I hadn't really planned on doing the Great Ocean Road- in fact, I hadn't really planned anything following Sydney. At the time, I just wanted to jump in on plans with a group that I was familiar with because it gave me a direction.
As a side note, the Great Ocean Road can easily be done in a day. There are plenty of tours from Melbourne that return the same day or stay just one night. I'm not sure why we decided to go for seven (I did not plan the trip), but it was a really relaxing pace and we basically could stop wherever we wanted. I had two friends I'd meet later on as well who actually cycled the Great Ocean Road. So there are many options, our way was just one.
Our group had ten people total. Weirdly, we were divided 7-3 in a few different ways. Seven of us were from my UltimateOz week, three were not. Seven of us were girls, three were guys. And seven of the group was English, while I was American, one of the guys was Swedish, and one of the other guys was Canadian.
Also, let me quickly defend myself on something that you may see in some of the following text and photos. In no way do I condone the use of the phrase "YOLO." However, the English seemed to think that "YOLO" was an acceptable catchphrase for our entire week, despite my protests that it was something 15 year olds like to say while taking shots out of their parents' liquor cabinet. The only backup I got, however, was from the Canadian, and being that he was Canadian, he was too nice to really fight it. So YOLO became the mantra of the week. And I have to be honest, it did get funny because it would be used in the most ridiculous instances (less than half a loaf of bread between 10 people for breakfast: YOLO!), but I just want the world to know that I was adamantly against it.
Fittingly, our last stop in Sydney before the bus station was at Sidebar. We took a long Greyhound trip leaving Sydney in the early afternoon and arriving in Melbourne the following morning. We stayed at the Nomads in the city and did a little bit of city touring as all of us thought we'd be heading back to Sydney after the road trip, although I very quickly changed my mind about that (like the second I stepped foot in Melbourne). However, my passionate love of Melbourne will be thoroughly covered in another entry, so that's all I'll say for now, except that we did buy matching group bracelets before leaving.
Day 1 Bells Beach
We rented our two campervans from Wicked Campers. Their campers are fun- they each have their own unique graffiti painted all over them. One of our vans had a really cool Aboriginal kangaroo on the side. The other this scrawled on the back:
We got a lot of good reactions from people driving by us. Also, any time we'd pass other Wicked campervans, everyone in both vans would honk their horns at each other.
One of the vans also came with a rocking CD of driving tunes from about the 80s. These included Rockin' Robin, Greased Lightning, and that really creepy song with the repeating lyrics "Get out of my head and into my car." The kind of romantic words every girl wants to hear from her kidnapper.
Our first stop was Bells Beach.
It's a really popular surf spot surrounded by cliffs, and it was a hot day so we spent time both laying out on the sand and playing in the water.
Afterwards, we set off to find our campsite for the night at Big Hill. We missed the turnoff a few times but eventually found it down a long and winding wooded road. Now, we stayed only at free sites all week, so they weren't exactly luxurious. For example, this one was right next to a swamp, and the amount of horrible Australian flies that assaulted us all night was unreal. Let me tell you something about Australian flies, by the way. They are ten times more persistently annoying than American ones. It is in their genes to drive you as absolutely fucking insane as they possibly can. No matter how many times you bat them away from your face, they come straight back for more. It made me miss the harmless buzzing in your ears that American flies do. Aussie flies seem to want to nest in your eyes.
There was a low wooden table there, so we set up the mobile stoves and cooked pasta for dinner, then we started in on the goon and played some goon pong. I teamed with one of the girls in her first ever pong match, and we beat the boys we were playing much to my joy.
After the pong, we all moved our chairs down the path a ways so we wouldn't disturb other campers, and we had some "DMs," deep and meaningful conversations. That night I crashed in the hammock bed that comes down from the ceiling in one of the campers. The ceiling is less than a foot away from your face while you're sleeping, but there is a built-in pillow and it was genuinely the most comfortable spot I had all week.
Day 2 Lorne & Waterfalls
Our next stop was the first main town we reached, Lorne. There was a beach there, but I was absolutely desperate for a shower, so while everyone else went to play in the sand, I found a public showerhouse with stalls charging $1 for 3 minutes. I happily paid that and felt a million times better afterwards.
I found the group and we went and had lunch at a little spot with free grills and a picnic table overlooking the pier.
After lunch, we drove to the start of a track leading to some waterfalls, and this was my absolute favorite part of the trip.
We walked first to Erskine Falls, and I thought it was the most beautiful waterfall I'd ever seen.
We climbed down to jump the rocks on the creek over to a better close-up view, then the guys and I decided to climb the bigger rocks and go stand under the falls. We got soaked, but sitting under that waterfall was the absolute best, happiest, and most refreshing moment I had that week. One of my top moments in Australia. We took some great photos and some of the girls came up to join us too before we headed back.
Love.
We went to a different area afterwards that had perfect views of the Great Ocean Road.
It was a short walk into the bush to find the waterfall, Sheoak Falls. If you could ever describe a waterfall as dark and ominous, this is the one, which also makes it completely awesome in my books. You walked out of these bright green trees to just find this waterfall on deep black rock falling into an equally black pool.
We climbed the rocks along the side to get a picture halfway up the waterfall, then afterwards three of the girls left, leaving the other five of us to go on a bush walk. First we came to Swallow Cave, which was on the rocks above the waterfall and had a smaller trickling waterfall as well. It was fenced off, but we climbed past that and went exploring.
We continued our walk looking for what we thought was the end destination, a place called Castle Rock Lookout. Most of that walk was uphill, so I was dying out of breath, plus I had forgotten my water at Sheoak Falls. It took ages. When we finally made it after about an hour of walking it was pretty underwhelming. I mean that to the point that we weren't actually sure if we had reached it, because it was just a small fenced in lookout point. There wasn't even a rock unless you count the rock that the lookout was situated on, and that's more just part of the cliff, so I also feel that the name was very misleading. There were certainly no castles. It did have a decent view of the mountains, village below, ocean, and the road, but not anything breathtaking.
The walk back thankfully wasn't as bad, and on the bright side, we had seen a kangaroo in the wild. We left in the van to find everyone else at our new campsite, Wye River. It was up a huge winding hill, and of course out of the three or four campsites there, they were at the last one we checked. This one was nicer than the last in that there were just about no bugs at all, but unfortunately there were also no latrines, so we were stuck going in the woods or down the path all night. The life of a poor backpacker (that could really be the title of this road trip). We drank again sitting outside the vans.
Day 3 Apollo Bay & Johanna Beach
This was a big day- my turn to drive the campervan. Also, my first time ever driving on the wrong side of the road. I was a little shaky but I think it had more to do with the size of the campervan and the windiness of the road, so I was going a little bit slowly. Luckily the Great Ocean Road is just one long road, so I didn't have to worry about turning and whatnot until we went into town. When we did go into town, I tried to turn into the right-hand lane first chance I got and had to swerve after everyone else in the van started loudly asking me what I was doing. But that was the only incident that I remember. Apparently I terrified all of the other passengers, but they are all still alive today, so I'd say my driving was a success.
Anyhow, Apollo Bay was a nice town to fill our basic needs, such as showering and power outlets. I managed to charge my phone at the visitor information center, then I took a free, cold shower in public with the outdoor rinsing stations on the beach bathrooms.
Luxury.
Afterwards we all drove out a long way to see this lighthouse that was apparently famous on some English kid show, and the road we took there was a sanctuary area of some sort with TONS of wild koalas in the trees. Can I repeat that again? WILD KOALAS. They looked like little balls of fluff up in the branches! I kept having to pull over every few minutes so we could get out and take photos. They were adorable! And so close! This is the kind of thing you come to Australia for.
After making it to the lighthouse and finding out we weren't allowed on the actual grounds, we took a walk to a lookout point to see it and then drove to our next campsite.
It was nice and we ended up staying there for three nights. We parked in a large grassy area with a bunch of other campers, but there was lots of space. Also, we had latrines again, so we were basically living it up.
Now this campsite was right next to a beach, Johanna Beach, so we all walked down there to check it out after we got settled. And no exaggeration, the second we all walked onto the beach the entire group fell completely silent.
It was the most stunning beach I had ever seen. Almost totally empty, just beautiful sand going from the shore to the dunes, and the waves were incredible. Just massive. You wouldn't be able to swim there. The tide came so far up the beach, and the water was so light blue, the waves almost looked white. There was something so awe-inspiring about it, every single one of ended up sitting there for a full hour just looking at it.
We finally got ourselves back to the site to have another pasta dinner, then we went back down to the beach and sat up on this large rock to watch the sunset together.
We started drinking as well, and after the sun went down we moved to sit on the sand. Someone suggested sleeping on the beach as well, that's how obsessed with it we were, so we went back to the site to grab all the blankets and whatever we needed. The last thing I remember is everyone sitting in a circle simultaneously singing each of our own national anthems as loudly as we could, and then the next thing I knew I woke up covered in blankets in the cold morning daylight.
Day 4 COC Day
So, some of us more relaxed members of the group had decided to designate ourselves COCs- chilled out campers. We decided this day would be all about chilling out, so we took it super easy.
I absolutely love this photo of us looking miserable on the beach.
I drove into Apollo Bay with a few others for a shower and groceries, the boys cooked us a fajita dinner that evening back at the campsite, we watched the sunset on the beach once again, and we joined a large group of strangers at their beach bonfire afterwards.
Day 5 The Twelve Apostles, Grotto, more rock formations, & world's most exciting town: Peterborough
I was in a fun van of COCs on day 5 that decided to dedicate part of our morning to fucking with the other van. This included pulling into a wildlife park that nobody wanted to go to, repeatedly circling a roundabout three times until the other van ditched us, and pulling into random lookout spots to frantically run out of the van, take a pointless picture, and run back.
After we were finished screwing with our friends, we headed off to see all of the main sights of the Great Ocean Road. These are the spots that any guided tour would show you and are clearly labeled from the road.
First and most famous was the Twelve Apostles. They are these huge limestone formations coming out of the water near the shore, and they make for a cool bit of scenery. Because of erosion, there are actually no longer twelve, but I suppose calling them "The Eight Apostles" wouldn't really have the same impact.
The London Bridge was next, and the weather had turned to shit.
Third was my favorite, the Grotto. We ran down a bunch of stairs to get to it while being pelted by a sudden torrent of rain, but I thought it was worth it. You feel very enclosed because you're surrounded by cliffs, and it looks kind of magical.
After that, we went to the thriving town of Peterborough. It was hilariously small and isolated. We grabbed lunch in a cafe that doubled (quadrupled?) as the tourist shop, town general store, AND the post office.
They had a cat though so I was an immediate fan.
There was a dilapidated gas pump out front across from a run-down looking grocery and liquor shop. That is about the entirety of shopping options in Peterborough.
I'm actually quite amused reading back on my description of how tiny it was and how there must be absolutely nothing to do there, because about five months later I would go on to live in a town so very much smaller. That will be a fun entry to write.
After eating, we decided to celebrate the cold weather by visiting their beach. A few crazies in the group actually got in the water in their swimsuits for a photo, but cold in general is one of my least favorite things let alone cold water.
We left Peterborough after that, making it the furthest point we reached on the Great Ocean Road, and started heading back. We hit up the views we'd missed on the way in, including the Loch ard Gorge...
...and Thunder Cave.
It was so cold that night we just piled into one of the campervans to drink together, and Lisa and Chris announced a surprise for everyone. They had been huddling together in secret meetings for a few days now, so we were all curious. They handed us all invitations and told us they'd be holding a special YOLO awards ceremony the following night for our last night of the trip. We were each to bring a date and the dress code was smart casual. It was such an awesome idea and they had put a lot of thought into it, so that was something we were all excited about for the following day. I returned to my hammock bed that night for the first time after having been sleeping on the floor of the campervan, and I had missed it.
Day 6 YOLO Awards
We spent most of the day driving back towards Melbourne, making a stop in Apollo Bay to sneak into a paid campsite and use their hot showers like vagrants.
We then set off to find our last site of the trip, I think it was called Hammond's Track. It was way far off the main path over the rockiest back roads ever, but the site was actually pretty nice and best of all, it had fire pits! We hadn't been allowed to make fires at any of the other sites because there had been crazy bush fires all over Victoria recently, but finally we were able to have one before our trip ended.
A van of us headed back into town to stop at a fish and chip shop and grab food for everyone, then we came back and got ready for the YOLO Awards (guys, I can't avoid saying it when they make it part of the title of the night). All of us put in some effort. The girls all wore dresses, skirts, and makeup for the first time in a week.
And Chris and Lisa killed it. They set out a carpet around the campervan for us all to make our entrances and put up plastic bags as streamers on the fences. One of the other girls, Zoe, was my date. Lisa acted as security to start with, badge and all, asking to see our invitations as we entered and handing us condoms as attendance gifts.
After we were all seated, they came back in, now in dresses, to be our hosts for the night, and nobody could outdo Chris in drag. He wore lipstick better than anyone there.
They had a whole script for the night and were very funny. They gave flowers to the two girls who organized the trip, then they started giving out personal awards to everyone. Each person had a special presentation complete with sash to wear. Awards included Ultimate Cougar, Ultimate Man, Ultimate Duracell Bunny, and so on. I won Ultimate Flasher for my "liberal attitude towards personal privacy". It was all in good fun. Our Swedish friend won Ultimate Legend for his endless supply of hilarious quotes and drunken moments over the course of the week, and he was invited to sing his special rendition of Silent Night in German for us one last time.
It was all so sweet and so hilarious, just the perfect way to sum up the week and spend the last night together.
When it was over, we made a fire, roasted marshmallows, ate cookies, drank (I even treated myself to a six pack of Heineken!), and shared our favorite moments of the trip.
Day 7 Back to Civilization
We woke up on the last day, packed up, and took a group photos before leaving.
We had been meant to take an awesome scenic photo all wearing UltimateOz shirts to submit to the headquarters for them to use, but we had been too distracted to find a decent location, so we ended up in the picturesque rocky parking lot of our last campsite.
We stopped for food on the way back- I had a fantastic Indian- and dropped off the campervans in Melbourne. That was goodbye for the group. Three of the girls got a taxi to the airport and the rest of us shared a large cab into town where we all got dropped off in different locations. I only saw two of the people from that trip again, but it was a week I don't think any of us will forget.
My next stop was St. Kilda which kicked off an entirely new chapter to my adventure and the next four months in Melbourne.