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Road Trip Day 09: Sunday, March 13th
One of the tourist brochures we picked up had a picture of a person swimming with Australian Sea Lions...so this was a must-do for me!!Destination for this activity...Baird Bay...so when we left Ceduna we started driving down the coast in that direction.We made it as far as Streaky Bay before it was getting dark, so we decided to camp there.However, the only caravan park in town was full, so we decided to go to one of the National Parks nearby to stay at a campsite.It was getting on to dark by then, and we were driving down what we thought was the dirt road to the campsites.Out of nowhere there was a truck behind us flashing his lights at us!We stopped, and Nick got out...and I was freaking out in the van!He returned to say that 'Wayne' invited us to crash in our van beside his house, and to come in for tea to meet 'the Mrs'!!We were a bit reluctant, but not many options, lol...so we did exactly that!We all had supper together and Wayne spent the rest of the night telling us tales of surfing crazy waves, jet skiing with dolphins and whales, swimming with seals and cray fishing!!He had video to go with all the stories, so we enjoyed the visit with them!In the morning we woke up and looked outside!!We knew we were near the coast but had no idea about the view!Their property is 250 acres with 280 degrees of ocean views!Amazing!
Wayne invited us in for coffee in the morning, and then offered to take us to the local beach...with his jetski!We think he really needed Nick to help him pull cray pots (still unsure if Wayne was legal to be catching crayfish!! Lol!)He got Nick to drive and they were away!I stayed on the beach and admired the views :0)They returned with four cray fish (like lobster), two of which were huge and each weighed over 3kg!We said our thank yous and goodbyes and we were off to Baird Bay!We had a lot to chat about our stay with the old surfer dude and his wife...they have quite the lifestyle!!They have an $800,000 ocean front property, on which they have a budget style shed/house, and an outdoor toilet made with road signs and sheet metal!Haha!!Let's sum it up by saying it was an interesting experience...but very very nice to have us stay there!!
Road Trip Day 10: Monday, March 14th
Onward to Baird Bay to swim with the dolphins and sea lions??Well we attempted to go but it was unbeknownst to us it was a holiday and the place was unfortunately closed!I was gutted!We were walking back on the beach when an old local man came over to our van...he offered for me to feed the pelicans that we had been looking at along the beach.Sounded interesting?Pelicans are huge...and he handed me these big fish that he had been fermenting in his fridge (they smelled like they had been in there for a while!!)The pelicans were quite aggressive, and the ones that took the fish out of my hand ate the fish whole!!GULP!
Then we headed to Venus Bay...gorgeous views of some incredible cliffs!Our next stop was Kimba -'officially' half way across Australia, so it seemed fitting we retire there for the night.
Road Trip Day 11: Tuesday, March 15th
Well today Nick drove us further south...we stopped in Port Wakefield on route to Adelaide :0)
Port Wakefield is home to the MOST aggressive crickets and giant grasshoppers (so we found out!!)They were jumping everywhere (even in my hair...YIKES!!)We found three crickets in our van - the last thing we would want as a travel companion!!Can you imagine...3am wakeup call!Luckily we found them ... Ciao baby!
Road Trip Day 12: Wednesday, March 16th
We arrived in ADELAIDE :0)Australia's culture capital with gorgeous colonial style stone buildings, beautiful inner-city parks and gardens along the river....it was SO CLEAN!Home to the University of Adelaide and UniSA (University of Southern Australia).Adelaide is the heart of the wine region in Southern Australia!Very lovely!
We wandered through the city streets and did our own walking tour of all the sites...Parliament House, Government House, Adelaide Museum, etc...and of course we stopped at Haighs Chocolate Shop for a sample!!So yummy!!We had walked for miles and we were set to retire to the campervan park.
Road Trip Day 13: Thursday, March 17th
We were up early and headed to the Adelaide Zoo...home of Australia's only GIANT pandas - Funi & Wang Wang!!The zoo was huge and we spent half the day wandering around admiring the animals....so beautiful!I will post all the pics of the animals...especially the pandas!
After lunch we had booked a tour of Coopers Brewery :0)Coopers is one of Aussie's top breweries, and export all over the whole (even Canada!)They also have the largest "homebrew" following in the world...so we got to see that whole process from beginning to end!And the ending was a surprise...we both though we would get a sample or two...but we went back to a bar and they served us every kind of beer they make!!We kinda lost count lol...but I think there were about 8 or 10 different kinds!!All were good...and got better as the time went on lol! Great brew tour!!During the tour I noticed a guy with a 'Roughriders' t-shirt...obviously he didn't buy that here, so I asked if he was from Saskatchewan ... he and his girlfriend were from Regina :0)They are touring Aussie for 8 months and had began their journey in Perth as well, so we had a good chat with them and shared some travelling tips!
Road Trip Day 14: Friday, March 18th
We left the city snaking our way through the Adelaide Hills...really beautiful!We followed Hansel & Gretel to Hahndorf - Australia's oldest German settlement, which was established by Lutheran refugees in 1839!Hahndorf has a lot of character we walked down the streets surrounded by 19th century buildings....lovely!
We indulged with our first visit today at 'No5'...inside this charming 1850s cobblestone cottage we ordered a dessert, lemon-chocolate cake to share, and Nick had an exquisite white hot chocolate and I had a chai latte - we were in heaven!It was an experience...never had a better latte in my life!!We soooo enjoyed the food & atmosphere of this place!!
Just another 30km drive to Birdwood...and visited the National Motor Museum - Nick was in his glory!A collection of over 300 vintage cars!
We ended our day along Albert Lake in Meningie...very lovely little town!
Road Trip Day 15: Saturday, March 19th
We crossed into Victoria State on route to Portland ...made us think of home :0)But first we diverted to Beachport...we were guaranteed to see a beach there!We wanted to enjoy the view of the beach while we stopped to make lunch...very lovely little town and lovely beach! Lol!
We made it to Portland to our caravan park for the night.We went walking in the park ... saw a kangaroo munching on some grass and three KOALA bears perched in a tree!!This was our first koala sighting...and we were so excited!!I stood there looking up at them until my neck began to ache!SO cute!!
Road Trip Day 16: Sunday, March 20th
After a short drive to Cape Bridgewater we stopped to do part of the Great South West Walk.We trekked along the highest coastal cliffs in Victoria...130 metres high!Our destination was Seal Point to see one of the largest colonies of Australian fur seals - 650 seals live in the caves along the cliffs here!!The hike was about 3 hours and all along the walking trail were incredible views of Shelley Beach and the Southern Ocean...stunning!!
This area is surrounded by a huge wind farm - 29 enormous wind turbines producing enough electricity for 35 thousand homes annually here in Victoria State!
After gas and hitting the drive thru bottleshop, lol, we were ready to begin the journey along the coastal drive of the Great Ocean Road.Before the sunset we travelled just a short way from our caravan park in Port Campbell....we went to see the Twelve Apostles at sunset!The Apostles are giant rock stacks that rise from the Southern Ocean!There are not actually twelve - some have eroded away and fallen into the ocean.It was such an awe-inspiring sight...and the sunset only made it more surreal!
We went back to the caravan sight...tomorrow begins our coastal journey along the Great Ocean Road!!It is 300kms and characterized as one of the world's most breathtaking coastal drives!!We are super excited!
Road Trip Day 17: Monday, March 21st
We stopped early in the morning at a lookout not far from after leaving the caravan park.The lookout turned out to be a two hour walk along the paths surrounding the Loch Ard Gorge...incredible views of limestone sea cliffs, caves and secluded beaches!
Along our drive to Apollo Bay the scenery changed from huge sea cliffs to rainforest and mountains... we snaked our way up mountain sides and down through huge ravine!!We stopped to do a hike along Madsens Rainforest Walk.The temperate cool rainforest was thick and home to giant moss-covered trees.We walked along the cascading river as we made our way along the trail.It was beautiful and very different from any of our other hikes so far!
We drove into the Great Otway National Park on a whim, and quickly realized this was a special place...for KOALA bears!!We saw nine in the trees munching on leaves!After several stops to watch the koalas and picture taking, lol, we arrived at the Cape Otway Lighthouse - 20 metres high and 90 metres above sea level - Australia's oldest lighthouse built in 1848!We climbed to the outside viewing platform and enjoyed the views!!
We reached our destination for the night - Apollo Bay.This huge valley is surrounded by lush green rolling hills and fabulous beach! Our caravan park overlooked the ocean, so we had to check it out!Sunset walk along the beach, although it was foggy and a bit chilly, it was beautiful!
We returned to the caravan park, and decided to download all our pics to the laptop from the previous few days - but something freakish happened and all the pictures got deleted from the memory card!!I was gutted!All the pics of the Twelve Apostles and the koala bears ...gone!Nick thinks that if we take it to a tech the pics can be restored from the memory card...fingers crossed!!
Road Trip Day 18: Tuesday, March 22nd
It was our first day of rain, as we left Apollo Bay, and began our days drive along the Great Ocean Road.The roadway is a winding mountain trail, with plenty of cliffs and few guardrails!!Did I mention it was raining, as we were snaking along the cliffs?!?!Yikes!!
Shortly after leaving Apollo Bay, we stopped as planned to hike in to Sheoak Falls - a 5km hike through the rainforest to admire the falls and caves!It was lovely, even in the rain...well it is the rainforest, so we have to expect it!The silver-lining was that the rain made it much easier to spot the spider webs before walking through them!
Back on the Great Ocean Road to our next stop - Lorne, a sheek coastal town, well known for surfing and its mountain views!!We drove up the mountain top for the best views of the Great Ocean Road along the mountain side!Amazing scenery and we had a chance to admire it, which we didn't have much time to**** around while driving along the cliffs!
We visited Erskine Falls - one of the highest waterfalls in the region at 30 meters!The waterfall was in the side of a mountain and was 300 meters above sea level... the only way to get there was straight down... the sign said a few stairs (Aussie for hundreds lol!). This was a pristine area with truly gorgeous falls!
We returned to the heart of Lorne, it was still overcast and misting, but I could not resist a swim...the waves and the beach looked so inviting!Boogie board in hand, I hit the surf!I provided much entertainment to Nick, as I giggled through every wave...he had a great time laughing at me and snapping pictures from shore of me on the boogie board haha!So much fun!!
A few more stops along the way - Aireys Lighthouse for a walk along the cliff tops...A photo op at Anglesea's Golf Course to see the kangaroos enjoy the game, lol!!There are hundreds of roos that hop around the many greens here!! It was promoted as a place to see the roos, but you had to play a round to get on the course...so after a laugh, it wason to Bell's Beach - Australia's most famous surfing beach.The swells here are incredible...there were a few experienced surfers trying to ride the waves and lots of people on shore wondering how they do it so well!!
This marked the end of the Great Ocean Road - so much to see along this coast!!We stopped in the city of Geelong on route to Melbourne.
Road Trip Day 19: Wednesday, March 23rd
Melbourne is Australia's second largest city.We buzzed around the caravan park, trying to get everything ready for our flight to Tasmania tomorrow.While doing laundry, I thought I would try to catch up on the blog...I should have taken a nap instead...the laptop died and I lost everything I had typed out (and no recovery memory apparently!) and it rained on the clothes that I had on the line!! Go figure, lol!
Well I hope to post more updates soon! I will post the pictures from these adventures now...so you can follow along :0)
Take Care & Much Love,
Nick & Laura
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