I left Frankston at dawn and headed east. I didn’t have any plans of where to stop and decided just to stop at anywhere that took my fancy. I had a quick stop at Mosquito Hill, near Nyora. This was just past the turn off for Philip Island, which was a backward Read more about Road Trip Part 3 – Italy v New Zealand at Leongatha[…]
I’d never heard of Frankston either and it’s just not touristy or anything. But I love places like that, totally out of the way, totally un-obvious and worth a look for an extra memory. It wasn’t really on the way out of Melbourne for me, but a wee bit south, on the east side of Read more about Road Trip Part 2 – Sunset in Frankston[…]
Well the road trip finally began, and I have to say I believe it began at Coles Beach in Devonport. That was where I stayed manys a night sleeping in my car while living in Tasmania. From here in June 2010, I left behind Tasmania on a four state road trip north to Queensland. 5 Read more about Australian Road Trip Part 1: Leaving Coles Beach, Devonport, Tasmania[…]
We didn’t stop at this remote location on our railway through the Tasmanian wilderness. It was once a train stop known as Campspur, but it’s no longer a stop. There is a platform there but no station. Steel house structures remain to show where the “campsite” and buildings (rather huts) once were. What Read more about West Coast Wilderness Railway Part Six – Campspur[…]
So from our peak at Rinadeena, it was time to head downhill from the mines and into an area, barely a village named Dubbil Barril, note the strange spelling as opposed to Double Barrel. The rainforest route on the way down was totally amazing, we past gorges. We must have gone Read more about West Coast Wilderness Railway Part Five – Cow Dairy at Dubbil Barril[…]
WEST COAST WILDERNESS RAILWAY PART FOUR – LUNCH AT RINADEENA (RAINDROP) So I left behind the remote mining village of Lynchford, for this lifetime at least. This is where the train tracks got steeper and became a railway incline, as part of the famous “rack and pinion” system. I had already been on the Read more about West Coast Wilderness Railway Part Four – Lunch At Rinadeena (Raindrop)[…]
It’s sounds a bit silly if I say “I’ve always been interested in railways”, because I say that about so many things. But there is something inspiring about being onboard a train. There’s history, character, atmosphere, geography, music involved in train journeys. And Michael Palin has a series called “The World’s Great Train Journeys.” I Read more about Don River Railway[…]
Bruny Island is one of many islands off the coast of Tasmania. Obviously it’s Australian. Again I decided to visit there as I wasn’t sure how long I’ll stay in Tasmania and whether or not I will ever be in Tasmania again after this long stint on the island. Bruny Island is situated on Read more about Backpacking in Australia: The Magic of Bruny Island, Tasmania[…]
WEST COAST WILDERNESS RAILWAY PART THREE – SEARCHING FOR GOLD AT LYNCHFORD The journey from Queenstown to Lynchford is probably around 12 kilometres. The magic had already begun as soon as we left Queenstown. We were travelling on a track through the middle of nowhere. A work of engineering genius, which had taken years Read more about West Coast Wilderness Railway Part Three – Searching For Gold at Lynchford[…]
I had only 40 minutes in Queenstown, and although it was small, I quickly looked at what I wanted to see. In the end, just walking round the town for 30 minutes was enough time to “see” it all, if not experience an overnight stay in this quite remarkable little enclave. I Read more about West Coast Wilderness Railway Part Two – Queenstown[…]