Advise for backpackers, pls do not stubbornly follow your plan. Why? In australia, we plan according to the weather. Or else you will be dissapointed. You can experience 4 different climate in one day!
After all the brushing up and breakfast, 4 of us, my aunt - Aunty Yen, my uncle - Uncle Martin, Connie - my honey and me got our journey started to the winding roads of Great Ocean Road(GOR).
Since GOR is located south west of Melbourne, and Glen Waverley(GW) is located south east of Melbourne, we have to spent abt 40 minutes drive from GW to the city and we then took the freeway from the city to Geelong - the first stop before we head to GOR.
Along the road to Geelong we saw alot of sheep farm. I believe Australia is a big exporter for sheep skins. Uncle Martin stop his car by the road side, for my favourite photo taking sessions.
At around 11am, we reached Geelong visitor center. Geelong itself is a small town. Very classic, and uniquely built. We had a toilet break and collect some informations from the visitor center.
It is essential for backpackers like us to visit the visitor center as it is very informative. Sometimes you might get some special advise or discount if the place you are visiting needs admission fee. 2 thumbs up for the Australian Government!
Further up of Geelong visitor center, we stopped by Cunningham Pier. Blue sky, crystal clear sea water, ship and etc. Excellent panoramic view. They offered helicopter ride too. Of course, charges applied. *wink wink*.
Opposite the Pier is Dennys, Lascelles, Ltd(Woolbrokers). One of the biggest wool exporter in Australia.
We continued our journey towards Torquay which will lead us to GOR.
Looking for surf wear, surf souveniers and surfboards? Torquay is a must visit for you. You can find major brands like Rip Curl, Quiksilver and etc.
We stopped at Torquay and did some window shopping. The price is somehow quite expensive but, it looked classy. We had our lunch at Lar Porchetta - a pizza house.Approx 1pm, we started our journey. Along the way, we managed to see a Kangaroo! It's someone pet. It has a name too - AMOS. Huge and strong but quite shy for such a big animal.
We stopped by the Split Point Lighthouse which is one of the landmark of Anglesea - the neighbour of Torquay. This Lighthouse was once a safety shipping guide in between Cape Otway and Point Lonsdale and this supported the development of colonial Australia.
Near the light house, this is one of the Apostles that we saw. Excellent view!
We headed south towards Lorne and Appollo Bay. Believe me or not, we are so lucky that we able to spot Koalas relaxing on the tree branches. Normally Koala's habitat are surrounded by trees that grow tall. I will blog more abt Koala's in my upcoming blog.
The long widing road lead us to Appollo Bay and it was abt 330pm. We had our tea time and toilet break. Apppolo Bay is a fishing town and a resort town in one. You can find absolutely everything in there. Good place to spend your weekend. We took sometime to hang around the beach and snapped some photo.
We are almost reaching our destination. The climax of the day. We headed towards Port Campbell where the 12 Apostles are located. We stopped by one of the gas station to get some gas for our car. Saw this nice view just behind the station.
Along the road, we saw a huge farming industry. A cattle of cows are in front of us.
About 5pm we reached the 12 Apostles. We are lucky enough to reach there at 5pm as the sun is already setting down. The mighty limestone stacks of the 12 Apostles captivate everyone who visits, including us. At sunset the limestones artistic poses and silhouetted to striking effect! The stretch of the coast was absolutely breathtaking. Fortunately I am using a digital camera, or else, you might run out of negative. Haha.
This is a must visit place. It worth every single cent, time, energy to travel through the GOR and to reach this place. Remember, do bring along for equipment to keep yourselves warm as it is very cold at the 12 Apostles.
3km drive from 12 Apostles is the thundercave and blowhole. By the time we reached there it is almost dark. The sea water will flow through the thundercave and it will reached the blowhole. You can hear a thunderous roar when the sea water struck in the rock.
The moon rises we took an alternative road( a less widing road towards Colac and we had our dinner there. Look, this is the moon that we saw in Great Ocean Road.
We reached Glen Waverley at about 11pm. It was tiring but it is enjoying. We count ourselves so lucky as we managed to see Kangaroo and Koala in the first day. The great coastline of 12 Apostles will be clearly embeded in my memories.
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