Saturday, May 19, 2007

Aussie Road Trip - Day 4 Great Ocean Road (GOR) Adventure!!!

Rise and shine! Today is supposed to be a jam packed day! We were behind my PERFECTO schedule by about 1/3 of a day so no time was wasted packing up and heading towards our 1st destination for the day, Otway Lighthouse!

Otway Lighthouse


This is apparently one of the 1st lighthouse built in Australia after a long long time and many ship wrecks. As I have been here before, this was not something particularly interesting to me. In fact, I was more interested in chilling at the cafe and drinking kopi with the sea view before me. But nonetheless, given that it is Mr Low's virgin trip here, I decided to "entertain" him.

Ha, long time it has been, 3 years it is. I almost forgot how scary the walk to the lighthouse from the carpark is. Why? Cause I am a reptile coward! Any landscape that consists of bushes, trees, sign boards cautioning against snakes gets me all psyched up and uptight, like a mother hen constanly on the outlook for eagles in a bid to protect her line of chicks behind. Haha.

However, something interesting to note about the lighthouse this time round is that they have improved on their efforts to provide more background and history on the lighthouse. They have a story teller stationed at the top of the lighthouse to narrate stories of the past, to which no one can verify! Awesome! Keke...


Ha, finally it was time for us to chill out at the cafe. But it was such a disappointment! They DO NOT serve brekkie! The menu only had scones and pastries. :( No warm and fuzzy food, and the kopi sucks! :'(

Otway Rainforest

Next up, we did a detour to the Otway Rainforest so Mr Low can experience what a tree top walk looks like. Having experienced the walk when I was in Tasmania a couple of months back, I wasn't particularly keen given I have this terrible fear of heights! But oh well, a woman gotta do what a woman gotta do, which is to show the man the world. Haha, so here we are!


Ha, this picture was taken when we were at the top of the viewing stand of the treetop. The hike up was torturous! The stairs were so narrow that only 1 way traffic is possible. I had to get Mr Low to keep talking rubbish to me so I can be distracted from the height! Look at how happy he is in the picture! Probably grinning at me for being such a wuss. Bleah!

The engineers for the treetop walk are buggers who are constantly trying to be funny. They built the path which vibrates and shakes whenever someone is walking on it. Scares the shit out of you cause every step I take, I worry about it being my last!

I cannot emphasize how great my fear was, but perhaps the video below will give you a better idea of how scared I was! :'(




Ha, this was taken when we were at the foot of the rainforest. I cannot tell you how relieved I was. But now, I was afraid that the tracks will collapse and crush me to death! Tsk tsk, scarly cat I am.

To be fair, though this is the highest treetop walk in Australia, I think that the one in Tasmania is more scary cause the edge of track is an open area with the bottom being an open river. Strong winds with huge waves along with a bunch of people standing at the edge of the track is just about enough to freak you out with countless possibilities of a horrible and unwanted death.

Twelve Apostles

Relaxing times ahead! After the stressful morning, it was time to chill! Along the GOR, you CANNOT miss the 12 apostles. It is basically just a few chunks of rocks caused by Mother Nature geographical actions. No idea why it is so famous, but when you are in Melbourne, you got to do what the Melbournians do!


Beautiful, aint it? What GREAT photography skills I have! ;p


This is supposed to be the Loch Arc Gorge or something like that, if I remember correctly. But well, it is just another piece of geographical formation. Haha, I think there's more along the way, but after some time, EVERYTHING just looks the same! Keke.


So here we are, creating self entertainment for ourselves in the midst of the sunny weather. Luckily the weather was not freezy, if not, Mr Low would have died a shameful death for ignoring my repeated warnings of the unpredictable weather in Melbourne. Why you might ask? He was in Sentosa when he got my sms weather report and thought, 'Aiya how cold can it be right? Chill la..'

Haha what a fool he is! Thankfully, his lucky stars were shining. See that white sweater he is donning? That's hot babe's! Luckily she was kind enough to offer him her sweater, if not, I will be laughing all the way while he freezes in desperation!

After all that touristy stuff, it was time to embark on our final leg of today's journey. Warrnambool! I was quite excited about it as I have never been there before and also, due to the fact that hot babe strongly recommended it.

Pit stop 1: Port Campbell

Finally, time for a breather from the hectic day and also, time for a bite. Walked around the town which is basically a 200m stretch of shops, hotels and restaurants, got some fish and chips & a cuppa kopi, pumped some petrol and off we were, hitting the road again.

Just for the benefit of those who are interested in the comfy backpacker place that I mentioned in my Day 3 post, check them out below!




Ha, ain't that nice? Cheap too! I think it is just about A$20/pax for 1 night! Super value for $, except for the fact that you must be great at self entertainment, as there is REALLY literally NOTHING to do at small towns like these along the GOR.

From discussion with Mr Low, we reckoned that towns like these are great for holiday houses but not somewhere you want to live in as your main residence. Unless you are retired!

Warrnambool

Vroommm...About 2 hours of 'Initial D' on the road and we were at our final destination! Advised by hot babe, there was no need to pre book accommodation at Warrnambool as there are countless motels and hotels around.

So off we went scouting around for the best deal in the town! After half an hour, we were settled into a quiet but cosy motel, watching tv while Mr Low studies the attractions of the town. So we were to go for a laser show about yet another ship wreck.

Well, it was a nice experience, except that for A$25/pax, you would expect more. After that, we went for a Taco Bell dinner as Mr Low has never tried Mexican food before. I myself have not tried Taco Bell and at 9+pm, along with the freezing cold weather, any hot and meaty food would do the trick for me.

We literally stuffed ourselves with nachos, beef, fruit punch and more. Needless to say, Mr Low has Mexican food phobia now (common with anyone who eats Mexican for the 1st time) and I do not feel like having it for some time.

Back at the motel, we watched some tv before I performed my daily ritual of getting my CA notes out for my 5 min exercise once again. Haha. Obviously, it did not take long for my eyes to shut! ;)

An exhausting yet enjoyable day, but I am at the same time excited about tomorrow's journey to Mount Gambier (halfway between Melbourne & Adelaide)! Somewhere I never been before as well. Woohoo! Stay tuned!

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