To my most dedicated readers, with a particular "clin-d'oeil" to Faiza.....
We actually get out of the city pretty easily and fast, and are quickly engaged on an hour long drive to Geelong through well, nothing. The landscape is flat and and brown, with a few scattered towns here and there. Ugh suburbs that feel thousands of miles away from civilisation. The scenery is really not very interesting, though after a few kms, the Brisbane Ranges appears and break the monotonous flatness. they are basically just hills, nice and green. As to why they are called after a city 1700 miles in the other direction.....
I've heard a lot about Geelong, mostly because of their footie team, and also because prince Charles went to school here for a while. We didn't really see much of it, but it seemed like a nice enough town, right on the Port Phillip bay.
We stopped for a bathroom brake and had a cup of coffee in Torquay, a beach community famous for being Victoria's surf capital. Many big brands were started here and every year the Rip Curl Pro takes place a couple miles away at Bells Beach. So as an accomplished surfer ( uhu ) and a Point Break fan (if you haven't seen it go rent it - Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves awesome lol) I made the mom's make a stop there. It's actually a very small beach and kind of closed in. The weather is kind of shifty, and the wind is blowing like crazy. The waves and huge and pound on the sand. I defenitely will not be surfing here. Ever.
Back on the road we finally reach the great ocean road proper. The landscape has now radically changed. From flat and dry to hilly and lush. Verdant hills tower over the narrow and curvy road, and end where the Bass Straight starts. The water is furiously crashing on the rocks below us, and its a bit of a hair-raising drive at times (and yeah we're on the outside of the road!)
But really, the road is not that bad. It's wide enough for 2 cars and not too dangerously close to the edge, so I do manage to relax and enjoy the view.
We drive through some beach resorts such as Lorne, known to be a favorite summer destination around here and quite understandably. The beach is lovely and the waves not too big, and it has a nice feel to it. There is a pool and a skate park pretty much on the sand, and we all thought it would be a nice place to spend a week in during spring.
So we drive along, discussing our futur holiday plans, for christmas, next summer, next winter, plane tickets and the whereabouts of every other family member. Talk about getting carried away as soon as we say the word holiday.
We reach Apollo Bay shortly after one o'clock and stop for lunch. Apollo Bay is the last town before reaching the Otway national park and Cape Otway. The cape marks the intersection between Bass Strait and Southern Ocean.
The food was actually pretty gross and Apollo bay kind of boring, so we didn't stick around for very long. Oh and mom kept hurrying us (and every other time we stopped) saying we would never get there before dark if we stopped for too long. So back in the car and on through the forest, or temparate rainforest as they call it. Cape Otway has a famous lighthouse (the oldest in australia they say - 1848) that you can visit and spend the night at. Mom being a lighthouse enthusiast really wanted to stop by, even though it kind of took us on a detour (and oh my god, we might not make it before dark! yeah kit and me gave her a bit of a hard time:)
On our way through the forest along a small winding road, we see a car stopped on the other side of the road and the passengers looking up in the trees, and I notice that they are starring at a koala bear!! So we stop the car and join them. Oh my god we are so excited - especially me. Seeing a koala bear in nature is pretty rare so this is super cool. I guess the lady there is a bit of a koala authority, as she explains to kit all the signs to look out for on trees to find them. It is so so cute. Really hard to see if you are driving, as the color of their fur matches almost exactly the color of the bark. So we hang around a little and oooh and aaah on the little creature.
We finally get to the lighthouse, or at least the parking lot, and notice that we need to pay and so forth, and to make it short we decide to turn around. (besides, it's getting late!)
Back through the forest we go, winding up and up, and it seems like we've been there for ever. Seriously the 50 miles through the forest took so much longer than the 100 we just did!
The view is really boring and Kit doses off, and I'm on the look out for the ocean in the distance. I did see it as some point, but it took us about a half an hour to actually reach it. By that point, the sun was really showing signs of giving in for the night (well we had at least an hour of daylight left). We only had about 20 miles left to do to reach Port Campbell, and what was for me the main attraction of this trip was on the way: The Twelve Apostles. Basically, they are huge limestone rocks in the water (calcaire en french). They used to be attached to the mainland, in fact they were the mainland, but constant erosion did its thing and voila. I read somewhere the erosion of the limestone is of about 2cm a year, which is pretty amazing!
Anyway, more later. As we reached the turnoff for the Apostles, the moms decided we should not go, because its getting dark and its cold and whatever we don't care....Pfff. So when we saw a few miles away a sign for Loch Ard Gorge, I made them go. I've been stuck in this car all day and this is what I really wanted to see so we are getting out!
Ok so it's cold, yeah, and it's getting dark, yeah, but it's cool. Loch Ard Gorge is a little beach I guess, hidden behind limestone walls 30 feet high, and is where the sole 2 survivors of this scottish ship (i believe) found refuge. It's really really pretty, all secluded and I though it would be a great beach to spend a warm summer day at. If it wasn't so a tourist attraction. We take a few pictures, I walk around on the sand and think about these two lucky passengers, and as the sun sets, we drive into Port Campbell, our destination for the night. Let me tell you, Port Campbell is boring. I think it's kind of a hopping summer resort but in the dead of winter....ugh. I mean, it's pretty, right on the water with a nice protected beach where you can actually swim (most of the beaches around there are not very safe) but there is not much there. We check in to our hotel and ask the guy at the desk where we can get dinner, and so we head into town to pick between all of 3 restaurants. One is a depressing pub, the other a wanabee fancy something or other and the last one is where we stop. Food was actually fine but the place is pretty much empty, and when we leave at 8:45, we realize the waiters were actually waiting for us to finish to close. We head back to our room hoping there's something good on tv, feeling a little strange that everything is so quite at 9pm. Well, the long and the short, there is nothing good so we go to bed, after ranting on the amazing heating pads we discover in our beds. Yeah. Heating pads. under the sheets. Try it. It will change your life. (Kit actually bought one as soon as she got back!)
We got up early the next morning and I convinced them to double back a little to go see the twelves apostles. It's kind of raining an and off, and we manage to drive into the parking lot as the rain stops and the sun comes out. They have built a nice set of decks and viewing points along the cliffs, and the sight is truly amazing. These huge rocks (maybe 30 feet high - but hey I sucks at judging height) just stand on the beach, with water raging around them. It's quite impressive and exciting, as far as rocks go! Hard to explain really, but you just can't help stare in awe at such a phenomenon. To think that water hitting stone repeatedly can do that...pretty nifty. So the dork in me had a really great time, and the moms enjoyed too.
I had a train to catch in Terang, some 60 miles inland, so we really had to be on our way. We didn't get to go see London Bridge, another limestone formation, that well looks like a bridge, so I guess I'll do that another time. (For the story, part of it broke off a few years back and left a couple visitors stranded, unable to get back to the mainland but luckily no one died. )
The drive to Terang was through rather dismal farmland. As the soil is on top of limestone, nothing much grows around here, so there aren't really any crops, mostly just cattle.
It's kind of boring and nondescript but not all together bad.
Terang is a small town of barely 3000, but quite charming, with the main street lined with tall trees and shops, and the houses of victorian/edwardian style. The moms thought it would be a nice place to have a summer house so they talked about that for a while and check out the real estate.
We had some quick lunch in a cafe, before going to the train station. It's a real nice old brick building, but it looks like its days of glory are long gone. There must of been much more rail traffic just a few decades ago, but today there is only one other person waiting for the train. We hear it honk in the distance and say our goodbyes.
The ride home is about 3 hours and I really have nothing to report on that. Just that, as we reached Melbourne and I saw the skyline in the distance, my heart kind of did that leap in my chest. I have done my fair share of travelling so I recognized it right away. I was home. You know that feeling? That no matter how long you leave, how great it was, it feels so good to be home? Well for the first time here, I got it. Melbourne feels like home and even though I had barely been gone 48 hours, I was glad to be back. And that is a great feeling.
And after that emotional digression, I would like to add that no matter how much I love Melbourne, I can't freakin wait to get back on the road and see more of Australia!!
If you want to see pics, go to my myspace! downloading pics of this is really ridiculously stupid.
