"Sleeping along the Great Ocean Road..."
Trip Start
Oct 04, 2004
1
62
102
Trip End
Ongoing
Melbourne,
Australia
Monday, February 14, 2005
We had now been traveling for nearly 6 months and in all that time not been apart, doing all the activities, and seeing all the sights together. Because of this, it felt a bit weird stepping onto the bus by myself. It wasn't that i felt alone, just weird to think that we wouldn't experience one of the world's greatest drives together. A major drawback when traveling solo. God, its starting to sound like we're a couple!
Either way it was a good experience making friends when fellow travelers. It was that or sit in silence for the next 10 hours?
There were 20 other people on the relatively small bus. All around my age group which was at least something! Strangely enough after being bored senseless by a girl from Israel, i was drawn to a couple of Swedish girls sitting a couple of rows in front!
You would be surprised how friendly Swedish girls get when you show a little interest in their language... a tip i picked up living in Cyprus. After saying my well used phrases of:
"Hello, How are you?"
"I'm fine thank you"
"What's your name?"
"How old are you?"
and the killer line:
"You have very beautiful eyes"
Yes very corny, but you all know what I'm like, and I didn't see any other people on the bus with 2 Swedish blondes on their arms all day!
As for the Great Ocean Road, well i would like to describe it in great detail, but I'm afraid, true to form, I was asleep for most of it, waking only for the pre arranged photo stops! I had had a heavy weekend, and it caught up with me!
On of these stops was at a small holiday town called Lorne.
01. The World Famous Bells Beach
Nothing overly special about the town, a few shops and a nice beach, but it was here our driver took us down a side road to look at a couple of local Koala bears. Although the first was easy enough to spot, hanging on to a eucalyptus tree a meter high above our heads, it wasn't until a little investigating, that we found its 'mate' dead on the floor! Not the sight you want o see when you see your first koala bears! The driver just shrugged and walked back to the bus. "Well sometimes they aren't as great mates as we would expect" he later said!Just before we stopped at the famous Twelve Apostles, the driver asked how many Brits were aboard, a few mumbled yes, so he took us up to a Lighthouse. Not any just Lighthouse mind, the Lighthouse featured in the old kids program "Around the Twist" some of you might remember it. Although this excited us brits, the other nationalities couldn't see what all the fuss was about, so it wasn't long before we were back on the road and eventually pulling into a car park so that we could view the Twelve Apostles.
The Twelve Apostles are the big rock formations that stick out in the sea that you see on all the tourism posters and adverts. Although a great sight, I spent most of the 30 minutes here fighting with the hoards of Japanese tourists, all eager to get that one special photo!
From what i saw of the Great Ocean Road, I could see why everyone rated it so much. Just maybe next time i'll stay awake a little longer and actually see all of it!
