Adelaide to Port Augusta - Quibbles with Quorn

Today is mainly a day of driving to help reduce the 750km journey from Adelaide to Coober Pedy. We're aiming for the small town of Quorn since the larger stopover of Port Augusta isn't doesn't seem quite appealing. (Port Disgusta as Mandy describes it).

We eventually reach Quorn and drive through the 2 horse town down to the camp site. As we're already having second thoughts about staying here we take a quick drive round the camp site to see what it's like.

We're still humming and hawing on our way out of the site when the owner waves us to a stop. The conversation goes roughly like this-

(Us) 'Hi, how are you?'
(She)'Did you just drive round the site?'
(Us) 'Yeah, we just wanted to have a quick look round to help make our minds up?'
(She)'Yes, well, we have a culture here..'

At this point I think she's going to say that there's an ancient cultural site here and we shouldn't have gone in without permission, and I'm about to feel really bad...

(She)'Are you from overseas?'
(Us) 'Yes, Scotland!'
(She) 'Yes well, that's not the culture here, you need to stop at the office before you go around the camp site.'

My urge to feel bad completely disappears. Again, it's not what you say it's how you say it...

(Us) 'Oh sorry, we just thought we'd have a quick look first (before wasting either of our times).'
(She) 'Yes, well that's not the culture here sorry.' And I'm getting the impression that she's talking to Jesus at the same time as speaking to us.
(Us) 'Okay, sorry.'
(She)'Well, enjoy the rest of your day.'

I'm not sure if she still expected us to go to the office and register for camping but despite the fact that the options are limited here and it's been a long day's drive already, and despite the fact that we'll need to drive another 50km to Port Disgusta, 'F**k You' is what we think.

After all, it's not our culture to put up with that kind of bulls**t even if it is in the middle of nowhere.

Robe to Adelaide

After a pleasant evening in Robe, we wander around the town in the morning, paying a visit to the Obelisk. This monolith was erected over a hundred years ago as a warning to sailors in the area, it also contained lifesaving equipment in case the warnings were ignored.


Robe is a really nice little town with friendly people, the bay is stunning as are the beaches, it does have one little drawback though which is an incessant wind which can be quite cold if you're out of the sun. But it's not enough to stop me recommending it as a stop off.

Larry the Lobster

From here we head over to Adelaide, we had planned to stop at the Coorong Wilderness Lodge for a spot of bush tucker and some education about Aboriginal life in the area, however the lodge is just too far down an unsealed road, and our van wouldn't handle the drive, and it's not insured for unsealed roads anyway.

Pink Salt Lake

The change from Sydney's dense forestation to South Australia's salt pans has been a gradual one. But the appearance of red earth under the trees reminds us that we're heading into the real 'red centre' in a couple of days.

We use Adelaide as a rest stop for a couple of days. A chance to replenish our stocks and figure out the next few days of he journey. We stayed in Adelaide's seaside playground Glenelg. Although it's several miles from the town centre there is an excellent tram service which runs direct to the town centre.

Mandy had one of these just for you Joce

We didn't take many photos in Adelaide and in truth didn't do very much, but it's worth mentioning the Central Markets, a great place for all types of food and a massive Asian food hall, lots of choice and small prices. The museum is good as well, with a large part of it being devoted to Aboriginal culture. And the Botanic Hotel is not too shabby either especially in the cocktail department, I was particularly impressed by the Art of Ninja Invisibility.

Mount Gambier to Robe

We take a couple of hours this morning to stroll and drive around the caldera edges. Snapping photos to try and get as much of the craters in as possible.

Despite this amazing geological formation you get a sense that Mount Gambier isn't thriving, especially in the town, but it could be our usual off season travelling, or maybe it's because it's the day after Melbourne Cup.


We continue up the coast to Robe, this choice being mainly based on my reading in the Lonely Planet that it had a traditional Scottish pub. I don't think I need to justify this decision any further.

The campsite is the best we've been in so far and we jump on our bikes and head in to explore the town.

The pub isn't very Scottish, despite being called the Caledonian Inn (again), but is still nice all the same.

Port Fairy to Mount Gambier

I wake up early and head out to take some shots of Port Fairy. It seems I might have misjudged the place as it reveals a more selubrious side down by the river.

It's obviously a place in the middle of change, only a few hours from Adelaide, by the sea and with a perfect little harbourside, it offers a lot to city dwellers looking for a getaway.

We head off from Port Fairy and make our way into South Australia, briefly stopping off at a quarantine bin to deposit most of our food in it. Moving fruit and veg across states is frowned upon, mainly because of fruit fly and other pests and diseases. Ironically the quarantine bin is several km's inside South Australia and is absolutely, disgustingly, hoaching with fruit flies.

It's Melbourne Cup day today so the whole of Australia is in the pub or at the race itself. This makes for a very quiet days drive to Mount Gambier.

Again, the town centre itself is nothing hugely impressive but it does have a large draw card for tourists.


One large extinct volcano and two large crater lakes with vivid waters. Our campsite is bang in the middle of the two.

Port Campbell to Port Fairy

We make a relatively early start out to the less popular, but equally impressive formations at Loch Ard Gorge, the Razorback and London Bridge.

The crowds are a lot smaller, drawn by the 12 Apostles further back, and possibly repelled by the weather conditions. From our point of view the slight haze and mild rainfall only serves to increase the atmosphere of these places.






We visit several more little viewing areas off the main road and then head for Port Fairy. We stop in Warrnambool which is more like a large truck-stop than anything else, but is the best place to stock up with grub and booze before moving on, as we've no idea what the next town is like or what facilities it has. After all the excitement of the Great Ocean Road it appears that most people just hit the highway back to Adelaide or Melbourne.

But we feel a bit more adventurous, or maybe solitude is our main aim.

Port Fairy is like a lot of smallish towns in remoter Victoria. Wide streets, low visibility of inhabitants and a palpable sense of their pasts as frontier towns, ports, or mining sites. Friendly enough but sometimes eerily quiet.

We pull up at the Caledonian Inn and grab a bed for the night, as a change from the van is required.

Lorne to Port Campbell

From Lorne out to Apollo Bay on the Great Ocean Road is a beautiful winding stretch of blue/green ocean and sandy inlets. It reminds of the Northern Beaches where we've been living most of this year. Although the waves are a bit more threatening here.

We stop for lunch at Apollo Bay which is a pretty seaside town with a strip of cafes and restaurants at the waterfront.

The next stop is Cape Otway for this reason -

Another tick on the list of Aussie animals to see in the wild.

From here we move on to the main attractions. The coastline becomes a bit more wild and woolly and the incessant force of the Southern Ocean has eroded remarkable limestone formations. There isn't really any way to explain these fully so I'll let the following pictures speak for me.




The main formations are the stunning 12 Apostles which is the centre of the whole Great Ocean Road. Tourists flock here in their millions and behave with the usual mix of idiocy and desperation in an effort to capture the one photo that sums it all up.

There are other formations to view but what with the drive and supressing the urge to kill stupid people, we head for Port Campbell and a good night's rest.
Blighted only by a weird family whose father had pretentions of being Jim Reeves, John Denver and Sydney Devine; and who had no hesitation in belting out his misguided belief in the powers of his voice.

Luckily the pub was nearby.

Wilson's Promontory to Lorne

In the morning we take what we think is a short stroll through the forest to Lilli Pilli Gully. It's a nice gentle slope down to the gully from the car park and then a steep climb back up on the return side of the circular route. In all it ends up being about 3 miles, at least double what we reckoned, but that's country measurements for you.


The next stop is Squeaky Beach, another one of those typical Aussie no-nonsense names. It's a beach and the sand is indeed squeaky, due to quartz content. Having worked up an appetite at Lilli Pilli, Mandy starts making breakfast which attracts the local lorikeet population. They're friendly and colourful, but of course they're only after one thing. So I lose a good chunk of my brekkie to the bandits, whilst laughing at one bird on my shoulder another nicks bits from my opposite hand.

The rest of the day is spent driving round Melbourne and down to Lorne at the start of the Great Ocean Road. I'm looking forward to this leg of the journey, as it's the main reason we headed down the coast instead of going straight to Adelaide from Sydney.

Tiny Mojito