16 November 2006

Great Ocean Road to Melbourne

On Monday 12 Nov we got onto a bus run by Wayward Bus to see the sights from Adelaide to Melbourne. Our driver was Lawrie, who was not only a skillful driver but also full of information about many of the places, sights, and flora & fauna we saw along the way.
Our trip lasted 3.5 days, and a week later I(X) can't remember all the little coastal towns we saw. I'll try to hit the highlights-some things have to be left for all of you to see!
Day 1.
We drove into Adelaide Hills into Hahndorf, a touristy German town. We were there quite early so only a bakery or two was open. We stopped at sand dunes in Cooranga(?) National Park. We had our first views of the ocean since leaving Adelaide! We also stopped at a small restaurant run by aborigines and had a brief tour of local flora & fauna and history by one of them, Gordy. Julie got to hold a lizard and learned the local insect repellent plant! This evening we spent in Robe, a town famous for its crawfish, or lobster as we know it in USA. We had some for dinner-delicious and fresh! Our hotel was Guichen Motel, which was cozy and charming and also had the restaurant we ate dinner.
Day 2.
We visited the town of Mt. Gambier, which is on the slopes of an extinct volcano. There is a lake in the volcano which is the town's water source and apparntly changes color from a black-blue in winter to aqua in the summer. This night was spent in Port Fairy, which had a nice bay to walk along. This day we saw a lot of small port towns-all started by whaling or gold rush. We also had a lot of rain today!
Day 3
Today we drove through another extinct volcano, which once was farmland but has been converted into a wildlife sanctuary for kangaroos, koalas, and emus. We finally got onto the "real" Great Ocean Road with great views, just as dramatically beautiful as CA highway 1 but of course different. We saw several sights including Loch Ard, London Bridge, and the 12 Apostles. This night was spent in Apollo Bay.
Day 4
A half day drive into Melbourne. We drove through a lot of weekend beach towns, and as we approached Melbourne we had some nice views. We met up with Jack Hamilton, a friend of a friend who was kind enough to open up their home to us while we were in Melbourne.

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