Driving the Great Ocean Road

It is considered one of the top scenic drives in the world and we had heard it compared to the Pacific Highway along the coast of California before we embarked. With all the hype we had high expectations to say the least, but it lived up to them and more as we drove along the southern coast of Australia from Melbourne heading towards Adelaide.

We headed out in our mini-van and had a leisurely breakfast on the coast in Torquay and an afternoon swim in Lorne. Keep in mind that as we started this journey the media was calling the weather the "heat wave of the decade" in Victoria/South Australia and we were travelling in 40+ degrees Celcius (that's 105+ F)! This made for frequent stops to go swimming in the ocean and lots of air conditioning in the van. Towards the end of the afternoon we made it to an area near Kennett River that we had heard was good for spotting koalas. We headed down a dirt road for about a km (going on a tip we got from a guide book article) and came upon a eucalyptus forest that was just full of sleeping koalas, nestled into the crooks of trees trying to stay cool in the heat. We had the area to ourselves and it was an amazing way to see our first wild koalas. Our day finished in the town of Apollo Bay where we stayed in a big house just outside of town on a big hill overlooking the town and water.

The following day started with a quick rain forest hike in the cool tropical zone and led onto some of the famous vistas that the drive is so well known for. The sandstone along the coast is enriched with various other minerals and makes it erode along the coast at differing rates. This creates the fantastic formations we came across at the 12 Apostles (which is now 11 after one of the towers fell over a couple years ago), Loch Ard Gorge, the Razorback, London Bridge, the Grotto, and many others. They just kept coming and we continued to take lots of photos and sneak down to the water for swimming and snorkeling whenever it was feasible and/or allowed (and even in areas where it probably wasn't allowed...Betty). We finished the day at the Tower Hill Reserve, which is an inactive volcanic crater where we found an elusive echidna and emu's running wild! What crazy looking animals and an intimate experience as we made the most of the fading daylight. The evening was capped off with an Australian BBQ at our house in Port Fairy complete with snags (sausages) and grilled onions.

The following day we got up extra early to head off to our next destination..... Kangaroo Island! (and yes, finally we get to see some Roos)

Back with more soon,
Matt and Heidi

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