Great Ocean Road

Early morning coffee run

We’re still not winning any gold medals in adjusting to the time difference as we woke up at 4 a.m. local time (again) unable to go back to sleep. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world as we had to be ready to go on our daylong tour at 7:00 anyway. We opened the huge window in our room to enjoy the view and a few minutes later some hot air balloons came floating by. It was so, so cool. Note: I have not one ounce of interest in riding in one, but they are pretty! At 6:15ish Jackson decided to go down to the lobby’s coffee shop for his morning hit. They didn’t open until 7:00, but they let him come in at 6:30 and have two flat whites on the house. I joined him a bit later and had an amazing hot cocoa. The barista was a big Reggie Miller fan so he knew all about Indiana. It was so funny to hear him go back and forth with Jackson on Australian players now in the NBA and the such. They really hit it off. I didn’t mind the free drinks. ;)

Our tour arrived right on time to pick us up. Stacey, our tour guide, was an excited Australian ready to take on the day. We picked up a few more passengers including Katie who called herself out as an American when she tried to get in on the driver’s side of the tour van when Stacey told her to ride shotgun. It was so, so funny!

We headed out of Melbourne for the Great Ocean Road. The tour van held 12 total passengers and it was a full house. We stopped at a place called the Chocolaterie. We did a chocolate tasting which was fun, but overwhelming. This disappoints me greatly as I’ve always wanted to swim in chocolate and I was able to tire of it after just sampling. We had “brekky” there which was a “Christmas scone” (which is just cranberry and white chocolate pastry with no cinnamon. They were aghast that someone would put cinnamon in something like that. PREACH! Who knew that I was Australian at heart?!) and a hot glass of milk to pour pure chocolate in. That hot cocoa didn't work out so well and was $7AUD so I was mildly annoyed, but such is life. Thankfully the hotel’s cocoa was delicious AND free!

Chocolate tasting

Christmas scone

The Chocolaterie 

Chinese-style bathrooms

Yes, Jackson used this bathroom to "practice for our day in China." Yes, he loved it. I thought it was just a sign of how many foreign visitors they get!

Petefish.

We finally let the chocolate place all feeling sick from the sugar and got back on the road. We stopped at a lighthouse where Jackson wandered off from the group and ending up having to sprint back uphill to the waiting van. Thankfully, Stacey had a great sense of humor and didn’t seem to want to kill Jackson. :) (Note: She was alone in that.)

After a few more scenic stops we made it to the beginning of The Great Ocean Road. Australia is not small and the driving here seems to take much longer than it does at home. The road is actually the world’s longest war memorial and it was built after their prime minister saw California’s Pacific Coast Highway. It was kind of cool that we’d just been there last month so the similarities were fresh to our minds. They did an excellent job of creating their own version of such a special place.

Lorne.

Gorgeous day at the beach

A real Australian BBQ

We stopped in a beach town called Lorne for a short break. We got to see real Australians having a breakfast BBQ of “bacon” (ham) and the most orange yolked eggs ever. It smelled amazing! I think breakfast BBQs should be a thing at home.

We left there and got to stop at a roadside area full of KOALAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (and tropical birds, but who cares about those rats with wings?) The koalas were even cuter than I imagined them. They were napping, naturally, since they sleep 20 hours per day. One did wake up, though, to stretch and get further away from some annoying tourist girl who was fawning over her. Oh wait, that girl was me. Whoops. :)

KOALA!!!

Another shot

Bird selfie

After all of that excitement, it was time for lunch so we got on the road to a restaurant called Waves in Apollo Bay. Holy cats were the sandwiches we got tasty! They were focaccia and loaded up with toppings. They were served with a delicious fresh salad, too. The tour had this all figured out so we looked at menus beforehand and called our orders in. I worried about things taking forever with so many people in a group, but things really went quite smoothly.

After lunch we cut inland and went to the rainforest. It was a temperate rainforest instead of a tropical rainforest so all of the plants worked together to survive. We did a short loop trail through the area after Stacey gave a frightening speech about poisonous spiders and snakes found in Australia. The loop trail was even home to poisonous snail! What the world?! No one else was freaked out. Let’s just say I walked as quickly as my aching knee and hip could take me. No worries, no encounters happened and we safely got back on the road for the part of the tour facing the Southern ocean.

Jackson with Stacey the tour guide

Large trees 

World's largest flowering tree

A tad bored during the talks about trees.

Amazing ferns! 

Southern Ocean!!!

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Note: It was called the Antarctic Ocean back in my day. Who just changes the name of an ocean!? Anyway, it was STUNNING. It was also SO cold. It was more stunning than cold, though.

Running from the cold

We stopped at Gibson’s Steps and got to frolic on the beach and in the cold waves for a bit. We got our first glimpse of the big attraction for the Great Ocean Road: The Twelve Apostles. They were gorgeous. Also worth noting is that there were never twelve rocks. They were presently only 8 though, due to natural erosion. The area was very reminiscent of Samuel H. Boardman State Park in Oregon. We LOVED it.

Another ocean marked off the list!

From there we hit the actual Twelve Apostles National Park which was far too crowded and far less enjoyable. The views were great but we took some photos and headed back for the tour van. We went to a less crowded area where a famous shipwreck happened and got to be back on the beach again. It was lovely.

The Apostles 

Typical Petefish.

Looking forward

Jackson mocking young Asian women's photo styles

It was time for dinner so we went to Port Campbell and had dinner at a place called Waves. Again. The two restaurants were not related, they just shared a name. The Australians all say they aren’t creative and this was made clear to us. ;) Dinner was really good, too. Again we ordered ahead so the wait was not bad at all for 12 people. We had interesting conversation with another tour-goer from Belgium and one from Slovenia along with Katie, the fellow American and Stacey, the Australian. It is truly fascinating to hear about other people’s travels, their thoughts on world events and so on. Dinner flew by and it was time to head back to Melbourne. We didn’t make any other fun stops, but we did see a roadkill kangaroo. :( I’m hoping to see some live ones at some point! They’re like deer are for us at home, though, so you like to see them in the fields and not on the roads!

Frying Nemo- ha!!!!

As you can see from the 900 pictures, the tour was a long, busy one. We could not have asked for better weather! It was about 65-70 and sunny all day. I wore long sleeves because the sea breeze got a bit chilly, but it was gorgeous! The lunch and dinner were part of the tour price, too, so that was really convenient. The tour was $150 AUD each but we were gone from 7:00- 10:00 p.m. so for all of the driving and dining, it felt like a real deal! We really enjoyed our guide, Stacey, and very much recommend going on a tour if you’re ever down under.