03.-04.04.2018 GREAT OCEAN ROAD

I tried finding people with a car and camping stuff for quite some time and even though I got really close several times, in the end it didn’t work out and I simply booked a 2-days tour instead. It turned out to be a fantastic idea, our tour guide was amazing and that way I got some information about the sights I probably wouldn’t have bothered reading up if I were travelling purely with other tourists.

So on Tuesday morning, I was picked up in the city by the tour bus, our driver/guide was called Jude and we were a group of 15 people. Our first drive was quite a long one (fortunately with a tea/coffee break) to the end of the Great Ocean Road, so we could see all the sights on the way back to Melbourne.

On the tour, I met Jonas, a German guy who took wayyy better photos with his camera than I ever could with my phone, so about half of the pictures in this post were taken by him.

First stop was Logan’s beach, a spot famous for whale nursing in December/January . Even without seeing any whales, it’s well worth visiting – a beautiful beach.

Afterwards we went to Tower Hill National Park, from the little hill near the car park you get quite a nice view of the area. On the way up, we also a Wallaby and a Koala; the picnic area was full of Emus. There also was a family practicing throwing a boomerang, it was pretty fun to watch.

On our way to the cheese tasting that came afterwards, we saw a dead kangaroo on the side of the road. From the way it looked, it couldn’t have been there for too long. We then got some nicer views in the Bay of Islands, Bay of Martyrs and “The Grotto” – stunningly beautiful. At all these sights we had more than enough time to explore them on our own and even more importantly, at our own pace – with Jude standing in the background, always open to answer questions or to chat.

Our next stops, London Bridge and the Apostles, were both pretty impressive. I found interesting that even though those limestone structures seem quite sturdy now, London Bridge was originally 2 arches (a proper bridge at the time) and the 12 Apostles were a lot more numerous in the days; these structures all seemingly erode pretty fast.

We stayed at a hostel/brewery led by a German in Port Campbell that night, where we helped Jude prepare dinner: enormous amount of veggie curry, pasta salad, greek salad and chicken. After dinner, the 2 Germans and I went to the pier and talked for a while, all the others had gone to bed when we got back.

I had avocado on toast for breakfast and getting on the bus, we suddenly had a new passenger: A Canadian girl who had worked at the hostel needed a ride back to Melbourne and was invited to join us on the tour (she was good friends with Jude, who stays/has to stay at the hostel twice a week).

We drove off early to get a better chance of spotting wildlife – we saw Wallabys again, kangaroos in the distance and a Koala climbing (actually moving!) on the side of the road. Afterwards we went to see the Gorge – going down the stairs, there was a cave where two shipwreck-survivors supposedly waited for the storm to be over and then the guy climbed out (which seems impossible looking at the cliff now) to alert people living in the area. It was pretty great just to sit in the cave and watch the ocean wash into the bay.

Our next stop was Gibson Steps with the Rockeries (more of less part of the Apostles) and then the 12 Apostles again, in a different light this time.

We arrived at Great Otway Rainforest – home of the only carnivorous snail in the world – just when it started to rain, which only contributed to the rainforest-y feel.

Lunch was eaten in Apollo Bay, where we had an hour and a half for ourselves. After a great veggie burger, I went to explore the sweet little town with an Irish and a Canadian girl. We found a few small and really cute art shops, had a coffee and then went on to Cape Patton and a memorial arch for the soldiers who built the original Great Ocean Road. Afterwards, we saw Split Point Lighthouse – it became a point of interest mostly because of the children’s TV-show “Round the Twist”.

On Bell’s beach, we saw the remainders of a surf competition from last weekend and watched some guys surf at the nearby break called Winkipop.

This marked the end of the tour; Jude dropped us off in Melbourne at different spots – the last one was just me and the two Germans, we three were the ones that talked to Jude the most. We hugged goodbye and Jude even offered me her place to stay for the night in case I didn’t have one yet (<3).