Gone Walkabout in Henn Boo Too

Contents

Preface

Episode 0 A Warning Message

Episode 1 Melbourne Arrival

Episode 2 Melbourne II

Episode 3 South Gippsland

Episode 4 Gippsland II and Liptrap Coastal Park

Episode 5 Lakes Entrance

Episode 6 The Sapphire Coast

Episode 7 Bournda National Park

Episode 8 Narooma

Episode 9 Snowy River

Episode 10 Cobram

Episode 11 The Great Ocean Road at Apollo Bay

Episode 12 Goolwa on the Water

Episode 13 Adelaide

Episode 14 On The Road Again

Episode 15 Coober Pedy and Return

Episode 16 Wilpena Pound

Episode 17 Tumby Bay

Episode 18 Port Lincoln

Episode 19 Coffin Bay

Episode 20 Streaky Bay

Episode 21 Cocklebiddy

Episode 22 Esperance

Episode 23 Beyond Dumbleyung

Episode 24 Perth and the Sun

Episode 25 The Sunset Coast Revisited

Episode 26 Fremantle Market

Episode 27 Karrinyup the Last Move

Episode 28 Lancelin

Episode 29 On The Edge of Nowhere

Episode 30 Tally Ho the Whale Sharks

Episode 31 Coast Range National Park

Episode 32 Tom Price and the Hamersley Range

Episode 33 The Pilbara

Episode 34 The Sunset Coast

Episode 35 The Pearl Coast

Episode 36 Lazy Days in Broome

Episode 37 Birds of Broome

Episode 38 Broometime

Episode 39 Post Time

Episode 40 Hello Kununurra

Episode 41 The Bungle Bungles

Episode 42 Northern Territory

Episode 43 Four Kms from Rum Jungle

Episode 44 Crocodile World

Episode 45 Darwin at Sunset

Episode 46 120 Kms East of Humpty Do

Episode 47 Back to the Never Never

Episode 48 Charters Towers

Episode 49 Forrest Beach

Episode 50 Mission Beach

Episode 51 Lazy Days

Episode 52 Trinity Beach

Episode 53 Half Moon Bay

Episode 54 The Tablelands

Episode 55 The Wilderness Coast

Episode 56 The Fun Time

Episode 59 More of the Same in Port Douglas

Episode 58 Gon Troppo

Episode 59 Empty Nest

Episode 60 More Port Douglas

Episode 61 More Port Douglas (Cont)

Episode 62 Trinity Beach Revisited

Episode 63 The Outback

Episode 64 Carnarvon Gorge

Episode 65 Agnes Waters

Episode 66 North of Maroochydore

Episode 67 Coolum

Episode 68 Brisbane Revisited

Episode 69 Coolangatta

Episode 70 Lamington NP

Episode 71 Queensland

Episode 72 Coffs Harbour

Episode 73 Nambucca Heads

Episode 74 Tuncurry

Episode 75 Sydney (Pop 4 million)

Episode 76 Bondi Beach

Episode 77 Seattle Weather

Episode 78 North Beaches

Episode 79 Bateau Bay

Episode 80 Kiama

Episode 81 Full Circle

Episode 82 Bright

Episode 83 Mt Buffalo

Episode 84 Melbourne

Episode 85 Cup Week

Episode 86 Farewell Australia

Episode 87 Home Again, Home Again

For Marcia

My Bride Forever

Preface

During our last trip to Australia we were unable to see many of the places we truly wanted to go because of time restraints and the fact that we were living in our two wheel drive vehicle. So we planned to return and promised ourselves that we would not miss anything, especially the West Coast and would revisit those places we really enjoyed the first time.

The key to the adventure was not to have a timetable except for gauging the weather. It is critical to be in the right place at the right time. Travelers should not plan to be in the Top End in the wet unless they want to take some serious risks. The rains and storms that hit all across the northern latitudes of Australia in their summer can be ferocious. Our plan was to circumnavigate Australia on the one coastal road and go at a pace to be able to stop any where we wanted, surfing, golfing, hiking or just admiring the scenery along the way.

Our application and payment for a Long Stay (Twelve months) visa was approved by the Australian Consulate in San Francisco and we were ready to return to the land of down under. This time we planned to purchase a trailer (Caravan) and tow vehicle so that we could drop off the House in campgrounds (Caravan Parks) and go off exploring to our heart’s content. That was important to us since most of the time was going to be spent in the outback where paved roads were nonexistent.

In 1997 we named our vehicle, Henn Boo because the person we bought it from (Henny Barber) had used it as a mobile office. It had signs on all four sides reading:

HENNY’S MOBILE

BOOKEEPING SERVICE

I spent three days trying to peel off those letters and when I got to the signage above the cab, I couldn’t reach the HENN BOO part so just left the vehicle with that name. Once we purchased our caravan in Melbourne it was obvious to us that we would name it:

HENN BOO TOO

Episode 0

A Warning Message

1/28/01

G’Day Mates,

Well we have been flexing our toes for several days now getting them warmed up so we can hang on up side down for the next ten and a half months. The bags are packed, the personal things are in boxes stored in the computer room, we have our tickets and we will be on our way on Thursday. Les and Wanda Dwan will be meeting us in Melbourne and we are ready for some summer weather.

After we get rid of the jet lag and get in a round of golf, we will begin our buying spree. I am sure the chamber of commerce in Melbourne will be glad to see us coming with billfold in hand. We have a caravan (trailer) lined up at Les’ favorite RV store and I have been browsing the Melbourne auto scene for months now. Then we will have to outfit the caravan to begin the grand trek.

We will be getting an Australian E-mail ISP for the trip so will probably be accessing this account just one more time to shift over our address book so that we can maintain communications with everyone. I am trying out the Group option and the Blind option on this message to help expedite communications. Each of you should just see your own address on this message although there are over a hundred on ‘The List’.

Once we get set up in Australia we will continue using this method unless I can establish a Web Site and then you will be able to check us out at your convenience rather than ours.

We have a request of you since I will be begging strangers most of the time for the use of their phone to send out computer messages, please don’t send us all those jokes and thought provoking stories or any pictures. One picture took 30 minutes to read in when we were in the Queensland bush and the manager of the caravan park was a little upset with me. Thanks for helping out and your personal messages are welcomed more than you can imagine.

Marcia and I seemed to be able to handle being within ten feet of each other for six months straight on the last trip so now we are going to try and set a new record of nine and a half months straight. If we get to the Kimberly’s and you stop hearing from us, you can figure we didn’t make it and Marcia threw me to the dingoes.

For our Yank friends and family in the states, we will see you at Thanksgiving. For our Aussie Mates, here we come ready for some sun, good times, good beer, good beaches and ready to explore your beautiful country.

G’Day Mates, Marcia and Bill

Episode 1

Melbourne Arrival

2/2/01

G’Day Mates,

We have been here for three days now and immediately relearned how to hold on by our toes because everything is still upside down. We are not in the tropics but the weather is quite pleasant and we have been wearing shorts the entire time. In fact, at the end of the twenty-four hour trip down here, I zipped off my pants legs while in the customs line in Sydney, and became an instant Australian!

Les Dwan met us at the airport and we have been on the go ever since looking for a Landcruiser and a caravan (Trailer). Les and Wanda have been wonderful hosts and things are really going great. Since we have been in contact via e-mail ever since our last trip down here, all we have had to do is get updated on recent events. We have been out to dinner with their friends and were over to Ken and Isobel Davis’ home last night for an Aussie barbee! I have a golf date tomorrow and the Davis’ have invited us to their club on Friday for another round.

The status of vehicle search is; we have found a caravan that Les had identified as one that fit our requirements (19 feet, dinette, bedroom, bath, full awnings with side walls etc) and will take possession once we get a tow vehicle. The sidewalls are called an Annex and it will really come in handy when all you visitors arrive to join us in our little loop around the island. It will be our second bedroom. We will go try and make a deal this morning and then will begin the domestic outfitting.

Les took us on a brisk nature walk yesterday and we got a new bird sighting right off; a bell miner, which has a beautiful bell tone to its call. Actually the trees were full of the bell miners and it sounded like you were in a church. Yes I brought the bird book along and we will try to add to the 267 the species we sighted on the last trip.

Please note that we have a new userid for email while we are here: hennboo@aol.com.au. The ‘au’ part is important because it means All Upside-down!

Your mates from Melbourne send their love and promise to keep in touch. Marcia and Bill

Episode 2

Melbourne II

2/3/01

G’Day Mates,

We are still ‘anging on by our toes but still going strong. The temperature is supposed to get up to the hundreds today and we have a lot of running around to do. Yes our US $ were transferred here from the credit union yesterday and we are in business. Les and I will pick up the caravan and take it to an inspection service and have new tyres and all the plumbing checked for traveling. The Toyota Land Cruiser we selected goes to the RACV (Royal Auto Club of Victoria, which is the AAA down here) to have it checked for Road Worthy status and then tomorrow we may have a vehicle for transportation. So most of the administrative assignments are done and all that is left is to get some vehicle insurance and then begin outfitting the ‘Rig’, or should we call it HennBoo Too?

Les and Wanda have been perfect hosts and seem to have taken on the responsibility of keeping us on the go constantly. We start out with walks in the AM around the nearby green belts looking for birds and you don’t have to look very hard. There are mynas, magpies, bellbirds, rosellas and a lot of others that move so fast I can’t identify them. Then we have been going out to shop for our vehicles, but that phase is now complete, so now we do general sightseeing.

Les arranged for me to play at the Kew Golf Club with the captain of the club in a competition yesterday. I did not play well but did accomplish something I have never done before which was to get on the green in two strokes on one of the par fives. I blew the putts and ended up with a par but it was a first for me! Tomorrow Marcia and I will play there again with the Davis’s and I hope that my game will improve.

Last night we went over to the Campbell’s (Good friends of Les and Wanda) again and had a wonderful barbecue and lots of good conversation. I feel like a deb at the ball and have a full dance card. Some place new every minute and meeting new people each time.

Observation: I am using AOL/AU for an ISP and it has an Aussie spellchecker. You are going to be seeing some interesting spelling on this trip.

Your busy buddies from North Bawlyn, Victoria send their love,

Marcia and Bill

Episode 3

South Gippsland

2/6/01

G’Day Mates,

And G’Bye to Melbourne for several weeks.

We are on the road and it has been somewhat of a rocky one at that with minor problems and one or two more serious ones to work on. There were a few false starts after picking up the Landcruiser and then the caravan but we finally got on the way down to the Gippsland coast, and to Venus Bay (Pop 200) where we planned to camp out and test all the new hardware. The temperature was up to 100 degrees and we used the A/C all the way down here, realizing all the while that the caravan does not have A/C and we would have to rely on a fan to keep us cool at night.

After checking in at the reception, I notice water draining out under the caravan door onto the parking lot pavement!!! We picked out a site by a pair of small gum trees and moved the caravan into position. Before unhooking we took a look inside and sure enough when we opened the door, water poured down the steps. :<((( The nylon nipple on the hose leading into the hot water tank had broken and the pump (That I had left on) emptied the water tanks into the caravan.

I called the people in Melbourne who had just overhauled the caravan and they informed me that I should call the caravan manufacturer rep in Melbourne or the actual manufacturer in Perth. I called Perth, and they are sending us a new part via express mail and we should get it on Monday. Since then, I have figured out the plumbing in the caravan and we will bypass the hot water lines until the part arrives.

Meanwhile, a thunderstorm came through in the early evening (Cooling things off at least) and I went out to reef the awning in the high winds. Just as I loosened one end, a gust came up and started to flip the awning over the caravan. I called for Marcia’s help. She was busy putting on her bathing suit and when she came to the door and saw what was happening, she put her arm up to catch the awning and her arm got caught in the roller!!! There was no big harm but we were both very scared for a minute thinking that her arm might be broken. She was well enough in an hour to be able to go swimming and today it is just a little sore with no bruises. I finally got the awning squared away just in time for the deluge that hit that evening. Unfortunately the awning had collected too much water so I had to go out and drain it regularly until the heavy rains stopped. Needless to say we slept in, this morning!

Today was a sight seeing day and we drove down to Wilson’s Promontory which is the most southern point on the continent and is the terminus of the former land bridge to Tasmania during the ice ages. The area is mountainous with 3000 ft peaks and has lots of wildlife. Marcia suggested we take a hike around Lilly Pilly Gully to see the rainforest and search for some cute wambats. You guessed it; all we ran into was a big copperhead snake right in the tramping path. I turned to Marcia to give me the camera but she was heading the other way. It was a 6.2 kilometer hike over the shoulder of a mountain and we were about 400 meters from the end but I think she would have retraced her steps all the way back to go. She calmed down rather quickly and we got two pictures before it slithered off.

All snakes slither off don’t they? Then we slithered off to report the sighting to the rangers. When I identified the snake as about five feet and copper in color, the ranger confirmed that it was a copperhead. The hiking instructions start off with the admonition, tramp in the center of the trail at all times but that did not help in this case because the snake was bigger than the trail was wide.

We spotted one new species of bird and lots of old friends including the crimson rosella and the yellow tailed black cockatoo. We found a few beaches and walked on Squeaky Beach just to verify that it did squeak, and it did!

The Land Cruiser is running great and we are quite pleased with every thing except the hot water heater fitting on the caravan and we will have that fixed on Monday.

I’ll try to get this off in the AM so goodbye for now from your safari pals. Marcia and Bill

2/10/01

I could not get the laptop through on the phone line in the Manager’s office so you will just get an update you on what we did today. Yesterday and today the weather has been great. There was a little spitting of rain on the way to Wilson’s Prom but it cleared and has been fine ever since. It is supposed to get to the 80’s tomorrow and even higher the next few days. We may try our hand at body surfing tomorrow since we are only 300 yards from the beach.

I have been having a lot of trouble getting the remainder of the broken plug out of the base of the water heater but just a few minutes ago it broke free thanks to my Leatherman and a few other tools I ended up buying to get the job done. Now all we need is a new part and that is expected on Monday.

Marcia and I went down the road to Leongatha to play a round of golf and we had a good walk, a few pars, and no wildlife except some crimson rosellas. The course would have been beautiful if there had been more rain this year but alas, it was brown and hard, but the golf ball ran a mile.

I’ll keep trying on the phones to get this out as soon as I can.

Marcia and Bill

Episode 4

Gippsland II and Liptrap Coastal Park

2/10/01

G’Day Mates,

We are still hanging on by our toes and having fun. It appears we have most of the AOL AU problems ironed out so can concentrate on more important things like roo lookin. The part for the water heater did not arrive today but we made the most of it anyway. Les and Wanda’s daughter, Michelle, loaned us an electric hot water pot for tea and it is our temporary hot water heater for dishes etc. There was no damage to the caravan from the flood except for a sore back on yours truly after doing a lot of mopping up and hours trying to remove the remainder of the valve. Naturally the valve was in the worst location to reach, which is usually the case with plumbing problems.

We have had some fine weather except for the day of the flood and have been about doing a lot of tourist things. Venus Bay is a lot like Cape Cod, all sandy with dunes and scrub cedar like trees. Our caravan park has lots of gum trees and is nice and shady and quiet. I think Venus Bay has a population of about 50 people! Last night we went up the spit of land that makes up the bay to spot birds and roos. Did we see roos!!!! Mobs of them, all racing out of the flat marsh land inside the bay up to the grassy yards of the absent cabin owners. They have two kinds here, the eastern grey and the black wallaby. Most of what we saw was the big eastern grey and can they move fast. I had to dodge one on the way back to the camp and it zoomed by the car pretty darned quickly.

Today we had to make a grocery run to the nearest town with a market and decided to purchase a couple of boogie boards since we were scheduled to be on or near beautiful beaches for the next nine months. The afternoon was spent testing them out with some success in the surf and got off the beach before total exhaustion took over along with any serious sunburn.

I thought I might describe our little home. The caravan exterior is white aluminum siding, 19 feet by 8 feet with a front entry into the kitchen area. The paneling is grey spindrift wood with blue upholstery. The kitchen is L shaped with an eight-foot counter across the front and another four feet leading aft. It has a 4-burner stovetop with a grill underneath just like Henn Boo, a small microwave, a counter high reefer and another counter high freezer. There is ample storage, in fact some places are still empty but I am sure we will be filling all the drawers and cabinets with goodies as time goes bye. To the right of the door as you enter is a dinette and across from that is a couch under which is the newly installed battery for bush camping, a water pump, DC converter, and the infamous water heater that has my fingerprints all over the casing and a lot of smothered profanity. Then comes an accordion door for our bedroom that has a double bed, lots of storage and a shower stall and toilet. Right, we don’t have to worry about the 247 bad biting things when we get up at night on this trip. :<)))

There is a storage boot in the front and even a permanent railing in the back for drying beach towels and swimmers. We have stocked the caravan with all the creature comforts except a TV. We spent time at the Rotary Club Market in Melbourne