Great Ocean Road

G’day!

Before I left the U.S., I was advised by nearly everyone who has visited Australia to “drive down the Great Ocean Road, it is amazing”—those people were 100% correct, it is absolutely amazing!

The Great Ocean Road has been chosen (by multiple travel magazines) as the greatest scenic drive in the world. The Road stretches along the southern-most part of Victoria, Australia. The Road has some of the most breathtaking scenery that I have ever seen.

I decided to make the 5 hour trip a three-day event. I left Melbourne the afternoon of Friday, January 12th with 7 other students (6 of which were in the study abroad program; 1 was a foreign-exchange student from Valencia, Spain named Mickie) in two rental cars heading for the Great Ocean Road.

We drove to Torquay, about 90 minutes southwest of Melbourne, to see the world famous Bells Beach. Bells Beach is considered the surfing capital of the world. It is where “Rip Curl” was first invented/created and is also the home to Australia’s National Surfing Museum. If you have seen the movie “Point Break” (Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze) you may be familiar with Bells Beach, as the last scene of the movie is supposedly shot at Bells (actually shot in California), where Swayze dies surfing in the “killer waves” during the 50-year storm. This is where I learned to surf. I received no formal instruction, but after a half dozen attempts I was able to “get up” and ride a wave all the way into shore. It was unbelievable! I surfed for over 4 hours—the first hour was learning and the next three was surfing (as well as wiping out)! It is not nearly as hard as it looks, but it is more fun than you can imagine. I will be surfing at every opportunity I get for the rest of my athletic life!

After surfing, we hit the Great Ocean Road….I will let the pictures/videos do the rest of the talking…

Hope you enjoy!

Peace,
A

---

---