Emma & Luke's hazey shiraz trail

Saturday 20th Oct signaled the start of our wine tour of McLaren Valley. We took Autumn to the beautiful rolling vineyards of one Australia's most highly regarded producers of Shiraz wines.

All dolled up in our dress (Luke) and shirt (Emma - only kidding, just keeping you on your toes) and checked in at the local caravan site, which I will mention seemed an absolute luxury to us by this point: running hot showers, kitchen facilities including a freezer to cool our ice packs, clothes lines and washing facilities, etc... Sorry I've gone off on a tangent now. So - all checked in at the site we set off along the '5km Shiraz trail' (distance kindly calculated by Luke) to our vineyards of choice. We went to Serafino Wines first, where we tried a few whites and then moved on to some of their award winning reds and received a little insider's knowledge of Shiraz and some helpful spiel to aid us in our consecutive cellar door visits. We set off shortly after along the trail toward our second choice, Battle of Bosworth Wines, to sample some of the only organically certified wines of McLaren Vale, situated at the very far end of the trail. An hour or so later we reached the vineyard only to find it was closed for a function that day... Due to our fantastic mood, not at all due to our consumption of fine wine, we were not perturbed. We hitched a lift back and flew by two more cellar doors, Primo and one of our favorites; Hugh Hamilton/ Black Sheep where we also sampled some of their olive oils and salad dressings. Later that evening we dined in with home-made curry and some more of the local wine, well - it would have been rude not to!

On Sunday we took Autumn along with us and managed to see another six cellar doors. We were a little more clued up the next day and didn't drink every tasting we were given so were able to hold out a little longer. We included the Battle of Bosthworth, Leconfield, Lloyd Brothers, d'Arenberg - my fave and personally recommended to those of you reading my blog, Corriole and finishing up at Samuel's Gorge. All in all a rather exhausting weekend at McLaren Vale!

Adelaide - Brighton, Henley and CBD

We really enjoyed our few days in Adelaide exploring some of the Lonely Planets Guide's (LPG) recommended hot-spots.
We arrived in Adelaide on Weds 17th October and headed straight for Glenelg beach, the hip traveller's end of Adelaide where we planned to set up camp for the night.
Gorgeous beaches and deluxe board walks paint the coast here (sorry if I sound like an excerpt from the LPG, I read it too much!), laden with runners pounding the pavements - we were so impressed and inspired to run again and made plans to run first thing in the morning.
We made our dinner and enjoyed with a bottle of local red (Adelaide is famous for it's vineyards, with some of the best Shiraz in the world originating from this area). Unfortunately we were prompted to move on later in the evening by patrol but he kindly showed us where we would be ok to park for the night (By a railway track - cheers bud!).

We set off early the next day on our longboards from the coast, where we left Autumn, into the City Centre (CBD). We calculated it was about 8km each way but, we usually underestimate our distances!
When we arrived in the CBD we hit the Central Market for coffee and fruit and then onto the shops to get me a new pair of trainers as I have manged to lose mine on-route (classic Emma manoeuvre!).
Adelaide's CBD is pretty small, probably no larger than Windsor town centre but with the addition of a few sky-risers. The great thing about this city thought is that it seems to have been really well thought out. It's easy to navigate because it's just blocks, like Melbourne and its surrounded by parks on all four sides which really makes it seem spacious and clean.

Beautiful sunset off Henley Beach

Later that day and after our long and hungry return journey on the longboards, we moved the camper up the coast a little more to Henley (All these English town names make it all rather nostalgic) where we stayed the night. On route, we were pulled over by a policeman (Again!?) and Luke was asked to perform two alcohol and drug tests! We were advised that we had been completely selected at random but running into policemen sure does seem to be an acquired art of ours recently!
Once Luke had passed the tests the policeman kindly advised us where the best spots were to publicly consume alcohol (Gotta' love Aus!) in the few non 'dry areas' of Adelaide's coast and also, the best wine valley to visit in his (Barossa Valley) and his wife's (Clare Valley) opinions. Off we went, merrily on our way with our newly made plans to visit the vineyards - we didn't need much encouragement!

We stayed at our spot in Henley until the evening on Friday where we met a lady qualified in the profession of 'Craniosacral Therapy', she kindly treated my stresses at the roadside, lifting it from my womb area and cleansing me of my negative energy while Luke waited patiently for an hour... You meet such lovely selfless people while travelling in a camper!

Campfire numero uno

A few hours North of Kingston, Adelaide bound, we came upon a dirt track loop road off the main drag. Not adhering to any particular agenda recently, we decided to take it and happened upon a nice little spot in the middle of the Aussie bush by an inland salt lake, where we decided to camp the night. By camp I mean the whole hog, campfire an' all.

Our first real campfire

Dinner on the fire

Luke gathered up our kindling and wood supplies and we started a fire C. Dundee style. We wrapped sweet potatoes in tin foil and shoved them in the fire (burrowed from Habitat HQ's free food shelf), mixed beans and tuna in a pan and cooked them on the embers and finished with a creamy rice pudding on the last of the heat! We really enjoyed our 'into the wild' experience and found nature to be delightfully accommodating (hidden meaning for personal future reference).

Most importantly and my main reason for dedicating an entire blog entry to one day, was what we experienced when the sun went in, for, positioned in between nowhere and somewhere else, we witnessed the most amazing night sky. Never before have I seen so many billions of stars shining so brightly. Luke and I felt so small and insignificant in comparison. Unfortunately, as with so many other wonders, a mere camera couldn't possibly capture what we saw that night so - you'll have to take my word for it!

On the way back onto the main drag we saw a kangaroo jump in front of the van and witnessed the crossing of a large dragon-like lizzard which we have yet to look up but loved seeing as we felt like we truly were in the bush.

A few "interesting" days...by Luke

Hello! Sorry for the radio silence…it’s a long story, but, don’t worry, all will be explained…

So, a lot has happened since our “proposed” date for departing Melbourne…

It all started on the 11^th of October.

After another early morning run, and another long day making full use of the free food shelf and beanbags at Habitat HQ hostel, we finally got the call from Adam - the mechanic at ADM motors - saying that “the van was fixed, and she’s driving great”. We were ecstatic. We were finally going to hit the road and - not that we don’t like Melbourne, we both think it’s a great city, just that it probably needs a week, two at most to really enjoy – we were finally getting out of the city and into real Australia.

It was 16:18, and the garage shut at 17:30, so we had to be efficient if we wanted to leave that day, we still had a lot to do. Needless to say, the next two and a half hours were some of our finest multi-tasking moments.

I jumped on the tram (using our tomtom to make sure I was going the correct way – as you’d imagine, I got a few odd looks as I was sitting on the tram holding a satnav up as we winded down the roads turning each corner), whilst Em prepared all of our bags and food for the journey.

Got to the garage with ten minutes to spare, and after a quick test drive in Autumn, I could happily shake Adams hand as I paid him and left the garage for the last time…

A short drive later, and I was back at Habitat HQ and we were loading up Autumn, preparing to set off on our trip.

Goodbyes said, bags loaded, onto the petrol station.

Moments later, with a full water tank and $80 of fuel in her, we drove to Coles supermarket in Balaclava (a small area just East of St Kilda – more detailed descriptions will follow…)

With so much time on our hands the past few days we had actually planned an impressive shopping list. Consisting of canned goods and vegetables, we have eaten lots, and well, and still have lots to go almost a week later.

We loaded up the van, sat in our seats, and were finally ready to go.

Em was going to do the first leg of the trip, and as she turned the ignition on, what followed was the start of a very peculiar little adventure…

“BANG!!!”

…the ignition cut out.

…we waited.

We tried to start Autumn up again…nothing.

We got out, looked around the car, and checked the exhaust to see that nothing was blocking it. I thought that it had just backfired and that the battery might be drained.

It was getting close to 22:00 now, fortunately a fellow car park driver who happened to be an apprentice mechanic offered his help.

We got the jump leads out and hooked up the batteries, waited a few moments and tried to start Autumn up again…

…nothing.

And now, the immobiliser had stopped flashing too.

There were no signs of life – we feared for the worst.

It was past ten o’clock, it was cold, and we were in a badly lit car park in Balaclava, which isn’t the happiest of places to be in during the day. (Earlier that day whilst Em had been strolling down the pavement to get a morning coffee an intoxicated woman with erratic arms flung her forearm towards Em – fortunately Em has ninja quick reactions and managed to dodge the attack and escape). In summary, Balaclava isn’t the kind of place you’d want to spend your day in, let alone your night – with all of your valuables with you in a 24 year old campervan.

Fear was definitely kicking in and we were succumbing to drastic decisions.

I thought I could push the campervan along the road back to St Kilda. It was just a mere 600m, with only one four-lane highway to cross (and with a 60 litre full tank of petrol, 80 litres of water, as well as a good 10 days of shopping) lets just say it wasn’t my finest moment, and the van didn’t move very far.

It was getting very late and Em had spotted a somewhat “quiet” side road, which looked better than where we were, so with the help of two shopping assistants who were locking up their stores, we pushed the van around the corner and set up for the night.

We didn’t sleep a lot.

Next morning, van still intact, we called up Adam.

Detailing what we remembered, Em chatted to Adam and suggested that possibly a fuse had gone.

Unfortunately, our phone ran out of credit and cut him off.

This wasn’t the best start to our day.

Minutes later, phone topped up, we chatted to Adam again. He kindly offered to leave the garage and drive over to where we were. (Thanks Adam!)

Twenty minutes on the scene and after using a few gadgets that Em and I hadn’t packed in our bags, he diagnosed it as one of the main fuses had gone. (A wire had short-circuited on the exhaust as we started it up and blown the fuse.)

As mechanics do best, he got out his tools, soldering iron in hand and made us a makeshift temporary one and started up the engine. We followed him to a nearby shop and he ordered a replacement fuse in for us – Autumn was fixed!

A day delayed, we set off. Saying our goodbye to Melbourne, we were finally on the road.

Autumn with her old and new owners

Next stop, The Great Ocean Road. Note to self, a full tank of water whilst driving along Australia’s windiest road with multiple inclines and steep declines is not very fuel economic. Needless to say, we drove a fair old way, and stopped for the night just west of Bells Beach.

A beautiful morning woke us up, and Em’s spider sense was tingling. “We should probably get out of here”, she suggested to me as we started to think of morning tea…followed shortly by a friendly warden knocking on our window saying that we were parked in a national heritage site and it was a $120 per person fine. We weren’t laughing. We apologised as sincerely as we could, as we hadn't actually seen any signs…he kindly let us off with a warning.

Definitely awake now, we set off west. Several hours driving later, we soon left the Great Ocean Road and were heading towards South Australia.

We decided to stop off for lunch in Bridgewater Bay, (still in Victoria), a picturesque 4km long white sand beach that really was beautiful.

After a day on the beach, we decided we’d stay here for longer and went off in search of somewhere to sleep for the night - where wardens and fines wouldn’t factor into a morning lie in.

Could be Mars?

Amazingly, five minutes down the road and we came across a camping car park. It was by the sea, and a short walk from several national heritage sites. One of which, natural blowholes, was a 200m stroll towards the cliffs, whilst natural springs was a 2km walk away. With dusk and darkness looming, we looked at each other and thought we’d jog it. Flip-flops flapping, we got there with plenty of time, admiring the Mars-esque landscape along the way - and we can say that jogging is our new favourite way of seeing the sites.

Em - just after a 2km flip flop jog and seeing the natural springs.

The next morning, we headed back to the bay. After a day on the beach, we decided we’d hit the road again and set off north west towards Adelaide.

Along the way, we remembered that we had met some guys from Adelaide in Nomads hostel whilst in Melbourne, and as Em drove along the highway, I leant back across our camper to grab my stuff and try and find their details, jokingly remarking “watch out for police cars”.

…famous last words.

Moments later, Em was flashed down by a police car and we pulled over.

Sheepishly, I got out of the car and spoke to the officer. We were flashed down because I wasn’t wearing my seat belt.

Our lonely planet guide to driving in Australia. (Looked at after the incident).

As above, you can see that it wasn’t a smart thing to do. After explaining to the officer that I had just momentarily taken it off to grab my things, and then put it on again (so the window for him seeing me without it on was literally 10-15 seconds) he swiftly took my driving license and walked to his car. He didn’t look happy.

Bizarrely, he returned a few minutes later, and was a changed man, smiling, he said as he passed me my license back, “That’s alright, I trust you. You can go now.”

We were confused. But happy to oblige, and drove off.

After that series of events we set off for Bool Lagoon, a large national reserve where we would stay for the night.

On arriving, and noticing the park admission fees, we decided to carry on moving, and headed west.

Now, finally, we're parked up in a small town called Kingston...we stopped for a while at a truckers lay-by on the way, but thoughts of the film Wolf Creek soon got stuck in our minds and the hour drive to the coast at night time seemed less scary than staying in the van!

We’ve just popped into the local library to do some well-needed bank transfers (we’ve been keeping all of our money in our savings account, so we need internet to access it and transfer it to our current account.)

Before getting to the library, we had a quarter tank of petrol and $5 to our name...of which we spent $4.80 on stamps for postcards...., yes, that's right, we had 20 cents to our name earlier today?!

But, all transferred, safe and sound, we're now ready to hit the road for some more adventures.

Will keep you posted,

Luke  x

Thermal springs & GOR tour

It's Wednesday, 4:50pm. Sat on beanbags in the lounge area of Habitat HQ. Sound familiar? It certainly does to us...

We were hoping to have Autumn back today from the mechanics but today has been and gone and now tomorrow even seems unlikely. Current sentiments are boredom, restlessness, lethargy, langour and a good measuring of bloated, however, also... tanned, clean, nourished and most importantly: Ready. To leave. Purlease!

Whilst playing the waiting game we have also been keeping ourselves entertained by visiting the local tourist hotspots.

Top thermal spring, 40^oC, 360^o vistas. Nice.

Prating around in the thermal springs

On Sunday we went to the thermal springs via public transport (as we currently don't have our camper, long story...), it was about 2 and 1/2 hours each way but well worth the commute.

No comment...

The springs are heated via a geothermal aquifer and are high in minerals and sulfides (minerals that smell like eggy farts) which are good for skin and hair.
 The springs vary in temperature between 38 and 41^o and there are also sauna and steam rooms. If you take time to ensure full submersion, you can be sure to acquire a beautifully shiny barnet, with a distinct whiff of eggy farts, guaranteed to last after not one but two washes (the smell, not the shine). Unfortunately, the springs can't do much for your looks, trust me, I tried...
We enjoyed a delightful game of charades and over-killed on eye-spy on the journey home, It took me over 10 minutes before Luke had to tell me his spy for 'n', which was for the nuts I had been scoffing all along. To the nearest passengers amusement. Thanks Luke.

In 1864 the State of Victoria identified the need for a road along the south-west coastline. The idea was initiated in 1914, with the creation of The Great Ocean Road Corridor Strategy. In 1919 employment commenced for returned servicemen from the First World War.

London Bridge has fallen down!

Yesterday we took advantage of the free '1 day Great Ocean Road' tour Luca won a few days ago and previewed a little of whats to come. The tour starts at 7am and gets you back to the hostel around 9pm. It is a fly by tour of Bells Beach - the home town of Rip Curl and iconic 50 year storm wave in Point Break, temperate rainforest in Otway, the 12 apostles (originally, one fell down now it's 'the apostles') and London Bridge. We also saw kangaroos and koalas - finally! koalas poop, a lot. Oh - and sleep, a lot. We learnt never to call a koala a bear to an Aussie if you know what's good for you!

I hope to update next time with good news of our much anticipated departure in Autumn. Au revoir!

Grounded in St Kilda

The beauty of travelling is the freedom to go where you want when you want, as and when the opportunity arises. That is, unless you buy a 23 year old campervan with various mechanical faults that need fixing before you can justify venturing into the wild...

Our planned departure on Tuesday was unfortunately postponed when we heard from our mechanic (Adam) that the transmission ideally needed replacing. When we went to collect Autumn from Adam on Wednesday (that's right, Wednesday. Luckily we were able to stay the night at Bea's house while the camper slept a second and impromptu night at the mechanics, rolls eyes), we were informed that it would be in our interest to have the transmission fixed as currently, the van has no second gear and was changing from first directly to third, placing a strain on the engine, third gear, the fan and not to mention, making an awful racket in the process!
This came as no surprise to us as we had asked him to drive it and tell us what he thought the noise was. I wish I could say the same for the price... We were quoted $1,500 to take out the gearbox and send off to the relevant garage to carry out the repairs. Ouch. Fortunately for us, we hadn't yet bought the camper in full so we negotiated the cost of the repairs off the price of the camper. Result: a camper in great condition with $2500 repairs recently carried out, just crying to be driven accross the Aussie outback!

We officially signed the licensing paperwork and dropped Autumn off with Adam yesterday. We hope she will be ready by Tuesday(ish).

Becky, Harry, Luke & I.

Meanwhile, with the good news of Autumn's imminent release and her new roadworthy condition, we checked back in at Habitat and headed into the city for some beer and a bit of fun with a few others from the hostel. We caught up with Becky and Harry, a couple who have recently completed their journey across Aus in a 4X4.

Luke won a free day trip along the great ocean road by impersonating a male koala mating call (Tee hee), so we've booked for Monday (I had to pay, tut!). Should be a good introduction of what to expect when we set off later on next week.
We're headed to the Thermal Springs tomorrow. I have been to thermal springs in the Philippines so am quite excited to have the opportunity to go again.
With the 16km + run/ sightseeing we did this morning, we really have seen a lot that Melbourne has to offer over the last 2 & 1/2 weeks. The Botanic Gardens were a real treat this morning in the sunshine and the Melbourne Memorial Shrine was an emotional and educational experience... I know I sound like a full hippie convert here but, seriously, I have never truly stopped and contemplated on the lives lost in war or even how it must have been for my grandfather. Lest we forget.

On a lighter note - there's free fresh bread and cakes one of the girls has brought back from work so we're off to partake in the madness ...
My blogs are usually cut short when faced with the prospect of food. You can clearly see where my (mostly Luke's) priorities lie...

Checking out

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination."

Jimmy Dean

Today we set off along the Great Ocean Road, destination Adelaide.
Big build up over the last few days as this will be when we truly start to travel on our own in the camper.  Away from the city and into the wilderness. Australia is big.

We are currently sat in the lounge area of Habitat HQ, after having slept like a log last night (in the fireplace.. haha!). We're waiting on a return call from Bea so we can go to hers and leave our stuff while we get the money out from the bank to pay for Autumn. Later we plan to do a big shop for various tinned cuisine, fill up on water, petrol and gas and hit the road. It may be night when we leave but we are really keen to get going as today has been our cut-off since we knew when Autumn was booked in to be fixed. We're really excited!

We got to Skype with Luke's parents this morning (it was 12 midnight for them!), which was really nice. My attempts at Facetiming mum were somewhat thwarted by dodgy connection but no worries - will call you up on the phone mummy!

So.. hopefully I can blog soon but if not - don't worry, we're safe and responsible (We have to say that - our parents read this blog) and when I next write - we'll have lots of stories of campfires and kangaroos (which don't appear in burger form).

I'll leave you with another quote I like:

To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel

is to be able to experience

everyday things as if for the first time,

to be in a position in which

almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.

-Bill Bryson

Homeless

Got your attention?  Dont't worry, no biggy... The camper is booked in at the mechanics and will hopefully be fixed and free of all leaks (there were a few) and paid for, courtesy of the current owners, by tomorrow afternoon, when we hope to set off on our trip to Adelaide along the Great Ocean Road.

We are staying in a hostel tonight in St Kilda (see, I told you no biggy!) called Habitat HQ. It's much cleaner than Nomads and we get a complementary breakfast. Just had a shower. First one since Fitness First, which was on, erm... *pauses to ask Luke* Wednesday. It's so nice to be clean! We will/ should be able to shower more once we get up the coast a bit and it's a little warmer. There are plenty of free showers along the beach in Melbourne, it's just a little too cold to brave them at the moment - Not even Luke has considered it!

We fixed up the camper good n' proper on Saturday. Replaced the broken legs under the fold out bed with new ones and bought heavy duty brackets to hold them in place. Bea's boss, the owner of a South American restaurant on St Kilda high street (Santa Ana), lent us his power tools for the job, which made life a bit easier. We went to the restaurant yesterday for lunch to say thank you for his generosity. The meal was fantastic and was served in tapas fashion, of which each dish was slightly above our budget and smaller than required so we savored our two tapas dishes and drank our two bottles of beer ($8 each), thanked him again and filled our selves with some of the fine (and large) cakes St Kilda has to offer.
We had, might I add, long boarded from the furthest East-Southerly point of St Kilda to Port Melbourne and then back via some random back-streets, which I think took us a good 3-4 hours, so STILL hungry after our tapas, beer and cake... we bought some bread and dips too. And chocolate.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow and that all that needed fixing gets done, we're off to socialise with our fellow Habitat HQ(ians?)...

PS - Luke has just reminded me, can't believe I nearly forgot! We saw mini penguins on St Kilda pier last night! They were so cute! No pics i'm afraid as it was dark and no flash photography is allowed but, I can assure you, they were ADORABLE.