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Published: November 23rd 2013
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So early start again for a trip along the great ocean road. We had picked a trip with a company called escape discovery adventures as they had also promised some koala and kangaroo spotting which we still hadn't seen (and we were pretty determined not to cheat by going to a zoo!)
Paul, the tour guide and owner picked us up ay 7.15, the first of a group of 11 so not many other pickups I'm glad to say. We got to pick the best seats on the bus too!
One of the problems with a day trip along the great ocean road is that it starts miles from Melbourne! In fact it probably took over 3 and a half hours to get to the start. Luckily Paul was full of interesting facts about Melbourne and a lot on why Melbourne and Sydney have this infamous rivalry. As an example, as we left the city over Westgate bridge, he said that it was the longest bridge in the world. Now I have been over a few bridges and I definitely didn't think that this was longer than some including the QE2. However then he clarified, it's comparatively the longest
Kangaroos
At Anglesea golf club. bridge covering the smallest width of river! The Yarra river carries some pretty big container ships and to get the height the bridge starts way before the river. As I've mentioned before there seems to be a desire over here to be the longest,highest and even more so in Melbourne where everything is compared back to Sydney!
The journey was broken up with morning tea at a place called Anglesea, where Paul had brought along some Ozzie treats for us to sample; Tim tams (chocolate clubs), Anzac biscuits (coconut cookie) and lamingtons(a cake filled version of a snowball). He also made us all try vegemite. Honestly, the fuss! But I love marmite so maybe I was biased.
We then headed on our way. By now it was beginning to rain, but Paul was every hopeful that by the time we got to the road it would have passed over. I learnt, as the day wore on, that Paul was a pretty optimistic sort of a guy! As we headed out of Anglesea, he asked if we had all seen kangaroos and was shocked that we hadn't (everyone else had!). So to rectify that situation he took a detour......
Memorial gate
Start of the great ocean road to the golf club! And there were about three groups of kangaroos, just standing off the main road past the golf club. They were the local species, eastern greys, which are smaller than the outback species who are also brown. To add to Ian's excitement this is the same species as 'Skippy'. He even did his impersonation - very embarrassing and the rest of the tour, except the driver, had no idea what he was doing. Strange English man. It was a shame we couldn't get closer than my photo suggests. We weren't limited by the kangaroos who seemed quite happy but by the golfers, who apparently weren't !
Next stop the official start to the road, the memorial gateway. The great ocean road was built after the First World War to give work to to returning soldiers. The gateway is effectively a memorial to those that lost their lives in the battle of Gallipoli. Once I heard the story I felt a bit crass having had my photo taken on the statue!
From there we travelled to/through Lorne. This is a holiday town with one of the few northern facing beaches on the coast. Amazingly not many
Koala
If you can tell from my dodgy photo! of the beaches face north (that's like south to us!). We got out for photos but by now the umbrellas were starting to come out. Another one of our stops on the way was to get sight of a family of koalas by the Kenneth river, snuggled in against the weather, and also because the sleep almost all day. Alongside the koalas were a few types of birds, who definitely weren't shy, landing on our drivers head and anyone who had seed in their hands. Yuk. The koalas were as cute as you expect, although for me, quite a bit bigger. This is the prettiest part of the drive where the road is at it's most windy (as in twisty) and runs closest to the beaches and edges of the coast. But visibility was not great across the bay.
So we have finally got to the part that's the walking part of the day and the weather is definitely getting worse. Time for the waterproofs! Paul had some for people's use but Ian and I had brought our own in a very British 'be prepared' sort of way. Unfortunately as the day progressed I found out mine wasn't so
Coastline, what coastline!
Still no waterproofs at this point! waterproof but by then I had missed out on the tour ones!
First stop was the rainforest which we walked through while Paul described the flora and fauna and introduced us to the carnivorous snail that lives there. Due to the rain, the waterfalls were absolutely pouring. Well rainforests are supposed to be wet and this was certainly that!
Next stop was the Apostles, the iconic sight that everyone knows from the drive. They are truly magnificent and as many of the stories relate to their collapse (one collapsed in 2005) you are very aware that this is a constantly changing landscape. Apparently pictures look more impressive in bad weather as it shows the seas swirling around the apostles and reminds us how dangerous this patch of water is. Funny how none of the brochures feature rain though! We spent about 45 mins walking the headland to see them all as well as the remains of the arch that collapsed in the 1990s. We just about saw them thru the mist and rain but I think all of our photos have rain blotches on them!
After that we moved on to the sight of a famous shipwreck,
Waterproofs out now!
It's damp in the rainforest! the Loch Ard. The reason for its fame is the romantic story (or not) of its two survivors. The ships apprentice, a 19 year old lad saved one of the passengers ,a 19 year old girl, through a heroic feat. Everyone apparently hoped for the romantic ending so were disappointed when the girl just went straight back to Ireland, without even meeting him again. To be fair,this was Victorian times so class system still rife and she had just lost all 8 members of her family! We walked down to the gorge which they had sheltered in. And posed for rain drenched photos in the lovely sandy bay. Just like models as this is a favourite for magazine photo shoots apparently.
Final stop before dinner was London bridge. This again was a limestone arch which collapsed in 2009. Assume it was called London bridge before it fell down! Interestingly they could be now classified as apostles?
We stopped for dinner at a pub in port Campbell before heading home. Brisbane test match on the TV so we spent dinner explaining cricket to a California couple. So the weather had been pretty awful but we only realised how awful
when the helicopter pilots bundled in and said the they had not had one customer all day - the first time in 5 years. So Dobson weather strikes again!
The journey home was inland but still took nearly 3 hours so finally got back at 9.30 where I crawled into bed, trailing damp clothes as I went.
Really long day but very enjoyable . Definitely made by the tour guide and would recommend a small group over a large one on such a major expedition.
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tom
non-member comment
to the scribe and her mate
It,s a shame the test match didn,t get the rain you are having it may have saved them from their th rashing.Iwas only thinking the other day that you had programmed your visit to the gabba at the wrong time and that you could have seen the test match but on reflection[or good planning] you obviously did the right thing.Are the Aussies giving you some stick? Keep your heads above water [sorry for the gap but my typing is not the best] Love T and J