Kangaroo Island

15.12.2011 - 20.12.2011

by Siegmund

We give in to the tourist brochures saying that if you have seen Sydney Harbour Bridge and Uluru but ain't seen Kangeroo Island, you haven't seen Australia.
I am very proud to say I was able to reverse our Jayco campertrailer into the Kangeroo Island ferry without the slightest hesitation while a crowd of Maui/Britz campers was waiting impatiently. It also has to be said that the ferry staff here deserve the price of Australia's unfriendliest attraction. Kangeroo Island turned out very beautiful with lots of wildlife including penguins, seals and curious spiders.

Kangeroo Island sunset

Camping in Flinders Chase National Park

We found a penguin under the stairs !

Mighty ocean

Can you spot the seals ?

Dora the explorer

Magic rockpool. Looks like Bronte, but no coffee around.

The cheese factory

McLeod's daughter

Farmer's blood on both sides of the family  

Happiness is just a balloon away

Christmas parade in Kingscote

                                                               Cute, cuter, cutest

                                                                  The boys room

                                                                             Fence fun

                                                     World's youngest photographer

                                            "Spiderman is having me for dinner tonight..."

Port Elliot (Fleurieu Peninsula)

12.12.2011 - 15.12.2011

by Frédérique

Port Elliot. I instantly liked the sweet and cheerful name of this little seaside village. It turned out to be as pretty and sweet as in my imagination and definitely one of the nicest places we have seen on our trip so far. We had a lovely lazy day at picturesque Horseshoe Bay: enjoying a coffee on the lawn, having a play at the playground and soaking up the peaceful scenery.
We would have loved to cycle along the well-designed Encounter Bikeway but unfortunately we struggled a bit in finding two child seats.
Equally nice was Victor Harbour, a larger town about 8 km from Port Elliot. We especially enjoyed a walk to Granite Island, which is connected to Victor Harbour via a 600 meter causeway. The turquoise colour of the sea gave it a touch of paradise and the views were absolutely stunning. On the Island were some (rescued) fairy penguins at the penguin centre, which was a bit run down and not very exciting at all (although Eva was very happy of course to see her little black and white friends). More exciting were a couple of wild dolphins who were playing in the ocean just a couple of meters away from us!
Although we can almost touch Adelaide now, which is only 80 km away, we decide to go to Kangaroo Island first and absorb the peace of nature.

Lovely Horseshoe Bay

My daily coffee break

And mine

Wow little brother, you look much bigger now!

Happy, happier, happiest

Hike @The Bluff

Horse-drawn tram to Granite Island @Victor Harbour

Going for a stroll on Granite Island (off to see some penguins...again!)

Happy little man

 

Another babyccino, this time with view on some dolphins frolicking around in the ocean

Checking out the scenery @the Commodore Reserve

Sunset @Horseshoe Bay

Nelson - on our way to Adelaide

9.12.2011 - 11.12.2012

by Frédérique

The landscape changes dramatically once we leave the Great Ocean Road and drive eastwards towards Adelaide. There are no more crowds and we are quite relieved to cruise through desolate bushland and golden fields. We spend a couple of nights in the sleepy fishing village of Nelson, which is surrounded by the impressive Lower Glenelg National Park. It must be pretty exciting to have a canoe here, paddle all the way up the Glenelg River and stay overnight in one of the special canoe camps which are truly in the middle of nowhere. 

We continue our way to nearby Mount Gambier and are extremely excited when crossing the South Australian border. A new state to discover! Of course we do not forget to stop at the quarantine station to quickly eat all our remaining bananas and other fruits and leave the peels behind. Ironicly we discover a little fruit fly in our car about 100 kilometers up the road, which must have flown into our car when opening the bins at the station. I thought the whole purpose was to avoid these little creatures going interstate??? 

We have a quick look around in Mount Gambier, which is halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide (each about 450 km away) and which seems quite a large and lively town. 

We continue another 400 km and are amazed to see there is really not much more than a handful of tiny little fishing villages along the way, apart from the big lobster of course. The kids are doing surprisingly well in the car, and happily singing along nursery rhymes we arrive in Port Elliot, just south of Adelaide.

One of Alexander's favourite things to do: smelling nature 

Just another beach....

Free entertainment on the campground

The big lobster

It's a long way to Adelaide... but so far I'm not bored at all!

Crossing the Murray River

Not sure which one of us is most excited to be on the little ferry

Great Ocean Road

4.12.2011 - 10.12.2011

by Siegmund

Great Ocean Road here we come! But first a Sunday breakfast stop in Geelong. I am excited to see the streets where Phillippe Gilbert almost made it as world champion last year. To make it more realistic there is a big cycling event on when we arrive into town. Should have brought my road bike instead of the extra awning. The kids easily make friends with the wooden statues who are spread out across the waterfront. The water is looking really inviting but again summer hasn’t arrived. After taking more than a few wrong turns we finally make it out of Geelong and head towards Anglesea, the start of the Great Ocean Road. The caravan park here lives up to the expectations: huge jumping pillow, big grassy sites with no cars around and best of all a playroom with lots and lots of toys. Eva learns a new word: playroom -playroom! and we would be hearing it a lot the next couple of weeks. Not much to do in Anglesea except for wandering around the beach, checking out some of the ocean road lookouts and buying fresh mussels. Yummee.

Lots of stunning views further down the road as we make our way towards Princetown with a stopover in Apollo Bay. The kids spend most of the time snoozing while we enjoy the scenery. Princetown reserve is our next campground and is located only 8 km from the Twelve Apostels. There are only 5 other campers on the reserve and even better there are lots of kangaroos jumping around to keep the kids entertained. In the evening we make an open fire and wish one of us could play the guitar.
The next day we join the crowds and line up for the obligatory photoshoot in front of the Twelve Apostels and have a swim in the Loch Ard Gorge.
Maybe our expectations were too high or the row of Japanese tourists too long but we agree that the Great Ocean Road is a bit overrated and probably the coastal road from Royal National Park (Sydney) towards Wollongong could compete with it any day. Or maybe it's just that we miss Sydney more than a little bit....

                                                             Making friends is easy in Geelong

Geelong waterfront

                                                                Boys and choppers...

                                            Yumee, fresh mussels. Can you spot the shark ?

                                                               Playroom! Playroom!

                                                                      Apollo Bay picnic

                            On the road to Cape Otway lighthouse. How many koala's can you see ?

                                                                    Princetown locals

                                                                     Twelve apostels. Say cheese.

                                                                         Loch Ard Gorge