Great Ocean Road

Hitting the road again - and what a road it is. The Great Ocean Road snakes from Torquay (no not the English Riviera one) in the east to Warrnambool in the west, but we are travelling way beyond it's official end - all the way to Adelaide some 750k away.
It's one of the most scenic coastal routes in the world - twisting and turning serpent-like for mile after mile alongside desolate beaches and windswept capes and headlands, affording magnificent vistas all the way.
We have said our farewells to Susan, Peter and family at Ballarat and picked up a rental car to take us from Victoria to South Australia. But we are in no real hurry. This road is deserving of everyone's time, so we plan on taking a week to do it justice.
Susan has been a star, arming us with a massive slab of her fruit cake and raspberry drops to keep us going on our latest Oz road trip. Good girl.

Torquay
This is surfie heaven, Victoria's top resort if you enjoy riding on a crest of a wave and where even the seats outside the town's shops are surfboard shaped. It's a mecca for the young bronzed wave-lovers but, more importantly for us, where our journey on the Great Ocean Road starts.
After a coffee break in the town we head out towards Bells Beach. This is an iconic surf beach - one of the most famous in Australia and legendary among the world's top wave riders.
One look at it confirms why. Bells, which hosts a world-championship contest every Easter, is pumping when we arrive after a 5k walk along the cliffs. We view some top guys in action from a viewing platform above the beach as they take on the 12ft-15ft glassy rollers which are steaming into shore. Wow. These riders are hot stuff. This is no beach to mess with and no place for the 'amateur' - it's wild, with piercing ledges and reefs jutting out below.
After a picnic on the clifftop, we return along the headlands for the next stage of our journey to Lorne where we are staying for a couple of nights.

Lorne
After passing through the seaside village of Anglesea and stopping off at Point Addis - scene of many a shipwreck over the years - we arrive in pretty Lorne.
Have managed to find a fully self-contained flat called Rivendell run by a lovely couple who make us feel so welcome. Our new home is high up off the road and beyond the small town, looking out over the bush and eucalyptus trees to the sea below. It's an idyllic setting.
The morning brings great excitement. Rivendell owner Elizabeth - her house sits above our flat - has come down to tell us that we have a new resident - a koala.
And what a beauty he is. Out on our verandah we watch the large male (he's grey with a beautiful white chest) sitting just yards away from us in one of the eucalyptus trees, munching on the leaves. He looks a little concerned at the screeching cockatoos buzzing him from above, but sticks his ground (or tree).
We just spend the morning knocked out that we have been able to get so close to a wild koala, who appears to be not at all bothered by our presence. He's more worried by those pesky birds.
Spend lazy afternoon on the coast and, when we return, find our new friend still in his tree - and he has been joined by another. The pair are having quite a 'conversation' judging by their grunts and roars. We just watch spellbound from our verandah as they climb, eat and sleep. Their dexterity amazes us - the wind has picked up, but their agility on the branches is astonishing.
Day two at Rivendell brings more of the same - and our two new pals (the other is quite a bit smaller) are still with us and continuing to enjoy their eucalyptus munchies. What a veg fest. Seventh heaven for them - and for us koala-watchers. Sadly, we will have to say goodbye to them tomorrow.


Apollo Bay
Next stop is this lovely little coastal village, once a fishing town but now a tourist haven set against rolling green hills that's more Carmarthenshire than Australia.
Book into a motel for two nights (the owner tell us us he once rented a flat on Gower Road in Sketty and used to enjoy a few beers in the Vivs). Here we are on the other side of the planet in little Apollo Bay and we meet David, who knows Swansea well. Small world a cliche? We don't think so.
Enjoy a bracing walk to Mariners Lookout for a spectacular view of the coast and village way below us. Weather is glorious and we can see coastline stretching for miles and miles.
Head out to Shelly Beach. Not easy to find, but so rewarding when we do via rough track road. Leave car for long walk into bushland which eventually brings us out to sandy cove surrounded by rocky ledges.
Had planned to do circular walk, but not sure of the tides here and the sea is ripping across the ledges, so we head back the way we came. We are startled by a noise and sudden movement in the bush - it's a kangaroo just a couple of metres away. Not sure who is the more startled - us or the 'roo.
Just a couple of minutes later in the car park deep in the bush and a tad exhausted after the steep climb back up from the cove we stop for a break and spot another koala high up a tree and, despite the branches swaying in the wind, in the land of nod. We leave him to his noon slumber and spend the afternoon doing much the same on the local beach.


Twelve Apostles
Next up Port Fairy - and on the way the world-renowned Twelve Apostles. This stretch of the GOR, which encompasses the Port Campbell National Park, is one of the most photographed in Australia and it's easy to see why.
Here sheer cliffs give way to the most ferocious ocean imaginable. Huge crashing waves have eroded the sandstone and limestone cliffs over thousands of years to leave a stunning seascape of massive stacks, arches and blowholes.
Take a walk down to and along wild Gibson Beach. It's almost deserted. The wind is blowing, the sea is immense. Elemental describes it best - and this on a sunny summer's day in Victoria. What must it be like in the winter when storms whip up a boiling ocean. Hundreds of vessels have been consigned to watery graves along this unforgiving stretch known as the Shipwreck Coast.
The Twelve Apostles nearby can be seen only from viewing platforms - but they are no less majestic for all that. They are towering stacks that have been sculpted out of the cliffs by relentlesss wave erosion - a magical sight.
Just a few further miles along the road is the stunning Loch Ard Gorge - one of the most notorious areas where the Loch Ard clipper came to grief in dense fog on the final night of its long voyage from Gateshead in the 1870s. Of the 55 people on board, only two survived.
The rest perished as the sailing vessel was pounded by heavy seas into the gorge where it broke up on the hidden shard-like reefs below.
We leave, feeling the Shipwreck Coast to be aptly named after discovering that it claimed some 80 vessels in 40 years.


Port Fairy
Whalers and sealers were the first arrivals here. Today Port Fairy is a sedate seaside town. Fishing boats line the harbour and the little town behind it buzzes with tourists and locals where the cafes and wine bars do a roaring trade.
We check in at the quaintly named Merrijig Inn - Victoria's oldest. It's very twee and very British. It would not be out of place in the Cotswolds. Our room is a tiny attic one - but quite lovely too.
The restaurant is classy and looks expensive. We decide instead on fish 'n' chips from the shop on the harbour front and eat them in the car watching the sun set over the local beach at PF. Bliss. Treat ourselves to a cracking breakfast the next day in Rebecca's Cafe in the town before heading towards Robe, our last stop before Adelaide. When we get there we will have travelled some 400k.


Robe
Push on from Port Fairy towards Portland, the only deep water port between Melbourne and Adelaide and the site of Victoria's first European settlement.
Drive to the white-washed lighthouse at windswept Cape Nelson and then out to the white sandy arc of Bridgewater Bay backed by high dunes and fronted by a little beachside cafe that reminds us very much of Surfside at Langland.
We can't tarry too long here, however, as there are many miles still to do. The road turns inland for a time and we stop at Mount Gambier. The town sits below a volcanic blue crater lake - a smaller version of Oregon's famous Kodak-blue and world famous Crater Lake.
Mt Gambier's is smaller for sure, but quite stunning in its own right - a gorgeous sapphire stretch of serene water.
Push on to Robe and check into the Caledonian Inn which has bags of character. It's dusk by the time we get there. Just as well that we booked ahead - the village is chocfull, as is the pub.
It's the last weekend before the kids are back at school and families are making the most of it, judging by how full the beer garden is.
We've a long wait for food - bog-standard kebabs, fries and salad (but very tasty). Head for the outdoor balcony with what is left of the nice bottle of red to gaze at the stars in the southern sky before turning in. Adelaide next - and still 300k to go. But we are planning on doing it in one go from here, so time to hit the snooze button.