The Road Trip

We left the hostel at 10am but still didn't have confirmation that we had a campervan booked !! After many calls and some wasted time we spoke directly with Wicked Campervans who told us they had a booking for us and we arranged to pick the van up at noon. We then went online to print off a route for the week long drive from Sydney down to Melbourne...Who needs a map anyway ? So the van was collected, a kind of transit van thing but of the Toyata persuasion and decorated in fantastic X-Men grafitti.

The X-Men Van

We then filled up with petrol, had a brief glimpse at a map in the service station and set about getting out of Sydney. Surprise, surprise we were soon a tad lost and at that point decided maybe a map would probably be of use to us. Said map was soon purchased and we headed out of the city, west towards the Blue Mountains. We picked up some details of campsites at Glendale and the very helpful lady suggested we did a bit of bush-camping (i.e. free) at 'Old Ford Reserve'. We stocked up on some provisions (food and beer) at Katoomba and eventually rocked up in the Blue Mountains late afternoon. The campsite was in a stunning little spot with all the facilities you could ever need - a pit toilet and a creek. We'd planned a nice veggie breakfast for tea but soon found out that the stove in the van didn't work !! Being in the middle of nowhere there was little we could do but build a fire and cook on that - good job the fire ban was not yet in place.

Cooking with fire

The food, washed down by a botlle of sparkling wine, turned out pretty good and we spent the rest of the evening chilling and taking in the amazing night sky which, given no light pollution at all, was a sight to behold.

Day 2 - The Blue Mountains to Bulli

Yeah, the first night in the van went pretty well. We made another fire in the morning so we could get the brews on and soon set off the take in some of the sights in the Blue Mountains National Park and to get away from the flies !!! Up until this point we had never really understood the Australian corked hat thing but now it was all beginning to make sense. The flies in Australia are very annoying and there are millions and millions and millions of them !! The first point of call that day was 'Evans Lookout', which gave us this amazing view over part of the park.

Evans Lookout, Blue Mountains

After that we were back on the road and heading to perhaps the most famous part of the park, the view of 'The Three Sisters' from 'Echo Point'. It was pretty impressive and the didgeridoo playing Aboriginee added to the flavour, well that was until the 200 Chinese school kids turned up !!

The 3 Sisters

We had lunch in the van and then decided to head down to Bulli (everyone likes a bit of Bulli), stopping in Penrith along the way to buy a replacement part for the gas stove. Here we encountered a crazy thunderstorm and got a proper soaking but at least we'll be able to cook on the stove tonight. After driving most of the afternoon, as recommended by Wicked we drove at 80kph so it took a while to get to places, we stopped at the information centre in Cambletown who pointed us in the direction of a campsite at Bulli, where we arrived at about 5pm and managed to claim the last pitch on the site !! We then went for a quick walk into town for some wine, an hour later we were back at the campsite, walking along the beach and cursing the everpresnt flies !! That night we met Ozzie lady who had already clocked up 15,000kms on her road trip and uttered what was soon to become our favourite phrase 'I'm a birdo' (Oz for birdwatcher). We had another bottle of lovely local sparkling wine and crashed.

Day 3 - Bulli to Jervis Bay

It was down to the beach first thing to swim in the outdoor pool there - one of those pools that is filled by the high tide. It was bloody freezing, and we shared the water with some sea slugs, but it was very invigorating and certainly woke us up !!

Nik in very cold pool, Bulli, New South Wales

After brekkie we were back on the road, doing 80kph, and heading down the coast towards Jervis Bay. In our hurry we managed to forget the battery charger and plug adaptor, DOH !! After stopping for info at Shell Harbour we then managed to drive the van over Jon's water bottle, oh dear....(Rich, thanks for the bottle mate but they ain't indestructable !!!). We found out at the info centre in Nowra that there was no bush-camping at Jevis Bay but that there was very nice site in Boderee National Park. We arrived Green Patch Campsite in the afternoon, had lunch and then headed down to the beautiful white sandy beach for a swim (more cold water !!) and a couple of hours chilling.

Relaxing on the beach, Jervis Bay

On the way back to the van we saw a wallaby and a kookaburra, but the best was yet to come...We had a nice pasta dish for tea and were sitting around relaxing afterwards when we noticed a very cheeky possum finshing off the remains of the tomato sauce for us !!

Kookaburra

Sharing dinner with cheeky possum

Day 4 - Jervis Bay to Mystery Bay

We stopped at the Boderee National Park Botanical Gardens on the way out and caught our first site of a kangeroo and the ranger there showed us a Long-necked Turtle, very funny ! It was then south down the coast to Bateman's Bay, where we had lunch and saw some very large and amusing pelicans.

Lunch at Batemans Bay

On the way to Mystery Bay

We stocked up on more groceries and then carried on the crawl to Narooma where we learnt of a place just down the road called Mystery Bay, where we could camp in the bush. It lived up to the recommendation, another beautiful place right on the beach. After a stroll along the beach we collected a load of firewood, got the fire going and cooked some spuds in it, lovely !! We spent the rest of the night sitting round the fire talking about what a fantastic place Oz was...and Nik didn't shut up about her favourite meal in a long time, baked potatoes (in the fire) with cheee and beans.

Day 5 - Mystery Bay to Mallacoota

After being woken by Craig, the friendly ranger, we headed down to the beach for another early morning swim (no showers at Mystery Bay), then it was on the road to the beautiful old village of Central Tilba. After a walk round the village and it's many galleries we were back on the Princes Highway heading towards Eden. The rain came down when we arrived and the info centre told us that there had been 3 whales in the bay up the road yesterday. We quickly headed up there for lunch hoping they would still be around. They weren't and we left disappointed (next time...). It was a long drive to Mallacoota where we stayed on the waterfront with a fabulous view of the lagoon and the many pelicans and our own jetty (no boat).

Pelican

On the waterfront

We sat out for a bit a night but the flies (and mosquitoes) really were on form here so in wasn't a late one...

Pelican watching on Mallacoota

Day 6 - Mallacoota to The Blue Pools (via Hollands Landing)

That morning, after a walk on the beach and loads more annoying flies, we saw some very comical gallahs ('Ya flamin' gallah !!) and then headed down the highway to Orbust, and then for lunch at Metung. We had originally intended to stay the night in Metung but it was a bit flash for us and the X-Men van, one of those places with very big, expensive houses where everyone has there own yacht. So we headed further along the coast to Lakes Entrance but decided against staying at one of the many busy campsites there. So, after consulting the map, we decided to stay at a place called Hollands Landing. It was long drive from Lakes Entrance and on arrival we wished we hadn't bothered. The place was proper red-neck country and the only ugly spot we had seen so far on the trip. The road into the village came to an abrupt end at a dark canal and it gave the place a kind of 'end of the road' feeling, not very nice at all. It was then about-turn and after consulting the map we eventually ended up in a very pretty place called Blue Pools, and it was free to camp there. We collected a load of firewood and got a nice fire burning. At that point a fellow camper (the only other people there) came over and warned us of a severe weather warning they had just heard on the radio. Right on cue it started to lash down and the fire was soon out....the storm was pretty violent with thunder and lightening that lasted through the night.

Day 7 - The Blue Pools to Wilson's Promontory

It was another early start and the rain had stopped, it was a beautiful morning. We checked out the pools up the creek but decided against a swim and were on the road by about 9am.

The Blue Pools (as seen in B&W)

It was a long, hot drive and we finally rocked up in stunning Wilson's Prom early afternoon.

Ozzie road sign

We went into the very expensive grocery store and were gutted to find out that there was no grog for sale at all !!! Wilson's Prom is all National Park and the road in wasn't the greatest - it would be a 2 hr round trip to go out to the nearest shop to get some beer. So we headed onto the campsite, a really nice place, and parked up next to a couple of guys. They were soon over warning us that they had about another 30 mates due to arrive and had a big party planned for the evening. We told them we weren't bothered, they could make as much noise as they liked. We then realised that if they had loads of people still to arrive then all might not be lost, and duely asked them if they would mind ringing some of there friends to ask if they could pick us some beers up. A quick phone call later and it was all sorted, in fact the guy they rang was actually in the liquor store when they called, so no problem....That afternoon, after reversing the van into a tree (luckily no damage) we headed down to the stunning beach for a swim in the freezing cold water. We were going to stay on the sand all afternoon but the flies on the beach were the worst we had encountered, they were in our eyes, mouths and ears, so it was quickly back to the van to escape.

Those pesky flies/ Jon Merrick

Day 8 - Wilson's Promontory to Phillip Island

We were up very early today due to the heat, it must have been well over 20 degrees C at 6am. It was down to the beach to cool down in the sea but we didn't hang around for too long after as the flies were too much again. We soon headed off and the weather forecast on the radio said that it would be up to 37 degrees C here today !! It was already cooking with a really strong wind and we could see how easy it must be for the bush fires to get going in Oz. Before leaving this beautiful place we went up to Mount Oberon, the highest point on the penninsula, but it was far too hot to hang around for long. Next stop on the way out was stunning Squeaky Beach (so named for the noise our feet made on the white sand as we walked) but again it was a flying visit as we knew we would be frazzled in an instant if we stayed any longer.

Nik at Squeaky Beach

After a couple of hours of driving we got to Philip Island and our first port of call was the chocolate factory on the way in. As we arrived a woman was buying all the chilli chocolates so we resisted any others and instead bought tickets for the world famous Penguin Parade that evening. It was then onto the Koala Santuary where many cute koalas were seen.

Sleepy Koala

The Knobbies, mainland Australia's most southerly point

We then booked into the campsite and headed down to the most southerly point of mainland Australia, The Nobbies. By this time the weather head taken a turn for the worst, and it was pretty cold and windy in this remote spot. Seagulls nest here and we were surrounded my hundreds of noisy gulls and fledglings.
After tracking down some chippies we went to the Penguin Parade - every evening about 600 Fairy Penguins come out of the ocean to nest up in the sand dunes. This is witnessed every night by hundreds of visitors, mostly Chinese tour bus types. It was a very funny spectacle and fantastic to watch the penguins nervously waddle up the beach, avoiding the onlooking seagulls. They are the smallest type of penguin in the world, with an average height of only 30cm, and very entertaining indeed !!!

Little Penguins, Phillip Island

By the end of the show we were prety wet as the rain had started to come down - a bit of a change from Wilson's Prom this morning. We headed backto the campsite for some food and an early night ready for tomorrow's BIG adventure !!!

Day 9 - Phillip Island to The Great Ocean Road

We had originally planned that today would be a relatively easy drive. The van is due back in Melbourne tommorrow, so the idea was to drive towards the city and camp somewhere on the outskirts for the final night so we could get the van back at 10am as previously arranged. However, our plans changed somewhat (somewhere) and we decided that we might like to take a look at the Great Ocean Road. We set off early this morning in the rain, but as we later realised not really early enough. After about 2 hours we reached Melbourne and spent the next couple of hours crawling through the city in a traffic jam. We eventually arrived in Geelong (pretty much the start of the Great Ocean Road) at 1pm and the very helpful guy at the information centre told us that it would take about 6 hours minimum to drive the famous route (we have since read a newspaper article that said that you shouldn't try and cram the Great Ocean Road into 2 days, it deserves at least 3 - how about an afternoon ?!?!). We hadn't banked on this as the van was due back at 10 tomorrow morning, but we checked the small print of the contract which stated we would be charged A$10 for each hour it was late....looks like its gonna be late then. So we set off immediately, stopping for lunch at Bell's Beach, the first recommended stop on the route. Afer lunch we headed to the beautiful Erskine Falls, very pretty even in the torrential rain. After carrying in along the twisty turny coastal road with it's amazing views we stopped in Apollo Bay for a well earned bag of chippies. We then had a walk through a beautiful rain forest home to some pretty big trees....

Nik in rain forest

By now the time was ticking on and we stiil had a good way to go to get to The Twelve Apostles, the most famous part of the journey. After driving inland for a while the road eventually joined the coast again and we were finally there. It was now starting to get dark and we were pretty knackered after driving all day. It was all worth it though as the scenery lived up to the hype and the wild weather added to the whole experience.

The 12 Apostles

Loch Ard Gorge

Us at the Twelve Apostles

After seeing this stunning coastline we decided we'd better find a campsite for the night. There was still quite a bit of the Great Ocean Road ahead of us (and we'd missed a lot of it out) but the further we drove the further away from Melbourne we would be in the morning. We found a nice spot in a little town called Port Campbell, got some food on and then crashed. It had been a long, crazy day but we were both glad we had decided to do it.

Day 10 - Port Campbell back to Melbourne.

Typically we weren't up as early as we should have been and it was about 10am before we were eventually ready to leave Port Campbell. Bearing in mind the van was due back at 10am we thought it might be wise to ring Wicked and explain the thing would be late. The girl who answered asked how late it would be and she didn't seem too impressed when we said about 3 hours, telling us that we would be charged an extra day's rental fee. There was no way we were accepting this especially considering that there was no mention of it in the small print, only that we would have to pay $10 for each hour it was late. After some discussion (us with her and her with her manager) it was agreed that as long as we got the van back into Melbourne by 1pm we would only have to pay an extra $30. We set off straight away, knowing that it would be touch and go whether or not we would make it. We went inland rather than back along the Great Ocean Road and the roads on the inital part of the journey weren't great. That didn't matter too much and the 80kph that we had until now pretty much stuck to was out of the window. However this meant a vast increase in fuel consumption and it was long before the fuel warning light was on !!! By now we were properly in the middle of nowhere, with no gas station for miles. The initial speed had done us no favours and we spent the next half hour of so limping along at about 60kph convinced we would soon grind to a halt...we didn't . We eventually crawled into a garage, filled the beast up and were soon onto better roads where the van was given a good thrashing !!! Driving into downtown Melbourne was great fun, that is one BIG city !!! But by now Kenty was something of a ninja-navigator and she got us through the crazy one-way system. We pulled up outside the Wicked depot at 12.59 - we had made it !!! We emptied the van of all our stuff and handed over the keys and, after all the rush, we weren't even charged the $30 for bringing it back late !! We were sad to say goodbye to the van but were both agreed that it had been a great way to get round and see things in your own time, and decied that we would have to get a van booked for the time we would soon be spending in New Zealand...

written by  jonnik on January 10, 2008 from Sydney, Australia
from the travel blog: Jon & Kenty's Grrrrrand Tour
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