Victoria - “Melbourne & The Surf Coast”

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With luggage stowed in the back of the wagon I was on the road early for the 8 hour haul down to Melbourne.

Gene had provided directions that would have seen me on the highway back to Sydney rather than deliver me safely to his place in South Melbourne.

Was it coincidence then that he phoned me on the road to explain that he had left Melbourne, not for Sydney but to spend the weekend in Torquay with a couple of friends. Sam entered the conversation and gave me some simple instructions to find Geelong where they would meet me, an hour further on. When I reached Geelong I was told to ask for some hotel, whose name I couldn’t remember. This would be our rendezvous point.

So, here I was in Geelong some nine hours after setting out and wondering how I was going to find Gene.

I pulled off the main road and looked for a spot to park so I could phone him. I nosed in behind a big black 4x4 as a couple of girls were unloading something from the rear. Just then, Gene popped out onto the kerb as if being presented from a magicians hat!

It was one of those bizarre moments, something odd was at work here.

Introductions were made with Sam and Heidi before we continued on down to Torquay for a weekend of camping and adventure.

The fact that I had no camping gear whatsoever was superfluous as some generous campers had rather conveniently left their tent plus inflatable mattress for us to claim as our own. It seems they had either become bored with the whole camping thing and never wanted to do it again, or they had been abducted by aliens, which I figured was more likely. After feeding and watering ourselves in town, we settled in for the night at Jan Juc where Gene and myself appeared to offer endless amusement for some with our chorus of complaint about an air bed that refused to stay inflated and left me enshrined in a sad blanket of plastic well before the sun came up.

I had always wanted to drive the Great Ocean Rd and with Bells Beach close by I was looking forward to the day ahead.
We struck out at a leisurely pace and made it as far as Anglesea before the traffic gridlock suggested we should travel inland up to the 12 Apostles before navigating the iconic road on the return trip.
I was aware of the lack of any swell but still exited at the prospect of the drive down to Bells, the epicentre of Australia’s first Surfing Recreation Reserve. I remember standing atop the cliffs on the viewing platform imagining how it might look if there was an 8 - 10ft Southern Ocean Swell marching in.....

Oh well, that image would have to be consigned to the imagination for now.

Courtesy of Sam’s expert guidance, we continued our journey, covering endless km’s of coastline, taking in the Twelve Apostles and many other great sights.

Like most good things though, it had to end and after a memorable night camping at Johanna Beach we found ourselves back in Melbourne.

It wouldn’t be long though before I would return to the Surf Coast, and by chance really as Sam’s buddy Heidi who had flown north to Byron Bay for New Years Eve and some surfing lessons found herself on a flight back to Melbourne and a revised itinerary after a tropical cyclone chased her out of Byron Bay.

So only a day or two after slow baking on a hot 40 deg New Years Eve and finding myself with some sort of heat stroke or dehydration, meaning I spent the majority of the evening on my back on someone’s couch somewhere in Melbourne, we were off once again headed for Torquay. Heidi had pre-booked some surf lessons and I was happy just to cruise with the chance that I might find some good waves nearby.

The wind turned and blew onshore for 3 days straight leaving only scraps to pick from. Interestingly I remained fairly relaxed about the situation.

On the Saturday Gene joined us and suffering from the sterility of campgrounds, we humped all our camping gear along the beach at Bells Southside and pitched our tents in the sand on a secluded beach near a sign that read “Clothing Optional”.

Balmy starlit night, open campfire, phosphorescence on the water…....and Gene. It was a event of rare beauty and nostalga.

Back in Melbourne, the Australian Tennis Open was gearing up for a start and Gene had sought a release from work for the opening day.

God bless Melbourne for putting on such a day that required not a penny spent, from the tram ride to Rod Laver Arena, it was all put on for free. A master stroke by the promoters.

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