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Travel log of our trip around Australia March-December 2008

Introduction

Below you will find extracts of our travel log and a sample of the photographs taken during our trip in Oz in 2008. We set off to complete a round trip around Australia, but failed to do so, as we ran out of time. Whilst we have done a complete round trip, we have cut straight through from Adelaide back to Sydney, via the Desert and Broken Hill. Places we have not visited this time, but will save for later are:: Cape York, the red center, Coober Pedy, Melbourne (we have visited this city 10 years prior) and the Victorian high country. All up our trip has taken us 36.000 km to go around Australia, which if you do your maths, is a bit more than just trying to do a big circle. We have seen several detours, one of which was to Aboriginal Arnhem land. All up we have very enjoyed our nine months trip and have also learned a lot from it. We have seen our challenges, mechanically and physically, but that is part of such an experience. Enjoy the ride!

Sunday, March 30st, 2008

Finally, we are on our way! The big trip has started!

At the moment we are in Myall Lakes National Park. It is absolutely stunning here. We are completely alone with just a few pelicans, millions of stars, thousands of crickets, ducks and of course almost next to us 2 Germans (they haven’t dug a hole….. yet).

Just taking you few weeks back in time. We started with the preparations for our trip already months and months ago. Probably even the day we landed in Australia, we already started with the planning! But a few weeks ago the fever was at top height. The car was taken for a service to the Toyota dealer, the trailer had its last check up, the car got new tyres (Cooper ST) at ARB. And of course the not so nice task of going through all the cupboards in the house to check what needed to go back to the Netherlands, what needed to go in the trailer, what needed to go to several charities, what needed to go to the dump etc. Also everyone needed to be informed that we were heading back to the Netherlands with a large break in between. Two weeks prior to the actual departure date, Rogier and I did a Remote Area First Aid course. Good to know what to do with blue bottle stings, spider- and snake bites, but also broken legs, heart attacks and open wounds.

We also bought a large stock of gluten free food for Quentin. There is lots available in the cities, but we are not so sure about the stores outside the big cities (Ozzies call it ' the bush'). The dietitian advised us to buy snacks, because bread and pastas are generally widely available (or we can make it for Quentin in the bread machine), but snacks are less available.

Thursday March 27^th the moving company came with 2 ‘packers’ to pack all our belongings. It took them from 9.30 am till 8.30 pm to pack everything thoroughly. The children were at daycare, but when they came back they found it very weird. Quentin kept saying: box, box, box with every box he saw. The beds of the children were not yet packed, so they could simply sleep in their own bed. The following day around 12, 2 men came to put all the boxes in the 20ft sea container. It took them only 4 hours to get it all in, much to our surprise. After the cleaners cleaned the house, we picked the children up from daycare and went to the Caravan Park in Lane Cove National Park. In the afternoon we already dropped the trailer there. The goodbyes at Acrewoods Daycare Centre were combined with lots of tears from me and the teachers. They made lovely books for both the children with all their developmental steps during their time at daycare. Fantastic resource! It will certainly be good background information for the daycare centre/schools in The Netherlands.

Saturday March 29^th, we had a Farewell Morning Tea at Lane Cove National Park. Jane Yanco with hubbie and children, Jeremy and Victoria, Claudia and little Oscar, Jo Buckman and hubbie, Ingrid….. all came to wish us well.

After we dropped the keys of our house at the Real Estate Agent and bought some last supplies at Coles in Lane Cove, we took off.

Our first stop was the Pines campground at Watagans National Park. Only 1 other group of people, who were building their own tent with a tarp and some poles, were staying at this bush camp site. They basically slept in the open air! We thought that it would be a quiet night……big mistake. Till late at night they played loud music! And the next day early in the morning the local motor bike club gathered at ‘our’ campground. Bye bye peace and quiet, again. Those Ozzies....... Advantage of the campsite was that we did not have to check out before 10 o’clock, so we could easily get ready and set off at 12 am. So we set off, north was our direction....

the getting dressed routine Brekkie with a cup of Soy Milk for Quentin

After a beautiful partly off road drive, we arrived in Myall Lakes National Park at Mungo Brush camp site. And now at 9 pm it is still nice and quiet. We even have internet access here, so Rogier is already into his old addiction of checking the stock exchange websites and other ……. We’ll see how long he will stick to that!

Friday, April 4th, 2008

Time flies when you’re having fun. This week, the word dust got a completely other meaning to us (we had no clue that we could have European kids one moment and what looked like Native Australian kids the next); we learned that Port is not only a great type of wine, but also the nickname of Port Macquarie; and we bought a NSW National Parks pass. Probably one of the best buys you make if taking it slowly within NSW and bush camping where possible.

overlooking Myal lakes

But first some more activities in Myall Lakes. We decided to stay 2 nights, so on Monday 31/3 we looked around in the Myall Lakes area. We took the ferry to Bulahdelah, which was great fun for the children. In Bulahdelah we had a coffee and lunch, the children played in the playground and we went to the post office to send out some letters to Sydney and The Netherlands. Then we went to the Seal Rocks in Myall Lakes Ntl Park. Beautiful beach and the children enjoyed to swim in the ‘baby sea’.

lunch watching out for the Dingo's Australian Native bird 'Kookaburra'

Language develops quickly when things actually happen to you and mom and dad keep repeating the most important word...... Kookaburra!

The following morning on Tuesday we decided to leave for Port Macquarie. We stayed in Flynn Beach holiday Park, which is a nice campground for a city! Lots of green and good facilities. First thing we did was to take a shower, because we hadn’t seen a shower in 3 days. I can tell you……. We felt dirty! Even though baby wipes can keep you clean to a certain extend, a hot shower beats everything. The children loved the Junior bathroom.

Wednesday we went to the Koala Hospital. Great to see that sick koala’s are taken care off in this only Koala hospital in Australia (according to themselves). The Rota house next door was even more impressive. Would be nice to own a house like that!

The centre of Port Macquarie was nice, but not as impressive as the tourist guides promised us. The waterfront was great though! We also bought a second magnetic drawing board for the children, because they were fighting for the one we had.

Another Aussie favorite: the koala

and some national historical building (early 19th century colonial)

Thursday we took Maria Road to Point Plomer. Initially we wanted to take Point Plomer Road, but the people at ARB advised us not to do that because of the very deep potholes which we wouldn’t be able to conquer with our trailer. The campground at Point Plomer was busy, so we decided to go to another campground. On our way to the campground we noticed that we lost the antenna of our UHF radio. Kind of important to have, so Martine walked back about 2 km and…..found the antenna near the road. And guess what, …… just 5 km north of Point Plomer campground. we found a campground which was completely deserted. Fantastic!!!!!

Close to a river, so Rogier attempted some fishing. Without avail, because he had the wrong bait. The children enjoyed playing with each other, the ball and just running around the big field. In the evening we saw a big kangaroo, which excited them enormously. Quentin enjoyed the view over the river.

Around 11 today we left to go in the direction of Armidale. Even though the road between Kempsey and Armidale is not exactly suited for cars with trailers, we decided to give it a go. It is always possible to turn around……. We thought……Well, we were glad not to come across many people traveling in the opposite direction, because the road was very winding and incredibly narrow! No chance to turn around at all! But we made it. And now we are at a campground in Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, just west of Wollomombi. Even though there are 4 or 5 other campers here, it is extremely quiet. Fantastic!!! Exactly how we like our camping.

Quentin on the watch for crocs

Coming back to the dust, well, I will never complain anymore about dust in a house. When we opened the trailer to set it up for the night, (red) dust was everywhere: on the mattress, on the pillows, on the couch, in the curtains, on the floor, in the cupboards, in the pots and pans……..etc. Lesson for us: tape every single possible little hole which could let dust in, because it will certainly find its way inside anything not sealed completely. We were already very happy that we had big plastic sheets we put on the mattresses to protect against wet canvas, just in case it would rain! Well, I can tell you, it also helps against dust!

Tomorrow we plan to go to slightly inland to Armidale. We may also find a winery, to enjoy some of Australia's fine wines. After that we will head towards Coffs Harbour.

Friday April 11th (catching up on the week just passed)

Already a week further! We are staying at Suffolk Park campground, just south of Byron Bay. Not a nice quiet campground, but all right for a campground not too crowded right in the middle of the NSW/QLD holiday season (school holidays are on). This week we’ve been to Armidale, Coffs Harbour and are now close to Byron Bay. We’ve been very cold, have seen lots of rain but are still enjoying every moment of our trip.

Oxley Wild Rivers National Park, near Wollombi, was a really nice campground. Hardly any facilities, but great environment and nice and peaceful. We were up very early because we had had a very cold night. We were all awake several times during the night and were glad we had good warm doonas. We took off to go to Armidale. Beautiful little town, with lots of historic buildings where we had lunch and did some shopping. Also nice to see real autumn colours again. Something we kind of missed in Sydney. After lunch we took the Waterfall Way in the eastern direction. We stopped near our campground of the previous night to have a look at the falls, but were a bit disappointed.

The waterfall was minimal because of the draught. A bit further down the road we turned left into Cathedral Rock National Park. A great park with lots of beautiful nature. We braced ourselves for another cold night because the park is at almost 1400 meters! Again a campground with no facilities, but nice and quiet and only a couple of tents. Just before the end of the day we did a nice walk and saw a lot of kangaroos. Fascinating animals, even though we’ve seen so many in the mean time.

The children know exactly what a kangaroo looks like and that it goes hop, hop, hop.

Cathedral rocks family pic

The following morning (April 6^th) we woke up early again because of the cold. It had been 9 degrees that night! Near Ebor we had a look at the Ebor falls. Very spectacular. We can only imagine what these falls would look like in a non-drought period, but even in the drought it looked good. In Ebor we found a nice little café where they not only had good coffee, but also served gluten free cake. Very tasty! Because we had 2 cold nights in a row, we decided to go straight to Coffs Harbour. Hoping for better (especially warmer) weather. The Waterfall Way is a nice road to drive with lots of spectacular views. Because the children slept in the car, we decided to skip Dorrigo and Bellingen, even though the travel books mentioned that these 2 towns were worth visiting.

We spent 2 nights in the Sawtell caravan park. Nobody around and lots of facilities. Good showers and washing machines. On the 7^th of April we did some shopping in Coffs and because it started to rain very heavily we spent the rest of the day on the camping. The children loved to do some drawing, games and singing, so we kept each other very well entertained.

Tuesday April the 8^th we took the trailer to the Jayco dealer to get the second gas bottle fixed on the trailer A frame. Much better than in the car and it saves a lot of space of course. Unfortunately they did not have the stone guard ready, so that will be send to Brisbane where we can pick it up. Because the weather was not fantastic we decided to go to the Pet Porpoise pool. The children enjoyed the dolphins, tortoise, fish and all other animals! The dolphin show was impressive and we took lots of pictures.

When we picked up the trailer from Jayco, they told us that the water tank was hanging loose under the trailer!!!! Can you imagine what would have happened if we would have lost it with 90 litres of water whilst traveling 100 km/h on the highway. They had never seen it before! Lucky for us that they fixed it in time!

We found a nice caravan park in Woolgoolga, The Lakeside caravan Park. Woolgoolga is known for the Sikhs who came there in the sixties. There is a large Sikh temple and apparently there are very good Indian restaurants.

Because it was raining already the entire night and day, we decided the following day April 9^th) to drive back to Bellingen. Folding a trailer in wet weather……… no way. Too much hassle, plus a big chance of wet matrasses and wet everything else. In Bellingen we visited the old butter factory. They renovated the factory and now it houses all sorts of little shops with art, jewelry etc. Good for a rainy day!

April 10^th we had a very early start. Kids woke up at 5.30 and by 8 o’clock we were packed and showered to try to find the SUN! Too much rain is not nice for the human body.

In Ulmarra we had a pit stop for morning tea. Coffee needed after the very early start!!! Ulmarra is a very nice little village with lots of historic buildings and cosy little shops with antiques.

We found the sun in Bundjalung National Park. A great camping in the dunes, called Black Rocks. No facilities, but with the sea so nearby, a beautiful white beach with ink black rocks……. that beats everything. The children loved to run over the beach and climb on the rocks. The rocks are truly black, which gives a fantastic contrast with the white beach.

This morning, we took it easy and went for a walk on the beach and had lunch near the camp site. We headed off to go in the direction of Byron Bay. Because the school holidays are now, it is very busy at the campsites. But because the weather forecast is not fantastic…… there are still empty spots available. The facilities at Suffolk Park campground are good and tomorrow we head off to go to Byron Bay. Hopefully it is not going to rain….. and if it does…..ah well…… we will go more north and find the sun again.

Saturday, April 26^th (catching up)

Time flies when your having fun is a saying, but it is a really true one. Already more than a fortnight ago that we were in Byron Bay! Byron Bay itself was really bustling with backpackers, surfers and young people. We felt a little old! We walked around town, had a coffee and went to the lighthouse. We should have paid 7 bucks for parking at the lighthouse, but as true Dutch people we didn’t do that, parked the car a bit further down the road and walked back…….. We stayed 2 nights in Suffolk Park. Nice campground, although the first night a couple pulled up their tent next door and were constantly yelling at each other and were very noisy during the night.

On the 13^th we left Suffolk Park and went in western direction. Had morning tea in Clunes. We find it amazing that even in very little villages one or two choices gluten free biscuits are available. Fantastic. Makes life easier and we hope by offering Quentin something different every time we can make him as flexible as possible in his food choices.

Because we read that on this day in The Channon markets were on, we made a short detour to this world famous market. Lovely people, great merchandise (didn’t buy anything though) and with the sun high in the sky we had a good time.

From The Channon we went to Whian state forest to set up camp. A bit disappointing campground, but really quiet. And Cold!!! Very cold. Therefore we built a camp fire, which the children loved to look at.

The following morning we went to Nimbin. The famous village of the sixties. Fantastic! People live, dress and behave exactly the way people did in the sixties. At least that is what they made us believe. It definitely felt like it. Had a cup of coffee (only that!) and continued our journey in the direction of Border Ranges National Park. We stocked up in Kyogle and stayed two days in the Sheepstation camping area, because it was so fantastic. We drove around the park, did some walks and even saw a snake. A brown snake, we think, but of course kept our distance, so not sure.

From Border Ranges National Park we went straight to Brisbane. Because of the long drive and because 5 or 6 campgrounds which we had a look at were absolutely not our piece of cake, we decided to stay in the Redlands Mobile village. Peaceful campground,…. Well, …… in between the trains…….. which stopped at 1 at night and started again at 5 in the morning. Amazing how efficient someone can be if you really want to get away, because the following morning we left exactly at 10 to try to find another campground. This time we tried our luck at the north side of Brisbane where we ended up in Scarborough. A parking place for campers and people going through, but at least peaceful, good amenities and close to the harbour. A pity that we had to changes sites during the 2 days that we stayed there, but alas, much better than trying to find another campground most likely near a train or busy road. We did some shopping in Brisbane and met up with Jacqui in the enormous Chermside shopping centre. Unfortunately Christine and Shannon were very busy and we couldn’t find another time to see each other. Great to have a coffee with Jacqui and catch up with the latest gossip.

In Caboolture we found a caravan repairer. We had some minor warranty repairs that needed to be done to the Jayco. Unfortunately these people were very busy, so we had to hang around a little longer. We pulled up on Bribie Island in the campground at the village of Woorim. We stayed there 4 nights. During that time we did some shopping in Chermside (back to Brissie again), did a beautiful drive over Bribie Island and went to Australia Zoo. The drive across Bribie Island was fantastic. Not a single soul to see and a beautiful beach. We had a picknick near Fort Bribie in the North of the Island. The children played in one of the lagoons called Welsby Lagoon, saw lots of little frogs and enjoyed just being wet and to play in the sand.

Australia Zoo was a big hit for the children. Very expensive Zoo to go to, but the crocodile show was really worthwhile. The children still remember the scary sound a crododile makes when he bites into a piece of meat. And of course we also saw kangaroos, elephants, otters and platypuses.

After 4 days it was time again to move on and we ended up at Mapleton. A cute little village where we stayed at the Lilyponds campground. Really nice campground with an avocado orchard. We stayed 2 nights and visited Montville. Montville is a Mekka for those who want to buy knickknack, drink lots of coffee and have a meal. We had the feeling that we drastically decreased the average age, but that was probably because we were there early in the morning. From Montville we went to visit Jan and Mariet Pruin in Buderim. Acquaintances of Josje. Lovely people in a brilliant house.

Because of the long weekend (ANZAC day) we decided to go more inland to avoid the crowds. And busy it was. Several campgrounds we passed by were 100% full. Therefore we decided to try our chances and head for the Landcruiser Mountain Park. From Mapleton we took Obi Obi road to Kenilworth where we had a cup of coffee. Because the direct road to Landcruiser Mountain Park was closed we decided to take the northern road. Well,…… not the most easy one, especially not with a trailer in tow. Certainly a beautiful drive, but also very off road, challenging, steep and winding road. And….. not on the map anymore….. also a little different feeling. Despite the challenging road we ended exactly in front of the entrance of Landcruiser Mountain Park. We found a good camp spot, in the almost empty campground Cowah Falls.

Today we did a drive around the Park. And stayed only on the green roads which were indicated as tracks. The park also has yellow and red roads, which are much more difficult. Way too difficult for us. And since we want to have fun and no stress….. green tracks only for us.

When looking back where we had been in the past weeks and how much ground we still have to cover we wanted to make some kilometers today and drove all the way to Gayndah, about 250 km more north. We now stay at a rest area. Apparently the campground in town is full. We didn’t even bother to have a look because it already looked full when we passed by.

The children enjoy every single day. They simply love to play wherever we pull up. They understand the (not so strict) routine we have, play nicely together, fight together, have the occasional tantrum, sleep well in general, love to talk with little tree branches, find mud pools very interesting and eat well.

And we…… we just simply enjoy not having to have to do anything. The first week I still had my phone with me when I went to bed to be able to tell the time when I woke up….. these days I don’t even know what day it is and only because the children need some sort of routine I know more or less what time it is. It is simply great to have a glass of wine outside next to the fire, after the children went to bed and just talk about what happened during the day, or just say nothing.

Saturday May 10th 2008 (catching up on the weeks just passed)

Today we are at a campground near Charter Towers. A really nice and quiet campground called Biouac Junction campground. Great lawns, reasonable facilities and enthusiastic new management who are improving the place on a daily basis. We had a look around in Charter Towers today, but unfortunately the shops already closed early afternoon and most tourist things closed at 3. Nevertheless we had a good look around at the look out at the Towers Mountain. That is the mountain where the first gold was found and caused an enormous gold rush end of the 19^th century.

Back to a couple of days ago. After Landcruiser park and the rest area at Gaynday we pulled up at a campground just south of Biloela. A farm stay. Krombit Mountain. Well, yes a farm it was, but certainly one equipped to cater for large tour busses and schools. Apparently we were lucky that only 2 groups of 20 people were there, because the following day a large group of school kids would come. After the sounds of the rodeo faded away, it was actually really quiet.

After Krombit campground we went just north of Mackay to a national park called Beifield State forest/National Park. Red Rock camping area is a fantastic campground with lots of pine trees, so we stayed 2 nights. Only toilets, nothing else, but it was so quiet. And the second night we were the only ones staying there! At this campground we saw the first sign warning for Salties/Estuarine crocodiles. Scary idea.

We left our trailer and went for a beach drive in Beifield National Park. After a tough and bumpy drive through very soft sand (tyres were down and we still almost got stuck and we lots some cans of soda when a storage box decided to shatter into small pieces) we first stopped at the bush campground at the end of the cape and went for a walk down to the beach. Steep walk down! This is one of those places that you do these kind of trips for. Deserted beaches.The children loved to be the only ones on the beach and so did we.

After we had lunch and found lots of sea shells we walked up the hill again, had a ‘shower’ at the campground and continued to drive through the soft sand right onto the beach. Lovely beach with weird sand which was formed into tiny ‘balls’ by some sea creature. Intriguing to see.

Following morning, we wanted to cover some miles, which unfortunately meant that we had to stay at a campground next to the highway and (worse) the train! The camping itself was located almost on the beach, which was fantastic, but those trains really drive you nuts.

The first two days of May we stayed at Cape Hillsborough campground. Great location, good amenities, but very standard and way too many people. We bought a bread machine and a yogurt maker, because we were starting to feel that we were getting further away from the main centres. The bread machine will be used solely to make gluten free bread. Hopefully we come across enough campgrounds/locations where we can use electricity for a couple of hours. Even here we notice that not every supermarket has gluten free bread. Kind of essential for Quentin! So the bread maker gave us the opportunity to provide him with his daily requirements. Because Hillsborough campground was fully booked for (again) a long weekend we had to find another place to stay, which we found just a few kilometers down the road in Haliday Bay. We learned from the owner/manager (80 yrs old….) that the campground had been closed over Easter, but reopened again just recently. The facilities were absolutely crap. Every time Martine had to use the toilet she was scared to fall through the floor……. But we are prepared for that with our own porta-potty (portable dunny) and own portable campingshower, so not to worry.

The location itself was fantastic and despite the long weekend nobody was able to find the campground (very poorly signposted so took us some time to find it ourselves), so we basically were there alone. We enjoyed the place so much that we stayed 2 nights at Halliday Bay. One of the days we went to Eungella National Park. We walked to some water falls and a swimming hole. Half the world seemed to want to go there, because it was busy with some very brave people actually getting in the icy cold water. Quentin also enjoyed playing the water with his feet. He is such a water loving person. Amazing. Ykki fell a sleep in my arms while we were walking to the falls. It is amazing that that happened! Such a big and still so little girl.

The following day we packed up again and drove to Airly Beach. We crossed the RM creek, which was of course hilarious, because we immediately thought: Rogier Martine Creek. Airley Beach is famous, because it is THE gateway to the Whitsunday Islands. And of course we could not pass by without a cruise through the Whitsundays. Originally we wanted to hire a sailing boat because that is the ultimate way of exploring the Whitsundays of course, but that was not possible for just 1 or 2 nights. A pity! We decided to pick one of those day cruise boats where the children could easily get around and some of the activities were also suitable to do with children. The Three Island Adventure it was. When they pick you up from the campground and drop you at the marina, there is a coffee shop. Don't even think about getting a coffee there. A rip off and crap cup of coffee.

The first stop was at a a resort on Daydream Island. The children enjoyed very much the pirate play ground, I got bitten by sandflies and Rogier played with the kids. The second Island was called Cook Island.

We went to the historic Underwater Observatory which was fascinating. Lots of fish to see! We also joined the Glass bottom boat tour, which was disappointing because there was actually nothing to see! They only visit a fringing reef which is nothing in comparison with the reef just out of Cairns. The same counted for the snorkeling, although we did see some lovely coloured fish. Both the children and us wore Stinger suits, because it is only towards the end of the Stinger season, with some stingers still around. Apparently not nice at all to get stung by a stinger, so better to be careful. It was a pitty that we had to stop snorkeling because the water was really nice and of course because of the children we had to take turns.

Back in Airly (Beach) we stayed at one of the Big 4 campings, with a swimming pool, which was nice for the children. Good campground, but again way too many people for our liking. Also Dutch people!!!! And if there is something we want to avoid…… J

And then we went in the direction of Townsville. A rather large, but lovely city. We stayed 2 nights at the Aligator Creek campground in Bowling Green National Park. A NP campground with toilets and hot showers! The children loved chasing the bush (or brush) turkeys, so we were constantly running after them.

In Townsville we went to The Strand. A promenade type of street the way you expect to see in a tropical city. Palm trees, lovely green grass, and to our surprise a great play area for the children and also a great water play area for the children. They loved it and were not pleased with us that we wanted to see more of Townsville!

We went to the Cultural Centre where a lovely Aboriginal woman told us about her personal history and that of her family when the European took over in Australia and showed us around. We were lucky that we were there just in time for the Dance performance. Fantastic Aboriginal Dancers who were very passionate about their culture and wanted to share that with us. They take up to 2 hours to prepare for their performance, with the body painting etc. Even though we know we paid an entrance fee, it did not feel commercialized. Very well done.

And now we are close to Charters Towers. Tomorrow we continue to go take the loop back to Townsville, although we probably won’t make it that far. We’ll see.

Charter Towers flood indicator: each indicator gives the height of the flooding! Highest was in 1946., with almost 22 metres from the bedding of the river!

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Page last updated: 15-8-2009