Tuesday 22nd February 2012 - Apollo Bay

Well we treated ourselves to a night in a hotel - mainly because we got into town at nearly 6pm and it was raining. The kids thought that they were in heaven!
Here are a few photo's from my phone from yesterday that I forgot to include......

The Grotto - Great Ocean Road

All of us at the Arch - Great Ocean Road

Princess Margaret Rose Cave

Charlotte - Great Ocean Road

The Arch - Great Ocean Road

The 12 Apostles - Great Ocean Road

Today we explored many of the wonderful walks around the waterfalls surrounding Apollo Bay.

First we went to Maitland Falls. It turned out to be a much longer walk than expected as the road to the carpark was being repaired due to a small landslide. We had to get past the digger (a highlight for Thomas!) on the road before getting to the carpark to start the actual walk. We walked through a beautiful temperate rainforest to finally get to the falls. Ed,Thomas & Olivia were a bit ahead of us and caught a group of young blokes doing a skinny dip in the water! (Ed would have joined in if he were younger as many of you well know!)

We then moved onto the Redgums area (They are giant trees) before Hopetoun Falls. Unfortunately Olivia suffered from a bout of car sickness due to the very bendy road. It was then that we remembered that she did this last time we were here! She recovered to go to the falls which were magnificient!

What great models!

We then did another walk down to Triplet Falls which was again a beautiful site!

We ended the day doing the Maits Rest Loop walk just to see the black carnivorous Snail! (for all you greenies out there!)

A long tiring day! Whilst I cooked dinner and the kids had a play in the playground, Ed went for a fish - no success again! He is not happy!
Into Melbourne tomorrow after a bit more exploring along the Great Ocean Road.

Monday 21st February Piccannini Ponds to Appollo Bay

Despite wanting to explore the ponds - it was way to cold! Today we are crossing the border into Victoria.
We went to the beautiful Princess Margaret Caves near Nelson Victoria. They were discovered by a guy doing rabbit hunting back in the 1930's. They are really amazing!

We then continued on into Victoria and along the Great Ocean Road exploring all the different lookouts along the way as well as the famous 12 Apostles. We stayed the night in Apollo Bay.

We get along the Great Ocean Road...and it is cold and starting to rain! Typical! It didn't stop us enjoying the beautiful sights all along the road.
Fish and chips for dinner and a night in a hotel. Nice!

Sunday 19th February 2012 - Robe to Piccaninnie Conservation Park (Almost on the border!)

We left Robe and continued moving down the limestone coast. The coastlines is dotted with loads of caves and sink holes. We stopped at a beautiful cave called Tantanoola. It was discovered in the 1930's by a young boy. It didn't take long to look through but it was beautiful. The photo's from my iPhone don't do it justice!

We then drove on down to Mount Gambier. We had to stop in for a water resupply. We went up to the lookout and saw the beautiful Blue Lake. It was so blue! It goes very blue in November and slowly goes grey over the summer and winter before it turn bright blue again in November!

Amazing isn't it!!!!!
We moved on down to Piccaninnie Conservation Park which is almost on the border. You can cave dive or snorkel in the pond. It's a little cool this afternoon so we are not sure if we will do it. We went down to the beach for a play & fish (Ed).

We are finishing the day off nicely with Ed playing guitar (he bought a small one in Adelaide) and some dip & biscuits. Nice! Crossing the border into Victoria tomorrow!

Saturday 18th February 2012 - Little Dip Conservation Park (Robe SA)

We woke up to the birds chirping and the groans of the kids as we announced that before we went to the beach it was...School Time!
The girls did some grammar/comprehension followed by some Maths exercises. (I am still waiting to access  Mathletics/Spellodrome) Thomas did some work on his writing and some drawing for his journal. The girls also caught up on journals (which is a chore with Olivia at the moment!).
Afterwards we went to the beach. There were some lovely rocks/reef and little ponds to explore whilst Ed had a fish. He gave up after a while and joined in with us!

I forgot to add that we went through Kingston on the way to Robe...And we saw the big LOBSTER!

Charlotte also got to have her first long drive along the beach!

We finished the day off with as nice glass of red wine from the Clare Valley with a meal of chilli con carne. Ed and I packed up so we could hit the road earlyish!!!

Friday 17th February - Coorong - Little Dip Conservation Park (Robe SA)

As the fish were not biting and there didn't appear to be as much bird life as I was expecting we decided to move on further down the coast. We headed for Robe and the 'Little Dip Conservation Park. Along the way we stopped at a place called the Granite which was these large rocks on the coast. We had lunch there and met some other travellers.

We found a little campsite which was a short 4wd in the sand to the beach. It was a beautiful coastline, however the tides were a bit dicky so fishing was not successful AGAIN!!!! It was still a nice place to be.

Thursday 16th February 2012 - Adelaide to the Coorong National Park

We packed up and said goodbye to our wonderful friends in Adelaide Sharon and Peter. Thank you for your wonderful hospitality in Adelaide. I ambushed them this morning and took a morning photo!

We were treated to fine dinners each night, especially the ones cooked in the wood fired oven. The pork was to die for!!!
We headed straight for the Adelaide Hills and out to Monarto Zoo. It's an open plain zoo which is easy to get around and see the animals on the bus with the volunteer guide. Before we got on the bus we went for a short walk to see the Yellow footed Wallabies and then onto the large Chimpanzee enclosure . They have 8 Chimps which they are currently trying to breed. They have a large outdoor area, an indoor play area, a rest area and night quarters. They are all easily viewed from the raised walkway around the enclosures. It's just a short walk back to the visitor centre to catch the bus. You can do a number of separate tours as well as hop on and off the bus for keeper talks. As we were heading to the Coorong and we were familiar with most of the animals we just stayed on the bus for the whole loop of all the enclosures of the zoo. It was great driving through/past all these animals which are separated with electronic gates.
Toclisher (I haven't spelt it right) is the Cheetah from Perth Zoo who now calls Monarto home.

 These are just a few of the animals we saw. The photo's don't do it justice!
We moved onto the Coorong National Park. I was hoping to see loads of birds....not as many as I expected. We found a quiet spot close to the water and went for an explore of our little bit of the Coorong. Before we got there we had to cross the Murray River on a ferry/barge!

We made camp and went exploring followed closely by Ed and Thomas going for a fish!

My little man ready for a fish!

Ed didn't shave in Adelaide...so it was a painful end to the day when he had a shave! Look how impressed he was with this photo!!!!!

Goodnight Coorong National Park

Wednesday 15th February 2012 - Adelaide

Quiet day today.
We went and explored the Central Adelaide Markets (amazing variety of food) followed by a visit to Adelaide Oval. We wanted to see the Bradman Exhibition, especially me the cricket fan. We went and stocked up as we are getting ready to leave tomorrow.

Tuesday 14th February 2012 - Adelaide

Happy Valentines Day!
After a slightly slow start to the day (my fault as usual according to Ed) we took off to explore the Adelaide Hills. Our first stop was the Melba Chocolate Factory. We saw some cherry ripe bits being coated in chocolate going along the conveyer belt which fascinated the kids. Their eyes nearly fell out of their heads seeing all the chocolate and candy! Of course we couldn't leave without buying some chocolate for each of us. (Turkish Delight yummy!!!)
Next stop was Birdwood for the Car Museum. Then found out it was run by Holden and more expensive than we thought so that as we are not car buffs we bypassed it and headed straight for the Toy Factory out of Birdwood. It is famous for the worlds biggested Rocking Horse. The kids climbed it and had a blast.

 Afterwards we explored the toy shop and the animal farm.

We moved onto Hahndorf for a German Sausage lunch and beer which was great. We also bought some sausages from the German Butcher for later use and a yummy Apple Cake from the bakery.
We drove home via the Warrawong Wildlife Sanctuary before heading back to Mile End for a yummy curry with our mates. Great day.