The Great Ocean Road

A cave on the beach in Torquay.

The headlands of the Great Ocean Road.

One of many of the surfer beaches along the coast.

Castle Rock

Gibson's Steps

Saturday, March 12^th

I started out on my three day road trip at nine and drove through the heart of Melbourne to get to the west side of Phillip Bay, which took about an hour. The weather was overcast and the temperature was low 20's. I put the bike in the car and away we went.

My first stop was Torquay, on the coast, which is the beginning of the Great Ocean Road. I stopped there for a rest and explored the beach and the rock cliffs. After that I drove along the coast through the towns of Angelsea, Lorne, Wye River (where they had a big bush fire at Christmas time), and Apollo Bay. The traffic was fine, but the towns were all really tourist and busy. It became apparent that getting a room for the night would probably be a problem as all the motels had no availability. This is the three day Labour Day weekend here in Australia.

The road was constructed between 1919 and 1932, after the war as a make work project for returning soldiers from the first world war. It is listed as an Australian National Heritage and is 243 kilometres long. It is rated as one of the world's great ocean roads, a long side trips like the Cabot Trail and US coastal highway along the west coast and Big Sur.

The road itself followed the coast closely and was full of twists, turns and switchbacks as it wove its way up, around and over the highlands. All the way I drove through rainforest, alongside surfer beaches and by cattle or sheep farms.

But then the road went inland along the north boundary of the Great Otway National Park. Again the clouds were very low and it was misting, so that added an eiry air to the trip. At Princeton the road gets back to the coast and enters the Port Campbell National Park and there are several scenic viewing spots of the rock formations along the coast, the most famous being the Twelve Apostles. These are large blocks that have resisted the erosive qualities of the waves, sun and wind. However, there are now only five or six as the rest have collapsed. I was there late afternoon and the sun was setting behind them, so my pictures are pretty glarey.

After leaving there I decided to make a concerted effort to find a place to stay. I drove to Port Campbell, a really nice town, but everything was full, including the hostel. So I drove further west to Peterborough, and still no luck. So I decided to get off the Ocean Road and head inland to get away from the tourists. Now it was really dark and I was a bit nervous about animals on the road. In Timboon I found a hotel but it was grotty and inside the bar and restaurant I couldn't find a reception desk, so I left. I drove further west to Warrnambool where I found motel that had one room left, but they wanted $175 for a dingy room. So I left again and drove even further west.

I finally got to Portland at ten and drove downtown where I found the Quality Inn. Taking a chance I went and tried the door but it was locked. A woman answered when I knocked and luckily she had a room. The name tag on her jacket told me her name was Megan, so we had a chat about that. The hotel is old but has character. I was on the second floor in a spacious, clean room; really nice. There was a pub on the main floor so I went down and had a beer at the bar, watched and listened to the locals and watched some Aussie Rules Football on the TVs. I went up to bed about 11:30. A long day today with a total of 504 kms and numerous stops.