Tag: Places

Truby Travels: Magnetic Hill

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Truby Travels is a new post series on Inspiring Max based on our adventures in Truby (our slide-on camper named Ruby and our Iveco called True Blue.) It will replace the older series Ruby Tuesday.

One of the first places we visited was Magnetic Hill, Orroroo. This tourist attraction is free and unique and gives the feeling of travelling backwards up a hill. Hubby and I had a lot of fun playing with it. We went up and down the hill many times because we could until someone came along to spoil our fun. It was fascinating to us that despite our heavy vehicle it did feel like we were rolling up hill.

Although we had never heard of them before, magnetic hills are found around the world. Australia has 4 of them. They are special and come about because of the local lay of the land. They are formed when the horizon is either curved or you can’t see it. It is an optical illusion.

When we got to Magnet Hill the sign asked you to turn off your ignition, put your car in neutral and take your foot off the brake. We were told steel cars go up the hill while aluminum and plastic cars go down.

Photos courtesy of Orroroo government website as we were too busy playing to take photos.

We loved the giant magnet that they have added to the roadside to help explain the phenonium.

Magnet Hill really was something to be seen to be believed.

CCMC: Abstract Head of Henry Moore

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We happened up this spectacular sculpture by accident. It can be found be the side of the road in the outback New South Wales town of Yeoval. Population under 300 people.

Yeoval was the childhood home of Banjo Patterson, a famous Australian poet. In an effort to attract more visitors to the town, the curator of the Banjo Patterson Museum went in search of a special piece of public artwork. In 2010, Robbie Waterhouse (Australian racing identity) donated the sculpture to the town.

The sculpture titled Abstract Head of Henry Moore was created by his protégé Drago Marin Cherina. Henry Moore was said to be the greatest sculpture of the 20th century. He created large scale abstract bronze sculptures that can be found all around the world. To honour his mentor Drago created a similar abstract sculpture of Henry’s head. This became as part of his art collection that he lost to Robbie after a failed business venture. It is reported that Drago thinks that Henry would have enjoyed his final home as he loved the country side.

The six tonne sculpture is one of the largest in Australia.

Thanks to Cee for this week’s inspiration of the letter H.

W: Wycheproof

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We found this amazing town by accident. My husband was searching the petrol prices of the area and discovered it was cheapest at Wycheproof. So that was the direction we took. We had never heard of it before. It certainly was a surprise package. For a town of just under 700 people it is unique.

The main street has a railway line running down the centre for the grain trains. This is a rarity in Australia. It was named Broadway after New York’s Broadway approximately 150 years ago.

The local mountain Mt Wycheproof is the smallest registered mountain in the world. Who knew! It is 43 metres above the local plain. I am so clever that I climbed it and have a certificate to prove it. Definitely clever tourism. At the base of the mountain trees were planted as a guard of honour after World War 1. Wycheproofite is a unique geological substance only found on Mt Wycheproof. Unfortunately we didn’t see any on our visit.

View from Mt Wycheproof

My Wycheproof was also the home of the King of the Mountain race last held in 1988. This race was very popular in the area and saw men running up the mountain carrying 63 kilo wheat bags. During the Queen of Mountain race the women carried wheat bags filled with foam. Equality at its finest.

This town was also home to 4 time world champion boomerang thrower – Bernard ‘Bunny’ Read. Bunny made his own boomerangs and started a company which is still in the family.

We enjoyed a chat with the local butcher whose meat was the best. He even vacuum sealed some bacon for us so it would travel well and keep for our journey home.

V: Victoria’s Sculptures

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One of the things I loved about Victoria was its amazing sculptures. Every town seemed to have a theme some how connected to the area. Then local artists had created sculptures to blend it all together.

In some instances they have even created stunning children’s playgrounds using the same theme. a great example of this is in Cohuna. Here they have many cow sculptures as it is a dairy area. Then in the amazing children’s playground little cows are used as the seats and the play equipment. It brought a smile to my face.

U: Understanding Free Camping

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Views from our free camps

During our holiday in Truby we free camped. In fact of the 28 days that we were away we only stayed in a caravan park 4 times. For my husband and I this was a very new experience. We were taught the rules and how to go about it by other family members who had been doing it for decades. For anyone who doesn’t know what I am talking about, free camping is stopping anywhere to sleep the night that costs you nothing.

Sometimes in Australia there are designated free camping places. These are the ones my husband and I are comfortable with. However, there is a whole new world out there that we are only learning about. Some of the places we have camped recently include:

  • Beside lakes and rivers
  • Bush carparks
  • By the side of the road
  • Empty carparks
  • Industrial areas
  • Lookouts
  • On the grounds of motels/pubs with the owners permission
  • Picnic areas
  • Private land out of sight of the public

Once I got over the initial anxiety of whether we could or couldn’t park overnight somewhere I loved the experience. On one occasion when we were camped in a lookout the police did a drive by. Rather than ask us to move on they waved so we settled in for the night.

We can never hide very well

Now I am counting done the days till we can hit the road again to find more hidden gems.

T: Twelve Apostles

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The draw card of the Port Campbell National Park is the 12 Apostles. These rock stacks are spectacular popping out of the Southern Ocean. To me they look like they are standing guard over the shoreline. Initially, there were 9 of these rock stacks (never 12 as the name suggests.) However, due to the violent treacherous waves of the area, 2 have disappeared forever into the ocean. The first time our family visited was 20 years ago and there was a seal swimming around one of the rock stacks. The kids called him Sammy and would often talk about him.

Today the whole area looks very different. It is now a very large tourist attraction with a lot of development to really make the most of the natural beauty of the area and support tourism. The 12 Apostles are so internationally renown that the visitors centre is the first place in Australia that I saw an Asian style toilet. As we visited in the week that Australia opened its international borders again the tourist were slowly coming back.

B: Black Lighthouse Queenscliff

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The Black Lighthouse is one of only 3 in the world that are black. The black colour comes from using unpainted bluestone. It is part of Fort Queenscliff. Built high up shining its light to guide shipping and other vessels through the often treacherous water at the entrance to Port Phillip Bay.

It has a sister lighthouse known as the white lighthouse. This is found lower down on the entrance Port Phillip Bay. With the high and low lights working together those on the water can tell where they are.

Both were replacement lighthouses built in 1863. Despite their age they still look and work well today. Unfortunately, timing didn’t allow us to visit Fort Queenscliff so we couldn’t get up close and personal with this beautiful building.

A : Australian National Surfing Museum

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On our recent holiday exploring the Great Ocean Road and regional Victoria our first stop was The Australian National Surfing Museum. It is located in Tourquay at the start of the Great Ocean Road and Surf Coast. The museum is said to be the largest surfing museum in the world. And describes 100 years of Australia’s surfing history. I found this fascinating. Despite growing up on the coast I had no idea of the culture and history attached to surfing in Australia. This visit really put it in perspective for me.

I particularly loved the display of Gordon Stammers Storyboards. These are very quirky and fun to read. Each tells a funny story by runaway teenage surfer. He writes a letter to his parents on the front of the board. On the back is the response from one parent. They were so creative and funny.

At the time we visited it was hard to believe that the local beaches got the waves that were described in the surfing history of the area. Our experience on all beaches was flat surf. Bass Strait however has a history of being wild and untamed. Apparently it depends on the time of year. Personally I would love to see the big surf as described around the museum, in the hall of fame and on the historical surfing videos being shown. Easter ever year sees Australia’s biggest surfing competition held at Bell’s beach not far from the National Surfing museum. I think we must have traveled about six weeks early.

2022 A-Z Challenge: Recent Travels

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Wow I can’t believe it’s April tomorrow. Where has this year gone? For me, over a month was spent travelling around regional New South Wales and Victoria in Truby. (Our Iveco and Slide-on camper). It was our first trip and we had a great time exploring our country and learning about the grey nomad lifestyle. Despite being nearly 60 most of the places we explored I had never been to before. We found many interesting places, history stories, hidden surprises and the amazing natural beauty of Australia.

Initially our aim was to travel the Great Ocean Rd one of Australia’s and possibly one of the world’s most iconic roads. It was truly breathtaking. For our remaining two weeks we made it up as we went along and had a ball. We drove over 4500 kilometres.

Whilst travelling I decided the best way to share my experiences is by again joining the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. This is a world wide blogging challenge that I first joined in 2015. It will be the fourth time that I have participated and each time I have grown as a blogger. The goal is to post every day in April except Sundays. Most people have a theme that connect their blog posts. This is only half of the challenge however. The other equally important part is to visit other blogs and connect through commenting. I love it and have meet some amazing people on my journey and am hoping to meet many more this year.

If you are interested in joining here is the link Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.

Colourful memories

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One of my favourite things when we visited St John’s Newfoundland was its colourful houses. They popped up everywhere, matching in style and blending in colour. Also known as Jelly Bean Row houses as their varied colours match those of jellybeans. It is said that the original reason the houses were painted in bright colours was because the sailors coming home from a long stretch at sea would like to look up from the harbour into the hills to look for their homes. As fog is a problem in St John’s the houses during these times the homes all bleneded together. So by painting them bright colours they could easily find their home.

I have no problem believing this as growing up I could see my home from the train. It was easy to pick out as it had a very large brick wall in front of it making it stand out from the surrounding houses. 50 years later I still look for my old house whenever I am on the train to Sydney. It’s an old habit I have no need to break even though its nearly 25 years since my mother moved out of my childhood home.

Thanks Kristian for your inspiring word today – matching.