Pictures: Lake Tyers
This is the most southerly point of the Australian mainland and is quite remote. It was a long tiring day in the truck. We had to stop for a service of the caravan and to learn how to operate water pumps and fridge without power as we would be on an unpowered site - i.e. use LPG.
A very cute echidna decided to cross the road in front of us and we managed to slow down enough to see him waddle by. We arrived at nightfall in the National Park at a campground called Tidal River. It was quite a challenge to fill our water tanks and figure out how to run everything on gas for the first time. The girls were tired and hungry, but real 'troopers'. We were all enthralled to see huge wombats foraging for food. They are so much bigger in real life!
Some teething problems meant a late cold shower for us and a fridge that wasn't working too well!! The thought did cross our minds.......are we having fun yet??????!!!!
We managed to move onto a powered site the next morning and salvaged all our cold provisions. So we all felt more positive!
The highlight of our stay was a gorgeous trek through the bush on a track that lead to Squeaky Beach, so called because when you walk in bare feet the quartz sand squeaks. The girls loved playing in the wet sand and covering Sas' legs with a mermaid tail. The 'lowlight' was later in the day with Bella coming down with a cold, sore throat and fever. Then at 1:20am in the dead of night our first caravan vomit and a sleepless night.
Danielle & Sas went for a beautiful rainforest walk (no shortage of rain here!!!). Sas was delighted to find a fairy grotto and a real pink toad stool. After dinner was a wombat spotting tour....saw three, and a possum.
The weather here is incredible. We have had wind squalls with pelting rain, blue skies, then more wind and rain. One night some tents were flattened. David had to get outside at 3:20am and semi-dismantle the gazebo before it flew off to Melbourne. The next morning there was a mass exodus from the park, and then some hail!!!
Pictures: Wilsons Promontory
We pushed onto Cowes on Phillip Island and stayed for 2 nights. It was a relief to have Victorian school holidays over as the caravan parks are so much more peaceful. You can secure a site with nobody next door, far enough away so you cannot hear snoring or farting or laughing or talking or ANYTHING!!!!........except the sound of the ocean.....ahhhh this is how it is meant to be! The huge winds and storms had subsided.....and we could finally say "How's the serenity?"
One cold night we ventured to do the view the very thing that Phillip Island is renowned for- its gorgeous fairy penguins. At dusk, we joined tourists from all over the world to watch these adorable little birds swim ashore and gather in little groups on the sand, before marching in lines over the dunes and into their scrubland burrows. We were able to get so close to them, though photography was forbidden - TORTURE for the tourists (including us!), with cameras around their necks! The girls also had haircuts in the little town and are very excited to be now sporting side fringes.
One of the deal breakers for this adventure was that the caravan we bought HAD to have a toilet and shower or Dan was not coming! As David would be the maintenance man on tour, the other deal breaker was that David said he was only coming if the toilet was used for emergencies only - early morning or midnight needs! Now......with three girls on board there is always an emergency. We all had a belly laugh as we watched good humoured David roll away the toilet cassette to the dump point and yelled from he doorway of the caravan "Thank you Kenny- we love you!!" It has become the caravaning "taking the bins out".....always a blue job!!
Pictures: Phillip Island
Next we moved on to Anglesea. We took a day trip to Torquay the beginning of the Great Ocean Road and home of the famous Bells Beach. We stayed a couple of nights in a park right on the beach with fabulous climbing trees. The girls loved hanging in the tree for most of their playtime and built little swings from ropes and sticks. With Sas leading the play, they are both constantly in a world of fantasy and absolutely loving all the nature. Bella is our resident entrepreneur - she loves dreaming up how she will become rich or sell things along the way to make pocket money. She dug up a yellow rock and came running back wide eyed and excited to exclaim she had been mining and had struck gold! We could hear the school kids during their surfing lessons, such a coast of surf culture.
Pictures: Anglesea
We pulled up at the start of the Great Ocean Road and read the historical monuments. We learnt that it was constructed after the first world war as a memorial to lost comrades of the returning soldiers. It provided a source of employment for these men who were returning to a civilian life and now is the largest war memorial in the world! We were amazed with this incredible coast line and drove for most of the day to Port Campbell via Lorne. It is so amazing with kilometre after kilometre of vertical limestone rock faces carved out by the wild turquoise ocean. We stopped at the famous 12 Apostles, The Grotto and London Bridge, then stayed for a night in Port Campbell, again, by the sea. In the morning we did a bushwalk over the headland and looked back at the 12 Apostles in the distance, then enjoyed some sun by the lake while the girls had an art competition in their art books.
Many of our nights (and Bella wanting first thing in the morning) have been spent playing Phase 10. Currently, no surprise, the reigning champ is the highly competitive David.
Pictures: Port Campbell
We then headed for Port Fairy - a cute, historic little seaside port. We loved this little town and even found an organic farmers market to top up our supplies. We have been very surprised at all the beautiful little providores along the way - and pleased to announce NO KFC, MACCAS or anything close! Bike riding is still high on our agenda and we are loving exploring together (even though Bella gives us a heart attack now and again!)
All in all we are happy and settling in to this adventure very well. We are very over the rain and the cold though and are moving towards WA in search of balmy days and tropical waters. While we have had some gorgeous sun, we have had more rain than we would like and it certainly makes life challenging in a caravan!
Pictures: Port Fairy
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