The Great Ocean Road was built by soldiers returning from World War 1 as both a memorial to those who fought and died, and as a recreational getaway, giving the general public access to beautiful beaches and coastline along the sourthern coast of Australia. It also gave the returning soldiers employment. The road stretches from near Melbourne halfway to Adelaide.

Leaving Melbourne on the 19th December (after losing the cricket to smug Jimmy Cranky look-a-like Ricky Ponting and team), we had three days to make it to Adelaide. On day one we stopped off at Torquay and Bell's Beach, famous surfing beaches (the latter made famous by Point Break) where we saw the news being filmed, as a day earlier there had been a shark attack resulting in a lad losing a leg. No surf lessons for us!

After passing the famous Great Ocean Road gateway, we came across mile after mile of winding, rugged coastline, dotted with beautiful beaches. Our next stop was Koala Cove, which has a caravan park and a cafe, but is also home to loads of beautiful birds and koalas. We'd heard from a few people (including some Australians) that Koalas are really hard to see in the wild, but as we walked along the dirt track we spotted about ten koalas in about twenty minutes just sitting in trees. Apparently they sleep for about twenty hours a day, as their diet of Eucalyptus leaves is very low energy, not as commonly thought they are stoned. We were pretty lucky as one koala was about six feet from us in a tree only about six feet tall, whereas often they will be about twenty or thirty feet high. He didn't seem too bothered, though in the wild they can "rip your face off with their sharp claws" according to one Aussie naturist, so we kept our distance.

Day two and our first stop was Cape Otway (famous for it's lighthouse) and some more koala spotting. This time the koala had it's baby on it's back, which means the baby is about six to twelve months old. Before this they are tiny and live in their mother's pouch eating their mum's poo (called pap), as Eucalyptus is poisonous and takes some adapting to.

Next stop was the Twelve Apostles, London Bridge and the Arch, which are really impressive coastal rock formations, but also home to millions of flies. The minute we stepped out of the car we were surrounded by swarms of flies trying to nest in any orifice they could find, their favourites being your ear and nostrils. After swinging our arms like crazy people for a while, we tied clothes around our heads and vowed never to question an arab's headdress sense again.

Reaching the end of the Great Ocean Road early evening, we had just about enough time to visit a nature reserve, where we spotted our first kangaroos.  As we turned the corner we saw about half a dozen leaping around in the distance.  They really are great animals to watch, though much smaller than we expected (these were grey kangaroos, the red males can grow to about six feet however), and as we soon learnt are so timid you can often approach and stroke them.  We also spotted a few emus, though they can be temperamental (or inquisitive as we've been told) so we kept our distance. 

On day three we headed to Adelaide, where we spent our first christmas away from home.  Hope they do Yorkshire pudding and pigs n' blankets!