Barbara Visits the Kids

19/7/2012
We left home at 10 past 5 on a miserably cold, wet Thursday morning, just Barbara, GM and I. The poor neglected thing hasn't been out for some fresh air since April :-O
We didn't pack much as we were using her only as accommodation this time.
We had a dream run through Melbourne and stopped at the Ballan Roadhouse for Macca's and driver exchange. The place was full of truckies and businessmen and the setup in there is horrible. The tables are in direct line with the doors like a corridor and everytime somebody came in, we got blasted with icy air.
The paddocks were thick with ice for the next 100km's or so and a bit of fog thrown in here and there as well. There was very little traffic on the road, which seemed strange for an interstate highway.
Horsham was the next stop and driver exchange. We had a cuppa & pie from the bakery and off we went again. A quick stop at Border Town for another cuppa and some salad rolls to have further up the road. We stopped at Keith for lunch, and the rolls were ghastly!!! Won't be buying from there again. We ate them at the park, and apparently Keith is famous for it's jeep on a pole???? Well, we searched and searched but couldn't find it. We finally found it on the way out of town. It's true......they have a jeep on a pole............I'm still trying to figure out why???? :-/ GM caught up on a few zzzzzz's and our next stop was Murray Bridge for a fuel up and driver swap....nearly there :-)
And down, down, down, down, down we came into Adelaide....what a hill :-) Luckily the brakes work well!!!
GM set up Karen (his GPS), whom it turns out isn't nearly as clever or sexy sounding as Lee (my GPS) and she took us through Belair....very noice place :-) She didn't seem to like me overiding her and taking the Southern Expressway, but she eventually got over it and we arrived in Christies Beach around 4pm.
We set up Barb with the awning as we intended to stay 3 nights. We had her set up in no time at all and set about cracking a bottle of Champers to celebrate another adventure.

The caravan park was right behind the surf club, so we took a stroll down to the beach and watched the surfers for a while.....it was bitterly cold, then we toodled up the street to get some fish and chips for tea. On the way, we passed a play ground that was just awesome...it was like being under the ocean and far better than anything we had when we were little. GM got a wee bit excited and was itching to play on it, but he managed to control himself...........unfortunately............
We went back to camp, ate our fish and chips, watched a bit of telly and crashed, utterly worn out.

20/7/2012
We woke to a cold drizzly morning and had an amazing breaky of crunchy nut cornflakes (I have converted GM to my style of cooking ;-) ), we set up Karen to take us to see the kids. Well, it seems she was still shitty with us from yesterday as she took us off the main road....right, then left, then left again and back onto the main road about 100m further up........."What the f#*k" was to be a commonly used expression that day and produced quite a few giggles from the back seat.
We eventually got to Birchenough Road and there was my boy :D oh how I've missed his smiles and hugs!!! Lovely hugs from Michelle, a quick catch up with the rest of the family and into the beast and off to Hahndorf for lunch.
It was quite foggy through the Adelaide Hills, so unfortunately GM missed a lot of the scenery. It is such a pretty place.
Karen continued to be a bitch, but we got there eventually :-)
Had a quick stroll around town, bought some chutnies and had lunch at the Hahndorf Inn. I ordered pumpkin soup and they brought me a bucket full!!! So we grabbed an extra spoon and Michelle and I polished it off in no time :-) GM ordered a whole butcher shop, and managed to polish it off.......what a champion!!!!! Boy did I pay for that later that night and the next morning!!!!!
The food and atmosphere was wonderful.
We decided to take the kids to the Big Rocking Horse, and Karen didn't let us down again.....She definitely has a serious case of PMS!!!
We wandered around oohing and ahhhhing at all the animals. They were gorgeous :-) We had sheep, goats and ducks following us all the way. I spoke to all the cockies, gallahs and corella's and made a number of new friends :-)
We drove back to Adelaide and dropped the kids off, then off to dinner at Christies Beach Hotel with the fabulous Veronica Walsh. It's a huge pub and was chocka block full. It was great catching up with Veronica too :-)

21/7/2012
Another wet night and another crunchy nut breaky. We went for a look at Witton Bluff

and off we go to pick up Aaron....Michelle didn't come with us as she was off to Disney on Ice (Lucky Girl!), so GM, Azza and I headed down to Victor Harbour for the day.
It turned out to be quite sunny and windy. We wandered across the bridge to Granite Island

and then went for a walk around the island...saw some great looking bench tops in those rocks :-) It was lovely walking around and completely sheltered on the ocean side of the island.

Victor Harbour

We didn't see any whales :-( but we stopped and had calamari and chips for lunch....pretty delish!!!

We took a few happy snaps and then toodled over to Encounter Bay to catch up with Kirsty Pursehouse and her girls, Summa, Ella & Paige.....boy do they keep her on her toes :D Beautiful friendly happy girls :-)

Encounter Bay

Stopped at the shops on the way back and managed to find an amazing clock for the Passion Pit that only just fitted in the car :-) We decided not to stay the 3rd night and hit the road aiming to stop at Keith for the night so we could get to Warnambool a bit earlier.
We called in at the Ekhidna winery in McClarenvale on the advice from Veronica Walsh.....She is an amazingly clever girl sometimes :-) She suggested this place for the ginger beer, and I must have had my blonde hair on, for I never even thought that it might have booze in it!! Bonus!!!! :D Best ginger beer in the whole world!!! We bought a dozen as we only had the small fridge in the back of the beast :-( Will just have to go back and get some more :-)
We kept driving and got to Tailem bend in time for a fuel up and dinner. We went via Strathalbyn (beautiful place) and caught the ferry across the mighty Murray at Wellington, then onto Keith for the night.

22/7/2012
We left Keith at 5.20am to dark and fog and stopped along the way to take pics of the SA roadsigns which are far better than ours :-)

Don't drive like a ???

Don't drive like a ???

Don't drive like a???? (Door handle Veronica Walsh???) :D

We stopped at Macca's at Mt.Gambier for breakfast and had the worst coffee ever!!! nearly as bad as the one from Border Town :-/
We hit the Victorian roads with a bump and a thump.....gosh our standards are poor compared to SA, gotta wonder where all our money goes....certainly isn't into the roads!!!
We arrived at Warnambool and set up Barbara at the Fig Tree Tourist Park where we had an ensuite site.............Luxury!!!! :D
Then off to see the rest of the kids. Alyce took us to a great little cafe just down from where she works and had a lovely relaxing lunch, and then off to see if we could spy any whales.....alas, still no whales!!! :-( Brad met us at the beach and we toodled off to Allansford cheese factory, where we got to taste some yummy cheese. So, loaded up with some cheese and some chilli honey, we headed back to town where we had a couple of drinks at the Warnambool Pub. What a great pub!!!! So many things to see in there....pretty funky place :-) They had a band and great comfy couches.....I coulda quite happily stayed there and got pist ;-) but we had to go and get ready for dinner, which we had at a place called images..........I found this quite funny, as that's the name of the place where I get waxed :-) It was a rather different experience tho :-) and Alyce and I had yummy cocktails :D

Cocktails at Images

23/7/2012We left Warnambool at 8.10am and made it back to Warragul around midday with a stop at a roadhouse west of Werribeee, where we bought coffee and fresh atlantic trout, which GM used his amazing Masterchef skills to cook a delicious dinner with :-) The fish man must have liked us, coz he threw in 1/2 doz huge prawns, which GM polished off without stopping to breathe!!!!

SUMMARY
Well, it was great catching up with our babies and friends, and having hot showers without getting mud between the toes, but it sure doesn't even come close to a camp fire, the wild, a few drinks and the stars :-) It was exhausting!!!
Camping food shits all over takeaway, and I've never drank so much coffee in my life....thanks to the .05 laws......
We travelled around 2100km's and saw places we've never seen before....or anyone else has ever seen for that matter......we still never found out what was at the end of the private dirt track!!!! Thanks Karen ;-)
Barbara is supposed to be watertight and dust proof, but she has a slight leak in the right hand rear.....which will have to be looked at.....don't want the red dust getting in there next year!!! But she sure is warm at night and builds up quite a bit of condensation which we will also have to try and combat. GM just might have to sleep outside....or stop sweating!!! ;-) We had to strip her out when we got home and everything has been washed and is ready for the next adventure :-)