Oceans of Road
From Adelaide I'd decided to forego my Greyhound pass, and leap in the car with Iain to get to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road. I figured that this would be a lot more fun than being stuck ona coach, and it wouldn't cost that much as the petrol was being divided between five of us. As well as Iain and I, also in the car was Steve and Ryan, top, top blokes from Bristol, and Maria, an Italian-Swiss girl. We'd all met in Alice Springs, and the others had got a lift down with Iain to Adelaide.
Most of the first day was spent driving, and we crossed over into Victoria just after dark. Victoria is so much like England, in terms of the coutryside. And also the weather at this time of year, ie crap. We stayed at a great hotel in a href="http://www.greatoceanrd.org.au/warrnam.htm">Warrnambool, just at the start of the Ocean Road.
The Great Ocean Road itself is only a few hundred kilometres longs, so we did it in a day, and it was a top day. We started out of Warrnambool at about 10am, and one of the first signposts I saw was for a small side road named "Radford's Road"! Probably the only one in Australia, and I didn't get a photo!! First stop was the Bay of Islands, then onto the Bay of Martyrs, then the Arch. Plenty to see along this coast. Next up was London Bridge, a huge arch formation that used to be complete, but part of it fell away in 1991, creating a new island. It also left a couple stranded on there who were having an illicit affair, but it wasn't so illicit after their helicopter rescue was broadcast on national news!
We then stopped at Port Campbell for lunch, before travelling onto Loch Ard gorge, named after a ship that was wrecked in the 19th century with the loss of all but two lives.
We then travelled onto a beach nearby the gorge, and then onto the higlight, the 12 Apostles. They used to be called "Sow and Piglets", but it was changed last century to something a bit more dignified.
Got to say that they were fantastic. So impressive. Especially when we did a triple-moonie photo opportunity - not your average tourist photo! From there we went on through to beautiful Otway National Park, then Apollo Bay (very much like an Irish town), then through the surfers' mecca that is Torquay.
There we made a visit to Bell's Beach where part of "Point Break" was filmed. It was a great spot. After that, though, we legged it to Melbourne. What a top little trip.
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