Australia Trip Tips

[crispinuk]

Hello,
I'm going on a business trip to Sydney next month, but will be taking a couple of weeks holiday while I'm there.
My rough plan at the moment is to fly into Perth to spend a few days visiting some friends then take the India-Pacific train to Adelaide and spend 7-10 days taking a camper van round the coast to Sydney where the business will be done.

I spent a couple of weeks in WA last year and with friends there return visits are more likely so I'm not really looking for advice relating to the WA end.

The part of the journey open to suggestion is the 13 or so days from Perth to Sydney.

I'll probably be taking my Horseman 980 and minox B

I'm not a huge fan of cities.

So, any suggestions for must see photo opportunities ?
Any other ideas for mode of transport or route (I realise flying to Adelaide will take 4 hours instead of 48 by train and most of the journey may be across empty desert, but in a masochistic sort of way, that's sort of the point)

Thanks

Crispin

 

[usagisakana]

The bight would definitely be worth seeing.. I'd love to get there some day. Can't help you much though as I live in perth.

 

[Allen Friday]

The bridge climb in Sydney is a great time. No cameras allowed, however. Book ahead of time. My wife and I did the twilight climb and loved it.

Allen

 

[Magpie]

The Great Ocean Road

Hi Crispin,

The Great Ocean Road is must, basically follow the coast from Adelaide to Melbourne, lots of great photo ops on the way.
Then either cut up through the Victorian high country or continue around the coast to Sydney - both would be doable in the 2 weeks - as long as you like driving!

Regards

Brendan

 

[Mick Fagan]

The bottom right hand corner of OZ is a quite diverse place, compared to the rest of the continent that is.

Picking up a campervan in Adelaide and hitting the road you should head for Mt Barker, then Strathalbyn (sort of south east) then head to Meningie via Wellington. This has you heading along the coast alongside the Coorong, which is a long skinny wetland between the road the the sea. You can actually drive a car along the beach legally.

From Kingston in SA you could possibly leave the coast behind for a while and head to Naracoorte. There are caves there and one of them is called the Fossil cave, it is a huge repository of fossils which I believe will take another 60 odd years to catalogue. The public tours are fascinating and I believe the research is carried out by Flinders University. Otherwise head to Mt Gambier.

However if you did go to Naracoorte, keep heading almost due east to Edenhope and then in the general direction of The Grampians which is a huge national park, the town for supplies is either Horsham (Nth) or Halls Gap (in the Grampians).

From the Grampians where you will see lots of real Australia before the white man came and farmed it, head sth for Warrnambool via Penshurst. From here you pick up the best parts of the Great Ocean Road. Follow the coast from here via Port Campbell where the 12 Apostles are and various other good sights. Note the waves hit the mainland directly from Antarctica here every 14 seconds and erode about 50mm of mainland every year. It is possible in winter, which is when you will be here, to see 30 metre waves hitting the mainland as you look down from about 50 metres high. Pretty awe inspiring I can tell you. Plus the thudding of the water has to be felt to be believed. The best place for seeing these waves is shortly before Port Cambell after Peterborough.

From Apollo Bay onwards the place becomes quite touristy, but still reasonable.

I would suggest you head for Queenscliff, which is south of Geelong. From there you catch the ferry which is on the hour daily each way to Portsea. You may see dolphins as you cross the heads of Port Phillip Bay.

I would then in a roundabout fashion head to Wilsons Promontory. This is the southernmost part of the mainland and is one of the few parts of the mainland in this part of the country to be more or less as it has been for thousands of years, great place.

From there think about heading up to the Snowy mountains via a great road. Head to Bairnsdale for supplies then to Buchan, interesting cave there as well, but not as good as Naracoorte. from Buchan you head up Barry Way, through quite small places like Butchers Ridge, Wulgulmerang and Seldom Seen. Then shortly after that you hit the NSW border. From then on for a while you are travelling alongside the Snowy River and there are quite a few camping places virtually on the river. One or two of these places have a pit toilet, saves digging.

From there and after travelling through 75 Klm's of winding road through virgin natural forest, you will be in Jindabyne.

From there you can head for the coast again, or take a side detour to Kosciuszko Ntl park, nice, or continue up through ACT (where Canberra is) and then take back roads to the Blue Mtns behind Sydney. In the Blue Mtns you can organise all sorts of things depending on the weather.

The Jenolan caves not far from Katoomba are quite spectacular.

Whilst hugging the coast is a good idea, you will get a far better experience of some of the interesting things available, by heading inland at times. Apart from that, constant coast can become a bit of a bore, sort of like us travelling through Europe, not another bloody masterpiece".

I can fill you in on quite a lot of this area as I have travelled very extensively throughout it over the last 40 + years.

You'll need a tripod almost anywhere near the southern coastline with a biggish camera, the wind is sometimes quite strong

Mick.

 

[Kevin Caulfield]

Wow, I was going to make a couple of suggestions, but it looks like Mick has got you pretty much sorted. He's right, it's a really diverse area. Actually 7 to 10 days from Adelaide to Sydney is not that long, really. I reckon you need the full 10 days. Have fun, and by the way, maybe let us know when you'll be where as we may be able to ctach up for a quick hello. Have fun.

 

[crispinuk]

Thanks for the replies everyone, especially Mick, there's probobaly more than enough there for the time I have. Off to get some maps now.

Crispin.

 

[canuhead]

No one mentioned Puffing Billy ! I like the Dandenongs but agree re: Great Ocean Rd. Mornington Peninsula is very nice as well.

I'm biased (missus) but I would take Melbourne over Sydney any day of the week and while yer in Melb, you must hang out at the Queen Vic Market !

 

[blokeman]

I'd confirm all of Micks choices... besides the Great Ocean Road with its spectacular scenery much of the coastline is the same. I agree with Mick that inland destinations have an extremely wide variety of scenery. Mick, have you ever visited the infamous Naracoorte Museum & Snake Pit? Collections of weird and wonderful things, plus snakes! I must've spent about 4 hours in there!
Even a route from Naracoorte up through outback NSW then through the mountains to Sydney would be a good choice.

 

[OldBikerPete]

With so little time, you're only going to be able to skim the highlights at breakneck speed. I recently did a caravan trip of the south coast of NSW from the Vic border to Woolloongong, took three weeks at it, travelled 3800Km and thought it somewhat rushed and didn't see everything there was to see. You'll have to pick what you want to see very carefully. Good luck.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Well yes an inland trip is also a good idea, in fact a better idea in some respects, especially photographic ones.

One could still travel along the coast to get a feel for the panoramas until Port Campbell and just beyond, then backtrack to Port Campbell and head north to the Grampians.

From there keep heading due nth heading towards Swan Hill, cross into NSW slightly further nth at Tooleybuc and head towards Balranald, further nth turn west to Mungo national park, it eventually changes to nth, n/west. Mungo is really something, more akin to a real outback station, which it once was.

The Walls of China at Mungo are reached by driving across the lake (it’s dry) to the sth eastern part of the shore, there the lunar like landscape is really something, definitely a tripod job. One of the better things to do at Mungo is the loop trip, which is 60 klm’s long. There is a camp about ¾ the way through. The sand dunes shot at dusk near this camp, are often quite unreal.

Mungo man and Mungo woman, who were buried there ceremoniously about 5,000 years apart, around 40,000 years ago, are the oldest known burial services in human history. The lake is part of the dry Willandra lakes complex.

Also if you wish to see kangaroo, emu, eagles and bucket loads of outback wildlife, then June is a very, very good time to go, the weather is bearable. One of the best experiences is the silence of the place; you can just sit there and only hear the wind rustling in its unique way through the native pine trees.

However a trip via the coast interspersed with inland diversions is probably easier and more wide ranging in its possibilities.

Warrnambool has a whale-watching platform. You can see the whales and their offspring about 200 metres out to sea, it’s one of their nurseries that they use on their way north. Basically whales head nth from Antarctica until they hit Australia, they then either turn left or right until they clear the mainland then head for the equator. The whales are now starting their swim past the continent and it’s possible you may see them.

Alternatively if you drove across the Nullaboor, you should be able to see them about 100 metres off shore, whilst you look down from the cliff tops, which are around 50-75 metres high. Mind you, with whale watching, timing is everything!

Pete is correct about the time and the distance you will travel, plan carefully and try to see what you would like to see, but don't overdo it.

Blokeman, nope never been to the snake pit, always only ever had time to do the fossil cave, which I've been through with plenty of German relatives, they all were enthralled.

One of the interesting things about lake Mungo, is or was, the dunny. The dunny was imported from Canada as a natural way of disposing of human waste, but it came at a huge cost. The fans which blow over the waste to dessicate and decompose it, were solar powered and although the toilet was incredible, it wasn't allowed to be used for quite some time

The reason was simple, people with particular qualifications were the only ones allowed to inspect the toilets underground cavity and give it a certificate of approval for another period of time before the next inspection.

There is always a possibility of an explosion with the gases created. That is good reason for being careful, but really, for a toilet that cost about $40,000 nearly 20 years ago, it was a ridiculous state of affairs to go to the toilet and read the sign stating that you were entering this thunderbox at your own risk. One old fella summed it up perfectly when he murmured to his missus as she entered, "love, don't light up a fag as you drop your guts".

Fortunately there is a another toilet these days and one can also have a shower if there is water in the tanks

Mick.

 

[crispinuk]

I'm back

Just a quick bump to say I had a great trip and thanks to Mick again as I generally followed your route. After the Indian Pacific train ride from Perth to Adelaide (a mini adventure in itself) I headed to the Grampians and stayed there a couple of days. Some fantastic scenery and native forests, that look remarkably well considering the whole area was consumed by bush fires only a couple of years ago. Then headed down to the coast to spend a few more days on the Great Ocean Road and then to Wilson's Promontory. There's some great bush trails here that I wish I could have stayed longer to explore but my work deadline in Sydney meant I then had to dash up the coast over two days so couldn't stop to exlore Gippsland and the fantastic looking rain forests around the Victoria/NSW border area. I don't think they're going anywhere soon so they can wait until another time.
Photographically I think I'm going to have quite a few duds as I was plagued by forgetting to remove dark slides and to stop down after focussing etc. I was also suffering 'shy light syndrome', whereby one arrives at a scene bathed in glorious light, by the time the camera is set up that one cloud has obscurred the sun and doesn't look like budging, only to move off again the moment after I've given up waiting and packed everything away again. Still, if I do get any keepers the APUG gallery will be the first to know.

Cheers,
Crispin

 

[Mick Fagan]

Great.

Mick.