Ride to Great Ocean Road - Australia - Day 1

Day 1 - Melbourne - Torquay - Anglesea - Lorne - Apollo Bay - Port Campbell

Map for today


This ride was done with fellow Office collegues.While they choose to be in Cages,I preferred my mode of travelling.So three cars and a bike starts their two days journey to Great Ocean Road.

I started early as these guys were taking quite a long time to gather and start.Someone has to drink coffee,Someone has to smoke a bulls ass and someone has to eat before they start..Trips get crappier when you travel with more number of peoples.I waved them and said i will wait for you guys at Torquay Tourist Information centre.

Road till Tourquay and ahead towards Port Campbell was pretty straight forward.And numerous sign boards on the route makes more easy to move around,given that you know which city you need to hit next.Never needed and used a GPS so far.

In a hours time,I reached Tourquay.Was riding in a slow pace,so that the rest of the gang can catch up.Got hold of an old lady at Information Centre,she briefly explained me on things and places which i can explore on my journey ahead.Almost half an hour,no sign of the gang..I decided to move forward.Bells beach was the first thing i visited,which was in vicinity of Tourquay.

Weather looked bit spooky at the start of the ride - Bells Beach



I crossed Anglesea and stopped at the Split Point Lighthouse which is located in Aireys Inlet, a small town on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia.That was an quite old lighthouse..which was originally built in 1891.After taking a walk around the lighthouse,i went for a small walk to explore a better view and click some apostles. 



The other side 



And after 02 Kms of walkathon



Exploring around is always worth it..Most of the times 








I started ahead towards Lorne.Great Ocean road was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and is the world's largest war memorial.....dedicated to casualties of World War I. It is an important tourist attraction in the VICTORIA region, which winds through varying terrain alongside the coast..The road traverses rainforests, as well as beaches and cliffs composed of limestone and sandstone.The entire route had a speet limit of 80 Km/hr.



Another ladmark before Lorne



Soon enough i touched Lorne,parked my bike and came on the beach to put my feet in the cold water.It was a courageous thought,but i let it go  ...Clicked some photos and got back on the road.



Lorne has some pretty good tourist attractions and the ones which attracted me was the Teddy's Lookout and Eriskine waterfalls.

Teddy's lookout - Well..this one was hard to locate as the road leading to it was bit dull and spooky.But the end result was pretty amazing..Got to see the spectacular view of Great Ocean road from the top.There was trek for 1-2 Kms which would have given a much better view.But i was too lazy to do that 






Eriskine Falls - Legend has it there are around 400 different waterfalls in the hinterland behind the Great Ocean Road. Many of these have never been placed on maps and only seen by very keen bushwalkers.Well i was not the bushwalker types..so i preffered to visit this one as the falls were not very far from the parking area.Though it was 10 Km inside from the main road.





As i moved ahead from Lorne after visiting the Eriskine Falls..weather became bit spooky and pretty soon it started to rain  ..and i wasn't prepared for that .Got completely drenched..it was freaking cold.I reached Apollo bay and pulled out on a fuel station for a coffee.While i sipped coffee,i wished and prayed for the rain to stop.It stopped in an while..but i knew it will catch up again on the journey ahead.

Saw a sign board for detour to Cape Otway lighthouse,the old lady in the information center told me about this one as well.Without any second thoughts i took the left turn from GOR.Lighthouse was around 12-13 kms from the main road.I reached the entry point to the Lighthouse..soon enough i came to know that there is a entry fee of 19 AUD for 1 person.Damn,I searched my pocket and couldn't find any penny..though they had the card machine to swipe.But i wasn't much comfortable to spend 19 AUD to see a lighthouse..Which can be only seen from outside. 

I turned back and while returning i found these amazing koalas..hanging on the trees.There were 100's of them.Most of them were sleeping . They sleep approx 20-22 hours in day.

Can you spot the dots on the trees.. 



Now look closely



And this was hanging there from long..



Riding part from there till Port Campbell was a sad one,Because i got caught up with rains again .I didn't stopped anywhere and made it to Port Campbell by 05:00 PM.Now the real trouble began.There was no sign of the other guys who were travelling in Cars.And i didn't knew which hotel we have booked for the night stay..My phone has the name and details of the hotel..but it got drenched in the rains too and refused to Turn ON.And this was the first sentence which came into my mind 'I AM FUC*ED'

So this was the bad part,Now good part was..i remembered a part of the hotel name and name of the person who has done the booking.It has the 'Port Campbell' word in it.So i started looking for such hotels.When i was done checking in the first hotel i came to know there are 12 hotels with name 'Port Campbell' in it.WHAT !!!..Port Campbell Hotel,Port Campbell Motel,Port Campbell Lodge,Port Campbell Hostel..blah blah blah.'I WAS FUC*ED* again.I started checking in each hotel one by one..and i got lucky with the 6th hotel.Finally got the keys and settled in quickly to get rid of the cold.

The rest of the gang arrived at 09 PM.Gosh,that's what happens when you travel in a big group :P.Everybody settled in and we had log night over Red label ..little bit of bakar and card games.

Cheers
Biru