A Bigger Lobster

This big crayfish in Kensington, South Australia, is much more impressive than the one in Stanley, Tasmania. The sad thing is that these creatures have nearly been fished to extinction around this area, to supply overseas markets. Thankfully we heard that the area from the Coorong all the way to the Victorian border will soon be classified as marine park.

Wright's Bay

We left The Mount on March 31st and cruised west along the coast searching for a good place to stay. It was Victorian school holidays, and the South Australian holidays and Easter long weekend were about to commence, so we were keen to avoid the peak season campground prices. We had bought a national parks pass in Mt Gambier so we checked out the Canunda National Park and stayed one night in a very basic camp at Geltwood Beach. The following day we received an SMS from our Coffs Harbour buddies and decided to join them further up the coast at Wright's Bay, just along from the beautiful town of Robe. The camp area was basically a paddock by the beach that was owned by 94 year old Tom who lived nearby and drove down daily to chat to everyone. For $5 per night we stayed here 5 nights over Easter and had a brilliant time. We also made friends with a family from Melbourne with a 7 year old girl (who Ashleigh adored) and a 3 year old son, who were also doing a big trip. One day we did one of Ashleigh's school art lessons with a couple of other children who were also doing distance education, along with the younger siblings. A major highlight at Wright's Bay was the "shearing" of Simon's golden locks with our new $10 hair clippers!

Mt Gambier - hello South Australia!

Mount Gambier sits on the slopes of an extinct volcano with a stunning sapphire-blue lake in the crater. It is beautiful and we really enjoyed stopping here for a few days. After wallowing in the mud at the caves we also craved some showers and managed to do 4 loads of washing. The weather was dodgy but we ended up staying 4 days as we had to wait for a new radiator cap to be sent from Sydney as the existing one was failing. It wasn't such a bad place to be stranded. And on March 30th in Lausanne, Switzerland, baby Jonah Noe Lees was born in the spa! Congratulations Steph and Sean - we are very pleased for you both!

Jewfish for dinner!

Just next the South Australian border and about 15 minutes north of the coast we stayed in the Lower Glenelg National Park at a place called Princess Margaret Rose Caves. It is the beginning of the Limestone Coast so there are heaps of caves around this area. It was a really lovely place with lots of bush but the weather was wet and cool and before long everything was coated in deep red mud. While Hannah and I painted each others nails with wet gum leaves and pretended we were going to the ball, Ashleigh and Simon went fishing and Ash hooked up a 60cm Mulloway out of the Glenelg River. She was so excited and we all enjoyed it for dinner. At this camp spot the girls loved playing with their new friends Liamm and Connor from Coffs Harbour.

The Great Ocean Road

We spent 6 days travelling and camping along the Great Ocean Road and loved it. The highlight was absolutely the 12 Apostles (or however many there are now..) but the beauty of the rugged coastline, steep cliffs and roaring ocean kept us in awe. We met lots of interesting people along the way including a couple from the Sunshine Coast who were travelling with their dog in a Morris Minor towing a camper trailer, and a family from Port Macquarie who were also cruising around the country with their 2 children and an enormous caravan. In Warnambool Ashleigh (and daddy) constructed a wind chime out of shells as part of Ash's science work and it now swings about and dangles above our dining table.

Geelong and Torquay

From Rosebud we could see across Port Phillip Bay to Geelong and it would have been an easy 20 minute ferry ride from Portsea but unfortunately we had to go via Melbourne to pick up Ashleigh's school work from the Toll depot. Emily English (on the GPS) tried to get us there directly but we let her down a bit. With our new school pack finally on board, we made it into Geelong after lunch sometime, booked into the caravan park and went for a surf at Torquay. The sun was shining, the waves were perfect, and Ashleigh had a great time standing up on her surfboard. The following day the van went in for an oil change and we hung out at Eastern Beach in Geelong and enjoyed looking at all the bollards that have been decorated as various characters all along the waterfront. Leaving Geelong we checked out the waves at Bell's Beach.

Rosebud

On March 13 we found our way to Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula. For 3 days we camped along the foreshore and had a wonderful time swimming at the beach and cycling along the bike tracks that ran for kilometres north and south. The weather was sunny and 28 degrees (finally!!!) and we met a lovely family who lived in Rosebud but were camping in their caravan by the beach, enjoying the holiday lifestyle. Ashleigh and 6 year old Bianca became very good friends. Check out the cute bathing shacks along the beachfront - we saw one advertised for $40,000.