We rented a car from the airport and took three days to drive along what is known as The Great Ocean Road, which runs along almost 200 km of the south coast. This road was built by WWI veterans when they returned from duty and passes through some breathtaking scenery and cute coastal towns.
Our plan was not to have a plan. We stopped when we wanted to, made up the day’s itinerary as we went and found a place to stay at the end of the day. What a great feeling of freedom after some very long days in the World Youth Day office.
As we drove on the winding roads, sometimes level with the beach, other times up high above cliffs, we took in gorgeous views of the ocean to one side and varied landscapes to the other - scrub bushland, tall eucalyptus rainforest, rolling green hills with dairy farms, and high vertical limestone cliffs. Because of storms out over the ocean and sun shining elsewhere, there seemed to be a perpetual rainbow over the water. We even splurged and took a once-in-a-lifetime helicopter thrill ride 500 feet above the ocean around one of the highlights of the weekend (and what I think should be a Wonder of the World) – the Twelve Apostles.
Close encounters with wildlife – kangaroos, koalas, emus, and interesting birds. We also saw a seal playing in the water about 80 feet away … and little fairy penguins coming onto a beach in a big group just before dark to settle in after a day of hunting … unfortunately, we viewed this from a cliff 100 feet above them, so they looked like little moving black dots, but they were still somehow very cute.At the end of the weekend, we had travelled over 1000 km and were so very grateful for this time we were able to bask in God’s awesome Creation.
Thanks, Jetstar, for getting us to Melbourne safely on Friday night. Much appreciated.
The next morning started with breakfast in the coastal town of Torquay and a visit to their beach.
But please leave your butts at home. (Referring to cigarette butts, but I thought it was funny to have a bum free beach... look at the guy on the sign... he has no butt.)
Then, we hit the road. The beautiful view for the first part of our drive.
We stopped to get groceries in the town of Lorne. And I spied a park with many cockatoos. In Canada, in any pet store, I would be scared of these birds eyeing my up from their cages. But when they're out in the wild, they seem okay.
More road... look what side we're driving on.
Yup. Left side of the road and opposite sides of the car. (Except for those two times when we forgot and drove on the right side of the road.)
As mentioned earlier... Victoria is the place to be.
And this is David, the car model, posing with our car, the Ford XR6. The Great Ocean Road is very car commercial-esque.
More ocean views along our drive.
And one of those rainbows we paid extra for on our tour. They were everywhere... the downside of travelling in the rain is that you're travelling in the rain. The upside is that you get pretty rainbows to look at.
Some kangaroos. We were excited to spy these ones... but then we spied the fence keeping them in. Not exactly a wild adventure.
By the end of our first day, we arrived at the 12 Apostles. When the sun is shining brightly, it reflect off the cliffs and turns them a beautiful red. We got the cloudy version, but it's no less dramatic or beautiful.
The next morning... sunny and bright and the perfect day for a helicopter ride (ie. the most expensive 10-minutes of our lives).
Difficult to tell... but this is the shadow of our helicopter in hot pursuit of a cow.
The 12 Apostles from the air, followed by some other aerial shots. Our pilot made some dips and rolling turns so we could see straight down. Fun. And very Top Gun.
Back on the ground, we visited Loch Ard Gorge.
David on the beach of the Gorge. There were some pretty high waves crashing into the cliffs behind him.
The Bay of Martyrs. Pretty and dramatic... this is what you can see from the road as you drive by... we screeched to a stop and pulled into the parking lot. We imagine that a lot of people do that and there are probably lots of accidents on the Great Ocean Road. Tourists.
As close to the edge of the cliffs as we could get... or wanted to go.
End of day Sunday got us to Port Fairy. We walked out to Griffin Island, where we spied some wallabies and seals (not together... wallabies on land and seals in water).
From the dock, facing back toward Griffin Island.
Monday morning... a short drive to Tower Hill Reserve. These kangaroos greeted us.
The view from the top. Tower Hill is a volcano that's 33,000 years old, with some younger craters inside (only 11,000... spring chickens). This is the large crater, filled with water. We walked along the edge of the craters, following kangaroos and looking for koalas.
And this is the koala we found, just as we were leaving the park. He was having a nap, until David shook the branches and woke him up. Then he just stared at us. Tourists.
By the end of our first day, we arrived at the 12 Apostles. When the sun is shining brightly, it reflect off the cliffs and turns them a beautiful red. We got the cloudy version, but it's no less dramatic or beautiful.
The next morning... sunny and bright and the perfect day for a helicopter ride (ie. the most expensive 10-minutes of our lives).
Difficult to tell... but this is the shadow of our helicopter in hot pursuit of a cow.
The 12 Apostles from the air, followed by some other aerial shots. Our pilot made some dips and rolling turns so we could see straight down. Fun. And very Top Gun. 
Back on the ground, we visited Loch Ard Gorge.
David on the beach of the Gorge. There were some pretty high waves crashing into the cliffs behind him.
The Bay of Martyrs. Pretty and dramatic... this is what you can see from the road as you drive by... we screeched to a stop and pulled into the parking lot. We imagine that a lot of people do that and there are probably lots of accidents on the Great Ocean Road. Tourists.
As close to the edge of the cliffs as we could get... or wanted to go.
End of day Sunday got us to Port Fairy. We walked out to Griffin Island, where we spied some wallabies and seals (not together... wallabies on land and seals in water).
From the dock, facing back toward Griffin Island.
Monday morning... a short drive to Tower Hill Reserve. These kangaroos greeted us.
The view from the top. Tower Hill is a volcano that's 33,000 years old, with some younger craters inside (only 11,000... spring chickens). This is the large crater, filled with water. We walked along the edge of the craters, following kangaroos and looking for koalas.
And this is the koala we found, just as we were leaving the park. He was having a nap, until David shook the branches and woke him up. Then he just stared at us. Tourists.
1 comment:
Fantastic! I'm impressed with the religious names of the 12 Apostles, and the Bay of Martyrs.
Do fairy penguins fly? Is there fairy penguin dust? Do they give fish to regular penguins who put recently lost teeth under their pillows?
... from herein I'll be patiently awaiting the wallaby riding a seal picture...
God bless,
Matthew.
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