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Published: October 6th 2007
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Port Fairy (2nd - 3rd October)
We hit the road early, stopping at Beachport for breakfast and then heading on to Mt Gambier. Mt Gambier is near the South Australia/Victoria border and is famous for its lakes, craters and caves as a result of past volcanic activity in the area. We made a quick stop at the Blue Lake, so called for its brilliant blue colour. Don’t think the winter months do it justice, but it is blue, like most water!
Adjusted our watches by half an hour at the border and to help us get over the jet lag made a stop in Portland for lunch. Not much to look at but a welcome stop all the same. The scenery on our drive has varied from vineyards to agricultural land (beef farming in particular), timber forests and wind farms. Cruise control would be a useful accessory for our little Toyota Yaris, since the roads are particularly long and straight. James has enjoyed being back behind the wheel, though the 110km per hour speed limit seems painfully slow. Although insured on the vehicle, since reaching the grand old age of 25, I have not yet been brave enough to
Blue Lake
Mount Gambier drive!
We made it to Port Fairy by late afternoon, in time for a mooch around the town and shops, before heading to Griffiths Island for an hour long walk, to take in the ocean views. James would like me to add that I was thoroughly enjoying myself until I heard a mother telling her kids not to go in the grass because of the snakes!
This evening we headed in to town for a meal and a few drinks. Pubs appeared a bit locally but we braved the fourth one we came across for a swift pot.
First accommodation we have ever stayed in without an ensuite and it’s not something I am enjoying too much, just had a small scream in the cubical when a moth flew towards me and not sure on shower etiquette for the morning, in particular whether I can head down in my PJ’s!
Port Campbell (3rd - 4th October)
We woke early due to the third world living conditions and headed straight off on our drive towards Port Campbell. First stop was a giant crater supposedly full of kangaroos and koalas (according to the tourist info place). The
Port Fairy
East Beach view was great but no sign of any Aussie animals! We the headed onto Warrnambool a busy little town famous for its beaches and whale nursery. No sign of any whales at the beach and due to some serious wind conditions we did not spend a great deal of time here!
After Warnambool we turned down towards the great ocean road. This is where the drive gets really spectacular. Over the next few days driving the road I took over 200 photos. We turned off early to get a look at three small coves. It took a while to get there but was really worth it as it was just the two of us who bothered. The cliffs and beaches were spectacular and we even spotted a giant porcupine on the path!
Back on the main ocean road we stopped at the more famous tourist sites of ‘London Bridge’, ‘The Grotto’ and ‘The Arch’. We were hoping to stop for lunch at the ‘town’ of Peterborough. However it turned out that this town consisted of a couple of houses and a golf course. We decided to head straight to Port Campbell which was also small but had a
Port Fairy
Griffiths Island good selection of restaurants and cafes.
As we were too early to check in we headed out to the Twelve Apostles. The most famous rock formation on the road. I took a couple of pictures in the evening light and headed back the next day for the morning snaps!
We spent the night at Shearwater Haven B&B in Port Campbell. This was much more luxurious than the hostels and was a welcome change. Dinner that evening was in the local pub (hotel). Aly had the seafood platter which was huge, consisting of oysters, mussels, prawns, crayfish, squid, salmon and battered flake. It was very good (I know as Aly let me finish it off). We made the most of the great accommodation spending the night in watching an Aussie movie on the in room DVD player.
Apollo Bay (4th- 5th October)
The B&B experience meant we enjoyed a lovely breakfast, with lots of helpful advice on what to see and do. With our grand plans we headed off for more sightseeing. First stop Loch Ard Gorge to walk off the breakfast and to see the impressive Blow Hole and Thunder Cave. We then went on to
the Twelve Apostles, I stayed in the car, whilst James went to get some more snaps. We then planned to see the Otway Ranges, but the weather took a turn for the worse and I was never really that keen on the 40m high tree top walk! We were also too tight to pay for the Cape Otway Lighthouse, in fact I think we were tiring of sightseeing altogether so we headed to Apollo Bay for a lazy lunch and planned to check in to the hostel early. Typically they would not let us check in until five, therefore we continued The Great Ocean Road drive to Lorne. The landscape changed remarkably and we brightened up, this was the drive we were expecting, with the road hugging the cliffs, running alongside the sea. Lorne is one of the most upmarket towns along the route and we made the most of the boutique shops before heading back to Apollo Bay and an evening’s entertainment at the local hotel.
The final day (5th October)
Up early for the drive back to Melbourne. We stopped for breakfast in Lorne and had various stops along the way. These included Split Lighthouse famous
for its role in ‘Round the Twist’ which I have never heard of but it seemed to excite Aly! Next stop, Bells Beach a world famous surfing destination (beach name used in the movie Point Break). Another town of note was Anglesea which again excited Aly as she spent so much time in Anglesea with work (but no Trearddur Bay here).
We detoured to Queenscliff for lunch before heading through Geelong (Go Cats - Geelong just won the AFL grand final), back to Melbourne.
That evening we made use of the car by looking for a proper supermarket. It took a while but we eventually stumbled upon a giant shopping centre (allegedly the biggest in the Southern hemisphere). This seemed to please Aly although we were both so tired we only managed to take in Coles for our monthly shop!
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