Our Walkabout

Regardless of their artery-clogging, tummy-enlarging, generally unhealthy food offerings I find it very difficult to pass through an Australian country town without sampling the fare at the local bakery.  In the Northern Territory and northern Western Australia this wasn’t so much of a problem for us as bakeries were very few and far between.  As we made our way into Perth and south of Western Australia’s capital it seems that I’m now dining for almost every lunch at a new bakery (Lisa joins in when my sounds of enjoyment make it impossible to do otherwise!).  Some of the offerings have been unreal…  I have no doubt that we’ll continue to sample many country bakeries on our travels so want to make sure that I catalogue some of the standouts.

From Cradle Mountain the four of us headed back to the north coast of Tasmania, spending a night next to the beautiful Hellyer River in Hellyer Gorge Conservation Park (S41°16.399’ E145°36.922’) on the way down from the mountains.  Even though we were basically camped in a clearing on the side of the A10 highway, the surrounding forests and adjacent river made it a great spot.  We all had a swim in the river and I spent a couple of hours wading the river trying to lure in a few of the local trout.  I managed to hook one but he was too small to keep, although that’s not to say that there weren’t some huge fish in the river…  Guess I just didn’t have the ideal lures for the local fish.

We made our way to the port town of Burnie (S41°02.931’ E145°53.049’) early on Monday morning, where we met up with a long time family friend, Mike Frost.  Mike has lived in or visited just about any country you care to name and has been friends of my parents since they were all twenty-something globetrotting about South America.  Mike was kind enough to not only detail an ideal touring route around the north and west coasts of Tasmania, but he also put us all up for the night in Burnie and gave us a brilliant guided look around the place he calls home.  Unfortunately Mike’s wife, Edna, wasn’t in town for our quick visit but we’re planning on making our way back to Burnie before leaving Tasmania to say hello.

At Mike’s suggestions we took a day trip west of Burnie along the coast, taking in the sleepy nearby settlement of Wynyard and stopping off at Boat Harbour Beach for lunch.  Jolly Roger’s Kiosk on the beach has to be one of the best value beachside eateries I’ve ever come across, not too many places one can still buy a fish burger with two fillets of fresh whiting for $6.00!  We toured around Table Cape from Boat Harbour Beach, unfortunately the bushfires further west were obscuring the view but it was worth the trip to see the patchwork fields of opium poppies littering the countryside near Table Cape.  We learned (thanks to Carol’s tour book) that Tasmania supplies the world with roughly 40% of its medicinal opiates, most of which are used for morphine production.  Australia is one of the only western countries with a government-sanctioned opium production industry, a veritable money pot for farmers growing the lucrative crop.  All of the fields around Table Cape had sizeable danger signs hung on their fences, Mike mentioned that heavy fines are associated with crossing into one of the poppy fields, as one would expect. 

I spent some time exploring central Burnie whilst Greg and the girls ventured to a nearby alpaca farm, after which we headed back to the Frosts’ for the beginning of Big Mike’s Burnie Tours.  Mike’s lived in Burnie for over 30 years and has been heavily involved in local business since relocating to Tasmania, he was a veritable wealth of information on the area and gave us a fantastic tour of the town.  He took us past the world headquarters of Caterpillar Underground Mining, a division of the behemoth Caterpillar heavy machinery company that specializes in underground mining vehicles.  A local engineer by the name of Dale Elphinstone originally designed and built the underground haulers that are now made under the Caterpillar brand, Caterpillar acquired the Elphinstone business to make Dale one of the richest men in Tasmania.  The underground haulers are still made in Burnie and exported all over the world.

After a quick look at the Caterpiller facility Big Mike’s Burnie Tours turned to a wildlife adventure, we headed to nearby Fern Glade Reserve for a walk through some of the surrounding rainforest and to try our luck at spotting one of Australia’s most unique and elusive animals: the Platypus.  The Platypus is one of the world’s two monotremes (the other is the Echidna), a mammal that lays eggs instead of giving birth to live young.  Neither Lisa or I had ever seen a Platypus in the wild but we were lucky enough to catch sight of a couple in the evening light at Fern Glade.  One of them swam underneath a bridge when I was walking across so I managed to snap a couple of great photos.  A real treat to see them up close in the wild, such a strange animal with their duck-like bill and furry body…  Mike treated us all to a fantastic fish and chips dinner, arriving around dusk with a couple of bottles of the best wines from his cellar, it was a very memorable experience for us all sitting there with the Platypus in the river behind us whilst dining at one of the picnic tables.  More wildlife back at Mike’s as he sliced some apples to feed the local Ringtail Possums, he has a family of the cute tree-dwellers living in the Eucalyptus in his yard.  It didn’t take long for them to venture down to Mike’s balcony for a feed once fresh apple was on offer.  Once darkness hit we all went down to the beach and caught a glimpse of the Fairy Penguins that roost in the dunes around Burnie during the spring and summer months, the caretakers even spotted some chicks for us hiding in a culvert in the sand.  So much wildlife in one day!

We bid Mike and Burnie goodbye with our sights set on the quaint fishing town of Stanley at the northwestern tip of Tasmania.  Stanley was the headquarters of the original Van Diemen’s Land Company, founded in 1824 under a Royal Charter to use 250,000 acres of Tasmania’s northwest to supply the needs of the British textile industry.  Today all that’s left of the company are the beautiful heritage-listed buildings in central Stanley, most of which are extremely well maintained and add a lot of character to the town’s main street.  Carol, Greg and Lisa sampled one of the local scallop pies (I was holding out for the bakery in Smithton) and we toured some of the beautiful woodworking galleries on the main street before heading further west to Stony Point (S40°44.726’ E144°58.767’) near Montagu for our last night (a very windy one!) on Tasmania’s north coast.

Planet View: S41°34.734’ E145°56.098’

Street View: S41°34.734’ E145°56.098’

From King Island we flew back to Melbourne for one more night with the Kennares and then hopped on to the Spirit of Tasmania for our journey across Bass Strait.  Although we left an hour late and were on the boat for more than nine hours, I really enjoyed the trip on the ferry (I’m not sure I can say the same for Lisa and the Youngs…).  With a couple of bars, plenty of food, a casino, restaurant, live music, cinema and a well-stocked gift shop there was plenty to keep us all entertained.  We arrived in Devonport (S41°10.427’ E146°22.211’) late on Friday night, quickly checked-in to the Abel Tasman Caravan Park and then made a beeline for the nearest pub.  I wish pubs on the mainland still had prices like those in Devonport: at the Edgewater Hotel the four of us ate a sit-down restaurant meal with a round of drinks for $65.00.  Nice!  Quarantine regulations prohibited us from bringing fish, fruit or vegetables across on the ferry so we had a big restocking at Devonport’s Woolworths the morning after our arrival before heading into the Tasmanian high country.

From Devonport we set our sights on Cradle Mountain-Lake Saint Clair National Park, roughly 85 kilometers inland from the coast.  It was a beautiful drive through the mountains, we stopped off at Sheffield for a quick lunch at the bakery and continued on through the fern-filled forests of the Tasmanian high country.  The Tank doesn’t appreciate mountains as much as we do: on the way up she always seems to need a second-and-a-half gear and on the way down she’s too heavy for the engine to slow her down.  It becomes a delicate juggle between speed and heating up the brakes.  Nonetheless, we made it to Cradle Mountain-Lake Saint Clair National Park in one piece, where we checked into the only campground in the park’s northern section and spent the afternoon hiking around Dove Lake with spectacular views of Cradle Mountain in the distance.

On our second day in the National Park we set our sights on a five-or-so hour walk traversing 4200 vertical feet and completing a loop along the striking cliffs encircling Crater Lake.  It was an interesting day of weather, to say the least: I started off in shorts and a t-shirt and at one point during the day was wearing three warming layers plus a Gore-Tex rain jacket!  Our hike began at Ronnie’s Creek parking lot, the beginning of the famous Overland Track, a walking trail traversing the National Park from Cradle Mountain to Lake Saint Clair and taking roughly six to eight days to complete.  It was a misty walk up into the rainforest surrounding Crater Creek, at times we struggled to see 50 meters in front of us, a stark difference to the brilliant blue skies of the day before.  By the time we reached Marions Lookout (S41°39.630’ E145°57.169’) we hadn’t seen much of the beautiful vistas surrounding us, the fog and misty rain was still quite thick and the wind was making things a little miserable.  We hiked around the cliff tops of Crater Lake and passed by Crater Peak, all agreeing that with the dense fog it wasn’t worth the hike to the summit if we couldn’t see anything!  It was through the boggy highland swamps and back down to Crater Creek for lunch, roughly halfway between our high point for the day and the Ronnie’s Creek parking lot.  While we were eating the skies began to clear, after we’d finished lunch Crater Peak finally came into view.  I decided that I couldn’t complete the Crater Lake hike without even a photo of the picturesque lake itself, so Carol, Greg and Lisa continued down to the vehicles while I bolted back up to the top of Crater Peak for some absolutely brilliant views of the trail we spent all morning hiking (but hadn’t really seen!).  The cliffs dropping into Crater Lake are so sheer that there’s really only two places around the rim where one can see the entire lake: Marions Lookout and Crater Peak.  The view from Crater Peak’s summit (S41°39.584’ E145°56.401’) was absolutely magic, the caldera-like Crater Lake in the foreground with Dove Lake and Lake Lilla in the distance.  I started snapping shots furiously at each break in the clouds but the views only got better as I stood at the summit, the dual peaks of Cradle Mountain (Little Horn and Weindorfers Tower) eventually breaking through the clouds and completing the spectacular panorama.  I’m so glad I bolted back up to the summit, it was well worth the roughly 600 vertical feet of climbing I had to redo!

Planet View: S39.939224° E143.860473°

Street View: S39.939224° E143.860473°

King Island is located in Bass Strait above the northwestern tip of the island of Tasmania, we visited some of Lisa’s family friends, the Jordans, for a few days before making our way south to Tasmania.  The island subsists on its famous King Island Beef and King Island Dairy cheese, as well as being a magnet for lobster fisherman attracted by the bounty of crustaceans living in the surrounding ocean.  The Newby family from Sydney were also on the island for our visit, Lisa’s mum attended school with Sue Newby and the Young family met the Jordans through the Newbys, remaining close friends and travel companions ever since.  There are roughly 1600 inhabitants of the small island, it’s the kind of place where everyone knows each other on a first name basis and life takes a relatively slow pace compared to the hustle and bustle of nearby Melbourne.

We stayed with the Jordans in their beautiful home in Currie for our six days on the island, they were the epitome of hospitality, providing the best the island has to offer for our visit and making it very difficult to leave.  After flying in on a small plane from Melbourne we all ventured to the King Island Race Club for the last of the season’s horse racing meets.  There was quite a gathering for the event, the stands being full for each of the nine-or-so races, which had everything from trots to conventional gallops.  The betting was via a conventional TAB or the slightly more traditional bookies at Honest Howie’s Betting Emporium, both venues frequented multiple times by members of our troop, most of whom had a win or two during the afternoon.  The steak sandwiches at the races were definitely some of the best we’d ever tasted, King Island scotch fillets served up in a sandwich with all the Aussie fixings, including a helping of bacon and egg.  If it wasn’t for the line I would have gone back for seconds!  We had a surprise visit from the premier (US: governor) of Tasmania during the afternoon, on the island for the last race meet of the season as well as to celebrate the reopening of the island’s abattoir.  I was also lucky enough to win one of the raffles when my horse came in first in race seven of the day.  It was a bit of fun to watch the Human Hurdle Race, a clash involving locals racing over hurdles whilst holding a flute of champagne, the winner collecting a South Pacific holiday worth $10,000. 

From the delectable cheeses of King Island Dairy to succulent cuts of local beef and delicious Giant Crab from the deep waters west near the Southern Ocean shelf, we sure had a memorable culinary adventure during our stay.  Grant dished-up his famous wedges of deep-fried King Island camembert, served with plum sauce they were well worth the hundreds of calories in each bite!  A new addition to my list of Australia’s best bakeries is King Island Bakery, which serves a selection of baked goods infused with local produce, the crayfish pies and camembert, bacon and spinach pies were absolutely to die for.  My dad sent a case of wine to the island for our stay, coupled with the Jordans’ extensive cellar no one was wanting for exquisite wines with any of our meals.  Rob even broke out some of his Muscat and port selection for dessert one night, I think I’m going to have to go on detox for a little while to give my liver a bit of a rest after six days on King Island. 

The Jordans operate a crayfish boat, Kingfisher V, based out of Currie, King Island’s main town.  The boat is quite a vessel, having enough deck space to accommodate 50 crayfish pots, five beds below the cabin as well as enough tank space to hold a few tonnes of crayfish and abalone.  Kingfisher is typically skippered by Rob or the eldest son Paul, shipping out for anything from day trips out of Currie to multi-week voyages along the isolated west coast of Tasmania and around to Hobart.  The lobster caught by Rob and Paul don’t usually hit the domestic markets, they’re typically flown to Melbourne and then transported live to the Asian markets or, for the crayfish over 2.5 kilograms, they make their way to the USA (bigger’s always better in the States…).  Grant, Dawn and Rob’s youngest son, operates his own abalone business, for which he dives off a custom-built abalone boat amongst the rocky reefs surrounding most of King Island.  Unlike conventional SCUBA gear, grant dives using a hose and boat-secured, nitrox-filled (nitrogen-enriched oxygen) tanks enabling him to stay underwater for multiple hours at a time (I think he mentioned his longest dive being around seven hours!).  When I go diving with mates on California’s north coast I’m happy to pull up my legal limit of three abalone per day.  When Grant goes diving he’s not happy if he’s not pulling up in excess of 100 kilograms of abalone per hour, which equates to roughly 200 Blacklip Abalone per hour!

I ventured out with Rob and his deckhand Russell for a day on Kingfisher.  Russell’s a jovial young bloke who was happy to show me the ropes on Kingfisher, he’s the recent new owner of the only post office on King Island and loves his new home to bits.  We set off from Currie’s harbour at around 4:30AM, leaving the rocky cove with the assistance of land-mounted light beacons guiding the way in the darkness.  The operation of the Jordans’ crayfish boat is a well oiled machine, pots are marked using GPS and retrieved from the deeps using a custom-built winching system.  By the end of our trip I was retrieving the lobster from the pots, Russell re-baiting them with Australian Salmon ready for their next drop, and Rob supervising to make sure everything put in the tanks was of legal size.  Quite interesting to note the colour difference in lobster pulled from different depths: we had a number of pots pulled from roughly 70 meters (240 feet) below the surface, the lack of light at that depth results in lobster with almost white exoskeletons, a marked difference to the bright red shells of the crayfish pulled from shallower water.  It was a lot of fun, a very unique experience to see the inner-workings of the commercial lobster industry.  On our return to Currie Rob retrieved four Giant Crabs from Kingfisher’s tanks, caught a few weeks earlier by Paul and Grant on a trip west to the deep waters of the Southern Ocean shelf.  The crabs were an amazing sight, the male crabs had claws as big as an adult human’s forearm and can crush a glass soda bottle with ease (notice the cable ties holding the crab claws against their bodies so we all could keep our fingers attached!).  The Jordans treated us all to a dinner of Giant Crab for Carol’s surprise birthday dinner, such sweet flesh and an amazing amount of meat in each crab’s claws and legs.

When we weren’t eating, drinking or fishing we spent our time exploring the island, the rocky coastline made for some beautiful photos.  Grant has a well-stocked supply of toys in the sheds at the rear of the Jordans’ property, everything from jet-skis to hang gliders.  Grant and I took out the jet skis toward the north of the island one afternoon, launching at the southern end of beautiful Quarantine Bay and venturing out toward nearby Christmas and New Years Islands.  We found some spots of good swell in the middle of the deserted beaches of Quarantine Bay, Grant demonstrating how to charge the larger waves and ride the face before they crashed.  I managed to flip my jet-ski on one occasion, giving Grant a good laugh and myself a bit of a fright as I tried to right the craft and restart it before the next set of waves was on me.  Grant also took us all on a trip to Seal Rocks State Reserve at the southern tip of the island, home to a calcified forest, beautiful stretches of coastline and a stalactite-filled cave.  It was a bit of an adventure getting into the cave but well worth the mud most of us left with on our clothes, the cave’s two caverns are filled with a myriad of stalactites and mineral deposits creating fantastic patterns on the walls. 

We were lucky enough to be on the island when the Jordans were offloading their crayfish catch for export.  The exercise involves the local seafood processors packing the live lobsters into crates for transport to Melbourne, the crayfish are removed from Kingfisher’s tanks via an on-ship crane.  Awesome to see hundreds of kilograms of live crayfish being unloaded into the crates, a very colourful payday for the family!

In addition to all the beef, cheese and seafood exported from King Island, another major industry for the tiny land mass is the export of kelp.  The Bull Kelp endemic to the north coast of Tasmania contains a high concentration of alginates, compounds found in seaweeds used for a dizzying array of applications: in foods for thickening and stabilization of drinks and creams, for syneresis in ice-cream and cheese, as a thickener in pharmaceutical lotions and creams, as a gel in dental impression powders, for its water holding properties in paper coatings, as a binding agent in ceramics and welding rods…  I could go on!  Paul and Grant used to harvest Bull Kelp from the King Island beaches before they had bigger fish to fry, when we visited there were 55 registered kelpers on King Island but only a couple of full-timers.  The huge strands of kelp are collected from the island’s beaches using winches and trucks and then hung to dry for a number of days at the kelp factory.  Once dried the kelp is roughly a quarter of its original size, at which point it’s further dried in a massive wood-fired oven and hammered into small flakes.  The flakes are exported to factories all over the world in shipping containers, the manager of the plant even puts the stuff on his cereal in the morning!

It was an absolutely fantastic six days on King Island, I’d love to go back one of these days.  We’re so appreciative of Linda Newby and the Jordans’ hospitality, it was such a treat to be toured around the island and hosted like royalty for our visit, thank you all so much!

The second of our 4WD articles just hit the shelves in Australian 4WD Action issue 144.  This one documents our trip to Purnululu National Park and the Bungle Bungle Range when we were up north last July.  The next article comes out in a few weeks in issue 145, I think that one focuses on Litchfield National Park in the Northern Territory…  

Planet View: S37°54.534’ E144°59.236’

Street View: S37°54.534’ E144°59.236’

After a jam-packed few weeks with Gina and Chris we took a little time to lay low in Melbourne, joining Ben and Bronte in their new apartment on the beach at Brighton.  We also spent a night in Torquay with Ben, Bronte, Greg, Jarrod and Stacey at Jarrod McCabe’s family’s beach house, fantastic weather and great company (but I unfortunately left my camera in Melbourne so no photos!).  Ben and Bronte were brilliant hosts for our time in Melbourne, opening up their home to us and touring us around their locale whenever they had a chance.  We made an outing with them to nearby Saint Kilda, taking a walk along the jetty for some great photos of the Saint Kilda Pier and also a trip down the bustling main Barkly Street where we lucked onto Tecate cartons for $31.99.  Between Bronte and me we left the bottle shop with four cartons!

We spent a day exploring the city of Melbourne, taking the train in from Brighton to the central Flinders Station in the heart of the CBD.  We’d organized to catch up with a mate of ours for lunch, Greg toured us around the ANZ trading floor (where he works) and then on to a swanky Italian restaurant in the South Bank precinct across the Yarra River from the city.  At Bronte’s suggestion we toured some of the alleyways littered with quaint coffee shops and restaurants for which Melbourne is famous, stopping off for an afternoon coffee in Centre Place with Greg before he had to return for work.  We also ventured north of the city to the Queen Victoria Markets, a huge expanse of stalls selling everything from Aussie souvenirs to fresh fruit and vegetables.  We unfortunately arrived a little late in the afternoon to catch most of the vendors, interesting to see all the same…

We took a day trip south along the Mornington Peninsula to explore some of the beautiful beaches and wineries for which the area is renowned.  A friend of Lisa’s with whom she worked in California recently moved to the Mornington and is winemaker for Montalto Vineyard and Olive Grove, a beautiful piece of property with an acclaimed restaurant at the southern end of the peninsula near Flinders.  Simon treated us to a fantastic lunch overlooking the vineyards, we also met his lovely wife Belinda and 16 month old twins Liam and Oliver.  After catching up over lunch with a bottle of Montalto Pinot Noir we explored nearby Flinders and stopped off to try our hand at some squid fishing off the Flinders jetty, unfortunately no calamari for us…  The enclaves on the northern side of the Mornington Peninsula are escapes for the rich and famous of Melbourne, seaside homes in the prestigious town of Portsea often come with a multi-million dollar price tag.  We ventured along the coast from Rye, through Sorrento and onto Portsea to take a look at the beautiful beaches and luxurious holiday retreats, unfortunately most of the larger estates weren’t visible from the outside but from the entrances we could tell that there were some serious mansions overlooking the ocean along the northern coast. 

Hallsy organized tickets for himself, Jarrod, Stacey, Lisa and I to attend the Australian Open tennis while we were in Melbourne; Greg works at ANZ bank and they’re a major sponsor of the 2010 Grand Slam tournament.  Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic and Andy Murray were all playing in one of the two arenas at the tennis that day so we lined up to reserve seats for the day before venturing into Degraves Street for stellar breakfast at one of the hole-in-the-wall cafes.  Even though our seats were towards the back of the rows in Hisense Arena we still had an amazing view of the games, the match between Justine Henin and Alisa Kleybanova definitely one for the ages, awesome to see the former world number one (Henin) in action in her first tournament back from retirement.  Our passes allowed us to venture to any of the 10-or-more courts on which there were games for the day, pretty much everywhere except the main Rod Laver Arena, Lisa managed to weasel her way into the front row of the Margaret Court Arena to see the Williams sisters slaughter a couple of challengers in the doubles tournament.  She didn’t want to take the camera because it’d be too heavy and is kicking herself a little now at the shots that could have been…  Our seats in Hisense Arena were only good for the day session, so we spent the late afternoon and well into the evening watching games on the big screen in the Heineken Beer Garden with a few beers.  A fantastic day, I’ve been wanting to see the Australian Open for many years so it’s great that we could organize our schedule to be in Melbourne for the event.  And what would we do without Hallsy getting us all tickets through his work?!  Thanks Greg!

Planet View: S37°11.263’ E146°21.649’

Street View: S37°11.263’ E146°21.649’

We lost one of our troop to the call of civilization when we dropped off Gina at the Melbourne Airport, she needed to be back in Adelaide to start work for the coming wine vintage at Chapel Hill.  Chris and Bessie were yearning for more adventures though, so from our early morning airport drop we ventured inland a few hundred kilometers, bound for the Victorian Alps.  We restocked in the country town of Seymour before heading to Mansfield, roughly 50 kilometers west of Mount Buller ski resort.  It was a sweltering day with high winds, a little scary being in the foothills in that kind of weather with the reminder of last year’s Black Saturday bushfires clear in our memories.  As a precautionary bushfire measure Alpine National Park was completely closed when we arrived in Mansfield, so we ventured just out of Mansfield to the beginning of our trek at Howqua Hills Historic Area.  The Howqua Hills area is a stretch of brilliant campsites along the beautiful Howqua River, there’s also a number of restored alpine huts in the area that can be rented from the owners in Mansfield.  We found an empty area at Noonans Flat and setup for the day, escaping the 40°C+ (104°F+) temperature by relaxing in the adjacent river and trying our hand at snagging some of the mountain trout (unfortunately the water was too warm for them to be biting).  When Eucalypts get too hot they tend to drop limbs, we heard the crashing of large tree limbs a number of times during the afternoon, we made sure not to camp underneath any big trees!

Fortunately a cold front moved in during our first night in the mountains, so we could start our 4WD adventure the next day.  Breakfast was another wildlife-filled event with a couple of beautiful Crimson Rosella Parrots venturing in at the sight of all the grains in our bowls.  Chris again demonstrated his animal friendliness, chatting to the pair to get them comfortable and eventually being able to hand-feed them nuts whilst they perched on the back of the tank.  When I was taking photos of the female parrot the male moved in on my cereal, both of them eventually taking a liking to Chris’s muesli.  Lynn Westoby and Randy Luce, you would have been in heaven!

The Victorian High Country is known for some of Australia’s most picturesque yet challenging 4WD routes.  I had a feeling we were in for some nail-biting driving when the 4WD guide we have in The Tank described our proposed route as difficult, suggesting to allow three days to complete the 190 kilometer (118 miles) trail across the Great Dividing Range.  The track started out relatively easily, we wove our way through the mountains on Brocks Road on our way to Upper Jamieson Hut, taking in the beautiful fern gullies and towering Eucalypts along the way.  The cold front brought with it some light drizzle and fog, driving through the fog was at times a little tricky as our visibility was reduced to a number of meters.  After passing Upper Jamieson Hut the trail progressed in difficulty, with a deep river crossing across the Jamieson River and then some gnarly downhill sections with cliffs on one side of the track and slippery, wet rocks making up the trail.  The final climb to King Billy at the ridge of the Great Dividing Range was quite harrowing, The Tank again proved its superiority off road, crawling up the steeper sections of the track with relative ease.  King Billy was the pinnacle of our trip across the alps, we topped out at 1562 meters (5125 feet) above sea level.  I would have liked to grab a few more photos of the trail to King Billy but it was just too dangerous to stop the vehicles on the steep inclines to take any shots… 

From Brocks Track to King Billy we had a bit of a mini-celebration at reaching the peak of the Great Dividing Range and continued on to the King Billy Track.  More nail-biting driving along the King Billy Track, at a few points I think Lisa may have peed her pants just a little bit, and we were at the beautiful Howitt Plains for lunch.  By the middle of the day it was raining quite heavily in the Alps so we found the Howitt Plains Hut, one of the many alpine huts dotted across the high country, and sought refuge for a hot cup of tea and a bite to eat.

From Howitt Plains we continued east in the rain along the Zeka Spur Track, headed for Wonnongatta Station at the end of the day.  On Zeka Spur the terrain turned from difficult to extreme, we’d often stop the vehicles and express our amazement that we’d made it through the technical section we’d just put behind us.  None of us knew that vehicles were made to be able to tackle some of the terrain along Zeka Spur, super-steep downhills riddled with huge boulders, mini-crevasses and some very slippery mud in the wet weather.  The difference in tyres and vehicle weights was quite evident on the steeper downhill sections of Zeka Spur, Bessie with Chris at the wheel slipping and sliding in the mud, thankful for ruts to keep the vehicle on the track while The Tank’s weight and deeper tyre tread allowed Lisa and I to dig in and be a lot less squirrely.  Regardless, some very heart-pounding sections of the trail that we were thankful to put behind us, Lisa drove the whole way and made me proud, almost pulling the plug once or twice and handing the wheel over to me but sticking it out to tackle the most advanced 4WD track I’ve ever seen.  We had a bit of fun getting Chris and Bessie unstuck on one of the steepest sections of track, I ran uphill to see where they were and found Bessie with her front differential lodged solidly on a boulder with the entire vehicle’s weight pressing down on the rock.  Chris initially tried logs under the wheels to get enough traction to move Bessie backwards uphill, when that didn’t work I dug room under the tyres and propped them up on rocks, eventually giving Bessie’s two spinning wheels enough traction to lift her backwards and change course to avoid the problem boulder.  Some hairy driving for sure, but man it was a lot of fun!

We finally made it down the Zeka Spur Track to the Wonnongatta Valley and Wonnongatta Track.  The Wonnongatta is a beautiful high country valley with the Wonnongatta River flowing down its eastern edge, there are a bunch of picturesque bush campsites dotting the rivers edge for a few kilometers, we stopped off for the night at one of them, amazed that the cars and the three of us were all still in one piece after eight hours of solid driving to travel roughly 90 kilometers (56 miles)!  Our spot in the Wonnongatta Valley was one of my favorite campsites of the trip, the flowing water of the nearby river, beautiful Eucalypts and seclusion making it a really special spot.  Another wildlife experience with a late night visit from a mother and baby possum while we sat by the fire, the possums in the surrounding trees also woke Lisa a few times during the night.  We had a look at the isolated ruins of the nearby Wonnongatta Station in the morning before heading out, amazing to think that almost 100 years ago cattlemen inhabited the harsh high country valleys with stock.

From the Wonnongatta Valley we continued east through the Alps, crossing the Wonnongatta River four or five times through the Wonnongatta Valley on our way to Wombat Spur Track.  If we thought we’d tackled some steepness the day before we were in for a shock along Wombat Spur.  I think I would have struggled to walk up or down the Wombat Spur Track, Bessie and The Tank crawled up roughly four kilometers of the track in first gear low-range.  The fact that we made it without any complications amazed all of us, we were very thankful it wasn’t raining for our third day in the high country given the sheer inclines we tackled along some of the tracks.  The Wombat Spur incline is another spot I would have loved to snap some action shots but it was just way too dangerous to stop the vehicles anywhere along the way. 

Once reaching the peak of Wombat Spur we cruised along the ridge for half an hour or so, taking in the picturesque fern-filled Eucalypt forests and weaving in and out of the high country fog hanging around after the previous day’s storm.  The Wombat Spur Track veered onto the Cynthia Range Track midmorning and we began our decent toward Talbotville.  The Cynthia Range Track was just as steep as the initial sections of Wombat Spur, The Tank and Bessie again impressing us all as they crawled down the rocky incline in first gear low-range.  With each vehicle’s weight pressing down on the engine I’d hate to think of the pressure on some of the engine manifolds and cylinders.

We let out a breath of relief at the end of the steep Cynthia Range Track, figuring we were pretty much done with the hair-raising portions of our trek across the Alps.  We crossed the Wonnongatta River a few more times, eventually passing through the ruins of the settlement of Talbotville and onto 2WD-capable dirt roads.  We made a quick stop at the ruins of Grant, an old high country goldfield town, as well as taking a peek in one of the old mineshafts that brought the area such a massive influx of prospectors 150 years ago.  A little eerie walking around the old sites in the alpine fog…  We had a little celebration once reaching the bitumen near Dargo, giving our vehicles a massive hug and each other a few high-fives, before heading down the mountains to the quaint, sleepy settlement of Dargo. 

What a journey, 190 kilometers in three days and undoubtedly the most intense off-road driving any of us has ever done.  Nothing broke, no-one flipped and we all made it alive!  Such a beautiful area of the country.  Both Lisa and I were a bit sad to bid goodbye to Chris during our drive back toward Melbourne, a great traveling companion for us with his brilliant bush cooking and jovial personality.  Fingers crossed he’s serious about meeting up with us again as we continue our tour of this great Land Down Under…

We couldn’t have asked for better weather for our week-or-so exploring the Great Ocean Road and Otway Ranges!  From Grampians National Park we cut across some country back roads, through Dunkeld, and finally to Warrnambool to the beginning of Victoria’s famous Great Ocean Road.  A quick stop at the Warrnambool information office for some maps of the area and then to the beautiful Childers Cove a short drive east along the coast to escape the midday heat.  What a spot, crystal clear waters hemmed-in by striking cliffs, if we had stayed longer I would have been tempted to have a look for some of the abalone that I’m sure would inhabit the ledges at the edges of the cove.  It was about lunch time but unfortunately we couldn’t eat as the flies at Childers were some of the worst we’ve experienced, so we continued and took in some of the famous rock formations along the Great Ocean Road.  A lot of the more notable rock formations have been worn away from their original namesakes: London Bridge is now effectively London Arch after the portion of land joining the arch to the mainland broke away a few years ago, Island Archway is now just two vertical columns of rock, and the 12 Apostles are now just called The Apostles as there’s only seven-or-so left!  Regardless, it’s a beautiful stretch of coastline and the weather during the day we drove it was fantastic, such brilliant blues with calm and clear water.

After lunch at Port Campbell’s bakery we continued east to Johanna Beach, a beautiful stretch of sand tucked between Cape Otway and Moonlight Head.  The campground at Johanna is basically an extensive stretch of grass nestled in the sand dunes, a fantastic location within walking distance of the beach.  We all took a dip in the crystal clear waters of Johanna Beach to escape the flies and after another of Chris’s scrumptious dinner concoctions (with the last of the yabbies we caught inland) returned to the beach to try to snag some of the Salmon Trout running the shallows.  We caught a couple of keepers before the sun set, the aggressive little buggers were very greedy at times, taking lures almost as big as themselves!  We went back for another session early in the morning, again attacked by flies as soon as we emerged from our tents, and were a little more successful with some bigger specimens for the dinner plate.

From Johanna we made our first foray into the beautiful Otway Ranges.  The Otways stretch almost the entire length of the Great Ocean Road, the striking mountains are littered with rainforests, waterfalls and a plethora of hiking trails as well as some beautiful back roads drives.  We took the back roads from Johanna past Melba Gully and on to Triplet Falls, definitely one of the most beautiful stretches of track we’re ever driven with towering Eucalypts, massive tree ferns and bubbling rainforest creeks along the way.  The loop walk to Triplet Falls was a fantastic hike through the rainforest to the majestic string of waterfalls, cascade after cascade led up to the main Triplet Falls, an amazing spot…  From Triplet falls we continued on the back roads through the rainforest to the beginning of the Otway Fly treetop walk, a similar adventure to the Giants Treetop Walk in Western Australia’s Great Southern.  After seeing that it was $22 each to walk along the suspended boardwalks we decided against it and kept moving for another hike to Beauchamp Falls.  The walk into Beauchamp Falls made its way down steeply to the stream feeding the falls and then crisscrossed the water for a few kilometers until reaching the cascades.  Chris and I psyched each other up enough to take a dip in the icy pool below the falls, it was actually cold to the point of being painful, neither of us lasted long but it sure was exhilarating!

It was back to the coast for lunch after our morning in the Otways, we made it to the nearby coastal enclave of Apollo Bay and sniffed out a bakery before all taking a dip at the stunning Apollo Bay beach.  The Great Ocean Road is usually synonymous with rough seas but we were extremely lucky to have mirror-like water almost every time we ventured into the ocean for a swim.  We all had a good laugh soaking up the rays and watching a group of Indian fellas play soccer on the beach, there were some hard hits and painful-sounding slaps as some of the heavier blokes hit the sand!

From Apollo Bay we set our sights on Lake Elizabeth high in the Otways near the mountain town of Forrest.  Another beautiful backcountry drive through the forest took us up to Lake Elizabeth but we discovered on arrival that it was a walk-in campsite only, not so good when we sleep on top of our car and have our kitchen setup on the back of The Tank!  So we trudged on late in the afternoon, west through the Otways to nearby Stevenson Falls (S38°33.873′ E143°39.305′).  Along the way we passed through Forrest, we have to remember to return to Forrest one day to test out the myriad of mountain biking trails beginning in the tiny town.  The campsite at Stevenson Falls was a great spot, our initial site was next to a pack of rowdy teenagers so we moved shortly after arrival and found a couple of friendly girls from Brisbane willing to share their large site.  Turned out to be beneficial for both parties as we made them a nice campfire where we sat late into the evening sharing traveling yarns and drinking a few too many beers.

Back to the coast and toward the ritzy seaside settlement of Lorne from Stevenson Falls, we passed by Cape Patton along the way and took in the beautiful views westward back along the route we’d driven.  Lorne is within a few hours of Melbourne so is quite the escape for rich Melbournites, the esplanade lined with million dollar holiday homes and streets with expensive European cars.  The town still retains a lot of its charm, however, and its beach is similarly as beautiful as nearby Apollo Bay’s.  We spent a little while exploring the shops and cafes along Lorne’s esplanade, during which time Bessie was dealt a parking ticket by the local fuzz, stopping off at yet another bakery for lunch and then hitting the beach.  The Otways around Lorne are jam-packed with hiking trails to an extensive number of falls, we drove a short way into the mountains past the old Allenvale Mill site and tackled the roughly eight kilometer loop to Phantom Falls and through The Canyon.  It was amazing how much drier the mountains around Lorne were compared to nearby Apollo Bay: the latter had ravines covered with ferns and rainforest while those around Lorne were more typical of the Eucalypt forests we’ve seen elsewhere in Australia.  All the falls along our loop walk were dry but for a trickle, but it was still a great hike and the view from the top of Phantom Falls was quite breathtaking.

We continued up into the mountains from Phantom Falls to a campsite at Big Hill for our last night in the Otways, cooking up the last of the steaks from Big Al in Mount Gambier for a true blue meat and potatoes dinner.  An early morning drive along the last stretch of the Great Ocean Road took us to Torquay, arguably Australia’s most famous surfing town and home to Bells Beach and the world’s first wetsuit.  We checked into the last site available at the Torquay Caravan Park, at $60 for the four of us for a small patch of grass we started to realize how awesome the free campsites through the Otways had been!  It was 44°C (111°F) in Torquay on the day we were there so we pretty much spent the whole day on the beach, which was absolutely jam packed.  I think we fully lathered ourselves in sunscreen three or four times during the day, the sun sure packed some punch when it poked through between the scattered clouds.  We whiled away the late afternoon and evening at the Torquay Hotel Motel, putting away a few too many jugs (pitchers) of beer with our first evening meal at a restaurant since leaving Adelaide.  It was a miserable night trying to sleep for our last night with Gina, Melbourne broke its record for the hottest night ever, shattering the previous all-time high set back in 1902!  We all woke at 5:00AM to get Gina to Melbourne airport for her 8:05AM flight, all feeling a little groggy after the beer the night before and not too much sleep in the overnight heat. 

What an awesome couple of weeks we’ve had through Nora Creina, Mount Gambier, the Grampians, the Great Ocean Road and the Otway Ranges.  So much fun to have a couple of close friends along for the ride, Chris and Gina were so easy to travel with and added a lot of laughs to our evening conversations.  Hopefully they’ll join us again somewhere down the road!