So myself, Thomas, Ines and Big Russ headed back to Melbourne in time for Christmas. We would be repeating the Grampians and GOR, but we also saw a lot more stuff on the way.
Day 1: Adelaide to Mount GambierWell as always our plans didn’t materialise exactly. I was supposed to be at Thomas’s house with the car by about 8.30am. I actually arrived about an hour late, and had to park the car round the corner. Whilst opening up the boot Thomas and Ines came round the corner. Whilst washing up, Ines cut (well actually gouged) her hand with a broken glass, so they went to a nearby doctor. It turned out that the cut was so deep and wide, that it could not be stitched, so instead it was bandaged and Ines would have to wear it for at least 3 weeks, and take medication. This meant she couldn’t swim whilst bandaged or drink whist on the medication.
So we left Adelaide 4.5 hours after we intended to! We headed first for some delicious chocolate at a café in Hahndorf and then hit the road to the Coorong National Park. The Coorong is a wetlands area on a spit of land next to the sea. At one of the stops, we thought we had to walk to the beach from the first car park, only to realise about 30mins later that there was another car park a lot closer! The beach was beautiful and unspoilt, and we stayed there for a while just watching the waves. We were running late in order to get to Mount Gambier before our hostel closed, so Thomas ran to get the car. While Ines and I were walking down the road, I froze, and there were two enormous kangaroos less than 100m from where we were, which was an amazing sight!
We stopped again at the giant lobster, before heading to Beachport, where they have the LONGEST JETTY IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA! (See previous post for significance!) Then we headed to Mount Gambier, where we stayed again at The Jail!
Day 2: Mount Gambier to Halls GapThe doctor told Ines to change her bandage every day, however it was all sticky, etc o we decided it was best to go to the hospital to check it out. Little did we know we’d be waiting there for about 4 hours or so! During that time I headed to Bunnings (B&Q equivalent) to get some screws to fix a part dangling off our front bumper. Eventually Ines was seen by a doctor, and it took about 10 mins to sort out!
With much les time than we intended to have, we headed north to the Naracoorte Caves National Park. Here there were some World Heritage listed caves, noted for their fantastic fossil collections. We saw the fossil centre, with animatronic life size constructions of the extinct animals. We then explored one of the caves, which was eerie and silent, as we were the only people down there.
Then we drove across the border into Victoria and headed to Halls Gap, where we stayed again at the same hostel we did last time!
Day 3: Halls Gap to WarnamboolToday we explored the Grampians, and I’m glad I came back. The weather was so much better this time around, so we could actually see from the lookouts and do some walks. We walked up to the Pinnacle, where there was a fantastic view of Halls Gap and the surrounding area. Like everything else in Australia, words cannot accurately describe how amazing it was!
We then again drove quickly to reach Warnambool before our hostel closed, and got there by about 11pm, dodging kangaroos along the way.
Day 4: Warnambool to Apollo BayWe made a detour to Tower Hill, a 32,000 year old collection of extinct volcanoes, where there was an abundant amount of wildlife, though we didn’t see a huge amount of animals!
Then we headed on to the Great Ocean Road, where we saw the same amazing sights. When we reached the Twelve Apostles, we were concerned that we wouldn’t be able to see them, a there was a large amount of fog. However, the fog gave them a very different character and made for some excellent photo taking!
We then headed to Apollo Bay where (guess what!) we stayed in the same hostel as last time!
Day 5: Apollo Bay to BallaratWe took a detour off the GOR to the Otway Treetop Walk, where we walked along suspended walkways amongst some really tall trees! There was a walkway which jutted out from the observation tower without any supports on the ground, and Thomas terrified some other walkers by making it sway!
We also saw Triplet Falls, with was obviously three waterfalls over one ridge. I don’t know how we missed this last time, but we stopped at Kennet River, where the trees were full of wild koalas, doing what they do best; sleeping and eating!
After stopping briefly in Geelong, we headed up to Ballarat, the Coober Pedy of gold, where we stayed at a campsite for the night.
Day 6: Ballarat to Melbourne
Well today was special in that it was Ines’s Birthday!
We headed to the Eureka Centre. In the 1850s this area saw an armed protest by gold miners against the government’s harsh treatment towards them. It’s a classic small scale event that’s been bigged up as a great Australian event, and the beginnings of the labour movement and Australian democracy. However it was still interesting.
We then headed straight to Melbourne, where at our hostel we met up with Alexis, who’d got in earlier that day from Queensland, where she’d been doing a volunteering project. After finding a place to park which you didn’t need to be a millionaire to pay for, we headed out into the city for Chinese food and party tunes to celebrate Ines’s birthday.
So a good trip down to Melbourne!
See my Facebook photo albums which go with this entry:
Adelaide to Cape Tribulation 1: Adelaide to Melbourne
Adelaide to Cape Trib 2: Roadtripping and Christmas in Melbourne
No comments:
Post a Comment