Blog

When I woke up in the morning, I realized this was the last morning in the roof top tent. Mo was feeling a little better, but was still recovering.

After a slow morning of breakfast, packing up and having a chat with our French neighbors we headed for the north of Sydney. Once we crossed the harbour bridge, we ran into constructions and due to that I took the wrong lane and could not get back into the right direction, so suddenly the only option was driving back over the harbour bridge, after a bit of turning we got into the direction of the bridge again, but also here, many lanes and little signs, so we missed the correct entrance, but there was a side street, so 3 x left should get us in the right direction.

In the street every car was stopped by a police officer, it was clear there was something going on and everybody is instructed to drive in a curtain direction. When I told her I had a little fight to get to the north of Sydney she, replied: “You are Dutch! Goedemorgen”. After a little laugh she said the street I intended to take was blocked of due to the Israeli president visiting, but she explained clearly how to get back to the entrance of the bridge.

A good half an hour later we pulled up at the house of a coworker where we would unpack, leave the camping gear and sleep our last night in Sydney. We got a warm welcome and a quick show around of the house. After this I started to unload the car and take of the roof top tent and awning. I was 35 degrees in the shade, so a nice goodbye of the summer before heading back to the winter in Estonia.

After lunch I drove the car the place I bought the other car. I got a warm welcome and we first talked 15-20 minutes about our trip before we talked business. We agreed on a reasonable price whe both where happy with, considering the engine would need to be replaced. After that I was dropped off at the train station. It turned out this train would go all the way to the north of Sydney, so I did not have to change. (In the end I did have to change as the train did not stop at the stop I had agreed on, but that was just a few minutes of delay.

As I wanted to take the battery pack, but it had to much capacity I tried to open it up and take out the battery back. After a bit of convincing I succeeded.

We had a lovely meal with Eszter and Michael and their daughters. After that we finished packing and went to bed in a pretty warm room.

Towards the morning I put in earplugs, as this for sure was not a camping place in nature. So a lot of noise from planes, other campers leaving early and a waking up city. But with earplugs in I did manage to sleep till 9, when I kissed Mo awake.

Everything went nice and slow, so in the end we left a bit later then planned, but the plan took a lot of extra time in account for each step. When changing trains, we got in the train that went in the wrong direction, so we got out again at the next stop and waited for the next train in the right direction.

We arrived an hour before our tour started at Circular Quay. So we looked for a terrace for some refreshments. After that we walked to the Opera house and now walked around it, which was not possible the last time as then the New Years fireworks where build up. We where the recommended 20 minutes ahead of the tour at the meeting point and found out they where gathering the people for the 13:00 tour, while we had the 13:15. So a bit more patience.

We had a nice tour guide who in a calm voice told a lot of interesting stories about the Multi functional public halls that is commonly known as the Opera House. We got a nice walk around the place and where shown 3 of the 5 halls.

I very much liked the concrete construction, which is considered brutalist, but compared to Linnehall in Tallinn we visited last fall, it was much more elegant with more eye for detail.

After the tour we had a drink, my beer was very nice, unfortunately Mo’s ice coffee tasted like they had rinsed the coffee machine and sold that water. I had a call with coworker from the Sydney office who would take the camping gear of our hands and we could also stay at their place, the last night in town. So also the last things fell into place.

A bit further was another terrace which also had a more interesting food menu plus happy hour, so we tried our luck again. They had amazing mussels, which we enjoyed a lot.

After this we went back to the camping. Mo did not feel very well. Was it the mussels, was it the ‘coffee machine rinse’ No clue.

We had a cup of tea and went to bed.

When we woke up it was seriously raining. I grabbed a swimsuit and made a bag with breakfast stuff for Mo to go to the camping kitchen and prepare breakfast, while I would put the tent together. Luckily by the time I really started it got almost dry, but still I had to pack a soaking wet tent.

After breakfast we set the GPS for a camping place in Sydney. When we got there, it did not look very inviting and we went to the second option an actual camping. When we arrived there, they where on lunch break, so we had lunch as well.

It was good we go there early, as after us another 3 cars came and for the last one there was no space anymore. We got a tiny little spot where I could squeeze my car between a light post and a fence.
We had a cup of tea and then decided to check out the neighborhood. The lady at the reception pointed us to the beach.

It was a nice walk, and as the sun broke through the clouds, it got pretty humid from the rain evaporating. The beach was actually next to the airport, so it was nice to see some planes landing, especially the A380 and Boeing 777 where impressive.

At the end of the beach there was a restaurant where we had a drink and then decided to have some desert as well. I had a creme brulee and Mo had vanilla ice with espresso and hazelnut liquor.

As the weather had improved a lot we had a swim and then headed back to the camp site for dinner.

In the morning we in deed woke up with rain hitting the tent. At some point it stopped, so we broke up camp had a quick ‘brekkie’ and left. When we got phone signal back, Mo got a message from Mark, from just 15 minutes before (saved by the rain). The power went out.

We had a call and with the help of Marc I did some first trouble shooting. The main breaker had blown, also the earth breaker and the utility room break where out. As soon as the last one was put back up it would blow again, so I suspected the heater. Which was confirmed by unplugging it and then the breaker held. It was just after midnight on a Sunday. Not the ideal time for something like this to happen.

I instructed Marc to call with the alarm number of the home insurance. They found an electrician, but it seemed he preferred to stay in his bed. Meanwhile we had started to drive and when a bit of a traffic jam formed, we figured we might as well stop for coffee and some arranging. I went over the graphs of the heater and concluded the heater itself was not broken, it just had a short circuit in the mains wiring. Marc had a first look, but did not find anything suspicious.

I wrote an email to Pelltech explaining the problem and that was about as much as could be done from here. As the place we had a drink was nice we also had lunch there and went over options for the next camping place, a good internet connection was a first priority. We had two options, so we checked the weather forecast and decided to go for an organized camp site.

Luckily it was after season, so there was space. We had dinner and when to bed. At that point Marc let us know someone from Pelltech had stopped by and fixed the problem. And as a truly Estonian company they had not replied to the email. We should be able to have a decent night knowing the heater was fixed.

But somewhere during the night we both where awake and after some tossing and turning we decided to have a walk on the beach. When we found the way to the beach and pointed the flash light at the sign there was a bit of a scare, two big yellow eyes looked at us. There was an owl sitting on the sign. I quickly got my phone and got a decent picture. When we walked pasted we saw how the urban legend started that an owl can turn its head 360 degrees, as it kept staring at us.

At the beach we noticed is was pretty dark due to the clouds, so we collected some sea weed and formed a line at the entrance of the beach to make sure we could find it back. After about half an hour we went back to the tent and just in time we got in as the first drops fell on the tent. By morning is was really poring.

<I forgot to start the tracker>

When we woke up most of the spots where empty again or at least mainly packed. It seems most Aussies are early birds when it comes to camping. We like the mornings as in general they are still pretty cool and when it gets hot, we get in the car and put the airco on.

We decided to check out the beach. On our way there a couple from the other car came up. It was hands down the best beach I have been on. A shallow creek flowed over the beach to the sea, both sides had rocks and there was nobody.

We dropped our towels and some cloths and first walked to one end, then to the other end and then we took a swim. I had just gotten out of the water when Mo lost her self colouring glasses due to a big wave. I ran in and waited for the bubbles to disappear and after the second wave, I saw the glasses on the bottom and grabbed them before the next wave hit. We got lucky.

We did a bit of sun bathing and enjoyed having a private beach. Then we decided it was time to get out of the sun and leave this little piece of paradise. We had lunch and then left. We planned another longer trip, but ending again on a small camp site near a beach.

Soon we crossed the border from Victoria to New South Wales, it was a very hilly road, reminding a bit of the South of Germany or Czech republic. During one of our breaks I double checked if the camp site we where aiming for was in a National Park. It was, so I tried to find it on the website, but after several tries this camp ground was not found, so we should be good.

Unfortunately not, when we got there, we found a sign places needed to be booked. We drove a little circle to see if there was space and stopped at a old Land Rover with a rooftop tent to ask advice. I showed the website and how I tried to find this site in different way. The guy was very helpful and agreed is was weird, when we tried through a search engine it was found on the website of the NP. Strange! Anyway, as there was no place we had to find an alternative, luckily the guy knew a campsite 6 km back which was only accessible with a 4WD had spaces and since it was Saturday night “we did not have to worry about rangers checking” as for some reason we could not book a spot for that night. It was especially strange as when we arrived there, there was one car spot occupied out of more then 10, so we picked one and put up the tent. This deep down a hill the 1 or 2 bars of connection we had before had gone, so it would be a quiet night. We did check the weather forecast at the other campsite, so we knew we could expect some rain during the night.

When we where getting ready for bed I saw a furry creature walking around the car, it was a Possum, who seemed interested in the place we had cooked diner. We had moved most things in the car already, but this was a good reminder to move the last stuff as well.

In the morning the wind was down a lot, vaguely I had heard some cars drive by. After we got up and had our morning coffee and tea we went to the beach to have it. There where two big 4WD cars that carried some fishing gear and two guys where sitting their and do some fishing. “Apart from a few sharks nothing really bites today” one of them joked.

We walked a bit down the beach and had a nice morning swim. We had a brunch and then headed for the next spot, which was called Ship wreak beach. It contained some unpaved roads again, so after 20 kilometers we had taken 9 hours of our trip according to the GPS.

In Sale we did some groceries for the last few days and the bit later we had the last fuel stop. Apart from that is was a nice variety of landscapes. From coastal roads to mountain roads and smaller highways.

This was a pretty big leg, so we would likely arrive just before sunset. When we got to the turn it was just 30 kilometers of unpaved road. The description of the camp site said is was 20 minutes from a place just north, so I guessed this would take about 30 minutes.
The first 20 kilometers went smooth, a bit windy but very decent unpaved road. Then 10 kilometer before the end there was a turn and a sign 4WD only. About 50 meters in, it was clear that was not an understatement. The unpaved road turned into a track and that track had been worn out by rain. It was no blue mountain style but a good 6/10 we experienced several times when the steep road had big holes in it.

Due to this change of road quality our arrival time also was getting a bit later, which mend, it was getting dark. Soon after I flicked on the high beams, I also added the extra lights, when you have them, you might was well use them. An hour after we turned onto the dirt road we arrived at the camp site, to find out it was a state park site that needed to be booked. This crucial information was missing from the information in iOverlander, something I updated the day after. As it was dark and there was a parking place we would fit, we put up the tent there and had a simple meal of bread, french cheeses and wine.

In the morning I checked out the surroundings and found there should be some ruins of an old gold rush town, including a chimney and some buildings. We had to continue a bit further on the track and to get there. The track was pretty good, although the mountain went town very steep next to the road. As I later said to Mo, when you look at a tree about 10 meter away and you see just the top of the tree, you have an idea of how steep the mountain is.

This area was well signed and the first thing we found was the old cemetery. The information sign showed a lot of information about the town and especially the more tragic deaths of the people living here. (I guess death by old age is not that juicy of a story). We also got a detailed map of the area at an information post.
After two more curves we could park in a deep hear pin. We first saw a few old chimneys that remained. The wooded houses where taken by forest fires.

After climbing a pretty steep patch we found an old boiler with a chimney and the well covered entrance off the mine.
There also was a bit longer track and according to the map there was more of the village on a track of about 2,5 km. We decided to take the walk and check it out.

The first few areas of interest was more or less an information sign telling that there had been a house or ore shoot or so, but then we found a mine entrance with an old tram track as they called it and later another boiler house.

Just before the boiler house I hear a little scream from Mo, a big snake had passed just in front of her, she had been able to make a picture. A black snake with a bit of a white stripe on the side, about 60 cm long.

The way back it started to get pretty warm as there was l less shadow and the sun started to get pretty high. Back at the car a drink was a good reward.

We first aimed the city of Sale and there we decided which camping place we would go next. The unpaved road was called the Walhalla track and when we saw the sign for the village of Walhalla I could not resist to visit it. It was a nice little village, but it was a bit to well maintained to really give an impression of the gold rush village it once was. We stopped at the local pub and had a drink, we where thursty, but now we can also say we had a drink in Walhalla.

When we got to Sale we figured 45 minutes was a bit short, but 3,5 hours was way to much. So we turned right towards another beach camp. The last 20 km was unpaved again and we where rewarded by a nice track by the sea with camping spot after a small dune row. There was a lot of wind though, but we found a place between the bushes. During the night the wind would go down anyway.

<tracker failed>

Slowly we have to start moving towards Sydney. When I woke up this morning, that realization more or less ruined my mood without me realizing it. I found a few nice camping spots, one was in the forest and one at the coast. As the next few days we would spend time at the coast anyway, we opted for the place in the forest.

A small annoyance in Maps.me, is that it has no clue how to calculate unpaved road. So this trip over around 300 km would take over 11 hours. Luckily we learned to not take that time very serious.

After we drove a few hours and turned into an unpaved road we had a break and I double checked the route. The shortest route sure was short, but did contain a lot of unpaved road, the bit longer route had way more asphalt and was in kilometers not much longer, so we opted for that one.

At some point we came to a reservoir that held water for the the Melbourne water supply, after this, it was only 25 kilometer to the campground. After 20 kilometer there was a exit which looked like it needed some checking out before turning in there. There was a very steep track that went about 45 degrees down. It seemed challenging, but I knew the LandCruiser and it’s drive could do it, but Mo was very clear, we are not going down there.

I checked the map and found another route a few kilometers back, this one was even worse, so we stopped there and had a drink. Studying the map I found another route about 10 km north which had a bunch of hair pins, so we decided to check that one out and otherwise camp next to the road here.

This route however was pretty decent and we got down into the valley where our network connections don’t reach. We found another campground that looked nice and decided that was a good spot for today. We put up the tent, cooked dinner and went to bed as it cooled down pretty much already.

As often I woke up a bit earlier then Mo and when I opened my phone to check messages, I also came across the wiki page about Keith Haring, that I had looked up yesterday in the museum. I read a bit more and at some point found out he had made a big public mural painting.

When Mo woke up I shared this and we decided to go find that and then look from there what else to do. The mural was easy accessible from the street. It was very nice to see such a big painting in a public space. After this we found a nice cafe-restaurant where we had some lunch and a drink and we walked around the neighborhood.

There was a lot of street art in the neighborhood and when I was looking some thing up I found out there is also a street art tour in the downtown area. So we drove back to the downtown area, parked the car and walked over the bridge towards the first piece. There we saw a cathedral, so we checked it out as well. Build to look older, but hardly 140 years old.

The street art was nice, especially a little back ally with all kinds of small framed things was nice, while other streets seemed a bit to touristic.

After a drink in a small upstairs bar we got back to the car an decided to stay another night at the scouting camp.

After a chilly night where the mercury dropped to 12 degrees we got ready to drive to Melbourne. The first 20 km was unpaved and we saw some of the nice ‘tree ferns’ we have seen any times already but now we made some pictures.

After that we suddenly got to a piece of forest that was affected by the forest fires of a few weeks ago, which was very impressive. The ground was grey, and basically only two bigger plants more or less survived, some ‘grassy palmtree’ and the eucalyptus trees, although their leaves had turned brown like it was fall, but we have seen in other places where the eucalyptus trees with black barks where growing again.

Driving up to Melbourne was pretty nice. The skyline seems nicer then the average skyline of big cities. We first stopped at a coffee shop to get a new seal for the moka pot and then headed for the art gallery, which just as in Adelaide was free, although they had a few paid exhibitions, but there was plenty to see anyway, including some Dutch masters. Also parking in the center was surprisingly cheap.

We decided to drive a bit longer and stay at a camp site on a scouting terrain and not go to one of the big commercial chains (that are compared to European prices actually pretty reasonably priced).

A friendly ranger welcomed us and showed us where we could find evening sun or morning sun, we opted for morning sun as the predictions for the night where pretty chilly again.
Before we put up the tent we had a walk as was an echidna was spotted, but we did not find it. We did however see our first big mob of Kangaroos.