The great, the ocean and the road

We have had a truly amazing day today and who’d have thought you could say that about a day where the majority of it was spent in a car on the road. We climbed into Yvonne early this morning in a bid to beat the morning traffic, but as soon as we reached the end of our street Alex put on the breaks and waited! Nothing happened for about five seconds. Obviously with four people in the car she struggles a bit so she had to be returned and thus we took the swanky hire car that Rach’s parents had with them.

After driving out of the city and along the freeway for around an hour and a half we hit the Great Ocean Road. This was something that we’d heard almost every traveller talk about in hushed, reverent tones. However the first part of the drive isn’t all that impressive so we were driving along wondering why it had garnered such a reputation. Then all of a sudden the road leapt onto the very edge of the coast and the vistas exploded into view. The road twisted and curved following the bays and cliffs of the coast, with truly magnificent scenery on the one side of the road and the beautiful crashing surf on the other.

We’d been driving, open mouthed at the passing scenery, for a while when there was a collective four person tummy rumble and we decided to stop off for a quick tea break. There was a nice little stop along the way with a cafe called Koala Cove Cafe at Kennett River. The cakes there were amazing and to top it all off right next to the cafe in a little wooded area there were koalas chilling in the trees. These were slightly more active than the ones we’d seen on Phillip Island (P-p-p-penguins on Phillip Island) and we spent ages gawping up at their behinds and taking pictures of the little furballs, with Rach’s dad in particular climbing through bushes in an effort to get the best shots. We probably wouldn’t have spent so much time here had we known what was to come.

After clambering back into the car we referenced our local guide map and saw a lighthouse at Cape Otway, where we decided to stop off for lunch and have a bit of an explore. We got a little diverted on the way down to the lighthouse though when we saw the multitude of koalas hanging from the trees. We spent the next half hour running around like excited children from tree to tree, with the sight best being a koala that actually looked at us to see what all the fuss was about. There was also sadly a very sick looking koala who was wandering along the ground, something that apparently never happens and we looked on knowing there was nothing we could do.

We then headed off to the lighthouse little realising that it was more of a light station with multiple buildings and a thriving museum. We paid to get into the complex and found ourselves in a very well thought out museum that covered all aspects of the lighthouse, its history and the stories of the families that had lived there. We even got to go all the way to the top of the lighthouse which is a treat nowadays, due to health and safety restrictions on many places. We were also surprised to discover an Aboriginal trail with a hut and some interesting pieces on the everyday life of the ancient Aborigines. Due to our tight schedule we wolfed down our lunch and had to hit the road again.

The road from this point on became less of an ocean road and more of a wooded lane, but it was still pretty cool nonetheless. We raced along to our next and final destination; the Twelve Apostles. We got there just as the temperature started to drop and so had to cosy up in our hoodies to brave the wind that was howling over the walkways. We’d been briefed by Rach’s work colleague that we should prepare ourselves for just rocks and not get our hopes up too much. Thanks to this we weren’t expecting to be blown away by the sights and in all honesty we weren’t. As our source had said it really was rocks, impressive rocks and pretty cool but still rocks nonetheless. They do however make good pictures and you can’t really lay claim to having “done” Australia unless you have some of these uprights featuring in some of your photos. Once we’d taken enough photos and were sufficiently bored and cold we headed back in the car for the long drive home with a stop off for a scrumptious Indian takeaway.

Rex’s Rules of the Road

• Most adverts for tours of the Great Ocean Road indicate that it takes a weekend to do the Great Ocean Road, but you can do most of it in one day if the time is short.

• Don’t expect a huge amount at the Twelve Apostles, that way you won’t be disappointed.

• Keep your eyes peeled for koalas, there’s so many scattered through the trees. The small diversion to Cape Otway we found to be particularly fruitful for spotting them.

• Read Rach’s full reviews on the Great Ocean Road, Cape Otway and the Twelve Apostles.