March 2011
26th – Arrived in Adelaide to pick up Ethel from Esperance, our campervan for the week, from random street address and little accompanying communication from the rental company that had us wondering what the hell we’d gotten into. Start of our Pacific Palaver!
27th – Explored the strange city that is Adelaide whose high street, we decided, looked like some grotty English small town. Even non-Adelaidians confirm its weirdness, we found. Dead streets in the centre of the city on a Saturday afternoon and lampposts painted in local Australian Rules Football team colours, confirmed that this was a weird place.
27th – Drove to Carrickalinga beach to spend the night, which was also a lovely beach on which to wake-up. It set the tone for our adventures in South Australia. We ate breakfast on the beach and duly explored the length of it, going for a swim on the way back while keeping our guard up for sharks!
28th – After a lazy morning at Carrickalinga, we drove to Normanville for cold showers in the open air with a picture-perfect view while locals ate their fish and chips. Here’s to the good life.
29th – Ferry to Kangaroo Island, on which lives an abundance of wildlife. We saw Kangaroos, Wallabies, Porcupines, Koala bears and walked on the beach with sea lions. Legend David Attenborough’s got nothing on us! Visited the Remarkable Rocks which actually were pretty remarkable.
30th – Big driving day which took us along the south Australian coast hitting iconic sights such as Larry the Lobster. What, you haven’t heard of him? Had our first and unique experience of driving on a beach as we took Ethel on a sandy excursion.
31st – Hit the Great Ocean Road by mid-afternoon, which was nothing short of impressive. Not every part of the road affords an ocean view but when it did, it was criminal not to stop and whip out the camera. The renowned Twelve Apostles lived up to its billing, which reflected in the swift reduction of capacity of the memory card.
April 2011
1st – Visited Bells Beach, Torquay, the surf capital of Australia and considered the spiritual home of surfing since 1939, which is situated in none other than the originally-named Surf Coast Shire. Genius. Spent time watching experienced surfers old enough to be our Dads (see recent blog). Had a photoshoot at the Torquay sign at the edge of town to make Helen happy. Drove to Phillip Island in order to see the subjects of a BBC wildlife series, Little Penguins (yes, that is actually their official name since they are the world’s smallest), who arrive every night on a specific beach in their droves to waddle up to their burrows in the dunes. We were lucky to see 860 but sadly we weren’t allowed to take any pictures. Booo!
2nd – Drove to Melbourne to see beach area and district of St. Kilda and modern, funky Federation Square in the city centre. Nick drove Ethel around the Australian Grand Prix circuit pretending he was Lewis Hamilton and relished taking photos to make his close friend Ganesh jealous (sorry Gan). Drove to Brighton to see the numerous colourfully-painted and renowned beach huts that would give Devon a run for its money. Visited the street used as Ramsay Street in Neighbours that is actually called Pin Oak Court. Brilliant.
3rd – Slept the night at Brighton Beach, Melbourne, prior to our flight to Auckland, New Zealand, the following afternoon.
Adelaide isn't grotty .It is quite a clean city
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