Great Ocean Road, Australia

February 6th - February 8th 2012

We woke up early and headed out to meet the minibus for our tour of The Twelve Apostles. Our first stop was Bells Beach where we had billy tea, Lamington cakes and crackers with vegemite and watched some wild kangaroos in the distant fields. A very Australian start to the day.

First Stack

After morning tea we saw one of the amazing 'stacks' which is what the Twelve Apostles are made up of and we went to a lighthouse which featured in an Australian TV show. After taking in the beautiful ocean views and the white lighthouse we drove on to the Great Ocean Road gateway. We stopped at the memorial to the people that built the road after the war and then stopped at a place where we saw wild koalas and fed the brightly coloured birds.



Feeding the Birds

We stopped for lunch and then drove through the countryside before getting out to go on a walk through the forest which was really interesting but very cold. After the forest walk we came to another stack and walked down the steep steps to the beach to get some closer photographs. In the van we sucked on eucalyptus sweets to keep from falling asleep because although the guide was great and very informative he had a monotone voice which was sending me and Jo to sleep.

A few minutes drive down the road and we saw the actual Twelve Apostles which consist of several (but not twelve) rock stacks which have been carved away over time by the crashing waves. They were a beautiful sight to behold and we managed to get some nice photographs of them although all the viewpoints were pretty crowded. The next stop was to a cave and some interesting rock formations carved over many years by the sea.

Two of The Apostles

The final stop of the day was to London Bridge, an impressive section of land that has been eroded over years to form a kind of bridge which used to be attached but collapsed fairly recently. Apparently you used to be able to easily walk over the bridge and people were stranded on the other side when it eventually did collapse but luckily they were saved.

After London Bridge we stopped for dinner and chatted to other people on the tour before the very long drive back to Docklands and our lovely apartment.

The Four of Us and London Bridge

The following day we had a relaxed stroll around Melbourne after our very busy tour and ate ice cream. Tomorrow we would be leaving Melbourne to go to Adelaide, mum and Jo were flying but us backpackers were taking the overnight Greyhound coach to save money, something I was very much dreading.

February 8th was our last morning in the luxurious Docklands apartment which we had had such a wonderful time in. We packed up and checked out and after a lovely breakfast at a local cafe saw mum and Jo off as their flight was soon whereas we had to wait all day for our coach. Craig and I caught the tram to Flinders Station and then walked to the library where we spent an hour on the internet catching up with events from home. After Nando's for dinner we walked back to the apartment to collect our rucksacks before walking to the bus station to catch our coach to Adelaide.