Living the Dream
Planning for our next tour is always fun and between family time and living, this is what has been filling my thoughts of late and its led me to reflect on travel and family. After a number of years there still is simply so much of our beautiful country to see. Even revisiting places we love is a joy, as we get to see what time has made of them and then there is Family… yours.
Our favourite places to set up camp are often to be found in National Parks, Forestry and Reserves. Each State approaches the provision of these camps in different ways. Some like Victoria see these places as belonging to the public, and therefore generally encourage their free use, while others have usually quite reasonable maintenance and camping charges applied. But in general they are great places to camp. The campsites are usually comfortably generous with a minimum of facilities… ie drop dunnys and you are required to have a measure of self-sufficiency. Continue reading
We’ve been travelling now for some years and have reached a point where our beloved home on wheels is in need a bit of work. Like a house, the van suffers all that wear and tear you experience from constant use. On-going maintenance is a must! But what people don’t talk about or perhaps don’t experience as they use their vans intermittently, is refurbishment.
Sofala NSW – The Turon River Gold Fields
We are camped up in one of our favourite haunts… along the Turon River near Sofala, deep in the hinterland of Central NSW. When most Grey Nomads are on their northern sojourn, chasing the sun, The Man and I have elected to winter in the chill southern States this year. We are looking forward to enjoying the frosty mornings, the sweet morning chorus of the birds as they choose their winter mates, and prepare for the deep winter and the break of spring that will bring the promise of a new generation.
Available for the greatly reduced price of 99c for a short time are the collated stories of ‘Discovering Australia & Her Lore’ in ebook.
The stories of travelling Aus’ 2013-14 will be available from 20th April for one week only at this price which is 75% discount. Just follow the links.
The 2015 ebook edition following your adventure through Australia will be available from 19th May, for one week only at 99c, or available at other times for the normal price of US$3.99.
Full of Australian tales, and the travelling experience of a wandering lifestyle, you can experience the richness of life on the wallaby.
Come join us in an adventure. You will also find a ‘download for free’ ebook reader available at Amazon, for your computer or tablet.
Discover Australia and Her Ancient Lore.
Having just experienced the tropic savannah wilderness of Litchfield NP in the Top End, I find myself sitting on the edge of the ocean, to the roll of the endless waves against a sandy beach. We set the swag up last night, just north of Darwin, to watch the lights of the city and those of Casuarina from a beautiful spot called Gunn Point.
I wanted to do a blog purely on camping out. Mainly because we usually use the freecamps, National Parks and Forestry’s when we can and this is the true and traditional Aussie camping out experience. This is a choice of ours and a clear preference of many, although we do have a holiday every now and then in a holiday park… or caravan park, like everyone else who uses occasionally or actually prefer these ‘plug in’ settings every now and then.
The last week has been delightful. Camped up in the Rainforest of Far North Queensland, under the canopy of the Hinterland escarpment of Kuranda is a wonderful experience. We are clearing some of the dreaded lantana from the rainforest, restoring its majesty and enjoying its peace. Lantana is one of those pesky weeds, which was bought into Australia during colonial times in the height of idiocy as a decorative plant.
There is nothing quite like the dawn as it sweeps through the forest in the early break of day. These are the things that I love about camping in the forestry. The forests are a place of mystery for me, a place of quite contemplation where you can sit with the giants of the land. Here in Victoria it is a wonderful place to enjoy the forests. Having recently been in the west coast forests of the US where the trees are mostly pine, I can truly appreciate the diversity of Aussie forests. It is coming on winter here… autumn has settled and the beautiful gums are shedding their coats of bark, littering the forest floor. The colours are breathtaking. Continue reading
With the new year comes the time to organise and reflect on the year past. I’m deep into this now, organising my writing and busy editing past posts. I’ve been blogging and writing publicly now for a few years and I’ve been with WordPress for about 18 months. I must admit I find the WordPress site the easiest to negotiate… even when they occasionally get it pear shaped with the date stamp thing as with one or two past blog. There simply is no better, or easier way to stay in contact with family, friends and my readers, as well as those great adventurers who you meet constantly on the road. Like souls and others who are living the dream and holding life by its horns as they tour the country.
My latest project has been to gather up my postings into some order, mostly for my elderly Mum who is wanting to read these and can’t manage a computer. Hence… I have released a anthology of my blogs in a pricey full colour print and a cheap large e-book both with many full colour pic’s. It has been an interesting exercise for me.
Jan Hawkins Author 