Out of the city and 'On the Road'

---

After being seduced by the delights of the city I persuaded B that it would be a nice idea to take a 'road trip'. Amazingly, I succeeded, helped, it must be said, by a couple of 'Melbourne Ladies' that we struck up conversation with over a glass of wine and lunch at the Botanical Gardens.

So we rented a car and off we set to Geelong to drive the Great Ocean Road. Someone close to me 😉) should be aware, and very probably is, that this is done every year on bicycles. I hope he takes inspiration from this and makes plans to do it. I can guarantee he'd enjoy it. A lot!!

It started at another Torquay. This time though, all the creeks we drove over had different names, unlike Queensland where we must have driven over about 200 'Six Mile Creeks'

It's billed as one of the world's great drives and it really lives up to it. I know it's not terribly environmentally conscious to be burning precious fuel dicking around seeing the sights, but a guy's gotta have some vices. We had spent 10 days 'doing the right thing' and using public transport exclusively.

By the standard of our Queensland drive it's not particularly long, and on the map it doesn't look to be that far, but with the numerous twists and turns, and the number of stops to see some of the most awesome geological formations in the world, it took us about 7 1/2 hours. And that was rushing the last bit so that we could check in to our overnight motel without having to ring the 'out of hours bell'. Didn't matter though, the next morning we retraced our steps to look at the stuff we'd rushed past. It also gave us the benefit of different vantage points and different light.

We overnighted in Warrnambool, a place that we thought would likely be just another hick town. We were very pleasantly surprised to find a huge amount of vegetarian food on offer in the town........ huge portions and inexpensive prices. It took all of the next day to walk off the breakfast I had. It had a nice vibe to it (basically, there were a fair number of 'alternative', arty people about, that always tends to chill a place out).

It didn't seem that hot on the return leg, even though the sun was shining. I've been chastised earlier in the blog for harping on about 'have you put this on, have you smeared that on'. So I didn't. With predictably red results. Mr. Smug escaped lightly, I'd protected the most vulnerable area. Mind you it was a narrow escape even so. The rays down here are mighty fierce. The temperature was only about 18 degrees, but with a cool breeze and over-excitement it's easy to forget.

After revisting the Shipwreck coast we headed inland to the Otway ranges where I'd told B we were going to do a 'treetop walk'. She obviously had no idea what I meant, but went along with it anyway. In the season of the new me she's regularly amazed when I suggest something that involves even the slightest physical exertion. Actually, she's been right all along, coincidence or not, I'm feeling a whole lot better for getting out and doing stuff.

There's not really much justice I can do to this bit of the trip with words, so I'll just stick up a bunch of pictures.

The road trip was really good, loved the sights, had no idea about the tree walk, just so pleased Jon was up to exercise! Think we ended up 147ft above the trees having climbed a spiral staircase, very Vertigo! Then on to a cantilever platform pretty bouncy and good views. The best bit for me though was on the drive there we got to see Koalas hanging around sleeping in the trees in three different locations. It gives me a real buzz to see animals in their natural environment, was hoping to see a kangaroo too, ah well, maybe next time.

---

Comments

[Dani]

Tarzan
Dear Tarzan and Jane, I am most impressed with your tree climbing and bridge swinging. Disgustingly fit ! The coastal pictures are beautiful. They give California 101 a run for its money.

[Dee]

Does look a bit like the Northern Calif coast.