We are taking the new car for a test drive with the camper trailer this weekend…an extended weekend really since we are back home on Monday. The plan is to go up to the River Murray to try to avoid some of the nasty weather that is forecast this weekend. 🙂
On Sunday last week we decided to see if we could find some snow. Snow was forecast down to 1000 metres, and Mount Donna Buang is 1250 metres high and only 1.5 hours drive from us. We packed all our warmest clothes and headed off with lunch including some soup in the new thermos I got for my birthday.
We didn’t see any sign of snow until we were practically at the top and finally we saw a sprinkling of snow on the ground. It was quite cold, but with his beanie, scarf, waterproof mittens, raincoat with attached fleece vest and gumboots, Nathan was as warm as toast. He had so much fun and didn’t want to to get back into the car. In contrast, I was feeling pretty cold and wishing I had gloves, and Toby was really cranky about being out in the snow….until the very end when he just wanted to keep eating it.
We had our warm soup and sandwiches for our second lunch. We sat in the shelter on top of Mount Donna Buang where it was marginally warmer while it snowed. The snow showers made everything white, but it didn’t take long for most of the snow to disappear, leaving just a thin sprinkling on the ground.
We ended up going up the mountain twice, taking a trip to nearby reservoir in between. We didn’t plan to go back up until we were on our way home and it was raining quite heavily, so we went back up to see how white it was.
We had a lot of fun, but it is quite clear that Andrew and I need some gloves and I need warmer jumpers if we plan to spend any time in snow.
A couple of weeks ago we bought a second-hand camper trailer. We have been looking at campers for a while, thinking it might be a good option if Andrew takes his long service leave next year and we do a lap of the western half of Australia. We have looked at lots of new ones, drooled over some of them, and ended up getting a serviceable 2005 model on-road camper in very good condition.
Last weekend we had an extended weekend and took it for a test run. We had planned to go up to the Murray River but, with reports of roads and campsites still being in flood, we stopped at a free campground near Elmore on the Campaspe River. Though Andrew had concerns about our car’s ability to tow the camper, it did quite well for the short trip. The camper was pretty easy to set up, and we loved how easy it was to set up the kitchen to organize a meal.
Our first night and morning at the campsite were bitterly cold, with a very heavy frost on the ground on our first morning. Toby was very unhappy with the cold, and I have to admit it was pretty uncomfortable. Nathan delighted in wearing all his warm clothes…beanie, scarf, gloves, and raincoat with snuggly-warm polar-fleece lining.
On Saturday we pottered around with the camper, enjoying the relative peace (we were near a well-used road), watching the birds and collecting/buying a bit of firewood. Sunday we went to Echuca to take the kids one paddle-steamer which they really enjoyed. Then we went for a look around Barmah National Park where we had planned to camp and agreed that the water was too close to the campsites for comfort. Monday we packed up and came home.
So, the verdict…We had a lovely time camping at a time of year that we wouldn’t dream of taking the tent out. We drove in much more comfort than when we use a tent, since we weren’t packed into the car around gear with barely room to move. The camper still took a long time to pack up (we had thought it would be quicker than the tent) but we should get quicker with practice and when we are better organized in the camper. We do need to look at getting a new car to tow it half way around Australia, but juggling price and towing capacity and wanting something comfortable for around town has us very undecided as to what is best for us.
I can’t wait to take the camper out again!
Ready to go camping!
Set up op on the bank of the Campaspe River.
Kids eating ice off the car!
Ice on the kitchen bench.
Nathan with a sparkler. Toby didn’t want one.
Happy Birthday Daddy! The boys put the candles into the cake on their own.
Yummy cake!
Nathan hindering the digging of the hole for our campfire (he was putting dirt back into the hole already dug by Andrew).
Helping to light the fire.
When do we have the marshmallows?
On the paddle steamer.
Nathan, the paddle steamer driver.
The kids and I left Melbourne this morning at about 11 am. We stopped for a toilet break at 12:30, and then Toby slept. He woke just before Albury, so our second stop was at a fabulous playground in Albury. The kids didn’t want to leave, but I wanted to push on, so with a promise to return on our way home, we left. The GPS got me lost in Albury, but we finally made it back to the freeway.
The road is two-lane freeway from Melbourne to Albury, and previously from there to Sydney there would be sections of freeway and sections of single-lane, two-way highway. My recollection of the road between Albury and Holbrook was all two-way highway, so I was very surprised to find it is now freeway the entire way! The Holbrook bypass is being constructed, so in years to come the freeway will extend further, uninterrupted.
We didn’t mind the stop in Holbrook. I had promised the kids a play on the submarine, and I had planned to spend the night there. However, we got there about 4:30, and I figured that Gundagai was only about an hour (and a bit) further on, so at 5;00 we set off on our final 115 km of the day. Again, I was surprised to find the road was freeway the entire way, so it was around 6 pm when we pulled into a motel in the centre go Gundagai. The kids excitedly explored the motel room and then we walked to the local Chinese restaurant for dinner.
On day two of our trip we spent a couple of hours at Cape Otway lighthouse. The cost of entry for us was $35; the kids were free. There was quite a lot to look at, and we really enjoyed it. Of course, the best bit was the lighthouse…..and the devonshire tea from the tearooms.
When we were in the car leaving the lighthouse we noticed that there were many, many koalas in the trees near the road and one even crossed the road just in front of us. I don’t think I have seen so many koalas in one place before.
Andrew took a couple of days off at the end of May and we had a four day weekend in Western Victoria. We celebrated my cousin’s 40th birthday in Timboon, but we took the coast road and enjoyed a slow trip to our destination.
Our first stop was in the rain at Erskine Falls. We walked a short distance to the lookout and the kids had fun stomping in all the puddles. The next stop was at Wye River which had a nice beach and we went for a pleasant walk. We stayed the night at Apollo Bay. There was a great playground just across the road from the motel, and we made good use of it.
Last weekend we went to Wilsons Promontory. Andrew took two days off work, so we had 3 nights camping at Tidal River. The campsite was just like a big caravan park, with numbered sites, toilet blocks and rubbish bins spaced regularly throughout the park. There was also a shop and fast food outlet there I love bush camping, so at first it seemed a bit too much like caravan park camping for my liking, but I must admit that it was wonderful being able to get rid of rubbish immediately and having a hot shower after a day at the beach.
We didn’t wander too far from Tidal River on this trip. It was lovely just exploring the local area and not having to drive places. We did a couple of short walks and enjoyed the Norman and Squeaky beaches. What I loved about Norman beach was that we found soldier crabs there. I used to love going to see the soldier crabs in Royal National Park in Sydney, and was thrilled to find a place in Victoria where we can find them.
Squeaky Beach is a beautiful beach, with lovely fine white sand and a clean river running down the beach to the ocean. I think that the only nicer beach I have ever been to is Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsundays, but I suspect that Andrew likes Squeaky Beach more because it is an ocean beach and has waves and no stingers (that we are aware of) to worry about.
With our camping weekend coinciding with Nathan’s birthday, I was spending every spare moment leading up to his birthday trying to finish his new overalls and a t-shirt and didn’t do a lot of planning for the trip. We left on the day of his birthday, so had to pack the car between birthday activities and always aware that timing was important because we wanted to leave when Toby was ready for a sleep. Consequently a few things were left behind. Camping is actually much less comfortable without pillows, and Andrew couldn’t caffeinate his aches and pains away because I forgot to pack the coffee machine thingy
(very technical term). The gas regulator was forgotten, so we couldn’t connect the stove up to the gas bottle, so we had to buy a new little gas bottle to fit our hose and get it filled from the shop at Tidal River. Luckily, coffee was also available from the food outlet….it may not have been the best in the world, but Andrew wasn’t in any position to be fussy after one particularly bad night with no pillow and an awake Nathan for 4 hours during the night.
My one week holiday has gone very well really. I spent a night with Grandma in Timboon, then drove to Melbourne and spent a night with Janis, took the car into the Docklands Subaru service place on Monday morning to get the cruise control reset and then had the rest of the day for shopping (I needed bras). I popped into Kate’s mum’s place to drop off birthday presents for the girls and then ended up at Steph’s for the night. We decided to have pizza for dinner, but found that the pizza shop was shut so we made our own with mushrooms, capsicum, spinach, goats cheese and normal cheese. It was really yummy!
Tuesday morning I went to a bra place in Camberwell that was fantastic and got me fitted out in less than 15 minutes with comfy and supportive maternity bras. I hadn’t felt so comfortable for probably the last 4 months!! Then I visited Liz and Tony for lunch and stayed there until almost tea time! I stayed that night with Trish and we ordered pizza for dinner. It wasn’t until I was driving over to Huntingdale to meet Tim and Janine for a pizza lunch on Wednesday that I realised how much pizza I’d been eating! Oh well, it was all yummy.
After lunch on Wednesday I went for a swim at the pool in Waverley Road. The complex was being built when I lived in Melbourne but didn’t open until I left, and was busting to go there. I used to swim in the 50 m outdoor pool before the complex was built, but now it’s nicely heated. Nothing like the freezing water that Tim and I used to do lunchtime laps in many years ago now. From there it was to Oma’s house where my parents were staying, and we went to a Vietnamese place for dinner with Bruno, Keren and Conrad, and finished up at their house for desert. I stayed that night at Oma’s.
Thursday morning I drove to Andrew’s friend Aaron’s warehouse in Ringwood to drop off Andrew’s turbo that he no longer needs. I hadn’t really spent much time talking to Aaron before, and was amazed that we chatted away quite easily and I was there for an hour! From there I headed to Danielle’s place in Bayswater, but before visiting her I dropped into a great second hand children’s clothes shop at The Basin called Hand Me Downs and purchased 11 little outfits for $1 each. It was great to catch up with Danielle and meet her son Nathan for the first time. He’s now 5 months old, and Danielle gave me her bassinet and some clothes that Nathan no longer fits into. He was a bit grizzly all afternoon, but he was still very cute!
I was spending the night at Tricia’s house again, but I’d only just got there when it was time to go and pick up Andrew from the airport. So off I went, picked him up and went back to Tricia’s. Ian was spending the night, and Aaron was there as well, and we all had a late dinner after Andrew and I got back. We celebrated with Trish the fact that she most likely has a new job because we wouldn’t be around in a week when it’s all sorted out.
Friday morning Andrew and I took the car back to Docklands Subaru because the engine light had come on again and the cruise control light was flashing. They told us that the problem was the catalytic converter, and it was just going to keep happening. I had hoped that we’d get some time using the cruise control on the way back to Sydney, but at that stage it seemed unlikely. And as expected, the engine light came on again not long after we left Melbourne so cruise control was inactive for the entire trip back to Sydney.
I had left my bag at Tricia’s house, so we had to pop back there to pick it up, and then we drove to Jeff’s Shed to meet up with mum and Andrew’s mum to go to the baby expo. Thankfully it wasn’t as busy there as it was in Sydney, and I felt I got more out of it. We spent about 3 hours at the expo, then walked to Swanston Street to have lunch at the Hari Krishner place, went to Koko Black for a chocolate each, and then got the tram back to the car. We drove to Oma’s house where we packed the car with all the stuff that Mum and Dad had brought to Melbourne for me, went to Tamani’s for dinner with mum, dad and Andrew’s parents, and then went back to Andrew’s parents’ place to stay the night.
Saturday morning we left early to drive to Echuca. It was a pretty hot day, and when we got there we went to the tourist info place to get ideas of things to do. We decided to do a 1 hour cruise on a paddle steamer, and ended up choosing to go on the one that starred in the 1980’s tv series All The Rivers Run. Before the cruise we had a yummy lunch of fish and chips, and afterwards we walked around town for a bit and then booked into our B&B which was a gorgeous old house with some 100 years of history. There were 2 rooms available to stay in, and we had the one with the spa bath in it…and given I’d never been in a spa bath, I just HAD to have a bath. It was devine. The B&B was also just walking distance from the restaurant we were booked into for dinner, and it was a very pleasant balmy evening and perfect for being outdoors.
Sunday morning we cooked our breakfast, and left for Sydney just before 9 am. It’s now nearly 5 pm and we have just passed Goulburn, so I guess we have about 2 hours to go. I’ve had a great week. 🙂
My 1 week holiday has started, and I am currently visiting my grandmother in Timboon. The drive to get here was 1100 km and it took me 14 hours. I left Sydney at around 2:45 pm on Friday and got to Albury at 9:50 pm, totally exhausted. I am driving a loan car because of a saga with our car. Basically, it went in about 3 weeks ago for a service…we’d only had it for 2 months at that stage. They told us that a clutch and flywheel needed to be replaced, so it was booked in the next week for that work to be done. We picked up the car late on the Friday before the long weekend, only to find that there was a loud whining noise in second gear, and before we’d driven it 10 km a loud grinding noise started up. So the car was towed. The following Tuesday we were told that the gear selector hadn’t been put back properly, so that was fixed and we were told all was well. However, the whine in second gear was still there and Andrew has spent the last 2 weeks trying to get someone to have a look and see if anything is wrong with the car. Finally they’ve agreed, just as my holiday was starting, so I was given a loan car to take to Victoria. So this is why I’m driving a Forrester instead of our lovely, comfortable Outback, and why I am concerned that not everything I’m picking up in Melbourne will fit in the car.
Anyway, back to the story, I left work, drove home to pick up my laptop and Andrew’s camera gear, and then started the long drive south. I got about 50 km down the road when I was able to start using the cruise control. I set it and a few minutes later it did something weird, seemed to be breaking quite hard for no reason. I tapped the accellerator to keep the speed up, and then I noticed that the engine light was on and the cruise control light was flashing. I found somewhere to pull over and stopped and started the engine a few times to see if that would make the warning lights go away, but it didn’t. So I called Andrew and asked him to call Subaru and find out what I should do….I didn’t want to drive on and damage their car, but I also didn’t want to have to turn back if I didn’t have to, as it had taken me an hour of driving to get to the outter edge of Sydney.
Subaru said it was ok to drive the car, but since the cruise control wasn’t working, I had 2 options. To turn around and get them to fix it, or to go to a Subaru dealer when I got to Melbourne and ask them to fix it. The downside of the latter option was that I’d have to drive some 1500 km without cruise control, as it wasn’t working. I decided to keep driving, otherwise I was never going to make Albury for the night.
The drive to Albury was uneventful. I made several stops along the way and ate horrid food from fast food places at the side of the freeway. The motel I had booked left my room key in the door because they knew I was arriving late, though it didn’t end up being as late as I had thought it might be. I collapsed into bed, woke up the next morning, booked out of the motel and started driving again.
It was another 7 hour drive, but it was more pleasant for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I wasn’t tired, and secondly it was daylight. I took the freeway and then detoured across to Nagambie, and then down through Daylesford, Ballarat, Camperdown and finally made it to Timboon. It was nice to drive on the country roads instead of the freeways and highways, but it did make the travel time just a little longer. Near Daylesford there was a little family of ducks that were trying to cross the road, and it really looked like they were standing there and waiting for the traffic to die down before they went across. I stopped to try to take a photo of them, so I saw them cross when there was no traffic. There were about 10 little ducklings, and they were all so cute! I obviously got too close when trying to take the photo, and one of the adult ducks came at me with wings outstretched and neck rigid, and it went onto the road just as 2 cars were driving past. I was so worried it would get hit, but both cars managed to avoid it. By this time I had moved away, so the little family was safe and back together again. Also on the road, I saw a hawk of some sort sitting on a fence post. It was a lovely bird, but I didn’t stop for photos.
Thisafternoon I’ll be driving to Melbourne. It’s only about 300 km, so it’s not too far. But I’d love to take a look at the Great Ocean Road, so I might take a slightly longer route. I guess we’ll see how I go and what time I leave my grandmother’s house.
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