The first entry to this blog post will be my first week of vacation: the Great Ocean Road for 5 days and Melbourne for 2 days. Before coming to Australia I knew of the Great Ocean Road as a must see trip. It was one of two trips that I would for sure take to see a bit of Australia outside of Adelaide. Boy was it something! We road tripped in a camper van (very common in Australia, especially among International students) our van was through Wicked Campers. This company is well known for their crazy painted vans, cheap price, and convenient for traveling vehicles. Our van was themed the Cure and Pink Freud. The van had seatbelts for 5, a sink, a burner, storage, and a tent on the roof for 3. Every night the boys would set up the tent which was a really cool idea. It was placed on top of the car and all that was needed was for the tent to be flipped open. There were no poles, nothing to stick in the ground, and easy to put up and take down (pics on FB). It was just a nice campervan and we had no problems with it.

My travel mates were awesome! All from European countries: 2 French (Mathilde and Gael), 1 Belgian (Clement), and 1 German (Katrin). We are packed into the van and Katrin was the first to drive (this meant driving on the left side of the road) it was funny to be in a car driving on the left side and knowing that turning would be different as well. After about 5 minutes she was a pro and we started our way to the grocery store where we stocked up on $150 worth of food for 5 days. We would be cooking all of our meals for 5 days so we stocked up. Then we hit the road. We drove about 2-3 hours and camped in Wellington, a small area outside of Murray Bridge and right on the lake, it was a camp site with a kitchen, bathrooms, and beautiful scenery for stargazing. I slept in the tent this night and it was pretty cold and dewy in the tent. There was yelling children and noisy birds early in the morning so I woke up at about 7 am and took a walk with Mathilde to the lake. It was incredible we could barely see 5 ft. in front of our hands.

The next day we made our way to Mount Gambier. This was about a 2 hour drive from Wellington and a 5-6 hour drive from Adelaide. We stopped for lunch in a place called Kingston right on the ocean.

In Mount Gambier we saw the Blue Lake, Leg-of-Mutton Lake, and the Sink hole. All were beautiful with the changing colors of fall. I loved the sink hole because it was turned into a tourist garden. We camped in Mount Gambier that night for another chilly night. But that night we had played a game of cards called Meow-Meow (mu mu). It's like uno with a standard deck of cards. We had a blast playing cards, eating tim tams (the best cookies you would ever taste!

Then we drove another 2 hours into Port Fairy, a cute little coastal town with many little cafes. Here I was able to skype with my mom, dad (on his birthday), my granddad and my aunt Barbara (who made a special trip to Texas for holiday) so it was very nice to see everyone. We stopped in a little café where we had coffee and drinks. Australia has really amazing coffee, relatively cheap, and comes with the cutest designs in the foam. Next, we headed to Tower Hill Park where we had lunch with emus. Yes EMU's. They were just walking free and they came right up to our table and one stabbed our cheese block with his beak. We didn't appreciate our cheese being picked at (cheese lovers here) so we started throwing pieces of bread at the emus. Only to of course realize they wanted more and kept coming back and closer. So we abandoned the table (took the cheese) and finished lunch. We also saw a wild sleeping koala in a tree above our campervan in the parking lot.

Then we made our decent onto the actual Great Ocean Road! The beginning was pre-ocean road the actual road begins around a place called Port Campbell. Side note: Australia is full of kangaroos-but quite a few were roadkill. So sad. Thank goodness we never hit any because there were just tons lying on the side of the road. I will never forget though there was one kangaroo dead in the road and we had to drive over it because there was no way around. Saddest moment-driving over it and hearing all the bones. Back to the road now…. Once on the great ocean road there are a series of specific lookouts to see such as Gibson Steps, Bay of Martyrs, Bay of Islands, the Arch, and London Bridge. These were the first attractions we did. We saw the most amazing sunset the the Arch.

That night we slept nearby in a city called Princetown. This was a really nice campground it had lovely kitchen and many many wild kangaroos. At one point when we were eating dinner there was a car that drove through the parking lot and we saw probably 30 kangaroos hoping in front of it. That night the girls decided we should watch the sunrise (we woke up pretty early everyday anyway). This was also the coldest night! We were right on the ocean so with the winds it was a tough night for everyone. I slept in the van that night with Mathilde. It was an interesting set up. We basically layed the front seat all the way down to put our feet on and the middle seat as far back as it would go (basically sleeping on an incline) but it was super comfortable compared to the tent. That morning we woke up and all you saw was hundreds of wild kangaroos. The sunrise was spectacular. It was a bit foggy and there were hills that the kangaroos were located on and then the sun crept up through a small mountain. It was just a sight I will never forget. A true Australian sunrise.

Then it was on to see Loch and Gorge and the famous Twelve Apostles (which there are only 8 left, due to the recession and falling of stone, but maybe 6 are actually visible). A selfie stick was used in the taking of these pictures…

Then we continued driving until reaching the Great Otway National Park where the most famous Australian light house is located and the most southern tip on the Great Ocean Road. We stopped in the parking lot, brought out our tables and chairs, and cooked our beans for a nice little lunch. It was a funny experience eating in the parking lot with our colorful van and having people stare. Just a good ol camping time! Then we drove on through Apollo Bay and this whole area was a twist and turn drive right on the cliffs overlooking the ocean. We set up camp for our last night in the campervan right on the coast in an area of no cell phone reception (haha). Then we cooked our last dinner of pasta and set up the tent for the last time. This was the best night of sleep I had on this trip. It wasn't nearly as cold and I finally learned how to dress warm for bed… The next morning we checked out our camp spot (as we did every morning actually, we usually got there after dark. So it was always a surprise to see the camp site in the morning). Then It was time to drive on. We stopped at the famous surfing beach, bell's Beach, where a competition had taken place a few days before. Then we drove into Melbourne!

There were supposed to be pics in this post but this blog site wouldn't allow me. So pictures will be added on Facebook of the adventures and places so it makes more sense. I hope you enjoyed this post and I wish I could add all the details of the trip as I remember it but that would just take a loooong time.

Part two coming soon :)