A terrific time

G’day Mates!

Sorry it took so long, unexpectecly we didn't had reception for a few days, yeh, such can happen, you'll get used to it. But because it's the first time I'll make it up to you, enjoy this extra long edition;

I could hardly resist to crawl into the computer Friday (12th) evening to make a new story. We had such a marvellous day and I wanted to share that with you right away but I managed to wait a little while (pff, it was a bit longer though) otherwise it would be too soon.

Well here it is;

From Eagle point to Paynesville is a lovely bike path so, we as dutchies addicted to bike riding, took our bike’s and went off. In Paynesville we took the ferry to Raymond Island which would be famous for Koala’s and they weren’t kidding!!

On the ferry

By the way, the Ferry was Free for bikers

Look if you can see the difference later with the real koala's haha!

Crikey, I have never seen so many fluffy balls hanging, sitting, and lying in the most awkward positions before.

Just look how amazing;

This one must have been a model for he showbiz because he/she (you can’t see) was nearly the only one awake and showed us how they climb and eat, he/she even posed in a way that the sun shone perfect for the picture.  Did you know Koala’s sleep about 18 hrs a day??



he turned his back on me, pfff, such an attitude



We paddled a little more over the Island .......

........and ran into this gorgeous spot for a lunch and so we did.  We had some stilton cheese left from Easter, that together with a zip of Port and this view…….!!

With wobbly knee’s (kidding! We are used to a bit alcohol) we biked back on the same beautiful path, through the wetlands.

13-4.

Today we’re driving from Paynesville, over the Great Alpine Road, through the Victorian Alps with Mount Hotham, a famous ski area, to Bright. From my uncle we had heard that the Great Alpine road was closed at a certain stage due to landslides so I asked the friendly lady from the caravan park in Paynesville if she new something about it but she didn’t so she called Vicroads for me and learned that the road was open on the weekends. So no worries mate!

Winding and climbing very slow through the mountains we saw Scotland, Bavaria, The Ardennes from Belgium and Austria in one day.  And what we also saw is something we haven’t seen in any country before, not even Australia so it must be unique; Dinner Plain;

This is a very odd, but somehow also beautiful, stylish Alpine resort;

After Dinner Plain we came over Mount Hotham;

Yesterday, the 19th of April, we saw on the news that it was snowing.
We've been so lucky!

And after this we knew the part would come soon which was half closed so we were excited to find out what we would be confronted with.

I honestly have to tell you that I was very pleased to see the open half of the road, was the mountain side otherwise I might have closed my eyes (maybe peek a little with half an eye just to see if Fred didn’t closed them too).

It is beautifull though

Actually the whole road was a bit scary, fortunately we drove most of the time on the mountain side but also a little on the steep side and I wasn’t too happy. I also thought a few time of my Sister and Sister in Law, haha they know why!

The whole area has burned last summer, so the colour of the leaves are not from Autumn.

BUT we survived!!

Finally we arrived in Bright and we found a lovely easygoing Caravan park just 6 k’s outside Bright.  

The next day we of course took the bikes and biked over the Rail Trail** to Bright which was lovely. Bright is famous for the, yes this time its correct; Autumn colours.

**Rail trail is a project of the Australian Government to make bike paths of all old train rails, most of the time they are nice flat

We stayed for two days and then drove further to Beechworth, that was only a few k’s away but we’ve heard that must be a nice place too and it was.

Typical Australia

We have been a bit naughty. We thought of going to have a nice trip thru the bush and so we did, but unfortunately we had a terrible experience. We followed a road which on the map looked ok, but after bouncing thru big potholes and going down very steep, we realised we couldn’t go back and we were heading toward a creek!!  When we finally reached the bottom and the creek it appeared to be ok, there was only about 5 cm water in it so we could go on.

Pfff, that was a good lesson, we will think twice next time!

I hope you enjoyed this story and I'll try to get back to you sooner.

We just had a text-message from our son that he's checked in at Schiphol; Amsterdam Airport so we can hug and kiss him on Monday very early in the morning!!

We are looking forward to it!

Cheers!

Hit the road at last!

Hi Everyone,

Here’s just a short one to keep you awake and to tell you I’m still here.

We didn’t make it to leave at the 8^th but finely on Tuesday the 9^th we headed off. We closed the door and gate and said goodbye to the house.

Brought the keys back to my uncle and aunt, the owners and said goodbye to them and their daughter Ellen and her husband.  That was actually the hardest part because she a very good friend of mine and we will miss each other very much.

So with red eyes from crying (not Fred but me offcourse and no; I don't have pictures of that!) we went to family in Warragul where we left a few more things and had a great lunch together. Again a goodbye! After lunch we also had to drop off some more stuff at family in Newborough were we spent a very relaxing evening and night. Pff ; goodbye again.

And now we are on our way. At the moment we are in Eagle Point a very sleepy part of  Paynesville and this is the ideal spot to sort out our caravan and to relax for a while after a few very stressful weeks. At the moment we are jumping over boxes and duck under wires to go from the one side to the other. Crikey what a mess people can have.

Anyhow, we already have a lot in mind what we want to do and where we are going so I will come back to you soon!

Hang on!

Its hard!

Djee Guy’s, its harder then I thought. You know, we have been living in a house from an Aunt and Uncle for 3 ½ years and offcourse in the mean time feels a bit of our own. Again we are packing our things and again we have to store a lot. Fortunately this time we don’t need a container and the packed boxes can be stalled at family and big things are going to a lovely friend.

Now something else;

In my introduction you could read that I lived in Holland for 44 years so Dutch is my main language. Because I want to reach as much people as possible it’s wiser to write in English and so, beforehand, I want to ask you to forgive my double Dutch English which undoubtedly will occur.

Of course a trip like this needs some preparation and that’s why Fred is fiddling around with wires, batteries, solar panels, inverters (don’t think I’m smart and know all these things, I just hear these terms passes along the way) to make our little loved caravan self contained so we don’t have to spend too much money on expensive caravan parks.

That’s one of the things that are really a pity; Australia has become so expensive, all the “things must do because it’s so beautiful” , are nearly unpayable.

 To warm you up a bit for the trip I will show you a few pictures about our preparation.        

Battery-pack has been realised..

Look at the mess...

Solarpanel installed...

 Every inch of our caravan is used.

The space between the bed and cupboard is now shoeholder

On the other side a bottle holder, we love wine!

Anyhow lets go on;

Our car is nearly 14 years old but still going well and our caravan is about 13 years and so we both hope they can manage to get us around Australia in a safe way. As you can see (the main picture on top of my Weblog) we don’t have a 4-wheel drive so we will avoid dirt roads as much as possible, doesn’t mean that we will never face them, when you know Australia a little you know that a bitumen road can end like that and then you have a choice; go on or go back which most probably will be hundreds of kilometres detour, well take your pick.

Oh I nearly forgot to tell you that we have a visitor coming along with us the first few weeks from the 22^nd of April. We are picking up our son from the airport in Sydney (he’s coming from Holland) and he will travel with us to Cairns from where he is flying back to Holland.

Despite the fact that we have bought him a tent to sleep in.........

we also thought; “what if we meet a cyclone or a twister or even flooding?”  Well, just look at this solution….

Our journey will start on April the 8^th, so we are getting a bit nervous now, also because we have to say goodbye to a lot of nice, lovely family and friends.

So after we have survived the farewells I’ll be coming back to you and we will be on the road by then!!

Cheers