A-Z of my Australian Travels

My mum used to sing "I've been everywhere, man" with the long tongue-twisting list of Australia towns.  As a child it often felt like I yearned to go everywhere but decades later I can look back and see just how lucky I was to see so much of Australia before I travelled abroad as a 26 year old.  Yet there is always more to see (hello Uluru and Far North Queensland).  Today I am writing about my travels around Australia, focusing mostly on places I visited before I started blogging.  Both images and memories can be a bit hit and miss in places that I visited in my childhood and my student days.  We didn't take many photos back then so I have added a few from my blogging days, as well as some references to places visited since I have been blogging.

In my childhood so many holidays were in easy driving distance with only a couple of long drives interstate.  I clearly remember my brother comically kneeling on the ground and blessing it like a pope when we crossed the Murray River and, at age 12, I was finally out of our home state of Victoria.  At 20 years old it was so exciting and stomach-curdling when I had my first plane trip.  But as a university student and employee in my twenties, I started to travel more around Australia.  I still enjoy travelling around Australia and still wish I could see more of it. 

A is for Albany, WA

We went to Albany in the South West of Western Australia with a work colleague in a hire car on roadtrip to and from Perth in 2006.  The photo is of the view from a whale cruise.  It is one of my clearest memories of Albany.  The cruise was in search of a whale with the tourguide on the phone or walky talky to a pal who had seen a whale.  Finally we saw some a whale tail from a distance.  I've never been sure if it really was a whale.  From Albany we drove back to Perth via the giant tingle trees in Walpole, accommodation in Kerridale and the caves in Margaret River.

B is for Brisbane, Queensland

I have only been to Brisbane for a few short work trips: a conference, a workshop and showcase.  Two of these visits were almost 20 years ago and one was last year.  On one of the earlier trips, I visited my aunt and my friend.  My aunt took me about to the Customs House, Brisbane Beach, Mt Coot lookout and the Bonsai House at Botanic Gardens.  The photo is of Story Bridge, one of the iconic sights of Brisbane.

C is for Cradle Mountain, Tasmania

My first interstate trip without my family was with a friend when I was 20 years old.  We flew from Melbourne to Tasmania (my first plane flight), then travelled to Cradle Mountain and up to Devonport to return to Melbourne on the Abel Tasman ferry.  I think we returned overnight and had a bed but can't quite remember - only watching a rom-com on the tv and finding that the butterflies in my stomach were from sea sickness rather than the movie.  

At Cradle Mountain we stayed in a cabin that was a drive from the main lodge. We were pretty unprepared.  Firstly we didn't know how to light the fire and argued over who would ask the old man in the next cabin for help.  We didn't have enough food and had to hitch hike to the lodge for food.  We went on a joy ride to view the beauty of the mountains but the 6 seater plane made me feel airsick and I did not get the full benefit of the spectacular views. I think we might have gone for a short hike but it is too long ago to remember clearly.

D is for Darwin, NT

The first day of my new job many years ago was in Darwin for a "Convocation".  It was quite overwhelming.  I then visited my colleagues in Darwin regularly for a few years and became quite fond of it.  I often had time to go to the markets (Parap, Mindl Beach and Nightcliff).  One colleague raved about paw paw salad.  It was the first place I saw dragon fruit.  Darwin was a world away with a tropical laid-back vibe, wet season downpours and lots of Asian influences.  One of my colleagues told me he went swimming in the beaches until he got the "croc fear".  Another took me to her home to see a pre-Cyclone Tracy houses on stilts with slatted windows (similar to the above historic house).  I got to drive the CEO's car and laugh at the 5 minute peak hour.  

E came up to spend time with me a couple of times.  I had many social visits to drinking holes and restaurants such as Darwin Wharf, the Hanuman Restaurant and Cullen Bay.  With E we spent time as tourists visiting the Museum and Art Gallery (with Sweetheart the crocodile and an impressive Cyclone Tracy exhibit), Parliament House, historic Burnett House (above photo), feeding the fishes, and the jumping crocodile cruise.

E is for East Victoria
As a kid, we travelled in our state to the West and North of Melbourne but not often to the East.  I went to Lakes Entrance once when I was so little that all I can remember is bird poo on a park bench.  We had cousins in Maffra but I only remember running under the sprinkler in the heat.  My dad once took us to visit a friend of of his in Omeo.  On that trip we went for a drive around Dinner Plains that was just a muddy construction site and memorably my dad stopped at one point to throw the salad (made by his friend) down a mountain because us kids would not eat it.  We also drove around the Princes Highway (A1) to Sydney on one roadtrip.  As a student I drove to Wilson's Prom in a panel van and loved the beaches (see above photo) even though the snorkelling seemed too difficult.  You can see in my travel posts that I have been to East of Victoria more as an adult: Phillip Island, Mt Hotham, Shoreham, Yarram and Healesville.
 

F is for Fremantle, WA

On a visit to Perth as a student, we had an memorable visit to Fremantle.  It was the place to go to take the boat to Rotnest Island to see the cute quokkas and beautiful beaches.  My main memory is taking the cheap ferry and feeling quite sea sick as we helped fasten see-through plastic awnings to protect us from the rough waves.  The most amazing thing we did was visit the Fremantle Gaol.  It had closed only a few years before and our tour guide talked about the prisoners as though they had just left.  I remember some amazing artwork in the cells, hearing about the prisoners in the exercise yard and then our tour guide at the end telling us that he had been the deputy hangman of the prison.  I have good memories of brightly coloured modern cafes at Fremantle, possibly in 2006, and would definitely return.
 

G is for Gypsy Caravan holiday, Victoria

One of the most memorable childhood holidays was travelling through the bush for a week in a gypsy caravan pulled by Sam the Horse.  Our family was 7 kids under 11 years old, our laborador dog and my parents.  The heat was so hot that I still remember tipping buckets of water over ourselves in 40 C heat when my mum and sister returned from the caravan to tell us they heard the shocking news on the radio that John Lennon had been assassinated.  It was such an adventure with some of us sleeping in a tent, swimming in dams, showering under a tree by pouring water into a bag with holes.  There was a lot of walking beside the caravan because my mum said it was too heavy for Sam if we were on the caravan (and she knew if we tried to ride on the back step).  

We loved the gentle Clydsdale, Sam, who pulled the wagon but on our second last day it was too much for all of us in the heat.  Sam bolted when my parents tried to put on his harness.  The caravan was damaged and my mum said enough was enough.  She walked with my sister to the nearest farm to phone the company from where we had hired the horse and caravan.  They drove us back to the car a day early (not happy because Sam would not go in a horse box).  I clearly remember how dirty we were as we stopped at McDonalds in Ballarat on the way home but the food and the facilities seemed amazing after roughing it.
 

H is for Hahndorf, SA

I first went to Handorf near Adelaide in South Australia with my family when we travelled to Adelaide by car.  I love a heritage village.  Hahndorf was built by German migrants in the nineteenth century with many stone buildings to replicate those from their home towns.  My memories are of my large family trying to find a large enough table for us in a busy restaurant.  As a young adult I drove there with a couple of friends.  There was a lot of drinking and partying on this visit; one of my friends met her husband there.  But perhaps that was in Adelaide.  My memories are hazy.  I have clearer memories of a work trip to Adelaide watching the Haigh chocolates factory workers wrapping chocolates.
 

I is for India Pacific Train

A friend and I went to Perth by train.  That meant one day overnight on a train from Melbourne to Adelaide, a day in Adelaide, then we joined the India Pacific train (which started in Sydney) and travelled another 2 nights and a day to Perth.  We were students without much money so we didn't get sleepers.  After three nights sitting up in the cheap seats (with annoying music) it was great to lie down in the hostel where we stayed in Perth.  Crossing the Nullabor Plain was quite an experience with red dirt and shrubby plants as far as we could see.  The above photo was taken when we stopped in the middle of nowhere.  I can't remember why.  I do remember that when we were soon to arrive in Perth that an official came through and told me I could not take my apple off the train.  I said I would eat it and he stayed to check I did.  

We had a great time in Perth at a hostel.  When we discovered a favourite band, Weddings Parties Everything, were playing out of town, the hostel minibus was organised by our new friends and we had a great night at the gig with a group from the hostel.  The beaches were also great but we were more sun smart than British backpackers we met at the hostel who would get sunburnt so badly they had to spend the next day in bed.

J is for Johanna Beach, Victoria

Well of course I had to stop at Johanna Beach on the Great Ocean Road.  The stop at this wild beach was a blink of an eye in a trip to see the 12 Apostles at Port Campbell.  I didn't even swim but I have always hoped to return.  One day!  I think it was on the same trip that we stayed at a bed and breakfast near Apollo Bay and had to drive into town with petrol so low that as we drove up and down the steep hills the fuel gauge was frequently showing us to be on empty.  I was very relieved when we got to a petrol station.

The Great Ocean Road is such wonderful scenic drive, though not so safe.  It is so hard to drive and not let the eye be distracted by the views.  The beaches are the best in the world.  It is fun to stop at the Anglesea golf course to see the kangaroos that frequent it.  As well as the roads being full of distractions, they wind and bend to slow down the sensible driver.  These days there are more scenic lookouts so it is easier to pass slow traffic and stop to admire the sea views.  The road was constructed - mostly by hand - along the seaside cliffs by returned soldiers after World War I.  It was completed during the Depression in 1932.
 

K is for Kakadu, NT

On one trip to Darwin for work, E came up so we could join a tour to Kakadu National Park.  We were there at the end of the wet season when everyone kept telling us that there would be dragonflies soon to usher in the dry season.  

Our gung-ho tour guide took us in a 4-wheel drive minibus.  He drove us by huge termite mounds and stopped to show us a frill necked lizard and lick green ant bums.  When we got into the national park our bus broke down in a remote location.  I was impressed that one of his colleagues noticed he wasn't there and came to rescue us.  Even so, after one breakdown, I was worried about driving across a river, where I expected crocodiles but instead saw Aboriginal children swimming.  The upside was that we were the only group to visit the Aboriginal rock art site and could view it at our leisure.  The scenery was amazing and quite Crocodile Dundee.  

We saw a corroboree (Aboriginal dance ceremony) that night and stayed in a cabin with a man with really smelly feet.  The tour also included a stop at the refreshingly beautiful Litchfield Gorge.  We returned to Melbourne with great memories and scabies.

L is for Lorne, Victoria

I've been visiting Lorne for as long as I can remember.  We lived close enough for day trips.  My aunt had a beach house that had a John Denver album and room for backyard cricket.  Sometimes we met my dad there after work for fish and chips on the beach.  There were days by the swing bridge where the sea met the river, and other days when the waves were higher than our heads.  My mum taught us not to go beyond where the sea was up to our waists to allow for large waves.  And we always made sure that other people were out further than us.  In those days I don't remember life guards and red and yellow flags of safety zones.  I was so spoilt by the pristine beaches of soft sand and blue ocean that I have rarely seen beaches to hold a candle to Lorne.  

As well as magnificent beaches, we spent quite a lot of time having bbqs and bushwalking in the Angahook Forest Park.  When we were young we walked from the bbq area to the beach.  I loved the tall gum trees and the shady tree ferns.  Driving to Lorne after the Ash Wednesday bushfires, I was sad to see all the burnt trees.  Over the months we watched the bush regenerate.  I have written about a couple of Lorne holidays since starting this blog.  As it is quite far to drive, I ended up going to Torquay more these days but still have a special place in my heart for Lorne.
 

M is for Murray River, Victoria

The first place I went interstate was across the Murray River into NSW during a holiday in Swan Hill when I was about 12 years old.  My oldest brother got to his knees and laid hands on the ground as he has seen the Pope do.  I have been to and across the river many times since.  It always surprises me at how wide it is.  My mum loves the Murray as she lived near it as a kid.  Actually three of my grandparents lived along the Murray River.  We've been on the steamboats on the river at Echuca, looked for koalas in the gum trees on its banks and lingered longer in Yarrawonga.

N is for National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra, ACT 

While I was a student, some of my friends went to Canberra to study and do government internships.  I enjoyed visiting them and wandering around the national capital.  I travelled by public transport unlike when I visited by car or for work when the roundabouts would drive us crazy.  Staying with my friends gave me plenty of time to visit place like War Memorial, the National Museum, National Gallery, and historic Calthorpe House.  One of my favourite places was the lovely 1930s Old Parliament House when it was turned into the National Portrait Gallery.  

I loved all the elegantly minimal 1930s architecture from the early days of Canberra.  One of the buildings which I admired was the National Film and Sound Archive.  One day a friend and I were at a loose end and sat in the visitors centre watching historic tv clips over and over so that, as the loop went around, we could yell out what clip was coming next.  I wish I had that much time to while away the day nowadays.
 

O is for Old Sydney Town, NSW

I love living history museums where I can immerse myself in a moment in history.  The one I know the best is Sovereign Hill in Ballarat that recreates a gold rush town.  It is great for a spot of panning for gold and eating those red horsehead lollipops.  I have fond memories of Old Sydney Town, just north of Sydney, where we went when I was 14 years old.  I had read and watched on tv about the history of colonisation of Australia and could recognise names and liefstyles.  Though I don't remember seeing anything in Old Sydney Town about the Aboriginal people that the settlement had displaced.  I am sure it would be very different today if it was still open.  I also loved the Swan Hill Pioneer Village and remember enjoying being there with my siblings in the old school house and taking it in turns to be the teacher.  We loved playing schools as kids so a real classroom was great!

P is for Port Arthur , Tasmania

This is the most difficult place to write about.  It is the ruins of a convict settlement near Hobart.   I went there when I was 20 and had fun with my school friend.  Port Arthur offered horrific stories of solitary confinement, young boys doing hard labour, and the isle of the dead where prisoners were buried.  We even did a ghost tour that bored my friend but I was more susceptible.  One of the nicest parts of going there was staying with Jim and Sally in their Seascape guesthouse.  They were so kind to us.  On our first night they helped us work out where to go for dinner and even spoke to local people to organise transport there and back.  It was awful to hear about the Port Arthur Massacre in 1996.  But I didn't take as much notice of current affairs as I do now.  So it was years later that I realised that the guesthouse where we stayed was the place that was burnt after the owners were murdered.  When I returned to Hobart in 2008 I could not face going to Port Arthur as it was too depressing. 
 

Q ifs for Queenscliff, Victoria

Queenscliff is a place I used to go to often to cross the Heads or the Rip where Bass Straits meets Port Phillip Bay.  At first we would take the passenger ferry, which often bobbed about in the rip.  I barely remember that ferry to Sorrento but I do remember that we often sat outside to help with the seasickness, and sometimes looked over at the swell of the ocean in the ferry's wake.  There was nothing like stepping off the ferry with shaky legs and stepping on terra firma with great relief.  My mum would tell us how rare the Queenscliff black lighthouse was, and we went on tours of its maritime history.  Fort Queenscliff was one of Australia's coastal defences, important for being situated at the Heads where any ships would enter Port Phillip Bay towards Melbourne.  As a kid I found it hard to tell the difference between Queenscliff and Queensland, and often thought people heading to tropical Queensland were just going up the road.

In 1987 the new car ferry replaced the little passenger ferry.  My toddler niece would call it the "big boat" and it seemed huge.  This was a hovercraft with more car park than passenger seats.  The convenience of taking the car on the ferry was great but the extra expense made it less practical.  And the wooden pier was replaced by a modern concreate expanse for the queues during busy periods.  I don't go to Queenscliff so often nowadays but I do occasionally go to the Bellarine Peninsula - whether for holidays at Ocean Grove, to visit a friend at her holiday house in Point Lonsdale, to visit the Jirrahlinga Koala and Wildlife Sanctuary, to eat at the cafe in Diver Dan's hut at Barwon Heads or to go to the National Celtic Festival in Portarlington.

R is for Road trips, various

Road trips mean country bakeries, far away horizons, scenic drives, historic country pubs with cast iron balconies, tiny towns, large public gardens with the obligatory fountain, quirky signs, bluestone ruins, and windmills.  Driving long distances is not my favourite thing to do but I do love seeing country towns and the views along the wide open road that I would not otherwise see.  I've taken roadtrips to Sydney, Adelaide, Port Fairy, Orange, Canberra, the Grampians among other places.

As a kid roadtrips meant cramming into a car with 6 siblings, with one memorable drive to Sydney by the coast on the Princes Highway in a station wagon with luggage packed around the two kids in back-facing seats in the boot.  I loved that we stopped at a caravan park in Eden called the Garden of Eden on that trip.  One of my favourite road trip memories is driving through Mt Gambier on the way home from Adelaide as it was getting dark and everyone was getting tired.  We saw the lighted sign of a well known hotel chain and my parents had not energy to resist getting a room there.  It was a really nice hotel and we enjoyed our unexpected stay.

S is for Sorrento

As you can see in my Queenscliff memories, we often got the ferry to Sorrento when I was a kid.  When I was quite small, my mum's family would often holiday on the Mornington Peninsula.  I remember one rambling holiday house where we toasted jaffles in the fire and ran around in the big garden pretending our ping pong bats (or tennis racquets?) were guitars and then marvelling at a sun shower.  I also have vague memories of the Sorrento Aquarium.  Some time before I reached high school, my grandparents bought a house in Rye for holidays and weekends and they eventually moved there upon retirement.  

We would take the ferry (before the car ferry) and pile into my grandfather's VW beetle and my grandmother's little corona.  My grandfather would remark on all the migrant families having picnics on the shore when it was holiday time.  Then we would have a BBQ at their place surrounded by tea trees and head out to of the bay beaches.  We didn't go to the dangerous ocean back beaches.  For some longer holidays, my parents drove the long way around the bay so that when we arrived at my grandparents home we had our van that we could all fit in.  One of my favourite place names to pass was Tootgarook and I loved driving along Point Nepean Road by the seaside.  The beaches at Sorrento, Rye, Rosebud and Blairgowrie are lovely with calm blue seas and sandy shores.

T is for Trephina Gorge, NT
I have had a few trips to Alice Springs for work. It is such a remote town in the middle of the desert.  I never got to Uluru (which I discovered is a plane trip away) but enjoyed seeing the MacDonald Ranges from my hotel window.  One of the most memorable trips was out of town to an Indigenous conference in a large marquee with two pedestal fans at the front in 40 C weather.  It was so hot that even my absent-minded manager was concerned for my health.  Some people camped nearby and told us about the snake that they saw.  There were plans for a conference dinner at Trephina Gorge but the weather was not promising so the dinner was moved to another venue out of town.  Some colleagues and I visited Trephina Gorge after the conference and I was so amazed by the scenery that I was sad we had not had our dinner there.

U is for Underground caves, Margaret River, WA

Driving back from Albany to Perth, we stopped at Margaret River to visit the underground caves.  The photo above is of the entrance to the caves.  It was fascinating to descend into the Lake Cave and marvel at the stalactites hanging from the ceiling of a huge cave with a river running through it.  I have a photo from inside the cave but it is so dim you can just see the stalactites but not much more.  I suspect with today's cameras I would get a much better photo in that lighting.  The above photo is of the entrance.  If I was to go to Margaret River again, I would like to spend more time enjoying the good food the region has to offer.

V is for Violet town, Victoria

Violet Town is one of the small towns that the Hume Highway used to go through but now bypasses, so I only know I am passing there by the road signs.  I went there once to be bridesmaid at a friend's wedding at her parents' farm.  I can't remember how I got there but it was a beautiful outdoor wedding with bottle green and cream in the bride and bridesmaids outfits and the lovely vistas of the gentle hills and shady trees.  I had some mild asthma late at night and would have managed but my friend's sister was a doctor and insisted on driving me an hour to an all night chemist in the middle of the night because no one except the bride had ventolin - and we didn't want to disturb her wedding night.

W is for Waterfront Geelong, Victoria

Geelong was part of my life since I can remember.  When we were young it was the big smoke compared to our country town.  Frequenting beaches on the Mornington Peninsula and Great Ocean Road meant that Geelong's bay beaches were never attractive.  We were more likely to be spending our time at the Village Twin (cinema), the Art Gallery, the Geelong Library, the Malop Street Mall, the Pancake Parlour, the new Market Square shopping centre or the bluestone train station en route to Melbourne.  But as an adult the Geelong Waterfront has been given a new lease on life.

I have spent quite a bit of time walking along the waterfront and eating at its cafes such as the Wharf Shed with my family.  We took my nieces to the carousel and playgrounds, got family photos taken at Easter Beach, went on a ferris wheel with a friend, attended a refugee demonstration, and ate ice creams from a van.  I love the life-sized peg people, like in the above photo, you can see all along the waterfront.  They are great fun and reflect the history of Geelong.  I still don't swim at beaches at Geelong but I do love the liveliness of the Waterfront today.

X is for Xstravagant Sydney, NSW

The Sydney and Melbourne rivalry has always been fierce.  Melbourne is the cool moody goth dressed in black at a coffee shop.  Sydney is a glitzy big sister in cocktail bars with spectacular views of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.  I first visited Sydney with family as a teenager, then frequently as a student when my younger sister lived there and later when I had a partner and child.  

Sydney has always felt a little extravagant: from the view from Sydney Tower and the luxury of Victoria Building shopping centre with my parents, to visiting the meticulously detailed museums and conferences in wharf sheds as a student, to taking part in the Mardi Gras in the early 1990s, to travelling the harbour on ferries with my daughter.  Circular Quay has always felt special with its views of the Opera House and the Bridge.  I have visited for work events, swam at the gorgeous city beaches and even travelled out to the Blue Mountains. 

Y is for Yarram, Victoria

My first visit to Yarram in Gippsland was to attend a friend's wedding at their farm.  We drove along a bush road with signs saying to beware wombats but we only saw them as roadkill.  On that visit we stayed in a cabin at a caravan park.   I returned recently with Sylvia and enjoyed visiting Tarra Bulga National Park. 

Z is for Zumsteins, Victoria

We had quite a few holidays at the Zumsteins in the Grampians.  It was a large house rented out by the RSL.  Next door was a paddock where kangaroos came to be fed by tourists.  We would have bbqs in the yard with the roos.  The above photo is a crop of my toddler brother patting a tame kangaroo.  We would go on bushwalks and occasionally drive into the town of Halls Gap.  I have been back a couple of times with Sylvia and still marvel at the beautiful landscape.  These days I don't think the houses where we stayed are there any more and the kangaroo grounds were disbanded after a kangaroo attacked a tourist.  I was really surprised this year to find there are quite a few Aboriginal rock art sites in the Grampians.  Something I never would have expected as a kid.

 
More travel compilations posts on Green Gourmet Giraffe blog:

About Me, Part 2 - mostly about travels (2008)
A-Z of my international travel (places and stories)
Travel in the 1990s - A-Z of changes 
Also see travel posts in reflections and reviews