Solo Travel Adventure Number 1!: December 2014

2014 draws to a close.
Skirting the north of Melbourne we had a final night in Heartsville and then had to take the camper-van back on 23rd. My travelling companion flew back to New Zealand with a firm promise that we will travel again together in the future. Meanwhile I settled into my home-away-from-home for the Christmas season. This was yet again a Plan B as, just a few days before I arrived, we realised that my allergy to cats would make staying with my friend's cousin impossible (she has three beautiful but very fluffy cats). Plan B was therefore hastily contrived and I was given the use of her father's home as he and his family are in the UK for the season; very generous people indeed! They have a lovely home with several magical ingredients as far as I was concerned - namely air-conditioning, a large fridge and a BATH!

My hostess, Claire picked me up each day and we explored all sorts of places together including wineries, the wildlife sanctuary and a choclaterie. I spent a wonderful Christmas Day with her aunt and family and was made to feel very welcome indeed - I think 18 sat down for dinner and it was a fun and lively day. I spoke to lots of friends and family over the Christmas holidays and counted myself as very lucky indeed to have the love and support of such amazing people.

The heat makes everyone thirsty it seems!

Tasmanian Devil - not looking very scary today!

My first wombat - much bigger than I expected!

Not the shape of the bills!

Towards the end of the year
A leisurely drive along the south coast meant that we were able to visit Mount Gambier, an extinct volcano which has a fair sized town perched on its slopes. We walked around the crater, which turned out to be more like several little craters and I was able to add to my Bucket list by climbing my highest set of steps yet ... 378 of them! Yeay! So this stop over was memorable in lots of ways.

The aptly named Blue Lake

Great view from the top!

A day later we arrived in the Yarra Valley (a wine producing area, north east of Melbourne) and knew that we had to spend some time sorting out our campervan as we would be dropping it back to the company on 23rd. It has been a magical trip so far, made extra special by my fab travelling companion Dave. I know we will meet up again as we both have a passion for exploring new places, but until we do, I will really miss him and the laughter we have shared.

18th December - moving on towards Melbourne
We are spending a few days moving along the Great Ocean Road: feel like it should be called the Great Ocean Tourist route as there are so many people on this, the south coast: people from every nation it seems. The road follows the coast (obviously!), so views of beaches and coastal rock formations abound. However we also found koalas each time we got off the highway to find a picnic spot for lunch, and one campsite even had a field of over 60 kangaroos grazing next door once dusk arrived! Koalas are bigger than I thought, make a very fierce sounding growling noise, and really do look like a cuddly toy ... except for the claws!

Dave managedto get VERY close to this one!

14th-18th December - Kangaroo Island
On investigation, we found that taking the cmapervan to Tasmania would cost an inordinate amount of money and so decide to visit this island just south of Adelaide instead. The crossing was clam and only 45 minutes long and the island is described as a wilderness location so our hopes were high of seeing more wildlife. We were not to be disappointed. Although the island is some 240km long there are only a few campsites, and a handful of general stores serving the small population. During our 4 nights, we saw emus, fur seals, owls, a koala, raptors, sea-lions, hares, possums, kangaroos, a kookaburra, wallabies, pelicans, a spiny anteater and a guanna (type of lizard) measuring about 30" long ... all in the wild and all quite close to our campsite or vehicle! The beaches here are also fabulous : our disappointment at not visiting Tasmania vanished!

Remarkable Rocks - yes that is their name!

Admirals Arch just before sunset - All the black dots are seals and sea lions.

Head tucked into paws.

We had this beach all to ourselves - magic!

This chap was investigating our camping pitch when we got back from a walk - about 1m long!

10th - 13th

Kookaburra

December - To the Clare Valley
After leaving Coober Pedy, we drove to Woomera which is a rocket launching base.. in its day the Cape Canaveral of Australia. The museum was interesting and the outdoor display of rockets impressive. The evening brought yet another desert storm, this time with high winds which made for a disturbed night in our little camper. The following day, having decided that we would drive some 350km to Clare, we actually ended up driving less than half of that to Wilmington. The scenery had changed dramatically and we were now amongst rolling hills with plains of vast wheat fields between ranges. Our camp site was very basic and definitely 'in the bush' however Jack, the owner, made us most welcome and invited us to join him at 9pm to feed the wild possums. Dave, my companion, did very well to keep his thoughts to himself as in New Zealand they are culled as vermin!

At anyone time, there were at least a dozen in the trees around us and they thoroughly enjoyed the sultana bread which Jack provides for them each night.
The following morning we headed off for a walk along Alligator Canyon and on the way spotted our first member of the kangaroo family! So excited! I had not really appreciated how many different types there are, but these were medium sized and reddy-brown in colour.

My fab travelling companion - Dave


My first 'Roo!

Although we did not see any alligators, I did spot a skink poking its head out from under a rock. Our walk along the gorge took a couple of hours and then we continued the drive to Clare Valley which is a well known wine producing region. This campsite was considerably more commercial, but very pleasant and so we decided to stay for two nights ... nothing to do with it being a wine region of course!

6th - 10th December - Uluru, King's Canyon and Coober Pedy
The campervan is efficiently compact and has air conditioning which we use constantly with temperatures reaching 44 degrees C. It is 1600km from Adelaide to Ayres Rock (Uluru) and we drove it between us in 2 days and have decided to take things slower on the way back in order to see more of the interesting paces ... including Coober Pedy which is the Opal mining capital of the world where 70% of the 3,500 population live in dug-outs : houses which have been dug into the side of a hill and therefore are mainly underground where the temperatures stays at around 23 degrees all year round. More of that later, for now it is time for the pictures which say far more than I ever could about the richness, the colours, the size and the diversity I have seen.

Some campsites provide shaded pitches, thankfully!

We have experienced 3 storms in the desert so far - boy can it rain!

And the full moon is an extra bonus!

Uluru at sunrise

Uluru / Ayres rock - sunrise

Hot, hot, hot!

My fab travelling companion - Dave - loves photography with a passion

Wild birds Australian style

Turn your back and the dishes are being cleaned for you Aussie style!

This walking track was shut at 11am due to temperatures in the 40s

A bush fire started by a lightening strike.

A local resident - a skink

Uluru as the sun sets - so red!

Sunset

And the moon rises

3rd-5th December - the start of the Australian adventure
Having discovered that there are VERY few internet possibilities in the outback, I have a lot of catching up to do! So forgive the slightly abbreviated text today please!
Australia is ... hot, hot and well hot! It is also huge! I have been lucky enough to meet up with a friend whom I first met in northern New Zealand and we have hired a campervan to spend three weeks touring.