A nice day with some chores accomplished

It's not all fun and games for us RV'ing here in Australia. We still have to get things done... cleaning, maintenance, that sort of thing!

And with another beautiful day in store for us, we decided to stay put and get some of these things done.

A detour to the town of Heyfield... an RV Friendly Town

We slept fine in the marina parking lot in Sale. Woke up to fog, but it quickly burned off to a nice blue sky morning.

We set the solar panel out to take advantage of the sun. And, we had the door open enjoying the fresh air of the morning.

A new laptop for Ruth

We got up early and drove right away into the small city of Sale (pop 15,000). We found a big, nearly empty parking lot by the marina and set up there. It was a nice sunny morning, so we put out the solar panel and let the battery catch some rays while we did some internet work.

Such a nice morning that we even had the door wide open!

Ruth needs a new laptop

Slept fine at the free RV parking area at Port Albert. We went for a walk around town in the morning, but by the time we were getting ready to leave, the wind was picking up.

And, they were calling for gusty winds all day. Nice bright blue skies, but gusty winds!

We're sure he thought we were lost!

We did the full month of June traveling in the camper here in Australia, and I posted our expense report earlier today. You can read it here...

https://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2019/07/a-month-in-camper-in-australia-june.html

This morning was July the 1st here in Australia. It's Canada Day! Except, it wasn't yet Canada Day in Canada! It won't be July the 1st until tomorrow in Canada.

Isn't it fun trying to wrap your head around all of this time change stuff?

A month in a camper in Australia... June Expenses

Well, we did pretty good. In fact, even though the grand total for the month is slightly higher than planned, our actual day to day living expenses here in Australia are pretty much right as we expected.

We spent a total of $2,175 CAD ($1,660 USD) for the month.

It's interesting, but most people told us prior to this trip to be aware that Australia is very expensive.

Cancelled due to fire...

So in yesterday's blog post, I had mentioned that we had booked a pretty nice Airbnb host for our three night Hawaii trip in August.

Today, I get a message saying that they have had to cancel our reservation... due to fire!

A few things to talk about today...

We said goodbye to our hosts Terrie and Patrick this morning. Really glad we made the detour to accept their invitation. They are about to set off on a big trip out to North America that includes a three week RV rental in Canada's maritime provinces, and we were happy to supply them with some tips.

But, as much as we enjoy visiting with people along the way (and the hot showers provided... thanks guys!), we are also happy to get back on the road with Bundy and Joyce.

This is winter?

Sure, we had a couple of chilly nights over the past week as a cold spell went through the area we are in in south eastern Australia. After all, it is winter here!

But yesterday and today have made up for it.

A great source of emergency internet access for travel

We're only half way through the year and we've already been in six countries. And when you travel as much as we do, one of the most important things is access to the internet. We normally buy a SIM card when we arrive in a country, but there are times when it's either not convenient or we arrive at an oddball hour and it's not possible to get internet access right away.

So a company called Keepgo has come out with a fantastic, convenient product for worldwide travelers to be able to access the internet.

Best weather day yet!

Slept great, but boy was it cold when we woke up! They've had a cold spell here in this area the last couple of days, but it looks like that was the last night of the deep cold.

Deep cold around these parts means that the temperature has gone below freezing!

Camping in the bush

I've been trying to post our daily blogs from Australia in the evening here so that it is waiting for our North American readers when they get up in the morning. But Wednesday night we were parked up in the middle of the bush and didn't have a cell signal. That hasn't happened very often this trip!

On Wednesday morning, our hosts Adam and Mary were off to work at 7:30am, and we were up to see them off. They had said we could stay behind and have showers and do laundry and so that's what we did.

Another RV Caravan to Mexico!

We had said that we would decide and announce one way or the other by the end of June, and so here it is...

Yes, once again we will be leading a group of RV'ers to Mexico!

Some animals and birds you might never see in the wild

It went down to -2C (29F) overnight, which is abnormally cold for this area at this time of year. Fortunately, we were nice and warm staying inside Mary and Adam's house!

They were headed off to work at 7:30am, so they left us on our own. The nearest attraction to us is the Healesville Sanctuary, so we decided to head over there.

First dinner out in Australia

We purposely slept in a little bit this morning. We had been fairly late getting to bed on Sunday night, plus we wanted to wait until after the morning Melbourne traffic had died down a bit

So it was almost 10:00am before we hit the road.

Impressions of Melbourne?

We only allowed for the one day to see some of the sights of Melbourne. We would honestly rather be in the countryside doing some hiking and exploring, but figured we had better see some city life while we're in the area.

So we left Bundy and Joyce at around 9:00am and headed in to the big city of Melbourne (pop 4.5 million).

Up to the big city of Melbourne

We left Drysdale area after 10:30am. We planned to get on the road earlier, but we were enjoying time with our hosts. Ruth made pancake breakfast for everyone, and of course with real Canadian maple syrup on top!

Once again, we had some showers in the morning, but it did clear up at times. Still, they are calling for "the coldest temperatures of the season" in this area, and the news media is all over that.

Ready to go. Next stop, Melbourne

Once again, we woke up Friday morning to rain. But this time, it stopped around 9:30am and was cloudy with sunny breaks for the rest of the day. Not great, but not bad!

We have been so busy since we got here to Drysdale that we really hadn't had time to go out and explore the area. So we took a couple of hours off to do just that.

New floor, and another camper modification

Woke up to another on-again, off-again rainy day.

So, with an unlimited supply of internet, I spent much of the morning working on our Mexico RV Caravan trip for next season. It's going to be a very different trip! Details coming next week.

By 11:00am or so, things started to clear up and I went out to finish the floor in the camper.

New floor for Joyce

Well, it was a pretty good day despite the constantly alternating sunshine and showers.

After breakfast, I went right to work to replace the floor in the camper. It was just a laminate flooring, but it had bubbled in a couple of places and it was a very plastic looking woodgrain.

Taking a break from RV'ing for a couple of days.

As forecast, it started raining around 5:00am. We stayed in bed until 7:00am or so, and when it sounded like the rain was letting up a little, we got up and got on the road.

The idea was to drive to the town of Torquay and sit out the rain in the library there.

Too expensive here to be doing any stocking up!

When we woke up Monday morning, the first thing on our agenda was a short walk. We had bumped into a local who told us that we should hike down the path near where we had parked.

He was right!

Our first koala bear sighting!

When we are parked up in the middle of a rain forest and it's a bit chilly at night, it only makes sense when we wake up first thing in the morning to get up and drive... even if it's just for a little bit. This way, we can at least get into the cab of the truck, and it doesn't take long to warm up once the engine is running.

Then, we can hopefully park up somewhere in the sunshine to have breakfast. It doesn't always work out that way, but at least that's the plan!

Seashore sights and shipwrecks

We never planned on taking this much time to get from Adelaide to Melbourne. After all, it's only an eight hour drive! But, that's if you stick to the freeway and don't see anything along the way.

If you take the coastal route, it's about a twelve hour drive... again, if you don't stop to see anything along the way.

Day two on Australia's Great Ocean Road

We are doing the Great Ocean Road from west to east, although many people suggest the best way is the other way around. So far, we don't think it's made any difference, however maybe when we get to the other half, it will. I guess we'll see.

We started today just before Port Campbell. There were quite a few attractions to see on a 23 km (14 mile) stretch of roadway, so we got an early start.

Guide to Car Camping

Do you love to go outdoors and experience nature? Do you want to light up campfires whenever you can? Well, the adventure spirit in you should be complimented by something else - the right gear!
Camping is one of the few ways that you can escape from the activities of your everyday life. If you are not a regular camper, then you should begin your camping experience by car camping. If you are new to the whole idea of car camping down here is a guide that will help you with your next camping trip.

Beautiful Australian ocean scenery

We started driving early this morning, heading for the Great Ocean Road. We had purposely gone inland for the night because the Great Ocean Road area is pretty busy with tourists, and as such it is difficult to find free camping close to that route. And we are not Caravan Park (RV Park) type of people, and we're not interested in paying those prices.

So for us, it makes sense to spend just a little extra on fuel to find a free spot that we're happy with.