After our quick overnighter in Melbourne and doing our gypsy fling in front of the Traveller factory we left and headed back up towards the high country.  We were having a great time travelling around in this part of the country that it was an easy decision to leave Melbourne and return.  The high country of NSW and Victoria is a great place to spend the summer touring with all the fantastic free camp grounds around and the water flowing in the rivers.

From Melbourne it was a relatively short drive to Alexandra and a couple of night stay at the showgrounds.  Alexandra is a quite a small town located near the Goulbourn Valley.  We did a day drive from Alexandra to Eildon and along Skyline Road that offered some superb views of the lakes and valleys in the area.  Eildon was a very pretty town that is surrounded by Lake Eildon National Park and mountains covered with very thick forests.  A very nice area to unwind for a couple of days.

 

 

 

 

 

It was goodbye to Alexandra and next stop was Mansfield. This was a huge 67 kilometre drive for the day.  We stayed in the High Country Holiday Park in town which was only a short walk from the town centre, which is nice if you want to walk into town.  Mansfield is famous for being part of the Ned Kelly legend and is where the three police officers are buried that Ned Kelly and his gang killed at his bush camp.  This is what then made Ned and his brothers become outlaws and led to the infamous shootout at Glen Rowan.

From Mansfield you can easily drive to Mt Buller for the day which we decided to do and also climbed to the top once we got there.  Its only a short walk from the car park to the top and the views are definitely worth the small effort.  From Mt Buller we drove to Mt Stirling and did a walk through the high country along the Hut Trail Loop that took us past Razorback Hut and King Saddle Shelter.  This was a great walk and it would be good to do a longer walk over several days through these areas and camp out in the huts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After being in Mansfield we decided that we would follow a bit of the Ned Kelly trail so our next stop was a campground called Stringybark Creek Campground.  This was only a very short 40 kilometre drive from Mansfield, so a very easy day’s drive.  Close by to the campground is where Ned Kelly had his camp and also where the shootout was with the police who came out to arrest him.  This was a nice big campground and with only one other camper there we had plenty of room to set up.

 

 

 

Compared to the previous two drives our next drive from Stringybark Creek to Pioneer Bridges was massive.  This was a huge 100 kilometres.  Pioneer Bridges is not really near anywhere significant.  It read like it might be a good place to stay for a couple of days.  When we pulled up it wasn’t quite what we expected being reasonably tight and not overly level.  Lucky for us we managed to squeeze into a spot right next to the river and had some great views.  It was close to the road but luckily it wasn’t a busy road so the noise was minimal.  On our drive to Pioneer Bridges we stopped of at Powers Lookout.  This is named after Harry Power who apparently taught a teenage Ned Kelly how to be a bushranger.  The views from the lookout over the valley is worth the stop.

While at Pioneer Bridges we did a short drive to Glen Rowan to see where the final shootout of the Kelly Gang occurred.  This completed our brief history tour of the Ned Kelly story.  Even though you are familiar with some of the history of Ned Kelly this was a good way to see the area he operated in and even find out a few more things about him along the way.  I was a bit disappointed with Glen Rowan and what it had to offer.  I thought that maybe there should be some more infrastructure in place to support the Ned Kelly story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bright was our next stop for a few days.  This was only a short 60 kilometre drive.  With so much to see in the high country you could either base your self in one place and do lots of day trips or what we were doing and travel short distances and do our drives from different towns and camp areas.  Bright was a good place to base yourself for what we did and also has some nice river walks around the town.  From Bright we did a couple of day trips to the Alpine National Park that takes in the Bogong High Plains and then to the Mount Buffalo National Park.  One of the walks we completed in the Alpine National Park was the Wallace to Cope Heritage Trail.  Wallace Hut was built in 1889 from Snow Gums slabs and Woollybutt shingles and is thought to be the oldest on the high plains.  Other places we also stopped off for a look at were Falls Creek, Mt McKay, The Horn, Eurobin Falls and the Gorge Heritage walk.  With so much to see around this area we felt a bit rushed trying to fit in what we did.  This was a fantastic area to drive around and walk and will definitely be on our return trip calendar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great time while in Bright and saw some really great sites and would love to come back again.  The high country has an abundance of places to see and walk and you could spend many months here looking around.  From Bright it was off to Omeo.  We weren’t sure what way to go to get to Omeo and finally settled on getting there via Mt Hotham, this was with the caravan in tow.  After being a bit nervous at first it wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be.  The biggest hassle we had was that we caught up to some other caravaners going over the top as well and they slowed us down a bit.  Would we do it again with the caravan, probably though quite happy if we don’t.   We intended only to stay in Omeo for one night and then go out into the Omeo Valley for a few nights free camping near the Mitta Mitta River at a place called Hinnomunjie Bridge.  We stayed in Omeo for two nights and had a great pub meal and then went out and free camped for three nights.  The free camp at Hinnomunjie Bridge was a great big grassed area and very relaxing near the river.  We even had a visit from a big black snake that thankfully seemed to slither off and not be seen again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was our last stop in the high country and what a great time we had.  There is so much to see and do you really don’t have to many quiet days.  Its a great place to spend the summer touring around and with all the rivers and free camps everywhere you are very spoilt for choices.  From here its down towards Bairnsdale and then to who knows where.

 

After leaving Canberra it was a quick drive towards Yass to pick up the van out of storage and continue on our quest of Australia.  We were both surprised to see that the van still looked clean after just sitting in a paddock for 4 weeks.  They must have had a bit of rain in Yass during this time.

Tumut was our next stop over for one night after a short stop at Cowra.  While at Cowra we toured the small cricket museum at the oval where Don Bradman played cricket in his early years.   There was also a game of 20/20 cricket being played on the oval at the time so that was a bit of a bonus to watch for a couple of overs.  We have been to Tumut a couple of times now and it is a really pretty town in the high country.  Tumut is situated on the banks of the Tumut River and is known as the gateway to the Snowy Mountains Scheme.  There are a lot of dams and hydro electric works near the town and these are easily accessible from Tumut.

From Tumut we travelled a short distance to Jounama Creek.  This is a small free camp area about 40 kilometres from Tumut and right opposite the turn off into Talbingo.   We had planned to meet Jade and the boys there for some camping near the river.  You can camp only a few metres from the river which makes it a great spot to sit back and listen to the river and forget about everything.  To make it even better we were pumping water from the river direct to the van and were able to have nice long showers at night.  We had a great six days at Jounama and definitely would come back again to stay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Jounama it was back to Tumut for couple nights and we did some washing and shopping ready for our next camping stop.  We had been told about a great little place called Paddy’s River Flat that was around 20 kilometres out of Tumbarumba.  This was also a free camp spot that was next to Paddy’s River and had a huge grassed area for you to camp on.  We got there on the Tuesday before Australia Day and there were quite a few good spots to choose from and set up camp close to the river.  By the Thursday the camp area had filled up quite a bit so it was good that we got there when we did.  Being able to set up so close to another river we again pumped water direct from the river for showers and washing up.  It makes camping really easy when you can do this.  Tumbarumba is a very neat little town with some good wineries and is mainly a softwood timber processing area.

We also did a great day drive from here through some small towns further up in the high country.  This took us through small towns such as Cabramurra, Khancoban and Tooma.  Cabramurra is known as Australia’s highest town.  It used to have a permanent population for people working for the Snowy Hydro Scheme but now it is only DI/DO employees using the town.  It still has basic amenities available.  Driving through the high country it is interesting to see the devastation from bushfires and the dead trees on all the mountain sides.  Regrowth is abundant and is quickly claiming back the country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had to be in Melbourne for the 31st January to get the last bit of warranty work completed on the van so from Paddy’s Flat it was time to start slowly heading for Melbourne.  Paddy’s Flat was an excellent place to camp at and should be on everyone’s stopover list if passing by and its not to crowded.  From Paddy’s Flat we drove to Tallangatta and stayed for two nights at the showgrounds.  Great value here for $15 a night and you just drive around the oval and find a spot that you like and hook up your power and water.  We had a nice view of the lake and nice shady trees.  Tallangatta is situated along side Lake Hume as has great views wherever you are in town.

 

We decided on a two night stay at Tallangatta an then driving from there to Melbourne and spend the night in the street outside the Traveller factory ready to get our work done on the van.  They wanted us to drop the van off at 8.00 in the morning so we decided that sleeping near the factory was the best option.  We had a meal at the Seymour Club before Melbourne and then planned our arrival outside the factory at around 8pm the night before and found a quiet spot a couple of hundred metres from the factory and camped for the night.  We felt like a couple of gypsies you see in Europe that camp in streets in their caravans.  No one told us to move on so all was good and it did make it easier to have the van delivered so early in the morning.

We thought that they would have the van for the day so had arranged to catch up with the Powys’s for the day.  When we dropped the van off they said they would only be about 90 minutes changing the seats over and  then we could take the van.  That put a spanner in our days plan so it was with disappointment that we had to cancel our visit to John and Maria and wait for the van.  The upside was that we had finally had all the work completed on the van so now it was back on the road and returning to the high country for another taste of great Australian history.

 

Well after our short getaway to Malaysia it was back in Perth and hoping that the van would be ready to go.  We had left it with the dealer to get a few warranty items completed while we were away.  Unfortunately they weren’t completed and we were left waiting an extra month in Perth.  Very frustrating when you just want to pack up and go.  Eventually we told the dealer that we couldn’t wait any longer and asked if they could have the rest of the work on the van completed at their Melbourne factory, which they did to their credit.  It wasn’t much work, they supplied us with the wrong leather finish on our seats and we wanted it replaced with what we had ordered.

After sorting out the arrangements for the work on the van it was finally on the road and off towards Canberra for Christmas.  We were going over to have it with Jade and the boys.  We had allowed ourselves twelve days to get there.  At the rate that we normally travel each day this was going to be a very rushed trip.

We decided to travel from Perth towards Hyden and then the gravel road from there to Norseman.  We did this trip many years ago but I had forgotten what it was like.  Our first night was spent at a place called The Breakaways about 460 kilometres from Perth.  This was a pretty good camp ground a short distance from the main road.  A good stop over point for the night.

 

 

Day 2 was a short stop in Norseman for fuel then the start of the Nullarbor crossing.  This was a long 717 kilometre drive today and we just drove until we had enough and camped in a clearing a few hundred metres off the highway for the night.  The area was Moondi Bluff and it wasn’t anything very special.  Next day was an early rise and another long day with some tourist stops along the way at the Great Australian Bight.  There are some impressive stop over areas and lookouts after you cross the border into South Australia and we wanted to have a look at a few of them.

 

 

 

 

 

We really did scoot through South Australia with a series of one night stops until we got to Broken Hill where we decided to catch our breath and have a two night break.  We stayed at the Broken Hill Regional Events Centre which was actually the race course.  They have a nice grassed area for you to camp on and you have access to the toilets and showers.  Broken Hill reminded me a lot of Kalgoorlie when we drove around.  There were a few things to see and we did enjoy our short stay there.  Just out of town they have the Sculptures and Living Desert which we both thought was very interesting. They have twelve sandstone pieces on display around a short walk on the top of a hill, very spectacular with the landscape in the background.  We also visited the Pro Hart Gallery which was very good.  They have a very rich art history at Broken Hill and they try hard to take advantage of this.  The Flying Doctor Visitor Centre is also well worth a visit when in Broken Hill.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Broken Hill we only did a short 110 kilometre drive and stayed out at the Burke and Wills Campsite near Lake Pamamaroo.  This is just near the small town of Menindee and in the Kinchega National Park.  There are quite a few large lakes in the area as well as lots of camping sites that were being well used considering the time of year that we were there.  The lake has plenty of camping areas around it so you aren’t close to anyone which is good.  The lake had nice white sand around it and plenty of birdlife.

 

 

 

 

From Lake Pamamaroo we did the 300 kilometre gravel road to Hillston.  The road started off in very good condition then started to get very rocky.  There was a side track along side the road that we ended up taking as it was well used and a lot smoother.  It seems that this is what everyone does that travels this road as we passed a few doing the same thing.  The roads was also very very dusty so it gave the new van a really good dust test which we are happy to say it passed very well.  Just a couple of small spots that we will sort out.  The good thing when we arrived at Hillston Caravan Park was that they let you wash your van which was a real bonus as it was quite dirty.

From Hillston it was a night at the Harden-Murrumburrah Showgrounds for one night.  Not a bad stopover and we were the only ones there.  Harden also had some cheap fuel compared to other towns in the area so that was nice for a change.  From Harden it was a short drive to Yass where we were putting the van in storage for 4 weeks while we stayed in Canberra for Christmas and New Year.  Jade also had a big list of things that she wanted done around the house so Kaye and myself were going to be busy.

Canberra seems to be one of our most visited places so far and as a result we didn’t do very much at all while there.  We did manage to catch up with our friend Steve Candotti who we hadn’t seen for quite a few years.  It was good to catch up and spend the night reminiscing and telling a few good yarns.  We also got to do a hot air balloon flight over Canberra.  This was a real highlight and with great weather it was worth the very early get up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As with all good things they do come to an end and so our visit to Canberra was over.  Jade’s never ending list will have to wait until another time for completion.  It was time to get back to the caravan and restart our Aussie Adventure Part 2.  Thanks Jade for putting up with us for so long and I am sure we will be back again.

 

 

After our week away in the new van and listing the few warranty issues we wanted fixed we returned the van to the dealer.  While this work was happening we had booked to go over to Malaysia and visit Renae who had a six month secondment with Woodside to work over there.  Anika also joined Kaye and myself for the trip as well as it fitted in with her break from work.

So it was up early on the Friday for the flight to Singapore and then a taxi ride over the border into Malaysia.  Renae was living and working in Johor which is on the border with Singapore and it is easier to fly into Singapore and cross the border there.   For the weekend Renae had organised for us to go to Rimba Resort which is on a small island called Palau Sibu off the east coast of Malaysia.  This was a 2.5 hour taxi ride from Singapore to the small ferry terminal to catch the local resort boat over to Rimba Resort.  The resort is mainly frequented by expats living in Singapore and Johor so was not overly touristy which made it a great place to have a short stay.  There were a few other resorts on Palau Sibu and the walk around the island enables you to see them all, which we did.  We also went for a boat ride to one of the smaller islands from Sibu and did some snorkelling for the day.  This was a great day out and we were rewarded with seeing dozens of clown fish and some good coral.  The resort itself is very low key in amenities and you stay in individual grass huts.  There was no air conditioning but this wasn’t needed with the ceiling fans.  The food was a highlight of the stay.  It was all buffet and the taste was excellent.  If I had one complaint about the resort it would be the cold showers.  There was no hot/warm water in the rooms and the cold showers were exactly that – cold.  Being tropical we did think the water may have been slightly temperate but it wasn’t.  If they could manage someway to at least take the chill off the water it would really tick the final box for them.  All in all though we would definitely come back to Rimba Resort again.   One other great thing about this place was that you didn’t have to wear any footwear, anywhere, even in the bar and dining room.  They also had  great staff as well that made you feel very welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a fantastic couple of days at the Rimba Resort it was a sad goodbye and off to where Renae was living in Johor.  We all managed to fit out bags and selves into Renae’s little car then it was off on the road for a two hour drive.  One thing that really was impressive about Johor when we were driving into it was the amount of high rise development going on.  There were dozens of multi story buildings going up everywhere.  There didn’t seem to be any economic slow down around these parts.

We all managed to squeeze ourselves into Renae’s one bedroom apartment.  Being the older ones Kaye and myself managed to score Renae’s bed while Renae and Anika toughed it out on an inflatable bed and lounge settee.  Sometimes being older does have its upsides.  While Renae had work Monday Kaye, Anika and myself just had to look at what we could do to fill in time.   Anika was only going to be with us for two more days as she had to fly back to Perth for work.  Ahh the woes of the working class.  On the Monday we decided to go to Lego Land for the day.  This was a short and cheap taxi ride away.  Taxis are very cheap in Malaysia and a great way to get around.  Lego Land was pretty impressive and the displays on show took over three years to build using over three million Lego pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On The Tuesday it was waiting around with Anika for the day until she left to go back to Perth.  We spent the day just going for a walk around where Renae lived and having a lunch in one of the many restaurants that are in the area.  Renae’s apartment was at a small harbour area that had quite a few restaurants and walking areas around it.  There was also a lot of high rise development going on but not much else there.  Renae’s complex had a nice roof top pool that we both enjoyed often during the week.  After Anika had gone, the rest of the week we just spent going on some walks and one day going into the main city area of Johor.  The next weekend Renae took us on a drive through the country to the most southern tip of mainland Asia.  It was good to actually drive through areas that you normally wouldn’t go to and see how people live.  After a very enjoyable ten days in Malaysia it was time to pack up and let Renae get back her normal life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was sad to leave Malaysia as we both really enjoyed it and it was good to be away with both girls as well.  Hopefully this is something that we can keep doing all together every so often.  Our return back to Perth was also going to be a bit exciting as well as we were hoping that the van may be ready to pick up and we could start to plan our next trip away and also relieve Anika of having her pesky parents living with her.  Thanks Renae for a great time in Malaysia.