Mark Anderson

April 12, 2019April 12, 2019

6-11 April: Our UK meanderings continue

Author: Mr A

Location: Brighton, Portsmouth, Milton Keynes & Kettering, UK (phew!)

Friday-Sunday: Brighton is one of our favourite UK towns to visit, and not only because that’s where Catherine’s sister and family live. We love the quirky shops, the pubs, the long cycle paths along the seafront. It just feels vibrant and eclectic. It was also where we were going to spend our first night in Truffy the Truck, our new home on wheels. We had pre-booked a site and turned up with some trepidation for our first experience of “camping” in the UK. Wow…what a find. This place was great with huge sites, spotless facilities that even were centrally heated! Luxury…

Spot our little home 😉

We got a few things wrong though and found our feet higher than our heads when settling down in the drop down bed. No air suspension to adjust on this baby. We did however get the hot water and heating working, apparently more than some folk manage on their first encounter with a Hymer motorhome.

The weekend sped past with wonderful times hanging out with Helen and Stu and their oh so energetic kids. How these guys juggle jobs and raising these two little bundles of joy I have no idea. I was exhausted just watching breakfast unfold!

We cycled, we ran for buses, we ate our way though fabulous dinners, we laughed and we talked. As an only child these guys are the nearest I have to experiencing the joy that a good relationship with a brother or sister can bring.

Curry night with Stu and Helen

Cycling along the seafront – Helen and Catherine with Miss Izzy

Our first artwork – courtesy of Miss Isabel, an artist’s impression of Truffy – L-R Stuart (top left), Helen, Mr A (with cap on), Elliot looking out of the window, Mrs A and Isabel. Complete with rabbit and sunshine.

Monday: All too soon we were off along the south coast to Portsmouth and a flying visit to Catherine’s half sister Elinor and her family.

Young Nelson clambering for cuddles

Miss Vivienne who simply demands cuddles

Tuesday-Wednesday: Portsmouth gets put on the list for “must come back and explore”, as we literally stopped by for dinner before pointing Truffy north and heading up to see my daughters and grandkids in Milton Keynes. We congregated in the local pub and had a lovely catch up before retiring to the car park for an overnight stay.

Just a small meal for Mr A!

Grandson Luke enjoyed his burger dinner too

There are certainly benefits to being in a fairly stubby little 6m motorhome. We also used the opportunity of being close to the huge retail centres in Milton Keynes to do some power shopping in our bid to get Truffy fully functioning as our second home on wheels. IKEA bless you for all those good value products!

We had a quick visit to the local lake, which to Catherine and I felt like we had been teleported to Siberia, with a cruel wind blowing across the water.

Cousins – will nobody look at the camera? L-R James, Lilly, Jacob and Luke

Grandson James doesn’t seem to feel the cold as he plays on the slide

We retired to behind the somewhat expansive glass of Truffy and dashed off to our next stop in this whistle-stop tour. My home town of Kettering, and the ever warm welcome of my long term friends Stuart and Karen. These guys have chosen to stay in the town they also grew up in, and increasingly unusual phenomena, but their extended family has mostly done the same, so its a strong and supportive community they are enjoying.

Thursday: A lunch had been organised to bring together my family still living in the town as well, cousins and their families. It was great to see them, and not for a funeral.

Family gathering. L-R: Derek, Diane, Derry, Lisa, Diane, Robert, Mr A

My last few visits have always been tinged by the sadness of my parents passing, Finally, a short trip to see Stuart and Karen’s daughter Laura, who had stayed with us in Australia. To see her so happy as a mum of 10 months, and getting married to the guy she met on when travelling, this was a joy for us.

Gorgeous baby Oliver – 10 months old today

All of our lives go through ups and downs, and to catch so many people on the up was just brilliant. It’s been a hectic 10 days since we landed, but already we have so many memories tucked away of seeing friends and family, and getting to know our new home that is going to take us on so many new adventures.

Our time in Kettering concluded with a curry in town…our third in a week!

April 3, 2019April 3, 2019

30 March-1 April: Old friends and new toys

Author: Mr A

Location: London Heathrow Airport, Harby, Nottinghamshire, UK

In September of last year whilst travelling in the US, we started to dream about spending a longer chunk of time in the UK and Europe. After months of planning we have turned that dream into a reality and stepped of the plane from Sydney into a “fresh” (a euphemism the Brits use for bloody freezing) spring day at Heathrow.

The flight had been an extra long one, delayed out of Sydney with no explanation, diverting around Pakistan airspace and dodging storms over Turkey. We choose not to spend our fixed income from super and rent on business class airfares, we see too many other things that compete for our dollars and give us more pleasure. So it was the squishy back of the plane for us. A uneventful flight except for a young fellah who had to be threatened with the police to quieten him down, and that threat was delivered on when we arrived at Heathrow with 3 burly London metropolitan police officers escorting him off for what would no doubt be an unpleasant start to his UK stay, Qantas staff taking it all in their stride. What a job these cabin crew do. Cleaning up the poor aim of guys who refuse to sit down, dealing with the unruly and the far too spoilt folks with endless complaints about the wine (no, I didn’t! – we decided to sneak in an AFD (alcohol free day) on the trip). With that drama out of the way, we finally got to end over 25 hours of plane time and step out into the arrivals hall.

We were met by a guy I have known for over half a century, since the first year of secondary school, and he had driven all the way down from near Lincoln though the night to meet us. Friendships that have spanned that amount of time take on a quality that is so different. You have seen each other through so many phases of your life, you are known intimately for what you are, good and bad. So our piles of luggage were loaded (74kg of it!) and we were whisked off for a few hours more sitting on our bottoms. Arriving at their quintessential English country village of Harby, we were both reminded of all the things we love about our old homeland. The smell in the air at this time of year is quite unique, a blend of freshly mown grass, a tang of manure, it triggered so many memories, smell being our most powerful sense.

Looking across the fields towards Harby

Their house is affectionately referred to by the village as “the manor”. I remember visiting the land when they first purchased it. Since then they have turned that patch of overgrown blackberry bushes into a house you would not be surprised to see on Grand Designs. John has been in the construction industry all his life as a civil engineer, while Catriona has impeccable taste and a brother who is an acclaimed architect. A great combination! When you see your friends who have struggled through some tough times and worked their butts off to create their dream home, now enjoying the phase of sharing it with friends and family, its truly heart warming.

Blossom at dawn

The first job on the list was to collect our new e-bikes, chosen on line and never seen in the flesh. I have to give mention to the dealer who has sourced the bikes and provided such great service, OnBikes Electric Bikes – brilliant service indeed. So a busy couple of hours in our friend’s garage assembling them and we are ready for our first ride. What beauties they are don’t you think?

John helps with the assembly

From the high end e-bike producers in Germany Riese and Muller, these machines will serve in place of a second car. Taking a motorhome into town centres inevitably ends badly.

A handy shared path for our maiden ride

Mrs A has the blue bike, contrary to this photo!

They fly along, although in the UK (as in Australia) they are limited to 25km/hr when the motor will cut out. Really that’s plenty of speed for us. Why electric? Well neither of us is good on hills for different reasons, and we just find we decide to use a bike a lot more if we know we can make the hills without arriving for dinner all sweaty and breathless. Carrying shopping also becomes easy, important when parking your only vehicle in a town centre is problematic.

A key part of the plan to travel in England and Europe relied on us having a motorhome, for a variety of reasons. If you are relying on booking accomodation that really ties you down to where and when you travel. Also you are forced to eat out all the time. You spend a good part of your time searching, booking, moving into and out of places. All those hassles disappear to a large extent if you have your accomodation with you.

So we had decided to buy rather than rent, based on the economics of the length of time we plan to tour for, and the pleasure of being an owner who can customise and kit out their home as they wish. We decided we wanted something as small as possible, but still fit a decent bathroom with toilet and shower. So we settled on a make and model we wanted and started searching, almost immediately realising that only one or two of them were coming up secondhand a year. So when one did appear last December, we took the plunge. The dealer was also conveniently close to our friends near Lincoln, who kindly went to check it out and gave the thumbs up.

Monday: So the day had finally arrived to pick it up, on April Fools Day quite worryingly! We decided to go left hand drive as we plan to spend more time in Europe than the UK, and its a manual. So a little anxious about then getting used to driving it on UK roads, we set up to view our purchase in the flesh for the first time. What a beauty he is.

Our new home!

The handover and briefing on operating it couldn’t have been more professional. We have been so impressed with how the staff from Fuller Leisure had conducted themselves with us. The modifications we had done were all done right. We wanted to be able to travel independent from powered camp sites, so have installed solar panels, extra battery, a bit of kit to accelerate charging from the alternator, USB points and converted the gas system to LPG (every country we would visit uses different bottles).

We finally drove away at lunch time, and immediately I took to driving it. It has an enormous panoramic window which gives a great view of what other traffic is up to. Positioning the vehicle on the road (its a bit wider than a car at 2.2 metres) I found easy from the left hand side. My sharp eyed co-pilot was able to help call out all clear at roundabouts and junctions. So we made it back to Harby in one piece, mission accomplished!

March 24, 2019March 24, 2019

18-24 March: Nomadic life has its moments…

Author: Mr A

Location(s): Nowra, Berry, Sydney, Morton National Park, Orange

Let’s set the scene here. We have our worldly goods scattered around various locations in Sydney and surrounds. Our house contents are stored in two big cages in a warehouse in western Sydney. Our caravan and kayak had been stored nearly 6 hours drive west of Sydney. Various other bits and pieces are with friends in Matraville and Forestville. Life was getting complicated. It was time to rationalise the logistics!

We have found a storage business in Nowra that will take our caravan, car, kayak and bikes, and it was all under cover, with access to top up solar power. Oh and the guy who runs it said if we want work doing on the car (we do) or caravan (we hope not) then he can drop off and help organise. Perfect!

We headed for Berry last week after our Jervis Bay jaunt, and spent a few days parked up next to our friends’ property, and loved being welcome recipients of their delicious home grown produce!. They are such good company, always up to something interesting in that lively community down there.

Then it was back down to Nowra to drop the caravan at its new storage home before we loaded all our gear for the next 7 months of our UK/Europe trip into the car and hightailed it to Matraville. I had my bi-annual eye health check and Catherine was off to talk at a medical conference in Brisbane.

Sometimes this lugging around gear gets a bit tiresome, then we think “all in a good cause!”.

Tassie immediately settled back into ‘city pad’ mode.

Solar cat recharging on the balcony

She has three sets of fur parents who love her dearly. She’s a lucky lady.

I dashed into the city and was relieved of $500 plus dollars and got the good news of no further deterioration in my eyesight. Medical expenses between the two of us are crazy and mostly not covered by Medicare or our private health insurance. No wonder there is such a strong correlation here between income and health. Still, we are glad we live in Australia not the US.

Our next task on the storage juggle list was to visit our stored house contents in western Sydney. We figured we needed to access the winter clothes bag having checked the temperature in England (a top temperature of 11 degrees centigrade anticipated for our arrival!) – we fly this coming Saturday, straight into the Brexit Storm!

Next job – collect the kayak and other bits was had left out at our friends property out at Canowindra. A 5-6 hr drive out into western NSW. I devised a cunning plan though, after reading about a overnight bike trip some people had done in the national park inland from Nowra. Mrs A was up in Brisbane at a conference, so I headed down to Nowra collected the bike, dusted off the bikepacking gear, and headed for the hills. Well, I couldn’t actually see the hills through the driving rain and fog. Was this a smart idea? I consulted with my more optimistic half. Mrs A said “the forecast looks like it’s better further inland”, so I applied the right foot and started winding my up into the very wet high country.

I parked up at a pub close to the start of the ride (handy hey?), and got the camping gear loaded on my beast of a bike.

Ready to head off…and the sun is shining!

I love that bike, and still smile every time I throw a leg over the saddle. I didn’t get away until mid afternoon, but the rain had held up so was feeling pretty perky. Well until I remembered I had forgotten one of the most essential items of gear…my tea mug! Oh no! I had snuck in some Tim Tams (yummy Aussie chocolate biscuits) for my favourite ritual on these solo trips of getting the tent pitched somewhere gorgeous and getting a brew on. Still I pressed on regardless and was thrilled that the maps app and routing a friend had sent me was working a treat.

One happy bike-packer!

The route traverses into the Morton National Park which stretches for just under 200,000 hectares through sandstone plateau country crisscrossed by gorges. I had been reading about a 5-day ride through it called ‘Attack of the Buns‘, but only had time for two half days. I’d picked the section that several people had commented was through especially stunning and wild country. They weren’t wrong.

I started dropping down towards a small stream I had read about in the trip write up. Well the small stream was now a grown up river after all the rain. I paused, checked the time and decided to camp just before it and see what the morning brought weather wise. My reading of the forecast was they had no clue. Weather up in the hills here is notoriously unpredictable.

The tent was soon up and the issue of the lack of mug solved – use my empty Pringle container! Yes it is all health foods on these trips without the conscience on my shoulder of the lovely Mrs A. Now I can definitely say, do not pour boiling hot liquid into a cardboard Pringle container. It all went horribly wrong and the much better Plan B of drinking out of my food bowl was implemented.

Norman no-mates tent

I rose in the pre-dawn darkness and checked the river. I was going to have wet shoes for the rest of the trip but so what. I packed the gear and set off when it was just light enough to see where I was treading. It was up to the hubs but I pushed through, and I’m so glad I did. The riding from here was stunning.

Friends ask me why I always do these trips solo. My response – I can go at my own slow pace, and when I see country like this I’m so glad I can take my time to just stop and look. Silver cobwebs were hanging across the scrub. Mist was hanging over the cliffs. Not a person to be seen. The stillness is just something else. No other voices to break the spell.

Magical morning mist, birds, wallabies and not another person…

Dew coated spider webs sparkling in the morning light

I rode the somewhat soggy track but it was pretty easy going and eventually reached a point mid morning where I reluctantly had to turn round.

A stream or my pathway ahead? Thank goodness for fat tyres

Perhaps to some people it would have seemed a lot of effort to get the bike all loaded up for one night. But not for me. I love the chance to ride and reflect, listen, smell and feel the bush. I’m going to miss it in the UK and Europe, but it will be replaced with country so different to this, country shaped and filled by human endeavour.

It was a long drive to Canowindra and I was running out of daylight. You really don’t want to be on these country roads at dusk with kamikaze kangaroos about. My eyes are also not good for night driving. So kayak collected, I headed over to Orange, where a friend had recently moved back to from Manly. It was her birthday so a great excuse for a catch up. We had a lovely time, wine tasting and eating at a brilliant restaurant called Mr Lim. Check it out if you’re in town.

Pre dinner drink at the very fancy local RSL in Orange

All too quickly it was time to point the car back to Nowra and store it there until early November. It’s really happening…we’re off for a whole new adventure.

March 20, 2019March 20, 2019

14-17 March: Dodging the rain in Jervis Bay

Author: Mr A

Location: Huskisson, Jervis Bay, NSW, Australia

Thursday: It was a novelty at first hearing rain crashing onto the roof of the caravan. An excuse to brew endless cups of tea, finalise our trip plans for Europe, and snuggle down with Miss Tasmania!

An attempt at an evening walk is cut short by our first rain drops

Jervis Bay looking dramatic as the horizon disappears under torrential rain heading our way

Friday: We managed a short 13km cycle along Jervis Bay’s shoreline shared path, with a hot chocolate reward for our minor efforts:

Half way along our ride the grey skies part to allow fingers of sunlight to beam down onto the bay

Nice to wrap up warm and enjoy a hot drink

The late afternoon cleared allow for a fabulous sunset:

The last sunbeams catch a turquoise wave as it breaks on the shore

Grid-like rock pools at the water’s edge reflecting the sunlight

A copse of gum trees catching the last of the light

We’ve not seen the sun all day, but still it goes down

Saturday: After a couple of days of little activity we were getting a bit van crazy, so drove into Booderee National Park to tackle one of the longer circuit walks. Booderee translates as “Bay of Plenty” in the local language of the Koori people, who have now been handed back this land to continue with over 20,000 recorded years of custodianship.

Well, didn’t we get lucky with the weather. The park was looking fabulous, all glistening and shiny with the foliage recently washed clean.

Setting off from Steamers Beach Car Park

The ferns gleaming in the sunlight after their wash in the rain last night

A Jacky Lizard also seems pleased to see the sunlight, and wasn’t keen to move off the step to let us pass

Mrs A on the walk down to Steamers Beach – with another 10km left to hike we decided against going all the way down and back again

There wasnt a heap of birdlife, but plenty of wallabies bounding around. The flora certainly looks like it has recovered pretty well with the lush cover back after the devastating fires of Christmas 2001. We drove back from Tasmania through the area a few weeks after those fires and both shed tears for all the animals burned to death in the inferno that took 400 firefighters to get under control.

In 2017 fire once again ravaged the park. You can still some some of the impact, but it once again is looking mostly healthy. As for species lost, then it is not such a happy story. Since 2004 a monitoring program has been in place and sadly has seen local extinction of some glider species and the “common” ringtail possum. Inexplicably mammals in both fire affected and non-affected areas seem to have suffered. Researchers are at a loss. My uninformed view – this is a pattern we are seeing all over Australia as climate events become more extreme and humans continue to encroach on habitat at a shocking pace. You may have seen the more alarmist articles that are predicting complete ecosystem collapse as insect numbers fall drastically.

On that cheery note check out some of these fab photos from the ever talented Mrs A!

Mr & Mrs at the lookout

The beautiful Blacks Harbour – named for the aboriginal residents

Calm waters with Caves Beach just around the headland, popular with surfers

Could spend hours checking out these rock pools, full of little fish

Another bay, further around – the water looking amazing through the trees

We always love visiting this area – this was where I proposed to Mrs A back in September 2000 after all – and we will definitely be back again. We just love how we are still able to find something new in the region every time we come, whatever the weather.

March 9, 2019March 9, 2019

5-9 March: Admiring East Gippsland

Author: Mr A

Location: Seaspray and Nungurner, Victoria, Australia

Tuesday: Mrs A woke on her birthday to another stunning morning overlooking Wilsons Prom. Sadly it was the closest we were going to get on this trip as we needed to be on our way. We had booked into a park at the small settlement of Seaspray, in Victoria’s glorious East Gippsland region. As soon as we arrived, we pretty much unhitched and headed straight off into the nearby town of Sale, as I had found out about a pub with a particularly good reputation for dinner.

Birthday girl with her new necklace from Melbourne

I had been given great advice – this place was tremendous. If you find yourself that way the Criterion Hotel deserves your patronage. As so many reviewers said before me “why isn’t my local pub like this?”. And really there’s no practical reason it couldn’t be in most of Australia that has a climate that supports the growing of local produce.

The chef was a local lad, the produce from all around the area, the funding to invest in the pub was all coming (I was told by the manager) from reinvested profits since they managed to fill the place most nights. How? By offering a very different menu to the usual unimaginative fare of chips with some combination of “parmy (chicken in breadcrumbs), steak, or meat pie. We had delicious Asian influenced starters and duck with various berries and oh so fresh veggies for main.

Happy customers outside the renovated Criterion Hotel

Wednesday: Sadly the next day it was blowing a hoolie, so we were confined to quarters most of the time, only briefly venturing down onto the sand blasting beach.

There’s drama on the horizon – 90-mile beach at Seaspray

Being sand blasted on the beach, trying to imagine what it’s like on a calm sunny day

The wind is shifting the sand dunes like snow drifts

We didn’t see much of Seaspray other than the sea spray. Sorry but couldn’t resist that!

Thursday: The next day we had been generously invited to stay with fellow Zone owners Di and Mark, who live in the small settlement of Nungerner, about a 10 minute drive out of Lakes Entrance. What a little slice of heaven their home and its surrounds has been. Every direction there seems to be miles and miles of tranquil lakes and rivers, bursting with birds, wildlife and views at every turn.

Mark and Di have a resident echidna – quite used to people by all accounts!

The Gippsland Lakes are Australia’s largest area off enclosed water at 103 kilometres long. We have really enjoyed it here and only scratched the surface after 3 days.

Our first night saw us meeting up with some more Zoners, Jo and Scott, who wanted to try out our packrafts at the nearby settlement of Metung.

Zoners catch up at the Metung Hotel

This bustling little village has a pub set in an idyllic lakeside location with 180 degree views up and down the channel.

Friday: We couldn’t wait to get on the water, so in the morning wandered down with our little boats in our backpacks to the jetty that is a few hundred metres from Di and Mark’s place.

The still morning water – smoke haze from the bush fires hanging over the water

There used to be a cormorant on every post!

Heading off to explore a commercial fishing boat

Someone with a little imagination has built little houses on their beachfront

Onwards to the next little bay – you could explore here for weeks

We paddled around the edge of the lake and ended up back at the pub at Metung…again…this time resisiting a cold beer and heading back to the serenity of Mark and Di’s home and its leafy courtyard.

Mark kindly sorted out some plumbing issues on our Zone. That was his main trade before retiring but now seems to have a mastery of almost every trade there is! A useful set of skills when caravans seem to need so much ongoing maintenance. Di was a kindergarten teacher and tour guide for the local caves at Buchanan, and they both share our passion for walking and the great outdoors. Time therefore slipped away so easily chatting about our respective adventures. Memories being relived and shared, a wonderful thing.

Our fur child is equally enraptured by their home and strolls around with her flag of a tail held high in pleasure. Its brilliant for us to see her so happy, especially knowing in a few short weeks we will be bidding her goodbye for 7 months! Thank goodness we are lucky enough to have two sets of foster parents who are equally crazy about this gorgeous natured little bundle of loveliness.

Stalking skinks in the flower beds

Princess Tassie has explored every corner of Di and Mark’s garden

Saturday: On Saturday Metung held a small market which was especially bustling as it is a long weekend for Victoria.

Eggplant and tomatoes purchased…no garlic….

Fresh veggies purchased it was off to the popular tourist destination of Lakes Entrance.

Before dropping down into the town we stopped at a lookout which really explained the naming of the town!

Amazing views from the lookout

We can see the strength of the current from up here

We had a date with the best fish and chip shop in town for lunch. Sadly no mushy peas or pickled eggs on the menu, I’ll have to wait another few weeks for those in England, but still a not bad effort for Aussie friers!

The Ferryman – delicious fresh fish

It was our last night here with Di and Mark, so we gathered in the courtyard for drinks and nibbles and whiled away another lovely evening planning how to turn our respective travel dreams into memories.

Final night’s drinks and nibbles with Mark and Di

March 2, 2019March 2, 2019

26-28 February: Marysville – recovery and regeneration

Author: Mr A

Location: Marysville, Victoria

We returned to collect our caravan from its temporary home in Marysville and decided to stay a couple of days and have a look around this little town nestled in the foothills of the Victorian High Country.

One of the resident King Parrots – they find plenty of food in the trees around the property

For our international readers, and a reminder to locals, I need to explain that this town was almost totally destroyed by bushfires 10 years ago, on a hot and windy February day known as Black Saturday. The summary would be that 173 people lost their lives as a massive firestorm engulfed this town and several others in this heavily forested area. I can’t and won’t describe the horror that ensued, enough has been said and our impression was after 10 years the residents of this town want to move on and look forwards not backwards.

A very moving memorial

Over $400 million was donated from public and private funds. The town has been almost completely rebuilt. Children’s laughter once again fills the streets as they walk to their newly built school…although chillingly I heard one child impersonating the bushfire siren that regularly is tested in the town, too young to know the potential disaster that alarm could signify.

The new architect designed police station

It is a fabulous little community from what we experienced. Everyone was super friendly and keen to promote the town and what it offers. Surrounded by hills, every direction you look is just so picturesque. We picked up a walks leaflet and were off on one of the many trails that start right in the town centre. This one led up to a waterfall that is one of the highest in Victoria.

Admiring Steavenson Falls – five cascades with a total descent of 122 metres

The final cascade of Steavenson Falls drops more than 21 metres

We also explored some tracks on our bikes, following the Tree Fern Gully Trail up to Yellow Dog Road and back, providing us with some gorgeous dawn views of the mountain ash and gum forests.

The sun just peeps over the hills to light up the bush – looking quite sculptural with the bleached dead trees rising above the new green growth

Surprisingly fresh first thing in the morning!

Another hike took us out to Keppel Falls, also picturesque

We followed the Taggerty River upstream to reach these falls

The evening sun lighting up the bush behind Mrs A

Driving off back to the Zone, the forest lit up by the setting sun

We could have easily spent a few weeks here and just scratched the surface. There’s a pub serving great food, a bakery, multiple cafes, a small supermarket, everything the visitor would need.

Come and spend some money here and support this community who have faced so much and have rebuilt a vibrant new town.

February 21, 2019February 21, 2019

19-20 February: King Valley winetasting

Author: Mr A

Location: Whitfield, Victoria

Tuesday morning saw us saunter south from the small settlement of Chilton, just south of Albury, well rested after the best nights sleep in months thanks to the cooler night. The drive took us down through the King Valley in the foothills of the Victorian High Country. We landed at a lovely little campsite in the small village of Whitfield. Tassie, or camping cat, decided she liked the place using pretty much the same criteria as us….there were no dogs yapping or cars racing round. It’s a very laid back little place called Valley View Caravan Park and we’ve loved it.

We took a gentle ride (Catherine’s first since her stomach op two weeks ago) down the road to a winery that friends had recommended called Pizzini Wines. I recognised the logo as their Pino Grigio was our go-to white.

Only 3km each way, this was a very gentle ease back in to cycling!

Pizzini, nestled in the valley, spectacularly peaceful – all about to be shattered as harvest has started here

Well, we were blown away by the rest of their range as well. We both really like cool climate wines, and Italian varietals, so we tucked into this tasting with gusto. Their Barberas, Sangioveses and Nebbiolos we thought we’re exquisite. Just so well balanced, delicate wines. Our lovely host even dropped off our case of purchases at the caravan park!

Wednesday: The first few hours of today were spent trying to make room for more wine and all the extra clothes we have now brought with us because our belongings are all in storage. We have discovered the joys of packing cubes….I know its sad isn’t it but they are sooooo good at keeping things organised in the somewhat restricted space of our caravan and car.

After the frenzy of organising we headed over the road to another winery, Dal Zotto Wines. Not as spectacular, but still three bottles made their way somehow to our under bed storage!

Catherine said she felt up to a longer ride today so we headed out to explore some gravel roads along the King River.

Beautiful gum-tree lined lanes with no traffic – bliss!

A miniature horse foal – so cute – we also saw deer, sheep and many wombat burrows

It was a great ride with the temperatures being in the gentle mid 20s, the vineyards looking ripe for harvest, and apparently at 3am this morning they will start harvesting!

It has been a great start to our travels in Victoria, but off to pastures new tomorrow. Marysville and Melbourne here we come!

January 31, 2019January 31, 2019

Goodbye NZ we will miss you!

Author: Mr A

Location: Auckland New Zealand

Well it’s nearly time to head to the airport and bid goodbye to this fabulous country and people. She has touched our hearts again with the beauty of the mountains and coastline, the fresh produce that can be brought at roadside stalls, the cooling breezes that even on a hot day provide a tingle of freshness.

Leaving Omokoroa was hard. We feel priveldged to have watched the sun set over the hills there so many times. To watch the clouds swirling round the peaks of the Kaimai Range in in the distance as we sat on the patio and chatted with Richard and Sue. To watch the flocks of godwits as the tide changes make their daily flight back and forward to their preferred feeding grounds, never failing to make us “ooh and ahhh”. To stand on the beach and breathe in that air that is so fresh and clean it makes your nose tingle. These are the memories we will store away.

The tidal mudflats, a feeding ground for so many birds

Oyster Catchers flying in to join their flock

We wish we could communicate the bird calls across the sands, the geese, the godwits, the swans, oyster catchers, stilts and more…

The sense of peace and serenity here is second to none

We once again have experienced the kindness of people as we travel. Yesterday was such a great example of that. Collected from our hotel, we were whisked out to a friend’s house in the posh end of Auckland’s coastal suburbs. It was a day we will always remember.

Friends reunited – strolling along the waterfront at Mission Bay

A little post lunch margarita action to celebrate Auckland Day

Bonnie the gorgeous cat-dog knows a good lap when she finds one!

The lively conversation with the whole family engaged. The fabulously long lunch down on the water. The sharing of stories, music and jokes. Suddenly 10 hours had passed in a blink, but the deeper friendship forged will last I think a lifetime. This surely is what life should be about if you have managed to carve yourself some space from the day to day pressure of earning a crust.

The sad fact of travel though is that you do have to say goodbye a lot, and we’ve said a few over the last days. However, we look forward to seeing the Sydney mob again. Fasten your seat belts we’re incoming!

January 17, 2019

14-17 January: Walks in the Kaimai Range

Author: Mr A

Location: Omokoroa, Kaimai Range, Waihi Beach, New Zealand

Monday: The Kaimai Range watches moodily over the Bay of Plenty, its dark craggy peaks regularly obscured in thundery clouds. We keep looking up at them from our haven down by the beach in Omokoroa and are inspired to keep reaching for the hiking shoes and driving up for a wander around.

It’s really hard to remember a more beautiful spot we have ever based ourselves, a huge thanks to Catherine’s dad Richard and wife Sue, who have shared their lovely home with us all these weeks. It’s a tough choice whether to head out on the water, paddling around the seemingly endless sheltered bays, or stride up into the hills. I know…life’s tough.

It literally poured with rain on Monday morning, so we dressed up in our waterproofs and took a short walk over to Omokoroa Beach.

08B6E7C7-8FAC-44E3-B3D1-8891188980BA — Still looks lovely in the rain

3B050710-5858-4778-969D-15C6824F4343 — After a bite of lunch the skies cleared and the Kaimai Range appears again

Tuesday: With a break in the rain, we headed up to the Kaimais to try out a walk on the Tuahu Track, one of the many that crosses the range a short drive from us.

B4A14CD6-28A1-4DB6-B138-82F7BA11681A — Heading off on the track…so many options from here – we chose the Sentinel Rock lookout

5AFCF5DA-335E-4CC2-B0B8-93A7E5AE1CAE — Starting off along a civilised six foot track…

After an innocent enough start along a well formed track, the path headed almost vertically upwards, in the time honoured Kiwi fashion! We came across the all too rare remnants of the Kauri forest that once dominated the landscape before settlers realised their value as timber. The oldest specimen remaining has watched over the forest for 1200 years. Just writing that gave me goose bumps! What a timescale. Finally they are being protected and efforts to restore the forests are making some slow progress. In 1987 all the remaining tracts of Kauri forest came under government protection…it’s a nasty disease spread by walkers which is threatening the remaining trees now (Kauri dieback) – we made sure to brush and spray our shoes before starting or finishing any walks.

ADECE12F-4F28-4FDC-9670-02CD91AB2B98 — This tree is a young 600 years old

1CE10BC6-C7F9-42CB-B1F2-2E3588392255 — Feeling pleased these giants are now protected from the saw

With a lot of huffing and puffing we finally reached our lookout, and I got the stove on for a brew.

A66A7F97-1842-4DB8-8F50-700FFB91CD46 — Time for a brew!

3280961C-18A1-4CF9-A596-AF6C2E5DD2D4 — The view from the lookout…extra dramatic with an approaching storm

F90F05BD-A398-4AC1-96F0-29C6C0C0A31D — Mrs A heads off down the slope

Almost immediately thunder started rumbling around the peaks, and it was a quick gulp or two before we donned rain jackets and slithered and stumbled our way back down. Thankfully the storm ebbed away and moved past us to the coast. I can’t imagine how tricky it would have been to get get down that path when it was even more slippery in the rain.

5DD9B45A-59EB-401B-973A-430FAA5C6081 — A dramatic Omokoroa sunset ended our day, the mountains in the distance

Wednesday: The rain returned again the next day so took a nostalgic drive out to where Richard and Sue used to live at Waihi Beach. Dramatic skies shed an eerie light over this glorious place.

0362C784-F40B-47F6-A2B1-E8CEEE461AD9 — After a morning of rain, a stroll along the beach is in order, Waihi Beach looking dramatic

74551EEE-4FD8-4875-9AFB-792898204985 — And at the end of the day, Sue and Richard enjoying another fine sunset from the front of their property

Thursday: The next day dawned fresh and bright, so we headed off down the road to a volunteer maintained park, the Te Puna Quarry Park, with a lovely network of paths running around an old quarry. The views from the lookouts were spectacular.

3B53053C-A4F0-4C17-8C4B-27B2B53EC969 — Enjoying the view from the butterfly garden

93DAE5FA-A5D5-41DF-829B-51F15A0DF756 — Sculptures dotted around the park add to its beauty, many with interesting stories

EE9C06B3-7836-4C6D-A63C-13DC140DA173 — A fantastic panorama across the eastern Bay of Plenty – Here is Mount Maunganui in the south, we could see all the way up to the Coromandel Range in the north

A1400565-5FA9-4AD8-9666-59559AD92AFC — And the time is….? 2pm

7B5CEFD8-2356-48AA-905E-C735D0F074C2 — More sculptures overlook the vista

EB35623B-A447-4877-8404-B35F56D59CFD

0EAB8170-6CCB-497E-9FB3-365ACBB3D7AB — Enjoying the views

Mount Maunganui as usual dominates the scene, cruise ships clustered around the docks, and the endless channels and bays glistened in the afternoon light. Monarch butterflies flitted through the forest, and Catherine was in her element with her lens snapping away. It’s lovely to see her so happy, and breathing well at the moment (touching my head, ie wood!).

FA077187-E07F-4B0D-9733-57FB9ED5A22B — Monarch butterflies are everywhere

57E49DDC-5EBF-49A6-A274-9E15452768EC — A newly hatched butterfly drying its wings

03655556-7C70-46DC-AC6A-F0985B2ABEF6 — The gardens are planted to attract these beauties

27EC6844-B0A8-463A-BF7A-F75ADFE3F69A — One of the many caterpillars feeding on a Swan Plant – they are ferocious eaters – not many of the plants had leaves left!

Oh what a relief to be here in these temperatures and not back in Australia (currently experiencing temperatures over 40 degrees centigrade in some areas!)! For New Zealand it is exceptionally warm, with the mercury going over 30 some days. But there always seems to be a cooling breeze that kicks in, and we have never felt too hot to stop us heading off on a jaunt. It’s really making us wonder about the future of Autralia for us, to be living there in the summer in a caravan. Not so good. Maybe a Plan B is called for? Let’s see.

On the way home we stopped off to top up with avocados from one of the many roadside stalls. They taste incredible freshly picked of course, so creamy and exploding with flavour. Then we got chatting to a couple who had just pulled up in their motorhome for the night in the most beautiful spot at Plummers Point, right on the edge of a well kept reserve, looking out over the bay towards Omokoroa.

Apparently their club has 80,000 members in New Zealand, and you can see why it’s so popular with so many awesome places to pull up (free!) as long as you have a self contained motorhome.

We bid them a good night and wandered back for yet another fantastic meal of fresh local produce whisked up by Richard. Oh…and a decent bottle of Cote du Rhone to wash it down of course! The local pinots come rather pricey for our everyday quaffing budget!

January 7, 2019January 9, 2019

6-7 January: Whanganui to Taupo and back to Omokoroa

Author: Mr A

Location: Whanganui, Motuoapa, Rotorua and Omokoroa

The drive up from the west coast port of Whanganui up to Taupo gave us some fantastic scenery. Plunging waterfalls, snow capped volcanoes (that have caused two of the worlds most violent eruptions), alpine vistas, and finally a lake boasting a surface area larger than Singapore! New Zealand just keeps throwing us into a sensory overload.

Mount Ruapehu – active volcano covered in snow.

We made a small diversion for a nostalgic visit to the Chateau at Tongariro where friends of ours got married. It still had all the charm we remembered so fondly.

Chateau Tongariro – we stayed here in February 2003 for friends Jenny & David’s wedding

The grand old house decked out in 1920s decadence, and playing the music too…

When we stayed here the mountain was decked in thick fog…we didn’t see it for three days!

We had kindly been invited to stay the night with a friend’s family who own a holiday house right on the shore of Lake Taupo. We’ve both stayed with them before, but it still took our breath away sitting in the lounge looking out at this view.

I decided to take a kayak out for an explore in the late afternoon sunshine, and took advice from our hosts and found myself immersed in this wetland separated from the main lake by a narrow channel. I had one of those “I am so privileged to see this place” moments…stopped paddling and just drifted along in the absolute silence with only water birds for company.

A hidden corner of Taupo, where the water’s less than knee deep

Looking out towards the north of the caldera

This wetland is home to a very rare species of orchid – the Swamp Orchid

A cracking dinner of fresh NZ whitebait and prawns, with such good company, had us again reflecting on the ingredients that make you want to call somewhere home. I can certainly see why so many Kiwis come back after careers offshore. Yes the North Island is changing, certainly getting busier in parts, but the contrast to where we have travelled in the north and west of Australia in particular, is just so stark. The constantly changing scenery here for instance. In one day we have travelled through all of these remarkably different landscapes. The summer climate here is also such a literally refreshing change. Although averages are creeping up, we haven’t once felt we didn’t want to be outside in them in the day and usually they dipped enough at night to give us a good sleep. We also never seem to be far from a shop that can sell us fresh produce and a quality bottle of wine! Important things…makes you think…

However, even though the grass seems greener here, literally, there’s some things that aren’t as you would hope. For instance, in NZ you are nearly twice as likely to be killed in your vehicle than in Australia. New Zealand ended 2018 with its road toll at 382 – with 3.6 million light vehicles registered. In Australia we ended the year at 1,143 fatalities with 19.2M registered. We can ponder about why the huge difference – no research I could find covers this scope, but having driven here for a month, driver behaviour leaves me feeling very nervous. For instance, almost every other vehicle that I watch come up in the mirror tailgates us. It seems second only to rugby as a national sport!

Secondly, we have decided to miss out on a number of walks/sights because of a concern about the security of our vehicle and its contents. The glass of smashed car windows was littering many of the car parks we saw at the start of walks. Car break ins are all too common in the tourist spots. Many of the reviews we read of places we wanted to go had people reporting car thieves working in the area. Not good for brand New Zealand.

Having said all of that, we both went out on the kayaks in the morning and revisited the wetlands, which looked different again in the morning light and had one of the most memorable paddles ever in this land of outsndaing natural beauty.

A very different looking Lake Taupo greeted us at 7am

Beautiful still waters reflecting moody skies

Mr A paddles towards the secret entrance into the wetlands

The silence and stillness is breathtaking

Mrs A is impressed…worth getting out of bed for!

Somehow the cloud cover adds to the overall atmosphere

We paddled back to the house for showers and a cup of tea with our hosts, before heading off on our way. We lunched beside the Aratiatia Rapids on our way back to Omokoroa – literally just happening to turn off the road and arrive as the power station was releasing a huge amount of water . We didn’t realise it would only last 15 minutes, so failed to take any photos – it wasn’t ‘too’ bad a view once the dam was closed again though! Top tip for future travellers in this area – check out the release times and get there to have a look – it was impressive!

AratiatiaRapids with their ‘standard’ amount of water – you can see the darker areas of rock where the water had previously gushed through about 3 metres deeper and much faster!

The incredible blue-green waters down river, just past the hydro power station which controls the flow

New Zealand has so much to offer the traveller, just be careful on the roads and park your car somewhere safe, with plenty of witnesses!

Author: Mark Anderson

6-11 April: Our UK meanderings continue

30 March-1 April: Old friends and new toys

18-24 March: Nomadic life has its moments…

14-17 March: Dodging the rain in Jervis Bay

5-9 March: Admiring East Gippsland

26-28 February: Marysville – recovery and regeneration

19-20 February: King Valley winetasting

Goodbye NZ we will miss you!

14-17 January: Walks in the Kaimai Range

6-7 January: Whanganui to Taupo and back to Omokoroa

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