The Great Ocean Road.

After much deliberation and research we worked out that hiring a car is the cheapest and best way for us to see as much of Australia as we can. We used a comparison website to find out the best deal and picked our car up from Melbourne airport. If you are under 25 like us and looking into hiring cars, be ready to pay some kind of daily surcharge for being a young driver, as well as insurance on top of that - if you have time to shop around though, it is possible to do this in a cost effective way. Please also note that most cars in Australia are automatic. After time, automatics are a dream to drive as you literally don't have to do anything except steer and brake (and of course be 100% alert and aware at ALL times - don't worry Mum). However, if you have never driven an automatic before it may take a little while to get used to; there were definitely a few brake slams and dodgy moments... 

Our first drive on the Great Ocean Road was from Melbourne to Anglesea. It was only a short drive so we used the day to travel onto Lorne and explore there as well. Along the way there are so many beautiful lookouts which makes the drive interesting. It also makes sure that you don't miss out on any of the stunning views and photo opportunities! We stopped off at some lovely beaches and caught our first glimpse of some proper surfers which was cool and just made me want to be a surfer (they are seriously cool dudes). A particular beach highlight was Bells Beach (made famous in the film Point Break). It was a very small little beach but having seen the film I wanted to see it and take a few pictures. 

We stayed overnight in Anglesea at a small backpackers and left early in the morning to continue onto Apollo Bay. We did take a stop again at Lorne to trek to Erskine Falls. It was a pretty long trek, taking us about 6 hours, including our stop and in total the distance is about 20km. It was a lovely walk, although a fair amount was on the sides of roads. We eventually reached a woodland path that guides you to the falls. You can then take a series of steps down to the very bottom of the falls, which we did and sat to have lunch there. 

Driving on from Lorne we stopped at Kennett River where we were lucky enough to see koala bears sleeping up in the trees and the ultimate highlight - the parrots!

We had been told that you can find them here so we didn't stumble upon them by chance, however, we were not prepared, having only burger flavored crisps (don't ask) and cheese niknaks to offer them. Needless to say the parrots were not impressed and if it wasn't for the amazing little boy who we named 'the parrot whisperer', sharing his bird seeds with us, we may not have been lucky enough to have them fly down and land on us. 

We spent our second night at the Apollo Bay YHA and after a brief explore (and a cheeky stop for Sangria) we settled in for the night. We left early in the morning to cram a lot into our third day. 

Our first stop was the Gibson Steps which ran down the side of the cliffs onto a beautiful little beach, just before the 12 Apostles. We were blessed with a sunny day and were able to get some good pictures from the lookouts. The 12 Apostles were just stunning. There is great parking and easy access to the pathways, so it was all very easy to find. The viewpoints and lookouts are so carefully thought out, providing you with the best views and picture opportunities. I had been told by a few people how breath taking the Great Ocean Road is and when you see it you immediately understand why people think that. Made of limestone, each one has a unique shape and the sea around them is forever changing them. There is plenty of information available as to how the apostles formed and it really was beautiful. 

Our final stop was the Loch Ard Gorge shipwreck. It was a tiny little cove whereby the wreck of the Loch Ard ship was washed up in 1878. There were only two survivors and both are talked about in informative signs by the lookouts. 

The final stop on the road for us was Port Campbell. You can drive along as far as Adelaide if you want to but this is where we decided to end our drive. 

Port Campbell was a quiet and small town but we were lucky to stay in a great hostel. We managed to get a 6 bed dorm all to ourselves and it was pretty quiet. The only drama was a fire alarm that literally would not stop; I did wonder if I had accidentally set fire to something but thankfully it sorted itself out.

 

We had two days in Port Campbell and spent the most part of our time here on the beach (we do sometimes need to rest, and tan). The beach was very small but it was nice. I actually did brave the sea and was proud of my efforts, although as soon as my legs were tangled in seaweed and I was splashing around in the water trying to remember how to swim, I soon realised that I was far from Baywatch and more like Please-don't-watch and should probably not swim again. 

We spent our final evening on the Great Ocean Road driving first to London Bridge to watch the sunset which was so lovely (we also felt like we were obliged to visit it, being English!). We then drove onto the Melba Gully State Park, about an hour from Port Campbell to see the glow worms. 

We had to wait until it was dark and trekking through the forest at this time was actually quite scary. Thankfully we befriended some lovely travelers from Singapore who walked with us and we eventually stumbled across an array of tiny little lights in the trees. We were unable to take any photos which was a shame because it was an interesting thing to be able to see but it is something we can now remember!

Already two weeks down in Australia and so much more to come! Sydney is our next stop and actually where I am blogging from now. All I can say is the next part of our journey definitely gets more interesting so I will try and get that post done as soon as I can!

In a bit guys! x