We had to wake early as we were catching a bus for a two day trip to the Great Ocean Road. Amanda had done a lot of research before we left home and found a company that takes two days for the trip (rather than fitting it into one 12 hour day) and who also do the trip in reverse order so that you miss the crowds. The price included the nights accommodation and food so we did not have to worry about that either! Our hostel refused to look after our bags for the one night we were away so we had to walk to another hostel where the tour company had arranged for us to leave our bags. We waited eagerly for the bus to show. When it did, the driver – Jude – jumped out and with a big smile she greeted us. When she found out we were English she was elated, as most of the group were from countries were English is not the first language. She asked us to sit up at the front of the bus with her to keep her company. In return we got the best views on the bus and also the more detailed commentary that the rest of the bus did not get! Over the next two days we became great friends with Jude and we learnt a lot about her, as she did us! We will definitely be keeping in touch with her! Hopefully coming back to Melbourne and staying with her at her house as she has invited us!
The tour itself was just what we needed after a month of navigating and driving around NZ. To be taken somewhere without having to think or plan was a great feeling! Jude was also brilliant at knowing all of the history about each of the sites, with funny anecdotes – it really was an amazing trip. For anyone planning a trip, the company was http://www.ridetours.com.au and we would recommend them every time!
The first stint of the trip was mostly driving, however after about 3 hours we arrived in a town called Tower Hill where there was a sunken volcano for lunch. We also visited an animal reserve here. The weather as this point was a bit dull and it had been raining so although the views were not amazing, it meant that the animals had come out of hiding from the sun. We had a walk around and after 10 minutes or so found a large male koala, eating some leaves from a young small tree. We got some brilliant pictures after he jumped off the tree too.
When we got back to the bus and showed Jude our photos, she said that we were very lucky to see one up that close and on the ground – normally you would have to rely on your camera having a good zoom function as they are asleep clinging on to the top of the trees. You can tell if a Koala is male or female because males have a crease line down the front on their chest whereas females have a bright white patch here. Also, males faces are more of a cone and females have flatter faces. We also learnt that Koalas always seem so slow moving and sleepy because of the Eucalyptus tree that they eat all day – it makes them high so they are never really with it hehe! Very very cute and although we wanted to hug them, these were in the wild and if you see the size of the claws on their hands, you will see a very good reason to keep your distance.
We also saw Emus here and some sleeping Kangaroos in the distance. A brilliant stop that we weren’t expecting. We got talking to a Chinese couple that was on the same tour, and they were really good at speaking English. We made quite good friends with them during the trip.
We then saw what we had paid to see! Amazing rock formations along the coast - we took lots of photos.
London Bridge that is no longer an archway anymore was one of our favourites with a funny story behind it – when the archway collapsed, the tourists walking along the top had to leg it to the land. There were 2 people left stranded on the remaining rock out at sea. When the news crew arrived they were hiding their faces and the story came out later that they were in fact both married, but not too each other – they had sloped off, having an affair thinking that nobody they knew would see them there. I suppose that is Karma for you!
When we arrived at the hostel, we had a big group BBQ. We all mucked in cutting salads up and preparing chicken burgers, beef and sausages and all enjoyed this, plus more pasta salads then you could imagine. The Chinese groups were loving taking lots of photos of us preparing the food – this made us laugh. Straight after eating our dinner, we jumped straight back on the bus to see the 12 Apostles during sunset. This was magical, we got some brilliant photos! The only thing we would have preferred was a little less cloud cover but hey we can’t complain.
We then waited half an hour to see the penguins walk across the beach to sleep for the night – there must have been over 100 penguins waddling as a group up the beach – although we were quite high up, and these penguins only reach 30 centimetres high, they looked like ants to us, but it was still cute to watch.
After arriving back at the hostel and enjoying a glass of wine whilst watching Miss Congeniality, we were well and truly ready to sleep!! We shared a room with the Chinese family and couple which is the first time we’ve done this!
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