SEGMENT 2 As we continued south, we spent a night at a friend's farm in the Goulburn area. It was a wonderful treat and we enjoyed the peace and quiet on his beautiful, large property. We have noticed that Jeeps are not very common here and Toyotas and Nissans are much more popular. Also, rigs are built up more for long-distance travel and not so much for hard-core 4wheeling. Needless to say, our Jeep really stuck out and we were stopped many times with curious questions. Through 4wdtrips.net, a 4x4travel online forum, we had met Mark and Grace from Canada and had been in email contact with them for a while. We finally managed to meet up in Canberra (pic02); since they had been traveling through Australia for eight months they had plenty of good tips for our journey ahead. We talked for hours and enjoyed the interchange and shared interests. We cut south through the marvelous Namadgi National Forest on a windy unsealed mountain road and continued towards the coast. We marvelled upon the breathtaking scenery of Lakes Entrance before we reached the Ninety Mile Beach (pic03) where we made camp in one of the amazingly beautiful free campsites. March 8: Further along the
coast we visited Tarra-Bulga National Park, a dense rain forest with huge
ferns which dwarfed even our vehicle. Continuing to Melburn we stopped
at Phillip Island and watched the Penguin Parade. Every night the fairy
penguins, the smallest of their kind, come on land in groups to run across
the beach in the safety of numbers. They tend to their burrows and their
young and return to sea early in the morning to feed. This spectacle has
become very touristy over the years and photography is not allowed to
protect the animals, but in the visitor center we could look into some
burrows and took pictures through the glass (pic05). We spent the next few days in Melbourne (pic06) and stayed with a wonderful friend who spoiled us rotten. On Saturday, we walked around the Central Business District with its many old buildings, arcades and alleys, buzzing with cafes and restaurants. We also explored some of the suburbs. Melbourne was gearing up for the Commonwealth Games about to start next week. Sunday, March 12: We were invited
to the annual Jeepfest just west of the city, a gathering of Jeep enthusiasts
at a 4x4 testing ground sponsored by a local Jeep dealer. Our rig drew
a lot of interest: A left-hand-drive vehicle with some components unusual
for Oz, an aggressive setup with big tires (in Australia most trucks are
built up for touring, not hard-core trails). The secretary of the club
put it well: "Had you charged everybody that looked at your vehicle
today, you could have paid for the entire trip." We enjoyed the company
of experienced Outback travelers and soaked in their stories of lands
yet to be discovered by us. |
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