Melbourne to Perth
Sea Topaz
Duncan Briggs
Wed 9 Feb 2011 11:29
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Melbourne is a lovely place for a city, we were
again lucky with the weather. We enjoyed the market, wandering around the city
and visiting a few museums. From there we drove along the Great Ocean Road.
First stop was Apollo Bay, it was here that we saw the first Koala's in the wild
and plenty of them. The Otway Light house made for an interesting visit. On the
way to Port Fairy we stopped at the Twelve Apostles; this stunning coastline is
great for stunning photographs. All stretches of coast in Australia have their
own name; this one is called Wreck Coast. During the time of the settlers
arriving in Australia many ships wrecked on this coastline on their way to
Melbourne. Warnambool has an interesting museum about this time in history. On
the way to Halls Gap in the Grampians we stopped at Towerhill; a very old
volcano crater where we saw emu's in the wild. In Halls Gap we saw the evidence
of the floods there; two of the main roads into the Grampians were closed due to
heavy rain washing parts of the road and tracks away. It will take many months
to repair them. We did however managed to go up Mount Hollow in the
northern part and enjoyed amazing views. The day we left the sandbags were
coming out again as more heavy rain was expected. The drive to Adelaide was
long, but straight forward. After we were settled in our cabin we received a
phone call to say that the train to Perth was delayed by 24 hours due to
flooding on the track. So we had time to wander around town for a bit. The rain
journey was a wonderful experience, even though we travelled steerage (the
cheapest seats). It was all well organised and the food was fine. It gave us a
very good impression of how big and empty Australia really is and we haven't
even been in the middle bit yet. There was still plenty of water in areas that
were normally very dry. Still due to the after effects of Cyclone Yasi.
Sea Topaz is well she managed to cope with all the
extreme weather in Queensland sofa.
We were welcomed at the station in Perth this
morning by Tim Anderson (son of Neil). We picked up our Hippie Camper, which
will be our mode of transport and home for the rest of this month. We will
travel south first, starting tomorrow.
Life inside a cabin
Restaurant in Melbourne
One of the few light houses
visited
Koala on the move
The Twelve Apostles on the
Great Ocean Road
Emu's in the wild
The climb up Mount
Hollow The
view from the top looking out towards the Grampians
Our cabin in Halls Gap
Camels in the desert seen from the train
Fuel stop in Cook; The Indian Pacific
train
Our accommodation for
two days/nights
Flooding in the desert
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