The OK Ocean Road

G'day

Another weekend, another day trip.

I'd taken it easy on Saturday (after a late-ish night on Friday, bidding a fond-ish farewell to the Lonely Planet band at their last ever gig - at least that's what they've promised) so was raring to go on Sunday on the long drive that is the journey to the Great Ocean Road. My companions would be Huw the chauffeur (for the day; his normal job is something else) and Sheema (who you may remember from lamingtons and wine tasting).

The GOR (as I'm sure most Australians abbreviate it) is considered (by most Australians) as a world-class road trip. The hype is all about the rugged cliffs, the beautiful eucalyptus forests reaching to the shore, the rugged sea stacks and the quaint villages, so I was expecting quite a lot. It's a long drive for a day trip and heading off in the wind and rain, it didn't bode well, but an hour into the drive the clouds started clearing and we ended up with perfect blue skies - but would the GOR live up to the hype?

First stop was Wye River where we had brunch before continuing along the windy road past lighthouses and great views along the Victorian coastline.

Now you see him.

Now you don't. (Can't remember the name of the beach but it's pretty).

After a stretch of inland road, passing through some lovely eucalyptus forests (the Otway National Park), we emerged at the most famous part of the GOR - the Twelve Apostles.

The Twelve Apostles - there aren't twelve and they're not apostles.

Sheema and I try to up the number of apostles.

Sheema having given up on her apostle impression, Huw decided to give it a go. Not bad, Huw, not bad. I seem to have the same fixed grin on my face in every photo (which I'll call 'my Australia Face' from now on).

Two more apostles. They'd had an argument with the others and stropped off.

Arty Twelve Apostles shot.

If you're stupid enough to wander round unstable cliffs isn't it better that you do DIE to improve the gene pool?

Maybe my 'Australia Face' is a sign of being unstable and/or dangerous.

Just along from the Fewer Than Twelve Apostles is another famous stretch of the GOR known as the Shipwreck Coast (no prizes for guessing why). Over the years a lot of ships have been wrecked here and a lot of people drowned.

This is where the Loch Ard ship sank in 1878. It had come all the way from England and was just one day away from Melbourne when it sank in the middle of the night. Only two people survived (out of around seventy).

After the Shipwreck Coast we headed to a small seaside town called Port Campbell where we had lots of chips to fuel up before the long drive back.

So what was my overall impression of the Great Ocean Road? Well, it was nice enough but the only thing 'great' was spending the day with Huw and Sheema. The road itself is similar to lots of other stretches of road I've been along in Spain and the UK (Cornwall, stand up!) so let's just say, if it were up to me, it'd be renamed the OK Ocean Road (sorry Victoria!).


G'bye for now.

Cliff