For the past several days I have been on quite an enjoyable adventure. As I mentioned before my plan was to drive the Great Ocean Road and then up to the Grampians National Park, and finally back to Melbourne. Currently, I am in Halls Gap which in the heart of the Grampians and it has such a wonderful atmosphere. I'll tell you more about that in a bit, for now I will start at the beginning of my trip.
I picked up my rental car at the airport and the whole process took maybe 5 minutes. I was a bit suprised that they basically hand over the keys and say have fun to a person with an overseas drivers license, but thats what they did. As you all know over here they all drive on the left side of the road and the driver's side is on the right. Which side of the road to drive on was the easy part, the hard part was breaking my usual driving habits. Every time I went to turn on my blinker, I turned on my windshield wipers and vice versa. I would reach for my seatbelt and it was on the other side of the seat. This would also happen with the shifter. The most comical issue was when getting into the car. I would always walk to the left side of the car for the driver's seat and then have to walk around to get into the actual driver's seat. After the first day I think I was able to work out all of the kinks...
Once I hit the road my first stop was in a beautiful beachside town, Lorne. As soon as I parked the car I was greeted by several Cockatoos. Then as I went to explore the beach, a couple dozen more were frolicking around. I watched as a guy on one of the park benches got swarmed by them because he was eating. He then decided that he would feed them. Within seconds the guy had Cockatoos on his shoulders, legs, and all around him squawking at him for more food. There is a video of this on the link below.
Next stop was in Apollo Bay, which was also my overnight stop. Again, this was also a nice little beach town, but didn't have the same appeal as Lorne did. After a good nights rest I hit the road again in the morning. The day would be full of stops as there was a lot to see between Apollo bay and my next overnight stop in in Port Fairy.
About a 20 minute drive from Apollo Bay I entered into the Otway National park. This park has fantastic short walks through jungle like trails. I stopped at a couple of the walks and really enjoyed the peacefulness of the hearing the rain on the trees and the birds. Not far after those stop offs is the Cape Otway Lighthouse, which is the oldest lighthouse in Australia. The road out to the lighthouse is flanked with grazing cows and lined with trees. This area in particular is very well known for its Koala population. If you slow down and look up into the treetops you can spot hundreds of Koalas napping and eating. They do blend in quite well, so you really have to look for them. I was very happy to spot several of them on my drive. They are as cute in person and acutally bigger than I had thought. After Koala spotting I arrived to the lighthouse and was able to go to the top of it. As you can probably image, at the top of the lighthouse there were spectacular viewss of the coastline and ocean. Typically this time of year the Southern Right Wales are in, but unfortunately I was unable to spot them.
Next stop was the 12 Apostles Marine National Park. There are tons of stops in the park, with fantastic short walks to stunning views. I think I ended up stopping at least 5 times to walk and see different sites and it was well worth it. The 12 Apostles are now 7 as they are Sandstone formations and overtime they have eroded into the ocean. Nevertheless, the 7 remaining are beautiful. There are several picture on the link showing the Apostles and Sandstone cliffs on the link below.
I had spent so much time in the Apostles national park that by the time I had finished the several walks I did, it was starting to get dark. I had about an hour to get to Port Fairy, so I motored on. I stopped one last time about 20 minutes outside of Port Fair at an overlook called Tower Hill. I was struck by the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen and couldn't pass it up. The sky was already a deep dark blue/grey color because of a storm that was rolling through and then there was the sun, a beautiful deep shade of orange/red sinking into the landscape. The colors reflected beautifully over the small lake in front of me and behind me the sky was dark with lightening striking the ground in the distance. As I watched in aw of the beauty all around me, I saw a little head pop up from the hillside in front of me. Then before I knew it, my first kangaroo hopped up and looked at me in the car park. It was magical as the Kangaroo stood there on his hind legs with the gorgeous sunset behind him. In one of the pictures below I was able to capture this site, so look hard at the bottom of the pic and you will see him there. He moved before I could get a good pic, so I'll have to live with the one I was able to get. The kangaroo hopped of, the sun sank down further, and I drove into the storm ahead of me. The lightning struck the ground several more times and after driving in the pooring rain I arrived to Port Fairy.
Port Fairy is a charming little seaside town. You can drive along the beachside watching the waves crash into the rocks and the surfers catching waves. Like many of the other places along the Great Ocean Road there were nice walks surrounding town as well. I walked around the Island to the lighthouse and along the way I was again treated with many bird and more kangaroos. These Kangaroos were darker and smaller, but they paid no mind to me. One was right along the trail and as I passed within a couple feet of it and he continued on eating. Further along the trail I spotted several more. The trail goes around the island to the lighthouse and continues on leading you to the beach trail and finally back to the car park. It was very enjoyable.
Overall I spent 3.5 days on the Great Ocean Road and really enjoyed it. After Port Fairy I headed up to the Grampians National Park. The drive was not a far one from Port Fairy and the terrain was quite flat with mostly farms. However, once I entered the Park, the terrain became more rocky and winding. My destination was Halls Gap, which as I mentioned above is in the heart of the park. As I drove into this little town I was welcomed with and abundance of kangaroos and a variety of parrots. There are an incredible amount of kangaroos all over the place here. In peoples backyards, hundreds on the old recreation field, and all along the road as well. There are even Kangaroos around my hostel. Pretty freakin' cool!!
Today, I hiked a couple different trails. The weather was beautiful and the scenary was no let down either. The two hikes I did were called the Grand Canyon and the Pinnacle. The Grand Canyon was really neat because as you can probably guess by the name, you hike your way up through the canyon. The trail was very good and they had hand rails in places that were a bit hairy. Most of the Canyon was fairly open, but at the end of it you end up in a tight space only a bit wider than your shoulders. Once out of the Canyon you link up with the trail to the Pinnacle which took you up the rocks through a bit of forest and finally to the wide open space at the top. You have 360 degree views of Halls Gap, the lake, and the mountains in the distance. It was stunning. I found a nice spot on the edge of the cliff and sat for a while enjoying the view. A nice older couple also at the top spotted me and said that I was making their knees shake because of my chosen seat. They then insisted that I hand over my camera beacuse it was a cool photo. I of course complied and returned the favor. In fact, all along the Ocean Rd and in the Grampians I shamelessly took selfies....Don't judge! Lol, My memory already sucks, so I need these pictures for the future when I want to look back on all of the wonderful places I have been. Anyways, you will find all the pics on the link below.... After the Grand Canyon and the Pinnacle I went out the the Boroka lookou and ended the day with a small walk through the forest near town. On this walk I of course spotted countless kangaroos, but I saw my first EMU! In fact there were actually 6 of them grazing along side the kangaroos.
Koalas, Check!
Kangaroos, check!
Parrots, Check!
Emu, Check!
All found in the wild (not a zoo), Check!
I have to be back in Melbourne on Sunday morning to catch a train to Sydney. As of right now I am not sure if I will stay another night hear in Halls Gap or if I will drive to Ballarat, which is only about an hour outside of Melbourne. I guess I'll make that decision in the morning...It is tempting to stay here as the atmosphere is so wonderful. I have to say that this road trip has been amazing. There is nothing better then getting behind the wheel hitting the road and experiencing all the beauty that comes along with it.
Photos: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mx8eqrn0tyyoztc/AACFsL8myurxiwhPu5hLe8Oka ***Photos are taking a long time to load, more will be uploaded in the following days***
Cheers,
Jenna
