Hiiiiii!
We’re back!
Well – been back for a week. But it’s taken me this long to get my shit sorted. Got a lot coming up on this little blog in the next few days actually. I’ll tell you more on that later. Lets get into the rundown of the Great RoadTrip. Those of my readers who are also on my Facebook would no doubt have seen most of these pics anyway. But this time I took the effort (that Jonny didn’t take 
) into adjusting the levels in Photoshop so they’re a little clearer. Credit goes to the Mr of course for actually taking most of the shots. He’s the one with the fancy-pants camera 
Most of my pics turned out to be of food – or of Jonny taking photos. Ha!
I’ll spare you the majority of the star-jumps we did. Too many ridiculous facial expressions – but if you’re interested in seeing just how stupid I can look, just click the pics and it will take you to Flickr for the rest of the album.
Okay so the challenges – we had about 10 and completed 8ish. If you count “Getting Air” as the star-jumps In all fairness, the helicopter place near the Apostles was closed when we passed at 7am in the morning
We spent about three days driving West via and only took 12 hours getting back!
Our first day was Wednesday and we left Melbourne around 2pm. We got as far as Torquay before our tummies were growling for food. Fish and chips it was and hit the road again. Then it was Apollo Bay for dinner at a cool little Tapas place called Chill Bar. We’d scoffed down the meat share plate before any photos were taken. And the paella we had after wasn’t exactly photogenic. Tasty though. We kept driving and pulled up on the side of the road somewhere to sleep. That wasn’t far from Warrnambool where had breakfast. Nothin special. What’s with country towns and things not being open at 8am on a weekday? PFfffft
We did HEAPS of driving! Stopping in all sorts of little places along the way like Port Fairy and Portland. We took the long way from Portland to Mt Gambier. Doh! Finally hit the SA border sometime around 2pm on the Thursday. I think. I’m really terrible with the timeline – and this is with photos to job my memory. Does anyone else completely lose track of the days when on holiday?
While we passed the border, we hopped back into Victoria to check out the Queen Margaret Rose caves. The people there were really lovely and saw us pull in just as a tour was about to start so they waited for us so we didn’t have to stick around for another hour before the next tour. The cave was pretty awesome – it used to be an underground part of the Gleneg River or something. Caves are fun! There’s all kinds of cool geological stuffs around that area.
After checking out the cave we headed to Mt Gambier. Where nothing was open. No food to be had until we finally tracked down a cafe/restaurant that was in one of the brochures I’d nabbed somewhere. I concluded the place was a hole. Then discovered it actually WAS a hole – with a dirty great big sinkhole right in the middle of town.
Cool! Jonny’s in there for scale 
Once we’d filled our bellehs we raced to Mt Schank before the light fell to much. I struggled up the big hill. So unfit. Mt Schank used to be a volcano that erupted last around 4500 years ago according to the guide at the cave. Volcanoes are cool too! Cool Cool Cool. Get the thesaurus out Esz 
Then it was drive drive drive again. Slept just out of Robe. Popped in there in the morning. Really need to spend more time in Robe – it’s a very cute town. Surrounded on three sides by sea. Looked at an obelisk thing that was closed off due to the rocks eroding around it. Bit of a railing FAIL due to the fact that there was nothing to stop you actually tumbling off the cliff into the crashing waves below. Watch your step peeps!
Kingston S.E. for breakfast (does anyone know what the S.E stands for? I guessed South East…but WHY?)….Only a tiny BP was open to get some petrol. Dubiously bought some of the bakery goods they had there. Jonny wins. He got the BEST SCROLL EVA! Omg. I nommed a bit of it – LOADED with sugar, cinnamon and sultanas. Pleasant surprise there
Took the loooong way to Adelaide via the Coorong. *yawn* not much to see that way. Stopped at Hahndorf for a look-see and a bit of food first. I scored some Beerenberg strawberry dessert sauce and some interesting looking rose petal jelly. Can confirm the rose petal jelly is mega-yum. Haven’t cracked the other one yet. Had lunch at a little place called Bistro 25 serving local produce. I had some awesome scallops with winter veg mash and fennel salad. Jonny had smoked mackerel with German style potato (pahtahtah – lol) salad. Washed down with a glass of vino of course
Hahndorf is the cutest town in SA easily. Lots of cute cottages and tree lined streets. Secret’s out though – LOTS of tourists swarming around the place. Not that we were any better but still – Is it wrong to moan about tourists when you’re one yourself??
Finally made it to Adelaide. I demanded we go check out Red Ruby Vintage (thanks goes to Andi for making me aware of the place)….but not after Jonny took us to Henley Beach. I scored the first and only decent coffee of the trip and it was finally warm enough not to be bundled up under layers of micro-fleece….Then to Red Ruby….I wasn’t intending to actually be all selfish and BUY STUFFS but woooow that shop is awesome! I could have carried off half the store! The lady in there is SO NICE too I scored an amazing 40′s dress in a sage green colour – best thing – it still had tags on and completely unworn! OMG.
It does need a tiny bit of taking in though, a couple of darts at the bust (curse my small boobies!)- so if anyone knows a tailor in Melbourne that can be trusted with precious vintage dresses I’d like to know who they are
And I never intended to, but I also bought the same pair of 40′s pedal-pushers Andi was talking about on her blog. They shall be good for summer when I do actually ride my bike.
(here’s the dress – pics were taken when we got home)
Anyways, enough fashion talk. We wandered around the CBD for a while and decided we wanted to sleep in a proper bed for at least one night. And I wanted a shower!!! Raar! Found a place in North Adelaide – small rooms but new and comfortable. Had dinner in a little Japanese place down the street. They got a bit fussy when I was taking photos. Said that people steal their ideas? Hmm? I won’t name the place then. Wasn’t anything groundbreaking so a bit of a strange claim to make. If anyone has a prob with the pics being up then let me know.
Since it was to be the Mr’s birthday the next day, he wanted to be doing something extraordinary. We were lucky and got the last two spots for a kayaking with dolphins tour the next day! Woo! So after dinner we rushed into town to get him some appropriate shoes for kayaking and some surf shorts.
The next day, it was up bright and early to go kayaking. Drove to Garden Island near Port Adelaide and got in those kayaks. Saw a few dolphins, kayaked up a little mangrove river. That was cool. Lots of fun. The weather was gorgeous. Much better than watching the grand final! Pfffft
And the meal we had before we headed home:
Since it was Saturday and we had to return the camper in Melbourne by 2pm that Sunday, we hit the road again straight after. Drive drive drive along the inland route this time. Quick stop in Bordertown to suss the place out. Pretty dead and boring. *yawn*. By the time we got to Horsham at 11pm we had decided we’d just keep going. Had a few powernaps along the way and made it back home to be in bed by 2am. What a trip! We don’t tend to ‘relax’ when we’re on holiday – always so many things to see and do! Need a holiday from the holiday. Needless to say, it was only this weekend I managed to catch up on sleep.
So….I think that’s it for the holiday story. I’ve got to get back into drawing now. And do a special post on the Audrey Kawasaki exhibition coming up at Outre Gallery….I’ll explain in the post – but I’m very excited to hear of a comp that actually has some relevance to my blog. I’m not one to usually take part in advertising or unnecessary endorsements for products/events that aren’t related to things I’m interested in. ANYWAYS. More on that later. Blah blah blah.
Catcha round!
Meg's Makeup
