The Great Ocean Road: Day 4 & 5: Victoria to South Australia.

After another snuggly warm nights sleep in Whoop Whoop it was up and out to drive to Mount Gambier in Southern Australia.

We had a few places to stop along the way. It is our longest section so far.

The weather wasn’t great but brighter and less windy than yesterday, we made stops at London Bridge, The Arch and The Bay of Islands. All of which are amazing free standing sandstone rock pillars, that have been formed over time by the sea, wind and rain. They are stunning, it’s quite eerie standing on the Sandstone Rock looking at the power of nature and realising that where you’re standing won’t even be here in years to come. Although the weather was better when your standing by the Ocean the wind was fearsome!! 💨🥶

We then stopped at Logan’s Beach. A great spot for seeing the Southern Wright Whales with their young. We stayed as long as possible being battered by the wind and saw bloody nothing!! The whales are really eluding me on this trip…😢

We continued on our way to our next stop; Port Fairy. This was a really quaint old coastal town, that looked super cute. After our now obligatory look in all the Op & Book Shops we grabbed a coffee and cake from ‘Rebecca’s Cafe’ 😍Then made our way to Griffiths Island, with a lighthouse and a breeding found for Shearwater seabirds. The island is just at the end of the river in Port Fairy.

We took a walk around the island, which takes approx 1hr, it was so stunning, the sea was such spectacular colours especially against the rocks and greenery. Luckily there is a breakwater around parts of the island otherwise the sea would have made it to rough to walk around.

It was a beautiful walk. And good to stretch our legs before the long drive to Mount Gambier. Before heading off Rebecca had found a great place to have some lunch, The Time and Tide Cafe, which was right in the Ocean. OMG! It was so gorgeous, like a little bit of France in the middle of Australia, the decor was beautiful and they had this amazing cake display that was all made from crocheting! The food was also fab! 

The drive was fine, along a large highway with a few big trucks, but to be honest you have the road to yourself most of the time, which is weird!

This is the road that takes you into South Australia from Victoria and we had to stop and get rid of some apples and a banana we had in the car!!! (I accidentally smuggled a contraband Tomato across state lines!! 😳😬) also the time changes and goes 30 mins forward, another weird thing.

We arrived at our accommodation around 5ish, this was a large villa, chalet, with goodies, well breakfast stuff, cereal, bread, jam etc, but welcome all the same.

We read the welcome pack and discovered there was a restaurant 600 meters down the road so decided not to make the pasta we had but instead trek down a dark, cold, snake infested track to get some steak. It was yummy, the wine was also yummy. Our return walk seemed much shorter and much more fun! And no one got lost or bitten😂😂

We had a more leisurely morning and set of towards Mount Gambier itself to have a look at The Blue Lake and a large Sinkhole Garden. The garden was interesting, planted and designed in the 1900s inside a huge natural sinkhole. The Blue Lake is not huge but it’s inside a crater made by volcanic activity. It was quite blue, but apparently around September it turns vivid turquoise blue, and nobody really knows why!

We then left Mount Gambier and headed towards Robe, then Kingston a pretty straight drive which takes you inland and away from the Ocean. We grabbed a coffee and a photo in Robe then on the way to Kingston, who’s claim to fame is a huge statue of a Lobster 🦞Random.. we had lunch , fish and Grantley had Flake, a kind of fish which was delicious, we later learnt this is gummy shark, who knew!

From Kingston the route takes you through the Coorong National Park, you drive for miles and miles through Bush with the Ocean on the left obscured by the sand dunes, you have to be vigilant for Kangaroos and also Wombats (we saw neither, although we did see a fox) Once again there is little or no traffic, just the Bush, the road and you. Our next stop was in Meningie, a tiny little one street town by a huge lake. We were staying just outside in a stunning Chalet Airbnb, which was gorgeous, the owners had left us homemade bread and wine, milk, tea etc, the log burner was going and they had WiFi total luxury. It was a wonderful place next to another large lake, which we walked along and spotted some Pelicans and a few Kangaroos 😍

This is our last night of the road trip, so to celebrate we all stayed up till at least 9.30 😂😂we played Triminoes, which is like Dominoes but harder and more triangular!! 😂It involves some strategic thinking apparently, so Grantley won!!

This morning we had a great drive up to Adelaide, with quite changeable scenery, flat, then rolling hills, then huge hills!!

I am now sitting at the airport waiting for our flight to Perth. I finally get to see my Gorgeous Georgia and the lovely Chris, so excited 😍😍

This road trip has been completely fantastic, so many stunning things to see, we have driven over 1000ks and had lots of laughs, eaten some great food, seen a multitude of native Australian birds, animals and flora and Fauna. I have loved it, loved spending time with my best Big Big Girl and my Best Boy. Rebecca did an awesome job planning and organising it. Thank you my darling.

That’s it from the Great Ocean Road. See you in WA! 😘😘