Tag Archives: people

Day 33 – People are awesome

Not procrastinating at all

Not procrastinating at all

Even though we slept in a bed and had a room for the night, we had a relatively late start into the day. Flo was tardy. :p

Our first stop was at the Twelve Apostles Visitor Center which is where you need to park if you wanna go onto the viewing platforms. I know, the Twelve Apostles are the most touristy thing you can do along the Great Ocean Road and yet they are nonetheless impressive.

Big pillars out of limestone stand in front of the coastline in the surf. The coastline itself is a sheer cliff out of limestone. I tried to capture it in a picture as best as I could. Some of the surf, further along the coast, would spray up and the spray move inwards over land in its misty form. Quite the atmospheric place despite all the tourists.

There are just too many lookout on this stretch of the Great Ocean Road. We decided to have a look at the “London Bridge”. It used to be a double arch leading out into the sea but the one closer to the coast collapsed a while back so now it’s a platform offshore with an arch.

this was the bargain - $20 for the sleeping bag and $25 for the waterproof

this was the bargain – $20 for the sleeping bag and $25 for the waterproof

On our way to Warrnambool, we stopped in “Cheese World” in Allansford to buy cheese for lunch and have a milkshake.

Warrnambool itself was way bigger than we expected so when we drove through a large shopping complex before even coming to town, we stopped to try and replace my sleeping bag. It still breaks my heart a bit that we lost my most awesome Fairydown bag. L It was the best sleeping bag ever. So now a replacement, huh? The first shop we found only had one goose down sleeping bag for $500. *gulp* So instead of going for it, we thought to compare prices with the next shop which was a blessing. I had my doubts when we pulled up to “Boats Camping Fishing”, looking for a sleeping bag but we were lucky because people are awesome. A young man from the store asked us if he could help and we looked at the assortment of sleeping bags together. The store definitely caters more for boat people than hiking people and light weight was nowhere to be found but Flo spotted a large sleeping bag which may fit both of us actually (spoiler: It doesn’t). We were thinking of buying it when the young man suddenly remembered that a particular kind of Coleman sleeping bags were on sale for $20! He had a look if one was still available and it was! So we bought a waterproof bag for $25 to go with it and put it on the bike.

12 ApostleIn Port Fairy, we stopped for a late lunch next to the wharf. Then, we needed to get some mileage done towards Adelaide and drove through to Portland.

It was getting late already (well, sunlight late) and Flo and I discussed if we really should make a detour to Cape Bridgewater or if we should rather buy food for dinner and head towards our camping spot on the road to Nelson. Our GPS still had Cape Bridgewater as the next destination so we randomly pulled up in a driveway to sort it out and find the next supermarket. And again, people are awesome. J The lady of the house, opened up the driveway to ask us if we need help and when she realized we were looking for food, invited us into her garden and gave us home-grown lettuce, kale and a broccoli! We only bought a tomato, an avocado and some dressing and had a beautiful salad for dinner. Thank you so much!

free food from good people is the best

free food from good people is the best

From Portland, we started on the Nelson road towards our campsite. Once we took the turn onto a dirt road, we saw more wallabies along the road, hopping away. Unfortunately, they were gone too quickly for a picture. The dirt track looked like sand and I didn’t feel very comfortable at all. J

Set up our tent and went for a little wander around the place when we came across a kangaroo family including a, rather big, baby in the pouch!

A delicious and healthy dinner later, we are about to test our new sleeping arrangement. As spoilered above, we don’t both fit into the sleeping bag but we use it as a blanket now. I’ll let you know how it goes. *fingers crossed*

Day 13 – Only the weather is jinxed

The anger and frustration is slowly ebbing away. For the most part, this is due to all the nice people we know and the new ones we encounter along the way. Like Luca and Eugenia, an Italian couple we met twice yesterday for great little encounters.

Or like Ruth and Damien, two more Kiwi bikers, we met on the road and who took no time to offer help and a bed to us as basically strangers. Or Linda and Denis who took our gear with them to Auckland for us. Or all the other people who have offered and are lending help and support. Yes the money hurts, but people like you are what this trip is about for a large part for us.

hmmm, the sea

hmmm, the sea

Other than a lot of talking and processing, planing on scheming via intercom, we mostly cruised along Northland roads, edging slowly south.

First stop today was Baylys Beach, were Rocinante finally dipped her front wheel into salt water. High tide and Flo’s unwillingness to risk damaging the bike so close before shipping kept this stop to a few rounds around Nina for action shots.

We changed coasts again for a little bit more exploration of Whangarei. By coincidence, we ran into the model train ride-out day at the Kiwi North historic village. Wohoo, scaled down steam engines! We kept it brief as well to head into town in time for the mid-day lunch rush at Mokaba, with a view of the marina.

The cabin between the trees is ours

The cabin between the trees is ours

After another loop to the west coast, we ended the day in the east again. Half asleep in wintery hibernation, the hosts at the Sandspit Holiday park gave us an amazing little cabin right at the water’s edge. The day ended on the porch watching the water and the coming tide with some nice cheese, veges and a small Puhoi desert 🙂

The Holiday Park is made up like a little pioneer village with many old objects on display in the windows of the old shops. This is something to roam around and rummage through so many pictures were taken. This is probably the loveliest little Holiday Park we stayed in so far. They even have a cat but it’s running away from Nina, much to her dismay.