Foster / Wilsons Promentary

20th January When we first left the flat at 9am the temperature had already hit 30C and we were very glad that today was a travel day. After the tiresome routine of packing up we wacked up the aircon and headed west. We stopped at the first town we came to due an odour from the back of the car and as we opened the car doors the heat was unbelieveable. We now had a new record for the trip at 41C but it felt even hotter than that - so hot it was hard to breath. After changing Charlie's nappy, throwing away his shorts and washing his shoes in MacDonalds' loos we hid from the heat in KMart for an hour. Isaac bought a pair of Redback style jackeroo boots that he is very proud of.

We wound our way along Princes Highway to Sale feeling adventurous with the Sav Nav switched off and then turned southwest on the South Gippsland Highway to Foster. Foster is a small town but looks as though it will be interesting to browse. We picked up some basic provisions including a new book for Al (for Robin: Nevin Shute, So Disdained) and then found the sign for Stockyard Creek Cottages.

Wattle Cottage was exactly what we had hoped; a slightly ramshackle old house reminscent of childhood visits to grandparents. On a smallholding and quite a long way from anywhere it is beautifully quiet and very very dark at night.

We had a walk around the land and there was a moment of excitment when Charlie spotted an elephant but it turned out to be an alpacca.

Everything is on a very steep slope which actually makes walking quite difficult.

The boys found a playhouse while Al went to see if Stockyard Creek was fishable, which it wasn't.

In the evening we jumped back into to try and drive the kids to sleep. This proved to be a long journey but we saw some great scenery a lot of which reminded us of the West Country.

There are so few cars (and people) out here that when you did see one they always wave which makes the place seem very friendly.

21th We woke to a very pleasant morning that had none of the previous day's vicious heat. There was a fairly slow getaway as were all feeling very relaxed in our country hideaway and the horse needed some grass etc etc. After a quick game of "Pants on Ya Head" we were on our way.

The Prom (Wilson's Promonade) was a 45 min driving away and after a brief stop for ham sandwiches we paid our 10 bucks and entered. It is not your common or garden variety national park but a full on 50,000 hectares of rainforest covered mountains and dramatic coastline and as we drove to the visitors' centre it was hard to know which way to look. We picked up the walking guides and an iridescent beetle that looked like it would make good fishing bait which was carefully wrapped in loo paper and stuffed in Isaac's pocket for safe keeping.

Lilly Pilly Gully Nature Walk did not start well as Charlie was hysterically tired and refusing to go in the buggy but we eventually managed to force him in and with sobs echoing off the world's most southerly rainforest we walked for about 3km into gradually darker and cooler vegetation. At the end was a boardwalk loop that took us over some protected marshland and serious mosquito habitat. Rachel was doing a good job of keeping them off the rest of us until a motherly type took pity and lent her some spray.

On the return leg we stopped to view a hideyhole that Isaac had found that was actually quite spooky inside.

At this point we noticed that the iridescent beetle was now riding on Isaac's shoulder and closer inspection showed that he had eaten a neat hole through his wrapping to escape. He was re-captured and secured in a raison box.

Further up the path we were warned of a large snake that was lying near the track at which point Isaac hopped in the buggy and told Mummy and Daddy that they had to be brave! (but we didnt see it).

Norman Beach is the only one recommended for swimming within the park and immediately went near the top of our all time favourites. A crescent shaped beach about a mile long and, as we arrived at low tide, a good breadth of sand. The best bit though were the "swimming pools" left behind by the outgoing tide which the sun had warmed to bath temperature - and the boys loved them. Happily in the water up to their necks they would have stayed for hours if we hadn't dragged them away. After steak sandwiches (with a fried egg on top of course) we headed home and on route saw our first wild wombat. It looked like an over grown guinea pig and trotted spritely across the road - quite unlike the fat, comatose ones we had seen in the zoo.

22nd Al put his favorite Bruce Sprinsteen album on and we all had a major air guitar session before breakfast.

We had passed the turn off for Agnes Falls on the way in to Foster and decided to investigate hoping that it would be a little less oppressively hot up in the hills. We stopped in Foster on route and as what got out of the car an older man shouted out "You must be Poms!" which we conceded. It turns out that you are only allowed to park on your own side of the road. There is such a lot of Australia to park on but so many restrictions - often in the middle of nowhere the only visible sign of humanity is a No Parking sign. The man and his wife were very pleasant and he had come out from Tunbridge Wells 40 years before.

We drove through some beautiful countryside and saw very few cars. We had a brief picnic during which we were beset with flies which have really been a problem in the last few days and are driving us nuts. Isaac and Charlie then settled down to some fishing but Charlie was a little impatient and took Rachel off to find the falls.

At this point a major dry thunderstorm errupted right on top of us with earsplitting lightening strikes very nearby. Al reckoned that the very worst place to be during lightening was standing on top of a hill, amongst very tall gum trees holding a 8' fishing rod and it was fairly hairy for a few minutes as there really was nowhere to go. Al & Isaac ran to find the others and then got within 50 metres of the car when the rain started and by the time we reached it we were absolutely drenched through.

As drove out of the hills the level of destruction that the storm had left was impressive. There were trees and branches down everywere and our road was down to one carriageway in several places. We passed 2 fire engines that were on their way to lightening fires.

Bright sunshine had followed the storm and the air was much clearer now so we went for a swim. Isaac is now quite happy paddling around on his own with various bouyancy aids and Charlie went solo for the first time.

In the evening we went to a local pantomime titled Bush Magic. The queuing in its self was a performance and seems to have developed into a local artform to test ones cunning and aggression. The show was based around some city kids who were left on their own on a farm, went walkabout and got lost. They discovered that the bush animals could talk and would help them. The best bit was a couple of big hairy graziers dressed up as cows singing about the inadequecy of their once a year relationship with the bull. Lines like "My poor fresian heart, I wonder if I'll hiefer see him again!"

It was good fun but suffice to say we left at the interval.

23rd January. We had a great cooked breakfast to start the day. Australia has mastered bacon with rashers that are twice the size of ours and cover both the back and belly streaky sections and they cook without heamoraging indeterminate white gunk.

The 3 boys gathered the scraps and went in search of the farm chooks but unfortunately they'd had an encounter with a well dressed gentlemen with sandy coloured whiskers and were now ex-chooks. Charlie is currently fascinated by what different animals eat but could not persuade the dog to eat our left-over brocolli.

Rachel had heard that Walkerville beach was excellent which was clarified by our host to South Walkerville and so was chosen for todays adventures. Half way there we noticed that we were low on fuel so we had to turn off to Tarwin Lower which proved to be a long detour and we arrived with only 7km showing left in the tank. Eventually arriving, the beach did not quite live up to the billing but we found a quiet corner and ate our picnic. Before long the boys had befriended an 18 month girl and were playing ball with her quite sweetly. Soon afterwards the mother appeared and said that she had 3 boys and had never seen young boys sharing so well - fortunately she was facing Al and not able to see Charlie garotting her daughter with his hat string in order to retreive the ball.

The 3 boys had great fun running sprint races across the beach. By modifying the levels of head start given to Charlie and then Isaac we managed to make them very competitive. "Do you know why I am faster than you Dad? Because I have got more puff!" Indesputable.

Both Wattle cottage and this corner of Victoria were lovely and we could have spent a lot more time here.

Snowy Mountains

13th We woke to beautiful morning and thought it would be a good day to explore a little of the lake. We hired a motor boat and chugged out of our inlet onto the lake.

Isaac took charge of the throttle which he kept firmly at warp speed apart from the occasional flip to full reverse.

It was great fun speeding around in our very noisy boat. There was a large island that we went to investigate. It was hot and rocky and felt very snakey but was deserted and exciting to explore.

There was a memorial for a 10yo boy made from skate boards.

The bed of the lake seemed to be granite so it was very clean and clear and ideal for cooling off - especially as we had hit 35C by mid morning.

We had a very enjoyable hour just splashing around and the boating experience went straight into our "best bits of the trip"list.

After a brief lunchtime rest we went west into the Koziosco National park. This area is famous (in Australia) for its skiing but actually a small percentage is given over to piste with the rest being forested mountians with some great bush walks. We stopped at Thredbo - the premier resort - and went for a short walk to a swimming hole in a stream. It was very picturesque and impressively cold being melt water from the mountain top ice. We all paddled but Rach was the only one brave enough to get in fully.

Afterwards we went for a walk through the forests to dry.

As we drove out of Thredbo the buildings were mostly Alpine styled.

14th After the success of yesterday's boat trip we decided to take out a canoe today. It was a triple and with the boys installed in the middle seat we headed off to the other side of our island. We quickly learnt that it was not very stable and that Al couldn't get his head around the steering. Nonetheless we made it to the island and made boats from sticks and discarded fishing line and threw stones into the water. We happily passed an hour or so and then needed to head home. Paddling away from the island was fine until we came out from its lee to find that the wind had really got up. The water was very rough and we couldnt make any forward progress at all into the head wind - the boys started screaming and general panic ensued. Luckily a nearby motorboat came to give us a tow but the spray and waves made it quite an intense 15minutes. The boys we really screaming so we passed them into the boat which didnt help much.

After that relaxing start to the day we drove out on the road to Threado for our riding session. Al had been wanting to ride in Australia and the home of The Man from Snowy River seemed the appropriate spot. The temperature had risen into the high thirties and as we arrived at the stockyard it felt hot and dusty and very authentically Australian.

Nav was a great guy and clearly very fond of his horses all of which were either saved from the knackers yard or were Brumbies saved from a cull. We had a brief reminder of the controls and then set off into the 300 hectares of farm.

It was mostly gum forest with occasional large clearing with a few scattered cattle. Al rode alongside Nav and chatted most of the way and learnt a lot about the local farmland and wildlife. A major bush fire had been through this area a few years ago and burnt out several hundred thousand hectares and the damage was evident all around. Nav was unimpressed with the treatment of the Brumbies in the national parks which, because they are not indigenous, are regularly culled often being shot from helicopters.

Bella was pretty steady and we had no problems going up and down the step inclines or through the creeks but there was a bit of excitment when she bit Strawberry on the bottom.

It was a great ride for a couple of hours through the bush and was exactly what Al had hoped it would be - although he did have a sore bum later.

Isaac then insisted on having a go and luckily there was a suitable pony. Lincoln was 26 years old and had to be regularly "encouraged" to keep moving but Isaac absolutely loved it and insisted on walking around and around the field. We think it is pretty clear who Banjo Paterson was talking about:

And the Snowy River riders on the mountains make their home,
Where the river runs those giant hills between;
I have seen full many horsemen since I first commenced to roam,
But nowhere yet such horsemen have I seen.
Banjo Paterson 1890

Charlie wanted to try the hat on but that was as far as it went...

15th It was another hot day and we were forced to spend most of the morning looking for accomodation on the internet. We had not really planned this section of the journey and combined with sleep deprivation, heat and restless kids it was a very stressfull morning. After lunch we went back to the Lake Crakenback resort to make further use of their (ahem) private facilities. There was a good walk through the bush with various low ropes courses, balancing poles and monkey bars along the way which the boys enjoyed. Rachel did not enjoy falling off the hamster wheel as much though. We were politely declined entry to the swimming pool and having got used to our lakes being at least 10km long we didnt fancy Lake (duck pond) Crakenback for a dip. Back in Jindabayne we swam and played catch in our own lake.

16th We had 330km to do today so we were on the road before 9. It had been impossible to find any accomodation on our chosen route between Jindabyne and coast so we were forced to go all the way to Lakes Entrance in one go. Heading south along Barry Way the scenerary alternated between heavilly wooded areas and cleared grazing areas and fairly soon we started to slowly drop out of the mountains. As we were coming round a tight bend a very large red kangeroo landed right in front of the car forcing an emergency stop and then in one bound cleared the opposite lane and up an 8' bank. The thing was huge and was within inches of coming in through our windscreen - this photo gives some idea of the size.

We stayed parked in the middle of the road for a minute or two speechless.

Shortly after this the sealed road ended and became dust and gravel - this was not part of the plan but a quick check of the map and the "Sav Nav" confirmed we were in the right place and on an A road. As it turned out we had 100kms of this dirt road to cover and when we got into the Paris - Dakar rally spirit of it, it was good fun. Every so often we would pass a homestead and although this was only the "bush" rather than "outback" it seemed a very lonely place to be. The views were stunning but despite several attempts we couldnt get photos that captured the scale of the landscapes.

Most of the way there was stock fencing running parallel to the road 5 metres or so in and at one point a pair of grey roo's hopped along side us, hemmed in by the fence. It was a great to see them bounding along effortlessly keeping up with the car for several miles.

On the 120km since leaving the Jindabyne road we had only passed 2 cars. We then hit the Monaro Highway which despite its title and being one of the main road south from Canberra to Melbourne was twisty and single laned. We stopped for a quick break in "Bombala - A timber town" which - of course - had a great playground including a vintage tractor and plough. (Having said vintage it looked significantly more modern than the photos of Pip's first tractor).

We accidently drove through a logging yard which was clearly the biggest operation in town with some impressive sawdust heaps.



Not long afterwards were passed from NSW into Victoria and the landscape changed almost immediately. As we dropped from 700m to almost sea level everything became greener and the woodland was more like rainforest with dense ferny undergrowth. Eventually we turned west onto the Princes Highway at Cann River and stopped at Orbost for lunch. Not a very exciting town but we managed to buy some secondhand Redbacks (boots) for Charlie for 50cents and post birthday presents for Ollie and Angus.

We reached Tambo Lodge at 4ish and it turned out to more of a motel on the highway rather than a campsite but the rooms are large and we have a 5 acre garden to explore.

Travelling inland from Batemans Bay, through Canberra and the Snowy Mountains had taken us to some amazing places and we will remember the landscapes for ever.