Advertisement
Published: June 26th 2008
Sailing
Yes we actually managedSince we reached Allen’s and Marlene’s it has been nonstop. It has been an action packed 3 weeks from sailing, wine tasting and a few trips here and there to the Great Ocean Road.
Allen and Marlene live about 100 miles south east of Melbourne in a home-built dome shaped house with 3 levels. (Carl has been in his element and is even more driven to build his own house - it’s just a shame land is so expensive in the UK, however it’s pretty reasonable over here and we have both been tempted... put it this way we have spent many an hour looking at estate agents windows!!!) One of the elements we have been made to appreciate is water; we really do not appreciate what comes through our taps in the UK. In Australia many towns are on a water stage, which means simple things like not washing your car, watering your plants, having between 3-5 minute showers, only washing twice a week etc. Unfortunately for many places there has been a drought for the last 10-15 years, and people who seriously waste water are frowned upon and sometimes fined; and it usually those who live in
The 2 captains
I think Carl was actually better than me, it's not often I admit something like that the city.
Inverloch is a small township whose population trebles over the summer months as the Melbourne city slickers come to use their holiday homes. Surrounding the area of Inverloch is the peninsular of Wilsons Prom with 700m plus mountains climbing steeply from the surrounding sea. The nature loving Philip Island with its koala’s, penguins and marine life from humpback whales to great white sharks was a lovely place to visit as we made our way to the Great Ocean Road. Then there is the Bass coastline with its rugged cliffs and golden beaches. South Gippsland is a place that both I and Carl really liked, so you have been warned Allen your worst fear may come true as I may one day be your neighbour...!!!
Allen gave us a rigorous wine tasting session on our first night and this has occurred most nights since and has lasted 2-3 weeks so far!!! Allen has been trying to teach us the greatness of Australian wines, educating us on the different types and standards of wine. Most of them have been of the red variety with a mixture of Australian Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignons, although a few whites have been
The 2 instructures
Allen and Pete just chilling out snuck in here and there. Carl is very pleased with the progress as now he only now needs to buy one bottle of red wine instead of the usually white and the red. We do have to remember that I once had a very bad experience with red wine and had to be taken home in the back of a Land Rover...No names mentioned... but I’ve now learnt that it was cheap nasty stuff and good wines have a good fruity smell and you fully savoury it to see if the taste is on the front, middle or back or the entire pallet of the mouth. Usually no more than 2 glasses... I now feel like a connoisseur!!! (Ruth you will be proud of me, dad I think I can teach you a trick or two).
We spent a day with Allen and his friend Pete sailing just of Philip Island and the main land on the Western Port of the Bay. We were both given the rains and had a fantastic day learning how to sail properly, using the wind and the waves to get us going and how to zigzag into the wind. It also gets pretty
Chocolate & coffee fix
Koako cafe where they serve up delicious hot & cold chocolate exciting when the boat is up at a 45 degree angle gliding at a fair speed across the water... that’s if you are on the right side of the boat.
We did a couple of day rides checking out the local area with Allen, one was to the local town of Leongatha and along the rail trail, with the other towards Eagles Nest along the coast just north of Inverloch. This is a lovely little look out over the ocean and coastline, with the prominent rock structure of Eagles Nest jutting out next to the headland! We then had a relaxing day with Marlene when we went to the cinema to watch Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull followed by a lovely meal, whilst Allen was sent to work to do a days’ supply... No rest for the wicked!!
We were taken to friends’ houses for meals and given some excellent home cooking by Marlene and Allen, which was fantastic after the month of pasta and noodles over the camping stove. But one thing that was certain of every night was the loves and heat you would get of Josie and the excitement you would get of Ossa.
Fire!
Allen took us out for a ride in the fire truck, (these have to runned once a week.) Carl was well excited These are their Miniature Schnauzers. Put it this way you do not need a hot water bottle when you have Josie on your lap soaking up all the belly patting and rubbing you can give her. She also provided me with great comfort as I watched for the first time the BBC adaptation of Jane Austin’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’. I now started to realise all the fuss over Mr Darcy and yes that walking out of the lake scene. For some reason Carl didn’t get it!!
We did a day trip into Melbourne to get some bike parts as Carl had to do the first major bike maintenance of the tour (nearly 8 months) as he has had to replace my block as it had started to miss, which has caused some interesting situations and near falls as I have not been able to catch the gear. Thankfully we found a replacement and Carl fitted it so we could set off to do the Great Ocean Road. Whilst we were in Melbourne Allen & Marlene took us to a lovely Italian on Fitzroy in ST Kilda and showed us the main sights and attractions to Melbourne. We also had
Garage cleaning
Me and Carl loved it as we became cleaning machines. a treat of pure chocolate indulgence at ‘Koako’ chocolate shop and cafe. I had a lovely hot chocolate and Carl had an iced chocolate. With everything fixed and the batteries recharged we were ready for the Great Ocean Road.
THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD
We set of with just the bear-essentials as we left Allen’s and Marlene’s with only rear panniers, this seemed like pure bliss after the 8 months of fully laden front and rear bikes. The weather decided to remind us who was in charge as we has strong wing for the first 3 days, at some points only doing 8mph on the flat. The sun was shining bright as we set of and battled over to Philip Island to catch the lunch time ferry over to Mornington Peninsular. It was an interesting task as we had to pass over the bikes onto the little passenger ferry between the waves and swells. Unfortunately the crossing was that turbulent and rough that I lost my little New Zealand sheep of my bike but little bears of Mr & Mrs Sharples survived. And the little bell Mrs Yates gave me still sang its sweet little tune after its
Flat Rocks
Looking over towards the caves at flat rocks drenching.
We crossed the peninsular catching our first rain of the Australia as we descended and camped next to the beach as showers and howling wind passed over us through most of the night. We still had the fine elements to deal with the next day as we did our second rough crossing from the peninsular to Queenscliff and the start of the Great Ocean Road. We crossed the flatlands at a slow pace as we tried to shower dodge and thankfully made it to Torquay before another heavy shower caught us. We warmed ourselves up with a good hot meal and yes ladies Carl was put through it again as Bridget Jones Diary was on the TV, and he had to endure Colin Firth again...
The next day the winds had started to die down and we said goodbye to the rain as we started on the official section of the Great Ocean Road (GOR). People have argued over whether it is the best ocean road in the world and many disagree, but the main greatness behind it is WHY it was built. It is probably the biggest war memorial in the world as the soldiers of
Eagles Nest Beach
Many of the beaches are to yourself World War 1 returned with job options unavailable to them. So the government gave work to them to build the biggest memorial to their fallen comrades through the building of the GOR. Not only did it give them work but let them carry on with the teamwork and comradeship that they had come use to in the trenches.
The road really starts to improve after you pass through Lorne as it climbs up and down and twists round the headlands and into the little bays. The ocean constantly reminds you of how great it is as it crashing and smashes the coast, constantly eroding the rocks but providing mega waves for the surfers. We also saw our first koala bears as we turned a corner and the traffic had just decided to stop all over the road with tourist stood there looking up and pointing. We soon had our camera out and were gapping along with them.
You leave the coast for the middle section unfortunately not really seeing the coast for nearly 50 miles. However there are two good climbs along the way with the first one climbing out of Apollo Bay to around 300m through rolling green
Eagles Nest
If you look closely it is the shape of a eagle with its wings sticking up. l valley then forest before you descend onto a plateau that gives you a glimpse of the beaches and cliffs as you come to the end of it. The road then turns sharply inland again and climbs for the last 8 miles up to Leavers Hill at 600m where we had lunch. As the saying goes ‘what goes up must come down’ was true as we made quick mileage back to the coast. It is on this section that the famous ‘Twelve Apostles’ stand proud out of the ocean, however there are a number of them that have eroded into the sea and the full 12 can only be seen underwater when diving. The sun was setting when we got to them, which gave a lovely glow and colour to these large structures of rock. It’s mad to think that 1000’s of years ago these structures would have been part of the mainland and that the cliffs we were standing on would probably not be there in a few more thousand years.
The next day was even better as there was not a cloud in the sky, which was lucky as we spent most of the day exploring all the
little coves and structures like ‘London Bridge’, which is now missing a section as it collapsed into the sea in 1997. We also saw a couple of humpbacks migrating up the coast as they played, dived and breached just a few 100m of the coast. We entered Warrnambool with the sun starting to set and headed to Logan’s Beach to see if we could see anymore. Unfortunately we didn’t see anymore but we did have a beautiful sunset and watched a couple of surfers have tantrums as there surf boards snapped in half as they mistimed the powerful waves. We have enjoyed doing the GOR and found the last section really interesting with all the different geology and rock formations along with the section between Apollo Bay and Lorne. However we did think that the coast south of Sydney was just as beautiful and as nice, but the meaning behind the GOR is its true spirit.
Warrnambool is classed as the end of the GOR and its was here we caught the train for a 3 and a half hour trip back to Melbourne for only 11 pounds each with the bikes. Yes imagine travelling to London with your
Urguart beach
The surfers love it out here... bike for only 11 pounds, there is something seriously going amiss with UK public transport. Melbourne is a large port city nestled on the shoreline of Port Philip Bay. It still does not feel over crowded, with public transport being widely available. But it has character with its little back alley filled with the hustle and bustle of cafes, restaurants and wine bars. There is a grand feeling with its large Victorian buildings, whether it is the State Parliament or the Finders Street Station. We stayed at Finders Backpackers for 2 nights (the 1st one we have slept in since leaving South America) to celebrate my birthday chilling and relaxing around the city and check out the different sights. We had a ride on one of the old trams that dose a full circuit of the central area, plus it was free as well so Carl was happy. Carl also bought me a bottle of red wine to celebrate the turning of 27 and we did a little pub crawl to find an Irish bar playing live music. We did eventually find one and Carl had a pint of the black stuff, whilst I stuck with the cider. We finished
Who is he???
Suggestions so far have been: -
1) Liam Gallagher (By Lucy Whitwell)
2) Mushroom head (By Dave Collinge)
3) Matt Sharples the 2nd, but with straight hair (By Louise Allison).
However Carl says he is following one of his many hero's, with the main 2 being Jose (the Spanish lad we rode with in SA) and Richard Ashcroft (from the Verve).... Please send you answers to me they will be appreciated. the day with a walk along the river and a piece of chocolate cake with a mug of hot chocolate. Magic... We also watched Monty Python and the Holy Grail with some of the other travellers and were reminded how funny the film was. As you can guess true to mine and Carl’s character we have been imitating scenes out of it every since... “We are the knights who say... ni...”, “I spit on you, you English pig and wave my genitals in your general direction” said in a French accent and “she’s a witch burn her”...
We then cycled out of Melbourne via St Kilda and along the shore line cycle path back down Mornington Peninsular and caught the ferry back to Philip Island. Thankfully this time the ocean was a lot calmer and gave us a smoother journey to Cowes where we camped for the night. We then headed back to Allen and Marlene’s for a lovely evening with some of their friends as we were treated to Beef Wellington and Marlene’s homemade Nigella Lawson’s chocolate cake that she made for my birthday. Allen had great amusement as he put on those candles that keep relighting themselves
Koala bear
They are very cute but they you do not go near them they can scratch as I tried to blow them out... Great fun!!
On our last weekend Allen took us up to Castlemaine (Yes it is where the beer is named after) to see where he was brought up and visit some of his family. We were taken to a winery to taste the difference between the Water Wheel Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignons. To both Allen’s and Carl’s disappointment I preferred the CS and not the Shiraz. Well it is your own personal taste... We visited Melville Rocks, which gave impressive views of the area and was also the hangout of Bushranger and gold robber Captain Melville. The extent of the gold found during the 19th century led to many people fortune but also many people demise as well. You can tell by many of the little towns that we visited the once glory that they had once had and how they are now relying on tourism to survive now. Ironically gold is still found in the area and sold for a hefty lump... We also visited another of Allen’s friend called Pete who built his own house and produces all their own vegetables and uses solar to power the house, thus pushing
Great Ocean Road (GOR)
This is the official start and the war memorial to the fallen comrades Carl even further over the edge to build his own house, what am I going to do with him, he’s as excited as a new born puppy.....
We are now spending the last few days getting ready for Thailand and South East Asia and oh yes a massive rise in the temperature and humidity... There is also the change in diet as we say goodbye to dairy, bread and pasta and hello to rice, rice and more rice... Truthfully we are fully looking forward to it.
However we cannot leave Australia without saying goodbye and thank you to our dear friends Allen and Marlene, who for the past 3 weeks have mothered us (Marlene knows how to give you a proper hug), taken the pi** out of me (there is nothing wrong with being blonde and it is also known as discrimination Allen...), dined us, wined us, and introduced us to many of their friends who have opened their homes up to us as well.
A massive THANK YOU AND ALL OUR LOVE... It is hard to leave especially when we have been made so much at home xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.221s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 11; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0409s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
markos
non-member comment
Bloody ell it's ...
http://shinymedia.headshift.com/images/photos/uncategorized/shameless_main.jpg