Adelaide, Great Ocean Road and Melbourne

[b]'Life is just a precious minute baby'
'Open up your eyes and see it baby'
'Give yourself a better chance or time will pass you, right on by' - Time Will Pass You By, Tobi Legend

We're in Melbourne, the city that many onsider to be the coolest in Australia. It's too early for me to confirm or deny that, or offer my opinion, but I should be in a position to do that by next week. So how did we arrive in Melbourne I hear you ask, well let me tell you a little story...

Tuesday 30th October
We woke up in Amy and Simon's at 7am as we had a taxi booked for 7.30am to take us to the airport for our 9.10am flight to Adelaide. We said goodbye to our wonderful hosts and jumped in the cab. Our journey nto Perth by bus had been eventful and our journey out towards the airport started in that manner as well. We had gone about 20 yards from the house when the driver stopped and in an Eastern European voice said 'excuse me, I stop the car to vomiting'. Lynn and I looked at each other and rubbed our eyes as the woman driver ran to the side of the road and vomited. She got back in a few minutes later and said, in the same Eastern European voice 'I am pregnant'. Aaawwww. She was a little embarrassed but Lynn and I assured her that we did not mind and that she should take her time. As long as we made our flight!

We both slept a little on the flight and arrived in Adelaide at 1.30pm, they are 1.5 hours ahead of Perth. We phoned Lynn's old neighbours from 20 years ago to see if we could head to their house for a couple of nights, Lynn's Mum had assured us this would be OK as they had been in Scotland very recently and caught up with Winnie and Les. Our luck was in as Innes and Maureen picked up the phone to say they had just arrived back from their 6 week European holiday 1 hour previously.

We double checked that it was OK to stay and hailed a taxi to their house. Thankfully the driver didn't vomit, although he did have to use satellite navigation to get us there. Innes and Maureen stay in a lovely house a 20 minute tra ride from the city centrre. We had a good chat in their back garden while eating toast and cheese and drinking nice cups of tea. Their daughter Julie and her boyfriend Andrew popped in on their way to their running club and gave us a lift to the beach so we could have a walk for an hour. We then went back and had a nice dinner and a few glasses of wine. Dinner was chicken in a curry sauce with rice and veg. Mmmmmmmmmm.

Wednesday 31st October
We had a lazy morning and caught the 12pm tram into town. The weather wasn't great and there was a bit of a drizzle so we headed straight to the Central Market, stopping off at a vintage clothes store on the way where Lynn bought two jackets as she couldn't decide between them. We then headed for the South Australia museum and ended up spending about 3 hours in there as they have a fantastic Aboriginal art collection and some amazing old films of Aborginal life from the 1920's and 1930's. We also tried our hand at painting in an Aborginal art form and failed spectacularly.

We went back to the house for a good old Scottish dinner of haggis, neeps and tatties! Julie and Andrew came around as well as Julie's brother Andrew. Dinner was lovely and we all had a great chat. Innes and Maureen were brilliant hosts and good laughs, I can easily see why they are still good friends with Lynn's family after so long in Oz.

Thursday 1st November
We got up at 8am to say goodbye to Andrew who had stayed the night before. Innes gave us a lift to Apollo car rentals as we had booked a car and camping equipment for a week. It worked out around $400 AUS cheaper than a campervan for the week as Adelaide seemed to be incredibly short of campervans.

It was raining quite heavily as we set off from Adelaidem but we plugged in our IPOD connector the stereo and listened to some good tunes as we made our way south to McLaren Vale. We stopped in a small town of Scotish descent called Strathalbyn, bought some sandwiches from a bakery and sat in the lovely bandstand in the town centre park. We then drove to Wellington and got the ferry over the Murray River and headed towards Robe, our base for the night thanks to Innes' recommendation.

We checked into our camp site and set up the dome tent in no time at all. The camp site was part of the Big4 chain, all very reputable sites and it had a swimming pool so we went for a swim for just under an hour. Lynn then drove the short distance into town as she didn't fancy a beer or wine. Innes had recommended checking out an ancient Scottish pub called The Caledonian, built in 1859. The pub was full of character and local characters! We took a table by the open fire and had a lovely meal. Lynn had kanagaroo steak and I had swordfish, washed down with a couple of pints. We went for a short walk along the beach after dinner but the rain came on so we went back into the pub and Lynn had a cup of tea and I had another pint. We went back to the tent and slept well.

Friday 2nd November
We had packed the tent and were on our way by 8.30am. Today would take us to the Great Ocean Road. We drove for a couple of hours and stopped in a small fishing village called Nelson for toasties for brunch. We then drove to Port Fairy and on to Portland. Around 15km from Portland the petrol light came on, but we made it to a petrol station in time. We then drove to Port Campbell and stopped to geta sandwich and some info leafets for the attractions on the Great Ocean Road.

We hit the Great Ocean Road at 1.30pm and we didn;t get very far for the next 4 hours as we kept stopping to marvel at sights like the Bay of Islands, the Bay of Martyrs, London Bridge, the Arch, Loch Ard Gorge, the blowhole and Thunder Cave. We then stopped at the 12 Apostles and marvelled at the rock fomrations jutting out of the water. I don't know if our photos will do it justice. Check http://www.greatoceanroad.org

We headed off towards Apollo Bay, our designated camp site of choice for the night. The camp site was by a river and close enough the the beach to hear the sea roar as dozed off to sleep. Before that we went into town for some fish 'n' chips that were very tasty indeed.

Saturday 3rd November
Woke at 7am as it had started to rain. We had a shower and quickly packed up the wet tent and were on our way by 7.30am, intending to head to Phillip Island for the Chill Island Music Festival the next day. The next section of the Great Ocean Road was specacular, a drivers dream. Winding roads cut into cliffs with dramatic scenry unfolding before your eyes at every turn.

We stopped in Torquay for breakfast/brunch at a great wee surfers cafe and had bacon, paoched eggs and toast. We picked up a local paper to find out that the Chill Island festival had been postponed until Tuesday due to a weather forecast of driving rain and possible lightning storms!

So it was a quick change of pland and I phoned my Mum's cousin Ian Johnston to see if we could stay with him for a few nights, earlier than expected. Ian was more than happy for us to arrive that night so we headed off to Melbourne, arriving at Ian and Felicity's fantastic house in the Surrey Hills area (not a million miles from Kylie's Mum and Dad's house) at 1.30pm. I had to reset my watch again as there was a 30 minute time difference.

Everyone was out apart from Ian and Felicty's daughter Meg, who Lynn and I had both met before back in 2004 when she came to Scotland. Lynn and Meg had enjoyed a day out in the sunshine in Glasgow's beautiful West End at a free Belle & Sebastian gig in the Botanic Gardens while I stayed in the flat layed up with torn ankle ligaments!

Ian arrived back from the golf and Felicity arrived back from her Pilates and we caught up over some Pad Thai and drinks. I ended up staying up to watch the Arsenal v Manchestre United game that kicked off at 12.45pm UK time, 11.45pm Melbourne time. It finished 2-2 with Arsenal snatching an equaliser in injury time. A draw was probably a fair result, though Fergie will be cursing the fact that United didn't take 3 points up the road. Both teams played attractive football and it was a good game to watch, my first in a while due to time differences.

Sunday 4th November
The predicted thunder and lightning storm arrived in the middle of the night and some spectacular lightning lit up our room. So the organisers of Chill Island were probably right to postpone it. Not a decision they would have taken lighly as Tuesday is Melbourne Cup Day.

We slept well and late, getting up at 11am for a breakfast of toast, poached eggs and spinach. We booked flights to Sydney with Virgin Blue for only $89 AUS each, cheaper than the bus. So we head back to Sydney on Nov 11th before heading on to Auckland on Nov 16th.

Ian drove us into town and we wandered around the National Victoria Gallery. There were some fantastic works of art from the 18th century onwards, inclusing a Picasso and a Monet. Sadly the Jackson Pollock was in a gallery that was being prepared for an exhibition so I couldn't see it.

We had tea and coffee in Fed Square, put on a few bets for the Melbourne Cup and drove around town in the rain. It was a very miserable day. We went back and Felicty was making a roast for dinner. Meg's sisetr Lucy and her husband joined us for a lovely dinner and drinks and I spoke to my Mum on the phone who sounded more than a little rough after a Saturday night wedding reception!

Monday 5th November
It's 10am exactly and the sun is shining. Good news for the music festival tomorrow. Lynn and I are about to head into town for a day of exploring shops, cafes, pubs, galleries and all that Melbourne has to offer.

I'll tell you all about it in the next blog, probably to be writte on Saturday before we head to Sydney.

Live it like you love it
Murray and Lynn
xxx