We checked out of the hostel fairly early then had a short walk, followed by a tram then a train in order to get to the outskirts of Melbourne to pick up our camper van. We'd arranged a booking through standbycars.com who organise relocations on behalf of rental companies. This means that the rental cost is much cheaper. On the way out to Adelaide we only paid 10$ a day and were given three days. On the way back we got an even better van for just $5 a day including insurance and $110 worth of fuel included, but just 2 days to drive the 720km back to Melbourne.
We were quite impressed with the camper we got, it had all mod cons including cooker and grill, double bed, sink, chairs and table, fridge and microwave. All we could need! The only downside being that the staff at Calypso Campers seemed a bit sullen, and that we had to drop off the van in spotless condition, clean sheets and all.
The first obstacle we had to overcome was getting out of Melbourne; this took much longer than it should have and we took a fairly roundabout route due to a couple of wrong turns. However, we eventually made it out, and by lunchtime we arrived in Geelong, to pick up supplies and inquire at the information centre as to what our itinerary should be. Hese guys were very helpful, and before long we were headed down south and had made it onto the GOR. The road is famous for its spectacular scenery, and we weren't disappointed. The first 200km of the road our one picture postcard view after another, with beautiful long beaches giving way abruptly to spectacular cliffs and rock formations.
Before setting up camp at Lorne, on a secluded campsite on a hill overlooking the beach, we visited the lighthouse at Aireys inlet, the wild kangaroos living on the golf course at Anglesea, a the waterfall at Lorne.
On our first day we made a few too many stops, and only made it a fairly short way along the coast, so much of our second day was spent driving. However, we did stop at the famous 12 Apostles and the Bay of Islands, as well as several other spectacular viewpoints along the way. In the afternoon we drove almost continuously for 4 hours in order to make it to the town of Robe to camp for the night. Along the way the landscape changed from seep cliffs to rolling hills then finally to hot and dry brush land.
Our final day on the GOR was again continuous driving, as we had to make 300km to Adelaide by lunchtime. Along the way the landscape was completely dry, with salt lakes between us and the sea, and everywhere else dry brown fields. On the way we can only have seen maybe 20 cars for the first 150km of this road. Adelaide at the time was experiencing the longest heatwave of any Australian capitol city ever, with temperatures over 35 degrees for over 12 days - on the day we arrived, the temperature hit 42 degrees!
When we arrived in Adelaide, we made it quite quickly to the pick up point for our second vehicle, which was a Maui camper, and top of the range. The guys here were much more helpful, and didn't mind how dirty we got the van or the kit inside, as long as we didn't break it or lose it. Next stop was a car wash to clean our first van, then it was off to the second depot to drop it off. The guy had no complaints, which was good news as the bond we'd paid was $1000 and the excess on the insurance was also another $1000!
After all this rigmarole, we headed straight back out of Adelaide to begin our journey back to Melbourne, this time along the inland route. The rest of the day was again spent behind the wheel, as we had 400km more to do to get to Horsham where we planned to stay. We eventually made it there just after 8, and just as the chap was closing the campsite, which was very lucky! On our first 2 nights, we we pretty chilly down on the coast, but we seemed to take some of the heat with us from Adelaide, and our last night in the van was absolutely roasting and quite uncomfortable, with mosquito's thrown in too! This wasn't helped as part of the bed was missing, leaving a great big hole in the middle.
On our final day we set off fairly early again, and having a bit of time to spare, decided to take the scenic route through the hills of the wonderful Grampians National Park, passing groups of Kangaroos and Wallabies on the roadside along the way. After a quick lunch stop at Burger King we made it into Melbourne and found the Maui depot quite easily. We had planned to spend another night in Melbourne, before flying to New Zealand the next day, but being the day before the Grand Prix, there was absolutely no beds available in the whole city, so we instead headed to the airport and prepared to spend the night there. Fortunately our luck was in and we happened to walk past the JetStar desk just as they were checking in passengers for the evening flight to Christchurch. Luckily enough they still had some seats, so we were able to change our tickets free of charge, and made it to New Zealand that evening...
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