The Australian Hinterland

Another of the many arches along the coast
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The next morning we left Port Campbell to finish our drive along the Great Ocean Road before turning in land and exploring the hinterland of Australia. The coast still had many of the magnificent features that made it so pleasant to drive the day before. We first drove to the London Bridge, which was once two arches that stretched out into the ocean like a bridge. However, one of them has collapsed so now there is just a single arch not connected to the mainland. It is still however a very nice place to stop and enjoy the view out over the ocean. The next place we stopped was the bay of Islands, which is a bay that is filled with small pinnacles like the apostles only much shorter. We had a nice walk around the area before again hopping in the car and heading out. We stopped for lunch at Port Fairy before leaving the coast for the Hinterland.

Bill and Michelle having a great time
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Leaving the coast, the scenery faded away becoming a monotonous stretch of fields, some housing sheep and cattle, others just growing a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. After about an hour we got to the southern end of Grampians National Park and were greeted with the sight of Mt. Abrupt jutting up out of the plain. We started our climb up out of the plains and into to the National Park. The drive through the park was mostly through a forested area with few spots where we could stop and get a good view out over the surrounding scenery. After another hour of driving we ended up in the small town of Hall’s Gap.

The famous "London Bridge" though one section has collapsed
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After three days of mostly riding in the car everyone was a little tired and decided that they wanted to just rest in town, and not go out to do any walks in the Grampians. That night we tried to go to a nice restaurant with live music. The thought was good, but the execution left a little to be desired. Doreen, Michelle, and I ordered our dinners, but then the manager came out and said that everyone needed to order a meal so Paul ordered some Kangaroo meat. When the meals came out, Michelle and Doreen discovered that there was a layer of plastic wrap in their food. They sent their food back, but when it came out it was not fully heated. At this point Michelle was just fed up and decided that she was not hungry. Throughout messing up Michelle’s meal twice, the manager never once came to apologize. She could show up to tell Paul he needed to do more than just order drinks, but not to say sorry for botching a nice meal.

One of the "islands" in the bay
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Bill