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Published: February 8th 2011
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Elise and Alex
BBQing on the beach Greetings from the land down unda! So things have been a little hectic since we've left the city, we're spending our first night of the past 4 indoors. Day one we took a short road trip from Melbourne to a surf town called Warnambol on the Great Ocean Road. We camped near the beach and went to the only local bar open - everyone we met asked us why we bothered coming to Warnambol - very small town. After a good night out with some local Aussies we hit the road again heading inland in attempts to do some hikes and tours. However, half way to the middle of no where we noticed the station wagon was on empty. Great. The last town was nearly 50km back, and the next closest was over 70. We managed to find a farmer couple living on the highway that had some extra gas to spare which barely let us get to town. Problem was, "town" was a ghost town - only one store open, and the gas station was a credit only machine. Luckily we have credit cards, unluckily, none of them felt like working that day. Just when we thought our day was
Domaine Chandon
Wine tasting in the beautiful Yarra Valley for our last day with the car, the last of 3 wineries/cellar door experiences ruined, a local Aussie pulled over, filled us with 20 litres of gas free of charge. He asked only that we help someone else when they're in need - seriously. So that brightened our spirits and we headed to a town called Portland, back to the coast, so we would be closer to goal of the trip: The Great Ocean Road. We found a parking lot, cooked some sausages on our stove and slept in the car that night, almost comfortably. The next day we drove along the most beautiful coast line I have ever seen - that any of us had ever seen. The Great Ocean Road is on the southern coast of the Victoria province, it has numerous viewpoints and beaches to walk down to, all packed with tourists and cameras. We soaked it all up - stopped off at 4 different spots, the most notable being the 12 Apostles. That night we pulled into a town called Apollo Bay and had another lovely car sleep (luckily its a station wagon, 3 in the back, 1 in the front). The next day we wanted to surf but couldn't find a good break so we headed to a close
Alex, Hillary, Elise
drinking our newly purchased Cuvee Riche by town and did some horseback riding through the bush. On the way Alex managed to spot two Koalas in the trees on the highway so we pulled over to adore the fuzzy creatures before the ride. All the girls had a lot of experience, but it was my first time in forever. Alex's horse had a serious attitude and kicked another horse in the face, Hillary's horse had a tailgating problem, always putting its head up the butt of other horses, Elise's was the oldest and fastest and mine was nearly twice as slow as the rest. After two hours we were pretty sore, but we were rewarded with a group of about 10 kangaroos. Perfect! Koalas, Horses, Kangaroos all in one day!!! It was a success. That night we spent another night in the car in the "undisputed surf capital of Australia" Torquay. Unfortunately we were awakened by a cop at 7am knocking on our window with a "no sleeping in your car" ticket. Crap, $125. Still less expensive than sleeping in hostels though. C'est la vie. We figured we'd have a full day since we were up so early, so Hillary and I rented surf boards and
Alex and Hill
admiring the beauty of our trip hit the beach. Unfortunately the surf wasn't great and my knee wasn't happy so we called it quits pretty fast. Instead we headed further down the beach to relax for a few hours. Later on we headed to catch a short ferry to a town called Sorrento, then drove closer to Melbourne for convenience and checked into a motel. Tonight we sleep in beds. Tomorrow we're going to a wine tasted in the oh-so-delicious Yarra Valley. Over 80 wineries in the area, what more can I say? Australia has been hectic, but I can't say I've had one bad minute. We bring the car back in two days and then we're going to try to grab the cheapest flight to Perth - off too sunshine and serious heatheatheat. Much love to family and friends back home!!
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HillnGrace
Genius Hillarious
PS
No pictures yet, but LOTS on the way - technical difficulties with macs