Day 6 – Cape Bridgewater to Robe

At last we made it into South Australia, I found out that Mosquitoes know no limits, Australia’s geography continues to get stranger and we finally found some free (ish) wi-fi.

Plus, we finally got in a nice fish and chip dinner by the sea!

Day 4 – Apollo Bay to Waramnabool

Today was the last part of the Great Ocean Road.

Today we saw a big historic lighthouse, got smiled upon and let in for free (yay!), saw the beautiful Twelve Apostles, and encountered the beach, bogans (chavs to those reading from the UK), fireworks and ‘fast food shame’ in Warrnambool.

Day 5 – Warrnambool to Cape Bridgewater via Portland

Seeing as we were yet again without showers but parked right by the beach, we started the day with a dip in the Tasman Sea. A little bracing by anyone’s standards, but I suppose it got the circulation going and we were still going to be clean.

Today we ventured forth further along the south coast towards Portland via Port Fairy, eventually ending up in Bridgewater – where our evening was one of those that you started traveling for in the first place.

Day 3 – Ballarat to the Great Ocean Road (Apollo Bay)

Thankfully we didn’t see or hear our ‘friend’ from the previous night (see previous post) and were able to get up and out without any more traumatic encounters.

So at last we really started to drive and took a route down to Geelong (the ‘Gateway to Colac’ as I’ve heard it described once!), down through Torquay (even more surf obsessed that it’s Cornish counterpart back in the UK) and picked up the Great Ocean Road – one of the things that you never stop hearing about when you say you’re going on a road trip around Australia.

And it’s for a good reason.

Day 1 – To Daylesford

So we finally headed off from Riddell’s Creek!

Thanks to Rod for all his hospitality this week and before. It was a real help to have somewhere to go and to just get out of the house in Carlton! Plus you get the sensational company of Rod Baker. Simply cannot go wrong!

So then, day one – the drive to Daylesford.

Day 2 – Daylesford to Ballarat

Seeing as we were sleeping by a lake, had toilets but no showers and had seen several people swimming in the lake the day before, what better way to start your day than to go for a swim in the lake?

After we transformed our car into day mode (our car has a ‘day mode’ setup and ‘night mode’ setup – the latter involves everything that lived in the boot and on the back seat being flung into the front seats so we can sleep in the back), we began our drive to Ballarat – the former centre of the Australian Gold Rush that saw the countries population soar back in the 19th century.

Final days of Melbourne

So at last we’re leaving Melbourne.

We’re making our last preparations and come Tuesday we’ll be on the road.

We have to make some final purchases for boring food cooking-type things in the wonderful Sunbury (or Scumbury as a friend puts it) and then just drive off into deepest Victoria and beyond on Tuesday.

But today, our last day in Melbourne, was a good one.

Leaving Melbourne

So, here it is. We’ve finally left our house in Carlton (NE Melbourne) and have moved to stay with our friend Rod Baker for a week in his beautiful country home in Riddells Creek (60km NW of Melbourne). This seems a good time to reflect a little of some of what we have experienced during our time in Melbourne.

I would like to say that I’m sorry to leave that house, but then I’d be a liar.

Hasty, hasty, hasty.

Maybe I was a little hasty with the last post. I’ve been wanting to correct the error for a while but, well, I don’t get much chance to get on the computer as it goes – my wife’s always using it for work – and I still am not able to find or make the time to post.

But I do feel that saying that Jesus doesn’t occupy an important place in my life was maybe a little strong. Although this sometimes feels the case, the feeling does not last for long. On balance I am less a Christian and more ’simply interested in a Jesus oriented spirituality’. And yes those two things are quite different. There are many people who would name Jesus as the most important person in their lives – not all of them would be Christian.

Jesus in my life?

I was with friends the other day from the emerging church that I go to here in Melbourne – a place called Cafe Church – which has been a breath of fresh air and the right thing at the right time for me, incidentally. But when one of them was talking about Jesus being the centre of their life / the most important thing in their life (which if course isn’t surprising for a Christian to say!) it made me think, “Is Jesus the focus of my life? Is he that important at all?”

And I actually don’t think that he is to me. And, moreover, I think this has actually been the case for a long time.