ON THE ROAD AGAIN OFF TO THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD

T

TheMemorial Arch and Diggers Statue



Stunning coastal views



Evolution of the surf board design

TORQUAY TO APOLLO BAY

Monday 13^th February  It was very sad saying goodbye to our wonderful friends that have given up their driveway so that we could park our caravan there. The two months we’ve been based there have just flown and we’ve had lots of laughs and fun along the way with them.  We’re going to miss them all so much, but it’s time for us to be off on our travels once more.

We left at 10am to avoid the rush hour traffic to Sydney.  We intended to free camp overnight at Gundagai with an estimated travel time of 7 hours including stops.  We got to Gundagai about 4pm and decided to drive further on to lessen the travel time the following day.  We free camped just before Albury and were the only caravan at that spot that night. It was very quiet and dark.

Tuesday 14^th February  We left our overnight stop at 8am.  Our destination was Anglesea.  We drove through Goulburn and reached the Victorian border at Wodonga at 1pm, then drove around the outskirts of Melbourne on the freeways and ring roads and came into Anglesea at 3pm.  It had been 2 very long days of driving doing over 1,000 kilometres and we were both very tired.  We set up quickly and went for a walk along the beach.  We stayed at Anglesea Beachfront Caravan Park.  It’s a huge family park with gym, swimming pool, movie room, camp kitchen and is right by the beach.  We were at the back in “D” section  (dog section).  It was actually pretty good and very quiet and we met some lovely people there also travelling with their dogs. This is the biggest caravan park we’ve stayed at yet.

Wednesday 15^th February  We drove 20 minutes back along the coastline to Torquay the official start of  The Great Ocean Road.  It’s a lively tourist town full of cafes and restaurants.  We found a newly opened beachfront café and had a lovely lunch watching the ocean.  We stopped at Bell’s Beach where the surfing culture began.  It is internationally recognised as the surfing capital and hosts the Rip Curl Pro Competition each year.  It’s the birth place of surfing brands Rip Curl, Quicksilver, Globe and Billabong.  The car park was full of camper vans and surfers and had stunning beach views down the hill.  We forgot to take the camera with us (how stupid) so we had to come back another day to visit the Surf Museum and take photos of Bells Beach (it’s like going to Sydney and having to visit Bondi Beach).

Anglesea is quite a small town with a fairly new boardwalk around the beach estuary and into town.  There are some beautiful coastal walks through the back of the caravan park.  The town is famous for it’s plant species - wildflowers and orchids and a quarter of Victoria’s plants grow there.  There are at least 100 varieties of orchids.  They host the annual spring Wildflower Show.  Amongst the peace of the park you can hear a range of birds chirping away happily.

Thursday 16^th February We were keen to drive further along the Airey’s Inlet, Lorne and Apollo Bay.  It was a 30 minute drive from Anglesea to Aireys Inlet to see the 34 metre high Split Point Lighthouse that featured in the tv series “Round The Twist” that we used to love watching with the kids when they were younger.  It’s affectionately known as “The White Lady”.  There’s the usual tearoom and holiday cottages and coastal walks around the lighthouse. You can also book tours to look inside. 

Great Ocean Roadand planned to drive to

From Airey’s Inlet we drove through the winding roads up and down the coastline passing through the Memorial Arch and Diggers Sculpture, built by returned World War 1 soldiers as a memorial to their fallen mates. Around each bend there were more and more magnificent mediterranean–like views of crystal clear turquoise water and rock faces. There are lots of turnout bays along the way to stop and take photos and admire the view.  You’re also supposed to pull in there if you’re holding up the traffic behind you.  It took us another 45 minutes to come into Lorne.

Lorne is a beautiful big beach town with a backdrop to the Great Otway National Park.  We drove to the end of the town and parked by the pier and busy fisherman’s coop and restaurants.  We walked along the pier that stretches about 200 metres.  It was full of fishermen and their equipment.   Looking over the pier the water is transparent and aqua and looking back to the town you can see The Grand Hotel still quite majestically standing proud on the corner with it’s iron lace verandas.  We were both quite taken with Lorne and said we’d stop off on the way back for a further look.  We drove further on from Lorne passing Cumberland River, Separation Creek, Wye and Kennett Rivers and Wongarra and after an hour’s drive came into Apollo Bay.  We had a picnic lunch overlooking the main beach.  It’s a very busy town and very touristy.  We weren’t as taken with it as Lorne.  We meandered through the shops and headed back to Lorne for a longer walk and look around there.

The Great Ocean road stretches for approximately 250 kilometres of road from Torquay through to Warrnambool. Parts of it are known as the Shipwreck Coast as many ships have met their doom there through the ages.

Friday 17^th February  We went back to Torquay to visit the Surf Museum.  It was a very interesting place with photos and the actual surfboards of the early champions.  It also hosts the “Hall of Fame” for all the surfing legends like Mark Richards, Tom Carroll, Tom Curren, Mark Occhilupo, 10 times World Champion/4 times Bells Champion Kelly Slater, Andy Irons and Mick Fanning.

On entering the museum we saw a photo of Duke Kahanamoku from Hawaii and his original long wooden surf board.  Duke is responsible for first bringing surfing to the World’s attention. Richard commented they looked like ironing boards. 

There’s a wall of the various boards displayed from the first long heavy redwood board, a 1920’s balsa ½ length when innovations in design began to modify the length, material used and weight of the boards.  In 1935 a fin was added, 1940 they were made of lightweight fibreglass.  In 1960 Aussie surfer Mark Richards decided he needed 2 fins for added stability.  In 1981 another Aussie surfer Simon Anderson designed a 3 fin board known as ‘The Thruster” for greater stability and manoeuvrability and the surfing style we know  and enjoy today was launched.

We enjoyed looking at the older style bathers for men and several surfing history documentaries running non-stop throughout the museum.

Although we’re not into surfing that much we still found it fascinating and stayed looking around much longer than we thought.  It’s certainly worth a visit if you’re in the area.  Outside the museum are all the factory outlets for the surf brands.

We’ve had a fascinating week at Anglesea, the scenery is stunning and the weather has been gorgeous.

Next Week:  We’ll be moving 3 hours along the coast to Port Fairy at the other end of The Great Ocean Road to see the rest of the coastline.  We’re looking forward to seeing the 70 minute Laser Light Show at Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village in Warrnambool.  It’s a re-created 1800’s village.

Thanks for joining us once more and don’t forget to log in again next week. Love Marian, Richard and Sally xxx