back from the Great Ocean Road!

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Well we made it back!

For those of you following the news, you will all know that Victoria had a record heat wave. ( I know it's very odd to think that Australia would have a heat wave, as "isn't it always hot here??")

Well it got hotter than 30 years or something like that. We had over 40 degree tempurates for about 4 days. It was insane.
However, Kevin and I escaped just in time, although the heat was very present where we were camping, we luckily had a wonderful ocean to jump into for the entire 'wave'
We started our journey last Tuesday, and were breathtaken from the moment we hit the road. It was a gorgeous drive. Sheer cliffs, along wonderful blue water and sandy remote beaches. Wonderful little surf/tourist towns along the way. We found a great campsite meters from the ocean, and we parked and set up shop by 6 in the afternoon. I will note that we would have arrived hours before had I not forgotten the camera, and other misc things at home... only to realize the missing items an hour into our drive. So we turned around. I will blame however the "Australia Day" celebrations that took place the night before, were there was way to much wine and beer for me... It was a bit of a haze packing the next morning.

Needless to say, we made it on the road at the ripe time of 2 pm ( we picked up our rental call at 9:30 that morning....)
alright fast foward to the next day. We decided to head up to the Otways, which is just north of the ocean. It's wonderful rainforest with some of the craziest winding narrow roads you've ever seen before. We did the tourist thing, and decided to go on the Otway Tree top walk, which was spectacular. You are literally suspended up in the middle of the forest. It was breattaking to be that high up. yet also very scary! We walked up to the observatory tower, which was 47 meters above the forest floor. it was blowing in the wind. We quickly took photos and got down to the suspension bridge. we enjoyed the rest of the 'tour' but it was heating up, so we headed back to camp, for some ocean time and sun.

Day 3 was a little more intesnse as we decided to venture to the 12 apostles (rock formations) and do a bit of a hike. It was the hottest day of the week, tempuratures topping 45 degrees. We made it to the site, took photos, and barely made it back ( well me.. i started to over heat) People around us were throwing up, passing out. It was horrible, so we quickly got back in the A/C car and drove around a bit. We ended up seeing some koalas, and other misc animals ( like a fox) and then once again back to the ole camp ground for a nap, a beer and more swimming!

The last day out there we literally lied on our backs and tanned ( or burned depending on which light we are in! )
It was great, we mastered boogie boarding and other fun activites, and really just wound down for a day.

We made it back to Melbourne yesterday, and were greeted by our great housemates, and a house full of heat!

We're happy to be back however, and it's back to the grind for a bit,before my mom gets here! Only 17 days, and I'm very very excited!!!

My internet time is ticking so I've gotta run.

Missing you all! Lots of love
Shannon

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