Adelaide’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. It is quiet, genteel, laid back and all that is good. But, by the same token it does have its issues which I think would be improved by a (slightly) bigger population. Without wishing to sound like someone from the loony left, extra people create extra jobs and extra wealth. But as it is, the city has round 1.25 million inhabitants and on the whole does
seem very self-sufficient in many ways. Except electricity, but
that is another story for another day. A greener Adelaide than would
normally be the case for the summer months too. The wettest winter
ever has been followed up by the wettest summer in over eight decades. Whether
this is just a one off and bad luck or the seasons and/or weather patterns are genuinely changing remain to be seen. Great news for the wine producers though. For those that don’t know, South Australia is the wine capital of the country and now one of the largest wine producers in the world. You do not have to be a wine buff to notice some of the names on the Vin Yards that you would see in your local supermarket in the UK.
The journey to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road took us southeast from Adelaide, via yet more large wine producing areas, the very clean town of Naracoorte (big enough to have a McDonalds) and an overnight stop over the border
in Victoria in Hamilton. I had done the Great Ocean Road previously,
in two halves but had been to the Twelve Apostles twice (if that makes sense) This was the first time that I had done the whole thing, which runs from Warnambool to Torquay and was largely built by returning servicemen from the war. It is mighty impressive but, at least with the Twelve Apostles one cannot but think that the commercialism
is being pushed to the limit. The western end of the GOR starts
with some great views and pull ins, but once you get to London Bridge the masses of buses on day trips from Melbourne start to appear and the Twelve Apostles now boasts a whole visitor centre and marshalled car park! The walk ways are very busy, but, to be fair have been designed so that you do not have a hundred different
selfie sticks getting in the way of your own photos. The erosion
is what makes the Great Ocean Road what it is and the Twelve Apostles are an example. There is one less than my last trip 13 years earlier and thus within the next 50 years they could be gone…
Unless the winds on the Southern Ocean die down.
There are several nice towns along the Great Ocean Road. Apollo Bay and Lorne to name but two, the latter of which we had an overnight
stay in before heading on to Torquay, which features a very large beach/s – but is also being heavily built up with new housing estates and shopping malls going in – and then in a change, headed to Melbourne the back way, via the Queenscliffe to
Sorrento ferry and then the Mornington Peninsula.