rasen78

This will be in serial form...hope you enjoy it!! I'm sure ROMFT will correct any unintentional errors

Recce part one

Sunday 19 Feb. We arrived in Sydney after long flights via Seoul. The kids were great on the flights, although didn’t think much of the Korean inspired food!

Going through immigration was a bit of an anitclimax, as I thought our Visa would be officially ‘stamped’, but no, the Visa is linked to our passports so it is all done automatically. No ‘welcome to Australia’

ROMFTs Aunt & Uncle picked us up, as we were staying with them for the first and last part of our recce. It was mid-morning and the weather was lovely, warm and sunny. A great start to the trip

Their home, in Oatlands is lovely. Self built, they have been there for more than 20 years. They made us very welcome, and even after being in Aus for 40 years, still have very strong Irish accents!! I was feeling very tired, having not slept on the flights over, and had an hour’s lie-down. Then I had to soak my feet as they were rather swollen from the flight. Wear your flight socks people, they DO help!!

A&U explained how the weather was very unusual. That first day was one of the sunniest all summer, it being one of the wettest in the last 50 years. Their garden was like a bog, and this time of year it would normally be pitch dry.

After being force-fed Guinness and beer, we excused ourselves for the night and went to bed to the sound of our first Antipodean thunderstorm.

Next day, we had our first trip into Sydney, via the river ferry. Now that’s a commute I wouldn’t mind doing! The first view of the bridge and ferry was ‘WOW’! So memorable. We walked around the harbour and up to the Opera House, then wandered over to the Memorial Gardens. The shapes of the trees in there were wonderful. And we saw the bats!! Fabulous creatures!! Almost ethereal.

Next day was Tuesday and we had to pick the hire car up in the afternoon, so we decided to take a trip to Manly. It wasn’t overly sunny, so thought it would be ideal. Once again, we took the ferry. Such a chore! We had a nice hour or so at the beach, although we did get reprimanded for not being between the flags – oops!! As we left, the sun started to become quite strong, so we took a gentle stroll back to the ferry and then went to collect the hire car.

That evening, we were taken to the local RSL Club for dinner. Once we got there, L unfortunately took a turn for the worse and started to throw up, so we left, much to the consternation of ROMFT who didn’t quite get his all you can eat dinner!!

The next morning, we were up quite early as we were starting our road trip to Adelaide. L had been ill a couple of times in the night, but seemed a bit brighter in the morning. Off we went, heading for Melbourne via the coastal road – eventually!!

Much of NSW south of Sydney, from what we saw, is very lush, full of trees and some stunning views. Glorious hills, which were very interesting to drive through, and which caused S to have his first ever motion sickness!! Or he was coming out in sympathy for his sister!! Luckily he was only sick the once and was much better afterwards. L was sick a couple more times. She literally couldn’t keep anything down, but luckily did not have diarrhea.

The first day’s drive was quite long, as our first stop was Lakes Entrance, and in hindsight, we probably didn’t take the best route. L being poorly did go in our favour though as it meant we didn’t stop as often as we perhaps would have done, for the photos opps etc.

We arrived at our destination at about 8.00pm IIRC and they very kindly upgraded us to the cottage. The accommodation was located just on the other side of Lakes entrance and was very nice, set in lovely grounds. It would make a good base for exploring the area, if you don’t mind something quite basic.


Stay tuned for the next instalment

Pollyana

Sounds good!
Poor L will probably always associate Australia with vomiting - lets hope she doesn't have round two in August!
I love the bats too - remember encountering them first in a park in Melbourne, hundreds of them. Get a few swooping across the garden here at night now, I'm trying to train them to fly past in cue at the right point in the Spell Book!

itigo

We're getting them in our apple tree every night, about 3 metres from our back door. Great video of them! They even came while we were out having a BBQ last night.

You were brave doing that slog all in one go!! We did Lakes Entrance and Bateman's Bay on our way from Geelong to Sydney with 2 kids last year.....great trip though.

asher

sounds great I love serialised stories

poor L getting sick
we drove from Sydney to Melbourne recently it was a great drive. I'm looking forward to the next part of the story

Kapri

x2

rasen78

Here ya go people


Recce Part Deux

Forgot to mention, one thing that stuck me, upon moving from NSW into Victoria, was how British the road signs in Victoria were. Little things like that amuse me LOL.

Anyhow, we are now on day 2 of our road trip. L was still poorly, and wasn’t keeping anything down and I was getting concerned about dehydration. The mercury was certainly rising outside the car and I wasn’t too happy at the idea of L coming out of the car for any length of time in the heat, so after leaving Lakes Entrance, we pulled into a shopping area in Sale IIRC and found a pharmacy so we could get some rehydration fluid for her. Once we were sorted for that, and some Cancer Council sun cream, we set off again for Melbourne and Geelong. Not knowing how long it would take us to get to our next destination, we headed along the M1 to Melbourne.

We decided to drive straight through Melbourne as it was never in our plans anyway, although I think ROMFT will be planning to visit the MCG at some point. We were both surprised at how quickly we got through it and before we knew it, we were heading for Geelong and the Great Ocean Road. Much excitement and anticipation!!

Our next stop for the night was Port Campbell and it didn’t look too far on the map. Such naivety!! We had a quick stop at Bell’s Beach – eventually, after taking a wrong turn. Because L was poorly, we didn’t try to go down to the actual beach itself. In fact, she curled up on the bench at the viewing platform and tried to go to sleep Bell’s beach was beautiful and one day, we will hopefully see it properly.

Back on the road, we headed towards Port Campbell.

My goodness, it’s a windy one, that Great Ocean Road!! I would love to drive it in a sport’s car – would be great fun!! Each turn and bend gave rise to more fabulous views and the tantalising glimpses of what lay inland too Gorgeous.

The rehydrating liquid was starting to have an effect on L, and after a small vomiting in the morning, the stuff appeared to be staying put and she was perking up a little. We decided not to stop at the 12 Apostles that afternoon, but to carry on to Port Campbell, and then visit them the following morning. We arrived in Port Campbell at around 5pm IIRC, and after having a local pizza, settled down for the night.

Next morning was glorious, and L was almost back to her usual self, so we stopped off at the lovely little beach in Port Campbell for some photos and to have a quick dip in the sea. Then it was off to the 12 Apostles.

They are beautiful. The weather was sunny and warm with a healthy breeze that created glorious spray which made faint rainbows. I tried to capture them on the camera, but it just wasn’t fast enough. We stayed for a couple of hours IIRC and I could happily have stayed for much longer. Again, because L wasn’t up to full strength, we didn’t go down to the beach (not too sure if you actually can?!) but got some lovely photos and I kept straining my eyes to see if I could spot a whale or a pod of dolphins!!

So, the road beckoned again, and we headed back towards Port Campbell, then onto the last town on the Great Ocean Road, Wannambool. It seemed strange that there seemed to be more of a fanfare there that you were leaving it, than there was at the start when you were joining it!! From Wannambool, we headed on to Mount Gambier. We got there in good time, and the motel had a nice pool, so we stripped off and made the most of that in the 40oC temp!! Although L, when she got out of the pool to lay on the lounger next to me, complained she was cold!! Already acclimatised that one!!

The next morning, after ROMFT and the kids had gone for an early morning dip, we headed back on the road for our final destination…Mount Barker. Not much to say about this part of the journey, as it is possibly the straightest road I have ever driven on. And there was lots of roadkill Thankfully, the speed limit was a whopping 100km so on with the cruise control and away we went.

But for me, the really exciting part was beginning. I was so looking forward to seeing the Hills and Adelaide and to see if it was where we wanted to be.

carolinephillips

Glad L is perking up. Your trip, apart from that sounds great. Hope you find that Adelaide is all you want it to be.

Mummy3

Really enjoying reading about your trip, thanks

rasen78

Some photos for you..enjoy

rasen78

And more

Bell's Beach

12 Apostles

rasen78

and more

rasen78

The stunning 12 Apostles

carolinephillips

Thanks- makes me want to visit the 12 Apostles, as they look so spectacular.

elice_in_oz

Better be quick Caroline, there are only about 7 left. It's misleadind advertising if you ask me One crumbles in the sea each winter on average

Pollyana

Which apostle is that in the blue shirt?

Great pics, love them