Yarrawonga to Brooms Head (almost home)

Friday 1 November and Saturday 2 November – Yarrawonga

After our week away from the caravan, travelling 1 night up (overnight at Narrabri) and 1 night back (overnight at Dubbo) and 5 nights at home on the Gold Coast, we were quite pleased to get back to our van at Yarrawonga on Friday afternoon as it really is a second home for us. A bonus was that the van was still there after a week all by itself in the van park.  The 12v fridge worked perfectly running off just the solar panels for the week too.

This weekend is effectively a 4 day long weekend (5 days if you're in the building industry), at least for Melbournians, who have a public holiday for the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday and who apparently take the Monday off as well to create the 4 days off.   The caravan park has 600 sites and stacks of cabins.  The place is packed with tenting families all around us and has only a handful of sites empty. At $40 per night for a powered van site for 2 adults (more with kids) over the four day "weekend" I think the owner will be travelling Business Class on his next overseas holiday. Additionally, the following weekend is completely booked out due to the annual car enthusiast gathering in the area. Yarrawonga township is also busy as we found when we ventured out to restock our pantry and fridge.

The area is very pretty with many bush camps along the Murray River further downstream which we plan to explore.

Sunday 3 November – Yarrawonga to Burrowye Reserve, Murray River

View from campsite - Burrowye Reserve

Burrowye Campsite

Given how busy it has been over the weekend, we were a bit concerned about travelling and finding a place to stay for the rest of the 4 day weekend.  We were initially planning to head south to Bright but, as with Yarrawonga, we heard that it was busy, and expensive, too.  So we decided to head east (upstream) towards the south-western foot of the Kosciuszko National Park only about 60 klm from the southernmost point we travelled to on our trip earlier this year. Our thinking is that the further away from Melbourne we travel the quieter it will be. 

Campfire roast veggies for dinner - no lamb!

Our drive was unexpectedly beautiful mostly following the Murray River and the banks of the extensive and pretty Hume Lake/Dam.  Our target was a bush camp, Burrowye Reserve, and we were pleasantly surprised to find a pretty grassy site on the banks of the Murray with a nice pile of firewood and only 3 other campsites taken.  We were all spread along this reach of the Murray with picturesque scenes each side of the van, with the river one side and hills on the other.   And it’s free.   So we unpacked and settled in for a quiet day and night watching cattle come down to the other side of the river, in NSW, to drink while we sat on our side of the river, in Victoria, and had a drink too.

Monday 4 November – Burrowye Reserve to Colac Colac

Colac Colac van park view from campsite

After a good sleep in and breakfast inside due to the cold, the day warmed up enough to have morning tea under the awning enjoying this idyllic setting. We then hooked up the van and headed off via a one hour wonderfully scenic drive along the Murray River to a lushly grassed and treed caravan park at Colac Colac.  With the Snowy Mountains in the distance, this is a lovely place from which to explore the region.  The park was quiet and peaceful.

After setting up camp we set off for a drive and a couple of walks.  

The scenery is stunning with lush rolling hills and valleys filled will contented dairy cows and the Australian Alps in the distance, all under a canopy of clear blue skies.  

Summit of Rocky Knob

We thought it would be a quick drive up to the start of our first walk on Pine Mountain however, as the bitumen road disappeared, the road turned to gravel, then into single lane gravel, then into a winding, steep, single lane 4WD gravel track. We soon realised this wasn’t going to be a quick walk.   Driving around fallen trees we went on hoping no-one was coming in the opposite direction given there were almost no turnaround areas.  We finally reached the top and took off for our walk to Rocky Knob for views of the surrounding hills.  

Pine Mountain is a gigantic rock monolith reputedly one and a half times as large as Uluru.  Poor Uluru, it’s not as big as Pine Mountain or Mt Augustus.  However Uluru is obviously winning the marketing battle.  With a slow, winding drive down, we realised there was no time for our second walk so we headed home to enjoy the mountain views from under our awning.

Tuesday 5 November – Day 2 Colac Colac

Jack Riley's Grave

Photo of Jack Riley (right)

On a beautiful spring day, with a crisp (3.6 degree) start to the morning we set off to the Snowy Mountain National Park.  First stop was Corryong and the grave of Jack Riley, reportedly the basis for the Banjo Patterson poem “The Man from Snowy River”.

From there we had morning tea at Khancoban then drove the windy and upwards Alpine Way to Scammell Lookout.   We were here at Scammell Lookout in March this year on our 2 month caravan adventures in NSW and ACT.  The Lookout was the southernmost point we reached on that trip so we can now effectively celebrate completing our around Australia trip.

Scammell Lookout, Snowy Mountains

Bluff Falls

Travelling back down the windy road towards Khancoban, we saw bits and pieces of the massive Snowy Mountain hydro-electric scheme.  After lunch in Corryong, we set out to do the walk we missed yesterday.   We drove to the Bluff Creek visitor centre and walked the Bluff Creek Nature Trail to Bluff Falls which are a spectacular set of waterfalls that cascade off the Burrowa NP plateau over Cudgewa Bluff. We did not see anyonel for the whole time on this walk, proving that everyone is still in Yarrawonga Van Park.

The weather was absolutely perfect – blue skies, warm temperatures, no wind and so peaceful.  

Wednesday 6 November – Colac Colac to Mt Beauty

Waking to another truly perfect day weather wise, we packed up and drove towards Mt Beauty.  Travelling the Murray Valley Highway again through rolling lush dairy and cattle country, we stopped for morning tea at a rest stop overlooking Hume Lake.  Arriving in Mt Beauty, located at the foot of the Falls Creek ski fields, we settled into our caravan park overlooking a mountain stream with views of hills including Mt Bogong - Victoria's tallest mountain - in the distance.  After lunch, we drove the very steep and winding road through Bogong and Falls Creek then past Rocky Valley Storage (Dam) to the start of the Wallace – Cape Heritage Trail in the Alpine National Park some 1400 metres above our campsite.

Start of walk, Cape Heritage Trail

Wallace Hut, Cape Heritage Trail

The 6.8 klm walk was easy and beautiful with ghostly grey deadwood covering the hills around us, some residual snow in pockets not exposed to the sun, and views towards Mt Kosciusko in the distance.   The heritage part of the trail related to Wallace Hut, built by cattlemen, the Wallace brothers, in the 1890s which they used when they brought their cattle to the high country during the dry summers. Also Cope Hut built as the first “tourist” hut in the 1960s for skiers visiting the region.  With the track occasionally following the aqueducts designed to catch and redirect the melting snow into Rocky Valley Storage (Dam) plus spring flowers, there was plenty to see.

"Ranger" biscuits

Towards the end of the loop walk we were following the steep and windy road back to the car when the local Ranger pulled up beside us, wound down his window and offered us some biscuits – a perfect end to a great day. 

Thursday 7 November – Day 2 Mt Beauty

Today we set off up the steep, windy and picturesque road to Bright then along another steep, windy and picturesque road to the start of our walk up The Horn Track, Mt Buffalo NP.  The Horn (1723m) is the highest point of the Mount Buffalo plateau and provided us with 360 degree views of the plateau and surrounding Alps. 

Start of Horn walk, Mt Buffalo NP

The Horn summit, Mt Buffalo NP

The path to the top was very well done taking us safely underneath, between and over large granite boulders and finally up some stairs to the needle-like pinnacle rock with its small viewing platform atop.

After The Horn, we tackled the Cathedral – Hump Track which led to the summit of the Hump (1695m) for further views of the area including back to the Horn. 

The Hump summit - The Horn in the background

The Cathedral, Mt Buffalo NP

Victoria’s High County features lovely small towns nestled between stunning mountains and is a really beautiful part of Australia.  The folds of the ranges in various shades of blues, greens and greys are wonderful to see from up high.

After lunch in Bright we headed back the way we came stopping at lookouts on the way.

Colours of the Australian Alps from The Hump-Cathedral Walk

Friday 8 November – Mt Beauty to Taylors Campground, Lake Eildon

Hitching up the van we headed off over hills then through valleys and produce areas then, via Mansfield, to one of many bush camps on Lake Eildon.  What we didn’t know when we chose this destination was that the area is hosting the Targa High Country motoring event in the surrounding towns of Mt Buller, Whitfield, Jamieson and Eildon commencing tonight at Mansfield for the rest of the weekend.  The main campgrounds with over 200 sites in them are closed off due to the rally, so the risk of a crowded couple of days camping was high. Hopefully we’ll be out of the way and won’t need to cross paths with the motoring enthusiasts or the race itself.

Our van and car, Lake Eildon free camp

 Driving along 10 klm of dirt road that follows the banks of Lake Eildon we passed a number of quiet campsites.  Our spirits lifted as it looked like we might have a peaceful stay here. Finding a large campground with access right to the water’s edge and only a few trees in front of it, we set up our van within metres of the lake’s edge with only one neighbour in sight.  Our half of the campground remained very quiet with no close neighbours for our entire stay.

Saturday 9 November – Day 2 Taylors Campground, Lake Eildon

Lake Eildon - view from under awning

Today was chill out day.  We sat next to the lake, I tried to fish, it rained at times, and that was about it for the day.  

Feeding the fish, Lake Eildon

A young couple asked if I could jump-start their car as they had flattened their car battery while setting up their tent under headlights the night before.  I got them going and started chatting to an old bloke also camped here.  He told me the lake was full of fish including carp which can be caught on tinned corn threaded on a hook.  I said that sounded like a bit of fun and that I would see if we had any corn.  Returning to camp I sat down in the chair and next minute the old bloke came over and gave me a little tin of corn.  Now I had no excuse not to dig out the rod and have a fish.  In summary, I landed nothing but did hook a big fish that broke the line.  

This was a great area to camp and just the place to have a bit of a rest from travelling.

Sunday 10 November – Lake Eildon to Blairgowrie, Mornington Peninsula

Beach walk - Mornington Peninsula

Hooking up the van, we drove south today through the Yarra Valley, had brunch at a lovely gallery café in Yea, and arrived at our beachside campsite outside Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula.   It’s cool and breezy yet sunny and this $30 a night campground is a great find with views over Port Phillip Bay. This foreshore campground spreads out for many kilometres and, under a number of different names (our area is called Stringers), is run by a “Committee of Management” of the Foreshore Reserve which appears to be linked to Parks Victoria.

Monday 11 November – Day 2 Blairgowrie, Mornington Peninsula

Cape Schanck walk, Mornington Peninsula

Just a tad windy, Mornington Peninsula

Today was another cold and windy day. 

We walked and were blown along the lighthouse boardwalk at Cape Schanck then looked out at the ocean from various angles at various lookouts before deciding to select one of many regional wineries for lunch.   We chose Max’s at Red Hill Estate mainly because of its stunning views over Western Port towards Phillip Island.  The food was good as was the wine,which was great.

Tuesday 12 November – Day 3 Blairgowrie, Mornington Peninsula

Waking up to another windy, cloudy and ultimately wet day, we drove via Portsea to Nepean Point to wander through this historic tip of the Mornington Peninsula.  Point Nepean overlooks the strait leading into Port Phillip Bay from the Southern Ocean with Point Lonsdale in sight as the other head into the bay. 

This area thus had significant strategic military relevance during WWII for defence and training purposes. Besides seeing remains of rifle ranges and armoured bunkers, and other historic sites, we looked down to Cheviot Beach where Prime Minister Harold Holt was lost at sea while swimming on the beach.  Cheviot was named after one of the many ships that were wrecked in the area before lighthouses and other signalling devices were installed.

After lunch in Sorrento, we drove to London Bridge on Rye Ocean Beach however after a brief stroll to a lookout, we decided we’d be more comfortable in the van out of the rain so headed home.  

Wednesday 13 November – Mornington Peninsula to Wilsons Promontory (The Prom)

Wilsons Promontory

Leaving Mornington Peninsula, with windy and stormy weather as our companion, we headed initially north then east through the South Gippsland farming area to Tidal River campground in Wilsons Promontory National Park.   This is a very popular, and therefore expensive ($54.70 per night powered), campground and we were able to get into the last of the 20 powered sites. Given the place fills up on weekends we are staying 3 nights leaving Saturday.   There are 484 campsites in total so it must be tent city at peak times.

Thursday 14 November – Day 2 Tidal River, Wilsons Promontory 

We woke up to very windy and somewhat rainy conditions so delayed starting out on our planned walks. 

View over campground - Lilly Pilly Link Track and Lilly Pilly Gully Circuit - Wilsons Promontory

Lilly Pilly Link Track and Lilly Pilly Gully Circuit - Wilsons Promontory

After being caravan bound all morning, we finally ventured out at 2.30 pm when the wind was a little more settled and the rain appeared to have disappeared for a while.  We walked the Lily Pilly track for 9 klm through varied natural habitats, around the pretty boardwalk that winds through tall tree ferns and along the base of Mt Bishop.   From one of our  vantage points we could see the campground, Bass Strait, and various islands with low cloud hanging over all the mountains around us.

Within the natural beauty of the National Park, there was much evidence of the devastation from the 2009 bushfires and the March 2011 floods.

A highlight of this walk was the wombat we saw up close, close to camp, feeding on grasses near the track.   Julie, having never seen a live wombat, thought they lived on their back with their feet in the air.  This was due to the number of wombat road kill we had seen on our travels.  To see a live one completely changed Julie's understanding of these strange little creatures as it stood on its stumpy little legs feeding away. 

Friday 15 November – Day 3 Tidal River, Wilsons Promontory

The weather was somewhat more promising this morning so we headed off after morning tea to walk a combination of relatively short walks to Pillar Point, Squeaky Beach, Picnic Bay and Whisky Bay. 

All provided wonderful vantage points of this part of Bass Strait, the islands close to shore and the surf and white sand for which this part of Wilsons Promontory is famous.

When we arrived back at the van almost 4 hours later, we were surprised to see that we had walked 13.4 klm.  As the afternoon wore on, the Friday afternoon weekend crowds started to arrive. One pushbike for each car occupant, several kids, a BBQ, an awning, a good radio, two eskys and no consideration for the noise they produce is the standard setup for a weekend at Wilsons Promontory if you come from Melbourne.

Squeaky Beach with interesting rock formations we could walk through

Wilsons Promontory

Saturday 16 November – Tidal River, Wilsons Promontory to Lakes Entrance

See the “spectacular kaleidoscope of murals”

Leaving pushbike city behind us, we drove east through Bairnsdale which is renowned for St Mary’s Catholic Church with its “spectacular kaleidoscope of murals” painted during the Depression by an out-of-work Italian migrant, Francesco Floreani – a very European experience. We arrived at our caravan park at Lakes Entrance late afternoon.  The temperature hit 20 degrees today which is the first time in a while for us.

The rest of our journey is designed to get us home by Thursday 28 November.  Given we are about 1700klm from home we will be travelling 300 - 350klm every second day. 

Lakes Entrance

Sunday 17 November – Day 2 Lakes Entrance

Kalimna Lookout - Lakes Entrance

For the first time for a while we woke up to a sunny and windless day although cool at 9 degrees. 

We walked into Lakes Entrance past the lakes then back along the beach before jumping in the car and driving to a lookout and then into town for a seafood lunch.  Back at the van, we sat and enjoyed the best weather we have had for some time.

Monday 18 November – Lakes Entrance to Mallacoota

Driving east along the bumpy Princes Highway, we passed through a few very small towns then drove south along a “Tourist Drive” through Croajingolong National Park to Mallacoota.  This is a very sparsely populated part of Australia with great stands of natural forests covering the lower hills of the nearby Australian Alps. 

Happy Hour photo from our campsite at Mallacoota

Arriving at the Mallacoota Foreshore Holiday Park we were allocated a great site high up the back with views out over Bottom Lake (as opposed to Top Lake to which it is connected by The Narrows), Mallacoota Entrance and The Tasman Sea.  We had to work hard to get the caravan into a very non-level site to make the most of our views.   This area is described as Australia’s coastal wilderness.  

The caravan park, run by the Council, is huge - we saw sites marked up to site 710 and 6 amenities blocks - yet it's so spread out it's still quite peaceful particularly as it's not peak season.  We have a lovely site partly because of the views and partly because of the quite large green space opposite our van.  At $27 a night for a powered site for two of us in shoulder season it's a bargain compared to recent experiences.

As a bonus for the day, we saw a seal swimming playfully in front of the van park out towards the Entrance.

Tuesday 19 November - Day 2 Mallacoota

The Narrows

We woke to a perfect day and of the many walks in the area, we set off for the one that was most recommended - The Narrows.  

The Boardwalk

The Boardwalk - Mallacoota

We drove past lovely boardwalks with lake views to start our walk along The Narrows which connects Top Lake to Bottom Lake. After walking for half an hour, we decided this wasn't much of a walk so walked half an hour back, drove back to the caravan, then walked along the boardwalk we had previously driven past - a far better walk. We walked for half an hour, turned around and walked back for half an hour, then had lunch.

Just a nice photo - Mallacoota

After lunch, we drove to a few of the beaches in the area.  First stop, Quarry Beach, where 70 metres up the beach we came across folded and faulted colourful ribbons of rock formations from 580 million+ years ago.  Next stop was Secret Beach which has a beautiful large and clean sea cave with three entrances which was accessible given it was a lowish tide.   Next stop was Pebbly Beach however we'd had enough of walking down to beaches by then so headed home.

Quarry Beach

Secret Cave on Secret Beach - Entrance 2

Secret Cave on Secret Beach - Entrance 1

Secret Beach

Mallacoota is a wonderful, picturesque, small beach town with plenty to do and see.  A boat or kayak would enhance the experience which we're already planning for next time.








Wednesday 20 November - Mallacoota, Victoria, to near Lake George, NSW

Bush camp near Lake George 

We had intended to stay at Canberra as our next destination however on hearing there was another car rally in the area and the place was busy, we decided to head a bit further north and bush camp in a rest area for the night.

We hid the van and car amongst the trees and settled down for the afternoon and night as the only vehicles in the area.  One of us was woken at midnight by a small group of young people visiting the facilities and scattering their fast food wrappers around the place before singing happy birthday then disappearing into the night. The other one of us slept through!

Thursday 21 November - Lake George to Soldier's Point, Port Stephens

We had a longish drive today made much longer by a motor vehicle accident on the highway.   We eventually reached our new van park at Soldier's Point in the Port Stephens area overlooking Nelson Bay.

Friday 22 November - Day 2 Soldier's Point, Port Stephens

After wind and storms blew up overnight, we woke to a more settled although overcast day ready to explore the area.   

We set off to the really stunning Gan Gan lookout however with rain approaching and lightening striking we hurried around the metal tower to take in the 360 degree views as quickly as possible.   From here, we visited Tomaree Headland Lookout, and Nelson Head Heritage Lighthouse and Reserve for morning tea at the Inner Light Tea Rooms overlooking Nelson Bay. This was an interesting area with the former lighthouse transformed into tea rooms, gift shop, Marine Rescue base and historical centre with interesting history dating back to Captain Cook through to WWII.  

The "Where the Bloody Hell Are You" Beach

We also very briefly visited Fingal Bay Beach which is where the (in)famous Australian tourism ad of "Where the Bloody Hell Are You?" was filmed.   Neither of us wished to don our swimwear to re-create this iconic moment.

From Nelson Bay we travelled the coastal road back to Soldiers Point and lunch at The Point restaurant overlooking the Bay.

Port Stephens is a really beautiful coastal area that we definitely did not see at its best given the rain/wind/thunder/lightening that continued on and off throughout the day.

Saturday 23 November - Soldier's Point, Port Stephens, to Grassy Head

Grassy Head campsite

Travelling north, we reached Grassy Head, between Stuarts Point and Scotts Head - we'd never heard of any of these places either -  to set up in a quiet  bush style Holiday Park close to the beach with our pick of the sites.   After setting up up we walked up to the headland before noting the threatening storms with thunder and lightning heading our way so back we went to camp to enjoy the rain on the roof.

Sunday 24 November - Day 2 Grassy Head

Grassy Head beach

This was one of those days you remember from childhood holidays - a beach walk before lunch followed by us sitting under the awning, in some of the best weather we've had for a while, watching the first test match from the Gabba enjoying the Aussies thrash the Poms.

Monday 25 November - Grassy Head to Brooms Head

Travelling further north along the NSW Coast, we arrived at Brooms Head and set up in a wonderful campsite overlooking the Pacific Ocean.   This will be our base for the next three nights as we clean inside and outside the van and car and get ready for our arrival home on Thursday.    It's very very windy however fine and a good last campsite.

Brooms Head beach

Red Rock Headland north of Brooms Head - the black rock is coal that stretches from Ipswich

It's been a wonderful trip around Australia with many many highlights and no real low lights so we will arrive home with many great memories and a readiness to travel further throughout Australia. We already have a list of places we'd like to visit/re-visit.We're signing off from Brooms Head with only a 3 hour drive on Thursday to go to complete our 32 week, 35,000 klm journey.