Great Ocean Road, South Australia

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I'm sorry I'm not including photos in this travel blog. I will soon, I hope, as soon as I get internet long enough to figure out how to resize my photos. Internet access has been scarce; often the servers are down in the hotels or campgrounds we stay in. If these postings are sporadic it's because I save them and send them when I get a few minutes on the net.

We took a train out of Melbourne to Berwick (about an hour's ride) on April 1st, Barry's birthday, and picked up the motorhome. It's a wonderful-looking Winnebago, about the same size as our travel trailer at home and probably less than two years old. Before we knew it we were belted in and on the road. I have to admit that my imagination about what could happen once we started driving on the opposite side of the road nearly got me in trouble more than a few times. With Barry, I mean. I kept jumping out of my skin at the strangeness of it all and that made Barry nervous too. Before long I settled in and realized it wasn't so hard. Now we've got it worked out; Barry drives and I just watch and make sure he does it right - quietly.

We started to drive the famous Great Ocean Highway in Southern Australia on, of all days, Good Friday. What we soon found out is that the kids in SA are on vacation for two weeks during that time and every child and parent in SA was heading for the Great Ocean Road too. Campgrounds in Australia are different from in Canada where we just put up a tent or travel trailer and stay under some trees. Here there are Holiday Parks, huge areas filled with playgrounds and swimming pools for kids, common areas for kids to gather to play games or watch TV, outdoor electric BBQs for parents and lots of other amenities. The parks are often set up with travel trailers that have small living/lounge rooms built on or fabric rooms added. These are for rent. The extra space is for people who have their own tents or caravans/trailers. I imagine most people go to a park and stay for several days or a week; that's their vacation.

We managed to find a campsite the first night to sleep in but once we left it we weren't able to find another vacancy along the road. We were warned it was against the law to stay on the side of the road but had no choice second night. It was getting dark, big kangaroos jump out at cars at night and we had tried every holiday park along the route. We pulled off the road into a grassy spot and had the best sleep of our trip. I guess all the other travelers were afraid of hitting a kangaroo too and there wasn't a car on the road after dark. Very quiet.

If you ever get the chance, please do drive the Great Ocean Road. It's the southern-most road in Australia and the scenery along the coast is incredibe and breath-taking. The road is extremely narrow with tight curves but it's mostly alongside the ocean. The monolithic limestone rocks called The Twelve Opostles tower out into the ocean and are awesome to see. What really bothered us were the dozens of young tourists who eagerly jumped the Dangerous! Out-Of-Bounds fences to run along the top of the rocks. Only one slip would have them tumbling to their deaths in the ocean below. Not a good way to end a coach tour.

The first time we put petrol in our motorhome's tank we had a crisis. After pulling into a station Barry couldn't get the gas-cap off. He tried and tried then a young employee tried. The kid's mother was there too so she came to see what he was doing. Before long the owner came and tried. Then his wife came to see what he was doing - it was obviously a family operation. The owner finally got his cell-phone out and phoned our motorhome rental place and finally he got it figured out. It was quite funny although stressful at the time - there were cars piling up everywhere trying to get into the station. The Aussie people we've met are exceptional at wanting to help when we have a problem.

Unfortunately, one of our days traveling the road was spent in rain, fog and wind. We were prepared with jeans and jackets so were warm. The people in shorts and tee-shirts weren't too happy. But all is well now, the sun is back and it's 26C. We're off the Great Ocean Road now and are heading north towards Adelaide. We're in a caravan park tonight in a place called Naracoorte and, once again, the internet is 'broken'.

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Comments

[Maxine]

Fun
Hi Noreen and Barry. We are following your adventures. Love reading about all you do. Have run off copies for Ken. Love, Maxine and Eugene