Australia - Victoria

Our first stop in Victoria was Lakes Entrance. It was a big drive from Batemans Bay which meant Anna had her first go driving the 'big car'. We stopped for a couple of nights there to chill out. One lazy afternoon we played a round of 'Pirate' mini-golf. We drew the game but Anna fluked a hole-in-one on the 18th which won us a voucher for a Subway sandwich! We couldn't do much more Lakes Entrance excitement so headed on to the bright lights of Melbourne.

Our hostel in Melbourne was in the suburb of Richmond, it was actually in the basement of a posh-ish hotel. It felt odd strolling in with our rucksacks into their fancy foyer! But at least the car didn't look out of place in the car park. We had a couple of days to explore Melbourne which is quite a cosmopolitan city with loads of great eats. We found a great Indian that did proper Masala Dosas, really crispy! We also really liked the Queen Victoria market where we stocked up on supplies for a picnic in the Botanic gardens for the price of a couple of sandwiches...

After Melbourne we followed the A1 past Geelong and eventually hit the Great Ocean Road, the world's longest war memorial. The road mostly hugs the coast between Torquay and Warrnambool. We stopped halfway along at a tiny hamlet called Princeton, which consisted of a backpackers, a campsite, a pub and a shop! It gave us a good base to explore the most photographed part of the road, the Twelve Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge. We spent sunset one day and the morning of the following driving along stopping for every brown sign pointing to yet another glorious view. London Arch (Formerly London Bridge) and the Grotto were the other side of Port Campbell so we didn't see them till the second day. The scenery was spectacular even if the weather was bitter at times.

Our time in the smallest mainland state was over quickly and we were soon to arrive in South Australia, completing visits to all five mainland states for me!