The way up to Adelaide - from the Great Ocean road through Port Fairy and Mt. Gambier

So we promised to update about the last days of 2010 and here is what happened: We stayed 2 days in Port Fairy after a long road trip on the Great Ocean Road. We wanted to see the Grampians and talked about it with our host in Port Ferry, Laura. She was surprised about our choice, saying it's a bit far for a day trip and suggested that we see the parks around her place that were close by, with no entry fee and always open. And we could see the same things as in the Grampians.

So we went on a hike in Tower Hill first, which is an ancient volcano crater that was overturned by nature to a park with lots of animals and tracks of all difficulty levels. When we arrived there, we saw koalas on the trees, as we did the previous day on the Great Ocean Road. It was great again, although it did not carry the same emotional reaction as the first time.

Tower Hill

Kangaroo staring at us

We went on one of the tracks there and after a half hour walk we saw kangaroos in the wild! Completely free, with no one around us. They weren't afraid of us and looked at us for a few seconds. In fact, one had a staring contest with Rony! Then they went on with their business as usual. Apparently they were used to cameras cause they kind of posed for us. That was the highlight of our hike. When we got back to the park entrance, we saw two emus walking in the picnic area. They were very friendly, especially with people with food. We don't understand why... :-)

Emus at the picnic area

Anyway, we were quite exhausted so we took a break and went to sleep in the afternoon... in the car. Our host was at work and we couldn't wait till she came back, so we just went to the town pier and took a nap.

Now we were ready for the evening event: Bird watching at sunset. And not just any bird, moody birds that travel all the way from Alaska to Australia to reproduce. So we went out there to watch them, as a dozen of other people did, but saw only a couple hundreds ("only.") There are supposed to be thousands. But it was special anyway.

The next day, we went to Mt Eccles, which, like Tower Hill, is an ancient volcano turned nature park with lots of hikes. We saw much less animals there, but the scenery was great. We then started towards Mt. Gambier, with a stop at the Princess Margaret Anne caves, which were totally awesome (according to Talia).

Princess Margaret Ann Caves

Our next stop was Mount Gambier, on the way to Adelaide. Mount Gambier is the second biggest town in South Australia (which is the name of the state, not physically the southernmost towns) and a good stop on the way to Adelaide if you come from the Great Ocean Road. And also that's where the Blue Lake is.

Blue Lake

We arrived in Adelaide on Christmas Eve, just in time to buy a few things for the weekend. And good thing we did! Because in Adelaide, everything is closed for 4 days at Christmastime: Christmas day, Boxing Day (which is supposed to be a sales day everywhere else and is the day after Christmas Day), Declaration day of South Australia, and Boxing day NT (New Technology or North Territory?). PLUS get this: In Australia, if a holiday falls on a weekend, you are reimbursed with extra vacation day! So everything was closed on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, AND Tuesday. You should have seen the streets - they were so dead, we though a disaster film could easily be filmed there!

Nothing is open beside Chinese restaurants and a few parks that are open anyway, like the botanic gardens, which were gorgeous. What we found most funny is that, even though many stores had Boxing Day sales advertisements in their windows, they were actually closed, and only opened 2 days later! The cinema were open and although the tickets are expensive, there are a few restaurants around the theatres that offer a cinema ticket at $8 AUD if you buy a meal. That price is much more in our range than $18, the regular price. So we went to see "The King's Speech" which was a great movie. And a real historical event...again. Talia really loves those movies ;-)

We stayed at the hotel for 4 days because of that and also because we had to limit our expenses and couldn't afford a trip to Kangaroo Island (cheapest tour was 350 dollars) or Uluru (500 dollars.) But we could afford to buy some gear for the cold winter in China and Japan: A sleeping bag for Talia andd thermal clothes for both of us.

It was time to go to Sydney and enjoy a New Year's Eve there :)
 
Pics from Adelaide:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=595490&id=906005363&l=daa4911657

Pics from the Great Ocean Road:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=588459&id=906005363&l=3dcccbe1fb