Sunday 17 March 2013

17th March 9.30PM Home!!!

Back home and ten weeks post to look at. It was 5 degrees C when we landed.
A great holiday now where to next????

some more of my favourite photos of the holiday













some more of my favourite photos of the holiday

Saturday 16th March A day in Shanghai

Staying at a very nice hotel near Pudong airport. The room is the best we have ever stayed in, things are certainly good value here!
A high of 18 degrees here which is less than we have been used to of late but an ideal temperature for getting around. It will start to condition us for UK temperatures which seem very cold for March looking at the UK forecasts.
We booked a day tour around Shanghai. A very densely populated city with a population of 25 million we are told. It was all very new with a lot of concrete and people, but it was good to see a bit of China. The air quality was not so good and you can see the smog in the photos. All in all though, a good stop over for two nights and a full day in China.

Monday 11 March 2013

A hot finish

With a hire car we thought we would have an easy finish. As we are into March now the weather should be easing, but that is not the case. They have had the highest March temperatures since records began in Victoria, everyday so far in the mid thirties and not beginning to cool until about 7.00p.m. Overnight lows are in the 20's. All of this has made the camping very difficult.
We have made our way back along the Ocean Road now, making visits to bits (such as Cape Otway) we did not have the time or energy for when cycling. The state of Victoria is having a long holiday weekend this weekend with Monday being a bank holiday. With the hot weather everyone has headed for the beach areas and the whole coast is packed with people and cars. We called into campsite after campsite and it was the same message "full up". Eventually we realised we had to face the fact that with everywhere so busy, we were not going to get any form of accommodation that night. So we found a parking area with a picnic bench and made a meal. We then spent a hot hot night sleeping in the car amongst all our luggage! We slept well all things considered, but we ached from sleeping in such a cramped fashion. Breakfast on the beach was our reward however as we watched the sun come up.
We asked at the tourist information in the next town at 9.15 this morning and there was no accommodation available for miles for Sunday night. After a bit of persistency they found a cabin for us at a campsite a bit inland eventually, which is actually very very nice. So we have booked in here for three days. Our cabin has air-conditioning and the luxury of having a dining room table and our own facilities is enabling us to recharge a little. With all the heat, camping and sleeping in the car we needed and deserved a break and the cabin will be a nice luxury for a few days before heading to the airport and gearing up for 48 hours in Shanghai.

Sunday 3 March 2013

Fri 1st to Mon 4th March The Fleurieu Peninsula

Hello again. We were really really lucky to get accommodation in Adelaide for 2 nights as the Car race for V8's was on called the Callipso 500, also the Adelaide Fringe as well as the Adelaide music festival. Anyway we enjoyed our time in Adelaide. We booked a small 3 door manual hatchback from Friday for 2 weeks and when we went to pick it up we got a 4 door automatic car which has only done 14000km, so again we were thrilled.
We drove to West Beach just about 12 km from the centre as it had been recommenced. It was right on the beach front and very busy as lots of people travelling to shows in Adelaide couldn't get accommodation so ended up camping at our site. From west beach we travelled south down towards Kangaroo Island. The beaches were fantastic once again. The contrast between touring on bikes and touring in the car were quite vivid. Air conditioning and a drink whenever we want. No worries about seeing a mammoth incline ahead of us. Plenty of time and energy to stroll and investigate roads that went off the main route to the beach and back. Tony is very impressed that the car can connect with the iTunes music on the mobile automatically so we can listen and sing to our favourite play lists as we go along. On saturday we camped at a basic site, again on the beach and took an evening stroll in the sunset. We then moved on passed Victor Harbour to Goolwa which is very close to the mouth of the infamous River Murray. During the day we saw a wonderful cycle track along the coast so we parked up and did a gentle ride along the track for an ice-cream and then back again. We plan to cycle tomorrow to the mouth of the river before jumping in our car to head back into Victoria towards the Grampians. Really tempted to buy two full sized pillows as a treat but haven't done so yet.