Blogs from Robe, South Australia, Australia, Oceania

Port Fairy made enough of an impression for us to stay another night and we enjoyed a quiet Sunday in town. Just before midday we walked from the caravan park to the Fishermans Wharf area overlooking Moyne River. It seems a great spot for fishing and sailing and there was plenty of activity by the water. From there we walked across the pedestrian causeway to Griffiths Island and strolled alongside the water. Monday we started the slow crawl towards home. As we neared the South Australian border the terrain flattened and the land dried out considerably. It is not until you drive down the eastern seaboard that you realise just how dry SA is compared to the eastern states. Mount Gambier was our stop for lunch and we enjoyed it overlooking the magnificent Blue Lake. The ... read more

These small coast-side towns are all truly lovely spots. Kingston comes very close to the very definition of peace and we enjoyed dipping into the icy ocean, cycling to the lighthouse and over to the small creek-surrounded island with its ‘human involvement’ sundial. Kingston is also home to the Big Lobster. What can I say about that… it’s… a big lobster… Our next stop, the fishing port of Robe, was my favourite. It’s got proper old country charm and a lovely laid-back atmosphere. What a pleasure it was to go sit by the pretty beach, go meandering along the main road and duck in and out of the wine shops and galleries (I love the work of glass artist Tim Shaw www.timshawglass.com). Robe has an abundance of old stone cottages (not something you see very much ... read more

We have had a good week getting here. After leaving Canberra, we drove to Wagga Wagga and then across some rather remote and boring countryside of ploughed paddocks, wheat stubble and no sign of life until we finally came to the pretty town of Tocumwal and the Murray River. The countryside was much more interesting once we crossed the river into Victoria. We had a look around favourite shops at Echuca and on then once to to Daylesford. Though it was cool there, it's always a nice area to visit - my favourite as always being Kyneton where I haunted the knitting shop and a couple of very nice gift shops. We had a couple of nights in the caravan park at Daylesford and drove around all the pretty little towns in the vicinity. We'd heard ... read more

Hello Friends, After an exhausting and busy time packing and cleaning both Sue's place and mine and moving our stuff into storage we finally left Melbourne on Friday March 11 and reached our first stop - the wonderful Port Fairy Folk Festival! We arrived without side-swiping any poles with our van and without the van falling off the back of the car!! Phew! What an achievement! As usual we relished the delights of camping in the caravan park with great friends, showing off our new van, and immersing ourselves in fantastic music. There are about 10 venues offering music from early morning (mind you musicians reckon anything before lunch-time is early!) until midnight and it is impossible to leave dissatisfied. It's called a "Folk" festival but there is such a range of musical styles with the ... read more

Woops, for some reason, only 2/3rds of the first entry was posted??? I will investigate later this afternoon, finish the story and post some photos. Sue is waiting for another fishing venture now, so see ya later! Ros.... read more

Here is the last half of the first posting...sorry (especially to those who are subscribers to the blog and who are receiving email notifications of postings!). I am having a bit of trouble navigating this new blog site! After we left Port Fairy we spent a night in our first free camp - in the bush at Mt Schank - one of Australia's youngest volcanoes! Facilities were a public toilet, a BBQ and a picnic table. It was all legal - we have a book that lists all free camps in Australia!. We were joined by numerous other "grey nomad" caravaners (Sue is a grey nomad, I am a greying nomad!) and young European Kombi-vanners. The next day we visited the amazing Blue Lake in Mt Gambier and it is so blue it looks as if ... read more

24th February 2011 My birthday, up early and coffee on patio while Lin showered. Lin had bought some cards from home for me – a nice touch. A chill day today – into Busselton for supplies for meal tonight – we are dining in!! We went for coffee in Broadwater bay and in the afternoon headed for the beach and a nice dip in the Indian Ocean. We caught a few rays – you can’t risk too long – 90 mins max- it was over 34 C. Everybody, thanks for birthday messages, especially Euan – sorry we did not get to speak. A lovely supper for our last night before heading to Mandurah ( and the cousins) in the morning. 25th February 2011 Busselton to Mandurah. We had been to Mandurah with Chris Fewings (my cousin) ... read more