Road trip with dogs - Day 8

We packed up in showers which quickly cleared, and made our way to Melbourne.  Today's entertainment was to fing the Embroidery Den at Highett where I have been ordering Paternayan yarn for longstitch embroidery.  It was an easy place to find - easier seeing there was a parking area associated with the library just across the road!  I have now chosen the colours for my next long stitch tapistry - the sound shapes I use for early music classes need their own dedicated bag!

From Highett we went down the coast south east along Port Phiilip Bay to catch the ferry from Sorrento across to Queenscliff.  It was not a cheap ride but saved us considerable time seeing  I was determined to get to Highett.

We had a short stop at Queenscliff, then it was less than 1 and a half hours to Bill's cousin Dierdre's place at Fairhaven, just south of Airey's Inlet.  It was an incredibly hot humid day - worthy of a normal Brisbane summer's day!  We caught up with grand - neices we have never yet met.  We walked along the beach with the dogs, who were delighted to be off a lead for once.  We had dinner out at the local hotel for not too much!

The weather forcasts are not good.  Seems we have brought tropical air down south to Victoria and the weather bureau is anxious about some areas getting way too much rain.  Seems the same weather patterns that flooded Brisbane are also affecting us 2000 kilometres away!

Car ferry from Sorrento to Queenscliff

ON the ferry to Queenscliff

Lighthouse at Airey's Inlet

Another veiw of Airey's Inlet

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The sunset that evening.

The grand-cousins practising their knitting!

Road trip with dogs - day 19

Today we drove to Toowoomba to have lunch at my parents and drop off camping stuff, and to start catching up on news.  My parents had water through their house from the deluge that caused the flash flooding in both Toowoomba and the Lockyer valley, but it was not of a serious nature.  My sister was cut off for 5 days at her place near Helidon in the Lockyer valley, no water in her place but the creek that surrounds her place has cliffs gouged out around it now!  She had twigged to their being a lot of rain coming and had already dealt with the road to her place being cut by more minor flooding, and had stocked up majorly with supplies, including powdered milk.

The road into Brisbane was quite pot-holed, but basically in good condition, so we didn't have any problems getting back into town.  We could see the evidence of a lot of water going through places, and was surprised that things were looking as under control as they were.

We surprised my family by appearing early, DS Greg had just got in from his flight home from Adelaide, and Claire was going out for the evening.

School starts tomorrow, and there's lots to do to get an instrumental music program going again at school.  Tomorrow thai will feel as though it never happened!

Road trip with dogs - day 18

We ummed and ahhed about which route to take home from Coonabarabran, and decided to do the rational thing and follow the main drag through Goondawindi.  Only trouble was, we missed the turn just out of town and were headed in a different direction.  I had noticed we didn't seem to be annoyed that much by a lot of heavy vehicles!  So we made it official, and headed through the back roads via Texis and Inglewood.  We discovered in the back blocks that we couldn't access supermarkets on a Saturday afternnon, and in Queensland, where we would be by evening, there is no 24 hour shopping like the other states.  We knew the only way to be fed that evening was to eat out, but being coeliac and gluten free, that's not a simple thing!

We could see where all the water went through in the past few weeks.  There were many potholes nd ruts in the road, and raodwards to match.  We had to proceed somewhat cautiously, but at least the water was where it was supposed to be!

We camped at Inglewood and a somewhat down at heels caravan park, but it was late, we were tired and couldn't be bothered finding the out of town park and have to travel back for food.  We did find a nice cafe that tried very hard to provided wheat free food for me (difficult!) that was a cut above your average take away joint!

Road trip with dogs - day 17

We decided to keep driving until it started to cool in the evening.  We headed through West Wyalong (where is East Wyalong, we wondered - we think it died as the west side grew!)  and Parkes.  We stopped to take a photo of the radio telescope that is featured in the movie "The Dish", but it needed to have been cooler for us to get inside of the visitors centre and to leave the dogs in the car.

Coonabarabran was were we pitched camp for the night.  We saw the Warrumbungle mountains in the distance, but it was awkward to stop for a photo as I had traffic behind too close to safely do anything unpredictable!

We have found if we stay just a whisker over the speed limit for the road we have little trouble with the "double B" trucks, as we track between them and they don't catch up to us that easily.  It's not much fun with one on your tail, and we try to get them to pass us as much as we can!  Passing lanes are not for us to pass trucks, but for them to get by us!

Road trip with dogs - day 16

I guess today was the most boring drive of the trip.  We left the Murray region and tracked further the the Murrmbidgee River area.  This is the part of the world where i spent the first 8 years of my life.  The Murrumbidgee River is not as scenic a river as the Murray.  It runs through a "channel country" of small rivers that run only in the wet, and the area is referred to the "riverina".  The Murrumbidgee River is not one where there were nice parks on its banks.  Instead there was low laying muddy forested areas referred to as "overflows" along the banks, those of you who know the Poem "Clancy of the Overflow", it was that kind of country the poet was reffering to.  I must admit, as we went through the irrigation areas, it was mile after mile after mile of grapevines!  Unbelievable.  Not wonder we have a wine glut in Australia!  We went past the gate of the de Bortoli winery where my parents bought their first bottles of wine in the early 1960's, the same winery we purchased a bottle for my dad in the yarra Valley a week ago!

We camped in the heat at griffith.  We did not bother with putting the fly on the tent, just erected the innards and used it as an overgrown mozzie net.  The circadas were amazingly noisy!  My dogs had fun catching them and eating them!  Ihope I don't have dogs with stomach upsets from them!

Road trip with dogs - day 15

Today is the day to head home!  Somehow it seems to make me cheerful, although once I get home reality will hit fast and everything will seem like a dream.

Of course, the weather is beautifully fine and warming up fast!  Today we headed for Mildura, a major irrigation area growing fruit and vegetables inland on the Murray River.

Once we headed out of the Adelaide Hills we discovered that South Australia is flat, flat, and more flat, and looking very dry in spite of the rain they are getting.  But once we got to the Murray River the scenery became much more interesting.  Today we have had a Murray River crawl!  The river is very high, close to bursting its banks.  it is a lovely sight, and must be a great relief for the locals after years of drought and enviromental stress with too much water being taken for irrigation from the river under drought conditions.  We stopped at every town on the Murray that had a park at the river.  The dogs are in a good routine as now they accept a dring every time we stop.  We have found some wonderful quiet towns on the Murray that I would gladly go back to and stay a while in perfect peace and quiet.  At Mildura we found houseboats where people live permanently.  With the river in such good condition, it seems an idyllic lifestyle!

Road trip with dogs - day 14

We had a quiet morning where I caught up with details like doing the laundry, updating blogs etc!  This afternoon we travelled to Gawler, north of Adelaide to visit my Aunty Jan, who hasn't seen me since I was 13 and at her sister's wedding!  She seemed quite happy to catch up with a relative in the "lost" category.  I explained that I had never been to Adelaide before.  She could show off her grandkids (being babysat) and I could show of my kids (via photos on the computer).  The traffic in Adelaide was pretty bad getting to Gawler so we decided to take off directly to Mt Barker over the Mt Lofty ranges, a much better idea.  I am sure we did not take any longer to drive back, and the roads were peaceful and scenic.  On the way it became apparent that the place was setting up for a major bike road race, the "Tour Down Under"  so we are glad we are moving on tomorrow in the direction of home, and not getting tangled up in road closures, traffic, spectators and anything else that was yet to happen!

Road trip with dogs - day 13

We explored out to the coast on the Fleurieu penisular south of Adelaide.  This is where the Adelaide Hills and the Mt Lofty Ranges meet the sea.  The extension of the peninsular is Kangaroo Island, which can be reached by sea going ferry.  Again there is a lot of wine being grown in this area, with sheep being the most dominant of other agricultural activities.  I always expected the great Southern Ocean to roll in onto the coast with large angry breaking waves, but was quite disappointed to have it lapping at the shore quite gently.  I guess it depends on the weather.  At home on the Gold Coast you always get to see plenty of waves breaking.  I guess that is why the Gold Coast is considered to have some of the most dangerous beaches in Australia!

Road trip with dogs - day 12

Instead of only 3 nights in Adelaide we now have five nights.  Today we went exploring the Adelaide hills, the hinterland where we are staying.  We have seen grapevines, grapevines and more grapevines!  If you dring wine and it says its from South Australia, it came from round here somewhere.  We are not very far from the Barossa Valley, the place most people associate with wine and South Australia.  The country to us seems quite dry, even though the literature suggests it is cool with a high rainfall.  The countryside is quite different from home, and the gum trees are very different - their leaves seem to hang in weeping position more so than at home.  We haven't explored any wineries - I think being tired from all the driving makes us hesitate.  There are also orchards around - any trees covered with netting we have learnt means that they are cherry trees!

Road trip with dogs - Day 11

It was a very cold night here in the Adelaide Hills.  It was worthy of our cold winter days in Brisbane although it is summer in Australia.  The tent was soaked in dew when we got up.  I needed every layer of clothing I had on me - was not prepared for it to be quite this cold!

We have been getting numerous reports of floods in northern Victoria, so I spent some considerable time on the phone ringing ahead to caravan parks where we were booked to stay.  Horsham was waiting for a record flood and no way could we go there, so the decision was made that we stayed on in Adelaide a few extra days, then headed north and inland to go home instead.

Today was the big day for getting to Greg's concerts in at the Elder Hall - part of the University of Adelaide.  The National Music camp orchestras were giving two concerts, so I exchanged texts with DS greg to work out which concert he was playing it.  Turns out all groups were playing different music in both concerts.  Like most sons, with parents in range their was the ask for financial assistance!  (He's run out of phone credit and couldn't recharge while on camp!)

The morning was spent vegging out, and we got moving after lunch to drive into Adelaide proper - about 30 mins away.  We needed somewhere to park where we could keep the dogs in the car without them overheating.  We got as close as we could to where we thought the hall was, and hoofed it through the university.  The sun was very hot although the breeze still felt too cool for comfort.  We were passing the restaurant under the art gallery when I spied a familiar face - a cello player from my home community orchestra, on vacation visiting family!  he didn't know anything about the concerts and was interested in coming along.!

We found a park in the university for a fee that was ideal for the dogs and near where we were, had dramas with the pay machine but hope we haven't been booked for illegal parking!

The concerts were free.  That was impressive because at home we have to pay through the nose to hear Greg play in any of his Conservatorium groups, and he is involved in quite a number of them!  Greg was playing in the Chamber Orchestra  group on camp, and it was a small string orchestra made up of a select number of players who could truley pull their weight and cope with the music.  The most impressive piece they played was an arrangement of a string quartett by Shosakovitch - no 8.  Greg has heard it played live, and was overjoyed to be playing it himself!

Phone voucher handed over, and goodbyes said - Greg gets home before we do (just!).

Road trip with dogs - day 10

The further west we went to Adelaide, the finer the weather became.  I was tired from spending the night being buffetted by strong winds and heavy rain.  We did remain dry - the tent works well as long as where we pitch it also remains dry!

We went along some pretty boring roads today, particularly the road along the wetlands referred to as the "Coorong".  The lakes were beautiful when we finally met them.  There was great stress in the last drought on these wetlands nad authorities were considering drastic measures to get water into them.  But with all the rain in the past year, they are full of water and very healthy.

It was 30 degrees and very sunny at Mt Barker where we are staying.  Got everything dry, no worries.  Here's for a good night's sleep - need to make up for last night.

Road trip with dogs - Day 9

We woke to a very warm morning.  When I walked the dogs the breeze swung round and suddenly became very cool.  By the time we left it was beginning to rain.

The rain dogged us for the whole drive to Mt Gambier.  Back on the main Highway we stopped briefly at Wendy dennis's polwarth farm and I picked a grab-bag of coloured Polwarth fleece as my memento.  I would have lingered longer but the weather was closing it and her beautiful red soil combined with wet white dogs was not a combination I wanted to make.

We listened to the national 24 hour news radio station and caught up on what was happening at home and around Victoria.  There was flooding in Victoria due to the humid tropical air being dragged down into southern areas, just in the places we are hoping to visit later in out trip.

Mt Gambier is wet, wet, wet!  We had to put the tent up in the wet but the camp site was well drained.  Once I had mopped up all the water in the tent from just putting it up, the water stayed outside  and we were quite dry.  The dogs had a pretty boring time of it all.  They had very little time outside of the crate, as I needed to keep them warm and dry.

The Blue Lake crater lake at Mt Gambier.

The crater lake is only blue in summer - I think it is a blue-green algae that creates the colour.

Road trip with dogs day 7

I had a very good sleep last night in a dry comfortable bed.  We didn't really sleep in but still took our time to get moving.  I had got hold of Charly who breds angora rabbits (Xichel bunny lady!) and found we had driven past her gate yesterday.  So today Bill and I went for a scenic drive through the fire ravaged localities of Marysville and Healesville etc, seeing the forest changes due to the firestorm 2 years ago.  We bough a bottle of wine in the Yarra valley for my Dad to thank him for the loan of camping equipment.  And then we retraced our steps to visit Charlie with her bunnies.  Gosh, the are incredibly fluffy and very hot to cuddle!  My dogs got to go inside a house and play with Charly's dog - and to meet a real bunny!

We got back to the cabin to turn on the TV and to drop into the unfolding disaster back in Brisbane.  We have an email from DD Claire who is coping well and will probably have people who are affected by flooding stay over.  I am desperate to make contact with my Mum who is in Toowoomba - she will be just fine, but my sister at the bottom of the range will have been affected by the wall of water that went down the Lockyer valley, but the phones are overloaded and I can't get through.  And Mum should know what has happened.

The weather has cleared for the time being where we are but there are promises of plenty of rain yet to come on our trip.

Veiw of the Yarra ranges on the way to Marysville.

Healthy trees around Marysville.

Burnt trees still regenerating.

Pristine forest of mountain ash.

De Bortoloi's vineyard in the Yarra valley,

Road trip with dogs day 6

Lakes Entrance on Victorian coast

Another veiw of Lakes Entrance

Typical scene of hay bales in country Australia

We travelled from Orbost to Warburton today.  We manage to choose routes where the traffic is particularly light.  We turned off the main highwat at Moe and headed north, hoping for pretty scenery.  We were not disappointed,  We found ourselves winding along forestry roads through the mountains, with wonderful forests of mountain ash.  We had to dodge two loaded logging trucks, a bit scarey!  The weather got gloomier and gloomier and gloomier as we progressed.  When we got back out onto the highway the mountains ahead were covered with ominous black clouds and we realised there was no way we were going to miss the rain.  Just as we got into Warburton the heavens opened up and we couldn't see the road.  We got quite disoriented in the rain.  When we finally found the caravan park there was about 6 inches of water over the camping spots.  We asked for a cabin - too tired to deal with the wet! and were lucky one was available, which we took for 2 nights.  We can't have the dogs inside but we are allowed to kennel them in their crate on the veranda.  They are quite comfortable with plastic over their crate to keep the wind off them!  And the kitchen in the cabin is really good.  I'm enjoying the cooking without so many constraints!

Road trip with dogs day 5

We've had really nice weather today.  We decided to be "lazy" and maximise our country driving, and go to Orbost on the coast the most direct route over our high "snowy mountains" country (but it is high summer - no snow!) rather than via Bega on the coast.  We basically had the road to ourselves, and the climb down from the high plain, although it had no escarpment or ultra steep grades, was spectacular never the less.  On the high plains, the only indication of altitude was that at places the cloud line was in contact with the ground!  The amount of traffic on the coast Road was alarming after our quiet back ways we had been following, bumper to bumper, everyone trying to get back to Melbourne to start work tomorrow (Monday).  We only went the way we have because I needed to stay where the dogs were welcome!

We got into our planned camping place at lunch time so we have had a chance to recharge the batteries properly.  We had a look at hte internet for how the weather was going at home.  It looks as though SE Queensland is drowning so I guess we shouldn't be complaining about the wet tent here!  It's nothing like what home has had to put up with!  The caravan park here is lovely and peaceful - they were busy over the weekend but from the traffic on the Prices Highway, it looks as though there are huge numbers of people getting back to Melbourne to start work tomorrow morning.  They still have a LONG drive from here!  The park owner said it was extrememly busy last night but it looks as though the rush has now moved on and the peace has returned.

Road trip with dogs day 4

It was lovely and fine in Mittagong this morning when we left - had a nearly dry tent to pack!  The first stop was Yarn Addiction at Bowral - town next to Mittagong.  A yarn shop to die for (see photos!).  I resisted buying anything, but this would be my ideal of a LYS.  I have way too much yarn stashed at home, plus I plan on buying fibre for spinning in Victoria.

I've never really been to Canberra before so I was pretty impressed with the surrounding countryside, and the main drag in to Parliament House.  My task today was tocatch up with an old friend for coffee at Manuka, where there is an exellent (but small) yarn store, the Woolshed.  We found under cover parking and a dog friendly cafe, and had lunch with Ann.  How is it when you catch up with a "best friend" after a decade you feel as though you had never been away!

Then on to Cooma in the high country to a very quiet caravan park, fine weather, and very little traffic.

Sorry - the mobile connection is a little slow for the pictures - will try when we are closer ot civilisation.

Lake St Geoge on the road to Canberra

The Federal Highway on the road to Canberra (picnic stop)

Road trip with dogs Day 3

Today we avoided most of the rain - just the odd shower from Raymond Terrace to Mittagong.  All our gear was dryand we were getting into the swing of things!  We went the back route from Singleton to Winsor via a gorge through the Wollemi National park - no photos - the gorge was so narrow there was no-where to stop for photos and no little camping grounds or picnic spots.  The scenery was magnificent.  Not much traffic either, nice seeing our car has no grunt at all up hills with the load on board.  From Winsor we went to Penrith - agin the traffic was light, and on to Cambelltown to meat the Hume Highway - again we missed traffic,it's a great back way to avoiding Sydney proper!  We caught the freeway up the mountain to Mittagong, which was a very pleasant place to stop.  I dropped in at Victoria House looking for more Paternayan yarn for my longstitch harp case.  I have had nothing but trouble with getting the colours I am using, and lo and behold, I find out that the company making the yarn is not presently dying the shades I need!  Massive matchup for the nearest colours to what I am using!  We avoided the showers while pitching the tent, but they closed in after.

Camp at Mittagong

Road trip day two

It rained all night.  We woke up to constant rain.  We were almost floating in water!  It took about 2 and a half hours to get ourselves breakfasted, packed up and on the road.  All sorts of things got wet that were not intended to be wet, and had to be packed wet.  So some fine tuning is needed to improve things!  Like, big tough garbage bags would be a great idea, and the waterproof pack in the roof rack will need to be rolled up because somehow we ended with a lake on top of it and also inside of it, negating it's waterproof properties!  Luckily we are sleeping over at my brother's house at Raymond Terrace and can dry out!  The rain was clearing just as we drove out of Glen Innes!  It was wet and showery all along the range and high country.  Once we got down back closer to sea level the weather cleared and we could sigh in relief.  Even with the mist and rain the scenery was still spectacular.  We had 12% grades down the range, but luckily the traffic was extremely light and we could take it easy given how heavily the car was laden!  Nice to have a meal cooked for me this evening and to catch up with my brother and his family!



Wet tent at Glen Innes





The weiw from Thunderbolt's Way



Road trip day one

We packed the car yesterday and left bright and early on the way.  We got to the next suburb, and found DS's wallet left in the car.  Nothing we could do but backtrack and toss it to him (he was sleeping in!).  He owes us one - no wallet, no ID, no ATM card and going to Adelaide on Sunday?  He was close to us having to post it back to him!

Going through Cunningham's Gap the road had subsided, and was only one way in sections.  We have had way too much rain!  The cloud was shrouding the mountain tops which is NOT a promising sign for a camping trip!  By the time we got to Tenterfield the showers started.  When we made it to Glen Innes to pitch camp for the night the clouds were low and dark, and the thunder was beginning to rumble.  We had that tent up very fast!

It was a very wet evening!  Thankfully the park where we stayed had a fully functioning kitchen which we could access, and we were right to cook for ourselves without eating out (being economical here!)  The dogs ended up a bit damp and cold, and spent most of the time in their crate wrapped in towels to keep warm.

Preparation 3

We have packed the car!  Everything fits, just!  The dogs have a rolls royce crate to ride in - plenty of space.  DH was stressing it was too big andwe wouldn't fit everything.  The dogs know something is up!  When Bill would go into the garage the dogs would sit at the top of the stairs and whine.  it doesn't help that I've been cleaning up.  It is such an unusual activity on my part that the dogs stress - they know it means something is going to happen to them!  Here's hoping we get off early tomorrow.  We've got to somehow get onto daylight saving time.  Here in Queensland we are spared that problem - we don't want any more sunlight than neccesary - we wait impatiently for it to cool down each evening.  I cook later as it is!