Day 5

THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD TRIP - An early start to the day as we were being picked up at 7am, but we didn't mind as we had been looking forward to this. We were driven to St Kilda where we needed to sign in and where we met our guide for the day 'Dee'.

We visited the following stops;

Split Point Lighthouse - One of the only 2 remaining lighthouses on the ship wreck coast. This lighthouse was also home to the TV programme 'Around the Twist'....have you ever, ever felt like this?! When strange things happen are you going round the twist? The back drop was Eagles and Table rock, this was in an area called Anglesea. These can be seen in our photos.

Bells Beach - A world famous surf beach, which is home to the Ripcurl Surfing contest each Easter. It is easy to see why, when you get a view of the waves. It's on the Bass Strait.

Memorial Arch - The beginning of the Great Ocean Road (GOR), which is the largest memorial site dedicated to soldiers in the 1st world war, in the world. The road was built by 3000 ex-soldiers by hand and it took them 40 years to carve the road into the beautiful coastline and maintaining the natural beauty. The statue commemorates the 75th anniversary.

Lorne - We just drove through this town; although it is famous for the pier to pub race. Even though the area is notorious for sharks.

Mount Defiance - The hardest part of the road to build, due to the rock.

Kennetts River - This was where we were able to view wild koalas; sleeping and eating which are the only 2 things they do. Sounds like Al.

Cape Patton - The highest point on the road.

Apollo Bay - The main town and home of saw milling. Where we were able to walk on the beach - our first beach since we were in Australia - Wahoo! Lorna was like a kid.

Maits Rest - This is in The Great Ottway National Park. It is a cool climate rainforest and is one of the only natural areas left in Victoria; this covers only 3% of the area. It is the home of the only meat eating snail and has trees which are up to 90m tall (Mrytle Tree).

12 Apostles - The are now only 8 remaining as 1 fell down in 2005. The wind and waves has naturally eroded the Apostles, this is on average 3cm per year. This had spectacular views.

Lock Ard Gorge - This is where there is a gap between the coastline with a small cove and beach area inside. These views were more amazing than the 12 Apostles. We walked down many steps to get onto the beach and it was well worth it. Around the corner from here we viewed a large rock known as the 'Razorback'.

London Bridge - This is know known as the London Arch, after the bridge collapsed on the 15/01/1990, with a couple stranded on it for 2 hours. This is in the Port Campbell National Park.

We then headed back. We stopped half way at a town called Colac, which is where Toadie from Neighbours comes from. We stopped here for a bite to eat, then started back on our travels to Melbourne for our last night.