The Great Ocean Road... the beginning

After the nationals, we had 6 days all to ourselves to just have a holiday! We decided to meander down the Great Ocean Road and check out every site of interest that we could find. This included travelling over the massive West Gate Bridge out of Melbourne, stopping at the surf shops at Torquay, having a peek-a-boo at Bell's Beach and the flat waves that made the Ripcurl Pro get postponed and the many lookouts on the way to our first stop, Lorne.


We stopped at the Split Point Lighthouse. I thought it was lovely but I couldn't shake the sense of familiarity I had when I was wandering around but then I saw a sign... The lighthouse was the one used in the TV show Round the Twist which we watched when we were growing up! I was singing to myself for ages afterwards "have you ever... ever felt like this? Strange things happen... are you going round the twist?" I think that this was one of the highlights of the trip!



Accommodation wasn't cheap in Lorne because the backpackers was booked out and a basic motel was $110 so we decided to treat ourselves by staying at place called Bridun Bed and Breakfast. It was beautiful and felt homey after our stay in basic hotel accommodation outside of Melbourne. The hostess cooked our breakfast herself and so we had fresh fruit, yoghurt, bacon eggs, toast and mushrooms cooked in rosemary. Mwahh!

The next day we got up early and drove to the Erskine Falls, 9km from Lorne. Since the whole of Eastern Australia is in a drought, the waterfall was barely more than a trickle (and it's one of the wettest around) but the surrounding rainforest was exquisite.