Great Ocean Road and Grampians tour

We had an early start and were picked up from our hostel at 7.20am!! It was a bit of a struggle but as we found out well worth it.

By the time the tour guide had picked everyone up from hostels scattered all over Melbourne we hit the road for real and made our way towards the Great Ocean Road, first stop Torquay just outside Geelong.

Our bus party was made up with a largely european group with 21 of us in total the majority dutch and german and a random taiwanese man who was dating/with a married polish women, yeah was a bit weird!

Torquay houses all the big surf brand outlet shops with the latest designs being sold and around the back the discount outlets selling the previous years designs, so you can guess which end of the shops we headed to. Unfortunately alot of the clothing that was left was either xxl, which i'm pleased i am not yet, or really strange designs!

We headed off onto the Great Ocean Road shortly after and saw such sights as the lighthouse as seen in the 'going around the twist' tv programme and the coastal towns of Lorne and Apollo Bay. The weather was definately on our side for the first time this trip and when it did rain a little bit we were in the Otway ranges walking through some rainforest and so quite well sheltered so we didn't mind that!

The first night was spent at a camp ground in the Otway ranges which was full of Koalas everywhere and many noisy parrots and lots of horses. We had free time in the evening and took this opportinity to escape the noisy dutchies who seemed to love making noise and talking all the time to go and see some of the wildlife a bit closer up and so followed signs to the Bighill lookout, as the name suggested it was exactly that and it looked out over the Otway ranges and over towards the coast the other side, on the way back down we stopped so Jen could see the horses and fed them a mint or two, I just watched!

That evening we had a nice bbq and salad which was all prepared and cooked for us by our guide and we just got to know each other better before heading off to bed ready for another day.

The second day consisted of a fair bit of driving but we got to cover the remainder of the coast road which took in the twelve apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, London Bridge and the Bay of Islands, it was another nice day and we were getting used to the constant chatter going on behind us in the bus!

We stopped off at the Bunyip hotel/bar for a drink on the way towards the Grampians which broke up the journey nicely and the drink was paid for by the tour so even better!

That evening we arrived at the Asses Ears lodge, so called as it is in the shadows of the mountains behind which are known as the Assess Ears due to their shape, as most of the names in Australia they are quite obvious!

It was in a really great location and we had a really nice lodge for just the two of us and with the rest of the group camping further away it really was so still and quiet. The reason we did not camp was we, well, decided to plan ahead again (we are getting better) and the forecast was for rain/sun and i really didnt fancy getting up early in the morning having to pack away a soaking wet tent and as it was it did infact rain overnight so maybe it was the right decision.

It was decided that we were going to have a little christmas party that night and a couple of girls from London on the tour even had a little Christmas tree with them although everyone was too tired and seemed to disapear off to bed very shortly after dinner!

The following morning was a rather slower start due to many of the guys sleeping in and we had a lot to pack in to the day so it was all a bit rushed to start with but it calmed down when we made it to the base of the Pinacle rock walk. We were told this was a 'walk' with an odd rock to climb a bit, as it turned out it was actually quite steep in places and was defiantely not good for those who had problems with heights!

Once at the top we took in the awesome view and had the mandatory group shot before heading back down and making our way to the Brambuk cultural centre to learn a bit more about the park and its aborginal roots which was all quite interesting.

We stopped off at a few viewpoints on our way back and drove through Ballerat but it was very much go go go as we were quite far behind schedule and we ended up not getting back up to Melbourne until 8pm and we were supposed to be in at 6pm, I guess that from the mood of the guide he was probably only paid until 6pm and he had to be up at 5am to do it all again the next day!

It was all a really great experience and we both enjoyed getting out of the city and seeing more of the wildlife, we are now staying with Larraine and Paul who are kindly putting up with us.

Not long till Christmas..

Alex and Jen