Day 10: Kangaroo Island - Donovans
We loved our stay on Kangaroo Island, probably because there were hardly any tourists around except at the main attractions. We found it easy to get away from the crowds and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
Another early start saw us on the 8:30am ferry back to the mainland.
The GPS took us through some strange roads - lots of towering trees and later through some gorgeous wine country.
We drove for a long time next to the Coorong lakes - a huge expanse of freshwater that seemed forgotten. We had planned to eat lobster in Kingston, but lobster season had finished! Larry the Lobster is pretty humongous, on sale for $300K if anyone is looking for a career change!
A little while later we got to Mount Gambier. It was a cloudy day and also the wrong season, so the Blue lake wasn't that vibrant blue of Google images. Still, it was an incredibly tranquil place to relax and breathe in the fresh air.
We spent the night in the most adorable Airbnb ever in Donovans, a tiny town half an hour outside Mount Gambier. The country cottage was just so sweet, and we loved picking a few apples and lemons, then settling down in front of the fire with Enid Blyton.
Day 11: Donovans - Anglesea
I had thought this would be a leisurely day, but had completely forgotten how difficult the actual Great Ocean Road drive is. We crossed the border into Victoria fairly early, and then we were shocked by the tourists. The GOR is one of Victoria's premier attractions, and it's easy to see why so many people come here.
Since the last time I visited GOR in 2003, the 12 Apostles have partially fallen down but the visitor centre now has to be seen to be believed. Huge numbers of tour buses and big tour groups crowded around the short walk to the apostles. It was hard to appreciate the beauty with so much noise and commotion around!
We found our own tranquility though, having lunch in a deserted forest.
Some spectacular viewpoints along the GOR. Google tells us that it is the biggest tribute to World War I in the world, having been built by the soldiers who returned from WWI to commemorate their fallen colleagues.
So many Chinese tourists... so the road signs are also in Chinese. Can you believe we are in Australia??
Day 12: Anglesea - Melbourne
We spent the night in sleepy Anglesea and headed to Melbourne the next day. There was crazy smog along the road that day with poor visibility. Traffic was awful as we went for a round town drive and then checked into our Airbnb in St Kilda.
Melbourne people are busy, right! So they even have professional dog walkers.
Sunset at St Kilda pier. We saw a few fairy penguins here, but the number of people there was phenomenal!
That night I caught up with my lovely friend Amy who had bought a beautiful house in inner city Melbourne. It was such a nice change to eat non-Chinese food after eating Chinese food non stop along the road trip! We started to play some piano duets but 1.5 Beethoven pieces later, the neighbours complained about the noise... those uncultured Melbournians..
Day 13: Melbourne
There were a lot of grand plans for Day 13. I had made a dough with Barney (more on that later) and planned to take it with me to piano quintets. But the air conditioning was really difficult to control and the apartment was so warm that the dough just grew to gigantic proportions...
In the morning I caught up with my amazing friend Sam. We met in Mexico over two years ago and have kept in touch since, which is just so lovely in this day and age. We went to a hipsteriffic veg cafe in St Kilda (of course, where else!) and I had this delicious buddha bowl with a tasty beetroot hummus.
In the afternoon I went to play piano quintet with my friend's string quartet. Driving along the Monash freeway was a good induction back to real life. I was struck by the kindness and generosity of the host, and also by what an incredible quartet they were. It was the first big group event I've played in where the participants are actually so in sync with each other they don't have to do the 1,2,3 counting..
We played Dvorak's piano quintet no.2, such a gorgeous piece that I found myself swooning at multiple points. There are some really bright and gregarious parts, alongside some beautiful melancholic melodies.. then we played a little bit of the Brahms piano quintet in F minor. Funny that I've never played Brahms. He's not too bad really..
Our last dinner on the road was these dumplings made with barney. The chewy slightly sour flavour of the dumpling skins has ruined me for instant dumplings... forever.
Day 14: Melbourne - home
This was one of our epic drive days and we were all in a great mood and looking forward to home.
The fog was pretty heavy again.
After about three hours we got back to New South Wales!
It's odd there's a big submarine shell in this little town in the middle of nowhere..
Last stop in Goulburn with the Big Merino.
Last sunset on the road
Home sweet home, 6000km later. We had spent two weeks traversing three states and one territory, seen a diverse range of beautiful landscapes, spied a whole bunch of animals in the wild (camels, horses, countless kangaroos, 1 dingo, 1 emu, 3 koalas, lots of eagles, buffalos, cows, 2 penguins) and drunk much much coffee (both drinkable and non-drinkable. I think only when one is on the road, one can really appreciate how huge Australia is and just how raw the land is. It is an incredible country we live in.
We loved our stay on Kangaroo Island, probably because there were hardly any tourists around except at the main attractions. We found it easy to get away from the crowds and enjoy the beautiful scenery.
Another early start saw us on the 8:30am ferry back to the mainland.
The GPS took us through some strange roads - lots of towering trees and later through some gorgeous wine country.
We drove for a long time next to the Coorong lakes - a huge expanse of freshwater that seemed forgotten. We had planned to eat lobster in Kingston, but lobster season had finished! Larry the Lobster is pretty humongous, on sale for $300K if anyone is looking for a career change!
A little while later we got to Mount Gambier. It was a cloudy day and also the wrong season, so the Blue lake wasn't that vibrant blue of Google images. Still, it was an incredibly tranquil place to relax and breathe in the fresh air.
We spent the night in the most adorable Airbnb ever in Donovans, a tiny town half an hour outside Mount Gambier. The country cottage was just so sweet, and we loved picking a few apples and lemons, then settling down in front of the fire with Enid Blyton.
Day 11: Donovans - Anglesea
I had thought this would be a leisurely day, but had completely forgotten how difficult the actual Great Ocean Road drive is. We crossed the border into Victoria fairly early, and then we were shocked by the tourists. The GOR is one of Victoria's premier attractions, and it's easy to see why so many people come here.
Bay of Islands
London bridge
Loch Ard Gorge
Since the last time I visited GOR in 2003, the 12 Apostles have partially fallen down but the visitor centre now has to be seen to be believed. Huge numbers of tour buses and big tour groups crowded around the short walk to the apostles. It was hard to appreciate the beauty with so much noise and commotion around!
We found our own tranquility though, having lunch in a deserted forest.
Some spectacular viewpoints along the GOR. Google tells us that it is the biggest tribute to World War I in the world, having been built by the soldiers who returned from WWI to commemorate their fallen colleagues.
Day 12: Anglesea - Melbourne
We spent the night in sleepy Anglesea and headed to Melbourne the next day. There was crazy smog along the road that day with poor visibility. Traffic was awful as we went for a round town drive and then checked into our Airbnb in St Kilda.
Melbourne people are busy, right! So they even have professional dog walkers.
Sunset at St Kilda pier. We saw a few fairy penguins here, but the number of people there was phenomenal!
That night I caught up with my lovely friend Amy who had bought a beautiful house in inner city Melbourne. It was such a nice change to eat non-Chinese food after eating Chinese food non stop along the road trip! We started to play some piano duets but 1.5 Beethoven pieces later, the neighbours complained about the noise... those uncultured Melbournians..
Day 13: Melbourne
There were a lot of grand plans for Day 13. I had made a dough with Barney (more on that later) and planned to take it with me to piano quintets. But the air conditioning was really difficult to control and the apartment was so warm that the dough just grew to gigantic proportions...
In the morning I caught up with my amazing friend Sam. We met in Mexico over two years ago and have kept in touch since, which is just so lovely in this day and age. We went to a hipsteriffic veg cafe in St Kilda (of course, where else!) and I had this delicious buddha bowl with a tasty beetroot hummus.
In the afternoon I went to play piano quintet with my friend's string quartet. Driving along the Monash freeway was a good induction back to real life. I was struck by the kindness and generosity of the host, and also by what an incredible quartet they were. It was the first big group event I've played in where the participants are actually so in sync with each other they don't have to do the 1,2,3 counting..
We played Dvorak's piano quintet no.2, such a gorgeous piece that I found myself swooning at multiple points. There are some really bright and gregarious parts, alongside some beautiful melancholic melodies.. then we played a little bit of the Brahms piano quintet in F minor. Funny that I've never played Brahms. He's not too bad really..
Our last dinner on the road was these dumplings made with barney. The chewy slightly sour flavour of the dumpling skins has ruined me for instant dumplings... forever.
Day 14: Melbourne - home
This was one of our epic drive days and we were all in a great mood and looking forward to home.
The fog was pretty heavy again.
After about three hours we got back to New South Wales!
It's odd there's a big submarine shell in this little town in the middle of nowhere..
Last stop in Goulburn with the Big Merino.
Last sunset on the road
Home sweet home, 6000km later. We had spent two weeks traversing three states and one territory, seen a diverse range of beautiful landscapes, spied a whole bunch of animals in the wild (camels, horses, countless kangaroos, 1 dingo, 1 emu, 3 koalas, lots of eagles, buffalos, cows, 2 penguins) and drunk much much coffee (both drinkable and non-drinkable. I think only when one is on the road, one can really appreciate how huge Australia is and just how raw the land is. It is an incredible country we live in.
such a wonderful trip you had. australia is huge and beautiful isn't it? i am amazed by all the chinese tourists and road signs! cheers sherry
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