We lazed around the next morning after a walk on the beach and a run for the doggies. Then we carried on the Great Ocean Road, around the narrow hair-pin bends, often in 3rd gear and often having to pull over to let our ‘convoy’ go past. But the scenery got better and better – the coastline was really beautiful along that stretch. We arrived in the little holiday town of Lorne in the mid afternoon and got an easy parking spot outside the Information Centre that was specially designated for motor homes. We felt very privileged, especially when a parking inspector wrote out tickets for all the other ordinary cars parked there and just smiled benevolently at us!
We were now in absolute peak holiday season – the Australia Day long weekend, and it was obvious that all the caravan parks were totally full. Paul had a great idea and went over to the Bowling Club next door and asked if we could park overnight in their very pleasant grassy car park if we had dinner there. And the answer was yes! We both rushed over to the swimming pool for a quick $1.00 hot shower to smarten up a bit, and then into the Bowling Club for a surprisingly excellent meal. The Chef and Maitre ‘D were very charming and eccentric, and the food was delicious. We had a lot of fun and then walked a few steps into our van for the night. We stuck a sign in the back window saying “Guest of the Bowling Club” - as suggested by the Manager, and I did notice a few envious looks from other caravan travellers as they walked back to their overcrowded and expensive little pieces of ground in the caravan park, while we had a wonderful amount of room in a very pleasant setting, all for free.
We really loved Lorne. There was a beautiful bay with a jetty one side and rocky breakwater the other. An enormous stretch of green grass connected the beach to the shops and cafes, and in spite of the huge number of holiday-makers, the town still had a happy and relaxing aura. The beach strip was full of interesting shops and a huge variety of places to sit and watch the world go by. Most of the town seemed quite modern – like a larger Dee Why perhaps. Some of the houses set on the cliffs were architecturally spectacular.
Our next stop was at Geelong – a shock to the system as it was a big town – second in size to Melbourne. However we coped well and after a short stay in the Deakin University car park in error we caught our breath and moved to another free special parking spot for motor homes recommended by the Information Centre just a block back from the Geelong Pier. All along the foreshore there were markets and events happening in anticipation of Australia Day. So we strolled around soaking up the atmosphere and having an ice-cream. Two police were entertaining everyone by singing on the stage and there were people on stilts amusing the crowds, tents selling food and other gifts and souvenirs.
I did a quick shop at Coles and after we had loaded our provisions on board and fed the doggies, we drove on around the coast on the freeway for another 25kms towards Melbourne and stopped for the night in a service station forecourt/rest area advertised in our ‘Camps 5’ book. It wasn’t quite the scenic standard we had come to expect from our recent experiences, but we did have a field of cut wheat on one side with sheep and rabbits bouncing about, even though the view on the other side was all asphalt!
We slept well and drove on to Port Melbourne on Australia Day. We arrived at the Spirit of Tasmania wharf, so we could check out where to go for our voyage to Tasmania on 28th January. The area was getting busy with people, children, dogs, bicycles and cars - so we quickly found a parking space and had a stroll around the seafront with the doggies, admiring lots of new apartments. It got more and more hectic and we struggled to find a toilet and somewhere to sit and have lunch and a drink in the shade. Eventually Muffin told us in no uncertain terms that she had had enough and let rip at Tia under the cafe table that we had just sat down at. So after a burst of public growling and gnashing of teeth, Paul and I got up and left, hauling the dogs with us. What must the other cafe patrons have thought – it sounded like we had a couple of vicious dogs! Quelle embarrassment!!
We got back to the van and drove to Albert Park, vowing along the way NEVER to take three dogs to somewhere so hot and crowded ever again. We felt a bit better after a sandwich lunch and put our GPS ‘Lee’ on to guide us to our caravan park for the evening, out to the north of Melbourne at Craigieburn. I had hardly driven a few paces when I was confronted with a low bridge – only 3 metres clearance, our van is 3.4metres high...
Lee was hopeless and kept trying to get me to do a U-turn. He was determined to get us under that bridge. We had to switch him off and try to navigate ourselves round an awful detour route through the city and up the Hume Highway.
Having never driven in Melbourne before, avoiding the trams, right-hand ‘hook’ turns, cycle boxes, U-turns, low bridges, and traffic honking up our back was a complete nightmare. Eventually we limped into the Apollo Caravan Park just before 5.00pm for an evening of washing, showering and computer work. I have to say that the day was not a good introduction to Melbourne, Paul would say otherwise...
The next morning we set ‘Lee’ again and drove to Clifton Hill for a meeting with an Estate Agent called John who we had met travelling in Richmond, QLD. We furnished him with our details as we are hoping to rent a house in Melbourne for 6 months from the end of March to September. We explored the area a little on foot and ended up back near Port Melbourne to find somewhere to stay for the night close to the Spirit of Tasmania departure point. We ended up parked in a light industrial area and settled down for the night. We were woken at 5.00am when lights came on and cars pulled in and we realised that the company car park of ‘Box-Fit’ wasn’t a cardboard box company, but a gym. All the manic keep-fit people had arrived for the early class! Still, it meant we got to the ferry in time.
As the poor doggies were going to be in little cages for the journey we took them for a run in the half-light of the early morning to give them some good exercise. We were very anxious about how they would cope for 11 hours in such a confined space with no chance to wee or poo... We left it to the last minute to drive on board the ferry and got the dogs into the cages on G3 lower deck and ourselves into very comfortable ‘ocean-view recliners’ on deck 8. The journey was fortunately smooth and uneventful and the doggies did really well with no “accidents” in their cages and seemingly not too stressed by it all. The time seemed to pass quickly actually, as we read and talked and walked the decks a little, had lunch and snoozed.
We arrived in Devonport at 6.45pm and apart from a short hold-up with quarantine inspections (which we passed with flying colours) we drove off the Spirit of Tasmania with van and doggies intact. We went a very short distance to the nearest caravan park and settled down for the night and slept very soundly indeed.
We found any stresses and strains from the past few days simply dropped away on arrival in Tasmania. What was it? The pure air? Or the lack of traffic, the peace, no high rises, beautiful scenery, friendly people? We will find out over the next 4.5weeks.
We spent the next day in Devonport just pottering around. We visited some beaches, did some shopping, we phoned some friends and Paul cooked local trout and vegetables and we watched the “Spirit of Tasmania” come in again at 7.00pm. A magnificent sight and it gave us the chance for some photos that we didn’t get the previous day in the rush. We decided to go to see the movie ‘Invictus’ with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. It was based on the early part of Nelson Mandela’s Presidency and his support of the South African rugby team in the world cup in 1994. Yes, they did win. It was an OK film, not one for our top ten list though.
We drove 5 minutes up the road to Coles Beach and stayed there for the night for $5.00, along with a few other motor homes and vans. The next morning we went for a long walk along the Don River trail, which starts at Coles Beach, travels partly along the railway and then through hectares of Swamp Paperbark trees and Costal Black Peppermint trees – it was just lovely. We arrived at the Don River Railway Station quite tired out and asked (on the off chance) if we could take dogs on the train. The answer was YES, so we bought two tickets, wandered amongst the collection of steam locomotives on display and then all climbed aboard the train back to Coles Beach. It was a novelty for the doggies - travelling on a vintage train, manned by volunteers.
Time for lunch and a little power nap before our next tourist sight...
