Entry 11: A night in the cells, English weather and the Great Ocean Road

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Arriving in Adelaide we soon located our hostel which turned out to be our best yet - helpful staff, clean comfortable room and a good location, can be a struggle to find all three. In fact Adelaide seems a very friendly city overall. Our experience is that within 30 seconds of staring confusingly at a map, someone will inevitably walk up and ask if you require any help.
We walked into the city several times including one afternoon when we went our separate ways and had an hour to by each other our Christmas presents. Adelaide also seems a very sociable city and it would appear that it’s against the law for residents to dine in their homes of an evening. It wasn’t hard to see why though when Awe joined the throngs for a very nice meal with live music in one of the many restaurants in the city. The afternoon before we left, we caught the tram down to Glenelg; a seaside town close to Adelaide city centre and the oldest European settlement on the mainland in South Australia.

Glenelg is also the home of Rodney Fox Shark Adventure. For those of you who are not familiar with Mr. Fox, now a conservationist, he's one of the worlds most famous survivors of a Great White shark attack and is the owner of one hell of an impressive bite scar that required 462 stitches to close. If not for the good work that he is now involved in, google his name just to see the bite that nearly cost Mr. Fox his life, but instead changed it in a positive way forever.

So an early start as we began our final and shortest road trip (whilst in Australia) from Adelaide to Melbourne. Firstly we drove to the town of Mt. Gambier some 450km down the coast from Adelaide, where we would spend the night behind bars……..
'The Jail', would be our hostel for our first night on the road. A former medium security grade prison up until 1995, when it was considered too old and too small for a modern day facility, and was subsequently closed. These days it's now a hostel that's still too old and run down, but much like our 'train hostel' (in South Africa) it was the novelty factor more than comfort that brought us here, although there’s more to this town than just a converted jail.
Mt. Gambier boasts some unusual attractions that have been created by water erosion, time and the odd volcanic eruption. Dotted around the town are numerous caves and 'sink holes' or ‘stinkholes’ as Sam mistakenly called them at the information center, fortunately she managed to keep her Tourette’s in check otherwise it could have been worse. These sink holes are like deep vertical bomb craters where the ceilings have collapsed on underground caves that themselves have been caused over time by water erosion. The local councils have then made sociable gardens out of them. Mt. Gambier's main attraction however is a volcano crater that’s inner base sits below the water table and due to natural processes during a few days in November (as summer arrives) the water turns from grey to blue, and when I say blue, I mean sapphire blue.....and it looks stunning. This lasts till March when it turns back to grey.
The weather after leaving Adelaide has been typically British with temperatures down to 11 degrees and persistent rain leading to the horrible thought that we may yet, after coming all this way experience a dreary English Christmas after all. The following morning brought a brief glimpse of sunshine so we made the very short journey back to the blue lake which looked even more striking than the previous day.
We left Mt. Gambier and headed for a place that for reasons I can’t quite explain has held a fascination for me since I saw a picture of it many years ago. It’s a dramatic and stunning example of the sea’s persistent erosive battle with the land as wave after wave, inch by inch, century after century the Indian Ocean slowly dissolves the south coast of Australia. It is of course the Great Ocean Road, but more precisely, The Twelve Apostles.
It’s odd that of all the activities and places we had earmarked for this trip this was the one place that I felt I needed to get to. I knew it couldn’t possibly live up to the diversity or magnificence of the Ngorongoro Crater or produce a rush of adrenaline like the cage diving, but there was just something about it; I hoped I wouldn’t be disappointed.
The journey, however, didn't get off to a good start. The weather was hammering rain, low cloud (preventing any views out to sea), the wind was hard to stand up in, and it was cold. With only 25km traveled and even before reaching the first viewpoint on the Great Ocean Road, I could feel there was something wrong with the car. Once I’d battled against the wind to open the car door and got out, my suspicions were confirmed. We had a flat tire! If it wasn't bad enough having to change a wheel in these atrocious conditions, what made it worse was that the spare wheel was one of those temporary things that looked like a polo mint with a tire on it. With a recommended maximum speed of 80kmph for the polo mint, the 150 or so kilometers we had yet to cover in order to make it to our hostel in Apollo Bay was going to make our journey a lot longer. After exiting the car and walking out to the first viewpoint we struggled to remain upright let alone take any photos so at that point we agreed to stop at the 12 Apostles only and just make it to our hostel with a view to re-driving the this particular section of the Great Ocean Road again the next day and keep our fingers crossed for better weather.
During a brief lull in the rain we arrived at the Twelve Apostles. There’s a car park and visitors centre on the other side of the road where we parked before making the walk out to the cliff top. Despite the stormy weather, the viewing platforms were really busy, and my long held visions of looking out over this amazing stretch of coastline with nothing but the sound of crashing waves to drown any emotional thoughts of home was ruined by a thousand inappropriately dressed, snap happy fashion victims from the far east. Their summer attire was no match for the rain when it came again as the girls in their heels tried to run in their tight trousers and jeans making them look like they were bound at the knees. Sticking to the theme of Chinese and Japanese tourists, it’s our belief that they must be in possession of the worst photo albums in the world. It seems almost a cultural thing where no matter where they are or what they’re photographing A. they must be in the picture, and B. they must be holding up a ’V’ sign when posing in said picture. They’re obsession with the camera (and lets face it they make some of the best) is fascinating, but they obscure some of the world’s most amazing views and famous landmarks with pictures of themselves whilst modelling not only those mandatory ’V’ signs but also they’re appalling dress sense.

In hindsight the weather was great in which to look out at the 12 Apostles. It was so wild, and a glimpse of the type of conditions that not only wrecked ships and took many lives in the process, but ultimately formed and continues to reshape this amazing coastline. This was no more evident than in 2005 when onlookers were stunned (and extremely lucky and privileged in our opinion) to witness the collapse of one of the Apostles. At approximately 09:00 hrs on the 3rd of July tourists watched as the 50m Apostle that took 20 million years to form collapsed in seconds, reduced a 10m pile of rubble. The sea had claimed it’s forth victim since the 12 Apostles had been named and there were now eight remaining.

We finally made it to our beautifully situated hostel in the picturesque Apollo Bay, where a warm shower and hot drink were well received.
The next morning we awoke to a different day and my prayers for sunshine had been answered. We made the most of it by re-driving the section of the Great Ocean Road we had driven yesterday but this time stopping at most of, if not all of the viewpoints including 'The Grotto' and 'London Bridge'. With our wonky wheel we drove 100km back west then immediately ‘chucked a U’y’ to head back east again in order to complete the journey to Melbourne. We managed to spot our third Koala in a tree by the side of the road, which we were later told is a rarity, as well as crossing paths with an echidna on one of the trails leading to the cliffs edge. Arriving at the 12 Apostles early we had that view all to ourselves and I was afforded a very personal moment that shall forever remain mine. We stood together with the sound of those crashing waves and admired (without interruption) another spectacular reminder of nature’s creative side. At that moment it was just as I’d hoped it would be.

The Great Ocean Road meanders inland for a while amidst tree ferns and towering eucalyptus, but once we were past Apollo Bay and heading towards Melbourne it was pure coastal road. No more walks out to viewpoints, it was simply spectacular viewing from the comfort of the car as every turn produced a picture postcard. However, travelling from west to east means that it’s difficult to stop in order to catch those views on camera as all the areas to pull over were on the bends on the other side of the road. So if you are ever down this way the tip is to drive the ‘GOR’ from east to west....and believe us its worth it.

So we finally made it to Melbourne, and arrived at Lisa, Jason’s house in the suburb of Montmorency. We did this of course by complete accident after driving around the suburbs several times with no clue as to where we were. It was great to see Sam and Lisa reunited once again and we were made instantly welcome with a warm embrace and a cold glass of wine. We were introduced to the twins, Mia and Jake who were predictably shy at first but soon let they’re guards down when their dad arrived home from work.
As in Perth we began another luxury stay with 6 star hosts. We had a wander around Melbourne city when we took the car back on Christmas Eve, which didn't feel Christmasey at all, and when we did hear a carol or some other reminder, it was greeted with a spontaneous reaction in stereo of:

"oh yeah...its Christmas tomorrow!"………………………….....

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Photos

The 12 Apostles
The main attraction on the Great Ocean Road.
Breathtaking....what can be achieved with rock, water and a few million years.

Christmas decs in Adelaide
Victoria Square

Porridge
The age of the prisoner (not the sentence) is clearly marked on the door

A sink hole
Mount Gambier

The Blue Lake
No airbrushing required. The Blue Lake in Mt. Gambier.

It was unusually damp as we entered Victoria
Victoria is an Australian territory, not a koala you sicko!!

Well packaged
It was another beautiful day on the coast....!

Death of an Apostle (foreground)
In 2005 onlookers were stunned (and privileged in my opinion) as one of the Apostles, that had taken 20 million years to form, fell in seconds.

Windy, grey and rough.
No, not me..... the photo!!!

A time to reflect.......
This place will always be special.

Koala
Always looking down on people!!

The old and the new.
Melbourne City Centre