Then the cold reality of having to pack up the van and get everything sorted out to have this rock show back on the touring route hits me. Reality bites. But all too soon we waved goodbye to the Grampians and pointed the Santy south-east towards Geelong to make our exit. We cruised through the southern parts of the Grampians Range, taking in the natural beauty of its rugged cliff faces and overhangs. The boys did their maths homework while we chugged along but it was more like a trip to a very bad dentist and having four teeth pulled, without anaesthetic. Sometimes it feels like one step forward and three steps back! More frustrating for Andrea though. Anyway, by the time we made it to Ballarat for fuel and the obligatory wee, their homework was done and our fourth son, Harry Potter, made his daily appearance.
Lunch on the side of the road was followed by more Harry Potter and some nice scenery on the way down to Geelong. We arrived at the Geelong Showgrounds and set ourselves up in a nice little spot next to a railway shunting yard. Yay. After a bit of shopping and a look around town we settled in for dinner and the next instalment of Back to The Future on the small screen. Then, the piece-de-resistance. A nice hot shower. Heaven.
Interestingly, today was the first day of this trip that Andrea did not actually take a photograph. Of anything! Zero, zip, zilch, zippo, nada, nil, nothing, diddly, doughnut. Creepy really.....
Day 200
No, really, the air horns and sounds of clashing towing hitches and diesel locomotive engines overnight didn't keep me awake at all.... Woke up totally refreshed and ready to take on the day! Three coffees at the rapid-fire rate later, I hitched up the van as noisily as I could as some sort of departing two-fingered gesture to VicRail and we were on the way. This time, the Great Ocean Road to Lorne!
The memorial arch at the eastern end of the GOR. This is the third instalment of the arch as the original one was replaced when the road was widened in 1973 and the second one was burned down in the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983.
First we passed through Torquay which is a terrific seaside village dominated by all the major surfing labels and their factory outlets all capitalising on the reputation of being Australia's best surfing beach. Well, there wasn't much surfing going on today as there was very little swell.
A bunch of stand-up paddlers (SUP) were out in the water but I have never really GOT what that is all about. They stand up on a board that is really too bulky to catch a decent wave with and kinda just paddle about, looking into the water and getting sunburnt. You see them all out there just standing around. If they did it on land they would be arrested for loitering. I figured that it must be just for frustrated surfers who cant kite-surf. Nonetheless, we stopped in at Bells Beach which is home to the Rip Curl Pro surfing event each Easter. It has a cranking right-hander wave but alas, today, there was only a small break with a few grommets trying not to get too smashed up on the reef.
The rather unimpressive Bells Beach complete with non-sensical SUP boarders, if you squint.
The building of the Great Ocean Road was an initiative to provide employment to returned soldiers after World War 1 and at as a permanent memorial to those who had fallen during the war. It is officially the largest war memorial in the world. The road is cut into the side of cliff faces adjacent the ocean and generally follows the contours of the bays and points but occasionally diverts inland a short way. Where rivers and streams flow into the ocean timber bridges were built but these were eventually replaced with concrete structures to handle modern-day vehicles.
Started in 1919, the road construction was a difficult task with a number of ex-servicemen losing their lives as a result of accidents. Clearly OHS regulations were non-existent in 1919. The road had to be blasted out of the rock faces of the cliffs and progress was very slow. This was especially so in 1924 when a ship carrying large amounts of beer and spirits (in barrels) ran aground on a nearby reef. The alcohol was jettisoned but the workers recovered it and a two week break in construction was taken. Talk about binge drinking! Anyway, by 1932 the road was eventually completed.
Jack, trying to put his head up the backside of a road worker. It's a kid thing.
This one joined us for lunch and ate some chips.
Doctors say they have the technology to put its head on the right way.
These galahs shared a large slushie.
Fletch got brain freeze and left it to the other two.
We ended up going for a swim at the beach and caught a few small body-surfing waves. Jack had lost nothing from his surf-lifesaving lessons and caught a heap of waves and had great fun in the process. Andrea got some long overdue sun-baking in.
Beach Bum.
A couple of red wines and a family game of Uno was a nice way to finish our 200th day on the road. With no railway lines within cooee, a better nights sleep is ahead of us all. Hopefully.
Lorne.
N.B. A whiz-bang is a campervan with a sliding door and is called so because of the noise this door makes when closing - whizzzzz ---bang.
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