With sandy shorts and heavy hearts we loaded up the van and pulled reluctantly out of Lorne. Would we ever spend four such glorious days on the beach again? This had been the stuff of family legend and we were sure that the halcyon days spent guiltily soaking up the sun and surf might never be repeated, ever. The stars have aligned themselves in many strange and wondrous ways in Oz, and perhaps nowhere did we feel the vibes of luck and good fortune more than on the gentle shores of Lorne.
But that was yesterday and today we had some major mileage to make up. We were going to save the really scenic stuff for our drive home, so this leg of the journey would take us away from the ocean but hopefully a little faster to Adelaide. From the golden shores of Lorne we climbed inland over a beautifully twisty road that again forced us to engage the rating system and after a "below 7" urging from Alex we spent a dusty few minutes at the side of the road trying to catch our breath and balance. Thankfully, only a few more turns separated us from flatter and straighter highways and soon we left the seclusion of the secondary roads to join one of the three major roads between Melbourne and Adelaide. Our eventual destination would be Mt. Gambier, the second largest city in South Australia, but before we got there we would enjoy a rainy lunch in Warranambool, a seaside town famous for its shipwrecks and killer playground. The boys and I had a fantastic time flinging oursleves down the best flying foxes I have ever seen. Australia, I must say, does parks right!
Needing to get another few hundred kms under the wheels of our trusty Toyota Tarango, we scarfed down our picnic lunch in the foggy confines of the van and then headed onto the open highway like Kerouac's Sal Paradise, not knowing what we would see or where we would stop next but certain that we were headed in the right direction. In fact, this particular trip was really our own version of a classic "road movie". There were the seedy motels, strange characters, and always the road pulling us on. Of course, there were not the endless parties, bizarre drug use, ,and way cool soundtrack of an Easy Rider or even National Lampoons Family Vacation but in the same way that the road movie captures life through the collective journey, our drive to Adelaide neatly captured the four of us living within whatever the road presented to us every day. Upon reflection, the freedom of not knowing where you would eat, what you might see, or who you might meet as you pull into the outer limits of the next, new and dusty town must be part of what Sal and Jack were so desperately addicted to. And though many of these places seemed so remote and faceless, the thrill of what the next place just might hold had become quite enchanting.
And it was with such a mind that we rolled into Mt. Gambier - pronounced Gam-bee-err - not with the obviously french influenced Gam-bee-ey that we consistently wanted to use and had all of the locals giving us the "You're-not-from-around-these-parts-are-yuh" hairy eyeball. Our first stop tends to always be the "i" which is the local tourist info booth and is always good for a few brochures, a pee, and at times a cool thing to climb on. In this case we discovered that Mt. Gambier was actually settled on top of a series of ancient rivers, caves and caverns and beside an old, very extinct volcano. Way cool! This was something new and different from the now very "boring" coastline and beach vistas and we all oohed and aahed at the size of the crater that formed Blue Lake at the top of Mt. Gambier.
After checking in to our hotel and checking out a few more caves and sinkholes, we had a passable Thai meal at the Banana Leaf cafe on mainstreet Mt. Gambier. Something a little less awe-inspiring than the caves, or the food for that matter, was our Best Western hotel room. Linton thinks I am becoming a bit of a hotel snob, and I will admit to a growing need for a firm mattress, thick walls, a clean bedspread and furniture that evokes a time period other than 1930's Oklahoma. If that's what makes me a hotel snob then so be it. Suffice to say, on our budget, we have experienced a very wide variety of what Australia has to offer in terms of budget accommodation.
In the morning, we faced our longest drive yet as we needed to get to Adelaide by 6:00 to meet my parents. Before we got underway we visited Englebrecht Cave which had been a special promise to a very disappointed Alex who had shed a tear the night before when the cave had been closed. Again working inland we soon made our way through one of the most famous wine regions in Australia - Coonawara - stopping briefly at Wynns vineyard to sample a bit and buy a welcome-to-Australia bottle for my dad. Blasting our way past endless cattle stations, windfarms, and the odd secluded vineyard we stopped for lunch in Keith, South Australia where we were again welcomed by a very friendly and playable park. They boys were in heaven on a gravity-propelled train-like thing that would never see the light of day in Canada for fear of the 27 different types of potential for litigation. Here in Australia however, we were relaxed enough to see that it was perfect and safe enough for our kids.
With a "take away"long black precariously perched in the cup holder in order to fend off the inevitable post-lunch head-bobs, we pounded the pedal for Adelaide needing only a pee and petrol stop in strangely named Tailem Bend in order to finally make Adelaide. Crossing the Murray River and descending into Adelaide was nicely familiar and more than a touch exciting both for the sense of conquering another large chunk of the Australian continent and knowing that this journey had actually brought us within reach of family from home. Our dinner and reunion at Stanley's seafood restaurant on Gouger street was one of the most satisfying meals I have had in years.
1 comment:
Hi,
Enjoyed your adventure. We offer a site tha assists with planning Great Ocean Road travel
greatoceanroad-torqu.com.au
will lace a link to your journal on it.
Yvonne & Tim
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