Wild Kangaroos and the Great Ocean Road

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The road trip continues on the Great Ocean Road. Emma, Andy and I left Melbourne about 9am but the location of our campground was such that we didn't reach the Great Ocean Road until about 11. Our first stop was Aireys Inlet were we saw the light house. As you can see from the pictures are weather was not good, but even in bad weather the Great Ocean Road is beautiful. There are several small towns along the Great Ocean Road, but we only made a few stops. We wanted to stop in Lorne, but there appeared to be some sort of surfing competitions going on, so there was no place to park. We promised ourselves that we would stop the next day on the way back. We stopped in Apollo Bay and climbed to a cliff that overlooked the town and the Ocean. It really reminded me of the opening of the sound of music for some reason.

The Great Ocean Road was started in 1919 and constructed mainly by returning World War I veterans. It was dedicated as a memorial to all the soldiers that died in the first world war. The road was opened in 1922 as a toll road (2 shillings for a motor car and 10 shillings for a wagon with more than 2 horses).

The last thing we did on our first day was see the 12 Apostles, the most iconic image of the Great Ocean Road. The Twelve Apostles were originally called the Sow and Piglets, but were renamed the Apostles in 1922 to attract tourists. (Though I think the Sow and Piglets is a cute name.) Eventually the Apostles became the Twelve Apostles even though there were only nine limestone stacks. One stack collapsed in 2005 and now there are only eight left.

We camped in Princetown which is a tiny town where one store sells groceries, petrol, souvenirs, hot food, coffee, and has rooms to let. It only cost 25 dollars for the three of us. When we woke up in the morning there as an entire herd of kangaroos grazing in the field by our tent. Apparently there are over 40 million kangaroos in Australia. The locals consider them a pest that jump in front of their cars, even jumping into parked cars. The first month that I was here I saw a new report on tv about a lady who was hanging her washing on the line when she was attacked by a kangaroo and ended up in the hospital. At the time of the report they had not captured the guilty kangaroo. You can buy kangaroo meat in grocery stores. It tastes like very dry hamburger.

The next day we drove to Otway National Park and visited the rainforest walk. You pay $19 (with a YHA discount) to walk on boardwalks and towers built near the top of the forest. It was very beautiful, even though it started raining on us. I guess it is a rainforest.

Afterward we debated driving back to Melbourne on the Great Ocean road or taking the highway, we decided on the highway because it cuts about 2 and a half hours off the trip. But it meant missing our chance to see Lorne. We stayed overnight in Geelong. We had a bit of crisis in the morning because Andy couldn't find his wallet. It turned out that he had left it at the Otway rainforest walk. He wanted us to drive back there (about 5 hours round trip) to get it for him but we refused as that would make us loose an entire day of our trip. He arranged for them to mail it to him. We dropped Andy off in Melbourne to get a hostel. It was very stressful for Emma and I driving through the city. By the time we made it back to the freeway we were frazzled. Then we discovered that the freeway was actually a toll road, but not one with toll booths. You are supposed to call and pay by credit card. It costs us 14 dollars to drive on the freeway through Melbourne. Things in Australia are ridiculously expensive.

We drove all day and stopped for the night at Lakes Entrance. It is small town named because there are two freshwater lakes separated from the ocean by a narrow beach. Emma and I walked along there in the morning and Emma was caught in a wave that soaked her clothes.

That day we drove up to Canberra which took about 5 hours. Apparently Canberra is in the middle of the mountains. We had a day of sight seeing in Canberra and then I said goodbye to Emma. We had been together at the Fruitshack for 6 months. It was sad to say goodbye, but she was going back to work and I am going on to finish my travels.

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Photos

Wild Kangaroos!
We woke to a whole heard of kangaroos in the field next to our tent! It is amazing!

Emma Me and the 12 Apostles
There are really only 8 apostles left.

Shipwreck Coast
This section of coastline is know as the shipwreck coast because of all the ships that have sunk here. There are 50 of them memorialized along the Great Ocean road.

Otway National Forest
The park here has plastic dinosaur statues for you to find.

Comments

[Mom]

kewl
I can't wait to see ALL your pictures. And meet you in Europe. Hi from your fellow Wal-Martians from 3 diferent stores that you worked at.