National Park

Croajingolong National Park

Posted on November 9, 2014 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

Heading East from Lakes Entrance we visited Croajingolong National Park. On the way we past the longest timber railway bridge near Obost. We had to stop for a couple of photos.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Then on to our first stop Shipwreck Creek, 15km dirt road drive from the nearest town of Mallacoota. It was well worth the effort, as there are only a handful of camping spots in the woods, a pristine rugged beach only 300m away. A 3km walk through the forest, heathland, and scrub takes you to Seal Creek. The beaches are similar at both with creeks, dark with tannins,  forming lagoons behind the beach, and forest growing down to the beach. Being one of three key hotspots for biodiversity in in Victoria, once again we found birdlife in abundance and the spring flowers proliferated everywhere.

On Shipwreck Creek beach our peaceful solitude was broken one day by two helicopters flying in, landing for ten minutes then departing again!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Categories: Journey Narrative, Location, National Park, Travel, Travel Adventure, VIC, Walks | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Change of Plan!

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

With Mt. Kosciuszko off the menu for now we’re heading for the lowlands and warmer conditions. My goose-down sleeping bag had a fatal rupture when I got in at Yarrangobilly and by morning the inside of our Camprite Trailer looked like a snow-scene with everyone covered in and inhaling goose feathers, The weight of the car and trailer on some of the off-road tracks in the mountains had guzzled petrol, and was giving the breaks a good workout so we decided to leave the Alpine region and head down. Into Victoria now the Alpine Highway gave us a direct route south, through verdant green countryside. Every now and then we stop for the cows, who when not being herded to the next paddock, are grazing the long grass by the verge. I’m not sure how effective a deterrent it is but dead foxes are strung up by the side of the road making quite a macabre spectacle.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Categories: Australian Outback, Journey Narrative, Location, National Park, Travel, Travel Adventure, VIC | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Conquering Pigeon House Mountain

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

It turned out to be a bit of a challenge but our 6 and 7 year olds lead the way to the top. A 3-4 hour round trip involves a steep climb from the car park, a flat stretch through thick scrub, then a second climb to the base of the mountain top. This is then negotiated via metal steps and ladders to the peak which reveals a fantastic view. A challenging climb rewarded by the spectacular views from the top, especially of the Castle, a flat plateau in the Budawang National Park.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Categories: Australian Outback, Challenges, Journey Narrative, Location, National Park, New South Wales, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: , | 3 Comments

Booderee Wildlife

Posted on October 30, 2014 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

Possums arrived in droves last night to the campsite, with the sole purpose of raiding any foodstuff that might have been left in reach. Tell-tale footprints on the stove and tables showed the action didn’t stop after we went to bed.

This morning we had many more visitors, wallabies and kangaroos.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Categories: Animal Action, Australian Outback, Journey Narrative, National Park, NSW, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Birds and Booderee Botanic Gardens

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

Just a couple of our avian visitors, many more of whom we encountered today in the verdant botanic gardens. One of the favourite spots was the mossy path through the forest gully pictured below.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Categories: Animal Action, Journey Narrative, Location, National Park, New South Wales, NSW, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: | Leave a comment

Booderee National Park

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Fifty Toes Walkabout

Jervis Bay is beautiful! The birdlife at Green Patch was fantastic. In a couple of days we have seen variegated fairy-wrens, endangered eastern bristlebirds hopping through the dense bush, ospreys, sea eagles, king parrots, eastern rosellas, wood ducks and much more. There are swamp wallabies, kangaroos and echidnas around too, some even tame enough to pat. At the derelict lighthouse we found a snakeskin (brown snake!) almost 2m long.

We played a variation of Pooh Sticks with pumice pebbles we found on the beach – Pooh Stones.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Categories: Animal Action, Beach, Camper Trailer, Journey Narrative, Location, National Park, New South Wales, NSW, Travel, Travel Adventure | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

Blog at WordPress.com.