I don’t have all that much experience with road trips, as I have mentioned, but the
Great Ocean Road has to be near the top of the all-time hits list. It’s so pretty, that I think it’s possible you run the risk of becoming complacent to beauty. The good thing is that if you get bored of one type of pretty, you can switch up the scenery constantly to keep things different. If you get tired of the gorgeous seascapes, swing inland and hike in a rainforest for a while. Spot a koala or some kangaroos. If you need a break from the outdoors, stop into one of the many wineries for some tastings, or at berry farm, or at creamery. There are loads of things to do.
The joy is in stopping constantly and randomly in all kinds of different places. My friend Alex did the road trip with a group of guys from the program, and for some reason the guys did not want to stop. They had a few predetermined stops they wanted to make, then just drive, drive, drive, the rest of the time. What’s the point? ! She ended up a little disappointed.
Now, I have to admit that enjoyment of this trip is largely dependent on good weather. We were graced with beautiful, crisp days almost the entire time. Just the weekend before we hit the road, Sabina did the trip, but her group got cold, rainy days. Needless, to say they did not have as amazing a time.
So those are the two rules: Stop constantly and pray for clear days.
We already know we got lucky with the weather, and Matt and Laura are fantastic travel buddies, open to pretty much anything and we hit the ground running from day one.
Day 1It took a little while to get out Melbourne, but once we’d covered some ground the stops began with some lovely beaches – including Bells Beach, where Bodhi (Patrick Swayze) went out for his final set during the 50-year storm in Point Break.
The beach also always provides a lovely backdrop for a picnic. The wind threatened to blow our drinks away, but it was beautiful scenery to enjoy as we ate our loot from the Grand Victoria Market.
That afternoon, we swung inland for a hike at
Erskine Falls. There is one negative to this little hike. To reach the falls you have wind down a long staircase. The falls are beautiful, it just sucks that you have to the steep hike up the stairs after the fact. It’s nice when the hard stuff come first, while you still have the promise of a view as a carrot propelling you forward. But what can you do? It would be a little difficult to go around changing the topography, and in all, the trek’s well worth it.
Before the day was out, we even got to glimpse a little bit of wildlife.
It's tough to see, but this spiky little guy is an echidna.The morning of our second day was all about crazy rock formations. For good stretch of the Great Ocean Road, you get display after display of the power of nature. Winds have carved the rocks along the coast into a host of different gorgeous pillars and other formations.
The best known of these natural attractions is probably the
Twelve Apostles. These are a collection of limestone stacks that have been eroded into pillars. There are actually only 8 apostles left. (According to Wikipedia, there were only ever 9 to begin with) Because they’re all so close together, it makes for a very impressive vista.
The Apostles are the most famous attraction, but there’s a whole lot more to see. We spent the biggest chunk of time at the
Bay of Islands. The Islands are a lot like the Apostles, but the nice thing about this park is that you can hike all around it to get views of the islands from lots of different vantage points. There are outlets down to the beach so that you can look up at the pillars from below as well. I glimpsed a kayaker on the water, and that seemed like an amazing way to see them. If I ever get the chance to go back, I definitely would find a way to get out on the water.
No water sports this time, but we found a way to catch some air. We came across the viewing platform with a wooden rail. We spent about an hour leaping off the rail taking “flying” pictures. I highly doubt this is encouraged, but we had a lot of fun.
London Bridge and The Grotto were our other two morning stops. London Bridge used to be a long, natural pier onto the ocean. However, in 1990 part of the bridge collapsed, turning the bridge into an Arch. The kicker was that, unfortunately, a couple of tourists were hiking at the far end of the bridge when the middle dropped out. Luckily, everyone was safe and no one ended up in the water.
The Grotto was quick visit, but arguably the most charming. So pretty and definitely worth stopping!
Alright, enough rock formations. Time to eat and drink. We swung inland again to try some of the regional delights. First up,
Apostle Whey Cheese – a quaint little spot with very friendly staff. If you get the timing right, you can watch the cheese making process. They’d wrapped up the demonstrations by the time we got there, but we did have delicious cheese tasting.
Almost down the street, we found
Heytesbury Ridge Winery. This place not only had some really interesting wines, it was extra impressive because it’s a two-person operation. It’s just a married couple, working hard to make some very nice wines. Not a bad life. I have to admit, I’m a little jealous.
This stop had an extra round fun, because as we pulled we spotted a very out of place koala scampering around the ground. Not a eucalyptus tree in sight! I guess this little guy wanted to get on the vino action.
It’s pretty uncommon to get such an active little koala. He moved so fast I couldn’t get picture before he had hidden behind a tool shed. Not a tragedy, however. We ended up having a healthy does of koala watching that day. The little stretch of road leading up to
Cape Otway Lighthouse is lined with eucalyptus trees filled with the cuddly little rascals. I got a crick in my neck from staring up at them. Unsurprisingly, they’re frick’n adorable, what is surprising are the funny motor-like, rumbling sounds that emanate from their little, fuzzy bodies. But why should I keep describing, when you can just watch them in all their cuddly glory:
A note for future travelers. There are long stretches of The Great Ocean Road where there are no gas stations. The area between Port Campbell, near the Twelve Apostles and the winery, and Apollo Bay is one such stretch. We did not realize this and since we’d had a good amount of gas as we left the Port Campbell area, we didn’t think to get any. By the time we left the koalas, we were pretty out. It is only thanks to Matt’s excellent skills at using the momentum of driving on the rolling hills to conserve gas that we didn’t run out of gas in the middle of nowhere. Well done, sir!
There was one more wildlife spotting of note before the day was out.
The Anglesea Golf Course is home to around 300 kangaroos. We didn’t make it here until just after dark, so I didn’t get any good pics, so I’ll borrow this one to give an idea:
Day 3Our final day on the Great Ocean Road was all about relaxation – or, that was the plan anyways. In the morning we took the ferry from Queenscliff Harbour to
Sorrento with plans to enjoy the hot baths and wineries in the area.
The first part went according to plan. We spent a couple of luxurious hours at the
Peninsula Hot Springs and we all emerged feeling very relaxed, and set out to find some wineries to proceed with the second part of our plan.
Here’s where we hit a kink. Greg left the springs in such a blissful state that he left his jacket behind and didn’t realize it until we all the way to our next stop. So, we dropped Matt and Laura off to do the wine tasting, and we booked it to hot spring to get the jacket. Luckily, we got it, but by the time we made it back to the winery we were running pretty late.
Matt had to get back for an evening class and we had a plane to catch, so we zoomed back to Melbourne. In our panicked state, we made a couple of wrong turns on the freeway, but we made it back in time for Matt to make his class, and it seemed like we’d be ok for our flight. Greg sped all the way to the airport making surprisingly good time, until we hit a traffic jam in the last mile before our turn off to the airport. All we could do was sit there biting our nails. When we finally got to the airport we RAN from the car rental drop-off to our terminal. I may have even told Greg, “I’m not going to make it, just go on without me.” But I was able to go on, and just as we stepped to the check-in counter final call was announced over the loud-speaker. A harried end to an otherwise amazing trip.
Post Script. Since Returning from our Australian travels, Matt and Laura have recently gotten engaged. Much love and congratulations to this wonderful, aquatic couple!
Cap things off with Greg's photo album:
