Australia





9 Feb: The Grand Pacific Drive

We started off with a homework session first thing in the morning which was accompanied by an all too regular tantrum from Gaelle. From now on it's decided that if the girls have a tantrum doing their diaries, we'll draw a cross face in their books! How embarrassing!

We left Sydney, direction Melbourne, the South. We drove through the Royal National Park with its subtropical rainforest scenery to Bald Head, a beautiful lookout over which many people were tandem hang gliding. If the weather had been better, François would have been very tempted to fly but unfortunately it was drizzling and the views were not very clear. Today is the first day that we have seen clouds since we left France! The temperature has plummeted from a scorching 37 degrees to 16 degrees! Brrrghh...We had to get the Gortex jackets out again !!!

We continued along the Grand Pacific Drive and stopped off at the Sea Cliff Bridge. A 665 meter long viaduct, completed in 2005 in order to replace the old road along the cliffs which was subject to regular land slides. We walked along the bridge admiring the beautiful views of the sea. Next stop Wollongong, where we stopped off for a bit of shopping. The hunt for a cigarette lighter charger for the Asus laptop was fruitless, but we did manage to buy the Lonely Planet for Australia and a birthday present for Sophie (discretely!). We then continued south bound stopping off for the night at a rest area at Jerrawangala, on the edge of Princes Highway; not very luxurious but practical.

Bald Head Sea Cliff Bridge

10 Feb: Sophie's birthday!

Today's objective is to see kangaroos for Sophie's birthday. We had read that there are kangaroos in the wild in Murramarang National Park, but we are fairly dubious about whether we will be able to see them or not. We stop off at a tourist information office to get some reliable information. If we don't manage to see a kangaroo today, Sophie will be very disappointed. She's been dreaming of sharing her birthday cake with a kangaroo for months now! The chances of seeing kangaroos in the park at Pebble Beach were confirmed, so off we went! We arrived at the beach and strolled down towards the beach for our picnic lunch. We could see kangaroos further along the beach, but as it was clearly stated that it was forbidden to feed the animals, we decided to finish our sandwiches before approaching. One big male kangaroo must have got a whiff of our food however and he hopped along right to us, frightening both girls in the process! We quickly finished our sandwiches before strolling along the beach to the group of kangaroos, resting and feeding in the grassy sand dunes. They must be familiar with tourists as they were not shy. We were able to approach them to within a metre or two; we didn't dare get any closer! It's amazing to be able to get so close to wild animals.

In the afternoon we drove further south to Bateman's Bay to Birdland in order to see some more kangaroos, plus some koalas, wallabies and parrots. We were able to get inside the kangaroo enclosures and touch the kangaroos. Super! The koalas were sleeping (they sleep for 20 hours a day) so the park gave us complementary tickets for the next day to come and see and touch the koalas at 10:30 am when they would be awake. We therefore changed our plans of heading further south that day and found a lovely spot on the seaside in Batehaven to spend the night in the campervan. At MacDonald's we couldn't connect to our FTP server to update our web pages. Sorry, you'll have to be patient...

A wild kangaroo at Pebble Beach Sophie's 5th birthday! Sophie and Gaelle stroking a kangaroo at Birdland

11 Feb: Eurobodalla Region

This morning Jenny woke up early, so left François and the girls sleeping in the campervan and went for a run along the beautiful sands of the beach to the marina. Her first run since leaving France and in hiking shoes! Afterwards, we returned to Birdland to see the koala feeding at 10:30 and the snake and wombat handling session at 11:30. This is the first time we have seen a koala awake! They sleep 20 hours a day and when they're awake; their activity focuses solely on eating eucalyptus leaves! François and the girls were very brave and held a boa snake around their necks - ugghh! Mummy cuddled the baby wombat (15 months and 12 kg - a big baby!) and everyone admired and stroked him.

We then drove down to Bingie Bingie Point, down a dirt track, in the Eurobodalla National Park. There are curious geological rock formations at the point and the deserted golden sand bays both sides of the point are magnificent. The sea was rough; the waves came crashing in against the rocks. It was beautiful.

Last stop of the day was at Central Tilba, a Natural Trust Village with houses, shops and hotels dating back to the late 1800's. The village is quaint, all the wooden houses are colourfully painted, but we were disappointed to find most of the shops shut (they close between 16:30 and 17:00!). We were able to taste and buy some reputed Tilba cheese in the ABC Cheese factory (the first New South Wales cheese co-op established in 1891).

We drove to Merimbula and parked for half hour in MacDonald's car park to check our mails and Sykpe the family. When pulling out of MacDonald's, François drove on the right hand side of the road down to the traffic lights, but no harm done! We parked for the night in a deserted spot near Pambula Bay.

Bingie Bingie Point A koala awake! Sophie bravely handling a snake

12 Feb: Merimbula to Mallacoota

This morning our objective was to find a WIFI connection with which we could update our web site. After asking in the tourist information office and a couple of cafés, we ended up as temporary members in a RSL club (Retired Services League)! A good cappuccino coffee later and our mission was  accomplished! We drove to The Pinnacles in Ben Boyd National Park; beautiful white and ochre coloured rock formations on seaside cliffs. The walk in the park went to a lookout point on the cliffs, but didn't approach the rocks themselves. We tried an alternative itinerary down to the deserted beach and managed to find a small hidden path up to The Pinnacles.

We continued our drive southbound and crossed over from New South Wales to Victoria, stopping off for the night in Mallacoota (voted the Lonely Planet's favourite place in Victoria). We ate a BBQ in an idyllic picnic spot where the river meets the sea and then moved on to an isolated spot to spend the night. We would have loved to have stayed put, but unfortunately camping was forbidden at the picnic spot...

The Pinnacles Long Beach - not a footprint in sight, except our own! The Pinnacles

13 Feb: Mallacoota to Metung

This morning we went down to the wharf in Mallacoota to enquire about hiring a boat for a few hours to look around the inland lakes. A 2 hour cruise trip was just about to depart, but instead we decided to hire a boat for 3 hours and discover the lakes independently. The motor boat was very basic; a 5 metre fibreglass boat with a half cabin and moreover an engine dating back to the industrial revolution that had to be kick started, had one cruising speed of about 5 knots and no reverse!

After about 5 minutes, François had succeeded in grounding us on a sandbank and had to jump in and push us free!  In his defence, the navigation channels were not very clear... We cruised at 5 knots across the Bottom Lake (where we didn't get lucky enough to spot the 2 resident seals), through the Narrows and up Captain Creek. We docked at a jetty there for a short walk in the beautifully aromatic eucalyptus forest, hoping to spot a koala. Unfortunately the shy creatures were obviously hiding, so we rejoined our boat and headed back. There were hoards of big white jellyfish in the waters, so swimming was out of the question!

In the afternoon we drove to Metung, a quite village in the Lake District behind 90 Mile Beach. The wind had picked up and it was chilly outside, so we decided to spoil ourselves with some pub grub and local chardonnay wine in a bar overlooking Bancroft Bay. We parked the campervan for the night on a quiet road on the waterfront.

Cruising on Mallacoota Inlet Capitan Creek Jetty; stop-off for a koala sighting walk Gaelle at the helm !

14 Feb: St. Valentine's Day

Yesterday was Friday 13th, but it was today, not yesterday that bad luck hit us...

The day got off to a good start. Jenny went out for a run along the boardwalk in Metung under a glorious blue sky before breakfast. Then a trip to the laundry for the dreaded washing (we do miss the luxury of Thailand with a laundry service for less than one Euro!) and a walk around the farmer's market on the main square, where we bought some local produce. We then decided to hit the road direction Melbourne. At Bainsdale, we stopped off at a picnic / BBQ area with a large kids play area. It was just a perfect spot for a nice BBQ lunch and for the girls to amuse themselves. After only a few minutes on the games, Gaelle fell and badly hurt her elbow. The pain didn't subside with ice and her arm had swollen quite a bit, so we rushed her off to the local hospital.  We were lucky to be so close to one, probably the only hospital in a radius of 80km. We had to wait for over an hour and a half for the X-ray operator on call to come and take the X -rays. The medical staff was very friendly and gave Gaelle a teddy bear and stickers, but  she was on morphine at this point... We were sure that she had broken something and were dreading the thought of her being in plaster for several weeks to come. We were surprised and very relieved when the X-rays showed nothing broken, but the swelling and pain were still important so the nurse put her arm in a sling and we rushed off to the chemists for Nurofen and painkillers.

We continued our way towards Melbourne, with both girls napping in the campervan. We stopped off for the night on the edge of a dirt track road off Princess Highway, about 80km from the city. Fingers crossed Gaelle won't suffer too much tonight.

Gaelle with her arm in a sling...


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