Andy & Gillie's Big Adventure!: Lots of ups and some downs…

Somewhat obscure heading for today’s post. It’s been a while, but we’ve done a fair deal since the last post. I’m sitting in a Salvation Army (Salvos) internet café in the picturesque town of Moruya, NSW. This isn’t a planned stop, but we are waiting for the news on Molly who is undergoing surgery at the moment – new alternator bearings at best, in which case we’ll be off at 5.30 ish. New alternator at worst, in which case we’ll be here for the weekend.

From Robe, where we had some lovely food and too much drink in a great pub – The Caledonian Hotel (The Cally), we moved on to Portland, where we saw our first koalas in the wild and an unexpectedly amazing sunset. We then drove to Port Fairy and a great walk around Griffiths Island, where we saw some fantastic beaches and lots of dead mutton Birds or Shearwaters – they die knackered from their flight back from the Antarctic or somewhere, too tired to go and get grub.

Our next few days saw us drive along the Great Ocean Road, which is absolutely breathtaking – some real ups and downs and round and rounds. Great views, similar in parts to Big Sur in California, but that’s for another day…

Barwons Head was a surprisingly lovely park, with secluded sites overlooking the sea and a nice bar at the end of a short walk. Need I say more?

From Barwons Head we drove to a north Melbourne suburb, via Geelong – not a drive I’d care to repeat. The campground was surprising comfortable, at the end of a tram line into the city, so we went in and met up with one of Andy’s ex-students, Eleanor, on a wild, wet and windy Wednesday, before going Christmas shopping on a warm sunny (!?) Thursday. Melbourne is a fascinating, diverse city, with loads of really cool bars and restaurants in hipster suburbs, plus gardens, river, loads of good history stuff and places to go.

On the Friday, we took advantage of the free guided walk – three hours around Melbourne for whatever you think is worth it – and were going to set off back to the camper, when we got a text from Emily who said that her and Holly’s friend John Ross Jones, was expecting us to pop in for a drink at the bar he runs, Sake, on the waterfront. So we had to go. Thanks JRJ, your hospitality and knowledge of sake and Japanese beer is unrivalled I’m sure!

We eventually reached another of Andy’s ex-students’ apartment in the ‘sought-after’ suburb of Richmond. Charlotte and her flatmate Kate put us up for two nights and we had a completely marvellous time drinking too much on Friday, exploring the city with Charlotte on the Saturday – when we dropped in again on JRJ and went to the wonderfully-named ‘Naked For Satan’ rooftop bar, before chancing upon a cinema just about to show ‘Pride’, so we went in and enjoyed it very much indeed. Touches of Full Monty/Billy Elliott (not that musical shite). A genuine English feelgood with top performances throughout.

We took our leave of Charlotte and Kate and headed down the Mornington Peninsula in not-very-nice weather, before pitching up in a campsite in Sorrento just outside Rye – named after Gillie’s forebears! It was a horrible site with public loos and no kitchen, so we sloped off early without paying the extortionate sum of $35!!! (if you’re reading this Mr Mornington Peninsula Shire – it’s a rip-off!

We cheered ourselves up by walking to the end of the Peninsula to a place called Nepean Point, which has loads of fascinating history as a gun barracks with remains of gun emplacements – big mother f£$%^*s and stuff. We also marked the spot where a serving Australian Prime Minister, Harold Holt, went for a swim and was never seen again. This was in 1967. Shame David Cameron doesn’t go swimming much…

Phillip Island next and a lovely place where you can sit and watch up to 1000 Small Penguins hazard the seemingly endless stretch of beach from the sea to apparent safety in the dunes every evening to bring food to their young, or shagging – depending on their inclination at the time. Couldn’t take photos, but it was lovely to see these tiny – most about 10 inches tall – creatures brave the expanse of sand and then get into the dunes and spend hours wandering around in a re-make of the Spike Milligan Q8 sketches ‘what do we do now?’ moments.

We also managed to get a glimpse of sea lions at the tip of Phillip Island in a place with the wonderful name of ‘The Nobbies’. It was the less-than entrancing Lakes Entrance next, followed by a place laughingly called Eden, which did not live up to its name. We were intending to reach Jervis Bay tonight, but events are currently conspiring against us. We remain upbeat and optimistic however and will be in Sydney next Tuesday come what may…

PS…At the moment we’re keeping our fingers crossed!! However we knew we would have ups and downs and we are being positive and dwelling on all the good things that are happening e.g. we’ve just secured another house sit in Sydney 29^th Jan to 10^th Feb, so in the 3 weeks between house sits we’ll be exploring the east coast, and going as far as the Whitsunday Islands which I visited over 30 years ago and are absolutely magnificent.

The latest house sit is in a place called Chipping Norton near Liverpool!! (sound familiar?) a suburb west of Sydney. We were thrilled to be offered this 'sit' as we hope to sell 'Molly' while we are there. We’re still enjoying all the wildlife, yesterday evening I looked up from my kindle to see 3 kangaroos frolicking in the grass beside our camper..awww! We know why this state is called New South Wales as it is so green, lush and full of rolling hills and mountains, just beautiful.

Next stop Christmas, we’ll be sending a universal email when (not if) we get to Sydney. The girls and us are already in discussions about menus etc, so all we need is good weather, as Emily has experienced 2 wet Christmas days!! At least we know Summer is coming and we have lots to look forward to. We’ve just found out you can Google us now – Andy & Gillie blog!! Take care everyone xxxxx. G