melbourne: great ocean road trip

very early on wednesday morning we set off on our great ocean road trip. i was pretty excited about it.

we'd planned the trip over two days and included a nights stay at cape otway at the lighthouse keeper's house. so we set off. first up was bells beach, a popular place for surfers so i'm told. it was sunny but pretty fresh still so we were layered up and ready for all weathers. then we went onto anglesea where we did some kangaroo spotting by the golf course. 

we carried on the road and stopped in aireys inlet for coffee and, some very yummy, scones. following our little pit stop we decided to check out the lighthouse and go for a little walk. as we walked up to the lighthouse i remarked to jon and jamie that there was a tv programme set in australia set in a lighthouse called round the twist and asked if they remembered it. jamie did but jon, just a tad older, didn't know it. when we reached the lighthouse i read the sign giving some of the history of the building and discovered that it was in fact THE ROUND THE TWIST LIGHTHOUSE! blimey.

back in the car we sped along the coast and stopped at the great ocean road memorial arch.

we went along to lorne, which was crazy busy - packed with holiday makers, and had a quick browse of the shops. we went to apollo bay for lunch which was again full of people all enjoying the summer sun. we had a deadline to get to the lighthouse by 4.30 so we could get the keys for the cottage, so we needed to make our way to cape otway. but not before stopping at maits rest which was a lovely walk in a cold climate rainforest in cape otway national park. particularly stunning are the mountain ash trees which are so tall i had to tilt my head right back to look at them thus nearly falling backwards! i think that the mountain ash trees might be the tallest trees in the world although you might just want to double check that. while we were in the forest we saw the rare black carnivorous snails! apparently they prefer worms to humans but that didn't stop us making lots of jokes about the snails slowing dragging us back to their lairs. then we made our way to our home for the night, the lighthouse keeper's cottage. the lighthouse was really stunning. 

we went up to the top of the lighthouse but it was so windy we had to take our hats and sunglasses off and i didn't dare take my camera out to take any photographs! we made sausages for dinner, had a good game of scrabble (jo won) and watched sunset at the lighthouse plus saw it in the dark when it was all lit up. 

thoroughly rested and relaxed the next day we got on with the itinerary and made our way to the stunning 12 apostles. this is certainly an image that i'll never forget. 

next up were muttonbird island, loch ard and a stop in, a very bustling, port campbell for coffee. on then to see london bridge and the grotto, which was stunning and i can see why it is called the grotto!

we popped along to peterborough (no not that one!) and to the bay of martyrs and our final stop was bay of islands which we had all to ourselves and everyone got busy taking photographs to capture the beautiful scenery.

okay, i took a photograph of the beach too!

our next stop was timboon for a late lunch and then home! a jam packed couple of days. as we returned back to the city at 8pm the temperature read as 31 degrees. melbourne you little hottie!