my travels in pixels

Who knew that when we bought our preloved off road camper that it would come with Camping Rallies? Owners of Australian Off Road campers/hybrids get together every few months in the warmer months at different places around the country. Initially 95 people said they were coming to the one in the Victorian High Country, in the end 75 campers came, with most cars having two people. Surprisingly there were a number of single women driving their 4WD's and hybrids - good luck to them, I don't think I would do it. A hybrid is the camper you have when you really want a caravan, or is it the caravan comforts but you like cooking and sitting outside. They have some good positives like lots of light if you need to sit inside. There were only two of us with the hard floor camper, everyone else had hybrids. A couple from New Zealand have a camper in NZ and a hybrid in Australia and split their time between the two countries. We were camped at Fry's Flat just out of Mansfield which is ...

Fraser Island, Australia Our first sunrise, you don't get sunsets on this side of the island K'Gari (aboriginal name), otherwise known as Fraser Island is an adventure – you aren’t quite sure what to expect and you feel a little bit anxious. It’s one of those places that you need to get some advice before you go and watching a few You Tube clips helps as well. You see, its a sand island that has formed from sand washed up from New South Wales. There are no "roads" - it's main highway is the beach and the inland tracks have a maximum speed of 30kph. Then there are the tides to contend with, muck your timing up and you could get washed out to sea, drive too fast and you could do some damage to your vehicle when a hidden deep washaway reveals itself. We needed to get some information about this place before we went there. We called into Gympie information centre to see if they have any brochures on Fraser Island and find one that is very helpful. It has a det...

We arrived just after 10am on a weekday during school holidays and the carpark was already half full and by the time we came out it was overflowing up the road. We spent two hours there walking the circuit, taking photos and ate lunch in the picnic area. It started off cool walking through the rainforest and the tracks started to get a bit muddy the closer you get to the bottom of the waterfall. Someone said they saw koalas in the trees down there but we couldn't find them.  After taking a detour to the main water pool, we went back to the main track so that we did the circuit anti clockwise, it means that you don't have to come up the steps. By the time you get back to the carpark though you will be quite hot, even on a cold day as it's uphill all the way!  Couldn't believe the people walking in thongs, white sneakers and one woman had on ballet shoes (flats) - you will need hiking boots that you don't mind getting mud on ...

Melbourne Australia Mt Martha bathing boxes on the Mornington Peninsula It’s a cold windy day in Melbourne as I look through some of the photos from the last few years, trying to decide which ones I will print and put on the walls. Dromana Pier during the day Our tenants in our rental unit had left in October after four years and the place had started to look a bit drab. Our agent had tried to re rent it but it soon became clear that without some updates it was going to remain empty. With quotes of $4k for carpet, $4k for blinds and $4k for painting we decided it might be a good opportunity to go home and do the work ourselves. It was too late to cancel our accommodation in Puerto Vallarta in January and February so we still went there, but I did manage to get United to change our tickets from South America to Melbourne, even though it meant we were actually making two flight out of LAX, instead of one being a return flight which is normally a no no. Dromana Pier at...