Australian Travel Notes

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(27.09.2014) Mount Donna Buang – the Rainforest Skywalk

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Travel Date: 
27.09.2014

There is an interesting place in Yarra Ranges National Park called Mount Donna Buang Skywalk. Mount Donna Buang (1,250 metres) is the closest snowfield to Melbourne. In winter it usually receives snow suitable for snowplay and tobogganing, and during the non-winter months the area is well visited by bushwalkers. The summit of Mount Donna Buang is surrounded by Alpine ash trees and Sub alpine snow gums, and at nearby Cement Creek there is a raised walkway through Myrtle Beech and Mountain Ash trees.

As Yarra Ranges National Park is located far away from our home (2h of driving), I kept visit to Mount Donna Buang Skywalk in my ‘to see and to visit’ list and waited till we go somewhere there. Last weekend we went cycling to Warburton, which is located not far away from Mount Donna Buang, so at the end of the day we went to the Skywalk.

(19.04.2014) Two days in Flinders Ranges National Park

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Travel Date: 
19.04.2014

In 2014 during Easter we spent 2 days exploring Flinders Ranges National Park, famous by its beautiful Wilpena Pound. We planned to see and to do following:

Day 1. Kanyaka Homestead Historic Site, Yourambulla Caves, Hawker, Arkaroo Rock Hike, Rawnsley Bluff Lookout, Sacred Canyon, Wangarra Lookout. Night at Wilpena Pound Campground.

Day 2.  Bunyeroo Gorge, Bunyeroo Gorge Hike, Brachina Gorge Geological Trail, Moralana Scenic Drive on the sunset. Night at Wilpena Pound Campground.

Day 3. Way back.

There were some other places that we wished to see and to do in Flinders Ranges like to climb St Mary's Peak (full day), visit the Great Wall of China (on the sunset), the Cazneaux Tree (anytime), Stokes Hill Lookout (on the sunset as well), but as we had not had enough time (as usual) we left them for the next visit.

In fact, we visited all placed and even more, except Bunyeroo Gorge Hike, as simply missed the turn, and Brachina Gorge Geological Trail, as we had to go back to Hawker for tyre fix. Please feel free to use maps of Flinders Ranges National Park, attached to the previous post.

(17.04.2014) Flinders Ranges National Park - General Information, Maps

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Travel Date: 
17.04.2014

I don’t remember exactly where and when I saw a beautiful photo of Wilpena Pound (Ikara) in Flinders Ranges National Park. That photo of a natural amphitheatre of mountains was made from the airplane and was simply stunning! You could probably imagine what happened after I realised that Flinders Ranges is not far away from us (only 1200kms) - I started planning when we are going to visit this magic place.

We spent a lot of time trying to figure out when is the best time to visit Flinders Ranges National Park and, more importantly, what to see and to do there. The problem was that there was too much information in the internet with names, places and points of interest in Flinders Ranges. I spent days trying to figure out where, for example, ‘Brachina Gorge’ or ‘Arkaroo Rock’ are located, what should we do there and, more importantly, when it is the best time to visit that place.

In this post I am going to share some useful information with you.

(23.08.2014) Western Australia South Coast Trip Travel Notes

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Travel Date: 
23.08.2014

Here are our brief travel notes from the trip to Western Australia, day by day:

Day 1: Arrived to Perth. Way to Hyden. Wildflowers, Dogs Cemetery

Arrived to Perth at 10am. By 13pm got our luggage, a small Toyota Corolla from Hertz, bought some food, water and gas, some maps from the Visitor Centre and, then, finally, hit the road.

Southern Western Australia, here we came!

Western Australia South Coast Trip 2014

By Katerina 2 / Sep / 2014

We haven’t thought about Western Australia trip until one day I bought cheap tickets from JetStar to Perth and back. This was our first Western Australia trip (hope, that it won’t be the last one)), so we decided to visit Western Australia's South Coast.

Our intial plan for one week in late August 2014 was like this:

(02.08.2014) Birdwatching at Coolart Wetlands and Homestead Reserve

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Travel Date: 
02.08.2014

I haven’t heard anything about Coolart Wetlands and Homestead Reserve in Mornington Peninsula until I went there this July with my son to participate in one of the Junior Rangers school holidays activities. You know what? This reserve became one of my favorite, as it is a perfect places to go bird-watching.

(25.01.2014) Australia Day 2014: Melbourne - Great Alpine Road - Bogong High Plains Road - Melbourne trip

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Travel Date: 
25.01.2014

It’s all started more than a year ago, when we climbed Mt Kosciusko and realised that, since we moved to Australia, we miss mountains so much! Luckily for us there are mountains not far away from Melbourne, that we haven’t visited before - the Australian Alps. Although they are not so high as real Alps, there is a lot of things to do there - hiking, cycling, walking, fishing, skiing (in winter). Moreover, there is a scenic drive through the mountains, called the Great Alpine Road. As it was our first trip by the Great Alpine Road, we decided not only explore the road itself, but also try different types of activities - from hiking and camping to star watching and beer tasting.

If you'd like to know more, read the full article.

Easter 2014: Flinders Rangers National Park, Mungo National Park

By Katerina 6 / Aug / 2014

This year on Easter long holidays we went to the round trip from Melbourne to Flinders Rangers National Park (South Australia), then to Mungo National Park (New South Wales). We've spent 5 days on a road, drove more than 1500km, have seen a lot of beautiful places, and, as usual, wished we stayed everywhere a little bit longer.

Main stops:

Melbourne - Adelaide - Mount Remarkable - Flinders Rangers National Park - Peterborough (SA) - Mildura - Mungo National Park (NSW) - Melbourne.

Please follow the links below to read more about this trip.

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