A Drive By The Sea

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I was picked up at 7:40 to go on a long day out along the Great ocean Road. The road was built after the first world war to link a number of seaside towns together, and was inspired by a similar road in California.

Our first stopping point was world famous surf spot Bell's Beach, currently home to the Ripcurl Pro surfing tournament. The tournament wasn't running when we arrived, due to there being a lack of surf. This meant we got an unobscured view of the beach. I also came across an information sign in which a huntsman had set up home between the sign itself and the plastic covering - and somehow it still managed to move around in there!

After Bell's we stopped at Anglesea for coffee before hitting the road proper. The great ocean road consists of three main sections: The Surf Coast (lots of beaches...), The Green Coast (lots of forests...) and the Shipwreck Coast (guess what....). We drove along the latter part of the surf coast where the roads turned really windy and were like something out of a film or a car advert: tight corners, brilliant blue sea below and a road perched on a cliffside. We stopped at the Cross Point Lighthouse (star of 'round the twist') before having a small lunch stop in Lorne. After lunch we went to see some roadside Koalas living in the ecalyptus trees before heading into the green coast.

Once in the Green Coast section of the road we made a detour up into the temperate rainforest. We had a stroll around, looking at the impressive treeferns standing tens of metres high. These were made to feel tiny by the even huger trees that the ferns surrounded! This section of forest is actually something of a film star having had a (very very very) small part in Star Wars episode 6: Return Of The Jedi.

Our first calling point on the Shipwreck cost were the 12 apostles: a number of rock stacks out to sea. One apostle fell down last year, but despite this there are still more than 12 apostles. The name is merely there to pull in the tourist dollar - the previous name of "The Sow and Piglets" didn't quite have the same ring to it! I had also paid extra for a helicopter flight which was amazing - and meant I got to see more of the Apostles that was actually possible from the land.

Finally we visited Loch Hart bay - the site of a shipwreck of a Cutter from Gravesend which sunk losing all but two hands, and London Bridge. London Bridge is so called (tenuously!) because it had two arches... much like London Bridge in London. However one of the arches collapsed a number of years ago leaving two tourists stranded on top. Local news took no time to arrive, but a rescue helicopter was 3 hours away. As they were rescued by helicopter the two trapees hid their faces - they were having an affair, and did want to see their spouses seeing them on TV together!

We got back to Melbourne at around 9, so I decided to go and catch one last show at the comedy festival. "My Brother And I Are Pornstars" was my choice, and Im not sure if it was just that I was tired, but it was a weird play. Twisted to say the least it featured incest, rape, murder, blasphemy (severe!). And a 4 foot talking penis through which the lead character could speak to Lord Baden Powell, founder of the Scouting movement. Anyway...

My Brother and I are Porn Stars

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Photos

Cross Point Lighthouse
From 'Going round the twist'

The Twelve Apostles
There arent really twelve of them... I guess they just thought it sounded cool

The Twelve Apostles From The Air
There arent really twelve of them... I guess they just thought it sounded cool