East Victoria Road-Trip Part 1

One of these things I dreamed of a long time. Even that I traveled a lot of Australia on my Working Holiday visa 2013, I never had a car or van to explore my own routes. In September 2018, after I finished my Bachelor's degree in chemistry, I had the chance to hire a camper van and travel around a bit. I wanted to spend four weeks in Australia but had limited resources to spend. I planned to spend a week or a little bit more with my friends Peter and Merry and just relax and afterward take a camper for a trip around Victoria.

A great view over Tallangatta Valley, a farming area without any tourist.

FLYING TO AUSTRALIA

Usually, I was always flying from Frankfurt, Germany, via Dubai to Sydney or Melbourne. A significant disadvantage was that it always took half a day to get there. Most of the time, I had to leave my flat, taking a train towards Frankfurt around 6-8 hours before the flight time. Some times the trains were delayed or got canceled, to be safe I had to plan in a lot of extra time. 2018, I was lucky that a friend of mine would drive me towards Düsseldorf airport, which is also much closer to my place than Frankfurt. Luckily Emirates added Düsseldorf to their daily flight path to and from Germany. Therefore, my start to this trip was relaxing. I took the late-night fly towards Dubai and spent the 5-hour stopover at the Lounge @ B before boarding the 15-hour flight towards Melbourne. A significant advantage of these flights is that you arrive at 6 am and have a full extra day. It might be unpleasant if you are suffering from Jet lag as its a long time till you can go to bed in the evening. Most of the time, I took the flight and then the 8 am train from Melbourne central towards Albury to my friends, which generally took another 5-6 hours (trains in Australia are not the fastest).

The Hippie Drift van I took around Victoria.

THE HIPPIE CAMPER VAN

This time I picked up a campervan from Hippie Camper, I had to wait a bit for the office to open. When I arrived at the office to pick up the camper, I wasn´t prepared for negotiations. I booked the cheapest camper, Drift, with the most affordable package. The person making the contract with me was trying to convince me like 30 min to take a higher package, which includes better insurance. I was still a bit tired from the flight, and at this point, I gave in and just unnecessarily spend another 600€ on something I didn´t need as my German insurance would have covered everything which was included in the “better” package. The van itself, I´m not sure what to think about it. For four weeks, 450€ were reasonable; on the other side, it was a bit shabby. The vans are a bit older, but it is expectable as Hippie is the low-cost brand from Appollo camper. The vans are used there, and when they get too old for Appollo, they get rebranded for Hippie as far as they explained it to me. Therefore the gearbox was tricky from time to time, especially 1st and second gear were quite bitchy. This sometimes makes, in combination with the not adjustable seat, long-distance drives uncomfortable. I think you can avoid these things with two drivers to alternate drivers during long trips. Nevertheless, I have to admit driving it, besides the gearbox and sitting position was absolute fun! It´s small and agile with quite good acceleration.

The inventor, on the other hand, was quite good. A little bit run down with scratches and missing paint on some parts, but everything worked fine, and when you didn´t look for details, everything was okay. The main backseat cabin had a large U-shaped bench and a swiveling table which at night goes down to form the bed. The kitchen with cupboards, sink, and the electric cooler, esky, is located in back and only accesible from the back. It is possible to access the esky while sitting inside, but it takes some practice to open probably. The van comes with all cutlery and cooking equipment, as there is no fixed stove, a portable propane gas burner is included. I have mixed experiences with it, sometimes it worked great but like 50% of the time it didn´t. As there is no windshield supplied with it, it is hard to build up outside when its a bit windier. Further, its no use when it rains, and you are not at a location where there are roofed benches.
The camper is not insulated at all, you have the bare metal of the outside walls inside, so in September (winter/end of winter), it gets icy inside, but the person setting up the camper with me nicely supplied me with additional free blankets. These were necessary as in some nights in the Victorian high-country, the temperatures dropped below zero. For the windows, they provide insulated blackout curtains you can click onto the windows. In total, the van is enough for two persons, but as you can´t stand inside, and I with 1.95m couldn´t even sit upright in the back, it could get cramped inside. I would recommend it when you plan on traveling cheaply with two people and want to spend all day and evenings outside, as the only comfortable part of being inside is sleeping. Also, you shouldn´t carry too many bags, as the only storing options are beneath the bench and in the foot room of the back area, which in some sharper corners sent my bag sliding from one side to the other of the floor.

FIRST KILOMETERS

Last meters to Peter and Merry sweet little house on the hill.

The first stretch of my trip was a 380 km drive up towards Albury and further to my friends, where I stayed one and a half weeks on their new property. Two significant problems appeared during the journey. Driving on the left side, surprisingly, was none of them. After like 200 m, I got used to the left-side driving. It might be helpful that I, in Germany, never drive. I would say since I´m 18, I may have driven 10.000 to 15.000 km myself. At least 7.000 km were on the left-hand side in Australia, during my first year there with borrowed cars or on other holiday trips. Therefore, I have no problem at all changing from right to the left side, it always just takes me a couple of 100m to realize and then no problem at all the next 3.500 km of that trip.
The first problem appeared after like 20 min. The navigation system I brought with me from Germany brock, it just stopped working in the middle of the highway and turned itself off. When I stopped and turned it back on, the lower half wouldn´t be touch-sensitive anymore, which is terrible as all the controls where down there. I just decided to go without any navigation, as the way was easy. I just needed to follow the highway until Albury at the New South Wales border, and from there, I knew the way. I drove to and through Albury and Wodonga with Peter and Merry so many times that I quickly found my way without signs and Nav-system. There, the second major problem came into place and destroyed my beautiful plan. The fuel gauge didn´t work, what I didn´t knew. Halfway up to Albury, it showed suddenly that the tank was nearly empty. The area is not mainly known for an abundance of petrol and service stations. I had to turn off at one point following the signs towards a small town in the hope that they have a petrol station. They luckily had, sadly it was Sunday, and it was closed, a nice woman passing by told me in the next town there would be one which is always open. For the record, don´t imagen a European or American large petrol station with a sign, a shop and a lot of petrol pumps. This petrol station was just an ordinary house with a petrol pump on the sidewalk before it. When I quite nervously finally found the second petrol station (next town down the road meant like 30 km), I could top up my petrol tank. It took me 10 min to open the petrol tank as the button to open it, is between the drivers and passenger seats. Ok, I may have looked everywhere besides there.

After refilling I figured out that either the tank is tiny or the petrol gauge must be broken, as only 20 L fitted into the tank. Form there on, I calculated how far I should come with one filling by average consumption (390 km) and tried to refill every 300 km to be on the safe side. A 55 L tank with 14 L consumption on 100 km is really bad for long-distance driving.
The last stretch of the journey than was a bit nerve tearing, as I didn´t want to drive the way back to the highway but also had no navigation. I just followed a street, I assumed, going into the direction of the highway. It never actually reached the highway but I ended up in Albury and found my way back on track. The last kilometers I could enjoy the fullest, the road is easy to drive, following the banks of Lake Hume, before turning into Tallangatta Valley. After selling the school camp, my friends moved a couple of kilometer down the road to a small house on a hill with a brilliant view over the valley and lush gardens (which were at that point not blooming yet).

THE HOUSE ON THE HILL

The hills around the house are nice to just relax.

For me, visiting Peter and Merry is always like coming home. Their place already became my second home. Even after they sold the camp and now have a new place, after 5 min, I felt back again. Their new house is a lovely small cottage style house on a hill without central heating. They prepared a wonderful guest room for me, and the fireplace nicely warmed the whole house. I enjoy staying with them, as it´s always something completely different than in Germany. I don´t have Wifi with them, and up until 2018, they didn´t have a proper phone reception—the perfect place to get away from your phone and everything.

Additionally, helping them around the house or the farm is quite refreshing. Some would say I could just stay a couple of weeks with my grandparents, they don´t have proper internet as well, and I could help them. I don´t know, for me flying to Australia helps me to get even more distance to my normal study life in a big city. 2018, I help around the property to plant trees and clean up the gardens, as the grounds were used for farming by the former owners.
I must admit again, digging holes for tree seedlings is something I never did before. Especially that many, after four days, I had small blisters at my hands. The grounds were tight and stony, but it was fun. Sometimes physical work is excellent, primarily when you usually only work at a computer. Other than work, the area is great just to relax and hike. I quite a lot just sad on the porch reading a magazine or going for hikes around the house. One of the great things about not being a tourist area is that you can go where ever you want as long as you respect other people’s property. The people in the valley all know each other. Therefore you can just walk through there fields and pastures. You only always have to close the gates behind you again and maybe avoid the bulls. It´s funny how many people recognize me in the valley, I visited Tallangate Valley so many times and participated in cultural events that most people already knew me. This time I joined the Valley for a game of Aussie ruled football, it´s I would say, like American football just without protective gear. Or maybe more like ruby, as there are no yard lines you have to cross or line-ups of players as in American football. They just run with a ball across the field and smack each other! Fun to look, but quite bloody from time to time.

CANBERRA

Before really starting the road trip, I made a two day trip to Canberra. I had beforehand asked a senior lecturer at the ANU (Australian National University) for a meeting. I wanted to talk with him about the opportunity to have an internship or a master thesis with him. As I right now doing my Master thesis in Germany, you can imagen that it didn´t work out. When we met, he was amiable, showed me around the faculty, and even invited me to dinner at his private house. I had a great time with him and his family, and he also showed me a viewpoint to overlook Canberra at around 11 pm. Sadly, because of my miss planning and some disagreements with my German professor, the stay never happened. With Covid-19 at the moment, I don´t see a chance to may stay with him for a Ph.D. Also, I didn´t ask for a place with him yet.
Besides the university visit, I had time to visit the parliament and central shopping district. Canberra is a town, only build for the purpose to house the government of Australia. Some say that on weekends and public holidays, the city is nearly empty as all politicians travel home to their families in Melbourne or Sydney. The persons I met assured me that with the students and all the people working for the government, the city is always quite lively. I liked the vast park areas around the parliament building and the large “lake” between university and government district. The parliament house itself you can visit, take tours around it and attend parliament discussions, which are quite entertaining. Everybody is shouting into the talks, and one person tries to get an order in the politicians, which works more or less from time to time. My friends always said it's embarrassing for them to see the politicians act like kindergarten kids sometimes. Portraits of all the prime ministers and essential personalities of Australia are hanging around the parliament. At the time I visited, some art, and relicts of Australian history were also displayed. As the entrance is free, it´s always worth a visit. Just remember, there is a security checkpoint, like at an airport, at the door and, an additional to get into the congress chamber to listen to the debates.

ROAD TO BUCHAN

After my short excursion to Canberra, I went back to my friends for one night. After restocking my camper in Tallangatta, I started my way to the Victorian east coast. From Tallangatta, I took the direct route crossing the Australian alps towards Omeo. It´s one of the best drives I ever did, might be because I rarely drive myself. I followed the Omeo Highway along a small river in the valley bed, before climbing up into the mountains.

Small river flowing quietly through the valley.

It’s a gorgeous drive through lush forests and small villages surrounded by fields and meadows. Most of the way, I was utterly alone on the road, so nobody got annoyed by me driving a bit slower to enjoy the scenery. Nevertheless, the best part starts at Mitta Mitta, a small town at the end of the valley. It only consists of a couple of small cottages and an essential petrol station. In Mitta Mitta, a sign says: “End of street marks.” The road gets narrower, and no white lines or signposts on the side of the road indicate the further street. The street becomes curvy, and scenery changes between thigh forests and steep climbs and small valleys, best and most scary part: with the sign in Mitta Mitta, the allowed speed went from 50 km/h up to a 100 km/h. At some points, it was so steep and curvy that between turns, I couldn´t accelerate higher than 40 or 50 km/h.

The view, shortly before one of the mountain passes.

As the parts between the turns, most of the time were really short, and the speed limit was 100 km/h, I was too afraid to stop on the road to take pictures. On both sides, the road either ended directly in a stony cliff or at a 20 m drop off. Therefore, I felt sorry for myself that I couldn’t just stop and enjoy the area. I tried to stop at every turnout. Most of the time, the turnouts were located on vast flat regions, which weren’t as exciting as the dense forests you mostly drive trough. After crossing the last pass, it´s all downhill through tiny ancient townships. Some only consist of one or two log houses. There are a couple of great free camping spots along the way. Most of them lay directly at the river in the forest with small fire pits to warm you at night. As I mentioned, it could get freezing, at one point the turnoff to Falls Creek was closed because of snow on the road. After 165 km you arrive in Omeo, the biggest township on the way is a great spot to top up your petrol and fill up supplies if you camped in the mountains before. From Omeo, it´s still 145 km to Buchan, most of the way you drive on a highway down to the coast before turning off and following a smaller road up into the mountains again. It´s a pleasant ride along the, to that time, newly paved highway.

BUCHAN CAVE RESERVE

Buchan is a small manageable township in the hills of the Victorian high-country between 2 national parks. The main tourist attraction of the town is the cave reserve. It´s a federal reserve with a campground, an outdoor pool fed from a freshwater spring, and the name-giving caves. A couple of km out of the city the Snowy River National Park starts, its a heaven for outdoor enthusiasts with camping hiking and four-wheel drive driving opportunities. Nevertheless, the broad areas of the park are undeveloped.
I stayed for two days at the campground of the cave reserve. One single ranger had to wait for me on the first night. As I booked a powered site, they had to unlock the electricity for me. I spend a little bit to much time on the road in the mountains, and the visitor center was already closed when I arrived. He was charming and even showed me around the main park area before going home. I was the only guest on the campground and had the facilities all for myself. The spot I picked was directly next to a campfire pit so that I could enjoy a warm fire directly in front of the van. Nevertheless, it was freezing the following day; I just stayed under the blankets till the sun hit my van, and everything got a little warmer.
After an excellent bacon and egg breakfast with warm tea, everything was great again. I went to the visitor center and booked a trip through both caves open to the public. First, I was the only one taking the tour, but shortly before the start of the tour, a family from Melbourne arrived and jointed my otherwise private tour. Both tours are worth the money, for people on a strict budget you can just make one of the tours. For people who are a bit taller, the way through the Fairy Cave is a bit higher. The Royal Cave involves some passages where you have to go through low tunnels and narrow gaps. I think both tours took around 40-60 min and cost 35 Au$, so you get about 2 hours for 20€, which isn´t bad. For everybody who is a bit claustrophobic and doesn´t want to crawl through narrow caves, there are short walks around the park and the before mentioned pool. In general, I would recommend visiting the reserve in summer or fall. As the waterfall, as well as the pool, didn´t have any water. One of the best things about camping alone in the park was that the wildlife seems to didn´t even notice me. In the morning, they always were sitting in front of my van. I had my fun sitting in the open door or on the ground with my camera trying to get the perfect picture of them. Which most probably I didn´t achieve. For the two nights, I spend at the campground inside the cave reserve I spend around 60€ on a powered campsite.

SNOWY RIVER NATIONAL PARK

After my second bacon and egg breakfast in a row, I was too lazy to make something else. I made my way up towards the top of Snowy River National Park. I wanted to reach MacKillops Bridge. The problem was that the last 30 kilometers are a windy gravel road, which you are not allowed to drive with the hired Hippie camper. Therefore, I only made a quick stop at the little river falls and the little small river gorge. Sadly, stupid me forgot to charge my camera, but now I have a good reason to revisit the area. The way up to the falls was already a little adventure. A storm in the night before had made an impact on the trees along the streets and walkways. At some points in the journey, I wasn´t sure if I shouldn´t better turn back. The road is remote, and there are only a couple of small “townships” (2-3 houses) along the 50 km until the crossing. Also, the street doesn't lead anywhere; at the intersection, both streets become gravel roads. The main route follows some steep track through the NSW Australian alps, which is not recommended for beginner 4WD drivers. Two times I had to drive off-road to pass some fallen trees on the road. I was never sure if I can do it, or may get stuck in a trench on the side of the road with no help nearby.

Little River fall is located directly after the park entrance of Snowy River National Park. There is no entrance or camping fee here. During my neatly 2 hour stay at the fall and the recreational area around it, only one other car stopped there. As at the cave reserve, the river had very low water, and the fall wasn’t as impressive as I hope, but at least there was some water. I played a bit with my camera and tried to get some cool “frozen water” shots, but as I don’t own any ND filters, it was quite hard to block enough light to expose the scene properly. Therefore, after a short time, I gave up and just took out my travel guide to read a bit about the area and my potential next stops along the coast of Victoria. As the clouds started coming back and the sky turned dark grey, I quickly started packing up my stuff to leave the area and make my way again towards Buchan. On the way, it started raining heavily, and I wasn´t sure if I could reach my desired campground for the night.

Beautiful morning at Balley Hooley campground at the shores of the Snowy River.

My goal was to reach the Balley Hooley campground inside the Nation Park at the shores of the Snowy River. I still find it a bit amusing that I worked for around 6 months in a school camp called Snowy River Camp, which is actually 400 km away from the actual river and region. Luckily on the way back to Buchan, I noticed that somebody had removed most of the trees and branches which fell onto the street. While avoiding these trees, it took me 2 hours to reach little river falls, the return journey I completed in just over 1 hour. I arrived much earlier in Buchan then I expected. Therefore, I could enjoy a small early dinner at the local pub, before continuing towards the southern border of Snowy River NP. To reach the camp, you have to travel around 6 - 7 km down a gravel road off the main road towards the coast. Along the gravel road, you pass an old wood beam bridge, which you can walk over but not drive anymore. After first climbing up and then declining some steeper parts, you will reach the campground at the end of the road.

The campground has only the necessary facilities, a pit latrine, and fire pits, but it is located in one of the most beautiful areas of Victoria, I think. Lush green hills surround it, and the snowy river is flowing directly beside it. It was the first evening and the only one of three I wasn´t alone at a campground. An older man with a fantastic looking 4WD camper and a family with some children had already set up camp there. The older man actually had a wood-burning stove he put in his tent to heat it. As it was heavily raining, I only had short chats with them and then went to my camper reading a book. The next morning the sun was shining again, and I explored the river valley around the camp a bit. As you see from the pictures here, the river was super calm. The peace of this place was magnificent; you could only hear some birds, and the water slowly flowing along the sandy beaches.

The moss on the shores was soft and green, even with only a couple degree above zero, it was great to walk barefoot on it. It´s the perfect place to forget all stress and modern problems ( maybe because there is no phone reception here). The old man treated me to a nice breakfast with warm tea, fried vegetables, and the omnipresent bacon and egg. From here, I wanted to drive the scenic Tulloch Ard road, which follows the border of the National Park up north. I couldn´t find anything about it on the internet, but the park rangers at the cave reserve recommended it to me even with the camper. Also, there is a short paragraph about it in the Lonely Planet Victoria guide book. As it´s a 40 km gravel road and with the storm the two days before, I decided against it and started my journey towards Mallacoota at the northernmost coast of Victoria. I would never arrive there, but that´s something for part two.

One of the best camping spots in the Snowy River NP.

Australia and especially Victoria, are my all-time favorite travel destinations. I hope I can show and describe a bit of the beauty of this area here in my reports, even that they are a bit older. Please feel free to comment or contact me if you have any insider tips for a second Victoria or Australien road trip. In the future, there will come a long-distance travel itinerary I want to do next year. When you have comments into my writing style, please also tell me, as it is one of my first posts, and I´m still trying to figure out the best technique to write.

More pictures of Australia can be found in my galleries! I have traveled to this diverse country a lot in the last 10 years and have some stories and memories of nearly every state. While Victoria is closest to my heart, with most of my friends living there.

My personal best ones you can find in my portfolio.