The Great Ocean Road - Feb 14 - 15, 2009

After spending two weekends in a row at home I decided it was time for another road trip.  While in Alice Springs I met two German girls who recommend a two day, one night tour of The Great Ocean Road.  When I looked into it I discovered that they offered the tour over a weekend so I signed myself up.

Early Saturday morning I met up with the bus, and people that I was going to be traveling with all weekend long.  After a boring (we were encouraged to sleep) three hour drive on the inland road we stopped at Logan's Beach near the town of Warrnambool.  As you can see by the photo below, it wasn't such an awful place to stop.

Logan's Beach

From Logan's Beach we went to Tower Hill Reserve for lunch.  The Reserve is inside a now extinct volcano. I saw (for the first time since being in Australia) koalas and kangaroos in the wild.

This is one of many kangaroos I saw.

From Tower Hill we travelled some more to the Bay of Islands, and the Bay of Martyrs.  

Bay of Islands

Bay of Martyrs

From there it was back on the bus for a stop at London Bridge.  London Bridge used to be attached to the mainland but one day it broke away.    We heard an  interesting story about the couple that was on the bridge when it broke away from the mainland. Apparently they were having a romantic day away from work but they were actually having an affair as both were married to other people.  Since they were stranded on top and needed to be rescued they made the local papers and their respective partners found out.

London Bridge which was once attached (not too long ago) to the mainland.

From London Bridge we checked into our hostel in Port Campbell.  A huge dinner was prepared for us before we headed to watch the sunset at the Twelve Apostles.  Once the sun had set (it was a cloudy day so we didn't get to see the sun actually hit the water line) we waited in the dark a bit longer to see a family of penguins return to their nests.  It was a pretty quick show and while I was able to see them scamper across the beach, the photos don't do it justice.

Sunset at the Twelve Apostles (although there are only six left)

It was then back to the hostel and off to the one bar in town for some pool, dancing, and conversation - oh and a beverage or two.

The next morning we were up early and provided with a great breakfast spread.  We then headed to Loch Ard Gorge along the shipwreck coast.  We heard another story about two people who survived a boat crash there.

Loch Ard Gorge

From Loch Ard Gorge we went to a helicopter company and for a fee we could go up in a helicopter and see the Twelve Apostles from the air.  Only three of us took the offer and so I flew in my first helicopter ride. It was amazing and to my surprise I didn't get sick to my stomach.  I took several pictures from the helicopter too.  (I still can't believe I went up in a helicopter).

A picture taken from the helicopter of some of the Apostles.

Me and the helicopter I went up in.

Once we were done with our flights the bus took us back to the Twelve Apostles for day time photos since we were last there (those of us that didn't have the helicopter ride) at sunset.

Twelve Apostles during the day (and from land).

With the Twelve Apostles out of our system we headed to Gibson's Steps.  They were originally created by a member of the Gibson's family as a way to get down to the water to flag passing boats for supplies.  While the stairs have since been replaced the beach remains the same.

Beach at Gibson's Steps.

From here it was another longish drive along the inland part of the Great Ocean Road.  It took us through Great Otway National Park rain forest where we stopped at Maits Rest.  We did a rain forest walk there.  All the green reminded me of being back in BC.  During the walk I learned many new things.  At one point I was  able to go inside a hollow tree.  It was hollow on the inside because of a cancer type disease for trees.  

The rainforest (apparently all of Australia used to look like this).

Inside the tree looking up at the top.

It was very dark inside but my flash did a  good job to help capture the imagine.

We then continued along the Great Ocean Road and came across a section that was inhabited by Koalas.  I was able to take a few more photos and hopefully you can see the Koala in the middle of this photo.

If you look really closely at the centre of the picture there is a Koala  in the tree.

The day continued with more stops at Apollo Bay, Lorne, Bells Beach, and Torquay (We drove through Anglesea).  I have pictures of all these places too but I figured each beach looks some what similar with beautiful  sand and great waves and since I've already posted enough beach scenes above I would leave these places out.

The trip ended with an hour and a half ride back to Melbourne via Geelong and the highway.  Over all it was a really great weekend.  Although the people on the tour where a fair bit younger than me it didn't really mater.  Everyone was nice and it was great to be with other people exploring and having fun.  Our tour guide/bus driver was a nice guy too so overall it was a good weekend.  I'm so glad I went.

Next weekend I'm away again, but this time with a trip organized by the International Teaching Fellowship people.  We're off to Gippsland for some relaxing, sight seeing, socializing, and a SURF lesson!  I can't wait.  

Oh yah, if you double click on the photos you should be able to make then bigger.