The Great Ocean Road20 Oct 2009
|
|
Our transportation.....
Let the journey commence.......
One of the many lookouts on the Great Ocean Road
Hey everyone,
Hope all is well with you.
We have had a great week travelling along the Great Ocean Road and Princes Higway from Melbourne to Adelaide via the Grampains national park.
Wednesday - We left melbourne on wednesday in our hired car of a bright red (just to highlight our tourist status) skoda octavia. We travelled to Lorne and visited Bells surfing beach along the way. The accomodation at Lorne was unusual in the middle of the woods.
Thursday - we visited Erskine falls while at Lorne in the pouring rain and also the Otway tree top adventure. Both were stunning and the rainforest was huge. The trees were over 100ft tall. We then travelled to Apollo Bay and on our way saw our first wild Koalas....so cute! The lodge at Apollo Bay was beautiful with a roaring fire and a nice glass of wine...more like a hotel than a hostel
Friday - we visited the Great Otway lighthouse which when immigration was happening years also, would have been the first glimpse of oz the ships saw after their 6 month journey at sea. We then went to see the rock formation of the 12 apostles where the rocks have eroded the coastline leaving some stunning out crops.
Saturday - we made our way further down the coast to Port Campbell for a visit which was quaint. We also visited other rock formations of the London Bridge and various bays and coves....beautiful! Our favourite was called the Grotto. We then made our way to Port Fairy which again had questionable accomodation but was peaceful after a long day. This town looked like something out of a wild west film.
Sunday - we made our way inland to Halls Gap at the foot of the Grampians National Park. We climbed to the famous Pinnacle to see amazing views - this entailed a 2.5km rigorous climb which had a difficulty rating of hard (not bad for a couple of unfit townies)It took about 2.5 hrs there and back and it was worth it
Monday - again in the national park, we climbed down to see Makenzie falls which were beautiful and then made our way to the Reid lookout and the Jaws of Death - spectacular views of the mountains and forestry. From there onto Mount Zero where we saw an ancient aborignal shelter and meeting point and our first glimpse of some several thousand year old rock paintings. We also saw our first wild Kangaroos as they came to feed at the park near our hostel....cool!
Tuesday - we made our way to Adelaide where we are now.
Total journey was around 2000km (not including our several 100 km walks ;-)
Hope you enjoy the photos as we have tried to put a cross section out of 100s.
We are here in Adelaide until Sunday 25th where we travel on the Ghan train to Alice Springs for our Ayres Rock experience. We then fly to Cairns on 1st Nov which will probably be when we next update. So, till the next time....
Love Marie and Nige xxxx
