Back to the Great Ocean Road

So today was my last day in the Melbourne area for quite some time, and I celebrated it by driving Janet down the first third or so of the Great Ocean Road. The weather wasn't nearly as fine as it had been when Jen, Irene and I went, but it was still a nice day. The overcast dulled the colours of the waters and the greenery, though.

Our first stop was the golf course at Anglesea, where we had it on good authority that there was a mob of kangaroos that pretty much hang out there permanently. We found the roos, but they were way off on the far side of the course and so we couldn't take any pictures. There were signs posted at the entrance to the course that there was no entry to anyone for observing the kangaroos (apparently due to the risk of being attacked by a roo or being hit on the head by a golf ball). After writing that big rant yesterday about the stupid people on Phillip Island, I figured we'd better behave ourselves here, too. :-)

The coastal drive was just as spectacular as I remember it being from the first time I drove this route. Janet and I stopped for lunch in Lorne and I showed her the cute hostel we'd stayed in. We took a short hike in to Sheoak Falls, which was a beautiful waterfall, even if it was reduced to a trickle in this dry season. I chased little skinks which were sunning on the boardwalks to the waterfall, but didn't catch any. We pulled over at several good lookouts along the road to snap photos and admire the view. At Apollo Bay, we grabbed some ice cream and headed for the beach, where we watched some folks taking surfing lessons for a while.

We drove back to Melbourne via a twisty, windey road that took us through the heart of Otways National Park. It was absolutely beautiful! We passed through stands of fern trees and huge eucalypts, and at the tops of the hills were treated to stunning panoramic views of the Otways. Once back on the A1, we made great time back to Melbourne and actually beat Jen home from work!

The three of us are heading north tomorrow, far north, to Townsville in Queensland. We'll be there until Sunday, checking out the Great Barrier Reef and everything else that Townsville has to offer. Thanks very much to my new Guiding friend, Irene, who's generously putting us up during our stay there. After Townsville, I'm off on a whole slew of adventures all across the top of Queensland and the Northern Territory, and I'll finally be getting to visit Uluru too! So farewell for now - I don't know what sort of email access I will have while I'm gone. I will try to keep the blog updated as best I can. I return to Melbourne around the 5th of April. Cheerio!