On the Murray at Mildura

Breakfast is served

Our first camp on the Murray River was at Psyche Bends (no not Psycho!) just outside of Mildura. Nice free camp between Kings Billabong and the river Murray with a table and fireplace for each caravan site.

Sunrise over our camp

It was a quiet and relaxing place where we could sit back watch the luxury houseboats wander past and check out the birdlife that abounded along the river.

Sunset over our camp

Sadly no fishing at this camp as there was many warning signs around the camp regarding a blue-green algae outbreak.

Where is our breakfast?

Surprisingly Psyche Bends is where Psyche Pumps http://www.murrayriver.com.au/the-chaffey-trail/psyche-bend-pump-station/  were built in 1891 to pump water into Kings Billabong (28 meters above the river Murray) for irrigation purposes.

Walked 4 klm - and no birds!

Today electric pumps keep the Billabong topped up to maintain the water levels required to maintain the Billabongs and the vast array of flora and fauna that the waterways support. There are numerous walks and drives thru the billabong areas and Linda and I did a 4 klm return walk to one of several bird hides around the billabongs.

Birdless view from the hide

Unfortunately the day we were there the birds were hiding not us - but still a nice walk thru the red gum and black box forest.

The River Queen

No trip along the Murray is complete without doing at least one paddle steamer trip so Linda and I booked a three hour dinner cruise.

Night view of the Murray

Carvery, sweets, live music and a flood-lit cruise along the Murray for $60/head was pretty good value.

Whilst camping on the Murray I was struck down with a mysterious ailment called MRM. I have attached an extract from the Mildura Post which provides details regarding this serious ailment.

Mildura Post 11^th May 2016 – Mr. Murray Cod reporting:

Doctors and scientists along the Murray River between Mildura and Renmark are astounded regarding an outbreak of what is being called the Murray River Malady (MRM). Symptoms include an unexplained rapid weight gain, sore knees and an unquenchable thirst. Doctors believe the malady is spread by Echidna fast anal respiratory tension squirts (FARTS) and may have affected thousands of elderly folk and in particular Grey Nomads who seem to be susceptible to MRM as they are found in large numbers in free camps along the Murray River System. Although Echidna’s are the prime suspect due to being carriers of FARTS the scientist also believe that there could be viruses previously unknown to science living in the murky Murray River depths. As these have not yet been scientifically classified they have been given the code name XXXX and have been quarantined into yellow aluminum cans. Many wives along the Murray River Basin have been inadvertently affected with side effects of MRM with a related malady known as GOMYFB (get off me you fat bastard).

The Mildura Post recently interviewed Mr. Kerry Britton a Grey Nomad who has been stricken by the malady. Mr. Britton was quoted as saying “despite being a healthy 80Kg and running 10klm every morning before breakfast I suddenly was stricken with MRM. I do recall one morning smelling FARTS and downing a few XXXX with lunch. Within a few days I was over 99Kg and suffering sore knees. I knew that I would soon be rooted although my wife complaining of GOMYFB soon put a stop to that thought. Nothing seemed to relieve the symptoms and unquenchable thirst - until scientists isolated an antibody found only in good red wine or occasional bottles of Johnny Walker Red. This antibody has been identified as Preventative Isotope Streptococci Strain (PISS). Mr. Britton stated that whilst being on the PISS he has noticed a relief in the unquenchable thirst but so far nothing seems to be curing the rapid weight gain, sore knees or his wife’s GOMYFB symptoms”

There seemed to be little hope for sufferers of MRM (except for the small relief of getting on the PISS) until a recent medical breakthrough that was announced today. It seems that Wombat Acquired Nocturnal  Kudos (WANKS) combats FARTS and reduces the occurrence of the serious side effects of GOMYFB suffered by many wives after carriers of MRM have been on the PISS.

Portland Paddocks

A port on the land - burning off  night on the farm

We were lucky to be able to stay for almost two weeks at Linda’s nephew’s farm just out of Portland. Michael and Leah had only recently moved from the Claire Valley in SA to Portland to a lovely green seven acre hobby farm and were the perfect hosts when we visited – thanks Guys!

And who's not looking Dusty?

By coincidence and good planning we also caught up with Linda’s oldest brother and wife, oldest sister and hubby and some old friends from Perth. Linda’s brother and wife have built a small chalet on the farm that allows them to pull their caravan in level with the chalet floor and use the van for cooking and sleeping whilst having the comfort of a full sized lounge and bathroom at the van door.

Michael's first ever bream on a lure

Now let’s get to the important part of the story – the fishing! Unfortunately only got out twice – once in my tinnie with Michael chasing that elusive Estuary Perch up the Fitzroy River and an evening at Snapper Point beach fishing. The EP’s remain elusive (next trip a week on the Glenelg River is mandatory!) but surprisingly we caught snapper at Snapper Point – not large but my first snapper off the beach!

Taking terns on the beach

Took in some of the local attractions with the gang while we were in Portland.

Ancient cave people!

Had several outings to Cape Bridgewater lakes and caves, The Enchanted Forest, and a beaut dog beach for lunch.

Little Red Riding Hood and handsome Prince

Nice country, nice people and nice stay.

Great Ocean Road

The sights along the Great Ocean Road (GOR) are probably some of the most photographed spots in Australia so it is going to be near impossible to post any original photos for this blog. Like thousands of other Grey Nomads the GOR was on our bucket list since we started travelling. We were advised by other experienced travelers that although is was easy enough to tow a caravan along the GOR it is difficult at times due to restricted parking and the sheer volume of travelers to find a spot to park your van at the various attractions along the GOR.

Port Campbell is a nice spot

So – our plan was to leave our van at Portland and drive back up the GOR to Apollo Bay, stay the night at Port Campbell and then take leisurely drive back to Portland the next day after taking in all the sights along the way and having a night out of our caravan at a luxury hotel for a night.

Not fishing weather!

We didn’t count on gale force winds and pouring rain all the first day so after getting as far as Lavers Hill and not being able to see more than 20 meters in front of us we turned around and headed back to Port Campbell to book into our motel, warm up in the hot spa, and visit a local restaurant for dinner.

 One of many sunrise photos

Next morning we got up an hour before dawn (noting the stars were out and the rain had disappeared) to do the sunrise photo shoot of the Twelve Apostles.

Kerry! - where is my cup of tea!

There were hundreds of tourists (mainly Chinese/Japanese) doing the same thing - good to see now our Oz dollar has softened that the tourist trade has improved.

Loch Ard George - scene of a shipwreck

Well worth getting up early as we captured the morning light and took in a few attractions before breakfast.

Think this was called Bay of Islands

In the Grotto

Noting that we only did about half of the GOR this trip we still have “half a tick” to take off the bucket list next time we are back this way.  Looking forward to it!

Mount Gambier visit

Sinkhole in centre of town

We took a day trip from Portland to Mount Gambier to visit some old friends and take in some of the Limestone Coast that runs from Tailem Bend in South Australia to Nelson in Victoria. We only visited the section from Portland to Mount Gambier but it was a great day out – great scenery and lunch and a guided tour of Mt Gambier with our friends Linda and Lindsey.

Blue Lake Crater - 80 meters deep!

First stop was the Princess Margaret Rose Caves at Nelson. We arrived at 9:45 ready for the 10:00 guided tour. Unfortunately the tour guide had developed a bleeding nose on the way to work (novel excuse that one!) and the 10:00 tour was cancelled. So after a quick walk round we departed the “bloody nose” caves and headed off to Mt Gambier.

Old friends catching up

Mount Gambier link here is a surprisingly big town (in fact a city) which is famous for its crater lakes and sinkhole gardens.

Valley Lake (used to be much bigger)

It would be good to visit the gardens in spring when all the flowers are in bloom but they are still impressive in early winter when we visited.

Wow!

Great day out and we will spend more time around her next time we caravan by.

Colac stop over

Think Linda was shaking a little in Burnley Tunnel

After escaping from Melbourne we headed south on the Princes Highway towards Portland.  We decided to stay two nights at Lake Colac https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Colac  so we could take a day out to tour the area and take in some of the local attractions and scenery.

Nice boat ramp but no lake

The free camp at Lake Colac is right on the shore of the lake with water views, skiing and fishing – IF the lake had any water in it – unfortunately it was dry for the second time in 175 years!

No water - but nice

Still a nice spot with grass, flushing dunnies, town water available and a view over the dry lake bed towards the large country town of Colac.

On top of old smoky

Lake Colac and lots of other nearby lakes were created by volcanic activity and you can still see the remnants of inactive volcano’s and the lush red-soil farmland and dairy farms.

Triplet Falls

We drove up into the temperate rainforests of the Otway Ranges. With massive tree ferns, waterfalls and Australian beech forests – this is a beautiful spot. We did a short walk to Triplet Falls through the rainforest (surprisingly it was raining in the rainforest) and headed out to the Otway Flyway were the world’s longest treetop walk has been built.

Gloomy and green

Plan was to have some lunch and for me to do the walk while Linda relaxed in the café.  After finding out it was 600M walk to the start of the 600M treetop walk and my knee already giving me some grief from the waterfall walk I decided to put the walk off till “next time”.  Lucky I am not a horse – would have been put down by now!

Our Victorian Visits

As we travelled south towards Melbourne we had the opportunity to catch up with friends we had met travelling around Oz in our van and mates I had worked with for over 20 years.

Camp Blair Morwell

First stop was Steve and Carol's (and Roxy) place at Morwell just north of Melbourne.  We had met these guys last year camping at Gregory Downs in far north west QLD and then by coincidence/ plan at several other free camps as we travel around north QLD.

MKR - flattie chef

Over two nights of memorable dining – Steve’s famous seafood chowder and Kerry’s flathead fillets  we had a laugh, played ladder golf and let the girls beat us at a board game called Sequence (that’s our story and we’re sticking to it!).

a lunch of good looking guys!

Second stop was a quick lunch at Williamstown with some of the guy’s I had worked with for over 20 years. Some retired and some still working (someone has to pay the taxes!).  An hour wasn’t long enough but it was good to see the guys again and take a quick drive past the Williamstown Dockyard gates where I first visited as a young sailor in 1973 and many times after in my working life. Sad to hear that the Dockyard was likely to shut-down after serving the Navy since WW2 – so much history and current skills in jeopardy.  Hopefully they can find a project to keep it going.

Pre-dinner photo at E&J's

Next stop was Esther and Johns’s at Endeavor Hills near Dandenong. We had met John and Esther on our first trip around Oz in 2011-2012 up at Mataranka in the NT and had kept in contact ever sense. Despite Esther working and being very busy they found time to catch up, cook us a roast lamb dinner and take Linda out for a girls shopping outing to the Dandenong  Markets.

We head south towards Portland next week but are so pleased to have had the opportunity to catch up with new and old friends.  Hopefully we will see you “out there/or at our place” in WA - sometime in the future and it was great catching up!

Wallagaraugh River Retreat

Yep - uggies and beanies - its getting cold

A visit to Mallacoota Inlet was on my bucket list - so a stopover was mandatory as we travelled south into Victoria and the beautiful East Gipsland area. As it was the middle of the Victorian School Holidays we decided to camp at Wallagaraugh River Retreat Web site here which “strange as it may seem” is on the Wallagaraugh River which is one of two tannin coloured rivers flowing into Mallacoota Inlet.

Kerry out chasing bream

What a spot! – we camped on the bank overlooking the river just 30Mtrs from the boat ramp. With mullet jumping day and night, pelicans feeding all day this looked to be the Promised Land.

Nice bream on poppers!

Mallacoota is famous for big bream and flathead and the Wallagaraugh River delivered the goods. Lots of big golden bream on “walk the dog” poppers and big black flathead on both diving hard-bodies and plastics.

Happy flathead angler

Linda (AKA the Flathead Queen) was constantly pulling in flatties every midday fishing expedition and out fished me 3 to 1.

That's three!

Must have something to do with my expert guiding and lure selectionJ.

Mallacoota Wharf - wow!

The camp has no phone signal or internet so we gave the flatties and bream a day’s rest and drove the 65kms into Mallacoota township to do some shopping, stock up on fuel ,have lunch at the pub, do some sightseeing and catch-up on emails, facebook and missed calls.

Mallacoota Inlet looking back from entry

You can see why Mallacoota is so popular – huge expanses of protected inlet, sandy beaches and fish jumping on your hook!

After a week on the river - we leave with one more item on the bucket list “ticked off” and our freezer full of flathead fillets.