victoria: mount franklin reserve

There are some places that we visit that we'll never forget - Buchan (Vic), Boat Harbour Beach (Tas), Bay of Fires (Tas), Cradle Mountain (Tas) to name a few. 

Mount Franklin Reserve is another place to add to the list - a free camp - which we found in Camps 8. In paddocks, just out of Castlemaine, is an extinct volcano and within it is Mount Franklin Reserve. There are toilets but otherwise campers need to take home rubbish & have their own water. 

The sites are under towering pines and it's absolutely beautiful. The kids & J enjoyed a short walk around the top of the volcano and playing hide and seek in the forest. 

I'm sure there'd be times when this is very busy. 

victoria: melbourne, castlemaine, mount franklin

Farewell Tassie! We will be back! 

We had a crazy what-could-have-been-disastrous moments when we disembarked the Spirit of Tasmania. We'd planned out route out of Melbourne, avoiding the CBD, when, as we approached a bridge J, thankfully, noticed the CLEARANCE 3.0M sign. And was able to stop twenty metres before the bridge. Luckily, whilst there was a steady stream of traffic, rush hour wasn't in full swing. 

The CB radio comes in so handy in times like these and I jumped from the truck to check the traffic behind the van. We were able to wait for a break in the traffic and do a u-turn. That got the heart pumping! 

First stop was breakfast and I'd opened my Broadsheet app the night before to plan ahead. I hadn't been to Zaatar on Sydney Rd in Coburg before but this place made us a mean coffee and amazing pizzas (think Lebanese Gozleme with fluffy dough) for breakfast. 

"Okay - we'll have a second coffee. Why not?"

Our boy noticed a man with a cowboy hat grooving to the music and he decided he'd draw a portrait of him. After a few minutes B stood up and took it over to the man. He was so pleased to have received the drawing that he presented B with a $5 note. Rarely have I seen B floored but he was. His face glowed and it was so lovely.

P quickly grabbed a texta and went about making her own portrait of the gentleman. 

Sometimes in life there's a sense of 'meant to be.' Do you remember last year when I flew to Melbourne and J met me there to collect the caravan? 

It was when J walked in to the Brooklyn Arts Hotel dining room that he first noticed Maralinga Test Dummy - a bronze by the very talented Craig MacDonald. J was instantly taken by the sculpture and we decided that we'd buy him and take him home. 

Maralinga Man (as we call him) rode in the kid's car seat for most of the way to Sydney. 

When we spoke to Craig over the phone about his artwork we said we'd like to see his studio near Castlemaine at some stage. Well, we found ourselves with a day and a night to spare and we wanted to get out of the city. 

The Foundry is Craig's studio and where he casts bronze for other artists and we had a ball visiting him. 

As a side project he and chef, Helen have gone in to the business of..... making ice- cream! True story! 

Ice cream Social does the rounds of festivals but they plan to expand and open a shopfront. Watch this space for the ice-cream that will give Messina a run for its money. 

Spaceman enjoyed pistachio, lime coconut, vanilla gold digger (with real gold), salted caramel, cherry Shiraz and peach & raspberry sorbet. 

tasmania: bakers beach

We arrived at Narawntapu NP in the afternoon during the week and it was deathly quiet. There were three or four campervans and caravans spread throughout Bakers Beach where we decided to pull up for two nights before our trip back across the Strait. 

The brochures suggest that you can spend twilight with the wombats, pademelons and wallabies. You probably can if you don't bring your own heard to little (loud, enthusiastically loud) people along. Needless to say, we enjoyed searching for the elusive wombats! 

Remember that rainbow trout J (literally) caught at the caravan park at Launceston? It went on our smoker tonight on the Weber on she-oak (Casurina) chips. As it took a while for the smoker to start the flavour was subtle & perfect for the moist morsels. Thank you fishy. And thank you husband for catching & cooking it. 

These were those Fresh Water Oysters cooked with locally made Worchestire Sauce and Bok's Bacon from Tassie. So good but so different from natural. 

Bakers Beach is a great getaway. We find that in the freecamps there's little pressure to do anything. A walk is usually on the itinerary and then there's the obligatory tinkering of the truck or the van  while I prepare meals but we are forced to relax so much more than in CPs. I haven't yet worked out why that is. 

tasmania: bay of fires (cosy corner)

These were the recipes we used for the squid and the mackerel. Reknowned for being an oily fish it was perfect for the bbq. We had our trusty Weber on hand.

On the road there are times when it's just us and the kids but we've met quite a few lovely people including other families travelling with their kids. 

At Bay of Fires we met two families one if whom we sat chatting in to the night and then had a fry up the next morning. The other family we met had a little girl who shares the same birthday with our youngest. These guys brought champagne and salad to our feast of squid and mackerel.  

Have you eaten mackerel? How was it cooked?

Squid on bbq 

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/32665/barbecued+salt+and+pepper+squid

Mackerel 

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4465/barbecued-mackerel-with-ginger-chilli-and-lime-dri

tasmania: bay of fires

We created some great memories at the Bay of Fires. Many times since we arrived in Tassie people recommended free camping at Cosy Corner. We arrived after lunch and we're really lucky to find a site. If you intend to stay at either Cosy Corner North or South it would be best to arrive at about 11 - giving people enough time to pack up & vacate their site. It's a popular spot but you can still find yourself a nice private site. 

We chose to stay at Cosy Corner North so we had toilet facilities close by. It's good to give the van a work-out and find out the limitations.

We can comfortably free camp for three nights as long as we have enough sunshine to power the batteries (though in some places we can crank up the gennie). It's pretty good that, as a family of five, the solar panels, water tanks & toilet in the van give us that independence. I must say we were grateful for the shower yesterday (after 4 days) though! 

We've only had a few instances when we could have been more prepared for meals. If you're planning a stay at Bay of Fires you don't have to worry too much. St Helens is only a quarter of an hour from the campsites. There's a large IGA but the smaller Hilly's IGA is a fabulous supplier of local cheese (Payengana) & the best bacon I've ever eaten - Bok's - from Glenorchy in Tassie. 

And if you need your coffee fix Marika at Coffee Away - a hole-in-the-wall - can make you caffeine in whatever form you desire! You can grab a takeaway or just sit on the benches in the sun out front and watch the holiday makers wander by. 

We'd been told about Lease 65 Oysters but I took a wrong turn and found myself at Clean Water Oysters (200 Binalong rd) where i grabbed three dozen unshucked for $24! We ate some natural (with lemon) and turned some in to Kilpatrick with the Bok's bacon and homemade Worschestire sauce from the providore in St Helens. Oh man. They were good. The kids guzzled them down too.

B had his eye on the sweet tiny wrens at the campsite. He was desperate to cuddle one so he spent about 3.5 hours one day designing and re-jigging a trap. He used various lengths of string, sticks, bread crumbs and cheese crumbs when he heard they love those best. Unfortunately B didn't have any luck. 

Unlike J in his kayak! Early one morning he managed to catch a mackerel (not the nicest but we do have a good recipe) and a squid.