Post #5 Melbourne to Adelaide

Three days in Melbourne were great although I think I had my first period of 'travel weariness' so perhaps didn't do the city justice. It was good however to just enjoy being there. Spent a day watching Tasmania V Victoria in the Sheffield Shield at the gigantic MCG. It has a capacity of 100,024 (down from 125,000 when they had bench seats) but the day I was there, the crowd numbered 700! Good to be able to wander around though...




Serious vertigo at the top! Reminded me of the Maracana (?) football stadium P and I went to in Rio.

Then I picked up a rental car to drive the Great Ocean Road. Getting out of Melbourne was... Interesting. They have 'Hook Turns' at some junctions (but not all just to confuse matters). So at some crossroads, if you want to turn right you need to get in the left lane! You need to keep an eye on the traffic lights, an eye on the oncoming traffic and another eye on the traffic coming from behind you who are to you your right but going straight on. All because of the trams but very confusing!

The Great Ocean Road was great (as predicted by many) and it was good to be in a car and able to stop when I wished.




A stop at the 'Granites' on the GOR. I guess a bit off the tourist trail as no one was there.

And the Twelve Apostles (of course!), complete with small bush-fire in the background...




Must say that I found the Twelve Apostles to be a very special place. So much so that, as I was staying near by, I went back again around 7am to see them again in another light. (and with the fire out!)



Had a night's stop in the lovely little Port Campbell, getting lucky and finding a really good hostel. Then I carried on from the GOR, along the coast to the Coorong. This is a very large, and very significant, wetland area with large colonies of waterfowl that make up large %'s of australia's total populations. Again, got lucky with my motel choice (well, the inside was average!) as my room's window was 5' from the water's edge. Spent a day and a half there seeing lots of interesting wildlife but the stars of the show were the Australian Pelicans. There are about 4000 there and I certainly saw a few hundred...



From the Coorong, it was a short 150km, or so, drive to Adelaide. Now it seems that Adelaide gets a fair bit of poor press, describing it as small and boring but I really quite liked the place. It is certainly renowned for its liberalism and tolerance and that is definitely apparent in the feel of the place. Lots of interesting people and a laid back feel. All good.

From here it is was to Kangaroo Island. A fantastic place for the next post...

NB. I think if you click or double click on the photo's you can see them better in the flick'r account. (they were only taken on a 'point and shoot'!)


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Location:Kangaroo Island