It was my first, two-day road trip, with few friends in Australia traveling across the beautiful sun kissed beaches and seeing the wonderful animals in the Southern Hemisphere. The trip was planned in Summer, being the best time to travel. None of us owned a car and rented an 8 seater car and drove along Great Ocean Road, which is 243 kilometers along the south east coast of Victoria, Australia.
Great Ocean Road was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and is the world's largest war memorial; dedicated to casualties of World War I.
Day one:
We depart
Melbourne at 6.30 am on empty stomach and reached
Torquay at 8:30 am and had breakfast.
After this, drove to
Bells Beach, which is another scenic beach. We then headed towards
Anglesea.
The next halt was
Aireys Inlet – where we saw the
Split Point lighthouse & boardwalk. I was excited to see the lighhouse painted white and tall, had seen them only in the English movies.
After this, it was
Fairhaven Beach, Memorial Arch and then we stopped at
Lorne, for lunch. We had
potato chips (no one calls them French Fries in Australia) explored the town, shops,beach. At the beach, there were people of all ages surfing tirelessly. The sport which I never tried.
Post lunch, we started driving towards
Sheoak Waterfalls and requires climbing down to the waterfall.
The first half of the day was spent admiring the beaches and the second half was spent seeing the cute koalas, feeding the parrots and spending the evening at the Apollo Bay.
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Spotted Kangaroos on our
Memorial Arch
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| Entrance of Great Ocean Road |
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| Parrot feeding |
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| Me in front of the light house |
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| At a waterfall |
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| Lorne, stopped here for lunch |
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| Surfers at Lorne Beach |
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| Surfer at a beach |
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| The road along the Great Ocean |
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| A small hiking which was tiring |
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| Koala spotted on the tree |
Day Two:
We wanted to start off as early as possible by 7.30 am from Apollo Bay. As it day passes, the day becomes too hot in Australia. Most shops close as early as 4:30 pm, be it summer or winter. So you have to be early on time to visit any place.
We had rainforest walk at Maits Rest, followed by Castle Cove, Otway Forest and Lavers Hill.
Next interesting was Gibson steps where we could see the Apostles from sea level. We also went on a helicopter ride which lasted for 12 minutes and was the most exciting part of the trip!
Loch Ard Gorge, Razorback, Island Archway, Port Campbell, The Arch, London Bridge, The Grotto, Peterborough, Bay of Martyrs, Bay of Island are on the way and can be covered in half a day.
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| The Great Apostles |
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| The Great Apostles |
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| The pilot in the helicopter |
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| View of the Apostles from the helicopter |
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| View of the car park during the landing |
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| Me in front of the helicopter |
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| Road to view the apostles |
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| Jump at the Loch Ard Gorge |
We returned to Melbourne via Colac travelling through dairy farm country concluding the trip.
When you travel by a car or bike, you get to see more places and plan your own itinerary. You become more conscious driving safely on road especially when you hire a car in a foreign country make sure you don't end you paying huge fines.
I love to travel because I get to meet people with myriad cultures from all over the world, know the history and importance of the place. Most important, traveling in groups, make you more punctual and adjust with your fellow roomies. Last but not the least, I end up buying souvenirs wherever I visit and have a decent collection of them.
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