Yet another early start on the 24th to start my journey down to the Great Ocean Road; we drive through (on a rather dilapidated bus that is nevertheless full of character like our driver Bernie - a bit like the wild man of Borneo!) the second largest city in Victoria, pop. 500,000 to our first stop at Bells Beach. Here we park up on the cliffs overlooking the beach to have a nice cuppa whilst enjoying the view over the shore - despite the gloomy day!
Then we embark on the great road itself, stopping only to get a picture of the memorial arch the marks the stretch of road. The driver pauses to warn those who may get travel sick that he won't be driving too fast but that it is a very twisty road and so it was! Luckily the dramatic views make up for any discomfort and further down the road we even stop to Koala watch in the trees, eventually we get to the scenic Apollo Bay (the Bay is lovely but the town is a bit less so) where we have lunch and I have a very poor fish and chips! We continue on the road with the weather steadily worsening until we reach the 12 Apostles (although only 7 plus 2 impostors remain!) where the sun, and the flies, make an appearance! Here the coastline combined with the rocky stacks makes for some brilliant photo opportunities but the view from above was even better - yes I went up in the helicopter to get a better look at the Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, Mutton Bird Island (shaped a bit like a seahorse) and other features along the coast, plus it was great fun and my first helicopter ride - think it's definitely the way to travel! When we come back down to earth we visit Loch Ard Gorge (named after a ship wrecked there) and London Bridge, before of which don't look as good from the ground but still worth a visit if only for the violent sea the laps on to the beach and against the rocks. After all these sights we have a nice 3 hours journey inland to the Grampians (the most westerly part of the Great Dividing Range) and we stop only to watch the wild Kangaroos and Wallabies bounding about! Finally we reach Halls Gap our stop for the night and Bernie rustles up a good old Aussie Barbie!
The next day we start with a drive up into the mountains where we look down on Halls Gap below us before walking out to see the Balconies (two rock formations jutting out horizontally) and then down the many many stairs to view Mackenzie Falls - all beautiful natural sights to rival those of the Blue Mountains! Then that afternoon we connect with a coach to take us the final 6 hours across the state border to Adelaide in South Australia. I arrive in the early evening and you can tell we are getting close to the outback as the temperature has risen dramatically!
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