After spending the night at our campsite, Shaun went off to work while Zoe, Ian and I set off to visit the Healesville Sanctuary about forty minutes away. Healesville is in the Yarra Valley wine region and a very smart, prosperous looking place, we had all been there before but not had time to visit the sanctuary. So we dropped Monty at doggy day care in a kennels nearby and in we went.
It turned out to be a great place to visit, all native Australian animals, many extremely rare and endangered (mind you, you can never be too sure in Australia, the place is so vast it is not unknown for entire species to be hiding for decades). The Healesville Sanctuary is one of several animal institutions working on a project to save the Tasmanian Devil. In the wild in Tasmania, the Devils have developed a form of cancerous mouth tumor which is incurable and contagious. It started in a small area but is rapidly spreading across the whole of Tasmania and nothing can be done to stop it so several breeding communities, like the one at the Healesville Sanctuary, have been set up away from Tasmania using some of the remaining healthy Devils before the disease reaches them. The breeding programmes have all been successful but the operation becomes more complicated as time goes on. They obviously need to avoid inbreeding so every couple of months the keepers consult a massive Tasmanian Devil database to see which Devils can be bred with which and a mass swapping of Tasmanian Devils takes place. The plan is to eventually repopulate Tasmania with healthy Devils once the current wild residents have completely died out so the disease cannot be passed on, they are ugly little critters but it is awful to think, without this programme, they would be completely wiped out.
The birds in Australia take your breath away with their beauty and the most gorgeous were on show here, there was also my absolute favourite spectacle to watch, a birds of prey show. So we left here very satisfied and Zoe took us off to a Chocolate Factory she knew where we all did a little bit of last minute Christmas shopping and a lot of eating before we picked Monty up and headed back to the campsite.
We said goodbye to Zoe the following morning as she went off to look at Montsalvat, because we had not stopped talking about how fabulous it was, and we set off for home.
We took the Hume Highway this time because we needed to be back to work at the Tilligerry Habitat on Christmas Eve, so we stopped overnight in a road side rest area near Goulburn. We popped into the town for gas before we headed off in the morning and there it was... a proper Big Thing! Goulburn is home of The Big Merino and it is fantastic, dominating the skyline as you drive into the town. Ian insisted on posing beside it for a size comparison and, I'm guessing to point out how anatomically correct it is.
Our journey down to Melbourne continued through the Murray Valley, which is a very beautiful part of Australia, as we headed for Wodonga. Albury and Wodonga are quite large towns next door to each other that straddle the New South Wales/Victoria border, if you are in NSW you talk about Albury being the border and if in Victoria, all signs point to Wodonga as the crossing point. These are not terribly exciting towns but they serve as 'the big smoke' for outlying farming communities. On a Friday night the young men and women from these far flung spots come into town all dressed up and often stay for the weekend to get their fill of nights out and to meet potential partners. This can be a problem for young people living on remote farms and our latest reality TV show here is called, 'The Farmer Wants A Wife' you can guess what happens.
Anyway, Wodonga was a good spot for cheap diesel and the more we travel, the better we get at taking advantage of these opportunities. We have three jerry cans on the back of the caravan which almost hold a second tank of fuel so whenever we see it cheap we fill them as well as the car so are never forced into an expensive petrol station out of desperation.
From Wodonga we passed through pine forests grown for logging and more towns with interesting snippets of information on their signs - Shelley (Pure trains and timber), Tullangatta (The town that moved in the 1950s) (?). As Tullangatta disappeared into the distance a series of huge lakes skirted the road so I'm guessing they moved when they found their town was in danger of being at the bottom of a lake.
The temperature was gradually going up and reached 41 degrees as we arrived in Warrandyte, the fire warning signs changed from Very High to Extreme, there is only on more category - Catastrophic - and the radio gave out reports of bush fires springing up in various parts of the state. We found the campsite and set up the caravan then went to explore. When it reaches 40+ in Victoria it is because the wind is blowing south across the centre of Australia so it is like having a hot hairdryer trained on you, the weather here can also change in minutes because if the wind direction alters so it is blowing north, it is coming straight from the South Pole which is why Melbourne is famous for having four seasons in one day. We walked through Warrandyte, spurred on by the sight of a big ice cream on the front of a shop at the end of this pretty little town. When we got there it was shut with a notice on the door saying 'closed because of extreme heat' a bit of a poor business decision for an ice cream shop on the hottest day of the year so far.
Next morning it was still hot and we decided to squeeze in a visit to Montsalvat before Zoe and Shaun arrived. Montsalvat is fascinating, it was built in the 1950s in the grounds of a 19th century house by an artist and his family. He used mud bricks, wattle and daub and various reclaimed materials and the result is something that looks like a medieval village. It is still an artist community with the unique buildings occupied by goldsmiths, a flute maker, a guitar maker, silversmiths and sculpters. The interior of the Great Hall was like Hogwarts.
Back at the campsite, the temperature plummeted and it started to rain. The power went off as Zoe and Shaun arrived and the complete fire ban was still in place leaving us no way to cook our Christmas dinner, so we went out to eat instead.
Bathurst proved to be a very interesting town and, as we drove out after spending a couple of days there, we were reminded just how civilised it was. On the left hand side of the road a group of women were playing bowls while on the right a game of croquet was underway, all very pleasant.
We headed on down to Victoria through Gundegai, home of The Dog on the Tuckerbox. There is a statue of the dog who I thought was Australia's version of Greyfriars Bobby but he turns out to just be the subject of a rather lewd poem. However, everyone takes pictures of their own dog by the statue and last time we were there, one family were even trying to balance their puppy on a plastic tuckerbox for a photo.
We carried on through Cowra which is famous for a mass breakout by over 1100 Japanese prisoners of war who were being held there. The ensuing chase was very bloody and over 200 POWs and 4 Australian soldiers were killed before the remainder were recaptured.
Although most towns cannot boast about anything as dramatic as a prison breakout, they all have little slogans or bits of information on the town name signs. So, on through Young (City of Cherries), Wombat (Population 120) then on to Cootamundra, the birthplace of Don Bradman. There is a Don Bradman Museum and a road called Captain's Walk but you will not see a Don Bradman Tea Rooms or souvenir figurines as the family successfully managed to win a court action to prevent his name being used for commercial purposes.
We drove through a little twister, which was quite exciting, then the landscape started to change as we headed for the Snowy Mountains. After endless grey-green eucalypts and brown grass we began to see patches of lush green pine trees on the mountains.
They grow apples up here because the winters are cold enough but they have to shade all the apple trees fron sun and bugs in the summer. One town, Batlow, is home to the Big Apple. As with all big things I have seen so far, this was not very big and a bit of a disappointment, I am still hopeful I may see an impressive big thing soon.
Finally we reached our next destination, Corryong which is at the base of Mount Sugarloaf and across Kosciusku National Park from the Snowy Mountains in the Murray Valley.Our campsite was in Colac colac (pronounced Clack clack) and was possibly the nicest we have ever stayed in. It was completely shaded by huge trees and had a creek running through it. When we used to caravan in England and France I was always after a sunny pitch but I have become Australian very quickly in that regard and now really appreciate any shade.
The campsite was connected to Corryong by a cycle path so we pedalled into town where there was a statue of the Man from Snowy River who is a character in a very long poem by Banjo Paterson, in the less exciting country shows around these parts they have competitions for reciting the poem! We visited the excellent Man From Snowy River Museum which, thankfully, was not just about him. It housed a blanket map of Australia knitted by a local man while he was a prisoner of war in Germany, his captors demanded his pullover to send to their troops and he unravelled it so the could not have it and then set about knitting all kinds of things from scavenged wool, culminating in the map. The museum had also rescued old wooden buildings from the town as they were replaced and out the back were the schoolhouse, the bank, an old cottage and plenty of others from when the town had a population of only a couple of hundred. It was fantastic and well worth a visit.
The afternoon was spent exploring tiny towns on the banks of the Murray, our favourite discovery was Jingellic where it is okay to camp for free on the riverbank below the pub as long as you give the pub your custom, I can't see that being too much of a problem.
At last we have been on the road again after getting in a bit of a rut constantly working on the house. The plan was to go and see Zoe and Shaun around Christmas so we decided to make a bit of a trip of it as it is a while since we have been away and there is so much to see.
So we hooked up the caravan and, instead of the usual trek down via Sydney, we headed west through the Hunter Valley and along the Golden Highway. Part of the fun of travelling along the smaller roads are the signs which can be spotted along the way. The Golden Highway passes through mining country and there were signs warning of the date of the next planned road closures for mine blasting, but my favourites are the naive names the early settlers gave to some of the places. On this road we traveled through Jump Up Creek and Breakfast Creek (no sign of any water in either of them), then we moved on to the signs for towns that always have a bit of extra information or a slogan on them. Jerry's Plains (settled in 1822) - The gateway to horse country. Anywhere that calls itself a gateway to something is just using code for 'there is absolutely nothing actually here'.
We climbed up and up seemingly endlessly as we crossed the Great Dividing Range. The early settlers failed on many occasions to cross the range further south at the Blue Mountains, if they had tried where we were crossing, they may have found it a little easier as the slopes are more gentle here. The funny thing about crossing the Dividing Range is that you don't seem to descend much on the other side because the rest of New South Wales is on a plateau.
We take it in turns to drive which means we can keep on the move for a considerable time, so we carried on skirting Wollemi National Park where a group of trees were discovered in 1994 that had never been seen before, they are massive and are just another example of how huge Australia is if they could be growing unnoticed until so recently. On through Dingo Gully and past Hill End, a virtual ghost town now that used to be home to thousands during the Gold Rush, we finally reached Bathurst where we had booked to stay in the showground.
This was a fun experience, all reasonably sized country towns seem to have a showground, built around the end of the 19th century and this one has put a few powered sites on one of its grassy areas to get a bit of an income from caravanners. We were pitched between the cattle and sheep pavillions. To my delight it was overlooked by Mount Panorama Racing Circuit, home to the Bathurst 1000!
The public can position themselves on pole (as I did of course) and drive around the entire Mount Panorama circuit! It is really tempting to put your foot down but the place is full of speed traps. There is a vineyard within the circuit and the views are sensational, a real must experience for any motor racing fans. The museum is excellent too and well worth a visit.
We will spend a couple of days here then head for Corryong, over the border in Victoria.
Christmas is well and truly on its way here as can be seen by the lights on the houses and Ian has gone to town as usual. He missed out last year as we only had a caravan to decorate but he has made up for it this time and has plenty of competition among the neighbours, it seems that about every third house has made a bit of an effort with some lights. It is very pleasant to stroll around on a warm evening and look at the displays but seems a bit weird still, I don't think I will ever get used to Christmas in summer, Ian never has.
Apart from anything else it is strange that everyone is about to set off on their summer vacation too as the long school holiday begins next weekend, it is an expensive time of year for Australians because everything happens at once.
We still have not made a decision about whether to swelter over turkey and all the trimmings this year or to chuck a couple of prawns on the barbie, we did the latter last year and it felt very unchristmassy so I think the turkey may win.
Zoe is going to join us on a little camping trip later this month so we will definitely be attempting the full roast then. I am currently on a mission to find Paxo in a supermarket without much success so far, maybe I should set up a business importing it for British ex pats.
It sounds like I am complaining but I am not, the weather is gorgeous here at the moment. It seems to follow a bit of a pattern starting at around 26 degrees for a few days then building up and up until it reaches the late 30s or even 40, then there is a huge thunderstorm at night and we drop back down to 26 again and the whole cycle starts over. The hot days appear to generate the most spectacular sunsets too, ranging from all shades of orange to bright pink.
The wildlife changes as the weather gets hotter and we now have a new resident in our garden, a Dollarbird, so called because there is a white disc pattern on the underside of both wings that looks like a dollar coin and can be seen when he is flying.
This bearded dragon was sunbathing as I walked with Monty today, it made no attempt to move even though we very nearly trod on it and just gave us a dirty look, I don't think they are dangerous but I was a bit unnerved by its confidence.
It was time for the Sydney 'Sculptures by the Sea' exhibition last week, I had been looking forward to this as we missed it last year because we arrived in Australia just a few days after it finished.
The sculptures are arranged on the rocks overlooking Bondi Beach and the way they use the background is taken into account when the judging takes place. Some of them were fantastic, others strange and a couple downright creepy but, all in all, an excellent collection of artwork.
We have got into the habit of
taking the train when we go down to Sydney because it only takes a little longer than driving, it is ridiculously cheap and we can get right into the centre without having to think about parking, so we set off at silly o'clock and were in Bondi by about 10am. It was a bit blowy walking along the cliffs but the big waves just added to the drama of the backdrop to the sculptures and we had to hide in a cafe with about 500 other visitors as a sudden downpour took us all by surprise, but it was a good day nonetheless.
The Bondi Icebergs have their home at the Bondi ocean pool. I had to stifle a chuckle as I was reading about their proud boast that they swim every day of the winter, you can't impress me with that, my sister Gill swims in Hampstead Heath pond throughout the winter in England!
Back working in the garden the next day I was thinking what an upside down place this is with trees that shed their bark instead of their leaves when I heard the unmistakable, dreadful grunting koalas make. It sounded really close by so I scanned the trees and saw this chap in next door's front garden. He was huge and very active for the daytime, scampering around the tree, eating and grunting then he climbed out of the tree and bounded off down the road, we could hear him grunting at the top of his voice as he went, he was definitely out to try and impress the lady koalas!
After spending the night at our campsite, Shaun went off to work while Zoe, Ian and I set off to visit the Healesville Sanctuary about forty minutes away. Healesville is in the Yarra Valley wine region and a very smart, prosperous looking place, we had all been there before but not had time to visit the sanctuary. So we dropped Monty at doggy day care in a kennels nearby and in we went.
It turned out to be a great place to visit, all native Australian animals, many extremely rare and endangered (mind you, you can never be too sure in Australia, the place is so vast it is not unknown for entire species to be hiding for decades). The Healesville Sanctuary is one of several animal institutions working on a project to save the Tasmanian Devil. In the wild in Tasmania, the Devils have developed a form of cancerous mouth tumor which is incurable and contagious. It started in a small area but is rapidly spreading across the whole of Tasmania and nothing can be done to stop it so several breeding communities, like the one at the Healesville Sanctuary, have been set up away from Tasmania using some of the remaining healthy Devils before the disease reaches them. The breeding programmes have all been successful but the operation becomes more complicated as time goes on. They obviously need to avoid inbreeding so every couple of months the keepers consult a massive Tasmanian Devil database to see which Devils can be bred with which and a mass swapping of Tasmanian Devils takes place. The plan is to eventually repopulate Tasmania with healthy Devils once the current wild residents have completely died out so the disease cannot be passed on, they are ugly little critters but it is awful to think, without this programme, they would be completely wiped out.
The birds in Australia take your breath away with their beauty and the most gorgeous were on show here, there was also my absolute favourite spectacle to watch, a birds of prey show. So we left here very satisfied and Zoe took us off to a Chocolate Factory she knew where we all did a little bit of last minute Christmas shopping and a lot of eating before we picked Monty up and headed back to the campsite.
We said goodbye to Zoe the following morning as she went off to look at Montsalvat, because we had not stopped talking about how fabulous it was, and we set off for home.
