Tassie

Hey!
So after a glorious sleep in Melbourne airport, well as comfortable as it gets on a polished stone floor we finally set off for HOBART. Everything is so easy simple and relaxed-wander off the plane to be greeted by our bags some how all 3 together on the belt just in front of us, along with a seal?! Then wander across and out on to the first bus which drops us out side our hostel. This kinda set the vibe for the trip. The Brunswick Hotel cool chilled and relaxed so after dropping off our stuff we head on out to explore, but the town was DEAD like I mean dead less people then after the zombie apocalypse, but due to our lack of sleep and the sudden and the slightly surprising heat wave we end up back for a snooze in the room. The heat/smell of sick was truly amazing! So next day we set off to hire a car and get out and about.

First things first make a list. Second score off for what ever reason all the bits on the list that aren't possible and we ended up again with a big V6 station wagon. Suitably loaded with supplies we then went looking for cooking appliances as another camping trip with only fruit bread peanut-butter and choc spread wasn't too appealing. Our ingenuity and frugalness resulting in our cooking equipment being compiled off:

1 Gass stove and a few canisters of butane
2 Stainless steel dog bowl for cooking/boiling water
2 Tupperware boxes to eat out of/store food
1 set of chop sticks for mixing
1 sharp knife (other than my leatherman)
1 weird collapsibil strainer thingy
1 very small camp seat (for  Mairi as the weight limit is 75kg)

 We then headed North East looking for surf and hopefully some where to sleep for free.

"Mairi...do you fancy a surf?"

Breezy

Friendly Beaches

Wine Glass Bay

There she Blows!

Wilbur the Wallaby 

East Coast Surf

Bay Of Fires

So white!

Bay of Fires

Billy Elliot Moment

Ninja Black Swan

Mussleroe Bay

wish you were here...

camp life

mmmmmm...more veggie food.

Beach fires and Burns

"Im not colddd"

Light Houses (North West Coast)

Mmmmmm nice 

Hmmm I thought it was a right!

Hannah our local guide showing how its done.

wimpy wee wave in after bruising my ribs and dinging my board.

Alice Our other local guide. 

See that wee black dot stuck in the lip? thats me about to go down and get better acquainted with my board/sand. :-(

 Back in Melbourne Today staying with Cameron Wilkie untill we fly out to NZ....EXCITED

Sam and Mitch! (Melbourne)

After our wee panic in Portcampbell Sam had realised we were not to be trusted in Melbourne, and very kindly came and picked up us up at the station.

(I forgot to say we also picked up a board for Mairi in Anglesey in a wee board shop- 6'4" 19 1/4" 2"-brand new, but covered in Banana Boat Sun Cream Advertising! pretty sexy)

Anyway we were persuaded to join in a session of lawn bowling with Mitch and Sam, and although it was advertised as means to cheap booze it soon became competitive and with Mairi finding her true calling as a possible professional Lawn Bowler (haha maybe not), but Team Scotland held its own kinda. My more sporadic/inspirational style caused some upsets but Mairis steady aim and consistency made sure we didn't go down with out a fight. After a cheering on Big Andy Murray through the first few sets we felt sure he was on his way to winning and headed to bed to be told the next morning he had let us down and let lego head win. It just goes to show we really do have the power to change a game with our support ie falla!

After many a kind offer of a pre dawn start to drive us out to the airport Mairi and I declined and headed off for the airport with the aim of camping out in what wikitravel had described as Melbournes better budget accommodation option! Our Flight to Tassy being early the next morning...Tooo early!

Australia Day

It turns out rather than celebrate in any coordinated or sophisticated way ie Bruns night dressing up eating traditional foods and reading poetry the Aussies just get pished burn their sausages on the bbq and them selves under the sun.  I'm just bitter cos Mairi and I missed out on getting involved in a world record braking attempt to have the most people on inflatable objects in one place at one time due to our car 'issues' from the day before. We did however meet up with our friend Tim who was still in the hostel but had annoyingly got his life sorted out with a job laying grass and awesome house to move into and a board to buy. Along with several Germans Tim joined us to go down to the night market-this time we were savoy to their weird opening hours and got in early and enjoyed sangria and haggled with the fake Spanish man for half price paella while listing to some local bands.

The Great Ocean Road - AGAIN...

So once the waves finally petered out and our sleep pattern finally adjusting to bush life, it was time to head on down the road, And what a road it was. The views were superb and the road fun and challenging to drive with lots of potential for crashes - mostly due to people looking at the views or the endless lines of peeling waves along the coast. The further West we went the more remote and wild it became and when we came upon the the wee windy gravely track down to Johanna we knew we were somewhere special, but after spotting the dark corduroy lines of swell and the long strip of sand and the rolling clouds of sea spray the excitement levels hit a new high. The camp-site it's self was nestled in behind the dunes and after climbing the dunes the vastness and remoteness of the beach became clear.

Wooo Swell

This was a lot sexier in my head.

Sun Bathing seal (insert caption along the lines of the one on the photo above) 

Is that a wave?

Laughing at Mairi slapping her self (she claims there was a fly...)

Going for a spot in the ribbon twirling paraolympics  

Add caption

Our first true Argument when did the sun set...? 

Port Campbell the next day turned out to be a bit of a dump. I say that in reaction to what we had witnessed so far along the road it was in fact probably quite nice but just not up to par with the rest of the road. They also ripped us off for internet and had no phone signal which caused a minor stress in that we were trying to sort out the next stage of our travels, which meant getting in touch with Anna's friend Sam in Melbourne, re booking the hostel in Torquay which again (under instruction) I had managed to booked for the wrong dates. This was probably where we got massively confused about our hire of the car and decided to drop it back a day early...(on purpose of course) and spend Aus Day in Torquay! Smooooth

Noo My Nemesis...Stairs!

Shipwreck Coast

Add caption

Undeterred from our rising confusion we set off back along the road to the 12 Apostles where we were instantly getting Deja Vu due to the hordes of Asian tourists meandering around trying to get stood on. The Apostles were stunning and the view point built out on thin (slightly worryingly eroded) headland gave fantastic views up and down the coast. There were defiantly worth all the elbow digs around the knees while trying to get in the prime spot for a photo with the dying camera battery AGAIN.

The Great Ocean Road.

Hired a car from Rent a Wreck...It was pretty posh compared to the Berlingo, but still a wreck and headed out west, after a quick surf and a drive by visit to the flat Bells Beach (just realised ive been spelling beAch wrong Woopse, :-( turns out i cant spell board/bored either, Im glad my only weakness is in spelling). After stopping in at Lorne (because its my middle name) and finding it had a class wee point break perfect for getting used to the new board. We set about looking for the 'free' camping it turned out to be in the bush-like properly in a bush! On walking/hiking into the camp on the first night we saw in the late afternoon sunshine a real life wild koala, ON THE GROUND. The facts are wrong people, they do come down to drink! but (due to our/my amazing memory skills) had managed to forget to charge the camera. Arrggh AGAIN

First Surf Nerves 

Bells Beach

Proof that its Bells!

We spent the next couple of days surfing, eating pizza and drinking Fat Yack. Life was good (well for me, I had a board! HaHa). Mairi was playing her part as a S.W.A.G. (surfer's, wife and girl friend) well, but was kept entertained by the freakishly small but talented kids who made me feel like a stiff old man in the surf, and possibly the biggest/best ice cream in the world. FACT. We also saw some wild kangaroos in the bush and experienced every night what can only be described as a koala orgie, which was less disturbing than the human neighbours! There was also some fancy birds ;-)

Lorne Right Point Break

Looking Peelywally with our beast of a car and its dodgie clutch!

Free BBQ

The result

The SNAKE at the Erskin Falls, which resembled a water fall far more than the 'phantom falls'

Mairi having a Lara Croft moment.

Couple of hotties

Pretty wee, but still surfable with the aid of jazz hands
Believe it or now this was actually a good wave...