Finally, where was somewhere nowhere.

It was much needed break and travel at the end of 2020. This year was heavily impacted due to COVID-19, but atleast ended on high note for domestic travel in Australia.

Victoria was out of lockdown in Nov 20, and I booked coastal trip of Victoria and NSW at Australia. But COVID and fresh lockdown at NSW did not want me to continue with this plan and I changed it to somewhere elsewhere at last minute on 19^th Dec 2020. 

So, where was somewhere elsewhere – it was Kangaroo Island (KI) and road trip to South Australia.

Few highlights and summary of this road trip is as below:

1. Overall distance covered during this trip was 3800 kms in 12 days, with average of around 300 kms each day.
2. Best part of trip was Kangaroo Island at South Australia, which is third largest island in Australia after Tasmania and Melville Island (google it for more details).   
3. Worst part of trip was bursting of front tyre and stuck on road for more than 6 hrs. This incident put trip to KI at risk, as late-night ferry was the only option to reach on Christmas eve.
4. Best surprise of trip was Raymond Island, 40 kms from SALE town in Victoria was best place to spot Koalas on Eucalyptus trees. We spotted atleast 12-15 koala in 1-2 hrs of driving around island. Must do trip from Melbourne.
5. White cockatoos were following us from Gippsland to Kangaroo Island to almost everywhere in South Australia. Lot of good videos and photos were posted on Instagram to showcase this pretty bird. 
6. Warrnambool was first stop-over through Great Ocean Road (GOR) for South Australia trip and few sites were beyond expectations (not considering commercial GOR here). Colac Botanical Gardens, Port Campbell Scenic Look-out, Grotto and Bay of Islands were worth exploring on/off GOR.
7. In Warrnambool – it was Tower Lake Reserve, which need special mention for its short treks in this reserve.
8. Coastal towns of Victoria – Port Campbell, Port Ferry and Portland are worth for another weekend visit. Especially Port Ferry was beautiful town with river and beaches around. 
9. Coastal towns of South Australia – Port Macdonnell, Robe, Beachport and Kingston SE are beautiful towns and beaches worth exploring in South Australia. I have to cut short on these towns after tyre burst issue, which put me to alternative route via Naracoorte to fix my car first. And we found, there are Naracoorte caves on this route which are South Australia’s only destination as World Heritage Site.   
10. Kangaroo Island – Spent 3 days to enjoy ample beauty around at KI with sand-dunes, white sand beaches, Fur-seals, Flinders Chase National Park (remarkable rocks, admiral arch) Vivonne Bay Beach, Emu Bay Beach, Seal Conservation Park, KI Brewery, Kingscote Beach, American River Beach, Salt Lagoon (no tourists), Panneshaw Jetty, Frenchman Rocks, Little Sahara are worth visiting.
11. Downside at KI – Bushfires in Jan 2020, impacted almost 40% of trees and bushes. But nature is doing what it does best – recovering from worst.
12. Best Café experience – Cocktails at Mini De Lights Café at Emu Bay beach
13. Best Breakfast experience – The Original Pancake Kitchen at Adelaide
14. Best Lunch experience – Cherries straight from farm at Barossa Valley
15. Best Dinner experience – Indian temptations with Kebabs and Samosa Chaat was worth after 4 days of gap from spices
16. City experience - Adelaide CBD as it known as city of churches. Enjoyed Christmas tree at Victoria Square with lights and fountains. Visited old rental house at Norwood and client offices on Curry Street and Grenfell Street to revive memories. 
17. Winery Regions covered– Barossa, Adelaide Hills and Mclaren Vale. Best this time was Barossa with scenic drives, historical villages, whispering wall (for kids) and yummy fresh food from farms. 
18. River Experience – Murray River (longest in Australia) at Mannum with Four Knots Cruise, Rope diving and Swimming. It was fantastic experience to explore this beautiful river (almost 2500 kms starting from NSW and travelling up to SA via Victoria). River cruise was worth for exploring and spotting birds around this river. Black kite eagles, Pelicans, Parrots, White Cockatoos etc. were in abundance. Few beautiful shots are captured in DSLR (may be on FB/Instagram soon).
19. Village experience – Hahndorf (German village) for history, food, strawberry farms and coffee. Just 30 mins drive from Adelaide, worth half day visit.
20. Road trip back to Melbourne – Worth small stop overs for white kangaroos at Bordertown, Pink lake near Dimboola, Anzac bridge at Horsham, Town hall building at Ararat, Beautiful lake/garden at Stawell, Boardwalk at Nhill lake/swamp and so on. 
21. Milestone achieved – Mazda CX-9 crossed 100,000 kms on road now
22. Started writing travel diary from this trip – hand-written travel notes (if anybody can try to read my writing).

So, this was somewhere nowhere in 2020. Hopefully 2021 will bring more travel and experiences of exploring new countries, cities, beaches, mountains, reserves, lakes etc.

Wish everyone Happy new year 2021 and good luck travelers.