Day 8.  Melbourne to Halls Gap via the Great Ocean Road

Was a day dodging tourist campervans, storm clouds and taking in some of the best views of the trip so far.


Monday morning 7am. Balloons over the city are a great way to start the day


Come hither Victorian coast... time to get out of the city, a couple of days in Melbourne was enough for me


Good morning Great Ocean Road, let us acquaint ourselves


Waiting for that 1 in 100 year storm... is that Johnny Utah behind the tree?  The place where Point Break was not filmed.


Cool kids and surf shops litter the coastline... I wonder how many of these boards will end up actually being surfed?  Most are destined for a life as art pieces in rich mens houses.


Hello lighthouse - hello little green car


Rocky outcrops make for interesting coastline... i'm used to sand, sand, and more sand. West of Torquay I believe


Life is pretty easy when your only worry is driving the road ahead of you


Me, my car, and the Great Ocean Road


Fantastic driving roads cut into the hillsides way into the distance.  The road was made by our returned soldiers after WWI, not a single piece of machinery was used - only pick axes, shovels and wheelbarrows.  They used to breed em tough, that's for sure.


Pretty G.O.R. view


I suddenly feel the need to concentrate on the oncoming traffic... of course you drive on the left in Australia  


My love of roadsigns continues, but i'd love the Great Ocean Road a little more if there was a caravan ban in place


It's completely wrong a lot of the time, but these days a GPS is impossible to navigate without


I like this sign. It's the Lady Ga Ga of signs


Another hard day in the life of Che


Green lush countryside at every roll of the hill


The Otways. Very pretty colder weather rainforest, great tracks everywhere.  Not game to take them on by myself - very boggy ground.


Almost got stuck trying to take a pic, so I took a pic of my stuckness.  Very mushy ground


A fire tower overlooks the Otway ranges


Is this a wonderful place to be, or are you guys hard to please?


The Shipwreck coast. More specifically, the 12 Apostles


Another angle of the Apostles... huuuge


The only bad thing about the Victorian Coast is that it's no secret. Heaps of tourists everywhere, mainly Europeans and wealthy Asians.


Further along.  I think this is the Bay of 1000 Isles, or something like that, beautiful day. Weather is spot on.


How does this guy not fall into the sea? Almost looks like a floating mountain from the Avatar movie


Making progress, too fast too soon


Country Vic roads. Green everywhere with typical pine tree windbreaks on the non-windy side.  Pine trees are not native to Australia, and look quite odd in the landscape.


Poor baby having a tantrum in a Warnambool service station... 1/2 an hour of crankiness - it came back to life with the last cranks in the battery.  Though it was the end of the mission for a while


Pretty, as always. Nice looking piece of road.  Heading inland from the coast into farming country - wheat and cattle.


100kph shadow


Cattle country of western Victoria, gettting away from the coastal storms about to hit... this storm actually flooded the area, a fortuitous decision to escape the area.


This is what the inland detour is all about - an arising view from the gentle rolling hills is the Grampians National Park


Getting dark, still a whiles to go...Halls Gap not even on the signs yet.


Time for my first real night drive. Vision is bad and kangaroos are everywhere... maybe time to invest in some spotties.


Halls Gap the goal, was a 10pm arrival


Spent the night in Halls Gap, on the top side of the Grampian ranges.  But so much night travel I got no idea what's going on around me.  A wet night ahead, but surely a fun day to follow.

Day 9.  Halls Gap to Tailem Bend.

Another interesting day, and the start of car issues with top speed dropping off a little.  I put it down to a headwind the whole way. 

I made an early start, with plans to climb Mt Zero, but getting to the site Mt Stapylton was a better challenge.. how hard can a 2.5km climb be?  I found out pretty fast :?   Anyway - pics


I woke up in Halls Gap camp park to massive hills, and a heap of kangaroos - half of which I scared off in taking a few photos.


The bug collection is starting to build


Nature slowly claiming a house back, a few spiders inside i'm guessing


Rainbow and a Grampians peak in the clouds


Valley between the Grampians - Halls Gap in there somewhere


Bugger. Grampians are pretty much shut down. Storms have wreaked havoc in the few days prior, and the main road through is impassable.


Fallen tree yet to be cleared from the road


Going north off the beaten path again, dropping the PSI for the corrugated gravel roads


On the road again. Pitted roads, burnt trees... bring it on


Dirt roads are so bad they're in the process of being re-levelled.


Heading to Mt Stapylton - I love driving the fire trails.


A 4 hour round trip to climb Mt Stapylton. Mt Zero in the background, only 1/2 way up here... scale not quite translating


Pastures and plains - I think this is looking toward Stawell.  The irony of the Grampians is they pop out of the flat lands, and their formation can't be explained.


Enough mountain climbing for idiots, time to get driving again


Were's in wheat country now, and some tools of the trade


A weird looking beast, bloody huge nonetheless


Absolutely ratshit after the mountain climb and ready for a kip, time for a steak in a Horsham pub. I love country pub meals, you really get what you pay for.


Looking for a new air mattress in a camping store, found more guns than i've ever seen in one place.  Only farmers need guns in Australia, you never see them otherwise.


I know what you're thinking - why didn't you take a photo of the bigger Kaniva windmill?


G'day SA... bring on Radelaide


More towns that have slipped under my radar


Car is struggling and top speed is slipping. Using the slip stream of a truck to suck me along.


SA skies were quite pretty, landscape as flat as a tack.


I can see what I think is the sea again (it's lake Alexandria) - near where the Murray river dumps out. Pretty skies again.


Finding a place to nest for the night. First view of the Murray River -  the longest river in Australia. Man, more mozzies here than anywhere on earth. But you dun't know unless you go, do ya?



Not quite connecting the dots at this stage, but the car was beginning to struggle.  I didn't care, it was a long day and I was buggered.  Finding a nice place to camp took until last light, fighting hoards of mozzies until the tent was up.  But in the morning it was a sight to behold 

Day 10.  Tailem Bend to Pt Pirie

Horrible sleep through the night, I heard animals of all sizes snooping around.  Woke up to the sounds of pigs squealing in the distance... thought it was death coming to get me, but turns out there's an abattoir nearby    Lucky I woke up in a nice spot.  Car topping out at 85kph at this point, but still putting it down to headwinds and the weight of an extra traveller.


My nice little nest.


50m away from my camp, this is the view of the Murray. Not quite picked up in detail, but the misty lowlands running next to the clear Murray River was an amazing sight to wake up to.  I could live here if it wasn't for all the mozzies.


On the road again, beating a path back to the unofficial trail


The trail that runs alongside the Murray, 1/2 hr outside of Tailem Bend


Old Tailem Town. So many cool old cars just rusting away


Farmer Joes crop being smashed by Cockatoos


River Murray, or Murray River.... you say tomaytoes, I say tomahtoes


Rollin, rollin, rollin down the river


This carve the grey nomads off the road... maybe for my next trip around


Is there a car show on? I literally saw 100's of primo old rides crossing from east to west.  This is an FJ Holden - an Aussie icon.


Not far to Adelaide now


The Adelaide Hills were a great drive, rolling greenness, huuuge cuttings. tunnels, all downhill from here, and the last time I could hit the speed limit


Radelaide being just Rad... a city without skyscrapers.


Looky what I found... Radelaide guitars


I may be in Adelaide, but i'm a bomber man and i'll hate the crows 'til I die... it's a football thing... (AFL).


Ride that wild surf Adelaide... not even a ripple, just massive great white sharks looking for their next meal.


Got me a wingman for the rest of the ride. Swinging past the airport to pick up Dad


A ways to go... little did we know how slow we'd be knocking it off.  2700kms until the next major town.


Moving on, time to hit the road Jack


Look!!! Something to look at besides flat ground  


Hey Dad, give us a wave


Beyond Adelaide - wheat fields and salt lakes


Palm trees in the middle of nowhere


Wheat fields and a wind farm on the hill on the horizon


Farmer Joe, toiling and tilling the fields


Pt Pirie - home for the night. We're in the middle of frigging nowhere, you gotta wonder how these epic very old buildings came into being.


Wheat silos, ready for overseas export.


Pt Pirie jetty. Water is like glass... makes for nice photos


Another view


Fisherman Steve and his trawler of doom



Getting through them... A few more days to go.  We're well and truly in the outback now, but the red dirt is yet to come.

Very enjoyable read thanks.

Awesome update once again.... I'm really enjoying following your trip with my Google Earth loaded to check out where you have been... Enjoy the rest of your trip with your Dad!

Zig

Great thread! Makes me want to take a long road trip again.

- Andy

I hope all is well with your adventure... No updates recently so I'm assuming you made it or running into issues on the road.

Zig

Day 9.  Halls Gap to Tailem Bend.

Another interesting day, and the start of car issues with top speed dropping off a little.  I put it down to a headwind the whole way. 

I made an early start, with plans to climb Mt Zero, but getting to the site Mt Stapylton was a better challenge.. how hard can a 2.5km climb be?  I found out pretty fast :?   Anyway - pics


I woke up in Halls Gap camp park to massive hills, and a heap of kangaroos - half of which I scared off in taking a few photos.


The bug collection is starting to build


Nature slowly claiming a house back, a few spiders inside i'm guessing


Rainbow and a Grampians peak in the clouds


Valley between the Grampians - Halls Gap in there somewhere


Bugger. Grampians are pretty much shut down. Storms have wreaked havoc in the few days prior, and the main road through is impassable.


Fallen tree yet to be cleared from the road


Going north off the beaten path again, dropping the PSI for the corrugated gravel roads


On the road again. Pitted roads, burnt trees... bring it on


Dirt roads are so bad they're in the process of being re-levelled.


Heading to Mt Stapylton - I love driving the fire trails.


A 4 hour round trip to climb Mt Stapylton. Mt Zero in the background, only 1/2 way up here... scale not quite translating


Pastures and plains - I think this is looking toward Stawell.  The irony of the Grampians is they pop out of the flat lands, and their formation can't be explained.


Enough mountain climbing for idiots, time to get driving again


Were's in wheat country now, and some tools of the trade


A weird looking beast, bloody huge nonetheless


Absolutely ratshit after the mountain climb and ready for a kip, time for a steak in a Horsham pub. I love country pub meals, you really get what you pay for.


Looking for a new air mattress in a camping store, found more guns than i've ever seen in one place.  Only farmers need guns in Australia, you never see them otherwise.


I know what you're thinking - why didn't you take a photo of the bigger Kaniva windmill?


G'day SA... bring on Radelaide


More towns that have slipped under my radar


Car is struggling and top speed is slipping. Using the slip stream of a truck to suck me along.


SA skies were quite pretty, landscape as flat as a tack.


I can see what I think is the sea again (it's lake Alexandria) - near where the Murray river dumps out. Pretty skies again.


Finding a place to nest for the night. First view of the Murray River -  the longest river in Australia. Man, more mozzies here than anywhere on earth. But you dun't know unless you go, do ya?



Not quite connecting the dots at this stage, but the car was beginning to struggle.  I didn't care, it was a long day and I was buggered.  Finding a nice place to camp took until last light, fighting hoards of mozzies until the tent was up.  But in the morning it was a sight to behold 

First thing that the images are not visible at my side, they are just showing broken. and also i want to ask that is there any resource in your library starring the list of longest rivers in the world? I am working on this topic from last few days and looking for your help.

This is a 5+ year old thread... It's unlikely that any information will get fixed or questions answered. To bad too as it is a cool trip report... Maybe some lucky thing will happen and the author will chime in.

-Eric