The Great Ocean Road

Note: Wifi and internet connection in Australia is not as widespread, cheap and reliable as in Southeast Asia. For this reason it will be more difficult to update the blog. Expect delays.

The flight Kuching-Singapore went quite smoothly and we used the free wifi at Singapore airport to do a few things online and talk to our families. We enjoyed our stopover so much that we lost track of time... and almost lost our flight to Melbourne! We ended up running like crazy towards the gate and begging the guards to let us skip the queue. For a few minutes we seriously thought that we would miss the flight. Our road to Australia is paved with silly errors. But fortunately we made it on board eventually. The first half hour of the flight was rather turbulent and shaky, and we wondered whether all those problems weren't a way of Fate to keep us away from a bigger danger. Fate had nothing to do with it, the shaking stopped and we spent the rest of the flight eating the delicious meals of Singapore Airlines, watching a couple of movies and dozing off a little.

The air of Melbourne was very hot, but dry and much nicer than in Asia, where you'd be sticky the whole time. We hopped into our car and drove straight out of the city, towards the famous Great Ocean Road. We have just few days here, and Melbourne will have to wait. It took me a while to feel comfortable driving on the left side of the road, but after a short time you get used to it. The scenery around was nice but nothing special, but even so we still couldn't believe that we were actually in Australia. We. In Australia. The land of the kangaroos. The real Australia. Wow!

Don't forget to keep the left.

And watch out for suicidal kangaroos!

Torquay, the surf city, would be our first stop. A lovely city by the sea, home of some of the biggest surf brands and the world famous Bells Beach. We hoped to surf on the less famous city's beach but unfortunately the sea was calmer than a swimming pool. In Torquay we would also have our first CS night in Australia, and that went much better. Our hosts are a couple of fit early retired, who love to travel and ride their bicycles around the world. We enjoyed a delicious barbecue and talked a lot. It was very inspiring to hear their stories about early retirement, and eventually K too started to see the point of this kind of choice. Will we ever be able to do the same? We'll try to work on that when we'll be back home.

Barbecue with Ian and Kay, our first Australian hosts

Torquay surf beach in the morning... not much surf really

Welcome to Torquay

The next morning we went to visit the surf museum (still no real waves in the sea) and then continued our way south. For lunch we went to a supermarket hoping to buy a cheap meal. The prices left us astonished and shocked. We expected higher prices than in Asia, but not like this. Will we really have to eat only bread and water? We would have to see, but meanwhile we opted for sandwiches with tomato and tuna.

Lunch break

We forgot about our economical worries with the first 100% Australian sight of our trip: kangaroos! Following the instructions of our CS friends of the previous day we ventured over the golf course of Anglesea, ignoring the big sign that prohibited the entrance to non-golfers. Everybody knows about this place, even the tourist information office recommends it for guaranteed kangaroo spotting. A very large colony lives below the trees that surround the golf course. They usually relax in the shadow during the warmest hours of the day, and it's easy to find at least a few of them under the trees.

Pretty explicit

But breaking the rules was worth it

Still amazed by the sight of the marsupials, we were ready to meet another iconic Australian creature. Koalas are even easier to see if you know where to look. We parked in a street right off the main road, and there they were, sitting on top of various eucalyptus trees (also known as gum tree here). They sleep around 23 hours per day, which leave them very little time to move around or do much more. This is why you can usually find them around the same area, sleeping. They do move sometimes, in search of better trees, but this happens mostly when the sun is down. They are bigger than what we thought, and their claws are rather scary. They don't look dangerous though, just sleepy.

 

You may start seeing a pattern here: most animals avoid the daylight. The reason is simple...the day can be really hot! Even with the air conditioning at maximum power, our car felt like an oven every now and then. We were glad to reach Apollo Bay and rest for a while. Apollo Bay is a nice little seaside town about halfway through the Great Ocean Road. Since the sea was still flat, and surfing was out of discussion, we decided to do as kangaroos and koalas; we went back to our hostel and awaited the sunset to get out for a walk again.

The beach at Apollo Bay

A change of scenery

The following day we visited some of the highlights of this famous route. The "Twelve Apostles", "Gibsons Steps" and the rest are really majestic and impressive. It's worth the drive to get here. Since the heat was almost unbearable at some points, to cool off we stopped for lunch at the beautiful beach in Loch Ard Gorge. The water was super cold!

View from Gibsons Steps

The twelve... err six apostles

Loch Ard Gorge beach. This is as far as K went.

London Bridge. When the central part fell, tourists were left stranded on the newly born island on the right. They had to be rescued by a helicopter.

Bay of Islands

For the night we would be couchsurfing ....at a dairy farm! After a long and hot day we were ready for a good shower and some rest, but when we got there they informed us that their main tank of water had problems and they would probably have no running water until the next morning. It was interesting to observe which kind of problems a farm may face, but we still needed a shower. The solution was a few kilometres away, in the form of McDonald toilets, where we refreshed ourselves hobo style, and spent some time online on their free wifi. Fortunately the problem at the farm was fixed in less time than expected, and we could enjoy a real shower as well before going to sleep.

The time spent with the CS family at the farm was very interesting. We could learn a few things about dairy farming, visit their cows, take a tour of the land sitting on the back of a pick-up, and play with their super nice dogs. So far we have been very lucky couchsurfing in Australia: always nice and friendly people whose company we have really enjoyed.

Farm life

Kylie and Wayne, our friendly hosts

And Reggie, one of their super nice dogs.

Tomorrow we leave the Great Ocean Road and head north, towards the Grampians National Park. But first we'll try to go to Port Fairy, our last chance for surfing in the state of Victoria.