Great Ocean Road, Mt Eccles and Mt Gambier Region

Thursday

The first part of this holiday was an extended family holiday in Apollo Bay.  We rented a unit in the back of Apollo Bay which served as our base and we had a relaxing 4 days exploring Apollo Bay, relaxing on the beaches, visiting the craft market and also exploring some of the Otway National Park.

James spotted a penguin playing in the swell off the jetty at the boat harbour one evening, which he was quite chuffed about.

Friday

We also went on the Mait's Rest Rainforest walk where we spotted an unusual black snail slithering across the path, which we lifted up and placed in the bracken at the path edge to protect him from being trodden on.  An information sign further on indicated that this was a rare Otway Black Snail, so we wandered back up the trail in search of the snail for a photo!

We also drove along the Barham River Scenic Drive, and came to Paradise Point, which is a magical picnic location on the river, with tables under the tall tree ferns.  We came back here after dark and saw a number of glow worms on the embankments of the path edges, which the kids, and the adults thought fantastic.

We also drove along some of the back country roads behind Apollo Bay, where we enjoyed some great views of the rolling hills, ocean and rainforest, and Liam and I walked along the rocks at Marengo to the incoming tide.

Saturday

Saturday Shazzy, Clark, Arthur & Glenda, Gards and myself went on a fishing trip with Moonlight Fishing Charters, where we fished for Snapper off the Lighthouse at Cape Otway.  The fishing wasn't too great, with only a few undersized Snapper and Flatties being caught, and a decent sized Blue Throated Wrasse that I caught.  We baked this for dinner, but it wasn't particularly tasty.  Though the fishing wasn't too great, the views and the boat ride where enjoyable, except for a couple others who suffered sea-sickness!

Sunday

Sunday we had Easter lunch at the pub, and then Michelle, Sharon, Glenda, James, Liam, Shannon and myself drove along the Great Ocean Road to visit the Twelve Apostles and some of the other sites.  The Twelve Apostles was quite different to the last time we visited, some 15 years earlier, being very touristy now.  Gone is the small carpark on the side of the road and the dirt walking tracks meandering through the salty scrub; replaced with a large tourist information centre, hoards of tourists, landscaped paths and highway underpass and the constant thrumming of the helicopter joy flights.  We also visited Loch Ard Gorge and walked down on the beach, as well as the Thunder Cave and Blowhole.

On through to ANZAC Day

Monday

With ANZAC Day falling straight after Easter this year, it was the perfect opportunity for an extended break without using up much Annual Leave.

We said our goodbyes to all of the Tuffens, and Michelle, I and our kids continued onto the next leg of our holidays.

Our first stop was the lighthouse at Cape Otway, very historic with the lighthouse built in 1848, powered originally by whale oil, and the old buildings and various artefacts on display including the anchor from Eric the Red, a ship wrecked on the reef 3 kilometres offshore on it's way to Melbourne, laden with exhibits for an exhibition at the newly opened Melbourne Exhibition Buildings.

After exploring the grounds, the views from the lighthouse and a nice morning tea at the cafe we set off exploring some of the tracks in the area for future campsites.

There was a nice campsite at Parker Hill, near where the stone that the lighthouse and buildings was quarried.  There were toilets here, but the walk down to the beach was a very long way; still this was a nice sheltered camping site.  A better site close to the beach was at Crayfish Bay, but this lacked any facilities.  We spent some time here exploring the rock pools which were quite good, with a number of colourful pink starfish, glass shrimp, anemones, gobies and other critters spotted.  We also found the other anchor for the Eric the Red, embedded in the rocks!

We also drove down to Johanna Beach campground, which too seemed a very nice beach campsite with the added advantage of toilets.  No fires are allowed here, same as the other campsites along the coast.

Having seen a number of the sites along the Shipwreck coast the day before, we were able to drive past Port Campbell before our next stop, The Arch.  As well as viewing some scenic rugged coastline, there also was an echidna walking along the path!

From here we had to visit London Bridge.  The last time Michelle and I saw London Bridge it was still a bridge, so we had to see it with the collapsed arch.  All signs of the arch had vanished into the sea, and the kids were pretty impressed that we had walked on the new island, something I guess they will never be able to do.

Time was now running short.  We drove past the Bay of Martyrs and the Bay of Islands past Peterborough and headed into Warrnambool for fuel and food supplies.

We arrived at Mt. Eccles just before dusk and quickly had the tent set up.  A chat with another camper identified a farm house down the road where firewood could be purchased, so it wasn't long before we were relaxing around the campfire and entertained by Brush Tail Possums, as well as having a close encounter with a Boobook Owl!

Tuesday

Tuesday we woke to kookaburras and other bird calls, and after a campfire cooked Bacon & Eggs breakfast, we walked around the Mt Eccles crater rim and explored the lava cave, and the kids made some friends with some kids who camp at Mt. Eccles each Christmas and Easter.  Lunch was an easy cold meat and salad sandwiches amongst the Superb Fairy Wrens, who were totally oblivious to us, hopping around our feet through the campsite.  After lunch, we drove to the Natural Arch, a section of un-collapsed lava tube.

For dinner we roasted a chicken in the camp oven, which we are still getting the hang of.  A small chicken could easily be done in about an hour; while some of it and some vegies were overdone, it was still generally a very tasty roast dinner, and being prepared for the possums tonight we had some apple ready which they very much enjoyed.

Wednesday

Wednesday we walked down and around Lake Surprise after another Bacon & Egg breakfast, spotting a koala and a number of other noisy kids on our way, then returned to camp to pack up and head to Mt. Gambier.

At Mt. Gambier, we explored a few lookouts before looking for a caravan park for the night, settling on Pine Country Caravan Park, in a comfortable cabin.  We cooked up a big BBQ dinner and then at dusk headed to the Umpherston Sinkhole to feed the friendly and cheeky possums.

Thursday

Thursday morning we circumnavigated Blue Lake, which was still a strong blue colour given the time of year, and also drove down into the other crater for a quick explore.  We then drove down to Mt. Schank, where James, Liam and I climbed the summit and descended into the crater to leave our mark.  From the crater rim, I had a magnificent close up view of a goshawk as it flew across the rim just metres in front of me.

From Mt. Schank we continued on down to Port MacDonnell for some Fish & Chips, and a quick explore along the coast here.  We lunched on Shelly Beach, and the kids and I had a quick snorkel, though it was getting quite cold!  We also went to Port Northumberland, the southern most point in S.A. where we viewed the site of an old lighthouse, which was removed for fear of it collapsing into the sea.

From Port MacDonnell, we left around 2:00pm for our long drive home, arriving in Ballarat about 6:30 for dinner at Mum's and eventually getting home late Thursday night.

Marysville & Keppel Hut

Beryl & Kurt
Mark, Michelle, James & Liam, Glenda & Arthur

This was an easy one day trip into the forests behind Marysville.  After morning tea in the park at Marysville, we made our way down Lady Talbot Drive.  Taggerty River Fire Line Track no longer appeared to exist, so we travelled further along Lady Talbot and starting climbing White House Fire Line Track.  We didn't make it to the top however, leaving this track for another day and deciding to head directly to our lunch destination of Keppel Hut.

We explored around the hut and ate our lunch around a warming fire before heading across the mud and along McFadyen Track.  This is a great 4WD track through some very beautiful forest areas.  It's not a hard track, but is still fun, with mud, rocks, bog holes and great and varied scenery.  I especially liked travelling through the Woollybutts, with the granite boulders strewn throughout.

From here, we made our way down Tweed Spur Road which had been graded and was quite different from the last time we travelled it.  We stopped for afternoon tea at Cooks Mill in the Cathedral Ranges, letting the kids enjoy a swim in Storm Creek before returning home.

Alpine High Country

The purpose of this trip was to drive through the High Country of Victoria, and get some appreciation of the extent of the damage caused by the January/February 2003 fires that have burnt over 1.1 million hectares.

I picked up Mark at 7:00am and headed up the Hume Freeway to Wangarrata.  We then made our way towards Bright.  There were quite a few cyclists on the rail trail into Bright, and we could see the hills had seen some fire, with swathes of brown through the normally green eucalypts around Mt Buffalo.

Bright itself was teeming with people.   We had a morning tea of sausage rolls from the Bakery, then continued our journey to Harrietville.  Very soon after making the steep climb up the Alpine Way out of Harrietville, we could see close up the effects of the fire.  All of the undergrowth was burnt, as well as the sides of the trees.  The trees themselves mostly still had their leaves, however these had turned to brown.  There were new leaves shooting from the sides of the trunks on most trees, and green grass and ferns were coming up from the ashes.  A number of the road signs had scorch marks, and some of the signs were buckled and had blistered paint, but the bush looked like it was already starting to recover.

As we approached Mt Hotham, we were able to see across the valleys and get a better idea of how far the fire had spread.  Mt Hotham itself also seemed to have had a pretty close call with the fire.   We travelled through Dinner Plains, and the story was the same, burnt tundra and some damage to the trees.  The closer we got to Omeo, however the worse it became, as the pictures attest.

We drove back via the Bogong High Plains Road, stopping at Wallace's Hut to break the drive.  We then travelled through Falls Creek, and stopped for afternoon tea in Mt Beauty.  A quick fish at Mongan's Bridge, and then the long trip home was started.

It should be noted that the best way to make a long trip into a longer trip is to take a shortcut.  Wanting a different route to the freeway all the way back, it was decided to take a shortcut from Myrtleford down past Lake Buffalo, through Whitfield, Mansfield and back home.  This would have probably worked OK if the road across the dam wall at Lake Buffalo was open, but it wasn't.  Looking at maps there seemed to be a way through the bush on the Eastern side of Lake Buffalo, so after much exploring and backtracking we eventually found our way out of the dark forest at Dandongadale where we could then head on home through Cheshunt, Whitfield and Mansfield.

Though this short cut added an extra 3 hours or so to our trip, it could certainly not be called boring.  We also spotted a good collection of wildlife, including a Tawny Frogmouth, numerous wallabies and kangaroos, a few wombats, including a mother and baby.  And, unfortunately, a number of foxes and rabbits.  The road between Dandongadale and Cheshunt was the most prolific in regards to animals spotted.

Eildon & Darlingford

This was an exploratory trip to see how low Lake Eildon was, and also to see some of the old ruins that may have been uncovered by the receding lake waters.

I drove up to Eildon Dam where the original dam, Sugarloaf was quite exposed.  A 4WD access boat ramp had been constructed since the last time I was here, which allowed easy access to the old dam wall and also to drive around Point Dethridge.

I now wanted to go and see if I could find the site of the old town Darlington.  The town was located at the junction of Big River and the Goulburn, and was dismantled with the construction of the dam before it was flooded.  I had a rough idea of it's location, but had no idea if I would be able to find the track down or what I would find.

I turned off the Jamieson Road at Dry Creek Gap onto Jims Track.  Jim's Track was a very good and clear 4WD track. This brought me down to Mallet Track, which is pretty much a 2WD track.  I crossed the ford and proceeded along Taylors Creek Track, also a 2WD road.

I turned into Wombat Track, a easy 4WD track with some steep sections that follows the top of the ridge.  Coming over one peak, I saw a Lyrebird glide down the track in front of me, it's tail trailing behind.  I missed the turnoff into Rhonda Track, and followed Wombat Track as far as I could go until I was stopped by a fallen tree, which looking at the map would have been close to the end of the track in any case.  Wombat Track has also been realigned to that shown on the VicMap, now running along the next ridge to the East.

I retraced my steps and turned down Rhonda Track.  This was another good quality track across the top of a ridge with great views down into the valley of Big River, far below.  Soon I began catching glimpses of the Waterford Bridge across Big River, but I wasn't able to see the track I believed would led me down to the town site.

I continued down Rhonda Track, driving over a couple of trees blocking the track and followed the track East on a section not shown on the map.  This track continued until a washout below the high water line.  I parked the car, and decided to try a little fishing on the lake.  I wasn't expecting to catch anything, the day was very hot and the trout had more sense.  I returned to the car and headed back up Rhonda Track looking for the track down to Darlingford.

I eventually found what could possibly be a track heading off down the side of the ridge.  Further exploration showed it was a track, though not one that had been used in a very long time.  Following the track using best guesses at some times, I came out at a cleared area, and could see the Darlingford Bridge. I walked along what must have been the main road of the town; a few signs of where buildings once stood, such as the remains of chimneys and rusting iron were seen amongst the dead trees.

I walked out along the Darlingford Bridge, which on crossing the Big River was blocked by a landslip.  The road could be seen in parts continuing to the left, North along the slope.

I walked back through the remains of the town, and could see fence posts, an old water tank tower, more chimney remains and an old bed!

I also found what might have been an old shed; a simple frame of tree branches with old shoes lined up inside!  Out the back of the frame was part of an old engine block, which looked like it was originally hooked up to a belt but I couldn't see what it might have been used for.

Here's a web page I found with a number of photos also of the Darlingford town. 

Camping at Upper Yarra Reservoir Park

Participants:

Mark, Russell & Stephanie

Fot, Marisol & Jacqui

Wendy & Rachael

Henric & Annaleigh

Mark, Michelle, James, Liam & Shannon

Friday, 7th February 2003

We arrived at the campground to find Mark, Russell and Stephanie finishing off their BBQ dinner.  We set up our tent before it got dark, and joined them in a game of cards.  We went for a night walk around the Fern Gully Walking Trail.  We heard the odd bit of wildlife in the dark, which was quite spooky but didn't spot anything with our torches except for an eel in the river beneath the bridge, with blue pectoral fins.  Back to camp and a not too late night.  Steph put some of the other campers straight about their fire (The High Country was still well alight) and we all went off to sleep.  Those without ear plugs were woken through the early morning by some very loud bird sounds, almost like a siren.  No idea what bird it was, perhaps a White-Bellied Sea Eagle?????

Saturday, 8th February 2003

Mark, Russ, Steph, myself, James, Liam and Shannon decided to walk up the Doctors Creek Walking Track to check out the lookout after our huge bacon and egg breakfast.  Michelle waited at the campsite in case the others arrived.  We passed the McVeigh's Waterwheel, which has a history of providing power for an old mine now under the waters of the Upper Yarra Reservoir, as well as power for an old hotel, also I believe under the waters.  We passed along the Yarra River for a short while before beginning our ascent.  Liam soon found it a bit of a struggle, but eventually we all made it to the top. 

We soaked up the view, reported back to Michelle over the UHF, and made out way back to camp to await the rest of our camping party to arrive.  Mark, Russell and Steph found the heat was getting too much so decided to head down the valley into Warburton.

About 1:00, everybody else arrived.  First time campers Fot and Marisol managed to get their Taj Mahal tent up like they were old pros.  Henric & Annaleigh brought their new family additions along; two beautiful Russian Blue kittens, which kept the kids very well entertained.

The day was hotting up and we chased the shade through the afternoon, enjoyed a game of cricket, had a goanna attempt to get into our tent and explored the dam lookout and spillway.  All the while Yellow-Tail Black Cockatoos and King Parrots kept us company.

We started on the pre dinner nibblies such as Double Brie, Yabby Pate and anti pasto and enjoyed some very good company before beginning our almighty smorgasbord feast of chicken fajitas, lamb casserole, spanakopitas, and quiche.  We went for a night drive through the park to see what we could spot, and found a number of deer as well as a wombat.  We returned to camp for dessert, having fruit salad as well as pancakes, berries and ice cream.  Oh, and Steph had to go and sort those other campers out again who had no idea about fire safety...

Sunday, 9th February 2003

We all cooked up another magnificent Bacon & Egg Breakfast and ate ourselves stupid before packing up the tents and preparing to head off.  Stephanie had arranged a massage in Warburton, so Mark & Russel took her in and dropped her off before meeting us all as we drove up into the forest to visit the Ada Tree.  We all managed to see a snake basking on the road before it moved off into the bush; we were not able to identify what type of snake it was, possibly an Eastern Brown.

At the Ada Tree carpark, Henric and Annaleigh said their farewells as they had to get back home early.

We all took the beautiful walk along Island Creek which brought us along a cool trail that closely followed the crystal clear creek through a ferny subtropical valley, and past the remnants of some huge mountain ash trees.  Some evidence of the timber industry of a century ago remained, such as some rotting sleepers along the trail, and some notched tree stumps.  We soon wound our way up and out of the valley and arrived at the Ada Tree, a huge Mountain Ash.  This tree is probably the largest hardwood tree in the world.  It is approximately 76 metres tall.  Not as tall as the California Redwoods, or even in fact the Big Tree near Marysville at 84 metres, but with a girth of over 15 metres at 2 metres above the ground it is estimated to weigh more than 1100 tonnes.  Before it lost its crown in a storm it may have been 120 metres tall, making it the tallest tree in the world.  A similar Mountain Ash living in Gippsland was cut down to measure its length (yeah, go figure) and was measured at 114.3 metres long.  Yes, Australia has the worlds longest log.

After walking back to the cars, we drove into Warburton via Starlings Gap and Big pats Creek.  We sat down by the side of the Yarra and finished off the rest of the quiche, whilst the kids managed to all fall into the river.  We all said our goodbyes before making our separate ways back home.  Thanks all for a great weekend!

La Trobe River revisited

I wanted to revisit this area and follow the trip notes in the book, so I packed up my two sons and headed off on New Years Day.  Again there was nobody else camping in the whole forest, and we only came across the odd car and trail bike rider.

We travelled in from Neerim South, and saw some Jersey cows which we stopped to feed.  We continued along the trip notes, and found a nice little camp site on H-Tree Extension, though the river that flowed through nearby hadn't seen water for quite some time.

We soon arrived at the campsite near Hawthorn Bridge that I discovered on the previous trip, and setup camp while the kids enjoyed a swim in the river.  There were a few March Flies around, one of which chased James and Liam in circles around the picnic table, but they soon disappeared as the evening became cooler.

We cooked and ate our dinner, and settled down to play some games when it started to drizzle, so we moved into the tent as the rain started.

The next day we explored around a little, before packing up and heading off to explore wider.  We crossed Hawthorn Bridge, and headed North into Noojee State Forest along a track unnamed on my map.  We explored a side track that came back down near the north shore of the La Trobe, but the track was overgrown and became impassable near the bottom, so we backtracked and continued along the ridge.  A number of side tracks which according to the map went back down to Hawthorn Creek Road could not be found, so we continued on until we reached Suckling Road, which took us down through some rutted track to Hawthorn Creek Road which I planned to follow out.  Surprisingly, the bridge was out so after a review of the maps, we drove back up Suckling Creek Road a short distance, taking the first track on the right which we followed up the ridge to Vesper Road, and onto Mount Baw Baw Tourist Road.

We then drove up to Toorongo Falls, which were flowing well with the help of the rain overnight.  After our walk to the falls, we drove up Fawcett Track, which was overgrown at some points but came out on some really nice clear tracks which took us down to Loch Valley Road, which we followed on out to Noojee and home.

Aussie Trips 2003

Another great year exploring around Victoria, including heading from the far North West to the Far North East over a two week period. Travelling on the desert sands of Wyperfeld one week, then amongst the snow of the High Country the next was unforgettable.