The Great Ocean Road Trip
Sitting here in my room in Erskineville on a very muggy, overcast, Sydney evening it’s hard to believe that I’ve just been on a road trip. If it wasn’t for the photos I took it would seem even more like a dream. Moreno and I had a fantastic time zipping along the Great Ocean Rd in our black rental car.
For those of you who have never heard of the Great Ocean Rd it’s a road that was built along the south-west coast of Victoria in the first half of the 20th century and since then has become famous as one of the world’s most spectacular coastal routes. The scenery is superb – to quote the Lonely Planet guide (again – thanks to the City of Sydney Library Service!) – lush rainforests, sheer and rugged cliffs, idyllic sandy beaches, mountains and forests of towering eucalypts, intriguing rock formations, great state and national parks and charming seaside settlements. I know guides have a tendency to exaggerate, but not in this case.
I actually drove along the Great Ocean Rd with Lian (Hi Lian - when are you going to update your blog?) on our way back from Melbourne, way back in 1994, but I’d forgotten just how beautiful it was and glad that I decided to go down to Victoria with Moreno. We had a very early flight Saturday morning and were on the road by 9am. Not having a car here in Sydney it was strange being back behind the wheel, but at the same time quite exhilarating. There’s definitely something about having the freedom to go wherever you want. Instead of following the Road from east to west we decided to drive inland then drive back towards Melbourne. The scenery is not as spectacular inland but it was interesting to see all the small country towns on the way. Great to visit, but not places I’d want to live. Moreno had brought lots of CDs with him, so we had great fun singing along to all these old 80s tunes. A song called ‘Voyage, voyage’ by a French group Desireless became our theme tune for the journey.
We saw so many beautiful things – too many to talk about here. Probably the highlight though was the Twelve Apostles – especially being down on the beach next to two of them.
Got to Melbourne on Monday evening and Tuesday spent the day exploring Melbourne. Also caught up with my friend Sachiko and had coffee in this very shishi café in Toorak that Japanese would die for. Jidai wa ima Laurent!!! After dinner in Lygon St (the Italian quarter of Melbourne) I zoomed out to the airport to drop the car off only to discover that my flight back to Sydney was delayed because of bad weather along the east coast. Amused myself by taking self-portraits – the joys of digital photography! Eventually got into Sydney just before the airport curfew at 11pm and got home around 11.30.
Am now looking forward to my next road trip!
For those of you who have never heard of the Great Ocean Rd it’s a road that was built along the south-west coast of Victoria in the first half of the 20th century and since then has become famous as one of the world’s most spectacular coastal routes. The scenery is superb – to quote the Lonely Planet guide (again – thanks to the City of Sydney Library Service!) – lush rainforests, sheer and rugged cliffs, idyllic sandy beaches, mountains and forests of towering eucalypts, intriguing rock formations, great state and national parks and charming seaside settlements. I know guides have a tendency to exaggerate, but not in this case.
I actually drove along the Great Ocean Rd with Lian (Hi Lian - when are you going to update your blog?) on our way back from Melbourne, way back in 1994, but I’d forgotten just how beautiful it was and glad that I decided to go down to Victoria with Moreno. We had a very early flight Saturday morning and were on the road by 9am. Not having a car here in Sydney it was strange being back behind the wheel, but at the same time quite exhilarating. There’s definitely something about having the freedom to go wherever you want. Instead of following the Road from east to west we decided to drive inland then drive back towards Melbourne. The scenery is not as spectacular inland but it was interesting to see all the small country towns on the way. Great to visit, but not places I’d want to live. Moreno had brought lots of CDs with him, so we had great fun singing along to all these old 80s tunes. A song called ‘Voyage, voyage’ by a French group Desireless became our theme tune for the journey.
We saw so many beautiful things – too many to talk about here. Probably the highlight though was the Twelve Apostles – especially being down on the beach next to two of them.
Got to Melbourne on Monday evening and Tuesday spent the day exploring Melbourne. Also caught up with my friend Sachiko and had coffee in this very shishi café in Toorak that Japanese would die for. Jidai wa ima Laurent!!! After dinner in Lygon St (the Italian quarter of Melbourne) I zoomed out to the airport to drop the car off only to discover that my flight back to Sydney was delayed because of bad weather along the east coast. Amused myself by taking self-portraits – the joys of digital photography! Eventually got into Sydney just before the airport curfew at 11pm and got home around 11.30.
Am now looking forward to my next road trip!
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