Tara Bulga

 Our next stop on our journey was Tara Bulga National Park. 

We slowly made our way north east across the peninsula stopping to walk along the beach a few times. We saw some waterfalls in Toora and walked a long jetty in Welshpool before ending up in our destination. 

We stayed 2 nights at a small farm Airbnb which acts as a refuge for farm animals. They had 2 small calves who were hungry and curious and ran right up to us. A 6 day old alpaca. 3 cows, probably 15 alpacas and goats, and 50 chooks. The couple who ran it also had a baby. They said they were downsizing their farm a bit, unsurprisingly as it seemed like a ton of work for a young couple with a new baby and not a lot of experience on farms. They were really nice though and it was a fun place to stay. We got to bottle feed the calves which was fun as well. 

As we wandered around the farm we spotted a koala up in the tree high above us. 

The next morning we headed into the national park. The road in was harrowing. It was essentially a single lane road with hairpin turns and cliffs along the way. Not only did we have to drive carefully to stay on the road, the speed limit was 80 kph, and absolutely insane speed. I drove 20 the entire way and it felt too fast at times. It’s unbelievable that anyone would go that fast, and a big difference between American and Australian theories on driving laws. Here speed limits are suggestions not expectations, especially on small country roads. 

While driving up we got stopped for a routine driver license check and breathalyzer test. A not uncommon stop here. What was odd though was the troopers car. It had notes written on the window like ‘like donuts paid peanuts’ and other strange sayings talking about their underpay. It’s surprising to me the Australian gov would let them write on their trooper cars and drive around. Dad tried to get a picture but I yelled at him. He’s one to make jokes to police officers that they don’t like very much and I was not appreciative of the idea of him photographing them and potentially getting me in a pickle. We finally were allowed to leave though and I hoped they didn’t find anyone driving these scary roads drunk at 9am.