"An Around-the-World-Ticket for Two, Please."

Melbourne and beyond!

Posted by Sarah O'Neill , Friday, 21 January 2011 03:34

So, it's now Friday and I need to recall events from Tuesday onwards to update the blog! Tuesday was a great day, we went to the Australian Open and got to see Andy Murray play! I have never actually been to a big sporting event, so this was quite a big deal for me! We got the tram into the city and it was a short walk to the arenas. On our way Ben discreetly informed me that Andy Murray's mum was walking towards us! It felt like a celeb spotting moment, then I realised that it really wasn't, but pretty cool all the same!
So, we had a look around the whole place, which was huge, lots of advertising stalls and sponsors etc, and then we found our seats. We were in the Hisence arena. First on was Tomic (a young Australian who obviously had lots of fans in the crowd!) against Chardy, a French hopeful. Tomic won much to the crowds delight! Then we had Jelena Jankovic against some Russian woman, Jankovic won! Then what we had all been waiting for! Andy Murray against Karol Beck. There was a lot more noise from the crowd and Murray had lots of supporters! It was a good game, however, Beck had an injury and had to have treament to his shoulder for a while. We were entertained by Murray's supporters in the audience who had lots of chants to keep the atmosphere going! Beck did continue after this and I reckon Murray was going to win, however, we did not get to find out, as Beck had to retire due to his shoulder, which was a bit disappointing! But it was a great day and I am glad we went! Headed back and decided to stay another night before driving the Great Ocean Road as we had a few things to do and also wanted the best weather day for the drive, which looked like it was not going to be Wednesday!
So on Wednesday we paid in the money from Gunther's sale and posted all the car paperwork and boring erands like that and I had a lazy afternoon by the pool sunbathing while Ben watched the tennis in the TV room! That night we went to the night market, (recommended by our friendly old neighbours) and had a great time! It was very busy, but had a great atmosphere, and we had a lovely chocolate brownie from a cake stall that was divine!
On Thursday morning we packed up the car, and said goodbye to our friendly neighbours! We decided to just drive a couple of hours to get to Lorne and stay overnight. That way we could do the Great Ocean Road over two days and enjoy the scenery and stop at all the lookouts etc! We stopped at various places along the way and enjoyed the beautiful weather! We stopped for lunch in a small place called Anglesy and got to Lorne not long after. After heading to the orginal camping spot we had booked and finding a tent already in it, we went to the office and asked for one closer to the beach, which we got, so that worked out well! We put the tent up and then headed to the beach for the rest of the afternoon! It was a lovely lazy beach afternoon with lots of reading of my book, and a bit of playing catch with Ben to keep him happy! On our way back to the tent we saw a big screen had been erected in the field next door, and found out there was an open air cinema night that night! So, we got to watch The Goonies at the outdoor cinema which was fun! We were both pretty cold, so we had our sleeping bags wrapped around us! As we go further south the nights are getting colder, so we are glad to have sleeping bags and a duvet on top!!!
This morning we got up and packed up the tent (which we are getting quite good at now!) and got on the road. Before leaving Lorne we haded to the Erskine Falls, which is a 30metre drop waterfall. We walked down the 250 steps to the lookouts and took some pictures and it was very pretty, but then had to walk back up the 250 steps! We drove along the coast, which was spectacular all the way to Apollo Bay where we stopped for lunch! We saw meat and veg pastys that had won 3rd best in Aus, so we thought we had better try them! We took them to the beautiful beach, which was gorgeous! The pastys were ok, but nothing compares to the real thing!!!! We drove on along the Great Ocean Road and stopped at The 12 Apostles which is a famous landmark rock formation. The whole coast is limestone, and the erosion has left huge stumps of rock along the coast, and on this stretch there are, you guessed it, 12! It is a spectacular sight and well worth the visit. The photos just don't do it justice! We also stopped at 'London Bridge', which used to be a bit or rock making a 'bridge' out to a large stump which you could walk across on. However, in 1990 it collapsed just after a couple had walked across it!!!! They were rescued by helicopter, and ran away from the media as they were actually having an affair and were both married!!!! We also drove out to a lighthouse we had read about and saw signs for the turn off, but when we got there it was nearly $20 each to look at it, and you couldn't get anywhere near it without paying, and we didn't think it was really worth it, so we headed back to the main road. It seemed a bit of a waste of our time, however, it turned out not to be as we read that the stretch of road was good for spotting Koalas in the wild, so we stopped and saw loads!
So, after a day of fantastic driving and amazing scenery we arrived at Warrnambool and took the last camping site they had at the campsite! It was an 'ensuite' suite which means you have your own little toilet and shower block next to your site! Lovely but quite un-necessesary, we only did it because there was nothing else! Musn't get used to it!!! Headed to the little market we saw going on and moseyed around before pitching the tent and sorting dinner! Then spent the evening reading, blogging and emailing as we have a powered site, yay! Must go now as it is very late and I have been on here far too long! Will add pictures tomorrow!
Sarah x