Great Ocean Road to the Barossa Wine Valley
03 May 2015
Lisa Anderson
View of the Twelve Apostle's
April 26, 2015
So glad that we had detoured a bit and had taken the time to see the stunning coastline of Southern Australia; including the oldest lighthouse, the Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, and all the cute, quaint seaside towns. The first day was an easy drive, stopping to see all the things we wanted to see, including a tour of the lighthouse, then we spent the night a caravan park nearby. Larry keeps saying how he feels like he is in a scary movie, in that when the sun starts to set - you know you have to get off the road - not for the zombies, but in this country it's for them kangaroos! The next day was a photography binge - just when you jump back in your vehicle and pull up a few hundred more feet you want to jump out and snap some more! It really was fun! Exhausted, we spent the night in Mount Gambier. We pushed on rather quickly through what is called the Limestone Coast, famous for their caves and fossils. I had visions of grapevines calling to me and wanted to be able to check out a winery or two in the famous Barossa Valley. Another words, you really probably could spend a few days in this area exploring, picking and choosing a few of the activities listed in the Lonely Planet guide.
As the sun set and the gauge on our fuel dropped, we started to feel a bit anxious as we drove on farm roads not sure of our final destination for the night. In true Lisa Kay fashion, we don't always know where we are going until we get there, and many of those times turn out to be the best! In this case we were not disappointed, and came across a tiny gas station that happened to still be open after 6:00 on a Sunday night, and shortly thereafter a small caravan park located near the Community Center of Mount Pleasant - population 1000. And here is where we were embraced in true Aussie fashion! Turns out, the locals were having a fundraising dinner, saving up to put a new kitchen in the community center - well how could we resist? The Ladies Of The Night (yes, they really call their group that!) had done all the cooking and it was delicious! We had a great time chatting and laughing with the locals, learning about the different community groups and all that they were doing - what neat people - making the world a better place! I had that sense of "church" - not in the religious sense, but in the sense of people coming together and working for the greater good, only they served really good wine :)
The next morning we drove through the beautiful vineyards, dreaming of the day when we can have a small piece of property and that sense of community again in our lives...next stop - Port Augusta - the start of the Stuart Highway and the great outback!