Road trip on the Great Ocean Road! - Part 1

G'day everyone!!

Today's post is all about Australia's famous "Great Ocean Road"!
Surf City, Appollo Bay, Kennet River, the 12 Apostles and more!

For now let me show you all of the fantastic places between Melbourne and the Grampians such as the Twelve Apostles! In the next two posts you will then be introduced to Grampians National Park, Border Town, little kangoroos and many more exciting things that are found on the way until Adelaide.

First you might be interested in some general background information. The road was mainly built by war recrutes starting in 1919. The construction was, on the one hand, a way to occupy these men, on the other hand it was built as a war memorial dedicated to their fellows who lost their lives in war.
It was a difficult and long process to built the road due to the geographic and geologic conditions in this area. That is why the construction took 13 years and at first every driver had to pay the cost of 25 cents before passing.

Nowadays it is free to pass the road and it is not only the ideal way to get from Melbourne to Adelaide, or the other way round, by car, but also a very popular way. You'll see why!

The first stop you can take is at Surf City

Surf City - this is the place where Rip Curl was founded by two brothers who first created wet suits only for the purpose of surfing. 

Now you will there find a huge shopping area for all water sports-mad people, the complex includes beside Rip Curl the brands Roxy, Billabong, Oakley, Hurley and more. 

Not far away from Surf City a small path leads to Split Point Lighthouse:

You can walk along the coastlines, the paths are really good and you are able to enjoy a stunning view on the shore and the various rock formations.

As you can see the area is quite thinly populated. I liked that in Australia you can find a lot of different kinds of landscape such as big metropoles like Sydney and Melbourne, and on the other hand the Outback, Northern Territory and regions like the these at the coastline.

Every day I was more and more impressed by the diverse flora and fauna. 

On our way we spotted many colourful native birds such as cockatoos, a wallaby and black swans in a small lake near our accomodation.

If you'd like to see koalas in the wild, I've got a great tip for you: Kennet River!

These wee grey animals are sitting in the tree relaxing or chewing on some eucalyptus. It's really nice to see them in their natural environment and so close, too!

Moreover you will find a lot of these birds that like to be fed by sunflower seeds ;) I can tell you - they'll looove you!! They are so used to peope that they sit down on you, let people pat them, ...

- When travelling one of the "world's great scenic roads", of course you don't want to miss a picture of the ultimate prove you were there!

On the left: the historical marker 

A good place to have lunch or afternoon tea is Apollo Bay, it's about 2/3 through the way and a really pretty spot, not crowded either. I'm sure on a sunny day it is ideal for a swim, too.

Another great place to visit would be
Mait's Rest Rainforest Walk

Even on a colder day like the one we had it's an enjoyable walk, very impressive to look up to these huge trees and breeze in the fresh air of the woods. 

Our tour guide had a lot of fun showing us around :D

On the way along the coast towards Princetown and Port Campbell, where the 12 Apostles are, you will find more giant rock formations. Apart from that you'll notice that the vegatation has changed: The area is getting more and more dry and plants are changing too.

Just when you turn your back to the sea, you will be facing an impressive formation of dripstones:

By the end of the day we got to the famous "12 Apostles" - actually only 8 rocks! Guess what: they were given that name because they thought it would sound attracting to tourists.
In 2005 there were still 9 of them until one rock collapsed and there were only 8 remaining.

We were told that usually you can watch a stunning sunset at the 12 Apostles, well, we were rather unfortunate, but still I think you can't complain about that view!

- That's where our first day on the Geat Ocean Road ended, a memorable lookout on the remarkable rocks making up the 12 Apostles. I have to say, I was actually positively impressed that this place, even though it is a major tourist attraction, wasn't too crowded. :)



Day one of our Great Ocean Road Trip ended at our accomodation in the smallest village I've ever seen: 1 street, not more than 15 houses. :D

That's where day 2 started as well -

- but more about that in my next post! ;)

See you soon and havea good time!
Love, Yoko xxx