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Published: January 11th 2007
The Wine Centre, Adelaide
Expectantly awaiting the freebie vino....Well, it was quite a relief to hit warmer climes.......that was until it rained anyway! Can you believe it one day after we had arrived and it was raining! Dispicable - although much needed and I think the vast majority of the Ozzie population was very glad of it!
Anyway, moaning aside........arrival here was bliss, suddenly everyone understood us, there were no fears about getting lost and not being able to find anyone who understood, we could read the signs AND we were no longer battling through thousands of people to get down the road - although in all honesty it was a bit like a ghost town by comparison and oh so quiet! No blaring horns, constant unintelligible chatter or roaring ancient bus engines! We had indeed arrived back in civilsation as we know it! I sound relieved don't I?! That was very short lived!!!
After a bus transfer that cost us the equivalent of a nights stay and a meal in China we were faced with finding a hostel! The second one we went into was called the Blue Galah - as in Great Galah (Alf from Home and Away!!!) We had to stay there!!! THe scariest
thing bing that it was to cost us nearly a tenner a night! Our first few days in Adelaide were spent doing all the things that we had put off doing in China....dying Jen's hair (BIG mistake - looks a bit like a leopard now!).....buying new clothes - ours were looking decidedly rough and other small and insignificant tasks! That night, faced with the prospect of cooking we opted for a proper restaurant meal and spent more money in a night on one meal than we had in about a week's total over 3 months! Scary stuff!!!
The following day saw us 'doing' Adelaide! Rundle Mall, being a major shopping street with all sorts of Christmas decorations - it was by then the 14th December and our Christmas Spirit was non existant, so the decorations and carols along the way started to get the festive feelings rolling - although it was somewhat surreal in blisteringly hot sunshine and clear blue skies to see Santas in fluffy (very cosy looking red suits!) That evening we met up with an uncle of a friend of a friend if you catch my drift....who had just moved over there from the UK. He
had landed himself the job of the South Australia Rugby Manager......WOW.......we thought we might be meeting rugby lads left, right and centre....no such luck though unfortunatley! However he did a fantastic job of giving us a series of recommendations for sight seeing in and around Adelaide. As a result our next day was a true sight seeing day, we started with Adelaide Market which was amazing! (Although it may have been all the more striking as it was the cleanest, nicest smelling market we had seen in 3 months!) So a real treat for the senses! A few hours wondering around there and sampling the local (normal!!!) market food set us up for the rest of the day! From there it was onto the free City Bus and upto the Adelaide Museum and Art Gallery where we experienced Aborigini culture and traditions as well as some rather hideous Australian art! The day had cooled off somewhat by then, so we opted for a bit of an outdoor treat and went around the Botanical Garden...finishing off in their Wine Centre, where we undertook 9 stages of learning about the Wine Making Process, expecting to get to sample some of the stuff
Keith!
Goodbye! for free at the end! Only to be told that it was going to cost us! Unbelievable!!!! No such thing as a free lunch hey?!!
All this done, we had essentially 'done' Adelaide and were ready for off! "Off" was to be a bit different from normal for us, as we had managed to secure a 6, yes 6 berth beast of a camper van! It was HUGE!!! We had found 2 other girls to join us to spread the cost a bit further and worked out that we could drive the Great Ocean Road over 3 days, camping in style and including all grub for 60GBP total! An absolute BARGAIN!!! And so we were off! One of the other girls was happy to drive as well (and yes i did become a rather nervous passenger - though not as nervous as I would have been with Jen behind the wheel!!), so we split the driving between the two of us for the distance. The first day was a bit boring just covering the distance (400km of a 1200km journey!) although we did drive through aplace called Keith - my Dad's name which made me think of home then
The Bay of Islands
1st stop on the Great Ocean Road we ended the day in a campsite at Mount Gambier, where we had our first barbie of the trip! The next morning it was a few hours drive and we were on the Great Ocean Road, being buffeted about by extraordinarly powerful winds (excellent wind turbine territory!) and winding our way around cliff faces to see London Bridge, The 12 (actually 8) apostles, The Bay of Islands ( I know I thought that was NZ too!) and other coastal delights! That night we took up camp in Apollo Bay and had a rather pleasant evenings stroll through the local area and down to the beach - beautiful! Next morning it was our last morning and we had 300km to cover so a relatively early start (difficult to get everyone going!!!) saw us back on the Great Ocean Road with spectacular sights and some pretty hairy corners! We arrived very punctually in Melbourne and promptly got into a taxi to have a car accident - in a TAXI, so NOT my driving!!! Rear ended some dude! So a bit shaken we made our way to meet Rebs (my cousin) at her work place to make our way up a rather large
London Bridge is falling down...
falling down...... there was, not so long ago, a piece of land that attached this 'bridge' to the mainland, that collapsed stranding 2 people a few years ago! mountain to a little place called King Lake. This was to be our rather ace accommodation for a grand total of 3 weeks!! (Thanks Rebs and Simon!) And would be the location of Barbies, Parties, Animal Spotting, Christmas, New Year and a whole heap of further enjoyment!!! Although mostly revolving around alcohol - the drinking marathon that is guaranteed when my family is involved!
Our journey up the mountain gave us our first Roo spotting opportunity, where herds of them hung out in the valleys we passed through. Other wildlife encounters included Echidna stroking (and prodding!), lamping for Possums and Wombats (though better described as giant Guinea Pigs!) as well as Cockatoo and Kookaburra spotting (though only really hearing the latter!) A trip out to Healesiville animal sanctuary improved the animal encounter tally somewhat. There we saw yet more Roos, Wallabys, Koalas (they are soooo cute - but man do they have a set of teeth - their keeper was sporting one of the blackest-bluest-purplest bruises I have seen!!) Tasmanian Devils, Echidnas, Wombats.....basically if it was local to the area they had it! Veeerrrrrryyyy cool indeed!
CHristmas and New Year were also pretty fantastic involving copius quantities of
alcohol, well by my standards anyway, and food glorius food! It was ace, a proper break from travelling...I know, I know....why would you need a break....believe me - you do! Even sofas had become a bit of a novelty for us! Let alone comfy beds and guaranteed hot showers! Christmas wasn't entirely what I had expected though - not the BBQ that I had hoped for - it was too flamin cold! Can you believe it, after all my song and dance about a hot xmas in Oz, it not only rained - it HAILED!!!!! Wore pretty much all my clothes all day and Rebs ended up lighting a fire - where is the Justice?!!! New Years was a party at Rebs & Simon's neighbours with very good food and an all night party, with a trip to the pub for Midnight, followed by a quick boogey and then back for more partying! Fantastic fun!
Other excursions included the compulsary Melbourne sightsee - Ramsey St - or Pin Oak Court as it is more commonly known - not quite the same ring!! - where the obvious photos were taken! It was however a bit of a let down as
the houses themselves are so much smaller than they seem on TV. The house of trousers was a bit of a disappointment and the Kennedy's nothing like I expected it. And they all have these garages and driveways that you never see on the telly! All in all a bit different but cool enough nonetheless! We also had a bit of a trip out to a typical Aussie farm set up in the late 1800s run now as it would have been then, which was pretty interesting - giving a bit of an insight into the houses back then and the conditions for cooking and farming - which were (unsuprisingly!) somewhat different to those nowadays! That was followed by a trip to a local Dairy for cheese (mmmm-mmm-mmm) and wine tasting! oh the life!!! We also had the (mis)fortune of having tickets to the Ashes 3rd test in the MCG which was quite an experience, ok so we bottomed out fairly convincingly, but the Barmy Army really are quite something! We were sat in amongst them and joined in wherever possible - as long as the songs weren't too personal! Shane Warne copping quite a lot of flack about certain
Some of the remaining apostles!
Despite being in Oz you'll notice we don't look all that warm...Sod's Law or What?! misdemeanours! Definitely a good day out, made all the better by my relative disregard for the cricket score!
All in all it was a fantastically relaxing 3 weeks, that I thoroughly enjoyed! It was ace to catch up with Rebs and her mum and to meet Simon, who have to be thanked for their hospitality!!! Thank you!!!!!! It was a proper insight into Aussie life and somewhat different to the normal back packer trail, it has to be said!
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Grandad
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Xmas weather
Judging from the pictures looks no warmer in Oz than China. Perhaps you should have been going anticlockwise round the world. Stop freting and think about California yet to come