Adelaide to Newcastle

Well here we are in Newcastle NSW, staying with our friend Natalie, a welcome break near the end of our road adventure; we have only a few more hours of travelling in our little yellow car, before we return it to Kevin the owner, our next Helpx host.

Lunch on the beach

London Bridge?

The trip has been amazingly good, it is two weeks today that we set off from Perth not quiet knowing what to expect or if the car would make it.  Our time in Adelaide with Shirley and Tony was just the ticket but we had to leave and press on, the road was calling – the whole trip since leaving the UK is all about the calling of the road and seeing fresh places and meeting new people.  

The Twelve Apostles

So Adelaide to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road.  We spent the first day just getting near to the beginning, staying overnight in a national Park complete with kangaroos and noisy birds and a river in a limestone gorge.  Then next day, the Great Ocean Road; looking at views of rock formations along the coast with names like, The Twelve Apostles and London Bridge, we stopped at nearly every opportunity, taking photographs looking and marvelling.

We arrived late in the evening at Michelle and Cam’s in Melbourne and spent 3 nights with them and then another night at Tess and Ben’s who we met whilst in India, we have met so many lovely, friendly people during the last nine months and expect to meet more.  Is it only 3 months left, what happened to that then?  A good evening catching up before hitting the road, away from the coast this time up through the Snowy Mountains on gravel roads, chipping the windscreen along the way.  

Morning teeth brushing

Wilderness

Snoozing

Breath taking Scenery, free camping and, oh the luxury, new camping mats that improved the temperature in the sleeping bags. Sleeping straight on the ground has taken me back too many years the think about.  The gravel road was reasonable and then a sign – ‘Road narrows with bends’ for the next 36km, it hugs the side of the mountain and drops away very steeply to the right side.  Suddenly a small kangaroo leaps out in front of us and bounds across the road and away into the bush, good job our driver, Megan, was alert and nobody got hurt.  We have seen lots of kangaroos ‘sleeping’ on the side of the road.  We snaked our way alongside the Snowy River through the national park, out of Victoria into New South Wales the scenery was very beautiful and not many people around, one of the reasons we love Australia.

Snowy River valley

Banksia

A View Back

So here we are about to start our next Helpx, where we expect to be for 2 weeks then some time in Sydney before flying to Christchurch on the South Island of New Zealand on Valentines Day, which reminds me I need a card for … ?