Judy & Brian Tour Oz

We had planned to get up at 720 am, pack up and go straight to the ferry for the 9 o’clock crossing. But as I always do, I was awake an hour early so we had time for breakfast and then pack ups and then slide out. As it transpired we turned up at the gate at 2 minutes to eight and were surprised when the lady took our ticket and said drive straight on! An hour ahead of schedule, bonus start to the day, should only be a simple matter of a straight forward run, cross-country, from Sorrento to Bairnsdale Straight forward run across Victoria? As straight forward as any trip across Victoria can be! The trouble with Victoria is that all roads radiate out from Melbourne. All other road seems to have been scattered at random. Getting from A to B isn't as straight forward as picking a road and going for it. No, you have to work your way around, double back, go down, come up and basically it’s pretty tedious. And don't think you can just put ‘B’ into your trusty GPS and expect to be tak...

Queenscliff is only 100km from Colac, and we are here as a staging post to get on the Queenscliff - Sorrento ferry in the morning. Had lunch at the marina and drove around a bit, watched the container ships being piloted out through the rip into the wild blue ocean beyond. Here is a snap of the Point Lonsdale lighthouse, just for fun. Point Lonsdale Vic.

A couple more hours of roughish Pacify Highway travel, and a clever little short cut that was in much better condition the the A1, and we arrived in Colac. Our van park is small and located on the shore of Lake Colac. Next door to us on one side if the Botanic gardens and on the other a wetland / bird sanctuary. There is a proper path right along the shore of the lake, I never made it to the end! The weather has cleared up a bit and not only did it stay dry but the sun came out for most of the second day. Lake Colac Vic. Seeing as it's not actually raining, a first for us in this part of the world, we went back down to Gellibrand where we stopped last time we were here. Amazing what a difference to your perspective sunny weather and 12 years of forgetfulness can make. We had a delightful coffee in the cafe / Post Office before proceeding another 25km or so south to the Otway Fly. Neither of us could remember anything about our last visit to the Fly, only that it was raining and...

Took our time getting to Mount Gambier. The Princes Highway is quite badly broken up most of the way, it’s drizzling with rain, the sky is dark grey and altogether not a great day on the road. We stayed at the Big 4 at the top of the hill next to the lake. I kept thinking that we had been here before, but the only photos I have are from 1976 and 2002! That 1976 trip was Judy and I in our brand new Ford Escort, the latest sensation on the roads then and it turned a few heads in some of the country towns.  Blue Lake. Mount Gambier Apart from the obligatory snap of the Blue Lake, we also went to revisit the Umpherston Sinkhole gardens. In 2002 it was a nice little park a short way out of the town. Today it is a nice, much smaller park, totally encroached on three sides by the giant Jubilee Sawmill facility. Mt Gambier is in what is know as the Green Triangle, which refers to the massive stands of radiata pine that you drive through for hours at a time.  Anyhow, the Umpherston Sin...

Tailem Bend is only a 100 km or so from Adelaide, we stayed here for two nights to unwind from tour mode and get our caravan feet again. The van park is totally   automated, no contact with anyone whatever. It’s all done on the line, and the big imposing prison style gates don't help. And it is right alongside the Princes Highway, which really gets busy with truck traffic and the attendant noise after dark. Not to mention the freight trains rumbling past all night. View from caravan park across Murray River. Tailem Bend SA. We took ourselves for a wander around the area. There is a vehicle ferry just north of the town that takes you across the Murray and you follow the road to Jervois, and then to Wellington about 10 km down stream. Wellington has a hotel billed as the oldest country hotel in SA, having been built in 1848. Mind you, you have to look long and hard at the back of the building from the outside to see anything that looks remotely old. Wellington is also home to the ...

Outback Spirit Corner Country Tour. 9th August 2026 Adelaide SA Made our way by taxi from the West Beach Caravan Park to the Stamford Grand Hotel in Glenelg. After a coffee in the restaurant, we sat in the foyer, where we were joined by six or so other adventurers all waiting to be picked up by the coach. The plan was to pick up the rest of the crew from the airport, have lunch and then be given a bit of a cook's tour of Adelaide. Lunch was at the cafe at Mount Lofty lookout and comprised a bread roll and a cup of coffee. This of course was quite OK, but it was odd: there are tables of four and four bread rolls appeared, one each, but all different! I was lucky to snag the only ham one, but I also had the haloumi one as no one else wanted it. Both were excellent. Judy ran straight into the same food problem as she had on the Murray Princess. Despite nominating multigrain bread only, there were none. Upon request they immediately gave here 'Nourish bowl'. I laughed just at ...