The plan for the Melbourne Cup 4 day weekend was to stay over in Geelong (2 hours west of Warragul) on the Friday night and then head along the Great Ocean Road on Saturday morning, camping in Apollo Bay for 3 nights and heading to the Melbourne Cup Races on Tuesday.
Sounds great! Alas, 'twas not to be. Factor in the worst weather ever and suddenly there is a change of plan. Yup, that's right, I'm not typing this blog from my tent, I'm back home warm and dry with a good cup of coffee and rotten morning tv in the background. Never before have we been defeated on a camping trip but we were both in agreement having spent a miserable night in the tent that heading home was the best option.
However, I'll tell you from the start what we did manage to do - it wasn't all bad!
Packed up Jimmy on Friday early evening with a tonne of stuff that we probably didn't need but thought we'd take anyway. Headed to Geelong, 2 hours west of Warragul/Drouin, and stayed the night in a motel on the esplanade. Ordered a nice bottle of Clyde Sauv Blanc, made in Rutherglen, Melbourne! Mmmm. Next morning we set off bright and early, just as the grey clouds set in, and stop off in Torquay for some information - the lovely Marie was very excited about our trip and gave us lots of good advice about where to stop and what to see. Really would recommend anyone coming to do the Great Ocean Road to go and see Marie, excellent guide! Anyway that's by the by...
We head into Torquay, 17km from Geelong, for a spot of breakfast and a caffeine fix before heading to the Aboriginal Sundial which was quite stunning but of course didn't work - no sun!! Bah. Still optomistic we drive to Bells Beach to admire some good surfers surfing but that didn't quite work either - no surf! Bah. Trying to stay optomistic, we drive through Point Addis, Anglesea, stop off in Aireys Inlet to attend a local random market and try some wine from Moggs Creek (liked the name, sadly didn't like the wine) then arrived in Lorne, surfing town extravaganza! More wine and fudge tasting for us. Mid afternoon we drive through Wye River and on to Kennett River for some koala spotting - found one - before arriving in Apollo Bay for some camping. Would we say we were still optomistic about camping, when all we can see is rain and fog? Em, no, but we still put up our tent....
Isn't it funny that the weather just waits on you to arrive at the campsite and step out the car before it chucks it down good and proper, flinging in a bit of wind just to make it even more exciting? It was actually quite hilarous trying to put up our tent - by the time it was up, a small moat had formed round the outskirts - and blowing up our airbed proved hard to do inside Jimmy - it got a bit stuck - and when we pulled it out it got a bit wet. We looked like drowned rats by the time we got into the tent! There was a couple pitching their tent next to ours having a proper domestic - not quite sure how long they were going to last!
So anyway, we were still thinking that we could have a good weekend. Gone were the plans of basking in the sunshine, sunglasses on, glass of wine in hand, burger in the other, chilling out with a good book, planning the surfing and hang-gliding lessons! We sat in the indoor area cooking our sausages trying to keep warm and decided to head into the town for a small beer or two. Funnily enough, the pub was very busy!! A safe haven from the stormy weather.
Arriving back to the tent, rain lashing against the sides, we decided the best thing to do would be to go to sleep and hopefully wake up to glorious sunshine. The persistent drips to the head every 20 secs or so did not make for a good sleep and so at approximately 4am in the morning, we made the executive decision to GIVE UP!!
Slightly disappointed that we didn't get to complete the Great Ocean Road but we'll just need to go it another day when the sun is shining. We still have the trip to the Twelve (now eight) Apostles to do and then onto the end at Warnambool, the end being 3 hours from Apollo Bay.
Anyway, on the up side, we are still on holiday and I've got to pretend to be creative and make my fascinator for tomorrow even though my feathers are now looking a little worse for wear! Will update the blog in a couple of days to let you know the outcome of the Races. What's the forecast for the Races? Rain. What's the forecast for this weekend? 25C and sunny. C'est la vie!
One funny thing happened to us when we arrived back to the house yesterday early evening. We had totally forgotten it was Halloween and when we saw all these little kids dressed up in their scary outfits walking up our street, Bob was thrown into a panic, screaming "uh oh, we're in big trouble here, BIG TROUBLE", trying to miraculously conjure up sweeties for the kids. All he could manage was 3 small cans of coke and 5 timtams which he clearly wasn't happy about so he shut the blinds and sat in silence, hoping that they would all miss out our house. That didn't happen but at the same time, we weren't inundated with them either. Our friend Liza popped round and when we told her our story about hiding from the kids, she kindly offered to pop round the corner to her sisters and brought us back some sweets. Lifesaver! Bob was much happier. NB Children here don't even tell a joke or sing a song! They just stand there. Think the next Halloween we'll have to get them dooking for apples or something. That is if they even understand the work 'dook'. Bah.
In the end, we only had two more kids come round so we got to eat the sweets ourselves. Result : )
Love to all! xx
Sounds great! Alas, 'twas not to be. Factor in the worst weather ever and suddenly there is a change of plan. Yup, that's right, I'm not typing this blog from my tent, I'm back home warm and dry with a good cup of coffee and rotten morning tv in the background. Never before have we been defeated on a camping trip but we were both in agreement having spent a miserable night in the tent that heading home was the best option.
However, I'll tell you from the start what we did manage to do - it wasn't all bad!
Packed up Jimmy on Friday early evening with a tonne of stuff that we probably didn't need but thought we'd take anyway. Headed to Geelong, 2 hours west of Warragul/Drouin, and stayed the night in a motel on the esplanade. Ordered a nice bottle of Clyde Sauv Blanc, made in Rutherglen, Melbourne! Mmmm. Next morning we set off bright and early, just as the grey clouds set in, and stop off in Torquay for some information - the lovely Marie was very excited about our trip and gave us lots of good advice about where to stop and what to see. Really would recommend anyone coming to do the Great Ocean Road to go and see Marie, excellent guide! Anyway that's by the by...
We head into Torquay, 17km from Geelong, for a spot of breakfast and a caffeine fix before heading to the Aboriginal Sundial which was quite stunning but of course didn't work - no sun!! Bah. Still optomistic we drive to Bells Beach to admire some good surfers surfing but that didn't quite work either - no surf! Bah. Trying to stay optomistic, we drive through Point Addis, Anglesea, stop off in Aireys Inlet to attend a local random market and try some wine from Moggs Creek (liked the name, sadly didn't like the wine) then arrived in Lorne, surfing town extravaganza! More wine and fudge tasting for us. Mid afternoon we drive through Wye River and on to Kennett River for some koala spotting - found one - before arriving in Apollo Bay for some camping. Would we say we were still optomistic about camping, when all we can see is rain and fog? Em, no, but we still put up our tent....
Isn't it funny that the weather just waits on you to arrive at the campsite and step out the car before it chucks it down good and proper, flinging in a bit of wind just to make it even more exciting? It was actually quite hilarous trying to put up our tent - by the time it was up, a small moat had formed round the outskirts - and blowing up our airbed proved hard to do inside Jimmy - it got a bit stuck - and when we pulled it out it got a bit wet. We looked like drowned rats by the time we got into the tent! There was a couple pitching their tent next to ours having a proper domestic - not quite sure how long they were going to last!
So anyway, we were still thinking that we could have a good weekend. Gone were the plans of basking in the sunshine, sunglasses on, glass of wine in hand, burger in the other, chilling out with a good book, planning the surfing and hang-gliding lessons! We sat in the indoor area cooking our sausages trying to keep warm and decided to head into the town for a small beer or two. Funnily enough, the pub was very busy!! A safe haven from the stormy weather.
Arriving back to the tent, rain lashing against the sides, we decided the best thing to do would be to go to sleep and hopefully wake up to glorious sunshine. The persistent drips to the head every 20 secs or so did not make for a good sleep and so at approximately 4am in the morning, we made the executive decision to GIVE UP!!
Slightly disappointed that we didn't get to complete the Great Ocean Road but we'll just need to go it another day when the sun is shining. We still have the trip to the Twelve (now eight) Apostles to do and then onto the end at Warnambool, the end being 3 hours from Apollo Bay.
Anyway, on the up side, we are still on holiday and I've got to pretend to be creative and make my fascinator for tomorrow even though my feathers are now looking a little worse for wear! Will update the blog in a couple of days to let you know the outcome of the Races. What's the forecast for the Races? Rain. What's the forecast for this weekend? 25C and sunny. C'est la vie!
One funny thing happened to us when we arrived back to the house yesterday early evening. We had totally forgotten it was Halloween and when we saw all these little kids dressed up in their scary outfits walking up our street, Bob was thrown into a panic, screaming "uh oh, we're in big trouble here, BIG TROUBLE", trying to miraculously conjure up sweeties for the kids. All he could manage was 3 small cans of coke and 5 timtams which he clearly wasn't happy about so he shut the blinds and sat in silence, hoping that they would all miss out our house. That didn't happen but at the same time, we weren't inundated with them either. Our friend Liza popped round and when we told her our story about hiding from the kids, she kindly offered to pop round the corner to her sisters and brought us back some sweets. Lifesaver! Bob was much happier. NB Children here don't even tell a joke or sing a song! They just stand there. Think the next Halloween we'll have to get them dooking for apples or something. That is if they even understand the work 'dook'. Bah.
In the end, we only had two more kids come round so we got to eat the sweets ourselves. Result : )
Love to all! xx
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