30 Mar 10 – Morgan

By Lou: Craig was keen to do some fishing on the Murray River in SA as it’s a favourite destination on the Victorian side. So we headed north hoping to find somewhere nice. There are a series of ferry crossings the whole way up which are free because they are part of the national road network so we ‘sailed’ across the Murray a couple of times. We drove for most of the day and were amazed at how different the riverscape was compared to Victoria, with the exception of the low levels they are both experiencing.
In particular, it was common for one side of the river bank to be metres lower than the other, resulting in steep cliff faces on the higher side. We ended up doing an overnight stay at a freebie campsite near Swan Reach, having failed to find anywhere suitable for a longer term stay. Next day we had a look around Blanchetown, where Lock No. 1 is situated (we had seen Lock No. 10 at Wentworth Victoria) and contemplated buying the local post office which was up for sale purely because we loved the sandstone building.

We arrived at the cute riverside township of Morgan by lunchtime. We had a picnic lunch at a park by the river and while Sam played with some kids on the play equipment we tried to work out where we might stay. From Morgan the Murray heads east to Renmark and we weren’t keen to head in that direction. We got chatting to the father of the other kids in the playground and mentioned we were looking for some free camping for about 4 nights. He kindly offered the use of his property but it was 150km away and not on the Murray so we let that one slide. Later, still at the playground, as we were winding up a conversation with some NT camper trailer owners, a fellow wandered over and started inspecting our boat rack. He and his wife had been having lunch at the pub overlooking the park when they saw us pull up (an hour or so earlier). He wants to manufacture something similar for his own boat so was keen to look ours over. He and Craig got chatting and free camping came up again. As luck would have it, he knew a great little spot (not free but at $10 per night still the bargain) near where he moored his houseboat, about 10km up the road near Pelican’s Point. Job done.


It was day 2 by the river when Craig was fishing from the bank and I heard a yell come from far away and then Craig respond in kind. I thought he was having a go at someone he’d possibly encountered the previous day whilst out in the boat, but lo and behold a houseboat started veering off course and head over to the bank. It was the Leavers (who we’d met at Kingston) who had just hired a houseboat for 3 days as a last hoorah for their holiday. Tom had spotted our car and then Audrey got out the binoculars and when she saw the scruffy looking bloke on the riverbank with a thick beard she confirmed his suspicions. Yes, it’s Craig! So with great excitement at our chance meeting we all jumped on board and excitedly caught up on all of 3 days absence and enjoyed dinner together (what else can I do all day on a boat except cook, say’s Audrey).
They moored the night in front of our campsite and next morning we all went for a sail in search of fish before they dropped us of and continued on their way, promising to return in a couple of nights’ time.



Next time they dropped by we had a campfire roast dinner and another great night.




By Craig: On the road to Morgan we passed through Mannum and by chance we arrived just as a beautiful old paddle boat departed for a river cruise. The Murray River in time gone by was a river boat highway, it was great to see one of the old ladies of the river in action. Onto another river town Murray Bridge, a town worthy of a little more time however we drove on through as time was getting away from us if we were to make Morgan allowing for reasonable time to set up before night.
After the chance meeting with the local farmer providing the opportunity for a good riverside camping spot it was great to get back to some bush camping, open fires and fishing on the Murray. I took the oportunity to snap a 'Mother & Son' perfect fireside moment photo. Bugger. Photos and children - I should have known!
A surprise moment was watching in the distance, a houseboat cruising along the Murray & thinking what a great time they’d have and then hearing shouts “It’s them“ and to our surprise Tom, Audrey, Henry and Angus crossed our path again. The meeting led to great conversation, a little bit of drinking and an opportune moment to watch Tom do a swan dive into, followed by a lightning quick exit, out of the fire (possibly helped by a couple of red wines). Although we had some laughs at Tom’s expense the seriousness of the matter was realised in the morning when he appeared with a piece of stick still in his neck We all promised to be a little more careful next time.
Another great catch up and we parted ways with a suggestion that we might catch up in Streaky Bay.

25 Mar 10 - Kingston

By Lou: Really enjoyed our 4 days in Kingston. Our campsite in the caravan park was beachfront (if you don’t count a 2 lane road in between) including an expanse of grassed foreshore for Sam to run amok on within our sight. Craig got his fishing rods fixed and took Sam fishing while I hired and watched the movie ‘The Reader’ back at camp and savoured the peace. Good flick too.


One afternoon when we’d returned to camp, Sam’s eyes widened at the sight of two boys emerging from the campervan set up next to us. Immediately Sam asked if he could say hello and within seconds he’d caught the eye of the youngest and crouched down into mock attack position, just like Molly our dog does when she sees another dog to play with. Angus giggled and we couldn’t separate them for the rest of the day. It turns out Tom, Audrey, Henry (11yo) and Angus (8yo) are at the 11th hour of their year travelling around Australia and now heading home to Kalgoorlie WA. We all clicked and had a good chinwag that evening and the next morning we all bolted over to the beach when we saw a pod of dophins frolicking along the shoreline. We were a bit late with the camera but the boys quite liked the opportunity to have a splash themselves. When our new friends departed the next day we exchanged contact details, sorry to see them go so soon.







By Craig: Kingston provided a good chance to relax, get the rods fixed and do some beach fishing along the Younghusband Peninsula. The photo here I called 'On the Beach' and entered into the ExplorOz 2010 photo competition along with 5 other photos.
Kingston was a lovely setting and I enjoyed a walk into town and the all too brief opportunity to chat with Tom and Audrey while the children played together.

It was great being able to chat with another guy who’d been doing similar travels and getting ideas and exchanging stories and unfortunately the following day we said goodbye as they made their way back to Kalgoorlie. During conversation I did note that they had mentioned that they were stopping at Streaky Bay to catch up with friends they’d met up north and also hiring a houseboat on the Murray as the finale to their trip around Australia.

22 Mar 10 - Beachport to Kingston

By Lou: Our intention was to find somewhere on the coast of South Australia to plonk for a week or so but we weren’t sure where to head. The park rangers at Naracoorte recommended Canunda National Park to camp so we headed there. Beautiful as it was, the campground was set a ways back from the water in the sand dunes and only had very small spaces so we kept driving. We spent one night at Beachport Conservation Park next to Lake George which was great as an overnighter but we were still searching for the ideal spot.

Lake George looked pretty low and unimpressive but an information board assured us that at the right time of year it is home to thousands of migratory birds and I can imagine transforms into quite a different landscape.

Not far from our camp Craig spotted a 4WD track and suggested we take it as an alternative to the highway to head to Kingston where he had been assured he could get his fishing rods repaired. “It’s just a couple of k’s and we’re there”, he assures me. So I jump in the back with Sam to start school and it quickly becomes too bumpy to do any schoolwork so we abandon that and enjoy the track. After about 20 minutes we are on an obvious track but Karen, our GPS, tells us we are in the water.
So we laugh at silly old Karen and continue on until we’re stopped in our tracks by a huge expanse of water, we deduce to be the joining of 2 lakes. I ask Craig to activate the hovercraft function, as surely that was one of the bells and whistles he brought in the months leading up to the trip. It quickly transpires that this did not happen (budget constraints he claims) and he will bear the weight of my disappointment forever. I, on the other hand rose to the occasion and swiftly produced some sandwiches, prepared earlier, and we munched and contemplated our next step.

After consulting a map we worked out where we may have missed a turn so backtracked. We continued on a peninsula for a few kilometres, with Lake St Clair on one side and the Southern Ocean on the other. Progressively the track became more and more narrow with lots of overhanging branches. Sam and I had to jump out on a few occasions and move boughs out of the way while Craig rocked the vehicle back and forth to tease the trailer through. We got through those snags and suddenly the track brought us to the foot of some sand dunes. I voted to turn around and find a bitumen road but if there’s one thing distasteful to Craig, it’s going back over old ground. So with a lump in my stomach we headed over a vast sand dune with just an inkling of which direction we should be headed.

We ended up on the beach and followed that north for a ways and then spotted an orange marker depicting a 4WD track so headed inland and followed the posts over hill and down dale. Craig was in his element. I was cranky because my school lesson was shot and we’d been bumping around in the back for 3 hours by now and we didn’t even know if there was an end to it all and even if there was, where would that be? I was kicking myself that I hadn’t dropped by the local information centre as I’m sure we could have picked up a map given there were track markers everywhere. Any way, after getting some directions from totally unexpected quarters (see Craig’s story below) we made it back to a main road to my relief and headed to Kingston Caravan Park.


By Craig: Beachport simply, as said by Lou, was an overnight stop. A drive into Beachport town centre found a nice cup of coffee but we really wanted to find “the spot” on the SA coastline so we had to move on. Looking for a little 4wd experience I encouraged Lou to head left not right and head off a track next to Lake George and we commenced winding our way along a scenic path until stopped by water. After lunch we backtracked and located where we had mistakenly turned off the track and we continued on to what I believed was a 4wd track to Kingston. The adventure of the day really started when Lou said "there’s a tree branch blocking the trailer going forward” and I said “well the car can’t go backwards because the tree branch is blocking that". So after moving the tree we looked ahead to what was a slow rise up to the top of a 10m sand dune At moments like this I think of Australia’s coat of arms symbolising the emu and kangaroo which can’t move backwards but not wanting to just bludgeon my way forward I decided to walk over the dune to see where the “track” went. As I got to the crest of what I thought was the only sand dune, I quickly realised that for as far as I could see, all there was WAS sand dunes and I thought to myself, “Bloody Lou would love this”. So I quickly returned back down the sand dune, chuffed “She’ll be right” and proceeded to deflate the tyres to approximately 20psi to aid in transversing over soft dunes.

As the day proceeded we ventured up and down over and around numerous sand dunes all over 10m plus and found ourselves following a 4wd track which eventually led to Nora Creina (but we didn't know that at this point). This was the beginning of a new problem, finding a place to get off the beach. So as we adventured on the beach, up into the dunes, back out of the dunes, along the beach some more, an exit off the beach appeared more elusive. By chance as we were reversing back from a sand dune which was way too high to attempt, Louise exclaimed “there’s people on the beach!” which to our surprise we had not seen on the way through. Although there were certainly people on the beach they were nudists which was confirmed as we got closer by Sam calling out “they’ve got no clothes on!”. Louise turned to provide Sam with a quick lesson in discretion as I wound down the window to converse with the couple emerging from the water.

Understanding that not only were they nudists but also foreigners they were unaware of a beach exit however I was directed to a camp 'just over the hill' to obtain more local information. So I quickly commenced tracking over the hill on foot and commenced a slow jog. Approximately 2km later I arrived at the camp. In my haste, what I hadn’t twigged to was that this would be a nudist camp and upon arriving I quickly sighted a gentleman standing in his caravan. Not sure of his name but let's just call him Long John and I asked for directions. In the back of my mind I was thinking 'please don’t stand up, just point the way off the beach. No! DON’T POINT!. Just tell me'. However, all was good, directions were given and I commenced my 2km jog back to the car. After arriving back to the car I advised Louise the way off the beach was just a little way ahead at Nora Creina. And we departed quickly as it was obvious the tide was on its return. Once off the beach, a quick inflation of the tyres and we were on our way to Kingston.

21 Mar 10 – Naracoorte SA

By Lou: Was exciting to be in another state, our 5th so far. We stopped at the first winery of the trip, Coonawarra Estate. I know you wouldn’t believe that but often (especially Tasmania) we’d drive past wineries on the way to some pre-planned destination and say “we should do that on the way home” but of course by 5pm upon our return they would be closed and no matter what time of the day it was, it was never going to be appealing to Sam. So we cut to the chase and bought a 6 pack (no room for the dozen) and consoled ourselves that that represented our sum total of South Australian winery visits.

Naracoorte Caves were great. Sam and Craig hated all the rules about not touching and not crawling through tunnels but despite that we all found them pretty impressive. We observed bats though live infrared cameras and walked through chamber after chamber of caves millions of years old.


The fossil exhibition was fun for Sam with lots of things moving and tunnels to legitimately crawl through.


By Craig: I found it fascinating that the caves had developed over millions of years and unfortunately as you toured around you can see where humans had broken stalagmites and stalactites. In fact, as we went on our tour the guide informed us that in previous times, around the 50s, the caves had been a popular picnic meeting place for families who had played cricket there, evidence of which was a
cricket ball stuck in a pocket in the roof. The darkness of the caves and filtered light also presented a challenge with the new camera. In general it was a good experience.

19 Mar 10 - Geelong

By Craig: The purpose of the stopover in Geelong was to have an HF radio installed by a highly recommended installer based at Lara, as referred by a family friend and member of the HF Radio Club.
The reason for such a radio was due to our intention to venture into very remote desert areas by ourselves. The radio would provide if in trouble a life line to assistance, security of being able to call for medical help and Lou’s peace of mind. While Lou and Sam spent the day doing school at the caravan park, I spent the entire day assisting with the installation of the HF radio. I only intended to drop the car off but I quickly found myself enjoying pulling my car apart to assist with the installation. In 4 or 5 hours I learnt more about the interior of my car than I’d intended. I was even invited to share cold leftover pizza at lunchtime as I’d come quite unprepared.
After completing the installation of the radio, it was quickly realised that the standard UHF radio antennae bracket wasn’t large enough for the robust HR radio aerial and an extension was required. I quickly researched a couple of engineering firms in the Geelong area and found an obliging manufacturer from Reid Engineering who at short notice made up the extension.
The poor bugger had a crook back, it was Saturday and he’d only opened up the shop because his back ached sitting around at home, and yet he graciously took on the job. After visiting his workshop, he took the measurements, drill hole sizes etc, and after about an hour called me back to say all was ready. Upon arrival I took a glance at the finished product and to my surprise it was painted and a perfect fit. To further assist, I was even lent the spanner to help me secure the oversized nut on the HF antenna and prior to this had gladly paid what I thought to be a reasonable price for such a prompt job on short notice however, more again to my surprise, upon returning the spanner to his workshop, I was quickly palmed the paid fee with a pat on the back, a smile, and the words, ‘Have a safe trip’. Even after suggesting I pay half I was met with the shake of a head. We chatted for 5 minutes about our journey and then we were on our way. One day I know my opportunity will come to pay his generosity forward.

17 Mar 10 - Melbourne

By Lou: Had a week in Melbourne catching up with family and friends. It was all work for Craig as he made more repairs, modifications and improvements to the trailer. Sam had a trip to the zoo with Grandma which he loved and I swanned around getting spoilt by having all my meals made for us by my beautiful mum.

By Craig: The stop over in Melbourne was simply an RM (routine maintenance) for me during the day. Night time was catching up with friends and telling stories over a few red wines about our adventures around Tasmania. Maintenance included installing a new tap to the sink so that when we are in caravan parks we can just connect to mains pressure and more importantly was installing additional tail and blinker lights on the trailer for higher visibility. My other activity was sitting on the phone sourcing an HF radio and doing some trip planning.

By Sam: I went to Melbourne Zoo with Grandma and we saw lots and lots and lots of animals like lions and seals. My favourite was the elephants and the orangutans. I saw the new baby elephant that is on all worldwide TV. There was a movie about the orangutans' habitat being destroyed, and how they don’t label how they’re knocking down the habitat to make the product and so they ask you to call a number and you say "we want people to label that they actually do knock down the habitat" so people will stop buying it if they know it and their products will get lower and lower until the company goes to zero dollars. It was a very long long long drive home and I fell asleep.

13 Mar 10 - Kyle's 18th birthday

Was a very sad day today. Kyle would have turned 18 and had the world at his feet had he not made such a terrible decision that fateful night in November 2009. Despite all the wonderful experiences we've had on this trip, the shock and disbelief that he's gone is always bubbling just under the surface. We miss him terribly and can only hope he’s in a good place.

It still doesn't make sense and as a father I'm still coming to terms with it. I remember him as happy in one of my favourite photos.

12 Mar 10 - Spirit of Tasmania

By Craig: It felt like no sooner had we got to Tassie than we were leaving. We quickly remembered the routine of loading us onto the boat and packing us in like sardines. We departed Devonport and set course north across Bass Strait.
Tassie certainly deserved longer, unfortunately 4 weeks is all we had. But we certainly know of many places we would return to see. I enjoyed the day trip better than the night crossing, lots to do and see, making the 9 hours go very quickly. Before we realised, we were crossing the heads of Port Phillip Bay and heading back into the big smoke of Melbourne. As we pulled into our destination Station Pier Port Melbourne the sun was setting for the day, just as it was setting on the end of our trip to Tassie.



By Lou: Had a fantastic day trip on the ferry crossing from Devonport to Melbourne. The Strait was dead flat, it was sunny and there was heaps to do during the 9 hour crossing. We saw two movies in the cinema and there were children’s activities throughout the day including face painting, badge making and story telling. We all dashed outside at a certain hour to watch the other Spirit of Tasmania pass by.

11 Mar 10 – Launceston to Port Sorrell

By Lou: Had an overnight freebie stay under the Batman bridge about 35km north of Launceston, quite the popular spot. Camped next to a family from Qld who have sold up their home and are just wandering around Australia, finding a bit of work here and there (he’s a builder) and looking for the next place to settle. All well and good but with 4 kids ranging in age from 8 years to 14 years old!!! They’ve been on the move for 7 months and seem to be managing home schooling well. They are in a camper trailer setup like ours but understandably the 14 year old girl is hanging for her own bedroom and the kids are starting to ask to just plonk somewhere. Quite the dilemma as the parents feel there’s still half of Australia to see before they decide where they want to settle but the kids are saying, ‘stop’.

Had a great day for our last in Tasmania. I was keen to drive the Tamar Valley, renowned most recently for the controversy over the proposal by Gunn’s to build a paper mill there. Not only is it a pristine location supporting small family business’ but the government created a special bill with very few checks and balances to allow it to get to development phase.
We didn’t get to see the proposed site (I didn’t know which town) but we did drive past the Beaconsfield mine so Sam could reconcile the reality with the TV footage of Todd Russell and Brant Webb emerging from the mine after spending 14? days trapped underground. He remembers it as the “TV show that made mummy cry”. Couldn’t really see a lot from the road but the 4 buses of tourists queued up outside deterred us from a tour.

From there we toured a seahorse facility at Beauty Point and marvelled at these strange creatures. It’s a privately funded breeding program that services national and international clients and I’m sure our entry fee kept the program running for 2 more years.

Then we went for a drive as far north as possible to Green’s Beach just to see the end of the highway and wave at Narawintapu National Park. We had paid for a 2 months visitor’s pass to national parks and were keen to get a stamp in our “parks passport” for every one we went to. Craig drove the car and trailer into the park, we all said, “Hello Park” and then we drove out smug in the knowledge we could legitimately say we’d been to that park. The reason for the quick stop was that we were on a timeline to get to a tour of Boag’s brewery in Launceston and raced back to start the tour with a minute spare. Was interesting to see the place but let’s face it, the tasting session was what we were all there for.


After that we enjoyed a short walk through beautiful Cataract Gorge and then made a bee line to our last night’s stay in Tasmania via very beautiful countryside.
Given we had to be on our way to the ferry by 6:30am we decided to lash out on a cabin. All motels and cabins in Devonport were booked so we found a cabin 20 minutes down the road at Port Sorrell. When we arrived the cabin hadn’t been cleaned due to a small oversight but the cleaner immediately launched into action while we chatted with the colourful owner. She drove Craig and Sam to the local bottle shop to save us lugging the trailer around and we each scored a souvenir pen. All of that made up for the fact that to bend over the bathroom basin to clean your teeth you had to have your backside poking through the doorway, which rendered the broken sliding door a moot point. Would love to have stayed a few days but as is the case nearly everywhere, there is just not enough time to do everything.

By Craig: North Tassie was a quick trip from Bay of Fires to Port Sorrell via an overnight stop at Batman Bridge. The highlight for me was a visit to Launceston and the Boags Brewery. The tour of the brewery was interesting, the taste testing great and the reviewing of old advertising campaigns priceless. One of the past year's campaign posters caught my eye and now I'm a Boags convert.
However due to another similar advertising campaign I still enjoy a bourbon (4 Cougars thanks!).


Another delight was to see the smile on Sam's face when he got the opportunity to dress up like a brewery workman, complete with vest, glasses and earplugs.

9 Mar 10 – Bay of Fires

By Lou: We pitched our tent right behind the sand dunes of picturesque Bay of Fires, just out of St Helen’s. Although grey skies and windy the water was a beautiful deep pale blue colour. We survived a pretty wild storm no problems but is was just miserable trying to cook and sit outside in the cold. So again... off for a drive! The nearby town of Bicheno was small and quiet but we had a bit of a walk around.

By Craig: A great opportnunity to chill out, sit around a campfire and relax. Had a quick run up a 4WD track in the nearby State Forest. It was also a great location to complete Sam's school assignment on the water cycle.

6 Mar 10 – Freycinet NP

By Lou: We set off early to secure a campspot at Freycinet National Park because it was a long weekend and found pretty much the last free spot. The campground itself wasn’t much to write home about but the general area is beautiful. I had intended to walk to see the view over Wineglass Bay but the weather was yucky and the preference was for a wineglass in a warm pub so we just did a drive to Cape Tourville lighthouse from which point you can just get a snippet of a view into Wineglass Bay.
The P&O cruise ship that had been at Port Arthur days before sailed into view and we perched on a rock with the binoculars and watched her pull in and out of Wineglass Bay.



By Craig: Freycinet provided an opportunity to view Wineglass Bay from the lighthouse and a unique moment to see the clouds so low down close to the ocean was spectacular.

4 Mar 10 – Port Arthur

By Craig: Seen one prison, seen 'em all. Mind you, as an old screw I don't know I would have liked to have worked in the days of the Port Arthur era. However, I took 3 opportunities to imprison Sam: first I had him in leg irons, then I had him behind bars and finally I attempted to lock him in solitary confinement. However, given today's current parenting laws I thought it best to keep him.



Understanding the prison went through an extreme fire, the current ruins are testament to the skills used in the original construction; they built them to last. Although the tour guide was a little over the top, the information provided about the prison itself, the numbers of convicts it held within its walls and the types of incarceration undertaken at Port Arthur made me think how lucky the inmates have it today.

While touring the prison grounds, we came across the old Governer's quarters which in itself was a snapshot of how the governing body of the prison lived in the 1800s.


Lou was quite taken by both the simplicity, intimacy and solitude of the study. I think the campervan's getting to her.

By Lou: Camped at the very pretty Fortescue Bay in Tasman National Park not far from Port Arthur. Our neighbours (Charmain, Matt, Zoe and Benjamin) were from Townsville and Sam didn’t waste a second introducing himself and playing at every opportunity with the 2 kids. The family had also been on the road since Christmas and we both observed our children, out of loneliness, had learned the ability to make friends immediately knowing time was counting down from the minute they met. We shared a camp fire and chatted easily with many things in common. I was delighted to find out we weren’t the only ones behind with schooling, and that the mum hadn’t had any time to read novels as she had envisaged. Mind you, she had also thought she’d get her psychology doctorate underway in her spare time, a confession which prompted wine spitting and hysterical laughter.




I recall being impressed with Port Arthur 20-odd years ago and I enjoyed it again this time. So discrete is the memorial to the victims of the massacre that we set out to look for it but got swept up in a sea of passengers from a P&O Cruise ship and got waylaid. There were so many people it was impossible to see all the exhibits because to stand still was to block traffic so it was a bit rushed and hectic in parts for my liking. Normally I love stopping to read every single information board but Craig and Sam were delighted that we flitted past. However the grounds tour and boat ride were great and once we were free to wander through the ruins on our own there was ample room and ironically it’s actually a very peaceful place now.
Have discovered that Sam is a tour guide groupie and loves being at the front right under their nose just waiting for an opportunity to ask a question. We usually hold our breath and think, “Oh no, what’s this one?” but he actually asked pertinent questions and provided decent answers. A bit of a laugh from the crowd and he’s happy as Larry.