It is the end of July 2024. We exchanged our Mercedes Sprinter in London for a Renault camper with an Australian couple in Sydney. And we have travelled far with our borrowed bed on wheels! We started in Sydney and will end in Sydney. We have now nearly completed our Itinerary. We have driven 10,000 kilometers over nearly two months and have visited amazing places over many different parts of Australia.
We have seen beautiful coastlines with surfers, whales and seals. We have passed through so many amazing national parks with stunning trees of all sizes and spied zillions of kangaroos or wallabies and even a few illusive koalas.
We have seen deserts (and more desert) and rock paintings and many flowering shrubs, trees and broadleaf gum trees in leaf, in winter time.
Thankfully we have not come face to face with spiders, crocodiles and snakes but have enjoyed the many loud colourful birds and loved our morning calls from kookaburras.
We have been occasionally cold at night, but mostly warm and very occasionally hot in the Australian winter.
But best of all, a legacy from my Australian mother, is that we have packed in visits to a myriad of Australian cousins (some quite distant) and relatives on our circular route. Which brings me on to Why Coolatai?
When back in Charleville, Queensland, on our way through to the ‘Red Centre’ we met Alan MacDonald and his wife Leslie and one of their sons, Duncan. Blog Aus 7). There, in a small country town, we learnt about Bilbies which are threatened with extinction, the management of light aircraft, visited hangars, inspected a barn with a collection of very ancient military vehicles and admired horses and a room full of amplifiers and guitars!
Alan had been brought up on a homestead called Coolatai out near Blackall, some 300 kilometers further into the centre from Charleville. The Macdonald family at Coolatai had been a long drive from town and Mum, Lindsay, had started out home schooling Alan, Katrina and Natalie. Later all the children would be sent away for school as was common for those living in remote farming communities.
Water at Coolatai came from a borehole, which they had sunk and he, with his parents and two sisters lived on the farm like many generations of MacDonalds before them, amongst the cattle or sheep, with working dogs and horses. Roles in the family were very traditional. Food was cooked on a range and everyone pulled their weight. This tough life for Lindsay was very different from her Brisbane upbringing. The farm survived through alternating periods of prosperity followed by periods of drought and hardship.
Both their parents, Lindsay, (Linnie) and Nigel have now passed away. None of their three children, or indeed their grandchildren, were interested in the farm as a going concern, and in any event, the two sisters particularly, had been expected to make their own way in life.
And it is these two sisters that have made their lives with their families in Victoria, in and around Melbourne that we now visit.
When we arrived in Blackall back in June 2024, Coolatai had already been sold and one of the daughters had subsequently named her new home in Wye River, on the Great Ocean Road, Coolatai Wye because of the fond memories she had of their upbringing on the homestead. We had been invited to visit Coolatai Wye on the homeward leg of our tour.
My connection with this wonderful family is a bit tenuous and we are connected through my mother’s Australian father, who is a Wilson.
Lindsey Bright, a dentists daughter from Brisbane, married a Macdonald from farming Blackall. Lindsay’s mother was a Wilson before she married a Bright. Lindsay was the sister of Robin Bright who remained in Brisbane. And it is Bobbie Bright who has introduced us to many members of her family including her MacDonald nieces and nephews.
The father of Bobbie and Lindsay’s Mother (Alfred) was a brother to my grandfather, (Francis) who were Wilsons.
Bobbie knew my Grandmother, Dr Ellen Kent Hughes, as Great Auntie Nell. Bobbie and her sisters lost their parents at a young age. And therefore their connections to the older generation were important as was their relations to their Cousins, many of whom we have also met on this trip. The Macdonald children’s maternal Great Grandfather was the older brother of my Grandfather!
We arrived in Wye River which involved driving down through amazing woodlands to reach the iconic Great Ocean Road. This windy cliff hugging route follows some of Australia’s most beautiful coastline. We arrived up at the house following a steep uphill track which took us passed cliff hugging cantilevered properties, many of which overlooked the sea , but were far enough from the road to be entirely peaceful and surrounded by trees which, we later learnt, had been threatened by recent bushfires but were now recovering and were still home to visiting koala bears and many native creatures.
The effect of the bushfires has meant that those with older wooden homes destroyed by fire, could no longer afford to rebuild in the same spot. As new fire prevention regulations and insurance requirements were so stringent, that the old insurance payouts fell far short of the cost of rebuilding a compliant property. This meant that more new vacant plots had come onto the market for those that wanted an ideal spot and could afford to meet the more stringent fire code requirements. The Coolatai Wye property was conceived post fire, and emerged on a vacant plot in the forest with glimpses down to the sea.
Coolatai Wye was in many ways the complete antithesis of the much loved and remembered outback property in Blackall. It had been architect designed and newly constructed using the finest materials and designed with all manner of incredible features. Water and sewerage were off grid and some power was sourced from photovoltaic panels. Outdoor balconies gave over to views over woodland and the sea and the spaces were designed for outdoor living and entertaining.
I will never do this place justice, but at the heart of the living space was a substantial industrial kitchen which would be the envy of any Michelin Starred chef. Ovens and fridges had been sourced uniquely and the design of the space had been to accommodate these very particular features. Safe to say that these features would be completely wasted on me, but not on this MacDonald and her partner Scott.
While most of us find a way to escape the mundanity of the kitchen, this family are drawn to the culinary arts. Weekends are yet another opportunity to try out a new cooking technique or complicated recipe. Scott is an Aussie that loves a Barbecue and on our first night, steaks are cooked to perfection on the BBQ.
During our stay, as guests we were drawn into cooking as participatory theatre. Chef’s whites are issued to temporary sous chefs. Guests are issued with chopping boards and knives or are schooled into crafting French baguettes with exactly the right flour, and cooked in exactly the correct way.
A beekeeping outfit appears for the purposes of collecting honey from a hive in the garden.
Outdoor spaces have a fire pit and nestled into the steep hillside, space has been found to create a cosy outdoor living space surrounded by forest. Trees overhead sway in the breeze, and if you are lucky Koala’s can be spotted dozing amongst the boughs.
It does not get better than this!
After a weekend in Wye River (in our new family home) we headed off for Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road. No days drive can pass without finding a walk and sometimes a new lighthouse! We stopped briefly at Aireys inlet to stretch our legs before leaving the coastal drive.
Our next stopover was Melbourne. Here we met up with old friends of my husband’s family for dinner in the centre of town. We had a fabulous meal in a very busy Italian restaurant.
With the help of WikiCamps, we had found a peaceful free spot to park up the van overnight on a residential street without parking restrictions. What we had not banked on was the nearby cafe for breakfast offering Cappuccino and avocado toast for brunch!
As we entered the centre of Melbourne we came upon a noisy peaceful demonstration in support of Palestinians in Gaza. Apparently this was a weekly event.
Finally we went and wandered around the Queen Victoria Market which kept us busy for a couple of hours buying bits to take home - yes the end of our trip is now in touching distance!
We then left for our final appointment with Melbourne. We had been invited to a small party!
Natalie MacDonald had just retired from her big public sector job and was celebrating with family, friends and some former colleagues.
It was an ideal opportunity to meet more of the MacDonald clan and we hope we have the opportunity to welcome at least some of these guys to our home (their family home) in London in the future!