Category Archives: TRAILS – Camping & The Outdoors

Red Centre Trip – Day 1

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Claire is currently based in Alice Springs and her and I had a week off from classes. So I flew up to see her, and we took a prebooked trip to see the red centre. Day one was about 5 hours driving, a view of Mt Conner, to a walk to Kata Tjuta, and a sunset view of Uluru.

The bus ride was fairly ordinary, but that will happen, and Mt Connor (often referred to as the fake Uluru was alright). We got to the camp and there was way too much stuffing around, picking up people’s whose flights were late, and we missed half of Kata Tjuta. Pretty ordinary of the company I thought. But it was great:

Next we were hurried away to see the Uluru sunset, which was very impressive

Great fun and we retired for the night at camp. It was cold, and we got to sit around the fire – great fun!

Grampians Adventures

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Claire had booked us some cheap last minute accommodation at Hall’s Gap which is right near a section of the Grampians. Although I was disappointing not to be able to camp, I was keen to be able to discover this part of Victoria. Although I lived in Victoria for about 25 years, I didn’t think I had been. If I had, I couldn’t remember it.

Anyway we arrived on Tuesday afternoon and had a look at a few of the nearby lookouts. They were pretty good and it made me really keen for the next day where we would do a 4 hour bushwalk, plus stop by a waterfall and another lookout.

The next day we got up and went to the waterfall. It was nice. It was a little disappointing that swimming was not allowed, but I respected the rules, unlike a lot of hikers.

After that we stopped by a few lookouts before heading towards the main hike. Claire snapped this photo of me checking out the scenery in what I thought was the best lookout that we went to.

The walk took us to “the pinnacle” which was a much higher lookout. It was a lovely short bushwalk, and (unlike most paths in the NT) very well signposted. The view was nice, although probably comparable to the other lookouts that are driveable. I would only recommend the bushwalk if you really like them, which I do.

Not Claire, though 🙂

Phillip Island – Day Trip

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This Autumn heatwave has been really nice, especially coming down from the tropics. We came up with the idea of heading down to Phillip Island for a random day. It is around 2 hours 20 minutes one way, which makes it as close as Litchfield is to Darwin. Definitely worth a swim in the ocean!

I am really loving being able to get back in the surf again. I have really missed the waves, and the freedom not to worry about crocodiles.

We went down there and headed to the forest caves, Claire and Trish had a look while I had a swim. We then went onto the nobbies, before having a picnic and checking out the penguin parade on the way home.

Claire loves the penguin parade more than anything. I have now seen it 3 times in the past 3 years.

And I’m sure, we will be there again in 2016… happy wife, happy life

Starting to trust the car again after all the trouble we have had… photo taken after Claire had decided to drive home 🙂

Long Weekend in Lake Tyres

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So I have officially moved to Victoria. We had a few days off so we asked my parents what their plans were. They were camping at Lake Tyres for several nights, so we decided to head down. I even managed to get my sister and her partner down as well, it was sort of an impromptu family camping trip.

We got down there Saturday and set up. Quite an amusing moment when we realised that we had never set up the outer on our tent before! You don’t really need it when camping in the dry season of Kakadu. Summer in Victoria is a bit different, you never know when it might rain. I have to say the tent looked rather new.

Had some fun on the beach the first day. It has been a long time since I have swum in the surf, something I really love. It was great to be among the waves again.

The next day Dad and I decided to do some land based fishing in the hopes of getting a flathead or two. He used bait, I tried my smaller soft plastics. He got a few bites, but we didn’t get anything. It was a shame we didn’t have more time, as we mostly spent it driving around and finding a few really cool locations.

Southern Forests of Tasmania

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Friends of ours were getting married in Southern Tasmania, so we used the excuse to get a rental car and explore some of the southern forests. This wasn’t a true outdoor adventure, as it was lacking a 4WD, tent, or boat. But it was fun to get around in our i20 and see some of a state I haven’t really explored.

We were limited to short day walks, but it was still quite enjoyable. The rivers were quite interesting, and the fresh water was coloured a brown/red from all the wood there.

We also went down to their famous “airwalk” which was a pathway in the forest canopy. It was certainly hyped up, and I think a little disappointing. But then, the things you hadn’t heard about, like the small walk among the forests themselves, or the amazing colour of the water were really cool.

We also had a look at a cave system there, which was the best cave system that I have explored.

They also had a thermal swimming pool which I was excited to try as I was struggling a bit having lived in Darwin for the past 4 years. This was perhaps the worst of the Tassie trip. They had turned it into a swimming pool! I have no idea why they would do this, but instead of a totally natural pool like Douglas Hot Springs, or one like Mataranka where it had a bit of work done, it just looked like a normal swimming pool, except the water wasn’t chorinated. I really felt it ruined the natural beauty of where it was.

That being said, I don’t want to sound too negative, with no food poisoning and no broken down cars, it was probably the best holiday of 2015! Except for our wedding of course, which doesn’t seem to count as a holiday.

And of course, the wedding we came for: