Day 14: The Great Alpine Road lived up to its name today. We started from our camp for the last two nights at Buchan and joined the road at Bruthen. The first section took us through rolling hills of pasture and bush. Stopping at a town called Omeo to grab some provisions we got tempted into little bakery for a coffee and cake stop. Elevenses over we headed off from Omeo. Now the terrain became more mountainous. We headed up and up with switchbacks and tight be...

Day 13: Woke up to the kooka chorus, which is not particularly pleasant! As we are on a pretty good campsite and fancy a day of not driving we decide to stay a second night which gives us chance to check out the caves and some local bush walks. We went into the Royal Cave at Buchan. Of the two that are open this one is apparently slightly larger with less stooping required. The caves are like the limestone caves in the uk cut through the rock by a long gone unde...

Day 12: leaving Phillip Island early after a brief drive round Cowes we have spent the day driving east. This has moved us to the bottom of the Great Alpine Road which starts at Bairnsdale and heads north to Mt Beauty. That drive is planned for Saturday. Tonight we are camping at Buchen, a fine Parks Vic site with all facilities, and the obligatory Roos grazing around us. Steaks on the Barbie and a glass of posh wine will finish off our day! To those intereste...

Day 11: starting in the hills between Healesville and Marysville we decided to head to Marysville to see what it had to offer, before heading back to the Yarra Valley wineries. Marysville was pretty much totally destroyed by a bush fire in 2009, so is a big construction site with homes still being rebuilt. Evidence of the fires is all around with the burnt remains of the forest. Despite this the town is really nice, and the surroundings are stunning. We ventur...

Day 10: we're back on the road, but have not moved far. Leaving Adam mid morning we headed out of Melbourne for our arranged rendezvous with friends from the UK Emma and Rob, and baby Henry. After much cursing of the Melbourne grid road system and the enormous number of traffic light we had to go through we arrived at the Healsville Animal Sanctuary. Emma and Rob arrived shortly after, along with their friends from Melbourne Rosie and Anthony. Baby Henry has re...