Great Ocean Road

Over Christmas, we took a road trip to the Great Ocean Road and The Grampians.  The GOR, along the coast, west of Melbourne, winds around the countryside and ocean, providing breathtaking views, fantastic surf beaches and natural wonders.  I took the journey along GOR nearly 11 years ago with 14 other fellow students.  It was fun to go back to see how it had changed.  The most notable changes were that it was more "built-up" for tourists (elaborate tourist centres, car parks, etc.) and erosion (there are currently eight stacks left of The Twelve Apostles).

Like my trip so many years ago, we opted for camping along the GOR.  We took nearly one week along the GOR, in order to allow ample time for nearby hiking and exploration.

Jan Juc Beach

Lifeguarding in Australia is a well-respected profession.  They even hold lifeguarding skills competitions here in Oz.  There wasn't a ton of action going on at Jan Juc this particular morning.  I was hoping to catch a glimpse of lifesaving drills, as I had in the past at Bondi Beach in Sydney.

Wiki wiki!

Along the shores of Bells Beach.  From Justin, a smile!  Finally!

Relaxing at our campsite in Lorne

The view while relaxing

First stop at Great Otway National Park: Koala safari!  They are so cute, I can't even stand it!  Koalas are definitely my favourite Aussie animal.

We probably spotted around forty koalas.  Thankfully, we did not see any drop bears. ((Wink Wink)).

Summer hiking attire
Don't assume that just because I live in Australia, it's sunny and warm all the time.  Coastal Victoria has quite a maritime climate, save for having a month or so of (sometimes extreme) hotness.

It's so windy atop this cliff!

One more shot... AWWWWW!!!

Mait's Rest Rainforest
Justin initially thought from hearing the name that this place was called "Mate's Rest."
He's quite acclimated to the culture, I reckon.  Hee hee hee!

Big ole trees

The Twelve Apostles

The water really is that blue and so crystal clear.

Here's a little lagoon-like beach near The Twelve Apostles.

Loch Ard Gorge, according to Justin.
I'm really, really terrible at telling you names of places.  I forget stuff like that nearly immediately.  But, I could probably give you a detailed description of what I ate that day and some of the silly things I saw tourists do.

The water was colder than it looked.

Post-brekkie ritual of applying sunscreen

I believe this is London Arch...
One thing I am sure of though is that the viewing platform that we were on also held two bogans (look it up) that were enjoying these pre-made, strange Jack Daniels cola-whiskey beverages in cans complete with stubby holders (koozies).

The Grotto