Day 100 – 104
Well this is it, the last entry in the blog. We are currently heading back to Melbourne.
Since last I wrote we have been to Victor Harbour, a pretty little town. We stayed in a nice caravan park, played in some parks along the beach, saw the historic tram that runs from the foreshore out to Granite Rock (couldn’t catch it because we were there after closing) and marvelled at the number of Bowling Clubs a small town can sustain.
From Victor Harbour we headed to Port Fairy. We had hoped to go to Robe but we ran out of time so it has been relegated to the “next time” list. We didn’t get into Port Fairy until 6.45pm Victorian time so again we didn’t see much. A quick drive around after check out the next morning was the best we could do but it seemed a pretty town and the Anglican Church was very impressive.
On the way to Torquay we drove along the Great Ocean Road. This is a magnificent drive. We stopped off at London Bridge and the twelve Apostles which were great to see. We decided we had to see them after all the international travellers we met over the course of the trip told us their favourite place was the Great Ocean Road and as Victorians we had to confess to not having seen the whole thing. This situation has now been rectified.
The drive over the Otway’s was a bit slow and we were wondering whether we should just take any road heading north and floor it as the fog became thicker, the rain fell and the temperature gauge dropped to 15! When we pulled into Apollo Bay you could hardly see the water because of the inclement weather. We all had to fossick through the van looking for jumpers and we looked a little out of place in our shorts as well.
Lorne was very busy with schoolies and Torquay have there share but no where near that number. The ones in our park behaved reasonably well – a few fireworks, bit loud at night as they stumbled home but pretty good really.
When we woke Thursday morning the sun was trying to shine and as it was the last opportunity Andy decided we should hit the beach. We had to pull the wetsuits out for the first time and the kids and Andy went boogie boarding. Bubba’s toe hit the water and he yelled out “its freezing!”
All these country towns we have driven through seemed to have at least one golf club. Each one teased Andy as we went past. Finally in Torquay his long awaited Golf game arrived. Thursday afternoon he played with a couple of mates from Melbourne while the kids and I went to Barwon Heads to visit Chris’ grade 1 teacher and her little girl. Thursday night we had dinner at the Torquay pub with the golfing partners and my cousin Geoff and his son Jack. This was a very funny night, lots of fun and laughter. I had to call an end to it when the bouncing ball dodge ball game between the kids and the golfing partners got out of hand – that and the fact the bistro was closed and no one else was left!
Today we checked out a couple of the surf stores in Torquay. When Andy agreed to that he didn’t know what he was letting himself in for so the expedition was quickly curtailed when he saw the vast shopping extravaganza that presented itself to us. Madi made it into the change rooms of one store before he put the kybosh on the trip and while she hid out in there we ended up with 2 fedora hats for the boys and a man bag for Daddy (he says that will complete his transition to retiree). Madi got another pair of bathers – hopefully they will fit her next year the way the weather looks here!
We are on the Geelong – Melbourne freeway now and all that is left is for us to get the van in the driveway (and no there will be no blog about that or pictures) and unpack. Thanks for travelling with us we hope you had a laugh and maybe got inspired to head off yourselves.
