hornsea on tour

The 8 of us, The Van and The Interceptor rendez-voued in Coogee beach carpark for the start of our epic road trip from Sydney to Melbourne.  We had no plan other than a couple of recommended beaches.  I had taken one reccommendation from a fellow skateboarder that morning who had stopped me to comment on how nice my board was.  We got chatting and he began to tell me of a mystical beach, Steamers Beach.  He told me know one knew of it and proceeded to draw a map and directions on a paper napkin.  We parted company with him saying “Tell know one of Steamers, and don’t show anyone the map” Although it seemed like something out of the movie The Beach, the guy seemed deadly serious.  An hour later I shared the news with the Roadtrip crew Will, Toby, Carolyn, Katya, Harriet, Luke and Lisa.

First stop, Jervis Bay and Booderee National Park – also where the infamous Steamers beach was located.  We arrived too late to book a camping spot in the National Park but still we paid to go in.  After some exploring we decided the best spot to camp was at Brighton point beach, hopefully the ranger wouldn’t catch us.  We carted our camp gear through the bush down towards the beach, on route it was a scene similar to Jurassic Park, but without the dinosaurs.  Kangaroos and Wallabees jumped out and I’m pretty sure I saw a puma run past.  Luke informed everyone that a Kangaroos natural reaction when close to a human was to disembowel them, this filled us with confidence!

camp tramp

In the morning we woke up thankful the tide hadn’t washed camp tramp away.  We made tracks for Steamers – I’m keeping the exact location a secret  The road ended and we had to park the vehicles up, we had a 3km walk through bush until we had a glimpse of the beach.

Once Steamers came into view it looked awesome!  Normally one of the best unknown surf spots on the east coast, but unfortunately we picked a flat day.  After a great day at steamers we made our way further south.  Darkness started to set in so we decided to stop, we stopped in Moruya; a small redneck town.  There was no sign of any campsites so we decided to stay in the local park despite the sign clearly saying, ‘NO CAMPING’.  I imagine this was the equivalent to us camping in Hall Garth Park in my hometown, Hornsea.  The bums had arrived!  For any other bums wanting some free camping here’s where it is; Moruya Riverside Park.

For the evenings entertainment we played blind chocolate roulette with some boxes of christmas present chocolate one of the girls had been sent.

Bright and early we ate breakfast, took a public toilet tap shower and got back on the Pacific Highway, next stop, Mallacoota.

Mallacoota would be our first stop in the territory of Victoria, where porn and fireworks are legal!

We arrived in glorious sunshine.  Mallacoota seemed like a cool little town, surrounded by beaches and the locals had a very laid back attitude.  We spent the rest of the day at the beach, surfing, skim-boarding and talking crap.  When it was time to leave the girls had the Interceptor to get back to camp whilst the boys had to walk.  I had my skateboard so decided I’d skate back on my own – for the first leg I thought it would be a great idea to hold onto The Interceptor’s wooden spoiler, this worked a treat until 2km later I hit a stone.  The Interceptor is a powerful machine and at the time we were probably going about 40mph.  I hit the deck, rolled about 20 times and eventually landed on my feet.  I stood up after eating road, I’d done some damage, grazes all over my back and ankles, blood everywhere.  Luckily the girls were on hand and took me back and fixed me up with some dettol.  I wont be car-skateboarding again, or for at least a while.

We liked Mal;acoota so much we decided to stay an extra night.  Another day of beach, banter and activities.

Next – after a long drive we arrived in Wonthaggi.  Another redneck town with nothing to do, but it was ideal as it’s a close distance to Philip Island, one place we had planned to visit.  We stayed at Coalfields caravan park, and lied about how many of us were staying to save around $5, we smuggled the extra people in hiding them in the back of the van.  That evening we had an awesome BBQ, homemade kebabs and salad – a real team effort, delicious!

In the morning we packed up and drove 15 minutes to Phillip Island.  The girls had read about Phillip Island in the Lonely Planet pre-roadtrip and thought it would be a great spot to stop.  Phillip Island, home to the smallest species of penguin in the world, ‘Little Penguins’ (Eudyptula minor).  We booked into Kaloha Campsite, again fibbing about the number of campers we had.  The campsite was a ten minute drive from the famous ‘Penguin Parade‘ – a protected site where people can view the penguins coming onto shore at sunset.  We all booked in for the Penguin Parade ($40) and just before senset arrived at the site.  We were all pretty disappointed with the setup, it was too much like a tourist trap for our liking.  Above the beach where the penguins came to shore each evening were two huge football stands which must hold about 1,000 people.  Still, it was pretty cool to see the little fellas come to shore just after sunset.  Tiny little things, about 43cm tall.

We head back to camp.  It was an EXTREMELY hot night, and we all struggled to get a good nights kip.  The next morning we learnt that is had been the hottest night on record in Victoria – a whopping 37C!  No wonder I felt like I’d pissed myself in the morning.

Just before we left Phillip Island we decided we needed to cool down so went jetty jumping.

We later learnt that Phillip Island has a high record of shark attacks.  There is a high population of seals which draw sharks to the area.  We had been jumping into the water about 10ft from where a seal was bathing;

We made it out the water alive though, and better still we all survived the roadtrip.  We arrived in Melbourne later that day exhausted.  Lots of great memories and laughs, an awesome east coast roadtrip!

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