Well, we've just had a whirlwind tour of Victoria and we're exhausted. We were up early yesterday and set off before brekkie to get a kms behind us. We drove out of Melbourne and down through Geelong where we hit traffic jams. I guess most of Melbourne had the same idea of getting out of the city for a few days. Anyway, we eventually reached the start of the Great Ocean Road and the start of a long but beautiful drive. We drove past beache sand bays and endless streams of little holiday towns with amazing homes perched on cliff tops overlooking the sea. We stopped a few times to take photos and eventually for a lunch break in the very busy Apollo Bay. We could hardly even find anywhere to park, but it was worth it as it's a lovely little place.
Next stop was the 12 Apostles which are sandstone towers just off the coast line. I last visited here 15 years ago and there aren't 12 Apostles anymore - apparently the last one to fall was just 2 years ago. Still, there's a fair few left and we set off on the clifftop walk to the lookouts. As did about 200 other tourists and 150 million flies. Half way over the walk and Mike couldn't stand the flies any longer. He decided he fancied seeing the sights from a helicopter so off he and Becca went for their adventure in the sky. Ellie didn't want to go in the helicopter so we continued with the walk, and it's so worth it, it's a stunning sight (see photos). On our way back, we arrived at the helipad place just as Mike and Becca were about to set off so as they'd had a bit of a wait. The girl directing them told us they'd already done 120 flights that day and they still had 3 hours of flying left - the day before they'd only done 90!!! It cost Mike and Becca $90 each for the 10 minute trip, talk about a money spinner eh?
After that the road took us inland slightly and through a forest. This was amazing. It smelled strongly of Eucalyptus and the sound of the insects was almost deafening. It was around this point that Ellie asked Mike to slow down as the said the windy road was too much like a rollercoaster lol.
We finally arrived into Port Fairy around 6.30pm ish. We were all filthy and hot and sweaty so we had showers and went out to the local wine bar with Lynn, Campbell and the boys. The food we had was lovely, but unfortunately the mozzies were in total agreement!! Lynn was being bitten alive, and so was I apparently (although I only discoverd how much this afternoon - I now have 9 lovely big red itchy blisters to show for my night out).
Anyway, we had a nice night so I guess that's all that matters.
Today was Ahren's pool party for his 6th birthday and our main readon for visiting. Before the party we had a quick tour of Port Fairy which is a lovely little town, with great beaches and pretty homes. The kids all had a great time at the party (including Mike and Campbell who both have blistered feet after playing in the pool with the kids). Sadly, we weren't allowed to take any photos at the pool but it was great fun nonetheless.
After the party we had a quick coffee back at Lynn and Campbells and then we all drove to Tower Hill which is a game reserve near Warnambool locared in an old volcanic crater. We spotted a few wild emus and 3 wild kangaroos as well as a koala's bum high up in a gum tree lol. The Scotts headed home after that and we started our journey home.
We were taking the "short" route home overland (the Western Plains and the Golden Plains). This was a lovely drive too, but certainly not as spectacular as yesterdays. We drove through lots of farm lands and past a few thousand gum trees. We eventually reached Ballarat some time after 5pm and we were going to stop there to eat but the kids were quite settled watching a movie so we just battered on back to Melbourne. Having glanced at it though, we made a note to revisit soon as it looks really historical. It's an old gold mining town and at lot of buildings are off that era and really cool.
Arriving back in Caroline Springs we stopped at the shops and got milk and fish and chips for tea. While we were waiting for the fish the news was on the TV and we couldn't belive the weather forecast. It had been 42 here today. Thank god we spent most of it in the nice air conditioned car. It's to be a cool 30 tomorrow and back to 40 on Monday eeeekkkkkkkkkkk.
We were supposed to be having Martine, Zach and Matthew over for a few beers tonight but it was really late when we got in and the kids were just exhausted to we cancelled. We're doing it tomorrow though so that'll be great, I hate letting people down.