Mon 11 Nov 2013 - The Great Ocean Rd

Left Port Fairy after looking around the town and the port.

Although today was overcast and windy, it was still a good day for seeing the magnificent scenery, as the sun kept breaking through at appropriate moments. We saw the Bay of Islands, the Bay of Martyrs, London Bridge and the Twelve Apostles and Rodger went down the Gibson Steps to the beach. They all looked absolutely stunning.

Bay of islands

London Bridge

at the Arch

12 Apostles

Dead birds lining the shore

We also stopped at the Cheese Centre, just outside Warrnambool. We weren't allowed to go into the factory, but there was a DVD on how they process the milk and make butter and Rodger was able to go cheese tasting. Naturally, we ended up buying a big block of cheese and they also got some lovely honey. We went round the museum and saw old cheese and butter making machinery and one of the first milking machines - it was all really interesting.

As we drove along the road, it was all lush, green pasture for dairy cows, this is where all the milk comes for the cheese. It all looked very English to me, except on a much larger scale. Just before Apollo Bay, the landscape became hilly and wooded, but opening up occasionally to water meadows with cows and wild flowers.

When we came to the camping ground at Apollo Bay, the manager said that they've had no Spring this year, it's just been Wintery and wet, which explains why everything is so green. It's the direct opposite of the Kimberley, where it's so dry and arid and the cows have to look carefully for every mouthful of food.

Our camping spot was by a river, given to us as it's the spot most sheltered from the wind. Rodger got excited and decided to go fishing, even though it's freezing. I got a phone call from our friend Carol, and while we were chatting, Rodger appeared with a large brim! As I've already got an apricot chicken cooking in the Dream Pot, we'll have it for dinner tomorrow.

Sun 10 Nov 2013 - Into Victoria

The weather was beautiful when we woke up this morning and we're camped right next to the Murray River.

 Today was a big drive. We travelled East, almost to the border with Victoria, but then turned South and travelled through grapevine country and emerald green fields of long grass, full of fat sheep and cows.

Just before Mt Gambier, these gave way to thick pine forests. There was also a special place of remembrance for a Father Wood who was an outback priest who had done a lot for the community.

We stopped at Mt Gambier to see the blue lake, made by volcanic action, it was certainly very blue! We had expected to stop here for the night, but it was only 3.30pm, so we continued on, through more forests, and crossed the border into Victoria, where we changed our clocks by 30 mins, back to Melbourne / Sydney time.

We continued down to the coast to a pretty little town called Port Fairy, where I've been before, as there's a big Folk Festival held here every year. We booked into a caravan park and then drove round the town, looking at all the cute stone cottages and big old church, it all looks very English.

Of course, we also went to check out the beach, even though it's really cold when the sun goes down. It's not a surf beach but it was good to breath in the sea air again.

Sat 9 Nov 2013 - Judy and Bruce Cliff

This morning we went to Mt Loftus, which overlooks the whole Adelaide area. 

Next we went to visit Rodger's cousin Judy and her husband Bruce, they live near Mt Barker. it was lovely to have the opportunity to catch up with them and to see the new house they're building.

 As we left their place at about 4.30pm and got a bit lost finding our way back to the freeway, it was 5.30pm when we got to Murray Bridge and the river was so lovely we thought it would be good to break our journey here, before kangaroo time.

Old Murray Bridge and the Murray River

The lady at last night's caravan park had recommended one here at Murray Bridge, so we knew where to come. We were early enough to ring Tim and Andrew's family and catch up with the news.

It's lovely to feel so much closer to them, now we've crossed the Nullarbor.

View from Camp ground over the Murray River

Fri 8 Nov 2013 – Adelaide and Nostalgia

This morning we went in search of Rodger's childhood home, as he lived in Wattle Park, Adelaide when he was 7 - 10 yrs old. We found the house, his primary school, church and the house of some friends.

Carunta St Wattle Park SA 5066

Rodger outside his home - 2 Carunta St Wattle Park SA 5066

Rodger's Primary school to Year 5

Knightsbridge Baptist Church

Our next call was to visit Bryan Kohlhoff's cousins, Sandra, David and Susie. We had a lovely lunch together at Sandra's house and met her daughters, Nicola and Sarah.

 After this, we did a quick trip to Coles and then came to the caravan park so we could talk to Friday Night Group people on Skype.

Again it was a cool and overcast day, though the sun did manage to break through now and again. Once the sun goes down it's pretty cold, so we're going to get into bed and watch an episode of "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries", which we have on DVD.  On the way to bed we see that some caravaners are already preparing for Christmas.

Thurs 7 Nov 2013 - Port Augusta to Adelaide

We enjoyed having breakfast in the cosy kitchen and drove to Port Augusta, where we called into the Visitor's Centre to get a map of Adelaide. Today's journey was very uneventful. We again passed wheat fields nearly all the way and some were being harvested.

It was a bit of a shock to have other cars on the road with us the whole way, instead of seeing 1 or 2 an hour! No chance of practising my singing today.

As we had the map, we were able to use our lunch break to find and book a caravan park in Adelaide, it makes it so much easier to go into a strange city when you have some idea of your destination!

It wasn't hot today, only 26C. We don't know if this is because a cool change came through or because we've come 350kms South. In the evening it began to spot with rain, probably because Rodger washed the car!

As we have a powered site and it's a cool, wet evening, we're going to snuggle up in bed and watch a movie - yet it was only this time yesterday that we were delighted to have the cold water spa to cool off in!

Wed 6 Nov 2013 - Cactus Beach then off to Nutbush Retreat

We had another surf/rock pool bathe this morning, the wind had come up again so the surf was big. Rodger was so delighted to get 2 good surfs after so many disappointments.

While he was getting ready to surf, Rodger saw a brown snake in the vegetation next to our van. A bit later, he looked out and saw a bob tail lizard sitting on my thongs- no shortage of wildlife here!  We then left Cactus heading back via the pink lake and checking out another beach "Caves" where some of the guys were surfing this morning.

I also made a big bolognaise in the Dream Pot and some salad sandwiches, to use up all our veg before going through quarantine at Ceduna, the SA end of the Nullarbor.

We had a break in Ceduna, first to eat our lunch before going through the quarantine barrier and then to go to a shop to buy more fruit! There was also an Op shop so I was able to get a couple more books.

As we'd had such a leisurely start to the day, we now needed to get in 4 hrs good driving to reach Port Augusta tonight. The whole trip there were wheat fields each side of the road and stretching far into the distance and every small town has a large silo beside the station.

Again, it was very hot, peaking at 40C in the afternoon, so we stopped in Kimba to buy icy poles - such a treat on a hot day.

Kimba is the halfway point between Perth and Sydney, as the crow flies, so we're halfway home now! It's also the home of the big galah, but I don't know why - these birds seem to be common all over Australia.

I was thinking we needed to stay somewhere just West of Port Augusta and then I saw a place advertised on the map, called The Nutbush Retreat, in just the right place so we thought we'd have a look. It turned out to be a cattle station that has a caravan park and cabins. We're the only people here and have everything to ourselves.

First we went to swim in the pool but it had a whole lot of hornets floating on top so we ended up cooling off in the spa, which the hornets didn't seem to like.

Next we had nice, long, hot showers and washed out our sweaty clothes in the laundry. Dinner was ready in the Dream Pot but we reheated it, ate, and charged our electrics, in the well - equipped camp kitchen, which is part of the shearer's quarters.

We then adjourned to the Recreation Room for a game of pool. it's a hard life on the road!