AWOL Around Australia...

[Rufant]

We're heading out for a few days. I'll post up some more reports when we get back.

Cheers,


Anthony

https://rufant.com

https://www.instagram.com/rufant_adventures/

 

[Rufant]

We just did a quick shakedown trip to Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. In preparation of getting back on the road. Yorke's isn't the most inspiring 4x4 destination, but it has its moments. Here is a picture of the 105 on a beach. Right, back to the trip reports...

 

[Rufant]

Border Country and Heading South.

Queensland, Australia.

Looks like a bush camp hey?

Well smoke and mirrors, this was actually at a caravan park in Stanthorpe. They sensibly used most of their open area for cabins and caravans (where the money is) and open up the scub land on the outside of the property just enough for camping. Anyway, we needed to do laundry, etc, and being hidden in the bush suited us just fine.

...

Next day was a scorcher, so we hid in the porch of the Oztent and just did rest day stuff.

...

Next day we restocked the supplies, and before heading back out into the country. We took in a few of the local sites. A local cheese maker.

Cheese all tasted the same.

We came across this baroque, errm, masterpiece when we’re we’re last in the region. I remember us going "look a castle!” “a mock castle” - corrected my old man... Anyway, inside it hid any number of delights.

Chatting with the same old boy who was here back then, I was pleased that the place not only still existed but had expanded to two other ‘castles’ elsewhere in Queensland. This area is a notable area for wineries, but to be honest I’ve been to enough wineries to last a lifetime. This is much more fun. Seems this guy will try his hand at anything in the booze making world and will try to turn just about anything into booze. All natural processes, and no preservatives. So of course, we stocked up.

I just love the kitsch retro style of the labels and bottles, reminds me of the Ween song - Your Party, for some reason.

After all the fun, plus the fact we were now on Queensland time, so everything was an hour behind we didn’t get so far after that. We found a nice spot on a riverbank, and were treated to another spectacular tiny bird display. These birds were so small they could land on the water and the surface tension was enough to support their weight for a few seconds whilst they plucked an insect or something off the surface of the water. I had never seen this before, incredible.

This campsite was actually right next to a small service road for a nearby quarry, so we had a few trucks rumble past that afternoon and a few more again in the morning, but hey it wasn’t that bad, and beggars can’t be choosers. The thing N most complained about in the morning was the noise of the river - you can take the girl out of the city...

The next day we tried to make our way north west, on some lesser tracks. In the end I remember it as a day of dead ends and delays. I’m not complaining and it’s totally a first world problem - albeit one specific to this kind of travel and exploring - we still saw some cool stuff. However many roads that looked like they went through on the map were not accessible. It’s a common theme with National Parks to be honest. I think they would get more visitors if you could drive through them (especially as the roads or trails are already there) instead of just driving in, visiting the sites and then having to drive out the way you came. It’s not all National Parks by any means, but it happens enough to be frustrating. Much less of an issue in state forests also.

Anyway, enough ranting. here are some shots from that day.

Nature will find a way.

 

[Rufant]

We took many tight little side tracks into the bush, attempting to push through rather than back-track, with no success. However you have to try! These cacti were everywhere. A relation to the prickly pear but they don't bear any fruit. A useless pest, especially when embedded in your foot...


After all the dead ends it was getting on when we got back into an area you could camp, along the banks of the Dumaresq River. Which was also the border of New South Wales and Queensland. We just grabbed the first spot we got to with no one around.

Once set up we indulged in some of our newly acquired bounty.

The old boy at Castle Glen had tried to talk me out of buying this beer. He said it was an experiment and they wouldn't be making it again. It was weird but I didn't mind it. All their beers had that kind of 'home brew' aspect.

I made Southern Style Prawn Cocktail Tacos. This turned out to be really good summer eating.

Prawn cocktail dressing ingredients.

Prawn marinade ingredients.

...

Morning!

Papaya and lime breakfast.

We headed up the river to the town of Goondiwindi, checking out some other campsites on the way that we could come back to later.

Nice buildings in Goondiwindi. Plenty of farming money up here.

The wind was up. Fire is always a concern, however this was just a dust storm.

Drying out the Cruiser after one of our water jerrys had a slow leak.

So we had a good camp by the river while we waited out the worst of the winds.

 

[Rufant]

Ok, it was finally time to head south. Summer was coming, half of Queensland was ablaze, so it was time to make our way to hopefully cooler climes.

So we just stuck to the bitumen and drove down through farming country, heading for the ‘Country Music Capital of Australia’, Tamworth. I expected Tamworth to be more touristy, and was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t. It would seem for most of the year it is just another big country town, only living up to its name for the annual Country Music Festival, apparently the biggest musical festival in the Southern Hemisphere. We visited the ‘golden guitar’ tourist information, which is nowhere near Tamworth centre, as these things tend to usually be. A row of signed guitars let you know where you’re at.

More country road driving to the little town of Nundle the next day, so N could check out the woollen mill.

Then some dirt roads to get back to the highway, stopping to photograph what I think was a Frill Neck Lizard, along the way.

Black means grumpy I'm pretty sure.

I initially thought we might make Gosford today (our eventual destination) but with the detours and winding roads it soon became apparent that wasn’t going to happen. So again we used WikiCamps to find some free camping. We ‘checked in’ to the reserve at the small village of Bulga. On the edge of a couple of national parks, it is also unfortunately on the edge of Mount Arthur coal mega mine on the northern side. Those hills certainly made for some changeable weather rolling though.

...

Next morning we took an unmarked trail off the bitumen road that I would see wound through the Yengo National Park. Have seen this trail on an official sign yesterday I was more confident of it actually being a through track.

So it was, and well worth the detour.

This was definitely one of the biggest goanna's we have seen. He wasn't bothered by me, he is yawning in this shot.

This fella wasn't as big. He got a long way up this tree to get away from me.

The three or so hours we were in there meant we were starving by the time we popped back out on the bitumen. Luckily some fantastic food awaited just up the road at the Great Northern Trading Post, in the village of Laguna.

We pushed on to Gosford, or at least until we realised there was no camping of any description in Gosford - so, we really are now on the east coast of Australia. Only just north of Sydney I supposed this is only to be expected, but it was still a little surprising as we had been camping everywhere we had been for the last few months.

If there was any doubt I had to merge onto my first 3 lane motorway for the first time in a few months that afternoon. Yuck.

So we diverted to the lakeside town of Toukley, a little further up the coast. Toukley, a bit like Santa Carla, has the feel of somewhere that might have been the place to be 30 years ago (when domestic tourism meant an few hours drive up the coast, not taking the Old Telegraph Track up Cape York - whereas really when you can holiday in luxury in Bali for less than it costs you just to holiday in Australia it’s unsurprising that’s what most families do). The shine had come off a little in the meantime, but the caravan park on the edge of Lake Tuggerah would serve our purpose.

The lake itself reminded me of Lake Alexandrina in South Australia, just that doesn’t have all the urban sprawl encroaching on it.


We were here as I wanted to visit Gosford Classic Cars, a classic car dealer and Australia’s biggest collection of old motors. So next day I drove down to Gosford to check that out while N got here crochet on. I'll drop those photos into the next post.

Thanks for reading.

https://rufant.com

https://www.instagram.com/rufant_adventures/

 

[Mizanrahman]

Look I am going

 

[Saint Nick]

The thing N most complained about in the morning was the noise of the river - you can take the girl out of the city...

I had to chuckle at that one

Great pics and write up as usual, however it appears that this trip is really about eating good food and sampling good ales and spirits

Nick

 

[Rufant]

Look I am going

Very nice!

 

[Rufant]

I had to chuckle at that one

Great pics and write up as usual, however it appears that this trip is really about eating good food and sampling good ales and spirits

Nick

Isn't that the definition of Overland?

Driving into the woods to do cooking and drinking...

 

[Rufant]

Gosford Classic Cars.

New South Wales, Australia.

The car museum is absolutely worth a visit. There is a sign that says everything is for sale, which is a little surprising as there are a few nice little colllections in there of related vehicles. One of the old boys working there said that wasn’t always the case, but didn’t elaborate any further. He said they sell about 10-12 cars a month, and finding more stock is a problem. You could see this walking round, not everything was really museum worthy to my eyes. Anyway, it would be churlish to complain, especially as it is free to get in. I also saw some stuff I hadn’t seen before, which is always good.

Having been in and around motors my entire life, I had driven examples of a few of the cars on display. Which is always nice to have the old memory jogged.

This wasn't one of the ones I've driven, unfortunately!

This is what greets you when you walk in. Not bad, but as I get older these flash things don't appeal as much for some reason.

Three 512BB in a row. Lovely 70's shape and proportions.

I think the E24 is a more resolved shape, but there is just something about the E9.

TVR Cebera. I've never driven a TVR, this would be the pick for me if I got the chance. Pretty much decimated everything in a straight line when it came out.

The building used to be a Bunnings (hardware) warehouse. The natural lighting was very photogenic. This is a Jaguar XK150. I've driven one of these.

Jaguar XJ-C. My favourite Jaguar road car shape.

Funny little Eastern Bloc collection. I hadn't seen some of these cars before.

Also these Australian Rambler cars, were new to me. Some odd looking things.

Again not an obvious choice for a classic car museum, but an interesting addition. Cadillac Allante.

Aston Martin Lagonda.

There was a good selection of Russian and Czech cars. Most I hadn't seen before.

So, also as I get older... I fancy a big Roller, Bentley, Jag or similar. So much car for the money. So much potential for financial ruin... Driven one of these.

Australian Army Land Rover Perentie. Despite spending most of my time in the Army trying to get on a Land Rover course, I never quite managed it. So have never driven one of these.

There were some other Series Land Rovers, I've driven these. This one was just back from 'maintenance' I alerted the old chap who worked in the museum that they might want to put those wheels nuts on the right way round - I think he thought I was pulling his leg until I explained they don't stay tight that way for very long...

 

[Rufant]

Lots of the Eastern European cars were almost copies of Western European cars. This bore a remarkable resemblance to a Citroen Visa to my eye.

Humvee. Funnily enough I did drive one of these when in the Army. Didn't need a course to drive another military's stuff apparently...

This wasn't a Fiat 600, but that's what it is. I driven one, surprisingly entertaining in a somewhat terrible way.

Skoda Estelle. Now these were fun to drive. Rear engine and rear wheel drive. Certainly had their own character.

The above three were all Ramblers. Australian versions of AMC models. Some odd styling and proportions, but a chapter of automotive history I didn't know about.

Seems I kept coming back to the TVR.

E36 had done 1200km since new, was still on original Pirelli P4000 tyres. Non original bits on the M5 and the 635CSi behind, irked the geek in me. Driven a 635CSi and the 318is, driven an E28 but never an M5 unfortunately.

Rear mounted air cooled V8. Thanks Tatra.

Ford Focus club reporting for duty outside.

 

[Rufant]

Forests and Cities.

New South Wales, Australia.

We headed back out, following the Old Pacific Highway. As it’s name suggests this is the old main road up the coast. A much more interesting and attractive option to the motorway if you have time. As the numerous bikers, and the copper hiding in the bushes also thought.

Then came the time to do battle with Sydney. Actually it wasn’t that bad. Devices make navigation so easy in cities these days we ticked off outer Sydney’s greatest hits, Parramatta, Bankstown, before heading to Sutherland so we could drop through Royal National Park. This is the park you fly over when coming in to land at Sydney airport. It looks spectacular from the air, more so than on the ground.

Even on a Monday it was heavingly busy. Also for your $12 entry fee, there are very few viewpoints. Something we noted on the Old Pacific Highway too. Step up your viewpoint game NSW!

Most people were just there for the beach, and as you had to actually walk to this viewpoint I had it all to myself.

This is looking south down the coast, where we were heading.

Old mate was having a sniff around the bbq area.

As usual, I'm looking delighted to be there.


More twisty roads before we could eventually detour back to the highway and get some kms done as time was getting on. Someone had recommended the town of Wollongong as being particularly worth a visit, so we did. We must have missed the good bit as it just seemed to be another town really, arriving as pretty much everyone else wanted to leave work probably didn’t help. Anyway we stocked up on enough for that nights dinner. Picked another free stopover not too far from here and cracked on.

Ever feel like your the odd one out?

#vanlyfe

This was marked as a campsite on WikiCamps but we noted a sign on the way out that said no tent camping. Ooops, sorry.

At least making it to Jamberoo, meant we were now in the Southern Highlands and would have to travel far to find a more suitable place to stay for a few nights. First we drove to the town of Moss Vale, to stock up. The weather was hot and looked good for the next few days, so I bought stuff to make tasty salads - watermelon and feta, tuna nicoise - delicious.

There were any number of suitable campsites in this area, both on WikiCamps and ‘Bush Camping with Dogs’ book. I prefer the latter for finding good campsites, and there were some also labelled as 4x4 access only.

Now, N had labeled me an anti-social hermit the previous night when I was spouting off about the problem with van life is that anywhere you can get to, anyone else can as well. Well, she might be right, but after a few days and nights of being surrounded by lots of other people, I just fancied getting bush. I prefer the German word Einzelgänger, which I've literally just learnt about.

We had basically all day to check these places out and so I started with the ones that looked appealing (or unappealing, depending on your point of view). About an hours drive later into a state forest and we were sorted.

Those clear blue skies didn’t last. It clouded over and got really quite chilly. Now a few days ago at Goondiwindi we had posted a box home with warm clothing and extra stuff we didn’t need anymore. Not everything though, luckily. So I donned my only pair of long socks and got the beanie out. N doesn’t take such chances and still had plenty of stuff to rug up with.



Remember all that salad gear I had bought? Yeah, we had mac’n’cheese that night.

Three cheese mac'n'cheese with broad bean crunch.

It had a good rain that night but we were warm and dry in the OzTent.

...

Next morning it had stopped raining but was still overcast and cold. I decided to try a few of the local trails.

Even the chicken tracks were gloopy.

Even with the extra heavy springs, Bertha flexes pretty well in the rear.

When you don't quite pull off the straddle.

 

[Rufant]

We chilled out (literally) at the camp. I wouldn’t want camping weather to be always like this but it is ok for a few days. We drank hot tea, read, wrote, turned our big towel into two more useful smaller ones, found out our relatively new MacBook appeared to be dead (was generating its own heat, useful on this particular day, but not really a good sign). Lit a fire in our little fire pit and cooked the lamb over charcoal, although we had a tasty warming dahl to go with it, rather than the originally planned watermelon salad!

So it was a kind of pea and ham soup flavours. Sometimes you just have to use up what you've got, still tasted pretty good.

This little fire-pit makes all the difference on chilly nights.


...

Striking camp and heading out the next day, I took what I thought would be quiet country roads. However this was eastern Australia, and this area must be prime ‘country’ real estate - close enough to commute to Sydney or Canberra but with that country feel. Everything was quite pretty and twee, but busy and still quite hectic, not unlike the countryside of the south east UK where I grew up.

So after a while we just bailed to the highway. A proper highway this one, as it runs between Sydney and Melbourne. Just after Goulburn, we turned off towards the nation’s capital, Canberra.

I had been here once before, but only to the Australian War Memorial. Which is a compulsory trip whilst you are in basic training for the Army, which I was at the time. I could remember the War Memorial as being a pretty good then again most things are preferable to the average day at basic training. I had no memory of Canberra itself, but chances are I was sleeping for most of the journey there and back. I tended to take every opportunity that arose for extra sleep during that time.

So, we were keen to check out the city. Not really any of the government stuff, just a general poke around, and some nice variety of food that you just don’t get in the country. So we booked into the camping at the Exhibition Park for a few nights.

I also had to replace the engine mounts on the Land Cruiser, so as soon as camp was set up I searched out the local Toyota dealer who kindly ordered them overnight, so I could get them before the weekend.

So we really enjoyed Canberra, it’s a city that feels like it’s built for about two million people, yet has a population of less than a quarter of that.

Clean and well organised, with loads of parks, lakes and bush land interwoven through the city and suburbs. Plenty of wide ceremonial type streets and important looking buildings too.

Factory Toyota bottle jack came in handy changing the engine mounts.

The thing that surprised us most was the incredibly vibrant food scene. From just about every cuisine imaginable represented in the city restaurants, and all looked busy and fun. To plenty of markets to choose from, food as well as arts and crafts.

Farmers market.

Our fresh produce haul.

Fyshwick markets.

So with the Cruiser fighting fit again, and our pantry and fridge stocked to overflowing. We started to make our way south east, back to the coast. Hoping that now we were far enough from major centres that the busyness we had seen so far on the east coast, would have eased to a more gentle pace, that we normally enjoy when exploring country Australia.

...

We took a cross country route (obviously). Not exactly the one first intended, as it appeared that only existed on the map, but enough to get us out to the coast.

You see a surprising amount of these all Daimlers rotting away in the country. They always seem to be the Daimler version as opposed to the Jaguar version, shame...

Lunch stop.

We normally keep a small knife out for lunch, but it got packed away. So the parang had to suffice!

Logging tracks.

However it did mean by the time we finally popped out of the bush, time was getting on, and the weather looked like it was closing in. A quick scan of WikiCamps told us that there was a cheap bush camp not too far from where we were. It had been overcast for most of the day, and now the rain came. This sort of weather would be with us for about the next week.

Thanks for reading the food blog! ha!

https://rufant.com

https://www.instagram.com/rufant_adventures/

 

[Aussie Iron]

Gosford Classic Cars.

There were some other Series Land Rovers, I've driven these. This one was just back from 'maintenance' I alerted the old chap who worked in the museum that they might want to put those wheels nuts on the right way round - I think he thought I was pulling his leg until I explained they don't stay tight that way for very long...

I believe the nuts are on the right way - As my Dad had a Series 2 Land Rover and the wheel nuts were double chamfered as in both sides of the nuts and you could fit them either way.
Anyway very good report. I'm loving the photos,

Dan.

 

[Saint Nick]

Isn't that the definition of Overland?

Driving into the woods to do cooking and drinking...

That sir is 100% the definition of Overland

Nick