Great Ocean Road

  Port Campbell, Victoria, Australia
Wednesday, September 8, 2004

Kissing the sailor

This morning Tasha dropped us off at the car rental agency before running off to work. Her and Adam have taken such great care of us during our stay in Melbourne and made our visit so much fun. Thank you so much guys!

The car was rented to me only because Ally is under 25 and Mandy is still wearing a neck brace from a car accident she had only a few weeks ago.

We're with the band

She is also heavily medicated on pain killers. Unfortunately for Ally and I, she packed the largest suitcase I have ever seen and it weighs about a tonne, and Ally and I are the ones that have to load it and unload it for her.

We went down to the parkade to get our rental car and I, being the driver, walked straight over to the left-hand side of the car. We all laughed when I realized my mistake and walked over to the right side.

Geelong bollards

Bollard fun

Driving out of Melbourne wasn't as scary as I thought and once we were on the highway driving on the wrong side of the road seemed quite natural. Mandy didn't seem to trust my abilities though and kept shouting out which side of the road I should be on when I was about to make a turn. The one problem I did have was I kept thinking my turn signal was where my windshield wipers were, so I often hit the wipers, had a laugh, and then turned them off and signaled my turn. This joke didn't seem to ever get old and I never did get used to turn signal lever being on the other side of the steering wheel.

Geelong waterfront

Ally surfing

We made our first stop in Geelong. We walked along the waterfront which has over 100 wooden bollard characters. We had a lot of fun posing with the various bollards and walking along the water. The weather wasn't great out and I certainly wouldn't want to swim in the cool steel-coloured water, but it was nice enough with my sweater on.

Me surfing

After Geelong we continued on to Torquay, where we visited the Surfworld Museum. It's a pretty cool museum if you have any interest at all in surfing. Ally and I are very excited about surfing when we do finally get to the right place to do it, which should be a lot warmer than down here.

Split Point Lighthouse at Airey's Inlet

At the museum we all had a go on the surfboard and then went over to Bell's Beach, where Point Break was filmed. The beach has these really cool trees surrounding it that look like they have been shaped by strong winds. The beach was cold and quiet. I guess it is only spring here and it hasn't warmed up yet. We had enough layers to keep us warm though.

Our mascot at Erskine Falls

We continued along the Great Ocean Road to Airey's Inlet, where we stopped to check out the Split Point Lighthouse there.

Ally and I left Mandy in the car while we did a short hike up to Erskine Falls, and then again at our next stop at Mait's Rest. It is a very lush and beautiful (and wet) rain forest. We didn't want to leave Mandy for too long so we only did a very short trail but it looks like it would be a beautiful place to do a longer hike through as well.

We drove all the way to Port Campbell where we stopped for the night. We got a room for three which is great. I am really looking forward to seeing the Twelve Apostles tomorrow!