COW GALLERY

Port Fairy to Lorne (Thursday 24th June 2010)

Travel Day 197km.

Woke to a sunny day. One the road 10.30am

Turned the TV on in the camp kitchen and heard the news about Rudd and Gillard. This was all we heard for the rest of the day on the radio! We traveled along the Great Ocean Road enjoying the coast line and the beautiful sights. Arrived in Lorne and found ACCOMMODATION in Lorne. Yes, it was true we were going to sleep in a proper bed, have a bathroom we didn't have to share with anybody else and be indoors in the warmth so we didn't have to worry about what the weather was doing outside. This was good, wrong it was great. It rained over night and into the morning but it didn't matter to us, we were indoors overlooking the bay from our second storey apartment with all the creature comforts. Almost home.

Robe S.A to Port Fairy Vic. (Wednesday 23rd June 2010)

Travel day 287km.

Today we are going to cross over the border back into Victoria. Mixed emotions.

This morning was freezing cold. We have NEVER felt our fingers feel like ice in all our travels. When the sun came out it was warm with a beautiful clear blue sky. Thank goodness for that.

On the way out of Robe found the road we needed which had been unclearly signed as being CLOSED. We weaved our way around a few work men who stared at us as we drove past them and continued on our merry way. Further down the road a sign saying 'road closed' appeared again and further down the road again more workmen stared at us as we headed on our mapped route to our next destination. Finally we come to the end of the road we had been traveling on only to find big orange barriers set up blocking the entrance saying 'ROAD CLOSED'. We looked at each other and laughed as we realised what we'd done. We had traveled down a road that had been closed to the public! Never mind, we got where we needed to be with no-one else the wiser bar the workmen. As we got closer to Mt Gambier there were huge pine plantations everywhere along the road. They went on forever.

We stopped at Mt Gambier for lunch and it was freezing. The air was icy cold. Mt Gambier was much bigger than I imagined and again the streets were lined with gorgeous period homes. Before heading on we stopped and had a look at the Blue Lake. We set off for Port Fairy at 1.15pm At 1.35pm we crossed the border into Victoria. WOW, we are getting so close to home. Arrived into Port Fairy at 4.30pm. It's a pretty costal town with beautiful buildings. The houses on the river in the wealthier part of town were huge and very impressive. Out for dinner.

Port Elliot to Robe (Tuesday 22nd June 2010)

Travel day. 328km

Up at 6.30am. Mist was rolling in from the sea and as each minute went by the air was getting moister and mistier. Everything felt damp. After having packed up so quickly we decided we deserved to buy ourselves breakfast. The second one for the trip. In quaint Port Elliot we found the perfect place and had a great brekky and coffee. Before leaving we strolled down the main street and were amazed at the original old buildings still being used. Traveling along the B45 we came across an Aboriginal Canoe Tree. You could actually see where they'd cut out the canoe. Incredible.

We drove past beautifully laid out vineyards with grand homesteads in the background. The drive was really lovely. Happily driving along we were traveling through Wellington until we came to a grinding halt after turning a sweeping bend in the road. Water. The road was under water. Oh, this is bad news. We reversed the car thinking we'd come the wrong way. No, looking at the map this was the right way. Then looking closer at the map it actually says 'ferry crossing'. The road's not flooded. It was the Murray River! To cross the Murray River you need to catch the ferry. What an unexpected surprise. Onto the ferry we drove and across the river we went.

Had lunch in Kingston S.E. Had to take a photo next to gigantic Larry the Lobster.

Drove into Robe around 2.30pm. Set up camp and took a drive around town to see sights.

Strathalbyn and Handorf (Monday 21st June 2010)

Decided to do some sightseeing today and drove to Strathalbyn, well known for it's antique shops. We must have been looking in all the wrong places because we failed to see even one!

The old buildings and the beautiful countryside made up for it though. We travelled on to Handorf and Pete and I reminisced about the time we came here when we were still dating. We devoured some delicious chocolate and the girls had fun watching all the cuckoo clocks. After some lunch and checking out the shops we headed back to camp.

Port Elliot (Sunday 20th June 2010)

Got up early and went into Goowla markets. All we bought was food, food and more food. Purchased the most delicious pork sausages, beef pie, sour dough bread and mandarins. And when we stopped for a break it was more food! Coffee and cake actually on the wharf looking over at Hindmarsh Island. Later drove into Victor Harbor admiring it's gorgeous old buildings.

Parked the car and walked over to Granite Island. Took in great views from the walking trail on the island. The girls fell in love with the Clydesdale horses which are used for the horse drawn tram. The horse drawn tram runs from the mainland (Victor Harbor) across the causeway to Granite island.

On Granite Island looking back towards Victor Harbor.

This is the causeway that the horse drawn trams use.

On the way home called into historic Horseshoe Bay from which we could see our caravan park at the opposite end! Walked along the beach before calling it a night.

Port Pirie to Port Elliot (Saturday 19th June 2010)

Travel day.

Port Pirie - Adelaide - Victor Harbor - Port Elliot 320km

Woke up to someone singing opera. A man camping near us said, " if you want to see something different go have a look at the bloke swimming out in the bay singing opera. He's there come rain, hail or shine everyday of the year". We walked to the edge of the park and there in the cold grey water was on old guy swimming along head held high singing his lungs out. Opera that is. He must be crazy. It's so bloody cold. Well that's how we started the day. Today we were on our way to Victor Harbor until Pete got chatting to a guy at the park and recommended the caravan park at Port Elliot. So Port Elliot it was. We were on the road at 10am. It was raining. Made some phone calls to Kangaroo Island information centre to gather information and hopefully make an informed decision about going over to the island. After much deliberation decided it was a trip in it's self. So we decided to continue along the coastline and see more costal towns. Got a call from our neighbour to tells us our gum tree had fallen on our shed. OOPPPs. 12.55pm hit outskirts of Adelaide and were stuck in traffic. We don't miss this! Finally got through that and we were driving through the beautiful rolling hills past McLaren Vale and Rosemount vineyards. Arrived at Port Elliot 2pm and instantly liked what we saw.