Blogs from Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia, Oceania - page 3

First – we do not know why the past couple of blog postings have lost their paragraph formatting – hopefully this will work better. This morning (Sunday) we have another first experience – we are going on a 2-day excursion. Fortunately Daylight Savings Time ended last night and we got an extra hour’s sleep this morning. Despite that we had to be in the lobby at 8:00 so we could not dawdle. We did get to check our e-mail and have message from Kathy saying that Janet’s brother Mike had a big gall stone removed and everything went well. We also got a note from Elizabeth confirming our flights and that she was going to pick us up at the airport. We also saw a message from David’s sister Janel that she is starting a 13 ... read more

A couple of photos from Melbourne plus we forgot to mention that whilst we were sitting in a cafe sipping our coffee, at the next table a local newscaster was being filmed as he was reporting on the extreme weather. Apparently it was the hottest 1st April in Melbourne for 150 years with temperatures hitting 33+ degrees C whereas it would normally be around 20 degrees C !! Wednesday 2nd April - awoke to cloud and drizzle - the heatwave in Melbourne must be over!!! On the advice of the camp warden we took the Freeway to a town called Colac before dropping down to the Great a Ocean Road as he said that would save us a lot of time. We didn't linger in Colac as it was a depressing town but took the windy ... read more

Wednesday 26h February 2014. Port Campbell to Port Fairy, Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia After breakfast of toast, tea and coffee (included in the price) we loaded the car and drove to the start of a short walk which overlooks Port Campbell harbour. The walk was about 1 hour return but we did not have time to do it all. We walked for about 20 minutes - so we could see the coast around the corner and then returned to the car. The weather was a little bit better than last night but it was still a bit iffy. We were now on the Shipwreck coast - having left the surf coast behind us at Airey's Inlet. Once back in the car we continued on to a Rock Formation called (imaginatively as always by the Aussies) ... read more

Monday 24th February 2014. The Great Ocean Road - Melbourne to Lorne, Victoria, Australia We met up with Chris (the guy we met in Pittwater) as arranged in Glen's cafe for breakfast. After we all checked out we caught the tram down to Southern Cross Station where the Hertz Office was located. After completing all the paperwork we collected the keys and found the car in the car park. Then off we went. We negotiated our way out of the city fairly easily. The first part of the journey was a bit dull, through endless suburbs on a freeway. After about 2 hours we found ourselves in Torquay - the start of the Great Ocean Road (GOR) drive. Torquay is a township with a population of about 7,000 in Victoria which faces Bass Strait. It is ... read more

The Grampians. It is a bit like someone took the Lake District's mountains and dropped them into the middle of an endless Australian plain. And the Grampians are beautiful, with wonderful but tough walking to the top of craggy hills, passing waterfalls and kangaroos on the way. Overhead cockatoos fly in great flocks and we are buzzed by crimson rosellas. Heading south again took us to Great Ocean Road and a two night stay in a train carriage. Built in 1903, it was part of the "overland" train from Adelaide to Sydney and had been converted into two suites - very smart too. The owners were unusual, having not only three train carriages but also two alpacas, both very pregnant, and nine bee hives. While we were out for the day, the owner had to deal ... read more