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The Great Ocean Road, also called Surfcoast Highway, is one of the main attractions of Australia. My idea was to rent a car and drive on it. But, unfortunately, I forgot my drive license at home. So, I decide to get a tour. The pro side is that you don’t have to worry about driving, about maps, about which side of the road to go… The down side is that you have quick stops in each place, it is the fast tour: get out of the bus, take a photo, hop on the bus again…
The road was constructed between 1919 and 1932, when soldiers came back from Turkey from the World War I (The memorial to the soldieries reminded me my visit to Gallipoli in Turkey). Our fist stop was Bells Beach, an Australian icon for surfing. Getting there, our tour guide played the audio of Point Break, a movie by Kathryn Bigelow with Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves, Bells beach is the location of the huge surf wave. It is interesting how movies get to our imaginary and make us want to travel, When I saw this movie, I was teenager, had not traveled the world yet, but the ideas of visiting Australia and getting to see their Ocean got in my mind.
The Great Ocean Road day was all like that, trying to feel the road and the sea. It reminded me the Highway 1, in California, a great trip I did with my sister, Karina, and cousin, Luciana, when I was 22 years old, and that time I was driving. It was all about enjoying the road, the scenery and the music. Yes, in road trips music has a major part. Here I had my earphone with music the whole time, there we listened loud and sang along. I cannot imagine this kind of trips without music.
We stopped for a walk at Great Otway National Park, had lunch on Apollo Bay, saw koalas on the eucalyptus trees, enjoyed the rock formations of the Port Campbell National Park and got close to the 12 Apostles rocks and London Arch rock. By the end of the day we stopped at Loch Ard Gorge where a shipwreck happened. The Loch Ard Gorge was my preferred place on the tour: beautiful, peaceful and rough at the same time. When it was time to go, our tour guide saw I was enjoying a lot there, he came to me and said there was no rush, that I could take longer if I wanted. It was great, it looked like he read my thoughts. When I got back to the bus, everybody was already there, I felt a bit embarrassed for that, at least I was not alone, another person arrived late with me.
It was a great tiresome day, getting out of the minibus, going for quick walks, getting back on moving again… There was always a need to stay, to be there longer, to feel the place, to do the same itinerary in a week instead of a day. Well, maybe next time.
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