Autralian Oddysey: The Great Ocean Road

TommyboyTommyboy Registered Users Posts: 590 Major grins
edited October 8, 2006 in Journeys
Our travel agent strongly recommended driving from Melbourne to Adelaide along Australia's Great Ocean Road. As it was their winter last July, we didn't have the greatest weather, but it was beautiful nonetheless.

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This reminder came in handy. Driving on the right proved to be more of a challenge than I thought. I spoke to an American cab driver working in Australia and he said that it took him about six months to get used to it.

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We stopped and had a stroll around the Split Point Lighthouse.

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Even in the winter, their coastline was beautiful, reminding me a bit of central California's coast.

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Aussie paramedics drive around in these cool Mercedes Benz vans. Note the roundabout sign behind the van. They don't really have intersections. . . . Just an endless series of roundabouts. Probably have far fewer collisions, too.

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Aussie meat pie, a Shepherd's Pie to be exact. Ate not a few of these little buggers along the way. Mmm, mmm, good.

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The so-called Twelve Apostles, an impressive limestone display along Australia's southern coast. Five have worn away and fallen into the ocean, leaving seven remaining; nonethless, the name has stuck.

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My bride sunggling up to the fire in a bakery in Koroit, a small Irish town where we stopped for a bit of "breky" (breakfast).

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I read a travel book on Australia before we left. The author claimed that Aussies were mad for giant fiberglass animals built into restaurants and other roadside attractions. As a result, I wasn't too suprised when we drove past this 40-foot tall lobster.

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I'm telling you, driving on the right is no mean feat.

That's it for the Great Ocean Road. It was a beautiful journey and not a great deal unlike California's Highway 1, though a bit more deserted, the town's more charming, and the people, well, delightful.

If you're interested, the rest of the pictures are here.

Thanks for reading. C & C welcome. Next Stop: Adelaide!
"Press the shutter when you are sure of success." —Kim Jong-il

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Comments

  • devbobodevbobo Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 4,339 SmugMug Employee
    edited October 8, 2006
    Hey Tom,

    Nice thread thumb.gif

    Good to see you are having a great time Downunder, it's a shame that you didn't have good weather on the Great Ocean Road, but it can be quite unpredictable.

    Cheers,

    David
    David Parry
    SmugMug API Developer
    My Photos
  • ed_hed_h Registered Users Posts: 191 Major grins
    edited October 8, 2006
    Its good to see that you got to Perth, most people seem to give it a miss as its just a bit to far.
    As an American who has been here since the 60's (from HI) The hardest part about driving for the first few years was remembering which side of the car to get into, probably why i took up bike ridingclap.gif
    Ed
    A dog is for life, not just Christmas
    http://www.dogshome.org.au/
  • TommyboyTommyboy Registered Users Posts: 590 Major grins
    edited October 8, 2006
    ed_h wrote:
    Its good to see that you got to Perth, most people seem to give it a miss as its just a bit to far.
    As an American who has been here since the 60's (from HI) The hardest part about driving for the first few years was remembering which side of the car to get into, probably why i took up bike ridingclap.gif
    Ed

    My mother, who passed away a year ago, was from Perth, Fremantle to be precise. We got a chance to see her sisters and meet lots of her friends, nephews, neices, etc. It was pretty cool.

    Perth and Fremantle were really our favorite places of the trip. I envy you for living there.

    I think I got in on the wrong side of the car at least once a day while we had the car!
    "Press the shutter when you are sure of success." —Kim Jong-il

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