Ocean Road to Adelaide

Thurs -

Had to get up at some awful time this morning to go on my tour to Alice Springs. By awful, I mean 5:30am.

The bus was supposed to be at the hostel at 6:30am but turned up at 6:45am, by which time I was freezing....

There were 9 people on our tour, which meant plenty of space on the bus (a double seat each, no less!).

The suspects, in no particular order are -

Andy (the Driver)
Sabina (from Switzerland)
Elrik and Linda (from Holland)
James (from Worksop, in Notts)
Sarah (from Germany)
Ashley (from Ireland)
Michael (from Germany)
Kako (from Japan)

First off, we drove to Torquay (About 2 hour) for breakfast (which, was fine, but nothing to shout about).

The first 2 days of the tour are along the 'Great Ocean Road', which is supposed to be one of the most picturesque routes to drive in the world.

The first place we stopped was 'Bells Beach', which hosts the world surf championships sometimes. The waves might be great, but it's definitely NOT a beautiful beach. On the other hand, it does have a spectacular toilet block. Didn't do any surfing, didn't use the toilet...

After that, we got to the Ocen Road 'proper', and stopped to look at the (really) crappy sign that show's you where it starts. It looks rather like it's been made by some 1 handed 8 year olds, using only telegraph poles.

The next bit of road was pretty spectacular. Got a picture of a rainbow that I really liked ... I guess you can judge for yourselves...

We stopped at a small campsite where they have some wild (not angry, just free-range) koalas. They don't really do much other than eat or sleep, but I suppose they do look cute...

After a long stretch, we visited a rainforest reserve, where youget to walk on these metal platforms, 30 metres up in the trees. Got some photos of some, er, trees. Oh, and some moss.

The coolest thing was a part of the platform that sticks out, unsupported, from the rest. You can stand at the end of this platform, and rock it from side to side. Some people got scared, but I thought it was very funny...

Finaly, we went to the (pretty spectacular) 12 apostles. These are actually 13 (?) rock stacks, just off the coast. Normally, at sunset, these look spectacular. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to get anyreally great shots. I got a couple of half-decent ones though.

We stayed overnight in a really nice little hostel, near the apostles. Another group (of 19) was also staying, and we all went to the pub to take part in a quiz. I won (mainly on my knowledge of the planets and StarWars), and got some free beer for my trouble.

Friday -

We all had an early(ish) breakfast, and left to go to Loch Ard Gorge, just 20 minutes down the ocean road.

It's the site of a shipwreck, the ship being the Loch Ard.

Only 2 people survived, and when you see the rough sea at the entrance to the gorge, you wonder how they made it ashore alive.

The next port of call was a rock formation called London Bridge. It used to be a double arch, but one spectacularly collapsed, stranding 2 tourists on the wrong side. When they were rescued, it turned out they were a boss/secretary having an affair. Needless to say, the news coverage alerted his wife, and it all ended in tears.

After the drama of London Bridge, we made our way to the Bay of Islands. Funnily enough, this is a bay, right, containing some islands. Crazy.

This was the last part of the ocean road, and we headed inland to the Grampians. They are are range of mountains (little ones, anyway) covered in Eucalyptus, and other native trees. A huge amount of the Grampians was burned in a forest fire in January, so lots of the trees look dead, but have started to sprout new leaves.

We did a couple of walks up to some viewing points, and a waterfall (the Mackenzie falls), which, to be honest, knackered me out !

Hope the pictures are worth it !

Ended the day in a cool lodge, basically in the middle of nowhere. You can see the stars really well, and I'll try and get some pictures of them later tonight.

Saturday -

Didn't get any star piccies, 'coz we stayed up playing poker/drinking last night. Oops.

We had to leave at 9am in the morning, which meant (in theory) a lie in, but I got up early to try and get some sunrise pictures. I didn't really get anything too good, though

After breakfast, we went to our last real stop on the tour - Hollow Mountain.

We did a walk/climb up the 300 metres of rocky paths, to get to the top. I found it pretty tough (being an unhealthy blob), but at least I made it to the top. We had a lovely 30 minutes at the top, telling a few jokes and taking in the view.

My photo's don't do the view justice, but I'll remember it (partly because of the stiff legs I have today!).

After we got back down, we had a 5 hour drive to Adelaide. Had a bit of a sing-along on the bus ... there was some good music, some bad music, and some Rolf Harris.

5 of us decided to share a room for the night in Adelaide (Michael, Me, James, Sarah and Sabina), and all went to the pub for a few beers with Andy (the driver), plus Kako and Ashley.

Andy, Michael, and Sabine wimped out (OK, Sabine was Ill, and Andy had to work the next day) at about 10pm. The rest of us went to a really cool little pub/bar with a couple of unsigned bands playing. The music was pretty good, really, especially the second group. Unfortunately I have no idea what either band were called. If they do make it big, I'll never know ...

Got in about 1am (ish), after a short detour. Sarah decided there was a McDonalds just up the road from the hostel.

It was a bank.

Oh, how we laughed.

I think we had the noisiest room in Adelaide. There was some kind of fight outside at about 4am, involving lots of shouting and sounding of car horns. This lasted for about an hour. Everyone said Adelaide was so quiet - they obviously didn't stay here !

Sunday -

Sabine and Sarah were leaving today, so they had to get up and check out at 10am.

I got up as well, and the 3 of us went for a wander around Adelaide, and chilled out over coffee.

Sarah is extremely funny (despite the handicap of being German), and always has something to say.

Sabine is really lovely, I don't think our paths will cross during the rest of my 3 months here, but hopefully I can persuade her to invite me to Switzerland, or come to Manchester

Saw Sabine off at 1pm, and Sarah at 4pm.

I'm writing this at 5pm, so the rest of today is in the future tense - hope that makes sense !

Myself, James and Michael, plus Elrik and Linda are all doing the second part of the tour (Adelaide to Alice Springs). We have to set off at 6:30am tomorrow (Monday) morning, so tonight will be a quiet one.

Probably I'll hang out in the hostel. May sneak a quick beer in later, just to help me sleep, OK !