Where were going, we don't need any roads!

Just arrived this evening into Melbourne after my 3 day adventure on the Great Ocean Road. It was an interesting tour with 24 people. I really had no idea what to expect with a lot of it and enjoyed all the fun surprises. Leaving Adelaide we seemed to drive, stop for toilets, and drive for a good 6 to 7 hours. One quick stop was to look at white kangaroos. Sweet! Once we hit our first stop, I was anxious to get moving. It was Mount Hollow in Grampian National Park. I took off and climbed the mountain in no time. It turns out, I was supposed to wait to go up with the group. Woops!!!! Got in a little trouble with that one. Still a gorgeous view. Later on we did some driving through to Mackenzie Falls, then to Reed's Lookout and then settled for the night at Hall's Gap.

Day 2, Thursday was by far the best day. Again, we headed up another mountain lookout "The Pinnacle". This time I waited for the group, and tried to stay in the middle of the pack. Tried that is. I don't think I've mentioned yet, but it's been freezing cold (15 C and windy). I had my toque along for the ride at it was a blessing as the top of the Pinnacle was very cold, and it started rainy pretty good on the way down. A few of us took bails, including myself. Ouch!

The next part of the day was the best as we got to "The Great Ocean Road". In the words of Tony the Tiger, it was "GREEAAAT!!!!". My favourite place was at Gibson's Steps. A location where a fisherman cut steps out the limestones a 100 years ago to allow for beach access. Words can't really describe this part of the trip. It was just that good! Later that night we stayed in a town called Princetown. Population 10. But in true Aussie style, they did have a pub. The BBQ consisted of 3 mysterious meets. Yum! Then off to the 12 Apostles to view the sunset, that never occured.

Today, Friday, we started out by heading to Otway Fly. Another tree top walk that was similar to the one JP, Laura and I did in Walpole in December at the Valley of the Giants. The Otway one was not as good. The forest did remind me a lot of home as it was a cool temperate rain forests. It brought tears to my eyes. But that might have been because I was FREEZING cold! Lunch was at Apollo Bay, a nice beach town. There I was able to check the internet to find out Marty Havlat was injured again. The hawks should have traded him. After that was Part 2 of the Great Ocean Road. Not quite as stunning as the Limestone cliffs of the previous day, but still quite nice. On the way we stopped to check out some wild koalas. They were actually moving! Which is a rare site in the wild. We then stopped in at a famous surf beach, Bell's Beach. Then on to Torquay!!!! No, not the elementary school, but the surf town. Australians pronounce it Tor-kee, but I stuck with my roots, Tor-Kay. There we "shopped" for an hour at the Surf Outlet store. That part was very boring.

Finally we chugged along through the traffic in Geelong and hit the mayhem that is Melbourne at about 6:30 pm. I'm staying in a backpackers in St. Kilda, which is 20 minutes by tram to the southeast of the city. I like the backpackers so far. It's a little messy, but there are heaps of cute girls, and cheap beers. That's a winning combination.

Check out the uploaded pics:
Grampian Mountains
Great Ocean Road

Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. I'll just wing it!