Fitzroy River, Portland, Victoria {Free Camp}

Under advice from Tina & Paul who we meet at in South Australia {and no I have yet to find out who they are or a way to contact them} we headed to Fitzroy River.  A little way east of Portland, but still close enough to be able to spent the following day in town.


After setting up, having lunch and doing a little school we decided to head into town for a quick look around at the visitors centre.  Good thing we did as we discovered them setting up for a market right on the foreshore for the following day.  Odd timing we thought but then a lovely local man shared with us that they had a P & O Cruise ship docking for the following day and the town was going to be busy busy busy. 

Tina and Paul advised us that it was a lovely spot, free and loaded with koalas.  Well after our trip to town we headed home for some school and then exploring, we didn't see one koala and felt suitably ripped off!

After a slow start to the morning we headed into town, our first stop being a wander around the markets.  It was a lovely little market, we got some lovely hot coffee, a warm shall for me, a beautiful skirt for Kyla and the kids got twisted potato things.

Our first spot to explore was the local blowholes, sadly the swell wasn't there for us to see it but we did get to take in the coastline.  Loads of wind turbines and some lovely limestone tubes that looked like a forest.

 

Cape Bridgewater was our next stop.  We decided to tackle the walk out to see the Australian Fur Seals.  It was hard work, especially for the kids but it was well worth it to take in the coast line. I'm thankful that we had the zoom lens otherwise the seals would've been only tiny black dots to us!

 

       

 

 

We headed back into town, grabbed some fresh rolls and headed to the park to make lunch.  It gave us a chance to sit down, enjoy the sunshine and the view.

After we regrouped we decided to take a look out at the Cape Nelson Lighthouse. What a lovely spot, hats been maintained and the old keeper cottages have even been turned into accommodation.

    

After our full on day we headed home for a quiet afternoon.  We were all rewarded when we went for a walk, koalas.  I think, from memory the kids counted five and loved being able to see them in their natural environment.

 

 

What a beautiful spot that we could have easily stayed in for a few more days had time permitted, on the come back to list.  Next stop.....

42 Mile Camp - The Coorang National Park {National Park}

What a beautiful location when it is warmer.

The wind was blowing when we arrived but we found a nice spot on the back of a the sand dunes, on the green grass.  We set up the camper, did some schoolwork before we headed for a drive down to the beach.

A big space, with loads of soft space that is used by people for both camping and 4WDing.

 

 

Wooramel Station {Working}

I will admit it, right here, where it will stay at the top for a short while {at least}, I have been terribly slack updating the blog and I am actually playing catch up on New Years Even.

So whilst the date is when we left Wooramel, the entry is in fact, six months late!

Right enough of my admissions, now to remember what we did.

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It was a lovely relaxing last week of the school holidays, a great chance to recover from the weekend at WBJ.  I read, looked over family history, planned our weekend away in August, planned a trip to Perth in September {for me}, ate too much, drank too much and enjoyed trying out the spas.

Justin worked hard to get the decking done around the lovely artisan spas and also the pool fence.

 

 

 

We finished up on our last night with a lovely camp fire by the river.

I should add that all of the work that we have done here has been to set up a Caravan Park on the banks of the Wooramel River {it only opened this year}.  It is a truly magical location, with plenty of sites for tents/campers/caravans and Rachel has done a magnificent job with the on site tents.  All of the fittings inside have been made with items she has collected off the station and having slept in them before they are amazingly comfortable.  I would definitely recommend you pop in for a stay and an explore.

 

Home Valley Station {Gibb River Road}

Now the drive here was one of the best on the trip.  The ranges looks fabulous, even if there was a bush fire burning across part of it that resulted in plenty of smokey pictures.

We drove into Home Valley Station and it was like finding this tropical oasis, not that we had have any terrible spots on the trip but with a pool, great looking bar/reception and a play ground it certainly had plenty to keep everyone entertained for the afternoon/evening.

Children played, I washed and relaxed before we headed out for dinner.  There was even a little swimming in the pool.

Dinner  was wonderful, desert certainly it the spot and we even got some live entertainment.

 

 

Given we had a very short drive in the morning we packed down while the kids played in the play ground and then headed to the pool for a few hours.  J and I then decided it was time to hit the road {J not being one to sit around for too long doing nothing} and off we headed to El Questro.

Drysdale Station {Gibb River Road}

It was nice to get ‘home’ after a few nights away. I can’t for the life of me remember when it was that we actually got home but after some lunch it was time to do some much needed washing & relaxing.

The men & children even headed back to the river for the afternoon for a ‘splash’ and I had a nap.  PERFECT.

It was a great way to end this part of the trip, before another long day in the car.  Even better was looking at all the water birds in the tree at sunset.

Drysdale Station {Gibb River Road}

Well didn’t this turn out to be an interesting drive!  30 minutes after leaving Barnett River we lost another bloody tyre…..

 

Yes you did read this right, driving along and there goes our back left hand tyre.  I have never seen Justin do angry & never been so thankful that a little black metal disc didn’t go flying after it.  We had a head start on the rest of the group but they soon arrived to our little mess.

I walked up the road looking for the nuts, of which I did manage to find a few and the boys set to work removing spares, getting jacks down, changing studs & nuts {thankfully we kept some of the ones that J took off when he put the new ones on} and getting our tyre back on.  An hour later the entire part was on the way again.

We had a reasonable good run until we hit the turn off to Kalumbaru and to say that there was heaps of corrugations would be the understatement of the century.  It is by far the worst part of road that we have been on so far this trip and made for one slow drive to Drysdale.

 

Eventually we arrived, dusty and read to be off the road.  The plan was to set up for the night, pack down before Mitchell Falls as we where leaving the camper here, thankfully we discovered that provided we didn’t camp right on the loos {which you might think, no one in their right mind would do… someone with a tent DID} we could leave it set up, which made things a lot easier for everyone.

After setting up, enjoying a beer {or two} we decided to head to the bar for dinner.  It was a lovely spot to sit and enjoy but for the price not somewhere I would eat again.  It was really just a buffet, although it was nice to not have to cook for the night.

After dinner & a few drinks around the fire we headed home for an early night before taking off on our adventure to Mitchell Falls…. In a tent!