Day 17 – Bonnie Vale to SYDNEY! (55.7km)

WE MADE IT!!!

3 weeks, over 5000km and a fair amount of blood, sweat and tears later – not to mention mosquito bites, flies, tuna pasta, a LOT of suncream, spiders, extremely noisy galahs, questionable accommodation, even more questionable music and a pile of Golden Gaytimes (both literally and figuratively) – we finally reached our goal – SYDNEY!!!

It was a cracking feeling as we finally caught a glimpse of the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House – the ultimate goal in our minds for the past 3 weeks.

After handing back our vehicles to the extremely blasé assistant, who didn’t seem to mind or care whether the vehicles were in one piece or not, we headed to our home for the next couple of nights – at the naval base HMAS Penguin. Over looking Balmoral bay, it was certainly a view that no army base in England seems to have…

…Catterick better start upping its game!

In no particular order, over our last couple of days, we made the most of the opportunity to explore this vibrant city. We visited Manly Beach, did some Stand-up paddleboarding at Balmoral Beach, climbed the Sydney Harbour bridge at sunset, took a 100 degrees C walk along a cliff edge in the middle of the day, took the ferry across Sydney harbour, explored the shops, surfed at Bondi Beach and had some awesome meals out – it’s been a whirlwind but we managed to fill every second before the inevitable trip home.

It’s been a fantastic trip – we’ve made some great ties with other Army units the whole way across Australia in the process, and learnt all about how their Army operates and the role each regiment we’ve visited plays in the wider Army. We’ve crossed some stunning terrain and met some great people, who’ve always been welcoming and friendly to a group of foreigners doing this mad 5000km drive across the country…We’ve explored Australia’s wartime past and learnt about its future – and we’ve shared some moving and some hilarious moments along the way.

It’s been a fab adventure – so for those who’ve been reading this along the way – thank you for your interest and for your kind words of support and we look forward to catching up with you all on our return!

The team x

 

Day 16 – Katoomba – Bonnie Vale, Royal National Park (141.4km)

Our last night in the vans!

After a short journey via the stunning Wentworth waterfalls en route to NSW’s Royal National Park, we parked up at the idyllic Bonnie Vale Campground, right on the shore of the Port Hacking River – and we couldn’t have asked for a more stunning end to our journey across this incredible country!

We also finally had the ‘barbie’ that we’d been promising ourselves the whole trip – with Tpr Cham finally fulfilling his dream of putting ‘a shrimp on the barbie’ in the process. With a bit of music and an incredible setting, we all had a filling BBQ dinner – not that many of the ‘cooked’ chicken drumsticks were eaten!

Knowing this would be our last night in the tents and that tomorrow would be the culmination of our whole trip, most of us were awake quite late, and lucky we did, as the full moon came out to greet us with a spectacular moon on-the-water display. As we walked back across the flats, we were treated to another spectacle – soldier crabs were moving across the whole bay – hundreds of them! So, armed with our torchlights, we watched as they all moved across the flats, their little beady eyes watching us, before burying themselves into the sand whenever they sensed danger from our lights or shadows. Some of them were even fighting/mating (we couldn’t be sure)…

It was a fantastic last night, and the perfect last bit of peace and calm before we travelled back to the bustle of the busy city of Sydney that was to be our last stop. Nearly there…

Day 15 – Katoomba and the Blue Mountains

Our first proper day in the Blue Mountains saw the boys up and out for a run early doors, while the rest of us made such everyone and everything was in one piece and we hadn’t lost anyone/thing to the various precipices surrounding us! Off we went down the bumpy track to our next campsite, this time a little closer to the small town, from where we set off for a day of trekking!

With loads to see and plenty of viewpoints to stop off at along the way, we easily filled 6 hours – passing by ‘The Three Sisters’, ‘Leura Forest’ and ‘Leura Cascades’. Our circular route along the Federal Pass took us through some stunning scenery – even taking us past some of the local wildlife…

The Federal Path took us through the valley before dropping down further into the undergrowth until we found ourselves at the bottom of the World’s steepest railway, which took visitors from the bottom of the valley to the top in a matter of minutes, after a hard day’s trek.

So naturally we took the stairs.

After a 20 minute vertical walk essentially up a cliff face, in scorching heat, it was certainly time for a well-earned beer/coca cola at the top!

Dinner was spent at a restaurant called ‘Echoes’, in honour of Maj Dommett’s birthday – camped right at the top of the mountain, with spectacular views overlooking the Blue Mountains, we were treated to an absolutely incredible sight as the sun set in the distance over the forest. Sunsets in Australia are certainly sights to behold it seems.

We had a lovely evening, recounting tales from our journey over dinner, unable to believe we were almost at our last stop. But it was soon time to turn in, and back to the campsite we wandered in the darkness – ready to face almost our last leg of the journey – and one stop closer to our final destination of Sydney!

Day 14 – Canberra to Katoomba (329.1km)

Those that wanted to, had a more thorough look around the War Memorial and then we were on our way, via Mount Ainslie lookout point ,that gave us a fantastic final view across the whole city, onwards to Katoomba and the Blue Mountains.

After a 3 hour drive, we headed straight for Echo Point to survey the incredible vista there – the Blue Mountains are like nothing some of us had ever seen before. More like a huge gorge that spread as far as the eye could see, covered in a vast canopy of rainforest, it was truly incredible sight. Imagine Jurassic World and you’ll come somewhere close to what we were looking at!

After a quick light dinner and a resupply of the all-important breakfast cereal, we headed over to our campsite for the night – ‘Narrow Neck’. This wasn’t dissimilar to our camping in the Outback, but with even less in the way of amenities! We literally parked almost at the end of one of the spurs we had just been admiring from the main viewpoint. With vertical drops on either side of us, we made sure there were chocks under the wheels…

Day 13 – Puckapanyal to Canberra (563.1km)

Finally, for half the group, our first visit to the country’s capital city, Canberra! A quick goodbye to WO2 Morgan and we were off again on a short drive of about 2 hours to our next destination.

Canberra has only become capital of Australia due to the fact that Melbourne and Sydney weren’t able to decide who should become capital city – so they chose somewhere roughly in the middle of the too – and hit on Canberra. It is primarily the home of the Australian Parliament and all country Government business is conducted from there. First impressions were that it was pristine! The War Memorial sits grandly on a slight rise at the end of a huge boulevard, at the other end of which sits the impressive Parliament building. The idea is that when – or if – the Australian Government ever debates the role of Australia in another war effort, they can look up the hill and be reminded of what they could be potentially sending their men off to. A moving concept indeed.

As the ‘Baton’ group had done before, we were due to stay the evening at Australia’s (more picturesque) version of Sandhurst – Duntroon Royal Military College – and moved into our accommodation for the evening. It was a quick de-kit and off to the Australian War Memorial for a look around before the end of the day.

With not much time to go, we whizzed round what is an incredible memorial to the fallen – Australia seem to put these memorials together exceptionally well – it was teeming with memorabilia, video, artwork and was a fantastic opportunity to learn more about Australia’s wartime history. We also stumbled on a radio-broadcast ceremony which took place in the square within the building. Some wreaths were laid at the pool of reflection, where an eternal flame also burns, a constant reminder of the some 100,000 Australians who have given their lives in war. Finally, The Last Post was played by one of the three soldiers, stood to attention above the pool. It was a very moving experience, and we planned to further explore the exhibitions the following day.

Back to the barracks for a sort out and out for a fantastic Italian dinner shortly after, we then moved on to the ‘Bent Spoke’, in the suburb of Braddon, to meet Major Luke Siwek, who had been responsible for looking after the initial group that had stayed in Canberra when they went to hand over the baton. It was a Saturday night, and Canberra was absolutely heaving with people out for the evening, so we took the opportunity to enjoy a few hours out on the town.

Day 12 – Melbourne to Puckapunyal (115.6km)

We were told there was absolutely nothing in Puckapunyal – so as we tore away from the hustle and bustle of city life, with the cursory giving of the Plaque to Capt Joseph and the obligatory photo alongside, we were prepared for yet more Australian nothingness ahead.

In fact, our visit to Pucka was very pleasant indeed!

We were greeted by shall we say, rather interesting guard staff on the gate, and WO2 Dave Morgan showed us our accommodation for the evening. He is there on a 2 year posting from the British army, and was in the middle of teaching a trainign course when we arrived. On a quiet Friday evening, when an army camp would almost certainly be near-empty in the UK, there were actually a group of Sargents who were enjoying a few drinks in the early evening sunshine. As some of their homes were the other side of the country, they couldn’t exactly pop home for the weekend to see their families, so usually ended up spending weekends on camp.

They were clearly delighted to have some English guests, so they welcomed us into their lovely mess, where we tucked into some ‘slabs’(!) of pizza and joined them for a couple of drinks. LCpl Parsons and LCpl Emmett, eager for the full ‘bogan’ experience promised to us by the Sargents, joined a few of them and headed to nearby Seymour for a dance. The Sargents couldn’t have stood out more, as one or two of them had definitely been hitting the gym, and the rest of the place was crawling with what seemed to be skinny teenagers throwing some seriously strange dance moves – we definitely found the bogans we were after, but I can tell you on good authority that they stayed well clear!

Day 10 and 11 – Melbourne

Ex-HAC Sgt (now Colour Sargent) Venn King met us at the gates to the camp at 0800hrs prompt for a full day of Melbourne activities! From the outset, Venn was superb company, and at our first stop outside Victoria’s Parliament, it was apparent that his knowledge of Australia and its colourful past is absolutely huge. We learnt all about Melbourne’s early history, and his ancestors – notably his great-great-great (potentially a few more ‘greats’!) Grandfather, who was instrumental in the initial expedition to Melbourne in the search for more of Australia’s land. He later died while on a ship across to California to join the gold rush there, just before gold was discovered in Australia. An affluent and entrepreneurial gentleman, his memory lives on – one of the CBD’s main streets is named Swanson Street in his honour.

From there it was a quick stop at a famous old leather swivel chair-style Italian coffee shop, the legendary Pelligrinis, and from there we made our way over to the Shrine of Remembrance on the other side of town. A stunning building that rises above the city, the Shrine is an incredible memento to those who have lost their lives in war, from the Boer War right through to the present day. We spent over 2 hours immersed in the country’s war history, before moving through to the main shrine. Similarly to Egyptian Pyramids, the architects of the building, with the help of the state’s official astronomer, have built into the main room a small hole in the roof, which on the 11^th day of the 11^th month at the 11^th hour, moves across a square plaque in the middle of the room. The beam of light crosses the plaque for about 8 minutes total, but hovers finally on the word ‘love’. The first remembrance parade that Melbourne staged from the Shrine, attracted 30,000 people. The city was only populated by 40,000 at the time.

As time has marched on, however, and with the introduction of daylight saving time, the very same astronomer was tasked to create a means whereby the beam of light would still shine at the same time of the day on the 11^th November. He crafted a way of doing this using mirrors to create a sort of prism effect, so that it creates the same effect at the correct time. The upside of this is that now, given that the original beam now shines officially at the 11^th minute of the 12^th hour, the public are allowed to enter the room to watch the spectacle an hour after the official service. It was a truly moving experience, and everything was beautifully displayed, not to mention the view from the balcony.

From there it was down to the South Bank (where we were spoilt for choice for lunch options) – and then back down the main boulevard to Victoria Barracks, where we were given a very special guided tour of the premises. For over two hours we wandered around with our knowledgeable tour guides, who took us through the early construction of the blue stone buildings in the main square, right through to the actual War Cabinet Room, a visit we were told few had experienced. To sit in that very room where Australia’s Prime Minister once sat to discuss Australia’s allied role in World War Two in 1939, was a pretty unique experience for us all. The grounds in the middle of the city were not unlike the HAC’s – a little bit of peace and serenity (well, apart from Wednesday nights!) in beautiful grounds, in the middle of the hustle and bustle. All three services were represented, and the staff were clearly at pains to maintain the environment.

This took us nearly til 1800hrs, and, with the day having significantly brightened up, we took the opportunity to have a stroll along the Yarra River before heading for some dinner with Venn and his girlfriend. Those who were instructed by Venn when he was DS on the recruits course will, I’m sure, appreciate the banter that was flying around when he spoke with LSgt Stevenson, who was one of his recruits.

A quick wander round Melbourne’s CBD and a final lunch with Venn the next day meant that we were on our way, photos and HAC plaque exchanged with Captain Joseph, by 1600hrs.

All in all, a wonderful visit to Melbourne. And as the story goes, we definitely felt like we had experienced the legendary ‘4 seasons in a day’ as we went!

On to Puckapunyal!

Day 9 – Port Fairy to Melbourne (411km)

It turns out that Kookaburras don’t have much care for sleep, nor does the coastal wind that whipped around the tents all night long…so everyone was a bit groggy the following morning, also waking up to a bit of a miserable day. But we’d hit our first proper surf stop, so all that was soon forgotten. Tpr Davies’ enthusiasm for a morning in the water meant that as soon as we’d gulped down our daily coffee fix, we hotfooted it straight to the beach to get hold of the kit from the surf instructor – also the ultimate clichéd surf ‘dude’ – bleached blonde hair, boardshorts, backwards cap and a ‘yeah dude, that’s cool, mannnnn’ attitude!

For a group of mostly novices, we didn’t do too badly at all. While Major D was official blooper reel photographer for the morning, the rest of us spent 2 hours being battered by 5 foot waves. Never has standing up on a moving object been such a challenge, but by the end of an exhausting two hours, we’d all managed it.

However, let’s just say that none of us will be turning pro anytime soon…

Back on the road by 1100hrs we now had the long journey to Melbourne to tackle, but the best part was yet to come – the stunning Great Ocean Road. Our speed however, dropped, as it wasn’t just us who’d come to see the incredible views from this part of Australia’s coastline – it felt as if most of the country had also chosen that day to pass through! There was no avoiding the hundreds of caravan-loving tourists who seemed to have had no concept of a speed limit being actually adhered to, choosing instead to trundle along 50km/hr below it!

BUT – what a stunning part of the country it was. Huge chunks of rock litter the coastline, formations that were once part of the mainland and have gradually been worn away and become separated over time. Coupled with the clear turquoise of the ocean still crashing around beneath them, these were photo opportunities we didn’t want to miss as we made our way down that part of the road, stopping at ‘London Bridge’, ‘The 12 Apostles’ and Gibson Beach steps.

After a stop at the idyllic Apollo Bay for lunch, we pressed on through, and finally arrived at Simpson Barracks on the outskirts of Melbourne at about 1900hrs, where we were warmly welcomed and straight through extremely tight security, helped by the Adjutant, Capt Lachlin Joseph.

12 Apostles

Tpr Davies, LCpl Beckett, WO2 Whitehead

LSgt Stevenson

Tpr Cham and LCpl Emmett admire the view

Tpr Dimsdale successfully manages to use his head to completely cover the view!

Great Ocean Road

Surely an Evil Criminal Mastermind’s House?

Driving along the Great Ocean Road

Great Ocean Road

After a long drive, it was out for a quick bite and back to the barracks for bed – up and out early tomorrow!

Day 8 – Adelaide to Port Fairy (586.9km)

After an early morning circuits session with one of the batteries, we said our goodbyes to 16 ALR and made our way forward towards the beachside town of Port Fairy (also slightly because, who doesn’t want to visit a place called ‘Fairy’?!). N.B. We unfortunately didn’t see one, Tpr Dimsdale aside…

After a good 7 – 8hr drive, we once again reached our destination just before darkness, and thanks to Tpr Cham’s endless supply of internet, were able to find a cracking pizza restaurant tucked away just off the main street. We were pretty exhausted from the long drive, so it was a good plate of grub and an early-ish slope back.

We reached our campsite for the evening at about 2200hrs, where we discoverd that payment seemed to be a matter of importance for the slightly inebriated owner, as Major Dommett describes…

(Campsite manager arrives in his “Ute” truck very slowly – both LCpl Beckett and I advance and say hello to him)

LCpl Beckett: “We spoke earlier – you said we could pay in the morning if we didn’t catch you?”

Manager: (Slurred) “Yeah, yeah…..soo….how menni are yu?”

Beckett: “There are eleven of us”

Manager: (Slurred) “Annnn….yu’ve got….one……two……three caaaas.  (Pause) So that’s….one……..tuuuu……….threee caaas.   (Even longer pause) So ummm……..that’s one….tuuuuuu…..”   This continued until LCpl Beckett had to walk away laughing and I was left biting my lip until he got bored of counting to three.

Me: “So how much is that then?”  He picks up a calculator with some considerable effort and without actually typing in any calculation types the figure “50” onto the screen and then shows it to me.

Me: “Right $50.  Can I have a receipt for that please?”

Manager: (Now even more slurred) “Yea…yea..yea….ummm….no!”  He the turns the calculator toward himself and with beads of sweat and a look of furious concentration etched on his face, he takes three attempts to type a figure onto the screen.  Having finally mashed his fingers onto the keyboard enough times he triumphantly shows it to me.  It reads “60”.

Me: “So that’s $60 with a receipt?”

Manager: (Now positively reeling with the synaptic effort required of all this, he responded) “Ummm…..Yea.”

We stood and watched as he slowly wrote a receipt that looked like a spider had just had an epileptic fit in a ink well and with his final effort tore it off and handed it almost over to me.

Me: “Thank you.”  At which point he tried to whistle for his dog, which obediently steeped in front of his truck just as he put it into first gear.  The dog bolted and off he lurched into the night aiming at the gaps between the tents.

 

Day 6 and 7 – Port Augusta to Adelaide/Canberra (339km)

Off to a slightly groggy start, and with only a short drive of 3hrs to Adelaide, we arrived at Woodside army barracks – 16 Air Land Regiment (16 ALR),  just outside of Adelaide, before lunch. Lt Rob Cameron met us at the gate and showed us around. Considering it was a fairly old army base, it had excellent facilities, and we all made the most of the indoor pool and running routes around camp. It had been our first chance since the outback to admin ourselves and do laundry etc, so we set about sorting our kit out.

It was also at this point that 4 members of the group (1 representative from 1, 2 and 3 squadron and LSgt Stevenson) were tasked to take the baton to Canberra for the formal handing over back to the RA Cricket team, who would then continue on to Sydney with it. Inside the baton is a velum scroll (a very thin layer of calf leather), which has to be signed at the end of every leg. So off they flew to attend the ceremony and get the scroll signed by the Australian Army’s head of Artillery.

LCpl Emmett continues…

We arrived into Canberra late on the Sunday and took a taxi to the Royal Military College Duntroon, the Australian equivalent of Sandhurst. Nestled in the hills around Canberra and close to the airport, the camp is quite large with families of troops stationed in Canberra also living there as well as being a place to train up potential officers.

Having arrived late we quickly bedded down only to be woken up at 6:30 as our accommodation was right by the parade square, where every morning cadets have their daily drill practice, accompanied by the dulcet tones of a Sergeant Major barking out orders (…. which as we all know is a lovely way to wake up).

We met with a Major stationed at Duntroon, who spoke to us about the various ways Officers can commission into the Australian army. They can either attend the Australian Defence Academy at Canberra. The ADA is a university that takes students for various civilian 3-4 year courses whilst also offering some military training- slightly similar to Westpoint. Following their graduation they then have a further 12 months of full time training at the Royal Military College before they commission.

Or they go to a civilian university, and upon graduation attend an 18 month course at Duntroon. (There are of course also short term courses like the British army for specialised services such as Doctors and Nurses and their reservist course takes around the same time as ours).

The handover and signing ceremony itself took place at the National War Memorial Annex. Based on the outskirts of the city, and mandated by the government, it’s were military items are sent to be catalogued before being shipped to various museums and exhibitions around the country. Formed of two huge warehouses both easily the size of football pitches, it’s full of various guns, planes, tanks, uniforms, helicopters, as well as a stuffed horses head (from Gallipoli), and a WW2 missile (which is massive).

We were met by the RA Cricket team to take part in the handover ceremony and the head of the Australian artillery also attended to sign the velum scroll inside the Baton. There were various Australian Army dignitaries attending, including Lieutenant Colonel White, the Senior British Liaison Office who has been instrumental in helping us in our defence engagement while we’ve been out here.

At 1100 sharp the ceremony began, and following a short speech from the head of the Australian artillery the scroll was signed and safely handed over to the cricket team. Job done, we were then given a private tour around the Annex. It was a fascinating tour, and showed the breath of the Australian army’s collection with their collection of artillery covering all major conflicts.

Following the tour we then invited Lieutenant Colonel White for lunch, to thank him for all his help with Ubique 300 and setting up various defence engagement meetings. He was keen to highlight the various ways that the UK and Australian armed forces worked together, including the different Australian exercises that UK army regiments had been part of previously.

With lunch over, we then explored Canberra for a few hours before our flight back to rendezvous with the rest of the team back in Adelaide.

 

Meanwhile, the remainder spent a less-than-romantic Valentine’s evening in the local McDonalds feeding our wifi addiction for a few hours… never let it be said that romance is dead!

After an early morning phys session with Lt Cameron’s battery, we were then given an overview of the unit and its capabilities – 16 ALR are the only air defence regiment in the Australian Defence Force and as such, are the only operators of their specialist RBS-70 surface-to-air missile system.

From there, it was on to Adelaide for a look around the central business district via the National War Memorial, before making our way over the Glenelg, on the outskirts of the city. A beautiful beachfront town full of bustling cafes and eateries, we spent a pleasant afternoon there before meeting the Canberra party in the evening and heading back to camp.

LCpl Parsons/LCpl Emmett