Family holiday for 6 months around Australia. Switching off for a while to remind ourselves of why we are doing what we do. Enjoying time with our little family that we have created. Creating some great memories and taking some awesome photographs as well.
We decided today that staying at caravan parks is not really worth the money unless you are leaving the van there for a whole day unprotected. all your really paying for is a toilet and shower which are not always great anyway. all the grey nomads and caravaners stay at the free stay areas which allows more money for tourist things and other enjoyable things. because the next few days are fairly boring areas, that's what we will be doing. Up early and off we go. On the road by 9ish and we are going to push for a place called Bordertown in South Australia. This is the first town on the entry to SA. These very flat roads are quite uninteresting as they travel through mostly farm land and flat country. a lunchtime stop off to break our trip was at Charliegarke lake. Nobody at this stop off at all. it is like an abandoned lakeside campground. Only a couple of old abandoned caravans and a broken down kiosk. Looked like a scene out of a plague movie where everything had been left behind. Very flat and open but right by the lakeside which was quite nice. there is plenty of tap water available (non drinking of course) so heather suggested we wash the van to get rid of some of the road grime and dust we have gathered. What a great idea. see video.Washing a very small mobile house
Bubble & Squeek
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Being such a large span of water i thought it might be a good idea that i throw in a line to see if there are any fish around but a local later told us that the lake had dried up only 3 years prior due to drought and so no fish at all existed here. maybe some yabbies would be around but as you see in the video there aren't even these little creatures hanging around.
The Big Koala
Grampians at a distance
Charliegarke lake sand castles
Kaniva Entry sign - very Australian
Finally at the South Australian border
Our first SA campsite. - Poocher Swamp
Back in the van after a couple of hours rest and play with the girls, we head for Bordertown. We made our destination at about 5pm and quickly set up at another free stay camp area called of all things "Poocher Swamp". A little breezy and raining as we entered the free camping ground. Again no-one around. This is actually a game reserve for duck hunting, very rough looking surroundings but enough for our night stay. after all we are only sleeping here not site seeing the area. Quite cold and the Gas stovetop is our heater for the cold nights. Works quite well.
Today we want to see many things and so left the van at Johanna beach for the day. It should be safe because of its location, well of the road and away from any main roads. We drive down to cape Otway Lighthouse where we were told of Koalas being easy to find on the roadside. We were only into the park for minutes when we spotted dozens of koalas in the trees.
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You could tell when to look up as they created droppings on the road underneath themselves. Every hundred meters we were stopping for a photo.
The closer to the Lighthouse we came the more koalas we spotted. Very difficult photos because you are aiming your camera upward to the bright sky and so it has trouble getting the lighting correct, but we managed.
We arrived at Otway lighthouse walk. It costs you to get in but well worth a look. All the staff are dressed in clothes of the period and this help to relive the times a little better. Alot of history for the history buffs and old buildings to see,.The lighthouse was built in 1848 and still operates for tourists.
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The Lighthouse Entry view
A Great Rainbow as we started the walk
Lovely Seascapes
Cheeky Monkeys
Although it is not in service for the waterways. We took some lovely shots of the coastline from up in the lighthouse and also the surrounding sites. In the kiosk we bought Mia and lily a koala rattle each as their token gift which we are trying to collect along the way from each significant place we travel to. This way they may remember each place a little better and be able to tell their friends about the place when they return.
After leaving the Otway Lighthouse we wanted to go and see the tree top fly over and walk in the treetops as we had promised the girls for a while now. it was quite a distance to the flyover but we managed it ok.
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When we arrived it looked quite a set up and themed well. The cost was $49 dollars for 2 adults and well worth it. Firstly we had to eat because we were all hungry after the mornings events. We dined at the kiosk here which was expensive but we had a carefree attitude at this stage and you can't deny yourself a treat all the trip. Coffee and lunch behind us we head on in for what was one of the highlights of our trip so far.
Little ponchos for the rain
We bought the girls a poncho each which you can see in the photos, due to the light rain that was teasing us. When you walk down the long entry track you coma across the most beautiful rainforest area dense with tall trees and plants. There was a side track which showed us a dinosaur historic area and allows you to see the way dinosaurs lived in these area. Great for the kids as well to spot the dinosaurs along the way.
Moss on every tree
Life size dinosaurs throughout the prehistoric area
Little splashes of colour
Then as we approached the bottom of the track the ramps lead you into the tree canopies. Slowly at first up and up higher and higher. fantastically built. The video shows this well. After a short time you find yourself so high its giddy to the stomach. Once you think you are as high as you can get there is a 20meter tower to climb to take you to the very top of the canopies. The girls had to be held tightly on the walk up this tower.
After a while of sky high magic we came down the tower to start the walk back down another set of ramps through all the breeds of trees you can imagine and slowly back to the starting point. all up about an hour or so walk through the entire park. Great photos and video for us to keep.
Quiet Giants of the forest
Giant ferns
Buckleys chance
Forest floor shapes
Top of the tower
Man made tree
Waiting for a ride to the top of the park
Heathers favourite bird
We decided on the way back to Johanna beach the it was a little hard to spend another night here as there was no water and this is hard for us with showers needed etc. We new if we were quick enough we may just make a little spot called Princetown reserve a few kilometers away. We arrive back at the camp in the later afternoon and packed up as quick as we could and drove off. It was about an hours drive to Princetown reserve and we made it nicely. Powered site on a local football reserve which when we arrived was covered with about 150 kangaroos all eating the grass. Lots of vans here so it felt a little safer. Power is a nice add on to a nights stay. we can put the heater on with these chilly nights as well.
