The Great Ocean Road

Hey Everybody!

I head out this morning for The Great Ocean Road. It's about a 5hr drive from start to finish. The guides tell you to give it two days. I didn't listen because what's the big deal about a 5hr drive, right?

When you come to Melbourne (and you want to!) give this road two days... would be much more doable in one day in the summer, but we don't have 12hrs of light right now, so I didn't see it all (yet). I have a long drive again tomorrow (Sunday), but will aim for the spots I most wanted to see.

I could have started earlier today, but didn't really believe it was necessary so I stayed in bed an extra hour. I was wrong! I could have skipped the Surf World Museum in Torquay, but that would have been a mistake. I highly recommend it; it's cool. It also made me want to try surfing, which I keep not doing....might have to. You know, when I'm back in calm Gulf waters.

One of my favorite things at the museum was this art exhibit in the Board Room. I hope you can read this.

Torquay Beach looks something like this....waves were okay today, not great. There were almost as many stand-up paddle boards as surf boards along the way.

Because you expect it....here's the Split Point Lightstation (1891).

Some views from The Great Ocean Road:

Again, because you expect it :-) This is one of the rainforest waterfalls, Erskine Falls. It's part of Great Otway National Park. I did not have the time to explore this like I wanted to. Nor am I doing it justice with the pic.

Remember flipping through glossy magazines and finding the perfume pages? Remember how the scent was gone after a few sniffs? This place reminded me of that only the scent seemed to be new around each bend. It's a combination of home (CA) because of the Eucalyptus trees, but with all these other fresh scents. It was hard to leave the rainforest, even though I was at the beach!

Nevertheless, I had enough time to find this cute little guy!!!

That's right....a wild Koala! As soon as I got back in the car Rob Thomas started singing, "Little Wonders." How fitting! I saw saw a handful of them, including one walking down the shoulder of Great Ocean Road. I hope he made it! One was hit just a few days ago and was taken to the Brisbane sanctuary for care.

The other animal I was watching for -thanks to a tip from a woman at the surf museum - was a colorful member of the parrot family.

Tonight was my longest night driving experience....on the switchbacks of the Great Ocean Road. There IS a lot of wildlife at night....kangaroos on the shoulder for a bite to eat & smaller, nocturnal creatures running around. All is well, but after that first kangaroo chillin' on the roadside and a pair of eyes in some low bushes, I turned on the brights.

Finally, since I know you want to know :-)

I have not gone to the wrong side of the car once (yet). And I haven't made any more mistakes with the blinkers. All in all, the left side of the road driving is easy....which doesn't quite explain how I might have gone the wrong way for about 30 seconds tonight coming out of KFC. But I'm pretty sure that I did. Luckily the opposing traffic was turning and the cop at KFC didn't see it.

By the way: KFC in Iceland is still the best chicken, but the Australia KFC has better fries.

That's all for now. I really do have to start early in the morning, so I better get my plan together and get to bed. As always, thanks for stopping by! More soon.....

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