Canberra Hill #7

OK, I admit I am slightly jealous of the UK now that our clocks have gone back heralding the end of summer. Whilst it was still 32C on Friday, Sunday brought a cool change and an autumnal feel to things, but it was bright and breezy and seemingly ideal for a bike and hike.

The bike part took me along past Old Parliament House and across the lake, heading east under the shadow of Black Mountain to Mount Painter. Unlike many of Canberra’s hills this one is pretty bush-less and exposed (thank to some pesky European settlers clearing the land I guess). Parking my bike at the bottom, I walked along the exposed dirt track up to a fairly steep rocky summit which exposed me to the full blast of the cool southerly. In parts it was a bit like a Dartmoor Tor and certainly felt cool enough to be in Devon! Anyway, the views were great, taking a bit of a different angle on Black Mountain and an extensive panorama of the Brindabella Ranges to the East and South.

The cycle back was pretty tough going as my energy seemed to get sapped by the now strong headwind I was pedalling into. I just couldn’t be bothered with any incline more than 5 degrees and it was a bit of relief when I made it the National Museum where I was relieved by a cappuccino and brownie! That gave me enough energy to reach the homecoming beacon that is the statue of Edmund Barton and to my room and this laptop and the Internet where I went onto this blogsite where I typed up these words as the darkness fell all too early.

South Coast Revisited

To celebrate the long weekend in the ACT like most of the ACT I left the ACT to head to the south coast of New South Wales and some gloriously untamed natural attractions. The road south to Cooma was significantly greener than the last time I took this route and, as with all roads that head to the coast, it turned lush as the mist shrouded coastal mountain ranges were crossed.

Eventually the sea was in sight at Eden, where life was quiet with fish and chips on the beach followed by an invigorating walk and paddle through the clear waters.

From Eden it was back heading north along the coast, stopping at nearby Ben Boyd National Park, where there was an equally beautiful expanse of white sand, sapphire waters and untamed bushland.

A few kilometres further up was Pambula Beach, with its cosy combination of surf beach, kangaroos on the lawn and shallow river lined with gum trees. From Pambula it is a short drive to the major town in the area, Merimbula, where there was a nice hostel to stay in and too many choices of where to eat that it proves difficult to make a decision!! In the end it was some Thai washed down with a little red wine.

The next day began with some sunshine and a great wake up in the sea at Short Point Beach, one of the many bays around Merimbula. This was followed by a choice brekkie overlooking the waterways of the town before hitting the road again. The first stop on day two was at Bournda National Park. Here is the obligatory photo of me getting in the way of the scenery, overlooking a lagoon and Bournda Beach!

The beach itself was just as untamed and striking as many others along this coast, rolling clear waters crashing onto the golden sand with that unmistakable rhythm of being beside the seaside.


From Bournda, the road winds along an array of forest, green pastures and sweeping coastal beaches, passing the towns of Tathra and Bermagui and then cutting inland to the massive hulk of Mount Dromedary, rising abovet heritage village of Central Tilba. Here there are cheese shops and afternoon teas and gallerys aplenty, all rather relaxing and laid back, with a main street of pretty clapperboard buildings adorned with colourful shrubs and flowers.

It sounds like a place you would take your granny, and you probably would, but it’s just as interesting for the slightly younger generation.

A little way from Central Tilba is Narooma, and then the road heads inland, with turnoffs to several more coastal towns and beaches, one of which is Tuross Heads. Here there are numerous bays and beaches, split by an inlet lapping the shores of the rolling countryside as it progresses inland. On the banks of the water were a few cafes and restaurants, where you could tie up your boat and order some fish and chips and a ginger beer!

From Tuross, the road whizzes along to Batemans Bay, where the daylight was fading and things were relatively tranquil beside the water. Leaving the Princes Highway at Batemans it was across the mountain ranges once more and then back across the tablelands, thankfully finding no kangaroos in your headlights, to the glittering birthday party lights of Canberra. South Coast Revisited, not a bad spot to go to again and again and again…

94 years young

So Canberra has been busy celebrating the achivement of making it to 94 years in existence. We've had fireworks and people singing in parks, meanwhile the city itself has been enjoying pleasant days and cooler evenings.

Happy Birthday Canberra!

THE SUMMER HOLIDAY

G'day,

I've just returned from a fantastic two week holiday down in Victoria and Tasmania. There are lots of pictures and stories in the following posts, so read on at leisure.

I first headed down to a steamy Melbourne and then west to the Great Ocean Road. Returning briefly to Melbourne, I headed south-east out of the city to South Gippsland and Wilsons Promontory National Park for a few days. Then I crossed the Bass Strait to Tasmania, taking in Hobart and the south-east, the gorgeous East coast and the mountains, lakes and forests of the wild west.

Thanks to all who made it such good times,

Neilio

Hot City

Day 1: The start to my two week holiday could not be any more perfect, warm and clear as I departed Canberra for the hour flight to Melbourne. It was a beautiful day to walk along the Yarra, taking in an ice cream and reading the papers under a tree in the Botanic Gardens. Later in the day I went to the highest building in the city, the Rialto Tower, where they had an observation deck with amazing views over the city.

Here’s the scene of many a thrashing, the MCG, which holds nearly 100,000 drunken Aussie bogans at a time.

At the top of the tower I had a nice cooling Tasmanian Cascade beer before heading down and hopping on the free city circle tram, which was slow, hot and full of people from Adelaide, so all in all not the best.

In the evening, I returned to the Yarra where the sun was dipping, the gondolas were milling across the calm water and the firecrackers were exploding in a frenzy signalling Chinese New Year, the year of the pig I believe (mmm, sweet and sour pork all round!) There were plenty of stalls and activities taking place and I sampled some of the fine food.

And that signalled the end of a long, tiring, but really pleasing day so I crossed the bridge taking in the city lights and headed back to where I was staying for a relatively early night.

Day 2: I was having the perfect Sunday morning lie in when a fire alarm at about 7am provided the most comprehensive wake up call possible. Thankfully it was a false alarm. The day picked up from that bad start and after a fine Sunday morning breakfast, it was time to head out of the city and an hour east to the Dandenongs, where I met up with my good friend Haeli and her parents in their ever beautiful home. We took a drive through the lush hills and had a yummy lunch before heading to a pub in the afternoon to watch the footie. Proper soccer footie that is – Melbourne v Adelaide in the A League Grand Final. Now if this was the other ‘footie’ the pub would’ve been packed to the rafters, millions would be gambled and fights would break out as frequently as spots on a gawky teenager. Whilst the round ball game has gained popularity there were only really a handful of people watching. Melbourne stormed to victory 6-0 I think, wasn’t really much of a contest, but it was great to go the pub on a Sunday afternoon, have some grub and watch the football, just like home. On that point, I’d just like to say come on you greens!!! We’re in the quarter finals of the FA Cup this Sunday coming (11th March) so look out!

The so good it's Great Ocean Road

Day 3: I had an early commute into the city to join a 2 day tour of the Great Ocean Road. Unlike many of the day tours, this is more spread out and does the trip in reverse, starting out at the end and working back to Melbourne. I joined a group mostly consisting of backpackers, several poms included, even a girl called Emma from north Devon, so we were able to talk about missing the coast and how they don’t do proper cream teas down here.

The first part of the trip was a long drive, stopping briefly at the deadest of dead end towns, Lismore, for a tea and toilet break. We then hit Warrnambool, a thriving metropolis with a fine beach. After that, it was into Tower Hill Reserve, which is the crater of an old volcano and home to kangaroos, emus and many wild koalas. There were so many of the little things, snoozing in the trees, inducing gasps of “Oooh” and “Aaaahhh” mostly from the girls on board.

Sitting down to eat some lunch, a couple of kangaroos bounded past followed by a pair of emus and then a short walk led a few of us to find a koala milling about on the ground eating some of those delicious nutritious Eucalyptus leaves. We managed to get really close to him, he seemed more interested in these leaves than a bunch of camera wielding tourists.

From Tower Hill it was off to hit the coast proper and the first part of the Great Ocean Road, which is called the shipwreck coast. With huge sandstone cliffs and massive waves, it is easy to see how it got its name. We stopped at a few lookouts – the Bay of Islands offered a gentle introduction to the landscape, followed by the Bay of Martyrs, where there was a nice little beach and some small coastal walks.

The next stop was The Grotto, which featured a hole in the rock and a narrow bay which got continuously pounded by white surf and crashing waves.

London Bridge had fallen down…or at least one arch of it did a few years back. Interestingly, there were two people stranded on the remaining arch when it did, and they were stuck for several hours because of bad weather. Locals got out their deckchairs to watch, news crews followed and finally when the two people were rescued they went into hiding. The reason? They were married but not to each other. This was their supposed business trip. So the moral of the story: don’t have an affair on a fragile sandstone coastal area.

A few miles further down the road was Port Campbell, our base for the night and scene of a fabulous barbecue provided by Todd, the tour guide.

Full of good food and a little wine, we headed to the Twelve Apostles (there are in fact anything ranging from seven to eighteen depending on who you speak to). This was a beautiful spot to watch the sun go down.

After dusk, a few Little Penguins appeared on the beach below, waddling their way home for the night. Meanwhile, we waddled our way to the only pub in Port Campbell for a few games of pool and a couple of beers.

Day 4: The bus was a bit quieter on the second day, a few sore tired heads were among us. But the spectacular coastal scenery continued, first at Loch Ard Gorge, with some sheer cliff faces, caves and small bays.

Then it was down to Gibsons Steps, a long sweep of sand where a few of the Twelve Apostles lie in the water nearby. It was a misty morning and I guess very evocative and atmospheric.

The haze lifted somewhat so that it was clear enough to take a 10 minute helicopter flight over the coast. This offered a totally different perspective and you could see how the sea has carved out the soft sandstone. Here are a few of those Apostles again…

The landscape changed somewhat as we headed inland across the Otway Ranges, an area of cool temperate rainforest. We took a short refreshing walk through the forest at Mait’s Rest, one of the most pleasing aspects being the absence of flies which seemed to have been everywhere else along the coast. Trundling back down the hills towards the coast, and a stop for lunch at Apollo Bay, the bus then followed the coast for the next 50 km or so, winding around forested hills plunging down into the ocean below.

In order to satisfy the needs of those TV obsessed Brits (who had already done the Neighbours night in Melbourne and said Harold Bishop was a pervy old man), we stopped at a lighthouse (Splits Point lighthouse) which was the setting for a kids TV show called Round The Twist.

I don’t remember much about this show apart from the theme tune, which got stuck in everyone’s head for the rest of the day. It was in a beautiful spot though, as the blue skies and sunshine returned illuminating the lighthouse.



Time was running away from us and we had one quick stop in Torquay (yes, I know, Torquay!) where there was this unique sight of kangaroos grazing on the golf course.

Finally the road left the coast and headed back through Geelong and into Melbourne, where my long journey was not quite over, as I went back to the Dandenongs, tired yet fulfilled by a wonderful two days.

Road trippin' with my two favourite allies

Day 5: A small lie in before going to pick up a hire car, which was a Hyundai something or other and heading south east of Melbourne. I first journeyed through the lush ferns of idyllic places with names like Emerald and Cockatoo. The beauty came abruptly to a halt at the town of Pakenham, which seemed dry and dusty and had lots of building work going on. I then ventured further south through Koo-wee-rup and onto the South Gippsland highway. The landscape here was dry and quite agricultural, in places golden ridges and hills appearing in a similar vein to those in California. At North Foster there was a lookout where I could see my final destination in the distance – Wilsons Promontory National Park.

The Prom, however, would wait for a full day tomorrow, so instead I found my hostel in Foster, which was a cute, cosy place, and then headed to the coast outside of the national park. First off was Waratah Bay, however some sea fog moved in and prevented me from sunbathing, though I did dip into the water. Moving on, I entered Cape Liptrap Coastal Park, which was a place of low scrub and heathland, punctuated by stretches of white sand. This is at the small town of Walkerville.

The road then turned north and eventually a turn off led to Venus Bay, which seemed to be an endless expanse of sand disappearing into the distance.

I headed back to Foster, only to miss my turning due to some roadworks…the detour was some 40 km or so, but it was a pleasant drive through some rolling countryside and I eventually rediscovered Foster where I was subject to a random breath test! It was gone 8pm, so Foster actually seemed to have closed, apart from the pub where I had a pretty lousy dinner.

Day 6: Sharing a room with one old guy and two Germans is a recipe for heavy snoring, and it was with not a great deal of sleep and several insect bites that I awoke not so ready for a full day of driving, bushwalking and pottering about on beaches down at Wilsons Prom. I decided I might as well leave early as there was no way I was going to sleep and drove down south through the early morning light and low cloud.

Entering the national park, it wasn’t long before I came to a clearing full of kangaroos munching away. The road then became a bit more winding as it crossed over hills and back down to the coast. The sun was beginning to break through in places as I neared Tidal River, the centre of the park.

Now Wilsons Prom is a bit different to the rest of Victoria, in that it was actually part of Tasmania many moons ago and broke off and joined the mainland. It was certainly more rugged than I imagined, with some steep, dense hills rising from the sea. The coastline is a mixture of rocky headlands, huge dolerite boulders and fine sweeps of white sand. I sampled a bit of all this on a walk from Tidal River to Squeaky Beach, so named because the sand is so finely composed that it genuinely squeaks when you walk on it. The mist and low cloud lingered around here, so it was really quite natural and unspoilt at this time of day.

After this walk I headed back inland and decided it was time to climb one of the hills – choosing Mount Bishop. The walk gained height gradually and passed through clutches of mountain ash, eucalypt and cool temperate rainforest, where a couple of noisy yellow tailed black cockatoos resided. It was a bit overgrown in places, but I made it to the top for some lunch with the many annoying flies around here. You could see both to the coast and across to more bushy ranges in the distance.

As the skies were brightening, I returned to Squeaky Beach via a nearby car park and took a well earned rest on the dazzling white sand, where more flies decided to eat my bare flesh.

The afternoon really felt like holiday mode, stopping off at lookouts and walking down barefoot to beaches every five minutes on my way out of the park. Back outside of the Prom I stopped off at a small settlement called Duck Point, where a Wallaby accompanied me on the road down to the shop, which thankfully stocked ice cream. I drove back to Foster via Fish Creek and picked up some fish with masses of chips for dinner, full and contented and happy to chill out in the garden of the hostel and pick up more insect bites!

Day 7: Again, a bit of a cloudy start but it was time to drive back to Melbourne, taking a different route amongst rolling farmland interspersed by eucalypt forest and giant ferns via the town of Miraboo North. Before I knew it I was on the Princes Highway and traffic increased back into the Melbourne suburbs and to Bayswater, where I dropped off the car after clocking up some 750kms. It was back onto public transport to the airport and a flight across the Bass Strait to the Tasmanian capital, Hobart.

Coastal Convictions

Day 8: Today I started a six day tour of the beautiful island of Tasmania, joining an array of people from places ranging from good old England to Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Slovenia and Mexico. First up, we were off to the Tasman Peninsula, a cluster of bays and hills joined to the mainland by a small narrow of land called Eaglehawk Neck. Given its isolation and difficult access, it was a site for a bit of an experiment in prison management back in the convict era at Port Arthur.

We first stopped at a bakery to pick up some lunch (these bakery stops would become customary and very tempting each day…)

Nearby was a unique series of rock formations called Tessellated Pavement, which appeared as though they were manmade square bricks but were formed naturally through a combination of processes I can’t remember even though our guide, Brian, would definitely have told us.

Further along the road was Port Arthur itself, a really interesting place full of preserved buildings from the establishment of a penal colony here back in the 1830s. You could wander round here at your leisure and really get a sense of what life was like back then.

A boat took us briefly around the harbour area, pointing out some sites of interest, such as the island where people were buried and the area where a juvenile prison was established. We were also taken on a walking tour for a bit, where lots of interesting stories and further information about the running of the colony were provided.

Port Arthur is a big tourist attraction these days, but there seemed to be plenty of space to nosey around yourself and very little was off limits. However, the Tasman Peninsula is more than Port Arthur and is a very beautiful area in itself, with some stunning coastal features and dense bushland rising from the seas.

We visited Remarkable Cave, remarkable in that it was pretty unremarkable. However, there were a number of arches including Patersons Arch and Tasman Arch which were pretty impressive and some fine walking to be had along the coastline.At Pirates Bay, there was a blowhole that didn’t blow, but to compensate there was a great ice cream van serving strawberries, blackberries, ice cream and cream and a pretty little bay in which to eat.

It was a really great way to start the trip and we drove back stopping a couple more times, once at a lake for a short walk and then briefly at the ‘historic’ town of Richmond before returning to North Hobart. A few of us made it out for some pizza but it was a relatively early night after a day crammed full of highlights and activities. If today had set the tone for the trip, it was gonna be a good one.

Eastern Delights

Day 9: We left a sunny Hobart and travelled up the Midlands Highway to another cute town of Ross. Of particular interest here was a sheepdog contest which happened to be going on, a quaint little diversion from clocking up the miles on the road. We cut across to the East coast, heading for the beautiful Freycinet National Park, where the sun was shining and the sea dazzling. It was perfect.

It was an uphill climb in the heat to an overlook for Wineglass Bay, worth every single ounce of effort.

It was then a rocky scramble down to the beach, all the time thinking “We’ve gotta come back up this way!” The beach was amazing though, and the water was absolutely stunning. It was a great spot to eat lunch, chill out and get your feet wet. How relaxed and on holiday do I look in this pic?!

Sadly we couldn’t linger too long and had a tough climb back up countless steps to the lookout and back down again to the car park, where a friendly little wallaby was hanging around as we had afternoon tea and biccies.

More wildlife followed at Natureworld, a nice little park near Bicheno. I guess the main highlight here were the Tasmanian Devils, who are currently under threat through a disease going around, so places like this will prove invaluable in maintaining numbers and coming up with a cure.

There were also a number of birds here, a koala, emus, wombats, snakes, some farmyard animals and, of course, the kangaroos and wallabies, who were tame and enjoyed a good feed.

We stayed in the charming little town of Bicheno, where I searched for some food and ended up (again) with fish and chips, washed down with a few Boags ales as the sun went down and the stars appeared in the crystal clear sky.

Day 10: The supposedly dreary and cold Tasmanian weather continued to stay away (meanwhile Canberra was getting a hailstorm) and it was a drive up the bushfire scarred east coast towns of Scamander and St Marys to St Helens and then onto a place called Cosy Corner in nearby Bay of Fires National Park. If I didn’t have enough white beaches and clear blue seas yesterday I had my fill here. Again, the water was beautiful and temperature just about perfect. I guess it’s not so good on a wet day, but if everyday was like this you wouldn’t want to go anywhere else.

Now the Bay of Fires is so called partly because the Aboriginal People would ward off intruders through fires here, but also the vivid orange rocks which were abundant, and great for a little walk discovering the rockpool life.

The day was that good I even had four young ladies to keep me company!

They then took me to lunch, as we headed inland to the rolling countryside of the north east. Lunch was sat outside at a pub called The Paddock, and it felt just like a perfect English summers day, sat outside having a pub lunch. The guy looking very pleased with himself in the middle is Brian, our guide, who was good fun and very knowledgeable about the environment in which he took us.

Whilst the pub on its own was lovely on a day like today, the star attraction is a pig which drinks beer! She downs a bottle in a few seconds. I think I know some people like that!

Brian then took us on a short walk through some cool temperate rainforest, pointing out the different trees and plants and we spotted an echidna rooting around in the soil.

There was also a waterfall to see here followed by a cool return walk through the trees and back to the bus.

The rest of the day took us across the hills heading west, eventually entering the Tamar Valley and Launceston (oo-arrr), where we settled in for the night, checked out the Tamar River and visited a British pub. Sadly a few people left the trip here, including Brian who was heading back home for a few days. But the east coast had shone in all its glory and truly was a picture postcard two days.