The Great Ocean Road

Well we arrived in Melbourne today after a short flight from Tasmania. When we went to get our rental car, we were informed that we had booked it from another airport, and that we had flown into a different airport than our ticket said. After a lengthy discussion with the agent about what we were to do (take a cab for $150, rent a car there for $400 more...) a nice couple offered to take us to the other airport because they had heard our plight, aren't Aussies great!! It was a nice drive and we chatted about many things and an hour later we were at the right airport and in our car headed to the great ocean road.

We spent the rest of that day just sort of puttering around the beginning of the drive going through the little towns around Melbourne. We saw a bunch of kangaroos on a gold course and got pretty close to them, we drove through all the surf towns were surfing was invented, or so they say here, and finally ended up that night in a small town called Lorne. We had a nice meal and great conversation. We awoke the next morning to a drizzle and clouds. The drive was extremely windy and at some parts you felt like you were actually driving on the water you were so close. One minute you are seas side, and the next you are high above the shore almost in the clouds, but always right beside the ocean. We started out by going to a nice waterfall and then spent some time in the rain forest. The trees are unbelievably large, i have never seen anything like them. The only way to descibe them is like the redwoods, but not quite as big. At one point we pulled off for a drive in the koala park, we drove slowly through the park and saw many koalas sitting in high in the eucalyptus trees, all they do is sleep and eat. We then headed for the most scenic part of the drive and just like that the sky cleared and we were treated to the coastline in the full sun. It was a bit windy so the surf was just beautiful. We stopped at all the sights, Gibson's steps, twelve apostles, loch ard gorge, the arch, London bridge and finally the bay of islands. They were magnificent and show the strength of the sea and how it can just crumble away solid stone over time. The London bridge used to be two arches that jutted out into the ocean like a bridge, but then in 1990 the arch that connected to the mainland crumbled and fell into the sea, stranding two unlucky people for hours. There are no paths out to the bridge, but for some reason these tow people were there for a "business trip" i will say no more and let you all think what you want. We then ended the day in warrnabowl with a great burger and a walk.

The next day we thought we would be in for another beautiful scenic day, but little did we know that we have pretty much seen all the coastline that we were going to see. so we spent that day driving in the blistering heat through basically farm land that was brown and dead. We stopped at one winery and as we drove away saw two wallabies and two sheep just sitting on the porch, not something that you would expect to see. We then continued on the Adelaide and pulled in that night for some wine and relaxation.