The Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia, February 2014

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We got up early in the morning and had breakfast then waited outside for our bus. Today we were starting our two day tour of the Great Ocean Road. As we waited for the bus a lad from our room stormed outside and confronted us thinking we had stolen his charger, which obviously we hadn't. He carried on being a 'cough' and then his drunk mate came and got involved too telling us to empty our bags out, no chance mate! We started off polite but in the end got really annoyed as we knew we didn't have it so we told them to go away (obviously it was much more aggressive than that) and jumped on our bus. We drove a couple of hours to the end of the Great Ocean Road as we were going to drive it backwards. First stop was the Twelve Apostles, but there is actually only 8 of them and were only ever 9 when they named it, weird! The apostles are just rock formations that stick out of the sea but they did look good, with the crashing waves and cliff faces around them. On the path leading to their viewing platform there was a warning sign for snakes but I didn't expect to see one. However, to my luck as I walked up the path a wild snake slithered across so I crouched down, got as close as I dared and had my photo taken near it. For some reason there were hundreds of flies that just wanted to eat you, they weren't like English flies that get the picture and disappear after you have swiped at them a couple of times, no, they were relentless and just kept coming back for more. We took refuge in the shop to get away from them and had a nice ice cream. I had one that was very similar to a Zap, taking me back to the days of pitch and putt at Woodthorpe where we used to get a Zap from the ice cream man after... As we got back on the bus we were given a sandwich and our next stop was a secluded beach tucked away in a bay. We went to the view points at the top and then took the stairs down the cliff face to the beach. It was really hot so I planned to go in but these waters came straight up from Antarctica so the water was freezing, meaning I didn't get further than my knees. I also pulled my shorts up my bum into a thong and then bay watched it out of the water, to which our driver told me he'd never seen anyone look so good coming out of the sea haha! We then drove to a rainforest for a short hike before going to a wild animal place where we got to see koalas in the trees and colourful birds that kept flying down and landing on people's heads and shoulders. After this we drove past the official sign on the Great Ocean Road which is the third one that has been built after the other two were destroyed by fires. The sign is there in honour of the workers that built the road. We then walked up to a lighthouse for more good views of the coastline and I spoke to a couple of American girls from our bus who were both pretty funny. We finally arrived at our hostel late afternoon and checked into Bells Beach Backpackers, where it was me, Freeman, Leanne, Tayla and the two American girls Sarah and Danielle in a dorm. We were allowed to drink at the hostel so while we waited for our BBQ to be cooked we cracked open our duty free Absolut Vodka. We then had the BBQ which was really good with sausages, burgers, chicken, salad and we even got to eat some kangaroo. The kangaroo was actually really nice but he told us the trick was to not cook it too much or it goes too tough, just in case any of you English folk find a Kangaroo back home and decide to eat it... It got a bit chilly later on so we all headed inside and played some card drinking games and then headed to bed around midnight.

After breakfast the next morning we took a short drive to the beach and had a walk down by the rocks. We paddled but again the water was too cold so we ended going up to the grass banks before the beach instead. It was only 9am and it was already at least 30 degrees! Next we drove to a mini zoo where we fed kangaroos and saw llamas, a number of birds and koalas etc. You could feel the kangaroos teeth as they sort of sucked/licked the food out of your hand. The heat was relentless, I have never been so hot, so we took refuge in the shop and had ice cream stood under the air con units. After another drive we stopped at a beach and this time I braved it and went for a swim with Sarah. A few of the other girls then came in with us as well and once you were in it wasn't actually that bad. After the beach we got dry and then jumped on a boat to Phillip Island. When we arrived we drove to the penguin centre and went around the boardwalk where you could see seals in the distance if you had binoculars (we didn't so it was rubbish). It was then time for the main event, the Penguin Parade. We headed down to the beach to get a spot on the steps but you weren't actually allowed on the beach itself. Our guide told us to stay up on the boardwalk next to the hut as we would get better views from there. The sun set and we waited about half an hour in the dark until finally we saw our first glimpse of the tiny penguins waddling up the beach. It was quite funny and was like something from Happy Feet as they would all stay together and kept stopping for breaks to regroup, hiding behind the rocks. It soon got boring for me though so I walked back up and you could see the little penguins walking up the hill too, going into their little homes. The penguins are actually the smallest penguins in the world and are blue in colour instead of black! Back on the bus out over enthusiastic guide finally shut up and let us sleep for the two hour drive home and dropped us off at the hostel around midnight meaning it was straight to bed.

In my eyes the Great Ocean Road had been decent but not great. It would have been better to hire a car and just drive it yourself, stopping off at the different attractions along the way as you wouldn't be able to miss them.

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