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So straight from our New Zealand trip, on Wednesday 10th October 2012 we landed went through security, customs and all that. Popped to Macs for some lunch before getting train to Kingsgrove station where we were to be picked up by a lady to get our new camper for roadtrip number 2. At Kingsgrove we were instructed to call Awesome Campers on arrival and wait by the petrol station on our right which we did and 5-10 mins later a lady in a car arrives picks us up with her young kid strapped in the back and she drove us to her house. This all seeming rather strange, she didn't really introduce herself or her child, Awesome Campers was from a lady's house who wore a baggy t-shirt and holey leggings hmmmm. After about an hour of paper work, checking licenses and looking around the camper and things we were almost ready to go. We were unhappy that even though we took out the highest insurance possible with this company we were not insured for any accidental damages that we may do like reversing into a tree or hitting a post things like that and also if we hit a kangaroo which was all very costly stuff. We also had to leave a $500 bond which we weren't too keen on as none of this had been mentioned beforehand but we went with it after some reassurance and set off to Bondi. Luckily, our flatty Ocean was home and so we were able to pop into the flat and get some bags we had left there say our final goodbyes (which actually wasn't as sad as we thought). We walked over to post office after shoving as much New Zealand leaflets, maps and souvenirs as possible into this bag to send home. We chose sea mail option as in no hurry for the bag to get home and it was much cheaper only $110 or so for 10kg, took out some insurance too in case there was any problems which I think was around another $20 or so which covered me for $200 amount of stuff. Happy with all that, we set off on our adventure move to Adelaide. Took us over an hour to get out of Sydney with the traffic so with the extra time it took to get camper and out of Sydney we were behind schedule like 2-3 hours which wasn't good but not much we could do about it, we had a lovely clear sunny day and we were pumped up with excitement for our next road trip. We drove down the gorgeous Grand Pacific Drive much of which is through the Royal National Park of Bundeena which was cool and then around cliffs by the sea and over some really cool roads which were built over the sea, really really cool. We stopped in Woollongong for lunch quickly before driving more inland to Canberra, Australia's capital. To Woollongong was around an hour or so drive, than onwards to Canberra was another couple of hours. In Canberra we drove around, through the city best we could, look at some of the parliament buildings and did a weekly shop in Coles stocking up the new automobile. Our aim was to reach Albury on our first night and to met some friends of Mandy's who live nearby called Jo and Andrew but unfortunately the drive was a bit too far and we ended up stopping a good couple of hours outside, not far from Canberra in Yass, parking in a residential area for the night. It was dark by 6pm and not being insured for driving at night and hitting animals we did not feel very comfortable as the road we were driving from Canberra we saw around 5-6 dead wallabies on the road and it wasn't worth the risk in so many ways and we were pretty shattered so we called it a night.
Our camper was rather funky.......big painted Batman on one side and scary looking Joker on the other. An older Toyota model to our recently hired camper Gabby and so it took some getting used to. The bed wasn't as comfy, the little curtains inside although cute looked like they were from 1950's and the kitchen area was nowhere near as cool. We got a cool box as a fridge, and gas hob was not as accessible. It was still really cool, everything worked as it should and had the same effect but Gabby lifted the bar on campers haha. Batman was still nice to drive, didn't like the hills so much but was great for space and storage which was ideal. Anyway, the next day we were up early, drove 30km stopping at various run down very very small towns which had signs promising petrol stations which clearly lied, so far out and after 3 attempts to fuel up and the red light now lighting up we thought best to drive back over to Yass to fuel up where we know there was about 3 different stations. Relief we finally filled up the camper, found a toilet to freshen up and change over an hour later we were ready to set off again!! This time we made it past 30k and the 2-3 hours to Albury where we stopped for a couple of hours. We enjoyed a morning cuppa while waiting to hear from Jo hoping to fit in a time to meet up for lunch or something. Unfortunately she was tied up for the afternoon until later on and so unfortunately we didn't get to meet which was a real shame. We got back on the road to head to Melbourne for teatime. We thought best to book a campsite as we didn't know Melbourne and hadn't showered in a while so headed straight there and chilled for the night. Had a lovely hot shower, cooked tea in the kitchen area and chilled cosy in the camper flicking through leaflets as we had to figure out plans for the next few days we had to explore Melbourne. The campsite was quite good $45 between us a night. We decided the next morning to book for another 2 nights as it was a safe place to park the camper and was only a short bus journey into the city 8k away and only $7 for a daily travel pass which allowed us onto buses, trams and trains.
The next morning, now Friday, we were feeling the effects of the last week and enjoyed a lazy morning in the campsite, showers, breakfast and little chill time in the camper before we got bus into city for the afternoon. The bus stop was just around the corner less than 5 minute walk and the bus was regular every 15 minutes or so, happy times :) Not knowing much about the city we planned to do the aquarium as it was within our annual attraction pass and the Eureka tower. The aquarium was good, the penguin area not so much but we enjoyed the big tanks. Next we went to a cafe for lunch called the overdraft cafe a worky business type cafe but nice, cheap and cheerful. We walked over one of the many bridges across the Yarra River to the Eureka Tower. The Eureka building is big block type tower rather than a thin pointy tower and it has the highest observation desk in the Southern Hemisphere. So the Auckland Sky Tower is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere but the Eureka isn't the tallest building but has the highest viewing platform and it was really cool. Was a good way to learn more about Melbourne city and helped us get our bearings. We chilledon the many couches up there and had a lovely hot chocolate enjoying the views. Unfortunately, the weather was crappy, very grey, dull and raining on and off. We headed back across the river into the main area of the city walking up Queen Street where we got our bus home after stopping in the outdoor store Kathmandu for a new wash bag for me yay!! By the time we got back to the campsite we cooked tea in the kitchen area and had an early-ish night in the camper cosying up from the rain.
Saturday, we went to reception area and grabbed some more leaflets after we were showered, dressed and filled with breakie. On our journey into the city we discovered a lot more about Melbourne a lot more places to see which we were more excited about. We had really enjoyed our day yesterday although we were unsure of Melbourne, it seemed quite ordinary like any other city, we were a little disappointed. Our faith was renewed and we were once again excited to be in Melbourne by midday on Saturday. We walked across the river to Southbank and along to SouthGate, a stretch along the river with restaurants, bars and cafes, a really good atmosphere area.. The whole city looked more appealing with the sun shining too. We walked over to Federation Square, a big area for arty people, live performances and Melbourne's meeting place. We chilled in this area and had our packed lunch. There was a very colourful building across the river which was Foxtel music festival with live band and bbq areas really cool. After chilling in Fed Square we got the tram to Waterfront City, at the Docklands a 10-15 minute ride from the city. We got off at HarbourTown and had a nose around, the shops and food areas up the escalators to the glow in the dark mini golf, something we found out about in the leaflets we read on the bus. It was really good especially since I won hehe. We walked around the waterfront areas, there was a guy on stage doing aerobics and groups of families and people joining in and a Mexian/Spanish food festival which smelt gorgeous. After wandering around the area, the rain started kicking in so we got the tram back into the city to the top of Elizabeth street and into a huge shopping mall to the Pancake Parlour where we had a voucher (also found in leaflets) for buy one get one free pancake stack. There was a pancake parlour back in Sydney in Darling Harbour which we never got to so we were happy to fit in an afternoon treat in Melbourne. The pancakes were lovely, the menu was so cool and very very busy place. We had arranged to met one of Gary's mates from Rugby boarding school around the time we had finished with our pancakes we had a look around some of the shops while sorting a meeting place and directions to Brunswick Street. We got the tram over to Brunswick around 5pm ish and I met Hugh, a lovely Londener and close old friend of Gary's. He spoilt us for the evening showing us some really cool bars buying us drinks and even recommending a place for our tea. First place was called Little Treasures where we had pints of quirky fruity ale in this old warehouse turned into bar, great busy atmosphere Gary and me ended up getting our drinks free after a mix up with the bartender. Next was a more sophisticated bar called Naked Satan where we got gorgeous cocktails on Hugh, this bar was full of awesome copperness and homemade yummy vodkas. The next place we shared a jug of beer in a little cosy yet again busy bar and finished the night with Hugh in a very cool Mexican bar/restaurant where upstairs there was hammock like chairs incredibly comfy and we each enjoyed a tequila shot followed by a coriander sweet chaser, the guys opting for a spicing chaser and me a safe fruity one. Unfortunately, Hugh had plans already that night so he had to leave us to it, but he gave us directions to a burger bar which he claimed cooked the best burgers he has ever had. Excited we followed his recommendation, the outside of this place is pretty hidden the place was called Brother Burger and my god was Hugh right, we thoroughly enjoyed our burgers pure scrummyness yum yum. The rainy weather continued we stood and waited for a tram for over 20 minutes but no show so we grabbed a taxi to Queen Street where we hopped on bus back to campsite. We had an awesome day out but we were shattered, been out over 10 hours!!! Melbourne is a very arty city we a young trendy vibe. The type of city were you have to spend good time in to get to know the areas well and feel the vibe.
We decided to stay an extra day and night in Melbourne to discover more. Sunday we left the campsite by 10am and aimed to park at the docklands to walk around the stalls of their Sunday market, however, the camper directed us elsewhere and without realising we were in the queue to park for Melbourne Zoo. We thought why not, we both really wanted to fit in the zoo but didn't think we would have the time, now we were there we parked up and spent the morning at the zoo. Today was a lovely sunny hot day so the walk around the zoo was great. A very good zoo we thought. We skipped out on the Docklands markets and headed straight into the city to stroll around the Queen Victoria market, the largest market in the Southern Hemisphere with over 1,000 stalls. We had a good look around, Gary bought me a friendship bracelet bless him and we enjoyed the atmosphere. Next on the agenda was to pay a visit to the Crown Entertainment Centre which was across the river it does us some getting there trying to find the right entrance to the car park but finally we made it. It was like metrocentre with a casino, cinema, lots and lots of shops. Before we got involved we stuffed up on KFC in the foodcourt and then went down to the bottom floor called Galactic Circus where there was a bowling centre, laser tag and over a 100 arcade games which we played like big kids for a while. Gary kicking my ass on the Harley Davidson bikes grrrrr. We were hoping to meet up with Hugh again tonight, but he had plans which he had forgotten about, such a shame. Us now feeling happy about Melbourne and getting to see everything we wanted to in our short time we thought we'd drive down to Geelong spend the night in a new area while it was still quite early evening and a good place to start our next day drive along the Great Ocean Road. We arrived during sunset and had a lovely stroll along the waterfront of Geelong before turning in for the night.
Great Ocean Road is a 250 km strip along the coast of Victoria, famous with the help of the Twelve Apostles, London Bridge and Loch and Gorge. The road actually starts in Torquay and continues west to Warrambool. Running low on food in the camper we stopped for a filling breakfast in Anglesea which filled us for the day. The journey was awesome, gorgeous views along the coast and also throughout the Otway National Park. When we reached nearly halfway at Apollo Bay we turned North up the mountains an hour hourney to Otway Treetop Walk. The walk was included in our annual attraction pass and is an hour walk along the top of the trees in the National Park pretty cool. By the afternoon we were driving back down towards the Great Ocean Road through Johanna and arriving back on route in Princetown. We quickly reached the 12 Apostles area, we parked up the car and walked to the lookout and were amazed for over half an hour, what an amazing art form created by nature.. Now only 8 Apostles as they are slowly eroding into the sea. There is the option to take a helicopter ride passing the coast along the Apostles, which I had been psyching myself up for since I knew about it from Mandy doing it. I have always been a little weirded out with helicopters and their workings but I really wanted to take the opportunity to do this, I mean its the 12 Apostles right? I was dead set on doing it, Gary wasn't too bothered as he has been on a helicopter before and was more than satisfied with the lookout and walk. I also was but I knew if I didn't do the tour it would be one of those things I'd think about and missed out on. When we went into the office to book my tour they needed 2 more people to fill the helicopter and offered us $15 off the price so $80 for 10 minutes instead of the normal $95 talk about good timing and even Gary joined me not wanting to miss out. Within minutes we had paid, been strapped with life jacket, seated in back row of a helicopter seatbelted and headphones are on heads. Before I even realised it we were off the ground, it wasn't scary at all, if anything it actually felt very safe. The 10 minutes went very fast but it was an amazing tour, the coast from birds eye view was even more stunning. We were both so so so pleased we had done it. After all the excitement of the 12 Apostles, we continued the drive to London Bridge, Loch and Gorge and various other lookouts. The back end of Great Ocean Road was not as exciting not much to see on our way to Warrambool. It was 4pm and we were deciding whether to continue on to reach Adelaide by tomorrow or drive 160k or so North to the Grampians. With spending an extra day in Melbourne Gary was quite keen to move onto Adelaide but I really wanted to see the Grampians and so we went for it and I am so pleased we did. The journey there was interesting, very empty, long straight roads which seem to go on forever and another petrol drama which lead us to following GPS to a petrol station in Penhurst 20-30k away from our route but it worked out well as we were both starving and there was an all in one newsagent and takeaway shop opposite the station. The petrol station is something you expect in southern America, just two pumps on the road so cool. Camper and us filled we headed back on the road to The Grampians, from a distance the mountains looked awesome and the driveway up to Halls Gap which is central town for the Grampians we enjoyed seeing various wildlife either side of the road such as wallabies, kangaroos and lovely colourful birds. We even saw an Echindna on our travels today, a strange but cute aussie creature similar to a porcupine so awesome!!! Luckily, we arrived at the Grampians still in the daylight because in Halls Gap there was hundreds of kangaroos just chilling grazing away at the grass around the campsites. We quickly checked into a campsite, parked the camper and went for a short walk to watch the kangaroos it was so cool. Even by our toilet block was a kangaroo just enjoying his grass!! I had a quick chat to back home as we had no signal all day and wanted to tell them about our day and that we were safe and sound, while Gary made us a cuppa which we enjoyed cosy in the camper before falling asleep.
Tuesday, we were both excited to be in The Grampians, all the wild kangaroos and wildlife adding to that. The kangaroos were still around while we were getting sorted in the morning, with about 6 alone by campsites toilet and kitchen area, there was fresh poo around the camper which meant they had been close to us through the night. We went for walk along the main street and stopped for breakie again in a little cafe to set us up for the day. By the time we returned to the camper from breakie all the kangaroos has disappeared, gone to snooze I guess, dirty stop outs!! I had read in a book about the Grampian of a half day drive you can do if you are tight for time which lead you to all the major lookouts so this is what we did. Up and up into the mountains we witnessed some of the most amazing views I have ever seen stunning, gorgeous, wonderful all the positive verbs I can come up with to describe the beauty of the Grampains. We did a few short walks to the balconies to experience the various areas and before we left we also fitted in a walk down to the McKenzie Falls which was just unreal again. We could have spent over a week there, so peaceful, clean air, stunning scenery, relaxing ahhhh just perfect. It really is revitalising returning to nature. With no more time to spare we started the 586k drive to Adelaide crossed over to our 4th state in our roadtrip from Victoria to South Australia and into a new timezone a 9.5 hour difference to the UK stopping for lunch in a town called Keith :) just for you bro!! We arrived in Adelaide slightly early then we thought and we were lucky enough to fit in 2 room viewings before 7pm. We had contacted 3 people, 2 of which wanted us to let them know when we arrived in Adelaide before arranging a time and the last one we booked a viewing for 10am Wednesday morning. The first one we saw was quite close to the city was a huge house but unfortunately not for us, it felt very unhomey and not well maintained, the price was very good but we were eager to see elsewhere. The second viewing was in a lovely bungalow house just round the corner from our first viewing and this place was gorgeous. A young aussie couple were renting out and needed someone for the spare room, the front room had huge lovely sofas and flatscreen, a very flash, trendy place, they had 2 dogs one a very cute small puppy. The garage was converted into an insane gym, great outdoor area and just lovely we loved it. Problem was no furniture in the room, we are only here in Adelaide until the end of the year and so buying a bed and maybe bedside drawers and such just wasn't ideal, such a shame. When we left we were both on our phones checking out beds on gumtree and there was good ones for less than $100 so we called and said right we will take it but it wasn't available for another 5 days as the guy was away on business and the camper we due back tomorrow so that was a no go. Slightly nervous now only one viewing left we had everything crossed. On our way to Port Adelaide to spend the night our front left tyre punctured and we were stranded on the side of the road :( luckily we the full insurance there was 24 hour road support so we called up straight away and within half an hour or so a guy came swapped our flat tyre with the spare and we were back on the road phew!!! I was so pleased it happened when we were on a side road near Adelaide city and now out in the middle of nowhere during our road trip!! We stopped over at McDonalds for food before parking for the night in Port Adelaide, an area close by to our viewing in the morning.
Up early on Wednesday with excitement, we decided to sort the camper out pack our bags, clean out the rubbish all nice and tidy ready for whatever was to come whether (ideally) moving into the house we were viewing or checking into a YHA before returning the camper. Still time to spare before our viewing we went into Port Adelaide shopping mall and looked around the big K Mart there until it was time to go. We still were a little early for the viewing thinking it was further away than we thought we spent the time checking out the area, there was a big shopping centre only 10-15 minute walk, a park area close by and a bus stop just round the corner. The area was very quiet and peaceful and the streets were so cute little bungalows typical Aussie style homes. 10 am we were eagerly awaiting the lady Anna to arrive and show us around, nervously excited we waited 10 minutes while she was stuck in traffic eekkkk finally we were in looking around and it was great. A bungalow house with an open plan kitchen and front room area, 4 bedrooms of which 2 we would share a bathroom which also has a bath yay!! One room is ensuite, there is a utility room with washing machine, ironing board and all cleaning things. A great outdoor area and the room is huge with a queen size bed and was just perfect for us. We took it straight away and literally filled in some forms popped to the nearby shopping centre to get money out for bond and moved into our room. We were so lucky to again have found somewhere we loved so soon and so lucky this time to find somewhere when we still had a camper and could just move our stuff from the camper into a room. We moved in unpacked a little bit, drove to Arndale Shopping Centre where this is a Coles, Woolworths and Big W and lots of other stores, did a good stock up food shop while we had the camper and then we had to return the camper nearby the airport. Everything was fine, even with the flat spare tyre as we had the top insurance to cover us but it took us over 2 hours to find our way back to Arndale Shopping Centre :( and we were starving!! Headed to KFC for our last fast food feast before walking home to our new pad. We met our new house-mates Nicolas from Singapore and then Alice from Taiwan and lastly Angelo from the Philippines all very friendly and welcoming We spent a good couple of hours chatting getting to know one another over cuppa and then some wine and puddings. Nic and Alice are studying at the Le Cordon Bleu and Nic had made some lovely puddings Pavalova and lemon mousse which we all enjoyed yum yum. It was so good to get ready for bed normally and crawl into bed, no squatting or sheweeing in the dark haha. Best thing, rent is only $230 a week between us here compared to the $380 a week between us in Bondi. We are not sure of our bearings yet although the bus stop round the corner is a stop to go into the city and only takes around 20 minutes. We are so so so happy!
Now job hunting...................hopefully the weekend we will spend exploring Adelaide :)
- comments
Sheila Lorraine Yet another fab blog. I love reading them. All the leaflet reading and forward planning is really paying off, the buy one get one free vouchers and tours etc. Not sure I could have done the helicopter. Its made you appreciate showering and using toilets hasn't it? What a wonderful experience. All the wildlife etc, just what you wanted. Love the bungalow espec with people studying 'puddings' lol. Have a great time, good luck with the jobs and don't eat too many puds. Love you, miss you, see you soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx