Southern Tour Day 12: Great Ocean Road

By the numbers

9.76kms

13,019 steps

 

The day started at the crack of dawn as I was wanting to walk to the location of the bus that was picking me up for the tour of the Great Ocean Road. I woke up well before my alarm and decided the time was to move. I ended up at the meet up location within half hour of having to be there. I had bought food with me so I could eat while waiting. Right on time the tour guide turned up and offered me the front seat as I had at first thought I was the only one on the tour. That has hjappened before in the past where I was the only one. Nope, I was the only single person. The guy was from Brazile and had been here for 6 years. The others turned up except for one who was late. At that point I would have left without the person. Apparently the person had gotten lost and was in tears when the driver was talking to her. So he was nice and picked the lady and her husband up at the travellodge. We were around half hour late, but it didn’t really matter that much.. We were off on the road.

 

The plan was to take the back road to the Great Ocean Road where we would pop out around where the 12 Apostles are located and work our way back. I didn’t realise just how far Geelong was actually from the city. It just seemed to take forever to get anywhere near it even though we were not going through the city. Apparently the city grew due to the gold and tons of gold was sent offshore on ships. Our first stop was at a cafe in Winchelsea as it was a fair hike. We did see some bits of the country and some people were shocked with towns being blink and you miss them. The first two stops were at the 12 Apostles and there were several locations to go. The first carpark meant you could actually walk under the road to see one lot and another area nearby was the Gibson steps that you take to head down to the beach. Luckily the weather wasn’t too bad. We could have walked the entire way as the Gibson steps were not far away. After that we headed to several other lookouts like Loch Ard Gorge where there had been a shipwreck with two survivors in the 1800s. Then it was onto Londonm Bridge where you could once walk all the way until part of the arch collapsed in the 1990s.

 

From London Bridge we headed into Port Campbell for lunch. We had put in an order on our way in as that would save on the waiting time as the town is short staffed that it could take too long to get your food order due to the pandemic and lockdowns. The  Fish and Chips were nopt exactly what I was expecting as it was a full on meal. It meant I would just have sandwiches for dinner instead as I don’t want to eat too much and I can survive on sangas. I had a wander around town while I was waiting to get back on the tour bus. It did seem there were boat sinkings in the harbour as at least one boat had sunk from what I read near the jetty and there was also a cliff rescue squad. It was a nice little town regardless of its history. The plan was for us to head back from the Shipwreck Coast to the Surf Coast.

 

The roads themselves were pretty interesting as they were simple one lane roads and due to them being built where they were they had a isdsue with corrosion due to the soft rock, so there were roadworks along the way.We had to stop in Angelsea for the reason someone, noty me needed to use the loo. I went anyway. We made our way to Lorne where we headed up to a look out where it was windy and on the mountain side of the randge it looked like it was wanting to rain. Nearby we went koala hunting and had found 5 of the animals as they were easty to spot once you were looking for them.

 

By the time we left Lorne, it was starting to get late and we had to keep moving. The tour was opposite to what the bus tours did as they visited the 12 apostles last and then made their way back. I did see 9pm as the time they returned. Still it was good they way we did it as the weather had been warm in the morning. We headed towards Geelong where we would turn off before we got near Bells Beach as thats where the surfing comps are.. The last stop on our route was a chocolate factory shop where they made chocolate on site and sold it as well. I had a look around and couldn’t decide on what I  wanted and there were books too, but they were too heavy. The traffic was building up as we got closer to the city and then the driver threw out suggestions of locations to visit and I found out why I couldn’t extend my stay til Sunday. The car racing was on in the city and everything had been booked out. I was happy to be leaving the city though.

 

I will make plans for what I want to do in the morning or before bed to see what happens. I know I will have to pack before an early start on Saturday as I fly home. We got dropped off at the state theratre near Flinders Street station and I needed the loo, so I used my card to swipe myself into the station so I could use the loos and walk out again.  When there is a need you sort out that need. I thought it would be easier to walk back to the hostel as it wasn’t that far away. I did get my sandwich, but being around 7pm there wasn’t much of a selection.