Traveling Down the Great Ocean Road

Beautiful coastline along the drive.
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My trip down the Great Ocean Road was so much fun. I had a jam packed day full of great sights along the coast. I headed out on a day long tour bright and early (unfortunately I had the privilege of being first one picked up/last one dropped off for the day). The tour was basically a quick glimpse along the coast with stops at famous beaches, towns, and sights along the way. We traveled through a few beach towns that host huge surfing competitions each year in Australia. The weather for the day started off pretty gloomy - so I was worried that it might spoil the day a bit. But, thankfully by mid morning it started to clear up and the blue sky came out.

Man playing the digeridoo at the Aboriginal cultural centre.
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The coastline itself is quite windy and the average speed is no more than 50 km an hour. But, with the road being built right beside giant cliffs I was alright with the speed limit being low. Plus, I could snap photos in motion as well.

One of my best days yet!

Today was an extremely camera happy day - but I expect many of these days in Australia as I am a sucker for nice scenic shots - and everywhere you look there is something beautiful to see. The water along the coast was bright aqua and blue and very cliche put - 'crystal clear'! But, like nothing I had ever seen before. And, the road is touted as one of the best ocean scenic roads in the world - and I can definitely see why.

Some of the weapons the aboriginals used.
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One of our stops included an aboriginal centre where we got to learn about traditional aboriginal weaponry when protecting land or hunting. As well as hear a didgeridoo played -which pretty much depicts traditional Aussie music. It was neat to hear a few different ones played as each has its own sound. The didgeridoo is basically a tree that has been hollowed out by termites and then used as a musical instrument. I didn't try playing one - but I guess the key to success and constant sound is circular breathing - blowing out your mouth and breathing in your nose at the same time. Try it - it's hard. I'll stick to the kazoo or my out-of-tune singing.

Posing at Bells Beach - home of a huge Australian Surf competition. The waves were pretty flat on this particular day.
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Our day also included a rainforest walk that felt very Jurassic Park to me. Many of the plants date back to the dinosaur era as well. It was quite lush and the trees were ginourmous. It hurt your neck to look up at them.

My favourite part of the day was seeing wild koalas. Really cheesy tourist thing to say - but they really are cute. And, we don't have them - so there's a novelty there I guess! Our tour driver knew where to stop where we were likely to see the wild cuddly little creatures hanging out in the trees. We pulled over in what was a pretty busy area - but koalas spend about 20 hours sleeping in the the trees each day - so I don't think it really bothers them. I wasn't sure what I was looking for at first - but basically because they are usually sleeping all you saw is a little ball of grey fur way up in the trees. I was excited as I saw one sitting up, but I think the mobs of tourists made him go back to sleep pretty quick. We spotted about 6 in the trees at this particular spot. But, as we continued driving for the next few minutes it was like playing 'where's waldo' but with koalas. As you could spot them in trees near the road which was really cool.

The starting line for the Great Ocean Road. This is when the road started to wind its way around cliffs.
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The scenic highlight of the trip is making your way down the coast to an area that has some famous rock formations. One being 'Loc Ard' - a cool inlet on the coast and where a big explorer ship crashed back in the day killing all the people on board except 2 that were stranded for awhile on the beach. Another was the '12 Apostles' - basically a bunch of tall rocks that have been left standing out in the sea - but due to moving water around them - only about 6 of them are remaining. The final one is named 'London Bridge' - mainly because it looks like the London bridge, or any bridge I guess. But, in 1990 part of the bridge collapsed and 2 people were left out at sea standing on the remaining part that hadn't tumbled into the water.

The pretty beach right beside the beginning of the Great Ocean Road.
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I was lucky enough to take a quick helicopter ride over the famous 12 Apostles. The view from above was amazing and definitely gave you a different perspective on the area.

I had a fabulous day. Made up some serious ground - but would do it all over again - except spread it out over a few more days and stay in the cool beach towns along the way.