Sarah’s Big Holiday

The Granite Belt, Wineries and Apples

After our wet hike we started packing up again and drove to a winery that we had tested five years ago. They make a delicious chocolate and cream based liquor that reminds you of Baileys but is much better. We stocked up on this and Sarah played with the cat.

After that we checked into a small caravan park in Glen Aplin, much to Sarahs joy because of the small resident dog called 'Mini'. The two of them headed off while we were setting up - and gave Martin the shock of the day: Mini ran off to the near by highway and Sarah followed suit. She didn't run onto the street but was very close and got send back by the campground owner who was just driving out... Phew.

Once we had recovered from this we drove into Stanthorpe for a stroll around town and a much needed coffee at a bakery with delicious bread and croissants. For a bit more active entertainment we went to the Granite Belt Maze which was a great afternoon of fun. No one else was there and we just ran and walked through the maze trying to solve the puzzles given to us. After a round of putt-putt (that we all won) we were give more brain teasers by the friendly owner. 

Next day we visited the Suttons apple juice factory (not anywhere as good as the apple juice we got from Chris and Michelle in Mount Gambier but good apple strudel!), the Cheese factory (Jersey Girls), drove around the back streets of the area to get a better impression on the amount of fruit farming and ended up at at seedling stall. We got tomatoes, basil, lettuce, spinach and beetroot so that we can get our garden going when we're back home. Sarah enjoyed an afternoon playing catch and hide and seek with us and Mini. The next day we drove off - the last 160km and one last night in the caravan...

Granite Maize, Suttons apple juice, apple orchards and a self serve seedling station

Warwick and Aratula Wilderness Camp

The last 160km to Brisbane. 

We stopped in Warwick, had a look at the church and finally found a playground where we could have lunch and tire out Sarah. It was a great stop with cars and caravans coming and going. In the 2 hours we stayed there, there were 3 families with 3-4 children each coming and going. Sarah made contact with most of them and enjoyed the play.

We drove on towards Cunninghams Gap and the landscape again is just beautiful. Unfortunately there's not a lot of free camps around so we stopped at the Aratula Wilderness Camp, 5km off the main road. A bit of a 'run-wild-and-free' thing with no one to watch you, fire pits at every site and a creek to jump in. We enjoyed a little walk along the creek and played soccer on the grass. We didn't celebrate the last night but it felt a bit weir knowing we'll be home next day. Sarah kept on asking when we'll be back at 'her house' and told us all the things she'll do when we're there...

Warwick St Mary's church, Cunninghams Gap and the landscape around, Aratula Wilderness Camp, Sarah's successful free climbing

Are we really at home? 15/12/2015

To make the last little bit last as long as possible we decided to spare some time in Ipswich at the Queens park. Sarah had woken up so early that we were already on the road by 8.15 am. A coffee and a visit to the animals in the park and then there was no escaping. The last hour to get home. "Are we in Brisbane yet?" Sarah kept on asking... yes, we are - but we didn't take a picture of that!

Aratula to Ipswich, greeting of the peacock, Sarah on the mosaic bench (we have pictures when she was 1 year and 2 years, and now one at 3 years)

It's been a wonderful experience and a great adventure for all of us. It will take us a couple of days to get back into living in a house and a big city. But we are looking forward to seeing all our lovely friends again and have a relaxed and happy Christmas at 

HOME.

Copeton Dam

From Bingara we drove towards the Copeton State Recreation Area at the Copeton Dam at the Gwydir River in the New England region. It has a hydro-electric power generator and is also used for irrigation and water supply. The water levels were at 22% when we came so there's hardly any water in there. Luckily, there were also hardly any visitors because we were told in holiday times the camping area can accommodate for 10,000 people... It was peaceful and quiet, had a jumping cushion, a playground and a water park. So we decided to stay for the night and had a great, relaxed day playing.

After getting wet again on the water playground next morning we drove the 35 km to Inverell to have lunch. Its a small city with a beautiful Christmas tree. After a stroll through the main street and something to eat we ran back to the car to avoid getting wet. Big, dark storm clouds were rolling in and further down the road to Glen Innes we stopped to let the rain pass...

Due to the rain we didn't stop in the celtic capital of the New England region, Glen Innes and missed out on the standing stones. But we stopped for the night on a rest stop and took a picture of the this one instead. We also stopped at the Bluff Lookout, where someone had built a picnic shelter right in line with the view. Unfortunately there's no hike there. 2 km down the road was a sign for cherries and we pulled in. Beautiful, big, red cherries and we could even pick a couple straight from the tree. We stuffed 2.4kg cherries in the fridge and continued to Tenterfield, where we filled up water and had morning tea. It's a fairly big town but we wanted to drive on to Girraween National Park to go for a hike. A quick visit in the Information Centre provided us with a map of the Granit Belt region and Sarah with a new colouring in book. Little girls in pink dresses often get presents on the way... 

Girraween National Park

Girraween National Park is a beautiful rock hopping area and we decided to stay one night at the castle rock campground. It was so hot when we arrived that we spend some time relaxing and playing before going on a little hike to the Granite Arch (1.6km). Sarah needed a bit of time to get used to walking again but had fun than climbing around. Martin and I remembered that also at our first time here in 2010 the crickets had be that loud! At that time we measured 85-90 db, today it was only 70db :-)

In the evening dark clouds started coming in again and there was a bit of thunder and lightning. Next morning it was still raining a little bit, just a sprinkle so we walked up to 'The Pyramid'. It was a good little hike but with the rain the granite stones of the pyramid were too slippery and it was too dangerous to walk up since the slope is about 40degree with not a lot to hold on to...

Kaputar National Park and the Rocky Creek Glacial Area

The beautiful scenic drive out of the Warrumbungles leads to the little town of Coonabarabran. We just drove on, through the Pilliga Nature Reserve and State forrest where we stopped for the night and baked some Zimtsterne (cinnamon star-shaped cookies). Those had to be half-moon-shaped this year due to the lack of a star-shaped cookie cutter. What a disaster ;-) (They were still delicious!)

Our morning tea stop in Narrabri escalated into a longer christmas shopping but I'm sure it was much nicer and more relaxed than it would ever be in Carindale or Indooroopilly :-) In the Information Centre we tried out a real cotton picker and it was really hard to convince Sarah to leave. The view from up there is fantastic - even if it just shows the room.

It was only 35 km to one of the easily accessible short walks in Kaputar National Park (the larger part of the NP is not suitable for caravans) which is called 'The sawn rocks'. It's only a 1.4km return walk but it suited us well since it was the hottest time of the day and a sunny 33C. The rocks are beautiful and one of Australia's best examples of a geological formation known as 'organ-piping'. 

From Orange to Dubbo

It's only a fairly short drive from Orange to Dubbo, and the road features a lot of "animals on wheels". It's a similar to the tin horse highway around Kulin (another blog earlier on). Here is only one example but there were lots of beautiful and creative figures along the road.

Dubbo and the Taronga Western Plains Zoo

Our next stop was Dubbo, where we stayed for free at the Red Earth Winery ;-)  It's basically at the far end of the Taronga Western Plains Zoo outside of town and it was lovely and quiet (apart from some idiots playing race cars in the middle of the night). The zoo covers an area of 3 sqkm and on a 6km oneway drive you can take a tour to visit all the animals, either self-driving, walking, using hire pushbikes or electro-buggies. There are talks and feeding times when the animal carers talk about the local animals, the breeding as well as the threads and dangers in the wild. I was very astonished to hear that some of the rhino species now are endangered with less than 5000 animals in the wild and a total of 15,000 animals being killed just in 2015. The horns are worth US$ 65,000 per kilo on the blackmarket and that's the reason. The 7 month old black rhino baby in the zoo has a tiny little horn which already weighs around 1 kg. His mothers horn weighs about 5-6 kg... a fortune for a lot of people and therefore worth the risk. And sadly some cultures still believe in the magic powers of rhino horn which -chemically speaking- nothing else than our fingernails or hairs.

Apart from those sad news the talks were very informative and gave us the chance to see a lot of the animals close up. The giraffes were amazing. Beautiful pattern, so tall and their tongue is about 30 cm long and can wrap around a carrot :-) We all loved the meerkats (Erdmaennchen), being so playful and always having one on the watch for danger up on the highest point in their territory. We also saw lions, tigers, hippos, big turtles, zebras, gibbons, elephants and much more. Sarah enjoyed the day but became very tired and on that hot day, after 4 hours we had to leave and have some quiet time. And we still had to clean our shoes: the 6th of December is 'Nikolaus' day, a german tradition for the kids where you have to put your clean and shiny shoes outside for Nikolaus to fill them with nuts, oranges and chocolate - if you've been good...

Nikolaus placed Sarahs shoes back into the caravan just in case the animals would come and 'steal' the chocolate ;-)

The zoo seems to know how much there is to see and so the ticket allows entry on two consecutive days - which we happily used, coming back early next morning to see and enjoy more of the animals. 

At lunchtime we finally managed to leave the zoo and Dubbo, heading towards the Warrumbungles Nationalpark.

Warrumbungles National Park

Eden to Cooma  - just beautiful landscape

There's not much action to report about the drive from Eden to about 20 km past Cooma. It was a long, long drive with a lot of changing landscape. From Eden to Bega the road follows the coast line and than turns inland. It starts going uphill soon even though the road winds along the Snowy River. With this constant incline we made it from sea level to 1125m altitude at around Nimmitabel in a couple of hours. From there on we were driving through vast tablelands at +/- 1000m altitude. Just beautiful, a pleasure for the eyes. In Cooma (around 6000 inhabitants and 800m altitude) we stopped for a bit of playtime. Cooma is know for the Snowy Mountain Hydro Scheme, which is a hydroelectricity and irrigation complex, generating peak-load power for the ACT, NSW and Victoria. It has 6 major dams, 7 power stations, a pumping station and around 225 km of tunnels, pipelines and aqueducts. It is the largest engineering project undertaken in Australia and was constructed between 1949 and 1974 by immigrants, mostly from Europe. Therefore it is also said to be a defining point in Australia's history to be an independent, multicultural society and resourceful country.

We stayed 20 km away  from Cooma on a lovely, quiet free camp, even though it was just off the main road. Not a lot of people and undisturbed views. Just as we like it.

The Capital

The Parliament House (various details), The Mint, The National War Memorial, Sarah on a Merry-go-around in the CBD, The Arboretum

Next day we drove the last 150 km into the Australian Capital Territory and into Canberra. For the fact that it is a constructed city it has a lot of confusing big roads with weird on and off ramps and Martin wasn't particularly happy driving. Even though we had left the caravan on a campground in Queanbeyan, 15 km away. The Parliament House is a must and we were impressed by the building - not so much by the attendance in the green House of Representatives and the red Senate Chamber. The Great Hall is stunning as is the flagpole of 81m hight. Just a couple of boring details for the curious ones: the principle design of the house is based on the shape of 2 boomerangs; construction started in 1981 and was completed in 1988; costs were more than AUD 1.1 billion; Architects: Philadelphia-based firm Mitchell/Giurgola & Thorp; the house contains more than 4,700 rooms; 

After some light lunch in the Parliament House Cafe we headed off to The Mint, to see how Australia makes it's money. We had an exclusive tour run by a very knowledgeable but taunting long-time employee. It was interesting even though he did a very short version of the tour because of Sarah (who wasn't really interested) and his teasing comments were a bit off-putting. We loved the robot - it was fun watching it. Otherwise we couldn't see much of the process of how the coins are made. But we actually figured out how they make money: they sell $1 coins for $3. 

Next day, we went to see the national war memorial. We were a bit early, so we had enough time to have a coup of coffee before it opend. The guards were having some coffee next to us, so Sarah asked some questions about those men and women in uniform and we tried to explain to her what a soldier is, and what they ultimately do. The memorial itself is very nicely done. It's simple with a nice chapel at one end. The sides harbour two long corridors and the walls are covered with brass plaques and the names of all the Australians lost in the many wars we were engaged in. According to Wikipedia, nearly 103,000 Australians have died in those conflicts. 

Next we went to the CBD to see the big Christmas tree. Very disappointing and we're still not sure if we actually missed the main tree. Sarah enjoyed a horse-ride on a marry-go-around and than we decided to go to the playground at the Arboretum instead. It was super windy and the Arboretum is very exposed on top of a hill. It's a great playground with banksia- and oaknut-shaped equipment and Sarah had a lot of fun. Due to the wind we only spend 30-45 min there before heading back to the caravan park to go shopping and fill up supplies.

We were actually really happy to head off next morning and get out of the big, loud city again and driving through the countryside again.

Back inland: towards Orange

Our way lead us pretty much straight up north on a small back road towards Crookwell, passing Gundaroo and Gunning. It was a fairly hilly and winding road with amazing views but exhausting and slow to drive. It took much longer to reach our camp for the night, a lovely green grassy spot next to the playground in Binda. We played for a bit, then visited the Church but there's nothing else to do in Binda than have a beer at the local grocery-post-office-bar...

Next day we managed the next long part to Orange, via Tuena, Blayney and Millthorpe. With a visit to the Information Centre in Orange we learned all about the playgrounds and drove to the Botanical Gardens to let Sarah run loose. What a great setting - unfortunately Sarah was too tired to really appreciate it. The long drive has taken a toll. To get a bit of movement we  visited the Conobola Reserve and 'hiked' around the lake. About 1km. We underestimated Sarahs tiredness and it was more of a torture than the relaxing walk we had anticipated. After dragging Sarah back to the car we drove straight to the campsite on Mount Conobola to find just a car park instead of a nice green spot to set up. It was also packed with backpackers... not the best night but still great views. (will be uploaded in the next blog)

Lakes Entrance 24/11/15

After another free camp at Rosedale we set off towards Lakes Entrance. It's one of those little coastal towns, who mainly live off tourists. There are about 10 caravan parks with the remainder of the town motels, backpacker hostels and hotels. We had no problem finding a caravan park and to our surprise it was reasonable priced as well. 

Despite the clouds there was no wind and the temperature was just right. We spent a lot of time on the beach building sand castles. (It was still to cold to swim for us). In the evening we treated ourselves to a night out with dinner. Most of the restaurants were closed, but we got some nice pizza at the Pinnocio pizzeria and showed Sarah the collection of Pinnocio puppets.

Garden of 'Eden' 26/11/15

Overnight the weather changed. It rained and was windy and cold. It reminded me of one of those November days back in Switzerland, when you expect the first snow to fall any moment. We stopped at Orbost for morning tea at the local organic shop. After coffee Regine got a massage and I played with Sarah inside the shop (they had a toy corner). Once Regine came back relaxed we faced the cold wind outside and had a look at the 'sensory garden'. A nice little garden with different patches, some plants are to look at, some to smell, some to taste and some to feel. We free-camped at Alfred National Park where we had a nice little walk along a creek and through dense forest.

We drove further through hilly countryside with a lot of forests and the occasional paddock on the side. Our stop was just outside of Eden, another coastal holiday destination. We chose the campground mainly on the recommendation from someone else, but were surprised to find a jumping pillow (and residential 5 year old boy) there as well. It was still early morning, so we went to the Marine Discovery Centre next. It's a hands-on centre with lots of shells and sea creatures to see, touch and feel. Alan, one of the volunteers there, spent a long, long time showing us and Sarah around. They also had a microscope where we could magnify lots of things, including plankton, shells, sands, our skin and donkeys fur.  We treated ourselves to some fish and chips - the worst we ever had. Fish and chips were oily and fried to death. It was windy again and so we had a drive along the beaches and then drove back to the caravan park where Sarah disappeared again with her new friend onto the play ground.

Sarah and the girl next door became good playmates and so next morning we booked in for another day, just to find out moments later that our neighbours changed their plans and moved on that morning :-(

It was a lovely day, and so we spent the morning watching Sarah and Phenix on the playground before she drove off with her parent and most of the day on the caravan park's beach. In the afternoon we had a little hike to the beach of the Ben Boyed National Park where we found lots of interesting shells. Later on when Sarah went to bed we discovered that we had lost donkey. He wasn't in the car, not in the bed, not on the playground... where could he be?

Donkeys Adventures

Next day we searched again: the whole caravan, in the car, on the campground. We asked the little boy and at the reception if they could call Phenix... no donkey. After retracing our steps there were only two options left. The lookout where we had Fish&Chips and the Discovery Centre. Martin and Sarah drove to the lookout while I was getting the caravan ready to start traveling again. No donkey. Astonishingly, Sarah took it quite calmly and relaxed. Of course, the discovery Centre is closed on the weekend and Monday so we had to wait until Tuesday to give them a call and figure out if donkey was there. Finally, Tuesday 10 am, in the middle of Canberra, Martin called -but had to leave a message on the answering machine. The liberating phone call came: donkey is still in the Discovery Centre and had a very interesting and happy holiday there! He looked at the crabs and anemones in the touch tank and used the magnifying glasses to check out the shells, sea urchin and sea horses at the discovery table. He had a ball with his new friends, the whales, dolphin and turtle and he even got to ride the pelican. What a great holiday!

We were so happy to hear the donkey was alright and enjoying himself. Karen from the Discovery Centre promised to send Donkey back home to Brisbane once he had seen all the exciting things there. And Sarah had a big smile on her face when she saw what donkey had been up to...

The Prom Country in South Gippsland

Alpaca, Sarah & the chook, Sarah & the tractor, the milking carousel

Wow, we managed to get through Melbourne easily and were so relieved to leave the highway. Heading south-east to 'Prom country' we passed a sign for a working dairy farm and stopped for a look. Sarah was happy: animals to look at and pat. She chased a rabbit in the calves barn and picked up chooks. Outside we looked at the alpacas, goats, horses and ducks. A red tractor was the other highlight. And after a very sweet and highly flavoured milk shake we headed off again towards our next free camp.

Princetown to Apollo Bay

clouds and green roads, Castle Cove, Maits Rest Rainforest walk

From Princetown the road turns inland through green hills and in our case low hanging clouds. We stopped for coffee in Lavers Hill and from here turned towards the coast again. The next view point was Castle Cove where we met 5 Germans and an Austrian couple. We skipped Cape Otway and the Lighthouse but stopped again at Maits Rest for a lovely 1km Rainforest hike. The cool climate Rainforest has a stunning green and huge fern trees. The sun came out a little bit making everything even greener. We all enjoyed the hike, after being in the car for more than two days.

Maits Rest to Lorne

more lush green hills, Wye River NP, back on the Great Ocean Road, Sheoak hike, playground in Lorne

Lunch stop in Apollo Bay, one of the few spots where you can swim (if you dare to in those temperatures, like -I assume - the English group who did it). The view onto the bay is lovely and we could sit outside at a picnic table. Otherwise it looks very touristy and we headed off again to get to our next free camp in the Wye River National Park. What a difference! 3 separate campgrounds with a total of 12 sites and hardly anyone there. Deep in the forrest, we enjoyed the solitude and quietness and dragged Sarah along for another little hike to look out for Koalas. We didn't see any but heard them in the night. The weather got better next morning and on the way to Lorne we stopped for the 2km Sheoak-Hike with waterfall, cave and lots of steps. And Sarah, after being really grumpy and unhappy that morning, got into a happy and relaxed mood. We managed to find a parking spot in crowded Lorne - everyone seemed to be out for late breakfast or coffee with friends to enjoy the sunshine. The big playground was the next stop and Sarah was happily running around, climbing up and down.

Geelong

Geelong and Werribee

We decided to give the greater Melbourne region a miss. Too busy for our liking. However there is no way around Melbourne unless you do a huge de-tour. Our route went past Torquay and then Geelong. It was Saturday afternoon and it felt like all of Melbourne was heading the same way home. We stopped at the Geelong sports ground, so Sarah could play a bit on the playground and I was in need of a cup of coffee. We planned on staying a short drive outside of Geelong, next to the highway. But not like WA, where it didn't matter if you camp beside a highway - this one was busy as. We moved on and finally found a nice caravan park in Werribee, right on the beach. They also had two playgrounds and the best showers we had in a long time, so happy days. ;-)

Melbourne

Melbourne in 5 minutes

Terang - from the Grampians to the Great Ocean Road

Terang City Hall and church, Timboon Schulz organic dairy's best place to hide

We left the Grampians around lunch time and did a little detour via Ararat to fill up water and empty the toilet since non of this services was supplied in Halls Gap. Here we discovered the first Aldi in Victoria - after shopping at IGA :-) We also had lunch in a bakery where they screened a video of how the bread and sweets are made. Very interesting! In the afternoon we set up camp on the community campground in Terang, which has a lot of beautiful old buildings, churches and street facades. A great fruit and veg shop spiced up our dinner and got us some local chocolate as desert (that for once didn't cost $10 per bar and was still pretty good). We all enjoyed a longer than usual hot shower and did some washing - just the usual stuff. Next day we went past a cheese factory where we had a tasting and Sarah played hide and seek in the garden. The cheese was so-so but the Quark was just great! Felt like home to me (except for the price).

The Great Ocean Shocker

The Grotto and London Bridge

The Grotto (pic 1 & 2), walkway pattern, London Bridge (pic 4 & 5), Port Campbell, Loch Ard Gorge (pic 7-10)

We started the Great Ocean Road at Peterborough and you could instantly tell that you were in a major tourist destination... lots of traffic and bad weather ;-) The first viewpoint is 'The Grotto' and only a couple of km down the road is London Bridge, with one of the arches collapsed in 1990 (I guess). The formations are impressive and the waves are licking at the stones in a constant motion. So you can imagine that the whole area will change over time with rocks being destroyed while others are newly formed.

The twelve Apostles with and without tourists, and the other side of the lookout, the car park and constant stream of tourists

Coming towards the famous twelve Apostles nearly got us turning around. The car park was crowded with hundreds of cars and tour busses, thousands of tourists, equipped with camera and selfie-stick, making their way through the tunnel under the street towards the costal lookout points. Sarah was tired so we took the pram along and pushed it through the crowds. We took our pictures and had a good look but I have to say, the amount of tourist is probably as impressive as the views. It definitely killed it for me.

So we were more than happy to leave the place and find a camp site in a less crowed area just out of Princetown to watch kangaroos and play on the playground for the rest of the evening...