Thursday, December 25, 2008

Portland to Apollo Bay-The Great Ocean Rd



Well Guys I've been a bit slack and haven't done any work on my blog ,but in my defence I've been busy having fun.....

We are now in Apollo Bay ,well actually it's our last day here after 10 days of mixed weather.

We have had a day of 80km hr winds all day,or 42knots. But that day was warm, we have had rain but only light and we have had nice sunshine with a cold wind chill.


I have managed to log a few hours of flying which I have filmed some of so stay tuned to more boring air footage ,i will try and add some good chilled music so you can fall asleep easier :).


Xmas Day was fantastic great weather hell I even got wet up to my shorts teaching Emily to Surf (Vid to come) . After the pressie thing and a huge feed of pancakes and ice cream and chocolate almonds to many coffees I ran up the hill and had a great 1hr flight, back home for light rest a couple of ales then down to the beach for the surfing lessons.


The kids got spoilt as usual but it was so good to actually be home for Xmas as last year I was offshore getting ready for a cyclone, in fact it was this day(Boxing Day) I tore my tendons in my shoulder.

So it has been a whole year since I last worked.......fan bloody tastic!


OK Mt Gambier was our next spot after Tunkililla then onto Portland. Had a great bush camp there and did some mountain biking as there was a race track around our campsite, then it was a long drive to Apollo Bay where we have been based ever since.


We have been on some rain forest walks,Koala spotting,paragliding,fishing(no luck) and just relaxing.


A highlight has been the platypus that lives in the creek right in front of our tent as this is the first one we have ever seen and managed a couple of photos last night after trying all week., boy there weird.


I'm not looking forward to packing up and leaving but we must and am keen to get to the warm weather. So it's off to Torquay near Melbourne tomorrow and the rest of the Great Ocean Rd which is truly and awesome drive and scenery is well scenic.


Galvo


The Big Crayfish



Mt Gambier Sink Hole


Blue Lake Mt Gambier

Sink Hole -Mt Gambier

On the Ground -Greys Rd Kennet River - Great Ocean Rd


King Parrot - Great Ocean Rd


Koala- Greys

Apollo Bay- Flying


Strong Wind Apollo Bay - Using car as wind block???

Grace- Cute As


Lucy- Gorgeous


Emily & Grace



Cape Otway Lighthouse



Otway Nat Park- Triplet Falls



Triplet Falls

Mountain Ash - Largest Eucalypt


The Otway Fly-I hate manmade structures and get scared of heights on them, Funny really??



From The top of tower - Otway Fly


rainforest Walk-Otway Nat Park


Run


Oops


Xmas



The Look Says It All



Water Rat



Platypus
Platypus-Weird huh


The End to a Great Day


For more adventures and pictures go here to the kids own blog, see Emily Surf the huge waves, Hear ferocious koalas it's all there.

http://littleaussieadventures.blogspot.com/



Steve

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Adelaide and Kangaroo Is


Well we have left Kangaroo Is after nine days of blustery conditions and rain :(. We still managed to have some fun though and I even caught a couple of fish and some Marron and Yabbies so we ate well one night...

We managed to see some koalas but not as many kangaroos as we thought and really most of the animals were dead on the side of the road....
There was so much road kill it was hard to believe really so there must be plenty of wildlife around just that we didn't see a lot . Although we did see heaps of seals and we met some funny Italian campers as well who thought like us that Australia was warm in the summer and had no warm clothes so all there photos for the last month they were wearing exactly the same clothes
We only stayed in Adelaide for a couple of days , and a place called Rapid Bay on the Flieuier Peninsula for one night before KI.

After KI we raced to a spot called Tunkillilla which happens to be a good flying spot and as we pulled in there were two gliders in the air so I quickly launched and got a nice 1.5hr flight in.

We saw from the hill heaps of dolphins surfing the waves ,kangaroos and managed to export to Victor Harbour heaps of earwigs that moved in with us...

Victor Harbour was great for a shower as we hadn't had a proper one for ten days so was well appreciated by us and anyone that came into contact with us.
We are now in Mt Gambier after a long drive and it's bloody freezing here too.



Galvo


Rapid Bay


Our only wild Koala


Passion



While these two duked it out the above male got the glory.



Cape Borda Lighthouse



Cape Borda Museum







Yacca's - After The Bushfires the Grass Trees were all in flower and the biggest Flower stalks I have ever seen.




Dinner - Australian Salmon -Marron and Yabbies mmmmm



Stokes Bay



The Remarkable Rocks -And there pretty remarkable.

















Tunkillilla - Flieuier Peninsular



Tunk - SunsetDolphins At Play