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So our sydney adventure was over after 7 months and unfortunately we joined the hoards of english backpackers at the airport as we make our long journey home........although we were heading off somewhere other than the gold coast for a couple of months on the lash......we were heading out into the middle of nowhere to hopefully get a better perspective of Australia. Our journey on the way to the airport was comical......as we went on a shuttle bus....picking up such a strange bunch of people. We picked up a old woman who kept reminding the driver she was not going to the airport to catch a passenger jet....but a private jet..........yes thats right........a private jet and 'im jetsetting all round australia on a private jet'....(but couldnt stretch further than a $12 bus to the airport), and a young indian chap all suited up got on board at 7.20am, with a 45 minute journey ahead, and started going nuts when we were running late as he was going to miss his 8.15am flight!! What a cowboy!!
Anyway, pretty much as soon as we'd taken off we realised there was nothing either side of sydney and how much land was unused. After
3 hours of flying and pretty much nothing all the way on the ground we touched down on a small runway in Alice springs! We got the Camper, and got out of Alice asap! We headed down to Erldunda, the last big town on the map before the rock (or so we thought - it was just a petrol station and a shop) before it got dark. Disaster struck the trip early on with the iTrip i bought off ebay breaking pretty much as soon as it was out of the box.........this was going to be a long journey! Damn those 'made in china' goods!!
An overnite stop at Erldunda enabled us to get over to Yularu the next day pretty early to start seeing some of the famous landmarks like Ayers rock, and the Olga's, and the thing that surprised us the most was how unremote the place was. Besides the usual coach loads of Japanese found at any good tourist spot, the roads were full of campers, cars, bikes and roadtrains (big lorries stretching 3/4 carriages). Not exactly out in the sticks. We headed to the Olgas first and were amazed at not only the sheer size
of the landmark, but mainly how weird it looks on its own! It was the same with Ayers rock, just there, on its own, in the middle of nowhere almost like it had been moved there! We pulled over at the sunset viewing at ayers rock to see this huge rock turn an amazing red colour - it doesnt sound the most interesting thing to watch but it was well worth going all this way just to see! We also got up extremely early the next day to watch sunrise which was well worth it......difficult to describe why...... but it just was!
After the sunrise viewing, and the slight drama with the fact we couldnt find a 'gas' station to fill up the van........ we started the longest leg of the trip down to Coober Pedy....the underground opal mining community in the middle of nowhere! Yep..... this is Australia.......a huge country full of nothing! We made a fuel stop at this place called Marla on the way which again was just a petrol station and a shop, and after commenting on how high the fuel price was, got the response from the clerk how he wishes he was that
high too.......... welcome to hicks-ville!! We went and explored coober pedy which is 90% underground, and saw one of the earliest underground homes there, complete with swimming pool!!
Another long day of driving produced pretty much nothing but road......and desert...... until we stumbled upon Mt Remarkable national park in the evening. We pulled up into the driveway surrounded by our first sightings of alive (no roadkill here!) Kangeroos and Emu's everywhere, with lots of campfires going in the distance! The place we stayed had lots of stunning walks and it was great to spend a couple of hours outside the van and exploring this place!
After some serious hiking (we chose the beginner walk - how adventurous!) we headed down to the Clare Valley, one of the many wine regions for some serious relaxing and a few vino's! We stocked up on wine for the van and parked up in this small camping spot, which was the first time we'd gone without power (and therefore heating) for the nite! And we managed to save a whole $10.....thanks for that Bex! There was this huge bus parked up not far from us with this very odd bloke wandering in
Sunrise
Notice that Bex is prepared for a freak snowstorm!!!and out of......this gave Bex the Heebie Jeebies!! Anyway....the next day we somehow got chatting to this bloke who offered to make us a coffee and invited us into his bus.....i think he took a liking to Bex! Inside this bus i quickly noticed the 'tank' which contained a funnel web spider (quite aggressive spider and if it bites you your a gonner!!) and lots of weird stuff including some shark jaws. I didnt notice the collection of human skulls, although Bex did! We drunk up quickly and left only to find the van was stuck on the hill and we couldnt escape!! Jeez!! The nice SKULL collecting bloke gave us a push outta there though - who knows if he was a real nutter or not but we were glad to be on our way again. After another day in the Barossa Valley (the famous wine region), and more supplies for the van we ended up in what was a trailer park (people living there rather than a campsite) outside Adelaide - again another scary experience in the van!!
We got up early and left and drove through adelaide which looked quite nice a place, and drove south
towards Mt Gambier. We stopped off for the nite in a place called Robe, right next to the sea. Despite it being winter and a little chilly, the views were stunning and we saw a cracking sunset whilst whittling the wine supplies down!! We went across to Mt Gambier the following day to see the famous blue lake, which turns an amazing blue colour in the summer months, although was still quite a sight in winter! We also walked quite a bit round the other lakes and nature reserve for the rest of the day after realising how far we'd driven in the last 7 days!
The next day we set off fairly early again and set off to somewhere down south although we weren’t sure exactly where yet. We were both looking forward to the trip as it included The Great Ocean Road and Mark was particularly excited as there was ample opportunity for him to use his new camera (I have not heard the end of how this thing is so good since he bought it!) Driving down the ocean road wasn’t what we first initially thought as, as we were driving the road wasn’t really that
close to the ocean! The first part of the trip there were lots of different stop offs with beautiful limestone rock formations in the sea (which most involved a short walk to get to). The most famous of these was the twelve apostles, however due to erosion meant that most had fallen down. They were still good though and well worth a visit.
The ocean road took a lot longer than we initially thought as the roads were quite whindy in places, especially in the campervan. As it was getting late and dark we decided that we would stop off at a place called Lorne. We found a campervan sight and parked up and bursting for the toilet headed off to the toilet block. After thinking I had got the wrong block after seeing someone’s lumber jack shirt hanging over the shower cubical I told Mark that it was a bit strange having communal facilities! After some research it was concluded that this was def. the women’s block as Mark had found the men’s round the corner, I wouldn’t want to meet her after dark!
Due to being stuck in the van for quite a few nights we
decided to head off to explore Lorne. As it is the quiet season a lot of things were closed but we managed to stumble across a bar and splashed the cash on 2 Erdinger beers! We sat talking to the bar man who also joined us for a drink. We told him that we had just driven through the outback and he told us that when he was younger he had driven for 36 non-stop. He told us of a nice walk on the beach at sunrise so we headed back to the campervan to set the alarm. After forgetting that due to driving the time difference was half an hour ahead here we were lucky not to miss sunrise and walked along the beach, the view was stunning although cold and so windy I nearly lost my pink hat on the pier!
After breakfast and using the Internet quickly (to find directions to Ramsey Street) we headed off to Melbourne. On the way we stopped off to look at the lighthouse that they used in the programme ‘Round the Twist.’ I was very excited and would have liked some more enthusiasm from Mark who couldn’t really remember this.
The drive to Melbourne was fairly easy (especially when you are the passenger!) As we drove up and saw Melbourne’s CBD it looked very similar to that of Sydney’s, with lots of high buildings, although it looked a lot smaller. As I was directing Mark to Ramsey street which isn’t actually called Ramsey street (but Pin Oak Street). After stopping off for lunch we set off to find the famous street and had to ask a local resident after driving round for a while. I must say it was quite disappointing (due to this being one of the highlights of our trip!) The street was a lot smaller than it looks on TV and was in a normal residential area, no signs of Harold in sight!
That evening we stayed in a Campervan park just and headed off into the city for some food. We stumbled across a little lane of restaurants which seemed very European and the city had a really nice buzz about it. We headed into China town for a Chinese which was good, although still very different to the Chinese we get back at home, no sweet and sour pork balls to be seen on
the menu! We got up early to do some washing before dropping of the campervan and managed to shrink most of the warm clothes we had bought for New Zealand in the Industrial dryer that they had. After a bit of shopping to buy a new Cardy, Mark’s friends kindly picked us up and let us stay with them in their new house - thanks so much for this guys! We went back to theres and dropped off our stuff before heading off to the MCG to watch some Aussie Rules and to have a pie and a schooner! Definitely something you have to experience if visiting Melbourne! We were both really impressed with the stadium and Mark's friends Brad and Katy patiently tried to explain the rules of the game to us, something we realised we weren't fully going to understand from watching one game! We had a kick about with the football, something Mark was quite natural at unlike me! Before heading back after having a ride on a tram, Blackpool eat your heart out! That night we went to an Aussie BBQ at Aussie Dave's who Mark and his friends knew from back home.
And thats
pretty much Australia, or as much as we are going to see except for a brief stay along the barrier reef on the way home. Its been a cool place to live despite the contant rain in summer and the half pints of beers they drink! Next stop is the south island of New Zealand!!
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Kirstie
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Hey Guys! I was so excited when I saw that you had posted a new blog! I love reading them and seeing what you're up to - reminds me of our trip which seems so long ago now! I also got incredibly excited when I read that you found the lighthouse from Round the Twist - I used to love that show! I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about NZ - if you want any tips check out our old blogs, but if you get the chance then Abel Tasman National Park, Mt Cook National Park and Milford Sound are all places that should not be missed on the South Island. Plus, if you're in to doing scary things, try and do a sky dive over the glaciers - looks amazing! Also, Ice Climbing on the glaciers is amazing. Any ways, keep them coming! Hope you're both well? Lots of love! xxx