Thursday 8 Feb: Ups and downs in Kiama

Author: Mr A

Location: Kiama and surrounds

I guess the clue should have been in the name, Kiama Downs. As we set off on our bikes along the coast, hill after near vertical hill seemed to be in our immediate future. But the views were fantastic! We could see miles along the coast on this beautiful summer’s day. A trifle warm for hilly riding at 30 degrees but a lovely north-easterly breeze was blowing in our faces. There’s nothing quite like riding a bike to bring a smile to your face…well going downhill anyway.We managed to miss our turn off to stay on a cycleway, and ended up on main road for a bit, then found it again and cruised into our destination of Minnamurra. This turned out to be a sleepy little village, with a one platform railway station on the South NSW line. We found the only cafe and ordered some much needed sustenance. One Chicken Club and a Chicken Caesar Salad demolished. Time for the return match. My eagle eyed Map Girl saw a faint footpath line on Google so we headed for that and followed a fabulous path right along the cliff tops.A few more hills and we were soon back in Kiama, with an ice creamery seeming to jump into our path. Wow that went down well. Mrs A with her mango sorbet and me with some English toffee ice cream. Just bliss. 20km ticked off and 1000 calories consumed!Back at the Zone, Tassie seemed to greet us rather grumpily, after all she only just had a 4 hour nap, apparently not quite enough.Dinner tonight was Cambodian fish amok. We both loved the food when we visited the country and Mrs A has added a couple of cracking dishes from their cuisine into her extensive repertoire. The fresh veggies from the farmers market yesterday just added to the flavours.

While I’m on the subject of food (I’m barely off it in this post am I?) we have decided to experiment with using the car fridge as freezer to give us more storage space. It’s working fine when we are on power in a park, but off the grid I don’t see it as feasible unless you have a bank of solar panels and add a third battery somewhere in the already tightly packed Cruiser. I ran the car fridge off power the first day and it was pretty much drained after about 17hrs – which is about normal given the draw of a freezer. We do have a solar blanket (small flexible panels mounted on a foldable backing) but I’ve never seen it pump in more than 2.3 Amps to the batteries even in full sun, so it should extend the time a little but won’t keep up with the drain. It’s a early model from Kimberley Kampers. Enough said. Apart from this all our set up is pretty much the same as on our last trip.

Tuesday 6 February: And we’re off!

Author: Mr A

Location: Kendalls on the Beach, Kiama

So today was the day when our preparations came to an almighty climax…steady…and we left Sydney for Phase 1 of our Second Big Trip. Our new tenants arrive tomorrow, the house was being inspected this afternoon, and we thought we had everything pretty much under control with only our bathroom to clean after our showers this morning. So perhaps the house sensed we were deserting it, leaving it to cope with the vagaries of another bunch of strangers moving in. Whatever it was, Murphy’s Law operated and as I turned the shower tap on Catherine shouted out from some distance away “Why am I getting soaked?!” The shower head had decided it was a good time to play up and water was spurting all over the room.

A quick text to our property manager, who wasn’t even supposed to be working today, and their plumber turned up less than an hour later. Now that’s good service! He soon had the problem under control and we left the house a little behind schedule at midday feeling a little nervous about what we will find when we return in October. Casting doubts aside we drew away and headed through reasonable (for Sydney) morning traffic. Tassie was a little restless (for new readers she’s our other family member – the Burmese camping cat), but some serious brushing from Mrs A sorted her out.

We only had a short trip today and we were soon pulling into our home for the next two nights in a small caravan park in Kiama. We haven’t stayed here before but first impressions pretty good, especially when we saw a poster on the check in desk advertising a farmer’s market tomorrow! We set up on a nice grassy site and then found the beach within staggering distance. Just what we needed after the stresses of the last few weeks, trying to get everything organised.So here’s the plan in summary.

Phase 1: NSW South Coast Wanderings. We are planning to just amble down the coast, meeting up with various friends on the way, taking our big double kayak as we plan to stick to tar and the coast. We just love Southern NSW and always seem to be rushing through, so wanted a chance to spend longer at some places we have enjoyed previously. Then we are returning to Sydney for a wedding in a few weeks, putting the kayak back in storage at our place and collecting the packrafts so we can hit the dirt when we want. At 7.3 metres the double is just too big a beast to cart around bumpy roads.

Phase 2: Keep the ocean on our right. We will then start heading north up the coast, with very few fixed plans other than catching up with friends in Newcastle, meeting some other Zone RV owners just north of Coffs Harbour, and then calling in at Zone’s HQ in Coolum in mid April for a service. We think we then carry on heading north, and just see how far we get with the only constraint we need to be back in Sydney mid September.

Phase 3: Off to the US of A. So once back in Sydney we will store the van, leave Tassie with foster parents, and fly out to the US. Catherine is presenting the medical research she has helped run at a conference in Atlanta in October, so we thought we should take advantage of her having her flight paid and me go with her this year. Take a couple of weeks to visit friends and do a short road trip, back in the house mid October.

So that’s the idea. Hope you enjoy reading what actually transpires!

We concluded our day post dinner with a sunset cycle along the coastal path to raise the heart beats a little and see some more of the area.It is truly a beautiful coastline and we look forward to exploring some more over the coming weeks.

Day 196: 12 December – Hello Orange

Author: Mr A

From: Cowra

To: Orange

Distance: 101km

We said goodbye to the lovely Keira and Glen, and hit the road. A very hot road….winding through this park-like countryside and coming to our first hills since Adelaide. We drive through the settlements of Milthorpe and Blayney, looking as fab as ever. Then we rolled into Orange and straight past our caravan park entrance. It looked like it had been abandoned, with a scruffy half derelict building lot out the front. Thankfully once you are in the Canobolas Caravan Park the aspect brightens up…a little. We decide to only pay for one night and see what we think.

We unhitch and leave Tas in air conditioned comfort as we swelter in the 32 plus degree heat of mid afternoon. We decide not to cycle and take the car as we need to grocery shop. It is a productive stop at Bunnings (what would a self respecting caravaner do with out the Big B?) and then into the town centre. Now we have this image in our minds of a very picturesque, tranquil Orange. Wow…it has changed. Catherine literally is millimetres from getting knocked over by a car that overtakes the one that has stopped to allow us to cross the road. I shout out and she just pauses as he whistles past in front of her and flies off. We are back in ‘civilisation’. The local Supa IGA is also a disappointment. For an area that’s known for its produce, the fruit and veg is really very ordinary.

We drive back to our park a little disappointed (and shaken), with our first impressions of the Orange we were so looking forward to revisiting. Tomorrow should be better – we’re not fasting – and it definitely wont be an AFD (alcohol free day) that we compell ourselves now to have two days a week…..and we are going wine tasting. Yippee..!

Day 193: 9 December – Cycling Cowra

Author: Mr A

From: Forbes

To: Cowra

Distance driven: 91km Cycled: 14km

Another sunny day and the wind had dropped so the BBQ was put to use for baked eggs, mushrooms and toast and Catherine smashed up some avo’s. Now that’s a good start to the day. All packed and ready to go – or so we thought – until I try to level the van – the air suspension had sprung a leak again. Not thinking it was Saturday I called the service line at Zone and immediately got a perky voice on the line asking how they could help. Now that is super service for a manufacturer to provide weekend service cover as well. Warms your heart it does.

We get talked through a fix and 10 minutes later all was sorted. Zone will also arrange for the system to be fully checked out when we back in Sydney. It looked like a couple of hose lines had got bent and cracked. We did feel quite masterful fixing it ourselves 🙂

It was a great drive down the Lachlan Way to Cowra. The recent rains meant we had emerald green fields and lush trees lining the road. We had booked at the Cowra Van Park, based on good reviews on WikiCamps, and we weren’t disappointed. A few minutes walk from town and on the river, its immaculately kept with perfectly groomed lawns and flower beds. The hosts Keira and Glenn were so helpful and welcoming, nothing too much trouble for them. Now why can’t every park be like this? A real cracker.

So it was time to explore the many sights of Cowra, on our bikes of course. Keira even provided a cycling routes map – now that’s a first for the whole trip! The route we chose was described as “rolling” by the ever so competent in marketing at Tourism NSW. My description would be “bloody hilly on a hot day!”. We had chosen the “Peace Precinct Trails, which started with a 2km climb out of town and up to the local cemetery – no, I’d want it in the dead centre of town….groan. The info boards explained this is where several hundred Japanese were buried who had staged a mass escape from the local Prisoner of War (POW) camp. Being captured and being alive was disonouring their family and country, so the way they tried to escape was described as a mass suicide by the garrison commander of the Australian army guarding the camp. They literally wanted to die trying to escape, and several hundred buried here succeed at that.We then went on to the POW camp itself. Not much was left to see, the info boards again though told a harrowing story of several thousand POWs crammed in to the camp, with the last prisoners not being repatriated until 1954!

Its hard for Mrs A and I never being close to war to comprehend what these times were like, for the guards or the captors. All I could think was when Japanese people visiting the site were reading how well we treated their POWs compared to what was happening to ours in Japanese camps, what would they be thinking?

We arrived back at camp and got ourselves ready for a big night out in Cowra, which turned out to be just perfect. A wine bar kicked off our evening, our first in 6 months. It felt so exciting to walk in to a place with such a range of wines chalked up!

Then it was down to the Indian – OMG – this food was sensational – one of the best North Indian meals we’ve ever had. Fantastic – Cowra…we love you.

Day 191: 7 December – Off across the Hay Plains

Author: Mr A

From: Balranald

To: Weethalle (Where? Click here for map!)

Distance: 331 km

We packed up this morning keen to get the Hay Plains drive behind us, remembering from it from a previous trip. Checking email though we saw a note from Zone RV to the effect that there was potentially a problem with the plate attaching our tow hitch. We had to send them some photos to check if there was any damage. Despite it only being 7.30am in head office, Zone Service management were back within minutes with an answer, we were good to go, but that just in case we should reduce our water payload. So I emptied out most of the water in the tanks and gave the grass at the site a good watering!The Hay Plain drive was a lot more scenic than we remembered, or perhaps we’re getting more attuned to the subtle variations in the Australian landscape. We stopped for a couple of quick breaks, and by mid afternoon we are pulling up at our camp for the night at the Weethalle Showgrounds – home to the country club (a tennis court, bowling green and a makeshift golf course) and three or four horses. This is Tassie’s expression after spotting the horses – she’s such a city slicker:We called the caretaker and she came to open up the power box and the toilets, all for $10! She was so welcoming, and after walking around the small settlement of Weethalle, indicative of the friendliness of this isolated little place, and typical of what we have experienced in all these country towns (since leaving the tourist spots in the Kimberley!).Clearly times are tough here, boarded up shops and run down property, but looking in the window of the local café (The Road Kill Grillz!), there is lots of effort being made to organise community activities.

It has been a real education for both of us city dwellers to spend time in these country settlements, and try and work out how economic and technological changes are impacting rural Australia.

Our experience has shown that very few communities are thriving. We contrast that with how, closer to Sydney, there is a flight from the city by people who have grown up there and are now breathing new life into towns like Bathurst, Dubbo and down in the Southern Highlands. Telecommuters, retirees, new business starters – it seems to be giving these rural areas a much needed injection of cash. Sadly, we haven’t seen much of this happening elsewhere. Exceptions would be (from what we have seen) only in the Margaret River region, and some of the wine regions close to Adelaide.

We holed up with a vegetarian Thai curry for dinnerand an evening of Netflix viewing as the threatening rain finally hit and the temperatures began to drop below 30 degrees. A very cosy and quiet camp for the night.

Day 189: 5 December – Balranold by bike

Author: Mr A

Distance cycled: 16km

With the sun shining and the wind eased it was time to fire up the BBQ for an egg and bacon sandwich, always a good start to the day. I was then caught on camera like this:Let me explain in my defence, I had been wondering, in idle movements (of which there had been a few), if I could get my bike on the packraft, thereby opening up more route possibilities. I’m not convinced yet.

We planned to explore around Balranold on our bikes, and headed from our to campsite on the Murrumbidgee River into town. We saw a suspension bridge leading across the water and into the woods. That had our name on it.We were immediately immersed in the forest, towering river red gums dominated the landscape. Small flocks of parrots scattered as we rode through this magnificent scenery. We were heading into Yanga National Park to see a historic woolshed, and had a short bit of deserted tarmac to ride down on the way.

There was not a car in sight, until Catherine screamed as a four wheel drive towing a caravan sped right past her shoulder at 80km/hr. The vehicle immediately slowed down and turned off towards the woolshed. The driver had to decrease speed to turn the corner but chose to not slow down before overtaking us. He clearly had no thought to what its like to have several tons of steel fly past that close.

When we arrived at the car park the guy was there. I told him what a fright he had given Catherine, and got a mouthful of abuse back. Lovely man…he said he couldn’t care less. I can see why cycling participation continues to decline in Australia with this type of ignorance and selfishness amongst a seemingly significant proportion of the driving population.We explored the woolshed buildings which operated until 2005 and are now a museum. These buildings hosted a number of B&S balls in their time (bachelor and spinster parties), and employed numerous locals involved in shearing the 5,000 sheep here three weeks each year.I was particularly intrigued by the explanation of how Balranold was at the heart of such an extensive river transport network reaching right across the southern part of Australia. Apparently 5,300km of navigable river was utilised when the water was up.Now the rivers are so quiet, in four days camped by the Murray we saw three tinnies and a houseboat.

Catherine, navigator extraordinaire (I struggle to read my phone in the sun!), found a completely off the bitumen route back to camp. Riding through one particularly muddy stretch I heard a squeal behind me….oops:We arrived back at camp to find Miss Tasmania enjoying the sun and ready for another sniff around the campsite. She had a big walk this morning with Catherine again. It just makes me smile every day to see how willing she is to explore the bushier camps like this one.

The BBQ was fired up again for lunch – well if you’re going to get it out you might as well use it, is my philosophy. Toasties with cheese, onion and tomato went down a treat after our ride.

A quiet afternoon for both us, painting for Mrs A, sleep of course for the small furry one, and reading for me. I’m loving a book by a Dutch historian Rutger Brekman, who we had heard on a podcast and both really enjoyed. He has collected together a bunch of research on social experiments that were tried in the US, Canada and the UK to see what would happen if we just gave money to the poor (with no strings attached) rather than set up an elaborate system of welfare with all the costs that go with overseeing and managing that bureaucracy. It’s fascinating and counter intuitive in some ways. All of the initiatives paid for themselves because when given money, and left to their own devices, the “poor” didn’t just quit work and spend it on booze and gambling, as many on the political right would think, but instead mostly carried on working, but changed jobs to follow their passion, spent more time with their kids, and generally made better decisions about their lives. Their health improved, their children’s educational success increased, crime went down, these social experiments showed incredible ROI.

Hard to believe? I’m now looking at the original research and it looks all genuine, Brekman’s theory is that when you’re poor, you make poor short terms decisions, because you don’t have the mental bandwidth to look longer term – you’re so focused on getting through the day/week. So remove that money problem, and people will make better choices without being forced to and without being monitored by an expensive state apparatus. Interesting I thought…

Anyway…that was my thought for the day. Dinner was taken at the local Ex-Services Memorial Club. That was interesting as well! Take the wine list for example…:Now…we are in the middle of the Riverina, one of the great wine producing regions of Australia. But apparently “the locals” don’t bother with wine much. Interestingly though, out of the four tables having dinner in the restaurant tonight, three were drinking wine. So don’t they really want a choice of good wine? Or is it that someone can’t be bothered to offer it?

The ‘Asian style’ (as labelled) food was pretty average as well. The ‘Malaysian style chicken’ bearing no resemblance to any Malaysian food I’ve ever eaten. Ah well…we’ve had some good food at RSLs (Returned and Services League Clubs) in the past. Balranold’s one I would steer clear of.

The short walk home as sun set by the serene Murrumbidgee River was a perfect end to another great day.

Day 187: 3 December – Mud, glorious mud!

Author: Mr A

Location: Renmark, South Australia

Distance cycled: 15.5km

There were glimpses of blue sky this morning, enough to tempt our sun loving Burmese out of the Zone and onto the banks of the Murray flowing past our doorstep. She was particularly interested to catch sight of a duck paddling serenely up the river. It was great seeing her enjoying the great outdoors like her fur parents.So we decided to head off on the bikes into Renmark. We picked a route to avoid the main road, and regretted it, sinking deep into clinging, stinky mud. I managed to wrap a piece of wire around my chain and break a spoke. After some fiddling around, and the odd expletive, we were off again and made it to the car wash on the edge of Renmark. Even the high pressure jet shifted the mud with some difficulty. Stickier than an English toffee that stuff.Making back into camp with a wobbly wheel, we cheered ourselves up with home made pumpkin soup. Absolutely delicious. Our neighbour then knocked on the door to show us two European carp that he had caught. Apparently they aren’t a good eating fish, very bony, so the pelican got an unexpected Sunday feast.The wind continues to howl along the water, so there is no sitting outside for drinks tonight, instead we are cosied up (again!) in the Zone sipping a lovely Adelaide Hills Shiraz and tucking into a spag bol. Perfect…we’ve really loved this camp…in those words made famous in our favourite Aussie movie The Castle, “Ah…the serenity”.

Day 185: 1 December – Off to the mighty Murray

Author: Mr A

From: Tanunda, Barossa Valley

To: Plushy’s Bend, Murray River

Despite the dire warnings of storms, the morning dawned dry but overcast. We dragged ourselves away from the Barossa and headed inland to our next camping destination on the Murray River, near the town of Renmark. We didn’t enjoy the drive very much on the A20, traffic was pretty heavy, and drivers anxious to get somewhere fast.

We had to do a mad midday cook up as we didnt realise there was a quarantine on bringing fruit and veg into the Rivererina. Half an hour of peeling and cooking before on reading the website we saw if you have a valid receipt from SA for your fruit and veg then its OK! Ah well less work for dinner tonight.It wasn’t a long day behind the wheel though, and by early afternoon we were pulling up. It was a great location on a bend of the Murray, with only a few other vans here. It was good to get in the bush again after our caravan park. Tas was happy to see a bit of greenery she could sniff around in, and didn’t seem phased by us being right next to such a large body of water. She really is developing a higher tolerance for new things!I had been looking forward to getting the Packrafts out on the water, but with drizzle and wind it wasnt too appealing. Our neighbours also wandered over to warn us about a large brown snake that had driven off the previous occupants of our pitch. Ah well, better keep our eyes peeled.

We wandered along the river and saw a pied cormarant looking for an afternoon snack in the water. Black swans and pelicans floated along the river, while whistling kites glided around overheard. After a cuppa we headed out for a quick explore, with half an eye on the gathering storm clouds. We really have landed in a beautiful spot, a giant grey kanagaroo bounded off when he saw us, more cormorants were splashing in and out of a backwater of the Murray. We really like this location – it’s free to camp here too!

Back at the van, thunder was soon rumbling across the sky, lightening added to the drama of the scene. Rain started lashing across the Murray, no problem for us all snuggled up in the Zone. Catherine noticed with some relief that the flood warning had been cancelled for our area, good job as we are parked a couple of metres away from a very big river.

Day 181: 27 November – Barossa delights

Author: Mr A

Location: Tanunda, Barossa Valley

Distance driven: 45km Cycled: 12km

Feeling somewhat worse for wear from yesterday’s excesses, we packed up and bid goodbye to our wonderful hosts. The Lobethal Bakery provided a much needed food injection, and then we were off, the Barossa here we come.

It was a short drive through the twisty roads of the Adelaide Hills and we were soon driving through very picturesque little townships. This is our first visit to the area, one of the few wine region in Australia still on our unexplored list.

First impressions were “wow”, everywhere we looked so was so green and neat, clearly a lot of money floating around still. We passed some of the big producers like Grant Burge and Jacob’s Creek, not ones on our hit list but still it was interesting to see so many household names all clustered together and looking very prosperous. Bike paths were everywhere, although devoid of cyclists as per usual.

Our campground on the edge of the small town of Tanunda was deserted, so we were were somewhat mystified after we had unhitched to find ourselves right next to a construction site where they are building a new swimming pool. An ‘error’ apparently. They did offer another site but the thought of moving everything again…we gritted our teeth against the constant noise of paving slabs being cut.

I headed out into town on the cycleway to explore, and was absolutely delighted to find rows and rows of gorgeous little shops and cafes, with a real buzz about the place. I dropped in at a little bike shop housed in the lobby of the local museum, my brakes had been squealing and I wanted to get them checked over. What a well presented shop, and Evan the owner said he could look at the bike straight away. Amazing…

I supervised….We got chatting, and sadly an all too familiar story emerged. After 18 months of getting the shop set up he was throwing in the towel at Christmas. Just not enough business. He told me that cycling participation in Adelaide and its surrounds is down by 20% this year. A similar story to Sydney. We both mused over the cause. I shared with him a little bit of research I had done this week. If you’ve read my Facebook post skip this bit. After reading about another cyclist being killed in Sydney I Googled on the phrase “cyclist dies” and set my search parameters to Australia and the last month. Eight deaths and another two left ‘fighting for their lives’. In three of the cases the driver didn’t stop but just left the cyclist in the road. As Evan said, there’s not much good news reported on cycling in Australia. Instead it is often tales of road rage from either the motorist or the rider, or reporting on these terrible accidents.

Another reason we both agreed on, which is a little more controversial, and I do risk upsetting some of my “roadie” friends, is the idea that to use a bike you need to go and spend thousands of dollars on some lightweight machine that will tip you off at the first sign of rough road, and wear skin tight outfits every time you want to use the bike that are not exactly flattering to most folk contemplating riding. Then you can’t be seen on a slow cycle path when you’re clearly training to ride as fast as possible, you have to get in with the traffic and take your chances. Oh, and you musn’t look like you’re having fun either, a serious game face shows everyone this riding is not something you enjoy but is a process to go through to…get fit? Now I exaggerate for affect, but I can guarantee that if Mrs A and I smile and say “hi” to a roadie as we potter down the path (as we always do just to prove our theory) we will be completely blanked.

The concept of just stepping on your bike in normal clothes and shoes that you can walk in, heading out to meet some friends, or potter around the shops, its almost completely lost from our image of cycling in Australia.

Mrs A joined me in town and we soon found an ice creamery selling dairy free options as well. Yumm we like this place.

Catherine then got pulled over by the police for not wearing a helmet. Oh dear…more bad news for cyclists, you can’t just potter around the shops wearing a hat. You have to wear a helmet for every type of ride, including wandering along a cycle path to pick up an ice cream. So guess what, another reason people give for not taking their bike out for that quick trip to the shops.

We went back to camp to collect her helmet, and it was such a lovely evening decided to head out again around town. Right round the corner from our campsite we discovered this amazingly grand winery, with a blackboard outside announcing they have previously won the best Shiraz and Grenache in the world. We will certainly investigate this further!Everywhere is kept so spick and span, it is a real treat to see after these struggling outback towns we have spent so many months travelling through. The scenery surrounding the town is just gorgeous, rolling hills frame the vineyards. Who needs the Loire Valley?!A quick stop at the shops for some more supplies for dinner (so easy on a bike!) and we headed back for another fab meal, and the peace and quiet of no evening construction works, oh and no wine 🙁

Day 177: 23 November – Friends new and old

Author: Mr A

Location: Adelaide

We’d hoped to burn off some of our excesses of last night with a bike ride, but the weather was wet and windy with a severe storm warning…fair weather cyclists indeed. For lunch we met up with friends made back in Margaret River. We’d shared some good food and wine and kept in touch. It was great to swap stories of our respective travels since then and reflect on what will come next. It’s easier to get enthusiastic about our experiences and plans with other travellers, compared to friends who are still in corporate life and don’t always want to be reminded of our footloose and fancy free lifestyle!

After an afternoon spent driving around Adelaide on various chores we were reminded what ‘city life’ is like. Traffic, congestion, noise, the anonymity of being just another driver on the road – no raising of the finger off the steering wheel in acknowledgment, as we had experienced whilst driving across the country. Sydney is going to be hard to adjust back to in a few weeks.

For dinner we were excited to be meeting up with the rest of the family and friends who Catherine has known since growing up next door to the in the UK in the 1980s (about 34 years!). Good food and conversation about our respective lives. Sad though to say good bye so quickly and not know when we will see them again. Life on the move.