Day 71- Camperdown, Australia – 12:13 PM

(Melbourne to Apollo Bay)

I am currently just outside of Camperdown, Australia heading back to Melbourne after three days on the Great Ocean Road (GOR).  Do not be alarmed, I am not driving and blogging simultaneously.  I invited along my buddy Ben and he in turn invited a childhood friend.  Rather than utilizing the rental car I reserved, we piled ourselves, our tents and sleeping bags into Ben’s car last Monday morning.

Prior to beginning my month-long visit in Australia, I did a fair amount of research on the GOR.  I came across a website that detailed a three day journey. Day 1 and Day 2 snaked along the coast from Melbourne to Port Fairy.  Day 3 was an inland route from Port Fairy back to Melbourne.  This drew my attention as it was a multi-day route that provided both stunning coastlines and wide open spaces teaming with cattle and farmlands.

Once outside Melbourne, we worked our way in a south westerly direction.  The sunny skies that shined through my hostel windows earlier that morning were overtaken by clouds.  It was not long until raindrops splashed off the windshield as we progressed towards the beginning of the GOR.  We pulled into a rest stop to refuel and pick up maps and a small guide book describing attractions along the way.  As we merged onto Highway M1, the grey skies parted and sunshine greeted us with open arms.

Working south, we next meandered into Torquay.  A surfing enclave, the main street of Torquay is lined with large shops representing the major surf brands.  Smaller surf shops popped up in between and wetsuit clad individuals traversed the streets heading to or home from a session in the water.  Twenty minutes or so later we stopped for lunch at the famed Bells Beach.  For those unfamiliar, Bells Beach is a world renowned surf break and home to an early season stop on the World Surf League tour.  It was not long ago, I sat in front of my laptop, streaming this event live from across the world.  Descending the stairs that led to the famed break, I could not help but think about the best surfers in the world descending and ascending those same steps.  My feet hit the sand and my eyes gazed out to the water. Although conditions were not great, waves bent around the point and surfers scrambled to position themselves.  After two or three turns, they’d come unstuck from their board and fall into the sea.  Another wave would crest and the pattern continued.

After 40 minutes or so, we walked back to the car and continued west.  I flipped open a GOR guidebook and brushed up on the history of this route.  Prior to its construction, the southwest coast of Victoria was only reachable by boat or rugged overland track.  As soldiers returned from World War I, the Victorian government approved funds allocated to the development of a road to connect the far reaching villages along the coast.  Returning service members were employed to construct the route and it quickly became a memorial to those who never returned home from battle.  As we passed craggy cliffs and vast lookout points, I could not help but think of these brave individuals who heroically served their country overseas and returned home to again serve their country by completing this breathtaking road.

My itinerary called for our first night to be spent in Apollo Bay.  We pulled off the main street in town and researched campsites in the area.  Great Otway National Park offered free sites, but was not within walking distance of the beach.  We came across a campsite minutes up the road and within close proximity to the beach.

We pulled into Apollo Bay Recreation Reserve Camping Park and drove to the office to inquire about the price for a single nights stay.  The attendant quoted Ben $50 for a site just outside the office, up against a chainlink fence over looking an athletic field.  It was far from a glamorous location.  We decided to pay the fee and make the best of it.  I offered to pay for the site and walked back into the office to finalize our stay.  After some friendly banter with Marty, the office attendant, I managed to reserve a site along a nearby river.  Quite a difference from the site first offered to us.  With that we drove to our plot and began unpacking 1 two-man tent and 1 “swag” (an Australian term for a coffin-like shelter that one lays within but doesn’t offer room to stand up).  After our setup was complete, we strode to the beach.  The fading sunlight kept me in shorts rather than in my swimsuit.

After a short while, we returned to our campsite and started to prepare dinner.  We had an entire roasted chicken left over from lunch, along with bread, cheese and ketchup.  We each grabbed two slices of bread, cut off a healthy amount of chicken, slapped on a slice of cheese and finished it with drizzled ketchup.  Dinner was served!!  We washed down our chicken sandwiches with a couple of beers, reminisced about that days events and started planning the following day.  A little after 11 PM, I stepped into my “swag”, laid down and zipped the roof together over my head.  I drifted off to sleep pondering the scenery that laid before us further down the GOR.