Great Ocean Road

A hearty breakfast and a quiet goodbye to the good doctor Terence, and we leave Adelaide for the south coast. Along the way, it is another lovely drive through yet another superb wine country - Coonawarra, famous for dark velvety Cabernet Sauvignon! Alas, there is no photographic evidence of this delightful detour, as all attention was afforded to the merry tasting of lush, beautiful heady grape juice - suffice to say I was in good spirits (or more precisely, good spirits was in me!). Thanks to Paul, Wynns, Majella and Balnaves will not be easily nor quickly be forgot. =)

After a light nap, we duly cross into Victoria and hence proceed due south to the historic whaling town Warrnambool. Here, we pick up pâtissier extraordinaire Mandy, fresh off the train from Melbourne. Mandy also happens to be Grace's sister.

New trip addition Mandy

So we take a lazy drive along the Great Ocean Road, but first catch some southern right whales nursing right outside the city, right amidst surfers. Beautiful frollicking gentle giants!

Nursing southern right whale gamboling in the surf

Surfin' with em whales

The Great Ocean Road is one of the great coastal drives of the world. With Warrnambool on the western end and the surf city of Torquay on the east, it meanders for 243km hugging the rugged, dramatic southern coastline of Victoria state, overlooking Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean. Populated with sheer cliffs and dramatic vistas, the drive is not only beautifully scenic, but wholly engaging for the driver (the same, alas, cannot be said for the passengers!).

The drive eastwards leads us along secluded bays, frightful churning seas, pensive inlets and most famously, the impressively beautiful and rugged limestone and sandstone formations that characterize this drive: the Bay of Islands, Loch Ard Gorge, the Grotto, London Bridge, and the Twelve Apostles. Certain sections of the road also bring us through woodland regions through Great Otway National Park, which includes some of the last surviving temperate rainforests in the south of Australia and home to some of the world's tallest flowering trees.

Bay of Islands I

Bay of Islands II

The Grotto

Mist creeps over Loch Ard Gorge

Roosting birds on a stick

Southern Dreaming

Sunset at the Twelve Apostles