Travels: From Kuta to Adelaide

So we sit here in yet another airport having been told our flight is delayed. Luckily we left plenty of time for our connections as apperntly even if you miss a connecting flight on the same air line "flights are booked at your own risk sir, delays happen." is all the help we're gonna get!

So we left Kuta having learnt to surf, and visiting a village called Bumbang, leaving my calf mussels very pink and crispy boarding a plane to Melbourne. We boarded our first flight from Kuta to Kuala Lumpur where we would change planes to head to Melbourne. For some reason once we were 30,000 feet in the air my brain decided it would now be a good moment to reming me that KL has two airports, a quick check and my fears were confirmed in that we are landing at the wrong one. Another lesson learnt from the Hulland school of travel organisation! As it always seems to it all worked out in the end amongst a mild panic and we landed safely in Melbourne. I thought immigration in the UK was a chore but this took the biscuit. All in all it took us about 2 and a half hours to navigate the various queues before Kinga got taken aside for a brief interrogation and we were free to leave. The interrogation was the usual stuff, lots of small questions to basically say "Do you plan to find a job and stay here illegally?", That would have been much quicker!

I would love to tell you all about Melbourne but we changed plans and were only there for around half a day. We were always heading over to Adelaide to meet up with friends but were never sure how we were going to get there then last minute we found a cheap camper van rental. By cheap...I mean it was 50p a day to rent it, the company paid for all of our petrol...and we got $100 travel expenses. It was a relocation rental, so someone left it in Melbourne and we were the lucky people who got to take it the other way. Expecting a small VW style camper I was quite surprised to find the behemoth that sat, waiting for us to return her to her home. We had a TV, cooker, shower, toilet (not that I dared, we had a deal that who used it emptied it! I guess deep down I always knew it would be me emptying it.) everything to sustain a simple existence. Day one was spent driving the Great Ocean Road to the South West of Melbourne, stopping off in Torquay and various other scenic stops. It is lovely but I would re-name it the Very Good Ocean Road because compared to the drive from Biarritz to Bilbao and a couple of others in Europe it's not quite on the same level, but it is still lovely. Maybe the Lovely Ocean Road.

Fine dining!

Great Ocean Road

Just as we were looking for somewhere to park up for the night we managed our first wild life encounter, we nearly hit a kangaroo who suicide leaped in front of us but we just managed to swerve. With limited knowledge of kangaroo suicidal tendencies we found a quiet lay by, cooked some carbonara and settled down for the night planning to set off early in the morning, around 8am.

So at 11am we were off and the second day driving was pretty relentless. We passed a few scenic vineyards but is was a long slog of straight roads small towns. The second night was spent in a town called Keith, their claim to fame, owning a Land Rover on a Pole...I couldn't make that stuff up! This time we had smartly decided to park in a rest stop for truck conveniently next to a railway to ensure that sleep would be a very elusive state that night. On the flip side we managed to make and early start and our road adventure concluded in Adelaide.

The amazing town of Keith

In Adelaide we have been staying with the amazing Ormond family. We met Kym travelling through Thailand and he made that mistake of saying "Come stay at my place sometime" so we did! The whole family has been amazing, I managed to get myself KO'd by Kevin, Kym's dad, on our first night. Being KO'd seems to be a family tradition where you are welcomed with so much beer and amazing wine the next morning you feel...lets say fuzzy! Our time in Adelaide has been great including wandering the Riesling trail in Clare Valley, a rainy day at a beach, playing with all the indigenous marsupials we could wish for and enjoying festival events. All that was great fun but by far the highlight has been meeting all the family and enjoying their hospitality...and wine...and whisky...and beer. Our final night was a proper style Aussie barbecue with delights such as kangaroo, alpaca, crocodile sausages and goat on the grill. So I guess this is my last chance to once again say thanks to the whole family, lovely to meet you all and maybe see you in the UK sometime.