Great Ocean Road

From Ballarat he headed down south towards the Great Ocean Road. It’s an amazing drive, you can do it in a day but we took two and a half, there is a lot to stop and look at along the way. I will put up just some highlights:

Z Ballaratu jsme zamirili na jih, na Great Ocean Road, coz je silnice, kterou postavili prevazne vojaci, kteri se vratili z 1. svetove valky. Nekteri z nich nemeli po navratu zamestnani a nechteli farmarit a statu bylo jasnym ze bez zamestnani se jim moc darit nebude. Nejen z financni stranky, ale hodne i z psychicke. Tak prisli s napad postavit silnici podel pobrezi s krasnymi vyhledy, ktera bude spis turisticka atrakce nez dalnice, nabidli jim slusny plat a dobre podminky a tak postupne postavili silnci, ktera je dnes asi neoblibenejsi turistickou trasou v Australii. Da se projet za den, ale my jsme si nechali pres dva dny, nebot cestou je toho hodne k videni. Tady je par fotek toho, co se mi libilo nejvic:

 

And yes! This IS the lighthouse from Round the Twist! Apparently it appeared in Mad Max too.

Erskine Waterfalls/ Vodopady Erskine

Gordon the Handsome:

And of course the “Twelve” Apostles.

Toto je asi hlavni atrakce Great Ocean Road, znama jako 12 Apostolu, ackoliv je jich tam jen osum.

 

Loch Ard Gorge, the place of a ship disaster which had only 2 survivors out of 56 passengers. The two got washed out on this beach and were eventually rescued.

Tot je zatoka Loch Ard, misto ztroskotani lodi, ktere prezili jen dva z 56 jejich pasazeru. Ti dva nakonec dopalvali na tuto plaz, kde byli zachraneni.

The Razorback

Thundering Cave/ Hrmici jezkyne

Sovereign Hill

Even though it was very cosy at Gordie’s nana’s, we had to move on at some point. So after lunch we packed up the van again and headed east, towards Ballarat. We could have gone straight to the Great Ocean Road but we wanted to stop in Sovereign Hill. Lot of you have probably been there, but just in case someone hasn’t – it’s and 1850’s working town. Which means that once you walk through the entrance, you are in 19th century. All the shops and workshops work the same way they did back then , all the people are dressed the way the would be back then so you actually feel like you just travelled in time.  And it is quite amazing. We walked through old houses, watched candle maker make candles, goldsmith work a barrel of gold worth about $140,000 (wouldn't you love to get your hands on that!), policeman fire a musket (filmed it for our brother-in-law) and walked through the gold mines. We also tried to play 1850’s bowling (yeah, I know – they had bowling?). Apparently back then it was not allowed to bowl with one hand – two hands only.I suck but Gordie didn’t do too bad. As we were there mid week and off-season there were not the usual crowds and it was AWESOME.
Ackoliv to bylo u babicky velmi pohodlne, holt jsme se jednou museli poposunout. A tak jsme se po obede sbalili a vyrazili na vychod. Mohli jsme sice jet kratsi cestou, ale chteli jsme se zastavit v Sorvereign Hill, coz je zive muzeum. Je to v podstate replika mestecka kolem roku 1850 a zcela funkcni. Vsechny dilny a obchody tam pracuji stejne, jako v 19. stoleti, lide jsou obleceni podle tehdejsi mody takze si clovek pripada, jakoby prave procestoval casem. Prochazeli jsme starymi obydlimi, pozorovali jak se tehdy delali svicky, koukali na zlatnika jak zpracovava hroudu zlata o hodnote asi 140,000 dolaru (tezko jsem odolavala pokuseni to popadnout a sprintovat k vychodu), videli, a hlavne slyseli, jak se strilelo z muskety a prosli se starymi zlatymi doly. Taky jsme zkouseli hrat bowling podle tehdejsich pravidel. Koule byly tehdy z tezkeho dreva a hazet se je smelo pouze obouruc. Mne to teda oc neslo, ale Gordiemu se celkem darilo.
Toto je jediny zpusob dopravy (krome chuze) po meste:
This is the only mean of transport other than walking around the town:
 No a tady nam pred zraky prelejvali bohatstvi, o kterym se mi od te chvile zda:
Here we watched a block of gold I have been dreaming of ever since: And the candle maker/ tady se delaji svicky: We tried to pan some gold ourselves when that guy refused to share his block but no luck…
Kdyz se s nama zlatnik odmitl podelit o tu svoji krychli, tak jsme se pokouseli tady neco sami vyrejzovat, ale nejak se nedarilo:

Mt Buller

We slept in as the electric blanket was impossible to get out off. We spent morning with nana and jus after lunch went for a drive to Mt Buller Alpine Village. As the name suggests it is up in the mountain so we had to go up, a lot. our poor Betty was huffing and puffing climbing up the long hill. On the top are magnificent views though. The village looked a bit deserted at the time, it was still before the season so apart of lot of trades people we were pretty much the only visitors.

While we were driving up we noticed a suspicious smell of petrol. We were a bit worried that we pushed the engine too hard or it has a leak somewhere or something like that. So on the top we walked around the car trying to find out where the smell keeps coming from because towards the end of the hill it was really bad. After a while we opened the fuel tank cover and realized it was actually quite simple – the fuel cap wasn’t there. And as it so happens it had to be on a windy road so we splashed out about 10 litres of petrol. Oh well, so we drove back down to the petrol station but couldn’t find our cap. We got a replacement one, which Gordie managed to put on but couldn’t get it off. After a bit of fight it snapped and half of it stayed in the tank. So Gordie went back into the station to get pliers to get the thing out. Unfortunately they didn’t have any so he came back with two screwdrivers instead. Following the principle of chopsticks he tried to get the cap out but with very little success and 15 minutes later he was getting pretty aggressive with the sticks. It was hilarious to watch. In the end he got it out – not in one but couple of pieces, but it was out. To finish the successful visit to this petrol station Gordie spilt lead replacement all over his favourite jacket.

The dinner and night was at nana’s again – I love that electric blanket!

Rano jsme si prispali hlavne proto, ze se nam nechtelo opustit elektricky vyhrivanou postel. Rano jsme stravili s babickou na farme a po obede jsme jeli na projizdku na Mt Buller, kde je zimni stredisko. Museli jsme se vydrapad do velmi slusneho kopce a nase auticko funelo a souralo se rychlosti hlemyzde, ale dojeli jsme. Zezhora byly nadherne vyhledy do dalekeho okoli a nebot jeste neni sezona, byli jsme vicemene jedinymi navstevniky.

Cestou do kopce jsme zaregistrovali silny zapach benzinu. Meli jsme strach, ze nam to nekde tece neboze je neco s motorem. Tak jsme nahore obchazeli auto a dumali, co to muze byt. Nakonec se ukazalo, ze to neni problem az tak slozity – Gordie nedal zpatky vicko na nadrz a tak nase auto nejen smrdelo jak benzinka, ale cestou jsme asi vycintali peknejch par litriku. No nic, jeli jsme zpatky na osudnou benzinku, ale vicko jsme nenasli. Sehnali jsme tam vicko nahradni, ktere se Gordie podarilo na nadrz narvat, sundat uz ale neslo. Po trose boje to prasklo a pulka zustala v nadrzi, nastesti u otvoru. Tak sel Gordie do benzinky pro kleste, ktery nemeli a tak se vratil s dvema sroubovaky. Ty snazil pouzit podobne jako cinske hulky, coz sice bylo uzasny sledovat, ale efekt to moc nemelo. Asi po 15ti minutach ho to uz celkem rozzurilo a vicko nakonec vyndal, sice ne v jednom kuse, ale vyndal. Aby Gordie zavrsil sve uspechy u teto pumpy, polil si svou oblibenou mikinu primesi do paliva.

Vecere a nocleh byli opet u babicky. Zcela jsem se zamilovala do te vyhrivane postele.

Lake Eildon/ Jezero Eildon

The next day we woke up for a change in fog. Couldn’t see past the nearest tree. Once it finally started to lift we got ready for a little walk in the park. We started off with a nice stroll alongside the lake but once the track turned away from the lake, it got steep. After crawling up the hill we were pretty breathless but the view wasn’t too impressive. Well as it turned out later, this was just a first bump on a long road. We were going up and down like on a rollercoaster. The summit we were aiming for wasn’t until couple of very steep bumps later. We were really glad to finally get to it. On the way down we were walking amongst dozens of kangaroos who were happy to stand in safe distance and stare at us as we walked past.

When we got back to the campsite and looked in the map we realized we are actually quite close to Gordie’s nan and as it wasn’t too late we decided to drive there for the night. I typed her address into our GPS and off we went. Unfortunately it turned out that the shortest way is not always the best and ended up driving down a windy, narrow, dirt road. When we got to Mansfield and finally had phone reception again, we called Gordie’s nan and went for a dinner. as we haven’t eaten properly since breakfast, we were starved and the pizza place owner watched in disbelief as we polished off a large pizza each. Gordie’s nan seemed happy to see us despite the fact that we ambushed her at 7 p.m. with less than an hour warning. Again we could spend a night in a nice cosy bed.

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Dalsi den jsme se probudili pro zmenu do uplne mlhy. Nevideli jsme za prvni strom. Kdyz se to konecne zacalo trochu trhat, vyrazili jsme na mensi trek u jezera. Zacalo to jako prijemna prochazka kolem jezera, nez se to stocilo od jezera, kde to zacalo celkem stoupat. Kdyz jsme se konec vyskrabali na vrchol, byli jsme celkem bez dechu a vyhled teda nic moc. Nicmene se ukazalo, ze tohle byla jen mesi predehra a odtud to pokracovalo jako na horske draze – nahoru a dolu. Kdyz jsme konecne zdolali ten posledni, meli jsme toho uz tak akorat. Cestou dolu jsme se prochazeli mezi desitkami klokanu, kteri postavali v bezpecne vzdalenosti a zirali na nas.

Kdyz jsme zpatky u auta mrkli do mapy, ukazalo se, ze jsme nahodou uz jen kousek od Gordieho babicky. Kdyz jsem jeji adresu natukala do GPSky tak mi to dokonce tvrdilo, ze jsme jen asi hodinu cesty. Naskakali jsme do auta a vyrazili. Bohuzel nejkratsi cesta neni vzdycky idealn a my se ocitli na klikate, rozbite ceste, kde jsme se drkotali rychlosti chuze. Kdyz jsme se konecne doklepali do Mansfieldu, kde jsme meli zase signal, zavolali jsme Gordieho babicce a sli na veceri. Nebot jsme od rana poradne nejedli, byli jsme celkem vyhladoveli. Majitel pizzerie nevericne sledoval, jak jsme do sebe kazdej nacpali celou pizzu. Po veceri jsme jeli k babicce, ktera nas celkem rada videla, ikdyz jsme k ni vpadli v sedm vecer vicemene bez varovani. 

Melbourne

From Narawntapu we just drove down to Devonport to catch the boat. As we had a cabin we had a really nice sleep in a warm bed for a change.

We got to Melbourne about 7 a.m. and fought our way through city to a car park in Carlton, where we left the car till the next morning. We had a stroll through the City, visit the Melbourne Museum, Markets, saw a movie. But in the end I don’t find Melbourne all that different from other  big cities. In the evening we went to visit Romy who was the most fabulous host. After yummy dinner Gordie sneaked out to catch up with his friends Chris and Sue (whom I hope to see during our return Melbourne drive-through) while me and Romy were still busy gossiping. The night we spent happily snoring in Romy’s bed while she slept on the living room floor – once again, thank you!

Next day it was off on the road again. We got up at 5 a.m. to avoid the traffic and headed north towards Lake Eildon. Most of the drive was so foggy we couldn’t see anything at all. Same went for our arrival to Lake Eildon – couldn’t see a thing. We were tired and so spent the day snoozing and reading and cleaning our van.

 

Z Narawntapu jsme uz jen sjeli do Devonportu, kde jsme se nalodili na trajekt do Melbourne. Meli jsme kabinu sami pro sebe a tak jsme se po nejake dobe vyspali v teple posteli.

Do Melbourne jsme dorazili kolem sedme rano a probojali se pres centrum do Carltonu, kde jsme nechali auto. Pres den jsme se toulali po Melbourne, zasli do muzea, na trh, do kina a vecer na navstevu k Romy, kamaradce z filmove skoly. Ta nam byla vybornou hostitelkou a po vyborne veceri jsme klabosili az do noci, zatimco Gordie zasel na pivo s kamaradem ze stredni. Romy nam navic ochotne propujcila svoji postel, ve ktere jsme si opet krasne pochrupkali.

Rano jsme si privstali, nebot jsme se chteli vyhnout doprave a tak jsme vyrazili kolem pate rano. Bohuzel cela oblast, kterou jsme projizdeli, byla zahalena mlhou hustou tak, ze by se dala krajet, takze jsme toho moc nevideli. Kdyz jsme konecne dorazili do cile k jezeru Eildon, nebylo to o nic lepsi – furt mlha. Tak jsme si po zbytek dne cetli, uklidili auto a dospali nas dluh z rana.

Narawntapu

The morning was sooooo cold! It was freezing! The car wouldn’t start till it got a bit of sunshine on it’s cold parts. From Liffey we drove to Deloraine, where we slowly defrosted over some pies and coffee in local bakery. From Deloraine we took a back road to Narawntapu National Park – home to probably hundreds of happy wombats. We had heaps of them hopping around the campsite, nibbling on grass. As we still had time we went for a short walk to the top of Archers Knob where we got a beautiful view on the park and way beyond it. Unfortunately our cameras couldn’t do it justice. After we got back to camp we went to watch wombats, wallabies and pademelons (or watermelons as Gordie calls them) coming out for dinner.

 

Rano byla desna, ale fakt desna zima. I auto odmitlo nastartovat, dokud ho nenechame aspon trochu rozmrznout. Z taboriste jsme jeli do blizkeho mestecka Deloraine, kde jsme pomalu roztali nad kafem a pochoutkami z mistni pekarny. Odtamtud jsme pak pokracovali opet mezi pastvinami do narodniho parku Narawntapu, ktery je domovem stovkam rozkosnych, hunatych  a baculatych vombatu. KOlebali se nam kolem auta na ceste za necim k snedku. Jeste byl cas tak jsme sli na prochazku na vyhlidku Archers Knob. Bohuzel nase kamery nezachytily vyhled tak, jaky opravdu byl, ale aspon neco. Vecer jsme neodolali a sli pozorovat vombaty a male klokany, kter se nam prohaneli kolem taboriste.

Liffey Falls

I woke up feeling a strange draft on my head and my ears were freezing. After opening my eyes and getting my bearings I realized that the back door must have opened during the morning and we were snoozing with or heads hanging out of the car. And the morning was cold and miserable:

But the the sun came out and we were happy campers again :

 

After a quick look into the map in the morning we decided on the next stop to be Liffey Falls as none of us has been there before. It was a very pleasant drive through fields and past occasional farm or lonely house. The campsite at Liffey Falls is beautiful and once again there was nobody there. We took the 3 hour return walk to the falls only to realize that these are THE FALLS – from all those postcards, calendars and websites about Tasmania, probably the most photographed falls in Tassie. Back in the campsite we considered hanging out in the evening but only for a very brief moment as it was totally freezing.

Rano jsem se probudila, nebot mi nezvykle tahlo na hlavu. Kdyz jsem konecne rozlepila oci a trocu se rozkoukala, ukazalo se, ze se nam behen rano otevrely zadni dvere a my jsme podrimovali s hlavama venku. Coz dokonale vysvetlilo me omrzle usi. Rano teda nic moc – zima, mlha, celkem ponuro, ale behem hodiny se vycasilo a bylo zase fajn. Po snidani jsme koukli do mapy a za dalsi zastavku vybrali Liffey Falls, nebot jsme tam jste nikdy nebyli. Cesta tam byla prijemna, mezi poli a pastvinami. V kempu jsme byli opet jediny. Nebot bylo ani ne poledne, vyrazili jsme na trihodinovou prochazku k vodopadum. Tam se ukazalo, ze toto jsou asi neslavnejsi tasmanske vodopady. Videla jsem je snad stokrat na kalendarich, pohledech a webovkach. Ani jeden z nas ale netusil, ze to jsou ony. Na vecer jsme si planovali ohynek a posezeni venku, ale zima nas velmi rychle zahnala do auta.

Longford for the night/Noc v Longfordu

In the morning we just packed up and drove to Longford for the night. On the way we stopped by Lake Leak, which is a lovely spot in the middle of nowhere. After checking out Evandale where according to our camping bible we could have slept parked in unmarked car park next to a primary school we decided to continue to Longford and pay for a night there.

Rano jsme se sbalili a vyrazili smer Longford na noc. Cestou jsme se stavili u jezera Leak, coz je pekna zastavka uprostred niceho. Podle naseho pruvodce po kempech jsme mohli noc stravit zapakovani vedle zakladni skoly v Evandale, coz jsme ale s diky zamitli a popojeli do vedlejsi vesnice Longford, kde jsme si zaplatili nocleh kempu.

Freycinet

After a pretty chilli night in Mayfield we headed towards Freycinet National Park. We have been here a lots of times but mainly during summer and therefore used to this place being pretty crowded. This time we were nearly the only ones here. As we have been to the Wineglass Bay lookout about 100 times we decided to try something different this time. We did the Mt Amos walk. And it was quite different. It started like the other walks in the area – nice wide track, little up and down here and there but then started to get quite steep and suddenly we were on all our fours trying to hold on to a huge piece of steep, slippery rock. When we finally scrambled all the way up, we were breathless. The view was worth it though. Unfortunately it was incredibly windy. And we had to sit there for over an hour while Gordie was filming a time lapse of the view. When he finally turned off the camera I was so happy to be finally going down. Not for long though. That huge steep slippery rock turned out to be even less pleasant on the way down. We made it back to camp just before it got dark and my legs were a total jelly after that mega descent.

In the evening we had to literally fight off the possums who were quite happy to climb on our chairs and table checking out if there is anything to eat.

  

Finally on the road/ Konecne na ceste

Wednesday was the re-scheduled departure date. At three we were mostly packed, house was still a bit untidy and there were few things to sort out. So I started with the idea that maybe we can leave the next day. At that moment Gordie pushed me into the car, started the engine and basically kidnapped me. Truth is – we probably would never leave otherwise. The first night we spent in Mayfield, a lovely campsite at a beach.

Streda byl jeden z mnoha planovanych datumu odjezdu. KOlem treti jsme byli vicemene sbaleni, dum byl sice jeste trochu neusporadany a meli jsme par drobnosti na zarizeni. Tak jsem jen tak mezi reci navrhla, ze treba muzem vyrazit az zitra. V ten okamzik me Gordie hodil do auta, nastartoval a vystrelil vpred. Pravdou je, ze jinak bysme nevyrazili asi nikdy. Noc jsme stravili v prijemnem kempu v Mayfieldu na vychodnim pobrezi Tasmanie.

Before departure/ Pred odjezdem

We have just spent a whole day driving around town organizing stuff, picking up stuff, dropping stuff off and sorting stuff out. We got our first aid kit, RACT roadside assistance, car insurance, tools and other bits and pieces. In short we are total chickens. Because from what I heard most backpackers just rock up at the airport, buy the nearest car they can afford and take off into the outback. The stories we heard usually don’t involve much shopping (apart of bottle shops and groceries) and definitely not much paperwork and you never hear the word “mechanic” in there. Mind you these stories might be the base for the other stories we have heard a lot lately, that is about people and their cars breaking down in the most remote places highly unsuitable for breaking down at. So only time will show if this running around town in madness was a total waste or the best thing to do. Also we spent heaps of money today… mostly on stuff we hope we will NEVER use…

Talking about breaking down – our washing machine is dead. Highly unpractical as I have saved up piles of washing as I wanted to do it all before we go, so it’s all nice and clean and ready to go. Which means I will spend quite a while in the Sorell laundromat tomorrow.

 

Tak dnesek jsme stravili zarizovanim, nakupy, organizovanim, rozvazenim a vyzvedavanim vseho moznyho. Takze mame lekarnicku, pojisteni na auto, asistenci pri nehode, nejake naradi a dalsi drobnosti. Ve zkratce jsme celkem mejdla. Nebot vetsina ostatnich cestovatelu, o kterych jsme slyseli, jednoduse vyskoci z letadla, hodi svuj batoh do nejblizsiho auta, ktere si musou dovolit a vyrazi za dobrodruzstvim. Tyto pribehy vetsinou nezahrnuji prilis nakupu, jeste mene papirovani a nikdy slova jako “autoopravar”. Na druhou stranu tyto historky muzou byt podkladem pro dalsi typ pribehu, kterymi nas v posledni dobe vsichni zahrnovali, a to o autech, ktere se v podstate rozsypaly na velmi odlehlych a tezko dostupnych mistech. Takze hadam, ze az casem se ukaze, jestli jsme dneska plytvali casem nebo si naopak velmi pomohli.

Jo a taky jsme dneska utratili celkem dost penez… prevazne za veci, ktere doufame, ze nikdy nepouzijeme.

Jo a kdyz uz jsme u toho rozsypavani se – nase pracka je zcela kaput. Coz se moc nehodi, nebot jsem prani odkladala az na ted, abych mela vsechno krasne vyprany na cesty. Coz nyni znamena, ze znacnou cast zitrka stravim v sorellske pradelne.

Work Farewell/Posledni den v praci

Friday 30th April was officially my last day at work. Which was quite sad actually, I sure will miss all the people I worked with and their partners and kids. They are a lovely bunch of people and I wish them all the best.
On Saturday Gordie did more work on van – he swapped the car seats for better ones because the driver’s seat was broken. The new ones are actually more comfy and look better as well so that is one success story. The water tank is well on it’s way, I cleaned it and I think Gordie has all the parts now so he might have a go at it today. Immobilizer is now in and Gordie is absolutely in love with it.

Patek 30. dubna byl oficialne muj posledni den v praci. Coz bylo trochu smutny, kolegove a jejich rodiny mi budou chybet. Mela jsem stesti na prima lidi a do budoucna jim timto jeste jednou preji vsechno nejlepsi.
V sobotu se Gordie opet vrtal v nasem obytnaku. Vymenil sedacky za lepsi, protoze ta na strane ridice je rozbita. Jedna strana  totiz nejak povolila a pokud by v ni Gordie stravil 20,000 kilometru, tak mu ty zada uz asi nikdy nikdo nenarovna a nadosmrti skonci jako Quasimodo. Nadrz na vodu jsme odmontovali, vysypali z ni nekolik kilo pisku, pak jsem ji vycistila a dneska ji Gordie zkusi namontovat zpatky.