Ain't it good...

... to be back home again, to quote the great John Denver.

Well, I think so. It's been a wonderful trip but man, it's GREAT to be home. I was really missing Dodge and I know Fluffy was pining for Ozzie too :-)

The second week of our Great Ocean Adventure was good too. A lot more relaxing, though.

Monday of week two saw us head to Mt Gambier. It was a short trip, just a couple of hours. We were on the road by 9.45, and after a detour through Portland, we arrived at Mt Gambier at lunch time. Funny thing, I wasn't paying attention to where we were headed, and we just naturally followed signs to Mt Gambier, but without knowing Fluffy wanted to go the coastal road, which meant actually travelling through Portland, not into and back out the way we came. Pity about that...

The caravan park was a Big 4, which you Aussies may know is a very highly respected group of 4 star parks. However, while this one was lovely, with a pool, several amenities blocks, and a play ground, it only had 2 washing machines for the whole park, and not nearly enough showers and toilets for the volume of guests.

Also, the sites were unmarked, and despite booking an ensuite site, which we had actually forgotten about, we were given a mud map of the park and told to find ourselves a spot. We followed all the other vans driving around in endless circles looking for a site.

We found a spot, which was under a large tree and quiet, with only two others campers on the block, got set up and then realised, no water. bugga! There was a tap across the way though, so we had to make do. I am terribly disappointed though, that had I remembered we had booked an ensuite site, I would have made bloody sure we actually got one! Let alone one without water at all!

Anyway, we also had a couple of issues with the girls at this place. A friend of Hermione's was there, and according to Nan, she was the least savoury of her mates. Turned out Nan was right, as there were issues.

The Blue Lake at Mt Gambier is quite different. To look at, it looks like a badly doctored photograph. The colour of the water looks so artificial that if I were to paint it, people would criticise the colour. When I put up photos tomorrow you will see what I mean. Hopefully.

The township if quite lovely though, and we spent lots of money (of course), plus checked out the Sink Hole again, although it would appear the possums have moved on.

Thursday saw us move on to Robe. We had a lovely little site at the end of the block, right near the main walkway to the beach. That meant a lot of foot traffic but in all it was quite a nice park. Extremely busy, with lots of campers crammed in together. The shower was like Grand Central Station at 10.30 at night! That was a shock! We took the girls for a walk along the beach after the heat of the day had diminished somewhat, and they collected shells. The next day we went for a look at Kingston, and I took a couple of photos around there. The highlight of that visit was a look at the Cape Jaffa Lighthouse, which is housed in Kingston. It used to be situated about 8km off the shore of Cape Jaffa, out in the ocean. The elderly gents who gave us the tour seemed to know what they were talking about and made it interesting.

This trip has been an eye opener in a lot of ways. It has made me realise what an awful child Dobby can be - rude, discourteous, and downright mean to name a few. The funny thing is that Hermione keeps forgiving her. Mind you, she is no angel either, and knows exactly which buttons to push. But I think they b0th enjoyed the trip, and next time we will make a few changes. For the most part though they tidied up after themselves, cleaned out the car after each trip, and packed up all their gear the night before leaving each place. And they washed up after dinner each night. I was quite pleased.

I promise tomorrow I will upload photos for you. Now, though, I am trying to get Dobby into the shower so I ca go soak in the tub. Night.