So I began two days ago to write what was going to be one post of my three day road trip, but as the memories and words flowed I realized if I posted my entire journey in one post that would take readers 30 minutes to read and no one wants that! So over the next 3 days I will split up this amazing journey I was blessed to go on!
Day 1:
This post could also be titled “That time Melanie went on a road trip with 3 Italians she had never met,” “The first time Melanie drove on the left side of the road in the right side driver’s seat,” “That time that Melanie saw over 10 koala bears, 6 emus, 50 kangaroos, and 4 wallabies in the wild,” or simply “That amazing, spontaneous road trip of Victoria.”
Are you wondering what the heck I’m talking about yet?
Let me tell you about a week ago Tuesday… You didn’t even know I was gone since I figured out the awesome “schedule post” tool on WordPress so you, my lovely followers, didn’t miss my weekly post! Okay enough of that.
Last Tuesday I left Queen’s at 7:40am to make my way down to a car rental company in the city. Upon arrival I met the 3 guys I would be spending the next 3 days with, Davide, Gabriele, and Kristian. Kristian reins from the north of Italy in a small town near the Alps and was on working holiday for a year here in Australia. Gabriele was in a similar situation, on working holiday here until July but he was from a town in the middle of Italy. Lastly, Davide, the person who had informed me about the trip, is from a small town in the south of Italy, studies in Milan and is at Uni Melb for a year for graduate studies and spent a semester in his undergrad abroad in California. I learned that only Davide was completely fluent in English and the other two had broken English mixed with a lot of Italian.
Here are the three guys:
We paid for the car, got the keys, and managed to go on our merry little way. As we were weaving in and out of Melbourne traffic, directions shouted in Italian from everyone, and a frantic Kristian trying to get the hang out driving on the left side of the road, I had to smile. This was going to be fun!
About 45 minutes out of the city, after much discussion (in Italian that I had to get translated by Davide for me) we found a small little town to get groceries in. After I stocked up on plenty of carrots, fruit PB&J, and bread we got back on the road. (I’d just like to mention here Italians do not have a fondness for peanut butter! It is quite sad!)
Then the plans came out, we were going to do two days on the Great Ocean Road and one day in the Grampian Mountains! Alright by me!
Our first stop was Bell’s Beach in Torquay. Driving only took about 30 minutes and once there we marveled at trees growing sideways from the wind, the rolling ocean, but most impressive, the kite surfers! The wind was killer all at Bell’s Beach! There were four kite surfers out on the water and it was marvelous watching them. They’d catch a wave and the wind and become aerial for over 30 seconds and then land about 15 meters away from where they got picked up from! After 15 minutes we decided we all needed to layer up and grab thicker coats for our next stop, between the wind and the overcast day it was cold!
Our next stop, once we arrived required a bit of a walk, Point Addis in Aglesea. We took the 10 minute trail out to more beautiful coastal views and naturally we climbed over the fence to get to the edge of the cliff. It was really cool to see the road we were about to take stretching off into the distance along with the rush of the waves against the cliffs.
At a scenic overlook between our next stop and the above, we found stunning views of the crystal water stretching beyond the point. It was the perfect place to stop and make our first of many sandwiches of the trip! Back in the car we went! And less than 2 minutes later we see a sign for a public beach, so naturally, we stop and go for a walk along the beach!
Naturally when we passed the Great Ocean Road sign we HAD to stop and take a picture!
The Start of the Great Ocean Road!
Next up was Cinema Point in Lorne which ended up just being a house on a cliff with a view anyone would be jealous of!
Erskine Falls, however was quite a sight to see, as we began the short 15 minute descent to the bottom of the falls the green jungle creeped around us. Walking along we could hear the sound of water and rounding the bend we saw this beautiful waterfall cascading down the side of the rocks. We stood and marveled for a while before deciding to move on.
Teddy’s Lookout in Lorne was next and WOW! I thought I had begun to see my quota for beautiful views for a day but then we stumbled (quite literally, I tripped on the walk out) upon this stunning countryside, ocean view. You could see the rolling hills stretching on into the distance and the valley below that connected itself to the strip of beach and cliff road that stretched along the mountain and the ocean. The sun peaked out from the clouds and the waves rolled in. Stunning.
Apollo Bay was our last ocean stop for the day so instead of viewing it from the beach itself we drove up the hill, found a random trail through someone’s paddock of sheep and took in the views from that angle!
Cape Otway National Park, a lovely drive that lends itself to the Australian wildlife! Randomly animals began to reveal themselves! We saw black wallabies and fields and fields of kangaroos! We see kangaroos so of course we hopped out of the car, ran over to the paddock and began to try and get close to them! This process lasted about 30 minutes so by the time we made it back to the car and drove to the campsite in the Park it was pitch black.
However, there was a school trip of 10 year olds out with their teachers for the night and they were quite generous and let us borrow a lamp. Less than an hour later the tent was set up, we were bundled up in warmer clothes, and having sandwiches round 2! We chatted (Davide translating and getting the others to speak English for me), ate, and had a good time til getting ready for bed.
Before bed however, I looked up. The stars. Oh the stars. If I could pick anything to capture with a camera on this entire trip it would be this sky. The stars seemed to blanket the entire sky twinkling, shooting, dancing. I have never before seen that many stars in the sky. There was such pureness and beauty in the 360 degree stunning masterpiece of God I was taking in! That wasn’t all though! The Milky Way plastered itself right across the middle of the sky moving ever so slowly, as if it was moving with the beating of my heart. This night I saw 6 shooting stars in the space of 5 minutes. It was all I could do to tear my eyes away from the stars to head to bed.
Waking up at 3 am I determined I probably never should have! It was pouring rain and my feet were soaked, I was freezing and super uncomfortable.
And with that Cliffhanger I will leave it there for the night! Come back tomorrow for Day 2’s adventures! (My favorite day of the trip 🙂 )
The first photo on this post reminded me of this town in Scotland 🙂
But really, all the photos you’ve shared are b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l. The falls, the beach, all that nature views – they all make me feel grateful about life and at the same time, they make me want to travel all my life.
Ooooh! What is the town called in Scotland? Thank you! It was a truly stunning trip, every time I looked around I wanted to snap a picture! I’m so glad they can evoke such emotion! It truly is a blessing we get to live in this beautiful world!
I am not a runner, but with views like that – even I might enjoy a run.
Unfortunately I didn’t get to run this beautiful scenery but I would love to in the future! Thanks for reading
I would be tempted to run if I could see scenery like this. The views are stunning and the photos amazing. Looking forward to day 2. Gorgeous!
Unfortunately I didn’t get to run this beautiful scenery but I would love to in the future! Thanks for reading and thanks for the compliments! 🙂
This looks like such an amazing road trip! I would love to be able to take one like this…Australia has always been on my travel list!
I definitely recommend travelling to Australia! Just make sure you have lots of time and double the money you think you’d need haha, these are the lessons I have learned! Thanks for reading!
One great experience you’ve got there..
I am not as brave as you are when trusting strangers. But anyways, shows you had a lot of fun during the trip!:)
I agree! It was quite a risk going with strangers but it ended up wonderfully thanks to prayer! Thanks for reading!
What a fun trip!!! Gorgeous pics!!!
Thank you for reading!
Talk about an incredible experience! This is phenomenal! I loved how you described it as “the first time” in the beginning. That really got me interested in your experience.
Thank you so much for the feedback Liz! I love knowing what works for people about my writing, it helps me for future posts! It was such a blessing of an experience!
Gorgeous pictures!! That is an experience that you won’t forget! I can’t wait to read more about it!
Thanks for reading! It is most definitely one seared into the happy section of my brain!
Your photos are amazing! This looks like an beautiful trip! Can’t wait to hear more
Thank you so much! It was so stunning!!
wow! Great pics! Lovely!
Thanks Starla!
What beautiful pictures! This place looks so inspiring!
It truly is! To learn more about the inspiration check out the next two days! Things get more inspiring and more inspiring! Thank you for reading!
Great story! Sounds like an awesome adventure. I love the waterfall!
It was truly stunning! Thanks for reading Bernadette!
That seems like a really fun road trip. I went to Australia a few years ago and the roads had scenic beach and forest views.
Doesn’t it seem that the entire country is ready for it’s photo op?!
Looks a great place to go running. The photos look amazing! 🙂
Thanks for reading Sharon!
It looks like you’re having a great time on your road trip.You all have jackets on. Is it cold there?
It was so much fun! It was very very cold here because of all the wind! About 50 degrees Fahrenheit or 10 degrees Celsius with wind!
How amazing! I would love to be able to experience all of that some day.
I hope that one day you will! It is such a marvelous creation here!
your photographs are stunning. I would also love to see this someday1
Thank you for reading! I definitely recommend getting to both Australia and the Great Ocean Road someday!
Wow! Your pictures are amazing. I love seeing places I have never been before. Sounds like a great time.
Maybe some day you can see it here! Thank you for reading Bonnie! 🙂
Such varied landscapes! Looks like you had a blast on your trip!
It was one of the beauties of this trip! Even more are coming up in the blog today!! Thanks for reading!
What a beautiful place to get to experience. Thank you for sharing your photos.
Thank you for reading Shasta! It was such a blessing to experience life here for a few days!
What a fabulous vacation, the pictures are absolutely gorgeous.
Thank you for reading Geanine! It was sooo beautiful!
Mel! These photos are fantastic, and I loved reading about your little adventure. When you get back, let’s go on photo safaris in Philly, okay?
Miss you so much!
Lauren! Thank you so much! That means a lot coming from a real photographer like yourself! YESSSSS to the photo safari! I have much to learn and master you must teach me, but actually!
I miss you! Just a couple more months and I’ll see you! 🙂
Seeing all those views and photos is just like paradise – beautiful! At least, something we don’t have where I am.
I believe it is paradise even if you did have views like these where you were! I just love the ocean! Thanks for reading Aisha!
All of those views are amazing. I think the kangaroo picture is awesome, some of them look interested in the photographer too, lol
It was so stunning! And haha they definitely were! Plus we were trying to communicate with them 😉 If you like kangaroos wait til tomorrows post! So many kangaroo pictures, up VERY close and personal (hint, I have pictures of me petting a kangaroo!)
I’m so glad to see you’re having a wonderful time in Australia. Your photos are great, I particularly love that waterfall 🙂 x
Such a great start to your adventure. I cant wait to read part two. Thanks so much for sharing.
You too such beautiful shots, too! I love the picture of the tree with the heart on it.
Looks like an awesome place. These are gorgeous pictures indeed. Thanks for sharing
These pictures look amazing. It looks like you had a great time!
I love these photos! It sounds like it was a great road trip, such fun!
xo,
Zoe | La Vie en Zoe
What an adventure! Thanks for posting, very fin read 🙂
As always, great to read about your amazing adventure! Hope you’re still having an amazing time x
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