From the Outback to Tasmania

In the next few days, we had to do a lot of driving. After all, we wanted or rather had to be back in Melbourne by the evening of 27.01.2019 to board our ferry to Tasmania.

After surviving the Outback, we enjoyed a long-awaited shower in Port Germain. Then we took a stroll along the 1.68km long jetty. It quickly became clear why it is necessary to be this long, as there was only mud instead of water for a long time. The residents have to be creative. So we saw a boat being pulled out of the lake by a tractor.

After stocking up on supplies in Port Pirie and spending our afternoon relaxing at the Day Use Area at Solomon Town Beach, we continued to the Lochiel Memorial Hall Rest Area.

There, we spent the night with street noise and the smell of urine from the surrounding bushes. And this, even though the toilets were not more than 50m away. At least a beautiful full moon over the nearby salt lake made the night more enjoyable.

The next morning, on Krissi's request, we went to see the Lochie sea monster in the lake, which was only a few kilometers north of us, slumbering in a huge salt lake.

We enjoyed a late breakfast at the Tidal Pool Bridge in Port Wakefield. It was really beautiful there and still relatively quiet early in the morning.

On the other side of the road, we discovered a Pepper Tree. Krissi immediately reminisced about her little pepper bonsai tree, which unfortunately did not survive very long. Just like the small one, the leaves of the large tree also smelled wonderfully of fresh pepper.

Then we fulfilled our dream of spending a day at the beach, which we had been dreaming of for a week. After lunch, we relaxed at Semaphore Beach. Unfortunately, the water here was quite algal and it smelled quite fishy. But we still enjoyed swimming. By the way, there is hardly any shade at the beach in Australia, so this time we used our table as a shade provider. At least it saved our heads.

In the late afternoon, we drove through Adelaide and continued to the familiar Frank Potts Reserve for the night. It is located in the middle of green vineyards.

Wednesday morning started with a small wine tasting for us. Langhorne Creek is one of the many wine regions that Australia has to offer. We tasted three white wines and then bought a good Sauvignon Blanc.

We crossed back to Wellington on the free ferry and then drove to the Big Olive. As mentioned before, Australians seem to love these big specimens.

We then had a pleasant surprise with the silo art in Coonalpyn. The children portrayed in the artwork attend the local primary school and are supposed to represent the importance of the future. The entire painting was created by a single artist. Impressive in terms of its size.

The visit to the Wildlife Park in Bordertown afterwards was also great. Here we saw white kangaroos, which was something special.

During our walk around the zoo, we discovered a truck wash. We immediately decided to use it for our car. After throwing on some old clothes, we quickly realized that the facility is not accessible to the public and that we were lucky to get a few last water jets from the previous user. Now our car looked really dirty, but what can you do.

We then briefly stopped at Bordertown Lake. We longed for a swim and the pictures on Wikicamps looked great. Unfortunately, swimming was not allowed and from a closer look, the water did not look inviting either.

Luckily, Kenny discovered a so-called Swimming Lake in Naracoorte. It was more like a real pool. A little bit of sand was piled up on one side to create a small beach. We enjoyed the warm water and even more the shower afterwards. And once again, everything was free - thanks Naracoorte.

We spent the night at the tiny Struan Rest Area. It was not the best decision. Apart from the fact that truck drivers came and went during the night, it was particularly difficult for Krissi, as a huge truck full of poor cows shared the space with us for the night. She even thought about setting them free. :(

On Thursday, 24.01.2019, we drove back a bit to visit the Naracoorte Caves. Unfortunately, the caves can only be visited with a guided tour, which is incredibly expensive. So we only did the Loop Walk on the surface, where you can occasionally catch a glimpse into a cave.

One of the caves could be explored on our own for an admission fee of $10 per person. We didn't pay and only went a few meters inside - we didn't dare to go any further. Even that was already an amazing sight.

Afterwards, Australia surprised us once again with a free swimming pool in Penola. We spent the whole afternoon there. Swimming and sunbathing were the only worthwhile activities on this hot day.

We spent the night at the wonderful Annya Camp. In the middle of the forest, we were visited by a few kangaroos in the evening. It was really idyllic, clean, and wonderfully quiet. A camp that suited our taste.

On Friday, Kenny could sleep in. Krissi wanted to quickly finish an application in the morning. But she had trouble sending the email as she didn't have reception.

So we went to the Big Yambuk Slide first. It's definitely a big fun for kids, but for us it's a small one. ;) We took a walk to the beach, the sea was quite rough that day, it was cloudy and rainy. Kenny climbed around on the dunes a bit, we enjoyed the view from a lookout over the sea and landscape, and then had lunch in a small glass container protected from wind and rain.

We spent the afternoon running errands in Warrnambool and then stayed at the Panmure Free Camp for the night. We arrived early and hid in our car from the rain with audio play, grapes, and our wine.

On Saturday, 26.01.2019, we completed the entire Great Ocean Road in one day. It had taken us about a week before. But now we had seen almost everything and only occasionally stopped to enjoy new views or take a break. For example, we visited the Bay of Islands Lookout.

We had lunch at our beloved Wye River BBQ Area. After lunch, we dared to briefly go into the cool water. As I said, the water here on the GOR is quite cold. But unlike our first visit, the beach was crowded with lots of people this time.

This was probably because 26.01. is Australia Day. As a result, all campsites, restaurants, beaches, etc. were full. By the way, one great thing about Australians is that when a public holiday falls on a weekend, it is made up for on the following Monday. So it was a long weekend for all Australians.

Afterwards, we stopped again at Aireys Inlet. Here, we took the well-known acro-yoga photos and did some gymnastics along the beach. It's a really beautiful place. And since it apparently doesn't have much else to offer besides a beautiful beach, it is not as crowded as the rest of the GOR.

We spent the night again at the Tanners Road Bend Camp Ground. After a long gravel road, we could sleep peacefully in the middle of the bush, knowing that the next day we only had relatively few kilometers to cover. So the ferry to Tasmania would be safe for us if everything went well.