What a Great Ocean Road

We had to get up at 4am on Sunday morning to catch our early flight to Melbourne. We were both feeling hungover after an evening out the night before so it was a bit of a struggle but we made it and I don’t remember much of the flight as I had my eyes closed most of the way! After we landed in Melbourne, we went to pick up the campervan straightaway (soon to be named Leonard). Our first stop was Coles where we stocked up on food and booze and then we were only on the road for 10 minutes before we pulled off at the golden arches for a necessary McDonalds to fuel our journey. Our first official stop was Winchelsea to see how it compared to Sussex. It was a quirky, quaint village containing all the essential amenities; post office, tea rooms, tavern and of course the Winch Indian Café. We took a few token photos but didn’t stay long as the Great Ocean Road awaited. The first destination on the Great Ocean Road was Bells Beach, a really famous surfing spot where they had just had the world surfing championships two weeks before. The waves were absolutely massive, bigger than anything I’d ever seen at Manly. We stood for quite a while just watching the surfers, it was pretty mesmerising seeing the swell rolling in and these surfers carve up each wave effortlessly. After this we only drove for about 20 minutes when we came to a place called Aireys Inlet. We got

out of the camper to mooch around and both ways we could see the dramatic coastline - a sign of what was to come. We then took a little detour up to Erskine Falls. On the way there we looked back and got an amazing view of the actual road winding round the headland. The waterfalls were pretty cool to see and it felt like we’d just been dropped into the rainforest. We then ventured back to our campervan and drove on to our final detour of the trip. We had been told about a turning off the Great Ocean Road that has “guaranteed koala sightings” so we decided to drive up it and see if we could spot any. We drove for about 5 minutes staring straight up into the trees and couldn’t see anything. I was beginning to think it was all a big con when I looked up and directly above us on a branch jutting right out into the middle of the road I saw a bundle of grey fur. It was the first koala I had ever seen in the wild so I was understandably ecstatic. We didn’t drive much further because it was beginning to get dark and Matt was too hungry to continue. So

we stopped on the side of the road a little further up – Matt made a ham sandwich and I wandered along the road to look for more koalas. I couldn’t believe my luck when I looked up and saw a koala looking directly at me. He was perched on a branch in the perfect position just staring at me (probably wondering why I was so fascinated by these trees). I was so happy at this point that we decided to mosey back down the road and amazingly we saw FIVE more koalas as we drove back down. And to top it off we also saw 3 kangaroos. At first they just froze and stared at us but as we got a little closer they bounded off into the bushes. What a result! The Attenborough in me was content. We drove for another 30 minutes before we got to our first holiday park. Luckily we arrived just as it got dark. We immediately opened a packet of crisps and some beers feeling pooped after a very long but also mind-blowingly good day! It was all going well until we decided to cook our first meal in the camper van – very complicated pasta with tomato sauce – somehow we managed to make the smoke alarm go off. Very embarrassing first time campers! We managed it in the end though and basically inhaled our supper before hunkering down in bed at 9:30pm!
On day 2 of the road trip I woke up early (obviously needing a wee) so I tentatively emerged from the camper and was blown away by the incredible sunrise I saw over the sea. What an amazing view to wake up to. After checking out Apollo Bay, the town where we were staying, we drove on to Cape Otway, taking a detour into the national park. The scenery was amazing and we had planned to check out a lighthouse at the end of it but when we arrived we discovered it was $20 to even see the lighthouse so instead we had a cup of tea and a cookie in Leonard and drove back towards the Great Ocean Road. It was certainly not a wasted journey though as we saw 5 koalas on the way back. We were prompted by a couple of cars who had stopped on the side of the road so we copied and found that there were koalas dotted all around! From here we continued the journey along a stretch called Shipwreck Coast. It’s not hard to see why it’s called this – the rough ocean batters relentlessly against the cliff edges. We saw the 12 apostles first, just as glorious as we expected. The weather seems to be so changeable in Victoria that it in the time we were there we managed to see them glowing in the sunlight as well as amidst rain and moody storm clouds. We then moved on to see Loch Ard Gorge, The Grotto, London Bridge/Arch and the Bay of Martyrs, getting out of our camper every couple of kilometres. We had seen photos of the Great Ocean Road before but nothing prepared us for how staggering it is to see in person. That evening we arrived in Warrnambool (sadly the end of the Great Ocean Road). We decided to head out for some food as it looked like one of the biggest towns we’d be stopping in. As we sat down in a distinctly average pub restaurant, Matt asked if I was happy to eat there and I told him I was more than happy because “I actually have really low standards” – didn’t realise the waitress was standing behind me about to hand us the menus.
The next morning we stopped off at Tower Hill Wildlife Park for a short walk. It was completely deserted apart from the wildlife – we saw 1 of almost

everything; emu, kangaroo, wallaby and koala! We then drove onto Cape Bridgewater where we had booked a boat trip out to see a colony of seals. We parked the camper, and it was a 15 minute walk down to the jetty where the boat leaves from. It wasn’t quite what I expected; a tin shed and a tiny rib. The guy running it threw lifejackets at us and took us straight out to the boat. There were only 8 passengers including us so we set off straightaway. The swell was pretty big and apparently the tour was only just able to run. As we made our way out to the ocean we had to hold on because the boat was crashing up ad down on the waves, it honestly felt like a fairground ride! That was half the fun of the whole trip. It wasn’t long before we saw our first seals, they were either sunbathing on the rocks or frolicking in the water. Such playful creatures, it felt like they were performing just for us. We were taken to a platform where we could put our hands in the water and they would come up and sniff them. This was the best, I could have sat there all day watching them. Eventually we had to cruise back in the rib, but it was a great trip – even better than expected. Later that afternoon we arrived in Mount Gambier; a beautiful spot made up of volcano craters containing deep blue lakes. We decided to go for an evening walk so we did a short circuit around one of the lakes just as the sun was setting and got back to the camper in time to have a couple of sun downers.
The next morning we started by visiting another wildlife park, this one was just as quiet as the morning before and just as successful. As well as a koala

and a few wallabies, we saw a whole family of kangaroos just metres away from us. After that we drove to a place called Robe, supposedly a popular holiday destination for Aussies but there wasn’t much activity going on. Still we had a nice picnic lunch in the back of Leonard looking out on the water. Our next destination was Coorong National Park and before we got to the caravan park, we stopped for a short walk across some sand dunes to the beach. It was an interesting walk and we even saw some wombat poos along the way – characteristically cube shaped!! But sadly no actual wombats to be seen. Just as I was getting despondent we saw a couple of kangaroos having their evening meal in the bushes and then lots more as we drove away. Happy days. We then arrived at the caravan park just as the sun was setting over the lake. We parked Leonard right on the edge of the lake and opened the door at the back so that we could have a drink with the incredible backdrop. Dreamy.
In the morning we headed inland as we made our way towards the Barossa Valley. We got there in time for lunch and had a quick bite to eat before dropping Leonard off in the caravan park. We discovered that there were 3 good vineyards in walking distance so we set off straightaway. We managed to make it to all three and bought a bottle of wine in each. They were a little further apart than we realised but we saw it as a nice country walk through vineyards with wine tasting along the way. A great way to spend the afternoon. We followed it up with some sausages on the BBQ and didn’t waste any time opening the first bottle of wine.

On our way from the Barossa Valley to Adelaide we stopped off at a bizarre little German village called Hahndorf. It was a beautiful street full of cafes and quirky gift shops made even better by the incredible autumn trees lining the road. It was quite surreal but lovely nonetheless. When we arrived in Adelaide we decided to have a wander round the city in the afternoon. Even with some recommendations in the guidebook, it turns out there is not much to see in Adelaide! We met up with Annie Alves in the evening thinking she might give us some recommendations for the next day but I think we had seen everything worth seeing in a few hours.
So in the morning we decided to take a drive up and down the coast to see some of the beaches in Adelaide. The first part we explored was a little chavvy and didn’t improve our impression of Adelaide but we did find a few nice spots and ended up having a delicious lunch in an edgy café. In the evening we had tickets to an AFL game; Adelaide Crows vs Sydney Swans. I didn’t know quite what to expect and wasn’t 100% sure of the rules. Once the

game started Matt explained some of the key rules to me and actually it was very easy to follow. Much more exciting than any rugby match I’ve ever seen – it’s fast paced with lots of scoring and the atmosphere of all the fans was incredible. It was such a close match, basically neck and neck right until the end when unfortunately the Adelaide Crows just snatched victory.
In the morning we had an early flight back to Sydney so, with an element of sadness, we dropped Leonard off and began our journey home. It had been an awesome week. We saw a completely different side to Australia and by the end we were camper van pros – ready for our next trip up the East Coast.