Have you ever, ever felt like this?

Some strange things happened. David's going round the twist...

...So excited was he to find out that our lunch stop today, Split Point Lighthouse at Airey's Inlet, was The lighthouse from well-loved kid's TV series Round the Twist. You only have to look at the photos to see his glee! Even I was quite tickled; I mean, who doesn't remember the incoragable red-headed boy who, one episode, got frog powers (I'm assuming here that, like David and I, you're around 30...or are our parents).

After such excitement, it was going to be hard for the rest of the day to compete. Except, it turns out, when you're driving completely adjacent to the ocean (I understand now why it's been dubbed The Great Ocean Road), not that hard. Whether you're driving next to the water, or looking down on it from the cliffs, you have an uninterrupted view out to sea*... and, of course, of the surfers.

You can really catch some big wave here; particularly at Bells Beach. And no we didn't try it. I took one look at the waves mercilessly battering a poor guy in the surf and decided it was Pros only. That being said, I think he was rather enjoying being repeatedly sucked under the swell -- although I can only imagine the experience was something akin to being stuck in a washing machine**. The guys further out on boards though were captivating; far more entertaining than the surfers at the recent Hurley Open in Sydney. Oh and talking of Hurley, if you're into your water sports make sure you take a drive through Australia's Surfing Capital, Torquay -- it's quite literally one surf brand megastore after another. You've got your Hurley, your Billabong, your Ripcurl, your Quicksilver, and I'm sure more.

Just to finish off the day, we found ourselves camped in yet another picturesque spot: right next to a creek that flowed, under a little footbridge, out towards the ocean. We even had our own deck (meant for fishing) where we sat, watching the sun go down, with a cup of tea and our books. The novel bit though was the sea-side sculpture trail by moonlight. Although, considering how often we confused a tree with a sculptures, maybe the artists intended them to be viewed during the day?

*I'd definitely recommend doing this stretch East to West though; no other cars between you and the view. And as the signs constantly reminded us: "in Australia we drive on the left" :)

**Yes, don't worry, we stuck around long enough to make sure he resurfaced.