Spectacular road killed our van

Sorry for the lack of updates this week. Due to the Commonwealth games being on in Melbourne, everyone whacked their prices up so getting a room in the city was ridiculous. We changed our plans and decided to do the Great Ocean Road until the games were over.

The road is absolutely stunning, miles and miles of mid-speed bends. The van wasn't really the ideal vehicle for the task but she managed OK. We stopped in Torquay, then a lovely little hostel set in the woods in Lorne where we met up and got drunk with a couple of Americans, one of whom lives in Brisbane and offered us a bed when we get up that way.

The following day we headed off the GOR towards a treetop walk called the Otway Fly. It's a walkway built up in the trees, like on that I'm a Celebrity programme. However, we didn't make it that far. A steep uphill section, a 10km gravel road and then some more hills was a kilometre too far for matilda, and she decided to retire in the middle of nowhere with a plume of smoke. 3 hours later, the roadside people came and towed us to Colac, where we were stranded while the garage tries to find a new engine for us.

Rather than sit and wait, we hired a car and continued our journey, starting from where we left off. We're currently in Warrnambool but we'll head back to Colac tomorrow morning to wait for the car.

Despite all that, we're in good spirits and still having a cracking time. It's going to be a bloody expensive week and the money is running low so we'll be desparately looking for work when we get our wheels back.

Glad to see the comments are working! See you later in the year Jim!

Rescues, smelly seals and goofy fish

The new blog will now work at the usual address: http://blog.durbster.co.uk (thanks Dave). You can see the old one by using the link on the right hand side. Please note that you don't need to log in to post comments now, but please stick your name in there so we can see who's saying what!

We're still at Jason and Jacqui's house and enjoying their tremendous hospitality. We had a cracking day out on the boat yesterday with the family, which began with having to rescue a couple of jetski riders who'd broken down (or as it turned out, hadn't plugged the safety thing in properly). After that we headed out to sea for some sightseeing, fishing and a bbq on the boat. We both caught fish within about 30 seconds of dropping the bait in which obviously upset the Aussies...

Charlotte also caught the catch of the day; a fish called the Leatherjacket which has teeth like a horse and skin like leather (obviously).

House and job hunting are the priorities of today though so we'd better get back to it.

The Australian Fur Seals in Port Philip:


Charlotte on the hunt for sharks:


Jason's brother-in-law David and Charlotte's fish of the day:

New Blog

Since the comments in the last blog weren't working properly we've set up this new one which will hopefully sort the problems out. The new address is http://charlnkev.blogspot.com

We're now in Melbourne and staying with Jason and Jacqui and their family for a few days until we get sorted. This afternoon we'll be scouring the net looking for work and somewhere to live so that we can settle down here for a month or so. Be warned - the blog may get very dull.

The problem with the central locking on the car turned out to be a symptom of a much larger problem, namely that whoever had the car before had decided to mess with the electrics and had basically made a huge mess. We were lucky enough to find an auto-electrician who took pity on us and has sorted the mess out for a ridiculously low price. He was working on the car until 8.30 that evening, not allowing us to leave until he was happy it was done properly. So if any of you happen to be on Philip Island and are in need of an auto-electrician, go and see Pam and Graham at Best Coast Caravans. They are officially ace.

With it being late we decided to continue our stay in Cowes (that's the place, not the animal) and found a motel called the Seahorse just down the road, where we had another stroke of luck as the only room they had was a luxury suite, which they offered to us at less than the price of a standard room. It was difficult to turn it down, so we didn't.

Reluctantly we left the room the following morning and made our way to Melbourne, stopping off at Ramsay St. to see where Neighbours is filmed. Jason guided us there as it has people living in it and is therefore not signposted. We found barriers there but the security guard says that's just while the games are on because they're getting busloads of "pommie tourists" going to see. It was quiet when we arrived so we wandered round, took some photos and tried to work out who's house was who's, which is tricky when you haven't seen the programme in 10 years. A lady and her daughter arrived and the young girl was a Neighbours fan so she told us which house was which. As always seems to be the case with TV sets, it's a lot smaller in real life and if it wasn't for the barrier we might not have recognised it at all but it was good to see it in real life.

We then decided to head toward Jason's house on the other side of Melbourne. We intended to take the tolled motorway which bypasses the city but messed up somewhere and ended up driving right through, trying to avoid the Commonwealth games fans. So we had a brief glimpse of the city we'll be spending a bit of time in from now on.

Tomorrow we are off on a charter boat to do a bit of fishing in Port Philip bay with Jason's family, hopefully spying some seals and dolphins while we're out there. We've been assured that it won't be too choppy out there so hopefully we won't see Charlotte's breakfast this time.

And, some piccies:

Pambula Beach:


Lakes Entrance:


The suspension bridge at Tarra Bulga National Park:


The Nobbies and the Blowhole, Philip Island:


Cowes, Philip Island:


A Koala, Philip Island:


Harold Bishops house (he wasn't in, must have been at Tuba practice):