Driving Miss Daisy

  Torquay, Victoria, Australia
Tuesday, January 6, 2009

01. Poor Directions

Leaving Sydney on Mike's birthday, proved to be bit more of a hassle than planned as we didn't have a map or clear idea of which highway to take! We were considering taking the boring route via Canberra. Thankfully we didn't, and got to appreciate the spectacular scenery along the coast.
 
We were both blown away by the rugged beauty of the coastline dispersed by Eucalyptus forest and charming towns that had tried to preserve their Victorian roots. We stopped in Berry for a late breakfast and to wander through the shops looking for a decent map. A bookshop provided us with a free map and instructions to stop off at information centres along the way - these provided a wealth of information and handouts!

03. View of Guerilla Bay

For lunch we stopped at Guerrilla Bay and were serenaded by Lorikeets and Kookaburras while we picnicked and looked out over a perfect sea!
 
To break up our journey further we stopped at Tilba winery's for a small tasting, before touring the quaint town of

06. Tilba's technology Hub

Tilba (all two hundred meters of it). Tilba is lined with Victorian houses and shops that wouldn't look out of place in the 1920's. We toyed with staying the night there, but as we weren't yet halfway we decided to push on. That and the fact that most places appeared to be full!
 
Our next stop was the old whaling station of Eden, where we tried to look for accommodation. Due to a combination  of Middletown syndrome (halfway between Sydney and Melbourne)and peak season elevated prices, we found most decent guest houses full. We thus decided to have a seafood

07. Eden Sunset

dinner (mostly deep fried - no wonder Australia is the most obese nation) overlooking the harbour, with a glorious sunset before pushing on to the next town of Genoa - which we naively thought would be a decent size with accommodation options!
 
When we arrived in Genoa we found a one horse town, whose only horse had long ago bolted! There was a hotel and two houses, all in complete darkness at 10:00pm. Too tired  to carry on we pulled into the rest stop on the

05. Our bed for the night

side of the road, which actually turned out to be the caravan park, for a good five hour sleep in our two door Hyundai Getz! (All future accommodation could only just be an upgrade on that!). At 3:00 we woke rather uncomfortable and needing a water break. To break the monotony we pushed on for another 40 minutes to another roadside stop where we slept through to sunrise! From the number of other cars, this is not an uncommon occurrence. It is truly fantastic not to have to worry about doing this, as well as happily leaving our luggage on the back seat!!!
 
Sunrise unveiled stretching out natural bush and provided our first sighting of Roo's.

08. Morning View

They are completely improbable beasts, but great to watch hopping away. We stopped at the first garage we saw in the next town (which had a few horses) for Segafredo coffee before heading to the beach for breakfast. The beach was unspoilt and stretched out for miles in either direction - actually 90 miles from end to end - where the only other souls around where a couple of fishermen and their dogs. Some enjoying their first beer while killing time waiting for the Cricket to start!
 
The spectacular drive continued past Snowy River, Stratford on the river Avon and lastly Sale, where we again stopped at the information centre. Here we were forced to decide on our plans as we could either push through to the Great Ocean Road or take the next two days getting to Melbourne.  As our intention had been doing the Ocean Road and trying to see family friends we chose the former, and so boring drive through Melbourne, Geelong and into Torquay stopping only for petrol. In Torquay we went to the tourist information to secure the last available accommodation for the night - though slightly more expensive than planned, the extra cost was well worth it! Our cottage was gorgeous and came with its own four poster bed, spa bath, lounge and kitchen - more than our souls could have asked for after the poor accommodation for Mike's birthday! To continue the celebration we ate a delicious roast chicken with a great bottle of Australian Chardonnay before falling into a much needed comfortable sleep!
 

11. More Surf

The next day - feeling much more refreshed - we struggled out of bed and tore ourselves away from the great comfort to head off down the great ocean road. Being the home of Billabong, Quicksilver and Rip Curl we had to stop in at the shops first for a quick look around. Unfortunately our luck had changed and the great weather was masked by the grey clouds and occasional drizzle as we set off from Torquay. We stopped at the world famous surfing "Bell's Beach" to admire the surf and would be surfers

15. At the Twelve Apostles

spectacular wipe outs! From there we felt compelled to stop roughly every other kilometre to admire the spectacular change in scenery.  We eventually made it to Lorne for a light picnic out of the wind, before continuing on through more breathtaking scenery and forest towards the Twelve Apostles, which gives the Cape version a run for its money. The highlight of the drive was coming across a group of about fifteen Koalas 'hanging' in the trees.  
 
Rather stunned by the three days of beauty we headed inland to Noorat (a farming area) to visit a family friend and meet a couple of local people who all tried to convince Kirsty she needed to move there to help with the GP deficit, while Mike entertained the cutest two year old boy, showing his paternal side (we can hear Ann jumping up in excitement).

16. Dinner Party

 
After another fantastic night's sleep (everything after the Getz is brilliant), we were woken with Coffee in bed! My, what a novel experience that was after four months on the road!!! We all then went out for breakfast in Terang before Margie went off to work. Laurie showed us round more of the beautiful countryside (near Camperdown - great lakes and the botanical gardens) and a farmer sheering his sheep, before sending us on our way to Ballarat. There we met up with Megan (their daughter) and her family (Husband Nick and their four month old baby) for lunch. We were joined by another of her friends with her three month old baby. They too tried to recruit Kirsty as a GP for Ballarat!
 
After lunch we headed off to the bright lights of Melbourne and even managed to find a highway without a toll!