OZ - Victoria to South Australia March 19 - March 24

We arrived in Melbourne around 5:30 and Avis upgraded us to a Camry instead of the roller skate we booked (budget, budget). We left the airport and drove around the city a little just to get a feel for Melbourne before we took off. Nice city. Their main mode of transportation around the city is electrified trolley trams which always have the right of way.... Checked out the harbor and bugged out (that's what we do with cities). That night we stayed in Tourquay which is the surfing capital of Australia. They have a beach there called Bells Beach which is world known and there was in fact an international "Rip Curl" competition going on that weekend. Tom was going to enter but we got there to late so instead we continued our journey towards the Great Ocean Road and by that night we made as far as the more official start of the Road called Apollo Bay. On our way there, we even got to see our first two Koala Bears. One was sleeping (which apparently they do for 20 hours/day) but the other was hanging out eating and trying to ignore the tourists who were all taking pictures.






The Great Ocean Road is like driving the Pacific Coast Highway in Calif but halfway thru they have this area which is known as the Twelve Apostles. These are magnificent limestone rock formations carved by the water over hundreds of years. A century ago they were actually called the Sow and the Piglets but somebody came up with a great marketing idea and renamed them. Smart move. It was cool to be there on Good Friday. The neat thing about the 66 mile coastal highway, is that it was built by WWI veterans to honor their fallen comrades. They really did a good job! We were planning to spend the night in Robe but when we got there everything was booked. Apparently in Australia, Easter is a 4 day weekend and everyone goes to the ocean and books up all the campgrounds and hotels a year in advance. Who knew! We decided to keep driving until we found a beach where we could just pitch the tent and spend the night illegally. We found one pretty quickly but Pat didn't like it...... so we started driving, and driving and driving. We drove through the town with the big red lobster....we drove and drove past the Coorong National Park only to find there wasn't a single hotel room or campsite available. Eight hours later, it came down to staying in Chateau Camry on the side of the road. Even the policeman who checked us out understood and went on his way. No worries! At least now we were ahead of schedule and got to the ferry at Cape Jervis Which would take us to Kangaroo Island a half day early. First, to get to Cape Jervis, you have to take this four car ferry across the Murray River at Wellington and on the other side is the Longhorne Creek wine region which is on the Fleurieu Peninsula. It was early in the morning so we didn't stop but this is where the Blesdale winery is located. Great wine which we had tried at home before coming to OZ. Kangaroo Island is a great place to check out Aussie wildlife. The beaches, some much like the Caribbean are a bonus. The first night we pitched our tent at a campsite called American River which was actually on Pelican lagoon. The area is noted for its black swans and other birdlife. The next day was Easter Sunday and we drove to Kingscote for mass. It was a tiny church with only about 50 people and the priest greated everyone by name. They played hymns on CD and showed the words to the songs and the prayers on an overhead projector run by a nun who we think was about 85 years old. It was like Holy Karaoke. Seriously, it was great! Afterwards we drove to Seal Bay and hung out on the beach with some Australian fur seals, we were then off to a place called Vivonne Bay where we pitched the tent for the night right on the beach. No sunset on this beach but we experienced an incredible "moon rise" which came right off the ocean and actually looked like a sunrise. A beautiful place to spend the night!



In the morning after coffee on the beach, we drove to Hanson Bay, probably the most spectacular beach we've seen so far (at least in the top 3). We then stopped at a place called the Hanson Bay sanctuary where supposedly you can walk around and see koala's. We spotted several, all sleeping as they mostly do, but one guy was actually snoring and stretching. Pretty funny thing to see and hear. While we were walking around looking up in the trees, Pat came around the corner and almost stepped on something's tail. It was a 6' Kangaroo lying under a bush staying out of the heat. Scared the crap out of her when this thing jumped up right in front of her and started hopping away. But Tom captured him on video. We tried to load the video of the Roo but it was impossible using the networks over here. We'll try and add it to another posting. We named it the Rick Reiter Roo..

Then we continued to Flinders Chase National Park. This area of the island had a devastating fire a few months back so parts of the park were still closed. Southern Australia is going thru a severe draught and the lack of water contributed to how far and fast the fire spread. The draught is so bad that in some cases farmers have gotten to the point of destroying their livestock because they cannot feed them properly. So we did pray it would rain for them, but not until after we left...... There were a couple of interesting spots in the park like a section called the Remarkable Rocks but the best was the Cape du Couedic. With its rocky coastline, amazing crashing waves, unbelievable blue color ocean teaming with fur seals playing in the rough waves, we sat mystified and in awe of all its beauty. The next day we left Kangaroo Island very happy that we came.