Are We There Yet?

Day 39 – Arapiles

I’m not saying that the fact it felt like -5 degrees when we woke today influenced our decision to move on. That was already the plan. But it might have, if we weren’t going to. Regardless, we somehow managed to pack up in the bitter cold (numb fingers!) and say goodbye to Smith’s Mill campsite and the Grampians.

Today, we continued​ the theme of rock climbing tourism and drove the town of Natimuk and on to Mount Arapiles State Park, site of arguably the best-regarded crag in Australia. I’m coming back for a proper climbing trip later this year, but I couldn’t drive past the area without at least a walk around. And it was indeed an inspiring site (for a keen climber). Here is the family admiring The Pharos area:

The Organ Pipes:

The Watchtower:

We also found time to scramble up some boulders. Jamie was inspired to ditch his shirt for the proper dirtbag boulderer look:

Leah managed some good traversing in sneakers:

Yeah, I did some bouldering also. I even ticked sine actual routes.

All told, much fun and I thank the family again for indulging me a bit. After lunch, it was time to head on to our final destination for that day, Naracoorte National Park. This was a bit of a late discovery, but should be interesting. It’s a World Heritage-listed site, renowned for the fossil beds in the caves there. After a brief stopover in Edenhope for coffee and cake, we moved on to Naracoorte NP.

The site is lovely, and the day ended with dinner and a roaring camp fire. Perfect.

Day 38 – Mount Stapylon

Dragged ourselves out of bed this morning. By crikey, the Grampians are cold! We headed out to another easy lookout called Boroka Lookout, not having got enough of the view over Halls Gap yesterday. It didn’t disappoint.

We headed down the winding road, for a short stop at Zumsteins picnic area, a historic holiday spot for this state.

It was then on toward our main destination that day: Mount Stapylon. This is some great scenery accessed by a fairly strenuous walk (but doable by kids). It also happens to contain some of the finest climbing routes in Australia, which I was quite keen to look at. There they are in the background:

This is the Taipan Wall, site of several of the best routes in the country. Also quite nice to look at.

Of course I couldn’t resist climbing some boulders.

At one point I was attacked by a wild stone troll.

During the final push, we stopped in a sizable cave in the side of the rock face. Leah spotted something in a small pocket in the roof. Turned out to be a bunch of signed coins. Sadly, we had none of our own to leave behind.

The summit was near, and we all reached it in good humor. It provided a fine 360 degree view of the surrounding country side.

On the way down, we passed a message on the ground spelled out in large letters with scrap wood: “marry me”. We guessed that it would have been visible from the peak of the adjacent mountain. Did she/he accept? We’ll never know.

On the way home, we aimed to view one of the many Aboriginal rock art sites in the region. Our enthusiasm was unfortunately defeated by the length of the walk to the site. Next time.

Day 37 – The Pinnacle

Awoke, and packed. Time to say goodbye to Ballarat, today we drive to the Grampians National Park. It was a fairly straightforward drive, though Fiona did force a stop for the obligatory photo of an​ old rural church.

We reached Halls Gap and stopped for lunch. The annual “Run the Gap” trail run event was on, so the town was packed. It’s a stunning location.

We braved the winding road up into the Grampians towards the Sundial Carpark. It was time to find a lookout and see if this park was all it’s cracked up to be. We’d chosen the Pinnacle as a relatively short walk, while also having enough challenge to push the kids a bit.

It was indeed a stunning lookout. The vista did not disappoint.

Later, we headed to our campsite at Smith’s Mill. Barry the emu welcomed us, as did a bunch of extremely tame magpies. Yay for people domesticating wild animals!

Leah did a fine job of making dinner that night.

As a reward, she got extra ghost stories before bed.

Day 36 – Sovereign Hill

We got up early and practised for Mother’s Day by having pancakes and making the kids wash up.

Thereafter, we got ready and visited Sovereign Hill, the open air museum depicting the Ballarat gold rush era of the 1850s.

This is part museum, part theme park and part performance. We were there all day, and everyone had a blast. Pictures tell it better.

Blacksmithing demonstration:

Tools of the trade:

Meeting Constable Care’s great-great-great-granddad:

At the Apothecary:

Panning for gold:

View from the horse-drawn carriage:

Bowling is way older a pastime than I thought:

The mine-head (we went down and toured the mine shafts, which sounded like a fantastic place to work, assuming that you were desperate):

 

Dudes in costume:

Tinsmith’s workshop:

Molten gold being poured:

Oldie-time portrait:

All in all, a fantastic day out. As interesting for adults as for the kids. It was also great that we got to see Sian, Tom, Taj and River again for the day. Thanks for making the trip!

 

Day 35 – Downtime

Today was a holiday from the holiday, taken up with domestic chores – washing clothes, tidying, shopping. We visited (what seemed like) every op shop in town looking for kids books to stock up for the eventual long drive home. We planned and did logistics.

We did spend some time at the Lake Wendouree Adventure Playground, across the road from the Ballarat Botanic Gardens. The kids enjoyed it a lot.

Sometimes you just need to do normal things. Tomorrow, we’re off to Sovereign Hill to get a sense of what things were like in the olden times.

Day 34 – Ned Kelly and the Convent

We got going eventually today (faffed about getting ready) before pausing almost immediately in the town of Glenrowan to admire the big Ned Kelly statue.

It’s properly big. The town is the site of the Kelly Gang’s last stand, and it’s embraced that legacy. This gave us the opportunity to get a little history into the kids, and to sample some truly excellent coffee and cake (BLT Cafe, if you’re ever there).

Moving on, we settled into a fairly long stretch of driving all the way to Ballarat. We wanted to get a decent amount of travel out of the way and spend a couple of days in one place. However, we did make one other stop in the town of Daylesford, to the Convent Gallery there.

We had last visited the place during our honeymoon, and it was still nice 14 years on. The artwork on display was very classy. There were a number of pieces that we actually considered buying.

The building and grounds are also interesting to look around. It was an active convent until the 1970s, before becoming derelict until it was purchased and refurbished by a local artist. Now it’s a museum, art gallery, cafe, function centre and hotel. It’s well worth the modest entry fee to look around.

We pushed on and finally got to Ballarat, moving in to another caravan park late in the day. I suspect that tomorrow might be another holiday-holiday, and involve some unstructured free time for the kids. I think that they’ll be happy not to drive anywhere for a day.

 

Day 33 – There to here

Not a heck of a lot to say about today. We packed up our stuff and headed out of Jindabyne. We headed across Kosciuszko National Park (weather was fine and clear, go figure :-/), swung north and headed toward Khancoban. Checked out some lovely vistas on the way.

Thereafter it was driving, and trying to find somewhere to camp for free. Found a nice place in Tallangatta, but it was too early in the day to stop. Found a place in Wangaratta, but the place (and the fellow campers) gave us a bit too much of a Wolf Creek vibe, so we retreated to the local campsite. By this time the kids had been cooped up all day, so they basically exploded with excitement to be free.

It’s a nice site, but it’s just a stopover. We just need to survive another zero degree night, then it’s on to Ballarat tomorrow.

Day 32 – Thredbo

Awoke in Jindabyne. Checked the weather in Thredbo for today: top of 3 degrees, possible snow. Awesome. We dressed in our warmest things and rain gear, then headed out. The guy in the servo said that it felt like beach weather, but I think he was taking the mickey.

The longer chairlift was off for servicing, so we took the shorter one to see how far up Mt Kosciuszko that we could get. Turns out: about the top of the chairlift.

It was coooooold. Temp was about 2 degrees, feeling like -5 in the wind. Even without rain, it was bitter. We were glad of every later we were wearing. Nevertheless, the view was spectacular.

We got to the top and walked briefly to view a lookout, and it became obvious that our footwear was insufficient to the task.

We jumped back on the chairlift and headed back down, amusing ourselves by laughing at the hilariously under-dressed tourists headed up on the other side.

Once back down, we revived ourselves with coffee and pastries, while the kids did what was clearly the highlight of their day: jumping on the trampoline.

Instead of climbing a mountain, we visited a few sites in the valley on the way back to Jindabyne.

We took a leisurely stroll to a historic site called Bullocks Hut. The river was crystal clear.

It’s easy to see why Thredbo is so popular, even when you’re not there for the snow. I would have liked to have climbed the mountain again, but it wouldn’t have been a fun time today. Nevertheless, we had fun visiting this stunning place. Back home, it was a relaxed afternoon doing whatever (I did some bouldering while the others went swimming at the local indoor pool).

Tomorrow is going to be a bit of getting-somewhere effort, as we head toward Wodonga. Time to traverse the state of NSW.

Day 31 – Into Jindabyne

After a very (very) chilly night, we had a leisurely morning to pack and then explore the surrounds of Orroral campground. We built up the fire again, had breakfast, and went out.

After this, we hit the road again. I turn out to have forgotten how to take photos for the rest of the day at this point. We passed through Cooma on the way. Checked out the local Op Shop for kids books and saw some items that looked pretty exotic to this Perth boy: snow jackets, snow shoes and skis. We’re headed to Thredbo tomorrow, but we’re unlikely to see any snow at this time of year.

Given the forecast (rain and subzero temperatures), we decided not to camp and checked into a small chalet in Jindabyne. The kids were hilariously glad to spend the night in a “real bed”. Tomorrow we’ll visit Thredbo, and see how far up Australia’s tallest mountain we can climb.

Day 30 – Namadgi National Park

Said goodbye to Sydney. Drove the M31 southwest through Goulburn. Stopped a couple of times for refreshment.

We were going to stop at a free campsite just north of Canberra, but it turned out to look crappy so on we went. We entered the ACT and passed through our nation’s capital. I wish that we had a day to show the kids some of the sights here, but it wasn’t our destination today.

We ended up just south of Canberra at Namadgi National Park, at a campsite called Orroral.

This was a beautiful natural setting, and a perfect spot to let the kids run around and make their own fun for the afternoon. That night we built a big campfire and roasted marshmallows.

Tomorrow, it’s on to Jindabyne.