Advertisement
Published: February 5th 2010
Edit Blog Post
Before you read this blog, let me just explain to you- I normally do not include all of our pics on the blog, as there are too many! These digital cameras you know, some 1000 pics per adventure! BUT
what happened is I clicked the download pics key too fast- while on the wrong pic "folder" if that makes sense to you non techies! SO- ALL of these pics downloaded, after MUCH waiting time! This non techie couldn't figure out the way to stop the download!!!!!
Now I find out that it takes eons of time to delete the pics, one by one- SO- instead- you choose! You can scan thru them really fast, ignore the ones that shouldn't be there- and enjoy the ones you want! I will also download the file that we did put together- as it includes our titles- which MARK spent muchos time writing - so how can I not post it!
ANway- enjoy- and thanks for the comments on the last blog entry- remember to sign your name as there are some anonymous ones!!!!
It 's VERY hot here! 41 dgrees c in Melbourne! Luckily, we left there and are on the
Great Ocean Road with Kendra and Dave. It is cooler here, with a breeze off the sea. Without the breeze, I could barely move! It's not humid tho, so Mark keeps saying its OK. Hhmmmm. Not sure about that !
If you are in the sun- it is wickedly hot- and sweaty- so who can tell if it's humid? I sure am wet!
The ocean breeze is what makes it bearable. The nites have been cooling down so that we need a sweater and a blanket to sleep, which is perfect.
McDonalds has free internet here,altho it is very slow- and I do mean VERY- so I am listening to the mcflurry machine, and smelling fried food- but all is good! Maybe there is method in the slow service- the more you smell the food, the ungrier you get!!!
OUr hippie van is working out well - it is a bed off the ground, and has the little kitchen in the back. Between us and all that Kendra has, we are making out quite well! There are many picnic sites with public "barbies" as they call them, which is really a flat grill to us. We made great
use of them, along with our portable propane burners to make dinners long the way!
We are amazed at the elaborate camping gear the Aussies have- the outback camper just pulled in to its site, opened up the tent on top of it's roof like a book. Voila- the tent was ready to get in! Go figure! I just wouldn't want o "roll" out of bed ha ha!
The Great Ocean Road is a stretch of highway that runs east/west between Melbourne and Adelaide, following-you guessed it- the ocean! We made many stops along the way to admire the spectacular views of both ocean and land. The pictures do not do the actual scenery justice- you will just have to make the trip yourselves!
The koala pictures were taken of the animals in the trees, close to the campsite where we were staying. Cute little things they are, but they sleep about 20 hours a day- guess whatever is in the leaves they eat is better than a few beers!
We have had some beautiful campgrounds that were free, and more like camping- and other sites that are like parking lots.
The private camps all seem
to have communal kitchens that are often well equipped for campers to use! We have had many dinners there as well!
The flies here are really bad- they don't bite, or serve any useful purpose that I can tell, other than to annoy you as they land on your ears, nose and mouth! Yuck! As you can see, Mark proved to a great fly magnet, so I hung back on our walks and let him take the flies along! Around here, there is a typical "aussie" wave- which means fanning your hands in front of your face in order to keep the flies off! I am an expert at it, and it works even better with a small tree branch in your hand!
AT one stop, the weather was so hot, we decided to take a dip in the ocean. Kendra and Dave declined, saying they had already tried it out on this coast, and the water was too cold. The weenies! We didn't believe them. Until we stepped in!!!
Man, Georgian Bay will be a cake walk after this! The icy feeling in your legs and arms never went away- but we went in anyway- can't believe
I did! It must have been the 39 C. temperature outside that made me do it! THe water is so beautiful, crystal clear and a wonderful shade of turquoise. Just VERY cold!
We took a tour through a rain forest, all done on suspended bridges above the ground. We didn't see any wildlife, just lots of HUGE trees, some more than 1500 years old! They all grow straight and tall- incredible! If you watch them, they sway in the wind- a bit of a freaky feeling- wonder if they fall down? WE didn't stay long enough to find out!
Partway along the GRO(great ocean road) ,we parted company with Kendra and Dave. They continued on to Adelaide while we had to return to Melbourne in order to catch our flight to Tasmania.
We will meet up with the kids again back on "their" sunshine coast!
For now, it's off to Tassie with friends Gary & Susan!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.125s; Tpl: 0.017s; cc: 11; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0432s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Gary White
non-member comment
Finally...
Nice to see you finally got a chance to get this thing started, to satisfy the clamouring masses. I naturally went to read it right away as I was afraid you would not be able to resist spilling the beans about our Tassie trip mishap. Remember, no public expose until after Bondi weekend on Feb. 20. I hope your tenting adventure is going well. The weather is more moderate now so that should help.