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Published: March 13th 2007
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A View of the Great Ocean Road
Taken from Teddy's lookout, near Lorne. WARNING! This contains more Koala photos So, like many others, we hired our Hyundai Getz for the sum of about GBP 8 a day and headed out from Melbourne to the start of The Great Ocean Road (the B100, for you Pub quiz fans) at Torquay. Our first stop (one of many) was at Urquhart Bluff (a beach), which had a long stretch of golden sand. This is really where The Great Ocean road gets into it's stride. It was lovely but unfortunately we didn't have time to make the most of it, so we took in the views and hit the road. Next we stopped at Airies Inlet to have a look at the views from the lighthouse. We then had lunch at Lorne at Kafe Koas, it was really nice, huge portions. Jason had a falafel salad, which managed to fill him up (can't say that happens too often). We then carried on and stopped at Erskine Falls. On the way up to the Falls we both spotted a Koala up in a tree, so Jason did an emergency stop into the layby, as we were so excited to at last see a koala in the wild.
We took loads of photos of him and tried to encourage him to smile at the camera for us, but he wasn't having any of it. The best photo is attached.
In the car park at the falls we met two girls who were trying to set up their camera to take a photo in front of their hire car. Jason couldn't bear to watch them struggle setting it up again, so offered to do it for them, so in return we had our photo taken in front of our car, cute isn't it?
It was well worth going to the bottom of the falls to get the best view of them, this meant we had a long climb back but it didn't look the same from the top. We didn't stay for long, as we still had a fair way to drive to our accommodation and loads of other lookouts to stop at. Next was Teddy lookout. From here we got superb views of the road hugging the coastline that we were about to travel on. As we reached Apollo Bay we
A wild Koala
Huging a tree, on the road on the way to Erskine Falls, nr Lorne took a turn off up a steep road to Marriners lookout, which overlooked the bay. Again, the diversion was well worth it for the impressive views.
Our last photo bonanza of the day was the 12 Apostles, which we were by now rushing to get to before it was dark. Jason wanted to stop at other lookouts, but after a diversion to the lighthouse at Cape Otway (to find it was closed) I wouldn't let him. As we were zooming round a corner, Jason spotted a koala right by the side of the road. We were going too fast to stop, so had to turn around, and it was well worth it. Right on the side of the road was a koala and her baby, eating fresh eucalyptus leaves. They just carried on eating as we snapped picture after picture, the little baby koala turning round to see what all the fuss was. After about taking 20 shots, we decided we had better get a move on (otherwise we would have stayed there all night). Eventually we arrived at the Apostles, in the light drizzle, flies swarming round us. This was the coldest it had been while we had
been in Oz - fortunately though, a number of people had advised us to take our fleeces for this very reason. Good advice indeed. It wasn't the best evening to take photos, but they didn't turn out to bad.
We were starving, so found an Italian restaurant in Port Campbell called Nicos. They do great pizzas.
We left early the next day to retrace our steps a little to Loch Ard Gorge. We are glad we did, as in many ways we thought it was more impressive than the 12 Apostles (maybe that's because of all the hype that the 12 apostles receive). We got some really good pictures of the beach here and the blow hole. Also, as well as some great views and rock formations, it explains the story of a famous shipwreck here and of the two survivors. We then proceeded along the coast to photo the Arch, London Bridge, the Grotto, Mutton Bird Island and Bay of Islands. Then Jasons' stomach started rumbling - time for food again. We stopped in Port Fairy, which was quite quaint. The houses overlooking the estuary were lovely. We went to Rebeccas for lunch, which had some fantastic
looking puddings (I was very good and didn't try any). We then set off for our next destination, Mount Gambier. The roads started to get longer and straighter, the roadside views more barren.
All in all, much of the scenery is pretty amazing, but we were surprised by how much of The Great Ocean Road didn't actually have ocean views! But whilst it does, it is pretty special.
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