ROADTRIP ON THE EAST COAST OF AUSTRALIA. STAGE 1: FROM MELBOURNE TO SYDNEY

5 in the morning, a kind worker wakes us up, we are occupying the sofas of her cafeteria and in half an hour she has to open. Melbourne Airport starts its daily bustle and we load our backpacks and head towards the Apollo office, where we will pick up the third van of our trip through Australia, this time to tour the east coast from Melbourne to Cape Tribulation. The first stage of the roadtrip It is the one that led us to cross more than 1,500 km between Melbourne and Sydney, the two most important cities in Australia.

At the moment these are the main data:

Day 1Melbourne - Foster

The roadtrip in Tasmania was quite tiring, and last night we cursed it at the airport and we don't have the chocho for many lanterns, so this day we took it with so much calm, we passed through our trusted supermarket (Coles rocks!) And filled The van to survive the next few days.

Although the day is not too productive, if we do a few kilometers, enough to get away from the bustling Melbourne, saying goodbye to it with a "see you later, possibly", while in the other lane horrible caravans of returning families are formed of your Easter holidays.

We arrived at the town of Foster, here we would do a laundry first and then we would look for the campsite where to spend the night. And what a campsite! One of the best of the whole trip, theFranklin River Reserve Campground.

One of the best campsites of the trip!

Day 2Foster - 90 Mile Beach

To the south of Melbourne is an outgoing land, a weekend destination for many urbanites, for its many options of trails, beaches and nature. It's called the Wilsons Promontory and here we will spend most of our second day of roadtrip.

It is a national park, although access is free. At the end of the 50 km road that crosses it there is a small village (Tidal river) with several buildings, all intended for visitors: tourist office, bathrooms with hot showers, camping, etc. The start of the visit can only be this.

Here we collect a few pamphlets and choose what our visits would be. We discard any trekking that exceeds the hour and a half of walking (do not judge us, that the downturn still lasts us) and we focus on the beaches and viewpoints. So we stop at theSqueaky Beach and the Picnic Bay, we also arrive at the Whiskey Bay (which, by the way, is not very worthwhile) and finally we make an attempt to finally see a wombat (live) in the Prom Wildlife Walk. They are 3.2 km that cover an area of ​​low forest where it is easy to see the local fauna, although it is easier to do it if you come at sunrise or sunset. We were here at one o'clock in the afternoon (olé!), And, although we did not leave empty-handed, we saw a pretty nice group of kangaroos and 3 emus, the wombat still resists us.

We headed towards 90 Mile Beach and passed the Agnes Waterfall (the highest in the state of Victoria with 57 meters). Instead we prefer to travel secondary roads (or tertiary!) That pass through rural and uninhabited areas, which we love by the way, and we arrive at our campsite today, from where we hear the waves of the ocean break.

In the area of ​​the 90 Mile Beach there are several campsites Free numbers numbered with the letter "C" and a number, we stay in the first one (the C18) but then we would see that the best of them is the C9.

Squeaky Beach

Kangaroos on the Prom Wildlife Walk

An emu !!!

Views over the coast of the Wilsons Promontory NP

Day 390 Mile Beach - Cann River

The road that passes right next to 90 Mile Beach does not offer good views, between it and the beach there is a promontory that must be crossed on foot if you want to access the sand. We did it a couple of times, once at the campsite and once at the beach ofShip Wreck triangle, where the remains of a shipwrecked ship lie almost completely buried in the year 1879. From the sand stands out, as if it were part of a skeleton, its iron structure that time has not yet been able to erase. There are countless ships that are submerged on the coasts of Australia, but we found one that could be seen with the naked eye!

Remains of the ship “Trinculo”, shipwrecked at 90 Mile Beach

At the end of this road you reach the small town of Golden beach, with some cafeteria and some movement, however the area does not look very popular. From there we return inland through Comes out, Stradford Y Bairnsdale. In the latter we stop at the Information Center to collect brochures and maps of the area and, almost unwittingly, we ended up inside the adjoining church chatting with Carmelo, an Italian who came to Australia in the year 55 and who explained to us, between anecdotes of his life, something about the unusual ceiling frescoes.

At the information point they told us that 15 minutes south there is a place where you can see koalas in freedom, It's about the Raymond island, which must be reached with a passenger ferry from Paynesville (for passengers it is free). Apparently once you get to the other side, just take a walk to see them sleepy on the eucalyptus.

In Bairnsdale you have to make an important decision along the way: follow the Coastal Road to Sydney or go into the snowy mountains by the Great Alpine Road. The latter must be truly interesting, but we decided to go for the most direct and continue along the coast.

In Metung We arrived without waiting too much and left without having changed my mind, it is a nice place for local tourism, but we didn't even get off the van. Where we got off was in Lakes Entrance, the village of entry to the area of Gippsland Lakes If you come from the east. We set foot first to enjoy a beautiful view from a viewpoint before going down to town, and second to enjoy a fish and chips.

Viewpoint from Lakes Entrance

One of the stops that made us more excited was the Stony Creek Trestle Bridge, a bridge that was built in the early twentieth century on the railway network that connected Melbourne with Orbost and that is the largest bridge of these characteristics in the entire state of Victoria. With its 300 meters in length and 20 meters in height the truth is that it impresses quite a lot.

Stony Creek Trestle Bridge

Just in Orbost we take the path that runs along the coast to Cape conran, a reserve with cool beaches and some options for short walks along the coast. It is a good place to take a break, there are several barbecues, tables and grass areas, too bad that camping is not allowed for free.

Where it is (and thank God) is in Cann river. At the entrance of this small town there is an old caravan park that for the moment has enabled it as a free campsite (with a limit of two days), and it is in glory! Another day we said goodbye contemplating the wonderful Milky Way.

Day 4Cann River - Bodalla

Many days have passed since our last crossing between borders, we have been in Victoria for almost a month and we have taken a lot of love. But today we will have to say goodbye to him, a few km from starting the route a humble poster gives us the welcome to the state of New South Wales, which has Sydney as its capital, although this time we will set it aside.

The many posters announcing theCroajingolong National Park On our right they tempt us, but boy, we don't have time for everything! We also had three other points:Mallacoota, a coastal town that apparently has interesting beaches and coves, and nearby Betka Beach and Secret Beach.

The first place where we stopped was the town of Eden, with that name it cannot be an ugly site, and in fact it is not. We climb to a viewpoint from where, in winter, killer whales and whales can be seen. The killer whale is the star of this town, they have even dedicated an entire museum! If you visit, tell us, it sure is interesting!

From there we went to Pinnacles Walking Track, is a 1 km loop-shaped path that has viewpoints to a beach and a mountain in the form of pinnacles, similar to the Bryce Canyon park in the USA. But saving the distances. It is best to start the path on the left, unless you regustillo climb stairs, you will also find the best viewpoint last.

Pinnacles Walking Track

In Tathra We take the opportunity to eat. We reach the Kianniny boat ramp and freak out It is a small bay that is protected from sea currents, which creates a natural pool perfect for a swim, even if you do not expect that you will be alone, if you look down you will probably find the company of huge blanket-rays that come to greet you Next to the port there is a little park with barbecue and tables, which is great, besides from here some trails leave that run along the rocks on the coast. Eye, when you leave, do not forget to follow the road on the right that goes up to the Chamberlain lookout, from where you will get enlarged views of what you had just a moment ago.

Strange welcome at Tathra Pier

Views from the viewpoint

With well-packed bellies, now what the body asks for is a coffee. So we stopped at a beach that is a few kilometers before the town of Bermagui and we understood that we are truly fortunate to be able to devote ourselves to what we are really passionate about. The coffee, by the way, we had to throw it away (not everything can be perfect), apparently one of us (I don't want to look at anyone ...) did not clarify the cups well and the soap regustillo stayed in my mustache the rest of the day (here you have a clue).

Before arriving in Bermagui there is a viewpoint over the two bays, the Michael Lerner lookout, and in the town there are beautiful beaches where you can take a bath. Although if you are a little cautious and you are afraid of the hundreds of dangers of Australian waters, always choose to get into the Blue pool, a pool built next to the ocean taking advantage of the rock formations, which for us is a complete novelty, but we saw that it is the most normal in the world on this coast of Australia.

Freedom!!

Views from the Michael Lerner lookout

Blue Pool in Bermagui

This whole area is quite famous for surfing and one of the favorite spots is on the beach that has a huge camel as its host. Ok, the camel is not real, but don't tell me the rock doesn't look like it! It's called, of course, the Kamel rock. A few km below isTilba Tilba, a typical town built at the time of the gold rush and still retains that aroma.

The last break of the day (which is already getting late) would be in the town of Narooma, where lives a colony of sea lions with very bad milk. Next to them is the Australia Rock, a peculiar rock with a hole in the middle. In Narooma is the Wagonga Inlet, which has to be very cool, but at the time we went we did not appreciate well ...

Kamel Rock Beach

Colony of sea lions in Narooma

Australia Rock

The clock is approaching at 5 p.m., which means that there are only a couple of hours of light left and in turn it means that we have a couple of hours of energy left. So we headed to our home for one night, which would be the Bodalla Park Rest Area, in the middle of immense trees and from where there is a 2 km walk to a nearby lake (which we did not do).

Day 5Bodalla - Blue Mountains

The whole area that we are traveling from Melbourne to Sydney offers different tourist roads, each with its number. Although the main artery is the Princess Highway passing through small coastal towns and other charming interiors. One of them, and the first one we are going through today, is Mogo, which breathes the atmosphere of those ancient villages that were built in the midst of the gold rush.

We only have 4 days until Byron Bay and we are going with a tad of delay. So today we dedicate a good part to giving the van a good wax, so that we are not bad at all, that there are still a few kilometers ahead of us to Cairns! But we didn't want to skip the Jervis bay, and within it what is considered the beach with the whitest sand in the world: Hyams Beach. We are nobody to contradict it, and the sand is very white, why lie. In addition, although the day remained overcast, the water was clear and the current was not too strong, so we presented you with an ideal place to take a bath!

Hyams Beach

There are more cool little towns, like Huskisson still in Jervis Bay, with one of those semi-natural pools by the sea. Although there is something for which this town is still remembered: here the most important military tragedy in the peace period of Australia took place, when in training maneuvers two warships collided fatally, taking the lives of 82 soldiers.

In Gerroa we stopped a moment to contemplate the views over the coast (even if they were from a cemetery, they were still beautiful) and Kiama We were seduced at the first moment, it is one of those places where we would come to enjoy our retirement (it would be news: two yayos with a pension from Spain are going to live in Australia). You can see a very tourist town, with many options for accommodation, coffee shops and restaurants. But what amazed us was the surroundings: in front of it, a cliff that separates golden sand beaches, and just behind it stand hills of green meadows where cattle graze. An interesting place is the Lighthouse with a blowhole, although if you want to see one in conditions go to Little blowhole, although his name underestimates him, it is much more cool than his older brother.

Lighthouse and blowhole in Kiama

Little blowhole

We set course for the Blue Mountains and we spend the night in the Bulls Camp Reserve, busy but highly recommended, with construction bathrooms and even a shower (very cold water). It has been a long day and many kilometers, but with magical views.

More than 1,500 km and 5 days are what we dedicate to roadtrip from Melbourne to Sydney. It was our first stage of roadtrip along the east coast of Australia, and for starters it was not bad at all!

In Sydney this time we would not stay, from Cairns, at the end of the roadtrip along the east coast of Australia, we took a flight and here we stayed for 5 days. We tell you everything to see and do in Sydney.

Video: 30 Beautiful Places to visit Australia Travel Vlog between Sydney to Perth Road Trip discovery 2020 (April 2024).