Flyin' and Drivin'

Bobby gives me a "Larry David stare" as we take a quick break from the road.
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We woke to fog – thick and gray. Now I know why we couldn’t land in Sydney on Monday morning. We had breakfast, packed and trained it back to the domestic terminal at SYD. Our gate was next to the transfer desk for international flights so we had a pretty good view of passengers scurrying to make their connections. There were lots of nice shops but I found the prices to be a bit high and I tend to collect too much crap anyway so I only bought some chocolates to bring home.

No fancy-pants lounges or special perks on Qantas but it was still a pretty good flight (767-300). “City of Port Augusta” was her name and I think we were nearly full (the flight after ours was cancelled since operations at SYD were still a bit messed up from the fog).

In the left seat that road comes right at you.

At the domestic terminal in Sydney.
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It was clear by time we took off about 11:25 a.m. but very bumpy into Melbourne. The rear 1/3 of the cabin missed out on the citrus muffin and tiny apple served with coffee or tea after the captain suspended service due to the bumps. We had a moving map display so we could track our progress across NSW and Victoria.

At the Thrifty counter we had to wait a few minutes for our car, which turned out to be a Mitsubishi 380 (Galant in the U.S.) in a nice cobalt blue called “Electro.” But it was a V6 automatic and had plenty of power (ended up getting about 23 mpg which isn’t horrible, and the gas was comparable in price to what we have in Denver). It stickered for nearly $29,000 USD so the cost to rent it was reasonable.

"Let's just get there!"
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Right-hand steering wheel felt weird but manageable. The hardest part for me was remembering to use the turn signal on the right, not left (turned on the wipers a few extra times by mistake). It was raining when we hit the Princes Highway and headed south, but we made good time down to Moonlight Head (nearly to Port Campbell).

I wanted to get there before 5:30 (dark) and it was after 2 when we got going so we had some fast driving to do. Unfortunately we made a wrong turn in Colac and headed back to Apollo Bay instead of directly south to the Great Ocean Road but that made for some exciting moments for Bobby.

"Oh Mama I loves the cake - caaaake! - I just like cake, I don't know why . . ."
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The other weird thing is riding in the left seat and having that narrow road come right at you. Especially when it’s a narrow, windy road with some extra gravel strewn about for good measure – but Bobby just held on and we got there as the sun went down.  That's what airbags are there for, dummy!

The few times we stopped were brief – very pretty countryside along the way after we left Colac. It reminded me of Coastal California, England, Iowa and Colorado at different turns. The Great Ocean Road itself was spectacular, of course, but I enjoyed the inland route just as much.

The sunset from our balcony at Moonlight Retreat.
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“Moonlight Retreat” was the B&B where we stayed – very cozy and intimate, with a pretty balcony and a nice common room where we ate breakfast for two mornings. There were self-catered cabins on the property as well, but we didn’t see any guests coming and going.

After a quick shower we got in the car and found a roadhouse nearby called the “Talk of the Town” where we had dinner and some drinks. It was a pretty nice spot, actually, with a restaurant, bar and a convenience store all in one (some rooms for rent, too). I wish the drinks were cheaper, though! I was in bed by 10.