.: September 2013

We headed out from Sydney with our trusty little rental car – a Wicked car with a cartop tent. For those of you who haven’t heard about Wicked, it was a company our daughter and Australian son in law recommended. The company offers very cheap rents, with vehicles that are worn and battered. They cater more to the younger crowd, especially with their wildly painted vehicles with all kinds of slogans all over them.

They also give discounts if you are gay or a pot smoker –just to give you an idea of how “liberal” they are. The office itself tells the story.

Here’s some samples of their vehicles:

When Peter went to pick our car up he was given a choice between the wild and crazy one with the slogan “I say no to drugs – but they don’t listen to me” blasted all over the back or the more sedate one that he opted for. While we were traveling we also saw another Wicked Van that said "Does your ass**** get jealous of all the **** that comes out of your mouth?". We figure we got off easy.

What’s bizarre is the car only cost $36.00 a day, unlimited mileage, but the insurance premium was $25.00 a day. That wouldn’t have been too bad but it doesn’t cover you if you drive at night, or if you hit an animal (sadly we saw kangaroos dead all over the place – over 50 each day!) or for fire or theft. We opted not to get their “coverage”, as our credit card rental coverage was far superior and didn’t cost any extra.

This is an example of one of their vans that hit a kangaroo.

After picking up the car Peter drove back to the marina where we loaded up our gear.

I just loved the little cartop tent. I really want to get one for home. Super easy to set up in less than a minute and you are off the ground with a comfy built in mattress. Off the ground appealed to us because of the snakes that tend to kill people here in Australia.

The first night we spent at a roadside overnight park

The main purpose of our Australian road trip was to visit old friends who live in Adelaide that we haven’t seen for 25 years. We first met Peter and Phillipa on our first anniversary doing a Contiki trip through Europe. We went to visit them 9 years later and since then our kids and their kids have gone back and forth over the years and we have kept closely in touch with all of them.Their oldest son James is a motorcycle racer and he was having his big final in Broadbent, (near Melbourne in Victoria) so we headed there for our first stop.

James busy tuning the bike and his Dad supervising

James making careful notes after each of his races

My Peter in there like a dirty shirt reving the engine just before the race

James' Dad Peter is his biggest fan and attends all his races, so we had lots of fun catching up in the pub and also watching James win all of his four races. Very exciting to be there to watch him win the national championship in his category.

They're at the start...James qualified for pole position

Racing at over 200 kilometres an hour

One of the many injuries this weekend.

Lots of bike damage but no serious personal injuries.

While Peter stayed with the boys in the shed most of the time, he joined me to watch James race from up above the course. I spent each day there watching all the races and visiting with the locals, which is my favourite part of travelling.

Good view to stand and sit on our camper for the races

Our car camper came in handy, while James and his Dad stayed in a cabin at the same park. What is wonderful about Australia is that they have caravan parks throughout the country. At these you can rent a self-contained cabin, or you can camp with an RV or a tent – with or without power. They all have a laundry block, clean washrooms with showers and a communal kitchen area including an outdoor barbeque. This is such a brilliant idea as it allows for people of all budgets to be able to travel. I think this would be a wonderful business model for Canada and the States – almost every park we stopped at was busy and the summer is just arriving.

The quote on the passenger side says "I only slept with men I married.

Not many women can say that" Elizabeth Taylor

After the weekend, we spent two more nights traveling through Victoria and in to South Australia. We drove along the world famous Great Ocean Road and enjoyed popping in to the little towns enroute. The weather was great, so that made it comfortable for using the cartop tent. (Peter insisted on the two nights it rained that we rent a cabin – and since the car was only $36 a day, this was a great compromise for my fellow wimpy camper). A fully equipped cabin goes for between $80 - $100 a night, so it is a really good value.

For an extra $15 we got two chairs and a table from Wicked for us to use for picnics – which we did each day. Very funny though - the chairs were little stools and the table was a T.V. table kept together with duct tape. (You’d just hate it Lesly but I felt like a teenager roughing it again)

Great scenery enroute

One of the caravan parks we camped at. This was the communal kitchen

Peter - the bird whisperer

One of the cabins we stayed in

Our next two nights were spent as guests at Rob and Kirstey Starlings’ large sheep farm. They were friends of James who came to Canada a few years back and we were able to show them a bit of B.C. while they visited, so they wanted to show us their very magical farm. They now have a 10 month old son named Jack, who is a real cutie.

It was fun to spend two days there, especially for Peter who loved helping with the sheep. We were there at a perfect time, as it was the week of the annual shearing. This means a whole crew comes and sets up shop for the week as they shear all the sheep, so the place was hopping.

Bringing in some of the sheep in for shearing

The crew shearing the lambs

Waiting their turn for a hair cut

Peter, Rob and his mom Eleonor and the great New Zealand sheep dog Morris "drafting" the sheep (which means to separate the ewes from the lambs)

Note: Morris barking from behind to bunch them up.

If you look closely you'll see the one black sheep (which gets sheared but the wool is thrown away). You'll also see Morris on top of the sheep. He moves from the back and then jumps on them to go to the front and then encourage them more to get moving. Very cool to see.

Once separated the ewes go in one field and the lambs go in another

On our final night of the first week, Rob and Eleonor took us out to dinner as Kirstey and Jack had to go to Adelaide that day. They said Peter would be welcome back any time to help at shearing time! What a great experience we had and what wonderful hosts they were.