Week 68 - Great Ocean Road, Melbourne, Wollongong (Australia)

John, being the super generous person he is, had kindly offered to take us to the Wicked Campervan depot in Kensington to pick up our van and our home for the next 2 nights. Fingers crossed we wouldn’t end up with a van with some girly design painted on it, a Captain Caveman van emerged from the garage (Wicked vans are iconic, the older cheaper vans are all pretty scruffy and tired but they are all painted with individual designs and usually have rude slogans slapped across the back, they’re the ultimate backpacker van). We loaded our bags and headed off out of Melbourne on route to Geelong, a seaside town to the south. It was an error really and we should have bypassed the town since we wanted more coastal driving than traffic lights and dual carriageways but it did mean we could stop at Coles and stock up on food for the next couple of days. Out of Geelong, our next stop was at Bells Beach, just west of Torquay, a major surf town and home to a number of the big surf brands. The beach itself is ridiculously famous for it’s surf and is pretty enough but no where near as spectacular as those further along the coast. We parked up in a bay with a view out over the water and ate lunch in the van. 

Coastal view from the Great Ocean Road.

We spent the rest of the afternoon driving along the Great Ocean Road stopping at various scenic viewpoints, the Split Point Lighthouse and a memorial arch to the thousands of ex-servicemen who worked to build the road, a project to give them employment when they returned from WW1. Our last stop before we set up camp was at Kennett River, a tiny hamlet where within 100 metres of the main road you can find wild koalas and brightly coloured rosellas (red and blue parrots). We stopped by an information office to get advice on the best place to camp and started getting a bit worried when the super unhelpful and miserable woman told us lots of places we couldn’t go because they were full with no real help on where we could go. 

Split Point lighthouse, Great Ocean Road.

Our Captain Caveman van on the Great Ocean Road.

We ended up driving through the Otway National Park to the other side of Apollo Bay where we found a great free campsite on the banks of the Aire River. We’d been put off when we read there were 50 pitches but when we arrived they were so spread out on an open grassy area that it didn’t feel busy at all. Straight away the family in the caravan next to us came over to say hello and another couple who wanted a photo of our van. We were recommended to walk the 30 minutes along a sandy track to the beach and decided to check it out before sunset. 5 minutes in and a car pulled up behind us and told us to jump in, the guy from the tent next to us had come to pick us up to shorten the walk and dropped us off 5 minutes from the beach. When we got there, other than 3 surfers, we had the beach to ourselves, it was beautiful, great big sand dunes and towering cliffs. 

View of the Aire River campsite from the track to the beach.

The next day we were up relatively early with the sqwarks of a huge flock of cockateels who were nesting in the trees nearby. We packed up camp and crossed the wooden bridge to head back to the Great Ocean Road. This was the day we’d really been looking forward to. We’d given ourselves 8 hours until we wanted to be at the next camp, 185km away. A few scenic viewpoints and short walks to the top of cliffs and we pulled up at the car park to Wreck Beach. When we arrived we were the only people there and after descending the hundreds of steps to the beach, we wove between rock pools to the first of the two anchors that remain from shipwrecks. We decided to skip the second anchor and headed back to the van. 

View from the Gables Lookout, Great Ocean Road.

Anchor from a ship wreck on Wreck Beach, Great Ocean Road.

The next stop was at Gibson Steps, a view point that offered us our first glimpse of the famous 12 Apostles. Next, we pulled up at the Apostles and followed the boardwalk around the cliff edge to marvel at the rock formations, giant limestone karsts similar to those in Thailand. Sadly erosion has taken it’s toll and there are no longer 12 towers, only 8, but nether the less we were very impressed. A little further along the coast we came to another area with walks to various viewpoints where we found a bench for a picnic lunch. We’d heard there was a fairy penguin colony nearby and managed to spot a lone penguin way off in the distance. Next stop was at London Bridge, an huge rock archway, followed by a Grotto, a small open roofed cave where the water crashes in. One final stop at the Bay of Islands (surprisingly a bay with lots of islands in) and we had about 60km left to get to Warnambool, a big town that marked the end of our Great Ocean Road adventure. Once in town we stopped at the tourist office to ask about campsites and ended up in a little town a short way inland called Koroit. Although not as scenic as the other sites we’ve been at, it had hot showers and free laundry, the fattest cats you’ve ever seen and really friendly people staying there. After watching a game of cricket in the field next door, we ended up sitting with a group of older people, listening to a guy play organ and chatting, very random.

The 12 Apostles, Great Ocean Road.

The Grotto, Great Ocean Road.

Another early start and we drove the short distance to the Tower Hill National Park, a small park centred on a lake and an extinct volcano crater. We parked up and took the path to the peak, a quick 20 minute trail that took us to a great view point over the lake past grazing emus, a wallaby and a couple of big fat blue tongued lizards. Next, we took the path ‘Journey to the last Volcano’ and within 100 metres of the car park found a koala overhanging the track. The trail took us to the rim of the volcano crater before curving back to the visitor centre. Back in the van it was time to head back to Melbourne. We took an inland route that was much faster than the Great Ocean Road. With a stop in Winchelsea by the river for another picnic lunch, we were back in Melbourne by 2:30pm. 

View of the lake, Tower Hill National Park.

After dropping off the van we walked to the train station and headed into town, to the Grace Darling Hotel in Fitzroy where we had arranged to meet Jase, a guy we’d met in Guatemala and our host for the next two nights. Shortly after we arrived Brendon turned up for a drink, followed by John. My friend Tash and her husband Dylan and new born baby boy then rocked up looking like the picture of a healthy and happy new family. I had a cuddle before he started getting too irritated with the heat and Tash and Dylan took him off home. An hour or so later Jase arrived from work. Happy hour finished at 7pm and we decided it was time to head back to Jase’s to dump our bags and grab some food, saying goodbye to Brendon and John. 

Rhys with Brendon and John at the Grace Darling Hotel, Melbourne.

We brought some bargain sausages, a case of beer and some random cheap wine from a random cheap wine shop and Jase fired up the BBQ. If John’s house was a perfect picket fence family home, Jase’s is the ultimate bachelor pad, spacious, modern and within a stones throw of a hundred super trendy shops, bars and coffee shops. After dinner and meeting one of Jase’s housemates, Cam, we headed out to the Black Cat, a cute little bar just around the corner and one of Jase’s favourite hangouts. Fitzroy is the hipster spot of Melbourne, a bit like Shoreditch in East London but it’s less pretentious, even me and Rhys didn’t feel out of place despite being thoroughly unhipster. Me and Rhys sat and chatted with randoms in the corner while Jase danced his way around the bar. The night ended with a kebab as all good nights should end.

Jase had his tour guide hat on when we woke and after cooking up a storm for breakfast he packed us in the car and took us around the corner to the coffee shop where Cam works for some of the best coffee we’ve had in a very long time. Next we went for a walk around the Melbourne museum as we wanted to check out the Exhibition centre building and the gardens. Back in the car Jase drove us into the city for a drink at the Rooftop Bar, one of his favourite bars with views out across the city. The building the bar was in was full of different cafes and bars spread over all the floors, if we’d had more time in Melbourne we would have loved to go back to check out some of the other places. Next we walked down to the river as we were keen to have a drink at the bar that wraps around the base of one of the foot bridges. Afterwards, we wandered back to the car and Jase drove us out to Williamstown for fish and chips in the harbour with panoramic views of the Melbourne skyline off in the distance. We clambered onto a canon, took in the view, fed some seagulls and then headed back to drop off the car. 

Rhys and Jase, Williamstown, Melbourne.

Rhys on one of the canons in WIlliamstown, Melbourne.

After chilling at the house and meeting Jase’s other flatmate, John, we wandered out to a bar called Bimbo’s for cheap $4 pizzas. Although we’d decided to have a quiet night as we were flying to Sydney early the following day, we ended up doing a min pub crawl stopping at a Little Creatures Brewery and ending at The Napier, a proper British old man pub. Jase’s housemate and his girlfriend came to meet us and by the time we got back to the flat (via a pile of hard rubbish that provided a wonderful outfit for Rhys of women’s PJ’s and a dirty old jacket and a pair of jeans and a coat for Jase) it was getting late.

Waking up the next morning was difficult. We had a 9am flight and Jase drove us to the airport. We said our goodbyes, wishing we had longer to explore Fitzroy and hangout with Jase (he is pretty awesome). Check-in was straightforward and the flight was on time. We arrived in Sydney just after 10:30am having flown in past the harbour bridge and the opera house. Once we’d picked up our bags we jumped straight on a train an hour south to Wollongong, a beach town where Rhys’s uncle lives and where Rhys lived with Al, (the cousin now in Adelaide) for a couple of months 5 years ago. Across from the station is a pub called the North Gong and we propped ourselves up to wait for Mel, a friend Rhys met last time he was there and I know from London.

Mel arrived with her boyfriend Corey in tow, followed shortly by Ben and Ash, another couple who spent time in London and Pip, yet another person from Wollongong who set up camp in London. It turned into a great night, lots of drinks, a random bikini contest (and no, Rhys didn’t enter, it was being taken very seriously) and lots of time to catch up and hear about what everyone has been up to since they left London. After we left the North Gong we dropped our luggage back at Mel and Corey’s and walked over to the Master Builders. Now, they have these ‘clubs’ all over Australia and i’ve never seen anything like it. Think a bingo hall crossed with a casino crossed with a betting shop, it has cheap drinks and cheap food with a couple of different restaurants and it’s got people in at all times of the day. We put a couple of dollars in the pokies (fruit machines that require a lot less thought) and all but Rhys came out up. After a couple of bottles of bubbles we wandered home past yet another kebab shop to play with the crazy kitten, Marley over a night cap (my first Bundaberg experience).

Sunday afternoon in the North Gong with Corey, Mel, Pip, Ash and Ben, Wollongong.

Corey struggled in to work the next day while Mel took a sneaky day off. After a egg and bacon muffin we arranged to be picked up by Rhys’s Uncle Dave. As it was my first trip to Wollongong, Dave and Nettie decided to take us down to the beach. I was very impressed, just past the harbour, at one end of the North beach there’s a free salt water swimming pool and next to that there’s a rock pool, a kind of natural pool cut in to the rocks and filled by the sea, big enough to swim in. The rock pool was too tempting to miss so we jumped in to freshen up before continuing our walk along the beach, an arch of golden sand bordered on the land side by a grassy area, Stuart Park. We watched a couple of skydivers land and walked back to the car via the Beach Pavillion. 

Back at the house we stopped for a beer, one of Nettie’s dad’s home brews and dropped off Lauren before heading back out to Stanwell Tops lookout. We grabbed an ice cream and watched the paragliders and hang gliders taking off while soaking in the view of the coastline and admiring the Sea Cliff Bridge. The bridge appears in hundreds of car adverts and is a really scenic stretch of road, built to move the road away from the cliff face to avoid damage by landslides. On the way home we stopped off at the Bowls club. Dave and Nettie spend a lot of time bowling and we were keen to give it a try. Bowling is a really popular sport here with all age groups, they have the weather so where as we’d go tenpin bowling they go to the Bowls clubs. We had a blast, with a bit of guidance we were both doing ok and we had a pairs game, Rhys was far more consistent but I managed some flukes and me and Dave came out on top. While we were out, Lauren had rustled up a gourmet fish cake dinner and when we got back the table was set. The night ended with us all sitting around playing with Nettie’s gadget to improve circulation which in essence just electrocutes you, laughing as you turned up the strength and your feet and fingers started twitching, I think Dave particularly enjoyed it...

Rhys and Nettie watching Dave bowl at their local club, Wollongong.

We slept in the next day, enjoying having a comfy bed and a quiet room. After breakfast Nettie gave us a lift to the train station and we headed back in to Sydney. Our friend Simone had agreed to put us up for the next week and we followed her instructions to her flat in Bondi Junction, just a short walk from the world famous beach. Bondi Junction itself is a really nice area, a great highstreet with all the shops you could ever want and good transport links. Simone had left her keys out for us so we let ourselves in and flopped. That evening we ate dinner, watched a film and caught up having not seen Simone since our night out in Cancun, Mexico.