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Victoria - Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road
"Don't I know you from somewhere?"
We've heard the line a few times in the last
week - once when we re-met somebody we'd originally met in Fiji; then
yesterday when we met a family that are spending 6 months going around
the world, who saw us on TV the night before they left the UK (apparently
we gave them a boost of confidence, as they were a bit nervous on the
eve of their trip - something along the lines of "If those idiots can
do it...".)
But the strangest coincidence was a week ago, when we met a lady who
asked "Excuse me, do you live in England?", which then went to "Do you
live near Oxford?", which then became "In Deddington?". And then she
described the inside of our house to us! It turned out that she was
an Australian nurse, who had been working in England, and had been a
rural specialist covering north Oxfordshire - she'd actually visited
us three years ago at home to try and help with Charlotte's exczma.
How weird is that? As Mickey Mouse says "It's a small world after all!"
Picking up the parents, and dropping off the
hired van
By 6:30 this morning, we’d all roused ourselves
from bed, got dressed, packed up the camper van and driven out the Melbourne
Airport to meet Sarah’s parents as they arrived from the UK. You know
how it is – you step off a long flight, and walk blearily through the
terminal. But not for the Hirsts, as they arrived wide eyed and smiley
after 27 hours in flight! How is this possible I hear you ask? Easy,
you fly Business Class and enjoy your flight fast asleep in a seat which
lies down into a 6” long totally flat bed. Hearing stories about Business
Class luxury really made us look forward to our next Cattle Class flight
– NOT.
Anyway, we all piled into the campervan, and dropped them off at their
five-star hotel, and then went to the hostel which Sarah’s going to
stay in while I’m dropping off the camper van. This is going to take
me 3 days – because we’re in Melbourne, and the hire company’s office
is in Sydney – 600 miles away. So while Sarah, the girls and her Mum
and Dad enjoy time together in Melbourne, I’m going to be enjoying the
equivalent of driving from Lands End to John O’Groats – and then coming
back. Whoopee!
 And
then Sarah showed me the hostel she’d found for her three days alone.
My jaw dropped (along with my many chins). Somehow she’d found a hostel
which had two parts – one part smelly-dormitory-ville, and the other
part Boutique-hotel – which is where she’d found a comfortable room,
with inclusive continental breakfast, lounge with hi-fi, leather sofa’s
– the works. (If you’re coming to Melbourne, then you too will want
to stay in The
Nunnery)
And off I go, driving the last few hundred miles in the camper van,
realising who’d got the best deal. There’s something about being a Hirst
(or nee Hirst) that means that luxury just falls into your lap (when
your husband’s not looking!) PAH!
So I drove 400 miles before sunset, in the worst rain storms they’d
had for three years, and slept in the Yass Council Caravan Park for
£3 while rain hammered on the roof all night. In a freezing van. Double
PAH!! (How many of you are smiling reading this?). But at least I got
out of Melbourne before this happened (about 2 hours behind me) "Boats
were used to rescue several motorists from the roofs of cars on the
Eastern Freeway, while one man trapped in his flooded 4WD was saved
by quick-thinking emergency service volunteers."
The Van
 Last
night, when I called the hire firm to arrange to drop the van off earlier
than booked, at the end of this afternoon, I discovered that
I'd made a big mistake – I was already a day late! So instead
of having three days to get to Sydney, I had zero days – and every day
was costing me a penalty fee. Whoops. And that's why I drove 400 miles
yesterday in horrible weather, instead of taking it more easily. It
left me with about 200 miles to drive today, into the Sydney rush hour.
Today started at 5.45am, as I drove off the campsite and back onto the
dual carriageway. And there's not really a lot to say about the rest
of the drive – except that I found out that Sydney's rush hour is pretty
slow going, even on the toll roads. But by 10:30, I'd made it into town,
cleaned the van (the company insist on vans being cleaned inside and
out before returning them), and delivered the van back in the
same condition I picked it up in – but with an extra 6,000 miles on
the clock. It has really been a long road trip over the last two months,
but even though we've driven so far we've still barely scratched the
surface of the country.
After such a manic trip I decided to treat myself to a flight back to
Melbourne, so that I had to spend just an hour and a half in the air,
rather than 12 hours on a coach overnight (splurged on the £45 flight,
over the £24 coach!). That means that instead of getting back to Sydney
on Friday as expected, I'll get there late tonight (Wednesday).
 So
I called Sarah to let her know, and asked her to arrange accommodation
for me when I get to the hostel. As she wasn't at the hostel, I tracked
her down in her parents room, down the road in the Windsor Hotel. Somehow
the Nunnery wasn't good enough for her, and they'd decamped for the
day down there. I phoned as they had their mouths full, devouring the
cream tea that room service had delivered. While I spent the rest of
the day browsing the shops in Sydney for Sarah's birthday present (Do
you think she'll like the "Koala" Hat, complete with ears and dangly
koala-nose?).
The journey home was uneventful, apart from the airport being closed
for an hour because of huge electrical storms, and I finally got back
to the hostel in Melbourne at midnight – more about what happened then
tomorrow!
Welcome home darling!
Let me explain the situation – I've arrived back
in Melbourne a day early, having driven 600 miles in the last 36 hours,
and flying back at midnight. Sarah and the girls have had a couple of
days to spend time with her parents – they're in the 5-star Windsor,
and Sarah's in a nice double room in the town-house part of the Nunnery
hostel. Fortunately I'd been able to let Sarah know I'd be arriving
earlier than planned, and she'd booked me in to the hostel. But
not into the same room as the rest of them, or even in the same building.
Oh no. Sarah had booked me a dormitory bed next door.
So I'm in what I described two days ago as 'Smelly-dormitory-ville',
while Sarah is in the 'Boutique-hotel' part, with the girls. The chap
on reception apologised, but explained that he'd "only done what your
wife asked me to". Let me share with you the contrast:
  
Sarah is in the town house, with a modern and stylish double bedroom,
with a private lounge downstairs, complete with leather sofas, 8 seater
dining table, and a shady courtyard.
 And
I'm in a 10-bed dormitory, which smells like a rugby-team changing room,
and where people arrive and leave at all times of the day and night.
The last residents didn't come to bed until 3am and decided to turn
all the lights on to help them guide their drunken frames to the top
bunks, making all kinds of noises and grunts. Mmm, nice!
But this was all that Sarah could arrange at short notice, so I had
to put up with it! And then I discovered that Sarah had arranged it
for the next night too, rather than us all moving into a bigger room
together (apparently, it would be a bit of hassle packing everything
up just for one night). I think I may be getting a message!
Still, we had a good day in Melbourne, with Sarah, her Mum and the girls
going shopping for some new clothes for the girls (after 5 months on
the road, the white clothes aren't quite so white any more!), and Sarah's
Dad and I visiting a couple of museums, followed by a swift half in
the hotel bar – which turned into a merry three hours chatting to the
locals about all things Australian. We'd noticed that the Australians
are fond of their beer, but we hadn't expected to spend the afternoon
drinking with a police inspector, a rugby umpire and a stockbroker,
on a normal work day! Still, it helped to make me less sensitive to
my dormitory surroundings overnight!
To the coast
We all left Melbourne behind us today, and headed to the coast near
Geelong (30 miles south of Melbourne, sandwiched between the sea and
the Philip Bay which stretches all the way from the city). We also left
behind all traces of accommodation luxury, and checked into a family
cabin at the Pelican Beach caravan park – basically a pre-fabricated
hut plonked on a bit of grass overlooking the sea (well, it overlooks
the sea if you stand on tiptoes). This will be the style of accommodation
for the next month – one double bedroom for Gloria and Michael, and
a room with 4 bunk beds for Sarah, the girls and me. The great news
is that they also have an ensuite bathroom, so we no longer have to
traipse across the campsite to the toilet and shower blocks. And all
for around AU$130 a night (about £55) for everybody. At the moment it
seems spacious, compared to the campervan, but I wonder if it will still
seem the same in a month's time – us, the children and the in-laws in
a space the size of a large garage? But the views compensate for everything,
as most parks are by the sea – the picture above was taken at Barwon
Heads, ten minutes drive from Geelong (unfortunately, the cabins that
have this view were all booked up, so we had to be satisfied with visiting
the beach for the afternoon, rather than gazing at it all day and evening).
En vacation, en famille
 It
definitely feels like we're on a seaside holiday! Today we went sightseeing
to the surf beaches, watching the locals ride the waves while tucking
into a picnic on the beach. Australians love to get to the coast at
the weekend, and on a Friday and Saturday night the camp sites fill
up with people leaving the big cities for a couple of days. Mostly their
time is spent surfing (under 30's) or fishing (over 30's) – or at least
that's what the men do. We haven't been able to work out what the women
do, as they don’t seem to get out in the same numbers – in fact, we
mostly see them looking after the children while the men are out doing
their thing. Australia sometimes seems to represent England 30 years
ago! But as you can see in the photo, we're getting out all together,
and all seeing the same things.
The Great Ocean Road
 We're starting the drive along the Great Ocean
Road, the world's second most beautiful drive (according to the literature
from the local tourist board). Although it can be done in a couple of
days, we're planning to take a couple of weeks, by staying 4 or 5 days
in various towns, and basically taking it slooowly. And today was a
great example – we managed to drive just 20 kilometres along it, from
Torquay to Anglesea (yes, there really are Australian towns, I'm not
making it up). To slow ourselves down, we spent half an hour in Torquay
looking for a suitable cabin, then stopped for a picnic lunch at Point
Addis, looking out over cliffs and sea covering half a dozen shipwrecks
from the 19th century. But after that exhausting drive, we stopped in
Anglesea caravan park and got no further! We're now tucked up in an
identical cabin to last night, where we intend to stay for the next
5 days. I'm sure that there's a lot to see and do (open cast coal mine
tour anyone?)
Who's the Birthday Girl?
 What
can we say – birthdays can't get much better than this, can they?
Surrounded by the ones you love, and who love you, spending the day on
a sunny beach, surrounded by smiles, and with nice presents and cards.
Happy Birthday Mummy
 And
we spent the day celebrating - flowers, birthday cake, sparklers, and
then dinner out, with the world's largest crayfish for Sarah (and the
nearly the world's most expensive bill for Sarah's Dad - what great timing
to arrive before Sarah's birthday and be landed with that!)
Mr Fraudster – part 2
Over the last five months of travel, I have mostly
been myself, but I've begun to get used to having a few aliases. In
Canada, when we were filming with the BBC, we'd asked Amanda from the
BBC to confirm our accommodation bookings, so that we had hostel rooms
in the same town as the crew. (Normally we wouldn't book rooms ahead,
as we'd just turn up and see what we could get!). The side effect of
this was that all our bookings were in the name of Egbujo. After the
second time we realised, and began checking in as the Egbujo-but-Fleming-really
family.
Then in Australia, while travelling in the camper van, we'd been using
the campsite discount card which came with the van – in the name of
Mrs Gill Bird from Canada. Unfortunately the handwriting on the card
was so bad, that we ended up being booked in as the Bird family, the
Biro family and the Biko family! It also meant that where we used the
card, we had to pay with cash, otherwise there would be the mystery
of the Biko family ("Didn't speak like a south African did he?") using
the Fleming family credit cards("Do you think we should call the police?").
At the last site we visited, the receptionist was very curious about
our accents ("You don't sound Canadian..."), and why my first name was
spent with two L's ("Normally Gil is spelt with one 'L' for men...").
But now the van's gone back, I'm my own man again – I've even got my
own campsite discount card in my own name. I can go around the rest
of the world as Ray Fleming Mmm, perhaps hiding my identity again would
be a good idea...
The Great Ocean Road
 For
the next couple of weeks we're going to be driving the Great Ocean Road,
which was built by unemployed ex-servicemen after the First World War.
Today we explored the stretch from Anglesea to Lorne – about 20 miles
– which wound along a coastline dotted with beach houses. Some of the
houses are older wooden slatted bungalows, while others are modern glass
and concrete affairs, built on big pillars and with huge windows facing
the sea. One even looked a bit like a concrete birdhouse, perched on
a 30 metre high solid concrete pillar. Around every headland is another
bay, with a long sandy beach, and normally occupied by surfers waiting
for 'the wave'. Although at the moment there's no waves of any size
– so they just seem to sit there all day on their boards, looking hopefully
out to sea for the 'next big wave'.
 Not
all of the sights are on the coast though – in the evening we visited
Anglesea Golf Course – to see the hundreds of kangaroos which invade
the fairways at dusk. Kangaroos eat grass, and there's a plentiful supply
of freshly watered grass right along the golf course! We'd been told
that there were quite a few there, but hadn’t expected the hundreds
that were there – probably over 500 on three fairways alone. I guess
the members must avoid the early and late tee times, and leave those
for visitors! We got talking to a local golfer, and they had got used
to playing with kangaroos around the course. Apparently they have very
thick fur, so if a ball hits them anywhere on the body, it just bounces
off and the kangaroo ignores it. However, if you hit them on the head,
they just keel over like bowling pins, and lie there on the ground stunned.
There must also be some special local rules – do you get a free drop
if your ball disappears in a kangaroos pouch?
Cabin Fever
 When you're travelling around Australia with a group of six people, you have to work a little harder to find the right kind of accommodation, at the right price. Fortunately, we found cabins, which are basically wooden or prefabricated buildings, which are all over the coast in Australia. Sometimes they're either on their own or on caravan parks – which is often the cheapest option. With two people they cost from AU$50 to $120 (£20 to £50), depending on the individual site and how luxurious they are – some of the deluxe ones are fitted out with spa baths, hi-fi, DVD players etc. At most sites they also get the pick of the views – looking out over the sea, or alongside a river, while the campers are lined up behind with a view of the toilet block! (Boy, did we complain about that when we were in the camper van, but now we're staying in them it seems okay!).
Once you're inside it's fitted out just like a house. There's a lounge/diner/kitchen, kitted out with all the normal appliances, and then two separate bedrooms and then a bathroom with shower etc. From the inside you wouldn't know you're in a pre-fab – apart from the paper thin walls, which mean that there's about as much privacy as you'd find in the middle of Brighton beach in the summer! Anybody turning over in bed risks waking everybody else up. There's one double bedroom (for Sarah's parents), and one with bunk beds (for us and the girls). The bedrooms aren't exactly the biggest we've seen – once you've squeezed two two-bed bunk beds into a room, there's enough floor space to put down our rucksacks, and that's it. So we have to take turns getting up in the morning, although the girls are normally up well before us or well after us. I did ask Gloria and Michael if they wanted to take turns on the bunk beds, but apparently they're quite comfortable in the double bed!
 The great thing about the cabins is that because they are on caravan sites, you have all their facilities available, like the laundry, play parks, swimming pools and outside gas barbeques. This is much better than hiring a house, or staying in hostels, and it works out much cheaper than either of those options (we paid AU$80 for four dormitory beds in the Treehouse hostel, compared to AU$90 for four people in a self-contained cabin, with two bedrooms, bathroom, lounge, kitchen etc). If we hadn't had a camper van for the last two months, cabins would have been more economical for the four of us than hostels. The major downside to staying in cabins is that you tend not to meet as many other people as when camping or hostelling – everybody spends more time inside their cabin and on their own veranda, with an impressive view (this is the view from the cabin here in Merango).
The girls love them too – not only can they wander through to see Nana and Opa first thing in the morning, they also get to watch television for the first time in two months. And today's cabin has even got a DVD player (all we need now is a DVD to play....)
The Otway forest
 We're staying in Merango, a mile from Apollo Bay, which has got the sea on one side, and the Otway State Park on the other. The coast here is lovely – sandy beaches in the bays, with rocky headlands in-between – and is great for rock pooling (yesterday evening at low tide we found hundreds of starfish and multi-coloured anemones). And today on our inland trip we enjoyed walking through rainforests covered with ferns and towering eucalyptus trees. Along the way we saw another echidna and then koalas – they cling to the trees and munching all of the leaves and then drop asleep in the most unlikely positions. We finished with a visit to Cape Otway lighthouse, up on a headland with sweeping sea and coastline views. The weather has also improved too – yesterday afternoon we had torrential rain, and it got very cold overnight. But by this afternoon the clouds had gone, to be replaced by blue sky and warm temperatures.
The Otway Fly
 Today was another day of rainforest and walks. After a picnic lunch and a short trek, we went to the Otway Fly, about 40 miles from Apollo Bay. This is a treetop walkway, suspended between huge metal poles up to 45 metres above the ground. They very kindly used a metal grid for the floor, so that when you look down you can see exactly how high you are. Charlotte opted out before we'd even got onto it, as she's not really got a head for heights.
For 600 metres we walked amongst the tree tops, looking down on the forest floor waaaay below us. It was quite exhilarating, and unlike anything we'd ever done before – especially the cantilevered section, rocking and swaying as you step out onto a 30 metre walkway suspended over nothing and held up by two high tension wires. (If you saw "I'm a celebrity, get me out of here", the walkway is a bit like the metal bridges they walked across to their challenges).
Victoria – 3 seasons every day
Melbourne has a reputation as the "changeable weather capital of Australia", and now we've been in the area for a couple of weeks, we know how true that is. Every day seems to dawn bright and with blue skies, then deteriorate towards either too high temperatures, or in the opposite direction to cold winds and rain. Yesterday it was 39 degrees and blue sky – just stepping outside sapped the energy away from you. And today its wet and around 17 degrees. The rain started before 7am, eased up slightly at 1 o'clock, and then came back with a vengeance later. Its quite amazing, considering that this is the Australian summer (their school summer holidays start tomorrow), and we hadn't really packed for such poor weather (we'd been planning to stay in summer temperatures all year! We've had to add a few more layers some days, and you sometimes wonder if we'd be warmer at home!
 But when the weather is good, it's quite something! Yesterday morning I went for a walk on the beach at dawn, and saw this sunrise. So its not all doom and gloom when the weather's bad, and just like at home – if you don't like the weather, at least it'll change soon!
Water, water everywhere
When it rains, and we're confined indoors, the cabin can seem a bit small – especially if the children decide to play a noisy game. But when the rain stops, and we can go outside, its great to be able to get onto the beach, or go for a walk. Today, after some early morning rain, we headed up to Marriners Falls, a 2 mile walk through the rainforest. The track was pretty easy going, with four stream crossings across stepping stones, and it went deeper and deeper into the forest – eventually completely shaded by the huge ferns which cover all of the forest floors here. The silver-lining to the earlier rain was that the trickle over the waterfall had turned into a semi-torrent. The fall itself was surrounded by moss covered rocks, and fallen trees lay across the pool at the foot. It was such a perfect sight, it was a though it had been made as a film set.
 On the way back to the town, we saw an example of the rural economy – a farmer selling bags of 'sheep poo'. Given that sheep are free-range, and wander all over the hillsides, we wondered how he collects and bags it? Does he wander all over the hillsides with a collecting bag, or has he improvised a device to hang off the back of the sheep?
The shipwreck coast
Finally, after seven days at Marengo Headlands, we're heading off up the coast. After feeling that my feet were growing roots, it was a relief to pack everything back in the car and set off. Although the weather continues to be a bit overcast, it is broken up by occasional spells where the sun breaks through the clouds – and when that happens you're quickly reminded of how fierce the sun is here, so close to the ozone hole. We've been away since July, and have got pretty used to the sun, and have developed tans which protect us from the worst of it, but even we still get caught. On Wednesday Sarah got sunburnt eyelids, when she sat out in the sun for an hour without her sunglasses on, and the result was painful, puffed up eyes for a day.
 The drive today, from Apollo Bay to Warnambool, took us past the 12 Apostles, probably the most famous sight of the Great Ocean Road, and we had to stop for the obligatory family photo – and you can see the effect of the weather. Although it's still warm – T-shirt weather – the temperature can be very variable, depending on how thick the cloud cover is. When we arrived we were all feeling a bit cool, but as we were leaving it had become too hot, as the clouds had thinned a little, and were letting through much more sunlight.
 The thing that you can't really get any sense of in photo's is the ever-present Australian fly. Whenever the weather is warm enough, they swarm over the landscape, looking for something to land on. At the viewing point for the Twelve Apostles, we came across the worst fly infestation we'd seen in Australia, and by the end of a twenty minute walk we all had 50 flies clinging to our clothing, and wandering around our faces. Although we wave them away, they quickly just fly back and start crawling over your mouth, nose, ears and eyes again. It's so bad that it cuts short the time you spend outside at some places, and makes it a relief to get back in the car. And we always have to have a vigorous fly-swatting session before a photo – otherwise we'd end up looking like currant buns!
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