My Japan Tour – November 2024 – Blog 1

Highlights of Japan & Sth Korea – 16day Tour 2024

Days 1 & 2

Seeing this is my first international trip since COVID I settled for a warmup travel experience & Japan jumped out at me, hence I found a few good deals and finally settled on the below trip. Immediately booking this trip on 1^st August 2024 I arranged my best travel insurance for my age group to be Cover-More this time. Surprisingly or more shockingly it is highly recommended to include a policy that has Covid coverage. With the deal below one of the available dates was 7^th November 2024 and my research stated this was a good time of the year to visit Japan & also seeing that I am not a cold loving weather person the timing matched, apart from my family have a lot of birthdays in November, so I requested all birthdays are postponed till my return. My request was hastily refused. LOL!!! Regrettably I also missed my granddaughter’s Year 12 formal too but photos sent to me on the trip really gave me such pleasure & pride.

Trip A Deal – Group Tour – Highlights of Japan & Sth Korea – 16day tour, $6,463.00AUD with my optional day tours. The hardest thing was to succumb to the sole traveller fee of $1,200 & Brisbane airport fee $200 included.

7days Japan, 7days Sth Korea, 2 days flying times: EXCLUSIONS
• Visa fees and requirements .. not required for Aus travellers on tourist trip under 90days.
• Domestic transfers and flights not stated in the deal offer
• Meals/beverages not stated in the deal offer
• Recommended gratuities/tipping … $10AUD/ person/ day
• Personal expenses
• Travel insurance

Within this tour itinerary I have choices of optional tours & activities, so I chose only 2, with the first one on Day 7 at Osaka, Japan with a bullet train trip to Hiroshima for 55,000 JPY ($550AUD) per person (payable on tour in local currency) & is recommended for a ferry cruise to a nearby island as it enables viewing of several sights not able to be done from the mainland. The 2^nd one was a Busan City Tour in Sth Korea with costs included in package price.

After much anticipation and a fair bit of anxiety (Post COVID unknown??) November arrived and my tour effectively started from my hometown of Yamba in Northern New South Wales & travelling to my daughter’s place in Canungra (3hrs drive away), at the bottom of the tourist village & landscape of Mt Tamborine located, Gold Coast, Sthrn Queensland which is frustratingly set at a different daylight-saving time of 1hour behind which really sucks when you are travelling interstate. After spending 2 days with my family, my son-in-law Jason drove me direct to the Brisbane Domestic Airport for a 7.45am flight to Sydney, QF511 where I’ll transfer to Sydney International Airport for my 12noon (Daylight Saving Time again) Tokyo flight of 10hrs with a Qantas A333 jet on QF59. Arriving at 6am I was able to have brekky at The Aviary where the service was brilliant & avo smash/ coffee was superb before my first flight.

Once I adjusted my large backpack (duffle bag configured) for check-in luggage a very helpful Qantas staff member applied my bag tag & placed it straight onto the conveyor however, he rushed off & there was no-one around to confirm if my backpack will be placed on my Tokyo plane or do I pick it up on a carousel when I arrive in Sydney. Upon landing in Sydney, I was instructed to go direct to Gate 15 to meet a free shuttle bus to the International Terminal across the taxiways I was heavily involved in 2 of their constructions back in 1986-87. From the bus the taxiways looked in good shape. With fingers crossed I hoped my backpack arrives in Tokyo with me. Gulp!!

Going through the numerous bag & bio screenings of 2 flights in Australia we board the large plane, with me walking out onto the tarmac for the rear entry. A lady was struggling with her large carry-on and looking after her 7 or so year old son down the stairs I insisted (she didn’t want to trouble me) I carried the bag all the way down & up the steps into the plane to her amazement and heartfelt thanks. I had no trouble at all in doing it & knew I had made a positive difference to somebody (one of my life’s mantras).

My Tokyo QF59 flight is an Airbus A330 seating up to 300+ passengers and we were completely full for this trip seeing Japan is an absolute travel favourite for us Australians, especially this 2024 year. Our flight flies directly over Brisbane (again!!), Cairns, Port Moresby & Guam with lots of Pacific water underneath. As you can see from the flight info photos there are some interesting stats to review. After some mind numbing 10hrs, we finally land at Tokyo Haneda Airport at 8pm their time (Japan is 2 hrs behind Sydney Daylight Saving Time). The airport is so large, it seemed about 1klm of walking before we came to bag collection (my bag arrived!!.. yay!!), Agriculture Declaration & then Customs/ Immigration.

With all the current arrivals & scramble, I was struggling to find my QR entrance code on my phone I did some weeks prior, hence I had to do the declarations all over again, 2 copies of their cards. Lucky, I had my own pen. I presented my fingerprints & passports twice. While all this scramble was happening, I could not miss a man about 70 getting highly agitated & putting on a fuss & I was waiting for police interaction or similar for his ‘erratic’ behaviour. A woman assisted him by filling in his forms to calm him down.

Escaping the airside scramble I was warmly greeted by our Trip a Deal guide, Trend. A happy young lady of about 34yrs old (photo below). She did a role call of our 2 tour groups & then I noticed the 70yr old was in my group. Yikes!!! We boarded the bus & arrived at our nearby hotel of 2 nights, Hotel Mystays Hanenda @ 9.45pm with my room 227 awaiting. Trend reminded us that hotel rooms & most rooms in Japan are quite compact so hopefully we will be comfortable. The photo shows the bed & air con size, so you can judge the compact size (photo below). The ensuite was very good & my first use of a bidet. LOL! The hotel also presented a pair of Japanese pyjamas & a set of slippers to undertake the Japanese room ritual. They insisted I take the slippers with me for the other hotels I stay at. Alarm set to ensure we board the bus at 9.30am tomorrow & have ablutions and brekky before then. 2 night stay.

Some pertinent things about Japan are: Japan is an island country in East Asia, located in the Pacific Ocean where the Japanese archipelago consists of nearly 7,000 islands, of which the four main ones (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu) represent more than 95% of its territory. Japan is divided in 9 regions from north to south: Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kansai (also called Kinki), Chugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa. On the administrative level, the country is managed through 47 prefectures.

126 million Japanese people live on a territory stretching over 3,000 kilometres long and 378 000 km². Mountains cover 71% of the land and the coastline extends up to 30,000 kilometres long. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the capital and the neighbouring prefectures, is the largest metropolis in the world with over 37 million inhabitants in what is called the ‘Capital Region’. The other largest cities by population in Japan are, from the biggest: Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kobe, Kyoto and Fukuoka. Japan is the 11th most inhabited country in the world. However, the country has been in demographic decline for many years due to a very low birth rate of 0.7. Currently, 100Yen is around $1AUD.

A few things I learnt in Japan through Trend was that the culture demands the population to do their very best, be professional at all times, be totally honest & trustworthy and make your prescence the best it can be. If you are an employee, it is expected you would attend your workplace 30mins prior & if a meeting is planned then the same applies & be ready to commence right on time. With Trend, it was quite obvious she excels in all those attributes. She works very long hours, is very meticulous in ensuring our tour goes well and that everyone remains safe. Same goes for our amazing bus driver, Takanashi-son .. (Spelling?) who would be the best bus driver I have ever experienced. As my blogs will further explain, Japan & their people are amazing and great to be accepted so warmly & knowing how good they really are. Now, please retain this information as my blogs progress through the tour.

Day 2

Everything went to plan for 9.30am departure except I had to sit next to the 70yr old, DS for our first journey. Lucky me! DS was a full-on talker, so through our conversation I could see we were annoying some of the other passengers and also whilst Trend was educating us of what we will be doing today & what is expected of us on this tour, seeing she will be our guide for the entire tour. I had to bring DS up to speed when we stepped off the bus, as he wasn’t listening of course. Problem #1.

Our first stop was 40mins away, the Tsukiji Outer Market where it is very busy through mainly 4 small street/ lanes, lots of tourists and Japanese cuisine, focusing on mainly fish. DS couldn’t handle this scramble for long, so he went back to the bus. This stop wouldn’t be on my must do list either as we boarded again some 40mins later.

Our next stop was closer to the ‘CBD’ of Tokyo at the Meiji Shrine, dedicated to the Imperial Family in 1926, a Shinto religious site and amazing 17-hectare garden landscape. At each entry you are greeted by huge White Cedar Tree Shrine gates. With the bus entry conditions you have to walk around to the other side entry to see the main Shrine gate which is by far bigger in statue.

All Shinto Japanese show great respect at these gates where they stop, bow correctly & then enter. At other locations at certain buildings and shrines they bow again & do a solitary loud clap after prayer/ wish. Japanese come here for special events, like parents when their children reach the ages of 5, 7 & 9 in traditional Kimono costumes to seek fortune, good future, education, health & all family life important issues in seeking blessings. These youngsters are just so cute in the way they dress and react to the volumes of photos, etc. The odd ages are especially important in Japanese heritage culture.

This shrine caters for especially approved privileged marriages, in traditional costumes and it is such a big deal for just 2hours of organising and ceremony. These marriage events cost the families $10K AUD & after they leave the shrine location to do their own reception ceremonies elsewhere. These marriage ceremonies are so precisely performed and set almost to the minute.

It came to 11.30am & I was becoming quite cold (8°C & breezy) & some fingers turning white, so I went back to Trend patiently waiting at the Cedar Tree gate. I reconfirmed I was not doing the afternoon’s optional tour & wanted directions to the Shibuya town centre, some kilometres away. I told Trend DS wasn’t doing the tour either & that was who she was waiting for. The other passengers doing the optional tour were already on the bus. Problem #2.

I went back & looked around for DS but no luck … depends how you look at this .. LOL!!! I walked to the other side of the garden site to find the extra-large Cedar Tree gate & a welcoming café & ablutions block before heading to the Shibuya Sky area. Walking, looking at Google Maps (frowned upon in Japan when walking at the same time, so I always stopped) and dodging the increasing volume of population takes a great skill at times. Finally, I found myself at the Shibuya Sky area to witness the daytime scramble. I stopped by the pedestrian lights to watch several volumes of crossing, along with the unusually fast go-karts & classic rods (adrenalin joy rides) scooting past. The go-karts too fast for my camera action (operator error). Lol!

The Shibuya Scramble is a major road junction involving several road interactions and when traffic stops the pedestrians have a full-on walking scramble to get their respective sides of the intersection. It is sort of like, New York’s Time Sq, except it is not as visually electric with only a few neo signs, lighting, etc … but it is daytime. I noticed across the street the railway network is mainly elevated above ground except for the necessary tunnels. Japan is highly recognised for their train network.

Checking my day hours left I was starting to calculate my return to my hotel. The Shibuya station line was mainly a East/ West line & my hotel is on the South line which has a station some 6klms away. Thinking that is a decent achievable walk I started off, seeing a lot of Tokyo’s inner suburbs, making out I’m not a tourist. In considering Tokyo on having only Day 2 it is impossible to see all of this most populated city in the world of some 14million in 2023 census, so I envisage returning another time or year to fully soak in more cities & regions of Japan.

After a bit of Google Maps flaws & some 90mins later I arrived at Kitashinagawa Station where I was helped to buy a train ticket for Platform 1 for Anamori-inari Station by the platform officer, as the electronic machine was totally in Japanese. He was so helpful & told me to hurry for the train coming in. I showed my ticket to train conductor who guided me to sit down in the train. Arghh!!!! It was going in the wrong direction & now told me to get off at the next station, Shirakawa (a major station). I was now on Platform 3 & needing 1, so eventually worked that out. Whew!

After about 30mins I finally worked out the electronic train indicator board as it showed the next 2 trains coming in & their stations but it showed Japanese for some 15 seconds & English in 7 seconds. The 1^st train with my Anamori-inari station (#14) light on came in & was far too crowded to get on so I had to wait another 4trains before my train came in. I was determined to get on, no matter what!! Time was really against me now. Yes, I had a bit of room, my daypack was in my hands, knowing it was silly to have it on my back in these conditions. I grabbed the above hand restraint strap with 2 young small Japanese ladies up against me, then wham!!! We get the full-on Japanese train crush with platform officers forcing us even closer like in a rugby scrum. Yikes! .. talk about a crush! .. & I mean crush!!! I apologised to the ladies now looking at my chest, but they obviously don’t speak English or are used to this crush format. I did feel sorry for them, being so short.

Shirakawa Train Station Indicator Board (English)

After a few stops I finally arrived at my station & the stress of escaping was unbelievable & was so thrilled of achieving that unsurmountable goal. Now it is dark but only another 4mins to the Hotel & I was so relieved to have completed my journey. Whew!! Before retiring, I checked with reception on DS but they weren’t sure if he had arrived. I knocked on his door 3 separate times till late at night but no answer. Getting worried now. I was thankful reception had some Grilled Chicken Diavola style for dinner (2,090 yen) I could take to my room.

In my room my phone confirmed I had walked 13.72klms for the day. Buggared! 7am brekky for tomorrow morning & an 8am bus departure. Found out at brekky DS had caught a taxi from the Meiji Shrine within the first 30mins & cost him 8,700yen $87Aud. Ouch!! He never told anyone what he was doing & this was the first of many issues we had with DS. Problem #3. He is the old man with the white cap, far left of the photo in the Shrine surround. DS will form more of my blogs .. you can’t believe what he ended up doing. Stay tuned!!!

Stay happy, healthy & safe for my next blog & thank you immensely for reading & hope you like the photos. I trust the stories and photos will get better. Stay in The Present!!!

Another Local Travel – Jet Flight – Archerfield Airport Brisbane

Another Local Travel – Jet Flight – Archerfield Airport Brisbane

Last November (2023) our family, including my ex participated in contributing to a fund raising for an extreme jet flight to fulfil our eldest son Scott’s dream & goal to fly in a jet fighter. It was in fitting with reaching his milestone age of 40 … yes, that makes me much older & thanks for the sly grins on that. To be clear, that’s Scott on the left .. LOL!!! The photo below is from our just completed the 4-day Machu Picchu Trek.

Scott was always trying to match the time with his work and stressing about the potential variable cost of higher jet fuel expense if the voucher money didn’t cover it. With constant badgering from the sidelines on those involved my son-in-law Jason coordinated the time for Scott, and also his work shifts which is far more demanding than Scott’s. Well done, Jason, for the time was set 26^th September 2024.

Now we have a commitment I travelled to my daughter & Jason’s home at Canungra Queensland some 3hrs by car the day before the flight and to meet up with Scott who also stayed overnight. The only issue was for clear weather and in the hope the flight isn’t postponed.

Up early knowing the traffic to Brisbane can normally be horrendous we arrived at Fighter Pilot Adventure Flights, 612 Lores Bonney Drive Archerfield on the outer perimeter of the airport at their assigned hanger well before Scott’s timed flight. https://fighterpilot.com.au

We arrived to be met with Paul who conducted the induction session and allowed us to be air side to be closer to the operations. The L39 Albatros 2-seater jet was going through its initial warm up & testing procedure. The jet has a max speed of 872Km/h & producing up to 6.5 G forces but the airstrip region closely monitors these jet runs in this busy domestic airport. The L39 Albatros is the safest jet trainer in the world, so that was very comforting. It has been used in over 30 air forces for training & some are weapons fitted.

We purchased the Gold Level 30minute flight (most popular) $2,550.00. There is a Platinum Level @ $3,450.00 & definitely has some upgrade features in the flight.

Scott was fitted out in a proper flight suit & fighter helmet. The suit only just fitted him in the largest size available. The flight path is heading west to Wyaralong Dam, which is located at the base of Mt Joyce, north-west of the township of Beaudesert some 60klm straight line away & due west of Canungra.

Being airside we were able to see a male walking past us in an approved air suit full of injected adrenaline and promoting the experience. We all thought he was the pilot. Our surprise was to see the pilot then exiting the jet with Paul’s help of a medium step ladder. The pilot was dressed in jeans and a shirt normally fitted out for a farmer. He was too large for a flight suit, so he doesn’t use one. He was the most unassuming image of a jet pilot, with us being judgmental.

The jet was now undertaking re-fueling and there was a time period for us to peruse the hanger & memorabilia including an Indian suicide shift war motorcycle in extremely good condition (suicide shift is a gear stick extending up from the gearbox, alongside the fuel tank & is positioned between the legs of the rider). Apologies for no photo. There was also a radius map showing the flying range from London towards Germany by some set aircraft at the time of WW2 & this confirmed how well the war of flight was so well orchestrated to reach their targets.

Some 20mins later, Paul ushered us to the aircraft area & to take photos of Scott sitting in the cockpit and gaining the safety drill & instructions from the pilot, Cameron. Within another 10mins the jet was underway for the 30min flight. There was a thin cloud cover being pushed by high winds above and Paul confirmed this was the perfect weather for a jet flight as clouds like these really show Scott the true jet speed. I mentioned to Scott prior that Goose was in the 2nd seat behind Maverick so he must be Goose for the day. A sly grin & a quick retort followed of course.

I can’t believe how quick the 30mins passed us by and seeing the jet land at quite some speed, compared to the single prop plane taking off a minute earlier. The jet taxied over to the parking bay near the storage hanger and from there we experienced Scott’s adrenaline of the flight, which is quite rare for us, as Scott is usually very calm & subdued in conversation. With Scott’s flight being the last for the day we enjoyed a very long chat with the pilot & owner, Cameron. Jason scored a wonderful interaction with Cameron as he is a registered light plane pilot who when upon leaving school entered the air force to become a jet pilot only to have the air force damage his back and forced him out after major surgery.

Cameron has a large property out at Warwick (West of Brisbane) & commutes to Brisbane on set days in his Cessna light plane as he has his own airstrip on his property. His father who originally had the 2 L39 jets, 2 war prop planes, hangers, etc over time sold them to Cameron as he started to retire. Cameron learnt to fly by his father when he was 15 and kept evolving and is also a qualified Jet Engineer who maintains and fixes his own jets & planes and others who have such aircraft. He also has a specialist Jet Welding workshop.

In seeing most of Cameron’s aircrafts and what is involved it surely boils down to the love of the industry & flying, for this adventure jet flight setup there is approx. $150k just in insurance costs alone annually. The jet takes about 250L of jet fuel each flight @ approx. $2.60/l currently. The registrations, maintenance, etc is a cost that would scare anyone entertaining such an operation.

Our next mission is to get Jason into a flight with his idol, Matt Hall who operates adrenaline light plane acrobatics out of Port Macquarie & Sydney under https://www.matthallracing.com

I’ll end this Blog here, so stay safe, happy & hopefully enjoy the photos as much as I have had reviewing them.

“Communication … Communication … Talk to each other”. From a song “Kite” on the concert DVD “Go Home” by U2 @ Slane Castle. YouTube have it also.

Thank you again for reading my blogs and I trust you will stay safe, happy & healthy for 2024. I do not receive any commissions &/or ‘perks’ from the above nominated businesses & locations as I am purely happy to provide the acknowledgement and connection.

I always look forward to seeing the feedback so don’t be afraid to comment. Live life to the most and a quote that I truly love is from Eckhart Tolle ..

“If I am not the hero of my life … who in the hell could be?”

Canungra Show Day Qld – 24082024

Back in early July 2024, my daughter, Kate rang me while I was still in sleep mode. She is the Chief Steward – Fine & Creative Art Section for the upcoming Canungra Show these past few years and with the new $800K pavilion currently being built she wants my advice on how to obtain a multi-purpose display unit for some of the arts entries. Being not fully awake I said I’ll have a think about what can be achieved. Lol!!!

The Completed Possum Hut – Fine Arts Pavilion

The old, convoluted display panels are totally unsuitable for the new building area and Kate hasn’t found anything that would suit. She will hire the other display units to handle the bulk of the special entries. I submitted my design to Kate & ultimately the committee and within a day had the approval to proceed through the Canungra Show Committee direct funding, so I had best get moving fast.

Suffice to say, I managed to get all the materials to suit the grant’s legal requirements, fully aware of the insane & frequent price increases currently happening post-COVID. I was happy to donate my time & travel to complete the project as well. I co-ordinated my visit with the materials to Kate & her husband, Jason who had a few days off to assist me. We worked well together & managed in a few days to have it ready for transporting & installation once the pavilion is completed. I also did a video on how to put the display together seeing that I live about 3hrs drive away. The panels can form a 3.6m x 0.8m rectangle or be opened up as a 6m room divider.

In a blink, the show was upon us 24^th August 2024, and finding out Kate was needing more volunteers with the arts show and under a good deal of stress. I was planning a few days prior to surprise her with my attendance but was warned to let her know immediately, & that was very good advice I took up.

The pavilion was completed by a young local builder and was handed over to the Show Committee just a week prior to the show. Upon my arrival on Friday 23^rd August, some of the setup was done and painters were still on-site. Jason had erected our display unit the day prior when the other hired 6m x 2.4m high display units arrived. Now it was a matter of hanging up the huge volume of numerous art categories, even down to the junior colouring in contest (4-6yrs, 5-10yrs & 11-12yrs) Kate had arranged with a possum drawing. The pavilion will be named The Possum Hut – Fine Arts Pavilion.

Us volunteers had to arrange multiple times to accommodate the artwork as the rolling in of entries came through till 4pm Friday closing, with judging starting at 6pm sharp. Kate & some volunteers started the last 2 days at 6am, leaving well into the night, such was the volume of work required. Once the judging was finished the winners of each category was relocated to the winner sections and presented in readiness for the public viewing on the Saturday show day, 24^th. Most of us left at 11pm & will return 6am again for the show day. I was amazed as to how many categories there were.

For those unaware of Canungra, it is a little township in the Qld Scenic Rim Region in the Valley of the Owls, just below the more famous Mt Tambourine area (mountain range due west of the Gold Coast) & the gateway to the very famous Lamington National Park with a population of approx. 1,450 people & growing & noted as a “small town with a big heart”. The Canungra Show is preceded by their huge rodeo and that is usually a sold-out event within days. Canungra was founded in the 1880s, firstly for sawmilling. The township is heavily heritage listed and quite unique and several movies have been undertaken there, one just recently.

The township is heavily sought, mostly on weekends by casual bike riders, stopping mostly at the Outpost Café whilst riding the various mountain ranges roadways. Paragliders, hang gliders regularly fly over the township from the nearby mountain tops & with the abundance of wildlife & nature walks many nature lovers are never left disappointed. The paragliders and hang gliders were in full swing above the showground, landing across the other side of the Canungra Creek.

Now it is Show Day (Saturday), & there is a population explosion entering the showgrounds & virtually everyone visiting is unaware of the new pavilion building and are overcome with seeing such great improvements made. The Fine Arts display is in full viewing, and the public love what they are seeing from local artists of all ages and their abilities. The volunteers do have some joy though, in getting the visitors to do a People’s Choice submission which throws them into a bit of a spin picking out just one entry as their show choice. I really struggled too in making my choice. All artist’s signatures & identification were obviously covered so judging was totally honest including the volunteer artists were away from the judging.

After the judging, myself, Kate & her family were thrilled to see one of Kate’s daughters win First Place & Youth Champion Award for her woodwork entry of a hallway table cabinet. Hannah was reluctant to enter, upon her opinion of low confidence but folded under some pressure. We were all so thrilled but had to keep the secret from Hannah for 24hrs & that’s tough! Her response & action when seeing the awards was priceless to say the least! Hannah’s older sister, Natahlia didn’t enter when I asked her due to having nothing current in her words. Natahlia’s drawing talents are beyond belief and such a shame she presented nothing for viewers to be amazed upon. Hopefully she will next year. In setting up all the displays on the Friday, Kate was asked to bring some of her artwork to fill in the blank outer walls, so it was mad rush for Jason to head quickly home. What a great decision that was and it really gave a full-on vibe to the entire pavilion & the feedback from viewers on the Saturday was amazing and we were constantly explaining they were only displays, not entries.

The fat cattle judging was done on the Monday before and Saturday Show Day were the horse dressage, show jumping and dog show. One young lady rider, I believe in her early twenties won the show jumping on Show Day and then was able to tell the audience she was told a couple of years ago when in a wheelchair after a horse riding accident she would not ride again. What a remarkable achievement.

With a few breaks on the Saturday, Kate & family with a few volunteers went to the official opening of the show and to see some presentations. The speeches were very well done, short, accurate and just like a country gathering. The national anthem was sung by a local girl and was pleasing to see most of the people proudly stood & sung too.

One of the surprising presentations was to a local lady, named Averil who is now 91yrs old & has been at every Canungra Show since 1938, the very first Canungra Show & was awarded a special Qld Community Show Award for her participation, previous show awards & amazing community service to the show. Do the maths and that means she started competing & attending since she was 5yrs old & not missing one since. The applause was very welcomed, and Avery’s response was obviously “thank you”; but with the inference of continuing for more show days. God bless her.

Averil, Show Committee & Show Ambassadors

Another break was to view the motorcycle stunt riders that gave me chills and later, the firework display. When the public viewing was completed around 7pm we took down all the entries and placed them in alphabetical order on tables, along with the respective award certificates, ribbons, ready for the artist’s collection Sunday morning. Jason & I compiled all the People’s Choice entries to determine that winner in time for the certificates to be applied. By the time we all completed our tasks ready for the Sunday, we arrived home at 11pm again. Kate will be up at the pavilion at 6am on Sunday to start the processes off with a show convenor. As you can tell, that is a huge workload, commitment, stress with little sleep and respite for Kate & all the Fine Arts volunteers.

As a volunteer team it was clearly evident everyone worked as a committed team and when things changed, as with almost certainty, there was no push back or complaints thrown about. Such a wonderful community team and a pleasure to be involved in. Even as the newbie, I was readily accepted and given some tasks to undertake. All hands on deck! Kate was like a pinball in a pinball machine, being the main decision maker and facilitator making sure the entire pavilion presented well to the public. Kate & Connie also arranged for the local nursery & Lydia’s Garden to provide numerous leafy green plants to provide that natural look and engage another community hall to provide the high number of tables and chairs required for the pavilion and the volume of entries.

Kate was also a major sponsor of some youth categories and provided art supplies & a small easel for prizes from her company, Katahlia Arts which is well worth looking up. Kate’s display paintings she provided also showed her diversity on paint subjects (planes, cows, abstract, animals) and paint fluids (oil, acrylic, etc). The 93cm x 93cm Face of the Highland Cow Kate painted for Hannah’s bedroom was a huge favourite and lots of feedback followed. People were extra keen to buy it. Kate also painted Jason’s plane (large canvas) he learnt to fly in & is proudly hanging in his men’s shed (garage). No doubt he looks at this every time he goes flying.

The preceded months work doesn’t show clearly either, but I learnt so much had to be done to pull this show off so successfully. A father showing how much pride in his daughter cannot be truly measured I feel, for the level is enormously high. This will be Kate’s last year facilitating this art show, as the workload greatly interferes with her Arts Degree at university & family life.

I was feeling the draining energy levels in helping with what I could do for the show, so I don’t know how Kate & the rest of the volunteers managed their energy levels over an extended time than I. I was thrilled to be a part of it and see such a great result for the show and the Canungra community. Hope you like the photos and commentary of a little country show with a big heart.

Note: All photos are copyright to bhlifestyles.travel.blog

Great Ocean Road/ Grampians Tour – February 2024 – Blog #5

Great Ocean Road & Grampians Tour – February 2024 – Blog #5

Day 11

With all the nature birds & wildlife, our set alarms coincided at 6.30am to be able to get away by 8am. The wildlife must of known of our tight itinerary for our last day on this Great Ocean Road & Grampians tour & what a pleasant way to wake up. EGR has a bit to do each morning, rolling up her swag, sorting out her suitcase, clothes, laundry, shower, brekky & looking after me too I guess like every other tour day, so it takes around 90mins for us to get underway on the road taking in our stress-free easy pace. As usual I slept like an absolute log but unfortunately EGR had a very bad sleep with nearby backpacker van (arriving late at night & being inconsiderate to the other campers) so it will be a long, tough day for her.

We also have so much food to sort out for our last day (dry & fridge) & it will be a challenge to consume it all or throw it out into a waste bin later. Anyway, we escaped out of Lakeside Caravan Park after the boom gate & turned right to head out onto the service road & then onto the main road however within the first 200m I had to brake very hard to avoid 2 large adult emus stressing out with my vehicle approaching alongside the road. The male, of course, I accept was the most stupid in overreacting. Lol!! The female was slightly smaller in statue & knew her partner would ‘control’ things … eventually. They were healthy & magnificent & were two of many about this park area at this time of the day. These two were the biggest I have ever seen. We were not able to get a photo of them either which was very unfortunate. EGR, myself & the van (loose items shifted to the front) all received a huge shock at first but then soon overjoyed with the wonderful close up nature.

Anyway, with that unneeded adrenalin rush we hit the road to Stawell, some 32klms on, a rural town that has an annual professional running race meeting held over 3 days at Easter & with a history of 146yrs of this event since 1878. Most races are handicapped where the faster runners are stepped back to so many metres at the starting lines to the slower runners. This event is one of the richest footrace meetings in the world. A huge event with runners from all over the world. Not bad for a small town of some 7,000 citizens. Stawell is the gateway to the Grampians National Park if coming from the East.

EGR has her headphones on to limit the rattle noises & motor of the van but still gives me navigational directions, such is her willingness to push the envelope to assist in between shutting her eyelids, moments at a time. Before long, we stop for about 40mins to peruse the main streets of Ballarat some 90mins into our journey. The wide streets are filled with magnificent old buildings dating back to the 1850s & remain in very good condition & obviously heritage listed. Ballarat was formed in 1838 & as of 2024 has a population of 119,096 making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria.

Ballarat was a massive gold rush region back in the 1850s & on 3^rd December 1854 was the most famous call to arms by miners in combatting the large police force & soldiers known as the Eureka Stockade. The miners protested by firearms for the excessive miner licences inflicted upon them. Sadly, 22 miners were killed in this brief exchange. This was the first organised protest that brought changes to the present laws & politicians. In 1858 the town swelled to 60,000, mostly men but this soon depleted when the gold dried up. The town effectively was proclaimed a city in 1871 & the railway soon followed. Ballarat started as a sheep farming area pre-settlement to a gold rush region to a large manufacturing centre and now combines that with tourism due to the strict heritage salvaging of buildings, streets and war memorial trees planted along the Avenue of Honour where the magnificent sandstone memorial Arch of Victory spans across the avenue.

Heading back to the van we noticed The Gold Shop in Lydiard St Nth, where they showed replicas of some of the gold & silver nuggets unearthed in the region. Wouldn’t I like to stumble across this size of gold on our walks! We celebrated such a wealth of history with a great coffee from Cobb’s Coffee & then hit the road again before our parking meter was done & the drop off van time deadline was creeping up.

In just leaving Ballarat on came the low fuel reading .. argh!!! How did I miss that? EGR said another petrol station was 18klms away (Google Maps) so we will make it. Whew!! .. we made it .. after missing a turn & eventually doing a U turn!! EGR then programmed a rest point near the van drop off at Somerton (Northern Melbourne suburb) to have lunch & do our final pack & see what food & drink is left over. I don’t know where the guidance was taking us along those back roads, my brain compass went astray long ago but I trusted EGR & yes it all worked out. We had the leftover Thai Stir-fry & some extra food still in the fridge. Tummy extra full!!

With super lunch done, we travelled another 9klms to drop off the van & and thankfully, it only took 6mins (I had paid the return free fee of petrol, gas & toilet dump, etc when hiring). While I was talking to another travelling couple a Uber turned up. EGR organised for the Uber the minute we drove in to keep to our time schedule. She instructed the driver to drop off her luggage at her friend’s place (jeweller shop) nearby & then proceeded to Wyndham Melbourne with me to pick up her small bag she booked into storage there some 8days ago. This was a good move to avoid carrying her excess luggage around. EGR was catching her plane back to the Sunshine Coast, Qld a day or two after me, so I’m on my own again to see the last of Melbourne.

At Wyndham she gained her small bag & with a few hugs & thank you’s she was gone to catch the tram back to her friend’s jewellery shop before closing. She caught me trying to shuffle some dollars into her bag to help with her budget back home & she skilfully sorted me out & so not to offend me. Still can’t get anything past her. I reaffirmed to her on how she excelled from her disability in handling the past 10days & how thrilled I was she managed to get through all those days & nights so there’s nothing she can’t do now to excel even further.

After a sad good-bye I settled back into Wyndham & undertook my washing & drying & then headed out in search of a great place to relax & maybe have a beer, etc. I wasn’t ready to push more food into my still full stomach at this point.

After walking over 2.5klms & seeing about 8 pubs/ taverns & the like I finally found one called The Boilermaker House. The craft beer was amazing & had 3 schooners before heading back to Wyndham for a dinner of leftovers. Melbourne seems to be low in having great pubs & the like with atmosphere on the ones I found. Surely, I’m wrong … but it is well known, Melbourne is extremely slow in recovering from the world’s longest COVID city lockdown & businesses lost. Walking around it is quite obvious to the viewer. Back at Wyndham, I had completed 7.5klms of overall walking for the day, so I exceeded my target yet again. Yay!!!

Tomorrow, I head back to the Gold Coast to pick up my trusty ute at my son’s place (Matt & Ashlee) at Banora Point, NSW then see Kate (my daughter) & her family at Canungra, Qld before heading back home to paradise in Yamba, NSW & having a beer at my cousin’s micro-brewery, The Wobbly Chook (he’s for real & his name is Chook!). I’m not a beeraholic, but a scotch one.

I’ll end this Blog #5 here, so stay safe, happy & hopefully enjoy the photos as much as I have had reviewing them.

“Communication … Communication … Talk to each other”. From a song “Kite” on the concert DVD “Go Home” by U2 @ Slane Castle. YouTube have it also.

Thank you again for reading my blogs and I trust you will stay safe, happy & healthy for 2024 and for it to be a far better year for all. I do not receive any commissions &/or ‘perks’ from the above nominated businesses & locations as I am purely happy to provide the acknowledgement and connection.

I always look forward to seeing the feedback so don’t be afraid to comment. Live life to the most and a quote that I truly love is from Eckhart Tolle ..

“If I am not the hero of my life … who in the hell could be?”

Great Ocean Road/ Grampians Tour – February 2024 – Blog #4

Great Ocean Road & Grampians Tour – February 2024 – Blog #4

Days 9 & 10

Hope you like the numerous photos & commentary of this blog. So many photos taken & great memories stored.

Continuing on from my blog #3, we are into our 9^th day of the tour (including Melbourne city wandering) & thereby completing the fantastic Great Ocean Road in an easy 3.5days. From my #2 blog we lost a lot of time getting the van out of the holding yard which eliminated the time to take in Torquay, Bell’s Beach, etc so 4 full days is at a good pace for the entire road tour but that also restricts taking in some precious sites, walks & activities that most people would plan to do.

With a full-on day yesterday and seeing so many sights we both had a great sleep, although EGR later in the night moved her swag a bit further away from the van. No, I don’t snore, so I think it was the small kids in the van next to us that had the potential of waking her up earlier than EGR needed to be. In noticing the young family, we swapped a pancake mix we would be hard pressed to use where they in turn provided a capsicum, for they can’t legally take it across the South Australian border on their way to Adelaide. The parents were thrilled to offer their kids pancakes for breakfast the next day.

The Gardens Caravan Park at Pt Fairy was certainly the best place we stayed at along the GOR with all the amenities, hot showers & best cubicles (internal dress & drying area within your cubicle) plus flat beautiful manicured & sculptured grounds. Easy to book online too, etc.

Having plenty of time for the checkout at 10.30am we savoured our normal yummy light breakfast, showered & prettied up .. (LOL!! for me) and undertook our first toilet dump of the van where EGR was determined to undertake herself, once I unlatched the container for her. EGR used the toilet entirely, so I think she wanted ownership of her ‘belongings’ and to reaffirm herself that she could do this when she starts travelling by herself later this year.

At the dump site we were able to have a great chat with a fellow traveller who had some wonderful local knowledge & of the road system through to the Grampians (mountain region). We had so much to converse about, and with all our duties now completed we managed to comply with the 10.30am checkout .. but only just.

Having plenty of time till our next campsite we ventured over the river to the small CBD of Pt Fairy to take in the historical buildings, trees and heritage type streets. We parked off the main street of Bank St due to the size of our motorhome and hit the pavement at a leisurely pace.

Turning into the main street EGR remembered a chocolate shop from her last visit in 2016 and she spied it almost instantly, so I was obvious to be our first stop. Audley & Hall is an artisan chocolate shop on the premises and the selections available are amazing. After much sauntering we both scored some delights with EGR sneakily buying a small box of Whiskey Truffles she gave me a few days later to celebrate the ending of our trip. Yummo!!!! We both LOVE chocolate & for me, scotch is tops too. Smelling the continuous aroma of chocolate EGR wanted to shout us both a hot chocolate. Well, I couldn’t say no! Sadly, it was as hot as the lady could make them. Lukewarm at best ☹

Walking around town admiring all the old & quirky shop fronts we met up again with the camper we met at the Dump point, but this time only enough time to provide a friendly wave & “hello again”. Pt Fairy reminded me so much of Fremantle & Hobart with the historical streets, shops & trees like in a time zone of the past. Some houses were dated 1857 so that’s a bit of history. I’m thinking Pt Fairy was the first town, port & fishing town in the region, then Port Campbell later & much later Warrnambool (this is by far the biggest non-coastal regional city & a lot of milk, beef & lamb industry) where sheep dog trials are on at the present & this is a huge event where prized breeding, and champions are sold for enormous dollars.

We checked out more Pt Fairy streets and walked past the ‘historical’ YHA house EGR stayed in for a while in her last GOR visit. It was obvious many memories started to flow through her mind as we walked a few more blocks. Some of the streets are so wide, yet the enormous trees of pine span over the roadway giving permanent shade to the road such as this Gipps St. What a peaceful landscape in a sleepy small township. We wanted to venture across the river for more walking however the cold drizzle of rain quickly changed our minds & our pace quickened towards the far warmer van.

Doing a small lap in the van of Pt Fairy the rain stopped sufficiently to scan a few more waterways & beaches with a most wonderful photo of EGR sitting on a rock looking out into the sea horizon. I would love to know what she was pondering in those precious moments. Back into the van we said goodbye to the most wonderful & amazing coastline these past days & headed towards The Grampians (mountainous region) to the north. The Grampians are the start of the Great Dividing Range that extends through Victoria, NSW & into Queensland with its National Park 1,672 km2.

We found the best direct route to be Road C178 on advisement from our campsite traveller, through townships of Hawkesdale, Penshurst, Dunkeld, past the magnificent Mt Abrupt, turn off to Grampian Valley Lookout & then another turnoff to Mt William where we found the time to walk through basic jungle where you could see the slightest remnants of a bush track. Luckily, we found our way back without the need for breadcrumbs. This track brought us to 959m (3,149ft) above sea level & the mountain would be another 91m (300ft) higher still & Mt William is the highest in The Grampians. We couldn’t do the hike up to the lookout as energy & time would not allow for it. Where we reached was a great view of natural, agricultural landscape but further into the distance was about 40 vile un-environmental wind turbines. On the way out of Penshurst along C178 there were about 20 wind turbines & not one was working. Oh, for a pack of dynamite! Environmental disasters.

After Mt William we travelled about 10klms to Halls Gap, a cute little town, central to The Grampians with a great information centre. EGR has stayed at Halls Gap before, so there were a few points we had to cover at the Info Centre in terms of what locations are accessible for us to handle as there are many treks ratings & vehicle access points to consider. After quite a consultation we finally headed off to Old Man Emu – a private property offering a nature off the grid camp area with no amenities (our first & only ‘free camping’ type experience). We first have to check-in at the front entrance farmhouse where we met the co-owner Greta who directed us to the side pastural entrance a few hundred metres up the road after paying the $20 fee. Opening the gate, we found the best nature spot ever!! The farm area we found was in Smith Zone next to the small lake where we came very close to emus, kangaroos, ducks & wrens.

We placed the table/ chairs near the lake, had our red wine, dips, cheese & chocolates and took in the wonderful nature over these grazing fields. We had the option of having a fire pit operating & we looked so forward to it however, being so dry & with the wind a little blustery we decided not to. I also advised Greta & she was really thankful & appreciated the decision we made & for the contact.

EGR set up her swag closer to the lake than the van to limit the wind buffering her swag & we both made a Thai stir-fry dinner, with our new-found capsicum & an early sleep plan after washing up.

Day 10

With only nature waking us up we both had a great sleep & the most relaxing morning with an easy breakfast. I went for a walk around the small lake and to see where the emus were grazing while EGR used the van’s amenities & got dressed. Without much-a-do we headed back into Halls Gap for the major accessible sites of the Grampians. There are just too many locations to see, so you need far more days than what was allowed for us. Some main sites we couldn’t get to, were The Pinnacles, Mt Sturgeon, Chataqua Peak, Grand Canyon to name a few. There are over 100 rock climbing sites & treks of all different grade ratings.

Starting with the longer trip along Mt Zero Rd (bitumen) towards Laharum (village) further north & took the worst rutted gravel road for some 4klms to Mt Zero & nearby Hollow Mtn. The GPS certainly wasn’t friendly this morning (low internet) & we were really tested to which road to take. Road signage was very minimal.

We seemed to take the wrong turn & ended up at Mt Zero carpark in not being our primary choice. Seeing we are now parked we saw the nearby sign of Mt Zero walk trek (1.3klms Grade 3) & decided to give it a go. Wrong move .. track became barely visible as we ventured upwards & wasn’t worth the effort, so I rated it true to name Zero!! 2 out of 10 maybe. The walking track was obviously in this state due to the last 10 or so years of horrendous fiscal management of the Victorian Labor Government withdrawing or severely reducing land funding, etc. The trouble was now, the walk used up a bit of EGR’s strength. Her body battery can fade quickly. When it was safe to do so I raced back & put the air con on so EGR could regain her body temp, etc as quickly as possible. In this recovery time we had a bit of morning tea and chilled out.

It took us a while to then sort the road system out towards our preferred Hollow Mtn & headed off there. Again, another bad rutted road for some 4klms. EGR had to put her headphones on to restrict the rattling noise of travel. Loud sounds & vibrations affect her disability in a big way, so I had to really watch my driving closely. A bed pillow certainly helped her in this case.

Somehow, we found the car park of Hollow Mtn, and we took in some more recovery time before we had the confidence to start the walk & climb. Heading onto the trail the first klm was reasonable but then it became tougher. Little by little we started clambering over & around boulders of huge size & at times like we could be abseiling. We were making real progress although I had trouble with my wallet in my long trek pants, restricting my leg movements. The van keys & my phone were OK in other pockets. EGR suggested I put the wallet in the small zip pocket just above my knee & that made a huge improvement in mobility.

Looking West from 1st Stage of Hollow Mtn

After a while we thought we had gone a fair way, only to chat with a Netherland family coming down the terrain who stated we are only just beginning the harder stuff but it’s doable, taking our time they said. Their son (about 25yrs old) had been in Australia for some time & the parents were over here visiting him. It was wonderful they all could speak English too. Again, with some newfound confidence & still with good energy levels, we ventured on & to also see how far we can go & still have the energy to get back to the van.

For a good 10 or so minutes, we were going well only to hear the Netherland family yell out if I had lost a small wallet. Yikes!! My zip above the knee had worked loose with all the climbing & therefore my wallet escaped unnoticed. Leaving EGR to sit & recover I had to venture back down a bit to meet their very fit son who had thankfully climbed back up to meet me at some point. I thanked him so much for returning it & with virtually no cash I couldn’t offer a reward as my cash was back in the van. He clearly stated he wasn’t looking for a reward either & was very happy to provide ‘rescue’ & knew it was my wallet due to my licence photo inside. I was so lucky that he was very honest & had found it in what would be considered a virtual ’no clear path view’. Whew!!! That lost wallet would have destroyed the remainder of our trip & in getting back home, not to mention the drama of re-obtaining licences, credit cards, etc, etc. Double Whew!!!

With that unwanted drama now over & back with EGR, onward we went, forever upwards & sideways & looked for the sometimes ‘hidden’ little yellow painted arrows (some triangles) on rocks. Getting to the point where EGR was reaching her peak we rested for a while & drank some more water, for we are now in full late morning sun being on the western side & also wondering where this ‘window’ our Netherland friends spoke of.

While EGR was resting I suggested I walk/ climb around to the other side of this huge boulder outcrop blocking our view to see what is on the other side & then return within a very short time .. no hero stuff of course, making sure I kept as close as possible to EGR. If need be, take a photo or two for her if we decided to return to the van.

You wouldn’t guess it … for another 50m of edging over that boulder outcrop it became a flat surface where I found myself standing in front of the ‘window’. What a relief & a prized result. I quickly returned to EGR who was now determined & excited to see this ‘window’ & soldiered on. Being at the front of the window I was assessing the best way for both of us to enter the narrow openings at both ends of the window when EGR spoke to me through the window, for she had walked around the ‘corner’ & entered through the much larger opening at the back of the cave. OK!! EGR won the smart trophy.

What an amazing natural structure before our eyes. The mountain continued above this window cave some 50m or so on a guess & much steeper, so that settled that. The more you looked at the rear opening you wonder how it is not crushed by its apparently small mounting points. The cave was absolutely pleasant enabling a quick recovery time for both of us with much cooler air breezes. Looking out the ‘window’ was a great sight of pure tree vegetation, grazing land and mountains in the distance as far as you could see. Such a dense forest in places & accessibility to those areas would be near impossible. One could not fathom the devastation & fierceness of flames if this area became a terror bushfire through a careless trekker/ camper/ farmer or lightning strike.

Naturally, we went as far as the ‘Window’ level reaching the altitude of 384m (1260ft). The photos above were of the ‘window’ cave and the views from that elevation & the start of our descent. With that, EGR looked at her phone & found we were doing in fact a Grade 4 trek. Yikes!!! With that shock we then spent more time in the cool cave for us to increase our recovery before descending. Clambering down these boulders, etc required different strategies, muscles and care however, we managed to do this with finesse and without incident. Overall, we did the mountain in 90mins of physical activity which I thought was pretty good & especially for EGR. Again, I raced back when it became safe to do so for the air con & then we had a big lunch & lots of water. What a trek …. & we earned it!!!!

From there we ventured back onto the rutted roads for more vibration & noise. EGR wouldn’t let me increase speed to fly over the ruts as you’re supposed to do, as her anxiety issues would then kick in. I behaved so I wouldn’t lose trust with EGR & used the slightest of all pressures on the accelerator.

Next stop when on the much-loved bitumen road was Mackenzie Falls which I was keen to see for namesake of one of ex-gf daughters back home who has 2 young children now. I sent her a photo when the internet was available. The falls lookout has an altitude of 305m (1230ft) at the lookout 1klm walk on a horizontal line from the carpark. The photos do not do it justice. EGR made it to the other opposite lookout site as well but sensibly wouldn’t do the 700m drop in steps to the base of the waterfall to further deplete her energy battery & really, we were behind the time required to fit in the rest of other viewpoints on our way to our next overnight stay.

We managed to fit in the viewpoints of Broken Falls, Burrong Falls, Reed’s Lookout after much horizontal walking & finally Boroka Lookout just before Halls Gap township for the end of day. Totally buggared.

The above photos are of Burrong Falls Lookout & those rock outcrops where EGR is standing are where she sat out there when YHA were doing a tourist photo shoot & she was their model. I told her she was crazy to be out there (this was before the balustrade railings were erected). She was excitied to be reliving this adventure I’m sure.

The above photos are of Boroka Lookout with Lake Lonsdale in the background & Wartook Reservoir much further into the distance to the left and towards Mackenzie Falls area The bottom 2 photos shows another rock outcrop where EGR posed for the cameras again outside of the barricades. Yikes!!! I couldn’t do it!!!

Driving through Halls Gap from the north & then slightly out of the township we came to our night lodgings, The Lakeside Caravan Park with the entry point of a boom gate. We had booked online so we had our specific entry code however, we had a car in front trying to gain entry but seemed to have much difficulty in doing so. The couple appeared to be about my age or a little older going through all the signs of emotional frustration. EGR, quite determined to gain entry to shut down for the day, plus she is an ever caring & helpful person, so within a flash she was in conversation with them before I could blink.

After much conversation, with a mixture of smiles, frowns & hand waving the conversation ended with signs of utter relief and gratitude. The couple were French & their English was rather poor to just basic. What are the chances of running into a person like EGR in a remote bushland setting that can speak a bit of French? Honestly, it would be like winning Lotto on those chance odds!!! Wonders never cease in finding out more of EGR’s talents. The couple were so very happy and after they had settled into their site we gained a few waves of happiness from them.

After setting up our camp we had our red wines, dips & crackers then headed off through the southern boundary of the caravan park for the start of a great 15min walk. The first thing we noticed was the excessively high man-made hill right in front of us which spanned from the main road area to the natural high ridge ‘mountain’ of some 200m and with a security fence placed along its perimeter. Checking out the Park map (above photo) & Goggle Maps we were indeed immediately in front of the levee dam wall of the created Lake Bellfield. Yikes!!! The thought of all that deep water behind the levee certainly gives you chills & with the park & the Halls Gap township clearly in its downward path doesn’t seem to be very good planning. It was obvious now, the caravan park was aptly named Lakeside. Praying nothing happens to this dam wall.

This park area is so full of nature, with many bird calls notifying us of the coming sunset, the kangaroos grazing & some with joeys too plus the flock of emus was also welcomed but were some distance to the northern end of the park, a little further away from humans. Before our walk I was waiting outside of the van when a Rosella landed nearby on the ground. I put my arm out & within a flash the bird landed on my hand for a talk. Obviously, it was a pet at some stage that had escaped & so far survived. Without warning the bird was off again. What a wonderful & joyous surprise.

With darkness approaching showers became the first priority, then a full dinner to use up as much of our stored food as possible, for tomorrow is our last day on the road. After dinner, EGR was quick to retire to her swag, for it has been a huge day for her. I propped myself up in bed to blog my Polarsteps with the very frustrating poor internet reception. By the time I had finished I had forgone a lot of my beauty sleep.

Our alarms were set for 6.30am in order to get away early so we can call into the large regional city of Ballarat on the way through to Melbourne in time to off load the van before their drop off closing time of 3pm. What a week it’s been!!!!

I’ll end this Blog #4 here, so stay safe, happy & hopefully you enjoyed the photos as much as I have had reviewing them & more to come in Blog #5.

“Communication … Communication … Talk to each other”. From a song “Kite” on the concert DVD “Go Home” by U2 @ Slane Castle. YouTube have it also.

I always look forward to seeing the feedback so don’t be afraid to comment. My next blog/s will be our travel back to Melbourne through the large regional city of Ballarat.

Live life to the most and a quote that I truly love is from Eckhart Tolle ..

“If I am not the hero of my life … who in the hell could be?”

Great Ocean Road & Grampians Tour – February 2024 Blog #3

Great Ocean Road & Grampians Tour – February 2024 – Day 8

Day 8

The day of The Twelve Apostles!!!!!!!! Bring on the magic & the myriad of photos!!! ENJOY!!!!!!!!!

The amazing Twelve Apostles are located roughly central to Port Campbell & Apollo Bay on the most southern parts of Victoria (Australia) and what a magical coastline it presents us. On any given day, the coastline can physically change, such is the fragility of the limestone elements of the cliff faces as you will read on. The forces of nature, the surf, wind & rain can be unrelenting, and we were blessed with such perfect days to enjoy its wonders.

From Blog #2 and seeing the Twelve Apostles & The Gibson Steps yesterday near sunset we turn to have our alarms to wake us up at 5.30am (pre-dawn) where we ‘silently’ packed up leaving EGR’s swag at our campsite, in order to come back to it later (secure our site), for we are going to brave the darkness & coldness to view the 12 Apostles at sunrise upon EGR’s recommendation, remembering she has been here before in 2016. There was no way I could smother the noise of the van’s diesel motor that early in the morning, so apologies to my fellow campers. With everything seemingly loud that early in the morning we did the best we could.

Clearing the entrance to the campground we passed the major rebuild construction of the new bridge on a typical rutted dirt road for some 300m of road (driving extra slow for EGR’s condition) to find the more comfortable Great Ocean Road bitumen surface and with the road all to ourselves, well that’s what we thought …… for just getting up to a safe speed I had to brake hard to avoid a typical rural incident. A kangaroo was doing his own ‘driving’ down the roadway and if you have come across these hopping erratic mammals before, there is no way of knowing what they may do or which way they will turn and yes, they can certainly do some damage to your vehicle too. Thankfully, we had a fair bit of space between us & I saw it early enough, so I was not forced to skid & steer away but something behind our seats certainly moved forward. That was our first adrenalin rush for the morning & clearly woke me up even more.

With only a 9mins drive further down the road to the Twelve Apostles turnoff we arrived somewhat early, but scored the best viewing space. Thanking EGR profusely for her spare wind jacket (I sure needed it) we managed to be in front of more sunrise timed viewers. Did I say it was bitterly cold with about 20knot blustery winds, I think, coming straight off Antarctica, for it felt like it? I suffer Raynaud’s, so winter is not my friend & I feel the cold long before my friends. With more & more people arriving & struggling to say ‘good morning’ out of their cold throats we all managed politely to claim our spots. I’m sure everyone was wishing for a 44gallon steel drum with logs & hot flames coming out of it & of course some marshmallows to toast.

Being impatient & remaining cold the increasing clouds were emanating out from the East making the sun appear far later than expected. With much silent urging & eventual praying from us viewers, the sun finally won & the 12 Apostles statues changed ever so swiftly from their ‘sunken brownish’ night colour into their rich golden sand colour against the brilliant ocean blue & white caps of waves. A sight to truly behold. Photos certainly do not do the scenery justice however, it was well worth the icy fingers & nose. I kept the photos large so you could get the best of what was in our view. The sun & shadows evolve quite quickly, so no mucking around too much on your camera. After a full intake as to what we just witnessed we began our quick steps back to the more receptive warmer van, for we had more to do a little later.

Returning at a reasonable timing to suit the other campers, now rising, we settled back into the campground where I quickly put the toaster on doing my toast & placing my hands above it for instant warmth & recovery from white fingertips. EGR had her special yoghurt, honey & berries & shared our beloved hot teas. What a day of beauty and sharing a wonderful morning event over breakfast. Timing everything well we were out of the Princetown Reserve Ground right on the 10.30am deadline & we were off to the next exciting plan.

Having EGR trusting & bravely with me now on my pre-planned solo trip I enthusiastically shouted us both a 15min 12 Apostles helicopter ride, taking in the Apostles & coastline up to the London Bridge & Port Campbell & then return. Definitely the best way to see this amazing coastline. 15mins, seemed like 15 seconds when taking everything in of the coastline & the thrill of the helicopter. EGR absolutely loves helicopters & ziplines, so at least we managed to get one of the thrill rides for her. We educated the GOR helicopter pilot prior on EGR’s excessive noise & vibration condition & he presented separate earmuffs for her when alighting & departing the helicopter. What a godsend for her & very necessary to have had them. The 15min trip was all I think EGR could handle too on the noise & vibration. The other option ride was a 45mins return flight (far too long for her).

What a rush!!! & the pilot was exceptional with a perfect take off & landing. Such a cruisey ride & amazing views one cannot even imagine from the ground. We flew up at 350ft & came back at 600ft (safety protocol), so the views were perfect. Part of the 1st span of the London Bridge collapsed without warning on 15th January 1990 leaving some trekkers stranded on the now sea island part for quite some time. Such a massive collapse of material & lucky no-one was killed or injured. From the helicopter everything seemed so small & that is something to take into account. I was really thankful of EGR sharing her following photos to me as she was sitting on the window side. She would also share other photos of other locations, so again, THANK YOU EGR!! Another thing is taking photos without the backlash of window glare. I avoided this problem back in 2016 when my brother, Kerry & I did a 45min open-door helicopter ride in Hawaii … That was absolutely terrifying, mainly due to my loose seat harness!!! … but gained great clear photos through the terror.

Back to leaving the helicopter EGR was still excited & thankful in completing the helicopter ride she was extra keen to do. Another huge achievement done! Leaving the carpark, we headed for Port Campbell for lunch, but in between, we stopped 5klms out from 12 Apostles to Loch Ard Gorge & other sites along the way. What an amazing place where the Loch Ard ship was wrecked off the coast at 4am 1st June 1878 after 3 months sailing from England to Melbourne with 36 crew & 18 passengers. The scenery of this location is spectacular & additionally extremely dangerous in regard to the ocean & cliff faces!! You could see how fragile the coastal cliffs become with such a demanding pounding surf. The Loch Ard was an iron clipper ship, built in the Clyde by Barklay, Curle and Company in 1873 with 3 masts & the tallest about 150′ high. There were only two people that survived the wreck: Thomas Pierce who was an apprentice midship man on board the Loch Ard and Miss Evelyn (Eva) Victoria Berta Carmichael, aged 19 and the daughter of a doctor, who wanted to settle down and work in Victoria. The Loch Ard ship never had a fully successful journey & its life was short lived in regards to shipping vessels. Most of the ship lies below 25m of water, with the stern missing, possibly broken into pieces from the ever-pounding ocean. The photos below shows you how dangerous this area is & how frightening being shipwrecked here would be with basically one ‘beach’ area.

From the gorge we wandered around the cliff faces via the fenced off pathways to see The Ridgeback peninsula with such awesome cliff face structures carved by the unrelenting forces of wind, rain & ocean. This vast length of coastline is a marine national park & is strictly controlled on so many levels (fishing, diving, etc).

Leaving this amazing area, we travelled another 30mins to Port Campbell where we had lunch at the 12 Rocks Beach Bar Café, near the foreshore & harbour & took in the little township sights. Port Campbell looked so small in the helicopter. Upon leaving & travelling in the wrong direction a koala came walking down the centre of the road like he owned the place, non-plussed about the vehicles & then wandered off to the side vegetation. I’ve never seen a koala at midday walking actively down the road. He was in great condition, but EGR concerned for its safety reported the location to the wildlife agency for that region, trusting they will investigate. After the required U turn the Koala certainly had vanished. Guessing the koala was ‘telling’ me I was travelling in the wrong direction.

The lookout before entering Port Campbell

Completing the U turn & leaving Port Campbell we planned to view The Arch, however, signs were stating it was closed so we were quicker to call into London Bridge for a land level view & seeing the same helicopter above us on another tour trip. How do you imagine being stranded on the ocean span when the other mainland span collapsed? Luckily, they were rescued that same day, albeit many hours later. London Bridge is so much larger from this land view than the helicopter view & especially the height from the ocean waters.

Just up the road a bit more, we stopped at The Grotto. Again, what an amazing place with a large hole created from rainwater run-offs over thousands of years through the limestone rockface where the water attacked the limestone to erode into a mostly circular bowl & then penetrate all the way through, leaving a round window to view from. I took a great photo of EGR being her old self & couldn’t wait to share it with her. EGR was always considerate & quick to take photos for couples to enhance their photographic library & visit, rather than them struggling with short arms on selfie photos. They often politely returned the favour, possibly thinking we were in a relationship too. LOL!! I think I can hear EGR still laughing on that!!

After the Grotto we called into the Bay of Mayrters & Bay of Islands with small outcrops of apostle-like structures standing tall on far calmer waters. Some 50,000 Mutton birds fly 30,000klms each year from Alaska to the same burrows on top of the grass ‘heads’ of these certain outcrops of apostle structures to lay their eggs. What a journey each year & another amazing natural phenomenon that belittles us mere humans.

This bit of coastline is considered to be the end of The GOR so feeling somewhat forlorned we drove forth to Warrnambool, a large city where we fuelled up & EGR shouted me an extra special ice cream to savour on the way to Port Fairy to cap off another great day. A day I cannot express in how much this day meant to me … & hopefully EGR … with the reader at least getting some of my love of humanity & nature in the enclosed photos.

Port Fairy is about 12klms out from Warrnambool, so we could set up early upon entering the Garden Caravan Park, which we found to be superb & the best one we have stayed in on this trip for $54 powered site. The amenities, grounds, etc were fantastic. We cracked open our red wines again, dips, crackers & a real pure honey sweet surprise for dessert. Absolutely delicious! Then over to shave, shower & do this blog draft on my Polarsteps platform (secret EGR photo). Without too much of a push we both had an early night after such an enormous day. We both walked 7.5klms overall & a bit sunburnt on our faces. In reviewing our travel days and our return date to Melbourne we jumped at the chance & redirected our tour to take in The Grampians from tomorrow with our few days now spare.

Stay safe, happy & hopefully enjoy the photos. Lots more to come.

“Communication … Communication … Talk to each other”. From a song “Kite” on the concert DVD “Go Home” by U2 @ Slane Castle. YouTube has it also.

I always look forward to seeing feedback so don’t be afraid to comment. My next blog/s will be the start of The Grampians (mountain ranges) where experiences & views will give more reasons to life & of how life changes, & not just for me.

Live life to the most and a quote that I truly love is from Eckhart Tolle .. “If I am not the hero of my life … who in the hell could be?”

#greatoceanroad #victoriaroadtrip #twelveapostles #londonbridge #thegrotto #gibsonsteps

Great Ocean Road & Grampians Tour – January 2024 Blog #2

Great Ocean Road & Grampians Tour – January 2024 – Days 5 – 7

I trust you have read Blog #1 so you can understand the following blogs that #2 are Days 5-7 where they are going to be huge for commentary & photos, such is what will unfold on this famous coastal stretch of amazing sights. Hope you enjoy this as much as we both did.

Day 5

Well, we are into our 5th day in Melbourne & we both set our alarms to 8.30am for a 10.30 checkout of Wyndham. EGR has a bit to do & I had the emergency of getting a new drink bottle from my preferred Kathmandu store after losing it last night. Kathmandu didn’t open till 10am & when walking I realised, I had not had breakfast & couldn’t afford the time when I returned to Wyndham. I found this small cafe in The Block Av which had the most delicious porridge (photo) & it was better than it looked too!!! The Block Av is where the Tea Rooms 1892 is located where we visited on Day 3 (refer to previous blog).

Of course, Kathmandu had a new series of drink bottles & not of my preferred type so had to settle for one that was at least suitable. $40 thank you as well!! On my way next door to Wyndham, contractors were putting in new large shop front glass so that was great to watch for a while with the equipment they were using & how precise they were using the apparatus arm. I have spent a lot of time working with glass panels & it is certainly not fun when they shatter (explode). Getting back to Wyndham, EGR was ready & keen to get underway. Perfect timing. Now for the huge haul of luggage to the street.

Of course, my task for EGR was to find an Uber that could take all of our gear to Somerton (Northern suburb) to pick up our Mercedes Voyager campervan. She scored a Tesla Y model & it looked far too small but Sean, the driver, had us packed & on the way in no time. It all fitted in the extra-large boot.

EGR making the conversation about the Tesla & asking Sean some questions on his life … it was a burst of laughter & “No Way”!!! For Sean worked with EGR’s aunty at Qantas for decades in Melbourne & he knew the aunty’s family & children too. Well, it was bloody hard for me to get another sentence in for the entire 35mins of travel. Such a small world & the conversations never eased.

Upon reaching our Britz destination in Somerton that’s when our day changed dramatically. The entry room was packed with people & only 2 desks were operating. We took the line as soon as we entered the room, only to be told later we needed to be in the other line. Then later found that any line would have done. Argh!!! 2 young British girls were in front of us, but we were both trapped with 3 sets of Chinese family travellers at the desk. Despite a few mandatory Britz emails sent to each hirer prior to arrival they chose not to read them & to check-in online! The lady at the counter had to then go through all 3 couples before they could get their vehicle & to check their driver’s licence & credentials first & then walk them through the hiring terms & conditions singularly. This took almost 2hrs & their kids were uncontrollable shockers too which we had to control for EGR’s well-being.

People in the other line that came in after us had already got their vehicle & gone & now we had just the one lady at the counter working & the other desk closed. Finally, the Chinese were finished & the 2 British girls were done in under 12mins, & the same for us. Then the waiting took place in getting our vans. We gave a few bananas to the girls as they had no food & starting to struggle with the heat & feeling stranded. Another hour had past & then the British girls were on their way & travelling to Adelaide, then flying to Perth. We had a great time with them & photos were taken with EGR. Finally, our van was ready but in getting the induction I found I couldn’t open the sliding door from the inside. Rowan, the serviceman disputed this but then couldn’t open it either so another 20mins transpired & then later it was confirmed it could not be fixed easily & we will be provided with another van and another 20mins delay getting the van commissioned. Rowan, with his manager came back with a $75 credit to me for the delay & inconvenience, etc. Again, the other van arrived but it was now a Mercedes Sprinter (better) & the handover completed after 2 people worked hard to get the filthy windscreen clean necessary for driving. Now we are on our way (We arrived at 11.50am & now leaving 4.55pm). 4 bloody hrs!!! Apologies for the bad mug shot of the next photo selfie. LOL!! EGR always looks great!

We were now pushed for time to get to Geelong for urgent grocery shopping for travelling & to see some sights in time (The famous Pro Surfing Beach of Bell’s Beach, etc with one photo) to get to Anglesea to stay overnight & charge the van battery up as recommended. We missed seeing the first stop of Torquay now & more time at Bell’s Beach.

Prior to arrival at Anglesea Caravan Park, they notified us of the afterhours office safe code to get the site instructions, but the code was incomplete so luckily, we managed to get phone help to obtain our specific set code for the boom gate entry. We eventually found our site & EGR started erecting her swag while I setup the van. We managed to get squared away, hooked everything up for the van, showered & had dinner at 8.40pm. What a day!!! EGR had done the initial drive to Geelong for food shopping than me to Bell’s Beach & EGR to Anglesea, for she wanted me to see the sights along the way as much as possible. That was a huge effort of EGR to do this driving, knowing her disability issues. Sleep is now well overdue, especially for EGR, but we survived this day & hope EGR has enough stamina for tomorrow.

EGR had brought her swag from her home at the Sunshine Coast in Queensland to help in her comfort & security (disability issues). She loves her swag & relates it to her cocoon so that is her preference for sleeping this entire trip. She had to buy new poles for it & have them delivered to Melbourne Post Office. Her stepdad had apparently misplaced her poles. Thankfully, they arrived in Melbourne the day prior to picking up the van with EGR so relieved.

Day 6

Woke up surprisingly well at 8.10am after a real full day prior. Most campgrounds have a 10am exit curfew so our phone alarms will be used unfortunately to make this deadline. EGR was disturbed by people talking loud well after midnight. I didn’t hear them from within the van. The 2 security workers patrolling at night in their golfcart obviously didn’t do their job in keeping the peace as per the site’s strict rules. While in the campground at the 10am check-out curfew we drove to the rear of the campground & was able to park & venture down the walk ramp to see the wide expanse of the Anglesea beach & the huge vertical sandstone cliffs looking about 40m high (bit dangerous with sheer land drops unexpectantly at times). After a brief chat with a local couple & a few photos we sneaked out of the campground until being stuck at the boom gate, possibly being well after the exit curfew. Very thankful for the groundsman to press the bypass code buttons with no penalty imposed.

From there we hit the Great Ocean Rd (GOR) again. The first stop was the Loveridge Lookout over Princess Mary Bay. Magnificent view & from the lookout you can clearly see the giant landslip towards the sea which happened in 1903. At this lookout, a visitor living within the region noticed my Yamba Backpackers t shirt (he had been to Yamba) & with this, gave us a quick history overview which was brilliant & well received. From there we stopped briefly at Fairhaven to take a quick photo from the side of the road of the famous Pole House. Superbly fitted out now for an expensive Airbnb. Due to driving I was unable to take more photos so apologies for the limited number. EGR couldn’t handle more driving & that was totally expected & acceptable.

From there to Lorne & up the hill to Teddy’s Lookout where we did about 10mins walking to see great ocean views. Lorne is a fair-sized town for numerous cafes & shops & a great looking pub. Next stop was in a nearby location as this lookout & was a meandering road & steep descent out the back of Lorne to Erskine Falls. Caravans, buses, etc not allowed into the forest road & very limited parking for a RV. After parking the walk down is of timber & rock steps (lots of them & people knew it on the way back due to the steepness of the terrain). What a glorious sight to behold of the waterfall, ferns & pure nature. We were able to scale the boulders & stream to get closer to the waterfall & take great photos. A truly beautiful spot. EGR was keen for a photo, so she scrambled to get closer to the waterfall trusting her to do it safely & I left to take the photo of course.

We travelled back through Lorne’s shoreline street, still busy in the cafes with lots of travellers & locals. Not far out from Lorne we came across another lookout, Mt Defiance, with 2 plaques. One read The GOR was built & commemorated to the soldiers of WW1 1914-1919 & the roadworks commenced almost straight after the war. The further we ventured down The GOR the fiercer the ocean became until we reached Separation Ck, Wye River & Kennett River further on. Definitely not safe for swimming or surfing.

Another great Lookout was Cape Patton with the most colourful of ocean which quickly reminded me of the famous Queensland Whitsunday Island waters I saw last year. With similar views & winding roads we stopped briefly at stopover points & then ultimately to Apollo Bay Campgrounds just out of the township on the Southeastern side. This was an average campground but cost effective however, Leigh at the office was sensational in helping us find an EGR suitable site. We did our setup on the first site only to find the neighbours of young men too inconsiderate & loud where EGR can’t tolerate that sort of noise & even with her earplugs at night would still be an unhealthy outcome for her. Leigh found us a few more sites & after scouring we only found 1 that was eventually suitable.

The setting up of our campsite is getting into a fine art & well-choreographed. I set the van up, EGR does her swag, etc & sort out her night requirements. After those tasks were completed, we later managed to have some red wine (mine with preservatives, EGR with special non-preservatives), dips/ crackers & a game of Phase 10 EGR educated me on & to which I competed well in my first round. We’ll continue the tournament another day hoping I’ll beat EGR. I cooked the BBQ, EGR did the salad & we both cleaned up, walked to the beach & back just before sunset & then off to the showers, now it’s getting past EGR’s sleep pattern. After a back burn flame I rechecked the BBQ gas lead & it appears to have a defect (tiny hole), so it will be indoor cooking from here on in. Arghh!! I’m so grateful EGR has a superb culinary outlook for this old man. She has managed to ensure we ate & drank well on this tour & has been of wonderful support. Sitting back relaxing it was then we needed to plan our times for campground entry to enable a smooth transition into nightfall to ensure EGR in gaining as much sleep as possible & to help stamina recovery.

All in all, I managed 5.4klms of walking (so too, EGR) & the road trip from Lorne to Apollo Bay took quite some hours to do despite the mere 47klms of road travel. So much to see & tomorrow should be even better.

Day 7

Out of the Apollo Bay campsite at 10am (deadline achieved) & turned left back through the township & up the hill to view from Marriner’s Lookout, which is part of private land where the owners provide access to this great location. There’re about 9 car spaces up there and our 7m RV was the biggest that should venture there & we were blessed no-one was coming back down on that narrow tight hairpin road. Took some great photos & without much ado we were back on the road in 30mins however, time was well spent.

We are now driving more inland so it’s more forest & pastures for some 81klms heading up to the northern most point of the road at Lavers Hill so not much to see & with just 17klms of road trip down we came across signage of Mate’s Rest Rainforest Walk named after a park ranger from long ago. What a great decision to venture into a small loop carpark with only 2 large vehicle spaces available. We did the 800m forest walk in 35mins as per the advice on walk signage with so much to see & to embrace.

This walk showed the true dinosaur era of ferns, moss, fungi & massive Beech Myrtle & other trees. The forest is so thick with vegetation. The low level easy gradient walkway is made up of elevated galv welded grid mesh (custom built) & very stable & accurate with a little bit of crusher dust & compacted soil on other walkways. A truly wonderful 35mins & so refreshing of cool, oxygen enriched air from the thick vegetation, much like the base of a waterfall gives.

Out initial itinerary allowed for a few hours to undertake the Otway Fly … Tree line Walkway & then ride the zipline back to the entry just outside of Lavers Hill. Upon our research & prior contact with management they could not advise on the type of ferocity at the end points of the zipline therefore thought it best not to partake, as EGR cannot afford any more whiplash damage. For most people this is a must do on the GOR journey & pre-injury EGR was a great zipline lover.

Back on the road we went non-stop on winding road all the way to Princetown Campground for an early setup. This campground is ideal to be close to the famous 12 Apostles & you get what you pay for @ $25 for 2 adults & a powered site. The toilets are a drop shute (no cistern, just a long drop open hole, but with a toilet pan .. yay!) separated by some 25m from the shower blocks, bored water, so no refilling of your fresh water & no dump site for waste disposal … nothing else. All in all, an open quiet area & not as many campers this time of year. Plenty of kangaroos at dusk. The campground is built around an AFL sports ground, so we were lucky there was no game or training on.

With time on our side for now, we engaged in a card game (Phase 10) again, dips & crackers & a mild curry lunch EGR made the other day. Yummo!! It was good to be ahead of EGR in this game & in seeing her do so well in her managing her health & stamina. Revising our trip plans we thought it best to drive 10mins down The GOR to see the famous 12 Apostles off the sheer cliffs of the coastline before sunset. We expected a quiet time considering the time of day, & being February but alas, buses full of tourists, mostly Asian & Chinese swamping the place. EGR & I quickly overtook their meandering & still we had to be patient & clever in taking our photos. One very rude Chinese man cut through knocking EGR hard. Respecting the crowd, I eventually stood next to him & gave him an absolute mouthful, but he didn’t speak English, or he hid it very well. Anyway, it was good to vent my disgust in his behaviour & his lack of manners & there was a hint he knew what I was on about. Sure enough, he had many of his rude followers with him as we found out later. Such rude self-centred uncaring people.

Some photos were hard to take with the cloud cover but very pleased we are seeing them in their glory. After a full intake of the 12 Apostles, EGR mentioned the chocolate/ alpaca farm on our way back. With a short drive we turned left into Princetown Rd & drove for 7klms to a beautiful farm, G.O.R.G.E Chocolates where we had far too many choices of chocolates, nuts, rocky road, jams, gifts, etc, etc. It was good to see a decent carpark too for a 7m van. You can feed the alpacas for $5, stay at the Cafe & very soon they will finish constructing farm stay cabins that are well underway. Certainly, a nice place to visit & as EGR stated a great place to stay soon & have chocolate on tap. LOL!!

On our way back, we stopped for 5 minutes, quite near to the vile Ferguson Wind Farm of 3 windmills. I wish I had some dynamite to blow these monstrous useless environmental hazards & killers. The whoosh sound was numbing from these toxic material blades. They suck birdlife in with their wind swirls & are the ultimate in environmental disasters not to mention the 200+ cubic metres of concrete imbedded into the foundation.

When reaching the GOR again we turned back (right turn) toward the 12 Apostles & then took a left turn at the nearby Gibson Steps signage. EGR advised me to put on my thermal under shirt while she wore her heavy wind vest. We sure did need it. The chilly wind was quite strong. Here at this location, again only 2 long vehicle bays but we were lucky to get 1. The Gibson Steps are large steps leading down along the face of the 80ft high cliff face with signage saying cliff faces can collapse at any time without warning so stay close to the ocean & not the cliff. Der!!! But again, some Asians walked along the sand under the cliff face & that was very unnerving for us both to see.

EGR tested the ocean water & came back with “icy cold!!” .. again “der!”. Looking straight out the ocean horizon you are looking straight toward Antarctica & feeling the onshore wind. What else would one expect!! We took some great photos of a few Apostles & it was time to get back to our camp site for an early dinner. Despite all the best plans we are still getting into our respective beds for sleep at 10pm. Alarm set for tomorrow’s big day at 5.30am for sunrise.

Stay safe, happy & hopefully enjoy the photos. Lots more to come.

“Communication … Communication … Talk to each other”. From a song “Kite” on the concert DVD “Go Home” by U2 @ Slane Castle. YouTube has it also.

I always look forward to seeing feedback so don’t be afraid to comment. My next blog/s will be more of the Great Ocean Road where experiences & views will give more reasons to life & of how life changes, & not just for me.

Live life to the most and a quote that I truly love is from Eckhart Tolle .. “If I am not the hero of my life … who in the hell could be?”

Great Ocean Road & Grampians Tour – January 2024 Blog #1

My Great Ocean Road & Grampians Tour – January 2024 Blog #1

First, may I say apologies for the large gap in my travel blog publications. Since 11^th September 2023 to 8^th January 2024 with a few weeks off in-between I did major renovations to my cousin’s house in Coffs Harbour, some 90mins away. There were 2 large decks 4m off the ground that were severely unsafe plus major work needed for the house to sell. So glad that I managed to finish it & still alive. Lol!!

I never thought I had a bucket list of travels but somewhere in my backyard brain I longed to do The Great Ocean Road (GOR) in Victoria at some point. It was only searching my Wyndham Resort Ownership website I found they had returned to offer a Winnebago/ van travel option. Seeing I had enough points I was able to score a 2bed apartment at Wyndham Melbourne, 199 William St for a few days soaking up Melbourne & then obtaining the van for 7days hire. The 2 bed was the only apartment available for the timing required.

These blogs I will be doing on the GOR have a large volume of photos so sit back & enjoy these like I did. I used a platform called Polarsteps on my phone to help with my daily adventures in writing & photos so you may wish to upload & follow me on that too. It’s free. A Netherlands friend put me onto it when I planned their Sydney to Cairns road trip late last year. There is far too much to write about The Great Ocean Road & The Grampians, so it is left up to you to set your own itinerary & be satisfied with what you achieved. It may several tours of this region to accomplish a full in-depth tour of the sights, wineries, events, etc, etc. Such an awesome region of history too. I did my best to research prior, but on my journey, I found useful booklets along the way so if you can get the Travel Planner booklet Edition 4 from www.visitgreatoceanroad.org.au you will find this amazing & of great help in setting your targets. Here’s a map to show the coast road townships & circled places we stayed but first we have a few days in Melbourne before travelling. Melbourne is Victoria’s capital city of some 6Mil people. Melbourne is located in top right of photo map.

With all things confirmed I booked my Virgin flight from Gold Coast Airport, 30 Jan 2024 & this involved leaving Yamba & staying at my son’s place (Matt & Ashlee) at Banora Point where they will drop me off for the plane on their way to work. This made me so early I had to wait many hours for the flight, but I never minded this, for the opportunity to watch people being excited, crying in good-byes & all the other emotions involved in travelling & fewer people checking in … along with a great coffee. Never been one to have a beer prior to flying.

Many years ago, I met a young Australian lady travelling our great country at my cousin’s Backpackers at Yamba, NSW. She was vibrant and gained a front of house job there for quite some time. She loved Yamba & stayed. Like most workers & backpackers we all chatted & got on famously, even with this old bloke. EGR (Privacy respected) eventually left but over time she helped me in providing free travel to a German backpacker, Anita where I was able to take her completely around the Sth Island of NZ in 2017 in a 6berth Winnabago to which she & her parents remain ever grateful. EGR stayed in touch & at some point I ‘helped’ her through some terrible times she was having, albeit by phone. Long story short, EGR, with her parents were travelling in a convoy with EGR doing her own driving with a small A shaped caravan, late in 2023 as her first major test, & she wanted to catchup with me & others at Yamba to show her parents what she experienced in Yamba years ago & to meet me of course.

My initial shock when she walked into the backpackers, now a boutique hotel & micro-brewery, The Wobbly Chook Brewing Company, (post COVID) was EGR had an assistance dog, Duke (Great Dane x Bull Arab) .. Yikes!! That’s a big assistance dog! We had a great chat & The Great Ocean Road trip (GOR) came up & after a while she asked if she could come along & without Duke. She wanted to see if she could cope without Duke & wanted to revisit the GOR she did quite some years ago & would be a great navigator for me too. I said, sure, if you could deal with me. LOL!!! In Mid-January 2024 after a myriad of texts we both confirmed we were ready to go & all flights, etc were booked. Lucky, I originally booked the 2bed apartment prior.

Day 1 of Escape

Back at the airport now & arriving quite early I bag dropped my luggage & proceeded to security where a young Brazilian man was bringing his checked bag through the security & I pulled him up on it just as the security officer stopped him. I took him back around to the bag drop & showed him how to do it through the terminals scattered around on the floor. Nothing was checking out on the terminal pad & was stating baggage closed. He was flying Jetstar, so I immediately began to get the picture. There was a Jetstar counter on the opposite side of the terminal & I explained all to the staff. His flight was almost finished boarding, so they had to rebook him on another flight. He was so thankful for my assistance. Just prior to going to my departure gate he saw me in the crowd & thanked me again, leaving with huge smiles & a wave. He was so relieved to be on his way.

Still in G/Coast & when my boarding call was announced I saw a young lady standing just outside the departure lounge ropes & was wondering seeing her stressed and somewhat anxious. I hope she is all right.

I boarded the 737-800 airbus & obtained a window seat & in 2+hrs arrived in Melbourne Tullamarine with the weather remarkably fine. Melbourne is renowned for having 4 seasons in one day. My friend, EGR from the Sunshine Coast, Qld texted me, for her flight was now cancelled due to a heavy storm. She can’t fly till late tomorrow now. I was reading this text while waiting for my bag pickup on the carousel when I noticed the young lady, mentioned before, standing next to me. I said “Hi” & explained to her my friend just had her flight cancelled so plans have changed somewhat. I asked her about standing outside the ropes at the airport. She was waiting for a standby seat & was so relieved to get one on my flight. I then asked her if her trip to Melbourne was business, or pleasure. She replied “divorce” & started to tear up. With a few words, I was able to ease her pain & regained her smile, with more discussion I offered her a coffee to talk more if that was of help seeing I had been where she was many years prior. I was sure she was going to agree when her phone rang & she had to walk off for privacy. I had my large backpack now off the carousel, but she was still on the phone & walking to the carpark. I would have loved to have had coffee with her & offer my divorce & new life experiences if that is what she would be seeking. It was sad to see her alone in her world.

With EGR delayed I clambered onto the shuttle Skybus (can’t miss them – shiny red) to the Southern Cross Station for $23.80 (no pensioner discount .. arghh!!) a few blocks from my Wyndham resort in the CBD. After checking in, I returned back to the Sthrn Cross Station & scaled the street elevators to see what was behind the wall of buildings on that busy Spencer St. At the top was a large open causeway & open area for pedestrian access to buildings & train lines, plus the enormous Marvel Stadium. This stadium has an operating roof when needed & is so large it has cricket matches here, mainly, 20 & 50over games. There are no events scheduled here at present & there appears to be no internal tours available. I only have memories of TV games played there. After a walkaround EGR sent a list of special food required for her health condition for her arrival tomorrow & Coles food shop was just below on ground floor to make it all well-timed & easy. After shopping & storing the goods into the resort apartment’s fridge, etc I perused the street for dinner & found a Porterhouse Steak meal at Kings St Pub. Steak + 1pint of beer $56.80 thanks very much. Ouch!!! They only served pots or pints, no schooners. The pint cost around $16. Walked overall 9.76klms so that well exceeded my health step daily average of course. Nice 26°C for Melbourne. My 2bed apartment was excellent, such is the normal Wyndham high standard. I took the 2^nd bedroom, so EGR could have the master & ensuite to make it better for her over the next 3 days.

Looking out from the Concourse towards Docklands

Day 2

Woke up at 6am for an early Wyndham owner update which included brekky, coffee & juice. Finally, I had a great update from Wyndham. Best one for years. After that, I headed off for a 2+klm walk to the famous 110,000+ seat MCG stadium tour + Sports Museum Tour (2+hrs). Walked along the Yarra River past Flinders St Station & watched numerous rowing teams on my way. Also encountered the mass dismantling of the Australian Open Tennis setup which had just completed next door to the MCG.

The first things you see are the enormous structure of the stadium & the 6 x 80m light towers & then coming close to several bronze statues of legends, like Shane Warne, Betty Cuthbert & Shirley Strickland to name a few outside of Gate 3 entrance. Whilst the stadium is huge from the outside, it is only when you enter that you realize the playing ground is quite deeper than the surrounding land outside.

A volunteer MCG member was our tour guide & within a few minutes the guide, already frustrated, begged me to keep the group together & flowing, for any wandering or stopping affects the tours of others following us. The tours are only available when there are no events scheduled. The tours of both cost $35 in total on a concession, so they are of great value. Keeping the group together was a huge task & I lost my patience & tolerance particularly on an Indian family who showed utter contempt of keeping together. These Indians were so disgusting, rude, arrogant & my words spoken to them were quite direct & accurate. My blood was boiling!! Worst ever experienced on any tour I had undertaken. Afterwards, the tour guide was so very thankful that I did a great job. He too was very annoyed with them & disgusted with their behaviour.

The tours overall took some 70mins & so much history. In the Sports Museum tour (you are left to wander on your own & time) there is an AI hologram of the famous spinner Shane Warne talking about his career & what cricket meant to him & his history he had in this 10mins viewing. He’s greatly missed in the cricket world & the hologram was so real looking. His children have now set up a great charity to do with the heart.

We walked the hallowed ground of grass at the fence line & to see the wicket being prepared in the centre, but sadly not to see the change rooms, due to no access with cricket between West Indies & Australia in 2 days’ time on a one-day 50s game. The large expanse of grass & wicket pitches in about 2weeks time will be totally covered with a temporary floor for the upcoming Taylor Swift concert where she will play in front of her ever-biggest crowd of some 110,000 people. The grass will then be fully ripped up & replaced in time for the upcoming Aust Rules Football game where there are 3 clubs that share this ground. The wicket pitches are drop-ins so they will be lifted by special machines & replaced with a football drop-in centre pitch.

After the museum, I walked back towards Wyndham resort plus more groceries for EGR arriving much later today. With great timing EGR text me she was minutes away in a black Lexus Uber & will need help with her baggage. She was NOT wrong!!! She brought everything. I asked her where the kitchen sink was? LOL!!

With EGR now settled & very thankful & comfortable in seeing her bedroom & ensuite. A little overwhelmed, I think of providing her so-called ‘special treatment’. Again, we had to get more specialist food & decided on having dinner out as well. Getting back to the apartment EGR had hit the wall & off to bed but we managed to see the pool on the roof area (23rd Floor) & city sites prior. EGR has a low body battery & can’t handle noise, crowds & long conversations due to her brain disability (injury). With my day I had accrued over 20,000 steps or 15.29klms. Definitely, need sleep too & an easier day tomorrow.

Day 3

After a big walk day yesterday & with EGR needing recovery time I found myself waking up at 8.30am & a text from EGR needing to sleep till at least 10.30am. After a half bowl of yoghurt & blueberries I hit the walking pathway again. I found Hardware Lane where numerous coffee shops & restaurants rev backup from the previous night’s surge. Then revisited 333 Collins St to see the awesome historical internal building masterpiece of the general public area & then to Federation Sq/ Flinders St Railway Station.

Reviewing my Google Maps, I noticed Capt James Cook’s cottage was about 1klm away in the magnificent garden area. Cook being a true hero of mine I had to see this. Such a tragedy that he only spent a mere 4yrs at his home with his wife Elizabeth & had 6 children who all died prior to James & Elizabeth & therefore no heirs became of it. This house is a bit confusing, for it was Capt Cook’s father’s house. Purchasing a $7 ticket I was able to enter inside & see how they lived in such mini quarters. This house was built in 1755 for Cook’s father as a reward from his employer after his son James Cook joined the Navy. James Cook never lived in this house. Sir Russell Grimwade in 1933 learnt that the cottage was for sale in Britain. Grimwade then had the cottage dismantled & rebuilt in Melbourne 1934, making it the oldest house in Australia & felt it was worthy for Australia to be gifted this historical home. Inside the small, fenced enclosure volunteers were dressed in historical outfits & provided a commentary to any questions offered. At the side of the cottage is a full garden of vegetables/ herbs grown back then to show what was needed to live well. The rear of the house is the attached stable for the horses. An old-style garage for the transport vehicles. LOL!!!

From there I went past the historical buildings of significance, such as the Dept of Education, Old Treasury Building (now The Melbourne Museum) & finally the large Criminal building .. oops! .. Victoria’s Parliament House. I know I was right the first time!! Corruption at the highest-level prior, during & post COVID & still continuing. Can’t wait for justice on those criminal politicians.

Clockwise from Top Left – Cook’s House Frontage, Cook’s House from Stable End, Old Treasury Building, now Arts Museum, Victoria’s Parliament House (Criminal House more like it).

Taking Bourke St, I ventured on a tram within the free tram zone area where I was now able to meet up with EGR after her sleep in. I literally stepped off to almost fall into her lap on a platform seat. LOL! EGR, letting me know she feels better took me to Degreaves St Mall, then to “The Block Arcade” where there is a strong history of an amazing building & in the early 1800s socialites paraded around for daily communication & recognition. A real snobbery affair each day & was the place to be noticed if you met the grade required. Inside this historic building we had high tea in the most prestigious tea house in Australia called The Tea Rooms 1892. I had coconut, mango & black tea with a Mango mousse cake. Yummo!!! This tea house is always visited by EGR & her parents on their visits to Melbourne & extremely popular with tourists & citizens. EGR was super pleased to shout me this treat & to show me the better parts of Melbourne. We then went to Brunetti’s nearby where massive amounts of cakes; pastries & even pizzas are made. Their displays of their range were beyond belief & very popular for cake & coffee. Such an amazing place.

Walking further past Flinders’ St Station we crossed the 1868 bridge to the 2nd floor of Hamer Hall on Southbank for another city view. The bridge photo has EGR above the centre span sign on her way back to the resort for a much-needed recuperation prior to dinner with her friend later. Good battery management EGR.

Clockwise from Top Left – Flinders St Station Elevation, The Block Arcade, Brunetti’s Frontage, One of Brunett’s Displays, 1868 Bridge (St Kilda Rd Start), Flinders St Station Frontage opposite Federation Square.

I continued to walk Southbank & found Soho Restaurant where I enjoyed beers in Happy Hour till 6pm, great music and watched the hundreds of people walking past & the crazy EV scooters screaming past at a stupid speed & then back to the resort waiting up for EGR who needed to sleep almost as soon as she walked in. A big day for her.

Tomorrow, I have the entire day on my own due to EGR’s appointments with friends & relatives, so will look for more activities & sights.

Day 4

With EGR sleeping in as agreed .. I had the whole day & night to occupy myself. First, I had to cut up the butternut pumpkin & cauliflower after brekky for EGR to make her ‘famous’ mild curry before she meets her friend & later some relatives. EGR has to sleep with earplugs so my cutting up noise wasn’t a problem, although I still kept things as quiet as possible.

Walking down Little Bourke St I stopped at Trim in Hardware St for coffee (very nice) & then walked to Flinders St Railway Station to catch the #38 old tram for a free city tram loop travel. The carriage used is now 101yrs old & certainly travelled like it. 🤣

The p.a had failed so I was left to help a few travellers as I had the Tram Map showing locations & platforms. It was there I met a very young Chinese student who sat next to me & wanted to know our current location & the conversation then expanded considerably with more of her questions about this old man. Her friends stayed a few seats away (shy). Time flew & after her requesting my travelling website blog for her father & some inspirational reading for her, we took some photos as well. My travel website being, https://bhlifestyles.travel.blog All in all, she & her friends ended up doing 1.5 of the city loops (about 50mins) with me before she could alight, such was our conversations. She was such great company & thankful for my friendship.

For myself, I eventually did 2.5loops & with that, helped 2 very location confused American ladies who were so grateful in getting them to alight correctly. At the same time, I helped a Korean family to alight at their stop. I should get paid by Vic Transport; I think.

Getting off at Flinders Station it was time for a beverage so after a few choices I eventually found myself at Brunetti’s again for a pastry, surprisingly called Escargo .. found it was a scroll but the swirls resembled a snail .. whew!! & a great Lavazza coffee. I thought the pastry was a typical coffee scroll but no coffee, just smears of vegemite … a bit weird & definitely, not sweet. I settled down to do my computer ‘stuff’ on one of their large high tables (such a great spot) & then wandered around the streets & later had a health smoothie in Degreaves St. Such a cruisey day.

After seeing a fair bit of Melbourne, I was wondering what I can now fit it on my last sightseeing day. Doing a 360° I saw a neon sign stating Australia are playing the West Indies in a day/ night (50over cricket game) at the MCG today starting at 2pm. With another 2klms of walking I bought a General Admission ticket for $23 at Gate 3, so glad I did the MCG tour days earlier, so I knew where I was going, etc. I watched an entertaining game for quite a few hours but reluctantly, yet responsibly had to get back to my resort for dinner & to do my washing & drying ready for the Great Ocean Rd tour tomorrow & to assist EGR if required upon her return. Australia’s Capt Steve Smith came into bat just when I left & I missed his great innings. Bummer!!! Australia did win comfortably in the end.

For dinner, I funnily found myself back at Trim restaurant. Food was sensational. Upon leaving & almost back to the resort I found that I had lost my treasured well-travelled water bottle slipping out of my backpacks side pocket, so I retraced my steps to no avail. I was very attached to that water bottle I took to several countries. With so many people following me, not one person even bothered to advise me of my dropped bottle. I guess, that is Melbourne & city people. Thoughtless & detached.

I managed to do my laundry & completed some tasks just before EGR returned from her relatives visit. She was excited but now so worn out it may be a struggle to get away at the right time tomorrow. She had accomplished so much today. Tomorrow will be a full day too. All in all, I did 9.74klms today of walking so it’s sleep time for me too. Next blog will be the start of the Great Ocean Road, so stay tuned.

Stay safe, happy & hopefully enjoy the photos. Lots more to come.

“Communication … Communication … Talk to each other”. From a song “Kite” on the concert DVD “Go Home” by U2 @ Slane Castle. YouTube have it also.

Live life to the most and a quote that I truly love is from Eckhart Tolle .. “If I am not the hero of my life … who in the hell could be?”

My Vietnam Launch – Chung’s Jungle Tour Day 3 – 2018 Backpacking

Chung (Choong) & I are riding through the real Vietnam and very few people get to see what I am privileged to do with Mr Chung Phan & a huge thank you to the people of Vietnam & Chung, for today we are riding from Gia Nghia to Di Linh!!! This trip is 112klms but will take us almost 3hrs of riding, not including the stops & involves mountain terrain, mud crossings, etc, so hang on!

Waking up from a well-earned night’s sleep, very hot shower & getting used to being a pillion passenger I thought I would get my act together & be early for Chung … but alas, I had that Chung look .. haha .. greeting me at the front steps with my helmet at the ready. Chung chuckled with his subtle “hurry up.” LOL!!! Today is yet another rainy day in glorious high country of Vietnam. My bike clothes almost dried out overnight, but I can manage for a while until I can get some laundry done.

FYI … when I started backpacking in Cambodia (early April 2018) in the high heat & humidity, changes to my food intake and continuing this through to Vietnam I noticed I had lost a lot of my body toxins in the first month of Cambodia and my clothes rarely smelt of body odour. Along with that I had lost a bit of body fat too and down to around 70kgs which no doubt helped Chung & his scooter. I consider myself to be very fit for my age & health wasn’t a present issue to me however I became acutely aware in what I chose to eat & drink after getting diarrhea very early into my travels.

We had a latish breakfast on a roadside café Chung recommended. Not my usual western cereal so you can see in the photo what we normally have in a Chung breakfast. One must always eat what the locals eat but avoid washed vegetables & the like as the water is not as clean. Chung mentioned we are only doing 110klms today but at times a little challenging. He would not divulge any further so now my anxiety starts to work a little with trepidation.

Our first stop for the day is at the local market and I said to Chung “it’s not a good look straight after breakfast,” as a lot was not to my liking. Live eel, frogs, dog, boar, catfish, chickens, geese, duck, etc. Some killing is done on site & temporarily hung up to bleed out & dry. Not for everyone in seeing this so I didn’t upload any photos. While perusing the market, I looked back at Chung talking & laughing with some ladies at their stalls. Yes, he’s at it again. He had me married to 3 of the women already & was still promoting his new Aussie friend. He’s wicked sometimes. Lol!! To get out of it in all manners I had to take it all onboard … in the end the women couldn’t stop laughing & enjoying the banter and we certainly brightened their day. A very warm good-bye was had by all.

Next stop up the road was a memorial park where both Vietnam & USA military equipment was displayed in permanent mountings. There are a lot of these memorial parks in Vietnam and so much military equipment restored & displayed such was the enormous impact of a civil & then international war. Whilst travelling throughout Vietnam I had numerous occasions where I didn’t experience, I was travelling in a communist country, such was the warmth of the Vietnamese people. I felt totally comfortable & much so with Chung in my presence doing this outback jungle tour.

After a while I sensed we were still climbing in elevation & not long into our Day 3 trip the road became very winding with tight corners & steep inclines. A couple of road-side stops provided a fantastic outlook into the wilderness, seeing the mountainous ranges, large lakes, and the coffee & rice plantations on almost every available land available, not to mention the volcanic rich red soil.

Riding through the landscape of nature we came across a café clearly out of the blue & quite surprisingly. Chung obviously knew it was there due to the many years of providing this tour for he quickly turned left & parked. The timing was perfect for another Vietnamese coffee, mid-morning. Well-planned Chung. This café had the usual tables but also provided magnificent hammocks to further lounge in. Chung was in full recovery mode I think for the hammock was quickly seized upon after ordering our coffee, etc. This stop provided a longer than usual break in the travels & Chung had a little power nap on his much-preferred hammock. I had my hammock but how can one sleep doing such an exciting journey through the backwaters of Vietnam. I also found out the lake I had seen earlier was actually the backup water of the Dong Nai River & the Vung Nguy Dam, built in just 2years (2008-10) which this café was adjacent to. I guess the café originated when the dam was being built & stayed opened after. The river separates the Dal Nong & Lam Dong providences.

With a sense of recovery over, Chung pushed for the continuation of our journey. It was not long after I could see why Chung had his rest, for we are now trial bike riding down the dam track in front of the 100m high dam wall on a real trail bike bush track. Hang on tight, this is challenging! Reaching the bottom of this valley I could see the ‘creek’ of water slowly ‘leaking’ from the dam or from last night’s rain. Despite the water we are now encountering a lot of slimy mud to both sides of the water. Chung yells out “hang on!!” … I was already doing this!!!

With both legs raised I still couldn’t avoid the water or the mud .. but I was so pleased with all the mud scrambling & motor bike engine screaming we managed to get to the other side without falling over & scrambling up the steep hillside. What a challenge & was lucky to get a photo of the dam wall close by & was truly amazed at Chung’s bike skills. My anxiety peaked knowing how much water was behind the dam wall & hoping it was structurally sound & being in such a quick construction timeframe. It is definitely not a fun place to be in front of a sea of water. Vietnam do not allow the public to traverse any dam wall (walking, riding, driving). The dam is totally out of bounds to all except the military & the like. They treat dams & the like as national security.

Just after the dam, we called into a small jungle village with a shop of almost everything & some really weird items. One part of the shop was dedicated to natural medicines, like snakes, bark, Ginseng, seeds, fungi, etc. They had a 4L jar of snake wine with a cobra & a green snake (turned blue in wine). This bottle of intense imagery was selling for $700USD!!! Yikes!! Next stop was a minority poor village and the population mainly relocated from Sapa (NW of Hanoi) from my earlier blogs & such an amazing place near the Chinese border. They were easily recognisable with their national costumes of everyday dress. The children were so cute and friendly. I wonder how they are now in today’s global climate of post-covid, etc. I was deeply honoured to be shown a typical house with full communal living & a kitchen of sorts & laundry at the rear. Large sleeping flat beds. When exiting I was greeted by 13 beautiful children so excited to see a strange old man from another country. So many kids in the one place & I was equally thrilled in getting them into a photo.

Just up the road we inspected a tea factory. Here, 8 women were sorting the dried tea leaf & removing the stems from the pile. This sorting is done by hand to enable the pure tea leaf to be bagged in 73kg bags and sent to the main markets including those in Ho Chi Minh. The young men enter the factory off their jungle bikes with today’s cuttings which are put into the shredder, then boiling pot & then steam dried & sieved in a 4-bay sieve & in time ready for the ladies to do their hand sorting.

Moving on, we pulled over to view the new $200Mil USD Chinese Bauxite Aluminium factory. This factory juts out of the landscape & one wonders how this was even contemplated in this region. A few kilometres up the road we came across a very impressive Catholic Church newly constructed but not fitted out as yet. This church was amazing to see in such a regional area but of course the nearby township with the factory workers & the like to warrant such a church of this standing and obviously there is money coming into the area.

Without much ado our hotel was the next & final stop & I was keen to get my clothes dried as quick as possible for tomorrow & to repack them dry, but I soon found this to be too much of a challenge. The hot shower was a true blessing, but the room was in very poor condition. This hotel was not Chung’s first preference, so we had to settle for this hotel & he was keen to provide them feedback upon our departure. With most Vietnam hotels it is mandatory you provide your passport for keeping in their safe in case the Police do a drop in search. There is no way to avoid this, so it takes a lot for me to hand mine over & so relieved to get it back first before we provided our feedback.

I’ll end this Day 3 blog here, so stay safe, happy & hopefully enjoy the photos and kick this ongoing COVID-19 & the more-vile vaccines back into history. Stay tuned for the last Jungle Tour Day blog on my amazing 4day ‘Chung Jungle Tour’ travelling to Mui Ne (Moonay).

“Communication … Communication … Talk to each other”. From a song “Kite” on the concert DVD “Go Home” by U2 @ Slane Castle. YouTube have it also.

Thank you again for reading my blogs and I trust you will stay safe, happy & healthy for 2023 and for it to be a far better year for all. I do not receive any commissions &/or ‘perks’ from the above nominated businesses & locations as I am purely happy to provide the acknowledgement and connection.

I always look forward to seeing the feedback so don’t be afraid to comment. My next blog/s will be more of the amazing Vietnam experiences and quite a few were life changing, & not just for me.

Live life to the most and a quote that I truly love is from Eckhart Tolle ..

“If I am not the hero of my life … who in the hell could be?”

My Local Travels – Pokolbin NSW Journey – 2023

My Local Travels – Pokolbin Journey, Hunter Valley NSW – 21-27^th May 2023

Last year I made a concerted effort to start booking some Australian travel sites via my Club Wyndham Resorts but forgot to follow on with more as most booking must be made almost 13months in advance. This is mainly due to Australians not travelling overseas as much & booking out just about every resort which is very problematic. I have the feeling some Wyndham owners are booking multiple sites and then picking only one for that time period.

Anyway, I’ve managed to travel to Sydney, Airlie Beach/ Whitsundays if you have read my travel blogs of late. Come May 2023, I managed to get a Club Wyndham Associate Resort (not a full-blown Wyndham Standard) that is like a partial leased arrangement called Wyndham Pokolbin. The site location is called Leisure Inn Pokolbin Hill where there are 64 units (32 duplexes) scattered through a typical Australian timberland. Most trees have been kept to give it that bush setting aesthetics. To start things off we must get the village name correct as the locals take real umbrage on any mispronunciation. Here goes … Po .. Cole .. bin. Easy .. Haha.

The journey by my trusted ute from my hometown of Yamba @ 8.30am start is mostly 550klms, 5hrs 45mins of dual lane motorway driving however I wanted to catch up with a slightly older cousin on my father’s side I hadn’t seen much of, let alone his wife. They live near Taree which is a fraction above halfway and some 25mins out of Taree, off the highway called Wingham. It took me 4hrs & 20mins to reach their home. They were happy to see me & before long I had spent 3.5 great hours catching up. He certainly liked the “Yamba Ale” cans I delivered from our cousin’s micro-brewery, Wobbly Chook Brewing Company at Yamba.

Back on the road at 4.30pm & with more fuel needed I reached Pokolbin at 7.10pm, in the dark. This is not a fun place to arrive in the dark. I was using the GPS on my phone but as “luck” had it, a car with insane bright lights came quickly up on me (I was at the correct speed) & I lost the vision indicating my turnoff. Arghh!!! There was no avenue for a ‘U’ turn so I had to travel some 2klms before another turnoff presented me. The GPS indicated it was doing a large circle back to my target so I kept driving along a narrow country road, watchful for kangaroos & the like. I was getting nearer to the resort’s entrance on a divided road when another car with high beam came up behind me & the status quo was achieved again. With no return available I found myself on the same long run-around as before (another lap). Some 15mins later I was back near the entrance again, so I pulled over & expanded the GPS vision. The entrance was on the other side of the divided road & it showed me a roundabout I could do a ‘U’ turn on. Yay!! I finally made it.

No after-hours reception so I had to use the site lock box for my unit key. With that being successful I now had to find my duplex unit down towards the lake. Everything is so dark. I parked my car & walked around along pathways, much like a robber until I found my unit being the furthest way. My strong advice is to get to the resort before dark.

Being a sole traveller in a studio suite it didn’t take me long to settle in, once I fixed the batteries in the remote of the air conditioner. It’s bloody cold tonight (about 4°C) & the setting too far from being comfortable. This trip is of no agenda like my Sydney & Airlie Beach stays. It is a location I hadn’t been around since the 1970’s and in the hinterland (no beach), little townships & in Winter a colder climate which massively promoted a growing winery industry. Some of these wineries are huge, state of the art in layout and seriously tourism focussed. I hadn’t seen wineries like this since I visited the famous Margaret River region South of Perth in Western Australia.

My plan, if it was known as that, was to see the local area, stay overnight at a ‘cousin’s’ home in Parkville some 90mins drive away North of the township of Scone (not pronounced sconn) mid-week & then on Friday hit the wineries. Arriving on a Sunday, there is little happening at wineries so it would be best to wait till the Friday when more places are open. Most wineries gear up for the Friday & weekend rush of venturers from Sydney & Newcastle, etc.

My ‘cousin’ was believed real growing up, but on a technical note, his mum & my mum were schoolfriends for life & we lovingly called her aunty & it all started from there. We did so much together until they relocated to Scone on a Quarter horse stud when we were all still in late Primary School.

The first few days I drove around, heavily using my GPS, for this region really challenges me in a geographical sense. My head compass seems to be failing badly. LOL! Close to my resort along Broke Rd, I found Hunter Valley Gardens which has a wide selection of amenities, boutique shopping village, golf course, restaurants, wedding chapel, playground, picnic areas & so much more. A great review showed Taste of Country as a wonderful café within the shopping circle. It certainly was a real taste of country. Blankets even for those that wanted to sit outside when it gets chilly. The photo shows a wall full of animal clocks from a local artist as just some of the wares on sale mounted in every possible spare space. For the golf course they had a unique driving range using the large lake adjacent to the clubhouse. They must use golf balls that float .. LOL!

After my cafe coffee pickup & viewing the grounds of the expansive Hunter Valley Gardens I ventured into the next major town, Cessnock some 10mins drive away and visited a café (twice now in 2 days) for food management). Arthur’s is a great café & well worth visiting twice. When in a region I always seek a lookout point to get my view of the land, so I used Google Maps & read the local lookouts and chose Lookout Point, SE of Cessnock and another 30klms away from the resort. The comments were positive, and a few stated a good 2wheel drive vehicle could conquer the gravel road and then there would be a short walk up. Well, I found the turnoff straight onto the gravel road and this quickly diminished to a vehicle track of sorts where I had to play it really safe. I was still confident as I have driven on worse tracks before.

Quite some klms into the track it was getting much worse and when I looked over the bonnet on a serious giant natural ‘speed hump,’ I was presented with a full width water puddle and lots of wet clay & serious deep tyre ruts. That’s it, driving terminated!! With previous track knowledge I always took note of turning areas and stable off-road areas when driving these tracks. Reversing is not fun, for the next available area to park/ turn around was about 50m back; but myself & my ute made it after a 4point turn. Being determined and still enough daylight I locked the ute and headed up the track. Reaching another large ‘lagoon’ over the road I took notice I had walked some 30mins from the ute and still there appeared to be a much higher track to take. With great reluctance and a strong will to manage myself effectively I returned back to my ute and rolled out to the bitumen road and headed back to my resort just in time for the darkness to set in. At least I had an adventure & adrenalin of sorts, so all is good. Can’t believe I didn’t take any photos.

Tuesday (2^nd day) I headed due East towards New South Wales 2^nd largest city, Newcastle on the coast to venture out again on another well scripted lookout called Mount Sugarloaf where several major communication towers are located. This was a far better access lookout and bitumen all the way & a reasonable carpark near the top. This lookout was first noticed by Ltn Cook on his voyage in discovering Australia’s east coast in 1770. His map notation was in naming it in reference to a hat (its shape from the sea) but it is now unknown why & when it was ever renamed Mount Sugarloaf.

Scaling up the steeper roadway (council vehicles only) & steps I noticed 3 young girls sitting out on a large boulder out into the landscape, obviously been there a while & chatting quietly not noticing us walkers behind them. Can you see them in the photo? I could smell the ‘weed’ in the air but obviously, not a concern to them in their world. Hope they were talking on where their lives were heading. Walking up the donated steel staircase constructed by apprentices a few decades ago, a faded plaque mounted on a large boulder stated it was erected to commemorate the first ever recorded snowfall on this lookout on 18^th July 1969, so it does get even colder here & so close to the coast. Obviously, it has snowed here many times over the centuries but aboriginals had no record keeping in their dreamtime. On top of the lookout there is a well-made compass table showing nearby towns and compass points which was very handy & again proved my head compass was a very long way out. Adjacent to this small monument was a major survey datum point where all surveying for the greater Newcastle area is taken from.

My view from this lookout was the greater Newcastle area with the massive export terminal for coal, etc & with barge & container tankers entering the world’s largest coal port to the left side of the photo. This port also handles grain, wood chips and many other resources besides coal. A massive terminal. Central to the photo is the Newcastle CBD and to the right side, the suburbs for the general population & looking South in the direction of Sydney. Lucky, I brought my binoculars to bring everything into clarity. I passed these around to other lookers to their appreciation.

Some 10mins drive towards Newcastle I had another cousin living there, so I contacted her in case I could do a surprise visit. Unfortunately, she was fighting a good dose of the flu so a visit was definitely out to further protect her low immunity. Our phone call was a wonderful 42mins though. After this, I found myself back in Cessnock & ordering Chili Eggs from Arthur’s Cafe before heading back to my resort.

Wednesday was now the trip to Parkville, North of Scone to see my ‘cousin’ GW I spoke of earlier. The road trip was some 115klms, so not too far & I had the brief glimpses of 2 very large coal fired power stations I will discuss a bit later. Arriving at his small acreage property GW had hardly changed since we last saw each other, decades ago. It was just like a ‘yesterday.’ His wife, RW, arrived a little later from social tennis. Within seconds the communication opened to all things, almost at once with hardly a breath taken from either of us. LOL! So much catching up to do. I surprised them with some winery chocolates and a jar of yummy Beetroot Relish as they both don’t drink alcohol. The best chocolate winery is Hunter Valley Chocolate Company @ Twenty-3-Twenty Winery. They had everything from fudge, jams, relish, & nibblies that go with wine drinking. A must-see enterprise. Photos are discouraged inside the premises.

GW was keen to show me his land, 2 horses and where his mum lived in a little homestead house just up on the hill behind his house on another property allotment. Parkville is really an area of some 20 or so houses & land, so it’s quite tiny & really a dot on the map. GW spent a considerable time trying to explain me how he bought the land off owners and the local council and sorting out the allotments of his 10acres. His home he constructed actually sits directly onto the previously surveyed council street. Back then, the council was open to people owning street land if the adjoining neighbours agreed & suited the immediate area. At the rear of his property, you can still see where the original street alignment is still in view, albeit in rural grass and fence lines. Weird, hey?

When that education was finished, he drove me around to Middlebrook Rd, past the Colony Stud (now called Willow Park Stud) where the family managed a Quarter horse stud for more than 2 decades. I last saw this property in 1974. This stud had the first 4 quarter horses for breeding from the USA. Mescal was my favourite & he lived a long life (29yrs I believe). The long white ranch house was still impressive in the forefront of a mountain immediately behind it. Driving further along the road we came to Rossgold Lookout, 531m (1744ft). This was a great lookout showing the landscape far beyond.

In the far background looking South you can see the massive coal quarries that are spread over several square kilometres and creating a quarry haze to the skyscape. In this haze I could just make out the large coal fired power stations of Bayswater & Liddell. Due to the Federal Government’s current stupidity of reduced emissions, net zero crap, Liddell closed down some 10days ago & is now being totally demolished. This power icon provided some 23% of our base load electrical supply with nothing now provided for a satisfactory replacement. Pure insanity. The government is relying on the ridiculous & environmental bastardry renewables of wind/ solar to pick up this missing load. These renewables are contributing to just 12% productivity to the load required and is intermittent & not of base power capability, so don’t get me started on our government’s treasonous energy policy. I strongly urge for the sensible & practical nuclear energy if we are not using our abundant world’s best & cheapest coal & infrastructure. Federal & State Government treason. Simple.

Look at the Horizon for Power Stations & Coal Mine Quarries

In the landscape, GW roughly pointed out various large racehorse studs, some we get to drive past. You could smell the dollars involved. Scone is the horse capital of NSW and some very expensive horses reside here and are breeders. It is also a sheep & dairy capital too. It was a shame to see the landscape so dry & so quick from all the recent rains this year. After the drive, we ventured out to the local clubhouse in Scone for dinner to take the load off RW & the fuss of my visit.

For Thursday, GW & I drove out across the Hunter River through a little village of Aberdeen, past the very famous Godolphin, Newgate & Arrowfield Horse Studs to Glenbawn Dam. It holds water some 23klms upstream from its dam head of what appears to be around 40m or so high concrete wall. I always get nervous when you drive in front of the dam wall, trusting it is still structurally sound & not leaking. I did this to a more stressful experience on a motorbike in the ‘jungle’ of West Vietnam scaling down to cross a creek & muddy terrain, then up the other side. Vietnam do not allow anyone to travel across on any dam wall. Glenbawn Dam provides lots of sailing and motor boat/ skiing, etc activities. This dam created Lake Glenbawn resource is so critical to the whole region & even provides the water for the Bayswater Power Station as well. Liddell was fed by a self-filling natural water source forming a lake adjacent to the power station so that was a massive blessing, particularly in times of drought. Later on, we drove along the New England Hwy to the North through the township of Wingen & turned right soon after to view Burning Mtn.

This Burning Mtn is quite a phenomenon. It was discovered in 1828 & interpreted as a volcano. From the parking area it is a casual track walk through the bush for some 12mins. Research over the years, showed it was a slow burning of a coal seam most likely from a lightning strike some 6,000yrs ago near the Pages River, about 6klms further North. The burning creeps along underground about 1mtre per year heading South. The heat line served the warmth of Eastern Grey kangaroos & local Aborigines over the centuries. Even the good population of Wedged-Tailed Eagles use the thermal air currents for their prey surveillance. We managed to find many thermal openings where you could definitely feel the heat generated. This current area has the burning seam some 30m below. At times when the cold air meets the crack openings it can generate a blast furnace effect creating some temps up to 1700C. This effect can split rock formations through explosions as per one of the photos. Deep turrets are created and the landscape is killed off on trees & vegetation until the burning moves sufficiently along its course. The burning creates a strong Sulphur smell & sinter cooling gases creating a solid white ‘rock’ on the surface. This is quite an amazing attraction. The cold seam at times is quite some kilometres below the surface so it is not economically viable to cut off the burning section and mine the rest of the coal. Too much overburden to add to the expense as well. This park area accommodates, picnics, camping and school excursions & worth the visit & dodging the stupid barrier Parks Management put in place.

With some daylight available, GW took me the back way along Middlebrook Rd, past Cressfield Rd intersection, travelling North to a National Park Area called Washpool Picnic & Camping Area. Adjacent to this is the Towarri National Park.

This Washpool area is quite unique and wonderful to witness. It is a beautiful well-kept area & a very nice picnic & camping area. Walking past the camping grounds along the road to enter the meandering creek of the Washpools, GW was keen to show me another natural phenomenon. Many years ago, the sheep farmers would herd their flock to this area and wash dip the sheep prior to shearing. This creek has a natural stone carving of a channel which forms a long tub, capturing the sheep to swim to the end and be gathered & eventually herded to the shearing sheds further away with much cleaner wool to shear.

The water today is beyond crystal clear. I’ve never seen water so clear. You could see rocks & gravel on the creek bed with no trouble at all. GW stated the water flow was much deeper in previous years, & also after rainfall. At some point in time someone has put in small rock weirs so not sure exactly what for. My photos unfortunately do not show how marvellous this part of water nature is. To walk further up the stream, we would be walking onto private property so we returned back to the vehicle for home. Once home I was able to show GW some of my pics of travelling & a few of my 60 or so travel blogs on my website https://bhlifestyles.travel.blog .. just keep scrolling to find them all.

With daylight fast running out I reluctantly had to say good-bye to G&RW & head back to Pokolbin, arriving well into the night, but I was never negative about that. It was such a great 2 days & night.

Friday, waiting for the 11am start for most wineries to open & before the cold windy rain started, I headed off to Peppers Creek Winery first, for a great coffee at the onsite Enzo Café and an adjacent winery store, Charteris Wines, meeting another retiree behind the counter showing me some great wines I had to buy for some friends. The other shops there were showing some quite expensive wares, including Alpaca millinery, etc. I was advised to venture to Brokenwood Winery for some Tawny port which there is very little of in this Shiraz region. A lot of wineries have specialty shops associated in their locations, so it surely gives a viewer more to see.

Brokenwood Winery was just up the road & when the doors opened, I was very impressed with the appearance of its amenities & fit out. After scouring all the display cases and the like I finally found the Tawny at one of the bottom shelves along with a Cricket Pitch wine (Cav Sav, Semillon, Merlot) for a great price. This is a very impressive winery and some of their wines were insanely expensive collectable items in display cases. Some bottles were up to 1.5litres, hence the added price tag & several OMGs! They have a great corporate function area with private sampling rooms and within their cask warehouse they were setting up for their next wine range launch (Graveyard) the next day, which has to be super impressive as well with my vision of what they are putting together.

After my wine purchase I had to make a run for the car as the rain was getting very heavy. So glad to get back to the resort to dry out & get the heated air-con going. For dinner I headed out to Harrigan’s Tavern just down the Broke Rd around the corner which is a bistro & beer tavern, etc and quite popular but with nothing else happening there (no live music, etc) I returned to the resort & prepared for a quick departure at 5am. I was keen to get back to Grafton to purchase a great gift for my daughter and grandchildren I had arranged earlier. Postage will probably hurt sending it to them. LOL!

My Brother, Rod with another brother, Kerry & my eldest son, Scott in the background

Back home safe after nearly 6hrs of driving and thinking of my youngest brother Rod’s passing anniversary date 28^th May 2017 as well, along with his memorial swim at his favoured Miami Beach Surf Club in Qld. Miss him so much .. I take him along on all my travels .. forever hearing his quick wit of sarcastic humour .. especially when I do something stupid or wrong. LOL!!! Will have a scotch for him tonight.

I’ll end this blog here for any comments to follow and return to my further travel blogging of my amazing Vietnam backpacking travels with my Vietnamese friend, Chung Phan. Take care, stay healthy and safe. Cheers.

BH Life Travels

Travelling as a mature male, noticing life & leaving miniature footprints on Earth

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Days 1 & 2

Day 2

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Great Ocean Road/ Grampians Tour – February 2024 – Blog #4

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Great Ocean Road & Grampians Tour – January 2024 Blog #2

Great Ocean Road & Grampians Tour – January 2024 Blog #1

My Vietnam Launch – Chung’s Jungle Tour Day 3 – 2018 Backpacking

My Local Travels – Pokolbin NSW Journey – 2023