The Limestone Coast

Warrnamboll turned out to be a pretty place but the weather over the weekend has been typically end of November - at home! It has been grey, cold and rainy. I even put jeans on, on Friday night. On a pretty cold Saturday morning we visited Tower Hill State Game Reserve which sits inside an extinct volcano.





First job, attempt to run to the top of the volcano rim, I swear sometimes I think I am travelling with a competitive 15 year old. Personally I believe Jim is missing his sparring partners, his sons, and I am a poor substitute. I keep trying to humour him by pretending to be Alex and shouting, 'Run Dad, run.' Anyway the run warmed us up a bit, but because of the grey skies the view was less than exciting. We then set off on an hours walk around the crater, it took us somewhat less than an hour because we were a bit skittish around the low growing trees and long undergrowth - perfect snake territory. We had been warned that copper head and tiger snakes are in abundance, both small, but deadly.

We didn't see any snakes but, rounding a corner, we came face to face with a 6 foot emu! The warden had told us to raise one arm in the air above our head, the emu will think we are a bigger emu and back off. Yeah, right. Jim said, 'Quick, get on my shoulders, it's the only way you're going to be bigger than that!' Frankly, that didn't help. After a stand off lasting about 5 mins (probably only 2 but felt like 5), it shrugged it's shoulders and stalked off.








The photos above are of a Dad emu and babies near the visitor centre, obviously I didn't have time to photograph the other what with shaking and sweating a bit!
On the way out we came across a little family 3 kangaroos, great big scarred Dad, a female and a small baby. The parents very obligingly stopped for a photo.




A 20 minute drive took us to Port Fairy; it was originally called Port Fairy because it was named after the ship carrying the explorers who first discovered it. The person who established the first settlement there named it Belfast after his home city. A few years later residents voted to call it Port Fairy again. Not sure, but anyway, on a sunny day I am sure it looks gorgeous because it is obviously very pretty but on a grey, rainy day with wind whipping off the sea, not so good.

We left Warrnamboll on Sunday morning and made our way, for a couple of hours, through several 'towns', general store, motel, man in overalls next to his enormous 4x4. The land is flat and roads are long and straight. Not very inspiring countryside I'm afraid.


We crossed the state border, finally leaving Victoria and entering South Australia, heading for a place called Mount Gambier which is built over sinkholes and caves that meander through the limestone beneath the town. It is home to the Blue Lake.


We went to see it today (Monday), and it is truly amazing. The rest of the day we have spent caving, looking at mysterious deep pools and extinct volcanoes.





People in the town are really friendly but in the country ...... (see below)






Got a long drive tomorrow, heading in the general direction of Adelaide, probably with some detours en route.

- Posted by Annie & Jim using BlogPress from THE iPad

Location:Morris St,Mt Gambier,Australia

Missing Photographs

Now we have got the blog working properly again I thought I'd go back and show some pics from the last days in Melbourne.


Albert Park Lake




If you look closely you may be able to see the baby penguins.




My first cooking for a long while, and yes, it was delicious.
(I thought he was never going to offer)



A little bit of Italy in the middle of Melbourne.




Even the Christmas decorations are in Italian.



This looks good.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Morris St,Mt Gambier,Australia

Our Great Ocean Road road trip

What an exciting few days we have had! We picked up our Nissan X-Trail, in an attractive shade of iridescent lilac, and hit the road. Jim has christened it Dipi, reg. No. IDIP, but he has dyslexic tendencies.


The Great Ocean Road begins at Torquay, the home of Rip-Curl, Billabong, etc, a surfers paradise, in reality a bit nondescript, with a surfers museum, but, after much thought, we gave that a miss! We headed for Anglesea, a cute little seaside town, stopped for a look, then onto an amazing wild beach called Point Roadknight, with massive waves, clear aqua water and weird limestone formations.









Our journey then took us along the coast, the road hugged the cliffs, clinging on as we wound our way down around the hairpin bends. The scenery is breathtaking, we stopped again and again to just look, with awe. We passed through Airey's Inlet, and a series of creeks: Orchard, Petticoat, Separation, Sugarloaf, Wilson, Skenes and Shrapnel Gully. They're all small hamlets overlooking the beaches. We finally arrived at Lorne, the most picture postcard, perfect place.

There were cockatiels everywhere, white with yellow plumes, scavenging for fish and chip wrappers, just Iike seagulls at Scarborough!


We meandered into the Visitor Centre in Lorne, to be met by a very excited lady, Wendy, who has lived in Australia since the late 60's. She heard our accent and .... She originated from Chesterfield, went to Leeds University, married a Yorkshireman, and has family in Riccall!! This was the first conversation we had with an emigre, and I'm just telling you because over the past few days we have had several - all on a similar theme about parents, uncles, partners, aunties, cousins, etc.

Finally we left Lorne en route to Apollo Bay, we stopped off for a walk to the Sheoak Falls, then to our 'luxury' accommodation, a chintzy motel in Apollo Bay.

On Wednesday, following Wendy's advice, we discovered a gum tree forest alongside Kennett River. We drove up Grey River Road, a dirt and gravel track, then abandoned the car and walked among the gum trees. They smelt just like Hall's Originals and cleared out our sinuses. We were looking for, and found, koalas by the score.







When we finally tore ourselves away we continued through the forest as it became more dense and the trees and undergrowth changed to massive ferns and mountain ash. The road was barely navigable in parts but Dipi did us proud. Suddenly a kangaroo leapt from the trees in front of us, making us jump and hopped along a bit with us following then disappeared. We'd had a competition as to who saw the first kangaroo, sadly Jim won which meant I had to buy him a pint. After he'd given me the money (obviously I don't have any of my own any more), I duly obliged!

Onto Triplet Falls, which involved a walk through a forest of gigantic mountain ash and huge ferns, it seemed like a primeval forest, we wouldn't have been surprised if a dinosaur had appeared and, in fact, we discussed a plan for survival if one did! (I know, but we are removed from the worries of the real world)









On the way back the road took us inland to Laver's Hill, the main hub of the community, consisting of a general store and the ubiquitous motel. We dropped down to the most beautiful bay we had ever seen, Castle Cove, near Glenaire, the colour of the water is amazing.


On Thursday it was on to Port Campbell, on the way we called at Cape Otway to marvel at the lighthouse.





We picnicked at Moonlight Head, overlooking Wreck Beach. Sounds very romantic but was really red scrubland on an exposed cliff.



This part of our journey took us through the Port Campbell National Park, which is in the sea. The most famous limestone formations are called the Twelve Apostles. They are fantastic to see but are on a main tourist route and we ended up viewing them with several Japanese tourist buses.





We stayed in a brilliant motel that night, and the owner, another Brit with a tale to tell, told us about more limestone formations, which are not as well known but just as good, if not better than the Apostles. We left him, on Friday morning, to find out. I'll let you be the judge.



The Arch




London Bridge



The Grotto.

On our friend's recommendation we just had to visit Croft's Bay.






We drove through Peterborough, the last town on the Great Ocean Road before it turns into the Princes Highway. The road travels inland and back to the coast several times. We are heading for a town called Mount Gambier over the state border in South Australia. We are now going to enjoy two nights in Warrnamboll back on the coast. See you, hopefully, in South Australia, wi-fi permitting!



- Posted by Annie & Jim using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Warrnamboll, Victoria

Goodbye Melbourne, the open road beckons.

Following the advice of our friendly coffee shop owners we visited Albert Park on Thursday and joined the locals in their fitness regimes by taking a power walk around the lake and all the way to St Kilda. Who needs trams, we love walking, it's not a small lake either but we're young, healthy and fit (not open for discussion so keep all comments to yourselves.) In fact the park is the home of the Melbourne F1 Grand Prix. Though having walked through the park without all the rigmarole that goes with the grand prix it's hard to imagine it.
Our route march was followed by a picnic and an afternoon lazing in the sun alongside the beach before a rather more sedate stroll back to the apartment in the evening sun.

We caught a tram on Friday and headed for Queen Victoria Market. We could have bought loads, and in fact, did and had to lug it all the way back. The stalls seem to go on forever and they sell everything, we couldn't resist the fish, and the prawns were enormous. We ended up carrying four bags each!

At 9pm that evening, after a sumptuous meal of grilled prawns, accompanied by beers and too much wine, we again boarded a tram for a return to St Kilda. We were going to experience the most memorable event in Oz so far. During the journey we were earwigging to 4 Aussies. During the conversation one girl said, 'I had to go to the chickin disc.' This was met with blank looks from the other three so she said it again. Her friends still looked bemused. After the third time, and still obviously not being understood, she clarified, 'You know, like at the airport.' At this point I was verging on hysteria, although it could have been the wine!

We then got into a conversation with a young couple who were, in his words, from 'Tas.' They mistook us for locals and asked us which stop they needed to get off at for the main beach, and we actually knew!

So, why were on the tram - we were going to see the little penguins. (They are actually called little penguins) After walking along the pier and onto the breakwater we were able to see the penguins returning to their nests in the rocks after spending the day at sea. They are cute little things and look so clumsy when they walk. I don't know how they manage to scale the rocks. They were slipping and sliding all over the place. There was a guide with an infra red torch and she showed us the nests with the fluffy babies. Awwh. You weren't allowed to use flash photography so our pictures aren't brilliant.
Though the penguins are very cute, they are quite aggressive and noisy, fighting over the 'best' rocks. The guide told us that they make the same noise whether they are mating or arguing. Hmmm!
After cooing over the penguins we joined all the other 'young' things and hit the bars. It was interesting watching backpackers drink until they collapsed in the middle of the tram tracks. Our cue to leave! We spent the weekend mooching round the shops, walking, eating and drinking, walking, spotting parakeets, walking and ... Well I'm sure you get the picture.

We set off this morning to walk through town and Christmas has arrived! Santa's helpers must have been out overnight because suddenly Melbourne has been transformed into one big Santa's grotto. Myers department store has 6 windows of animated stuff with barriers in front just Iike Maceys in New York. We explored Lygon Street, the Italian quarter. It was gorgeous, all pizza restaurants, coffee shops and shoes, a little bit of Italy in the middle of trendy Melbourne. Oh, the smell of that coffee...

We're all packed up now, ready to say bye-bye to Melbourne and begin our road trip along the Great Ocean Road. See you.

PS - Sorry for lack of pics but for some reason they wouldn't upload, I'll try again later.

- Posted by Jim and Annie using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Albert Road, Melbourne

Just mosying around

When we set off on our travels we knew that we would have to take time out from just being tourists, find somewhere to relax and live in one of the countries we were to visit. Well that's what we have been doing, though we have still found the need to see the sights. Late Friday afternoon found us sitting in Federation Square partaking in a small beer with the workers starting the weekend in traditional Aussie fashion.


After a mouth watering Italian meal, in the company of locals, on Saturday evening we spent Sunday doing absolutely nothing. After a lie in we sat on our balcony watching the runners in the city to city "fun" run pass by. I was stirred into getting some exercise and took a 200 metre walk to the newsagents to get the Sunday papers. After my excursions we both found the need to sit and read the papers for a few hours and watch the world pass by.





Though it is good to be able to relax in the apartment it feels strange to have to clear your pots away, make the bed and tidy up rather than it all being done by magic whilst you are out of your room. I have to say the way in which Annie has resumed activities such as washing and cooking with a smile on her face shows how much she has missed the domestic side of life. It must be in her genes.

A visit to the Fitzroy area of Melbourne took us through two parks and an area that is called the sports precinct which is home to several sport stadiums all next to each other. Amongst them are the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Rod Laver Arena and AAMI park, the Melburnians are truly sports mad.





After a walk in the park, Fitzroy Park, the home of Cooks Cottage which was shipped over from Great Ayton brick by brick and rebuilt in the park complete with an English cottage garden, it was into








Fitzroy. It is known as the bohemian multi cultural area of Melbourne, an inner city area that has been given a fresh life. It is full of cafes, restaurants and individual shops, Range Rovers park alongside old cars, a real mix of people and cultures.



A day on the beach has eventually beckoned and in true Melburnian fashion it was a tram to St Kilda. After a walk along the esplanade and the pier we lay on the beach for a few hours under clear blue skies. The beach was packed with young people, either students who decided that a day on the beach was better than Uni or back packers.





The day was finished with a pint of the local brew and, what else but fish and chips, sat looking over the sea. How English is that or should it be how Australian.



- Posted by James using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Swanston Street, Melbourne.