The Great Ocean Road

We had always heard from friends in Melbourne that you had to do the Great Ocean Road--that it was a beautiful drive and you got to see all sorts of cool things. After hearing about it for 6 months and meeting people who had done it--finally it was time for us to experience this ourselves!

As we left Melbourne, we were greeted with sunny skies, and for the most part of the day we had pretty good weather--patches of rain, but nothing to really impede our enjoyment of the trip. 

Our first stop along the way was to enjoy some of the beautiful lookouts they have along the road and in the various towns. You got a beautiful view of the coastline, and at points the road wound around the hills near the ocean side--making it a truly beautiful sight. 

The point we had been looking forward to for most of the day came towards the end of our journey on the first day--an area called Grey River Road that is apparently known for it's Koala population so you can spot them in the wild. This is what we had been looking forward to for ages and we weren't disappointed. As we drove along the relatively empty road we immediately spotted not only Koalas in the trees around us, but Kangaroos just off the road!

You can't tell from the picture, but this one was a little guy and he was so cute!

After that it was starting to get dark (boo, far southern hemisphere winter and their crazy short daylight hours) and we headed to our first campsite and our first night sleeping in the van! We ended up staying at a pretty nice campsite/caravan park in the Otway National Park down near the cape at a place called Bimbi Park. It was nice--they had hot showers, a kitchen to cook in, and they advertised it as "camping under Koalas." Well, the next morning we woke up and low and behold--we had slept the whole night under heaps of Koalas hanging out in the gumtrees! One was literally above our heads!

Shhhh, he's sleeping!

As we took a walk around the area we spotted about 30 Koalas hanging around in the trees--after having seen none in our first 6 months in Australia (cause obviously Koalas don't hang out in the city) it was super exciting. After that it was time to head on a few walks in the Otway National Park.

We started first on a rainforest walk, which reminded us a lot of the walks in NZ with the large tree ferns and whatnot. John loves tree ferns.

We were also lucky to spot a rare creature: the black snail! Now, that doesn't sound very exciting, I know, HOWEVER, this snail in particular is interesting because it is the world's only carnivorous  snail! That's right--it feeds on other snails and small insects! We only spotted the one and it was by random luck because it blended in quite well with the damp and dying foliage on the ground, so we snapped a pic!

After that we headed to a nice waterfall located just outside one of the small Ocean Road costal towns. Not as big as the ones we saw in NZ, but still nice. 

After that, our next stop was the main tourist spot in the Great Ocean Road, as indicated by the numerous cars in the car park, whereas we had encountered very few people on our other stops--the 12 Apostles. The 12 Apostles are a cluster of rock formations that are all that's left over from the constant carving away of rocks by ocean currents and waves. The rocks carve the water into arches and eventually once the arches fall away they are slowly withered down to little pillars standing out to sea. Apparently there were never 12 of them, once upon a time there may have been 11, but several of those no longer remain. However, the 12 Apostles sounded catchy so they stuck with it. 

I've seen some beautiful pictures of this stretch of coast during sunrise and sunset, though unfortunately we went during mid-day when it was overcast, but it was still a nice sight and once again the sun was slowly but surely making it's way out to bring us a beautiful second half of the day.

Our next stop was an area bit further on where a shipwreck occurred way back when, and while you can no longer see remnants of the ship there is still a nice beach to walk down to and explore, with some neat cave formations growing down from the overhanging cliff.

As we continued along the last bit of the Great Ocean Road we stopped at the last few major scenic sights. The first being The Arch, which is the rock formations I mentioned before and which were plentiful in NZ as well. This one was nice as the sun decided to finally come out!

The net stop is the London Bridge, which has a fun little story. I'm not sure if it was always called the London Bridge, or if they named it that after it collapsed in 1990, leaving two very frightened tourists stranded on a big rock out at sea! They were rescued within a few hours as some local farmers or passers by managed to spot them stranded offshore, but indeed London Bridge fell down after the limestone rock could no longer support it's weight and now it looks like this:

The final stop was a particularly pretty place called the Grotto. It's once again hollowed-out rock but there was a beautiful pool and in the sunlight there was gorgeous colors and great view out onto the sea:

I found these last few sights to be particularly pretty and most enjoyable as it seemed many of the tourists don't even bother to go past the 12 Apostles so there was far fewer people to contend with. 

Our last stop to end our Great Ocean Road journey was technically no longer on the Great Ocean Road, but several Kms past at a place called Tower Hill Reserve. I had read in our guidebook that there was some nice walks to be had and so we decided to check it out as it was close to where we would be staying for the night. We went later in the day when there was almost no one there and what a great choice that was! We drove down in to the park and immediately we saw a huge field of Kangaroos hopping around and staring at us, as we continued on we saw even more along the road and once we reached the car park there were more Koalas hanging out in the trees! It was great. As we went along a short walk we crossed paths with several Wallabies hanging out and we got to get really close to some as they watched us walk by. 

 

However, always weary of strangers, like good little wallabies, they would hop away if we got too close!

                                      
  Aaaaand because they are just so darn cute, more Koalas! 

We also were lucky to encounter some Emus at the end of the journey. They walked right past us on the path to the car park and we got some video of the encounter:

All in all we had a great time on the Great Ocean Road and felt it definitely lived up to the hype! It was our first interactions with the natural beauty of Australia and after spending 6 months in the city we definitely weren't disappointed! It was so different to all of our Australian experiences to date that it almost felt like we were in a totally different place, and we were ready to discover more!

Farewell Melbourne

So after 6 months it was finally time to leave Melbourne. Much like when we left Hawke's Bay, we had much organizing to do and make our rounds of goodbyes! The last Monday before we left we had drinks with John's colleagues from his work--Jon from the kitchen, and Sally who worked with him on the floor. Bottles of wine and good times were had by all! 

They also went out to a bar later but I was pooped! John was only working temporary work for the last 6 weeks while we were in Melbourne, after leaving his job at the Ludlow Formation just before we went to NZ. So I was the bread winner still working 40 hours (or as close as I could get) those last few weeks. Though, he did join the Zoo function staff for those last few weeks and we got to see each other more during the day! Well, he got to go around in the buggy pretending to work with my work friend Jesika's husband Hans, who also worked at the Zoo. They would visit us while we were actually doing work :) But yes, it was nice he got to meet all my Zoo friends as well because they were all very nice people, and I shall miss them! 

So yes, John went out that night and to his delight our good friend Lewis from Ludlow and another girl Becs, who has just returned from a vacation in Thailand, went out after work to meet up with him and say their goodbyes!

The night before my last day of work it was time to head out with my friends! We met up for pizza and drinks at a trendy little bar on Brunswick Street just north of the city. Both the duty managers and all my zoo friends came out and I felt so loved! We had a great time chatting and not too long after everyone drifted downstairs for some good ole' booty shaking! 

We had a great time and it was such a lovely send off. The following day was my last day of work! It was quite an easy day as we weren't very busy (we also had BOTH bistro managers there that day). So I got off early and the chef made me a nice pasta, I walked around and said my goodbyes, and before I left they gave me a nice bottle of wine and stuffed orangutang from the gift shop! It was so nice and I will keep it forever. That night was also my last night on the Tramcar and it was a nice night working with some nice co-workers and had really nice people on the tram. So after 6 months of practically the same work routine, that was it! All done!

But I must say while John and I had a . . . tempestuous . . . relationship with the city of Melbourne and her plethora of resident jerks, we were fortunate to make some really nice friends during our time there and they will be missed as we head on our travels North (though we can't say as much for the city)! 

After spending all of Sunday packing up and cleaning the apartment making it spotless (which, I must say, our little apartment was fantastic and I will remember it fondly as one of my favorite things about Melbourne), we went out for dinner just the two of us to this restaurant right around the corner from us that we had always walked past but never been to. It was a gourmet Korean barbecue place and while we were uncertain of how to eat certain things, it was a delicious last meal in Melbourne-and the place was busy!

Oh yes, also one of the last nights before we gave away our small tabletop oven John decided to make a delicious dinner and top it off with some flan! (or creme caramel) It was delicious and I promised him I would post a picture:

The next morning it was time to pack up and go. If only it had been that easy! We woke up early and tried to catch public transport to the site in West Melbourne where we would pick up our first camper van. Of course, the bus we needed did not come so we ended up taking a taxi with a driver who, of course, took the longest route possible for us to get there. But we finally managed to get there and picked up the van which was an old Mitsubishi manual van with your basic bed, storage beneath, and a little cooking area in the back with a cooler and portable butane cooker with some plates, bowls, cutlery, and one pot and one pan. Oh, and as we rented it from this budget company called Wicked, the outside was two huge portraits in spray paint of Lou Reed and David Bowie. It wasn't the most ostentatious van they had, which was a relief, but it wasn't exactly the cleanest on the inside--a bit dingy with writing on the walls in permanent marker, but it would be an adventure! (Despite my initial hesitation). We headed back to the city, packed up the van, stopped on our way out to return our keys and such and finally we were on the road! The whole morning had been cloudy and dreary, and a bit rainy, as Melbourne tended to be those last few weeks, but as we drove over the bridge and out of the city proper the clouds parted and we were greeted with sunshine and blue sky as we headed on our first proper Aussie Adventure! First stop: The Great Ocean Road!