After a very long drive and our gear box giving us a lot of problems, we had finally made it to a little town that sat 45 minutes drive outside of Adelaide. We had made it, just, to a rest area that was based at the side of a sports ground. So pulling up under the beam of the flood lights, we wiped the nervous sweat from our gear box troubles from our brows and made a meal to eat our worries away. It had been a long day of driving and a very stressful one at that. In the last hour of our drive the van started to play up and would not go in gear. The last thing we wanted was to breakdown and have to sleep at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Relieved that we had made it to the rest area, we settled in for the night putting our worries to bed to be faced the next day. We woke to the voices of two ladies walking laps of the sports ground catching up on the latest gossip and it was a nice change waking up there instead of some of the over crowded rest areas that we had stayed in. We prepared the van for action and with haste turned the keys in the ignition to see if Bert would drive. With luck the van seemed to be ok and was going into gear fine but it was something that we would have to keep an eye on, so driving like our van was made of egg shells we gingerly made our way towards Adelaide. As you travel around Australia you can become numb to some of the places you visit and think "it's just another city like...." but not in Adelaide's case. It just seems to be different from other cities that we had been to previously. Having a good walk around the main city centre we couldn't help being reminded of or feeling like we were walking the streets of Newcastle with its great mix of old and new architecture that juxtapose with ease and style. We spent hours looking around and exploring the city amongst the locals but time was pressing on and like the busy travellers we are we had another place to be. If we had a few days on our side we would have stayed in Adelaide longer and explored the little suburbs that surround the city but our schedule is tight and full of things to do so we saddled up and drove an hour down the road to McLaren Vale.

Now McLaren Vale was a dream come true for Ashleigh as she has wanted to visit vineyards, especially their cellar door's for some time. At first we had planned to visit the Barossa Valley, probably the most famous wine producing area in Southern Australia but after reading about McLaren Vale we couldn't resist it. The best way to think of it is that Barossa Valley is a well established and starting to get a bit old in the tooth woman whilst McLaren Vale is her better looking, up and coming, flirtatious younger sister. We arrived with a good few hours of light giving us time to have a look around our camp site, cook up a good meal and even feed the curious ducks that quacked around our van and feet. The next morning we were up and out on foot to take a look around the main road of McLaren Vale. It is littered with great little eateries, cafes, farmers market style boutiques and funky clothing stores. We popped into a cafe called the Blessed Cheese for a cappuccino and got some info on a self guided cheese and wine trail around McLaren Vale. The Blessed Cheese is a lovely place, think of the cafe Olive and Bean in Newcastle and your in the same kind of place. We bought a cheese hamper from them costing $30 that included four types of cheese, Woodside Goats Curd, Alexandrina Jersey Gouda, Alexandrina Matured Cheddar and La Vera Adel Blue. I'm not sure if you will find any of these in your local supermarket but if you do try them as they are all delicious especially the La Vera Adel Blue. Also with the hamper you get olives, mixed dried fruit and crackers that all come in a canny little cool bag with a cheese knife and board. It doesn't sound much for $30 but it could easily stretch between three people. Using the guide map, you visit the different vineyards and match up the certain numbered cheese with that vineyards wines that best go together as great wine deserves great cheese. Usually people drive around the cellar doors for the wine tasting but we wanted to be responsible and actually be able to enjoy the wine we were tasting so we hired some bicycles. We assumed that it would be easy going and we envisioned Famous Five style scenes of us ridding along in the sunshine saying things like "Tally Ho!" and "Spiffing!" How wrong we were.

We kind of forgot that vineyards are normally grown on hills for there natural flow of water and were reminded of this fact after riding up and down steep hills for 10km just to reach the first vineyard on our self guided tour. We had spent a few minutes deciding if we should hire a tandem at the bike shop for a laugh but it would have been certain that we would have been divorced by the time we reached the first cellar door. By the time we got there we both felt like we could throw up never mind try cheese and wine. But after catching our breath and taking in the views we were ready to enter our first cellar door of the day. We didn't really know what to expect and felt a little cheeky asking to try their wines for free but as soon as we walked in we were greeted with "Hi guys, so would you like to try some reds first or some cold whites to refresh you from your bike ride?" Champion, this would defiantly do for us. We had arrived at the Coriole vineyard and first up were poured a glass of ice cold Coriole Chenin Blanc that was paired up with our Woodside Goats Curd. After a few mouthfuls our bike sickness evaporated and we got well and truly stuck into the tasting. After wagging our chins with the cellar door owner and sampling six of his different wines, we bought a bottle of our favourite and were back on our bikes towards the next vineyard. Looking at the guide map, the next vineyard on the list was 15km away so a bit of creative re-jigging of the order was needed. There are two trails available on the map and we mixed and matched the locations with a route that we would find easier on the legs. So instead of the 15km ride to the next vineyard we opted to ride a few minutes up the road to the Rosemount vineyard that was supposed to be the final destination on our trail which we were more than happy with.

Walking into Rosemont was a different experience all together as it had a vat gallery that acted like a small museum on Rosemount vineyards and the wine making process. The oak casks that lined the skirt of the gallery were massive, a good three metres in height. After a good nose around we made our way to the cellar door and were met by another wine pusher who couldn't wait to give us free wine to taste. It's a hard life. Again, after chatting about all manner of things and trying many wines with the owner he put down a bottle of Rosemount Diamond Cabernet Sauvignon on the counter in front of us. He told me to pour two glasses as full as I liked to accompany our La Vera Adel Blue and to take a seat at the window to enjoy the views. How could we refuse. We felt rather decadent with this wine and cheese adventure, far removed from the scruffy backpackers we have become accustom to being. But a little day of spoils is ok once in a while. After sipping away an hour or so we couldn't help buying another bottle of our favourite wine that we had sampled before clipping on our bike helmets and making our way to the next vineyard, Dog Ridge another 12km away. After battling the hills in first gear for around 15 minutes we arrived at Dog Ridge to find that the place was swamped with people mainly from China there on a conference. Parking up our bikes we were greeted by a man with the conference that misunderstood us and thought that we had rode all the way from England. Even though we corrected him it fell on deaf ears and he asked if he could take a photograph of us. So somewhere in China now he might be showing his wife his holiday snaps and saying "...these are the guys I was talking about, they rode all the way from England just to try some wine" With the place being packed with Chinese and a group of French we stood at the back gladly with our glasses waiting for more delicious samples of wine. This was a fast wine tasting and we tried 10 varieties in under 20 minuets. Just the way we like it. Don't worry though we aren't plonkies, you only get about a quarter of a glass per tasting. Once more, all the wines were great but with the place being busy we decided to slink off quietly and rode a few kilometres down the road to our final vineyard of the day.

Walking into the cellar door of Hugo Wines we were met by a lady who had a rather striking resemblance of a young Joan Rivers. Like the other cellar doors, she wasted no time opening a few bottles and as we talked about everything from the recent riots in England to her views on Australia we made our way through the wines that were on offer. We chatted for an hour and finally took a seat with a full glass of their Hugo Estate Shiraz to have with our Alexandrina Matured Cheddar and we also tucked into the Alexandrina Jersey Gouda. We sat looking out over the bare vines that were just starting to blossom as we polished off our wine and cheese and for the first time in the day we started to feel a little drunk. With time getting on we had to set off back towards the main road making sure that we bought two bottle of the award wining Shiraz before we did. It was another 10km back to the main road and we were glad to return our bikes because for the last few kilometres we had started to hate them. Our bums had died and gone to heaven a long time ago and like Jesus, they weren't resurrected until three days afterward. Walking back to our camp site like John Wayne and with the sound of bottles clinking in our rucksack we decided to round off the day by finishing of the cheese with a few glasses of the wine we had bought. After riding over 30km (20 miles) that day we were more than ready for a good nights sleep. Thank god we didn't hire the tandem.

With purple stained teeth we prepared to move on once more and headed for the Great Ocean Road. Known as Australia's most famous stretch of road, it winds its way for around 250km from Torquay to Warrnambool and it actually exceeds the hype. As you drive along you are treated to spectacular views of the wild coastline that are backed by lush temperate rainforest and are treated further by the rock formations that shape the coastline itself. With the drive only being 250km we decided to spread Great Ocean Road out over a couple of days staying at Apollo Bay after the first days drive. But in that first day we had managed to see a lot and took in the views at The Grotto, The Twelve Apostles and Cape Otway lookout. The Twelve Apostles are the best known rock formations in Victoria even though now there are only six of them left as the sea has reclaimed the others as their own. These lonely rocky stacks tower high into the air and offer interesting views and photographs. The Twelve Apostles attract a lot of attention from tourist and locals alike and you have to jostle your way along the viewing platforms to get a good picture. We caught them around an hour before sunset giving them a beautiful golden hue. There are many great little seaside towns along the Great Ocean Road and we probably could have spent a few more days exploring them all but we opted to drive an hour down the road to reach Apollo Bay and made it, just, with the bright orange glow of our petrol light burning into our eyes. The next morning we woke to the sound of the sea and seagulls squawking high above. We saddled up once more and cruised down the road to Kennett River to see if we could spot any wild koalas. It was only a 20 minute drive and we parked up on the seafront and took a walk up Grey River Road with our heads looking high into the trees to see if we could spot the sleepy cuddly creatures. It didn't take long to spot our first koala having a snooze high up in a tree. We had a little help spotting it by the group of Chinese people snapping their cameras frantically at the base of the tree making the job a little easier for us. We continued up the road for some time until we were looking out over Kennett River and not spotting any more koalas on our way up, we decided to head back the way we came. We were so glad we did as on our return we discovered another koala fast asleep in a bush sitting at head hight. You could reach out and touch it if you really wanted to but with it being a wild animal we left it alone. We were more than happy just watching it sleep and taking photographs. The koala spotting was a success and happy with that we drove up the road toward our final stop on Great Ocean Road.

Now if you sing the first line of this theme tune to anybody who watched children's TV back in the 90's it will be very hard for them not to join in 'Have you ever, ever felt like this? When strange things happen and your going round the twist....' Me and Ash loved this programme when we were younger and it was great to see Split lighthouse, better known as the lighthouse from children's TV classic 'Round the Twist'. The place itself was great too and as all parts of Great Ocean Road offer stunning views this didn't disappoint. We had enjoyed the drive along Great Ocean Road and were pleased that it had lived up to our expectations. It is a great drive as the roads twist and bend along the coastline keeping your feet and gearbox busy, a place that would be fit for the show Top Gear if they haven't already been here. With our road trip nearing completion it was time to hit a major city. All aboard for the trip to Melbourne.

Love Peter and Ashleigh x