Portland to Robe

Portland to Robe - 300km
32 degrees

The day started with a last minute decision to visit Cape Bridgewater and I'm glad we did.
A short drive off our original route from Portland took us to a different world.
The Petrified Forest is a coastal area that looks like the surface of the moon









Back onto our original route brought us into South Australia



and Mt Gambier and the amazing Blue Lake which is in an extinct volcanic crater that last erupted 4000 years ago.
The blueness is not the reflection of the sky but something to do with calcite precipitation. Its average depth is 70m but at its deepest its 200m!!







The final desination of the day was a charming little village of Robe where we chilled out drinking the fantastic Cape Jaffa shiraz which we plan to visit the winery of tomorrow

Robe Obelisk







Robe Lighthouse









Tomorrow it's the mt benson wine region where Caroline will be chaufferring me around whilst I get drunk!

and then onto Adelaide our final stop

again you can see more photos at www.flickr.com/mickpell

Apollo Bay to Portland

Apollo Bay to Portland - 200km
30+ degrees

Another spectacular day on the Great Ocean Drive visiting the Otway Fly Tree Top Walk, a wildlife park, the 12 Apostles, Peterborough and finally over to Portland

At the wildlife park I got bitten by a donkey whilst feeding it but luckily my wedding ring took most of the force

Also got to feed wallabies, emus, dingos, kangaroos and deer





The Otway Fly is located in a temperate rainforest in Otway and consists of a 600m long walkway 25m above the forest floor with a spiral tower climbing 47m up.











The Twelve Apostles are massive limestone stacks thatr stand up to 45m high in the area around Port Campbell and Peterborough











London Bridge



There is a sleepy little town of about 700 people on the Great Ocean Road just west of the 12 Apostles - Peterborough
Slightly different to the one we know and love in East Anglia!!!

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More pictures etc at http://www.flickr.com/mickpell

Onwards to Robe tomorrow

Melbourne to Apollo Bay

Melbourne to Apollo Bay - 193km
Over 32 degrees today!! :-) and summer is over!

Wow what a day
We set off from Melbourne to the city of Geelong and what a lovely little city it is and this was just a scene of things to come







From here we joined the Great Ocean Drive at Torquay (not quite like torquay in england thankfully!!!)



Every corner that we went round brought something new along the route to Apollo Bay and we stopped many times to take in the breathtaking scenery



we had lunch (more fish and chips!!!) in Lorne where there were loads of old bikes such as Indians, BSA and Nortons









Tonights rest stop was a little town called Apollo Bay with a fantastic Italian restaurant with great local seafood :-)





Off to Peterborough tomorrow on the Great Ocean Road!

Lakes Entrance to Melbourne

Lakes entrance to Melbourne - 319km
sunny and a hot 28 degrees

Onwards to Melbourne and back to civilisation!







Following yesterdays drive where in the whole day we saw less than 100 cars it was good to be back in traffic and we arrived at lunchtime into Melbourne.
We were staying in the St Kilda area down near the beach just a stones throw away from where next weeks F1 Grand Prix season kicks off



We headed into town after lunch on the tram to sort out mobiles and mobile internet - why is it the people that work in phone shops really have no clue about phones other than which ones connect to facebook!!!



Anyhow we bought a couple of phones and an internet dongle - what they forgot to say is that you need to activate them during office hours - lazy b*ggers
so we'll soon be able to talk to people again



It was funny to watch the difference between the end of the day in london where most people go down the pub whereas in melbourne it seems most go for a run or cycle - maybe thats what me and caroline will get up to once we settle!!!



There was even a 4.6 size earthquake today - we thought it was just a noisy train!

Goegeous italian meal for dinner in St Kilda before retiring and checking on what we've got instore tomorrow - the start of the Great Ocean Drive

A great day in Melbourne and we will definitely be coming back - just wish we had a bit more time to stay here now but we're on a tight schedule as we'll be moving into our new home in Adelaide next Monday

Cooma to Lakes Entrance

Cooma to Lakes Entrance - 307km
The weather was a bit crap today but it was still over 22 degrees



Another 4 hour drive through the Snowy Mountains down into Victoria brought us to the coast and a seaside town called Lakes Entrance.





As its autumn there were not many people about and a lot of the shops were closed but the beach looked gorgeous albeit quite windy








Fish and chips by the sea - what more can you ask for??







A lovely meal at Clancys and a couple of glasses of wine to finish the day off

Off to Melbourne tomorrow