10 March - Adelaide

Yesterday our park started filling up with family groups and it is now nearly full. I think it must be a long weekend in SA as well. Drove into the city this morning to visit the Adelaide Central Market. It was absolutely amazing. I've always enjoyed shopping at the Vic Market but the Adelaide market is almost overwhelming in terms of the variety and quality of food available. Had lunch there and bought some nice eye fillet steak and gourmet sausages there. BBQ tonight.

9 March - Victor Harbour and Cape Jervis

At the risk of sounding monotonous, today was another perfect 27 degree day. After a leisurely breakfast we decided to drive down the Fleurieu Peninsula. We had lunch at a German cafe in Victor Harbour. Victor Harbour has boomed since we were last here in 2009. New buildings, mainly holiday houses and resorts have gone up all over the place. SA is technically in recession so I don't know where the money is coming from. After a walk around town we then continued on to Cape Jervis which is a little town with a terminal for the Sealink ferry to Kangaroo Island. Because the ferry can only be accessed from the rear all larger vehicles such as semi-trailers and caravans have to reverse on to the vessel. This proved quite interesting to watch which we did till sailing time. The drive back to our home away from home followed the West side of the peninsula which provided some spectacular views. Then off to the pictures again! This time to see Iron Lady which we both enjoyed a lot. We're enjoying our stay here so much we've extended our stay by three days which means we start our return trip on Wednesday. This means we'll abandon our plan to visit Mildura.

8 March - Adelaide

Woke up to another sunny day today and decided to go into the city for a look around Rundle Mall. After a very nice lunch in the Regent Arcade we split up to check out the goodies. On a visit to Adelaide a few years ago Mark came across an artist called Andy Salvanos playing the Chapman Stick (a 10 string guitar which is played by tapping the strings) and brought me back one of Andy's CD's which I enjoyed a lot. Imagine my pleasant surprise when I came across Andy playing in the mall again. I was able to have a bit of a chat with him and bought another CD.

Andy is a great exponent of this incredible instrument and there are a number of YouTube videos of him including this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWUHr_BURdk

Back to the caravan in the afternoon for some relaxing and gin and tonics before heading of to Westfield to see a movie called Hugo - one of the best I've ever seen.

7 March - Adelaide and Hahndorf

The brilliant weather continues (and is expected to do so for at least another week). Today we visited Hahndorf and had our usual fix at the German restaurant - smoked sausage and potato salad with a Bavarian draft beer - yes even Rosa had a beer. Our last visit here was in 2009 and we were both surprised to see how many new businesses had opened. Sadly one of our favourite steak restaurants has gone and is now an Indian eatery. After a wandering around Hahndorf for a while we checked out the local Westfield shopping centre to discover it has a 22 theatre cinema megaplex. Another pleasant surprise was that seniors tickets were $8 so we immediately bought two to a late viewing of the Daniel Craig version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We have of course seen all three of the Swedish films, but we enjoyed this one too. Got home around midnight and hit the sack. There are another bunch of films we want to see playing here and we should be able to catch them all.

6 March - Adelaide

We left Robe this morning after a terrific breakfast at the Wild Mulberry - simply outstanding.
Our journey took us through the Coorong to Tailem Bend and then into Adelaide. About a 4 hour drive - we didn't even stop for a coffee or lunch, the breakfast at Robe ensured we didn't need to eat again till this evening. We're currently at the Marion Holiday Park. This was one of our favourite caravan parks some 25 years ago and we were delighted to see that it is still fantastic today. As well as terrific level van sites it features an indoor heated pool and indoor tennis center. It is simply outstanding and I would recommend it to anyone who want to stay within 12 km of Adelaide's CBD. We are booked in for 5 nights so far, and the weather bureau is promising at least 7 days of 28 deg and clear skies.

5 March - Robe SA

Spent a very relaxing day in Robe today seeing the sights and sampling the local cuisine. The coast line is limestone and quite rugged. The obelisk shown here was built in the late 19th century as a navigation aid for shipping. Robe was quite an important port. Had lunch at a cafe called the Wild Mulberry - absolutely outstanding food and coffee, and the pizzeria in the main street was the choice for dinner. Fabulous pasta accompanied by a great wine - Flints Coonawarra Sauvignon. Also browsed a few shops and art galleries. Tomorrow we continue on to Adelaide where we are booked in for 5 nights at the Marion Holiday Village. We spent a lot of time in this park many years ago as a family. It was great then and I expect it has changed a lot in the last 25 years.

4 March - Robe SA

We left Traralgon yesterday at 9:45 - grey skies and occasional rain. Our general plan is to travel to Adelaide along the coast and from there to Mildura and home via central Victoria. Our day to day movements will be largely dictated by the weather. We travelled along the Great Ocean Road and surprisingly the overcast weather and occasional rain added a dramatic beauty to a scene which we've normally viewed in brilliant sunshine. We stopped briefly at the Twelve Apostles viewing area before continuing on to Warnambool where we had hoped to spend the night. To our surprise the Big4 park there was booked out and so we continued and had our overnight stop in Port Fairy. The rain reduced to a drizzle overnight and by this morning it had stopped. We left Port Fairy at 09:30 after enjoying the complimentary pancake breakfast at the caravan park. Continuing our trek along the coast we arrived at Robe in South Australia at 13:30 and found a terrific caravan park (Lakeside) where we will spend the next couple of days. This afternoon the skies had cleared and now the sun is shining.