Great Ocean Road Part 1

Jean writes:

We took the route south from Hamilton to Port Fairy, stopping off there as Sue and Geoff have bought a plot of land and are having a new house built there, and because we had read that it is attractive.  

Port Fairy started as a whaling port and still has fishing boats.  

There was a market, where we bought a few items, including this evening's meal.  There are also about fifty buildings with a history, some of which are owned by the National Trust.  

An hour on from Port Fairy we had been talking about wishing to see a koala and a wombat when, just short of Peterborough, a koala ambled across the road in front of us and disappeared into the undergrowth.  We're still waiting for a wombat! 

The Twelve Apostles are probably the most famous landforms off the shoreline of the Great Coast Road.  They are limestone stacks, of differing height and girth, which are deemed to deserve a visitor centre, large car park, walkways to viewpoints from the cliff and hundreds of people.  I agree, they are well worth their fame.  We couldn't count the stacks to see if twelve still exist but, upon investigation, it seems there are now only eight!  The waves are very destructive here and the limestone relatively soft, so easy to erode.

As it happens, though, we were approaching from the west, and there are other limestone coastal features before the Apostles: 
Bay of Islands

Bay of Martyrs
London Bridge

The Arch
and several others which we bypassed.  These had only a handful of people and, in our view, were equally as impressive. 

London Bridge has a story attached to it.  Originally there were two arches, the landward one being the bigger.  On15th January 1990 the main arch cracked and fell into the sea, leaving a couple of people stranded near the seaward end.  They had to be rescued by helicopter the following day.  

The vegetation over the last hour before we reached Apollo Bay, our destination, became more lush, resembling rain forest.  

The weather during our stay has only been hot and humid for about three days in Melbourne.  The remainder has been much cooler, with some cloud, some sun.  The last few days, since Robe, have been quite windy and today ended cold, with overcast skies and rain.  We hope for some sun tomorrow as Apollo Bay looks lovely and a bright blue sea would really enhance the view.

Dave writes:

A ridge too far?

Hamilton has a lovely lake and I ran round it this morning. Plenty of birdlife and no other joggers in sight. 

Our wonderful hosts Geoff and Sue tell me of an annual two-day running/walking event up in the hills/mountains but I am backing off. 

Like many racehorses, I am better on a flat track with firm going!  

Sad farewell

Splendid brunch downtown with Geoff and Sue. Sad farewell but hope we can meet up again sooner rather than later. 

Memorable drive down the Great Ocean Road - one of the world's most well known highways but on maps and road signs it's simply the B100. 

It's been a splendid month for sport down here epitomised tonight by the Asian Cup football final where Australia overcame South Korea 2-1 in extra time.

Earlier Serena had beaten Shriekova in the women's tennis (Melbourne is quiet once more) and we've been watching Murray march on. 

There was also an amazing finish the other night to the final of the Big Bash competition where Brett Lee's final three balls in competitive cricket almost yielded a hat-trick. 

Tomorrow it's Murray in the tennis and England v Oz in the tri-series cricket final.

And then it's the World Cup!

Grampians, Aussie style

Jean writes:

Geoff and Sue took us out for a wonderful day driving in the local ranges of mountains - the Serra, King William and Victoria Ranges are all part of the Grampians, now a National Park.  

The drive took us along the valley bottom before ascending the steep sides and returning via a different route.  

Some of the landscape was largely grasses and brush.  In other areas there were far more trees, and these are likely to be overrun by forest fires.  Sometimes the Rangers do a "low temperature" burn, which clears the grasses, undergrowth and fallen trees, but doesn't completely damage the  living trees.  This can help in the event of an accidental fire.  

We were fortunate enough to see all kinds of wildlife, including:
Kangaroos

Kookaburras

Stumpy-tail lizard

Crested pigeon

We also saw an emu trotting over the road in front of us but too quickly for photos and sulphur crested cockatoos, trying to get into an old paper bag for some tomato sauce.

Halfway through the drive we had a delicious picnic lunch.

The scenery was very varied, sometimes spectacular, and on our way back, Geoff showed us a massive land/mud slide which happened a couple of years ago, from way up high on the west to below the road on our east side.  

The evening saw us dressed up and attending a wine tasting session and meal at the Hamilton Club, where Geoff is president.  

An excellent evening and whole day.

Mount Gambier to Hamilton

Jean writes:

We spent the morning in the town itself before driving to the lakes area just to the south.  The town and environs are at the southern end of a volcanic region, which has some large crater lakes.  

The whole area is made up of sedimentary rocks (like the limestone in evidence at Robe) laid down on the sea bed millions of years ago.  The area was uplifted and volcanic activity took place, leaving some basaltic rocks, as in Mount Gambier, and granite, as in Victor Harbor.  

Some of the volcanic activity around Mount Gambier was quite fierce, producing ash and bombs which were deposited in layers around a fissure, producing the craters.  

Groundwater levels are high, allowing lakes to form.  The most spectacular is Blue Lake, which is breathtaking.  We saw evidence of the reason behind the name, although apparently the water gradually becomes less bright from March onwards until it is quite grey in the winter.  

There was a lot of bird life (there I go again!) including a new one on us, the Blue Wren, a delightful little creature with a waggy tail.

We took to the road on our way to Hamilton to stay with Geoff and Sue, Marie's in-laws.  They have a large garden with trees, shrubs, flowers, vegetables and fruit, including some tasty mulberries.  

We had the pleasure of wine and nibbles outside before a delicious meal. 

Dave writes:

United artists

A brief hark-back to Mount Gambier where we started the day with a quick visit to a local art gallery. 

Current exhibition features the years before and after 1901 when the regions of Australia formally united and became part of the Commonweath. 

At that time it was quite common for Australian artists to travel to London and Paris which were seen as the hot spots. A rite of passage. 

Some even made it down to St Ives in Cornwall and the artists' colony there. 

One such artist was described in the exhibition as a "romantic realist. " Can there be such a thing? 

Anyway a nice exhibition and the pleasant lady on reception used to work in Reading!

Disrobing

Wednesday 28th January

Jean writes:
Spent the morning seeing some of the delights of Robe before leaving for Mount Gambier.  

By daylight we could see Robe is a beautiful small town with lovely views across the harbour over the bright blue sea, although the wind was pretty strong.

We went up to the obelisk via the Old Gaol, ruins which hardly deserve the term "attraction".  

The obelisk and environs, though, were well worth the visit and we spent some time up there, me with camera and Dave with binoculars.  

The obelisk, by the way, is a warning to sailors, similar to a lighthouse, but without the light!  Apparently it was first painted white and the sailors complained that it didn't stand out against the limestone background.  Eventually it was painted with red and white stripes - much better.  Clearly it was needed, as many ships had been wrecked, especially in the nineteenth century.  

The limestone shows several typical landforms, including a super arch, over which the narrow surface will soon (probably several hundred years!) collapse, leaving two (fat) pillars.  

There was a diversity of bird life.

The journey to Mount Gambier was uneventful, scenery being fairly similar to yesterday, and we saw quite a lot of "mirages", as we did yesterday, on the long, straight sections of road.

Close to Our destination, the soil clearly became more fertile as there was more arable.  Maybe the volcanic influence? 

Mount Gambier looks good from our initial walk round the town this afternoon, and we have plenty of attractions lined up for tomorrow.

Our motel is again good value - a good size, with plenty of kitchen equipment, a variety of TV channels and a decent ensuite. There are also enough facilities close by. 

Victor Harbor to Robe

Tuesday 27th January

Jean writes:

We did a little shopping in Victor Harbor but were too early for the Heritage Centre so decided to get on the road as our next destination was two hundred miles away.

The scenery varied from cattle to sheep and scrub or poor pasture to green vineyards.  There was plenty of woodland and longish stretches where "kangaroo" road signs were in evidence.  In fact, we saw three, one hopping across the road, but unfortunately the other two were dead on the roadside.  

Our first stop, after two hours, was Meningie, on Lake Albert, a beautiful wetland area with plenty of wildlife, especially birds, including more pelicans and a heron.  

Next stop late in the afternoon was Kingston, where two cafes more-or-less shut their doors in our faces.  

We took a short walk in Robe this evening and, wonder of wonders, (wait for it, you former Neighbours fans!) ....... saw five GALAHS! 

I must admit I didn't recognise them for what they were until Googling them back at the motel.

Dave writes:

Prisoners Cell Block H

Plenty of motels ahead as we buzz around but hopefully all bigger than the room we endured in Victor Harbor.

Just five metres by four so no room for swinging cats however small. 

Shame as it was in one of those lovely buildings you see in old fashioned Westerns and which has quite a history itself.

Add to the minimalism an incessant noise overnight from the heating system and it was time to head on. 

Happily here in Robe, as in Adelaide, the room is twice the size with full amenities. 

And to cap it we've just watched Murray play some splendid stuff to beat local hero Kyrgios. 

Some consolation for OZ sports fans though after Australia beat UAE to reach the final of the Asian Cup football and a match with South Korea. 

Petrol half price! 

In the cities petrol is just 99 cents a litre - roughly half of the UK price - so I'd been looking forward to filling up the tank !

When the time came on the way down to Robe yesterday it was clear that away from the metropolis  the 99p has gone but it was still only a dollar 14 cents so I kept a smile on my face. 

Daft or what? 

Granite Island

Monday 26th January

Jean writes:

The trip from Adelaide to Victor Harbour is just over fifty miles so a fairly short journey.  The big attraction, as far as we were concerned, when we booked up months ago was the penguins (named Fairy, Little or Blue) on Granite Island.  On further investigation we had found out that the colony was in drastic decline, possibly terminal.  I emailed way back in August to find out the situation, but had no reply, so we turned up in Adelaide with no idea as to whether we would see any penguins.

I rang this morning to find that the feeding (which normally doesn't happen publicly on a Monday) WOULD be going ahead as it's Australia Day, and a public holiday.  On the other hand, the evening trips to see the penguins come ashore to feed their young, which normally occur on a Monday WEREN'T happening as it was Australia Day! 

C'est la vie.

Granite Island is connected to the mainland with a causeway, less than a kilometre long.  We walked across and made our way to the Penguin Centre in time for the feeding at 14:30.  

We laughed at the penguin road sign! 

The penguins on the island are the smallest kind (on average 33 cm in height) and the only native ones in Australia, a fraction of the size of Emperor Penguins, who can reach 122cm in height.

The couple at the centre look after injured penguins, many of whom have been attacked by dogs, some having only one one eye now.  If their injuries can heal, they are let back into the wild, but one-eyed penguins are at a serious disadvantage so are kept at the centre.  

I spent the rest of my time on the island walking round it, sometimes along the shore, sometimes much higher up with a great view over the rocks and the sea pounding them.  It was breath-taking stuff.  

The prize near the end was a pelican, grooming himself on a prominent rock.  

Dave writes:

Transport of delight - or not? 

Managed to pick up hire car in Adelaide three hours early as staff taking afternoon off on Australia Day. 

Trusty manual as opposed to much more common (these days) automatic and seems just the job. 

Sat-Nav helped us out of the city then one hour down to Victor Harbor via the A21 and A13, which somehow ring familiar. 

Big tourist attraction here is the horse-drawn tram which trundles  a few hundred metres up and down  the causeway to Granite Island.  

But we declined. 

The horses in use looked disenchanted to say the least and although they seemed to manage with ease a full load of 40, to me they looked too small for the job. 

Tourist info assured me they were Clydesdales and in fact a bit lazy but we walked nonetheless. 

Mind you, I am a big fan of jump racing in the UK where three or four horses die each week in the name of sport. 

Adelaide

Sunday 25th January 

Jean writes: 

The motel has a pool, but it doesn't open until ten o'clock and that's too late for us active people!

We had breakfast at our room as we were able to buy provisions yesterday and, cheapskates that we are, we're trying to save on expenses!

We took advantage of the proximity of the bus stop to use public transport in to the city.  The original idea had been to see some of the local attractions - museum, art gallery, cathedral, botanic gardens.  Surprise, surprise though - sport won us over and we decided to watch the culmination of the cycling competition, the Tour Down Under!

The pre-race attractions involved larger-than-life models on cycles atop a series of cars - including Batman and a kangaroo!

I had thought we'd struggle finding a decent viewpoint, but we wandered up and down the length of the circuit and found good positions throughout the race, despite a very large crowd out to enjoy the cycling and the sun.

...... even at the end.

We'll have to visit Adelaide again though, as there are some lovely buildings to see and investigate, and water features too.

Thought we'd take our evening meal alfresco, but (not wishing to make others envious!) there's a slight breeze, so it'll be indoors, watching the tennis!

Dave writes:

No menace to Dennis

By pure chance our one full day in Adelaide coincides with the exciting final day of the Tour Down Under, international cycling's biggest event in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Big crowds line the streets for the 20 laps round the city centre with overall victory in the week-long event going to young Australian Rohan Dennis. 

He's seen as a likely successor to compatriot Cadel Evans, a former Tour de France winner but shortly to retire.

Both men avoided a big pile-up on the penultimate lap to finish safely in the leading bunch with splendidly named Dutchman Wouter Wippert nicking the stage finale by half a bike's length. 

Great spectacle and a joy also to be able to wander freely in the city's central area which was closed to normal traffic for the day. 

And later at the tennis in Melbourne there was more joy for Australia when Nick Kyrgios came from two sets down to beat Italy's Andreas Seppi, the man who in the last round knocked out Roger Federer. 

Melbourne to Adelaide

Saturday 24th January

We really did rise early this morning - at 05:00 - in order to check in at Southern Cross station for our train to Adelaide before seven o'clock.  Peta kindly drove us and we arrived in time for a light breakfast before we said our fond farewells.  

There were only two scheduled stops along the route - we just passed through the other settlements.

The train was quite noisy and jangly, but our "premium" seats were very comfortable with loads of leg room.

Leaving Melbourne and the built up area, we passed through some market gardening and saw some livestock, chiefly cattle.

The train stopped at Geelong North, the second city of Victoria.  For the last fifty plus years, I've thought it was pronounced GEElong, as that's what we were told when studying geography at secondary school, but a couple of months ago I was advised it is GeeLONG (with the stress on the second syllable). 

Geelong started as a sheep grazing area in 1836 and as a port for shipping out wool and wheat, before developing further during the gold rush.  

The landscape quickly became scrubby, the almost treeless plains stretching for miles, with poor pasture mainly for small flocks of sheep.  

We passed Ararat, a small farming centre which Lonely Planet describes as having 'A brief flirtation with gold' in 1857. 

About three hours out of Melbourne, lines of trees appeared, presumably as windbreaks, and soon the density of trees increased a little.  Stawell was also a small mining town, but now its biggest claim to fame is apparently the Stawell Gift, Australia's richest foot race, which attracts 20,000 visitors every Easter.  

Around here there were more cattle, and also some arable farming.  

Horsham seemed to be a little bigger, with an art gallery and botanic gardens.

We wondered why we stopped at Dimboola for about ten minutes, as the town has less than 2,000. It transpired that a new train driver takes over here.  

Most of the journey, certainly the first half, was made through plains, although there were some mountains in the distance as we left Melbourne and then the Grampians, now a National Park, at the south west end of the Great Dividing Range near Ararat and Stawell.  After Dimboola the land became slightly more undulating.  

Nhill is the centre of a wheat and oat growing area.  It apparently has the largest grain silo in the Southern Hemisphere.  Nhill is a small town, unfortunately so small that I missed it while walking up to the end of the carriage to take photos!

Bordertown is  just over the border into South Australia from Victoria.  Its claims to fame are a colony of White Kangaroos and being the birth place of former prime minister, Bob Hawke. 

Murray Bridge has a population of over 16,000 and takes its name from the first road bridge over the mighty Murray River, built in 1879.  At 2,508 kilometres, this the longest river in Australia.  

Monarto is an "open range zoo" North of Murray Bridge where antelope, zebra and giraffe roam.  We saw the last of these while passing on the train.

The vegetation became much greener around the Murray River and the terrain more variable, rising steeply at Mount Lofty.  

We took a taxi to our motel - and what a good choice (booked three months ago).  The room is large, with en suite, air con, tv, fridge, microwave, and lots of storage space, plus free wifi!  It's also cheap, has all the shopping opportunities we need nearby and a bus stop for transport to the city centre close by. 

Dave writes:

Train arrives 30 minutes early shock

Up at 5.0 am to make it in time to check in luggage by 0705 for the 0805 Overland from Melbourne to Adelaide. 

500 miles in 10 hours across a variety of engrossing landscapes. 

Memorable trip in "business" class for only an extra £10 each with kangaroos and giraffes viewed along the way. 

And to cap it all we do it in "only" 9 1/2 hours in ideal conditions. 

Peta

Friday 23rd January

Jean writes:
Felt much better this morning after a nasty bout of food poisoning following our final meal at St Kilda last night, that was supposed to be something of a 'celebration' at one of our favourite places!

Checked out of the hotel this morning as we're staying at Peta's tonight.  She's a great lady who works at the MCG and is keen on everything sporty.  For once, there was no swimming on the agenda as I didn't want to be carrying a wet costume.

Peta (or Pip, as she is known at work) was a super tourist guide and showed us some places off the normal tourist trail:
- Rupertswood
- Emu Bottom 
- Mount Macedon

Emu Bottom Homestead, near Sunbury, was built by George Evans in 1836 and is the oldest existing farmhouse built by settlers in Victoria.  When George was fifty eight he married the eighteen year old Anne Holden and they had six children!  It is now mainly used for for weddings and functions and people apparently come from all over Australia and even from overseas to get married there. 

Mount Macedon (named after Philip of Macedon, as Port Philip could be seen from the summit) stands at 1,001 metres above sea level and is one of the highest points in the area.  At the summit is a memorial cross dedicated to the fallen soldiers of World War I.  

The cross dominates the high point and the walkway to it is edged by a beautiful array of hydrangeas.  Peta and Dave were very much looking forward to refreshments.  Unfortunately the tea rooms there had just closed but we were treated to some crimson rosellas and a peacock.

The route for us led back down the hill to the township for a late lunch at the 'Trading Post' which turned out to be a good move as the stock was wide and varied.

Back at Peta's we ate in front of the TV and watched more cricket and tennis! 

Cricket past and present
Dave writes: 

Cricket supremo Peta's home is a cornucopia of sporting memorabilia.  

Pride of place, for my money at least, goes to the jacket worn by Alec Bedser on England's 1947 tour of Australia. 

Close second -- a splendid action shot of Keith Miller, another boyhood hero of  mine. 

Smack up to date, a disappointing night for the locals here in Adelaide where a record crowd of over 52,000 saw the Strikers slump to an 87-run defeat by the Sydney Sixers  in the semifinal of the 20/20 Big Bash. 

Final on Wednesday. 

Docklands

We visited Waterfront City and Newquay this morning - both docklands areas that are going through a regeneration process.  

Another sign of the area's re-emergence in terms of economic importance is the new Etihad Stadium as a multi-purpose sports and entertainment location.

There's a series of statues in a plaza there, including Dame Edna! 

Melbourne men and temperatures 

No, those topics are not related!

Melbourne men, of course, come in all shapes, sizes, ages and styles.  

It struck me that I've not seen any men begging, or apparently homeless, in contrast to what you might see on London streets.  What's been more obvious, though, is that men in general seem to be kind and thoughtful.  When the first one stood up on a tram and asked me if I'd like his seat, I was rather taken aback, and felt that I must really look old, but actually, you see it happening all the time.  Such politeness.  

That was what I decided to write about this morning.  Then blow me, coming home on the tram tonight, one guy was effing, blinding and threatening to kill a young guy (possibly immigrant?) in an extremely loud, abusive and aggressive way.  He seems to be the exception though, and many other tram travellers, as well as me, were impressed by the way the young guy handled it and moved away.  Dave eventually ushered him off the tram at a stop he probably didn't want! 

Re temperatures, they have been rising throughout the time we've been here and are in the thirties now.  My fingers swelled up so much yesterday that I had to take my rings off, for fear of hindering blood flow.  

Braille

My former work colleagues may be interested that street names are in Braille as well as print - and in a convenient position.  Look carefully and you'll see it!

Cottage sigh

Readers of our blog down here several years ago may recall Captain Cook and I share a similar nautical background. 

He was born and lived some of his early years near Middlesbrough not far from the sea. Me too. 

He went on three famed voyages of discovery, rather overshadowing me, but we seafarers stick together.

So a visit to the cottage where he lived for a while with his parents was a must. 

Oddly, the building can be found Fitzroy Park near Melbourne city centre after being removed stone by stone in 1934 from Great Ayton in North Yorkshire. 

It transpires the owner sold it for £800 with an agreement it could be re-assembled in Australia because of the celebrated links. 

A loss to the home country though and I gather there was controversy at the time. 

I'm sure today the National Trust or the like would have muscled in but I was surprised to learn that prior to 1934 half of the cottage had been demolished to make way for a new road ! 

Sad. 

Allotments and sports

Jean writes:

Whilst devoting most of the morning to domestic chores, we took some time off to visit the "community gardens" or allotments in St Kilda.  Apart from the fruit, vegetables and flowers being grown, there are also some samples of crafts on show.  

Later on we took advantage of Peta's (see yesterday's post) offer to meet us at the National Sports Museum, which has an excellent collection of memorabilia - paintings, photos, clothing, equipment, silverware, statistics and anything else relevant you can think of, including a hologram of Shane Warne talking about his cricketing life and successes.

Aside from the cricket section, there were exhibits for all other Aussie sports and a big part devoted to the Olympics.  Just wish we had got there earlier and had been able to see more.  

One of the interesting features of the history of the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) was the 'reversible stand' of 1876, of 'ingenious design'.  In those times, people watched cricket inside the ground in summer, but watched football outside in the part in winter.  

The Argus noted that, "The floor of the stand is suspended on hinges along the middle line, so that once certain moveable supports have been withdrawn from beneath the top of the incline, the floor can be sloped in the opposite direction, toe enable the public to look down upon football play instead of upon an empty cricket ground."

Dave writes:

Back to basics 

Saigon, Hanoi, Melbourne, cricket, tennis and now - the laundrette at St Kilda. 

Two weeks of washing have built up and there's nothing for it but to tram it down and wash the dirty linen in public.

Three machine-fulls but time to pop over the road for late breakfast of berries pancakes (qv).

Back to the hotel only to find we've left one carrier-full behind!  Grr!

An hour to rectify error but lovely day for it.  Sunny, hot and clear as a bell by the bay. A favourite place.

 Hoping our hire car next week will be one up on this !