Welcome, to continue with our story I once again have to take you back in time. This time is far further back than you may all be thinking. This time it's to those lazy, hazy days in the late 1980,s, when the summer was hot and the winter's cold, we had no worries and all our lives were being enhanced by the simple stories of those folk down under. How we used to love watching Kylie and Jason and the rest of the cast playing on the street, the dramas they all faced and how they would always be over come because when you have good neighbours you will always have good friends.
Day 3 in Melbourne and we had booked on the official neighbours tour, with promises to see a star either past or present from the show. We had our fingers crossed it would be from the past as the chances are we would know who they were. The tour left from outside our hostel a little late but that really isn't anything new for Australia as everything seems to run behind. We started by watching a classic episode on the bus as we drove to the studios where the show is filmed. This building was also used for any outside shots of Wentworth detention centre (Prisoner Cell Block H), which was great as both Andy and I loved the show. We then saw some outside sets from Neighbours before boarding the bus for Ramsey Street.
On arriving on the street we were all left in shock with how small it really is and the guide saying in a really loud voice "I don't believe it, look who's over there", we all turned to look and some of the girls on the trip all gasped loudly. The guide then rushes over saying "hi, what you doing here, I can't believe it, what luck " It turned out to be the actor who played the character "starfish", who died on the show a few years ago. Of course we had no idea who he was and to be honest couldn't give monkeys about Starfish. We all then qued to have our photos taken both with Starfish and the Ramsey street sign. It was good fun walking around the street and looking at the houses we recognized from the TV. Before we knew it we were back on the bus and back to normality. It was fun with a massive helping of cheese on top.
The next morning, which was another cold one we set off to the bowels of the city in search of the Spaceship (a campervan company) depot and our transport for the next 8 days, we did find it with the help of a taxi driver and his map. We were left a little bit open mouthed. It was a really messy garage and brokers yard with a couple of vans in the corner, we had to sit and wait for the chap to turn up so we could finish the paper work and get of on our way. I think that if you hire a vehicle the least you should expect is that it's clean and dent free, well not if you have a spaceship. They maybe should change there advertising to say something like, "if you want very old, very dented, very dirty and very, very small then rent a spaceship, our call centre staff are useless and we couldn't give a damn" As the days went on things got worse the doors wouldn't close properly and the seatbelt on the passenger side spent more time not working than it did working. We had planned to take one of these up the east coast and hire it for 11 weeks and then again in New Zealand for another 6 weeks, well that was out the window as just those few days we had it for were torture, as the temperature dropped below freezing at night and it rained most of the time with high winds thrown in for good measure.
Thankfully the motor home we had was only a very small part of our time in Victoria and we were both determined not to let it spoil our time in the garden state. Setting of from Melbourne we made our way to the great ocean road passing some great pieces of modern art on the roadside, this art was plain wooden fencing but inserted with coloured Perspex and was really eye catching. The great ocean road was constructed just after the war and was built to rival highway one in California , also the returning servicemen needed work and were all employed to build the road that would wind along the ocean and cut through thick forest.
It was a really good drive and very scenic. As it is the middle of winter and no right thinking person would really come to this part of Australia now we had campsites to ourselves which was a blessing as it meant we could make great use of the camp kitchens. For example our first stop was in the small town of Anglesey and a campground of 16 acres, with a giant jumping pillow, spa, swimming pool, kitchen that would rival a massive WI hall and the biggest TV you ever did see and we were the only people there.
After a couple of days on the Great Ocean Road seeing sights such as the 12 apostles and London bridge, we spend the last couple of nights in a little sleepy town called Peterborough and Warrnambool where we had what felt like our first proper day out, we went to a really cute little mock fishing town called Flagstaff hill, where the staff all dress in the costumes of the days when Victoria was first occupied by the British settlers, we spent a very pleasant but cold couple of hours exploring the town press, workers cottages and local shipyard.
Realising we were running out of time we headed north to see the highlands of The Grampians. We stayed in a little town called Halls Gap which was like an alpine village without the snow. We rushed around The Grampians in half a day and found some truly stunning look outs over the ranges. The best thing here was the hundreds of kangaroos everywhere. At last we were surrounded by living breathing kangaroos. Our campsite was full of them and we went to sleep that night surrounded by them, which I'm sure you can imagine waking at about 3am to use the toilet and opening the van door to see dozens of Kangaroo looking up at you because you need to step on that little piece of grass they were just about to eat. Most Australians must think us a little strange as we just sat for hours watching them jump about and munch of the grass in the campground. They are so much bigger than I thought they would be and it seems such a shame that they are considered to be common vermin.
After our rushed look around The Grampians it was time to head back towards Melbourne via The Goldfields of Victoria. Stopping on route at the town of Ararat we had a quick but really interesting tour of J ward, which was until 1991 a prison for the criminally insane. This, like the prison in Fremantle was shocking that up to so recently human beings were kept in such conditions. Limited heating, only two very tough blankets, mostly cold water and no doors on the toilets, you would maybe think that's ok and they are doing it for the inmates own good, but when you consider they locked a man in there for 4 years with the worst of society for having HIV it makes you wonder.
Moving on from Ararat we stayed in the main tourist town of the goldfields called Ballarat to learn more about the sheer amount of Gold in them there hills!
There is a well constructed reproduction on the old town of Ballarat called Sovereign Hill. We explored the old gold mines, digging sites and town in the pouring rain. At 87 pounds for 2 people it was expensive but I found some gold whilst panning the river. Our only little moan was that when you pay so much to enter how can they then charge an extra 15 quid if you want to do the main gold mine tour of 10 pounds if you want to ride the horse and cart (we didn't do either) At night we went to a show which explained the uprising of the miners against the authorities. It was quite good even though it rained and was really cold.
It was with great thanks to the owners of the campground when we left Ballarat as the weather had been against us the whole time and everything we owned was soaking wet, they kindly opened up the rec room and turned up the heating to let us dry our things, with out that we would have no doubt been in a real mess.
After Ballarat it was time to head back to Melbourne and to drop our van off. We then made away across the city to reach the airport to fly to Canberra.
Canberra is the capital of Australia after Melbourne and Sydney could not agree which should be the capital. So to save argument they planned and built Canberra between the two. We have spent the last couple of days looking at the War museum and the old and new parliaments.
Canberra is ok but it is utterly soulless. There is no real history here only museums that have been put in place because they needed to put something here. However the new parliament house is amazing as it has been built into a hill. This shows that people are above politics in importance. It cost a shocking amount of money to build and is more like an art gallery in places, but they are hoping it will last 200 years before they have to build another. Old parliament house is on the other hand a real gem and shows how closely linked the British and Australian parliamentary systems are.
Well we have booked our bus and will be travelling to Sydney tomorrow. After just over a week in the region we are collecting another camper van (this time a chubby like our first one) and we are going to drive north until we hit the tropics and some much needed sunshine. Thanks also must go to Travellers Autobarn the owners of the chubby vans who have kindly given us the best rates on the campervan which in fact made them cheaper than the awful spaceship we would have been stuck with over wise.
Before we sign off I just wanted to comment on just how nice our fellow campers have been we have had many a great chat with them whilst shivering over the BBQ and they have all been much better sources of information than all the guide books in WH Smith.
Till next time when hopefully for us it will have stopped raining and I can once again wear shorts be good and enjoy the English summer while it lasts which I'm sure won't be that long.
Love as always from us both