June 26th Great Ocean Road, baby!

This morning we woke up super early to go on a great ocean road tour. Dan the man always keeps our family on time for those things!

We got picked up at 6:45 am because we had 214 out of 240 km of the great ocean road to do! The main parts of our tour included surf coast bay, the rainforest and shipwreck coast. One of the first stops was a tea stop at the beach with cockatoos and magpie birds.

loves of my life! the best role models out there

Our tour guide was from Iran and gave us lots of history lessons on the bus rides between places. Side note, a lot of the time when you are traveling there is a way to do a day tour without a guide (this usually includes renting a car and going with some mates on an adventure). This is a huge dilemma for many budget travelers- do I see this sight/attraction for a cheaper price and not know much about it, or do I hand over the money for an enriched experience. Not with every tour, but with most I've done, I’ve found that the more I know about the place I’m in and have someone around who can answer my questions, the more paying for the tour is worth it.

One of the crazier things we saw along the great ocean road was the destruction of thousands of trees. In 2015 there was a massive forest fire along the road but luckily there are already signs of regrowth. In Australia they have specific practices of letting forest fires die out by themselves. The indigenous people knew that this specific ecosystem actually needed the fire and destruction to replenish the seeds and dead earth, so no need to fear about these trees- just have to be patient! We soon had a stop near Kennett River, which was a fantastic little area swarming with 100’s of colorful birds that would just land on your head randomly! These little fellas had nothing to fear. We had some awesome photo opps and laughed our butts off. The scenery after that point just got better and better. I've included a picture of one of the views from the bus. You definitely don't see that everyday.

There were also some Koalas just chillin in the trees on a residential street. We learned that koalas are only awake around 4-6 hours a day. Did you know that koalas have the smallest brains among mammals and they eat poisonous leaves all day? Many of them have Chlamydia and have been tracked/chipped in Australia since 2008. In the middle of the tour we stopped for a fixed lunch at Iluka Motel Restaurant – Shayna and I both had great lamb wraps. The gelato place next door had vegemite ice cream, and yep you guessed it- the ice cream flavor was not any better than the vegemite plain. The actual store though was awesome and mom got the best flavor- some sort of cherry swirl.

Next on the stop was the rainforest- my favorite part! It was about a 20 minute ride from the restaurant. The trees were extremely dense and tall. We saw the world’s 2nd tallest trees, at 80-120 meters is the Eucalyptus tree aka Australian Mountain Ash.

The only problem with the trees is that they can easily be struck by lightning because they grow so tall. The height brings out a distinctive feature though of the Great Otway National Park where we were. The feeling of standing next to such a tall tree brought me back to the time my family took a trip to the Redwoods in California. Here, we also saw some hairy fern trees. The “hair”, which look and feel like cute little wet plastic tubes, are roots absorbing nutrients from the environment. Can nature get any cooler? We walked through the rainforest on beautiful paths with trees and vines making canopies above our heads. I walked a little behind the group to get this awesome picture of the walkway inside the rainforest. God is the ultimate interior designer.

The smell in there was fresher than anything I’d ever experienced before. It was one of those times when you think about where you’re from (suburbs of Chicago) and how different the climate, pace and atmosphere is there, compared to the nature filled, lush rainforest. Quite a spiritual moment when you realize your whole mood and perspective on life can change with a small change of scenery.

The last stop we had was shipwreck coast- there were a few things to see here. The erosion on the coastline after the ice age had created the 12 apostles. (Now there are only 9 apostles because 3 collapsed). To see the apostles you can go to the Gibson steps at Port Campbell National Park.

Nearby was Lochard Gorge, a shipwreck area. There is something so mysterious and magical about shipwrecks, makes me think of Pirates of the Caribbean. We couldn’t see a shipwreck but saw the rocks where the shipwrecks happened, and trust me that was scary enough! Around 5 pm we headed back to Melbourne and our ride home was accompanied by an extraordinary sunset.

Although it had been a long day, Shayna and I decided to explore the city a little bit at night, and we started off at section 8- the indoor/outdoor graffiti bar that is built in a train crate. We had amazing gluhwein and then headed over to Berlin bar. Berlin Bar is a themed bar in the CBD that simulates both the East and West side of Berlin, letting the guests choose which side they want to sit on and experience. The drinks are all themed as well, and Shayna and I ordered the Bada Bing and the featured drink that tasted like a jelly doughnut- "The Berliner".

we sat on the grungier east side with makeshift tables/chairs/decor, whereas the west side had classy and beautiful fabrics/ambiance

More themed bar stories to come from this family vacation! Afterwards we were pretty knackered and headed to bed. I’m very glad we did the tour today- we would not have been able to see the great ocean road otherwise because we didn’t want to hire a car on our trip. (They drive on the opposite side of the road here and the great ocean road especially is a very dangerous road to drive on, with lots of twists/turns and international drivers on it).