Ever since we’d been planning our trip we’d been looking forward to camper vanning it along the Great Ocean Road, it looked gorgeous in all the pics. It was a shame the weather hadn’t gotten any better so when we visited it was a wee bit chilly. The bikini & shorts had to stay packed away for a little bit longer & the hiking boots, trousers & hoodies had to come out to check out. So glad we’d been carting the warm clothes around Asia for months & months!

We crossed into Victoria with our heads hanging out the windows on the lookout for koalas, there were plenty of signs telling us they were about but, nope, didn’t manage to spot any! We parked up in a place called Portland, right next to the harbour…..looked like good old Aberdeen! Portland didn’t look like it had anything exciting for us to see so after spending the night playing poker, drinking our bottle of Rockford vino from the Barossa we hit the hay & then took off first thing in the morning.

The Great Ocean Road is gorgeous, so many sites to see, the main one the 12 Apostles & lovely little seaside towns, with every second shop selling fish & chips! We had planned to spend 3 or 4 days chilling out, checking out the beaches etc. but decided, because of the weather, to spend two days/one night then come back when it’s hot & make the most of it then. On the first day we stopped for lunch in a cute little town called Port Campbell. Pulled up in our crazy looking van with pretty much everyone in the whole town looking at us, you know how we like to make an entrance!! Our first day ended up being amazing, saw all the sites, London Bridge, the 12 Apostles and guess what?! We saw soooo many koalas in the wild!! They were just casually hanging out in the trees watching the groups of people looking up at them. So cute! Not sure if we’ve mentioned before but I am a Lonely Planet addict! After reading where you could spot the koalas in the wild I was determined to see them. So many people we’ve spoken to have never seen them, even Ozzies who have lived here all of their lives, so we are pretty lucky people! Even though we never got the weather, seeing the koalas definitely made the Great Ocean Road pretty special! We spent the night in a site in Apollo Bay, a fab town with an amazing beach for surfing; although after the escapades in Bali I won’t be trying that again! The kitchen was described as ‘luxury’ in our campsite book, woo hoo! It had obviously just been done up and had huge gas bbq’s for everyone to use, yay we’ll get to use our marinade purchased at the one & only Wolfblass! We nipped to the local IGA (Ozzie supermarket chain) & picked up some steaks, sausages & chicken & had a fab night with tasty food & yummy Wolfblass vino. We even managed to watch some TV in the TV/games room, perks of living in a paid site!

We took off pretty late the next morning, got some laundry done before we left (another perk!) & then had a slow drive along the windy road looking onto amazing beaches & passing more seaside towns. Lorne was another little town we’ll definitely have to come back to. It has loads of hiking trails but the wind & showers were putting us off….definitely save then for when we come back in the summer.

We finished the gorgeous Great Ocean Road then hit the highway en route to Melbourne baby!

Lots of Love
Chelle & Dean
xxx