Sunny, 30 degrees
Up at 5.30 pm after a short exhausted sleep to catch a taxi to Sydney airport. Experiencing light traffic we arrived in good time for our flight to Adelaide. An okay breakfast in the airport and then catch the 8.40 economy (sharp gasp from Graham - my God what a difference!) flight on to Adelaide. We arrive to discover we have to put our watches back 1/2 hour as Adelaide is half an hour behind Melbourne .... what....!
No problems this flight and we are able to pick up our home for the next 12 days just over 1 hour later than planned at 11.15 am.
A very small campervan - a Britz Hitop with no toilet/bathroom facilities. Graham has always lusted over the little vans when we have been travelling in Rex our 6m white van conversion (with toilet and shower) - let’s see how he feels at the end of 12 days sans salle douche.
We head off towards towards Victor Harbour via Maclaren Vale (at the suggestion of the receptionist at the Britz collection office).
We stoppped off at the information centre with a Café and wine tasting room overlooking vines and countyside... It was delightful.
We had lunch in the Café in the lovely surroundings. Life is good..
We then did a big supermarket shop in a much better stocked one than any experienced in NZ - sorry you New Zealanders.
We decided to buy a little wine - in Australia wine, beer and spirits have to be purchased in liquor shops - the supermarkets don’t stock alcohol.
In a shop which stated Cellar Room - it actually was a shop front for a local winemaker selling his own wines at (to him) a reasonable price but we were to be fair looking for glugable plonk! After tasting a variety of his wines - how he enthused - sadly we didn’t really get them, but bought a sympathy bottle of white wine which he said someone had told him it was like the best Chablis - yeh right... it cost $22 ( How much! - G) . Up the road we bought another couple of bottles from Sip n Save - much more up our street!
On to Victor Harbour a quaint seaside town which has a causeway to an island. - Granite Island.Apparently you can buy blue penguin watching trips - but we think we’re a bit penguined out...
Our campsite has pitches on which have a little hut with your own bathroom! We had one. It was great - no trudging up to the communal showerblock and toilets... camping luxury! And for less than £30 a night! We’re sold. Fingers crossed this will happen throughout our trip ( please, please... -C )
We had a stroll into town before dinner and viewed the causeway. Apparently a horse drawn tram takes visitors to the island a few times a day. On our walk back we witnessed what looked like territory wars between rival sets of vocal birds. The birds in Australia seem to have been taking steroids!
We love the background song of Australian magpies. They look a little like our European ones, black and white with some grey, but their song is lovely: a mix of hoots, squarks and whistles. Wish ours had the same song instead of that awful squark they do.
Friday 1st February ( white rabbits!)
Sunny 22 degrees rising to 26.
A lazy start as we are going to the Urimbirra Wildlife park for 10 am - opening time. We had a surprisingly comfortable nights sleep.
The Park is privately owned but with eco credentials - it was fab!
We wanted to see Kangaroos and Koalas at least and this was our get out of jail free card! As we paid the receptionist asked if we’d like to buy some Kangaroo food for a dollar (54p). “to be fair they’d be disappointed if you didn’t”. So we did - we did get senior entrance though ( Yes! - G )
We wandered through an aviary of lively Cockateels and cockatoos. On to the crocodiles - fresh water ( harmless) and saltwater (killers)
To the Kangaroos - tame and vying for food. They were so sweet..... we’re sure not so in the wild....
Then it was Koala feeding time! The 3 Koalas in the park are semi wild - used to feeding times but not up for up front cuddles like some. However as they munched we were allowed to stroke them - backs only - stay away from the face and claws..
So fluffy.. awwww....
Then on to the Wombats - those sluggish nocturnal creatures. (Any one remember the Tinker and Tucker club? - I was a member! - C)
Though vineyards, lakesides and the scenery got less green and more scorched.
Our van is another Toyota - the worst yet. We thought the sat-nav in our first Toyota was bad but this one is absolutely awful. It changes country on it’s own, doesn’t have an option for North Up, loses it’s destination every time you stop, touch screen but slow to respond so you end up stabbing it multiple times, and talks like Norman Collier doing the duff microphone routine It takes us miles out of our way. We overrule it and get back to the direct route we should have taken, through scorched earth country spotted with the odd oasis of green vineyard. Eventually we find why the sat-nav was taking us 50 miles out of the way: our road is blocked by a river with a ferry. We chat to a couple in front and they tell us not to worry, the ferry runs all the time and is free. Nice couple and the conversation soon turns to friendly banter about which is best, UK or Australia. When they mentioned politicians we accepted defeat.
On to Meningie a lovely lake side small town.As we ate our customary picnic lunch we saw a squadron of Pelicans fly by.
A statue near the lake pays homage to the Pelican. Big croquet club at Meningie. We also cross the road to buy some beer and wine - think ahead - got to get it in the fridge. Carol picks out a cheap wine and I ask the owner what its like. “We sell a lot of these - the Sheilas like it” he says. That’ll do for my gal.
Another long boring drive through the Coolong National Park past kms and kms of shrubland and sand. It might not be so bad except for the van. Its very windy and the suspension is shot. The road is lined with low shrubs so if a gap in the shrub coincides with a bumpy bit (of which there are many), the van becomes temporarily uncontrollable. 2 years old and 70,000 miles its ready for some new shock absorbers.
Ah the open road....
We eventually reached The Big Lobster! Called Larry by the locals. Originally promoting the adjoining restaurant - the restaurant is no more but Larry reigns supreme! You can’t kill plastic.
OK, this is a caption competition. Answers in the comments section please. I’ll start you off.
Meet my new fella. He ain’t much to look at but he’s a great dancer. Clickerty click.
More kms of boring landscape (this is getting very tiring and tedious now) leads us to Robe - another seaside town with a campsite with pitch ensuites! ( Hurrah! - C).
We settle down for the night - resigned to the fact this road trip is going to require a lot of driving. The place is so vast......
Saturday 2nd Feb
Hot and sunny - 32deg max forecast.
We re-examine the map and decide on a long journey today to shorten the pain later on when the roads are more scenic and we can take our time. We go to reception to book an ensuite for our next stop and also book our Melbourne accommodation just in case the camp sites near cities get full. The next site we wanted to stay at tonight is unexpectedly full with a caravan convention so we lengthen our journey even more. We also discover we’re using the wrong company to get our Britz discount, although everyone so far has given it to us. We wander in and say “so I think you do discount for ...” without mentioning the name and waggle the keys, and it seems to work. Anyway we postpone the Melbourne booking as we think we may be better off with the other company.
Off we head to Port Fairy. A long tedious drive to Mount Gambier, a convenient lunch stop where there are two attractions to visit.
1. The Umpherston Sink Hole Garden
Originally a farm with a sink hole, there are a few historic iterations but eventually a grand house was constructed in the mid 1800s and the sink hole converted into a garden for cooling off. It was a showpiece with a lake at the bottom and guests could admire the garden from a boat. In 1901 the owner James Umpherston died with no children, it passed to his good for nothing nephew, then became derelict, then was purchased by a large wood sawmill factory, finally being bought by the Council and renovated as a tourist site. The grand house was demolished by the sawmill factory for expansion and it is HUGE. (The sawmill factory that is).
And just as exciting, we see a possum. We’d heard about these deadly creatures in New Zealand. All over NZ there are traps for possums as they are considered No 1 enemy for local wildlife. They have a plan to eradicate possums there completely by 2050, none left, all dead. Here’s a picture of the deadly killer in the wild.
2. Blue Lake
So there’s this startling blue lake just outside Mount Gambier, a good sized town. It is a stunning colour but a little inaccessible so we take a photo and study the information board. “The lake has confounded scientists for centuries - why is it so blue? where does the water come from?” We scan the board for more information but there is none, all there is, is “it feeds the city of Mt Gambier with lovely clean blue water” ???? Oh, the city depends on this water that we don’t know where it comes from but everyday someone comes along and fills it, this un diminishing source. Really? I think they know more than they’re letting on.
"We leave for our overnight stop, Port Fairy. From here the scenery starts to get better. Rolling hills, forests, massive forests, and I mean massive, hundreds of square kilometres, which explains the sawmill factory being able to spend $$$ restoring Umpherston Sink Hole.
Port Fairy. Nice name, nice place, but we’re tired. We check in to the camp site, go for a swim and relax beside the van. The birds here are numerous and very vocal. We pass the evening being amused by common sparrows, magpies with their lovely song, fantails, and kerelas sqawking in flocks.
Here you are, a common magpie, but when it sings....lovely. Look it up on youtube. Given they are intelligent birds, who knows their songs may have meanings.
Tomorrow we start the Great Ocean Road proper.
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