Visiting Melbourne – The Great Ocean Road

We slept at 2am and had to wake up by 7am? Not happening. Although we had these glorious plans of waking up early, having amazing breakfast, then heading out to the stop where our bus would pick us up from…I guess things don’t always go as planned. Our morning started off with getting to breakfast 30min before our pickup time for the tour. No time to relax and enjoy the meal, which we could have done since the bus was nearly 30 minutes late anyway. Ah well.

Due to stuff, everything started off 30-60minutes late with the tour. However, our guide (let’s call him R…I’m pretty bad at remembering names, sorry) did a pretty good job catching up. The second problem of the day was a mixup for the location of our lunch. So instead of backtracking, R decided to go another hour, to a different location for lunch.

We finally reach our first stop on this trip —Kafe Koala, Kennett River. We get to eat lunch…and play with birds and see the Koalas…real close.

As always, if you wish to see higher quality images you can either reach out to me or check out my collection at 500px.

Australian King Parrot. These guys love sitting on your head

They also love food!

Koalas seriously do love sleep

Cockatoo enjoying the breeze

Got to stop to say hi to the Australian King Parrot

That was fun. But it’s time for us to move on. As we drive along the beautiful scenery, we finally reach the memorial arch at the great ocean road.

Did you know: The great ocean road is a memorial built for the Australian soldiers who died in World War I, by the soldiers who got to return home. Building this road would create jobs for these soldiers. There was no machinery used in building this road and was in fact, built using picks, shovels, and carts. A 243 kilometers (151 miles) road that took about 13 years for full completion.

Moving on, things are now starting to look bad. It’s raining real heavy. We were going through the rainforest though, so there was still hope it would be better on the other side of the hills. It was. Not entirely gone, but the rain was now just a drizzle. With that, we finally arrive at Loch Ard Gorge.

Overlooking from the watchpoint, you can see a lot more of the formations and just how much erosion happens due to the rock being limestone.

Once we go down, we can get some amazing views! The water is said to be super warm to swim in — though because of the rain, we couldn’t. Sadly yes, there still was a little rain ongoing. Even then, however, amazing views. Amazing rock formations. Amazing lighting!

Did you know: This area is named after a ship, Loch Ard, that ran aground in 1878. Of the 54 people onboard, only 2 survived: Tom Pearce and Eva Carmichael. Pearce, who washed ashore, saved Eva after he heard her cries. They had to keep each other warm in the cold as well as find a way up. Once they did, they managed to get help from local pastoralists.

And of course, what we need is a picture, with some quote…as the tradition of travel dictates.

We are now ready to go eat dinner before heading off to The 12 Apostles main center. But since our day already had quite a few problems, let’s add the bus not starting up to that list. Luckily, tour guides help tour guides, and R was able to find another guide willing to drop us at the center while he figured something out.

So now we wait for R to come back, and till then just enjoy this magical place. The daytime looked amazing.

And the sunset? So many colors in the sky. It really is Ice & Fire! Sadly, the clouds covered the very last minute of the sunset, but a few minutes before still looks gorgeous!

And we end the day with a beautiful picture in the dark!

R does manage to figure something out, and we get a bus come pick us up. There’s a slight detour to the bus depot, so instead of getting back to the hotel between 11PM-11:30PM, we end up getting back close to 12:15AM. All in all, amazing places, beautiful sceneries, and a breath-taking drive!