Hitting the Road (30th July- 2nd Aug)

So this is it. Road Trip from NSW to WA. Well that's as far as we planned. So 'Hitting the Road', Young to Phillip Island. All 999km of it... plus diversions and meanderings!


So off we go, through Canberra again, down the windy mountain roads into Cooma, a town so proud of it's snow. There was no snow there, despite being winter. And then down to Merimbula. Somewhere along the way we named the car. George the Ford!





So Day 1 we went as far as Merimbula, where I saw my first fur seal! and was introduced to the public bbq's of Aus! These things are brilliant! Electric or gas bbq's in every town, for free. Yes, we spent the entire trip living on barbecued food but it was so good, particularly when you can make steak sandwiches for tea and bbq bacon for breakfast the next morning. Made me very happy anyway and it was much cheaper than paying for gas for each meal!

The start of the trip was also the start of the reign of the book. That is 'Offbeat Australia by David Astle.' Thank you Jenny, I'm sure Casey didn't enjoy it all that much. I would look up every town we came to in my book. Merimbula unfortunately had an amazing sounding water park, being in the middle of winter, it didn't seem like a good idea, not wanting to be ill for the entire trip. So to Eden! where started the sleeping in the car and morning coffees on the beach.

Sleeping in a car is not actually that difficult, especially with a decent size car, a Ford Fairmont in this case. Pack rucksacks in the footwell of the back seats, spread the mattress from the swag on top and you have a mini bed on the backseats. A swag for those who don't know is kinda like a sleepingbag without the warm, comfyness. It's a thick canvas bag with a thin mattress in. We had a double!

So waking up in Eden on Day 2. Beautiful sandy beaches and here, though we didn't sea it, the Bass Strait meets the Pacific Ocean, the Bass Strait being part of the Tasman Sea to the south! And onwards we wander to Lake Entrance. Of course we meandered, the road meandered away from the coast, we meandered down to Mallacoota.

A beautiful spot, where Casey fished, I wandered around the estuary and we pulled muscles off the rocks. A beautiful day, and in Lake Entrance we found showers and Pelicans.
I had never realised pelicans were so prolific in Aus!

And showers! Now there was the biggest issue of the trip! Maybe if we'd had a little heat it up in the sun sort of shower we'd have got on a lot better but we didn't think of that until much later. It's very hard to find public showers, but we managed.

Day 3 we packed plenty into, and plenty of the book. Firstly in Lake Entrance; 26 Anzac sculptures, chainsawed from cypress trees planted in WW1.









Then onto Bairnsdale, where we stopped for the simple reason there was a park listed in The Book! With a 40m flying fox (zip-line) and an Aboriginal Canoe Tree.
Then to Sale (originally named Flooding Creek) for a morning at the races. I don't think we did very well that day!

And in my opinion, the best part of the day... wandering around Tarra-Bungle National Park attempting to find a swinging bridge! We spent hours wandering. Saw some of the biggest trees in Australia, saw lyre birds and eventually found the bridge.
The drive out of the park was highly entertaining. Managed to miss a turning somewhere and spent half an hour driving down a dirt road. Narrow, with logging truck tracks. I was so glad I wasn't driving!

That night we decided to head for Port Welshpool, solely for the 'welsh' connection. Upon finding very little there we picked up chips in Welshpool and headed for Agnes Falls for the night. Beautiful waking up under trees.

So we started setting up our routine. Driving about 300km a day, stopping when something takes our interest, often from the book. No rush. Park up somewhere quiet for the night, often with a public bbq, though you have to be careful. You're not actually allowed to sleep in your car/camp in public places in Aus. Wake up to B-E-A-UTIFUL views and always watch the sea for whales!