Arrival in Western Australia

I asked Mum if she would write up some of our time in Australia, and this is what happened...

Jason asked if I would be a guest blogger. I believe his intention was that I would write something of our time together, thus saving Jason some effort. However this seemed to me an opportunity to immortalise(?!) the rest of my fantastic time in Australia with amazing friends for whom nothing was too much trouble to make my visit perfect. Hopefully Jason's inspired posts will suitably record the month we spent together with family and friends in the delightful surrounds of South East Queensland (SEQ)!

I arrived in Perth at noon, Monday 9 September. 'Die Sonne scheint hell und warm' was the first German sentence I remember learning at school. It was almost applicable - the sun was hot, and VERY bright! I blinked hard. While my luggage had been quickly dispatched, claimed, and searched in detail by customs officers, Heidi and Angela (friends from when I lived in Perth 1978-79) were lounging upstairs in an airport coffee shop. Luckily they descended before, despite wearing a hat, I was overcome by sunstroke! Soon we were driving along exotic roads with unique flora enroute to suburban Perth. I felt great, and enjoyed the afternoon catching up with news and making a start on meeting Heidi and Peter's family before going to Angela's, via her parents (why do so many people remember my clarinet??), for a wonderful meal and welcome bed.

Rochelle, Peter and Lydia

Angela with her parents

Western Australia (WA) had looked surprisingly green from the air - so much so that I wondered whether the plane had taken a seriously wrong turn along the way. Next day I discovered why when the sun was replaced by rain, and lots of it. With the help of Arnie (a Schwarzenegger-sound-alike visiting techie) we made the decision to head south. This was my big chance to see the beach house Heidi and Peter own and often share with groups from their church. The ongoing very wet season explained the abundance, in low lying fields, of arum lilies, flowers which I had not noticed in earlier years and the locals abhorred.

Heidi (hiding) and Angela in front of Dunsborough house

Heidi is justifiably proud of her prize winning photo of the local jetty at sunrise, seen here in their beach home

Arum lilies growing wild

Good weather stayed with us that day as we explored the Dunsborough beach (just across the road and a dune from the VERY spacious holiday house) and other delights on offer around Margaret River. Some spent what looked to me a fortune in the chocolate factory. Still smarting from the very favourable (to Aussies!) value of the dollar, never mind the higher prices for many products imported from 'over East', I enjoyed the free samples! Heidi generously took us out to dinner - in return I merely bought icecreams at a place of great repute, Simmo's, next day...

It was just a short walk to the sea

Tuesday afternoon was already quite windy at the beach

Beautifully presented dinner in Dunsborough

Wednesday morning continued windy and the rain moved south and caught up with us. We were almost blown away at Canal Rocks, gasped at the magnificent Karri trees of Boranup Forest, and explored several delightful craft shops, before heading back to Perth. After dinner Angela's son Peter made a delicious, spoon stand up in, frothy coffee for me :) It was then time to move over to Heidi's home where I had a couple of (unnecessary) concerns. The house was big (as expected for a family which had 10 children), but I did not get lost finding 'my' (well Lizzie's really!) distant room. The doberman Bronson (or Bron :-Z ) seemed to trust me well enough not to not impede my way, even during the short times I was otherwise home alone. Phew - animals have never been my forte!

Heidi in Boranup Karri Forest

Mark observes Peter making the coffee

Heidi and Bronson at home

Welcome home mum!

Monday 16th September made the weather earlier in the week look positively brilliant - after waiting out a shower I headed into town again to check out the National Gallery of Victoria and The Treasury. With the rain not easing up I gave up on my plans for a walk around the back streets of Melbourne and a ride up to the top of the Eureka Tower and instead returned to Flemington to change in to some dry clothes in preparation for me and Ross meeting up with his cousin, Lisa, for dinner.

MCG viewed through a bridge

Ross was amazing and as well as driving me to the airport woke me up where my alarm somehow failed - another early morning start, with Tiger Air which worked out cheaper than Jetstar on this occasion, allowing me more hand luggage into the bargain (I still managed to be 1.6kg over the limit and found myself frantically drinking up and stuffing my pockets...). After hearing plenty of less than good things about Tiger Air I was glad to make it safely back to Brisbane only an hour or so late. I could tell I would not be needing my coat or jumper any more as I departed the airport and made my way slowly back to Marie's house. Still not feeling too well I was glad I had opted for the flight up to Brisbane rather than road travel, and the remainder of Tuesday and Wednesday were spent recuperating.

Gateway Motorway

It was time to get back into action on Thursday - I met Ros for a trip up to the airport to see mum arrive! We made a rather efficient job of collecting her and returning to Ros's abode in Mount Cotton.

Mum arriving at Brisbane airport

A calm moment with wombat for 10mth Kimba at Ros' house

Rosilyn by her front door

The most livable city in the world

Tuesday 10th September was the day the car had to be returned and meant the end of our awesome road trip - we checked out of our hostel (as it was a bit out of town and expensive to boot) and relocated to one right at the edge of the CBD, unloading our bags and leaving Cherina and Melanie to deliver the car to the airport. I took a stroll along to Flagstaff Gardens and the Harbour, and we all reunited at the huge Queen Victoria Market. After we had made the most of closing time bargains we decided to take a loop of the free tram then walk around for a while to get a feel for the city. We visited the Yarra River until we got too hungry and cold and returned to the hostel.

View over the Harbour

I strolled down the Yarra to the Botanic Gardens the following day before taking a tour of the Parliament and visiting St Patrick's Cathedral and the Melbourne Museum. After yesterday's experience cooking in a rather cramped kitchen, we took a trip down to Chinatown for dinner, enjoying the novelty of using an iPad as a menu.

Witnessing Melbourne's 'Four Seasons in a Day'

A trip down to the State Library came the day after; I probably would not have come in here had a 'chugger' not recommended I visit to see Ned Kelly's armour on display, but was glad to witness the huge reading room (and also to access free to use computers and wifi!) and generally get lost in the vastness within... Following this I opted for a free walking tour, one of many free events the hostel appeared to host. The tour took us round the centre of Melbourne, incorporating stints on the free tram and free bus and showing some cheap ways to enjoy Melbourne. Among other things this included Harbour Town (a dirt cheap shopping area rejected by locals), fancy looking Crown Casino, ACMI (for a bit of old school gaming) and some alleys which had been heavily graffitied. As the free tour had taken most of the afternoon somehow the hostel decided it was only fair that we were given free food and drinks for the evening :)

Victoria State Library Reading Room

City behind lit up Flinders Station

I spent a bit more time at the library the following morning, still feeling deprived of internet. I had seen signs to a chess collection but not had time to locate it yesterday, and as I headed there, overhearing a school tour, I discovered it was in fact the largest in the Southern hemisphere and people await challengers there! Once I had defeated Boris at chess it was time to visit highly regarded Chocolait for a rather filling hot chocolate before heading off for a walk along Brunswick Street, and a second short visit to the museum. I walked around the North end of the centre of town, visiting the gaol and baths (sadly neither offered much to see...) before collecting my bags and heading to Federation Square to meet Ross, who had visited us in London and whose parents I had seen in Brisbane. After taking me out for dinner and taking me on a quick guided tour by the river we returned to his flat in Flemington where we watched the end of the AFL 'finals' game that was being played at the MCG.

Melbourne Fire Show

On Saturday I walked along to Kensington station (there is also a South Kensington but I did not make it there) to experience Melbourne train catching. I could not believe that on  weekends you can travel as much as you like on public transport for $3.50 (just over £2) and made the most of it, visiting Harbourtown again and taking a Sea Shepherd tour on the temporarily nearby Bob Barker anti-whaling vessel. This was followed by a tram trip down to the Shrine of Remembrance followed by a walk along St Kilda waterfront and the nearby area. On the return to the centre of town I met up with Ross for dinner and returned for an early night - I was not feeling 100% :(

Melbourne skyline viewed from the Shrine of Remembrance

St Kilda waterfront

We made a late start in the morning and Ross kindly drove me down to Phillip Island. We started off at the information centre then straight to the beach for a stroll in the warmest weather I had seen since arriving in Melbourne (I was not even cold without a jacket). Our next stop was the surprisingly large town of Cowes, (it has Woolworths, Coles and IGA supermarkets) where we walked along the pier and fought seagulls for our fish and chips. As darkness approached we got our front row seats at Penguin Parade; little penguins come ashore shortly after sunset and waddle up to their living quarters. After checking under the car for penguins trying to smuggle themselves off the island we started the long return journey...

Ross at the beach

Penguin going home

THE Great Ocean Road

Sunday morning (8th September) meant an early start to get us to the Great Ocean Road. We sped (at the speed limit) along to Warnambool to top up on a couple of grocery supplies which had dwindled before heading East, stopping at every viewpoint on the way! First up we took a pit stop in Peterborough after everyone shouted out at seeing the sea. There were bits of rock sticking out of the sea and we were half convinced we had reached the Twelve Apostles already...

Not the Twelve Apostles...

Next up was The Grotto, generally accepted as our favourite stop of the day - it was possible to walk right up to the arch, and it was here we also witnessed a 'solar halo' phenomenon. Apparently this indicates nearby storms...

The Grotto

Next stop was London Bridge, so called because part of it fell down, and the rest will fall at some point.

London Bridge

We stopped at several more places, including Loch Ard Gorge where we walked to Thunder Cave, a sea made cavern which magnifies the sound of waves as they enter.

Thunder Cave

Here there was a split in the road and ironically, as we were talking about how efficiently we had managed to get things done during the morning, our party got split up; naturally we could not contact each other as we seemed to be in a bit of a phone reception hole... After a bit of walking and driving we all met up again, ready to proceed on to our next port of call. This was the Gibson's steps leading down to the beach - here a couple had either just got married or we doing a photo shoot (but without a camera in sight).

The famous Twelve Apostles stop was next on the list but not before another small mishap, we managed to miss it! Assuming the turn off would be on the right we wrote the huge car park off as a very popular helicopter tour, having to turn back a little further down the road...

Some of the Apostles

Past the last of the 'famous' landmarks we took a more secluded turn off towards Wreck Beach, reached by descending many stairs and walking along beach that was dangerously close to being cut off by the tide. It was worth the risk for the strange rocks and boat parts we encountered.

Wreck Beach

After the tough hike back to the car we moved on to Melba Gully; we had heard talk of glow worms but sadly failed to spot any before we were getting hungry and anxious to reach our destination, Apollo Bay. While last night's hostel had had a certain charm, sadly the same could not be said for the one we found for this evening - the less said the better, although we have just about got to a point where we can think back to it and laugh!

In the morning we left with a vague plan: after discovered a famous ice cream shop would be closed until Friday 13th we stopped at Sheoak Falls and Erskine Falls, both a short walk to a spectacular drop.

Erskine Falls

Following the windy Great Ocean Road we took a few scenic lookout breaks to admire views and photograph our travels. Slightly off the beaten track and up a rather steep hill (even our faithful behemoth of a car seemed to complain about the climb, and I am glad I was not the one doing the work!) we reached Teddy's Lookout, with breathtaking views back along the coastal road. After a short stop in Lorne we visited Split Point lighthouse, before brief visits to Anglesea and Torquay. Unable to find reasonable accommodation for the night along the road we continued to Melbourne, staying in a hostel in the St Kilda area...

Section of Great Ocean Road

Adios Adelaide

We woke up soon after sunrise on Monday 2nd September; our swag bags were ideal for watching kangaroos walking around near us! We soon got the fire roaring again ready to cook our bacon and eggs, and (slightly more Australian) damper. Having eaten our fill we followed a trail down to a nearby waterfall where we decided it would be a good idea to swim, having been convinced by Ben it was not too cold! It was hands down the coldest water I had swum in in Australia - it chilled through to the bones and while I did not stay in the water very long, Ben did and got out with numb hands! After our walk we relaxed a while, soon realising we were in fact camped under a magpie nest; we ate lunch and sat around a while before heading home...

Ice cold swimming location

We took it easy on Tuesday, sorting things out and cleaning camping gear. As an interlude we all decided to jump in the swimming pool. It was (a bit) warmer than the waterfall...

Swimming, with Franzi and Bene

I travelled up to North Adelaide in the morning to meet mum's friends from her days in Perth, Tim and Joy. We chatted and they took me to a Thai restaurant for lunch. I wandered around North Adelaide and back through the Botanic Gardens before meeting a prospective future travel partner. The evening meant birthday celebrations for Angus with the customary ice cream cake with a picture drawn using sweets. Thursday was largely spent doing not much...

With Tim and Joy

With my awesome Belair hosts

I prepared my things the following day for a roadtrip with Cherina, Melanie and Camille in a rather nice car acquired in a relocation deal (it even had cruise control). After a supermarket stop at Murray Bridge we made a further short stop at Christmas Rocks before we proceeded on to Mt Gambier to spend the night in the gaol (converted into a hostel a few years ago). After check-in we made dinner and took the recommended trips to Cave Gardens and Umpherston Sinkhole, where we fed an awesome friendly possum!

Going directly to gaol

My new pet (I wish...)

We went for a short walk around nearby Blue Lake (an extinct volcano crater) the following morning and took a look at the sinkhole by daytime before continuing on our way to the Grampians, stopping en route at several places including Wannon Falls.

Impressive Wannon Falls

After a quick stop at the information centre to devise a strategy offering the best viewing opportunities (given current low cloud conditions) we motored on along picturesque mountain roads to Halls Gap. A fair way into the Grampians, there were fields full of kangaroos and hills all around so we opted for a walk up a recommended hill; after climbing past many strangely shaped boulders the pinnacle at the top gave excellent views over the surrounding area in spite of the grey sky.

Kangaroo with Joey

Ominous clouds up top

We decided to turn in at a nearby hostel with the living room fire a deal-maker considering the wilderness chill factor. The tricky part was finding someone to book the accommodation through - there was noone at reception, the phone number provided did not work and there was noone across the road (where it had been suggested we look). Eventually we found someone who knew the hostel owner and sorted everything out for us; we are still unsure whether the owner is fictional...

Dinner by the fire

Votes, boats and bicycles...

I decided to try out the Adelaide free cycle hire scheme on Monday 26th August, taking a leisurely ride down along the Torrens to the sea. It was a pleasant trip only slightly marred by swooping magpies (breeding season is just beginning and they get rather protective...) and something of a speed limit on the 3.5 gear bike... Through the day I also took care of a few things, including making my mandatory vote in the upcoming Australian election - being unsure of my whereabouts on 7th September I thought it best to get it out of the way and took the time to order all 82 Senate candidates (possibly not my most informed vote...)

Garden by the Torrens

On Tuesday I cadged a lift with Paul down to Noarlunga, where he works. Following his advice I took a walk along the Onkaparinga river to the sea and back to town along the beach (winner of Australia's cleanest beach awards). Another walk along the coast showed scenic red cliffs while the Noarlunga reef and bobbing seals were visible from the end of the pier. Post work Paul kindly took me for a drive down the coast and along the beach as far as Sellicks Beach (just in time not to get washed away!) to make the most of the view of late afternoon sunshine on the hills and sea. The return through McLaren Vale gave excellent rainbows and sunset.

Noarlunga Reef

Tara picked me up next day to take me mountain biking (especially kind seeing as she had somehow packed the bikes herself) and we went to Craigburn Farm to give the bikes a go. I found it fairly scary but exhilarating and once we had worn Honey (Tara's dog) out sufficiently we returned to her house in Kilburn for afternoon tea with Tara's English neighbour. It was soon time to prepare for the evening's activity, and once Tara's husband Brad, Aaron, Elysa and James had arrived, pizza had been collected and many cushions and blankets had been loaded into the car, we headed along to the nearby drive-in cinema. This is something one cannot seem to do in the UK and I gather it has something to do with the inferior weather; the last one left in Adelaide, I cannot understand why it does not seem more popular... Having waited for a rain-free day to enjoy our evening it was a little disappointing when the drizzle started part way through our second film!

Too tired to internet

At the drive-in

Tara dropped me off in the town centre the following morning and I just missed out on a free bike hire at the first place I looked - there would have been two left had I been 30 seconds earlier... Not taking this as I sign to discontinue my search I traipsed with my luggage along to the next place I could find - they had one bike left, although the rain had started by this point! Sure it would ease I followed through with my plans to explore the Torrens in the other direction. It did not, and quite a lot of time was spent taking cover from rain and magpies, and having to find new routes when paths were closed for no apparent reason. Sadly I did not make it as far as the hills as hoped but still managed to return to Belair exhausted...

Bridge over the Torrens

I took it easy on Friday, doing some catch-up and taking a tour of the garden, looking for but not finding and redback spiders! Next day we took a family outing to see some guest tallships at Port Adelaide with recently returned Ben, Bene and Franzi. There were also lots of dolphins swimming around in the Port and I even found myself a boat trip to Melbourne leaving that evening - only $1330! In the evening we enjoyed seeing Angus' band play a gig in town!

The Lord Nelson at Port Adelaide

We started preparations for a camping trip on Sunday morning, before a meaty lunch in celebration of Father's Day. After some shopping and piano moving Ben, Bene, Franzi and I were ready to embark on the trip down to Deep Creek Conservation Park, where we set up camp and started up a fire to cook our pasta. Through the evening we spotted kangaroos and enjoyed the clear view of the stars...

Cooking dinner