Neighbours!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Thursday 10 February 2011 18:20

We left Lorne on Saturday morning, and the plan was to head through Geelong to get to Melborne, however, the weather seemed to thwart our plans again! As I was checking out of the campsite I overheard a man saying that the road through Geelong was impassable due to flash flooding, and there was no way to get to Melbourne! So we headed to the information centre to find out what route to take, or if we had to stay put! Thankfully they told us the road was now open again but that we would need to take care and look for local signs. Luckily the road wasn't too bad, although flooded in the left lane often and you could see how much rain there had been, but we got to Melbourne in one piece! Found the nice campsite we stayed in last time and pitched the tent.

Sunday was NEIGHBOURS day! We had booked on the tour for 12pm, so got the tram in nice an early to find the place, which was easy so we had some time to kill. Wandered down the road and saw a big travel expo going on with free entry, so went to check that out. Got a free cotton bag each on the way in which comes in handy as a beach bag! There were stalls for all sorts of places, and since we are heading to NZ, Fiji and Hawaii we hit those ones! Some great info and brochures which we picked up, so that was great that we accidentally found that!
The Neighbours tour was amazing! We arrived and the weather was looking iffy, which disappointed me as I didn't want to visit Ramsay Street in the rain! Then it started to pour down when we got on the bus!!! The 'star' we got to meet was 'Janelle Timmons', who was in it a couple of years ago! Not Susan or Toadie, but still fun to meet her! She was great, talked lots about the show, and the people who played certain characters, and who her favourite was etc. We ended up going back into the office for that bit as the rain was so bad, and she posed for photos and signed neighbours postcards for us! She was great fun and there was definitely a bit of 'Janelle' in her!

So, back on the bus, which had a TV playing old Neighbours episodes! Our driver and guide was a lovely girl who had been a fan for life, and worked on the show in the arts department, and was now doing the tours! She gave us loads of gossip about up coming story lines and characters etc, which was great! She did check first that we didn't mind hearing any plot spoilers before she told us! Luckily as we drove the weather really cleared up and the sun came out so I was very happy! Because we were doing the weekend tour we got to visit the set of the Lassiters complex, where we saw the lake, Lassiters hotel, Harold's store, Toadie's Law Office and Charlie's Bar! I loved posing for photos outside each one, but it felt very surreal!!! It was so weird actually being there and walking around, but also knowing that there was actually nothing behind the door, as they film the inside stuff in the studios! We also got to see the Garage, Grease Monkey's and the Police Station, and a new set they have built which hasn't aired yet, Sonya's Grandma's house!

After the tour, with lots more info and gossip, we headed to the actual Street!!!!
We pulled up and some friend's of the real resident of Harold's house were leaving, so the woman who owns it was stood in the drive! So strange! We had to wait until she'd gone inside before we took pictures. So we went about having photos in front of all the houses and holding the 'Ramsay Street' sign (the real street is called Pin Oak Court)! I loved every second of it! My favourite picture is Ben and I under the trellis of Karl and Susan's garden! I am so pleased we got to do this!

On Monday and Tuesday we didn't really get up to much, lazing in the sun by the pool and Ben swimming in it! On Wednesday we had a great night out with friend's who have been travelling in Oz too. A couple from Ben's work, and the Uni days and their friends and partners too. We met at the night market, consumed a lot of wine and had a great night out! Unfortunately we both suffered the next day and felt rough as rats! We met up with the crowd again for lunch and hung out in the city for the afternoon, then it was back to the campsite to jump in the pool to refresh! Spent a couple more days in Melbourne than planned, as Ami and Pete who had come for the night out were also camping at the same place, which was nice! Had some good evenings with a box of wine and card games! We left Melbourne on Sunday morning and it was cold and overcast. We are heading inland to go through Canberra and onto the coast at Bateman's Bay to follow it up towards Sydney. we looked in the Big 4 book for places to stay and chose a campsite near Wodonga, and we're so glad we ended up here! It's a beautiful campsite right on the waters edge of Lake Hume, and also has a great swimming pool, it reminds us of being in Mexico! The weather here was so dramatically different, blue sky, sunshine and super hot! We had a lovely afternoon by the pool and it was so hot that even I had to get in!
Monday morning we got up early to Skype with Carol and Mike and then hit the road. It was great to speak to them and see them, and we managed to get over the signal problems in the end! After the skype chat we decided that it was such a nice day and we didn't want to spend it in the car, so we booked in for one more night! So, we've had another lovely day by the pool! Ben has been busy emailing and calling people for a job, as it is becoming a bit of a desperate situation now, but hasn't had much luck which is a shame. Seems that there are lots of newly qualified's around, and lots of people on the sunshine coast were made redundant, and with the flooding, it's not making the job searching very fruitful! Sure something will work out!
Sarah x

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From one extreme to the other!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Friday 4 February 2011 01:55

The title of this blog refers to the temperatures of this week! So, it has been a week since shark day! On Friday we had a rest after our eventful day! We enjoyed a laid back day in the sunshine and spent the afternoon on a little patch of beach a short walk from our tent. It was secluded and we were the only ones there all afternoon, it was bliss! We heard that the next 2 -3 days were going to be very hot, and the weather was issuing extreme heat warnings. We were travelling back towards Adelaide, and were originally going to stop at Port Augusta again for one night as it cuts the journey nicely into 2 four hour drives each day, however, that was where it had been really hot on the way up, and when we saw temperatures of 47 degrees on the weather map we decided to drive all the way to Adelaide in one day as we didn't want to stay there. However, travelling 8 hours in the crazy heat all day with no air con was not much fun either, and Adelaide itself was about 40 degrees! However, we made it in the end, having drunk about 6 litres of water between us and headed straight for the pool! once we had cooled down a bit we went to the beach and enjoyed going in the sea! We didn't put the tent up until much later, waiting for it to cool down, but even overnight it was 30 degrees! I didn't sleep as well as I normally do! The next day was even hotter, hitting 42 degrees, so we decided not to drive anywhere, and sought shelter in the air conditioning of the shopping mall! Ben had to get some new flip flops, as after 3 months of wearing his faves daily, they finally died! Shopping was a success, he picked up a bargain and we found Beach Boules to play, which they call Bocci (pronounced Bochi) here.
We spent more time in the sea and watched the final of the Australian Open in the lovely air conditioned TV room!
The next day we were supposed to go to an aboriginal camp and stay overnight and take part in bush walking and 'dream time stories', which I was really looking forward to. I had read about it in our guide book and found out about it online, and you could camp for just $10 a night, and take part in the activities and there was a restaurant serving aboriginal food which it said you had to book, so off we went. However, when we got there the campground was empty, and there was a big car full of aboriginal men. As we walked towards the entrance of the building, one of them shouted over to us and we told him we wanted to camp and he showed us inside. The place was a dump, with their crap everywhere, and it transpired that this building was also the restaurant. I asked him about the bush walking and what time it was, he said anytime, so we figured it would just be him showing us around, and the 'dream time stories' thing wasn't what I was hoping. Both of us were getting a bad vibe and didn't feel comfortable but it was hard to say to each other in front of him! We asked to have a look around, and when we did we both quickly said we didn't want to stay!!!! So we told them we were heading to the museum down the road and would be back, but with no intention of it! Luckily the museum at the next place was worth a visit, and I am glad we got to do that, however, I was really disappointed that the aboriginal camp was such a let down. I was really hoping to find out more about the Aborigines, they are quite a 'hidden culture' here. The museum was good, however I would have loved to speak to some of the people and found out how they feel, what they do now and more about their culture.
So, as we were not staying there we drove on further than expected and went to Robe, the little place where we had the nice fish and chips on the way up. To cheer me up we had the nice fish and chips again, and enjoyed them by the beach in the same spot!
The next morning we drove to Mount Gambier, where we stopped for lunch on the way through, which has the Blue Lake, that is indeed Very blue! We decided to stay a couple of nights here as it seemed a nice spot to explore. There are lots of outdoorsy things to do and lots of walks which we took advantage of. Mount Gambier is all built around an extinct volcano, and the Blue Lake is in one of three craters. We did a walk all the way around the edge of one of the craters which took about an hour and a half and hopefully burnt a lot of calories! We also visited the sunken garden. The whole area is limestone, and the sunken garden is where long ago the land caved in, and it is now a beautiful garden in the middle of the city! The next day we visited Engelbrecht caves, which is a cave system underneath the city! We had a tour which was fascinating. The area is one of the best for cave divers in the country, and we were shown where they would enter the water. One of the caves was only for VERY experienced cave divers, as it is very narrow and has no air pockets for much of it. I couldn't even imagine doing that, but as usual Ben was really up for it! Luckily (for me!) you can't just do cave diving, you need a certain qualification here so it was not on the agenda! We also visited the free wildlife park in the afternoon, but didn't see much wildlife at all, which was a bit disappointing, but the walk was beautiful. We decided to go back after dinner when it was cooler and much later in the day, and we saw loads of kangaroos and wallabies! We could not believe they had all been hiding in the day, goodness know where!!!
On Thursday we drove to Warrnambool and stopped over ready to drive the Great Ocean Road again on Friday and Saturday. Had a lazy afternoon in the park and played some Bocci! This morning we drove some of the Great Ocean Road to Lorne and are staying in a lovely camping spot right next to the river! Unfortunately one of the tent poles that was damaged in the severe wind in Port Lincoln actually snapped today, however, with some strong tape and a bit of luck we have managed to make it work, let's just hope it's not windy tonight!
Luckily we have been unaffected by the terrible Cyclone that hit Queensland, it has been an awful time for the people who live in the north. They have just started to recover from the flooding, and have now been devastated by the worst cyclone in nearly 100 years. We are hoping to go north in the next few weeks, as was our original plan, but we will have to see how passable the roads are, I expect it will be a long road to recovery.
So, tomorrow we finish the Great Ocean Road and return to Melbourne. On Sunday we will be visiting Ramsay Street, which I am very excited about! On Wednesday we are also meeting up with friends who have also been travelling, and we are all managing to be in Melbourne at the same time which will be fun! After that, probably Sydney, but who knows?!
Sarah x

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