Eden - Cooma and Canberra 2011

Back to the blog; I will when possible add a link to the caravan parks we stay at, this will let you have a look at the park yourself if you are considering staying. I will only do the ones we have stayed at; any others in the area you will need to look for the details yourself. Just click on the park name in the blog; this will take you to the caravan parks web site (if available).

 

EDEN

 

Our next stop was Eden and we stayed at The Garden of Eden Caravan Park which is the closest park to town and is only a short walk to the beach. The park amenities are very good and heated in the colder periods; there is a pool, tennis court & mini golf (very basic). Lake Curalo can be accessed via a gate at the rear of the park and it put you on a boardwalk for that morning exercise; the beach is also easily walked to from here. From memory we paid around the $28 per night mark and to us it was not too bad a price for the location; the park itself would be quite tight to get in and out of during peak periods with a large van & car as the roads are quite narrow. 

 

 

 

Above is our site complete with slab; there are a few trees around but most sites are in the clear; TV reception was okay.

 

 

Above is Mary MacKillup Hall, you would recall she was Australia's first saint canonized in 2010, a school was established using the old church building. This was in appreciation for the care provided by the town of Eden when Mary's mother drowned in the shipwreck of the Ly-ee-moon at Greencape in 1886.

 

 

The killer whale museum is another local attraction and is open every day of the year except Christmas day; along with the displays there is a library and theatrette.

 

 

Above is the Shiralee Memorial Wall. Following the loss of the trawler “Shiralee” with all hands in August 1978, the people of Eden had the wall constructed to serve as a memorial to all seamen that have sailed from this port, been lost at sea, and never returned. It is hard to see on the small photo but there are quite a few plaques attached of people lost at sea.

 

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One of a few lookouts at Eden

 

 

When walking around the lake you will see many groups of black swans. 

 

COOMA

 

I need to apologise here as I did not take a photo of the park we stayed at in Cooma but it is a family run park and they were good very hosts. The park is called Snowtels Caravan Park and is located about an hour from Canberra and the same from Thredbo/Kosciuszko national park (the snowfield's).

 

Don't expect too much from the park as it is a bit dated and some of the sites are awkward, my suggestion would be to visit here out of peak as it does get packed out with skiers when its on, even though it is an hour from the snow it is cheaper to drive from here than stay at the resorts. We paid $25 per night (off peak) and even this late in the year we had one night at minus 4 deg C; amenities were okay but the park is pretty basic.

 

If you do visit here pulling a large rig I would suggest you come from the Canberra direction; we came up from Bega on the Snowy Mountain Highway and it quite a climb for about 10km and very windy, even if you come up the Kings Highway (out of Batemans Bay) you have about a 4km of steep winding road but much better than coming from the Bega direction.

 

 

Above is the avenue of flags in the town centre

 

Cooma is only a small town of around 8000 but does have the majors as far as food shopping goes and from memory it now has an Aldi & McDonalds; ahhh, the joys of progress.

 

 

CANBERRA

 

What a great place to visit; so much to see and most of the places are free. All the roads around the capital are great and it is well sign posted, you can tell the politicians work and spend a lot of time here.

 

We stayed at the Canberra Motor Village which is situated 4km on the north side of Canberra, nice and handy to get to everything; the park has a pool, tennis court, barbeques etc but be aware there is no dump point here. There are 2 amenities blocks (quite good and always one open); all the sites are drive through so easy in and out although if you have a big rig you still need to unhook even if only staying one night (we stayed a week). No weekly discount here either, the flat rate was $32; the standard response if you ask for a weekly rate is “we maintain a low nightly rate as it is, this way it is fair for all that stay here” (in other words if you don't like it shove off).

 

 

All the sites are drive through; no grass just slab and stones also the slabs are narrow, putting your sullage out on some sites is a problem as the drain you go into is elevated so your waste water can take a while to drain.

 

 

This is one of the few payable attractions “Cockington Green” but well worth the money as it is a display of miniature buildings and gardens from around the world. There is a picnic area, free gas BBQ's and a miniature steam train (pay) for the mum, dad & the kids. There is a realistic old English pub just next door if you fancy a pint afterwards (or before).

 

 

The miniature house above is the same as the house you enter to go in the park; everything is set out well and you can spend a good few hours looking at all the displays.

 

 

I found this miniature person catching up with the local animals.

 

 

The Glasswork's is also worth a visit and it is situated right next to the old bus depot markets so kill 2 birds with one stone. Watching these guys is free but you can pay and make your own small glass bauble if you like; Items produced by the artists are for sale but you will need a fair bit of cash or a credit card.

 

 

The National Museum is another freebee and hours can be spent here as well; above is the heart of Phar Lap which is on display in the complex.

 

 

Who can go to Canberra and not go to Parliament House; this is free and it's good to see where all the bullshit from the politicians comes from. the above is the top of the building.

 

 

Above is where they all normally sit arguing on sitting days; it is being turned into a function room as the Queen was in Canberra whilst we were in town.

 

 

Another freebee above is the Royal Australian Mint; this is another must see. Once upstairs the hallway takes you past glass windowed rooms which show all the processes. There is a cafe and souvenir shop where coins etc can be purchased.

 

 

The above is the Telstra tower at the top of Black Mountain; this is about a $3 charge to get the lift up to the top of the tower itself, the viewing deck is 360 degrees through glass or rails and is quite spectacular.

 

 

The view above is from the tower and is really worth the visit as you will get some fantastic photos from here.

 

 

Above is the front of the War Memorial and if you are very interested in the history you can spend 2 or 3 days seeing all the displays.

 

 

The Unknown Soldier

 

 

The wall of remembrance

 

 

One of the many exhibits in the War Memorial

 

 

There are quite a few of the war scenes from different years displayed in miniature; the whole place is full of history and in looking at the displays and some of the short films shown is quite moving. It is hard to comprehend what these people went through and how barbaric it really was; it certainly brings a tear to the eye.

 

Well another blog post bites the dust; tomorrow is a new day and I will start on the next one. I am determined to get this up to date; another 2 posts should get me there and get us to where we currently are and in case your wondering we are in Katherine, which is 300km south of Darwin.

 

Once again our love and warmest regards to all and hope to catch you on the road somewhere soon.

 

David & Linda –  The DavLin Rig

Seymour - Frankston - Lakes Entrance

Back in to it and hoping to get in and out of Melbourne with this post so I will try not to dribble on and make it brief (if I can).

SEYMOUR

Last stop before we headed into Melbourne proper; we stayed at Seymour for 4 nights as we wanted a bit of a longer break from driving and also we wanted to head to Frankston on a Sunday to avoid the Melbourne traffic.

 

We stayed at the Goulburn River Tourist Park (Top Tourist) which was out of town by about 4km. The park has a great outlook and is well maintained and it is situated on the banks of the river. The park has about 80 powered and 30 un-powered sites; there is some kids play equipment and a jumping pillow but no pool. The amenities (2 blocks) were clean and quite good so no complaints my end; price off peak was $28 per night, they may do a weekly rate but I did not check, price was pretty good given the location and outlook.

 

There are a few attractions around Seymour such as the Avenal Maze, Puckapunyal Tank Museum, Lavender Garden & Miniature Railway; for the wine tasters there are 4 local wineries.

 

 

 

The park entrance; the river is to the left of the photo.

 

 

Our site; they did have some slab sites but they were mostly under trees and given the cool climate we opted for a grass site that had sun (when it was out) and a bit more room.

 

 

Would highly recommend a trip to Puckapunyal army base; getting in through the gatehouse (photo ID required) is free and you are issued a temporary pass and directions to the museum within the base, it is an experience just driving within the grounds. From memory it was about $10 each at the museum but well worth the money and it goes to the upkeep of the place.

 

 

After getting hopelessly lost just from parking the car to finding our way into the museum I ended up in a sergeants mess and accommodation area where I was duly escorted out a side gate and pointed in the direction of the museum building. Lin decided a photo of sergeant Dave with pucka pass attached was the order of the day.

 

 

Linda inside a gun turret; if only I could put a lid on it!!!

 

FRANKSTON

 

Headed in to Frankston (bayside area in Melbourne), keep in mind this was late September early October; we had several things in mind in coming to Melbourne, they were catching up with family and friends, being around Melbourne during grand final week and going over to Tassie (the latter did not eventuate).

 

We did not want to book us and the van onto the Spirit of Tasmania ship in advance as we did not know our exact plans or even when we would arrive in Melbourne. On ringing the booking office 2 weeks before we wanted to go we were told that the earliest date we could travel was the first week in December; this was no good for us as we wanted to be back in Melbourne Mid Dec. Although there is hardly anyone travelling to Tasmania for holidays at this time I forgot about all the Tasmanian's that had been on holiday on the mainland going home (lesson learnt). We will do this trip at a later date and will be wiser but after speaking with several Tassie adventurers the best time to over is Jan, Feb & March.

 

We did stay at a caravan park in Frankston but not much to blog as it was more a permanent park with about 20 casual/tourist sites. If ever you saw the news about the scammers from overseas flogging bitumen driveways cheap and not doing the work they were staying in the same park as us, it was on the news about 2 weeks after we left the park.

 

 

Frankston beach; not the best weather whilst we were down south but must admit it would be a great place in summer.

 

 

As you can see it was one of those bright sunny days with a light balmy breeze blowing; the beach was packed with holiday makers making the best of this glorious day in tropicana. Also if you look closely in the top right of the photo you will see the pigs flying. It was brass monkey weather; the people in the background were collected shortly after this photo was taken by the “loony bin” bus.

 

 

Had to take a photo of this magnificent automobile spotted in a car park; seems the bonnet catch is broken, only my summarisation given the amount of packing tape used to hold it on (roadworthy; what roadworthy!!!!).

 

 

Above: Linda with Auntie Sheila & Uncle Tony that live in Seaford; both are very fit and active and it was great to catch up. Sheila certainly keeps Tony on his toes.

 

 

Great friends of ours Gaz & Mauz who we spent a fair bit of time with whilst in Melbourne; the girls did all the craft and cooking whilst the boys did all the computer stuff and bullshitting. Had a great time guys and can't wait till your back on the road again.

 

 

Ran in to these two old birds at a pub in Melbourne; just shows what a chick magnet I am.

 

Lynn (left) and Helen are work mates from a previous life (Tyco and beyond) that we have known for quite some years. Thanks for lunch and all the reminiscing, it was great to catch up and hope we can do it again; my shout next time (if your lucky).

 

 

Not my idea of a good time but given Linda supports Collingwood off we went to the grand final parade held in the city centre. It actually was a great day and if you have not been to this do so if you get the chance as the atmosphere is electric.

 

 

Above: Mick Malthouse, the then Collingwood coach; the parade runs the whole length of Swanston Street.

 

 

Part of the Collingwood/Geelong crowd at Federation Square.

 

 

Clydsdales in the parade.

 

 

Linda's favourite part of any parade is the Scottish pipers and they put on quite a show

 

LAKES ENTRANCE

After leaving Melbourne we headed to Lakes Entrance; not able to tell you much about this part of the world as we were only here 2 nights and it pissed rain and was freezing cold so never got to look around.

 

We stayed at Eastern Beach Holiday Park which is only 200mt from the beach; the park has a huge fully equipped camp kitchen, swimming pool and the dreaded jumping pillow and a 3/4 acre playground (noise pit). The amenities look to have been refurbished and are very good. The price for powered sites in off peak is $30 per night or $180 for the week (7^th night free); if the weather is good the rate is well worth paying for the location.

 

 

Our site; no slab but they have these eco mats which are a screen type mesh and do work quite well in keeping the rain and muck out.

 

 

Be careful if using truck stops; we pulled in to this one and we were followed shortly after by 4 long low loaders with demountable buildings; I am sure they got a giggle as I had to reverse back a fair way with the van and then exit out the entry, they had the whole bay blocked off.

 

Okay I am getting closer so will be setting out the next post to have up in a few more days (I hope).

 

Love to all our family and friends; keep well and to those that are, safe travelling.

 

David & Linda –  The DavLin Rig