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| The Twelve Apostles |
The 3 day trip organised by Bunyip Tours headed out from Melbourne early on Tuesday morning destined for the Great Ocean Road and the Grampian Mountains, 25 of us including Duncan our guide and it turned out our first job was to learn a little Dutch as a good chunk of the group hailed from the Netherlands.
The weather wasn't exactly what I was expecting with the first day being fairly over cast and a full on sea breeze making it a tad nippy!!
The Great Ocean Road is a memorial to the Anzac Soldiers and was built by returning personnel from the 1st World War. The views are stunning and you could probably spend a good week stopping at every vantage point for yet another picture of the Australian Coast.
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After lunch I ticked off one of my must do's for Australia by seeing Koala's in the wild. Frankly once you realise there are 4 or 5 in each tree you do begin to wonder if the Australian tourist board have shipped them in for the tourists. I think you could also play a game that we started on a trip to Canada - its fairly simple pull over anywhere on the road and stand looking into the distance with your camera and see how many people stop thinking you spotted a Koala/Kangaroo/Bear/Moose depending on the country. The road from Cape Otway is full of pulled over cars and sleepy Koala's
We pushed on to the Twelve Apostles ( although no one seems to be able to agree on the actual number of them) and I hit my first big dilemma. To spend or not to spend! I'd been hoping to do this trip on a relativity tight budget but temptation got the better of me when we were offered the chance to take a Helicopter ride over the Apostles. My new mantra is "bugger the consequences that's what Credit Cards were made for!" I will now also be travelling everywhere by helicopter!
That first night was spent in Port Campbell and despite the unseasonable weather I camped out, possibly under some stars although the cloud was so thick I can't confirm that!
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| Loch Ard Gorge |
Day 2 brought Sunshine and more rocks!
We headed back down to the 12 Apostles and then headed along the coast to see some more of the rock formations that have been carved out including the picturesque Lock Ard Gorge named after the ship that happened nearby from which there were only 2 survivors who sheltered in the gorge before finding help. There were several moments that cemented why I made the right decision on embarking on my travels. You can't really argue when you are standing looking out over warm sunny beaches!
After a couple of stops in various towns along the coast we headed inland towards the Grampians and our 2nd over night stop at the Asses Ears Wilderness Lodge. We spent the night listening to Steve the owner waxing lyrical about anything and everything, following wild Kangaroo's around, trying some Kangaroo (which I'd definitely recommend!) and sitting round a campfire definitely under the stars!
In the morning some of the group went out and tried quad biking (my other mantra "there ain't nothing that's getting me out of bed before 7am" trumped the credit card one) and we hit the road again.
This time we wound our way up to the top of the Grampains stopping at the Mackenzie Falls and the Balconies lookout which has the winning combination of both breath taking scenery and perfect phone reception! We stopped at Halls Gap on the way down for some fantastic ice cream and then started the journey home.
The trip proved to be a great way to meet new people and I'm aware that I was probably incredibly lucky in getting a lovely group of people and an excellent guide who knew his stuff and brought us all together but this was a great introduction to organised tours.Other things I've been up to - Australia Day with a bunch of New Zealanders, Open Air Cinema ( turns out to be much more pleasant when you aren't in a car park in Southampton in November), Neighbours Trina Night (it has to be done), exploring the Dandenongs
