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