Driving in the wrong direction

Hi there! We started phase 2 of our Australia adventure: road tripping! But you would think that a road trip of the East Coast of Australia would look like the red path below, so why are we driving West? Simple answer: James is still trying to figure out driving in Australia and will only turn left... This road trip might take longer than we expected....

Ok, enough James slander... James is doing very well driving on the left, and only once forgot the side of the road we were supposed to be on.

The real answer for the westward driving is that we want to go to Adelaide and Kangaroo Island!

The drive west has been so nice! Leaving Melbourne, we drove to Geelong to stop at a nice brewery, check out a market, and play a little tennis before driving along the Great Ocean Road. We spent our first night in Olga at a campground in Princetown, and discovered, after buying all of our bedding, that it actually gets quite chilly at night... The temperature dropped to 12°C and we realized that the thin sheet and even thinner blanket were not going to cut it.

Princetown is the gateway to the cool tourist attractions of the Great Ocean Road, including Twelve Apostles, Bay of Islands, and other very picturesque geological features. We beat the tour buses to all of the stops and had a beautiful day to see the coast.

We made a stop in the quaint little town of Port Fairy for lunch. Burritos on the beach were an amazing combo, other than the mobs of seagulls trying their best to heist our meal. Post burritos, we grabbed some supplies for Olga and blankets for us at our favourite new store, Bunnings. James’s unpacking led to the maiden voyage of our first aid kit, and a few more purchases from Bunnings. For those concerned, his hand is now healed, mainly due to Katie’s medical expertise and the technology of Steri-strips.

With the crisis adverted we continued driving further and further from civilization & cell service to our campsite deep within a Eucalyptus forest.

On the way in, we saw no other vehicles other than an unlicensed and crazy creature. Driving along through the pine stands, a rogue emu decided to run alongside us and then successfully merge in front of us without EVEN signalling! Luckily, there were no police around, but we did alert VicRoads of the dangerous driver. Our campsite was stunning, with birds everywhere, brush tail possums overhead, and noisy koalas, all while smelling like a relaxing spa. In contrast to previous nights, we were warm and rested well.

HOP to the next leg(s) of land: Kangaroo Island.

Kangaroo Island (lovingly called (by us), Roo Island), is home to many endemic animals including its own kangaroo, echidna and cockatoo species. We spent our time here going to a gorgeous beach, that was voted the best in Australia in 2023! This top-notch beach was special to us as well as it was our first swim of the trip and James’ first swim in the Southern Ocean. The cherry on top was the rock tunnel that you had to maneuver through to get there!

For the second day on Roo island, we spent it at the National Park hiking around trying our best to see platypus (with no success), sea lions (with major success) and other beautiful views!

Back on the mainland, after waiting for the boarding and unboarding of large trucks on the ferry, we headed for the big city of Adelaide. As the final stop on our westward journey, we decided to spend the day, as you should, with an 11 AM tour and tasting at the National Wine Centre. If that didn't sound like a good enough morning, it was made even better with our first (and second!) koala sightings of the trip!!

To those once again concerned, the wine tasting did not begin before noon, a significantly more reasonable time to be consuming wine. After sipping various delicious wines, we wandered around the city exploring the markets, office buildings, and restaurants.

It was the hottest day of the trip with the thermometer reading a balmy 38°C. These temperatures led to another Bunnings purchase of a brand new fan for Olga, after a second sleepless temperature-related night.

Adelaide was a wonderful city to celebrate our belated anniversary/early Valentine’s Day. We had an exquisitely fresh dinner at the closest thing we could find to Studio East, our Halifax favourite.

With the roads getting dustier, set your compasses due east, here we come Wagga Wagga/Yass/Canberra/Sydney/Brisbane/Gold Coast/Anyone got any suggestions?