Adelaide and The Great Ocean Road

Well Emma and I caught a flight to Adelaide on 18th December in preperation to meet Lorraine and Graham on 19th December. We arrived at Melbournes Avalon airport, a big porta cabin!!, about an hour before our flight was due to leave so we checked in and waited...
The flight was straight forward and quick. We arrived in Adelaide around 10.30ish, remembering that we had to put our clocks back half hour! We had an interesting first night as we were put in a dorm where there were too many people for the number of beds so poor Emma got woken up in the middle of the night with some guy saying it was his bed!! She got to stay in the bed, after getting up, dressed, packed and going downstairs!! Shame!!
Anyway the next morning we got up and moved hostels, checking into a rather nice YHA so that was good. We went to the market, had breakfast and then chilled in the hostel - when I say chilled I mean fell asleep!! We woke up in the afternoon and it was so hot!
Showered and changed before heading to look at the botanic gardens which were really pretty as are most of the botanic gardens in Australia.
We headed back to the hostel for a bit before going for dinner and then catching the bus to meet Lorraine and Graham from the airport! We met them off their flight at around 9ish. Lorraines case was missing - bit of bad luck as the day before her handbag had already been stolen!! Not a great start to their holiday but once they'd checked into their hotel we headed out for a few, much needed, drinks. We just chatted for a bit and had a nice evening before heading off in our separate directions to bed.
The next day we were also staying in Adelaide so after we'd all met up we headed to the beach at Glenelg, taking the tram there. It was a nice hot day. We walked down to the end of the pier, had some fish and chips and spent way too long in a shop called cheap as chips - playing with things and taking photos!! I put on a fat suit, looked good!!
We then relaxed in Lorraine and Grahams room before heading out for some dinner. We choose a chinese restaurant, my food was great but we were all so tired so once we'd eaten we just all wanted to get to bed and sleep!! Oh dear....
The next morning Emma and I checked out of the hostel and stored out bags. We then showered at L & G's hotel and they all went off to collect the hire car!! They took quite a while to get the car, and come back to collect all the bags and me, so I amused myself for the hour or so it took!
We were then able to start our journey. Our first stop was the Barossa Valley where we had a bit of trouble finding our first winery - Jacobs Creek!! We eventually did find it and parked up. We pretty much got right to the wine tasting!! We tasted quite a few wines and a port. Emma was driving so she was limited. I enjoyed the Sav Blanc (sp??) the best, the port was really fruity and I didn't like the rose or sparkling at all!! It was fun though, I have never done wine tasting before (hardly anyone spits it out you know!!). We were there for quite a while tasting our wines.
Our next stop was the Penfolds winery to taste a few. We only tried a couple and one of them was really nice - really odd name though (maybe Lorraine will remember!?!). We weren't there as long, staff weren't as friendly as at Orlando winery (Jacobs Creek).
We stopped in a little town for a bit of a late lunch, 3pm!! Was quite sweet.
We then headed off towards Hahndorf where we had planned to stay the night. Hahndorf is an old German village. We did begin driving through the Adelaide Hills but our map was very limited and didn't make much sense so we had to head via Adelaide instead!! We got to Hahndorf around 7pm parked the car and went for a wander - most things were closed. Its quite a quaint looking town with a bit of character! For some reason we seemed to ask in the motor inn furtherest from where we'd parked the car but at least we found somewhere!! A little chalet type thing, open plan. Well what happened but it started to piss down with rain!!! We had to wait quite a while for it to die off and we were lucky, we then had to go and get the car!!
We got our stuff unpacked into the chalet and Emma and I had some dinner - buffet style which was ok, quite average! We played some pokies....it was fun because I spent $1 and came away with $10 not bad! Pokies are weird slot machine type things. Off to bed after that....
We all woke up quite early the next morning, Friday 22nd Dec in case you can't keep up!, and said good bye to Hahndorf. We drove until about 11 and then stopped at a roadside cafe/shop/video rental in Tintinarra and had a bacon and egg sandwich - it was good!
We headed towards the coast, passing through Kingston and Millicent before Mount Gambier. We stopped briefly at the Blue Lake in Mount Gambier which was beautiful. During summer months the lake turns an amazing shade of blue, above, and then in winter it returns to grey. Its something to do with particles that the sun reflect off??
We drove on to Port Fairy where we spent the night, stayed at The Dubliners - quite nice. We had a really nice meal at a little restaurant just next door and wine.... Very relaxing.
I don't think Emma liked the wine as I was woken at 3am with her loving the toilet a little too much - poor thing!!
The next morning we headed off to begin The Great Ocean Road!! The first section of the road doesn't follow right next to the ocean and is mainly cliffs etc. We stopped at London bridge, Arch, Blowhole, the twelve apostles (only about 6 left!) and a cave. It has gorgeous cliff coastlines and perfect walking weather so a bit blowy.
We drove through Apollo Bay and after that is when the road gets stunning and is following the coastline with its lovely beaches and perfect blue sea. Very windy but just stunning. We passed through a few small seaside towns.
At one section we passed alot of people just all standing at the side of the road and looking up. I looked where they were looking and saw a koala yawning!! So we pulled over as well and jumped out. There were about5/6 wild koalas in trees along the road and it was amazing! We took photos etc and one of the koalas moved and peed, some of the pee hit a woman and her daughter in their faces - we laughed!! HA HA So after spending some time looking at the koalas we decided to continue.
We stopped in Lorne for some lunch....had a steak sandwich which was quite good. People in the cafe seemed moody and one girl wouldn't smile, we were all very polite. Lorraine decided to ask if she had a problem with smiling - we all ran away and left her!! It was funny.... We had a stroll along the beach before heading inland towards Melbourne.
We drove through Geelong and then into Melbourne, arriving around 6pm and a day early!! Lorraine and Graham booked an extra night in their hotel and Emma and I went back to our hostel.
It was a nice few days although some seemed a little rushed, mainly because noone had really planned what to do. It was beautiful though and I thoroughly enjoyed it!!
Will post pictures soon I promise!!!
Dawn
xxxxxxx