May 1st: The Great Ocean Road

Day 28 (Day 3 in Australia)

Our lovely hosts, Phil & Carolyn, were off to work early so after breakfast Sophia showed us the basics of their Toyota Kruger (with its foot handbrake) and off we went on our 2 day Aussie adventure, the only one we’re doing west of Melbourne.

Driving through Melbourne City Centre in an unfamiliar car, even at about 10am was very different to New Zealand. Four and five lane motorways full (but not M25 full) of traffic. 

After about 40 minutes we were out onto the open road. 2 lane highways with reasonably heavy traffic all doing exactly 100kph. Cruise control is clearly very popular here. Excellent lane discipline Aussies!

We stopped on Torquay Beach for lunch after which we bought ice creams from a girl from Devon but, disappointingly, not the other Torquay!








The beach states that it is the home of Australian surfing which is quite a bold statement. Lots of big waves in evidence so it could be true. 

It was great to walk along the golden sands despite the number of dogs running free. To be fair, today was the first day they were allowed on the beach for 6 months so it is not surprising they were excited about it.

The next 2 hours drive was on the Great Ocean Road and was constantly interrupted by the need to pull over and take photos before arriving at Apollo Bay where we are staying for the night. (Click the link if you want more detail). 

At Anglesey we saw some actual surfers albeit from a distance.

As we entered Lorne we came across a ‘cackle’ of cockatoos. (I looked it up!) and some pretty unidentified ducks.




Later we walked a kilometre along the beach to a sports bar for some excellent grub. The multiple TVs were showing Aussie Rules, greyhound racing and trotting, none of which I understood!

The view at dusk at the end of the road. 

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