ARE WE THERE YET?

CRESSY TO WARRNAMBOOL VIA PRINCETOWN

SHEEP/WHEAT HEAVEN & GREAT OCEAN RD part 2

CRESSY TO WARRNAMBOOL Via PRINCETOWN

2nd April-10th April

BROWN WEDNESDAY

BROWN WEDNESDAY- 2nd April

TORQUAY TO CRESSY

After having such a great Easter, we decided to catch up with Craig, Yassy and Sash before leaving Victoria.  They invited us to their massive sheep and wheat farm at Cressy(just below Ballarat).  We werent planning on heading there until the weekend, because the unpredictable Vic weather has gone from -10 & raining on Monday to 25 and sunny with perfect waves on Tuesday....well it's true what they say about Victoria's weather...by Wednesday the temp had dropped, so had the swell and the wind had picked up.  When we left Torquay it was blowning about 50klms and hour.  We had to shop for groceries and travel about 90mins to Cressy.  By the time I had left the supermarket at Geelong(Ron & crew in car), the wind was blowing 100klms.  Ron & I threw our options to the wind(sorry!) -(do we stay or do we go?) and off we went at about 50klms/hour with caravan threatening to topple over at any minute.  The dust was that bad that when it finally rained (about 1/2 way through our journey) it was RAINING MUD!!!!!!

These pics tell the story.....of BROWN WEDNESDAY!!!!!!!!!

TORQUAY- AGAIN

TORQUAY- 2nd Visit

27th March- 2nd April

After Easter, we decided to travel back up to Torquay in search of a few waves....What was I thinking we had to travel THAT road again!!!!!

We had a great time, met a group of 3 families travelling together from QLD with 2 kids each.  We bargin shopped at all the surf factory outlets and managed to get one day of waves...  We explored Geelong and relaxed to some very good karoke....

  BEFORE BROWN WEDNESDAY.....Check out the above entry..

OUR NEW FRIENDS...

AIRE RIVER

EASTER @ OTWAY NATIONAL PARK-AIRE RIVER

19th March-25th March 2008

We had fancied an expensive, bleak, inland Easter as everyone in Victoria( Australia for that matter) goes camping.  That was until we had the fortune of meeting Craig, Yassy and Sasha at Torquay.  They told us about a FREE Campground in the Otways National Park, just off the Great Ocean Rd.  Better still they were keen for an Easter Campout too.  So the Wednesday before Easter we headed there, we managed to jag the best site- fires, koalas, river....what more could you want????  We had a blast!!! drank way too much red wine, thanks to Yassy and met some more friendly Victorians- Sharon, Brad and the girls. 

TORQUAY- GREAT OCEAN ROAD PART 1

TORQUAY- GREAT OCEAN ROAD part 1

16th March- 18th March

We arrived at Torquay on Trish's Birthday--HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!

We happened to camp next to some people from Ballina- Ron being himself just happened to know one of the guys...(There you go Jen-that's 1)...

We stayed there for a few days, the weather was steaming, Victoria was in a HEAT WAVE.... but the ocean was like ice.  Everyone here swims in wetsuits...can you believe it????

We checked out the Rip Curl Pro(saw Mick Fanning in the carpark-the boys were stoked) and went to the Surf Museum(not bad).

We met Craig, Yassy and Sasha from Cressy and on Tuesday left for Apollo Bay. 

I was really excited about the Great Ocean Rd until we had to drive it  (with caravan in tow).  I was white knuckled and having nanna attacks over the shear cliffs drops straight into the Southern Ocean.. All that stood between us and certain death, was a flimsy guard rail and it was REALLY WINDY. 

Anyways after delivering a litter of kittens, we made it..... 

FAMOUS BELL'S BEACH-- with no swell during Rip Curl Pro

THE OFFICAL START OF THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD -- looks like a safe road---NO WAY!!!!!

PHILLIP ISLAND

PHILLIP ISLAND- VICTORIA

14th March-16th March

SCRUBBY CREEK

SCRUBBY CREEK PICNIC AREA

Overnight- 13th March 2008

DALMENY- SOUTHERN NEW SOUTH WALES- EVER HEARD OF IT?

DALMENY-Southern NSW-- Ever heard of it?

7th March- 13th March 2008

Again, we made a monumental 30 minute journey down the road to Dalmeny near Narooma.  We found an excellent caravan park right on the beach. 

MORUYA LANDSCAPE AND GARDEN SUPPLIES

Next we travelled another 20 mins south to the

 beautiful town of Moruya.  We camped in Gerry,

Anne-Marie and family's backyard.  The kids

really enjoyed hanging out with Luca, Nic, Chloe

and Bella.  Anne-Marie, Lani and I got some much

needed retail therapy at Bateman's Bay, while

Ronnie and Gerry oogled of trucks and heavy

machinery.    How beautiful is there place.

HELLO ULLADULLA

We left Bendalong to travel about 30mins down the highway to Ulladulla.  We were really surprise how many facilitites were available in this town.  Especially since we had spent the previous week thinking we were in the middle of no-where.  We turned up at Graeme and Dorinda's beach house hoping we were in the right place and not setting up camp in a stranger's driveway. 

We stayed in Ulladulla from the 23rd Feb-4th March and had lots of fun hanging out with the Mercers.  Thanks guys.  We even did a day trip to the nation's capital. Which is better than expected.

HELLO BENDALONG

From Helensburgh, we travelled to Crookhaven Heads near Nowra.  The kids loved it because it had a jumping pillow, playground and pool.  We made some friends who had several kids with them.  We only stayed the weekend, too expensive and Tom, Kell and Lani were not happy. Oh well!

 Some people we met from Plomer recommended this camp ground "Bendalong".  At first we didn't really like it but it grew on us.  A short car trip to Manyanah and we found Green Island and Lake Conjola.

We stayed till Friday and them headed to Graeme and Dorinda's place at Ulladulla.

DAY TRIPPING TO THE GONG!!!

During our Helensburgh stay we did a few day trips to Wollongong.  Beautiful place!  We took some photos at a lookout on the way to the gong and a couple at the Lighthouse.  We also saw Win Stadium- (Ron had to take us there) and Kell was excited to see the home of the Dragons and Ronnie took some photos for Clint. Yeeha! Go the Cowboys!

WE WERE WEAK AT THE KNEES!

ON THE WAY HOME, WE WALKED THE SEA CLIFF BRIDGE.  The bridge winds out over the ocean, it was built because a series of rock slides made the exsisting road too dangerous.  The road was closed for several years until the bridge was completed.  Once the old road was closed locals had to travel for approx 1hr to get access to the other side of the road.  Ron's friends live on one side and their children's school is on the other.

SYDNEY TOWN

Tom, Kell and Lani have never been to Sydney. Nan and I braved this adventure and all had a great day.  We went to the Opera House, the Quay and by ferry to Darling Harbour.  The Sydney Aquarium was the highlight off the kids day, mine was the tram ride and Nan's was returning home.

HELENSBURGH

Wow! Somethings  never stay the same.  Had a great time in Helensburgh.  Ronnie got back to his roots and caught up with some ol' mates.  We had more rain but managed to head to Bulga on the weekend to spend time with some old friends.

Bulga is east of the Burgh and it is where the miners headed to during the Great Depression.  They built shacks on the beach and lived off the sea and surrounding area.  Some 50 shacks survive today and Ron grew up holidaying with his family in their shack.  To get to Bulga you walk down a steep cliff face and you need to carry all your items in and OUT.  Our kids managed the trip down, (dont ask about going back up) with ease, we stayed for 2 days-- check out the pics.

PLOMER HERE WE COME!

After leaving 2 days and 4 hours  than we expected and cramming the fridge with doors off into the shed, we finally left.  We headed to Mulloway and stayed overnight at the Arndell's.  It was great to catch up and we left ready for adventure.  Next we stopped at Stuarts Point and caught up with Mark and Jack.  Tom and Kell filled up on some playstation time and jagged a ride on the 4 wheeler.  We arrived at Plomer as everyone was saying goodbye to summer holidays and thus scored one of the best campsites there.  Ronnie had beers with the Kelly's and we saw Lizzy, Plenko and Nancy.  Tom, Kell and Ron nearly didn't make it much further after losing their boards and getting cleaned up by some sets way out of their depth.  Lani and I on the shore watched in horror as the rescue mission began.  Safely back to shore, Tom and Kell said they werent that scared.  Yeah right. 

We stayed till Tuesday and packed up in the pouring rain, heading to Helensburgh and sunny skies.