Great Ocean Road!

After a few relaxing days in Melbourne it was time to get our campervan and head along the Great Ocean Road. Our campervan, which was decorated with flowers (the company we used was called Hippie Camper!), was a similar size to the scooby doo campervan from the cartoons. It's safe to say it took a while to get used to driving it as it is nothing like driving the fiesta and focus we are used to driving! After sorting out all the essentials we needed for the next week we hit the road and headed down the motorway to Geelong. This is about an hour from Melbourne and we got a bit of a surprise when we arrived as there was a triathlon race going on through the town. This was good to watch for a bit even if it did make us both feel ridiculously unfit!

After Geelong we continued on to Torquay and the start of the Great Ocean Road!! As Em's parents had spent a couple of days on the GOR a few weeks before, they suggested we pop into the information centre to stock up on maps and guides before continuing our trip. in true James style, he forgot his swimmers so once he'd purchased a new pair we were on our way! Following the advice from the helpful people at the information centre we paid a visit to the magnificent viewpoints at Bells Beach and Point Addis.

 

From here we headed to Angelsea Golf Club, known for being a great place to see kangaroos. Unfortunately we only managed to see one; a great spot by Em in the distance! From here we pressed on to Airleys Inlet and Lorne beaches as well as taking in Erskine falls and Teddys lookout along the way. At Lorne we stopped for amazing and much needed ice cream! (Ems latest obsession!)

The Cumberland and Wye river mouths were next on out agenda providing more great views, before we reached the Kennett River mouth and the Grey River Road. This was arguably one of the highlights of our first day as we got to see loads of wild Koalas!! Unfortunately Em also managed to stack it out of nowhere trying to get in the van and had to be bandaged up very effectively by James! After that minor emergency we proceeded on to Apollo Bay where we set up camp on the beachfront for the evening.

After packing up the campervan, we started our morning with a walk along Apollo Bay beach! From this experience we decided we would not be packing up the campervan every morning as it was far too complicated and time consuming! From Apollo Bay we went to Maits Rest rainforest walk which was completly different to anything we had seen in Australia so far and again gave us a look at some beautiful scenery and forest areas. Cape Otway lighthouse, which is the oldest working lighthouse in Australia, was our next stop providing some stunning views of the coastline. We also had a close encounter with a kangaroo when we were walking through the woods nearby the lighthouse. Having not seen it we walked to within 2 metres of it and then got a massive shock when it stood up and started hopping about! After initially hopping away from us the kangaroo decided to come back and investigate the area further. Whilst we were trying to take photos it thought it would be hilarious to play peekaboo with us from behind a sculpture, resulting in many photos with no kangaroo in!!

After a quick argument about petrol which saw us retrace our steps a bit we made it to Otway Fly Walkway. This is a walkway suspended 30m above the ground in the surrounding rainforest; needless to say James didn't cope exceptionally well especially with the the 60m high tower! But again it did give some fantastic views of the rainforest from an unbelievable viewpoint.

Following Otway Fly we arrived in Port Campbell national park which contains several tourist hotspots including; Gibson Steps, The Tweleve Apostles ( of which there are only 7 left!), Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge and The Grotto. These all provided unbelievable views of the coastline and the sample of pictures here don't really do justice to how good it was!

We decided to watch the sunset over the Bay of Islands, which in our opinion was better than the Twelve Apostles, before spending the night in a truck stop in Peterborough.

A morning walk on Peterborough beach was followed by seeing the Bay of Islands in the daylight and then driving up to Warrnambool beach. We then headed to the Tower Hill reserve where there was a koala sleeping in a tree about 5 metres from our van. Unfortunately, we didn't see this koala until we returned from our walks and found a group of people huddled round the tree in front of our camper taking lots of photos! Whilst at Tower Hill reserve we did the peak walk and the lava mouth walk both giving some great views of the surrounding area.

From here we moved on to Port Fairy, which had a really nice beach and port area. If you hadn't gathered already, this trip was dominated by beaches!

Portland was only just down the road from Port Fairy and again provided some great views of the coastline, as well as the oldest three storey building in Victoria. The most impressive thing about Portland wasnt actually in Portland though and required a trip to Cape Bridgewater to see the petrified forest and the blowholes. Whilst on our way we came across a snake in the road, which terrified James until we realised it was basically dead! On our way back to Portland we passed through the Cape Bridgewater lakes and saw lots of kangaroos soaking up the sun! From Portland we drove the 180km up to the Grampians and stayed in Halls Gap, where our campervan was surrounded by resident kanagaroos!! It was here that we learnt that joeys suckling on their mothers is a hilarious, but dodgey sight to see whilst eating dinner!!

With a whole day to spend in the magnificent Grampians we were in for a lot of walking! First up was the 4km round trip to the pinnacles, giving more more excellent photo opportunities!! It did however almost ruin us both getting there!

After this more exerting walk, we did some of the smaller walks around the Grampians such as Mackenzie falls, Rees lookout, the Balconies and the Boroka lookout each providing a unique insight into the Grampians and all they had to offer.

Before leaving for Mount Gambier we had to stop at the recommended ice cream place and stock up on some fudge for the journey! Just past the border into South Australia we stopped at Umpherston Sinkhole to cook dinner and somehow ended up on a locally organised possum watch; some people were super keen!! We didn't actually see a possum so was even more hilarious watching these people jump at the slightest of movements in the bushes!

After stopping over in another truck stop that night, we visited Umpherston sinkhole in the morning before moving on to the Blue Lake, which unsurprisingly is.... a Blue Lake. However, scientists aren't quite sure why it turns from grey to blue for 6 months of the year! Alongside the Blue lake is the Valley lake with a lookout walk to the top of mount Gambier giving a great view of the South Australian countryside. As we had made good progress throughout the day we were able to take the costal road up towards Adelaide and on our way we managed to encompass a Beachport driving tour, a blissful hour sunbathing in Robe followed by even more ice cream! We then headed up through Coorong National Park and we we approached Strathalbyn passed through several vineyards, which all looked very impressive!!

After a good Thai takeaway we spent the night in Strathalbyn. The next morning we drove into central Adelaide where Em got dropped off at Paul's, before James headed on the long journey back to Melbourne.

The Great Ocean Road trip is a definite must for anyone visiting Australia!!! :-)

Take care!

X x x