mark on Jeff's neck was surely the precursor to an eventual death by poison. However, on awaking the next morning it had vanished and, after unsuccessfully trying a few Spiderman moves, we hit the road once again.

New South Wales

New South Wales

Our base for Mt. Kosciuszco was Thredbo which was the scene of a terrible disaster in 1997 when the alpine road collapsed and an avalanche covered the town. Lots of lives were lost and it hit the headlines during or first week in Australia back in 1997. Our visit was celebrated with the highest ever daytime temperature.



















Our car ...

We are coming to realise that Australia is the country in the Southern hemisphere with the greatest number of extremes – and probably the most entries, per capita, in the Guinness Book of Records. Every town has a claim to fame – whether it be the most brown alpacas or the first town to have a museum of heritage kitchen utensils, and every day there appears to be some record broken – such as the biggest fall in banking sector stocks on a Tuesday, since records began. This could stem from their obsession with cricket which everyone who listens to Test Match Special knows is littered with a myriad of cricketing records of unsurpassable trivia.

We motored on to the South Coast (of NSW) via Cooma heading for Moruya where some friends had offered us beds for a couple of nights. Their home is recently built as a 'passive solar' house, on the coastal cliffs a couple of kilometres from the beach. It was good to talk to Australians who have thought deeply about environmental impact of their lifestyles and acted on it. The house uses hardly any fuel and boasts no air conditioning or central heating. Good design means that heat is stored in a huge thermal reservoir of concrete during the summer and this is then the source of background heat in the winter (which can get pretty cold in this region). If the government had not reduced the grants, the roof would have had a photovoltaic array to supply the electricity, both for domestic use and to return electricity to the grid. As we find all over the world, our hosts were wonderfully hospitable and generous.



















South Coast near Moruya



















Bingi Bingi

The South Coast is not really on the tourist track but is absolutely beautiful. Small bays and coves make for warm and safe swimming, and there are lots of National Parks and good bush walking. We saw our first Black Cockatoos – huge birds black all over except for yellow cheeks, that swoop into the trees knocking down branches and fruits as they rummage for food.

On to Shellharbour, just south of Wollongong and a stay with another Australian. Our host this time was Mairie, a passionate worker for the refugees living in detention in Australia. We learnt a lot and had the chance to talk over so many topics. It was whilst walking in the Minnamura National Park, that we had our first sighting of a lyrebird.



















The elusive Lyrebird

These birds are wonderful mimics and we spent some time trying to teach it to burp – but with no success.


























Minnimurra Falls

Back on the road, we headed to Kangaroo Valley. We had heard such good things about this place and we had not been able to find a cheap hotel in Sydney until Sunday night, so had a couple of days in hand.

As we arrived the temperature began to soar and by early afternoon it was well into the 40's. We had opted to camp and felt resolved to cope with the heat.

Our resolution wavered significantly as the temperature remained high until about 1:00 a.m. But that was only the warm-up (excuse the pun) for the next day. We decided to get out early for a walk and were on the trail by 7:30 (to avoid the heat). It was only 12km on the flat but by 10:00 we were struggling. Even so, it was well worthwhile for the views over the Shoalhaven River



















The Shoalhaven River

Toorawa Dam

... and for seeing several very large goanna (monitor lizards).

A Goanna that crossed our path

By our return the day was really getting hot and we staggered back to the camp wondering how we could cope. The temperature reached 50.9 in the shade making our campsite one of the hottest places on the planet for the day. (Heat always sounds nice when you are in winter in England with snow and ice around you.)



















Camping at 51 degrees (in the shade)


This is about 122 degrees Fahrenheit and significantly hotter than body temperature. Keeping cool is a major problem. We managed by finding a community swimming pool and dipping in and out all afternoon but the pool water was 30 degrees so there was not a lot of cooling! We kept slapping on the sunscreen, but that was like rubbing hot liquid onto our skin. The heat was remorseless with a swirling strong wind that did not cool but felt like standing in front of a hot air blower. Even at 1:00 a.m. on the Sunday the temperature in our tent was over 30 degrees.

























The Fitzroy Falls (above Kangaroo Valley)

And then on the Sunday we heard about the first of the terrible fires in the Yarra Ranges north of Melbourne. Thanks to all of you who checked up on us. An area larger than Wales has been completely burnt out. We have found it very emotional because at least two of the towns we have camped in/near have now disappeared. We stayed in Maryville, which has lost all its houses bar one, and have also heard that Narbethong has vanished. It is hard to imagine how such communities will be rebuilt. We have been very aware of the fire hazard, and the potential of this tinder dry country to burn. The reality is very, very scary. People are asked to have fire plans and to decide if they want to "stay and defend" or choose to leave early: however with a fire travelling faster than a car can drive it is a life and death decision. Luckily for us we had already decided to head for the urban delights of Sydney.

Victoria to new South Wales

The Victoria heatwave. Days 109-122

Our 6 days in the campervan turned out to be very comfortable – although if we ever bought one it would be just a little longer. We explored the Yarra Range hills and the Dandenung Hills to the north-east of Melbourne and enjoyed some superb walks which were pretty devoid of people despite it being the peak holiday season

Returning the camper, collecting the 'new' hire car and fitting in an evening session at the Australian Open to see Andy Murray required all of Meg's organisational skills (as we are no longer able to carry with us all our baggage). However, it was well worth going to the tennis which had been one of our hopes for the trip.

Murray in the Open

I should tell you a little about our car. It was a 1990 Toyota Camry which we found via yellow pages and lots of phone calls. The cost of two months hire was about £500 compared with about £2000 for a normal car hire, but the car is not exactly in mint condition. With 277000 kilometers on the clock and, clearly having experienced a car-cleaning regime that rivals our own, it is unlikely to ever be stolen – and if we bang into something it won't show.

So we set off on our journey towards Brisbane with some concerns about vehicle reliability – heading for Bairnsdale on the South-East coast of Victoria. At 35 degrees it soon became apparent that the air-con did not work. We began to feel a little concerned and as perspiration dripped off Meg, and sweat ran down my neck, we thought about the temperatures in NSW and Queensland. Meg, adopting her assertive character phoned our friendly car-hire man, Michael, who confirmed that the a/c didn't work but then we never asked for a/c. Meg's answer of “well we assumed that a/c was standard on a Camry of that year” was wonderful (I should point out that Meg's knowledge of car specifications is one of her weaker subject areas in Pub quizzes). Michael had to agree but we were still in the same boat (or car).

About 30 minutes later Michael rang back with the offer of another Camry which did have a/c, available in a few days time. “The bodywork isn't as good – not that your one has good bodywork” suggested that there might be other issues to consider but we decided to go with it, although it meant returning to Melbourne (350 km).

We spent two days at Bairnsdale and found a magnificent walk in the Mitchell River National Park, and then hit the Road for Mebourne yet again.

The Mitchell River

We used the two days to the best advantage - tickets for the Australian Open were still available and our hotel could fit us in (only 400m from the Rod Laver arena – like finding a TraveLodge at Wimbledon) so we decided to blow some of the savings on the car hire by going to the tennis for two more sessions. Our first session saw Murray lose (on the big screen inside the ground), Tsonga beat Blake, Nadal destroy Gonzales, Safina beat Dokic and best of all we saw Federer utterly humiliate Del Potro. Watching Federer was wonderful - his poise and movement were just remarkable – but the Dokic game had all the atmosphere. She is Australian so it was like watching Henman at Wimbledon.

Tuesday we picked up the 'new' car. Michael was right – the body was not as good, but the a/c/ did work (only on the highest fan setting – but thats all we needed). In fact the car seemed pretty good all round for a vehicle that had travelled 360000km. As we set off on Wednesday morning, along the Hume Highway towards Sydney we began to pick up radio reports of a massive heatwave that was due to hit Victoria over the next few days. Even with a/c the car was warm and outside the air soon reached temperatures that are similar to those you get in Death Valley. In fact the temperature in the shade reached 44/45 degrees over the next 4 days, dropping to about 25-30 at night. Camping in a tent is great but not at those temperatures! We once again opted for air-conditioned cabins.

For those of you who know our feelings about global warming might well wonder why we aren't simply going with the flow and coping with the high temperatures. If thats the case you probably have never experienced extreme temperatures without air conditioning. A/c is just as vital as heat is at low temperatures – and we have our central heating on in the winter just like everyone else. What is interesting is that a/c is needed just at the time when the sun is brightest and it would seem that solar power (photovoltaics) would be a really good source of electricity in these circumstances. Perhaps one day these a/c units will only be sold with the attached solar array to power them.

So in Melbourne over the next few days the heat wave reached levels never before experienced, bush fires raged in the South Eastern suburbs and there were lots of power outages. The Casino lift stopped working and Federer had to walk down 30 floors to get out. Good job he is in reasonable condition.

Fire is an ever present concern in the summer here and fire-fighters, most of whom are volunteers, have a status similar to lifeboat crews in the UK. They do an amazing job and many lose their lives each year. The land becomes so dry that it takes only one match to set off a fire that can destroy thousands of square miles of grassland and forest. The trees being Eucalyptus produce oils and the heat of the fire creates a cloud of flammable oils high in the forest canopy. The flames can then jump from tree to tree at tree-top height. I still don't understand how they stop the fires and why Australia is not completely burned down. You often see the results of bush fires from previous years, where recovery is still taking place. In some cases it takes 50 years for a forest to recover, in others only a few.

During the heatwave we tended to go high up in the mountains where the temperatures were about 10 degrees lower (only 33!) and walk there in the mornings before the heat reached its peak. So we headed into what is called the Alpine Region of North Victoria which becomes the Snowy Mountains just over the border in New South Wales. This had been part of our original thinking but was an essential survival strategy with the temperature over 40 degrees in the valleys. Perhaps we were the only ones foolhardy enough to do anything, but we rarely saw anyone else walking and were rewarded for our efforts with views across the Great Dividing Range that were utterly stunning.

Occasionally in the afternoons we would plonk ourselves by an “alpine” lake and swim or read our books, (if we could get some shade).

Mount Buffallo

Lake Catani

Falls Creek

Rocky Valley

The routes in the mountains are spectacular – as good as anything we have come across in Europe or North America. Considering the low usage (there are usually empty) and the distances involved, the upkeep must be very expensive.

Workmen appear spontaneously when trees fall across the road ...

We continued our wild-life adventures, spotting a wild puma in Porepunka.

The first sighting of a Puma in Victoria

A little later, by the time it had reached us it turned out to be just a large moggie!

What was interesting was how much larger it seemed when viewed from a distance – perhaps that might explain some of the puma sightings around Gloucestershire.

Another remarkable encounter ... in the car park in Thredbo. Jeff threw a stick at an obnoxious crow that had just pecked our shopping bag. The next morning we returned to the car to find the most amazing volume of bird-droppings – possibly the largest in Australia – covering every available space on the roof, bonnet, boot and windows. Fortunately there was no possibility of it damaging the paintwork any further.

The climax of our walking was to reach the top of Mount Kosciuszko, the highest peak in Australia. It turned out to be one of the easiest mainly because we took the chairlift up to 1935m and so only had to gain another 300m elevation. Nevertheless, thats like bagging a Munro and it was about 30 degrees.

Mount Kosciuszko

The trip also gave us the opportunity to use the highest toilet in Australia – not many people can claim they have used the highest toilet in a continent.

Mt Kosciuszko toilets

Camping in Victoria

Monday 11^th Jan - Day 203

It is 2.00 a.m and we are in the tent. There is a strange sound outside which sounds vaguely like rain falling but nothing is landing on the tent. I have a look outside and see that it is only the site maintenance team (about 50 large kangaroos) that are plucking up the longer tufts of grass and converting them into small black cylinders.

We are about 150 miles north-west of Melbourne. It is hot – 29 degrees today - and perfect for camping. The camp is full of wildlife - white cockatoos (correllas) who run the site, red and blue parrots that seem to be in charge but only until the correllas swarm in and take over.

There are thousands of butterflies – but only three different species as far as I can tell.

Our camp site is just outside Halls Gap in the Grampians, a small group of mountains that rise up to about 4000ft. We are five days in to our first stint of camping having bought about £200 worth of camping gear. We hired a car and drove west from Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road. With some trepidation as we had not camped for about 8 years and then only in very warm conditions in the south of France. We were uncertain as to whether our old bones would cope.

Our first night was very frustrating as every camp-site in Torquay (yes you will recognise a few place names) was full and we ended up in a cabin. It turned out to be a good decision as the cabin was very good and it gave us a chance to sort out our 'gear'. Torquay is the surfing capital of the world' – almost all Australian towns have some claim to fame such as this. For example, Kojunnup in West Australia was the 'first shire to have 1 million sheep'. Anyway, Torquay boasts the invention of the wet suit – I bet you didn't know that. Intriguingly, the inhabitants – as represented at the local supermarket – hardly looked like surfers. More like bouyancy aids.

Along the coast a little, past Anglesey, is the Cape Otway State Park where we found a very isolated site – just a few cabins and tents and a lot of Koalas in the trees above us.

Bimbi Camp Site

Koala on Beach

We also managed to do some hiking. A 12km walk along part of the Great Ocean Walk took us up to Airlie Inlet (not at all like coastal paths in the UK but very pleasant).

Airlie Inlet

We saw only one small snake – although other walkers said they had seen a big 'red belly' (I don't know what that is either but it sounds worrying). However, the national statistics show only a handful of deaths through snake bites in the last decade so it is hardly a big risk.

Port Campbell on the Great Ocean Road

Our journey along the coast took us past the 12 Apostles. These 13 (?) limestone stacks, isolated from the cliffs as the cliffs erode, are an outstanding visual experience. As ever, the photos can't really so it justice but give a flavour of what you see.

Our first full day here in the Grampians has been so good that we have booked two more nights. We hiked up to The Pinnacle this morning – setting off early before the sun was too strong. Stunning views but the walk up the creek to the top was equally spectacular. Every bit as good as walking in

Yosemite – and apart from the view point at the top, which is near a car park, equally empty.

The Pinnacle in the Grampians

18^th January

After another wonderful hike up Mount Rosea we moved on from the Grampians. We were pretty exhausted by the temperature at the end of the walk – 38 degrees – and a state-wide fire ban, with advice not to hike in the bush persuaded us to move on.

Mount Rosea

Fire is an ever present danger here although it is an essential feature in the life cycle of the forests. The Grampians were devastated by fire only 3 years ago yet the forest is once again full of large healthy trees. The nature of the eucalypts is such that the bark is burnt but the inner core of the tree survives and new limbs grow rapidly from the old trunk. Some trees do die in the fire but this only gives more light to these remaining.

Our journey to Castlemaine (no evidence of the 4X brewery if it ever existed), took us through Moyleston, a small town of about 200 people but with the claim to fame of being the birth place of Aussie Rules Football. In Maryborough the car's temperature gauge reached 44 degrees. Contrary to popular belief it is not just the English that state the obvious regarding the weather. Australians rarely miss a chance to tell you that 'it's a hot one today' even though the perspiration is running down your neck. We decided to an air conditioned cabin. Ours is more camping for softies with a limited range of suitable climatic conditions that exclude ridiculously high temperatures

We are now back in the hills but this time the Yarra Range north-east of Melbourne, and now with a campervan that we have rented for a week.

We have this fantasy that we might one day buy a campervan back home and drive along country roads all over Europe at low speeds irritating all other road users, so we thought we might try it out here.

We are on our second night and so far it has been pretty good. Although our 'van is quite small (2 persons with toilet and shower) it has all the essentials and thankfully we have not yet experience any campervan culture in the campsites. Our fear was always that 'experienced' campervanners would share their concerns for 'the reciprocated stop valve used in the grey-water by-pass system' (or something equally boring)

19th January

Today we reached Maryville and Lake Mountain high up in the Yarra Ranges. Wonderful butterflies, exceptional views. This whole area is the water catchment for Melbourne and closed tot he public - except for a few access road and trails.