The Great Ocean Road

Some of you may have heard of the Great Ocean Road. It runs between Melbourne and Adelaide, but not all the way. It is supposedly one of the best driving experiences in the world and between us me and James had decided that it was probably a stretch too far for us to fit it into our schedule. And we would have probably had to hire a “Wicked Camper” which looked like deathtraps on wheels. But Liam and Harry had suggested that we might be able to squeeze it in on the Saturday, so that was exactly what we set out to do. Harry stayed at home with the dog and needed a bit of R & R after only being in her teaching job for a short amount of time, so the three boys jumped into the mini cooper and screeched out of the driveway.

Liam was a great tour guide, pointing out anything and everything along the way. Shortly we were out of Melbourne again and heading west. The Great Ocean Road doesn’t actually begin for quite some time so we sped along the highway whilst learning just exactly what it is that Liam does – he used to be a “transponster” apparently. We stopped a few times along the way, if anything just to stretch our legs – the mini was not built for people with long legs!

So where's the ocean then?

It was a day of two weather systems, with clouds to start with, that cleared as we got onto the Great Ocean Road, but would then start pouring down with rain, almost as if it were a game of chess between good and bad……weather. Thankfully it did not rain at the place where, according to Liam, it always rained. Apollo Bay was said place and that was where we stopped off for fish and chips. And great fish and chips too. MUCH better than the poor offering I got in Cairns. This time I went for butterfish and chips, and it was an excellent choice! Once we had been fed we got back on the road again and headed even further west.

The view from the Great Ocean Road

The Great Ocean Road had been fantastic and it came to an end when it began turning inland. There were a couple of other points Liam wanted to show us and not far down the road we turned into a small side road. Whenever the Foulkes’s have visitors (mainly from the UK) and they “do” the Great Ocean Road drive they stop off at the place we had just done and look out for wild koalas. The last 4 times they had been there they had managed to see them, something of a hot-spot for koala-spotting. Given that since our arrival at their home the Wi-Fi had ceased to work on two occasions (although that was due to the dig chewing at the cables outside the house), the DVDs I ordered hadn’t arrived, the dog had peed on numerous rugs in the house, the Inbetweeners Movie hadn’t streamed through iTunes, we hadn’t found Harold Holt and the dog had figured out how to use the cat-flap to get into the house, we didn’t think we would see any of the furry little fellas. But amazingly we spotted one as soon as we stepped out of the car. High up in the trees and only just visible, but he was there. Liam spotted another one nearby, but there were none low down enough to get close to. Even though, a great bit of eye-work form all three of us.

The next port of call was the Twelve Apostles. These are, or were, 12 sets of limestone rocks that are being battered by the sea and wind off the southern coast of Victoria. There aren’t 12 of them anymore, they are gradually losing the battle against the elements and crumbling into the ocean. I can see why they are losing. The wind was unbelievable! There was a smattering of rain, but the wind was the killer, coupled with a rather chilly day anyway it was enough to have us retreating to the safety of the coffee shop after only 10 minutes or so. They looked magnificent, and a great finish to the days drive. It would have been a great disappointment to have come all this way and not see them so we were both very thankful to Liam for driving us all that way.

Some of the Twelve Apostles

The drive back was a rather smoother affair as we took the much straighter and flatter highway back to Melbourne. We had packed our big bags into the back of the mini so that we would be able to go straight to our hotel in Melbourne on the way back. We arrived into the city fairly late and managed to find the hotel pretty much straight away. We said our goodbyes to Liam, but we would be seeing him and Harry the next day for drinks before we left.

We checked into the Baden Powell hotel and got slightly worried when the waitress (it was located above a bar/pub) asked if I had received her email two weeks ago. That is not something you want to hear when you have just arrived at a hotel, it is late and you are tired. But apparently it was only because we would be having a queen bed rather than two singles, but that didn’t matter, so long as we had a room for the night! The room was pretty good, apart from the fact the door to the bathroom didn’t go all the way up to the ceiling (it was a high ceiling and not a saloon-style door though, thankfully!). We grabbed a quick bite to eat and sat in watching a bit of crap Australian telly – which is pretty much all of it, apart from the imported stuff from UK and US.