The Great Ocean Road

Trip Start Jan 10, 2007
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Trip End Mar 08, 2007


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Friday, January 18, 2008

Before making our way over to New Zealand, it was an absolute MUST (as per a conglomerate of local and foreign recommendations) to embark on the "Great Ocean Road" tour, southwest Victoria. It's basically an opportunity to travel one of the world's most scenic roads through an extended area that includes the world-famous Twelve Apostles, the Otways rainforest, Bells Beach, on the Surf Coast.

Because we booked so last minute there was only availability for the SUNSET tour. It's the same tour as the early morning tour however we leave 3 hours later and get to watch the sunest at the 12 Apostles site and return back to our pick up spot for 12:30 am.

We booked our tour with Autopia Tour's sister company and to be honest, I don't think the tour was worth the $95. It was all quite rushed and when stopping to eat both lunch an dinner only 30 minutes was allocated. The guide was great in the sense that she was able to offer alot of information but at the same time, she gave the impression that she was just a bus driver rushing to make it back home before midnight..even though the tour officially ends at 12:30. We would have been better off, just keeping the rented car and doing the tour on our own at our own pace.

Besides the rushed tour, the Great Ocean Road was NOT SO GREAT and definitely over hyped. It's definitely a beautiful drive, but I think almost equivalent to California's A1A.

Overall, here are the highlights of the trip: (in order of priority)

1. Helicopter ride over teh 12 apostles! 8 minute ride for $60 was definitely worth the venture!
2. Koala bears (my first encounter)
3. Checking out Toquay (surfing industry where quicksilver and Rip Curl started)
4. SUPER wide beaches along the coast
5. Learning about the GOR history

NOT SO Great traits:

1. Swarming with flies! (apparently the climate was exceptionally still so lack of wind invites hoards of flies!)
2. Cloudy and rainy weather. The sunset at the 12 Apostle's was non existent during torrential downpour and ended up driving back to Melbourne on stuffy bus.

Overall, it was a great experience and upon getting dropped off in Melbourne we headed to the Crown Casino..super cool and young. Actually, Melbourne really is a beautiful, modern city with a great vibe! Jazz gambled until about 4:45 am where we rushed back to the hotel, picked up our bags and headed off to the airport to catch our flight to Christchurch, NZ
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