Road Trippin'
Trip Start
Dec 28, 2011
1
64
101
Trip End
Ongoing
Port Campbell, Victoria, Australia
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
A slight time zone mishap (Victoria is half an hour ahead of South Australia left us facing a locked up YHA and a chilly night in a caravan park cabin. On top of this I was forced to drive for 45 minutes to buy a petrol station wrap for dinner.
We decided to cruise along the coastline, stopping off anywhere that took our fancy. First stop was Logan's Beach - a well known whale watching spot but once again all we saw were their spouts of water in the distance. Things started to look up when we hit Cheeseworld. Enough said.
The first half of the road is characterised by limestone stacks left by erosion so we bounced from stunning viewpoint to stunning viewpoint. At Loch Ard Gorge we were treated to the sight of a whale leaping out of the water, framed by gorgeous rock formations. At last Zoë might stop pestering me about whales!
The animal encounters continued on the drive to Cape Otway. Koalas happily snooze away in the trees lining the road. One cheeky fellow was having lunch just above our head height and another decided the middle of the road was a great place to sit. Not the sharpest koala in the woods.
The highlight was undoubtedly the Twelve Apostles. We got there just at sunset and the sky changed through an amazing palette of colours. We stuck around as it got dark as we'd heard that penguins make an appearance but by the time they arrived we were just looking at blobs down on the beach.
The second half of the road skirts right along the sea, winding up cliffs and crossing numerous creeks. We moseyed along with more koala and roo sightings as well as Zoe catching the attention of some parakeets. Wondering why everyone was pulled over at the side of the road, we stopped and sure enough it was a pair of whales in the bay, lazily rolling around and waving the odd flipper. With this final happy memory we shot back up to Melbourne and an appointment at 'The G' with Zoe's friend Becky who had kindly let us stay at her flat.
'The G', or the Melbourne Cricket Ground was the venue for a local Aussie Rules derby - Carlton vs Collingwood. The stadium is incredible and, with a crowd of over 75,000, the atmosphere was electric. The game itself was fast paced end to end stuff and completely chaotic. The fans took it very seriously with one guy screaming at the refs (lime green f*cks), opposition star players (Juddy you old b*stard) and every time things didn't go their way (sh*t the bed). It all added to the flavour but Zoe topped it all off by shouting "Go football" earning her some very confused looks. In case you're interested Carlton won.
On our last day in Oz we met up with another of Zoe's old friends, Sarah. After drinks by the beach we headed up to Chapel Street for some really tasty Thai food in a funky bar/restaurant. This was followed by desert in a place where their friend's boyfriend is the chef. Incredible.
Several bars later we retired to bed. I won't go into details but suffice to say Zoe was baggage the next day. What an end to our Australian odyssey!
