December 22nd - January 5th
The group: Robbie, Eva and myself.
The route: Adelaide – Hahndorf – Murray Bridge – Meringie (Lake Albert) – Coorong National Park (pelican observation point) – Robe – Mt. Gambier (Lake Blue) – Port Fairy – Tower Hill Game Reserve – The Great Ocean Road – Apollo Bay – Melbourne – Rye - Canberra – Sydney – The Blue Mountains – Maroubra Beach (south of Sydney).
Distance covered: Approximately 3000km.
Mode of transport/accommodation: “Wicked” van named “The Road” but I preferred the name “Road Runner”. She came with some 340,000 km on her, a pull-out table and chairs, a sleeping area (the space behind the front seats, we slept head to tail, three of us in a row) and one gas canister with a stove on top (our kitchen). The following was painted on the the van's exterior:
The front - “Wicked”, in red.
Driver's side: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood; And sorry I could not travel both; And be one traveller, Long I stood, And looked down one as far as I could; To where it went in the undergrowth” – Robert Frost.
Passenger side: “Two roads diverged in a wood, And I took the one less travelled by, And that has made all the difference” and a large sticker warning, “Though Shalt Not Steal, God is Watching You Stupid F**k”.
Back: “If you don't know where you're going, Any road will take you there.”
Sticker on the glove box: “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans” – John Lennon.
Deep stuff.:-)
A word about the “Wicked”company. Each “Wicked” van has its own unique graffiti on it. You can't choose which one you get and you automatically feel the urge to beep or wave at any other “Wicked” van you see on the road. We were quite pleased that we didn't get one with more abusive messages. There was a notice up when we collected it saying that you could get the first rental day for free if you stripped off at the depot. Despite us sometimes going to desperate measures to save a penny, we kept our dignity on this occasion.
Reactions to our van: A lot of people stared at our home, some asked us if they could take a photo of it, others bashed on the walls whilst we were sleeping in it. One evening a guy shouted out, “I don't know what Robert Frost was on when he wrote that”. Me neither, I'm not familiar with yellow woods myself. It was fun to drive a vehicle that people took such an interest in.
Temperature: Between boarding the plane in Alice Springs and arriving in Adelaide, the temperature dropped by 10 degrees so that we actually felt quite cold with Adelaide's 25 degrees. It then became clear that I wouldn't be celebrating Christmas in my bikini after all.
Some Highlights:
- Views from The Great Ocean Road of beautiful limestone rock formations jutting into turquoise water (it was understandable why we weren't the only ones there).
- Watching about half a dozen koala bears in some trees off The Great Ocean Road. As koalas are said to sleep for twenty hours a day, we felt lucky to see them awake.
- Melbourne – such a lively city with great street musicians, a diversity of restaurants and bars and a fantastic Christmas window display in one of the shops.
- Catching up with Caroline and Chris and having a barbecue at the Beesons' beach home.
- Watching the dvd that Line and Ciara made us for Christmas. It was so creative, funny, clever, thoughtful and moving; a perfect Christmas present.
- Picnicking with Will and Holly on the grass in Sydney whilst waiting for the New Year fireworks. Picnic was accompanied with champagne, white wine, red wine, port, vodka and beer. The fireworks were a bit of a blur thereafter.
- Watching Parky on TV and playing Wii on New Years' Day in Will and Holly's house. A Christmas spirit if ever I knew one! ;-)
- Eating a roast dinner at Curl Curl surf club.
- Spending the first couple of days of 2009 driving through the Blue Mountains stopping off to walk to waterfalls through rain forests, to take photos of stunning scenery and to eat cream scones.
Some lowlights
- Getting a nosebleed in the middle of our first night sleeping in Road Runner. I was deep asleep, lying between Robbie and Eva at the time and felt rather ridiculous when I eventually managed to climb out of the van to stand in my pjs in the car park trying to sort myself out.
- Showering in Robe's public toilet on Christmas Eve morning. It was freezing!
- Finding out, in the Qantas office in Canberra, that we had to pay 305 Australian dollars for changing the date on our flight from Chile to Argentina. Ouch.
- Sleeping in our van in Sydenham, a rather dodgy-looking suburb of Sydney.
- Becoming depressed when acknowledging that the items in our trolley for our “Christmas shop” on Christmas Eve were pasta, rice, frozen vegtables and Woolworth's own sweet and sour sauce.
- Feeling suddenly very old when a pile of drunken teenagers got onto the same bus as us going into Sydney on New Year's Eve and started screaming pop songs in our ears. Then again, they say your number is only up when you start counting the days so there's no need to dwell on this.
- The way my head felt on New Year's Day.
A funny coincidence: If you think about all the things that could happen at the same time and don't, coincidences aren't such a big deal but I think it's still funny when they do happen... We were driving along The Great Ocean Road and pulled in at one of the many lookout points to have breakfast. Just as we were clearing the pots away, a minivan pulled up and two girls who we had met on our tour to Uluru sprang up behind us and started giggling. They were on a day trip along The Road from Melbourne and it just so happened that at that very moment their bus pulled into the same spot we had chosen (and there are a lot of places to choose from). Life is nice like that.
Our appreciation goes out to : The Beeson family and Will/Holly for letting us stay in their respective houses in Melbourne and Sydney. I've never been so grateful for a stationary floor/bed and a hot shower. If I ever have a doorstep that belongs to me, it will be there for the likes of such people to turn up on whenever they are passing!
