On the road..

We're now in a place called Williams Town which is about an hours drive from Adelaide, we have been staying with Matt's cousin Andy and his fiance Lisa since we arrived on Friday. It is great to be staying in a "proper house" and sleeping in a comfy bed :o)

On Monday morning after a weekend in Melbourne we left for the Great Ocean Road. We both really enjoyed our time in Melbourne, despite the weather which was quite cool and quite a bit of rain. We spent a lot of time in the City which is lovely, we enjoyed it far better than Sydney. They have a great cafe bar culture there and there is a really good vibe about the place. We decided to blow our entertainment budget while we were there and went to see Priscilla Queen of The Desert at the Regent Theatre, it was worth every penny. The soundtrack to it is all 70's disco music and it really was a great show, there were over 500 hundred costumes used in total. If it ever comes to England I would definitely recommend it (as long as you don't have a problem with gays and cross dresser's?!)

So our first stop along the Ocean Road was a small seaside town called Lorne, the camp site was just beside the beach and the sun came out, so we hit the shops stocked up on supplies and had a day in the sun with a BBQ in the evening, bliss! We left there the next day and headed to the next resort Apollo Bay, it was nice here but not as busy and pretty as Lorne, the weather was a bit cloudy again too. After Apollo Bay we set off again taking in the 12 Apostles along the way, these are rock formations in the sea that have been worn away by the salt water. The coast line here is stunning with golden sands and green sea. We took lots of pics which we will post soon. After Apollo Bay we had to start getting some driving done as we had about 500k to do to get to Williams Town. We stayed at a place called Warnembool (I think that's right?) the camp site here was fantastic, it had a large indoor pool and jacuzzi which we made full use of, we were the only people in there! After W we stayed at some place that I can't even remember the name of (it's the drink it's killing off my brain cells!) and then our drive on Friday to here.

We have done a lot of driving since we arrived and not seen a great deal in between stops, Australia is HUGE and until you visit the place it's difficult to comprehend just how big it actually is. Luckily there are very few cars on the road so travel is easy but the distances are so vast, it's really tiring, especially in the temperatures were experiencing at the moment 30c+!!

We leave here tomorrow morning and we were going to head to Broken Hill and take in some of the outback, but we have decided (with some gentle persuasion from the locals) that our time would be better spent seeing more National Parks and beaches than some barren desert with nothing to see except flat red dusty landscape, dead kangaroos and emus in the scorching heat.
So we will head back inland and take in the Grampians, back towards Melbourne where we will take in some of the Melbourne shoreline and work our way back up towards Sydney. Everybody we speak to tells us to visit a different place, it is nigh on impossible to visit all these places. We will have to come back!!

We have had a great weekend with our hosts Lisa and Andy, it is a really small town where they live and everybody knows each other. We have been made to feel so welcome that I almost feel like one of the locals. We have met a few "poms" while we've been here too. Last night we had yet another BBQ, and Lisa and Andy invited round some of their friends. We started about 5pm and got to bed at 3am this morning, it was a heavy one!! I only have to look at the recycling bin for confirmation. A good time was had by all though, including Matt who has gone back to bed as he feels so ill!!

Oz is pretty much as I expected it to be to be honest, just a lot bigger. Everybody is really friendly and loves a drink ;o) It is a very relaxed, chilled out way of life that they live and they are big into the alfresco life style. Obviously it's so hot that you can't stay in for any period of time. There is so much wildlife too, all the birds and animals that we have to go to a zoo to see back at home you can see in the country here. Parakeets are like the sparrow back home, they are everywhere, also red and green parrots everywhere. We have also seen lots of reptile type creatures and lizards when we have been out walking. Luckily no snakes though, although we were briefly introduced to a Red Back Spider by Andy as he cleaned the BBQ yesterday. It was on the underside of the cooking tray, which could have been quite nasty if he hadn't have seen it as a bite from a Red Back can kill you. Nice eh to think that these kind of spiders can turn up in your house at any moment!! My sixth sense is on red alert, looking out for anything big and hairy with more than 2 legs...