Archive for the ‘Victoria - The Great Ocean Road’ Category
July 6th, 2006 | 
Author: Having stayed up ’til gone 1.00am, our heads just seemed to have touched the pillows before we were up again. We posed for a photograph with Lesley and Peter and were soon saying our farewells and getting in the car.
Alison navigated our way via the toll road to the airport which went suprisingly well given the lack of sleep we’d both had but was due to Pete’s excellent directions. When we got to the airport the traffic split into about six lanes and it wasn’t clear which lane we needed to be in until we reached the sign which was right on the junction. As a result I had to cross into the adjacent lane at almost the last possible moment. Read the rest of this entry »
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Alison’s relative Lesley and her partner Peter live in the Box Hill area of Melbourne. We think Lesley is Alison’s cousin once removed being the daughter of one of Alison’s Dad’s cousins, but don’t hold us to that.
This would be the first time either Alison or I had ever met Lesley, and what a lovely experience it was. We had a great evening with Alison swapping stories with Lesley about each other’s side of the family and a few interesting anecdotes involving glass eyes. After a few drinks and a lovely piece of steak cooked on the BBQ in true Aussie style, they rang Lesley’s parents and had a conversation on speakerphone after which Lesley rang Alison’s parents so they could do the same thing. Pete and I were told off for talking too loudly whilst all this was going on so we had to be a bit quieter lest we be banished to the sofa. It was a lovely evening, and we were really looked after, it was a shame that we only had the one evening. Read the rest of this entry »
Having made good progress to get back to Apollo Bay the previous night, we had the whole day to get back to Melbourne. We’d already decided to hang onto the car as we could use it for transport to Alison’s relative’s home and also the airport the following day. Our drive back thus took us through the route we’d done on the way down, but this time we’d be doing it in daylight. Therefore, we basically drove back down the Great Ocean Road via Kennett River, Aireys Inlet, Anglesea, Bells Beach, Torquay, Geelong and then finally into Melbourne where we worked our way across the city to Alison’s relative. Read the rest of this entry »
Not sure whether we’d need to stay the night again, we checked out of the motel as we could always come back if needs be.
At the beginning of the year, January 2006, electrical storms had had a devastating impact on vast areas of the Grampians National Park. Several lightening strikes had started bush fires which had raged through so much of the park that it would be hard to comprehend the vastness of the land which had subsequently been damaged. Even during the drive the previous night you could pick out the change in the forest’s look through the car’s headlights. Towns nearby were evacuated whilst others further away were put on alert, just watching the smoke from miles away wondering whether the wind would blow the fires in their direction. Once we’d seen some of the damage in daylight you began to appreciate how serious these bush fires were. Read the rest of this entry »
First stop in the morning was the worthwhile trip up to Mariner’s Lookout in Apollo Bay. It’s quite high up on a large hill which affords you a fantastic view down over Apollo Bay itself.
From here we made our way to the Cape Otway Lightstation. Really worth a visit not least because you can climb up into the lighthouse, but because there was also some history regarding a telegraph station and an old World War II radar bunker plus other bits and bobs such as ‘Eric the Red Anchor’, which added some extra interest. Eric the Red ran aground here on the Otway reef, having sailed from America in 1880, laden with exhibits for the Melbourne exhibition, hence the anchor being on display, see photo. Read the rest of this entry »
The Great Ocean Road is purportedly one of the world’s most spectacular coastal drives, the main nub of which is the part that covers the stretch from Anglesea down to Apollo Bay.
From the centre of Melbourne it was about an hour and a half to reach Bells Beach, which is the first stop on most tour guide itineraries. It’s worth a mention at this point that reading tour guide literature is a good way of identifying places of interest which are worth visiting. The only thing you need to be aware of is that some tours can be padded out with less interesting things just to make their package seem more appealing. However, by cross referencing with the guidebooks and other sources of information these tour itineraries can be quite useful. Read the rest of this entry »
Steve very kindly dropped us down to the train station at the end of his road, and we got the train into Spencer Street ( Southern Cross ) in the centre of Melbourne. We used the lockers at Spencer Street to hold our rucksacks whilst we walked around Melbourne city.
We discussed our onward travel arrangements over a coffee and then did a little sightseeing and shopping where Alison treated herself to some new shoes. With this done we found an internet cafe where we did some more research about what we were going to do next. We knew that the next part of our journey was going to be a drive down the Great Ocean Road and then into the Grampians to visit Halls Gap. However, it was after this part we wanted to make plans for and at least put some arrangement in place. Read the rest of this entry »