ExplorOz Podcast: Australian Overland Adventures and Mapping

Sydney to Tasmania Featuring the EOTopo 2024 Launch!

• ExplorOz • Season 1 • Episode 12

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 47:47

We were never really one's to travel to a strict plan. From Sydney’s festivities to an unexpected flight home to family in Perth. This twist in our tale sees Michelle jetting off to tend to our eldest, leaving David to tackle the EO Topo 2024 map set preparations and release. But our adventure doesn't stall there; we're pivoting like the travel pros we are, to keep our Tasmania trip alive, proving that even the best-laid plans need a little flexibility.

What's the gritty reality of behind our perfect Instagram road trip shots? Well, tune in and listen up, because we're going behind the scenes. From the lush Royal National Park to the challenging Enrick River terrain, we share the a peek into our journey, complete with trailer brake issues and toll-dodging escapades through Sydney's backstreets. 

Finally, as we board the Spirit of Tasmania, we're sailing into a new chapter. Stay tuned for tales from Tasmania and get the inside scoop on the EO Topo 2024 as we share our mapping release and details. Grab a cuppa, find a cosy spot, and let's hit the road together in this episode of twists, turns, and tales from our Lap of Oz.

Adjusting Plans for Tasmania Trip

Speaker 1

Welcome back everybody. Episode 12, I think, of the podcast series. So when last we spoke to you we had just arrived in Sydney and, you know, after a week or 10 or 11 days of travelling across the Nullarbor and South Australia, victoria and New South Wales, and we were there for Christmas. So we arrived a couple of days early. One of our kids had flown over and we met him at the airport following day after we arrived in Sydney and things were travelling along reasonably well. We had a nice Christmas, as you do with family, and then our child went home as well. We only had one of them come over, the younger one, because the old one was going and doing some concerts and some functions and parties and stuff. And then, you know, a couple of days moved along and we got a phone call, a disturbing phone call, from Perth and we had a bit of an issue and our eldest had a bit of a drama, and so it happened that kind of passed that we decided that it was best for Michelle to head home. So Michelle headed home for what was going to be a few days. It was really an unsure period of time how long she was going to be heading home for. But you know, she went home for a few days and what I started to do was think about possibly generating the EO Topo 2024 map set. So it takes a good couple of weeks to do the processing of the data and bits and pieces. Obviously we collect data and we do work all throughout the year, but it does take a good couple of weeks to sit down and actually put it together and run all the processes and programs and do the road conflation and data integration and the bits and pieces that make one of our map sets. So I thought I'd have a look at starting to do that, because we hadn't really come up with a schedule of when we're going to release the 2024 or even whether we were going to release the 2024. We weren't really sure. We had come off years and years of doing bi-annually releases and then it was just this time that we decided we should do a. We're starting to move down the fact of doing one to two releases a year, so it was a good time to start. If Michelle was away for a week or so, I could at least get a start and see where we're up to. As it actually happened, michelle was gone for 15 days before she came back and so during that 15 days I did manage to do the whole EO Topo 2024 update map set.

Speaker 1

As we said in the podcast before, we were trying to incorporate a lot of road updates in Northern Queensland and stuff. We obviously couldn't get there. We just didn't have the time and when we discussed how we came across the bottom and just shot across the Nullivore again, there wasn't a huge amount of updates that we needed to do through there. However, we did do a fair few, found a few new roads and bits and pieces, as we always do, so all of those sorts of things were rolled up into that update. Obviously, I was updating all of the main data, so one of the jobs is to go and collect NAVTITL register and ABS data and various bits and pieces. There's data that's collected from all over the place that goes into the base map data that builds up the EO Topo map set along with all of our data that we've been collecting and keeping for years, and within that two week period just so happened that, luckily, the day Michelle flew back was the day that I released the app update that was going to include the 2024 release product. We had a few dramas for the next few days, as we always do after an app and a map update, but really that all went through fairly seamlessly.

Speaker 1

Obviously, during this time we were planning to be in Tasmania. We had to adjust our spirit of Tasmania bookings. We were planning to come down to Tasmania. What was the date? We were originally on the 15th, so obviously it was Michelle flying out. What day did you fly out, about 27th, 28th or something? I can't remember.

Speaker 2

It was a few days after Christmas, no, so we actually got the phone call on the 1st of January. Oh, it was 1st of January so the year started off pretty poorly and it was on the phone to the hospital for a couple of days and then, when I realised I had to go, that was the 4th, so I flew over on the 4th.

Speaker 1

Okay, thank you for fixing my dates. I'm not a good date collector, nor am I a good name-rememberer, nor am I a great place name-rememberer, but anyway. So yeah, michelle headed over on the 4th and, as I say, I was gone for 16 days, so that came back on the 20th. So obviously we're going to miss our original sailing date for Spirit of Tasmania. So we were a bit concerned about being able to shift that booking and we spent a bit of time stuffing around with it. We rang and we spoke to them and they seemed to be able to find dates, no problem. They told us that we could save on the cancellation fee or the transfer fee if we did it online ourselves. And then Michelle was able to work it out and we were able to pick a couple of new dates back and forth between us as to the best dates to come over.

Speaker 2

The key was to try and still keep a six-week trip here in Tasmania. So that's what I was aiming towards and originally I wanted to make sure that we still did get some summer while we're in Tasmania, Because the original trip was to arrive here early January and to leave in early March and part of that trip plan was to give us a couple of weeks to actually drive between Sydney and Geelong and explore that section. So by adjusting our dates we were really able to cut out a long tour between Sydney and Victoria and we cut that down to three very short days. So we made up some time there and still managed to get our booking to Tasmania on the 27th of January. So that's how we've had to adjust that. And look, the mainland can wait, we can always come back, but Tasmania, it's quite expensive to come here.

Speaker 2

When you're towing You've got two vehicles, your height, your length, your measurements all part of the booking availability. So one of the keys with your booking of Spirit of Tasmania is if you can stay under the tube or at the 2.1 height or under. Much more spots are available and we are able to do that with our Land Cruiser. We don't have much on the roof rack. We do have the roof rack and we have two small bags that have the standard paddle boards on it and the Max Tracks and a couple of other little pieces.

Speaker 1

The standups are on the ultimate.

Speaker 2

And on the camper trailer, the ultimate connected to the vehicle is under 10 meters, and so that's so every four meters we just have to take the bikes off.

Speaker 2

There's a different price range and availability. So, staying under 10 meters, under 2.1 height, we had no problem in adjusting our bookings and in getting the booking in the first place. I only booked that about a month before we left, so in December. I booked it in November. So a lot of people are clear on that one. I know that means full size caravans, which a lot of people have. It's a lot harder so, yeah, booking out a lot earlier. But I think once you've got a booking, it's not too hard to change your date. So have a policy of a three hour time change. By that I mean you can actually change and amend your booking from three hours before departure, which is incredible. But what that means is this changes all the time coming up in the booking system, so you just need to keep looking. If you look one day and it looks like there's no availability, just look the next day, because people are changing their booking so frequently.

Speaker 1

Yeah, so that all happened while I was staying at the in-laws house and that was good to be able to get those adjustments made to the booking. It took a bit of pressure off and we could still maintain the six weeks. And yeah, as Michelle just explained, you know, I think, even though now we're out, we are actually shooting this from Tasmania. Now that we're actually here, I'm fairly comfortable or confident that if we decide to stay a bit longer, that won't necessarily be a problem. We should be able to shift that as well.

Speaker 1

So yeah she's happy about that. We'll just have to see. It's pretty nice down here. But back to Sydney, because we we hadn't actually left yet and then obviously so Michelle had come back. We just released the 2024 product map set. We've had to do some, some shopping, as you do, you know, spending lots of at the shops. How on earth you can spend three or four or $500 loading up groceries into a car and a camper trailer is beyond me, but we seem to be able to do it quite easily and we can sort of pack a lot of stuff in. Then we had to obviously get ourselves to Geelong, and our original plan and, as you've heard from us before, planning is a thing that happens on the fly most of the time, but our original planning again which changed every time we do make a plan it does seem to change was to spend about a week and a bit travelling between Sydney and Geelong, touring around in the high country.

Speaker 1

Some parts of the alpine we wanted to do down through Woollengong and Helensberg and some of those the sea cliffs, the sea cliff bridge and things like that on the way down. So we thought can we condense this and still get down with doing something a bit better than just touring down the Hume Highway in two or three days?

Speaker 2

No one wants to go down the Hume Highway. No one wants to go down the Hume.

Speaker 1

Highway if you can avoid it, unless you have to, unless you're in a hurry. And whilst we were still in a bit of a hurry, what we pulled out on the Friday from your folks house? No, the Thursday, with a sailing date of Saturday night at 11 o'clock. So we had Thursday, friday and Saturday to get to the boat. We had sort of three nights or two nights or three nights, and we had to be there. So we decided that we'd still have a crack at going down the sea cliffs and Woollengong way and going through the state forest. What was it? The Royal National?

Speaker 2

Park. The Royal National Park first. The Royal National Park first. I can't believe I grew up in Sydney for 30 years and I never actually went there.

Speaker 1

Oh, actually, talking about growing up in Sydney, you're never actually going anywhere. Whilst we were staying at North Taramara in the Taramara areas and Ives with the in-laws, we went cycling and did quite a few mountain biking treks and some hiking and stuff all through the national parks and.

Road Trip Adventures and Challenges

Speaker 1

Karangai National Park and areas up there and it's such a lovely place. If you do live in Sydney and you're anywhere near the northern beaches, there's some really nice mountain biking and trekking and stuff in that area. You don't have to go very far and, having lived in Sydney all my life originally before we moved to Perth of course- life before children.

Speaker 1

there's all these areas around Duffy's Forest and Terry Hills and there's all these new walks to Middle Harbour from Bellrose and all around the foreshore. You can actually walk from Bondi to Manley now, which is a humongous distance and a huge wall. You're not going to do that all in one day, but there are walk paths and things that have appeared around the city that didn't used to be there. There's some fantastic hiking and trekking and mountain biking still to be done.

Speaker 1

As I say, places in those areas that I'd never been, and I spent a few years living in Bellrose and then, just over the hill from where I was, there was these fantastic mountain biking and walk trails that I didn't even know existed. So it's always worth having a look, and I tell you, all these walk tracks and trails are all on Explorer, os Traveler, and that's how some of them are found. So make sure you open up the app and have a look, even if you're at your local home, and you may find something that you didn't even know existed, like we have on several occasions looking at the bike tracks and walk tracks nearest. So, yeah, we went down to the Royal National Park first and that was gorgeous drive.

Speaker 2

Just going through there I had no idea the drive was so beautiful. The road is just fringe with massive towering trees that connect to Canopy as you drive through and then you pop out at Stanwell Topps, which most people are aware. That's a popular place for the hang gliders to go off the cliff and there's nice views there. I can't believe it was all commercialised now and there's a cafe and they make it hard for you to pull over if you've got a caravan or something. But we did manage to find a spot by the road. There was a little slot for one or two people.

Speaker 1

There's about three bus bays or something yeah. And that's where you've got to go if you're towing something.

Speaker 2

And I don't know if anyone's noticed, but there's a plaque to a guy who lost his life hang gliding off that cliff there. So I have a look for that one. But driving through that area, the point, as David mentioned earlier, was to be able to go over the sea cliff bridge and if you're like anyone, you see these pictures on Instagram and it looks gorgeous. It does from the sky, but I don't know how people manage to get some of that footage. There must have been ages trying to set up your drone. Drive across. Be good enough driver that you're not going to lose your drone over the cliff at the edge. We didn't, we just drove across. So my view of going off the sea cliff bridge is just a road and a barrier. It was okay. We got the footage.

Speaker 1

There was something that we wanted to do anyway, and going through the National Park was great, and it's not a fast drive, it's not somewhere where you want to go when you're trying to get somewhere in a hurry like we were, whilst we say we were in a hurry, we didn't leave first thing in the morning and we didn't get through Sydney in the most efficient manner.

Speaker 2

That's what I thought you were going to talk about. We took a wrong turn literally straight out of my suburb. We didn't have the tracking on or anything and David turns right and I wasn't paying attention. I was probably still on my phone or something we should have turned left.

Speaker 1

That was the first one.

Speaker 2

We were going all the wrong way on difficult roads to turn around, so we just adjusted our navigation plan and we ended up because we're trying to get to the other side of Sydney, to get onto the Royal National Park, and that wasn't the easiest place to navigate. Just by the seat of your parents I did have the navigator telling us which way to go.

Speaker 1

We're also avoiding the tolls.

Speaker 2

In the app you can adjust your height, weight, length, measurement and also avoid tolls. We had all that in In the end. David really loved the plan we came up with because it was going through roads where he used to work his first job in 1986 or something or other, and it had all changed.

Speaker 2

There are roads that you wouldn't normally go on you would avoid in Sydney as your main route if you had to. It was probably 10 o'clock in the morning, weekdays and school holidays. Road traffic was actually quite fine. It was just that we were on these narrow roads in Sydney that were once too late, that they've now squeezed in a third lane without making any adjustments. Yeah, we were on.

Speaker 1

Parramatta Road and we were going through Summerhill and Ashfield. We went all the way to Camperdown and we had a tour through Sydney that was probably completely unnecessary, driving down all the little back streets around the back of the airport to try and pop out onto the Pacific Highway, or Princess?

Speaker 2

Highway, princess Highway, yeah.

Speaker 1

At the right spot so that we could get into the National Park. Wow, what a journey with the trailer and everything else going on. It was an eye-opening experience and it does really show how.

Speaker 2

Yeah, frost Country, bumpkins from Perth.

Speaker 1

Yeah, it also showed how much they'd really closed in a lot of the streets. For me the roads are so narrow and it's because they've kind of jammed more lanes in, wiping out small parking areas and making it a lane. It was quite tight, it was quite interesting. But it was good to go back to all these old horns and all these old places where I used to hang out, even going to boarding school at Summerhill, so I knew that area pretty well.

Speaker 1

But yeah so Sydney was Getting out of Sydney was the first challenge. The National Park, or the Nashow, I've heard it called, was quite a great drive, a bit of a slower trip.

Speaker 2

But we still didn't actually know where we were going.

Speaker 1

No, we had no idea where we were going to camp. We just thought let's head this way, and one of the plans was to head towards Braidwood. So we only had Braidwood as sort of a target and trying to work out how we were going to get there. The navigator and the routing plans took us a decent way. We got onto the Princess Highway just near Woollongong and then we travelled on the highway for a bit. But where did we stay that day? Was that the bridge day?

Speaker 2

That was that beautiful Endrick River Crossing.

Speaker 2

Yeah, the Endrick River Crossing, but that whole area as we came through there, coming down the mountain, it was just spectacular and we'd seen a few markers on the map as possibilities. There's some lookouts and there's a lot of state forests and there was tracks left and right, left and right the whole way, and a few waterfalls. But it was getting quite late for us. We weren't really sure what to expect at any of these places, so we were just driving slowly and we eventually came to this Endrick River Crossing, one that was a free camp right down below our bridge and the whole area had been spectacular. And when we got there it wasn't the easiest spot to get into because we wanted to get right on the river crossing, and how it works is that it is. You come in on a dirt track, you go past a big grassy field where I guess, if you've got a long van or you just want an easy Stop, you can pull over there.

Speaker 2

But we could see this dirt grassy feeling on all the one on the right hand side when you come in. Anyway, we came in on this track field.

Speaker 1

It was only a teeny weenie. There's a little bit of dirt, no, the road down the hill.

Speaker 2

No, I. Further up the front, when you pull in off the main road, up where the bridge was, there's that whole area that originally I've fixed. Originally that's what I thought what the rest area was. And then we saw the track, followed the track around and there is a little, one tiny little spot for a car, but you couldn't see the river. And then we saw a track going down a ruttered hill, only Only what 50 meters. And then there's this beautiful causeway causeway. Yeah, so the causeway used to be a road that went across the river and it's obviously been long gone, washed out. Then you can see some pillars of an old bridge which are later found out had been built in the early 1800s, and then the modern bridge which is above that a big concrete highway is the spanning bridge. So you do get a little bit of road noise there, not much, and it's pretty much a back road anyway.

Speaker 1

But it was a pretty speccy campsite it's. It's been posted on our socials and so you can check out that it's endrick river, end RICK river and it's on the braidwood road. Don't all go there, because it won't be as nice if it's full of people but. We remember where the biggest problem the biggest thing for us, you know, because we pulled in there pretty late. The weather was looking a bit dubious, like it was like it, a rain. We'd just come out of heaps of rains.

Speaker 2

We've seen rains everywhere.

Speaker 1

It was really really hot. When we got down there and just setting up camp, we're sweating. It was so humid. It didn't seem like it was gonna. We were wondering how many mozzies and how bad it was gonna be. But once we'd set up camp and we'd got it all sorted, we were camped on the causeway and literally that was only I don't know three inches above the waterline, and Then it started to bucket down with rain. And you know, we're on a river Some way down the river. The river is flowing. It had a reasonable flow already and it's pouring and and and.

Speaker 1

Whilst that was, whilst that was wonderful and a great thing, we had no idea how much catchment area that that river had for the rain coming down. We had no idea how much rain we were having, because just in that one spot we were out of service. If we climbed up the hill we would get service. And so the decision was made we actually hadn't even turned on our starling subscription, because I basically held it, chancellor, that, while we're in Sydney, because I knew we're gonna be there for a bit longer, and so I thought, oh, we'd better go and double check what the weather is doing. So it was dark, it was like six or seven o'clock and we thought I better go and drive up the hill To turn on the satellite, to turn on the starling if we wanted it, and also just to pick up the weather. So pick up a weather feed on the BOEM app and see where what the rain was really doing is.

Speaker 1

So we did that. We drove up the hill. Was wasn't very far that we had to drive, but we drove up the hill, picked up the weather. It said that the rain was gonna stop, so that gave us a little bit of confidence. We drove back down the hill to notice that our camper basically had water running under it, not a huge amount, but it was running off the sides of the of the causeway and running basically under the camper. It was not of huge concern but it, you know, the river had risen probably an inch. As I said, we were two or three inches away from the water level. That had risen about an inch and water was coming across From the hillside down and across the causeway. But you know, we, we made it, we made a judgment call and we decided that we should be okay, but just to be double safe, one of the things we did do when we bought the car back, and these are things to think about when you, when you in areas when you're a bit worried was we actually backed the trailer down so that the so we backed the

Speaker 1

car down so that the Hitch for the camper was directly Lined up. So the camp was already wound up a bit higher than the than the Hitch receiver on the car was, and so we backed the car down so that so, basically, the top of the hitch was sitting right underneath the ball, or in our case, the da35 Pin was sitting right underneath the hole. So if we did have a problem, it was the car was already in the right place to hook up the camper, uh, to pull it, to pull it out of it, out of the way. So that was just something that you know, think about those sorts of things if you're in a possibly dubious situation as to how you're going to get out as quick as possible. So we did that. And then, wow, we took some great photos, some great footage. We swam there. It was a wonderful little spot, a nice place to camp if you're in that area.

Speaker 2

So, um, yeah, I suggest you have a look at that the risk assessment of that was because as soon as the rain stopped, it literally all drained away and we'll back to the concrete base of the causeway again and, having checked the weather and you know more whether it was coming through and we could see the way the clouds were coming through, um, we could see that it wasn't going to be a place. It was going to be inundated quickly.

Road Trip Through Enric River

Speaker 1

It was draining quite well and it did, pour again in the middle of the night just to keep us on our toes.

Speaker 2

We did set up some um measuring sticks and things to make sure. Okay, it gets to this point, we're leaving. If it gets to this point, we're done. Yeah, and you know we're completely safe and in the morning we were rewarded with the most beautiful mist coming up. And have a Look at some of the photos, um on our instagram account or our facebook, if you're following um, because some of these special places we do share there and, of course, you can find them all in the app as places.

Speaker 1

So then, so after that great camp, you know, we got up and we pulled out, and that was our very first time of packing up a wet canter, because obviously we'd had three or four spouts of decent rain, um, overnight, and Everything was soaking wet and we'd never the new, the new ultimate had never been in the rain.

Speaker 1

It was its first experience. So it was our first experience packing it up wet and hoping that it was all going to come out okay At the other end. And we didn't know, and obviously until we set up camp the next night which was just out of shoulders or something, is that what? Chilton, chilton, chilton, um, but any. So after we'd left um Enric river, we did braid wood and then we were thinking about how we were going to Get across from there, because you know, really, we could go down into Victoria and follow the coast road. Well, most of the navigation plans that we were asking out around about the Bradwood area was taking us back towards Gulburn and then coming down the Hume Highway, which we didn't want to do that.

Speaker 1

So we made it. We made an executive decision that we'd force the auto routers to go the way that we wanted, by driving to Kuma, knowing the Kuma was sort of a stepping point of going over the Alpine way or going around the bottom and still going towards Victoria. There's main roads going in both of those directions. You go west or south from there and so we made the drive Down into Kuma. That was fairly. We went through. What was that? That mountainous area that we went through? Was that Dewa?

Speaker 2

Yeah, as we went past the Dewa National Park.

Speaker 2

Yeah that was amazing. There'd been fires through there. Obviously, people who live in Overeast would know about it, but for us that we'd only heard about your stories and when we actually saw, the extent of damage was incredible. So tons and tons of dead wood Made for beautiful photography. So, poor David, I kept stopping lots of Wombats, lots wildlife. But we knew that you can't go into the campgrounds at the Dewa, otherwise we would have come across actually to the road from there. I wanted to come across from east to west at that point, so we had a look through there, yeah, and then driving to Kuma.

Speaker 1

Dewa was a good drive, it was it was, it was gorgeous, it was very nice. Yeah, we had a good time in there. We saw a lot of the tracks and a lot of the tracks that we've got published going off to the left and right and things like that. As we're driving through going.

Speaker 2

I wish we had time, wish we could, but Seeing places where I only know the name of them and can't visualize it new Morella and all of that.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, it was like where are these places? And now we're, now we've got an idea. And then, yeah, we headed into Kuma. And what was that? That must have been. Was that Saturday? It must have been.

Speaker 2

Would this the next day? It's day two, that has to have been Friday, well they had that big fair on.

Speaker 1

You know, they had the street fair and a whole lot of other stuff going on in Kuma.

Speaker 1

They had a big market thing going on in the middle of town and car show and a whole lot of other stuff. We spent a little bit of time there grab some fuel and groceries and punched in the auto router and said which way? And it gave us two ways two ways across the Alpine ways, which was one way through thread bow and the other way through Tumor and so towards to me anyway I don't know we got to know.

Speaker 2

So we went to Adam in a beer and then we turned up, and then Said you were the one with a note and then across, all the way across to curion. Well, that's a long way, but that was the most spectacular drive. All the mountain ash had been burnt through the fires and was just astounding and going Through these twisty, turny, windy roads.

Speaker 1

Yeah, yeah, and it was a bit hard going on the car, but the snowy mountains highway up from from basically from Adam, in a be up into the hills. You know was fantastic. Yeah, kaianda was the little place at the top of the hill where you turn down on this link road so we turned on to this link road which took us and and link road is a road. It's only open if it doesn't yeah and only some.

Speaker 2

No. No, it's closed all through the summer ski season because it goes, yeah, only open in the summer. So it was perfect timing for us to take that route across the mountain.

Speaker 1

Well, it takes you up to Mount Selwyn. So it's obviously not closed from in that bit but the bit past that. And so we saw things like three-mile dam and you know the hills and the, the ups and the downs and the tumour to power station and things like that. We saw all of that one. But there was it. There was a few issues for us going through there and Another few lessons learned.

Speaker 1

I had just replaced the brakes before we left birth on the Land Cruiser and I'd been having suspicions or Issues with the trailer brakes a little bit. I wasn't able to get the trailer brakes set up a hundred percent exactly the way I like it, and you know whether that's that's all just adjustment or playing around new camper, trailer, different brakes set up. It's taking a bit of time to get used to. Anyway, we're coming around all these hills and anyone that's driven up through their link road and all those roads. It's really bloody hilly right and it's steep down hills and decent up hills and so I'm coming down. You know a fair bit on the brakes. I mean I'm using engine braking, putting it down in a second in the automatic, you know, which does a certain amount, but the car seems to have a rev range. It'll take it up to, you know, too fast, even in second gear, going downhill, and I'm starting to hear this noise as we're going past some of the some of the rock cliffs on the side.

Speaker 1

You know you drive past these things and I hear this and and had no idea really what it was. I suspected that it was going to be the brakes, and so I was a bit suspicious about that. But you know, going down some of these roads there's nowhere to pull over, mind you, there was no traffic. I probably could have just stopped in the middle of the road, but that's just not something I want to do on one of these Little tight, turny roads with cars that may or may not come at you. So we found a spot to pull over and, wow, the car brakes were smoking hot. They were really hot. The noise was coming from the brakes.

Speaker 1

I can't exactly recall what part it's, thank you. I can't exactly recall what part of it was, but I realized that I didn't have enough trailer brake turned on. The trailer brakes were cold, it like hadn't done anything, and so the cars trying to pull up the camper and the and the and the car, and, yeah, it just got super hot. So I spent a bit of time dialing in the right Brake settings. I found that if I put my particular controller into boost one, which Increases the brake capacity for the same amount of foot pressure. I was able to get braking happening and and that made a huge difference.

Speaker 1

So again something, another lesson learned. It always happens when you're kind of in a bit of a hurry and you're trying to get through somewhere and, as Michelle said, she wanted To stop for photos everywhere, which which is great and lovely and all, but when you are on a bit of a timeline, it sort of adds a bit of pressure into your head and then to start charging down these hills and Jumping on the brakes and get the car or hot and bothered.

Speaker 1

You know you, you've got to start thinking about it. It was really steep. It was a lovely drive. We went through all of that area and when do we pop out? We popped out at Cancoban. We just miss Cancoban. I think we zoomed around Cancoban, yeah, and then we had it across to the To Aubrey. Did we go into all?

Speaker 2

but we did know below would don't go. So it was the Australia Day weekend, so this was the Friday still, you see, and we were a bit nervous about where we were going to get to camp.

Speaker 2

Yeah do you remember? And there's a lot of so many beautiful camps all through. The snow is there. That's just spectacular and it's a shame we didn't have the time. There's a lot of nice huts, a lot of walking tracks and we could see people really enjoying themselves and the weather was absolutely Gorgeous. But we knew we needed to keep traveling on and I had a plan that if we got down to Aubrey Wodonga area we would be able to find some camps along the riverfront, of course, on Australia Day, who else?

Speaker 2

wouldn't want to do that, I wonder. That's right, it was I'm telling David yes, just keep going. I can see all these mountains.

Speaker 1

The reason why there was a show in Cooma was on the Friday was. That was the 25th, it was Australia Day.

Speaker 2

Australia Day right.

Speaker 1

So so this is Saturday the 26th and yeah, we went past all these great campsites on the Murray, because where we appeared on the Murray, where was that? Was that in Tintildara or whatever it's called, I don't know whatever it's called. We appeared on the Murray quite long. We traveled along it for a while. Here we go, and, yeah, there was a heap of campsites we went past, but they were all just a little bit time short. You know it was lunchtime, you know one o'clock in the afternoon, two o'clock in the afternoon. It didn't actually, you know, make a huge amount of sense for us to have stopped at that point in time.

Speaker 2

Well, come on tell the truth, it was full of jet skiers and young people. Some of them set up along the river.

Speaker 1

Tallengatta and all of that area. It was full. Those camps that was, the earlier ones, were okay. It was time limited. By the time we got further to the three and four or four o'clock time frame we were around Tallengatta and all of that area and, yeah, those camps were Chocoblock pool.

Speaker 2

There was jet skiers, water skiers, there was hundreds of people and there was music and All the things that we didn't really aspire to.

Speaker 1

So we continued on and we basically got into Wodonga. We did go into Wodonga. We went through Wodonga to pick up the highway, to pick up the hum. And that's when we realised from there we realised we were going to hit the hum. And we had to do the hum Basically to get to Melbourne the next day or to Geelong the next day, because the boat was leaving on the Saturday night, the Saturday evening the.

Speaker 1

Saturday night, and so this was Saturday. This was Friday night and we'd come from Coomer all the way to here, so we decided to try and look for a camp inland along the Hume Highway, somewhere away from where all the people are going to go.

Explore Chilton and Smooth Sailing

Speaker 2

There's tons of rest areas marked on the maps, but these rest areas really are just highway rest areas parking bays. There used to be camps. Some of the older data that we've got shows them as being camps, but the upgrades over the years to these highways obliterated all that camping, even in some of the little state forest areas that you get to, and all these facilities are tar based and they've got everything you know the toilets, and this is all of that.

Speaker 1

Whilst they're great for a roadside stop, they're not so great for camping.

Speaker 2

So we found Chilton was marked.

Speaker 1

Well, it was actually the first free camp marker that we found in the area. After doing a lookup at Wadonga during camps within the 50Ks of that area, using the nearby search in the place page, we found Tuan Campground, which was just in a little state forest in the Chilton.

Speaker 2

Mount Pilate National.

Speaker 1

Park Right Chilton Mount Pilate National Park. It's just a little bit north of Chilton. We were coming in obviously a bit late. The sun wasn't setting until 8.30 or 9 o'clock, this funny daylight saving time they have over on this side of the country where the sun never seems to set.

Speaker 2

Messes up my body.

Speaker 1

Messes up all of us because we're not used to it. So we went into Chilton and what an awesome little town. I mean I don't say that word very often because I don't particularly like that word. It's like a throwback to the 50s, 40s and 50s and stuff the whole town.

Speaker 2

We knew we had to come back and look at this place, but we had to drive through it but it was just eye-poppingly gorgeous. Yeah, it was so old school.

Speaker 1

And all the current businesses are all working in these really historic little business places and stuff. It was spectacular. It was a great find you turn onto the cobblestone main street and there's even like places to pipe your horses and God knows whatever else. It was a really great place and we drove through it fairly quick because we were still targeting the National Park which was just north of town. So we headed up into the National Park and we got a campsite which was perfect.

Speaker 2

Well, there was someone in the big, big big campground and it's a really tiny little campground and, honestly, with them there, if we camped in there as well, it would have been a little bit. Both of us would have lost our sense of privacy. So there's tons of little tracks around and there was a little bay just across from there, so we decided that it wasn't doing anything wrong to just pop over there. It's like a junction of some tracks.

Speaker 1

Yeah, it was a track junction and there was a bit of a verge on the side of it, so we just pulled into there and we've got a pretty small footprint with this, so nothing goes into the ground other than the wheels, the wheels and the three-mil jack stands. Anyway. So we decided to pull in there, just outside the campground area, and luckily for us we did, because after we'd set up about three more cars arrived, at least there, I think Just little cars with tents and stuff, people, just fairly easy camping and a little camp, a camper van thing.

Speaker 1

And so luckily we did camp just up the hill a little bit because we didn't have to deal with all of that happening.

Speaker 1

Anyway, we had a great camp there. That was quite a nice night. And then we decided we had to go back to Chilton and have a bit of a tour around town. So we got out and took some photos and walked around and bought some jewellery at the jewellery shop for Michelle and what a fantastic little place. It's well worth a stop in that area if you're into historical stuff and sort of a throwback in town, a throwback in time. Not as much as going to what's that place in Victoria, the old town, ballarat. It's not like going there, but it was pretty nice. It was a very nice place to go, very low key, and so then from there it was basically just a tar blast down the Hume Highway.

Speaker 2

Yeah, but let's comment that Hume Highway. We were actually quite nervous about getting into Melbourne over the other side, to Geelong, when we're first mapping out this trip, because it's been years since we've come to this part of Australia and our experience in the past has been you can get really congested. And this Hume Highway getting to Geelong you just plonked in the point that we were going to using the place for the Spirit of Tasmania Terminal as our destination and we just hit Navigate Go and it was just smooth sailing the whole way through.

Speaker 1

Oh yeah, it was amazing. It's been forever since I've driven in the outskirts of Melbourne, where some of these new link roads and these outer hub roads are running around, and when we came down the highway and there wasn't that much traffic. Really, even that was the Australia Day Long Weekend it was the middle of it it was the Saturday.

Speaker 1

But then you get down to whatever that crossroad number is I can't even remember what it is the M80. And it's like four lanes or more in each direction of traffic. There was traffic, let me tell you. There was traffic, but nothing was very slow. We didn't get slowed up too much. Those outer ring roads and stuff, they do seem to allow you to get around the edges of Melbourne quite well. So, yeah, we charged through there and we got down to Geelong. I can't remember exactly what time, it was like four or five o'clock in the afternoon.

Speaker 1

Yeah, it was about four or five o'clock in the afternoon. We had a couple of hours to kill. We had to be at the boat ramp at nine o'clock or something and 9.30 for an 11.30 departure or 10 o'clock for an 11.30 departure or something. We were just able to pull up at a little park down there and watch the people fishing and have a meal out of the back of the car while we waited for the ferry to leave.

Speaker 2

We could actually see the ferry so for some reason it doesn't park itself at the terminal before departure. It was over on the other side of the bay and the locals doing fishing were telling us how it all worked and we were able to see when the boat came across and we got some nice footage of it coming across right in front of us. And then we thought, oh well, it's time to go now. And there was one other caravan that parked alongside us and had a check. He was also going on the same ferry with respect to him.

Speaker 2

It was very easy. It was all just smooth sailing, yeah it was all very easy.

Speaker 1

We went in through the check-in on the boat. It took a little bit of walls, a bit of marshalling. Obviously there's a biosecurity check, checking your fruit and veg and all that sort of stuff and then a few sit in an acute for a little while waiting for the commercial loads to go in. All the seemingly hundreds of freight trucks that the trucks don't, because the trucks have dropped off just the trailers all at the wharf and they use these little shuttle trucks, that sort of like. What am I thinking of? I don't know the things that lift.

Speaker 1

Yeah, for forklift, like little forklifts, and they drive all these truck with these trailers on. That takes a little bit of time. But then, yeah, we drove straight in Drive under a little boom thing. Looks like it's too low that you're not going to fit under. And you do fit under, navigated our way into the boat and and the guys who guide you in.

Speaker 2

Oh yeah, they guide you in with like a few millimeters.

Speaker 1

And might you know, turn the wheel sharp here and then turn it sharp the other way so that you can get it, so that the doors will allow you to open and things like that. They've got it so well, suss, you know, turn full lock here and you go about three inches and then he says, turn full lock the other way and you go about an inch and a half and that means that the doors can both open and the mirrors don't hit anything can. Yeah, but they're pretty good at they're pretty good at their job, these guys that park the cars in the boat.

Speaker 2

I took some footage. I've made a little clip of the whole process of going on to the Very and how will that get done? So that's on our socials too.

Speaker 1

Yeah, and so we had a gin, and then we decided to find our recliner lounges and and we proceeded to try to sleep our way to Tasmania. Luckily for us, we were kind of in the back row of the boat, was a 28 and 29 or something.

Speaker 1

And, yeah, we were right at the glass so we could see out the back the whole way. See, not that, not that you could see much because it was pitch black and it was nighttime, but certainly as you are going through the bay and all that sort of stuff, you could see the lights all around the place. It took ages to get through Port Phillip Bay.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it's about two hours to get out.

Road Trip to Tasmania

Speaker 1

Yeah to get out, just to get out into the thing and get through the rip there, which? Was probably the roughest part and then across Bass Strait and it was a relatively easy sale. I slept like a log for a few hours and Michelle didn't. I saw we each had a different experience there, but we we noise cancelling headphones are perfect noise cancelling headphones are perfect. Yes, I would certainly recommend that you have a set of noise cancelling the boat itself was the constant humming, just like on a plane, while you were.

Speaker 2

Even for that, people were really good in the reclining area, there was not a problem at all. I didn't hear a single person even cough, although you remind me that's cause I had my noise cancelling.

Speaker 1

Yes, you had noise cancelling headphones on.

Speaker 2

I was like how good it was, but I just couldn't sleep. There was too much light. They they leave these little night lights on and they'll brighten your eye, and then, of course, I'm looking out the window. I would have preferred to not have the distraction of that, because I was looking at all the lights and wanting to look at the ocean and Figure out what I was feeling versus what I was seeing. So they had lights out the back of the boat. I could see the wash the whole time. There was hardly any swell. We actually had a very smooth sailing across and and Yep, yeah, I looked.

Speaker 2

The 1130 departure was not my first choice, but it actually worked out really well, because the time that you land in Devonport is all very, all, very pleasant you have.

Speaker 1

All the businesses are open and all that.

Speaker 2

Yeah, it's about nine. Whatever you have breakfast on the boat. You can look out the window so you can actually get a proper night's sleep. You, by the time you've put your boat yet You've gone through the queue and and and got on to the boat, you know that you're ready for sleep. You go straight to bed and wake up. So you're not really missing much in your Interruption to sleep, except for, like me, I didn't sleep. Yeah sort of bombed out the next day, but you slept, which was good. You're the driver.

Speaker 1

I slept, yeah. So there we are. We've made it to the spirit of Tasmania. So our journey of the creation of the EO topo 2024 which which kind of happened, sort of by accident, but it was well, well timed and well positioned and and it's gone out relatively painlessly that I can say now that we're a couple of weeks past that. But we've given you an update on that, that. We've talked about how we got to Tasmania and so you know, from here We'll leave you until the next episode when we'll start our journey around Tasmania. So thanks for listening. Make sure you subscribe to our channels, keep an eye on all of our socials. Michelle is doing a fair bit of work to make sure that we publish stuff in there every day or every other couple of days. So keep an eye out and look out for things that are going on, and we'll catch you on the next episode.

Speaker 2

Yeah.

Contributor

David Martin

Host
Contributor

Michelle Martin

Host