Adelaide !

Had a day off from the tour today - riders all resting and getting ready for Stage 1 tomorrow. Phil had to pick up his Community Ride rego package so we headed into the Official Tour Down Under Marquee opposite Victoria Park. The Hilton is adjacent the marquee and is where most, if not all, the riders and team personnel are staying. We saw Phil Leggett getting interviewed in front and then a half a dozen of various teams arriving after a morning session. No sign of Lance though - maybe tomorrow? While Jen and the crew did some wandering (and Phil tried in vain to find parking for his van with coffin box on top) I headed back to the caravan on my bike to work on my presentations. Haven't ridden for a while and the legs weren't full of much zip - will be good to get in some mileage over the next few days and see if they loosen up a bit. Tamra has us organized to do a community ride with some of her friends tomorrow night - 2.5 hrs apparently - with Pizza as the post-ride reward - may be a rude awakening for Jen and I? Kids are well - albeit a bit on the hyper / defiant obstructive side of things - but I'm sure this will soon straighten itself out (maybe with a couple of really long bike rides?)

Victor Harbour and onto Adelaide for the Tour!

After a longish scenic drive thanks to our friendly GPS voice and trip planner - Fiona - she doesn't seem to realize that the shortest route between two points is a straight line - we eventually rolled into Victor Harbour. The kids got in plenty of screen time and did their daily journals with some mild coaxing and assistance - so all went relatively well. Victor Harbour was very pleasant with beautiful vistas of the sea and surrounds. Every summer on the foreshore they set up some carnival rides and a jumping castle to boot which obviously caught the fun-seeking eyes of our children and helped us empty our wallet. After a bit of a play we did the trek across to Granite Island - watching the horse-drawn carriage/tram get pulled back and forth while we weathered the gusty conditions. A short explore and return after being nearly eaten by Serpent Rock and we were off to a GP acquaintance's house whom I had met at a conference earlier in the year.  She'd invited us to stay with her and her family if we happened to be in the area - so here we were. Her husband Ian and children, Jarred and Hamish were wonderful and the kids had a ball - being a bit friend-starved and in need of more space and toys with which to play. Fish  and Chips for tea filled our bellies and we settled for the evening in some foreign, but comfortable, beds. With some good advice as to our future travels and a last minute tour of the surrounding area - we took our leave in the morning and headed on to Adelaide. The Beaumonts arrived shortly after we did at the Levi Caravan Park and once again the kids were in a frenzy with old friends to visit and play with. Over the next few days we'll try to get as close to Lance and other superstars in the Tour Down Under as possible and maybe test out the legs on some of the course.

Mt. Gambier and surrounds

Made our way to Mount Gambier yesterday without much ado. Visited the Lady Nelson Visitors centre after lunch and did the small tour inside. It was all about the early settlers, their relations with the aborigines, the formation of the blue lake and some archaeological artefacts (fossils, et al). The blue lake - which is actually quite deep blue - very cool - is the result of it being essentially formed on top of limestone which releases Calcium Carbonate every summer and thereby reflects the deep blue of the colour spectrum. We made some gourmet burgers for tea and headed to the Umpherston Sink Hole which is located in a small park and is touted to be 'the' place to see some bushy-tailed possums once darkness falls. The sun eventually fell and at about 9:40 or so we had the fortunate of spying one of the bushy-tailed critters in one of the many cracks and crevices of the limestone walls. We weren't able to feed it by hand but threw plenty of apples and carrots at it to keep it in sight. It was late when we departed and kids were foul - ready to tuck into bed for a good nights rest. Today we'll see a few more sights and try to get further ahead on the presentations.

Sunshine and Port Fairy

Another moving day - we're getting pretty savy at packing up and not damaging anything - mind you I did put a good hole in the Kluger's bumper the other day backing into a water faucet. Aside from that though - we're looking good at packing up camp. Jen still hasn't taken the reins yet - scared of the windy roads I think. She said she'll drive when we get to the straighter roads en route to Coober Pedy, Alice Springs and then across the Nullabor - maybe then she'll build up some confidence to tackle these windy ones. We headed to Port Fairy today and hit the 12 Apostles again (as it was sunny) for a second time, visited a few other "scenic lookouts" on the way and Cheese World before Warrnambol. After lunch we tackled Tower Hill - an extinct volcano that is said to have erupted 32,000 yrs ago and has left a tower-like hill and a crater lake - the view from up top was nearing spectacular with a stone reminiscent of King Arthur's day so we pretended to pull a broken stick out of it - Ah "there can only be one!" Back in Port Fairy - a quaint little town with some obvious history - we toured around, got supplies and checked out the local park to expell some energy. We're off again tomorrow with a bit of a drive to Mount Gambier and the "Blue Lake" where we'll have a couple nights to check out the local area.

Rain Day and the 12 Apostles

After a rather warm evening with temps in the afternoon in the high 30's we woke to mid-20s and humidity. After some good ole Canadian Flapjacks with maple syrup (authentic Canadian of course) we headed out to Melba Gorge just down the road and became enveloped in the rainforest - Piper is getting much better at these walks and didn't have to be carried once - in fact was running up the hills yelling "Come on daddy - let's run!" - might be the athlete of them all? As we completed the circuit some whispy rain started to fall on and off, increasing in intensity as we made our way to the Gibson's Steps and the 12 Apostles. The steps climb down a sheer cliff and end up on a sandy beach with massive waves encroaching the shoreline - very exciting for the kids - traumatic for the parents! Just up the road is the 12 Apostle walk / underpass and when we finally arrived the squall was hitting with some intensity. In an attempt to wait out the worst of it we bought a bag of natural lollies (dinosaurs of course) and when the rain seemed to abate made our break for the view points. Once on the path it was quite apparent that the squall wasn't actually abating but rather was getting more fierce. We were pelted with rain which Cole described like "spears" hitting him in the face. Aidan wasn't keen on seeing "just a bunch of rocks" and gave us heaps all the way despite Dad's encouragement and utterances of "Doesn't it make you feel alive!" or " imagine what you'll be able to deal with after this Aidan", or "at least it will be memorable for you..." - all of which was probably in vain - but worth the effort. The afternoon was spent back at camp, warming up in the Caravan, getting up to speed on the homeschooling front and playing some games - good family time!

The Great Ocean Road!

Started the trek along TGOR today - it is definitely great for scenery and windy roads - Piper nearly copt it in the far backseat but fortunately recovered before any cookies were re-tasted. We saw the stilt house, had coffee in Lorne and kicked ourselves for not being organized (or in shape enough) to swim the Pub to Pier on the 9th of Jan! We managed to get ourselves to Laver Hill (the only place with accommodation for a couple of nights this time of year @ late notice) - the kids and Jen headed to the Otway Treetop Walk and did the Prehistoric Path with life-like dinosaurs - I had to stay back and work on my presentations again - they're slowly coming along and should be ready by the time we head to Europe. Hopefully I won't miss too much between then and now. The boys are a bit tired today as they stayed up and watched a movie at the Caravan park last night- should make this evening an early tuck in. Tomorrow we'll head to the 12 Apostles and hopefully put in some more beach time!

Torquay and surfs up!

Thanks to all for your birthday wishes - had a great day and tasty mud cake for the celebrations - (not as good as yours Tamra) . We headed to the beach today for some surfing and beach-fun - the waves weren't huge but just about right for someone getting back into the sport - I think it's like riding a bike as it wasn't much getting up on the board again and catching a few waves. Did feel the paddles out though - not as resilient as I used to be. The kids had a great time on the beach and boogie boarding. I found a new use for the boogie board with Piper - she sat on it and I ran over the shallow wet areas - she was flying! Not much different from those tubes pulled behind ski-boats. I managed to get some 'free' time to work on my presentations for Europe and the kids got through their journals with not much ado today - what a change! Jen is well and cooked up a storm this evening in the communal kitchen - nothing like sharing your kitchen with 20 others! This is all taking some getting used to - I think we'll survive though.