Where did all the Apostles go?
Trip Start
Jun 05, 2007
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88
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Trip End
Jun 2009
Adelaide,
South Australia,
Australia
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The next day we vaguely followed a walking tour from the LP and enjoyed the parks, architecture, botanical gardens and Captain Cook's parents house - shipped all the way from Yorkshire brick by brick. We also investigated the Laneways, where graffiti is legally applied to the walls by the likes of Banksy and many other artists. One street in particular had a sound installation where, as you walked down the lane to look at the graffiti, bells on a motion detector would chime.
At the "Pinnacle"
Being in the city is generally quite an expensive affair so decided to dine very cheaply in China town before heading back to the hostel. That night had to be one of the worst hostel experiences I had ever had - we were woken, at 4am, to music blasting through the floor of our room with lyrics along the lines of "oh, you can't say c#@t in Canada". Initially we had no clue where it was coming from but by the fourth track not only did it make Roy Chubby Brown look like a saint, but, the lyrics "I'll never get used to living next door to an (deregotary word used for an indigenous person of Australia)" to the tune of "Alice, Alice......", had made my blood boil. So, off I went to rectify the situation. The offensive music was coming from the bar below and 4 guys, not authorised to be there, were having a merry old time drinking the stock. I asked politely for them to turn it down and was approached by the night manager of the hostel who continually told me that not only was it saturday night but the pub was a different business. After getting no where I lost my cool a bit and, I have to say, used a little blue language myself. It did have some effect though because that music was promptly stopped, to be replaced with the rather melodic sound of Megadeath and Metallica and this continued until 6am. Understandably, the owner has since received my thoughts on the matter!!Anyway, back to our travels. The next day, a little bleary eyed, we pick up our campervan for the next 10 days on our journey along the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide, but first we would stop to sample some of Victoria's finest vino in the Yarra Valley.
Graffitti in Melbourne
On our way we stoppped in to visit one of Kev's brothers best friends, who, with his family, has a rather nice place in Melbourne's suburbia, and yes, suburbia there does look just like 'Neighbours'!!We arrived in the Yarra late afternoon so camped up for the night and went out tasting the next day, Kev had decided to be the designated driver, so only a few sips for him which left me to dutifully do the research and do the sampling! Needless to say I was a little tipsy by the time we left and my usual financial restraint had taken a leave of absence, so we headed back to camp after a cheese platter with a bottle of chardonnay, a pinot noir, a bottle of port and some chocolate, Kev was thrilled!!
After a dizzy start to the next day we drove back through Melbourne and were infuriated with the badly planned tramways and ill-timed traffic lights, leaving us convinced that the town planners must have been Sydneysiders.
Finally we made our way through and eventually reached the coast. We had plenty of time so just planned to take it easy and take in all the sights. First stop was Bells beach, the beach fabled in surf-lore to be the site of the final scene in 'Point Break', much to Kev's dismay, the real life beach was nothing like the one in the film. It was still a beautiful beach although the surf wasn't great that day, but what I would have given to see Swayze and Reeves fighting it out down there!! We meandered along stopping at various vantage points along the way, including the lighthouse used in 'Round the Twist', which led to us singing the theme tune for the next 15 minutes until we returned to the van and found that some inconsiderate git had opened their door into our brand spanking new van, granted the dent was only the size of a thumbnail, but we hoped that the rental company wouldn't be that bothered.
Federation Square
The road followed the coastline for the majority of the way until Lorne, and the views were stunning. We manged to free camp for the night in a small carpark next to a picnic area in the bush, we ate some food and set off for a small walk, we saw a sign that said beware of snakes - to which we got the willies, turned around and went back to the van to drink some more port. We set off early the next day and took in Mackenzie falls, where the numerous steps made us gasp for breath on the way back up. The road today came inland quite a way and we were disappointed that they called it the Great Ocean road as we couldn't see the ocean, but we took a trail through rainforest and actually it was nice to have different scenery. We finally made it back to the coast and again managed to free camp on a cliff top where we were treated to a bunch of guys body surfing in the huge waves as well as a terrific sunset. On our way again, we finally made it to the 12 Apostles, or sow and piglets as they used to be called - somehow 12 apostles sounds much more grand. The 12 Apostles have unfortunately succumbed to erosion and now there stands just 8 . There are many impressive rock, cave, blow hole and bridge formations along this section with some dramatic shipwreck tales from the 19th century. This saw the end of the Great Ocean Road, the road does continue along the coast as far as Adelaide but we decided to head inland and explore the Grampians. We travelled through some of the flatest country I have ever seen, being able to see for miles, we wondered where on earth these mountains were, until eventually in the distance we saw the looming beasts.
Exhibition Hall
We spent 3 days in the park where we drove to an impressive look out - I think the first time in Australia we have both said "wow". We walked endless trails, including an arduous 3 hour acsent through the 'grand canyon' (a rock climbing haunt) and then forest, where my photography has taken on a horticultural theme, over giant boulders and a rocky outcrop to finally reach 'The Pinnacle', a lookout over the valley, lake and mountains in the distance. A thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a day and a break from the constant driving. The campsites here are in the bush and we had an enjoyable meal one evening when out from the long grasses came upto 20 kangaroos, about half had joeys in their pouches - some looking a little too big to be in there!! The wind got up that night and when we came to leave we found a tree had fallen down over the main road out, a guy told us of a back way that invloved a lot of sand, little signage and 2 sets of nearly brown trousers through fear of being stuck in the bush forever!!But we did make it out and headed back to the coast to pick up the road to Adelaide. We visited a place called Naracorte where they have found many caves filled with fossils of the giant mega-fauna that used to roam this land in the days of Gondwana land (and if we hear the name Gondwana land many more times we just may ram it where the sun don't shine!). Back on the coast we drove right into the path of a nasty storm, the weather was miserable and we thought we were gonners on the campsite that night fearing that the wind would flip the van. The next day it hadn't improved and the driving conditions were dreadful but we had a deadline to meet so the show must go on, as they say.
We drove straight to Adelaide stopping only to rest, fill up on fuel and food. The weather seemed calmer in Adelaide and it was certainly warmer. We took the van back and had to contend with the jobsworth who checked us back in and filled in an accident report about the dent. He told us it would have to go for a quote to fix it and we would hear from the insurance company, we could not believe all this effort for a dent the size of my thumbnail. We refused to let it get us down and decided to go for a beer as drinking always makes problems solve themselves, doesn't it? It was curry night at the pub and we had the choice of over 200 different beers, so decided on an Erdinger - the most expensive I think. They forgot about Kev's curry, so as an apology we got another 2 erdinger's for free! Every cloud really does have a silver lining!!
