The journey to Melbourne went relatively smoothly: our alarm went off at the hideously early time of 4:45am for our 6:40am flight and before we knew it we had touched down at the airport. Luckily we had managed to score a good deal with our car hire through a friend of Dave's who works at Avis: not only did we not have to pay the discriminatory extra $27 a day for being under 25, we were also given an upgrade - a bad boy Holden Cruze with more gadgets than you can shake a stick at. The road trip began...
Our first stop was Geelong for some breakfast, the first large town on the way to the Great Ocean Road. We had underestimated the power of Good Friday though - everything was shut and the whole town was dead. It also started pouring with rain just as we parked the car...not a good sign! Breakfast was a quick croissant from the only place that was open and then we were back on the road.
The Great Ocean Road actually starts in Torquay so we decided this would be our next destination. Torquay is also the surf capital of Australia and when we arrived, we discovered that the Rip Curl World Surf Championships were being held over the Easter weekend at Bells Beach and apparently all sorts of surf heroes like Kelly Slater were hanging around the town...we didn't see anyone famous, not that I would be able to spot a famous surfer even if my life depended on it...Torquay is a typical beachside town, lots of surf shops and cafes and not a lot else. We did find a gorgeous little hippy art gallery/cafe called Peace Kitchen where we had a delicious "vego" lunch (i.e. vegetarian - Australians shorten all their words with an "o" which is an incredibly annoying habit) surrounded by Avatar-style artwork.
After lunch we drove to Bells Beach to watch some surfing...although the beach was beautiful, it was not worth the $117 parking fine we landed ourselves with. In typical Owen-family style, Dave is writing a letter of complaint...!
Time was ticking and we needed to get to the hostel in Apollo Bay that we had booked ourselves into for the night. We stopped a few times to take photos as the scenery was breathtaking - I can understand why it's meant to be one of the most beautiful drives in the world.
The hostel was comfortable and the best part: there were two cute and friendly little cats there, making it quite a homely place to stay.
We spent a little time settling ourselves in and then walked to Apollo Bay to have a wander round, a drink and some dinner.
With a tummy full of food and red wine, and having been up since 4:45am, bed was beckoning...
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