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Published: April 11th 2007
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We picked up our Wicked Camper on the 27th March in Adelaide. If you’re not familiar with Wickeds, they are the alternative campervan - they’re the cheapest, the most basic (no fridge or power supply here!) and each one is individually decorated with a graffiti style paint job. Oh, and some of the staff take quite a relaxed approach to their work; we arrived at 11am to find the guy at the office totally pissed (although we’re not sure if he was actually working there or if he was just hanging around!). However, despite the strange staff our van is actually pretty good - it’s practically brand new and has a Peter Tosh paint job (aka a rasta from Bob Marley and the Wailers smoking a big spliff). The kids at the campsites certainly love it anyway!
Originally our plan was to rush all the way to Sydney, but we were totally ignorant to the amazing sites along the way. Our first main stop on our journey between Adelaide and Melbourne was at Mt Eccles National Park, where we were the only humans staying at the campsite; other residents included koalas, possums, wallabies, kangaroos and parrots. The next day,
Twelve apostles
Or only five apostles? however, the site was going to be full of people as they were having an Aboriginal land rights meeting with members of the high court (this is to determine whether the land should be given back to it’s original Aboriginal owners - they have to demonstrate that the area is of continuous cultural significance), so it was pretty interesting to see them set up.
We then travelled along the Great Ocean Road. This is a winding pass that travels along the edge of the Southern Ocean (i.e. next stop out to sea is Antarctica!). We made a few stops on the way - at Port Campbell and Lorne. And it is worth noting the abysmal weather here. Most of the time it pissed down and was freezing at night… strange really because we heard somewhere that Australia was supposed to be some hot, dry, drought stricken place! .
Near Port Campbell the coastline was really amazing, and the view may actually have been improved by rain and wind as the
Our Wicked Camper
Enjoying a VB and crisps (our staple diet at the moment!) waves crashed up against the rocks. We visited Loch Ard Gorge - the site of a ship wreck where a ship that had sailed all the way from Gravesend in England stopped for a party the night before making its way round to Melbourne got caught in mist and crashed into the cliffs. Only two people out of 54 survived. So I hope that gives you some idea of how rough the seas are round here! Another site we stopped at was the twelve apostles - rocky limestone outcrops that are the remains of the coastline that has weathered away. Strangely, however, there were only about five apostles rather than twelve!
As all surfing pilgrims will, we made a stop at Bells Beach - home of the Rip Curl Surf Pro Tournament. However, we didn’t actually get to see the tournament or even have a go at the surf ourselves as we had no boards. We soon rectified that and have bought ourselves a couple of Mini-Mals and wet suits from surf outlets in Torquay and Anglesea (and no I’m not talking about the home of Fawlty Towers and that place in Wales). The outlet village was great and
Do you recognise this lighthouse?
It's from Alex's favourite aussie kids programme - Round the Twist! we wish we had more $$ to spend here (or room in the suitcase) - it’s the home of a lot of the big surf brands like Rip Curl and Quiksilver.
When we arrived in Melbourne we were saved from our campervan for a few nights when we hooked up with family and friends of my work buddy, Lizzie. We had a warm welcome when we arrived at her Dad, Russell’s farm in St Andrews, which is in the bush just outside Melbourne. We also made a visit to see her Mum, Candy, sisters Prairie and Amy and her new little niece, Nikita. And then we borrowed some friends too - Anita, Dave, Andre and Lulu, and Dan and Liz. It was great to meet everyone!
Whilst in Melbourne we managed to sample some great cuisine - greek, italian and indian. We also made a trip to an AFL (Australian Football League??) match where we watched two Melbourne teams, Richmond and Carlton, thrash it out at the MCG stadium. The stadium was absolutely amazing and the atmosphere was really fantastic; there were about 60,000 people there. And the game itself was pretty exciting too - even Ursula could
Bells Beach
Featured in the film Point Break (although the film was actually made in Hawaii) understand what was going on! Unfortunately the team that we had decided to support, the Richmond Tigers, lost, but it was really close so was a good match to watch.
Unfortunately Alex wouldn't let us go on the Neighours tour so I didn't get to meet Karl Kenedy or Toadfish. Perhaps we can do it in Sydney!?
Next stage of the journey is the trip up to Sydney with lots of stops on the way as per the advice of our new friends from Melbourne!
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Simon
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Where's your boards
Looking forward to seeing some shots of your mini-mals + action shots of you falling off them. And at least poo weather = large waves.