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On a pretty bleak morning we left Phillip Island and set off toward the western Melbourne suburb of Werribee. We had booked into the Werribee South caravan park and while we were looking forward to our next stop we still had to deal with the Melbourne traffic and our path led us right through the "belly of the beast". Now having driven in Melbourne city a long time ago I was glad we were sticking to the main roads and going straight through town. The fact that 19yr old schoolgirl's blow drying their hair while eating maccas and tweeting their take on Kate Middleton's dress can still fling their Mazda 3 or dads new falcon through what I thought was the most intense traffic situation I have ever seen since Saturday morning outside Dan Murphy's back home, only made me more uneasy.
So after some sweaty palms and missing most of the view as I was too wired to take my eyes of the road, I found we were turning into Werribee South. That definitely sounds worse than it was and the truth is that the trip through town showed us some amazing sights including the Docklands Stadium and Rod Laver Arena as well as Domain Tunnel and the incredible view from over the West Gate Bridge. With a lot of road works and construction going on the place really did seem like a mad house. With so many advertisements for upcoming shows and attractions the pressure on public transport in major cities is something that both of us have come to have a new appreciation for.
Driving off the main roads and toward our caravan park was a real change of pace. The area is nearly 100% market gardens and the sight of pickers milling around, long rows of vegies, tractors working ground and carting huge trailers of crops along the roads was refreshing to see. Not that you can get your hands on it easily as we found there is no roadside stalls or weekend markets!? Strange we thought.
The girls were rapt in the park! Being a council owned park it was right on the waterfront and straight across the road from the boat ramp with a pretty new rest area complete with a huge playground! No need to guess what the first question we were hit with was eh!? The weather was hit and miss as we checked out the surrounding area while the kids cut loose on the playground. We had made some plans in relation to our timeline so the Zoo was our outing that next day which would leave us with a day to check out Werribee town and stock up before hitting the Great Ocean Road.
Now given that we have already put you all through a couple of zoo tours with the Touring Bostock family, I will let the pics tell most of the story. The big difference for us was, as the name suggests, that most of the animals are free range and getting around with other animals in big paddocks. The coolest tour bus in the world (well it has neat pneumatic folding doors and ramps) took us on a mini safari which all of us enjoyed, even though it was pretty cold outside. The one thing we share with the animals, must be feeling the cold, as they all have furry coats and the keepers reckon they get a bit of extra tucker to help with the cold. The Meerkats looked like round fluff balls! The day was fun and time seemed to fly especially as the girls were still going even after the Lions were fed at 3o'clock! There were plenty of locals in attendance and all said they made full use of a years pass. Good value compared to other things we waste money on for kid's aye?
After a full day at the zoo and our shopping up to date our attention turned to our planned route for the next couple of days. Weather....still s^#t....check! Just what we did not want for what is one of the best drives in the country, The Great Ocean Road. So with cold drizzle wetting our backs as we battle kids and that b****** drainhose that just will not roll up, we prepare for a day's driving along some of Australia's more famous coastline. We just might find Bodhi down there somewhere or perhaps Elvis!!
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