We’re leaving on a jet plane…….

We arrived in Melbourne after completing the Great Ocean Road on the evening of the 19th which also was the eve of my 29th birthday. After ringing around numerous hostels and not having any luck as they were beginning to fill for Christmas we were able to secure a room in a small place which neither of us warmed to but looking back now Chris moreso than me voiced his displeasure!

After a relaxed breakfast in a little cafe, the morning of my birthday was spent doing a couple of chores, such as taking back our hire car, paying my speeding fine (yep sadly Chris was telling the truth!) and food shopping as we were going to have a picnic in the botannical gardens.

We ambled through the botannical gardens and found a perfect little spot over looking the lake (it is possible to view the impressive city skyline from the gardens but on this ocassion we looked back at a smoggy skyline (think Middlesborough!) due to forrest fires raging in surrounding Victoria). I sat there doing very little (it was my birthday after all!) as Chris set out the rug (well beach towels) and food. I opened my cards and then popped open the Champagne (well bubbly stuff!). It was at this point that Chris produced a fabulous costume ring which a friend of his in Sydney had made and I had admired only a few weeks earlier and took me completly by surprise and asked me to marry him! Well after asking him if he was serious a few times I said yes! I later asked if my response was ever in doubt only for Chris to say that he had a hunch I would say yes!

Chris then told me that I had been to eager to open the fizzy stuff as he had planned to open it afterwards – that about sums me up me thinks!

Anyway the afternoon was then spent shopping for the real ring. After telling Chris I was in no rush to buy a ring and I would much rather we took our time to find the one we both liked than simply rush and buy it in the first shop we found it in the second shop we came to (which I guess was much to Chris’ relief as I’m not sure he like shopping with me all that much!).

We then checked into a five star hotel (with our backpacks!) – I don’t think I have ever stayed in a five star hotel before! There have been lots of Travell Inns and Comfort Breaks but not many five star hotels! Our suite – let me just type that again – Our suite was fab and I could have stayed in the whirlpool bath all night or simply lounged around in my robe (ha ha!) and been a very happy girl (not much opportunity for a bath when staying in hostels and believe me if there is and opportunity you dont usually want to take it unless armed with a 5 litre botle of bleach and a scrubbing brush!). Then Chris whisked me to Bluestone restaurant where we were greeted with a glass of Champagne each and had the most delicious three course meal, a couple of bottles of wine and topped with coffee. It was really the best day ever!

After completing our 6 day outback road trip, we took a day (16th December) to chill out and relax in the quiet city of Adelaide (mullet) capital of South Australia. Adelaide is a relaxed place, almost with a feel of Carlisle about it (i.e. the locals seem to be lagging by about 15 years in the fashion stakes, hence the proliferation of Mullets! Burnsy, you would like it here!), and we spent the day wandering aimlessly around the city. We took in the rehersal for that evenings Carols in the Park concert, and also sneaked into the Adelaide Oval Cricket Ground, to watch a few overs of the state game versus Western Australia (the steward clearly felt sorry for us POMs having watched England capitulate in such spectacular fashion at the same ground the previous week!).

The next morning (17th December) we set out early to pick up our hire car, and head out towards the small seaside town of Glenelg. We took a stroll along the beach and pier, before heading to the Rodney Fox Shark Museum. Rodney Fox is an (un)lucky guy who was mauled by a great white off South Australia about 20 years ago, and lived to tell the story, since then he has dedicated his life to researching and promoting the conservation of sharks. Despite scaring ourselves about the prospect of diving again when we head up the East Coast in January, we enjoyed the exhibits, and learned that during the filming of Jaws, they got a midget diver, in midget scuba gear, into a midget shark cage to film the underwater shots, hence making the shark look much bigger, ah, to be a midget, lucky little fella!

After leaving Glenelg, we set out for the Grampian National Park, and our first overnight stop of the trip before starting the ocean road proper the following day. As with most journeys in Oz, what looks like a short trip on the map soon turns into a marathon session along the quiet, straight roads, the sort of conditions conducive to speeding, that is if your name’s Charlotte! Clocked at a cool 119kmph we fought the law (not literally, dont worry Mum!) and the law won, resulting in a speeding ticket, still it makes an original souvenir from our trip!

We checked into our hostel late on in the National Park, and we struck gold, this YHA place was like a luxury hotel retreat, and all for $30 per night (about 12 of her majesty’s quid!). We ate outside that evening, surrounded by Kangeroos, Possums, and Enchindas (hedgehogs on steroids!), with litterally hundreds of Cockatus and Parrots flying overhead, fantastic!. The next morning we got up early and went for a walk in the national park, getting to the top of a nearby peak for sunrise. On our return to the hostel and a quick spot of breakie, we jumped back into the car for the eagerly anticipated GOR!

The Great Ocean road is loosly divided into 3 sections, in the order we were tackling it, we would experience the Shipwreck coast first, followed by the I Can’t remember coast and finally the Surf Coast. The Shipwreck coast is surprisingly named after the amount of ships that were taken off this stretch during the settlement of Victoria in the Gold Rush days. Here there are loads of rocky outcrops abandoned in the sea as the cliffs have retreated under the erosive powers of the ocean. The most famous of such outcrops is the 12 Apostels (think big marsden rocks!), although there are about half a dozen which are equally impressive, including ‘London Bridge’, the Arch, Loch Ard Gorge, and various blowholes.

We headed for our nights digs in the Otway national park, an area of temperate rainforest right next to the ocean, and the highlight of the ‘I cant remember’ coast. We went for an early evening stroll to chase some Kangeroos and became mystified as to why it sounded like there were pigs hanging out in the tree tops. We asked some locals what the noises were and they told us that this was Koala mating season, and the noises were actually the Koalas getting down to business. Sure enough, when we looked hard enough we manged to spot several wild Koala bears sitting around in the tree tops, one fella even had a wander down to the ground to stretch his legs and take up a position in the neighbouring tree, pretty cool!

The following morning a quick trip to a lighthouse on the Southern headland and we headed out for the final, and in our view the most scenic stretch of the drive, along the surf coast. This is how I had imagined the whole drive to be, with the road almost cut into the cliffs, following the contours of the Ocean. We stopped off for breakfast and lunch at small bays along the way (Apollo Bar, Lorne, Aireys Inlet) before getting to Bells Beach, a surfing mecca and the location for the final scenes of Point Break (the surfing film!). On the way there we heard on the radio that a surfer had been bitten the previous evening by a whaler shark, 100m off Bells Beach, and had been fortunate to survive, therefore perhaps it was not surprising that there was no one surfing the break when we visited. Still, I couldn’t resist the temptation to dip my toes in the water, and get the prize photo, hard as nails me like!

After unsucessfully shopping for a bargain at the surf outlet shops in Torquay, we headed up to Melbourne in the early evening, tired from the previous 10 days wanderings and beginning to really look forward to Christmas, still there was one more important thing to do in Melbourne on the 20th December, and that was to celebrate Charlotte’s Birthday, the most memorable day of our trip without doubt!

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