We arrived in Melbourne late afternoon on Tuesday the 1st and hopped in the car to drive to Torquay, just a place to sleep so we could have a fresh early start on Wednesday to begin our road trip on The Great Ocean Road.
We always love to go on a good road trip and this one was going to be, not about the food, or the accommodations, but the scenery. We planned four nights on the road to get from Melbourne to Adelaide and Day 1 and 2 were to be the best of coastal Oz.
We headed out at 8am for Bell's Beach- this is THE surfing beach where the waves break big and far out and where all the competitions happen.
The parking lot was full of young, fit guys striping down, putting on thier wet suits and heading down the steep path to the beach with their boards. It was a cold morning, probably around 53F but you would have thought it was a warm 85 as they hopped in and paddled out. There were surfers to the right and surfers to left and it was hard to pick between watching them ride a great curl and the spectacular views of coast, beach and Ocean.
So think about this that we were told by a fellow traveler in the airport - The Great Ocean Road and the towns along it, have the cleanest air in the world. Know why? Because the air that blows in from the sea actually comes from Antarctica...where there is nothing unclean. And this morning we could feel the chill in the air coming across the… ??.. can you guess the name of the ocean???? Neither could we until we saw it today, how embarrassing...it is the Southern Ocean, duh!!!
Next stop, a golf course. No, we have not taken up golf but apparently the kangaroos have! Somehow, in this small coastal town, Anglesea, kangaroos have taken up residence on the course and everyone who does the GOR pulls off near one of the holes where you can watch these marsupials. We stood watching the roos, about ten of them from Moms to Dad to young ones, and not in a zoo. Couldn't get close enough to spot any joeys but saw a bit of hopping about on those weirdly flat long leg/feet they have.
At this point I am ready to kill Steve because, although he had a cuppa tea in our hotel room, I had refused the instant coffee, and it was almost 10 o'clock and I was jones-ing for Joe. We pulled into Lorne, an adorable town with cafes galore where getting my flat white fix was easy.
A quick ten kilometer detour brought us to a waterfall recommended by the TI lady (Travel Infomation for you non-travelers) only 250 steps down and then the same 250 back up. Nice, a good bit of walking, but not overly impressive after you've seen Niagara.
We did a million other stops all day long from the Otway Lighthouse walk and climb to spotting koalas in trees to parrots sitting on our head in the middle of nowhere. But the real star of the day was the coastal scenery. This has to be one of the most beautiful drives we have ever done. Every turn is a new cove and lookout, every beach a bit different from wild surf to meadows of greenery meeting the sea to stratified cliffs at sundown.
Probably the most spectacular stop was the 12 Apostles, large rock formations carved out by the sea over thousands of years, gleaming in the setting sun, seen by walking out on a promontory, wind whipping, waves thundering, foam churning and ocean sparkling. Standing high up near the cliff's edge, you cannot help but realize the power of water and wonder how or why any man ever decided to try to cross this massive wild water.
All day long, as we went from town to town and view to view, we kept seeing the same people. There were German couples in camper vans, a young Asian couple traveling with their personal photographer where every stop was a serious photo shoot in a long red gown, to 12 person luxury van tour groups having picnic lunches and even a American family where one of the sons was clearly on exchange here with Mom, Dad and Bro visiting for a whirlwind tour.
Everyone was clearly enjoying their own type of tour of the GOR. But as the day was winding down and we were headed towards the Butterfly Farm B and B, in what could not even be considered a town, though there is a name on the map, we realized how much we love our own brand of travel - mixing it up, doing it on our own, even when we take wrong turns or book into a bad night's stay. We get to do it on our timetable, stop where we want, eat when we want and always end up with great memories and lots of laughs. Hope we never have to stop and hope everyone reading this, one day, gets to drive The Great Ocean Road - it's a 25 times longer and way more beautiful than California's 17 Mile Drive. It's just a WOW all day long.
TODAY'S VEGGIE LUNCH
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