Melbourne Day 4 – The Great Ocean Road
Ah... the Great Ocean Road. Got lots of reading on this trip. Because you spent alot of time in the Bus, and little time at the places we went. But it was a VERY relaxing day.
The first stop was the town of Torquay, the beaches here are designated surf parks. All the big names in surfing have huge stores on the main road to bells beach.
Got a couple good pictures of people surfing, but had alot more fun when we went farther up the coast, and I was able to climb down the cliff a bit and just relax and listen to the waves crash around me. I was about 5 meters down the cliff which allowed me to sit and relax without hearing tourists. I also got some good pictures of the waves crashing on the rocks below. The pictures in the distance were neat because there was a mix of sunlight and clouds, which always makes for an interesting contrast.
On our stop for "Billy Tea", I decided to pass since I'd had it on 2 other tours, and still seemed like just normal tea, with a different name. So I wandered down to the beach, which was completely empty and all to myself. I got several pictures of footprints walking down the bare beach, and of the coastline. It was a well spent 45 minutes. Again lots of relaxing waves. I was playing to close to the water and ended up drenching my shoes and pants... oh well. They dried.
We stopped in Apollo Bay for Lunch. I finally got to try the "Fish and Chips" that I had seen so many signs for. The local fish is called "Flake", and was really good! I got my order as Take-Away and walked down to the beach. I'm not really sure why nobody else from the tourbus ever went to the beaches we were stoping at. I sat and ate lunch as the local Seagulls found me... the kept getting bolder and bolder coming closer and closer. I was reminded of a scene from Finding Nemo where all the seagulls screach... "mine... mine..." I digress...
From my lunching spot I was able to watch 2 guys fish, and up the coast Star was playing fetch with a dog she found on the beach. After finishing my lunch with no surprises from the birds... and them not getting a single bite. I wandered over and chatted with the guys on the beach. If I haven't made this point clear yet... Australians are the nicest people I've met in my travels. Found out the guys live about 45 minutes outside of Melbourne, and were out on vacation with one guys son to do some fishing. They had wet suits and wading boots on. They would go all the way out into the surf to attempt to get their cast past the surf. They were fishing for Australia Salmon and White Fish... Flake! So far they had only mild luck in their fishing. And were planning on wrapping up that evening so they could make it home to catch the 'Footie' game... which I think there is one thing Australians love is their Beer, and watching Football.
After lunch we headed back up the coast towards the 12 Apostles. Along the way, we went through an area that they use for logging, they had a period of time that they actaully planted Pines for timber. Recently they had blown through a large area and cut the trees down. The devistation was shocking. To go from deep forest with huge trees to hills with nothing but the carnage of left over trunks, fragments of timber and branches. It looked like they just took a big bulldozer over the place leaving only stumps. It was rather ominous on this cloudy day. Luckly they do a good job of replanting, and we would be out of this area quickly.
The 12 Apostles were absolutely breathtaking. The first place we stopped I went out to the cliffs while Star went on a Helicopter ride above the cliffs. The breeze was cold, and strong. The pictures of the Apostles do a good job at describing what they look like. They call each Apostle a Limestone Stack. They are created by the surf eroding away at the cliffs, but some areas are left standing. Causing the stacks to emerge out into the water. I'm not describing it well. BAH! Regardless, there is a very shallow surf, which causes the waves to remain at a pretty constant height, and roll into the cliffs, rather than crash like they do in other areas. The view of rolling waves is hard to capture but creates a relentless stream of white froathy water under the stacks. I got alot of pictures, and then the battery on my camera died. So that is the last of the pictures.
On the bus ride back we stopped for a lame buffet dinner which I passed on. And instead lasted about 5 minutes before I fell asleep at the table I was sitting at (we weren't allowed into the bus).
We headed home and went to bed, since we had to be up at 3am the next morning to get to the airport.