Travel day

Decided to move on today, so packed up and travelled to Colac which is inland and about 2 hours from Melbourne, the weather is unsettled so we thought we will move back down to the coast and Great Ocean Rd when we get a bit more sunshine.
We are at a caravan park at colac and managed with some negotiations from Brian to get an ensuite site for $25 a night, so I have only 4 steps from the van to the ensuite, amazing, seems a long time since I have had a toilet/shower so close. We walked into town with Bentley and lots of shops to look at tomorrow, so no scenic shots at the moment

Easter Sunday

Went to Easter markets at Port Campbell today, we had a Calzone, never had one before, definitely want to make some, very yum, these were made with a pizza dough, filling inside and then cooked in the pizza oven, also saw potato twists which I have never seen before, the potato is a whole one and cut into a spiral with a little hand held device and then dipped in batter and fried.
We are ready to move on but caravan parks are still full tomorrow so may wait for Tuesday and then head towards Apollo Bay, another option is to head inland where parks might not be as busy, it is also school holidays here, decisions decisions.
Music is now playing, and what a neat job, the headlight he got for Christmas comes in very handy

Beach time for Bentley

We took a drive to Johanna Beach today, it's a free campsite in Otway National Park that allows dogs, Bentley had a great time on the beach, running around madly, he had playtime with another dog, well I think Bentley was playing! We then drove towards Otway Lightstation and saw our first Koala in the wild, very busy rd with lots of cars stopping to capture photos of Koalas. By the time we got to the Lightstation the weather had changed and it was light rain so we decided not to walk down etc to the Lightstation as no good for photos, maybe another day. We made our way back to camp for late lunch and more progress has been made on CD player. Enjoying our stay here at Princetown, yesterday we went in a raffle for $40 meat pack, didn't win, today a raffle for a big basket of chocolate, would love to win that, this raffle is to raise funds for a camp kitchen at this site. We have a pot of soup on the go for tea but we will have drinks with cheese and crackers first,

Quiet day at camp

After our day trip yesterday we decided on a day at camp, getting busy here, lots of campers coming in, nice mild weather. I made some cards and Brian worked on cd/radio, he now has the speakers in position all ready for wiring. We took a walk along the boardwalk through wetlands to the town of Princetown, very small place, general store and hotel, lovely evening, time for a wine, tea tonight is salmon patties and salad

Yummy tea

My resident cook, who I always travel with made a awesome veg and chicken dish for tea xxx

Day tripper

Well not much of a storm, rainy but winds have dropped, we put the annexe up before breakfast and decided a day trip out would be good, feels a lot cooler today. We headed into the Otway national park up lots of winding roads to Beech Forest where there is a lovely cafe called The Ridge, this was recommended place and it was good, lots of home made food, Brian had a Goulash pie and I had yoyo biscuit as a I could see them on the table behind the counter and they looked like they had just been made, delicious, I ended up having 2! great place, lovely food, we travelled on to Apollo Bay, lots more windy roads and like a rainforest in parts, difficult to stop so I took photo from the car, the coca cola truck was trying to make a turn and obviously couldn't make it, we offered to help but he had some one with him and he was looking for something to chock the back wheels so he didn't slip over the edge!!!
By the time we got to Apollo Bay it was raining so no photos, we had a walk around and went into an op shop for jeans, Brian very impressed with a pair of Rivers, right length for $5, carried on back to camp and Brian decided on a quick walk for Bentley when we had a sudden hailstorm, don't think temp has been above 12 all day, so jeans, socks and jumper tonight

Waiting for a storm

Weather hot and windy and a forecast of thunder, not happened yet but very windy, we had to take our annexe down as it flaps and bangs in the strong wind, one of those days when you are just waiting for the rain or storm to come and go, so not much to report, sorry.
Brian is fitting a cd/radio to the van so he has spent the last 2 hours cutting a hole in the side of the cupboard, nearly time for a wine I feel.

Grunts in the night and day out at Port Campbell

I was woken by grunting outside the van last night, it wasn't my resident cook, he was asleep beside me and Bentley was in the land of nod at the end of the bed, so grunting outside, not koalas as no gum trees, so must be kangaroos, at least I hope it was kangaroos !!
We went to Port Campbell again today, it is our favourite place at the moment, lovely little harbour, we spent time by the water, it has a really healing effect I feel and then we had chips with bread and butter we had brought with us and a chat with some poms who were on holiday, a walk around town and a coffee before we left, very relaxing, back at camp we decided to stay here over Easter, taking day trips out to explore.
Photos of Port Campbell, our favourite coffee shop and salted caramel ice cream 🙋🙋🙋🙋

A good start to the day

This little area at Princetown seems a good place to base ourselves while we explore the great Ocean Rd, started our day with egg and bacon breakfast, yum and then drove out to a couple of sights we missed yesterday. We then headed inland a bit and plan to do a round trip back to camp, in Timboon at the moment, free Internet, thinking of lunch but not sure what, will do some shopping at IGA before we leave.
We have chosen unpowered site at Princetown and have the solar panel out as you can see in the photo

Birds and Kangaroos

Bentley sometimes leaves his breakfast, tinned dog food isn't that interesting but the little birds found it tasty
We are in Princetown and camped at recreation park, limited power sites but lots of unpowered, lots of kangaroos around and very peaceful

Helicopter ride at 12 Apostles, Great Ocean Rd

Great day today, we drove out to the 12 Apostles which is one of the main attractions, very busy area and on the spur of the moment we decided on a helicopter ride, at first I wasn't going to go, but I decided yes I would and so glad I did, it was fantastic, $95 each for about 10-15 mins and I loved it, you see such a different view, there are only about 8 of the apostles standing now as the others have been eroded and fallen, the rock formations have been eroding for thousands of years, a really wonderful coastline to visit, very dramatic. Lots more to see and we will move further along tomorrow, having a stir fry and noodle tea, which Brian is busy preparing now.

Great Ocean Road

We are now at Peterborough on the great ocean rd, lots of discussion with people about should you travel the road west to east or east to west to get the most out of the views etc, we decided to meander back and forth as we find places we like. Today we went to the Bay of Islands taking lots of photos, tomorrow heading to the 12 apostles. Lovely caravan park we are staying at in Peterborough quiet and friendly, great amenities and dog friendly AND no list of dog rules, but children must be kept under control !!!!!!!

A Windy Night

We got woken up by strong winds about 3.30am this morning, Brian went out about 3 times to secure the annexe and move things so they wouldn't blow away, difficult to sleep while being buffeted by winds, then I think where did this wind come from, storm out at sea maybe, did it originate from a cyclone thousands of kilometres away? It did eventually abate and we slept, Bentley slept the whole time on the bottom of the bed, not concerned at all.
Off to Port Fairy and surrounds today

A day in Portland

Good to catch up with our niece Lyndsey for BBQ tea last night. Today we had a day in Portland, getting an oil change on the car and 4 new tyres, gave us lots of time to browse the shops and have coffee out, a strange start to our day though as I asked Brian to take the washing over to the caravan park laundry, gave him 4 $1 coins and the washing powder, he came back and said no worries, used a front loader machine and used $2 coins, oops they are top loaders, so we both went over and sure enough he had put the clothes in the dryer and added the soap powder!!!!! But that's fine we took the warm washing out of the dryer and into a washing machine none the worse for their detour. Time for a relax at the end of our day, deciding if to move on tmw

Portland Victoria

We have now moved into Victoria, and I should say who we are, there is me, Gill, husband Brian and our dog Bentley, we have been travelling from Albany WA  in our Subaru Forester and Aliner van and our destination is The Great Ocean Road in Vic, we started our travels on 27th Feb from Albany and as I say now in Portland Vic, we have a niece who lives here so we will be visiting her later today, Portland looks a lovely town and the sun is shining and I am relaxing 🙋🙋🙋🙋

Umpherstone sinkhole

Some photos

Monday 18th Mt Gambier still

Last night we camped outside Mt Gambier at Mount Schank, a free camp area with toilets, two other vans parked too, so not a lonely place, we came back into Mt Gambier to takes some photos and have a coffee before heading out towards Portland, finding Mt Gambier an interesting place, visit Umpherstone sinkhole, which is when a cave roof collapses and causes a hole, this one has been made into a lovely garden, photo later I hope

Mt Gambier SA

Sunday in Mt Gambier, have visited the cave gardens which are in the centre of the city

First post

Spending the day in Mt Gambier SA today, Sunday, a bit overcast but lovely town, built around extinct volcanos, will be travelling on in a couple of days, and will learn how to post photo's