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 Topic: Another Holiday (Final Report)
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13/8/2015 at 7:26am
Location: Melbourne Australia
Outfit: Windsor Rapid Off Road Van + tents
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Welcome to the final report from our 2 week holiday to Booderee National Park in NSW, and then back home to Melbourne.
We start this report camped at the Pambula Beach Caravan Park, our site backed onto the beach so I didn’t have far to walk for these early morning photos before our departure.
We continued south calling in at the historic Boydtown precinct south of Eden, built in 1843 by Benjamin Boyd the town site in the Twofold Bay area was the centre of his expansive whaling and pastoral operations. He had vast sums of money and with additional financial backing, and the use of convict labour, set about the building of a town that had many brick dwellings, stores, wool sheds and a jetty that he could berth his ships at. He also built a tower nearby for his spotters to use in their search for whales.
At the same time as all of the above was happening he started a coastal steamship service between Sydney, Boydtown and Hobart. He floated a banking company with a nominal capital of over 1 million pounds. He soon became one of Australia’s largest landholders owning more than 2,000,000 acres on which he ran his personal stock of 158,000 sheep and 21,000 cattle. He was also elected to the NSW Legislative Assembly. BUT, it all went pear shaped and belly up when the depression of the mid to late 1840s started to bite, bringing an end to a lot of his operations.
Boyd was one of the most colourful, flamboyant and important characters in our Nations early history but with the writing on the wall, he headed off to the Californian Goldfields around 1850 where he disappeared completely whilst on a hunting expedition.
The Seahorse Inn at Boydtown, which he built and named after his first ship.
The ruins of the Boydtown Church which sits on a hill just behind the Inn was built in 1850, it was never consecrated or completely finished as by that stage Boyd had gone missing whilst overseas and the whole complex was soon abandoned. The church lost its roof in 1926 in a bush fire that devastated the area.
With the weather still a bit overcast we decided to push on and into Victoria, where we planned to spend a few days at the Thurra River campground near Point Hicks in Croajingalong National Park.
Our site just set back from the beach and an inquisitive Kookaburra that couldn’t quite work us out.
The next morning was again sunny and with a full day planned we set off for a 2.5 hour return walk to the Point Hicks Lighthouse passing on the way some lovely bays, where granite boulders were adorned by richly coloured lichen.
Soon we were in the Light House Reserve, the light house was built in1888 and the construction at the time was a break from tradition in that it was built of concrete having 162 cantilevered cast iron steps with no central pillar, instead of the traditional stone steps to the top.
In front of the lighthouse complex, close to the water’s edge was a memorial that was erected in 1970. That was the bicentennial of the mainland of Australia’s original sighting by Zacharia Hicks, who as Captain Cooks Sub Lieutenant, was on watch and first sighted the headland which was then named in his honour in 1770. On the ocean side of the cairn was a brass plate that listed all 99 of the men aboard Cooks boat. Yes 99, that’s a lot of men cooped up on the Endeavour which was in today’s terms, a pretty small boat!
Some more lichen covered rocks near the memorial.
Back at the van for morning tea, we had a visitor who thought there may have been a bit in it for him as well. (Or her)
Feeling refreshed we then headed off on a 2 hour return walk to the nearby Thurra River Sand Dunes, which are the tallest/largest of their type in Victoria. Walking over and through the vastness of the dunes was really an amazing feeling. (I didn’t at the time tell Jen that the 2 hour return was just too the Dunes and back, not the walking all over them as we did) She was one tired little puppy when we finally got back for a late lunch.
After lunch we drove a short distance to the Mueller River campground only a few ks further east, crossing a heath land with lovely views back around to the Lighthouse.
We then launched the Kayaks and explored up the river for a few ks before back tracking and heading for the rivers mouth which was closed to the ocean by a sand bank.
The ocean beach on the other side of the inlet.
The inlets waters had some lovely colours due to the richly tannined waters, it made for some interesting contrasts to the white sands and vegetation nearby.
What a day it had been. We both slept fairly well that night for even as I leant over to turn out the light, I heard the sounds of sleep emanating from Jen. The joys of a relaxing holiday with Col.
On the road/track again the next day we left Thurra River and headed across country to the Yeering River Gorge and then the Yeering River mouth where we had lunch. If we had more time to spare this would have been another lovely spot for a kayak.
The Snowy River starts high on the slopes of Mount Kosciusko, (Australia’s highest mountain) it then traverses Alpine Plains, rich farming areas and then cuts through rugged ranges creating rapids and gorges before finally winding through more farmland and entering Bass Straight near Marlo. Traversing over 352 ks the River after the construction of the Hydro scheme was reduced to only 1% of its original flow and was in a dreadful state, but with agitation by those who wished for the river to be saved, the flow was increased between 2002 and 2008 to 4% and then targets of between 10 and 15% were met in the year 2012 now with additional flows guaranteed the River is slowly recovering.
The Rivers mouth near Marlo.
As we headed for our next nights camp at Peteman’s Beach in the Lake Tyres Forest Park, we took a side track and stopped at the Wayring Road Trestle Bridge. One of the largest trestle bridges still standing in the state, it really was an impressive sight towering over Jen.
Over the many reports that I have done, I have never featured Fungi so when I came across this beautiful specimen I thought I better take some pics. Identifying it has been quite a battle even with my Common Australian Fungi (for idiots) Book, I still couldn’t nail it down. It was more than 200 mm in width and quite stunning in it’s unusual form.
The Ninety Mile beach, just behind our campsite at Peteman’s Beach.
Next morning I awoke to an amazing “Morning Glory” Yes; the Morning Glory cloud formation which is unique to the Gulf Region of outback Queensland in northern Australia, is a band of rolling cloud that comes in from the coast and extends some distance inland. We have been fortunate to witness that occurrence live in the north, so when I saw this cloud formation it was so similar it was spooky. (We were at least 3500 ks from where we saw it previously) I ran around our site and down onto the beach to capture what was a very unusual cloud mass moving across the sky.
On the way again I took another back track to visit what was another huge trestle bridge. The Stony Creek bridge is in fact the largest still standing of it’s type in Victoria.
You can just make out Jen at the bottom of the bridge.
I thought I would finish this series of reports with a shot along The Ninety Mile Beach at Lakes Entrance. The weather for a lot of the two weeks was overcast and rainy at times, but we still saw, discovered and enjoyed some amazing scenery and places.
When you think back to our time at the stunning Booderee National Park, with all its history and beauty (Plus the giant spider nearly in my moosh!), some of the wildlife and interesting history of the south coast of NSW. and now this report, we really did have a pretty busy time of it during the two weeks we were away. But heh! It wouldn’t be a trip with Col unless you conquered remote tracks, forded creeks and rivers and crammed a month of touring into half that time would it! I know Jen sometimes looks forward to getting home so she can have a rest Ha!
I hope through these reports you were able to learn something of our unique history, experience destinations and again marvel at some of the beautiful scenery that can be found when you get slightly off the main tourist routes on a trip with Col.
Regards to all,
Col.
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The worst day above ground, is a whole lot better than the best one under it. Live life to the fullest while you can.
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