Wednesday, March 30, 2011

The Great Ocean Road deserves its name

From Sydney we flew into Melbourne and took a car to the Great Ocean Road, that spans a good part of the coast between Melbourne and Adelaide. We didn't have time to go all the way there but drove through the first 300kms and had a blast.
We've lived for a long time in California, near the Highway 1 which is revered for its coastline. Shortly before leaving the US we were talking about it and how it is pretty much the same for a long time. I'd have to add that it doesn't quite compare to this Great Ocean Road.


After landing late because of our first (and hopefully only) missed flight, we picked up the car and drove to Lorne, which was pretty much the beginning of the road for us.

We spent the night there in a place where the extremely welcoming owners gave us the lowdown on what to do along the road for the next 250kms. It definitely helped us find the right places.

Right before reaching Lorne

We set off the next morning, checking out waterfalls and lookouts to the local bay, but it's when we reached Grey River road that stuff started to get really interesting. It's a little road that branches off the main coast road, and where you can find many animals if you walk it for a little bit. We first ran into parakeets that were extremely friendly.



He actually kissed me right after the photo

We then went on the hunt for Koalas, and after training our eyes to find them high in the trees, sleeping, we found one right by the side of road, just when he decided to wake up and eat.  These are some really cute cuddly-looking animals!

Where are those koalas?

Sleeping, comfortably...









We took off and then went to have lunch in Apollo bay, where we found Wickens, Denise's favorite cafe in Australia (even thought they didn't want to give her the recipe of their Lemon, fennel chicken pie) and another beautiful lookout.


We got to walk through a cute rainforest after lunch, but the next stop is when things really started to get serious.  We were reaching the crazy coastline and it's sheer cliffs. We stopped at places like Gibson's steps, The 12 Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, the Arch, the Blowhole, London Bridge, Thunder cAAAve and the Grotto and were amazed by the beauty and variety of what nature had to show us. As far as coastlines go, you really can't go wrong here.

Gibson's steps



Fell back in the sand after the jump. That was my attempt at removing the sand from my pants. Made Denise laugh a good lot

12 Apostles

Loch Ard Goerge

Our best yet?

Thunder cave

The blowhole

The arch

London bridge

The Grotto


You can find the rest of the photos here.

Check out the map too

4 comments:

  1. I NEED a Great Ocean Road trip. Thanks for posting the inspiration. Polly Smiles

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  2. great stuff guys. btw, where can we see your future itinerary?
    Cheers,
    Remy

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  3. Hey Remy,
    Good to hear from you. How are things?
    Here's the schedule for the rest of the trip:
    Apr 2-Apr 15 Bali
    April 17-May 8 India (North)
    May 8-June 5 Thailand/Cambodia
    June 5-June 18 Hong Kong area
    June 18-June 25 Beijing area
    June 25- July 13 Japan (tbd)
    July 13 - France

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  4. I like the timing to come just a day before bastille day...:-)

    bises, Remy

    ReplyDelete