Betty & Katerina
 We ate a load on the Great Ocean Road! Put the kettle on, sit back and relax… right now you have had an insight into our daily routine, it’s time for the next installment. Once we had collected our campervan and home for a week we headed off to do a bit of sightseeing around Adelaide. Visited ‘Granite Island’ on the south coast home to fairy penguins (sadly you can only see them at night) and had a look at several villages in the ‘Adelaide Hills’ and ‘Barossa Valley’. Hahndorf was a Germanic village where the influence of early German settlers was clear so we didn’t hang around long! Mind you, we have to admit it was very pretty and so was the scenery in the surrounding area as we drove alongside vineyards, apple orchards etc… Coorong National Park was home for a night, this long narrow coastal stretch is a changeable habitat for many birds as it is made up of small islands and salty wetlands affected by tidal movement. Caught a beautiful sunset over one of the salt lakes then began the nightly routine of donning every garment we owned in a vain attempt to keep warm. Brrrr we don’t miss those chilly nights in that little van. We were up early to do a couple of short walks (mere strolls by our standards) around some of the park but realized we had been spoilt by our time on tour as the scenery was a bit flat. Mount Gambier was our next stop. A fairly large town (by Australian standards) with some beautiful blue volcanic lakes and a pretty cave garden. As this was our final night in South Australia we cooked up all our apples into a rather tasty apple and oat surprise and each ate about five raw carrots. Finally we thought we had got it right as quarantine laws prevent you transporting fresh produce across state borders, except it appears, between South Australia and Victoria! On our fourth day we reached the Grampians National Park in Victoria, a place where we were keen to do a bit more hiking. Sadly the park has been badly affected by bush fires, the most recent only the week before we were there. Being the hardened outback explorers that we are, we spent our first night at a bush camp and even stopped to gather firewood on the way! This was without doubt our coldest night with condensation on the inside of the van when we woke up and icicles on our noses. The kangaroos hopping about our feet as we ate porridge for breakfast made the experience pretty special though. We embarked on a 12KM (yes your eyes are not deceiving you) hike to warm us up. Known as the Strapylton loop, it took us clambering over rocks and up ‘challenging terrain’ to the summit of Mt. Strapylton. The views up here were absolutely awesome but we were a little miffed to find an 80 year old couple sat up top barely out of breath, we reckon they must have done the shorter walk. Fortunately this part of the park was unaffected by the fires so we were treated to miles of unspoiled landscape. In need of a shower (bush camps are pretty basic) we stayed another night in the park at a campsite and Liz got to hand feed cockatoos and learnt this means they actually try to eat your hand. The eagerly anticipated ‘Great Ocean Road’ came next, well once we had visited a cheese factory that we spied along the way and lunched on the free samples. Taking the advice of a sweet old couple we met at ‘the Grampians’ we stopped at every lookout point between Warnambol and Apollo Bay. Sights such as ‘London Bridge’, ‘The Arch’ and ‘The 12 Apostles’ were every bit as impressive as you will have seen in photographs and on postcards. It was great to feel the warmth of the sun once more and have clear blue skies for our photos. All the flies obviously enjoyed being out too as they mistook Liz’s bright yellow T. Shirt for a flower and covered her. Not amused! In the afternoon we made a detour to visit part of the Otways National Park and were rewarded with our first encounter with Koalas in the wild, so cute and cuddly! Had a night by the sea in the town of Apollo Bay, about mid way along the Great Ocean Road. As we were too late to go to the fresh seafood market we made pancakes instead, yes looking back we can only remember things by the meals we had. The following day the road took us right alongside the ocean which was pretty spectacular. Many of the towns had strangely familiar names like ‘Anglesea’ and ‘Torquay’. Stopped off to visit the pretty ‘Erskine Falls’ which looked like something from a fairytale and went up to ‘Teddy’s Point’ for a great view back along the road. It wasn’t far to Melbourne so we decided to head there for our final night in Cassie the camper. However, after driving around for several hours in search of a campsite, we opted for the flat of friendly Fred (a mate of Liz’s from Whistler). The following day we returned the van, perhaps testing out their instruction to return it empty a little too seriously as we had to keep stopping the engine at every set of traffic lights. At least when they made us take it to a car wash before returning it we had a little smug feeling knowing it probably wouldn’t have enough fuel left for them to make it to a petrol station ha ha. On second thoughts maybe that’s why we haven’t received our hundred dollar fuel refund from the company yet!
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Diary Photos
| 12th Oct 2006 | |
| On top of the world! | |
| Taking in the fantastic view from the top of Mount Strapylton, Grampians National Park, Victoria. |
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| 12th Oct 2006 | |
| Two Saints with the 12 Apostles. | |
| View over the 12 Apostles on the Great Ocean Road. |
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