The Great Ocean Road - Torquay to Apollo Bay

We left Torquay for the first of three days on this coastal drive.  This day was all about beaches and surfing.  The further we  went the more beautiful, and sometimes famous, beaches were in view.  In addition the coastline was just gorgeous.  The beautiful Southern Sea streteched out to the horizon.  It was humbling to think that the next stop to the South is Antarctica!

We learned that the Great Ocean Road was built after the first world war, providing employment to veterans and also connecting the small settlements along the coast to each other.

En route we stopped to have a picnic lunch and were immediarely surrounded by a flock of yellow crested cockatoos who were very, very interested in our lunch.  One very cheeky bird snatched a piece of my sandwich right out of my hand!

It was ironic really as I had been trying to get close-up pictures of these birds for days but they had always flown away!

The Great Ocean Road

The beginning of the Great Ocean Road is officially in Torquay. This coastal drive is counted as one of the best in the world (along with The Cabot Trail BTW).  It stretches some 286 km along a stretch of the southern shore of the state of Victoria alonside the Southern Sea.

Torquay is a surf-centric town where the Ripcurl and Quick Silver brands were born in the 60's.

When we first arrived we went to the beach and saw many people in the midst of surfing lessons on a beautiful and large beach.

Then we visited Danger Point...made famous in the film Point Break. It was equally beauriful.

With trees beautifully shaped by the strong winds.

We waited for the sunset and the temperature plummeted, sending us back to our hotel for the night.

Nov 22 and 23 Looking for Jim and heading South to the Great Ocean Road

Paul has been trying to track down a friend from his days living in Canberra.  After calling every one with his last name, trying to find his old address, consulting the local post office and consulting the council office,  we left defeated.

Ahead of us were two long days of driving as we headed to the south coast.  We had decided to break the drive into two legs stopping for the night along the way.

Our drive passed through fairly uninteresting scenery, but when we came to Albury in Victoria State that changed!

Albury is situated on the Murray River and is the location of the dam controlling the flow of water for irrigation purposes downstream. As well as unseasonably cool temperatures, the area has been experiencing significant rainfall.  The dam has had to release many gigalitres of water.  This is causing flooding downstream.  We drove to the dam where the water was being released in ferocious torrents below our feet!

We also visited the local train station, whose claim to fame is it has the longest covered platform in the southern hemisphere.   This was because the states of New South Wales and Victoria,  upon whose the border the station is located,  had different gauged train tracks.  

The train would arrive, the passengers disembark for a 2 hour lay over while the cargo was transferred from one train to the other before their journey could continue!  

Such an interesting place with lots of history, as could be seen in the buildings in the Centre of town.

We took a walk in the evening after a wonderful meal and the signs of flooding were everywhere.

After a very pleasant stay we were off the next day for another 6 hour drive to Torquay, the start of the Great Ocean Road.

Exploring Canberra

On day two in Canberra we were greeted by a day of changeable and chilly weather.  We were destined to do inside activities.  We also realized  that we needed to find warmer clothing as the weather is unseasonably cold.  First stop...the mall where we knew that coats, hats and gloves would be readily available, it being November!  True enough in the Northern hemisphere, but in the southern...not so much.  Bikinis, tee shirts, beach buckets a- plenty...but no warm clothing at all!   I managed to find a long sleeved shirt...but Paul found nothing at all!  We decided we would have to layer up as the temperatures were soaring towards 11°C!

We continued our day with a drive to the New Parliament Buildings.  

This very impressive structure was built in the 80's and was therefore not in existence when Paul lived here.  We visited the marble hall, sat for a while in the senate gallery and viewed the art work in the various halls.

Then we made our way to the Australian  mint where Paul once worked.   We joined a fascinating tour where we learned about the history of Australian currency.  This was fascinating!  When the British first arrived and established Australia as a penal colony, there was no currency at all.  The Aboriginals had a barter system which was foreign to the British.  The soldiers developed a rum based monetary system originally.  This was replaced with currency made from Spanish silver coins, and subsequently with Pounds and pence.  Today, the currency is Australian dollars and cents, this system having been introduced in th 1960's.

During our tour we saw the medals from the Sydney Olympics.  These were of great interest to me as I was doing communications work for these games back in the day.  The medals were struck at this mint, and the bronze medals were made from decommissioned 1 and 2 cent coins.

We also saw samples of the blank coins that are used in the minting process.  When Paul worked here he inspected the blanks before they were struck.  Truly a walk down memory lane.

Our next stop was the Telstra tower, an imposing structure atop Black Hill where we had been told to go to the revolving restaurant.  This telecommunication tower is on a hill which could give good city views and provide a good meal....was our thinking.   Once we arrived we discovered that the tower was closed (and had been for years) and the lookouts etc. left to go fallow.  It was deserted except for a few hikers and the view blocked by overgrowth!  We had a good laugh...dodged the rain, found a spot which gave a small view point.  Then we made our way back.

We were staying in an apartment hotel which was well appointed and this gave us a chance to do some laundry and repack our bags.  We used up our groceries and relaxed for our last evening in Canberra.  We were rewarded with a beautiful rainbow...and a visit from a loud and interesting bird 

Canberra Nov 20

We were off on the driving portion of our sojourn and headed off to Canberra.  We drove 4 hours and arrived in the Aussie capital.

This was an important stop for Paul as he used to live there with his family when he was 19.  

We started the walk down memory lane with a visit to the home and neighbourhood where Paul lived.  We found the house he lived in.

As it has been 50 years since Paul was here it was not surprising to find things had changed.  In his neighborhood, trees were bigger and development had exploded!

We made our way to the lookout on Mount Ainslie for a birds eye view of the city.  We could see the impressive war memorial at one end of the planned area of the city and the old Parliament buildings at the other.  A large man-made lake lies between.  

Then we headed to the city centre...which was a quaint understated area when Paul lived here.  What a surprise to find a huge mall surrounded by apartment buildings!

We ended our day in the comfort of our temporary apartment where we had to turn the heat on to chase the chill of the night away!  What a difference from Airlie beach where it had been 31 degrees!

Nov 19-Travel Day to Sydney

We awoke to another beautifully sunny day.  We were in a different apartment with a better view of the harbour in Airlie Beach.

We had a visit from a beautiful bird....

It was a day of transition as we were scheduled to fly back to Sydney to take up phase 3 of our adventure...namely to start the drive toward Melbourne.  

As we approached our destination we flew directly over the impressive landmarks of Sydney.

Once we arrived and cleared the airport we tucked ourselves in for the night at a hotel right beside the airport.

Nov 18-Hartley Reef

We arose on the 18th to a beautiful sunrise after having slept under the starry sky all night!  It was beautiful!

After a lovely breakfast we were in for snorkeling where the reef was even more beautiful than the day before!  It was hard to get good...or any pictures...so I bought some...they appear below...

We left the reef at 3 pm and made our way back to Airlie beach, having met some incredible people who shared the experience with us!

We arrived back in Airlie late and prepared for our flight back to Sydney the next day.

Below are some professional shots of the reef