Road Trip - The Great Ocean Road - Day 3

I'd mentioned to Alan my dilemma at only having half a day to see The Grampians, and he said it was no problem, as I could see the main stuff and still get to Adelaide in time to drop the car off.

He kindly printed a map off for me, and gave me detailed instructions on the various options, and suggested a route. So that morning, after coffee and toast in town, I set off up the mountain road to try and fit as much as I could in before the long drive to Adelaide.

My first stop was The Pinnacle - a two hour walk - but given the time pressures, I decided to run the trail and made it there and back in an hour. It was an incredible path, and I really enjoyed the trip - just wish I'd had more time (maybe next time :-)

Here's a few pics:



It was slightly American, as they've put steps and hand rails over the exciting bits :-(



The canyon even has a name:



Near the top:



And at the top:



Weird rock formations on the way down:





The next stop was a vantage point, where I met a couple who lived down the road, but had gone to Hall's Gap for the weekend to get engaged. Here's a pic of me, with Hall's Gap in the background.

It was super windy - and yes I do need a haircut:



From there it was off to the Balconies, a view point over the other side of the mountain range:



And finally, the McKenzie Falls. Time was tight at this point, so I only got to do the upper trail - and got this photo:



Having "done" The Grampians, it was off to Horsham, for lunch, which is famous for being Australia's Tidiest Town 2001. It's also been visited by two famous people.

The first was Mark Twain who said of Horsham:

"Horsham sits in a plain which is as level as a floor."

The second famous person was me, who famously said of Horsham:

"Not a bad spot for lunch - a bit quite for me though."

And here's what it looks like - not a bad spot for lunch - a bit quite for me though:



And then I had to drag myself away from Horsham, and head off on the long long road, for the five hour drive to Adelaide, which mostly looked like this:

Road Trip - The Great Ocean Road - Day 2

A fairly early start today, and on the way through town I stopped for breakfast. It was nice to sit out and enjoy the sun after the cold weather in Melbourne. As I'm sitting there, I notice these two birds having breakfast at the table next to mine:



Someone had told me to go to the Gibson Steps and as I'd not been the previous day I drove back passed the Apostles and walked down to the beach. It was one of those perfect days, and I got some great pics - here's a small sample:







Having got back to the car, I headed off on the next stretch which has all the famous stuff. Here's a sample:

The Arch:



This was called London Bridge until part of it fell into the sea - it's now called London Arch:



This left me with a slight dilemma - as I had neither a cat nor a dog with me :-)



The Grotto - it looks better in real life:



I think this is the Bay of Islands - not really sure - but it looked nice:



I stopped for lunch at Port Fairy and sat on the rocks and had a sandwich and Ginger Beer, and then took this photo of the sea doodars:



And then I left the coast, and headed in land to Hall's Gap, along the long, and often straight road. this is when you realise just how big Australia is:



And on it went - looking like this:



And when you've been driving for a very long time, on a very straight road, it starts to look like this:



And then the drugs wore off and it started to look like this again:



And then, as I neared Hall's Gap, it looked like this:



Finally I arrived at Hall's Gap, only to discover that it was the Jazz Weekend, and there were no rooms anywhere, and the next place is miles away. After trawling most places in town I eventually found a hostel just out of town, and unbelievably, they had a whole dorm room free. Which was good, because I really needed some sleep and the room (designed for 8) only had me in it. I probably had the biggest single room in the whole of town that night.

I had a real good chat with the guy who was looking after the place. He specialised in Aboriginal Archeology, and we ended up chatting for ages.

On Alan's recommendation I headed into town to the local pub and ate tea while watching Kangaroo's hopping on the lawn. Unfortunately there are no pics, as just as I'm about to take a photo some plonker scared them away. Oh well...

Road Trip - The Great Ocean Road - Day 1

I'd originally planned to take the train from Melbourne to Adelaide. But having talked to Lindon about their trip on the Great Ocean Road I decided I needed to get out of Melbourne and do a road trip.

Which meant getting a car, and setting off the next morning. So I ran around and got a really cheap rental sorted and suddenly felt really great about the weekend.

The first day didn't start out too well though - although it worked out in the end.

I'd arranged to pick the car up at 9am, but when I got there they wouldn't let me have it as even though their system said I'd paid - they needed a voucher to prove it. After a few hours messing around trying to get the voucher I finally got it, and went back to get the car. I also used the delay to negotiate dropping the car off at the airport rather than down town - which was really good, as the airport office closed a lot later, and they even waved the huge fee they usually charge for an airport drop off.

And then it was window down - music on (the car had USB for MP3 players) and off on the open road. Once your out of Melbourne, you soon end up by the sea, with incredible sea side scenery and plenty of stops along the way - here's a few pics:

Just one of the many many incredible views:



One of the many many light houses on this stretch of the journey:



If your going to go over the edge of a cliff - don't forget to sing YMCA and do the actions on the way down :-)



Another view:



One of my favourite places was Artillery Rocks that had these really strange rock formations, and what looked like fossils. There was no one else there, and I enjoyed a good hour of wandering along the "rocky shore line":









This one looks like a fossilised alien head - OK so I have an active imagination:





When I got to Port Campbell there were no rooms in the hostels - so I ended up at the Best Western and got a great deal on a room. I then headed out for food and on to the (not quite) Twelve Apostles at sunset. Here's some pics:



Just to prove I was here:



Looking the other way - more on these two tomorrow:



A close up:



Some of the other people enjoying the view - from the wrong side of the don't cross this sign sign :-)



The view along what will become another apostle in a squillion years:



Yep - I took a lot of pictures of the same thing:



Ah - something different:



And a close up in case anyone missed the last picture:



And in the dark:


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It was really cold when the sun went in, so I decided to go for a drink in the "bar" which basically turned out to be the owners (Andy and Steph) sitting room. As there was only me and them there we watch the cricket (we all thought NZ would have won if it hadn't been for the rain), and Ozzie rules football - which is fairly straight forward to follow once you have the rules explained. I ended up staying chatting away until all hours - a great ending to great day...

Melbourne

I didn't really enjoy my time in Melbourne. It was cold and windy when I arrived, and it was the first time I'd had to wear a jumper since Bolivia.

After arriving at the train station, I had to trail around town trying five different hostels, before I ended up phoning one of the YHA's out of town. Luckily, I got the last bed they had.

Everyone says Melbourne is the most English city in Oz - but it really reminded me of Boston - which "they" say is the most English city in America. "They" also say you'll either love it or hate it.

On reflection - and after a chat with Lindon and Sam - who were there the week before me - I may have been a bit hasty in my first conclusions. Not only had they just had the cricket and tennis - but the worst bush fires ever were going on - the scenes on the TV were horrific.

I'd also had a really great week on the Gold Coast and that probably had some bearing. Anyway - I trailed around a bit, and saw a few things. Here's a few pics of Melbourne:

Close to the edge, down by the river:



The railway station:



Another view of the river:



The Cathedral:



They have streets with loads of cool street art: here's a few samples:





Even the bin got treated:



Melbourne at night from the Rialto Tower: