The Great Ocean Road

A quiet house and a cup of tea...what's a girl to do?  A blog post as my life goes.  It's been so nice to begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel {aka getting caught up}, that I have found a new sense of dedication to staying in the present with our happenings and stories.  We'll see how that goes.

Recently {ah, it's nice to say that word} my mom {otherwise known as Bunny} and I set out on one of the best holidays I have ever been on: the Great Ocean Road.  Great doesn't even begin to describe the magic of this place.  It was truly a new amazing sight around practically every bend in the road.

We started out in Melbourne {Mel-BUN as the Aussies say it, not Mel-BURN as we Texans say it} and rented a car to head out of town.  We had a smooth drive through country Victoria on our way to Warnambool, where we would start our trek down the Great Ocean Road {GOR}.

But first we stopped for a quick bite to eat in Ballarat. Such a little surprise on an otherwise uneventful drive.  It's a quaint little town that came to be when the gold rush happened in Victoria. The architecture has been lovingly preserved all the way from the main drag to the cute little houses.  Seriously, it just oozes charm that we were struck with as soon as we drove in. We ate at a great little cafe called Bibo {loved it cause this is what we call belly buttons in our house} and took a quick walk through the old mining exchange building, which has now been turned into a fantastic art gallery that had a large amount of photographers on display while we were there.

When our parking meter expired we hopped back in the car and were on our way to Warnambool, where the GPS made her first of several mistakes.  Leading us to literally a scary dead end road at the sea. After a quick phone call, we found our way and were pleased to finally be at the end of our day's journey at a lovely seaside hotel complete with fireplace and comfy sofas in the lobby where we could enjoy a glass of  wine.  We finished the day with a nice Thai dinner in town and then hit the sack early so that we would be fresh for our first day on the GOR.

we admired the beautiful golden mustard fields.

The next morning we woke with the sun and checked out of the hotel. We went for a quick drive to see the Warnambool coast line and bay, and then over to look for some Right Whales. Warnambool is known for their "nursery" bay where Right Whales come to give birth and raise their calves.  We were disappointed not to see any whales, but were rewarded at another spot to see some penguins in the wild!

See the white area in the middle of the rock?  Those black spots are penguins...promise!

Next we shared an amazing eggs benedict for brekky {breakfast} at Brocky's in town, and then headed out for an exciting day of sightseeing.

The GOR is a 243km {151 mile} road that stretches along the southernmost coastline of Victoria from Torquey to just near Warnambool, with much of the drive covering what is known as the Shipwreck Coast due to the vast number of fatal shipwrecks that occurred in the rough seas here.

Here we go!

We stopped first at the Bay of Islands and the Bay of Martyrs,, and got our first dose of the grand scale of the limestone and sandstone sea stacks and cliffs that are the trademark of this area. Over thousands, probably millions of years, these sandstone cliffs have been worn down by erosion caused by the extreme coastal climate and rough waters of the Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean. Next stop is Antarctica people, so you get the idea of how wild this ocean would be!

Next was The Grotto, London Bridge, etc.  Bunny and I both agreed that the popping in and out of the car would have been miserable with kids and car seats, and the history and astonishing landscape would have been lost on them.  So... if you are considering this trip with kids, consider your patience level with them as well.

The Grotto.

 London Bridge. Suitably called London Arch now because in 1990 the land bridge connecting the mainland on the left to the arch island on the right collapsed, trapping two campers who had to be air lifted off the newly created island.

The Arch. 

We stopped for a quick bite {and to charge my camera battery!} in Port Campbell.

My favorite stop of the many was definitely the Loch Ard Gorge. Not only was it stunning to look at, but the history behind it was fascinating. The Loch Ard was a clipper ship that departed from England destined for Melbourne, and after three months at sea was in the midst of celebrating their arrival, when the fog lifted and the captain found that they had overshot their mark and were heading for the cliffs.  The ship sank in less than 15 minutes, killing all but two people on board.

Loch Ard Gorge.

 The top island, where you see the arch {but on the other side} is where the ship ran aground.

I survived the Loch Ard Gorge.

Looking into the Loch Ard Gorge.

The Razorback.

Our last stop for the day was the Twelve Apostles {which is really more like eight apostles now}.  It's one of the most famous stops along the GOR, where originally 12 stunning sea stacks were lined up along the coast. In recent years {as recent as 2005 in fact} some of the sea stacks have collapsed due to erosion. Truth be told, while they were something I was looking forward to seeing,  I wasn't any more impressed by the Twelve Apostles than I was the rest of the coast.  It was all some of the grandest landscape I've ever seen.  Interesting note, the Twelve Apostles were originally named the Sow & Piglets, but some wise person decided the The Apostles would be a more appealing name for tourism, and so were renamed...good-on-ya wise person...definitely better name!

 I was so disappointed that the skies clouded over by the time we got to the Twelve Apostles. There has been some stunning photographs taken of this landmark, and I was hoping to get something really great.  As you can see, not so much.  

We finished the day in Apollo Bay where we checked into a little B&B called Captains on the Bay.  It was a cute town and we were excited for another dinner out.  Unfortunately, we had one of the two terrible eating experiences in this town at Buff's Bistro.  It was so promising from outside looking in, but we immediately felt the rudeness of the staff when we were brusquely told that if we didn't have a booking we could have only one table by the wall.  Fine, we're easy, but that should have been our clue to find another place, because their distaste for non-locals was apparent the entire dining experience as we were barely spoken to and watched other innocent families be given the cold shoulder when asking for a table.

The next morning was foggy with a little rain, but luckily our accommodation came with breakfast and we started out another day on the GOR warm and cozy and with full tummies. From Apollo Bay towards Melbourne, the coast changes from the sandstone/limestone cliffs look of the Shipwreck Coast to gorgeous mountains filled with greenery, sloping gracefully to meet the sea.

We stopped at several lookouts a waterfall and then at Kennett River.  We had such a good time walking the beach, looking through the tide pools and beach combing, that we almost forgot that the main attraction of this little area on the GOR is koalas. So, before heading out of town towards Melbourne, we stopped and did some wild koala spotting.  It was my first time to see koalas in the wild, and while they were pretty high up, it was definitely something to see and do.

Triplet Falls

The beach at Kennett River. 

 Evidence of volcanic activity was everywhere - look at the stone bubble.

We were lucky to run into a family feeding some birds when we stopped to see the koalas.  They had brought bird seed with them and were happy to share, so we got up close and personal too.

After leaving Kennett River we didn't stop to do much - maybe a few more lookouts - we were in a hurry to get back to Melbourne, turn in the rental car and get ready to see the town.

To be continued...