Greetings from Mount Gambier,

I got away from Torquay early, at 7, by paying the bill the night before, and forgoing the motel breakfast and pot of brewed coffee, having the last of my C&B rolls and a cup of coffee-bag coffee instead. It was a clear, but crisp morning and I was about be a wuss and depart with the roof up, when a middle-aged American tourist couple complimented me on my car. The bloke said all I needed was no roof and some driving gloves and to head along the Great Ocean Road. Of course I had to oblige him  (but without the driving gloves).

I had a fan-bloody-tastic fang along the GOR. There was little traffic at that time of the morning, and what few cars there  were pulled over into the regular “turn out” bays to let me pass when I came up behind them, apart from one old fart who  dawdled along at 40km, with a string of half a dozen cars behind him, but thankfully only for the 6km between Rye River and  Kennet River. The drive through the Otway Ranges was damn good too, the sweeping corners through the forest contrasting with  the short, sharp corners along the ocean front. I eventually had to raise the roof when it started raining at Laver’s Hill in  the Otways. It rained for the rest of the trip, varying alternately from drizzle to downpours through which one could barely  see the road, the wipers varying automatically from random sweeps, to flat out, courtesy of the rain sensor I had retrofitted  last year (thanks Miro!).

I arrived in Warrnambool about 10:30, the wintry conditions prompting me to have a couple of meat pies for morning coffee  (but without the coffee). I headed for Mount Gambier, arrived about 1pm, filled up the tank, and made a bee-line to Subway for lunch. Because of the shitty driving weather, and a slight headache (coffee withdrawal symptoms?) I decided I’d overnight  in Mount Gambier.

After checking in to a motel just after 2, I spent the next couple of hours battling with Telstra Bigpond Support, trying to  get my dial-up connection working (I was getting an access denied message; I’ve had to send the previous emails via GPRS on  my mobile). The first Indian “consultant” had me delete and re-create my dial up connection. I’d already done that, but to  “humour” him I did it anyway. He said if that didn’t work, to call back and they’d do a password reset. Of course it didn’t  work, and the second Indian “consultant” did the password reset. That didn’t work either. On the third call, the Australian  consultant said “Oh, your account has become a ‘mail only’ account, and can no longer be used for dial-up”!  When I signed up  for ADSL, I thought I took the option to keep my previous account, and be able to use it for dial-up (free for 3 months, and  at casual rates after that). I got the three months for free, but it was then “inactivated” for dial-up. When I asked if I  could have it reactivated, I was transferred to billing. After trying to reactivate it, they determined that once it was  deactivated, it cannot be reactivated! So, I had to have a new casual dial-up plan created. I believe a may have lost some  email in the process, because when I was finally was able to connect, I received no mail, and I usually receive a few daily  mailings from various sources. So, if you’ve sent me anything, please resend it.

The motel room is very salubrious. The Lasagne I had for room-service dinner was huge; I’ve saved some to reheat in the  microwave for breakfast.

I think I’ll wait to see what the weather’s like tomorrow before deciding on a destination. It’s pissing down again as I compose this note.

Cheers,
Julian

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