Yarra Valley, the beginning of the GOR, and driving in Australia

The Yarra Valley, about 40 miles north of Melbourne, was the next wine region I visited.  Went to one winery where they had a croquet club.  Would have joined but the competition looked fierce-

The Yarra specialized in chardonnay and pinot noir.  I found the chardonnays better, but many of the pinots were new and maybe that hurting their showing.  

Spent some time rolling through the Victoria countryside and for those interested, it was pretty, much of it this rolling cattle country-

After leaving Yarra, I journeyed some 3 hours south to ‘The Great Ocean Road’, a route touted- eponymously I guess- as one on of the world’s great seaside drives.  And, when I got to it, after having already thousands of miles in Australia, I found this helpful sign-

Now they tell me.  No wonder all those people coming the other way on the freeway were honking at me. 

But the Aussies have signs for everything and most every animal. 

Apart from the Kangaroo, I was never sure what the others were, but I have not seen them yet in any case.  Of course, most of the incidents- and they are regrettably frequent, appear to happen at night and I have not driven much at night. 

In some parts, particularly WA and the Outback, they have these things called ‘road trains’.  I know this because it says ‘Road Train’ right on them.  They are usually 3 semis hooked together and about 37 meters long (well over a hundred feet).  Try passing one of those in your 90hp Kia- you need about 5 miles of clear visibility.  I passed quite a few…and it is not a stress free experience when you see a car coming directly at you after you think you have gone by but are only really half way there. 

But as Craze might attest, one of the hardest things to adjust to is the blinker being on the opposite side.  Usually when I make turn, I will hit the wind shield wipers by mistake initially.  After a while, of course, you adjust, but I have noticed that when I am under stress and trying to change lanes or make a tricky turn in traffic, I almost invariably revert and hit the wind shield wipers thereby only causing additional panic, as well as now adding limited visibility.  

But the worst part of driving here is the seemingly omnipresent speed cameras.  They are on every major highway and many minor ones and cause me- an inveterate speeder admittedly- to constantly be staring down at my speedometer to make sure I am not going 1km/hr over the limit.  A big pain and not exactly freedom if you ask me.  Unsurprisingly, few people speed here.  Depressing. 

Did a short hike along the GOR and saw this house overlooking the ocean which perhaps made up in function what it lacked in charm-