Monday 16th February 2015.
Alarm set for 8am as we have to be checked out for ten, and we want to hit the road- it is a lovely sunny morning. We had a coffee and a nice Facetime chat with Christopher – it is still Sunday evening there. We drank the coffee and got sorted then packed our cases, and checked out on a lovely hot sunny morning. We were on the road well before ten, which wasn’t bad going. Our route is well signposted, as The Great Ocean Road is the reason a very high proportion of people come to this area.
Straight back onto the A10, then a turn off to the B100 heading for Torquay. The first stop was the tourist info centre, where a really helpful man called Peter, who was originally from Amsterdam (emigrated when he was 9 years old) gave Sue the lowdown on the best things to see on The Great Ocean Road. He marked up maps and gave detailed instructions for getting the best experience.
Armed with maps and leaflets our next task was to get some brunch, but first we drove down to the sea for a couple of photo ops, including one at Point Danger, which includes a War Memorial to the Anzacs. We watched the surfers below – some of whom seemed to be a school class – not a bad PE lesson! The town centre was close by and there was lots of free parking. There were also lots of places to eat and drink.
Our choice was The Torquay Deli on Gilbert Street – it had a good menu and free wi-fi. Sue was thwarted when she was told they had run out of salmon, so we both settled on poached eggs and ham on a ciabatta with coffee – very nice. the service wasn’t the quickest, but the chap running the place was very affable and quite busy – we weren’t in a rush, so it was okay.
Suitably refreshed, we headed back to the car and out of Torquay, which does look and very nice place with some lovely houses, nice shops and a fantastic location. Our first port of call was Bell’s Beach, which is only just outside Torquay but has a fabulous overview of the beaches and surf below – a theme that we got used to through the day. This is the most famous of Australia’s surfing beaches and apparently every Easter the Rip Curl pro tournament attracts thousands. Back in the car and another couple of fantastic outlooks for photo ops before the next of Peter’s tips – Anglesey.
Here he told us that if we drove up to the golf club there we may see some wild kangaroos – sure enough we parked up and immediately spotted two in the grass at the side of a tee. They appeared unconcerned when some golfers came up and tee’d off – we got loads of photos and also saw several other kangaroos bouncing across the greens! We then drove to the shopping centre in Anglesey, where Sue bought a new SD card for her camera, as her current one filled as she was videoing the Kangaroos.
Back on The Great Ocean Road, we carried on west and headed towards Lorne – stopping for a couple more photo ops as we did so. One was at the famous Memorial Arch across the road – this was built as a tribute to the soldiers who returned from the First World War and built The Great Ocean Road. Here there was also another massive beautiful sandy beach that was totally deserted.
At Lorne we were ready for a drink and sugar boost so we parked up and went into a bakery on the main street – I had a huge apple turnover and Sue had a scone, very nice. There are two of Peter’s tips here – the first were the Erskine Falls which are actually 10km out of the village and a fair bit inland – we parked up there and went down the 200 steps for a great photo op of one the highest waterfalls in the region. We also managed to clamber over the rocks to get a close up of it, rather than just take photos from the lookout. The climb back up was a bit of a struggle and made me sweat a bit. (Sue- I ran up – wonder if Nick will notice this addition! I didn’t, but sweated a bit less!) (Nick- Did notice but can’t argue with facts)
Next stop was Teddy’s Lookout, which is back in Lorne on George Street – truly magnificent views of the ocean, the beaches, the St. George River and the road itself below us. Last of Peter’s tips of the day was in Kennett River – there is a colony of wild koalas that live in the trees next to the aptly named Koala Cafe. I missed the turn and it took ages to do a u-turn, but I am glad I did, as we saw a couple of koalas, some parrots and other birdlife – the koalas high in the trees aren’t bothered by the tourists snapping away below – in fact one appeared to pose.
Leaving Kennett River, our thoughts turned, somewhat belatedly, to a room for the night. We headed for Apollo Bay, but it was after five pm and the tourist office was closed – it was immediately apparent from the number of ‘No vacancy’ signs that we saw that it wasn’t going to be simple getting a room – Sue got a list from the window of the tourist office of places that had vacancies when they closed – there were only about four. First try for us was the Best Western – they offered their last room for AU$280!! plus a charge for wi-fi. Another on the list was full and so we made our way to the Iluka Motel and Takeaway on the main road -Sue went for look and whilst it isn’t a Marriott, it is clean and costs AU$100.
Our abode for the night is Room 4 – it has free wi-fi and a shower so we are sorted. We got the cases in and settled into the room. Time was marching on so we went in search of food -most places were closed or expensive and we actually finished up back at the Iluka, where they do an a la carte menu after 7pm and we had a lovely meal.
I had a rib eye steak with chips and salad whilst Sue had a huge salmon steak with a selection of vegetables and mashed potatoes. Very nice too. I had some of the local brew Queenscliffe Ale and Sue had a glass of wine. It was still light when we finished so we went for walk in search of a sweet – the first supermarket we went into was grubby and smelly and didn’t have a bakery counter, but the other one we had seen was closed, so it was back to the room to make do with chocolates and fruit we had in our bags. Sue also had more of her wine, but the lack of glasses meant her drinking it from a coffee mug!
Big news of the day is Ireland smashing the West Indies in the world cup.
Trip 324 KM.
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