Advertisement
Published: January 21st 2012
Edit Blog Post
Landing in Melbourne from a humid Singapore was like landing at home. Cold (compared to what we were used to) and overcast! Our plans in Melbourne were to sort out how we would travel up the east coast after taking a trip west to see the great ocean road. Whilst working this out, we had a look around Melbourne. Melbourne is the sport capital of Australia and with stadiums everywhere, it shows why. Trams ride around on the oldest tram system in the world and as with any city, people flood the Starbucks dotted around!After a week of searching, we found a used car garage. We had decided that buying a car would be our best bet.
After taking a test drive, we decided to go for it. Before driving the car out of the garage, we had to wait two days for the garage to complete a safety check on the car.
Saturday rolled round and we caught the tram from the hotel to the garage and after paying the final amount, we were the proud owners of a 1989 Toyota Camry!
With car keys in hand and backpacks in the boot, we jumped in and made
our move on the first part of our long journey, The Great Ocean Road.
We headed to Geelong, a town at the East end of the Ocean Road. As we rolled into the town, the engine of the car started making a horrible knocking noise. With neither of us being mechanics, we were very worried. We were lucky to find a motel on the outskirts of the town with the kindest of owners, she could see and sound we were in trouble. With all the rooms booked out bar one, she let us have it at a discounted rate. We scratched our heads all nights about how to get the car back to the garage, what to do if we don't make it back and when we do, how to handle what we expected to be a confrontational salesman.
To cut a long story short, after driving the car back to the garage the following Monday, we were given a courtesy car that got us about 1km up the road before giving up. Really upset we rang the garage and were given another car, this time, one that worked and that day got on with the journey west.
One days driving and we ended up in Warrnambool, a small town at the west end of the Great Ocean Road. We stayed in a dorm in a tiny hostel between a lake and the sea.
The next day, we set off early, whilst most of the hostel were still asleep! The road follows the Southern coast of Australia along a 150km coastline. Like a James Bond car chase, the road lies with the Southern Ocean to the right and hills and mountains on the left. A few towns dot along the route and were welcome stops for fuel and something to eat. There are many stopping points along the route to take in the views. The Twelve Apostles are one of the most famous sights. Twelve giant rocks are meant to independently rise from the sea but with erosion taking it's toll on the soft rock, not all of them still stand, but they were still beautiful at 9am in the morning sunshine. Another viewing point is called the London Bridge, but the bridge had fallen down! We had spoken to people along the route and they had said you can see wild Koalas and Kangaroos whilst
driving. We were lucky enough to spot wild Kangaroos whilst between London Bridge and The Twelve Apostles and whilst driving we saw a car stopped and taking a picture of a Koala in the tree. We obviously stopped and took a look. The Koala gazed at us in fascination. We managed to get the most amazing pictures of it staring back at us. The people we stopped by said there were hundreds where they had just come from. After taking pictures of the 'Drop Bear' we carried on to see many many wild Koalas in the trees above us and camper after camper lining the sides of the road to get a picture. To say we were lucky to see that one of the bears would be at eye height and staring at us was an understatement. All the bears we saw from then on were 20-30m up in the trees and asleep! Koalas eat for 20 hours a day and sleep for the remaing 4. Unluckily for the people trying to get pictures, they had turned up during the 4 hours the bears were alseep!
It took us a full five hours to drive along the route. One
of the best five drives I have ever driven.
We finished the Great Ocean Road where we started, at Geelong. We stayed at the same motel we had previously as the owner was so nice to us. Just before entering Geelong, we saw an Aborignal centre. This is a free to enter building that teaches the traditional ways of life and values of the Aboriginal people of Australia. We saw all the tools used to cook and hunt, along with weapons for war. This is where Charlie and I were taught how to throw a boomerang. The guide told me the technique and demonstrated with a throw that came back in his direction. my firat few attempts were not good at all, its a fine art to throw a boomerang! I started to get the hang of it and then Charlie stepped up to the plate. The guide started telling her that men find it easier due to their strength in the forearm. Her first two boomerangs came flying back better than the guides! I think there is a finess that is needed to throw thw boomerang and Charlie has more than me!
We returned the courtesy car
to the garage, having driven all the fuel out of it and seen how fast it would go and how high it would rev! Our car had been fitted with a new engine and windscreen courtesy of the garage!
So, after all the drama, we travelled along the Great Ocean Road, stayed 2 weeks in Melbourne, drove three cars and finally started our journey north!
Roll on Sydney!!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.097s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 9; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0607s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb