East coastin'

I left Mallacoota in high spirits, plan was to go up north and find a job with horses again. And so I did. after another epic roadtrip. 

This post is going to be mostly photos because there's just so much I want to share and not that much to talk about it. I never drove longer than 2 to 3 hours a day and stopped everywhere I felt like it. Chasing lighthouses and beaches alike. 

So sit back and enjoy the views I would say.

First stop after 'coota was Mimosa rocks national park, recommended to me by my host family. I spent the night on one of the camping spots there and woke up early to see the sun rise for the very last time in 2018. It was quite worth it to wake up at 4:30 in the morning. 

4:39 am, 31 of Dec 2018

4:57 am

5:15 am

5:07 am

big oll' stingray casually swimming by to catch anything
dropped by the fishers on the docks

After starting my last day of the year well, I headed up for a pancake brekkie in Bermagui (random little fishing town where I drove though and got hungry) to arrive in Narooma. 

Australia Rock

Not that I had planned on visiting Narooma but turns out Narooma is home to the infamous 'Australia Rock'.  A nice walk across the inlet I found a beautiful view point, seals sleeping and playing around at the bar crossing and also: Australia rock. 

Fun fact: 

my picture sucks and you can't really see it because it's not the big rock sticking out that is supposed to look like Aus, it's the hole in the middle that looks like the outlining of Aus. story is that it was created by accident by a ship that was tied to the rock with large chains to prevent it from drifting off during a storm.

Dalmeny, another random spot I thought was pretty

I spent New Years eve in a YHA in Batemans Bay. Arrived in the early afternoon checked into the hostel and drove around a bit to find somewhere to chill. Thing was that the weather wasn't very nice. kind of chilly, very windy and rainy every now and then. So I just ended up having an ice cream and walking around random shops for the afternoon. 

In the evening I had a couple of drinks with some guys I met at the hostel. Went back into town for chips and prawns for dinner and back again to the hostel where we had a couple more drinks, danced, laughed and I was pretty much in bed by quarter to 12. 

As I fell asleep I could hear the fireworks signalling the new year. 

Next day I drove up to the Royal national park, just under Sydney. I drove to this national park because it was another place I had already been. Being the first day of the year of course everybody had just about the same idea as me, which was to drive to the beach and have a chill afternoon there. 4 years ago I had passed through and slept in the park only a couple weeks after I was there now, but of course with the school holidays still going it was absolutely packed. After driving around for at least half an hour to find a place to leave my car I found a spot and headed to the beach. The water was icy cold but the sun was hot as ever so I spent the rest of my first day in 2019 lazy on the beach with a good book and some snacks. By night time the park emptied and I was able to sleep in (almost) the exact same spot as I had done (almost) exactly 4 years ago. It was quite cool. 

Bundeena

Jan 2nd I drove again a couple hours north. this time stopping in Norah head, spending the afternoon chilling on the beach as per usual. To go explore the lighthouse the following morning. 

This is when I decided to go wherever the next lighthouse would be.

Jenny Dixon reserve

Norah head lighthouse

What followed was a day of old familiar sights I chased down all day. First up was Hawks nest and its massive sand dunes. Followed by spending the night in Seal Rocks. 

Now 4 years ago I just stopped by here, I didn't even go to the lighthouse (can you imagine ?!!). So now I was very happy to have gotten a second chance at exploring this little bay better. 

These fairy lights are possibly the best thing I bought for Nala

morning ocean and mountain views are most likely my fav

Seal rocks

These are the moment I wish I had the knowledge (and car)
to go 4WD'ing on the beach

Sugarloaf Point lighthouse, Seal Rocks

And so I arrived at my home for now, Bellrowan Valley. A good half an hour west from Port Macquarie I found myself in Aussie bushland surrounded with horses once again.

I stayed at Bellrowan for two weeks, at that point my funds were getting drastically low and I had to find a paid job fast. 

Anyhow, those two weeks were great. Hot, sweaty and cut off from the world but surrounded and working with horses every day. 

I found this wonderful trail riding company through HelpX once again so I worked for my food and accommodation. 

For me there is almost no greater feeling than working with horses. Connecting, teaching and learning (from) them is what I live to do. And that was exactly what I was able to do there, training the greens one to cope with life, getting miles done with the not-so-green ones, assisting on guided tours, living for the horses in short. 

With a beer and icy-pop on the side obvs.

Tinker in front left and Apollo in the back right grumpy
because he wasn't getting all the attention to himself :p

having a little moment with Tinker before our ride

So a good two weeks later I was off again, up the coast in search of a job. I had decided to try my luck in Byron Bay, another one of those places I kind of went to but didn't really see nor experience.

Tacking point lighthouse, Port Macquarie

Me being me, I obviously took it pretty chilled and drove up in a couple of days. Chasing beautiful beaches and lighthouses along the way where and wherever I could.

two hours later... Smoky cape lighthouse, Arakoon

another night spent next to the beach in South West Rocks

Coffs Harbour beachin'

  

Fun fact about Coffs, last time I stopped here I was pouring down rain and had been raining for a couple of days so all the parks were absolutely swamped. So it was (yet again) refreshing to see the place same same but different after all that time.

Getting woken up by rowdy kids on the streets at 2 in the morning sucks, waking up with the sunrise from my comfy bed isn't so much.

When in Coffs.....
you go visit the big banana

And then when in Ballina,
you go see the big prawn

Next up: BRYON BAY, YAAAAAY

Can you tell I'm really stoked to have finally gotten to the point where I can write about life in Byron?! Well, I am.

As I'm writing this in real time, I just left Byron a couple of hours ago. Headed to the next new adventure tomorrow. Meaning I've got a good 12 hours to kind of fill you in with most of my Byron adventures such as chasing waterfalls and daily life working two jobs.

xoxo Liz

Short story on the south eastern corner of Aus

Mallacoota, Dec'18

And so I arrived in Mallacoota, 25k off the highway through the Croajingolong national park.

I spent two weeks with a gorgeous host family I met through HelpX. A website very similar to the well know wwoofing one, where you can find hosts to work for food and accomodation all over the world.

Personally I've only used HelpX in Australia, but my brother worked through the site in Canada and another friend wwoofd his way through France. It's a great concept if you ask me, an easy way to save money while traveling and most of all to gain so real local experiences across the world.

So I found myself living in a beautiful small community once again, and this time I was there for Chrissy. 

So Mallacoota has just over a thousand permanent residents in the community, a pretty small town in other words. But over the Christmas and easter holidays it transforms completely and it seems to stretch out to host an additional 8 thousand people (!). Many of these are families that have been spending the holidays here for generations. It was quite the experience to see the town transform from this quite little fishing town into a bustling holiday resorts, thankfully just as quaint though.

Anyway, I was very lucky to have found such an adventurous family to live with as they took me on loads of adventures after work (which was always easy going). 

They showed me around the beautiful coast lines with beautiful beaches and rugged cliffs alike.  

We went mountain biking and 4WD'ing through the surrounding national park. I hadn't gone mountain biking since forever and certainly not at such a decent level, needless to say I internally died a couple of times haha! But I absolutely loved the exercise and the trail views were definitely worth (almost) dying for ! :p 

I'd always wanted to go full on 4WD'ing and this experience taught me so much about how to actually do it. Most of all it made me feel quite happy about not attempting it at 18 with my poor little AWD through the ruthless Aussie outback, back in 2015 lol.

But as I was with my host who's an experienced 4WD'er with all the knowledge and equipment you could ask for I had the best experience. 

Included that half an hour or so of sawing we had to do to get that big stick out from underneath the car. :p

Some days we went out for a sunset boat ride on the lakes and others we just chilled at home in the warm summer sun.

Butt rock

The other day we went on a little road trip to Buchan, a tiny town known for it's lime stone caves and other outdoor adventure activities being so close to the Snowy River national park. We went chasing a waterfall, did some 4WD'ing through the national park and ended the day with a great pub meal. 

Snowy River just visible between the trees down below

icy cold and blue waters off Gabo Island

And on other days we went boating to neighbouring Gabo and Tullaburga islands.

Fun fact! 

Gabo island beautiful pink lighthouse and stands as the second tallest lighthouse in Australia with it's almost 47meters. 

I also spend Christmas with my beautiful host family.

And it was fabulous ! prepared loads and loads of food all morning, the girls bakes fresh ginger bread and we made gingerbread everything the day before. We ate a big *ss ham leg 3 different kinds of salads with goats cheese, croutons and cherries, with prawns kale and mangoes and with fresh smoked salmon and sweet potato rösties. Fresh BBQ prawns and a cheese platter and to top it all off we had a passionfruit crêpe cake, chocolate cherry trifle and a huge classic red fruit pav for dessert as dinner.

It was a great feast and ended it on the beach where the girls taught me to boogie board whilst trying to avoid stepping on the rays.

Safe to say I had an awesome chrissy this year in true aussie spirit and warmth. And even though I felt truely blessed to have been able to spend chrissy with such a great, loving family I really missed my own big warm family around me. There's just really nothing like having two big Christmas parties with 30+ family members around you on both days. So I promised my mom, dad, siblings and myself I'd be home again for next Christmas.

In the meantime it was time for me to get moving again and head north on another epic little roadtrip towards my new (horsey) destination close to Port Macquarie.

More adventures soon !!

xoxo Liz

the second of many 700k

The Alpine national park is home to Victoria's highest peak, Mount Bogong which stands at just under 2000m. In winter prime back country skiing territory, during the summer the hills provide excellent walking trails and views alike.

And views is what I got. The beginning of the Great Dividing range is an absolutely stunning region most known for the wines coming from the Yarra Valley, but coming from the north it's just a beautiful driving through Mount Buffalo national park.

Day one: Ky to Smoko, December 15th

Leaving my familiar home of Kyabram behind after a great last night BBQ with friends I headed toward the coast. As I had 3 whole days to get to Mallacoota, my spirits were high as I turned up the music and drove through that flat dry bushland toward the hills!

Dinner done right

An easy 3 hours later I found myself on the Smoko (free) campground a couple of k's outside the charming town of Bright which is the base for exploring both Mount Buffalo and the Alpine National parks. Which was exactly what I was in for the following day, so I set up camp next to the river surrounded by gorgeous nature.

Disclaimer: be fire wise guys!
as we were so close to the river, there was no wind
and it had rained quite a bit the previous
weeks we deemed it safe to start a small fire 

Ovens river made for a perfect (chilly) wash in the morning

looking up at the hills I was to overcome the following day

Up, up and over the hills

 But first, time for some brekkie

I found the Lavender Hue farm thanks to a friendly recommendation from the tourist information centre in Bright. I find this is almost always the best way to find local gems, certainly in more rural areas. Local knowledge is such a great bonus and helps you keep away from tourists where possible! And this was nothing less.

A beautiful little farm just north of the little township of Harrietville along the Great Alpine road. Obviously I had scones and a flat white for brekkie (when in doubt; eat scones :p ). What a great way to start the day, I wandered around the farm a bit, wrote in my book and simply enjoyed having brekkie in such a beautiful place before I headed off further along the ever winding Great Alpine road.

 And so I went, up up and up to the top. Stopping every now and then where possible to have a break from the narrow, steep and winding roads leading up to Hothem Heights.

This Alpine ski resort town was a bit eary with the bad weather coming through and the little movement as it was off-season. 

It was breathtakingly beautiful nonetheless at the top even though  I had to put on long jeans and a jumper and a rain jacket to stay warm.

Renes Lookout

Mount Hothem ski resort

Baldhead Phipps Forest

 

The way down was mercifully less windy and gave me a bit more room to enjoy the views around me in stead of having 300% concentration on the road in which case I had to find a place to actually get out and find a spot to enjoy the surroundings.

Anyway the way down was long but easier and with better weather and I found this beautiful lookout for lunch about halfway down.

Connors Hill

An hour later I found myself this lookout for another leg stretch and to take in all of the mountains once again before heading off toward the ocean.

 

 It was a good 5 hours from the summit of Mount Hotham to having my toes in the southern ocean once again.

It was pissing down rain when I arrived (which obviously didn't stop me from getting my feet in the ocean after 4 long years). Thankfully by the time I had found a place to sleep, went to the shops and had dinner the rain had stopped and I headed to the beach to be treated to this absolutely gorgeous sunset.

 

Last leg: Mallacoota

Thanks to my hosts I found two wonderfull little spots on my way to Mallacoota. Both the rainforest walk and the falls are little known and beautiful spots to to as quick detours from the road to my new home for a while.

Next up my first Aussie Chrissy and a jam-packed two weeks with a wonderfull family !

xoxo Liz