The race to Warrnambool

After our late night at The Hoot, no-one was overly keen to get up and on the road, but we managed to drag the kids out of bed and hit the road by a not unreasonable hour!

Overly ambitious time-wise, we took a turn to go to the National Motor Museum, only to find it was many kilometres out of our way once we'd got started. We enjoyed the towns and villages on the smaller byways, but after buying some cherries and apples from a roadside stall we decided we'd better make tracks back towards the M1.

Jackson has now designed a Lego steam train

Hahndorf was just as attractive as it was last week as we drove through the main street again and back onto the M1 at Mt Barker. Pap was texting us as he and Gran travelled down towards our meeting point at Warrnambool. At one stage, they were embarking on a paddlesteamer on the Murray River at Echuca as we crossed the same river at Murray Bridge at the bottom of the state! We had lunch at Tailem Bend, where Jackson took a zillion photos of the restored steam train to help him build a Lego model.

The khaki-coloured waters of the Coorong are an important pelican breeding site, but it wasn't a particularly attractive drive along the estuary there. The marginal country improved as we neared Millicent where herds of fat cattle delighted Ella and we saw the largest windfarm in the Southern Hemisphere as we passed through. We arrived at the Mt Gambier vanpark with plenty of light left to set up on the large, grassy site - it was very relaxing after the last site where we felt like sardines. Lachie and Ella rescued a bird which flew into a window - and Lachie spent the next few hours worrying about it. He cuddled it until it warmed up a bit then lay on the ground near the caravan as it sheltered under there. Fortunately it flew away before bedtime which was far less upsetting than the scenario we were expecting!

The Pump Station at Blue Crater Lake

After packing up, we drove up to Blue Crater Lake, which is a relatively recent crater lake formed by a volcanic explosion only 6000 or so years ago. The waters are grey until November, when they turn a brilliant cobalt blue during the summer, which is the colour we got to see. A walking track and viewing platform (which we thought resembled a chess piece) were constructed there in 1919 and we were amused to note that the Chairman of the project was named Rook and the architect Knight!

FIRE! The oversized chess piece

We were due to meet Gran and Pap in Warrnambool so we got moving and were soon at the border, crossing into Victoria for the first time. The kids were excited to add another state to our tally but far more excited at the prospect of seeing Gran and Pap! Pap's texts added spice to the journey as it became a race to Warrnambool! We stopped briefly in Portland, Victoria's first permanent settlement for a chilly morning tea then drove along past drystone walls, historic stone buildings and lovely farmland before another short stop at Port Fairy. A 15th century Portugese caravel was moored at the jetty there, which held us up a little!

Notorious built by amateur boat builder Graeme Wylie

Whilst inspecting the Notorious, Pap texted their taking of the chequered flag in Warrnambool, so we drove the last 10 minutes before we spotted them in the Prado, waiting to join the convoy. They said later that they thought the Blunderbuss was going to helicopter up off the road as there was so much waving going on inside! They followed us to a van park (with difficulty, as they discovered we had no brake or indicator lights) where there was much exclaiming about how big we were. They noticed that the kids had grown too!! We confessed our caravan damage sins and we had a very relaxed evening catching up.

The Great Ocean Road journey is about to begin!

Stay tuned ...