Canberra to Melbourne - via Adelaide

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Having left Sydney we drove to Canberra, primarily to sort out our visas for China and Vietnam. Mark had already been to Canberra with his friends but for Lorna's benefit we did the touristic things, like visit Parliament.

We then got back on the road to Melbourne. When we arrived in Melbourne we checked out the city briefly before heading down to Phillip Island to see the colony of Blue Penguins (or Little Penguins as they call them in Australia). Sadly it was tipping it down so we got soaked watching them coming home from the sea to their nests. There were some 6,000 of them though, a lot more than we saw in New Zealand! On our way out after the 'show' we rescued a Shearwater bird who was sat in the middle of the road. We ran him over first but fortunately he passed under the van unscathed!

On the way back to the mainland we stopped at a wildlife park where we held a baby wombat and fed some very greedy kangaroos.

The next part of our journey took us along the Great Ocean Road which we had been looking forward to driving along. We stopped for breakfast at Bells Beach (where the end scene of 'Point Break' was filmed), it is one of the best surf beaches in Australia- apparently. Our next stop was Lorne- we had to stop for the name, almost Lorna. The last stop of the day was the highly anticipated Twelve Apostles (although we only counted eight). It was very windy atop the cliffs but the Apostles were a sight worth seeing.

After sheltering from the strong winds at a campsite we finished the Great Ocean Road, stopping at the Bay of Islands lookout. The road was as scenic as expected with great coastal views- as the name would suggest.

We then completed the final stage of our campervan journey to Adelaide where we dropped off the van and went to stay with Dean and Catherine, friends we had made in Peru. We had a good time with them, going out for meals, meeting their friends and seeing Adelaide which is a nice city. We caught up with Catherine's Mum Anny who was also on the Peru trip. She took us walking up Mount Lofty, a good workout but nowhere near as difficult as the Inca Trail! On our last day there we went to the Barossa Valley vineyards to sample some wines. Catherine had to be designated driver as she is pregnant but the rest of us enjoyed some good Aussie wines.


Our last destination in Australia was Melbourne. It is a cool city with lots of trendy shops and cafes. Lorna insisted that while in 'Neighbours' territory we had to take a trip to Ramsay Street. The tour was cheesetastic, taking photos of the street and watching classic 'Neighbours' clips on the bus- Lorna loved every minute of it!

We also went to see an Aussie Rules game at the MCG, Carlton vs Essendon. As is obligatory we had a couple of pies with 'dead horse' (sauce).

The other things we did while in Melbourne were catch a tram, shop in the Queen Victoria Market and browse the shops and streets of the city and surrounding suburbs, such as St Kilda. We also popped to the beach but the weather was far too cold for sunbathing. It was time to get out of Australia now that autumn had arrived!

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