Great Ocean RoadTrip

Saturday, November 12

The Great Ocean Road isn’t the most direct route from Macka’s to Melbourne, but it is a well-known scenic drive. Factoring in the stops we wanted to make along the way, we figured it would take all day.

We started with breakfast in Princetown at a little pub called Talk of the Town. It was empty except for one woman working behind the counter. When we walked in and asked if she was serving breakfast, she said, “I can. What did you want?” There was no menu and we were a little confused. We asked her what they had and she shrugged and said, “I could probably do some bacon and eggs.” I imagined her going back to the kitchen and rustling up some grub, but we said OK. It was actually pretty good. The pub was a strange little place, ABBA was playing on the hi-fi and there was a fishtank with some weird specimens on display. There was also a collage of mildly offensive photos, apparently of the “regulars.” Good times.

Next stop was back to the Twelve Apostles site. This time the sun was out, and although it was still a little cold, the view was even more spectacular than the night before.

We made our way through small towns and long stretches of woodlands where there was no view of the ocean. This is because there is a gorgeous rainforest in the area as well. Macka had recommended a tree top walk, which we were interested in doing. But, the weather was strange and when we got to the rainforest area it was, well, raining. So we skipped it.

Our last major stop was the town of Lorne. We had dinner at a place called the Deck which had a great view of the beach. Afterwards, the got some ice cream and sat on the boardwalk watching the locals enjoying the last hours of daylight on the beach.

We got into the city of Melbourne just after dark and almost got lost finding our hotel. Somehow, Doug used his SpideySense to find the hotel. I still don’t know how he did it.

The Park Hyatt was a far cry from Macka’s Farm. We had a fabulous room with a huge bathroom. Finally, internet access!