Finally got the urge to tell you all about my first road trip in Australia. We traveled for four days during Easter weekend along the Great Ocean Road.
First, we rented a fine station wagon. A Ford Falcon. Pictured below:
Then we hit the road and drove an hour and a half to our first stop in Torquay. Here we went to the torqauy beach to have a surf lesson. I love surfing. I wish I was really good, but in reality I only stood up once.
Maybe I was a bad surfer because I had a rather weird sleep the night before in the Falcon. Yes, this trip was brilliant but we planned it a little too late and were unable to book accomodation for the first night. So we slept in our car, which was illegal, so we sneakily parked in a residential area as opposed to a parking spot along the beach. My sleep was weird not because I was really uncomfortable, but because I kept having reoccuring dreams about us getting in trouble for sleeping in the car. The best "nightmare" was me waking up to a helicopter hovering over our fine station wagon and shining it's spotlights on us to arrest us. Luckily it was only a nightmare.
So back to the surf lesson. After the 2 hours were up we went to the rip curl surf competition at the very popular Bells Beach. After having a lesson, I had a whole new respect for surfers. Carrying your surf board to the beach is a feat in itself, let alone riding a wave! After cheering on Kelly Slater, fellow American surfer, we drove to the next town, Lorne.
Lorne was a very small town, popular for it's beaches and good surfing spots. We stayed at a hostel that had a very homey feeling. It had a full wrap around porch where everyone hung out as well as a fully stocked kitchen (we took advantage and made a pizza haha).
We traveled on to Apollo Bay and stopped for coffee/tea. We found out about a cool lookout spot that gives a nice view of the beach and town. It was about a 5 minute walk up and the sight was beautiful.
Our next stop was to see the 12 Apostles, which was along side of the road. We made it there around sunset which made for really good pictures. The 12 Apostles are rock formations from years ago...however, they have dwindeled down to about 4 to 6 apostles due to erosion.
Our final stop for the day was Port Campbell where we celebrated Easter by having a really nice dinner at a seafood place. We then decided to get to bed as we had a big day of sight seeing and a long drive home the next day. Oh yeah, we slept in our car and got kicked out of a camp site but finally went to bed on another nice residential street. "Everyone in Australia sleeps in the car..." so we figured it's ok if we do too. Hey, I'm still alive.
The next day, Monday after Easter, we had lots of driving to do to get back to Melbourne. On the way home we saw more touristy look out spots and made it back to Melbourne by 4 in the afternoon.
Overall, great trip! I'm excited to do more exploring all over Australia. There is so much more to do and see! A kangaroo is on the top of my list...as well as an Aboriginal. When I see either of those, you will be first to know!
