Great Ocean Road - Adeliade

As I have not had access to the internet for the last couple of weeks I am trying to update everything now - so probably a bit of an information overload for you guys - sorry!!

So we arrived in Melbourne, where we picked up another rental car and then another backpacker called James who's from England. Shannon had arranged for us to do this trip from Melbourne to Adelaide with another person. So we began our trip and on the first day we were aiming for Apollo Bay. The first day really wasn't that exciting (driving wise) as it was mostly just main road. (Also for those of you who can't remember, I have actually done the Great Ocean Road before when I first came to Australia with Rosie last year, but this is actually the best way to get to Adelaide so I ended up doing it again.) The best thing about the first day was that as I was driving along, I turned a corner and right in front of us was a furry wild Australian animal in the middle of the road. So I stopped the car, put the hazard lights on, and we all got out to discover that it was a Koala carrying its baby on its back - an incredibly rare thing to see - I have not met many people who have seen this! So we tried to coax the animal back into the forest other wise it wouldn't be around much longer. Some other people joined us and eventually the Koala got off the road - phew!

We then continued our trip to Apollo Bay. Luckily for me, James (our new travel partner for the next 3 days) liked the odd drink (Shannon has given up alcohol for the moment), so after the long days drive we enjoyed a few drinks at the pub. The next day we were driving the Great Ocean Road. We stopped off and saw the Twelve Aposltes (would you believe they are still alive!!) - in fact they are '12' limestone pillar things in the ocean, although there aren't 12 anymore as they keep falling down!! Then we saw the London Bridge - again not the real one, but another 'sculpture' the sea has made out of the limestone - this has also had one of its arches collapse (London Bridge is falling down - do you all remember that song - slightly ironic in this case!!). Basically the Great Ocean Road has lots of pretty scenery along its coastline. Also for you sad individuals (I am one), who can remember the Australian TV program 'Round the Twist', we also saw the lighthouse from that (apparently Mad Max also featured it!!). I am really getting around the Australian Soap Opera TV sets (Neighbours, Home and Away and now Round the Twist). We then continued the drive and left the state of Victoria and crossed over into South Australia, where we were staying in Mount Gambier for the night. When you cross boarders in Australia, they have a bit of an issue with taking fruit etc with you, so as we crossed over, Shannon and I frantically ate the fruit we had with us, otherwise they make us throw it out - what a waste!!

In Mount Gambier they have a very blue lake - its in an old Volcano and it is very blue so there you go!! We then drove up to Victor Harbour - the drive was pretty boring - just a straight road where you can't go very fast along. We spent the night there and then we drove to Adelaide, where we had to drop the car off as well as James at his backpackers. Shannon and I were then picked up by our new helpx hosts who live on a vineyard.....