The Long and Winding Road

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I am in Melbourne, my last stop of this epic round Australia trip. It's been over eight weeks since I left Vancouver, and only 3 days left. I took the train from Adelaide to Melbourne, another long train ride, this trip about 11 hours. The train is called The Overlander named in honour of those intrepid first travelers back in the 19th Century. I must admit, this wasn't the best train trip when compared with the other trips, the food was less, and the chairs just were not that comfortable. This despite a recent multi-million dollar upgrade to the train line.

I got to Melbourne in the evening, and tried to get a city tram to my hostel. I asked for some change from the coffee kiosk at the station, the only place open. Excuse one, two and three later she said no but did say the machines on board the trams take notes. I walked to the tram stop and asked someone waiting who seemed to know more. He said, no, the trams only take coins and while he was explaining all this I had to watch my tram go by as I held a $5 note in my hand. I walked on into a 7-11 and got a travel card. I walked back to another tram stop and looked for the time until the next tram - 19 minutes. So I walked on. Within 5 minutes another tram passed me while I was between stops. In the end, I walked about 3 km with my backpack to the hostel, without taking the tram that evening. Fortunately, I pack light so this isn't a problem, just an annoyance. The hostel is rather swanky, as hostels are rated. A cafe that serves dinner and breakfast, a laundry, internet, clean and private and spacious bathrooms, a travel agent, a small share room and I have the bottom bunk. That's all I need to make me a jolly swagman.

The next morning I booked my tour to the Great Ocean Road. I decided on a tour and not to self drive simply based on the traffic in Melbourne. It's a big city of 3.5 million people with all sorts of accompanying traffic problems. And turning right here looks at first totally baffling. Don't forget Aussies drive on the left side of the road. To turn right, you pull all the way over to the left side and wait until all the traffic has passed behind and all the oncoming cars; then you turn right across several lanes of road. This is to ensure you never impede the trams, with which cars share the road. But as you watch this manoeuver more often you see just how safe and logical it is. If two cars are facing each other both wanting to turn right, this becomes a roundabout, your vision is actually quite good. Nevertheless, I didn't want to try this myself, so I opted for a tour.

We were picked up in the morning, not early. We drove first to Torquay about 1 1/2 hours south west of Melbourne. We stopped primarily for breakfast, but Torquay is also the headquaters and original location for RipCurl and Quicksilver surfing stores and outfitters. Our next stop was Bell's Beach to watch the surfers. This beach was voted Australia's #4 best beach after a beach in the WhitSunday's, Cable Beach in Broome, and Bondi Beach in Sydney. (That means I've been to beach's #2, #3 and #4!)

Our next stop was the town of Lorne for lunch. It's a long way along a very windy road, perhaps best I took a tour because driving alone also means I have to be driver, navigator and sightseer. On a tour I can concentrate on sightseer. After lunch a short drive later we got to a caravan park (camper) that had wild koalas and some great bird life. Yes we saw more koalas, including a Mum and baby. And the birds were flocking to us to be fed; our driver brought seed. Crimson Rosellas were the main attraction. A brilliant red bird feeding from our hands.

We drove on into the Otway National Park and stopped to see the rain forest, some very tall trees, as tall as they get get anywhere in the world, approaching 100 m tall. Ferns and eucalypts. We walked around a boardwalk and trail, for only a few minutes, I could have stayed longer but the main attraction for the entire trip was yet to come. Our last stop were the Twelve Apostles, sea stacks standing sentinel along the wave swept coast. There are only 11 apostles left as a few years ago, one succumbed to erosion (it fell over). We first saw four of them at one location, a few minutes before sunset, then we drove back around the cape to see the other 7 apostles at sunset. Absolutely brilliant and stunning images. There were many other tourists there as well to watch - no surprise - as every great landscape feature attracts many many people. That's what makes it an attraction, (and not a repulsion).

You can't actually see all 11 apostles at the same time, nor could you see all 12 at the same time, unless you're flying overhead. And this is a pricey option. This landscape feature used to be called the Sow and the Piglets, but the people who decide these things changed the name to something a little more dignified. These sea stacks are all just a result of wave action for many many years against the limestone cliff. The rock is layered, and blocks fall into the sea, rather than sand grains, to keep the cliffs vertical. The more resistant rock remains. It's entirely possible that sometime in the future we might see another apostle or two or three as the cliff contines to erode. They might even need to move the road.

We returned to Melbourne, a three hour trip. A great day filled with photos, for which you'll just have to wait a few days.

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