Well we’re on the back end of our fabulous time exploring Tasmania, Suze’s home state and an island crammed full of spectacular scenery and sights.
Category: Travel Blogs
Trips and tours by the Travelling Two
Tassie Road Trip – Part 2
A highlight of our Tassie trip was a night spent on the Gordon River before exploring Cradle Mountain, the cute country towns of the state’s central north, then dropping onto the east coast.
Our Tassie Road Trip – Part 1
We’ve been trying to get back to Suzzanne’s home state of Tasmania for a few years now and something always got in the way, but at last we could lock in a travel window and headed south. I’ll break the trip into a few separate blogs so it doesn’t get too long winded, here’s the first leg.
This was supposed to be the boring part…
After a fantastic couple of weeks touring outback NSW, the Great Ocean Road and Victoria’s alpine national park we thought that the quick run home would be an anti-climax, the boring part of the trip. That was until we learned of the “rain bomb” about to explode over the Australian east coast!
Getting a High Country high!
The Victorian High Country sits near the top of most Australian off roaders list of places to visit. Few places in Australia offer such a substantial area of 4WD tracks, gorgeous camp sites and scenic outlooks as the Victorian section of the Australian alps.
Knowing that the area was so vast we elected to get a local to show us around, and few locals are better qualified to guide you through the high country than Ron and Trent Moon, so we joined a TVAN only Moon Tours tag along trip for a week that cherry picked the best of this superb area.
It truly is a Great Ocean Road!
Our road trip to the Victorian High Country continues, with next leg of the odyssey covering the spectacular Great Ocean Road (GOR) where waves of the Southern Ocean pound into towering cliffs along Victoria’s coastline.
50,000 years of history in Outback NSW
For a while now we’ve been planning a trip to the Victorian High Country, Australia’s alpine area steeped in modern legends of wild brumbies and mountain cattlemen. To get there we chose a a loop to pick up a few places on our to-do list, heading south west into the depths of outback NSW and finishing at Mungo National Park where some of the oldest remains of homo sapiens in Australia and the workd have been found.
A night at Bunya Mountains National Park
After months of COVID lockdowns and outbreaks, and the drudgery of ongoing cancer treatment, I was desperate to get out of town for some fresh air and green space.
We’ve also got a 3-week long trip planned soon, through outback NSW and eventually into the Victorian High Country, so we planned a mini shake-down to test a few of the tweaks we made to the Cruiser and TVAN fit out and packing.
With hot sticky weather forecast in South East Queensland we opted for an escape with a bit of altitude, and headed inland and up to Bunya Mountains National Park in the southern Burnett area of Queensland.
A trip under the mulga – Thrushton National Park
I was particularly keen to visit Thrushton after stumbling across excerpts from a book “Under the mulga” written by Jim Gasteen, whose parents founded the original property and who grew up on the place until it was no longer viable. Its a fascinating read that describes pioneer life in a tough and unforgiving part of the country, and the brilliant detail set out by the author had me wanting to see it for myself to add life to his tales.
TVAN shake down trip to Sundown National Park
After tweaking and modifying the TVAN with some custom touches it was time to get it out for a trip to get acquainted with it’s many features and to test its capabilities before heading out on remote trips. Choosing a destination to test the TVAN was restricted by the latest wave of COVID19 lockdowns and need to stay reasonably close to home… Sundown National Park offered a great destination to really stretch its legs.
The long trip home from Cape York
After spending a couple of days exploring the Northern Peninsular Area it was time to point our rigs southward and head for home. Our plan was to take the coastal run back to Brisbane and spend nights with friends and family along the way.
We conquer the Old Tele Track!
When adventurers head to Cape York there are usually two things on the agenda, to drive the Old Telegraph Track and to stand at the northern most point of the Australian continent – we managed to do both over the last few adrenaline filled days!
At last we’re on the road to be Cape Crusaders
The number of passing vehicles with a patina of red and orange mud down their sides told us we were on the Cape, albeit at the southern fringe of it. Today’s target is Bramwell Junction, start of the infamous Old Telegraph Track and planned meeting point to catch up with Lachie and Sarah.
WooHoo, Cape York here we come!
What great news, Brisbane managed to reel in the COVID outbreak and lock down ended at 4PM Sunday. That meant we could get on the road and catch up with Lachie and Sarah who were already in Far North Queensland waiting for us us. We decided to stay in motels for the run north, given that we had long driving days planned and there would be plenty of nights in the swags once we got closer to the Tip.
Cape York on hold – COVID19 Lockdown puts the brakes on our trip
So close… 4 days from our planned departure to Cape York and Brisbane was locked down due to a COVID19 outbreak! Today we planned to have been trucking up the Bruce Highway with plans to reach St Lawrence tonight, the first of several long driving days to reach end of the bitumen and start of the Cape’s dirt roads and tracks.
Cape York trip preparation – less than a week to GO
Well the last few weeks have flown by as we get closer to ETD for our Cape York trip, with plenty of preparation tasks in amongst the normal hurly burly of life. From vehicle modifications and repairs to accommodation bookings and food planning – we’ve been pretty busy building up to next weeks’ departure.
Sub zero in swags – winter camping at Goomburra
We’re in the final stages of getting organised for our Cape York adventure, mainly camping out of the car, so we thought that a shake down trip would be a good way to check things would work as intended – it would also get Suzzanne acquainted with her new Crashpad swag. Goomburra section of the Main Range National Park seemed like a good place to head, only a couple of hours from home and with some great little hikes, but when picking the dates to go I didn’t think it would get down to -2.5 degrees C!!
Chasing dinosaurs in Outback Queensland – Part 2
After a night camped in a sheep station front paddock we got ready to head into our first booking for the day, at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs natural history museum. Our camp is 70km north of town and Winton’s two main dinosaur attractions are quite a distance apart, and we have booked to see them both today, so we’ll have around 400km to cover and will need to keep on our toes to cover everything.
Chasing dinosaurs in Outback Queensland – Part 1
With cooler weather here at last, it was time to explore some of the outback places on our list – I’ve been keen to check out Winton’s dinosaur attractions for many years and recent opening of a new exhibit at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs park was a great excuse to head out there.
An easy stay – Glen Rock National Park
I normally seek out remote hard to get to camps that instil a sense of adventure, but there are times when a quick dose of fresh air and green space is best served by a camp site that is near to home and doesn’t need a big clean up of the rig afterward.