Ginger Without Borders

When the travel agents sent us the proposed Australia schedule, both Dawn and I balked at the distance we would have to cover in one day from Adelaide to Warrnambool in order to start the Great Ocean Road. Google maps indicated it would be about six hours in the rental car. It has been our experience that not more than two hours of auto travel is best if you want to maintain any energy for travel. But our examination of the map of Australia indicated that there was not a lot to see in South Australia or eastern Victoria (also in the south of Australia) until you got to the coast. So we agreed to the plan. But this was the day we both dreaded – Dawn because the car vibrations aggravate her back pain and me because I have developed pain issues in my legs if I sit too long.

We elected to spend the most time possible on the Australian version of an Interstate. Like in Europe, the city streets of Adelaide just transform into the limited access M1 highway once you leave the city limits. We drove for about thirty minutes through pretty brown hills and then for two hours through flat terrain of sheep farms and bush. The Australian highway folks have erected sighs encouraging tired drivers to stop at rest areas (usually just a metal shade structure without restrooms) every 20 kilometers or so. But we wanted a proper restroom, so we pulled over at a truckstop. In Australia, that is a trukkie and the lounge for the trukkies would rival an airline loyalty lounge. This stop even had a food court and faux leather couches. And in Australia, it is not Burger King, it is Hungry Jack’s and they are everywhere.

We elected not to order a Whopper (Hungry Jack’s is advertising their no-meat Whopper a lot on the telly), and soon the M1 simply ended. Our road changed into an A road, a two lane highway with an occasional third lane for overtaking (passing). The A66 passed around the few municipalities that very infrequently appeared in the farmland of South Australia but we elected to turn off the A66 in the largest town along the route for lunch. Naracoorte (an aboriginal word for large water hole), was founded in 1847 but did was not deemed worthy of a post office until 1853. It is a farming center and the radio station that we heard for 2 hours had a lot of farm equipment ads and some good 1990’s rock and roll.

Most of the best places to eat in southern Australia are restaurants attached to a hotel, even in Adelaide. And since we are now in the cool (or cold in winter) south of Australia, there are no more plain air restaurants. If they have outside seats at all, they are similar to the US with just a few tables on the sidewalk. You order your food at the bar (where you also order your drinks), give them your table number (placards on each table, so pick a number), and pay immediately. Your food and drinks are then brought to your table. Tipping is not customary.

Within a half hour of lunch, we crossed the state line into Victoria and the clock reset to half an hour later. Yes, I said half an hour. The State of South Australia is half an hour earlier than Sydney time (which is now on daylight savings time and one hour earlier than Brisbane time). According to google, Newfoundland, India, Iran, Afganistan, Myanar and Sri Lanka also use half hour time deviations. We also passed into green rolling hills.

And then miles of vineyards that ran all the way to the horizon.

But periodically along the way, there was the warning about kangaroos along the road. We saw a lot of dead kangaroos on the roadside but did not to see any live ones, even in the bush. We thought it first, but one of our Kangaroo Island guides said that kangaroos in Australia are like deer in the US. They are plentiful and a traffic hazard, particularly in the early morning or at dusk. And they can severely damage a vehicle.

We turned off of the A66 onto a series of C roads that became a lot more hilly. Then google decided to send us a couple of times down several kilometers of single lane road. There were pebble shoulders, so I guess there would have been room if we met another vehicle but we did not. In fact, once we left Adelaide, even on the M1, there was little traffic, a few cars on the A66 and virtually no traffic on the C roads.

Finally, after almost seven hours, we hit the B120 outside Warrambool and in ten minutes were at our resort apartment (not sure why our travel agent decided a hotel wasn’t all we needed for just one night). The farmland we had passed through for the last two hours was beautiful rolling hills but we didn’t want to stop for photos. Tired but not injured from the journey, we went to bed early and slept until 8:30 this morning.

PS. Lena, your Mom is saving you some inheritance by just eating light in the room, but I am having fish every evening. Today was amazing (the beginning of the Great Ocean Road), so Mom is in bed and I am safe for one more day.