Port Fairy to Warrnambool - We slept in a shed

Port Fairy is a lovely little town on the coast, on the estuary of the Moyne river, recently voted one of the most liveable communities in Australia. It's easy to see why as everything about this little fishing community is rather charming, from the lovely shops and harbour to the occasional power cut. As has become habit, we headed straight for the tourist info to find out about the area and to see what our options were for free camping. The man we spoke to came up trumps when he suggested a nature walk around the nearby island to see the lighthouse. It was sunny and dry which was a nice change as we'd seen a fair bit of rain so far. Not only that, he also let us know we could camp for free in a small public park area by the river so if we're only there for the one night, we'll probably get away with it - which we did. Conveniently, there was a public toilet there as well as a BBQ, so we spent what we would have paid at a caravan park and bought a massive steak to cook on it. So apart from the devious Raven which insisted on landing on the car repeatedly and giving me the evil eye and the heavy rain for most of the night, a small leak and being freezing cold, it was a decent place to be.
The next day it was onto Warrnambool and for that I've copied Tom's diary entry from our interesting stay there:

Thursday 17th October
It's raining and we're in a shed. The wind noise is overpowered by the rain (hail?) On the wooden roof and I'm starting to believe the comments about there being six seasons here (in Victoria at least) with March winds, gusts in spring and why the "Shipwreck Coast" isn't just a fanciful nickname. This is Warrnambool a pleasant-if-quiet town in South West Victoria, 300km from Melbourne. The shed we're in is one of 6 that formed the soldiers barracks as part of the Warrnambool battery. They are replicas of those used by the artillery circa 1887 during the height of Anglo-Russian aggression in Crimea and the related home-guard suspicions in a relatively poorly-guarded colonial port and we're spending the night in one of them. Our thinking being that it would be warmer and dryer than the car (it rained so much in Port Fairy we had a small leak in the rear passenger window).
We woke in Port Fairy to rain, departed Port Fairy with hail and arrived in Warrnambool with yet more rain, and despite the best efforts of some valiant blue skies in the afternoon, will probably fall asleep to the stormy sounds as well. Annie seemed to be under the impression that the forecast for today was good, well that may have been the case in Darwin, but not down South. [Annie would like to add that we've since realised that Australians describe any amount of rain as "a shower or two" whether it is a shower or two or in fact torrential rain.] Today was a bit of a wash out. We visited the replica historic port (and location of the sheds) as it would have been in 1887. Had tea in the cafe there before heading to the town's art gallery comprising two rooms to escape the rain before negotiating various tat shops ( including one that was amusingly called 'The Reject Shop') before making an essential purchase of some warmer socks. The art gallery here punches well above its size due to well-curated and engaging themes. I enjoyed the conservation exhibit which showed damaged works and what would be done to repair or restore them alongside restored works with photos of their damage so you could see if you could spot the repair. Interesting stuff.
Tomorrow we're off to the Warrnambool cheese factory and we'll be making our way to The Great Ocean Road, Port Campbell and the 12 Apostles (yeah yeah, there's only 7,8,9 something) one of Australia's best known drives and most popular tourist destinations. The enthusiastic Michael (he's Canadian, which probably goes some way to explaining the enthusiasm) suggested the cheese visit and as this isn't outdoors weather and Annie loves cheese, we'll have to stop by. Apparently the milkshakes are the best in Australia, so it won't hurt to try those either!

So it was certainly an interesting place to stay. Thankfully the weather broke for just enough time to sort out dinner and so on and though it was noisy, it was comfy, warm and dry. We did visit the cheese factory where there's also a museum of farming and dairy equipment and we did some tasting of the Warrnambool flavoured cheddars which were interesting, we bought some herby one that'll be great on pasta. We did have a milkshake and it was delicious, though the best in Australia remains to be seen... Our next stop: Johanna Beach
x Tom & Annie

Is that a feral pig?

We left Carpenters Rocks and after a pit stop for caffeine we were on our way to Portland, a small town with a huge smelter! We found this out partly because you can't miss it but also partly because we nearly drove into it owing to my poor navigation. So a stop in the tourist Info's is a must in every town, if only to get a better map and at Portland, we discovered the existence of free showers AND free camping, though not in the same place but still, really useful! The campsite in question currently ranks as top after nearly two months on the road: Narrawong Forest reserve. The first night we spent, it was rainy and cold but even so we spotted a few wild wallabies approaching the picnic areas. One even had a joey in her pouch! While they were cautious, they did come incredibly close and it was amazing.
The next day, we drove along the coast to Cape Bridgewater to see the blowholes and the petrified forest. Not so much a petrified forest as rock formations caused by erosion that leave trunk like structures on the cliff top. It really does look as though some trees have turned to stone, hence the name. Unfortunately, the tide wasn't right for the blow holes and it was incredibly windy so we didn't hang around (don't worry Mum, there was a guard rail at the edge of the cliff). We did however head down to the wonderful beach cafe for fish and chips, or nachos in Tom's case. Another stop in Portland on the way back to the Narrawong forest where we camped for the second night and thankfully this time it wasn't raining. While preparing the car for the night and our food we heard the most bizarre sound. To me, it sounded like a warthog or pig and having read about feral pigs in the paper, I was half expecting one to run out of the bushes at us. Tom decided to investigate despite my insistence that I couldn't bear to ring his mum to tell her he'd been attacked by a pig. Of all the dangerous things in Australia and it's a pig that gets you! Well, needless to say a pig it was not. The source of the sound (described as similar to a motorbike by another camper) was located in the trees after some carefully aimed deterrents were fired in Tom's general direction (Poo in other words). It was a wild koala! To hear what it sounded like, check out this video. It's good to know what the sound is though, so we know if there is a koala nearby, not a feral pig though. Hopefully we won't be finding out what they sound like anytime soon. We think he was getting annoyed at the other campers heading past him to the loo every few minutes, keeping him awake. That same evening, we saw the beautiful wallaby with her joey a few more times, even passing really very close to us at one point. The final reason we loved camping at Narrawong forest was that as it got dark, we saw thousands of glow worms in the trees. Quite magical which appropriately takes us to our next stop, Port Fairy.
xAnnie

To the bat cave!

One of the great things about travelling around Australia is the availability of free public BBQ's whether at camp sites or in the local park, you're never far from a barbie and it's great. We left Mt Barker having made use of the barbie to cook a full English breakfast, essential before a day in the car, I'm sure you'll agree. It's a hot plate really, perfect to fry an egg on, cook up snags (sausages to you and me) and pretty much anything else you fancy. Our big brekkie was also for stomach lining reasons as our first stop was Langhorne Creek, a lovely wine region in South Australia where we visited two wineries: Bremerton, a small family run vineyard with female wine makers and Bleasdale one of the oldest vineyards in South Australia. Wine has become a major feature on our trip, in part due to our fantastic wine touring book which has led us to some excellent cellar doors. It's also due to the fact that many vineyards sell direct this way and it's great to stop by for a taste and a chat, something you just don't get much of in France or much of Europe. As one one of the winemakers we spoke to put it: "the French look at you funny and expect or demand you to buy some, the Aussies just love to drink it."
After the wine and a picnic lunch (epic sandwiches made up from the rest of our brekkie!) It was onward to Kingston S.E (to distinguish it from Kingston elsewhere I believe, it's all too easy to look up somewhere in the index of the guidebook thinking it's where you are but it turns out to be somewhere with the same name a few hundred kilometers away. And yes, I speak from experience and yes it was confusing for f not disastrous!) We thought the night would be spent in Kingston SE but other than Larry the Lobster, Kingston left a lot to be desired. Larry being another 'big thing' that we saw, featured no less in Bill Bryson's book 'Down Under' though sadly the associated tourist complex has been closed for a few years so we couldn't spend our tourist dollar even if we wanted to. A few obligatory photos with Larry and we moved on to Naaracoorte, home to some pretty awesome Limestone caves, so awesome in fact they are a world heritage site. We spent the night there so we were able to visit the caves in the morning.
Many of the caves can only be accessed with a guide so we opted for a tour of the bat cave and cathedral cave and were able to visit a third cave for free. We didn't go into the bat cave as the sound and smell would be overwhelming but we were shown amazing live footage of the bats in action as well as some amazing archive footage on TV screens and were given a real insight into this fragile colony. The second cave was very majestic and had some interesting stories associated with it. Including the fact that they used to have parties and stag do's in it from the 1800's until relatively recently. The third cave had a lot of water running through it and was really beautiful too.
Onwards to Mount Gambier (Don't worry, we remembered to stop at the Coonawarra wine region) where we saw the beautiful blue lake - very deep and very blue! Also in Mount Gambier we saw a really excellent art exhibition of work by Catherine Edkins who painted Australian pastoral scenes with a focus on horses.
We decided to set up camp somewhere a little off the beaten track and to do some free camping. I decided that Carpenters Rocks on the coast would be better camping than what we had done so far - a caravan park (Mt Barker) and showgrounds (at Naaracoorte). So we tried to find it. Only without proper maps and without the wonders of Sat Nav, it was a bit of guess work. We followed a farm track for a bit too long before eventually finding the right road navigating by the setting sun and my Aunt's parting gift of a compass. We pulled up in a car park where our campsite book suggested we could spend the night and where someone else in a caravan evidently was. Owing to some rather strong winds, they had evidently battened down the hatches, so we decided we'd be better off somewhere more sheltered and parked away from the beach, out of the wind in a public park.
We did go for a windy walk on the beach though (wine in hand) and just watched the waves pound the shore as the sun set. We also spotted some pretty evil looking jelly fish on the beach so made a fairly swift exit. The next day we saw a wild wallaby bedside the road as we made it down towards Portland and possibly our favourite camp site so far...
xAnnie

Cuddly koalas and hungry kangas

Our first stop out of Adelaide city was Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills. Mainly so that we could pay a visit to Cleland Wildlife Park. A great place where kangaroos, wallabies and cute little potteroos pretty much roam free in the grounds and you can even hand feed them. It's a really lively place with the whole spectrum of Aussie animals and birds to spot. It's also big enough that you more or less get the place to yourself or at least you feel as though you do.
We saw dingoes and Tasmanian devils (these little blighters were safely in enclosures for obvious reasons) and I was lucky enough to cuddle a koala, possibly the biggest must do on my list while we're in Oz. He was a hefty chap named Jay and he was happily coaxed into my arms with a sprig from the Manna gum tree, so called I guess because it smells so good! We'll try and get the photo up here soon. In the meantime, here are some pics of us with the kangas.
X Annie

Melbourne to Adelaide - the first big drive

All the camping we've been up to means we have had next to no internet connection so we will catch up eventually in the meantime here's the next bit: on the 5th October, our first drive saw us heading to Adelaide from Melbourne, a total of 733km. It may not be big by Aussie standards but given our lack of time on the road and the fact that we wouldn't be setting off from Melbourne until mid afternoon, we chose to break halfway overnight at Horsham.  The road to Horsham was inevitably uneventful apart from when we passed The Giant Koala. It is as it sounds, a giant model koala with red eyes that light up beside the road. There are apparently numerous such big things throughout Australia, essentially they are a ruse to get tourists like us to pull over and spend some dollar in the town or tourist complex. Equally they are a great way to break up a road trip. This is the first of the 'big things' on the trip and we hope to see a few more along the way.
At Horsham, a country town, we stayed in a friendly traditional pub hotel in the middle of town. A fish and chip dinner saw us happily into bed - though there was the local disco right below us until 2am. Let's just say if their taste in music is anything to go by, the 90's are alive and well in Horsham!
The next day en route to Adelaide, we stopped at Bordertown on the way, because you have to really, don't you? Crossing the state borders, while obviously very straight forward, adds a sense of occasion to a day's driving. We arrived in Adelaide in the afternoon which left enough time for a few beers with some kiwi friends, Scott and Tim who I met while in Oamaru in New Zealand during my gap year of 2005 and Sarah, Tim's partner, a new kiwi friend. Not to mention that Scott's whole family were in Adelaide celebrating his Granny's 80th birthday. We are very grateful that they let us join in the fun! Such fun as visiting the McLaren Vale wine region for our first session (of many) wine tasting. While in Adelaide we also caught up with Jane, my Aussie cousin. Jane and her husband Lloyd kindly showed us around the city and took us out to Hahndorf, an early German settlement in the Adelaide hills which was really interesting. The hills are really beautiful scenery though apparently we were lucky to see it so green and lush.
Our important task while in the city was to set ourselves up for the road. We got ourselves a mattress for the back of the station wagon from Clark rubber, a foam specialist and we were just about sorted. We have been living in the car for almost a month now, and it's pretty comfy so far. We have a small butane camp stove and some basic pots, pans and plates and whatnot and have more or less sorted out a system for where it all goes and each morning and evening involves a shuffle shuffle/sort to get ready for bed/driving. Our final task was to seek out the campers bible: a book called 'camps 7' a comprehensive list of camp sites, rest areas and caravan parks throughout Australia.   And so at last we were ready to be on the road and for some serious camping! More on that soon..
X Annie