Road Trip - The Great Ocean Road
Adelaide - Sydney (2274 km aprox to go)
Part 1 (Adelaide - Port MacDonnell - approx. 605km) Day 1 Adelaide - Clayton (approx. 145km)
We were very eager to pick up our campervan and start our road trip to Sydney. We got the tram and a taxi to the rental company arriving ahead of the scheduled pick up time - this was fortunate as we had to resolve a few underlying problems with our pick up, but these were soon resolved with some good will gestures - a free map, GPS, cooler box, table and 2 camping chairs - free map was very handy, we didn't use the GPS as we wanted to do it old school and go by the map, table and chairs were used ALOT and the cooler box was more of a burden than a benefit but we felt that they owed us it after all the grief. Once we finally got the keys and loaded in all our bags we were ready to set off, went to put it into gear and then realised it was an automatic. Too late to change and actually after all the mileage we ended up doing I soon became grateful for this. We began our journey, firstly stopping off at a local Woolworths (similar to a Sainsbury's back home). We decided not to drive too far today because we haven't planned our route yet and didn't want to miss anything out. Plenty of mileage to cover but thankfully fuel is not as expensive as at home, being around 50 - 60p a litre. Our ride was a Toyota Hiace, a 3 berth hitop little beauty, a perfect entry level campervan.
We headed south from Adelaide and while Emily had already decided to take a kip in the passenger seat we drove past a PYO strawberry farm. We missed out on doing this in Malaysia so I decided this was not only a good opportunity to do this, but to put a smile on Emily's face - making a sharp turn around to wake up sleeping beauty and head to the farm. The weather was perfect, blue skies and not a cloud in sight. We purchased our punnet (which Curt found out was an unnecessarily posh name for a container) and were told that we could eat the strawberries as we pick. I (Curt) was never really one for strawberries, but actually these were great! Amazing how nice fresh strawberries taste. Maybe we were there a little too long, seeing many people come and go while we only picked the best strawberries and filled our bellies. We first arrived in Victor Harbour, a little seaside town with a horse drawn tram which takes people to a small island 800m off the shore. We decided not to take the tram, instead walking it because the poor horsey looked tired pulling all the passengers in the scorching heat. There were many viewpoints looking out to small bays and seaside towns which helped us to pass some time. We both felt that we had entered our mid 60's with our campervan, driving from one lookout point to the other. We drove through Port Elliot and Goolwa before arriving at Clayton. We finally decided to stop off here for the rest of the day, with this site turning out to be one of the best sites we visited. It's a bit out in the sticks which was great because it wasn't overcrowded and the amenities were neat and tidy. We found a perfect spot, setting the campervan so that it overlooked Lake Alexandrina - very tranquil. We set up the campervan for our first night and cooked some lovely burgers and salad while watching the sunset over the lake, a perfect end to our first day! Come the evening we found ourselves looking up at the stars (told you we had skipped a couple of generations) and couldn't believe how many stars there were, finding it amusing finding familiar star patterns at home were the wrong way round. Day 2 Clayton - Robe (approx. 295km)
We woke up from a lovely nights sleep ready to hit the road again - packed up the camper, dismantling the bed which was surprisingly comfortable ready for more driving, planning to make a lot more progress today! We drove south along the coastline stopping at more beachside towns and points of interest marked on the map. We had to take a small ferry crossing free of charge across a river which was literally a small boat carrying a maximum of 10 cars across a 20m wide river - I'm sure a bridge would make much more sense. The majority of driving was done through the Coorong National Park - a HUGE national park with a few lookouts along the way, not seeing much civilisation for miles. We drove through Meningie, stopped off at Chinamans Well and continued through Kingston - home to the BIG lobster (known as Larry) built in 1979, built to attract tourists driving through Kingston, promoting the South Eastern seafood. Originally supposed to be 17ft high but some clever people misinterpreted the measurements in meters. After a long morning of sightseeing we found a lovely place along the beach in Kingston to stop and have some lunch - another beautiful day enjoying the view over the ocean before making our way further south to Robe, a lovely seaside town along a long stretch of coastline. They had their Christmas Pageant Show (similar to the Floral Fiesta in Olney, but really quite rubbish in comparison). There were plenty of small floats cruising down the road put together by local businesses, charities, clubs and the schools. One float had Santa in, and being an Australian Santa he was wearing shorts and sunglasses of course. He was throwing out candy and Santa hats to the children in the street, yaaaayyyyy. So after waiting patiently Santa drove past us, kindly throwing us a calendar! Hmmmm thanks, just what we were standing around waiting for.
We downloaded the Wiki Camps app which essentially highlights all the campsites that people on the app have visited. We found ourselves camping in a small car park next to the Obsliek Lighthouse. There weren't any "No Camping Signs" so it was fair game. Perfect to stop for a few hours to grab some sleep and get straight back onto the road again. It wasn't a bad place to stopover, but we decided that we liked the security of camping with likeminded people, so we decided to become more selective of where we camp. Day 3 Robe - Port MacDonnell (approx. 165km)
We set off nice and earlier after another good nights sleep, despite blowing around in the wind. The first leg of the journey was mainly like driving through the bush - we were fortunate enough to see our first wild Kangaroos (a mother and two baby Roos) eating their breakfast. We stopped at the side of the road and watched them for a while, before they decided to jump off. It was so surreal watching them jump through the fields. Again while we were driving we stopped off at the all side posted POI - Firstly Murray McCourts Woakwine Cutting (a huge cutting operation through a valley in order to drain 420 hectare peat swamp on his property, taking 3 years to complete by only two men). Driving through Beach Port a small seaside town with a few little shops. We still hadn't bought each other any Christmas Presents - setting ourselves a $20 budget each on small 'junk' presents just so we have something to unwrap :), these were mainly purchased here! Even though the scenery was great, we were making very slow progress on the dirt tracks. Mid-afternoon we arrived at the Tantanoola Caves Conservation Park. Because we stopped off at a free camp last night Emily couldn't charge her camera (the van has a fridge, lights etc. which runs off the battery but doesn't power our sockets unless connected to a hook-up). Luckily the tour guide let us charge the camera battery while we decided to fix up some lunch while we waited, even squeezing in a cheeky nap….perks of having a mobile bed. The caves were magnificent - set into a cliff face bursting with rare helicities hanging from above you, formed in dolomite, a mineralised pink and brown limestone. The story goes that the caves were discovered by a young boy who was out walking his pet ferret (weird right?) who vanished down a hole and wouldn't come out. The boy went home to get his brother and they managed to find a way to climb down the hole to find his pet, and as well as finding their ferret, they found these amazing caves.
The next stop was in Mount Gambier, home of the Blue Lake. A crater in an explosive structure called a maar which consists of a rim of ejected material (basalt and ash) resting directly on the pre-erupted land surface. The blue lake holds a vibrant cobalt blue colour during December-March due to the warming of the surface of the lake to 20 degrees causing calcium carbonate to precipitate out of the solution and enabling micro-crystallites of calcium carbonate to form….yeah we read (and took pictures of) the information board. The rest of the year returns to a colder steel grey colour. Even though it is called the blue lake, it just doesn't prepare you for how BLUE it is. We then began to feel restless so decided to look for a campsite nearby, with Wiki Camps suggesting a nice campsite near the beach in Port MacDonnell - we drove the 25+/- South of Mount Gambier checking into a lovely campsite located behind some sand dunes. A short 1 minute walk over the beach landed us on a huge stretch of sand - enjoying a few drinks on the sand before cooking dinner and grabbing some sleep :).

C & E x