Officially on The Great Ocean Road now lol….
Gday last time we chatted I was just about to pack up and leave Sale, all excited about meeting my friend Cathy in Frankston! Not all that far down the road but the blonde dna had taken over again and I had a couple of scenic tours along the way lol. I have to say I didn’t mind because I saw more once again than I had reckoned on, including the swinging bridge on a different road to the one I was supposed to take hehehe… that was worth it though I didn’t stop to take any pics. I was fairly focussed on getting to Frankston and, for some unknown reason, I thought it was much farther away than it was! The one thing I find is lacking in Victoria is the rest stops on freeways and main roads. They were there if you were willing to get off those roads and travel willy nilly into towns you had never planned on stopping in and, lets face it, it isnt always convenient nor economically smart to do so! Thank you New South Wales for your thoughtfulness in this regard; I had quite a few little stops along the way in my home state, not only because it is wise to pull over every couple of hours but also I was so very new at the gears that the constant focussing and accompanying nerves lol, made me wearier than I had expected! Luckily though by the time I reached the border into Victoria I was actually a tad more accomplished 😛
Anyway, I did take another wrong turn and ended up on the outskirts of Morwell lol.. from what I could see from that distance it really did not have a lot to offer, looking rather sprawling and a tad .. for want of a better word to describe the overall feel of the place, dirty! I pulled over onto the verge and let Alex out for a wee, had a quick drink of water.. him too lol.. and got myself back onto the M7 headed for Frankston.
It was really hot and so I stopped in a place called Berwick where I had been told I could get a campsite cheaply in the local showground.. hmmm. Firstly I had to find the thing lol.. I stopped at a lovely little pottery place just on the outskirts of Berwick and asked a woman who was also browsing there how to get to it. I had tried to get it on my Navman and find it in my Camp 7 book but to no avail!
No worries, she said lol.. uh huh.. just go up the road a little and turn right at the roundabout and you are there! Wow, I’m that close I said in relief.. yep! she said LOLOL…
An hour and a half later, hot and shaky after several attempts to find said roundabout let alone the showground and a bloody steep hillstart (my phobia lol) with a bloody car so far up my clacker I was resigned to running right over him when I tried to go forward lolol…though thankfully I did go forward! …I stumbled upon the roundabout though I didn’t know it was; I just wanted to get out of the poky little street in the main part of town that was on a bloody great hill!
I tootled down a lovely flat road once I had turned right on the roundabout and saw a kind of parking bay. Beauty, I thought, that will do me while I turn on the gas, have a cuppa and regroup. You wouldn’t believe it, this was outside the showground lol The reason I could not find it on the Navman or in the Camp 7 book? It isnt called a bloody showground, its known as Arakoon Park! Someone up there must love me because happily I stumbled on it just when I felt I could cheerfully strangle someone; a sure sign to get off the bloody road Sandy! lol… I had to ring two different numbers to get the manager, who I had waved to lol as he left the grounds at almost the exactr time I was ringing; suffice it to say we both had a bloody good laugh over that!
I gently guided my motorhome into the given slot for the night and happily set up. Electricity check! Water tank filling up check! Headlights off! Check lol and windows and vents open! check 😛 .. the mobile rang and it was the friend who helped me with the generator. He had been in Seaspray, I think its called, picking up a trailer and as it had turned out to be a bloody mammoth job lol, he wondered if he could pop round for a coffee. Yep, join the other stressed out person…me! LOL… it took him around forty five minutes to get there. I had already had one coffee but was not averse to having a lovely Rooibos tea with him .. he made mention that my hands were shaking lol.. I did not bother elaborating on why though… I was happy to be stationary and whats more I was only around thirty five or so k’s from Frankston where there was nowhere I could stay with dog so I found LOL….
His visit was mercifully brief as he had to get back home and to be honest I just wanted to unwind. I still had Alex to exercise and ohhhhhhhh I wanted a shower with a big cubicle where I could just languish under the water, wash my hair and wash off the day 😀
I made the acquaintance of a guy and his lady next to me and as we were chatting I made mention of Mike’s giving me directions to go over on the ferry, saying it would save me lots of kilometres and stress as it was the only way I could bypass Melbourne. This guy disagreed. He said taking the ferry was more of a rigmarole and that I could get on the western ring road without too much worry. Just go straight ahead ..the only bugger being the tunnel. I would miss Melbourne.
I thought about what he said. It would only cost me nine dollars in toll fees and the ferry would be eighty eight dollars! In the end though my intuition screamed out to take the ferry. Besides it would be fun to take my motorhome across eh? In the meantime I would be seeing Cathy, as we had already arranged to meet in Frankston it seemed silly to change tack now though I did call her and give her the option. Cath, like me, had never been to Frankston and so we decided to leave it as it was. So then the ferry would be a better option than having to backtrack AND wait around till eleven or so to miss the peak hour traffic lol….
I am so glad I did that now! I had a top day the next day with Cath; I found a park for my ‘big girl’ behind the railway station and settled down to wait for her. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing on the mobile we did find each other lol… she was let off on the opposite side to where I was parked … and we set off to have a look at Frankston, find a cafe and the beach; hopefully a cafe ON the beach lol.
It was a bit of a walk but we found the beach and we found a lovely little place on it where Cath got a fruit juice and I got a hot chocolate lol, having decided to be a good girl and not have yet another coffee that day. Well I dont know lol but I think I have managed to find a dog who is as big a klutz as his mummy, namely me! He was pulling and mucking up because I was not allowed to let him off on the beach :s… There is a lot of that in Victoria sadly! Anyway, there had not been any seats available at that little cafe so Cath and I had agreed to walk along the beach a little and find a nice spot to sit and gaze out to sea. Alex of course had other plans and, when I went to sit down he jumped up! The end result is my lovely white top was now stained a dirty brown in lots of obvious places! Arghhhhhh LOL… I did swab it with some tissues but you can guess the end result without me having to recount the embarrassment I was now facing LOL…
Despite it all, we spent a good couple of hours out in Frankston; probably around half an hour on the beach. Now I am as you may have guessed by now, a New South Wales girl who loves the beauty and wildness of the ocean and the forest. The first thing I noticed was how flat the ocean is down here :s.. for some reason it doesnt feel right to this blonde.. where is the wild beauty? Not saying the serenity isn’t lovely, it just doesn’t fill me with quite the same passion is all. Never mind, experiencing differences is a good thing and I have certainly been doing more than my fair share of that of late. I love it really you know, it just took a bit of getting used to is all and at least when I go for a swim this eve I won’t have to worry about dumpers LOL….but again I am getting ahead of myself for I left Frankston the next morning lol… Cath and I parted company around five I think, having enjoyed a long catch up. I have not seen her for a lot of years but she is still the lovely soul I always saw when I knew her then. Its a wonderful memory and I hope it won’t be as long before we catch up again 🙂
As I stated, I left Frankston the next day. I needed to do some banking and the one I needed to do it in is not prolific; mainly in Melbourne and its outer suburbs so I really had to stay until I got that done lol… as I was not sure where I would end up next and if it would have the bank I wanted. I decided to stay where I was, technically illegal but there you have it lol, if I had been asked to move I would have. Its just that there was nowhere to be with my Alex! I woke up the next morning around five thirty to the sounds of cars pulling in: commuters off to work as it was now Monday LOL…I was thinking I did not want to be blocked in but could not leave town until after nine thirty when the bank opened.. what to do? I decided to move the motorhome to the middle parks where I could take up two, that way I could just drive out when I needed to. I had reckoned without the victorians parking so damn close hadn’t I? lol… The upshot was I was now pretty well closed in and I had a nasty feeling the owners of the cars either side of me were not coming back till close of trade! Oh well, mercury retrograde I suppose, I phillosophised …. I got out after feeding Alex and having a couple of coffees and looked around. Hmmm .. well it would be tight but I could back up as there was a space behind me due to a gate that obviously had to be left uncluttered so personnel could get onto the tracks if need be… it would be a bit iffy but if I was careful it was manageable.Wow, here was this woman who had been a little petrified of making this trip and working those gears in a big vehicle, now actually working out a plan to get out of such a tight corner and confidently too! My how these last couple of weeks has changed my thinking!
I went off to do what I needed to do; the lack of places where you can tie a dog is a worry and so I figured I could take him in with me as long as it had no food like I did in Sale. No way! At least at the post office.. the lady firmly told me that I couldn’t take Alex in just in case he bit someone as they were not covered! I had to laugh; the chances of Alex biting anyone are pretty slim and even then they would have to be threatening me in some way! Ahh well the stamps I needed to send off the postcards would just have to wait :s
I still had about an hour to kill and really did not fancy taking Alex to the beach. The lack of being able to play frustrates the poor bugger and makes me feel guilty. I bought a coffee at a little cafe and tried to wait patiently for the bank to open..not my forte patience LOL…anyways eventually it opened and when I hesitantly asked if I could bring Alex in, this time the reception was more than warm. The manager loves dogs and could not see how Alex could cause any problems with anyone. With a sigh of relief I went in and got my banking business out of the way. With a lighter heart now I was solvent again lol, I headed back to the motorhome.
Gingerly, I began to reverse. Yep no trouble at all.. a mere three point turn and we were off without incident! The navman was set for Sorrento where we would catch the ferry; I turned up the music and assaulted Alex’s ears with my renditions lol…..
Around lunchtime I stopped in a little town called Rye… its lovely and again lovely people to go with it. I had found Frankston to be cold and distant, the people too! Mind you its very built up and a lot of it is in shadow.. can hardly blame them I suppose..
I loved Rye, can you tell? lol I happily whiled away a couple of hours there, exploring a walking trail near the sea with Alex as we both breathed in the ocean air. I did a bit of shopping there at the local Woollies and browsed in the local op shop where I picked up a couple of bargains, though I cannot wear them until the weather cools. Lovely though and you would never know where I got them from. I just love it when that happens 🙂
Finally Alex and I climbed back into the motorhome and completed the trip to the Sorrento Ferry.. its massive, looks more like a huge ocean liner than a ferry; I was awestruck! I paid at the window and drove aboard, grinning all the way. Imagine… here I am never having driven anything on a ferry before and I am driving my big girl on! I had not been on a ferry for a long time and so it was a double pleasure if you know what I mean!
Twenty minutes of chilling and gazing out at the ocean while the very capable young men in charge of the vessel safely guided us across the ocean to Queenscliffe where my true journey was awaiting me. I drove to Ocean Grove, following the signs for the Great Ocean Road which thankfully were many lol… when I got to Ocean Grove though the signage was a little confusing so I pulled over and hailed a rather nice looking and very pleasant cyclist down. He was lovely and he gave me very detailed directions, wishing me a great and safe trip as I hopped back up … and I was on my way again; next stop Barwon and then on to Torquay. I liked the look of Torquay but I was too tired now to bother exploring. It was around three – ish and I really needed to camp for the night. I reached the outskirts of Anglesea and found a little layover next to a council shed of some sort and pulled in. I had seen the sign that said no pet friendly caravan parks or camping grounds and dogs must be on lead and no camping in public LOL.. well it wasn’t exactly public; nor was it a caravan park and I always have him on a very long lead when pulled over to ensure HIS safety lol… I pulled up beneath a beautiful old gum, pulled the curtains, turned on the gas and made a lovely cuppa once Alex was all safely kitted out and relaxing in the cool shade.
I had a lovely peaceful night though Alex woke me around five thirty.. I cannot get over how dark it is at six in the morning down here!… Anyway after I fed him and made myself a cuppa, the daylight finally having come, Alex started to bark. He rarely barks so I knew there had to be something out there.. there sure was! A big grey roo hiding in amongst the nearby brush and right next to homes…. the heat has been so bad and so prolonged that animals are forced to forage wherever they can to survive and this one was not going to let a dog yapping at him stop him from finding something to eat! The evidence of just how bad it is shows in the amount of dead animals there are on the roads 🙁 I managed to take a couple of shots of him before it was time to leave. He must have thought so too because just as I began to make my bed, he hopped off without so much as a ‘see ya later mate’ lol….
We drove the few k’s left to Anglesea proper and I pulled into the little shopping centre there. You should see the way they have decorated the public loos, at least the womens one (can’t speak for the mens side naturally lol)… there is funny little sayings about fashion right beside drawings of dresses and hats etc… all very professionally done.. love i
After getting some stamps and a couple more postcards to send back home, I wandered around the shopping centre asking if anyone knew if there were any dog friendly places I could stay..nope! The nearest was Lorne so we spent the next couple of hours wandering along the beach, taking pics here and there of course lol, and walking the path beside the lake/river.. not sure which actually lol… it was divine! I bought some fruit for lunch, polished it off, then got back on the road.
I thought I was already on the Great Ocean Road but about twelve k’s out of Lorne there is a big wooden arch with Great Ocean Road cut out of it LOL ..nowhere to pull up to take a pic because the bay was already filled to the brim with happy snappers lol.. so I went a little further on and parked and took a pic from the other side.. here is hoping it came out as the sun was so strong I could not see …
The road really is windy now, lots of hairpin bends and some hills to accompany them! Oh but the views!! I had forgotten just how awe inspiring they are! Honestly I just wanted to stop every couple of minutes but knew I couldn’t so a lot of awesome pics have gone begging. Never mind, I will have plenty, already overloading everything that takes pictures LOL…
Now here I am at the only caravan park in Lorne… though it is split into five separate ones.. confusing no? And all bar one allows dogs! Love it and have managed to get a site right next to the beach… well thats it in a nutshell for now… hope you are all well and having a ball.. May the faerie folk shower you with magic dust till we meet back here again 🙂
