Day 38: Scamander to Coles Bay

Austral storksbill, also known
as a Wild geranium! Indeed
it looked like a geranium to us.
This is native to Australia and New
Zealand.

Feeling refreshed after a rest day, we headed south for one of the big tourist draws in this state, but you'll have to wait to tomorrow to see a photo of it.

We stopped on the way out of Scamander at the Winifred Curtis Scamander Reserve. Named after the late Dr Curtis, a Tasmanian botanist who had a lot of letters after her name, including Order of Australia. It was just bushland to us, but to someone in the field it must be a very special place. The brochure we got from the information centre says it's been largely untouched since European settlement. We did spot some little flowers that we realised later, when I looked them up, were natives.

Then we headed south via the inland route via St Marys, but carried on along a road called the Elephant Pass Road. This road was very windy, even more windy and narrow than many other Tasmanian roads and had no road markings on it. I'd hate to drive it at night! Amazingly it is designated as an "A" road—an "A" designation is apparently given to the state's most important arterial roads. 

Blowhole at Bicheno

While I am on roads, Tasmanian roads are something to be experienced. Whoever posted the speed limits was pretty unrealistic. Yes, we are driving a rather large box on wheels, but many times to feel safe, we're driving between 15 and 20 km/h lower than the posted limits! And it's not just that they are curvy, but that they are narrow, often without markings on the side, and the edges looks soft, so caution definitely seems necessary. It's a rare moment that we make it up to 100 km/hr and so we're allowing more time that we think we'll need to get anywhere. Also, we're making it a regular practise to pull off the road, where we can, if we get someone stuck behind us. Thankfully I haven't experience motion sickness here, though I have memories of feeling as such when our family came down here when I was 10, but of course I was sitting in the backseat then.

Rugged shoreline at Bicheno

We made it to Bicheno for lunch at a bakery, then walked through some historical sites, and around the shoreline to see a blowhole. Like many coastal towns in this region, sadly this used to be the base of whalers. We weren't stopping for the night here, so once again missed the penguins (they've been "sights to see" in other places we've been on the north coast too).

Large-flowered flat pea, native to Australia

We did a tiny bit of grocery shopping then headed south to a caravan park in Coles Bay on the Freycinet Penninsula. We were in time to catch a sunset there and enjoy another quiet evening before tackling a hike the next day.

Common or Pink heath, also native

Driving down the Freycinet Penninsula to Coles Bay

Sunset at Coles Bay

Day 37: all day at Scamander

Scamander River looking out to the ocean

After three days of travelling, we decided to stay put this day and have a quiet one. We went for a walk after lunch down, yet another beautiful beach. This one, Wrinklers Beach, is a surfing one, I think possible the first one we'd seen with big waves that didn't  also have sharp rocks sticking out.

Wrinklers Beach

In case you were wondering, this is what the 
inside of the motorhome looks like while we're travelling.
On the right is the sink, beyond that is a cupboard and 
the "bathroom". On the left is the three burner stove, the fridge,
and oven.

And the view looking back from the cab of the
motorhome. On the right is the three-burner
stove (fridge/freezer under bench).
The table is stowed in the centre
at the back, along with a portable table that we
use outside if the conditions are right
(it's been pretty cool so we haven't used it
as much as we thought we would).

We discovered the Scamander River has an ever changing mouth: sometimes it opens out to the ocean and other times not. This day we were able to walk right across the mouth on a wide stretch of sand. We also learned that they've had a lot of trouble getting a bridge to stay operational here, probably due to the shifting sand. It's another quiet town, one that is probably much busier in the hot months.

I also had a phone call followup with the doctor I saw on Saturday. He was happy with my current situation and with the blood tests he did on Saturday, so I moved forward without antibiotics (the first time in four weekends without them!) and, if nothing flares between now and then, will followup with my GP in Ipswich when we get back in May. It was good to have this reassurance and a longer-term plan from a doctor, but also to consult with a doctor who wasn't fazed by our travel!

Day 8: Sydney to Bowral

Parked at Bradman Oval

This day (Wednesday, 20th) we left Sydney—but not before a walk with our host and extracting our motorhome from her backyard via a narrow driveway.

Cricket fans: look closely at these field
placements! This is a mural at the museum.

Before leaving the city we drove to Castle Hill to catch up with an old friend of David’s from uni days. We met him in a historical park called Castle Hill Heritage Park Reserve. We discovered it was the site of a very early government farm the fed the colony. It was established in 1801, only a dozen years after the first white settlers arrived in the country. This was also the site of a convict uprising a couple of years later. "The Castle Hill Rebellion of 1804 was Australia’s first uprising. The rebellion was an attempt by a group of Irish convicts to overthrow British rule in New South Wales and return to Ireland where they could continue to fight for an Irish republic" (from here). Also close by was Australia’s first official institute for people with mental illness, from 1811 to 1826. 

Cricket gnomes

Then we drove towards Canberra, our nation’s capital. But we made a planned stop at a small town that is the birthplace of a famous Australian: Donald Bradman. He’s been called the greatest batsman of all time (that's across all countries). In a game that loves statistics, he’s head and shoulders above the rest, and with a career batting average of 99.94, His career batting average is almost 39 runs higher than the next batsman who has scored more than 2,000 runs.

Our goal was to visit the cricket museum bearing his name. We spent two very enjoyable hours there reading all sorts of things about this game we love. We revelled in taking our time in a way that one can't when one has offspring to also take care of...

After we were done (not long before closing time), we took our time having afternoon tea in the motorhome and then drove 10 minutes down the road to set up at a caravan park, in a town with a great name: Mittagong.

We enjoyed lovely showers and WiFi, along with the sound of trains through the night (though they were across the other side of the road, about 100m away). We're gradually getting used to where everything is in the motorhome, as well as all the little routines that come with a life on the road.

First motorhome adventure 2024

Our journey to
get home on Tuesday.

If you and I were sitting down at a coffee shop and you asked me about my week, I could tell you quite a tale. This is a bit long, so I've started with:

TL;DR (too long didn't read) version:

On Friday night we had a simple BBQ dinner on Friday night (Australia Day) with friends. 

On Saturday we packed our bags and headed up to my parents' place in Toowoomba where we stopped for a short chat, then packed our stuff into their small motorhome and headed across town to spend the night with long-time friends.

We slept in the motorhome in their driveway overnight. About 1.30 a fierce storm came through the region. I didn't get much sleep! Sunday morning we had breakfast with our friends before driving to church with them. We didn't stay long afterwards as we'd been invited to a 60th birthday party down the road.

Free camping in the Aussie bush...with a book
and travel Scrabble...and several hundred mozzies.

After the party we drove down the Toowoomba range and into the area north of the main highway between Toowoomba and Brisbane. We stopped the night in a cleared spot (that we paid a small amount for) on a private property, with no water, toilet, or shower, it was very much "free camping". It was a very hot night!

On Monday morning we packed up camp and headed into Brisbane to attend the funeral of a former colleague in Japan, and then back out again to camp north of Brisbane at a small town's show grounds.

It was wet again that night, but not with the driving rain we'd experienced early on Sunday morning. However the amount of rain that had already fallen was starting to pool on the already saturated ground.

Tuesday morning we drove the "back routes" to get the motorhome back to my parents. It was a very wet drive that took a lot longer than expected due to road conditions.

We didn't stay long at my parents, because we had promised to pick our youngest son up from work in Ipswich at 3pm. However, quickly discovered that the main highway was flooded in one spot, so we spent about 40 minutes working our way around the blockage on local roads.

We finally arrived home seven hours after leaving that morning, on a journey that probably should have only taken five!

Longer version

Friday night's dinner was preceded by an event with our son that proved to me (again) how real and how crippling anxiety can be. We learnt some things and were challenged again to double down in prayer for him. I won't go into the details here in a public space, but it wasn't an easy time. 

Dinner we enjoyed, however. Time spent with friends who know us well and accept us as we are is precious. It was a comfortable evening and helped me relax a bit.

Saturday was hot. In fact most days are hot and humid at the moment. We teeter on the edge of using air conditioning most days (our modus operandi is to use it as minimally as we can to keep costs low). Thankfully most nights have been cool enough with just the overhead fan on. We discovered on this trip that hot nights in a motorhome can be a little more challenging.

We arrived at our friends' house late afternoon and spent the next several hours talking and eating. Another place where we feel seen and heard and loved deeply. It was wonderful. We've walked with this couple for over 30 years, most of the time not in the same city or state, or even country, but we're grateful for a friendship that has weathered a lot, including nine kids between us!

We slept here.

I've already mentioned the storm. I slept very poorly: it was hot and a "new" bed, even before we got buffeted by the storm. It was a struggle to concentrate in church the next morning, but we were grateful to be back in the church where we got married in 1997 and to see a few familiar faces.

Our motor home adventure ramped up once we headed off the main road on Sunday afternoon. The place David had booked was very basic. Certainly quiet and dark once the sun went down. And plenty of mozzies who got a good feed off me! But without electricity we only had a fan for part of the night, so my sleep was mostly being passed out from exhaustion from the night before.

Free camping, with free dogs.
So enthusiastically
keeping an eye on us!

It was delightful to have breakfast in the bush the next morning. One of the big things that struck me about camping in a motorhome is how easy it is to set-up camp, and pack up later. Last time we did this (2012) we'd only been tent camping a handful of times, but now we have a lot of tent camping under our belts and the ease of set-up in a motorhome is amazing.

Attending a funeral in the middle of our long weekend meant this really wasn't a relaxing adventure. But our main goal for taking this trip was to have a trial run at using the van prior to a much longer trip in March–May, so we did achieve that. 

The funeral itself was pretty amazing, however. Definitely had us turning our eyes to Jesus and the various tributes gave us a good well-rounded image of the woman we were mourning. Fittingly, for someone who had spent around half her life in Japan, there were a number of short messages from people who had served with her there, most of whom we knew, so we felt quite a home. Afterwards at the "reception" we had many eclectic conversations. We met former colleagues (from Australia and Japan), Japanese expats, people who've prayed for us since we were in our 20s, someone who used to attend the same church as me when I was at uni. I met a Japanese lady who is good friends with someone I haven't seen since 7th grade! My parents were there and they introduced me to friends of theirs who we'd not met. It was intense!

After that we hopped back in the motorhome and drove to our next campsite. This time with power and water, and a beautiful amenities block (shower and toilet). After we were set up, we ended up chatting with a lady walking her very friendly service dog past our van. It struck me that in this mobile group of people, they don't care where you are "from" they just want to know about the journey: where have you been recently and where are you going next. Unlike a hairdresser I encountered last year, they don't want to know about whether you have a day off and what your job is. In some ways that's refreshing, for people like us who have too much backstory for an easy introductory conversation.

I wish I'd had more time and energy to
take some photos in this picturesque
 location (Dayboro). But we were rushed and it
was wet most of the time we were there.

On Tuesday morning we had some difficulties trying to empty our grey and black water. First place it was pouring rain and there was a line up, and we were in a bit of a rush to get going. At the second place, it was still raining, but not as hard, and we suspect the dump point had been underwater earlier in the day and it so was tricky.

Driving in sub-optimal conditions for much of the day on Tuesday was draining. At times water was running over the road, or it was raining so hard it was difficult to see far ahead. And then, on the final leg, we ran into flooding in the Lockyer Valley. We decided to push through and see what alternative route we could find and were surprised to find a slightly complicated way through that only delayed us 40 minutes. Alternatives to this story (if the flooding had been worse) were an extra night at my parents, or a long detour of a few hours. If this had been 20 years ago, I don't know how we would have managed because finding the alternative route meant a lot of consulting of Google Maps and Qldtraffic.qld.gov.au (a webpage that shows road conditions). I drove as I am more prone to motion sickness than David. But we were both exhausted by the time we got home. 

Happy to chalk this up as another adventure, but also grateful for a home base (some of our camping companions live all the time in their mobile accommodation). But now we're preparing for our "big trip" starting in just six weeks!