Road Trip!

Having done as much settling in as I could last night, I decided to stick with my original plan and tackle the Great Ocean Road today. I pootled about getting ready first, and got myself some bits and pieces, like lots of water (I remembered what happened in Rottnest, when I nearly ran out and don’t want to run out in the middle of the bush where there are no friendly cyclists!). I drool in the window of the ‘Acland Cake Shop’ and wonder about buying a huge blue meringue, but decide that a box of trail bars is possibly more practical.
Sigh.
Another time for the big blue meringue perhaps…
;D
I meander around to Luna Park, of Pet Shop Boys song fame… It is a funny-looking creation. From the outside, you can see the swoops and curves of the white roller coaster ride, an idly turning wheel and various glimpses of turnstiles and other attractions. From the front, it is an altogether rather arresting spectacle. A huge, toothy and rather sinister clown gapes towards the beach; his mouth is the entrance to the amusement park, but his sardonically raised eyebrows lend an altogether creepy feel to it. I believe it has been closed down or decommissioned, but still looks in good nick; no obviously peeling paint or missing teeth on the clown. Still, it’s a good landmark, and is considerably less scary when surrounded by palm trees and blazing sun. It is 26 degrees today – just right, I feel, for a ROAD TRIP!! :D

I, stocked up, head down to the car in the basement and manage to liberate her without crashing into or breaking anything… (I had a confused moment last night when I couldn’t get the key out, no matter how hard I tugged… I then realised you had to push and twist before you pull… Oops.) And, map-less, but in possession of an upside-down but working compass, I drive off into the City. The Melbourne skyline is quite impressive. It soars, much like the City in London, above the rest of Melbourne with glossy, mirrored skyscrapers of varying sizes. These are lit up at night with blue, and a few red, lights which is really rather effective from a distance.
Melbourne centre is rather tricky to drive in. It is based on a grid in the centre, and has far too many intersections, all with lights, some including feeder lanes. It also has a tram system (feels like an overground Underground!). The problem with these trams is that, because they obviously have only their proscribed routes. So the Melbourne council people have decided, so that you’re not in the tram’s way, that in order to turn right you have to get into the left-hand lane. This makes turning a little tricky as you have to watch out for the car behind you being an idiot, the car to your right sailing by obliviously and the ruddy tram that started it all in the first place sneaking up on you! I give up and head in a straight line until I recognise something. To say I was map-less was perhaps a little unfair… There was no street map in the car as there should have been, as I discovered the previous night when trying to find the BASE hostel, but I do have a paper map of most of the centre of Melbourne down as far as Geelong, and I know that’s on the way to the Great Ocean Road. I follow signs to Geelong, having triumphantly located a signpost! And it even seems to be going the right way! I turn up the radio, put on my sunnies, open the window and sail happily past the glittering skyscrapers, river and palm trees with a smile on my face.
There’s not actually a great deal to write about the Great Ocean Road – it is just that – an enormously long road along the Southern Ocean which runs from Adelaide to Melbourne (or the other way in my case!). It does however, boast some stunning, spectacular and quite unbelievable views, and some truly terrifying moments of literally cliff-hanging road…

I begin the Great Ocean Road properly I feel, once I have left Geeolong (which didn’t seem terribly exciting on the way through) and am heading towards Torquay…
‘Hey, guess where I went yesterday, I went to Torquay!’
Giggle.
Except that, unlike our native Torquay, this one was blue-skied, golden-beached and warm (ish). It was also full of surfies and the shattered coastline begins to appear even here (and there was something else that decided to taste my leg. Grrr). There are people in jumpers and scarves.
Pansies.
I’m in jeans and strappy top and loving it!
I leave Torquay and keep following the Great Ocean Road signs, very exciting; there is so much anticipation for this – I love driving, and I’m setting out on one of the most iconic roads in Australia, possibly the world. Cool! Beyond Torquay, the road becomes a little more interesting, it begins to wind a bit more, and sneaks closer to the coast, actually hugging the cliff in some places, in others overlooking the jagged coastline to such an extent that you can see three or four headlands, hazy with distance, in the same view.
A littler further along it starts to rain… After trying to indicate with the windscreen wipers for the last few hours of driving, I can’t actually now find the wipers…
Der.
I stop at a little cove for a quick photo and get a bit wet. There are surfers shedding their skins and hauling boards about, and even a VW campervan, another icon.
I leave the soggy little cove behind and get back on the road. Shortly afterwards a signpost beckons GOR travellers to the Airey Point lighthouse. I decide to have a look; lighthouses are invariably high up so I expect a fine view.
It rains some more.
I decide to duck into a delightful little café by the lighthouse before wandering over the coastline. They do me a very good cheese and tomato toastie and let me plug in my flagging camera, which is nice of them. J The Lighthouse Stables and Tearoom is very small and friendly and has a decidedly ‘50s feel to it. Things are starting to feel a little few and far between.
Little do I know…
By the time I have finished my toastie, it has stopped raining and I make it over to the lighthouse. Clearly toasties make the sun shine. ;)
I peer at the blue ocean dashing beneath the lighthouse, and the jagged coastline either side. There is a great chunk of rock sticking up, which is rather impressive, but also a little terrifying when you think of the natural forces that have been required to sculpt it.
I go back to the car, serenaded by some off-white, screeching cockatiels.
And off again!
The road here becomes more twisty, slalom-like in parts, and always hugging the cliff edge. It is faintly reminiscent of the roads in some of the Corsican hills, though it is at least slightly less terrifying given that it has a crash barrier (small comfort when you can see it snaking along the sheer hill for several miles ahead).
I pause several times during this leg of the trip. There are many little golden beaches, jagged headlands and sandy coves just begging to be photographed. A bird calls at one place I stop. It sounds a little like a curlew that has been stretched into a balloon animal. ‘Cobble-um, cobble-um, cobble-um’, it says. I shall have to see what the Otways national park website says about the local birds.
You can see that the wildlife is subtly changing as I wend my way along this twisty little leafy road. The sun is now hot and the sea very blue with white crests. I play peekaboo with a cyclist and a rattly old campervan as we all go along at different speeds. I keep stopping for photos so they catch up!

I have a photograph of a large blank patch of sky now too. This is highly significant as it is the patch of sky where I just missed photographing an enormous raptor, sailing lazily on a thermal. There is a white patch underneath each brown-flecked wing. It has a pale head, fingered pinion feathers and a 5-6 foot wingspan. It’s huge.

The coastline along the GOR is geographically incredibly diverse, hills with strata, trees, coves, flatlands…
There is very little history here though, just the GOR’s builders really!
There is some natural history, though much of it is beneath the waves apparently. Lots of birds abound though.
I can’t help feeling it’s a little like Yorkshire in some respects – it has that sort of feel to it in places.

I get to Apollo Bay and wonder about a Tiger Moth flight over the 12 Apostles as it’s getting late and I want to be heading back well before dark. Unfortunately they are either full or prohibitively expensive as it’s only me… I decide to press on. The road becomes less interesting here as it ducks away from the sea into the bush. It does, however, become rainforest. It smells different here, fresher, greener, more exotic, and slightly of tea tree! Little shreds of papery bark slide from some of the trees. They clearly regard stripping as a social necessity… I wonder why? It is peaceful here; it is nice to be somewhere green and quiet where you can hear the wind in the trees. This bit is called ‘Mait’s Rest’ and I do pause for a while to enjoy the smells and sights of huge trees, enormous ferns and greenery. One tree has a hole clear through, which is interesting.

The last section is tiring. Mainly farmland, there are warnings about minding livestock everywhere. It is a long way from anywhere, isolated, lonely, desolate. The area arounbd Gibsons Steps is well worth a look though, despite its distant feel. Last chance to get anywhere near any of these sea-bound monoliths. You can get onto the beach here, and admire the shoreline from a little closer. The light is just coming into early evening, and will be perfect for photographing the 12 Apostles if I get there in time! I press on, pausing at a small shop on the way to get some crisps and directions! The shopkeeper is very nice. The little settlement seems very alone out there on the GOR.
The 12 Apostles are worth the drive. Wild, lonely, majestic, savage and quite, quite beautiful. The 7 of them loom out of the crashing, deep-blue sea in the pale haze, pinky-purple in the evening light. It is amazing how I manage to feel alone and so small, surrounded as I am by other visitors to this remote location. The light is perfect; the rain has gone and the sun is no longer blazing high in the sky. I couldn’t have timed it better if I’d tried!
The Southern Ocean is glorious. Home to various unique creatures. This also includes the Fairy Martin. I wonder if that’s what I saw at Rottnest…

Right, I have a race against the clock now; back at least to the Princes Highway by dusk! Vroom!
I hammer down the deserted road to Simpson – halfway between the Apostles and Prince’s Highway. It is still hot in the golden evening light and the only beings I see for what feels like several hundred kilometres are the local crows and lots of cows…
There are trees that freak me out as they look like enormous mutant Christmas trees. Sometimes things here are just TOO big. I feel small in this big land.
In this huge, wild country, we are nothing but ants dreaming the dreams of men…
I make it onto the Prince’s Highway and get back to Geelong safely. Annoyingly I;ve missed the cheap cut-off period for the car, so I pootle back to Tullamarine slowly to give it back.
I get a bus and tram (which makes me uneasy in the dark, peculiar neighbourhoods around St Kilda – which IS full of crazy, drunk backpackers!) and happily find myself back at BASE – I’m nearly not allowed in, carrying my bags no less, until I show my room key. Clearly this is The Place To Be.
:S
I get back to my room. Hard to believe there are places where it is a relief to come back from a nice day out to find that there is currently no vomit in your shoes or on the floor and that everything is as you left it…! Still, I think I have civilised roommates – they seem to be avoiding the partying almost as much as I am and noone’s been drunk yet to my knowledge!
I dump my stuff and find a Subway – cop out I know, but I just fancy a chicken Teriyaki roll! Yum…

I am coming to the conclusion that I don’t always travel well alone. I need my roots. Like in France, you can forge new ones, but they are fragile and not to be relied upon. Without roots, I feel vulnerable, easily upset, and the joy of exploration and discovery is tempered with a sadness that I have noone with whom to share it. Still, I guess emails and this blog will do for now!
And Facebook of course...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5768082&l=789b4&id=722245415

;)