Thursday morning was incredibly misty/foggy/damp/any other adjective to describe a winter climate. We got out the car, washed, changed and headed out of the campsite saying goodbye to the kangaroos as we left.
Our aim was to drive along the Great Ocean Road and get as close to Adelaide before it got dark. We stopped in Torquay, the surf capital of Australia, popped into the visitors centre to get some leaflets and maps and set out on our quest. The weather Wednesday had gone from 30 degrees to 12 in the matter of a few hours and Thursdays weather was pretty shoddy. 
Visibility at times was almost nothing so as we wound are way along the Great Ocean Road, the views weren’t as we imagined. Disappointed, we decided to head towards the main highway as we were needing fuel and there wasn’t anywhere for us to to stop and cook lunch either. The downside to this was as we were heading north to the go west again, we barely made any ground up and our plan of wanting to be as close to Adelaide as possible was slowly fading.
We continued driving and driving until we found a rest area near Keith that had a little pull in bit hidden between the trees. We parked up and got the car ready to sleep in for the second night. It had not stopped raining all day so Thursday ended up just being a 700km drive. I can’t sleep in the car for some reason. My chest just feels so tight even though we had the windows open slightly to allow some air to circulate. What we didn’t realise when we pulled into this rest area was that there weren’t any toilets!!! That meant it was just me and nature at 4am.
A lorry had pulled in during the night with its generator running continuously as well as blocking us in. Or so we thought. Luckily there was a little gap to the left of it that we were able to squeeze through. The weather Friday was no better. It was still raining heavily and the temperature didn’t get about 14 degrees. Still, we continued on to Adelaide. A three hour drive as opposed to the hour we would have liked.
As we approached South Australia there were signs about not bringing fruit and vegetables into the state and if you had any you had to put them in a quarantine bin to prevent the fruit fly rearing its ugly head. Apparently it’s a completely fruit fly free state. That’s a mouthful to say! 
I had mandarins in the boot that I had to part ways with 😢. I’ve grown quite accustomed to them since being in Oz! Most of the speed limits were 110kph in South Australia too which meant we were using more fuel. Eventually we reached Adelaide and I had found a car park which was $12 for all day!! Waterproof coats on, we headed out into the rain.
This weather has better turn itself round soon as I’m losing my tan!! We aimlessly wandered round this beautiful, old, historic city for a few hours. It was full of beautiful old building and churches as well as the newly renovated Victoria Square which was getting prepared for the Christmas Pageant. 
The old toll
I am a sucker for old buildings and beautiful architecture so I was quite at home in Adelaide!
One of my favourites! It helped there was a chocolate shop underneath of course! There were Christmas lights hanging from lampposts and trees dotted around! Crazy to think it’s almost December already! Time is absolutely flying this year! I wish it would slow down!
A huge reindeer in Myers
Post Office. Post offices have been some of the most intricate, pretty buildings I’ve encountered on our travels so far, especially the one in San Jose, Costa Rica! The city was definitely getting ready for Christmas!
Lots of Christmas events are taking place across Australia from 25th November so I hope we can catch something before we fly home! 
Some of the locals don’t like the new Victoria Square, they preferred the old one especially the fountain.
I thought it was lovely. If the sun was out I bet the grass would be fun of people having picnics and chilling out! Adelaide is known as the ‘city of churches,’ and there are many surrounding the centre!
St Francis of Xavier
There were beautiful jacaranda trees filling the dull, grey skies with purple. It added some colour to a dreary day!
The Town Hall. Another stunning building also in the Christmas spirit was the Town Hall with lights and a big bow!
One of the things I like about cities are the random things you can see down streets or alleyways, like the chewing gum wall in Seattle, Washington! Here in Adelaide there was an alleyway painted pink with the above mural! It was beautiful! On our way out we passed by St Peters Cathedral towering at the end of a memorial ground. 
The aim was to get back as close to Portland as possible in the evening to allow us to wake up early and drive the Great Ocean Road Saturday morning. On our way out, the weather did improve and we were actually able to see what was around us!
Tailem Town is an town full of old buildings that has kept it way of life. It actually just looks a bit like a junk yard to be honest. The old cars outside are quite quirky though! Vintage! 
There was even a random jeep on a pole! The sky did begin the clear and there were glimpses of blue sky!
It was then that we entered my favourite part of the drive! The roads were lined with VINEYARDS!!!! Literally, it was vineyard after vineyard after vineyard!
There were even partial rainbows! It was a beautiful drive!
We haven’t done a vineyard tour yet but I really hope we get to, they’re just so expensive the ones I’ve seen! If anyone knows of any that are cheap let me know please! Preferably in NSW or Queensland! Because the weather had been crap and the ground wet and the forecast due for more rain we decided to drive until it was almost dark then find somewhere to sleep in the car again. Yay 😒!
There was a campsite called Annya Camp Ground and Picnic Area that we pulled into. For once, there were lots of fellow campers in their RVs and warm clothes! We parked up in our little red Hyundai and not so warm clothes! At least there were toilets at this place which meant I wouldn’t have to be at one with nature again! Although they were right over the other side from where we had parked.
The best part about this place? KOALAS! In the trees!!! There were wallabies aplenty too!
We stood under a tree for a good while watching the kolas when a little old lady called Betty started talking to us and told us about Tower Hill where we could see more whilst I took some photos for her on her tablet.
Koala overload but they’re so damn cute!!!
Until next time…