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

Melbourne

23.11.2011 - 4.12.2011

by Frédérique

As soon as we entered the suburbs of Melbourne, we were filled with excitement. Trams, bicycles, cycle paths, streets lined with little cosy cafés and restaurants,... we couldn't wait to discover a bit more than we did last time we were here. At the same time our heart ached a little for Sydney at the sight of the city's skyline, as Melbourne was the first cosmopolitan city to be in since leaving our beloved Sydney.

We had a lovely time: we strolled through the busy streets full of people hunting for their christmas presents, we indulged in Thai and Indian food which we had missed incredibly much in the last month, we went to the zoo, the museum, many many playgrounds (which to my big surprise were not sheltered unlike the ones in New South Wales), the Collingwood Children's Farm and the lovely Botanical Gardens.

We enjoyed some time with our belgian friends who live and work in Melbourne, and who invited us to come and see "Sinterklaas" with the kids, an event organized by the Belgian society in Victoria (it was a huge surprise to me that this even existed, as we Belgians are not the most patriotic kind of people!).

We also drove through the world famous Yarra Valley wine region, which is only 40 minutes away from the city but makes you feel as if you are in the middle of Tuscany or the South of France. We took our time to soak up the breathtaking scenery during a winery lunch at Domaine Chandon, just a perfect afternoon!

During our stay in Melbourne, JayJay our camper trailer had to have his leaking roof (and heaps of other things) repaired in the factory in Dandenong, 40 minutes from Melbourne, which was quite an adventure. We had to get up at 6am in the morning, pack up the camper trailer with our 2 sleepy kids in the back of our car, and stack a lot of our stuff beneath a plastic cover on the camping ground so the Jayco people could move around in our trailer without breaking a leg. 

JayJay had to stay in Dandenong for the night so we moved into a hotel room in St Kilda, which felt like a palace to us! Much bigger than our little home on wheels, no sand or stones on the ground for Alexander to eat, no running off thanks to the brick walls and no danger zones.... We could actually almost eat our entire lunch without getting up from our chairs, until the point that Alexander went to explore the bathroom and thought it was a great idea to put his hands in the toilet. I must admit it was kind of nice to be able to walk straight from the bedroom to the bathroom without putting on our slippers, grabbing a towel and shampoo and soap and so on, and carrying a child on our arm on the way there. I'm not sure how it will feel when we ever move back into a real house!  

Luck was clearly on our side when we were staying in this trendy seaside suburb, because for the very first time during our trip the weather was nice & hot, 35 degrees during the the day and still over 20 degrees during the night. Thank you, Aussie summer, for coming into our lives again, it was about time!!! It felt incredibly good to stroll on the beach with our bare feet and feel the hot air blowing in our face again, although most people seemed to think it was too hot. I really think people here love the cold and the "four seasons in one day" as they call it. We had quite some cold and rain in the last 4 weeks and it didn't seem to disturb the Victorians at all: they all have happy faces and a raincoat that even covers their knees! Anyway, if I would make the effort of moving from Europe to Australia permanently, I would opt for something warmer and sunnier than Melbourne to be honest. But I could definitely live here for a year or so. It's a great city with a nice atmosphere, trendy people, lots to do, plus you can actually cycle here - we even found a place called "Cafe Velocino", a bike shop which sells bikes, repairs them AND has a trendy cafe in the front part where you can buy a delicious coffee or a pizza. 

Enjoying Melbourne

My personal gps

Tram ride

Melbourne zoo

Clean green fish

Still in complete admiration for every penguin!! 

Playing at the children's gallery - Melbourne Museum

3 wombats tall!

                      At the Collingwood children's farm

Gardening at the Ian Potter Foundation Children's garden - Botanical Gardens

Playing soccer with daddy on a lazy afternoon

JayJay's return to his place of birth: the Jayco factory @Dandenong

Walk on the pier in St Kilda

                                              I love taking my little brother for a stroll!

Babyccinos taste better with ocean view! - St Kilda

Choosing a cake for breakfast in one of the famous cake shops on Acland Street - St Kilda

"Friet speciaal" - pure happiness when eating this nutritious Belgian dish

Santa Claus is coming to town lalalalalala...lala!

Off for some wine tasting at Domaine Chandon - Yarra Valley

(from French Champagne house Moët & Chandon)

Lunch @the winery

Bottoms up

Sinterklaasfeest @the Belgian Club Victoria

Who is this old man?!?

Not sure whether I should trust this guy... but hey!, if he has a present...

Mornington Peninsula

20.11.2011 - 23.11.2011

by Siegmund

It turns out difficult to find a nice campsite along the noisy Nepean Road at the tip of the Mornington Peninsula. Because of low season most of the campgrounds here are closed making the ones that are open very crowded... After several ‘u turns’ we end up in the Sorrento Foreshore Reserve only to find the best campsite ever: site 210 if you ever would consider camping here. I am sure a real estate agent would advertise this place as an absolute beachfront property with panoramic water views and private beach access. We feel like millionaires.

The next few days we explore the surrounds of Sorrento and can understand why many Melbourne millionaires have build their holiday home here. Although it is supposed to be summer it feels more like Belgian autumn with a continuous cold southern wind that keeps us away from the stunning beaches and rockpools. After a few shivering cold nights we give in and buy an electrical heater to keep us warm at night. Bloody Aussie summer, where are you ??

                                                            A room with a view

Fun in the backyard

                                                                    

                                                                            Millionaires walk

Sorrento back beach rockpool

                                                                    Cape Shanck lighthouse walk

One of the beaches at Point Nepean

                                                          King of the Mornington playground

Peninsula view from Arthurs Seat