The Great Ocean Road...

September brought me to a place where i felt i needed a bit of a break. As luck would have it, earlier this year I had booked myself on DMA Clinical Pilates level 3 and 4 in melbourne in mid September, so the break was a given. It was opportune that I noticed the weekend prior to the Pilates courses there was a Hydrotherapy course on in Ballarat, just an hours drive from Melbourne. 'Rockin' I thought. 'i'm there.' So a month ago, with suitcase packed I kissed my three girls goodbye and went off on a wee adventure all by my lonesome. To be fair, i didn't stay lonesome for long, arriving friday night into Ballarat and to stay with Pip (with whom I studied Physiotherapy) and her hubbie Matt - awesome people and kind enough to let me stay with them for three nights. There was the added advantage of Pip working at the venue where the course was to be held, which was just a few blocks from their house. Great course. Great to catch up with Pip and meet Matt - a man after my own heart who was a volunteer firefighter (one of my goals for coming home to NZ!). Monday morning I got up early and made tracks towards the little port town of Portland on the Victorian coast. The sunset looked like the picture - stunning across the Victorian plains as I raced my way south in my perhaps too peppy little Hyundai i30 (Great test drive!) Fortunately the police have a lie in on a monday morning in rural Victoria, so my trip involved only merits (no demerits!) there's not really a whole lot to see between Ballarat and Portland. i took this photo of a bunch of Aussie's hanging out in a field... and this one of the awesome spring flowers... As you can see, the weather wasn't exactly 'for' me. But I had fun anyway. I was beginning to wonder whether the Great Ocean Road should be re-named the Great farming road (not that I mind driving through farmland - has been one of the things i've relished since moving back to NZ - particularly presently when in the throes of spring and all that abounds (and bounds!) at such times...). All of a sudden the views began to resemble something more akin to what i'd come to see... Rugged beauty. The rugged beauty that can only be found in a harsh, windswept environment which is also a great place to find wind farms... like this one. After Portland came Port fairy with it's tucked away little river port and treacherous looking harbour (river mouth) entrance. Cool place, but was not so amped to stay a long time as i wanted to make it to Port Campbell before dark... I did stop at Warnambool - on the off chance that I might get to see some Southern Right Whales who come into the beach to calve at this time of year... I wasn't disappointed either - there was probably a dozen or so of them just off the shore and right in front of the viewing platform, perhaps 50 metres out into the sea. Awesome to see them, just a shame i don't own any binoculars! Next stop after Warnambool was a place called the bay of islands. Nothing like the bay of islands in NZ, but pretty cool nonetheless - few good short walks too out to the heads of some abutments that jutted out into the ocean... Further along the road I came across the elephant rock (or that was my name and interpretation of it!) and the Zulu warrior/easter island rock. Carved by nature. Beautiful in their simplicity. More islands. Beautiful waves. An island they call London bridge (The land bridge which linked it to the mainland collapsed into the sea just a few years ago) A small path down a cliffside led me to an aussie version of the blue grotto. Not a shade of the Caprian version, but a cool little feature nontheless amid a haven of amazingness in a coastline that was captivating my mind.

Loch Ard gorge was the next stop - where there's a good few hours worth of walking tracks and a good bit of history too. So named after the most famous of Australia's maritime disasters. The Loch Ard was sailing for Melbourne, nearing the end of a three month voyage from England when it ran aground. Unfortunately all but two of the 51 people on board died. 19 year old Tom Pearce was washed ashore and when he came to heard the cries for help from a stranded Eva Carmichael (also 19). In what seems almost fairytale he swam out to her from the bay pictured below, amidst wreckage piled up over two metres tall on the foreshore and rescued her. Romantic sentiment would hold that the two - united by their experience of tragedy - would marry and live happily ever after, but Eva left Australia within a couple of months of the event to return to her native Ireland, never to be heard of again. Kinda fair enough. If you glance down at the gravestone from the cemetary you can see that she lost her entire family - seven of them in total. Which would seriously dent one's romantic notions. Next came the twelve apostles. Apparrently the most photographed and iconic of all Australia's natural wonders. I'm told there used to be twelve of the stacks rising out of the sea - but there's only about seven currently - the rest have been claimed by the ocean - the remains of one you can see in the foreground of the photo below. I really like the warning unstable cliffs photo - should have read - warning - unstable weather - you can see the front coming in off the sea - it hit (me) about two minutes after that photo was taken as i was running for the car... fortunately I had the sense to run, otherwise I would have been a lot further when it hit, and got a lot wetter. All good fun. A hasty retreat back to Port Campbell was on the cards with a decadent meal at the local pub followed by a great sleep at my very own private backpackers!Next morning woke to this: Grey, Rainy, Windy, horrid weather again. Was some consolation that the only breakfast I could find was a full cooked one in the only shop that was open at 7am in the morning when i was leaving town. Mushrooms and Asparagus on toast with a chai latte is a great way to start the day! Spent a bit more time wandering around at the twelve apostles before heading down a cliff to sea level to chat to some gulls who must have thought I had food for them cos they were hanging around (like gulls tend to) squarking and generally interrupting the thunderous ocean melodies.It took me quite a while to find the entrance to wreck beack (pictured below) which was way down a wee side road that was off the Great Ocean Road and completely unmarked. I had a vague idea of the road's location from a map I had but I drove past it three times before eventually finding it, and when I did was a little weirded out by driving for AGES down this 4wd track, wondering if i'd ever get my little 2WD rental out of there. Had a bit of a close call too - as the photo shows - was coming down a slope and started to feel the car sinking into the mud so I stopped, put it in reverse and slowly managed to get out of the deep stuff. Needless to say I wasn't game to push my luck after that so I left the car and walked the rest of the way down to the coast (probably only a couple of Km) would have been significantly more than that to go and find someone with a 4wd to tow me out again! Wreck beach has two shipwrecks on it. This anchor belongs to the Marie Gabrielle, and apparrently 250m further around the bay is another anchor from the Fiji. I wasn't game to go as far as the Fiji due to an incoming tide and my ability to only just get to the Anchor pictured between swells that were coming right in. Good fun - more to see another day. To the right of the muddy wheel is a carnivorous snail. As if crocodiles, sharks, spiders and snakes weren't enough! And so began the falling water frenzy! Triplet falls pictured first, followed by a couple of shots of Hopetoun falls (which again were a loooong way down an old logging road, complete with a carload of indian guys who had attempted to go offroad and managed about six inches from the edge of the road before getting their very sub-urban Captiva hopelessly stuck in the mud. I managed to find a local with a 4wd and sent him to rescue them before heading on my way... The vid is a road just off the great ocean road which was exceedingly cool - about 20km long and had a 20km/hr speed limit - a bit windy! Maist rest is the name of this wee track - pretty cool rainforest - unexpected in a state that is so dry! These are called Rainbow falls - I reckon treacle falls would be more appropriate, but probably wouldn't draw the crowds. A good hours walk from Bimbi Park which was my accomodation in Cape Otway for the night - great place - aptly subtitled "Camping under Koala's" This mumma and child were just outside my bunkhouse. Lookout over Lorne, and more curious wildlife.Carisbrook falls.Sheok Falls followed by Erskine fallsLoved this sign: Feel free to dance in puddles; beware of slippery loch ness monster; trees may fall on you; and we have snakes too...Here's some random trivia: The Great Ocean Road is actually the World's biggest war memorial! It was built by soldiers who came home from the first world war (I guess to give them all jobs and something to do once they got home) and possibly also to keep the comeraderie going. Good job soldiers! The split point lighthouse was pretty cool, as was the house built on a gigantic pole when driving out to it... amazing what some people will do to avoid their views being built out! Anyway, the Great Ocean Road eventually gives way to the surf coast, which is home to Bells beach - one of the most famous surf breaks in the world and home of the rip curl pro. The nearest town is Torquay which is where all the big Aussie surf labels come from (Rip Curl, Quicksilver, Reef etc) Got me a sweet wetsuit too from the Ripcurl factory - which has since been employed for trips out on the kayak - more on that in another blog...And Geelong with it's waterfront of interesting character bollards is where my wee road trip finished. Great times. Getting back to Melbourne I caught up with Frankie and Jess and their Newborn daughter Aayoung - A fine specimen! And two typically doting parents. Awesome to see. Also awesome to be able to stay in Central Melbourne with a couple of kiwi's Karen and Malcolm, who were friend's of my sister-in-law. Really super hospitable of them to put me up - even when they were leaving to fly to NZ for a holiday! Managed to catch up with a mate from school and Amy, who grew up across the road from me and met her now fiancee at a party at my house many many moons ago. Amazing the twists and turns life takes us on eh? Who would think that going to a party as a 15/16 yr old would introduce you to your partner for life! Lucky for some I guess.

Pilates course were cool too. But this is far too long already. I'll just leave it at that! Great holiday, and was rearing to get back home and see my girls at the end of it - and looking forward to watching them open the few gifts i'd managed to pick up along the way - a unique privelege of a parent away travelling! Hope life is beautiful for you, whatever you're up to. Kia kaha.