Campervan Travels

Once again I am later than I had intended with this post; so much to do, so little time!!!
However, as promised I will be trying to show you some of the things we got up to when we hired a camper van for a week and did a quick whiz around the Fleurieu Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, into Victoria on The Great Ocean Road and then back to Adelaide via Bendigo.

Having picked up the van in Adelaide we took a leisurely trip down to Normanville at the south end of the Fleurieu Peninsula where we booked into a camp site in order to be ready first thing in the morning to catch the ferry across to Kangaroo Island (KI). Matthew, of course, was having the time of his life. Mind you, I am not too sure what his secret signals mean.

Although rather dark, this is the view we had from the lounge of the ferry as we traveled across to KI. A pleasant trip of about 3 hours.
Having landed we hightailed it to the far side of the island and, having paid the required entrance fee to the Flinders Chase National Park, set about viewing some of the world reknowned sights such as this view of Admiralty Arch.

Although they are difficult to spot in this photo, there were hundreds of grey seals sunning themselves on the rocks.
Moving on, we visited a fairly remote beach which had a children's play park where a certain person immediately regressed to her childhood

I am afraid that I am jumping forward a great deal here but having visited numerous other places on KI we ended up at Penneshaw in readiness for catching the ferry back to the mainland but where we were fortunate enough to witness the feeding of what seemed like hundreds of pelicans that flew in from all points of the compass.

The guy doing the feeding was wearing the hat as protection from the marauding seagulls which were also trying to get a free feed. The other thing we were able to take in that evening was a tour of the local penguin colony, but I am afraid that photography was extremely limited and only with red light.
The following morning saw us back on the mainland and heading East to hit the Princes Highway were we would head south in order to get to our next planned night stop at Robe. However, without warning we suddenly discovered that we needed to cross the Murray river via a ferry.

Once safely across the river we hit the Princes Highway and made rapid progress southwards. We stopped in Robe for a spot of lunch and then continued to find a camper site in Mount Gambier.

The following day saw us continuing south through Portland to Warrnambool for our next night stop in readiness for a trip along the Great Ocean Road. The sight we wished to see most on this spectacular coastal route was the 12 Apostles. A bit of a misnomer these days, as only 8 of them remain. The other 4, having succumbed to the relentless pounding of the elements. The photo below shows most of the remains and gives some indication of the sort of weather we were having.

A bit further on from here we entered the Otway National Park and took the opportunity to visit Otway Fly. A magnificent tour through the treetops of the sub-tropical rain forest, with an observation platform towering above the canopy. It was only when she reached the top that Samantha remembered that she suffers from vertigo and consequently took some time to descend without having to look down. It was comical to watch but, of course, not funny for her.
 

 
  Following this trip through the treetops, we travelled on through Geelong but turned north before we hit Melbourne. The main reason for this was that the Asian Flu virus was rife in the city at the time and we decided to give that a miss. We travelled through Ballarat and up to Bendigo we we came across a magnificent statue to Queen Victoria, so of course, the "children" had to be photographed in front of it.
 
 

We spent a few hours in Bendigo where there was a classic car display taking place in what appeared to be the central market place. We also took in the local museum which told of the history of the Chinese miners in the area and Matthew got to practice some of his oriental poses. Ah So, glasshopper!!!

Although we were somewhat short of time we also took in what was essentially a scientific interactive museum aimed at children, where Samantha and Matthew lost their heads, as you can see below.

 By this time we were on the road back towards Adelaide although still with a couple of days travel ahead of us. We stopped off at a camper site in Ouyen, where apparently, on 28th May 1848, "not a thing happened." Naturally, Matthew thought this was hilarious.

Trying to explain the immense distances one has to travel in Australia has proven to be quick difficult on our return and I have had the same problem since my first trip in 2000. The following shot of Matthew posing beside the empty road might give some feeling for the distances involved.

Naturally, for a (then) 8 year old lad, all of the travelling proved to be quick tiring but Matthew managed to find a very effective way of passing the time.

On the last night before getting back to Adelaide, we stopped at a camper site at Tailem Bend, overlooking the Murray river where Matthews inventive imagination and a few bits and pieces he found lying around, enabled him to conjure up a complete pirate scenario. You have to use a little bit of imagination!!!

We where by now almost a the end of our holiday but found time for a visit to the Adelaide Zoological Gardens, in order to get a closer loo at some of the indigenous wildlife. However, we came across this Kookaburra just sitting in a tree in complete freedom. It didn't seem at all phased by me taking it's picture.

 However, in the zoo, this Tasmanian Devil certainly lived up to it's reputation and displayed a none too friendly disposition.

 The Kangaroos, on the other hand were all too friendly, as long as they thought you had something for them to eat. Matthew was tickled pink with this.

However, it was all I could do to stop Samantha from trying to smuggle one out, to bring home with her.

 That brings to an end this short and rather curtailed account of our 2009 trip down under. I need to thank my sister Valerie and husband Nick for their very generous hospitality, without which the trip would not have been possible.

I know that we all had a marvellous time in South Australia and I hope that it was an experience that Mathew will remember fondly for many years to come.

It is however, almost time for me to set off on my next Antipodean adventure when I fly out on 27th August, for a 3 week trip around New Zealand followed by 12 weeks around Australia.  Returning to the UK on 13th December.

Watch out for the updates, which I intend to be posting on a regular basis. Thank you for your interest and see you soon.