Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Grampians

John
see all photos »

I got to Avalon airport near Melbourne about an hour late, at almost 1030pm. My friend John came and got me and let me crash at his place until morning and then he drove me up to St. Kilda (which was really awesome of him!) where I was meeting up with Belinda. The day in St Kilda was a bit mixed. The weather was terrible. Very windy and raining on and off all day. Plus, we kept running into the weirdest people. Even walked by some lady pissing on the street corner...weird day. We walked to Luna Park but it was closed and then walked down the beach but it was too windy and cold swim or even enjoy it much. So we went back and had some Krugelhoph and hot chocolate at the Monarch Bakery. Yum! Since the weather was so crap we decided we would go and see a movie to kill some time. We saw Sweeny Todd. Johnny Depp was brilliant as always.

Luna Park
see all photos »

We had to get up bright and early for our 745 pick up and we were soon on our way down the Great Ocean Road. Our first stop was in Torquay at the shops for some shopping and some breakfast. Of course it was pouring down rain so we were all wondering just how nice our trip on the Great ocean Road was going to be that day! but of course a little rain never hurt anyone! We stopped at Bells Beach for some photos and then again at the Memorial Archway...when it really started raining hard! We had lunch in beautiful Apollo Bay ( I LOVE it there!) We did a short hike in the cold climate rainforest at Maites Rest and went to the 12 Apostles and Loch Ard Gorge. We stayed the night in Port Campbell and had a beautiful view of the beach...and it finally stopped raining!

it really started raining hard

St Kilda Beach
see all photos »

The next day we went to see London Bridge, Bay of Martyrs, Gibson Steps, Bay of Islands and then headed into the Grampians. I was excited about this part because from now on in the trip it would all be stuff that I had never seen or done before. The Grampians were beautiful and still parts were very black from the huge fires that had gone through about 2 years ago.We stopped at the Brambuck Cultural Center and then went to our bunkhouses. After dinner Belinda and I went and walked around the little town of Halls Gap. They were having a jazz festival that weekend so we stopped a various places and listened outside while we had some ice cream.

Bells Beach
see all photos »

Day 3 of the tour we stopped at the Balconies for some amazing views and then walked down to McKenzie Falls, which were quite tame due to the drought. We stopped for lunch at Mt Arapiles, a famous rockclimbing site, and then had to face a long drive through alot of very flat, unimpressive countryside. but we finally got to Adelaide and went to find dinner and to bed.