Adelaide to Melbourne

Arriving to a sunny Adelaide we got straight on the local bus to Glenelg, a small seaside town not far from Adelaide where we were staying. The wind meant a walk on the beach was off the cards but instead we spent the afternoon wandering around before meeting Megan (who Lizzy met in Europe) for some vino then going to her friends for a BBQ - nice to feel part of normal life!! The next day, as Lizzy didn't really want to go to Adelaide again having visited it last time she was here, I hopped on the tram into the city centre and spent the day wandering the impressive food market, the Christmas high street (Santa Claus in shorts singing carols was a little strange....as was the assortment of pig statues including one scavaging out the bin....weird!) and the pretty botanical gardens. The following day we picked up our car for the week, having ordered a small car we ended up with a Mitsubishi AXI (I think!)..whatever it was it was huge but by the end of the week 'Mitch' as he was fondly known was part of our little gang and we didn't want to say goodbye once we'd reached Melbourne. We started the day travelling down the coastal road to Mount Gambier (our first nights stop) stopping at a few pretty seaside towns on the way. That night we were staying in 'The Old Gaol', used up until 1995 we were actually staying in the cells, really friendly owners made it one of the nicest hostels so far. The following day, after i'd frequented the olympic pool right next door we drove up to see the 'Blue Lake' which you have to see to believe that it's really quite blue. The lake fills the crator of an extinct volcano (this area is renowned for them apparently and is all part of the Kanawinka Geopark) and turns blue in summer months (something to do with chemicals...i forget!). From here we went for a wander around a sinkhole (a collapsed cave) which was impressive, covered with lots of greenery and apparently home to lots of possums which you can feed if you come at dusk. After this we headed down the coast, through a few more pretty seaside towns to Cape Bridgewater which had a stunning coastline with turqoise waters if it had been a little warmer would have enticed us for a swim. That night we headed up into the Grampian Mountains to stay at Halls Gap - en route seeing many kangaroos lounging at the side of the road. Our hostel was opposite the national parks cultural centre which we went to the next day, it was really interesting although unsettling reading about the treatment of the indiginous people when Europeans came to inhabit Oz. The rest of the day we had fun driving the really winding roads around the mountains to lookouts over the rugged landscape and climbed lots of steps down to some impressive waterfalls before heading back to the coast to Port Fairy. Port Fairy was a twee little village with a nearby island, also a nature reserve which after having a windy run around when we first arrived we then walked around the next day, meeting lots of local wallabies on our way. Next stop, after some random waterfalls in the middle of nowhere, was Allansford, the start of the Great Ocean Road (although the coastline was equally as impressive before we got here!) and more importantly Cheeseworld!!! Now whilst the cheese was tasty, its also famous for it's milkshakes (spearmint flavour being my personal favourite!) which we happily sampled before starting our trip down the Ocean Road. Stopped at lots of scenic spots including Bay of Islands and London Bridge (which has fallen down..) before heading inland for some more cheese tasting/purchasing! The evening, staying in Port Campbell, we were able to borrow some binoculars from the local tourist info and headed back to London Bridge where we were the only ones to stay after sunset to watch the little penguins make their way onto the beach at dusk, surfing the waves before waddling up the beach.....very cute!!!! The following day we finished the Great Ocean Road, stopping at Loch Ard Gorge and the famous '12 Apostles' although i'm pretty sure there's only 7 or 8 now! We ventured off the road to go down to Cape Otway, we were told the lighthouse was worth a look, we disagreed.. however the road down was surrounded by koalas in the tree tops which made up for it!! As we headed further along we stopped at a few more seaside towns and Aireys Inlet where we wandered up to a lighthouse. From here, after avoiding a koala wandering by the side of the road, we headed to Torquay, our final nights stay at the end of the Great Ocean Road where we had to make use of our breakdown to come a change our rather flat tyre. The next day, after a short trip to the tyre repair place we headed into Melbourne, avoiding the trams with a strange right hand turn rule we got Mitch safely back to the hire place.