It had been a long while, since August, since I’d seen Alex and Chris. It was now January and the height of Summer and I had arrived into Melbourne from Alice Springs to venture out West along the Great Ocean Road.
We hired a van, which we nicknamed Marty, and set off along the Great Ocean Road along a 243km scenic coastal drive to Warnambool.
It takes a while to get out of the city, but when we were rolling and we’d loaded Marty up with fuel, food, and feel-good vibes we were rocking!
We stopped off along the way at some vineyard cellar door for some wine tasting - and made a purchase to go with dinner that evening - and an obligatory stop at Bells Beach; the surf mecca of Australia.
Next up was Great Ottway National Park for the ‘Round The Twist’ lighthouse, hiking through Australian bush, koala spotting, and a practice run on the didgeridoo. Ummmoooooowooooooowulluuuuuoooooooommmmmm!
The 12 Apostles, or more like 6, were next. We should have stopped off a stop earlier at Gibson’s Steps so we could walk down to the beach away from all the tourists.
After the 12 Apostles we reached the outskirts of Warnambool for our nights stay before heading north to the Grampians and Halls Gap for a night sleeping with kangaroos in the national park.
We chose the only campsite that claimed to have a shower which turned out to be filling a bucket up with creek water and pouring it over yourself in the dark… pleasant.
Most of the Grampian’s were on fire when we arrived, but that didn’t stop us from going on a little hike, eating ice creams and enjoying the beautiful park before we made our way to Canberra and Sydney, just in time for Australia day.
The road from Halls Gap to Canberra and then Sydney is quite rural, we stopped at a few minor towns and mingled with the locals and stopped at cultural sites such as the town made famous by the outlaw Ned Kelly.
Canberra was a strange town, very quiet and confusing with all it’s one way streets and concentric plan - something artificial in feeling. The campsite we stayed at on the outskirts was filled with bogans - most likely living in camper vans - and everything felt as though it was from a horror movie; especially when Chris started backing up and a ghostly figure appeared next to the van, it turned out to be an old lady in a negligee offering to help us reverse.
Made it to Sydney, a little tired, but in one piece (mostly); Marty flooded and the power cut out; and we hit a massive pothole that broke my phone, and felt as though we’d broken Marty.
My Flickr gallery is here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/omgaz/sets/72157647651165141/